#<- new tag for my bookbinding stuff

[lemonadebombery]

Kunikida's Ideal Notebook

the pages are dotted bc i like dotted notebooks marginally better than lined notebooks bc i can organize and put stuff in little boxes and stuff

has 40 leaves total which is enough for my personal needs, i can always make another one when i need to

[motleyfam]

Okay so in light of the current Ao3 donation drive, I’m seeing posts going around about how awesome it is that Ao3 is like, the one site left that doesn’t bombard you with ads and constantly try to sell you stuff. And I’m on board, okay? I’m 100% with you — I’ll defend and support that site till the day I die. It’s awesome.

However, I find this hilarious because the amount of things I’ve purchased and/or tried for the first time PURELY BECAUSE of how they were referenced (or more accurately, intricately and lovingly described) in fanfiction is… embarrassingly extensive 😅

(if you’ve been inspired to purchase/try more than one of these things, then pick whichever one has stuck with you the most)

[discoveredreality]

intro post <3

don't mind me editing this like every single day lol

my dm's and askbox is always open if u want to talk <3

anons are welcome too <3

also if u want to make new friends i am right here pls say hi im fucking lonely😭

anyways

BELOVED MOOTS <33333 (everyone is tagging them and this is fun)

this in no particular order just whoever pops up on my dash or smth idk. not every moots just the ones i actually know lol. ok so

@im-ur-sleep-paralysis-demon THEY'RE AMAZING LOVE THEM SM IF U DON'T FUCK OFF BECAUSE OMG KJHLGJKFJHLKYFJHKJGL

@ma-lan13 HELP MY BESTIE IRL GOT TUMBLR OMG OMG. AND SHES ACTUALLY USING IT WTF?????? ANYWAYS SHES THE BEST <333

@bloophasarrived SHE'S THE SWEETEST AND SO WONDERFUL. HER PERSONALITY SPARKLES AND OMG SHE'S SO FUN AHHH

@marylily-my-beloved I LOVE HERRR WE HAVE THE BEST CONVERSATIONS. SO NICE AND EASY TO TALK TO. AND WHY DOES SHE KNOW ME SO WELL <3333

@im-just-here4853 my vent buddy omg we just vent to each other i love her so much idk what i would do without her <33

@im-on-crack-send-help TWINNING IN LITERALLY EVERYTHING. SAME MUSIC TASTE. SAME TASTE IN FOOD. IN DRINKS. IN THE WAY WE THINK. WTF. ANYWAYS SHE'S MY POOKIE I LOVE HER <333

@the-gay-skeleton-in-ur-closet THEY'RE THE BEST OMGGGGG and they're nice and cool and shit <333333 i'm quoting myself it's fine AND LIKE SO NICE AND GOOFY AND EVERYTHING OMG

@cubemagnet somene i met on a random post and now we occasionally team up to correct grammar lol 🤓🤓🤓 anyways she's amazing :D and everything she says is so iconic like isjflsrijglruhglsuglijrsg

@book-girl4eva SHE'S AMAZINGGGGG. IT'S SO EASY TO GOOF AROUND W HER I LOVE IT. SHE ALWAYS SLAYS SO HARD. EVERYTHING ABOUT HER SLAYS. idk if you'll see this but this is for u pookie <3

@mil-pinterest-sss-here-i-am ??? questioning why we're moots. but he's literally so nice. literally will be my therapist and help me w maths because that shit is impossible 😭

@dandelionflowery omg literally so kind and everything all the time. so fun fun reading their fics and doing shit together omg

@sweetwarmcookies16 OMG RIJGDJFGIJFGIF THE BEST I LOVE PLAYING GAMES TOGETHER AND TALKING AND EVERYTHING. ALSO AN AMAZING WRITER

idk brain isnt braining ill add ppl as i go along

moodboards made by my lovely lovely moots <3

so far i only have one here cause i forgot to link the previous ones whoops 😭😭😭

about me

i'm ari. she/her. nicknames welcome. go wild. dude/bro/girl/literally anything is also fine. i use 'lol' and '<3' too much. minor. literally the biggest procrastinator and so disorganised i dare u to find someone worse than me. i'm indian but i live in australia. bengali/north indian idk. band kid :D my pinterest is here. PLEASE DM ME IF U WANT TO. I NEED FRIENDS. IM AWKWARD AND BAD AT MAKING CONVERSATION BUT STILL PLS 😭😭😭

personality/star sign or whatever

according to the mbti test here i am an istp-t. i am also a cancer. i found out my sun, moon and rising signs and the marauders version and i wrote it down and lost it so then i redid it and i lost it again so i can't bother at this point someone help me :(

time zone

Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) i think?? SUCK ON THAT AMERICANS AND WHOEVER ELSE EHHEHEHHEHE ;LSDJFSFJIJFDJF;LJ

my music taste

i love taylor swift, conan gray, olivia rodrigo, sabrina carpenter and honestly a lot of other stuff lol. also love bollywood music.

favourite books and authors

i love reading and i'm usually a really fast reader lol. i love harry potter (fuck jkr tho), kotlc, chetan bhagat books, the inheritance games, agggtm, literally all of karen m. mcmanus's books, the divergent series, pjo and hoo, lorien legacies, the selection, powerless, soc, girl in pieces, dictionary of lost words and bookbinder of jericho, all the books by amish, and a bunch of other books.

dni

idk the usual?? if u think ppl arent valid or you're literally an asshole. honestly you all can go get stuffed. idgaf

tag games and shit

yes you can absolutely tag me. i love tag games and chain asks. sometimes i may not get to doing it but i usually will and it makes me so happy when i'm tagged lol

tags

i don't post that much stuff so i don't really have mulitple tags for my posts. anything or any shitposting or thoughts will be tagged #ari's shit. for asks it's #ari gets an ask?

fandoms!

i'm literally obsessed with drarry but i'm mostly part of the marauders fandom. i'm starting to make my way through all of the marauders fics. i love love love hermitcraft. i'm an ethogirl literally who doesn't love etho?? also really into trafficblr. i literally love six of crows so much like omg. desperately trying to get through the magnus archives im only 8 years late haha i also love kotlc sm. (team foster-keefe forever!) i'm low-key in love with keefe sencen cause omg. aaaand also a bunch of other shit but those are the main ones idk bro

i'm bored and this is too long already might as well add more so here are a bunch of userboxes :D

and that's all not because i have self control but because there is a limit to images per post 😭😭😭 i literally had to delete some of my aesthetic images for this soooo

all the above photos are not mine, i got them off of pintrest.

my profile pic is obviously from the makowka picrew here

the beautiful dividers are linked here. these are by @saradika-graphics she is a literal star these dividers are so good

IK THIS IS WAY TOO FUCKING LONG AND I KEEP ON ADDING SHIT MORE SHIT SO IF U ACTUALLY LIKE READ TO THE BOTTOM THIS HERE IS FOR U LMFAO ILYSM <333333

[mellowquint]

Fanbinding Masters of Mayhem - a Ninjago and Lego Monkie kid crossover!!!

FINALLY after weeks of putting the project on the shelf i finally have the (motivation) free time to complete this amazing bookbind!!! Shoutout to my best friend who came to me and ask if i could bind it. So what better birthday gift than to bind her current favourite crossover story? At the time of this post i have not given the gift to her yet so fingers crossed that she likes this 🤞😖

Thank you FictionForLife_NZ for creating this absolute hilarious masterpiece!! I have been wanting to read an LMK crossover fic for the longest time and low and behold, the ao3 algorithm has answered my prayers lol. Me and best friend really love the character interaction that the Ninja’s have with the LMK crew 😂. Also the shipping!! Best friend absolutely LOVES dragonfruit but was sad that they didn’t have as much of a fandom dedication as opposed to spicynoodles. So imagine her suprised (and scream) that dragonfruit is the main pairing in the story and their many iconic moments together!! Also the climax truly had me at the edge of my seat!! And that ending?? Gosh couldn’t have asked it better myself Ninjago writers really should take notes ✍️!!! Anyways enough rambling here’s the fic if you would like to give a read, absolute 10/10

Flip through

Some close ups

also yes excuse me and my terrible phone and room lighting it did not do this book justice.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find any fanart that was related/tagged so there was no illustrations for the book. However thats when i had the idea of making the chapter title in the same font as the Ninjago font! To make it seem like every new chapter is an episode!

Also unfortunately couldn’t tag the author since i can’t find their tumblr. If any of you know if said author does have tumblr please let me know!

If you’re all curious on how i make this, i recommend going to the first bookbinding project that i did, its all the same process except with some new improvements that im gonna talk about under the cut

I definitely learned a lot from my mistakes from the last time that i did this, and of course gain new mistakes as well 🥲.

The edges aren’t trimmed

The cover isn’t aligned

The printing for the covers are garbage

Book would not lay flat, instead forever stuck at a weird 120 degree angle

Overall a lot of stuff

This was a given by the fact that i have no experience and was impatient. But since this is a gift for Best Friend ofc this has to actually look good, so here are the improvements that i made

Signature printing— i will admit it took some time and effort but after the old cannon printer finally died permanently jammed, managed to convince parents to buy a more advanced and better printer that can now do double sided printing!! No more wasted signatures from here on out 😮‍💨

Cover printing — not wanting a repeat of the last time that i did it i went to my local Officeworks to get it printed by them. Here i discovered the beauty that is known as ✨Poster Prints✨. Now all of my yellow lines and elements actually do show an pop against the darker background!! Unfortunately this does have a drawback because the prints are sensitive to any type of scratching. Not the scratch and all the colors come off way, more like the scratch it and lines will show up kind of way as you can really see in the front cover :') . Will work on improving this is future projects.

Trimming the edges — originally in book one i trimmed the edges using your typical box cutter and cut it myself. Bad BAD idea i was doomed at that moment. So imagine my surprise the Officeworks ALSO do CUTTING service!!! My jaw dropped and i immediately went back the next day with my text block and asked them if they could trim all edges. After some inspection they put it through the guillotine and all of my edges are perfectly trimmed. Saved me all the time, money, and storage.

Laying book flat — this was definitely the biggest pet peeve that I have with my first book. The way i do it now is i now put a one cm gap between the front cover, side cover and back cover. And also using the right paper (cardstock) to connect the text block with the covers. Now the book can actually fully open!!!

Cover alignment — I printed out the front and back in regular paper and use that as a template on where i wanna fold the prints to find the cover. Worked like a charm

once again shoutout to best friend for giving me the brilliant idea when making the covers!! had it not been for her to point out about clause's book of spells i would have never made the coolest cover page that I've made in my entire binding experience!! all in all im pretty dang proud of myself for being able to improve on my bookbinding skill.

[johnsbleu]

Hold My Hand: John Wick x Reader Chapter 169

Author’s Note: This chapter might be a little heavy for some people, so I’m putting a warning out there. This chapter deals with abuse, specifically child abuse, verbal abuse, and mental abuse. While there are no actual scenes of this happening, but there are conversations around it. So please be advised and just know that if this could potentially trigger you, it would be best if you don’t read. I only want the best for you all. I won’t be offended if you need to sit this one out 💖

warnings: slight nsfw moments, mentions of child abuse hmh masterlist

Today is errand day for you, so you dropped Ronan off with your mom since she was asking to take her--her new friends were bringing their grandkids to the park and she insisted on bringing Ronan. You love when Ronan tags along for errand days but you didn’t want your mom to be the only without her grandchild, so you dropped her off.

Since you got everything done, you were running ahead of schedule which meant you had time to stop into Jimmy’s shop. Of course you love stopping in every now and then to see Jimmy--you’ve even brought him lunch--but right now there’s a dark haired, brown eyed man that is probably sitting down in the office that you desperately want to see. Hopefully he wants to see you just as bad.

“Hey, Logan,” you smile as you walk into Jimmy’s workshop, and he jogs over to hug you. “How are things?”

Logan shrugs, “Great at work.”

“Yeah…” you nod sympathetically, “I heard you’re doing really well here.”

“I really like it. Mr. Hendricks is teaching me a lot.”

Jimmy scoffs as he walks up beside you with John next to him, “Come on, man. Mr. Hendricks is my father.”

You roll your eyes and laugh as you look at John, giving him a small wave. He wraps his arm around you and pulls you closer to hug you. You haven’t seen him since this morning since he came to the shop to help Jimmy with some things.

“I better get back to work,” Logan says, and you smile at him before he turns and walks back over to what looks like a desk he’s working on with another guy.

“How’s he doing here?”

Jimmy nods, “Great. He’s a great kid. He’s picking up everything, but I think he’s having trouble at home.”

“Yeah,” John nods, looking down at you, “He came over the other day when you were gone. I was home, just working in the yard. He’s been hanging around more often--not that we mind. We told him we’re cool with it, but…”

You bite your cheek as you look over at Logan.

It’s no secret that Logan doesn’t have the best home life. When the accident happened and you spoke with his parents, they were so mean to him. Greg, his dad, was clearly an asshole, and neither you nor John liked the way he talked to Logan. He got a job working with Jimmy and has just absolutely excelled at everything there. Jimmy speaks so highly of him and his ability to pick things up quickly, along with his willingness to learn.

Ever since the accident, Logan has been working at the shop with Jimmy, but he still stops by your place. He’ll hang out with John and learn stuff about bookbinding, he’ll tend to the yard with him, he’ll even play with Ronan. You came home one day and he was in the pool with her swimming while John was making steaks on the grill.

You trust him. He’s a great kid! There was even a time when something came up and you called him last minute to babysit Ronan. You were only gone for three hours, but he was more than happy to come watch her, and she loves him. She always runs to him whenever she sees him. He’s become a part of your lives now and you’re all incredibly protective of him.

“He always is very adamant about putting his bike in the garage,” Jimmy says, waving for you to walk with him to his office, “I think he’s telling his parents he’s going for a bike ride, but he’s actually coming over to our place. He showed up the other day and Tess said he was just so withdrawn.”

“John and I have noticed the bike thing too,” you say, sitting down in John’s lap when he sits in the chair, “He brought it into the backyard one day.”

John rubs your side, “Maybe we should just keep an eye on him?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy sighs, looking out at Logan, “He’s a great kid. I know that Greg is a piece of shit, so…let’s definitely keep an eye on him.”

You all sit in silence for a few moments before John bounces you on his knee to get you to look at him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I can’t just stop by and see my brother-in-law.”

Jimmy laughs, “You did not come here to see me.”

“I have before!”

“Okay, that’s true.” he laughs, nodding his head before he looks at John, “She even brought me lunch.”

You smile proudly as you look at John, “Yes, I did!”

“You never bring me lunch,” John says, and you scrunch your face up as he laughs. “Okay, yeah, you do.”

“I was just driving by after running some errands and saw your car out front and wanted to stop by.”

John laughs, “I’m about to leave in an hour or so.”

“Oh, okay, wow…” you get off his lap and roll your eyes playfully, “I guess next time I won’t come visit you.”

“Stop,” he laughs, pulling you back to him, “You can come visit me anytime.”

Jimmy laughs, “Not me though. Gonna put a sign up with your picture on it that says ‘keep this woman off these premises.’”

“Okay, then I’ll never make that casserole that you like again.” you cross your arms and watch Jimmy widen his eyes as John laughs, “Yeah, two can play that game.”

“Forgive me.” he says, and you all start to laugh.

John reaches up and rubs his thumb over your eyebrow, “Did you get your eyebrows waxed or something? They’re a little red.”

“I did,” you touch your brow, “She put some stuff over it but it’s still really sore.”

“And you got a haircut,” John says, running his fingers through the length of your hair, “You look great, baby.”

You didn’t do anything major to your hair, but you did get about three inches cut off, just the dead stuff. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a small trim, John always notices. He genuinely pays attention to you, it blows your mind.

You scratch your nails against John’s scalp, “I got all my errands done, but now I’m gonna head over to the store and grab some things for tonight. Can you get Ro?”

“Yeah,” he nods, and you lean down to kiss him a few times. When you’re close enough, John whispers, “Thank you for coming to see me. I wanted to see you too.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” you smile at him, then you playfully narrow your eyes at Jimmy and point at him, “Watch yourself.”

Jimmy does the same thing back, “Yeah, you too.”

Looking over at John, you smile as sweet as you can, “I love you, baby.”

“I love you,” he laughs as Jimmy jokingly crosses his arms and shakes his head.

You give them both a wave before you walk back out to the shop. You spot Logan, so you wave at him again when he looks at you. He smiles and waves back, then he goes back to what he’s doing as you head out to your car.

__

Laughter bursts from the backyard as everyone sits around and eats. John made a ton of food, so everyone’s stuffing their faces. Amanda brought over a bunch of desserts too, and you can’t wait to get your hands on those.

“Gotta pee,” you whisper to John, then you hop up and head inside, smiling when you walk past all the kids playing in the grass. You quickly use the bathroom and wash your hands before you turn the corner to head to the backyard, but something catches your eye. You furrow your brow and lean over more to see Logan walking down the driveway. You quickly rush to the door and open it, “Logan, what are you doing out here?”

“Oh, I just…” he takes a few steps back towards the house, “I just wanted to…never mind. You’re all busy.”

You laugh, waving him over, “I mean what are you doing out here? We’re all in the back. Come on, there’s tons of food.”

Logan nods his head and walks up to the house with his head down. He’s recently gotten a haircut so his hair isn’t so floppy and you can actually see his face, and you immediately notice the busted lip he’s sporting.

“Hey,” you put your hand on his shoulder and look at him, “What happened to your lip?”

“Oh,” he chuckles, avoiding your gaze, “Just work. Wasn’t paying attention.”

You watch him closely when he glances at you, “Oh…okay.”

Keeping a close eye on Logan, you follow behind him through the kitchen to the backyard. He grabs a plate and starts to put food on it, and you quickly look away when he looks at you. You smile and reach for Ronan when she toddles over to you, immediately lifting her up and hugging her. Your eyes wander back over to Logan as he sits down at the table where Amanda’s nephew is--he’s staying with them while he looks at a few colleges out here.

“Hey,” John comes up the steps and smiles as he reaches out to touch Ronan’s cheek, “What are you doing?”

“Something is going on with Logan.” you whisper, and John looks at him, “He was out front when I went to the bathroom, and…he has a bloody lip.”

John clenches his jaw and shakes his head, “Greg.”

“What do we do? He said it happened at work but I don’t believe that. Someone once got a splinter and Jimmy freaked out. He’s so protective of them there.” you hold John’s gaze, “If he got it at work, we’d know about it. Jimmy would have mentioned it.”

“Oh, yeah, skateboarding,” Logan says as everyone stares at him, “Fell earlier.”

You and John both look at each other. Logan can’t even keep his lies straight, most likely because he’s scared and nervous. John sighs as he comes up to stand next to you, then he makes eye contact with Jimmy--he knows something is up too.

“What do we do?”

“Get him out of that house as soon as possible,” John says, and you look up at him, “He’ll stay with us.”

You nod, “Okay.”

“We’ll find him a place eventually, but he needs to get out of that house. He can’t stay there anymore.” John shakes his head as he walks away, “I won’t allow it.”

__

You’re sitting around the table with everyone while the kids are still playing in the grass. Ronan will need to go down for a nap soon, but right now she’s having fun with Harper and you definitely don’t want to pull her away kicking and screaming for a nap. She’ll give all her tired cues when she’s ready for a nap. You look over at John as he stares at the table, and he flinches when you reach for his hand. A small spreads on your face, and he squeezes your hand before leaning over to kiss your temple.

Logan, Benji, and Amanda’s nephew, Devin, have decided to go fishing off the dock behind the house, so you’re all sitting here trying to figure out what to do.

“I want him out of that house,” John says, and you all look at him. “Something about this whole thing…it just pisses me off.”

You nod, “Rightfully so, John. I’m pissed too. I want him out of that house too.”

Jimmy shakes his head, “Greg might put up a fight, but my guess is he won’t if you’re there.”

“Oh, I’ll be there,” John says when Jimmy gestures to him.

“He can stay here. We have plenty of room.” you say as they look at you, “I just don’t want him there anymore. I say that we get him out of there tomorrow.”

Tess leans forward, “Talk to him. Get his opinion. I’m sure he wants out of there too, but let him know that he has the option. You don’t want him to feel like he’s being forced.”

“He’ll need a lot of things. We can help with that.” Amanda says, and you smile softly at her.

Aurelio nods, “I can get him a car too.”

Your heart swells as you look at your friends, “Thank you.”

John sighs heavily beside you, so you look at him. He squeezes your hand but keeps his gaze down. Ronan toddles over and reaches up for her daddy, and he smiles as he brings her into his lap. She leans against his chest and pops her thumb into her mouth, then she smiles as she looks over at you.

“Hi, bug.” you lean over and kiss her forehead, “You getting sleepy?”

Ronan nods her head before she leans back to look at John. She tries her best to talk to him about something--he’s absolutely not sure what but he listens intently. He smiles at her and kisses her, then she lays back against his chest, closing her eyes.

The back gate opens as Benji runs through it, rushing over to Aurelio, “Dad, we just caught a huuuuge fish. Devin threw it back though.”

You look up as Devin and Logan came into the backyard, and they stand back and talk. They’ve really hit it off since Devin’s been here. Aurelio stopped into the shop with him the other day to talk to Jimmy about something, and Logan and Devin instantly became friends. Logan seems to be in a bit of a better mood too now that he has a friend.

“It’s getting dark, I better head home.” Logan says, and you sit up a little. “Thanks for letting me come over. The food was great.”

“Hey, you’re welcome at our places any time, Logan,” Tess says, waving at him, “You know Finny loves you.”

You get up and walk with Logan inside, working up the courage to ask if things are okay at home. You know they’re not but you don’t want to cross any lines. John follows behind you and clears his throat when Logan gets to the door.

“Hey, Logan, can we talk to you?”

“Of course,” he turns around and looks at you both.

Taking a deep breath, you look at him and feel John’s hand on your back, “You didn’t get hurt at work.”

“Uh…” he looks down and shakes his head, “No.”

“Was it your dad?” you ask, and Logan nods his head. “How many times has he done this?”

Logan takes a few moments before he looks at you, “He usually just pushes me around, but this was the first time that he…”

“What about your mom?” John asks, and Logan’s eyes fill with tears as he nods.

“She’s…slapped me before.”

You take a deep breath and let it out shakily, “We don’t want you going back there. We want you to come stay with us. We’ll find a place for you. I know you’re 18 now and you’ve just graduated, but we want you to come stay here for a few weeks. We’ll find you an apartment too. Would you want to do this?”

Logan stares at you and John before he nods his head, “Yes. I’ve been looking for a place but it’s just too expensive.”

“Let us worry about that,” John says, and you nod in agreement. “Can you stay somewhere else tonight? You’re welcome here too.”

“I was actually gonna ask if I could stay at Aurelio’s tonight. Devin wanted to play a game. I just…needed to ask my parents.”

You smile at him, “You and Devin seem to get along.”

“Yeah, he’s cool. We like a lot of the same things.” he says, perking up, “He wants to move out here for school.”

Chatter fills the house as everyone comes back inside, and you look over at Aurelio tickling Ronan’s tummy as she laughs. He sets her down and watches as she runs over to grab one of her toys, then she brings it to him. He leans down and listens to her as she talks about it.

“I’m gonna ask my parents if I can stay the night. They’ll probably say yes, they don’t really care what I do.” he says, and you grip John’s hand. “I’ll text you.”

Devin nods his head, “Cool.”

You quickly follow Logan outside, “Hey, we’re serious, by the way.”

“Me too, Mrs. Wick.” he says, smiling at you, “Thanks.”

“Tomorrow.” you say as he nods, “Tomorrow we’ll pack up your things and you’ll come live here.”

Logan nods again, “Sounds good.”

Walking back into the house, everyone looks at you and waits for what you’re going to say. You give them all a small smile, then you walk over and sit down on the couch, exhaling softly.

“Well, we’ll get out of your hair,” Amanda says, scooping up Harper into her arms, “Call us and let us know what he needs.”

“We will,” John nods, then he looks over at you, “I’m going to walk them out.”

You nod your head, “Okay. Bye guys, thanks for coming.”

Tess leans down and hugs you, “Let us know what we can do too. We’re happy to help.”

“Thank you.”

After the door closes, you look over at Ronan and see her curled up on the couch asleep. You smile as you walk over and pick her up, then you take her up to her room to get her changed. She’s still asleep even as you change her into her pajamas, and you laugh quietly when she only moves around a little after you’ve put her in her crib.

“Is she asleep?” John whispers as he comes in, then he leans down and kisses her forehead, “Damn, I wanted to snuggle her before she fell asleep.”

“She’ll be right there in the morning,” you smile as he looks at you, “You can snuggle her then.”

John nods, “Right.”

The two of you hold hands as you walk down to your room, and you sit on the edge of your bed in silence as John undresses. He stands in front of you in his boxers for a moment before he tilts your chin up so you’ll look at him. Your eyes trail down his body before you stand up and wrap your arms around him, hugging him tight.

“I love you so much,” you whisper as he holds you, “You’re such a good man.”

“This will change things around here a little.” he says, and you nod, “We’ll have someone else living here, but that’s okay, right?”

You lean back and look into his warm brown eyes, “He needs to get out of that house. I can’t sleep knowing he’s there.”

“Yeah, me either,” he smooths your hair back and leans down to kiss you. “This will be good for him.”

“I think so too.”

You wrap your arms around John and close your eyes, listening to the sound of his heart beating. He rests his cheek on top of your head, and you stand in his warm embrace. A comfort that nothing compares to.

__

Logan seemed to be having second thoughts about moving out, so he called and told you that he wanted to wait and see how things were going at home first. He said they had gotten better since he was over the night you talked to him, but you weren’t convinced that they wouldn’t get bad again.

Obviously it’s a scary thing to move out and you’re sure he’s even more scared since his parents pretty much suck. You told him that you and John will support him no matter what, but you both ultimately want him to move in for the time being. He just doesn’t need to be around his parents. John is still hoping that he’ll change his mind and has even had a couple of boxes near the front door for a few days just in case he calls and needs to be moved out as quickly as possible.

It’s scary knowing that he could just be at home when Greg is there, and he could be taking out his anger on him--his mom too. You’re trying not to think about it which is why you’ve been throwing yourself into work all day. You went to the shop and decided to go through some old boxes of books that need to be donated to the library.

Just as you close the box up, you hear the bell above the door. You’re a little surprised that anyone is coming out since it’s storming really bad today. You get up and head out to greet them, but your stomach drops when you see Logan standing there drenched from the rain.

“Logan, oh my god…” you grab John’s sweatshirt that he’s left at work and rush out to warm him up, “Why are you out in the rain?”

“They were yelling at me,” he whispers, his eye red from tears.

You escort him back to the office and gesture for him to sit down, “What happened?”

“They were yelling at me. We were arguing about college. I don’t want to go to school to be a fucking lawyer,” he says, then he looks at you, “Pardon my language.”

You shake your head since it’s the least of your worries right now, but don’t say anything. You just let him talk.

“I said I was leaving, so he…” he shakes his head and looks down, “He was just yelling at me and…calling me names. I went to your house but no one was home, so I came here.”

“I’m so sorry,” you sit next to him, “John is out with Ro.”

Logan uses the sweatshirt to wipe his face dry, then he looks over at you, “I can’t stay there anymore. I know I can’t. I have to leave.”

“I know,” your eyes soften as you look at him, “I want you out of there. Now. I’m gonna call John.”

Logan nods his head as you get up and grab your phone from the desk. You press his name and cradle your phone between your ear and shoulder as you gather your things.

“Hey, peach.”

“Hey, uh, Logan is here.” you say, and he glances up at you. “He needs to move right now. I mean literally right this minute.”

John is quiet for a moment, “Okay. I’m actually on my way home right now. I’ll drop Ro off with Tess. Meet me at the house.”

“Okay,” you hang up the phone and look at Logan, “Let’s go.”

The shop is empty aside from Tony, so you walk over to quickly let him know that you won’t be back and that he can close up the shop whenever he feels like it. With the rain, no one is coming in anyway. You open your umbrella and wait for Logan to get under it, then you rush out to your car to get in.

“I just want you to be one hundred percent sure that you want to move out.”

Logan looks out the window and nods his head before he looks at you, a slight bruising forming around his eye that you couldn’t see earlier since you were on the other side of him.

That’s enough to light a fire inside of you. If you were mad before, you’re fucking livid now.

“Yeah. I’m one hundred percent sure.”

__

John is waiting in the living room when you get into the house. He gets up and walks over, eyeing Logan and sighing when he sees the bruise on his face. He looks over at you, checking to see if you’re okay too. You give him a small nod.

“You’re sure, Logan?”

“Yes, sir,” he nods, shivering a little, from his wet clothes and probably nerves.

John nods, “Let’s go then.”

It’s still storming outside and it only seems to be getting worse as you drive down the street to Logan’s house. You look back at him when you pull up to it, and he wrings his hands together.

“We’re gonna go in with you.” John says, and Logan gets out of the car.

You all rush up to the door and step inside, and when the door opens, all hell breaks loose.

“Logan, that better be you!” Greg yells, stomping his way to the front door. He stops when he sees you and John, “What are you two doing here?”

“Go get your things.” you say softly, and Logan runs up the stairs to his room.

John moves so you’re behind him, “Logan is coming to stay with us.”

“You can’t do that,” Greg laughs. “He’s our child.”

“He’s eighteen. He can go wherever he likes.” you say as you grip the back of John’s shirt to keep him in place, “He’s not going to be staying here with you.”

Greg laughs in disbelief, “Laura, get out here. You won’t believe this.”

Laura walks out drying her hands on a tea towel. She stops when she sees you and John, “What’s going on?”

“They’re trying to take Logan.” Greg says, gesturing to you and John, “Unbelievable.”

“We’re not trying to take him, he’s coming with us. He chose this on his own,” you look at Laura and shake your head, “He’s tired of being treated like shit.”

Laura scoffs, “We do not treat him like that.”

“Really? Where did the black eye come from? How about that busted lip he had?” John asks, staring them down, “Because we all know it didn’t happen from skateboarding. He doesn’t even like skateboarding.”

You look up the stairs to see Logan standing there, and he waves you up. You start towards the staircase but Laura stands in your way. You stare her down until she moves aside. You get into his room and immediately start helping him pack his bags, but you hear Laura coming in.

“You can’t take our son!”

“We’re not taking him,” you say as you turn around to look at Laura. You tap your temple, “You’re not fucking getting it! I’m not taking your son. He’s leaving. He can’t stand to be here anymore.”

Laura shakes her head, “This isn’t even your business.”

“Logan made it my business when he showed up with bloodshot eyes and a blood on his face!” you exclaim as she gazes at you in astonishment, “He made it my business when he told me how shitty you are to him! Laura, he’s your child! As a mother, it is your responsibility to protect and cherish your child; however, you have repeatedly failed to do so. I cannot sit back and allow him to stay in this house.”

John moves past and starts helping you and Logan pack things up. You offer a gentle smile to Logan, placing your hand on his arm while nodding reassuringly, letting him know that everything will be okay.

“I can’t…” Laura talks to herself quietly, “She’s taking him from me. She’s taking him!”

You set aside one bag and grab a few things to put in the bag that John is packing. He looks up at you and gently touches your hand, holding your gaze for a moment before you flinch when Greg yells. John instantly tenses up and turns around to protect you.

“I’ve called the police! They’re on their way.”

“Dad, come on.” Logan finally speaks up, “I’m leaving. I’m going to stay with them, then I’m getting my own place. I can’t stay here. You guys don’t even want me here anyway.”

Laura shakes her head, “That is not true and you know it!”

“Mom, you know you don’t want me here, and I know you only don’t want me to leave because you don’t like her,” he says, gesturing to you, and you look at him, “Mrs. Wick is nice to me. She actually listens to me.”

Laura scoffs and tosses the tea towel to the ground, "Oh please, don't fool yourself into thinking she actually values your input. I'm not naive to her motives; it's obvious why she's so eager for you to move in. It won't be long until she's pregnant. I know she has ulterior motives.”

You stare at her for a moment before you start to laugh since that’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard in your fucking life, “Are you serious? Are you seriously saying I’m going to be inappropriate with him?”

“Mom, she’s like a big sister.” Logan says, and Laura purses her lips and looks away.

“Laura, I have no intentions to do anything with your son, and I’m beyond offended that you think that of me. That is the furthest thing from my mind. What I do have intentions of is taking care of your son because you two are doing a terrible job at that.” you look back at Logan, his face ghost white and frightened, “He’s coming to stay with us.”

There’s a knock at the door, so Greg goes down to answer it. It’s obviously the police, but everyone knows that there isn’t much that can be done. Logan is eighteen and he’s allowed to leave. Plus the police know all about Greg, and you’re sure Jimmy has given them a heads up about what’s been happening.

“You can’t take him!”

You roll your eyes as you turn around and begin helping Logan again. It’s John’s turn to argue with them now.

“Laura, I understand that this must be hard--”

“You don’t know anything!” she yells at John, and you turn to look at her, narrowing your eyes.

She sure as shit is not going to yell at John like that. You gesture for him to help Logan instead, and you go back to arguing with her.

“Why?” you ask her, and she furrows her brow, “Why do you care what happens to him when you don’t even bother to pay attention to him? He’s been begging for attention for years, yet he goes unnoticed.”

“Why do you care?”

You start to laugh, “Because as crazy as this may sound to someone with no soul, I actually care about people. I care about Logan, and I care about what happens to him. As a mother, I can’t stand here and watch you treat him like that.”

Laura says something not very nice about you under her breath that makes John stand up straight and absolutely glare at her. You roll your eyes and grab a bag of Logan’s things to bring downstairs. Laura actually moves out of the way but she follows you back down to the front door where Greg is talking to the police.

“Well, he’s eighteen, so…” the officer nods at John, then he looks at Greg, “There’s nothing we can do. If he wants to go stay with them, he’s legally an adult and can do that.”

“So, she gets to just take my son from me?” Laura stands next to Greg and shakes her head, “This whore gets to just take our son!”

John takes a deep breath before he sets the bag down, “I haven’t said much because I’m trying my best to control my anger right now, but if you speak about my wife like that one more time, I promise I won’t be able to control it.”

“You can be as upset as you like, but Logan made this choice on his own. He doesn’t want to stay here in this environment anymore, and we’re offering him a way out.” you hold Laura’s gaze, “If you weren’t going to love your child, then you never should have had them.”

Laura fumes as she takes a step forward, “You bitch--”

You swat Laura’s hand out of your face before you shove her back. She stumbles into Greg and widens her eyes, looking over at the police officer and pointing at you. She looks like a petulant child. She starts her way back to you but you grab her arm when she tries to hit you again.

“Don’t.” you warn her firmly, “I promise you that you don’t want to do that because you won’t like what happens next. News fucking flash: you cannot put your hands on people! You don’t know me, so I’m warning you right now. If you put your hands on me, you won’t like the outcome.”

Greg puffs up his chest and steps forward, which sets John off. It happens in a flurry. One moment you’re looking at Laura and the next you see Greg making his way towards you. You’re sure he’s just protecting his wife, but John is also protecting his. He steps in front of you and his fist connects with Greg’s jaw, knocking his back against the staircase.

“Enough!” the cops yells, and you quickly pull John back towards you after he got a few good hits in.

Lacing your fingers through John’s, you hold him tight next to you since you know he’ll go back to Greg if you don’t have a hold of him.

When Logan tries to move past to the doorway, Greg stands in front of him, just staring him down, and Logan puts his head down and doesn’t move. He just shrinks as Greg towers over him. Logan’s not a short kid, but Greg just makes him look so small and powerless. If Logan really wanted to, he could probably really hurt Greg.

“Logan, you can’t just leave…” Laura says, reaching out for him but he backs away, “Honey, we’ll talk about it.”

You touch his back and lean forward to look at him, “Put your things in the car. We’ll be out shortly.”

The police officer shrugs, “There’s nothing I can do. He’s made his decision. If he feels like he’s better off with them, then that’s what he should do. Either way, he shouldn’t be here. He’s clearly not comfortable.”

“So, that’s it? They get to waltz in here and take him from us?” Greg throws his hands up, “Absolute bullshit!”

Logan opens the door and puts his cell phone on the table, “I don’t want to see you two right now. Not for a while. Maybe later down the road, but not right now. You can have your phone back. I’ll get my own. Mom, I know this is hard, but this is a decision I made for myself. You guys don’t care if I’m here or not.”

“Honey, that is not true.”

“If it wasn’t true, then you would have noticed that I wasn’t home for the past week.” he says, and you all look at him, “I never came home. I was staying with a friend, or…sleeping on a bench. I even crashed in the Wick’s backyard one night--I didn’t want to wake you guys up.”

You shake your head and wave it off, “We don’t care about that, Logan. We just want you to be safe.”

“You haven’t even noticed that I’ve been gone. It’s okay, mom.” he says softly as she cries, “Maybe we can work things out later on in life.”

John reaches for your hand and tugs it a little, pulling you to the door. You open the door and wait for Logan to step outside, then you walk to the car with him. He gets in the back and looks out the window as Laura stands on the front step with her hands over her head to shield herself from the rain. You turn around and look back at Logan, and he exhales in relief before putting his head down and closing his eyes.

__

When you got home, you quickly made up the guest bedroom for Logan. You gave him new sheets and told him that you’d make some dinner but he wasn’t obligated to come out or anything. In the end, he decided to just take his food to his room, which was fine by you. He said he wanted to eat and just watch some TV before falling asleep. He’s so emotionally and mentally exhausted, so you don’t blame him for wanting to just rest.

Sighing loudly, you flop down in bed and close your eyes. John trails his nails up your back and into your hair, and you hum before you open your eyes to look at him. He holds your gaze as you sit up, then he pulls you into his arms and hugs you. You melt into the warmth of his embrace, scooting up more so you’re comfortable.

John leans back and sighs, “You think he’s okay?”

“He will be,” you whisper, nodding your head, “It’s just going to be an adjustment for now. It doesn’t help that we literally live down the street from them but he’s safe here.”

“What Laura said about you earlier,” he shakes his head, “None of that is true.”

You start to laugh, “She called me a slut! And a whore! Can you believe that? Me? A slut?”

“You’re certainly not a slut,” John says, chuckling a little.

“Well, I mean, I am a slut for you.” you say, which makes John laugh harder than he has all day. “The fact that her mind even went there disgusts me. I have never looked at him like that. He’s like…a little brother or a son, really.”

John nods, “She’s just upset. I’m not justifying it, but there’s no way anyone would think that about you. She’s just mad.”

“I know,” you look down at your hands and shrug, “I feel so bad for him. I can’t imagine…ever treating Ro like that. She’s my baby. I’m suppose to love and protect her, not hurt her.”

“I think I see a lot of myself in Logan,” John admits as you look at him, “I think that’s why this situation is so hard for me and why I get so protective of him. It’s hard for me to control my anger more than it should be. I just see so much of myself in him. He’s so lost and unloved, and he really needs someone to show him that he has worth. What better person to do that than you. You did it for me.”

You tear up as you look at him, “You have so much worth, babe. Logan does too. And you both had it before I ever even came along.” Silence blankets the room for a few minutes before you look at John. “Were people…mean to you too when you were younger?” you ask, and he inhales deeply before looking over at you with the saddest eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“It just comes with the territory.”

“It shouldn’t.” you say, holding his gaze, “No one deserves to be treated like that, especially not a child. Especially not you.”

John leans over, cupping your face and kissing you. You scoot closer to him and pull the blanket up so you can touch him, and you both lay back on the bed but his lips never leave yours. You start to pull his boxers down a little, but you’re startled by a knock on the door.

John leans up a little and looks over his shoulder at the door, “Think Ronan knows how to get out of her bed and knock yet?”

“No,” you laugh, getting out of bed. You open the door and smile when Logan stands with his back to you, “I’m decent, Logan.”

“Oh, okay,” he turns around and looks over your shoulder at John before looking at you, “I just wanted to say thank you for letting me stay here. I promise I won’t be a hassle or anything.”

You smile, “We’re not worried about it. We’re just glad you’re here and that you’re safe. Not that you’ll have to worry about it again, but next time you’re looking for somewhere to stay, you can come here. You don’t have to sleep on a bench.”

“Or in our backyard.” John chimes in, and you laugh as you move to the side so they can see each other. “That’s kind of creepy.”

Logan grimaces before smiling, “I didn’t want to wake up Ronan.”

You wave it off, “We’d rather deal with a sleepy baby than you getting sick or being uncomfortable outside.”

“About the stuff my mom said…”

You wave your hand again, “Don’t worry about it.”

“It wasn’t very nice.”

“Well, no, but she’s upset. I’m not worried about it. I know it’s not true. I’m pretty crazy about that big dope back there,” you say, using your thumb to gesture to John over your shoulder, and John starts to laugh, “Plus I’m almost old enough to be your mom, so I’m not really interested in you.”

Logan scrunches up his face, “Yeah, that’s gross. You’re like a big sister.”

John laughs, “Good. I’d fight you otherwise, kid.”

“I believe it.” Logan laughs, then he smiles at you.

“Hey, speaking of…” John gets up and walks over to join you, “I’m sorry--well, I’m not sorry that I did it--but sorry you had to see me…you know…”

Logan nods when John imitates punching his own jaw, “Oh, no, he deserved it.”

“I will do anything that I have to do to protect her,” John says, gesturing to you, “I protect my family. I hope you know that includes you.”

That totally touched Logan but he plays it off and just nods his head. The light catches a tear in his eye though. Fucking adorable.

“I won’t be loud or anything since I’m going to bed and I know Ro is sleeping, but I just wanted to let you guys know I’m watching TV.”

“You don’t have to tell us what you’re doing every minute, bud,” John says as he backs away, “You’re welcome to do whatever. Obviously Ro is sleeping, but whatever you do in your room is your business. Tomorrow we can go and get the rest of the things you need and get you a new phone as well.”

Logan looks down, “I need to get a new bank account too. My parents have me on theirs, so…”

“We’ll take care of everything that we can tomorrow.” you say to him, and he nods. “Go get some rest. If you get hungry, there’s plenty of food as well.”

“I can just get anything I want?” he says, perking up when you nod. “Wow.”

You reach out and hug him, “You’re safe here, Logan.”

“Thank you,” he hugs you tighter before he lets go, “I’ll see you two in the morning.”

“Okay, goodnight.”

Logan turns around and stares at you for a moment like he’s seeing a ghost, “Goodnight.”

Has no one ever said goodnight to him before?

Closing the door, you turn back to John and smile at him as he watches you. You crawl into bed and laugh when he leans down and kisses you several times, and you lean back to hold his gaze. His hand is resting on your hip, and you squint your eyes playfully at him.

“You arguing with Laura was pretty sexy.”

You start to laugh, “God, you’re so weird.”

“I just think you’re sexy when you get angry.”

“I don’t get this reaction when I get mad at you for leaving the toilet seat up.”

John cocks up his brow, “I don’t leave the toilet seat up.”

“Yeah, true,” you cup his face and look into his eyes, “Thanks for being such a good man.”

“I want to be the best man for you.”

A smile spreads across your face, “You are the best man for me. Ronan and I are so lucky. And you know what? Logan is lucky too. Thank you for taking him under your wing. We are so lucky to have you in our lives, babe.”

John nods as he looks down, then he looks at you with tears in his eyes, “Thank you.”

You start to tear up as you look at him, so you hug him tight and close your eyes, just holding each other for a few minutes. You start to laugh when John’s left hand slides down your thigh, and you lean back to look at him, raising your brows a little.

“You have to be insanely quiet.”

“I can do that,” he whispers as he crawls on top of you, “I can be so quiet.”

Laughing quietly, you lift your hips up so John can get your shorts off, and he licks his lips and leans down to kiss your stomach as he hums. He moves lower and inhales deeply when he gets between your legs, and you laugh when he closes his eyes and drops his head.

“God, you smell so good!”

“Quiet,” you whisper as you pull him up to you, “You have to be quiet.”

John grins as he leans down to kiss you, then he shakes his head, “It’s not me I’m worried about.”

You bite your lip as you start to laugh, “Okay, I’ll be quiet too.”

Your left arm is draped over John’s pillow and as soon as he brushes his lip between your legs, you grab his pillow and press it to your face. Yeah, being quiet is harder than it seems.

_

@multifandombliss @ruby-octo @tnu-ree @sakurachan-9 @beingnerdyissupercool @scream-queen-25 @ladyren33

[transsexual-dandelions]

Weekly tag Wednesday !!

Thank u for the tags @spookygingerr and @especially-fuk-u !!

Name: dean :D

Age: 18

Your time zone: EST

What do you do for work: I’m in school right now so nothing, but this summer (probably in a couple weeks) I’m working at a pool store and maybe an ice cream shop

Do you have any pets?: yes!! I have a calico cat named Salem, she’s my best friend and so cute I love her so much

What first drew you to the fandom: I kept seeing clips of shameless on TikTok, I finally caved and started watching it over the summer, and I got hooked ever since (averaged a season and a half in a day), lurked around the fandom for a while but then started majorly interacting. I’ve never been normal about anything I’ve ever consumed, this is no exception (autism goes brrrr)

Morning person or night owl?: night owl baby!! Earliest you’ll get me up is 10am, I’ll go to sleep around 3-4 am (I also have insomnia)

What are your hobbies?: any type of art or craft, I paint, sew, draw, bookbind and just random miscellaneous stuff, my last art project was making spikes for my jacket from soda cans. I also read, like, a lot, mainly fanfiction bc special interest, but also I love non fiction (essays, memoirs, political theory) and some fiction (I love love love horror), I’m a major Jack of all trades, just constantly looking for something new to try

How tall are you?: 5’6” baby!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?: anywhere warm and with a beach, I love summer and I’m built for it, I’ve considered New Orleans a lot for some reason, maybe California but I also hate west coast culture so um there’s that

Favorite color: yellow !! My and my siblings were color coded to prevent fights, and yellow was my color as a kid and it’s just stayed my favorite, and people always unanimously agree yellow is a color that Suits Me, saying i have yellow and sunshine energy, it also just best on me compared to other colors

Favorite book: this is such a hard choice, im going to say the perks of being a wallflower I think, ultimate comfort book really, but I also love to talk and think about Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Favorite movie?: it’s a horror movie called the empty man, it’s SO weird and SO fucked up with the most normal and sane horror protagonist

Favorite fic: I could never choose, one I’ve been thinking about A Lot is the origins of girldadism, but I also love meanest hunk of woman and enemy lines I’ll recommend them till the day I die

Favorite musical artist: I love love love Green Day i could talk abt them forever I’m going to see them in concert this summer and I’m SO freaking excited, honorable mentions are Noah kahan and old dominion

What is your average screen time so far this week?: 8 hours and 10 minutes. Higher than I was expecting considering all I’ve been doing is studying

What’s the first app you open in the morning: Spotify! I need music all the time ever, it helps me get going in the morning on weekdays, and on weekends either tumblr, discord, or Instagram depending on who’s texted me

How long have you been on tumblr: I think this summer will be 6 years?

finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: I’m learning my third language (Ukrainian) and planning a fourth (French, probably in college (I’m so done with Spanish bffr)) I also make my own recycled paper! I think that’s always fun to mention

I’m tagging:

@mickeym4ndy @astaraels @em-harlsnow @mickittotheman @transmickey

@transmurderbug

@atthedugouts @jademickian @liza420

And anyone else who wants to !! Ur welcome to do so !! And no pressure, you can otherwise consider this a friendly hello, fist bump, dap, and/or an “I’m thinking of you”

[snek-panini]

It's been a few weeks since I had new books to share, but I finally got photos taken of the newest ones so today's the day. Here, have a book:

This is Across Tides and Currents, a Good Omens siren AU by Sodium_Azide and @doorwaytoparadise (hi. I hope I tagged you right). My favorite thing about this AU is that, at its heart, it's about learning to communicate with someone who is so different from you that you can't even physically speak each other's language, and yet you've still got so much common ground that you find a way. It's way lighter and more fun than that description makes it sound, though, so go read it if that's your thing.

The cover on this is Lineco book cloth, scrapbook paper printed to look like leather, and blue foil htv. The foil was actually a nightmare to do. The first time I applied it, it wouldn't stick no matter what I did, and the bits that did stick peeled off as soon as I touched them. I had to peel them up very carefully, cut a new image, and try again. Thankfully it worked the second time but I don't know that I'll be using the foil type again unless there's no other way to get the color I want. The non-foil metallic was so much easier to work with.

More book photos under the cut!

I went with a coptic bind for this one for a few reasons. The first was that I wanted to try one on a quarto-size book to see if I could. I also wanted to try the mitered corners thing I did when I bound Strange Moons, and see if I could have the same effect on the interior. (That bit didn't work out so well; the front is fine but I mismeasured the inside and the lines didn't match up, so I trimmed some pieces of cardstock to cover that up. I really like the layered look though, so that's fine. It's quirky.) The third reason is that not long before I decided to bind this one, the authors published a new chapter after two years of no updates. That's the best possible reason to have to change plans, and the glueless bind means that if they ever do that again I can just redo the stitching to add more pages. Win-win.

Getting whimsical with title pages here. This took way longer than I thought it would, probably because I don't like graphic design and I did it in Word where I do the rest of my typesetting. Usually what I do is grab an image and put text around it or on top of it and then just play with fonts and sizes, but this time I drew the lines and then made the text follow them. This is the first time I've used the word art feature since...probably 2009? I'd forgotten how. I have no doubt there are better ways to do this but if I'd had to learn a new program at that point I'd have quit. And I do think it was worth it--it's cute and fun and looks about how I imagined it.

Couple of photos of the inside. Sorry the first one's blurry, I had someone trying to get my attention when I took these. The section break image came from rawpixel, I just made it gray instead of black so it's more subtle. The fic has very nice illustrations that I specifically got the artist's permission to print and then I failed to get any photos of them when I did my little photo shoot. They look very nice, though. I swear.

The last image is something I've started including in my latest books. I'm calling them "A Note from the Bookbinder" and it's basically just me talking about why I chose that story, the experience of reading it for the first time, stuff that's going on in the fandom, stuff about the process like the new chapter coming out as I was preparing to print. It's kind of...like marginalia? Part of fanbinding is preservation and that's linked to archival work, and something I know archivists love is marginalia and diaries. I don't like writing in my books and I've never found any fun in journaling, but sometimes that kind of context is important so I'm trying to add it. Someday, decades from now, I may not remember all the details, so I'm trying to preserve them. IDK, this got philosophical on me. Go read about mermaids now. Promise it's a good time.

[phynoma]

Oh hi!

I'm Phyn! I write things. I'm not going to get into a bunch of identity stuff, but I'm queer, I'm an adult, and I like writing queer adult stuff. Mostly horror (see: queer) and absurdity (see: the world)

I have degrees in english, theology, and more theology, which just means I have a bunch of experience doing critical thinking and analysis of storytelling, and enough imposter syndrome that I don't know how to put that on a resume.

FANDOMS!

If you're already following me it's probably for Pillars of Eternity, TMA, or LOTR/Silmarillion. I cycle through hyperfixations every few years. It's still TMA/TMAGP right now. You can find my TMAGP sideblog here, where I just collect art.

Other things I like: Fallen London, everything by Pia Foxhall/not_poignant, re:dracula, SILT VERSES, Rivers of London, Murderbot, Critical Role, Saga, Wicked+Divine, anything by Neil Gaiman, I Am in Eskew, norse myths, egyptian myths, jewish myths, the dragonlance books (don't judge me they were foundational), pretty much everything Mike Flanagan makes, and much much more

WRITING!

I'm on ao3 as Phynoma! What do I write? Well. I write in-depth explorations of characters placed in harrowing situations which draw out the very inmost parts of their vulnerabilities and--

Smut. I write smut, okay?

Almost all of these fics are explicit and PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD mind the tags, I am *very* careful with my tagging for good reason!!!!

HERE YA GO, YA FILTHY ANIMALS!

The Magnus Archives:

I mentioned this is my current fixation, right?

an extant form of life: pollen fic! You could say, maybe, that the Consuming AU uses pollen tropes, but I'm counting this as my first-ever pollen fic. Jon/Tim, Jon/Martin, maybe Jon/Tim/Martin, we'll see if Sasha gets thrown in there. Ongoing.

Hey, Jude: A hurt/comfort fic about what happened after Jon shook Jude Perry's hand. Jon & Georgie & the kindness of strangers (not those strangers) Oneshot.

The Consuming AU: My pride and joy. My baby. I started this halfway through listening to TMA the first time and finished the original fic in about two months in time for the Rusty Quill Big Bang of 2023. Canon is basically the same, with the addition of "what if there was a Entity of Hunger, (fear of) Intimacy, and Codependence?" Also Jon is turning into a succubus. Main fic is complete at a little over 100k words. Sometimes I add one-shots to the series.

~Incredible bookbinding done by @bluejayblueskies HERE ~Art of human-looking Rhia (by me) HERE and commission of eldritch angel Rhia by @isbergillustration HERE ~Commission of Naadia by @dcartcorner HERE

Kittens & Kink AU: Fluffy Somewhere Else one-shots. Cat play. Mostly nonsexual kink. Oliver/Jon/Martin. Ongoing, until I get bored of it, basically.

Pillars of Eternity:

The In-Between Series: A series of fics following the relationship of Watcher Mirad and Aloth Corfiser, ten years or so after the events of Deadfire. The world of Eora is ripe for a new cataclysm, and these two elves are trying to finally have the relationship they've been dancing around for two decades. Ongoing, on hiatus as my hyperfixation is elsewhere. I do plan to finish it, though.

Moments: same universe and characters as above, focusing more on events that happen in canon-- ie, during gameplay. Complete.

Faetales:

Mat & Kal: Fae AU: You know how sometimes you keep writing characters and put them through a blender so many times that they just become something completely new? That's this AU. Mateo and Makalo are two ancient fae beings trapped in the human world during the events of The Ice Plague (by not_poignant) who become bound by each others' lives and deaths. They hate each other, they love each other, they're in weird psychosexual sadistic codependency with each other. They're a cat-person and a snake-person. I'm not a furry but I like some of their ideas, okay? Series complete.

See commissioned art of Mat & Kal by @shojoshark HERE

The Silmarillion:

Mistakes Were Made: Imma be real, this is just straight up torture porn. Sauron is punished by Morgoth after the loss of the Silmaril to Beren & Luthien. Basically, I was annoyed by all the fluffy Angbang fics I was reading and wanted to depict them in all their horrifying, codependent glory. Complete.

Cost of Surrender: I read a really good fic about what it took for Mairon to grovel/debase himself to Eonwe to gain his freedom and I took it a bit further. Complete.

Good Omens:

the beautiful and the fitting: pretty sure the title of this is a quote from St. Augustine, too. I almost didn't include this one because I don't even remember what it's about. Fluffy sex times with nonsexual beings, I think. I started writing it because Good Omens is one of my favorite books, but tbh the fandom for the show exhausts me and I don't know if I'll come back to this. Abandoned, probably.

[27dragons]

“I used to be a writer”

When I think of fanfiction writers, you’re the first one I think of.

I used to wake up excited every Saturday to read the new Sandbridge.

I smile when I see my copy of one of your books on my shelf.

Those tags were likely not meant to be self-deprecating, and I realize you mean that lately you are a lurker more than a writer, but I just really want to make sure you understand that I’ll never not think of you as a writer and one of the biggest fandom influences I’ve had.

Aw, Anon, that's such a sweet thing to say!!! (Also much love to @holistic-alcoholic, who added a very similar message to their reblog of the original poll.)

I love so much knowing that I've affected people so much and so positively.

And you are correct; I did not, in fact, mean my tags to be self-deprecating, simply factual. I haven't written regularly since late 2020, and though I enjoyed a surge of creativity this spring/summer with Sandman, I haven't written anything else since the end of July. Or even tried very much.

Last year, I was berating myself for my lack of writing productivity, but right now, I'm okay with it. Instead of writing, I've been pursuing other creative outlets -- I've been playing around with bookbinding, working on a Good Omens cross-stitch, and have just recently jumped into my brother's weekly D&D game. And entirely apart from fandom-related stuff, I did some container gardening over the summer (and made So Many pickles when I could not keep up with the cucumber vine's production), picked DuoLingo back up to try to learn some Spanish, and am teaching Thing2 how to drive. So it's not like I fell into a pit of depression and haven't been able to do ANYthing.

AO3 says I have just over 4 million words of fic posted. Even if you take into account that tisfan co-wrote a lot of that with me, that's a pretty impressive amount of writing! More than enough that I do still mostly consider myself "a writer" -- even if I never post or write another word.

Thank you so much for your lovely words of support and encouragement -- it means more than I can say that anyone thought it was worth reaching out. My readers are absolutely the best. 💛❤️🖤

[cacodaemonia]

Links/FAQ

✏️ My AO3 - cac0daemonia

🧡 Open Skies series (Waxer, Boil, & Numa)

🎨 My AO3 works tagged with #fanart (includes some fics and all of my images)

🛠️ Reconstruction Corps AU (RCAU)

⚙️ Star Wars: The Clone Wars Republic Military hierarchy flowcharts

🐱 My neocities site with a bunch of links to resources for Star Wars fan writers and fan artists

📃 Almost everything on my blog is queued.

🚫 I do not do commissions or take requests.

👍 I give blanket permission to create works inspired by my writing and art, including but not limited to fics, visual art, podfics, bookbinding, and translations. I just ask that you let me know about it and link back to my original work. If it's on AO3, please list it as a related work. I do not give permission to repost or copy my work to other sites, or to share it on Discord or anywhere else without credit.

💌 Dear Creator letter for exchanges, gifts, etc.

🍆 I swear a lot and reblog nsfw stuff sometimes, so keep that in mind if you follow me. You're responsible for your own internet experience.

🙈 I tend to unfollow or avoid following people who post a lot about current events/news/real life stuff unless they use consistent tags that are easy to filter.

🗑️ I block liberally because I don't have time for antis, other people with garbage opinions, or accounts that look like bots/scammers.

🔒 As of September 20, 2024, I'm closing my askbox because of the incessant gofundme scam asks. Feel free to DM me if you need to get in touch.

[little-cat-press]

Hello, you have found my bookbinding blog!

and you may be wondering, what is this? So I have prepared a list of questions and answers that I think people may be wondering

Q: what's bookbinding?

A: bookbinding is the process of making a book! Starting with a piece of text, typesetting it, printing, folding the signatures, sewing them, gluing, trimming, and casing it in.

Q: do you sell your books?

A: Nope! Most of what I bind is fanfiction, and it would be ethically and legally complicated to find a way that it was OK to sell a fanfic binding, so I'm not gonna bother touching that. These books are either for me, or gifts. I strongly believe in the gift economy of fandom.

(the morals and legals around selling blank journals or public domain stuff is much simpler, but I'm not very interested in doing that either. Maybe if it was a cool and fun project)

Q: Who do you gift books to?

A: Close friends and family, primarily. I also often like to offer a book to the author, though whether or not they accept has been a tossup.

I also have participated in a few gift exchanges in the Renegade Bindery group.

Q: I'm an author you've approached. What would this offer entail?

A: Hi! I love your writing! I will need an adress to send the finished book to, and then I will mail it, and then you will have a book!

Q: how long do you take to send author copies?

A: It varies greatly. I've been trying something new lately called "asking the author if they want one AFTER I've finished the typeset, instead of when I put the book on the to-bind sometime eventually list", because then all that's left is to print and physically assemble the book, and thus the author is not additionally waiting the time until I start on that particular project.

But also I make books slowly, frequently with long pauses between the various stages, so again, it varies.

Q: why do you bookbind?

A: Several reasons. It started with the desire to have the Trust series (@alittleblogoftrust) on my bookshelf. (and thus starting the longest author's wait so far, as it was the first offer made and not yet fulfilled... Those books are going to be thick, and somehow that means they are an intimidating project and I have not made much progress on them) And then I discovered that the process of bookbinding is simply very fun! I like making books!

And there are so so many excellent stories that I can put on my bookshelf and read in book form.

Q: I'm interested in bookbinding. Where can I start? You mentioned a renegade group?

A: Renegade (@renegadeguild) is an excellent bookbinding collective. We have a big discord group full of folks interested in the art of bookbinding, and if you have any questions, someone there almost certainly has an answer.

For other resources, I really like DAS Bookbinding on youtube. He explains things in a calm, soothing manner, while demonstrating. He doesn't get into typesetting much, mostly focusing on physical construction.

He has a Getting Started playlist, though I think I actually started with his Case Bound Book playlist.

Q: You tag thoroughly and systematically. What's the system?

A: it's all listed out on this post

Q: I have more questions

A: Okay! You can put them in my askbox if you like

[dramionediscussion]

hi!! i saw an anon say something about a new HBO show that was going to take out the HP fanfic? did someone make a show based on an HP fic? 🤯 also its incredibly disheartening to see so many authors going through this. so many of my bookmarks now say private 😭 idek what kind of solutions could be reached its such a difficult situation :( i hate untalented people who steal for profit fr :c

Hi, they meant that the new show may cause problems in the HP fandom.

With JKR's views, when the show starts there will be more talk about Trans Issues and Rights, and this will encourage the Transphobics to come out in full force to give 5-star reviews and spread their hate for people, and support JKR. Older fans who grew out of HP and are indifferent to JKR, they will have a good reason to get back into the fandom and add to the view count and reviews. She will get praise and more money and people will downplay her words and actions.

This will also lead to HP fanfic fans and authors who are against non-canon pairs to feel empowered to come and attack fans and authors who like non-canon pairs. They are already doing this anyway but now more people will join the fandom and disagree with non-canon pairs and do what some others have done and spread hate. (You can look at the Dramione tag right now, and you will see some posts saying stuff like "Dramione fans need a kick to the head" etc).

The HP fandom in general has vocally condemned JKR and her views.

As for bookbinding, some authors are giving people a heads up, so you can download the fics, but do not share them.

-Lisa

[nellasbookplanet]

I was tagged by the wonderful @kmackatie, thank you!

Last song/piece I listened to: not to sound like a huge killjoy, but I don't listen to all that much music lol. I can't really have music on in the background when writing/doing work where I need to think (too easily distracted) and when i do more mindless work i prefer to listen to audiobooks or podcasts over music. Mostly I listen to music while driving, but I can't stand commercials and my car doesn't have bluetooth so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Probably the last full song I listened to was the Critical Role opening theme, which feels on brand.

Last book I read: I just finished Max Gladstone's (one of the authors behind This is How You Lose the Time War!) Empress of Forever earlier today! A woman gets transported into the far future by a mysterious all-powerful space empress and must assemble a crew of misfits to fight her and get back home. It was a bit more episodic than I prefer, but overall a lot of fun with some Wild worldbuilding and good characters. Also, it's very gay, which is always a plus.

Last film I watched: I'm not sure actually? I tried watching The Witches of Eastwick a bit ago but dropped it. I'm planning to watch The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (frankenstein retelling!) soon though!

Last TV series: I watched an episode of Resident Alien the other day (an alien has crash landed on Earth and is hiding in a small community as he tries to repair his spaceship. also he's planning to destroy Earth, but first he needs to survive Living Around People, and also he really wants to solve this murder and prove he's cooler than the town doctor while he's at it, he'll get around to the destruction later) and have yet to decide whether I'll continue watching it or not. I enjoy the premise and the characters but the humor doesn't entirely work for me.

Last thing I googled: something about archives for my masters. did you know there are so many different definitions of an archive. too many in fact. but also i'm about to invent a new one.

Last thing I ate: An apple lol. I had pasta for dinner though.

Sweet, Savory or Spicy: Probably savory. I love sweet stuff but mostly in dessert form, and while I enjoy a bit of spice my tolerance for when it stops being taste and starts being Pure Pain is pretty low.

Amount of sleep: never enough even with naps. Which reminds me I should start getting ready for bed 😔

Currently reading: Too many books. I just picked up Abbadon's Gate (part 3 of the Expanse series, space and horrific aliens and body horror my beloved). I'm also sporadically listening to The Wandering Inn (it is. very long. it's got some interesting things going on but I'm not a fan of the whole levelling concept, but I should've known that going in) and trying to read Jonathan Sim's Family Business (it's good I'm just bad at reading these days, I've been picking away at this book for weeks and it's very spooky). I'm also rereading Things That Gods Despise by dawl-and-dapple for bookbinding purposes, it's one of my favorite fics!

Not entirely sure how many have already done this thing yet, so if you've been double-tagged (or don't feel like it) feel free to ignore, but I'm tagging @mllekurtz, @aravhy and @howlsmovinglibrary!

[bamfspock]

I made a new side blog for bookbinding stuff, @calamitybooks, which is where I'll be posting stuff about my own efforts at binding, laughable as they may prove to be. It's also where I'll talk about my fic writing, just whatever randomness I feel moved to post during the process, so if you're interested in that you can find it on that blog under the tag 'riker.writes' (though there's nothing there yet under that tag).

[kiwiana-writes]

7, 10, 13 for the beginning of the year asks!

7. Will you change anything about the way you interact with other writers?

I’ve been trying really hard to get over my chronic crippling fear of being annoying/too much/unwelcome and actually sliding into the DMs of people I want to get to know—it’s not something that comes easily to me at all but I’ve made some really special friendships in the last year and I’d hate to miss out on more of those, so. I’ll keep working on it 😅

Apart from that, trying to be more consistent with my commenting because I know how much comments mean to me as an author (including going back and commenting on stuff I bookmarked when doing my initial whip through the fandom tag after I gave up on trying not to hyper fixate here lol), continuing to share snippets of other authors’ work on tumblr and get hype, and maybe the big one—get better at subscribing to authors I like!! I’m great at subscribing to individual fics but for some reason I keep forgetting author subs are a thing and then being annoyed I’ve missed fics from authors I love 😂

10. Will you keep a record of all the fics you write and/or post this year?

Yes! My nerd ass has actually spent a decent chunk of today not only migrating my batshit Google sheets stats tracker into Airtable to make it a little easier to manage (something something 229 works on AO3 fml) but also adding a pretty cool WIP wordcount tracker into it as well. Because right now it’s all scattered across 52+ docs and a pain in the ass to track. It’ll also have the benefit of letting me see what WIPs I’m ACTUALLY working on…

I also got Zapier set up to create a new row in Airtable whenever I create a new Google doc in my WIP folder, because again, nerding out.

Definitely gotta put some thought into what stats I want it to calculate, though.

13. Aside from fanfic, are there any other fan works you’d like to try creating? Fanart, or fanvids, gifsets, or podfic? 

I have taken the tiniest of baby steps into gif making in the last month or so with my WIP Wednesday/Six Sentence Sunday/etc banner and what I learned from that process is that gif makers are even more ridiculously talented than I already thought they were. Definitely want to play with that more, maybe.

Also neither of them are new things to try, but I did pull back on both podfics and bookbinding in the last year and I’d LOVE to get back into both of those.

[fanfic asks for the new year]

[salmonandsoup]

Could we get summaries of the member of the vampire mafia?

oh you ABSOLUTELY can!  hell yeah

i’mma try to keep these relatively brief but there are like.  a dozen members and i love all of them so much and i’m trying to make them all complex people who have lived interesting lives (even if i do have my favorites).  i’m gonna put them in order of appearance! and of course, this is under a GIANT READ MORE. because this is LONG. also each person is color coded just for convenience though the colors will repeat (it's just to like, separate each section). heed the content warnings where they appear!

GOD this took a while but i'm proud. if you wanna know more about the overaching plot lemme know. i'm just gonna tag this as "the vampire mafia" for overall stuff

reuben james kent - the one and only english himbo; a giant flirt, a whimsical little shit, and someone who never wants to become manipulative and selfish (he punishes himself harshly for his wrongdoings and is more than a bit of a perfectionist).  he’s AMAB, bisexual, and genderqueer, though he usually presents masc and uses solely he/his pronouns unless in drag (in which he calls himself “reuby fangz” because he thinks he’s funny).  born in 1853 in london, he was a tailor barely making ends meet until one night in 1889, after stumbling home drunk off his ass, he got turned into a vampire—so he decided to fuck around with the rich and steal some cash to bring back to his poorer roots, while also becoming quite a bit more cultured in the process (learning how to dance ballet and play the cello).  he made some friends in higher places who were also struggling under the hegemonic ideals of the rich and powerful, and so he turned them into vampires too so they could all get their revenge and escape, traipsing around europe and eventually fleeing to america in the late 1900s (of course dodging the WWI draft and fucking around with the rich in america, too).  he can’t remember what the hell happened that fateful night he got turned and he doesn’t want to.  he’d much rather devote his time to making the world a little more beautiful and a little more fun for everyone—so long as he can keep his impulse control in check.  (that causes a lot of problems later down the line…  just see what happens with feliks.)  everyone in the vampire mafia’s got superhuman abilities, but where reuben’s unique power shines is in flight!  mans can fly and he loves to do so.  he’s a sweetheart who tries to make everyone smile, but he has problems admitting when he’s done something wrong, which is where one of the big conflicts of the story comes in.

peter gibson - (originally created by @maxusthemad!) peter’s a soft-spoken but no-nonsense librarian who reuben meets and befriends when he’s caught outside as the sun rises (while in this world, vampires won’t die if they stand out in the sun, it does wound them and leave them vulnerable to attacks that will kill them).  born in the black dockside community of liverpool, he eventually moved to london to pursue whatever higher education he could squeeze his way into and eventually became a librarian at the guildhall public library.  he got roped into all of this bullshit completely on accident, though because of his and nicholas’ love of bookbinding and bookkeeping, he ends up connecting reuben with the people who become his closest friends (and becoming one of those closest friends himself).  he’s always wanted to travel the world and never had the funds nor freedom to do so (cog in the machine and whatnot), so he’s happy to help reuben cover his tracks and then travel with the gang when they decide to hightail it outta england permanently.  he doesn’t become a vampire immediately, wanting to experience life as an older man first so he can fully appreciate his new abilities.  his vampiric power comes in the form of both a photographic and eidetic memory, and though it taxes his body a lot, he can see and hear through other people!  (his powers work in tandem with the info broker of this team, riki, and those two get along like a house on fire.)

nicholas sturge - (originally created by @kotilae!)  a young trans man from an upper-middle class family who prefers bookbinding to embroidery (though he won’t say no to either).  since he sucks at math (regardless of how many tutors he has), he does freelance work with making handkerchiefs and doilies, and he’s a friend of louisa’s (their families often talk together and nicholas’ dad is trying to get in good with louisa’s father and brother, who are much richer).  they’re both trying their best to escape their families and the lives their families force them into (though, thankfully, nicholas’ mother supports him living his life as a man, even if he can’t truly do so until he settles somewhere on his own).  he’s very anxious and sweet, but also extremely perceptive and Will hold a grudge or a smoking gun against you at the right moment for you to squirm.  he holds grudges for quite some time unless that grudge makes him look foolish, and then he’s apologizing for weeks if he cares about you.  he’s a phenomenal horseback rider, as that was his greatest passion as a child, and he becomes the getaway driver and transportation expert of the vampire mafia when the brit squad is absorbed into it in 1933.  his vampiric power lets him speak to animals and “control” them to a minor degree! (it’s mostly just persuading them, but if he must, he must—they forgive him, anyways.)

eireann louisa lovelace - (originally created by @oops-i-accidentally! also, cw for familial abuse) first, she goes by louisa, not eireann; you’ve gotta be a very good friend of hers to call her that.  louisa's an upper class lady with a shitty older brother named lewis who wants nothing to do with their mixed english and irish heritage (their mother is irish), instead vying to find a way to gain the most power from the industrial hegemony possible and using louisa as a pawn and a punching bag.  both nicholas and louisa have been trying desperately to find some way out for the both of them; lewis is trying to marry louisa off to the son of a family of bankers so he can gain monetary and political power, and louisa had nearly lost all hope because lewis is the most wretched piece of shit alive.  thankfully reuben, peter, and tomasso step in, ready to stir up some shit to create a diversion for both louisa and nicholas—and so, on her wedding day, she escapes and they start running around europe and eventually america.  unfortunately, her ex-fiancé starts following her, devastated by her running off, though his intentions aren’t what they may seem.  louisa can use various bits of magic as her special vampiric power (with telekinesis as her strong suit), she's a chemist by nature, and she's 100%, hands down, the braincells of the brit squad (and a good chunk of the braincells of the mafia in general).  so long as she doesn’t have to answer for some conflict (because she Will just up and run from it, reuben and her get along in that regard), she’s a powerhouse.  nothing would fucking function without her.  she loves the punk aesthetic when the 70s and 80s roll around, and she’s a huge fuckin’ lesbian.  futch supreme

tomasso “tommy” scarlatti - (originally created by @darkysan17!  cw for familial abuse) tomasso is an artistic and crass triple threat: a hooligan, a thief, and a dancer.  he’s the runt of the family and the youngest of several sons, the scarlattis being early adopters and pioneers of industrialization in northern italy.  where his brothers wanted to continue the family trade and learned in their mansion in varenna, tommy found a love for performative theatre, especially ballet.  his family constantly brought up the challenges he’d have to face due to his awful stutter and his tics (not to mention his complete disinterest in running the factories and his sympathy for the workers). tomasso’s father beat him ruthlessly when he found him sneaking food to some of the workers, claiming he “stole what his family earned” and what was “rightfully theirs”—but that didn’t stop tomasso, and his resentment for the entire rigmarole only grew.  he eventually ran away with ninety-thousand lira (about $50 USD in 1890, and the equivalent of about $1,650 USD today) to join a troupe of dancers that travelled europe, and his father is still looking for him even when he should be long in the grave.  he’s the one who teaches reuben both ballet and lockpicking when they meet each other at a festival, and the two devise a plan to get nicholas and louisa to america and safety when all of their families rear their ugly heads.  tomasso is kind of childish in his sense of humor and constant grandstanding, but at heart, he’s a true artist and explorer. while most of the dances he knows are western european or american, he has a great interest in historical dancing techniques and theatre from other cultures (like kabuki and chinese opera).  he’s still self-conscious about his stutter and tics, to the point of being MEGA defensive over it, even when it gets him into trouble. he tends to play it off afterward, trying to use a tough guy persona to cover up his true feelings.  his vampiric power can best be described as “impossible to pin down”: he can walk through solid surfaces and phase in and out of objects at will.  eventually he learns to use paintings and photographs as portals, so long as they share the same subject!

finley v. a. seabrooke - (cw parental abuse) louisa’s ex-fiancé, and a man who was raised to basically be a tool.  his parents allowed him no privacy and invaded almost every single boundary one can have, all to make him into the perfect asset.  the only reason they supported his transition at all was because they could get more use and money out of him as a man than as a woman.  the lovelaces and seabrookes were close by the time finley and louisa were in their twenties, and lewis set the two of them up to be married so he could access the wealth and power the seabrookes held.  finley was overjoyed to have someone be his wife, especially someone as wonderful as louisa (even though they’d rarely seen each other, just the idea of someone loving him in that way was enough for him), but of course, louisa runs away, leaving finley heartbroken and terrified.  lewis stokes the fire and sends finley off to find louisa and bring her back, and perhaps to get revenge on the brutes who took her.  but the more that finley looks at everything that’s gone on, especially with how lewis seems to have some uncanny knowledge of events that haven’t even happened yet… the more he starts to try and unravel the pieces of this puzzle.  eventually, he too becomes a vampire and after rebuking lewis fully, he joins the mafia as a financial resource and one of the faces of the group, since he’s very good at talking to those in high places.  his vampiric power ends up being flesh-crafting (think vicissitude from vampire: the masquerade). 

feliks kaufmann - my son, my socially anxious, depressed son who can punch through over 13” (33cm) of solid steel (his vampiric power is super strength and bloodbending on occasion).  i love him so much.  i try not to play favorites; he is my favorite.  he’s 6’10” (208cm), 265 pounds (120kg) of pure kosher BEEF.  just… a pure wall of a man.  long story short, he’s a 2nd-gen russian-american jew (so his grandparents fled russia and the pogroms), and because he and his family in little odessa have like, ten mouths to feed and a tiny apartment, he gets sucked into the world of organized crime to try and pay the bills.  one night when he’s walking home, reuben starts to flirt with him, and while feliks is receptive, he’s got places to be.  reuben convinces him to stay still for just a second, putting him in a trance and feeding from him (though not to kill him; reuben refuses to kill unless in self-defense, and not only that, but he also refuses to become adept at truly hypnotizing anyone because the idea of holding someone’s mind hostage disgusts him).  unfortunately for them both, feliks, the eternally-anxious motherfucker that he is, breaks out of the trance and fights back, leading to a huge scuffle with him dying and reanimating as a vampire while reuben flees the scene.  now, feliks being jewish plays a big part here: because vampires can unfortunately be taken as an amalgamation of antisemitic conspiracies and canards (check here for more on that), and this happens in 1927, feliks thinks he just got hate-crimed.  he loves his family more than anything in the world and now feels like he can never face them again because he’s been turned into an undead monster who, if he’s found out, would Literally be proving the white supremacists right and that means there’s a serious chance of violence against his family and community, so he’s FURIOUS.  he hunts reuben and his friends down for six years, accruing more and more power in the criminal world in order to do so (he gets more members in his crew, starts doing vigilante work to gain the respect of the communities he resides in, etc.).  thankfully, in 1933, he takes a moment to think about what they’re even doing anymore and asks reuben what the fuck was up with all of that.  reuben genuinely was just hungry, and he had no idea that his actions would have those… unfortunate implications.  (like i said, himbo.)  while it’s not all hunky-dory, reuben actually apologizes and vows to help feliks reconnect with his family, and the two of them team up to fuck up the KKK and the nazis, so things smooth over relatively quickly.  sue me, i’m a sucker for enemies to lovers, and feliks is also bisexual (though cisgender).

gaspare “loupe eye” paviano - (originally created by @maxusthemad!) gaspare is feliks’ underboss and right-hand man, going from a thrall underneath him into an equal and a powerful, flirtatious vampire in his own right.  he’s a charmer, and loyal to the end, but he’s more than a little indecisive and impulsive at the worst times.  he was born to a lower middle class italian- and greek-american family in chicago, and much like feliks, in order to provide for his family, he fell into a life of organized crime at a young age and couldn’t get out.  one fateful day, he manages to save his boss from getting stiffed on a jewelry deal by pointing out a fake sapphire, and he’s able to get legitimate tutelage and claim to his parents that he was a “jeweler’s apprentice”.  he earns the nickname “loupe eye” paviano through these endeavors.  eventually, in 1929, he gets orders to go to new york and deal with an upstart there who’s been causing trouble… which ends up being feliks.  sensing potential in the young man, feliks slaughters the rest of the group, but leaves gaspare alive and turns him into a thrall.  however, towards the end of their first year working together, gaspare continually breaks out of the trance and resists some of feliks’ more grisly orders, his first real means of standing up for himself and what HE wants (which is big, because he’s been pretty aimless and just kind of followed orders up until this point—he has few motivations in life and was kinda depressed and picked fights a lot).  in response to that, feliks actually establishes a genuine partnership, turning gaspare into a vampire so that they can both work to achieve their goals.  gaspare’s vampiric power is shadow manipulation and teleportation!

retha “riki” harris - (originally created by @maxusthemad!) feliks’ childhood best friend and resident spy/info-broker of the vampire mafia!  she’s a bit of a clown, but she just likes making people happy and watching them go about their days when they’re happiest.  she also has a little guilty pleasure in reading a ton of romance novels.  she’s african- and japanese-american (and she’s also got vitiligo), but because interracial marriage was banned, she’s technically a child born out of wedlock.  however, there’s no drama here because her dad knew about it and wholly loves riki as her daughter (as he’s also in love with the man who fathered her—they’re both bisexual and we stan healthy communication and open relationships!).  riki grew up in the same neighborhood as feliks, and she’s a self-taught nurse who’s hustling her way up in the world the same way feliks did with the criminal underground.  when feliks goes missing, she looks for him doggedly because That’s Her Best Fucking Friend And She Needs To Know What Happened, and when she finally pins him down and pries the info from him, she decides to investigate the circumstances because there’s a lot that isn’t adding up.  throughout 1929 to 1933, she gives feliks the location of the brits for most of the time that he chases them.  however, she’s also the one to actually get feliks to sit down with reuben and talk things out.  her vampiric power is the ability to shape-shift into animals, which helps a lot when gathering information—and it’s the reason why she’s got the nickname “baby bat” with the group!  she likes to be a vampire bat the most.

amélie “ami” boulanger and gadreau boulanger – (gadreau was made by @neogeoandcompany!  he’s the lavellan of neo’s da:i playthrough) a pair of fraternal twins from bordeaux, france who become a pair of master assassins and traceurs (parkour artists).  cast out from their home for being “devil’s children”, also known as albinism mixed with severe melanosis in solely their sclera and irises (making the sclera nearly black and their eyes a deep reddish color—their bodies really went “okay, we’re sending all the melanin there and nowhere else”), they relied on each other to try and eke their way through the world, taking odd jobs wherever they could and evading the trouble that came with some of the more unsavory tasks.  (gadreau’s scar is from when he pointed out a few holes in the plan of a leader of thieves, and his tone did not sit well with the man, so he “gave him something to smirk about”.  ami made short work of the bastard after that slight to her brother.)  they turned to petty thievery as they grew older and snatched up whatever bits and pieces of education they could, until they eventually saved up enough money to make the trek to america.  ami stole away on a boat first, and decided to turn to thievery once again to make ends meet, knowing that far too many people would love to take advantage of a young woman who spoke little english.  she ended up encountering feliks when trying to steal from him, and he decided that he quite liked her gall and willingness to put up a fight, and so she became a member of the mafia and honed her skills with a pistol.  when gadreau crosses over, he’s very cross when he learns that ami has joined a mafia family, but cannot deny that the family she’s made might help them both settle their scores—and what the twins do, they do together, no matter what.  ami’s vampiric power is technomancy (where she can make machinery do what she wants it to, as in immediately picking locks and disabling security cameras with a touch), and gadreau can turn invisible!  both of them can also walk on walls and ceilings.  gravity means nothing to the double spiderman menace.

liesl “liza” kaplan - (originally created by @maxusthemad!) originally introduced as one of the first recurring Genuine Antagonists of the story (like finley), liesl eventually joins the mafia as the mechanic for all artillery and vehicles.  she’s a take-charge kind of woman who thinks she always knows best, and she refuses to put up with any bullshit (she has lived FAR TOO LONG for tomfoolery to get in the way of her goals and dreams, and if you dare try and hurt those she cares about, you will not live to tell the tale).  she is a very nurturing figure at heart, though, and loves to spoil people.  like feliks, she’s jewish (and also born to a reform family like feliks), but she grew up in heilbronn, germany until her family immigrated to the united states when she was in her twenties.  she studied as much biology (specifically botany) as she could, and her impeccable grades and performance actually landed her in the university of pennsylvania.  while she traveled to various farms to learn more about soil temperature and yield, she met a young farmer and fell in love, eventually marrying him and creating a life with him.  unfortunately, he died young and her children moved away, so her loneliness makes her a perfect target for a supernatural hunters’ guild to scoop her up and convince her of the threat of all kinds of undesirables, especially vampires.  she encounters the vampire mafia and swears to take them down, along with her compatriot ibán, and her being in her sixties does nothing to snuff out her fervor.  thankfully, for the three of them, a look at the parallels between their (literal) witch hunts and the rising tensions in europe is enough for them to reject the hunters’ guild.  unfortunately, the guild doesn’t take well to defectors, and after an ambush, liesl sustains mortal injuries and decides to become a vampire in order to keep doing her work.  her vampiric power ends up being the ability to control plants!  (she usually uses it to keep in touch with her garden and make it the best damn rooftop garden in all of new york.)

ibán lucero garcia abascal - (cw for exorcisms, familial abuse, and suicide) another Recurring Antagonist-At-First, ibán works with liesl to try and destroy the vampire mafia, but becomes the religious expert for the vampire mafia.  when we meet him, he’s a priest and exorcist, though his methods kind of put the vatican at arm’s length (insert “i don’t know… that’s scary!” comic here).  he was born in ciudad juarez in northern mexico, but his family moved to what would become white sands, new mexico before he was three, so he’s got dual citizenship.  his family was deeply religious, and so he became a devout catholic, though that didn’t stop his family from worrying about his eccentricities, his grandfather especially.  ibán didn’t care to partake in the usual communal activities, and hated to be touched unless he sought out comfort.  he often played alone and had trouble keeping eye contact, and while he knew quite a lot for his age, he could not understand other people and spoke bluntly and callously.  all of this led to his grandfather trying to exorcize him when he was eight, which didn’t exactly stop the problems, but it taught ibán to repress like nobody’s business and gave him a serious fear of vulnerability and hatred for his own mind.  (turns out, ibán is autistic and not, in fact, possessed by a demon.  but mental health solutions are not exactly amazing in the 1910s, so we get the lovechild of john ward from the FAITH horror game series and inspector javert from les miserables.)  eventually in his twenties, ibán moves further east to alexandria, virginia, and becomes an exorcist for hire, fervently hunting down demons.  some of them were genuine threats, but unfortunately, others were either supernatural creatures just kind of living their lives or were other mentally ill people.  the same supernatural hunter’s guild that picked up liesl lures in ibán, and the two get along well.  for how devout ibán is, differing religions don’t bother him and even become a point of interest (if it means he gets better at banishing demons from all walks of life).  they both agree that vampires, especially, are unnatural monsters that must be purged.  and that’s how the vampire mafia finds these two, and through repeated interactions, ibán and gadreau find themselves constantly in each other’s sights (sue me, another enemies to lovers story, but blame neo for it too because he enabled me).  when the guild shows its true colors and it turns out they work for lewis, liesl actively desists and stands alongside the mafia, but ibán has a much trickier time reconciling with his own actions because the moral rigidity that got him through so much hardship is now coming back to bite him in the ass.  he very nearly jumps off a building before gadreau finds him and convinces him to move forward instead.  and so, with liesl, ibán officially joins the mafia and decides to deal with spirits in a more peaceful way (though demons still get their ass beat).  ibán’s vampiric power is a little hard to give a name to, but he can pull people’s emotions out through their blood and turn said blood into weaponry or tools based on the emotions in them.  so if someone was angry with him, he could turn that anger into a literal sword to use against them, but unfortunately, ibán takes on those emotions—so if he removes someone’s fear, he feels that fear, and they don’t, whatever the cost of that may be.

jenab bin tan zakaria (alias miles cintaku) - (originally created by @maxusthemad! cw for family murder) the last member of the team!  max describes him as kind of like if dexter morgan and patrick jane had a vigilante-justice fueled murder fusion—while he is incredibly empathetic to those who are struggling, he has nothing but rage for those who prey on the inequalities of a system that forces such.  he’s unfortunately condescending and myopic, refusing to take help unless he absolutely needs it and things are his way or the highway more times than not, but his wit and his sense of justice and family bring him through.  he comes to the mafia in the late 1950s, early 1960s, so there’s a bit of a jump (though perhaps he’ll be in the background for keen eyes to spot).  he’s the “therapist” and interrogator of the group when he officially joins (yes, yes, conflict of interest, but none of these guys can like.  go to any old therapist and jenab does know what he’s doing).  he was born in perak, malaya in 1921 to an english father and a malay mother.  he grew up to become fascinated with the workings of the mind, especially with morbid disgust in what causes people to commit horrible acts against each other.  he graduated from universiti pendidikan sultan idris with a doctorate of psychology focusing on behavioral health, and a minor in anatomy.  the mask of the studious and quiet young man hid a growing rage and antipathy, and soon he held the corpse of a sex pest stalker in his own hands.  the rush and satisfaction of removing such a disgusting person from the world led him to becoming more than a bit of a vigilante killer, finding those who committed terrible deeds and giving them some extrajudicial justice.  he moved around during his youth, but eventually became a school counselor in kuala lumpur and met a young woman named fariza, who captured his heart.  he eventually decided to settle down with her and marry her in 1948, giving up his vigilante work in order to focus on making things safe for fariza and their coming daughter, khatijah.  unfortunately, tragedy struck soon after, and another serial killer who went by the moniker of navy james killed fariza before khatijah was born and left malaysia before jenab could bring him to justice.  this sends him spiraling into a deep depression, but it also fuels the flame to go back to his vigilante ways.  he taunts navy james by killing another scumbag and using the killer’s tag, and then starts to hunt him down across the globe.  when he comes across the vampire mafia, he offers his services and expertise in exchange for their resources, but found family strikes again!  shit!  he kind of loves all of them now.  his vampiric power is possession and the ability to have his spirit leave his body temporarily.