#and then there’s all the Non Halloween books i need to read you see there’s just too many books this is my problem

[skywitchmaja]

i need to pick. a REASONABLE NUMBER of halloween books to bring to my friends apartment while i’m cat sitting

[pynkgothicka]

Ａｌｗａｙｓ Ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ ＭＹＧ

Pairing - Yandere! Dark! Min Yoongi x Frankenstein! AFAB! Reader

Featuring - Sarah Paulson (HELP THE KILLER IS ESCAPING HELP ME)

Tags and Warnings - death, sex, yandere tendencies, grotesque descriptions, gaslighting

Authors Note - this counts as my Halloween fic since I be lazy, but I promise to write more! First I'll finish the monster series then the reqs! Then I'll write what I wanna write yada yada probably do a non bts series or fic

A friendly reminder that all my works are dark fanfiction! Please if you do not like that do not read them! These depictions don't pertain to reality.This is your final warning before hitting the keep reading button!!

He needed something, anything.

Staring at he conglomerate of body parts he stole from previously dead people of the outskirts of the village he found himself by.

Yoongi shook his head as he looked at the body parts. He wanted to focus on the task at hand, even if it was considered testing death itself.

He was meticulous, finding different shades of her skin tone to fit his new creation. All to top it off was her head.

The head of his dead wife, you.

He looked at it, running his finger down it's cheek. It was cold, too cold. He missed seeing you alive, having any ounce of warmth from your body. It was such a loss when he had to take and cut off your rotten body parts. He wanted you to be perfect.

Yoongi planted a kiss on the top of your severed head, a stray tear going down his face. “I'll get you back my love, I need you back.”

🪡

You blinked, seeing as you were covered in a sheet. Taking a deep breath you breathed in the scent of fresh linen. A shadow came over you, peering at your covered body. Your head was uncovered as you looked into a man's face. Blonde hair and dark eyes that sparkled once seeing you.

His hand trembled as he ran his shaking thumb on the side of your face. “Y- You're alive… you… you're beautiful.” His lips came to the top of your head, as he kissed it. You tried to speak but all that came out was a small squeak.

But the man found this amusing. “It seems like you forgot everything… Seems as if I didn't have my science all down.” He adds smiling. He held your hand helping you to move off the lab table. You almost immediately fall, the man taking your arm and holding you up. “Don't fall now come on let's get you to the wheel chair.”

He placed you down gently, running his hand over your stitches. He pulled at a few and securing them. “Okay, it's all in place… I'm so happy you're back. Well not all the way back I just have to do some reteaching. Like me, I’m Yoongi. Min Yoongi your husband.”

Yoongi made faces to help you pronounce his name correctly. “Y-You. Yoon-gi.” You finally muttered out in which Yoongi smiled and kissed your head.

“See look how easy it is for my brilliant wife to learn. I'm going to reteach it all to you my love…That and so much more…”

🪡

Having to be retaught everything wasn't the most normal feeling. But Yoongi, was more than helpful in making you remember who you were and the basics of living.

Yet he pushed for your captivity within the walls of his mansion. You stay at his feet most of the time while he worked and wrote letters.

He even constantly reminded you of your beauty and how you were the most beautiful girl hes ever seen. It was sweet in your eyes yet you were surrounded by so many depictions of beauty that weren't what you looked like. Different shades and natural movement you've yet to nail down.

But still you wondered about what existed past the mansions walls. Especially the village in the distance. You wondered about the women there and if they looked and aced like you. Your mind was busy and it could be shown on your face.

Snap!

You blinked as Yoongi snapped his fingers in front of your face. “Sorry, I was thinking.” You said quietly looking back towards Yoongi as he read a book.

“Thinking? About what?”

“I don't… look like. The paintings. Or the films.” You were able to piece together to form a sentence. It was degrading yes but true.

“Well who told you that?” Yoongi inquires while raising a brow at you. Gulping at the sternness in his voice, you speak up against him.

“No one told me that. I… I don't look like them. I don't, look like any of the women you've shown me.” You say getting up from your spot besides Yoongi. You look out the window in his study at the town in the far off distance. “I bet the village has-”

Yoongi gets up and grabs your hand gently. He runs his hand down the side of your face and leads you to turn away from the window. “Is that what this is about? Going into town?” He mumbles leaning into your neck. He peppered kisses along a stitch that tickled in particular. You giggled and looked at Yoongi your mind going blank at what you were mad at. “Is that better my love?”

“Mhmm. Yes Yoongi…”

“Good let's continue reading.”

🪡

Of course the thought came back.

The lights and the sounds of joy and fun. It haunts you, the time known as Halloween the same night as tonight. Yet here you were with Yoongi, his body over your own.

His thrusts increased in speed as he pounded into you. It was weird how full he made you feel. But you didn't mind it, you enjoyed it actually. Yoongi wrapped a hand around your stitched throat, pinning you to the bed. You let out a groan as Yoongi filled up your cunt, his cum spilling from inside of you. He pulled out and laid on top of you, peppering more kisses along your face.

“That was amazing…” Yoongi mumbles as he rolls over from on top of you. He wraps a arm around your naked form. You feel his lips against the middle of your neck, and soon the silent breathing known as sleep.

Tonight was the night.

No matter what you were getting out of here.

You hobble out of bed, limping towards the wardrobe. You grabbed a sweater he made for you and a long white skirt. Throwing both of them on you sneak out of the bedroom. You head to the bathroom and wipe your legs, making sure you were clean. You quietly make your way down the stairs to the front door. You look back making sure Yoongi wasn't behind you.

Nothing.

So you kept moving. Walking along the side of the road, dirt and rocks digging into the bottom of your feet. Your limp was soon gone as the pain dulled. It was a long walk and you made it eventually. Finally you see orange light shining on your face.

The village was full of people. Children dressed up as well as adults. Peering into windows you saw fashion portrayed in paintings and jewelry Yoongi only showed you from books of art. You ran a hand down the window but was pulled from it as you felt a touch on your shoulder.

There was a woman, her face framed by brown hair pulled into a bun. Stray hairs fell down her face. She was a tad bit older, but not too old. “Hi, were you looking at the jewelry in there?” She asked smiling. You nodded and she nodded with you giggling. “You don't talk much huh? It's alright, I was asking because I was going to buy it for you.”

Clearing your throat you finally spoke up, “Really?” You exclaimed excitedly. She nodded and pulled you into the shop.

“Choose anything I don't mind.” She says looking at the wall of fancy jewelry. “I have no one to spend it on so why not you…” Finally you choose one silver necklace with a diamond pendant in the center. Your plan was to give it to Yoongi, as a sort of thank you. It would also double as a apology for leaving when you eventually did come back. e woman purchased it and smiled taking you out of the store.

A gush of wind made you shiver and the woman gasped. “You're freezing, come on. I'll give you something to eat and get you warmed up.” You didn't know why but you followed behind the woman as she led you to her small quaint home in the village. You enter and are welcomed by a fireplace.

It was something you never felt nor seen your entire life, even if it was as small as it was. “Go sit by the fire while I go heat up some soup.” The woman says ushering you to go sit by the fire. You do, the warmth making everything feel better. It was bright and brilliant as Yoongi would've said.

You were passed a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It had vegetables and overall smelled delicious. The woman passed you a spoon and draped a blanket over you. Yoongi taught you to how use utensils, so you were familiar as you began to eat. “Good isn't it? I'm Sarah by the way, Sarah Paulson, the towns widow or whatever they want to fucking call me.” Sarah said making you gasp. Her language made you laugh yet also made you amused. Yoongi usually only spoke like that during sex or under his breath.

Was never for you to pay attention to nor recite

“What's a widow?” You ask eating more. Sarah seemed more than happy to have someone to talk too. She sat down on the couch, becoming even more comfortable.

“Well, a widow is someone whose husband or lover has died. It's mainly the villages women trying to make fun of me. But I say hey, if I'm a widow than I'm a widow.” Sarah exclaimed. “What about you? What's your name and slash or title?”

That made you think. You knew your name but what were you. After telling you your name, you went quiet. “I don't think I have a title. Except for what Yoongi calls me.”

“Wait like Min Yoongi? The one that lives in the mansion out of town?” Sarah asks looking at you with a inquisitive eye. You nod slowly and she looks away looking out the window. “Oh you poor thing. You don't even know the half of it do you?”

You shake your head no looking at Sarah. “W-What? You have to tell me.”

“Yoongi he… he stopped coming into town a while ago. He was caught digging up corpses, he went to me as he lost his lover and wanted some common ground with someone who understood him.” Sarah started but you cut her off.

“But, I'm his lover. He told me I was his one and only…” You say frantically.

“He had another, no one saw her though. He kept her in that mansion for fucks sake. He wanted to try and revive my husband, Mr Paulson. But I told him no…” Sarah trailed off and took a look at your neck and arms. She let out a quiet gasp as she moved to sit next to you. She ran a thumb over one of the stitches. “You're her… his creation.”

You furrowed your brows and looked at Sarah with concerned eyes. “I- What? What are you talking about? I'm his love, no I'm not-”

“You're a bunch of body parts… God I'm so sorry… your brain. He must've had to throw out your old one… he kept going at it. He kept running the experiment to revive Mrs Min.” Sarah said bringing you in for a hug. You quickly hugged her back crying into her shoulder. But she pulled away so you could look at her. “He's going to come looking… and I don't want you to get hurt. Yoongi is crazy… and you need to hide.”

A loud set of bangs were heard from her front door. Sarah covered you in the blanket and bent down to whisper. “Lay down and don't move, I'm going to try and save you.” Sarah said and you listened. You trusted her, but you couldn't see Yoongi as a violent man. But finding out all you now knew you couldn't risk it.

You heard the door open and feet moving into the home further. “Where did you put her?” You heard a voice that was similar to Yoongis speak up.

“Put who? Don't tell me you've found a new lover. Did you remarry Mr. Min?” Sarah said, keeping her tone respectful. She kept away from the living room where you laid on the ground.

“Don't play dumb. You are the only one I told about her.” Yoongis voice raised and you heard more steps being took away from you and towards where the first set stopped. You started to slowly move, one limb at a time, to under the couch.

“Well yes, but I didn't even know you succeeded in your experiment. Congratulations on that but you'd trust the people who rat you out about the body snatching?” Sarah came back stepping away and moving in a circle to the front of the couch. “Besides quiet rude entering my house this way, don't you think?”

“Rude my ass, I know she's in here. If there's anything those people want is to get me away from them. So they'll lead me in a direction to where I don't have to talk to them and I'm not going to be mad with them. So that leads to you.” Yoongis voice raised as he stood in front of the couch towering over Sarah. “So I'll ask one final time, where is she?”

“Get out of my ho-”

BANG!

You covered your mouth as the sound of a revolver echoed from within the home. You felt your cheeks grow wet.

“Where are you my love? I'm not mad I promise, it's okay I knew this would happen.” There it was, that sweet voice that was always coated in honey to coax you successfully. You moved from under the couch and let the blanket fall from your head. Yoongis face was covered in Sarah's blood as he gasped pulling you in for a hug. He kissed your head and lips, hands on your cheeks. “I was worried sick!”

“W- I'm… what ju-” You were cut off as you felt the necklace you brought earlier being pulled from your hand.

“Is this for me?” You nodded. “Thank you baby… this is beautiful my love.” He put it on and smiled at you keeping his thumb on your cheek. You kept stuttering though, confused and unaware of what just happened to you. “Shhh, it's okay just stay with me from now on okay? I can keep you safe, forever.” Yoongi said keeping your head faced away from the half bloodied mess that he made of Sarah's head.

[snek-panini]

Happy Halloween! Have a book:

This is Siren's Song by @kedreeva (Hi! I asked to bind your fic months ago, sorry it took so long XD). It's an incredible Good Omens siren AU, which needs no introduction from me but it gets one anyway. It's one of the most in-character fics I've ever read, tackles a lot of the most resonant themes of the original (love in the context of aromanticism and asexuality, human labels in the context of non-human perspective), and has incredible world-building. Later parts of the fic always make me cry but they're good tears. You'll see. When I first learned that fanbinding was a thing and started looking into how to do it, this was one of the first fics I thought of. It just took me a while to learn the skills I needed before I could do it.

More pics and process talk under the cut!

So the cover up there is black faux leather and momi paper that I bought...about two years ago? And just kept on hand till I was ready to do this project. This is the first time I've worked with it and it was fairly nice, though harder to get a nice crease into than lokta or chiyogami. It felt very fragile when I was handling it but I didn't have any issues with tearing or glue bleed-through like I thought I might. It did bleed some color when I got it damp with the glue, and it took way longer to dry than normal, but once that was done it's been fine. Which is nice because I have a lot left over, so it'll probably be making many future appearances in my binds.

Look! It's rounded! I got a backing setup recently and this is my first time using it. It was Very Hard and I am not very good at it yet. But I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt, and there was really no other way to mitigate the spine swell on this one. I used a thick paper so I've got a thick book. I also tried something new with the case, though it isn't visible. Usually I make the text block and the case separately and then attach them as the last step, but for this one I actually built the case around the text. Like, boards attached to mull/tapes (sandwiched between thinner boards, with grooves cut for them so there are no bulges), then covered with momi, then leather corners and spine, then paste down the endpaper. It's got an oxford hollow, too! The tapes and mull actually wrap around the outside of the boards instead of the inside like I've done before. Endpapers are my favorite feather chiyogami. Combined with the marbled momi they make for a very opulent look, and I had just barely enough to do this. Like, down to the millimeter. I had to trim the edges and then glue the endpapers after to be sure they were right. I'm glad they were, because I didn't have a backup plan. Handmade endbands, colors picked to match the cover. Also, last note, I got the corner bits right for the first time. Measured properly, with no weird pointy bits that come out at funny angles. Very proud.

Title page and bookmark/interior shot. Did you know that some basic fonts in MS Word look different when you use a huge font size? Because I didn't until I made this title page. That's Parchment for the title, and it only gets those swirly bits around the capital letters if you take it to 26pt or higher (I used 72 here). Now I wonder if any of the other fonts have easter eggs in them like that. The ribbon is very fancy, to go along with the rich endpaper/cover combo. I think it's pretty appropriate for a mythological golden age of piracy story, as are the text ornaments:

Chapter header image, chapter end image, and section break image. It was a very image-heavy typeset. I was originally planning to only have a header and a section break, but I couldn't decide whether I liked the ships or the book/shell/feather better, and they both suited the story so well that I just went with both. Again, opulent, but I think it fits. All the images came from rawpixel, all I did was resize them.

There was a small error in the trimming process. Comes of having to calculate so closely the exact amount you can trim off, that you have to trim off so your slightly-too-small endpapers fit. I think something got misaligned when I poked the sewing holes because only the first signature is like this. The rest of the book has a more appropriately-sized margin between the page number and the edge. I got very lucky here, and I know it, and I'm never cutting it this close (lol) again. Next time we just order another sheet of chiyogami.

And that's it! I have one author's copy and one new bind in progress right now (that's taking a while because I'm learning more new stuff for it), and then I have two Christmas gift books to do, so it might be a bit before I have another book to share.

[summerwritesfics]

🍓No Tricks, Only Treats

Pairing: Hanzo Hasashi/Kuai Liang Length: 1316 Words Rating: Teen Warnings: Costume Party, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Halloween Party, Fluff, Bunny Girl Outfits, Kuai Is A Cutie Pie, Hanzo Has Vague memories Of Either MKvsDC or Injustice (whichever you prefer lmao) @anyfandomfluffbingo: Costume Party

Summary: Hanzo & Kuai Liang attend Johnny’s Halloween party.

AFG Fluff Bingo Masterlist

Notes: Heeeyyyyy Happy Halloween :) I was looking through my bingo prompts because tbh, I need to really start working on them, and I realised this prompt was perfect for a short little Halloween fic! So, enjoy!

Halloween was an oddity to Hanzo.

He didn’t really get the point of it if he was being honest. Trick and treating, while he could understand it being fun for kids, didn’t really sound appealing to him. Dressing in silly costumes even less so.

But when Johnny Cage invited you to a party, it was very hard to say no. Especially with Kuai Liang extremely enthusiastic about the idea, wanting to experience as much of what a normal life would feel like as possible. The fact that it was a costume party just seemed to excite Kuai more. He’d never worn a costume to a party before, the idea so novel that he’d been basically talking about it non-stop. The kids had offered to take him shopping for one and he’d eagerly agreed.

Hanzo hadn’t gone with them, and hadn’t seen Kuai’s costume yet. Due to their schedules they were also arriving to the party separately. He wondered what ridiculous outfit they’d managed to persuade Kuai to buy. He’d heard Cassandra pitch some ice queen outfit from some animated movie, but if that was the direction they’d gone in he didn’t know.

Hanzo himself had just gone kind of simple, and a little classic according to Johnny Cage. His pirate costume had been relatively inexpensive, and it was not exactly good quality, but he hadn’t wanted to spend a lot on something he was going to use once. The other guests' costumes seemed to vary in effort. Cassandra and Jacqueline had gone all out with quite intricate outfits. Supposedly they were a pair of supervillain lesbians, but Hanzo had no idea what they were referring to. Then you had Sonya, who’d thrown a bit of fake blood onto a blouse and called herself a zombie. According to Johnny, that was her outfit every year.

“Nice costume, Grandmaster,” a voice broke him out of his musings. He turned to find Kung Jin standing next to him.

“Thank you.” Hanzo looked Kung Jin up and down. He wasn’t completely sure on what Jin’s costume was, but given it was green and he had a bow and arrow he could make somewhat of an educated guess. “Are you meant to be Robin Hood?”

“I’m Green Arrow!” Jin sounded offended at the idea he was anything but this “Green Arrow” person. “Anyone would think you’ve never read a comic book or something.”

“Uh huh,” Hanzo sarcastically hummed. So he was also a superhero then. Seemed the kids were going for a theme.

From the corner of his eye, someone else peered around him. Even with an almost full face mask on, Hanzo could tell it was Takeda.

“I’m Batman,” he announced, putting on a gruff voice that made Jin burst into laughter.

“See, now, Batman I know,” Hanzo told Jin, lazily pointing at Takeda. “I don’t like him, but I know him.”

“What?” Takeda exclaimed, dropping the voice and standing straight. “How can you hate Batman?”

“I just have a weird feeling about him.” It was like something had happened in a past life in relation to the caped crusader. Which was absolutely ridiculous when he thought about it. Batman was a fictional character and didn’t exist, so the feeling was completely irrational. Still, something about it made him uneasy. He cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject with “so, what? Did you four convince Kuai Liang to be a superhero as well?”

“Nah, we let him do his own thing.” Takeda made a dismissive motion with his hand. “He seemed happy with what he got though.”

“Think you’ll be happy with it too,” Jin quietly chuckled as he took a sip of his drink. Hanzo couldn’t help but eye him suspiciously.

“What did you guys let him buy?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at Jin. He could just imagine that Kuai was about to walk in wearing the most absurd thing the kids could convince him to buy.

Jin bit his lip and smirked, “oh. You’ll see.” He then pointed across the room. “In fact, he’s here.”

Hanzo looked around just in time to see Kuai Liang walking into the party. His jaw dropped at what he saw.

Kuai Liang in what Hanzo could only describe as a bunny girl outfit.

He watched as Kuai was greeted by Johnny and Sonya, both clearly amused by what Kuai was wearing. It was a light blue bodysuit without straps and fishnet tights. He had a pair of bunny ears perched on his head, a small ball of fluff attached to his ass like a tail, and to top it all off a pair of high heel shoes the same colour as the bodysuit. Hanzo could feel his face getting hot, he completely understood Jin’s snide comment. Kuai did have a habit of wearing revealing clothing but this was the furthest he’d ever gone in public before.

“Have fun~” Jin sang in a teasing way, reaching under Hanzo’s chin and closing his mouth, teeth loudly clacking together. Hanzo glared at him, but Jin just laughed in his face. All Hanzo could do in retaliation was watch as Jin and Takeda walked away.

“Hanzo,” Kuai greeted cheerfully as he made his way over. The bright smile on his face was a beautiful sight. Even if Hanzo had originally had reservations about coming to the party, it was worth it to see Kuai experiencing pure joy from something so silly and simple. “I like your costume.”

“Ah. And I like yours,” Hanzo admitted, taking a better look at it now Kuai was closer. God damn he pulls it off a little too well. “Was this your idea or the kids?”

“A little of both,” Kuai explained with a sheepish grin. “I wanted to but wasn’t sure and they convinced me.”

It occurred to Hanzo that the kids' encouragement was probably an effort to make Hanzo flustered. Kenshi had warned him the group were on the warpath to break past the “Grandmaster Grumpyface” persona. He supposed this time, they actually won. He glanced across the room at them, where the four were now grouped together, watching Kuai and Hanzo, giggling to themselves over their victory.

They are the worst Superhero group I’ve ever seen. 

“Apparently Sonya is jealous because my legs are nicer than hers,” Kuai continued, holding one of the aforementioned limbs up as emphasis. Hanzo snorted at that. “Her words, not mine, to clarify.”

“Well, I do agree with her, you do have fantastic legs.” Hanzo cleared this throat slightly as he stared at the body parts in question. “As well as other assets.”

“Other ass-ets?” Kuai questioned, stressing that particular part of the word, making it obvious what he thought Hanzo was getting at.

“That’s not what I meant,” Hanzo clarified with a huff. Kuai just tilted his head at him. “I mean don’t get me wrong that part of you is magnificent but it’s not the only part of you that is.”

The grin on Kuai’s face just emphasised the point. It made all the features on his face light up and just proved how beautiful he was. Hanzo couldn’t help himself, he lent forward to press a kiss on the tip of Kuai’s nose. Kuai snorted and pulled back slightly while gently pushing Hanzo away, which was exactly the kind of reaction he was looking for.

“Want to go get a drink?” He asked casually, trying to resist another kiss as Kuai’s cheeks were turning red.

“Hm, I could do with one.” Kuai lent forward slightly, bracing a hand against Hanzo’s collarbone. “Lead the way, Captain.”

Hanzo rolled his eyes in jest, but held out his arm so Kuai could link with his. Kuai gladly accepted, letting Hanzo guide both of them. The night was young, and as long as Kuai Liang had a good time, Hanzo was happy to indulge him until he decided it was over.

[the-archangel]

It's My (Halloween) Party

Halloween fluff (mostly) with a NSFW middle bit!

“It’s fine V, honestly, it’s fine. I knew that in the end this is what would have to happen and so did you. I’m ready, it’s fine.”

V looks Johnny in the eye, the usual smug look had been replaced with one more sombre and thoughtful.

“Shit Johnny, I’m so sorry, but don’t you think you’re over-reacting the tiniest bit? I mean, I’m literally going to be gone for three days, I promise I’ll spend the day with you on Friday.”

“But it’s Hallowe’en tomorrow V, I wanted to take it all in, dress up and shit, y’know?”

“I know, I do, but you can always decorate the apartment. Hey, why not have a party? Get dressed up, invite your friends, it’ll be fun.”

Johnny huffs non-committally, he does love a party, he might struggle with the friends part though. “I got a costume, see what you think?”

V nods and settles back on the couch and a few minutes later a subtly changed Johnny re-enters the room. V looks at his friend’s black suit, shirt and tie combo quizzically, “Who’re you supposed to be?”

“I’m an old-school assassin, like in that movie we saw where he killed that dude with a library book.”

“Shit yeah! That’s pretty good. If you put away the shit-eating grin and worked on harassed and homicidal you’d look just like him.” V laughs.

“Thank you for your valuable feedback.” Johnny spits before stalking back to the wardrobe.

-

Kerry is also in a wardrobe, albeit a much larger, more glamourous one. This Hallowe’en is going to be epic and he and V need outfits to match. There is already a pretty impressive pile of discarded clothes and exotic costumes, but nothing seems quite right.

V had tried helping at first, unearthing pirate costumes and elegant military gear from long-forgotten videos and declaring it all perfect, but hot as V looked in the sexy highwayman outfit, none of it was vibing with Kerry so the outfit was abandoned with the rest – only a little torn by its somewhat hasty removal. So, V is returning home in good spirits, oblivious to the increasingly frustrated mood of his husband.

“Hey Ker, you still upstairs?” V shouts.

A muffled, “M,hm,” comes from somewhere above him. Taking the steps two at a time and entering the closet, V tries not to smirk at the picture before him: world-famous Rockerboy Kerry Eurodyne sat in his underpants and a black feather boa pouting in a maelstrom of abandoned ideas.

V carefully picks his way over to the comically dejected looking man and sits behind wrapping his arms around his shoulders and grimaces through the pain of the coat hanger currently digging into his upper thigh. “It’s OK Ker, I’ll drive us into the City Center, buy lunch, look for costumes…”

Kerry cuts him off, “No! There’s something here, I can feel it, I just can’t find it.”

V pulls him closer burying his face in the older man’s neck, mostly to hide the chuckle. “Ditch this for a couple of hours, we can come back to it later, we need to pack for tomorrow’s trip.”

The other man looks momentarily startled, he’d been trying to forget about the record company shindig in NY he’d agreed to host, only finally agreeing because there’d be chooms there he hadn’t seen in a few years – and because of the preem Hallowe-en party of course. “Sure, I suppose,” he says, reluctantly letting the boa fall to the floor and allowing V to help him up, not that he needed help of course.

-

V flicks a note to Johnny when they’re on the way to the airport, Kerry sighing and rolling his eyes as he does so. “I just don’t want him to worry.” Explains the ex-merc.

“You don’t want him bugging you all day asking if you’ve set off yet ya mean.” Mutters the Rockerboy.

Johnny reads the message sullenly, last Hallowe’en was a wash out what with hospital stays (him), hissy fits (Kerry) and psychological evaluations by the bucketful (him and V), he wanted this one to count. Asking around various bars had given him a few leads to some preem parties, but none of them were quite what he was looking for, too controlled, not enough mayhem, maybe he wouldn’t bother after all, just throw himself into some work and forget about the whole thing. Fucking Kerry spoiling his fun again.

The Afterlife is buzzing, especially for a Tuesday morning which is often the quietest part of the week, prolly everyone wanting to conclude business before the evening shenanigans begin Johnny thinks curling his lip. He heads towards a couple of chooms in a corner booth and begins to talk biz.

-

Dragging the cases to the cab whilst Kerry expansively describes the hotel they’ll be staying in, V quickly pings off another message to Johnny, ‘En route to hotel, any plans yet?’ but no reply is immediately forthcoming so he takes his seat and looks out at the crumbling skyscrapers of New York that remind him so much of home.

Kerry’s voice brings him back to the moment, “Do you think we made the right choice?”

Baffled, V looks for clues in his husband’s face, does he mean in coming to NY, or picking this hotel, or getting a cat, or, well the list is pretty long of things they may regret one day. “Nope, you’ve lost me.”

“Of costumes ya gonk, what else could I be talking about?”

V lets out a breath and grins, “Course, everyone’s gonna be blown away.”

“Ya think? It’s not going to come across as a little, I dunno, low effort?”

V grips Kerry’s hand even tighter than he already is, “Babe, no one is gonna care about anything other than how fucking awesome we look, it’s not even worth thinking about.”

Sinking into his husband’s arms, Kerry smiles and looks up into the ex-merc’s eyes, “You’re one choice I’m never gonna regret,” he whispers huskily before planting a kiss on V’s bearded chin and snoozing for the rest of the ride.

-

Back in NC, Johnny is in the shower after a seemingly straightforward gig that turned unexpectedly messy. Picking the bits of Scav bone out of his matted hair is taking longer than he anticipated, he grunts with satisfaction as each one hits the floor of the shower.

Finally feeling reasonably presentable he searches the apartment for his jacket, he’s finally found the perfect party, he’s ditched the costume, he very much wants to look recognisable as himself when he walks in. “Fucking thing, where’s it gone?” he mutters to himself as he turns the room upside-down. Sitting on the bed and scanning the room, he frowns as he notices V’s battered old ‘Second Conflict’, jacket on the back of the chair, the October air is too cool to go jacketless, so “Fuck,” he sighs as he shrugs on the offending item and leaves into the Hallowe’en afternoon smog.

-

For the more formal, earlier part of the evening, Kerry has chosen a powder blue shot-silk evening suit and for V a matching one in teal, V is leaning heavily on the dressing table clinging onto the edge with one hand and gently stroking Kerry’s hair with the other as the Rockerboy expertly and enthusiastically sucks on his cock. “You look so hot in that suit Ker,” V purrs between gasps, “hope I didn’t hurt your knees pushing you down on the floor like that.”

Kerry pulls away from the object of his obsession for a moment, a string of drool and precum connecting them still, “You know I’d crawl over broken glass to get to your dick,” he smirks running his tongue up the underside and grinning as V shivers, “but I will get my own back ‘bout the crack about my knees later.” V chuckles, then gasps as his length disappears into Kerry’s warm, willing mouth.

“Five-minute call Mr. Eurodyne,” a runner calls through the door just as V groans and Kerry swallows, he licks his lips and kisses his husband deeply.

-

Johnny is on the street looking over at the warehouse where the party is to be held in a few hours’ time. He’s rolled up pretty early since he’s unfamiliar with this part of Watson and wants to make sure he makes a big entrance dead on time later. Satisfied that he has identified the main entrance and any exits he may need for whatever reason he retires to a nearby bar, orders a tequila and checks his messages.

Despite still being pretty pissed at V for disappearing over the holidays, he grins when he sees his message, “Heck yeah!!” he replies and settles in for a couple of hours while he waits for the party to begin.

-

V basks in the reflected glow from his husband as Kerry charmingly ad-libs his way through introductions and conversations, finishing with him disappearing in a puff of smoke whilst a spooky instrumental version of Dark Matter is played allowing him to grab V and rush back to the dressing room to get changed for the party proper.

“Still not sure about this Vince,” says Kerry pulling on and adjusting the wig he spent many hours choosing and having styled just right, “but it is spooky how much you look like him, got his mannerisms down and everything. Gives me the creeps if I’m honest.”

Looking in the mirror, V has to agree that the make-up artist, who is now working on Kerry, has done a preem job, unsettlingly so in fact. “It’s supposed to give you the creeps, it’s Hallowe’eeeeeen,” he replies in his best spooky voice. After a last critical look in the mirror V grabs his jacket and leans on the doorframe having a smoke waiting for Kerry to be ready. The make up guy does a couple of last adjustments and stands back whilst Kerry plays with his Kiroshis to get just the right eye color and stands to look in the full-length mirror.

He's almost mesmerised by what he sees there, “You’re a fucking genius Terry,” he tells the make-up guy, eyes never leaving the mirror.

V comes up behind him and slips his arms around his waist, “I honestly don’t know if it’s wrong to feel like this, but you look so fucking hot right now.”

Kerry turns in his arms and looks for V’s eyes, but finds only his own reflection in the lenses of his glasses, “V honey, it’s never wrong to tell me I look hot.”

-

 People have started arriving to the party in Watson, Johnny nurses his drink and watches through the grimy window of the bar, waiting for the perfect time to make his entrance. He checks the pistol in his jacket, hefts his duffel bag onto his shoulder and makes his way over, avoiding being seen until he reaches the camera over the doorway to which he gives a one-fingered salute before heading inside.

It's maybe not what most people would call a party, mostly there are heavily chromed Maelstrommers hunched over laptops or having heavy conversations at tables, but as far as Johnny Silverhand is concerned anywhere where you can drink and have fun is a party, he’s already done the drinking part, now he’s ready for the fun.

He’d made it in and up the stairs without being spotted, clearly they’re all too busy to check the cameras, good. Standing just inside the doorway to the goon-filled open space beyond Johnny drops the bag pulling out V’s favourite SMG, Fenrir – perfect for these over-chromed gonks – and with something less flashy as a backup he kicks open the door, spraying bullets as he strides forwards.

Not being complete idiots, most of the gangers flee through the fire exit and disperse into the night, that’s fine, he’s not here to kill particularly, he’s here to collect. A couple of crumpled bodies impede his entrance slightly, but he grins as a metallic voice whines, “Shit, it’s Johnny Silverhand,” he makes his way towards the injured goon.

A couple of the guys don’t seem to have got the message, a well-placed bullet re-acquaints them with it, a couple more decide to try to be heroes, a casually hurled grenade finishes them off, finally it’s just Johnny and his quarry and a nervous woman who appears to be the girlfriend.

“You Taser?” the merc asks lighting a cigarette, well-aware of how this illuminates his scowling face.

“Leave him alone,” the woman shrieks coming at Johnny with impressively sharp steel nails unsheathed, “or I’ll fuck that pretty face right up.”

“Aw, she thinks I’m pretty,” Johnny says as he slows her down with a spray of bullets to the legs.

“Shit, dude!” screams Taser covering his head with his arms and smearing the blood dripping from his chest over his face.

Johnny looks into a face that is mostly polished chrome with two red pin-pricks that he guesses must be eyes. “Brick says you owe him, and you owe him big. He wants his Eddies.”

Taser gulps, “But…” Johnny’s pistol presses uncomfortably into his abdomen, “Shit, fine,” his eyes glow violet for a moment, “it’s done, tell him it’s fucking done.”

“We thank you for your co-operation,” Johnny offers as he leaves.

-

Over in New York, the party is also in full swing, the media swarm around the red-carpeted entrance to the ballroom cooing over the guest’s costumes and analysing their choices. The short journey from their room to the party is a tense one for Kerry, still unsure if anyone will even get their costumes, never mind dig them. Hand in hand, he and V leave the elevator and turn the corner onto the carpet, dozens of heads turn, they’d been waiting for his arrival, not only is he a huge star, but his costume never disappoints. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but the gasps, laughs and applause are not unwelcome.

For the occasion, V has replaced his synth-skin chrome arm for an older, silver model, red shades and a dark, shoulder-length wig add to the look, but it’s the ‘borrowed’ clothes – leather trousers, Samurai tank and the iconic jacket – and immaculate mannerisms that really make the resemblance extraordinary.

Kerry had spent ages getting the bandana just so around his thick, curly dark hair. Terry had done an amazing job with the facial hair and tattoos and somehow made him look thirty all over again. The moment of inspiration had come as he put the pile of clothes back into the closet the previous day, his old leather vest had slipped from its hanger as he shuffled past with his armful of rejected outfits and on picking it up something akin to a lighting bolt hit him, Kerry Eurodyne and Johnny Silverhand finally together again after fifty years.

The crowd lapped it up, especially when they stop for a very wet, passionate and long kiss, tomorrow’s screamsheet headlines are just writing themselves.

-

Having collected his payment for a job well done, Johnny makes his way through town, stopping briefly to change before making his way to the Afterlife and the private party he was about to crash. The feeds on the street caught his eye, he stands clenching has cigarette between thin lips as he watches the footage beamed from New York, he was definitely going to have to have a very serious word with V later.

-

The party was awesome, Kerry had kept his crown as the King of Hallowe’en and V was having a lot of fun channelling Johnny again for one night. Back in their room, the Rockerboy throws himself onto the bed chatting animatedly about how awesome the evening was while V sits beside him, smiling at how happy they both are and remembering how lucky he is.

“Y’know,” says V resting his hand on his husband’s chest, “Rock God Kerry is my guy, but this version is still doing it for me.” Kerry scowls at first, but is soon smiling again as V’s hand slides down his torso and into his jeans, “Keep the costume on for a while huh?” he asks, running his tongue around a pert nipple.

Kerry closes his eyes and moans softly, but then opens them and pulls himself up into a seated position, evicting a confused V from his chest, “You’re gonna have to get changed, the thought of Johnny anywhere near my cock is putting me off,” he growls.

V snickers, Johnny would love to know he was cock-blocking him from the other side of the country, “Course Ker, gimme a minute.” The ‘borrowed’ clothes drop to the floor, the shades and wig come off and the make-up is wiped away, a few minutes later a fresh-faced V comes back to four angry messages from Johnny and a gently snoring husband, it’s OK he decides curling up next to his man, it can all wait til morning.

[sakiyaki-sashimi]

Get to know you questions!! Tag whoever you like :D

Writing my answers in orange!

1) top 5 or top 10 favorite animals (depending on how many animals you like)

Hermit Crabs, Pigeons, Otters, Anglerfish, Shrimp, Cats, Manned Wolves, Salamander, Sheep, Axolotls :D

2) top 3 Minecraft mobs

Mooshroom, chicken, and parrot!!!

3) favorite vocaloid song or My Singing Monsters island theme and why! (If you don’t like/know Vocaloid/MSM, just name a song or genre you like and why :D)

Fav Vocaloid song is Brain Explosion girl recently, and fav MSM theme HAS to be cold island. Or maybe earth???? Hm

4) favorite and least favorite textures, no why needed :333

Fav is squishy soft things, least favorite is ice in a freezer

5) not your favorite color, but your favorite color palette (bonus points if you have a pic of the specific palette or a photo/artwork of the pallet you like!!)

Purple, Green, Orange, Pink, and Black! Total Halloween vibes!!

6) fav book you had to read for school (fiction or non fiction work lol, and if you don’t like/have any then just name a book or fanfic you like!)

Of Mice and Men was surprisingly amazing! Thought I’d hate it tbh

7) how do you think of the months of the year in your head? Left to right, top to bottom, in specific numbered rows and columns? Tell me :D

I think of it like this:

January, February, March, April

May, June, July, August

September, October, November, December

8) assigned harry potter/ilvermorny house or Percy Jackson cabin or Warrior cats clan something like that lol (if you don’t have anything like that, star sign works too!)

I’ll do em all lol: Slytherin/Hufflepuff, Pukwudgie, Dionysus’s, RiverClan, I’m an Aries sun/gemini rising/pisces moon :D

9) MBTI???? Love those things :33 (If you haven’t taken the test yet or u just don’t wanna cuz it’s too long, are you a solider poet or king?)

I’m an ENFP-T! I thought I’d get king but I got poet lol

10) something “cringe” you actually rly like, no shame here :D

Gacha Life/Club, the styles just so cutesy! Ohhh also K-Pop, I’m a TOTAL stay :33 and DSMP, it’s just rly cool to me

11) characters from shows/movies/games you kin/stan/just adore!! NOT ACCEPTING IRL PPL PLZ AND THANK U :D (unless it’s urself, we like self love in these parts)

For me I currently kin Dazai, Edward Elric, c!TommyInnit, and I completely STAN any Project Sekai character. I mean any of them.

12) 5 people you’d wanna be at a party with and why! (Can be alive or dead, real or fake, celebrities or randos, humans or otherwise :D)

My grandpa to see him again, Roy mustang to see if he’s a bastard irl, Hachi/Kenshi Yonezu just to see how he’s doing, Kanye West to just ask him why, and BeastChild (the YouTuber) just cause I really like his stuff and would wanna meet him!

13) favorite hobby/fandom specific term and its meaning :333

I’m a writer (well, aspiring anyway, I’m not rly that good) and I love the idea of the sexy lamp. Basically if you’re writing a female character that could be replaced with a sexy lampshade and nothing about the story changes then you’re writing a BAD FEMALE CHARACTER XD

Cause it’s spooky season il leave it at 13 ;)

Happy answering!!!

No pressure tags :3 @touratoura @theancientwonder @kneecoal-mooma @citrushomie @skytheamazing @mitski-slope @a-trench-coat-of-confused-worms @dicklesswonder-blog @vicaridoo

[morebedsidebooks]

12 Autumnal Reads With Pan Rep

As the days grow longer in the Northern hemisphere we don more layers, grab a hot drink, and say goodbye to summer. While maybe too cuddling up with a book. In similar fashion to the past for Pan Pride Day with wintry stories, and Pan Visibility Day for sunny reads, this time I’ve put together a list of examples offering pan rep set around the autumn season. Across demographics, several genres, and various lengths, the cozy to murderous, feasibly one will fit that next read. But no matter what may suit one’s tastes and whims, as always happy reading! (For content notes please see my reviews on Storygraph.)

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows, boasting a gorgeous autumn leaf themed cover, is a hefty first installment in the fantasy series the The Tithenai Chronicles. An unprecedented surprise diplomatic marriage between nobles Velasin vin Aro (gay) and Caethari Xai Aeduria, (bi/pan) sparks more than attraction. Violence, murder, and a hefty dose of intrigue swirl.

The Adventures of Isabel by Candas Jane Dorsey, the first in the Epitome Apartments Mystery series with a cast of colorful characters, is an offbeat mystery. Opening in September, at its center a coarse Canadian ex-social worker turned clueless amateur detective (bisexual/ambisexual/pansexual). Convinced to investigate the murder of a friend’s granddaughter, more than a case will end up cracking.

All the Things We Do in the Dark by Saundra Mitchell is a YA psychological thriller. Set in small-town Maine in October and told by Ava (pan), a 17-year-old with PTSD who stumbles on the body of a murdered teenage girl. Scared, haunted, and distrustful she’ll sleuth out a killer while trying to hold herself together. Author Saundra Mitchell is also pansexual. Note this is furthermore a title that has been banned in some libraries in the US.

Bride of the Corpse King by Emily Shore is a New Adult dark fantasy retelling of Hades and Persephone. Needing the winnings for her family, Isla Adayra (pansexual) enters the Bone Games. Further to escape a match with a dreadful lascivious Elder, she’ll offer herself to one more powerful the Corpse King. Allysteir accepted his duty of the gods’ Curse, but year after year the cost bearing the spirit of the God of Death weighs heavily. Allysteir doesn’t want another bride, but Isla just might be strong enough to tempt Death and even more.

The Ghosts of Halloweenby Ceillie Simkiss takes a light Christmas Carol vibe presenting three bite-sized Halloween short stories about couple Cora (panromantic asexual) and Elena (lesbian) from the Learning Curves series, I previously mentioned in my wintry post. Expect more of what makes this romance series a treat. Author Ceillie Simkiss is also panromantic asexual.

The Home I Find with You by Skye Kilaen is a hopepunk polyam romance set in the aftermath of a second civil war in the United States. Van (pan) the lead defender for a circuit of towns in rural Colorado with his girlfriend Hadas meet Clark (gay,) after Clark shows up unexpectedly in the aptly named Freshtown. As a previous threat and winter also approach, this is a hopeful title centered on people and kindness in spite of violence that may leave the reader feeling warm inside as well. Author Skye Kilaen is also bi/pan.

How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok, a fresh debut YA thriller, features an amateur teenage sleuth Iris Blackthorn (cis pansexual) with two of her friends, Sammy Valdez-Taylors (cis lesbian) and Imani Turner (non-binary lesbian). The trio forms a sapphic detective agency out to solve the disappearance of two people close to Iris as the clock ticks down during the Louisiana autumn. Author Victoria Wlosok is also pansexual.

Sweet to the Core by Amy Aislin set in a small seaside town in Maine is a romance novel between Dev (gay) who owns his own bakery and his cousin’s best friend Clark (pansexual) a wildlife biologist. Dev’s harbored a crush on Clark since childhood. Clark is usually a no-strings-attached guy. But set aside the pumpkin spice and enjoy another staple of the autumn season— apples. When the two team up entering an inaugural baking contest with a sizeable cash prize, mouthwatering baked goods aren’t the only thing that is very sweet.

Trick or Treat by Sydney Blackburn is good if you’re in the festive mood for a sweet little, short story Halloween treat featuring Drew (genderfluid pansexual) and David (cis bisexual) meeting on All Hallows’ Eve. 

Vampirella from horror host to heroinesince 1969 has become a sensual pansexual icon enthralling comic readers across the globe. Including me with Vampi having the honour of being the first pan character I knew of. If you need some direction on what to read, SYFY has a Pull List for the Legacy of Vampirella. (Though I’d skip anything by Warren Ellis.)

Wild and Crooked by Leah Thomas has Kalyn and Gus two teenagers that become unlikely friends despite a decades old murder that connects them. Set in small-town lush Kentucky autumn with a smell “like sticky cinnamon”, the slow burn here isn’t romance— but a mystery. There’s abundant queerness: Kalyn likes girls. Gus questions and is regarded as pansexual by many readers and critics to quote “When it comes to people, I care about personality before anything else, and gender’s another characteristic that factors into that. Maybe that does land me in one queer realm or another”. Plus, his mother has a female partner. Too note, garnering young adult award nominations, this is another title that has been listed among book challenges.

The Witches of Portland series by T. Thorn Coyle brings readers an urban fantasy with a social justice basis and dash of romance. Each installment focuses on different members of the Arrow and Crescent coven in Portland, Oregon. If you’re intimidated by the full nine-volume set don’t worry, the books also can be read as standalones. Author T. Thorn Coyle is also bi/pan/queer.

By Dusk (Book 7) set around the autumn equinox features coven member Moss (pansexual) an environmental activist working to prevent pollution of the Willamette. And new to Portland, the rich, on the surface carefree party girl Shaggy. The two previously hooked up at a festival but might have more.

By Dark (Book 8) set in the last week of October thru Dia de Los Muertos features coven member Alejandro (bisexual/pansexual) an IT consultant entering a midlife crisis and his likewise polyamorous partner Shekinah (queer) a graphic designer and Kundalini yoga devotee. But when a friend of Shekinah’s starts having terrifying visions that also besiege Alejandro, it’s an interfaith all-hands-on-deck to uncover dark secrets and affect something terrible afoot in Portland.

[zarvasace]

PROGRESS POST

(10/4/23)

This is partly for accountability and partly just to get all this out of my head! This last month or two have felt so hectic, getting used to a new work and sleep schedule and all. I'm still not quite there.

If you're curious about what I've been working on and what my plans are in terms of writing and art for the rest of the year, read on. :)

I will say, though, that if you want more of a specific AU or story, the way to get it is by asking questions and leaving comments! Asks and comments remind me about things I'm doing and get me excited about them again! I have these plans, but I also am very good at chasing inspiration to unknown (and sometimes unimportant) corners!

By Fandom

Linked Universe Projects

I've been feeling less motivated to work on LU stuff, but I still plan on at least finishing what I have open, so you can look forward to some of that!

Writing

Disability AU—one small mobility trio fic in the works. A few vague ideas for doing backstory fics.

Council (1931 vampire AU)—this is still the "backburner to backburner" fic, but I do have some fun ideas. I just have been distracted with other things! I think this AU is a lot of fun and I'd love to do more with it. We'll have to see.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Wind and His Merry Band of Maybe-Human Misfits—chapter 7 (out of 9 or so) is in progress. I have it all outlined out, and it's fun to work on, but I have (again) been distracted! This is, I hope, going to be my main December project. It'd be nice to finish before it turns 2 years old next summer. Oops.

I have several other WIPs that aren't very exciting and probably won't see daylight, but they're there if I feel like them

Art

Coloring book—I'm part of the coloring book project! :) I have already finished 1/2 drawings, and they went so well, I'm considering doing more.

Shatterproof manga page—still on my radar! I'm doing the end scene from dazzling diamond danger, and my ambition keeps outgrowing my time.

Four Swords Projects

Writing

Fairytale AU—man I've started this Vidow BatB fic literally five times. I have an almost-complete draft sitting at like... 20k?? iirc, but I kind of hate a lot of it. I also like a lot of it. It's a bit difficult for me to work on rewriting something in that situation. Anyway. Another December thing probably.

Fright Fight—I have ideas for every week, but am currently unsure if I want to draw or write for them. Most of my October will be focused on filling these prompts!

Vampire Lords AU—I have strange as severe is this my fate open right now, with a fair amount of material... it just needs to be edited a bit. I do want to keep working on that, I've just... well. Distraction. A common theme. XD I might be feeling another little bite fic coming on, too.

Art

Fright Fight—see above

Fright Fight part 2—I have a few side things to do for this, like making graphics that I haven't quite finished yet. They shouldn't take long, I just gotta do em!

Non-Fandom

Stickers—I am in the process of drawing some stickers! Yay! These are for my work, but also just for me. I want some Halloween stickers. This is a backburner project.

Nanowrimo project—I need to spend some time figuring out a few things to really get going on my princess-verse. I'm going to be doing Nanolympics this year, so hopefully some of their preptober stuff will help!

Hearts Linked Together—my super-cool Linkverse. XD I love my dumb timeline, and all the characters, they're just filler drawings that I haven't had time to continue.

Secret Zelda project—I really really need to do this! I can't say much right now, but it involves a fair amount of work, both writing and art. I think I haven't gotten very far on it yet because I'm intimidated. Stop that.

Zine edits—I worked really really hard on an art piece for a LoZ zine coming up! This week is critique, and I anticipate a few edits later.

By Month

Facebook posts—a lady I know wants to commission pretty quote images to post on her Facebook. I need to reply to her text. And do them.

September

I primarily worked on the fic Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School. I also worked on and submitted one fic and one piece of art to two different zines, which I hope you'll see soon.

October

If you care, you may have noticed I'm not doing Whumptober this year! Part of this is because I'm a bit burned out from the above, and part of it is that the prompts just didn't seem very inspiring to me this year. Maybe that's just my mindset. I haven't been in a very whumpy mood.

I'm planning on filling weekly prompts for @fsfrightfight this month and maybe chipping away at some other fics, in addition to one more zine contribution. I'm also going to be planning for November and doing some scattered art work here and there.

November

NaNoWriMo! I considered skipping this... but I'm feeling really inspired and motivated to do it, especially with October as a break. I'm going to write some original work, and that will be the focus of my November. I'll likely get some other art done, too.

December

I hope to dedicate this month to finishing things up from this year! That means working on "backburner" projects.

[mfred]

🌟Mfred's Best Books of 2022🌟

Comfort Me with Apples by Cathrynne M. Valente

Original Review

It’s a fairy tale retold, a myth re-examined. It’s a mystery, a thriller, and a horror story. But it’s so much more, too. I was mesmerized - trying to understand what was going on, then understanding too much, with a dawning sense of horror at how it would all end.

The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrigan Byrne

Original Review

This book put me through the wringer, you guys. I came out the other end definitely dehydrated from crying so much, but also filled to the brim with love and life.

Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk

Sapphic. Urban Fantasy. Noir. Do I need to say more? OK, I will anyway! Chicago in the winter. Dames smoking Chesterfields and hunting serial killers. Underground queer nightclubs. And magic! And a swoony romance!

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Original Review

Don’t be fooled, Benji is really turning into a monster. White pulls no punches. Bloody, gruesome, and terrifying. It’s so queer, so righteously angry, so necessarily vengeful. But it also holds a place for the tenderness and hope we all need to truly survive.

Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall

A spooky and super creepy Halloween read, especially for a children’s book! Plus, the power of friendship, loyalty, and believing in yourself.

The Mind and the Moon: My Brother's Story, the Science of Our Brains, and the Search for Our Psyches by Daniel Bergner

Challenges the science behind mental illness and standard pharmaceutical treatments. At once eye-opening, engrossing, and also emotional.

A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

Lucky you! If you didn’t read the first in this series, you now get to read both amazing books! This time we see what happens when the Evil Queen wants a better ending to her story. And also what it means to survive a happy ending.

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey

Original Review

I loved Myles. I loved his struggle. Every time Taylor did or said something, his heart clenched or he got sweaty or he desperately wanted to kiss her. He’s big, he’s tattooed, he’s unshaven and rides a motorcycle and he is a total dummy about his emotions. It’s great.

Paper Girls, Vols 1-6 by Brian K. Vaughn, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, & Jared K. Fletcher

Friendship! Time travel! The 1980s! A war between teenagers vs. grownups! This graphic novel series has it all. And the artwork is amazing. 

Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen

Ok, how do you feel about The Bachelor? Cryptids? Horrifically funny violence? This book is so weird and also so, so amazing. 

Runaway Girl by Tessa Bailey

A poor little rich girl who really isn’t and a bear of a man dealing with unimaginable loss. Slow burn but awesome tension and chemistry throughout. Plus, the emotional wallop of falling in love. Everything good about romance novels.  

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison

Original Review

Amazing. A novel about anger, trauma, families, romance, trusting others, and werewolves. It really takes a good, hard look at why and when and how and how often we get angry– and how we treat others and ourselves when we rage. The werewolf metaphor is grrrreat (see what I did there?) for examining what it means to be an angry woman, in/out of control. 

We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper

Original Review

It took me almost two months to finish this book. But it wasn’t boring or slow. In fact, for such a lengthy book, it’s a real page turner. And it’s a fascinating blend of true crime, non fiction and memoir– how Cooper finds her own voice in the story of Jane Britton’s murder.

[shadymissionary]

Hi, I feel like rambling here for a bit. I have a kinda life-changing conversation coming up tonight that I'm both extremely excited and extremely anxious about.

My partner and I have more or less been in a polyamorous relationship with our two close friends for...idk, 3 years? We've been getting very close with them over the years, and now that we all live in the same city and see each other frequently, it's almost always on my mind. And polyamory can be scary and confusing!! There is almost no framework for it that we learn about growing up, like with monogamous relationships, and so it feels a lot harder to navigate all of the questions and uncertainties.

Circumstances could not have lined up more perfectly to have this conversation though, so I'm feeling good about things. And it's just going to be an enormous relief to be open and honest with my friends about things that I've been holding in for years.

These two are so important to me, I love them so much they're like family, and I've felt so insecure about speaking up about certain things due to the fear of their reactions and potentially damaging our relationship. But I know they love me too and will be completely understanding.

I'm so happy to have an amazing partner that has listened to me vent about this stuff for years now, and his support feels like the one thing that has kept me sane. And I'm glad that I finally have the confidence and motivation to move through all of this uncertainty into a healthier relationship for all of us.

I've been doing a lot of work on myself lately, starting HRT, journaling, going back to therapy, reading mental health books, and listening to mental health podcasts. Last week I was listening to a lecture on Individuation, from Jungian psychology, and the concept of synchronicity was introduced to me. Basically, finding a connection between your own thoughts/desires and the things happening around you in the world. And to recognize when the universe is slapping you in the face telling you to do something.

I had an amazing therapy session yesterday and discussed the feelings I'm having, and how I finally feel ready to address them so I can move on from all this stress. But not knowing how best to find a time to talk about these things and get the conversation started has been the obstacle. I left the session knowing I had to reach out to the two I need to talk to and see if there's a time we could meet and chat. I even had a time limit on myself of getting this done before they host a Halloween party next weekend.

Lo and behold, just a few hours after yesterday's therapy session, I get a text from them asking us to come hang out tonight. Normally I would think up some reason not to, just wanting to chill at home on a Tuesday night, but it was so clear that the opportunity to talk was literally being handed to me. It makes me feel like the world is telling me to do this, and that it's gonna be okay.

I am going to cry so, so hard. But it's going to feel good to get it all off my chest. It's kinda scary, I've never cried in front of either of them that I can recall. So I know it's going to be a surprise that I've been holding all of these feelings in for years. More than anything, I just want the four of us to all be on the same page.

What's also kind of funny to me is like... in most respects, this should be a very easy step for me, but I've had to do so much to build my confidence in order to have this conversation. Earlier this month I came out as non-binary to my parents, and then soon after to my whole extended family. Like, that stuff should have been the hard part! And it was, don't get me wrong, but it didn't take nearly as much effort and crying as it has to prepare myself for tonight's conversation. The impossible task in my mind has been "open up about your feelings to your closest friends." And I'm certain now that I can do it, and that it will work out. ♥

This final dungeon music has been playing in my head all day as this conversation looms in the near future. Fitting that I just got to this point in Baten Kaitos last night hehe. I am gonna survive from that mf force!!

[cafeacademia]

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐦𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧! 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭

There is a big list of prompts below for fluff, angst & hurt/comfort and smut (18+ if you request smut) BUT feel free to also send in your own ideas/prompts and mix and match my prompts with your own. These are all Autumn/cosy themed - even if the prompt itself is not inherently Autumnal, the theme of the fic will be!

My requests are open for: (if any of these are crossed out, it's because I have a lot of requests for them)

Spencer Reid

Derek Morgan

Bucky Barnes

Matt Murdock

Pietro Maximoff

Marc & Steven

You can send up to 3 prompts per request from any category. Feel free to send several requests if you like, just maybe don’t send me a feck load all at once lmao. Make sure you send the prompts or the numbers and let me know which section it was from as well as the character you want to request it for.

If you want to add in or send your own ideas and prompts, I’m open to most things, but my main boundary is writing about motherhood/childbirth/breeding kink etc. I’m also open to mildly dark fics (by mildly dark, I mean things like consensual non consent, maybe a little bit of dubcon, naive!Reader etc, but I will never write it so that it’s super dark)

Fluff Prompts

Playing in the leaves together

Going for a walk/hike to see the changing of the leaves

Always seeing each other from the window and finally interacting one day

Spending a gloomy autumn afternoon in the back of the library/bookshop together

Working in a bookshop and finally approaching your regular customer after he comes in so often

You always bump into your neighbour on the rooftop or on the fire escape and this time you finally stop to talk

Reading dark academia/spooky books together

You go to a halloween party together and he’s super impressed by your outfit/costume

You’ve been penpals for ages, but you’ve never met in person until a stormy autumnal afternoon

You knit a scarf or jumper for him and he LOVES it

Decorating the house/apartment for autumn

Having hot coffee in a quiet cafe and playing chess or reading together

Going to a museum together

Making him a book nook for his bookshelf as a gift

Trying to help him explore fiction more by giving him your recommendations through little secret notes and he has to work out who his secret book recommender is

Baking pie or cakes together

Having a secret friendship/relationship and meeting somewhere obscure

Passing notes in university lectures and getting to know each other only through the notes because you’re too shy to approach him outside of class

Museum curator!Reader/Character gives the other a tour of the secret parts of the museum at night

Artist!Character asks to draw/paint you as part of a project

They discover your writing/drawings/poetry about them after you lose them

You go out to an orchard or pumpkin patch together

Angst & Hurt/Comfort Prompts:

You get stood up and he makes your night better

Too afraid of horror movies to watch them but too timid to tell people about that and him being the first or only one to realise

You go to a haunted house and you’re genuinely terrified

Scary biker!neighbour!character intimidates you to the point that you are terrified of him, but he’s actually very sweet and he almost has to corner you to show you that he’s a sweetheart and not going to hurt you

He takes his frustration out on you but is quick to patch things back up

He pushes you away when he’s afraid of you getting too close and getting hurt by what he does

Soulmate au - he tries to make you think that your soulmate is someone completely different because he’s afraid of you getting too close to him romantically and getting hurt

Someone won’t leave you alone and he’s about to step in but you kick ass before he can even open his mouth - maybe he falls a little bit more in love with you after that

He does something to scare you by accident - he didn’t want you to see that side of him

The guy that always intimidates you comes to you for help when he needs patching up/a place to stay and be safe for a couple of days and you realise he’s really not that scary at all

You reach for his hand when you’re scared/upset and he tries your best to comfort you

You tell him your trauma/about something that really hurt or scared you

He protects you when you’re walking home and someone approaches you

He intimidates you, but when you need him you approach him scared to ask for him help

Someone (another character/ex/etc) says something to hurt your feelings and he stands up for you

(18+) you try something new in the bedroom and you end up needing to use your safeword, character comforts you

Reassuring you that you will always be safe with him and he will never let anything happen to you after something happens to scare you - or you talk about a traumatic event to him

You overhear him talking about someone and misunderstand - you think he’s complaining about you, but he’s not. He finds out later and comforts you.

Smut Prompts:

Sex outside but sheltered while there’s a storm overhead

He pleasures you or you pleasure him while the other reads their book aloud as a challenge

Sex in front of the fireplace

God/Demon AU and he fucks you in his temple on Halloween

He gets turned on by you wearing a Halloween costume that is more like lingerie than a party outfit

Fucking in the office late at night

He takes you somewhere semi public or completely public during a mission/case

You try BDSM for the first time

Kink exploration! (send one you want to see - the only thing I won’t write is breeding kink)

There was some intense aphrodisiac in that Halloween hot chocolate you both just drank and oh no… you just so happen to be alone in a room with your crush

A little fun at a Halloween party

He sees how many orgasms he can give you to distract you from the scary horror movie on the tv

He sneaks in at night to see you get cock deep in you- could be a brother’s best friend scenario? Whatever you want idk

He’s a sex demon and he comes to you in the middle of the night (innocence kink??)

YOU’RE a sex demon and steal his soul while you let him fuck you breathless

Library/bookshop sex

Sex pollen

[vinca-majors]

Hi and Happy October! I remember you made a comment a while ago about not writing fic for few months. No pressure but I would hope to see you posting again soon! Best wishes and Happy Halloween!

hi there! happy october to you and everyone reading this 🎃 there are a few different layers to this answer:

i haven't done any intentional writing in the last few months. that includes both fic and the novel i hoped to write this year.

i needed a break from setting more expectations for myself and having to live up to them, which i do to myself even when i'm writing fic

not to mention having plenty of pressure coming at me from other areas of my life! much of which is also self-inflicted!

this is starting to sound dramatic and tragic, so to be clear, i am perfectly happy atm and am actually being very good at self care!

ao3 and i have been on a break for a while now and i currently feel no compulsion to return

that does not mean i never will

it also doesn't mean i will

ao3 has played a huge role in my development as a writer. school assignments aside, i had never finished a story before the first one i posted on ao3. it was, and is, a no-pressure playroom that gave me the space i needed to move from a mimic into my own writing voice. i discovered a lot about the sort of writer i am and what i'm capable of. i met a bunch of wonderful people whose encouragement gave me confidence, many of whom have tracked me to tumblr. i love that! it feels like a quirky little cyber-neighborhood.

unfortunately there are plenty of non-wonderful people who consume fic like locusts. to me, they feel like a cavity - no matter how healthy the rest of my teeth are, they're the ones that make me miserable and angry. these locust readers are not the reason i decided to take a break, but they are regular reminder of how toxic ao3 can be to my mental health and how little i need that in my life

and now, with time and distance, i keep thinking of the sayers/lord peter quote - that maybe ao3, kind of like a once-beloved book, is like a lobster shell, a place where i was able to develop then grow out of and leave behind. it's not a perfect analogy - i don't think you grow out of writing fic the way you grow out of reading level 1 'i can read' books - but i do think it might be time for me to move into the next thing. for as long as i can remember i've wanted to write a book. i do best when i only focus on one story at a time, and i want to use that focus wisely. it's easy for me to get sidetracked writing low-stakes fic and avoid the labor of creating a novel. nine years ago i discovered i could finish a 2k word story, now i want to see if i can write a book.

i love contradicting myself, so i will also tell you that i've expressed hopes to a few people that i'll finish one or two of my unfinished fics soon ("soon" is of course a moving target, as anyone who has been here a minute knows). this is something i do intend to do, so it could very well happen that now that i've waxed poetic about writing a novel, you'll see ao3 notifications at some point in december. or sooner! or not at all! i haven't been intentionally writing but of course i have been WRITING. it doesn't just turn OFF. but to actually finish anything will require intent, and to repeat myself just one more time: i am requiring nothing of myself with regard to writing at present.

tldr: what will happen is literally anyone's guess.

but it means a lot that you care. ♡

thank you for your patience, for being aware that life sometimes just… goes a certain way, and for your well wishes!!

[kimmimaru]

Ok, so I love horror. I'm obsessed with it. I honestly don't know why I don't actually write much of it though, I think its because I don't think I'm very good at it lol. One of my fave authors is Stephen King, the man is a genius but he churns out books so fast I can't keep up and only have so much shelf space, sadly lol. Has anyone else read Doctor Sleep? That shit was brilliant, my fave is IT but Doctor Sleep is defo a close second. Very long, nonsensical ramble under the cut about Hojo, Vincent and Lucrecia:

But anyways, I'm doing a couple of little horror fics for Halloween, they're doing alright I suppose. Not particularly ground breaking or anything but they're ok. The fics are, of course, FF7 fics and both revolve somewhat around Hojo. I don't know, I find him one of the scariest characters. He's terrifying, especially in the OG. Not exactly sure what it is about him specifically that scares me more than other characters, because like, Sephiroth is the main 'bad guy' in the story but Hojo's just creepy. Like if I met someone like him irl he would be giving off all the red flags. You know there's just some people who just give you the creeps, even if they're a total stranger? Like every cell in your body is just telling you RED ALERT? That's Hojo for me lol. Maybe its because Sephiroth's motivations are somewhat understandable, he loses his mind because he finds out he's not human and his entire life probably wasn't good. I can understand that, I too sometimes look at all the horrific shit humanity has done and wonder if its even worth keeping us around you know? But Hojo, at least as far as I'm aware, isn't really given any other motivations other than 'because I can' or 'I want to see what happens' and to me that's creepy. Not to mention that in the OG he does kind of try to make Aerith...do stuff...with Red 13...which uh...no. No absolutely not. Lol. Also...why the fuck is he considered so attractive in the OG? He doesn't just manage to lure Lucrecia away from Vincent 'my ass looks great in leather' (just trust me and pause AC at the moment Vincent crouches before jumping into the air to attack Bahamut SIN and try and tell me it doesn't lol) Valentine but also somehow manages to attract a whole gaggle of bikini-clad women on the beach in Costa Del Sol. HOW?? Ok, so I can sort of see how Lucrecia could have agreed to carry Hojo's baby, its probably because she's a scientist too and was also interested in the results or whatever...but still, lady...please wtf were you thinking? At least the beach-goers have the excuse of not knowing Hojo, Lucrecia does not have that lol. How can she spend god knows how long around Hojo and not think; this man is a creep? Honestly I would kind of be interested in seeing something about how all that happened, was he acting different around her? Was she just blinded by the curiosity of the experiment? Was it simply due to the fact that he was the only other man in the mansion when she freaked out about Vincent and her history with his father?

I think maybe that's why I don't write anything much about Lucrecia, I just can't get into her head. I don't understand her at all. To me, not a lot of her choices make any sense. Her actions feel weird and illogical and I'm not sure if its just me being autistic about it, or if I'm missing something in the story or what. But going from 'I love Vincent Valentine' to 'oh no I feel guilty because of Vincent's father's death therefore I must dump him and go with Mr Creeps over here'. Because that's not going to make him feel a billion times worse than just...I don't know, explaining why you're worried and talking shit out? And then sticking the monster that actively killed his father INSIDE him. Its fucking weird. (and then you have Vincent's own weird ass guilt, its non-sensical to blame himself for HER decisions. The whole story is just a giant shit show lol). Does this make any sense? I don't know. I had some Thoughts and needed to write them down. Ugh.

[simpsonsnight]

Episode #709

Treehouse of Horror XXXII Season 33, Episode 2 | October 10, 2021

Welcome back to "the blog I refuse to proofread"

Opening: A parody Bambi with Bart as Bambi and Marge as Bambi's mother. This specifically spoofs the scene where Bambi's mother gets her head cut off with a chainsaw. In this version, Homer is a deer who gores the hunter, played by Mr. Burns. It's only edgy on it's surface level, but the satiric point is that Disney sometimes makes scary stuff for kids. It's a soft ribbing of their parent company at best.

Story #1: A parody of Parasite, which I never saw. This one's okay, but it's just not leftist enough! Rainier Wolfcastle is the rich guy's house. I really do think the Simpsons writers, who probably all own houses exactly like his, do sorta seem to have more of an interest in dunking on the working class. See, I wasn't even kidding when I said it wasn't leftist enough. YOU THOUGHT I WAS DOING IRONY, BUT I ACTUALLY FEEL THAT WAY AND BELIEVE THE STUFF I'M SAYING ABOUT THIS. AAAAUUUUUGHHHHH

Story #2: In the second story, Bart scares Lisa and Maggie with a spooky story on Halloween, causing them to interrupt Homer and Marge's love-making sessions. Homer sets his sights on the tree-house, and decides to chop down the tree in the backyard, citing it as the cause for his woes. Every year is the same thing, "three scary stories. Two of them good, with a lame one in the middle". Hey, I smiled.

The tree gets zapped by lightening and comes to life, pulling it's roots out of the ground and going on a rampage. It can somehow zap alive other trees, who form a posse against the humans. This one is dumb but fun visually, so I like it fine. And ya gotta respect the fact that it contains their least offensive trans joke yet, when Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors says he identifies as a tree, because he's a "transplant". Not the most incredible joke in the world, and it's maybe a little hubristic of the Simpsons writers to think they can pull off non-alienating trans jokes. But it's worth noting, I guess.

Story #2.5: OH! They did a short! Because of their weird-ass four-act structure where the third act is very very short. It was Vincent Price reading a rude story in the style of Edward Gorey. One of couplets is a recreation of Bart the Lover.

Story #3: "Dead Ringer" is a parody of The Ring, which I literally watched last Halloween for the first time. Good idea, Simpsons, to parody a thing I know about. Anyway, I found this one to be the weakest.

And that's this one. I'm back, baby! (I am probably going to abandon this blog again right after this post)

MAIL BAG

Aw. AW HELL NO.

People say "The Last Exit to Springfield" is one of the greatest it's not its one of the worst why The Big Book of British Smiles we do not have those teeth. I know Americans need to have theirs cosmetically whitened. It makes no sense the book.

I'm starting to think that no book in the whole world makes sense. I look at those things and I'm just, like, "what is this". You know what I mean? This guy gets it.

I know fans and former fans like to trash the show and even think the show will last forever and ever and ever. But if you have some common sense the show will end if either Matt or a voice actor passes away. Everything comes to an end sometime.

I would not put it past the corporate entities that own the show to have bullied the cast into signing away artificial intelligence rights to their voices in the events of their deaths. It's just a hunch that I have. It was probably the only reason they were able to reach a deal in the last strike or whatever.

How dumb was Marge in the soap box racer episode agreeing with her sisters giving Homer the father test didn't she get it was probably to break them up.

Marge loves her family and is inherently trusting. These are good qualities, unless you live in a world where everyone around you has refused god's grace. She inherited a terrible world that is not suited for her. In other words... can you blame her?

The real reason on why Springfield Stem Academy was a failure was because the idea was from Marge Simpson and the episode had the name Lisa Simpson The Miseducation of Lisa Simpson. Both of them females.

Many in the community will argue that it is canon that "Man smart. Woman Smarter" as sung by Our Favourite Family, but many forget that was a Halloween episode, and thus not canon. Man Smart. Homer/Bart.

Homer a jerkass suppose he didn't know that the word was jackass? Also Homer has always been an ass when he was supposed to get Lisa a new saxophone reed. But went for a beer first. Then it caused the pony incident Lisa always wanted one but it was an incident with ponies being too expensive.

Ponies can be very expensive. Just ask my friend BING CROSBY! HAHAHA GOT 'IM. Nah, I think Homer got it from online. I get all my stuff from online.

[loverscrossmp3]

HI LIV!! HOW IS YOUR DAY HOW ARE YOU!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! for the directors cut thing...i was wondering if you could talk a little bit abt the role of james in and still the fire burns xx because i just loved the sort of part he played there in that its a jily fic but actually its not? because most importantly its a lily fic...its about her growth and her internal conflicts and her identity...and yet james and the romance between them is so wonderfully present...was that always like. the plan? for the fic to be about lily first and foremost and to explore her and james that way? or did it sort of become that over time? do any of these questions make sense? i dont know xx (also anything you can say at all about remus and sirius...you know how i weep and wail when they turn up in your writing...) MWAH!!

HELLO LOVELY!!! I AM WELL - worked all weekend but got out of classes early today so took a well-needed nap! HOW ARE YOU!! how's halloween on the other side of the world!!!

answer under the cut i am. so sorry. i am so sjrry

FANTASTIC question!! the thing with astfb is considering it was my first *actual* canon fic, i wanted it to be... essentially perfect. obviously, it is not, but i am still very pleased with how it came out! anyway, as a result of that it went through several drafts. 

when i first began the story, i honestly had no idea where i was going with it. the summary was actually sort of the basis i tried to keep it centered around cause i had that jotted down in my notes since. probably last year. and originally when i had written it, i thought it would be more of a light-hearted, happy fic centered more around the boys and all their shenanigans. but! after lots of re-writing and shifting things around into places that fit or getting rid of them altogether, you can find that that is not exactly what happened!

so, to answer your actual question, it definitely wasn’t my initial intention to focus solely on lily! 

to be completely honest, when i first began writing, my ideas on her were still somewhat vague and certainly not as solid as they are now after exploring her character more thoroughly. and actually, i think i did try to sort of fight writing her perspective and do james’ instead but that... would not happen (she’s insistent like that). 

as i wrote and slowly got the hang of lily, i realized that, actually, i hadn’t included much of james at all. everything i was writing was a study on her character, and her alone, more than anything else. 

once that was put together, from there it was like okay, this is gonna be lily’s story; and then, it’s gonna focus on her and her relationships more than anything else — james is obviously the big one but you’ll see petunia and snape are also scattered throughout, even if it’s only a passing thought (did this especially bc i think it’s these three relationships of hers that really play a significant role in who she is as a character).

over time, i think that subconscious thought had already been there from including smaller scenes that basically gave a small insight into how lily viewed james (and how he was) through the years (unreliable narrator woohoo!!). like, for example, our first introduction of james reveals that he was the one who had the idea of sending lily the book full of condolences after her dad died. and then in the great hall after the first attacks in february, their eyes catch and despite everything that’s going on, lily still has it in her to think about the sweet small moment they had in transfiguration the week prior. 

with it being a non-linear timeline, you aren’t exactly given the full story all at once. like, reading that latter example, you won’t know that lily’s actually been noticing james (‘The final, a secret: this one, fresh as potted plants on a windowsill, edges yellowing ... Her eyes flit. The boy with glasses is grinning, saying something wild.’ — this is revealed at nearly the end of the story) or how they sat in the quiet of the common room before christmas hols a few months ago until, sometimes, much later. 

SORRY this got so long i am genuinely flushed in embarrassment but the short, redundant answer is: it wasn’t the original plan for the main focus to be on lily, but pretty quickly i realized that - that’s what it was going to be whether i liked it or not. then, once this epiphany struck many drafts later, that’s how i knew i was going to explore lily and james’ relationship: in small bits that don’t overshadow lily’s actual story and character. 

and as for remus and sirius!! 

so, my personal hc (at least for the sake of this fic) is that sirius and remus don’t officially get together until some time in seventh year (i usually picture the prank taking place the spring of fifth year, so it being sixth year still, i imagine it’s still a bit of a tense topic between the two). 

but, obviously, they are pining like fools off screen — which lily does notice btw (they hardly spoke a word in divination until some time in december!! sirius will tilt back on his chair legs and watch remus when he’s engaged in his work!!). 

“It sounds very nearly like he’s your lover, the way you go on about him,” Lily interrupts.

James’ head snaps to her and then he is turning back to doodle on his parchment, laughing. “Nah,” he says, “couldn’t handle him, me. He needs someone with a bit more… head.”

“Ah.”

“But he is great. Once you get past the whole… him aspect of it.” He glances up, a grin making its way to his lips. Lily looks away, blinking rapidly.

really wish i could give you more on them but! in this scene, i imagine james isn’t nearly as oblivious as he seems and definitely knows both r and s are absolutely mad for each other. and that, like he said, s needs someone who’s a bit more solemn, who can take him down a notch when needed. once they’re closer, he and lily regularly talk about it. one day they even catch the two of them sitting near the black lake, remus on his back with his arm over his eyes, laughing; oblivious to sirius watching him like it’s his only goal in life to make remus laugh. 

director’s cut!

[crownamedblue]

Hey, let’s talk about aesthetics

(Written for a school newspaper)

To the readers of the Chariot,

In case you haven’t gone outside recently, surprise, it’s cold. I know, shocker. This- I’d hope- would inspire a change in aesthetics for some. For the purposes of this article, aesthetics are to be defined by a certain look, mood, or vibe. This means it applies to clothes, accessories, and anything else that can be decorated, modified, or chosen specifically. This also means that any and all adults most likely stopped reading the second they saw the word “vibe.” For those that stuck around, I’m not sorry, this isn’t for you, and very little of this will make sense. That being said, let’s talk about some killer fall/winter aesthetics. 

First on the list, inspired by my recent love of sweaters, is Academia as a whole. Academia, as a descriptor, is defined by being related to college or further scholarship. Academia, as an aesthetic, is defined by little london boy being sent to private school, among many other things. We’ll begin with the fit, see here at least two layers, usually a sweater over a button down. Color tones are usually browns in combination with darker shades. Jewelry, specifically in shades of gray, is always appreciated, and books of some kind are necessary. The aesthetic is versaille, ranging from scruffy rebel still forced to wear the uniform, to loner art kid with fingertips stained with charcoal/graphite, to preppy charismatic leader who may or may not be the villain of the story.

Next off is Halloween! It’s Halloween season and I refuse to admit anything otherwise. My friend you need black, you need orange, you need purple. Mon amie you’re gonna need some fake blood and an absurd amount of makeup. No I don’t care that it’s September, it’s Halloween season. Wear those fake teeth! Those black cat thigh highs are necessary! That witch hat headband does not violate the dress code! (it very well actually might, and I hereby deny any and all responsibility that comes from the making of this statement) It is spooky season and I will not shut up about it, we diehard fans of Halloween are the only thing that stops Christmas from encroaching even further. You cower behind our DIY costumes, as we collectively confront the horde of snowmen. We and our “needless obsession for spirit Halloween” make up the STALWART SHIELD PROTECTING YOU NON-BELIEVERS FROM THE JOLLY RED MAN AND HIS HORDE OF ELVES. WE WILL NOT STAND DOWN, WE WILL NOT SHUT UP, WE WILL DEFEND THE HALLOWEEN SPIRIT, BOTH THE AESTHETIC, THE SPECTER, AND THE POP-UP STORE! Ahem…

I got really excited about the first two, as they are my favorites. Not nearly as much detail will be given for the rest, but y’all have instagram and TikTok, It’s not as if they’re hard to find. Starting off with Goblin-core, meaning greens and browns and ratty clothing. Congratulations, your compulsion to grab random things that you personally think are cool can now be spun as “dedication to the aesthetic.” There’s grunge, needing a band tshirt, a flannel, and jeans. Next up is goth, all black, all the silver, all the time. May I introduce to you corvid-core: goblin core in random items, but all black and well put together in clothing. Also on the list is cryptid-core, because mothman is cool and everyone needs to appreciate that. Everyone also needs to appreciate simple eye imagery and all sorts of other cryptids. Just for the men, it’s “straight?” where the fit is fire, you’re wearing jewelry/nail polish, and you look too good for people to fully believe that you’re hetero. For those looking to achieve this look, ask your girlfriend for advice on what to wear. For those who are rather decidedly not straight, try queer-core, where anything and everything works, so long as it looks amazing and is a little bit weird. Under this aesthetic falls different colored makeup, mashups of other styles, and subtly/not so subtly incorporating the colors of whatever your current identity is. You’re valid and I love your earrings. 

Fair warning, looking up these different aesthetics can and will push your algorithm into wanting to give you more ideas. This article is mostly just meant to start your journey into all that, there’s so much more to find outside of this specific instance. If we’re looking for more ideas still, here’s just the names of some more aesthics: cabincore, adventurecore, cottagecore, skatewear, Victorian, glitchcore, fallwear, pink goth, white goth, ska, androgynous, steampunk, cyberpunk, biker, pastel core, carnivalcore, casinocore, fairycore, femfatalle, feral, emo, indie, punk, and electroswing. There are still so many more I’ve yet to mention. What this means is that you have no excuse to just wear a sweatshirt and basketball shorts. Please, I’m begging you, no more basketball shorts, enough is enough, you’re giving high school boys a bad name. They’ve already ruined their image, you don’t need to add to that. Regardless of what you wear or what aesthetic you ascribe to, be confident in yourself. You deserve it. Last but not least, don’t forget that WE ARE THE ONLY THING PROTECTING YOU FROM THOSE BELLS JING-A-LINGING, AND WE WILL DIE BEFORE THAT COOKIE EATER SHOWS HIS SORRY FACE BEFORE OCTOBER. 

-Sincerely, Blue