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rippeanuts1950-2000 · 9 months ago

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i hate u i love u

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Chapter 3)

He never flirted with her first.

Oh sure, Corey flirted with her on a daily basis but that was when she was winning an argument, not because she was just minding her own business. What is his deal? Is he trying to get her to let her guard down? Well tough luck, he lost that privilege three years ago.

These are the thoughts running through Laney’s head as she does stock check in the back. Remind her again why she took this job? It is a miracle enough that she got hired, considering her history with Corey but a part of her wonders why she still took it even though she doesn’t hang out with Corey anymore.

Mostly she knows it was for nostalgia. This shop was where she got her first bass. She remembers how six year old her held Corey’s hand as they tried to find the perfect instrument for her. Mr Riffin was so patient with them, especially Corey because he kept pointing out instruments that he thought looked cool to Laney.

(“We have to find you the coolest instrument, Lanes.” He had said. “Why Core?” Laney had asked. “Because you’re the coolest person I know!” Corey had answered. She’s pretty sure that after that moment she gained her crush on Corey.)

Laney shakes her head of the memory. It’s weird to think about it, the time before Grojband. Before they stopped being friends. The inner child in her misses it.

Whatever, what’s done is done.

Speaking of things being done, she’s almost done noting down stock which means she’s gonna have to face Corey again. Sometimes she wonders what would happen if she quit.

*****

“That was fast.” Corey says when she steps out to the front. “We don’t have much stuff in the back.” Laney responds, refusing to look at him. “Did you finish what I asked you to do?” Corey nervously scratches the back of his neck. “So the funny thing is, I didn’t do that. Instead I wrote more lyrics to my song.” He answers. Laney scoffs. Well at least he didn’t try to lie to her.

“So the one time I need you to NOT write lyrics, you end up writing lyrics.” She snaps. Corey throws his hands up in a “so sue me” kind of way. “The words started flowing and my inspiration was going wild!” He argues. For some reason, his words make Laney want to yell at him more. “But you couldn’t have that when I was still part of the band?” She says bitterly. Honestly this sort of thing shouldn’t affect her as much as it does. But the fact that he started taking writing lyrics seriously and actually stopped relying on the diary after she left has always left a bad taste in her mouth.

Corey glares at her. “Oh this again? For the last time, I didn’t have inspiration back then! I was thirteen, stupid, and wanted our band to get big so that I could share our music with the world!” He exclaims.

Laney slams her hands down on the register counter. “And what changed? Cause last I checked you did have inspiration from Trina’s diary entries. How do you have inspiration now all of a sudden?” She’s screaming at Corey at this point but honestly she doesn’t care. “I just do okay!” Corey says, crossing his arms. “Oh my god, could you give me an actual reason instead of that? You do this everytime I ask!” She snaps. Corey stomps over to the register, looking ready to yell at her like a mad man. Good, cause Laney will yell right back. “Did it ever occur to you that you leaving might have been my inspiration? Now that I don’t have you breathing down my neck about lyrics every five seconds, I know how to write lyrics without the diary.” He answers, and even though he’s not yelling Laney can sense the anger in his voice.

Laney shoves him away from her. At some point since he got over to the cash register he had somehow managed to get in her face. “I only lectured you so much about lyrics because you never tried hard enough to write GOOD lyrics on your own and you ALWAYS relied on Trina’s diary. And then like two minutes before we had to perform, you always made us drop everything to steal the stupid diary despite the fact I always told you to do it ahead of time. If anything, I was the reason we got anything done.” She growls, jabbing a finger against his chest. Corey scowls. “You held us back!” He yells. Laney freezes.

Did he just?

Oh this dumbass.

“I held the band back? Riffin, that is the biggest load of bull shit that has ever come out of your mouth. I’m the reason why Grojband fucking exists. I was the one who told you we should start a band. I was the one who asked Kin and Kon to join because you were scared they would say no despite the fact that we had been taking music classes with them since we were seven. I was the one who booked us our first gig. I was the one who helped you come up with the name! What did you do? Write bad lyrics and criticize me when I had valid objections. Held the band back, my ass. If anything, that was you!” Laney screams. Thank god Mr Riffin wasn’t in the shop that moment, she would have been fired for sure.

“Lanes, I-” Corey tries to say something but Laney cuts him off. “Shut up, I don’t want to hear it. And you lost the right to call me Lanes three years ago.” She says, ducking down and pulling her headphones and her lyrics folder out her backpack. She crams the headphones over her head, turns on Paramore, and pulls out the lyrics for i hate u, i love u. It’s been way too long since she last worked on it.

Out of the corner of her eye Laney can see Corey watching her as she writes, an apologetic look on his face. He sees her looking at him apparently, because after a few seconds of subtly glancing at him, he mouths “I’m sorry.” at her.

Whatever, what’s done is done and she’s gonna make sure the Newmans win the Battle Of The Bands.

*****

“What did you do?”

Corey glances haphazardly at Kin who is currently trying to play god with fusing genes or something at his little office space in Corey’s garage. Honestly Corey’s not even sure he cares to know what he’s doing after how he acted yesterday. “A lot of things.” Corey mumbles, rolling over on the couch. Kon, who is chilling on the floor in front of the couch eating cheese and chips for some reason, hands him a bag of chips. “Did Laney reject the Battle Of The Bands bet?” He asks. Corey takes the bag unceremoniously. “Nope, she said yes.” Corey says.

Kin lifts up his goggles and swivels his chair towards him. “How'd you mess up with her this time?” He asks, pulling out a notepad and a pen, ready to take notes on his friend’s issue. Sometimes Corey thinks Kin is convinced he’s a mad scientist/licensed therapist. Only one of those things is true. Unfortunately for Corey, he can not afford a real therapist so Kin is all he’s got.

“Let’s see, not only did I flirt with her unprompted, the next thing I did after flirting with her was get into an argument with her. And what does my brilliant brain decide to say when I’m losing the argument? That she held the band back.” Corey lists off. Kon starts gagging on a piece of cheese he had been eating while Kin’s pen explodes because he’s gripping it too tightly.

“YOU TOLD HER WHAT?!?” The twins scream at him. Kin grabs Corey by the shoulders and starts shaking him. “Corey, you idiot! Laney was the original heart and soul of Grojband! Without her we almost fell apart, don’t you remember?” Kin rants. If Corey wasn’t being manhandled by him, he would have yelled at Kin.

Of course he remembers, he almost broke the band up because of it. Making music without Lanes sucked. He never thought he would miss her constant reminders to start writing lyrics soon or they were gonna be in deep trouble, but he did. Kin and Kon were great but he had known Laney since they were in kindergarten. She was the first person to believe in him outside of his dad and Trina(back when she was Katrina and not Trina). If it hadn’t been for Kin and Kon telling him that they should at least try and make music without Lanes did he realize that breaking the band up was a stupid idea. Now the band is as strong as it was before, just missing a bass player. Both in reality and in their hearts.

“I know, it was stupid and dumb and I regret every word I said. Except for the flirting, that I stand by.” Corey says, once Kin has stopped shaking him. Kon groans. “Corey, that’s not the point. You still said it and that probably lowered her opinion of us, again.” He says, shaking his head in disappointment. “If you love her, why do you act like this?”

Corey opens his mouth to argue but then closes it. “I…I don’t know.” He admits. This snaps Kin back from his quiet ramblings about blue haired idiots. He picks up his notepad and gets a new pen from out of his pocket. “Let’s dig deeper into that, shall we? Now I understand you and Miss Penn had been friends for years before the incident in 9th grade.” He says, tapping the pen on his pad. “Yes, Kin, we were. Why are you acting like this is something you don’t know?” Corey grouses.

“Restating it allows me to understand your mind a bit more which will make it easier for me to excavate it. Anyway, before the incident in 9th grade did you realize your feelings about Ms Penn?” Kin asks, waving Corey off. “No, it wasn’t until after she left did I even start to think about feeling that way towards her.” Corey says, picking at his nails. He really needs to repaint them. “Good, good. So when she left the band and stopped being your best friend, did it feel like a break up?” Kin continues. “Dude, you know he felt like it was a break up. We had to drag Corey out of his room because of how bad it got.” Kon cuts in. “Ugh, Kon you just ruined my dramatic ‘this is why you act this way’ speech! Thanks a lot.” Kin replies tersely.

“Your what now?” Corey tries to ask before Kin shushes him. “What I was going to ask after the break up question was going to be some questions about the Ewmans and how you felt after she made friends with them. But since that’s ruined, I’ll just get straight to the point. Corey, you subconsciously want Laney to hurt the way you did when she stopped being your best friend. In order to do that you hurt her verbally in hopes that she’ll feel the way you felt back then.” Kin explains.

Corey blinks. That explains so much. “So how do I stop acting like this?” He asks. Kin shrugs. “I don’t know, unfortunately. I could figure it out by doing some brain scans. And possibly going into your mind and switching around a few things.” He suggests. Corey immediately shields his head. “No we’re not doing that!” He exclaims.

“Calm down, it was just a suggestion.” Kin says, as if Corey’s reaction is unjustified. Corey lets out a sigh. “Kon, what do you think I should do?” He asks. Kon raises an eyebrow. “I think it’s pretty obvious. Stop being a dick and stop flirting with her when she’s clearly not into you anymore.” He says. “But flirting with her is so fun!” Corey whines. “Well stop doing it because you always do it after you’ve been a dick to her.” Kon says, rolling his eyes. “It’s not rocket science, Corey.”

“So I should just leave her be until the Battle Of The Bands?” Corey asks. “I mean that wasn’t what I was suggesting but that does kind of sound somewhat of a good idea.” Kon says. “He’s right, it’ll probably make Laney feel better about having to leave the Ewmans for a month to hang out with us. Which will increase the odds of her joining us permanently.” Kin says, scribbling down some complicated math equation that apparently connects with Laney. “And that’s what I want to happen.” Corey murmurs. Kin and Kon pat him on the back. “That’s what we all want to happen buddy.” Kin says quietly. “So don’t mess it up for us.” Kon teases.

Corey grins. “I’ll do my best. Now let’s get practicing, we can’t get Laney back if we’re not good enough. ”

WE ARE SO BACK! So sorry about how late this is and that it’s short and probably not my best work. I’ve started writing the next chapter so hopefully the next wait won’t be so long. Let me know what you think and as always my asks open if you’re confused about something! I’ll see you next time, bye for now!

#grojband #corey riffin #grojband au #laney penn #corney #kin kujira #kon kujira #corey x laney

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gffa · 5 years ago

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark, coming August 25, promises to be a beautiful tribute to the just-completed animated series. The anthology will collect 11 stories by 11 authors — Lou Anders, Preeti Chhibber, Zoraida Córdova, Jason Fry, Rebecca Roanhorse, Greg Van Eekhout, Tom Angleberger, E. Anne Convery, Sarah Beth Durst, Yoon Ha Lee, and Anne Ursu — including 10 retellings of memorable episodes and arcs and one original Nightsisters-based story. So if you loved the tales of Ahsoka, Maul, and clanker-busting clones, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark will give you the chance to experience them again in a whole new way. Like Captain Rex on a recon mission, StarWars.com reached out to each author to learn why they love The Clone Wars, and which stories they’re telling. Lou Anders (“Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General,” based on the episodes of the same name): I love The Clone Wars for expanding the story of Anakin’s fall from grace. Skywalker really shines in the series, and we see what he truly was, and what he could have been, and by giving him so many opportunities to excel in the early season, his ultimate fate is that much more tragic. I also love the series for gifting us my all-time favorite Star Wars character, and one of my favorite characters from any universe — Hondo Ohnaka! My chapter is a retelling of the first season story arc that plays out across the episodes “Dooku Captured” and “The Gungan General.” I wanted to explore this storyline because I find Count Dooku a fascinating character. Sometimes pure, mustache-twirling, mwa-ha-ha evil can actually be boring to write, but a villain who feels they are justified, either because of perceived slights or intellectual superiority or the failure of their rivals or birthright are much more interesting, and Dooku is a bit of all of this. For research, I obviously watched tons of Clone Wars. But I also read up on everything about Dooku I could find, and I listened to Christopher Lee and Corey Burton’s interpretation of the character over and over, trying to internalize their speech patterns. Dooku is so gorgeously supercilious. It was just a blast to get in his head and see the world from his perspective. (And the fact that the storyline gave me another chance to write for my beloved Hondo Ohnaka was an added bonus!) Tom Angleberger (“Bane’s Story,” based on the episodes “Deception,” “Friends and Enemies,” “The Box,” and “Crisis on Naboo”): There’s a lot to love in The Clone Wars, but I think it’s Ahsoka’s arc that really stands out the most. Ventress’s arc does, too, and the way that these arcs cross at the just the right moment is really great Star Wars! My chapter is based on the “Crisis on Naboo” story arc. It’s basically a Space Western. The baddest bounty hunter of them all, Cad Bane, is hired to kidnap the Chancellor. What he doesn’t know is that almost everyone is lying to him, especially a fellow bounty hunter who is really Obi-Wan in disguise. In the TV version, we see it all from Obi-Wan’s point of view, so we know that Bane is getting played. In this retelling, we see it all from Bane’s point of view and, boy, is he going to be mad! To prepare I watched both The Clone Wars AND old spaghetti Westerns starring Bane’s inspiration: Lee Van Cleef. Preeti Chhibber (“Hostage Crisis,” based on the episode of the same name): I love the story that the prequels tell, but because of the nature of what they were trying to do — tell a decade and a half worth of story in three films — we’re missing major moments in what the war really means to the galaxy at large, and in the Skywalker saga itself. The Clone Wars tells us that part of the narrative, it gives us the shape of what entire populations of people had to go through because of this war manufactured by the ultimate evil. And within that scope gives us the hope and love and beautiful tragedy we associate with Star Wars on a larger scale. (Also, Ahsoka Tano — The Clone Wars gave us Ahsoka Tano and for that I will be ever grateful.) I’m writing Anakin’s story during “Hostage Crisis” — an episode in the first season of The Clone Wars. I decided to write the story entirely from Anakin’s perspective, which meant being inside his head before the fall, but where we are starting to see more of the warning signs. And then there’s also the romance of this episode! Anakin’s love for Padmé is real and all-consuming and, as we eventually find out, unhealthy. So, this is a romantic episode, but one that shows us Anakin is ruled by his heart. And that that’s a dangerous thing for a Jedi. In order to best wrap my own head around what was going on, I watched the episode itself several times, and read the script, and then I watched the chronological episodes of Anakin’s run-ins with Cad Bane, so I could get a real feel for where he was with his understanding of Bane’s character. E. Anne Convery (“Bug,” based on the episode “Massacre”): I love it because I think it’s a story that manages, while still being a satisfying adventure, to not glorify war. It does this mainly by following through on the arcs of wonderful, terrifying, funny, fallible, and diverse characters. From the personal to the political, The Clone Warsredefines the ways, big and small, that we can be heroes. My chapter is the “original” tale, though it still touches on The Clone Wars Season Four episode “Massacre,” with brief appearances by Mother Talzin and Old Daka. If I had to boil it down, I’d say that it’s a story about mothers and daughters. Honestly, it felt a little like cheating, because writing new characters meant I got to be creative in the Star Wars universe somewhat unencumbered by what’s come before. I did, however, have several long text chats with Sam Witwer because I was interested in Talzin’s motivations. We talked about stuff like her capacity (or lack thereof) for love. I think I came away thinking she was more a creature driven by issues of power, control, and the desire for revenge, whereas Sam was a little kinder to her. I mean, he is her “son,” so you can’t really blame him for wanting to think better of her! I always love a story within a story, and I was interested in the space where the high mythology of Star Wars and the home-spun mythology of fairy tales could intersect. I drew on my own background in mythology, psychology, and the language of fairy tales, plus I did my Star Wars research. Re-watching the Nightsisters episodes was just plain fun. Zoraida Córdova (“The Lost Nightsister,” based on the episode “Bounty”): The Clone Wars deepens the characters we already love. It gives us the opportunity to explore the galaxy over a longer period of time and see the fight between the light and the dark side. Star Wars is about family, love, and hope. It’s also incredibly funny and that’s something that The Clone Wars does spectacularly. We also get to spend more time with characters we only see for a little bit in the movies like Boba Fett, Bossk, Darth Maul! My chapter follows Ventress after she’s experienced a brutal defeat. Spoiler alert: she’s witnessed the death of her sisters. Now she’s on Tatooine and in a rut. She gets mixed up with a bounty hunter crew led by Boba Fett. Ventress’s story is about how she goes from being lost to remembering how badass she is. I watched several episodes with her in it, but I watched “Bounty” about 50 times. Sarah Beth Durst (“Almost a Jedi,” based on the episode “A Necessary Bond”): I spent a large chunk of my childhood pretending I was training to become a Jedi Knight, even though I’d never seen a girl with a lightsaber before. And then The Clone Wars came along and gave me Ahsoka with not one but TWO lightsabers, as well as a role in the story that broadened and deepened the tale of Anakin’s fall and the fall of the Jedi. So I jumped at the chance to write about her for this anthology. In my story, I wrote about Ahsoka Tano from the point of view of Katooni, one of the Jedi younglings who Ahsoka escorts on a quest to assemble their first lightsabers, and it was one of the most fun writing experiences I’ve ever had! I watched the episode, “A Necessary Bond,” over and over, frame by frame, studying the characters and trying to imagine the world, the events, and Ahsoka herself through Katooni’s eyes. The episode shows you the story; I wanted to show you what it feels like to be inside the story. Greg van Eekhout (“Kenobi’s Shadow,” based on the episode “The Lawless”): What I most love about Clone Wars is how we really get to know the characters deeply and see them grow and change. I enjoyed writing a couple of short scenes between Obi-Wan and Anakin that weren’t in the episode. I wanted to highlight their closeness as friends and show that Anakin’s not the only Jedi who struggles with the dark side. There’s a crucial moment in my story when Obi-Wan is close to giving into his anger and has to make a choice: Strike out in violence or rise above it. It’s always fun to push characters to extremes and see how they react. Jason Fry (“Sharing the Same Face,” based on the episode “Ambush”): I love The Clone Wars because it made already beloved characters even richer and deepened the fascinating lore around the Jedi and the Force. I chose Yoda and the clones because the moment where Yoda rejects the idea that they’re all identical was one of the first moments in the show where I sat upright and said to myself, “Something amazing is happening here.” You get the entire tragedy of the Clone Wars right in that one quick exchange — the unwise bargain the Jedi have struck, Yoda’s compassion for the soldiers and insistence that they have worth, the clones’ gratitude for that, and how that gratitude is undercut by their powerlessness to avoid the fate that’s been literally hard-wired into them. Plus, though I’ve written a lot of Star Wars tales, I’d never had the chance to get inside Yoda’s head. That had been on my bucket list! Yoon Ha Lee (“The Shadow of Umbara,” based on the episodes “Darkness on Umbara,” “The General,” “Plan of Dissent,” and “Carnage of Krell”): I remember the first time I watched the “Umbara arc” — I was shocked that a war story this emotionally devastating was aired on a kids’ show. But then, kids deserve heartfelt, emotionally devastating stories, too. It was a pleasure to revisit the episodes and figure out how to retell them from Rex’s viewpoint in a compact way. I have so much respect for the original episodes’ writer, Matt Michnovetz — I felt like a butcher myself taking apart the work like this! Rebecca Roanhorse (“Dark Vengeance,” based on the episode “Brothers”): I always love a backstory and Clone Wars was the backstory that then became a rich and exciting story all its own. The writing and character development is outstanding and really sucks you into the world. I chose to write the two chapters that reintroduce Darth Maul to the world. We find him broken and mentally unstable, not knowing his own name but obsessed with revenge against Obi-Wan and we get to see him rebuild himself into a cruel, calculating, and brilliant villain. It was so much fun to write and I hope readers enjoy it. Anne Ursu (“Pursuit of Peace,” based on the episode “Heroes on Both Sides”): The Clone Wars creates a space for terrific character development. The attention paid to the relationships between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and Anakin and Ahsoka make for really wonderful and resonant stories, and give so much depth to the whole universe. I was at first a little scared to write Padmé, as her character felt pretty two dimensional to me. But the more I watched her episodes in Clone Wars, the more dimension she took on. She’s such an interesting character — she’s both idealistic and realistic, so when corruption runs rampant in the Senate she doesn’t get disillusioned, she just fights harder. She has an ability to deal with nuance in a way that is rare in the Republic — and it means she’s not afraid to bend a few laws to make things right. In this chapter, the Senate is about to deregulate the banks in order to fund more troops, and Padmé decides to take matters into her own hand and sneak into Separatist territory in order to start peace negotiations. Of course, neither Dooku nor the corrupt clans of the Republic are going to allow for this to happen, so the threats to the peace process, the Republic, and Padmé’s life only grow. This arc is the perfect distillation of Padmé’s character, and it made getting into her head for it fairly simple. But I did watch all the Padmé Clone Wars episodes and read E.K. Johnston’s book about her, as well as Thrawn: Alliances, in which she has a major storyline. I really loved writing her. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Stories of Light and Dark arrives August 25 and is available for pre-order now.

#obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #asajj ventress #ahsoka tano #katooni #yoda #captain rex #darth maul #novels #news #long post

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backhurtyy · 5 years ago

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the original was getting really long so i made a new one, but i was tagged in a positivity tag game by @sokka-with-his-hair-down 💖

so yeah. rules are to just tag as many people as you want and say something nice about them

so first of all lizzie, who tagged me.... i love her sm. she’s so funny, and her art is absolutely AMAZING. also a fellow jinzula shipper, so that’s super snazzy. she’s so sweet and kind and just.... quality content. 10/10 friend to have!

@zukkababey rachel is like. easily one of the coolest people. she’s so so so sweet and like. her writing is SO GOOD. i am constantly thinking about her fics. and like.... she lets me scream at her about music and stuff all the time which is awesome.... very glad to be able to say we are friends.

@appadripdrip soph is absolutely HILARIOUS you don’t even understand. the things that they send in discord.... i am usually losing my shit over it. a croc wearing icon. also they stan my dog so 182791973736192029/10. actually though.... love soph and doing album listen throughs and spamming the server and stuff.

@phroggalicious we all know sunny and i share a braincell. the coolest individual ever. music taste is 1928363638292990/10. the phrog tag gives me so much serotonin. sometimes idk what the hell she is talking about but.... i love it. lemming mom!suki supremacy

@zukkaclawthorne omg another brilliant writer AND jinzula shipper... watch the minutes go is SUCH a good fic and i am absolutely OBSESSED. grace has it all. a huge brain. hot takes. quality content. is a very kind person. 10/10 as well.

@that-was-anticlimactic corey is SO big brained.... i love literally everything she writes and she’s just. so cool and so kind and so wonderful. we haven’t really been mutuals all that long but she’s so fun to talk to and just. yeah.

@twigbender okay sam is one of my betas for the zukka big bang and just. she is so big brained and has already made my fic 1000000x better with her suggestions and stuff. im so so so so grateful for her. also she wrote SUCH a cute yueki fic, so y’all should definitely check it out.

and to all my other followers/mutuals, i appreciate you all too! even if we don’t talk regularly or anything, being on this site and seeing you in the notes or your posts come across my dash always makes me smile.

as always, no need to participate if you don’t want to.... just want y’all to know i appreciate you!

#love y’all! happy to have carved out my little space on tumbgle with you :)#tag game #zukosaturtle duck speaks #long post

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scribhneoir-sidhe · 4 years ago

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so i recognize that this is. a lot. but,,,, 6, 8, 14, 22, 25, 28, 33, 35, 37, 50, 55, 60, 63, 66, 69, 77, 86, 91, 104, and 122? :)

0_0

Oh thank you, this is a gift

Okay, here we go!

6 (a book with a pink cover) : I'm gonna cheat a bit because only part of the cover is pink but Wild Beauty by Anna Marie McLemore is one of my FAVORITE books, so I don't mind bending the rules. Five bisexual latina cousins all crushing on the same girl, magical realism, and a very good application of social messaging to the themes. I won't say more than that, but really go give it a look!! also my copy is signed Viva México by the author so that makes me love it more

8 (a book you finished in one sitting) : Okay, a couple years ago when Tiamat's Wrath by James S. A. Corey (book 8 of the Expanse series) came out, I started reading it at breakfast in the dining hall, continued during basically all of my classes, and then finished it sometime around 10 or 11 that night (I think). For reference, a quick google tells me that book is about 166,500 words. And I loved EVERY minute of it!

14 (a book that made you trip on literary acid) : Okay, that has definitely got to be Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Just. All Of It. God, she does some really fantastic things with narrative mechanics in that book, plus just the sheer brilliance of the plot and the mountain of questions and theories I had once I finished it. Also the memes. The memes made me trip literary acid.

22 (your favorite thriller) : Okay, I think I've literally only read one thriller (if it counts, I'm not sure), but The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I'm cheating since it's still fantasy, but I had a limited pool of options.

25 (a book by your favorite author) : Okay, so I tend to like books or series more than author's specifically easier to like a work of fiction than a person but I'm gonna go with The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. I grew up reading his books and I've definitely taken a lot from his writing for my own style, and I still love the Hobbit.

28 (a book you wish you could read as a beginner again) : Oooh this is a really interesting one. I think I'd say Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner. I can’t remember when I first read it but it’s a middle grade story all about defying authority and escaping corrupt systems. I really need to reread it at some point.

33 (a book with a white cover) : The Weight of Feathers by Anna Marie McLemore! (can you tell I like their writing?). Star crossed lovers of two performing families with magical realism threaded through the narrative! Really fun read and I always appreciate latine characters. There's also Roma representation as well!

35 (a book featuring the found family trope) : I'm gonna attempt to not read any well beaten paths, so I'll say Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey, the second book of the Expanse series (okay that's technically a well beaten path, sue me). A lot of the book is the main characters figuring out their group dynamic and challenging each other to be better and it's just so goooooood!

37 (your favorite heist book) : I mean, what else could I put here? Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, hands down. Narrowly beats out Six of Crows, only because it has more cons, more emotions, and also Nikolai Lantsov. I'll never get tired of that book.

50 (a book that made you cry a lot) : oh boy, I could say Crooked Kingdom again, that’d be true. But instead I’ll say Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey (I read a lot of series, sue me. Also that series is gonna be 9 books long by the end, there’s a lot of material). Anyway I won’t say why I cried, it’s a spoiler, but oh man. I weeped.

55 (a book with a satisfying ending) : The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty! I really liked how it ended, it placed a lot of focus on the platonic relationships, it left a lot of plot open ended so it felt like the world was still alive, and it showed the main character as being in a position of power while still retaining the subversive and roguish qualities from the start of the series that I loved.

60 (a book that you think about at 3am) : The Empire of Bones by N.D. Wilson. This is the 3rd book in my favorite series, the Ashtown burials and just….. wow there is so much. It has so much depth to it while still being about a 13 year old standing up to a cadre of ancient death and pain gods. It has one of the most beautiful monologues I’ve ever read and that shaped my understanding of compassion and heroism. It has an orange mohakwed Irish monk.

63 (a book that actually made you laugh out loud) : I knew it would make it on the list somewhere but GIDEON THE NINTH BY TAMSYN MUIR. God this book was funny! I won’t spoil any of the jokes, but Gideon is a sarcastic little shit and I love all of her banter with Harrow and the rest of the characters get plenty of cracks in as well.

66 (a book that fucked you up) : oh boy The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. This book had some visceral shit in it. Like, not exactly in a bad way, its not a game of thrones situation, but stuff that made my fucking skin crawl. Very good book, I heartily recommend.

69 (your favorite mythological retelling) : I’m gonna go with Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. I first listened to it in audiobook form while on a road trip through the southwest and I really like coming back to it. Sort of reworks the original myth it borrows from, but in a really delightful and fun way.

77 (a book so useless you could use it as a coaster) : ATLAS SHRUGGED BY AYN RAND. Alright, I’ll be honest, I have not yet read this book. I probably will someday just to see how bad it really is. But from what I know about it I would rather get drop kicked off a roof than read that pile of self important, self centered ego circle jerking. In conclusion, I don’t like it.

86 (a book with an insane plot twist) : Okay a bunch of the really insane plot twisty ones I’ve already mentioned and I don’t want to do repeats, so I’m gonna bend the rules and say The Silent Bells by N.D. Wilson, fourth book of the Ashtown Burials series, a book that is not technically finished yet, it is being released serially in this really cool faux newspaper format. The plot twist is that this story ever got off the ground, because due to legal and publisher shenanigans the author wasn’t able to publish the book until 7 or 8 years after the last book came out. But he did! And I’m very happy!

91 (the shortest book you've read) : That would probably be Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman. It’s a really good book I read for an English class about a girl who crosses the US/Mexico border in search of her brother. It’s got a really interesting narrative style that I wasn’t used to and a really cool thematic structure related to the nahuatl journey to the underworld.

104 (a fluffy sweet read) : oh man, that’s tough, I don’t read a lot of fluffy things, even tho it’s what I prefer in my romances. Yeah, the closest I can get is Wild Beauty by Anna Marie McLemore again. (See the first question answered)

122 (your favorite winter read) : Hmmm I don’t necessarily have seasonal reads, but I’ll go with an old family classic The Christmas Mystery, which is about a boy who finds an advent calendar with little scraps of paper behind each door, telling the story of a little girl who in the process of chasing a lamb runs away to Bethlehem (and back in time) to the birth of Jesus, meeting angels and Shepards and other biblical figures. It’s a really sweet story and my family used to read each chapter every day of advent until Christmas Eve.

#COMPLETE #ho.ly.shit.#Jack thank you for that book workout #SNORT #that was an entire bookshelf #books #hope you like it!#long post

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rewritingthefictional · 6 years ago

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monet | colby brock

Summary: colby never looked at you as anything other than a best friend until all his friends started talking about how cute you were

Appearances: Sam Golbach, Katrina Stuart, Jake Webber, Aaron Doh, Corey Scherer, Kevin Langue, Aryia

A/N: this is my first colby brock imagine, well my first time in general at writing an imagine. i hope you guys like it. let me know what you think, or don’t, totally up to you. i am open to receiving requests but i can’t promise it’ll be done right away. anyway, enjoy, thank you!

Song: based off of See U in the Dark by Honor Society

Timeline/setting: still set in the traphouse

Word Count: 2.3k

Key: [Y/N/N] = Your Nickname

Female!Reader x Colby Brock

Masterlist

You were the best of friends. Like two peas in a pod. It was usually uncommon to see one without the other. Sure he had Sam, but their friendship was different from yours.

You were his [Y/N].

The person he would go to for girl advice. The one he went shopping with because "I know what would really get a girl to fall for you Colbs."

You were family. Someone Sam and Colby have known forever. Someone who went to their boys night sleepovers because you were the only girl who didn't scream during horror nights. You were the girl that punched Will Fisher in 6th grade because he was making fun of Sam and you just wouldn't let him get away with it. You were one of the guys.

It was like any other day when you weren't at work. You weren’t really into the whole YouTube thing but you supported anything that Sam and Colby did. When they had decided to move to California you didn't hesitate to jump at the chance to leave with them. You had decided to do it differently though. You transferred colleges, stayed on campus and found your own way around the city. The boys admired you for it, but mostly they just loved that they could keep you around.

You were in the backyard with Aryia, Corey, Sam, Kat, Kevin and Jake. It was a hot day in the summer sun and you liked to take advantage of the fact that Sam and Colby had a pool. It made you jealous sometimes. Your apartment barely had a kitchen and though Colby had asked you plenty of times to come live with them you couldn't deny you loved the feeling of independence in your small home.

"Colby, are you coming in with me?" you asked as you stood up from the chair.

"I will in a second, I'm kind of comfortable right now," he responded. You rolled your eyes but nodded anyway. You could feel the eyes on you as you pulled off your shirt.

"I'm offended you didn't ask me [Y/N],” Sam stated but you knew he was joking.

“Didn't think you would want to leave my darling Katrina's side."

“Forget him, I'm joining you,” Katrina stated standing by your side.

“Hey! I'm right here!" Sam yelled causing the rest of the guys to laugh as you and Kat ran off.

"Honestly Sam, I'm convinced Kat is going to leave you one day for [Y/N]," Jake joked causing another round of laughter to erupt.

"Colby, watch!" you yelled as you ran from the gate to the pool, doing a flip as you jumped into the water. A smile crept onto his face in admiration as you came above the water with a smile on your face.

"Where'd you learn that?" Colby asked.

"YouTube," you responded with a grin before Katrina gained your attention.

"I can't believe you’re not dating her,” Aryia acknowledged while shaking his head. Colby looked at him in confusion.

"Date her? Why would I date her?" he asked.

“Look at her, she's drop dead gorgeous," he responded.

“I don't know, I’ve just never seen her that way. She's my best friend."

"Our best friend," Sam corrected.

"I'm with Aryia, I’ve always thought you two would start dating. I mean, you basically are without the other stuff that comes with it,” Aaron commented.

"Man I would date her in a heartbeat, given the opportunity,” Kevin said. Colby wasn't sure why that comment suddenly made him uncomfortable or why he suddenly couldn't take his eyes off of you as you splashed water in Katrina's face.

“You would have to get through me first, I’ve already got her number,” Aryia teased.

"Oh please, none of you have a chance with her," Corey shot at them.

"That’s right brothers, I’ll be the real winner here. I see her more than the two of you,” Jake stated.

"First of all, none of you are getting with her. She's like a sister to me and I won't allow her to be tainted by you hooligans,” Sam informed them. All the guys began to laugh besides Colby. He couldn't get their words out of his head and suddenly he was looking at you differently. You weren't the same girl he once knew. At once, all these new and different feelings were coming at him. Did he like you? Did he want to date you? And why did his pants suddenly feel tight at the sight of you in bathing suit? He just couldn't stop these sudden waves of emotions.

You could feel him staring, and turned your head to send a smile and wave his way. He shifted before returning the gesture. You had decided you waited long enough, you just wanted your best friend to go swimming with you. Angrily, you stepped out of the pool and headed to the circle of boys.

“Colby, are you coming in or not?” You asked him. You tried your best puppy dog face causing more unknown feelings to arise inside of him.

“Um no, I uh, I’m good, actually,” he answered. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion quickly noticing the look Sam gave Colby. Suddenly you felt awkward and unwelcomed, had he not wanted to you to come over? Did you intrude on their little get together?

“Right, well, okay,” you softly said before turning back to head to the pool.

“What the hell was that?” Sam asked Colby when you were out of earshot.

“What?” Colby questioned.

“You’ve never said no to her, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, I just didn’t feel like going into the pool.”

“Well, I do,” Aryia said aloud, standing to pull off his shirt.

“Me too,” Kevin and Jake repeated simultaneously. The three of them took off running into the pool, making the two girls shriek as water splashed on them.

Corey turned to Aaron, “Five bucks Aryia takes her out before Jake.”

“Deal,” Aaron grinned shaking his hand.

“What about Kevin?” Sam asked.

“He’s got no game,” Corey joked.

Colby watched as you jumped on Jake’s back as he proceeded to attack Aryia. With an ache in chest he decided to head into the house, he suddenly didn’t want to watch you around other guys. He didn’t like the idea of another guy having your attention. He was so used to being the main guy in your life and he wanted to keep it that way.

A few days had passed without a word from Colby. You had no idea what was going on. It was weird. You and Colby had never let so much as a day go by without texting each other. But you had felt the weirdness since that day at the pool and you weren’t even sure if he wanted you to text him.

With a groan you threw your head onto your pillow. You had the day off from work today, and it was usually spent with Sam and Colby but you didn’t want to cause any awkwardness. When your phone began to ring, you had hoped it was Colby but it only turned out to be Aryia.

“Hey A, what’s up?” you answered.

“Hey [Y/N/N], I was just wondering if you wanted to carpool to the party tonight? Ya know, to save the earth and stuff.”

“Party?”

“There’s a party at the trap house tonight. Colby didn’t tell you?”

“No actually, it must’ve slipped his mind when we spoke, when did he tell you?” you softly asked, you were hurt but you didn’t want to show it.

“Last night. So whaddya say? Wanna save the environment with me one carpool at a time?”

“Sure A, sounds like a plan,” you chuckled at his lame attempt to be funny.

“Perfect! I promised the guys I’d help them set up though so just bring a change of clothes with you. I’ll pick you up in 30 minutes!”

“30 minutes is not enough time to get ready Aryia!”

“You’ll be fine, you can get ready there!”

“Fine.”

“Toodles!” He parted. You sighed before screaming into your pillow. What was going on with Colby?

You began to slowly pack a bag for tonight, despite not being in a partying mood. You figured you could show up in jeans and a shirt then change into your favorite black dress, the one that hugged you in all your favorite places.

Aryia had arrived exactly when he said he would. When you went down to his car, he gave you a kiss on the cheek as he opened the door for you. It took you by surprise, causing you to blush. That was new, Aryia had never been affectionate with you.

The drive to the trap house was quick, you didn’t live that far from the boys. Making it easier to visit them whenever you wanted. However, this time you wanted to stay as far away as you could.

As Aryia drove through the gates you noticed Sam, Colby and Jake placing balloons around the house. You watched as a huge grin appeared on Sam’s face at the sight of you. Immediately it eased some of the nerves you had.

“Well if it isn’t my second favorite girl in the entire world,” Sam said as he approached. You watched as Aryia stepped out of the car to greet Jake and Colby.

“It’s me she’s here!” You yelled pulling him into a hug.

“With Aryia I see.”

“Yeah he offered me a ride and also informed me about the party that I knew absolutely nothing about Mr. Golbach.”

“What? Colby didn’t tell you?”

“No, he didn’t” Sam furrowed his eyebrows but decided not to comment.

“Where have you been? I haven’t gone this many days without seeing you since your parents took you on vacation.”

“Oh god, worst week of my life,” you suffered. “I just took a few days to myself.”

“Well don’t do it again, I don’t like when you’re gone for this long.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” You saluted jokingly and he rolled his eyes.

“Don’t keep her all to yourself Sam,” you heard Jake scold and you turned to see him walking toward you, Colby slowly following behind.

“Jakey!” You yelled and he groaned. He absolutely hated that name and you loved to tease him with it. He wrapped you into a hug before threatening to kill you over the nickname.

Next it was Colby. He looked uncomfortable and you weren’t sure if you should open your arms for a hug but he had beaten you to it. With a smile you pulled him in, but today it felt different. It was like Colby was holding on to you for dear life. Like he wanted to remember what it felt to have your body pressed against his. You suddenly felt your face get hot. You weren’t sure why you were blushing, you never had before but this was a different kind of intimacy.

You and Colby had always been close. You’ve slept in the same bed before, wore his clothes, sometimes cuddled but this was different. You could feel his breath on your neck and you were sure your knees were going to give out on you any given second. When the two of you pulled apart, you were sure your face was as red as a tomato but the two of you didn’t mutter a single word to each other.

“Well let’s finish setting up so we can get this party started!” Aryia yelled while fist bumping. You laughed and slowly made your way into the house to greet everyone else.

Before you knew it the house was decorated as best as it could be and people began to arrive. Looking down at your outfit you had decided now was the perfect time to change. You had made your way towards Colby’s room where you left your bag of clothes. You had been in his room so many times you didn’t need to turn on the light just to change into a dress. Besides, you had enough light from the moon to guide you, you would be quick anyway.

You had only just taken of your shirt and pants when the door swung open. Colby froze in his tracks, the light from the hallway highlighting your features.

“I'm sorry,I uh, I- I’ll just go,” Colby stuttered.

“Wait don’t go,” you responded. “I need someone to zip up my dress for me.” You informed him as you put on the dress. You didn’t feel uncomfortable changing in front of him, you had always done it before.

Colby stepped inside, closing the door behind him, allowing the moon to be the only source of light that surrounds you.

“We’re okay right?” You asked him as you turned around.

“Yeah we’re fine. Why?” You could hear his footsteps approaching you.

“You’ve been avoiding me ever since the pool party and I’m not sure why.”

He didn’t respond. You could feel his hand grab the zipper, he slowly pulled up the zipper. His finger grazed along your back, as if purposely trying to feel your skin against his own. Your breathing slowed, the moment between you two felt intense. When he reached the top his fingers lingered for a moment before he removed them. Remembering that he never responded to you, you decided to face him.

“Colby-”

You were interrupted by the feeling of his lips on yours. On instinct you began to kiss back. Your body suddenly craved his and you instantly knew that all along you were meant to be with him. He was your one and only, you weren’t sure why it took you this long to figure it out.

When he pulled away, he looked at you before tucking a piece of hair behind your hair.

“My window frames you like a Monet. If tomorrow we go back to being just friends, I'll think about the way you look tonight.”

“Colby, I don’t want to go back to being friends. I never thought about us as an us until today and now I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Good,” he responded, crashing his lips against yours again.

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nxtritething · 5 years ago

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TASK001 : MUN QUESTIONNAIRE

name / alias : caro / care / carebear gender / pronouns : female / she&her where ya from ? : u s of a . orig n y c. the current time : 9 pm ( when i started? ) , 1 pm ( when i finished ) job or major : i majored in mechanical engineering and math. no, i canno favorite thing ( s ) about yourself : i have some good one-liners.

why you joined hqclouds : ... i helped make it. also its felt like a long while since i got to play some of my favorite babes, and i just missed them, so i obviously had to jump at an opportunity to bring them back !!!

meaning behind url : it’s uh...... next right thing , as in anna’s big song in frozen 2. and i just felt it like, FIT.

last thing you googled : zac efron high school musical gif icons, bc i wanted to use for this, but then that account was flagged as adult content and i guess those beloved gifs are lost to the void now...

zodiac : pisces in your opinion , does your sign suit you ? : yes. i am a crying fish. also i’m a pisces venus. it makes a LOT of sense. myers - briggs : istj ??? i think?? moral alignment : i can be chaotic good, but mostly neutral neutral i think hogwarts house : i used to be a slytherin, now i’m a hufflepuff. idk what happened to me.

three fictional character ( s ) you see yourself in + why : uhhhh... 1) bubbles from powerpuff girls. because i am baby. 2) juliet o’hara from psych. i’ve just been rewatching a lot of psych and i love how she’s such a serious yet funny / soft and idk why i just relate to that. 3) john mulaney in mulaney. because this is a cop-out to say i relate to anything / everything john edmund mulaney every does.

i started roleplaying : i first started on some fourms ??? on an app on my itouch ??? but my first tumblr rp group was percy jackson and everyone though i was this all knowing pjo fan... when really i was just fast to look shit up on the wikia. i had never read a single page of the series. types of rps i enjoy : fandoms, typically ! i used to be exclusively love animated roleplays? like cartoons? but then i transitioned to musicals? like, exclusively playing musical characters??? at this point, tara is like the one exception nowadays... favorite fcs to use : um... olivia holt is a recent fave? joshua basset, also. my old faves are mary kate wiles and hunter parrish tho. real old. otherwise, i don’t know if i’d say i get attached to fc’s? fandom ( s ) you’d like to write in : i kinda wanna go back to some of my cartoon roots, maybe? i really haven’t deviated from the same 8 - 9 mostly musical characters in literally years... fandom ( s ) you aren’t in but are curious about : um... the raven cycle , miraculous ladybug , uh..... everything else. i’m so randomly interested in everything.

share a funny roleplay horror story : my favorite is when i was in a youtuber rpf / oc rp, and this girl... made an oc... and made the fc... herself. she made a literal self-insert oc. with herself as the face. like low-res gifs of herself. why, you ask? i think she was trying to ship herself with dan howell. that didn’t age well, did it?

favorite canon muse ( s ) to play : do i just list all the characters i’ve been playing for literal years? my recent faves are katherine plumber from newsies and princess anna. favorite original muse ( s ) to play : i had a hunter parrish oc. he was in both the pjo and youtube rp. he was obsessed with hanging out with trees and pranks. don’t ask me why. canon ships you can’t help but love : kristoff / anna , jack kelly / katherine plumber , jake peralta / amy santiago , orpheus / eurydice , && donny novitski / julia trojan. yes, most of these are musicals. who doesn’t love a good love ballad? trope ( s ) you tend to be guilty of : uhh... adorkable, one of the boys, badass adorable

i prefer . . . angst , smut , or fluff : i am a massive sucker for fluff, but i’m so guilty of angst... i love pain. i don’t really do smut tho. sorry. long or short replies : i generally prefer short replies, unless we’ve somehow developed a thread into something long. or i’m feeling particularly inspired. pre plotting or chemistry : i love chemistry with all my heart, but sometimes it’s fun to plot past connections that can reignite? idk. mostly chemistry sentence starters or headcanon memes : headcanon memes, because im never creative to turn a sentence starter into something that makes sense, esp between two characters who don’t know each other. single muse or multimuse blogs : multimuse, because i spent too many years reblogging replies to the wrong sideblog and those days are over !!! gif icons , medium gifs , or static icons : i prefer gif icons for shorter replies and medium gifs for longer ones... or whatever my partner is using. i like some sort of consistency.

grab the book nearest to you and pull a quote from it : ‘ what’s the rush? ’ repeat this phase when you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. ask yourself whether somethings really needs doing immediately. are you ignoring your needs in order to do it? - the little book of sloth philosophy.

what’s a quote or song lyric that speaks to your soul ? : “ did you fall? or did you let go? ” - connor murphy to evan hansen, dear evan hansen. ( idk why this immediately jump to mind but... )

top current celebrity crushes : jeremy jordan, corey cott, jordan fisher, claire saffitz, brian david gilbert. last movie you watched : bridal boot camp did you like it ? : yes. i loved it. it’s absolute garbage and i loved it. favorite movie ( s ) of all time : idk but i can always rewatch prince of egypt. godspell favorite tv show ( s ) of all time : uhh.... i keep rewatching psych. favorite tv show ( s ) that hasn’t ended : brooklyn nine-nine, zoey’s extraordinary playlist. sports team ( s ) you rep : uh... grew up in a yankee / mets household. favorite video game ( s ) : pokemon, animal crossing favorite youtube channels : drew gooden, danny gonzalez, jenna marbles.

put your music on shuffle. what six songs pop up ? :

greased lightin’ from grease live ; oh mother by hunter parrish ; nerds by bo burnham ; a miracle would happen / when you come home to me from the last five years ; just another day from next to normal ; who tells your story from hamilton mixtape.

i haven’t listened to any of these in forever, but i am still, indeed, musical theater trash.

personal aesthetic : demin overalls, scrunchies, the color teal, big stuffed animals. dream vacation ? : somewhere beautiful with people i love. dream job ? : perhaps like designing custom 3D prosthetics dream car ? : i hate driving, but a big ol’ truck. like suv. big one. favorite musical : gospell, dear evan hansen, bandstand, newsies, shrek the musical, mamma mia, i could go on... unwatched stuff in your netflix / hulu / etc : sailor moon crystal, crash landing on you, locke & key, all the bright places, the half of it, younger, meteor, hello my twenties ...

what’s a subject you know too much about + never get tired of talking about ? : musicals. so many musicals. i know both know too much and not enough.

#cloud:task #cloud:ooc #「 ooc 」♪ ˙ ˖ ♬ ❝ wait... what? ❞

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silentexplorer18 · 6 years ago

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Self love challenge for writers out there! Make a list of your top five favorite pieces of fanfiction that you've written! It can be anything you've written, but you should share why you like it! Then pass on the challenge to some of your writer friends! Let's spread some author self love!

This was actually really fun to think about. These are my top 5, and, surprisingly enough, they aren’t as heavily read as some of my other fics. So I hope y’all like my list :) Keep in mind, these are in no particular order

Pairing: Colby Brock x reader

Summary: This fic is based off of a song in Colby’s The Nights I’m Left Alone Playlist. It is called “27″ by Machine Gun Kelly.

Warnings: Involves topics of death and cancer

Thoughts: Honestly, this is probably my favorite fic that I’ve written so far. It’s short and sweet, but I feel like it’s so poetic and emotional. I’m really not much of a song fic type of gal, but as soon as I wrote it, I was like, “Wow. I love what I’ve written here.” Plus, the song is absolutely incredible.

Abandoned

Pairing: Colby Brock x reader

Summary: When exploring an abandoned building, the boys discover something rather unexpected: you. Despite them being as wary of you as you are of them, the persistence of one abandoned loving brunette causes you to realize that maybe trust isn’t so bad.

Warnings: Some cursing, mentions of dead, abusive parents, homelessness.

Thoughts: Along with 27, this is one of my absolute favorite fics I’ve ever written. It’s honestly a really long piece to read, and it took a really long time to write, but I’d never felt so wholeheartedly invested into my plot before. I couldn’t eat, sleep, drink, or anything else without thinking about this specific story until I had finished it. I just adore how Sam and Colby find so much beauty in places that so many people have totally forgotten, and I think this fic really embodies that idea. Plus, I think my jokes in it are pretty dang funny. :)

Ink: Part 1 Part 2

Pairing: Colby Brock x reader

Summary: When the boys notice you have a less than ideal habit, Colby, Sam, Jake, and Corey opt to clean you up and get you back on track. Then, after bringing some much needed positivity to your life, the boys decide to take your inking habit to the next level with some ink of their own.

Warnings: Mentions ideas of self harm and hurtful words. Also a few curse words.

Thoughts: I think my love of Ink stems from the fact that I needed it. And since I’ve written it, I’ve had quite a few people reach out to me and say that needed it, too. It’s not a complicated story. It doesn’t contain some complex, winding storyline. But I think that’s why I like it so much. It’s just sweet. It’s full of warmth and people just being genuinely good. I just love the compassion in it. Writing helps me deal with the crazy stuff going on in my headspace, and Ink really hit the nail on the head for me.

Love Sucks

Pairing: Colby Brock x reader

Summary: You and Colby have found yourself enjoying the friends with benefits lifestyle, but sometimes love just sucks.

Warnings: Negative thoughts, curse words, hurtful self image, slightly graphic sexual descriptions (by no means smut), and general sadness.

Thoughts: When I wrote this, it was from a request, and I really wasn’t sure how I was going to write a friends with benefits story. It was pretty out of my comfort zone. But I did write it, and it kind of took me back to my roots, reminded me of what it’s like to be that person who’s scared of their feelings, who either risks it all or lives life questioning. I’m not one to think that Colby sleeps around a lot or anything like that, so it was kind of hard to find a situation that would warrant him having a friends with benefits relationship with a girl. When I came up with how he would react, how he would feel, I was surprised but pleased with how deep and emotional it got.

Into the Viper’s Nest

Paring: Jughead Jones x Reader

Summary: After finding herself in a life of trouble, a bright student steps into the viper’s nest, meeting some rather charming snakes.

Warnings: Mentions of being beaten and a few curse words.

Thoughts: I really loved writing this piece. If you haven’t noticed yet, I enjoy delving into the dark parts of life at times, and the dark, twisted parts of Riverdale are an excellent stomping ground for dark fanfiction writers. When I started writing this piece, I wasn’t entirely sure where it was going, but I’m really proud of the result. I enjoyed the level of complexity the reader obtained, and I really enjoyed creating the reader’s connections with everyone in the Serpents.

I also really loved my Slow Burn Crush on George Weasley Headcanon! I’m a pretty sappy person sometimes! :)

And I have two fics scheduled to post that I think are going to probably top Love Sucks and Ink as some of my favorites. I’ll officially add those to the list once they’re posted, but for now, all I’ll say is one involves cooking with one Colby Brock and the other involves some shenanigans that backfire. Looking forward to posting both of them soon! :)

My Masterlist

While I’m thinking about it, what’s everybody’s favorite fics that I’ve written? Are your favorites the ones on my list or are they different ones? Comment below or send me an ask. I love hearing from all of you!

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hazyheel · 6 years ago

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WWE Summerslam 2019 Review

So before I get into the show, I am going to try something new on some of these reviews. Sometimes I watch the big shows with my girlfriend, who will now be referred to as HazyHannah, and she wanted me to throw in some of her comments. So at the end of each grade section, imma write down some things that she said during the match. If you want to check out her blog, it is @hanster36.

Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: This was the first match of the kickoff show, which was disappointing to see, but something had to be in this spot. Gulak started out with a vicious shotgun dropkick, but the two mat technicians naturally went hold for hold right after that. Lorcan was actually keeping up with Gulak, so he issued a vicious slam right afterwards, then moving back into some holds. Lorcan didn’t actually regain the advantage until he took things to the outside for a hard hitting brawl. Lorcan then rolled Gulak back into the ring, only for Gulak to lock in the Gulock for a quick submission sequence. They then started with a striking contest, which Gulak won with a vicious series of slaps, finishing off by locking in the Gulock, but Lorcan rolled through for a very near fall. Lorcan then picked up Gulak and dealt several slaps and European uppercuts. Lorcan tried to hit the Half and Half Suplex, but Gulak held onto the ring skirt. As the ref went to put it back in place, Gulak nailed Lorcan with a right to the throat, and then a Cyclone Crash for the win.

Grade: B-. Pretty good match. They are very similar wrestlers so they blended together quite well. The two ripped into each other with vicious strikes, and Lorcan only got madder and madder as the match went on, as he usually does. He was overwhelming Gulak, so Gulak had to bend the rules a bit to get the win. He didn’t outright cheat, but this was far from an honest victory. Interesting to see where this goes.

Apollo Crews vs. Buddy Murphy: finally, Murphy’s debut match. This should have happened months ago, on TV. Murphy started with an awesome high knee for a near fall right out of the gate. He continued to follow up with various stiff kicks and strikes to a grounded Crews. Crews fought back a bit and they had some back and forth. At one point, Murphy went for a crossbody off the middle rope, but Crews countered with a samoan drop, followed by a moonsault for a near fall. The two continued to fight, and Murphy was able to nail a cheeky nandos kick in the corner, followed by a powerbomb for a near fall. The two then continued to fight on the outside. Murphy then threw Crews into the barricade and followed up with a tope con hilo. After Murphy threw Crews back into the ring, Rowan ran in from behind and started to beat Murphy down. Murphy won the match by disqualification.

Rowan threw Murphy all around ringside, and wiped him out with a running crossbody. He finished it off with a powerbomb into the ring post.

Grade: C+. The two were actually having a pretty good match here. Crews is a great striker just like Murphy, with just enough flying between the two of them to have an exciting contest for the pre show. However, the finish was not good. Yes, Murphy won, but he looked weak in his victory. And in his first match, he was beaten down ridiculously afterwards. He was not able to really get over because of it, and I really didn’t like that booking. But I won’t lower it too much because their match was decent. More time would have done them good.

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: I’m glad that these belts actually got on the card. They deserve better than the pre-show, but they need to be built up a bit more before they can hit the main show. Bliss was dressed as Buzz Lightyear ring gear, which for some reason pissed off Corey Graves to no end. It seems like Bliss is going face after winning these belts, which is certainly interesting. Saxton was defending Cross too, this is an odd switch of character. At one point, Bliss was yelling at Peyton Royce on the outside, and then turned right around into a big boot from Billy Cay for a near fall. Royce followed it up with a really nice shinbreaker for a near fall, and threw a tantrum after. She went to continue the assault, but Bliss floored her with a strike to the jaw. She went up for Twisted Bliss, only for Cay to try and pull her off the top rope. Cross yanked Cay off the apron, and Bliss hit Twisted Bliss to retain.

Grade: D. This sucked. The IIconics are just bad. I’m glad they lost the belts. Bliss and Cross have yet to really impress me, but they were not what I disliked about this. The IIconics aren’t very good, and the sudden change in opinion from the commentators was very odd. It was about half way through the match when Graves started to talk about how he hates that Bliss went soft. That makes sense, but her liking Disney is no reason to start hating her.

Becky Lynch vs. Natalya in a submission match for the Raw Women’s Championship: Nattie came out second because she is from Canada, which is more important than the belt. Naturally, they started with a couple slaps to the face, but Lynch quickly unloaded on her in the corner. Lynch locked in a triangle quickly, but Nattie rolled them to the outside and started to assault the legs. Nattie then gave her a snap vertical suplex, which her leg snapping into the ropes. At one point, Natalya wrapped Lynch’s legs in a sharpshooter on the top rope for a great visual. The only way that Lynch could escape was by falling to the outside. At first I didn’t like that a submission match didn’t have countouts or DQ’s, but it certainly improved the match. At one point, Lynch caught Nattie out of a basement dropkick, and Lynch locked in a sharpshooter of her own. After escaping, Nattie locked in a disarmer, turning the tables and dragging Lynch back into the middle of the ring. As Lynch tried to reverse into her own hold, Nattie had a great reversal into a sharpshooter for an intense submission sequence, where Lynch had to slide out of the ring to escape. Lynch slid back in and locked in the Disarmer for the win.

Grade: B. Pretty good technical exchange to open up the card. Meticulous holds, some nice limb work, just a solid match. The finish was not very dramatic, especially after a much better submission sequence with Nattie in control, but it was certainly the right outcome. The crowd was behind Natalya a lot during this match, so there was a hot atmosphere. It got everyone pumped up, so there was certainly nothing to complain about. HazyHannah (my girlfriend) says: Nattie is a dumb nickname.

Backstage, Trish Stratus was interviewed, and she said that although she is feeling the pressure, that is when she thrives. She said that tonight, she will prove that those who paved the way for the women’s evolution are just as good as the women of today. Stratus declared herself the Queen of Queens, and left.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Goldberg: Ziggler cut a promo, saying that he is the best thing in pro wrestling today. He said that Goldberg fears Ziggler, and Goldberg’s music cut him off. He did not whack his head on the door this time around. The two squared off right away, and Ziggler hit a quick superkick, but Goldberg kicked out at one. Ziggler nailed another, and another kickout at one. Goldberg speared Ziggler out of his shoes, and gave him the jackhammer for the win.

After the match, Ziggler got on the mic and called Goldberg a dipshit and said that he hits like a baby. He told Goldberg to fight him like a man. Golderg walked back to the ring, before Ziggler even got back to his feet. He gave him another spear, and another great sell. Ziggler got on the mic again after Goldberg left, and said that anyone can get lucky twice, and said that he didn’t have balls. He called Goldberg a laughingstock, and said that he will never stay down. When Goldberg got in the ring, he threw the mic away, helped him up, and gave him another wicked spear.

Grade: B+. Everything I wanted it to be. Less than a minute. Wonderful. Above average squash match and Ziggler sold like he was a limp corpse. The extra attacks where what bumped this up to a B+. This was really really fun to see, and even though a legend shouldn’t beat a full time guy, this was an exception. Just some fun stuff. I loved it. HazyHannah says: match of the night. This could have gone on for the rest of the night and I would have been fine with it. “Anyone can get lucky THREE times.”

Before the next match, they showed the international commentators, and they showed the british announce team. It was Carmella and R-Truth, trying to hide. They had an awful accent and it was awesome. Drake Maverick showed up to try to get the pin, but they ran before he got there. Funny stuff, it was nice to see.

AJ Styles vs. Ricochet for the WWE United States Championship: Ricochet was out in a full jumpsuit, looking like a biker Batman. Ricochet quickly used the OC out at ringside to his advantage, jumping off of them to hit Styles with a flying hurricanrana. Styles quickly got the advantage, and started to take out Ricochet’s base. Ricochet sold the leg like really well, even selling it when he hit his offense. At one point, Ricochet went for a springboard forearm, but only used one leg and got a near fall out of it. Several times as Ricochet went for his high impact offense, his knee buckled out from under him and he couldn’t continue. Styles capitalized on this and locked it a Calf Crusher, but Ricochet quickly transitioned into an Anaconda Vice. Ricochet took the advantage, and he had to fight off Anderson and Gallows on the outside, and Ricochet went for a twisting 450 splash, but Styles caught him in the air and transitioned into a Styles Clash for the win. It was an awesome finish.

After the match, the OC hit Ricochet with a Magic Killer and gave a Too Sweet.

Grade: B+. Good stuff from these two, good selling from Ricochet. They had a nice strike based match that was interlaid with some great leg work. Still probably not the best that they can do, but it was fun. That finishing spot was badass too. Really good stuff, but still not as good as I expected. HazyHannah says: Ricochet looked like a robot, and they hid his gorgeous muscles. When a man has that much muscles, you let ‘em pop.

Backstage again, we saw the Street Profits putting over Summerslam and Toronto. As they were talking, Ric Flair came up and they started to dance around with him and wooed a whole bunch. It was cute.

Bayley vs. Ember Moon for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. The two started with a bit of grappling before getting into some nice striking. Bayley worked over Moon’s neck and back with various suplexes. Bayley even locked in a weird reverse boston crab, which looked painful but odd. Moon was able to fight back with some of her very interesting offense, kipping up for a hurricanrana and then a superkick. But when she went for a suicide dive, Bayley countered with a stiff strike to the face. Bayley tried to capitalize with a superplex, but Moon nailed a super hurricanrana, and then a spinout codebreaker for a near fall. Bayley won a bit out of nowhere, with a Bayley to belly off the top for the win.

Grade: B-. They had some good interactions, but it felt like they just started to go from move to move randomly, without much story or reason. Moon looked good though, and got a big pop during one of her near falls. So people like her a lot, she could be big. But it makes sense that Bayley won, this isn’t quite the match where it is her place to lose. I hope they do more with moon in the future, because she is great. HazyHannah says: Ember Moon looks like someone’s first D&D character.

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon, if Owens loses then he quits: Before the match started, Shane got on the mic and called out Elias as the special guest enforcer. Shane rolled out of the ring right away, and Elias prevented Owens from attacking him. Eventually Shane got the first hit, and the two teed off on each other in the corner. At one point, Owens went to attack Shane on the outside, but Elias distracted him and allowed Shane to chuck him off and into the barricade. At one point, Shane tried to go for a Sharpshooter, but Owens pushed him away and nailed a pop up powerbomb, but Elias hopped on the apron and made sure the ref couldn’t count. Elias then threw a chair in the ring, which Owens nearly used, but opted not to. Shane then accidentally nailed Elias with a forearm, so Owens nailed a superkick, aa swanton bomb and a frog splash, but Elias pulled the ref out of the ring and stopped the count. Owens then gave Elias a cannonball off the apron, hitting both Elias and the ref. Owens opted to beat down Elias with a chair while the ref was down, taking him out of the equation. The ref got back in the ring and threw the chair away, so Owens gave Shane a low blow and a stunner for the win.

Grade: C. The overbooking of this match made it better than expected, but it still wasn’t very good. Fun to see some comeuppance. The low blow was satisfying. But this was just fun enough to be okay. HazyHannah says: I just don’t really care about this one.

Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus: the two started with a classic staredown, but Trish came out swinging with a Thesz press. Charlotte quickly gained control by throwing her into the apron. Stratus was very much overwhelmed in this match. at one point she was hit with a big boot off the apron. Charlotte then held the ring ropes open, and then ambushed her as she entered. She was constantly jaw jacking with Stratus, who would constantly get too frustrated and get a couple shots in. At one point, the two battled on the top rope, and Charlotte nearly landed a super powerbomb, but Stratus countered with a hurricanrana for a near fall. Flair targeted the leg afterwards, giving Stratus a bit more respect. Stratus then locked in a figure four of her own to a huge pop. She even bridged into the figure 8, prompting Corey Graves to say “it’s not fair to flair.” Stratus then hit Stratusfaction, but Charlotte still kicked out. Stratus then tried to keep fighting, but Charlotte put her down with a big boot, and locked in the figure 8 for the win.

Grade: B+. This was quite a solid match. Stratus delivered a much better match than a lot of people expected, and I think that she could have another run in WWE if she wanted to. Charlotte was awesome here, playing up the “legend not good enough” angle. Her trash talking was great, and the second that she realized that Stratus was dangerous, Charlotte got serious and put her down. Good story and a good match. HazyHannah says: why do they have to wear extensions? Just let them put their hair up. Vince is a disgusting old man who loves blondes.

Backstage, Bret Hart gave Seth Rollins some encouragement.

Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship: As the match started Orton tried to give Kingston a pancake, but Kofi was not having the disrespect. Orton tried to push the champion, but Kingston was not just going to take that. He pushed right back and stood up to his old enemy. Early on, Orton pushed Kingston off the top and sent him flying into the barricade. Orton then slowed the pace down attacked each limb. Kofi fought back, giving Orton a boom drop and calling him stupid a bunch. Kingston then tried for trouble in paradise, but Orton caught him and gave him a brutal neckbreaker. on the outside, Kingston gave Orton an awesome flying clothesline to the outside, but he didn’t keep control for long. Orton gave him a hangman’s DDT, and tried for an RKO, but Kofi fought out. Kingston pushed him away and went for a splash, but Orton caught him with an RKO, but Kingston rolled to the outside. Orton then followed him to the outside and went to embarrass him in front of his kids, but Kofi fought back with a flurry of strikes. Then ref called for the bell for a double countout, ending the match in a stupid and BS way, which the crowd definitely agreed with.

Kingston destroyed him with kendo stick shots to the back. He shattered the stick, and every time he hit Orton, the crowd chanted stupid.

Grade: D+. This wasn’t too exciting. The action was slow, they didn’t incorporate the story into the match at all, and the ending was dumb and unnecessary. Kingston should have won and just finished the feud. Summerslam is a place to cap things off, not start new things. This feud didn’t need to continue, but now it well. Not a good match. HazyHannah says: I fucking hate Orton. He is so boring. When they called him a brick wall, it is only because he has no personality or charisma. He has cool tattoos though.

Finn Balor vs. The Fiend: Wyatt’s entrance was awesome, it was creepy as all hell. He had a lantern in a severed head, and a remixed version of his music. It started with the firefly funhouse but slowly morphed into the darker fiend color scheme, with “Let Me In” showing up word by word on the titantron. He was getting Holy Shit chants the second that he got in the ring. The Fiend changed up his mannerisms to be creepier and more sadistic, and was powering him all around the ring. He delivered wicked strikes to his head, neck and back. He nearly hit sister abigail, but Balor fought out of it with some quick strikes and attacks. Finn went to the top for the Coup de Gras, but the Fiend caught him in the mandible claw and got the pin.

After the match, the lights went out and The Fiend was illuminated with strobe lights, and then he was gone, leaving Balor alone in the ring.

Grade: B-. A perfectly cool squash match. Exactly what it needed to be. It was creepy, showcased a new cool character, and got over with the crowd right away. Now we just need to see how the book the Fiend from here. I hope he isn’t wrestling every week on TV, because he needs a mystique around him. Keep up the firefly funhouse stuff, and let him be cool for a while, at least until he has a story that he needs to lose in. HazyHannah says: Finn looks like he is wearing a diaper. It is really distracting. But it’s a good thing he is wearing one, cuz the Fiend probably made him piss his pants.

Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship: Rollins came out with his ribs taped up. Lesnar targeted the ribs, and Rollins sold like he was shot every time. Early on Lesnar went for a German suplex, but Rollins flipped out of it and nailed the curb stomp for a near fall. Rollins then nailed a flying knee, a pair of superkicks, but was caught in an F5 when he went for the curb stomp. Lesnar then picked Rollins up by the wrapping on his ribs and threw him across the ring. Lesnar kept control for a long time, delivering loads of German suplexes. He tried to give Rollins an F5 into the ring post, but Rollins slipped out and shoved him into it. Rollins tried to keep it up, but Lesnar continued with the German suplexes. He even busted out a bear hug to continue the attack on the ribs. Rollins fought back into it and delivered a pair of suicide dives, but Brock caught him on the third and ran him into the ringpost. Lesnar then went for a move through the table, but Seth countered and got him on the table with a superkick, giving him a huge frog splash through it. He and Lesnar got back in the ring, so Lesnar nailed him with another frog splash, and hit a Curb Stomp for yet another near fall. Rollins then went for the curb stomp again, but Lesnar got him up for an F5. Rollins slipped out and nailed another superkick, finishing the match with a Curb Stomp.

Grade: A-. This was a really good match. They had a lot of big spots that were mixed in with working over Rollins’ ribs, and they did a really good job of convincing us that Rollins couldn’t win this. He was doing a great job of being in peril, and it made for a great match. Awesome selling from both guys, and Rollins once again overcame the odds. Match of the night. HazyHannah says: this is the best match of the night and it’s only been 5 minutes.

Overall Grade: B-

Predictions: 9/10. Although the finish of the WWE Championship was dumb.

Pros: Nattie vs. Lynch; goldberg squash; style vs. ricochet; charlotte vs. stratus; fiend debut; main event

Cons: owens vs. shane; kingston vs. orton

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officialthiamlibrary · 6 years ago

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Hello! Hello! Hope everyone is having a glorious weekend thus far. With enthusiasm, we are finally introducing you to another spectacular creator, pettigrace. The author of buy and sell gravity, its sequel free fallin’ in the jungle lights, and other fantastic works across 5 fandoms! Why don’t we just dive in?

Omg, Yas! Hi. It took us a while to get here, but we finally made it haha. Why don’t you start by telling us about yourself? The twist, the word count has to be either equal to or less than the number of letters in your two favorite Teen Wolf episode names.

Motel California and The Divine Move are the only episodes I remember by name, so I guess they must be my favourites. (15 + 13 = 28)

My name is Yas, I am an aroace being from Germany and I absolutely fucking hate time travel. I work as a journalist sometimes and I love writing.

Oh wow, a journalist! I love meeting people who’ve made a living out of their writing! What’s a typical day like as a journalist?

Mind you, I am not your typical journalist. I may look like Clark Kent most of the time, but I don’t do the stuff he does (that extends also to the superheroing, sadly) - I work for the youth page of my local newspaper, which means I get to write a few articles about/aimed at children a few times a month. I usually go for reviews of media (as in books and tv shows most of the time but movies, games and all that jazz, too!) but every once in a while I get to do something bigger as well. That means (typically) interviewing people in sports clubs, writing about my personal experience about a topic or doing surveys about things. It’s not much, but my name is in the paper pretty much every week.

I’m trying not to be super impressed and failing, but that’s honestly phenomenal! Obviously, you’re a huge fan or movies, books, and tv shows. Did that influence your name, pettigrace?

It refers to Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter! (But Yas, you go, isn’t that the guy who doomed James and Lily Potter? To which I say: He also killed Cedric Diggory! And faked his own death! And gave Voldemort back his body!) No, hear me out. I don’t love the guy. Hell, I hate Peter Pettigrew as much as we all do. But he’s an important character in the world of HP and doesn’t get the recognition for it. He’s the unsung villain of the story. Is he a good villain? Heck no, he’s probably one of the worst. He doesn’t even have his own agenda! Still, he symbolizes something that’s important to me when I look at characters: The way they develop. How they used to be in certain situations. General character development. We don’t talk enough about the secret talents and thoughts of him.

Also, ace. Because like many characters, I headcanon Peter Pettigrew as asexual. Thank you.

And, how did you find your way to the Thiam fandom?

Here’s the funny thing: I think that I only started shipping them as much as I do now while I already wrote fic for them. I don’t know, I saw the appeal because I love those ships with awful banter and the enemies-to-lovers trope, so the arguments Theo and Liam kept having right from the beginning practically screamed at me to ship them – even if it didn’t fully hit me yet and I hated Theo during season 5 (which is to say, I loved him as a villain. He has always been a great character, just not a good person.). I’ve read a couple of fics for them at the end of last year and then decided to write my own and both of those actions made me realize how well they fit together and helped me learn to appreciate them both in their own ways.

Gasp, How can anyone hate Theo?! Though, I might be a tad bias lol. I think a lot of people would agree with you about how well they fit together. Since you’ve only had time to grow in your appreciation for their relationship, why don’t we try a little game?

Let’s pretend this was a Stranger Than Fiction situation and you could predict any aspect of their lives with your writing. How would you set up the follow scenarios:

a. Their first postseason 6 interaction:

Okay, I’m a sucker for canon so let’s stay with that. I think that after the hospital scene, after Theo’s taken Gabe’s pain and the battle is won, it would not be Liam who approaches Theo to talk about. In my head, it would be Mason – he’s the one who realizes the significance of this, he’s the one who told him he doesn’t care enough to take someone’s pain (I think Liam doesn’t know about that in canon? If I remember wrong, let’s just pretend he doesn’t know.).

So I don’t know, maybe Theo leaves the hospital while everyone’s celebrating, completely overwhelmed and also feeling wrong there – he’s not part of this friend group and now that the battle is over, they don’t have any use for him any more, right? So he slips out; only to be followed by Mason. And we know Mason.

He’s clever and determined and he doesn’t back down from confronting someone. He doesn’t like Theo, he’s said as much, but now he’s seeing progress in him. He knows what an aide Theo has been for Liam, both in the fights and with his anger. He addresses all of this and Theo reacts like we all expect that he would: dismissive and sarcastic. Mason doesn’t buy into it for a single second, but he doesn’t try to make Theo stay when he says he needs to leave. I feel like it would actually be good for him to leave for a while because boy, does he need a time-out. Let’s be real. It’s clear that Theo isn’t as much of Liam’s responsibility any more. Liam doesn’t keep him close and he can leave and Liam wouldn’t feel like he needs to watch him. Theo’s come back from hell and then he’s had to fight battle after battle. He’s not friends with any of them and there’s no reason for him to stay around. So, he leaves, and Mason lets him leave, both because he gets it and he doesn’t really care if Theo is around or not.

Now Liam. I feel like even at that point in canon, Liam doesn’t really see Theo as a person. He knows him as a villain and as an ally but never just as Theo, and even with the almost-kiss between them (because that’s what the elevator scene has been, goddammit. There’s an attraction between them and it’s only been increased by the adrenaline, but especially Liam doesn’t really realize that he cares about Theo), he doesn’t even notice at first that Theo is gone. He’s too full of ecstasy and when he’s reunited with the rest of the pack, that only becomes more. It takes him a few days, maybe even weeks until he truly notices that Theo is gone. It’s not that he just forgets about him – Theo’s been present enough in the past few months, especially to him – so the remainder of him helping clings to Liam’s mind. He doesn’t ask anyone about Theo, though. It’s not like anyone really cares, he thinks. And he knows Mason’s dislike for the chimera, so bringing it up to him wouldn’t be fruitful either.

Of course, Theo comes back. Beacon Hills is his home and he just feels this draw back to it and (that much he can admit to himself) to Liam. He’s also the only one whose phone number he has so after much thinking – and Theo’s logical, so he doesn’t try to convince himself to ignore it – he calls Liam. It’s awkward because Theo had just disappeared like that (which Liam would call him out for) and maybe that leads to a fight between them; one that ends with Liam admitting he’s needed Theo around because he’s felt so restless and he’s not stupid, he knows that’s what it feels like to lose your anchor. Theo grows silent at that, not sure what to answer, and Liam almost hangs up because he’s too embarrassed by that confession and hell, they’re not even friends. He practically admitted to be in love with him, which is not even the case. They’re not in love yet, that’s for sure. But then, suddenly, Theo just says, “I’m coming home,” and that’s a promise.

The call would end shortly after that, with awkwardness hanging in the air, but Liam’s excited and content at the prospect of Theo coming back. And Theo, completely beside himself, sets off towards Beacon at once.

I have the image in mind (and heck if I knew if that works time zone-wise but maybe Theo’s still in the same) that the next day when Liam comes out of school, he finds Theo chilling in the parking lot, leaning against his truck like that’s his usual spot. Liam, not sure whether it’s appropriate to hug him or whatever but shit, is he happy to see him, jogs up to him and beams, saying, “You came.” And Theo, the little shit that he is, just rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue and goes, “Yeah. You’re paying lunch.” And then they climb into the car and ride off into the sunset.

(God I can’t believe this became almost two pages of basically just relationship study, I’m so sorry!!)

Never apologize for passion! What about a Thiam Double Date with any other ship from the show?

Well, Morey is obviously a given. Seriously, once Thiam started dating, Liam would definitely make the two of them see how much Theo has changed – I have no doubt it would become somewhat awkward, with Mason outright having stated that he despises Theo and Theo having worked with the people who killed Corey… Still, I think they’d go out for a movie or something or maybe just happen to be all at the Geyers’ home at the same time and maybe they would bond over video games or something.

I could also see that after some time, Theo would make up with Melissa. If he stays in Beacon Hills, he might end up being the one who brings her lunch – a weak attempt at making up for all the things he did to her and her family, but it’s the best they can do. After a while, Melissa would probably inquire him about what has happened and try to make him deal with the guilt; at the same time, she could see he’s different now, so then she insists that Scott and Stiles see it, too. So, she’s the one who’d set them all up. Probably a giant dinner or something at her house where she invites Thiam, Scalia and Stydia. And maybe she has Papa Argent over, too. It would be awfully tense, especially with Stiles’ and Malia’s hatred for Theo and maybe it ends in a disaster, who knows? But maybe Melissa mentions a fun story from when they were kids and Lydia, though she isn’t completely at ease either, would remember something she saw the guys do in elementary school (remember, she was there, too, even if they weren’t friends) – and then they would forget themselves and explain how they came up with the idea of stealing a toilet seat or something. They’d just chat about how things have been and then suddenly there’s a silent where they all swallow and remember that it can’t be like that anymore, can it? But there’s a promise: If they all can remember and laugh about it, and if Theo’s truly changed, then maybe there’s hope.

Finally, one conflict they’d have as an official couple:

Liam’s anger, without a doubt. I don’t think Theo can be as patient as fics make him out to be. He probably doesn’t know how to actually react to one of Liam’s outbursts and the way he talked to him during 6B wouldn’t always help. If Liam lashed out at him, Theo would probably let him – that’s another topic between them, the way Theo will accept anything as a sort of punishment for what he’s done. Liam would be overwhelmed by guilt and Theo would try to talk him out of it, say it’s okay and it’s not like he didn’t deserve it. And then Liam would tell him that no, he doesn’t. Theo’s already paid for his sins and he’s learnt to do better and anyway Liam isn’t his judge. It’s a vicious cycle because they’d argue and then Liam would get angry again and maybe then he’d just walk away and punch a tree, but the problem stands. I just made myself sad :(

If you could magically write any Thiam story with your mind, what story would you craft?

I have a few stories in mind that I want to write, especially for Thiam, but there’s one I keep putting off because it would require me to rewatch some of season 5 and basically all of season 6. I just don’t have the time or spoons for that at this point. If I had, though… Oh dear, hold on to your seats.

It’s told from Mason’s point of view, believe it or not. Either while or after he’s been possessed by the Beast, he’s developed powers of his own: He can suddenly see some kind of aura around people. It’s kind of a count for karma, with bad people having really dark colours while good ones have bright colours – later, though, he finds out that was aren’t general ratings but how the people view themselves. So, the last glimpse Mason gets of Theo is before he goes to hell.

His aura is really bright except for a few specks here and there. When he comes back from hell, it’s the darkest Mason’s ever seen.

Basically, the story would be about character growth and the way people see themselves. For example, both Stiles and Liam have darker auras than you’d expect them to have, because they’re good people, right? It wouldn’t surprise you after the nogitsune and Donovan that Stiles doesn’t think that of himself but Liam? It gives both the reader and Mason new insights into the characters of Teen Wolf.

The fic stays close to canon as it plays out, only that with Mason being the narrator, you get to see more of the puppy pack, of course. The way both Liam’s and Theo’s auras change as they interact with each other and Theo truly betters himself until in the end… Well, that’s it, right? Does the end stay lie in canon, too? Would Mason do something about the way his best friend feels better about himself when he’s around Theo? Who knows, definitely not me yet.

I’m excited to jump into your writing! First, if you could describe your creative process as a living entity, what would it look like? Wear? Listen? How does it handle conflict?

Hm, they‘re always around, though usually pretty chill in the background. Like, you turn around and they’re there but it’s not like they’re really annoyingly present, if that makes sense? I’m always working on something in the back of my head, and a lot of time it becomes more pregnant, so from time to time this person would be more active. And maybe they would be annoying from time to time, like when an idea doesn’t let me sleep or occupies my thoughts at all times, though that’s become a rarer happenstance lately. They’d be dressed pretty casually, maybe just a hoodie and sweatpants or something – my writing isn’t anything extravagant, and neither is the process of it for me. Actually, I don’t think they’d be a person, to be honest. I literally just described my cat.

ALOL, well, looks like we’ve discovered one of your writing influences haha! Do you and your cat have any Writing Kryptonites?

Oh, probably action. Which is especially sad in regard to Teen Wolf because you can come up with such amazing fight scenes in this fandom! But I’m struggling with writing motion, actually. No idea if it’s just that my vocabulary is limited in that area, being non-native to English and all, or if I generally suck at it, but it always feels so wrong to me. I write from a single person’s perspective, usually, so I’m limited to what they see and how they move and even then, it doesn’t feel swift enough. I’m working on that, though – there was a time when my writing basically only consisted of dialogue, and that became much better during the past years.

That’s amazing! What are some ways that you try to better your writing? Besides, well...writing haha. Have you done any type of skill building that you thought worked for you?

Most of it has definitely come just from continuing writing, to be honest. I’ve only once told myself to actively focus on something (it was really early in the beginning of my writing where I tried to get more skilled in describing people - the way they look and move, stuff like that). Otherwise, it’s basically just that. In writing class ,there were a few things you could try out, such as focussing on different emotions while writing or something.

Things that do the trick for me, usually, are PoV switches (meaning one chapter from A’s perspective, the next from B’s, stuff like that) and waiting to write something specific until I’m in the same mood as well. So if a character’s particularly sad in one scene, I’ll leave that for a time where I am sad as well. It works well for me because I don’t write chronologically anyways.

And is there one trope or scene that always ends up in whatever you’re writing?

Well, I barely write anything that doesn’t include an asexual character. Also, there’s always some meta-ish reference to canon in AUs and, weirdly enough, I always have characters either watch or talk about Star Wars. That even happened before I watched the movies myself!

In case of Teen Wolf, there’s always the act of redemption for Theo. I feel that it’s an essential part of both him and Thiam as a relationship – the way Theo grows as a person and becomes better. I’m a sucker for parallels to canon, so that’s always a topic in one way or another. Of course, Theo doesn’t kill someone in every AU, but he deals with something that holds him back, makes him kind of a bad person, every time.

And then, I always come back to his friendship with Scott and Stiles, especially the latter. I’d have loved to see more of that in canon, maybe in stories or flashbacks or something. You’ve always had Scott and Stiles as practically one entity up to season 5 and suddenly Theo comes along, and you’re supposed to believe they used to be three? And nothing was ever mentioned? Of course, the writers only came up with that plotline for season 5, it makes sense they didn’t have anyone discuss Theo before. Still, it feels like something is missing there to make you truly believe it and I love to reflect on that, play with it. Stiles’ stance towards Theo draws me in a lot – how come he doesn’t trust him right away? Was something happening between them? How would it have been if Theo never left? I love to dig into that.

Mental illness is also a big thing for me. We have canon evidence for mental illness, even if they’re never named. They all must have PTSD. Stiles shows extreme signs of ADHD. Lydia is practically a survivor of sexual abuse. Multiple characters have attempted suicide. Liam is canonically diagnosed with IED. It would be ignorant not to refer to any of that while writing. Lots of fics I’ve read mention the struggles, depict them greatly, but only a few talked about handling them, about recovery. It’s about time we make progress in that department.

Hmm very true. And not a thought, as a perpetual fluff writer, that I’ve considered until now. You deal with quite a bit of mental issues within your main story, Buy and Sell Gravity. Before we chat about it in depth, can you give us a quick synopsis?

Buy and sell gravity starts with one of Liam’s outbursts of anger. In his social studies class, Monroe has talks badly about adoptive/step-parents and Liam started arguing with her until said he sent him out. So, then he goes and slashes her tires in classic Liam-style. Theo, who has only moved back to Beacon Hills recently and is surrounded by awful rumours, but nothing specified, catches him and decides to take care of it. He saves Liam’s ass and in return he demands that Liam pays for his food during lunch. But then they actually become friends and Liam learns more and more about Theo.

And did anything inspire you to create the premise?

The idea just came me at random – I just had that image in mind of Thiam making a deal. It’s classic romcom stuff, right? And I had thought it would just turn into a lengthy oneshot at most but now it’s the longest thing I have ever written. It’s crazy.

The story is told from Liam’s perspective. Do you think the story would unfold differently had we’d experienced it from Theo’s POV?

I’m actually writing a sequel at the moment, which is from Theo’s perspective. There’s references to buy and sell gravity, of course, so you actually do get part from Theo’s point of view! In general, though, had you seen it all from his point of view, the slow burn would have felt even longer, I imagine. The sound of the fic would have been darker, because that’s Theo’s mindset for the most of it, and there wouldn’t have been so many questions. Theo doesn’t really wonder about anything in this fic, he reflects and draws his own (mostly correct) assumptions. I feel like it would have sounded pretty monotone – it made sense to only pick up his PoV in the sequel and if you’ve read buy and sell gravity, you might be able to tell why. He’s opening up more towards the ending and a more pleasant person to be around to.

I’ve noticed most of your stories turn into longer fics. Have any tricks for keeping yourself motivated to write those longer plots? (Clearly, this is purely self-indulgent here haha. It’s a near miracle if I stick through a long, complex plot!)

I usually only start posting multichaptered fics once they’re already finished. This way you can motivate yourself by going “Well, if you don’t finish it then you won’t post it, nobody will see it and you worked for nothing.” That method works well for me because I love recognition for my works, even if a lot of them are for obscure pairings.

In case of buy and sell gravity, I’ve already started posting while working on it, however. I’ve felt stuck because it’s been my first fic for Teen Wolf, so I was very unsure about whether I hit the characters correctly, if it felt believable; stuff like that. I needed feedback from more than one person and since I’ve never really been in the fandom, going ahead and posting it was my only option. I wanted to know whether it was worth continuing working on it. the feedback was amazing and the fact that a few people came back for every new chapter was a wonderful motivator. Oh, and it certainly doesn’t harm when you have someone literally show up on your doorstep and demand you write a new chapter.

Your first Teen Wolf fit?! Impressive!! Is Teen Wolf now your ultimate favorite fandom to write? (*Wink Wink*) Or, do you have another favorite fandom/ship to write for?

The Arrowverse is generally my favourite fandom. I love all the shows and the way it consists of multiple worlds give you so many things to take away from! You can write any AU, you can write for abandoned timelines or worlds, crossover between the shows and ship practically anything. You can go all out, have doppelgängers appear (like one evil and one good version of the same person, stuff like that). There are no limits. Writing for it is fun because you can draw from so many shows and even include the original comics, if you want. Right now I’m (and have been for the past one and a half years) working on a Groupchat AU set in the Arrowverse where everyone is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and even that doesn’t seem too out of character.

As to a ship, I probably enjoy Simon Lewis/Raphael Santiago from Shadowhunters the most. Writing for them is almost easy because I can relate to both so much. Depending on which mood you’re in, you can write Simon’s optimistic and reference-heavy rambling or maybe you write the angst that constantly underlines Raphael’s thoughts. I can always find a way to write for them because they’re so different and yet fit together so well.

Yoooo, we could honestly strike up a whole subconvo dedicated to Simon x Raphael lmao. Since we’re supposed to be all about Thiam around here, I’ll restrain myself and simply agree about your opinions on Saphael. (I’ll miss them, sad face)

Being a writer of many fandoms then, what’s your ultimate Teen Wolf crossover with any other show or movie universe? What character would you see interact?

God! I’m a sucker for crossovers with DC! There’s a few I read where Stiles is always the person in question (whether he’s a member of the Batfamily or the brother of The Flash, I’ve read both of those cases, haha). I love the connection of the Teen Wolf world with DC Comics. I wrote a retelling of a Flash episode with Thiam in the focus and someone else wrote a Under the Red Hood AU which still keeps me in awe. (And also, it’s too funny how much the casts overlap, the double identities practically overlap – suddenly Liam is Superboy, Derek is Superman, Allison is a mafia daughter, Jackson as Red Arrow… It’s great.)

Otherwise, what I haven’t seen yet: Twilight. I’ve (re-)discovered my love for it last year and honestly? Let those mix up! Washington and California are both on the West Coast!! I have no idea about how far exactly but let them meet! Let Emmett Cullen beat up Peter Hale! Have Edward and Derek suffer together through their depression and Scott and Jasper try to comfort everyone. Lydia and Alice? Nobody’s dying on their watch. Let Rosalie and Malia kick ass together and Melissa and Carlisle swap hospital stories! Stiles and Bella hanging out together, being sarcastic little shits and also way too much into all this stuff. Hell, I’m gonna write this myself if I have to! (Otherwise I accept fic recs. Thank you.)

Before we wind down, what’s the best advice you’ve ever gotten? Any advice you feel compelled to share?

I used to be really bad at discussing plot ideas with people – I dunno if it was an irrational fear of them running off with what I thought of, but it’s been there. I’ve been in a creative writing class about two years ago and there I was basically forced to do it. It helped somewhat with the progress of my story and being around people who like to do the same thing as you is always a great motivator.

I don’t listen to those conventional writing tips, like what atmosphere you’re supposed to have around you and how to depicts things. Writing is a personal experience and you can do it in a way you seem fit. Not everyone feels at ease in the same environment, so just write when you feel like it. Forcing yourself to do it doesn’t help anyone – except you can only work under stress, of course! See? There’s that individuality again, ruining my own writing tips.

Ahahaha, advice giving is a definite catch-22. Thank you for hanging out with us!! What’s next for you in the world? Both creatively and lively?

I’ve started an apprenticeship to become a bookseller this month! It’s a huge change compared with the life of a student that I had before, but after finishing my Bachelor‘s degree last December, it’s what I needed. Sadly it means that I don’t have as much time to write as I’d like, but I’m doing my best to squeeze in some of that. For Teen Wolf I‘m meaning to wrap up free fallin‘ in the jungle lights finally - otherwise, there’s a few WIPs in the Arrowverse and (uncharacteristic for me) MCU lurking on the back of my brain.

Anything else you’d like to share, in general. The floor is all yours!

I’m not really in the Thiam fandom, I think (really, the number of people I actually chatted with outside of ao3 comments can be counted on one hand), but here’s a massive shoutout to everyone! To the people who write, the people who read, the people who leave long comments, the artists, the meta-people, the ones with the headcanons. The people here from the officialthiamlibrary! You make writing a better experience and your opinions and reflections upon the show and characters help me become better at understanding them. Thank you all for being so lovely and just… into it. You’re all amazing!

And Behind the Screens presents Yasmin to you! Naturally, the conversation doesn’t have to stop here. Meet them at these places:

Main Tumblr: @joanthangroff

Inbox/Ask: joanthangroff ask

AO3: Pettigrace

Twitter: LI4MDUNBAR

Thank you for letting us get to know more about you! And thank you all for reading and requesting her. As always, if you have a Thiam Creator that you fan over, send us their names. Likewise, if you as the creator, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, give us a shout too! We’d love to get to know you, as well.

@joanthangroff

#thiam #teenwolf #behind the screens #mod: minna #officialthiamlibrary

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monstermaster13 · 2 years ago

Text

Oats and Corey in…

Transylvanian Vacation.

Oats and Corey both shared the same love of monsters that their friend Melanie ‘Mel’ Sanders did…and of course visiting Weta Workshop helped spark their love for making monsters, one afternoon the duo were playing a game of mad scientist when Oats asked Mel..’Where do monster stories come from? What inspires a horror writer to write what they write?’ ‘Sometimes it’s all based on a real piece of history.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yes, would you like to learn all about how monsters are made?’ ‘Oh yes..we went on a vampire adventure recently and would like to learn all about vampire lore and in particular where it started.’ ‘Well I know just the place for you, follow me boys.’

Mel gestured for the boys to follow her, as she showed them to a doorway which opened in the wall of their bedroom and the duo followed her, they entered the doorway as their bed transformed into a hearse and the duo went on a ride to Brasov, Romania. Corey had heard stories about this Romanian city and that it was home to superstition and to vampires, which excited him as the duo jumped out and arrived.

Oats was confused when he saw it at first…’Mommy, you said this place was dark and scary, where are all the monsters?’ ‘Yes…I did say it was home for many horror stories we know and love.’ ‘But it’s so normal.’ ‘Maybe the monsters won’t show up until it’s dark.’ Corey scratched his head for a bit before going for a look-around and that’s where he saw a group of people from the city.

“Excuse me, do you know where we can go to hear about a monster story?”

“A monster story?”

‘Yes…that’s right.’ ‘You know, like a Frankenstein story?’ One of the townsfolk laughed at Oats, he whinnied in a reaction that suggested he was offended at what they said. ‘What?’ ‘Oatsie, why are they laughing at you?’ ‘I don’t know, I just asked a question.’ ‘Well you’ve only been here now and you’re asking a point break question like that?’ ‘What?’ ‘You asked about Frankenstein’s monster.’ ‘Yeah…’

“Wait wait…this is Transylvania, don’t you want to ask about Dracula?”

“Good one.”

“What about the creature from the Black Lagoon?”

Corey laughed for a few seconds before looking over…’That’s pretty funny.’ ‘I’ve got Godzilla in the back room?’ ‘Ooh, another good one.’ ‘How about the blob?’ The duo headed out with Mel and headed over to Bran Castle to begin their adventure.

Bran Castle looked perfectly normal, Mel always told them that’s where vampires came from and that it was famous for being used as a spooky scene setting but Oats was confused…he couldn’t see anything spooky about it, that is until they walked into the castle and looked around, it was very dark except for the torches on the walls that stood alight, he used his magic to produce a light which helped them to see as they walked through the hallways and corridor.

Oats held onto Mel’s hand as the trio walked around, seeing all the sets and noticing all the creatures dancing around, including some undead beings and some ghostly dancers wearing masquerade masks, the two arrived at the dining room and saw some of the furniture floating, walking over to the foyer they saw some sculptures that looked like they were alive and some gargoyles. ‘Okay…now we’re getting to the spooky stuff.’ Then they came across a path which lead to a bedroom area where they saw coffin shaped beds and then they followed another path which lead to a room with several coffins.

That’s where our equine friend saw some vamponies (vampiric ponies) waking up from their naps, one of them was a gothic pony princess who floated to Oats and tried to flirt with him before attempting to hypnotize him. Corey came across another path, which in turn lead to the ballroom where the ghostly dancers were, Mel bravely stepped up to help the duo with the ghostly dancers by putting on a song number.

‘Oh, the night is my world

City light painted girl

In the day nothing matters

It's the night time that flatters

In the night, no control

Through the wall something's breaking

Wearing white as you're walkin'

Down the street of my soul

You take my self, you take my self control

You got me livin' only for the night

Before the morning comes, the story's told

You take my self, you take my self control

Another night, another day goes by

I never stop myself to wonder why

You help me to forget to play my role

You take my self, you take my self control

I, I live among the creatures of the night

I haven't got the will to try and fight

Against a new tomorrow, so I guess I'll just believe it

That tomorrow never comes

A safe night, I'm living in the forest of my dream

I know the night is not as it would seem

I must believe in something, so I'll make myself believe it

This night will never go

Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh

Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh’

Oats twirled around as he joined in and as he did, he became a vampiric/gothic version of himself that was dressed as Doctor Frank N Furter and Corey also joined in…becoming a floating vampirus (vampire virus) microbe as they performed with the dancers.

‘Oh, the night is my world

City light painted girl

In the day nothing matters

It's the night time that flatters

I, I live among the creatures of the night

I haven't got the will to try and fight

Against a new tomorrow, so I guess I'll just believe it

That tomorrow never knows

A safe night, I'm living in the forest of a dream

I know the night is not as it would seem

I must believe in something, so I'll make myself believe it

This night will never go

Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh

You take my self, you take my self control

You take my self, you take my self control’

The group danced and sang and performed for the ghostly dancers and the monsters as the vampire ponies sang along, soothed by Oats’s voice, the vampire pony princess from earlier looked over at him. ‘Wow, you are such a talented horse. I am sorry I tried to hypnotize you earlier. I just wanted a friend to play with.’ Oats blushed as he kissed the princess. Corey noticed some more bats as he saw one of them take on the form of a humanoid shape, and he knew this was Dracula himself, or specifically the Hotel Transylvania version of him…’Yep, this Dracula sounds like Adam Sandler and/or Brian Hull alright.’

Corey also noticed Drac had his friends Wayne the Werewolf (and his wife and their pups), Mavis, Johnny (and their son Dennis), Griffin, Murray, and even some new monster characters. Oats was excited to meet Mavis as he flew over to her and introduced himself. They heard wolves outside but Wayne told them…’nothing to be scared of, those are my cousins.’

Dracula announced that it was time for a monster party as Corey and Oats cheered, a group of half undead musicians performed on stage as games and festivities took place including going on haunted tours, learning about vampire stories. Corey and Oats even take part in a couple of musical numbers. They had so much fun that they didn’t want to leave…which luckily they didn’t have to, at least not until later.

A couple of hours later the party ended and the group headed out as they saw a mad scientist experimenting on a creature, but there was no lighting…’Why is there no lightning?’ ‘Lightning? Pah. He doesn’t work with lightning, he hates it, he works with all this other stuff.’ Corey chuckled as they hopped back into the hearse their bed turned into and headed out again but not before saying goodbye to their monster friends.

They took off in the hearse and headed back home to their house in Nile Road, where the duo got out and had another playtime session where they pretended to be monsters, and Oats put on his special performance of Sweet Transvestite for everyone. That evening they had dinner and after dinner they listened to music and relaxed.

When it was time for bed they all snuggled up and closed their eye, as they did their bed took on the form of a carriage with a gothic design as they went on a monster researching journey through the city of Brasov. But if you think that’s the end of their adventures, once again…another adventure may have ended but another one will begin.

They had a monster researching journey in the city of Brasov in their dreams and had a funky monster party, with the other microbes and some halloweeny/spooky webkinz pets joining in on the fun. ‘This town certainly doesn’t say a town in fear does it?’ ‘Oh no Corey, I definitely don’t think so…I think it’s cute.’ ‘Yeah, transylvania’s kind of cute.’

The next morning they all put on a special play/performance based on their trip to Brasov. ‘Do you know what song sums up our journey?’ ‘Transylvania 6-5000.’ ‘Hit it…’ A ghostly musician band popped up and played the theme song from the movie of the same name as they all danced and had a lot of fun.

But as mentioned above, this isn’t the end to their adventure, stay tuned for The 2022 Halloween Spooktacular, ‘Corey and Oats: Koala Rescuers’ ‘Corey and Oats in Dreamland.’ And ‘Oats’s Magical Flower Garden.’

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themarchblessing · 7 years ago

Text

DULCE VIDA

SABRINA

Grabbing the scissors I sat down on the floor of the nursery cutting into these packages. I ordered some more stuff for the baby last week and it’s finally arrived so I’m super pumped to see all of her clothes in person.

My nausea had subsided greatly meaning I don’t have morning or evening sickness as often but the feeling is still lingering around. Now it’s more so certain smells that really bring me to my knees versus adjusting to a new baby. We got our house set up on the outskirts of Brooklyn which means that Izaiah technically should be going to a new school but Brian and Ravyn both play a big part in why he’s still at the same school. Izaiah had an amazing summer. Corey and I tried our best to get his travel bug going and I think we did an okay job. The further along I became in my pregnancy it made certain trips difficult to bear but I pushed through for our son.

Corey’s parents, Hassan and Carla, even came to visit a couple of times during the summer months. They also took Zay on vacations without Corey and I but that’s alright. I was happy to see Zay bond and interact with his other grandparents. They are all so smitten with each other.

Corey finished putting together his gallery which is by far the coolest I’ve ever seen. He really did his thing with the designing and I swear it’s the cutest thing to see him in his zone when he’s there. Since we relocated he had to close down his two smallest labs and put in a decent sized one in his gallery. I had never been to his other laboratories but when he finished with this space I got to see everything and I was so amazed. Brian helped him out a great deal which was stress off of Corey’s back and music to my ears.

Speaking of my handsome fiancée I wonder when he’s coming home with our baby boy.

“Aw this is such a cute onesie..” I gushed holding up the soft outfit in the air. Most of what I ordered from Childsplay Clothing is little t-shirts, pants with booties attaches to them, baby crewnecks, and simple shit like that. I’m putting my best door forward to be more prepared for when my daughter arrives than how I was with Izaiah. Saying that in relevance to their clothing. Placing the opened boxes aside I set the clothes I’ve taken out and grouped them together by color and style.

“Mom!” I heard Izaiah yell out suddenly.

“Nursery!” I called, opening up another box to see what’s inside here. “Oh this is what you’re coming home in baby girl. No question.” I smiled in certainty loving how soft this two piece set is. The top and pants are cream with a lavender block of color around the wrists and ankles.

Footsteps coming closer earned my attention to see Izaiah walking in the door holding what I take is food. The closer he walked I felt my stomach growl at the confirming smell that my baby got me food. I kid you not, being eight and a half months pregnant has made me eat so much. I crave food all the time and I get it all the time. When daddy isn’t here I spend so much time in the kitchen cooking for myself. And to think I slowed down on time in the kitchen when that’s all I ever did with my mother growing up. But to be honest I take full advantage of Corey being such a good cook. He loves it and so do Zay and I. I do try to give him breaks sometimes so he doesn’t get sick of it.

“Hi baby, how was school today?” Placing more of the clothes in the piles I kissed Zay’s cheek, making room for him to sit with me.

“It was alright. We got you food.” Zay set the bag down away from the clothes taking out what looks a sandwich and then he pulled out what appears to be soup. Oh my boys know me so well. The first four months of my pregnancy were a battle. Constant nausea, dizzy spells and a lot of napping! But once I made it to 28 weeks, I was able to move throughout the day without feeling so out of control. The foods I’m eating nowadays have a lot to do with the morning sickness. I try to eat very light and very simple. Every meal I consume has ten ingredients or less that won’t possibly upset my stomach, per my decision. “What did you do all day mom?” Izaiah removed his sneakers and joined me in opening up the remainder of the boxes.

Unwrapping the sandwich and not wasting any time digging into it, I stretched out my legs. “Well after I did the laundry, cleaned up the entire house, took a bath, and made like twenty pancakes, I didn’t do much else. This stuff came to the house finally so I’ve been working on this.” I explained, finishing one half of my sandwich.

Izaiah shook his head in silence probably at the fact that I ate this turkey sandwich so fast. I must admit I did demolish this pretty quickly and while talking. “Where’s your dad?” Eating the other half I thought about if I wanted to eat the soup as well but decided not to.

“He’s downstairs. Want me to get him?” Zay began to stand but I ushered him to sit back down. He and I continued to open up the mail. With his help I managed to get the baby’s room in order to completion. Corey and I finished decorating due to how excited we are to meet this little girl of ours. The only thing that I hadn’t gotten around to until today was organizing her clothes.

Once we finished I helped him with his homework. Night fell and that’s when the hunger struck. Corey was downstairs in the kitchen, per usual, Izaiah was getting cleaned up in the bathroom. I got my shower in for the night and just as I was leaving our ensuite to go and change I felt myself step in something wet. Stopping in my tracks I looked down at my feet seeing liquid running down the side of my leg.

There’s no pain but I don’t understand why my water is breaking. I made an advance to move but I felt paralyzed. By the grace of god I looked up to see Izaiah staring at me with his t-shirt halfway on.

“What’s wrong, mom?” He walked closer as he situate his shirt on his body.

“I think my water just broke. I want to sit down but I can’t move. Please help me.” I begged. I reached for his hand. Zay held onto my hand and walked me back into the room over to the bed.

“Sit down.” He ushered. I twinged with pain doubling over. My hand caught the bed spread in time so I had some leverage to keep me from falling.

“Go get..” I breathed not able to get the words out. My mind is racing and my heart is doing the same. I’m not expected to have this baby for another two or so weeks but the pain that’s now hitting me is unbearable.

“Dad, I know.” Izaiah helped me sit down then he bolted for the door. “Dad!” He shouted descending the steps loudly. I can’t hear if Corey is responding. “Come upstairs, mom’s water broke!” Just then I heard something crash and both of the boys running.

I managed to get to the closet and get out a pair of shorts and a bralette. With some strength I changed into this simple outfit.

“Bri?” Hearing Corey’s voice I walked into the bedroom and stood by the bed. He rushed over to me guiding me to sit down. “Your water broke this early? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. I’m not due for another two weeks. I started having contractions though, heavy ones. They faded so I don’t know if these are the warning or the real thing.” I explained looking up at him.

Going to the ER is the route we decided to go with. Zay was getting dressed, Corey pulled out the hospital bags and loaded up the car. I threw on a flannel not bothering to button up. It gets hotter by the second, the contractions came back and drew closer together every few minutes. Maybe I am gonna have this baby early.

“Sabrina?” Corey called out in distress. I met him in the hallway carrying my small duffel bag on my arm. “You ready?” He asked. The stress in his face is making me feel bad. Of course I didn’t plan to have my water break this soon but what’s done is done. We prepared for the birth last month together with my doctor but not this soon.

Setting my bag down I wrapped my arms around him hoping to decrease his anxiety. “Breathe Corey, everything is gonna be fine.” Funny how I’m encouraging him to relax when I’m the one about to have a baby. He laughed at my tactics and hugged me back. The warmth of his hug and the security I feel helped to ease my mind. I’m seriously so blessed to have such a great guy like Corey. I feel like I say this so much but it’s only the truth.

“I love you Sabrina, I love you so much for everything.” He muttered, rubbing my back underneath the shirt. His lips on my neck soothed me all the more.

Smiling at his will to keep me at peace I told him I loved him back. We left the house in a hurry. Izaiah was holding my hand from the backseat and rubbing my right shoulder to help take some of the pain away. I practiced the slow breathing techniques I was shown in my classes the whole ride to the emergency room. Eventually I rolled my window all the way down to bring in more fresh, cool air. When we arrived at the doors Corey came around to help out.

“Zay stay with your mom.” He said handing the small bag to him. Corey went off to move the car while Zay and I walked into the hospital. The strongest urge to cry hit me full force almost bringing me to my knees. “Mommy!” I heard him distress. For a minute I didn’t feel him holding me anymore. But when I looked up I saw him wheeling over a chair for me to sit in.

I sat down still uncomfortable in my own skin as I began to go realize that I’m definitely having this baby tonight. I’m still not prepared for this mentally but clearly my daughter is ready to come out and give us her grand introduction. Zay pushed me over to the counter where a nurse seemed to writing or typing or something.

“Miss? My mom needs her doctor.” Zay approached the counter making his presence known boldly. The woman stood up and took one glance at me before paging someone. Corey met up with us and took over pushing me towards a room that the nurse directed us to.

Everyone and everything moved so quickly. The only person that seemed to move slow enough for me to keep up with was myself. Corey was talking to a different nurse most likely asking about why my water broke so soon. Izaiah was trying to help me get comfortable in this hospital bed. Time seemed to speed up too. A man walked in wearing a doctor's uniform. He gave me a run down on what he was about to do. I fumbled with my necklace listening to him tell me that I’m fully dilated and I’ve got to have to my baby right now or else.

Another man walked in dressed the same holding what looked like the shot for an epidural. The second he was in reaching distance of me I snatched the shot from his hands and snapped it in half. Launching it across the room away from my boys I glared at the doctor. “Do not come near me with any drugs. Don’t!” I warned, pointing my finger at him. The strength I possess right now is unmatchable by anyone. I’m not in the mood to be messed with or pissed off.

A hand gripping my wrist scared me. I jumped when I turned to see it was just Corey. I switched up my voice quick. “Please don’t let them give me drugs Corey. I don’t want any.”

Corey kissed my forehead gently, “I won’t.” He promised sincerely.

“No matter what?” I challenged.

“No matter what.” He nodded.

“Okay Sabrina it’s time.” My doctor walked in making me feel relieved that I don’t have the men in here helping me to deliver my baby. She and two other nurses in the room worked in a pace that was easy to monitor. I can’t handle fast paced movement. Not at a time like this. Izaiah was sitting in the chair waiting on standby in case he was needed paying close attention. Corey was dressed in the traditional gown keeping a tight hold on my hand.

You can guess what happened next right?

***fast forward ----- two months***

Rinsing the suds off of me I followed through with my hair, braiding it back out of my way. Peering to my right through the window I sighed just watching the small waves get picked up by the wind. The water transitioned into bigger waves that crashed against the shore violently. The sight made me gleam. I can’t believe I get to wake up to a view like this every single day now. Hearing that familiar hiccup I looked to my left grinning at my baby chew on her own fingers. Her eyesight bounced off of everything in the room before finding me. Ending my shower I filled up the tub with warm water that would satisfy me and not burn her skin.

I used her baby wash as bubble maker and added in the oil my doctor said was safe to be on her skin. Bringing Elle into the tub with me I laid her against my chest and washed her back using the sponge Corey just got for her. Because I had changed her right before I got in the shower and I’ve learned her routine I knew she wouldn’t go again for a while. After I got her backside I pushed my legs up to wash the rest of her. The look of surprise on her cute little face filled with me so much laughter. I guess she didn’t expect to get off my shoulder so soon.

“You are so funny, my love. Just like your brother and definitely just like your papa.” I snickered. The day after we brought Elle home from the hospital Corey had movers come and pick up the furniture from the house. I had no clue what was going on but I got the picture when he, Ravyn and Brian began packing up our personals. At the time we still hadn’t decided on whether or not we wanted to move. But Corey being the sneak that he is, had a plan all ready to go. I still hadn’t decided on where I wanted to go and Zay didn’t care either way. To my surprise Corey bought us a beautiful home on a slight hill along the coast of Panama. Punta Paitilla to be exact. We love it here!

The weather is beyond perfect and better than California. The views are spectacular, the air is so fresh, the amount of vegetation is unbelievable and the coziness of this city is wonderful. Not to mention the economy is at its peak. Corey and I owning our first home together with our beautiful babies has had me on cloud nine ever since we signed the papers. Our realtor was amazing too. She really worked with us to get a fair price and that made me so happy. Izaiah is in love with the new house as well. He loves being so close to the beach. He’s made friends with just about every kid who lives within a mile from us, in our area. He actually enjoys going to school these days.

Corey is working from home in the basement on some days. He wanted to be closer to us. I stopped working altogether since Elle is so young and she needs me around the clock. Being a stay at home mom isn’t all that bad. With Corey being here most of the time I get the extra help from him more than I anticipated. And I get to play house on a constant loop with my man which helps to add to my happiness.

Elle is such a sweet and quiet baby. She’s much quieter than her brother was way back when but she favors him in character. The bond that she has with her brother and father make me cry happy tears. Corey and Zay are in total infatuation with Elle, as am I. When we first settled back in New York Corey was petrified to be alone with Elle because he feared he wasn’t prepared for a newborn. Every time I would try and leave the room he would beg me to stick around or he would just follow me. Every single time. Bathroom trips included. His explanation for wanting me around so much in the beginning is because he didn’t want her to get hurt on his watch. I did everything that I could to ensure him that nothing would happen to her if they were alone but he was so paranoid.

That faded and now two months later he’s a lot more at ease with not always having me there. He still prefers to be in my line of vision which is perfectly fine. And me? Well I don’t have the words or the time to tell anyone how much I like being a new mommy again. I didn’t realize how much I missed the baby stage until I had my daughter. It’s a pleasure getting help from my boys when I have to change Elle, bathe her or just spend time with her. They enjoy doing those simple tasks alongside me to learn what it is that I do with her.

Placing Elle back on my chest I laid my palm flat on her back to hold her still. She was gazing out the window just like I was. Everyday we do the same thing. Our morning routine is simple yet very relaxing. I wake up when Elle wakes up. And since she sleeps by our bed I know when it’s time to get the day started. I go through my own morning routine at the sink while she sits on the bean bag. After that I get in the shower, get out and draw a bath for her and I. Once she’s all clean we sit in the tub admiring our view. At times she might get hungry while we were in the bathtub and other times she won’t. I have yet to force her into eating. I wait until she’s ready, no matter where I’m at.

“My sweet baby.” I murmured. Kissing the top of her head repeatedly I crossed my legs. Shortly after I heard movement downstairs I drained the bath of water, getting out to dry off. Setting her down on the towel spread across the bed I wiped her down and put a cloth diaper on to start off today with.

“Lori..” I heard Corey coming down the hall.

“In here babe..” I said, retreating to the bathroom to grab the lotion for her and the one for myself. Going back to finish Elle off I saw Corey backing into the room. He had a tray in his hand covered with a beautiful spread of I’m guessing my first meal of the day. Shaking my head promptly and grinning from ear to ear I sat down turning Elle over on her stomach to lotion her back and legs.

Corey sat the tray down and took over what I started. He instructed me to dry off so I could go on and eat before my food gets cold. I did as he said without any argument.

“Where’s Zay at?” I said in between forkfuls of pancakes.

“Outside with them boys from up the street. They came down here and knocked on the door asking if he could come out this morning. How was your bath? You miss me?”

Catching his hint and his side eye I playfully, softly kicked him. “You play too much,” I chuckled. “Yeah I missed you. Where’ve you been all morning? You usually stay up here until we go in the bathroom.”

Corey silently begged for some of my food so after he got that he took Elle into the closet. “I had to finish boxing up that stuff for my mom. I sent it off so I’m hoping she’ll have it by next week. She needs it by Thursday. What you want to wear today baby?” He asked from inside the closet.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t really have anywhere to go. Oh no wait, we have to go to the market. I need to get a few things for dinner this weekend. Brian and Carli are still coming right?” Picking up my mug I began slowly sipping down my tea careful not to burn my tongue like I always manage to do so at some point during breakfast.

Corey appears with a my sandals, a white tank top dress and a sweater draped over his arm. “Yeah they’ll be here Friday afternoon. I think they come in at like two or three.” He explained while laying my clothes out for me.

“We have to call and make sure that bed is gonna be here by tomorrow. Or else they’ll be sleeping on the floor. Here..” sliding the tray over to him so he could finish my omelets like he nevers passes on I stood up and finished getting myself ready.

“It’s coming tomorrow. I already talked to the dude this morning. How do you smell so good after baths with mommy?” Turning over my shoulder to see him goofing off with Elle I lotioned myself down.

Afternoon came quickly. Izaiah stayed behind with his friends while we hit the market to finish gathering supplies for our big weekend. Since moving here, our friends and family have been begging to fly out and visit. Now that our house is all set up we planned the visit and did a round of calling to our loved ones. Our parents, Brian and his girl are coming to stay with us. We’ve got the space which is great because I would’ve been sad if we couldn’t accommodate our company.

We came back to the house, I fed the baby and rocked her to sleep. Corey and I squeezed in two rounds of love making that we got to fully enjoy. We didn’t have to rush this time and that’s what made it all that it was. Fucking fantastic. I was even blessed with the opportunity to lay up under my husband once we were done.

Instead of waiting for Elle to walk to have a big wedding we had a small ceremony with her and Zay. However we did agree that once Elle is a little older we would do it all over again and have our family and friends there. His reason for wanting to marry me so quickly was due to not wanting to hide my new ring any longer. And that thing is jaw dropping gorgeous. I wear the proposal ring on my right hand and my wedding ring in its rightful place. They’re special enough to wear together all of the time.

“I like being married.” Gushing over the details of our miniature wedding I kicked my feet up on the table. If we stay here for a long time I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this view from our backyard.

Throwing an arm behind my back Corey leaned away from me taking countless pictures of myself and Elle who was doing absolutely nothing. All she can do is look around regardless of her not understanding where she is.

“You mean as in being married to me or just in general?” He quipped with a little attitude. A sly smirk spread over my face tempting me to feed into his reach for me to tell how I feel about him.

“Both. I never put any thought into marriage. Like whatsoever before you came along and popped the question which took me by complete surprise by the way.” Raking my nails through her hair I squeezed my arm around her just a tad.

“I mean..what can I say? I was tryna keep up with you and your spontaneous ass. You never once shown yourself to be the predictable type Lori. But nah then again I’ve taking you by surprise our entire lives. Always felt like you deserved that and more.” Playing back the first time confession I looked next door seeing Izaiah play some unknown game with the kids who live in that house. “Would you believe me if I said I was nervous to ask you and on your birthday for that matter? A huge part of me thought you were gonna say no before I even came up to the room. No one knew about me wanting to propose so I didn’t have anyone to give me that last minute push so I just went for it.”

“That would’ve been one hell of a turn down.” Corey and I had a rich laugh. He, just like I, were no doubt reminiscing over that night but with a different outcome. “Where do you think we’d be if we never hooked up at Brian’s party?” I asked seriously. Not once have I let it cross my mind on where I’d be in life without my husband. I never wanted to until now. We’re settled and comfortable in our life and our marriage so I think it’s safe to speak on this. Turning to my right I swiped my thumb over his cheek. I swear I have the sexiest man in the whole world. When I think about who Corey’s father is I get all weird inside. Only because I feel like I just complimented Hassan in ways I shouldn’t.

But if we’re being honest here, Hassan passed his looks down to his only son.

“To be honest with you baby, I don’t know. I don’t want to know where I’d be without all this.” In reference to everything he’s speaking of Corey outstretched his free arm.

“Only God knows. I like being with you. I thought it would be just a little weird with us being a couple. Take out the sex. I’m talking about everything else that comes with a relationship. A long time ago I pondered on what it would be like to be Corey Howard’s girlfriend and once it actually happened I was just like..” pausing to look at our baby I took her off of my chest to find her once again nibbling on her fingers. She smiled at me, those deep set impressions of dimples in her cheeks are a sight to see. She’s such a beautiful little baby. A perfect mix of Corey and I. For a two month old she’s smart and a surely a charmer to everyone she meets.

“She wouldn’t be as perfect as she is if it wasn’t for you. You know that right, baby?” Corey moved in closer to me palming the one side of my face to kiss all over the side he was closest to. The tickling sensation of his wet kisses made me squirm.

“Touché papa, touché.” Laying my head on Corey’s shoulder I passed Elle to him since she was eyeing him heavily. Anytime her daddy comes around Elle forgets about anyone else but Corey. “Clearly she thinks you’re just as handsome as I do.” Holding her hand I closed my eyes to soak up this moment. There was a pause and then I came to realize something. “I’m glad you made that switch.”

“Where did that come from?” Corey threw an arm around my shoulder keeping me snug and warm.

Opening my eyes back up I checked on Izaiah smiling to see him full of joy. He must have felt someone staring at him so when he turned to make eye contact with me he waved. I waved back seeing him and his friends go inside the house.

Focusing on Elle I cuffed her sleeves so she wouldn’t chew on them. “I really don’t know. Just thinking about all that we’ve gone through together, expanding our family and seeing how great of a father you are touches me in a way I can’t explain.” I have to confess. For a long time I was so mad about what happened. Overtime is when I learned to appreciate Corey on a different level.

In full confession, I wouldn’t be where I am in life nor would I be this happy if we never drunkenly hooked up last year. I also wouldn’t have my little girl. In the end that switch changed Corey’s life for the better and it surely did for mine.

#the march blessing #short story

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brigdh · 7 years ago

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Continuing to catch up on book reviews

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey. Around 1910, a US congressman proposed to import hippos into the southern states as meat animals (supposedly "lake cow bacon" was delicious). Obviously this never happened, but Gailey has written a novella set in the world where it did. In her 1890s, an enormous stretch of the Mississippi River has been dammed to create a shallow marsh in response to the hippo ranching boom; unfortunately this marsh is now overrun with feral, man-eating, escaped hippos who have turned the area into a lawless danger zone. Winslow Houndstooth, former hippo breeder and current mercenary, is hired by federal agents to clear out the ferals and return the marshlands to government control. He promptly gathers the crew he needs to pull off the job. River of Teeth follows typical heist-movie structure: the long opening sequence of assembling the team, each with their own speciality; the suspense of putting together a plan and setting the pieces in motion; and finally the actual heist, which of course goes wrong in several unexpected ways, adding new and exciting twists to the plot. It's a structure refined to perfection by the Ocean's movies, and Gailey follows it faithfully. Except that this heist takes place in a Wild West where the cowboys all ride hippos. There are even different breeds of hippos, selected for size or speed or fighting ability, and given the same sort of loving descriptions and characterizations as any fiery stallion or faithful steed in a traditional Western. How can you not love this? I also appreciated the clear attention to diversity in the cast. There's Winslow himself, a bisexual Korean-British man giving to flirting and sleeping with anyone who catches his eye; Regina "Archie" Archambault, a fat Frenchwoman who's a skilled conman and pickpocket; Hero Shackleby, black non-binary demolitions expert who has to be coaxed out of retirement for one last job; Adelia Reyes, described as "without question, the deadliest, most ruthless contract killer of her day" and also a Latina woman who's eight months pregnant; and finally Cal Hotchkiss, inside man and literally the token white guy – Winslow explains that they need someone with privilege for part of the plan. Unfortunately, despite all of the amazing rule-of-cool in the above paragraphs, I didn't much like River of Teeth. This is Gailey's first full-length piece of writing (she'd published short stories before) and it shows. The biggest problem is simply that it's a novella packed with a plot that desperately needed to be at least a novel, and the smushing and cramming required to fit it all into such a small space did a great deal of damage. We're told, for example, that Winslow and Hero fall in love, but this takes place pretty much entirely off-page and we're given no explanation for Winslow's sudden transition from one-night-stands to devoted commitment. That kind of character arc really needs room to breathe if it's going to be believable. In addition, there are several betrayals and shocking double-crosses, but they all come so quickly one after another and we know so little about the characters in question that there's no emotional weight to any of them. Finally, there were some mistakes in the worldbuilding, the biggest of which was the fact that the dam that created this new marshland was upriver of the marsh. That's... that's not how dams work. Right? I'm now second-guessing myself because I can't find anyone else complaining about it online, but it bugged me through every single page of this short novella. Literally every page, because it was on a map included before the story started, so I was already confused before I'd read one word. I'm sad that I didn't like River of Teeth, because I expected to; it's such an incredibly cool concept and bit of history. But the execution just didn't hold up to the idea, alas. Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey. The sixth book in The Expanse series, and the first one to be almost entirely free of alien plot devices (though they do show up for a spectacular ending, well-foreshadowed and still totally surprising). Humanity in this future is divided into three groups: those who live on Earth, those who live on Mars, and 'Belters', those who live in the asteroid belt and beyond. Earth and Mars have been the superpowers dominating the solar system, while the Belters suffer under heavy taxes, tariffs, and fees for importing water, gravity, air, food, etc. At least, that's how it was until the previous book, when a small group of Belter terrorists/freedom fighters (depending on your point of view, as the old joke goes) diverted asteroids into colliding with Earth, killing billions and rendering most of the planet uninhabitable for the foreseeable future. They also infiltrated the Martian military (leaving its government to fester in infighting and backbiting and eventually to collapse into a constitutional crisis) as well as barring any entry to or exit from our solar system, thus cutting off potential resources that could be used to aid Earth's or Mars's citizens. That was Nemesis Games. Babylon's Ashes is the fallout. The Belter terrorist group unsurprisingly begins to falter as its component small segments follow divergent goals, a problem heightened when Michio Pa, the main military commander, realizes that unless everyone stops fighting and immediately focuses on rebuilding infrastructure, all of humanity is going to starve to death in a few years. Her solution is to rebrand herself as a pirate queen, capturing necessary resources and delivering them to those most in need, a move that pits her against both her former terrorist allies and the newly forming Earth/Mars/some of the Belt coalition. Meanwhile, Filip, the seventeen year old only son of Marco, the terrorist leader, is slowly coming to realize that his father is maybe not that great of a guy, but is instead an unreliable, short-sighted narcissist who happens to be blessed with immense charisma. There's a lot of good stuff in this book. Unfortunately, there's also nineteen goddamn POVs, a simply ridiculous number. It's the first time in this series that I struggled to remember who was who, which is never a good sign. Some of the POVs are ones we've seen before (Holden, Naomi, Amos, Alex, Avasarala, Prax, Bobbie, Anna, Clarissa), some were previously minor characters now upgraded to narrators (Namono, Anna's wife; Dawes, governor of Ceres, largest city in the Belt; Fred, political leader of the centrist Belters; and the previously mentioned Pa, Filip, and Marco) and some are entirely new (Salis, Jakulski, Vandercaust, and Roberts, all four minor technicians working on Medina Station, which was cut off after Marco sealed the solar system). Nine of these characters only get one chapter each; that's barely enough time to get a sense of them as a personality, much less for them to have a storyline. Of the remaining ten, the only ones who get enough screentime to manage an actual character arc are Filip and maybe Pa. Though to be fair, Filip's arc is an incredibly well-done portrayal of an angry young man from a sheltered background – he doesn't realize it, but he's been indoctrinated in Marco's beliefs since birth – just beginning to question how he was raised. Outside of those two, though, the plot and themes of Babylon's Ashes fall a little flat with no one for the reader to emotionally latch onto. Significant portions of the book feel more like a detailed nonfiction account of a war – lists of places and dates, battle maneuvers and troop movements – than they do a novel. Which is really too bad, because Babylon's Ashes does have worthwhile things to say. I particularly liked the recurrent theme about how war makes it very easy to view our enemies as less than human: We’re not people,” he said. “We’re the stories that people tell each other about us. Belters are crazy terrorists. Earthers are lazy gluttons. Martians are cogs in a great big machine.” “Men are fighters,” Naomi said, and then, her voice growing bleak. “Women are nurturing and sweet and they stay home with the kids. It’s always been like that. We always react to the stories about people, not who they really are.” “And look where it got us,” Holden said. “I always thought that if you gave people all the information, they’d do the right thing, you know? Not always, maybe, but usually. More often than when they chose to do the wrong thing anyway.” “Everybody’s a little naïve sometimes,” Alex said, feeling as the words passed his lips that maybe he wasn’t quite following Holden’s point. Maybe he should have taken the first of the sobriety pills before he’d left the men’s room. “I meant fact,” Holden went on as if he hadn’t heard Alex at all. “I thought if you told people facts, they’d draw their conclusions, and because the facts were true, the conclusions mostly would be too. But we don’t run on facts. We run on stories about things. About people. Naomi told me that when the rocks fell, the people on Inaros’ ship cheered. They were happy about it.” “Yeah, well.” Alex paused, rubbing a knuckle across his upper lip. “Consider they might all be a bag of assholes.” “They weren’t killing people. In their heads? They were striking a blow for freedom or independence. Or making it right for all the Belter kids that got shitty growth hormones. All the ships that got impounded because they were behind on the registration fees. And it’s just the same back home. Father Cesar’s a good man. He’s gentle and he’s kind and he’s funny, and to him Belters are all Free Navy and radical OPA. If someone killed Pallas, he’d be worried about what the drop in refining capacity would do before he thought about how many preschools there are on the station. Or if the station manager’s son liked writing poetry. Or that blowing the station meant that Annie down in Pallas central accounting wasn’t going to get to throw her big birthday party after all.” “Annie?” Alex asked. “I made her up. Whoever. The thing is I wasn’t wrong. About telling people the truth? I was right about that. I was wrong about what they needed to know.” There's more, about politics and alliances, small-scale loss and planet-wide grief, protest and authority, and if history is made by sweeping changes in economies and technology or the choices of individuals. It's all meaningful and well-done, but... it's just hard to care without a character who cares. I needed fewer POVs. It's funny how such a minor-seeming stylistic choice can overwhelm so many other positives, but I simply didn't enjoy Babylon's Ashes the way I enjoyed the previous books. Ah, well. At least the next one in the series seems to return to the usual four-ish narrators.

#books #book reviews #sarah gailey #The expanse #james s.a. corey

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purecolby · 8 years ago

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Imagine #13- Request- Futures?

REQUEST!-

sorry for bothering you again but i had another 💡 i wanted to share with you.. i hope thats 🆗 with you :) my 💡 was that the person youre writing about won the tfil contest and after having an amazing day with the boys (like exploring a haunted place or going to the 🏖️ or going to the hollywood sign) you were arrested.. (maybe just you and colby because you’re clumsy and he helped you while the other ones could get away and you got separated).. you two are in a police cell together and talk a lot and have like a connection (like future and things idk) after apologizing like a thousand times.. in the late night you can leave the police station and took an uber to the trap 🏠 and after the other ones are questioning you both and go to 🛏️, colby and you go outside to the pool and sit on the edge of the springboard and you two are stargazing and idk :D i hope you understand what i try to tell you.. it was just an 💡 and thought i wanted to share it with you.. even though i might appear crazy now 😅 well.. sorry for bothering you again and have a nice day :)

first of all! i 💛 this 💡, there so much room to work with. thank you, once again, @j-c-z for the amazing requests❤️

“Hey everyone welcome back to TFIL and today we are here with the contest winner, Y/N!” Elton said 🙌. You were in the middle of all the guys. You stood next to Colby and Corey as Sam conspired with Elton. You were curious to 👀 what they were doing but you were captive to Colby and Corey’s dumb “fam 5” stuff. It was super funny. “Are you gonna square up, fam?” Corey asked in his stupid voice. “Are you gonna make me, fam?” Colby asked.

“YEAH i’m gonna make you, fam.” Sam yelled as he viciously rubbed his nipples. You looked around and started 😅. Elton finally made everyone get serious.

“Guys, today we have a special surprise for Y/N!” Everyone clapped. You had no 💡 where you guys were going or what you were doing.

“We’re going to go explore the abandoned mall that we all almost got arrested at! Let’s go!” Elton said excitingly. Aaron gave you a hug and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry” to you. You followed Sam and Colby to Colby’s 🚗 and then some plans changed.

“Do you have your bag of food, Y/N?” You shook your head and Sam said that he’d take Katrina in his 🚗 because he had more baggage.

“We’re going to the abandoned mall, that’s probably infested with mutant rats. Not a 🏩 that serves five ⭐ meals. What do you have that could possibly be necessary tonight?” You retorted. Sam started 😅.

“Damn, that was a nice burn, Y/N. But you really need a reason for me to leave you alone with Colby?” Sam asked. You started to blush. Colby didn’t hear Sam since he was having a screaming battle about who would take you with Elton.

“Why! You have plenty more room and I’m taking Katrina and Sam with me.” You heard Colby complain to Elton. Elton looked at you and then Colby turned his head to 👀 you. He looked embarrassed.

“Colby, we’re gonna head out together. You can take Y/N.” Sam told Colby. He looked back at Elton. Elton winked at him, then at you and you waited for Colby to get in his 🚗, so you could get in. You guys all headed out. In the 🚗 it was super quiet, so you suggested to turn on some 🎶. Colby agreed.

“What song do you want to play?” You asked him. He said whatever’s fine. So, you started blasting disney 🎶. He was totally 🆗 with your choice, as you saw him rocking out to “Just Can’t Wait To Be 👑.”

“I 💛 that song!” He exclaimed. He looked over to you. He blushed, and then noticed he was staring and looked back to the road.

“What’s wrong?” You asked him.

“Nothing. Just tired.” He said.

“I know i’ve only truly known you for about a day or two but I can tell when you’re lying. I can really tell when anyone’s lying.” You told him. He looked at you at the red light.

“🆗, here’s the deal. I think you’re super hot. That’s why I wanted you to ride with Elton because I didn’t want Sam or Kat to blow it for me. I think you’re a super 🆒 person and I want to get to know you, but I also am conflicted because you’re a fan.” He explained.

“I think you’re super hot, too. Sam was just making fun of me about it before we all left.” You explained. Colby looked at you and he started to blush a little. You did too.

You guys got out of the 🚗 and Elton grabbed the 📹 to start the intro for the video. Colby got out of the 🚗, and so did you. You followed the others to stand behind Elton. Colby put his arm around you and you heard some cheering coming from the guys. That made you blush. Sam was especially rooting for some reason.

“Stop it! Continue the intro.” You said. Elton did as he was told. Then, there were police sirens. Everyone grabbed their gear and split, but you and Colby were caught since you guys were super slow runners. You guys took a ride up to the station. Placed in a cell. Colby called Elton. You guys would get bailed out, and Elton was on the way.

“What a day, huh?” Colby asked as he sat down on the bench next to you. The cell was practically empty, except you and Colby were in there.

“Yup. But it was super fun.” You answered. You were a little cold. Colby noticed this and took of his sweater to give it to you. You refused at first. But he insisted. You took the sweater and pulled it over your 👕. You felt warm and cuddly in it. It was a large, but you were a small so you could wear it as a dress if you wanted to. He asked you if you were warm enough.

“Yeah. I am super warm. Thank you.” You said as you put your head on his shoulder. He layed his head down on top of yours.

“Sometimes I wonder if I am going to end up in jail for trespassing for one of these stupid youtube videos.” He said.

“I got 😟 that I would end up here because I got caught stalking.” Not one of your finer moments.

“You’re so creepy.” He told you.

“Well, you’re super hot so I can’t say anything about it!” You said playfully. He 😂.

“I wonder what my future looks like.” He said. You brought your head up and looked at him. He looked at you.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“Like, if i’m gonna have kids, who i’m gonna marry, why i have seven thousand sticky notes on my wall.” He said bluntly. You started to wonder the same thing about yourself, minus the sticky note part.

“Me too.” You said. “I 👀 these two wonderful kids one day, and the next I 👀 two blurs of a ☁️. Sometime I think it’s better off if I just don’t do anything else in my life other than go to college and pay taxes.”

“😲, no. You deserve a family. You deserve a person that makes you so incredibly happy that you cannot fathom how you even got to that place of happiness in the first place.” Colby said, he sounded a bit 😠.

“Yeah.” You said. Then, out of nowhere, Colby went in and 😘 you.

“Colby, I-” You started.

“Colby, my man!” Elton said as he came in following an officer. The officer opened the cell, and let you guys go.

“Sorry you ended up getting caught and put in jail, Y/N.” Elton said. You accepted his apology. “But, I think Colby already gave you an apology so let’s go home.” Elton finished. Colby held your ✋ back out to the 🚗 and you guys went home.

#colby #colby brock #colby x reader #colby brock x reader #sam and colby

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storytime-reviews · 8 years ago

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Teen Wolf Series Finale Review-The Wolves of War

I’m not really even sure where to start with this review. It’s a bittersweet feeling, because I am sad that Teen Wolf has ended, but at the same time, I’m glad that it ended this way, that it ended so well, and with all of my favourite characters alive. Because going into it I think we all were a little wary of how their story would end. But I think it’s fitting, that even though Scott wins and Gerard loses, this isn’t the end of their story, not really. This episode is rather open ended, and it’s clear that even though we’ve seen the final episode, the story doesn’t end. It’s also fitting, I think, that Teen Wolf ends on an optimistic note. They win, none of their own dead, and continue the fight together in the flash forward. And so, if it must end, I am glad it is in this way.

It’s funny, because until recently if you had asked me, I would’ve said I was happy that Teen Wolf was ending. After all, I’ve seen too many shows ruined by terrible writing that continues into too many seasons, and I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that sometimes the plot on this show is all over the place. But unlike some of the many other shows I watch, I stuck it out with this show because I continued to care about these characters. So yes, this episode may not have been perfect, that would be impossible, but generally I think it was a pretty fitting ending. An ending that I enjoyed, an ending that left me knowing that I would miss this show. In the end, I was not counting down the days until the series finale, unlike some other shows I won’t mention. At the end of the day, it is the incredible characters that I will remember, even when the plot fails. At the end of the day, it is the friendships that I will remember, and, after all, that’s what Teen Wolf is all about.

Flash Forward

Firstly, I loved that this episode began as a flash forward with Scott and Chris, which really increased the suspense throughout the episode, as they were the only two that we knew for sure survived. Knowing they survived increased the chances of our other favourite characters meeting their untimely deaths, though I am glad to say that this did not come to pass. I must admit that I was surprised that Chris survived, as I had expected that he would die saving Scott, and I am happy that I was wrong in this case. I really enjoyed how this episode was constructed, as Scott tells his story to the new werewolf, we also watch his story. I loved watching the close relationship between Scott and Chris and I am constantly amazed how much their relationship has changed since the beginning.

I also very much enjoyed the ending of this episode, as the flash forward is continued. It’s important that this show that is so focused on the friendships between characters ends with the pack (Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia, Liam and Derek) continuing to work together and save others. We protect those who cannot protect themselves. I do hate that Monroe has taken up Gerard’s mantle, mostly because she was always pretty pathetic as a hunter and barely paid attention to Gerard half of the time, so it’s difficult to see her being much of a success. However, I do understand the fight continuing in this way, because as long as there are supernatural creatures, there will be hunters hunting them, so it makes perfect sense that the ending retains this realism. After all, with no deaths among the pack or their allies, it is a very happy ending, even with hunters chasing them. It’s a happy ending also because the town now stands with them, and they have friends and allies such as Corey, Mason, Peter, Theo, Jackson and Ethan also. It’s a happy ending because even though Monroe has followers in the thousands, they also must hide under the cover of darkness once more. In many ways, this flash forward is even more important in emphasising the circular nature of Teen Wolf. Just as this show began with a young Scott McCall chased by hunters, it ends with a new, young werewolf being chased. Except, this time, he’s not alone. ‘You’re not a monster. You’re a werewolf. Like me.’

The Dogs of War

Stiles and Derek show up at the beginning of the episode, and in doing so stop Scott from being shot. But Derek doesn’t show up to save Beacon Hills, he came for Scott. This is yet another example of the changing relationships between characters who were antagonistic towards each other in season 1. Just as the relationship between Scott and Chris has improved exponentially, so too has the relationship between Scott and Derek. The initial fight scene is short, but that is no surprise, because this is not a war they can win by killing everyone. The real theatre of war is at the highschool, as they go up against the Anuk-ite. I love that Deucalion’s dying words are that Gerard’s greatest fear is that Scott will beat him.

I absolutely love how the whole war opens, with Gerard setting it up like chess, strategically separating Scott’s pack and allies, and setting his own men against them. This is perhaps the most terrifying scene of the entire episode, it is the moment in which the audience feels certain that not everyone will survive. This sentiment is echoed by Gerard himself, his ominous warning stating that whilst Scott may save some of them, ultimately he cannot save them all, and we feel this also. I suppose you could say that unlike Scott, we are not optimistic. This is what creates suspense throughout the whole episode, knowing that the pack is separated, and completely surrounded on all sides. But yet again, Gerard fails by underestimating Scott and his friends, because they save everyone. In the end, they all survive.

Stiles and Lydia are off to rescue Jackson, although he’s doing a pretty good job of it himself. I really enjoyed Jackson being his usual asshole self and that he uses it expertly in order to free himself with his tail. I also love that he was really impressed with Lydia taking down all of the hunters with her banshee powers. I didn’t have a problem with the two of them hugging unlike a lot of people, because they're both different people now and it’s not like the writers had decided to put these two characters together again. I can understand Lydia’s reaction, because even if all of her times with Jackson weren’t good, she cared about him a lot, and he cared about her as well, it’s quite clear. Meanwhile, Malia, Scott and Derek head to the school to take on the Anuk-ite, although Peter with his head start ends up turning to stone almost immediately. In the end, it’s clear that the writers brought back most of these characters simply for nostalgic purposes, because they didn’t end up fighting much.

But, they end up separated almost immediately, Scott shot with yellow wolfsbane by Monroe, who is chased by Malia. Derek ends up taking on the Anuk-ite, but as he faces his fears, he finds himself unable to resist looking, and also turns to stone. Jackson ends up turning to stone thinking he is going to be looking at Ethan, whilst we see that Ethan has already been turned to stone. It must’ve absolutely frightened Lydia when she saw Malia turned to stone, because she is literally being confronted not only with the stuff of her nightmares, but with her own predictions. Meanwhile, the Sheriff goes after Parrish, whilst Scott has already called Theo to help out Liam, Mason and Corey in the hospital.

Take Back the Hospital

I love that the scenes in the hospital include so many characters taking back the hospital in their own unique ways. After a cute, brief moment in which Mason and Corey say ‘I love you’ to each other, they become invisible and take out hunters from behind with bedpans, and it is suitably amusing. Melissa finds Nolan, and together they help the others take the fight to the hunters and take back the hospital. Nolan seems eager to make up for his past mistakes, warning Liam when Gabe and the other hunters are about to shoot him. However, my favourite parts of the hospital scenes would have to be the ones of Liam and Theo fighting together. Theo pulls Liam into the elevator as Gabe is shooting at him. Inside, they say ‘I'm not dying for you.’ ‘I’m not dying for you either’, but they do agree to fight together. It’s such a great moment because you can see something unspoken between these lines. For me at least, it seems to signal the beginning of something, and there does appear to be an element of sexual tension. I’m not going to lie, I completely ship these two, but had no expectations that the writers would get them together, although I stand by the implication that there is something in their future.

And whilst I, along with other fans, had been sure that Theo was going to take Liam’s pain, I do also love the moment in which he takes Gabe’s. It’s a great redemptive moment for Theo, because he not only chooses to take the pain of his enemy, it actually means that he cares. Theo not only cares for someone other than himself, but for his enemy, and that is a huge step in the right direction for regaining his humanity. I think also that Theo perhaps sees some of himself in Gabe, someone who did terrible things, but was also led down that path by awful people, used and abused by others. I personally have been impressed with the changes in Theo in this season, and I say this as someone who absolutely hated him and was annoyed that the writers chose to bring him back by making Liam raise him from hell. The focus on Liam as Theo takes Gabe’s pain perhaps suggests that Liam also is noticing how Theo has changed. But even with all of this, I have to admit that perhaps the greatest hospital scene is when Liam simply picks up the walkie talkie and tells it to Monroe straight, ‘You lost.’

Badassery of Epic Proportions

One of the greatest scenes of this episode would have to be the Sheriff strolling up to Eichen House and laying down the law. It’s particularly amusing just how defiant the deputies are, that is, until the Sheriff shows they exactly why he’s the boss. In a moment of both humour and complete badassness, he completely beats up all three of the deputies, and then orders them to help Parrish up. It’s almost like this is the reminder that they need, and I love that already we start to see people turning away from Monroe and Gerard. But the Sheriff's not done yet, and after freeing Agent McCall from his cell, the three men work on disarming the entire town. These scenes work so well, because they break up some of the tension, whilst also showcasing the talents of these men, and emphasising that many of the people that Gerard armed weren’t actually willing to kill for him. This does redeem the town to an extent, and shows that they weren’t all so completely ruled by their fear that they turned on each other.

Another one of the greatest scenes in this episode was Coach Linstock popping up from behind the lockers and absolutely smashes the hunter with a lacrosse, as he attempts to kill the newly reunited Jackson and Ethan. What I loved about this scene, apart from the absolute ferocious energy, is the Coach’s reaction. He is completely unfazed by recent events, and greets Jackson normally, implying that he has known about supernaturals all along (something fans have thought for a while), and just goes about his day as normal (unlike the rest of the town when they find out). This just proves how truly great Coach is, and how he is so under-utilised by the writers. I also loved his final scene, in which he agrees that he’s a great coach, after Liam and Nolan say they’d like to be co-captains, proving that they can all move past their differences and work together.

Comedic Timing

This episode needs some amusing scenes in order to break up the tension, and the writers deliver in spades, not only with some unexpectedly badass performances from Coach and the Sheriff, but also with Stiles, who I have sorely missed. I particularly enjoyed Stiles’ and Derek’s conflicting accounts about Stiles’ ‘rescue’ of Derek, and that Stiles somehow managed to convince the FBI to take him on a dangerous field op. Of course this is not at all realistic, but it was amusing, and you do have to suspend your disbelief on this show quite often. Stiles’ focus on losing his toe in the skirmish was also hilarious, and this was a great moment before they all started talking seriously about their war plans. Another amusing scene occurred during the rescue of Jackson by Stiles and Lydia, not only in Stiles’ jealousy, but also the shock on the faces of both Stiles and Lydia that Jackson was dating Ethan. For me at least, it became more funny each time the two of them repeated ‘Ethan?’.

Just Desserts

I just love that mountain ash saved the day again, just like in season 2. It seems so long since mountain ash was a big deal, so I enjoyed its triumphant return in this episode. I particularly think it’s great because yet again Gerard is bested by mountain ash, and the look of realisation on his face is truly something to treasure. I understand that some people hated this as the weapon that defeated the Anuk-ite, but I loved it, particularly because yet again it’s like Teen Wolf is coming full circle.

Furthermore, whilst some people have stated that they wished to watch Gerard and Kate bleed out onscreen, and I understand this, I actually prefer the way that the writers handled this. What better way for Gerard and Kate to die than by killing each other, offscreen, as Chris walks off triumphant in the knowledge that Gerard knows how badly he lost? This is nothing less than what both Gerard and Kate deserved, as is the offscreen death that these pathetic, evil, attention-seekers received. In dying offscreen, alone with only each other, they died like the nobodies they are, and what a fitting and satisfying end that is.

Face Your Fears

Ultimately, Scott must face the Anuk-ite on his own, with the majority of his friends incapacitated and Stiles on his way. Scott’s fear is not only losing his friends, but being responsible for it, much in the same way he must’ve previously blamed himself for Allison’s death. His fears manifest in the image of the Nogitsune, of Void Stiles. It’s no surprise that this is the case, Scott lost Allison and almost lost Stiles to the Nogitsune, so it must appear to be the very pinnacle of his deepest fears. It’s not only devastating that Scott is yet again reminded of Allison’s death in this moment, but that his very fear is wearing Stiles’ face. And whilst every other character that faces the Anuk-ite eventually open their eyes and give into their fears, Scott knows that he cannot. He must hold it together for all of them, until Stiles arrives. So he does something that only a truly strong person could do, something that he does out of desperation-he literally blinds himself with his own claws. And blinded, he uses the skills that Deucalion taught him.

What I did love in this scene is that the Nogitsune briefly transforms into various supernatural enemies that Scott has faced in the past, and is a great way of bringing this show full circle. Finally, Stiles arrives, and together they save the day. It’s fitting that this show that began with these two friends, ends with them defeating the ultimate enemy together. It is Scott’s brilliant idea, with an assist from Stiles, that saves them all. Because as Scott tells the Anuk-ite, if it wants the power of a shapeshifter, it comes with a price. In this case, the price, the significant weakness, is mountain ash. As the Anuk-ite is destroyed, the other characters turned to stone are released, and I loved watching both Peter and Derek fight the hunters about to kill them, it was a particularly tense moment. We know that Scott regains his sight because of the flash forward, and yet, it was still an incredibly tense scene as Scott truly believes he cannot heal himself. With Malia increasingly desperate, Lydia remembers the time that she shifted Stiles’ focus during a panic attack, and suggests that Malia do the same. Whilst this was a brief moment, I really appreciated the reminders of everything that Stiles and Lydia have been through together, even though they had more understated scenes in this episode.

Missing

As much as everyone else, I really would’ve loved seeing Isaac at the end of the episode, for Kira and Danny to have quick cameos, or literally even for Kira to be mentioned, given that she was an important part of the pack for a significant amount of time. Alas, this is not to be, and I think we all are aware of how poorly Arden Cho has been treated by this show and the writers, so I’m honestly not surprised that she doesn’t even rate a mention. I loved that we got some other really great reunions, and we’ll just have to be happy with those. And for the most part, I really am. I love that Allison is not only mentioned, she’s an important aspect of Scott’s fear. I did however see someone mention how great it would’ve been for Crystal to have played the Anuk-ite pretending to be Allison, trying to get Scott to open his eyes, which would’ve made the scene even better. I think we all on some level expected some kind of answer as to who Greenberg is, but maybe the real Greenberg was the friends we made along the way. Mason (and perhaps Corey) should also have been a part of the pack at the very end of the episode, and I’m unsure as to why Mason particularly was not included. Stydia may not have been as emphasised as many would like, but I really enjoyed the understated moments that we did get. Either way, I mostly just absolutely loved this episode and felt that it was a great ending to what was almost always a very entertaining show.

Of course, we were never all going to be pleased with what we got, and it’s the nature of this medium that we cannot possibly see everything that we want in a 50 minute episode. Yes, I would’ve loved more Sciles moments, yes it would’ve been great to see Stiles and his dad reunited, and Scott and his mum together, but the fact of the matter is that all of this couldn’t possibly fit. It’s no surprise that the adult characters are relegated to just a few scenes in this episode, after all, it’s all about Scott and his friends. That’s what Teen Wolf has always been about. In regards to other character dynamics that we may not have seen much of throughout this episode, it’s a shame, but we have to be happy with all of the great scenes we’ve had over the years. I will also admit that for a long time, my only ship on this show was the Sheriff and Melissa, so part of me will always be a little annoyed that this didn’t come to fruition, and that Melissa and Chris got together instead. But I also appreciate the narrative circularity of it all, that just as this story begins with the love between a McCall and an Argent, it also ends in this way. They are one family now. And I will never get over how far Scott and Chris have come.

True Alpha

This is Scott’s show, and so it is fitting that in the final episode, he is the character we see the most. Scott not only faces his demons alone, he stays optimistic and true to himself from beginning to end. It’s actually such a strange thing to be writing, that this pure and wholesome character stays that way throughout. There is no gritty ‘realistic’ move towards pessimism, towards undermining your own values. Whilst Scott is surrounded by characters that see the world differently from him, not even his enemies can change who he is, both inside and out. This is not normal in television writing, it’s almost a cliche that the pure, innocent character learns that the world is full of evil and this changes them, they become snarky, antagonistic, and work in the grey areas. But this is not the case for Scott McCall.

There’s a reason he not only becomes a True Alpha, but stays a True Alpha, right until the very end. Scott is innately good, and constantly chooses to be good. Even when the writers got other things wrong, this is something they got right. Scott remains himself, even when facing incredible odds, and these odds simply proved just how good he is. There’s a purity of spirit about Scott McCall which is just so rare in protagonists these days, and it was a true privilege to watch his story unfold onscreen every episode. Scott McCall proves that this optimism, this purity, this goodness is not overrated. We should hope for more characters like him.

Goodbye and good luck, Scott McCall.

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