#technically a sequel to my 'was it a promise' post

[alien-shmalien]

im going to destroy you all in 2 days

[xtrashmammalstefx]

All Shook Up! (An Austin Butler x Reader SMUT!)

WARNING: SMUT, LANGUAGE, minors dni

Notes: SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKA! I know I've been gone for a while but in all fairness this summer just sucked balls and I'm just now getting back in the proper headspace to write/post. Idk what I'll write next but I promise there will be more stories coming. Anywhore I'll shut up now. Enjoy!!

PS: This is technically a sequel to Chaos Monster & Her English Gent but I think it can be read on its own. Okay shutting up for real now.

Sometimes my heart can be the stupidest piece of shit ever. It’s been weeks since that day in Callum’s dressing room, and only days since filming wrapped for the season. Callum’s been blowing up my phone constantly and Austin was now home for the time being until he had to go film his next project.

The day my heart fucked me over was one of those miraculous days when both Austin and I had the day off. Austin was spending it reading a new script, while I was just doing my best to relax.

Hello darling.

I chuckled and answered back.

Hey.

Bored already?

No.

I’m just missing my special girl is all.

I rolled my eyes just as the next text came through.

Send me a pic?

Doesn’t necessarily have to be sexual.

I just wanna see your pretty face.

“What you laughin’ at Priscilla?” Austin asked distracting me from my phone. He was in the arm chair looking at me; his script laying on his lap.

“Nothin. Just your boy being a fucking idiot,” I semi-lied. Austin still didn’t know about Callum and me...and if I was being honest I wasn’t too sure about Callum and me either. I’ve been accused of being too hasty with other things before and a part of me feared I was being to hasty with this too. Needing immediate distraction I raised my phone (camera on) and aimed it at Austin. “Smile baby.”

Austin looked up from his script and smiled without questioning it. I took the photo and sent it to Callum. “Do I even want to know what you’re doin’ over there babe?”

“Callum asked for a pic, but as you can see I currently look like shit,” I motioned at my messy bun (didn’t exactly feel like brushing out my hair that day), make-upless face, and bespectacled eyes.

“Darlin’ I hate to break it to you but never since I have known you have you looked like shit,” Austin said. Just then another message came through.

Sexy but you know that’s not what

I meant.

“Why does he want a pic anyway?” Austin asked.

I shrugged. “I think he just misses our stupid faces.

“Mm… I think it might be more than that sweetheart,” Austin said tossing his script onto the coffee table. “I saw the way he kept lookin’ at you on set. He looked at you like you were the finest piece of meat this side of the Atlantic. Which ain’t totally off base if I say so myself.” I scoffed at the idea but Austin continued to look serious. “You’re the most beautiful girl I know. It’s a shame that you don’t see it because I see it very clearly.”

I sighed and tossed my phone onto the coffee table before getting up and darting towards Austin. I sat down on his lap and cuddled into him. Austin chuckled deeply and wrapped his arms around me. Austin always gives the best hugs. “We really need to have more days like this.”

“Like what?” Austin asked resting his cheek on my head.

“Like this. Just you and me...like we’re the only ones in the world. Like nothing else matters as long as we’re both here, together, for forever…” It was then I felt Austin’s lips pressed themselves on my forehead.

“You’re already my whole world Y/N,” he muttered.

“And you’re mine,” I whispered pressing my lips against his cheek. It was something I had done many times throughout our friendship but this time… it felt different. This time he trembled at my touch. “You okay?”

He nodded. “Just all shook up I guess.”

“You fuckin’ dork,” I laughed before he was suddenly pulling me in. His lips enveloped mine sending a tingle up my spine. I know I should’ve pulled away...told him about Callum and hoped for the best but… I don’t know. For some reason I just… I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to stop.

But I guess something else wanted it to end.

Ding dong.

Austin pulled back and sighed. “That would be our UberEats.” He carried me back to the sofa and sat me down before going to answer the door. Normally Austin would gladly cook for us but we both agreed that on that day we were feeling exceptionally lazy.

We didn’t really say anything as we had our Thai dinner. Just snuck glances at each other every now and then. At one point I think it became a little too much for him to handle for he swiped the box of Mango Sticky Rice I had started to dig in to. “Give it back.”

“Hell nah, not until you get talkin’.” Austin said continuing to hold the rice hostage.

“I am talking,” I said. “Give. It. Back.”

“Or. What? Sugar.” He smirked pushing my final button. I dropped my chopsticks and pounced on him.

“Fucking give me the rice!” I snapped at him trying to reach for my rice which he now held above his head.

“Not until we talk about what happened earlier,” he said.

“God dammit Austin, it wasn’t rocket science, it should be obvious why we―.”

“Stop…”

“What? I thought you wanted me to…”

“No, I mean stop grindin’ on me,” he said making me realize that as I had been trying to get my rice back, I was simultaneous rubbing myself on his clothed crotch causing him to stiffen.

“Okay, needless to say that is your fault,” I said freezing on top of him.

“How the hell is that my fault?” he asked. “I didn’t ask you to grind on me.”

“No, but you stole my rice,” I pointed out before carefully standing up. “So… what now?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I know I want this, but I can’t decide for you,” he said before slowly standing up. “So until you know for sure if what you felt was as real as what I’ve been feelin’ every day since we met, I’m gonna have to handle this with a cold shower.”

He left the kitchen soon after leaving me be for a few minutes. I was suddenly not hungry for rice or anything on the table so after a moment I stood up and started towards my room needing to just collapse for a bit.

As I approached the door though, Austin left his room wearing nothing but a towel around his hips. “Oh, uh, sorry, I forgot my new body wash in the shopping bag.” He continued towards the bathroom and left his body wash on the counter before turning back to face me. “Is-uh-there something you wanna talk about?” He asked noticing my transfixed stare. He’d been spending his off time these last few months and his current off day to do a little extra working out for his new role and damn did it show. His abs were more defined, and his ass more perked and firm. “Y/N? You okay darlin’?”

“Uh-um-yeah,” I said. “I’m fine….I’m…” He approached me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“You sure?” I was suddenly filled with a different, much stronger, hunger. It had me practically screaming inside while outside it only had me placing my hand on his chest. “Y/N?” I reached up and connected my lips with his. His body froze at my touch for only a moment before he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back. He pressed me against the nearby wall and let his lips fall to my neck. As he kissed and suck on my flesh I reached down and yanked at his towel, making it fall to his feet. I wrapped my hand around his length and gasped at the feeling of his size. He wasn’t too long but girthy as holy fuck. I tugged on him gently earning a growl like sound in return. I chuckled.

“You really are all shook up aren’t you Elvis?”

“Oh fuck yeah I am Priscilla,” he said before placing his hands on my legs and picking me up. “Fuck yeah I am.” I wrapped my legs around him and let him carry me to my bed.

He laid us down and reached to pull off my shirt. He peppered kisses all over my body as he rid me of my lazy-day clothes. Once my panties were gone he placed my legs on his shoulders and brought his lips to my core. I moaned louder than I ever had, earning a chuckle from Austin before he continued to suck and lick me until I was nice and slick. “I wasn’t there yet you jerk,” I groaned as he climbed back up.

“Relax darlin’, I’m just getting started,” He smirked before reaching down and giving himself a tug before placing himself at my entrance. Just the feeling of it there made my body tremble. “Like it?” I nodded. “Want it inside you?” I nodded again. “Okay then…” He thrust his lips sliding the tip inside me.

“Holy fucking shit!” I hissed.

“So tight sugar,” he groaned pushing in further. Tears filled my eyes as he continued to stretch me. “I ain’t hurtin’ ya too bad am I?” I shook my head. “Good, I’ll try not to but feel free to hit me if I do.”

“Just fuck me already Aus,” I muttered. He leaned down and kissed me deeply before bottoming out and pulling back again. He kept his pace slow and gentle while I grew use to him. I pecked his lips and held him so our bodies were pressed together. As he continued moving inside me I snaked my hand down his back and squeezed his ass. I was right, it was pretty damn firm.

“God you drive wild,” Austin chuckled.

“How wild?” I asked.

“Want me to answer or would you rather I just―.” He thrust into me harder. “Show you.” He started moving his hips faster making my back arch.

“Oh fuck!” I screamed as he continued to thrust into me like his life depended on it. After a while he kissed me again and brought his lips to my ear.

“You wanna ride me?” I nodded eagerly. He wrapped his arms around me and flipped us over so that I was on top. I moved my hips rough and fast. It was like my whole being was just feral for him. “Holy shit you’re so fucking good at that.” Austin moaned thrusting up into me as I continued to ride him. As he did he brought his fingers to my clit and started rubbing me. That’s when the pressure began to build up inside me. “You gonna cum sugar?” I groaned and nodded. “That’s alright just come right on me. There you go baby.”

My whole body froze as a shiver ran down my spine. I was damn near screaming as I tightened around him, damn near squeezing the life out of his cock. I had just started coming down from my high, still partially blinded by the mind-blowing orgasm, when Austin wrapped his arms around me again and flipped us so I was on the bed once again.

“God you’re so fucking tight around me,” he groaned as he continued to thrust into me, only a little sloppier this time. “Gah fuck I’m gonna cum!” He moaned more and more as he started getting close. “Wuh-Where do you want it?”

“In...Inside...Inside me.” I said still breathless.

“You- You sure about that sugar?” He asked growing more and more spastic.

“Yes, god yes… fuck a baby into me Aus…” No sooner had I said that that I felt him twitch inside me. A rainbow of curses left his mouth as his body shuttered to a stop. He collapsed on top of me and gave me a final kiss on my now swollen lips.

“I fucking love you Y/N,” he said. “I love you more than words can say.”

I ran my fingers through his curls. “I love you too, Aus.”

He smiled and reached down to pull himself out of me. I hissed a bit when he did feeling a bit of a sting. “Sorry sugar.”

“It’s alright,” I assured him. He moved to lay down beside me and when he did I snuggled up to him. I fell asleep listening to the sound of his heart.

[kirkscarr]

ok so i just finished my book cover for First, Best Destiny - Part 1 by the amazing @ophelia-j !!

admittedly i was going to wait until i actually attached the text block to the cover before i posted this haha, but i was SO excited after making this cover that i decided to just post it and then update with the finished product later!!

this book is absolutely embedded in my soul, and words cannot even describe how gorgeously it’s written. it’s a book that made me realize - hey, the adventure doesn’t end as you grow old.

you can read it here. i promise you won’t regret it!!!

anyways!!! here’s all of my other bookbinding steps for anyone interested.

cam’s somewhat incomplete bookbinding guide

please note that i am an AMATEUR hobbyist. please do not actually use this as a tutorial.

oh also!! bookbinding terminology will have a * by it which will be explained at the end in order to make this flow better. i’ll also link the tutorials i used at the end of this for anyone interested.

1) Formatting the document! I downloaded the original text as a PDF, and then designed a cover page, grabbed some art from the internet (i know, frowned upon, but this is just a personal copy so it is what it is), and then designed a table of contents and chapter icons!!

*side note! i added which episodes each chapter follows to the table of contents (pictured below) as this book was written as an accompaniment to TOS and the movies.

2) Next, I printed out all NINE HUNDRED PAGES??? admittedly i could have done it in less if I’d used a bigger page size, but sending things out to be printed is expensive so we made do. after printing, i folded them into signatures*.

*there’s an additional note about the paper i used at the end

3) punching out holes in all the signatures! although not technically necessary, I honestly don’t think i would’ve been able to sew this behemoth without doing it.

4) sewing the pages into a real!! actual!! book!! this was the part i was most nervous about. i’ve NEVER attempted to sew anywhere near this large of a book before, so i tried out a new method of sewing in hopes of making it a bit more sturdy. we won’t know if it worked until this book endures some wear and tear, but i’m pretty optimistic!

5) next up is glueing the spine! this is where it really hit me that a lot of bookbinding is just…glueing shit together. later i also added cardstock to the spine in hopes of helping it adhere to the cover better, and a book headband* for decoration.

5) now we’re onto the book cover!! they only sell bookboard in minor bulk around here, so we’re not even gonna discuss how much bookboard i now own… anyways! i glued the faux leather onto the bookboard and then let that dry.

6) last up! off to the cricket! a huge thank you to my friend for letting me borrow her cricket AND supplies! anywho, this is where i designed my cover art. i then adhered the design to the cover. after this step, i realized i…definitely need some kind of sealant - so, if any more seasoned bookbinders have suggestions for this i am all ears!!

all in all, this was a super fun project, and a great way to kill some time while i recover from surgery! i absolutely plan to bind the sequel at some point, but that may be a…ways away. i’m a STEM major and school starts back up soon so…time will be in short supply lol!

To be continued...

Terminology

*signature: group of sheets folded in half, to be worked into the binding as a unit.

*book headband: just look up a picture if you’re curious because tumblr says i can't add any more pictures lol.

*about the paper!! i actually got it from a local specialty paper store, but if you want something similar i've heard amazon has some good bookbinding alternatives!

Tutorials

please PLEASE go check out Jess Less on youtube. she's phenomenal. here are her vids and what i used them for.

don't laugh!! i actually stole MOST of my techniques straight from this video.

i used this one to help me format the book correctly! although i still ended up with some goofs haha (see: any pages on the left side have the page number in the margin LMAO).

[poetrysmackdown]

THE FINAL SMACKDOWN.

Big congratulations to "The Two-Headed Calf" for a solid win over "How to Be a Dog" (and to our Third Place competitor, "Wild Geese")!

Thank you to all who participated. I had a lot of fun with this and I hope you guys did as well! I've said it before but I had no idea this would get as big as it did, and it's been truly heartening to see this many people engaging with poetry and getting excited about it. I'm personally grateful to all the folks I got the chance to discuss poems with, and everyone who challenged me to see these poems in a new light. Whether you were introduced to new poems or reunited with old ones, whether you voted with the majority or against it, I hope you got something out of this as well.

As promised, here is the grand stats spreadsheet. The smackdown with the highest turnout was the semifinal matchup "The Two-Headed Calf" by Laura Gilpin vs. "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver with 17,449 votes! In second place, Round 1: "Poem" by Langston Hughes vs. "A Meeting" by Wendell Berry with 16,690 votes.

Unfortunately my real-life responsibilities have hit me like a truck and I don't have time to do a whole post dedicated to reviewing more of it, but I hope y'all might share any insights you have below! I also included the word count stats on the "summary" page, as suggested in this ask by @puddinginthemix. Nevertheless, they don't seem to demonstrate a concrete trend in one direction or the other—the mean word count difference technically gives a slight edge to longer poems in competition, but with such an insane standard deviation as to render the whole thing silly.

On the topic of a sequel.

After some deliberation, I've decided I would love to do another one of these focusing on poems that are lesser-known on Tumblr! In a perfect world I would just jump right in again, but it's quickly becoming clear to me that I will not have time to sort through/pair submissions and then run the thing while balancing work and school in the upcoming semester. With that in mind, my plan is to run it over the winter holidays so I'm able to give it more of my attention. That said, I've already made the submission form, and I'm tempted to release that ASAP so that I can use any downtime in the fall to read, review, and structure things thoughtfully. I also just figure it'll get a higher volume of submissions if I release it now. I know it's probably not ideal, but would people be cool with me opening submissions earlier, even if it means there'll be a significant time gap between submission and competition? If so, I'll get that out no later than Tuesday, and likely keep it open for a few weeks (unless it gets, like, seriously swamped lol).

Lastly, I've still got some asks I need to get through.....they're still on my mind. I'll do my best to respond to everyone within the next week!

Thank you again to everyone who participated, it's been such a joy!

[pharawee]

Rose's Day of Asks - the sequel

Hi! My question for you... Which actors do you wish would get cast in a bl as a lead? and with what partner, if you have any in mind?

Have a wonderful night. Rose❤️

Hi Rose, thank you so much for your question! I hope you feel better already. 💜💜💜

There's so many actors I'd love to finally see as the lead in a BL - mostly solo actors because they started their acting careers as side characters, love rivals or villains so there's so much potential to pair them with other fresh faces.

Someone who immediately comes to mind (surprising, I know lmao) is Winner Tanatat because I love him dearly and he's reliably been stealing the show for me wherever he pops up. He's basically taken Big Thanakorn's place on top of the third wheel podium now that Big FINALLY got his well-deserved main role.

I also can't believe domundi have been sleeping on Poppy Ratchapong for so long. Yes, he's talented and funny but have you considered giving Poppy a boyfriend?? Maybe make it Nont Intanont because they both looked really good in Nont's MV for ธรรมดาที่ไหน:

Then again, domundi have also been sleeping on Mark Sorntast until recently when he's been looking like that FOR YEARS.

And gmmtv isn't much better. I mean, Papang Phromphiriya exists. I know I'm not alone in wanting him as the lead in a BL (or any show, really, just give me more Papang I'm begging you gmmtv 😭).

I'm also very partial to Kay Lertsittichai but gmmtv seem to have firmly typecast him as the villain now. Which is an injustice (I like his villains though - they're very pathetic and wet).

Same with idolfactory and Heng Asavarid. Someone free these men from their status as morally questionable side characters!

Unpopular opinion time but this scene with Heng and Nat Sakdatorn in The Sign stole the whole show for me. The things I'd do for more HengNat. 🫠

Then there's Kokliang Parinya who's posting the most beautiful photoshoots on his insta EVERY DAMN WEEK yet somehow he's not been the lead in a BL even once. That man's a medical doctor ffs please someone cast him as the leading man. 🙏

I also need justice for Non Ratchanon (even though he's been in a short story compilation by Director Golf and in a few other things like The Rebound but that just shows how well he can act) and I'd love to see him as the lead in a fully-fledged 12 episode BL.

The same goes for Bank Chanwut. I MEAN JUST LOOK AT HIM (and imagine what could have been if 9NAA didn't mess up Beyond the Star).

And I generally don't understand how Rossi Nonthakorn isn't everywhere after On Cloud Nine (yes technically he was playing the lead here and in another shortform series along with Non Ratchanon but that's not the same innit).

This is getting far too long already but I can't believe I almost forgot about Boss Thawatchanin who can do cute and, uh, whatever else that was with Gap Jakarin in Norrasing (but, really, I don't mind, give me more GapBoss):

And what about Na Naphat? He made me like Tawan in Kinnporsche (he did everything wrong and I love him) AND WE WERE PROMISED NA AND FIAT PATCHATA IN WISH ME LUCK!!

There's really so many other actors that I'd love to see in the spotlight in their own series. Like JJFong in a proper show where they aren't relegated to comic relief. Or JJUs now that they're freed from BOC's basement. Or PromMark because they've been trying to sail their ship for years now (and they recorded a song together that's still one of my faves) but maybe we'll finally get lucky in Jack & Joker. 🤞

[detta-pica]

Fanfic Writer Interview

This should be a nice way to wrap up the year.

How many works do you have on AO3?

11. I was actually surprised when I checked. It feels like I’ve written 6 at most.

I started writing fanfic in 2013, then took a really long break from posting. I still wrote (mostly unfinished novel-length stories) and read a lot, but no fandom pulled me in enough to publish my own stories. Until JJK in early 2024.

It’s the tragedy, I think. It’s not that I want to fix canon, I love it for the pain it’s caused me, but I am strongly motivated to write happier outcomes for my ship.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

The Darkest Deluge - Kingdom Hearts series, Strifehart & Soriku, 123k words (unfinished, on hiatus)

This is a plot-heavy soft sci-fi story with a big cast and four major POVs. At first, I managed regular weekly updates, but then life happened and I took longer and longer breaks. I still intend to finish it. In fact, everything except for the final battle and dénouement is already drafted. The second my JJK obsession fades a little, I’ll sit down and finally get it done.

Born to Die - JJK, stsg, 40k words

My first JJK fic, a plotty, vaguely futuristic vampire AU. I got to play with very interesting themes in this one. I’ve promised a sequel and I will deliver, though I’m not sure when.

So far from you here next to me - JJK, stsg, 25k words

The first part in a magic realism/witch AU. I expected the series to get barely any traction, since it starts with the unresolved romantic tension tag. Each installment is a self-contained case fic, which is my favourite genre, centred around a theme. For this one, it’s grief.

Wisteria, sufficiently looked at - JJK, stsg, 23k words

Part 5 in the same series, themed around forgiveness. This is where the romantic tension finally gets resolved.

Unknown-C - JJK, stsg, 2k words

A silly, fluffy getting together fic. Technically canon compliant, but I’m always hesitant to use that tag when writing about a non-canon ship.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Every single one, and usually in a timely manner. I also try to match the commenter’s energy, so I’ll leave a long reply to a long comment, and respond to an emoji with an emoji. I want to make sure that each commenter feels appreciated and knows how grateful I am, but also, the reason I write and post fanfic is that I want to be an active participant in my fandom, to be a part of the community. The best way to achieve that, I think, is to interact with people.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

There he is, happy - it’s a canon compliant stsg fic with the MCD archive warning 🤷‍♀️ Alternatively, it’s The Deep Well, but I’m not saying why.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I’m not sure. I guess Unknown-C is the most lighthearted. Aside from the two stories mentioned above, I haven’t written any properly bad endings, but I mean… I’ve been focusing on themes like death and grief. I can’t claim those are happy fics.

Do you write crossovers?

No. I just don’t find the idea compelling. I might do a fusion someday, though. Specifically, JJK characters in the world of Stardew Valley.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not once. I have a small audience, so the likelihood of getting hate is really low for me.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Since September this year, yes. What kinds of smut are there? I guess I’m not super interested in writing penetrative sex? I’m a switch/vers shipper focused on mlm ships (unfortunately; I hope to get hooked on a wlw ship some day).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I sincerely doubt it.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Also nope. I’d love to try it, but as a discovery writer that plans primarily in themes, I imagine I would be horrible to work with.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Listen. I don’t have an all-time favourite anything (except maybe Assam tea, but I haven’t tried every variety out there, so this could very easily change). I go through phases, come back to old ships after years and years, and just generally follow my whim.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have a bunch of WIPs for the early Assassin’s Creed games that I will definitely never finish. They are a decade old.

What are your writing strengths?

Plot? Despite planning in themes, I think my stories are usually plot-driven. I’ve been told my characterisation tends to be true to canon, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s strong… Oh! I think I’m good at echoing the original material in different ways, usually through AUs, to explore canon themes from new angles.

Also, worldbuilding. I mostly write AUs, so it’s kind of a given, but I think of myself as a worldbuilder first, writer second.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes are definitely one. I find the choreography of a fight horribly boring (to read and to write), so I tend to fast-forward through them.

Character voice. I’ve seen people do absolutely incredible things with POV characters. I want to be that good. I will probably never be that good.

Originality of structure, if that makes sense. I think fanfic is an incredible medium for trying out new formats, pretty much without any constraints. But even though I really want to do fun things with story format and structure, I end up falling into safe habits.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

It can be great if it serves a purpose. Sometimes, hiding information from the reader/achieving vibes over understanding is the goal. It can also be useful for settling the reader more firmly in the POV. But it’s the sort of tool that should be used very sparingly, or else it will become frustrating.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

The Old Guard’s Joe/Nicky. Maybe when the sequel finally comes out? Also Arcane’s Silco/Vander. Unfortunately I can only do one fandom at a time, and I haven’t yet been released from my current obsession.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Oh wow. Hm. I’m gonna say Born to Die, because it was the beginning of my writing journey in a new fandom and it got me out of a fanfic writing slump that had lasted years. Also, it was my first, raw attempt at working through my JJK-related feelings, so it’ll always be special to me in that way.

Thank you @hollow-lime-green for tagging me! This was fun :)

Tagging @poolnoodling and anyone else who’d enjoy doing this!

[theinquisitxor]

Best and Worst Series 2024

I saw a booktuber do a video of these questions and I really liked them, so thought that I could answer them here! Credit goes to bookslikewhoa & thoughtsontomes on youtube. Feel free repost and add your own answers!

My post from last year

In total I read 22 series in some shape or form:

I read and completed 8 series this year (meaning I read books 1 -> the end)

I finished/wrapped up 3 series this year (meaning I was waiting on a sequel to be released)

I started 15 series (whether I finished them or not)

I caught up with 0 series

I continued with 1 series

I DNF'ed 6 (maybe 7) series

1.What is the best series that you caught up with this year that is still a work in progress? Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett, the last book comes out early next year. (maybe the Saint of Steel series too, but it's not confirmed if T Kingfisher is writing more)

2.What is the best completed series that you are still catching up with? Technically Discworld since I read Equal Rites over the summer, but I'm really taking my time with the Discword books, and only reading them very sporadically

3.What was your favorite first book in a series this year? Daughter of the Forest no doubt. It's an amazing book, and could work as a standalone too.

4.What is a first book in a series you read this year that you think should have been a standalone, not a series? An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors, but really the first book tells a completed story. It seems like the other books are just a new adventure for the characters. So I feel like this only half counts as an answer. I enjoyed reading it, but didn't feel the need to continue.

5.What is your most over-hyped series of the year? A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos. I was expecting this to be a new favorite, but I was so bored reading it :(

6.What is a series that you DNFed this year? The Stardust Thief, another one I was expecting to love, but I just could not get into it.

7.What was your favorite series finale of the year? The Bloody Throne which is the last book in the Hostage of Empire series. There was such a good buildup to this book and the events at the end.

8.What was the biggest cliffhanger you had in a series this year? Maybe the end of Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard? But I might dnf this series-- I don't even really remember what happened at the end, other than it was a cliffhanger.

9.What is your most anticipated next book in a series that you read this year that will come out next year? The next book in the Wayward Children series comes out in January 2025. I'm so glad I caught up with this series last year.

10.What is your most anticipated series to catch up with? I didn't read any Tracy Deonn books this year, but I am so excited for Oathbound next year!

11.What was your favorite series that you finished this year? Sevenwaters series by Juliet Mariller. Each book was so fulfilling and satisfying and lovely.

12. What is the most surprising series you liked this year? I really wasn't sure what I would think of A Memory Called Empire duology, I suspected I would either love it or hate it. I loved it, so that's what I'm going with for this question.

13.What is a series you finally bailed on after holding onto it for a long time? I read the first two Realm Breaker books early in 2024, and I've been going back and forth on whether I wanted to try and read the last book, but I really don't think I am. I barely remember what happened in the first books.

14.What is the series you meant to catch up with or finish this year that you didn't? None really! I either completed series or dnf'd them!

15.What is a series you finished or caught up with this year that you think is greater than the sum of its parts? Probably Chrestomanci. I over all enjoyed the books, but not on the same level as HMC series. I enjoyed several of the Chrestomanic books, but a few of the books I didn't care much for.

If you're still reading, here are all the series I read or started this year. This is more for my record keeping then anything else!

A Winter's Promise (Mirror Visitor Series) by Christelle Dabos. Series DNF, not planning on continuing with any other books

Realm Breaker & Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard. Tentative dnf, not sure if I want to read the last book or not, I didn't really care for the first two.

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake. Completed this series

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett. Continued this series, waiting for last book to be released

Beartown series by Frederick Backman. Read entire series

Mislaid in Parts Half Known (Wayward Children 9) by Seanan Mcguire. continued this series, waiting for next book to be released.

Hostage of Empire Series by EC Emmett. Read entire series this year

House of Flame and Shadow by SJM, completed this series.

What Feasts at Night by T Kingfisher, read latest release

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black, completed this series.

An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock. Enjoyed this as a standalone, not planning on reading the rest.

The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks, series DNF

The Greenhollow Duology by Emily Tesh, read both

The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie, read entire series

Equal Rites (Discworld 3) by Terry Pratchett, continued series

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abduallah, series DNF not planning on continuing

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison. Enjoyed this as a standalone, not planning on reading the rest

Chrestomanci series by DWJ, read entire series

Sevenwaters series by Juliet Mariller, read entire series

The Saint of Steel series by T Kingfisher, read entire series

Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine, read both books

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer, not planning on reading spinoff book

[iuriinacio]

Opinion: 100% Wolf, What Did I Think? (For English Speakers)

Attention: This is a repost of my review of the movie 100% Wolf, for English speakers, the Portuguese version was posted last year, If you want to check it out, just click on the link below, let's go to the main topic.

As I promised, I said that I would watch 100% Wolf if I found the movie to watch, well I managed to get access to the movie and decided to watch the movie to give my final verdict on the movie, this post will not have the synopsis of the movie, as it will only be a technical analysis of what I thought of the movie, so let's get started.

● Plot

About the plot of the movie, I thought it was very good, as there are scenes in the movie that have a lot of slapstick comedy, something that is rare to see in an animation nowadays, the story is a bit reminiscent of the Danish movie Jungledyret Hugo from 1993, as both main characters have to get by and learn to live in the urban world.

● Characters

About the characters in the movie, I must say that most of them are charismatic, especially Foxwell Cripp, the crazy ice cream man in the movie, who despite having "killed" Flasheart Lupin, Freddy Lupin's father, who in fact was just captured by the people in the ice cream van and disappeared for 6 years, he was never a real villain like Hopstur, about Betty, Freddy's friend, in some scenes in the movie she is a bit annoying, but it's not sickening.

● Similarities to Other Movies

Throughout the movie, several scenes reminded me of many other movies that I watched a lot as a child or that I discovered recently. I will list them here:

● The Wig Making Machine

The wig making machine reminded me of the 2000 movie Chicken Run where Mrs. Tweedy buys a machine to make savory chicken pies.

● The Design of the Cars in the Movie

The design of the cars in the movie 100% Wolf reminds me of the classic Disney movie Chicken Little from 2005.

Left side is from the movie 100% Wolf and right side is from Chicken Little.

● The Scene of Betty Not Being Adopted

For some reason this scene reminded me of another classic Disney movie called Bolt from 2008, where Bolt is still in the process of being adopted.

● Scoops, Foxwell Cripp's Plush Monkey

And to close this topic, I think this is the most similar possible, Scoops the monkey and companion of Foxwell Cripp at random moments in the film, he is a little similar to another character from an older film called Jungledyret Hugo who, for those who don't know, is this creature here that I already commented on last year, but it is only available in the Portuguese version, maybe I'll redo this post in the English version as well.

● Movie Soundtrack

About the movie's soundtrack, I thought it was excellent, as it has mixed genres like rock and pop, which are two of my favorite musical genres.

● Final Considerations

Even though the film has some stupid scenes, the film is still fun, about the similarities, I want to make it clear that they are just coincidences as there may be different details in the film 100% Wolf, about the film's rating from 0 to 10, I will give it an 8.5.

And finally, about the sequel to the film, 200% Wolf, it has not yet been released in my country to give my honest opinion on what I think of the sequel to the film, with that, I will leave it here and until next time.

P.S.: The Post underwent some modifications from the original post, because at the time I had recently watched the movie, so some things were modified or deleted, but nothing that affects the adaptation of my opinion about the movie.

[guplia]

Hello anon! Thanks for the ask!

Okay! It's time for the second round of my fic recommendations! Once again I'm not including any wips.

"Tiny Troubles" by RavenKnight3035 (Archive of Our Own):

Original summary:

"Something's wrong with Cole, but he refuses to talk to anyone about it. Then, to make matters worse, a mysterious criminal attacks and the results are...interesting to say the least. "Cole! You're TINY!" Prepare for a big helping of fluff with a side of angst. :D"

This fic is about Cole, who becomes a little kid after something that goes wrong on a mission. And he's been acting strange before that too, so the ninja try to figure out what's wrong with him.

This takes place after season 2 (of the original series not Dragons Rising) but has technically become canon-divergent because of something that gets revealed in season 13, but it's a good read! There were hurt/comfort scenes I liked!

"Family" by Doctor_Discord (Archive of Our Own):

Original summary:

"Takes place like a month after Lloyd was magically aged. When Lloyd is kidnapped and used as leverage by Scales and the Serpentine, Garmadon is willing to do anything to get him back. Even kill. I am horrific at summaries but this is good I promise. Also posted on Wattpad under same Username"

So this is a canon-divergent fic with a lot of Lloyd angst! Garmadon teams up with the ninja to get him back from Scales.

There was a sequel that's also available on AO3 but it's been discontinued for five years and as far as I know the author is not into Ninjago anymore, but they said that anyone can write a continuation so there's that! But this fic is fully complete.

"Five Times Lloyd Was a Pain" by DietCokeIsLife (Archive of Our Own):

Original summary:

"And, the one time he wasn't. Takes place pre-Child's Play when Lloyd is still a kid. Very fluffy!"

So like I said in the previous post, I like how Lloyd and Kai's dynamic changes through the seasons, and how they hate each other at first. Well, here's Lloyd's relationships with everyone!

"Misunderstood" by Lilac_Lily234 (Archive of Our Own):

Original summary:

"Finally after this brat caused so much trouble Cole was pretty sure this kid was going to get scolded at by everyone and Sensei Wu, and sent back to whatever horrible mother let her kid run around to do such misdeeds as they had this kid cornered on the roof; Cole didn't expect what the kid would do next though, and it horrified him."

Again, a child Lloyd fic! This one goes in a different direction from what happens in episode four after Pythor betrays Lloyd.

It's a oneshot but omg I wish it had a second part (no pressure to the author if they end up reading this! Just expressing my feelings for this fic :D)

"Little Brother" by Nation_Ustria (Archive of Our Own):

Original summary:

"Finding out that the person you consider your little brother is also a (supposedly) terrible person that you've been taught to hate for years is a little bit hard to work through—especially when that person is in pain. Revealed Part 2 - Kai's POV"

So in my previous post I mentioned a tlnm fic titled "Revealed"-- this is basically the same story but from Kai's part of view! (That technically makes it a different story then, I guess.) I loved this one just as much as the first one!

There's still more but I'm too tired and busy to write about them rn-- but if anyone wants even more recommendations you can still ask me! It might take me a while to respond, though.

[purlpeiris]

Rose's Day of Asks - the sequel

Hope you are recovering well from what we all just had to endure. And in the spirit of happier things. What have been your favourite qls this year? (it's my first time in your inbox so excuse the more bland question, I promise I'll do better next time)

Rose💛

Ah thank you Rose. I’m happy to join in with this.

Fave QLs from this year so far…

I feel like I’ve loved many many series this year. Some I’ve been a bit disappointed by something in them but not enough to stop me liking them a lot.

If you’d asked me half way through ep 11 of Last Twilight it would have made it into my favourites list. But I hated the end of that episode and i disliked the overall end of the show so it got kicked off the list.

But getting to the actual list,

Time of Fever - I adored it. Even though it made me sob to the point I had to pause for a break because I couldn’t see the subtitles. And even though I didn’t get the post ULS scenes I desperately wanted, I loved it so much. The chemistry was great, I liked the pacing, I liked the scenery and the lighting and pretty much everything about it. I’ve said this approximately one million times by now but I just want a sequel set after ULS, a whole series or even a one off episode will do. I need them to get a concrete happy ending. But even without a sequel if I take it as a standalone series that ends back at the sea the ending was hopeful enough that I’d happily rewatch.

Love for Love’s Sake - I don’t think I found a single fault. I loved that it was different. I found the leads interesting, the story made me want to watch as soon as new eps were released, the ending made me smile so much. Overall just brilliant.

Blue Boys - I just really enjoyed the chemistry and the kisses and how it wasn’t too thinky and it didn’t make me sad. Sometimes I just need something short, light and easy to watch and Blue Boys was that.

At 25:00 in Akasaka - I’ve not done a full rewatch yet, because every time I log into Gaga to start I end up just watching the last episode. I’ve lost count now how many times I’ve seen it. I can’t quite put my finger on why I’m so drawn to it either. It just makes me happy.

Perfect Propose - I found it perfect, well almost. It would have been slightly improved by one more episode but I always think that when I love something and don’t want it to end, even when the story is completed. I liked both mains. I liked how Hiro changed his life and didn’t just accept that he’d be stuck in a miserable work/life balance situation that he hated for the rest of his life. I also loved the playful ending from the cramp to the tomatoes to Kai teasing about the texting. It left me happy.

Happy of the End - It was hard to watch and I didn’t “enjoy” it but it compelled me to keep watching in the hope that these broken men would find love together. I’m glad the ending was the way it was. I see the arguments that the series could have ended without them meeting again and I think that would have worked, but I don’t tend to enjoy completely non happy endings especially in QL stories because real life can be shit enough and I find a fictional life with a little hope is more satisfying.

Dead Friend Forever - I’ve just realised that I’m adding a series with a non happy ending to my favourites list despite what I just said about endings. I clearly can’t be trusted with my opinions! It’s still there though. Mainly because it was a break from the norm, I was intrigued the whole way through and I liked that everyone was at least a little bit messed up. I don’t even know what would have constituted a happy ending for any of them.

City of Stars - it was sweet, I liked everyone in it. It’s on my favourite list as an easy enjoyable watch with decent chemistry and a not annoying ending, which seemed to be rare this year.

I Became the Lead in a BL Drama - I’ve checked and MDL said it ended Jan 1st so technically it’s on the favourites of 2024 list. It was a very fun, silly, cute way to spend a few hours. I adored it so much that I got my partner to rewatch it with me about a month ago and I was really pleased she also liked it.

The On1y One - I’m adding this one because I loved it. I thought the actors were really good. It was slow, but I think airing two eps a week helped it not feel quite as slow because instead of lasting three months we’ve seen it all in six weeks. I might be disappointed and change my mind if we never get a series two, and I would have liked it to end on a happier note but as I just discussed with @ellsieee the ending could have been sadder and overall it’s not stopped me liking the series as a whole. I do feel like I’m going to have to read the novel because my patience is not strong enough for the wait.

This last one wasn’t out this year, and it’s not a series, but I’ve got no GLs on the list and as a queer woman I feel like this is letting myself down, so I’m cheating and adding this to my favourites list because I (re)watched it this year:

Summerland (2020) - A film about a reclusive queer unmarried writer who takes in an evacuee boy during the Second World War. It was so good. The ending was a little contrived and I saw it coming a little while before it happened but it was still feel good and happy and hopeful and comforting. I loved it.

Ok, that got long so I’m not thinking about any more series that I loved from this year.

[mildlyannoyedscoundrel-blog]

Fan Fic Writer Interview

I’ve wanted to do this ever since I saw it on @hollow-lime-green’s blog but I have my phone set up so that I can only be on social media for 5 minutes at a time and it is hard to do something like this 5 minutes at a time so I’ll probably be chipping away at it for another couple of months lol

How many works do you have on AO3?

17! But I think there’s one that I orphaned when I myself was 17 so I guess technically 18.

Your top 5 stories by kudos:

1) Fuckery - JJK, Satosugu, 14.3K which is insane now that I look at it, Rated E

This fic is the bane of my existence istg (lh). I wrote it on a dare from my irl friends, slapped it out in like a month and a half and it became my most popular fic by far within less than a week. Sex sells ig.

Seriously though, there are some parts of it that I am genuinely proud of and even if my repressed ass wants to die of embarrassment and Catholic guilt every time I think about it I do think it’s a good fic. There may or may not even be a sequel in the works who knows.

2) Glycerin - BNHA, Kiribaku, Rated M, 130K

My baby. My pride and joy. The fic I always keep coming back to. I’ve been writing this fic since I was 16 and genuinely it has been one of the most valuable experiences of my life. It’s still holding on by a thread as my most popular hits wise (damn you Fuckery), but it definitely has the most dedicated and supportive readership of anything I’ve written. Even if it’s not #1 in my kudos it will always be #1 in my heart.

3) hug me, love me, protect me - BNHA, Krbk, Rated T, ~8K

Kind of a sleeper agent tbh. I wrote it for a Christmas exchange and it was kinda out of my comfort zone cause I never write AU stuff but I think it turned out pretty cute! (Though very goofy)

4) Please Just Give Me One Last Kiss - BNHA, Krbk, Rated M, 5K

It’s angsty, it’s cheesy, what more could you want. I should reread it tbh

5) Something In Between - BNHA, Krbk, Rated G, 6.9K

Another fic that is super important to me. Straight up this fic and the zine it was a part of may very well have changed the course of my life (got me to break up with my girlfriend/childhood best friend of 11 years). I still get comments from aromantic people saying that it’s so nice to have a fic that makes them feel seen and even though my sexuality is once again massively up in the air it’s definitely one of the fics that I’ve poured the most of myself into.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! Though admittedly I’ve been lacking recently 😬

Comments are always such a big motivator for me and I think that 1) it encourages people to keep commenting and 2) since they’ve taken the time to comment it’s nice to take the time to thank them. I should really get caught up on my comments lmao

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhh probably either The Thing He Wants or What kind of gift? though tbh I don’t even know if I would count those as full on fics cause they’re both less than 1000 words and were more just ideas that I posted on Twitter and decided to cross post onto ao3 cause why not. I don’t really do full fics with angst endings. I’m a happy endings only kind of person

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

It hasn’t happened yet but Glycerin is gonna have such a happy ending I promise. I actually wrote the epilogue several years ago and sometimes when my motivation is low I go back and read it cause I’m like after all the shit I’ve put him through I need Kat to get to that point.

Insofar as happy endings that have already been published, probably either Please Just Give Me One Last Kiss or Something In Between

Do you write crossovers?

Nope

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nope again

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Well as previously mentioned I tend to be a bit repressed so for a long time I didn’t, but I’ve started to a little bit within the past year thanks to the previously mentioned dare and Ykw it’s pretty fun I can’t lie. It’s nice to get out of my comfort zone a lot a little bit and according to my comments I’m pretty good at it so that’s always fun. So far my smut has been exclusive to Satosugu for the simple reason that it’s one of the few ships I have where I genuinely think the characters are attractive

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet, but oh man that would be the biggest compliment ever.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oof this one is hard. The one I’ve loved for the longest is definitely Sokeefe, but that series is so genuinely bad idk if I can in good conscience call it my all time favorite. Maybe it would be if the characters didn’t still have the personalities of badly written 11 year olds.

Im gonna say my OTP is probably Kiribaku cause I just love how caring and supportive they are of each other while also being very goofy and fun but with plenty of angst potential too, but that being said Satosugu has absolutely consumed me for the past year and a half and I don’t see that disappearing any time soon

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Hands Like Mine, Heart Like His (BNHA, Krbk, Rated G, 8.8K)

It’s a really sweet story but it’s another one that I planned to be long and I’m such a slow writer that I had to choose one long fic to focus on and Glycerin is way too important to me to give up. I still day dream about Hand and Hearts though so maybe someday I’ll add another chapter or two

What are your writing weaknesses?

Speed for sure. I am so abysmally slow it’s awful. The absolute best I can do is maybe 500 words in an hour and that is super rare, like genuinely maybe once or twice a year rare, which especially sucks cause I like writing super long stuff that ends up taking me literal years. I have such an insane amount of respect for writers who can consistently get chapters out every couple of weeks or even days.

What are your writing strengths?

One common thing I get complimented on a lot is making my characters feel human/well rounded which makes me really happy.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I think it’s super fun! Unfortunately I only speak English and a little bit of Spanish so I don’t do it often, but I do have a chapter of Two Weeks where a majority of the dialogue is in Spanish and it was a really fun challenge (though idk how accurate the translation is lol). If the POV character speaks the language then usually I’ll provide a translation, but if they don’t I think it’s fun to just have it as is and either have the reader experience the confusion along with the POV character or try to write it in a way where the reader and character can both kind of understand what’s going on even without knowing what’s being said.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Beiguang, CaitVi, GELPHIE. Basically any F/F ship because I am unfortunately cursed with being completely unable to write Sapphic ships despite the fact that I myself am a woman who has exclusively dated other women. I’m hoping Gelphie will save me though. Please.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Glycerin and Something In Between are definitely the ones that are the most important to me, but I’ve already talked about those so honerable mention goes to In The Garden (JJK, Stsg, Rated G, 2.8K). It’s definitely short and sweet but idk I just think the writing is really good and I’m so proud of how the formatting in that one scene turned out. It genuinely was like a month of me brainstorming ways of visually portraying what I wanted to portray and I think it turned out really well!

Okay wow I actually managed to finish this within the day! (Though it did take me all day). I don’t really have anyone to @ since all in all I’m still relatively new to tumblr so I’ll just do what Hana did and say anyone who wants to go for it!

[f-imaginings]

Going through your Ao3 bookmarks after you posted them… the RotG stuff makes so much sense! Did you ever write any Blackice yourself?

I loooved rise of the guardians and blackice so soo much!!! I drew some art, did a tiny one shot and had a blackice roleplay with a friend but the fanfics that held my heart in a vice was @not-poignant 's take on the pairing. They had two major blackice fanfics that live in my brain rent free, one was a brilliant dystopian military au with world building that made my brain do a flip it was so good, and the other was a sequel sort of fic from the movies exploring what happens to Jack after Jaimie dies and exploring why it impacted him more than it did the other guardians and the events that followed once his death shone a light on the true extent of Jack's loneliness.

It was that fanfic that gave me a million mental epiphanies and changed my life and I went back to reread it every year like a tradition to evaluate how my mental health had changed and where I was at now. I resonated with Jack's loneliness and invisibility a lot, especially given how I felt in my family and how things shook out somewhat neglectfully in my past relationship. Since working on myself through therapy and being in a loving attentive relationship I get to see the growth I've had mirroring that of Jack's. Their writing style inspired me greatly, especially how they handled characterisation and character motivation. No scene is wasted. I especially loved how they used every sex scene to either further the plot or reveal something crucial about the characters and the situation developing. They're a top notch a tier aussie writer (a fellow Aussie!) and I highly recommend you to read their fics and shower their work with some love! (They've got some great original works too!) (I'm a big fan lmao I cosplayed their characters, drew art, all the fun stuff)

For people who are fans of Billford and the whole "king of nightmares" schtick, blackice I find can be a softer sweeter version of it without the worshipful dynamics or the toxic betrayal moments between the two. It's basically the boogeyman Pitch Black with mischievous winter boy Jack Frost. It's still got the "join the dark side" elements ("It's not too late to join me"/"what goes better together than cold and dark") and both pairings play on the whole "they are both lonely and one is trying to play on that to sway the other" with world domination stakes although Billford is leaning harder on the manipulation side of things to achieve this (Pitch tries manipulating but it comes off as more of a sales pitch than the degree of cruel manipulation Bill does) there are aspects of the whole nightmare king powers that can be fun to see (reading ones fears vs mind reading) and for fans of the whole corruption/bad ending trope there is a lot of fics out there where Jack gets corrupted into a nightmare boyo like how Ford becomes a henchmaniacs/Bill's right hand/Bill's pet (yeah I see you out there lmao) ect, for folks on board for a bad guy gets redeemed fic tho there are heaps more of those for Pitch since he's actually a hot noble single dad in a lot of cases. His apologies/acceptance comes a lot more naturally BC technically he did bad things BC he was possessed, Bill definitely does not have that excuse.

Anyway I've rambled for a long time but basically anyone who enjoyed reading KMKY and wants to read something amazing while waiting for the new chapter (which I'm working on haha might be done just after Xmas) then definitely read not-poignants works. I promise you they are very poignant and will give you the sort of cathartic cry you got from chapter 34 and 50 of KMKY.

[enokito]

Tompercy AU Masterpost

As I'm taking a step back from tompercy for the time being, and having just finished my main ASOR-related WIP, I thought it would be a good idea to gather all my tompercy thoughts all in one accessible place (written and non-written). This post is also linked in my pinned. I am still technically taking prompts for this ship, though no promises in terms of filling them; you can also request any AU from the unwritten section of this post, and I'll do my best to oblige since I already have thoughts for most of those :)

Also, anyone is allowed to write a fic based on any of my prompts, or transform any of my works (ie translation, writing another story in one of my established universes, write something inspired by my fics/prompts, etc; just don’t repost my fics wholesale) — I simply ask that you link it to me somehow so that I can check it out!

Written

Superhero AU: a civilian and a mercenary (mid-length; series of one-shots) Features Percy as the only civilian in a family of superheros, a Deathstroke-inspired Tom as the world's deadliest mercenary, and a something-with-benefits type relationship.

Royalty AU(s): you should see me in a crown (short; series of one-shots) Tom is the heir to the throne, and Percy is a spy on a mission to kill the king totally normal librarian. Bizarre yearning vibes.

a mask of my own face (short one-shot) Mostly platonic, but still tompercy-centric; Tom is a well-known mercenary, and Percy is his mysterious masked client.

Vampires AUs: Crimson (short one-shot) Percy is a vampire, Tom is a wizard. Unarguably erotic, but somehow not erotica.

Sanguine (even shorter one-shot) Tom is a vampire, Percy is a wizard. Spiritual successor to Crimson. Somehow even more erotic (but still not erotica).

Faerie (And Adjacent) AUs: offer me his lips (short one-shot) Percy is fae, because the the urge to make him some kinda creature is never-ending. Tom is a wizard hoping to make a deal.

monsters of a feather (short one-shot + bonus) Tom is one of the most feared pirates to still sail the seas; Percy is a siren caged in the bowels of his ship, only ever let out to lure other ships into Tom's waiting hands.

ASOR Canon Divergence: Beloved (short two-shot) AU where tompercy is roommates during the war. Bizarre vibes just in general; the first tompercy fic I ever wrote.

crucio (short two-shot) AU where Percy becomes Tom's sworn companion at some unspecified time, presumably post-war. Bizarrely kind of erotic, but mostly fluffy.

lay all your love on me (fairly longform; it's about 30k words) ASOR alternate ending; canon divergent from the Forbidden Forest confrontation. Tom learns how to love. Featuring some of my favorite tags from any of my fics: "Percy Weasley is Bad at Feelings / 'Bad at feelings' doesn't even BEGIN to describe what's wrong with Tom Riddle". >> Now with sequel, which is about 10k words, and is mostly erotica with character study.

communing with dangerous men (shortform multi-shot) Vaguely associated with lay all your love; a Percy in some sort of post-war established relationship is thrown back in time to the late 1940s, when Tom is working at Borgin and Burke's. An even darker tompercy than I usually write, with lots of codependency, obsessive devotion, and eroticized gore.

1943 (short one-shot) Percy time travels for a third time, back to 1943; this is a gothic writing style study, but also one of my favorites on this list.

sworn companionship (short one-shot) similarly to it's golden hour somewhere, this is a collection of vignettes – variations on the theme "Percy Weasley as Tom Riddle's sworn companion". Features an ASOR bad ending, a Hogwarts AU, a Wool's Orphanage AU, and vignettes associated with lay all your love on me and communing with dangerous men

Other/Miscellaneous: it's golden hour somewhere (collection of short one-shots) This is a collection of three one-shots featuring tompercy interacting in the sun, following the theme, "in another world, we could've been so happy". Features a professor AU, a coffee shop AU, and a bonus/missing scene canon compliant to ASOR.

it ain't love (if it don't hurt) (extremely short one-shot) unclear what universe this takes place in; basically erotica, but lacking genitalia. The intimacy of torture.

little rabbit (short pwp one-shot) An omegaverse porn w/o plot, featuring a wolf!Tom and a bunny!Percy. No heat/rut/mating cycles, if you're not into that sort of thing, but there are still cnc elements; Tom chases Percy down in the woods.

pomegranate hearts (mid-length; series of one-shots) Featuring Percy as Hades, king of the dead and the underworld, Tom as Persephone, young god of spring all growing, sprouting things, and a tangible power dynamic so skewed in Percy's favor that their relationship comes out looking something like one of equals. Also, has a wider cast of characters than my usual fics, including Abraxas, Severus, and a more fanon-flavored Harry Potter than an ASOR flavored one.

From My Ideas Folder (Unwritten):

a civilian and a mercenary AU: Percy is trying to get a coffee when the shop is suddenly being held up. He's fully ready to go along with the hostage situation, just wanting to get his coffee and then go to work, but Tom shows up out of the blue and is having absolutely none of it.

Alternative relationship reveal: 5 times someone found out about Percy and Tom, and 1 time Percy actually told them. Featuring, probably, Tonks, Severus, and various Weasleys.

Time Travel AU(s): Percy time travels to the early 1940s and beats the shit out of someone for calling Tom a mudblood.

Time Traveler's Wife-esque AU where the sworn companionship ritual between Percy and Voldemort goes wrong or gets interrupted; a Percy who's soul is fundamentally attached to Tom's gets flung through time, appearing to young Tom at various points in his life (either involving scenes at Wool's Orphanage, Hogwarts, while Tom is working at Borgin and Burke's, while he is traveling the world, etc... OR Percy is transported to Tom immediately after he makes each horcrux, for a total of 7 times).

AU where Percy throws himself back in time a 3rd time to the 1930s... and it severely fucks up, leaving him in the body of 5 year old without the full mind, maturity, or memories of his adult self, with only snippets of nightmares and general motivations to guide him. He grows up alongside Tom at Wool's Orphanage, trying to protect him and take care of him, and they share an extremely intimate co-dependent relationship as kids that starts to rupture when they receive their Hogwarts letters. A snippet of this AU can be found in sworn companionship, and it's tentatively named guardian angel

communing with dangerous men sequel tentatively named step two: getting a pet dog potentially coming soon... 👀

ASOR Canon Divergence: Alternate ending where Tom wins the war, but Percy dies and comes back as a ghost (but Wrong; possibly soul-related complications, something sworn companionship related???). Percy has some form of amnesia, and either follows Tom around like a lost dog or haunts their flat, which Tom refuses to move out of for some reason.

Alternate ending where post-war Percy is told that all physical forms of Voldemort have been successfully destroyed, but a remnant remains harmlessly attached to his soul, mostly powerless, destined to die once he does. This results in a benevolent possession, Venom-esque dynamic where Tom is a snarky asshole living in Percy's head and occasionally taking over his body, and Percy just has to deal with that now.

Lay all your love adjacent t4t AU, with a transmasc!Tom who transitioned in childhood + promptly obliviated everyone into believing he was always male, and a very repressed transfem!Percy that Tom is slowly manipulating and coercing into being more feminine. I myself am genderqueer, but I find that I rarely write trans characters, so this would ultimately be an interrogation of that habit, a joyful study of transgender identity, and a massive fuck you to JK Rowling. Tentatively named portrait of a female

Other/Miscellaneous: Selkie!Percy AU tentatively named Salinity. Percy saves a young, orphanage-era Tom, they interact throughout the years, and Tom eventually returns to steal Percy's coat.

Animal hybrid AU with a bunny!Percy living in a cottage doing wizard stuff, and a wolf!Tom who breaks and enters in order to steal a magical artifact (I'm thinking a horcrux that Percy found by complete accident). And then he accidentally gets dog adopted. And then Percy has to contend with the fact that his new wolf familiar is actually a particularly attractive dark wizard. This one would be really funny honestly, it just seems kinda long. Also, Percy has massive glasses and velvety ears, by necessity of the AU.

Percy is a wizard who traveled a long ways to learn arcane magics from the immortal sage he heard is living in this mountaintop cave. Tom is a dragon that lives in a mountaintop cave, and who is not against adding this plucky young wizard to his hoard.

Short one-shot; Tom is a professional duelist, and Percy is very impressed.

Some sort of mixed-generation AU where Tom and Percy have been together since Hogwarts; after graduation they move in together, and Percy provides for the two of them with his Prewett heirship and ministry job. Tom is promiscuous and disloyal, Percy is devoted and willfully ignorant of Tom's various affairs – when he eventually confronts Tom, Tom casually leaves him for one of the many purebloods he's been courting, leaving Percy searching for a way to win him back. Vaguely inspired by the novel Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki.

Kink community AU where Tom is an event host in the local community and Percy has stumbled upon the scene by complete accident at age 18-19. Drawn to Percy's naivete and vulnerability, Tom takes care to portray himself as being trustworthy (as he's something of a community leader), and takes Percy under his wing in order to take advantage of him.

Trafficlight SMP/death games AU with Tom as an extremely prolific killer on his red life, and Percy on his green life but nonetheless absolutely dedicated to serving Tom. Featuring red life bloodlust, irrational loyalty to what should've been a temporary alliance, betrayal, and reluctant affection/devotion. Tentatively named I bet on losing dogs.

Percy Weasley is the Dark Lord's favorite Death Eater. Could be ASOR bad ending/Voldemort wins AU, could be a Percy legitimately chooses to join Voldemort AU

[honeybee-bard]

Snippet Sunday

Thought I'd post a little something from the eventual sequel to my Falling Star fic, it's from Astarion's POV. Technically some spoilers for both fics, although it's nothing readers couldn't probably predict.

The last tenday and some change has been perhaps the most overwhelming period of time of your entire unlife. Between the fall of the Absolute and the time spent in Waterdeep and now maybe even finding a cure…you should be happy. Thrilled, even. Instead, you just feel tired. You want nothing more than to retreat to the darkest corner you can find and hide from everything and everyone until the world around you slows. But you don’t hide anymore. Not from her. Wynlana has inexplicably been by your side since the day the nautiloid dropped you on that beach, your unwavering supporter through it all. Even today, when you’re crying like an infant over a stupid book - it’s just a book, there’s no promise of an effective cure - she stays beside you, knowing exactly when to hold you and hum soothing songs to you. Like a child, you admonish yourself. Pathetic, really. What would Cazador have done? Surely seeking comfort such as this could never have gone unpunished. What if- “Star?” Her voice rips you from your spiraling thoughts, soft and soothing as ever, like a healing balm caringly applied to a wound. Pulling you back out of the darkness clouding your mind, chasing it away with her sunlight.

As soon as this is posted I swear I'll put together a proper list of mutuals to tag for these things instead of frantically scrambling to remember people's URLs lmao

No-pressure tags: @pinkberrytea @bardic-inspo @nyx-knox

[voxofthevoid]

Vox which of your fics do you think works as best copium because 261 was just. Ugh. That's terrible writing. Gege's bias is showing again...

*pats* I understand the pain. 261 has made me immeasurably sad for Gojou, even more than 236. Actually, it makes 236 seem kind in comparison.

As for which of my fics would work as copium...

little lamb to the slaughter is a pre-Goodwill Event fic that's sex with feelings, where both get more intense as the story progresses. Feel-good porn and fluff overall.

you'll whisper, serpent tongue and its spiritual sequel the way it follows you home are a canon-divergent apocalyptic AU that ends pretty ambiguously and its time travel sequel where everything is kind and porny.

the history book on the shelf is a tiny post-canon oneshot featuring a Yuuji who survives the fight against Sukuna taking care of a reincarnated child version of Gojou.

These are all complete. Among my WIPs (all completed but being posted slowly to Ao3), every version of the story is a canon rewrite that is technically much kinder on Gojou and everyone else, except it's also full-on Stockholm syndrome horror hell for Yuuji, so YMMB. The only post-236 AU I have is everything burned, as promised, but that's a time travel tragedy, so probably the opposite of what you want.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review Double Feature: Smile (2022) and Smile 2 (2024)

Another day, another double feature, this time of a movie that came out a couple of years ago but which I'm just now getting around to seeing and its newly-released sequel. How were they? Read on...

Smile (2022)

Rated R for strong violent content and grisly images, and language

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/10/review-double-feature-smile-2022-and.html>

Score: 3 out of 5

Smile is a good movie, but one that I feel like I should've liked a lot more given how much it had been hyped up. It felt bloated in a lot of ways, and while it tried to tell a story about a woman who's never gotten over the childhood trauma caused by her terrible mother, it never gave that story the attention it needed, to the point that its focus in the third act felt almost like it came out of nowhere. That said, it's also a clear-cut example of how rock-solid technical craftsmanship can salvage a movie from an otherwise bad script. It's dripping in atmosphere and mood, it's filled with unsettling imagery and scary moments, it manages to create a feeling that one is slowly going insane, and the cast is excellent, particularly Sosie Bacon as its haunted heroine. It's a movie that other people seem to have liked a lot more than I did, but even with its problems, it was still enjoyable, a film that, even if it never quite manages to capture the depth of the "elevated horror" films it's clearly imitating, still manages to be a scary ride that nails their aesthetics, tone, and frights.

The film starts with Rose Cotter, a therapist at a psychiatric hospital, watching a patient named Laura Weaver freak out in front of her, talking about being stalked by a malevolent entity, before slitting her own throat. The scariest part: after the freakout, Laura suddenly developed a gigantic smile on her face that she held until the moment she died. What's more, Laura, a promising graduate student, had no history of mental health problems until about a week ago when she watched her professor kill himself right in front of her. And now, Rose is suddenly seeing the same entity that Laura described. Doing some digging with her detective ex-boyfriend Joel, Rose finds that Laura was just the latest in a chain of mysterious suicides that, as she soon realizes, are the result of a curse, one that is now coming for her.

Notice how nowhere in that plot description did I mention Rose's mother. The opening scene is a flashback to Rose as a young girl watching her mother, who had been an abusive, mentally ill drug addict, dying of an overdose, and the third act especially tries to bring Rose's relationship with her mother to the forefront of the story. And yet, from my perspective it felt far more minor than the film seemed to think it was. There's a message board I frequent where we have a running joke about a cliché that we've seen come up in a lot of modern horror movies: "TROWmah", the cause of all the protagonists' problems turning out to be trauma buried in their backstories, usually related to their families. There have been a lot of horror movies in the last ten years like The Babadook and Hereditary that have done this kind of drama well, but there are also many lesser films that have fumbled such, and this is one of the latter, feeling like it shoehorned in a traumatic backstory for Rose simply because that's what modern supernatural horror movies do. For much of the film, Rose's mother barely figures into the events. We're told by Laura that the entity stalking her can take the form of anyone, including people who have died, but only towards the end does it take the form of Rose's mother. The final confrontation taking place at Rose's dilapidated childhood home, her metaphorically confronting all of her bottled-up feelings about her mother, was visually exciting but felt unearned as a result.

The worst part is that there was a far better movie sitting right there under the surface, one that could've used the entity as a metaphor for a completely different problem in Rose's life that the first two acts do, in fact, very much establish. We're shown throughout the film that Rose is a workaholic, clocking in 70-hour weeks at the hospital, being nagged by her sister Holly because she's willing to miss her nephew's birthday to work weekends, and slowly driving away her fiancé Trevor and her family. Instead of childhood family trauma, this movie would've worked a lot better if the entity/curse had been a metaphor for Rose's adult trauma, specifically that of an overworked white-collar professional who has sacrificed everything for a career that doesn't love her back, subjecting her to the sight of one of her patients committing suicide right in front of her (which caused the curse to target her in the first place). Even the film's title would've lent itself to such a story, about somebody who has to show up for work every day and put on a happy face for the people whose mental health problems she's trying to heal even though she herself is crumbling inside, the sad kind of phony smile juxtaposed with the scary ones she encounters throughout the film. It's a story that anyone who feels worn down by their job could've related to, especially health care workers whose job description involves occasionally watching people die and having no way to save them (which, in 2022, would've been especially timely), and more importantly, it would've fit what this movie established about Rose a lot better than the story it did tell. When the time came for Rose to exorcise her demons both personal and literal, it shouldn't have been about learning to put her mother behind her even though the film was barely about her mother before then, it should've been about finding some work/life balance. I wonder if there were some major rewrites on this movie, or if it was a consequence of writer/director Parker Finn trying to stretch his 11-minute short film Laura Hasn't Slept out to feature length, because its attempts at exploring Rose's personal problems felt incoherent.

Fortunately, unlike Night Swim, another recent horror movie adapted from a short film, this manages to still be an effective horror movie in spite of itself thanks to Finn proving to be a better director than he is a writer. It's mostly supernatural horror boilerplate, but it's done well, with a mix of tried-and-true jump scares and deeper, more unsettling chills as Rose and the viewer are both thrust into scenarios where something is just wrong and we can't trust anything we see. While its attempts to tie Rose's problems to her childhood trauma fell flat, it did otherwise succeed in putting me in the headspace of somebody who's slowly going mad with nobody to help her, as with the exception of Joel, nearly everybody in her life abandons her in her darkest hour. As a metaphor for mental illness, it was chilling, and Sosie Bacon pulls off an incredible performance as Rose here, one that I can see taking her places in the future as more than just "Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick's daughter." Kyle Gallner, meanwhile, makes for a likable male lead as Joel, the only person who seems to believe Rose even despite their history together as he, in his capacity as a detective, uncovers the truth about what is happening to her. Finally, Rob Morgan only appears in a single scene scene as the one person who managed to beat the curse, at considerable cost to not only his psyche but also his physical circumstances, but his performance, clearly terrified of the entity and everything it represents, was enough on its own to considerably up the stakes for Rose in her journey.

And as for scares, this movie's got 'em. Again, there's not a lot here that's new, but this movie plays the hits well, not just with the obvious jump scares but also with the setup for them. We get moments where we just know that something is watching Rose from just off camera and are eagerly waiting for her to turn around and see it, a scene where Rose is with her therapist (more or less remade from the original short film) that establishes that she's not safe even with people she thinks she can trust, and plenty of other scenes that lend to the film's oppressive atmosphere, in which we feel that we're starting to lose our minds as much as Rose is. Towards the end, when the scares shift to Rose facing the entity head-on, it is represented as a genuinely chilling monster brought to life by some grotesque creature effects. The entity is a hell of a monster, used only sparingly but looking downright horrifying when it does show up. Between the scares, the perpetually gray New Jersey setting, and Rose's slide into what looks like madness, this movie carries a bleak, nihilistic tone all the way to the finish line, and refused to pull its punches.

The Bottom Line

Even with its derivative nature and bad script, Smile demonstrates how a horror movie can succeed purely on the strength of its direction, which manages to make the most of what it's given and deliver an effective little chiller.

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And now, for the sequel...

Smile 2 (2024)

Rated R for strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use

Score: 5 out of 5

Smile 2 is the movie that the first Smile should've been. The scares are bigger, badder, and more effective, the central story is better written and more focused even as it dives much deeper into the idea that we can't trust what we're seeing on screen, the direction is far more stylish, kinetic, and exciting, and it's all anchored by what ought to be a career-making performance by Naomi Scott. The funny thing is, not only was this written and directed by the same guy who did the first movie, Parker Finn, but on the surface the two films hit most of the same story beats, and yet this sequel pulls them off far more effectively. It feels like Finn went back and took a close look at the first movie to see what worked and what didn't, and made a sequel that fixed all of its biggest problems while still keeping everything enjoyable about it, its more glamorous protagonist and setting doing nothing to detract from how raw it felt and in some ways making it feel even more intense. Even though, just from the premise and how the first movie played out, I was able to figure out exactly how this one was gonna end well in advance, that simply had me anticipating something grand rather than feeling like I'd spoiled the movie for myself. It's everything a great horror sequel should be, and a film that will probably make my list of the best films of 2024.

(Also, spoilers for the first Smile. You have been warned.)

The film starts right where its predecessor left off, to the point of opening with a "six days later" tag without any context, as if to say "hey, you've seen the first one, we don't need to tell you what's going on here." Joel, who at the end of the first movie became the new bearer of the curse after a possessed Rose killed herself in front of him, decides to kill two birds with one stone: not only pass on the curse, but pass it on to a genuine scumbag in the form of a murderous drug dealer by killing one of his fellow crooks right in front of him. The whole thing goes horribly wrong and ends with both Joel and the criminal dead, but he did manage to pass on the curse to one Lewis Fregoli, a guy who was at the dealer's place at the time to score some drugs. Lewis is himself a dealer -- and more specifically, the dealer for Skye Riley, a Grammy-winning pop superstar with a long history of substance abuse issues, including a pill addiction that she developed after being badly injured in a car accident that killed her actor boyfriend Paul Hudson and left her with scars and chronic pain ever since. A week later, when Skye goes to Lewis to score some Vicodin, a deranged Lewis kills herself right in front of her and makes her the entity's new target.

Unlike the first film, where the source of Rose's trauma felt like something that was tacked on to the point of becoming an unwelcome distraction, this one always knows exactly what Skye's problems are: addiction and the perils of stardom. Skye's life is miserable behind the scenes, in many ways because she's a rich and famous celebrity. She has a drug problem, she has body image issues, she has to deal with stalkers, her schedule is micromanaged by her momager Elizabeth, her relationship with her fellow celebrity Paul is shown to have been a mutually destructive one before he died, she has to watch her every move lest she face the wrath of a ravenous tabloid press, and the entity preys on all of this. If this movie has an overarching message, it's that fame and fortune are not worth it (with a side of "drugs are bad, m'kay?"), with the entity's torment of Skye framed from start to finish as a classic celebrity meltdown straight out of TMZ or Perez Hilton. She snaps at her mother and her assistants as she suspects the entity lurking everywhere around her, fan meet-and-greets and charity events turn into living nightmares as she veers wildly off-script, her dressing room is trashed, and in the third act, she gets sent to spend a night in a rehab center before her big concert. While Skye's fashions may have been inspired by Lady Gaga, her behavior will be unsettlingly familiar to anybody who remembers the 2000s and how celebrities like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton were covered.

And they found an outstanding talent to convey this meltdown in the form of Naomi Scott. At every step of Skye's journey, I fully bought into Scott as a pop diva on the edge of a complete breakdown, to the point that the film barely even needed to show any supernatural occurrences in order to convey that she was not well. Much like last time, this movie is at its best when it's putting us in the shoes of somebody who feels like she's going insane, and just like Sosie Bacon, it wouldn't have worked without Scott. She had to do a lot of heavy lifting here in terms of acting and emotion, and she made it look easy. What's more, I didn't just buy Scott as a troubled heroine, I bought her as a pop star. Lots of movies about pop music feel as though they were made by people who are clueless about the genre, often settling into tired tropes while the music they have their main characters perform is often insipid garbage that would flop like Katy Perry or Justin Timberlake's last couple of albums if they tried to release it in real life. Here, however, I came away with the impression that, in another life, Scott (who has a background as a singer, including in the Disney Channel movie Lemonade Mouth and in the live-action version of Aladdin) could've become a pop star instead of an actress. There are multiple scenes dedicated just to Skye's music, all of it performed by Scott herself, and it is legitimately good, as are the performances she puts on at multiple points in the film, where she feels like she has the kind of star power that pop careers are made of. This is the kind of larger-than-life performance that makes stars out of actors, and while it's long been a cliché to say that horror never gets recognition from "professional" critics or award shows, I hope to the heavens that this isn't the case here, and that Scott gets some juicy roles after this.

The fact that the film's story was so on point in what it was satirizing and commenting on is all the more remarkable given how much more it leans into the idea that we can't trust what we're seeing on screen. Building on the first film having a protagonist who increasingly could not trust her own senses as the entity caused her to hallucinate, it's strongly hinted that many scenes in this movie, even outside of its more overt horror sequences, are not happening precisely as Skye and the viewers are perceiving them. I don't want to give much more away than that, but I can say that, once it became clear(ish) what was actually happening and what the entity was doing to Skye, I had to reevaluate large chunks of the wild events that took place before then. Amidst all the creeping dread, effective jump scares, shockingly potent gore effects, and the possibility that anybody around Skye might be the entity, this was the part of the film that freaked me out the most. Behind the camera, Parker Finn also shot the hell out of this, taking full advantage of the bigger budget to go wild with far more kinetic and stylish camera work. This was a damn fine-looking movie to watch, making use of long one-shot takes, sweeping shots, horror sequences that felt like the creepiest music videos this side of late-night '90s MTV (especially one bit in Skye's apartment that calls back to a scene of a dance rehearsal earlier in the film), and simply a level of production polish that indicates that everybody involved knew what they were doing and acted accordingly. It all builds to a hell of a climax that I saw coming the moment I learned this movie's premise, but which felt like exactly how it needed to go -- and which set up one hell of a Smile 3.

The Bottom Line

Smile 2 is a dream sequel, a movie that fixes every problem I had with its predecessor, keeps what worked about it, and ultimately winds up as one of the best movies of the year. Not much more to say than that. If you're even remotely in the mood for something scary this Halloween (or, frankly, at any other time of year), this should be near the top of your list of movies to watch.