#nurse love addiction spoilers

[kyuubi-no-oneechan]

if you can't get parent-made blood ties then homemade is fine^^

#nurse love addiction #nurse love addiction spoilers

[somber-sapphic]

35, 🥀, 🌷 with Maya x carina x reader where reader is really sick out of nowhere?? I’m so addicted to your fics atm haha

Better Tomorrow

My first Station 19 story!!

{may include unintentional spoilers}

Okay, wow, I got a little carried away. I had so much fun writing this but I figured that I could only fit so much into one post. I have more, I actually have probably two more parts of similar length, but I won't post it unless you guys want. - You loved your girlfriends and you loved your job. Unfortunately as a nurse, you were also on the front line during flu season. Lucky that you're dating a doctor and a firefighter. (marina x reader)

Word Count: 3810

-----

Perhaps being an ER Nurse wasn’t everyone's cup of tea, but you absolutely loved it. One of the best parts of your amazing job was that you got to work at Grey Sloan Memorial alongside some of the best doctors in the country and your beautiful girlfriend Carina Deluca. 

And then there was Maya. Sweet, beautiful, uptight Maya. You loved the stubborn firefighter with everything you had and both you and Carina showered her with affection at every chance you got. The poor woman had so much unprocessed trauma, all the two of you wanted was to make her feel important, like someone cared. 

Even still, there were days where it wasn’t great. She’d lash out, forget to eat and spend the whole day working out. The three of you had had a rough week. Maya was angry about station politics, Carina had lost a mother and you were on the receiving end of just about every flu case that came into the hospital. On top of dealing with all of the sick people, you also had to meditate at home.

Some people had shown up with minor colds, demanding treatment that they didn’t need. You’d seen several parents ordering you to give their children antibiotics, refusing to listen to you when you explained the difference between bacteria and viruses and why antibiotics won't cure their children's illness. 

Now, it was Sunday and you were almost done with your 48 hour shift. You were supposed to have tomorrow off, but with everyone falling victim to this monster of a flu there was a good chance that you would be working for at least another twelve hours. 

You were exhausted beyond belief and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the growing pressure in your sinuses and the dull ache in your bones. You were probably getting sick, well no, you were definitely getting sick, it was just a matter of how long you could keep it from affecting your work. 

You sighed and took two Tylenol, swallowing them dry. A rumbling cough forced its way through your lips and you glanced at yourself in the mirror, studying your pale complexion. To be fair, you didn’t look great. What with the bags under your eyes and the slight reddish tinge on your cheeks and around your nostrils. 

You grabbed a mask and slipped it on, just to be safe. You figured that you could probably get away with working for at least two more hours before someone noticed that you were too sick or you became a legitimate risk to the patients. Plus, since you were one of the few nurses left who could even hold a pen there was a good chance that as long as you sanitized and wore a mask that you would be allowed to work until you dropped.

When you reentered the ED you found a line of people, all waiting with impatient expressions. You sighed internally and forced a smile, pulling on a pair of gloves as you walked to the first bed. A woman sat there with her arms crossed over her chest, showing absolutely no signs of illness. 

“Hello Ms. Hanford, what brings you in?” You rasped, clearing your throat quietly in a vain attempt to bring back your voice. She sneered at you and huffed quietly, rolling her eyes. 

“I need a pregnancy test.” She demanded, giving you a thorough glare. You paused for a second, wondering if your seemingly cotton stuffed ears had heard her correctly. She came to the ER. For a pregnancy test. A pregnancy test that she could’ve purchased for less than ten dollars at any drugstore. 

“Ms, we’re in the midst of a very severe flu season, it may be safer for you to purchase one from the grocery store.” You said tiredly, fully prepared to get snapped at. She had come for a pregnancy test and there was no way that she was leaving without one. 

“I. Want. A. Test. Now. Don’t make me get your supervisor.” Ms. Hanford threatened, searching for someone who may be your superior. The nurse, Kayla, who had been running the ER had been sent home earlier, leaving one attending or another to check in on you every so often. 

“Okay.” You sighed, too tired to put up much of a fight. You went and grabbed a urine sample cup and walked back to her bedside, smiling so wide that you were sure that it would be seen in your eyes. 

“If you would just take this over to the bathroom and provide me with a urine sample we can get that pregnancy test done.” Ms. Hanford scoffed loudly and shook her head, checking her watch as if to make you upset. You were already upset, but it wasn’t something that you could show. It was your job to be stoic and professional. 

“Are you serious? I could have gotten that kind of test at the store and I wouldn't be in here among all of you sick people! No see, I want a blood test.” She was repeating your words from earlier, turning them on you to make you feel less than. You took a careful breath which spurred a fit of coughing. You whirled away from the woman and muffled coughs into your shoulder, your chest aching with each wheezing breath. 

When you turned back, your eyes watery and nose running freely in your mask, the woman was wearing an absolutely disgusted expression. 

“Get me someone different. I need a different nurse. Get out, get someone new.” She ordered, pointing towards the nurses station. The empty nurses station. Because everyone was busy. Because everyone was dealing with someone sick. Or hurt. Or otherwise miserable.

“Ms., I can't. If there were anyone else I would, but right now we’re very short staffed. Would you like the test or not?” You asked shortly. It was your job to be professional, not to be kind. Technically you didn’t even have to be polite, you just had to treat her. 

“Get a doctor then! Look, there’s one! Dr! Dr., you need to take over here, this nurse is absolutely incompetent.” You looked over to see Amelia walking towards the two of you, a concerned expression on her face. 

“What seems to be the issue over here?” She asked, giving the woman a little nod. You knew that as long as Ms. Hanford was polite to Amelia that she would get what she wanted. Being rude to you was however a pretty big mistake. The female neurosurgeon happened to really like you and often treated you like a sister. 

“This nurse,” She spat, using the most demeaning tone as she shot daggers at you, “came into work sick and thinks that she is going to take my blood! Would you please take my blood?” Her voice changed from hate to sweet and sugary, with an over exaggerated smile.

“Ah, so rather than going to purchase a test at, I don’t know, the Walgreens right down the street maybe, you decided to come into a hospital, which sometimes has sick people, and yell at one of my nurses?” Ameila returned the smile, her eyes filled with pointed anger. You ducked your head into your shoulder and sneezed quietly, only serving to make your mask even messier. 

The brunette turned back and gave you a sad smile, gesturing you over to a bed. 

“Go sit. Ms. Hanford is going to wait until someone else is ready.” She ordered, squeezing your shoulder gently. Ms. Hanford was trying to yell at Amelia, but she wasnt hearing any of it. She was literally just ignoring the angry woman. 

“I’ve got some paperwork to wrap up before my shift is over.” You mumbled, turning to shuffle away. 

“I’ll call Carina!” She threatened after you, earning a little shrug in return. Your girlfriend was busy, she was always busy with one birth or another. People just kept having babies. You slunk into an office and plopped yourself down into a chair, pulling out a patient file. 

After about five minutes the words on the page began to blur together, the sentences becoming totally unrecognizable. As you continued to struggle through the file your writing got more and more sloppy and your eyelids began to slip closed. Your head started to fall and you finally put it down, resigning yourself to sleep. 

==

“Y/n. Wake up bubba.” A voice spoke, pulling you out of your fever dazed sleep. Someone, the owner of the voice, shook your shoulder and you forced your eyes open so that you could glare up at Amelia, who had woken you up. You opened her mouth to complain and sneezed wetly, only then realizing that you had neglected to take your mask off before falling asleep. 

Shepard winced and wrinkled her nose at the sound, pulling away from you. You coughed freely, figuring that since it was still on, it didn’t really matter. The neurosurgeon gave you a sympathetic smile and grabbed some hand sanitizer. 

“Come on germ bag, sit up. I’m going to give you a quick exam before Carina finishes with the mom upstairs.” You lifted your head, forcing yourself up into a sitting position. That much movement made your head swim and you found yourself falling too far to the side. Amelia grabbed your shoulders and steadied you, her lips turning into a little frown. 

“Take your mask off.” She instructed, motioning to her face with blue latex gloved hands. You shook your head, embarrassment flooding through you. There was no way that you were taking it off, you knew that it would be gross and she didn't need to see that. The brunette dropped her shoulders and sighed, giving you a look. 

“Either you take it off, or I will. I promise you, I’ve seen worse.” Now it was deciding whether or not it was more embarrassing for her to take it off for you or for you to do it yourself. 

“I don’t need you to do this. It’s allergies.” She snorted and broke into a laugh, raising an eyebrow at you. 

“Wow, that was bad even for you. Take it off.” You slumped, but refused to take the mask off. It was both keeping her from getting sick and keeping you hidden. It was almost like you could pretend to be fine as long as it was there. 

Amelia rolled her eyes and leaned forward, very gently unhooking the mask from your ears. She pulled it away and made a soft sound of concern, shaking her head slightly. She grabbed a tissue and handed it to you, allowing you to clean yourself up before she continued. 

“You okay?” She asked, noticing the tears glittering in your eyes. You nodded silently and opened your mouth, allowing her to shine a light down your throat. “Ouch.” The brunette murmured, removing her stethoscope so that she could check your lungs. 

You did your best to take the deep breaths that she requested but every one led to a coughing fit that left you gasping and wheezing. It was just your luck that Carina burst into the office while you were in the midst of a particularly harsh fit, bent over with Amelia rubbing your back. 

“Cara,” She whispered sadly, coming to kneel in front of the chair. She rubbed your knuckles as you fought to catch your breath, offering much needed comfort. You finally got a deep breath and the spots cleared from your eyes, leaving you dizzy and utterly exhausted. 

“I want to give her a nebulizer treatment before you take her home, her lungs sound like crap.” Amelia explained, directing her words toward your worried girlfriend. She nodded, squeezing your hand as a sign of affection.

“I don’t want it.” You muttered, trying your best to keep the waver out of your voice. You really didn’t want the treatment, you didn't want any medicine. Cough syrup might be nice, but the nebulizer was famous for making people jittery and all you wanted to do was sleep. 

“You don’t get a say. If you had told Maya or I that you were sick maybe we could have avoided this.” Carina hissed, giving you a deadly glare. You knew that she loved you but she was also angry with your lack of self preservation. 

“Please.” You sniffled, sounding admittedly pathetic. Her expression softened and she leaned over to kiss your forehead, resting her lips there a moment longer than necessary. 

“How high is her fever?” The Italian woman asked, making a worried noise when you dropped your head down onto her shoulder. If you were going to give into being sick you would be given attention. You really just wanted to be held. 

“103.5, I’ll throw an IV in with fluids and we’ll see what we can do to get it down.” Carina nodded your approval but you whined quietly, slightly afraid of the idea of getting an IV. You had absolutely no problems administering them, you were actually amazing at giving them but you didn’t love needles. 

“Alright. Come on bella, I’ll call Maya okay?” You shook your head as Amelia helped you stand, leaning heavily on her for support. 

“No Maya, she’s working.” You mumbled, stumbling forward as you tried to take a step. Your body completely gave out and you crumpled into Carina’s arms, your head bouncing off of her chest as she caught you. Both women cursed, Amelia slightly louder than your girlfriend. 

“Amelia, get a wheelchair. Y/n, can you hear me?” Her words were filled with desperation and anxiety as she helped you back into the chair, cupping your cheeks in her incredibly soft, sturdy hands. 

“Mhm.” You weren’t unconscious, just weak and wondering how you had gone downhill so quickly. At least she was there, she was warm and made you feel fuzzy inside. You loved her so much. She carded her fingers through your hair and smiled warmly, her eyes full of remorse. 

You ducked away and coughed hard into your lap, finally managing to get some of the crap out of your lungs. Unfortunately it was now in your mouth which felt absolutely disgusting. Carina pressed a tissue against your lips and allowed you to spit it out, caressing your arm as you placed your head back on her shoulder. 

“Alright kid, hop in, you’ve got a ride.” Amelia announced, using that stupid nickname. You weren’t even sure why she called you that, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but since she discovered that you didn’t like it it had become one of her favorite things to call you. 

“Ready?” Carina asked softly, raising an eyebrow at you. You didn't answer, just shrugged and allowed her to help you into the chair. You leaned back as the neurosurgeon wheeled you out of the office and over to an open bed which you crawled into gratefully. It felt nice to lay down even if it was in an uncomfortable hospital bed with only a curtain separating you from other patients. 

“Okay Y/n, let's get you set up.” Amelia said, lifting up an oxygen mask that you knew would soon pump medicated air. Carian took it away from her and slid it over your face, carefully adjusting the strap behind your head. She didn't want anyone else to treat you, her protective urge flaring up. 

The other doctor didn't protest, knowing that she was probably frightened for you. The last time Meredith had gotten sick she had gone definitely overboard. She stuffed her sister with every medicine that she could think of and had quite literally forbade the woman from getting out of bed. Doctors would go to unnecessary extremes when it came to taking care of the people they loved. 

“Quick poke.” Before you could protest Amelia had slipped an IV into your hand. You glared at her and scooched closer to Carina, wishing that the mask wasn’t in the way. She wrapped an arm around your waist and hugged you to her chest, speaking to you in quiet Italian. You couldn’t understand the words but it didn’t matter. Her voice was soothing and the medications being pumped into your body were making you feel a little bit better. 

“Y/n!” You jolted out of your comfortable daze and looked up to see Maya walking over, her hair frizzy and piercing eyes full of worry. Carina shushed her as she rushed over, immediately grabbing your face so she could touch your forehead and the back of your neck. 

When she pulled away she was wearing the same look of disappointment that your other girlfriend had earlier, her eyebrows knit together and lips turned into a frown. 

“Damnit, every time. Do you need to do this every time?” As much as you hated to admit it, the blonde had a point. You tended to do this, work yourself to the brink of exhaustion and then require some sort of intervention whether it be from them or the obvious current situation. 

Tears filled your eyes and you looked away, not wanting her to see how guilty you felt. You had pulled both of your girlfriends away from work saving lives to sit by your side as you dealt with a stupid virus. 

Maya let out a slow breath as she realized how her words had come out and nudged your arm, pushing you just enough that she could sit on the bed. 

“Let's get this off.” She said softly, easing the mask off of your face. The round of aerosolized steroids was done and your chest didn’t hurt quite as much. The blonde glanced over at Carina, a puzzled expression on her face. 

“How bad is she?” Maya asked, clearly not trusting your judgment on the situation. The doctor shrugged, moving her hand in a so-so way. 

“She is bad. Hopefully the nebulizer will take care of her lungs for a while but it may not last. I will write her a prescription for an albuterol inhaler. Once the IV bag finishes we can bring her home.” Carina explained, seeming to know more about your medical information than you did. At least they weren’t taking any blood. 

“So about a half hour?” Maya looked down at her Apple watch, stroking your hair absently with one hand. 

“Si.” You looked back over at Carina who smiled and kissed your hairline. Tears filled your eyes and you sniffled pathetically, not really wanting to talk. Your throat hurt badly, so much that every breath grated against the raw flesh. 

“Scoot over for me.” Maya instructed, nudging you with her elbow. You didn't exactly understand what was happening or why she wanted you to move. All you wanted was to cry. The medicine had made it easier to breathe but your entire body still ached. 

“Oh Y/n, come here.” She lay down in the bed beside you, fitting herself nicely on the cot beside you. You tucked your head under her chin, trembling as you tried not to sob. It was humiliating, you were a nurse who was crying because of the flu. Carina tried to lay on your other side, but there wasn’t much room left. 

You whimpered into Maya’s shirt, shaking hard as the tears finally began to spill down your cheeks. The blonde carded her fingers through your hair, shushing you as you cried. Carina went back to speaking to you in Italian, both exchanging glances over your weak frame. 

You weren't sure how long it was when you felt the tell tale prickle reappearing in your sinuses. You tried to pull back from Maya, not wanting to sneeze on her, but the woman reacted a moment too late. Maybe she had thought that you were just shifting or she was just tired from what was probably a long shift and she was laying with you. 

You attempted to curl up as best as you could, intending to stifle the sneeze against your own chest, hoping that it wouldn’t be very wet. You sneezed quietly, but another, much louder one followed, sounding worse than the first one. Both of you froze for a second and Carina cooed softly, not seeming to entirely realize your distress. 

You pulled back and pressed your hands over your nose, sitting up quickly, fully expecting her to berate you for sneezing on her. She didn’t even glance at the wet spot on her shirt, just grabbed a tissue and tried to hand it to you. 

“I’m sorry!” You gasped, your words blurred by congestion. You sniffled hard, trying to fix the issue without accepting her help. 

“Oh baby, no, don’t apologize. You’re sick, in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this sick. You get a pass.” Carina nodded her agreement and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. 

“Blow your nose bella, no more sniffling. Your IV is finished, once you blow your nose I will text Ameila and then we can go home. Does that not sound good?” The brunette coaxed, her voice full of love. You had made up your mind to take the tissue when you sneezed again, into your hands, and then sneezed twice more. Ugh. Damnit.

Maya wrinkled her nose in an apologetic manner, the lines on her forehead becoming more prominent. Carina rubbed your back and kissed your shoulder, both of them offering incredible loving sympathy. 

You took the fucking tissue from the blondes clutches and quickly lifted it to your face, blowing your nose quietly as you did. She handed you another one to clean your hands and then Carina gave you some hand sanitizer. 

“I wanna go home.” You rasped, finally speaking again. Both women smiled and each gave you a kiss on your head. Maya got up and held one of your hands, reaching for the other as you swung your legs over the bed and let your feet touch the floor. 

Carina grabbed your waist as you stood, holding you there until you were sure that you would pass out. Sure you were dizzy, but with some help you were sure that you could get out to the car. 

“All set?” Maya asked, shifting so that she had taken your Italian girlfriend's place with her arm around your waist, supporting you from the side. You nodded while Carina grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder before draping your coat over your shoulders. 

“Come along Y/n/n. Let's get you into bed.” The brunette said softly, walking slightly in front of you. She had your bag too and you couldn’t help but wonder when she’d grabbed it. 

With the help of your girlfriends you shuffled out to the car, hoping that you would feel better tomorrow. Afterall, you were one of the last nurses standing. 

#station 19 #fever #sickfic #fanfiction #sick fanfiction #sick reader #greys anatomy #carina deluca #maya bishop #marina #maya x carina #maya x carina x reader #marina x reader #sick fanfic #sick you #sick y/n #hospital stuff #minor whump #fever whump #station 19 sick fanfiction #amelia shepard #amelia shepherd #hurt/angst #hurt/comfort #fluff and angst #fluff

[encrucijada]

PÍA RAMBLES #8

you might have seen this post or this wip intro. i'm here to talk about this book because i think it's really cool @teddywriting and i wrote almost 40k words by simply playing dolls with our ocs.

(yes i will be using screencaps of before sunrise, 1995 for any and all subsequent updates regarding this project thank you very much)

what's weird about this book in particular is that, despite maripaz and theo taking up way too much space in my brain, it's also incredibly hard to talk about them?? i know every single detail about them down to what they might order to eat at a mcdonald's, and yet i feel no one outside from teddy and i really knows these characters. their lore is weird and a bit convoluted and explaining it feels like i'm trying to explain the plot of a television show with like 18 seasons of character development you just had to be there to witness to understand even a fraction of it.

but first some basics about the actual book

title: babylon boy (book 1 of the home habitat duology)

genre: literary fiction

category: i say adult because there will be no censoring of topics but in this first installment our protagonists are around eighteen years old. you might consider that ya but i wouldn't

a small summary: having independently run away from home for their own reasons, theo and maripaz meet while homeless on the streets and form an alliance of convenience to survive. while theo vehemently denies the drug addiction he’s nursing, maripaz tries to deal with the way both want and revulsion seem to exist in her at the same time. falling in love is probably the easiest thing they do.

teddy and i are co-authoring, as in we both write the words. they will be primarily working on theo's chapters and i will be primarily working on maripaz's chapters but we'll both be involved in fully crafting this story.

talking about your book is hard when all that happens in it is character work so even whether someone gets sick at one point feels like a spoiler you want people to be surprised by.

we created mari and theo in 2020 on a whim. i can't even remember what prompted it exactly. we wanted a new pair of characters to play with and we decided to make two assholes to bicker and be mean to each other. this iteration saw three reincarnations before we put the characters on the shelf and almost resigned ourselves to them being a miss... if not for one important detail... i really, really believed they should have kissed. this first version of them would eventually be known as the homeless au.

looking back it's Wild thinking about how different mari and theo used to be. we moved onto new aus to play around with, landing on a superhero-type beat that became their new canon for a while. we had fantasy and sci-fi and musicians and hadestown and the raven cycle (that last one did so much for us it's insane). every new thing we tried shaped them more and more until they were unrecognisable from their original versions. one day i really want to go through their threads from start to finish and look at that change in real time.

there was a new thesis to their characters and it was no longer "what if two awful guys with issues were forced together and tried to bite each other's heads off". instead we were looking at two characters that through every new incarnation became more sincere and gentle. they had meta-narrative character development.

(every new au also gave us more characters to populate the world including but not limited to theo's twin sister, maripaz's seven siblings, alex, philip, a whole lot of parental figures, a quirky cast of friends... but i'll talk about them some other time)

then i did it again. in the 2.0 version of the homeless au there was one scene i loved beyond words where an argument between our two protagonists resulted in maripaz punching theo right on the mouth. when she tried to swing a second time he stopped her hand and warned her that if she wanted to hit him he would hit back. they fought and the scene ended. i said to teddy: they should have kissed. we laughed and imagined how homeless au would go now that their characters had changed so much. we started thinking about it more and more until we were moving the pieces of their cinematic universe around to fit this new idea... and suddenly we had plot for a book that would revamp that original homeless au... and a sequel too! (but more on that second one another time)

teddy started a rp thread of what came right after the opening scene of babylon boy, where theo and maripaz would shoplift and he would steal the angel necklace she wore (<- this is important)... and we just kept going... and going. we'd already had a few keys scenes to work towards, one those being that punching scene that started it all, as well as the ending. teddy added two new scenes we began calling the halo scene and the church scene, and we moved something we called the pool scene into this book from another au. we just had to fill in the blanks... fill in the blanks we did.

these right here are the names i gave each individual thread of the roleplay-ification of babylon boy. their purpose is not so much to be chapter titles but to make specific scenes easy to find for future reference. though obviously i had to be a bit artistic about it.

i don't know if babylon boy will have chapter titles, and if they will have some sort of theme going on (usually i like just putting two words together to create some imagery). "angel face" is probably what i would title chapter 1, but i also hesitate on that decision because i think i would like to save angel for later.

these threads are less of a draft and more the skeleton of a draft, that's why i called it a draft 0. its purpose is to give teddy and i direction and reading through them i already know how i want to shift the timeline and how i'd rewrite some of the scenes to make them a lot better, but it did give us a great cause and effect look of things. the way teddy and i approach our roleplay threads is more loose than what i do with @on-the-river-lethe (with whom i'm currently roleplaying draft 1 of our book lupine trail and also a giant hunger games au). fluffy and i write responses between 1k-4k words, they are basically chapters. teddy and i instead do a quick call and response, mostly focused on dialogue, we build on top of each other and neither of us really knows where a thread will go when we start.

there are no actual non-roleplay words written for babylon boy thus far. teddy is in charge of chapter 1 as we open with theo's pov but we are both busy or focused on other things. right now we're enjoying the playing around stage of the process (which i don't see going away even once we start seriously writing, i know for a fact we'll probably do various roleplay-type passes to babylon boy).

you've probably noticed the christian imagery is rampant here. it happened kind of by accident and the already mentioned halo scene is entirely to blame for it. like i said, teddy and i have this very "yes, and," approach to storytelling together where we kinda build on top of what the other puts down. teddy gave me the description of one (1) scene where theo sees a halo of light around maripaz's head and i decided "well, this is now i thing that is here to stay". church scene really brought it all together and there is a scene in book 2 adeptly nicknamed the angel scene that is kind of the culmination of this.

the imagery is almost exclusive to theo's pov as mari is more the subject of the imagery than the one pushing it forward. teddy and i will be doing our most to fill this book with visuals: characters lined with stained glass windows, lights shaped like hearts, signs and graffiti that say meaningful stuff.

babylon boy, as the title suggests, is more theo's book. both he and maripaz have meaningful arcs but theo's is really at the core of it, mari takes centre stage in book 2 (titled gossamer girl). i think i talked about this somewhere before but the titles just kind of... happened. gossamer was relevant for that superhero au and it's just a word i really adore so i wanted to use it on the title. you can't go wrong with alliteration so gossamer girl it is. and because i love when books in a series match i had to do something with boy. like gossamer i adore babylon for some reason, and so we got babylon boy. i wasn't sure about that one because while gossamer girl made sense with the theme, what did "babylon boy" even mean, exactly? teddy came in clutch and analysed the title for me. they connected it to theo's drug addiction and now i can't think of any two titles that are more perfect for this series.

like i said, there are no actual words written for this book so sadly i cannot share any excerpts. but i will share

Festival was very much the result of teddy and i having just watched before sunrise, 1995

we watched before sunrise, 1995 because the mannerisms of the two leads reek of maripaz and theo

"until a miracle happens" became a recurring thing said in the draft and it wrecked me

Our Fears is probably my favourite thread both thematically and visually. followed closely by Church Angels, though that one is mostly visually

The Pool is the longest thread with about 90 responses and all of it is beautiful. i would probably consider it the companion to Our Fears

"mutual pining they're both just idiots"

the closing image is probably my favourite one of the book

the core themes are very much trust, love, and communal help. we've got such an array of npcs who simply... help. i love the human race.

i'll probably do another update before we start properly writing talking about maripaz and theo as characters specifically. a bit of a crash course on who they are, really.

anyway. i'm giving you a golden star if you read all of that ⭐ do ask me or teddy about this story!! we'd be happy to talk about it. or even just about the characters.

cheers, pía

#pia rambles #( wip ) bb&gg

[dianneking]

The Disease (Larissa/Laurel)

The product of my Sunday evening Angst writing addiction, presented to you with only minimal editing and proof-reading. Written (belatedly) for day 5 of May Trope Mayhem 2023 by @duckprintspress​, with the prompt: Hanahaki. Crossposted on AO3 (link here and in the title below).

Tags: Angst, Hanahaki, Not Actually Unrequited love, Angst with a Happy Ending, Spoilers for Season 1 Finale of Wednesday (2022), Fear of Death, Disease Diagnosis, No Lesbians Die, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Marilyn is Laurel but Laurel is Good, Feelings!, Alcohol consumption.

Fandom:  Wednesday (2022) Pairing: Larissa Weems /Laurel Gates | Marilyn Thornhill Wordcount: 1774

 The Disease (Marilyn|Laurel x Larissa) 

The first time it happens, Laurel thinks it’s a cruel prank from one of her students. Teenagers are cruel, she thinks, and outcasts teenagers can be even more creative in their cruelty (little freaks she used to call her in the privacy of her mind, but recently she hasn’t been able to do so without picturing how sad Larissa’s face would be if she’d be able to hear that). And she’s sure it’s a funny prank in their eyes: the botany professor coughing up lungfuls of petals? How poetic.

But no matter how much she tries, she cannot get her students to confess who had it been, and she’s too ashamed of being the victim of a prank and unable to discover the culprit to go complain to Principal Weems (she wouldn’t mind the excuse to spend more time in her study, but she feels pathetic to go and complain like a little girl). She tries to forget the shame and when Larissa’s warm eyes meet hers that evening over both of their glasses of wine, she can passably lie and state that her day had been ‘alright’.

Except it happens a second time, and this time it is only her and Larissa when it happens, interrupting what had been an intense moment, when, made bolder by the alcohol in her veins, their faces had been getting closer to each other, as if pulled by an invincible magnetic force. Laurel had seen her own desire mirrored in her principal’s eyes, and she had seen how the taller woman’s tongue had come out to wet her lips in anticipation…but when their mouths were but a breath apart, she felt the tell-tale pressure behind her breastbone and she has to turn away, her hands clutching spasmodically at her mouth, trying to hide the colorful petals from sight.

She is unsuccessful, and Larissa’s horrified face is all she needs to see before running away from it all: the almost-kiss (her father and her brother and her mother are all screaming at her from their tombs, asking her why hasn’t she started on her plan yet, why wasn’t she extracting revenge on those monsters who had ruined her family), her boss who she most definitely shouldn’t be falling for, and the embarrassment of those petals still coming out of her airways. Or trying to run away from it.

She does a decent job of hiding in her conservatory over the next few days, thankfully helped by the weekend, but the cough attacks come about in increasingly frequent bouts, and on Monday she has no choice but to visit the nurse office.

She sees the pity on the nurse’s face before hearing it in their voice. I’m sorry, they say, you seem to be suffering from Hanahaki disease. The name doesn’t tell her much, but the tone is not that of good news. Laurel wonders if she’ll die of it before avenging her family, and the thought gives her more comfort than it should have (it’s not just Larissa - a part of her is starting to come to love her girls in Ophelia Hall, and the way her students’ eyes sparkle when she shows them particularly deadly plants - and she now realizes that no matter her prognosis, the plan for revenge has already died before she does).

She pretends to know what the nurse is talking about and looks up the disease on internet as soon as she gets to her classroom. She had to sit down to process the news. The words stare at her unrelentingly from the screen.

When afflicted by Hanahaki disease, the patient is subjected to cough attacks with production of copious amounts of flower petals, if and only if the patient is concomitantly affected by one-sided affection towards another person. The natural cure for the disease is for the recipient of such affection to return the feeling, or through surgical intervention. The inevitable side effect of the surgical procedure is the assured loss of the feelings the patient had. If left untreated, Hanahaki disease leads to certain death within the timespan of a few weeks.

A few weeks. That was all she had. The next few days go by in a haze, as her brain processes the information. Even if her insurance paid for the surgery, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to how her life was before falling for Larissa (she had been plotting to slaughter a school full of children for something that happened way before most of them were born, that was not a good place to be in mentally).

She wonders if she should tell Larissa. But that would serve no purpose, other than let the other woman feel guilty of her inevitable demise. And Laurel thinks she knows Larissa enough to know that she would feel guilty. She would add Laurel’s condition to the ever-growing burden on her shoulders, and possibly try to take on the costs for her surgery as well. No, she wouldn’t tell Larissa.

“Marilyn, we need to talk.”

When she hears that name falling from the other’s lips she knows that there is another secret that she doesn’t want to take to the grave with her. She doesn’t want to die as a lie. So when she meets up with her principal that night, she asks her to listen first, and Larissa looks at her with a stony expression as she retells the story of the Gates family and of how little Laurel had come back to her hometown to extract revenge but ended up finding a new, happier family in Nevermore, among the outcasts.

When she finishes her story, Larissa takes a sip of wine, and Laurel wishes she was able to go back to when those blue eyes looked at her with warmth and desire, instead of being unreadable as they are now. Guarded.

“Why are you telling me this, after all this time?”

And Laurel apparently is uncapable to lie to her anymore, because the truth falls from her lips in all of its ugliness, as she looks away from the unspoken accusations she thinks she can see in the icy depths that she so loves (She loves her so much, her chest constricts even when she’s not coughing up petals).

“Because I’m dying.”

In the stunned silence that follows, her lungs seize up once more and she (once again, it was starting to become a habit) runs away from the principal’s office. She doesn’t want to see the pity mix with distrust. She wants to remember the way Larissa looked at her when she was just Marilyn, and she wasn’t dying (at least, not quicker than any other person).

But she lives in a school, and the location of her quarters is not only well known to students and staff, but also clearly marked in case anyone forgot (Larissa never forgets anything about Nevermore, she’s sure of that) so her escape was always doomed to be a short-lived one. That night, Larissa enters through the door without knocking, her normally pristine appearance disheveled, with creases in her clothing, and flyaway hair sticking up in all directions (her makeup looks smudged as well, almost as if she had cried, but that’s impossible, so Laurel explains it as a trick of the light). Laurel drinks in her appearance from where she’s sitting at her own tiny desk overflowing with botany books (God, she’s beautiful even when she’s agitated).

“Who is it?” Larissa asks, her voice commanding as if she was herding her students during a school trip.

“Who?” Laurel asks, even if her gut already knows, and it feels like it’s been filled with ice and dread.

“You have Hanahaki, right? Who is it that you have feelings for?” She looks even more agitated, making her way towards Laurel, then apparently thinking better of it and settling for pacing the length of her tiny office (with her long legs, it takes her barely a couple of strides in either direction, but that doesn’t seem to stop her).

The ice had turned to lead in Laurel’s insides, and she can only whisper: “Please don’t ask me that.” The answer seems to physically hit Larissa, because she recoils and stops dead in her motion, before once again crossing the room, and falling to her knees besides Laurel’s chair. Laurel can only watch her, feeling as if her eyes are bulging out of her skull in surprise (What is the meaning of this?).

But then Larissa’s eyes are looking up at her, pleading, (she’s definitely been crying, there’s no denying it from this up close) and she begs her: “Please, at least let me take you to the nearest specialist. I can pay for the surgery. Please don’t just give up.” And there are tears in Laurel’s eyes too because she cannot explain to her, because Larissa is a good person who feels bad for her friend and she wouldn’t be able to understand. So she just shakes her head, no, she wouldn’t go to the surgeon. (She’d never give up her love).

She’s surprised when Larissa grabs her shoulders and shouts (Larissa Weems is not a woman who shouts when she’s angry – she only shouts when she is scared and overwhelmed). “BUT YOU CANNOT JUST DIE!” and Laurel brings her hands tenderly to Larissa’s face and tries to wipe away her tears, and tries to put on a brave face, and tell her boss that everybody has to die sooner or later and that is a fact of life (she doesn’t tell her how scary the thought of dying is).

And then Larissa is not only crying, but she’s shaking with sobs, and her voice is small and soft and broken when she tries to argue against that. “But you cannot just die, because, because…” And then, smaller, softer, and even more broken “…because I love you.”

And just like that, the oppression that was getting heavier and heavier against Laurel’s breastbone suddenly lifts, and she is cured of her ailment. And she feels lighter and more alive and happier than she’s ever felt is her life up until now because she’s not dying, after all (at least, not quicker than any other person), she’s not going to cough up petals anymore, and, most importantly, her feelings are returned.

Her lips find those of Larissa, and taste the saltiness of her tears on them, lightly, tenderly, before pulling back slightly and murmuring, still unable to fully believe it:

“It’s you. It’s always been you.”

And then their lips meet again and this time it is passionate, overpowering, and filled with requited love.

Liked it? You can find more angst (& other stuff too) on my fanfiction masterlist!

#wednesday (netflix) #wednesday (2022) #larissa x marilyn #larissa/laurel #laurissa #larissa weems x marilyn thornhill #larissa weems x laurel gates #larissa weems x laurel gates|marilyn thornhill #dianneking #dianneking writes #dianneking fanfiction #angst fairy #it's angst yall #tw:disease #tw: not quite unrequited love #tw: spoilers #tw: spoilers for season 1 wednesday #spoilers for season 1 wednesday #tw: angst #laurel/larissa #larissa weems fanfiction #larissa weems #laurel gates fanfiction #laurel gates #marilyn thornhill #marilyn thornhill fanfiction #FEELINGS #TW: FEELINGS #may trope mayhem 2023 #duck prints press

[sporadicnickelbakeryshoe]

From committer of a crime

A woman who has had a powerful presence in my life, who inspired me to persevere, overcome obstacles, and not back down? That person is my Mum. She is the most kind-hearted and fair human in the whole world. Our relationship has not always been so easy because I think paradoxically we have so much, even too much, in common. She had a tough childhood and marriage. My father is not a bad person but addictions have significantly impacted his personality and attitude to life. My childhood was neither an easy one, but my Mum did everything she could for me. Each time I failed, I knew I would receive constructive criticism from her. But I also knew that she would protect me from this world. I frequently heard from her ‘I will love you despite everything’. And she did. She taught me how not to be afraid but to be determined. I suppose all my achievements and even that I am still alive are thanks to her. She taught me how to combine kindness and strength (I did not believe that these two traits could be combined in one person). She was a very beautiful woman who could shine despite the bleak situation in her life, especially in our house. Her blond hair and appearance reminded me of Marylin Monroe…. her personality too, so it isn’t a surprise that Marylin Monroe still is my idol. 

Let’s come back to my life. I was 19, I suppose when my Dad woke me up with the phrase ‘Your Mum is dying’. She had lost consciousness. Since that time I have hated mornings. Sometimes I would rather never wake up again. 

My Mum had breast cancer which she didn’t want to treat. She refused to go to the hospital. She wanted to die. I couldn’t bear that. I started my investigation of hospitals that can perform urgent operations. There were none available because of COVID-19 measures. My Dad was too helpless to take responsibility so I realized that if not me then who? That evening we called the ambulance. I suppose if we hadn’t she would have not suffered so much.

The long days and nights began. I abandoned my studies (fortunately teachers understood and gave me the opportunity to pass exams later), and spent all the time next to my Mum’s hospital bed. I had never been responsible for somebody ill. It was new for me. I had time to think and consider my life. My attitude to Mum. I was and still am a rude person who can say tough things to important people. I blame myself for not being humble and understanding. I am a monster. My Mum always wanted to help me with my life and support but she did not receive the same attitude from me. Knowing she had been ill (despite the fact she hadn’t wanted to be cured) I had let her make all household chores by herself, I had not offered my help. Knowing that she had been suffering enormous pain, I had not taken responsibility for any physical work which should have been done. When she had been suffering mentally when she had yelled at me…I had not recognized these signs as a call for help but had become in a defensive position making her suffer more.        

One day I came back home to rest for a couple of hours. When I returned back to the hospital I saw my Mum deadly pale. I immediately forced the nurse to do a blood analysis. Mum was taken to the resuscitation ward. I was not allowed here so I returned home. That was one time I saw my Dad crying and believed that he could change (spoiler: he cannot). It was May. Everything was green. It was raining. I was standing under that rain. I was not crying but praying. The sun appeared. I thought it was a good sign. 

Eventually, in a couple of weeks, my Mum was taken to a big city for an operation. She was so tiny after that. Then I realized how much she suffered. I saw her tiny body in her tiny clothes. She was so weak. I believe it was that time when I saw her inner nature…. So vulnerable and fragile. It was different from what everybody used to see. She was always a strong woman who knew what she wanted, and how to achieve her aim. Now she needed protection. And I couldn't give her that. My Dad was drinking again so I couldn't rely on his help. 

Then she started recovering. Long courses of chemotherapy began. She lost all of her fabulous hair. I do not know whether she wanted to survive. My Mom always had been the kind of person who wants to help everyone, to make other people’s lives easier. With this illness, she started realizing that no one cares about her. That she always had not been ‘enough’. Not enough supportive, not enough kind, not enough beautiful. She frequently said that she feels guilty about something she even did not know. 

I committed a crime. My Dad had gone to Poland to earn money for Mum’s treatment and I… I went to another city to continue my studies. I left her alone. How could I? I even could shout at her through the phone if she told me things I didn’t want to hear. Oh my goddess what kind of a bitch I was. 

Some months passed and I received an offer to go to Lithuania as an exchange student. My Mum was enormously happy about that. I was doubting whether I should go. She persuaded me that everything will be okay. That was the first time I went somewhere abroad. I was so excited about the plane because I hadn’t ever traveled by plane. Finally, I reached the dormitory where I was supposed to live. It was night. Thanks to my incompetent teacher who was responsible for these studies I hadn’t been aware of the requirement to fill in the form to be able to live in the dormitory. My Mum was constantly writing to me because she was worrying of course. I was rude. Taking into consideration that I did not fill in the form, I was forced to spend the night in the dormitory hall. There were sofas where I tried to sleep, and it was very cold. 

In the morning when a manager of the dormitory came and let me in the room, I was crying. I saw a fabulous view from the windows and the dawn. I recorded a video for my Mum and sent it to her. She started calling me but I was not able to connect to the dormitory Wi-Fi and didn’t have a Lithuanian sim card so the connection was horrible. I was crying and in despair. I let my emotions fall on my Mum. She was soothing me to the fullest extent. She was so supportive and I was a monster. 

After a couple of hours of sleep, I tried to call her again. The connection was worse. I was so irritated. And again she received my negative emotions. I was supposed to attend the excursion so I started preparing for it. I sent a message to her saying sorry for my behavior. She answered that everything will be okay and I shouldn’t blame myself for that. ‘It is just an aggressive chemotherapy’ was the last answer I received. I had a wonderful time on the excursion and after coming back to the dormitory I received a call from my aunt that Mum is in hospital. Her condition became worse and Mum was taken to the resuscitation ward. I wrote her another message with apologies. This message was never read. I was praying again. 

With no more news, I started preparing to go to bed. Then I received another call from my brother. He said that my Mum passed away three hours ago. The spectrum of my emotions is difficult to describe. During all the years she was ill I prayed before sleep for her health. Everything was in vain. I was furious. Why didn’t she call? Why didn’t she say goodbye to me? Why was I so rude to her? Why was I such a monster? I almost didn’t sleep that night. I didn’t even attend the farewell ceremony because I would be disqualified from the program. Everybody persuaded me that she wanted me to stay there. Probably such a way of things is better for me. Thanks to her I knew I must live. I must be as strong as she was. This was my first time abroad, and I lost the most vital person in my life. 

P.S. I don’t know what others write here. I will just write some thoughts with the hope that you, the person who is reading this, will hear. Keep your emotions. Keep your rude words. Remember that each conversation can be the last one. Do not repeat my mistakes. Say words of love to people who you love. Memento mori.

#personalessay #short essay #essay #narrating

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

What is the headverse version of Stephanie Brown like?

Daughter of registered nurse Agnes Crystal Bellinger-Brown and Arthur Brown*, Steph grew up in the shadow of not only her father's criminal career and eventual death, but also the destruction of large parts of Gotham by Bane. Her mother became addicted to prescription painkillers and Steph struggled at school, constantly getting in fights despite (or because of) her intimidating intellect and perfect test scores.

Inspired by a mix of resentment for her criminal father and her memory of Batman's actions in defeating Bane, Steph became Spoiler, undermining her father specifically before branching out to Gotham's larger criminal underbelly...naturally bringing her to the attention of Batman, though it was ultimately his apprentices Tim Drake and Harper Row would become most significant her life. Steph and Tim would date briefly, but Harper would go on to be the love of Steph's life, helping to raise her child Leslie while Steph was in med school.

While always Spoiler at heart, Steph played a few roles in the Gotham Knights, filling in as Robin and Batgirl alongside Tim and Cass, and eventually spending some time in the role of Nightwing before Cheyenne Fremont eventually took the mantle. While capable in a fight, Steph's inventiveness and quick-thinking always served her better than the martial arts Cass was champion in.

The father of Steph's child, Broderick March, has a connection to Batman as well, the stepson of Bruce's older sibling Samantha Thomas Wayne when they were living as "Lincoln March" and feigning a loving marriage to Rebecca March (The Court of Owls' Doctor Leviticus). With Rebecca's experiments on both Brody and Dexter Dent (at the time reconditioned to believe he was a fictitious child named "Turner Hayes" supposedly orphaned by Batman), it remains to be seen if Leslie Brown carries any generational side effects from the traces of Electrum in her father's body...

*former host of the game show Think Thank Thunk, source of an infamous bit of lost media after Arthur attempted to murder three people associated with the show. The footage is believed to be in the possession of the Wayne Estate.

#dc #headverse #au #ask #anon #stephanie brown #spoiler #batgirl #robin

[lliinnkk]

On the 1st read of Misery, when I found that King wrote the book as a metaphor for addiction, I thought he just meant the pills that Paul needs to stave off the pain of his legs. On the 2nd read tho, it becomes more apparent how Annie herself along with just the narrative as a whole is a rly good metaphor for addiction.

(The rest of this post contains spoilers for Stephen King's book Misery)

I especially love how Paul relates the pain to a piling slowly becoming visible as the tide goes in or out over it: the pain being the piling, the pills being the tide, and Annie being the moon that pulls the tides in and out.

Paul originally starts needing the pills for his pain after the physical trauma of the car accident but soon realises he is addicted to them and also depends on them for the emotional trauma of the accident.

Annie, like addiction, is irrational and controlling, trapping Paul in a house in which he is forced to give up on autonomy, freedom, time and his most recent work that he spent 2 passionate years on. He gives up dignity and will to live and he even murders Annie at the end, finally conquering her.

Annie forces Paul to destroy the only copy of his manuscript and make a new Misery book for her. She is a nurse, described as being maternal and loving, supposedly giving Paul the pills for his own good, to make him feel better, even tho the real, more effective solution for his own good would be to take him to a hospital, which would be a permanent solution to his problem. However, she never intended to let him go after his legs healed. After he heals up enough to just wheel himself around in a wheelchair, she chops off his foot, setting him back even further than he was before, making him need her yet again to stay alive.

She is irrational and neurotic, accusing him of things he would never physically be capable of doing and insisting that she is right no matter how much he tries to defend himself

I fucking love this book, it is now my favourite.

Addiction will trap you and convince you that you need it to live, as you rely on it at least at first in good faith, a coping mechanism for the parts of life that you don't want to think about. But it's not a realistic solution for problems, only hurting you more in the end

Something that also kind of stood out to me about Misery, despite it not being mentioned in the book I don't think, is about how Annie never gave Paul anything to do in all that time he spent alone there when she wasn't there. As far as I can remember, Annie never gives him a book to read, a colouring book, a novel, or playing cards, nothing. Absolutely nothing to do, to keep himself entertained. The only things she gave him were a typewriter and her own presence. I think I remember that they would occasionally watch TV together when their relationship was ok ish but other than that, nothing. He was left alone in the house with only Annie and only things that were related to Annie, not even a radio.

I recall a study which was done on I think rats and I think cocaine. Rats in cages were given cocaine and they took it and became addicted to it. However, rats in cages who were given cocaine and other sources of entertainment and activity did not become addicted. They did take the cocaine occasionally but did not rely on it because they had other ways of enjoying themselves.

That makes me think about how it would've been so much easier for Paul to have become addicted on the pills as a relief for his pain when the only source of entertainment or relief he has was his own mind. At least he had "such a vivid imagination" that he "did not get from (his mother's) side of the family" lol

Anyway I love this book so much, I highly recommend it and I relate to it so much

#my post #books #literature #Stephen King #Misery #stephen king misery #misery stephen King #swearing cw

[florwal]

did charles kill his wife or kidnapp whitney?! why is there a pink room that has curtains covering all the windows in there? he never had kids because his wife disappeared, so the room doesn't add up. i love your save file lmao

SPOILERS but i suggest looking at all of the posts in the #byrd household tag first / big tw cuz the story is kinda dark

charles fell in love with whitney’s grandma (cheyenne byrd) when they were younger. cheyenne thought charles was weird/creepy and didn’t like him, so she got engaged to her (now dead) husband arthur byrd.

charles wrote cheyenne a letter saying she shouldn’t be with arthur and that she should be with him, his parents had died and left their home and all of their money to him. he invited her to live with him, because the house was too big for just him. he said he’d take care of her and she’d regret marrying arthur. cheyenne never wrote him back, got married, had whitney’s mom, and forgot about him.

charles never stopped obsessing over cheyenne but met another woman. around that same time he befriended a strange yet charismatic man (john doe that now lives at the nursing home) and he was part of a cult (the cult of the mother) the real cult leader is unknown but the cult worships the mother plant and sacrifices women that are pregnant/are mothers. charles ends up marrying the other woman and getting her pregnant. that’s why there’s a nursery. he knew he had to sacrifice his wife but he didn’t care. he killed her and buried her in his backyard. he continued to kill random mothers after that. he killed the police chief’s wife and her disappearance is still unsolved.

because charles couldn’t have cheyenne for himself, he chose the next best thing… her daughter. he waited until her daughter was older to pursue her, but he had been stalking both of the women for a very long time. cheyenne’s daughter was struggling with addiction at the time of charles pursing her. he would give her any money and drugs and pretty much anything she wanted. he let her live with him, and ended up getting her pregnant. she was brainwashed into the cult and was willing to sacrifice herself to the mother. they made the plan to let whitney be raised by her grandma, and then once she was old enough and had her own child whitney and her mom would be sacrificed together.

they waited and waited until one day when they found out 17 year old whitney was pregnant with tommy helm’s child. they were watching her for a while too and found the perfect opportunity to kidnap her when she was alone at a park late at night by herself. they took her, brought her to charles house, and kept her there for a few months.

charles had set up a bedroom for when whitney would return to them. that’s the pink room. she stayed in there for a while but she was “disobedient” and tried to escape any chance she could so she ended up being confined to a closet in the room with the séance table. they put a bookcase in front of the closet door and only moved it when they fed her. she fought really hard to escape, but charles, john doe, and whitney’s mom were stronger than she was. her and her mother were both (maybe) sacrificed. there’s more than one skeleton buried in charles’ yard.

in charles’ basement is a shrine for the mother plant, pictures of women covered in blood (including whitney) and a journal explaining it all.

#asks #whitney #whitney byrd

[kyuubi-no-oneechan]

the best kind of date (^_^)

#nurse love addiction #nurse love addiction spoilers

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/18/2022: BLOODLINE (2018)

Spoilers be here.

Sometimes I have to include a movie in my Blogtober program just to be like, "Have you guys seen this shit?!" BLOODLINE is a real oddball, and even if it isn't going to be my favorite discovery of the season, it's the kind of thing I love to stumble upon: A thriller starring a known Hollywood quantity that offers a perplexing blend of ponderous philosophizing and lowdown sleaze.

Seann William Scott, whose name I have been misspelling, plays Evan Cole, a caring social worker who counsels at-risk high school students in the suburbs. At home, his gorgeous Italian wife Lauren (Mariela Garriga) has just given him a little boy, whom he also councils out loud at night. Evan is so devoted to the young because of his own abusive childhood, but social service and fatherhood are not the only outlets for his lingering angst: He is also a serial murderer who takes out his rage on the school district's bad dads.

By now you may feel like you have a handle on the tone of this thing, but it's actually very slippery. Having read the plot summary, I wondered if I were watching the wrong movie when it begins with a graphic shower scene at the end of which a hot, naked nurse is brutally slashed to death by an unseen killer. But no, soon enough we're introduced to Evan's world as expected, where the children of pedophiles, selfish drug addicts, and violent bigots are are surreptitiously freed from their torments by their righteously indignant guidance counselor. The film's CHILD'S PLAY-like color palate enforces a sense of stunted youth, as Evan is most confident in the company or service of children. Meanwhile at home, he struggles with the tension between his wife and his mother Marie (the inimitable Dale Dickie), who battle for supremacy over both Evan and the baby.

The extreme violence with which Evan dispatches a series of cartoon bad guys seems to stand in ironic juxtaposition to the his infantilized status at home, but actually, all this material is a part of the same continuum. The ultimate question of BLOODLINE is not about whether Evan can grow up and manage his subverted frustrations in a more mature way before he gets in too much trouble; it's about whether Lauren is going to be able to get with the program, as she slowly begins to realize what's going on. As it turns out, Evan and Marie are both serial killers, her career having started with Evan's bad dad. Therefore, innocent Lauren is the aberrant one, and her aversion to violence translates to disloyalty to the family—even disloyalty to her husband's whole ethos, which requires him to abandon her and their baby at night to "help" other families. Lauren doesn't have the benefit of Evan and Marie's solidarity, as she is said to have no family at all, having survived her youth by doing things no one dares to mention. Suddenly, it starts to feel like it's really Evan's beautiful young wife who has lost the plot, lacking the philosophical fortitude and sense of commitment enjoyed by her husband and mother-in-law. From there, the movie proceeds accordingly.

I'm not totally sure what BLOODLINE wants from me. It seems to make the mistake of hanging its entire existence on an ironic twist to which all other narrative elements are subservient. The ostensible hero needs no character arc as long as the point of the movie is just to make sure everyone else is on his side. All the gesturing about familial integrity seems kind of silly when it's interspersed with spurting gore effects (and a particularly hilarious and audacious "live birth" scene), and it becomes less and less convincing as the family takes the lives of less and less guilty victims. It's as if TEXAS CHAINSAW has been transplanted to the 'burbs, and the audience is meant to hope with all our hearts that they get to preserve their way of life. With all that said, I have the impression that BLOODLINE would work better as a comedy instead of being so relentless grim—something I practically never prefer! But in the meantime, I enjoy the feeling of being baffled, and of being led to this bizarre conclusion.

#blogtober #blogtober 2022 #bloodline #2018 #henry jacobson #william honley #Avra Fox-Lerne #seann william scott #dale dickie #Mariela Garriga #horror #slasher #thriller #serial killer #serial murder #vigilante

[99point9percentwhump]

I can't believe you posted CI5 whump... I've become totally obsessed. Especially the episode 'discovered in a graveyard'. Also, although there's some great whump in the last episode of season 1, I feel pretty weird about enjoying whump from an episode which is discussing racism in such a vivd and open way. It's amazing that they were discussing this stuff in the 1970s, even if the episode never got aired. How do you feel about it?

Also, I was wondering if you've seen any Inspector George Gently whump, seeing as Martin Shaw gets whumped in that a few times too. Seems like the kinda thing you would enjoy

Ahhhhhh Profs CI5 is my fav I've never been so hooked on a series myself!

I love Insp George Gently 110% funny enough I saw that before Profs CI5 and didnt know for a while why Doyle/Martin Shaw seemed so familiar lol OK I have no problem discussing it my opinion isn't always popular or appreciated but I'm more than willing to give it :)

Ep spoilers and topic discussion 👇

Firstly Klansmen ep is one of the best for whump isnt it?! not many have the boys both whumped and separated unable to help the other!

Secondly in relation to the topic, is it a very heavy ep, oh yeah.

Should you feel weird liking it?

I don't think so at all, this series pulls no punches when getting into topics esp topics that were new for the time including but not limited to: drug addiction (new drugs where on the streets like heroin), prostitution (the various victims and abusers/users), alcoholism, metal illness, homosexuality/gay (not having been legal for long) etc, they show it in as much a reality as a TV show can, it's not pretty it's not clean and it's hard to watch as it should be, so why wouldn't they show racism in the same way

If they'd made it a soft ep it wouldn't carry the same weight as the ep does in my opinion.

Like all topics you get to see a lot of character stress/trauma and even growth which I think is a big part of it as well particularly with Bodie in that ep, if you watch the series everyone knows he has no issues with Blacks but scars from his SAS and mercenary days sometimes show through and I feel this ep helps move passed that a bit as well he goes from using terms that Cowley and Doyle disapprove of to being saved by the Black Doctor and Nurses who deal with his fever induced ramblings and in the conclusion you see Bodie walk away a better person.

I also really felt the way the Doctor and nurse were handled was perfect no matter what he said in his delirium they did what they could to save him and you got to see her face when it started but she never stopped doing her job caring for him. Also in that ep you get the different POV of the locals effected by the baddies attacks you see the fear, physical harm, and death inflicted which is another important point they show its not just looked out from an outsider.

Then in the finale the plot twist showing a man selling out his own ppl funding a hate group for the gains the housing they take over brings.

Never to leave out Doyle ofc his role in this ep while on his own nearly the whole time showed his experience having worked in the rougher parts of the city pre-CI5 how he has a better understanding of the inner city and how he built trust in those days shines through in his interactions with the kid saving him then busting the whole setup.

To try and sum it up I think it is one of the most important eps to watch it happened at the "perfect" time in the series you know the boys enough not to judge reactions in the same way while also witnessing a redemption story of Bodie and then move on to the rest of the series.

Sorry for the long winded talk if I didnt cover or explain something right please feel free to drop in my inbox :)

#Ask #Answer #the professionals ci5 #CI5

[callmebrycelee]

NEW AMSTERDAM REACTION

This reaction is for the season 5, sixth episode titled "Give Me a Sign" which originally aired on October 25, 2022. The episode was written by Gisselle Legere and directed by Jean E. Lee. Spoilers ahead!

New Amsterdam really is on a roll this season and I know some of you may not agree with this sentiment but, as much as I love Dr. Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman), I'm not really missing her presence. Her and Max's relationship and the whole going back and forth between New York City and London became exhausting over time and it also hindered Max from doing the job he set out to do in season one. I don't want to blame everything that happened last season on Max and Helen, but it's very telling that Max seems more centered now that he's out of that relationship. 

So, let's talk about the episode. There were five separate stories in this episode so I'm going to go story by story. Let's start with Dr. Lauren Bloom. When nurse Casey Acosta (Alejandro Hernandez) returns to New Amsterdam, everyone in the ER is excited to have him back, including Lauren who absolutely refuses to admit she is happy to have him back. When Lauren is working on a patient, her phone starts to ring. As Casey attempts to silence the ringer, he sees that Lauren is getting texts from her sister Vanessa.

Casey confronts Lauren, privately, about her being in contact with Vanessa. He asks her what he missed while he was gone. Lauren finally admits that she did miss him while he was gone and she talks about how she would turn to him to ask him for his advice but he wouldn't be there. Since the beginning of the show, Casey has served as Lauren's surrogate older sibling. He always gives it to her straight, even if she doesn't always want to hear it. She calls him her touchstone and her best friend which is such a sweet sentiment. Casey asks why Lauren is so intent to look after her sister at the expense of not taking care of herself. Lauren blames herself for Vanessa's addiction and doesn't want to abandon her.

Lauren checks her voicemail and sees one from Vanessa. It turns out to be a butt-dial and she listens as her sister talks about getting high and drunk. The message ends with her sister telling someone she is going downstairs to get liquor from a place called Leo's. Lauren googles the address, but rather than go confront her sister, she goes to an AA meeting instead. This is growth and hopefully a step in the right direction for Lauren. We've seen her go up and down over the last several seasons and I'm so happy that she is taking baby steps towards prioritizing her health and well-being over others. 

Next up is Dr. Floyd Reynolds. Floyd is still intent on trying to help his dead-beat dad. What I find most interesting about this particular plotline is how a few episodes ago, Iggy made a diagnosis based on the very limited information Floyd provided him and now Floyd has taken that diagnosis and ran with it. I'm no medical professional but I think he should've gotten his father properly diagnosed by qualified medical professionals before going to him and telling him that he is bipolar. Ever since Floyd told his dad that he was bipolar he has taken this information and run with it. 

I was listening to a podcast earlier today, and one of the hosts who is a mental health expert said something along the lines of trauma being something that's not the fault of the person but it's up to that person to take steps to manage their trauma. I feel like the moment Horace Reynolds (John Earl Jelks) learned he was potentially bipolar, instead of taking steps to manage it, he used it to scapegoat Floyd's mother and absolve himself of the trauma he inflicted on his family. 

When Horace starts acting erratically and putting himself in mortal danger by standing in the middle of traffic, Floyd is faced with making a difficult decision. Recognizing his dad is a danger to himself and possibly others, he has him put on an involuntary 72-hour hold. I know there will be some fallout from Floyd's decision and I hope whatever happens, he takes a page out of Lauren's book and decides to put himself first.

Dr. Max Goodwin and Dr. Elizabeth Wilder's stories intersect at the beginning of the episode, but I found hers way more compelling than his. Wildwin is very much in motion, literally, because when we first see these two they are jogging together. I've said before that I like the idea of these two being love interests and I think they do a great job of not making Wilder a replacement for Sharpe, but I wish we got to see their burgeoning relationship from her point-of-view. Everything we see regarding them is filtered through Max's perspective and I wonder what she thinks about him. Max keeps Elizabeth from nearly being mowed down by a car but two other passersby aren't so lucky. A young man named Rafael (KJ Aikens) and his grandmother, Ana (Delores Hunter) are struck by the vehicle and taken to New Amsterdam hospital. While Elizabeth goes to work treating the two patients, Max is accosted by a kooky lawyer named Callie Cruz (Aida Turturro). This is where Max and Elizabeth's stories diverge. 

Max's storyline is the weakest of the episode. Long story short, Max takes it upon himself to get a crosswalk installed at the very same intersection where the accident happened. We watch as he has time to go to court with Callie Cruz and even find some city workers to paint the crosswalk. In true Max fashion, all of his efforts are seemingly for naught and the episode ends with him, Elizabeth and Callie illegally painting a crosswalk that will more than likely end up getting painted over. 

Elizabeth's storyline is way more compelling and frankly more realistic. While Max is off galavanting around New York City, Elizabeth stays behind to treat Rafael and his grandmother. Rafael manages to come away from the accident with a few bumps and bruises but Ana isn't so fortunate. Ana needs to have surgery, an extremely risky surgery that could result in her being paralyzed from the waist down, and with Ana unable to make the decision herself, Rafael is left to make it on her behalf as her designated healthcare proxy. 

I felt so bad for Rafael. I can't imagine being that young and having to make a decision where there was a 50/50 chance the person you love is going to be able to walk or not afterwards. I thought Elizabeth and Floyd did a great job of being honest with Rafael and coaching him through a very difficult decision. Rafael determines that his grandmother should have the surgery because she is the type of person who never backs down from a situation. Ultimately, the worse becomes reality when Ana is left paralyzed after the surgery. The scene that follows was beyond heartbreaking. I felt so bad for Rafael because he will have to go the rest of his life questioning whether or not he made the right decision. He, like Lauren and Floyd, made the best decision they could make in a shitty situation and unfortunately there are consequences. 

Our final story of the night is actually my favorite and it involves a very competent Dr. Iggy Frome, something we don't often get on this show. At the beginning of the episode, we get a Iggy gets his groove back montage. We see him petting puppies, at an art museum, on a nature hike, and attending a wine tasting. The museum tour guide asks Iggy what feelings the painting he is standing in front of is invoking in him and that's when Iggy says that he has ruined his life. I think that's a bit of an overstatement but I do think Iggy was very rash in his decision to leave Martin and probably should've thought things through a little bit.

Iggy doesn't have too long to contemplate his navel because his case of the day involves a young boy named Jael Gonzalez (Oliver Reilly) who is deaf. Jael, clearly, has been having a difficult time as of late and has even been acting out and when Iggy asks his parents (Justin Huen, Natalie Woolams-Torres) if he knows ASL, they tell him that Jael's pediatrician recommended not having him learn sign language, holding out hope that he can become a verbal communicator. Iggy tells the parents that because he has gone so long without being able to communicate, his development is stunted. I felt so bad for Jael. I can't imagine not being able to communicate with those around me. He is unable to communicate using words and he is being discouraged from talking with his hands. To make matters worse, the pandemic came and people started wearing masks which means now Jael can't read lips. The level of isolation Jael is feeling can't be fully understood because he can't effectively communicate how he feels. If the theme of this episode is people being placed in situations where they have to make difficult decisions, it's safe to say that Jael's parents' decision to keep him cut off from the world was a poor, poor decision. 

Iggy does what he does best by sitting Jael down and having a conversation with him using a mixture of hand gestures and carefully sounding out words so Jael can read his lips. In the moments we see Jael interact with Iggy, it's like he's a brand-new person. There's a light within him that we didn't see when we first met him and it took very little effort on Iggy's part to bring that light to his eyes.

The solution to Jael's case comes in the form of Iggy telling his parents that he has found a school in Massachusetts, which is four hours away, where Jael can be treated. Admittedly it must be hard to send your small child away to a different state to be treated but honestly, I feel like the parents owe it to Jael because their action, or rather their inaction, has placed him in the position he is currently in. I thought Iggy was wonderful in this story and this is the Iggy I wish we got more of. He is super competent at his job and we finally got to see it.

Iggy's story arc ends with him going to the very small gym in New Amsterdam. Now this scene threw me at first because I thought Iggy was vibing with the guy lifting weights. Turns out that was not the point of this scene. The guy encourages Iggy to do some dead-lifts and Iggy does one. After he does one rep, we are led to believe that he has an epiphany of sorts. the Iggy we saw at the beginning of this episode was lamenting the direction his life is heading in. Hopefully going forward, Iggy will begin to put the pieces of his shattered existence back together again.

Overall, I would rate this episode a 7.5 out of 10. I think we've gotten better episodes this season and I think we have some amazing episodes headed our way. What really weighed this episode down was Max and Floyd's storylines. Max works best when he's in the hospital, so taking him out of New Amsterdam felt jarring at times and I kept thinking to myself, surely this man can't be this naive about how the world works. As for Floyd, I'm still unsure as to what his endgame is when it comes to his dad. I think he'd be better off investing his time in relationships that could actually go somewhere. I've always suspected that while Dr. Floyd Reynolds is a great doctor, the writers don't know what to do with him when he's outside of the operating room. As for what worked about this episode, I really like Elizabeth and Iggy's storylines. I thought they did a great job of illustrating how the decisions we make in our day to day life can have a lasting impact on those we love. After the episode, I saw the preview for the next episode and it looks like our characters will be dealing with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I'm sure this will be a powerful episode and I can't wait to watch it and write about it. Until next time ...

#tv reaction #blw reactions #new amsterdam #nbc new amsterdam #New Amsterdam season 5 #iggy frome #tyler labine #max goodwin #ryan eggold #floyd reynolds #jocko sims #lauren bloom #janet montgomery #elizabeth wilder #sandra mae frank

[mineofilms]

Choke (The Novel vs The Film)

So, after a few years of wondering, I finally listened to the audiobook of Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke," a literary mashup of a man’s torment by his dysfunctional relationship with his mother that transcended him to dysfunctional relationships with women in general.

—Mild Spoilers to Both the Novel and Film—

Meet Victor Mancini, the poster child for dysfunctional adulthood. He's a sex addict who works at a colonial-era theme park, pretending to “choke” on his food to con good Samaritans into saving him so he can pay for his mother’s expensive medical and mental healthcare bills. The dude is like the superhero of self-destructive behavior. His life is a masterclass in how not to adult, “what would Jesus NOT do,” and he's proud of it. Victor's mother, Ida, is in a nursing home, battling dementia and revealing some shocking family secrets. As Victor grapples with his mother's deteriorating mind, the story unveils some mind-bending truths that you'll either love or hate.

Victor's support group for sex addicts is where all the fun and games really begin. Picture a room full of people with more quirks than a circus sideshow but look every bit of living in a real circus. As Victor navigates this motley crew of misfits, you'll find yourself questioning what it means to be "normal," what normal may be, and whether any of us really fit that mold or not. "Choke" challenges societal norms and questions what it means to be human in a world where our quirks and flaws are laid bare for all to see. It's dark, it's funny, and it's bound to leave you with more questions than answers. Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke" is a provocative, twisted, and unapologetically raw exploration of the human condition. It's a journey through the absurdity of life, where Victor Mancini's self-destructive sexcapades serve as a mirror reflecting our own flaws and quirks.

The 2008 film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke," directed by Clark Gregg; best known for portraying Agent Phil Coulson from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Iron Man/Avengers films) and starring Sam Rockwell, follows the general plot and themes of the novel. There are instances where it follows very closely to the book. However, some of the characters like Denny and their arcs are much different in the film over the novel. These secondary characters are major points in the book where they are dummied down or paraphrased in the film, if mentioned at all. There are a number subplots that are not explored in the film or are heavily abbreviated. The inner monologs, while used in the film, are not nearly as dominant as they are in the book. The inner monologs in the book are the center point of the story. They are used heavily in the “FIGHT CLUB” film adaption and a center-point to the plot of the film. In “Choke” they are used to a much lesser degree. “Choke” the novel; is told as inner thoughts over the film that tries to bring a three-act structure to what would be random inner thoughts of scenes played out in a person’s life. The book has no story structure like a movie where there is a beginning, middle and end. The book is much more random how it tells the story. The Ending of the film is completely different than the novel. The movie takes a more straightforward dark-humor, love-story approach and provides a more optimistic and conclusive “happily-ever after” ending for Victor and Paige. In the book it is much more uncertain and dark about their future as she was a mental patient and not a doctor as she claimed.

In the book she claims to be a time traveler from the year 2556 and needs to get pregnant to bring the unborn child to the future. However in the film, she was a med student like Victor that ended up having a nervous breakdown when she got her first B in school. She self-checked into the hospital and her plot is completely different from that of the book. The revelation about Victor's true identity and Ida's manipulating Victor his entire life from since he was a small boy is heavily downplayed in the movie. It is in there, but it isn’t as important as it is in the book. In the book it is clear she is nuts about a lot of things, but it is never centered upon as to what is actually wrong with her. Her having mental issues isn’t really important outside that she has mental problems. The specifics of those mental problems are not very important to Victor’s journey in the confines of the story. Merely that they are there and have affected him as he grew up.

The movie is solid. It’s more understandable as a story. The book really hashes out how FK’d up Victor really is. That, most of his problems are dummied down in the movie over the film or have more dark humor tone to them. The book is much darker than the film, but the film is a great dark satire of the source material from the novel. It’s a good watch, but if you want to know the ins and outs of the characters; the novel serves this better…

Is it a Good Watch Though?

I thought so... I saw it once when it came out in 2008 and once 11/3/2023. Both watches were good. Now that I read the book though I think the movie is less as far as telling its story but it’s still good. It’s still very much worth a watch. Just the movie is more a dark-humored twisted love story where the book is more a commentary about the subject of love of a man that has serious mommy issues and is trying to gain some closure as his mother is dying.

I guess you can say the story, in general, is a coming of age tale, but told from a very FK’d up person, in a really messed up situation…

Choke (The Novel vs The Film) by David-Angelo Mineo 11/9/2023 1,000 Words

#blogger #bloggers #bloggerstyle #bloggerlife #bloggerslife #bloggerswanted #bloggerlifestyle #bloggerin #bloggersofinstagram #bloggerlove #bloggersgetsocial #bloggervibes #bloggerdiaries #bloggergram #bloggerpost #writer #writersofinstagram #writersofig #writers #writerscommunity #palahniuk #choke #fightclub #tylerdurden #tourist #slide #support #sexaddict #sexaddiction #makethecheckoutto

[shy-mel]

I finished this game over a week ago but I am finally getting around to my write up of it.  The spoiler free version of my write up is that the game isn’t really compelling during the common route and starts throwing in several twists during three character routes, which dilutes their impact as you’re waiting for another twist to “upstage” the previous one.  Below there will be spoilers and disturbing content so read at your own risk.

As much as I dislike teacher student relationships, the route with Kaede is honestly the best one because it doesn’t seem like the writer was trying to be edgy with any reveals and while the bad is ending of course bad (it has cheating), it doesn’t turn Asuka into a danger to others.

Nao’s route has the player learn that the two are not biological siblings, that they were both part of lab experiments (Sakuya and were also involved)in which Asuka was found to be unable to use her powers while Nao was kept by herself because she was the strongest user, that after a lab fire Nao used her powers to get her and Asuka adopted by the same family, the phrase Nao says when Asuka gets headaches is Nao actually preventing Asuka’s lab memories from coming back, and that Nao’s powers are growing weaker, so she starts taking drugs that don’t end up helping.

Ew.  So in the good end, Asuka doesn’t forgive Nao for being a manipulator.  The two get together and I guess we’re supposed to pretend that it’s not creepy, just like in Period Cube (these two games share many negative qualities).  In the bad end, Asuka does forgive Nao, which causes Nao to feel bad, drop out of nursing school, and turn into Asuka’s sex slave.  

During Sakuya’s route we learn about the lab again, that Asuka and Sakuya were in love, that Sakuya had a twin sister and the following: Sakuya’s sister Kyoko died in the fire and is sharing Sakuya’s head space, which then turns out to be untrue as it turns out Sakuya died and has been lingering around in Kyoko’s head.  Sakuya is starting to fade away because she is using her powers.  Also Kyoko is really angry that Asuka forgot about Sakuya so she does very reasonable things like this:

So in the good ending, Asuka tells Kyoko that she picks her over Sakuya.  Before Saukya fades away though, the two have a school rooftop wedding.  Time then passes and we get this scene:

Now this is supposed to be a sweet scene, but how does Sakuya’s consciousness get into the kid?  I can’t think of any good ways for that to happen.  In the bad ending, Asuka picks Sakuya and basically tells Kyoko she doesn’t care about her.  Saukya (and Kyoko) end up passing on, but Asuka gets the body up to the school roof and has a corpse bride wedding.

Last but not least, in  Itsuki’s route we learn most of the stuff from the previous routes, along with the fact that Asuka used to be a brat and that Itsuki seemed to have her current personality to cope with the loss of Asuka.

The two get together in the good ending after Itsuki fees Asuka from being kidnapped.  Nao and Sakuya do not like this, with the latter becoming violent about it.  The bad ending though, oh boy.

Cannibalism!  

So after playing the entire game, I really wish a different yuri game was the first one to hit the Vita.  This one has pacing issues, plot issues, and Asuka acting entirely out of character in three of the bad endings.  The latter point makes the endings more “wut” than disturbing because the jumps they take to reach the endings make no sense with what we know of Asuka.  

She is a hard to motivate, dependent, forgetful, naive, and barely over 100 pounds.  Do we really think she would get wedding dresses on her own and drag Sakuya’s body up the stairs?  Does Asuka sexually abusing her sister seem like a reasonable act with her personality traits?  Buying a new fridge, chopping up another student, and eating said student to “become one” seems more like a horror version of Amelia Bedelia than Asuka.  Not going to lie though, Nao walking in during that ending and basically “Nope”-ing out was probably the best part of the ending.

On another note, I wish more characters had sprite work than just Asuka and her love interests.  A couple characters do show up in CGs, but sprites as well would have been nice.  I don’t remember the music, so not much to say here.  The character design is okay, but I wish they gave Asuka different colors in her outfit so she isn’t one pink blob.

Nurse Love Addiction feels like it was trying to out-edge School Days, but with less of the buildup that makes School Days’ pacing flow better and I would argue memorable.  For another example, imagine if Modoka Magica placed all of the plot revelations towards the last two episodes versus having them paced out over the series.

In the end, the game did not satisfy me, and I think it tries to do several clashing things at once versus picking one and sticking with it.

#Nurse Love Addiction #Nurse Love Addiction spoilers #spoilers #PS Vita #Degica

[wayfaringmd]

Wayfaring, do you have any fiction book recommendations? :)

Sure! I typically read a good mix of fiction and nonfiction, but this year I actually was more fiction heavy, and there were some really good ones. None except The Pull of the Stars are remotely medical. I keep my medical reading in the nonfiction realm. I’ll try to give a teeny summary of each.

Gold Diggers, by Sanjena Sathian. An Indian American family in Georgia try to get ahead in life using a magical mix of Ayurveda and alchemy, but the illicit source of their supplies get them in trouble.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid. An aging and very private movie star gives her life story to a no-name magazine reporter. Very early in the book spoiler alert: her soul mate is not among the husbands.

Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid. A white influencer tries to save her black babysitter who has had a video of one of her public experiences with racism go viral against her wishes.

The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig. There are infinite possible directions your life could go in, and the protagonist gets a chance to sample some of her other lives which have been driven by different choices she has made. When your life is a choose your own adventure novel, you quickly see that the adventures are not always what you thought they’d be.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, by Robert Dugoni. An ophthalmologist with ocular albinism looks back on how he ran from what he was told was God’s will in Catholic school and discovers his purpose in life with the help of his 2 lifelong best friends.

The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner. A history buff on vacation discovers an old medicine bottle in the Thames and sets off to uncover the 200 year old mystery of a secret apothecary shop that “helped out” women in dangerous marriages.

The Darkest Child, by Dolores Phillips. Tangy Mae Quinn is the darkest skinned of her mother’s 10 children, and her mother hates her for it. None of her siblings have fathers, but her mother, a prostitute, values them based on their skin tone and forces them all to leave school and work from age 12 as field laborers or housekeepers. Tangy Mae is destined to follow her mother into sex work but she has won a spot in the high school’s first integrated class and she is bound and determined to avoid her mother’s influence.

The Pull of the Stars, by Emma Donoghue. Ireland, WWI, 1919 flu pandemic, a struggling understaffed maternity ward. A nurse is helped by a young volunteer and a rebel female doctor evading the police. Over the course of 3 days they face life, death, and secret love, changing each others’ lives in the process.

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters, by Balli Kaur Jaswal. Three British born Punjabi sisters who are as different as they could possibly be from each other grudgingly honor their mother’s wish to spread her ashes together in their homeland. Along the way they make many unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and the last trip she took to India.

Medicine Walk, by Richard Wagamese. Eldon is drinking himself to death. He calls his 16 year old son Frank, with whom he has had little to no relationship, and asks him to accompany him through the mountains to give Eldon a traditional Ojibway burial. The two connect over Eldon’s telling of his difficult life of poverty, war, and addiction.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab. Addie is born in 1714 and makes a deal with a devil to live forever. For 300 years she is forgotten by everyone she meets, until she stumbles across a bookstore clerk who remembers her name.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, by Anissa Gray. When Althea and her husband Proctor are arrested , their reputations as pillars of the community are smashed. Althea’s sisters join forces to raise Althea’s daughters in the house they grew up in to keep them away from their brother Joe, a now charming but once extremely cruel pastor.

Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi. A Ghanaian- American PhD candidate studies addiction in mice, hoping to one day find a cure for the disease of addiction that killed her beloved brother. As she searches in science for answers to her life’s problems she grapples with the faith from her childhood in Alabama which now eludes her.

The Wife Upstairs, by Rachel Hawkins. Jane, a gold digging broke dog walker goes after a gated community’s most eligible widower, Eddie Rochester. As they fall for each other she wonders if she can measure up to the legendary memory of his self made millionaire deceased wife. Rumors about his wife’s mysterious death circulate around the community and Jane has her own suspicions as well as her own secrets to hide. A modern take loosely based on Jane Eyre.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton. Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day. Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until her killer is identified. Aiden Bishop must save her, but to add another layer of difficulty he will wake up in the body of a different houseguest every day. Definitely would recommend reading the hard copy and not the audio version, as it’s very twisty and hard to follow on audible.

#book suggestions #fiction #not medblr

[anotheranimewriter]

The Green Monster

Starting the new jealous series off with Manjiro Sano.. because uhh why not?? I'm still working on finishing up the last two MTTRB series.

I've got a couple of the guys lined up already for this series, but if you guys have any suggestions or request, I'm all ears.

CW: 17+, lots of sensual play here.. Bonten!Mikey x Reader, uhh no manga spoilers, maybe a few personality differences, heavy cursing, a slight bit of violent hands and a sprinkle of degradation.

He rested his back against the headboard of the bed as he watched her carefully, catching a glimpse of his hand prints on her hips, a smirk slipped through his lips. “Let me ask you something.” He called from the bedroom as he watched her walk out of the bathroom to lean against the doorframe “What’s up, big boss Bonten?” She teased catching the slight shift in Mikey’s face as she pulled herself off the doorframe and made her way to the bed. “How many other people are you sleeping with?” He asked, his attention now hyperfixed on her, he wasn’t looking for a relationship by any means, but he also wasn’t willing to share the one person he kept around.

“And why would I tell you that? So you can send a hit out on them?” She questioned as his arms left their original placement on his torso, grabbing onto her legs pulling them towards him. Her back gently hit the mattress as he climbed over her, looking down at her for a slight second admiring the sight, her beautiful caring eyes, her lips, her natural face, all true sight of beauty, and even though this would’ve normally distracted him on any other day, tonight wasn’t one of them.

Leaning down he brought his lips to the shell of her ear “My men saw you. Parading yourself around like some show whore.” He snapped as she let out a gasp hitting his exposed chest “Excuse me? Last time I checked Sano. We’re just having sex. You call me for a booty call, not a girlfriend for the night.” She countered even though they both knew that was a blatant lie. He didn’t call her for just sex, he called her when he was beaten and needed to be patched up, he called her when he wasn’t feeling too well so she could nurse him back to health, he called her when he was stressed or even when he missed her voice, but those were the actions that they were both aware of but never spoke on them.

“I don’t give a fuck what I call you for. You’re mine. I own you, and I don't like sharing things I own.” He growled now sliding his hands down to her wrist before moving them upwards pinning her wrist with his one hand as he held them over her head. “I’m no ones Sano.” She snapped as he let out a low chuckle “What the fuck did you just say, slut?” He lowered his lips from the shell of her ear to her neck.

Placing rough, sloppy kisses along the curve, nibbling against her skin to agitate the nerves, painting her neck a beautiful shade of red as he felt her squirm underneath him. “Sano. Stop. We agreed on no marking!” She demanded as she felt him chuckle against her tender flesh “I can mark my slutty princess all I want. You belong to me. Isn’t that what you told the guy at the bar?” He taunted as he pulled away from her “Hmm, if I remember correctly you said ‘See blondie? That’s Big Daddy Bonten. That’s my man.’ He mimicked her causing her to laugh as she shook her head.

“I only said that cause you’re scary and he was annoying.” She tried to reason with him but he wasn’t listening to her words, shaking her head “You didn’t answer my question. How many other people are you sleeping with?” He said separating each part of his question as he brought his other hand to her neck tightly gripping the tender flesh as he smirked while watching her squirm underneath him “No one. Only you.” She gasped out arching her back upwards to release some tension from his grip.

A faint chuckle left his lips as he removed his hand from her throat, sliding it down her torso, carefully toying at the waistband of her shorts “Who do you belong to?” He questioned looking at her eyes, watching tears slip, leaning toward he carefully kissed the tears away, passing her waistband and placing his hand straight to her core “Who owns you.” He demanded as he used his index and pointer finger to separate her folds while brushing his middle finger to her core causing her hips to buck into him involuntarily.

“Such a good slut. My little good slut.” He taunted, as his moved his face to now hover over her lips “I asked you a fucking question.” He snapped as he slipped a finger in her watching her eyes nearly roll back from the contact “You.” She let out breathlessly as Mikey slipped another digit inside of her “Who!” He barked as she let out a soft whimper, his digits now picking up the speed “You. Manjiro. You.” She cried as he began to cross his fingers inside of her, allowing his tongue to thread across his bottom lip.

He couldn’t help but love the way his name sounded from her lips. “How many people have you slept with?” He snarled as she shook her head “No one. No one can please me like you Manjiro.” She responded and for the first time since he heard about her and some random guy, he felt the fire in his chest subside. He knew he was no good for her or for a relationship, but he also knew he was too addicted to her to let her slip from his grasp “That’s my good little slut. All mine.” He said bringing his lips right back to her neck, to continue his little love trail for everyone to see tomorrow, because even if they would never become official everyone was going to know that (Y/N) (Y/L/N) belonged to someone, and that someone being none other than Mikey.

#mikey tokyo revengers imagine #mikey sano imagines #mikey sano #mikey tokyo revengers #tokyo revenger imagines #tokyo manji revengers #tokyo revengers imagine #mikey sano smut #manjiro sano #mikey sano x reader #tokyo revengers smut #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers imagines #imagine