#anne with an e behind the scenes

[ghostskyee]

i know sketchbook stuff always flops but it’s all i be drawing

#second image is a behind the scenes photo of anne w an e. like the one everyone likes lol #sketchbook #gouache #traditional #drawss #2022 #original

[writing-intheundercroft]

You're Gonna Go Far - O. Gaunt

AO3 Link

Word Count: 10,956

Rating: E (The boys are in a fraternity, Smut, Oral Sex (F receiving), Unprotected Sex, NSFW, MDNI)

Summary: It's the night before graduation, and Ominis Gaunt is moving to New York City next week. There isn't much time left to say all the things that have gone unsaid over the past seven years.

A/N: I'm in the loveliest Ominis server on Discord, and this is dedicated to @grandeoatmilklatte, who inspired frat president Ominis. I hope you enjoy!

You walk up the steps of the splintered porch, taking great care to not slip on the beer a freshman has dropped on the stoop.  Graduation ceremonies start in the morning and the spring chill has broken, giving way to a gorgeous May evening.  It’s just warm enough that you’ve got the slightest glisten on your collarbone from your fast pace walk, abandoning the bar scene for your best mates’ last frat party ever.  

“Very nice,” a voice purrs behind you. “You do always look pretty when you polish up.”

You roll your eyes, swatting at a sweaty Lucan Brattleby as he dodges your aim. “Buzz off, Luc.  Have you seen Sebastian and Ominis?”

“Sebastian is somewhere getting his face sucked off by Cressida,” Lucan chuckles, brushing back his curly mop. “And I haven’t seen Ominis all night, except when he yelled at me for trying to get into his room.”

You raise an eyebrow, resting a hand on your hip as you bounce your heel against the porch.  You swallow away the lump in your throat, hoping Ominis isn’t off getting slobbered on by a girl. Whatever liquid courage you’ve consumed this evening is already wearing thin, and the sight of Ominis with a stranger might shatter you.  

“And why were you trying to get into his room?” You ask, trying to pry.

Lucan shrugs. “Well, the president’s room gets passed down to the next president,” he jerks his thumb back to himself proudly. “And I wanted to measure for my furniture next semester.  I think I could fit a wet bar in there.”

You try to stifle your snort, tossing your hair over your shoulder. “I’m going in to find him,” you announce, stepping through the threshold.  With the door open, the music bleeds out onto the porch.  

It’s so loud, you can feel the bass from the music thumping in your stomach.  Garreth is in the kitchen, peddling some of his tonics; Amit and Andrew are in the living room, scolding some younger students for touching the large telescope situated by the windows. You spot Sebastian leaning against the stair railing, a cup of beer in his hand. You have to wade through a sea of bodies just to reach him.

”It’s about time you showed up,” Sebastian teases, swirling his beer. Your freckled friend has his shirt unbuttoned quite low, and you notice several young ladies shooting jealous glances your way. It's laughable that they'd be envious - Sebastian has never been anything more than a pesky brother to you, growing even closer in the years since Anne's passing.

”I thought you would be getting your face sucked off by Cressida,” you mock Lucan’s words, and Sebastian groans.

“I’ve been trying to escape her all night,” he tilts his head, appraising your outfit. Sebastian can be a touch overprotective when you go out on the town, and you wouldn’t put it past him to say something about how cold you must be in your slip dress.  “Bar night with the girls go well?”

”Imelda had to take Poppy home before she puked in another planter. Think she has a few of Garreth’s brews before we even hit the town.” you laugh as you talk about your roommates, crossing your arms over your chest.  “And if you’re going to criticize my clothes—“

“I think you look beautiful,” Sebastian offers. “Ominis is going to think so too.”

You blush. “Ominis doesn’t care for clothes.”

”Ominis cares for you ,” Sebastian points out, lifting the cup to his lips. “Have you seen him yet?”

You shake your head. “I was going to check his room, but didn’t want to stop him if he was…er, busy .” you wave your hands erratically, hoping Sebastian would get the gist of your implication.

Sebastian snorts, grinning over the edge of the plastic cup. “Definitely not.  Tell you what, head up to his room—I’ll send him up when I see him.”

You swat at him, but head up the stairs to the third floor anyways.  Passing by throngs of students enjoying the last weekend of term, you push your way to the door neatly labeled O. Gaunt, President.

The door seems to know you’re one of Ominis’s welcomed guests, so it unlocks itself for you. Ominis has always been nifty at protective spells, his door clearly charmed to only let in select visitors.  And much to your relief, the room is empty.  

You walk around the room, the door left ajar behind you. Ominis is a simple man, not keeping much more in his room other than a bed, desk, and the textbooks stacked neatly on his dresser.  The suit he’s been planning to wear to graduation is draped across the back of his armchair, but that’s not what catches your eye. What calls your attention the most are the two graduation gowns hanging in the closet–from afar they look identical, but you know better than anyone the implication behind both.

“I thought you were out for girls night.” 

“I couldn’t miss your last party ever, could I?”

You hear Ominis’s familiar breezy laugh. “I’d much rather be at a bar myself right now. It’s an absolute madhouse downstairs. I've been trying to keep it civilized.”

You don’t turn around; instead, you remain standing in Ominis’s closet, dragging a finger over the thick robe, trimmed with black and green velvet.  Ominis had originally planned to wear the same plain polyester school-issued robe as Sebastian, but a large box arrived on the front porch of the house earlier in the week. You, Sebastian, and Garreth lingered in the living room as Ominis carefully unwrapped the parchment paper, revealing a box with a gilded Gladrags logo.  Inside was the luxurious robe, accompanied by a satin stole.  It had the Gaunt family crest embroidered on the chest, the family motto dancing around his neck in metallic silver thread. 

Ex auro purissimo sanguinis. The purest of blood.

It was the first he’d heard from his family in almost six months–the note from Marvolo had stated if Ominis was going to represent the family in an official capacity, he needed to dress the part. Ominis immediately set the offending notecard on fire, the fancy box quickly thrown out their window and into the dumpster below. It was only after you’d gotten back to your flat that Sebastian texted; the box was empty in the trash can, but both the fancy robe and stole were hanging in Ominis’s closet.

“Which one will you wear?” You ask, turning your gaze over your shoulder.  

Ominis smiles, pushing a stray strand of blonde hair from his forehead.  Your devastatingly handsome best friend leans against the doorway, a red cup resting in his hand. Ominis has never been one to dress down–his version of a party outfit is a pair of neat, chino pants, an ironed button down layered over a tee shirt emblazoned with his fraternity letters. He fiddles with the handle of his wand in the other, the tip glowing a soft hazy red as he made sense of your placement in the bedroom.

“I think you know,” Ominis muses, swiftly moving from the doorway to his bed. “Wasn’t nearly as difficult of a decision to make as I thought.  The boys are my family now. Have been for a while.”

He sits atop the rickety full-sized bed, the springs of his mattress creaking beneath his weight.  You nearly laugh; Ominis is so tall, he looks comical perched on the misshapen bedframe. He’s never been good at transfiguration, but he’s too stubborn to let anyone else help him with his furniture.  Despite the odd furnishings, the rest of Ominis’s bedroom is neat and tidy.  His striped sheets are pristine, the duvet folded at the edge of the bed. It’s a far cry from Sebastian’s room, which is littered with papers and broken quills, or the room that Andrew and Garreth share at the end of the hall.  The two have nearly come to blows several times in the last semester over who would take the trash out.

“You still haven’t packed,” you hum, moving away from the closet and back over to his desk.  He hasn’t returned his books to the library yet, his magical ethics and muggle studies textbooks are still cracked open from finals. 

“I’ll get around to it,” Ominis shrugs.

“Lucan’s been bothering me about you packing,” you perch yourself on his desk chair. “Something about him wanting to get in and measure, so he can plan his furniture layout.  Said he wants to put a bar in the room.”

Ominis rolls his milky blue eyes, lifting the red cup to his lips. “Lucan isn’t president yet,” he reminds you. “I’m not sure when I’ll fully move out of the house. And he cannot build a wet bar in the bedroom, that’s unsanitary.”

You snort, spinning around slowly in the chair. “It’s nearly two o’clock. You’ll have bags under those pretty eyes of yours if you don’t get to bed soon.  Should I kick everyone out?”

Ominis laughs, setting the cup on the floor as he leans back in bed. “Let them have their fun,” he says fondly. “Sebastian needs one last party before he starts his rotations at St. Mungo’s.  Besides, I bet Garreth is making a fortune off his potions tonight.  Might as well clear out his entire stock on graduation parties. ”

You smile faintly as the music from downstairs bleeds up into the bedroom.  As far as fraternity houses go, there are certainly more posh ones on campus.  Ominis had been a legacy of the richest fraternity at school, one mostly of fellow purebloods and former Slytherins.  They’d spent the whole of first term trying to recruit him, baiting him with lavish dinners, free entrance to the clubs, and all the illicit beverages and substances one might desire.  But that wasn’t Ominis–unknowingly, they drove him even further into the opposite direction.  You can still remember bid day, and the shock on everyone’s faces when Ominis turned down their bid to join a humble off campus house with Sebastian. His family had been furious, specifically Marvolo–you can still remember the shouting match the brothers had gotten into, Marvolo slamming the dorm room shut after tearing Ominis to shreds.

Whilst most of the student body had expected Ominis to fade into obscurity after his controversial choice, quite the opposite happened.  Ominis truly flourished without the influence of his family, instead patching together a group of unexpected brothers. He surprised everyone when he became president his second year of uni, bringing some order to the rowdy gang of brothers with his natural born leadership skills.  What felt like a mishmash of random Hogwarts alumni suddenly became a little family, held together with Ominis as the glue.  

All in all, the shy, skinny Slytherin you once knew has really come into his own. 

“Knut for your thoughts?” Ominis asks, breaking you out of your reverie.

“Nothing,” you shrug, fixing the strap of your dress as you spin around once more. “It’s just weird, that’s all.”

“What’s weird?” Ominis asks softly, playing with his wand.  The tip has stopped glowing; he’s comfortable enough around you to not need his guide.

“That tomorrow, you graduate.” you utter. “And then, you’re gone.”

“Ah,” Ominis bites his bottom lip. “ That .”

It’s a subject the two of you have been avoiding for a while.  Ominis had spent the last few summers interning for the Wizengamot, fully expecting to work for them after graduating with his law degree.  Again, to everyone’s shock, Ominis had announced his intentions to apply for a position in the foreign office, working for MACUSA. You can still recall the doubt on Ominis’s face, brows furrowed as you and Sebastian helped him fill out his application before the deadline.  It had taken nearly an entire night, Sebastian snoring in an armchair while you sent the application off with an owl in the dark sky.

“We don’t even know if I’ll get it,” Ominis had said.

“You’re going to get it,” you assured him.  There was never a doubt in your mind.

Ominis received news of his placement with MACUSA at the end of fall term.  He was offered his first choice, a position in the foreign relations office, his first day of work being June 1st.  The celebration had lasted an entire week, until Garreth finally ran out of fizzing whizzbeer. The night was especially memorable, considering Ominis had also broken up with Nerida in the middle of the party.  He was unphased by both her screams and the beer that had flown in his face, Andrew and Garreth having to drag her out of the house. When asked about it the next morning, he’d merely shrugged it off. They hadn’t been dating longer than a month , Ominis pointed out.  Besides, he would be off to America soon enough.  Best to leave without baggage.

That thought sank in your stomach like a hot ball of lead.

“We really should start packing,” you remind him. “Unless you plan on arriving in New York with just a suitcase.”

“Maybe I’m thinking of not going,” Ominis mumbles. He leans back on the bed, unseeing eyes blinking up at the ceiling as he fumbles with his hand. “I know it looks bad on my part to decline a job this late, but–”

“Excuse me,” You gasp. “No buts, Ominis Gaunt.  You’re going to New York.”

“But what if they need me?” Ominis blurts. “Sebastian will be in London on his own, and you know he hates being alone now that Anne is gone.  And Lucan is still a little shit, he may need more experience before he’s ready to be president.  I worry he’ll bring his little dueling betting ring into the house, and I won’t stand to see the boys gambling their lives away.”

“Ominis,” you warn him. “You’re going.”

“And what about you?” Ominis asks softly. “You still have a year left here, I hate the thought of you being here by yourself.”

You pull yourself closer to the bed, the wheels of his desk chair squeaking on the floor.  “I’m going to be okay, Ominis.” You promise him. “You know, if you’re this anxious about it, we should probably get you a better cell phone.  I know how you feel about those muggle devices, but Sebastian and I really do find them useful. Not that owls aren’t efficient, but a transatlantic journey would take them quite a bit–”

Ominis’s hand is on yours, the sensation knocking the wind of your chest.

“You’ll be fine,” he murmurs. “It’s me I’m worried about.”

You stare at him, thankful he can’t see your gaze.  

Ominis has been your best friend for years now.  You can still remember him yelling at you the first time you left the Undercroft, his ire quickly fading away as soon as Sebastian forced the two of you into close proximity.  You’d shared more in common than you thought–a love for pranks, warm naps in the hallways, and an oddly similar affinity for banoffee pie. It wasn’t long before the three of you had become a package deal, hardly ever seen without the others.  It only made sense the three of you would go off to uni together after Hogwarts, you becoming somewhat of a house mother to Ominis, Sebastian, and the rest of the boys.

With that, you’d also spent the last four years of university watching Ominis date other girls.  There had never been anyone too serious, most of them being old acquaintances from Hogwarts, or pretty girls who’d stumbled into their parties.  They usually only lasted for weeks at a time, Ominis claiming he was far too busy taking care of his own brothers to handle a girlfriend as well. Usually in the end, the ladies would come sobbing at your doorstep, all wondering why they couldn’t get Ominis Gaunt to commit. 

At the same time, you’d had your fair share of fun and trouble at university–bad boyfriends, a few failed classes, all distracting you from your independent study on ancient magic. Enough so, you needed an extra two semesters under your belt to catch up on your dissertation.

“Are you scared?” you ask, voice soft. 

“Maybe,” Ominis admits, and it’s the first time in a very long time you’ve heard him express doubts. “The idea of being alone in New York is scary.  I’ve had you and Sebastian by my side for the last seven years, and I won’t know anyone.”

“You’re going to be great, Om.” you remind him. “You’re going to make a name for yourself in New York.  What would make you think otherwise?”

Ominis is chewing on his lower lip, thumb running over the back of your hand. “Marvolo called the this morning,” he admits, pointing to the little brick of a phone you and Sebastian had bullied him into buying. “It wasn’t good.”

“Oh, Om.” You sigh, pulling yourself closer. From this distance, you can smell the cool musk of his cologne, one of the little luxuries he maintains for himself. “What happened?”

Ominis hangs his head low, shaking out his dirty blond hair.  He normally has it gelled back, tidily done, but it seems a bit messy and disheveled. Out of character for your best mate.

“Said I was an embarrassment to the family,” Ominis mumbles. “That I should’ve taken the opportunity to work at Mulciber’s firm, and that Mother and Father are astounded I’d work for the government, let alone the Americans .” he says dramatically. 

“Your brother is an arse as usual,” you say defiantly. “And he has no idea how hard you’ve worked for this. Ominis, you’re the greatest treasure your family has ever lost, and I look forward to watching you prove them wrong.”

Ominis offers a small smile. “See?  What am I going to do without you as a voice of reason?”

Affection is nothing new for you.  The minute Sebastian and Ominis began bringing you around their brothers, it was made blatantly obvious that you were off limits.  Sebastian had threatened everyone, reminding them that you were practically their sister, and anyone who tried to make a pass at you would be dealt with swiftly. The first time one of the older boys had tried to kiss you, Ominis challenged him to a duel on the spot.  Within seconds, Ominis’s opponent was arse down on the floor, your best friend wrapping an arm around your shoulder to see if you were okay.

Nights spent in the library, sitting shoulder to shoulder as you studied.  Movie nights at the house, your legs tangled on the couch while Sebastian complained about sitting on the floor.  The two of you dancing around the kitchen, cooking up dinner while Lucan and Garreth played exploding snap at the table.  You can feel the thick lump forming in your throat as you try to imagine the next year without him.

“Remember what I said,” you swallow away your sadness. “If you want to go far–”

“You’ve got to go far.” Ominis repeats. “I know, you’re the one who told me to apply.”

You place your hand on his cheek, which is still rosy from the beer he’d been drinking. “You’re going to go to New York, Ominis.  And if you want to come home, we’ll be here.  Sebastian and me, we’ll be here.”

Ominis holds your hand to his cheek, blinking up at you through his thick lashes.  Something about the moment is far too intimate–you know you should leave, go back to the party downstairs.  There’s music still playing in the distance, your friends are still dancing, yet you’re here, alone with Ominis in his room.

“Can I ask you a question?” Ominis asks.

“Ask away,” you whisper.

You can see the way he moves his hand, dropping his wand onto the nightstand next to his bed.  His right hand is still on top of yours, keeping it glued to his warm cheek.  The other hand hooks behind your knee, fingers dancing over the soft skin.  He’s taller than you, and his knees slot between yours, legs knocking into each other.

“Have you ever–” he clears his throat, eyes fluttering as he tries to verbalize his thoughts. “Have you ever thought about us?”

“What about us?” You ask dumbly. 

To your despair, Ominis pulls away. He hastily tugs his hands from your body, pushing the desk chair to put distance between the two of you.  It’s faster than you could’ve imagined; your brain is still processing his question while he’s already got his wand in hand, hastily making a way towards the door.

“Ominis, stop!” You demand.

“It’s dumb,” He ignores your words, wand lit red as he stomps across the room. “It was just a thought–”

“Ominis,” you repeat, standing up.  

“We should go back out to the party–”

“I have,” you choke out.  “I have thought about us.”

Ominis has his head pressed against the cheap pine door.  One hand is on the door knob, the other fondling his wand.  You can sense his trepidation as he slowly stows his wand in his back pocket, turning to face you once more.

“You have?” he croaks.

“I have,” you parrot back the words to him. 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Ominis demands. 

“Because,” you’re shaking now. “Because if I told you, you wouldn’t have applied.  And we’re best friends, Ominis, who knows what we’d be getting ourselves into.” the words tumble out of your mouth. 

The idea of life with Ominis had never crossed your mind–not until Poppy had proposed it earlier in the school year, pointing out how he doted on you.  The first to offer you a drink, always free to walk you home at the end of the night.  If you were going through a breakup, Ominis would drop everything to be at your doorstep, a bottle of wine and takeaway in hand.  He’s sat on your couch listening you rant about horrible dates at least a hundred times now.

He’s perfect for you, Poppy had said.

But he’s my best friend, you’d argued back.  

It was only after that conversation that you’d began to see Ominis differently.  The way his eyelashes fluttered when you brushed hair out of his face, or the way a warm blush would creep on his cheeks whenever your skin touched his.  On more than one occasion you found yourself biting the inside of your cheek whenever his shirt roved above his waist. Worst of all, you couldn’t help the bile that would rise in your throat whenever you saw him chatting with another girl, the acrid taste coating your tongue.

Ominis is perfect, every inch of him being boyfriend material. There’s no mistaking that. Your fear lies in the fact that Ominis is your closest confidant, one of your best friends.  While painful, it almost seems easier to hang in the balance of not getting to love him rather than losing him.

“What would we do if we realized we were no good for each other?” you blurt. “You’re my best friend, Om.  I wouldn’t be able to bear it.”

“Bear what?” Ominis muses.

Oh, it’s cruel the way he looks so handsome.  His lips are curved in somehow both a smile and a grimace, dancing around the inevitable question.  

“Don’t make me say it,” you feel weak already. 

“Please,” Ominis asks, voice teetering on the edge of politeness and desire. “Say it, please.”

“I wouldn’t be able to bear it if we didn’t work out,” you confess. “Because it’s you, Ominis.  I love you.”

You’ve told each other you love one another plenty.  The first was at the end of fifth year, when the three of you were departing for separate summer holidays.  Again, when you graduated and you cried about how much you were going to miss Hogwarts.  Both of you with Sebastian, at Anne’s funeral the summer after freshman year.  Throughout all of university, through texts, phone calls, kisses on the cheek before you leave the bar at the end of the night.  

Hiya, love you.  Love you, get home safe.  You’re annoying, but love you.

This time, it’s different.  It’s no longer a statement, it’s a confession.

“You love me.” Ominis says slowly.

“Ah, fuck.” you swear, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes. “This is so not how I thought tonight would go.”

“If you love me,” Ominis asks, voice shaky. “Why did you tell me to apply for the MACUSA job?”

“Because it’s what you want,” you whisper. “And you’re going to be so, so good at it, Ominis. It’s a fresh start where no one will care who your family is, and that’s what you need.”

“Even if it means I’m going to live far away?” he asks, cheeks reddening. 

Your fingers curl into your palms, nails pricking skin. “You always talked about getting away from your family.  It sounded like the best option for you–you’d get to do something you truly love, something you’re good at.  You’re going to help people, and you’re going to be more than a Gaunt.  It’s the best thing for you, Ominis.”

“But what if I wanted you?” Ominis asks, voice strained. “What if I wanted to stay?”

“I wouldn’t want that.” You admit. “If you’re going to stay, it has to be for more than me. Not that I think you’d stay for me, specifically–I mean, I’m sure Sebastian would love for you to stay home too, and Garreth would miss you–”

Ominis pauses for a moment, his mouth opening and snapping shut as he thinks.  Part of you is curious at what he might say, the other is so embarrassed you’re ready to chuck yourself out the window of his third floor bedroom.  You might land in the rose bushes, which will undoubtedly hurt, but a broken bone will hurt certainly less than rejection from your best friend.

“Say something, for the love of Merlin–”

He doesn’t.

Instead, Ominis launches himself off the door, closing the distance between you in four quick strides.  The desk chair is practically thrown out of the way, tipping onto its side as Ominis slinks a hand around your waist.  You can feel his breath on your cheek, head tipped against yours as he presses your back against his misshapen desk.

“Ominis!” you shriek, watching him swipe everything off his desk and onto the floor.  His heavy books clatter against the hardwood floor, landing with a loud thud.  He wastes no time lifting you onto his desk, tugging your legs closer to the edge as he slots himself between them.

“Tell me,” Ominis pants, his forehead pressed against yours. “Tell me you’ve thought about this before.”

You groan as his mouth descends upon yours. Your hands are tangled in his thick hair, his fingertips pressing into your waist as he kisses you with a bruising force. 

“I have,” you moan into his mouth. 

Ominis moans in return; it’s a sound you’ve been trying to imagine for the last six months, and it sounds so much better in real life.  Your hands slip under the edge of his well worn t-shirt, feeling the warm skin underneath. Ominis has always been long and lithe, and his toned muscle feels just as good as you’ve thought it would. Feeling your nails scratching his skin, Ominis pulls away to mark kisses up and down your throat.

You surge forward, hips trying to close the little distance between your center and Ominis’s body. You can feel his clothed erection throbbing against your thigh, his head tilted back up to kiss your lips. A large palm settles on your breast, tentatively swiping over a clothed nipple.  At your gasp, Ominis pauses; he leans his forehead against yours, breathing heavily as you both register the current state of events.

“That was our first kiss,” Ominis groans. “And I acted like a complete boor.”

You snort. “Took you about two minutes before you had your tongue in my mouth and a hand on my chest.  Not one for subtlety, are you?”

Ominis snorts too, leaning his forehead against your shoulder as he rests his hands on the desk behind you. “To be fair, I’ve been thinking about your breasts for the last six years.  Didn’t want to waste any precious time I have left with them.”

It’s funny and romantic, and also heartbreaking.  If you think about Ominis leaving, you may burst into tears.

“Hey,” Ominis whispers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill the mood–”

You press your mouth against his; he’s unprepared, so your teeth gnash together.  Ominis quickly adjusts, letting you dominate the kiss.

“Let’s just focus on right now,” you plead. “We can talk about New York after—but not now.”

Ominis pulls away slightly, a small smile growing on his lips.  He’s blinking rapidly, a blush spreading across his cheeks.

“What?” you demand, running a hand through your hair.

“Just happy that it’s us, finally.” Ominis admits. “You and me.”

His little smile is everything, you think.  And while you love the sweet expression, you want to see the faces Ominis makes under more amorous circumstances.

“Ominis,” you coo gently, taking his hand and placing it on your chest. He’s fully red in the face, mouth agape as you guide him at palming your breast. He gets the message, taking control as your hands rest on his shoulders.

“I’ve never told you, but I love it when you wear these dresses,” Ominis muses, his free hand trailing up your thigh. “They’re soft, just like you.”

Your breath catches as his hand snakes upwards, squeezing your bottom. The edge of your short dress is rucked up to your waist as Ominis feels the lace, hovering dangerously close to your center. It’s so intimate, a lengthy departure from your normally buttoned up, proper friend who hates kisses on the cheek. Your head tilts back, a moan on the tip of your tongue as the hand once squeezing your behind starts tracing the edge of your thong.

“No fair,” you wheeze, tugging on his shirtsleeves. “If I’m arse out, you’ve got to take some clothes off too.”

Ominis lets out a loud laugh as he removes his hands from you, letting the button down fall to the floor.  Your hands pull at his t-shirt, helping him take it off.  The second the letters fall on the floor, your hands fly up to his chest, roving over the pale planes.  

“You’re vulgar, too.” Ominis chuckles. “One of the many things I admire about you.”

“Oh yeah?” You ask, lacing your fingers with his.  Your nose bumps into his chin, helping him make sense of your position.  He tilts his face down, hot breath fanning your cheeks. “Soft and vulgar, two very different words you’re using to describe me.”

“At first it irked me,” Ominis confesses. “When we first met.  But after I got to know you, I realized you’re just loud because you’re having fun. And life didn’t need to be so stuffy.”

“That’s sweet,” you admit. 

“You make everything better,” Ominis says, lips hovering closer towards yours again.  “You always have.”

“I’d say the same about you.” you whisper, lips brushing against his in a chaste kiss. 

Ominis has no more restraint left in him.  He surges forward, hands cradling your cheeks as he kisses you.  You’ve never seen him kiss anyone like this before–Ominis is always polite and tender with his conquests.  This Ominis is pure hunger, making up for lost time. 

You drag your nails up and down his back as he kisses you breathless, only stopping when he pulls away.

“Are you okay with this?” He asks, voice tinged with desperation. “Because there’s no going back.”

There’s no mistaking what this is–you’re crossing the boundary with your best friend, making love while you still have time to do so. If it were any other occasion, you might blame the alcohol going to your head, but no decision has ever felt more sane.

It’s Ominis.

“Yes. I want this,” you utter, and that’s that.

Ominis tugs you away from the desk, fingers slipping under the thin straps of your dress to pull it down.  The slinky fabric pools at your ankles while his hands rove over your body. His fingertips dragging over every curve, while you work the buttons of his pants.  He spins you quickly, pushing you onto his rickety bed as he steps out of his pants.

“I hate your bed,” you groan, bouncing on the springy mattress. “You should’ve let me help you with the spells.”

Ominis lets out a breathy laugh as he hops towards you, kicking away a pant leg. “It’s fine .  I don’t understand why you’re complaining, it’s a bed.”

It’s your turn to snort, chuckling as Ominis feels around the bedspread for you. You tuck your knees up to your chin, darting away from his touch.  You can tell just how frustrated he is, blonde hair falling in his eyes, patting around the bed.

“I want to feel you,” he complains, sinking into the mattress across from you. “I want to take my time with you tonight.”

“Then feel away,” you breathe, letting him catch hold of your ankle. 

Ominis licks his lips, eyes fluttering as he presses a searing hot kiss to your ankle.  The kisses start trailing up your leg, stopping intentionally every few seconds.  His teeth graze the inside of your knee, and the whimper that comes out of your mouth is downright embarrassing.

“Now I want to taste you,” Ominis murmurs, hooking your legs over his shoulder. Before you can respond, his teeth are dragging against the flimsy fabric of your thong. One hand pulls it aside, the other bracing your hip. Without warning, the blond takes a long, deliberate lick. With your taste on his tongue, Ominis loses his self control and tears away the scrap of fabric, tugging it off your body and tossing it.

“Ominis!” You shriek, head tilting back to his pillows.

You can tell he’s smiling from the way his cheeks lift, eyes squeezing shut as he presses a kiss to your clit.  His pace is maddening, lazily lapping as he pins your hips down.  Ominis shakes his head, his tongue finally circling against your clit again once you’ve whined enough.

“You taste so good,” he groans. 

“Just like you’ve imagined?” You utter between the sharp gasps he’s eliciting from you.

Ominis doesn’t respond, instead sucking hard on your clit to express his answer.  He’s clearly turned on by your gasps and the sound of your wet cunt, the auditory stimulation driving him to grind his hips against the squeaking mattress.  At this rate, his fingertips may leave bruises in the crease of your thighs. Never did you ever imagine Ominis Gaunt’s head between your legs, but now you really can’t imagine going the rest of your life without his mouth on you.

“Ominis, please,” you strain, reaching out to grasp his hair.  The sharp tug has him growling against your skin, still relentless in his slow, thoughtful method. His tongue darts into your cunt at an excruciating tempo.

“I told you,” he hums, sinking teeth in your thigh as he gives you a momentary reprieve. “I’m going to take my time with you. And if that means I’m here, all night–then so be it.”

In your daze, you hardly notice the fact that he’s now slipped his fingers inside of you, slowly pumping them as he kisses your clit again. With every stroke you feel the band tightening in your stomach, the overwhelming urge to snap coming any moment.  You paw at his head, anything to express how close you are, but he relents with his pace. When his fingers curl inside of you, you slam your head back against the pillows again, a ragged cry tumbling off your lips as you come.

Ominis pulls away, your slick glistening his chin as he gives you a smug smile.  Your heart is hammering in your chest at the sight of him, cheeks red and panting from giving you the most glorious head you’ve ever received to date.

“Did I do well?” He asks, almost a bit shy.

You try to get up, but your quivering legs fail you. “You’ve rendered me boneless,” you laugh, pressing a hand against your chest.

Ominis pulls himself up over you, pressing a soft kiss to your lips. You can still taste yourself on his mouth, flooding your head with filthy ideas. 

“Your turn,” You murmur, mustering the strength to pull yourself up. You push Ominis over, and he falls against the bed.  Somehow, your bodies know just how to move around each other–there is no awkward fumbling.  When you’ve known someone for years, spent half your school years cuddled up together in naps, you just know how to maneuver around one another. 

Ominis sits against the headboard, the pillows propped behind his back.  When he feels your hands touch the waistband of his boxers, he instinctively lifts his hips, letting you drag them down his legs.  His aching length springs free, slapping against his stomach as you crawl towards his lap.

“How does this feel?” You ask, adjusting your legs to straddle him.  You know he can feel how wet you are, dripping against his cock.  While your hands rest against his shoulders, Ominis’s arms wrap against your waist, all but pulling you down to grind against him. Waiting for his answer, your eyes scan every inch of his face to commit each beauty mark to memory.

Ominis presses a quick kiss to your nose, eyelashes fluttering in the way you love. “You feel so warm.” He groans, his cock twitching against you. The feeling of him against you sparks a familiar ache between your legs.  His jaw hardens when you slip your hand between your bodies, gripping him to guide his blunt head to your center.

“I love you,” Ominis chokes out as you sink onto his length.  His hands fly from your waist, now roving all over your body.  He’s consuming you, touching every single surface he can manage.  You both gasp as you bottom out, his head tipping back against the headboard with a thud.

“So good for me,” Ominis garbles out in broken syllables. “You’re...you feel so...”

You surge forward, lips pressed against his.  His kisses melt against your mouth as he tries to rock upwards into you. 

“We could’ve been doing this for ages,” Ominis complains, his nimble fingers tangling in your hair.

“Instead we’ve been just friends,” you chuckle, rolling your hips. Your hands are gripping the headboard behind him, forehead pressed against his as you grind against each other. 

“Idiots,” Ominis mutters, catching your lower lip with his teeth. “We’re idiots.”

You shift your feet underneath you, bouncing up and down on his length.  Ominis’s breath hitches against your breasts, his hands shifting down to your waist.  The feeling of his thumbs roving over your hip bones is enough to drive you harder, and you realize he’s admiring every single dimple, every curve.  He could go faster, fuck up into you if he really wanted to, but Ominis stays true to his word.  He’s taking his time to savor you, to commit your body to memory while he has you in his arms.

“Enjoying yourself?” You ask breathlessly, as Ominis’s hand trails up and down your spine for the umpteenth time.

He grins, baring his teeth as he surges forward, pushing you off and onto your back on the bed.  You yelp as he slithers over you, hovering just inches from your face as he presses back into your warmth. 

“Immensely,” Ominis whispers, kissing you as he starts rocking into you.  Without thought, you wrap your legs around his waist, locking him in as tightly as you can. When he pulls away, his forehead resting against yours, you flatten your hands against his cheeks. You fit against each other like puzzle pieces; it’s silly to have been so worried, you realize.  Slotted against each other, chasing one another to your mutual climax, you know only Ominis could’ve ever made sense.

“I love you,” you blurt as Ominis digs his face into your neck.

“I love you too,” Ominis mumbles into your neck. “I think I always have.”

“You have?” You squeak, thoughts punctuated by a moan as he snaps his hips at just the right angle.

“It’s you,” Ominis admits. “Of course I love you. I– oh shit –I’ve always had feelings for you,” he pants. “God, at least since we were sixteen.”

Ominis’s confessions, punctuated by an elusive curse word, melt your heart.  You shift your hips upwards, meeting him with every thrust.  The wet slapping of his skin against yours, the slamming of the headboard, coupled with Ominis’s babbling and your breathy moans echo off the walls. You hadn’t bothered with a silencing spell, not knowing that this is where the night would take you. It’s likely everyone in the house knows what’s going on between the two of you, and that almost turns you on more. After all these years, Ominis is yours, claimed by your loud coupling.

“I’ve dreamt of touching you here for years,” Ominis confesses between open mouth kisses. “Always thinking about how soft you must feel here,” his lips close around your nipple, tongue flicking against the surface.  It draws a shriek out of you, which has him grinning. “Just as I thought.”

Just the confirmation that Ominis has thought about you naked in bed just like you have stokes the fire within you, threatening to burst.  He feels too good inside of you; while you’d take the sweet torture of being edged all night just to keep him close, your body is teetering close to the edge.

“Come for me,” Ominis murmurs in your ear. “I want to feel you come undone.”

“I can’t,” you utter. “I don’t–I don’t want this to be over,” you choke out, clutching his shoulders.

The sex, this night, this season of your life, together.  You’re not quite sure which one your sex addled brain is referring to.

Ominis snakes up a large hand, cradling your cheek with his palm.  His thumb brushes over your swollen lips as little gasps escape your lips.

“We have tonight, all night.” Ominis whispers, each syllable met with a roll of his hips. “You don’t think it’ll be just once, do you?”

“Ominis,” you garble out, his thumb dipping into your warm mouth.  You’re not sure if you’re scolding his vulgar language, or warning him of the impending release.

“Come with me,” Ominis pleads.  

An urge to finish what you’ve started together, or perhaps a plea to join him across the sea.  Either way, the three words have you coming, Ominis choking out a moan as his hips stutter against yours. He shudders as he comes inside of you, not stopping his thrusts until he’s trembling, falling at your side. 

The two of you are silent for what feels like ages, just the ticking of his bedside clock and the soft hum of music from the party downstairs filling the background. As you stare at the ceiling, you feel his warm hand entangling his fingers with yours, and you’re both quiet for another few minutes as you collect your thoughts.

“I meant what I said,” Ominis breaks the silence.

“Which one?” you ask, tilting your head to look at him.  He’s still flat on his back, his free hand resting on his chest as his head tilts towards the sound of your voice.  His gorgeous blue eyes crease at the corners as he smiles.

“All of it,” Ominis muses. “That I love you, that I’ve always loved you.  That I thought you didn’t love me, because you were encouraging me to go, to take the MACUSA job.  But turns out, it’s just because you know me better than anyone. You know what I need to do.”

“I love you too,” you whisper.

Ominis turns to you, his hands tracing up and down your naked torso. “I never thought we’d get to do this,” he confesses. “And even if it took us until the last night of school, I’m glad we did.”

You press a fervent kiss to his lips, melting against him.  You only pull away when he laughs, blond hair shaking as he falls back against the bed.

“We are actual idiots,” Ominis says sheepishly. “Our very first time should’ve been more romantic.”

“I don’t know,” you shrug. “There’s something incredibly romantic about a last chance confession.”

“I wish I’d told you sooner,” Ominis says, a pained expression painted on his face. “We could’ve had so much more time–”

You press a finger to his lips, silencing him.  He quirks his brow, questioning your actions.

“We have the rest of tonight,” you remind him, rolling onto your stomach.  You trace your hand against his cheek, your fingers dancing against his lips. He opens his mouth, indulgently sucking on your fingers as they dip inside. “Besides, I think I have to reciprocate the mind blowing head.” you joke, your now wet hand trailing back down to his length.

Ominis is hard again in seconds.

The music ended hours ago, and the house is calm. You wouldn’t know if anything was going on outside of Ominis’s door anyways; after your second round, Ominis had the good sense to cast a silencing charm on the room. 

Ominis slips out of you after fucking you on your side, his slow thrusts driving you to the brink of insanity.  Both of you are thoroughly spent; he knows that, reaching for his wand to summon a cloth.  He's attentive and gentle as he cleans you, murmuring praise of how well you've taken him and how incredible you feel. Once the two of you are semi-decent, he gathers a fresh tee shirt for you to slip over your head.  It’s well worn, letters stitched into the chest, and it smells like his cologne. You hold the collar to your nose; it’s very likely this shirt will be coming home with you.

Ominis tucks you into his arms as he pulls the duvet over your bodies, his warm breath tickling your ears as his breathing slows.

“I’m not sure how you’re going to walk across the graduation stage,” you joke, stifling a yawn.

“Will probably need Andrew to throw me across the stage at this point,” Ominis says.  His voice sounds thick with sleep, and you know he yearns to shut his eyes.  You’ve known him for so long, watched him nap in the hallways enough to recognize the tell-tale signs of Ominis Gaunt’s sleeping habits.

“I’m proud of you, you know that?” You whisper, hoping to catch him while he’s still awake. “You’re gonna go far, do amazing things. I’m so proud of you, and I love you.”

“I know,” Ominis lets out a sleepy sigh, heavy eyelids drooping.  “I love you too.”

Before long, Ominis is softly snoring in your ear.  Blinking your bleary eyes, you can see the dark sky turning lighter and lighter through the curtains.  It’s graduation day; in a few hours, Ominis will walk across the stage and move on to the next phase of his life.

Merlin, you hope to be part of the next chapter.

You jolt awake when you hear the door knob to Ominis’s room jiggling. The blond is still fast asleep, a smile on his face as he dreams.

“Ominis, wake up,” you groan. “It’s morning.”

“It was morning when we fell asleep,” he swats away at you, digging his face into the pillows.

“Well, it’s graduation morning.” You warn him. “We have to get ready–I have to go home, I have to change and shower.  You have to shower.”

“Shower here,” Ominis complains, tugging you back against his warm chest. “And you can shower with me.”

“I can’t go to your graduation wearing a bloody mini dress,” you scold him, rolling out of bed.  You tug open his dresser, pulling out a well worn sweater and some sweatpants. “There’s someone at the door too.”

“It’s me,” a muffled voice yells. “Wakey wakey, lovebirds!” 

Ominis flips back over in bed as you tug the sweater over your head, swinging the door open.  You’d recognize the Scottish lilt anywhere–it’s Sebastian, grinning broadly with a garment bag in hand.

“What is that?” You gape.

Sebastian pushes his way into the room, hanging the black bag between Ominis’s graduation robes. “Had a feeling you wouldn’t be going home last night,” he winks, unzipping the bag. “So I asked Imelda to pull together some options for you.  Picked them up this morning; there’s some bagels and coffee downstairs too.”

You’re embarrassed but thankful for your friends–Imelda has packed some tasteful day dresses, all appropriate for the event in mind.

Sebastian drops another bag onto the ground, sinking into the now up-right office chair. “She packed more appropriate heels.  Oh, and a bra and underwear. Thought you might’ve lost yours.”

“Get out,” Ominis groans, tossing a pillow at Sebastian.

The freckled bastard lets out a laugh, his whole body shaking as he dodges Ominis’s throw. “Best get in the shower, Mr. President.  Can’t have you walking across the stage to get your diploma with sex hair.” Sebastian waggles his eyebrows, and even though Ominis can’t see, he knows the expression on Sebastian’s face.

You hear your name from the doorframe, and both you and Sebastian turn to see who it is.  Lucan and Garreth are standing with bagels, idly observing the scene before them.

“Amit owes me ten galleons,” Garreth says, his mouth still full of his poppy seed bagel. “He said you’d never admit how you feel to Ominis–”

“That’s not what I said!” You hear Amit’s voice from down the hallway. “Garreth, don’t twist my words.”

Lucan pushes his way into the room, holding his bagel between his teeth. “Can I get in to measure now?” he asks, pulling his wand from his pocket. “I do think I could fit a nice little bar in the corner here–”

“Everyone out!” Ominis roars, standing up in just his boxer shorts. “Everyone who isn’t my girlfriend can fuck off.”

Instead of scattering, everyone freezes in place. 

“Girlfriend?” You squeak out.

Ominis’s furrowed brow softens, his cheeks heating up as he scratches the back of his neck.

“I assumed,” he said sheepishly. “When we said we loved each other.”

“Alright, nothing to see here folks.  Everyone go back to your knitting.” Sebastian says hastily, pulling Lucan into a headlock to drag him out of the room.�� He pushes Garreth in the chest, and you hear several pairs of feet scrambling in the hallway–no doubt Amit, Andrew, and the others have congregated outside of Ominis’s door to eavesdrop.

Sebastian shoots you both a knowing look as he shuts the door behind him, leaving you alone with Ominis once more.

“If you don’t want to, that’s okay.” Ominis croaks.  “I understand.  I’m leaving in a few days, it makes sense.”

You tiptoe over to him, placing a hand on his chest.  You can feel his heart hammering beneath you, one of his hands resting atop yours to keep it in place.

“What would being your girlfriend entail?” You ask slowly, nails dragging across his skin.

Ominis offers you a small smile. “Nothing has to change, not really.  Just that I get to tell you that I love you out loud.”

“And perhaps there will be space for me in New York.” You say slowly, chewing on your lower lip.

Ominis’s face lights up, tugging you in with a firm arm around your waist. “There will most definitely be space for you in New York,” he announces. “It’s only fitting that I make room for you, considering you’re the person who convinced me to go.”

“Your girlfriend,” you enunciate. 

“My girlfriend,” Ominis repeats back to you. It isn’t long before he’s kissing you, his tongue snaking its way into your mouth. You have to pull yourself back, eyeing the clock on Ominis’s desk.

“We have to shower,” you remind him, hands pressed against his chest. “Otherwise, I’ll be late to my boyfriend’s graduation ceremony.”

Ominis grins, pressing a quick kiss against your cheek.  He maneuvers over to his dresser, pulling out two clean towels.  Wand in hand, he slings the towels over his shoulder, his other hand outstretched to grab yours.

You fold your palm into his, following him out the door without a word.

The last week almost seems like a blur to you.  

That Sunday, you watched Ominis graduate university with honors, several stoles draped across his shoulders.  One from the honors college, another for his outstanding leadership.  The third looks a bit hodge-podge, but it’s the most important to him–a stole crafted by Sebastian and the others, crudely decorated in a way only twenty-something boys would do.  

The satin stole with the Gaunt family motto is promptly burned in the celebratory bonfire Lucan sets that night, all of you sitting around the fire pit with beers in hand.

Every day since then has been bliss.  You’ve only gone home once, packing a bag with a week’s worth of clothes while Imelda gives you smug looks. You’ve effectively moved into Ominis’s bedroom for one last week together.  It’s for practical reasons, you tell the others.  By day, you’re helping Ominis pack his belongings and bring whatever items he needs to donate to the university charity shop.  You even help him pack a cardboard box with any Gaunt family memorabilia, slapping a label to ship the useless trinkets back to Marvolo.  Ominis doesn’t need to rely on his family name anymore, at least not where he’s going.

The others come and go, but soon the new graduates start to move.  Amit and Andrew are the first to leave, off to start their ministry jobs.  Garreth follows shortly after, moving to a cottage in Cornwall to start his bulk potions business.  Come Friday, it’s just you, Ominis, and Sebastian left as the rest of the underclassmen have left for their summer holidays.

You enjoy one last night cooking dinner with your two best boys, tears pricking the corners of your eyes if you think too hard about how this might be the last time the three of you are in a room together for a while.  After dessert, Sebastian leaves the house to visit friends; more likely, he’s giving the two of you the house alone for your final night together.

You’d expect last night together to be frenetic, but Ominis’s love making remains slow and deliberate.  Ominis meant it when he said he wanted to remember every bit of you, his hands exploring your body as he makes you come several times in the night. You cry out the last time, exhausted but pawing at him for more.  

More, more, more. More time, most of all. 

Both of you cry a little, murmuring promises to each other before falling asleep.

When you wake, the air is melancholy.  The two of you move in silence, Ominis showering and packing the remnants of his suitcase. You put your dirty clothes from the week in your bag as well, and the two of you say goodbye to his little bedroom for the last time.  Ominis swallows thickly as you both get into the car, Sebastian choosing the passenger seat so the two of you can sit together in the back.

The airport isn’t too busy, which affords you time for a long farewell.  Ominis’s wand is safely concealed in a cane, and Sebastian slips a pair of sunglasses over his eyes so he fits in better with the muggles.  

“You have a new phone now,” Sebastian reminds him. “So don’t give me any excuses for not calling or texting.”

“I will,” Ominis promises. “Thank you, Sebastian.  I–” his voice cracks, and his eyes flutter as he swallows. “I’m glad I met you when I was eleven.” It's a simple sentence, but the words impart just how much Ominis loves Sebastian.

Sebastian whimpers, pulling his best friend, his brother into a hug.  You have to turn away, dabbing at your eyes as the two men say farewell after living together for over a decade.

“Alright, sod off,” Sebastian blurts, wiping at his nose. “Your turn to say goodbye, I can’t do this anymore.”

Ominis lets out a watery laugh as Sebastian meanders away, giving the two of you some time alone.  You don’t want to waste any of the precious seconds you have left with Ominis waffling, so you tug him into a tight embrace, your arms locking around his neck.

“I love you,” Ominis says against your hair. “I love you.”

 You’re kissing him all over his face, leaving tears in your wake. “I love you too,” you murmur. “Remember what I told you.”

“If you want to go far, you’ve got to go far.” Ominis mutters. “I’m doing this for me–for us.”

“Better save a drawer for me,” you whisper. 

“The very best one,” Ominis whispers back. “It’ll be there for you, next year.”

Sebastian nearly has to pry the two of you apart, reminding Ominis that his plane leaves within the hour and he still needs to get through security.  The steps the blond takes towards the line are rigid, his subconscious fighting the physical act of leaving.  But deep down, all of you know it–Ominis is going to do great things, and he’s going to do it without his family breathing down his neck, trying to force him to conform to their ways.

You feel a hand grabbing yours; it’s Sebastian, squeezing you tight as you both watch Ominis move through the line.  Minutes later, he’s waving goodbye, disappearing into the departures terminal.

You and Sebastian stay until Ominis’s blond head is no longer visible over the crowd.  

Finishing your dissertation is eating up all your free time, but you reserve an hour at the end of the day to talk to Ominis over his brand new phone.  The time difference is a bit jarring; sometimes you find yourself staying up well into the twilight hours to listen to Ominis ramble on about his job and the work they’ve done to protect international magical affairs.  He asks you how his brothers are doing, if Lucan has stirred any trouble yet.  You tell him all about how they still invite you to parties every weekend, and Lucan decided against building the wet bar in his room.  You talk about Sebastian’s rotations at St. Mungo’s and how the two of you still try to have dinner at least once a week despite your busy schedules. 

You tell him to save his money, but Ominis isn’t one to skimp out on gifts. He still sends owl post, care packages from his tiny apartment in New York.  After you tell him his fraternity letters are starting to wear thin, he sends you a New York t-shirt that smells like cool musk.  You start wearing it to bed every night; once the smell wears off, Ominis sends a bottle of his cologne as well.

Phone sex isn’t half bad either, you decide.  You come every time Ominis tells you to, gasping when you hear him touch himself on the other end of the line.

One day, Ominis sends you an e-mail about job requisitions at the MACUSA headquarters.  They have their own department of mysteries, Ominis explains. If you’re interested at all.

You apply and wait to hear back. I hope it’s not a conflict of interest that my boyfriend is the newest hot shot solicitor in the office of international affairs.

It isn’t, it turns out.  You’re offered a job interview over the winter holidays if you can make it to New York City in time.  Ominis sends you the ticket in your email, assuring you that he’ll pick you up from the airport.  He does exactly as he’s promised, and you laugh at how much he’s bundled himself up against the New York City snow.  When you leave the airport you laugh a little less, snow already getting into your shoes.  Ominis is a gentleman through and through, and carries you from the car up the stairs to his apartment lobby.

You think your interview at MACUSA has gone well, and you start enjoying all the walking you have to do to get around the city.  Ominis takes you to all his favorite restaurants, and he shows you the drawer he’s been saving for you.  His apartment feels like home, even if you have to squeeze past the dining table to get to the bed.  The two of you Facetime Sebastian from bed, the brunette recounting his shifts at St. Mungo’s in great detail.

“Say, do you have a hospital in the city?” Sebastian asks. “If she’s going, I want to come too.  We’re a package deal.”

Ominis rolls his eyes. “Of course there’s a hospital here, Sebastian. It’s not a primitive land. It’s New York, for Merlin's sake.”

You laugh, trying not to shake the phone as you try to keep Ominis in frame.

The week passes by too fast. Ominis brings you back to the airport, and this goodbye is even harder than the one after graduation. You find it nearly impossible to take your hands off him, his lips pressing kisses to your face.  

“It’s just a little while longer,” Ominis reminds you.

“We don’t even know if I’ll get it,” you shrug.

“You’re going to get it,” Ominis assures you. It feels like deja vu, as if you’ve had this conversation before.

About a week into the second term, you receive your job offer from MACUSA.

May arrives quicker than you thought it would.  You get a few less calls with Ominis during your finals week, and he promises to make it up to you somehow.  Even though you have a job offer, it’s contingent on you passing your final exams.  Ominis quizzes you through the phone while Sebastian brings you dinner between his shifts. It’s a group effort to get you across the finish line.

You pass, and you finally get to breathe a sigh of relief. The week of your graduation is filled with parties and celebrations, Lucan inviting you to come back to the house. It doesn’t feel as right without Sebastian or Ominis inside, so you don’t stay long.  Sebastian promises he'll try to be at your graduation, trading shifts with other healers.  On the other hand, Ominis is stuck in the middle of an important case.  You tell him not to worry, and that you'll see him in a week when you move.

Come graduation day, you’re standing in front of the theater, your diploma in hand. You feel your phone buzz in your pocket, and you pull it out to read your texts. You have one missed message from Sebastian.

Sorry I missed your ceremony.  Got called in to cover someone’s shift this morning.  I promise I’ll be at your dinner later tonight.  Oh, and I hope you enjoy your grad present xx

You furrow your brow, typing back a response.  You don’t remember anything about a present–

“Congratulations, darling.”

You look up, nearly dropping your phone in the process. A tall lithe blond clad in a three piece suit, a MACUSA pin on the lapel.  

Ominis smiles at you, a bouquet of sunflowers in hand.

#ominis gaunt x reader #ominis gaunt x you #ominis gaunt smut #frat ominis gaunt #modern au ominis gaunt #listen here there's a lot of creative liberties taken with college frats and magic here #but frat ominis wouldn't leave my mind

[gatzbright]

writing [love]; dream, a writer.

Dream: I like writing. I like writing poems; I like writing songs; I like writing everything. I like storytelling—I just like storytelling. Storytelling in general is fun. I do a lot of storytelling through, like, my videos, through my video editing ... that's my favourite part of writing.

Dream: So, it's [love is] special, you know? You can't really explain it. Um, you know, with your mum, your dad, your—your sisters, your brothers, your cousins, your—your friends that you've known since you were a kid. Your friends that you just met a year ago that you are absolutely in love with as a person.

Dream: 'Have you written stories as well as songs lately?' Yeah—I mean, well ... I feel like songwriting is very—it's like, you just take stories—like 'Roadtrip' was, like, essentially a poem, and a story, that was turned into a song. And I feel like that's with a lot of stuff. 'Mask' is the same; 'Mask' was a poem turned into a song.

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott | Dream Subscriber Twitter Space April 30th, @/dreamwastaken | It's Been A Long Day, Spacey Jane | Dream's Tiktok 'love is scary', @/dreamwastakenwastaken | Photograph in the studio from Dream's Instagram post, @/dreamwastaken | The Story of Mary MacLane, Mary MacLane | Our Beautiful Life When It's Filled With Shrieks, Christopher Citro | Johnny Cash’s handwritten to-do list, 1969 | Tweeted screenshot from Dream's notes app, @/dreamwastaken | Anne Carson interview, 2016 | Dream and George on the Dream Panel at TwitchCon Las Vegas 2023, TwitchCon VOD | Tweeted screenshot from Dream's notes app, @/dreamwastaken | On Writing, Stephen King | A fan's Tiktok of Dream and George at emo nite, @/angstboycam | Dream explaining 'Spotlight' in the 'to whoever wants to hear' lyric booklet, Dream | Your Song, Elton John | Fan photos of Dream and George at Dream's tour

Dream's 'Kind Of Love' speech LA concert night two, @/milktea_grn | The Power Of Love, Frankie Goes To Hollywood | Fan photos of Dream and George at Dream's tour | You Are In Love (Taylor's Version), Taylor Swift | Dream explaining 'Paranoid' in the 'to whoever wants to hear' lyric booklet, Dream | Dream and George on the Dream Panel at TwitchCon Las Vegas 2023, TwitchCon VOD | Words, Gregory Alan Isakov | Dead Poets Society, dir. | Dream Subscriber Twitter Space April 30th, @/dreamwastaken | Sweet Nothing, Taylor Swift

Fan photo of George recording Dream at his concert | Addressable Thou, Chase Berggrun | Bright Star, dir. Jane Campion | George smiling at Dream in IRL DREAM TEAM IN MADRID, Sapnap VOD | Endymion, John Keats | Dream and George on set: Everest – Dream & Yung Gravy BEHIND THE SCENES, Dream Music | [brIght], E. E. Cummings | George and Dream in IRL DREAM TEAM IN MADRID, Sapnap VOD | Sand and Foam, Kahlil Gibran

#WOOOOO WRITING !!!!!! i love it so much !!!!!!! and dream does too !!!!!! #shoutout to all the writers artists creators in this fandom u are So incredible especially my friends i love u forever <33333 #imsotireduerhogou whywas i up till 4am last night doing this n then hadnt been doing the refernecbes the whole time #so just did them tonight. it is now One am. i will proceed to pass out n sleep for Ten Hours #i really like this one i am proud of it :') ive had a dream + writing compilation in my head for Ages so i am glad ifinally got to do it :D #to those who love words as much as i (and dream) do ....... to whoever wants to hear ......... <3 #heres som comfort after a pretty shitty second half of the day for us all and dream </3 Hugs #my webs #web weaving #dreamie #dnf #georgie #dreamnotfound #poetry #words #writing talk #compilations #imfine goonigh Zzzzzz ..... snorkshoo mimimimimim

[pyramidsoul]

The Dahmer Case and The Cannibalism Topic

“Cannibal” was the adjective used by media to refer Dahmer the most as they learnt of the man’s gruesome acts. It was synonymous of terror and horror at that time, the name of Jeffrey Dahmer echoed not only in the city of Milwaukee but also around the entire world. It was unusual to hear of a criminal who eat his victims, it was a shocking news, and the name of Jeffrey Dahmer was remembered under the name of "The Milwaukee Cannibal”. But what was behind this name? What did it mean for Dahmer and where's cannibalism come from?

Jeffrey Dahmer in 1991

The Cannibalism for Jeffrey Dahmer

The cannibalism act didn’t occur immediately but it happened later with his sixth victim Raymond Smith (aka Ricky Beeks). Jeffrey Dahmer just moved in his new apartment in Milwaukee, at 924 N. 25th St., and he was ready to live by himself after leaving his grandma's house. It was already some years that Dahmer decided to attend gay clubs, where he frequently had encounters with strangers for one night stands. It was 1990 and Dahmer already doped and raped many boys, killing five of them too. But it was starting to not be enough, Dahmer was unsatisfied and he needed more. Cannibalism presented itself as a "simple" next step for Dahmer: after experiencing gay sex, to then having an unconscious body on his hands, on wishing to preserve all that pleasure, and seeing the people as objects, cannibalism subsequently followed as a inevitable action.

Dahmer's desire was to keep people with him, to do not forget the experiences he had with them. The previous attempts as doping the person or seeking for a corpse were a way to feel people close to him at his complete availability for Dahmer, motionless. He thought about the next step: "I began to feel that I needed more of a rush. I thought to myself, I want more. I wanted to keep this one, but I wanted him in me. I wanted him to become a part of me. That's when the idea of eating part of his body occurred to me." (- s. Grilling Dahmer). Dahmer's act wasn't a way to feel more evil or powerful, this was an action of a man who wanted to feel his victims closer. It happened again on his act on cutting and wearing the victims' skin, he wanted to become one with them, wrapped on their skins. At the end he also had the idea of "creating" living zombies willing to follow his orders and to stay with him forver.

The first article ever published on July 23, 1991, on The Journal, written by reporter Anne E. Schwartz, the first and only reporter to come to the scene visiting Dahmer's apartment.

Public’s Take on Dahmer’s Cannibalism

Predictably, people's reaction to Dahmer's cannibalism was shock. Local Milwaukee citizens didn't expect something like Dahmer's case to happen, Milwaukee was a pretty quiet city in Wisconsin where nothing like that ever happened. Soon the morning after Dahmer's arrest, Oxford apartments were already printed in the first page of The Journal, and Jeffrey Dahmer's case was already in people's mouth.

The most concerning, disgusting and shoking element on the case was surely the cannibalism, as already expressed before. At the beginning the cannibalism was an unverified uncertain information, and the reporters had to confirm it by looking at the confession, but soon after that it quickly became a first page topic. Dahmer’s cannibalism was printed on the first pages of newspapers, aimed at shocking people even more. For this reason journals of that time looked for the most unconcerning news, making fake news at times as well. Cannibalism became a topic of so much discussion, almost distorted, the main Dahmer’s case object to be so overused that journalists kept inventing fake news just to shock people even more. They made Dahmer appear like a sadistic monster who felt pleasure when eating all his victims, while the story was quite different as expressed in the paragraph before. Even Dahmer himself had fun with these kind of articles: “Isn't it amazing what they come up with?” he said.

(1)(2)Two articles taking about Dahmer’s cannibalism. (1) Courtesy of jdapt213. (3) Dahmer showing the fake news in court, 1992.

Specialists talking about Dahmer's cannibalism

Psychiatrists and experts tried to give an explaination on Dahmer’s cannibalism. Writer Brian Masters develops an interesting point when talking about infantile play, of parents pretending to be animal ready to devour them and the kids responding to be ferocious cannibal animals. Dr Morrisons also says: "Jeffrey Dahmer was not the only individual who was a cannibal or bit his victims, using his teeth as a weapon. If you remember about infancy, if we go purely psychologically, the only way an infant interacts with the world around him is to touch, feel and teeth, and this is a way that babies explore their world with their mouths. That’s what they use, that’s how they relate to the world. What is evident in all the serial murders is this trait of very oral or mouthing or biting or eating, ingesting, which is very infantile. But it seems a way in which they can be with their victim.”

Even through sexual acts, mouth is an important way to express love. Activities as biting or oral sex rekindle the childish instinct where loving and eating are bounded together. “The adult who prefers oral sex above other sexual experiences indicates an infantile need for nourishment, a wish to recreate the moment of being mothered.” Brian Masters writes. If we look back at Dahmer’s infancy, we notice some early behaviours which indicates some connections to his cannibalism. As already expressed before, cannibalism was just a consequence which came after as Dahmer’s needs continued to evolve. Yet Dahmer always had a lack of social skills, he had difficulties on creating bounds with other people and he was often so isolated. His father Lionel was out bacause of his job, while his mother Joyce struggled with her mental health. Jeffrey found himself alone with the mother's unconscious body some times, there it might have been the moment where he put his hear on his mother's chest to check if her heart was still working, action which was subsequentially repeated with his classmates in highschool and later with his victims. People always left, he was alone, and his lack of social bonds brought him to be even more introvert. Eating an individual is the deepest connection a person can ever get, it removes the feeling of alienation since the victim will live inside them forever and become a permanent part of themselves.

Jeffrey Dahmer's drawing project on creating a shrine where to put his victims' skulls and skeletons, a place to remember and collect his thoughts (Dahmer - 1993 interview).

Cannibalism in history and religion

In modern society cannibalism is almost seen as a taboo, something vile and inhumane. However, this isn't an exact definition, and cannibalism is deeply rooted in our origins. During Europe’s Age of Exploration distant people were often portrayed as cannibals, almost rapesented as bestial creatures. Instead, during 20th Century, the figure of the cannibal was studied more, the new approach wanted to explain more of this behavior, inserted into a certain context. The reasons that lead people to a person could be multiple: a warrior could eat the heart of his opponent to feel more powerful and take his power; a person can eat a relative body to express love and grief for the loss; or again some people can eat a human body as a necessity to survive.

The firsts reports on cannibalism can be found in ancient Greek times with the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer or Histories by Herodotus, but anthropologists suggest that cannibalism dates back to prehistoric times. Moving on, the discovery of cannibals by Cristoforo Colombo in America made people question about the topic on Christian doctrine of the resurrection for example. For that reason Christianity is probably the best example to take in consideration: one fo the most diffused religion in the world, the tenet of paganism, has a mystic ritual of "eating and drinking" the flesh and blood of Christ. For love, the person can be ate, based on this religion. In other cultures, the Iroquois and Fijians ate the flesh of their defeated enemies in order to absorb their power; for peoples of Papua New Guinea ate the heart or brains of their deceased elders to honour them; In medieval and modern European culture the practice of eating human was prevalent for religious or medicinal purposes. About medicinal purposes again, Chinese compounds included human organs as well as nails and hair, while, in early Greece, human blood was thought to treat epilepsy.

The Sons of Pindorama, Cannibalism in Brazil in 1557 as described by Hans Staden. Gravure de Théodore de Bry, 1562.

Cannibalism around the world

Dahmer was obviosly not the first criminal cannibal, names as Albert Fish, Issei Sagawa and Andrei Chikatilo are still remembered for their crimes and their cannibalism. As said before, the reason of cannibalism change based on the person and his deeds- the cannibal Armin Meiwes (aka Rotenburg Cannibal) ate 20 kilograms (44 lb) of human flesh of his victim, after that this last one agreed and wanted to be slaughtered, for sexual pleasure; Joachim Kroll (aka The Ruhr Cannibal) had a practical view and consumed his victims’ meat to save on his grocery bills, because meat was expensive. Albert Fish, on the other hand, eating the meat of the victims was like a trophy and liked to describe how the kids tasted to their parents.

Today, cannibalism among the population is rare, but still exists. Because of poverty, people living in Olinda slum are usual to consume human meat. Otherwise, there are tribes and cultures where cannibalism is still present. In Western New Guinea there’s a tribe called Korowai, whose tribesmen believe mysterious deaths are attributed to a demon, and their duty is to consume the dead’s meat in order to take revenge. In Fiji (previously named “Cannibal Island”) was famous for cannibalism, even if now this practice almost died out in the recent years. In India there’s a sect of Indian Monks called Aghori, whose few remaining members are used to drink from human skulls and cover their body in burnt human remains. There are also rumours of some cannibalism acts happened in The Democratic Republic of The Congo, Cambodia, Nuku Hiva and Liberia.

In animals cannibalism is common as well, mostly in invertebrates and fishes, but it occurs in other animal groups too. The filial cannibalism (usually when the young can’t last much because is sick, deformed or the mother can’t provide enough food, it becomes nutrient for the parent) is present in major species as leopards, African lions, Tonkean Macaques and fishes. The infanticide (males killing infants who aren’t theirs) is present in North American red squirrels, lions and chimpanzees. The matriphagy is when the mother is ate by the infants, another cannibalism form diffused within insects and arachnids. At last but not least, cannibalism can be diffused way earlier with eggs. The Burton’s Mouthbrooders carry their eggs in their mouths, and sometimes more than three-quarters eggs are been ingested. The female sharks instead, carry hundreds on eggs inside them, while they’re mating with multiple male sharks. Inside the womb, developing sharks will eat the unfertilised eggs and their siblings, leaving at the end only two unborn sharks, each one for each uterus.

(1) Tadpoles eating another tadpole, picture by Georgette Douwma, Nature Picture Gallery. (2) Korowai tribesmen, picture by Kristian Cabanis.

Sources: The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer; Grilling Dahmer; Monster: The True Story Of The Jeffrey Dahmer Murders; Britannica; Anthroencyclopedia; Jeffrey Dahmer trails on Court.tv; NBC; The Sun; National Geographic.

#jeff dahmer #true crime #jeffrey dahmer #informative #facts #cannibalism

[deke-rivers-1957]

FTD Deleted Scene

Shoutout to @moonchild-daniella for showing me this but after all this time finally got an answer to where this pic came from.

For those who don't have Instagram the story goes like this:

“In the 1980s co-star Anne Helm opened up her original script that spoke of a complete scene where the Kwimper family decided to skip town because a girl is on her way to get married to Toby Kwimper.” (Fb group ELVIS PICTURES) When Toby mentions Gertrude Patterson and the times tables, that is the girl they are running from. “That’s what happened that night behind the bowling alley with Gertrude. I forgot the nineses.”

The post also included different pictures, some of which I've never seen before when searching for the deleted scene.

Man I wish we still had this whole opening scene. The whole concept of Toby hooking up with Gertrude only to skip town when she wants to marry him is so perfect. If we were able to see this whole scene or at least be able to see the whole script of this scene, it would add so much context to why he doesn't want to get married.

He vaguely mentions being with Gertrude behind the bowling alley but we still have no idea how far things got with them. We can't assume that it's sex simply because that's way too extreme based on what we know about him.

If anyone knows anything else about this or wants to share their own headcanons on what this scene would've meant for Toby's character leave a note down below.

Also this is how the book is different than the movie. To me, to fully understand Toby as a character you need both. The movie relies heavily on Elvis' non-verbal acting. The book on the other hand is directly written in Toby's POV. We understand exactly what he's thinking from moment to moment.

Tagging: @kill-bill33, @shakerattlescroll, @peskybedtime, @alienelvisobsession, @pinkcaddyconfessions,

@galaxygirl453, @dragonkingsdaughter, @jessicarcates, @cinnamonandmercury, @e-presley56,

@rjmartin11, @lookingforrainbows, @jerz-scisney, @missmaywemeetagain, @animalloverthingsss,

@messymortician, @ilovehobi101, @waiting4brucewayne2adoptme, @lynettethemadscientist, @jyxyx,

@b1655, @aaron57070, @marriedtopresley, @imaginationlast, @freudianslumber,

@littleemo477, @colinbowling, @myradiaz, @justafangir1, @edgeofrealitys-blog,

@daisydascat, @scarlettlight06, @scrivenershantelle, @generoustreemystic, @thetrashofthething,

@elvispresleover3435, @spooky-hazex, @presleyenterprise, @elvispresleywife, @18lkpeters,

@fallinlovewithurlove, @lovemoonsstuff, @amyelizabethdynes, @muppethollz, @sillybookmarks,

@awakenbutasleep, @yagirlalexx, @clawdyp, @iuv0ana, @itstylersblog,

@strawberryloveprincess15, @ifyouloveweedletsgosmoke, and @juldooz.

#follow that dream #ftd #elvis fandom #possible lost media #deleted scene #toby kwimper

[awesomefringey]

The vibes I got from Anne’s very unexpected statement is that this may be hard on Harry behind the scenes. He might not have wanted to cut his hair but had to for something and struggles with that. Or maybe he wanted to cut it but has been insecure regarding it because he has such a strong public image that he feels he needs to uphold. Mama bear is coming out to protect her baby.

I agree, her lashing out at people making fun of his appearance, gives off the impression. Not sure if that could imply it wasn’t entirely voluntary, if there’s been a medical reason or whatever, or if he did it for a casting or he was just curious to see what it was like and it turned into an episode of dysphoria.

But in a time where the press around Harry’s buzz cut was supposed to be perfectly aligned with the complimentary promotion of the Pleasing drop, I question her intentions behind it all. She’s got herself (and Harry) another round of press for it.

I, for one, and this is why I’m so confused, think that a) Harry couldn’t care less about a few people laughing at a bald head, b) there hadn’t been that negative uproar or at least I must have missed it, c) the whole buzz cut reveal fell kinda flat in the press and now, that the impact wasn’t that big, d) Anne wrote a bit of drama into existence by portraying a wave of online hate, which ummm at least to, e) never happened to begin with? 🤷‍♀️

#ask #anne twist

[alexiethymia]

 Another of the endless things I love about the adaptation which deserves its own post - Norrie. 

I love Norrie so much and what she means for the narrative. I love that entire first part of the first episode because it really hammers in how much of a craptastic world they live in. Sure, they have cozy breakfasts and tea, but let’s face it, they’re all child soldiers. And inasmuch as the show shows some pretty criminally negligent adults (or you know just plain criminal), there are also characters like Barnes and that undercover agent and even Danny Clough who prove that there are slivers of goodness in a world that has failed its children and pushed the responsibility onto them (and again man if that isn’t an allegory to current times). 

Norrie is ever part of the narrative. She’s Lucy’s past and her own personal ghost. She tinges Lucy’s current relationships even now. If Lockwood is sometimes reminded of Jessica through Lucy, then maybe Lucy is also reminded of Norrie through Lockwood, because between the both of them it was always Norrie who longed for more than what life gave them. When Lockwood declares he won’t be the one to leave anyone behind, it resounds because Lucy is the one who was left behind. But see there’s the difference between Lockwood and Lucy. Because while Lockwood vows to give up on love, Lucy’s response to having it taken away from her, to having been abandoned and left behind, is to fight for it, to love and live fiercely. 

And George, I love George so much, because George stabilizes the both of them. There’s how George connects with Lucy after she shares about Norrie and becomes her staunch advocate, and there’s also how Lucy is finally able to tell him what she desperately wishes someone told her back then, “No matter what happens, it’s not your fault.” Lockwood and Lucy are two desperate, angry, and lonely kids. They need George to remind them of brighter days of breakfasts and doughnuts and family. It’s a great thing for George to still have his family because in a way he shares that warmth with them. But because he is also George he can relate to them about normal things, like being weird and being the black sheep. Like I just want to say George is so important okay? 

I’ve said before that this show reminds me so much of Anne with an E, and it especially reminds me of that show in that scene where Lucy talks into her tape recorder for Norrie. I think it’s the shot of the sun shining through the dust motes and the blinds. 

Anyway, I really love Norrie and potential dynamics. (For fanfic and headcanon purposes, I can’t help but think of Norrie as Lucy’s lost lenore, so how could Lockwood ever compete?)

#lockwood and co #locklyle #lucy carlyle #george karim #anthony lockwood #george cubbins #they seriously need an ot3 name #pushing the bi!lucy agenda #give me all of the angsty unrequited in love and pining lockwood fanfics any day #norrie #again I reiterate george is so important #norrie too #I love norrie so much

[thoughtfulfangirling]

2024 Reads

Another human invented marker of time has passed moving us from one year to the next. It's a good reason to start over my lists right?! XD 2023's list can be found here! 2024 starts below!

You Made a Fool out of Death with Your Beauty - Awaeke Emezi

Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide^ - Zoe Mendelson & Maria Conejo

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek -Kim Michele Richardson

Meru - S.B. Divya

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South^ by Radley Balko & Tucker Carrington

Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects on Happiness, Tradition, and Spiritual Wisdom^ - Adeline Yen Mah

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg^ - Helen Rappaport]

Pride and Prejudice* - Jane Austen

Fresh Girl - Jaida Placide

Butts: A Backstory^ - Heather Radke

The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex^ - Nathaniel Philbrick

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico^ - Amy S. Greenberg

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible^ - Charles E. Cobb Jr.

This Is Your Mind on Plants^ - Michael Pollan

The Silent Patient*~ - Alex Michaelides

Finding Me^ - Viola Davis

Wuthering Heights# - Emily Bronte

Exit Strategy~ - Martha Wells

The Girls Who Went Away:^ The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe V. Wade - Ann Fessler

Bowling Alone:^ The Collapse and Revival of American Community - Robert D. Putnam

Fugitive Telemetry%~ - Martha Wells

The History of Wales^*% - History Nerds

The War on Everyone^% ~- Robert Evans

Searching for Black Confederates:^ The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth - Kevin M. Levin

The Great Influenza:* The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History [2004] by John M. Barry

Network Effect~ - Martha Wells

Zelda Popkin:^ The Life and Times of an American Jewish Woman Writer - Jeremy D Popkin

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon

Currently reading: The Assassination of Fred Hampton and Medical Apartheid

Key: * = Reread ^ = Nonfiction ~ = Read with Empty % = Novella #= Doc book club

My goal for 2024 is for 40% of my reads to be nonfiction. I've had two years within the recent past where I managed 20% of my reads to be nonfiction, so I'm aiming to double that. THIS WILL BE HARD FOR ME! Not because I don't enjoy nonfiction but because I enjoy fiction a lot more and have a lot more practice reading it. Haha Also for me, I am in circles where I'm just going to have more awareness of fictional books that I'm likely to enjoy more so than nonfiction. I'm kind of hoping that this years journey will change that a bit too!

Okay, below the cut I'm putting the nonfiction books on my tbr, most of which I have the lovely people of Tumblr to thank for the recommendations!

1968: The Year that Rocked the World

The Age of Wood; Our Most Useful Material...

The Assassination of Fred Hampton

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the...

Being Human:

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shelf

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man

Bowling Alone

Brave the Wild: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped...

Butts: A Backstory / Evermore Recommended

The Cadaver Kin and the Country Dentist / Automatuck9

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse...

Dear Senthuran

DisneyWar

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with...

Finding Me (Viola Davis)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed...

The Food of a Younger Land

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women...

The Glass Universe

The Great Hunger: The Story of the Famine...

The Great Influenza

Helping Her Get Free: A Guide for Families and Friends of an Abused Woman

The History of Ireland

The History of Scotland

The History of Wales

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Indifferent Stars Above

In the Heart of the Sea / ecouterbien

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death...

The Indifferent Stars Above

The Last Days of the Romanovs / Automatuck9

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical...

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During the Crisis...

A New World Begins

Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous...

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get you Killed / Empty

Radium Girls

The Road to Jonestown

Paper: Paging through History

People's Temple

Pussypedia / Bookstagram Rec

Salt: A World History

Say Nothing

Sea Biscuit: An American legend

Searching for Black Confederates

This is Your Mind on Plants

Unmasking Autism

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes - And Why

Watching the Tree / found all by my little self

We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow we Will be Killed...

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the.. / Rose

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta...

I will actually add to this list as I get more recs and whatnot. And I still have some coming which I ordered from Thriftbooks. Once those are here, I'll add those. I'm a little sad there aren't more memoirs, but there's plenty of time for that yet! This is already 37 books, and given lately I've been reading about 70 (nonfiction may slow me down tho), these should give me plenty of ability to reach my 40% goal. Now it's just a matter of if I do it XD

#tfg reads #2024 Reading List #Books #tbr #Do I usually wait until I actually have more than one book read? #Uh yeah woops haha #Ah well I was eager to get my goal written to hold myself accountable #I'm really enjoying pussypedia! #So a promising start #I also have a silent private goal of some other nonfiction I want to get to #but it's going to be especially hard so that will wait to see if I can even get started XD #la de da #silly tfg #reading #my reading index

[courtney-deserved-better]

a masterpost of my td fics as of 10/20/22

posting this because ive reached 50 td fics on ao3. enjoy!

Advantages - 591 words, complete - some very sweet jasammy proposal fluff post-canon

All Is Fair - 1.8k words, complete - alenoah pulling high school shenanigans trying to matchmake for gwourtney while oblivious to their own feelings for each other

Ascent To Wondrous Heights - 1.4k words, complete - team e-scope + owen having fun at a college fair, with some evzy after eva’s deals with a fear of heights

Balancing Act - 1.4k words, complete - set during all-stars, in which courtney confesses a secret plan to gwen and gwourtney ensues, technically canon compliant? if you want it to be

Behind The Scenes In New York City - 2.6k words, complete - just the cast hanging out after the new york challenge, there’s alenoah and gwourtney but it focuses on friendship

Blame Game - 480 words, complete - a short character study about gwen through courtney’s eyes, set during the newfoundland episode 

Blue Lips - 530 words, complete - gwourtney fluff surrounding gwen’s makeup choices, funny and sweet

Coastal Confessions - 8.7k words, complete - set right after the tdwt finale minus the volcanic eruption where heather discovers secrets others have been hiding that bring the cast closer together, alenoah and platonic lesheather

Coffee - 1k words, complete - high school au with sneaky pre-relationship alenoah and student council election hijinks

Drawn to Her - 380 words, complete - pre-relationship oblivious gwourtney ft. gwen + leshawna friendship and courtney + bridgette friendship

Eventually - 578 words, complete - alenoah hurt/comfort, eva is mentioned, talking about recovery

Everything & Nothing - 450 words, complete - a short character study of sierra through alejandro’s eyes, set just before the drumheller episode 

Exchange Of Nines - 3.1k words, complete - an alternate ending to the london episode if trent had been brought back instead of duncan, minor gwourtney & alenoah

Fanning The Flames - 800 words, complete - post-canon girlfriends gwen and courtney run into total drama fan sammy, minor angst & happy ending

Fashionable - girlfriends anne maria and jo go shopping together and anne maria tries to figure out why jo is upset, college au 

Fiendish Fiancé - 805 words, complete - established relationship alenoah fluff with baker noah

For The Lesbians - 644 words, complete - rewrite of a tdpi moment in which dave respects lesbians and kisses shawn

Gal Pals - 1.2k words, complete - set during tdwt, five times heather watched gwen and courtney be gay and oblivious and one time she did something about it

Hook Me Gently With A Chainsaw - 4.5k words, complete - a rewrite of the tdi horror episode with a few different characters, gwourtney, evzy, and harold-tyler friendship

Hopeless - 1.2k words, complete - alejandro has a crush and courtney takes things into her own hands, alenoah and platonic alejandro-heather-courtney

I Rather Like Having Friends - 2k words, complete - high school au, courtney has a bunch of roti cast friends over to make cookies and play just dance

In Her Corner - 1.3k, complete - takes place during tda sports episode, heather calls beth out for turning everyone against leshawna

Last Night Courtney - 10.1k words, complete - total drama psych au with lots of shenanigans while solving a murder, alenoah, gwourtney, and platonic alecourtney, plus team escope

Letters & Prison - 1.5k words, complete - set five years after tdas where courtney sends duncan a letter about her life, gwourtney is mentioned but the focus is on duncan and courtney

Lost to Vengeance - 690 words, complete - macarthur and sanders go for an early morning run and talk about revenge

Music Man - 380 words, complete - behind the scenes of the first tdwt aftermath, trent talks to beth and justin about how he’s upset he’s not a part of the musical season

Naturally Nice - 1k words, complete - alenoah fluff where noah finds out about alejandro’s spanish accent

No Worries - 487 words, complete - alejandro gets himself into a scrape and noah isn’t happy about it, mostly alenoah fluff

Not The One - 410 words, complete - gwen and duncan talk instead of kissing in the confessional, the love triangle but its all one-sided

Not The Worst Movie Night - 3.6k words, complete - post-canon total drama reunion with pre-relationship alenoah and platonic nowen & nemma

Odd Occasions - 630 words, complete - set during tdwt in which alejandro finds out noah is a sleep cuddler, alenoah fluff

Oh Deer - 740 words, complete - gwen and trent chat during the paintball deer episode, canon compliant

Operation Nemma - 21.3k words, 28/28 chapters - texting fic set during the ridonculous race, alenoah with platonic nemma and nowen, mostly silly fluff

Parting Gift - 1.5k words, complete - set right before noah’s tdwt elimination, alejandro confronts him and they air out their feelings, alenoah

Pepper Spray - 590 words, complete - some team escope + owen high school shenanigans with established relationship alenoah

Reinventing The Wheel - 874 words, complete - a silly conversation between team escope + owen

Right As Rain - 250 words, complete - girlfriends gwen and courtney spend a domestic rainy day together

Roommate Revelations - 500 words, complete - gwen realizes she’s in love with her roommate courtney 

Starlight Dreams - 3.7k words, complete - an ellammy cinderella/fairytale au, very romantic/sappy 

Tentative - 664 words, complete - set during in which duncan and gwen reunite somewhat differently, platonic gwuncan

Theft of Property - 750 words, complete - gwen helps a loopy courtney post-wisdom tooth removal, silly gwourtney fluff

Tickled Pink - 700 words, complete - high school au featuring a betherra promposal and supportive friend lindsay

Tolerable - 2.5k words, complete - total drama dirtbags au with noah working as chris’ assistant and alejandro (a contestant) wanting a friend, pre-relationship alenoah

Too Many Cooks Spoil The Spaghetti - 11.4k words, 2/2 chapters - a rewrite of tdi’s “if you can’t take the heat” episode featuring gwourtney, djuncan, gwen-tyler friendship, and a twist on the leshawna-heather rivalry

Undeniable Truths - 2.6k words, complete - post-canon college au in which bridgette and courtney reunite with one another, friends to lovers bridgney

Unfairway - 260 words, complete - alenoah gwourtney double date fluff and humor

Viability - 1.2k words, complete - set during tdwt in which alejandro makes a mistake and flirts with noah to get out of it

Why Are You Asking Me? - 3.5k words - college au where noah reluctantly helps nine couples get together, alenoah, justowen, evzy, trody, jomaria, gwourtney, djuncan, kadie, jasammy/jashawn, and lesheather

and what i’m most know for:

Slippery Slopes - 108k words, 13/14 chapters - a rewrite of tdwt in which heather gets eliminated instead of noah, who becomes alejandro’s new rival, alenoah and platonic nowen, noerra, and alecourtney

Hawaiian Style - 16.8k words, 9/9 chapters - the hawaiian style episode of slippery slopes, to be read after chapter 11

#total drama #td fic #fic #alenoah #gwourtney #not tagging every ship bc there are a Lot but those are the main ones #my fic #long post

[evanpetersbr]

NEWS! 🚨 Nova foto dos bastidores de Dahmer, compartilhada pelo ator mirim Tenz ao lado de Evan Peters e Penelope Ann Miller.

NEWS! 🚨 New behind-the-scenes photo of Dahmer, shared by child actor Tenz alongside Evan Peters and Penelope Ann Miller.

#evan peters #evan thomas peters #evan peters icons #evan peters edit #epetersedit #evan peters photos #ahs double feature #mare of easttown #american horror story #evan peters gifs #evan peters news #evan peters ahs #peter maximoff #the jeffrey dahmer story #evan peters netflix #dahmer netflix #ahsedit #ahs icons #ahs 11 #icons evan peters #austin ahs

[chloeseyeliner]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! Get to know your mutuals, followers and all the wonderful people on here! 💖

hey!

i have been meaning to answer this for a day or two, but i've been sick, so i was kind of out of it (once again), haha. sorry.

here are five (more) things that make me happy, not necessarily in a preference order:

being able to go to the supermarket- although it can be somewhat of a struggle mentally and overwhelming sometimes- and buy ingredients to cook a meal (bonus points if i am cooking for someone else- i am not the best, but i am trying, haha. i really like having someone close to me there to taste the food or the dessert, though, not to see their reaction but to know that they are fed and- if we are both lucky, haha- happy they ate whatever they ate). i recognise it is, unfortunately, a huge privilenge to have nowadays and i cherish it.

exquisite cinematography in films or shows. i am nowhere near an expert in the field, but, in most cases, i truly adore the landscapes, the close-ups, everything, even the smallest of details in the background- anne with an e and young royals are a perfect, in my humble opinion, example of what i am trying to say here. especially the, if i am correct, symbolism behind... ah. it makes me extremely happy.

the glint in someone's eyes when you compliment them. i, unfortunately, haven't done that in quite a while, ever since i moved to college i believe, because my social skills have been very limited for the past year and a half (new, bigger city, people i don't know and don't feel comfotable around and all that jazz), haha. but i get so happy when people get happy being complimented- of course, in a reasonable and kind manner and with measure and deep consideration beforehand, because we do not support creepy behaviour in this blog, no, no. a great example i can think of is my- huge, embarrassing- crush back in high school and the way her eyes lit up when i told her her knitted jacket looked like it was made for her, because it matched her personality somehow, "if she allowed me to say so".

reenacting scenes from books or movies and shows when i am alone. it's refreshing. it's happiness in a small room, four walls and me. it's nectar for the soul. what else is there to say?

the smell of grass. although as a kid i used to get (??) allergies (??) from smelling the grass and the flowers too much in the pre-school playground during spring time, i believe, i still feel happy to know that it's rained by just nostagically smelling the grass, in spite of a runny nose, tears and maybe some follow-up sinusitis (yes, i am kind of stupid, haha, what's new?).

that's all! i hope-

you know what; we both know i rumbled on and on again and this turned out to be longer than intended. i shall not hide anymore. lol.

have a good day/night, dear mutual!

💗

#sorry for any mistakes #english is not my first language #ask #asks

[seawolvesanddragons]

Anne With An E 12 Days of Christmas Countdown

1. Amortentia

(Note - this is a missing scene from a AWAE/Harry Potter au completed fic of mine on AO3)

“Amortentia,” Professor Allen intoned, “is one of the most difficult potions to brew. Even very few of my seventh year NEWT students manage to properly brew one successfully each year. Perhaps a blessing - we hardly need children mucking about with love potions.” 

There were a few scoffs at that from Anne’s classmates - though whether that was doubt that the seventh years were incapable, or at Allen calling them all children, Anne wasn’t sure. Ruby alone looked unaffected - though that could be because she was staring starry eyed at the potion. No matter how old they got, Ruby’s romantic nature never truly changed. 

“Today, since it is your first time learning about amortentia, we are beginning simply with observing it and examining the base ingredients. Next week you will be completing the potion’s from its final stage. If you manage to do it correctly, your potion should look like this,” Allen gestured to the wide cauldron in the center of the classroom. 

“I highly recommend you write this next part down,” Allen said and there was a scramble as several of the students dove for their quills. Anne and Diana, who had pulled their quills out at the start of class (Anne, in fact, had already begun writing notes) shared an amused glance. At the table next to them, Gilbert, quill also at the ready,  was shaking his head fondly at Jerry, who had nearly fallen off his stool. He caught Anne watching and shook his head at the Hufflepuff, in a “what can you do,” type of way. Anne grinned back. 

“Amortentia is easily recognizable by its pearly sheen and distinct vapor movement - see how it rises in spirals? Beware of a potion with these traits as much as you would be wary of one that looks almost like this - the only thing worse than a love potion made well is a love potion made poorly,” Allen warned. 

“Speaking from experience?” Josie muttered under her breath across from them. Anne bit down on her lip to keep from laughing. 

“The most interesting symptom of the potion is its smell,” Allen continued. “It’s different for everyone, as the potion replicates the scents that remind you of things you like. One might smell a favorite homemade treat, or location. Take a moment to reflect on what you smell. Write down everything you observe on the potion and hypothesize its ingredients - it should take at least six inches. Begin.” 

Allen’s lecture stopped abruptly, the potions master suddenly vanishing behind a stack of what Anne suspected were ungraded essays. 

For the next moment the classroom was filled with odd hissing noises as everyone kept taking dramatic breaths. 

“What do you smell?” Anne asked Diana, kicking her leg against the stool. She had already finished writing down everything she could observe. 

“Freshly cut roses, something...woody? Spicy?” Diana wrinkled her brow. “I can’t place it.” 

“The forest, maybe? Or the greenhouses?” Anne suggested. Diana shrugged. “Anything else?” 

“Broomstick polish,” Diana said, face falling slightly. Anne reached out and gripped her hand wordlessly. 

“I smell cinnamon, my mother’s perfume, and fresh ink,” Ruby chimed in, a besotted look on her face.

“What does Moody have to do with any of those?” Josie asked. Ruby blushed furiously. 

“What do you smell, Anne?” Ruby asked quickly, clearly hoping to move the situation along. 

“Marilla’s plum puffs, the smell of books, and,” Anne took another deep breath. “The forest.” 

“We match,” Jerry turned around. “I smelled Marilla’s plum puffs and the forest as well. Plus my broomstick polish.” 

Anne turned to Diana. “Diana, this is very serious. Professor Allen clearly brewed the potion wrong.” 

“Anne,” Diana shook her head, but Anne could see the corners of her mouth turn up. “It isn’t the end of the world to have similar interests as Jerry.” 

“At least he didn’t smell books as well,” Anne sighed dramatically. 

“Hey, that was one of Gilbert’s scents as well,” Jerry said happily. 

Gilbert started, only half paying attention to the conversation. “How did you know what? I never told you what I smelled.” 

“I can read it over your shoulder,” Jerry shrugged. “I was trying to see what you put down for the ingredients. You smelled books, Bash’s stew, and,” Jerry paused, turning his head to see better. “What’s that third one? An-” 

“You can copy my ingredient list,” Gilbert interrupted quickly, rolling up his scroll so only that section was open. “I don’t mind.” 

“You’re a saint,” Jerry grinned. 

“Gilbert, he’s never going to learn if you do it for him!” Anne scolded. “Honestly, why would you do such a thing?” 

Gilbert muttered something under his breath. Anne could only make out a few phrases - “self-preservation” and “win the family over.” 

Anne rolled her eyes. Honestly, Gilbert said the most nonsense things sometimes. 

***

(Potions, seventh year)

“You have the remaining double period to complete your amortentia potion,” Allen drawled. “Remember, if your potion starts turning any shade of green, back away and alert me immediately. Do not try to fix it yourselves.” He cast a quick look at Musa and Jerry, who had managed to blow up one cauldron and disintegrate another in the five weeks that Allen had partnered them up. Considering Musa was fairly adequate at potions and Jerry was brilliant at the herbology aspect, Anne wasn’t really sure what kept going wrong there. 

“Begin,” Allen said, and there was a flurry as the class started chopping and slicing. 

“Ready partner?” Gilbert grinned, nudging Anne’s elbow. 

“Mhm,” Anne nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The last few weeks of being potion partners with Gilbert had been bearable, if Anne had to pick a term. Any satisfaction of a well matched partner was instantly overtaken by the struggle of being in close proximity of Gilbert several times a week, which turned into fear she would let it affect her potion making. It never did, of course, which led right into satisfaction at a job well done, relief at having such a good potion partner, and then she was right back at the start of it all. 

Anne had weathered the course with maturity and positivity, in her opinion. But this? Brewing a love potion with Gilbert Blythe of all people? That was far too much. 

So began the longest two hours of Anne’s life. 

First, it was Gilbert’s hand brushing hers when he reached for the chopping knife. Then she was momentarily entranced with the way his curls fell into his eyes as he measured out ingredients. Worst was how solid he seemed next to her when they took turns stirring the potion, counting carefully, like he fit there somehow. 

Luckily for Anne, distraction came along in the last half hour to take her mind off of her predicament. 

They had brewed the potion wrong. 

“Are you sure we stirred it enough, Anne?” Gilbert asked, frowning. “Not that I doubt your potion brewing skills, but the smell is still off.” 

“I’m certain. But you’re right, we’re missing something,” Anne insisted. “Last time I could smell three things-” 

“Books, the forest, and plum puffs,” Gilbert nodded. “I remember. But you can’t smell them?” 

Anne paused, momentarily distracted. “You remember what I smelled?” 

“You and Jerry started arguing over it,” Gilbert shrugged. 

Anne decided the mature thing to do would be to ignore the funny feelings that were dancing around inside and move on. This was about learning. Her grade was on the line. 

“I can smell the plum puffs and the books, but the forest isn’t there - we must have messed up the measurement on something... ” Anne mused. “Are we sure we put enough wild pansy stems in there?” 

“We triple checked,” Gilbert shook his head frantically. “Do you smell anything else? Maybe there’s something that replaced the forest.” 

Anne wanted to argue that was simply impossible - she loved the forest, the home of some many adventures and wonders and friendships - but she stopped herself right in time. 

Gilbert wasn’t trying to be rude. He was just being logical, trying to think through why their potion would be wrong. 

“That’s...possible.” Anne allowed. “But I don’t smell anything else. Just books and plums. Nothing else. What about you?”

“The same issue,” Gilbert sighed. “Just the spices Bash uses and books. But if it isn’t the wild pansy’s-” Gilbert’s brow furrowed, deep in thought. “Let’s try-”

“Mr. Blythe, Miss Shirley-Cuthbert,” Allen interrupted, suddenly appearing beside them. “Step away from your cauldron please.” 

They obliged. Anne’s palms began to sweat as Allen peered over their amortentia. This was it - the end of her and Gilbert’s perfect streak. Perhaps they’d still get good marks, the sheen and consistency was right, after all, and the vapors were spiraling...

“Perfect,” Allen stated. “Again. Ten points each to Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Moving on - Miss Barry, Miss Gillis, your turn.” 

“I - how-” Anne whispered, glancing at Gilbert. “He didn’t notice?” 

“Guess we lucked out,” Gilbert said. “Thank Merlin. Though it’s going to bother me for ages, trying to figure out what we did wrong.”

“You and me both,” Anne said. “Come on, might as well begin cleaning up.”

Anne elected to put the leftover potion ingredients back in the cupboard while Gilbert scourgified their cutting knives. 

The cupboard was on the opposite side of the room, requiring Anne to pick her way carefully past both Diana and Ruby’s table as well as Cetus and Josie’s. The vapors from their cauldrons filled the air by the cupboard. 

At least one of them must have brewed their potion correctly - Anne caught a whiff of plum, the familiar scent of books - she inhaled deeply, wanting to linger on the scent. 

Wait - why had Gilbert followed her? 

Anne turned around, mouth already open to ask him, but he wasn’t there. Gilbert was still at their table, all the way on the other side of the classroom. 

So why had her brain thought he was right behind her? 

*

“That,” Jerry declared as he stormed out of potions, “was the worst one yet. Honestly, what was Allen thinking.” 

“It does bring a whole new level to the depths of denial,” Moody agreed. 

“I really thought this would be it,” Musa said. “They were brewing amortentia . How did it not come up?”

“They thought they brewed the potion wrong,” Diana said, still in disbelief. “They have a perfect streak in potions-”

“To all of our irritation,” Josie sniffed. 

“And each of them is aware of how they feel yet they still managed to think they brewed the potion wrong instead of it being an issue that they were already standing next to each other!” 

“I think I might hate them,” Cetus said solemnly. “Or Allen. I really, really do. Their fretting over a mistake that didn’t exist was so distracting I almost knocked over my cauldron.” 

“They thought they brewed the potion wrong, ” Diana repeated again. She looked close to tears. 

“Okay, let’s get Diana to the kitchens,” Ruby said gently. “I think she needs a nice cup of tea to calm down.” 

“Or something stronger,” Jerry muttered. 

“Jerry, no.” 

“I always knew it would be Anne that drove me to drink."

#awae #anne with an e #anne shirley cuthbert #gilbert blythe #shirbert #anne of green gables #12 days of christmas countdown awae

[adrian-paul-botta]

Miss Mabel (1950)

Miss Mabel is a 1948 stage play by R. C. Sherriff. It has been adapted for television at least five times.

1950 – A play in three acts, produced by Joel Shenker as a summer theatre touring package.

Advance director: Jerome Coray

With Charles Francis, Wallace Clark, Mark Roberts, Harry Bannister, Victor Beecroft, Gwen Anderson, Marie Carroll, Bethel Long.

Subsequent cast changes throughout tour as well as resident actors playing different roles in each theatre (Dorothy and Lillian Gish by Lillian Gish)

Also, a live version aired as part of British anthology series BBC Sunday Night Theatre in 1950. Cast included Mary Jerrold, Clive Morton, Richard Warner, W. E. Holloway, Josephine Middleton, Herbert C. Walton, Anne West, Ronald Marriott, Rowland Winterton and Anthony Farmer. It was performed on 26 March 1950 with a repeat performance on 29 March 1950. Both performances are lost, as the live broadcasts were not recorded.

 Rehearsals for Miss Mabel went smoothly, once we learned to anticipate interruptions over which we had no control, like the noise and whistling from the trains. We had an idea of their schedule, so we could time when we were going to have our words drowned during matinees and evening. Whoever was talking would just remain in place and not say a word until the train had passed. Clarence Derwent, for all his impressive British training and background, was a very casual actor. He had a very relaxed delivery, and he didn’t like to wear any makeup other than his costume.

Once, on a matinee day, he came to the theatre from a long walk in the woods just before half-hour. He put on his costume and he took his seat on a soft chair onstage as the curtain went up, which he was supposed to do. A few minutes into the performance, he fell asleep.

The audience didn’t know what was happening, but onstage, including Lillian, did. Clarence wasn’t snoring. He had leaned back and closed his eyes.

Lillian looked over in his direction, and very casually, during the course of the scene, tiptoed behind the chair where Clarence was sitting. She placed her hand on his shoulder leaned over, and blew on his neck!

She might have whispered something which only he could have heard, but Clarence opened his eyes and said his line as if the action were rehearsed!

Whether she gave him a dressing down afterwards we never knew. But he never took any morning walks on a matinee day. And he never closed his eyes in that chair for the rest of the run!

When Miss Mabel company flew to the Bahamas to play an engagement at the Royal Colonial Theatre, Lillian made a star’s demand: to allow Malcolm, her West Highland terrier who had been with her since The Old Maid (1936), to ride next to her on the plane.

Lillian Gish: A Life on Stage and Screen – Stuart Oderman

#lillian gish #miss mabel #1950s #theatre play #stuart oderman

[burlveneer-music]

Dwight Trible - Ancient Future - new album on Gearbox Records with a sweet guest list

Today, the inimitable jazz vocalist, activist, and nominal godfather of the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible, returns with the announcement of his new album “Ancient Future”. Out 17th March via London jazz aficionados and analog specialists Gearbox Records , the new record follows his critically acclaimed album “Mothership”, which was released in 2019 and saw him collaborate with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and more. On “Ancient Future”, Trible collaborates once again with Kamasi Washington (saxophone), as well as lauded LA multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow (vocals), who is signed to Brianfeeder and has previously worked with the likes of Madlib, Denzel Curry, Mos Def, Blood Orange, and Brittany Howard. Elsewhere, the record also features double Grammy winning pianist, John Beasley; Kamaal Williams touring drummer Greg Paul; gospel bassist André Gouché; percussionist and backing vocalist Megashia Jackson; LA guitarist G. E. Stinson; and percussionist Rene Fisher. A key figurehead in the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible is a legend in waiting. With an incredible career spanning decades, he has played a pivotal role in creating as much jazz history through his work and inspiration in the new wave of US jazz, as he should be noted for in his undoubtable vocal and songwriting talent. He is the vocalist for the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and has collaborated with a huge variety of artists such as Kamasi Washington (singing on ‘The Epic’ and ‘Heaven and Earth’), J Dilla, Life Force Trio, Carlos Nino, John Beasley, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Lloyd, and is also the vocal director for the Horace Tapscott Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - a Los Angeles institution with a history stretching back forty years and an active engagement in the city's Black community since the Watts Uprising. Trible has also been on the forefront of the US jazz resurgence, working as executive director of the hugely crucial arts space The World Stage - a vital component to Leimert Park, which has been the epicentre of African-American art and culture in Los Angeles since the late 1960s. Artists such as Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin have credited the venue as having helped to shape their sounds and the sense of community surrounding the scene, whilst also being an essential influence to the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Biz Markey, as well as number of artists from LA tastemaker label Brainfeeder and more. An avid and passionate activist, an enabler of the local scene and a figurehead in the LA jazz community, Trible’s focus is rarely self-seeking, always facing outward his focus is largely centred on giving, inclusion and teaching, whilst also inspiring others and expressing himself both on-stage on-record behind the scenes. Dwight Trible; vocals John Beasley; piano and keyboards André Gouché; electric bass guitar Greg Paul; drums and percussion G. E. Stinson; electric guitar Megashia Jackson; percussion and background vocals on ‘African Drum’ Rene Fisher; percussion on ‘African Drum’ Kamasi Washington; tenor saxophone on ‘African Drum’ Georgia Anne Muldrow; vocals on ‘Black Dance’ All tracks composed by Dwight Trible, John Beasley, André Gouché, Greg Paul and G. E. Stinson All lyrics written by Dwight Trible and Megashia Jackson

#Dwight Trible #jazz #gearbox records #2023 #los angeles #spiritual jazz #funk #soul

[rai-knightshade-art]

"Can I go where you go? Can we always be this Close, forever and ever and I; take me out, and take me home... You're my, my, my, my.... Lover."

-Lover, Taylor Swift

(ID in alt text, artist thoughts, bonus behind the scenes progress pictures, and link to the fic below the cut)

The Fic: Stammi Vicino, non te ne andare

The Thoughts: I finally finished this!!!! Only took me like 6 months!! Y'all don't even KNOW how long i was sitting on the pencil sketch version of this (seen below); i just couldn't bring myself to mess up the pencil with my lineart... Attempts, and i equally didn't feel like getting on my laptop for the longest while. So. But i got there eventually! And I'm quite happy with how this turned out! Those special effects took literal hours to get just right btw 😅.

Scene notes: i chose two different scenes implied in the fic for this piece, based on their Free Dance song, Lover (First Dance Remix); i figured you can't go wrong with early!Shirbert, with Gilbert being all nonchalant and playful and Anne glaring him (unsuccessfully) into submission, as a sort of background memory; then, in the foreground, you've got a direct pull from their final Olympic Gold-winning program, an elevated spin move that has them staring into each other's eyes. Are they acting out the music? Are they genuinely this desperate, hoping that this will be enough to get them the medal they've been striving for over the past 12 years? Who's to say! Might even be both, tbh.

The Outfits: while the younger versions of Anne and Gilbert are just wearing generic warmup/workout clothes, i fully designed their Free Dance costumes! (And technically their Exhibition costumes as they're just the same costumes but in black and white and with a veil hair accessory for Anne. Cause they're wedding themed. I've never once been subtle in my life btw.) They're blatantly based on their outfits from that Big Kiss scene from the finale of Anne with an E, with Anne's blue dress modified to be a figure skater's dream and Gilbert's suit upgraded a bit and given some color (mostly to match Anne). See below->

And finally, the original sketch that started it all:

(originally it said "Have I known you 20 seconds..." Up by the young!Shirbert drawing, but i erased it when I erased the underlayer from the ink.)

And that's it! Shout-out to the various real life Ice Dancing/Pairs Skate couples who served as pose inspiration for this, specifically Knierim and Knierim from their Pyeongchang short program (young!Gilbert's pose) and Hubbell and Donohue for modeling Anne and Gilbert's main pose!

#shirbert #anne of green gables #anne with an e #anne shirley cuthbert #gilbert blythe #ice dancing #awae fanart #aogg fanart #awae #aogg #myposts #myart

[iredreamer]

I am watching the second season of GJ, and I know this has been said before, But the casting in this show is AMAZING. Some of the scenes in S2 (ann+Anne’s meetings with Ann’s relatives, the children behind the couch, Anne telling Ann about Mariana, etc) are SO well acted that I can barely look at the screen because I am SO uncomfortable and FULLY immersed in the characters experience. It’s fantastic. The writing too, it perfectly aids the characterization. Everything about this show is so amazing! I’m loving the tension this season Xx

yes, yes to everything you said.

the show is really well done on so many levels – the casting is exquisite, the acting is A+, the way everything is choreographed always leaves me speechless (the scene in 2x03 with the Ann(e)s coming back from the 13 calls and Marian comes to mind, loved how they choreographed it), the writing, the editing – I love everything about it really.

#ask #anonymous