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vintage-typewriter · 1 year

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Keep The Wolves Away 1

AO3

~*~

She wanted to cry. Fuck, did she ever want to cry but it felt like she had used up all her tears in the last twelve hours and her tired red rimmed grey eyes could shed no more tears as the red and blue lights flashed silently in the rear view window.

Lana just wanted to cry.

Over ten hours she has been driving, ten hours almost non-stop with only one major break to full up the gas tank with what little cash she has on her all while ignoring the pitiful looks the young teenage girl was constantly shooting her as she rang up Lana's total.

She was less than ten minutes away from Bozeman, less than ten minutes away to where she could finally feel safe for the first time in a decade.

So close, so fucking close and yet her past had finally caught up to her.

Clenching her fist until her knuckles turned white on the steering wheel from the grip, Lana knew exactly why the cop in the extended cab truck behind her was taking as long as he was; he was running the Washington state plate on the back of her old beat up red Ford F-150 with its own extended cab. There were many things Lana was and stupid was not one of them and she knew that as soon as Mark had gotten home, saw she was gone and so was her truck - and it was her truck. She had bought and paid for this truck with her own hard earned cash. The only reason his name was the only one of the pink slip was because he convinced her it was better for the insurance if it even had insurance because she knew the tags had expired on it long ago. It didn't explain why he hid her keys to it on her but thankfully she never told him she had found them one day well cleaning, keeling that information to herself in case...well...just in case.

The only real question she had was how long did he wait to put the call in to say either someone had stolen his truck or his crazy girlfriend was off her meds and had stolen his truck.

She wasn't fucking crazy no matter how many times he would tell her she was or how many times he would take her to doctors and try to get her on meds Lana knew she didn't need.

Her eyes flicked to her left, to the driver's side view mirror, as she heard the crusher door finally open and gravel crunch under heavy foot steps. In the dark, she couldn't really make out what the officer looked like but the headlights coming from the truck illuminated the officers silhouette enough that Lana could see they had one hand on their standard issued glock as their free hand, the one not on the gun, came up to silently tap the back of her dirty truck.

Lana let out a quiet sigh, flinching as her throat grated in pain at the very action, before sinking back into her seat as her eyes slowly trailed away from the reflection in the side-view mirror to the passenger seat where a lone picture - one of only four things she had made sure to grab in her mad dash out of the house and into her truck that hadn't moved in months - stared up at her.

She couldn't even recognize herself in that image.

Ten years could really change a person.

How much had her family changed?

It was a picture from a happier time, a time where she could smile and laugh without worrying if she was being too loud, where she could dance in the kitchen with mix-match socks to music she liked and not have to worry about anyone judging her for her taste in old country songs, and a time where she didn't have constantly look over her shoulder. She was happy in the picture; a wide smile on her face even if she was sat profile in the picture, grey eyes shining, blonde hair glowing in the late day sun and even held up in a loose ponytail it still ended at the middle of her back, staring up at a blood bay horse trying to steal the ten cowboy hat from off her head.

That girl in the picture was gone, long gone, and she was willing to bet all the money she had left in her pockets that the horse had been sold not even twenty four hours after she left.

She loved that horse. She loved her old life. Both were now gone like snow in the summer.

There is a knock at her window pulling Lana from her memories, the cop nearly blinding her already sore eyes, and causing her headache that had just been simmering in the back of her head to come rushing forward, with the shine from his - and she could finally make out that it was an older male officer, slim build and with nearly a completely bald head - flashlight. It might have started to just turn light out, the sky turning from a deep black to a mix or purple and red hues, so the flashlight was not just there for show, it did still have some use in the situation besides blinding her.

"Ma'am, turn off the vehicle and step out of the truck please." His voice was muffled but Lana could still hear it in the deathly silent cab of her truck. The radio had died years ago, static being pretty much the only thing you could get out of the old sound system, and Mark had never let her take it in to be fixed, always claimed that why should they fix something they never used. Honestly, she was surprised he never sold her truck but maybe it was only because he could never find a poor fool to take it off his hands so it sat in their backyard under a tarp rusting away in the elements.

All the better for Lana anyway, him not being able to off load it into someone else's hands gave her a means of leaving Seattle.

Doing as the officer asked, but not before making sure to grab her wallet from the centre console and picture from the passenger seat, Lana slowly slid out of her truck with a wince of pain she couldn't try to smother away, crossing her arms over her chest to try and stave off the cool Montana breeze coming through so late at night while making sure to still have a good hold on all that she had left in the world.

She tried not to react as the officer - in this county he was really more of either a deputy or sheriff but she hadn’t been back in a deputy so she couldn’t say off the top of her head what his rank was - let out an audible 'Shit' as he took in the whole sight of her.

Lana hadn't looked in a mirror before she left home, ten years of practice avoiding her own reflection made her an expert of avoiding her own image in mirrors, but she knew it wasn't good. Hell, it was probably the worst it had ever been which explained why it took ten years for her to finally take off as she did. There was not a part of her that wasn't screaming in pain, the fact she had even made it ten hours driving was a miracle in itself. She was half surprised her raging headache hadn't caused her to go speeding off a cliff.

Part of her wondered what would have happened had she stayed and waited for Mark to come back.

The officer motioned for her to walk towards the front of his vehicle and walk would have been an extremely generous term for what Lana was able to do. If she had to race against a turtle, she'd tell people to bet their money on the turtle. She made it though, made it to the front of the police cruiser where she was told to empty her pockets of everything she had - not much with just her wallet with no license because that had been one of the first things Mark had destroyed when they started living together in Seattle that he forbid her from ever replacing, keys, and picture. No cell phone, she had left that in the million pieces she had last seen it in on the floor of her home she shared with Mark.

Once shared with Mark, she wasn't going back, not when she was so close to where she had set her sights on.

"Do you know why I've stopped you tonight." Lana could tell that statement from the officer wasn't a question and all she could do was nod her head, eyes casted downward to not make any sort of eye contact with the officer and hands rubbing up and down her bruised and cut exposed arms to try to stay warm. When she ran out that front door, she hadn't even stopped to grab her sweater hanging on a hook just inside the house it was the last thing on her mind and she never even considered the idea that she might get pulled over in the middle of the night. Now, she wished she would have grabbed it just to stop shivering as she was.

Lana was silent for the pat down, suppressing her flinch as the officer hit a particularly sore part of her ribs that she thought was at least bruised if not entirely broken, didn't even make a peep of noise as her hands were placed behind her back and she was escorted to the back of the truck, and helped in with a hand on her head.

At least the officer had the heat going so she was no longer freezing in just her once midnight blue t-shirt stained with red spots and black shorts. She was dressed for a lovely night in, sitting on the couch and watching a movie after enjoying a home-cooked meal with the man she loved not driving for over ten hours constantly looking over her shoulder expecting another vehicle to magically appear out of thin air and force her off the road.

How she had even made it this far without getting stopped by police with some of the things she had done during her rush to get the Hell out of dodge was a mystery even to her.

He stood back from the still opened door, one hand just on the edge of the frame giving her an ample amount of distance as he began speaking, “We both know why I pulled you over tonight, surprised you got as far as you did.” It’s strange to hear that Montana twang again after so long, Mark would roll his eyes at her when Lana’s own twang came out. His friends in Seattle thought it was novel the way her mouth formed words, Mark didn’t after the first year. “But, I’m not a dumb man. I pull over a vehicle reported stolen out of Seattle and I find a woman in your condition driving it, doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together here. You been driving straight since Seattle?” She only nodded at his question, her whole body throbbing with pain now that she didn’t have to solely focus on driving.

The officer gave a deep sigh, looked down at the gravel beneath his boots and tapped his left toe into the ground as he continued on, “I need you to be honest with me now, do you need the hospital?”

She knew the answer he wanted, Hell she even wanted to give it to him. But a hospital meant questions, and questions meant a paper trail that could lead Mark right back to her and she did not drive all this way just to get pulled back to Seattle within twelve hours. “No.” Her voice was a rasp, the bruising on her neck not doing her any favours in trying to speak. “I just want to go home.” As raspy as her voice might have been, she still managed to choke out the words.

Home.

She hadn’t been home in so long.

Would her Dad even accept her back? God, she hoped so.

Home had been a place she cried about while locked in the spare bathroom back at her house in Seattle, locked away behind a false sense of security as Mark raged upstairs at her, yelling, screaming, breaking plates, shattering picture frames that once hung on the wall in the hallway before he stormed out, slamming the door behind him and leaving Lana to pick up the pieces and act like nothing wrong had ever happened.

How often had she sat in the bathroom, wiping away tears and blood, hoping - praying - that one of her siblings would show up out of the blue, one of the ranch hands would show up out of the blood, her father would show up out of the blue and see just what she had been going through ever since that day she packed up a duffle bag full of clothes, jumped into her truck, and ran off with her boyfriend because he said he would give her the world.

He lied, he didn’t give her the world he only took everything she ever had away from her.

This, this running away, was her way of taking something back.

“And where is home for you?” Lana shifted in her seat, rolling her shoulders back as far as she could go without pulling her already sore muscles before looking the deputy in the eye.

“Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.” She watched the way his face lost all colour, pale like fresh winter snow as she fixed him with a tired stare. “I’m Lana Dutton.”

John Dutton knew he was a politician, a rancher, a widower, and a father all in that order. A man does not become the owner of the largest cattle ranch in all of Montana without making a few sacrifices to get there, even if some of those sacrifices included his own children and grandchildren.

None of his kids could understand why he did the things he did, and he didn’t expect them or want them to understand for many more years until they were standing in his exact position planning for the future of the ranch that had been in the family for over one hundred and thirty years and he hoped that it would stay in the family for at least another one hundred and thirty more.

He rested against the fence to one of the round pens, just watching the sun crest the mountains on the horizon as the farm hands woke up to start doing morning chores. He had fond memories himself of working alongside his own father when he was a much younger man, and even fonder memories of working the farm with all his kids when all five were still living on the farm with him.

“Morin’, sir.” John barely cast a glance over his shoulder as, arguably, his most loyal ranch hand and wrangler came up on his right side and handed one of the two mugs of coffee the stocky and dark haired man was holding. Some days, John couldn’t help but smile inwardly at the man the once stocky and filled with more hate than smarts boy had become. He once asked his own father how he knew which ones to give the second chance to, he had just said it was a feeling that came with experience. John hadn’t known what he meant until he was watching a young Rip Wheeler scarf down a sandwich like it was the best thing he had ever eaten.

“Rip.” He greeted with a quick head nod, taking the offered mug and holding it in both hands. There was a slight chill in the early morning air, nothing wrapping bare hands around a warm cup of coffee couldn’t fix. “Beautiful morning.” As if to punctate his words there was a sound of hooves hitting solid wood from beyond the open barn doors behind them followed by a ‘Son of a bitch’ and a ‘Fuck you, Ares’ from his eldest son. Didn’t take a genius for him to figure out what had happened there.

Rip let out a dry cough of a laugh, “Never a dull mornin’ with Ares in the barn.”

“You can say that again.” John let out his own small chuckle of a laugh, turning with Rip to watch his oldest come storming out of the white and black lined horse barn behind them, cursing up a storm, hitting his tan well worn cowboy hat against his leg in anger. “He get you son?” John called out to his eldest Lee as the young man in question took notice of himself and Rip standing out by the pens.

Some days, John could swear it was like looking in a mirror to a time when he was a much younger man any time her looked at his sons Lee and Kayce, they both took after him so much it was hard to see any of their mother and his late wife whereas his two daughters were the exact opposite to their brothers; so much of their mother and not enough of him.

Lee held up his left arm, showing the rip in the sleeve of his shirt, “Nothin’ a needle and thread can’t fix.” He came up to stand just a few feet away from John, all three of them standing in the silence of the morning only broken up by the noises of the ranch waking up and the odd addition of hooves hitting a stall door. “When’s the farrier supposed to get here?”

“Tomorrow.” John took a sip of his coffee, still hot thankfully, as he addressed his son. He would take a walk through with Rip and Lee at the end of the day and make do a final count of who was getting their feet trimmed tomorrow, he already had a dozen horses lined up including Ares - much to everyone’s dismay of having to deal with the temperamental stallion - and it wouldn’t hurt to add more to the list if for any reason then to just make sure everyone was good for the next two months or so.

His own father would have gotten rid of the stud long ago, if the stallion was in a mood no one could get close to him - as Lee’s shirt sleeve was evidence of - and he always seemed to be in a mood these days. He wasn’t making the farm any money, hadn’t in years since no one could get close to him to bring him in and get a collection for a covering, and pretty much lived in a roughly five acre fenced in area of cattle pasture until there was a big snow storm coming or the farrier was coming down, then it would take a day to go out, catch the stallion, and bring him in for however long they needed.

“At least he didn’t lose his blanket this time.” Lee joked with them and they all shared a laugh at that painful memory. Just bringing in the stallion took at least three people and could last the better part of a day, trying to get blankets on and off the stud was an all hands on deck job.

Quiet moments like these, before the sun was high in the sky, while the wranglers were just getting the day started, was what made all the pain and frustration of the day to come worthwhile. Sure, there was cattle to move, fences to check, calves to brand, bills to pay, and fires to put out but they could be worries for him to deal with after her morning coffee.

Lee’s face pinched with eyes narrowed, “Sheriff comin’ up the drive.” His chin jutted out quickly in the direction of the house and, sure enough, John could just make out the yellow gold lettering for Park County Sheriff Department on the side of the black truck that was coming up the driveway and stopping at the front door of the main house. “Early start for him,” Donnie Haskell was easily identifiable to John from just his bald head, not that John was doing much better in the hair department. “What do you think the chances of this have something to do with Kayce?”

“Watch it.” He chastised lightly, tipping back his mug to finish off his mug of coffee, “He’s still your brother.” And that was a bridge he himself was trying to rebuild after burning it into nothing with his own hands. There were not many things he regretted in his life but driving his own son away to the point where he barely saw his first grandchild and grandson.

Not that Lee was wrong, Kayce did seem to be his most trouble laden child. A bad penny that one was.

“I’ll go see what he wants.” It couldn’t have been good for Donnie to be here this early in the morning and John couldn’t think of anything off the top of his head that could immediately be traced back to his name or the farm. “Get chores done then take some boys up to the far fields and check fences." He didn't wait for Rip or Lee to respond to his orders knowing that they would follow without question as he started making his way up the path from the barns to the main house. It wasn't a long walk but it also wasn't a short one in the slightest.

Sure enough, it was Donnie standing and leaning against the front of his truck with brows furrowed and full of stress as he kicked at the gravel underneath his boots. "Sheriff." His voice was flat as he came up to stand a few feet from Donnie, eyes catching a quick glimpse of someone sitting in the back of the truck but not enough of that person to really make out noticeable features.

"John." There was stress in his voice and a hand running over his face did nothing to take away any of that stress. "Pulled over a truck this morning, reported stolen out of Seattle." If anyone was to ask John how this conversation with a man he once thought of as a friend was to start, it wasn't like this. "Probably gonna be too busy to get a tow out there until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. If it's not where I left it, east about ten minutes outside of Bozeman on the I-90 I'll just have to assume that someone stole it for parts." There was a look in Donnie's eyes as both men stared each other down and John knew that for all the blood between the both of them, Donnie was also trying to get a message through to the rancher without outright saying what that message was.

Stolen truck on the I-90, get rid of it for me.

"You get the driver?" John crossed his arms over his chest loosely, resting his weight back on his heels, his mug just held loosely in his hand by two fingers through the handle.

Donnie just nodded. That wasn't a good sign.

"What is-"

"It's not good, John." Donnie's voice was hard, as he cleared his throat roughly. "It might be the worst I've seen in awhile. She didn't want to go to the hospital and I can't force her there.” John’s eyes dart from Donnie’s worried ones to try and get a look at the girl that must be sitting in the back of the truck but the tinted window makes it hard, he thinks her hair might be a light shade of blonde and cut short to her shoulders but that’s about it. “I know how this usually goes, she’s not gonna want to press charges so I can’t do anything but at least a hospital can document it all, keep a paper trail for when she does want to press them. But, you need to convince her to go because you might be the only one who could make her go.” He pushes himself off the front of his truck, his own arms dropping to hang at his side as he makes steps to open the back door of his truck. “After all, she is your daughter.” There is a look in Donnie’s eyes as he says it but John can’t put a name on what the look is.

Daughter? Beth was supposed to be in Salt Lake City, not anywhere close to Bozeman and sure as Hell not getting caught driving a stolen truck; that would kill her career in a heartbeat. And if it was Beth, why would she be in Seattle of all places?

He should have know it wasn’t Beth in the back of the truck, should have known from the black of screaming and thumping of heels kicking the divider between the front and back seats, should have known it couldn’t have been Beth that stolen a truck in Seattle because he had just talked to his eldest daughter a few days ago before and she was heading to New York for a merger.

That didn’t matter though because he knew the young woman, the girl, his daughter, that Donnie helped out of the back of his truck with both hands to keep her steady as she hopped out because her legs were like a newborn colt only minutes old and standing for the first with how much they shook.

John locked eyes with her, the last time he had seen those grey eyes had been ten years ago when they had been full of hate and rage, glaring with fire as he told his daughter under no certain terms was he going to allow her boyfriend to move onto the ranch and live in the main house with her nor was he going to let her move off the ranch to live with her boyfriend where John couldn’t watch their interactions. He couldn’t put it into words she would understand, for as good a politician as he could be words failed him at that moment, he couldn’t find the right words to tell her that he didn’t like her boyfriend because there was something about him that made him uneasy and it didn’t matter how much she claimed they were in love, John would never change his opinion.

She was only eighteen, a prime example of the old adage about young love, and John fully expected that she would come to her senses in a few months and realize this Mark boy was not the man for her but instead, after both of them storming off and going to their separate bedroom on opposite sides of the main house, John had woken up that morning to find her closest empty and her truck missing from the drive.

His frantic phone calls just went to voice mail, as did the calls from all his other kids and from the ranch hands who had her number.

Ten years of silence.

No phone calls. No letters. No emails. No texts.

Silence.

None of that mattered. Nothing mattered mattered in that moment, not even how his mug shattered into piece as it fell from his hand nor how the sound of the sheriff truck door shutting was like a gun shot so early in the morning, because his youngest child, his youngest daughter, was finally home.

“Hi Daddy.” Her half smile was watery, as if it pained her to even make a full one, as Donnie helped guide her closer with a hand on her elbow and a hand on her back.

He let out the breath he was holding, “Lana.”

#yellowstone #yellowstone tv #rip wheeler x reader #rip wheeler x oc #keep the wolves away #chapter update #yellowstone fanfic

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irisbleufic · 6 months

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So, I spent the last 5 days of sitting around with this serious arm injury rereading the very first epic fic series I ever wrote. Although the posting dates on the below chapters are all 18 November 2013, the reality is that these were originally posted as individual stories on LiveJournal throughout the entirety of 2004 and into the spring of 2005. Those were my junior and senior years of college. This series was the last thing I relocated from LJ to AO3, and I was too exhausted to do a proper comb-through for typos and minor formatting issues.

Well, that state of things is no more. I cleaned up all of the editorial issues during this week’s rewatch-the-film-and-reread-my-fic binge. I also changed the names of a few of the chapters (they’re really stories strung together), although not drastically. The chapter called “Clippings” used to be called “Business,” “Spiral” used to be called “You Must Listen to Me Now,” and “Closer to Fine” used to be called “The Middle of Things.”

I had an ask a few days ago along the lines of: What the hell is Toy Soldiers, anyway? On the surface, it’s a 1991 action movie/teen drama. It stars a young Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton as Billy Tepper and Joey Trotta, the central protagonists among the cast of younger characters. At the time I saw it in early 2004, I had only ever seen Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings. And, incredibly, I didn’t even know who Wil Wheaton was.

That might be one reason I was able to take this film to heart so earnestly (i.e. I completely lacked knowledge of Wesley Crusher, Wheaton’s Star Trek character from around that time who it was traditional to mock, although I still don’t get why). However, the primary reason this film wrecked the back end of my 2004 spring break was that I had watched The Celluloid Closet for the first time only days before watching Toy Soldiers.

I challenge any queer person to watch this documentary (about the Hays Code and the horrible fate met by queer-coded and queer characters in cinema) and this under-appreciated action film back to back and come out of it without feeling devastated and furious about what happens to Billy and Joey. Especially to Joey. And now, in an era of rampant school shootings and hostage situations, Toy Soldiers hits with even more gravity than it did in the 1990s and early 2000s.

These boys are where it started for me. Every every horrific canon media ending that has ever made me furious, every hundreds-of-thousands-of-words long fix-it series I’ve written in the past 19 years, can be traced back to this moment. This string of stories was what I wrote before I ever wrote the likes of Crown of Thorns (Good Omens), Anthology (Pacific Rim), and Delicate, Dangerous, Obsessed (Gotham). Hell, one of my instrumental original characters in CoT appeared for the first time at the end of Book of Hours before I ever thought to use her in a Good Omens context.

This story has meant the world to me even though the fandom around it at the time of writing, and even now, was never more than about 20 people. Most of those people are still with me, the dearest friends I could ever hope to have 💙

Chapter Index for The Series / Book of Hours by irisbleufic

1. Stereotypical (2013-11-18)

2. Persuasion (2013-11-18)

3. Taste Testing (2013-11-18)

4. Leaving a Mark (2013-11-18)

5. Trick or Treat (2013-11-18)

6. Omerta (2013-11-18)

7. Translation (2013-11-18)

8. Sketches (2013-11-18)

9. Falling (2013-11-18)

10. Caught (2013-11-18)

11. What It Takes (2013-11-18)

12. Noteworthy (2013-11-18)

13. These Shadows Have Offended (2013-11-18)

14. Love Never Did Run Smooth (2013-11-18)

15. Within Reason (2013-11-18)

16. Composure (2013-11-18)

17. Clippings (2013-11-18)

18. Without End (2013-11-18)

19. Prologue: Every Hour (2013-11-18)

20. Book of Hours: Part 1 (2013-11-18)

21. Book of Hours: Part 2 (2013-11-18)

22. Flashback: Spiral (2013-11-18)

23. Flashback: Silver (2013-11-18)

24. The Orchids (2013-11-18)

25. Closer to Fine (2013-11-18)

#toy soldiers #fanfiction #wil wheaton #sean astin #good omens #pacific rim #gotham #fandom history #meta #billy tepper x joey trotta

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frecklenog · 7 months

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He’s supposed to report to Commander Sisko’s office. To greet his new CO. To get his first assignment. To make a good impression.

Unfortunately, his parasympathetic nervous system seems to have other plans.

The shuttle ride to Deep Space Nine — once a Cardassian command outpost called Terok Nor, now owned by the Bajorans and operated in tandem with Starfleet — was largely uneventful, in most senses of the word. They weren’t attacked, no one was taken control of by a mysterious virus, and none of the systems malfunctioned. He had even made a friend on the journey.

At least, he thinks he did. But it’s hard to tell with his stomach roiling this much.

There isn’t much he can do for the feeling. It’s an autonomic response. Anxiety, stress, elevated cortisol, nausea. It’s not new. But it hasn’t been this bad since Captain Picard, Beverly, and Geordi were fighting for his right to seek asylum in a place where he could feel safe. It’s like he’s fifteen again, his head spinning with overwhelm and his digestive tract fighting anything not supplied by his nutrient synthesizer. Except now he eats regularly, and the feeling is crawling up his throat like an insect, making him gag.

His stress distracted him from downloading a map of the station, but miraculously, he manages to find a bathroom. He doesn’t realize which one he’s in until a humanoid woman (Trill, Starfleet science uniform, early thirties—) quietly opens the door and sits a little ways away from him.

“First day, huh?”

He lets out a shaky breath, gripping the rim of the toilet. “Y-yes, sir.”

“What’s your name?”

“Thir—” He stops himself. Shuts his eyes tight and shakes his head. Not Third of Five. He hasn’t been Third of Five for a long time. He spits chyme. “…Hugh.” Stars, his voice is small. “My name is Hugh.”

(Counselor Troi told him that was a more natural way to introduce himself than “I am Hugh.” He wants to sound natural. Human. Even though he isn’t; not really. Not fully. He never will be. He’ll never completely human, and to pretend otherwise is foolish, and he was wrong to come here and he never should have left the Enterprise and he misses Geordi and—)

“Oh, yeah. I heard you were gonna be transferring here. You’ve been working under Doctor Crusher, right? On the Enterprise?”

Hugh manages to look up, and she’s smiling at him so easily, like he was never part of anything horrible. Like he was never dangerous at all. Like he might not be still. Even with dark hair and spots down the sides of her face, she reminds him of Beverly. Even with pale skin and blue eyes, she reminds him of Geordi.

“…Yes.”

“I’m Jadzia Dax.” She offers him her hand. He shakes it, all too aware of the fact that his biosynthetic hand doesn’t sweat, but is almost always clammy. “It’s nice to meet you, Hugh.”

He manages a little smile, even though he’s still shaking. “It’s nice to meet you too, Jadzia Dax.”

#star trek #hugh borg #jadzia dax #star trek au #st ds9 #star trek fanfiction #ds9 #shut up emrys #art time #mild emetophobia cw #emetophobia cw

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straightbaittournament · 9 months

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only the option with the LEAST votes will be eliminated. propaganda under the cut (and more always welcome!):

jean-luc picard and beverly crusher:

They have a number of romantic moments throughout the TNG series from arguably the first but DEFINITELY the second episode. but they only get together (briefly before divorcing) in an alternate timeline episode which is also the season finale. Also they have a kid together in Picard but are still not allowed to be together She was married to his best friend and he was in love with her but wouldn’t say anything because he wouldn’t want to damage his bestie’s marriage and then his friend died and they met again years later and shared a lot of romantic and sexual tension for years. He openly admitted (under mind reading) that he had loved her since his bestie was alive but felt he couldn’t act on it. In an alternate future they got married. In the canon future they got together and broke up repeatedly because trauma makes relationships hard sometimes and they have a kid together who is named after the aforementioned bestie. An episode forcing them to share thoughts makes him openly admit that he loves her and has loved her for years even when she was married to his best friend.

kit herondale and livvy blackthorn:

They were literally straight bait. So Kit, Livvy and Livvy’s twin brother Ty were a trio with their own side plots in TDA. And well. We literally meet Kit when Ty breaks into his house and puts a knife to his throat and Kit gets distracted by Ty’s eyes. Then later Kit and Livvy have a few moments and kiss once. Then Livvy dies. There are some necromancy shenanigans. Kit confesses his love to Ty then immediately flees the country. Like Kit/Ty was clearly endgame from the start but Livvy and Kit just made out once.

galo and aina (submitted as lio and galo):

Iirc, the whole time the audience was set up to believe that Galo will get together with a teammate named Aina (i might be completely wrong but i think she showed romantic interest in him). That's what usually happens, anyways. However, studio trigger turned that premise on its head with Galo's budding relationship with Lio. In order to save Lio, Galo kissed him. They kissed.

jeff winger and britta perry:

the show starts off with jeff creating the study group so that he can get with britta, they serve essentially as narrative foils, with jeff not caring about people and britta caring too much about people, they nearly get married on THREE (3) separate occasions, they're secret friends with benefits for an entire season but break up when the group finds out, they're the only two people from the core group left in greendale when the show ends; but in the end they make jeff's "true love interest" the girl who was half his age when the show started (36/18)...

angel and cordelia chase:

They met as characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but their dynamic doesn't take off until the Angel spinoff Because the showrunners of Angel didn't go in with the idea of putting these two together, the characters' friendship was allowed to develop organically without the assumption of romance, which then made the realization of their feelings for each other more satisfying. Unfortunately the shadow of Bangel (Buffy x Angel) still held over Angel's character, so I think it was a hard sell at the time and didn't gain a lot of popularity in the years since. Both these two characters grew alongside each other, supported each other, and despite knowing that they loved each other, let each other go to pursue their destinies. A really underrated het pairing!

matthew and mary crawley:

They spend multiple seasons full of tension to get their happy ever after. There are so many tropes used between these two. They finally get their shit together and get married, and then have a beautiful child together. Matthew is so happy about his child being born that he doesn't pay attention to the road and fucking DIES IN A CAR CRASH. And that's how their story ends. It makes me so livid every time I think about it lol they really killed him off like that right after and I mean RIGHT AFTER his child is born. It's so foul and every man that they set Mary up with after that doesn't feel nearly the same

keiichi maebara and rena ryugu:

Fluffy harem romcom twists into yandere horror, but then twists again into a story of friendship triumphing over everything. Really holds for any pairing with Keiichi, but the rooftop battle in part 6 is just too good. A recent manga spinoff has them married to total randos, so their respective sons can have the same kind of relationship.

raleigh beckett and mako mori:

Literally everything about the writing of Pacific Rim make it seem like they're setting up for a romance between these two and then they just. Don't. Despite this, "drift compatable" was one of the most popular AUs for couples after the film came out for a hot minute because of how romantic they made the concept seem. *gestures to the entire movie* seriously (note: "drift compatible" essentially describes an in-universe quality of the relationship between raleigh and mako, meaning this quality was so romantic that it would be implemented for other ships in au fanfics)

kagome higurashi and inuyasha from inuyasha:

Long time until they get together, with teasing moments

bow and glimmer:

They didn’t get together until the VERY END of the whole show and even then it was a little ambiguous (was it a BFF “I love you?” 🤷🏼‍♀️)

good luck everybody! now go vote!

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femdomliterature · 6 months

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FemLit 0386 - 100 Punishment Ideas

100 punishments that a Master, could chose to use on a slave, or for small infractions.

Bent over to touch its toes and caned 12 twelves

Put over His knee and spanked 50 times

Leaned over a chair and paddled 24 times

Sent to kneel in the corner for 30 minutes

Nipple clamps applied for 15 minutes

Hot wax dripped on its genitals

Put in a jock strap with 3-6 ice cubes until they melt

Caged for an hour

Gagged for a hour or two

Mouth washed out with soap

Made to eat dog food from a bowl

Put in the bath and pissed on

Cold shower

Cold bath

50 press-ups

Chained in another room and ignored for an hour or two

Sent home

100 lines - “slave must learn to better serve Master XXXX” etc

Sent to clean the bathroom

Made to listen to one song on repeat through headphones for a hour or two

Made to write an apology to Master for its behaviour

Scrub the kitchen floor clean (maybe with a toothbrush)

Sent outside in short shorts to wash Master’s car

TEN electro on genitals for 10 minutes

Figging with ginger root as a butt plug

Hold a warm water enema for 10 minutes

Cold water enema

Cock whipping

Ball stretching with heavy weights on balls which it has to keep swinging for 15, 30, 60 minutes

Deep Heat (muscle heat treatment) rubbed on balls and left for 20 minutes

Lick the toilet rim and bowl, clean

Beg to be kicked in the balls then repeat

Face slap

Stripped and sent to kneel outside in the cold for 30 minutes

Cock and balls bound in rope then rope quickly removed causing pain

Balls placed in a ball crusher

Sent to clean all Your shoes

Given a large piling of ironing to do

Use it as paper shredder with a pile of junk mail to tear up so no piece is larger than 1cm x 1cm square

Clean the fridge

100 sit-ups

Have it move 50 items from one end of the garden/house to the other, one at a time in a time limit then have it move them back in less time - bricks in the garden, every can of food in a kitchen cupboard to the bedroom etc

Bastinado - caning its feet 20 times on each one

Caning its nipples 12 times each

Electro butt plug (on high of course as not for pleasure)

Flog its back 100 times

Use a riding crop on its calves (20 each)

Paddle its inner thighs (20 each)

Place it in a tight hog-tie and leave it for an hour or two

Send it to stand in the corner nose against the wall and not move for 30 minutes/1 hour

Make it sleep on the floor (no covers, no pillows)

Run a pin wheel up and down the shaft of its cock

Put in stocks for a couple of hours (with flogging as extra)

Send it to bed early

Dont allow it to eat for the rest of the day

Make it drink your piss

Give it a good talking to on what it did wrong (gag it if necessary)

Write “useless” or “failure” on its chest with a marker pen

Make it get a short haircut

Have it shave all its body hair

Have it shave the body hair on the left hand side of its body only

Make it suggest a punishment

Place some nettles in its underwear and put it to work cleaning

Chain it at bottom of the bed for the night

Cuff its hands behind its back and have it stand on one leg for 15 minutes then the other leg (longer if necessary)

Have the slave duck walk (walk in squat position with hands behind head) up and down living room

Make it brush its teeth with dog toothpaste

Plug it with an extra large butt plug

Punish it with 25 cane strokes, 25 paddle, 25 tawse/strap and 25 flogger

Cuff and manacle it then blindfold it (not gag) then place in a cupbiard for an hour or two

Pay a fine to you

Go online and explain its failure to another Master (show You want it said)

Placed in a humbler and made to crawl around the room, up stairs etc

Renamed as dickhead or fuck-up for the rest of the day

Put a dunce cap on its head and have it kneel in front of a mirror for 30 minutes

Confiscate its wallet and make it leave on a small sum of money for the rest of the week

Make it beg for forgiveness

Ban it from talking for the rest of the day

Have it clean the bathroom floor then deliberate mess it up and have it do it again (and again if necessary)

Manacle its ankles together and put it to work cleaning

Make it wash then iron your bedding (have it kneel and wait in front of the washing machine while the duvet/sheets wash then dry)

Have it arrange all your CDs, DVDs, books into alphabetical order

Chain it up in the hallway then get on with your day ignoring or punishing in as you pass it

Have it do a 10 kms run on your running machine (or make it run up and down stairs XX times)

Have it hold a 5kg weight straight out in front of it for 1 hours - every time it lowers it start caning it until it lifts it up

Have it place a glass of water on the palm of each hand for 30 minutes (kneeling to make it harder)

Have it kneel motionless in front of a computer video camera. Most can be set to start recording if they see movement turn this on the most sensitive setting. Leave it there for an hour or two then punish it for each second of recording on the camera

Make it eat a bowl of cereal with piss instead of milk

Pick 6 punishment implements. Have it roll two dice - the first to select the implement and the second select 10 times that number of strokes with that implement. Apply the punishment. Repeat until it rolls a double six or completes 10 or 20 rolls

Get a classic book and make it write out the first chapter

Make it lick the mud off the soles of Your boots

Have it stand hand behind it head and blindfold it and tell it not to move while you randomly slap its cock/balls, ass, chest, thighs etc

Peg its nipples

Peg it cock and balls

Make it wear women’s clothing for the rest of the day

Send it out to the shop in a t-shirt saying “slave” on it

Take its collar off it telling it does not deserve it until it learns to behave

Kneel on uncooked rice for 5 minutes

Tell the slave it has disappointed you (this should be a severe punishment for a real slave)

Have it write out 50 or 100 punishments on cards put them in a bowl. Classify any infraction as 1, 2, 3, 5 card punishment and have it pick that many cards and apply those punishments (if any clash You pick the one to use and have it select a replacement)

#female led relationship #femlit

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gh0stlymoth · 2 years

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[ID: five coloured sketches of Newt Geiszler from Pacific rim with a bearded dragon. The one shows him looking at the bearded dragon seated on his shoulder. the bearded dragon has its arm raised towards him and newt has a soft expression on his face. the second sketch is of two phones, a video call between newt and hermann. Newt has his face propped up with one hand and is smiling at the phone. He is saying: "and how is the love of my life doing?". An arrow pointing at his screen reads "on some conference overseas." the other screen shows Hermann, wearing his glasses and with the beardie on his shoulder, looking a bit tired. he says: "You know, I’m never quite sure if you mean me, your husband, or little crusher here." the arrow pointing to his screen reads "at home. the third one shows newt and the beardie wrapped in a blanket, watching the Jurassic Park movie. the bearded dragon is resting in the crook of newts neck while newt seems engaged in the movie. He says: "yo, dude, wake up, your fake ancestors are about to attack." the fourth sketch shows newt wearing hermanns parka, with the beardie peaking out, being held securly by newt. a voice off screen says: "newton..." to which newt replies: "yes? :3″ the last sketch shows newt, fast asleep, hands clasped over his stomach. the bearded dragon is resting on his chest, and a book titled " scruff, bearded scientist" with the face of a bearded dragon on the cover, covering Newt's face. end ID]

shoutout to @coulson-is-an-avenger for being very big brain in saying newt would have a bearded dragon named thunder crusher, they are extremly right (and @grayscaleskies, for helping with the book title, which you can’t read but it’s “Scruff, Bearded Scientist”)

#pacific rim #pacrim #newt geiszler #the ghost scribbles #listen i care them.#100% newt would read that bearded dragon a childrens story about bearded dragons and also science i do not accept criticism #anyway this has been living n my head just nghhhhhh #he deserve

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divinemissem13 · 6 months

Text

Good To The Last Drop

Prompt: Flufftober, day 31: Dreams do come true (tumblr)/ Halloween costumes (reddit) Fandoms: Star Trek (VOY, PIC) Ship: Beverly Crusher/ Kathryn Janeway AO3 Link

Beverly loves Halloween and is determined that, by the end of the day, Kathryn will love it too.

“Trick or treat!” Beverly bounces onto the bed with a level of exuberance usually displayed by a much younger woman.

Kathryn groans and pulls the blanket over her head before mumbling, “You’d better have coffee or else this is a very mean trick.”

Beverly leans over and pulls the blanket back down so that she can waft the cup of coffee under Kathryn’s nose. Kathryn cautiously opens one eye to assess the situation before she sits up and takes the novelty Halloween mug from Beverly. It is shaped like a pumpkin with a stem curled around to form the handle, but Kathryn can overlook the ridiculous mug as long as the coffee is good.

Beverly waits, somewhat patiently, for Kathryn to have enough coffee to allow for a real ‘good morning.’ Her eyes gleam and sparkle, though, betraying her calm outward demeanor to Kathryn who eyes her over the rim of the mug.

Kathryn finishes about half of the coffee and then finally musters up an amused smile for her partner. “I know you have a thing for ghosts, but I had no idea you were so into Halloween,” she teases, thinking about a very particular ghost from Beverly’s past.

Beverly rolls her eyes and scoots up to lean against the headboard next to Kathryn. “Oh, yes, you know me and ghosts: that’s why I find it so charming when you pull the bed sheets over your head,” Beverly says sarcastically, wondering why she ever thought it was a good idea to tell Kathryn about Ronin. She does love Halloween though, and this one in particular, so she forgives Kathryn easily and leans over to give her a peck on the cheek. “Good morning, by the way,” she says, casually tucking her head into Kathryn’s shoulder and knitting their legs together under the covers.

Kathryn kisses the top of her head and the two sit quietly, basking in the autumn sun and in each other. This is Kathryn’s favorite part of the day and she dreads the last sip of coffee because it means they will have to get up and get ready to face the world outside of their bedroom. So she drinks her first cup of coffee now much slower than she used to, sometimes even starting a conversation to stall the inevitable.

“So tell me, what is it about Halloween?” she nudges Beverly gently to elicit an answer.

Keep reading on AO3 (sorry this is a long one!)

#flufftober 2023 #flufftober #day 31 #fanfic #beverly crusher/ kathryn janeway #beverly crusher #kathryn janeway #dreams do come true #halloween costumes #lazy morning #coffee #ao3 link #i wrote this #star trek voyager #star trek picard #romance #femslash #so sweet and fluffy its basically cotton candy #flufftober2023

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askwhatsforlunch · 2 years

Text

Queens Park Swizzle

My landlady in Toronto, Linda, is from Trinidad. And as I’ve been away from my adoptive city for far too long, I miss her and her daughter Racheal heaps. I miss our conversations when we’re both in the kitchen, cooking our meals. Or enjoying a bottle of sparkling wine on a sunny day. Or watching Home Alone or old variety programmes on telly on cold ones... I’ve only ever been to two Caribbean islands, but these were such wonderful trips, I’ve always wanted to return; Jamaica has always been a dream, my Dad having worked with so many reggae singers who call it home, and after meeting Linda, Trinidad is on my wish list too! Until I get there, and because the hotel where this cocktail was invented closed decades ago, I’m sipping a Queens Park Swizzle now, in the sunshine, thinking of dear friends and future trips... Happy Saturday!

Ingredients (serves 1):

a dozen to 15 large ice cubes

8 to 10 leaves fresh mint + a sprig for garnish

22.5 millilitres/3/4 fluid ounce (1 1/2 tablespoon) Simple Syrup

1 small, ripe lime

60 millilitres/2 fluid ounces (4 tablespoons) good quality Caribbean Rum (I used Ginger and Lime Rum)

4 dashes Angostura bitters

Crush the ice (if you’re doing this by hand with an ice crusher, it may take some time, so keep crushed ice cool in the freezer whilst you go through the dozen or so ice cubes!)

Tear the mint leaves into a Collins or other tall glass. Add Simple Syrup, and muddle thoroughly with a muddler.

Thoroughly squeeze the juice of the whole lime, and pour into the glass, along with the Rum. Muddle again to mix.

Spoon in crushed ice until it half fills the glass, and swizzle with a bar spoon until frost forms on the outside of the glass. Fill the glass with remaining crushed ice, until it comes slightly over the top of the rim.

Top with 4 dashes Angostura bitters. Garnish with mint sprig.

Enjoy Queen’s Park Swizzle immediately, preferably lounging in a deck chair in the sun...

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mothaus · 2 years

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* Primary Muses

** Secondary Muses

*** Muses to mess with a friend

**** Every once in a while

A Plague Tale

Hugo De Rune**

His rats**

A Song of Ice and Fire

Argella Baratheon(OC)**

Argella Durrandon**

Elyarra Stark(OC)**

Lyanna Stark**

Appleseed

Deunan Knute*

Castlevania

Lisa Tepes/Lisa of Lupu**

Cyperpunk 2077

Misty Olszewski**

Demento/Haunting Ground

Hewie*

Detective Comics/DC

Big Barda**

Barbara 'Batgirl/Oracle' Gordon**

Hawkgirl *Primarily from Justice League animated*

Martha Kent*

Deus Ex

Eliza Cassan**

Devil May Cry

Kyrie From Devil May Cry 4*

Dragon Age Series

Amalia 'Lia' Cousland, AU not a warden**

Aveline Vallen from DA II*

Disa Aeducan, Warden/HoF**

Kahlan Amell, Warden/HoF**

Lanarill Surana, Warden/HoF**

Lyna Mahariel, Warden/HoF**

Wynne*

Mabari*

F.E.A.R. series

Alma Wade**

Final Fantasy

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca From FFXII**

Jihl Nabaat from FFXIII*

Vivi from Final Fantasy IX*

Full Metal Alchemist

Riza Hawkeye*

Gojira/Godzilla

Mothra*

Ghost In The Shell

Kusanagi ‘The Major’ Motoko**

Halo

Ethel Bette ( OC )**

Holly Tanaka*

Linda-058* @ohfiveeight

Kelly-087**

Sarah Palmer*

Veronica Dare**

League of Legends

Caitlyn Kiramman**

Mass Effect

ARIA T'LOAK*

MATRIARCH BENEZIA**

Hannah Shepard**

Karin Chakwas*

JUSTICAR SAMARA**

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (Later Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy)**

Urdnot 'Eve' Bakara*

Metal Gear Solid

Laughing Octopus**

Olga Gurlukovich**

Paramedic**

Screaming Mantis*

Sniper Wolf*

Sunny Gurlukovich**

Mobile Suit Gundam

Christina Mackenzie from War in The Pocket**

Emma Sheen from Zeta*

Marida Cruz/Ple Twelve from Unicorn*

Pacific Rim

Sasha Kaidonovskya*

Resident Evil:

Dakota (oc tyrant dog)*

Excella Gionne**

Jill Valentine****

Kathy Burton**

Karena ‘Lupo’ Lesproux*

Michaela 'Bertha' Schneider **

Malèna Gionne (OC)*

Polly Burton**

Rebecca Chambers*

Silent Hill

Cynthia Velasquez***

Eileen Galvin**

Mary Shepherd-Sunderland**

Soul Caliber:

Isabella ‘Ivy’ Valentine***

StarCraft

November 'Nova' Terra**

Sarah Kerrigan*

Star Trek

Alexandria 'Alex' Munroe*

Beverly Crusher**

Kathryn Janeway*

Star Wars

Aunt Beru Whitesun-Lars*

Bastila Shan *

Darth Revan/Tru Mothma*

Etaine Skirata (OC)*

Kal Skirata**

Leia Organa-Solo**

Lord Mirdalan/Mird’ika*

Rav Bralor*

Shae Vizla**

Shmi Skywalker-Lars**

Tenel Ka Djo*

Tom Clancy's The Division

Triple A ( OC Medic )

Trigun

Milly Thompson*

Xena: Warrior Princess:

Xena*

Fandomless OC

Aria Wiltz*

Betsy Anne Kleves*

Sully**

Gracie**

Rip**

Richard**

Isabel**

Stella**

#mothra's hotel [ the muses ]#I'll put these is alphabetical order at some point

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mylifeinfiction · 11 months

Photo

Night Shift by Stephen King

I thought I had peeked over the rim of the universe and into the fires of hell itself.

No matter how great the stories within wind up being, short story collections are always such sluggish reads, for me. Compared to the last King short story collection I read, Skeleton Crew, I think Night Shift easily wins, though. There may have not been any stories in here quite as staggering as The Jaunt, but there were definitely more that I really liked/loved, in general. Plus, my Top 5 Stories - One for the Road, I Am the Doorway, Children of the Corn, The Ledge & Graveyard Shift - are absolute knockouts! Just brilliantly effective, exciting, nightmare inducing storytelling. Either way, rating and reviewing short story collections is a pain in the ass, for me, so I'm going with an approach that generally seems to work. Here are my thoughts on each story:

*As Always With This Type of Review... POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!*

Jerusalem’s Lot : It took me way too long for me to get into it, because of the letter format, but once I did I really liked it. The first visit to the Lot and then the exploration of the basement were extremely unsettling/damn near terrifying. Love the revelation that’s Charles isn’t the last Boone. - 7.5/10

Graveyard Shift : A Top 5 Story. This was great. Creepy, skin-crawling, claustrophobic. The raw material of so many nightmares. Rats... Ugh. Bats... Ugh. Subbasements... Ugh. Asshole foremen... Ugh. - 9.5/10

Night Surf : A Capt. Trips story. Unlikable characters in the aftermath of the Trips epidemic, wandering around a desolate ex-tourist trap beach. They just burned a man infected with Trips and are coming to terms with it (I guess?). One of them has it now. Totally meh story. Was very happy when I could move on to the next one. - 2.5/10

I Am the Doorway : A Top 5 Story. (Maybe #1?) Fantastic cosmic horror about a man who grows eyes in the hands after coming back to earth from an exploratory mission orbiting Venus. They’re a doorway to some horrific world that wants to destroy us. He goes to desperate measures to stop them. Then he goes further. It’s weird. It’s creepy. It’s hopeless. I loved it. - 10/10

The Mangler : An industrial ironer is possessed and killing or severely harming workers at the cleaners. A rock solid story about the machines we make to make our lives easier turning on us. It's a theme King tackles often, and when it works, it really works wonders. These stories generally work especially well for me because I’ve always had a fear/distrust of large, dangerous machines like this one. Whether it was the trash compactor or cardboard crusher when I worked at Target or the redemption machines at the liquor store I worked at as a teenager, or even the band saw in Jr. High shop class, I always felt like no matter how safe I was, it wouldn’t matter. That made this especially creepy. - 8/10

The Boogeyman : The reason I chose this collection as my next King. I wanted to get it in before seeing the movie. Since then, I've decided I'll probably be waiting for it to hit streaming, but whatever. This was often chilling. If you don’t take a second (or third, or… shit… fourth) glance at your closet door after reading this, you’re a fool. It’d likely be a 10 if not for how unlikable the main character is. - 8/10

Grey Matter : A super gross allegory for alcoholism. It’ll turn you into a grey gooey slug monster that destroys everything and everyone around you. Get it? Anyway, it's not bad. Not really great either, though. - 6/10

Battleground : A lot of fun. Hexed Toy Soldiers attack a hit man who just got home from assassinating a toy maker. I wanted more, but what we get is more than good enough. - 8/10

Trucks : Another one about the machines turning on us. Really good tension. Very cinematic prose. So much better than Maximum Overdrive. Ha. - 9/10

Sometimes They Come Back : Might’ve even worked better as a whole novel. There’s a bunch here that really could’ve been expanded on. But still it's really good. Not quite my favorite, but really good. - 8/10

Strawberry Spring : Meh. Feels like filler. There's a promising concept with which very little is actually done. The ending was a little too obvious, yet fitting for how the rest of it read. I didn’t quite hate it, but it needed more meat to it. - 4/10

The Ledge : A Top 5 Story. Absolutely Fantastic! This is gripping, unpredictable storytelling. It’s suspenseful, it’s mean, and it’s so immensely satisfying in its structural simplicity. - 10/10

The Lawnmower Man : Super weird. No, seriously, this story is f*cking WEIRD. Not in a bad way, but certainly in an extremely unexpected way. I knew this was nothing like the movie, but damn. - 8.5/10

Quitters, Inc. : Brilliantly cruel. A great idea executed with a wicked creativity and pragmatism. Not quite Top 3, but a favorite, for sure. - 8/10

I Know What You Need : Interesting premise and execution. Not sure on the direction it takes though. A be careful with you wish for type thing maybe? Or a grass is always greener scenario? Anyway, I liked the connection to witchcraft/voodoo. Too anticlimactic to be great, though. - 6/10

Children of the Corn : A Top 5 Story. Guess I’m not sleeping tonight. When I was ~6 years old, I somehow ended up watching Children of the Corn. It quite literally scarred me for life. To this day, more than thirty years later, just driving past a cornfield makes my breath catch and the hair on the back of my neck stand to attention. This story just twisted the knife. So atmospheric and creepy and grim. I simultaneously loved it and hated it so damn much. And it definitely refuels my desire to make a King show like Tales from the Crypt and Cabinet of Curiosities to faithfully adapt his short stories. - 10/10

The Last Rung on the Ladder : Way to break my heart, Steve. My goodness this was sad. A Cat’s in the Cradle vibe by the end, just brother/sister instead of father/son. A reminder to always make the time for those you love. The loss you may face for being there is far more bearable than the loss you’ll face not being there. This hit like a brick. That final line, "She was the one who always knew the hay would be there." tore my heart out. - 8.5/10

The Man Who Loved Flowers : Love kills. This one’s ending hits hard because of the contrast in tone. Nice and very short. Nothing amazing, but effective in its language and tone. - 5.5/10

One For The Road : A Top 5 Story. Hell Yes! The atmosphere is magnificent. Not only did I have to put on a sweatshirt, but I damn near went on the hunt for a rosary. I absolutely love this little corner of King's world. I want more... so much more. And now I also really want to reread ‘Salem’s Lot. - 10/10

The Woman in the Room : Sad. It really should’ve been shorter. No other thoughts really. Except, why close it out with this one? You had One For The Road RIGHT. THERE. It would've been such a bookends way to close out this collection. ::shakes head:: - 5/10

"I have walked beneath death's umbrella and thought there was none darker. But there is. There is."

8/10

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

#booklr #horror books #night shift #stephen king #book review #short stories #book reviews #horror fiction #books #children of the corn #jerusalem's lot #one for the road #the ledge #i am the doorway #constant reader

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