#I’ll probably be adding this to a queue for a bit

[howdydopillar]

im so going to puke from all of this stress and anxieties im getting it’s not even funny

[lnlightning81]

Ice Cream - Part Three

Series Title : Younger Sister

Summary : Ollie takes you around the paddock for ice cream

Pairing/s : Oliver Bearman x Norris!Reader, Lando Norris x sister!reader

Word Count: 1.2k

Masterlist Series Masterlist Oliver Bearman Masterlist Lando Norris Masterlist

Previous

Lando was away doing whatever practice he had been told to do, and Ollie waved to you as he stopped outside the Mclaren garage. Grabbing your phone, you jogged out of the garage, hugging Ollie as you met him.

“Hey, ready for that ice cream?” He asked, and you nodded 

“Yeah! Let’s go get some” You smiled walking through the paddock. Ollie had found a little ice cream stand so that you didn’t have to go too far or leave the paddock, which helped ease your nerves a little. 

“What flavour do you want?” Ollie asked as you stood in the queue. Standing on your toes to see the signs moving from side to side a little before Ollie rested his hands on your shoulders to move to to see the board. 

“The tablet sounds quite nice” You smiled, and he nodded

“Or maybe the Jammy Dodger” You added 

“I think I’m gonna try the Chocolate fudge brownie” He smiled, ordering, turning you to get your order

“What are you wanting to try?” He asked 

“Hmm can I try the jammy dodger” You smiled, and he got his card out to pay for the cones.

“I’ll pay for mine” you told him, and he shook his head, paying for the cones before you could even think about beating him to it

“My treat. You can pay next time” He handed you the cone as you started walking with him.  

“Lando dragging you out again?” He asked, and you shook your head 

“He’s doing some sim work tonight, so no. He doesn’t like to go out the night before qualifying he worries too much” You chuckled, and Ollie smiled 

“You going to watch the F2 race?” He asked, and you smiled 

“I don’t know. I have to be able to sneak away from my brothers prying eyes, but maybe if there’s someone wanting me to watch” You hummed 

“What if I asked you to come watch?” He asked, and you looked at him 

“Well I couldn’t exactly say no to that, could I?” You smiled 

“Then will you come watch my race?” He asked, and you smiled, stopping yourself from walking any further 

“I’d love to come watch your race Ollie” You smiled 

“Come on I’ll take you to my garage” He led you through the F1 paddock and into the F2 paddock. Ollie talked you through who raced in each garage and if he was close with them and all the little bits of information that you’d never need in your life. 

It was nice to see Ollie in his element talking about racing it’s the same look Lando gets when he’s talking about it, the same look Flo gets when she’s talking about showjumping and probably the same look you get when you start talking about something you love just as much. 

You couldn’t help but smile at Ollie as he stood in the Prema garage talking you through how everything was different to the F1 garages you didn’t mean to be staring at him but you just couldn’t help it. He was just great to watch. 

“What? Is there something on my face?” He asked, catching you staring at him. You couldn’t help but blush, looking down at the ground 

“You’re cute when you get all excited about things” you hummed, looking back up at him. It was now Ollies turn to blush as he wrapped his arm around your shoulders 

“Let’s head back to the F1 paddock. Lando and Oscar will be back soon, and I’m due back in Ferrari for some testing” He smiled, and you nodded while walking back to the paddock with him. 

“When did you finish school then?” He asked to make small talk as you walked. Obviously, you started off by dming and then texting, but small talk conversations like these never really came up. 

“Couple weeks ago technically, but I finished my exams like three days ago, which is why this is my first race of the season” you explained, and he nodded 

“Well I dropped out, obviously. I think most drivers dropped out” He chuckled, and you smiled with a nod 

“Yeah, Lando wasn’t exactly helpful if I was ever struggling with school” Ollie laughed at that as you stopped outside the Mclaren garage 

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then?” He smiled, and you nodded 

“I’ll probably be here. For Quali definitely, maybe not FP3” you explained, and he nodded, giving you a hug before walking away to the Ferrari garage. You walked inside the Mclaren garage and through to Lando’s drivers room. 

Sitting on his massage table and stretching while playing your music, waiting for Lando to come back. Lando’s drivers room was really boring, nothing there to personalise it but that was his own choice and there was nothing you could do about it. Jon walked into Lando’s drivers room as you were stretching out your back

“Oh hey, Y/N. I was just looking for Lando’s jacket. Typical English weather it’s started raining” He smiled, and you nodded 

“And he gets moody if he’s cold” you added, and he laughed with a nod 

“That’s very true. Do you know where he’s put it?” He asked, and you shook your head 

“His bag is in that corner, so if he’s brought it, then it’ll be in there” You pointed to his bag, which was next to the beanbag. 

“Thanks” He nodded, walking over to his bag

“You okay?” He asked, checking Lando’s bag 

“Yeah. I've just been standing most of the day so my back and ankles are starting to hurt a little” you explained, and he nodded a little 

“Are you sure? Lando overshares a little too much with me. Says you only get back pain when something is wrong” You chuckled a little with a nod 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Some things just don’t need to be shared with older brothers more than the basic details” He nodded slightly 

“Well if you need anything medical or anything like that, just give me a shout, and I’ll see what I can do to help” He smiled 

“Do you have any heat pads” You asked, and he nodded 

“Yeah, do you want one?” He questioned 

“No, not just now. I just wanted to ask in case I need one this weekend” You smiled, and he nodded 

“Okay. I’m gonna go get ready for Lando getting out of the car” You nodded, moving to Lando’s beanbag and curling up on it while watching TikToks. It felt nice being able to curl up on the beanbag the cramps not only in your stomach but also in your bag, so being comfortable helped the most. 

It felt like years before Lando finally walked through the door and into his drivers room to finally leave for the day. He just needed to get changed out of his race suit and fireproofs before you could leave the paddock. 

“You okay Y/N you look in pain?” He frowned, crouching down next to you.

“I’m fine, Lando. I’m just waiting for you so that I can go back to the hotel and have a nap. I’m not used to these long days yet” Lando smiled with a nod.

“Let me just quickly get changed, then we can get you back to the hotel room” You smiled as he handed you the blanket that he kept in the cupboard. Wrapping it around yourself to keep yourself warm. 

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[thewildwaffle]

Ghost Busters

A prompt from user Kelly on ao3

Edit: I didn't originally mean for this to get spooky, but it did. Maybe reconsider reading this at night if you get easily spooked

***

Desan looked over the calendar. Booked out for another two moors. Wow. She really thought clients would have started going elsewhere once they found out the wait was more than a decacycle or two. They must be getting desperate.

The comm lines rang again. It seemed like they rang more often than they were quiet lately. Desan eyed the calendar again before she picked up the call.

“Hello, AIM Inspections, Desan speaking, how many I help you today?”

“Hi, I was told you offer haunting inspections?” The voice on the other line sounded gruff and a little tired. “We’ve had a flarg of an attempt trying to hire lately and our crew’s numbers are starting to dwindle fast.”

Desan nodded, even though the caller obviously couldn’t see. Here we go with another one. “Yes, we offer supernatural analysis inspections. I must warn you now that we are booked out until mid-Corruse on the Burnti calendar.”

The caller sighed and hummed for a bit. “That’s not as soon as I’d like, but honestly, you’re the third place I’ve called and that’s the soonest I’ve heard. What do you need from me to get started?”

“Well,” Desan pulled up a form on her track tablet, “I’ve just got a few questions, get a bit of information, then I’ll send you a form fill and I’ll get you on the schedule. First off, to whom am I speaking, and may I ask what alerted you to the need for our services?”

“Riord Esh, operations manager for the Bantar outer fleet. And I'd say we were alerted the same way as most people, I’d wager,” the gruff voice drawled out. “Tried hiring some humans, but they claimed our ships were haunted. That's since spread around. No one wants to work on a ship where even humans are scared if you know what I mean."

"I do, yes that's been a pretty common problem we've been hearing."

"Have you been able to fix this? I mean for the ships you have done the inspections for?"

"Oh yes, we've got a 100% ghost-free guarantee. Now, if I can get a bit of info from you, I can go ahead and get you scheduled for mid-Corruse."

The rest of the call went smoothly. Before Desan hung up, she assured Riord Esh that, should another client cancel, they would be moved up in the queue, to which they were grateful.

And with that, another client on the long, long list.

Desan had helped out on some of the inspections, and with all the demand lately, would probably continue doing so. It was a bit of extra pay, so she certainly had no issue with the extra work. It also had the added benefit of being quite interesting.

For the vast majority of "haunted" ships, the supernatural inspections ran almost identically to normal ship inspections. It was funny how often "sudden cold spots" were just a simple draft, or feelings of paranoia or being watched turned out to be caused by a previously undetected gas leak. The initial inspectors would simply write up a report detailing fixes needed and boom. Suddenly the ship no longer has a hard time finding a crew to hire.

But there were exceptions. The kind of exceptions that really threw a rock into their otherwise simple business model.

Before this job, Desan did not consider herself to be superstitious in any way. She still adamantly claimed to not believe in ghosts and haunts and spookums. But even she had to second-guess her stance when some of her inspector coworkers came back from some of their more… problematic jobs.

There were things that just didn’t make sense. Unsettling things. Usually involving some unfortunate or tragic circumstance. They were the things that couldn’t be satisfyingly brushed off as hallucinations of over-worked or mourning brains.

One in the particular job still gave her shivers. She’d been asked to join an inspection tour on one of the largest ships their company has done to date. It was a new, fresh off the assembly line, Booletean Cruiser Class 6. The ship's sheer size meant more hands were needed for the inspection crew to get everything checked out. Even then it still took an entire day cycle just to get through everything. And what a day it was.

The ship, again, was new. It should have had no issues. However, upon checking some of the paperwork for its production, it turned out that only some of the parts were completely new.

There’d been a terrible crash a decacycle or two before. Another Booletean Cruiser Class 6 had crashed. The Bayjee Disaster. There were survivors, but far more lives were lost. It was a tragic accident, a perfect storm of circumstances mixed with just enough miscommunication that caused it all.

While sifting through the wreckage, it was discovered that some of the parts of the ship were still in good condition. After intense inspection and testing, they were eventually used in the construction of another Booletean Cruiser.

The very one Desan and her company had been hired to inspect.

They checked everywhere. There were no gas leaks to explain why crew members would feel paranoid or even panicked, insisting that they were not alone when no one else was there.

There was nothing wrong with the pipes in the boiler room, even though engineers insisted that they would hear unexplained banging and screeching metal near the end of their shifts. Always twenty mentiks before their shifts ended. It never mattered what time of the day cycle they were working, it was always twenty mentiks before the end of their shift.

From the investigation, it was widely claimed that the chain of events that led to the Bayjee crashing had taken about twenty mentiks to come to fruition.

But one of the worst aspects of the “haunted” ship was something Desan and her team hadn’t experienced with other ship inspections.

Several crew members, passengers, and even a few kloxan dignitaries had claimed that they had seen the Bayjee captain aboard their ship. They claimed they’d seen her face quite clearly. She never said anything, she never interacted with anyone, she’d just be there. And then she’d be gone like someone had flipped a switch and turned off some sort of ghostly projector.

There were official reports of these sightings, several in fact, most of which were made by otherwise level-headed individuals that would have nothing to gain by falsifying such reports.

They spent far longer on this inspection than they had on any other project. With other jobs starting to pile up in the meantime, a decision was ultimately made to remove the parts of the ship that were originally part of the Bayjee and replace them with identical parts fresh off the assembly line.

All reports of any “haunting” phenomena immediately stopped.

Desan decided to stick to her office post after that. She still claimed to be a skeptic of the claims of the supernatural, and in most cases, she was. Being so was now part of her line of work. But even she had to admit that in the vastness of space and within all the realms of possibility, there was much that was beyond her understanding.

The comm lines rang again, pulling her out of her musings. With a sigh, she stretched and eyed the very full calendar before answering the call. “Hello, AIM Inspections, Desan speaking, how many I help you today?”

[justlookfrightened]

Can I Ask You a Question?

Because I was thinking today about how questions that seem settled and hurts that seem healed sometimes come up again, even in loving healthy relationships.

“Hi, honey, I’m home,” Jack chirped as he pushed the front door open.

Sometimes he couldn’t believe this was his life: a berth on a team that welcomed him even after he blindsided them with his coming out last year, a condo that felt more like a home than ever since Bitty moved in permanently, Bitty making something that smelled delicious in the kitchen …

When he was 18, he never thought he’d be allowed to have this.

“In here,” Bitty responded unnecessarily.

Jack headed that way, pausing to drop a kiss on Bitty’s head where he was bent over his laptop on the counter. The laptop, the three saucepans on the stovetop, the mixing bowls stacked in the sink all added up to Bitty trying to perfect a recipe for the cookbook. There were probably three pies in the oven, each with minuscule adjustments in their ingredients. Good thing Marty had that barbecue tonight.

“I’m gonna go shower,” Jack said. “Maybe watch something in the den.”

“Mmm,” Bitty hummed, before he pressed a key and looked up. “I’m sorry. How was the workout?”

“Good,” Jack said. “Back to skating next week.”

“That’s great, sweet pea,” Bitty said, eyes already shifting towards his notes.

“I’ll let you get back to it,” Jack said, hefting his bag on his shoulder.

Once he was clean and comfortable in sweats and a threadbare Samwell T-shirt, he flopped on the couch and started flipping through his streaming queues. It still felt weird to sit and do nothing in the middle of the day, but everyone — the athletic trainers, his personal trainer for the summer, even his therapist — agreed that rest was important.

His stomach rumbled and he remembered food was important, too, but he didn’t want to get in Bitty’s way. Maybe he should get a mini-fridge for the den? That way he could keep some protein shakes in here.

Before he could make up his mind to go look for food, Bitty was coming in with a plate piled with chicken tenders and corn and tomatoes salad.

“I did them up in the air fryer,” Bitty said. “I know you’re hungry after training.”

“Thanks, Bits,” Jack said, accepting the plate and taking a bite out of the top tender. It wasn’t quite the same as a real fried chicken tender, but Bitty used some spice blend that added a little flavor, and they were healthy enough to eat a couple of times a week.

Jack was profoundly grateful that Bitty and Nate had come to an understanding this year.

“Uh, Jack? Can I ask you something?”

Jack set the plate on the coffee table and looked at Bitty, standing near the door, hands twisting in a dish towel. This might be more than wanting him to decide whether the apple pie was better with a half teaspoon or a full teaspoon of nutmeg.

“Sure, bud. What’s up?”

“Promise you won’t be mad?”

Jack took a breath. The first time Bitty was afraid to say something after he moved in was when he took Jack’s car to the market and came out to find a scratch on the door. Jack had been confused; it wasn’t even Bitty’s fault, but even if it had been, it was simple to fix. It had made Jack angry a little — at Bitty’s parents, because he had to learn that fear somewhere, right?

“Of course not,” Jack said. “Whatever it is, we can figure it out.”

“And you won’t laugh?”

“I don’t think so,” Jack said. “Unless you’re going to tell me a joke?”

That weak attempt at humor fell flat, as Bitty’s gaze fell to the towel in his hands.

“It’ll be fine,” Jack said. “But you have to tell me what it is.”

“That’s what Lindsey said too,” Bitty said.

“Lindsey?” Jack repeated. “Is this something you talked about in therapy?”

“Sort of,” Bitty said. “Yes. I made a joke, then she asked what I meant and … yes, we talked about it.”

“Okay,” Jack said. It didn’t sound too serious if Bitty had joked about it, but Bitty did use jokes as deflection. “Why don’t you tell me what you said?”

“She asked what I was doing this weekend, and I said I was going to hit the gym,” Bitty said.

Jack nodded, because he and Bitty had spent time working out together almost every weekend since Bitty moved in. Jack always felt calmer in his skin after physical effort, and Bitty seemed to as well. And, well, they both seemed to like the way the other looked when they were sweaty and flushed. Post-workout sex would have gone a long way towards making the effort worth it even if Jack hadn’t enjoyed the exercise.

“Okay,” Jack said. “What was the joke?”

“I said I had to make sure to keep my athletic physique so you would still like me,” Bitty said, now looking at the sofa cushion to the left of Jack’s thigh.

Jack took another breath in, then settled himself back against the sofa, consciously letting his arms fall open at his sides. He’d promised not to be angry, and he didn’t want Bitty to think he was.

“Do you really think that?” Jack said. “Do you think I would lose interest — that I only love you — because of your body?”

“No, of course not!” Bitty said, stepping more fully into the room. “Don’t be silly. It’s not like my body could ever even compare to yours!”

“That’s not the point,” Jack said. “I love you, and I love your body, and, yeah, I think you’re hot. But that’s because you’re you. I thought you liked working out together.”

“I do, really,” Bitty said. “I just should have said that to Lindsey. It was just a joke.”

“It’s never ‘just a joke,’ Bits.” Jack leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “There’s always something behind it.”

“I know that’s what Shitty says,” Bitty said.

“But it’s true,” Jack said. “Do you really think I only love you for your body?”

“When you put it like that, no,” Bitty snorted and finally sat down.

“You do have a beautiful body,” Jack said.

“Not like yours,” Bitty said.

“I need to be strong for my career,” Jack said. “It’s not vanity. And you and I both know chances are my body will be damaged in some way by the time I’m retired. Will you love me less?”

“Of course not.” Bitty sniffed. “You’re gorgeous, you know that, but that’s not why I want you. And I know it’s your job. Until a few months ago, it was kind of my job too, if I wanted to keep my scholarship. But I don’t know how long I can keep it up, not with the job and the book and my YouTube channel.”

“I never said you had to.”

“No, not in so many words,” Bitty said. “But look at you. Look at your family. Your mom is an icon, your dad looks like he could still play. … You don’t want someone who looks like the ugly duckling.”

It was Jack’s turn to stand up.

“First, you could never be an ugly duckling,” he said. “No, first, my dad could not still play. His knees are shot. But even if he could, you wouldn’t be the ugly duckling, and I’d never make you feel that way. Neither would my parents. I don’t care if you lose all your muscle or gain 50 kilos or whatever. I was the ugly duckling — that’s what gossip magazines called me when I was a kid, and my parents always loved me because I was me. I love you because you’re you. And I’m not angry, but I guess I am a little hurt that you think I wouldn’t love you as much because you don’t have an NCAA athlete’s conditioning schedule anymore.”

“So you’re saying you’d never body-shame anyone?” Bitty asked.

“I’d hope not,” Jack said. “People come in all shapes and sizes.”

That’s what maman had told him when the other kids teased him about his weight.

“You sure about that, Mr. Eat More Protein?”

“What?” Jack sat heavily on the sofa again. “That wasn’t about you … about your body. That was about hockey.”

“About my body … me … playing hockey.”

Shit. Jack knew he’d been an asshole to Bitty when Bitty was a freshman. If he’d had any doubts, Shitty had been pretty clear on more than one occasion. But whenever he apologized, Bitty always waved it off, said it wasn’t necessary.

“Are we doing this now?” Jack asked, when he found his voice.

“What do you mean?” Bitty said.

“I mean, will you finally let me apologize for the way I acted at first?” Jack said. “It wasn’t about you —”

“You said, it was about hockey.”

“And me, and my anxiety about whether I’d ever make it.”

“And now that you have it’s all fine?”

Well, no, Jack knew his anxiety would never really be fine. But before he could say that, Bitty continued.

“I know that in your mind, it was about the team, and about you,” he said. “But what you said was about me, when I was new on the team, the smallest guy there, with Ransom and Holster calling me a fainting goat and saying they should make a play of it. But at least they acted like they liked me off the ice.”

“Do … do you think I don’t like you?” Jack asked, because this was a rabbit hole he has not expected to fall down today.

“No, of course not,” Bitty said. “I know you love me.”

Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

“But I know you didn’t like me at the beginning,” Bitty went on. “You didn’t like me until I became an asset to the team.”

“No,” Jack said. “I mean yes, you did become an asset to the team. But that’s not when I started to like you.”

“No?”

“No. It was checking practice,” Jack said. “You hated it. You’d nearly faint if I pushed you, even when you were in full pads and I didn’t even have a helmet on. But you kept getting up, you kept showing up. You were so determined, even though it was clear that you probably should have been in therapy then. You were — you are — so strong. And then when you voted for me for captain, even after your concussion — that was so generous.”

“As if anyone else could be captain,” Bitty sniffed.

“You did pretty well,” Jack said.

“Hush, you.”

“No,” Jack said. “You need to know what an incredible person you are. I’ve told you before, I am sorry for the way I treated you. It was wrong. And I’m sorry I never realized that it might make you feel insecure about your body.”

“C’mon, Jack, we both know I don’t have the usual body type for a hockey player,” Bitty said. “Just like I wasn’t much of a football player.

“No excuses, Bits,” Jack said. “It’s good you’re getting therapy. I know I’d be in a lot worse shape without it. But please know I love you. I love your body because it’s part of you. I’ll always love your body no matter what, because it will always be part of you.”

“And I’ll love you when I have to help you off the couch, old man,” Bitty said. “Sorry for — ” he waved his hands — “all this.”

“No, I’m glad you told me,” Jack said. “You still want to go to the gym tomorrow? You don’t have too.”

“Are you crazy?” Bitty said. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Or read on AO3

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Planning for a child

Today we're getting some backstory to some characters who wanted a child, and got it pretty early in their 20s, and their friend who really wanted to be a donor...

Read on ao3 or under the cut.

They all met up for lunch. Jim, Yam, Ramiro, Luna, Nina and Jazmin. 

“I saw the cutest video the other day!” Jazmin said. “It was a mom out with her kids, and her kids did the cutest things! Oh, I wanna be an influencer mom…”

”No, those kids get exploited so much,” Nina said, ”They haven’t consented to be on camera.”

Jim nodded. ”When I have kids, I’m not even gonna post their faces online!”

”But how will the world know that you even have a child, then?” Jazmin asked.

”Do they have to know?” Luna asked. ”I’m with Jim. Children deserve privacy.” 

”Sometimes even from their own parents,” Nina chimed in. 

”Well…” Jazmin said, ”I’m planning on becoming an influencer mom! I just need to… find someone and settle down with them first…”

”Why?” Luna asked. ”I want kids, but I don’t necessarily need someone else to get them with.”

”Then how can you even have a child, Luna?”

”I’ll adopt, of course! Ever since I was a child, I’ve known that I have been wanting to adopt. To give a child the life that I myself got to have.”

Right then, Yam got a phone call. She excused herself as she answered.

”I’m not having kids,” Ramiro said. ”Probably. At least I don’t feel a want for them right now.”

”That’s fine, you can babysit our kids!” Luna chuckled.

”Yeah, I guess so.”

Right then, Yam came back. She looked almost starstruck.

”Jim…”

”Yes?” Jim asked.

”Uh… you know the… clinic we signed up for…?”

”Yes?”

”They… they asked us if we wanted to meet them next week… and discuss…”

”Wait, are you serious?!”

”Yes!”

Jim stood up. ”You said yes, right?”

”Of course I did! They scheduled us for tuesday!”

”Oh my god… oh… it’s all happening so fast!”

”What’s going on?” Nina asked.

”So, uh…” Yam tried to catch her breath, ”Jim and I have known since we were children ourselves that we have been wanting kids. And we’ve researched about it a lot, and… a queue for an IVF appointment can take years. So we put ourselves in a queue like, just a few months ago.”

”Yeah, and we thought they’d call in like 2 years or something,” Jim added.

”Yes… but they called now… ”

”Does this mean that… you’re gonna start planning for a baby now?” Luna asked.

”You’re only 22,” Ramiro said.

”We know…” Jim said. ”But…”

”We don’t know when this opportunity will come again,” Yam said. ”We have to take our chance now!”

”Yes!”

”Well, you are more fertile in your early 20s than later,” Nina noted. ”And you’re financially stable…”

”I can’t believe it!” Yam exclaimed, clinging onto Jim. 

”We’re gonna be parents!” Jim exclaimed.

”Well, it’s just your first meeting,” Nina said, ”It can take a lot of attempts to-”

”Yeah, yeah!” Yam said, ”Still! We’re gonna be parents! Eventually! Soon! Maybe?”

”I’m so happy for you!” Luna cheered and went to hug them.

Ramiro meanwhile, started to think about something.

Some weeks later, Ramiro was over at Jim and Yam’s house. They talked a bit about the meeting at the clinic.

”So first they need to visit us to prove we’re ’suitable’,” Yam sighed. ”It’s such bullshit. Heteros don’t need a visitation before they try for a baby to prove they’re suitable to be parents?”

”You are suitable,” Ramiro assured them. ”Also, I need to ask you something.”

”Ask on,” Jim said.

”How do you pick donors?”

”Oh… I don’t know if we… get to?”

”We haven’t come to that step yet,” Yam said. ”We just need to be approved as suitable first.” 

”Ok, but I have a proposition,” Ramiro said. ”I’ll be your donor.”

The two women stared at him, and then burst out laughing.

”You?” Yam asked.

”Yes! Listen… I don’t know if I want kids. But the thought of… you know, spreading my genes? And you knowing where they came from, too? I’m not saying I wanna be a dad to your kid, just that I wanna help you out.”

Yam smiled. ”Listen, Ramiro… thank you, but no.”

They were deemed suitable. No one doubted it, but Jim and Yam were still nervous about it. But now, it was just to start the journey.

”So, who’s gonna carry the babe?” Ramiro asked.

”Don’t say babe ,” Yam said. ”And it’s me.”

”Okay… and have you picked a donor, or… how does that process go?”

”Well,” Jim said, ”Usually, they pick out someone who resembles the other mother, the one who isn’t carrying. So, they’re getting a male version of me.”

”And you don’t have a say in it?”

They shrugged. ”Well, unless we want a personal donor, it’s the clinic that picks it out. We simply get small information like the nationality, but otherwise the donor is pretty much anonymous,” Jim explained. 

”And… you don’t want a personal donor…?” Ramiro wiggled his eyebrows.

”Ram, we’ve been over this,” Yam sighed.

”Don’t call me Ram , that sounds like a girl’s name!”

”And Jim sounds like a girl’s name to you?” Jim asked with a smug face.

”I’m gonna call you Rama Lama Ding Dong,” Yam said in a tone that you couldn’t determine was serious or not. ”Anyway. I want my kid to remind me of my wife in some way.”

”Alright…” Ramiro sighed. ”But! If it’s a boy, please name it Ramiro!”

”As a middle name, maybe,” Jim told him.

Some months later, Yam came out from the bathroom with a smile. 

She handed over the positive test to Jim.

”Oh my gosh!” Jim exclaimed, ”I didn’t think it was gonna work! This is only the second insemination we’ve tried, isn’t it?”

”I guess I’m really fertile,” Yam joked. 

She and Jim hugged as happy tears ran down their cheeks. 

The first one they told, after their families of course, was Ramiro.

”Well, then I have some news for you,” Ramiro said, smirking. ”You see, during your insemination, I snuck in and switched your donor’s sample with my own. So you’re carrying my baby now.”

Jim and Yam stared at him.

”No, you didn’t,” they said in unison, looking rather unimpressed at his attempts to trick them.

”Fine. I didn’t. I actually tried to sign up as a donor a while ago but they declined me because they said I didn’t match the criteria.”

The women chuckled at that. 

”Sorry,” Yam said.

”It doesn’t matter, though! I’m certain that inside of you is growing a tiny me.” He bent down, patting her belly. ”Hey, you have it good in there? You’re gonna grow into a little dude, I just know it!”

”It’s barely a fetus just yet,” Yam snickered, ”I’m in like week 6.”

”I think a dude is aware it’s a dude already as a sperm, to be honest,” Ramiro declared.

It turned out it wasn’t a ”little dude” growing in there, but it didn’t stop Ramiro from referring to her as that. 

Having his friends getting kids made him start thinking if maybe it would be nice to have one yourself. But he wasn’t too sure of it… 

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

Are we allowed to submit more than one book at a time?

great question. most submissions thus far have been multiple books (with shockingly few repeats!), but I admit it’s a little bit overwhelming. I think as long as people keep in mind that I’ll mostly only be adding a few books at a time (maybe. if I can stop myself from obsessing over this blog), it’s fine to submit multiple books — just know that it will take me some time to get through long lists.

in the interest of fairness, I’m probably going to try to space out people’s submissions a little bit going forward, but unfortunately it’s harder to do with the queue interface the way it is. I might have to make a spreadsheet (<— already has Excel open).

[otp-armada]

The 100 Rewatch 2023 Season 1, Episode 1 “Pilot“

Alrighty, live-blogging The 100. If only 2020!Me could see me now.

First off, let me gather myself.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve recently gotten obsessed with The Rookie shortly before embarking on this rewatch. I’ve forgotten how thrilling it is to fall head over heels for a new ship. Chenford has made me so deliriously ecstatic and in such good spirits that it triggered a sort of informal revival tour of my favorite ships. When the Bellarke compilation on YouTube came up next in queue, I chickened out just as quickly as the first ad popped up. Knowing how their story ends, I was afraid that Bellarke wouldn’t feel the same. That the ending would taint my memory of them upon revisitation.

All of which is to say, this rewatch should be an interesting experiment.

Alright, best get a wriggle on.

Oh, baby!Clarke. And just like that, I’m transported seven years ago to my dining table, where I first pressed “play” on a little CW show that would consume me.

100 years until the Earth is survivable again, eh? Killed everyone, huh? In roughly a year’s time, she’ll be the one thought to have perished in radiation.

“Reality sucks.” Babe, you don’t know the half of it.

The wristbands feel like an ancient relic.

It really has been such a long time since I watched season 1. I’m lost in time. At this point, it really does feel like your typical CW teen drama, and it’s such a strange thought, considering how long I’ve been holding onto the bulk of the narrative where it departed into its unique footprint.

“The rules have changed.” Because *I* made them change, is what’s left unspoken by Abby.

“Your instincts will tell you to take care of everybody else first...” Yep, two minutes in, and I’m emotional.

Baby!Delinquents!!!!

A good bedside manner, Jaha does not possess. There’s blunt and there’s brash, and he is solidly in the latter. The thing about juvenile delinquents? They’re KIDS. Sure, you’ve got the odd murderer in the ranks, but they are few and far in between a sea of children with offenses probably befitting a slight slap on the wrist, if that.

“Your records wiped clean.” Assuming the lab rats don’t expire from radiation upon arrival. Way to incentivize them. Little wonder Bellamy will so easily corral them into removing the wristbands.

For once, the fluke in the plan works to their advantage. If those kids had landed at Mount Weather as intended...*shudder*

Shut up, Finn.

100 + 1 - 2 = A landing party of 99. Check. 👍

“The air could be toxic.”

There they are. The chance encounter of the loves of my life. And of each other’s life.

I want to say something here about the Blake siblings, but I’m too preoccupied with internally screaming at the sight of my bby boy on my screen again.

Have I mentioned that I’m adrift in time??

Little do these three know how entangled their fates will be. From here on out, they will be the trio comprising the foundation of this entire saga. The trifecta.

“Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years.” “First one to touch the ground loses.” My oh my.

I AM AWASH IN NOSTALGIA

I WILL BE BLASTING RADIOACTIVE AFTER THIS EPISODE AND YES IT WILL BE STUCK IN MY HEAD FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT

Oh, back when it was all so simple...

I’m conflicted. I want the perfect marriage of this simplicity before the wars with S6 Bellarke at the helm. Basically, what season 7 should have been. Don’t we all? *sigh*

Finn is such a chameleon, it’s infuriating. He is whatever fantasy version he thinks will earn him brownie points with the pretty girl. I can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t mind him. He was every bit the textbook teen heartthrob with floofy hair I thought wouldn’t be so bad. Basically, this dude, with a slightly deceptive edge.

By now, Clarke and Wells had ingrained themselves into my heart. Too soon, you say? Perhaps. But it was always the logical, pragmatic, responsible characters I found myself leaning to. Always the ones I felt should be in charge.

You’ve been on the ground for a minute, Murphy, how’d you put together a posse already?

Poor Wells. He’s so sensible here, and he’s ignored because of the tall shadow his father casts. I do wonder the man Wells would have become had he lived. I’m not under any impression that he would be stagnantly stalwart. The axiom of a show continually striving to push its characters to the brink is that no one is incorruptible, even those we approximate most to pure cinnamon rolls. There is no such animal in this narrative.

“Do you think we care who’s in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we’ll get and the harder this’ll be. How long do you think we’ll last without those supplies? We’re looking at a 20-mile trek, ok? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now.”

Bellamy knew. I don’t mean it in a “he was in love with her at first sight” kind of way. He correctly assessed her right here and then as one who could seize control as the de facto leader of the camp. And where would it put him and Octavia then, if the princess got her way, if the Ark came down as planned? No, what appears as attitude toward Clarke and Wells is a well thought-out ploy to wrestle the camp in his favor in their absence. And it worked.

Oh, right. I remember. Here’s the faux-hero complex that ingratiated Finn to my good side.

“Rescue me next.” Icky.

“I need to just do something crazy just because I can, and no one, including you, is gonna stop me.” You will not lack opportunity for craziness. One might say you will not miss any chance, including, but not limited to, tyranny. 

Oh, no. The evil black lightbulb is going off in Rebel!Bellamy’s head.

“Before you get any ideas, I don’t care.” You really should have stuck to these guns, Clarke.

“The Chancellor’s been shot.” *record scratch*

Jasper and Monty, precious, innocent beans. Before the world scarred them so badly. As close as brothers, who will one day branch off into diametrically oppositional philosophies about humanity and the meaning of life. One to nilihism, one to hope. 

“Being born.” Cue the bunker flashbacks. As many mistakes as she will make in her pursuit of agency, Octavia’s initial resentment toward the Ark cannot be blamed. By the laws of the Ark, she was born a criminal by virtue of existing. Lost her mother, displaced from her brother and her home, what little there was, and lost a year of her life, during which she could presume she’d be killed the moment the illusion of civility peeled away when she turned of age.

Weird the mutant monsters swiftly disappeared, but these kids had enough problems on their plate.

Though Abby will catch a lot of flak later on from the fandom, I hardly think anyone wouldn’t cheer her on in the pilot. I know I always have been. She’s on the praiseworthy delineation of “rebel.”

“He’s no one. A janitor.”

Good one, Shumway.

“Her mother kept her hidden for 16 years. Nearly a record.” I’m sorry? Nearly a record? What is the record for “longest hidden kid,” then?

I still take it with a grain of salt that Bellamy and Octavia would be the only siblings in 97 years on this orbiting hunk of metal. Presumably, there would be plenty more in Aurora’s predicament. Poor women from the lower classes with limited, if not scarce access to medical resources. Women who didn’t want to abort their second child. Mixed families. Multiple spouses, what with the death toll of a justice system embroiled in capital punishment. Step-children, half-siblings. It makes you wonder what kind of medieval laws an unforgiving society like the Ark would enact to ensure its rigid population control.

I will say the power struggle between Abby, Jaha, and Kane, with the morality conflicts emerging from the Ark, was what first drew me in to this show. The kids were...the teens from your average CW show on your average stilted CW pilot. The Ark adults were intriguing and provocative. For me, at least.

I have to hand it to Bellamy. Both he and Clarke know how to make compelling arguments for their causes. It’s a shame how Clarke’s station is her albatross (for the time being) when she has everyone’s best interest in mind. For once, Bellamy’s origin from Factory Station is his advantage. He can connect to these errant kids seeking freedom like Clarke cannot. It’s a good metaphor for how subversive the worlds of the Ark and Earth appear to be. Visually, yes, between the muted grays of space versus the bright colors of Earth, but also, the visages of emancipation and carte blanche versus confinement and restraint between the adults and the kids.

And yet, while Bellamy offers the kids the allure of freedom, it’s really a facade as he cleverly maneuvers himself to the top just as the same as the leadership hierarchy he resents. Smart of him, until he runs afoul of a betrayed Murphy.

It’s funny how out-of-touch the adults are with the kids. Never does it occur to them that the kids they imprisoned are voluntarily removing the wristbands to escape the Ark’s reach until another kid clues Abby in.

“So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?” I know Finn’s laundry list of Clarke’s nightmares is for exposition, but it’s undermined when rattled off by this sleazebag with a poor attempt at compassion offered solely to charm her. In layman’s terms, shut up, Finn.

“My mother disagreed.” And it doesn’t occur to you that your mother may have been directly responsible for your father’s execution? It HAD to be Wells? I guess, had I been Clarke, it’s easier to blame him than to consider the horrifying reality of how Jake’s death came to be.

“We have to warn them.” “That’s what my father said.”

Once again, I am reminded of how little concerted effort Jason can put into a lot of these provisional relationships. Sometimes, the show skillfully communicates a layered storyline with very little footwork. Other times, it’s not so great.

Octavia had no way of knowing how deep the water was, monsters notwithstanding.

Our first foray into Jasper the Hero. It hurts already to think ahead to the hollow young man he’ll become when he can’t save the girl.

For a sea monster of that size, you’d think Octavia’s wounds would be larger. Like, a whole leg bitten off.

“Earth Day 2052″ I just noticed.

“Note to self: next time, save the girl.” Oh, you will, Monty.

Very evocative Lord of the Flies imagery.

“We can take care of ourselves, can’t we?” You are all a scrappy, resilient bunch, but you will soon find survival in this neck of the woods to be an uphill battle.

Love this exchange between Wells and Bellamy. Wells, of course, is right. Though Bellamy’s anger is not without reason. His argument is wrapped up in camp politics, but here we have a glimpse of the Bellamy who always tapped into his pain to persuade others to his side. The Bellamy who speaks from his heart, even when the message may be a little flawed in execution.

What about the kids whose loved ones remain on the Ark? How aren’t they hesitant about abandoning them?

Iconic.

Currently picturing Bob nursing a hangover for his Bellamy voice. Who knew alcohol could produce such beautiful results?

Do I detect a hint of wavering? I think I do. He knows Wells is right. Wise, even. He’s in too deep of this persona he thinks is crucial for his and Octavia’s protection to turn back now.

After years of watching the Bellamy we know and love, Baby!Bellamy is so jarring to revisit.

As is Kane.

“And I choose at every turn and at any cost to make sure that the human race stays alive.” “That’s the difference between us, Kane. I choose to make sure that we deserve to stay alive.” If nothing else the pilot did, it established our roadmap of the series in these three sentences. These two objectives have guided this story at each turn in equal measure. For Jason to claim at the very end that this story was only ever governed by cold and ruthless survival is a lie. Those of us who paid attention know it. It’s documented from the very first episode how these characters endeavor - strive - to aim for higher than the impossible decisions and questionable morality they are cornered into. The right ending of this narrative was to allow to finally achieve their second guiding principle. Let them use the hard-won lessons they’ve learned to build a golden age from out of the post-apocalypse. Let them LIVE.

Oh, what glory that bastard robbed from us.

Also, how the turntables with Kabby from now to their conclusions.

As pragmatic as Clarke is, she’s a dreamer. She’s always had such a wonderful vision of how beautiful the world could be. And I hate how often Jason stole her hope from her.

I forgot what unencumbered delight looked like on Clarke’s face.

Strictly speaking, I can’t say I shipped Finn and Clarke. I was very determined on my first viewing to not get sentimentally entangled with ships, knowing my penchant for walking away from shows when ships sink. (Oh, the irony.) I wanted to like this series. As I said, I was intrigued by the Ark arc. I was in it to see how things go. What I can say is I didn’t mind Finn and Clarke, as chosen apathy goes. Maybe a spark of ambivalence here and there before Raven shows up.

It’s disorienting to remember the Clarke so open to falling in love. Her primary directives are safety and obtaining the imperative amenities the kids need. But on a personal scale, after their immediate crises are solved, this Clarke wants to live.

“Now, you all think I’m a bad guy, but I’m the only one willing to do what it takes to save us.” Season 1 and Season 3 Bellamy will also believe the same, and time will humble both of these men.

“...and if I have to take us to a cosmic Adam and Eve, I will do it.” Serious nomon and nontu imagery whizzing through my brain of the various pairs symbolizing them. Kabby. Marper, paving the path for Book Two: “Everyone dies. Let’s show them how to live.” Bellarke, as nomon/nontu in its final form, representative of all the narrative’s themes. The story has always been, on some level, how their union saves the world.  

Even Russell and Simone, as the versions that Bellamy and Clarke could have been if they were without a moral compass.

Nomon/Nontu is a legacy, spanning generations and centuries, intrinsically tied to the fate of humanity and the Earth. Add it to the extensive list of themes forgotten by the outlier nameless season.

I should have realized the first time around how there was more to Bellamy than meets the eye when he didn’t kill Wells. Certainly would have been easier for him in terms of divesting himself of a political rival.

Speaking of, Kane must know how valuable a resource Abby is to the Ark, especially now when their home is dying a slow death. Was civil obedience really more vital to the sustainability of this place than what Abby could provide? It’s a big, fat no. Then again, these are the people who killed the engineer to their life support systems.

Well, at least one of them has sense.

We’re in agreement that the pilot episode is cheesy as hell. Exactly in the wheelhouse of 2010s!Me. It was perfect. Oh, what? Did you think I wasn’t going to let the next episode play, right there on the dining table in 2015? Jasper’s just got speared through the chest!!! They’re not alone!!!

Tagging the brilliant @sometimesrosy​ for revitalizing this beloved show for me from the depths

[bangtansmauyeondan]

TECHNICAL FOUL! | Part 1 - Jump Ball

Pairing: Basketball Coach!Jin x Teacher!Fem. Reader

Rating: 16+

Genre: Enemies to ???, Coworker AU, fluff, angst, implied intimacy

Summary: When one of your best students in class failed his mid-term exams, you only had one person to blame- Coach Jin. He thinks he's the king of the world-tall, handsome, brooding, borderline arrogant and seems to be always getting things done his way, but you are adamant to give him a piece of your mind. The only problem is that you easily get tongue-tied in his presence.

PERMANENT TAGLIST: @jinsquishes @persphonesorchid @thatbangtanjagiya @taestefully-in-luv @btsstan12 @bts-reveries @blog-name-idk @madbutgloriouspond @pamzn @wrmnssoul @ygbubs @halesandy @jayhope88 @bnagtanx1306 @pinkseokchim @busanbby-jjk @babycandy111

•••

Jump Ball — noun. when two opposing players jump for a basketball that was tossed into the air by a referee; also a way to award possession after two opposing players simultaneously gain possession of a ball.

—

“Columns C to K… Average… hmmn…” you mumbled to yourself as you reviewed the source of the pivot table you’re working on. “Something’s not adding up.”

“Are you okay over there?” Jimin’s head popped up on the cubicle wall that divided your workspace and his. “I kept on hearing you talking to yourself. Jungkook is rubbing off on you already.” As if on queue, you overheard your friend and a co-teacher apologize to the coffee maker in the break room, earning a laugh from both you and Jimin. “See?”

“I feel like I’m missing something on this spreadsheet.” You sigh. “One of my top students’ final grade for the mid-term is not adding up. He falls short on the homework and the mid-term exams.”

“Do you have all the grades from the other subject teachers already?” Jimin asked, making his way to your desk and crouching down to take a peek at your monitor.

“I do, yes,” you blew a puff of air to the strand of hair that fell in front of your eyes. “I guess I’ll just have to look at their files one by one. I didn’t see anything wrong with my formula.”

“Which student are we talking about? Jungkook walked over and sat on your desk while sipping his coffee. “Soobin?”

“Yeah…” You quickly pulled up his records and zeroed in on his Science final grade– Jungkook’s subject. “Here, look,” you turned the monitor to the side a bit so Jungkook could take a closer look. “His first and second terms were averaging ninety-four eighty-two and ninety-six percent respectively. Then suddenly, it dipped down to ninety-one twenty-six for this term.” You leaned back on your seat, observing the way Jungkook scrutinized the file. “All his subjects dipped this term. I may have to speak with his parents soon.”

“He failed two quizzes and failed to submit one homework for me,” Jungkook lightly tapped the monitor. “He’s not usually like that. Check the case with the other subject teachers, and yes, you should definitely speak to the parents.”

“It’s probably why you think your final numbers are not adding up,” Jimin added.

“You’re right. I’m gonna schedule a meeting with the parents,” you saved your file and turned your computer off. “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it. I have another class in ten minutes. See you both in a bit!”

–

You hate going to the principal’s office– no, not hate. More than that. Loathe. You were a good student growing up! You never experienced getting summoned at the principal’s office. Why now? On a Monday too. Your heels clacked against the hardwood floor of the principal’s office as you approached his desk. He lifted his head from a pile of papers he’s leafing through, specs falling along his nose bridge in the process, before smiling warmly at you.

“Good morning, Mr. Min,” you greeted him politely with a bow.

“Good morning, Ms. ________.” He stood up and made his way to the lounge area a few steps away from his desk. “Please have a seat,” Mr. Min gestured to one of the cushioned seats. “Let’s wait for Mr. Kim for a bit,” he looked at his watch. “He should be here soon.”

Your brain started whirring. Which Mr. Kim? Kim Namjoon, the gorgeous Vice Principal with the cute dimples? Kim Taehyung, the eccentric Arts teacher who’s a part-time influencer and has been modeling for magazines? Kim Mingyu, the new PE teacher who gets a lot of stares from the student’s parents, mothers and fathers alike? Kim Seokjin, the world-according-to-me manchild, arrogant and conceited basketball coach who labels himself as Worldwide Handsome and –

“Coffee?” Yoongi interrupted your thoughts with his offer.

“No, I’m good. Thanks for offering, Mr. Min.” You took a seat, careful not to crumple your dress, and fiddled with the pendant of your necklace– a tell that you’re a little anxious about the situation. “May I know why you called us though? Is it something serious?”

Before the principal even processed your questions, the door to his office flew open and in came Kim Seokjin, dressed in a coordinated lavender sweatpants and hoodie. “Ahh Yoongi-ah!” His booming voice echoed in the spacious room. “This better not be just about your—” and then, he noticed you. “Oh, teacher. Sorry, sorry,” he bowed his head in apology. “Good morning, Ms. ______. Was I too loud?”

“Hyung, how dare you call me by my first name in front of Ms. _____? We’re at work! Do you wanna get written up, huh?” Mr. Min— well, Yoongi— scolded the basketball coach, with a hint of playfulness.

“How dare you call me Hyung? We’re at work!”

“Gentlemen, I do have my next class in an hour, so if you don’t mind… Mr. Min, why are we here?”

“Right,” Yoongi rolled the sleeves of his black dress shirt up his arms before sitting across from you, gesturing to Seokjin to sit down too. “Mrs. Han called and asked about his son’s grades. She said she found some unfinished homeworks and failed quizzes in her son’s room, and she’s worried that he’s not able to balance his academic activities and his extracurricular activities.”

“Han Soobin?” Seokjin quirked his eyebrows at Yoongi. “He’s one of the top students, right? The kid’s got a good grip too.”

“I’ve actually been meaning to talk to his parents about that,” you said, concern lacing your features. “I’ve been reviewing the grades for this term and his trend is not looking so good. I have spoken with Mr. Jeon and Mr. Park and they both said Soobin has been lacking in their classes, which is totally unlike him.”

“Has he been skipping classes?”

“No, he’s always present in class.”

“Has he been skipping practice?” The question intended for Seokjin.

“No, he’s always early. Sometimes he comes to the court even without practice scheduled… Oh.” Seokjin’s gaze flitted between you and Yoongi. “I see, there must be where the problem lies, huh,” he tongued his cheeks.

What the fuck? What is he so hot for?

“So him practicing out of schedule could be the reason why he’s failing his classes,” you turned to Seokjin. “Mr. Kim, can we do something about this? This kid is one of our top students and is a potential candidate for Valedictorian next year.”

“Ms. _______, did it ever occur to you that the kid could be overworked and stressed out with all the classworks, and homeworks, and basketball is the only thing that makes him feel like a kid instead of a machine?”

“Mr. Kim, you don’t want to assume such situations. Soobin is a smart, vibrant child, and he is performing well academically. If there’s any signs of distress, he hasn’t shown it. If there is, we are always in constant communication with the parents and we work hand in hand with them to go through that.”

“Ms. ________, do you only step—”

“Okay, okay, enough…” Yoongi interrupted. “Ms. ______, why don’t you talk to the child one on one? Find out if he’s struggling in any of his subjects.” Yoongi nodded. “I’d love to set up a meeting with the parents, but let’s find out what the child feels first, okay?”

“Yep, sounds good.” You agreed. “What are you gonna do about the unscheduled basketball practice?” You directed the question at Seokjin.

“Nothing,” he stood up and shrugged nonchalantly. “As far as I know, my basketball sessions have no problems, whatsoever.” He made a beeline to the door. “See you later, Mr. Min… Ms. ______,” he winked at you before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

UGH.

•••

A/N — This was supposed to go up yesterday on his birthday, but I really just spent the entire day in bed, watching some unresolved crime documentaries on Netflix, trying to forget the fact that it’s gonna be Seokjin’s last birthday celebration with us before he leaves for his military enlistment. 🥺 Anyway, I’m gonna try my best to inject life into this baby series. I hope you like it!

[thegentlefem]

hi everyone! I recently got an influx of followers and I just want to say that I appreciate everyone and your compliments about the account. you all are great.

as a present to you guys, I made a little about me post. please don’t reblog it, but do feel free to copy these prompts to make your own bio.

Hobbies: photography, exercising, travel, reading, anything outdoors

Things I like: chai lattes, dogs, Marvel movies before phase 3 (generally), cars (racing), sci-fi, the beach, sports. I like the summertime and you can usually find me at the lake/pool/wherever water is when the weather gets hot. I’m a bit of a science and history nerd so there’s that.

Turn-ons: I have a list of these in my main bio already so I’ll write some non-kinky things here. It may sound weird but good hair, like a nice hairstyle, is really attractive to me. It’s like the first thing I notice visually about a guy. Also his pretty eyes. Other random turn-ons I can think of are accents, intelligence!!, men who think before speaking, and, you guessed it, a **good personality**.

Turn-offs: the word “daddy”. in any context. I’m sorry but I just...can’t. Hm what else... Smoking is also a turn off. Sorry to all the smokers out there. Also, intense age play is a no. I do love humiliation/degradation if my partner enjoys it (obviously), although any real shaming or toxic masculinity/femininity are big turn offs.

What kinks are you exploring atm?

Intoxication kink. I haven’t experimented with this in real life because it pushes the consent barrier for me, but in theory, intox kink is so hot. Something about having a tipsy sub stumbling around and begging for more...hm yeah. Also have been obsessed with shaving kink content (source material: that Skyfall scene).

Favorite cheesy romance tropes: enemies to lovers, only one bed, hurt/comfort, fake dating to developing feelings.

Random fact(s): I am absolutely terrible at cooking and baking. There’s a reason why my friends usually are the ones to make dinner and not me. I guess I should put an ad out there for a malewife who is good in the kitchen. Either that or we’ll just be struggling together to make bad food. I’m sure we’ll bond in the process but I can’t guarantee that we’ll produce anything edible.

---

anyways I hope you all enjoyed this! if you message me or send an ask related to these topics, I will probably be happy to chat. I’m not active daily on this account but I try to keep my queue running, so if you message me and I don’t respond, I promise I’m not ignoring, I am just actually busy lol. (make sure to have your age in your bio or you will be blocked)

I will also just reiterate that other than what is already posted in my bio, I will never share my name, location, photos, etc. so don’t mistake my kindness for naivety and ask me for any of these.

[bvannn]

Weekly Update October 27 2023

This week wasn’t the best but hopefully things should be shaping up for a bit. I’m still trying to get art stuff done

I’m still behind on all my prompt lists, but I’ll still keep chipping away at them until they’re done (except the handful of cringetober prompts I’m skipping). I finished some inktober and a goretober drawings tonight so I can queue those up for this weekend, which should carry me to Sunday, which is a mostly free day I can draw some more for. I may be able to get stuff sketched tomorrow too, but no promises.

TRGA I’m still behind pace but I’m getting caught back up. Provided my mood and body stay stable I should be back to a reasonable pace this week. I got Emile all keyframed generally, there may be some bounces and stuff that need to be done, since I want Emile to come off as bouncy and energetic like he is, so that may be annoying to do but shouldn’t be that much harder than the high inertia stops I did on Jon’s movements. I’m getting better, just a bit slowly. I can probably brush up some earlier animations too, since they’re already tweened. Generally going well.

Music is also generally going well-ish. I tried pulling out my old guitar, sucked, had a meltdown because I sucked, and found a nice free vst. Also found a hole in my schedule next semester that I can hopefully fill with real guitar lessons through the university. Adding in a bass guitar would be the next step which shouldn’t be too hard. At the rate I’m learning things I should hopefully be able to do proper songs reasonably consistently in the future, provided I keep at it.

I’m doing things. I’m trying. Sorry is short tonight I didn’t realize it was so late, was playing a game with a friend (and drawing while doing it). Life stuff is kinda sorting out, even if today started off rough. I’m still going to prioritize school above all else though.

[curiousb]

I posted 217 times in 2022

That's 79 more posts than 2021!

179 posts created (82%)

38 posts reblogged (18%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@curiousb

@tvickiesims

@frauhupfner

@suratan-zir

@pixeldolly

I tagged 216 of my posts in 2022

#sims 2 - 175 posts

#merybury - 131 posts

#gameplay - 124 posts

#de bourgh university - 27 posts

#jasper tilney - 24 posts

#benjamin bingley - 21 posts

#bennet tilney - 20 posts

#anna smith - 19 posts

#clara dashwood - 18 posts

#sophia wentworth - 18 posts

Longest Tag: 83 characters

#at least in the process i found the offending sofa that was overwriting a maxis one

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Check-in tag

I was tagged by the superstar that is @pixeldolly - thank you!

Why did you choose your url?

CuriousB was the username I made up on the spur of the moment when I first joined GoS, all those millennia ago (there’s a story behind the name, but I’ll leave that for another day), and it became my go-to Sims-related username. I wanted to be recognisable as the same entity on Tumblr, so I recycled the name once again.

How long have you been on tumblr?

Ooh, I don’t know, about ten years? I had a hiatus of about four years in the middle there though.

Do you have a queue tag?

Good grief no, I’m not a planner by any means!

Why did you start your blog in the first place?

Because all the cool kids were here.

Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

It’s a very old shot of a long-gone Sim, but I like her expression, and her wild, pink hair.

Why did you choose your header?

It’s a screenshot of my custom TS2 neighbourhood, which was empty at the time, but is now bursting at the seams - I really should update the header accordingly, I guess!

What’s your post with the most notes?

It’s the post where I redirect people to my SimFileShare folder to find all my TS2 downloads - how dull! :D

How many mutuals do you have?

Honestly, I haven’t a clue!

How many followers do you have?

Apparently it’s 1308 - hello, everyone!

How many people do you follow?

803 - almost all TS2 Simblrs.

Have you ever made a shitpost?

I’m not really sure I’d know one if I saw one, so probably!

How often do you use tumblr each day?

Too much!

Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

Err, no, not my style.

How do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

Just like with old-school chain letters, I ignore them - it’s my blog and I will post what I want!

See the full post

43 notes - Posted April 27, 2022

#3

Under construction

I haven’t done much actual playing lately, as I’ve been on a bit of a building spree instead! (And experiencing my share of pink soup, for some reason.)

Firstly, Merybury has some new luxury waterside residences, just next door to Lydia and Henry’s beach house - so they’ll no longer enjoy their uninterrupted views of Lake Merymere (or the seclusion of their hot tub). These were very much inspired by @vimpse​ (here).

See the full post

63 notes - Posted March 26, 2022

#2

CuriousB’s Question Time: Part 3

Today I built a house that I rather like. It has just one problem - the darned roof.

I really like the little turrety roof over the bay window, but unfortunately it doesn’t ‘cancel out’ the roof beneath it, like regular roofs do.

See the full post

72 notes - Posted November 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Wreckers’ Cove

@simsinlowspace wanted to see the vacation destinations I’m currently working on, so here’s a taster! I’m using @plumbtales​’s wonderful Maxis makeovers, but adding a few twists of my own to the existing lots - as I’m a CC junkie - and building a few extra lots myself, such as this one.

This is Wreckers’ Cove beach bar, newly opened on Twikkii Island. I’m afraid there’s a lot of pic-spam, as I’m a little in love with it!

See the full post

91 notes - Posted April 30, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[cloudsandwichsoup]

my next upcoming fic project is very self indulgent reigen and teru found family that i’ve been writing notes for since november. i can’t guarantee when it’ll be finished or if it’ll even be finished at all (i have to work on kel became after all) but i just want to share some of my favorite notes from that i’ve written so far… mostly the ones i think are funny.

notes for Sometimes What’s Best is an Added Expense (a Child) to Your Bank Account:

- serirei wedding probably,, teru wants them to get married anyways

- serirei would get together before terumob cause they silly like that

- serirei fake wedding cause of an exorcism job and teru is super excited (plot twist the clients were lying and just wanted proof that they were going to a wedding as an excuse not to go to another event plot twist 2 the ghost shows up after the clients admit it cause they hate when people go through loveless fake weddings for monetary gain) serirei confesses to make it go away

- reigen paints his nails with teru once cause son insists,, mob notices and reigen suggests that he should ask teru to do his. reigen high fives wawa after. he really thinks he’s the best wingman

- dad moment

- teru is a bit wary of wawa at first but they warm up to each other

- mob thinks they’re dating for a bit and teru is completely oblivious miscommunication hahahahahahahaha

- the miscommunication stems from a time shige and teru are having a sleepover and teru admits that he loves him when he thinks mob is asleep. he wasn’t. mob thinks for that as a queue that they’re dating now.

- shou shows up through ritzus window

- shou also crashes at serizawas when bored (which eventually becomes crashing at the reigen household and hanging out with teru)

- terizzki hanazawa reigen <<<<— arataka calls his son this when he tried to flirt with mob teru nearly explodes

- Reigen’s parents would go to a pride parade for their grandson (they still suck tho)

- sickfic serirei chapter except serizawa burns the soup cause he can’t cook and teruki has to come help him. teru and wawa bonding time while they cook together

- serizawa gets a part time job and teru finds him there,, he gets annoyed when he finds out seri doesn’t get paid minimum wage by rei

- teru takes mob to marshals (cause he shops there)

- teru “head over heels for mob” hanazawa

- terus new haircut‼️‼️ i lob his haircut and reigen makes fun of it all the time.

- reigen likes to cook but is too lazy (canon) he starts cooking for teru

- Teruki Hanazawa Serizawa Reigen (he has quite the collection of last names)

- SERIREI PROPASES AT THE SAME TIME

- tenga and teru talk sometimes

- WINGMAN TSUBOMI

- “SO WHAT IF MY DAD HAS BOOBS!?” (referring to katsuya serizawa) “hanazawa…”

- REIGEN NEEDS TO BE HONEST WITH HIM‼️(seriwawa)

- shou and ritsu spying on terumobs not date

- That’s so balls -ritsu

- i’ll just pretend to be your parent! i’ve got the hair, see! -reigen

- reigen having anxiety about seri leaving him after graduation and starting somewhere new. seri is working like 10 jobs just to stay at spirits and such as long as he can. (you’ll have to carry me out in a body bag to leave this job) teru finds it funny that they’re both idiots (he’s also idiot)

- “<3” “how can you even say that out loud!?”

- tome teru shou reigen serizawa family fr fr

there’s so much more but i’m just gonna leave it like this for now

[rogueshadeaux]

| ➳ Ao3 here | ➳ Quotev here |

InFAMOUS: Erosion Table of Contents

Hey guys! RogueShadeaux here, though that's an absolute mouthful, isn't it? Call me Rogue! She/Her, BIPOC, Mid-20's. I was a fanfiction writer for most of my youth (a cringe one, we aren't talking about it), and I've only just wanted to return after a long stint as a caretaker for my ill grandmother.

➳ What do you write?

This is my blog where I will be posting any art, drabbles or the like related to the inFAMOUS franchise from Sucker Punch Productions. It is also where I will post chapters (along with on my ao3) of my fanfiction inFAMOUS: Erosion, the first of a two book series taking place almost 18 years after the events of inFAMOUS: Second Son.

➳ When do you update?

What are you, a narc? All jokes aside, there will not be a surefire, regular posting schedule that I will promise, though I will aim to post a new chapter every other...Monday. Yeah, Monday, more than likely in the morning on Tumblr, as I’ll queue it, and evening for ao3. Something good to start off the week with, and hopefully, will be consistent.

I'm a weak minded fool with procrastination and perfectionist issues, though, so we'll see.

The first chapter will be dropped December 17th, 2022 — the day that inFAMOUS: Erosion in-story begins (although, another 14 years in the future). Until then, I will post little bits of the story, art, and general inFAMOUS content. Chapter 2 will start the (hopefully) regular Monday postings.

➳ What is inFamous: Erosion about?

I don't have a solid summary yet as I'm typing this, so here, have a blurb from the story so far, which has already accrued 68k words:

She hummed again. That’s all she seemed to do was hum, like it was how she processed words. “I became Delsin’s foster mother when he was your age. A little bit younger, actually — he had just turned 17.” She looked off to the horizon, cool steam lifting from the Sound and threatening to settle on it, freeze it over. “His mother and father were on the east coast when the — when Empire City happened. They caught the Ray Field Plague and…” she sighed. No need to elaborate on what happened to people who had that radiation poisoning. “He became mine when the state came for him. Tribe gets first choice when an Indian goes into foster care, after all. 

“Then those Conduits broke out, and…your father had smoke coming out of his hands.” She shook her head, somehow finding enough humor in the situation to laugh. “And you know what? He didn’t get time to play around with his powers, either. But you know what the difference is between his situation, and yours?” 

 “What?” 

 “You have him.”

Yeah I'm gonna be mean, that's literally all you get until I have a proper summary, which will be posted accordingly. Story was inspired by the Good Karma stencil art "When Toddlers Attack" (which can be found here under 1.8: Lantern District) while I was replaying Second Son with my 5 year old.

It'll follow Good Karmatic events of inFAMOUS and inFAMOUS 2, mostly Good Karmatic events of inFAMOUS: Second Son, lore from inFAMOUS: First Light, Paper Trails and Cole's Legacy, as well as incorporate the little bits of that extra stuff we got from the inFAMOUS DC comic run. This story will not deal with anything regarding inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood. I might make maybe one reference. But no vampires here.

NO SEXUAL THEMES appear in this story. There will be hard and possibly distressing topics mentioned and discussed, which I advise the reader to heed via trigger warnings I will place. Curation is your responsibility.

➳ Any content warnings?

Canon-typical violence, death, mild body horror, murder, racism but in a Conduit sense, racism in a racism sense, terrorism/mass shootings (typical American stuff :) we’re fine), possible ooc. Other triggers will be added with the specific chapter, as I'm still writing and will probably do some more dastardly things to these poor characters.

➳ Any related tags?

You can find all regarding this fanfiction under the #inFAMOUS Erosion tag.

That's it for now! I'm honestly suuuuuper excited to get back to writing fanfiction — it's been so goddamn long — and this story, I guarantee, will never be abandoned. Literally unless I die. I use this story as a warm-up while I write my own novel to get the brain moving, and since my other tale is a longer series of its own, I definitely won't find a reason to abandon it. So you get the surefire guarantee of a complete story! That's always fun. So sit back, relax, and get ready for a good dose of Sucker Punch's best.

[starsinshadows]

     Hey, y’all! I haven’t done one of these in awhile, so I figured this was a great time for a little state of the Stark update! First of all, Happy New Year and other holidays, depending on what you celebrate! Hope everything’s been restful and pleasant for everyone. I’ve been up and down for a few months, thus the lack of activity over here, but I’ve been quietly (somewhat) working on things for the blog. You may have noticed that an army of asks were posted, bringing be down to a mere four left in my box, which I’ll be trying to post sometime soon. I’m sorry to say that I did throw out a load of them because I had a shockingly huge backlog, but that just means that more can fit nicely in there! I’m currently doing the same with drafts, and I’m down from something over 100 over the past like 2 months to a manageable 20s as of today. Some I’ve responded to and they’re posted or in my queue, and some I’ve deleted - if you don’t see yours, ask me! We can either pick it back up or start something new!      I’m still operating on the Legacy editor, but I’ve started poking at the Beta for mutuals who have it, so if you do, feel free to let me know and I’ll repost a starter/ask/etc in beta for you or move a thread over.       I’ll probably be doing a starter call here soonish, namely when I get my draft box cleared out, so keep an eye out for that or just hit me up in IMs/disco and we’ll get something rolling! 

Carrd || Muses || Verses

     At the moment, I’m still in pretty aggressive Stranger Things brainrot, which has meant adding multiple muses, so go ahead and take a look at my carrd to see if anyone interests you! Steve is still going to get the fastest responses, but I’m branching out a bit into some characters I haven’t played before. Marvel verses will be available for all (as well as other verses, of course, as I get to them), but my actual Marvel canons are a little less noisy right about now. I’m looking into a few other types of universes, including Final Fantasy, so if that’s something you’re interested in or curious about, hit me up! They’ll have modern/marvel verses as well, so no worries there!      Overall, just come chat if you wanna! I’m pretty easy, and I like screaming about characters with people, so feel free to come bug me anytime. Catch y’all around!

[tiredassmage]

swtor asks: 46, 39, 43, 22, 26

Woe, more swtor asks be upon us! I had to rotate some of these overnight, lol.

22. One feature not in-game that you'd love to see?

Cheating, I'm giving you two because I wrote a big paragraph about one and then there's also: I'd kill for a playable tech-based sword wielding-class. The fact that only my Force users can use the cool swords and whatnot, but at the expense of robbing them of lightsabers while there's npcs running around swinging vibroswords is a bit of a crime, tbh.

Anyway, it'd be fucking awesome and I'd actually give Tyr a second combat style for it because I think that'd be so hot for him. How much I'd actually play it instead of Operative is maybe a different story because I'm a little stealth princess, but hey, we're talking about options here, lol.

Anyway, on a slightly more... fleshed out note? This gets long quickly, let me put a cut here.

SO. Okay, this may exist and I’m just blind to it because I don’t generally do group or raid content of any kind [hamster peace sign meme here], but FFXIV has something called Party Finder which is sort of… if a group finder and a message board? It’s got sections for dungeons [standard 4 person party composition], trials [8 players], alliances [24 player encounters], etc. XIV players generally use this to build parties for current, on-level higher difficulty content such as extremes or savage raids rather than using the random matchmaker ie group finder equivalent that'd just pitch you into a queue, but it can also be used to form ‘premade’ groups to clear older content either synced [level/abilities adjusted back to release-era] or to overlevel the ever-loving shit out of some poor lvl 60 or 70 boss and just take their lunch money.

It’s a really nice system to even know what content is out there and has several filters/status settings for party conditions like syncing or priorities (are you looking for a learning party focused on clearing at all or doing several preferably quick, clean kills in succession for looting purposes, etc) and you can search by roles/jobs in need. In XIV, I’ve cleared most of the higher difficulty content I’ve seen via Party Finder groups; not all friends want to do the same content/same level of content at the same time, schedules don’t line up, etc., or guilds/free companies just be intimidating, lol. Never fear! Party Finder is here.

Something about the systemic nature of it makes it less intimidating in my brain, too, than like, random shouts on the fleet or whatever to fill groups. Probably the added context of party descriptions and objective labels. If you don't get what they put on the tin, then someone labeled their party finder incorrectly, but it's meant to give you an idea of what you're getting into before you commit and we do love to see that.

26. Weapon of choice?

I agonized over this one, lol. Picking just one was a tricky endeavor because I've fallen into the rabbit hole of personalizing sets down to weapons for different characters, so I have a handful of favorites I've nominated for mention.

I recently got the Frontiersman's Blaster Rifle for Len (I've been eyeing it for probably a month trying to figure out who/which outfit to put it on), Rhyst's most prominent is probably the Inscrutable Dualsaber with... I think a smoky amber color crystal? Oli has the EE-2 Blaster Pistol (I like the blue lights). Nikihlus has the Zakuulan Exile's Sniper Rifle, possibly with a red color crystal, I don't remember if I modded it at all, but the extra shing of the blade attachment when you draw it is everything to me. Annnd Barreth, one of my Consulars, got Vengeance's Unsealed Lightsaber that I have her wield a pair of with a green indestructible crystal.

39. Single saber, twin sabers, or dual sabers?

Hmmm… contextualized as in like, what combat style I prefer, I actually… really like Juggernaut more than Marauder?

Anyway, my OG Consular has a dualsaber and I’ll live and die by the fact that dualsabers kick ass. They’re so cool. Particularly when [maybe cheating] you can, like, detach them and now you have TWO laser swords? [I made his second combat style Sentinel to appease the brain goblins about this.] Adaptability. Cool rating. Really beautiful designs.

Also because Shadows and Assassins have stealth and I am, again, a pretty, pretty stealth princess. Bonus objectives for slaughtering rows and rows of enemies? Don’t know her.

43. Favorite operation?

I've yet to actually do operations because I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. I know, doesn't translate when I've done 8 man extremes with glee in FFXIV, but I have definitely backed off raiding and gearing related grinds since being in college. They can be pretty involved and I just do not always have the spoons left over to get into performance like that.

I've enjoyed it in XIV though, so I'd be down for giving it a whirl sometime, maybe over the summer when I won't have classes. Work and class schedules kinda also limit my time, so it's a bit intimidating to commit to progression schedules within everything.

46. What do you think of the world events so far?

Oscillating between the interpretation of “what in-game events do you like” and “what do you think of the story,” but I think the latter is more fun and has more meat on the bone.

So! First of all, I am absolutely a story gremlin. I absolutely got into SWTOR primarily for the story and whatever it is or isn’t as a MMO is whatever it is or isn’t. That said, I don’t know why I didn’t expect it to grip me and sink into any little porous opening in my being that it could find, but I’ve been playing for over a year now and it has… done that. I think it’s safe to say that it’s taken over as my primary gaming choice by now, lol.

I have my least favorites among the class stories, for sure, but I’d agree with the consensus that, generally, they’re all good. They’re all good at something. Whatever I dislike about them is more-so down to personal tastes and preferences than jarring faults in the story.

And it’s definitely my favorite way to engage with Star Wars. I was never particularly in to Star Wars - I could enjoy it, I could leave it. I have bones to pick with its consistent dedication to binary and that’s a gripe I could agree with even inside of SWTOR. But I do love the way SWTOR engages with the universe - allows me to engage with the universe. Several of the class stories are not what I’d define as the general fare of Star Wars, or there’s ways to play them that inverse, twist, or otherwise do something cool with something that the movies might not have - that wasn’t the story the movies wanted to tell or what have you.

Trying to pin down the timeline hurts my brain. I hate math as a general rule and I dislike trying to riddle out certainties from conflicting or non-existent information when it comes to timelines, lol, but that’s not a uniquely SWTOR problem. xD

Ultimately, I started playing for the story - I’m still here because I’m invested in the story. I’m invested in my characters and the npcs and companions in a way I fell in love with in my first Bioware experiences in Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The dialogue options - particularly those that are voiced - add such. Chef’s kiss, y’know? It’s a whole different way to engage with a game  and really be a part of it when I can reflect a character’s way of thinking inside of a game like that.

Star Wars as a whole has always been a sort of odd relationship for me in that I have plenty of bigger gripes with what it does or how it does overall, but the universe is full of such potential. I still love some of the potential, some of the pieces of it. I am eager to see what comes of the saboteur options that started with Jedi Under Siege - my main being an Imperial Agent that took the SIS route definitely factors into that, lol.

Something about how the story is set up and how it plays has just… really got me. To describe it kind of feels almost diminishing and it’s difficult, but, in short, I guess I’ve loved the way I can engage with it and the way I can return to it. The many, many possibilities packed into just the class stories alone is so much to explore and it’s so, so fun to get into a character’s headspace and really figure out how that affects everything they see and take forward with them into the expansion content. It’s changes and nuance I can reflect as well as expand upon in writing or headcanons or what have you and it’s just… been a whole lot of fun. Whatever does come of it, I think I’ve found another one of those pieces of media, the kind of ocs that’ll stick with me for years to come and that will always be some part of me and what brings me joy to remember.

Anyway: my favorite of the in-game events that I’ve done so far is Bounty Contracts Week. I have fun with the intro and it’s a nice simple daily rotation.

[treesap-blogs]

Happy Saturday, everyone! Here’s a review of “The Witchery” by S. Isabelle!

Hello, Tumblrians! I just realized I never did a review of this book on my actual account, only tying it to the confines of my Instagram Close Friends List! So I’ll be getting this out to the best of my ability, in a manner still respecting the weekly schedule because so far that’s been working out well! Maybe I’ll integrate a weekly schedule for posting art, too, because truthfully I’d love to scream about my blorbos and maybe some OCs(..no guarantee about that second thing though I find it a struggle to write ones not for venting) into the areas of Tumblr where people would be interested in hearing about it!

That got unrelated pretty fast! Sorry! What I’d like to add on before the actual review itself kicks off though is that I wanted to add some more spooky stuff to my reading queue, and when I saw this book on a display inside a library I read the summary and just decided to go for it! Magic witch schools? Horror elements? Shit, I’m in, just off of that alone. I didn’t have much knowledge prior to that lmao.

This book was a pretty interesting read overall! The first 50 or so pages were kind of rough, though, because I figured out very quickly just how many POVs we were dealing with here. The thing was though, because they were told in third-person omniscient, they didn’t have very different voices; I found the change in POV was mainly for convenience of a location, not for that specific person’s thoughts/feelings. (Basically: plot/premise carried, characters were moreso a vessel for it.) That’s not to say that there was a complete absence of character voices, though, because I had read enough of them to be sufficiently annoyed at Logan every time it was one of her chapters! She had the least interesting of the backgrounds for the characters, and she frequently whined about not being special or not wanting to be called a “baby witch”. Seriously, take a shot every time you read “baby witch” in her chapters specifically and you’d die of alcohol poisoning. I hated how she fell in love with Theodore immediately and literally betrayed the group’s plan just for him (which..fine I get there’s a reason for that later on that’s spoiler-y, still annoying though), and how she had such a “so pick me!! choose me!! love me!!” vibe to her😐. (Theodore and Logan also just didn’t work as a romance. I couldn’t see the chemistry, it was just so annoying and felt like a pointless romance subplot added just for an internal conflict.) I saw Ms Woc Reader on Goodreads and her blog comment that the book would’ve worked better if Thalia and Iris were the only two POVs, since they were the most rounded-out and had the most to expand on, and I agree with that! They kicked off basically all of the plot elements, had the most interesting backstories, and then we wouldn’t have to deal with the other main issue of having all the POVs, which is that the white characters were centered too frequently for a book with a mainly black cast. Hopefully this is something fixed in the second book, as S. Isabelle will have many chances to grow from this being her debut book.

The pacing also felt a bit wonky, like there were too many events for just this book alone. I saw many reviewers talk about this being packed for a standalone, and although there’s a sequel that was announced to be out in September of this year, I wonder if it was just meant to be a standalone at first? It definitely explains why it was paced the way it was. And if a second book just for this specific plot wouldn’t work, maybe The Witchery should’ve been longer, but I could also see how that could be a lot to get a publisher to send out. My knowledge of the actual business is little, but the longer a book is, the more expensive the publishing price is, and there’s probably some business reasons to do with the final product’s results as well.

To S. Isabelle’s credit, though, this was something that worked in her favor for the climax, because it meant that chapters went by quick enough to have fast-paced action. That was something I did enjoy during my read! (And Logan did finally step up when she got her shit kicked in with about 50 pages left, not to say I like her but it was the only time she legitimately contributed to the group.)

The friend group also didn’t have as much of the dynamic their characters probably should with their closeness to each other, presumably due to the POV problem. 

I did like Vero and Jailah’s history! I’m a sucker for drama, their moderate toxicity was very interesting to read and I wish we actually got to see Vero in the ending rather than just have her be mentioned in passing. How does she process being helped after all of that time? Does she forgive Jailah? Will she understandably never be able to? She just appeared for the truth serum acquiring, was mentioned in passing and never appeared again. A lot of the parts of the plot were wrapped up suddenly, actually. 

Another thing I liked was the horror elements present! But although things got a little bloody and spookier towards the end, I do wish the story felt a little more twisted? It felt very tame by horror standards, despite the genre. But then again this is a YA, I don’t know how much someone can breach the boundaries until they have to rebrand their book. The witch school also felt generic, there weren't many identifying factors about it other than it being sort of creepy? That was basically all lmao.

Overall verdict!: Plot was interesting(albeit the twists could be easily predicted by a frequent YA reader), characters not as much but they could’ve had potential if the chapters weren’t structured how they were and this story was long enough to give the plot a chance to breathe. 

Book rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.

Paz, signing off!

(Book trigger/content warnings: Most are mentioned inside, but include frequent self-harm(typically involving pricking a thumb, although there’s one instance of slicing a hand with a knife, all instances are just for sacrificial and spell purposes), blood and gore, body horror and mentions of religious trauma.)