#but my god I’m YA trash I love me a good love triangle | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stellar-lune · 3 years

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*KOTLC incorrect quotes*

Anyways, a long list of incorrect KOTLC quotes, feel free to use these for anything if ya want!

Glimmer: Arson? Oh, you mean "crime brûlée".

Fitz: Oh, so when crows remember people who wronged them and hold grudges, its “intelligent” and “really cool”.

Fitz: But when I do it, I’m “petty” and “need to let it go”.

Keefe, holding up his class notes: And then this doodle of a burrito because when I first read Aristotle, I thought it was pronounced like “Chipotle”.

Marella, in shock: Wait a minute, is it “Chip-o-tottle”?

Sophie: I wasn't hurt that badly. Elwin said all my bleeding was internal, that's where the blood's supposed to be!

Police Officer: You have the right to remain silent.

Marella: I choose to waive that right!

Marella: *screaming*

Brant (whoops sorry bout this one): Do not come over to my house. If the house is on fire you may knock once, if I don’t answer assume I set the fire and I want to burn to death.

Sophie: I would never say that my best friend is a bitch and I don’t like her. That’s not true… Biana is a bitch and I like her very much!

Lex, Bex, Rex: If I can't cause tiny bits of chaos every day, I think my body will shut down.

Keefe on Tuesday: *glues a dime to the sidewalk* Heh heh heh.

Keefe on Wednesday: *walking down the street* Ooh hey! A dime!

Forkman, to the squad: And remember, if I get harsh with you it is only because you’re doing it all wrong.

Keefe, tearing up the room: Where are they?

Keefe, looking under a pillow: Who moved them? Who moved my children?

Keefe: Somebody moved my E.L. Fudges, and now I am going to run away again.

Tam: Your existence is confusing.

Keefe: How so?

Tam: Your presence is annoying, but the thought of anything bad happening to you upsets me.

Sophie: I have one foot in the grave but in a kind of fun flirty way, the way one might slip on a fishnet stocking.

Linh: I've never encountered a problem that can't be solved by an spontaneous musical number.

Dex: Dracula had it right, sleep all day, live alone in a castle, and explode into bats to get out of all social situations.

Sophie: Fuck capitalism. It's a rigged system that keeps us poor and it isn't fair. You shouldn't need to work three jobs to afford basic necessities.

Sophie, playing Monopoly: Sorry, if you wanted to win you should have tried not being poor.

Dex, to Stina: If karma doesn't hit you, I fucking will.

Sophie: My life isn't as glamourous as my wanted poster makes it look.

Dex: If I'm extra sarcastic with you it probably means I'm flirting with you or you really annoy me and I can't handle your crap... have fun figuring out which one, Wonderboy.

Marella: As someone who has a long history of not understanding anything, I feel confident in my ability to continue not knowing what is going on.

Fitz: I'm a firm believer in "if you're going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly."

*out grocery shopping*

Linh: *takes a free sample twice*

Linh: Robbery and fraud. I am a Rebel (TM) .

Sophie: Sometimes I wonder if I’m hearing voices.

Sophie: Then I remember that’s the last bit of sanity I have trying to get me to fall asleep at a reasonable time.

Sophie: Does anyone know how to relax? Asking for a friend.

Demon: Hey, I took your soul last month and-

Tam: No returns.

Demon: *sobbing* But it's making me sad...

Dex: So, according to my university, it is, quote, “my responsibility if there is an internet outage to contact the faculty and the department.”

Dex: Now, if you’re a critical thinker like me, you might be wondering one thing.

Dex: HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO EMAIL THE DEPARTMENT?!?!?!

Tam: Hey, what’s the name of the other guy who lives with Tiergan?

Linh: His cats' names are Walter and Rose.

Tam: That's not what I asked.

Linh: That is all the information I have.

Keefe: Ro, remember when you said you weren’t going to interfere with my love life?

Ro: No, that doesn’t sound like me at all.

(alternatively, Alden)

Linh: Ayo, what the FUCK is this?!?

Tam, sitting down, surrounded by corpses: I won Mafia, that’s what.

Marella: I'd roast you, but my mom says you can't burn trash.

Marella: *slow-mo walks out of the room*

Biana: I'm gonna get my piolet's license. I've already got a driver's license and a cosmetology license, that's two of the big five licenses.

Fitz: The big five licenses?

Biana: Driver's license, cosmetology license, pilot's license, fishing license, and… license to kill! I can't wait to get that one.

Dex: You are irrationally angry 365 days a year.

Fitz: Well, that’s just your personal opinion, I don’t have anger issues. Biana, do you think I have anger issues?

Biana: Well, I wouldn’t really call it an issue. An issue is something you can fix.

Keefe: So how’s the food Sophie made?

Fitz: It's great! Compliments to her.

Keefe: *goes to the kitchen*

Keefe: You're adorable.

Sophie: *blushes*

Biana: And now for a gay update with Linh and Marella.

Marella: Getting gayer.

Biana: Thank you, Marella.

Sophie: Hey, do you know the password to Keefe’s computer?

Biana: I love you, Sophie.

Sophie: Aww, that’s so swe—

Biana: No, you misunderstood, the password is "iloveyouSophie".

Sophie: Oh, no numbers? Not very safe.

Fitz: Hey, Biana, are you free on Friday? Like around eight?

Biana: Yeah.

Fitz: And you, Tam?

Tam: Umm... yes?

Fitz: Great! Because I'm not. You two go out without me. Enjoy your date!

Biana: Did he just-

Sophie: Do you cook?

Biana: I made a cake once.

Fitz: Yeah, it was good.

Biana: Really?

Fitz: Don’t make me lie twice, Biana.

Dex: Nice rock.

Keefe: Thanks, Tam gave it to me.

Tam: I threw it at you!

Keefe: Isn’t he the sweetest?

Juline: I just had a long talk with the triplets about hitting and now they are yelling “it’s my turn to perpetuate the cycle of violence” before hitting each other.

Sophie: I made you all playlists!

Sophie: Tam, yours has only heavy metal and punk, and is dark like your soul.

Sophie: Keefe, yours has sad songs and blues to pair with your crippling depression.

Sophie: And Biana has the ABBA Gold album.

Fitz: A pessimist sees a dark tunnel.

Biana: An optimist sees light at the end of the tunnel.

Dex: A realist sees a freight train.

Tam: The train driver sees three idiots standing on train tracks.

Mr. Forkle: For self defense reasons, I'm going to pretend to be a burglar and you guys have to act wisely.

Biana, Keefe, & Sophie: Okay.

Mr. Forkle: If you don't want to die, give me all your money.

Biana: Bold of you to assume I have money.

Keefe: Bold of you to assume I don't want to die.

Sophie: Bold of you to assume I can die.

Sophie: My life is a little too much panic and not enough disco.

Keefe: My life is a little too much fall and not enough boy.

Dex: My life is a little too much chemical and not enough romance.

Marella: My life is a little too much imagination and not nearly enough dragons.

Biana: What’s it like being tall?

Marella: Is it nice?

Sophie: Can you reach comfortably for the cupboards?

Fitz: We live in constant fear of the short ones who, in my experience, will climb four chairs, two boxes, a small coffee table, and six oddly placed stools to get what they want.

Stina: You have friends and I envy that.

Marella: You're welcome to share my friends.

Stina: *looks at Dex and Sophie*

Stina: I don't want those.

Della: Tommorrow's garbage day.

Fitz: I can't believe you made a whole day dedicated to Alvar.

Linh: Bottling up negative emotions is bad for your health, so you shouldn't do it.

Tam: I know, that's why I bottle up all my emotions, both positive and negative, so it cancels out.

Linh: Th-that's not how that works-

Marella: Do you want to know your gay name?

Linh: My... my gay name?

Marella: Yeah, it's your first name-

Linh: Haha. Very funny Marella-

Marella: *gets down on one knee* And my last name.

Linh: Oh- oh my god.

Glimmer: You know you've made it when you see your picture everywhere you go.

The Black Swan: Those are wanted posters!

Biana: Are you mad?

Tam: No.

Biana: So sharpening your knives at 3 in the morning is just a hobby?

Keefe: Astrology is fun because i can pretend that all of my behaviors are just a result of being a Gemini and not symptoms of mental illness.

Biana: Being a Gemini is a mental illness. That’s not hate it’s just a fact.

Biana: *on the phone* Hey Fitz, do you know my blood type?

Fitz: Of course, it's A+.

Biana: Oh, I guessed wrong. Excuse me, nurse-!

Fitz, to Sophie: Are you ready to commit?

Sophie: Like, a crime or a relationship?

Literally Anyone: Hey, aren’t you Sophie Foster?

Sophie: You a Councillor?

Literally Anyone: No.

Sophie: Then yes, I am.

Sophie: I typed "bitch" into my GPS and guess what? I'm in your driveway.

Stina:

Sophie: Vroom vroom, come out already.

Stina: I’m gay—

Sophie: Not what I meant, but cool.

Keefe: Remember that time you dared me to lick a swingset?

Sophie: No, I said "Keefe, don't lick that swingset" and you said "Don't tell me what to do" and licked the swingset.

Mr. Forkle: I’m not so sure you’re stakeout material.

Sophie: I’m a chronic insomniac, I was born for this.

Juline: I only have two emotions: exhaustion and stress. And I’m somehow always feeling both simultaneously.

Marella: *gets set on fire and screams in agony*

Marella: Nah, I’m just kidding. Fire does nothing to me.

Biana: Maybe the true treasure was friendship all along. But I hope not, because I can’t spend friendship on new clothes

Dex: Do you want to play 20 Questions?

Fitz: Sure!

Fitz: Whats your favorite color?

Dex, laser fucking focused: Triangle. Do you like men?

#kotlc shitpost #kotlc incorrect quotes #kotlc memes #kotlc sophie #kotlc dex #kotlc fitz #kotlc marella #kotlc linh #kotlc biana #kotlc tam #kotlc glimmer #kotlc black swan #kotlc neverseen

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thegreatestofheck · 4 years

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The Girl with No Heartbeat Pt.6 ⊰JJ Maybank⊱

(gif not mine. credit to kaipurge)

word count - 6.2k warnings - none other than the fact that it is completely unedited. I hope no one minds synopsis - It’s movie night! Mera and the gang watch the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It’s all fun and games until something is triggered within Mera that sends her spiraling. a/n - So, this has got spoilers for the first three pirates movies, but only slightly, not much. It won’t be too bad if you haven’t seen it, it’s pretty vague. Also, I’m kind of deciding that there will be some love triangle action going on, so yay for that. Also, I’m sorry it took so long for this chapter to happen. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!!

***

When Mera stepped into the pod the next day, her shoulders sagged and she let out a deep sigh. She had thought that the pod had been full yesterday, yet somehow, overnight, Ward had managed to fill the pod even more. There had already been enough dread of coming back to work as it was, Mera couldn’t believe there was more in this room she would have to clean.

“As long as he keeps paying me for it,” she grumbled to herself. Just as she started to clamber her way less than delicately through the mass of stuff toward the bathtub with her ammonia filled bag, the door squeaked open.

“Hey,” Rafe said from behind her.

“Hello,” she replied as she tiptoed around a dishwasher.

“Um, how are you?”

“Fine. You?”

“Good, good.”

Mera glanced behind her to see Rafe still standing by the door with a bag in his hand. His lips were pressed into a fine line and he was staring at his shoes.

“What do you have there?” Mera asked once she reached the tub. Rafe lifted the bag.

“Oh, I just bought, uh, donuts,” he said. “Thought you might be hungry.”

“Why would I be hungry?” she laughed, hoisting the bag out of the tub. Rafe rolled and for a moment he looked like that arrogant boy she remembered the first time they met.

“Those pogues you live with barely have food to feed themselves. I doubt they have the supply to feed you too,” he said. Mera scowled at him even as she lugged her bag back toward him.

“And you wonder why I punched you in the mouth when we first met,” she scoffed. Rafe scowled at her as she dropped the bag onto the ground. The metal stove tops inside clattered to the ground, but she didn’t flinch as she kept Rafe’s gaze.

“If you have a lecture for me, save it,” he snapped suddenly, crossing his arms.

“I don’t lecture, Rafe,” she said and broke eye contact. She leaned down to pick the bag off the ground again.

“Right, you just hit people you don’t agree with.”

“No, I hit entitled, arrogant assholes who think they’re better than everyone else because their daddy has money,” she snapped, sending him a hard glare. Rafe’s mouth parted as he thought up something to say, but then he looked away from her, glaring at the ground. “You don’t want a lecture? Fine, you won’t get one from me. But don’t expect to be making friends any time soon if you keep acting like you own the world.”

“Who said I needed friends?” He asked as Mera pushed past him toward the door. Mera rolled her eyes, settling back into a scowl.

“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you keep following me around like a lost kitten,” she said. She stepped outside and started toward the house, looking for a faucet of some kind.

“I don’t follow you around!” he said as he followed her outside.

“Admit it. You’re either madly in love with me or you just really, desperately need a friend. I’d prefer the latter.”

Rafe spluttered for a bit, crossing and uncrossing his arms as he struggled to find something decent to say. Mera found a hose and set the bag down in the grass beside it.

“You wanna make yourself useful?” Mera snapped. “Find me a bucket or a tub or something I can use.”

Rafe stormed away and Mera looked down at her trash bag.

“Hey, Mera!” Someone called from above. She looked up to see Sarah hanging out a window. “How’s it going?”

“Your brother’s a bilge rat.”

“I don’t know what that means, but if it’s West Coast for ‘asshole’ then yeah, pretty much” Sarah said. “Anything I can do to help you?”

Mera shook her head and let out a sigh.

“No, I don’t think so, Sarah. It’s appreciated though,” Mera said.

“So, uh, how’s Kiara?” Sarah asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “And the others? Kiara and the others. You know, because you live with them you would know. At least, you live with John B and sometimes JJ so, of course.”

Mera felt herself smile as she tore open the trash bag. She gagged momentarily at the smell of the ammonia, but then she looked back up at Sarah.

“They’re all good.”

“Good is good. Good is good.” Sarah let out a sigh and Mera’s smile grew.

“You and Kiara, are you-”

“No!” Sarah said quickly. “God, no. I like men. Men only. Only men. Kiara and I were...friends back in the day.”

“Why aren’t you friends now?”

“Hold on a sec,” Sarah said before leaning back into the house. “Yeah, Dad?”

Mera waited patiently as she heard Ward and Sarah’s muffled voices.

“Hey, Mera?” Sarah called down from above once again. “I’ve gotta go real quick, but I’ll be back soon and maybe we can chat then, yeah?”

Mera smiled up and nodded her head.

“Catch ya later,” the blonde said before ducking back inside. Despite how angry Mera had just been, Sarah had somehow managed to make her smile. That smile faltered when a tub was thrown at her feet.

“I’m not in love with you,” Rafe said, standing behind Mera. She sighed and lowered her hands.

“I’ll be your friend, Rafe, on one condition,” she said, turning and standing. Rafe almost seemed to flinch at her. “Don’t make jabs at my family.”

Rafe cleared his throat.

“Right. No more jabs.”

Mera gave her head a stiff nod.

“Also, one more thing,” she said, holding up a finger.

“I thought you said only one condition.”

“This isn’t a condition. Just a favor.”

“I bought you a donut, isn’t that favor enough?”

“Listen, all I need is something to scrub these metal things down with. I’m not asking you to murder anyone or anything,” Mera said, growing slightly more irritated.

“I think there’s one in the kitchen,” he said finally. Mera raised an eyebrow.

“You think?”

Rafe simply rolled his eyes, but there was a hint of a smile on his face as he walked toward the front of the house.

~~~

“You may not want to touch me,” Mera said with a laugh, holding her hands out as Kie threw her arms around Mera’s shoulders. “I’m gross.”

“We’re all gross,” Kie laughed. Mera held up her hands, covered in grime and black muck. Kie grimaced and Mera gave her head a little nod.

“That’s what I thought.”

Mera started toward the house, Kie strolling along beside her.

“So, where are the boys?” Mera asked.

“They’re getting snacks for movie night,” Kie said, a smile on her face. “I’m so excited. We’ve gotta start with the Pirates movies, of course, but I think you’re really gonna like Cinderella, so we’re doing that one next, no matter what JJ says.”

“So, no vampires in Santa Cruz?”

“No vampires, period. Not until you watch Cinderella, of course.”

Mera laughed to herself, giving her head a little shake.

“I was given a movie suggestion today that we should add to the list,” Mera said as she walked into the bathroom. Kie settled herself onto the toilet seat, watching Mera with a wide smile.

“Sure, what movie?”

“Pulp Fiction, I think it was called?” Kie rolled her eyes at the suggestion.

“That’s John B’s favorite movie,” she said with a quiet huff. “Who suggested it?”

“Oh, uh, Sarah.”

Kie was too immediately frazzled by the mention of Sarah’s name to see the way Mera’s eyes flicked back and forth at her own lie.

“Why were you talking to Sarah?” Kie asked, a scowl pinching her eyebrows. Mera shrugged, turning on the water and beginning to scrub at her hands.

“She’s nice to me.”

“She’s a two faced bitch is what she is,” Kie grumbled, pulling her knees up to her chest and scowling even harder. Mera glanced over and raised an eyebrow.

“I feel like I am missing a vital piece of information. What happened between the two of you?” Mera continued to scrub at her hands, remembering the way Sarah blushed and stuttered after asking about Kie. There was definitely something going on.

“She was my best friend.” There was a deep sadness in Kie’s voice that made Mera turn the water down and put more of her attention on her. “We did everything together. She was everything…. But she wasn’t who I thought she was.”

“What did she do?” Mera tried to remember the way her father used to talk to her when she was upset, how he would lower his voice and reach out to grab her hand to keep her from shaking, how sometimes he would pretend to be distracted with something else so she didn’t feel like she was burdening him with all her troubles. Now, Mera tried to emulate that same feeling for her friend, for Kie.

Kie scoffed, but her eyes were full of tears.

“It sounds stupid,” the girl grumbled. Mera was tempted to put a hand on Kie’s shoulder and give her a reassuring squeeze, but her hands were still covered in filth.

“Your pain is anything but stupid.”

Kie looked up at Mera, her deep brown eyes still full of tears, but there was a small smile on the girl’s lips.

“It’s movie night,” Kie said suddenly, straightening her back and blinking away her tears. “There’s no crying on movie night.”

Mera watched as Kie shoved her feelings back down into the box she kept them in. It was a familiar sight. Mera had seen it in the mirror a million times before.

“Right. I just have to get this uck off of my hands and then I’ll be ready.”

~~~

Mera thought that movie night would have been at the Chateau, since it was where they had spent all of their time already. She was surprised when the boys pulled up in the van, the back stocked full of snacks that Mera had never seen before in her lives, but none of the boys got out.

“You sea lassies ready to go?” JJ asked from the back with a horrible pirate accent, holding the sliding door open with a smile. Mera was caught somewhere between mentioning the accent and asking where exactly they were going.

“Aren’t we staying?” She asked finally while Kie climbed into the seat beside John B.

“Kie’s the only one with a TV,” John B said. Mera barely had time to scowl at the unusual name before Pope started to explain it.

“TV. It’s short for television. It’s like a flat box that displays the movie onto it,” Pope said, popping a red fish-like food into his mouth. JJ offered Mera a hand to help her into the van, which she took even though she really didn’t need to. When she felt her face flush, she pulled her hand from his and settled down across from him, beside Pope, who continued to prattle on about the long and exciting history of television.

“JJ, hand me the notebook,” Kie said from the front seat. Mera, who had been watching Pope as he talked to her, glanced over at JJ when he didn’t respond to his friend, only to find that his blue eyes were fixed on her. “JJ!”

The boy startled and seemed to snap back into reality. He pulled a notebook from one of his many pockets and handed it to Kie, not looking at Mera. Instead, he started to fiddle with the ring on his pointer finger. An unholy array of thoughts passed through Mera’s mind before Pope elbowed her lightly in the arm and nodded toward John B.

“Kie says you’re adding Pulp Fiction to the list?” John B said, looking in the rearview mirror with a large smile. Mera nodded her head.

“It was recommended.”

“By who?”

“Um, Sarah,” Mera said as she glanced at Kie, who had taken to picking aimlessly at her nails.

“Sarah Cameron suggested you watch Pulp Fiction?” Pope asked with a tone of disbelief. All Mera could do was smile and nod and pray that they wouldn’t push her any further. Of course Sarah hadn’t recommended Pulp Fiction. Rafe did, but there was no way that Mera was going to tell them that, especially when John B’s smile was so big.

“What are these?” Mera asked, looking at all the different bags laying in front of her. JJ suddenly reentered the conversation as it turned onto food, a glimmer in his eyes.

“These are hot cheetos. They didn’t have any takis, so we had to get these. Those over by Pope are Swedish Fish. They’re disgusting-”

“No they aren’t!” Pope protested, tossing two more of the red fish into his mouth.

“You’re the only one who likes them. Anyway-” Mera reached over and put her hand in the Swedish fish bag, pulling out one of the oblong candies. Pope nodded his head enthusiastically for her to try it. “We got some Pringles and some Skittles and some chocolates for JB and some gummy worms and some raspberries for Kie.”

“Really?” Kie turned around in her chair again, a huge smile on her face. “I didn’t think they were in season.”

“They aren’t but Pope over here wanted to buy some for you anyway,” JJ said with a huff. Mera still held the Swedish Fish in her hand, not sure if she was actually willing to try it.

“Thanks, Pope,” Kie said, turning her smile to the boy sitting next to Mera. Instead of saying anything to Kie, Pope tried to hide his sheepish smile by turning and talking to Mera.

“Try it!” He said, motioning for the fish in her hand. “I promise it’s good. JJ just has jacked up taste buds from all the weed he smokes.”

JJ stuck out his tongue, but the joke was enough motivation for Mera to finally take a bite out of the candy. The outside was almost hard, but the inside was soft and gooey. Mera scowled, unsure of what to make of the sweet flavor at first.

“See?” JJ said, crossing his arms. “Disgusting.”

“She hasn’t said anything yet!” Pope protested.

“It’s all over her face, Poe. She hates it.”

“It’s actually not the worst thing I’ve ever eaten,” Mera said once she had chewed enough to swallow, which felt like forever.

“See?” Pope sneered at his blond friend in a mocking tone.

“She said not the worst, which doesn’t mean it’s any good.”

“Well,” Mera said with a smile. “When you’ve eaten gull legs, gruel, and barnacles, there isn’t a lot that doesn’t taste good.”

“There, Pope, you happy?” Kie said from the front, her leg propped up on the dash. “Swedish Fish aren’t as disgusting as seagull legs.”

Pope scowled and threw another fish in his mouth as Mera chewed quietly on her own. Mera sat back and let them all talk to each other, passing insults and jokes that Mera didn’t quite understand. But she laughed anyway because one day she would understand and one day those jokes would be funny to her too.

She wasn’t sure what she expected Kie’s house to be like, but the grandiose mansion was not it. For a moment, she felt her heart plummet. But when she glanced over at Kie and saw the same look of disappointment, Mera felt a warm feeling return.

“Your parents know we’re coming, right Kie?” Pope asked as he looked up at the large, white house, carrying a bag of snacks in his arms.

“Of course they do,” Kie said with a roll of her eyes. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“Because last time you didn’t tell them,” JJ said. “And we got a nearly three hour lecture.”

“Right. Well, I did tell them this time.” Kie turned to Mera. “And they are so excited to meet you.”

Kie’s mom wasn’t there when the five showed up, but her dad was more than happy to welcome them inside.

“Hey, Big Mike!” JJ said as they all walked inside, Kie taking the lead. Mike, Kie’s dad, did not seem impressed by JJ or his toothy grin. Pope shook his hand, which made Mr. Carrera almost smile, but he ignored John B completely.

“You must be Mera,” Mike said when he finally came to her. Mera forced herself to smile and she nodded. She shook his outstretched hand.

“That I am.”

“And you’re…John B’s cousin?” Mike looked between Mera and John B for a few moments, eyebrow raised just like his daughter did.

“Why does no one believe that she’s my cousin?” John B grumbled, crossing his arms. Mera simply laughed.

“Yes. He’s my cousin.”

“Well, I’m glad to finally meet you. You’re always welcome here,” he said, still smiling.

“I didn’t get an always welcome invite,” said JJ, to which Kie rolled her eyes.

“There’s a very good reason for that, JJ.”

~~~

There was only mild interrogation before Mike decided it was okay to leave them alone and lock himself away in his room. With the lights shut off, the popcorn popped, and candies in a wild array around them, all five teens wrapped themselves in blankets and settled down in front of the TV.

It took some getting used to for Mera. A lot of getting used to. At first, the lights from the screen hurt her eyes and the music was so loud. But by the time the movie actually started, she stopped cringing. Mera was settled near the edge of the couch between Kie and Pope so she could steal Swedish Fish from his bag but still reach the popcorn (which, she discovered, was heaven sent. Way better than gull feet).

She let her mind stop wondering how hard it must have been to invent the thing before, stop trying to figure out how it worked, stop lamenting over her lost centuries, and let herself just enjoy the movie placed before her.

It was part romance, part sea-faring adventure. Inaccurate as it was, Mera found herself enjoying it. She laughed with the jokes, shoved her face full of popcorn when things got tense, and exclaimed more than once about how cool Jack Sparrow was.

“Just wait till the next movies,” Kie gushed. “You’ll love them all even more.”

There was no question as to whether they would put in the next movie. In the brief time it took Kie to slide out of her spot and put the next disk in, the boys were berating Mera with questions.

“How accurate was it?”

“Did you like it?”

“Did you notice when-”

“Did you ever meet Jack Sparrow?”

“Jack Sparrow’s fake, you idiot.”

“I’m pretty sure it was Captain Jack Sparrow.”

“Right, right.”

The second movie started and everyone went silent. Again, Mera was enthralled. There was no turning her head from the screen. If someone even opened their mouth to speak, she was shushing them instantly. She didn’t want to miss a single second.

By half way through the third movie, Kie had fallen asleep on Mera’s shoulder. Pope didn’t last much longer before he too fell asleep, his empty bag of Swedish Fish fallen on the floor. John B stayed awake until the big battle started. Mera had no idea how he slept through all the cannon fire. She flinched almost every time one went off and every time, Kie would squeeze her hand in her sleep.

“He’s not dead,” Mera whispered into the darkness, the first time she had spoken since the post-second movie interrogation. She looked across the couch toward JJ, who was the only one left awake. He was shocked to see the light of the television illuminated the glimmer of a tear on her face. “He can’t be.”

JJ wished he was closer, just so he could reassure her that everything would be alright. Even though her worries were relieved just seconds later, he couldn’t help but wish he was closer. He barely looked back at the screen the entire rest of the movie, watching the way her eyes lit up near the end with the scene at the beach, watching the way another tear slid down her cheek at the painful departure of the two lovers. He watched her smile at the final scenes with Jack and Barbossa and Gibbs, watched as her mouth fell open with shock when the credits started to roll.

“There’s a little scene at the end,” JJ whispered to her. She finally looked over at him and nodded, trusting that he was telling the truth. She read through all of the names, mentally thanking everyone of them for their contribution until, just like JJ said, there was a small scene at the end.

It was simple and it was short, but by the end of it, Mera had more than one tear rolling from her eyes. The movie ended completely and JJ shut the TV off, but Mera still stared at the now blank screen.

“What did you think?” He asked, giving her a few moments to process. At first, all she could do was nod her head.

“That was….” Mera let out a long sigh as she struggled to find the word that suited it best. “Epic.”

“You really liked it?”

At the near giddiness in JJ’s voice, Mera finally tore her eyes from the screen to look at him and nod.

“I’ll probably have to watch it a million more times.”

“We have to watch Lost Boys first,” JJ said, slouching down farther in his chair. “And Interview With a Vampire.”

Mera laughed quietly and Kie stirred beside her, groaning quietly in her sleep.

“Kie said that we have to watch Cinderella first,” Mera told JJ as she looked down at the sleeping girl. JJ made a fake vomiting sound.

“That’s a princess movie,” he said with a disgusted look on his face.

“So?”

“Princesses are for girl’s, Mera!”

“From my experience,” Mera told him, crossing her arms gently. “Boys have been more infatuated with princesses than any other breed since the title was even thought up. More boys would give their right arm and leg to marry a princess than, say, a pirate.”

“I’d marry a pirate,” JJ said confidently. Mera felt her face grow hot and she was suddenly grateful for the darkness to cover her. “I, uh, I just mean that not every guy is looking for a princess to fall in love with. That’s all.”

“Right, of course.”

The mood fell flat. JJ cleared his throat twice like he was going to say something else, but never did. Eventually, Mera gave up on the awkward silence.

“Goodnight, JJ,” she said suddenly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Night, Mera.”

They fell silent again. Mera tried to squeeze her eyes shut and pray for sleep, but her mind was still racing at a thousand miles a minute. Not only were the movie scenes still bouncing around her head, but she was actively trying to convince herself that JJ hadn’t just said he would marry a pirate...in the presence of a literal pirate.

Of course he didn’t mean me, she thought to herself. I’m not really a pirate anymore, now am I?

Mera didn’t realize that the movie scenes in her mindseye had shifted from what she had actually seen on the television, to something more fantastical until she was already asleep. Fiction morphed with reality until she was back on the sea once more, the taste of salt in the air as sea mist sprayed through the air.

She was on top of the Black Pearl, with two captains at the helm. At first, she thought it was Jack and Barbossa, like it was in the movies, but when they both turned around, she realized that they were strangers. She didn’t recognize their faces because their features were blurred beyond comprehension. Despite not knowing what they looked like, Mera felt like she...knew them both.

Two captains of one ship. She couldn’t tell who they were, but the feeling of familiarity was too real to pass up.

And then things got even weirder.

She heard her father call her name, but it wasn’t the name she was used to hearing from his lips.

“Mera,” he whispered to her from somewhere behind. When she turned, he wasn’t there. “Mera.”

From behind again. She spun, this time hoping to catch him standing there, but there was nothing but the sea mist. She scowled, confused as the two captains shouted contradictory orders. The boat tugged and it pulled, trying to obey the commands of both of her captains at once.

“Mera!” This was a different voice. The voice of a song, but strict and stern. This time, when Mera turned, she found herself standing face to face with her siren sister, Ira. Her deep brown skin glittered in the sunlight as water dripped down her nude body. Her lips were pursed, expertly covering the fangs that hid beneath. Her brown eyes sparkled, but in every way that made Mera shiver.

“You left us,” Ira hissed. Mera heard her words inside her head, but her mouth did not move. “You abandoned your own family.”

“No.” Mera shook her head and took a step backward.

“Yes, Mera.”

“Mera!” A third voice called. Mera spun around and the ship changed. No longer was she on the Black Pearl with it’s two captains, but she was back on the Iron Anchor, her mother standing by the stern. Ira was gone.

“Mera!” Her mother cried out. “Look out!”

Mera spun around, ducking under the swing of a sword with milliseconds to spare. As she stumbled backward, still wearing the pajamas Kie had leant her, Mera realized what was happening.

Cannon fire echoed through the air, the smell of sea salt air replaced by gunpowder and burning wood. The mast of the Anchor lay toppled over, creating a wonderful walkway for the British ship that bobbed a few yards beside them. They were being attacked.

She fell back into the flow of fighting almost instantly. Without any protection and no weapon, Mera needed to think smart. She ducked and evaded until she could get a clean shot at a gut or the groin, waiting for the right moment to grab a weapon.

“Mera!” Her mother’s voice called again, but from much closer. There was no time to look for her though. All Mera could do was fight to stay alive. It suddenly felt as if Mera was the only one left fighting the British, that they were all ganging up on her and she was nearly defenseless to stop them.

“Mera,” her mother said from somewhere that she couldn’t see. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t left me.”

“I’m right here, Mother,” Mera said, grinding her teeth as she fought to keep the sword of her opponent from running her through.

“You left us.” Her mother’s voice was weepy. “I lost your father and then I lost you. I am so alone.”

“No!” Mera cried, shoving her opponent off of her and into another British soldier. “I’m right here.”

She heard her mother scream, the same ear splitting cry Mera had heard the day her father had been run through. Turning slowly to face the other side of the boat, Mera saw the Commander of the British ship holding a sword that was deep in Amarylis Briarheart’s gut. The same Commander that had killed her father.

“No!” Mera screamed. She ran across the suddenly empty deck, with no opposition in her path. She didn’t hesitate to grab the Commander and pull him away from her mother. They fought, just as they had done once long, long before. And just like before, the Commander sunk his sword into Mera’s side. For half a second, she felt the sting of metal tear through her flesh, and then she just felt numb. Clenching her jaw, Mera didn’t even look back at her dying mother before wrapping her arms around the Commander’s neck and leaning over the edge of the boat, toppling down deep, deep into the darkness below.

“Mera,” a voice whispered like a lullaby. She wasn’t sure if it was Ira or her mother or Kie, but the voice was quiet and calm, like a wave lapping against a quiet shore.

“Mera.”

The ocean was cold and it was dark, but Mera could barely feel anything. She recognized the numbness. It faded quickly as her lungs began to burn and the salt of the water began to stab at her wound.

And Mera waited. She waited for Ira to come like she did before. She waited for the offer that she would accept so she wouldn’t have to die. But Ira never came.

“You took immortality from me once,” Ira’s voice said, though she was nowhere to be seen. “And you gave it up for some boy!”

“He didn’t deserve to die,” Mera replied.

“Maybe not.” There was a pause. “Then again, maybe you did.”

In one swift motion, Mera felt something tug harshly against her neck, dragging her down, down, down, away from the light of the sun and into the depths of the sea. Mera screamed, or she tried to, at least. One arm around her neck became a dozen hands across her entire body, pulling at her flesh, tearing out her hair, yanking her down to the sea floor.

“You have blood on your hands,” an unfamiliar voice boomed throughout the ocean. “It’s time for you to pay for it, Mera.”

Her screams never stopped as the sirens she once called her brothers and sisters tore into her skin as she had done so many times, shrieking her new name as they did so as if it was an insult on their lips.

“Mera! Mera!” They cried.

“Mera!” The booming voice echoed.

“Mera!” Ira hissed in her ear.

“Mera!” Her mother shrieked for her as she fell over the side of the boat.

“Mera!” Her dad breathed as he died.

“Mera!” the two mysterious captains yelled, both vying for her attention.

“Mera!”

With a gasp, she shot upward, her eyes snapping open.

“Mera, are you okay?” Mike Carrera knelt in front of her, holding her wrists in his strong grip. Beside him sat Kie, eyes full of worry and fear. She looked around. To Pope, who was sitting next to her still, a hand on her shoulder. To John B, who was standing behind Mike and Kie with a fist pressed to his lips. To JJ, who sat on his knees beside her, fear etched into every feature.

“What…?” She gasped for breath, noticing how hoarse her voice was. “What happened?”

“You were screaming,” Kie told her quietly. “And shaking.”

“It must have been a nightmare,” Mike said, dropping his hands from her wrist back to his side. Once his grip was gone from her, Mera realized how badly she was shaking. Sweat beaded down her neck and spine, her muscles refused to relax as she tried not to look at the worried faces that surrounded her.

“Yeah,” Mera murmured. “A nightmare.”

“Are you okay?” Pope asked, his hand not leaving her shoulder despite how damp it was. Mera nodded her head slowly, not really trusting herself to speak.

“I’ll get you some water,” John B said. Mera didn’t even have the strength to thank him.

“Why don’t you sleep in my bed?” Kie asked, leaning forward and putting a hand on Mera’s knee. She just shook her head.

“I would rather stay out here,” she said. “If that’s okay with you guys.”

She glanced at Pope and JJ, almost worried they would kick her out for waking them up.

“Of course that’s okay,” Pope said and gave her his best reassuring smile. John B returned with a cup of water that Mera took with trembling hands.

“K, can I talk to you?” Mike asked, pushing himself to his feet. Kie nodded, following after him once she had given Mera’s hand a tight squeeze.

“Here,” John B said, “We can sleep on the floor. You and Kie take the couch. It will be more comfortable that way.”

Mera couldn’t find the strength to protest. Pope and JJ almost silently moved off of the couch, dragging their blankets and pillows with them onto the floor. She flattened herself just as quietly, straining to her ears to hear what Mike and Kie were talking about. Being a siren had left her with three unchanged physical characteristics; the unnaturally sea green eyes, an unbeating heart, and ears that were very tuned in for hushed conversations. This was one of the rare moments that Mera was grateful for it.

“...anything happen at home?” Mike asked Kie.

“Not...not that I know of. She’s had a tough life, though,” Kie replied. Mera felt the all too familiar weight of embarrassment press down against her. She wanted nothing more than to sink into the holes of this far too comfortable couch and stay there forever.

“I might not know much, but I know those kinds of nightmares aren’t good for a kid,” Mike said. Mera could imagine him with his hands on his hips, a concerned dad look on his face. In the brief moments Mera had met him, he almost reminded her of her own father. It made her sad.

“She’ll be fine, Dad,” Kie said. The confidence in her voice gave Mera a little bit of hope.

“You don’t need to fix her, K.” These words were spoken even quieter than the other ones. The silence was deafening. “I know you want to fix that boy and you can’t, but that doesn’t mean you should take on another charity case.”

“That’s not what this is, Dad!” Kie’s anger was evident even through her hushed tone. “JJ and Mera don’t need to be fixed. They’re not broken. They’re people who are hurt and they just need something stable and safe.”

“And that has to be you?”

“Not necessarily.”

“But it is.” Kie was silent. “Look, baby, I know why you want to help them, but you have to take care of yourself too. They have to take care of you too.”

“They do! I-”

Mera couldn’t stand to listen to any more. She rolled off the couch and tiptoed toward the sliding glass door that led to an outdoor patio. She didn’t even care to look and see if the boys were asleep yet.

The fresh air felt good against her hot face and skin. Out in the open, she felt like she could breathe again. Lifting her head and she breathed deeply through her nose, Mera looked out toward the horizon, gazing at the glittering ocean set before her. The moon shone bright in the sky, reflecting off of the surface of the water. The stars twinkled above and shimmered below. If Mera could look past the trees and the buildings and the streetlamps, she could almost convince herself that she was back on the sea, with the wind in her hair, and the smell of the salt covering the musk of the men.

But her moment of bliss was interrupted by the ever present ocean call. Her brothers and sisters sang to her from under the wave, luring her back to the water so she could pay the price for her sins. She had gotten a taste of what that might look like tonight in her dream and the thought scared her more than anything. The lullaby made her knees weak and she felt her breath go ragged again. It was too hot to go back inside, but she couldn’t stand being out here much longer.

Luckily, her break came when the sliding glass door opened again.

“Hey.”

It was JJ.

Mera brushed away a stray tear or two that managed to squeeze it’s way out of her eyes before half turning her head toward him.

“Hey.”

He walked forward, joining her at the railing. He leaned up against it just like she did, looking out over the water. For a moment he was silent and she wasn’t sure he was going to say anything else. His presence was enough to drown out the siren call a little, but she knew that if he spoke, she wouldn’t be able to hear it at all. She just wanted to be rid of it.

“What were you dreaming about?” He asked finally.

“Nothing pleasant,” she told him with a sigh.

“Mmm.” He looked down at his hands. “We triggered something, didn’t we? Watching those movies?”

Mera shrugged her shoulders. It was possible. Probable, actually. But she had enjoyed herself. It was fun, until she fell asleep.

“We’ll take a break from pirates and the undead for our next movie night,” JJ told her. “We’ll watch Cinderella.”

Mera felt herself smile.

“That sounds good to me.”

When she looked over at JJ and saw the deep blue of the sea in his eyes, she felt the ocean call once again. But this was different. This wasn’t luring her to her death, but pulling her closer to something else, to him. And it wasn’t just a quiet song in the back of her mind. It was a roaring choir, a thousand times louder and a thousand times stronger.

And a thousand times harder to resist.

~~~

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cha0ticmimzy · 6 years

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Chapter IV: Work

Author’s Notes: A little reprieve, and a peek into Propmto’s personal life. Plus, a small shock, and a connection is made. Word Count: 2391 Warnings: None for this chapter. Rating: Teen for this chapter.

“We live in an age where everything is staged.”-Jon Bellion, Woke The F*ck Up

“So, listen…” Dino began, making Prompto freeze and look down at his keyboard, suddenly overwhelm with guilt. “Look, I ain’t mad at ya or anythin’, but… I gotta know, did ya manage to get any pictures? I know you were all cooped up in a hospital room an’ all but…” Dino trailed off, leaning his hip against Prompto’s desk. Dino wasn’t a really imposing man, not really, but he could be unnerving when he wanted to be. Especially with how light his eyes were. They were almost unearthly, if he were being honest.

Oh, right. Photographs.

“Yeah! Yeah, I got some- hang on…” Pushing his glasses up his nose, he quickly turned his attention to his computer, pulling up the file with a nervous grin. He hadn’t even had the time to look through the photographs yet, let alone retouch any of them. In fact, ever since his accidental meeting with Regis and then being threatened by Gladiolus, all he’d done was sleep. Then again, considering how he had still been healing, that wasn’t very shocking.

“Lemme just…” Tongue poking out from between his lips, he double clicked and brought up the first picture of the cars arriving before the Citadel. The next was a close-up shot of the bodyguard whose name he knew now to be Nyx Ulric- actually, the next few shots were of him. He could hear Dino whistling softly in surprise behind him, making him sit up straighter, pride swelling up within his chest. “Told ya I’d get them,” he teased, looking up at his boss as the next picture came up, this one of Sylva, Lunafreya, Ravus, and his fiancée, Aurora. “The girl’s name is Aurora; family’s upper class Tenebraen, fiancée to Ravus Nox Fleuret.”

“Ya did good, kid. I’m impressed. Go in and retouch some of ‘em, and then send t’me.” Dino praised with a grin, reaching down to ruffle Prompto’s hair before leaving Prompto’s office, pulling his phone out. Prompto leaned back in his chair, a bright grin on his face as he nodded to himself.

“Hell yes I did good. There ain’t a better photographer in Insomnia than me!” He whispered, doing a little dance in his chair before accidentally pushing his chair back, prompting a squeak to escape him as he spun quickly. “NONONONO- Aw, man. I just got those magazines organized!” He whined, watching as the pile fell to the floor.

“Aurora’s her name. Didn’t get much else outta him, but I’ve got pictures. That is, if you got money…”

“Don’t you worry, you’ll get your money. As soon as I have those pictures…”

“Right, right. Whattya want wit’ him anyways? He ain’t no one, not that I can tell. Family ain’t rich and he ain’t a looker…”

“Don’t worry yourself with what I want. You just send those images along to me, pet.”

“Yessir.” Dino sighed, ending the call with a frown as he pocketed his phone. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking over his shoulder at the blond. Oh, well. It wasn’t his problem. Not now, anyways. Maybe later. Maybe not. He’d decide when he got his money.

“So, then I sort of… Fumbled my words? And it was just- they were so intense, Cindy! So. Fricken. Intense.” Prompto whined, collapsing down onto the red leather couch beside the mechanic, who let out a soft laugh.

“Well, whaddya expect? They ain’t your run of the mill folk, now.” She replied with a shrug as she reached over, grabbing a container of fried rice. “But I’on want you t’go near ‘em anymore, y’hear? Vamps and shifters- they ain’t good news, Prom.” Sighing, she shrugged, reaching over Prompto’s leg to grab hold of a separate container containing lamb in black pepper sauce. “I’m jus’ tryin’ ta look out for you, you know that.”

“I know, I know…” Prompto muttered, grabbing a container of Chow Fun and dumping the contents of his own General Tsao’s Chicken and ginger beef into, quickly mixing the contents together. “But- Cindy, you wouldn’t believe the way these guys look! Like, ho my god. Noctis’ eyes are so… Pretty? And the girl- Aurora- was so nice and gentle! She even petted my head, Cindy!” He whined, leaning over to all but rest majority of his weight on the blond.

“Buddy, I ain’t gonna argue with you. They are very pretty, even I can’t deny that. But I still want you t’be careful.” Sighing, she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his temple, making Prompto freeze up, cheeks flushing as he quickly sat up and reached for the remote. “Oh, oh! My favorite show is on! Amber’s Anatomy!” She squealed, hunkering down into the couch with a bright grin. “I wanna know if Amber White is gonna go with McDreary or if she gonna leave him behind!”

“I have no idea what you just said but okay,” Prompto shrugged, stuffing his face with noodles and chicken and beef, groaning at the taste. Gods above, he loved takeout more than anything. Though, Galahdian takeout was far better, he’d settle for classic Insomnian. “Okay, so who’s who?”

“Okay, so, Amber is the lead character, righ’? And she’s a doctor who gets all tangled up in a messy love triangle with Doctor Terrier and this other lady, and her mother was a doctor, too! And then there’s…”

He’d ended up crashing on Cindy’s couch, Cindy falling asleep in the recliner, the sounds of Amber’s Anatomy in the background. By the time morning came, Cindy was already in the shower singing along to some old country song, and Prompto was left to throw out all their trash from the night before. They’d fallen asleep before they could manage to save any of the takeout, sadly.

Humming, he went to work cleaning, picking up the boxes and tossing them into the trash bag. The sound of the bathroom door opening made him look up, only to catch Cindy shuffling out in a bright blue, fuzzy robe, her hair hanging in damp ringlets around her face. Wow, she looked like an angel…

“Aw, shuga! You don’ gotta go an’ clean up all this by yourself!” Cindy cooed, a grin spreading across her lips as she leaned against the bathroom door. “But it is most definitely a welcome gesture.” Yawning, she made her way over to her bedroom the door falling shut behind her. “I can whip us up some grub after I get dressed!” She hollered, making Prompto pause, box of rice almost tipping over.

“Sure, sounds great!” He yelled back, going back to his job of lifting the trash bag out of the trash and tying it closed. Lifting it up with a grunt, he walked over to the trash chute and let it fall down before turning and leaning against the wall with a yawn. Normally, he’d go for a run now, but the promise of Cindy’s cooking kept him here. A skip day wouldn’t hurt, right? Right. At least, that was his reasoning.

“Now, what’re we feelin’ this mornin’? Personally, I wanna scarf down some omlettes…”

Breakfast done, kitchen cleaned, Prompto was about to head out when a knock on the door made him pause. “C’n ya get that?” Cindy called from her bedroom. “I would but I got half a face of makeup on and I don’ wanna scare no ones!” Snorting, the blond rolled his eyes and set his bag down, walking over to the front door. He looked through the peephole, only to be greeted with the sight of a red and black sweater. And a rather… Ample. Chest. Coughing, he quickly unlatched the lock and swung the door open, cornflower blue hues widening at the sight.

“Is Cindy home?” The woman asked, jade hues sizing him up. Prompto suddenly felt incredibly small compared to this woman- her piercing gaze, the silver hair that was tied up in a high pony tail, the menacing motorcycle boots… “Hey, kid. If Cindy isn’t home, just tell me instead of staring at me like you’ve never seen a woman before.”

Startling, Prompto quickly took a step back. “Ye-yeah, she’s in her room…” He trailed off, watching as the woman stepped past him with a smirk, throwing a wink in his direction. Squeaking in a rather unmanly way, he quickly shut the door and watched her poke her head into Cindy’s bedroom, prompting a squeal of delight.

“Aranea! I didn’t know you’d be in today!” Cindy exclaimed, and threw her arms around Aranea’s shoulders. Oh. Oh. So this was Cindy’s girlfriend- the motorcycle girl. The one who worked as a battlefield photographer. The one that Prompto may or may not have been extremely jealous over when he first found out that Cindy wasn’t interested in men at all. “Prompto, c’mere! I wan’ ya t’meet Aranea!” Cindy yelled, and without realizing it, he was moving towards the pair.

“Aranea, meet Prompto! He’s my buddy- I’ve known him for over six years now!” Cindy introduced with a grin, winking at Prompto. “Prompto, meet Aranea. Y’know we’ve been dating for over a year now- the light of my life.” She flushed, leaning into Aranea. “I’ve been wantin’ y’all to meet for a while now! But with Aranea’s crazy schedulin’ and yer crazy schedulin’… At least y’all getta meet now!”

Prompto shifted, flashing a small smile before holding his hand out. “Nice to meet you!” He managed to get out before Aranea took hold of his hand in a strong grip.

“Like wise.” She replied in a smooth voice that sent chills across his skin. Something seemed… Familiar about her. He couldn’t place it, though. Oh, well. It wasn’t important. “Anyway, I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by to see my favorite girl.” She explained, leaning over to peck Cindy’s cheek.

Clearing his throat, Prompto rubbed the back of his head and began backing away. “I’ll just leave you guys alone…” With that, he quickly grabbed his bag and quickly left the apartment, the sound of Cindy hollering ‘bye’ echoing in the hallway. He couldn’t shake the feeling of familiarity from his conscience- that woman, Aranea… He knew he had seen her before. Her voice, her eyes… They were so familiar.

Maybe he was just imagining things. Maybe he’d seen her in a crowd once, or maybe at a party. Yeah, that was it.

… Hopefully.

The rest of his day was uneventful, what with it being Saturday and all, he hadn’t needed to go into work. Though, he could have spent it going through all the pictures he’d taken before the accident, but… Nah. Instead, he’d gone out and treated himself to a sushi dinner, making sure to stop by the market on the way home to pick up food for breakfast (and some spare fish for the cats at the apartment complex).

Being home now, with Insolo curled up against him, was comforting. To be surrounded with familiarity. He was warm, and comfortable, and his bed was comfortable and the rain hitting against the glass of his window was perfect…

He fell asleep.

Or, at least, he thought he was asleep. But he was… Outside? And there was snow on the ground, and all around him. This wasn’t the park- or, well, anywhere he was familiar with. At least, not personally. Was this Niflheim? The layout looked the same form the pictures he’d seen in high school. But he wasn’t cold- shouldn’t he be cold? It was snowy, the wind was blowing- he could hear it howling.

Wait…

That wasn’t the wind.

Spinning around, he came face to face with a large black wolf, eyes as black as it’s fur. He tried to scream, but no noise came out. No noise, even as the light began to fade and the wolf began to lurk closer and closer. He fell to his knees, ready to accept his fate when a new sound ripped through the air. A cry. A baby’s cry. He pushed himself up, spinning around, looking for the wolf but not finding him. Brows furrowing, he turned, and stilled. Two babies, swaddled up, were left on a large flat stone.

He walked closer to them, snow crunching beneath his feet, a hand outstretched. But something wasn’t right- they weren’t moving. They weren’t making any noise. It wasn’t right. When he reached them, he leaned closer, and quickly moved back, eyes widening in surprise. They were babies, yes- but their throats were… Their throats were ripped out. Blood stained their blankets, and the stone around them. A growl sounded over his shoulder, making him turn. “You were never supposed to leave.” The jaws came down, closing around his throat-

Prompto jolted awake, sitting up in bed with the remnants of a yell leaving his lips. He quickly slipped from his head and ran to the bathroom, doubling over the toilet to dry heave. His heart was pounding in his chest- was he having a heart attack? Or just an anxiety attack? He didn’t know, he didn’t care. But it hurt.

Pushing up from the toilet, he stepped over to the sink and ran the tap cold, cupping the water in his hands and splashing his face with it. Looking up at his reflection, he startled, surprised at the… Lilac? Hues that stared back at him. Blinking, he leaned forward, only to see that his eyes were back to their normal blue…

Shaking his head, he shuffled back to his bed, calling Insolo back to cuddle. Maybe he was just… Sleep deprived. Yeah. That would make sense- people started to hallucinate when they were sleep deprived! That’s what was wrong.

“It’s him. I’m certain of it.” The woman spoke into the phone quietly, black coat pulled tight around her, cloaking her in the shadows. “Blond hair, blue eyes, freckles… What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing. Do nothing. Raise no suspicion. We got what we wanted.” The voice replied, sounding relieved and stressed at the same time. The woman nodded and ended the call, slipping her phone back into a pocket in her coat.

“Come back to bed,” the voice of her lover called, pulling her back into the apartment with a smile curling her lips, jade hues dancing in amusement.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #final fantasy xv fanfiction #prompto argentum #cindy aurum #aranea highwind #dino ghiranze #bis vivit qui bene vivit #bvqbv #my writing

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mermaidsirennikita · 6 years

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November 2017 Book Roundup

This month featured a follow-up to one of my favorite books of last year--which sadly wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. And then there was a new series from one of my favorite authors... which really wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. But luckily Leigh Bardugo came through with her short story collection, The Language of Thorns, which was perhaps my favorite book of the month. She’s a surprise for me, honestly; I wasn’t a fan of her debut novel, but the degree to which I enjoyed the Six of Crows duology and now this has made me wonder if I should give Shadow and Bone another shot. If you’re looking for something out of the realm of YA fantasy, Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay With Me is an excellent, emotional examination of marriage, secrets, and cultural pressure. There weren’t many standout books this month, but those that did stand out really impressed me.

The Empress by S.J. Kincaid. 3/5. The sequel to “The Diabolic”, “The Empress” returns to Nemesis, diabolic-turned-fiancee of Tyrus. As the new emperor, Tyrus is surrounded by enemies on all sides--in particular the politician Pasus, whose daughter Nemesis murdered. Having discovered that she’s more than just an automaton killing machine, Nemesis adores Tyrus and would do anything--and get rid of anyone--to keep him safe. But her own position is tenuous; not even considered a person, she has to both gain the support of the people and play the political game that threatens to engulf Tyrus whole. I wish I’d loved this as much as I loved the first book--but honestly, I think that should have remained a standalone. I loved where it left us, on an ambiguous note but with overall resolution. While most of the conflict here felt organic, I was really bothered by two instances that just felt like... well, cop-outs. Excuses to move the story along that didn’t feel cohesive with the overall plot. I still love Nemesis, and I want to see how the series ends, but this book disappointed me.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. 3/5. In 1930s Korea, the teenage Sunja gets pregnant out of wedlock, left behind by her married lover. In an act of kindness, a young pastor offers to marry her and raise the child as his own, taking her with him to Japan. As Sunja and Isak attempt to make a life for themselves, the story follows several generations across Korea and Japan. First off, this book is written in a very lovely way, and it may appeal to you. And I so appreciate that it’s an epic, generational novel that isn’t about westerners. But as lovely as the writing is, it’s also a bit distant. And the story is a bit slow. So I can’t say I loved this book, but I did respect it.

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. 3/5. Single mother Louise is horrified to find that the married man she kissed at a bar is actually her new boss--and she’s even more guilty when she not only meets his wife, Adele, but gets along with her. As she becomes involved in an affair with David and a friendship with Adele, Louise juggles the two while at the same time worrying about David’s controlling nature, wondering what in Adele’s past has led the couple to where they are today. This is a domestic thriller that goes bonkers at the end--like, I didn’t see that twist coming, but I feel as if the twist has to... exist within the realm of possibility for it to be a well-done twist. So the book is trash, basically. But it’s fun trash. There needed to be less of Louise worrying over Adele, to be frank, because as I had a look into Adele’s mind in her POV chapters, I knew she was fishy from the start. But if you’re looking for a quick read that’s absolutely batshit, this is it.

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo. 4/5. In 1980s Nigeria, Akin and Yejide have a loving marriage. Both university-educated and considering themselves modern, they are determined to be monogamous. But one day, Yejide is greeted by her in-laws--with a second wife for Akin, Funmi, in tow. After four years of marriage, Akin and Yejide still don’t have children; and the elders believed that if Funmi conceives, Yejide’s womb will open. Yejide becomes obsessed with the idea of having a baby first, pushing her to dark lengths that may destroy much more than just her marriage. This is an emotionally devastating book--it’s brutally honest about a variety of topics, including culture (which, as it’s not my own, I can’t vouch for as accurate), marriage, and sex. Yejide is a vulnerable, real character who just grabbed my heart. Certain parts of the novel are kind of surreal, and I don’t think that the full impact really hit me as I’m not familiar with Nigerian culture in general, let alone the political atmosphere of 1980s Nigeria. But I felt like I learned something, and read a beautiful story at the same time.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio. 5/5. As anyone reading this probably knows, Wonder is the story of Auggie, a ten-year-old boy with a facial deformity, going to school for the first time after being homeschooled his entire life. As he makes his first “real” friends and faces bullying and discrimination, the story also takes a look into the perspectives of his sister, his friends, and more to explain the complexities of Auggie’s life and the lives of those around him. Basically, this is a very simple but well-written book that tackles a difficult issue without feeling like an after school special. And the movie--a faithful adaptation, while cutting a few things--is also very good.

For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser. 2/5. The story of the beginnings of the Trojan War (up to The Horse) form the dual perspectives of Briseis and Krysais. That’s pretty much it. In all honesty, this isn’t a horrible book, but it’s just kind of dull. For that matter, Achilles’s relationship with Patroclus is severely downplayed, largely in favor of his relationship with Briseis--which I understand, sure. But “A Song of War” did a much better job with the “triangle” in all honesty. The gods were portrayed as appropriately childish, but inappropriately modern. It just wasn’t a very good rendering of the story.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer. 2/5. Nova, like many other people in the city of Gatlon, is a “prodigy”, with abilities beyond the norm--in her case, she never sleeps, and can make others sleep with the touch of her hand. As a member of the Anarchists, she is branded a villain, known as Nightmare and targeted by the Renegades, a group of “heroes” led by Captain Chromium, who killed Nova’s beloved uncle--and legendary “villain”--Ace Anarchy. Hoping to follow her uncle’s legacy and overthrow the Renegades, Nova infiltrates group under a different name, only to be caught off guard by two people: Adrian Everhart, young and heroic and everything she hates. And the Sentinel, a shadowy figure with so many abilities that he seems impossible. It was hard to sum this book up because it felt like a whole lot of intro, and I was so disappointed. Basically, much of the book could have been cut, because there was a ton of repetition. Who’s the Sentinel? Where is Nightmare??? How does anyone not key into these people’s secret identities? Honestly, the backstory of Ace Anarchy and Captain Chromium, Lady Indomitable, et. al sounded much more interesting and I basically want to read the rest of series for them. It was all very cliche, like Meyer had taken bits and pieces from The Incredibles and even Megamind and perhaps a comic or two... I hate to give this kind of review for a book by the person who wrote The Lunar Chronicles--and all-time favorite of mine-- but it’s just not up to snuff.

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo. 5/5. An anthology set in Bardugo’s Grishaverse, this is a collection of folk tales, all based on stories that you may be familiar with, if sometimes only barely. A plain-faced girl faces a monster; a nutcracker confuses the desires of others for true life; a fox attempts to outsmart a hunter; and more. This is a fairly dark, eerily written book that’s still easy to read. Bardugo has a taste for apathy and twisting the morals that you’d expect out of fairy tales, and it works beautifully here. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves a good fairy tale and doesn’t mind them a bit bloody and grim.

Root of the Tudor Rose by Mari Griffith. 2/5. After growing up sheltered in a convent, Catherine de Valois is thrust into the political spotlight upon marrying Henry V of England. The marriage is a success--but Henry is almost immediately after the birth of his son and heir, leaving Catherine a young widow with little control over the infant king, despite being his mother. Owen Tudor--essentially a servant, despite his storied Welsh heritage--comes into her life and sweeps her into a secret love affair that will scandalize the nation and lead to the founding of the Tudor dynasty. I really wanted to love this book, and it was what it was: a romanticized account of Catherine de Valois’s life, accurate in some respects... not so much in others. It was a romance novel, but not the type I enjoy--there’s no heat. Catherine seems like a child and her men don’t seem like real men. The sex scenes aren’t even detailed! For shame!

#books #book roundup #book recommendations

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avillainess-blog1 · 7 years

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SHIPPING INFO! answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog. repost, don’t reblog.

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?:

Jace and Liliana. 100%. Without a doubt. Always.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?:

All of it. Especially parts previously unexplored in canon or otherwise. Ups and downs, good and bad, spicy and messy. I treat my muses and their companions like they’re real people. They have wants and needs, they have good days and bad days. Like any real-life relationship, it’s always fluid and moving. Some days Liliana will hate your guts and find everything you do annoying, other days she’ll do nothing but sit on your lap and demand attention. Yes, it’s just rp, but it’s still a relationship and every aspect of that is important to me.

Not only that, all kinds of ships as well. Romantic ships, hate ships, friends-with-benefits ships, toxic ships, one sided unrequited ships, etc. etc.. As I said, I love exploring all sides of my muse. Nothing is off limits for me.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

Well, Liliana is over 200 years old, so. If there’s a limit for her, it would be more likely how young she’ll stop at over how old. Mid-twenties is just about all she can stand, and even then she’ll look at you like you’re a child. No lower, for sure. Higher up the age scale is just based on whether or not there is an attraction basically.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?:

Me? No, I’m trash. Liliana, however? Yes. She’s picky and honestly doesn’t have much time to deal with romance. Her relationship with Jace has always been rocky, they never really had the chance to just settle down and be a couple. Her relationship with Cecil is very no strings attached, physical based. I love to ship, Liliana is harder to get on board.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NSFW?:

Heavy petting and seat wetting.

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?:

Basically all of Riley’s muses loool. Jace, Cecil, I’ve thought about potential with Vivan lately but it’d be very... unconventional. Remi’s Sylvanas. Now that I’m thinking about it, every ship involving Liliana is going to be unconventional. Jace and Lili are a mess, Lili and Cecil are fuck buddies, Vivian would be a cosmic mess, Sylvanas is in her modern verse which is an unhealthy mostly one sided mess. I’ve thought about a mess with Sorin but that’d probably be mostly physical as well. Crack hate ship with Avacyn, of course. I find there to be potential in a Chandra Lili ship (well, maybe not cause lol hour of devastation), but I like the big sis little sis dynamic a whole bunch. Olivia Voldaren! Bffs who like to party and make out and gossip tbh.

Y’all, ship with me. No wait don’t, Liliana is terrible ;/

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

Not so much ask as talk to me about potential parings. Even if you might think they’re silly. Even if the conversation doesn’t start with shipping! That’s how Liliana / Cecil happened tbh. Riley and I were chatting in discord about our dumb kids and then our dumb kids being dumb together and wham Cecil lives on Liliana’s couch and they bang sometimes.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?:

When there’s chemistry. I hate forcing things. I’m not going to change my muse to fit into your ship, sorry.

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

I’m obsessed with my ships, but I’m not constantly in dire need for more.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?:

Yes I am. It’s much easier that way, I find.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

Jace and Liliana, clearly. The Naya love triangle with the other half of the Gatewatch is pretty adorable too, though. WotC tryina make me ship Jace / Vraska. god dammit alison. Tamiyo and her loving family tbh. Ajani and Elspeth’s cape rip. Sorin x Wall. Bolas and spontaneous combustion. RILEY AND DRAGON DADDY. I dunno, the list goes on and on.

WHAT IS YOUR NOTP?:

Hm. With Liliana? I haven’t put much thought into it. I can’t ever see her with Gideon. I can see her flirting with him only to see if she can make him puke and/or lose his shit. But that’s about it. I don’t think she’d ever fit with Nissa. I dunno, there’s a lot of people I can see her never being compatible with, but nothing so strong that it gives me NOTP vibes. Aside from really obvious stupid shit like people she actively despises.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

Talk to me! Get me hyped and excited about interaction and relationships. Or, ya know, just ask if that’s more your style.

Tagged by: my mom @eldritchsong

Tagging: you, reading this, right now. if you haven’t done it, that is. riley do this on your other blogs, i’m curious 8)

#ooc.#psa.#i suppose #shipping is fun

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blackthornass · 7 years

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Do you have any art tips?

Uhhhhhh Funk im not The Greatest Artist ™ but I’ll try to bestow some Wisdom on you. Keep in mind Art is Subjective and I’m no expert and all that so take everything with a grain of salt but that being said I’ll try to give u Tips and Tricks

-listen so if you have a boring class at school just draw in it. School is great because you have 1. Access to paper at all times 2. Incredibly boring lectures. If you have a study hall that’s the Drawing JACKPOT. Basically what I’m saying is practice all the time when you have energy but like that’s such boring art advice. It’s important but “practice! uwu” is like what people with Natural Art Talent say when they didn’t have to figure everything out from the ground up so it’s kind of aggravating

-There’s gonna be people better than you. Chances are you have a friend who’s better than you because this is Tumblr we all draw. Try Not To Compare Yourself ™ which idk how to do but it’s bad don’t do it

-unless you find a terrible person with worse art than you in which case FUCK DUDE COMPARE YOURSELF TO THEM! THEYRE HORRIBLE AND THEY CANT DRAW FOR SHIT LOOK WHOS LAUGHING NOW!

-“work until your idols become your rivals” is absolute bullshit because your idols are working at it at the same time you are. You fool. You imbecile. I feel like this works better for writing when your idols can become irrelevant or straight up die between you being an aspiring author 8 year old and a tired 30 year old who just wrote The Great American Novel ™ or just kind of. Leave the fandom if you’re writing fanfic. Anyway

-ok that’s all the preachy shit, time for Real Art Advice ™. Keep in mind I do digital cartoony shit with Strong Lineart and cel shading for the most part and I pretty much only draw people so my knowledge is limited to that. if you wanna be a professional artist maybe do other things and Expand your Abilities ™

-Ok first off if you’re using Gimp or Photoshop please love yourself and download Firealpaca or illegally torrent Paint Tool Sai or something. I swear by Firealpaca it cured my depression but like. Photoshop is Trash for drawing. Get Firealpaca it has Line Correction ™

-Keep Line Correction ™ at like. A 5 when you’re sketching and at a 19 (the maximum) when you’re lining, coloring, shading, highlighting, doing literally anything that isn’t sketching

-Sketching digitally can be hard if you’re used to sketching on paper and I find it easier to do a sketch on paper, take a picture of it on my phone or scan it, and line/color it digitally. You do you and figure out what works best

-speaking of which I refused to use sketchbooks until I was Worthy ™ of not drawing on notebook paper and uhhhhhh that’s dumb just get a sketchbook they cost a little more than a notebook at Target it’s not super expensive. Although if you’re not financially in the position to buy a sketchbook anyway, just hoard notebooks from school that you didn’t use much. Bam, that’s your new sketchbook

-the Head Circle Cross Thing and the Spheres For Shoulder, Elbow, and Wrist Thing are good and important and will save you

-hands are hard so use references but bullshit your way through it. eventually they’ll look good (I haven’t gotten there yet)

-HAVE FUN WITH NOSES OH MY GOD. Noses are super fun and cool because there’s, like, infinite variety with them, they can be as long or short, thin or thick, rounded or pointy as you want, you can make them be, like, triangles or circles or more squareish or diamond-shaped, the base of the nose can be about as high or as low on the face as you want, you can make the nostrils prominent or not really there at all, they can add another Layer to a character’s design, oh my goodness noses are so fun. They’re like, severely underrated and oh my god I could gush about how fucking fun noses are

-same with facial expressions. Where you put the pupils and how big they are, how much of the eye is covered by eyelids, the way the eyebrows are, the mouth, tons of other shit. There’s loads of variety and so much you can do and honestly having fun with the facial expression is The Best Part. There’s tons of Face Art Chart Memes floating around, you know the ones, save it to your phone/computer and practice those on your own time it’s fun

-if you don’t know how to do something, avoiding it won’t help you. Just kind of draw around with it in your sketchbook or in a “I’m not posting this” file until you feel confident enough to do it in your Real Projects ™.

-Ok for lining did you know..… it isn’t illegal to erase parts of the lineart to clean it up.… just be careful and draw it back in to the best of your abilities if you erase too far and use a smaller eraser brush/lining brush for this… I know it’s tedious nobody likes lining it’s okay you can do this put on some good music

-use mcfucking references

-eyedrop character’s official colors but adjust said colors based on the color of your background to make them look less funky is my general rule for clothing, I usually pick the hair/skin by myself or from something I’ve already drawn though

-for flats, make sure your lineart is all closed off and there aren’t any “holes” cuz that’ll mess up your coloring

-so how I do flats is I use the magic wand tool to select whatever I want to color, expand selection 3 pixels (in firealpaca you can set it to do this automatically), pick the color I need, turn up the brush to as big as possible, and color it in. It saves the time you’d spend with cleaning up where the color gets outside the lines

-you can do the flats on one layer, but I personally like to do every Object on a different layer so when I do shading, I know what goes on top of what

-if a color is darker than the lineart it looks ugly so pick your line color with caution (or just use black! Unlike shading black lineart tends to go with pretty much everything)

-SHADE YOUR GODDAMN ART. Like, what makes people go “wow holy shit that’s good!” is the shading + highlights, don’t be lazy ya fuck.

-I’d take a break before shading to Refresh Your Eyes ™ but also I constantly forget this is a good idea

-don’t shade with black oh my god. Unless you’re doing Strong Punchy Dramatic Stuff or monochrome black and white stuff, don’t shade with black, and if you’re doing that it’ll probably be drawn into the lineart. Don’t shade with black please we can tell you’re doing it and it looks bad

-highlighting with white isn’t too bad though, especially with the eyes, but it might look too strong in some places

-As a general rule, shading is darker and more saturated, highlighting is lighter and less saturated. Whether it gets warmer or cooler depends a lot on what color or thing you’re shading or what you want the feel of the picture to be and I’m not 100% sure how to do it myself so uh. Trust your gut and change the color if it looks wrong I guess.

-where exactly the shadows or highlights fall depends on lots of things, just kind of. Look at how things work irl maybe? This is the kind of thing that you just have to practice, and it’ll look like shit until suddenly it doesn’t sorry I’m not sure what to say

-One Medium Sized White Dot on a layer above the lineart where the pupil borders the Iris (or the whites of the eyes if you’re like me and you make the pupil and Iris one thing) works for a glint in the eye that makes a person look less dead and more cute. How big you’re gonna make it depends on how adorable you want the person to be

-SMOOTH BORDERS FOR THE SHADING ARE REALLY IMPORTANT IF YOURE DOING CEL SHADING which is why firealpaca is my best friend thanks line smoothing. If you’re doing like. Soft shading or painterly shit or other kinds of shading it’s less Super Important but like. Still be sort of neat. Unless being really messy and sketchy is what you’re going for but even then you still need to be sort of careful

-for simple backgrounds, it’s like. Easy to make it interesting. Add polka dots to the background or a big old square or a gradient or a cloud filter or something the possibilities are endless. Another option is to straight up make it transparent and write a secret message in white on the side. But uhh never do a blank white background at the very least fill it with a solid color

-ok style is kind of hard because I never had to struggle to find my style? I just “drew in my handwriting” so to speak and then if along the way I realized something looked shitty I just changed how I drew it slightly? I guess a thing you could do if you’re in tune enough is look at the styles of things you do like and things you don’t and figure out why you do and don’t like it. “I like how *2010s cartoon* does Eyes!” great take that general concept. “I hate how this shitty yaoi has enormous hands!” great then don’t do that. It’s all Personal Preference my dude style is Your Own Thing

-notes aren’t everything but fuck do they feel nice. Self reblogs are fine but don’t overdo it, I’d say reblog it Twice to account for time zones and tag it as self reblog so as to not be a dick

This got long whoops. That’s all I can think of but I hope this helps it’s All I Know

#long post -#hey look an ask #anonymous

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zombielovescore · 7 years

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Reading List 2016

Another year, another reading list. I honestly barely read anything in 2016, so I don’t even know if this is worth posting. I keep making myself the goal that I’ll read at least 50 books in a year and every year the amount I actually end up reading keeps getting shorter and shorter.

“The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan - January 13, 2016 - January 24, 2016 - So, this is an anthology of short stories that were written by a very promising graduate from Harvard who ended up being killed in a car accident within a few months of her graduation. These stories were collected by her friends and family and published posthumously. All the stories were definitely a great read. I think my favourite of the bunch of a short horror/sci-fi piece by the name of “Challenger Deep”. I’d probably put it in the vein of “Sphere” by Michael Crichton.

“Dreamcatcher” by Stephen King - January 27, 2016 - March 7, 2016 - Stephen King tends to always be a bit of a hit or miss for me. I’m more of a fan of his fantasy than I am of his straight horror. This book, while extremely long for someone with my attention span, was actually a good read for me. I enjoyed it a lot. Too bad I can’t say the same of the movie (it’s a piece of trash, don’t even do it). I can’t say that I was a big fan of the magical disabled kid trope, but I’m going to excuse that as a product of its time.

“The Falconer” by Elizabeth May - February 6, 2016 - February 15, 2016 - I’ve been following Elizabeth May from back since she mostly published photography on deviantArt, so I was pretty excited to get my hands on her debut novel. Elizabeth is a great author and it’s very clear that she puts a lot of time and effort into her research of the culture and etiquette of Victorian Edinburgh, as well as Scottish lore on faeries. While I’m not exactly a fan of the formulaic YA romance (female protag falls in love with broody beautiful male character; love triangle between broody boy and childhood boy) that’s evident in the book, I’m definitely looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

“Havemercy” by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett - March 10, 2016 - March 14, 2016 - This one was a re-read. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this series, and this book in particular, because while I love it and I find all the character’s viewpoints very interesting, I always feel that the authors squandered a lot of potential with their idea because they spend waaaaay too much time character building and not enough time actually telling the story and much of the defining moments of the book (like, y’know, the war that’s been raging on for a 100 years and the fact that there are FLYING MAGICAL STEEL DRAGONS) all pretty much happen off screen. And it’s made worse that the hype of Havemercy is the dragons and (SPOILERS: they all get destroyed at the end of this book - there are like, three more books after this).

“Shadow Magic” by Jaida Jones an Danielle Bennett - March 15, 2016 - June 6, 2016 - Another re-read. Sequel to Havemercy. I think I was re-reading these books because I bought “Steel Hands” which is book 4 of this series and the only one I haven’t read before, but I stopped after this book and still haven’t read it, so when I get time this year I’ll have to re-read “Dragon Soul” (book 3) and then read “Steel Hands”. So, this book follows the events of Havemercy and the aftermath of the war with four different viewpoint characters - which is something I don’t really like in sequels because I get invested in certain characters. This is probably my least favourite book in the series just because I don’t particularly care about the viewpoint characters, at least not as much as I did in Havemercy - and after a while all of their viewpoints sort of start to sound the same. One character who I really liked in “Havemercy” is one of the viewpoint characters in this and he was honestly so annoying and not at all like he was in the previous book, so that was a bit disappointing. I did like that we got to see the other side of the war, however, and the culture of the Ke-Han (which is an amalgamation of Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian culture), whereas “Havemercy” took place solely in Volstov (influenced from Russian and various European cultures). Still a lot of wasted potential, as the most interesting conflict again took place mostly off-screen.

“Steeple” by Jon Wallace - June 10,2016 - June 30, 2016 - This was...an interesting book. I was really confused because the story kept referencing events that had happened as if they had happened in previous narration and I was getting really annoyed, until I realized that this book is actually book 2 of a trilogy. There is seriously no indication anywhere that this book belonged to a series. This book (and series, I guess) follows a very common sci-fi plot in where man creates A.I. and the A.I. have rebelled and every one is living in a dystopic nightmare. Fun times. Your main character is a A.I. turned human who is down on his luck, in that he fucking hates being human, but apparently in the first book he was poisoned (?) by a fellow A.I. which fucked up his nanites and basically turned him into a human. I’m honestly not sure how the A.I.s are supposed to work in this universe. Anyways, basically this guy and his companions have to fight their way up a giant fucking tower that had originally been designed as a metropolis before the A.I. rebelled and is now a cesspool for refugees and killer A.I.s. Oh, and Ken is being hunted by some other A.I. because apparently he’s responsible for destroying Control (again, this must have happened in the previous book because I have no fucking clue). It’s a good read if you like straight sci-fi, but I didn’t find the writing that good.

“Anansi Boys” by Neil Gaiman - July 2, 2016 - October 15, 2016 - I read “American Gods” a few years ago and didn’t actually really like it that much, so I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about its sort-of-sequel. Surprisingly, I liked it a lot better. Neil Gaiman tends to be a bit hit and miss for me as well as King. I like his writing, I like his ideas, but there are some books I like by him and some I just don’t really.

“The Aeneid” by Virgil - October 15, 2016 - January 1, 2017 - I have no idea why I decided I was going to read this book. I hate it. It’s so long-winded and boring, and I know it’s because it was written 2000 years ago as basically a propaganda piece of Augustus Caesar, but GOD DAMN if it doesn’t make me want to blow my brains out. I’m very amused by the fact that EVERY character has a name. It doesn’t matter if character x is introduced and killed in the same line, he will be named. In book ix in particular while their in the middle of a war between the Trojans and Turnus’ army it will tell you the name of the character who is doing the killing, list of everyone he just killed, and then will move on to the next character killing, and so on. It’s hilarious. And I can pronounce about 10% of all the names. Yay Ancient Rome.

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And that’s it. This is definitely the shortest one of theses I’ve done.

#personal #reading list #reading list 2016 #books #reading #neil gaiman #stephen king #elizabeth may #jaida jones #danielle bennett #marina keegan #virgil

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