#top gun museum au

[blimpintime]

Dynamite part 1

Jake “Hangman” Seresin x F! Reader “Dynamite”

18+ minors please do not interact :)

Series with @imdoingmybest0​, go check out the Bob x F!Reader story they’re writing, our stories are intertwined :) !!!!

Getting to work on time has always been a trying task, but working at seven thirty in the morning on a goddamn Saturday should be illegal. Hence the getting ready at work because even as the acting manager I am still late. Being ten minutes late is not really a big deal because there is only one private tour this morning and that does not start till about 8 but its the nuance of it all. I try to be a good manager for my employees. Setting a strong example for them most of the time but we all have our days. And today is that day for me. First, it was sleeping through my final alarm due to staying up late the night before working on the schedule, then it was my power going out this morning so I couldn’t even make my personal iced oat milk latte due to my icecubes all being melted, and then it was my parking spot being taken and having to walk a good eight minutes to the building I am working in today. So to say I was already having a rough morning would be an understatement. All I wanted was a smooth Saturday to close off my week of working. So imagine my surprise when further into my shift I hear one of my tour guides getting berated by a customer who can’t read a fucking sign.

Since I was running late I decided to finish getting ready at work so in the middle of buttoning up my blouse and throwing on a cropped rock band t-shirt over it. I pop a piece of mint gum in my mouth and rip open the door that leads into the hanger where aircraft from the Cold War reside.

The door lashes open with a loud pop as it hit the wall, “I know someone is not yelling at my employee at eight in the fucking morning.” I say to the “customer” who is currently going in on my employee Sweetie who is giving a private tour to a group of Naval Aviators.

“Oh, Dynamite you’re-” Sweetie goes to stop me. I put my hand up to stop her and stand in front of the group.

“Are you the manager here? I have a bone to pick with you over your choice of staff.” The Karen says as she looks Sweetie up and down.

“Oh for the love,” I say exasperated looking up and rubbing my temples. “What seems to be the issue here ma’am.” Trying to hold some sort of sense of professionalism in my tone but that seems to be dwindling quickly and severely. The lady looks at me and then scoffs. Oh for fucks sake dude it’s a Saturday why can’t we all just be happy I think to myself. I look back at her and encourage her to rant with a certain glint in my eye when I notice a drink in her hand. So not only are we rude to staff but we also can’t read, the thought passes over me.

The group for the tour seems to be re-engaging in the conversation sensing the tension rising due to the rude tourist. I glance at them and glance back at the lady. My eye twitches when I noticed the kids with the women running around the hangar with snacks in their hands.

“And what bone would that be ma’am?” I say with a twitch in my brow.

“She is not allowing me to be in this hangar when I am a. Paying. Customer.” And in between each word smacking her drink in her hands. Deep breaths. Deep breaths, this is what therapy is for. Coping skills to deal with idiots.

“Ma’am I love to be the bearer of bad news for you, but this hangar is closed for a private tour,” I say and gesture to the group of Pilots with a smile so clenched my teeth might pop out of place. “There is a sign at the front where you bought your tickets and then another at the entrance of this hangar that explains the private tour. And we have a sign that says no food or drink in here as well,” I say with a controlled breath.

“Yes, but I am a paying customer so I deserve to see all of the exhibits when I want.” The lady says slowly. One thing about me that I have yet to learn to control is the anger I experience when someone talks to me like I’m stupid. It’s a simple hot rage that flows through me that makes my fingers go numb. I twitch a smile out.

“Yes, a paying customer that can’t seem to understand simple signs that tell her no. No drinks. No food. No tour as of the moment, if you have a problem I don’t particularly care. You can leave through the door you came from or you can leave with the help of security. I’m sure Paul would love to throw out some meddlesome people who get off on yelling at service workers.” This feels good, letting my early Saturday morning rage out on an entitled prick.

“Now who is your manager, young lady?” The angered woman practically growled at me as she got in my face. Well tried to considering with my heeled boots and already being on the taller side for height, I take a step closer to her and slightly lean down and make us so close our noses are almost touching. I blow a bubble with my gum and pop it with my teeth. “Me.” I let out with a smile that I hope makes me look borderline crazy.

Someone from the group mummers something along the line of “That was hot”. I place my hand on the woman’s shoulder gently, “You see here ma’am.” I say with a bite to my tone and nudge her towards the exit. “I practically own this museum, so let me repeat what I said earlier but with a little more bluntness. Leave.”  I smile at her as she eventually leaves muttering about leaving a bad review and telling everyone she knows how shitty of an establishment this is. “Bye now! Have a lovely Saturday.” I say waving giddy and sarcastically. Then turning to Sweetie and her tour group.

“Sorry about that y’all. I hope you enjoy the rest of your tour with our Sweetie here.” I smile at them a softer smile, and pat Sweetie on the shoulder. “If anyone has any questions at all let me know, I’ll be over here figuring out paperwork at the side desk.” Pointing to a desk with the sign “Need help?” on it.

I walk over there taking a deep breath and letting the anger that was once flushing my body leave. Listening to my boots hit the floor and humming a slight tune of an indie rock song. I grab my name tag off the counter that says “Dynamite” with a sticker of a stick of dynamite on it thanks to Sweetie.

“So Dynamite, that’s your callsign?” A man with vibrant green eyes and a killer smile asks me as I shuffled through papers on the desk.

“Yes Doll, it is,” I say with a smile that actually reached my eyes. His face flushed slightly and he laughed lightly. He leaned up against the desk I am standing behind and whispered “Doll? Normally that’s my line.” I rolled my eyes and suddenly felt a tad disappointed, of course, this fine-ass man was a player.

“Ah you’re one of those huh?” I say sort of bored and looked back down to the papers. He suddenly scoffed and straightened back up. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” he said with a slightly hurt tone.

“It means Doll,” I say briefly making eye contact with him, “that you like to hit on women and aren’t looking to be in a relationship. Which is fine hotshot but that’s not me.” Then I go to the computer to log in and get it started.

“That’s a little judgemental don’t you think?” He asks with a slightly southern drawl. I sigh and look up at him and put my left hand on my hip and sit slightly into it, all of which he watches with interest. “Sir, who said I wasn’t judgy? Did you not just watch the interaction I had with that ‘paying customer’?” I say with a small laugh. I am super judgemental, it protects me from people with bad intentions. Not good for my energy.

“Maybe we got off on the wrong foot Dyno. Let’s restart.” He states as if there was no real choice for me in the matter, he was gonna try and restart anyway. I laugh at the gall of him. “Okay Doll, let’s restart.” I respond.

“My name’s Jake, callsign Hangman. And you are the woman of my dreams.” He says with a bright smile. Lovesick fool, I think.

“I think Doll suits you better.” I say with a small quirk of my lips and wink. He clutches his heart and says, “You’re killing me Hon.”  He leans back onto the desk and tells me, “I think I do have a question for you Miss Dynamite.” tapping the “Need Help?” sign with a rhythmic set of taps.  

I lean forward to get closer to him and ask, “and what’s that Dollface?”

“Go on a date with me.” He stated with a sly smile. I lean even closer and look him in those captivating green eyes and say “That wasn’t a question Darlin.” and lean back with a smile when I notice he flushes again. “Marry me?” He asks with dead serious look, I stare at him with a blank face and he stares back blankly before we both burst into a small fit of intimate laughter. “Ask me in a few years maybe,” I say. “You need to ask a girl out to dinner first.”

“Does that mean you’re gonna say yes Hon?” He asks hopeful, “I guess we’ll never know seeming as you haven’t asked me yet.” I say with a chuckle.

“Hon, would you do me the honor of going to dinner with me?” He asked me hopefully.

“Yes Doll, I would love to.” I respond with a bright smile.

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

A/N: I hope y'all enjoyyyyyyyy, this is the first part of many to my Dynamite series :)

#hangman x reader #hangman x reader smut #hangman smut #hangman fluff #hangman #hangman x oc #hangman x y/n #top gun fanfiction #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin imagine #jake seresin #top gun fandom #top gun imagine #top gun au #top gun museum au

[amostexcellentblog]

Finally watched Wings (1927) for the first time, and oh my, it really is that gay, it wasn't just that one kissing scene taken out of context.

The entire film turns on the relationship between the two men, progressing from romantic rivals to ride-or-die comrades under the duress of wartime. The ostensible female romantic lead is entirely unnecessary, tacked on at the behest of studio executives who wanted to boost box office. She appears in only a few scenes, does nothing to drive the main plot, and is absent from large portions of the film and at all the key moments. The actress, Clara Bow, knew the film was beneath her, once saying it was "a man's picture and I'm just the whipped cream on top of the pie."

I guess Top Gun did not, in fact, invent the military-pilot-rivals-to-friends-to-implied-lovers trope after all.

It's literally WWI Icemav. (Maybe an Ice-Lives AU where, freshly retired and bored out of his mind, Ice agrees to go to a museum exhibit with Bradley and Jake on the history of LGBTQ people in the military, where he stumbles on a picture of two unidentified WWI flying aces, standing close with their arms draped around each other in a way that could be friendly but somehow is more than that. Ice knows the pose and he becomes obsessed with finding out who they are.)

Using his contacts and military history knowledge he's eventually able to verify that the men are David Armstrong and Jack Powell. They came from the same town, but different social classes. Jack was impulsive and loved fast cars. David was more reserved. They were described as the closest of friends by their fellow soldiers. David died in the war, Jack returned home and married his childhood sweetheart, they had no children. When Jack died, he was buried next to David. That's all Ice can find, but it's enough. He sends his findings to the museum, then drives to the hanger just so he can hold Mav in his arms, but first he calls Bradley...

"You need to marry that boy."

"...I thought you didn't like him."

"I don't, but... But if he makes you happy then that... Jesus Bradley, you and Jake are the first ones, the first generation who can live your lives openly. Don't waste that chance, so many of us never got that, never even allowed ourselves to imagine what it would be like."

"Well, good news. I proposed a month ago and we've been trying to figure out how to tell you. We actually thought the museum exhibit might soften you up, but you got so fixated on that damn photo you forgot we were even there."

#it actually holds up very well #the effects and flying scenes are great #icemav #hangster #tom iceman kazansky #bradley rooster bradshaw #wings 1927

[xthewhiteravenx]

Sam and Colby Fanfiction MasterList

COLBY BROCK:

[+18] Werewolf!Colby Brock x Reader: A Dance with Death [part i] [part ii]

Bonnie & Clyde AU: Your Bonnie, My Clyde [part i] [part ii]

Reincarnation / Angel AU [X]

Demon!Colby x Reader: [X]

Moon!Blinked/Insane!Colby: [X]

Full Fanfiction: “Dandelions” [X]

"The Escort" [X]

[+18] FeralAngel!Colby x Reader [X]

Red Riding Hood AU [X]

Vampire!Colby x Art Student!Reader [X]

Post-Apocalyptic AU [X]

Time Loop Romance [X]

Dark Waters: Mermaid x Colby [X]

SAM GOLBACH:

[+18] Gangster!Sam x PersonalAssist!Reader [X]

Vampire!Sam x Reader: [X]

Dark Occult Studies x Sam [X]

SAM GOLBACH X KATRINA STUART:

Witch!Katrina x Warlock!Sam [X]

THE TRAPHOUSE:

The Trap House Intelligence Agency [X]

The Trap House At Hogwarts [X]

The Krac House At Hogwarts [X]

Trap House: Glee AU [X]

Trap Girls: Witch Coven AU [X]

Sam/Colby/Nate: Warlock Coven AU [X]

Trap House: Lost Boys AU [X]

Trap House: Breakfast Club [X]

Trap House as Greek Gods and Goddesses [X]

Hangover Movie AU [X]

Trap House: Old Guard AU [X]

ARYIA/BADBOYWOLFY:

[+18] Aryia/Badboywolfy x Reader: Coming Home [X]

COLBY BROCK X AMBER SCHOLL:

Vampire AU [X]

High School AU [X]

The Purge AU [X]

AMBER SCHOLL:

Rainy Day In Paris (w|w) [X]

Day At the Art Museum [X]

Andrea Russett x Amber Scholl: girlfriends [X]

COLBY BROCK X SHEA ELYSE:

Wendigo!Shea x Werewolf!Colby [X]

SOLBY:

Vampire Lovers AU [X]

Demon!Colby / Human!Sam [X]

[+18] Howl and Fang (Werewolf AU) [X]

Hoya Bachu Forest AU [X]

Estes Method [X]

[+18] Titanic AU [X]

Movie Night [X]

Silent Hill AU [X]

MidWestern Gothic [X]

[+18] Zombie Apocalypse AU [X]

Hunger Games AU [X]

[+18] Hell Hounds [X]

Beastly (Horns AU) [X]

Top Gun AU [X]

#colby brock #sam and colby #sam golbach #edit: mine #masterpost #writing #sam golbach x reader #sam golbach x you #colby brock x reader #colby brock x you #colby brock x y/n #sam and colby fanfiction #sam golbach fanfiction #sam golbach smut #colby brock fanfiction #colby brock smut #solby #sam golbach x colby brock #amber scholl #amber scholl fanfiction #amber scholl x reader #amber scholl x you #amber scholl smut #aryia #aryia emrani #badboywolfy #trap house #trap house fanfiction #sam golbach x katrina stuart #satrina

[desos-records]

Lockwood & Co AU where Lockwood's parents are just Evie and Rick O'Connell from The Mummy

Lockwood inexplicably knows a lot of extremely specific things about Ancient Egypt and he never elaborates and it infuriates George to no end

Lockwood: Well, it can't be a real canopic jar. The jackal protects the stomach, not the liver. George, who has never seen Lockwood read anything other than trashy tabloids and pulp detective novels: How could you possibly know that???

They discover while fighting off relicmen that Lockwood is insanely capable with guns and he flat out refuses to acknowledge any line of questioning about it, but it does explain the crate of old shotguns in the basement

He also apparently knows how to build, operate, and diffuse a range of explosive devices, which they discover during the Siege of Portland Row

Clearly, he has a talent for leaving buildings in partial to complete ruin everywhere he goes

He viciously despises the British Museum, a fact they discover after getting hired to clear out a particularly nasty poltergeist from one of their exhibit halls and Lockwood turns them down flat

On top of ghost relics, Portland Row is also home to various Ancient Egyptian decor--small statues, modern recreations of khopeshes, photographs of temple interiors. Some of the artifacts are the real thing and he does not see the hypocrisy in this

Along with the iron line outside, the lintel of the front door has the Eye of Horus carved into it as an additional protective measure

During rare nights off, the gang sometimes plays board games together and Lockwood is visibly surprised that no one else knows how to play Senet

He speaks Arabic and, if given enough time and motivation, can translate hieroglyphics

Sometimes when they're stumped in a particularly dangerous case, Lockwood will call on a 'family friend' who happens to have the relevant connections or expertise

Ardeth visits on Christmas every year without fail or warning. Everyone is in utter shock the first time except Lockwood, who is royally embarrassed by all the baby stories his godfather keeps telling people. Ardeth is just happy to know that Lockwood has formed his own family

The uncle he stayed with in the country was Jonathan

He has dual citizenship in the United States and, when Kipps learns this, he teases him mercilessly about it

#lockwood & co #lockwood and co #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #locklyle #george karim #the mummy #the mummy 1999 #the mummy returns #evie carnahan #rick o'connell

[willowedhepatica]

tlou/apocalypse au – avatrice

"Help me up."

Ava is wiggling beside her and Beatrice can only roll her eyes, settle against the wall before cupping her hands in front of her so Ava could use it to reach the window. "Be careful, we don't know if–"

"–this place is infested, I know I know. You say that every time, Bea." Before Beatrice can answer Ava puts a hand on her shoulder, fingers digging into her shirt for grip and it takes everything for her not to squirm. Instead she tenses up, body rigid as she tries to shift her focus on what to do. Which is helping Ava up– right.

Ava hefts herself up with the push of a boot and Beatrice strains her arms, one hand settling on her thigh once she reaches the window. "You got it?"

"Yup." Ava drags herself over the edge of the broken window, arms flexing (remind her again why she had to wear a tank top?) Beatrice mulls it over as she watches, already hearing Ava's answer in her head. 'it's hot, Bea.'

Yes, hot. Like it's the middle of August and they have been walking for hours hot. Not, Beatrice can't help but stare because Ava is more fit than she realised and when she stretches, her shirt pulls up and exposes the skin by her–

The door slams open in front of her and Beatrice jumps back, her hand going down to her gun on instinct. 

"All clear! Told you I could do it." Ava is leaning against the door, a smile playing at her lips before she turns around and walks further into the building. 

Beatrice forces herself to relax, sighs. "Did you check every room?" 

"No, I thought we could do that together. Team-style you know?" 

"Right." Beatrice is slowly following her, gun drawn and the flashlight on her backpack turned on as she scans the room. It's dark, dust layering every surface. She drags the flashlight over the room in practice motion, spotting multiple broken statues and paintings that had been washed away of all its colour. 

“I know I say this for like every place we visit, but you got to agree that this place is freaky as fuck.”

"Language." Beatrice mumbles non-committedly, pointing her light at a larger statue that stood poised by the wall. It was a depiction of a man made of marble that held his head high, only covered in thin sheets that draped over his shoulder and down to his waist. “This was likely a place for storing historical objects, many people came to look at it.” Beatrice had read a lot of books in her years of growing up at the QZ, she tried to sort through her memory of what she had learnt, tried to picture this place before everything fell to bits. When there was life and people and you didn't have to worry about infected by every corner.  “I believe they called it museums.”

Ava came up beside her, nudging their shoulders together and gesturing to the statue with a playful grin. "I bet he got all the ladies. I mean, look at that body. It's rock hard!" 

Beatrice fights back another sigh, tries not to let the amused smile break free as Ava looks at her expectantly. "That's the best you can do?" 

"Come on, I saw that smile. Admit that it was funny." 

"You're ridiculous." 

Ava shakes her head. "I'm hilarious." 

A low rattling sound makes Beatrice shift her attention to the back of the room. 

"Was it so bad that you're leaving me behind?" Ava echoes behind her, clearly still playful. "Damn Bea, I'm wounded." 

Beatrice ignores the sentiment with the pull of her lip, turning around the bookshelf to scan the area behind. The floor is wet and there's paper scattered around but that's not what gets her attention. The metal door further in is ajar, blocked by a cabinet that had fallen to its side and left marks on the ground. 

She puts her gun back in its holster and bends down to move it. They were in need of material. If the furniture hadn't been moved by someone else, it was likely this place hadn't been scavenged in a long time. 

The cabinet is lighter than she expects and Beatrice lifts it with ease. It's far too easy really. So easy that she should have expected the slam of the door the second the barrier was removed.

It is the rush of air that gets her first then a clicker breaks through and is on her in a matter of seconds, staggering her with the impact. It's all sound and fury, flailing limbs and ear-shattering screams that makes her flinch into her very bone. Its jaw snaps close to her face and all she can think of is the rancid smell of its breath, unsettlingly cool and damp as it digs its claws into her arm and tries to tear it off.

Its face is made of fungus. All exploding and ever growing in layers and orderly chaos. It continues to swing widely as Beatrice reaches for her gun, all limbs and movement as it searches for the soft flesh of her throat.

She moves back steadily.

It isn't until her foot catches on a broken floorboard that she's afraid. Really afraid. She's sent to the ground with the clicker on top of her and its hands, all claws and flesh, pins her wrists down onto the floor and makes her unable to move. 

Her body seizes up and there's a flash of pure terror. A desperate, stuttering moment that steals the breath from her lungs and makes her scream– "Ava!"

The loud crack of a revolver responds to her call and makes half of the bony plate of its head explode, so close to her face that she can feel the sting of fractured bone shards against her cheek. 

It still screams, pinning her down, uncaring of the loss of like– half of its face and it isn't until the second shot, loud and shattering, that it splits open, all brown moist and blood that makes it collapse dead, or as dead as those things could be. 

Ava is on her before she can even move. She pushes the clicker off her body, hands going everywhere, checking her over her clothes, eyes frantic and filled with more fear than Beatrice believes she's ever seen from the girl. "Are you okay?! Did it get you?" 

Before Beatrice has a chance to respond, warm hands come up to cradle her face in an attempt to get her attention. Beatrice only seizes up more, the touch going like fire through her body. Oh, hell.

"Bea?" 

Ava's eyes search for hers and Beatrice needs to look away and drag herself up from the floor before she actually passes away – not from a clicker or a wound but some sort of a heart problem because she's sure it's going to beat out of her chest at any moment.

"I'm fine." Her voice wavers, betraying her. She brush off her clothes and checks her gun to keep herself busy from the heat that's steadily rising up her neck and moves away to check the barricaded room.

She can hear Ava following her cautiously, a question on the tip of her tongue. 

"What?" 

"Are you sure you're alright?" 

"Ava."

"Fine, fine." She gets closer, close enough that her hip brushes up against hers. Beatrice forces herself not to react to the touch. "I guess we really gotta stick together or else one of us is going to get mauled by a clicker."

Ava hooks her arm with hers and Beatrice almost drops her gun. She adjusts before responding, her grip tightening around the handle. "Seems highly inefficient."

"Maybe." Ava shrugs, then her eyes land on something on a table further into her room and she releases her arm to run over. Beatrice damns herself for the feeling of loss and is left watching. "Oh my god, Bea! Look at this." 

Ava whips around with multiple carved horses in her hands. "This one almost looks like Halo!" She holds it forward, almost identical to the others except for the splintered ear. "I'm gonna keep it."

"Ava, we're not supposed to–"

"Come on, just this time. It's seriously so small it should be a crime."

Crime– she would never get this girl. Ava is still looking at her, a wide smile splitting her face and brown eyes practically glimmering. Beatrice mouth goes dry and any reservation she previously had leaves her mind. "Fine."

Ava fist bumps the air, draws her into a quick hug and Beatrice doesn't have time to process it before she has moved on to the next engaging thing. 

This is going to be a long, long journey. 

#warrior nun #avatrice #tlou au #ava silva #sister beatrice #the horse is named halo #and it was in fact a long long journey #bea is not up for handling this literal goof of a golden retriever #i mean who is? #my wrtitng #something i'm working on

[elwenyere]

Hello! The conversation about careening had me wondering--how do you like to do research for your stories? Are there any topics or sources you particularly enjoy delving into or including in your work?

Hello, my friend!!! What a wonderful ask: thank you for these great questions.

After reflecting, I think I could describe my process as having two general categories: as-needed research and broader worldbuilding research.

The first category is a part of almost every fic I write, and it involves things like sourcing locations, verifying timelines, tracking down character names, and (very often) looking up what it feels like to receive various injuries. If it's a Star Wars fic, at least one Wookiepedia visit is a given (the raw materials page is a frequent hit). And there are likely to be a few other general internet searches I repeat several times ("aviation terms," for example, or "New Orleans plant life," depending on the fic and fandom).

The second category covers the exploratory reading and viewing I do for fics that involve more worldbuilding because they extend further outside (or completely outside) canon. The Codywan Pirate AU has me doing all kinds of targeted searches for naval ranks and sailing ship terminology, for example, but I've also been browsing maritime museums for descriptions of what life on ships was like from day to day (look at this cool page about sailor libraries and sailing literature!) and for images that give me a visual sense of the environment. I also love looking at digitized resources through academic libraries. When @festiveferret and I were collaborating on Citation Needed, an MCU professor AU in which history prof Tony is writing a monograph about weapons development during WWII, I used the online special collections at University of Massachusetts - Amherst to learn what the primary documents (enlistment records, ration cards, etc.) featured in the fic would look like. (Ferret then did incredible edits for the epistolary portion of the fic: this post has the collected documents.)

In a couple cases it's actually been the research that has come first and inspired the fic. The initial ideas for Separation, for example, which is a Top Gun fic that leans into the context of the AIDS crisis in the 80s and 90s, came from prep that I'd been doing for a queer literature class, so I was listening to music by queer bands in the period, reading poetry and essays about queer life in NYC and San Francisco (including this piece that discusses Nan Goldin, Thom Gunn's The Man with Night Sweats, "The Fall of 1992" by Randall Mann, and Alexander Chee's essay "After Peter"), and watching the documentary How to Survive a Plague, about the ACT UP movement. Much of that research informed the choices I made in writing the fic, even if it doesn't all appear directly.

Finally, I should confess that I am pretty self-indulgent with my fic research: I spend a lot of time studying and tracking things down when it's a subject I find interesting and/or when having more information will allow me to texture the choices I'm making in ways I personally find compelling; but I am also very unfussed about leaving other things vague or about fudging some details in service of the story. It's not at all out of the ordinary for me to spend 30 minutes looking up the names of camera models that hit shelves in 1991 and then write a sentence that says "when he gets off the carrier in mid-July, he goes to the mall" without specifying which carrier or which mall, because I couldn't be bothered to figure out the military logistics involved. This is one of the joys of writing fic for me: freedom to pour energy into those areas where research helps get me closer to things I want to discover and describe.

Thank you again for the terrific asks, my friend!!! This was very fun to write. <3<3<3

#writing #my process (only sometimes derogatory) #thank you for the lovely asks!!!

[sollucets]

rowan’s gmmtv2024 report:

hi everyone im back from my interview (i dont know yet but i’m hopeful, cross your fingers for me) and im supposed to take a nap before work but i have to yell a bit first you understand

(positives)

1. pluto……. oh my GOD

you guys dont get it i was Really into midnight museum june. i tried my best to watch a lot of things i really didnt like just for namtan tipnaree. i like her So Lots. and namtanfilm i just fully….. had no idea. absolutely none. but it works!! i love it!!! the plot is bonkers (your dead(?) twin was the girlfriend of a now-blind girl that you're lying to now?) and under normal circumstances i wouldnt be interested but namtanfilm Killed this trailer and i also know im going to have Bad second couple syndrome re: whatevers going on with ciize. i love ciize so much.

this was so so soooo good n unexpected . girls kissing onscreen at My gmmtv announcement? :') plus their bathtub scene & that princesses moment.. yeah. that fucks

2. my golden blood

photo proof of me going mildly ballistic about the rumors last week. i did indeed say a few unholy things shortly after this. and to have it be a VAMPIRE BL? gods save us all im going to be so annoying. i was a twilight kid you know it im going to shovel this into my face with abandon

im so down for vampire au fanfic main character princess gawin honestly. wanted by supernatural creatures for his sexy special blood! bridal carried! blood on his university top!!!! i love it i love it i love it

is this objectively a tad embarrassing? yes. are the special effects painfully cheesy? yes. do i care? no 💜

3. peaceful property

this was just so fun to watch the trailer :’) i really love the found family vibes i was getting plus the over the top ghost shenanigans. i’m a casual tay tawan enjoyer & i do really love jan (alex&nim / newjan in warp effect were very fun to me). the trailer felt very warm n fun and bright, so im down. im into it

4. the trainee

we are in “sure i’ll watch that” territory now instead of extreme excitement but i thought this trailer was really fun & cute. i love view, obviously, so the amount of screentime her character got was good for me, and im 👀👀 about those girls. and offgun’s relationship seemed really fun & genuine :’) this seems nice! dont let me down!

5. wandee goodday

i think this looks fun! its a higher heat but still silly, which suits, and it appears to have fake dating which is a weakness trope of mine. also this is one of my bingo squares (adult non-office bl) so yes absolutely ill watch this. thank you p’golf but Please can we get podd Something this time

(mixed feelings)

6. kidnap

i have notably dissonant emotions about ohm pawat (lets not get into it) but i do actually enjoy this kind of forced proximity plotline even if i fear what theyll do with the opening kidnapper/kidnapee relationship. i feel… Something…. about this? yes. something is being felt. there is hope for me here, maybe, perhaps. really though if they want to keep him they should give ohm a smiley role again someday. it feels like everything ive seen him in since bb is all…. violence generational trauma death etc (for the worse imo)

7. gemfourth kiekoi

i think they can do it and it’ll be cute... gemfourth suit aoki and iida well. its just…. i dont know, i have an instinctive ‘noooo’ reaction to this remake. i like kiekoi soso much and i worry a lot. it does not have the exact charm for me.

also for me i wanted something a little different out of gemfourth. they have the range. but again, i do think theyll do well enough with this? so i'm mostly just being..... idk. :<

8. we are

i will at the very least attend e1! but this is too many couples for me if im honest, and they dont seem to be gunning to do anything super interesting. i do love aouboom & i like pondphuwin a lot (i Love pond’s hair in this trailer btw bless) but …. im not invested enough to make it interesting on its own. and [pouty baby voice] i wanted aouboom leads

(negative but ill try to be brief)

9. ossan’s love (the most negative of them all. look away. im so sorry earthmix i love you)

you guys are going to give earth pirapat a fucking complex before he even turns 30. he BETTER be playing haruta (i know hes not). this is just so silly!!! gmmtv doesnt deserve to have this one! this is not right for so many reasons but the most important is that they have no actual correctly aged men. no no no i am so so opposed. and theres not even a trailer 😰 you guys cut that shit out

10. ploy’s yearbook

looks…okay, its giving 55:15 a little bit, but the filmjoong adopted siblings romance threw me so violently that i doubt ill even consider touching it. absolutely not, you guys. gmmtv failing to be normal about siblings yet again! even though i like several of these actresses a lot i really.. i cant do it. also..... is earth a high schooler or is he forty.,, i feel like they're gaslighting us somehow. pairing him with namtan will not improve this situation for me you can't get out of it so easy

(miscellaneous extra commentary no one asked for)

11. only boo (?)

this looks cute? but not in a way where ill watch it unless i have nothing else going on. also unless im mistaken... was that milkbook??? innovation. love it

12. high school frenemies

those boys should be being gay about it instead of whatever shit they're actually doing. very nearly gayer than some of the bl trailers. i do not like this kind of genre thing but viewjune are there so ill still at least consider it.

13. summer nights

incredible how little i can care about something so fast. i'm not like, seethingly angry or anything but it's incredible, truly, how fast any trace of interest dropped away

i dont have anything else to say about the trailers! i will not be addressing the music here as it pains me in many ways.

finally, the personal elephant in the room: no firstkhaotung at all :< you guys know what i am, so obviously i indulged in a little dramatics about it this morning but i do understand. there's a part two that we've now been thoroughly assured they'll be present in, and also they have a show that's actively airing right now, so i'm not too worried. i did sort of expect a minor role for one or both of them at the very least though? but if they actually get a break out of this i'll be happy. please rest boys

(also khaotung on school rangers is, objectively, hilarious. sorry baby they're gonna make you do tasks)

okay! that's all! perhaps nobody wanted to know this

#rowan chatter #gmmtv2024

[xxsp3llb0undxx]

Me and the Devil

Joel Miller x Firefly!Reader ,, Slight Ellie Willams x firefly!Reader [4.3k]

Summary: What if there was still a firefly alive waiting for Ellie at the capitol building?

Reader's appearance is strictly random, I made it all up. If you do not like it, I apologise but it made it easier to fill in the blank parts of the story.

WARNINGS: TLOU AU ,, BLOOD ,, GUNS ,, JOEL BEING GRUMPY ,, INFECTED ,, TESS DYING ,, AGE GAP (READER IS 22) ,, ANGST ,, EVENTUAL FLUFF ,,

MASTERLIST TLOU

Run in with Clickers - The Museum

Joel, Tess and Ellie had snuck out of Boston QZ, their lives carried on their backs in old, torn backpacks. It was dark outside, no stars in the sky to light their way. The trio walked through no mans land as FEDRA guards swept the area for infected or strays that had gotten out of the walls of their quarantine zone. Spotlights shone down on the wasteland below, shadows of the guards on the ground could be seen nearing the small group. Joel aimed his gun in the direction of one of the guards, prepared to take him down if need be. The guard slowly retreated after not finding what he hoped would be there. Tess lead the way for Joel and Ellie, ushering them to squeeze through the gap in the fence they had made when they had first become smugglers.

The trip was going well until it wasn't, their usual route through the hotel had collapsed, the only way past was through a swarm of infected laying on the ground below. The only other choice they had was to go the shorter, more dangerous, way; through the museum - that was apparently crawling with every strain of infected you could think off. When they had made it, cordyceps spores danced around the floor of the street and the exterior of the building, they merged together like vines - a family tree. Joel inspected the spores, hitting the butt of his gun against it; a cloud of ash evaporated into the air. "It's bone dry, could mean they're all finally dead in there." The group walked into the building, their flashlights lit up the rundown museum. Ellie was the first to say anything, or more like shout curses. "Oh shit." Her voice wavered a little as she stared down at the body of a man in the corner, his skin torn and blood still wet - the body was fresh, couldn't have been more than a couple hours old.

"Okay, from this point on, we are silent. Not quiet, silent." Joel looked over at Ellie as he spoke, trying to make it clear to her that this was now a life or death situation. The trio carefully made it up the stairs, bodies thrown across the wooden steps - their corpses starting to decay. Ellie had stepped on one of the bodies, a crunch from the stale bones echoed through the museum, Joel and Tess whipped their heads around and stared at the young girl - silently scolding her. Once they had made it to the floor they had needed to be on, Joel was the first to enter the room on the top floor; Ellie and Tess arriving shortly after, both jumping out the way as the ceiling collapses. Tess huffs as she gets up, reaching her hand out to Ellie to help her up. The sound of clicking and shrieks rip through the air, echoing throughout the room. 'They can't see but, they can hear' Joel had mouthed to the young girl behind him, his gun held tightly in his grip.

Two clickers emerged from the dark, their heads twisting as they stumbled around. Their clicks and screams startled Ellie, she was squished between Joel and Tess as they hid behind a display case. Ellie held her breath as of the clickers made their way past, thinking she was in the clear - she released a shaky breath, though the remaining oxygen had caught in her throat as the clicker turned around, it's split mushroom head now in clear view. It lunged in the direction of Ellie and Tess, the young girl screamed as Tess dragged her away to another area of the upper floor; the clicker shortly following behind. "Hey, hey fucker. I'm over here." Joel screamed at the creature, it's whole body twisted as it ran straight for Joel; arms outstretched as it tried to grip onto him. He lead it to another section of the museum, he was goading it on - pissing the creature off. Gun shots fired one after the other as Joel shot at the clicker, blood curdling screams erupted from it's throat as it fell to the floor with a thump.

Ellie had made her way to Joel, telling him she had lot sight of Tess. He looked around trying to figure out where she was, but before he could do anything, both him and Ellie were knocked to the ground as another clicker emerged from a dark corner. It's rotting, yellow teeth sunk into Ellie's arm, coaxing a cry from the girl. Joel flung the creature away from the pair, smashing the butt of his gun into it head, over and over again leaving a pool of dark red liquid to spread across the floor. "We should get going, the Capitol isn't that far." Tess had walked up behind the pair, her voice strained. The group had made it to the roof, a wooden plank stretched across one building to another. Tess had twisted her ankle at some point throughout the whole dance party with the infected, she was sat on the windowsill as she bandaged her ankle to try and support it the best she could. "You fucking kidding me? I mean, if it was going to happen to one of us." Tess and Joel snapped their heads up to look at Ellie, her sleeve was rolled up revealing a new bite mark - small pools of blood gliding down her pale arm.

Joel threw a bandage at the girl, telling her to put it around her arm. He told her to give him and Tess a moment, to go wait over on the other rooftop; to which she nodded her head and walked across the plank. Ellie lent up against the crumbling stone wall as she looked over the scenery; leafy vines trailed up the buildings, mother nature claiming what was rightfully hers. "Is it everything you hoped for?" She looked beside her to see Joel observing the abandoned buildings in front of him. "Jury's still out." Ellie paused before she spoke again "But, man, you can't deny that view." Joel could finally agree with her for once, the view in front of him was morbidly beautiful - almost melancholic.

The Capitol Building - The death of Tess

After a couple days of walking through the cities and avoiding infected, they had finally made it to the Capitol Building. Trucks were out front, doors to the vehicles left open. Joel told Ellie and Tess to wait where they had been hiding, he walked towards one of the trucks and saw a glint of silver reflect in the light - a firefly necklace with the name Y/n engraved on the back. Blood was spattered across the inside of the truck, coating the dashboard and door. He followed the rail up to the big wooden doors of the building, Ellie and Tess had moved from their hiding spot and followed the older male up the steps. The door creaked open, Joel was the first to enter the building; his gun aimed in front in case of any surprise attacks, but all he was met with was a bunch of dead fireflies strewn across the floor. Cries could be heard behind one of the walls, Joel went to go inspect it only for Tess to pull him back. "You don't know what or who that is, our mission is to deliver the girl. We're not going on any side quests, Joel." Her voice was bitter, she tightened her grip on Joel's arm as he walked closer to the sound. He turned back towards Tess and shook her off of him before proceeding towards where he had heard the crying.

A young girl was curled into herself in the corner, a gun held tightly against her chest. Joel crouched down to her height, his movement slow and careful, he couldn't risk scaring the only firefly left. "Hey.. put down the gun, we're here to help." Joel didn't mean it, he just wanted to give her Ellie and fuck off to wherever he had planned to go. The young girl looked up at him; she had big blue eyes, her skin was pale - almost paper white and short, jet black hair. She looked young, too young to be smuggling a person. Joel looked over her face, he notice light freckles littering her skin and dark bags under her eyes - she looked like a ghost. "Joel, we need to hurry up. I'm not waiting here all day for infected to show up, lets just hand over the girl." Tess's voice startled the young girl in front of Joel, he reached out towards her; to which she back up away from him further, if that was even possible.

Tess stormed over with Ellie in tow, lightly pushing her towards the firefly. Ellie stumbled and fell beside the girl, she noticed a small tattoo on her wrist, the initials 'R.A' in dark ink spread across the side of her wrist. Ellie knew those initials, she knew who they were for - Riley. Tears welled in the young girls eyes, her vision slowly becoming blurry. "How- how do you know Riley?" Her voice cracked, a lump started to form in her throat. Y/n looked up at Ellie, taking in the dark brown of her eyes, the way her hair would curl up at the ends, the faint scar through her eyebrow. Realisation finally set it, she knew who this girl was. "You're Ellie.. Riley talked about you a lot, I'm so sorry for what happened." Y/n couldn't look at her as she spoke, she felt guilty for asking Marlene to make Riley apart of the fireflies, taking her away from her best friend. Tess and Joel observed the two girls, they felt for them - it was a shit world for kids to be living in, whether that be they're 12 or 22 it didn't make a difference, they barely have a life.

The sound of snarling emitted from the other side of the room, one of the fireflies had risen as an infected. Y/n jumped up fast, stepping in front of Joel as he pulled out his gun. "Don't. You kill him here and the rest will just follow, I know you're not dumb, Joel." The older male looked down at the girl in front of him, he huffed as she turned around and pulled the infected away from any vine near; his jaw snapped at her, trying to sink it's teeth into her skin. A sound of a gun shot rang through the air, the infected went limp as the bullet had penetrated it's skull. Tess put her gun back in her holster as small tendrils sprouted from the floor, making their way under the fingernails of the now dead member of Y/n's group. Joel stared at Tess in bewilderment, his head cocked slightly to the side trying to catch her eyes. She had turned to Ellie questioning her where Marlene told her she was supposed to go, all she got out of the young girl was - West. Joel pushed his way into their conversation, telling Tess that they should just go home; the older woman didn't like that, she blew up at Joel, shouting at him that the QZ was not her home. "I mean.. Our luck had to run out sooner or later." Tess had revealed she got bit by one of the clickers back at the museum, Joel just stood there - frozen. He couldn't deal with losing another person, not again.

"There's gonna be a swarm of infected heading our way any minute now, you have to go." Joel shook his head, he couldn't - no, he wouldn't leave her behind. He grabbed onto her wrist and begun pulling her towards the back exit of the building. Tess clawed at his hand, freeing her wrist from his grasp. "Is there anything you can do? Just- just anything to save her?" His question was aimed at Y/n, she walked over to the front of the building with all the supplies; there were 2 vials of a weird green liquid. Y/n picked up a needle and walked over to Tess, she inspected the wound and asked her how long ago she had been bitten. She order Joel to pick up as much supplies he could carry and get ready to run when the swarm were almost near, Y/n had injected one of the vials mysterious contents into Tess's wound. A yelp left her throat as the needle was removed, she was bandaged up and started walking to the back exit to leave. The front doors slammed open and a swarm of infected spread throughout the building, Joel had grabbed Ellie's arm and ran to the back; kicking the door open and running as far away from the Capitol as they could. Tess followed shortly behind as Y/n was still in the middle, surrounded by infected. Tess had turned back to see her stood there, as still as a wounded animal. Without thinking she ran back towards the girl and grabbed her arm, Y/n flung Tess to the ground and protected her as best as she could from the infected.

Her pale skin now being covered in bite marks as she used her own body to shield Tess from these cordyceps ridden freaks, though it didn't stop her from one sneaky stalker to make it's way over and bite a chunk out of Tess's leg. A blood curdling scream erupted from her throat, tears dripping down the sides of her face as she gathered up all her strength to push Y/n off of her and yell for her to run. The young girl had luckily found a stray grenade on the floor away from the swarm, she pulled the pin and threw it, uttering her last sorry and goodbye to the woman before running as fast as she could out of the building. It took awhile for her to catch up to Ellie and Joel, she was only able to find them from the bickering between the pair. Ellie was the first to notice Y/n, she looked around to see if Tess was trailing behind but she was nowhere to be seen. When Joel didn't hear Ellie making sly comments towards him, he turned around and saw her with Y/n - the black haired girl was covered in blood, bite marks littered her pale skin. He pulled Ellie back and shoved her behind him, keeping distance from the girl.

"Where is Tess? What did you do to her?" His voice was stern and cold, like he was ready to rip her apart when the chance came around. All Y/n could do was shake her head, her voice refusing to speak up and let itself be known. Joel turned around and walked off ahead of them, he wasn't in the state of mind to handle this right now. Ellie had given Y/n her jacket to hopefully protected her bleeding body from the now cold breeze sweeping through the area, she had asked her why she didn't stay with Tess if she was going to end up turning soon anyway; she didn't mean it in some fucked up way, more like she was curious why someone would fight to stay alive when they were going to end up like the rest of the world. "I'm immune, just like you. My mom was bitten when she was pregnant with me, they think that's what protected me from becoming infected." Ellie was happy to have someone like her around but what if it were Riley instead? What if the only person she has ever loved was the one stood beside her as they walked to the ends of the earth?

Bill and Frank's home - Joel falls in love

The trio had been walking for a few days, stopping to rest every now and then, due to Joel's knees giving out on him a couple times. The older male would grumble every time Y/n would hook her arm around his back to support his weight, he hated having to depend on other's. His arm was slung over her shoulder as they walked up a small hill, Ellie was up front - happily rambling on about Bill and Frank. Joel ended up tripping on a small piece of concrete that had uplifted from the ground, Y/n tried her best to steady him but in the end, the pair fell to the ground. Joel was sprawled out on the concrete as Y/n sat there looking at him, her hands now grazed - pieces of gravel stuck into her skin. She made her way over to him, helping him sit upright as she checked over his figure for any damage from the fall. Joel sat their quietly, observing the young girl in front of him - his heart hammered in his chest as she cup his face in her hands, her fingers smoothing over his skin as she moved closer to check for any grazes or cuts. Once she had moved away from him, he looked at her like she had committed a crime - well in Joel's case, she did. She made him feel thing's he hasn't felt in a long time.

They had finally made it to Massachusetts, the long road down to their gated community was surrounded by woodland. Joel wanted to go the longer way to save Ellie from seeing the mass of bones in a ditch from the start of the outbreak, Ellie had persisted that they should go the shorter way and make their lives easier. When they had come across the decayed corpses Ellie stood there, staring at them - all their personal effects thrown beside them. She turned to look at Joel, asking him what had happened - he hesitated before speaking. "When the outbreak first happened, FEDRA went around collecting people to bring them to QZ's but what they didn't tell them was - if the QZ didn't have the space that would happen to them." He pointed down to the pile of bones scattered around. "Were they infected?" Joel shook his head "Not all of them." He hated remembering the day the outbreak happened, the cordyceps claiming the world as it's own breeding ground. Y/n reached for Joel's hand, giving it a light squeeze before ushering the pair to just continue walking to the gated community about 1/2 a mile from them.

When they had finally reached Bill and Frank's home, everything beyond the gate was dead - the flowers looked like they hadn't been watered in months, the grass overgrown and weeds wrapped themselves around the columns of the houses like vines. Joel punched in the pin to the gate, the buzzer sounded telling the trio they could now enter the community. Once inside, they got a better look at the street around them; it was derelict, unlived in. Joel had led Ellie and Y/n over to the building presumed to be Bill and Frank's house, the door was unlocked. The wooden slab creaked open as Y/n pushed it, the stench of rotting food filled the air - flies buzzing around the plates of what used to hold chicken. "You stay here. Ya hear anything, see anything.. Yell." Joel manoeuvred through the house calling out Bill and Frank's name's, though he was only met with silence on their behalf. Ellie had stumbled upon a letter and key, Y/n looked it over - it was a small white envelope with the words 'To whomever.. but probably Joel.' The sound of Joel calling their names caught both Ellie's and Y/n's attention, their heads turning in the direction of Joel as he walked towards them from down the hall.

He noticed the envelope in Ellie's hand, taking note of the key sat on the table beside her. "It's from bill." She waved the letter in the air. "To whomever.. but probably Joel, We figured we fell under 'whomever'. It came with this." She pushed the key over to Joel, to which he picked it up and examined it. The words Y/n had dreaded, fell from Joel's lips. "So they're dead?" Ellie nodded her head, silence took over the once comforting mood - now turning it sour. "You, you wanna?" Ellie had her arm stretched out, the letter between her forefinger and middle finger as she tried to give it to Joel. He shook his head, giving her permission to read it instead.

“August 29, 2023.

If you find this… please do not come into the bedroom. We left a window open so the house wouldn’t smell, but it will probably be a sight. I’m guessing you found this, Joel, because anyone else would’ve been electrocuted or blown up by one of my traps. Hehehehehehehehe." Ellie paused looking over at Joel before continuing once again. "Take anything you need. The bunker code is the same as the gate code but in reverse. Anyway… I never liked you, but still, it’s like we’re friends… almost. And I respect you. So, I’m gonna tell you something because you’re probably the only person who will understand. I used to hate the world, and I was happy when everyone died. But I was wrong because there was one person worth saving. That’s what I did. I saved him. Then I protected him. That’s why men like you and me are here. We have a job to do. And God help any motherfuckers who stand in our way. I leave you all of my weapons and equipment. Use them to keep…” Ellie refused to continue reading, Y/n patted the young girls shoulder before taking the letter from her hands and continuing from where she left off. "Use them to keep Tess safe, until such time as you and she decide you've had enough. At that point, I recommend pairing 40 Vicodin's with a nice Brunello. - Bill."

Y/n looked at Joel, his fists were clenched at his side. She walked over to him to try and console him, instead he pushed her away from him muttering a stern 'don't.' before walking out the house and to the garage Bill had kept his Chevy. Y/n was left stood in the dining room as Ellie had chased after Joel, tear stung her eyes. She tried her best to save Tess, she really did but all Joel would see her as the reason his lover was now dead. Y/n left the pair to their own devices as she walked around Bill's house, fingers trailing across any surface they could touch, dust collecting on her finger tips. She had made her way upstairs, looking over every picture framed on the walls and paintings left untouched. Y/n was sat in one of the rooms, it still resembled what it would've looked like before the apocalypse - light coloured floral bedding, fuzzy beige carpet, an ottoman placed by the window. It felt like home, or whatever home was.

Y/n had stayed upstairs for majority of the time Joel and Ellie were doing whatever they were doing, she had stumbled upon a book - Dracula by Bram Stoker, she had read it before, it was one of things that helped her through the shitty days of being a firefly. Footsteps on the stairs made the wood creek, Y/n was too absorbed into the book to notice Joel was stood in the doorway of the room she had found refuge in. His body was lent up against the painted wood, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at the girl; her attention was solely on the book in her hands. He coughed in an attempt to gain her attention, she turned her head slowly, eye's still glued onto the page she was reading until she could no longer read the word as she was now facing Joel. He cleared his throat once again before finding the words he wanted to say. "Look.. I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier, that wasn't fair on you. Tess meant a lot to me and losing her.. losing her is one of the hardest thing's I've had to do." Y/n nodded at Joel, pushing him to continue talking. "But that doesn't mean I have the right to treat you like you're nothing.. because that's not true. In the short time I've known you, you have made me feel things I haven't felt in a long time. I feel young again, like my heart is finally beating again and that's all down to you."

He had cupped her face in his hands, looking into her blue eyes before talking once gain. "I don't know if this is love or just the need for someone to care about me but- but I don't want to ever forget this feeling, I don't ever want to lose you.." He had closed the gap between them, his lips pressed against Y/n's so softly. Joel's lips were chapped but it felt like heaven. When he had pulled away, he looked at Y/n with a small smile stretched across his face. His brown eyes sparkled in a way Y/n had never seen, he seemed happier - free.

A/N: Random Joel fic, it's probably so bad and poorly written lmao. Enjoy I guess

#the last of us #the last of us hbo #the last of us series #the last of us fic #tlou #tlou hbo #tlou series #tlou fanfiction #tlou fic #tlou x reader #tlou bill #frank tlou #joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller x y/n #ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #ellie the last of us #ellie williams tlou #tess servopoulos #tess servopoulos x reader

[greensolivagant]

Hannibal Extended Universe Fic Recs

Category: Spacedogs

Relationship: Nigel (Charlie Countryman)/Adam Raki (Adam)

~

Title and Author: Star-scarred Hero by KatherineKrawl

Summary: Attacked by a mugger on his way home from work, Adam Raki is saved by a man with a scar in the shape of a star on his forehead.

This won't be the last time Adam is in need of his hero's help...

 ...or company.

Word Count: 22k

Status: Multi-Chapter, Complete

Notes: This is yet another meet cute that I adore. Nigel is immediately smitten and he’s so respectful toward Adam’s feelings and his need for order in his life. It’s a lovely read.

~

Title and Author: Constellation of Scars by Severus_divides_into_H

Summary: The taste of death was still sharp on his tongue, the need for violence still burning in his veins, when Nigel saw him. Him, with beauty that knew no rivals, with innocence that begged for corruption. A customer in his bar, all chocolate curls and lost eyes and vacant face.

Nigel watched him. And watched him. And watched him.

Until watching was no longer enough.

Word Count: 24k

Status: Multi-Chapter, Complete

Notes: The way this author describes Nigel’s obsessive personality in this is perfection and his gradual interest in Adam is gripping! There is -of course- protective Nigel because I’m weak for feral bois beating the snot out of the poor souls who thought messing with their partners was a good idea.

~

Title and Author: Craigslist by Llewcie

Summary: Prompt: (Gen or slash) After Beth leaves Adam, he thinks about how to deal with everything on his own - selling the apartment, packing for California, communicating with people there - and decides to post an ad on Craigslist. He’s looking for someone who can “take care of things” for him - things that are “messy” and “complicated”. Nigel answers the ad, expecting to be hired as a contract killer. He ends up becoming a very odd version of Jeeves.

Word Count: 28k

Status: Multi-Chapter, Complete

Notes: This is one of the most humorous fics I’ve had the pleasure of reading, because who doesn't like a bit of miscommunication between a guy that just wants to have help moving and a gun for hire? Not to mention that Nigel and Adam’s interactions are top tier!

~

Title and Author: Strange Diamonds by sku7314977

Summary: An innocent trip to the museum turns into an unexpected adventure flipping Adam's world upside down when he's tricked into being the drop man for a double-cross exchange between a thug and the guy stealing his wife.

Word Count: 35k

Status: Multi-Chapter, Complete

Notes: One of my favorite meet-cute fics in this fandom! Nigel and Adam’s interactions are just so wholesome!

~

Title and Author: Daybreakers by drinkbloodlikewine, whiskeyandspite

Summary: “Look, kid -”

“I’m not a kid,” the other says. “I’m not your kid. Or son. Or boy. I am potentially your employer and not impressed, at the moment.”

Adam's work is not strictly speaking legal. Who is Nigel to judge?

Word Count: 53k

Status: Multi-Chapter, Complete

Notes: A Spacedogs Bodyguard AU that was such a good read that I couldn’t help but add it to the list! Adam and Nigel are characterized so well and the way that they gradually warm up to each other is so on point! Plus there’s also a fair amount of protective Nigel, which is always a perk.

#charlie countryman #adam movie #spacedogs #hannibal extended universe #adam #nigel #adam x nigel #fic recs #fic recs for a rainy day

[goddesspharo]

procrastination meme: ⚠️♻️🛠

[ask me about my WIPs!]

⚠️ Which wip your most likely to finish or update next?

I'm really hoping it's the final chapter of can't fake what you can't break up with because that'll be one WIP that is in-progress no more! But there's one bit of it between two sections I've already written that is tripping me up (I know something needs to go there and I have an inkling of what I want it to be, but I am not sure how to make it work) and my brain refuses to move on to anything else until I figure it out.

♻️ A scrapped idea for your current WIP

Interpreting "current" very loosely (if I've opened up the document at least once this week, it counts!). Not entirely sure if it's scrapped or if it will be retooled, but at one point I thought about taking the political scientists series down a Chappaquiddick path. (...and that's why Charlie wasn't in Top Gun: Maverick lol)

🛠 Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

There's the aforementioned bit of Vegas AU that I mentioned earlier, but I think most of the WIPs have one hiccup that is acting as the rate-limiting step. I started working on the final part of the spy AU last week and there is a scene that I can see perfectly in my head (gotta love the requisite shop talk between former colleagues pretending to be strangers at a museum) but I can't seem to get it down on paper. It's extremely annoying.

#ask me things #hmm how many WIPs is too many WIPs?

[carriagelamp]

Man I got lucky this month, I got to read a bunch of excellent books, including some really neat queer novels. Nothing like a break to really get to kick back and enjoy reading for the sheer pleasure of reading rather than a desperate escape

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manhua v1

Unsurprising to absolutely anyone who’s been reading these, I picked up the first book of the manhua adaptation of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It covers the first part of the first book, which basically amounts of Wei Wuxian’s revival and his flight from Mo Manor to the mountain and the Night Hunt. Besides for WWX, we get to meet Lan Wanji, the juniors, and Jiang Cheng, all of which have great designs. Like the rest of this series, it was a pleasure to read, the adaptation was done really well, and I’m excited for the next volume.

The Ice Monster

This book was very… meh. I was pretty disappointed, because I’ve really enjoyed the other two books I’ve read by David Walliams so far, and this was probably the one I was most excited about, but it was… incredibly middling compared to the others.

The Ice Monster is about a Victorian orphan, Elsie, who escapes from the brutal orphanage she had been raised in and was making her way on the streets. During this time, a great mammoth that had been found in the Arctic was being transported to the museum for display. Elsie feels a kinship for this “monster” and begins a series of events that lead to it being freed from the ice and set loose in London.

There were good moments in this book and I’m sure a kid would enjoy it, but ultimately it felt like way too many fart jokes and not enough substance compared to Walliams’ other books.

I Think Our Son Is Gay v2

A very sweet manga series I’ve been reading from the library. It follows the POV of a mother who suspects that her son is gay but who isn’t quite ready to come out yet. It’s a nice balance of humour — the art is cute and the characters have fun reactions to various silly things that happen in their lives — and love while still asking what it must be like to be gay in a homophobic society. A good read.

Legends & Lattes

SUCH a fun novel, it was exactly what I needed this month.

The story is about an orc mercenary called Viv who, after 20 years of fighting and killing, has had enough and is ready to settle down. Using the mysterious reward from her last adventure, Viv leaves her old company to find what she hopes will be the perfect city to open a coffee shop. Which is a daunting task in a part of the world that has never ever heard of coffee before and is suitably leery of this “bean water”.

If you want an action-packed, edge of your seat adventure book… don’t read this. This is the epitome of “cosy” fiction — its tag line is “high fantasy and low stakes”. If you want a dnd coffee au in novel form that’s about friendship and food… then this is THE perfect novel. It made me feel so warm and happy (and hungry).

Lucky Luke: The Oklahoma Land Rush // The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke

Lucky Luke is a BD series I’ve heard a lot about, and after seeing a couple episodes of it on Prime I decided I needed to actually pick up a volume or two. I’m delighted I did and I think I’ll need to read more now! 

The general premise is that of a western. The titular character, Lucky Luke, is a clever and nearly unflappable gun-slinger who can “shoot faster than his shadow”. Luke gets into a range of silly, comedic Wild West adventures and inevitably comes out on top for the sake of justice. Naturally, the genre being what it is, the whole First Nations thing is… rough, but the books were enjoyable if you can look past that.

The first book I read was The Oklahoma Land Rush which is fairly indicative of the series I believe and is about Luke being hired to help police the desperate rush of settlers to claim land in Oklahoma. The second was The Man Who Shot Lucky Luke which was written by Matthieu Bonhomme instead of Morris and is a slightly grittier, more serious take on Luke. I enjoyed this one just as much — it still managed to be funny, but the stakes felt much higher. And the art was just stunning.

The Night Gardener

A fun, creepy middle grade horror. A story about two young Irish immigrants trying their best to survive in the absence of their parents. In a last desperate attempt to get work they find themselves way out at a desolate, crumbling English manor that has been almost completely consumed by a strange tree. The family there is as desolate and strange as the grounds, pale and sickly and carrying a mysterious secret. The siblings realise just how strange and dangerous this estate might be as they’re drawn deeper into the secrets and begin to suspect that there’s something else living and working on the grounds…

I really like Jonathan Auxier's writing and I’ve been meaning to try this novel for years. I was glad to have finally done it.

Doctor Who: The Runaway Tardis

Just a cute little picture book. Pop Classics does some fun work and the art style really worked for Doctor Who. It’s about a little girl who has moved and is struggling with needing to make whole new friends in a place she doesn’t know. The themes of loneliness and goodbyes and needing to move on and make new friends was actually perfect to pair with Doctor Who; despite being quite simple and silly looking, it actually made me feel things for both the Doctor and the little girl.

Sandman v1/2

Everyone has been so hyped about The Sandman! I’ve been wanting to get in on it but I’m not very good at sitting down and watching shows so I thought I might try the original comics. Honestly I should have known better. I don’t really like this harsh style of American comics and if we’re being totally honest I don’t generally like Gaiman’s longer prose. This, unsurprisingly, combined two things I don’t like and ended up with a comic I didn’t like. Things only went down hill when fucking Batman appeared. It didn’t even really feel like it had the humour I would at least expect from Gaiman besides for a few brief glimmers. I appreciate that other people really like this series but oof. Not for me. 

The Secret Garden

I love The Secret Garden, it’s one of those comfort books that I need to reread every few years. I was listening to it as an audiobook this time and it was so lovely to see the first signs of spring appearing while listening to this story. If you want something feel good I highly recommend starting it because we are in the season for it.

If you’ve never read The Secret Garden, the premise is of a young, spoiled, but horrifically neglected child who was raised in British-occupied India. She is a bad-tempered, sour, and demanding child known to others as “Mistress Mary quite contrary”. When her parents die of a cholera outbreak she is sent back to England to live at her uncle’s manor on the Yorkshire moors. This relative is also distant and bitter, apparently hunchbacked and widowed. Once more alone, Mary is suddenly expected to do things for herself and isn’t given her every demand — instead she begins to befriend the cheerful, plain-spoken maid and starts spending time outside, exploring and playing for what feels like the first time in her life…   

Wallace & Gromit: Crackers in Space

I stumbled across this as an audiobook. After the fact I realised it’s also a comic. Oddly enough, the comic seemed profoundly bad — I’ve never really liked any of the Wallace and Gromit comics — but the audiobook version was a delight. It has the actual voice actor for Wallace, so it sounded completely like I had just put an episode on in the background that I had never watched before. They were also very clever about giving Gromit a “voice” despite him being a non-verbal character! It was actually a lot of fun!

Wallace decides to attempt making his own cheese out in the garden shed… only things go badly, as they’re wont to. Instead of making a lovely cheese, the whole thing ends up getting launched into the atmosphere because of a helium mishap… which might not be so bad if the zero gravity wasn’t making the Home Brew Cheese Kit kick into overdrive. They’re going to have to figure out how to deal with the massive, mutated cheese comet that’s now threatening all of West Wallaby Street. 

Wave Me Goodbye

An absolutely charming book, I didn’t want to put it down. This book takes place at the beginning of the Second World War, when children were being evacuated from London (which was at risk of bombing) and being sent out to live with volunteers in the country. Shirley is one of the children being sent out, but right from the beginning she finds herself struggling with feeling like the odd one out. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with her rough-and-tumble classmates, and when she does make a new friend on the train it’s clear that she doesn’t properly fit in with the posh covenant girls either. Things only get worse when she is one of the only children not picked to go with a family, and suddenly she and two other unwanted boys find themselves foisted on the unwilling inhabitants of the Red House. But in wartime, one has to make due, so she, Kevin, and Archie begin to explore this strange, half-empty house and get used to a very different way of life way out in the country.

Shirley is a huge reader in the book, and it actually made me pause reading to go and read some of the books she references! It was a lot of fun! Some of the books I read last month that Shirley reads are Ballet Shoes and The Squirrel, The Hare, and the Little Grey Rabbit. It’s also what made me decide to reread The Secret Garden, since they feel like similar genres.

When the Angels Left the Old Country

I read some great books this month and it would be hard to say for certain which was my favourite since they were in quite different genres, but this would be a strong contender. Holy shit was it good. The tl;dr is that it’s a bit like a Jewish Good Omens but also nothing like that at all.

The Angel (as angels don’t have permanent names, but rather names that describe what they are currently doing) and the demon Little Ash have been study partners for centuries, happily existing in their little Shtetl without feeling much need to change things. But things are changing and with the press of poverty and rise of violent anti-Semitic feelings many residents of the Shtetl are now leaving for America in the search of work and safety. Little Ash is determined that they should join these immigrants, and when a member of their Shtetl goes missing on her own voyage it seems inevitable that they go and track her down to ensure she is safe and well.

At its heart this is an immigrant story about people and prejudice and love, and it’s really written beautifully, the way you see all the hardship that goes into such a voyage even for supernatural beings.

#book review #book reviews #when the angels left the old country #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #mdzs #wave me goodbye #wwii #wwii era #doctor who #wallace and gromit #aardman #secret garden #frances burnett #pop classics #the runaway tardis #the night gardener #jonathan auxier #legends and lattes #dnd #lucky luke #ice monster #david walliams #i think our son is gay #queer #queer lit #queer books #canadian literature #canlit

[dribs-and-drabbles]

GMMTV 2024 part 1

My thoughts on the trailers (from what I can remember and from some dms I shouted to @grapejuicegay two nights ago...and which I also did last year as well - that was interesting to read again!) and in order of preference/excitement about its potential:

Pluto has to be top of my list because not only WOMEN but WOMEN KISSING OTHER WOMEN. I'm a little confused on the story (like most people it seems) but I'm here for a little mystery. I just hope we don't get a repeat of 'one twin being awoken from a coma by the other twin having sex'...or maybe I do.

Of course Ploy's Yearbook is second because, again, WOMEN. But also JIMMY! And Joong and Mond! I don't even mind the 'adopted siblings' thing, because in my mind the adoption is a recent thing and they haven't grown up together (watch me be wrong). Anyway, here for the ladies not for the story.

How could I not put My Precious the Series in third spot with Nanon (and Film)?! Not only are these two adorable together but HOW has Nanon managed to look SO YOUNG here? (At 22 I know he's still young but he looks even younger). I guess the plot is a simple teenage friend group lovestory but I don't care, I'd watch Nanon in just about anything. (Ooo, and Fon [10 Yrs Ticket] is co-directing!)

Whether Peaceful Property is a bl or not I am signed the f up. This trailer was the best to be honest. It was like a refreshing slap in the face and I would have set it top if it hadn't been for The Women and Nanon. Spooky hijinks? Absolutely. Found family? I'm eating that shit up. Jan being kooky? More more! New in a more domineering role than Tay? Yes please. This was basically me:

I'm sort of 80% believing/trusting that Kidnap is a BL, not that that's the only reason I'll be seated for it. No, I'm here for Ohm. Now, I did say that about him last year in Double Savage and then I couldn't get past ep 3 (even though I had said I couldn't wait to see him in something heavy and dramatic...the intergenerational trauma was just too much for me) but I have high hopes for this one. And I'm intrigued as to why they've put such a newbie (Leng) opposite such an experienced actor (and someone SO experienced with bl series), so I'm thinking they will either use that difference in the plot, OR they know Leng is just That Good, OR he's a 'placeholder' for another actor who will be recast in the role. We'll see if I'm right. (Also, it's directed by Noom [Midnight Museum]...)

What's not to love about The Trainee? (apart from the fact that we haven't even had Cooking Crush yet so how am I supposed to get excited over another Gun/Off show?!?). We get Off and Gun again, and then there's Sea...and a possible GL side couple??? And it's not set in a school/uni!! Let's see how different it will be to ABAAB...

At first I was a little disappointed to see that GMMTV was doing a My Love Mix-Up! remake, even with Fourth and Gemini (whom I love) and Au directing (MSP and BBS), because I would have preferred to see them in something new, maybe something meatier (having seen what they could do in Moonlight Chicken), but I guess I don't mind. It will be interesting to see how Thailand approaches this story and if they can do the nuance of the exploration of sexuality as well as the original.

I'm excited for Wandee Goodday mainly to see Great again but Inn also looks good. This is an interesting pairing, and I love some of the side characters. The main reason it's not higher up the list is because I'm not a fan of boxing, but I'm definitely here for the friends-with-benefits to fake-dating shenanigans. Oh and for Golf (The Eclipse) directing.

What can I say about My Golden Blood that hasn't already been said?! Gawin in another BL! And with Joss! And Mond again! And it's about VAMPIRES! Signed and sealed. Give it to me. (Also, it's the same director as Shadow: Ark).

We Are looks cute, and it's nice to see all the couples again but the trailer didn't wow me. Having said that, it'll probably end up being my favourite or something knowing me 😂

The main thing I'm looking forward to with Only Boo! is to see Louis and Aun (and maybe the other two but I don't know them) killing it with the dancing (unfortunately there'll probably also be singing). I mean, look at this. Show me what you've got Louis!

I'm not really feeling Summer Night at all to be honest. And they used the ost for UMG at the end which threw me as well. I'll see what the real trailer looks like and decide whether to watch it then...but my hunch is I won't.

High School Frenemy had FAR too much fighting in it and I'm not sure if I'll watch this one. It seems like it should be a bl but I don't think it will be (I am fighting the urge to read up on the Korean original). BUT I might show up for these three...as well as View, Est, Mark, Mark, Prom, and AJ AND JJ (my beloveds). I'm warning the show, though, it had BETTER have a DAMN GOOD REASON why Shin won't forgive Saint. (I've just seen it's directed by Fon, so that's giving me more hope).

I'm really really hesitant about Ossan's Love Thailand and it's not because I know the original (because I don't) but mainly because I've never felt inclined to see the original because of one of the age gaps. I'm usually fine with age gaps but this one just feels icky. I wonder what they'll do with the Thai version...but it's directed by Au, so I'll probably watch it (and because it's Earth/Mix - duh), but I might not do the whole comparison with the original thing.

And lastly The Interest (Movie Trailer #2) and Enigma 2 which I doubt I will watch. The former is a movie, so I don't know if it'll get an international release, and the latter is a sequel and I haven't seen the first series...and probably won't unless someone gives me good reason to otherwise.

#gmmtv 2024 #wow that got long #I obviously had a lot to say #pluto the series #ploy's yearbook #my precious the series #peaceful property the series #kidnap the series #the trainee the series #my love mix up thailand #wandee goodday #my golden blood the series #we are the series #only boo! #summer night the series #high school frenemy #ossan's love thailand

[sluttyhenley]

2, 4, 5 for the fic asks??

2. do you read/reread your own fics?

as i've developed my writing more, i've read my own fic in the service of fixing issues and making them more read-able. and then as i've developed my writing more i've been trying to reread my own fics. because i am the target audience for my stories! i'm writing the stories i want to see in the world. the challenge is (and i was thinking about this today while i was skimming a short thing i just recently posted) is that it reads like something i wrote. (of course! because i wrote it!) but like! i do like my stories! but it will always read like something i wrote! which is uncomfortable! it's like paying attention to the man behind the curtain! anyway the short answer is i want to but it's hard.

4. how many WIPs do you have right now?

never ask a woman her age, her salary or how many WIPs she has. honestly? it's like. god. ok. i have several that i finished writing years ago, that i want to eventually go back to and clean up, because my writing has changed a lot in the interim. I have a book of nile fic that i desperately want to finish writing. and i will. eventually. . . and then i have uhhhh four or five or so that i have worked on to some degree in the last six months or so. and then i have. several ideas that i haven't actually created a document for yet. so uhhhh. i don't know?? lets call it a cool 15 or so. (and not all for the same fandom. it's like. star trek, the old guard, top gun, mission: impossible, and the last samurai)

5. what's a fic idea you've had that you will never write?

hmmmm, a while back, i had an old guard modern no powers au idea with nile being an american art historian who gets hired at a european museum where the main focus would be book of nile. (fully inspired by uhhh mamselle freeman). at this point it doesn't feel like i'll actually write it because, i have like. so many ideas, and really i don't really have a lot of plot points beyond booker calling nile mamselle. but i also hate to ever say never about any of my fic ideas, because i never know when i'll find myself in a mindset for that idea again.

ask me about my fics!

#ongreenergrasses #i get asked things #ask game

[theputterer]

Good Things In 2022

“It’s that time of year again! Time to remember all the good things that happened in 2022. I’ve done this since 2017, and highly recommend doing this as a fun way to reflect (and to have something for future reference when you are feeling Down.)

feels like I literally just did this for 2021, and yet.

just under the wire...

PERSONAL

I MOVED ACROSS THE WORLD!!!!! I am now living in Dublin, Ireland. it was a move I'd been aiming to do for years, and once I received my citizenship and Irish passport, I decided to give it a shot. I've been here for nine months and am having a wonderful time.

I did more traveling this year than I think I ever have in a single calendar year.

In Ireland, I've visited several counties and lots of Dublin, including: Malahide, Howth, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin Mountains, Glasnevin Cemetery, Little Museum of Dublin, GPO Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, National Museum(s) of Ireland, EPIC Museum.

I finally went to Paris for a few days in June! Visited: Musée d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Coeur, Notre Dame (closed to visitors due to renovation/restoration work but wandered around the outside and had a fabulous lunch). Bonus points for the Paris Métro, which fuckin rules.

I finally went to Italy for a long weekend in October! Got to see my folks that weekend as well. Spent time in Venice and Florence. Ate a lot of good food and gelato.

My beloved Seattle Mariners broke a 21 year drought and made it to the PLAYOFFS!!!!!!

I have been puttering away on a ROGUE ONE-FRINGE fusion/AU, ENDLESS FORMS MOST BEAUTIFUL. it has been super slow going but I am trying and I WILL finish it.

Similarly, sorta, I took a writing class! I shared a snippet of my original writing which was well-received. I got some lovely comments from my teacher which is currently sustaining me.

Anything bolded below is something I particularly enjoyed and recommend. 

MOVIES

2022 movies I saw and liked:

TURNING RED

THE BATMAN

THE NORTHMAN

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

3000 YEARS OF LONGING

NOPE

SEE HOW THEY RUN

TICKET TO PARADISE

THE WOMAN KING

ENOLA HOLMES 2

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

GLASS ONION

BONES AND ALL

THE MENU

AMBULANCE

THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT

2021 movies I saw for the first time and liked:

ETERNALS

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

FREE GUY

SPENCER

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS

UNCHARTED

TV

EUPHORIA (saw season 1, did not watch season 2. lol.)

MOON KNIGHT

FRINGE

STRANGER THINGS, SEASON 4

MS MARVEL

THE SANDMAN

THE CROWN (the first few seasons and then I stopped : / )

1899

DARK (BRO........ BRO........ BEST TV SHOW OF THIS CENTURY?????)

Special acknowledgment: ANDOR. what a trip and a half to see my beloved son on screen once more. I shared some thoughts here.

BOOKS

Did not read nearly as many as I should have! (I did read some other books but they are not on this last as I did not like them).

"Strangers to Ourselves" by Rachel Aviv

"Greywaren" by Maggie Stiefvater

"Babel" by RF Kuang

"She Who Became The Sun" by Shelley Parker-Chan

"Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me" by Adrienne Brodeur

"The Hours" by Michael Cunningham

"The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

"The Burning God" by RF Kuang (incredible series but BOY will it fuck you up!!!!!!)

"The Dragon Republic" by RF Kuang

"The Poppy War" by RF Kuang

"Winter Recipes From the Collective" by Louise Gluck

"You Feel It Just Below the Ribs" by Jeffrey Cranor

"Oscar Wilde: A Life" by Matthew Sturgis

OTHER GOOD THINGS

*some of these things are Good as in well-written or well-made, but maybe not Good in topic.

Saw a couple plays at the Abbey Theatre: "Translations" by Brian Friel and "Joyce's Women" by Edna O'Brien. Quite different, both devastating.

Morocco's run at the FIFA Men's World Cup.

Joplin Sibtain, who played Brasso on ANDOR, shared a reel on Instagram of the SPOILERS riot scene on Ferrix with "Killing in the Name" dubbed over it. Incredible.

Martin Scorsese watches DERRY GIRLS.

Local Man Sees Cheese For Sale At Incredibly Low Price, Makes Executive Decision, Purchases 40 Pounds of Cheese

Is Twitter dying? Probably. Here's a thread where everyone shared their favorite tweets.

This angry little dog.

Mother losing it over her baby's laughter.

Dave Sims' calling Cal Raleigh's home run that sent the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time in 21 years.

Janan Ganesh over at the Financial Times with an incredible and scathing assessment of why Liz Truss and the Tories have never gotten Brexit "right". (Hint: they think the UK is on par with the US.)

Twitter user attempts to summarize RIVERDALE in a thread.

This TikTok of two preteen girls discovering landlines that made me LOL and also made me feel DECREPIT.

Shauna Bowers for The Irish Times with a dispatch from Electric Picnic that featured bangers of lines, including: The most sacred Electric Picnic institution of all remains untouched: the inflatable chapel, where all true love stories begin. “That’s probably the only way I’d be able to get you to marry me,” a woman says to her boyfriend. He says nothing.

Ichiro Girl returns to T-Mobile Park and throws out the first pitch to, of course, ICHIRO.

A story about how dogs are the best.

Pianist named Alex Pian covers "Time" by Hans Zimmer in Lviv, Ukraine, as air raid sirens sound. Really powerful.

Emma Baccellieri for Sports Illustrated explores a topic we've all wanted to know more about: what baseball relief pitchers are thinking when they run in from the bullpen during a bench clearing.

This video of STAR WARS characters singing a classic.... just watch it.

MORE

CONTACT is one of my favorite movies and Rachel Handler for Vulture wrote an oral history for the film's 25th anniversary.

Stephania Taladrid for The New Yorker, on the ground at an abortion clinic in Houston when Roe was overturned. Required reading.

Linda Villarosa for The New York Times, "The Long Shadow of Eugenics in America". also required reading.

Joshua Rothman for The New Yorker, "Anatomy of Error". A neurosurgeon reckons with surgeries that go wrong. Fascinating!

Rachel Pearson for The New Yorker, "Waiting at a Texas Hospital for the Children Who Never Arrive". Dispatches from a trauma center in the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting. Required reading.

Similarly, Albert Burneko for The Defector, "What It's Like Here". On being a parent in America.

Palate cleanser: Cincinnati Reds allow no hits against Pittsburgh Pirates... and still lose. lol.

Evgenia Peretz for Vanity Fair with an absolutely wild ride of a read about a Grey's Anatomy writer who.... made up an entire life.

Rachel Aviv (who never misses, incidentally) for The New Yorker, "How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student". What makes a "good" victim?

this thread about creepy shit kids say???

PIZZA FOR DOGS.

sending you all warmth and affection and hoping you have a safe, healthy, and wonderful 2023.

tagging anyone who wants to do this (and tag me so I see it!) as well as those who've done this in the past: @vaderkat @fortysevenswrites @leaiorganas @magalis @illuminahsti @i-am-slain @antifandor @alittlemomentum @cassianserso @callioope

#personal #good things #2022

[itwoodbeprefect]

WIP Game! ✨

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

-

i was tagged by @luredin (thank you!) and i’ll tag @redgoldblue, @spaceradars, @logicgunn, and you, the person reading this, to either do this tag game, not do it, or do it six months from now (or anywhere between now and then) - whichever works for you.

-

and then, hm. the thing about how i write fic is that technically speaking it’s, uh, deeply inefficient, in the sense that i’ll start a hundred things (more literally than you might think) and bounce around between them until something gets close enough to being finished that it just needs a final little push (which only happens for about half the things i start, but that’s okay, because the other half is also an invaluable part of the process).

point being, the list of WIPs is long. curated version (with any projects i’d consider abondoned/barely started filtered out) below the cut. send me a title or fandom + number!

-

Starsky & Hutch (practically all of this is Starsky/Hutch)

Our girlfriend who lives in Canada

All your ducks in a row

Starsky gets politically involved

Starsky decides Hutch’s mustache is gay

On blond blintzes, and how to sweeten them: easy 5-step recipe!

Starsky interrupts Hutch’s date with a guy

Gold dust woman // Take your silver spoon (Dig your grave)

Hutch has a new neighbor

Peter Whitelaw meets Starsky for dinner

Someone overhears them

Starsky’s brother visits

Hutch gets himself a beard

Not even a good kisser (Death in a different place tag)

Everything goes wrong / They were jinxed

Hutch kisses Starsky

Hutch would pick Paul Newman

Starsky’s painted nails

Love you to love me

Sleep together sometimes

Fire metaphors - And a freight train running through the middle of my head

Starsky dates a married woman

Here be dragons (Cowboy on the white horse)

Hutch is the utterly oblivious one, Starsky is confused

Greg is a four letter word

Cuddling only happens when they’re dying

Huggy brings a housewarming gift

Arranged Marriage AU

The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pet Rock

Hutch vs. glasses

Twilight

Personalized embroidered towels

-

Hawaii Five-0 (everything here is Steve/Danny)

It might sound cheesy

The opposite of purple prose (isn’t this)

Counting the days (and the hours, minutes, seconds, and maybe a microsecond or two)

The fic where Steve thinks Danny is dating the botanist neighbor

Arguments over spice racks

Five people who don’t get why Danny couldn’t just tell Steve that he’s in love with him (and one person who does)

Steve sees rainbows everywhere

Danny loses track of the line between friendship and romance

Five things Nahele learned from Steve (plus one)

They try to find a term for each other

Ace soulmate AU

The bunk beds fic

Steve and Danny buy a house together

Five times Steve is not going to be emotional about moving

They have Lou and Renee over for dinner!!!

The hyphenation of life

I love you sounds different if you’re saying it to a guy you’re sleeping with

I spy, with my little bi

Multimedia fic?

The soap opera fix

Deus ex machina (the one with dolphin God)

Danny has someone else

Steve’s becomes… themed

They watch Top Gun

Danny Williams and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Neighborhood Barbecue

Danny undercover needs to ward off advances

Danny tries to get Steve’s phone because he sent Stella a gay crisis text

Superheroes at a museum

A flip-flop state of mind (the half-posted multichapter fic already up on ao3)

-

Stargate Atlantis (John/Rodney except for that last one, where it’s &)

The Brightest Light in Atlantis

Universe where X

Some kind of DADT repeal fic

John tells Rodney he likes him and they try to figure it out together

Aro Ace John

-

due South (RayK/Fraser, and for #2 also RayV/Stella)

Oral hygiene fic

Fraser and both Rays and Stella have dinner together

The Guy Thing

-

Other

Homophobia? (Sports Night, Dan/Casey)

Leapfrog (911, Buck/Eddie)

Jolene/Diane (from the songs. so I guess songfic)

Johnny comes out (and he and Daniel keep going to that bar) fic (Cobra Kai, Johnny/Daniel)

Our Dear Mr. Wilson’s Guide To Becoming A Successful Contributing Member Of A Team Of Internationally Renowned High-Tech Do-Gooder Criminals (Leverage Redemption, gen with background OT3)

MASH marriage fic (MASH, Hawkeye/Trapper)

BJ figures out Hawkeye is not very heterosexual (MASH, gen)

#the h50 list especially is. considerably shortened #there's an older version of The Big H50 WIP Document that if presented in full would probably push us over the 100 mark by itself #but we don't need that. this is... 75. i think 75 is enough #* #tag stuff

[emphasisonthehomo]

Super hero!Obes w/ Villain!Maul inspired by this fucking post. Vaguely modern human au? Imagine if Coruscant was like uhhhhh *spins a wheel* New York?

CW: for violence and murder and death. Usual super hero stuff.

-

Obi-Wan wouldn’t describe Mo as… dangerous. Not really. Absurdly clever? Yes. Massively irritating? Absolutely. But dangerous? No. Despite the smoke bombs, despite the many knives he carried, dangerous somehow never really came to mind.

Anytime Obi-Wan felt self-conscious about the whole “masked vigilante” thing, Mo tended to show up, with his over the top outfit emblazoned with a large ‘M.0’ (hence the moniker), monologuing dramatically about good and evil, throwing smoke bombs, and generally acting like a super villain from a children’s cartoon. Obi-Wan wouldn’t put it past him to have a literal Secret Lair™ hidden somewhere underground.

Nothing like a cackling mad man in a horned helmet to make one feel better about hiding one’s identity from the public.

The media had a field day with him, of course. Unending discourse and speculation about what the ‘M.0’ could stand for, various op-eds questioning his motivations, etc. A local theater student had gone viral a few months back, for performing one of Mo’s particularly verbose monologues about the Nature of Human Kind. It was a whole thing.

Mo was the scourge of the financial district, for the most part. Maybe that’s why he was so popular with the average person. He didn’t bother to try and rob the nearest corner store, nor did he pickpocket any unsuspecting tourists. No, instead he focused on repeatedly breaking into the many branches of the Bank of Coruscant, re-arranging the exhibits in local galleries or museums, and trashing the offices of wealthy CEOs. Through a convoluted combination of hacking, acrobatics, and hand to hand combat, he stole ludicrous amounts of money, and caused untold amounts of damage.

One time Mo had busted through the ceiling in a high raise during an Important Quarterly Financial Meeting. He’d demanded everyone give him their watch and then leave the room, before somehow managing to flood the entire executive floor, and exiting the building without being caught or seen.

Theft and property damage. And chaos. That was what Obi-Wan associated with Mo. Disruptive but ultimately harmless. No one has ever had more than a minor scrape or bruise, after a run in with Mo.

So when Obi-Wan receives a request for The Negotiator to make an appearance at the Bank of Coruscant’s central location, he’s expecting more of the usual. Perhaps this time Mo will have an even bigger knife with him. Perhaps this time his smoke bombs will be glittery. Perhaps this time his rant with be in iambic pentameter.

Obi-Wan isn’t expecting a hostage situation.

He’s not expecting the limp body of a teller slumped in the lobby, a huge hole in the left side of their face, and blood oozing across the tile floor.

•

“This isn’t Mo,” Obi-Wan observes, watching the grainy security footage that SWAT has pulled up.

It must be serious indeed, if the police want them involved. Usually, they keep him and Anakin at arm’s length, and Obi-Wan honestly prefers it that way. It does make it more convenient though, to have been asked to be here. At the very least the cops have a perimeter of the bank, and it’s be easier to sneak in and help someone, if he and Anakin don’t have to worry about an idiot with a flash bang bursting in.

On the screen, two figures in clown masks, both armed with what appears to be automatic rifles, stalk the lobby. One of them has a heavy look duffle bag slung over his shoulder, probably containing wads of cash. The remaining hostages are huddled on the floor, hands on their heads.

“What makes you so sure?” Grunts a large man in a bullet proof vest – Captain Louz, who looks every inch the stereotype of a SWAT officer, his neck is as thick as his head.

“He’s never used a gun,” Obi-Wan points out dryly, “And I don’t think he’s ever taken hostages.”

“If it was Mo, he would be shaking his ass for the cameras and rambling about the inherent human need to dance naked in the rain by now,” Anakin says.

Obi-Wan delicately hides a snort of laughter behind a cough. Judging from the fact that Captain Louz has frown lines instead of laugh lines, he probably won’t appreciate any jokes.

“What are their demands?” Obi-Wan changes the subject, glancing up from the security footage.

Across the empty street, cordoned off and surrounded by a phalanx of police officers, the front of the bank is a mess. Last week Mo had busted every single one of the windows, and they still haven’t been replaced. The clowns are hidden behind a wall of plywood, safe from any snipers the police might post on the neighboring buildings.

Yet another reason Obi-Wan doubts that it’s Mo. Why would he come back so soon? What could he accomplish now, that he couldn’t have done five days ago?

To operate without risk of snipers. A whisper at the back of his mind supplies.

Obi-Wan frowns.

No need for snipers, unless hostages were taken. No need for hostages, unless the robbery was botched somehow.

Mo hasn’t botched anything before.

“A helicopter within the hour, promise of a safe getaway, otherwise they’ll shoot ‘nother hostage,” Captain Louz heaves a huge sigh, “They won’t talk with any of our guys, we’re hoping you can-”

Suddenly, Anakin grabs Obi-Wan’s arm and squeezes.

“Look!” He hisses, gesturing back to the security footage.

Obi-Wan looks.

There are three screens, each split into four, each with a different camera angle. In the bottom left corner of the middle screen, a hallway ceiling tile moves. It shifts, shudders and then starts to fall. Quick as anything, a gloved hand darts out from the ceiling, and grabs it.

Slowly. The tile is hauled up, disappearing into the hole it left behind in the ceiling. It’s replaced by a figure, dropping deftly to the floor.

It’s Mo.

It’s so obviously Mo.

Obi-Wan’s stomach sinks.

The usually vibrant red pattern of Mo’s suit has been muted by the cameras, dull and pixilated gray on the black fabric.

“Still think it’s not Mo?” Captain Louz sneers.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Obi-Wan murmurs, blood beginning to run cold.

He shouldn’t be surprised.

He shouldn’t.

Mo’s escalated, of course he has. That’s how it always goes, with this kind of violence. Relegating him to cartoonish supervillainy was a mistake. 

Obi-Wan watches as Mo strides confidently down the hallways. Vanishing from view for one camera angle, only to reappear in another.

Except.

Except –

Mo doesn’t walk directly into the lobby.

He stops and crouches down, back pressed against the wall, next to the closed Employees Only door that leads into the lobby.

Slowly. Slower than the movement of the ceiling tile, he reaches out and begins to turn the knob. The door inches open. Across the lobby, the men in clown masks are oblivious to the creeping movement behind them. They’re focused on the hostages, on the heavily armed police on the other side of the plywood.

With barely enough room to squeeze through, Mo slips out of view of that camera, and into view in the back corner of the lobby. Just as slowly as he opened the door, he closes it. Mo lowers himself out of the crouch, stomach practically against the carpet, and begins to crawl. It’s almost cat like, graceful and fluid as he moves across the floor.

“What in the sweet hell?” Captain Louz mutters, brow furrowing.

Mo crawls until he’s tucked behind the teller desk. And then very deliberately, reaches up a hand, and knocks a pen onto the floor.

It causes an instant commotion. The clowns, clearly already on edge, whirl to look at the teller’s desk.

“Check on it!” The clown with the duffle bag demands of the other, jerking the barrel of his gun in the direction of the noise.

The other hunches his shoulders up, and begins to walk towards the teller’s desk.

Still tucked behind it, Mo doesn’t move.

Obi-Wan realizes what’s going to happen just before it does

Mo explodes into motion. Reaches out and grabs a handful of the front of the clown’s shirt, and yanks. Mo slings out a leg in a sweep at the same time, kicking the clowns’ feet out from underneath him, even as his head slams the desk with a bang.

There’s a scuffle, yelp of pain.

Obi-Wan has seen Mo in various states of hand-to-hand combat. It’s brief, usually. A punch or a kick here or there. Mo prefers to toss off a one liner and disappear in a cloud of smoke, rather than actually fight if confronted. What Obi-Wan sees now, is something completely different.

Mo twists, his left arm snapping down to drop an elbow on the back of the masked man’s head, smashing his face back into the desk. Then Mo lifts and shoves, and the clown staggers back and falls over with a groan.

“DON’T FUCKING MOVE!” The other clown shrieks, pointing the gun in Mo’s direction. His grip is shaking. He’s aiming from the hip.

Mo straightens up. The rifle is now in his hands, Obi-Wan has no idea how or when that happened. Mo lifts the gun casually, settles the butt against his shoulder. His grip is steady, firm. A gloved finger rests lightly against the trigger.

“I SAID DON’T FUCKING MOVE!”

Mo says nothing, instead he takes a deliberate step forward.

Off in the corner, a few hostages look up in terror. One sees her chance, stumbles to her feet, and starts to run for the door.

The movement is enough to distract the clown, and Mo sees his own chance.

Obi-Wan watches, almost in disbelief, as Mo adjusts his aim and fires.

The clown jerks backwards, and he crumbles down. The duffle bag filled with money lands first with a heavy thump, before the clown follows, flopping on top of it.

A few of the hostage’s scream. Another two bolt for the door.

Behind him, Obi-Wan can hear Captain Louz yelling something, knows that the assembled SWAT are running for the bank doors. The commotion seems secondary to what’s unfolding on the security footage.

“YOU FUCKING- YOU JUST SHOT HIM!” The other clown is still on the ground, wheezing. His voice cracks in panic.

“Holy shit.” Anakin breathes.

“I did,” Mo says.

His voice has no inflection, none of the grandeur he usually infuses into his villainous monologues. The audio is tiny, distorted by the speakers on the screen.

Mo raises the gun again, aims, and fires.

•

“I apologize, I prefer not to leave this kind of mess,” Mo is speaking directly to the security camera.

He drops a small sphere. There’s no theatrics, no drama.

When the smoke clears, Mo is gone.

•

The death toll at the end of the day is five.

The teller.

Two security guards.

And two men in clown masks.

Nothing is missing from the bank.

#aron's fic #star wars #star wars fic #obi wan kenobi #maul opress #anakin skywalker #super hero au