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slasher-male-wife · 4 months

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Horror characters with an s/o in a band head canons

Sorry for barely posting. I say this every time I post but I've been very busy lately with a lot of stuff but I'm still trying to find time to write time for y'all. So for these head canons I'm just putting a blanket statement of the reader is in a rock band. Also I'm looking into writing for fem readers as I explore my own gender identity. But reader's gender isn't specified in this.

Includes: Corey Cunningham, Tiffany Valentine, Amanda Young, Billy Loomis, and Martin Mathias

Content includes: Possessive behavior, murder mentions, implied murder, mentions of saw traps in Amanda's section, brief 'stalking' mentions, not proof read

Corey Cunningham

Pre-Michael he's going to feel a little awkward going into a show that you're playing at. If you play something like shoe gaze or some kind of softer rock music he won't feel as awkward going into to see you preform but if you play harder rock or even metal he's going to feel very out of place.

Pre-Michael Corey would also try his hardest to learn about whatever instrument you play for the band or if you sing he'll try his best to learn about singing and the best way to do it without hurting your vocal cords. He'll do his research on what you do because he wants to be the best supportive boyfriend he can be.

Pre-Michael Corey won't really get jealous of people cheering you on or being supportive of your music. He understands that they just enjoy your music and they want to show their support for you. After all, he's the one who gets to go back stage with you and to all the practices. He's really the lucky one.

Post Michael however is a different story. Now he's more open to whatever music you play. Even if it's harder music like metal or some kind of hard/alternative rock he's down for it. I wouldn't say he'd get in a mosh pit or anything like that anytime soon.

When he's post Michael he'll still keep knowledge about whatever instrument you play or how to take care of you if you sing. He'll become a little obsessive about it, going with you to every band practice or he'll watch you from somewhere else while you practice. Same goes for when you're at home. If you don't want him there you won't know that he's there.

Post Michael Corey is also a little more protective when it comes to your fans. Now he knows that you won't have that many fans that push boundaries with you, but any that try to push boundaries with you on this are going to pay the price.

Tiffany Valentine

Tiffany (in my opinion) is a gothic rock, post punk, dark wave, other goth music genres kind of girl. So if you play any of those kinds of music genres she's more than happy to go to one of your shows and support you there.

She will happily tell anyone listening that her lovely s/o is in the band playing on stage and that you're super talented, and it doesn't matter if they care about it or not, she's proud of you and she cares.

She might not know much about music but I can promise you that she's going to try her best to help you with practicing whatever instrument you play or whatever you need help with that's music related.

If you want her to go to your band practices with you she's all for that. She's happy to sit in and listen to whatever you're working on, it's not like she's going to tell anyone what you're doing, she'd never do you dirty like that.

She WILL be dressing up for all of your shows. It doesn't matter how big or small they are she needs to represent you and how well you treat her. She also just really likes getting dressed up to go out and this is an excuse to do that.

If you have band merch she will also wear it. Even if it's just some shirt with your band name or logo on it then she'll wear it while she sleeps or some other time. She prefers more feminine clothes so she might go as far as to paint on your band name and or logo onto some old dress she has just for fun.

Amanda Young

Amanda is a metalhead plain and simple. She likes harder music and if you play harder music she'll be happy to go to your show. If you play slower music, she hopes you won't take offense, but she might not go to all of your shows.

She might not go to all of your shows anyway because she's busy with her jigsaw work but she'll try to see at least a couple of your shows every time you have some.

I feel like if you're stuck on lyrics or where to go with a song she'll be there to help you with it. She might not be the most knowledgeable on music but she's going to try her best to help you get out of that rut.

If you need a song name she'll suggest something based off a trap she's made or just a trap in general. "What about 'knob twister'?" "What about Venus Fly Trap?" But she'll be more subtle with it if you're unaware of her being a jigsaw apprentice.

She won't take any of the other apprentices to your shows, she'll honestly keep you pretty separate from her 'work life' outside of telling John about you. If any of them somehow find out about you and your band she will get very defensive of you and she will swear if Hoffman ever goes to one of your shows she's going to put him in a reverse bear trap.

She won't get super jealous of fans of your music unless they start pushing boundaries. She gets people being fans of your work and wanting to meet you and stuff, but if they end up getting a little too far 'into' your music she may or may not put them in a trap.

Billy Loomis

It's the 90's and just like look at him, he's probably going to be into that slower, more shoegaze kind of stuff, he's the og male manipulator in more ways than one.

He'll try to be open to the kind of music that you play but if it doesn't interest him he probably won't be going to every single one of your shows. He'll make up excuses about having to do stuff for school and whatever.

But don't get it twisted, if anyone tries to make fun of you for the kind of music you play they're gonna meet ghostface real soon. Just because he might not be into your music it doesn't mean that other people are allowed to be mean to you about it.

This also applies to fans of your band who try and get a little too close to you for Billy's comfort. He understands that you're going to have fans of your music but that doesn't mean people are going to just get away with being obsessed with you, that's his job god damn it!

But if he's being as possessive as he usually is he'll have Stu go to one of your shows for him just to check things out and make sure nothing bad is happening there. He doesn't think you're going to cheat on him, he trusts you, he just doesn't trust other guys, unless it's Stu.

He'll play down how much he really does care about your music. He tries to keep up this kind of 'whatever' 'cool guy' persona but he really does care about your music and he might stalk you a little bit and just watch you at your band practices for fun.

#corey cunningham x reader #tiffany valentine x reader #amanda young x reader #billy loomis x reader #slasher x y/n #slasher x reader #slasher fanfiction

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magicalyaku · 5 months

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Hello and welcome to my 2023 reading wrap up! A big Thank You to everyone who followed my ramblings throughout the year! <3 I will continue through 2024. Maybe I'll learn how to write proper reviews, at least I'll try to remember better what I actually want to say about the stories. In 2022, I read 93 books plus my own. Guess how many it were in 2023? 93 plus my own!! xD That was huge coincidence and I love it. Of these 94 books, 4 are rereads (which won't be included in the "Favourite" sections), 2 are non-fiction, 11 are non-queer. I only DNFed 1 book (which is not pictured) and other than that I only disliked 6 books! (And it's a pretty soft dislike in comparison. I don't hate them nearly enough to want to shit on them again. :'D).

So on the the awards!

Most Read Author: KJ Charles (8 books)

Least Favourite Book: Daresh (Katja Brandis) (the one I could not finish for dear life)

Favourite Character: Brand (The Tarot Sequence) and Will (The Will Darling Adventures) (yes, there's a trend)

Favourite Covers (of books I read, not releases):

(There were too many. D:)

Highest Emotional Investment (aka The Agony, the suffering, the why you do this to me Award): Dark Heir - The Scottish Boy - In Memoriam

Wildest Story: The Adventures of Pinocchio

Favourite Books:

The Devil's Luck (L.S. Baird)

The Scottish Boy (Alex de Campi)

In Memoriam (Alice Winn)

Just Lizzie (Karen Wilfried)

Dark Heir (C.S. Pacat)

The Will Darling Adventures (KJ Charles)

Gwen & Art are not in Love (Lex Croucher)

The Buried and the Bound (Rochelle Hassan)

More Books I enjoyed greatly:

Oracle of Senders series (Mere Joyce)

Of Feathers and Thorns (Kit Vincent)

Wren Martin Ruins it all (Amanda deWitt)

Simon Snow series (Rainbow Rowell)

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley (Shaun David Hutchinson)

The Tarot Sequence (K.D. Edwards)

The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer (S.E. Harmon)

Sixteen Souls (Rosie Talbot)

By any Other Name (Erin Cotter)

The High King's Golden Tongue (Megan Derr) and more!!

Most Used Name: I counted names last year and didn't want to do it again this year because I read so much fantasy, so the names were all over. Still, there was one who stood out amongst them all with at least 4 instances, if not more. Probably more.

Will

Congratulations. I have to admit, I've always liked that name. My favourite character of all times and part of my one and only OTP is named Will as well and I kinda hope the last book of their second trilogy never comes because it will probably make me scream and ... ...

Bonus! This year, I counted pages! Because I felt that most books were much shorter than what I read before. So I wanted to know. Turns out, my feeling was wrong. My 93 books had a whole of 33011 pages which results in approximately 350 pages per book. That's pretty normal I dare say.

That's it for 2023! I had a very good year in books. I wanted to read less actually, and failed spectacularly because I had too much fun. And if anyone's wondering how I read so much, I read fast and I just didn't do anything else in my free time. Escapism to the max. I hope, the new year treats you well! I hope, you have fun with the books you read! Let's meet again soon! <3

#yaku reads #best of #2023 #books #favorite books #bookblr #book recs #queer books #lgbtq books #queer lit #the tarot sequence #the will darling adventures #in memoriam #the scottish boy #dark heir #gwen and art are not in love #the buried and the bound #the devil's luck

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stcrtrek · 11 months

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since snw s2 is over, i want to recap some of my favorite moments from this season because it was so good to me:

neera ketoul being a badass lawyer who i want to be like when i graduate law school and pass the bar soon. seriously, being a law student and seeing a black female lawyer in my favorite sci-fi show where i don’t expect much law-type stuff was so exciting for me.

human!spock— literally just everything about him. he was so cute and watching him grapple with human emotions in a more intense and upfront way without being able to keep them at bay as well as normal. and him being able to tell his mother how much he loves and appreciates her, and speaking of that..

amanda grayson making an appearance in this season was such a treat. she’s so beautiful and graceful and she loves her baby boy so much. it was wonderful to see her coming to his aid and then discovering that he was temporarily human.

jim & la’an falling in love in the alternate universe. even though it broke my heart in the end, it was so beautiful to see la’an letting her guard down and being open with jim and trusting him and falling for him. it was truly a wonderful little love story.

jim and uhura becoming friends because as i stated previously, their friendship was done perfectly and it really showed how jim is just a good guy who cares about helping others, which is why he’ll make such a good captain who is worthy of following.

pike hugging una, hesitantly at first because he was so relieved that her trial went the way it did. their relationship is so good because they work so well together but also have this personal connection that is essential to things running smoothly on the enterprise.

uhura’s song + saving the crew in the musical episode. i got chills and i cried and i just loved uhura being the star for the moment, which really showed how important she is to the crew now and will continue to be in years to come.

scotty!!!! i didn’t see it coming but i was so happy that they introduced scotty in the finale. martin quinn was great casting and i feel like the essence of scotty’s character was captured well. i can’t wait to see more of him.

i grew to love dr. m’benga so much more this season and he was extra sexy, starting with he and chapel fighting klingons in the first episode which was hot let’s be honest, and then there being more focus on him and his trauma from the war, a slight thirst trap in the shower, but showing that despite the fact that he can kick ass when needed, he chooses to be a person that heals rather than hurts others. a truly great and interesting character.

#star trek: strange new worlds #neera ketoul #spock #christopher pike #una chin riley #amanda grayson #joseph m’benga #montgomery scott #james t kirk #la’an noonien singh #nyota uhura #snw spoilers #star trek

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aroaceinaerospace · 6 months

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since it's the start of a new year and I'm a bookworm, I figured I'd share some of the aspec books I read in 2023. I've added any of the big content warnings I can think of as well as a link to the books on storygraph where there are more in depth content warnings.

Fiction:

Wren Martin Ruins It All by Amanda DeWitt follows the titular character Wren Martin during senior year of high school as he becomes student council president and fights his vice president to try and get the school's Valentine's Day dance shut down. Wren is very much an externally grumpy person who becomes much more loveable as you get to know him and see the reasoning behind his grumpiness. Rep includes asexual main character and an aromantic side character, and note this book is a romance.

Is Love The Answer by Uta Isaki is a coming of age manga following Chika as she tries to find the answer to who she is and explores her identity. This book is full of aro and ace rep with different life experiences. CW for aphobia and attempted SA.

Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfred is a middle grade book following Lizzie in how a science class assignment helped lead her to an understanding of her asexuality. At the same time, Lizzie is having to adjust to a new home and changes in what was once familiar and safe. CW for aphobia, harassment.

Non-fiction:

*note: these books cover some triggering topics in different parts of them, including racism, SA, aphobia, and more

Ace and Aro Journeys by The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project (TAAAP) is a really great overview of aspec identities, it gives more time to aro identities than a lot of other books, and provides quotes and information from people on various parts of the spectrums. This book brings in some intersectionality, though it is more broad than a deep dive.

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality by Sherronda J. Brown, which has been my favorite read. This book is fantastic if you're ready for a deep dive into intersectionality and some deeper history on asexuality. This book, despite being very short, is a much heavier read content-wise, but it is very thought provoking and will stick with you. Each chapter gives you content warnings up front for the materials that will be addressed in the chapter. Personally, this book has been my favorite book on the subject and I intend on reading it many more times to capture more of the nuance.

#aro #ace #aromantic #asexual #aroace #aspec #if you have any recommendations pleaaaaase let me know #i have also read ace by Angela chen; lets talk about love by claire kann; loveless by alice oseman; every heart a doorway by seanan mcguire #gender queer by maia kobabe; the murderbot diaries (some people count it idk that i do); aces wild by amanda dewitt #paper planes by jennie wood; sounds fake but okay; the charm offensive and kiss her once for me by alison cochrun #i am ace by cody Daigle-Orians; elatsoe by darcie little badger; a quick & easy guide to asexuality; and ace notes by Michele Kirichanskaya #i currently have ace voices and being ace on my tbr for this year but am always open to suggestions

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msfbgraves · 9 days

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Daniel's CK fashion 'choices'

Got a lovely shoutout by @puella-peanut that I may or may not have written about Daniel LaRusso's Cobra Kai colour schemes, and honestly I couldn't tell you on my life but of course I have Thoughts on them...

First off the Doylist reason is that somehow, a story that completely hinged on Daniel LaRusso is not allowed to be about Daniel LaRusso, even if it only makes sense when supposed focal point character Johnny is obsessed, still, with Daniel LaRusso. There was less to Johnny to build off of originally because he wasn't the protagonist and apparently nothing interesting happened to him in the meantime, other than his non-relationship with Robby. That would make him pale a bit as a character of course. And CK could have pointed out that this is slightly weird because say what you want about Daniel and his obsession with father figures, he was not obsessed with Johnny Lawrence. Just wasn't. The glaring void of his Dad? Yes. His absolute same shutdown after Miyagi's death? Yes. Terry Silver, whose female version he married? Yes. But not Johnny Lawrence. By your own writing choices, CK. And apparently you couldn't think of anything to fill Johnny's life with but the glaring absence of purpose and a complete overreaction to seeing an old classmate on daytime tv.

Now how weird Johnny is for that could have made a good arc, Billy and Martin Kove really tried so hard to make it make sense, through Robby even, but you told them to be good boys and say their lines. And you're dressing Daniel down because otherwise he pulls focus. In his own saga! Who'd have thunk it.

Still, without him nothing in the show makes sense. Will Johnny ever admit that he has been in love with Daniel since that punk showed up in his life, but doesn't dare do anything about his attraction to men because Kreese nearly killed him for it? I don't think the writers sold the show that way to their networks, but well. And Kreese's delusions about Terry and Terry's dormant obsession with Daniel, that Kreese poked awake with a stick... well none of that is about Johnny anymore is it? Yes you put him there, which is funny since he is so brilliantly immune to Terry. It's funny, but nothing else! Are you surprised Daniel is more compelling if Johnny does so little introspection and we've simply seen more of Daniel?

Still to go back to what we do see, and the Watsonian reasons for why Daniel mutes himself.

He's trying to not be seen, which, as a spokesperson for a brand, isn't ideal.

Ever since he was sixteen, and had started dating, he could always get along with girls, hang out, flirt, date, dance... But guys got really weird and kept trying to kill him. Until Terry, who did away with all of that and simply decided he was going to fuck him right on that dojo mat. And I'm pretty sure he did, right after he taught Daniel how to break that dummy. And that ended horrifically but I do think it clicked for Daniel. Oh. Yeah, men want to fuck me. And I'm into that... but the problem is most of them try to kill me instead. Right. Shit. And as every woman alive knows - clothing, colouring, fit, hair, it all sends a message. If you want it, random guy, know that I'm not asking for it. Really. That's not what's going on. Well unless I'm trying to sell you cars but then I need you befuddled. But I can't look too good when I do that, even. I'm a slightly higher end car sales guy. Not even luxury. This is a family company. I want you to be charmed but stop yourself from being horny. You're not into a non threatening car sales guy, OK? I need you to tell yourself it's the car. Although when Amanda and Daniel do it together I'm sure no customer knows where their head is anymore.

And when there's no car to be sold? He dresses even further down. He's married. He's not trying to be available. Stop hitting him, hitting on him, doing both - unless he's into the people hitting him because what is a little karate between friends? Still it breaks my heart that here is a man that doesn't want to be alluring - his commercials are so idiotically bad - but still is constantly objectified, and used. Does he like his sales position? Does he like being a mechanic? He does remarkably little of either. He is literally a strawman enabling Amanda to run the business - he's deflecting the sexual harassment away from her, and mitigating the misogyny, but it looks like all these years of either being hit or hit on made him afraid of being seen and that may have stunted him. Forget repressing his feelings, he's always done that. Now he's repressing himself. Even the Miyagi Do presentation in S2(?) was only in shadows.

No wonder he keeps having these strange outbursts.

#daniel larusso #cobra kai #johnny lawrence #repression #arrested development

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jadelotusflower · 7 months

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Stargate rewatch: 1x17 Solitudes

aka episode of the blurry/dark screenshots. What is this, Game of Thrones?

A Brad Wright episode, and the debut of the franchise’s most prolific director Martin Wood.

Jack and Sam bond over his broken bones and her inability to make a splint, heh.

It’s Siler! aka Dan Shea, RDA’s stunt double and later Stunt Coordinator.

Hammond giving him half the time Siler says it will take to fix the Gate and Siler going “it doesn’t work that way sir” is great, nice subversion of a trope.

lol, how many times do we get an extreme close up on Daniel’s face and a blurry pov shot of him waking up from being k’o-ed on this show? A lot, I can tell you.

Sam correctly identifies their situation (option 2) but gets stuck on the probabilities of the SGC finding them, leaving Jack to be the optimist. Nice callback (unintentional or not) to him sarcastically telling Samuels in 1x02 to “let me be the optimist for once.”

Sam then deduces that the matter steam jumped to a different but nearby Stargate, just as Daniel comes to the same conclusion. Wonder Twin powers, activate!

At least they got good lighting in the close ups!

The gang's all here - even Harriman (who as this point is just Airman/Technician).

I do love it when they use the plexiglass map.

What is Siler’s job anyway? Chief engineer?

Sam identifies this symbol (far right) as the point of origin on the DHD. We later learn this Gate was the original one used by the Ancients and this could conceivably be an Alteran-esque symbol since we know their written language is block based and their aesthetic is heavy on the circles. It could represent a sun and a pillar, or maybe a Stargate itself.

It does explain away a bit of a plot hole with Earth’s point of origin being a pyramid if the gate was built pre-Ra. It makes more sense that this is the original Earth point of origin and the other was built/chosen later.

Oof Jack coughing up blood onto the snow.

Why Sam doesn’t try to dial any addresses other than Earth - la la la don’t think about it. Sam's brain too cold to function I guess?

Or maybe the DHD has something else wrong with it? We learn later that connecting the DHD designates that gate as the primary gate on Earth, so really the SGC gate shouldn’t be working at all if Sam is trying to use the Antarctic gate.

Nice little moment where Sam says that if they don’t make it she won’t have any regrets, and Jack says he’ll regret dying - a good reflection of both their characters.

Daniel with his ever-present coffee, but this time with good reason. There’s a cool shot of him in the control room worrying, tracking up to Hammond in the briefing room worrying. Martin Wood loves a tracking shot. I love a tracking shot too.

I also love how interactive the set is, the gate room, viewing room, briefing room, and Hammond’s office are all connected allowing us to move through the set as if it were a real facility.

“I should have gotten you out of here by now.” Aw, Sam! Telling language through use of “you” and not “us.” She’s the problem solver but can’t solve the problem, and even though Jack is in command, given his injury she’s now the one who feels responsible for him and his safety when usually it's the other way around.

Amanda Tapping is great in this episode, we don’t often see Sam so frustrated, unable to push through to find the answer.

Also a tender moment when Jack calls out for Sara and Sam, having been told earlier that Sara is what got him through a similar situation, giving him the comfort of “I’m here, Jack.”

Uh oh, I think that means there’s a T-Rex around!

“We ruled out a world we shouldn’t have.” Daniel thinking forth dimensionally again! Even separated the team are still working together, the juxtaposition of Sam trying and failing to the dial the gate but Daniel still receiving the message is great.

Ah, I love it when they work a retcon into the plot! The SGC installed “frequency dampeners” that stopped the shaking of the gate (and made the trip through smoother/less cold), so the shaking now is unusual and helps them solve the mystery.

Aw, Hammond going along with the rescue party. He’s well and truly Papa Hammond now!

#stargate sg1 #stargate rewatch #1x17 solitudes

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anis-book-club · 1 year

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aces wild: a heist

by amanda dewitt

i really liked this book!

i enjoyed the dynamics between jack and his friend group. they were all very interesting characters, and i liked that jack was deeply flawed. did he make bad choices? constantly. but i still thought that he wanted to do better, and was overall a good person when his true character had the space to shine through. jack's narration and the character interactions all added some humour to the story, which i loved. dewitt's writing style allows for jack's narration to have a distinctive tone, which i thought was really fun—it was like i could hear him telling the story to me.

the aspec rep was very important to me, and i thought it was well-done. it made me want an aspec friend group even more than i already did. each of the characters also had different experiences across the romantic and gender spectrums, which alluded to the fact that being ace is not a monolith. i liked that everyone was already confident in their ace identity, so there was space for ace jokes and other nods to ace culture. could dewitt have gone into more depth about the nuances of the spectrum? yes. but i don't think that was necessary, or even very possible considering the amount of information there would be to cover.

now i can't wait to read dewitt's second book wren martin ruins it all when it comes out this year!

⭐️4.5/5

#aces wild: a heist #amanda dewitt #book review #bookworm #readblr #bookblr

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thelasthalloween · 1 year

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My LGBT MML headcanons

I’ve shared some of these on AO3 but not everyone has seen my AO3 so I’m putting this here

Milo is bi and nonbinary. Gender wise, nonbinary is simply the closest word he has to describe himself but otherwise describes himself as ‘just Milo’. He has no preference whatsoever for pronouns. Murphy’s Law seems to know what his gender is each day even when he doesn’t, because much like when he is sick it ebbs a bit when he feels more feminine.

I see Zack as some form of MLM. Probably questioning at the moment, though. He seems very much like the gay panic type to me (because let’s be real, he’s always panicking).

Melissa is a lesbian who HATES gender roles. I can kinda see her as being cool with she/they pronouns, but my gender headcanon for her is still uncertain.

I know the popular headcanon is that Dakota is bi, but my take is that he’s gay. I personally can’t see him being genuinely attracted to a woman, but I’m not here to judge those who can. Also his t guy swag levels are off the charts. (I am a trans guy and I want his gender so badly so the trans Dakota hc gives me so much joy)

Similar to my headcanon for Dakota, my sexuality headcanon for Cavendish goes against what I’ve seen from others and to me he’s bi. He just doesn’t realize it for a long time due to being autistic. I also love to think he’s nonbinary with a changing pronoun preference, and doesn’t conform to what cis people expect from a nonbinary person. (He keeps his first name and facial hair)

Doof is the trans and bi divorced dad icon we all need. I feel no elaboration is needed.

Now that I think about it, I see every Murphy as bi. We stan a family of disaster bis! Also, what is it with married Dwampyverse men in particular having bi wife energy? (Looking at Martin and Lawrence)

Basically, if a character has shown clear and constant heterosexual attraction, they are most likely bi to me. Also, the only person I can think of at the top of my head as 100% cishet is Orton Mahlson. My main reason being how he saw Cavendish and Dakota’s interactions and p much went “What’s better than this, just guys being dudes”

Gonna get some supporting characters all in one go so this post doesn’t get too long. Amanda is bi. Mort & Chad are gay. Elliot is pan and trans. Mr. Drako is gay and trans. Veronica is WLW. Bradley is gay and doesn’t know it. Brick and Savannah are gay and lesbian solidarity. I’m not talking about Ms. Murawski.

#milo murphy's law #my favorite characters have the longest sections so you can tell who they are #i love all the characters though i swear #also i doubt this will happen but if any homophobes or transphobes interact i will smite you myself

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darthkvznblogs · 5 months

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Did you ever get the chance to watch Wakanda Forever? If you did, what was your verdict on it?

I hadn't, but your ask reminded me to and I had some free time this weekend, so I finally did!

I think, for me at least, every opinion I have about this movie comes with the big asterisk of "considering the circumstances". The loss was conveyed very well, and the resulting grief and revenge-centric plot was very effective. But it was also forced to be that by the aforementioned circumstances, and you can tell this isn't quite the story they wanted to tell, but rather had to.

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie! It was pretty good. I'll give you my positives and negatives list.

Positives:

-I really liked Shuri's journey as the Black Panther! It did retread similar territory as T'Challa's Civil War storyline, but Shuri's path was a lot more wrathful and morally dubious. Her suit's cool, but sometimes the CGI made her look shockingly thin - as in, more than she naturally is, which was a bit distracting.

-Riri's suits are cool! I think the only part I would change is the helmet on the Mark 2 - just looks kinda generic android-y to me. Personality-wise she felt a bit all over the place - I think of her as a very headstrong, reckless, and kind of arrogant character, and there were shades of that but not enough - but she did make me laugh a couple times.

-Everything Talokan was super cool. I can't believe they gave them siren powers, I didn't know about that! I do feel like they kinda nerfed Wakanda just to make them more of a threat, when they didn't really need to. Namor was pretty fantastic, too - true to form, an extremely powerful and dangerous bastard you love and hate to see in action, and definitely a guy you want to try and keep on the good side of whenever possible.

-I didn't really care for the CIA storyline but Martin Freeman's character was nice to see again

-Killmonger in the Ancestral Plane was pretty much perfect. Love to see him call out the flaws in the royal family while remaining blind to his own - good stuff for Shuri to recognize, but not the mentor she needed. Michael B. Jordan continues to kill it - really most of the cast was great!

Negatives:

-Like I said, most of the CIA stuff wasn't very interesting. I get the feeling Valentina's supposed to be some quirky flavor of Amanda Waller and she's just not doing it for me. (kinda made me miss Victoria Hand and Rosalind Price...)

-Killing off Queen Ramonda felt like the wrong choice to me. Flooding the capital and destroying who knows how many livelihoods with the threat of taking his violence worldwide is more than enough motivation for a revenge trip, IMO, if not as personal. It's not like Shuri fully loses her moral center when she dies, either - M'Baku's there and she obviously chats with Ramonda herself in the Ancestral Plane - so it felt more cruel than necessary to me. Then again, you know me, I don't really like character death 99% of the time.

-While I did like the design overall, I feel like it was a big mistake to have Riri make her first proper suit in someone else's story. It's not like T'Challa or Peter in Civil War, who are already established heroes (in a sense) and whose origins can get neatly summed up - you really need to show how this previously unknown teenager can go from 0 to reverse-engineering the Iron Man suit. Feels like they robbed her of her moment a bit.

-Just like Black Panther 1, the CGI was sometimes distractingly noticeable (not as bad as that Panther v. Jaguar battle though, that was a pretty atrocious point in an otherwise great movie).

#ask box #anon ask #black panther 2

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obsessivelollipoplalala · 1 year

Note

Okay, it may have been the memory of it (combined with how a lot of fans would bring fan artists’ porn in multiple other fandoms to actors at conventions) being super raunchy but. Basically, he would react with slight discomfort and that was about it.

But yeah. Early on (s2 and early hiatus) I think a lot of it was just people not being able to accept that pressing an actor about sexual fanart is inappropriate to do. Later (mid hiatus and s3-4) I think it was just projection of their own discomfort and embarrassed.

It’s exactly the same thing. People just can’t deal with the idea that maybe people don’t need to spend every waking moment together

I also remember Martin Freeman really hating cons because he doesn’t do well in crowds but people said he was always really lovely if you just met him on the street and approached him politely.

I think that’s a more accurate assessment, yeah. It’s not good etiquette to bring raunchy fan art of characters to the actors playing them, and I do think that was pretty much established by ~s3 onward, and then after that fans went hard with the projection. They wanted to feel like Martin was on their “side” and it just got into fanfic territory tbh. I also remember Ben C showing up to cons more than Martin, and if probably feel pretty awkward about conventions if I were an actor.

As a side note, I do very much remember Martin’s ex, Amanda, complaining about johnlock fan art before she got cast on the show because she claimed that her kids would see it if they tried to Google their father, which was just a fucking lie lmao. Explicit johnlock fan art would not show up in the Google Images for “Martin Freeman”, you had to go looking for it, and it was not the internet’s job to parent their children or monitor their internet usage, either. I bring this up to say that this was the one real fan art controversy I remember from the fandom. Apparently she’s a big transphobe now, but that’s another topic.

#replies #Anonymous

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captain-sassy-socks · 2 years

Text

GABIT INSP 2022 Part II - Q&A session #2

The 2nd Q&A session started with Suanne and Amanda after the lunch break.

Suanne had a question about what GABIT meant, and the explanation touched her. She marveled at the love and dedication to get Amanda back together with her fans, praised the wonderful atmosphere and mentioned the fun she had being here.

At some point, Amanda mentioned that “most of her ass had moved to her face.”

They drew the winner of the “Tea with...” raffle.

After that, they said they cherished their friendship and that they (and we) have to support each other, especially older women, because they easily become invisible in show business and in life. Amanda pointed out she liked the term “elderly” more because it holds more grace than the word “old”. Old woman or old person sounds like someone has reached their expiry date.

In the same breath, Amanda talked about inclusive vs diverse. She used a swimming pool analogy.

inclusive -> a swimming pool where everyone can get in and mingle without restrictions

diverse -> a swimming pool where everyone can get it, but please stay in your corner and do not disturb the others

She encouraged us to use the term inclusive.

Next, Amanda was informed that a dedicated fanfiction writer had already turned her encounter with Naked Attraction into a fic “Jack’s Nightmare - aka Naked Attracttion”. She doubled over in laughter as did the audience.

Someone asked a question about Don S. Davis. Both noted that he was a nice and kind person with an artistic talent. And that once, he came to the makeup trailer and farted. He was subsequently banned from there.

Another question about their favorite movies was raised. Amanda said Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Jojo Rabbit, while Suanne mentioned Harry & Sally and some others.

Amanda’s new favorite catchphrase was “My hardrive is full.” She had heard it in a program of a female comedian. Especially during the Covid lockdown with its endless zoom meetings it came in handy.

Suanne did her famous “My cousin Vinnie” routine/imitation and made us laugh.

Someone asked Suanne how the idea for Hathor Hosts came about. She said most jobs were canceled during the first lockdown and she was stuck at home like everyone else. She bounced the ideas off with the people around her and decided to give it a try. She called her friends and contacts, like Amanda, and everyone was like, “Sure, let’s do it.” At the beginning, they had a lot of technical difficulties, and it was a learning curve. The best part was researching the guests, to find some interesting tidbits from their past. She’s grateful of how well it was received. “Without you, the fans, it wouldn’t have been such a success.”

Someone asked about any developments for a new Sanctuary series as there were some rumors two years ago. Amanda explained that someone had bought the IP and told us the story about a press release ending up on her desk which "cheesed her off”. (a press release which never saw the day of light) It said that a new Sanctuary series was in development with Amanda Tapping as director and a younger actress playing Helen Magnus. “How can a younger actress play Helen? She’s mine. I created her. Okay, Damien and Martin developed her but I filled her with life.” So, she called Damien and Martin to discuss the matter. And she called her agency to stop the release. In the end, a different version was published on Deadline. Amanda would never ever agree to a new Sanctuary series where she wouldn’t play Helen. She’s very protective of the character.

At long last, Amanda thanked Suanne for being here, and they hugged.

#Amanda Tapping #Grand Empress of Scifi #Suanne Braun #gabit

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sharkneto · 2 years

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Saw the Rob tag and rejoiced lol. I totally understand if you don’t wanna share the more Sarah and Rob heavy stories, but I would read the fuck out of them, regardless of how much or how little Five shows up (even though I would love to see his interactions with them too lol). Sarah’s just so relatable to me as a physicist who is a lady - I love her 🥰🥰 I LOVE Amanda, too. Five being surprised by good people gets me every time

Ah, thank you! <3 I really can't overstate how much your guys' love for Rob and Sarah (and Amanda) lights me up, it's really something special. The good news with how amazing you all are is that I no longer have that anxiety I had about them when I first started sharing HIT. Good luck stopping me from sharing more of my homemade blorbos, to be honest ;)

It's Christmas, and you said above you would read the fuck out of Rob and Sarah content, so how about a little nothing I wrote a while ago about their early days, so no Five anywhere lol -

The first two things Sarah is aware of is that it is very bright and her head hurts very much. A groan escapes as she scrunches her eyes shut. She’s vaguely aware of movement around her.

“Hey! You’re awake! How are you feeling?” a woman asks her.

Sarah groans again. That feels like it covers it.

“I get it,” the woman says, with sympathy. “Let me let the doctor know you’re up and then I’ve got some questions to ask you, hang on…”

As Sarah waits and tries to figure out what the fuck is going on, she becomes more aware that her body aches. Her wrist in particular is a sharp pain that’s starting to give her headache a run for its money. There’s a specific point on her head that’s starting to pound, just above her temple. She reaches up to touch it, surprised when her hand is stiff and constrained.

“Ahh, don’t touch that just yet, Ms. Martin,” a new voice says as a curtain moves.

Sarah tries opening her eyes again and it’s marginally better than it was the first try. A man in a white coat comes into focus and smiles at her flanked by a young nurse in green scrubs. He gently brings her hand back down to rest on the cot she’s laying on. Sarah watches it dumbly. Her wrist is strapped into a brace. Huh. That explains the stiffness then. And the pain.

The man sits and leans over her, bringing a bright flashlight to sweep between her eyes. Sarah flinches away from it. He clicks it off a moment later and leans back. “Alright, few questions for you, answer as fast as you can. Name?”

Still blinking from the light, Sarah scrambles. “Um, Sarah. Ah, Sarah Martin. Wait, full name? Sarah Marie Martin.”

“Good. Date of birth?”

“August third, 1974.”

“Great. Who’s the president?”

“Um, Clinton.”

“Top marks. Do you know where you are and what happened?”

Sarah blinks at him some more. “I’m at the hospital?” He’s a doctor, there’s a nurse, there’s medical equipment, people are rushing around through the crack in the curtain behind them. She’s in the ER.

“You’re at the hospital,” the doctor confirms. “Do you know why you’re here?”

She twitches her braced hand. Her head still pounds. “I hurt myself?”

The doctor looks at her for a long second and then nods. “Minor concussion, should be fine in a few days to a week. Scan came back clear so we can discharge her. Did you already call her contact?”

The nurse nods. “Should be here any minute.”

“Alright,” the doctor nods, standing. Turning back to Sarah where she’s still reeling on the cot as no one tells her what is going on, he smiles again. “You’ll be fine Ms. Martin. Have someone watch you for the next twenty-four hours and if your head hurts worse or you start getting confused come right back here. You can take some aspirin for the headache. Your wrist is sprained but not broken, so keep the brace on for a couple weeks.” He gives Sarah’s good arm a friendly pat and then whisks out of her cubicle.

“I—Wha—Okay,” Sarah says after him. She turns to the nurse for answers but she’s focused on the chart in her hands.

After a moment, she glances up to Sarah to also give her a quick smile. “I’ll get this set and then you’ll be out of here. Sit tight.”

With that, Sarah is alone.

She listens to the sound of medical talk and people walking past her curtain. Lifts up her arm to study the clunky brace. Twiddles her fingers. Ow. Lets that hand drop so she can bring the other one up to poke at the painful spot on her forehead. A row of prickly stitches meets it.

“Oh,” she mumbles to herself.

She’s brought back from poking her injuries by the nurses’ voice carrying, “…over here. She’s good to go, just a bit bruised up.”

“And the scans are clear? You’re sure it’s just a minor concussion? You made it sound pretty serious on the phone.”

Warmth blossoms through Sarah’s sore chest. That’s Rob’s voice, tight with worry but here. “You can look at the scans, Rob, I know you like looking at brains,” she says as the curtain slides open but then anything she was going to add to that dies on her lips. She frowns at him. “You have a beard.”

Rob stands behind the nurse, expression pinched. His hand half raises towards his jaw that is, indeed, covered by a trimmed beard. In the year and a half they’ve dated, he’s never had a beard. Sarah blinks at him. They stare at one another for a long moment, Sarah confused and Rob closed. Another first. He turns to the nurse. “Some minor amnesia?”

The nurse shrugs. “She has the big stuff down. Give her some time and she should put everything back into place.” She softens slightly and glances back at Rob. “Sorry. I can try her secondary contacts if you want? I didn’t make the call, I would have gone for those if I’d known.”

Rob shakes his head. “It’s fine, I’m already here. I’ll make sure she gets home safe. Thanks, though.”

“You’re a good guy. Let me know when you’re done moping, give me a call.”

His expression twists slightly, a tight, polite smile. “Yeah, sure. If you have those papers, I’ll sign and get her out of your hair.”

Sarah frowns at that. Is this nurse flirting with her boyfriend right in front of her?

The nurse shrugs easily and the pair goes through the stack of papers. Sarah lays ignored on the cot. They finish it up within a few minutes, the nurse goes through the instructions for Sarah’s care, again, and then she’s officially released.

“You’re sure you’re good, Rob?” the nurse asks, hovering at the corner of the cubicle.

“Yeah, I’ve got her. Thanks,” Rob says. There’s something off about his tone that Sarah can’t place. He’s been off since he got here.

“Alright, then. See you on Monday at clinicals. I’ll try and find a hard one for you.”

“You do that. See you Monday.”

The nurse gives a final nod and takes her leave, throwing a long glance over her shoulder back towards Rob before she’s swallowed by the bustle of the ER.

“Well, she was shameless,” Sarah says, smiling up at him.

He doesn’t smile back. He sighs. “Are you good to walk or do I need to find you a chair?”

“I can walk,” she says with confidence. When she doesn’t move, Rob sighs again and steps closer to help her sit up. His touch is very gentle. Careful. As soon as she’s up, he lets her go and steps back again.

“I’m not going to break, again, Rob. I already did that,” she jokes. He’s being so serious about this; it’s scaring her a little. She must look awful if he’s not trying to lighten the mood.

“Come on,” he says without acknowledging her (perhaps badly timed) joke. He holds a hand out for her to use to leverage off the cot and to her feet. The world spins when she’s up but it settles to something relatively stable quickly. Rob lets her cling to him as she totters along with him out of the ER.

It’s a quiet walk. Sarah tries a couple times to get Rob talking but he gently ends every attempt within a few words. He leads them to a beat-up SUV and carefully deposits Sarah in the passenger seat before swinging around to get into the driver’s side.

Sarah looks around. “Who’s car is this?”

“Jen’s.”

“Oh. That was nice of her to let you borrow it.”

“Yup.”

It’s quiet as he navigates them out of the parking structure. Quiet as he pays. Quiet as he pulls them out of the hospital complex and onto the road.

His hand rests on the console between them. Carefully, Sarah reaches for it, intending to give him a reassuring squeeze, remind him that she’s fine. As soon as she makes contact, he pulls back and moves it to the wheel.

Sarah’s heart sinks. “Rob?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you mad at me?”

His expression twists again, like it had in the ER. He lets out a small laugh, no mirth to it. “Yeah, Sarah. I am a little mad at you.” He stays focused on the traffic.

She sits and tries to wrack her brain for what he could be mad at her about. They had a fight recently. Obviously, if he’s mad at her, but once she thinks that it rests heavy on her mind. Not just a fight, it was big, it was— “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Sarah broke up with him three weeks ago.

She brings her hands up to hide in them, forgetting about the brace and bonking her nose with it. “That’s why you have a beard.”

He stares at the road.

“It looks nice.”

“Sarah.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t believe I forgot.”

“You have a concussion. It’s understandable.”

“Yeah, but. You didn’t have to come.”

“I’m listed as your emergency contact and I got a call that you were unconscious in the ER with a head wound. I wasn’t not going to come.”

“Well. Thank you.”

He jerks a nod. “I’ll just drop you off at your place, Trish can look after you, and you won’t have to see me again.”

Disappointment curdles in Sarah’s gut. That is what she wanted, though, to not see Rob again. Apparently. She’s having a hard time remembering why she broke up with him. Oh, and also, “Trish isn’t here for the weekend. She’s in San Diego visiting her boyfriend.”

“That you remember,” Rob mutters.

“You can still just drop me off. I’ll be fine.”

“I can’t. You have a concussion and yes, it probably will be fine, but you do need someone to check on you for the first twenty-four hours in case it’s not.”

Sarah nods, the motion causing her headache to pulse. “I’ll think of someone I can call when we get home. Worst comes to worst my parents drive over in a couple hours.”

“Thank you.”

Quiet again. Sarah turns to watch the traffic and buildings pass around them. “This is my turn,” she says.

“I know where you live, Sarah.”

“Right.”

Rob pulls up her street, slowing as they approach her building. “There’s a spot,” she points out.

His head falls back to hit the headrest. “Oh fuck, I have to park.”

“Did you just swear?” She turns to frown at him, moving too fast so the world blurs a little and her head throbs.

He lets out a huff. “I’m having a bit of a rough day,” he mutters as he lines up to parallel park.

Sarah bites down on her tongue to stop from pointing out that he’s not the one who woke up in the ER and still doesn’t know what the fuck happened to get there.

It takes Rob three tries to get into the space, heralded by lots of honking as cars attempt to pass them, but he gets it. It’s right in front of her building, too, so it’s really a perfect spot. Sarah waits for him to make a joke about third time being the charm, something about good things come to those who wait, something about patience.

He just turns off the car and gets out to help her.

Right. She broke up with him.

Walking is easier but the stairs are still a bit tricky for her woozy coordination. “Sorry,” she apologizes as she has to lean heavily on Rob to get up. He just hums. He lets her go the moment they reach her door.

She’s sure she’s imagining how much colder the hallway is without his arm wrapped around her.

He digs in his pocket to pull out keys, going through the practiced motion of unlocking her door and swinging it open. He freezes as he’s pulling the key from the lock. “Should probably give this back to you.”

Sarah swallows. “Probably should,” she echoes. She follows him in, letting the door swing shut behind her.

“You have a name you can call?” Rob asks, still standing just inside the entry and bent over his key ring, working her key off. She watches it slide around and away from the key to his apartment.

She should probably give him his key back, too.

“Um, yeah. Um. Jake. He should be around this weekend.”

Rob’s hands stop maneuvering the keyring. “Jake?”

“He’s just a friend. Nothing like that,” she hurries to clarify.

He finishes pulling her key off. “Doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t. Not my business.” He holds up her key and sets it on the counter next to her.

Sarah nods and makes her way over to the phone, pulling their notebook of numbers over to find Jake’s. It takes her a couple tries but she gets it punched in. She puts it to her ear, listens to it ring, until a warm voice answers, “Hello?”

“Hi, Jake. This is Sarah. Martin.”

“Hey, Sarah! What’s up? You looking to go out tonight? I’ve got some friends talking about going to Lou’s tonight, you’re welcome to join the gang.”

“Um, no. Um, actually, I, well. It’s a little bit of a long story and I don’t actually know it but long story short, I hit my head.”

“Oh, fuck! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just, um. I’m not supposed to be alone and Rob’s here but he can’t stay because… you know – do you know? – but so I was just wondering—”

A large, warm hand gently pulls the phone from her ear. She watches it move away until she’s looking up at Rob as he holds it up to talk into. “Hi, Jake. This is Rob… Yeah, that’s me… Uh-huh, I remember you… Sure, doesn’t matter, not my business.” His gaze flicks down to her. “Yeah. Sarah had a bike accident and hit her head, she’s got a concussion… No, she’s alright. She just needs someone to be with her for the next twenty-four hours to make sure she’s alright and doesn’t need to go back to the ER. Her roommate is out but she thought you might be free… Uh-huh… Great, thanks. When can you be here?” He lets out a long sigh and glances at her again. “Sure, no it’s fine. You’ve got the address and number and—alright. Good. See you then.” He hangs up and sets the phone onto the receiver with a soft click and looks down at her. She hadn’t moved when he came to take the phone from her and they’re standing very close. She has to crane her neck back a bit to meet his eyes.

“What did Jake say?” she asks.

“He can be here in a couple hours.”

“Good.”

They look at each other.

Sarah clears her throat. “You don’t have to stay, I should be okay for a couple hours.”

“Probably.” He doesn’t move. He swallows. She watches his Adams apple bob.

“Thank you. For getting me and getting me home.”

“Yeah, of course.” He takes a step back from her. Stops again. “You should probably change your emergency contact.”

“I’ll get right on that.”

He takes another step. “Not today, though. You shouldn’t be doing any reading. Or screens. With the concussion.”

“I’ll do my best to not go to the ER until I have a chance to change my emergency contact information.”

Rob smiles. Tries to, anyway. It’s rough. He lets it fall with a sigh. He looks at her, not how he usually does, how he used to, like she hung the moon for him. It’s mostly sad. “I should go.” He starts to turn to the door.

It’s definitely colder with him a few feet away and getting farther. “You don’t have to leave,” she blurts.

He stops. Turns back to her. “Do you really want me to stay?”

“Yeah,” she says without hesitating, voice small.

He considers her. “These are some very mixed signals you’re giving me, Sarah Marie.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just—” Just she still doesn’t really remember why she left him? Vaguely knows she felt like she had to but has lost the conviction she had to have had before that it was the right move, for both of them. “Just I’m not supposed to be alone, right? And I’ll probably be fine, I know I said that and this is weird and awkward and I don’t like that it’s weird and awkward between us but also what if something happens and—”

“I know,” Rob interrupts her softly. “I was worrying about something happening before Jake got here, too.”

[WRITE BLAH]

“Rob?” Sarah calls.

“Here.” His voice comes softly from just the other side of the closed door. Low down, like he’s sitting on the floor.

“Oh. Just… checking.”

He hums. “Gotta make sure you don’t drown in your bath.”

Sarah splashes in the tub a little. Gently washes the dirt and blood and hospital smells from her body as well as she can around the swimsuit, careful around her wrist. She brings the washcloth up to wash her face and—

“Don’t get the stitches wet,” Rob reminds from behind the closed door.

“Right,” she agrees with a smile. He knows her so well. She shakes her head. To herself, she mutters, “Why did I break up with you?” It comes out louder than she means it to.

A sad laugh comes from Rob. “That’s a good question.”

“I didn’t tell you?”

“Not really. Just… a little bit of a bumpy week and then you said it would be better if we took some space from each other and that you’ve had a wonderful time with me but you weren’t sure it was going to work out, so you wanted to save me the heartbreak. And then you walked away.”

He says it readily, the words rolling off his tongue. It’s something he’s said a lot, or at least thought about. The words are familiar to Sarah, too. She doesn’t really remember saying them to Rob, but she remembers thinking them. Twisting and agonizing over them in the days before. Trying to sort through her feelings and then trying to find the right words so she wouldn’t hurt him.

“Did it work? Did I save you some heartbreak?”

“I have a beard, Sarah.”

“…and it looks nice.”

He huffs another laugh. “It’s what men do when they’re heartbroken, right? They grow a beard. Or shave it off if they had one.”

When they’re heartbroken. Sarah swallows. “Women usually chop all their hair off. Or dye it a crazy color.”

“I see yours is still long and brown.”

She reaches up to pull at a lock falling down her shoulder. “Yeah,” she mumbles. Louder, she asks, “Have you ever had a beard before?”

A pause. “No.”

Sarah wants it to be just a comment on that he’s never grown a beard out before but it’s Rob so he’s saying he’s never been heartbroken before. She pretends like she interpreted it wrong, took it the first way. “You think you’re going to keep it?”

“Don’t know.” There’s a pause and then he adds, “It’s kind of grown on me.” There’s a small smile in his voice for the intended pun.

Sarah laughs. It dies quickly. “I keep thinking about it and I just… I can’t remember why I was so sure I needed to break up with you.”

“Well, your brain is bruised so maybe let’s save these thoughts and conversation for later,” Rob says mildly, although his voice is a little tight.

“Yeah,” she allows, but then can’t let it just end there. She needs Rob to understand. What, she hasn’t figured out but it presses on her, weighs at her heart. “But I love you and—”

“Sarah. Please,” he cuts her off, pained now. “If you want to still have this discussion in a week when your brain is up and running again, please call me. But I’m not doing this when you have a concussion.”

“Right.”

She hears him take a deep breath in and out. She does the same. It makes her side ache, where she apparently landed after flying off her bike.

“You’re just… too nice,” Sarah blurts.

There’s a pointed pause from Rob’s side of the door and the sound of him shifting his weight against it. “You… you broke up with me because I’m too nice?”

“No! It’s more… you’re so…” She flails for a word to encapsulate what she’s trying to say to him. “Midwestern!”

“You broke up with me because I’m from Iowa?” His voice has hardened, frustration and hurt bleeding into it.

“No, Rob! It’s—I’m not saying it right! You’re a lot, though. Can be a lot. In a good way!” He scoffs. She’s just hurting him more. “I mean,” she rushes to try and clarify, “you’re just always there! For example, you’re here, now. After I broke up with you! Taking care of me.”

“I didn’t realize that was a bad thing. You’re hurt. You wanted me to stay.”

“It’s not coming out right!” She sniffles and reaches up to wipe at her eyes. Her head is pounding.

There’s a heavy pause. “This is just a really awful ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ that you’re giving me, right?”

“Yeah.” It really is. “I love—”

“Sarah. I can’t—I was right before. I’m not having this conversation with you when you’re concussed. If you still feel this way in a week, please call me and we’ll talk. I promise. If you don’t… I can’t do this again. Get my hopes up. So, when you’re better and if you feel like you made the right choice in ending us, just let it go. Don’t talk to me. At least give me a clean break. At least give me that.”

She nods, not that he can see her. “That sounds fair.”

It’s quiet as Sarah sits in the tub. She hears Rob get up and move around the apartment. The water grows cold.

#i can't believe i went from writing emotionally angsty tua fics #to romcoms for my homemade blorbos #why have violent time travel problems when you can have cliche miscommunication in relationships lol #for the record #rob knew he was going to marry sarah from Day 1 #and sarah realized she was probably going to marry him a year and a half in and immediately panicked and broke up with him #i should have a rob tag #sarah #ficblogging #snips

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magicalyaku · 5 months

Text

Happy new year! After the slump of the previous months and my last artist alley of the year, I finally had a lot to read in December! I bought so many books in November, I had to get at least through a few in order to include them in my yearly awards. xD Work was still shit but reading was fun again. :D

Dark Heir (Dark Rise 2) (C.S. Pacat): This was my last book of 2023 and easily my most anticipated. And did it deliver! Left me emotionally devastated for days! xD Seriously, I don't want to know what my neighbors thought what was going on, in case they heard me going "Aaah! No! No no no nooooo! Kya! NOOOO!!" during two certain scenes. /D The nice thing about this series is that I have absolute faith in Pacat's ability to write it well und give me an outcome I am satisfied with. I mean, go look at Captive Prince. The way the relationship between Damen and Laurent develops (even after MAJOR shit going on between them!), the political threads and all that, it's just done very well. And now, here's the Dark Rise series and I sit and watch the spiral of doom the characters are caught up in it and apart from maybe Sinclair not a single one of them is fully good or bad. And it's sooo interesting (and emotionally devastating)!! Hng!! I would actually like to write much more about what I loved and suffered through, like the whole thing with the Visander situation and how Sarcean made all of his worst enemies because he just couldn't keep it in his pants. And James. James. And Cyprian! And everything. But I can't because whenever I try I still feel the excited giggles in my brain and can't have a coherent thought. It's great, but also ... Hnggg!!

The First and Last Adventure of Kit Sawyer (S.E. Harmon): This was fun! At some point early on I looked up what other books the author has written and it's more than ten and I thought "Yes! It feels like being written by someone with a lot of writing experience!" There's just something about the liveliness of the characters and the dialogues. Also so much adventure with a slightly different flavor than usual being set in the jungle and all, I loved it.

By any other Name (Erin Cotter): I wonder why all of my historical fiction books are set in England. This is another highly adventurous story. I was a bit surprised as one thing that's mentioned in the summary already only appears like after half the book. But other than that it was pretty good. It has spies and theatre and pretty nice characters. And I did not anticipate everything that happened which is good!

Wren Martin Ruins it all (Amanda deWitt): The author's previous book Aces Wild: A Heist was one of my top books in 2022, this one does not quite reach those heights but it was still very good and very enjoyable. Wren is such a messy and fun character. As reader I absolutely knew what was going on and who was writing with whom but it was nice to follow the characters' path to awareness. In a way Wren's aceness is not as heavy as in other books (see the next one for instance) but at the same time it deals with a few of the social issues a_spec people are faced with which was nice.

Just Lizzie (Karen Wilfrid): This is a middle grade book about a girl coming to terms with being ace. The heroine has a really nice character arc. And the other characters are sometimes what you expect them to be and sometimes they are not. And maybe … that's ok, right? And I loved it and I cried through half of the book. I guess, it hit home a little more heavily than I expected. :'D (Like that one time where Lizzie is wondering how she will spent Christmas when her parents aren't around anymore? Haaa. It had just been Christmas when I read this and I'm in my 30ies and my Dad is above 70 now so that is a concern I actually have, you know. It's not nice to be reminded. :'D) It's a really good book, I think, thoughtful and well put together and empowering, too.

A Hundred Vicious Turns (The Broken Tower 1) (Lee Page O'brien): Now this was difficult. The cover is gorgeous. Easily my favorite one this year. I only lament that there's no real gold printed. The wasted opportunity. yAy The content is … difficult. I like the story on a whole. The premise and the magic system are really interesting. The characters … were interesting as well? They're fine, their motivations are not easily seen which, in a plot full of mysteries, is actually quite okay. I just didn't build the emotional connection. There's also a lot of anxiety, especially on Rat's part. There was one bit in the writing style that irked me a little. The overuse of pronouns. Because Rat was the only one with 'they' and in most scenes it was only one other person with them, so there often really long stretches where only the pronouns would be used instead of the names. It wa snot confusing because you could easily tell the characters apart, but it felt weird. I'm very used to reading the names a lot. Oh well. It's not a fun read, but it is intruiging and I will read the next volume to see where it goes.

A Magic Steeped in Poison (The Book of Tea 1) (Judy I. Lin): I managed to squeeze in a YA heroine inbetween all the gay boys! And I liked it better than most other female-led YA fantasies I read recently. Doesn't mean I loved it, but Ning was pretty okay as a heroine. The thing is, the circumstances under which I started this book weren't the best and that probabbly reflected on the whole experience. I picked up the German audiobook for a very long bus trip, but listened to it only later while doing some hours of very boring tedious work. The audiobook itself was okay, except that the reader could not decide how to pronounce some names. For instance, Kang was Kong first, then Kuang before she settled on Kang. And that kind of thing drives me mad. How am I to connect with a character when I am left this uncertain how their name is?! The German translation also decided to leave some of the names in English (especially the teas) which in my opinion doesn't make sense because why would the teas in Fantasy-China have English names when everything else is either translated into German or left Chinese? D: I couldn't stand it and finally switched to my printed edition (in English). /D It got better from there, but it's hard to forget the echo. As for the story, I don't really like court intrigues. Cruelty and injustice are just things I really struggle with to read about. (They make me angry and I don't want to be angry at my books.) But it never tipped over the edge into annoying area. I have the sequel at home as well, so I'll it. The covers are beautiful after all.

That was 2023! Next up is my big Best and Worst award ceremony! uAu~

#yaku reads #books #queer books #lgbtq books #queer lit #bookblr #the first and last adventure of kit sawyer #dark heir #a hundred vicious turns #just lizzie #wren martin ruins it all #a magic steeped in poison #by any other name #look at all these pretty covers

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