#Was thinking about the song’s stories and how they could connect to the spooky month characters

[chuchayucca]

I have an idea

[koenki]

So I wrote a lot of this down as a way to ground myself last night, some cute or otherwise just circulating thoughts about the lovely ASMR stories I'm listening to bring comfort when I can't sleep.

Ellis' listener comes in with hot tea from the coffee shop Bug works at so they can have a nice drink while reading/discussing their new book series. Maybe they aren't together yet and Ellis' grandmother comes into the shop and meets their listener, having heard so much about this fiery young person their grandchild goes on about.

Casey and Honey on autumn nature hike, Casey teaches Honey about autumn blooming plants as the crunch of leaves are underfoot. Gourd carving, doesn't have to be pumpkins, for the spooky season. Lauren gave them a list of themes they can all dress up as together to hand candy out for Halloween so they can match.

Dion tryna get out of the house as often as possible now that his family's guard is there, knowing Bunny wouldn't want him to follow since he can't disguise himself. Bunny levels with the bodyguard about going out in public looking like that and feels guilty leaving him but tends to promise they will bring back dinner for him and they can hang out and watch movies later. Dion is clingy now, making sure he has a point of contact with Bunny any time the three of them are together now. Pip and Roman testing out the gadget that plays music based on thoughts and feelings. At some point a love song plays and as they start to talk about it to confront what it meas when the song suddenly changes from sweet and loving to fearful, spooky. This could work for it being connected to either of them, both having something that scares and upsets them that could possibly show up at any time.

Cyril's parents whenever they find out about Cyril and them getting together, tryna set up a get together- Cyril haa been refusing stating both him and rival are busy enough, barely have time to even see each other let alone also schedule time with them for all 4 to get together- rival knows none of this and ends up cornered in their office by two elves and highly esteemed researchers that just want to get to know their sons love interest better- even if one may or may not believe his son should be with another elf? I dunno how his Father will feel on all this Neo and Darling's conversation of "my lease is up in October" as Gage has mentioned and if they are ready for a big step like moving in together already or not. Neo craves to be close not only to Darling, but the need as a shifter to be close to another as well. More Neo thoughts on starting to meet the siblings. His need to feel validated, important, and strong willed to not feel "compared" especially to the older siblings becoming apparent. He might apologize for what a handful his family could be and Darling has to assure him that they love him and the rowdy bunch of foxes. They also may make sure he knows just how much they love him when they get back to the privacy of their own space. Gage and Bug having the apartment for themselves now, roomie's old room is now where Gage will have his ceramics now. Darling drags Neo back out for game night once a month, they've been showing him how to play video games so next mario kart, fall guys, mario party whatever, stands a better chance (maybe even beat Gage in one, maybe they had a bet and now Gage has to own up?)

Small steps with Desmond, sneaking small kisses when they can at work, hand holding when out together, warm cuddles on the couch, taking Eclair to the dog park to play Des seems to adore the attention, but I feel like he'd be just as appreciative if Newbie got lil treats or toys for his dog, it's in connection to him still, and means they are thinking of him or of spending time with each other when apart.

Angsty thoughts for Desmond include Newbie getting hurt; pretty bad. Des has never been the type that would rely and just expect Law to help, use his magic because he never wants his best friend to feel like he abuses their friendship, so when he calls for help there's a lot of unspoken feelings between these two that Law will be there asap. Des never left their side, he held them as they recovered, maybe even being a little more aggressive in his care because of how stubborn Newbie is, having to force them to stay in bed or take time off work. That "holding" may have been at times laying basically on them to hold them down so they would just. Stop. Moving. Also a conversation between Des and Newbie about how Des keeps paying for things when they are together. He's financially stable and willing to spend it on Newbie but they end up feeling uncomfortable. They worry that they don't want Des to think they are using him as a sugar daddy, they want an equal partnership, and work out something together so it will feel more balanced.

Similar to Desmond, Sweets getting little things for Nat, even when she's away at mom's or the grandparents, seeing stuff and thinking of his daughter means the world to Law. The two people that mean the most to him that he loves wholeheartedly having a connection is important to him. Having someone to help wrangle the ball or energy and as she gets older to help teach her about some of the mysticalities he and her mother don't even know help to open her eyes to more than he alone could offer. He also knows after the little one falls to sleep he gets their undivided attention and its something to look forward to whenever they are together be it exhausted cuddling on the couch with a movie on, to a feeding session of their choice. No matter the end results, they are happy and comfortable together.

Nat gets her own section as she so deserves. At 3 years old Sweets can throw her the BEST tea parties, the high faerie court of stuffies around the table as they talk about the crayons and colors they like to draw with the most, sipping their tea and munching some sugar free cookies and wafers. She knows all of Dad's coworkers. Uncle DesDes gives some of the best airplane rides she's ever had, only next to Dad's of course! He looks big and scary but he gives her ice cream and trinkets! Newbie and Gage are always fun, Gage having wanted a little sibling since he was small can play big brother, and Newbie can always find the shiniest and prettiest rocks no matter where they go, babygirl has to add this to her rock collection. Be mindful things don't get quiet though, a child being quiet is a scary enough thought for what troubles they can get into, but if these two are also missing chaos may be about to strike. Neo, having grown up with so many siblings, is used to handling smaller children, but tries to build her up and make her feel important. He doesn't seem the type to like messy things but he will make sure she is safe and kept busy. Dad's coworkers are practically family, and with how much Law watches over everyone from getting between crossfires of arguments, making sure everyone is safe and aren't injured (probably uses some magic for some stuff since everyone is attuned or aware) they all have his respect and love, and want to repay that kindness when and where they can. They'll make sure Nat is taken care of.

[annegirl13]

Back to Books!

I really fell off the reading goal bandwagon after, what, January? Let’s blame the ADHD for that hyperfixation fizzling out. But! I’m back to reading now. I’ll call it a combination of long car rides, a need for background noise while cleaning and doing tasks on my own, and a desire to be a good example to my new students.

So what have I read in the past month? (I’m no particular order, and it might have been more like 6 weeks…)

I finished:

The Ramona Quimby Collection by Beverly Cleary - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Technically this was 8 books (?) I have read all the Ramona books in the past. I think my favorites are Beezus and Ramona and Ramona’s World, so the start and end of the series. It’s interesting to see Ramona and Beezus grow up through each book. These books bring back a lot of memories for me. I give them a collective four stars.

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An absolute classic and a masterpiece. Picked this one specifically because I want to read it to my third graders. Absolutely beautiful. If you haven’t read this one, do it! The full cast recording was pretty good. (As a kid I think I had the tapes with E.B. White reading it himself, which was also fantastic if you can find it.)

Redwall by Brian Jacques - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An old favorite. Brian Jacques was a wonderful world builder and this is the one that started the series. Four stars, with one just for the full cast recording. Jacques was the master of those!

Mattimeo by Brian Jacques - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sequel to Redwall so I had to follow up with this one. More lovely world building, fun characters, and amazing performances.

Taggerung by Brian Jacques - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My favorite Redwall book. I love all the characters and the plot, and I get songs from this stuck in my head! Absolutely gorgeous.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A modern classic, in my opinion, but I had to stop listening to it until daytime. Something about listening to it at night on my own was too creepy! Neil Gaiman’s voice is one I could listen to no matter what he read.

The Losers Club by Andrew Clements ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A new (to me) book by a favorite author! I really connected with the main character, who is a book lover to the point he gets in trouble at school for reading when he’s not supposed to! I so relate! The story was really fun and had a great message. I might do this one as a read aloud for my kiddos. Alec (the main character) is in 6th grade, but I think my kiddos could understand. It has a list of recommended books at the back, many of which I have not read (yet!)

I’m currently reading:

High Rhulain by Brian Jacques - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another good Redwall book. I like the character and all the riddles. This one is a comfort read. It gets stars because I’ve read it before.

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

Just checked this one out from the library and then thought, “Oh! I haven’t done a reading update. I should do that!” I’ll let you know how it is. It looks a little spooky!

Not sure if I’ll dig out my tracking blanket project, but I at least wanted to share these. I want to teach my class to share what they’re reading and how they feel about books, so like I said, I’m setting a good example.

[thatsthat24]

Sanderstober Art Prompts 2020

Amidst all the editing and business, I haven’t forgotten to at least begin a list of Inktober prompts for you all this month! I’ll be adding more as I go! And, of course, like always, even if we’ve passed by a certain date (like, for instance, if it’s October 9th, but you wanna share a prompt from October 1st), that’s, of COURSE, fine! And, also of course, you can always join and do prompts at any time, this is purely for fun! The list has now been completed!

Oct. 1st - Take your profile pic or a favorite profile pic in the past and create a spooky version! Double dog dare you to use it as your actual profile pic.

Oct. 2nd - Create a Suit or Dress inspired by a specific candy bar wrapper design!

Oct. 3rd - This year could almost BE a scary movie. I shudder to put this as a prompt… but what would a poster for that movie look like?

Oct. 4th - Because I think the world just needs more of this, I want you to try and create the most wholesome or cute image you can. Little animals? Yes please. Feel-good scenarios? YES PLEASE. This one’s vague, but I don’t care! Lol

Oct. 5th - Take a traditional scary tale (“The Headless Horseman”, “Frankenstein���, “Dracula” ) and portray a plot point or poke fun at a character or characters from the story in the form of a MEME!

Oct. 6th - Nightmare Before Christmas was a tale about if Halloween took over Christmas and made so many traditionally Christmas-y. What if the reverse happened? What would Christmas make Halloween to look like?

Oct. 7th - Avatar: The Last Airbender experienced a renaissance this year! So, in tribute to that, take any character from any other piece of media (animation, TV, movie, etc.) and depict THEM if they also were an uber fan of ATLA this year!

Oct. 8th - What do you think the Sanders Sides characters’ Halloween costumes would be this year??

Oct. 9th - What if the personification of the Moon came to Earth to experience the daytime? What if the personification of the Sun came to Earth to experience the nighttime?

Oct. 10th - Take your Zodiac sign… and make it FASHION!

Oct. 11th - Please depict any Halloween monster, traditional or from a movie, and how they’re currently dealing or adapting to life in 2020

Oct. 12th - Take any character from a fave piece of media of yours and create a Tarot card for that character!

Oct. 13th - Many of us have stories we’ve created in connection with certain songs we’ve heard. For this day, try depicting even just a scene of that story and what song inspired it! If you can’t recall any story connected with a song you’ve heard, maybe just make one up in connection with a fave song of yours!

Oct. 14th - Take a famous painting from any time in history… and October-fy it (Halloween-y or Fall-y would be awesome)

Oct. 15th - Take an ordinary, every day location or refuge (a playground, a library, a treehouse, etc.) and depict the landscape of an entire world based on that location

Oct. 16th - Two games that have helped distract us and gave us much-needed entertainment this year are Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Among Us! What if the characters from Animal Crossing… were in Among Us?

Oct. 17th - Contrarily… what if the characters from Among Us… were in Animal Crossing?

Oct. 18th - A perennial favorite - Depict your OTP and how they’re enjoying Halloween this year. Coordinating costumes? Maybe 2020 is affecting how they celebrate?

Oct. 19th - Take one of your favorite characters from any piece of media. What piece of social media would they thrive on? You could depict either what their media might look like if you’re seeing it on your phone or you can depict them filming or writing for that piece of social media!

Oct. 20th - draw your home state, province, county, or country... if it were a PERSON

Oct. 21st - I definitely have been seeing an upsurge in Uno card usage this year, especially the Reverse card. Take one or several characters, maybe all from the same series, or different characters from different series, and depict them on Uno cards that best reflect their personalities! Make a super cool Uno deck or just one cool Uno card!

Oct. 22nd - Take one (or more) of the Seven Deadly Sins [Greed, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, Pride, Envy] and personify them!

Oct. 23rd - There’s been a lot of movies that have taken fairy tales and modernized them for present day. What if we took a fairy tale… and put it in the distant future??

Oct. 24th - Take a non-human character from any piece of media, and depict how they’d look as a human!!

Oct. 25th - POETRY PROMPT - I wanted to include something on this list that focused a bit more on writing than art, but you are MORE than welcome to create artwork to accompany this. I think we all have one or two specific moments from a piece of media (tv show, movie, video game, book, etc.) that has affected us in such a poignant way that it lives in our minds rent free. Create a poem describing the events of this moment, trying to capture the very magic that impacted you so much.

Oct. 26th - What would a Disney character’s outfit be if they were a member of the Avengers?

Oct. 27th - What would a specific Avenger’s look be, if they were in a Disney movie??

Oct. 28th - There are traditional fears, the ones that comprise many a horror movie… and then there are more niche/unconventional fears, specific to you as a person. They can be potentially silly, or irrational, or conceptual… what would a movie poster look like with that fear being the main featured threat??

Oct. 29th - WRITING/POETRY PROMPT - Wanted to throw at least one more of these in here! Through writing (and, of course, artwork, if you’d prefer!), detail a beloved memory you have connected with either Autumn or Halloween.

Oct. 30th - There has almost been a Pokemon made to pay tribute to almost every animal or inanimate object (sword, lawnmower, sandcastle, key ring, magnets, etc.). Nevertheless, create a Pokemon from SOME object or animal that hasn’t been made and give it a name! Bonus points if you can then create an evolved form of it!

Oct. 31st - It is HALLOWEEN, baby!! Take any character(s), from media or your own OCs, and depict them celebrating Halloween!! It can be them celebrating in quarantine, or out and about since it’s fantastical, just aim for it to be wholesome and Halloween-y. We could always use a bit more of that on the 31st of October!!

I hope you all enjoy this list! Can’t wait to see what you all make! It’s always so much fun to see your creations. If you’d like me to see them, you can use this weird hashtag name #Sanderstober.

[agentwhiskeysdarlin]

Witchcraft

Pairing: Jack ‘Whiskey’ Daniels x Reader (no y/n)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: fluff, mentions of smutty times, make-out session, jack cracks a bad joke, a few curse words and I believe that’s it?

Word Count: 1,601 

Author’s Notes: HELLO I AM BACK!!!! After two months I have finally returned to the writing world. First getting sick and then my mental health being terrible just hasn’t been the right time but hopefully I am back at this again. Of course I had to make my come back with my favorite cowboy because it’s me. I was listening to my spooky playlist the other day and the wonderful song “Witchcraft” by Frank Sinatra came on and well this happened.  As always @clint-aww-no-barton​ is always here for my mental breakdowns and my constant frustration. Reminder if you want to be tagged in my fics please let me know! I hope you all enjoy!!

Also here is link to listen to the song if you never have! “Witchcraft” by Frank Sinatra

ao3 link for story 

    You ran your hands down your black dress for the hundredth time before using the Bronco’s side mirror to fix your makeup one last time.

  “Darlin’ could you come help me with this, you know come give me a hand,” Jack let out a laugh at his own joke motioning at the fake hand he had been struggling with. 

  You rolled your eyes but couldn't control the laugh that followed as you rounded to the driver side. You instructed Jack to turn and face you before working on pinning the hand to his suit jacket. After finally getting it in place you brushed down his arms giving him a smile. 

  “Now you are the perfect Gomez,” you reached up and softly brushed his hair with your fingers making sure all the little pieces were sleeked down in place.

  “And you darlin’ are the perfect Morticia,” Jack threw you a smirk before pulling you down for a kiss.

  You kissed him back but only quickly before pulling away and letting your finger come up to rest on his now pouty lips.

  “Can’t ruin my lipstick,” you chuckled at his sad puppy dog eyes while you whipped the little bit of red that was on his lips. 

  Jack settled his hands on your hips and pushing you back as he stood up straightening himself out better.

  “You ready to make our grand entrance?”

  “I think so,” you let out a soft breath trying not to let Jack know you were nervous but who were you kidding the man could read you like a damn book.

  “Darlin’ you know there is no reason to be so nervous. I know this is our first even together as a couple but everyone at Statesman loves you and they will be happy for us,” Jack had taken your hands in the progress of his speech.

  “I know I know,” you looked up at him with a small smile and squeezed his hands.

  “Then let’s go my love.”

  Jack straightened up tall and put his arm out for you to grasp at his bicep with your hand. You held your head high as the two of you walked into the party that was already at full swing. Everyone was dancing to the loud, fast pace music, but the second you and Jack entered the room it seemed like all heads turned to you. Tequila and Ginger were pretty much front and center, both of them wearing shit eating grins the second they saw you.

  “Here we go,” you mumbled probably too low for anyone to hear.

  “Well it took you two long enough!” Tequila’s words slurred from his lips as he patted Jack on the back.

  “It really did but I’m happy for you both. Hurt her Jack and everyone will be on your ass,” Ginger’s smiled faded to a serious one for only a second before throwing you a wink.

  “No need to worry Ginger. I don’t plan to ever let this one go,” Jack looked down at you and you smiled way too wide back up at him.

  The two of you continued your way through the crowd receiving the same reaction from literally everyone. You felt yourself relax as each person found out about the fact that Jack and yourself were finally a couple. Jack stole away to get you drinks while you continued to socialize. 

  “Darlin’ you want to go find a table?” Jack’s hand placing on your lower back was the only warning you got before his voice was in your ear.

  “That would be great,” you let out a sigh after the last person walked off.

    You made your way to a table and as you sat down the familiar notes of one of your favorite songs began to play from the speakers and you lit up. “Witchcraft” by Frank Sinatra wrapped around you. You glanced over at Jack across the room still trying to make his way over but colleague after colleagues were coming up to him trying to set their best impressions on the senior agent. You knew that with the newness of your relationship status your cowboy may not act his normal ways around his fellow Statesman agents. You let yourself get lost in the music humming to yourself and glancing around the room at all the other people dancing. You were pulled back when Jack sat your drinks down on the table and reached out a hand to you. You stared at his hand for a second before looking up at him with a smile. 

  “May I have this dance darlin’?” 

  “Of course you may,” you took his hand and followed him to the dance floor. 

  He pulled you flush to him, one arm around you and the other holding one of your hands. He started to sway, moving you in time with the song. He leaned down against your ear and began to sing. 

  'Cause it's witchcraft

Wicked witchcraft

And although I know it's strictly taboo

When you arouse the need in me

My heart says: yes, indeed in me

Proceed with what your leading me to

It's such an ancient pitch

But one that I never switch

There ain't no nicer witch than you  

  You closed your eyes and the entire world melted around you. It was just you, Jack and his voice. You were finally with him. After months of longing looks and shy advances it had finally happened and you had never been happier. You could feel the tears clouding your vision before you could stop them and you tried to blink them back. Jack pulled away as the song ended no intention of you two moving from your spot until he saw your face. Pure worry crossed his features as he pulled the two of you off the dance floor and straight out of the room so you two could hear each other more clearly.

  “Darlin’ hey what’s wrong?” Jack searched your face as he lifted it up with his fingers.

  “I’m fine, I promise. It just hit me we were finally together and yeah it got to me,” you laughed at yourself as you motioned at your face and rolling your eyes. 

  “Oh my sweet girl. I am so happy we are finally together,” his hand reached up to cup your face and pull your lips to his.

  It didn’t take long for you to kiss him back, wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him even closer. Jack let out the softest growl and backed you up against the closest wall. 

  “Hey… whoa sorry!” Tequila interrupted and you and Jack jumped slightly pulling apart.

  “Yes Tequila?” Jack asked almost a little irritated but smirking down at you all the same.

  “They’re doing a costume contest and you guys are in the running so you might want to get back in there.”

  “We will be right there,” you giggled even though your face was fully red with embarrassment.

  “Shall we pick this up later?” Jack asked with one last peck to your lips.

  “Absolutely cowboy,” you smirked.

  Jack went to walk away and you pulled him back and reached up to wipe off the lipstick that had been smeared across his lips before pulling a mirror out and fixing your own quickly. Jack watched you before the two of you walked hand in hand back into the room. The music and dancing had stopped and Champ had taken the stage, one person and another couple stood next to him.

  “Alright and our winner of the costume contest is…our very own Gomez and Morticia! Jack you two get on up here!” Champ motioned for the two of you to join as the crowd applauded and cheered.

  You followed Jack, hand in hand on stage and then the man turned on the works. He started walking around acting like Gomez Adams, kissing your arm and you couldn't help the laugh that escaped from you no matter how hard you tried to channel your own character. The crowd laughed before Jack finally kissed your cheek and took the mic from Champ.

  “Thank ya’ll for the win everyone,” Jack threw a hand up in a wave before grabbing your hand and raising it in the air with his in victory.

  You two walked off stage, Jack collecting your small prize for the win before pulling you toward the door as quickly as possible. A few people stopping you to congratulate you as you were on your way out and Jack was ever so the gentleman. You finally reached the door and he pulled you out and to the Bronco. 

  “Darlin’ would you do me the honor in spending the night tonight?”

  “Wait really?” You looked over at him to be sure he was serious.

  The look on Jack’s face alone told you he was serious and it made a deep desire bubble up in the pit of your stomach mixed with nerves.

  “Jack I would love to,” you smiled at him shyly.

  When you reached the Bronco Jack opened the door for you but before you were allowed to get in his turned you around and let his lips connect with yours again. He finally let you go and you climbed in, Jack soon following. The two of you started down the road and Jack reached for you resting a hand on your thigh. You laid your head back and looked over at him as he drove. You had no idea the spell he had on you but you didn’t mind, you were willing to be under it for the rest of your life. 

Tagged: @jimmythegirl​ @discogrrl​ @arcadianempress​ @immundusspiritu​ @someplace-darker​ @thisis-theway​ @on-the-razor-crest​ @fioccodineveautunnale​ @spookyold-saintjm​ @ahopelessromanticwritersworld​ @the-mandalorian-clone-lover​

[citrusella-flugpucker]

All 68 of my SU fics, apparently

((Because @novantinuum did it and then I wanted to do it and then they said “do it” and I took it as a dare

Compiling these gave me a sense of accomplishment. And pain. In my wrist.

Multi-line summaries nearly always squashed to lessen the vertical length of this post, even if most of it is below a readmore))

Multi-chapter fics, regardless of collection status (chronological order--oldest to newest):

And He Doesn’t Wake: My first SU fic, complete; “It can't end like this. Or: Waxing realistic as we examine the events of the episode "Bubbled".” Steven suffers halfway-realistic effects from being exposed to the vacuum of space. Probably not super canon compliant given what we learned in Growing Pains but a fic that branches off at Bubbled and rejoins canon around Mindful Education (and written around that timespan).

Diamond in the Rough: Incomplete; “Connie is in the hospital with a serious disorder, and her biggest chance is an experimental treatment combining minerals with blood transfusions. Little does anyone know...” Originally crack of “Connie gets powers from PD-infused blood” but then ASPR happened and I have to figure out where it goes now (and I want to! but...).

The Results Are In: Incomplete; “Sadie gets a piece of mail from her dad. For most people that'd be pretty mundane, but it's a little more complicated considering who exactly her dad is.” Barb/Blue Diamond crack (it makes sense in context) and affectionately called “Space Maury” internally for reasons that will make sense later. Has a similar but less “it flips the ENTIRE plot” issue with ASPR. I have many idea chunks but almost no connection between them

He’s Gone: Complete (and technically a oneshot with two “bonus chapters”); “Steven asks Peridot to get the shirt Connie got for him for his birthday from his closet. He says he wants to look nice. She's confused by his request. Greg and the Maheswarans are less confused and more terrified. He keeps saying it'll be okay. They'll be okay, even though he'll be going away. It'll just be a couple of days now. Or: Steven and Pink Steven are unable to fuse after being separated on Homeworld. That's not good for Steven.” Steven dies. That’s it. That’s the whole fic. Might potentially get an extra chapter or two still. Or not. Eh.

Thanks, Padparadscha: Incomplete/open-ended oneshot collection; “Stories about the best gem.” Padparadscha oneshots.

Your No-Good, Dirty-Rotten, Gem-Shattering, Rebellion-Leading Mother: Incomplete, little desire to finish; “What if Steven had gone to Camp Green Lake instead of Stanley? Or: If Steven Universe And Holes Were The Same Universe: A Fanfiction (thanks @captainjzh) Or, as the top of my Google Doc I started back exactly a year ago (*2019-01-07) says: SU x Holes: Because the fact that Steven Universe and Stanley Yelnats are both 14 is messing with me”. Wrote this as an exercise after reading the appalling original shopped screenplay for the Holes movie which was basically a nuclear fallout enthusiasts dream world but also quite possibly the worst and most uncomfortable thing ever written and I have had to have whole pages bleached from my memory

It’s Okay to Need Help: Incomplete (three chapters total planned), the last part of the pre-SUF-finale “Steven Corruption Theory” collection; “"Everybody needs support sometimes, and you need support right now, with this. And that's okay." She takes a deep breath. "It's okay to need help, Steven." Or: (Based in corrupted Steven theory as well as taking inspiration/using characteristics from a fic by @love-killed-the-superstar​) Sometime after coming back from corruption, Steven sees a therapist to try to hammer out some lingering issues.” Steven has specific lingering issues from corruption due to the way they had to mitigate it, and that affects how he communicates with his therapist some days. Just been blocked on the best way to write it

Waiting is Worse: Incomplete; “Is there anything more awful than the feeling of powerlessness?” The movie mostly ends the same, except Steven doesn’t un-rejuvenate.

Realism: Incomplete, strong desire to complete; “As much as he may want it to be, this is not a dream. He's not possessing anyone. It's not happening to someone else. It's real.” Steven has the same effects happen to him as the Watermelon Steven from Escapism--an arm and a leg are amputated.

The President Kisses Babies, and Other White House Briefs: Incomplete, open-ended oneshot collection with very little overarching plot; “Oneshot escapades of President Connie Maheswaran and her First Man, Crystal Gem and public speaker, Steven Universe.” Inspired by a Tumblr post and with more ideas in the pipeline! Love this fic even if I lost most inspiration for four years!!

Collection (series) oneshots (chronological order):

Citrusella Tries (And Succeeds!) to Write a Fic Each Day of the Bomb: A collection where I tried to write a fic each day of the HotCG (wedding) bomb. I succeeded but also kind of not? XD

Could You Imagine?: “Imagination is wish fulfillment. What are some of the things Pearl has imagined?” Now We’re Only Falling Apart

Partake In New Extraordinary And Pleasing Pizza Lover Experiences (Or: Kiki's Lament): “Kiki rarely hates her job. But she does hate pineapples.” What’s Your Problem? (Also the title spells PINEAPPLE o.o)

Acquired Taste: “Steven has a snack as he helps prepare for an important ceremony.” The Question

My Whole Life: “Some people are just born to go into certain careers.” Made of Honor

We Can Think About Hope: Incomplete multi-chapter with no hope of completion (why it’s not listed in the multi-chapters, BTW... also the “kind of not” regarding success); “What's going on? What do we do now? Can you still hear me? (Or: The end of Reunited plays out differently.) (Or or: And He Doesn't Wake: Part II: This time with weirder angst! And more not waking!)”

Citrusella's "Steven Corruption Theory" Collection: A collection of fics written on the corruption theory premise before it became canon. It’s Okay to Need Help not duplicated here but would be at the end.

Change: “Steven's come back from probably the most serious thing that's happened to him--save almost dying after his gem was ripped out--but that doesn't mean he came back unchanged. (Based on the "corrupted Steven theory".)”

My Skin: “Steven does a mental inventory of what's changed about him since his uncorruption and finds himself starting to fall into a hole of self-criticism, until a song playing downstairs sets him straight. (Based on the "corrupted Steven theory".)”

Eternity in a Moment: “It had only taken a few hours, and yet, an eternity.”

I Can't Say with Confidence: “Over an hour. He's been sitting in the tub, fully clothed, the bathroom a mess… for over an hour.It should be working! Why isn’t it working?!” Based on this art!

It’s Okay to Need Help

Happy Steven's Day!: Just after Steven discovers his mother is Pink Diamond, Mother's Day rolls around...Greg just doesn't want Steven to be in a slump about it anymore.

You Deserve All the Joy: “Because nothing is better than being surrounded by family and love. Or: Steven's once-a-year struggle with a holiday he doesn't exactly have the ability to traditionally celebrate.” It’s Mother’s Day and Steven is sad. Post-ASPR

Universe Day: “"Being your dad is the only present I really need." Or: Greg and Steven talk and realize their experiences with Mother's Day have been two sides of the same coin.” Post-SUF

Citrusella's Comfortember 2020 Fics: Fics written based on prompts for November 2020 Comfortember... not finished with it

Speed Bump: “Steven's first night on the open road isn't as smooth as he wanted it to be. Attempt to combine prompts 2-6 of Comfortember (prompt 1 just couldn't be squeezed in): "first day/night", "nightmare", anxiety", "cuddling", "afraid to sleep"”

In the After: “Steven wonders if it was corruption. Comfortember days 7-10, though only in the most tenuous, technical sense (and by that I mean all four phrases are mentioned): "blanket fort", "lashing out", "confession", "crying"”

Late Night Hot Chocolate (described in next section)

Zombie Club Chronicles: Steven endures a violent accident on Frightnight (Halloween) that changes his life forever.

Beach City Zombie Club

Prompt: [Randomly roll from list: Steven] doesn’t enjoy the Halloween season, but [Fill in: Steven] take(s) them on a well-meaning trip to an old Gem Ruin where they come to realize [Pick from list: They’ve made a terrible mistake in coming here]

On Frightnight when he is 17, Steven experiences the most serious event of his young life. Almost exactly a year later, Steven takes Steven to Lars' ship in hopes of being able to hop off at a truly secluded gem ruin to talk about something that Steven and Steven have been disagreeing on for several months. Lars has an idea, and Steven comes to a realization.

For the Cluster Spooky Writing Challenge!

Late Night Hot Chocolate (also a Comfortember fic)

"Steven? What are you doing?" He stares into the pot.

The gem half's voice comes monotone. "Making hot chocolate."

"It's three o'clock in the morning. Why on earth are you making… hot chocolate?"

The slyness on his face is one pixel away from nonexistent and yet it's practically a traffic cone to his other half, as he remarks flatly, "Because I've lost control of my life."

Or: Steven and Steven both have nightmares that threaten to take them back to... that night... One copes by making the other hot chocolate and pretending he really isn't having any problems.

Comfortember days 16-18: Protective, Flashbacks, Hot Cocoa

Standalone oneshots (reverse chronological order--newest to oldest):

Rumble Strips:

Prompt: [Randomly roll from list: Greg] notices [Fill in: Steven] is in a somber mood lately. Out of the goodness of their heart they try to cheer up the sad soul in the only way they know how: [Fill in: WHO WANTS TO GO ON A ROAD TRIP?!]

"I really thought I could handle myself on my own." He scoffed. "Even my own therapist didn't think I could do it."

"I bet she thought you could handle yourself just fine. She probably just thought you'd do better with your support system close, bud. Like, literally, I mean." His eye weaved through the thin line of gravel past the edge of the shoulder. "You started saying some pretty concerning things."

Or: Greg and Steven stop on the side of the interstate on their way to Empire City for New Year's, to have a conversation.

For the Cluster Christmas Writing Challenge!

Auto-Injector: “In an alternate timeline, Steven meets Bluebird at her welcome party but he cannot, under any circumstances, try her hors-d'oeuvres. Or: Steven ends up with allergies because why not” (I have three more ideas for chapters)

Don't Put Beans Up Your Nose: “"I know you want answers, and I wish I had some for you, really, Steven, but from what you've described…  those aren't things to play around with. It's unethical to knowingly subject you to those for the sake of 'experimenting', even if you consent." Or: Steven asks Dr. Maheswaran a question she's not ethically able to answer.”

The Exor-schist:

Prompt: A series of events have led to a terrifying effect on one or more of the series’ characters. [Randomly roll from list: Mr. and Dr. Maheswaran] are now suffering from [Randomly roll from list: Spiritual Possession]. How did this happen?

"This corrupted gem, it has a powerful connection to organic matter. Ones this powerful have been known to overtake and even kill humans."

For the Cluster Spooky Writing Challenge!

It's My Party and I'll Dry If I Want To: “You would dry too, if it happened to you! Or: Steven says he wants a pool party for his eighteenth birthday in Delmarva, after over a year of traveling the country. ...But why isn't he swimming?”

Ace Up Your Sleeve: “Or in your back pocket, same diff. Or: Steven's sad about potentially not getting to go to Pride.” (oneshot and an epilogue)

Milestone: “"Okay, so like, the books aren't, like, useless, but they assume you have like the perfect baby. Maybe consider the following: kids are dorks, man." Or: Steven went to the doctor. Once. Or: Greg thinks Steven, at 15 months, is being weird and missing milestones and is worried he's a bad dad so he goes to Vidalia for help.” May eventually be part of a babby Steeb over the years collection

Full Enclosure: “What am I going to tell you? You're better off not knowing the trouble I'm in. / I don't want you to worry about what I've just seen, about where I've just been. / You don't have to be a part of this, I don't think I want you to be! / You don't need this, you don't need me... Or: Steven defines himself by his connection to others. So when they all leave, then… he's no one. (In short: Steven is crushed by his need to be needed.)”

Vice: “He could stop whenever he wanted to. He just didn't want to. Or: Steven falls into a bad habit and tries to rationalize it as okay as long as he's not completely abandoning the idea of improving his life.”

Stairwell Solitude: “Over ten years, Greg wrote just six letters to his parents. What could they have contained?” Post-Mr. Universe

Striations: “At Connie's behest, Dr. Maheswaran makes a house call to Steven's place after his un-monstering. It's different than his last appointment, but its core is the same.”

Everything Stays: “Ever so slightly, daily and nightly, in little ways, when everything stays... Steven's therapist brings up something she's noticed about him outside his PTSD.”

I Do It For Me: “"Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, and overcomes negative emotions such as resentment and vengeance." Steven asks his therapist a question. The answer may surprise him.”

A Break in the Case: “Dr. Maheswaran takes a look at Steven's results but quickly finds herself in over her head.” Mid-Growing Pains

I have a couple entries in the @connieswap omake collection (Comic Relief and Same Old Steven)--I’m not linking them

Changing Tastes: “ Steven and Connie share a conversation after watching Crying Breakfast Friends: Under the Butterknife.”

Rejuvenated Regrets: “Someone calls Steven's name from downstairs. He's not listening closely enough to know who it is. He's not sure he cares right this moment. He wants Mom—Rose—Pink—and that's the one person he knows it's not.”

Gut Feeling: “Every time, he has to push his brain off that train of thought--what if she does it again?--but for someone with super-strength, he's surprisingly not very good at pushing.”

Lapis Watches Titanic (1997) ...There’s no summary

The Cluster Halloween Exquisite Corpse 2019 (I only wrote part of this!!): “Lars tells a horror story but loses track of it, or; a bunch of fic writers do an exquisite corpse and hilarity ensues. Written by DocCairo, citrusella, E350, love-killed-the-superstar and br42.”

Drift Away: “There are timelines where Steven fell into the biopoison when the Earth cracked under his feet. Here we see three times Steven (technically) lived despite a dive into pure poison, and one time he didn't.”

The Rose Wilts: “Once upon a time, he knew Rose. But he knew he didn't know everything.Sometimes it feels like he's learned more about her after she died than he ever knew while she was alive.“ Doug and Rose used to be friends

Tying the Knot: “Steven never wears shoes with laces, because he can't tie them. When Connie finds out, he's pretty chill about it.”

Haploid: “You're not sure if this is what being shattered feels like. You don't know if you want to be sure.” Mid-CYM

Thestral: “"How many have you seen?" "All of them." She answered without hesitation. "Oh." Or: Pearl and Steven talk about a type of gem that corruption has given some... special characteristics.”

500 Words a Secret Santa Gift: The Gratuitous Reference: “200 words a day, every day, until Under the Knife comes back. Or Crying Breakfast Friends. We're not picky at this point. Secret Santa edition! (A Secret Santa gift for @e350tb that deliberately and gratuitously references their 100 Words a Day series.)”

Sesimorp, Sesimorp: “A Lapis Lazuli makes a beautiful work of art.”

Ship Talk: “Lars and Steven share a moment on the Sun Incinerator.”

No Way Around It: “An order is an order.”

Give It A Try!: “Steven gets a Diamond to try something new.”

Better Off: “Peedee ponders what could have been.”

Steven x A Nice Calm Life Please and Thank You™: A Case for the Realization of a Bold New Ship: “Steven deserves a happy life free of interplanetary struggle and strife. It's my OTP. So I'm going to give him that! :D”

I Don't Know: “Will this ever make sense? Will this ever feel normal?” Post-ASPR

Force of Nature: “Her diamond gave her orders no longer.”

My Gemmortal (by XXXbloodstoneshardz666XXX): “the escupaids fo steven hardlight amnesia lion universe and his freinds n crushs” (this is exactly what it sounds like)

The Picture of Steven Pink: “It took a lot out of him.” (SU but Steven takes on the injuries he heals)

Self: “In the Connie Swap AU, Steven considers his identity and place in his family, community, culture, and himself. For a kid who at least tries to be all sunshine and rainbows, this isn't exactly the most fun thing to do, but sometimes it's necessary.” (these are different than the things in the CS omake collection)

I Really AM My Mom...: “"When you're singing, you want to use enough air that you could blow a throatful of peanut butter clear across the room." The crackiest of escape-from-Homeworld plots, based on a ClickHole article and a joke headcanon.”

Left: “Of course there's shame in bailing.”

Old shames (chronological order): Stories I just kinda cringe at now

Shrinking Rose: “Steven never felt bad about his stature. Until he did.” (I just don’t love it)

A Rose for Emily: “What if Rose wanted to spend the rest of her life with someone before Greg? ...It's safe to say she has a skeleton in her closet.” (less old shame than the others on this list but was hard to shoehorn in the A Rose for Emily style writing)

Alone: “Steven won't open up about how everything that happened is affecting him. Not even to himself.” (I know I’ve written other dark stuff but this one just hits different)

You Should've Asked Me, I'm Really Good at Naming Bands (November 2019 Unfinished WIPs): “(title subject to change) I did a challenge that I had to write my WIPs in November (revised to November and December) or be forced to post them unfinished. I got some updates done, but several not done. These are those stories. Dun-dun.” (only “shame” because they were things that were never finished--I also had a Connie Swap omake I was supposed to finish or the punishment was not to post it unfinished but to write Steven and Spinel (NOTP) but I just never did that)

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers/A Day at the Aquarium

Last full episode before hiatus! The Kids have a sleepover in the castle that starts like the Princess Diaries 2 and ends in unspeakable horror, while the Plantars try to spend one final day together without getting sad. Sort of like everyone these days without the final part. One last ride under the cut. 

Whelp it’s the end for this batch of episodes which is sad, and i’ll genuinely miss covering these every week. Yeah I have other coverage incoming with Ducktales coming back, eeeee, and current Loud House coverage.. but it was still nice to have something to cover this summer and something to watch every week during this blighted year, as i’ve mentioned before there weren’t any BAD episodes just hard to cover ones and I think by the end I figured out how to do that.. mostly by stopping straight up recaps for more condensed ones. Point is I had fun, grew as a reviewer, and it was a good way to kill a few saturdays, sundays and one or two mondays, and that ain’t bad at all. So before we come back for halloween, let’s send off weekly amphibia coverage in style for now, unless it comes back in November and I look stupid, with this week. Let’s go. 

The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers

Well this one took a turn. It was also an excellent one as we got more insight into Marcy and Anne’s friendship with Sasha, and some truly excellent horror. Yes, horror.  The Plantar kids head to the castle for the evening for a Sleepover. Turns out the king finally did find something, as did Marcy who’s playing coy about what they found in the hidden library I forgot to mention last time because I was covering 4 episodes at once. Anyway King Keith David has a meeting with them tommorow. So the kids are staying with Marcie to have a fun night together while Hop Pop has a night without the kids to get something head to toe.. it’s better not to ask. They also annoy Olivia who goes off to drink.. juice. Yes the hard juice that comes with a lemon wedge and speedoed servant newt. 

It’s also our ambigously gay duo’s first sleepover without Sasha, but their confident they can do this themselves while Sprig is hoping i’tll be good as his first sleepover (And has a creepy closeup about formative memories) Cue a fun montage of everryone annoying olivia and getting into hyjinks round the castle from sillys tring, which is shot from critters, to painting moustaches. It’s fun stuff.  Then we go from fun stuff to...

As , in order to stay awake, as being the bastion of pleasantness she is Sasha refused to let them sleep till sunrise, Marcy and Anne initate a SCARE DARE! A SCARE DARE! is a scary dare where the person who dosen’t complete it goes in the book of losers. Which of course was Sasha’s idea, both in general concept and the dares done. What a well adjusted young lady!  So naturally our heroes go into the basment they were told to stay out of. They get pass Lady Olvia because she’s passed out drunk on hard lemonade, living the dream as it were. ,Anyway they.  find a bunch of tombstones, and then Marcy and Anne taking a selfie (Say desecration) wakes the dead... all because they were both playing chicken. One has to imagine how the kids talking with hop pop would go

So yeah the ghostly horror terrors chase the kids, who somehow end up in Marcy’s room. So she just has a passage from a floating graveyard contaning horrifying eldtirch ghosts to her room.. a room the king put in for her. Someone protect this child. 

So our heroes soon have to deal with the ghosts but luckily sprig’s mirror catching it reveals the mirrors, which were foreshadowed earlier by a hall of mirrors leading into the corpse room, making the ghosts solid and allowing our heroes to fight htem back. Our heroes are exausted, Marcy and Anne reveal that they also chickend out on the scare dare so it’s okay, and Oliva arrives. It’s go time.  Final Thoughts: A fun episode that quickly pivots into a great and nightmare inducing one perfect for spooky season coming up soon. I do generally wonder just WHAT those things are, and it’s great setup for whatever’s abotu to come. And while I didn’t mention it in the recap we also get sprig finding some sort of painting and it being of the king, a toad and a frog.. we don’t get to see it clearly so it could be someone else.. but.. it’s clear the king likely has ties to what happened before. But what DID happen before? what are those ghost things? what’s the king’s angle? 

Yeah I have no answers for now on what the king’s plan is, or how inocent he is or if that’s his dad, just that something’s clearly wrong. And the omonious chess metaphor told us that.. yeah I do think that bit was kind of a mistake as otherwise while we’d probably still question the king, we would be more conflicted as evidence piled up versus “yeah something’s clearly wrong. “ Then again we genuiely don’t know what his motives or plan is or how well intentioned he is or anything other than he SEEMS nice, and that said game could be a necessary evil for all we know. We just don’t have enough information, even with the ominus bits, to truly know what’s going on and what kind of villian the king is. If he is one at all the show could pull a massive swerve on us.. I mean I doubt it he probably is evil, but I wouldn’t put it past the show. For now let’s move on so I can do more wheel spinning and what not...

Day at the Aquarium

So it’s time for another audience with the king. Turns out he and Mar-mar found out a LOT. Or Marcy did at least, as the above makes clear the king may of known ALL OF THIS already, and just needed Marcy and Anne to think he didn’t long enough for his evil plans. But we do learn a LOT about the gems, the box, and what it does as well as how to fix it... 

So let’s not waste time since some of you probably don’t have episode acess this early and want to know: Turns out the calamity box is an interdimensional travel device, and, as far as the king tells us anyway, the king’s ancestors went around from world to world as explorers, possibly the group seen in the picture and just as likely the king himself hiding his role in things. Now how much of the explorer part is TRUE remains up in the air, especially since history also painted Columbus an explorer, including when I was in school, and not you know.. an idiot and a colonizing bastard. History is written by the winners after all so it’s hard to know what’s true, only that the book is likely real: While the king COULD’VE planted it to lead marcy, or had one made up, a fake would’ve been spotted immeditly as we’ve established Marcy is a master detective with batman level deductive skills. Or Elongated Man but I wanted most of you to get the refrence and his adaptation versoins so far haven’t been the kindest to ralph. Anyways, point is that con wouldn’t work on her so the book IS real, as is it’s info on the box.. i’ts just hard to tell what was left out or if this was written before utter diastaer and apocalypse insued. After all Gravity Falls Journal 3 is all fine and dandy about bill before the giant passage about bill not being trusted written in blood and Ford going into a paranoid tailspin after realizing his friend is actually a horrifing monster, literally and figuratively, so we don’t know WHAT could’ve been hidden in a nother book the king could’ve removed at any time before  Marcy got there or while she was away on a mission.  But yeah while we know there’s probably more to it this is sitll big information, the box connecting to 4 other worlds other than amphibia, which not only opens up the story possiblities but the fan fiction, and that each of the gems can be recharged at three temples, each one of the gems responding to a diffrent trait judging by the symbols, each representing our girls; Purple is strength, and thus sasha, Blue is Heart, Anne, and Green is Brains, Marcy. I do like thisd as it tells us more but only raises further questions, hooking the audience more. It’s great stuff. But our heroines now have a goal.. but unforutnately the Plantars need to go back and Anne can’t go with as Marcy wants her close. It’s harvest season soon and the Plantars have been away long enough. So they have one last day, though both marcy and the king are apologetic and the king offers them a large tissue and upon getting no response just gives it to them as next time we see them with it. it’s both a great gag, and a nice show of kindess from the king and possible diabolical mastermind. 

So the Plantars decide to spend their final day with Anne at the aquarium, as it always cheered her up. This goes south as eveyrhting from the eels to the giant kraken to the coral reminds them of their past and leaves the poor group sobbing. Even a water show goes sideways as Sprig sees an eel, but it does lead to the group fighting off the stingrays at the show in an utterly stunning fight sequence. Not the best i’ve seen this month.. but only because I binged what I missed of rise of the tmnt this month and that show’s final figh tis an utter showstopper, as are most of it’s fight, but this is easily on par with most of them. Fluid, well done and emotoinal. Our heroes get thrown out of course, but the thought counts and they decide one last throughly them memory is better than nothing.  The final scene is naturally an utter gut punch as we get tearfull goodbyes (sprig and anne forever). Their crying, i’m crying we’re all crying and Hop Pop promises they’ll see each other again. Because family always finds each other. My heart.. it’s too full. here have an apporiate song...

Let’s see how i’m doing. 

Yeah so two things: I’m not going to be able to stop sobbing thinking of this scene so let’s move on and how have I only NOW refrenced gilmore girls on this blog?

But yeah the scene is utterly moving as the Plantars leave and Marcy realises something. She likely was keeping Anne close because she just got her back... but realizes she’s being selfish. It’s not SAID on screen but it’s clear both in Hailey’s voice acting and from the animation what’s going through her head. It’s utterly captivating stuff. So she tells Anne to go with them.. offically because they should have someone they can trust keep an eye on the box, which is a good idea honestly given just giving it to a royal messenger is just asking for it to be stolen. So Marcy will stay behind and prepare, and since she mentioned it before likekly try to find Sasha as she earlier stated they HAVE to find her.. and given what we see with the recharging that’s both because she misses her friend no matter what she’s done, and because she’s vitally important, while Anne goes with the Plantars to get the box and have some more time before they say goodbye forever, with Marcy coming to wartwood to pick it and anne up for the first temple. Because nothing terrible’s ever happened when a plucky youth with a sword went to three seperate temples, especially involving a guy with a beard and full plate armor. 

Marcy stares off, sad her friend and possible crush is gone.. but unederstanding that this is what she needs, and that she can’t hold her here.. Anne needs to see her family off.. and we get a tearful reunion as Anne chases after them, passing her friends from “Scavenger Hunt”, and reunites with her family. But of course we can’t end on a happy moment, as we cut back to Marcy whose utterly sad.. and the King who says he has a proposition for her, one she’ll find most agreable. 

But yeah we end on that bit of ominus as we close till october. 

Final Thoughts: Yeah if it wasn’t obvious this was a great one. Great plot progression, great animation, great emotional hook, good jokes which I dind’t get into for time, and tons of stuff to leave fans wanting more just before the break, but without a HUGE cliffhanger. Sure we don’t know what the King’s planning, but that aside our heroes are still together outside of marcy, and we haave a lot to look forward to whenever the show gets back. I’m hyped. Your hyped. IT’s a good note to go out on, especially since last weeks eps were also excellent and it looks like things are about to pick up. When next we meet it’s an inconsequential, probably, anthology episode, though it should be fun, then whenever new episodes return, wether it be just in november or more likely in February, our heroes return to wartwood! And we’ll find out what everyone’s been up to. Hopefully Ivy didn’t leave sprig. We’ll see. Until then, you can check out this blog for more recaps, as I said i’m covering ducktales as it comes back monday and loud house whenever I can get my meat hooks on the new episodes, and until then say safe and go team venture!

[gottlem]

favourite song (lemonjuice)

a/n: well here it is! gonna keep this short and sweet but i wanted to say how much i love these two and i wrote this just bc i felt like we needed more lemonjuice fics !!! props the the handful of writers who have already written this ship, they’re all so great !! quick sidenote, i haven’t written in a while, so i really hope y’all find this up to standard !!! <3

summary: Juice found that the best way to get her feelings out was through writing songs, but she would never tell her best friend and long time crush, Lemon, about that. Well, until she does. (3.3k words)

Juice was never really the best at outwardly expressing her feelings. Even when she tried to open up to her best friend from childhood, Lemon, it was as if the words got lost somewhere between her mind and her mouth. And as someone with far too many emotions to keep bottled up safely, she needed a way to let them out. So she began to write songs. Over a few years, she taught herself to play a guitar she had found stocked away in her home, which had been surprisingly intact and functional for it’s age.

At first, her songs were mediocre at best. The chords sometimes wouldn’t sound right together and she couldn’t really get the lyrics to flow in the way she wanted them to, but after writing and writing she started to find her sound. And it was good. Once she was truly happy with the content she was creating, she didn’t want to keep it to herself any longer. It’s not like she wanted to become famous, no, the idea of fame scared her shitless. But she wanted somewhere to put her work, she didn’t care if one person or one thousand people listened. So she made a small Instagram account. It didn’t have her name, and she didn’t tell any of her friends, but over time it acquired a small but surprisingly active following.

It was Friday night when Juice started on a new song. It was one she had been meaning to write for a long time, but was about something she was scared to even admit to herself. Feelings she was scared to face. Feelings for Lemon. They had been there for a while, festering under the surface, and only recently had they gotten out of control. Nothing had triggered it, not particularly, but suddenly she had found herself thinking about her friend far too often to be considered platonic. They had been best friends for as long as Juice could remember, and she knew she was far into the friend zone. Lemon would flirt often, make jokes about them becoming girlfriends. Which was fine. It meant she was comfortable enough in their friendship. And as long as Lemon loved her in any way, Juice was happy. Or at least, that's what she told herself.

She was in the middle of writing her very first song about the girl when her strumming was interrupted by her phone ringing. Loudly. She should have remembered to just put it on mute. It’s ringing startled her enough to be taken out of the zone she was in, so she decided the least she could do was check who it was. And she figured the universe had decided to play a massive practical joke on her right at the moment, because the caller ID read “lem”. She answered it anyway, it was Lemon after all, how couldn’t she?

“Lem! Hi!” She cursed herself for how smitten she sounded, Lemon would be quick to figure out her feelings if she wasn’t careful.

“Juicy! What’s up? What are you doing right now?” Juice’s heart stopped. Partly because of the nickname that she still hadn’t gotten used to, and partly because she has no idea how to answer that question without having to explain why she’s kept this hobby secret for so long.

“Umm, well”

She didn’t actually know why she had kept this from Lemon all this time. Maybe telling her would be good, maybe it wouldn’t even change anything. So she bit the bullet and made the split second decision to let the cat out of the bag. She didn’t have to say what, or who, she was writing about, right?

“I was in the middle of writing a song, you actually kind of scared me, my phone was so loud” There was a beat of silence. Juice bit her bottom lip nervously and just hoped she wouldn’t be asked a question that she was absolutely not ready to answer.

“You were- since when did you write songs? Juicy how did I not know about this? Can you even play any instruments? What do you play?”

These questions, Juice could deal with.

“I uh, started a few years ago, didn’t tell anyone because I wanted it to be something I could keep for myself, and I taught myself guitar after I found one in that spooky cupboard you can never go into.”

Lemon chuckled, causing Juice to blush instantly. Because of course she did.

“Wow. Years, huh? Why didn’t you tell me though?” Juice didn’t expect her friend to sound almost hurt by the fact that she had kept this from her. But then again, they tell eachother everything. She didn’t really know why she never told Lemon. Maybe she was scared of opening up too much, sounding dramatic. Maybe she was scared she wouldn’t like her songs. Maybe she was scared she would.

“I don’t know Lem. Just didn’t come up I guess”

“Well, can I hear one? What about the one you’re writing now?”

“Not yet. Maybe next time you come over once it’s finished.”

“Oh. Okay, yeah, definitely. Well I’ll let you finish it then, text me when it’s done!”

When Lemon hung up, the silence of the room fell heavy on Juice’s ears. Obviously, she wouldn’t show Lemon the song she was writing just then, but she didn't have to know that. She would show Lemon a song she wrote a month or two ago, she remembered it well enough and it’s not about anything too serious that Lemon doesn’t already know about. No harm done. Easy.

~

Lemon was set on hearing at least one of Juice’s songs. She couldn’t believe that after knowing her for so many years, she had hidden this from her! It’s not that she was angry, she wasn’t, she just wished she hadn’t missed out on all this. She wondered what she could have written about over the years, what she writes about now. She wondered what her voice sounded like, would it be smooth and silky, or breathy and soft? What would her songs even sound like? Does she have her own special sound, distinctive from everyone else? She just wanted to know. She wanted to hear them.

When Juice finally performed a song for Lemon, she was speechless. They sat on Juice’s bed, candles burning on the windowsill and hot chocolates resting on her nightstand. The moon shone from the window, it was quite late, probably too late to make any noise, but nobody was home to hear, so neither girl tried to keep quiet despite the late hour. From the moment Juice started to pluck a soft pattern on the nylon strings of the old guitar, she was mesmerised. The melody was soothing, and her voice was soft enough to send her to sleep if she closed her eyes for too long. It was a beautiful song, about a story Lemon had already heard a thousand times before, but never in this format. That made it feel brand new.

The pair fell asleep soon after that, limbs tangled in Juice’s bed just like all the other times before, except a soft humming could be heard that sent Lemon straight to sleep in her friend's familiar arms. Juice wished it could be like this every night. But her and Lemon were just friends, eventually she’d be okay with that reality. She’d have to be.

It didn’t take long for Lemon to find Juice’s account dedicated to her songs. After she went home that morning she went straight onto Instagram, remembering something Juice had said about an account where she puts all her music onto. At first, she didn’t quite know where to look, but she ended up searching through the followers and following on Juice’s main account and eventually stumbled upon it. She just wanted to hear more.

Lemon checked the most recent video posted, expecting it to be the same song Juice had performed for her the night before, since she had been told it was the one her friend had just written, the one she had interrupted the writing of. It took her a minute to realise the song was definitely not the same, but she didn’t think too much of it, maybe she hadn’t posted that one yet. Hearing one of her songs before anyone else made Lemon’s stomach do a little flip, something she was growing used to around her friend.

As Lemon scrolled through the account, listening to each and every song, she encountered one that sounded extremely familiar, posted months ago. It was the exact same one Juice had performed to her. But if she had only just written it, how had it been posted months ago? She tried not to dwell on it for too long, opting to just enjoy the music instead. Once she had sifted through every video, she followed the account, wanting to hear everything her friend came out with.

Juice’s songs were special. They allowed Lemon to feel more connected to her friend; she always felt as if Juice was biting her tongue, holding back. All she had ever wanted was Juice to open up around her, and if it was through her breathtaking music, then so be it. Some songs were about stuff that Lemon had never heard her friend even mention before, and she was tempted to give her a ring or text and ask her about them, talk more into detail about the contents, but she always stopped herself at the last minute. If Juice wanted to talk about something that was bothering her, she would talk. Maybe she was scared to. 

-

Juice almost screamed when she saw the notification that Lemon had followed her account. She looked over every one of her posts, making sure they were all good enough for Lemon to see. She wanted Lemon to love her music now she knew about it, and hoped she would bring up one of her songs to her. She wondered which song would be Lemon’s favourite, and why. She wanted to know how many she had listened to. Had she just followed the account and left it at that? Had she watched her most recent video? Had she listened to all of her posts?

So Juice waited. She waited for Lemon to bring it up. But even after posting a couple of new songs, she got nothing. She was quick to come to the conclusion that Lemon wasn’t really looking at her new posts, though in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. When Juice figured Lemon wasn’t listening to her new music, she found the courage to post her song about the girl. It wasn’t very specific, it was clearly about a girl she had some strong feelings for, but there were no identifying details that could lead to the conclusion of the song being undoubtedly about Lemon. This meant if Lemon did happen to hear it, there was no way she would know right off the bat that the song was about her. She didn’t need Lemon to know her true feelings.

When Juice posted her first song about Lemon, the feedback had been overwhelmingly positive. She received a few more likes than usual, and the comments were filled with well wishes for her and the mystery girl she had written a song about. But there was nothing from Lemon, as usual. Juice was confident that she wasn’t listening, so she posted more and more songs about her. It wasn’t like she only ever wrote about Lemon anymore, though she was definitely getting more comfortable doing so and began writing about her more often than not, allowing herself to fall deeper for the girl. As she posted more songs, they became increasingly more specific, but never enough to allow her to be figured out. Someone would only be able to tell it was Lemon if they were actively looking for that specific conclusion.

-

Lemon couldn’t believe it when she heard Juice’s first love song. She watched her best friend’s eyes light up on her screen while singing about this mystery girl, but there was something else to her facial expression that made it all seem bitter sweet. Maybe it was the way her eyes would lose that sparkle for just a moment every once in a while, or the way her lips never really formed into the beautiful smile Lemon had gotten so used to over the years. The song itself was beautiful, as always. Juice sounded as if she meant every single word, truly singing right from her heart.

It hurt Lemon a little to find out Juice felt so strongly about someone and hadn’t told her, but perhaps she was just getting round to it. It hurt her even more that it wasn’t Lemon she was singing about. She knew she had liked Juice for a while, but tried to keep things platonic in fear of her feelings not being reciprocated, and it looked as if that was the right move because now she was listening to Juice sing a love song that wasn’t about her.

Even though she knew she would be hurt by the truth, Lemon was determined to find out who Juice had been singing about in her more recent posts. Each song hurt to listen to more than the last, because she was creating a fantasy where Juice was actually singing about her. It was only made worse that everything Juice said about this girl and their relationship could be used to describe Lemon. She just needed confirmation that it wasn’t her and then she could move on with her life as Juice’s friend. And be content with just that.

Her idea was simple, but effective. Just ask her. Juice was a terrible, terrible liar, made worse when it was Lemon she tried to lie to, so she knew she’d be getting the truth about whoever this girl was. All she had to do was try not to show her feelings, and try not to get jealous of this girl. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

-

Juice enjoyed whatever time she could spend with Lemon, but nothing could beat when she stayed over. They turned on fairy lights and lit candles before making hot chocolate and turning on netflix, watching from the comfort of Juice’s bed. Maybe she liked it so much because they always ended up tangled together. She just liked the way Lemon’s skin felt against hers, even if it was just some small brushes under the covers. 

They were chatting about nothing in particular when Lemon changed the subject without warning, something she always did.

“Hey Juicy, I’ve loved your songs lately by the way. Not that I don’t always love them. I just thought I’d tell you” 

Juice’s heart stopped. She could practically feel the colour drain from her face. Lemon listened to her songs. Her recent songs. 

“You’ve heard my new ones?” Is all she could get out.

“Duh! I’m your number one fan, juicy”

“Oh.”

“Just one question though, who are all the love songs about?” Juice wouldn’t really describe them as love songs, more like ‘hopelessly crushing on my best friend who I have virtually zero chance with’ songs. But sure, love songs it is.

“Lem. You can’t really write a love song about a stupid crush. Love is a very strong word, I don’t love her. I can’t”

“Honey, you’re in love. You can see it in your eyes when you sing about her. Must be some special girl, huh?” Lemon rubbed salt into her own wound with every word she said. It almost physically hurt to ask about this girl Juice was so clearly smitten for, knowing it wasn’t her.

“Yeah. She’s special. But you don’t get it Lem, I can’t be in love with her. I just can’t”

“Why not?”

Juice just shook her head, defeated. She knew the answer to that. She can’t be in love because she’s her best friend. It would ruin what they have. She would get rejected. Everything would change. 

Lemon wiped a stray tear from her friend's cheek.

“Hey. Look at me,” she did, “whoever this girl is, would be so, so lucky to have you. I promise you, one day you’re going to find someone who loves you with just as much passion as I hear in those beautiful, beautiful songs. You deserve to be loved by someone who loves you that much. Okay? Don’t cry baby”

The pet name slipped out of Lemon’s mouth before she could stop it, but it felt so natural as she took the crying girl in her arms. They sat there for a while, Lemon whispering little reassurances in her ear, rubbing soothing circles on her back.

Until Juice pulled away, took a deep breath, and looked Lemon straight in the eye. She was going to tell her.

“I just- Sorry for crying on you”

But she couldn’t. Love is scary. But Lemon is not. It was a painful cycle.

“Don’t be.” Lemon couldn’t stand seeing her Juice so broken, so she figured she’d try to lighten the mood and try to find out who it was so she could finally just get over her. “Sooooooo, who is it?”

“No, I can’t tell you” Juice managed a weak chuckle, shook her head affectionately.

“C’mon, do I at least know her?”

All Lemon got in response was a nod. She was confused, really. She had set herself up to be told a random girls name and have her heart broken. She would take a few weeks to recover, but eventually Juice and this girl would get together and they’d all live happily ever after. She had prepared herself for that. She had not prepared for tears and love and self doubt and secrets. They had never kept anything like this from each other. Ever since coming out to each other, they had vowed to be one another’s wing-woman, so what happened? The only reason Lemon could possibly think of as to why she couldn’t tell her who, was-

“Juicy...” Her tone felt unfamiliar in her mouth. It wasn’t sharp or soft, it wasn’t happy, angry or upset. It might have been hope. Juice just looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed.

“Is it-”

“Whoever you’re going to say, I can almost guarantee that you’re wrong” Juice almost found it funny that she was about to guess.

“Let me finish,” Lemon looked at her in the eyes, and smiled softly “ Is it me?” 

“I-”

What was she even supposed to say to that? She couldn’t lie, Lemon would see right through it. She couldn’t tell the truth, everything would change. What if Lemon felt weird about it? What if she didn’t want to be as close with her any more? Was she uncomfortable with the idea of Juice having a crush on her?

Lemon giggled softly, “I guess the silence answers that question, huh?”

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to anymore. I swear I can just move on and get over it. I really don’t want to ruin our friendship and I’d hate to make you uncomfortable or anything. Are you mad? I don’t blame you if-”

“Shut up” Lemon almost whispered, her soft tone still somehow cutting through Juice’s words like a knife. Juice said nothing. She let the silence take over for a second or two, before Lemon took a breath, and spoke again.

“Shut up, and kiss me”

So she did. Juice had always wondered what kissing Lemon would feel like, but now she was actually doing it, all her expectations didn’t even come close to the real thing. They fit together so easily, the kiss hardly ever breaking, staying as soft as ever. They had all the time in the world, so why rush it?

After that night, Juice wrote countless more songs for her now-girlfriend, and every single time a new one came out, Lemon would say the same thing.

“I like this one. I think it’s my new favourite song. I love you”

And Juice loved her back. You could see it in her eyes. Feel it through her kiss. Hear it in her songs.

[mychemicalxmen]

Unfinished Business

hey so I find crt’s recent interactions with the tua fandom to be sus as hell and it got me thinking about the most plausible way I could see him comin back in s3 and the conclusion I came to is a way-shorter and way-simpler version of whatever the hell this is so uhhhh here

2.9k, klave/klave-adjacent

... ... ...

“Is this really a good idea?”

Allison’s words are gentle as she stands in the doorway of Klaus’s room. Well, not his room, per se, but the grey-walled, undecorated space that would’ve been his bedroom in a timeline gone by. The Sparrow Academy doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of homey-ness. They’d ever-so-kindly granted the Umbrellas two nights’ stay in these cold cells while they gathered their bearings and prepared to face the new world they’d fantastically screwed up.

Klaus smiles at her question. “That’s hardly stopped me before, right?”

Allison rolls her eyes and drops her hands onto her hips. “I’m worried about you, okay?”

“Don’t be,” Klaus answers with a swatting gesture. “It’s been easy-peasy since I’ve dropped the pills. Parlor tricks. Did this song and dance tons of times for Madame.”

“Also, we need to unpack your relationship to ‘Madame’ at your earliest convenience.”

Klaus raises an eyebrow mischievously. “What happens in Dallas...!”

Allison sighs. “Okay, well, if things start to get, y’know, mega-spooky panic-time, you’ll just yell, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

“Hey.” Allison’s voice is suddenly calmer. Klaus’s gaze snaps up to meet hers. “You’re sure about this?”

Klaus lets himself breathe for a moment. Tension fights to seize his limbs. He’s really about to do it.

His first six months of sobriety were the absolute nightmare that he knew they would be. They were all the sleepless nights, trembling hands, emotional eruptions, and torturous visions that he’d predicted.

But at some point, his powers became less like a stubborn faucet, run by an on/off switch with not much in between. With time (and Ben’s encouragement), he’d come to better understand his link to the other side. He’d learned how to cut and re-engage the connection at will, how to find faces in the crowd, how to call one forth, and how to sleep peacefully.

Most nights.

“I’m sure,” he says solidly.

He checks himself over, tugging his brightly striped shirt into place, tucking in his dog tag, and running a hand through the hair he’d half-considered chopping off the second he made it home. When he looks back up at Allison, he‘s feeling a bit less brave. “Do I look alright?”

Allison nods with a little grin. “You look great.” God, he wishes they’d reconnected far before this Dallas fiasco. She just cares so much. “Good luck,” she says.

“Love you, sis.” He blows her a lazy kiss as she leaves and closes the door behind her.

He paces around the room, steeling himself for the process. Like he said, it’s no big deal. Easy peasy. Even with that hiccup with alcohol, he’s clean enough to pull it off. He shakes out the last of his nerves with a couple tiny hops before settling in the middle of the room.

He stands firmly, feet apart, and drops his head. He squeezes his fists and lets the energy start to crackle between his fingers.

With all the insanity of this timeline, he needs to know what happened in 1968. He needs to see Dave.

It’s tougher to contact someone not already in the room. He focuses everything he has, and the energy pulses faster and stronger. Come on, come on…

“Klaus?”

He looks up with a start.

There he is, standing four feet in front of him. Those torn-up fatigues. Those searching blue eyes. That curly mess of blonde hair he hasn’t seen for three years.

Dave.

Klaus can’t keep the dumb smile off of his face.

“Hey there, soldier,” he practically whispers.

“Hey yourself,” Dave says - happy, though clearly disoriented. “Guess you weren’t making up all that ‘future’ junk after all.”

Klaus’s affirmative laugh is airy. But when his eyes trail down to the cavity in Dave’s chest, his heart aches in regret.

His jaw aches too. What a week it’s been.

“I have... so much to ask you,” Dave goes on. “It’s been a long time.”

Klaus swallows. Here goes. The million dollar question.

“Uh… How long of a time, exactly?”

He unconsciously holds his breath.

Dave glances to the side. “...Right around when JFK was shot. Must’ve been ‘63?”

Klaus exhales and sits on the bed, face blank.

Dave is wincing at his own memories. “God, I was such a dumb kid, I’m so sorry that you—”

Klaus isn’t hearing him. He’s too caught up on that number. 63.

If the Umbrella Academy doesn’t exist, Klaus Hargreeves doesn’t grow up in the same home as Five Hargreeves. He doesn’t get kidnapped by assassins. He doesn’t get his hands on a briefcase. He doesn’t go to Vietnam.

If the Umbrella Academy doesn’t exist, neither does the Dave that fell in love with him.

His Dave is gone. Really gone. 

This Dave was the timid hardware store employee he’d tried to get through to, striving to save his life and instead locking in his fate a few days early. This Dave is still the same person as the other one was. Same upbringing, same interests, same compassion, same smile, same violent death. But...

“—a strange time for anyone. You know how it is.”

Klaus tunes back in to Dave apologizing for his cringey adolescence. “No, no, yeah, I get it, don’t worry about it.”

In the pause that follows, Klaus feels his throat tighten and hot tears threaten to drop down his face.

Within the same pause, Klaus realizes the obvious. Dave is a ghost.

Kiddos and grandmas, or anyone who’s achieved either nothing or everything that their life had to offer them, they get the window to move on right away. One-way ticket to the Great Beyond, or the next life, or whatever the hell it is. Ultimate FastPass, Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. Klaus has learned that spirits don’t tend to stick around on earth unless they have unfinished business. Sometimes they don’t even know what they need to do to start fresh, and that’s always the worst. Those souls become the bitterest, the loudest, the most tortured. Those were the ones who gave him hell in the mausoleum, with question after question that he couldn’t even begin to answer.

Dave seems to have managed okay. Probably spends a lot of time watching over his friends, his sisters, his neighbor’s cat. Klaus wonders what he could possibly have left to do.

“Major case of unfinished business you got there, huh?” Klaus asks. “Been waiting around, what, fifty years?”

Dave squints. “Well, it’s hard to feel it. Time works a little funny over here.”

“Right, of course it does,” Klaus recalls stupidly. He sniffles and swipes a hand under his eye as nonchalantly as he can. “Ah. Any idea what the little brat is waiting for you to do?”

Dave gives a tentative chuckle. “Brat?”

“Oh, Big G, the almighty, you know,” Klaus clarifies. “The bitch on the bike. I met Her once or twice. We’re not too chummy.”

Dave shows startlement, then shakes his head, acknowledging that this information should hardly faze him at this point. “Um. Yeah. Don’t know what She wants yet. Though She’s actually a cowgirl for me.”

“Of course She is.” 

And that’s the idiotic comment that causes Klaus’s voice to crack.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Dave asks. He hazards a few steps closer.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

“No... Nothing,” Klaus stammers. He briefly covers his face and lets out a groan. “Ughhh, it’s going to sound crazy.”

“Really think you can beat ‘Time-Traveling Cult Leader with Prophetic Dog Tags and Tidings of Death’?”

“It wasn’t a cult,” Klaus mumbles in futility. He drops his hands and gives it his best shot. “The first time I met you - first time I met Dave - was in a totally different timeline, in 1968. That’s how I knew all that stuff about you. And you died the same way, except I was there the first time. The other time. The same time?”

“You and ...’Other Dave’.... fought together,” Dave offers.

“Yes!” Klaus confirms, relieved that he’s making sense. “Yeah, exactly. Which is why I tried to stop him - you - from going.” He indicates Dave’s abdomen. “And, obviously, I failed. But because of some stuff my family screwed up along the way, you never fought with me, so I remember a lot more than you do, and it’s all just...” He gestures helplessly. “A real kick in the dick.”

Dave tilts his head in a mix of sympathy and confusion. “That... does sound pretty crap.”

Klaus doesn’t expect it when Dave sits next to him on his bed.

“You want to tell me what I missed?”

“Oh, no, no, no, Dave, you don’t want that. That’s a long story.”

Dave shrugs. “I’ve got some time to kill.”

Klaus manages a smile. Talking will keep him from crying.

He tries his best to tell everything chronologically, but almost every step of the beginning requires some Hargreeves Family Lore that he reluctantly recaps as efficiently as possible. Dave is an exceptional listener. Always has been. He lets Klaus ramble on and on and asks little questions now and again to get a clearer picture. Klaus appreciates Dave’s effort to form a coherent narrative out of the scattered snapshots that time has left him with.

Klaus stumbles with pronouns. He makes a point to refer to His Dave with “him” as opposed to “you”, but he can’t help but slip a few times in the middle. Dave seems to understand.

Klaus tells him about the day they met. He waters down the Time Police part of the tale and focuses on what came after. Dropping into the tent at dawn. The casual conversation on the bus. The strange instinct that he got to stick around for a few days.

He tells him about soldiering. He tells Dave how focused and respected he looked on the battlefield. But he also tells him how kind he was to new recruits.

He tells him about their first R&R together in Saigon. He tells him about the vibrant bar and the strangest music and the secluded back hallway.

He tells him about the nights in the jungle they’d stayed up and dreamed up plans for when they’d go home together. He tells him about the day those plans fell apart. When Klaus runs out of story to tell, he just stops. Dave looks at him thoughtfully. Klaus can only imagine what must be running through his head. He knows it’s not judgement, or embarrassment, or anger, or loathing. Dave is too sweet for any of that.

Dave is too good for the rotten fortune that found him, time and time again.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus says.

“For what?”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t save him,” Klaus answers. He fumbles again. “You. Him? Young Dave?”

“I’m getting a headache keeping track of it myself,” Dave admits.

“You,” Klaus settles on. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

Dave looks into him for a breath. Then, he reaches out and touches his arm. Klaus wants to dissolve into dust.

“I think I understand why I loved you,” Dave says.

A bittersweet laugh tumbles ungracefully from Klaus’s mouth. He tries not to draw attention to the new round of tears that spills over with it. “You do?”

“Yeah. I do.” Dave gives him the gentlest smile. “You shouldn’t be sorry. You tried so hard. I could’ve had more courage, fought back, ran away, something, but I just... wasn’t ready.” He glances down. “And I wasn’t going to be.”

Klaus’s hand closes over Dave’s on his arm.

“But I always remembered you,” Dave adds. “I always thought you were brave.”

“Goddamn, I was convinced I’d pushed your Big Awakening back a good two months, at least.”

“Far from,” Dave assures. His eyes crinkle with the flash of a memory. “I’m... not sure if I should tell you this.”

Klaus cocked his head. “Well, shit, Davey, now you have to.”

“I’m assuming Other Me told you something about Bill, right? Met in junior year, moved to Austin after school, always a bit of suspicion there...”

“Yeah?”

Dave’s face reddens slightly. “I mean, it wasn’t anything serious, but there were a few weeks when I was home, before this last tour...”

Klaus’s eyes widen. This was not an event on his timeline. He mocks outrage and pushes Dave’s hand away. “David Joseph Katz—!”

“The point is,” Dave poorly stifles a laugh, “I had hope. That it was gonna be alright, and that after this round, I’d be back in America for good, and I’d find my place.”

Hope.

Klaus supposes hope is nice. It’s just not terribly helpful with the way things panned out. In the world where Dave still didn’t make it home. In the world where he’s stuck here, waiting for a way to move on. In the world where he’s still around to see how little good that hope did him. And frustration starts to churn Klaus’s stomach, even though he knows...

“...This really wasn’t your fault,” Dave says, reading him just as perfectly as he could in ‘68.

Klaus hadn’t noticed how long he’d fallen silent for. “I know,” he mumbles, and logically, he does. But that doesn’t make it hurt any less. There had to be a timeline out there where everything ended up alright, where him and Dave lived happily together just like they’d talked about, but he is never going to find it now.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats. “And I still love him. Christ, he made one of the deadliest shitshows in American history the only place I wanted to be. He made me the happiest that I’ve been in a long, long time. He made me feel so treasured. So... strong.”

When the tears return a third time, he stops trying to hide them. He carelessly wipes the heel of his palm across his cheek.

“I wanted to tell him all that,” he finishes. “He gave me something so special that I don’t think I’ll get again.”

A sob escapes Klaus. Dave patiently waits for him to work it out.

“I know I’m not him,” Dave starts, “But for what it’s worth, I think he’d know you still love him. I think it’d destroy him to be apart from you. But I don’t think he’d want you to destroy yourself.”

Klaus knows the spiel that’s coming, and so badly does he want to dismiss it all as disgusting cliche. But he also knows Dave’s sappy tendencies well enough to know that, in this case, it’s probably accurate. Hell, he’s hearing it from the man himself.

“If you couldn’t get back to him, I think he’d just want to know you were happy,” Dave says. “You know? That you kept moving and kept taking care of yourself. And kept looking for the kind of love you deserve.”

Dave shifts to face him more directly. His eyes are bright with intention. “You have so much life left in you. You deserve a new chapter.”

Klaus feels beaten and weary all over. His mind is finally slowing down to the present.

When Dave subtly opens up his arms, he eagerly takes the offer to wrap him in an embrace.

This is the last he’ll see of him. He can feel it. He tucks his chin over Dave’s shoulder and clings onto the fabric of his vest, eyes shut, trying to commit every sensation to memory.

Dave returns, lightly weaving his hand into Klaus’s hair. Klaus recalls with a weak grin that he knew Dave would be fond of the new length.

It’s safe and sacred and almost everything that he’d planned for on that day he’d desperately wandered the mansion halls, calling out for any help he could get, twisting a bundle of rope in his quaking hands.

He hears a whisper of a wind chime.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” Dave mutters.

The blue glow pierces through Klaus’s eyelids. He pulls back to look at Dave.

He’s crumbling apart, piece by piece, and drifting away. Bright light speckles the entire room.

“Klaus?” Dave asks. His voice is soft but threaded with slight fear. “Is this...?”

“Yeah, it is,” he answers. He tightens his grip on Dave’s arms. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me say goodbye.”

A beat passes. Then, understanding washes over Dave’s face. He pulls Klaus close once again, stroking his hair.

He presses a kiss onto Klaus’s forehead.

Klaus doesn’t watch him go. He only opens his eyes when his arms are at last empty.

Specks of glittering blue light still float through the air. Nothing else remains but the wrinkle on the bedspread where he was sitting. Klaus’s face still feels warm where his lips were placed just moments ago.

Klaus buries his head in his hands. “Allison,” He calls out. The sound is pathetic. He clears his throat and tries again. “Allie?”

He hears her heeled boots click down the hall. He can’t bring himself to look up when she opens the door. “You okay?”

“It’s over,” he summarizes.

“What do you need?”

A joint. A fist full of pills. Five shots of tequila. A good sock in the head so he can go back to that pre-Technicolor hellscape and tell that bitch on the bike what he really thinks of Her.

“Can you just sit with me for a minute, please?”

Allison closes the door and obliges.

They talk, slowly and softly, about absolutely nothing at all, while Allison smooths her hand against Klaus’s back. They stare at the cold tile floors together for a long time. Klaus asks if it would kill the Sparrows to hire an interior decorator.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Tribulation Interview: Shadow Sounds

Photo by Ester Segarra

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Ever since I saw Swedish goth metal band Tribulation open for the much more outwardly macho Cannibal Corpse and Behemoth in 2015, I’ve been impressed by their steadfast commitment to their spectral aesthetic, even when surrounded by the most brutish of metalheads. Their new album, the appropriately titled Where the Gloom Becomes Sound, feels like the apex of their interests and style: mythological themes, magic sounds, sparkling and rising songs that are as meaty as they are layered and complex. Opener “In Remembrance” begins with spooky arpeggios before chugging drums and guitars kick it into high gear, buoyed by lead singer Johannes Andersson’s icy growls. Creaking piano interludes like “Lethe” are just as essential to the album’s mood as guitar-forward rockers like “Hour of the Wolf” and “Daughter of the Djinn”. And the louder songs don’t so much build to a crescendo as gallop to them on the back of drummer Oscar Leander, falling back gently. Simply speaking, Tribulation can do it all, and Where the Gloom Becomes Sound is just the latest evidence.

Guitarist Jonathan Hultén composed most of the songs on the record but happened to amicably leave the band late last year, replaced by Joseph Tholl from VOJD (who plays on opener “In Remembrance”). The band’s still committed to properly rolling it out, as it’s released on Metal Blade next Friday. Last week, I called guitarist Adam Zaars (who just had a child a month ago and spoke from a Sweden facing some travel restrictions due to both COVID-19 and a large amount of snow) to speak about why Where the Gloom Becomes Sound still feels like an album that belongs to Tribulation as a whole. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: The circumstances surrounding the new album are unique, since it was mostly written by Jonathan, and then he left the band. Have you found it difficult to move on from that and take in the album and present it without him?

Adam Zaars: Yes and no. It’s still a Tribulation album. It just so happened that Jonathan wrote more songs on this one. He wrote 7, and I wrote 3. For the previous two albums, we kind of split it 50/50, more or less. The album before that, I did most of it. We still make every song into a Tribulation song at the end of it, as a collective effort, somehow. It still feels like an album with Tribulation songs and not an album with Jonathan’s songs. To that extent, it’s not really that strange. Then again, he did quit, and now we have our new guitar player, Joseph. In a way, I just want to start writing a new album with him and the rest of the guys. [laughs] There’s also that aspect to it, kind of wanting to start something new.

SILY: The context and themes of the record include myths and magic. Do you find it necessary to really dive into that to fully understand or appreciate the album?

AZ: It’s not anything new to us. For some reason, the bio makes it seem like it’s a big thing now. It’s always been [a big thing]. But it’s an apt language, I guess, to use in a Tribulation context. We’re not a political band. We’re trying to express something that’s quite difficult to describe in words. Since we’re doing that with the music, drawing on myth and religion and the like, it just kind of feels like it comes from the same world. That’s really why we’re doing it. It isn’t mundane at all. The opposite, I guess.

SILY: The way you use your instruments, there is a certain magical aspect to it. On “Funeral Pyre”, the guitar takes on an almost theremin-like quality, and on “Leviathans”, the actual sound of the instrumentation is like a leviathan and crashing waves. Did you take those ideas and the love for mysticism all the way into your instrumentation?

AZ: Yeah, kind of. The thing you hear on “Funeral Pyre”, it is a guitar, but we’ve had this idea that we always wanted to use a saw that makes a similar eerie, ghastly sound. That’s where the idea came from. We didn’t end up using a saw--we used a guitar instead. But definitely, sounds like that have an otherworldly quality to them.

SILY: Have you ever seen someone play a saw live?

AZ: Have I?...I don’t think so.

SILY: There’s a street performer in Knoxville, TN who plays one. It’s crazy to watch how that can create that sound.

AZ: I would love to see that.

SILY: Is Joseph trying to learn these songs at the moment? Are you preparing to play them in some capacity, or looking more forward to writing new material?

AZ: He’s done some. We just recorded a video for “Funeral Pyre”. But we’re so busy with promoting the album at the moment, so we haven’t really rehearsed, which is kind of strange, I guess. We played with Joseph for so many years in the past. Me and Joseph started our first band together when we were 13. He’s definitely going to learn the songs. We’re not going to view this album as something that shouldn’t have happened. We all view it as a Tribulation album. Hopefully, we’ll play them live too, when that happens.

SILY: To what extent did you use the sequencing of songs to tell a narrative, whether a concrete narrative or a broad one?

AZ: The only thread running through the album, that’s also a bit conflated in the bio, is the idea of the five elements. We do write about it in the lyrics. Jonathan had been reading about the five elements of Western esoteric tradition, and at the same time, I was reading about the five elements of some Indian traditions. As we always do, we used what we had because of the synchronicity. We’d both been naming our songs as working titles, like “Fire”, “Water”. [laughs] Because of that, it was apparently something that we should be exploring or using. That’s really the only underlying theme of the album.

SILY: Was there anything different about the process of writing these songs and coming up with their different arrangements and tempos as compared to with your previous records?

AZ: Not really, I would say. You always think about trying to get the songs in somewhat different tempos and keys and what not. I always find myself worrying about, “Oh no! All the songs are in the same key!” Then, I go back to them and realize that isn’t actually the case. It has a way of working itself out on its own, and I don’t think it was any different on this album.

SILY: Tell me about the stories behind the videos for “Hour of the Wolf” and “Leviathans”.

AZ: The “Leviathans” video, we worked with a guy from Gothenburg, and he had made a video for Dark Tranquility. He made that whole video just by using their front cover, animated. We were really impressed by what he had done with it. He had also done some really cool cover art for Graveyard and a few other bands. The first idea was to build on the cover and let him play around with the illustrations in the album booklet. He did that, started doing that, and it was clear to me when I saw what he was sending that it would be much better if he just did whatever he wanted because the images that I sent him and the ones he made on his own didn’t really match. He just made the video in his studio by focusing on this watery side of the lyrics and the idea of this leviathan.

The second video, we recorded with an old friend of ours, who also did the video for “Strange Gateways Beckon” back from The Children of the Night. We went out to a castle a the lake, not too far from Stockholm, on a really, really cold day. [laughs] You can see that in the video from Johannes’ breath. We just built on the theme of that song, to some extent, at least. “The Hour of the Wolf” is the ghost hour, we say in Sweden, the early morning when you can’t sleep when the demons and anxiety come. We built around the more ghastly kind of theme of it. Johannes really went into character in that video in a way I hadn’t seen him do before, which was really cool.

SILY: What’s the inspiration behind the cover art? 

AZ: No inspiration, I would almost say. You can’t really connect the title, the cover, and the lyrical content in a satisfactory way. That was the idea behind it. The title, Where the Gloom Becomes Sound, is the basic thing we’d been trying to do since our first album, which of course reflects what we’re trying to do with the music. The same goes for the cover. It spoke to us. It came about because we were in the studio discussing the cover and the title, and we never really have any of that finished until the album was almost finished. That was the case this time around as well. We always try to make the studio as Tribulation-friendly as possible, to decorate it somewhat. Johannes had brought a poster he hung up in the control room, and it kind of dawned on all of us that we already had the cover--it was right there. Luckily, it seemed like no one else had used it before, and hopefully, nobody uses it in the future. It’s a pretty cool piece of art by this Belgian artist. Supposedly, it doesn’t exist anymore. My first idea was to find it and take our own picture of it, but it probably got destroyed in the war. The photo you see on the cover is from the late 19th century, a print in an art magazine. It already kind of has this antique vibe to it, which works well with what we’re trying to express in general.

SILY: Are you planning on eventually touring these songs, or doing livestreams or socially distant shows?

AZ: We do have a tour booked. It was supposed to happen now, in January and February, but it’s supposedly happening in September/October. We don’t know whether it’s gonna happen or not. But we’re still hoping. It’s a tour of Europe. It all depends on what’s happening. If the plague continues, I guess we’ll have to do some kind of a live stream. We started thinking about doing that at this point. At first, we didn’t really want to do it, because what we had seen so far [from others’ streams] wasn’t really what we wanted to do. But of course, we could always do it our way. If we’re not gonna tour, we’re definitely gonna stream something, and even if we do tour, we might end up streaming something anyway.

SILY: Have you thought about how you’re gonna adapt these songs to a live setting?

AZ: Yeah, I think it’s gonna work fairly well. I’m remaining positive it’s going to work...“The Hour of the Wolf” is a basic rock song, really, and some of the other ones are a bit more complex, I guess. Then again, we’ve managed to do it before, so I’m not that worried about it, really.

SILY: What else is next for the band?

AZ: Not entirely sure. Again, it really depends on what the current situation evolves into. Who knows? Regardless, since we’re a new band right now with Joseph, myself, personally, I really want to write some new material. It seems silly: The album isn’t even out. We recorded it in May and June, but that seems like ages ago. This year has been the longest year ever. It’s a bit early for [new music]. [But] you have to take advantage of enthusiasm and creative bursts when they reach you. I feel like we’re in one of those right now.

SILY: Is the band currently able to gather in the same room and collaborate in person?

AZ: Yeah. I recently moved away from Stockholm, so I’m about 4 hours away from them. It’s difficult to travel, of course, but me and Joseph have had some rehearsals over Skype [for “Funeral Pyre”.] That’s one way of doing it. We could still be in the same room. There aren’t any restrictions saying we can’t as long as we’re all symptom-free and all that. But I wouldn’t really want to get on a train right now.

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?

AZ: Yeah, I watched the new series by John Turturro about Umberto Eco’s book The Name of the Rose, which is one of my favorite books ever. I kind of like the old movie version with Sean Connery--it’s got a fantastic soundtrack. This one has 8 episodes. Even though it can’t really compete with the book, I thought it was pretty good. It has all the ingredients I want: theological discussions and monks and just being Medieval in general.

[vulpesmellifera]

Fics I Read & Loved: May 2019

The April list is here.

I love coming up with these lists, but June and July were filled with lots of my own writing! So this one is very late, lol. Working on June’s list now. 

You get the 2019 list (Johnlock and Mystrade), and the 2018 list (so much Johnlock), plus a few Hannigram fics at the end. Don’t be surprised if you see a few Good Omens fics in next month’s list!

Sherlock Fic Recs for May 2019

Just a Cuppa by green_violin_bow. Mystrade. Explicit. 3,880 words. Exhausted after a case that required participation from both of them, Greg and Mycroft end up sharing a bed...I mean, seriously, what could happen?

The Old Familiar Sting by songlin. Johnlock. Teen. 2,961 words. Sherlock doesn’t want John to realize he’s autistic. 

That Teenage Feeling by akitsuko. Johnlock. Explicit. 12,397 words. John decides to try and set Sherlock up with a date. But when he sees a man flirt with Sherlock, he’s seized with jealousy. The jealousy is delicious.

In For a Pint by MissMilquetoast. Johnlock. Teen. 9,840 words. Sherlock, Greg, and Molly try to get John out in the dating game after Mary’s death. John doesn’t exactly appreciate it, and surprises them all.

Star Child by bookjunkiecat. Mystrade. Teen. 1,261 words. Mycroft is an unlikely candidate for a tattoo. But it means a lot to him. Turns out someone else he knows can appreciate it, too.

Winter in London by Waid. Johnlock. Not Rated. 45,112 words. Victorian AU and rape recovery fic. Holmes is knocked out and Watson deals with the last stages of a case. He tries to hide what happened from his friend. 

Welcome Home, John by slashscribe. Johnlock. Gen. 5,504 words. John returns to 221B a broken man. Sherlock is very considerate - a little too considerate. John begins thinking he might not be the only broken man.

Hurts and Comforts by Lavender_and_Vanilla. Mystrade. Not Rated. 2,112 words. Adorable ficlets - five in all! The last chapter is distinctly a sickfic, the others are all hurt/comfort, just a little something to touch your heart and make you smile.

Recovery by Tammany. Mystrade. Gen. 3,350 words. Mycroft suffers an assassination attempt that leaves him unsteady and in pain. Lestrade is a natural caretaker. Lovely short story.

Coffee, Lies, and Cheesecake by siriusblue. Mystrade. Teen. 1,516 words. Adorable coffee shop AU wherein Mycroft finds a nice, quiet coffee shop with a handsome barista. But the silver haired barista is not all he seems!

Barter System by brbsoulnomming. Johnlock. Explicit. 6,982 words. This one is sooo sweet. A touch of angst, too, but it’s perfect. Sherlock and John start a bartering system with their clothes. 

A Bit of Indulgence by beltainefaerie. Johnlock. Not Rated. 3,364 words. One of my favorite tropes! John and Sherlock run into an old army buddy of John’s while on a case at Pride.

Tempting by bookjunkiecat. Mystrade. Mature. 1,602 words. Smut and doughnuts, this is good!

Seize the Day by siriusblue. Mystrade. 1,664 words. Mycroft is a human rights lawyer having a bad day at work. Greg is a cute barista.

A Model Patient by EventHorizon. Mystrade. Teen. 1,800 words. A most humorous story of a government official’s illness and his model patient behavior.

The Golden Egg by bookjunkiecat. Johnlock. Mature. 4,259 words. Having John and Watson is all he could ever ask for. Things come to a head after an Easter egg hunt at Aunt Harry’s.

Shining Tigers by Tammany. Mystrade. Explicit. 2,428 words. Mycroft and Greg are mature men who get on with each other. It seems only natural for a comfortable courtship to unfold.

I Do by bookjunkiecat. Mystrade. Teen. 1,102 words. Greg starts having doubts the night before the wedding. Mycroft learns why.

A Little Bit of Irritation by thecount. Mystrade. Not Rated. 11,789 words. Sherlock dives off of a building. Greg is in trouble with the Met. Mycroft sets it right, and then, they find themselves getting closer, though it’s not easy.

Taking Care by Mice. Mystrade. Gen. 1,497 words. Greg comforts Mycroft directly after he events at Sherrinford.

The Hand of Friendship by Topicabo. Mystrade. Teen. 3,925 words. Sweet, sweet story (with just a teensy bit of angst) of a close friendship that tips into something more.

Mystrade Goes Grocery Shopping by Lavender_and_Vanilla. Mystrade. Gen. 1,659 words. Hahaha, Greg makes Mycroft go shopping. Cute little fic wherein Mycroft realizes there might be something to this suggestion.

Pebble by bookjunkiecat. Johnlock. Gen. 1,088 words. Holy fucking Christ, if this isn’t the cutest thing I’ve read recently.

What’s Warranted? by Lavender_and_Vanilla. Mystrade. Explicit. 1,285 words. Soft and sweet. Greg can’t find his warrant card, and he knows Mycroft must have stolen it in a bid for morning sex.

The Comfort of Touch by sanguisuga. Mystrade. Teen. 2,132 words. Greg comforts a touch-starved Mycroft after a grievous loss. Sweet and soft.

Can You See Me? by stripyjumpers. Johnlock. Teen. 10,139 words, John is going blind, and has no idea what to tell his flat mate. Beautiful little story.

Sherlock fics I loved in May 2018 are under the cut. So are the Hannigrams.

Sherlock Fic Recs from May 2018

Nature and Nurture by earlgreytea68. Johnlock. Mature. 203,273 words. I reread this recently, and it’s so fucking amusing. Mycroft leaves John and Sherlock with a clone baby. The new dynamic at 221B leads John to reconsidering where he stands with Sherlock. Post-Reichenbach. 

Full Disclosure by Itsallfine. Johnlock. Explicit. 7,032 words. John gets invited to a night out with army buddies and brings Sherlock along to try and deflect ridicule for showing up alone. Some things get said. 

Bridging the Ravine by SilentAuror. Johnlock. Explicit. 58,887 words. I think the Fake Relationship trope is my fave. John and Sherlock have to investigate a therapy centre for same-sex couples. Post-season four, so you know there’s a lot of drama!

Nothing to Make a Song About by emmagrant01. Johnlock. Explicit. 36,833 words. Sherlock lives a life without John for ten years after John breaks off their friendship when Sherlock returns. John gets divorced from Mary and returns to London. This is worth every reread.

Dawn Before the Rest of the World series by PoppyAlexander. Johnlock. Explicit. 65,164 words. This is sweet and John Watson is stupidly romantic while Sherlock is ridiculously buttoned up. Downton Abbey-esque.

Hitting the Water at Sixty Miles an Hour by what_alchemy. Johnlock. Explicit. 30,568 words. Hello Fake Relationship Trope, I love you. John, Sherlock, and Mycroft go gallivanting in Scotland for Mummy’s birthday. Sherlock told Mummy that he and John are engaged to get Mummy off his back about love and relationships. John goes along with it.

The Handler by saturn_in_retrograde. Johnlock. Explicit. 11,300 words. This one is hot. Alternate meeting - Sherlock is convalescing in the family home. John Watson shows up to apply for a job training dogs. 

Ghosting by johnwatso. Johnlock. Explicit. 22,590 words. John Watson has a tattoo that Sherlock knows he didn’t see before Reichenbach. He can’t help but obsess over it, forcing John’s hand and his own in exploring the nature of their relationship.

The Way to a Man’s Heart by SwissMiss. Johnlock. Teen. 21,273 words. John is living at Baker St after the death of Mary and the baby. Greg asks Sherlock to be his best man, which leads to tension between Sherlock and John. Then a connection to an old flame.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca by mightypog. Johnlock. Teen. 6,400 words. A gorgeous post-Reichenbach piece, where Sherlock takes John to Canada, and in the wilderness there, hopes to reconnect with his old friend and blogger.

Right Hand Man by SilentAuror. Johnlock. Johnlock. Explicit. 42,031 words. Mary and John get into a car accident that paralyzes John’s lower arm and hand. The baby is incoming, so Mary asks Sherlock to take care of John while she prepares for birth. 

A Very Sherlock Musical by flawedamythyst. Johnlock. Teen. 11,980 words. This one had me laughing. Sherlock won’t sing with anyone, and John is upset that Sherlock won’t sing their duet. 

If Equal Affection Cannot Be by blueink3. Johnlock. Explicit. 31,156 words. This is a beautiful story of estrangement and reunion, where Rosie is a pivotal character and Sherlock and John have many old feelings to deal with.

To Keep Quiet by Salambo06. Johnlock. Explicit. 11,091 words. The boys have been through a lot. Rosie and John come to stay temporarily at 221B Baker St. Beautifully told short story outlining their trials and tribulations after Mary and Culverton Smith.

What You’re Missing by kedgeree. Johnlock. Mature. 16,339 words. Sherlock is disdainful toward love, and John decides he needs to show him what he’s missing, and why that’s important. 

Through the Clouds by Mazarin221B. Johnlock. Explicit. 20,004 words. Sherlock surprises John with an early retirement, but he convinces John to join him in Sussex. What follows is a lovely story of two men getting together. 

A Diseased Fancy by J_Baillier. Johnlock. Mature. 85,088 words. Spooky, creepy, and awesome. Sherlock and John get complicated, and then Victor Trevor shows up. Shit gets weird. An awesome story. Did I say awesome already?

A Case for Domestic Propinquity by SilentAuror. Johnlock. Explicit. 32,308 words. Renovations are underway at Baker Street, and Sherlock is wondering how he can convince John to stay with Rosie. But there are a lot of truths to uncover.

Never (Turn Your Back to the Sea) by DiscordantWords. Johnlock. Explicit. 39,968 words. This is a fantastic story. Sherlock wants John to stay but John just visits with Rosie. Eurus is kind of a bitch, but she eventually gives Sherlock the key.

A Wizarding Barista’s Field Guide to Seducing a Muggle by paradigmfinch. Johnlock. Teen. 29,344 words. I mean, this is just one of the cutest things I’ve ever read. 

On the Losing Side by missselene. Johnlock. Explicit. 8,210 words. Sherlock and John stumble into a physical relationship, and they don’t talk about it.

Time on my hands by mildredandbobbin. Johnlock. Mature. 7,179 words. I love this one. Sherlock decides to go cottaging. John eventually finds out.

State of Flux by Atiki. Johnlock. Explicit. 24,655 words. Sherlock and John slide into a relationship without Sherlock really realizing. The couch scene is one of my favorite things in this.

Sussex by SilentAuror. Johnlock. Explicit. 26,640 words. Casefic and bed-sharing and post-Reichenbach, oh my!

The Moonlight and the Frost by CaitlinFairchild. Johnlock. Explicit. 77,349 words. Mycroft and Sherlock insist John goes back to Mary for his safety. Eventually, John has had enough of everyone else making decisions for him. 

Masters of Ink by IndyBaggins. Johnlock. Explicit. 67,482 words. What a great AU, and what angst! John and Sherlock are tattoo artists competing on a reality show. 

Recovery by mainegirlwrites. Johnlock. Mature. 26,935 words. Sherlock is attacked while on a case and is disfigured. John takes care of him.

A Fold in the Universe by darkest_bird. Johnlock. Explicit. 152,875 words. This is an interesting concept and a fun story. Alpha Sherlock and Omega John are in a relationship in one world. Sherlock and John are not. Somehow, John and Omega John swap worlds. 

Hannigram

Marriage of Inconvenience by fragile-teacup. Explicit. 3,563 words. Why do I love Hannibal and Will together so much? This short fic is and many other fics like it are part of the reason why. In this one, Hannibal is being deported! Will offers up a solution.

This Dangerous Game by MissDisoriental. Explicit. 270,260 words. This one is a fantastic historical AU set in London at the time of Jack the Ripper. Will is visiting from America and on the case. Hannibal is fascinated by this young, intelligent man.

Kindling by gleamingwholeanddeadly. Explicit. 1,769 words. Hannibal has a clingy patient. Will pretends to be his date at a social event where the patient will attend.

Prey by Miss_Lv. Explicit. 6,959 words. Hannibal meets Will in the woods. He comes to discover more about himself after violent and sexual interactions with the strange hermit.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E83 (Nov. 5, 2019)

A day late and many dollars short, but we’re here! Tonight’s preroll: minifigs & what I assume are tonight’s guests of Liam & Matt:

which is followed by lazy susan rotating the D&D minis from eldritch-foundry.com for the rest of the cast. Cute! Anyway, Dani is back and ready to rumble! Brian is briefly lambasted for only getting through mumblemumble questions last week, but it’s all smoothed over soon enough and we move right along.

Tonight’s announcements: Undeadwood finale is delayed one week due to some post-production tech issues. Should premiere Friday, Nov. 15. Brian marvels over Matt’s speech about God being just as feral as what he creates. Matt is also surprised. Marisha is apparently the living dice Snitch of both campaign 2 and Undeadwood - everyone wonders if it’s the seat, the chair, the floor, or some innate karmic sense Marisha herself creates. CR is also partnering with Operation Supply Drop for the month of November to support veterans. Matt announces (re-announces?) that they are partnering with Amazon to create a full second animated season, as well as two more episodes to the original season one. All backers will be able to still watch the full season one for free. Everyone is so excited & I’m excited for them. Good job, tiny D&D friend group. More details on the CR Kickstarter Updates page.

And now! Episode 83: Dark Bargains

CR Stats: Liam poured wine for 49 seconds. Brief sidebar as Liam expresses genuine nervousness being on the couch beside Matt; he normally talks behind his back on TM, since he’s not sure if Matt ever watches it, but now he has to watch what he says. Caleb’s smell has been mentioned 60 times. Matt acknowledges that he is clean and washed. [doubt] Nott’s death was the 60th knockout and 8th player death of C2. Half of those deaths were Frumpkin. Liam calls Frumpkin a magic fart with a weak wifi signal.

Our first question (23 minutes in, NOT THAT ANYONE’S COUNTING), reveals that Matt did design the HFB with some “big red buttons” for the characters to press, or want to press. He expected more group approval before some of them were pressed, though (the dreadnought). Liam wanted to clear all the corners of the Baldur’s Gate map. 

Caleb fears Halas because he’s one of the most powerful mages ever, he fears the lab setup/experimentation angle, he still fears the siren song, and is scared of the grains of similarity he sees between the two of them.

Liam knows they’ve continually seen fun stuff come from shitty situations, but Caleb sees the story of the HFB as “you’re not welcome here; this is going to suck for YOU! You thought you were going to have fun here? Fuck you!”

Matt loves those climactic moments though, because he loves it when the dice tell the story. Liam loves that there was a day where Matt rolled terribly in Undeadwood and played it as being embarrassed to be around all these amazing people.

Matt enjoyed getting to dig into the backstory of his world. He’s had references to pre-divergence stuff before, and it was a big joy to give more context to some of the things the M9 have been encountering.

Liam: “[Caleb] is gambling big when he thinks there’s something of worth to gain.“ He’d heard of a long-vanished mage who was messing with time stuff, and thought there might be a chance this was him. Then, once they found the gem, he started feeling this might be the real chance he needed to start messing with the crazy stuff he wants to do with time.

The bound devil was a general temptation, but in hindsight he can see why Jester was drawn to him. Matt often builds scenarios and has no idea how they will react to them (and acknowledges that the M9 did not fully read the poem that would have given them more info here), and sometimes he’s right and sometimes he’s very wrong.

Caleb is very distrustful of other arcanists and always assesses their level of threat to the group. Liam does think Caleb has come a long way since the start of the campaign. “A lot is changing for him. He’s very reactive in a lot of ways. Whatever is laid out for him in the moment that he can take advantage of, or that he cares about...I don’t know. The Betrayer Gods coming back is so much more important, and I don’t know if it’s going to make him let go of that stuff. He has to re-evaluate. He has to. He’s like an addict who has a weak day.”

Brian comments that Caleb seems to be a clinic in self-forgiveness. He wants him to do well, but at the end of the day he wants him to forgive himself. He also points out that it’s possible to get addicted to grief, and he sees that in Caleb; he’s choosing to stay in that space, and we are watching what that does to a person. Brian feels that he forms an attachment to the grief because it is the only emotional connection he has to the family he lost.

Liam nods and says these are things he’s been thinking about for months and months. He does not and did not have the answers when he created the character, and is looking forward to seeing where he ends up. He is not railroading his character; he’s letting the other players affect his character so that Caleb can remain malleable.

Matt loves how it reflects how real people inform the lives and actions of their friends in real life.

Cosplay of the Week: @suchamantis on twitter for a Caleb/spellbook cosplay. It’s gorgeous work!

Brief derailment into Liam pulling a Bane out of his mug and Matt hypersensually smelling the winner’s dice vault. I don’t even know what’s happening.

Revivify in this campaign is being used as a CPR/AED type thing. If they fail, the DC goes up and a longer-form raise dead spell must be used out of combat.

It did occur to Liam that this is the second time his bestie has been killed by a treasure box. Would Caleb make the same sacrifice? Liam says in a spooky voice that nothing is as strong as the twin bond...but when Caleb goes into full-on survival mode where all emotions are pushed to the side, he doesn’t know what would happen. He knew he was with two very magical people who could work miracles and was focused on just getting her up the steps to them. Matt was sure everyone would figure it out and was shocked when no one checked it for traps.

The effect of the diamond on Nott being different from the diamond on Cad was flavor related to the Power Word Kill trap that was on the chest. He built the revivify around that imagery in the moment. A lot of Matt’s flavor text around spells is built around the moment, the characters themselves, their gods, etc. as much as possible.

Caleb is glad to find the signs of magic that may be able to return Nott to a halfling, but was way too concerned about the gem to think about anything else at that time.

Fanart of the Week: @acemasters4 on twitter for a beautiful pastel stylized portrait of Caduceus and mushrooms.

Ashley is almost here! Brian allllmost tells us how many days but refrains. COME BACK ASHLEY.

The Angel of Irons thread has been planned since the very beginning: everything with chains and hunger was planned. He pulled it together with Yasha when he realized they would mesh well. She had created her backstory, and as the campaign proceeded he was able to marry some threads together to make story points. Liam compliments Matt’s ability to weave character & world backstory together; specifically, the crystals in Caleb’s arms were Matt’s idea after Liam sent the first draft of his backstory to Matt. Liam loved it and ran with it.

Everyone is so excited that she is coming back and Matt won’t have to plan for her to be suddenly absent again.

In a moment that shakes my world, Matt is discovered to be wrong about what class of magic Cure Wounds is in 5e. The question is about how Halas’s comment on healing being necromantic is a throwback to older editions of D&D where CW was a necromancy spell, and Dani reveals to us all that in 5e it is now Invocation. Matt chooses to accept this as a deliberate throwback to older editions to emphasize that “man out of time” feel.

Chris Perkins apparently once described BWF’s personality as “Power Word Kill for someone’s joy.” He also apparently did MMA & figure skating, because why not.

Caleb’s reference to Jester suffering in the ruby was purely coincidental regarding her mother. He didn’t realize until it popped out of his mouth.

BWF talks about how he likes where the campaign is at. He has a weird gut feeling that something exciting is about to happen. “I’m finally invested in this campaign after 83 episodes.”

Everyone pauses to talk about how beautiful Matt’s hair is blowing in the wind. BWF tells a story about how based on how they were sitting in Undeadwood filming, Matt’s hair would blow ever-so-slightly in the A/C and people thought they did it on purpose.

Matt had a good time at Blizzcon! He was glad to see people gathering for the Hong Kong protests; he understands it’s a very complicated situation where the initial punishment was way too harsh and caused a ripple effect, but he was glad to see the space where the activism was welcomed in response.

Matt enjoyed cosplaying again for the first time in a long time, both at Blizzcon and as McCree for the Halloween episode. When he was buying adhesive a shop worker upsold him on an inferior product, which is why his beard started falling off during the show. Sad times, Matt. :(

And that’s all! Is it Thursday yet?

[aion-rsa]

Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch This Holiday Season

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This year marks a unique Thanksgiving, to be sure. With the pandemic carrying on, families and loved ones across the United States are testing out new ways to celebrate a national holiday that might be best described as food, football, and then, of course, more food. For some that means outdoor gatherings are the order of the day; for others it will mean the first time you might be cutting turkey while wearing a mask.

However you might wish to celebrate the holiday though, gathering with loved ones around a movie never goes out of style. For that reason, we’ve gathered the best Thanksgiving movies to choose from. Some of these films are truly beloved holiday classics, and others might be less obviously about Thanksgiving, even as they wear their affection for the holiday on their sleeves. And yet others still will offer the rare respite: a streak of cynicism for those who think Thanksgiving is for the birds. So pass the potatoes and enjoy a helping of good cinematic cheer below.

Addams Family Values (1991)

Addams Family Values might seem an unusual choice, but then everything about this one is unusual, right down to it being the rare comedy sequel that is superior to its predecessor. That success is in no small part due to the filmmakers realizing Christina Ricci, who made her big break playing the morbid Wednesday Addams, was devastating in her deadpan delivery.

Read more

Movies

How 1991’s The Addams Family Nearly Got Derailed

By Simon Brew

Movies

The Addams Family and Their Spooky New Jersey Origins

By Aaron Sagers

Thus Wednesday gets half the film to herself in this one, and we’re thankful for it. With Addams Family Values, she’s forced to endure the dreariness of summer camp and its middle class morality, right down to them holding a Thanksgiving pageant in July. Surrounded by smiling rich white kids who cast Wednesday as Pocahontas (who, it should be said, was not in New England or at the first Thanksgiving), Wednesday takes the opportunity to keep it real about Thanksgiving.

“My people will have pain and degradation,” Wednesday hisses in her last minute rewrite. “Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They say do not trust the Pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller. And for all these reasons I’ve decided to scalp you.”

The chaos that ensues is delightful. Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

Alice’s Restaurant

Alice’s Restaurant is an inadvertent Thanksgiving comedy directed by Arthur Penn, who re-envisioned Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow as counterculture antiheroes in his 1967 gangster classic, Bonnie and Clyde. Penn did the same with Arlo Guthrie, the son of folk hero Woody Guthrie, the committed anti-fascist who wrote “This Land is Our Land.” The film is based on Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 folk song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” which was about Alice and a restaurant. The restaurant wasn’t called “Alice’s Restaurant.”

That’s just the name of the song, which is very talky, like the movie, which is also pretty violent and fairly drug-fueled. The film doesn’t start on Thanksgiving, but at an army recruitment center, where Arlo, playing himself, is trying to avoid the draft. Turns out he’s got no good reason to stay out of the war.

The Thanksgiving setting, however, gives the film its purpose, and main reason to be thankful. The main plot involves getting rid of some trash after a holiday dinner. Arlo and his friends load a couple months’ worth of garbage into their red VW microbus, along with “shovels, and rakes, and other implements of destruction,” and head to the city dump, which is closed for Thanksgiving. They’d never heard of a dump closed on Thanksgiving before, so with tears their eyes, they drive off to find another place to put the garbage.

It takes Arlo 18 minutes and 21 seconds to tell the plot in the song, in intermittent three-part harmony, but the gist is: he gets arrested for littering, and his criminal record keeps him out of the draft. With it, Penn turns Guthrie into one of the most mild-mannered antiheroes in counterculture cinema. He’s not moral enough to join the army, burn women, kids, houses, and villages because he’s a litterbug.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Perhaps not quite as iconic as the legendary A Charlie Brown Christmas or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, the third Peanuts holiday special (and 10th Peanuts animated special overall) is still just as charming, wholesome, and satisfying as its predecessors. Once again written by Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz and directed by Bill Melendez, the show has been a November staple on TV for decades since first airing in 1973.

This time out, Charlie Brown (voiced by Todd Barbee) and his sister Sally (Hilary Momberger) are getting ready to go to their grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving when one by one, all their friends invite themselves over to his house—despite the fact that Charlie Brown can only make “cold cereal and maybe toast.” It all gets sorted out in the end, and it’s all the little jokes, the delightful voices, and the unforgettable music by Vince Guaraldi that makes this a perennial favorite.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

There isn’t so much as a mention of Thanksgiving in Wes Anderson’s stop motion masterpiece. Yet, somehow, it’s impossible to watch The Fantastic Mr. Fox and not have late autumn brought to mind. Is it the carefully chosen fall color palette that’s all sunsets and foliage? Is it the warm familial vibe of the Foxes and their neighbors that makes you miss big get-togethers? Is it the impeccably dressed cast of animal characters, all resplendent in corduroy, flannel, and tweed, quietly shaming you with their perfect sartorial choices? Or perhaps it’s simply their ravenous eating habits that puts you in the right frame of mind. 

With little resemblance to the Roald Dahl book it’s based on, The Fantastic Mr. Fox is instead one of the most perfect encapsulations of Anderson’s eye for (some might say obsession with) the little details. And it’s those little details, even more than its fuzzy animal characters, that make this perhaps the coziest of the director’s efforts. Alternately exuberant and melancholy (just like the holiday itself), and with numerous scenes of beautifully plated gluttonous excess, it’s remarkable that this movie hasn’t already been adopted as an unofficial icon of the season. Let’s start that campaign right here, shall we? 

Hannah and Her Sisters

The movie that won Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest Oscars, Hannah and Her Sisters is a story about family framed between two Thanksgivings and the year that connects them. With a meticulous insight about the highs and anxieties of upper-middle class life among Manhattan intellectuals, the film is really the travails of Hannah (Mia Farrow) and her sisters Holly (Dianne Wiest) and Lee (Barbara Hershey). There’s also the lust of Hannah’s husband Elliot (Caine), who pursues an affair with Lee, but the film is mostly told from the vantage of three women of varying ages struggling with how they see themselves and their lives in a year of New York living.

Writer-director Woody Allen is here too as a hanger-on in this family, who’s struggling with his own fears of death, but his and Elliot’s roles are ultimately as outside observers who arrive every Thanksgiving to watch the sisters and their parents renew their family ties… and close ranks.

Home for the Holidays

One that feels particularly timely as 2020 adults hole up in their childhood homes for Thanksgiving and beyond, director Jodie Foster’s underrated family gathering comedy wallows in the downsides of going home. The film stars Holly Hunter as a woman who’s lost her job and is growing apart from her teenage daughter (Claire Danes). But all of that pales in comparison to spending Thanksgiving with her parents (Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning), plus younger brother Robert Downey Jr.

Read more

TV

The Best Thanksgiving TV Episodes

By Alec Bojalad

Movies

The Long History of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Thanksgiving

By Gavin Jasper

It’s a familiar setup, but Thanksgiving is a time of being with those you’re familiar with, whether you like it or not. Plus, as a comedy it also has the still vital message of counting your blessings.

The Ice Storm

Based on Rick Moody’s acclaimed 1994 novel, director Ang Lee’s (Brokeback Mountain) masterful adaptation is a scathing portrait of upper middle class suburban life in the early 1970s, when all the experimentation in the world with drugs, alcohol, and sex couldn’t quite stop anyone from feeling like their lives and society were unmoored.

Like other dramas that take place around Thanksgiving, there’s very little to actually be thankful for: the characters (played with flair by Sigourney Weaver, Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, and others) are all trapped in emotional black holes of their own making.

Similarly, all the decadence and crazy fashions/trends of that surreal decade can’t replace the feeling that something has gone dreadfully wrong. Lee–before he became obsessed with the latest camera technology–charts this all with patience, empathy, and precision.

Knives Out

Okay, so Rian Johnson’s brilliant little whodunit isn’t actually set on Thanksgiving, but it sure feels like it is and was released around the holiday on Nov. 27, 2019 (God, that feels like a century ago). So… close enough. And while the family gathering at the center of the story is for a patriarch’s birthday, it certainly resembles the kind of large family assembly many hold at Thanksgiving, right down to feeling like it could end in murder.

Read more

Movies

Knives Out and the Villainy of Privilege

By Kayti Burt

Movies

Knives Out: When Murder Makes You a Better Person

By Natalie Zutter

The murder in question, of course, is that of mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), and it’s up to gentleman detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to figure out which of his many bickering, backbiting, scheming descendants might have had a hand in it. Perhaps Harlan’s nurse Marta (Ana de Armas) can help since the clan insists “she’s like part of the family.”

All that’s really missing is the turkey. The knives are out, in abundance.

The Last Waltz

Perhaps no title card in cinematic history deserves to be heeded more than the one which opens The Last Waltz: “This film should be played loud.”

Not just the greatest concert film ever made. Not only the greatest rock documentary of all time. The Last Waltz may lay claim to being the only movie of any stature literally filmed on Thanksgiving. Martin Scorsese shot The Band’s farewell concert on Thanksgiving Day, 1976, where the audience of 5,000 was served a literal Thanksgiving dinner in addition to an unforgettable night of music by some of the most legendary performers of the 20th century.

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Culture

The Last Waltz: Martin Scorsese’s Ultimate Rock n’ Roll Movie

By Tony Sokol

Culture

New Deep Purple Album Whoosh! Coming in June

By Tony Sokol

But this is no mere concert film. Being treated to a document of such legendary musicians at the height of their powers would make this important enough, but when it’s shot, lit, and edited by Scorsese, and with The Band joined by towering guest stars like Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and many more, The Last Waltz becomes one of the most powerful musical statements ever committed to film. Scorsese breaks up the performances with members of The Band reflecting on their career, and even in these quieter moments, The Last Waltz radiates the power and danger of a life lived on the road, in seedy dives, and storied ballrooms.

When you’ve had your fill of football and family for the night, pour yourself a glass of something good and do exactly as that opening title card says.

Miracle on 34th Street

Yes, yes, technically speaking Miracle on 34th Street is a Christmas movie. But it is definitely worth noting that the film actually spends more screen time on the actual Thanksgiving holiday than Christmas Day. Indeed, the picture opens with the now legendary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In the ultimate stroke of product placement, Macy’s New York City shindig got nationwide attention on the big screen, even as the movie focuses on the department store hiring the wrong Santa Claus for its festivities.

Arriving drunk and disgraceful to Macy’s preparations, an inebriated mall Santa creates an opportunity for a man who calls himself Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) to step in. Kris is passing through, presumably doing some holiday shopping ahead of his own big day in December. But upon seeing his personage so besmirched, he demands to take Santa’s reins and in the process saves Thanksgiving. We also see how this affects the turkey time of the film’s central mother and daughter team, played by Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood.

Mistress America

Sometimes Thanksgiving can be quiet and intimate… and desperately needed. That’s the case of the end to Noah Baumbach’s effervescent Mistress America. A mostly successful attempt at emulating 1930s screwball comedy for literary millennials, Mistress America is a clever throwback set during autumn in New York City and, tellingly, a trip to the suburbs of Connecticut. But by movie’s end, protagonists Tracy (Lola Kirke) and Brooke (Greta Gerwig) find themselves alone and isolated in the big city on Thanksgiving. They also thus discover an excuse to reconcile after grievances drove them apart, breaking bread at a restaurant down the street. It’s downbeat, but emotionally cathartic for both the characters and film.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

As the late John Hughes’ masterpiece, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the quintessential “get home in time for the holiday” tale. Steve Martin is Neal, a stressed-out marketing exec who picks up an accidental travel companion in Del (John Candy), a well-meaning but oafish shower curtain ring salesman. As the two struggle to get back to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving amidst a string of misadventures and transportation issues, an eventual friendship forms, leading to a moving conclusion.

Planes was a step forward for Hughes as he began to move away from teen comedies, and the movie’s balance of humor and heart was perfectly complemented by the dynamic comedic chemistry of Martin and Candy. The latter probably had his best role ever in Del Griffith, and it’s a tribute to both actors and Hughes that each lead character can be annoying yet is never unlikable.

Read more

Movies

Christmas Movies on Disney+ Streaming Guide

By David Crow

Movies

Christmas Movies: A Complete Holiday Streaming Guide

By Alec Bojalad

Hilarious and poignant, this mix of buddy picture and road movie is a near-perfect treat for the season—or any time.

Prisoners

We wouldn’t exactly call Prisoners ideal holiday viewing. It’s set at Thanksgiving and immediately afterwards, although there isn’t much cheer during most of the film’s harrowing 153 minutes. The movie opens with a Thanksgiving dinner involving two Pennsylvania families, a pleasant ritual that soon turns nightmarish when two little girls—one from each clan—go missing. From that point onward, the story becomes a downward psychological spiral in which the search for the girls takes a terrible toll on all caught in its wake.

The first Hollywood studio film directed by French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (who has since gifted us with films like Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and next year’s Dune), Prisoners is a brutal, emotionally complex thriller that maintains a high level of suspense and dread over its formidable running time.

Featuring excellent performances from Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, and others, it may not be the kind of cheery escapism we often seek out at the holidays. But it will leave you deeply thankful for the good things in your own life.

Rocky and Rocky II

“To you it’s Thanksgiving, to me it’s Thursday,” Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) tells Adrian Pennino (Talia Shire) as they hit the streets for their first date in Rocky. That date wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the tougher than tough love of Adrian’s brother Paulie (Burt Young). He gave them no alternative but to go out when he tossed the Thanksgiving turkey his sister slaved over all day out the side door. What followed was one of the best first date scenes in film.

It doesn’t seem like Rocky and Adrian have a lot to be thankful for. She says her daddy told her to develop her brains because she’d never get by on her looks. Rocky says he’s so dumb he couldn’t hope to be anything else but a fighter, which is halfway to being a bum.

While the scenes surrounding the ice skating rink date aren’t only some of the most romantic sequences captured on celluloid, they culminate in one of hottest. This is all before Rocky is even approached to fight the heavyweight champ of the world. The battered underdog Rocky stays on his feet until the final bell, and an almost equally bashed Apollo Creed, who barely held onto his title belt, swears he never wants a rematch.

Read more

Culture

Could Rocky Balboa Really Have Gone the Distance?

By Tony Sokol

Movies

The Top 10 Carl Weathers Movie and TV roles

By Wil Jones

Apollo takes that rematch when he defends his title in Rocky II. The fight is set for Thanksgiving Day, and Rocky knocks the stuffing out of that turkey, and laps up the gravy. Many of the Rocky movies, including Creed, opened on Thanksgiving weekends, and are perfect “date movies.” The main bouts may focus on two fighters, but the love stories, starting with the one between Rocky and Adrian, are tenderer than the bird Paulie tossed in the alley.

Spider-Man

The original Spider-Man really is a superhero movie for all seasons. With its romantic and old-fashioned photography of New York City in the spring and autumn, the picture runs the calendar’s gamut in its storytelling of the webslinger’s first year on the job. But it also pivots on a rather eventful Thanksgiving dinner.

Read more

Movies

Why Spider-Man 2’s Train Fight is Superhero Cinema’s Greatest Action Scene

By Mark Harrison

Movies

Sam Raimi Spider-Man Trilogy Writer David Koepp Reveals Original Plans

By Joseph Baxter

Fresh off Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) refusing to team up with the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), and after a blow up at a not-Macy’s Day Parade in Times Square, the pair’s alter-egos unwittingly meet up for Thanksgiving in Peter Parker’s apartment. It’s a swanky bachelor pad he shares with Harry Osborn (James Franco). But even with Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) and Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) there to give it some holiday warmth, things get frosty when Dafoe’s patriarchal Norman realizes the kid passing him the cranberries is his mortal enemy. Awkward.

And yes, nearly 20 years later this strangely does feel like a holiday movie, doesn’t it?

ThanksKilling

This film is terrible. An exploitative C-cheapie horror where a turkey possessed by a demon with a smart mouth hunts and murders coeds. But if that’s your jam… well, it exists.

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The post Best Thanksgiving Movies to Watch This Holiday Season appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[twistednuns]

October 2020

To buttress - increase the strength of or justification for; reinforce / to mollycoddle - to give someone too much care or protection. 

A letter from Nina. One of those weird internet connections. Not my first one, certainly not my last one.

Frank’s DnD backstory reads quite insightful/poetic to me as he has taken so much from his life. He might have done it without intent but it’s quite obvious to me. I’ve agreed to make a character sketch for him. I’m looking forward to the challenge but I’m also afraid of starting the project because obviously I want it to be perfect. Anyway so the other night I sat at his kitchen table and started drawing a facial composite for his goliath. Lots of sketches actually with him giving me some prompts and ideas. I think he loved watching me do my magic. What a peaceful moment.

Applause from some students. Simply for entering the room. They must really hate their English teacher, eh?

I’ve started forming the habit of drawing tarot cards on a full moon and new moon night. It helps me set an intention for the following two weeks. So on the first of October I drew the Queen of Wands to represent me and I’m loving it. It’s the perfect choice.

The fabric dyeing process for the Plot exhibition at Haus der Kunst

Inviting warmth into my life. Wearing appropriately warm clothing. Even hats. Drinking tea all the time. Turning the heating on even though it’s only September. Warm breakfast. Ayurveda inspiration. Hot baths. Thinking about buying an electric heating blanket for my bed.So far I’ve been taking a hot water bottle to bed with me pretty much every night.

Finding one of those Barts woolly animal hats online. This one came with tigers. And the seller sent me a cherry marzipan teabag. I enjoyed it on a cold and rainy Saturday morning.

FAQ: The Status of the Shits Women Have Left to Give

Reading the final scenes of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy. I actually took the wrong bus one evening and ended up in front of one of the Pinakotheken instead of Villa Stuck. I must have been quite immersed. I’m very happy with the ending. I mean, the main character is walking around the house barefoot with the smell of fresh paint following her, her hair loose. What a wonderful image.

The wind blowing through the maple trees outside my living room window. I’m just going to quote a Wikipedia article to explain what happened next: The distinctive fruits are called samaras, “maple keys”, “helicopters”, “whirlybirds” or “polynoses”. These seeds occur in distinctive pairs each containing one seed enclosed in a “nutlet” attached to a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue. They are shaped to spin as they fall and to carry the seeds a considerable distance on the wind. People often call them “helicopters” due to the way that they spin as they fall. During World War II, the US Army developed a special airdrop supply carrier that could carry up to 65 pounds (29 kg) of supplies and was based on the maple seed.

Monsieur Wiener - I’ve paid him a visit when I had problems with my analogue Pentax camera!

I don’t know why but one dark Friday evening I slipped into the empty church at Odeonsplatz. I loved the peaceful atmosphere, the specific smell and the red church candles flickering.

I loved meeting Flo. We had such a great time, constantly joking, talking about this and that. Sailor Mercury, Hades, our family. His wink. He said that I had been exactly right but in the end apparently I wasn’t. It stung because he had been one of the rare guys in the last months (years, actually) I actually liked. Oh well. I guess it wasn’t meant to be after all. This is what the Universe had to say about it the other day: There are no accidents. If it’s appeared on your life’s radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what’s broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you’re already the person you dreamed you’d become.

Videos of Marno and Erin together. Also: she is so freakin’ beautiful as a marauder.

A surprise call from Ann-Katrin.

Sweet chai tea with milk.

The bright moonlight making the neighbours’ roof look like fish scales.

Forensic linguistics. I listened to a podcast episode about the Unabomber who was only discovered after his brother had noticed some stylistic irregularities in his manifesto. You can’t eat your cake and have it too.

Autumn leaves. Especially when it’s just the outer leaves turning red or yellow while the rest of the foliage is still green.

Sitting next to my ten-year-old student Ella on the bus on our way home on a Friday afternoon. She’s a very chatty Gemini and even though her self-importance and constant talking can be quite annoying I’ve kinda taken a liking to her.

A bunch of Alstroemeria in my dark green glass vase on the desk. A pretty image.

I still appreciate how beautiful my LuLuLemon thermos bottle is after all this time.

I should probably mention my new hair (extensions). Well, it looks absolutely gorgeous from the front. But I already know that I won’t get them again because you can see the glue in a few places, it’s quite hard, often painful and feels unnatural. And of course it’s much too expensive.

Baby carrots with King hummus.

My lunch dates with Becky.

Making my favourite sour thai curry. With rice noodles. And peanuts and cilantro. Yum.

Starting to work on a big soapstone sculpture. It’s going to be a hand! I love it when I have a group of calm students. It allows me to work on a project with them.

Making delicious pumpkin lasagna.

Visiting Manu’s mum. Making plum dumplings together. A fun afternoon in their kitchen.

A very cosy Sunday. Waking up at 5:30am. Watching Practical Magic in bed. Having a slice of pumpkin lasagna for breakfast. A sudden urge to get out, dressing up to keep out the cold, going out, early, streetlights still on. A walk through the woods. I loved how calm everything was. Being out before all the others had a chance to disturb the stillness with their kids and dogs and bicycles. Making lebkuchen. Lots of pecans. Having a nap. Writing a letter. Drawing weird mushrooms and bugs.

Autumnal smells. The moist smell of the forest ground, mushrooms, the smell of chimneys on a cold Sunday morning. Incense, gingerbread spices. Facial oil with lavender and iris. Roasted pecans.

A crafty day. I made a haunted house, some ghosts, spiders, bats, skulls and pumpkins out of paper.

Schlurp.

Meeting Frank in front of Residenztheater. The whole square was empty, he was the only person there. Waiting for me. Looking up to the opera roof. What an impressive building.

Talking about living life in story mode and action mode. I feel so stuck in action mode at the moment and desperately want to switch to story mode. Fantasy, magic, coincidences and meaning.

Spicy pumpkin recipes in the current issue of Schrot und Korn.

Rice and hazelnut milk as a bedtime treat.

Collecting autumn leaves. Chestnuts, acorns, feathers, beechnuts. Making a little autumnal alter with some crystals.

Thursday mornings. So much time for myself. Lots of tea, warm breakfast.

Treating myself to massages and nice facial creams and serums. Ya Yah is such a gifted person. I love her massages the most. The other day I also got a facial for the first time in many many years. It was nice to be wrapped in an extremely fluffy blanket. When the bright lights were on I could see different colours after closing my eyes and imagined being at a tropical beach. Unintentional ASMR sounds from the rubber gloves. Cosy.

Spicy winter tea in my new thermos bottle. The steam swirling up from my favourite mug (the moon phase mug I bough in Canada).

Buying cheap sparkly stickers, washi tape and stamps. Just because.

Pecan nuts are the BEST. Crazy delicious.

Porridge with coconut milk and mango for breakfast. Persimmons. Candles in the morning.

Gloomy twilight. The dark hour right before sunset/sunrise. Spooky black silhouettes against the ink blue or greyish white sky. Fairy lights. Memories of spending Halloween at Greyfriar’s Kirkyard in Edinburgh.

Finding yet another woolly hat for my collection. This time with pheasants.

Deltavenus’ Instagram feed.

Cutting open a fresh lime.

Happily singing along to my two favourite mantras (Jai Mata Kali / Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha) while making apple galette. Trying to harmonise in different ways.

A very surprising call from Claudia. She ended up in my kitchen, drinking half a bottle of wine.

A lovely Sunday with Sash. A walk through the English garden.   Watching the waterfall, falling leaves, backlit by the afternoon sunlight. Haus der Kunst. Getting in for free (art teacher bonus). I really liked the Michael Armitage exhibition and the enormous dyed curtains in the hall. Franz Erhard Walther’s Dust of Stars autobiography was impressive as well. I just ordered the book online; I’m looking forward to reading it. We also had a drink at Goldene Bar and enjoyed a late lunch at Baoz Bar.

Becky leaving me a lovely note and an English magazine on my desk.

Fink’s Knödelstube with Lena and Sash. We had 13 different kinds of dumplings. Heavenly delicious.

I came to realise that mornings are my favourite time of the day. I love gloomy, dark sunrises and my usual productivity highs.

Writing limericks with the kids.

Getting lost in the woods after dark which might not look like a good think at first glance but I uncovered a little secret - some bee hives I had never seen before!

A mild obsession with The Corrs’ song Old Town. I didn’t even know where it came from. It’s not a song I’ve ever actively listened to.

Learning about sesame plants. Another one of those plants I expected to look completely different.

I can smell mushrooms. On Saturday morning I went to the forest again early in the morning and whenever I would get a whiff of mushrooms and look down there they were.

Dog owners wishing me a good morning on my walk. Interestingly only men, the women tend to ignore me.

Wicked! - Modern Art’s Interest in the Occult. Learning about Leonora Carrington.

James’ chameleons in art class. He drew one representing each of his family members. He was the one licking a bat. Bold.

Buying far too many books. But I found out that Naomi Novik just published a new novel about a school of magic. And within two days I came across the writer Ursula K. Le Guin three times so I took it as a sign and got one of her books as well.

Prepare for the Roaring Twenties - The human desire to socialize will survive the pandemic.

A deep talk session with Jonathan about getting old, having children, self-worth, dating, obeying rules.

Finding my favourite pair of jeans on Kleiderkreisel for a fraction of the original price. And a baseball jacket with a Strange Ladies Society print on the back.

A walk in the forest before work. Something I’ve never done before I think. So good for my nerves, really.

The art of decision-making.

Joy praising me for my authoritative voice (effectively making the fifth-graders do what I want).

Decorating the classroom with the fifth-graders. I love my haunted house on the window pane, their lovely spiders, ghosts and bats. I should probably mention that our class mascot is a cute spider named Crawley so we’re all quite into spooky stuff. On the last day before the holidays we all showed up in costumes, played a Halloween quiz, listened to creepy music and I brought some candy, too. Fun!

Meeting the gang on Halloween. Japanese-inspired dinner and a board game.

[elviefm]

is that [JOE KEERY]? no, that’s just [ELVIE CROFT]. [HE/HIM] is [TWENTY-FIVE] years old and is a [NIGHT JANITOR AT CURTAIN CALL]. rumor has it they’ve been in town for [ONE MONTH]. on a good day, they’re [JOCUND & PERSPICACIOUS]. but watch out! they can also be [SCATTERBRAINED & OBSTREPEROUS]. [SCRAWNY BY WALLOWS] plays in my head whenever i think of them. can’t wait to see them around Springhill! [sam, 23, est, she/her]

hey there demons! *ba dum tss* i’m sam and this is one of my favorite muses ever so without further ado, character info is under the cut and please message me if you would like to plot!

i. stats

ｆｕｌｌ ｎａｍｅ：elvin tupelo croft

ｐｒｅｆｅｒｒｅｄ ｎａｍｅｓ：el, elvie, spooky guy

ｈｏｍｅｔｏｗｎ：salem, massachusetts

ｄａｔｅ ｏｆ ｂｉｒｔｈ：october 31st, 1994

ａｇｅ： twenty - five

ｚｏｄｉａｃ：scorpio

ｏｒｉｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ：demisexual

ｏｃｃｕｐａｔｉｏｎ：night janitor at curtain call movie theater

ｐｏｓ． ｔｒａｉｔｓ：jocund, perspicacious, loyal, open - minded.

ｎｅｇ． ｔｒａｉｔｓ：scatterbrained, obstreperous, flippant

ii. history

elvin tupelo “elvie” croft was born in salem, massachusetts ( yes, really ) on halloween day ( yes, really ). he's an only child and his father is the district attorney for essex county, massachusetts while his mother owns a small local business that sells witchcraft supplies such as crystals, herbs, grimoires, and more. interesting fact: she’s the descendant of an accused witch, meaning that elvie is as well.

as it turns out, beneath of the surface of the few tourist attractions that it has to offer, salem has a small town, stuck in the past vibe. it’s the sort of place where everyone knows everyone all their lives because no one ever leaves and no one ever moves in. he grew up in this…eccentric…environment, living in the same house all his life and only ever leaving to visit his grandparents in boston.

he was five years old when he saw his first horror movie ( an apathetic teenage babysitter let him stay up long past his bedtime to watch nightmare on elm street ) and from that moment on he was HOOKED.

when he started school, two things about him became apparent: 1) he was highly intelligent and 2) he struggled greatly with tasks such as sitting still and staying focused. he was tested ( a few times, much to his irritation ) and it turns out that he has a genius level iq and adhd.

he could have been one of those child prodigies who finished high school at the age of ten and then college at the age of fourteen, BUT his parents decided that they didn’t want him to miss out on the experience of going through school with peers his own age.

HOWEVER, as the smartest kid in class with glasses and braces and an insatiable obsession with all things horror and halloween, he…was picked on. mercilessly. he never had many friends, but he was content to go right home after school and spend the rest of the day reading comic books or watching horror movies or researching local urban legends and paranormal stories.

so, when he got to his senior year of high school, he was a shoe - in to be named class valedictorian ( he was ) and he was even getting ivy league offers. of course, his parents mainly his father were really pushing him to attend college and elvie, genius level iq and all…didn’t want to go. he had a van ( a turquoise monstrosity painted to look like the mystery machine ) and he just wanted to drive. alas, his dad was absolutely NOT having it.

he attended harvard for both his pre law and law school studies, breezed through classes, graduated with honors at the top of his class and once he passed the bar exam there were countless job offers waiting for him. elvie ignored them all and finally embarked on that road trip he had been meaning to take.

he’s been on the road for about a year now and he’s traveled all over the country. he often breezes into a town or a city, lives in his van, and takes up some odd jobs to squeeze a few dollars out of before he inevitably gets fired for messing up or not taking the work seriously or getting high on the job. he arrived in springfield a month ago, continuing his pattern or having fun and exploring somewhere he’s never been before.

iii. extras

his name is elvin but basically no one ever calls him that. his own parents don’t even particularly like the name. long story. most people call him elvie and some who are super close to him just call him el.

BIG RYAN BERGARA ENERGY. a huge believer in the paranormal and urban legends, and one of his favorite things to do when he goes somewhere new is check out the local cemeteries and haunted locales. unlike ryan, the poor guy he’s definitely NOT a scaredy cat in fact, all his life there’s been this running joke that he doesn’t seem to be scared of anything, and who knows? maybe he isn’t.

has the most cartoonishly exaggerated boston accent that one could ever hope to hear, except he doesn’t seem to realize it at all.

10/31 blaze it he’s a HUGE stoner.

he’s got jokes. stay vigilant.

he’s OBSESSED with all things horror, halloween, and 80s. he makes a lot of film references that are often so obscure that most people don’t even catch them.

he’s a lawyer! at least in the state of massachusetts. however, this is not at all common knowledge because…

most people don’t know how smart he actually is as he intentionally plays dumb and he’s really good at it. being high all the time and his natural chaotic energy is quite helpful in hiding his intelligence. he just doesn’t like to be seen as smart, so the whole once - brilliant law student thing? not common knowledge whatsoever. he tries not to mention the college he attended by name at all, but if he has to then he lies and says that he went to salem state.

and yes, he has SO MUCH chaotic energy. he’s the kind of person who will stick a fork in his microwave just to see what would happen out of sheer boredom. he has two pet mexican redknee tarantulas named freddy and jason who he just…fucking loses track of every other day. his favorite drink is literally black coffee mixed together with a can of monster energy and 5 ( f i v e ) teaspoons of sugar. he is c h a o s. he has absolutely NO IMPULSE CONTROL whatsoever.

he has slight Daddy Issues™. slight. when he was born, his dad was hoping that he would get a star athlete kid who would go on to follow in his footsteps and one day become a successful, respectable lawyer but instead he got…elvie. he’s never outright said that he’s disappointed but he didn’t need to. elvie’s a really difficult person to rattle but every time, without fail, he ends a phone call with his dad and he’s in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

his car is this PIECE OF JUNK giant turquoise van that he painted to look like the mystery machine. her name is laurie strode.

even though he makes constant pop culture references about horror movies and the 80s, but outside of those areas he’s completely clueless about pop culture. like, he can recite the entire scripts of the shining and empire strikes back and ferris bueller’s day off word for word, but if someone tried to talk to him about the new beyonce song or the latest marvel movie he would just stare blankly.

he has a HUGE sweet tooth. his favorite food is halloween candy and his favorite candy is black licorice disgusting i know.

he takes adderall for his adhd and he’s usually good about keeping up with it. started keeping them on his person in college because he realized that his meds were getting stolen and it’s a habit he’s held onto that doesn’t really keep his shit from getting stolen.

he’s good at…A LOT of things because he’s a really fast learner. he can play the guitar, he can draw, he did drama in high school. he just has to watch someone do something once and then he can usually immediately do it himself. this skill doesn’t extend to physical activities such as sports, however. he’s terrible at those.

he’s basically a cartoon character

iv. wanted connections

best friend from salem who travels with him *will probably submit as a wc

friends

cousin ( their grandparents would probably be from boston but otherwise anything really goes for this )

his weed dealer

smoking buddies

people who don’t like him / find him annoying

i know there are a lot of business owners so : people he worked for who have since fired him for being an all around awful employee.

has stolen his adderall

maybe someone who knows how smart he really is

romantic connections!

( these are just ideas and i’m trash at coming up with these, so please don’t feel limited by what’s listed here. )

[dpjustified]

Ghosts being from Another Dimension Is Canon

(a headcanon and a short fanfic at the same time.)

If the ghosts of the Ghost Zone had a backstory, surely they must be the “dead” kind of ghosts, right?

That’s what Sam Manson, Tucker, and even Danny, thought before chancing upon a secret hidden deep in the basement of the Skurk and Lurk bookstore. This is because the basement was the room used for Tuesday Goth poetry slam night.

Sam was there to support Spike, and read her new poem in public for the first time, and the boys were there to support her - although they looked like they had better things to do. She even had them wear black T-shirts to blend in! After the poetry readings, the management let new indie bands play a few songs, and there were usually freebies given out afterwards. Danny didn’t need convincing for the music, but Tucker on the other hand...let’s just say she had to promise something that would make her hurl. But she wasn’t going to think about that right now. This meant a lot to her - getting to share her favorite place with her two favorite people.

A young lady with dark blue hair and a nose piercing got up on stage, along with a drummer and a guitarist. She took the mic with a prosthetic right hand.

The host of the event introduced the act as “the Lame Drains”.

“Hey, so who’s ready to rock?” The woman screamed in a familiar voice, flashing her tongue piercing.

Sam, Danny, and Tucker immediately looked at each other.

“Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Tucker said. The two nodded.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen Ember’s human disguise yet,” Danny added. “But let’s hope she doesn’t make trouble...”

The song was pretty catchy, but the vocals were identical to Ember’s music, though much less self-centered. The song was about a boyfriend who spent all the money on drugs and everything was in ruins.

After the song, the group handed out mp3 download codes, so the trio went up.

...

“Have I heard of Ember?” the woman said in response to Sam’s question with a laugh. “Sure, and lots of my fans compare me to her. It gives me a certain spooky appeal, that I might be a ghost.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Maybe we’d get along? Honestly, it’s kind of weird though. She reminds me of myself when I was in high school. I had just lost my boyfriend and times were hard. I ended up even...having those kind of thoughts and set my room on fire. At that time, being in a band was still a pipe dream, after having lost my right arm in an accident with him a few months before. I could never play guitar again, but I always wanted to be that kind of rock star. You know, 80s style. After surviving though, I met these guys. I wonder if this Ember ghost had a similar background to me.”

The drummer showed off his phone with a smile, pulling up a picture of a girl with a blue ponytail. “This was Leslie Lane in high school for the school talent show. If I were to say anything, I’d say maybe Ember McClain, before she died, was jealous!”

“Hey, I was the weirdo. No one even paid attention to me back then...well, except you guys. Too bad I didn’t know you both sooner.”

“If you guys promise to buy the album, I’ll send you this picture if you want.” The drummer and “Leslie” fought over the phone.

 Sam wasn’t sure what to say. “Um...sure?”

...

“Leslie Lane? Doesn’t strike a chord,” Ember said, before blowing a bubble of chewing gum. “Are you trying to distract me, dipstick?”

Danny showed her the picture. “Maybe this has something to do with how you died?”

“Died? Let me get this straight, ghost brat. I have never died, I was born like this...this girl looks exactly like me, except she’s human. What gives?” Ember snatched the phone, looked at it, then threw it away.

“Hey!” Danny barely caught it, and the two proceeded to fight.

Well if ghosts weren’t dead, what tied their dimension to Earth’s? Did it have something to do with the emotions they ran on? What about the Lunch Lady, Desiree, or even Poindexter?

To find out, he knew they would have to get to the bottom of this mystery.

(the headcanon: There are ghosts that are born from strong emotions because of the two dimensions - the Earth Solar System and the Ghost Zone - being interconnected. Not all ghosts come from emotions, as many are born in the ghost zone. Why the two dimensions are connected is a mystery)

Hopefully someone likes this short fiction. If there’s interest I might put a full story on ff.net. Thanks for reading, I appreciate it.