#Emma Cullen is everything to me

[flamet-draws]

“Who’s she?”

“Joan of Arc.”

~

~

My personality has been replaced with the cowboy movie

[dwellordream]

Best Reads of 2024

this year i read 300 books. which i think is impressive but not as impressive as it sounds bc many of these books were very short, easy reads meant to be like, stuff you read at the airport or sitting by the pool on vacation. so it's not like i was tackling the harvard classics. i also read extremely fast; it only takes me about an hour to do 300 pages unless it's a super dense complex text. that said, here is a list of all the books i read this year that i would rate 4 stars or higher, separated by genre: Fantasy/Magical Realism: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett Highfire by Eoin Colfer Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi Chlorine by Jade Song The Passion by Jeanette Winterson The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter Realistic Fiction: We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride & Jo Piazza Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent Only Child by Rhiannon Navin Movie Star by Lizzie Pepper Prima Facie by Suzie Miller Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg Piglet by Lottie Hazell The List by Yomi Adegoke A Winter's Rime by Carol Dunbar The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas

Mystery/Thriller: Queenpin by Megan Abbott Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley The Guest by Emma Cline Advika and the Hollywood Wives by Kirthana Ramisetti Kala by Colin Walsh Descent by Tim Johnston Wahala by Nikki May When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff We Could Be Beautiful by Swan Huntley Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon The Lagos Wife by Vanessa Walters Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage Cape Fear by John D. MacDonald Sea Wife by Amity Gaige Last Seen Wearing by Hilary Waugh The Black Cabinet by Patricia Wentworth Historical Fiction: Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen Gilded Mountain by Kate Manning All You Have to Do is Call by Kerri Maher Cruel Beautiful World by Caroline Leavitt Payback by Mary Gordon A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley The Affairs of the Falcons by Melissa Rivero Longbourn by Jo Baker The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson Go to Hell Ole Miss by Jeff Barry The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird Consequences by Penelope Lively Iron Curtain: A Love Story by Vesna Goldsworthy Homestead by Melinda Moustakis Not Our Kind by Kitty Zeldis Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell Teddy by Emily Dunlay Science Fiction: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom Fever by Deon Meyer The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet Briefly Very Beautiful by Roz Dineen

Romance: Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler Meant to Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson American Royalty by Tracey Livesay The One by Julie Argy The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin Queen of Urban Prophecy by Aya de Léon That Dangerous Energy by Aya de Léon The Dove in the Belly by Jim Grimsley Fatima Tate Takes the Cake by Khadija VanBrakle Faro’s Daughter by Georgette Heyer Horror: Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka Cujo by Stephen King Night Watching by Tracy Sierra The Garden by Clare Beams The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman True Crime: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Columbine by Dave Cullen Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio by Derf Backderf Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students by J. Reuben Appelman The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age by Michael Wolraich Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope

History: Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster by Adam Higginbotham Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and Nasa’s Challenger Disaster by Kevin Cook The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House by Sally Bedell Smith As Long as We Both Shall Love: The White Wedding in Postwar America by Karen M. Dunak Babysitter: An American History by Miriam Forman-Brunell Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin All She Lost: The Explosion in Lebanon, the Collapse of a Nation and the Women who Survive by Dalal Mawad Psychology: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker The Anxious Generation: How The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff Misdiagnosed: One Woman’s Tour of -And Escape From- Healthcareland by Jody Berger Stolen Child: A Mother’s Journey to Rescue Her Son from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by Laurie Gough Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood by Tanya Frank I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy Us, After: A Memoir of Love and Suicide by Rachel Zimmerman Everything Is Fine: A Memoir by Vince Granata Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria

Memoir: Upstairs At The White House by J.B. West A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold Goodbye, Sweet Girl: A Story of Domestic Violence and Survival by Kelly Sundberg This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell

Fragile Beginnings: Discoveries and Triumphs in the Newborn ICU by Adam Wolfberg The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher and Mary Pilon Remedies for Sorrow: An Extraordinary Child, a Secret Kept from Pregnant Women, and a Mother’s Pursuit of the Truth by Megan Nix Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie by Julia Haart Minding the Manor: The Memoir of a 1930s English Kitchen Maid by Mollie Moran Love in the Blitz: The War Letters of Eileen Alexander to Gershon Ellenbogan by Eileen Alexander Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story by Lis Smith

The Apology by Eve Ensler Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur

One Way Back: A Memoir by Christine Blasey Ford Biography: The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty by Susan Page Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson by Rebecca Boggs Roberts King: A Life by Jonathan Eig Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa Thomas

American Girls: One Woman’s Journey into the Islamic State and Her Sister’s Fight to Bring Her Home by Jessica Roy Susan, Linda, Nina, and Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli

Gender: Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement by Andi Zeisler All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership by Darcy Lockman Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism by bell hooks Enslaved Women in America: From Colonial Times to Emancipation by Emily West You’ll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love by Marcia A. Zug The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History by Ilise S. Carter Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America by Lillian Faderman

[jochiemgrace]

Solas sees them talking outside haven, Emma and the Lion.

He is jealous, and chides himself.

He can’t pursue her. Of course he can’t.

He still has to…

His rebellion…

His promise…

Yes. That was his anchor in her hand, but she isn’t his.

They are chatting about nothing.

Laughing and touching and-

His legs move him before he knows, arms crossed casually behind his back, hiding the wringing of his hands.

“Emma'lah?” His voice is calm, questioning.

Cullen’s smile pulls tight, trying to hide his distaste. The inquisitor turns to Solas, her smile touching every part of her face.

Creators she’s beautiful.

“May I speak with you?” His head gestures away.

“Of course!” She turns to Cullen, “Excuse me, Commander.”

The man nodded at her retreat. What else could he do?

She’s at Solas’ side the next instant.

“Is everything alright?” her concerned tone touches him.

“Yes. I just,” Shit. Shit! What does he say? What did he need her for? He glanced her way, her face was surprisingly… hopeful?

She bit her lip and stole a look at him, her ears flushing as she saw him looking back. “I take it Vivienne mentioned my ponderings of the Fade?”

She was … no. He couldn’t hope.

“She has not. But I would love to hear them.”

The blush flooded her cheeks as her head tipped downward.

She was quiet as she launched into her theories and thoughts

She’d caught him in his lie, and was happy?

Did she want to spend time with him?

Dangerous, that small voice cooed.

Solas paid it no mind as he learned more about Emma'lah's marvelous mind.

scene inspired while listening to:

[great-kung-lao]

Thinking back to it, my Tumblr blog was always a shipping blog. I started it in the first place to defend NaruHina and IchiHime while Naruto and Bleach shipping wars were on-going. I wrote whole essays, debunked statements from antis, etc.

So I think it will be fair to make a post listing ships that can be expected here in order to safe some people their time following me or not.

Top 4 - the OTPs that define me and my taste. My constant. My everything.

Kiryu Kazuma and Sayama Kaoru (Like a Dragon/Yakuza)

Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata (Naruto)

Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime (Bleach)

Clark Kent and Lois Lane (DC Comics)

Everything from here on will be divided into categories (franchise, form of media or literature, etc).

DC Universe:

Dick Grayson and Barbada Gordon.

Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris.

Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.

Arthur Curry and Mera.

Oliver Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance.

Diana Prince and Steve Trevor.

Barry Allen and Irist West.

Wally West and Linda Park.

Carter Hall and Shiera Sanders.

Marvel Universe:

Reed Richards and Susan Storm.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane-Watson.

Bruce Banner and Betty Ross.

Scott Summers and Emma Frost.

Scott Summers and Jean Grey.

Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff.

Peter Quill and Gamora.

Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios.

Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.

Remy LeBeau and Anna Marie.

Blackagar Boltagon and Medusalith Amaquelin.

Final Fantasy:

Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart.

Clive Rosfield and Jill Warrick.

Zack Fair and Aeris Gainsborough.

Noctis Lucis Caelum and Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.

Tidus and Yuna.

Snow Villiers and Serah Farron.

Squall Leonhart and Rinoa Heartilly.

Resident Evil:

Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine.

Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin.

Leon Scott Kennedy and Claire Redfield.

Fighting games:

Liu Kang and Kitana.

Sol Badguy and Jack-O.

Ragna the Bloodedge and Rachel Alucard.

Ryu and Chun-Li.

Kazama Jin and Ling Xiaoyu.

Andy Bogard and Shiranui Mai.

Ryu Hayabusa and Kasumi.

Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch.

Terry Bogard and Mary Blue.

Sakazaki Ryo and King.

Ky Kiske and Dizzy.

Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade.

Mito Anji and Baiken.

Bi-Han and Sareena.

Takahashi Takeda and Jacqui Briggs.

Mishima Kazuya and Kazama Jun.

Hasashi Hanzo and Hasashi Harumi.

Raiden and Sindel.

Siegfried Schützen and Sophitia Alexandra.

Guy and Rose.

Yuki Akira and Umenokouji Aoi.

Books:

Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.

Aragorn and Arwen.

Jason Grace and Piper Mclean.

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.

Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque.

Magnus Chase and Alex Fierro.

Carter Kane and Zia Rashid.

Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.

Carlisle Cullen and Esme Cullen.

Emmett Cullen and Rosalie Hale.

Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen.

Matthew Clairmont and Diana Bishop.

Will Parry and Lyra Belacqua.

Beren and Luthien.

Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

Mo Qing and Lu Zhao Yao.

Chang Yi and Ji Yun He.

TV shows:

Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter.

Angus MacGyver and Riley Davis.

Carly Shay and Freddie Benson.

Sabrina Spellman and Harvey Kinkle.

John Dorian and Elliot Reed.

Chandler Bing and Monica Geller.

Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly.

Andy Dwyer and April Ludgate.

Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago.

Movies/Animation:

Neo and Trinity.

Richard O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan.

Aladin and Jasmine.

Anime/Manga:

Asagaki Tougo and Arvoln Yihdra.

Okazaki Tomoya and Furukawa Nagisa.

Stark and Fern.

Himmel and Frieren.

Jinshi and Maomao.

Eren and Mikasa.

Loid and Yor.

Elmir Claude Jeanne and Dautriche Aileen Lauren.

Sasakura Ryuu and Kurushima Miwa.

Saitou and Raelza.

Guts and Casca.

Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine.

Takakura Ken and Ayase Momo.

Gentouga Keitarou and Houzuki Eiko.

Linden de Romanoff and Elise de Clorance.

Kitahama Eiji and Nanakura Rin.

Adonis and Doroka.

Helck and Vermilio.

Oreki Houtarou and Chitanda Eru.

Fukube Satoshi and Ibara Mayaka.

Gabimaru and Yui.

Hibino Kafka and Ashiro Mina.

Kamonohashi Ron and Amamiya.

Wynknight Noah and Raeliana McMillan.

Miller Shun and Mimori Byakuya.

Oohara Takuya and Honjouji Rika.

Nakami Ganta and Magari Isaki.

Tadano Hitohito and Komi Shouko.

Allen Crawford and Charlotte Evans.

Himuro and Fuyutsuki.

Shiraishi Junta and Kubo Nagisa.

Arnold Hein and Rishe Irmgard Weitzner.

Volfred Scalfarotto and Dahliya Rosetti.

Johan and Phanora Kristoffel.

Ashaf and Guideau.

Veltol Velvet Velsvalt and Machina Solege.

Kunato Hyouma and Nagatsuki Botan.

Kraft Lawrence and Holo.

Kaina and Ririha.

Akutsu Masatora and Amane Lily.

Kuga Ichirou and Goshiki Shiroi.

Fujimiya Amane and Shina Mahiru.

Miyama Kirishima and Somei Yoshino.

Himura Kenshin and Kamiya Kaoru.

Senya and Tsukiko.

Hyoudou Shinsuke and Shakuyaku.

Rick Gladiatol and Reanette Elfelt.

Sakuraba Ittoki and Kousetsu.

Lawrence and Cecilia.

Kobato Jougorou and Osani Yuki.

Gojou Wakana and Kitagawa Marin.

Shall Fen Shall and Ann Halford.

Komura Kaede and Mie Ai.

Munakata Souta and Iwato Suzume.

Kamina and Littner Yoko.

Simon and Nia Teppelin.

Kubota Junichirou and Aizawa Tomo.

Vash The Stampede and Meryl Stryfe.

Andy and Izumo Fuuko.

Oscar Lyeth Increatos Loz Farsas and Tinasha.

Sakurai Shinichi and Uzaki Hana.

Kudou Kiyoka and Saimori Miyo.

Asano Taiyou and Yozakura Mutsumi.

CASTLEVANIA:

Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades.

Alucard and Greta.

Richter Belmont and Annette.

Dracula and Lisa.

DEVIL MAY CRY:

Nero and Kyrie.

Dante and Lady.

Sparda and Eva.

LIKE A DRAGON/JUDGMENT:

Akiyama Shun and Hana.

Takayuki Yagami and Fujii Mafuyu.

Masaharu Kaito and Natsume Mikiko.

Shirosaki Saori and Hoshino Issei.

Majima Goro and Makimura Makoto.

Saejima Taiga and Naomi Rich.

Miyamoto Musashi (aka Kiryu Kazumanosuke) and Ageha (aka Yoshino).

THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATING CAUSE I HAVE SO MANY TO LIST STILL!!!

[everythingheard]

with Teddy ( @justteddyq ) ▌from here.

For a moment in that beat of silence, Joshua wondered if he had pushed Teddy a little harder than some might be liable to think he should have. Still, regardless of the answer, he didn't regret it. Despite the fact that his words were far from soft or gently reassuring, Teddy had decided to crack that vulnerability open to him — though he was uncertain of the reason, whether because they both knew what it was to be burdened with guilt they hadn't earned since their earliest memory or something else. When a reply finally broke through the din of the saloon, noise that had almost faded into the background of his consciousness amid the close tilt of their heads and their conversation, a faint grin crept across Joshua's face. "To hell with 'em," he affirmed.

As Teddy's teary eyes lifted to meet his, he felt a strange stirring in his chest, like a single plucked guitar string. "Alright, alright. Don't get all weepy on me." Joshua lifted his hand to graze the back of his still-curled fingers against Teddy's cheek to brush away a wayward tear that had spilled over before it could reach the other man's chin. There was a second in which he was oddly compelled to use his thumb to wipe away what traces of it remained, before he returned his palm to the top of the bar instead. But everything left something behind, didn't it? And the longer you held on, the greater the endurance of its remnants. Some people eased it with something they enjoyed, or someone; that latter notion recalled to mind the manner in which Teddy had seemed to find romantic feelings for Emma Cullen absurd. What about it was so preposterous? She was beautiful, with a fire that seemed nearly alight behind her eyes. Had Teddy come to view her so much as a friend that it wasn't even noticed? A question to mull over, though his attention persisted on his companion's more recent words.

"Still stings after you let it go, but at least you're not carryin' it 'round with you. It's easier to figure out what you wanna do with both your hands free." He gave a brief nod of his head. "Even when I wonder 'bout whether all the shit I'd been told's true, I'd rather figure it out for myself than listen to someone else's voice screamin' it in my ear." Oh, Joshua hardly counted himself as a good person, but he'd be damned if he ever let anyone push him around again. Not like that. Whatever he was or had turned out to be now, he had only been a kid then; a kid who had run from a remorseless asshole just to find another one, wishing the whole time for someone to simply tell him that they were glad he existed at all. He had probably been too young when he realized that until he dropped that figurative hot pan, he would never have anything else.

Then, Joshua paused, his lips parting slightly as he considered Teddy's countenance not for the first time that night — thinking. When he spoke again, it was so quiet as to almost be under his breath. "But maybe some voices are worth listenin' to."

[nobodyexpectsthe]

misc worldbuilding details for companion verse pirith

he can be found in the courtyard, near one of the benches with a pile of books. he's usually sitting and reading though later in the game you can find him assisting with the gardening as his health improves. he moves very stiffly at the start and hanging out beside him long enough will get some quiet hisses and grunts of pain. later, his movement is significantly easier - however he can be seen clutching his injured hand and complains about how often he's retorn the injury.

ambient dialogue implies that he was in the library but being in close proximity to someone from tevinter made him uncomfortable. elan ve'mal is doing him a kindness by fetching books for him as making the trek up all those stairs seems quite taxing and he's too withdrawn to ask anyone for help. if recruited from the exalted plains loranil will become his dedicated gopher. at high enough approval, loranil also has special dialogue which initiates a quest that reveals the red lyrium infection before it becomes obvious. this can lead to a branching questline where the hand is taken off and buys enough time to find a proper treatment.

if dorian leaves he'll move to the library. he may also do this if you drag him around in a party with dorian long enough for the fear to wear off. the fact that he continues to survive his exposure to the lyrium and it has not interfered with his ability to use magic is of potential interest to solas and cullen.

his first personal quest is investigating rumors of other survivors from clan lavellan. his second involves investigating how deep the corruption in wycome went and whether it's spread to the surrounding cities. during this quest he shows significant instability, which reveals the infection left by fragments left in his body. why it didn't kill him is unknown. the final one involves the spread of the red lyrium and his acceptance of the fact that he's been bought time and given the strength to avenge his clan, and that's enough. the inquisitor can talk him into remaining hopeful and giving him something new to live for, or they can offer to take him out once all this is done so he does not suffer the red templars they've seen do.

he's potentially absent from trespasser depending on previous choices. you can find his grave in the gardens. if he survives he's in considerably better health - still sick and scarred, but with a long life yet to live. he's developed a spell called mage hand to make up for his missing one.

low approval greetings

"inquisitor ___." in a flat tone

"Lathbora viran." melancholy and exhausted

"i'm sorry, but you're blocking the light."

"Dirthara-ma." angrily, if the inquisitor is anything but elven

"ma banal las halamshir var vhen." angrily, if the inquisitor is dalish and appears to have turned their back on the elves

neutral

"the weather here is quite nice." cautious & conversational

"if i can help, i will." reluctant & wary

"andaran atish’an." formally

ending the conversation for the lower approvals is: "if that is all." low approval conversations also feature him heavily masking his dalish accent when speaking common. this drops when approval is warm & higher

warm

"one moment. now where did i put that bookmark..." friendly

"is everything alright?" concerned & friendly

"Garas quenathra?"

friendly

"good morning, lethallin." warm and enthusiastic

"i was wondering where you were. come to interrupt me again?" teasing

ending the conversation gets, "Dareth shiral." or "i will be ready if you've need of me."

romanced

"emma lath..."

"your presence warms like the sun." fondly, like you put the sun in the sky

war table missions focus on researching both the supply chain, any potential cures, and the hope of fellow survivors.

pirith's romance is also a slowburn because he believes it would have been better if he'd died with the rest of the clan and has mostly checked out. he's here to kill corypheus and that's it. while he has the potential to recover even without a romance, entering a romance with the inquisitor gives him new motivation to survive.

[shivunin]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for the tags @greypetrel @daggerbean @ndostairlyrium @layalu!! In turn, tagging (no pressure, always): @heniareth @zenstrike @dreadfutures @pinayelf @vakarians-babe @jtownnn and you, if you have something you'd like to share! It has been a Week and my brain is soup, but here is something I wrote in companion to the piece about Hawke lost in the Fade. I got to thinking about what might lead my Inquisitor to the role she plays in that fic, and it has been eons since I've written Emma (my darling!), so:

It was always cold at night in Skyhold, even if the magic of the fortress itself held the worst of the frosts at bay. 

Emmaera stood on the balcony, looking out at the moon over the snow, and tried to decide if she was ready to cry yet. It seemed like this ought to be the right time; she was finally home, such as it was, and she’d been thinking for ages how nice it would be to get home and finally, finally cry. 

Why couldn’t she do it?

“You’re still awake?” 

She didn’t turn when the door creaked the rest of the way open, but she leaned back when Cullen wrapped his arms around her. 

“I can’t sleep. Well—that’s an understatement, I suppose.”

“Hmm,” he said, and she could feel the tension in him before he spoke again. “Adamant?” 

“What else?” 

If she strained, she could see the ravens as they flew from Leliana’s tower. Not unusual, really. The spymaster and her folk sent letters at all hours of the night. But…well. Lavellan knew exactly who’d sent the ones winging from the rookery now. 

“I should’ve—” she began, but gritted her teeth against it. 

How self-serving to pity herself over the choice now; she, who’d sent Varric’s dearest friend to her death. How could she even pretend she had the right?

“You did the best you could,” Cullen told her quietly, squeezing tighter. Emma shook her head silently and gripped the cold stone of the balustrade. 

“There had to have been another way. I could have—I could have held it back. I could have—If I’d just had time to think—”

“We have discussed what happened a dozen times,” Cullen told her quietly. “I know it doesn’t help. I know; believe me, I know. But—”

“The eluvians,” she interrupted. “There’s got to be something there.”

“Emmaera—”

“I know it,” she said, for she had spent the last week thinking of little else. She had lost her father to an eluvian most of her lifetime ago. Maybe—maybe another could unmake this wrong. Maybe Hawke was still out there to bring back. 

“If I could just go for—for a week—”

“There is no time,” he let go of her, stepping to the side so they could look at each other. “If there was some way—if anyone deserves saving, it’s her, but there is no time. We march for the Arbor Wilds in under a month and you’ve excursions planned from tomorrow to then.”

“I owe her,” she told him, her voice ragged. She pressed one fisted hand—the one marked with the Anchor—to her chest. “I owe her everything. She gave up her life for me. She was supposed to be retired; Varric told Cassandra—oh, nevermind that. I can’t just leave her there, Cullen. What if it’s me someday? What if I never get to leave this, either, and someday someone will come out of the woodwork to ask me if I might help them with one last mission? What if you were the one who had to hear that I’d been lost somewhere, that they were very sorry but I was an acceptable casualty and—”

She couldn’t go on. Lavellan pressed a hand to her mouth and turned away, willing her eyes to stop stinging. Behind her, she could hear Cullen shift and sigh. 

“I know,” he said. “I know the guilt you feel and—I wish I knew what to say.”

“Say I should go,” the Inquisitor said, back straight as an arrow, and turned to her Commander. “Say that I can leave and bring her back.” 

Emmaera sighed, slumping slightly, and reached for his hand. 

“Say that you would want someone to do the same if it were me,” she told her lover, and Cullen searched her face. 

“I wouldn’t let someone else do it if you were lost,” he told her quietly. “But—very well. I will go write a message for the others now. See what we can rearrange.”

“Thank you,” she told him, heartfelt. “Thank you.”

Cullen reached for her and folded her close, leaning his cheek against her hair. 

“Don’t thank me,” he said, and closed his eyes tightly.

[skylarynns-silverado]

Character Source List

Sources [usually films or television shows - anything else will have notation] will be in bold. Characters will be formatted with their in-universe name, followed by the original character in italics. Name formatting will be [First Name] [Middle Name] ["Nick Name"] [Maiden Name/Original Surname] [Married Name/Taken Surname] as applicable. I will probably also be adding links to everything, but later.

Wanted: Dead or Alive 1958-1961 Joshua Everett "Josh" Randall - Josh Randall

Rawhide 1959-1965 Randolph Jacob "Rowdy" Yates - Rowdy Yates

The Magnificent Seven 1960 Franklin Vaughn "Frank" Randall - Vin Giovanni Vittorio "Gio" Auditore - Bernardo O'Reilly Brittony "Britt" Calvin - Britt Byron Allen Lee III - Lee Carlos "Chico" Hernandez - Chico

The Dollars Trilogy 1964-1966 Jonas Blake "Joey" Yates - The Man With No Name / Joe/Manco/Blondie

Hang 'Em High 1968 Jeremy Cooper "Jed" Yates - Jed Cooper Rachel Warren - Rachel Warren

Once Upon a Time in the West 1969 Emilio "Harmonica" Arman - Harmonica Jorge Gutierrez - Cheyenne

Rustlers' Rhapsody 1985 Revelin "Rex" O'Houlihan - Rex O'Herlihan Peter Twist - Peter

Silverado 1985 [to be honest I'm taking almost all the characters, but main characters/love interests:] Emmett Martell - Emmett Paden Cassidy - Paden Tyree Ransom Ekker - Tyree Hannah Kincaid Weslan [Cobb] - Hannah Weslan Malachi "Mal" Johnson - Malachi "Mal" Johnson Jacob "Rattlesnake Jake" Martell - Jake Stella Bonneville - Stella Rae Johnson - Rae Johnson Phoebe Hartshorne - Phoebe

Quigley Down Under 1990 Matthew Quigley - Matthew Quigley

Maverick 1994 Bret Maverick [Jr.] - Bret Maverick Annabelle Bransford - Annabelle Bransford

The Marshal 1995 Veronica "Ronnie" Davis - Veronica Cole

The Quick and the Dead 1995 Jessamy "Jessie" MacIntyre - The Lady / Ellen Cameron "Cam" McPhee - The Kid / Fee Herod Cortney "Cort" Cobb - Cort

The Magnificent Seven 1998-2000 [much like Silverado I'm taking almost all the characters, but main characters/love interests:] Christian "Chris" Larabee - Chris Larabee Vincent Ulysses "Vin" Tanner - Vin Tanner Nathan Jackson - Nathan Jackson John Daniel "J.D." Dunne - J.D. Dunne Buck Wilmington - Buck Wilmington Ezra Phineas Standish - Ezra Standish Mary Travis - Mary Travis Casey Welles - Casey Welles Inez Recillos - Inez Recillos

Firefly 2002 Robert Malcolm "Bobby" Reynolds - Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds Zoe Martinez - Zoe Alleyne Washbourne Jayne Cobb - Jayne Cobb Eleena Vasquez - Inara Serra Simon Morgan - Simon Tam River Morgan - River Tam Kaylee Frye - Kaywinnit Lee "Kaylee" Frye Sheppard Book - Derrial Book

Supernatural 2005-2020 John Winchester - John Winchester Dean Winchester - Dean Winchester Samuel "Sam" Winchester - Samuel "Sam" Winchester

3:10 to Yuma 2007 Daniel "Dan" Evans - Daniel "Dan" Evans William "Will" Evans - William Evans Benjamin "Ben" Wade - Ben Wade Charles "Charlie" Prince - Charlie Prince

Six of Crows 2015 Caspian/Casimir "Caz" Zima Winters - Kaz Brekker Haruko - Inej Ghafa Christophe "Kit Benny" Benoit - Jesper Fahey Wyatt Vanderbilt - Wylan Van Eck Hannah "Nan" Gallagher - Nina Zenik

The Magnificent Seven 2016 Samuel "Sam" Chisolm - Sam Chisolm Joshua "Josh" Faraday - Josh Faraday Manuel Vasquez - Vasquez Goodnight "Goody" Robicheaux - Goodnight "Goody" Robicheaux Billy Rocks - Billy Rocks Red Harvest - Red Harvest Emma Cullen - Emma Cullen

The Hunters 2020 [a series I am currently working on writing] Elias Hawkins - Elias Walker Hawkins Lucas "Luke" Hearne - Faolan Lucas "Luke" MacTiernan Auryon "Aury" Hearne - Auryon "Aury" Hearne-MacTiernan Hawkins Sebastian "Owl Eyes" St. James Cheyenne - Sylvain Alistair Abigale "Abby" McKenzie - Kindra Arden

Jessta James Music Videos 2021-2022 [specifically Hell's Coming With Me, Loaded Gun, and War Cry] Josiah "Josey" James - Jessta James

Original Characters 2023+ [that I've made for the project] Melissa "Missy" Ekker - Tyree's mother Bethany "Beth" Skinner - a love interest

[hb-writes]

🥛 maybe for Mia Cullen 🍼 maybe for Emmaline Grey…. Totally your choice and I absolutely love your writing!!!!!

Thank you so much! I answered this backwards at first so you're gonna get 🍼 and 🥛 for both Mia and Emmeline. 😅 I put Emmeline's answers under the cut because they come with trigger warnings for child abuse, neglect, and child death.

🥛 What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures?

Mia does not know her biological parents. Her mother passed away from complications in childbirth shortly after Mia was born. Her father was unknown to her for much of her life, but in The Language of Flowers, we learn that Carlisle did likely know who her father was (or at least, he had a strong suspicion).

As for her relationships with Esme and Carlisle, they're very clearly quite strong. They're really the only parents she's ever known. They're over protective and dote endlessly, and Mia loves her parents and genuinely likes hanging out with them. I truly imagine she would feel comfortable talking to both of them about anything.

🍼 What's your OC's first memory?

Mia has a lot of vague memories of everyday things starting at age 3 but her first really vivid memory is her 4th birthday. The Cullen family lives in Chicago at the time and they take her to the Navy Pier which had its grand reopening the summer of that year. They let her eat all sorts of junk food and ride the rides with her and Rose and Emmett both spend the day in competition trying to win Mia the biggest stuffed animal. Mia still has a couple of them in her room that she's kept over the years.

🥛 What is your OC's relationship with their biological parents like? What about their relationship with any non-biological parental figures?

Emma doesn’t have a relationship with either of her biological parents. Her father was never involved in her life until she's much older (more about bio dad is here in the one shot Opportunities). Emma remembers her mother and her mother's pseudo boyfriend/ boss from her younger years. It was not a good living situation by any means. There was child abuse and neglect involved, and she has had no contact with her mother, who willingly terminated her rights. Emma doesn't even know whether her mother is alive or where she is. She likely wouldn't see the woman even if she did.

Emma has a good relationship with her adoptive parents and is reasonably close with both Carrick and Grace. They are both people she feels safe and loved with. The relationships she has with them have helped her a lot in healing process.

And then there's Christian, who isn't her parent, but certainly acts like one most of the time. Emma's relationship with Christian is complicated because he's obviously quite over the top and can be a low-key asshole at times, but there's something that really resonates between the two of them, something about the similarities in their early childhoods, and Emma may push back against just about everything he says, but at the end of the day, the relationship she has with Christian is a positive one. For her, he serves as evidence that she can be successful and more than her past.

🍼 What's your OC's first memory?

Emma has several traumatic memories from her early childhood that haunt her to this day, including the death of her brother, Daniel (Danny). Her first memories are all of her brother, who was just a few years older than her. Danny did a lot of caretaking for Emma and he frequently protected her from their mother and their mother's boyfriends, and she has several small snapshot type memories of things like him playing with her or reading her bedtime stories or making food for them both even though he was still young himself.

Send me an OC question!

[athena-xox]

Oh my gosh don’t get me started

Emmeline: a couple canonical things to get out of the way first she’s canonically Asian!! (And hot like she’s literally described as majestic) and she also was a part of the first war and died in the second. I hc that she’s ravenclaw same year as the marauders. Very sarcastic I’d say she’s like a mix between lily and reg. Best friends with caradoc dearborn. Secretly a hopeless romantic. Her vibe is smudged sparkly eyeshadow. She joined the ravenclaw quidditch team in fifth year as a chaser. Her friend group consisted of Caradoc, Sybill, Xenophilius, Doris Purkiss and Kingsley. My all time fav ship is emmary but Emm has chemistry with a lot of ppl. She would be such a swiftie her top five albums would be: evermore, midnights, reputation, speak now and folklore.

Amelia: she is canonically broad! You can interpret this how you want but interpret it somehow into your hcs. I hc that she was the middle child of five at adopted. She was Brazilian but her parents were Black and white. She was one year older than the marauders and a hufflepuff. She became a prefect (head girl) and quidditch captain. She was very strict on fair play and would bench her players if they said any shit to the other teams. Overall just an it girl. I ship her with Emma but I can also see her with Hestia, I also like the hc of her being acearo.

Alice: canonically plus size! I see her as totally badass. Gryffindor four years older than the marauders. Was literally so many girls queer awakening or just crush. I definitely don’t hc her whole vibe to be Alice Cullen (guilty as charged). Nobleflower>> but I also really like fralice.

Emma: she was the keeper on the slytherin quidditch team. She went pro. She was really close with Dorcas who was a year younger than her and both her and Cass loved Lucinda Talkalot like a little sister. Latina, her personality is literally just Andi from rebelde. Obviously I love her and Amelia, also her and Hestia though (polyam?) and emlily. Captainflower is just so fcking cute.

Bellatrix: oldest, everyone at school was scared of her. She would enchanted her hair to look like snakes and would always dress up as Medusa for Halloween. Ik canonically she’s ten years older than the marauders but I hc she’s only five. Quillkiller is just top tier, like toxic gfs? Yes please sign me up.

Andy: twins with Bella. Super badass rockstar vibes. Her hair was a bit lighter than Bella’s. She was almost sorted into hufflepuff. I love her and Ted but her and Olivia Gleaves>> it’s basically the same trope just sapphic.

Narcissa: technically Irish twins with Bella and Andy. Four years older than the marauders. Rbf. Honestly more scary than Bella. Was very intimidating on the outside but inside she was very insecure. Naturally black hair. Nobleflower obviously is the best but I also really like the idea of her and Septima Vector?

There’s literally so many more underrated marauders era girls (Ik around 100) and I’ll give hcs for a few more who are popular.

Hestia Jones: I alr mentioned her but I hc that she’s hufflepuff one year older than the marauders and best friends with Amelia. She was kind of reserved and almost sorted into ravenclaw. I hc that she’s Afro Latina.

Aurora Sinistra: oh my. She’s so everything. Four years older than the marauders and ravenclaw. Half blood. Introverted but still had friends.

Lucinda talkalot: I hc she was three years younger than the marauders. Latina fs. My fc is Camilla Mendes and I won’t except any other fc. Little sister to Emma and Cass. ACEARO!!

Sybill Trelawny: she’s so underrated for what? She’s literally so important to the plot like what. I hc that she looks like me (so white and brunette 😭) but I can see her as any race. She’s autistic. It’s canon. She told me. Hopeless hopeless romantic. I really love the idea of her and Lily.

Olivia Gleaves: four years older than the marauders and ravenclaw. Super bubbly and a total gossip. Latina my fc is Andrea Chaparro and it’s the only correct fc!! She’s muggleborn and had a twin brother who was sorted into hufflepuff. Her and Andy (Androlivia)

Septima Vector: NATIVE AMERICAN. the lack of native rep in this fandom is disgusting. Four years older than the marauders and ravenclaw. She didn’t like anyone at hogwarts and was super anti social. But a totally different person with her family. Was so good with kids.

Charity Burbage: controversial opinion? She was not friends with snape. Hufflepuff a year younger than the marauders. She was a transfer from ilvermorny in her fifth year. She was cousins with Septima and native as well (sue me). Was friends with Benjy Fenwick and a lot of other ppl but often caught up in her own world. Activist. Nickname was Cherry.

Bertha Jorkins: canonically plus size!! Ravenclaw four years older than the marauders (if you can’t tell I’m obsessed with the ravenclaws of ‘74) gossip super bubbly. Best friends with Olivia.

can people give me headcanons for any of the girls? not just Mary, Marls, Lily, Pandora or Dorcas, I mean Emmeline, Amelia, Alice, Emma and the Black sisters as well, as long as anyone not listed here.

I want to dive into their characters more, but I'd like a sense of what other people think they're like first

[redheadjustin]

Hey it's me again I want to know if you can do a Emmett Cullen x male reader where the reader is Emmett mate and secretly a mutant where he has the power to manipulate and summon weapons and armor as well to knowing how to use any weapon just by touching it. But he keep that side of himself a secret because he knows how much people hate mutants and try to forget that side of himself. Until the Volturi threatened to harm his his niece Renesmee in his other family so he put his foot down and starts to back training on using his powers again but he mostly trains in secret. Until when the final battle starts where he joins in the fight with his husband showing everyone that he was not human. After the battle Emmett ask why the reader didn't say anything about his powers who the reader told him that he wants to forget that side of himself who Emmett comfort him telling him to never hide that part of his self again.

“The volturi will be coming.” Five simple words. You hadn’t been afraid of the volturi when you first met your husband/ mate, Emmett Cullen. Why would you be? You have faced many things as a mutant and all of them are more threatening than some old vampires from the reminiscence era. You have been trained by Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and many others. You were a former X-Man. You had fought with Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. So, no, the phrase “The Volturi will be coming” does not scare you. The threat of the mutant registration act scares you more than the Volturi for God’s sake!!

No one knows you’re a mutant. Not even Emmett. It wasn’t you expected hate from the Cullens(they were vampires who would they be to judge) you knew they love you no matter what. But, you left the X-Men on……sad terms and you put that part of your life behind you and would never try to be a hero again. You would always try to help people but your last mission as an X-Man ended with nearly your entire family murdered. You left the institute right after that incident and settled in Forks and found your mate. And you could not be happier. Emmett was loving and caring and did everything to make sure you were safe and happy. 

Your relationship with the rest of the family is…complicated. You looked at Carlisle and Esme as your parents.  They had taken the role seamlessly and even helped with the funeral. Alice loved to dress you even if it’s just to go to the store. She would leave something for you on your bed on most days. You were the first male in the house that didn’t mind being Alice’s dress up doll. 

Rose was…difficult to be around. She was the one who got Emmett turned into a vampire. Rosalie wanted Emmett to be her mate. She wanted a mat very badly. She wanted love after what happened with her husband but if anything that made Emmett even more upset. You see, he was openly gay. Yes, Emmett always had balls the size of grapefruits and the guts to match. Anyone who knew Emmett knew he was gay. But, when Emmett was being mauled by a bear, none of the Cullens knew him. It was a split second decision made by Rosalie. Rosalie had felt a connection but she misunderstood it. It wasn’t a mate bond, it was only two years since she turned and she was very lonely so it was wishful thinking. So, you kept your distance.

Jasper was very nice to be around. He knew how to make you feel better without using his gift. You were around him as much as Emmett.  He didn’t mind and appreciated that you had a great knowledge of history. Edward didn’t trust you at first. What with you being able to shield your mind from him. You had to, you faced countless telepathic villains and lived in an institute with two of the most powerful telepaths in history. But, he learned to trust you as you  had helped them with the James incident. You didn’t have to worry about being a meal as mutants smell different. You stayed away from Bella. You didn’t like her as she reminded you of Emma Frost. 

But by God did you love Renesme. Your niece was the life of the party and the smartest kid you ever met. She loved you as if you were a second father. You were the one to take her out in town on the sunny days. While you hated her mother, you loved the hybrid as if she was your own. So while you weren’t afraid of the Volturi, they were coming to see if your niece was an immortal child and even if Carlisle did manage to get his friends to be witnesses they’d still be horribly outnumbered if it came to a fight and it most likely would. 

You stood in your private room looking out the window. Carlisle insisted that you had your own room so you would have SOME privacy. While you wanted to argue against it you accepted it as you wouldn’t need to find a place to hide your X-Men gear. You told Carlisle you had friends you could call to help. The head of your family seemed reluctant to involve non vampires; he agreed that the more people were there to help the better you looked sadly at the X-men communicator in your hand. You were waiting for the family and Jacob to leave the house to go hunting to make the calls. Yes, calls, as in pearl. You were calling in every favor you ever earned. The X-Men, the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Blade, Spider-Man. You were even considering calling the Silver Surfer in. You made the call as soon as you knew your family  was out of hearing range. You sighed, you hoped you weren’t going to have to live the hero's life again but you knew damn sure there was a fight coming and you needed to help your family. “Scott? It’s me. I need some back up.” 

Months passed and you trained harder than you ever had. Your power is to manipulate and summon weapons and armor as well as knowing how to use any weapon just by touching it was something you needed to hone more now more than ever. As you had realized before you left the X-Men it also implied to anything that COULD be used as a weapon. And that included a vampire’s gift. You disappeared often to train and coordinate. You weren’t taking  any chances. You would protect your family no matter what. It was decided that The heroes you were calling in would meet you in the forest around the clearing where you and your family would face the volturi. Emmett knew you had been disappearing and thought you were just preparing yourself for if worse came to worse. You knew Emmett would be hurt thatYou hid your powers from him but it was to keep everyone safe. It was the morning of the confrontation and you were waiting for your friends to arrive in the forest. As you waited in your X-Men uniform you braced yourself for the hugs. You smirked at the famaler golden glow of Doctor Strange’s portal. 

You led the group of heroes to the clearing just as you heard Caius say “Oh and who will stop us?” Your smirk got bigger as you led the heroes into the clearing. “How about us?” You asked as those gathered turned to see you, The X-men, The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Blade, Spider-Man and many, many others. Everyone’s jaws, even the wolves, dropped as you led the contingent to your family. Emmet noticed your uniform as you let Emmet step next to you and Captain America. “I’ll tell you later, Emmett. I promise, I’ll tell you everything. 

“You DARE to bring more outsiders when you’re accused of breaking laws already?!” Caius shouted at you as you called Blade and Doctor Strange to the front. As soon as Aro spotted Doctor strange and Blade he put his hand up to stop his brother’s rant. “Their presence changes nothing. Your family is accused of creating an Immortal child and from here you are guilty.” Aro gave a nod and the forces of the Volturi rushed towards your group of heroes, vampires and your family. You looked at Steve and smiled at the first Avenger’s nod. You kissed Emmett on the cheek and sent him a reassuring smile. “Avengers, assemble!!” And with that you and those on your side ran to meet the Volturi’s forces in battle. 

The battle was long and brutal. You used years of experience of fighting super villains and handed the volturi their asses. You spared Alec as you knew he was brainwashed unlike Jane who was simply sadistic. You were the one to kill jane. You normally don’t relish in killing your opponents but this one was special to you. You used her own gift against her as Cap threw you his shield. You looked at her in her crimson eyes and almost felt sorry for the girl. “Don’t worry Jane. Your brother’s safe with me I promise.” You said as you lined the shield up with Jane’s neck. You said this knowing that the immortal tween cared for her twin brother. You saw an almost grateful look in Jane’s eyes as you pulled the shield back and you slammed the weapon in your hands down and ended Jane’s life and the suffering of many prospective victims. 

The battle was all but over when you killed Jane and no one was hurt which was a miracle. You tossed Cap his shield back when you saw Alec rushing at you as you held your hand up. Right as everyone thought the other witch twin was going to attack you he slid to his knees dry sobbing. The sound broke your heart as it reminded you of when you lost your parents to Magneto. You knelt by the distraught boy’s side and pulled him into your arms. 

“I know it hurts, trust me I do. I lost my parents in a battle not unlike this one.” You took off the glove of your scarred hand and ran it through Alec’s hair. You got the scar when Magneto used  liquid metal to burn your hand when you went for revenge. You never explained the truth behind the scar, you just said you were being reckless as a kid and you were. You just never told the Cullens that it was because you were reckless in a fight with a supervillain. You were brought out of your musing when you heard a whimper from alec. 

“What do I do now? All I’ve ever known as a vampire is gone.” To prove his point he gestured to where Iron Man and the Human Torch were burning the bodies of the dead Volturi. You smiled as you got an idea you knew Emmet and the others would approve. “Simple, You see, Me and Emmett always wanted to be parents. It’s obvious that you can’t take care of yourself when you're this far into grief. You can stay with us and if you must feed from humans we can take trips anywhere you want. So, what do you say?” You never received a response, just a tight hug. You had just saved Alec from a millennium of depression. With that the army of vampires and superheroes and shifters went back to the Cullen house to celebrate. 

It was well into the night and the party showed no signs of stopping. You stood from the balcony in your and Emmet’s room. You smiled seeing the heroes and the Cullens getting along. You had spoken to Charles and you would be on the reserve of X-Men and the same with the Avengers. You had also received invitations for Alec and Emmett. You smiled as you saw Renesmee dancing with Kitty. Bella was having an arm wrestling match with She-Hulk. Emmet was talking with Logan. Rose was talking with Rouge about their husbands. Carlisle was talking to Hank McCoy about vampire anatomy. Esme was talking to Jean about designing houses. Jasper was trading war stories with Captain America. You saw everyone accounted for except for your husband.

“Why not join the party?” Ah, he was in the doorway. “Everyone’s been telling stories of you being a hero. “ Emmett’s tone was calm but you could tell he was hurt. You smiled as you felt Emmett wrap his arms around you. You sighed, you knew this conversation was coming but it didn’t mean it would be any easier. “More importantly, why didn’t you tell me you were a Mutant?” and there it was, the million dollar question. You had been thinking of your answer for hours but you knew that no matter what you told Emmett you would have to tell him the truth. 

“I was eleven when my powers showed themself. Some idiot broke into the house when I was alone. I was scared for my life and I wish I had a weapon and then my dad’s gun flew into my hands. I’d never handled a gun before but yet I knew how to use it. My parents knew I was a mutant when I told them about what happened. It wasn’t too long till a man named Charles Xavier came to my house. He told me that I was a mutant. I was scared as Hell but for some reason I trusted him. My parents were afraid of me. They thought I’d kill them in their sleep and they couldn’t stop me. My parents weren't home when Charles came and offered me a place at his institute. I took it. I didn’t tell my parents because I wanted to stop them from being terrified of me. I always wrote them. I told them everything. It was about four years since I’d been at the institute that I became an X-man.  I wanted to help people to prove that I wouldn’t hurt people with my powers. It was about six months before I met you that my world shattered. A villain the X-Men fought regarally decided to kill my parents as I was the only one on par with him. I was the one who found them.” You close your eyes as you remember the blood. “I was the reason they died. I went after him and he burnt my hand with liquid metal but I managed to take him down. After all that…I couldn’t be an X-Man anymore so I moved here. And met you and I forgot about all the pain. I didn’t tell you I was a mutant because I just wanted to forget about that part of my life. But, when Alice said the Volturi were coming I…had to be the hero again so this time I could save my family this time.” By the end you were crying and felt Emmett place his chin on your shoulder. 

“And you did Y/N You saved us and Renesmee. But, no more hiding. I didn’t hide from you. You don’t have to suffer alone anymore Y/N. We can be heroes together and we have Alec to help. Let me Help you love. No more hiding.” Emmett said as he helped you out of your uniform. You thought about it, no more hiding. It’s all you ever wanted all your life. You smiled as you nodded. “No more hiding. For any of us.” You leaned into your husband with a smile on your face. The world was about to see the real Y/N L/N and you couldn’t wait.

[popculturebuffet]

500th Article Special: House of Claremont Part 1: A Wein Start (Giant Size X-Men#1): A Rope of Sand

Welcome to my 500th article extravaganza you happy people! Yes folks it's been a long road: three years, countless reviews of Duck Based Media, regular coverage of Ducktales, Owl House and Amphibia. I've had high points with successes like my Scott Pilgrim Retrospective, my coverage of the season 1 and 2 arcs of ducktales, an annual best of episode list, my three cabs retrospective, covering all 12 issues of watchmen, two seasons of thomas the tank engine and three seasons of venture bros among MANY more things i'm probably forgetting. I've also had projects that stalled: I still haven't finished life and times of scrooge mcduck and will probably have to start all over again with New X-Men at some point. I've had schedule slippage, delays and what have you.

But i'm proud of how far i've come: I have three patreons, multiple commissioned reviews a month, and 500 articles under my belt. After years and years of wanting to review stuff I finally am, I have a loyal fanbase who loves what I do, good fans who turned into good friends, and i'm STILL going. I'm still doing this three years later. I thought by now the bottom would fall out but here I am. So before I get into the festivities anymore i'd just like to say: Thank you all. Thank you for reading, thank you for staying, thank you for following. Wether you just read one or two reviews or read every damn one, thank you. Thank you all. And special thanks to Kev for bankrolling about half my salary, Emma for doing most of the other, and Brotoman for being a new yet loyal patreon who helped me revive a project I couldn't be happier is going at top speed. Thank you all. I love you guys.

So for my 500th spectacular I wanted to do something that both fit the history of the blog but was still something neat to do, especially since this also doubles as my annual birthday review. For those new to the tradition: I start a new project based on something dear to my heart, my very soul. Something that is a very real part of me. And the choice this time was easy: If there's one thing i've talked about on the blog every chance I get, one thing that is a true part of me and I geek out about at every chance, if there's one thing I had only scratched the surface of it was the Uncanny, Amazing, Astonishing, Classic, Extraordinary, Immortal, New, Blue, Gold, Red, Black , Green and X-Treme X-Men. There's no one franchise in comics that has kept my attention, created so many characters I love, and given me this much joy.

The question though was what to cover: The X-Men are a MASSIVE franchise and there are tons upon tons of runs I want to cover at some point: New Mutants Original Run, Every Run of X-Factor (Particularly the three runs by Peter David and one by Leah Williams), New Mutants excellent 2010's run by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Cable's Solo Series, Uncanny X-Force, X-Statix, Iceman's solo after coming out, Cullen Bunn's trilogy of stellar work on the franchise.. the list goes on quite a while.

But what I settled on was something that's both obvious and daunting: A run on the merry mutants that set the tone for everything, and changed their world forever. That took a decent but forgettable Fantastic Four knockoff with a lot of potential and made it one of the greatest comics of all time. As you can tell by the title , we're talking about Chris Claremont's run on Uncanny X-Men… though before we can get into it in full next time we're starting with what kicked it off.. a book ironically NOT by Chris Claremont but which would set up the characters and themes he'd follow since. A book that's a tad awkward, somewhat dated, but still big, fun and has an island that walks like a man. We're talking Len Wein and David Cockrums Giant Sized X-Men #1 Under the Cut.

HIstory of X: To understand why this run and it's start, sorta but we'll get to that, with Giant Sized X-Men #1 was such a big deal you have to understand the state the X-Men were in when Giant SIzed X-Men #1 was published.

See the X-Men of the 60's came about because Stan's editor wanted more books dammit since Stan and his oftentimes creative Partner Jack Kirby were a lisecnes to print money. And given Stan had at this point created Spider-Man, Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Ant Man, the Wasp, the Avengers, and brought back Namor and Captain America, he wasnt' exactly wrong. So while he created yet another solo hero in Daredevil, again not exactly wrong, he needed another team book too. Problem was you could only have a hero fall into a radioactive vat of cream of wheat so many times before it got boring. Stan The Man needed a new way to create new heroes and villians.

And that folks is how we got mutants: "Er their just born with it! Yeah people with power exists! That's the ticket! Excelesior!"

That said as hilariously simple and need based as the solution was.. it was still brilliant. A one size fit all solution for when a writer didn't have time for a villains power. An easy out: you can still give them a backstory and such if you fancy, but this way if you didn't have a reason for the villains power in mind, just make them a mutant. It came up quite a bit till decimation for a reason after all: it was just easy to make them when anyone could be one if they weren't introduced as a human already. Was it a cheap narrative device? yes. Was it one that others would use brilliantly in a myriad of ways? Hell yeah. He also decided to make a teen team, with the original 5 x-men, now enshrined in most continuities as the OG's before whatever modern team pops up, consisting of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Beast (Pre-hairy), and Angel lead by Professer Xavier, fighting the dreaded Magneto. A lot of the basic stuff from the school to a lot of the most iconic x-men are there from the start.. but the basic element of protecting a world that hates and fear them took a second and even then it wasn't fully crystalized.

And that was kinda the problem: while stan and later roy thomas intital run wasn't lacking for great ideas, iconic foes the Sentinels and Juggernaut were Stan's idea, it kinda feel more often int0 being just another superhero book: For starter stan's teens, from what i've raed of classic x-men (which I also intend to cover), was very

Especially compared to Spidey which has some of this, but still felt a bit closer to earth. The idea of a superhero school was brilliant.. but the problem was at this poitn it was a prep school with pretty stock , if still deeply loveable teen characters; Brooding troubled hunk Scott, richie rich Warren, female sterotype because Stan Lee's talents didn't includ ewriting women Jean, jokester baby of the bunch bobby and erudite badass jock hank. Okay not all typical, even before he got all beasty, Hank was still a standout. They weren't terrible character, there's a reason they've endured since and this run brings all of them back for guest spots or in the case of Scott, Jean and Warren brings them back as full members at various points, eventually cumilating in the spinoff X-Factor. The seeds of who they are, Scott's brooding workaholic nature, Warren's rich joviality, Jean's warm caring nature, Bobby being fun personified and hank being the best before his long slow dark decsent into being a macvilian jackass, it's all there and stan and later roy thomas deserves credit for it.

The Lee and later Thomas era wasn't bad.. but it just wasn't anything new for the silver age. The foes were mostly just "bwahahahah i'm evil" types, including shockingly Magneto. Even I forget he started as trying to conquer the worlds for mutants not because of deep seated trauma but because that's what super villians did. There wasn't the complexity the franchise would gain with the iteration i'm talking about here. We got the first hints of that with Denny O Neils breif but fondly remembered run that brought in Havok and Polaris, Scott's brother who sure is there and Magneto's daughter who sure is awesome, but ultimately it just wasn't a huge standout from Stan's other team books. It's more worth checking out for what Lein Wein and directly after him Chris Claremont made of it, and what Denny O Neil before them did, than as some big silver age gem. So it's no shock that with feedback on O'Neils run reaching them too late to keep him from giong back to dc that the X-Men eventually got the boot. they remaind in reprints because back then it wasn't as easy to get those and the book still had a cult fanbase, but the x-men for all intensive purposes were dead. The team wasn't gone: Hank got his own solo adventures that made him a real beast before joining the avengers and the X-Men showed up every so oftne as guests.. but the strangest heroes of all were on the backburner. Thankfully as luck would have it the X-Men had a key ally in their corner; Roy Thomas, marvel legend, creator of my boy the Vision, and former X-Men Writer. He had grown attached to the team and wanted them to come back, and kept pitching. Eventually he got his chance when President of Marvel Al Landau, wanting to break into foreign markets with thier reprints more, suggested an international team of heroes. And since the X-Men were doing nothing and needed a fresh shot in the arm anyway, Roy gladly volunteered.

He originally leaned into the global aspect, pitching the idea of the x-men traveling around the world in a floating base, rescuing new mutants and generally being global. Which honestly does sound badass and if it hasn't been recycled yet it needs to be. It didn't end up going ahead as this for whatever reason, possibly because Thomas Himself , being an editor and busy as heck, coudln't do the book himself.

He did put it in good hands though with at the time Hulk writer Lein Wein and former Legion of Super-Heroes artist David Cockrum. And for those just joining us i'm a massive Legion of Super Heroes fan so finding out years later as I got into them that they both shared an artist at one point was a feeling so awesome i'ts hard to describe. Both also brought a character along for the ride: For Wein he was currently working on Hulk, and when asked by editorial to create a Canadian superhero, ended up creating the best at what he does, Wolverine.. and what he did in his debut was fight the Hulk himself, AND live and also fight a Wendigo because every sundae needs a cherry. So he was in.

Cockrum brought in an awesome character he'd designed for a Legion spinoff. But with him leaving DC because they wouldn't let him have some original art, which given Cockrum went on to help create their competitors most popular book of the 1980s, was moronic even by executive jackassery standards, he brought Nightcrawler with him and he eventually shifted from a sardonic ghoulish alien to the friendly chap with the demonic face we know and love.

The result of this powerful partnership was one of the most important comics in marvel history.

My history with the comic is probably baffling to any younger readers: See I had the comic on CD-Rom

In the 90's marvel did a bunch of these: it's how I became a lifelong fan of the hobgoblin by seeing his first appearance and got my first taste of legendary writer, artist and ego John Byrne's Fantastic Four run. Which is also on my to do list along with the runs of Mark Waid, Jonathan Hickman, and Matt Fraction's run with Scott Lang. I inherited these Discs from my brother and in the early 2000's somewhere, I popped em in and throughly enjoyed myself.

While a Wizard Magazine focused on X-Men's greatest moments and X2 made me an X-Men fan for life, this issue is what cemented it. I feel it shaped a lot of my opinons on the house of x as I got more and more into it. And with some nice sound effects, data files and other nice widgets it was a great way to dive right in, to the point I later bought the first two masterworks for the uncanny era simply because it had this issue.

It's opening is a big reason. It's one of my faviorite scenes in all of comic books, one of the best character introductions i've seen period, and introduces one of my favorite characters all in one go. We open in a sleepy remote village in gemany where a bloodthirsty mob, the kind you might see in a Universal or Hammer monster film, is out for the blood… yet in a clever reversal of this old cliche, it's the target of their bloodlust that's our viewpoint character.

It sets up Kurt perfectly: He's a perfectly normal, charming guy who simply dosen't want to live his life being pointed and laughed at for being different. It's a fair and honest thing anyone in said "Freak Show" should be able to have. It's not.. phrased the best, mid 70's and all. But instead of being welcomed by this small town, by society, he's shunned simply for looking different. They see him as a monster and try to burn him simply because he looks different. It's prejudiced boiled down to it's core: people hating something because it's different, and instead of trying to approach it with an open mind, instead bring out a closed fist. And when they try to burn him out, he decides if their going to think he's a monster than so be it and goes down fighting as they end up overwhelming and restraining him ready to stake him

I'll admit the villagers are heavy handed: It's a literal angry mob complete with a wooden steak, clearly having the wrong issue as Dracula's guest appearance isn't for another couple of years. It'd only be less subtle if the dialogue read

Yet it works: Sure people aren't going to be forming a mob to go stake a trans, nonbinary, queer, or POC person, but they'll do everything in their power to make that persons life harder simply because they don't agree they should exist and can't accept it. Prejudice sadly will probably never go away because there will always be hatred, ignorance, religious dogma and white supremacist nutballs. They just say the loud part quite.. unless your Kanye West. There are still assholes commiting violent hate crimes and others trying ot massage those hate crimes on television or the internet because they just can't be happy unless people they don't like for reasons of prejudice and hate are miserable. Kurt just wanted what we all want, to be treated like a person and he nearly died for it Thankfully it was just nearly as we get a nice moment of Charles Xavier demonstrating just how scarily powerful he is: with one thought he paralizes every one of the mob in motion and has a nice long conversation with Kurt afterwords. He'd heard Kurt had come to learn.. and well he happens to have a school for mutants that coudl use someone like him. Their conversation after Xavier makes the option is one of my faviorite exchanges in X-Men:

It gets to the core of the franchise: You don't have to be normal.. just be a whole you.. and that will be fine. And that's all Charles wants: not for his students to perfectly blend in, but to be who they should be, to be their best, and to fight for a world where they can be without being feared and hated. And with that Kurt goes with him. All Kurt wants to be is treated like any othe rperson and for the first time someone does, while showing Kurt he dosen't have to be normal: just a whole Kurt Wagner.

Next up is the best at what he does.. and what he does is stare longingly at a photo of Jean Grey. But since he hasn't met her yet, he's made due being an oprative for the Canadian Goverment as Weapon X. Yes it's

Turns out Charles Xavier knows people so he easily got a meeting to speak with Wolverine. While I like Kurt's the most out of all the intros wolvie's is still great, with him just kinda swaggering in there, and being fine with listening to Charles offer for a new job. It also sells him as a badass long before he'd earn the title: Charles mentions his debut fighting hulk and how he sought out Wolverine specially because he needs someone that strong and skilled. It dosen't take much either: Charles offers him a job as a free agent, and being able to escape government red tape sounds fine just fine so he takes it and agrees to quit. His boss mr. soldier.. guy here… dosen't take it especially well so Wolverine has to deal with it with all the grace and tact he's famous for

He'll regret those words as this guy will take that as "Challenge Accepted", but we'll get to that another day.

We get our shortets recuritment yet with Banshee, which only takes two panels but it's understandable: The rest of the cast are either brand new, or in the case of Wolverine relatively new. Banshee however had been a recurring character for a bit, a former criminal brainwashed by the evil mutant empire known as Factor Three.. which naturally was acftually run by an alien wanting world domination because comic books. This.. wont' be the last time an alien was largely responsible for the X-Men's woes for a while, but we'll get to that next time.

Since the Professor asked nicely and it's an opportunity to turn things around, Banshee's happy to help. He also gets a slight redesign having looked a tad inhuman.. which was apparnetly the idea as creator Roy Thomas apparently intended for him to be a "GIANT LEPRECHAUN".

Yeah.. I have no real joke here. Roy Thomas wanted the only major irish character in marvel comics at the time.. to be a LITERAL LEPRECHAUN. Thankfully Len Wein hard noed out of that and had Cocrum make hi mlook like you know.. a person. Banshee also adds something as being a bit older: not as old as charles, but still older and experinced enough to be an extra mentor to the group.

So next we go to Kenya to meet storm and well… you just kinda have to see this part for yourself.

Yeah… maybe having your first major black character in a franchise, and marvel's first major black woman character be a mock goddess for a bunch of stereotypically dressed villagers who want to slaugther animals in her name and has to have it told by a white man that she needs to go into the real world might be just a touch horribly offensive. LIke there's still some good stuff to pick out of this mess: the drawings of Storm ussing her powers are beautiful and Charles does give out a great classic Charles Xavier speech to convince her to join the team…

While him saying she has a responsiblity just for being a mutant is oh such bullshit, she doesn't have to put on spandex and save the world because she has power charles, but he's not wrong that actually living in the world, even if some hate and fear her, is better than living a lie as a god, knmowing people instea dof having the mworship her. Also yeah.. she's topless this entire scene. It's far from the last time storm gets naked but here it just adds to the immense discomfort of the scene. Some great stuff in here but man oh man is it uncomfortably racist. Not the worst i've seen.. but i've seen some pretty deep lows so that's far from a compliment. Next up is Sunfire who has a neat as hell costume.. but is an arrogant racist prick. While he once fought the x-men only because his evil uncle tricked him into it, he still hates the US and only agrees to help out of arrogance. I used to love Shiro.. but honestly it was mostly the costume. Behind it.. he's just an arrogant racist prick, who while having some good damn reason to resent the west (his mom died during hiroshima), it still dosen't fully excuse him being a racist prick. His past is sad.. but it dosen't mean he should take it out on othe rpeople or be a jingoist dickhead. And the Dickhead part has nothing to do with his past, he's just.. ike this.

Next up we get another iconic intro to a character, and thankfully without any overt racisim this time. It's Soviet Russia and on a collective farm, Pitor Rasputin gladly works hard to help bring in the harvest when a young child, later revealed to be his sister Illyana who will become a major supporting character in this book and a main cast member in another later, as well as a longtime x-man herself, from a tractor.

It sets up Peter perfectly: He sees a child in trouble, dashes to save her without any hestiation, and when he ineveitbly has to destroy the tractor.. .worries about how his neighbors will possibly pay for a new one. It shows him for what he is: A Kind empahtetic paragon of good not unlike superman.

What makes this noticable as this was at the height of the cold war: tensions were flaring and woudl only get worse.. yet Wein and Cockrum still portrayed peter as a kind decent man doing his best. That just because a countries goverment and military might be pure evil.. dosen't mean every single person there is evil too. This is especailly enlighted as previously marvel had a bad habit of having COmmunists as one note villians.. instead here one is a hero and an honest one at that who loves his homeland and is a genuine patriot, he just so happens to also be a kindhearted young man. He is conflicted though when Xavier offers after the incident: He has great power.. but shoudln't it go to the state? Charles, once again expertly, aruges it belongs to the world.. and while Peter's heart wants him to stay with his beloved family and community.. his concisence tells him the offer is the right call and thus Colossus is born.

So it's back to racisim as we get John Proudstar. Whoboy. John Proudstar. John is an angry young man who hates living on the reservation.. and while a indgenous person with anger towards the community is an intresting angle and one actual indgenious writers have done great things with, this.. is a clueless white guy who has him take down a buffallo to make him look extra Apache and tell Charles..t his

I mean he's again not wrong.. and Charles response.. is to use racist sterotypes to basically bait him into joining. Like Pitor, Ororo and Kurt all got well reasoned arguments… he just gets "Well I guess your a pussy then huh John?" My god. The Storm stuff is bad but this. this is somehow worse. I'm really glad when John came back after several decades that an indeginous persons writer, Nyla Rose, wrote his one shot because jesus christ he was done dirty.

Anyways we're onto act 2 as the various new X-Men have assembled in Charles Foyer, complete with spiffy new uniforms courtsey of Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic Aka Jimmy the Reach. He says they'll meet him some day and true to his word some of them sure, do.

It also makes Storm's and colosus outfits, iconic as they are at ad creepier knowing a middle aged man dressed them this way.. which granted is also what happened in real life but it's a bit diffrent when ti's an actual character saying "Yes you sexy young people dress in next to nothing for me, your new commander> I promise it's all about moveablity.. and showing off them legs. "

Jokes abotu Charles being a dirty old man aside, the costumes are X-Cellent for the most part. And I only say the most part because Thunderbird looks like they stacked every native American sterotype they could on top of one another. I've seen worse, but it's very telling when coming back he only wore this trainwreck for one issue before getting a kickass new outfit.

The rest though.. the rest are fucking awesome. There's a reason that 90% of Colosus, Wolverine and Nightcrawlers outfits are based on this, and that all but one of storm's iconic looks has that cape, as well as Banshee just.. wearing that outfit until very recently and Sunfire usually doing the same.

Starting with Nightcrawler because he's my boy, and because his outfit is the only one out of this group that dosen't cahnge over claremont's run with the character. And it's easy to see why: The red pointy vest, white gloves and boots and heavy black jus tlooks damn cool and fits his showy, carny nature. The only thing that's ever changed is getting rid of the shoulder pads and I question.. why.

Speaking of shoulder's hey goons , thugs and bosses let's talk about Colosus. His outfit is skimpy when you see pitor without his metal form.. but it makes sense with it. The cool serated look (with writers making sure his muscles showed), NEEDS to be shown off and the red and yellow just perfectly fit peter's heroic and often hammy when mid combat nature. He has blue coverings for his legs here but those won't last long.

Storm's outfit is pretty good. It shows some skin, but it fits Ororo not really having any taboo about being naked, kind of how Starfire later would be a lot of the same way, and her strong, confident nature. The black and yellow will forever be her colors and the cool has heck headband and badass, neatly styled cape just complete the style. It's regal yet modern, even by today's standards.

Wolverine's is a classic and there's damn good reason the only thing Chris changed later was removing the shoulder pads, and changing the color to brown. I like both versions and both colors, so i'm fine either way, but the OG outfit, well the remodled og outfit, is still an utter flassic: the cool mask, awesome claws and bright blues and yellows truly help him stand out.

Banshee's outfit is awesome, mostly for one reason: while the cetner of it, the greens and yellows really work well together, it's the fucking black and yellow spiral cape that truly makes his costume an all timer. It's just hwat makes banshee banshee and ther'es a reason his daughter wears it and he does no matter the verison. Even when brainwashed or an angel of death, he still has some varation of it. Finally we have SUnfire. HIs costume is goofy, very sterotypically japanese..a nd yet awesome. The weird fish mask is just a banger and those eyes are just so freaking cool, and having a japanese flag perfeclty fits Japans #1 hero and someone whose a japanese nationalist.

Charles prepares to explain, simply having been waiting on someone else who was there first hand: Scott Motherfucking Summers, one of my faviorit x-men, THE leader of the team only equaled by storm in terms of record and iconography leading, and certified badass. A sfor the the details…

As for why he uses Cerebro to .. somehow take us back to what happened: The X-Men got a ping from Cerebro that a massive, powerful mutant had been awkaned on the islnad of Krakoa in the south Pacific. So that means…

It's no bub, sugar, boz moh, fraulien, mein gott, or juggernaught bitch that's for sure and it ain't very nice. It is however charmingly goofy.

Like this was just Cyclops catchphrase while the x-men were gone or something Scott tried to make a thing and none of his friends had the heart to tell him it wasn't working.

As I said, Hank is with the avengers now, something that comes up and Scott seems totally not at all bitter about it.

Dude he's busy fighting gods and WITH gods. Move on. Find another best friend whose super intellgent and has feet hands. I mean.. it'll be hard that's a narrow classification but you can check the want ads. Those are still a thing in 1975.

Things don't go well on the island as not only is it massive, making FINDING the mutant an issue, but they soon get attached and Scott only remembers some breif flashes of horros when he wakes up in the Blackbird, no memory of what happened, the controls locked to leave and his eyes suddenly normal. He tries his best to go back, to save his fellow x-men.. but resigns himself. it's who scott is: he won't give up until there's no other way and will press on through. Sadly the only GOOD part of this, that he can finally look someone in the eye without cool shades or a visor without slamming them into a table, doesn't last as soon his eyebeams are back and even STRONGER. And it's here I'm going to start a little counting gag for later

God Hates Scott Summers Count: 1 Trust me, we'll need this.

So that's the mission: Take this untested new team to Krakoa, save the x-men and defeat whoever took them down. Sunfire naturally nopes out. Which begs the question why he came at all. He could likely tell the x-men were out simply because Charles asked for his help and was alone, and if he didn't then the room full of strangers probably shoudl've clued him in. He comes back of course, but only after Thundebrird gets pissy with Storm for daring to not.. you know like that one of the first muatnt's she's met decided fuck these innocent people needing rescue who have saved an ungreatful world countless times. (also you should fuck off) He of course returns .. and is a racist ass to nightcrawler calling him misfit and getting angry later when he's paried iwth the guy, which Kurt snarks at him for.

Kurt: 83, Sunfire: -2 So once they approach Cyclops decides to have them split up gang to find the x-men: th eaformentioned team of nightcrawler and the human tire fire, wolverine and banshee, thunderbird and cyke himself and storm and colossus. Colossus tries to make a superhero landing but ororr catches him with a "you fool you cannot fly" not getting he can land. This does actually have a nice payoff in the story after this so props to Wein for thinking ahead as while he didn't write the story he did plot it. This does lead to one of the issue sproblem: there is a LOT of arguging and in the case of Thunderbird and Sunfire i'ts insufferable. And it really is sad that two of the only POC members of the group.. are insufferable egotistical assholes. I get the missiong sucks, it is kinda stupid, but I also get why it is: while it is depserate to grab whoever and put them on a missiong together, the x-men have no time for it, did apparently try to contact the avengers nad ff but both were busy: forming this new team.. is a last ditch effort. So the fact neither can show one ounce of empathy rankles me. It makes it hard to enjoy the campy, fun action when you have two guys who won't shut up about how much this blows every other page.

Thankfully we do get that campy action as each team encounters some gloriously weird shit and get to show off: Cyclops and THunderbirds fight some living vines, Storm and Colossus fight some rocks tha ttarget them, Nightcrawler and sunfire fight some birbs, with Storm and Wolvie and Banshee get the best of it

Killin Crabs, Their Krakoan! Kill em fast, pain explosion. Seriously I love me a good giant crab and you add in Wolverinme slicin em up and banshee voicesploding them and you have my fandom for life.

Our heroes all converge at a weird temple, and decide on the bst, most stealthy method to break in

With their kool aid manning done they find the OG X-Men and help get them unhooked from some weird vines entalging them all. Angel is less than Greatful

This bit.. has always bothered me and come off as face punchingly dickish. Yes I get it, Angel dosen't want Scott or these new strangers to get eaten. That's fine.. but how the fuck could Scott have possibly done anything else? Yes he likely smelled a trap even if not the distincitnly weird KIND of trap this was, but the love of his life, two of his best friends, his brother and his brothers girlfriend were all trapped here. How would he ever even consider for one second NOT coming back to save you all? To risk everything, to fight with EVERYTHING he has to save the people he loves most in the world? What kind of man would he be if he didn't and what kind of man are you, Warren, to be mad at him for trying.

As for what had them.. well that my friends is the most delightful twist. See i've talked abotu Krakoa.. so if you've followed my work you likely know what's coming.. but it is in the most glorious comic booky way possible. Ladies and gentleman I present…

Yes folks the All New All Diffrent X-Men's first foe.. is a fucking living island. It'd be retconned that h'es an ancient being and what not, but for now he's simply a gaint atomic mutant that's a living fucknig island that looks awesome, wants to eat our heroes, and WALKS LIKE A MAN. I have ALWAYS loved Krakoa, from the look to the gloriously goofy "island tha twalks like a man" moniker, to the fact the very ground xaviers was on was once a clone of him, an idea that was only topped when in 2019 they straight up MOVED to our boy, made them into a nation, and he becmae best friends with fellow boy Doug Ramsey. So. Fucking. Awesome.

Also just if your curious as to how this guy still eats now mutankind and him are cool and live on him… he still feeds off their energy. It's just instead of kidnapping them iwth conflulted super villian plans, he straight up asks for some of their energy as part of mutankinds lease, and with millions of mutants on krakoa… they don't even feel the tiny bit he takes. With millions of peopl ehe dosen't have to drain them to death, they willingly give it for giving them homes (seriously he amkes theM) food (that too) and a homeland.

Anyways back int he present.. or rathe rthe past, the x-men get a badass page fighting him

Only for Xavier to yell at scott that their efforts are meanless. I'm going to go ahead and not only add to this count God Hates Scott Summers: 3 For both this and the angel thing, but also start up this count Xavier is a Jerk: 3

2 for his treatment of thunderbird in diffrent ways (the name calling then the outfit thign) and 1 for yelling at Scott for doing the bes the could when he coudln't possibly know the plan. Xavier does have a good plan thoguH: have Storm and Polaris combine their powers to create a giant rainstortm and a magetic wave of force and stuff. Cyclops and Havok combine powers and use it to propel krakoa into the air.. and thanks to the magnet stuff, it seperate sthe island from the earths gravity FLINGING IT INTO SPACE

I'm conflicted on this finale. On the one hand.. it fucking rocks. I mean Scott launched an island into space. How he got back I truly don't know, and I don't care. it's coming. Weird shit happens a lot. Maybe he regrew. We don't know Krakoa the Island That Walks Like a Man's life. Leave Krakoa The Island that Walks LIke a Man Alone. But it really dosen't involve the new team all that much: Lorna does most of the heavy lifting, and only Storm really contributes. The rest of the action is Done by vetran x-men. For an issue spotlighting this new bold era.. it feels weird tha tthe resoultion is all up to the old guard. Maybe it was to give them a last hurrah but it still feels weird. At any rate our heroes survive, find the jet, and are vicotrious and happy. But their left with one little problem

And we'll find out next time. For now though Giant Sized X-Men has shown some flaws with aged, but is still a stellar start for this era. The characters mostly get great introductions, the art is crisp and awesome , and the new characters are intresting and engaging. There are some uncomfortable flecks of racisim strewn about, Thunderbird and Storm's origins paticuarlly are painful to read, and the last half is n't nearly as snappy as the first, with it mostly being the formula of "X-men veruss something on krakoa" for a few pages, then the finale not using the new characters hardly at all. Still the awesomeness of these x-men and them fighting a giant island cannot be overstated and the cheesy goodness helps paper over the weaker parts. Wein would not be there for it though> Whlie he plotted the next issue, as it was planned to just keep going with Giant Sized the issue ended up being a massive success.. so massive in fact, that they brought back the monthly instead. And since he could only handle one monthly book, hulk, Wein passed it over to a fresh face in the office,a young chap who had kept barging into meetins planning this who practically begged to get the roll. A man who would DEFINE the x-men and write them for the next 17 years: One Chris Claremont, whose run we properly start next time. Until then thanks for reading all this time, thanks for being here, and just.. thank you. Thank you all . Next Time: We wittle the roster down to 6 x-men as five leave and one dies. Then our All New All diffrent x-men deal with betryal, giant robots and space for the first time as the series first major overarching plot kicks up.. and the Sentinels return just in time for a late christmas.

[katatonicimpression]

Salty comics ask: 2,3,5,7, 11, 21, 38. If you feel like it. Character(s) of your choice.

2. What character death for the sake of drama was the worst?

Everett's is pretty bad. They announce that he's dead, then proceed to do an entire 4 issue arc that has nothing to do with him before even explaining what happened. Then, after the explainer, they barely mention him. And I think actually the fact that (similar to the Hellions), his resurrection on Krakoa hasn't featured any of that angst or drama because it's not the direction they want to go with Emma..

But yeah. Transparently done for the drama, to raise the stakes. And, much like with Thunderbird or Darwin in the First Class film, it's a tired racist trope.

3. Who is your most hated comics writer?

Gezza D.

Although, there's definitely overall worse writers out there. There are some attrocious comics that I've struggled through. But in general, I'm not one for going out of my way to look up who the writers and artists are for everything I look at. If I remember their name, I remember their name.

And I genuinely think it's not good to get too fixated on these figures, especially when you don't like their work. I've been hyper aware of how fucked up even the valid criticism can get, when it's relentless, large scale and directed at a single person.

So, I guess I'm saying that I hope Gerry doesn't have tumblr.

5. Who mischaracterized [x] the worst?

Monet? Cullen Bunn wrote Uncanny X-Men (2016) so fuck that guy I guess.

Bobby? Whoever had the idea to pair him up with Mystique.

7. What “throwaway” character could they have done more with?

Ooh, there's a lot of good answers to this.

I'll put forward Mel from that first Cap storyline with Nightshade. No reason why they couldn't bring that back and make more out of it, even if he's dead.

Mindmeld. Interestingly, the new character of Escapade is also a trans woman with similar conciousness transfering powers. But they're hardly similar outside of that; there's plenty of room. Bring back Mindmeld.

11. What’s the worst art you’ve seen?

I saw your post with the Greg Land examples. Seconded.

A lot of Liefeld options, obviously.

Sometimes it feels pretty mean to harp on art for not being so good. I get the "they're professionals, they got paid for this" argument, but whatever. Hell, sometimes I like it when the art looks kind of shitty because it gives me hope for my own lol.

But I will say that, for me, when it's that more realistic and hyper-smooth style that was big in the 2005-2015 era, that's when I have the least sympathy. There's so much technical competence on display and yet so often, really poor compositions of the panels and just a sub zero taste level. So yeah, Greg Land.

21. Who’s the most overhyped villain excluding the Joker?

Thanos was more entertaining in his early days when he was goofier.

I think it makes sense that the MCU used him as their first Big Bad, but I personally do not care about him or take him seriously as an existential threat in the slightest lol.

And specifically, I think the effort to rebrand him as a serious, universe destroying, massive big serious scary, manly man scary villain, makes him less fun. And because of the movies, they're going to keep him as the biggest of big bads forever now. Boo.

38. What character that was reduced to a love interest deserves so much better?

Honestly the phrase "reduced to a love interest" is not one I associate with good faith arguments (see: MCU Sharon hate), but there's something to it sometimes.

Most of the examples I can think of are temporary (e.g. Monet is a love interest in Weapon X-Force, Rachel is basically just a love interest in Captain Britain - The former was awful and the latter is... fine). It's not always an issue when it's temporary and done well, but is a problem if it's a rut the character gets stuck in when they're only "so-and-so's partner", or if they're really ooc or the writing is insulting etc... It also doesn't count if they were only ever conceived of as a love interest.

Weirdly, the only character I can think of that this has definitely happened to is Layla Miller, who hasn't been a character outside of Jamie's wife and a mother to their kid for like a decade.

I'm sure there are better examples, I'm just drawing a blank.

[candied-marlboro]

books! books! books!

reading is one of the things I really enjoy. so here’s a list of some books I personally adore. hope it’ll be useful for someone! 

novels with mental disorders theme

“The Bell Jar” Sylvia Plath

“Lolita” Vladimir Nabokov

“Veronika Decides to Die” Paulo Coelho

“She's Come Undone” Wally Lamb

“Sharp Objects” Gillian Flynn

“The Virgin Suicide” Jeffrey Eugenides

“Girl, Interrupted” Susanna Kaysen

“The Minds of Billy Milligan” Daniel Keyes

“The Girls” Emma Cline

“Norvegian Wood” Haruki Murakami

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” Stephen Chbosky

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” Ken Kesey

“White Oleander” J. Fitch

“How I Live Now” Meg Rosoff

novels and thrillers about serial killers/ psychopathy

“Zodiac” Robert Graysmith

“Psycho” Robert Bloch

“American Psycho” Bret Easton Ellis

“The Collector” John Fowles

“A Clockwork Orange” Anthony Burgess

“Columbine” Dave Cullen

“Helter Skelter: The True Story of The Manson Murders” Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

“The Stranger Beside Me” Ann Rule

classics 

“The Outsiders” S. E. Hinton

“No Exit” Jean-Paul Sartre

“Catcher in the Rye” J.D. Salinger

“The Quiet American” and “Our Man in Havana” Graham Greene

“The Stranger” Albert Camus

“Hotel” Arthur Hailey

“On the Road” Jack Kerouac

“Catch-22” Joseph Heller

“Play It As It Lays” Joan Didion

“A Life” Guy de Maupassant

“Room at the Top” John Braine

“Candide” Voltaire

“The Divine Comedy” Dante Alighieri

“Dangerous Liaisons” Choderlos de Laclos

“The Scarlet Letter” Nathaniel Hawthorne

“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” Charles Dickens

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” Oscar Wilde

“The Sorrows of Young Werther” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Letters to a Young Poet” Rainer Maria Rilke

“Hello Sadness”, “Sunlight on Cold Water” Françoise Sagan

“Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented” Thomas Hardy

“Crime and Punishment” Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“The Painted Veil” Somerset Maugham

“Three Comrades” Erich Maria Remarque

horror/gothic

“We Have Always Lived in the Castle” Shirley Jackson

“Flowers in the Attic” V.C. Andrews

“Dracula” Bram Stoker

“It”, “Joyland”, “Misery” and “Cujo” Stephen King

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Washington Irving

“Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” Mary Shelley

“The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” Robert Louis Stevenson

Everything by Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft

poetry

“You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense”, “Love is a Dog from Hell” Charles Bukowski

“Ariel” Sylvia Plath

“The Drunken Boat" Arthur Rimbaud

“A Season in Hell” Arthur Rimbaud

“The Flowers of Evil” Charles Pierre Baudelaire

Everything by John Keats, William Shakespeare, George Gordon Byron, Robert Frost

memoires

“The Journals of Sylvia Plath” Ted Hughes

“Autobiography” Morrissey

“Life” Keith Richards

“Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain” Danny Goldberg

“Ten Days in a Mad-House” Nellie Bly

The Fireside Chats of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[manaeters]

excuse me did you see YANDEH SALLAH hanging around palmwood studios? oh no, that was LOLI NDIAYE, the TWENTY-FOUR year old ACTRESS who plays EMMA FITZGERALD on BEAUTIFUL SMALL UNTRUTHERS. yeah, you know rumour has it they're - ECCENTRIC, and - OPINIONATED, but their fans all say they’re + ADVENTUROUS, and + VIBRANT. around palmwood studios they’re known as THE MOONCALF. ( CIS WOMAN, SHE/THEY )

DOSSIER

full name:  loli ndiaye nicknames:  loli, lolita, lola age:  twenty-four date of birth:   7th of april hometown:   grand forks, north dakota gender:   cis woman pronouns:   she/they sexuality:   bisexual religion:   atheist occupation:   actress and reality tv star

CHARACTER  INSPIRATION

amanita caplan ( sense8 ) / phoebe buffay ( friends ) / nymphadora tonks ( harry potter ) / cece parekh ( new girl ) / alice cullen ( twilight ) / robin hood ( robin hood ) / stitch ( lilo & stitch ) / xiomara villanueva ( jane the virgin ) / sailor jupiter ( sailor moon ) / ty lee ( avatar: the last airbender ) / brittany pierce + rachel berry ( glee )

NOTABLE TV APPEARANCES

survivor ( 2017 ) as a contestant. the miseducation of cameron post ( 2018 ) as jane. beautiful small untruthers ( 2020 - ) as emma fitzgerald. nailed it! ( 2021 ) as a contestant. the challenge ( 2022 ) as a contestant. x ( 2022 ) as maxine minx.

BACKGROUND

♡   loli grew up in a farm in red river valley, adopted by two of her loving and hard-working fathers. being isolated from the urban world, she had no choice but to adapt to their lifestyle only to quickly realize that physical work and challenges were right up her alley.

♡   of course, despite being the local superstar, she couldn’t help but dream of bigger things. she wanted the whole world to know her name and recognize her on the streets, often daydreaming about the life of a nepo baby.

♡   by the age of 15, they’d already starred in a few local films and shows that had never quite made it onto the big screen, but baby steps were still steps. with some experience in their pocket, loli had considered enlisting the help of her estranged uncle, who was a filmmaker in the big apple, but also the black sheep of their family, and ended up following through with it two years later.

♡     although her dads weren’t happy with her decision, they were in no spot to discourage loli from pursuing her dreams and off she went to new york to prepare for the biggest audition yet of her life.

♡   as it was a demanding role, loli worked hard to be in her best shape with her uncle’s support and advice, but even with his connections, the role had been given to someone else and she was stuck in a big city with barely any friends and a loud personality to do nothing but continue starring in films that weren’t exactly big break materia.

♡   they’d applied for the show survivor as a joke, but when the acceptance email rolled in, they were all too eager to go on it. and while they didn’t end up winning, they quickly became a fan-favourite with her quick wits and strong ability to gain people’s trust and form connections.

♡   using that skyrocketed fame on social media to her advantage, she finally had her breakthrough when she became part of the main cast on what would soon become one of the most popular shows, beautiful small untruthers.

♡   unfortunately, things didn’t fall into place as easily as she’d expected them to. getting roles was still as difficult as it was before, barely getting to star in two other big movies while the rest were mainly cameos, but her enthusiastic and unapologetic presence was apparently desired in reality tv. they then went on to participate in more reality shows for exposure and is currently planning on making a huge name for herself in that area.

CHARACTER STUDY

the best way to describe her is good in small doses. she’s vibrant, eccentric, always the life of the party, but she also has a tendency of experiencing everything in the most intense way. they’re quickly bored, always in need of that mental stimulation, and if something’s not going their way, they will be throwing a fit. she can be naive at times, definitely eccentric and bold, always full of shit to say but should keep to herself, which oftentimes leads her to trouble. in relationships, she can be distrusting and avoidant, just a tad bit dramatic, and she can never quite cope with jealousy all that well, but once you manage to push past that, they make a great partner. reading the room is not her strongest suit, but hey, at least it makes fun headlines!

[shivunin]

🎇20 Questions for Fic Writers🎇

Thanks for the tag @greypetrel my dear!

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 35

2. what’s your total ao3 word count? 641,898

3. what fandoms do you write for? So far? Dragon Age (all three games), but I have unfinished Mass Effect and BG3 things as well c:

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

-Your Fate for Mine (A "what if the Inquisitor was left behind in the Fade?" AU | Cullavellan | 129,681 words)

-Unyielding/Inexorable (Cullen throws hands with a member of the nobility at the Winter Palace; the follow-up is about a duel to settle things | Cullavellan | 3,083 and 8,055 words respectively)

-More than Memory (Smut about cultural differences and expressing one's needs | Cullavellan | 5,214 words)

-Search Your Hands (An exploration of the Dalish courting gift tradition with some mild smutty elements | Cullavellan | 13,581 words) (it doesn't have the most kudos, but this is by a significant margin my most-liked fic with respect to the views: kudos: bookmarks ratio)

-Wander the Drifting Roads (A "Cullen is infected with red lyrium" AU, but the focus is on how memory forms who we are and why the loss of it changes everything | Cullavellan | 108,331 words)

5. do you respond to comments? Yes, excepting the rare occasions that they are just emojis because (though I appreciate them!!) I never know what to say dsfahkjsfhk. The more I cherish a comment, the longer it takes me to answer (because I am hugging them to my chest and sobbing)

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmmm Palimpsest, I think, because it ends with Fenris just after the Act 2 breakup and things are somewhat bleak. I am definitely more a happy endings kind of gal. Or a "if it's not fixed, it's not the end" sort, maybe.

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Pour Forth (the Fenris not crying fic) I think? To the Bone (Cullavellan soulmate AU) is right up there, I think.

8. do you get hate on fics? I've had a couple of snarky comments about my writing style, but people have generally been very sweet.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind? Lol. Yes. I find it harder to write smut for some pairings than others, but I really enjoy writing smut. I think smut can be a very incisive window into a pairing's dynamic and feelings about intimacy. What's more, I think I'm decent at writing it haha

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written? Not really! I don't see myself doing so, either. Just not my cup of tea.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of.

12. have you ever had a fic translated? I have not

13. have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but I have rp'd one of my Dragon Age OC's in a narrative context (which is sort of similar, I think)

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship? October/Tybalt. I will never write fic for the October Daye series, but I would die for them. Their whole battle couple (opposites attract, damaged people finding vulnerability and love, aggrieved rogue chases Hero around) dynamic has got me twirling my hair, kicking my feet, etc.

But of course, all of the DA ships I write for are a very close second place. Just all jammed uncomfortably in the doorway at once, Fenris's gauntlets poking poor Emma in the arm and Cullen's breastplate caught between Wen and the doorway, etc.

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? The Red Crossing Arrangement, my "what if the elves never lost Halamshiral" arranged marriage AU. The concept is so unimaginably cool, but there is a level of worldbuilding required to make it work that eventually sucked all the fun out of the project for me. Ideally...someday, I'll pick it back up again because I love the concept.

16. what are your writing strengths? This is always such a hard question to answer. It's going to sound vague, but I think one of my greatest skills is voice. I am pretty good at matching character and narrative voice to canon. I also think conveying emotions in a visceral way? I hope so, anyway c:

17. what are your writing weaknesses? Scenery. By like a very very big margin. Every first draft has almost no description of scenery in it, so I have a huge amount of respect for writers who are skilled at that. It's definitely my biggest challenge (I fall into the same trap when I'm DM'ing too T.T)

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Ehhhh mixed. I wouldn't want to screw up someone else's actual language, so I'd only want to do it if I knew someone who could proof it for me or if I knew the language myself. I only know Latin (rusty) and Spanish (intermediate) besides English, so I'll likely stick to what I know. I have written very brief dialogue in both Spanish and Latin for fics, though. More as a way of evoking the culture of the person speaking than for any other reason.

19. first fandom you wrote for? hahaha. well. Code Lyoko when I was 13. And then not at all again until I was 28.

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written? :C I have to choose one?? Aside from any of the ones mentioned above, Breath of Life (Zev almost dies in the fight against Taliesen, because it's one of my favorite tropes) or A Golden Bell Hung in my Heart (because it's DA flavored with The Last Unicorn and I wrote it for a dear friend; what's not to love?) or As Two Reflected Stars (because it's quintessential hurt/comfort wound-tending and I adore that most of all)

Tagging back (no pressure, feel free not to do this): @star--nymph @zenstrike @jtownnn @idolsgf @dreadfutures @scribbledquillz @ndostairlyrium @vakarians-babe @nightwardenminthara @heniareth @transprincecaspian and anyone else I usually tag but am forgetting somehow---you're supposed to be here, I swear, but tonight my brain is tapioca pudding.