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fictionissocialinquiry · 3 years

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FISI’s Favourite Zutara Fics

A lil late for ZFAW’s Saturday prompt, sorry about that! Haven’t had any internet over the weekend. But better late than never!

I’m not gonna lie… a lot of these are angsty af. But I promise you they’re not gratuitous angst! They’re well written, beautiful stories that will make you feel like a better person for having read them. These are my favourite all time fics, ones I’ve read more than once and will continue to read (even though I’m taking a week break from fandom and fic).

Multi-Chaptered Fics

The Sparrowkeet Series by audreyii_fic

To be honest, this story’s summary doesn’t do it justice so I ain’t including it. Originally a one shot, Sparrowkeet is headcanon for me now. Move over canon, this is where it’s at. Audreyii_fic’s characterisation, world building, and writing is exquisite. It’s incredible. She manages to channel the same fun and whimsical energy from the show while allowing the characters to grow and develop to places I wish they had actually been taken.

This one is a fandom Must Read and one I return to regularly.

Clothe Me in Seasons, Dress Me in Snow by sadladybug

It is not the memorial she deserves, nor the one she would want. But it can't be helped. He owns no property in the other nations, and he needed to keep her close. Closer than she was in life, anyway.

Zuko's reflections on a life lived and a life that could have been.

This is one of the best written fics I’ve ever read. It’s tragic and deep and will hurt you in all the tender places but you would be doing yourself a favour if you read this. There’s a real bittersweet feeling to it and the love between them is just… urg, visceral.

Lovable by LadyCharity

Zuko knew that he could not save Azula. He could only try to forgive her. Fittingly enough, those two were one in the same.

I love stories that make Zutara their centerpiece but every now but then a story like this comes along. A story where their relationship builds almost incidentally because the plot and character development straight up hijack your emotions. I got so invested in this story. Zuko is amazingly well characterised and his complicated thoughts and feelings around his father and Azula are incredibly well written!

One Shots

Lunar Ephemerality by @formerlygoldilocks (goldilocks23)

After multiple failed attempts on his life and years of self-set expectations, Fire Lord Zuko is a shell of the man he used to be. But Katara won't turn her back on those who need her.

I really didn’t expect this to hit as hard as it did. This straight up snuck up on me, fly-kicked my feelings, and by the end I had written an 800 word comment that was too big for AO3 and I had to contact the author directly to send it to her. Awkward. I couldn’t help myself. The side to Katara we see here is so good, her empathy and love for her friends are one of the things I love seeing most in AtLA fanfic. I’m a sucker for Zuko having complete breakdowns and having to piece himself back together too. So sue me. I like it when they suffer a lil bit. The writing is absurdly good and I will be keeping an eye out for any new stories by goldilocks23!

31 Minutes by @ifyouwereamelodymeg

It's quite astounding, really, how quickly she's learned to translate him. They've spent a grand total of zero time together outside of training, and he's hardly big on chat so she knows next to nothing about his life.

But she knows him, probably better than she knows anyone at the moment – with every tap of his fingers, every crook of his lips, every turn in his voice, he just...

He makes sense to her. It's weird.

I’m a sucker for fic writers playing with style to make the story pop and boyo does this fic deliver. This is one of the rare times that I’ve been dumbstruck at the end of a story— I just couldn’t accept the ending. Because I’m a sucker for pain, (and this story will bring The Pain) I loved it. The ease of Zuko and Katara’s growing relationship in this bowls you over, it’s absolutely beautiful and you find yourself nodding along emphatically when Zuko calls himself an idiot for waiting… “Life’s short, kids, live each moment as though it could be your last,” says this fic as it pulls my heart out and dropkicks it off a cliff.

i count to five (and life passes by) by @markedmage

Five heartbeats.

I still haven’t forgiven Mage for this one. I think it’s the best thing she’s written to date! I mean, tragic and painful and heart-rending but holy shit is it powerful <3

The Lake of the Dismal Swamp by @thewhiitelotus

Spook af. Spook (horror) is real hard to do well but thewhiitelotus is coming for your goosebumps and those shivers down your spine. She has a way of balancing beautiful, evocative imagery with action (in this and other stories of her) that just keeps you reading!

Calloused by @rideboldlyride

Iroh hadn’t been able to watch. The pure horror of a man - a father- burning their child for a slight infraction... He couldn’t do anything to stop it, but he will stop his brother from destroying entirely the kind boy he knew Zuko could be.

This is a painfully underappreciated fic for how great the characterisation is. I know we in the zutara fandom tend to not read stories that aren’t Zuko/Katara centric as often but do yourself the favour of reading this (or listening to it: RideBoldlyRide has done us the gift of recording a podfic for this and it’s stupidly *good*). This story is Iroh confronting Ozai just after he burns Zuko’s face and it kicks.

four days and three nights by @hinaoyamas (lettersfromnowhere)

Zuko discovers firsthand that nothing is more fleeting than happiness, or more enduring than memory.

Do you like reading stories with a distant, omniscient narrator? The kind that read like a myth from the ancient world? Welp, hit the hyperlink, friend, cause this one’s for you. Not only is the writing exquisite but the characterisation and painful inevitability of the plot is grade A.

For the Fire Nation by tullyblue12

He falls in love with her for his country before he falls in love with her for himself. A Zuko/Katara AU that explores how love and duty aren’t always mutually exclusive.

There are about 40,000 exquisite lines in this story but here is just one of my favourites: “He falls in love with her for his country first. That’s what his people never understand.” This fic says a lot with so few words, which is something I really look up to! In 2,800 words, tullyblue12 does what some 100,000k fics cant: They make you feel.

Guide Me Home by Rashaka

To sleep, perchance to dream. Katara and Zuko find a friendship they never expected in a place that seemed impossible.

This is a one shot I will forever wish for a continuation of. The setup is just… so juicy. There’s a real sorrowful innocence to this story that the unique short, dialogue only scenes really punch home. I know some people don’t like dialogue only fics but when done well like in this one, it leaves you with the impression of something deeper than a 1,185 word fic has any right to!

Other Favourites!

Hopeless by tullyblue12 — Kids grow up fast when a cruel world awaits them. In times of hopelessness, Katara and Zuko grow together. In times of separation, they hope to see each other again.

Speechless by goldilocks23 — Zuko has a medical condition. Or: Zuko speaks in haiku at inappropriate times.

Don’t Follow Me Down by eleventy7 — Katara is the dread queen of the underworld, ruler of the dead, destined to reign her cold kingdom alone. Until a sun god catches her eye. A Hades/Persephone retelling with incredible writing.

I Don't Speak Meow Language by @botherkupo (Boogum) — In which Zuko adopts a cat and Katara just wonders what spirits she pissed off to deserve this fate.

I have the privilege of being friends with some of these authors (they know who they are) and am in near daily awe and gratitude for the works of free fiction they provide us, the fandom. And not just any old stories: Guys... Really good ones!! Can I ask that if you go check out these fics, can you just drop a kudos or a comment their way? If you’re feeling shy just copy and paste this into the comments box anonymously: “WOW! Loved this! Thank you so much for writing it!”

I know it would mean the world to this talented bunch <3

#ZFAW #Fic Rec #favourite zutara fanfics of all time #zutara #atla

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theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin · 4 years

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This is a bit random but if characters from your fics lived in the Atla universe what element would they bend? Personally I think Lily would still have all her powers which would result in people thinking she's the avatar even though she's not, Obito would be a firebender, Minato an airbender and Lenin dearest would be a waterbender/bloodbender/maybe the avatar?. This is just the vibe I get tho-

Who needs bullet points when we can do a far too thought out AU that spans multiple fandoms/recursive works that will never happen?

More to the point, elements in AtLA is a mix of personality (we see earth benders as often brash and stubborn, water benders as adaptive, etc.) but also simply genetics. So, while I get that’s kind of the point of this post, it’s a bit weird to me to assign an element solely on personality.

So with that, let’s get started.

The Setting

Just to make things fun let’s make our AU take place sometime between Sozin’s first comet and Roku’s death and Aang awakening from that iceberg. The air benders have been wiped out, seemingly with no survivors, the South Pole has been invaded and the water benders from there captured and brought back to the Fire Nation, many of the colonies in the Earth Kingdom have been established, but the North Pole and great cities in the Earth Kingdom still stand.

The Avatar hasn’t been missing for one-hundred years yet, but he’s been missing for decades and people are coming around to the idea that maybe he’s really not going to show up.

Wizard Lenin/Tom Riddle

In this AU we’ll give Tom Riddle a slightly more traditional shitty background. Since we can’t really have a Tom in the AtLA universe he’s going to have the AtLA generic equivalent name that canon even jokes about: Lee. Lee is the mixed heritage son of a Fire Nation lord and a water bender from the south pole who grows up in a Fire Nation orphanage. And yes, this does happen in the absolute worst way you can possibly imagine, one of the imprisoned water benders from the south pole is raped.

As for Tom (Lee, you get the idea) arriving at an orphanage instead of being imprisoned/taken in as a son, well I’ll leave that to imagination but we can imagine a relatively compassionate guard, a dash of luck, or perhaps someone being an idiot and thinking “oh just dump it in an orphanage, there’s no way it will turn into a water bender too”

So, Tom grows up in an orphanage and looks just a bit... different from everyone else and is clearly not purely from the fire nation. I’m imagining much darker skin (and POC Tom Riddle is the weirdest thing in the world to contemplate, but here we are) and the pale blue eyes.

Tom grows up, dreaming probably of entering the military and winning himself glory, prestige, honor, and clawing out of this impoverished life he was born into. He undoubtedly desperately hopes he’s a fire bender, as not only is it cool but they have the best chance of making it in the world, and probably stays up late for many nights fruitlessly attempting to shoot fire out of his hands.

Unfortunately for Tom, sometime when he’s probably around eight or so, turns out he’s actually a water bender. Naturally, Tom has a huge meltdown and existential crisis as this means something’s terribly terribly wrong. More, all his hopes are ruined, as while a non-bender can make it a bender who is not a fire bender is a foreigner and traitor to the state.

Tom runs away and being a precocious child is able to make it on his own and about the country probably pulling off Toph-like scams. Eventually he runs into a much younger Hama who has just escaped prison and not yet started on her scary old lady adventures of imprisoning random villagers in caves. Hama goes, “of course, yes my child, I knew your mother” and gives Tom the whole horrible rape tale along with “I will teach you everything I know including my scary blood bending”. So Tom learns scary blood bending, probably stays with Hama a few years, and then realizes Hama isn’t going anywhere.

Hama’s content kidnapping random people into caves. At this point, angry and suddenly very pro-water bender Tom wants to murder the Fire Lord and his entire goddamn family and put himself in charge. Go big or go home, am I right?

So Tom leaves, Hama probably saying, “Come back any time, my beautiful murder child” and probably goes exploring the world in search of how the hell he’s going to bring down the Fire Lord. He also probably murders his entire father’s family and steals all his money, but that’s a different story. I imagine he goes to the North Pole where he learns that, as much of a water bender as he is, that he’s the son of someone from the Fire Nation closes pretty much every door to him. He’ll always be an outsider and the North Pole is very frosty towards him.

According to Hama, the South Pole is in shambles, so Tom probably doesn’t even bother going.

So Tom probably goes and bums around the Earth Kingdom, loitering in Ba Sing Se and Omashu, looking for that damned Spirit Library in the desert, etc. for a good number of years as he works to perfect his water bending and make himself an instrument of death.

And then he meets an alien and everything changes.

Lily

Tom probably manages to wander around the spirit world at one point in his late teens and probably almost gets eaten by something terrifying. While he learns much it’s not really anything useful and is more in the “too cosmic horror for Tom” variety. More than that though, something follows him back out.

When he comes to back in the real world there’s this thing sitting next to him that looks enough like a person but also like someone told a gifted artist what humans look like and they got it mostly right but also went a little nuts. It’s a girl, a few years younger than him, who has flaming red hair, absurdly green eyes, pale skin, and facial features he can’t recognize for the life of him (Lily still looking western in this to up the ante of ‘she’s an alien folks’).

Tom sacrifices his dinner to it and hopes it doesn’t eat him.

It explains that it’s a tourist from another dimension, beyond even the Spirit World, and that it’s come to see what the mortal world is all about. Tom is naturally very weirded out but at this point decides to roll with it.

Except it doesn’t leave and clearly expects Tom to play tour guide.

He does, reluctantly, because he doesn’t want to be eaten but he also sort of gets used to the thing. Then, one day, it starts bending multiple elements with utter ease and Tom is at first flabbergasted and horrified (only to remember that spirits can do what they want and aren’t like lowly mortals who can only bend one element) and then he gets the idea.

The Avatar, lazy bastard that he is (and Tom might be a little more than slightly bitter that he himself is not the Avatar), appears to be MIA and not coming back any time soon. The entire world it seems is waiting for the Avatar to come and save them. But, Tom says to himself, who needs the Avatar when you can just have an Avatar. An Avatar and, of course, her water bending master.

Thus, the scheme is set, Tom will teach this weird alien thing how to a) act like a goddamn human in public and b) water bending and together they will pretend she’s the Avatar and got lost in the spirit world a few decades ago (which accounts for the youthful age and the weird appearance) and use this to gain allies, topple the Fire Nation, and eventually give the throne to Tom.

Lily, who doesn’t know the difference between being a tourist and taking over a nation, goes along but is basically this story’s answer to Uncle Iroh always getting distracted by Pai Sho.

Haru/Dead Last

Given that they’re in the Earth Kingdom, and that Lee picks up water bending insultingly quickly which makes Tom fume in rage, they go to pick up an earth bending master/spread the word that the Avatar has returned from her multiple decades long vacation.

Along the way they probably run into Haru, who is the world’s most useless excuse for an Earth Bender. As always, he’s so average looking you can barely remember what he looks like beyond “generic earth bender”.

They probably watch him for two seconds, Lily asks if this is it, and Tom Riddle says, “what a joke”.

Minato Namikaze

Given that all the air benders are dead we’re going to make Minato a very talented earth bender (it is also very weird to imagine a dark haired/dark eyed Minato, but I suppose we’re going to roll with it). This also, to me, does fit his personality a little better as while he is a leaf on the wind kind of guy he also does dig his heels in and get very stubborn now and then.

Minato’s young, younger than Tom (Lee), but he’s incredibly talented and clever. To keep his shinobi background mostly in tact I imagine that Minato is a swiftly rising member of the Dai Li, stationed in Ba Sing Se, but who occasionally goes on intelligence missions to the other feudal powers in the Earth Kingdom.

So I imagine Lily and Tom run into him unnervingly frequently, probably first meeting him off duty in Omashu where he does his “extremely polite and friendly local guide” routine to show the pair the city (never mind that Tom insists he’s been to Omashu plenty of times goddammit). Despite this, Lily and Minato become friends, Lily easily confessing she’s the Avatar (which Minato at first thinks is a joke, even if she looks strange, then goes ‘oh my god, it’s not a joke).

Eventually Minato is stationed to spy on them under the guise of teaching Lily earth bending. So he joins the gang. Tom, who knows exactly what’s going on, is not amused while Lily is just happy to collect another friend who will actually play Pai Sho with her.

Kushina Uzumaki

Kushina is a earth bender, hands down. I debated making her a water bender (because whirlpool) but that personality is just pure earth bender material. Besides, I can just picture her so easily coming from Kyoshi.

So Kushina’s an earth bending Kyoshi warrior, who while ten times as powerful as Minato, also lacks any of his control or cleverness. Kushina has undoubtedly left Kyoshi, abandoning their neutrality, to join the war and kick some fire bender ass.

She does this but along the way frequently runs into the gang where she annoys the ever loving shit out of Minato (her new rival) and claims that Avatar Lily is her new idol.

Rabbit

Rabbit is a mysterious spirit from Lily’s past that she refuses to talk about except in the darkest of terms promising doom and destruction the likes of which the world has never seen.

No one knows how to react to this. Or what a plain old ‘rabbit’ even is.

Tobirama Senju

Because no story’s not complete without Tobirama, I imagine he’s a stuffy waterbender and scholar from the North Pole who Tom is miffed at as the man refused to teach him even more water bending. Tobirama naturally feels that the day he teaches a blatant spy is the day he goes and drowns himself.

Later, when Tom has picked up the Avatar and Tom rubs it in his face, Tobirama probably reluctantly spends a day or so teaching them something/fighting off the hordes of Fire Nation soldiers on their tale (it’s not Avatar if the gang isn’t constantly chased by fire benders).

Obito Uchiha

Obito is the answer to a fire bending instructor. Obito’s a firebender and the youngest son of a wealthy Fire Nation lord. However, Obito’s the black sheep of the family that everyone hates, a late bloomer when it comes to his bending, and is seen as bringing dishonor on the family.

Itching to prove himself, Obito becomes a soldier and goes to the Earth Kingdom, and eventually decides the best way to earn recognition and restore his honor is to capture the newly resurrected Avatar. Congratulations, Obito, you’re this story’s Zuko.

Obito, while not the most talented fire bender at first (though as he gets older he gets dangerously good at it) is extremely clever and becomes the largest threat to the gang.

That said, Obito actually does grow to like Lily quite a bit and begins to realize honor doesn’t actually mean that much to him and he doesn’t even really like his family. He doesn’t even dislike the concept of the Avatar and thinks the world probably does need one right about now.

So after a whole bunch of chasing them around the globe, thinking about his family, and being forced to almost kill the Avatar now and then he eventually defects and volunteers himself as fire bending instructor.

This is met with suspicion on all sides but he and Lily are bros so he wins.

Avatar Roku

Needing to pick up air bending, Lily probably fakes it until she makes it for a while, but eventually runs into Avatar Roku’s wandering spirit taking vacation from an ice cube.

He’s alarmed, but Aang’s trapped in ice, so if someone’s going to substitute then great.

To everyone else it just looks like Lily’s constantly talking to herself, playing Pai Sho with herself, and miraculously picks up air bending out of absolutely nowhere.

Also anyone close to Lee probably figures out she’s not really human/the avatar at this point, but they’ll take what they can get.

And This All Results In

Lily learns all the elements, there’s probably some big battle, then Lily gives some ridiculous speech about world peace that has nothing to do with anything and while the Fire Nation is defeated, Tom is not in fact made Fire Lord and remains merely the Avatar’s humble water bending instructor.

Instead, if he’s alive at this point, the crown goes to Iroh and he’s given a council of angry Earth Kingdom people who tell him to behave or else. We can give Iroh niceish things sometimes. That, or, hilariously, Obito becomes hokage/Fire Lord being distantly in line for the throne and doesn’t even know how that happened or what his life even is right now.

The colonies are the same mess in canon so something like Republic City probably eventually comes about.

Still, there’s peace, and probably statues to the gang all over the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes (while the Fire Nation grumbles and remembers the good old days when they controlled the world).

And then Aang eventually wakes up extremely confused and confronts Avatar Lily noting, “Hey, I’m the actual Avatar” and Lily after a suspiciously blank pause explains, “I said an Avatar, never said I was the Avatar”

So, that’s that. If anyone wants other specific characters added into this mess feel free to comment.

#ask #anon #avatar the last airbender #lily and the art of being sisyphus #minato namikaze and the destroyer of worlds #crossover #fusion

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blacklister214 · 3 years

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Illusions

Having gotten absurdly obsessed with Julie and the Phantoms over the weekend, writing this seemed like the only option.

This is a Caleb Covington POV fanfiction, and I’m writing it from the viewpoint that he isn’t quite the villain he appears to be. I have many theories about Caleb that I will be working into the story if I choose to continue it. This chapter covers the night that band plays the Orpheum, starting from around the time Julie returns home. Weighing Options

L.A. 2020

Caleb stared into his dressing room mirror, barely noticing his own impossibly handsome reflection. They weren't coming. They really weren't coming. He glanced at the wall clock telling him it was ten minutes to midnight. Ten minutes before Luke, Reggie, and Alex would vanish into oblivion, or more accurately vanish into him.

The energy he'd been collecting from them for the past few days had had quite the effect. He wasn't sure he'd ever given such an electrified performance as the one he'd given this evening. The surges were coming rapidly now. Wherever the boys were, they were not enjoying themselves.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the link he'd forged so long ago. It had been an invaluable source of information thus far, alerting Caleb to all manner of fascinating tidbits. Perhaps even now the boys were regretting their decision and calling out for rescue. Naturally he'd provide one...though at this point he might demand some penance on their parts. A little groveling never hurt anyone. It was a bit demeaning the way he'd bent over backwards for a trio of children. Special children, he freely acknowledged, but still children all the same.

"-now! Go join Caleb's club! Please! It's better than not existing at all! Just go! Poof out! Do something! Please! Do it for me!" He knew that voice. Julie. Caleb grimaced. His...rival. How the mighty had fallen that he, Caleb Covington, found himself in competition with a teenage girl. At least she seemed to be conceding their little tug of war.

"We're not going back there." That was Reggie. Reggie, who'd been so enchanted with his club and all its delights. He'd chosen nothingness over Caleb. That was more than a little insulting.

"No music is worth making, Julie, if we're not making it with you. No regrets." Luke, who craved applause and an audience with a fervor matched only by Caleb's, had willingly surrendered both rather than join him. An unpleasant surprise to be sure. What of Alex? Was his silence implied solidarity or had he lost the ability to speak, choked with pain? Surely one of them had been moved by his performance?

Caleb shook his head. Pathetic, that's what it was. Of course Alex was in agreement. The boys were a package deal. He'd always know that. Convince two and the third would follow. Too bad he'd failed with all three. A swell of something unpleasant which he refused to name rose within him. Caleb pushed the feeling back down. Locked it tight in a box with all the rest the emotions he'd rather not confront.

"I love you guys." Julie's saccharine words were immediately followed by a curious sensation within his chest. Almost as if a rubber band were being pulled outward with the other end anchored inside his ribcage.

"How can I feel you?" Caleb paused in the middle of rubbing his chest. Feel him? Luke? Julie felt Luke? Luke was corporeal?

"I don't know." There was awe in the boy's voice. This was too much. Caleb needed to see what was happening. He focused on the doors outside of the garage the band called home. In a moment he was there, just out of sight. A voice drifted through the door.

"Alex, Reggie, come." He risked a peak through the window. All four figures within were far too distracted to glimpse him, immersed as they were in their group hug. A hug. It had taken Caleb decades and an enormous amount of soul links to achieve that feat. How had the boys managed in a few weeks? And...were they glowing? Not just in the "I'm a healthy teenager" way. In the "slap a halo on me, I'm an angel" kind of way. Caleb stepped back from the window. What was going on here?

"I don't feel as weak anymore." How marvelous for Reggie. Caleb, on the hand, was really starting to become uncomfortable. The sensation in his chest was only getting tighter.

"Me either. Not that I was ever that weak." Caleb felt a snap and three puffs of purple air rose from his shirt. His marks. Somehow Julie had overrode his marks. Yes, he'd been planning on removing them himself, but that wasn't the point. It was supposed to be Caleb's decision. The boys were supposed to know that it had been Caleb who'd shown them mercy despite their willfulness and general ingratitude. Julie had bested him, again. Would his humiliation know no bounds?

Caleb took a deep and calming breath. Yes, the urge to unleash some of his magic on the teens was great, but his self control was greater. He would need to regroup. He forced a smile and pictured the basement of his club. He came through in front of William's cell exactly as he'd intended.

"Hello William. Enjoying your timeout?" The skater immediately leapt up and ran over to the magically enforced bars.

"Is Alex alright? Did he cross over?" Caleb rolled his eyes, refusing to be moved by William's puppy dog like devotion. Sweet as the boy may seem, he had a short memory when it came to whom he owed allegiance.

"You do know that if the latter were true, I wouldn't be able to tell you the former." He examined his cuticles waiting for William's slow mind to process his words.

"Huh?" Precisely the response he'd anticipated. At least he'd been able to predict something accurately this evening.

"My dear William, it is fortunate you are so handsome. If the boys crossed over then no one would have any way of knowing if they were 'alright.' Something perhaps you should have considered before leading them down that ill-advised path." At this he fixed the boy with his most baleful glare. The teenager winced slightly, proving Caleb hadn't completely lost his touch.

"So...did they cross over?" Caleb pursued his lip, slightly irked he failed to totally intimidate the boy into silence. He supposed it was true what people said about love making young men bold.

He contemplated ignoring the question. What right did William have to an answer, after all the withholding he'd done in the past few days? Still Caleb had always been fond of the skater, perhaps been too indulgent with him. In a way the boy's unruliness was Caleb's own fault. He'd given the boy far too long a leash.

"I'll tell you, but only because I am the soul of generosity. No, the boys did not cross over. They are well for the moment. Though goodness knows how long that will last." Perhaps he shouldn't have tossed that last bit, but he was feeling frustrated.

"If you do anything to them I'll-" Caleb apparated to close the ten feet between William and himself. The boy tripped backward in surprise and lay sprawled on the floor gazing up at him.

"You'll what, William? Run over me with your skateboard? Oh that's right, it's not in there with you is it?" The look on the boy's face turned from scared to mulish in less than three seconds.

"I'm not sorry." Caleb raised his eyebrow. William may be developing a bit of a backbone after all. What inconvenient timing.

"Why would you be? It's not as though you completely and utterly betrayed the man who took you in and gave you a home. Who taught you all manner of tricks and even let you grind down the rails of his club." William crossed his arms, but the hunch in his shoulders demonstrated the boy wasn't entirely without remorse. Perhaps there was hope for him yet.

"It wasn't like I was damaging them." Then again perhaps not. Lord spare him the antics of petulant teens.

"The point is after everything I've done for you, I deserved a little more loyalty than what you've shown me." William sprung to his feet as quickly as he'd fallen, something in Caleb's accusation striking a nerve.

"You cursed my new friends and my...Alex. And why? Because they didn't want to join your house band? Why couldn't you have just left them alone?!" Caleb felt his lips thin. He HAD already deigned to explain to William why he couldn't simply let the boys waste their talents as they saw fit.

"I already told you, they are too powerful." It may not have been the WHOLE truth, but it was part of the truth, which frankly was more than most people got from him.

"So because you're threatened by them-" Caleb cut William midstream with a snort.

"I am not threatened by them." It was simply too much to let stand. The idea that with all of Caleb's many abilities, he was intimidated by three teenagers was laughable. Yes, the boys could, if they worked at developing their talents, one day learn many of the tricks he'd mastered. However, they'd need to survive the next few decades first, and their stubbornness and recklessness all but ensured they would not. At least not without his help.

"Then why?" A more complicated question than the boy realized, touching on secrets Caleb did not care to reveal.

"You'll be in the cell for the rest of the week. After that you're confined to the club until further notice. No skateboard." A fairly lenient sentence as far as Caleb was concerned. He'd certainly been harsher to other spirits for less. William opened his mouth, either to protest or to restate his question, but Caleb quelled him with a single raised eyebrow. The boy's jaw snapped shut. That was more like it.

Caleb vanished and re-materialized his suite. He paused a moment before heading to his end table and decanting himself some brandy. Ordinarily wine was his preference, but tonight he needed something stronger.

When he finished pouring, Caleb lowered himself into his velvet armchair. He regarded the liquor in his glass a moment before taking a sip. Of all the many skills he'd acquired over the years, the ability to manifest food and drink that could be consumed by ghosts was one of his favorites.

With a sigh he turned his thoughts to more pressing matters. What to do about the children? They needed to be saved from themselves. That much was clear. First Youtube and now the Orpheum. In this day and age, with every lifer carrying a camera in their pocket, discretion was more necessary than ever.

Did it really not occur to the boys there were reasons ghosts, which had been around since the dawn of humanity, still were considered myths? Did it not dawn on them that someone kept things that way? Yes, they'd been passing themselves off as holograms, but how long until someone saw through that charade? He was frankly shocked it hadn't happened already. They were calling themselves "Julie and the Phantoms" for goodness sake!

Julie. Even thinking her name brought a sneer to his lips. How had she gotten the boys to choose her over him? He supposed Luke wasn't so surprising. The boy was besotted after all. Reggie, though, who found the scores young women and meatball subs so appealing? And Alex, whose infatuation with a certain young skater was so great? It was quite frankly unfathomable.

Still, Caleb had never been one to surrender without a fight. Short term he had but one goal: Break-up their band. Separate Julie from the Phantoms, preferably in a way that didn't implicate him. He settled in to consider his options. It was going to be a long night.

#julie and the phantoms #caleb covington #jatp #jatp netflix #jatp fanfiction #julie and the phantoms fanfiction

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youllallriseintheink · 4 years

Text

Mixed Ink AU shorts #1

"Top o' tha mornin' to ya! My name is Shawn Flynn, and today we're here because of somethin' the lovely Allison Pendle here found in Joey Drew's backroom! Allison would you like to tell us about this very special discovery?"

Allison looked to the video camera. "Am I on it? Am I in the right place?" She whispered to Shawn.

Shawn got up and checked. "Yep."

"Alright. So, first of all, I didn't find it, my boyfriend did. But no matter. What we found is a potion. If you mix it with ink and give it to two people within fifteen minutes of each other, they'll switch personalities. Now, Joey had the thing labeled as 'useless,' and I guess he's right. But he forgot one thing we could do with it. Shawn?"

"Use it on random people and watch what it does for own selfish entertainment while filming for prosperity!" Shawn yelled as he raised his arms, his voice full of mocking enthusiasm. A camera made him into an even bigger ham than usual.

"Alright. And you know who I think we should use it on first?"

"Who?"

"There's this little girl- a fellow voice actress named Susie Campbell. I've tried to make friends with her, but the girl is just so bitter about being recast that she can't bring herself to be anything but rude to me. I think we should switch her with someone a little angrier and see what happens."

"Like me?"

"Dude, you're the one using half his vacation days on this. Let's not risk you losing your nerve to film this just yet."

"Okay. Well, Joey definitely has anger issues," Shawn pouted, thinking about how he'd been screamed at for mispainting one lousy doll.

"Hmm... Not a bad idea, but Joey can usually keep his anger under wraps when it's good for him. Oh, idea! Let's swap me with someone more obnoxious so that I can really get her angry!"

Shawn snapped his fingers. "My good buddy Lacie knows just the guy."

--- "Welcome to the beautiful and uncharted territory of the Joey Drew Studios recording room. Here we can find a variety of luscious wildlife, such as the strange and pointy Sammy bird we see currently striding towards us."

"Hello, are you lost?" Sammy said in a far more polite tone than his face conveyed.

Shawn clicked off the video camera. "Nope. Here making an official, uh, documentary. Just as Joey Drew asked. We just need some footage of the voice actin' and music makin' and we'll be on our way."

"Alright, then. Just don't make noise where we're recording, okay?"

Shawn nodded. Sammy turned away, and Shawn started up the video camera again. "Truly magnificent creatures."

Shawn then endured what felt to him to be an absurdly long wait while the music room recorded gold. Whenever he could, Shawn would add in a quip about wild Jackolopes or the like, but mostly he was waiting for the moment when a break was called and Susie and Allison emerged. "The wild Susie is a jealous little bird, but this subspecies of Susie, the Joeyed Susie, is especially bitter. Let's watch as she observes the wild Bertrumed Allison's every move."

Allison was strutting around like she owned the place. "Mrs. Campbell, could you fetch me some water? The great Allison Pendle is thirsty." Allison was looking down on Susie like she was a servant, and Susie was gritting her teeth. She left grumbling.

"Ooh, I think we're about to see a show of dominance!" Shawn said.

Susie returned with a bottle of water and, with a fake smile on her face, tossed the bottle at Allison. It was uncapped, and it spilled all over her. "Oh, I'm sorry, Allie. You know a pal like me wouldn't do something like that on purpose. But you know, I'm just as clumsy out here as you are in the recording booth. I mean, as I am. Of course. That's what I meant," she said in a voice that made it clear that it wasn't.

Allison looked just puffed up with rage. "How dare you. I'll have you know that I was a distinguished model before this, and that is a kind of acting all on its own. You're pretty and talented enough, but standing next to me you look like you fell off a turnip truck and landed in proper society last week."

Everyone in the room gave them a little space. The girls were acting pretty weird, but they'd been expecting this to happen eventually. Shawn set the video camera on the floor- it took all his effort not to start laughing. Meanwhile, Susie was infuriated. She sprang on Allison, and the two were wrestling on the ground in seconds.

"Despite their tiny size," Shawn whispered, "Susies are savage." Indeed, she was- Allison, being the bigger and stronger of the two, quickly grabbed her shoulders and rolled her over onto her back, but Susie was still scratching her up with her claws. Allison smiled, knowing she was in the superior position.

Then, Joey burst in and immediately looked devastated. "Somebody separate them!" he yelled desperately. Norman came down from his recording booth and tore Allison off of Susie with relative ease. Joey looked distraught. "I wish I could say I was surprised. I knew that this was a long time coming, and I know this is partially my fault. We need to talk and work something out. You two, my office, first thing tomorrow morning. And please, try not to kill each other before then." Joey looked just about ready to cry.

---

The next clip took place in Shawn's apartment once again.

"Thank the Lord almighty that we were able to find an antidote," Shawn said, "or Susie and miss Allison here might justa' talked themselves out of their jobs."

Allison nodded. "I made sure she got some, too. Can't let this go too far. As for Joey, we think we'll leave him like this a while. He's nicer this way. And hey, maybe he'll come in handy for our plans tomorrow."

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #mixed ink au #my fanfiction #susie campbell #allison pendle #joey drew #shawn flynn

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thedaughterofkings · 5 years

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Kiss Mates

For my very dearest Larissa, @ohfuckthisshit!

I believe one of the last things you asked for was to make you cry like a baby, but I can’t do that, it’s your birthday!!! I hope instead you’ll accept the following 2.8k of Drarry fluff! It’s all sugar with almost no nutritional value, but that’s just how a birthday cake (or perhaps rather cupcake in this case) is supposed to be, isn’t it!

It’s based on this post I found deep in my prompts tag.

Happy reading and the happiest of birthdays!

“Aaaaand here he finally comes - Scary Harry, the youngest seeker in a century, even knows how to ride a dragon, and no, that is not a euphemism, Malfoy! Give it up for - HARRY POTTER!”

The crowd is deafening as Harry flies on the pitch, shaking his head still and glad that no one can tell how red his cheeks have gotten. Without Professor McGonagall beside him with her wand ready, Lee has only gotten worse. Ugh, he doesn’t even want to imagine what the Prophet is going to fabricate around that dragon line tomorrow. If he has any luck, they’ll focus on the actual dragon part (somehow that hadn’t become wider knowledge yet), but knowing them, the focus will be on the Malfoy part. Especially as poor, reformed Draco, saviour of the poor and the sick and the unfashionably clad has been their absolute favourite person as of lately. Add in Harry and a salacious suggestion and Rita Skeeter is going to have a field day.

Becoming a professional Quidditch player hadn’t ever been the plan. Well, there had been that short period in first year, high off his first game, but Voldemort had all too quickly entered the scene to entertain that fantasy for long. Then for years, Harry had seen no future without that snake-faced bastard at all. Auror had seemed to be the only way to go, the only way to learn the necessary skills he’d need to stay alive, while helping other people at the same time. But then defeating Voldemort had turned out, not easier, never easy, but certainly quicker than Harry had ever dared to hope. And there he’d been, seventeen, graduated from Hogwarts with not a single NEWT but enough power and influence to just fill up his resumé with all Outstandings and no energy left for fighting at all.

Ron had jumped at the chance to enter Auror training with no further qualifications necessary, Hermione had had three apprenticeships in widely differing fields lined up three weeks after the final battle, plus an internship with Amelia Bones at the Magical Law Enforcement, and a further eight apprenticeships at the ready should that not be enough to keep her busy and Harry had - been at an utter loss.

Enter Oliver Wood. Literally.

He’d stormed into the Infirmary, where Harry was suffering through a multitude of tests because saying “I am fine” was apparently not sufficient when you’d actually died, and had not even waited for Harry to pull any robes or even just a shirt on before he’d gotten started. Madame Pomfrey had tried to shoo him out immediately, but as Harry had long ago learned, Oliver Wood talking about Quidditch was an immovable force that would budge for nothing but victory.

“Your country needs you! Your people need you!” he’d boomed and Harry’s heart had sunk. Hadn’t he given them enough? Had they really produced another Dark Lord so quickly? But of course Oliver was not concerned with such measly things as good and evil and megalomaniac wizards. He was talking about Quidditch.

Apparently they were already planning to rebuild the League and according to Oliver it was Harry’s holy duty to help with that - youngest seeker in a century, Harry! Best I’ve ever seen, other than Krum of course, you don’t think you could send him an owl and ask if he’d sign up, too, could you? Imagine the crowd you two would bring! Not that I think you can’t do it on your own, Harry, your talent is obvious enough! Promise me you’ll think about it?

Harry had thought about it. And realised that he had nothing better planned. And that getting to fly and play Quidditch for a living sounded pretty damn perfect.

Ginny had just told him to enjoy the year while she was still in Hogwarts and be prepared to get his ass kicked once she got her professional start. Their relationship had been another of those things Harry had been at a loss about, but thankfully Ginny had always been smarter than him in that respect. Once things had calmed down a little bit and they’d found themselves alone together for the first time, she’d given him a long hug and a sisterly kiss on the cheek and that had been that. Harry had a feeling he should have felt more heartbroken about that, but given the grander scheme of things he mostly felt relief. And so did Ginny, it seemed.

Hermione had gotten that look that promised a lecture when he’d told her his plans, but then she’d taken another look at him and swallowed it all down. Harry doesn’t know what she’d seen - the mirror showed him a face that had never been well fed but looked dangerously thin now, with tired eyes that still refused to shut sometimes for fear of what images they might see in the dark - but she’d been fully supportive of his career choice ever since. Funnily enough it was probably the one field she was no automatic help in, but Hermione wouldn’t be Hermione if she hadn’t taken it as a chance to learn more. Nowadays she could quote Quidditch through the Ages as well as Oliver Wood himself and had been an immeasurable help in formulating his contract and setting up the League as a whole.

Ron had struggled most with his decision at first, surprisingly enough. He’d been firmly expecting Harry to join him in Auror training and had had their future planned out accordingly - they’d be partners and solve all the cases had been his plan, Harry thinks; it hadn’t gotten much more detailed than that. To Ron, Harry turning his back on being an Auror had felt like him turning his back on Ron and he’d been quite upset by that. But Ron being Ron, he’d come around quickly once Harry announced he’d be signing up to the Chudley Cannons.

Ron had been a factor in Harry’s decision of course, but not the deciding factor. Harry had talked to the representatives of almost every team in the League and the guy from the Cannons had been the only one just concerned with the sport and Harry’s qualifications there and not with his fame or power or anything like that. The Chudley Cannons had been the only team where Harry had been sure he’d be chosen for his athletic merit and where he’d actually get to play and not be paraded around as a glorified mascot.

He has been playing for the Cannons for six years now and it was the best idea he ever had. On the pitch he’s not the Chosen One, The-One-Who-Killed-You-Know-Who, the Most Desirable Bachelor of His Generation (though that’s a title he recently lost to Malfoy, which he’s not very cut up about), or whatever else horrible capitalised moniker they’ve come up with this week. On the pitch he’s - as Lee just introduced him - the youngest seeker in a century, the one who outflew a dragon, the one who actually flew on a dragon, and, hilariously enough, Scary Harry. Throw Malfoy off his broom once and you’re settled with the most ridiculous nickname of them all for all eternity. Harry still holds it had been an accident. And even if it hadn’t been, the git had it coming. And he wasn’t even hurt! He’d done some absurdly agile somersault in midair, somehow got a hand on his broom again and had almost still caught the snitch before Harry. Still, Scary Harry had stuck around.

Malfoy going pro, too, had been a surprise.

Ginny had been signed by the Holyhead Harpies as soon as she’d graduated from Hogwarts and she and Harry had fought for most snitches caught, quickest snitch catch, and every other seeker related record in the League ever since. That he’d expected. She had threatened to kick his ass, and did it more often than not. To beat Ginny, Harry really had to dig deep and fly his best flight. Everyone else was boring in comparison. Until Malfoy of course.

After his trial - during which Harry, Hermione, and even Ron had spoken in his defence, he’d kept a low profile. Harry had only known where he’d ended up because he’d gone for an apprenticeship under the same Potions Master Hermione was studying with. The two had kept as far apart as they possibly could at first, but after their Master had threatened to throw them both out, they’d reluctantly started working together and actually started getting along, much to Ron’s eternal horror. They weren’t best friends, and Hermione would never set another foot into Malfoy Manor if any of them could help it, but they were cordial, friendly even almost. Still, it was most definitely a work friendship, so Harry got to mostly avoid Malfoy.

Until Malfoy got his mastery in Potions and instead of doing the sensible thing and either opening up a shop or alternatively relying on his still considerable funds and lazing about, he’d gone pro. Where Harry was the youngest seeker in a century to join a Hogwarts team, Malfoy became the oldest seeker ever to join a professional Quidditch team. And he silenced all rumours of having gotten on because of his money very quickly. From then on the rivalry for the Golden Snitch for the best seeker of the League had become trifold - a fight between Harry, Ginny, and Malfoy.

And it was fun!

Malfoy was as competitive as ever, but it’s not as though Harry or Ginny were any better. They all used all the skills and tricks available to them, but it stayed fair for the most part. The throwing Malfoy off his broom had been an accident after all. Still, none of them held their punches (sometimes literally), and Malfoy gave as good as he got. (One time Ginny literally ripped out some of his hair - and then innocently produced the snitch when he’d hurled around. Apparently it had been hiding under his plait and Ginny had seen an opportunity and gone for it. She was without a doubt the most vicious of the three of them, and, knowing who she grew up with, Harry really shouldn’t have been surprised by that.)

Off the pitch, Malfoy at first was unfailingly polite, stiffly so, but when it became clear that the Quidditch world was really much more concerned with what was between his legs than on his arm (the brand new Firestorm, the most expensive broom on the market, two generations on from Harry’s old trusty Firebolt, not whatever you were thinking), he’d loosened up. The two of them had ended up gravitating towards each other - by virtue of ducking away from everyone else - at official functions and Malfoy’s sharp tongue and strong opinions on everything from hair styles to fashion choices to the newest development in poison antidotes (Harry was a little lost for that one) was much more entertaining when not directed at Harry or his friends. They’d even done the awkward “let’s leave the past behind us bit” and now they were almost friends. Work friends at least.

Or rather, not work-work friends, because on the pitch everything was still fair game (as long it was actually fair game of course - or close enough to get away with it. Harry finally understood why the hat had wanted to put him into Slytherin.)

Speaking of work, the game is about to start. Which means it is time for the newest addition to a long list of Quidditch traditions: the Kiss Cam. A muggleborn witch had adapted the Muggle custom and the wizarding world had embraced it enthusiastically. Instead of a camera capturing two people sitting next to each other, two mistletoes appeared above the heads of two people somewhere around the pitch - the trick was that instead of being randomly selected, the mistletoes went for the two people with the most chemistry. And because the wizarding world wouldn’t know subtlety if it bit them in the ass, the mistletoes showered their victims with sparkling hearts and made kissing sounds. Thus, you either had the option to be a walking spectacle for the entire game, or you kissed your Kiss Mate.

Oliver hated it because it could delay the start of the game by quite a bit if the mistletoes chose people on opposing sides of the pitch, but Harry used to find it quite funny. Used to being the important bit here. Because it is far less funny when you are the one with a blinking mistletoe above your head. Up close the kissing noises sound more like Fang greeting Hagrid after he has been away and the showers of sparkling hearts make it rather hard to see. Harry hasn’t been able to spot the other mistletoe yet and while he tries to see past the hearts, he wracks his head trying to think if anyone was going to come to the game today who the mistletoe might choose.

He hasn’t really had any serious relationships since Ginny and she has her own game to play today, so it definitely can’t be her. (Never mind that that ship has sailed long ago. Plus, Ginny had her own mistletoe moment just a few games ago - Luna of course complained about Nargles until Ginny shut her up with a kiss. They made it onto the front pages of both Witch Weekly, Seeker Weekly, the Prophet, and of course the Quibbler, which Ginny was rather proud of.)

Squinting at the stands hasn’t brought the other mistletoe into focus and Harry is just about to resign himself to playing with a rather obnoxious handicap, when a movement across the pitch draws his eye. Malfoy had taken position high in the air already, just like Harry had, but now he is moving, speeding so fast he is starting to blur. Still, the mistletoe clings on stubbornly, leaving trail of sparkling hearts behind like a shooting star falling from the sky.

A shooting star that is headed directly for Harry.

For a second he thinks Malfoy won’t be able to stop in time, aiming to knock them both off their brooms instead of suffering the embarrassment of having to kiss Harry, but at the very last moment he pulls his broom up sharply and comes to a halt right in front of Harry, so close that they almost touch, close enough that Harry can see Malfoy draw in a deep breath, hold it for a few seconds and then release it slowly. His spine straightens, as if he’d come to a decision and he quirks an eyebrow at Harry in silent question. Neither of them has said a word yet, but it’s not as if they have the greatest track record in that respect. So Harry just lifts his chin slightly in answer to Malfoy’s wordless question and the last thing he sees is those grey eyes flash at the challenge before Malfoy tips them both into a spin that blurs out everything around them. Their brooms lock together and Malfoy’s arms wrap around Harry, one of his legs linking with Harry’s too while they roll once, twice, three times in midair.

It’s not just the movement that leaves Harry dizzy, though.

Draco’s lips are surprisingly soft, but still insistent and Harry is helpless to do anything but respond in kind. The kiss is over before Harry can enjoy it properly, more a hint of a promise, than a real promise of what might come, but when they are upright again, Draco doesn’t move away immediately, his hands steadying Harry on his broom, one on his hip, the other around his shoulders, and his face so close still their noses almost touch. Harry’s eyes cross as he tries to focus on Draco’s nose, and Draco laughs softly. It makes his eyes wrinkle slightly at the corners and stretches his pink mouth.

Harry thinks the crowd is screaming around them, but the noise is muffled and distant compared to Draco’s voice:

“Dinner after the game tonight? Winner chooses, loser pays?”

Harry hears both the challenge in his voice and reads the question in his eyes and thus responds to both when he promises: “It’s a date.”

Then he spins away, already plotting where to take Draco when the whistle sounds to signal the start of the game. Cheap muggle fare would be hilarious, but then again, seeing one of those pretentious waiters in the expensive restaurants that always look at Harry as if he’s nothing more than a spot of dirt underneath their shoes being put in their place by Draco’s sharp tongue would be very satisfying, too.

Either way, if he plays this right, they’ll get not just the front page but the centre spread in at least the Prophet and Witch Weekly, perhaps the Quibbler, too, if Luna hasn’t found any new species this week. Ginny will be so mad.

But first, he needs to catch the snitch, so he can win this game.

After all, he’s got a date.

#ohfuckthisshit #Drarry #Harry Potter #Drarry fic #my Drarry fic #my fic #queueing this so it hopefully posts as soon as it's your birthday!

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hey-have-you-heard · 4 years

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Hey have you heard these 50 songs from 2019

I really enjoyed this last year so going to give it another go for ‘19. I put quite a lot of thought into what actually a ‘song of the year’ for me when I was first constructing and then heavily editing the playlist that came to be my Top 50 of 2019. I think the most important thing is that above all it’s a track that I’m glad exists, sometimes this is because of the songwriting or composition, sometimes the performance, sometimes the lyrical importance and sometimes just because it sparks joy.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6bFJOjL8b8Zc2s5r1oJbsk?si=UJdqSXOTR3SQ8D3IwcmV2g

Explanations for each tracks inclusion below the fold…

100 gecs - 800db cloud 100 gecs channel a mix of Crystal Castles and Sleigh Bells with a Death Grips level appreciation for noise. It’s an absolute rush and that outro is just absurd.

Natalie Evans - Always Be Natalie Evans soft melody and sing song vocals are sublimely sweet on this heartfelt track of lost love, longing and nostalgia.

Petrol Girls - Big Mouth “If you fight back or disagree you’re the one with the fucking problem” this hits home, hard. Big Mouth is a rallying cry to speak out against oppression and discrimination, to raise you’re voice and be heard, not to be controlled.

Charli XCX ft. Lizzo - Blame it on your Love Charli has a midas touch when it comes to pop, combine that with Lizzo who has just about been the most fun thing in music this year and you’ve got a 10/10 banger.

Poppy - BLOODMONEY Poppy’s music just keeps going further down the rabbit hole. Originally playing with blending elements of nu-metal with bubblegum pop, she now seems to have transcended genre altogether to create whatever BLOODMONEY is, it’s absolutely ridiculous and I love it.

Body Hound - Bloom Get on that GROOVE! So proggy it hurts, this track from Body Hound is a technical wonderland of metamorphosing rhythms, gargantuan riffs, and just the tastiest of chord progressions.

Can the Sub_Bass speak - Algiers Word of warning, this is not an easy listen. A freefall tumble through genre and tone accompanies a stream of consciousness monologue full of racism, prejudice and political and artistic critique.

Elohim - Buckets Buckets is an onslaught of trap influences, emotional outbursts and aggressive distortion. I’m a big fan of this sound.

VUKOVI - C.L.A.U.D.I.A I know very little about VUKOVI as a band, but that riff is absolutely massive and this track has been a constant throughout my year on that basis alone.

Show Me The Body - Camp Orchestra Apparently more hardcore bands should use Banjos, because this is a damn good sound. Slowly building from a single bass line this track builds into a powerful demolishing force.

clipping. - Club Down Having thoroughly proven themselves able to do afro-futurist scifi on the Hugo nominated Splendor and Misery, clipping. now turn their considerable talents to horror core and unsurprisingly nail it. Daveed’s flows are tight as ever as he brings to life a decaying city backed by tortured screams.

Dream Nails - Corporate Realness YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB. WORK IS NOT YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU MUST DO IN ORDER TO SURVIVE. Dream Nails are great and exactly what we need right now.

ControlTop - Covert Contracts This track positively bristles with an anxious energy. A fitting sound for the subject of the information overload we find ourselves locked into everyday.

Cherry Glazerr - Daddi There’s an icy coolness to ‘Daddi’, a disconnected sarcasm that falls away to reveal the anger and torment in the chorus, it’s a masterful bit of emotional storytelling through musical tone.

The Physics House Band - Death Sequence I Listening to Physics House latest release, the Death Sequence EP feels like a physical journey. This opener is a perfect example of this, as you’re plunged straight into a heady and disorienting mix of rhythms and counter-melody’s, the Sax guiding you through the turbulence until you land in a placid midsection, before that bass riff drags you forward through rhythmic breakdowns into an absolutely absurd brain melting saxophony and then it just keeps on going from there…

Witching Waves - Disintegration I saw WW back in the early summer, they were a bassist down so it was just a guitar and drums duo. They started with this track and it was one of the most pure punk things I’ve experienced, drummer/vocalist Emma Wigham bashing the absolute shit out of her kit . A great no-nonsense lo-fi banger.

Lingua Ignota - DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR Another, not particularly easy listen here. DO YOU DOUBT ME TRAITOR is a dark and angry brooding track, building in intensity to release the primal rage, fear and horror of the abused. Its deeply chilling and instantly arresting. This track and the entire CALIGULA album stands as an absolute must listen.

Carly Rae Jepsen ft. Electric Guest - Feels Right I love the instrumentation on this one, those chunky piano chords and screaming guitar lift the track out and make it the highlight of an already great album to me.

Orla Gartland - Figure it out Dialing back the intensity slightly, Orla chronicles the frustrations of having to deal with someone in your life who you’re done with. The choruses burst forth in beautifully fuzzy explosions of noise. That vocal flair at the start of the final chorus is chef kiss.

Battles - Fort Greene Park Battles are at their best when they keep things simple. This is evident on 2019′s Juicy B Crypts which features some incredibly cluttered moments, but this just makes Fort Greene Park stand out all the more. A delightfully spacious piece of math rock, from some of the best in the business.

Dogleg - Fox Boy howdy, do I love me some midwest emo. Catharsis in musical form, it just makes me want to mosh my troubles away like I’m 16 again.

Tørsö - Grab A Shovel Tørsö go hard, I can appreciate that. An absolutely brutal track about the destructive power of depression and self-loathing.

“Pijn & Conjurer playing Curse These Metal Hands” - High Spirits “We were like, are we Pijn and Conjurer, or are we Curse These Metal Hands? I think we’ve settled with ‘we are Pijn and Conjurer playing Curse These Metal Hands’ …whatever that means!“ what it means is one of the most joyously triumphant pieces of metal music I’ve ever heard. Some of the guitar lines in this absolutely soar.

Lizzo - Juice Lizzo has won 2019, her message of self love, acceptance and body positivity has won her both critical and cultural acclaim and permeates her music in a way that makes it impossible to not love.

COLOSSAL SQUID, AK Patterson - Kick Punch Colossal Squid is the name given to Three Trapped Tigers drummer, Adam Betts’ experimental project. After a solo album of percussive wizardry Betts has now teamed with vocalist AK Patterson to give us something else entirely.

Evan Greer - Liberty Is A Statue Evan Greer uses the a folk punk sound to deliver an essay on the damaging influences of cis-normativity and social inequality. Of course I like this one.

Taylor Swift - Lover I wasn’t on board with this song for a fair while, but then I kept listening to it and kept coming back to it because of a roughly 50 second section which ties the track and the whole album together. Yeah, this is on here purely for the bridge, which is just beautiful.

Dodie - Monster Monster is an incredibly well written and delivered study on how perception changes with resentment and it makes me cry.

The Y Axes - Moon Moon is a delightfully dreamy piece of pop that glitters with infectious melodies, it’s lyrics a blissful embracing of cosmic nihilism, need I say more?

Ezra Furman - My Teeth Hurt My teeth hurt is a song about tooth ache, about that pain you carry with you everywhere and can’t get rid of, that ruins your days and and is one hell of a mood. Yeah it’s about gender dysphoria.

Nervus - No Nations Speaking of things being a mood, this track hits the nail squarely on the head.

Cultdreams - Not My Generation "Everyone ignores me Unless I’m on a stage talking Because they put me on a pedestal And pretend I’m just performing“ Lucinda Livingstone calls out the misogyny in our culture with a singular ferocity.

Lil Nas X - Old Town Road If there’s one song that’s dominated 2019 this is it right here. Who ever had the idea of putting that NIN Ghosts sample to a trap beat and cowboying over the top of it is an absolute genius.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Planet B It’s impossible to predict where King Gizzard’s sonic influences are going to take them next I doubt even they know half the time. Whatever they turn their hand to though they do it as if they mastered the sound decades ago Planet B is an all out thrash track with a strong environmental message.

Kesha - Rich, White, Straight Men Okay, I’m about to compare Kesha to John Lennon here but HEAR ME OUT… As ‘Imagine’ asked us to consider a world without conflict or capitalism, Kesha now posits that we should tear up our conceptions of our society based on its formation by a privileged group and imagine what kind of utopia could be built if we gave the underprivileged and minority groups a say.

Allie X - Rings A Bell The chorus here sounds like it could have been off Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, and I’m all about that sound. Combined with Allie X’s dreamlike vocals make this a certified bop.

Poly-Math - Sensors in Everything Sensors in Everything is a beast of a track spanning over 14 minutes of absurdly dense prog. Having recently enlisted keyboardist Josh Gesner. Polymath make use of the new sounds and textures available to them, at times imitating a sort of Hammond sound not unlike John Lord to the chaotic maelstrom of noise.

Calva Louise - Sleeper Big hooks on this one. Sleeper has a confident swagger to it’s sound which stands apart for the bands previous work. It’s an absolutely huge track.

Slipknot - Solway Firth Slipknot didn’t disappoint after the tease of 2018′s “All Out Life”, following up with an album which blended old and new aspects of their sound to create one of their best to date. Solway Firth is a perfect example of this matching the punishing heaviness of Iowa with the melody driven sound of All Hope Is Gone.

Clt Drp - Speak To My Seeing Clt Drp perform live was one of my highlights of the year. The filthy guitar tones, powerhouse vocals tight as heck drumming and the _grooves. _Absolutely like nothing else I’ve seen. Just an incredible band that deserve so much more recognition.

Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses Black Country, New Road released two tracks this year and now I just want more. Dense wordy lyricism plays off against ever evolving instrumentation to present a raw cut of emotional storytelling.

Her Name Is Calla - Swan Her Name Is Calla are a band that have always been on the edge of my radar, my Dad is very fond of them and saw them live a couple of years ago, but never went back to relisten to any of their stuff, then they started an album with this. I was sold instantly.

black midi - Talking Heads Talking Heads (the band) are an obvious inspiration on this track. Both David Byrne’s vocal style and the Talking Heads penchant for sharp angular melodies are on show here. But given an extra ounce of chaos through Black Midi’s delivery.

Amanda Palmer - The Ride The ride is ten minutes of bundling up all your fears and anxieties of where we are and where we’re going and just, accepting them as part of the ride. Written off the back of a prompt from Amanda asking her fans what they were afraid of right now.

Kim Petras - There Will Be Blood Okay, let’s have some out of season spookiness. Love the squelchy synths on this, there’s a huge amount of energy on this track and with it’s commitment to the horror conceit it makes for a super fun bop.

Kate Nash - Trash Kate Nash’s sound is like bathing pure nostalgia,here she spins the toxic-relationship narrative central to her work to deliver a bigger story about humanity’s, quite literally toxic relationship to our planet.

American Football & Hayley Williams - Uncomfortably Numb The other side of the “midwest emo” coin. A melancholic song built on a soft bed of arpeggiated chords and clean harmonics, Uncomfortably Numb is a heartbreaking track of losing everything and of cycles persisting thorugh generations. Employing the clever metatextual trick of referencing Pink Floyd’s comfortably Numb to mirror the generational similarities.

Glenn Branca - Velvet and Pearls Disclaimer, Glenn Branca was a musical hero of mine, his approach to music and composition being solely responsible for influence a vast number of my favourite bands. Released posthumously, Velvet and Pearls is taken from a live performance by Branca’s ensemble and perfectly captures the sense of sonic disorientation, conjuring aural illusions through an assault of intricately crafted noise. It’s an exhilarating piece that should be played as loud as humanly possible.

Brutus - War The raw emotional strength of Stefanie Manneart’s vocals instantly made me pay attention when I first heard this track. Then the song exploded into a barrage of riffs and breakneck drumming.

Valiant Vermin - Warm Coke Another slice of throwback pop, Valiant Vermin proved with “Online Lover” how much of an ear she has for pop and has proven it once again with Warm Coke. Is a real good bop.

———

Welp there it is, 50(+1) songs, I had to limit myself to one track per artist in the main 50 because according to Spotify I listened to [checks notes] 1082 new artists this year. There are a small handful of tracks I wanted to highlight from the same artists though as they offer something quite different to the tracks in the playlists, so here they are quickly with 3 word descriptions.

Petrol Girls - Skye (dead dog, sad) Amanda Palmer - Voicemail for Jill (Talk about abortion) Ezra Furman - I Wanna be Your Girlfriend (Trans Torch Song) Battles ft Jon Anderson & Prairie WWWW - Sugar Foot (Batshit Prog Insanity) Poppy - Choke (Dark Minimalist Pop) Show Me The Body - Forks and Knives (Anxious nightmare punk) Lingua Ignota - CALIGULA (the whole album.)

———

Closing Statement

Cultdreams - Statement

There has been a shadow over the entertainment industry the latter half of this decade. Whether film, music, TV or video games, the late 2010′s are filled with stories of people coming forward to bravely tell their stories about being abused and manipulated by men in positions of power. The #metoo movement as it’s come to be known has been a powerful force in giving marginalised people a voice and the ability to call out oppressors and in starting the groundwork to root out the misogyny in the seats of power, but this is a battle far from won.

While there are thousands of stories out there I want to focus on one in particular.

In 2016 a number of women spoke out about various forms of abuse by a well-known musician in the punk scene. It’s now over three years later and this group of women are in the midst of a long fought claim of defamation from this musician. If this case goes through it sets a precedent for silencing marginalised voices in the industry. They have been fighting for so long and with no legal aid available for the case they have had to finance their defense from their own pockets.

This is where Solidarity Not Silence comes in. Solidarity not silence is a crowdfunding effort to help take the case to trial without the women bankrupting themselves entirely so that they don’t have to give in to this mans demands. You can read more about Solidarity not Silence and make a donation (if you feel so inclined) here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/solidaritynotsilence/

You can also follow them on twitter here https://twitter.com/solnotsilence

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gascon-en-exil · 5 years

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FE16 Black Eagles (Edelgard) Liveblogging

Chapters 5-7. The plot’s still basically the same, but a different army and different supports...plus some stuff I noticed a while back that I’ve been forgetting to comment on.

As much as her character continues to get on my nerves (see below), Bernadetta is proving to be incredibly useful on the battlefield. Part of that is just how versatile bows are, but her Crest is basically Adept from Jugdral and Tellius and as such is more noticeable than the small boosts to damage or healing that most other Crests provide. She’s a cavalier now and well on her way to bow knight.

The Eagles casters have just been getting even better, and I haven’t even gotten Linhardt to Warp yet. On a whim I decided to indulge Edelgard’s budding talent and make her a monk for a while, and though I’ve since switched her over to lord she’s not that bad as a magic user even though her STR is clearly higher. Hubert’s budding talent nets him the Frozen Lance combat ability, which is absurdly powerful and gives him a legitimate reason to keep one equipped. Also useful for his eventual move to dark knight, since male casters have no choice but to go hybrid if they don’t want to stay in advanced classes.

Caspar is still a less sturdy Dedue, while Petra fulfills roughly the same role as Felix while offering more overall versatility in weapons options. I’ve been keeping up with her axe and lance ranks in classes, so she can switch to a flying class later on if I need one. I’m making Sylvain a great knight just so I can see if they’re worth using at all, but he’s well suited to get there from cavalier/paladin and he’s since found his footing as a mobile tank.

The Eagles are much more stingy with paralogues; I’ve only gotten Ingrid and Dorothea’s so far. It’s noticeably gayer at the end since Ingrid gives Dorothea a ring, but that’s about it. Are most of the Eagles paralogues in Part 2?

Interesting to note that the Deer occupy the same position for the other two houses in both inter-house battles, while the Lions and Eagles switch places. The professors leading each change really gives that initial house choice a Pokémon feel, but overall it’s easy to tell even early in the story that the Deer are the awkward third party to these conflicts. Makes me even more curious to see how it plays out from their perspective; I’ll be disappointed if Claude or someone else doesn’t have a quip about feeling left out of the “Battle of the Eagle and Lion” from the name alone.

Story/Character observations

I really like the stylized artwork and introductory narration for each month. They explain the names of the months and illustrate the passing seasons. I rather wish there was a snowy version of the monastery for use during the winter months, to better match the climate which seems to tend more toward short summers and long harsh winters. It makes me think of one of the underrated details of Path of Radiance, where the maps reflect the passage of the seasons as the story progresses.

I almost forgot about Jeritza completely, and little surprise why since there’s almost nothing to him. Unlike with Tomas they didn’t bother to make him not suspicious in the slightest. Unless the Part 2 paralogue explaining the Death Knight is incredibly fascinating (I doubt it) I don’t get why some people are so into him and want him to be recruitable/a romance option. And why does he sound catatonic whenever he talks?

Speaking of me not understanding fandom tastes at all, Bernadetta does not improve on further exposure. Most of her supports still involve her screaming and running away from everyone, and her abusive backstory is more nonsensical than anything. Why would her father think that tying her to a chair, or dragging her from her room so forcibly that she hurt herself struggling, would teach her to be a good wife? Being that Adrestians are the Germans of this setting I’m reminded of how those people turned my favorite childhood conte into a macabre tale of a woman mutilating her daughters’ feet in an attempt to marry them off, so maybe this is just a strange cultural thing. Either way I really don’t get the hype.

It’s surprising how much major story content got relegated to supports in this game, but it’s been popping up in Edelgard and Hubert’s supports as well as in Rhea’s C, the last of which I got without trying very hard after dumping some extra gifts on her.

One of the many critiques I’ve read about Edelgard is that her canon bisexuality has more to do with Avatar worship (à la Rhajat) than genuine sexual preference, and while she does seem overly willing to share with Byleth I was pleased to note that there’s more to her attraction to women than that. Dorothea outright propositions her in their B support - as Dorothea does to basically everyone - and Edelgard isn’t opposed to the idea. Dorothea has some pretty good stuff in general; she forces Caspar to engage in incest roleplay (well, Silas went there in Fates...), and in her Bernadetta support she reveals that she’s not above fighting back at men who’ve tried to assault her.

Ferdinand/Linhardt ends at B, but it’s so unexpectedly companionable that I could see them having a paired ending if they’d gotten an A support. What a shame.

Hubert has been growing on me a bit. It helps once it’s understood that he comes from a long line of evil chancellors and (per his Edelgard support) decided from an early age to own that role as hard as he could, hence the vampiric look and evil laugh and constant death threats. He does also soften a little here and there. One bit with the story though: in a scene at the end of Chapter 5 he says something to the effect that he’ll have to take matters into his own hands for Edelgard’s sake, and it’s in the next chapter where Flayn turns up missing. Did he arrange that, and/or planting Monica/Kronya? The Flame Emperor is the one to show up at the end of Chapter to call off the DK, so was Edelgard not pulling the strings of that particular plot?

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Spoilers

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eggymovies · 5 years

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2018-A Year In Review

I sat down and watched a movie 206 times this year. Of those, 118 were in a movie theater. I’ll spare you the long essay about what movies mean to me and why I go to the theater. Simply put, I love it. I thought I might suffer from fatigue this year as I committed to my goal of seeing 100 movies in theaters and 200 total including movies viewed at home. I didn’t at all. I’m still as excited for my next trip to the theater as I was a year ago. Thanks to anyone who recommended a movie, or talked to me about a movie, or went to the movies with me this year.

My top 20 is listed below, with some notes and photos, getting more detailed from 15-11 and again from 10-1. This list has changed constantly, even today as I added the final touches. It will change again, but the top 10 feels fairly secure. I loved so many more movies than just 20 this year. I’ll share a full list of everything I saw soon, but for now, here are my 20 favorite movies I saw in a theater in 2018.

20. Hereditary (Ari Aster)

19. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Marielle Heller)

18. Set It Up (Claire Scanlon)

17. Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino)

16. Free Solo (Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi)

15. Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse (Peter Ramsey, Robert Persichetti Jr., Rodney Rothman)

The cure for the common comic-book movie, which seems counterintuitive when praising as the first major-studio comic book movie to properly utilize the medium it’s adapted from. Refreshing, rich, diverse characters in a fun, tightly written and brilliantly voice acted 120 minute film that feels like 80.

14. A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper)

Hollywood myth-making and storytelling bordering on parody, but so self assured it succeeds. That the audience believes and cares about Brad Cooper as a 2018 country-esque rock star getting drunk at a drag bar and discovering/falling in love with a Gaga-esque star played by Lady Gaga is a miracle. Except it’s not. It was by design. Cooper’s design.

13. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)

A three-headed monster of devilish humor and deceptive charm. Olivia Colman should (and probably will) win an Oscar to match her academy-award winning costars who are equally brilliant. Rachel Weisz is equally brilliant. Also, it’s hard to be a massive movie star AND a generational acting talent, Emma Stone is somehow both, with ease, and she’s just getting started.

12. Paddington 2 (Paul King)

The antidote to whatever ailed you in 2018. A monstrously charming and disarming delight. Just too damn enjoyable and uplifting to not include here. Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson are shockingly committed in what could have otherwise been mailed-in performances for a quick paycheck. You’ll fall in love, I assure you.

11. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler)

“I’m just feelin’ it”-Erik Killmonger

TOP 10

10. Burning (Lee Chang-dong)

Lee Chang-dong adapted an 11-page Murakami story into a 2 1/2 hour movie, creating a world and character view point so lived in and fully realized that the mystery taking shape at the center requires no flash or flare to thrill. And good lord does it thrill. I suspect this will move higher with a second viewing. Steven Yeun has received worthy praise, but Yoo Ah-in gives this movie it’s point of view and captures the mystery and tension building throughout.

9. Support the Girls (Andrew Bujlaski)

One of the most heartfelt, empathetic, funny, and purely pleasurable movies I saw all year. An “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” day in the life of the manger at Double Whammies, a Hooters-esque sports bar. Regina Hall is stunning in one of the year’s best performances by far. Haley Lu Richardson has as much (or more) charisma than any actor currently working. More of both, please.

8. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (Joel & Ethan Coen)

I have many thoughts and feelings about the Netflix distribution model but being able to watch The Coen Brothers, an anthology of death set in the American West, 3+ times since it was released only two months ago has been a treat. Each chapter is so darkly funny and sharply written that I fail to keep a consistent ranking of all six in my mind, though “All Gold Canyon” and “The Mortal Remains” are usually around the top. The latter has some of the best dialogue the Coen’s have scripted, which is impressive considering their filmography. Watch it now. Watch it whenever!

7. Lean On Pete (Andrew Haigh)

A gorgeously written film about determination as a result of, and in an attempt to avoid, one’s grief. Slow and controlled, with a deeply moving conclusion that has not left me. Charlie Plummer is wonderful, and Sevigny+Buscemi disappear into their roles with such ease.

6. Beast (Michael Pearce)

When I walked out of Beast I tweeted: “Watching BEAST felt like holding a stick of dynamite, lighting the fuse and being so mesmerized by the spark, you forget it’s going to explode... until it finally does.” Haven’t thought much about the film since, but sometimes it’s just about the thrill of the moment, which this movie gave me.

5. Mission: Impossible - Fallout (Christopher McQuarrie)

A masterclass in movie entertainment so absurdly enjoyable that, during my SECOND viewing, I consistently laughed out loud from sheer surprise at how genuinely thrilled I was. McQuarrie and Cruise’s prime objective is to entertain, and though the latter may legitimately die trying, they continue to achieve their goal in breathtaking fashion. Between Edge of Tomorrow (written by McQuarrie), and MI:5 (Written and Directed by McQuarrie) these two are on a tear and I hope they never stop.

4. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)

Delicate and destructive. A deliberate and direct story about the damaging physical and emotional violence humans inflict on each other, themselves and the world in acts of self-preservation. How can we fix the damage we have done? Is there a god, and will he forgive us? Can we forgive each other? Ourselves? This movie sits with me every single day, and I can’t shake it. Ethan Hawke is transcendent.

3. Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)

Astonishingly gorgeous portrait of one year in the life of an upper-middle class Mexican family, told through the eyes of their nanny; a micro story told with macro sensibilities and massive scale. Equal turns heartbreaking and life-affirming. Cuarón (who was his own cinematographer) imbues each frame with more beauty than most movies accomplish in their full run time.

2. Minding The Gap (Bing Liu)

I’m still struggling with how to talk about Minding the Gap, a film about young men, skateboarding, generational cycles of abuse, and trying to grow up and survive in a dying suburban America. That may sound lofty and overly ambitious, but Bing Liu’s honesty, empathy, and vulnerability as a filmmaker and subject make this one of the most moving and surprising films I’ve seen in years. Watch it on Hulu right now.

1. First Man (Damien Chazelle)

Stories about space, especially the moon, have always made me emotional. They fill me with as much wonder as they do dread, simultaneously evoking connection and isolation in extremes. Damien Chazelle’s focus in this film is on the man, not the mission. We all know what Armstrong said when he touched down and I can’t stop thinking about that in relation to this movie. The moon landing was a collective achievement, a crescendo, witnessed by the entire world, marking the culmination of technological advancements and evolution millions of years in the making. Neil Armstrong was a hero, an avatar for the entire human race, but what he experienced was solitary. He was alone in that moment, and perhaps long before. This movie is the story of someone so sad and desperate for a moment of peace and quiet that he risks his life and goes to the moon for it. I wept openly with mouth agape for 20 minutes at the end. This movie will eventually be realized as the masterpiece it is. Chazelle is special, and the Justin Hurwitz score is incredible. I'll be watching this movie for the rest of my life.

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hethrewmyheartinthecut · 6 years

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Peaky Match #247: Freddie Thorne, Alfie Solomons, Esme Shelby

This is a result from the Who’s Your Peaky Match? quiz. The content is under a read more to prevent spoilers for those who haven’t taken the quiz yet.

Give And Take

You have a wonderful and mutually supportive relationship with your partner. Together, you and your partner are building something that you think will last and grow in a healthy way, setting boundaries and helping each other through rough times in life. You’re not afraid of asking for what you need or getting your partner’s help with some part of your own business, whether it’s to do with crime, politics, or family. Trust and communication are ultimately the cornerstones of your relationship, and that’s why you two have been able to last for so long, despite all the drama in Birmingham.

Family First

To you, nothing is more important than the group of people that are closest to you. Since this is the 1920s, that’s probably your family, but in some circumstances, this could be your found family, your group of friends, or your community. You cherish the shared traditions, memories, and inside jokes that you have with the people you love, and you fight really hard to keep them all safe and happy.

Examples: Polly Gray, Luca Changretta

Paper & Brain

Your greatest strengths are your ability to strategize and your analytical mind. While others may question your decisions, you are playing a long game and you’ll see it to the end. Your skills may show themselves in business, academia, or even the arts; ultimately, your talents are not confined to one specific job. If you don’t already have a good education, you make sure to get yourself one, because you want to have as many mental tools at your disposal as possible. Nobody wants to play chess with you, but everyone feels a little safer if you’re on their side.

Freddie Thorne

(post-WWI AU)

Over the course of the war, you set up a massive network of loosely connected leftists, to hide conscientious objectors, communists, and the like from London police. Your near-eidetic memory and fierce personal honor towards your friends are sometimes the only things holding the network together, and this inspires fierce loyalty from your friends, enmity from the Met, and awe, apparently, from Freddie Thorne. At first, you’re suspicious of the Peaky associate, but after a while, you’re so charmed by his rakish charm, nimble mind, and genuine goodwill that you acquiesce to a long courtship.

Unexpected Bonus: You’re not the only one who can play the long game. On your first official date, Freddie brings you a used copy of Coriolanus that he picked up at a secondhand shop. Though it’s not your favorite Shakespeare play, you’re taken with the little actor’s notes in the margins, and Freddie brings you books every now and then. The morning after your first kiss, the time after he disappears for a few days, evading the police, the conclusion of a successful strike. When you finally start stacking books on the floor, he casually suggests that you two move in together, for the sake of better shelf space. You give him a look and he breaks out into a smile that destroys any possibility of the book pileup being a coincidence.

Alfie Solomons

(post s2 AU)

You have an absurdly prodigious talent for fucking about with numbers, more than one powerful corporate titan on your tail as a result, and a family to protect. Alfie Solomons has a rapidly expanding territory in need of a cash infusion, a “meh” approach to the law, and plenty of security forces at his disposal. It’s a great business deal on paper, but in person it’s even better; the both of you start flirting with such shamelessness that Ollie actually blushes and tries to manufacture a reason to leave the room. There’s just something completely infectious about Alfie’s shit-eating grin.

Unexpected Bonus: Alfie doesn’t do normal dates. They’re all at one end or the other of the spectrum of wild dates: either ridiculous with some element of business, violence, or deception involved, or lazy and domestic and private. Exhibit A: Alfie pretending to be a Gentile to get into a private poker game, getting endless tips from you (you’re counting cards, obviously), and making half a dozen offhanded comments to the various lords there that could certainly be taken as insults if thought about in the right light. Exhibit B: Alfie frying up eggs for breakfast-as-dinner, not bothering to put on pants, then flopping down on the bed afterwards and arguing with you over the finer points of Sun Tzu till he falls asleep.

Esme Shelby

(pre-s1 AU)

When the owners of the Black Patch try to evict the Romani community there, Esme recruits you to defend her and her family. As a hotshot lawyer, this definitely isn’t your first eviction case, but it’s the first case you’ve had in a long time that makes you really care, the money aside, the victory aside, about whether or not you lose. Maybe that’s because you’re so drawn to Esme, her fiery confidence, the precision of her most vicious speeches, the intensity of her loyalty. When you win the case, she asks you to dinner with you then and there.

Unexpected Bonus: You warn Esme you have no experience with horses, but she’s adamant that if you’re gonna be together, you need to know how to ride at least a little. Somehow, this turns into a whole trip to the French countryside, borrowing a couple mares from her second cousin, and getting completely lost. Turns out she can navigate by the stars, and she takes good care of you. It’s maybe one of the most terrifying things you’ve ever done, basically putting your life in her hands, but so worth it. You tell her this on the last night, curled up by the fire, holding her, and she tells you that she trusts you, too.

To read more imagines like this, feel free to peruse the masterlist.

If you enjoyed this quiz/these imagines, I’d love it if you could send an ask, leave a comment, or reblog. I’m curious to see if you thought your matches suited you!

I’m also especially curious about what you did and didn’t like about this quiz. I’m very open to feedback. I plan on writing another quiz once season 5 is done which will match you with a season 5 character, so I’m looking to improve here.

#Freddie Thorne #Alfie Solomons #Esme Shelby #Freddie Thorne x Reader #Alfie Solomons x REader #Esme Shelby x REader #Peaky Blinders imagine #Peaky Blinders #Peaky Blinders fanfiction #mine #Peaky Match #Peaky Blinders Quiz

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tentoriwrites · 6 years

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Winter Chill and Spring Blossoms

It’s natural to be a little self-conscious when you work for a man as beautiful as Lord Kenshin. Will that stop Yoshichi from proclaiming his love?

Part One

Part Three

@chibibugeisha @shiranata @alva-radio @honey-gokko @lilster360@enchantress96 @candidquip @thegreenfairy25 @elnarablr-blog @j0dy-yd0j@ihavenotfallenyet

Winter Chill

"Lord Kenshin, I brought your lunch." I announced myself at the door and his gentle voice greeted me from inside.

"You're wearing one of the new ones..." He had a kind smile on his face as he said so.

"Oh yes! I never did thank you properly for it!" I started to set the tea cup in hand down to bow to him.

"I had nothing to do with it." He said it so easily it startled me to the point I almost dropped the tea cup.

"But... Lord Yoshichi said..." I couldn’t really put my thoughts together from my confusion.

"Yoshichi has a remarkable talent for humility. So much so, he doesn't know how to take credit for anything. But the truth is he went to great lengths to ensure he got something just right." His words were utterly baffling to me and caused an embarrassed blush to rise on my cheeks.

"Why would he do that?" I had only meant to ask myself, but I ended up saying it out loud. Lord Kenshin started to smile deeply.

"Although he won't admit it, I think our Yoshichi is quite taken with you." He seemed almost proud to be saying so, like a father.

"Y.. you really think so?" I failed miserably to hold back all of my excitement and some of it came out me my voice. Lord Kenshin's smile broadened in light of my reaction and he nodded. "Has he given you an impression otherwise?" His expression slowly melted as he pressed me.

"He... hasn't given me any impression one way or the other." My expression melted right along with his. He quickly recovered his smile.

"Please be patient with him. I'm sure he’ll come around eventually! If not, you may just have to make the first move!"

"I wouldn't have the first clue about doing that..." I didn't think he would have heard my sullen muttering. As it happens, Lord Kenshin has excellent hearing...

"I would be more than happy to help you with that!" I jumped at his jovial exclamation. I had a feeling he was about to get distracted, so I cut him off.

"Lord Kenshin you are so kind!" My thankfulness was genuine, but I really poured it on. "I would be so grateful for your help should the occasion present itself!" He smiled broadly as I got to my feet.

I only made it a few steps out the door when I came across Yocchi and Lord Kanetsugu in the hall. "You seem exceptionally happy today." Lord Kanetsugu gave me a cordial smile.

"Yes, well Lord Kenshin gave me some wonderful news." I subtly gestured with my head toward Yocchi. I was hoping he would pick up on it and use it as an opportunity. Unfortunately, the flash of recognition I hoped for only crossed Lord Kanetsugu's face. They both smiled in unison, but Yocchi's seemed kind of sad...

"Although I hoped you would have found out a different way, at least now I trust you know how to proceed." Lord Kanetsugu seemed almost beside himself, his smile so warm and genuine.

"Oh yes! I think I know what I need to do going forward." I replied happily as I looked at Yocchi. Please pick up on this!

"I'm so happy for you!" That... is such a strange thing to say in this situation. Even Lord Kanetsugu seemed to think so, his expression soured instantly.

"Well if you'll excuse us."

"Yes, of course." I left them in the hall on my way to the kitchens.

"Owe! What did I do now?" Yocchi's pained cry made me stop dead in my tracks.

"She gave you the perfect opportunity to admit your feelings and you blew it!"

"I couldn't do that! Not when Lord owe, owe, owe! Please stop, Brother! It wasn't a good time!"

"It would do you will to be just a little selfish from time to time!"

He was saying something about Lord... did he mean Lord Kenshin? Oh! Wait a minute! He doesn't think Lord Kenshin and I are... Suddenly the kimono that had kept me warm on these cold days was far too warm. As much as I wanted to deny the possibility, it made everything else make sense. If Yocchi thought Lord Kenshin and I had feelings for each other...

"How can I convince him that's not the case?" It was clear Yocchi was so kind he would defer his feelings in a heartbeat if he thought either one of us had feelings for the other. Before we could go anywhere else with our relationship, I would have to make my feelings clear first.

"Think fast, Yocchi!" Cheers from the garden were drawing a large crowd and I found myself among them. It seems Lord Kenshin had skipped out on his responsibilities and started a snow ball fight in the garden.

"Nice throw, Kakki!" Even though the ball hit him square in the back, he still complimented his opponent. He really was too kind for his own good... As I was too busy watching Yocchi, a ball came flying right for my face. I closed my eyes and reflexively flinched when I saw it flying towards me. The cold pain I expected never came though. Instead there was a dull thud at my feet.

"Excellent shot, Yoshichi." Lord Kanetsugu offered him praise and a ready smile. I looked down at the snowballs then back up at him. He gave me a knowing smile. You... you them both so you could give me a reason to thank him.

"But, I didn't..." I cut off his protest immediately.

"You really saved me there! Thank you so much, Yocchi!" I expressed my gratitude with a deep bow. “I'll be sure to make you something really delicious for lunch!" He gave me a troubled smile and started to speak again.

"Speaking of lunch! We need to start making it right away!" One of the maids, seeming to just realize this, rushed back into the castle in a panic.

"I'll help!" I ran back into the castle after her.

Yocchi wasn't in the main hall for lunch, so I took it to his chambers. He didn't answer when I announced myself at his door. I tentatively let myself in only to find he was asleep in bed. Even from here I could see the flush on his cheeks. I hope he didn't get a fever...

"Yocchi..."

"Hmm?" He started to stir when I called his name.

"I brought you lunch since you weren't in the main hall." He sat up and blinked at me a few times, his mind hasn't quite awake yet. It was adorable, his hair was sticking out at odd angles and he had a boyish pout on his face. When his mind did wake up, he looked at me in absolute terror and embarrassment. He frantically tried to fix his hair, but it just kept sticking back up every time he tried to smooth it. Eventually, he sighed in defeat and looked down at his lap.

"I am so sorry you had to bring me lunch... and that you had to see me like this..." He sounded so small and sad as he said it my heart tightened.

"It's nothing to apologize for. Especially if you aren’t feeling well." I motioned to my cheeks with my hands and he tapped his.

"I feel all right though." He gave me a cheerful smile, but he still looked tired. He probably wouldn't want to trouble anyone if he was sick...

"Still, don't push yourself to eat all this if you aren't well. I'll be back with some medicine, just in case!" I could hear him protesting, but I was already out the door. Maybe if I nursed him from his cold I could somehow make him understand my feelings. Something told me just telling him wouldn't be enough...

Unfortunately, a rash of illness had swept through the castle recently and we had just ran out of medicine. It wouldn't be bad not just for Yocchi, but anyone else who got sick if we didn't have any medicine. With that singular thought in mind, I bundled up and headed to town. It hadn't snowed in a few days, so the roads were earsier to travel now. Everything was going smoothly until I started my walk back.

My shopping trip took far longer than it should have because a fresh snow coated the once clear roads. It was still snowing as I trudged back to the castle. In my haste to leave, I forgot about getting an escort too. Hopefully I don't get attacked along the way. It's bad enough I'm starting to not be able to feel my fingers and toes... A different kind of chill took me when I saw a figure approaching me on horseback. The driving snow made it hard to make out who was coming so I tried to make myself scarce in the snow-covered underbrush. When I saw who it was I leapt out and yelled at him.

"Yocchi!" His horse came to a quick stop and he came back to me. He looked so handsome atop his horse wrapped in a cloak that brought out the color of his eyes. The snow that clung to him reminded me of rice flour on mochi. Of course, I would think of food at a time like this. The look of pure relief on his face spoke volumes to me. He jumped down from his horse and right up to me.

"Everyone's been looking for you! When it started snowing again, we got really worried!" He reached out for the basket in my hand, careful that our fingers didn't touch. I sighed inwardly at his deliberateness. He took an extra cloak from the saddle and wrapped it around me. "I hope you don't mind I had it in my lap to keep it warm..."

"Why would I possibly mind that?" I couldn’t help but laugh a little at how absurdly nice he was. He got a little bashful and coughed to clear his throat.

"Can you get up on your own?"

"Would you mind helping me?" Now it was my turn to be a little bashful. I had never ridden on a horse with a man before, much less the man I had very deep feelings for. But if there was any time to be selfish, now was it! I'm not sure if it was the fever or a blush, but he nodded. I reached up and took the saddle with one foot in the stirrup. He gasped my waist gently and gave me the push I needed to get on the horse. Then he handed me the basket of medicine. I expected him to also get on the horse, instead he took the reins and started walking up the road.

"Yocchi, wouldn't it be faster to just ride together?" I couldn't hide the distress in my voice. "Especially since you're ill!"

"It's fine!" Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he must be smiling. "Besides, it would be disrespectful to be so familiar with Lord Kenshin's lover." And there we have it, he really did think we were lovers...

"There's nothing romantic going on between Lord Kenshin and I." He stopped walking abruptly and looked right at me.

"Really?!" His shocked expression told me he believed it had been true wholeheartedly. He looked away from me quickly and started walking again. "Sorry, I thought that..."

"You aren't the only one who thought that. The Hojo think so too. That's why they came after me. I suppose it would only be natural considering the exception he's making for me." He seemed to be quietly considering my words as we made our way back to the castle.

I received the sternest look I'd ever gotten from lord Kanetsugu when we got back. "I'm sorry I went off on my own and worried everyone."

"I'll spare the lecture for later. Right now we need to get you both warmed up."

"Oh no, I'm fine! I got Yocchi this medicine though so..."

"You were out in the cold for so long! I’ll have the maids get you extra blankets!" We went back and forth like that a moment or two longer before Lord Kanetsugu cut us both off with a gruff voice.

"Enough! Both of you come with me!" Though his voice was harsh, I thought I saw a softness in his eyes. He led us to a room and pushed us in. "Since you both insist on caring for each other, you can do it here. If I see either of you before you are fully well, you'll regret it considerably." We both stared into a room perfectly prepared for two as the door closed behind us.

"This is too much, Brother..." Yocchi grumbled as his gaze fell to his feet. "I'm going to sneak back to my room..." I watched him go unsure if I should do the same or if I should stay. A heartbeat later I heard Yocchi's stressed voice in the hall. The door was thrown open and Yocchi came tumbling inside.

"It is bad enough I have one person, far too old to require stringent supervision, do not increase that number unnecessarily!" The door slammed shut and we were left alone again.

"Maybe we should make the most of this..." I decided as I moved to the center of the room.

"I don't think we have a choice." He sounded deeply apologetic about the situation. "I'm sorry my brother is being like this."

"It makes sense. We're able to take care of each other this way so no one else has to do it." I explained as I collected a dry kimono to change into. I was going to go to the bathroom to put it on, but Yocchi scampered out the door again.

"I'll wait out here while you change." There were definite nerves in his voice as he spoke. His kind consideration made my heart beat just a bit faster. I would have to thank Lord Kanetsgu properly as soon as possible.

After we both had gotten changed, we settled ourselves on the bedding laid out for us. I let out a small sigh as I worked warmth back into my fingers.

"Do you need anything?" He's so kind...

"I was just thinking I'm glad I'm stuck in here with you." Maybe that was a little too honest considering how surprised he looked. His expression shifted quick though.

"I was just thinking the same thing!"

Spring Blossoms

As I walked out into the garden I saw her on her tip toes admiring some of the buds on a branch. Lord Kenshin came up behind her and scared her! She jumped and lost her footing causing both both of them to fall backwards into the grass. She looks so embarrassed but Lord Kenshin doesn't seem embarrassed at all. Seeing stuff like that makes it so hard not to think they aren't lovers. I hadn't meant to sigh out loud, but I was feeling really conflicted. What if Lord Kenshin has feelings for her? Just because she didn't have feelings for him didn't even it was the same for him. Oh dear, oh dear what to do?

"Lord Kenshin is an incorrigible man with no sense of propriety or personal space." Brother suddenly startled me as he walked by. I'm not sure if he was complaining out loud or talking to me. He didn't look at while he said it. Either way, it was important to remember that Lord Kenshin was like this with everyone and didn't really see gender. It made sense he wouldn't see an issue doing the same things he did with all of us with a young woman. Maybe I'm overthinking all this...

"It appears as though our young Yoshichi is thinking very seriously on something..." Lord Kenshin!

"Oh, not especially, no." I give him a smile to match his own. Suddenly, he grabbed me by the shoulders and spun so we were both facing the garden.

"Tell me, Yoshichi, how do you feel about her?" There was only one person in my field of vision, which made it clear who he was asking about.

"She's amazing." The words slipped right out! I didn't even think about them! Embarrassed, I started to blush and slapped both hands over my mouth.

"He's asking if you like her. Romantically." Brother sounded exasperated that he had to explain it. The question only made me blush harder. How do you even answer a question like that?! Lord Kenshin chuckled when he felt me tense up then gave my shoulders a few good squeezes.

"It won't due to be anything less than honest about your feelings. There are lots of eligible young men here. If you don't hurry she might set her heart on someone else..." I could feel his weight shift as he leaned his face next to mine. I could see a playful smile on his face out of the corner of my eye. "I might just have to snatch her up, so she doesn't end up alone."

"I think you've made your point..." My brother sounded completely done with the whole situation. Just then, she turned and noticed us. She gave us a bright smile and a wave. Before I could react, Lord Kenshin had my arm by the sleeve and was flailing it back and forth so vigorously my whole body was moving.

"You're doing great hanging up the laundry! Yocchi is cheering for you!" Suddenly, my other arm started flailing and I felt like a helpless puppet. The only thing that made it bearable was watching her stifle a giggle.

"That is quite enough out of you." Brother grabbed Lord Kenshin and made him stop with a stern voice. "As for you," I flinched waiting for his lecture, "It would do you well not to let others use you for their amusement."

"Yes, Brother." He started to lead Lord Kenshin away, but I stopped him. "Say, Brother, how would I go about being selfish?"

"Make your feelings known to her. Think of something she likes and get her a gift related to it. When you give it to her, tell her how you feel about her." Brother always did give the best advice.

"She was just admiring the buds. I should get her some when they start to bloom!" Brother looked at me with pride as he smiled.

"That sounds like an excellent idea."

It took a few weeks for the blooms to really get big and full. Once they did, I went to town and bought a vase that would go well with them. With Lord Kenshin's permission I cut some of the blooms and took them to her room. I was so excited and nervous as I waited for her to open the door. As soon as the door opened I held out the vase and bowed deeply.

"I hope that these flowers will convey my feelings for you!" I felt the vase lift from my hands slowly, though not a word was spoken. I gingerly looked up at her. Oh no. What is that look for? Oh dear...

"Isn't this a bit sudden? Maybe we should talk about this a bit first?" She's right! I should have asked if flowers made her sick first! Oh no! I grabbed the flowers back as terror gripped me.

"I am so sorry! I didn't stop to consider flowers made you sick! I'll do better next time!" Then I took off running towards the garden to dispose of them. On the way, Lord Kenshin wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into the main hall.

"You should eat first before you take those to her." He explained as he sat me down next to my brother.

"Please tell me you weren't planning on giving her those..." Brother eyed the vase suspiciously.

"I already tried, and it didn't go over so well..." Brother groaned and slapped his forehead with his hand.

"Wah! Brother! What's wrong?" Lord Kenshin answered for him with an amused grin.

"In the language of flowers, peach blossoms are most often associated with marriage or marriage proposals."

"Oh no..." I could feel all the strength leave me to the point I couldn't hold the vase anymore. Lord Kenshin caught the vase and Brother caught me.

"On the bright side, your feelings are perfectly clear now!" Lord Kenshin tried to cheer me up, but it didn't work. I just put my head in my hands in despair.

"We'll think of a way to fix this later." Brother... you're good, but I don't think anything can fix this.

Things are really awkward for the next few days. Tsugutsugu and Kakki won't leave me alone about it once they knew either. To make things worse, they would tease me about it in front of her. That just makes things harder on her...

"Isn't it a little late to be awkward around each other?"

"Kakki, stop..." It came out whinier than I would have liked...

"Maybe they had a fight."

"You know that's not what happened, Tsugutsugu..." Not like they'll believe me...

"They both seem like the type that would just pretend nothing was wrong until they explode." Well you might be right there, Kakki. That's still not what happened!

"I'm surprised there's any castle left." Tsugutsugu!

"I accidently put the cart before the horse! That's all! The situation was embarrassing enough, I don't need you two making it worse!"

"Accidentally?" Oh no she heard?! Oh... why does she look kind of sad? Uh oh... That means that was a lot louder than I meant for it to be...

"Sorry..."

"Oh no... I was just surprised is all!" She seems genuinely relieved. "I'm not... it's just... It was very sudden." She's so cute when she's blushing. But at least she's not upset with me!

"If you two are going to make out, could you leave? Some of us are trying to eat."

"KAKKI!" I'm so embarrassed to call you my friend right now... why are you always saying things like that?!

"Yeah, seriously..." You too, Tsugutsugu? Oh no she's so embarrassed! Oh no! She's hiding het head in her hands and running away!

"Now you two are putting the cart before the horse..." I put my own head in my hands as I muttered this.

"Wait, so you two aren't together?" I just shook my head.

"If she's still on the market maybe I'll take a pass at her..."

"Stop joking around, Kakki." Seriously, can you two make this any worse?

"Who said I was joking?" I DO NOT like the way he said that... I snapped my eyes up to meet his. Oh no... he has that crazy look in his eyes...

"If you've finished eating there is plenty of work to be done before the flower viewing party Lord Kenshin insists we have." Saved by Brother once again...

A few days later as I was passing the kitchen I picked up on a conversation.

"I don't think I'll actually get to enjoy the flower viewing much. I'll probably be too tired."

"If we finish with our duties early, we'll help you pound the mochi. It'll be hard to do as much as you'll need and make the dumplings too." Another cook offered sympathetically. I had a fantastic idea just then. Brother, please give me your strength to strike fear in the hearts of friend and foe alike with just a look!

"What the hell, Yocchi?! Where are you taking us?" Complain all you like, Kakki you're helping!

"We're going to the kitchen!" I answered sternly.

"You can make your own midnight snack..." Tsugutsugu sighed in exasperation.

"We aren't making a midnight snack. We're going to pound mochi!"

"Why the hell would we do that?" Kakki tried to pull his head free and a struggle resulted as I tried to maintain control. Eventually, they both broke free and we all collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"You two really owe me, okay? You're always making fun of me for a laugh and I always let you!" I sighed quietly.

"Well if you didn't make it so easy, we wouldn't do it so much." Tsugutsugu smirked as he grabbed my head and dug his knuckles into it.

"Tsugutsugu..." When I started to whine and try to get free, Kakki gave me a disinterested look.

"Why don't you tell us what this is really about." I shoved Tsugutsugu's arm off as I sighed heavily.

"She really likes the flowers, but she was saying she won't get enjoy them because she'll be too tired from making mochi." This was surprisingly embarrassing to admit and I felt really sheepish about it. Kakki gave me a weird smile for a second.

"So, you want us to help you make mochi so she can enjoy the flowers?" When he says it with that tone and an eyebrow waggle it sounds kind of illicit. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all...

"That was the idea, yes..." I have a bad feeling about this now.

"Well I guess I do owe her for teaching me how to make mochi correctly..." Even though Tsugutsugu sounded exasperated, he was smiling.

"Yeah, I guess there are worse things to be doing right now." Even Kakki agreed to help! I was so excited I grabbed one of them in each arm and hugged them.

The day of the flower viewing party was finally here and I hauled myself down to the kitchen well before dawn. I could have sworn I saw Lord Kageie and Lord Kagetsugu leaving the kitchen. That didn't make any sense... I was questioning my eyes until I saw Lord Kanetsugu leave the kitchen with Yocchi on his back asleep.

"Please forgive the state they left the kitchen in. I do hope it will not inconvenience you too much." He sounded exasperated, but there was a warmth in his eyes.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." Even though I had no way of knowing that, I said so with a cheerful smile. In truth, I was dreading what I might find. Lord Kanetsugu left mumbling about being too old to keep doing this. I coyld stop myself from imagining a younger doting brother Kanetsugu carrying a younger sleeping Yocchi around on his back. That moment of serenity was broken as I prepared myself for the state of the kitchen.

It was in a state of disarray, though I expected much worse. It just looked like it hadn't been cleaned thoroughly after a meal. A large, cloth wrapped lump on one of the counters caught my eye. When I lifted the cloth, I found a giant lump of mochi...

"Yocchi..."

The flower viewing party was a great success. I was able to make everyone's favorites thanks to all the mochi I had been gifted. Still, it had been a daunting task and I spent most of my time relaxing under one of the trees. I was watching everyone play a game when Yocchi approached me.

"Can I join you?" He looked so tired I had to say yes. Once he was comfortable on the blanket I was sitting on, he seemed to instantly relax.

"Thank you for making all that mochi. It was a big help." I offered him a skewer of sweet dango hoping it would help boost his energy.

"Tsugutsugu was a big help. He taught us how to make it."

"I appreciate the thought and effort all of you put into it. It was your idea, wasn't it?" I glanced down at his face a moment.

"I wanted to make things up to you... for the whole flower thing. I didn't even know flowers had a language. There are so many things I don't know..." His bashful tone turned a bit melancholy at the end and I felt compelled to offer him some words of comfort.

"That was not something worth making up for. It was a misunderstanding and we worked past it, didn't we?" I gave him a kind smile and he gave me a relieved one in return. "There's one thing I really admire about you, Yocchi. You aren't afraid to admit your shortcomings and ask for help. In doing so, you are always trying to improve." He was clearly feeling bashful, his cheeks took on the same hue as the blossoms around us. Suddenly, he bolted up to a sitting position.

"I can't believe I almost forgot!" He looked genuinely distraught as he pulled something wrapped in cloth from his sleeve. "I should have just given this to you from the beginning!" He sat the package down between us rather than handing it to me directly. I unwrapped it to reveal a beautiful hairpin.

"It's beautiful!" I felt so warm and happy inside as I clutched it to my chest.

"It wouldn't really match what you're wearing right now though. Maybe I'll have to pick out a kimono to match it!" He said it as a joke but it made my heart race.

"I would like that very much..." I took a deep breath, ready to confess my feelings to him. However, when I turned to him, he was curled up asleep. He looked so peaceful I didn't have the heart to wake him. Instead, I gingerly picked petals from his hair as they fell on him.

#slbp #slbp yoshichi #romance #fluff #fanfic #fanfiction #sidepiecesummer #sidepeicesummer2018

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acaseforpencils · 6 years

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Jason Chatfield.

Bio: I grew up in the far flung suburbs of Perth, in Western Australia, and used to spend my paper route money on MAD Magazines (I cheaped-out and stole my dentist’s waiting room issues of the New Yorker. I think I was the only kid who looked forward to going to the dentist).

I moved to New York in 2014 and started pitching to the mag in person. I’m not sure Bob liked me, so I went back to pitching via email. Then I went in on his last day and finally sold my first piece. I feel like it was his final f—k you to the magazine. “Here! Have a Chatfield!”

Find this print here!

The cartoon was a goofy play on Vlad the Impaler.

I didn’t sell to the magazine again until last month, but I’ve had a handful sold as dailies. And I’m published in MAD often, so they’ve clearly done away with any of their standards.

When I’m not drawing gag cartoons I write and draw a syndicated legacy strip called Ginger Meggs which I took over 10 years ago. It’s been around since 1921 and now appears daily in 34 countries. He’s kind of an Australian version of Dennis the Menace, except he predates him by about 30 years.

Tools of choice: For drawing/roughs, I use a Prismacolor Turquoise clutch pencil with a red lead and try to find some paper with a little bit of tooth. The mixed media pads at Blick do the trick nicely.

I ink using a Uni-ball Vision Elite Stick Roller Ball Pen… or a Pigma Micron 03.

DO NOT use the Uni-Ball Vision Rollerball Pens, Fine Point (0.7mm) if you’re traveling. They explode on planes. And ruin your copy of The New Yorker.

For a wash, I just use watercolor and whatever brush is lying around. Nothing fancy. There’s a scanning app on my phone called “Adobe Scan” which does a nice job of scanning line-art into a PDF when I’m out of the studio and need to email in a quick rough.

I use a Wacom Mobilestudio Pro for finished artwork. I like to get out of the studio and work from a bar or restaurant, so it helps that I can take that with me. I use a little glove that I got on Amazon so I don’t grease up the screen, and the felt-tip nib that comes in the pen-holder makes the friction between the stylus and the screen more like pencil on paper. Unfortunately, they’re not waterproof, as I found on a recent vacation…

youtube

My wife plays piano and sings at bars around the city so I’ll often sit at the bar during her sets and draw. Digital/Traditional depends on what deadlines are most pressing. (She has a weekly residency in Astoria —if anyone’s interested in going, let me know!)

A lot of people email me for advice about tablets —I’ve been trialling/demo-ing Wacom products for 15 years— I think they’re great. If you’re married to doing stuff by hand but want to colour digitally, you can get a decent tablet without going broke. Depends on your workflow.

Writing Desk: My wife and I were living upstairs in 5A when my neighbour in 4B died. He was a brilliant poet and had an incredible old writing desk. It’s the only thing that was left in the apartment, so I’m looking after it ’til his grandson moves in at the end of our lease. I work for countless hours at this old thing. It’s beat up, but I’ve patched it together enough that it won’t collapse and bury me mid-brushstroke. I’ve stuck a few of my favourite toons on the top of it.

Tool I wish I could use better: My brain. It really is a sack of cats. Whenever I want to sit and do work, it clocks off. Then it comes up with a pearler of an idea at 3 in the morning when I’m trying to sleep. I write it down in my phone, but autocorrect makes it indecipherable by morning.

I like working with my writer friend, Scott. We both do comedy at night and have developed a nice short-hand. We also seem to have the same library of references and can build on each others’ premises, which tames my sack-of-cats.

Tool I wish existed: The Deadline Extender.® I’ve never missed a deadline, but that said… an extra 3 or 4 minutes to allow for a terrible wifi connection, or a errant scanner wouldn’t go astray.

Also: The Deadline Extender® PREMIUM: Let’s you go back in time to when you were procrastinating and slap yourself in the face. $30 p/month.

Tricks: Ok, well. This is going to sound a bit Dalton Trumbo, but bear with me: I do my best work…in the bath.The most productive 3 hours of my week are during Scotchbath Sunday; an immoveable chunk of time on Sunday evening whereby I lock myself in the bathroom, run a bath, lug my drawing stuff onto a bit of wood that sits over the bath, and just write and draw. Nothing else. I write weeks worth of my syndicated comic strip (Ginger Meggs), I write New Yorker cartoons, scribble up roughs for dailies— and when I feel like I’ve earned it (usually 2 hours in) I tap the side of the bath three times, and my wife peels herself from her piano and I unlock the door to a nice big glass of scotch. It’s a hell of a carrot on a stick to work towards when you’re stuck. (PS. Lest you think I’m some kind of Don Draper-era misogynist; the scotch reward part was her idea. I think she realized it keeps me in the bath and out of her way.)

Anyway. It’s a great way to switch gears creatively. It’s like being on an aeroplane. No wifi, no phones — just the work you need to get done. Get involved. #ScotchBathSunday.

Oh! And if I get my deadlines done for the week, I have a small budget for a solo lunch somewhere where I can eat cheese and draw. I really didn’t know cheese ’til I moved to America. (And yes, I’ve already been to Wisconsin. Good Lord.)

Tips? I always tell younger artists to not even think about touching a drawing tablet until they’ve learned to draw by hand first. Otherwise they’ll always be drawing away, knowing they have the insurance of the CTRL+Z key at their disposal if they screw up a line. That’s not a good habit to have when you’re working to a deadline. But, once you do know how to draw, by all means dive head-first into the digital realm. It’s incredible. Procreate, Sketchbook or Photoshop are all great.

Misc: One of the hangovers from working in advertising illustration is that I’ve had to be a bit of a chameleon style-wise for the last 15 years and haven’t allowed myself to just settle into one style. Lately, I’ve just decided to say “Bugger it!” and try and find a loose, consistent style that I’m comfortable with, that’s an apt conduit to my silly ideas.

I always loved George Booth’s line, and his ability to create a scene with so much movement but just at the right moment in time. Also Sam Gross’ dark, hilarious cartoons with perfect line-economy. And I’d give my left arm (I draw with my right) to know how Barry Blitt has so much control with his washes…

Chatfield’s portrait of Sam Gross

While I’m geeking out, I love seeing younger cartoonists find their feet and thrive in a style that just feels like they’re speaking to you— Ellis J. Rosen, Sofia Warren, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, Jason Katzenstein, Amy Kurzweil, and a seemingly endless list of talented younger artists who are putting in the work are a big inspiration.

I know it should be Steig or Thurber or Addams, but my favourite cartoonist is Sergio Aragones.

I was always so enamoured of MAD growing up and studied the lines of Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee and the Usual Gang of Idiots. I remember being so frustrated I couldn’t even come close to getting my work to look like theirs, but I think I found a style somewhere in between when I fell short.

I think Wil McPhail’s poses are masterful, and I wish I knew how how the hell he did that. One day I’ll trudge up to England and knock on his door to ask him. I find myself doubled-over at John Cuneo’s Instagram, and Ed Steed’s absurdly funny gags. I have a slew of toons I’ve torn out of years’ worth of magazines and taped to my studio wall, or my zillion year-old writing desk. I’m constantly humbled by how generous and welcoming the existing crop of New Yorker cartoonists have been to a goofy Aussie immigrant — Joe Dator, Matt Diffee and Pat Byrnes, Mort Gerberg and an ever-growing list of prolific, talented cartoonists who make the 99% weekly rejection tolerable.

I’ve made some of my closest friends and have been lucky enough to meet my cartooning heroes through the National Cartoonists Society. I got to spend a lot of time with Sergio at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in the UK last year which made my year. We were signing together for a whole afternoon and I spent more time geeking out with him than signing.

Okay. Enough drooling. Sorry.

I’m a fan of cartoonists.

Website, etc. I have a weekly podcast where I throw around ideas for New Yorker cartoons with a fellow comedian and writer, Scott Dooley. It’s called “Is There Something In This?” It’s a bit of fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the art of writing gags very seriously. It’s an extremely difficult skill to master, and we’re virtually zygotes at it. We have lots of listeners now, which is bewildering. Talking about drawing is like dancing about architecture, but here we are. Anyway you can find it on iTunes or wherever you waste time listening to podcasts.

My website is jasonchatfield.com and my comedy stuff is up at jasonchatfieldcomedy.com ( I’ve been doing stand-up comedy for 11 years. If anyone wants to come see a show, hit me up! I’ll put you on the door). My instagram is @jasonchatfield. I’m still trolling the British chap who has the @jasonchatfield handle on Twitter to no avail. To that end, I’m @jason_chatfield on Twitter.

If you want more art supplies in your life, A Case for Pencils is on Instagram and Twitter. You can also find me, Jane (the person who created/edits this blog), on Twitter here, which is where I stick the paintings that I’ve been doing instead of interviewing people consistently (I needed to balance working on other people’s work and my own work!). Oh, and If you’d like to support this blog, which is always very appreciated, there are many different ways to do so, which you can find here!

#Jason chatfield #how to draw New Yorker cartoons #artists on tumblr #art supplies #drawing process #artist interview

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marvelousbirthdays · 7 years

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Happy Birthday, hutch2014!

June 22 - Jemma/Bucky “What a nice little sound, I think I’ll bite there again.” for @hutch2014

NSFW

Written by @thestarfishdancer

Note: A million thank-yous to the amazing and talented @dresupi for not only agreeing to beta but also for the figurative hand-holding as I branch out to writing new pairings. <3

It may take every obstinate cell in her (admittedly) tiny body, but Jemma Simmons is not going to cave. She bites her lip and cants her hips as much as the cybernetic arm wrapped under and around her thigh to better drive her up the bloody wall will let her. She’s so close, the very razor’s edge of close, she is right there…

Which is, of course, when her bloody wanker of a boyfriend pulls his mouth away, slowing the thrust of the two finger he has buried in her cunt to keep her hovering with bliss just outside her grasp. A frustrated cry tears itself out of her throat against her volition.

“You want something, doll?” Bucky teases, and as absurdly fond as she is of the wicked grin on his face, she’s sorely tempted to try to maneuver enough to kick him. She settles for glaring mutinously instead.

“You know what you have to do,” he coaxes, his mouth so close to where she wants him right now, his fingers withdrawing and then pushing deep again, the slight burn of post-mission stubble against the delicate skin of her inner thighs.

This is fine. She can absolutely do this. She survived Grant Ward’s torture - has proof in the latticework of scars on her stomach that said wanker of a boyfriend treats with a mix of helpless anger and gentleness on a regular basis. Certainly she can survive this much more pleasurable torture. Her breath comes out in moaned gasps as he teases at her clit, pushing her as near to ecstasy as she think she can stand only to stop. Again.

She steels herself for the next wave of torment, because she is bloody determined she will not lose this bet – or was it a dare? – and even though the point of it is bloody escaping her and bloody hell and damn it all. A whimper of pure need escapes because he’s moved to bite the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, the sharp sting followed a soothing sweep of his tongue.

“What a nice little sound,” he smirks up at her from between her legs. “I think I’ll bite there again.”

As his teeth close around that spot – and lord how did she not know that particular inch of skin was such an erogenous zone – she caves.

“Oh, GOD, James, please, please, please,” she speaks her first words in what feels like days though she knows, rationally, it can’t be more than an hour since the dare – or was it a bet, after all? – that began when Fitz noted, over post-mission debrief drinks, which they do now that the team is based in the Avengers tower, that Doctor Banner worked much more quietly than she did. The aforementioned doctor who had the good sense to scarper instead of taking another swig and behave like he wasn’t always talking to the dwarves as he clattered around, Leopold Fitz.

“That’s what I wanted to hear, doll,” Bucky says before crooking the fingers he has buried inside her just so as his mouth descends on her again. The hand that hasn’t somehow become woven with his cybernetic fingers tries to find purchase in the sheets as she comes so hard her vision whites out.

When she regains herself, he’s wiping his mouth (but not the smug look off his face) as he crawls up her body to pull her into his arms as she rides out the aftershocks.

“Alright, you win,” she says too breathlessly to sound as cross as she’d aimed for. He looks entirely too pleased with himself, and she can’t help but scoot up to kiss him. She can taste herself on his tongue.

“So…” he says when she’s snuggled back into his side, his flesh hand stroking familiar patterns up and down her spine. “How long do you think Fitz lasted?”

Oh, that’s right. While her boyfriend may have been right when he bragged that he had ways to make her talk, it was Fitz who she was trying to out-silent first. The thought brightens her immediate.

“Ha! Fitz! I bet he broke in minutes.”

“Hmm?”

“I may have caught Natasha’s eye before you man-handled me out of the common room,” Jemma says gleefully, her hand creeping up under the t-shirt he hadn’t bothered to remove to stroke the skin above his waistband. “And she did that eye shift and miniscule lift of her chin thing. So I’m fairly confident she’s taken care of that for me.

Bucky chuckles. “Poor, poor Fitz. He really won’t know what hit him with Nat, will he?”

“Nope,” Jemma says, her hand drifting temptingly lower beneath his pants. “And I hope you know that you are absolutely in for some retribution tonight.”

“Oh, doll,” Bucky says, that wicked grin that won her from the first gracing his face once again. “I was counting on it.”

#winterbiochemist

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theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin · 4 years

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What do Dumbledore and Slughorn think about Lily? It's clear that Dumbledore thinks she's a threat and that Slughorn is beginning to see that something is wrong with her but Dumbledore is constantly underestimating her and really making shitty decisions when it comes to their relationship (as in he is constantly making it worse, I like to think that with the whole Pettigrew situation he sealed his fate in her mind.) I just want to know what their POV is, unless that's a spoiler-

I’m going to assume due to the timing we’re talking “Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus” here.

First, you’re right in that I won’t go into too much detail because spoilers but we can talk a little about it I think.

First, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head and pretty much said everything I would. At a basic level, Dumbledore thinks she’s a threat and Slughorn is beginning to realize he may have gotten in over his head.

Now, as for Dumbledore, while he does constantly underestimate her I see it more as he... views her with extreme caution for reasons that are not entirely invalid.

I guess we’ll start from the beginning.

Dumbledore catches on pretty quickly that there’s something seriously wrong with Lily.

She appears to have no understanding of how society even functions or even just how to obey basic rules. In the first week we see that Lily doesn’t even understand the concept of house points, completely alienates an entire castle, earns detentions left and right without remorse, and shows little to no empathy for others. But it’s not just that, Lily shows some extremely concerning behavior even in those first few weeks.

The wand auctioning, from a wizard’s perspective, is almost the worst thing you can do to another human being. Lily does it in public, in front of absolutely everyone, treats the entire thing as a joke, and even after being punished and told exactly what was wrong with her actions, treats the entire thing as a joke.

Adding to that Dumbledore’s discovery that Lily is entirely apathetic to her own family (no matter how shitty they are) and he begins to get a picture of Tom Riddle’s sociopathy times a thousand.

Now, he is wrong in a few ways. Lily comes into Hogwarts with absolutely no understanding of the rules of any society, a flawed understanding based on years of abuse that people do not matter and essentially don’t exist, poor coping mechanisms thanks to said abuse and neglect, and is extremely devoted and loyal to people he simply cannot see (Uncle Death and Tom Riddle). However, Dumbledore doesn’t know any of this, he just gets the, “I like to make them hurt” monologue version 2.0, “My relatives are robots and I can do whatever the hell I want, bitch. Also, I am a drug lord in my spare time.”

As a result, while Dumbledore tentatively tries to connect with Lily early on, by his second meeting with her, he’s already edging towards “Tom Riddle 2.0, TOM RIDDLE 2.0!” mindset.

And at this point we get Lily coming to him about Quirrell. First, Lily provides him no evidence except “he doesn’t stutter anymore, it’s creeping me out, man”. At this point, to Dumbledore, Quirrell hasn’t even done anything. While Dumbledore might distantly suspect Quirrell of going after the stone, he’s not going to fire him on Lily’s word alone. Especially on Lily’s word alone (for all Dumbledore knows, Quirrell simply is her version of Dumbledore, the professor that’s a thorn in her side that she wants to get rid of).

Now, this turns out to be a huge mistake and clusterfuck that Dumbledore actively admits to regretting. In a single night we get traumatized Hermione who informs Dumbledore, “Yeah, you thought Ellie Potter was just a talented, well have I got news for you”, a dead body in the form of Quirrell (stabbed to death even), Voldemort’s undying spirit out there in the world somewhere, and Ellie Potter god only knows where with no explanation.

While Dumbledore now acknowledges that, turns out, Quirrell actually was possessed by Voldemort, he does still wonder in horror if Lily had to *kill* the guy and if she had to kill him in such a clearly intentional and brutal way. Wizards don’t stab people in the hearts. More, afterwards, why did Lily disappear and where the hell did she go? Where can an eleven year old girl without a friend in the world simply disappear to?

This is pretty much when Dumbledore entirely gives up on Lily and begins to think thoughts I can’t reveal due to spoilers but the savvy reader may be able to figure out on their own.

Cut forward to Sirius Black. Now, to us, the readers, we know Black is innocent. We know that Dumbledore’s making a huge mistake, that Lily’s trying to be noble in her own way, and that he’s condemning an innocent man to death. However, from his point of view, after strongly suspecting/being 100% certain Lily’s somehow involved in the Chamber of Secrets business (and perhaps only returned to Hogwarts for that reason) Lily now comes up and says, “Hey, you know that mass murderer and traitor who everyone and their brother knows was Voldemort’s right hand man and is guilty as hell? Yeah, he’s innocent, here’s a ridiculous story explaining why which I just coincidentally have the evidence to prove.”

Dumbledore knows Lily’s absurdly powerful (perhaps powerful enough to fake convincing evidence), he has no idea why Lily would come back to Hogwarts a second time (as he suspects the first time was solely to open the chamber of secrets for reasons that are spoilers), and here is something that would get a recently resurrected Voldemort back his right hand man. And for reasons that are spoilers, Dumbledore believes Lily has significant motive to fill out Voldemort’s ranks.

So we get his “Lol, no” response.

And from his point of view, I completely understand every decision he makes. He just also happens to be horrifyingly wrong and more than willing to go to extremes I can’t begin to describe because of spoilers.

As for Slughorn, well, at the moment, he’s not quite sure what to think. He’s clearly learning that Default isn’t just the Island of Misfit Toys but even more dysfunctional than that filled with kids who, either by having been betrayed or failed by authority, have no trust and utter contempt for the system.

He then has Lily who is throwing him for a major loop. On the one hand, she’s your ordinary troubled kid who earns detention a little too often, racks up the point loss, and needs a good kick in the rear to start thinking about her future. On the other hand, he quickly discovers that Lily isn’t like the rest of us. She’s not simply talented or brilliant, she blows all of the competition completely out of the water and utterly breaks all the rules of magic. What is your average job to Lily who seems to live in an entirely different world? What is even the point of her going to classes? All he knows is that Ellie Potter is someone he wants in his circle even without the girl who lived thing (hence Slug Club meeting).

So, that’s where Slughorn is right about now. Desperately trying to come up with what he should do with her and trying to realign his mental map. He’s realized pretty quickly she should be prefect (but his other choices are unwilling or entirely lacking). He wants to help her with her education and future, but given her sheer amount of talent he has no idea where to even start with that and likely thinks part of the issue is she’s bored in class (which she is, but not quite for the reasons he would think).

I wouldn’t say that Slughorn sees something wrong with her, he does, but that he just doesn’t really know what to do. However, unlike every other head of house Lily’s had so far, he hasn’t given up entirely.

#ask #anon #lily and the art of being sisyphus #ellie potter #harry potter #albus dumbledore #horace slughorn

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