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utilitycaster · 4 years

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what do you think are the different strengths of the GMs in the various actual plays you watch?

This is a good question.

The actual plays I watch or have watched are:

Critical Role (caught up)

TAZ (caught up, so I’m going to use Griffin as the GM since Travis is newer to it - I think he’s doing a good job, it just feels weird to judge him based on four episodes).

Relics and Rarities (finished...hopefully they do a second season?)

Dimension 20 (caught up on Fantasy High/Fantasy High Live, finished Escape from the Bloodkeep, am still relatively early on in Unsleeping City)

[I also just started listening to Rusty Quill Gaming, but I’m like 4 episodes in and right now they’re still sort of getting used to the Pathfinder rules so it’s going a little slowly; I’m not including Undeadwood for a couple reasons, but mostly it was short, I don’t know the rpg system used very well, and I never watched Deadwood so its harder for me to judge a couple aspects of Brian’s GM-ing but I did really like it]

Anyway:

Critical Role - I mean, it’s kind of established fact that Matt Mercer is exceptionally good in pretty much all ways at DM-ing, so I’ll focus on some things he does particularly well.

He’s the only DM/GM here for whom I can’t think of any examples where I was like “that seemed kind of railroaded”. Like, I’m sure he’s done the DM trick of “both paths lead to the same end”, and I don’t blame other DMs for doing this - it’s tough when people get super chaotic - but it’s definitely admirable and something I really appreciate because while it means things can go very badly, it also puts the plot in the hands of the players.

To that end I think the reason he can have such an open world is because of how built out the world of Exandria is. And again - I love the worldbuilding the other GMs I’m going to talk about have, and this is more a recognition of how incredibly detailed and thorough his world is.

TAZ - So I think all the GMs on this list do a great job with NPCs and making us care deeply about them, and all of them do that through having the NPCs clearly have lives even when the camera isn’t on them, so to speak, but I believe this is absolutely one of Griffin’s strengths and worth recognizing.

I also think he’s had probably the most unique worlds in terms of structure - I also love extraplanar weirdness as a setting and were I to run a serious, long-running game that’s something I’d want to incorporate.

Relics and Rarities - I mentioned this before, but I think Deborah Ann Woll did the best job of running a game that could make another GM say “Oh, I could do that!” - and not in the sense of her DM-ing not being very good and experienced, but rather it was episodic, and the props were for the most part home-made (which is something she specifically talked about being a goal). Don’t get me wrong, I love a giant battle-map, and I should note that TAZ probably doesn’t use fancy maps being a podcast and played over skype, and that CR used graph paper until the Chroma Conclave arc, but I loved the homemade puzzles and thought they were really creative and yet accessible. As for being an episodic game - it’s a particular style, and it works well if you run a game for beginners or if you can’t meet that regularly, both of which are true for me. It’s hard to make a story that works both as a series of one shots but with a through line as well, and she did an excellent job with it.

She also did, as some of those episodes, some very good self-contained mysteries. All the GMs here did a great job of having characters uncover mysteries, but it’s really hard to run a mystery in a couple of hours, rather than over the course of a long-running game.

Dimension 20: As the explicit comedy one, I have to recognize the amazing improv in this game. Several of the most iconic NPCs or funniest scenes were almost entirely made up on the spot. I think to be a really good and flexible DM you either have to be like Matt Mercer and already have almost every answer thought out, or you just need to be excellent at rolling with it, and Brennan is so good at the latter.

I also think it’s a great example of using heightened versions of real settings in a fun way - it works especially great in comedy. Using an 80s high school movie or a magic New York or a thinly veiled parody of Mordor are great ideas for a D&D game, and he does a great job running it.

Finally, this is something the Escape from the Bloodkeep commentary episodes cover (I don’t listen to Adventuring Academy regularly but I’ve watched a few episodes specifically about the shows) but I really like the way he’s handled villains both when they were the protagonists (Escape from the Bloodkeep) and in-game normally. There’s a reason we cheer for the Escape from the Bloodkeep team and for Gortholax and not for the actual enemies in the story, and it’s that they’re like “well yeah we kill people but we wouldn’t like, be racist, or lie about killing people”. It’s something most D&D games have as an undercurrent, but the comedy comes from it being so openly out there.

#d&d #dungeons & dragons #dimension 20 #critical role #the adventure zone #taz #relics & rarities #Anonymous

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im-that-bitch-still-that-bitch · 4 years

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A Place to Recover~s.b.

a/n: this is the first thing I’ve ever written on here, so I hope people like it! I just couldn’t get this idea for a story out of my head and had to write it. more parts to come... and it starts at the end of the first season with an alternate ending to the whole heading exploding thing

Part I-Homecoming: the prequel

The peaceful guitar melody of “Kiss me” by Sixpence None the Richer hummed softly out of Erin Brennan’s iPhone speaker as she put the finishing touches on her makeup for the homecoming dance. As she pulled loose strands of hair out of her half-up ponytail and laced up her converse, she couldn’t help but notice her hands shaking. Her best friend’s words earlier that week echoed in her ears,

“You just can’t wear heels. No guy wants to dance with a girl who’s taller than him.”

Erin didn’t want to give off a “girl who wears converse with a dress to be quirky” vibe, but she despised ballet flats, so what else was there?

She straightened up and looked into her full-length mirror at her lanky body in the pale pink slip dress she’d bought at a thrift store a week ago. The only thought racing through her mind was how stupid she felt, but that feeling always seemed to come with getting dressed up for Erin. She felt like an imposter.

“Do you really think you can convince people you’re pretty?”

As her dark brown eyes met her own in the mirror, she noticed a single tear threatening to slip out of her perfectly curled lashes, “Fuck.”

She had promised herself she wouldn’t smoke or drink at all before the dance because of the homecoming debacle of 2018 when not one, but three of her friends she showed got kicked out and suspended for being drunk, but as soon as that little tear began threatening to fall, she caught it on her index finger and climbed out onto her roof with a joint in hand.

As she felt the joint burn down to a tiny nub and the heat in it growing closer to her fingers, she let it fall onto the wet grass of her backyard and climbed back in through her window. Her timing was opportune because just as she latched the window closed, her sister barged into her room,

“Erin, we’ve been calling you for like ten minutes. Mom wants pictures,” Clare said, running out of breath.

“Yeah, I’m coming. Sorry, I didn’t hear you over my music.” She was in the clear luckily.

But as she strolled towards her bedroom door to follow in Clare’s lead, Clare stayed put. She whipped around and sniffed Erin’s shoulder. “You might want to put on some perfume,” she turned back and walked another two paces before turning to Erin once more to taunt, “Pothead!”

Erin laughed and spritzed perfume on her dress, then walked out the door. Mrs. Brennan squinted at her phone while snapping pictures of Erin with her best friend Kate, claiming she would only take “one more,” once every two minutes.

“We’re leaving mooom,” Erin called as she opened the passenger seat to Kate’s Mercedes Benz. The two had been best friends since middle school, making quite the dorky duo when they were both in puberty’s punishing grasp. When high school started, Kate blossomed into the perfect picture of a conventionally attractive woman, earning her lots of popularity. In a way, she dragged Erin to her new friend group. They were less than welcoming seeing as Erin was a bit offbeat, but they knew Kate was too stubborn to leave her other half behind.

The two girls stepped into the gym and admired the golden glow of fairy lights hung from the ceiling. They spotted their friends immediately, and the bubbly girls ran to them and insisted on hitting the photo booth. Of course, they all immediately came up with about a dozen different combinations of girls they wanted in a photo, none of which included Erin.

“I can hold everyone’s purses,” Erin spoke shyly. The girls all jumped on the idea, piling their clutches in their arms. Erin would get annoyed, but this was high school for her; catering to her so-called friends’ interests and needs because if they dropped her, where would she go, anyway?

Feeling more confident than ever due to her high, Erin marched up to the DJ booth, “What is going on with this set list?” The boy behind the booth shrugged indignantly, clearly not looking to cater to this girl’s music taste. The two argued for nearly five minutes.

“Listen, if you don’t wanna play Twin Peaks, then at least just go for a crowd favorite to play it safe.”

A voice spoke up from next to her, “Twin Peaks, huh? Not bad. I just came over here to figure out what the hell’s going on with this set list.” Stanley Barber stood beside Erin with his arms folded, staring the DJ down.

“Oh, hey Stan,” Erin said, then turned to the DJ, “Listen, man. I’m just trying to help. Do what you wanna do.” And with that, she was off.

Stanley watched the girl walk away, sort of amazed that she knew his name, but then again, that was the popular people’s job; knowing everyone. She had actually first caught his attention in his debate class, when she’s known for sparring with Bradley Lewis. Two weeks prior, they’d had quite the nasty exchange:

“I just think people should be less harsh on men with all this ‘Me Too’ crap.”

“If you think that you’re part of the problem. The behaviors these men are getting in trouble for are toxic, and they were normalized in a toxic society.”

“Maybe you think that way, but not everyone’s a crazy feminist bitch,” he spat.

Erin scrunched her nose with distaste, “Call me a crazy bitch again, Lewis, it really gets me hot and bothered.” Of course, the inevitable came, “ooh’s” and gasps from their classmates and a day in detention for the two debaters.

It was days like that when the distinction between Erin and her friends became clear. She was stubborn as hell and refused to try to please people like Bradley Lewis. Stan respected her for it, but what did the local pot dealer’s respect mean? Nothing.

The rest of the night went as usual. The group of girls all danced together, squealing with excitement when their song came on. Erin was (thankfully) able to find a boy from the hockey team to dance with for the slow dance who was pretty nice, wandering hands aside.

The trouble came when it was time to announce homecoming queen and king. “All right ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? Stop right there, please. It is my privilege to introduce your homecoming king and queen, Jeff Butters and Julie Frasheski!” Erin and her friends all cheered extra loud, as Julie had shown up with them. Jeff Butters began his less than graceful speech, only to be interrupted by none other than Erin’s infamous debate opponent.

The boy jerked around on stage, trying to avoid the principal’s grasp, “I would like to take this moment to talk about something very important that affects everyone here. Sydney Novak. Hey, Sydney! Give a wave so everybody can see you.”

Erin felt her jaw clenching with anger, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at least a bit thankful Brad hadn’t chosen her as the subject of this odd callout speech, as they were sworn enemies.

He continued, “You see, what a lot of people don’t know about Sydney here… she is one hell of a writer.” The boy pulled a notebook out of his Letterman jacket pocket, and the tension in the room skyrocketed. “You know, it’s funny, because everyone is so fast to call me an asshole, but while I was downstairs banging Jenny Tuffield at Ricky’s, guess what Sydney was doing upstairs.”

Erin racked her mind trying to remember which party Ricky has hosted. The memories of playing beer pong with Julie, Becca, and Kate came flooding back into her mind. Becca puked in the bushes at the end of the night, and a football player had asked Erin for her “hot friend’s number,” which happened a lot.

“She was kissing my girlfriend,” Bradley spat into the mic. Erin anxiously chewed her lip, trying to think of something, anything, to do to stop whatever Brad was attempting. She didn’t know Syd, but she knew that getting made fun of by Bradley Lewis was no walk in the park, and no one deserves to be outed against their will.

The boy drew closer and closer to Syd, continuing his monologue of hatred, full of homophobic slurs, of course. As he continued to rib on the girl, even getting into her family life, Stanley Barber marched out of the crowd, gentlemanly as always, “Hey, man. Leave her alone.” His heroic gesture was cut short by Brad swinging a right hook punch right across his cheek.

Erin grew more and more anxious. She hadn’t even noticed that she had been cowering backwards until she felt her back hit the wall. She gasped and turned around. She scanned the room, seeing that everyone’s eyes were on Brad. Another key thing that she observed was the fire alarm right next to her shoulder. Her mind raced at the speed of light: “If Brad is exposing whoever he doesn’t like, then I’m next… Falsely pulling a fire alarm is a federal offense… What if I tackled him…. He’d beat the shit out of me.” Her thoughts began to overlap and get more jumbled, when she felt impulsivity take over her body as she yanked on the fire alarm. The sprinklers turned on, and a chorus of whines and shrieks came from the students who were currently getting soaked.

Erin’s chest began to rise and fall more quickly with every anxious breath. She stood frozen in place watching everyone flee the scene. After the main crowds scattered, she saw Dina and Syd each hooking an arm under Stan’s armpits and carrying him out of the gym. In a moment of bravery, Erin asked if they needed help and ran to the three. Syd and Dina accepted thankfully as Erin picked up the boy’s ankles and began to walk backwards, “Let me know if I’m about to bump into something, okay?”

The three finally reached Stan’s car and laid him down in the back seat. Just as Erin caught her breath, she heard tires screeching and saw Kate’s Mercedes Benz whipping out of the school parking lot with a drenched Julie and Becca in the back. “Shit,” she muttered.

“I-is something wrong?” Dina asked.

“Um… yeah, my ride sort of just left.”

“Oh well, I’m sure Stan can drive you home when he wakes up,” Dina said with a friendly, but clearly shaken smile.

“If he wakes up,” Syd added with a blank look in her eyes.

“SYD, don’t say that!” Dina yelped.

Sydney spoke up, looking at Erin, “Could you give us some privacy for a minute?”

Erin looked around awkwardly, “Uh, yeah. I’ll just… walk to the other side of the parking lot.” As she kicked the pebbles on the ground and watched Dina and Syd in a heated argument, she began to regret staying to help them. She probably could’ve gone home with Kate if she had rushed out like everyone else, but she was with two near strangers nursing another near stranger who was unconscious while the remaining teacher chaperones walked the perimeter of the school trying to see if there was an actual fire.

Erin was pulled out of her thoughts by Syd yelling (which she had never heard the girl do before), “Holy shit, he’s up.”

Erin began to jog back over to them, reading their facial expressions to see if they were done with their chat. Dina looked down at Stan intently, “Hey, buddy. What’s the last thing you remember?”

Stan furrowed his brows for a moment then sputtered out, “Brad… son of a bitch… how did I get out here?”

#fic #ianowt #stanley barber #sydney novak #dina #brad #i am not ok with this netflix #fanfiction #writing

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jq37 · 5 years

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**spoilers for sophomores and stagecraft the NYC Fantasy High Live Show**

I never actually got an ask explicitly asking for this recap so I didn’t do one because I’ve been super busy but I wanted to do a quick post on it before I go fully in The Unsleeping City mode. This is all off the top of my head.

I know we kinda knew the gang went back to school after S1 because of the little epilogue they had but that's still so wild. Imagine getting arrested and slaying a dragon and almost dying (and *actually* dying in some cases) and then having to go back and be a Sophomore with a bunch of kids who, as far as we know, have little to no practical experience (except the 7 Maidens who kick ass and not only slayed a dragon but did it for no reason except they felt like it, which is metal as hell).

Sidenote: I was gonna say "a bunch of kids who might as well go to Mumple," and as I was considering it, I realized that it's never actually explained what exactly that school's deal is. But it's such an unpleasantly named school that you're immediately like, "No thanks. Hard pass."

IDK if BDG watched the full FH season before he played or if Brennan just briefed him really well but he matched the tone and the setting from the first word out of his mouth. Him going up to the gang and being like, “You’ve done murder, right?” was just like an instant hall of fame line for me.

And all the regular cast slipped right back into their roles so well. They may not have remembered all of their spells and attacks but they remembered all the character stuff 100%

Possibly my fave line of the night was when Aguefort bamfed out of the room and Siobahn did a little leaning on the fourth wall, “He just did a teleport spell. The rest was flavor.” It was so smooth.

My headcanon of Adaine’s life being mildly inconvenienced by random visions when she’s trying to, like, have her damn breakfast is validated.

Oh, the other great Adaine line in this ep was when Falinel was trying to get her back and was like, “I get that you’re a teenager,” and she was like, “Do you?”

Also, I think it’s funny that Brennan didn’t expect Adaine to use the identification spell, even though the whole story hinges on the the gang fighting a monster using a powerful magical item that none of them recognize.

“Don’t Emily Axford me on the live show.” She’s a verb. I love her so much.

Brennan explains that Fig and Riz are touring and “in deep cover” respectively and, hilariously, no one is very curious about the second thing at all. It’s like, “Same shit as usual.”

So Kristen’s highlights. Because I think doing this person is easiest for my memory.

Kristen is having ANOTHER crisis of faith and, this time, her tentative solution is to change Yes! to Yes? Which doesn’t help at all and arguably makes things worse because now her spirit guardians are a bunch of annoying philosophy majors (because Brennan loves dunking on himself as much as I love dunking on him).

Tracker MVP Line: I feel like if you don’t want to join a cult, Crossfit is a bad call.

Kristen playing the gay card to get Adaine to walk into her room (“Come in and be an ally. Are you an ally?”) and then Ally announcing that she and Tracker are both naked has equivalent energy to that scene in Critical Role where Percy knocks on Vex’s door and Laura gleefully announces that she opens the door buck naked.

Gorgug is the most naive of the Bad Kids and also most likely has the most comprehensive knowledge of sex stuff which is hilarious to me. The duality of man.

Toss-up favorite Gorgug moments were his constant, “He’s doing it!” to Hargis’s awful acting and him grabbing the wig from Iris and turning into a cloud of gnats wearing tiny wigs (which Brennan allowed at the audiences). That second thing was such an off the wall bonkers choice. That was like an Emily choice.

Oh, there was a moment when he got hit by a charm ray and everyone went, “Awwww” and then Zac went, “I’m immune,” and everyone went bonkers. I cannot stress how wild the energy in the room was.

Also, during Gorgug’s intro when his parents are like, “We’re just super happy you haven’t died and gone to hell yet so far.”

Fabian’s whole conversation with Cathilda about his mom attempting to use the kitchen was gold.

Likewise, the whole interaction between him and Gilear was AMAZING. Fabian and I had the exact same reaction to hearing his engine was full of bees.

Sidenote, I love that he hates that Gilear is dating his mom and has zero self awareness that he’s doing the exact same thing with Adaine’s sister.

Lou/Fabian wasting good rolls on pure flavor is very on brand.

The best thing about Fabian is he’s entertaining when he’s succeeding big and he’s entertaining when he’s failing big.

Oh, my fave Fabian line I think is when Hargis comes in and is like, “You’ve murdered, yes?” and everyone is like yeah except for Kristen and he’s like, “OK but you’ve facilitated a lot of murder. You’ve blessed me to commit murders several times.”

Aguefort totally DESTROYS Gorgug when he tries to point out that maybe the school isn’t being run in the safest way and it’s amazing.

Also, Brennan as Aguefort prompting everyone to yell, “Chronomancy!” was very fun.

Truly, the most iconic moments of the session were BDG’s nat 20 roll to fool Iris as Professor Bargis (I can’t believe we got truly the only scenario where that worked because I thought he was doomed), Gorgug making his dex save for petrification (s/o to riz-gukgak) and then throwing out that “to be or not to be”, and Brennan grinning and slowly lowering his laptop screen because Hargis just did a one liner and killed the boss.

This is really far down for this comment but I really didn’t expect Adaine to pull the wig right when she did and trigger the combat. I mean, if she hadn’t, it would have run even later and I got home pretty late as is, but I really thought there was gonna be at least one conversation between the Id-ing the wig and the fight.

Sidenote: My fave Bad Kid dynamic is that everyone is constantly ganging up on everyone. It’s exactly how I remember all my friend groups in high school being.

Adaine makes very good use of spells like Tasha’s Hideous Laughter and Ray of Sickness. They’re like her go-to’s and they’re really low level.

Did Brennan write this villain just the make fellow teen jokes and to have a valid reason to say, “You snatched my wig?” Discuss.

This is way longer than I intended.

Anyway, as good as it the show was (and it was amazing) the wildest part for me is always gonna be that, after the show, I met Brennan and got confirmation that he has a tumblr, that was his account on that one post, and he is aware that I dunk on him on the regular. Truly not information I thought I was going to get when I started doing these and yet here we are. The internet is wild y’all.

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #the other reason this took so long is I had to spend a full week processing the fact that brennan recognized my tumblr icon when he saw it #truly a wild turn of events

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branlovestowrite · 5 years

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The Decoy Groom (1/5): A CS Fanfic

I have been absent from the fandom lately, and I woke up this morning with a burning desire to get back in. I miss everyone! To that end, I decided to challenge myself by posting a story I’ve been sitting on for months.

This is loosely (very loosely) based on the movie The Decoy Bride (starring Kelly MacDonald and David Tennant; it’s super cute and highly recommended). Brennan Jones is in this story, and, as it’s a no-magic AU, Tim Omundson will be playing that role.

Title: The Decoy Groom

Rating: M for language and some suggestive scenes in future installments

Summary: After a failed turn as a musician in Los Angeles, Killian Jones has returned to his home: Storybrooke Island, a remote, tiny island off the coast of Maine. Emma Swan is a famous actress that just wants one day out of the spotlight so she can get married. Storybrooke Island, just two miles long and accessible only by ferry, seems like the answer to her prayers. But will she really be able to keep her nuptials a private affair? And can Killian find the solace he craves when there’s a world-famous actress in town?

Also on AO3

Chapter 1

“The wedding is off!” Emma cried out as she stormed into her apartment. She kicked off her black stilettos and combed her fingers through her long blonde hair. Her green eyes narrowed on her fiancé, ready for a fight.

Walsh heaved a sigh and mussed his shaggy brown hair. This was unfortunately something they’d already been through once, and he knew she was not cancelling the event because of anything he’d done. “Who do I have to fire?”

“I don’t know!” she cried. “But someone leaked the location to the press, and now it’s up on TMZ and all the paps are going to be there, and… it’s just ruined! Everything is ruined!”

“Calm down,” Walsh said, putting his hands on her arms. “It’s not ruined.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Emma growled as she pulled away. She stood with her back turned and rested her forehead in her right hand. She took a few deep, cleansing breaths before turning back around. “I think I’ve been pretty reasonable about this wedding. I agreed to your choices for the venue, the guest list, the menus… The one request I had was that we keep the press OUT. Now I’m not even getting that!” She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not totally unreasonable to want this one day of my life to be private, at least for a little while!”

“Emma… come on, think about what you’re saying! You are the most popular movie star in the world! People want to see you get married! And if we would just work with the press instead of against them, we could charge whatever we wanted for exclusive rights. And then that publication will keep the others out. It’s a win-win!”

“No!” Emma cried out. “I have lived my life in the spotlight since I was sixteen! My wedding is going to be private.”

Walsh huffed again and walked to the kitchen. “Fine. You win. The wedding’s off. I’ll call Zelena tomorrow and have her make the cancellations.”

“Thank you,” Emma said, visibly deflating. She followed him to the kitchen and let him encircle her with his arms. “What now?”

“Elope?” Walsh asked. “We could go to Vegas.”

“Hell no. If we’re eloping I want it to be somewhere the press would never think we would go.”

“Some remote island? I could get on board with that. Some private beach in Tahiti?” His brown eyes sparkled with mischief. “We can ditch your big dress and get you a sexy little white bikini.”

Emma pulled away before he could slide his hands any lower. She was not in the mood. “No, there’s always someone with a camera there. We need to go somewhere crazy remote. Some island with less than 100 people where they don’t watch movies and no one knows who we are.”

“Good luck with that. We’re only the most well known couple in Hollywood. Biggest producer. World-famous actress. You’d have to find a place without internet to find somewhere that people don’t know us.”

“It’s got to exist.”

“Fine. I’ll ask Zelena to look into that too.”

“No, don’t,” Emma interjected. “Let me find a place.”

“Are you sure? She’s a wedding planner. This is her thing. She’ll probably know of a place.”

“I want to do this.” She stepped closer and threaded their fingers together. “I’ll find us a beautiful, romantic island where we can have the picture perfect, private, wedding of our dreams. Then we can have a beautiful honeymoon and escape the craziness of this life for a while.”

“Sounds perfect,” Walsh said, but his tone and lack of a smile set off Emma’s lie detector. She knew he’d rather have a flashy Hollywood wedding, but she was adamant on this point. No press. She would find a way. Once they got past this hurdle, their marriage would be perfect, and Emma would finally have the family she’d always wanted.

Killian stepped off the ferry and began the trek toward town. Last time he left, he told himself he’d never be coming back to Storybrooke Island. If only he’d known that he’d be returning three years later with his tail between his legs. He kept his head down and his eyes trained on the pavement as he walked. He’d been fortunate that the ferry driver was new and didn’t know him. And since it was the off season, there wasn’t much foot traffic in town. If he was lucky, he’d be able to traverse the entire two mile walk to the lighthouse at the other end of the island without anyone noticing him.

“Killian Jones! Is that you?”

He groaned before pasting on a smile and turning to face the woman currently running out of her establishment. He’d not even made it a tenth of the way. “Hello Granny.”

“I thought you were leaving us for good? Off to L.A. to make it big with your band. What are you doing back?”

He bowed low before the woman. “You must know that I can never stay away from you for very long, Lady Lucas.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the old woman said, turning her head away from him and waving at him dismissively. She chuffed and turned her head back, her steely blue eyes looking at him skeptically. “You’re here for him aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. I can’t leave him alone.”

“It would serve him right!”

“Regardless of his past misdeeds, he is still my father.”

“You’re too good,” she scoffed.

“I must admit that my motives are not entirely altruistic. I was not as successful as I had hoped I would be. I think it’s time to reevaluate my life and see if there is something more stable I could do to make my name.”

“Well, I forbid you from taking over for him in that lighthouse. You were not meant to waste away the rest of your life there.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” he said, bowing his head. “I should be going.”

“Tell your father I said hello.” She waved after him.

“Anything else?” he asked, looking back at her with a raised eyebrow.

“That he needs to get off of his sorry ass and come visit me every once in a while!” she yelled, but Killian kept on walking.

He had several similar encounters before finally reaching his destination. When he arrived at the house situated at the foot of the lighthouse, he didn’t bother knocking, but instead simply opened the door and walked inside. It was as if he’d never left. Nothing seemed to change on Storybrooke Island, other than the residents getting a little older every year.

“Killian?” he heard his father yell from the back of the small cottage.

“Aye,” he replied, raising his voice only slightly. Brennan Jones may be getting older, but his hearing was still as sharp as when he was a boy. Killian dropped his suitcase by the door and walked toward the kitchen, finding his father cleaning some fish. His nose crinkled at the pungent smell.

“You’ve been away too long!” Brennan said with a laugh as he spied his son's expression. He rubbed his forearm against the side of his nose and shook his head, his long gray waves shaking loose from the haphazard ponytail he’d secured them with. “Give it a week and you won’t even smell it anymore.”

Killian nodded. “That’s a nice catch there. Where’d you get it?”

“Will has a job on a fishing boat. He gets to purchase them at wholesale price.”

“I see. And where is Will?”

“Out on the boat for another week.”

“And how is Natalie?”

Brennan’s eyes lit up as he smiled. “She’s pregnant! She’s visiting her parents on the mainland while Will’s away, but I’m sure you’ll see her soon.”

Killian forced a smile. Unlike himself, his younger brother had no delusions of grandeur and thus was living a happy existence with his pretty wife, spending their lives on one of the most remote islands in the Northeastern US. It was not a life Killian would have chosen, but after the disappointment of the last three years, he was starting to see the appeal.

He walked over to the sink and began washing his hands. “What can I do?”

“I’ve found it!” Emma said as soon as Walsh answered the phone.

“Found what?”

“The perfect place for our wedding! Storybrooke Island. It’s off the coast of Maine, accessible through only a 90-minute ferry ride or a 30 minute helicopter ride. It has a beautiful church that was built as a replica of one in Ireland. And the best part is, the population is only 60 people!”

“Oh. Sounds… amazing.”

Emma’s mood soured the moment she heard his response. “Can’t you be a little excited for this? You know how much this means to me. There’s no way the press can find us there, and even if they do, they’ll have a hard time getting there in droves. We can have the beautiful, picturesque wedding I’ve always dreamed of.”

“You’re right, gorgeous. If this is what you want, I am happy to do it for you. When do we go?”

“This weekend too soon?”

“No. We can do that. I’ll make sure everything’s cancelled so we can leave Friday. I’ll let Zelena know so she can book the arrangements.”

“No, Elsa’s already taken care of everything. No need for Zelena to trouble herself.”

“Are we bringing anyone with us?”

“Elsa is coming along. The reservation is in her name, and she’ll be my maid of honor and witness. You’ll need to bring someone too. Robin?”

“No, Robin and I had a little falling out. Look, let’s not worry about me. I’m sure someone there can be our second witness. I don’t need anyone else but you.”

“Okay.” Emma breathed a contented sigh. “We’re finally doing this. Are you excited?”

“Hey, babe, listen. I gotta go. We’ll chat more later.”

“Oh… okay. See you tonight?”

“Maybe. I think I’m gonna have a late night again.”

Emma felt her lie detector alarm go off once more, but bit her tongue. “Okay, well, call me and let me know for sure.”

“Will do. Bye babe.”

“Bye…” Emma said, though he’d already hung up.

“Did you hear?” Granny said to Killian one morning a few days after he’d returned.

“Apparently not,” Killian replied.

“Some location scout is coming to check out the old church. They’re thinking about making a movie here. They even went ahead and rented out the place to ‘test the lighting’ or something like that. Could it be anyone you know?”

Killian laughed. “Not likely. LA is a big place, and I didn’t really spent time around the movie crowd.”

“Maybe you should introduce yourself when they’re here. You’re a pretty boy. You could make it in movies.”

“Not sure that’s where I want to focus my efforts.”

“Come on…” Granny teased. “Don’t waste those baby blues. Those are your money makers right there.”

“If I change my mind, I’ll make sure and hire you as my agent.”

“Damn right you will! I’ll ride your coattails all the way off this island!

Stepping off the ferry, Emma was transported back in time. “Wow. It’s so beautiful here! So untouched. Did you see the seals on the beach?”

“Yeah. It’s great,” Walsh said. “Now where is our car?”

“No cars allowed on the island,” Elsa said with a smirk, her crystal blue eyes glancing down at Walsh’s custom-made Italian leather loafers.

“So how do people get around?”

“You’ve got legs,” Emma teased, “start walking.” She stacked her overnight bag on top of the matching rolling suitcase and secured it in place before rolling it alongside as she began the trek. She’d already plotted the course to Granny’s Inn, the only place in town with lodgings for rent. It was a ten minute walk from the ferry. The cool air and calm atmosphere invigorated her. Her hair was pulled up under a beanie and she wore an oversized coat to protect against the chill. There were no cameras around for miles. She was anonymous for the first time in a long time, and finally felt at peace.

They’d only been walking a few minutes when Walsh began to complain. “Can we at least get a golf cart or something?”

Emma stopped and smiled back at him. “You’ve become spoiled. Come on, stretch those legs a little!” She turned her head to look at the beautifully blue sky. “Isn’t this place wonderful?”

Walsh said nothing but continued his trek. They reached Granny’s shortly after, and were surprised to come upon the proprietor herself standing in the yard, talking with a tall, dark haired man with brilliant blue eyes. Emma startled at the sight of him. He was gorgeous! Was he another actor? He was no one she could place, but she felt there was no way this man was simply just an inhabitant of such a secluded island as this.

“Good afternoon,” he said, the lilting tones of his British accent lending further credence to her theory that he was famous. He returned her gaze, and she felt suddenly very warm and exposed. She chastised herself for this sudden attraction to another man. She was here to get married!

Emma quickly broke her stare, and Elsa took her cue and jumped in, discussing their reservation. Granny bid the unfairly attractive man farewell and led them inside to procure keys and show them to their rooms.

Granny’s Inn had four rooms available, and Elsa had rented all of them to reduce any chance that a photographer or anyone else could crash the wedding. She’d engaged a professional wedding photographer that was coming in the morning to sign an ironclad NDA before taking wedding photos. He would not be releasing the photos to anyone other than Elsa. Emma would then review them and select a few to be released to the press at a later date.

The freedom she felt in this remote location could not be overstated. The moment she reached her room, she flopped onto the bed and sighed contentedly.

Killian took a seat in the diner and tried to forget the gorgeous pair of green eyes he'd seen. Although she was bundled up in a beanie and large jacket, he felt like he recognized her from somewhere. He just couldn't place it. Did he perhaps meet her when he was living in L.A.? It was a mystery, but one he hoped to have a chance to puzzle out more.

He was disrupted from his thoughts by a squeal as a blur of brown and red hair tackled him, pinning him to the side of the booth.

“Killian Jones!” The girl cried as she released her hold and permitted him to sit up. “I can't believe you're back!”

“Aye Ruby, I am,” he replied, straightening his clothes. “How are you?”

“In college now,” she said with a smile, bumping shoulders with him. “Not a little girl anymore.” She batted her eyelashes at him. Lashes that framed a striking pair of hazel green eyes. Complimented by smooth, creamy skin and a tall, lithe figure. Ruby Lucas was gorgeous, and she knew it. When he'd last been to the island, she'd been working in the diner and finishing high school online. Now she was a 21 year-old college student, and very clearly hitting on him.

Killian cleared his throat. “What are you studying?”

“I'm still a sophomore, so just working on my prerequisites.”

“And do you still work in the diner?”

She laughed and playfully hit him on the chest. “No way! I live on the mainland now, but when Granny told me you were back, I had to come see for myself. I came over on the ferry this morning.” Her gaze changed from playful to lusty in an instant. “Are you staying upstairs?”

“Ah… no. I'm staying with my father for now.”

“Oh boo,” Ruby said, exaggerating the pout on her lower lip. “I was hoping we could find somewhere to be alone together.” She moved closer and put her hand on his thigh, dangerously close to his groin. “I know you're shy,” she continued, her voice a near whisper. “And I know last time you were here I was a little girl, but I'm not little anymore. I'm a woman, and I know what I want. And, Killian Jones, I want you.” She squeezed his thigh, the tips of her fingers barely grazing his crotch and causing him to jump.

Carefully, he removed her hand from his thigh. “Ruby, you are a beautiful woman, but I just got out of a bad relationship, and I'm not ready to be with anyone else yet.”

“I don't mind being your rebound,” she replied with a giggle. He gave her a wary stare, to which she responded with a full-on laugh. “Killian! Come on! I'm 21 and still in school. I don't want anything serious. But I have had a crush on you for as long as I can remember!” She threw her hands up to emphasize her last point before her eyes took a predatory gleam and she leaned in to whisper once more. “The first time I masturbated, I was thinking of you.” He felt a flare in his cheeks at her words. “I just want to know if you are as good in bed as I imagine.” She rubbed against him, deliberately pushing her breasts into his arm. Killian bit back a groan. “You can deny it all you want, but your body is betraying you.” She glanced down at his pants, where the beginnings of an erection stood out. “I'm here all weekend. You know where to find me.” She slid out of the booth, adjusting her short skirt as she stood, and giving him a glimpse of her lacy black underwear.

Once she was gone, he exhaled a deep breath and took a sip of his coffee, trying to calm down. Had he met a girl like Ruby in L.A., he probably would have gladly taken her up on her offer, even if she was 10 years his junior. But Ruby from Storybrooke Island was different. He'd known her since she was very young, and he saw her in many ways as a little sister. Reflecting on her words now, he felt ashamed for not stopping her sooner. He felt like a dirty old man. He sighed once more and scrubbed his hand down his face, waiting for his hard-on to go down.

Once he felt able to move, he stood and exited the diner, leaving cash on the table for his coffee. He’d suddenly lost his appetite. The entire walk home, he pondered the face of the woman he’d seen outside the inn. He was almost to the lighthouse when it hit him. She was Emma Swan! All thoughts of his encounter with Ruby fled from his mind as he raced inside. He needed to look her up to confirm his suspicion.

He was still staring at his iPad 20 minutes later, not believing his eyes.

“What are you looking at, Killian?”

“Dad!” he jumped, not having heard his father enter the room.

“Who is Emma Swan? She’s quite pretty,” Brennan said.

“She’s an actress, Dad. Surely you’ve heard of her? She was in the ‘Savior’ trilogy. And that thriller about the madman that takes two women hostage. The one where they fight back and have to escape his house of horrors.”

“Never heard of her. It’s not like we have a movie theater here.”

“Well, for some reason, she’s on the island, staying at Granny’s.”

“What would a movie star be doing on Storybrooke Island?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I think maybe she’s getting married in the old church.”

“In the church? But it’s the off season! And I still don’t understand why some Hollywood couple would want to get married here.”

“According to a couple articles I’ve read, she’s canceled her wedding twice because she wants to keep the press out. So it would make sense that she might prefer to come here and have a private ceremony. There’s limited access to the island. It makes for a good hideaway.”

“She’s been trying to escape the press?”

“Aye.”

“I bet they’d pay a lot of money to know that she was here now.”

“What are you going to do, Dad? Are you going to call up TMZ and tell them she’s here?”

“What’s TMZ?”

“Exactly. Let’s leave her be. If she wants a quiet wedding away from the horde, then she should have it.”

“Right…” Brennan trailed off. “I’ll just be off to the kitchen to get started on dinner. How would you like your fish prepared tonight?”

Killian suppressed a groan. After just a few days on the island, he was growing tired of eating fish every night.

Elsa had booked all the rooms at Granny’s Inn, but Emma assumed only two of those four would actually be occupied. So it came as a shock to her that Walsh insisted on staying in a separate room.

“Come on,” she said, standing in the doorway of the room he'd claimed. “This doesn't make any sense. Let's enjoy some quiet time together.”

“I'm really not in the mood,” Walsh grumbled.

“I don't understand, babe. We're getting married tomorrow. Aren't you excited? This is what we wanted.”

“No, Emma!” Walsh snapped. “It's not what I wanted. It's what you wanted. What you've insisted on, even though you know how important this wedding is for my career.”

“Your career?” Emma spat back. “Is that all this relationship is for you? A career move?!” She charged on him and shoved his shoulders. “I thought you loved me?!”

“Shit… that came out wrong. But you know the business we work in! When everyone finds out we ran off to get married in secret, there are going to be a lot of people pissed off that there wasn't a wedding for them to be invited to. People we can't really afford to piss off.”

“Fuck them,” Emma said. “They're not really our friends if they don't understand the importance of this for me.”

“They don't have to understand, Emma. Dammit, don't you see that?! It's not about us. It's about them feeling slighted. And then the next time I need a picture bankrolled, will these people pass me over because I didn't invite them to my wedding?”

“That's ridiculous, Walsh.”

“No, that's business. You're the one being ridiculous! Insisting on a private wedding?! What the fuck are you thinking? You know we don't get to have private lives. That's the trade-off.” He huffed a breath and turned his back to her before muttering something she couldn’t make out.

“What’d you say?”

He turned back to face her. “I said ‘Zelena gets this.’”

“What the hell does Zelena have to do with any of this? She's a wedding planner.” She stepped back and scrutinized him. His face looked suddenly pained, as if he didn’t like her belittling Zelena. Emma suddenly thought back to the past few months. How Walsh was always working late. How he was always speaking to Zelena. He’d volunteered to be the main point of contact for their wedding planner, without any prompting. Emma’d been glad for it at the time as it wasn’t something she wanted to deal with.

“You're sleeping with her, aren't you?”

Walsh stared at her for a full minute before replying. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

“That's not an answer.”

“Emma, come on. Let's not get distracted.”

“No! Lets! Answer me! Are. You. Sleeping. With. Her?”

He groaned fiercely. “Fine! You win. Yes. I've been sleeping with her. She gets this business. She understands. She's not some spoiled starlet who has had no true grip on reality.”

“That's what you really think of me?!” Emma reeled back and punched Walsh in square between the eyes. He doubled over, cradling his head in his hands.

“You stupid bitch!” he cried out, his voice muffled behind his hands.

“What the hell is going on?!” Elsa cried out, charging into the room.

Emma loomed over her fiancé. “Walsh is cheating on me. With our wedding planner!”

“Oh grow up, Emma.” Walsh stood and looked at her, his eyes already blackening and his nose bleeding. He grabbed a tissue from the box on the dresser and wiped away some of the blood. “No one is faithful in Hollywood. She’s just a good fuck.”

“How can you say that?” Emma cried. “I loved you!”

“You’re so naive. It’s part of your charm. You and me, getting married was a business move. It’s going to skyrocket your career and give me even better name recognition. Love wasn’t part of the equation.”

“Get out of here.” Emma bit her cheek to keep her tears from spilling. She had to keep it together until he left. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Good luck with that, sweetheart,” he sneered. “You won’t be able to step foot on a set without my permission.”

Walsh’s head suddenly snapped back again as Elsa punched him in the chin. “Get the fuck out of here, Walsh,” she said, shaking her hand. “Your chauvinistic bullshit doesn’t fly anymore. Here,” she dug into her pocket and threw a business card at him. “That’s the number for the company that runs the helicopter rides to and from the island. Call them and get the hell away from here before I hit you again and break your jaw.”

He bent down and picked up the card before grabbing his still-packed suitcase and stomping out the door. The second he was gone and Elsa closed the door, Emma broke down in tears.

Tagging a few friends. For those of you I discussed the story with, sorry it’s taken me so long to do something with it!

@flslp87 @gingerchangeling @hollyethecurious @initiala @jonirobinson64 @kmomof4 @kymbersmith-90 @laschatzi @nerdyhuntress @resident-of-storybrooke @searchingwardrobes @sherlockianwhovian @shireness-says @snidgetsafan @snowbellewells @teamhook @thejollyroger-writer @thislassishooked @winterbythesea @winterbaby89 @wingedlioness @wyntereyez

#cs ff #cs au #cs fanfic #Captain Swan #captain swan au #the decoy groom #branwrites

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miasswier · 5 years

Text

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 21

21: Prom Queen

Written by: Ian Brennan Directed by: Eric Stoltz

Overall Thoughts: This is such a good episode. Oh, my god this is a good episode. And it’s one of those episodes where I always seem to forget like, 80% of what happens, so I’m always pleasantly surprised when I watch. Like, actually, there is so little I don’t like about this episode. Let’s get to it.

What I Like:

Kurt being so excited about asking Blaine to prom, but also being willing to not go to prom when Blaine admits why he’s hesitant.

Piling on the sad backstory for Blaine. It’s cool, I guess, it just kills me every time I watch it. No big deal.

Santana and Karofsky are so fucking funny oh my god. Those Bully Whip scenes and them dancing at prom is pure gold.

Karofsky apologizing to Kurt. Honestly, I never thought we’d get such an honest and sincere apology from him, and I remember watching this for the first time and almost bursting into tears.

Mercedes in this episode makes my entire life. Because honestly? I’ve been there. Nobody asked me to my prom either (I ended up going with my back up date, which was my best friend), and while there wasn’t anybody I was specifically wanting to ask me, it still stung not to be asked. I totally get where her head is at in this episode, I get the pain, and the frustration at feeling that pain. I’m so happy that did this, because, UGH, it was just so wonderful and relatable.

Rachel cheering Mercedes up, and then coming up with the idea to go to prom with Sam as a thruple was awesome. I’m not going to lie, if they had gone with Sam/Mercedes/Rachel instead of Sam/Mercedes and then Sam/Rachel I would have been 100% down for that.

That being said, Sam/Mercedes owns my fucking ass, and this was the official start of that. I remember squealing so fucking loud when Sam asked Mercedes to dance. It wasn’t a pairing I’d even thought of before this episode (outside of thinking their interaction in “Hell to the No” was cute) but it took hold of my heart since day fucking one. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve watched that short ass scene.

JESSE IS BACK. I love him so much, and the way he bursts into “Rolling in the Deep” is so amazing. He and Rachel really are made for each other, like, seriously, look at how fucking extra they are together.

“They must have sensed that I was a lesbian. Do I smell like a golf course?”

I love the contrasting post-Prom Queen announcing scenes with Kurt/Blaine, Santana/Brittany, and Quinn/Rachel.

I’m so glad that they gave Quinn an actual reason for why she was being so over the top about this (her “There’s no way I’m staying at this school. I’m going to transfer” kills me every single time I don’t know why but I find it so goddamn funny), and that they had her share it with Rachel in what is probably one of the sweetest scenes Rachel ever shared with another person. Honestly, I have no idea why Faberry never actually became a thing. They set it up so perfectly? And really, the amount of scenes where Rachel actually sets her feelings aside to help Quinn feel better is insane, especially considering she rarely even does this with Finn.

When Brittany tells Santana that she voted for her and believes in her I literally die fuck I love these two so much. Also, I love how Brittany tells Santana to be there for Kurt. The only one out of the four girls who is aware of who this is actually going to be hardest on.

Gosh, the Klaine scenes in this section are just lovely. The way Blaine runs after Kurt without a second thought, the way he just lets him rant, the way he leans into him with that little smile when Kurt decides he’s going to be the bigger man about this and stand up to his bullies… I JUST LOVE ALL OF IT OKAY.

Kurt coming back and accepting the crown. Bless this boy.

Something I never noticed before is that in “Born This Way” Karofsky says he isn’t even sure if he is gay. Here, Kurt asks him to come out by dancing with him, and instead of denying that he’s gay, he just says, “I can’t.” Karofsky is one of those character’s whose journey I was so invested in, and it makes me so happy to see that he’s finally come to a place of accepting that he actually is gay. I like to think that if Kurt had been the protagonist of Glee that Karofsky would have had a much larger role in the show, and I really wish that had been the case, because he’s the type of character I would have loved to actually see take these steps, not just see the highlights during the few moments he’s on screen.

The fact that Finn gets kicked out and is just… gone. He’s kicked out. He’s not in the episode anymore. I don’t know, I just like that.

Rachel telling Finn what to get Quinn. I think the point of this was to set it up for next episode, when Finn didn’t know what flower to get Quinn but he knows which one to get for Rachel, but instead it just seems really fucking gay and like Finn’s girlfriends are more into each other than they are him.

The scenes with Artie and Sue are hilarious.

Puck executing his amazing plan by trying to distract Sue when there isn’t any music. Because he’s a literal idiot.

Jesse’s face when Finn throws a punch at him. I’m pretty sure that boy has never been in an actual fight in his life.

The pictures at the end! I particularly like that Quinn took her picture alone (a HUGE moment for her), and that Kurt and Blaine are the last picture shown!

What I Don’t Like:

I know I already talked about this in my review for “Rumours”, but it does frustrate me that Artie is seen as the one in the wrong for his break-up with Brittany when she was the one cheating on him. Yeah, he shouldn’t have called her stupid, but seriously, is that really worse than cheating?

Finn being so blatantly jealous of Jesse when he’s literally dating someone else. Oh, and that someone just so happens to be right in front of him every single time he lashes out at Jesse. Quinn deserved better than that.

The fact that Rachel sings a song that perfectly describes her relationship with Jesse… to Finn. As Jesse stares on. Like… Glee. Come on.

We don’t get to see Lauren’s reaction to not winning Prom Queen, which sucks, because she most likely knows that Puck didn’t actually want to win, and therefore would probably blame him for her loss. OR she could have just felt bad for Kurt and not even cared. We just don’t know.

Songs:

Rolling in the Deep: I’m so glad they did Adele justice in this episode (unlike the first time they cover her). This cover is so ridiculously dramatic and extra, I fucking love it.

Friday: Ugh, so like, I used to really like this cover, but now every time I see it I think of Mark Salling and the fact that he was the one who suggested it and I just feel… really gross about that. Also, the autotune. It’s embarrassing.

Jar of Hearts: I really do like this song, and I like this cover, but it still annoys me that it perfectly describes Rachel and Jesse’s relationship and Jesse is literally in the episode, but Rachel sings it to Finn.

I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You: This is a cool and fun song, and I think it actually works well as a backdrop for the Finn/Jesse fight. Also, I always find it hilarious when Puck is planning his heist and it shows Blaine singing this song, even though at that point Puck would have no clue that Blaine would even be attending the prom.

Dancing Queen: I LOVE THIS SONG. Santana and Mercedes always sound amazing together when they sing, and this song just blows my mind. It’s such a nice and happy way to end this episode, and it always brings a little tear to my eye watching everyone dance interspersed with the pictures.

Final Thoughts: I remember watching this episode for the first time and feeling trepidation. I knew what was going to happen, everyone did (does anyone else remember the spoiler being tweeted, followed by Brad Falchuk literally tweeting that that girl would never work in Hollywood again? No wonder all of his characters were so fucking extra lmao). I didn’t want it to happen, and I was worried about how it would go down. By the time the episode was done, though, I was in love. For a long time I didn’t even re-watch Glee – I just re-watched this episode on an almost constant loop. I just… I really love this episode, okay?

#ultimate glee ranking

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let-it-raines · 5 years

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Hmm...how about 9 (for BotB),13, 26 (for SiC), and 49?

Thank you for indulging in my boredom. lol.

9) In your Betting on the Bullseye fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

Oh goodness. I wish I knew my stories as well as you do to pick this one out without having to scroll through the story.

I’m a fan of the scene back in chapter five when they go out to the bar in LA and play darts. I felt like it was such a callback to how the fic really started and how it got its name all while they were on a fast track to opening themselves up to each other.

But, really, my favorite scene happens in the next chapter. I don’t know if that’s because I really like it or if it’s because it’s fresh in my mind.

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why? For Second in Command.

Brennan or Mary Margaret. I don’t have anything against them, but honestly, it’s like pulling teeth writing scenes with them. Brennan, I understand why. He’s a man in his mid seventies. His scenes aren’t going to be the best. For Mary Margaret, ah, I don’t know. Sometimes I just want to write her out of scenes even if she’s intragal to the scene.

26) Which part of your Second in Command fic was the hardest to write?

Oooh, okay, so writing the overall redemption of Killian’s family was extremely difficult because everyone wanted it in an instant, but it really took about 2/3 of the story, with some inklings sprinkled in toward the end. Chapter six is the big “Liam/Killian confrontation” chapter, and I had so many people just be, like, “Liam’s an asshole and this conversation didn’t accomplish anything. I don’t really like this anymore.” And while it might not have seemed that way, it really did start moving the gears. You guys just didn’t know that at the time.

(Though if I could rewrite any chapter in the story, it’d be the first half of that one to change a few things around, but the second half of it is also so important for E&K)

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

You Play Ball Like A Girl by the absolutely amazing @welllpthisishappening who let me talk to her for a quick minute about tennis, and I have been extra obsessed with her ever since. But yeah, it’s one of her 293798379 amazing stories, and it’s such a good story about going after your dreams even when the world keeps knocking you away from them. You might get your heart crushed, but sometimes that leads to new things (and people) that you never expected, and you get to find new dreams along the way.

Or really, Emma and Killian are both badass sports journalists in NYC and they fall in love and make out a lot and deal with a hell of a lot of wonderful angst and then live happily ever after in a way that’s so real, and I just love it.

Ask me some questions about writing to entertain me

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queen-mabs-revenge · 6 years

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Do you think OG!Hook and Wish!Hook are the same, or is one better than the other?

I’ve been eying this for days now at this point and, let me tell you, I did not expect this question to send me whirring off in so many different directions, but long and short of it?

I think the Killian we see in S7 is the better iteration of Killian Jones’s story and I wish it were the one we got all along.

Parenthood is the main crux of this character’s conflict, both as the character of Killian Jones himself and as the concept of a version of Captain Hook, and I think that Killian’s redemption story needs to be centred around that concept in order for him to be fulfilled as a character. Which it wasn’t in his first iteration. I think that unless you’re tackling the idea of Captain Killian “Hook” Jones from the perspective of parenthood, you’re not going to be exploring and reconciling his story through his own lens, but through the lens and to the service of other characters. Which is unfortunately the case with Killian’s trajectory in S3-6 as his story became primarily and nearly solely focused on Captain Swan, but which is rectified in S7 with his role as a father and his relationship with Alice being his main focus.

Um, so this gets long? Under the cut we go!

Just think about it. Every important relationship we see in Killian’s life, and the vast majority of his flashbacks, showcases a conflict to do with parental figures. From S2 we know that his own father had abandoned him and meeting Brennan in S5 only highlights how terrible that betrayal was (plus introduces Liam II). His whole relationship with Liam is complicated by Liam taking on the role of parent and becoming a towering, untouchable Perfect Father in contrast to Brennan’s terrible example. His relationship with Milah starts with a family dissolving and, as Killian tells us more about their relationship in 2x22, we find out that there was this shadow third figure in their relationship who they talked about regularly – her son. And then our second ever flashback of the character relates to that son, Baelfire – and the placement of that flashback in the season finale as we enter into Neverland positions Killian’s betrayal as not only the worst sin he ever committed, but as the issue that should have defined the next chapter of his redemption (The Things We Do For Our Children).

So you have this character, positioned and defined by his relationship to those he sees as parent figures and those who see him as a parent figure, and I feel like because of that you have to go about defining this character’s redemption arc, not only through the resolution of the relationship with the person against whom he committed the deepest betrayal (the mirror of the betrayal his own father committed against him), but with his settling into a role of a healthy father figure. Like, that can’t be a tangential story - that has to be the heart of the matter. And it’s why they kept going back to it in nearly every single flashback: Killian and the relationship between Ursula and Poseidon, Killian and the relationship between Nemo and Liam II, Killian and the relationship between Regina and Cora, Killian and the relationship between David and Robert. This is the heart of Killian Jones’s character.

And as much as I mostly enjoyed Captain Swan at the time for what it was, looking at it as a whole, it wasn’t the true resolution of Killian’s past conflicts and issues, and I think that’s probably a big reason why it was so polarising. Yes, throughout it, Killian did work to become a better man, and I feel like he did have a successful redemption arc, but because that redemption wasn’t being grappled with through his defining relationship dynamic, the one fraught with different levels of failure, I can see why the narrative structure of the conflict and resolution would be a mismatch for some people. Killian Jones never had a fraught issue with being a supportive lover, and so the exploration of his redemption as a supportive lover clearly wasn’t about developing his character.

I almost feel like it would have been better had there been more focus on the Captain Cobra relationship as Killian’s way of redeeming his betrayal of Baelfire, and Captain Swan evolving from that – the two of them bonding over learning how to be role models to this kid. As it stands, the Captain Cobra relationship was way far in the backseat to Captain Swan. But it’s telling that some of Killian’s strongest moments are when Captain Cobra is in the forefront (the moments between them in S3 were amazing [and brought up Bae!] and 6x06 was another highlight). Had Captain Cobra been prioritised as the bridge by which Hookfire was reconciled and the relationship from which Captain Swan developed, you would have had a stronger base for a future that didn’t involve Killian becoming fully defined by his role as Love Interest.

Which he was, especially towards the end. It started with the derailing of planned Hookfire development in S2 because of :cough: extra-textual events, but the writers never really figured out how to recover Killian’s true track from there, and they were always afraid to go too far because to address Hookfire, you have to acknowledge that Millian existed. His story at that point becomes so fully defined by his relationship to Emma that it gets to where his final scene, the climax of his resolution as A Hero is literally taking on every aspect of her life as his happy ending. His story became defined by this amorphous concept of Being A Hero instead of the specific conflict of Being A Parent and I think his story arc suffered for it to the point where resolving him in terms outside of Emma wouldn’t have made sense, because they didn’t give him the opportunity to strengthen his individual relationships towards a resolution outside of her as well as alongside her.

When you get this specific character and strip him of his individual character arc, you get the “resolution” of him striving to ‘reach the bar’ as that vague concept of a hero instead of reconciling the past problematic parental issues of his past. You get a character whose complete purpose is as a vehicle to resolve his romantic partner’s trauma. And you get Lieutenant Sheriff Jones, which was always intended to showcase Killian’s unhealthy attempt to live up to his unrealistic ideas about Liam, and that fractured concept of a parent figure, S5 resolution discarded, being passed off as the happy ending that Killian Jones’s character should culminate in.

Which brings us to Season 7. Where they get a second chance at Killian Jones’s story and how to define his growth through his main individual conflict, and that’s why Knightrook is so important. By choosing to stay with Alice, he’s not only proving that he’s not Brennan Jones, but he’s making the right decision by prioritising his child’s welfare over his revenge and that goes to help start to redeem him from his terrible betrayal of Baelfire.

By raising Alice, he learns what being a parent truly entails and grows to understand Liam as a person rather than an untouchable perfect concept. The little family in that tower becomes the reconciliation of the life he and Milah talked about living by going back for Bae. All of the other acts of villainy that we see highlighted in his backstory are specifically addressed by him giving up his revenge for his daughter and learning how to become a good parent.

Also, meeting on the grounds of their parental failures and successes is really the only way that Golden Hook has a real and meaningful way of reaching some kind of non-antagonistic resolution. There is so much trauma between the two of them, that truly, the only way there could be a meeting would be in connection to their most important defining relationships and the relationships against whom they committed their most egregious sins. Which is part of the reason why the S6 Last Supper truce seemed so hollow.

Exploring Killian primarily as a father allows the progression of his redemption to reconcile the worst traumas he inflicted in the name of his revenge, and the worst traumas inflicted against him in his past.

(Interestingly enough, some of the resolution that SB Killian does get as a father is through a set up of S7’s Knightrook arc.7x02 opening with Captain Cobra and continuing with the CS pregnancy serves as a narrative device to set up S7!Killian’s moral dilemma, and to reveal the importance of the Knightrook story)

And this isn’t even getting into the idea of how Killian Jones as a version of Captain Hook needs to be centred around the concept of parenthood/fatherhood in order to be anything more that a namedrop of the Peter Pan character and a hook for a hand. I thought I was going to include that here, but shit, this is way too long-winded already. Short version: basically Captain Hook is traditionally played by the same actor who plays George Darling starting in the original play and continuing into a lot of film productions [oh god, the whole Milah as Captain Hook meta belongs here but…SO LONG!], and that idea of the real-world father being confronted via the fairytale father is a fucking neato way to explore fatherhood through a fairytale trope that is traditionally used for female characters (good dead mother v. evil stepmother).

Deciding to eschew that in favour of making Captain Hook primarily a romantic partner takes away the impact of the “twisted original story with the roots exposed” idea that OUAT does when it’s at its best, and which S7!Killian’s story with Alice recaptures.

So basically yeah. S7 Killian is the best version of Killian Jones. Knightrook helps develop Killian’s redemption arc in the way that Hookfire wasn’t allowed to because of the fear it would conflict with S2-6 Killian’s narrowed role as one half of Captain Swan and the cure to Emma’s trauma. S7 Killian also fulfils the Captain Hook legacy as a character that deals specifically with the conflict between fathers and their children.

And also he’s a muffin and I love him.

#anonymous #killian jones #ouat meta #in honor of knighrook day!#lol no i didn't plan that but sure here we are #i have a lot of feelings about milah!captain hook #because goddamn that would have fit so perfectly #playing with the idea of both real world parent and the fairytale captain not only being the same actor but the same person irl #god what a fucking bitching fulfilment of the original source that would have been #but yeah just goes to show that captain hook has to be an exploration of parenthood #that's the character #taking that away is like taking away the heart of the story #oh. right.#:)

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make-me-imagine · 7 years

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Description: The reader is a photographer and has a drone. The whole team has candids/photos from the reader. And when everyone gets locked in the readers office, the reader shows them all of the saved photos they haven’t seen to pass the time.

Characters: Whole Bones group with slight Hodgins x reader

Gender: Any

Words: 1,316

Triggers: None

This was requested by anon

I did my best, I hope you like it!

You were on lock down. The FBI and Jeffersonian decided to partner up and do a lock down drill with all of you in the lab. You remembered in school when you use to have these stupid lock downs all the time. You would all have to hide under your desks or lean against the most hidden wall. But this time, you were locked in your office. Why yours? Because it was the furthest one away from the main room, therefore it was the safest. But that also meant you would be the last group “evacuated”.

You and the team had just been shoved into your office. Booth was arguing with one of his superiors. He wanted to be a part of the drill, outside, not inside. But he got stuck with you guys. “What’s wrong Booth, don’t wanna be stuck with us for the next hour?” Hodgins said sarcastically. Booth turned and gave him a pointed look. Hodgins chuckled and turned, looking around your office.

Angela sighed audibly “The least they could have done was give us access to our work so we would actually have something to do” she slid down the wall and sat on the floor. The others slowly did the same. You let Brennan sit in your chair, her being pregnant and all.

About ten minutes passed, Sweets was talking nonstop about training exercises and how they are good for relationships. You were listening while the rest tended to be ignoring him. Suddenly Booth got a text. Checking it he sighed “They are adding a few training exercises for the new trainees, we are going to be here longer than we thought” everyone sighed in unison at the news.

“Well, there has to be something we can do, do you have any hidden games or anything in here y/n?” Daisy said enthusiastically.

Thinking to yourself, and looking around your office, your eyes landed on a large filing cabinet you had. Gasping you stood up “Of course, I totally forgot about these” going over to the cabinet you open it, and take out a few files. You passed them around the room. Each one of them had the others names on them.

“What the hell is this?” Booth asked opening his file.

Angela gasped seeing her photos. Each of the files had photos related to each person. Some were copies of photos they already had. They often asked for drone shots of certain sights or building. Other times you just did photography for personal reasons. The files were also full of photos you took just because.

“When did you take these?” Cam said referring to a set of close up photos of her talking to a crowd at some event.

“That was at the conference were you announced the identities of the slaves we found a couple years ago” she nodded her head as she started to recognize it.

“And this?” Angela lifted a drone photo of a park.

“That’s the park where we set up your booth at the farmers market remember?”

“Oh yeah, I sold three paintings that day!” she smiled.

Booth and Brennan were quiet as they were looking at photos you had taken of them, many were of them two together.

Hodgins cleared his throat “These are amazing y/n, I never realized how many you took” he looked up at you with awe in his eyes.

Blushing slightly you looked back down at the file you were holding. “Thanks Jack, I tend to take photos when I’m stressed. Or just bored”

“What’s that one?” Sweets said pointing to the file you were still holding.

Glancing down your face suddenly fell “y/n?” Hodgins asked. The rest had looked up now, seeing your face.

Slowly you opened the folder, taking out a picture you had taken about a year ago. It was a photo of all of you, standing with Nigel Murray at some weird exhibit he forced you all to go to. You passed it around, everyone looking at it smiling. You opened the file fully and set it in the middle of all of you. There were pictures of him with everyone individually. Everyone passed them around talking about the day they were taken. Angela teared up at the photo of them in the lab.

“This was his file. He never got to see it” pausing you quietly continued “I keep every picture I take. I probably shouldn’t....but I do” you looked up smiling. The others smiled with you.

It was about an hour later and you were explaining some of the drone photos you had. You opened another file full of white and black photographs. The very first one was an old couple dancing at a wedding. “I took this at my friends wedding, this was her grandparents. They had been married for 37 years. And every year on their anniversary they would go to the place they first met and have a picnic. Which is funny when you learn they met in a park, that is now the middle of a mall. The people at the mall stopped trying to kick them out years ago.” The others laughed along with you.

Another half hour passed and most everyone was either talking amongst themselves, or trying to fall asleep. The sun was now starting to set, you hated that they started the lock down this late in the afternoon.

Hodgins moved across the room and sat next to you, looking over at him you saw he was still holding his photo file “Why did you take this?” he took out a photo you had of him. He was at a crime scene with messy hair and wearing goggles. “It’s not very flattering”

You giggled at this “Maybe not. But...it’s you.” you didn’t really have to explain what you meant, you knew he understood.

Taking out another photo he showed you “Who took this?” it was a picture of you and Hodgins laughing at something in the lab.

Smiling you looked over at Angela “She did. She wanted to try her hand at photography. She’s pretty good. But she just kept taking pictures of coffee mugs for some reason.”

You were whispering but Angela still heard you, keeping her eyes closed she spoke up “I started learning to draw by sketching kitchen wear, I thought doing the same thing would help.”

Laughing you respond “But did you have to fill up my entire camera roll with 300 photos of every mug in the lab?”

She smiled with her eyes still closed “Shut up” you and Hodgins laughed at her.

“I think this one is my favorite” he said still referencing the same photo.

Trying not the blush and failing, you look at him “Me too” he smiled at you. You felt as though you two were having a moment. But suddenly there was a loud banging on the door, causing everyone to jump while Sweets and Angela both let out equally ear-shattering shrieks. Hearing a familiar laugh on the other side of the door you all looked at each other knowingly as the door swung open.

“You all having fun in here?” Caroline said amused.

“It’s about damn time” Booth said standing up.

“That wasn’t funny Caroline” Sweets said, still embarrassed at the surprisingly high pitched noise that he just made.

Everyone stood and left, some of them taking photos from their files that asked to have. Standing slowly you start to pick up the rest of the files. Hodgins stayed behind to help. “Thanks Jack” you said as he handed you his file.

He was holding a photo of him and Nigel and the photo of you and him “Can I have these two?”

You smiled at him “Of course”

Smiling back at you he waited for you to grab your things “Let me walk you out?” you nodded in agreement as you both walked out together.

#bones #jack hodgins #jack hodgins x reader #jack hodgins oneshot #tj tyne #t.j. thyne #bones oneshot #oneshot #one shot #bones x reader #bones team

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troofless · 5 years

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Under-appreciated light novels recommendation list, ranked in terms of PLEASE READ, to ehh, I’ll just put it in anyway:

Legend of Sun Knight (Completed Translation+Series): Set in a world of knights and magic, this series is golden comedy because the MC literally carries the plot. He’s smart, snarky and sleazy… but in a good way. I wrote about it here, but this series is for people who love comedy and political-castle-intrigue-level manipulation. ANYWAY PLEASE READ IT IT’S UP THERE ON MY TOP TEN BOOKS TO READ. No anime or manga translation. WHY.

Rakuin no Monshou (Completed Translation): For people who love the switching-the-royal-prince-with-a-body-double trope, political manoeuvring, military tactics, having the main character travel to different countries and exploring their governing system, and major character growth. No ecchi scenes, mentions of sex and rape (if any) are not elaborated on. Love between the MC and the female lead is more of a stranger to mutual respect to love, but since the female lead is literally 14-15 (they’re engaged to foster peace between two countries and not some lolicon thing), there are literally 0 sexy/blushy blushy/kissing/intimacy scenes between them. In the story their relationship feels less like a lovey dovey couple and more like the relationship between two generals that trust each other. This doesn’t have an anime or manga series after it. Why.

Only Sense Online (Ongoing Translation, Ongoing Series): Unlike the recent isekai and trapped-in-an-online-game-and-if-you-die-in-the-game-you-die-for-realsies trends that are going around right now, this is just a game where the MC has fun playing a normal VRMMO and makes new friends in it. …In fact, the MC isn’t an otaku or a game maniac, his sister and childhood friend are the ones crazy about levelling up and doing all the main subjugation-monster quests and everything, he’s more of the chill type who’d rather hang back and craft stuff to sell in his shop. He likes doing things at his own pace and learning how to craft new things in his own time. Instead of battling monsters and levelling up, he’s more likely to be seen harvesting items and mining rocks. Oh, and also at the start of the game he mis-clicked and is stuck in a female avatar, and combined with his mothering, take-care-of-everyone personality, everyone treats him like like a ‘nanny’ and is in awe of his ‘moe-ness’, even though he keeps insisting he’s a guy. One of the story’s underlying message is that different people have different ways of enjoying the same game, be it doing quests in a party, creating items to support players, roleplaying, and even PKing, and that’s okay because that’s what a game is for. No angst or permanent character deaths (it is a game after all), tis for warming your heart with the sheer sunny goodness that is the MC. No ecchi. Has an ongoing manga series, but no anime.

Hidan no Aria (Ongoing Translation, Completed Series): MC goes to a 'military’ school that trains students to be armed detectives, or as they say, ‘Butei’ (Busou Tantei). Think mercenaries. Female MC is a OP genius and major tsundere, only out-shadowed by our MC. MC considers himself weak, and because of his genes, his innate OP powers is only triggered when a certain condition is met: aka when he is sexually aroused. (Insert sexy times.) In this mode he doesn’t get flashy superpowers or anything (at least, by the world’s standard) — all it does it accelerate his brain’s thought process, but it gets so OP to the point where can deflect bullets with his own bullets and slice bullets in two with his knife. OP God Mode. This trigger also turns him into a major flirt and gigolo that can’t say no to a girl, which caused him to actively seek to avoid situations where he is in close contact with girls to prevent being triggered. Has a ‘harem’ of girls if you wanna call it that way, but even though the story is halfway translated as of now, it’s obvious he’s fallen for the main female lead. You’d only want to read this story to find out the next BS thing the MC does when he’s triggered, and it can only get higher and higher. Seriously, the moment where he catches a bullet in his teeth (way later in the story) gives you the best feeling ever. To put it in the Female MC’s words: "How about that rating, Kinji? Being classed by the world as a dangerous character who fights non-humans? Tell me how do you like that?” And his words: "–I’m a senior high school student. My grades are slightly below average, and I attend a violent school.”, and his monologue: [At least that was what I want to be. Honestly…] Had a 2011 anime and ongoing manga series, as well as a Yuri spinoff series (as per the usual anime law decreeing that all spinoffs have to have Yuri plot in them, see Soul Eater and Fate Prisma).

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (Completed Translation + Series): Idiots doing idiotic things in school. Interesting battle system, with loads of comedy. Loads. Of. Comedy. No ecchi scenes. Had an two-season anime series in 2010 and 2011, and a manga series.

Chrome Shelled Regios (Completed Translation + Series): Main character is OP but gets debuffed at the very start, tries to restart his life as a normal person but realises that his innate talent for fighting doesn’t allow him to. Has many female love interests but at the end MC only chooses one. ‘Magic’ system works a little differently from conventional sources, nearing more to martial arts style, and telekinesis-telepathy combination rather than enchanting-spell type. What else can I say other than the MC controls a weapon made of thousands of infinitely thin and sharp wires that he uses to slice bugs (the main enemy) up with... which is so badass. (Though his main weapon is a sword.) No ecchi scenes. The sideplot about ‘fate’ and the history of the setting gets a little confusing though. This had an anime, but since the director died right before the 2009 anime ended it’s unlikely that a second season will come out. It does have a manga side plot series that is completed and a great accompaniment to the main light novel.

CubexCursedxCurious (Completed Translation + Series): MC lives in a house that is apparently so holy that cursed weapons journey there to get purified and lift their cursed. Oh yeah, and some cursed weapons can turn into people too (Soul Eater style?). Wielding the weapons will obviously give you great power, but it also has serious drawbacks, e.g. A sword cursed to be able to slice through anything, drawback is that their owner will be consumed by bloodlust and is compelled to draw blood with that sword (in other words, the old regular cursed sword rule). MC is of course immune to curses (and so he can wield that sword) because he was born in that holy place. Female lead is originally a torture device made of 32 different torture tools, including Iron Maiden, Guillotine, Pendulum, etc. Literally the first scene is the female lead found naked (since her real form is a mcfreaking cube I would not be surprised) in the MC’s kitchen looking for food to eat so let there be a representative of the subsequent ecchi scenes to be found. The cursed tool system is cool, anyway. MC doesn’t end up with anyone is particular. Plus point: Not all female characters introduced are in love with the male MC. Just three (3) girls. Also, the second light novel doesn’t feature the ‘second’ heroine’s backstory arc like a lot of light novels do... but instead a couple of a girl and a genderfluid character. Cool stuff. Had a 2011 anime and (very behind) manga series.

Other more well known ones:

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku (Up to Date Translation, Ongoing Series): Think Battle Royale x Danganronpa x the Mahou Shoujo Trope. Lots of blood and death, so don’t bother if you don’t want to see your favourite character die/put through lots of angst and depression. Each Magical Girl has different superpowers and you’d only want to read it in hopes of seeing your favourite character live to the end/have a cool death scene/have cool action scenes in general. One of the underlying themes was that it’s not a given that powerful people will always win; the strong can be overthrown by the weak (I can think of at least two occasions), a person can win a killing game without any blood on their hands, and the magical government is pretty much corrupt. Had a recent 2016 anime series and a manga series.

Hyouka (Up to Date Translation and Series): Based on Agatha Christie stories, think mysteries but without any actual murder.

And then I’ll throw in a few English books to show that I have good taste in books:

Captive Prince by CS Pacat: Gayyyyy + lots of politics. THE ROMANCE THOUGH.... enemies to tentative friends to hostile ‘ah we’re supposed to be on opposing sides as enemies of each other’s nation’ to lovers YEAAHHHHHHH. Some parts are explicit, yeah.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan: MC was dragged into a magical military academy in a magical land to be a child soldier, but instead of being typical Harry Potter he is snarky, sarcastic and actually raises valid questions like why the heck are they raising child soldiers??? Bisexual icon male MC who is also a pacifist I love him he must be protected

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: War story narrated by a spy who was caught by enemy soldiers and forced to reveal her state secrets in the form of written narrative. Mystery and unreliable narrator time! If you can survive the first few draggy chapters and then a little more the reveal is SO. REWARDING. Female MC.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: I tried recommending this to my friend and sadly I realised that if you have no background knowledge on Christianity and what the apocalypse details you may not find this interesting. It’s a shame because it’s so funny. EDIT: I’m so glad it got a TV series??? That means more people will read the book, which is amazing, right???

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope: Female MC and the story of her ancestor’s romances (think short story-style but all connected together). Straight romance. Female MC.

Any book by Brandon Sanderson: Yes. Just… yes.

Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn: A bastard girl stays in the castle with her royal relatives for the summer. (If you’re wondering there is discrimination against her as a commoner but overall she is loved by her family there.) Somehow the only page I have bookmarked in this book is the part near the end where the MC commits royal crimes, and is slapped by the king, giving the reader no small amount of satisfaction. Fantasy-style with small amount of political intrigue, female MC is a apprentice hedgewitch so she knows herbal knowledge (which is a prominent part of the book when she uses it?). Anyway, please read.

A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith: Female princess MC is invited to a large one week (?) party with the other country’s princes and princesses to celebrate this big county’s prince’s great birthday or smth. Some political intrigue and also great plot twist. At the end of it I got really invested in the romance between the side characters bc they were really well developed lol..

The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner: The third book is my favourite book because I love the MC (Costis!!!!!), bless his innocent soul (COSTIS!!!!!!) caught up in the nefarious plots of the first book MC. Little romance and more of political plots.

Warriors by Erin Hunter: I had to include at least one joke book and this was it. Anyway this was the series I grew up reading, honestly the third series had the best MC in the blind, grumpy, no-nonsense healer who is so refreshingly different from a normal ‘hero archetype’ MC. (*whisper* You gotta talk about the furries, troof!) Oh. Oh yeah, they’re all cats.

#troofless stuff #living trooflessly #I just finished reading Rakuin no Monshou and it ended satisfactorily #troofless reads books

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