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ladymarycrawley · 11 months

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Always by your side - Trent Alexander-Arnold

Request: Either for mason or Trent but then getting upset over their recent form and comments online and the reader comforting them

Warning: none, just some good fluff to cheer this little puppy up

Tag list: @masonxomount @chelsealover

That match seemed to have started in the best of ways with Liverpool leading with two goals scored in the first fifteen minutes of the first half but Real Madrid was able to flip the whole game to their advantage so that they would have the upper hand and beat the home team 5-2.

Needless to say Trent was absolutely devastated by the defeat, as it made it particularly hard to make it onto the next round. He has been going through a lot lately, career-wise, and this was just another thing adding to those that have been happening till that moment.

You knew comforting him would have been really hard but leaving him on his own, replaying in his head all the things he could've done right and dwelling on them, wasn't definitely an option.

You dreaded the moment he would cross the threshold of your house and you found yourself gulping out loud when your eyes caught sight of his figure doing so. His stare was fixed on the ground, holding a grudge that was pretty self explanatory.

"Hey"

He raised his stare only when the loud thud of your front door slamming shut and met your eyes, a veil of sadness covering them.

"Hey"

Trent almost threw his backpack on the wooden floor and lazily dragged his weary body towards you, to get that much needed hug from his favourite person that he knew would have been there waiting for him no matter what.

"Come here" You muttered against his temple, before pressing a kiss there.

The only things that could have made him feel better were, apart from a good cuddling session, some junk food paired with one of his comfort films he would have watched over and over again.

“We can-”

“I just need some alone time”

Well, you thought he would have loved to spend some time with you but you weren’t that sure after that brutal answer that resonated in the living room.

His answer instilled in you a sense of disbelief, as the option of him wanting and needing to have some time just for himself, to analyze the great loss his team just suffered, wasn’t acceptable. But you knew a core concept to every human relationship is respect so the only thing you could really do was accept his will and step aside.

“Uhm yeah, okay. I see” You stepped back from his body, as he already moved his arms away from your body, to leave him the space he needed.

He thanked you silently, with a half smile gracing his plumpy lips and walked the stairs that would lead him to your shared bedroom lazily.

You let out a nervous sigh as the sound of your bedroom door closing hit your ears, giving your brain the signal to start thinking about something that could have made your boyfriend happy for real.

A couple of hours passed since he went upstairs as it got really late and your eyes were getting heavy with sleep. The last thing you wanted was disturbing him but your body was really asking for some rest and you needed your soft bed to lie on.

The image of him dozing off, his quiet snores filling the room made you smile, sincerely happy to see him in a more serene state than the one he arrived home in.

You crawled on your side of the bed, wrapping your arms around his waist and hid your face in the crook of his neck, fully ready to close your eyes too now.

The one of you to usually play the big spoon would be Trent but that night you had to change your roles as he was really in need to be cuddled so you had to hand him over the little spoon title, for that night at least.

You soon joined him in the world of dreams, hoping he could have found some solace there.

When you opened your eyes in the middle of the night because your arms were starting to ache due to your position, you saw you weren’t the only one awake. The sight of him staring at the ceiling caught you and you didn’t know how to react: was it something you should have gotten worried about? Better to ignore it? Or run to him and tell him you would have gone on loving him no matter what?

“They hate me”

Well, the fact he spoke first made the start of your interaction easier.

“What?” You sat up as sleep was still deep in your body and and your mind, not fully realising what your boyfriend was saying.

“Fans, people that should be cheering on us when we’re playing”

Another sigh left your lips.

“Trent I-”

“I’m not at the height of the team I’m playing in”

You tried to suppress a yawn while trying to brush some sleep off your eyes to try to focus on what he was saying.

“Don’t be ridiculous”

“I’m serious, they keep criticising me every damn week and I’ve had enough. Do you read what they write about me?” He got seated too, as he did every time he got worked up over something.

“You shouldn’t read those comments, Trent”

“Yeah but when nearly everyone says something bad about you you start questioning yourself, I suppose”

“You really care that much about what a couple of frustrated supporters have to say about you? You’re better than that”

“I don’t know at this point”

You couldn’t accept seeing him in that state, it really broke your heart and if that would have made him feel better you would have gone and fought every single dickhead talking shit about him.

You took his face in your hands to look right into his beautiful, big brown chocolate eyes and lean your forehead against his, sighing.

“Don’t let those people make you doubt yourself, you’re capable of everything and I have faith in you”

Trent sweetly clenched his fingers around your wrist to take your palm away from his face to place a kiss on the back of it.

“I love you”

“I love you more. It breaks my heart seeing you like this. I know it’s been a hard loss but a bad game doesn’t mean a bad career”

“Yeah…”

“Give me one of those smiles I love”

Even if the room was dimly lit just by the bedside lamp on his side of the bed, you could clearly see the bright pink shade his cheeks took.

“I won’t go to sleep without a smile from you, I’m telling you”

A shy smile appeared on his lips as you giggled and brought your hand to the back of his neck to scratch it.

“Now we can go back to sleep”

“Can I be the little spoon?”

“Of course you can…but only for tonight!” You jokingly warned him as you laid back on your mattress as he scoffed, playfully tickling your sides.

After a moment of great sadness and despair it usually comes one filled with as much happiness as the suffering experienced before. The exact moment when it happened was the day Liverpool played against Manchester United on a chilly Sunday afternoon: the scousers beat the devils 7-0 and needless to say Trent was beaming. He took you in his arms as soon as he saw you while making his way in the tunnel.

“See? What did I tell you?” You contentedly said in his ear.

“Thanks” He smiled, a heartfelt one this time, one that could have lit up the whole Anfield in case of a power outage.

“You don’t have to thank me. I’ll always be here for you because I love you”

It was a vow, to take care of him and make him live the best life possible. A vow for life.

#trent alexander arnold #trent alexander-arnold #trent alexander arnold fics #trent alexander arnold imagines #trent alexander arnold fluff #liverpool #liverpool fc #lcfc #premier league #premier league imagines #premier league fics #england nt #england nt imagines #england nt fics #football imagines #footie fics #football writing #football fanfictions

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gabessquishytum · 9 months

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It started as an accident. She had looked human enough, after all. And as more of the faeries departed, the more the rest hid. The one thing they didn’t bother hiding was their prowess in bed, though. In fact, a lot of supernatural folk didn’t, though he found that out over the course of a few centuries.

It turned out, after a while, that the ones who were willing to fuck someone who looked so human and fragile were the ones who *always* did. He read a few books…listened to a few rumors - eventually wrote a list. Had the impulse to title it ‘Supernatural Sluts’, then, out of fear of recovering from a smiting, went with “The Horniest Bastards”.

He started working his way up - found a few entities who weren’t common in the human literature but who the other folks on his list knew and were all too happy to tattle on. “H.G.” kept moving up the list. (Not the best plausible deniability, given that he always kept them the same, but better than putting any of his names to a paper he could lose.) Lucifer was hard to get to, consider Hob’s whole stance on everything, but he caught them on a week’s vacation to Earth and they had a delightful couple days together (for good measure, he made a pass at Mazikeen- she accepted, making it quick and dirty.) A lot of the gods were a bitch to find, no longer where legend had always put them but generally still considering themselves above humanity and keeping away accordingly.

By the time he was making for Zeus, he knew there were betting pools going around: whether he could come out of it amicably and in human shape. There were also people flagging him down to ask if he knew what he was getting himself into. He might’ve thought they meant Zeus, if he hadn’t had to add someone to the top spot back when he tupped the former fifth place Horny Bastard. But ever since he’d made it to technically-now-sixth place, it had been “Dream of the Endless” this and “the Shaper of Forms” that. Hob hadn’t thought it could be possible to be more infamous than Zeus, but he’d heard the story of Nada a couple times now, and knew Titania herself counted among his exes. Now, the goal was only to bed them - work his way to the top, make himself a challenge for other horny bastards and to know exactly who could give him what he needed on a booty call. But fuck if he didn’t want to find this Dream, blow his mind, and part amicably just to spite all the man’s (being’s?) naysayers.

Zeus was almost disappointing, not that he’d ever admit that out loud. He liked not being a swan, thanks much. But it was so easy to part amicably with him - don’t insult him on purpose and play anything else off as a joke. And for all his practice, he was rather sloppy and selfish. Hob hoped the same couldn’t be said about him. Hob set out to find Dream of the Endless with a passion.

It was annoying how many people said it was easy to find him - that Hob just had to visit the Dreaming. No one would explain what that meant. Before he could figure it out on his own, Bast had come for a visit.

“I will tell you only a fool would do this. Unfortunately, I know now you are one. When you *do* reach the Dreaming…if the form he should pick has a tail, he likes a tug here and there. And if he should pick the right ears -“ she flicked her own. “You ought only to tickle or blow on them if you wish to be pinned.”

And it just sort of - kept happening. Exes kept finding him to recommend *against* Dream, but kept airing all his dirty laundry, anyway. Hob might be offended on his behalf if he wasn’t so determined to blow his mind. And some would show up regularly. It turned into a sort of club.

Murmurs went through the club one day, a shudder of concern. His ex-wife, captured just like him. He demanded elaboration, but they knew him well enough they would only tell him about Calliope. A god was not so far a thing from a human - a muse, a human might save with a bit of luck and the element of surprise. But, apparently, the Endless were so far beyond human - beyond any of them - that he couldn’t be trusted not to get himself stuck. He definitely wasn’t sulking when he showed up to the next meeting with Calliope in tow and they all *still* refused to tell him anything, with Calliope only saying she would reach out to who she could, to see what they could do around ‘The Laws’. Given that they never showed up to shove Dream of the Endless at him out of morbid curiosity (and several exhibition kinks), he figured that had gone nowhere.

Club meetings continued, he took notes, they bitched together and relaxed together and kept each other safe, occasionally ‘entertained’ each other.

His stranger came back! Called him friend! They talked for hours, well into the night. Hob didn’t even think to ask his name, too busy telling him of every technological wonder and sparkling new cultural phenomenon he could. And his friend seemed relaxed enough that Hob suspected, in hindsight, he might have just forgotten, somehow, that he was still nameless - he smiled every time Hob used ‘friend’, like it was an endearment and not a stand-in for a name. To be fair, really, it was that, too. In the end, Hob invited him to come by more often, and he said yes, and Hob nearly skipped his way to bed that night.

At the next meeting of The Club, he mused playfully about whether His Friend might belong on the Horny Bastards list somewhere, quickly mentioning the heated looks in the 18th century. Many of the others were quick to encourage the thought - they all maintained that he was better off without pursuing Dream. And then the New Inn’s door chimed. His friend entered and cast his eyes around. Hob met him with a dazzling smile and a wave. His friend’s face started to soften, but then he froze. Hob wondered if he was the sort that was intimidated by the likes of Bast and Titania and Calliope. At least until he noticed the whole club was equally still, and began to wonder if he was missing something here.

-🌔

🌔 anon. You are an icon. The "Get Hob Gadling to fuck Dream of the Endless Club" is my new favourite thing.

Dream when he walks into on Hob hanging out with 3 of his exes:

Hob working out that his Stranger is Dream of the Horny Bastardness:

Everyone else in the pub:

Comedy GOLD. I salute you, my friend.

#🌔 anon #the sandman #dreamling #nsft #sandman crack

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cctinsleybaxter · 4 months

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2023 in Books

I need to stop bragging that I’ve got this reading thing all figured out, because man if 2023 wasn’t a year of terrible books. I liked less than half of the 37 I read and nothing quite gripped me in the way it has in years past… but to put it more optimistically I liked a full third of what I read, and the ones I liked best were a fascinating and unexpected silver lining. Without further ado:

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, trans. Brian Hooker

Tell this all to the world- and then to me. Say very softly that… she loves you not.

I read a couple of plays this year for the first time since college and liked them fine, but there’s a reason this has been adapted five million times. Everyone go watch Megamind right now.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

Of all the found footage-inspired horror fiction I’ve read this one makes the best case for existing in its chosen medium, as a 70s UK folk rock band are interviewed about the summer they spent recording what would become their final album [thunder crashes.] It reminded me of a Tana French mystery in its language and ability to make space feel lived-in; the character writing is so strong I realized that at some point I had stopped checking the interview headings to know who was speaking. Hand unfortunately distrusts her audience to read between the lines at a few crucial moments (and ruins what would have been a perfect ending and a deeply affecting scare by gilding the lily, or, in this case, photograph), but I love that she went from seemingly by-the-numbers American YA fiction to a meticulously-researched and truly unique horror novella. Puts other writers working in the genre to shame.

A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin

Reminiscent of the best kind of TCM suspense thriller (and was adapted into one), but could only exist as a book for the kind of narrative tactics it employs. Levin is brilliant at setting and character; I think any one of his contemporaries would have leaned into archetypes for this sort of story, and he instead distinguishes his proper nouns in subtle, clever ways that lend them the weight a noir needs. Can’t wait to read more of his stuff!

All the Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva

I’d like to know why this anthology got hit with what a friend has termed a pottery barn throw pillow cover + a ‘the tiny things we know to be small’ title, because the eponymous story isn’t even called that! It’s just The Names They Used for God, and is, appropriately, about two women kidnapped by a religious extremist group. High risk-high reward; I think taken at their base premise the stories could have been insufferable and are instead strange, compelling, and fantastical. There’s a methodicalness and, I don't know, lack of whimsy? to them that’s unusual for fantasy, but also an absence of any one goal or moral in the way Le Guin speaks so highly of. It made me feel the way I did reading and adoring Kelly Link in middle school, and Sachdeva has a much different style that I guess works all the better on adults. My favorite was Robert Greenman and the Mermaid.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Lauren Hillenbrand

Someone recommended this to me via Tumblr anon over five years ago, so let me start by saying if that was you I’d like to thank you properly! This book rules! It was written in ‘99 so falls prey to a very specific kind of jingoism, but the mechanics of that are interesting in and of themself. Seabiscuit the animal is a lens through which to view turn-of-the-20th-century America written from the precipice of the 21st; his story told through the expertly-researched biographies of his owner, trainer, and jockey. Hillenbrand is not only a good pop nonfiction historian, but has been a sports writer since the 80s and I never imagined the genre could be so thrilling as I did reading her work. Horse racing is insane and no one should be riding these things btw.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

It was one of the great livery-stableman’s most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.

Wharton came from old money New York*, was deeply disillusioned with it and pined for rational (i.e., even more insane) social and political scenes, had myriad thoughts about women and gender relations, and held a love for interior design. I learned all of this after reading but it’s apparent on every page; deeply funny and perceptive, fantastic use of language, the moments where it lost me completely nothing if not interesting. What sticks with me the most are a flair for the operatic and an ability to voice both the feeling and consequences of losing oneself to imagined scenarios. Read the pink parasol scene.

*Ancient Money New York; the saying ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is apocryphally attributed to her father’s side of the family

Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Jonathan S. Slaght

We’d return to our camp to huddle in the freezing tent and wait for our owls in silence, like suitors agonizing over a phone that never rings.

One of the better pieces of science writing I’ve read in a long time, as Slaght frames rural communities as a quintessential part of ecology rather than a barrier to it. His style is amiable and matter-of-fact (sometimes overly so; the amount of metric GIS directions, help), but he's super engaging and clearly holds just as much compassion for people and history as he does animals and natural landscapes. The Blakiston’s fish owls he’s studying are described as unreal, with hoots so low and quiet it sounds like someone has thrown them under a blanket. You can listen to them here.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Took my breath away and surprised me in a way a book hasn’t in years. I'd read Clarke’s 2004 novel when I was maybe fourteen and had vaguely positive but mostly neutral memories of it, and Piranesi being sci-fi-fantasy that came recommended by Tiktok had me very dubious. I ended up devouring it in the way I haven’t read books since I was fourteen; more of a mystery than the suspected high fantasy, with characters I would do disservice to in trying to describe in brief. While the mystery isn’t difficult to ‘solve’ (I’d argue the book also skews young!), the story ends in a way that’s both deeply unexpected and in the only way it could have.

Honorable mentions

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, trans. Peter Washington

[Jigsaw voice] Every man has a devouring passion in his heart as every fruit has its worm.

I spent so much time running my mouth about this one on Tumblr there’s really not much left to say. I think it’s a work of genius that was physically exhausting to read, and I’m sticking it with the honorable mentions mostly because I remember The Three Musketeers being the better book. If you want to read Dumas- and you should- start with that one.

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

I would’ve liked this more had I read it in my late teens/early 20s, but I still think it’s pretty good and would absolutely recommend to anyone in that age bracket. Things that normally annoy me about philosophical first-person lit fic didn’t matter under the weight of Jon’s narratorial voice. He reminded me a little of Lynda Barry’s Maybonne in his understanding and depictions of community and family; his stream of consciousness letting contradictions sit rather than trying to explain them away (Whitehead also makes sex very prosaic and pretty-sounding while still being frank and gross about it, which is a rare talent!)

The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From by Edward Dolnik

This one fell in the rankings because the writing isn’t my favorite (think early days Vulture article rather than NYT), but I cannot stop referencing it in conversation. I want to read the whole thing to people and make them understand how truly unfathomable it is not only that every one of us is the product of 1 sperm and 1 egg, but that anyone ever figured out how that process works. When Western Europeans first started using microscopes they studied water; there were gross little bugs in there to watch and enjoy, so when semen was revealed to have its own bugs no one was shocked, but they also weren’t impressed. We would not see one enter an egg until EIGHTEEN SEVENTY-FIVE.

Killer Dolphin by Ngaio Marsh

The Malaise of First Night Nerves had gripped Peregrine, not tragically and aesthetically by the throat but, as is its habit, shamefully in the guts.

Has made it into my top 5 favorite Inspector Alleyn mysteries. I’m not keen on Marsh’s theater settings (and there are a LOT of them), but a convoluted setup made this one all the more rewarding. The final revelation as to a point of blackmail is visceral and bizarre in a way I haven’t seen from her before.

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

We all have dirty hands; we are all soiling them in the swamps of our country and in the terrifying emptiness of our brains. Every onlooker is either a coward or a traitor.

Best read in conversation with other writers, I wouldn’t recommend Fanon as the end-all-be-all introduction to communist and socialist thinking (the fact that he inadvertently describes what was going wrong with the USSR at time of writing is fascinating), but he explicitly invites that conversation and the value and impact of his work really can’t be overstated. Our points of disagreement tend to be in regard to nationalism, not his condonation of violence.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Fascinating to see how Austen was thinking about relationships near the end of her short life. I laughed to see the idea of preferring your brother-in-law’s family to your own was back in full force from my own favorite Emma, as well as an eleventh-hour ‘maybe I should ship the villains??’ My biggest issue is that, like Emma, Persuasion is written in third person limited narration, but Anne is fundamentally Good™ so doesn’t need to learn anything about herself or the world; critic Bob Irvine points out that she and her dashing, misogynistic sailor are beset rather than changed by it. That said I love a people being beset by people (concussed temptresses) places (Bath) and things (cars), and Austen's writing style is really firing on all cylinders here.

#i say 'nothing quite gripped me' but i'm still pretty fresh off some of these so remains to be seen in the long run!#(e.g i always end up wanting to swap at least one finalist and one honorable mention looking back at last year's list)#also as always these aren't ranked- just loosely grouped by date read #books #2023

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twistedtummies2 · 2 months

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Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 31

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

Today, the countdown begins in earnest!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “Be careful, Brain! Those are probably priceless fake artifacts!”

Number 31 is…Inspector Gadget.

Not every detective on this countdown has to be a GOOD detective. They just have to conform to the rules and regulations I established, and…well…be a detective, in general. While most of the sleuths on this countdown WILL be relatively serious characters – which is to say, they’ll actually be good at their jobs, no matter how silly they at first appear – there are a couple that will fall into the “Bungling Detective” trope. These are comical, parodical characters who are decidedly NOT good at their jobs. Most of them are, weirdly enough, given the title of “Inspector,” which really makes you wonder how terrible the law enforcement offices in these universes must be.

Out of all the bumblers and baboons who wear an inspector’s badge, I think many would agree with me that Inspector Gadget is quite possibly the single most dunderheaded lout of the entire bunch. In terms of sheer ability, Gadget is arguably the single worst detective of all time. This character is SUCH a goofy loser, that I actually had a couple of people outright telling me, when I told them about this concept, that he shouldn’t be included. HE’S. THAT. BAD. So why IS he on the list, after all? Well…like I said, competency isn’t really an issue here, and I do have a big nostalgic soft spot for the (not so) good Inspector, so he gets a pass at the end of the day.

For those who don’t know, “Inspector Gadget” was a 1980s cartoon series, which focused on the adventures of its titular character: a clumsy and dimwitted cyborg, who was part of an elite group of law enforcement agents. The organization’s goal is to take down a mysterious mad scientist, Dr. Claw: the leader of an evil gang of international felons known as M.A.D. Gadget would be sent out on missions to defeat Claw and his minions…and he would always louse it up, because Gadget is a complete moron. This was the great, humorous conceit of the series: Gadget is a bionically enhanced living superweapon, with all kinds of gizmos at his disposal…but the combination of him having two left feet and only half of a brain cell ultimately renders all that power thoroughly worthless. He’s too busy tripping over his own “Go-Go Gadget Oil Slick!” to have any HOPE of catching the perpetrators or solving any mystery thrust before him.

Ironically, it’s Gadget’s sidekicks who end up being the REAL saviors of every episode. One was the Inspector’s own niece: a precocious and cheerful young girl named Penny. While she loves and looks up to her uncle, Penny is actually a MUCH better detective than he is with far less high-tech gear (and a significant age gap). It’s usually she who ends up TRULY figuring out the case and finding a way to stop Claw and his cronies. Brain, meanwhile, was their talking, bipedal pet dog (don’t question it, I’m not going to). While Penny was cracking the case, this poor mutt spent most of his time making sure that Gadget didn’t get himself killed, with much slapstick buffoonery happening as a result.

While everyone pretty universally agrees that Inspector Gadget, himself, is a complete and total clod, the show and the character turned out to be extremely popular. The series not only sold a boatload of merchandise, but gave way to a Christmas special, two (terrible) live-action films, and even a recent Netflix reboot (which I haven’t seen). He may not have been a truly great gumshoe in the sense of…well…actually being a great gumshoe, but as one of the most wonderfully silly sleuths to ever sweep across the small screen, Inspector Gadget has definitely made his mark. “Go-Go Gadget Legacy!”

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 30!

CLUE: “Your vast corrupt future is draining away as we speak.”

#top 31 fictional detectives #gathering of the greatest gumshoes #list #countdown #best #favorites #animation #tv #cartoons #number 31 #inspector gadget #mystery #detectives

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recurring-polynya · 2 months

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Writing/Art Update 2.27.2024

I met all three of my goals for last week, which is good, I guess. Number one was to stop being manic about my stupid fanfic, which I did, but I half-regret, because maybe I would be done by now, if I had just shot the anxiety curl, but that's neither here nor there, I suppose. I did finish Chapter 9a, and sent Chapters 7 and 8 to the beta, which were the other things I said I wanted to do. I, in fact, managed to make a dent in Chapter 9c, as well (Chapter 9b is like a little interlude thing, which may or may not get subsumed into Chapter 9c, depending on how long it comes out)

I am so close to being done, and I feel like it ought to be easy to push it over the finish line, but it hasn't. I've been feeling pretty down on it for the last few days. I'm not super-happy with the way the last few chapters have been turning out, but on the other hand, I'm not sure I have any way to make them better. I think a lot of it may just be that I have been working on this fanfic for so long that I'm kinda sick of it. :\

I took a little bit of a break today--I finished a book I was reading, and I made sort of a rough draft version of a banner, mostly because I'm still trying to nail down the title from a couple of different variations, and I was hoping that seeing it visually would be helpful. Based on that, the current frontrunner is Damage History (the other two options are Past Damage and Prior Damage, please feel free to tell me if you have any opinions).

I just did the math and apparently I crossed the six figure mark this week: the thing currently stands at 100,731 words (+7,004 for last week...really? How did I manage that???) I have two and a half scenes left to go, one of which is supposed to be short and one of which is the epilogue. There's also at least one scene that I'll probably try to rewrite a bit, I dunno. I guess the goal for next week is to finish the thing??? All of this feels extremely unreal.

Anyway, you've all been incredibly patient with me, so here's another preview. This is from one of the flashbacks in Chapter 2, and if it seems vaguely familiar, it's because it's one of the parts that got spun out of the old Renji-breaks-an-arm story.

---

Much like Kitajima himself, the shop had looked a lot better the last time Renji had seen it. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere. Most of the shelves were half-empty.

"Take off your shirt," Kitajima instructed, dragging out a stool for Renji to sit on.

"All the damage is below the elbow," Renji said quietly.

"Oh, look who's a medic now," the old man burbled.

Renji took off his shirt.

Kitajima pressed one of his clammy hands in the space between Renji's shoulder blades. A cold, nasty feeling bled down Renji's arm. He wanted to vomit. After a few moments, Kitajima felt his way down Renji's arm, squeezing at his flesh and shooting painful little sparks into his nerves. When the old rat snake got past the elbow, his fingers pressed against the end of the broken bone and Renji nearly passed out.

"Hey! You're hurting him!" Rukia barked, bracing her entire weight against Renji's shoulder in an attempt to keep him upright.

Kitajima ignored her.

It wasn't pain, not exactly. Well. It was painful, but it was more like Renji's body was burning through all of his energy as quickly as possible. It felt like dying.

Kitajima finished his palpitations, then fetched something from one of his dusty jars. "Eat this," he said, pressing it into Renji's hand.

Renji remembered these things all too well. He'd eaten a lot of them during the period when he was working for Kitajima. It was a pill made up of mashed rice and various dried roots and seeds. They weren't the tastiest thing in the world, but they packed a lot of energy and they lasted forever. He bit into it gingerly.

“As I told you the last time you were here,” the old man growled, “you have the demon magic in you. The shinigami use it to cast spells, but also to push their bodies past what is normally possible. Like a fool, you have done this without proper training. You have broken and healed yourself simultaneously, but with no skill, and you have made a hash of it.”

“I wasn’t trying,” Renji excused.

“Can you repair it?” Rukia pressed.

“I can rebreak it,” Kitajima replied.

#writing update #art update

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baeddel · 1 year

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i find that i read textbooks a lot slower, struggle with them more, and end up failing to complete my goals with them more often than i do anything else, like a paper or a book. why should that be the case when they're supposed to be teaching material?

here is one parsimonious reason: why do you read a textbook? it's because you don't know anything about the topic. you're a total beginner, so the topic is inherently harder to understand, you have less of a knowledge base for the things you learn to find their place in.

that's probably true. but i think there is another reason. here is my other reason: when you read a paper, you have a bunch of techniques that help you read a paper. first of all you can skim the paper and get the idea. that might be all you need to do. but if you decide it's worth doing you can scratch at it a little more. you might read the introduction and conclusion, for example. and then you get the idea of the argument, and you decide if you ever need to see the working out you can come back to it. but even if you read the whole thing from start to finish there are a lot of parts you're going to skip and say 'alright, i get the idea.'

with a book (or a thesis) all of this is true, but there are even more advantages: first of all, it has a table of contents at the start. if the chapters are titled correctly then you can get a very good idea what the whole book is about just looking at the chapters. here's a marvelous one, from Jennifer Liu's thesis the Problem of Philosophy in Classical Chinese Thought:

just the first handful of chapters. look at that! you get the problem right away: the term 'philosophy' has a specific origin, it's not clear how we can apply it across cultures, so we're going to look at how people from that culture translated that term and find an argument there. now you can just hop into 0.2.2 to see the ending if you don't have time to read the rest.

a table of contents that is less detailed but still useful, from Kenneth Clatterbaugh's the Causation Debate in Modern Philosophy 1637-1739:

if you took out the page numbers you could make this figure 1, 'timeline of the modern causation debate', and it acts as a useful point of reference if you want to dip in and out.

plus some books will have an index at the back so you can find particular terms easily and things like that. now look at my phonology textbook, Bruce Hayes' Introductory Phonology:

"More on Phonemes" and "Phonological Alternation II" are almost as helpful as "Features." but what are you going to call them? you can find better ones than this, but sometimes this is the best you can do. you're not making an argument, you're teaching information, so the Phonetics chapter is just the Phonetics chapter. it has all the Phonetics stuff thats in the book. go read it.

so basically it's impossible to know what shortcuts to take with a textbook when you're self-studying. classes that use textbooks (which i can snoop on via things like MIT Open Courseware, or when students i talk to show me their class syllabus—thanks girl reading this!) will generally call out a handful of specific chapters or even just a couple of pages and tell you to read those. the teacher will frame the textbook content with the discussion in class and only give you the important parts to read. they can do that becuase they already know the textbook. when you're reading on your own you can't possibly know which parts are going to be useful yet, so you just have to read it front to back. which is hard, boring, and not usually worth doing, so i never end up sticking with them.

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andiwriteordie · 1 year

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hi andi :) i love your writing sm and i saw someone else ask you for writing tips, but…i’ve always wondered how to make an outline? especially a really detailed one, like the one you described in another post. i always struggle with longer fics bc i don’t know how to make a good outline, and it sucks! i was wondering if you have any tips to help with that? <3

hi hello!!! 😊💖

so, i don't really know if there's a set way to write an outline, but i'll go ahead and share my methods for it if that's okay?

as a warning, i've always been someone who's had to take very thorough, detailed notes in order to fully understand or like retain anything. i was that way all throughout school, so i definitely think my outline reflect that... again, these are just my processes!

ok, so first i kind of use my outline as just a place to dump ideas as they come, if that makes sense? so right now, i've got a couple in progress outlines that i just don't have the time to flesh out yet, but as i get inspiration, i just throw those ideas into there and know i'll come back later... which is part how i end up with massive docs at the end lol.

take the outline piece by piece. so, when i say "wow i wrote a 90 page outline for this fic bc i'm crazy" obviously that took me a while and i didn't like... conceptualize it all at once? if that makes sense? i had the basic skeleton idea of what i wanted, then i just broke it down into smaller pieces from there. for me, on long fics like i know better (but you're still around) or i'll find a new place to be from, what i have done is go chapter by chapter (naturally) and then i do section by section. for these two fics, i found it easiest to allow myself 3 sections per chapter. so now, you kind of have a marker of "okay, i'm on chapter 5, section 2" and can give yourself goals and have a better overall framework for the fic!

okay, now more on the sections themselves (part 1): this one is kind of just funny, but i like to give my little sections names. usually they're just key words for me to remember what the hell i'm supposed to be talking about in this section (the way that my chapter titles also provide that frame of reference for me). so for example (sorry i'm not trying to be like ooh look at my fics! just like. it helps me with explaining to give examples lol), in i'll find a new place to be from, chapter 6 is called "The Vision" and section 3 on my outline was called "Into the Upside Down" because i literally decided/had in my mind that i wanted that last section to lead into chapter 7, which is their adventures in the upside down. even when i hadn't fully written that section out yet, i knew the main point of that scene was to have the party first venture into the UD... which leads into my next point.

for me, breaking things into sections like this (as opposed to winging it - which i often do on oneshots but don't really recommend on long fics) literally helps me break down what scenes need to be written. so, i ask myself things like: what are you trying to accomplish in this chapter? where does this chapter fit into the overall plot? and what scenes need to happen in order to progress the plot or the characters' arcs forward? or do you have a scene in mind that you wanna build around? when i have that, i kinda throw that into the mix, then build the chapter around it! that helps when you have a basic understanding of what you wanna write in the fic but are struggling in the "filler" chapters and things. so for me, doing it this way helps me conceptualize and fully map out how the plot is progressing, what needs to happen in later chapters, or the opposite with what is being set up in earlier chapters.

once i have the chapters/sections figured out, i literally just like bullet point the hell out of it. how do i imagine the scene? is it mostly internal monologue? what is happening in that section? any dialogue i might have, i'll throw in there! i'll literally write down things as simple as "we see mike going into will's room" or something like that, just so i am beginning to visualize what i'm trying to accomplish here. (again... this is also probably taking it a step further than i have to, but for someone who needs to be thorough and likes having a tool to fall back on whenever i'm struggling through a chapter, it's a lifesaver). i also like leaving myself notes for things to foreshadow in the overarching plot, as well as reminders for where the narrator's story arc should be at right now. so for example, when outlining i know better, i really tried to remind myself that i was supposed to be emphasizing mike's guilt because of losing will throughout different chapters, and when i came back to write it, i knew what kind of emotional tone to set for his perspective.

anyways, that was a LOT, so i hope you were able to find any of it helpful! also if it helps, here's an example of a chapter i outlined for i'll find a new place to be from so you can kind of see how i set my chapter outlines up! :)

#andi's asks #writing tips

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nomadstucky · 1 year

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Her Savior II Pairing: Ari Levinson x Fem!Reader Rating: Angsty/Fluffy WC: ~3.9K Contents & Warnings: Mentions of the abuse relationship from part I, Ari is protective - let me know if missed anything else. I know I say this every time I post, however, I want to thank @universitypenguin for the incredible beta reading. You are there every step of the way, and I am so thankful to have you a part of my writing journey! MINORS DNI Feedback is always appreciated, likes are too, but reblogs are golden! Taglist:

It had been six months since you last ran into Ari. Six months of being Elijah free. Six months of getting to know Alisha. After bringing you to the hotel of your choosing, Alisha stayed with you. For the first month. While you had appreciated the kindness, it took a lot of time to realize that there was no other shoe that would drop. No surprises. You were happy to call her your friend.

You managed to get a well paying job in the heart of the city. You were a data analyst, and you were thankful to be able to afford your own little apartment. It wasn’t very big, but it was yours and yours alone. It meant you were completely free.

Of course, you had scheduled outings with Alisha, and got to know some of her friends. Becoming close with Alisha also meant you became aware of what she did for work. It also meant you asked questions. A lot of questions revolved around her work, and co-workers. It was later revealed that Ari’s official title was consigliere, he was the right hand man to whoever ran the ‘mob’. You had learned to not ask questions regarding his work, or even Alisha’s. He was someone considered above her in the ranks. But the two got along quite well.

You call her on your way home from work one Friday.

“I’m curious if you maybe wanted to go out tonight?” You asked after exchanging pleasantries.

“What kind of outing is this? Is the goal to get blackout drunk? Party? Or just a few drinks?” She questioned.

“Oh no no! I’m not looking to get blackout drunk!! Just looking to let the stress of the week go, have a couple drinks! Nothing too crazy!”

“I’m so in!” Alisha exclaimed, “any place in particular?”

You bit your lip, “I was thinking The Lazy Jewel?”

“This wouldn’t have to do with the fact that the whole gang’ll be there would it? Including a certain Consigliere?”

You could hear the teasing lilt to her voice. Your cheeks flushed, “What? No, of course not. I just want to have a few drinks with a friend.”

Alisha giggled. “I’ll meet you there for, say seven o’clock?”

You nodded, before realizing she can’t see you. “Yeah. Seven sounds great!”

You didn’t want to take too long getting ready. Once you were home, you opted to take a quick shower, and then change into something that was appropriate for drinks with friends. Grabbing your stuff, you were off to The Lazy Jewel.

Walking up to the main door, you felt uneasy. What were you thinking? You didn’t know. You had gone insane. That was the only logical explanation. Someone behind you cleared their throat, you jumped out of the way, mumbling a short ‘sorry’.

Taking a deep breath, you walked into The Lazy Jewel. You felt out of place. This time was a little different. Taking in your surroundings, things looked a little bit more inviting, and you couldn’t figure out if it was because of your lack of company this time around, or if something had changed.

It didn’t take long before you spotted Ari. He was hard to miss, with his back facing you. Alisha saw you and practically floated over. “Hey!” She greeted. You smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear, before pulling the sleeve of your jacket over your hands.

She caught where your eyes went. “He’s talked about you a few times now, you know.”

You shook your head, “Oh please, he’s got much better things to think about, and talk about.” You giggled, not fully believing her, but it didn’t stop your stomach from feeling fuzzy.

“He has! He’s asked if anyone has heard from you. He wanted to make sure you were alright, but I told him I’d keep my eye on you.” Alisha grinned, and bumped your shoulder with hers. “I know he’d like to see how you’re holding up.”

You sighed wistfully. “It definitely hasn’t been easy...” You glanced over at her.

“No one said it would be, love. But you’re still doing better than most. Not everyone would be able to get out. You did.” She rubbed at your back.

“It’s all because of him.” Your voice wavered.

“No. Ari helped, but you did it. You got away. You stuck to it. You didn’t go back to him no matter how bad you may have wanted to. Or no matter how much he called, or begged, or whatever,” she assured you.

“Still. I owe a lot to him. He had a big hand in it. It feels like a ‘thank you’ isn’t enough,” you mumbled.

“Let’s get you a drink.” Alisha mused, as she led you to the bar.

Both of you had ordered, and started up a brief conversation about work, and what had gotten you down. It was nice to be here, and be able to catch up with your friend after a long couple of weeks. You hadn’t noticed Ari approach the bar, but Alisha certainly did. She even noticed the look he gave you, and waved at him.

You turned to see what she was looking at, and came face-to-face with Ari.

“O-Oh, hi.” you addressed him first.

Ari nodded, “it’s nice to see you again.”

You had noticed, he still kept a small bit of space between the two of you. “How are you?” you asked, after hearing Alisha mutter something about ‘being right back’.

The corners of Ari’s lips turned upwards, “I’m good. How have you been?”

“Better… Things are definitely better.” You pointed to the bar, “Can I get you something?”

Ari chuckled, but not in a rude, or condescending way. “Normally, I’d say yes. However, I get free drinks.”

Your face heated, and you were sure you looked like a tomato, “of course..”

“Alisha tells me you have your own place now?”

You nodded, and took a drink, “yeah, it’s just a small apartment, but it’s close to work and it’s my own.”

“That’s incredible. What do you do?” Ari stepped closer.

“I’m a data analyst at Citadel Agency.” You smiled, you truly did love what you did.

Ari frowned, “the one on 87th street?”

You nodded, “yep! Crazy isn’t it?”

Ari moved away from you, “I see. Well, congratulations on everything, but I have to go. It was nice to see you.”

He had left before you had a chance to say goodbye. Alisha came back shortly after.

“Where’d Ari go?” She asked.

You pointed to where he was, with his back facing you.

“What happened?” Alisha turned to you.

“I have no idea. We were talking, he seemed normal, and then he just flipped and started acting weird after I told him about the job.” You frowned.

“Maybe he’s just having a bad day? Ari’s known to get cold and distant when he’s had a rough day. Which happens quite a bit, actually.”

“It’s possible… I imagine he does, given his line of work. I just thought it might be different, you know? He seemed pretty interested.”

Alisha giggled, “Oh trust me. He’s interested. He’s just trying to play Mr. Cool Guy right now.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, and turned back to the bar. “You should’ve seen the look in his eyes… One minute, he was really close and his eyes were the brightest shade of blue I’d ever seen. He was so close… I literally could have touched him without moving my hand much. And the next, he stepped away from me, and his eyes turned gray.” You looked up at her.

Alisha frowned, “hey, you’re really shaken up. Do you want me to talk to him? See what’s going on?”

You shook your head, “No. He very obviously wants nothing to do with me. I’m sorry. I’m gonna go home, I shouldn’t have brought you out. I really am sorry Alisha.” You glanced over at her.

“No. No, no, you don’t have to apologize. Do you want me to come with you?”

“No. Please, I don’t need sympathy.”

“Alright. What are you doing this weekend? I could swing by with some cheesy movies, some junk food, we could have a girls weekend.”

You giggled, “Okay…” You bit your lip, shrugging your jacket on, and standing up. “Thank you.” You said to Alisha giving her a quick hug. You turned around looking for Ari, but he was gone.

“No problem. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him.”

You shook your head, “There really is no point. See you later.” You waved at her, and walked outside.

Immediately heading to your car, to try and avoid the slight chill in the air.

“Hey,” You heard a voice, and turned around. Ari was standing in front of you.

You didn’t say anything, just pulled the sleeves of your jacket over your hands.

“Promise me something,” Ari glanced around, “promise me you’ll be safe.” He gently placed his hand on your bicep.

The heat from his hand radiated through your jacket, soaked into your skin. Suddenly, every other part of your body was freezing cold. “What do you mean?”

Ari sighed, removing his hand, “it's… complicated.”

“Only because you’re making it complicated, Ari. Look, I really have to go," you said, and opened the car door. Ari shut it.

“Please.” Ari leaned against the door. “Promise me.” Ari gently grasped your hand, but you pulled away as his fingers grazed yours.

“I don’t know that I can make that promise to you. Do you want to explain what the hell happened in there?” You questioned.

“I need you to promise me you’ll be safe.”

“I need to know why you’re so invested in this. In me. I mean, you tell Alisha that you want her to keep an eye on me. And then you start up a conversation with me, you seemed so interested, so genuinely happy. Then when I mentioned the new job, you flipped. You suddenly didn’t care. You were so emotionless. So please tell me. Just give me a straight answer. Not ‘its complicated’. Please Ari. I deserve at least that.”

You could feel your composure slipping, just a little. The pure want to be closer to him, for him to let you into his world was too strong.

“It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous? Dangerous how?” You took a step closer to him.

The corners of Ari’s mouth turned upwards slightly, you would’ve missed it had he not been directly in front of you, and opened your car door.

You nodded your head twice, “of course you won’t give anything.” You mutter, putting your stuff in the car. “I promise. Okay?” You whispered, looking up at him.

“Thank you.” Ari said as he rubbed your back.

In a moment, Ari was gone back into The Lazy Jewel, and you were left with no answers.

Sighing, you got into the vehicle and drove off.

____________________________________________________________________________

Alisha came over the following day with movies and junk food, just as she'd promised. The movies had been discarded the moment she got there.

“He doesn’t let people in, it’s just who he is.” Alisha mentioned. Of course, the topic of conversation was Ari. It was all your mind would focus on. You were confident, when Monday rolled around, the quality of work produced would go downhill, but wouldn’t allow yourself to focus on it.

You groaned, and threw your head back against the couch. “I feel like I’m in school again. I just want him to be honest. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted someone to let me in their life as much as him. I want to be important to him. It’s pathetic.”

“It is not! It’s cute. You are important to him. You have to know that.”

“No. I don’t. Because he won’t let me in! It’s so frustrating. He’s asking me to make promises, but he won’t tell me why!” Your head rolled to look over at her. Alisha’s frame was shaking, she was laughing. You pouted, “It’s not funny!”

Alisha only laughed harder. You groaned, standing, and walking into the kitchen. Rifling through your cabinets you didn’t even know what you were looking for, you just didn’t want to be ridiculed. “Look, I know. I know I haven’t spent much time with him, and I don’t know him that well, but he’s… intriguing.” You slowly turned to face her, only to find her smiling at you, standing beside you.

“You’re into him.” Alisha pointed out.

“And that’s terrifying,” You tilted your head, “I don’t know what to do around him. I’m scared of what that means, Alisha.”

“I know… Ari wouldn’t hurt you though. You know at least that.”

“I don't think he’d hurt me on purpose. He’s hurting me right now though… by not being honest.”

Alisha’s gaze softened, “Let me talk to him.”

You sighed, and walked to the couch again. “Can we just watch something? I don’t want to think about him anymore.”

Alisha nodded, and put on a random movie from the Netflix that was on your tv. Though, you weren’t really paying attention to it. Still stuck in your head about Ari. Soon enough, you were asleep. Alisha got up, and draped a blanket over you before grabbing her purse and calling Ari.

He picked up after two rings. “Hey.” His voice sounded.

“I know it’s late. Can you meet me down at The Lazy Jewel?” she glanced over at you, “We need to talk.”

“Yeah, sure. Is everything okay?” Ari asked, voice laced with concern.

“No.” She said, before hanging up, and quietly gathering her things, and leaving. She made sure she locked the door before getting into her car and speeding off.

____________________________________________________________________________

Monday came and passed with little to no problem. The biggest issue was that the barista gave you the wrong coffee, and you didn’t notice until you got to work. You thought Tuesday was going to be similar, if not the same, and it started out just as every day did. You woke up, showered, went to the coffee shop down the street, before heading to work. It’s the same steps you took everyday. It took a turn when you got to work.

Walking over to your desk, you set all your stuff down, and got out the data report your boss had asked for last week. You finished it too late last night to give it to him. Knocking on the door, you heard a gruff “come in”.

Walking into the room, you turned to shut the door behind you. “Good morning, sir. I wanted to bring this over, I finished it late last-” You were cut off upon turning around, and seeing Ari leaning against the wall opposite your boss’ desk.

Ari said your name, and nodded.

“Sorry,” you turned to your boss, “I finished the report late last night. I know it was due yesterday, but it didn’t feel right to just leave it on your desk.” You approached him, and set the report down in front of him.

“Thank you. You’re free to leave.” Your boss said, curtly, not having once taken his eyes off Ari.

“I-I didn’t know the two of you knew each other.”

You knew you could potentially get into a lot of trouble. Your boss had dismissed you. You needed to know what Ari was saying though. Was he trying to get you fired?

Your boss turned to glare at you. “Right. Right. We’ll talk later. Sorry.” You said before he could reprimand you.

You walked back to your desk, and pretended to be busy, glancing every so often at your boss’ door to see if Ari was leaving.

Ari emerged 30 minutes later, and walked right past you. You stood from your chair, and struggled to follow him.

You tugged on his arm once you had caught up with him. He turned on his heel, to see you. “Good to see you again.” He said.

“Can I have a word with you?” You replied angrily, before pulling him along with you, into a vacant hallway.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” You turned on him.

Ari rolled his eyes, “I’m trying to protect you.”

“NO! You’re trying to get me fired! It is one thing for you to make me promise I’ll be careful, but another entirely to show up at my place of work! I am more than capable of protecting myself!”

Ari’s eyes narrowed. “What, like you protected yourself from your ex?” He spat at you.

Your breath hitched, you had only seen Ari this angry once. The mention of Elijah only fueled the hurt, and the tears that gathered in your eyes. “That was a low blow.”

He knew it was, yet he couldn’t stop himself from saying it. “You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. I’m only trying to help.”

“But you’re not. Why are you here?” You stubbornly wiped the fallen tears from your face.

“I already told you.”

“But you haven’t!! Gah, you’re so frustrating! Just be honest with me, for once please!! What do I need to protect myself from?! I promised you I would, but if something is dangerous I should know right?!” You shouted, more tears falling.

“You think it’s easy?! That the truth is some magic spoken word? That you speak the truth and all's right with the world?! That’s not how it works Princess. I’ve. Already. Told. You.” Ari raised his voice back.

“Why do I need to keep myself safe?! What the fuck do I not know?!”

Ari glared, “not here.”

“Fuck you.” You spat and walked around Ari.

Ari spun and grabbed your arm. “You want to try that again?” He growled out.

“Fuck. You.” You shoved his chest, forcing him to let you go.

The rest of the day passed without so much as a hiccup. You were relieved to see the clock strike 6:00. Your work day was finished. You packed all your bags up, and walked out. The air had a slight chill to it, but it was more than welcomed after spending your whole day in a stuffy office.

Your phone rang as you walked towards your apartment complex, fishing it out of your purse, you saw Alisha’s name on the screen.

You answered it immediately. “Hey!”

“What the hell happened today?!” Alisha practically shouted down the receiver.

“Okay, ease up, what’re you talking about?”

“I know Ari showed up at your work, but he got back here around 11:30 this morning, and has locked himself in his office. He’s refusing to come out!”

“I couldn’t tell you what’s wrong with him. Only that he’s a selfish prick.” You walked faster.

“What happened between you two? I mean just the other night you were talking about how your feelings for him scared you, and now you’re calling him a prick.”

“He’s lying to me!” You finally got to your apartment, and unlocked the door. “Okay? He’s lying to me.”

You walked in.

“Lying to you how?”

“He showed up today, he was talking to my boss, Alisha! He was in there for over a half an hour, definitely longer, because he was in there before I showed up! He told me he was trying to protect me! But I don’t need protection from my employer! He wouldn't answer me when I asked him to elaborate, he’s hiding something, and lying about it!” You threw your stuff down and collapsed on the bed.

“Oh my… Can you get down here? To The club tonight. Please?” Alisha asked.

“What? Alisha, I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“If you change your mind, you know where to find me, okay?”

“Absolutely.” You hung up, and closed your eyes for a few moments.

You sat up, and grabbed your favorite takeout menu. Not feeling like cooking. As you reached for your phone to dial, a call came through. You didn’t recognize the number, but answered anyway.

“Hello?” You scooted back against the headboard.

“Hi. Look, you probably don’t want to talk to me, but we do need to talk.” Ari’s voice rang back.

“How’d you get my number?”

“Alisha gave it to me a few weeks back. I didn’t want to alarm you by using it.”

“Of course she did. What do you want from me Ari?”

“Come by. Please. To the club, tonight, I need to talk to you…”

“Fine. I’ll be there soon. But you better be ready to answer my questions.”

Ari chuckled, “I definitely owe you some answers..”

“I’ll be there soon.”

You arrived in 20 minutes. Record timing for you. You shot a quick text off to Ari to let him know you’re there, before walking in.

Ari met you at the door. “Hi.” You said, quietly.

“Can we head somewhere a little more private?” He asked, to which you nodded, and followed him into his office. The entire way down, you heard the whispers, the quiet voices talking about the two of you. How Ari had finally met his match. You made a mental note to ask him about it.

Upon entering the room, Ari gently shut the door so as to not startle you. “I owe you an explanation.” You turned, and found Ari looking extremely guilty.

“You only suppose that now you owe me an explanation? Not like 9 hours ago?” You quipped.

“I owed you one then too, but we were still in the office building, I couldn’t just explain everything to you then.”

“Ohhh. So I deserve an explanation now, but I didn’t deserve one days ago when I was begging you in front of my car?” You glared at Ari.

He sighed, “I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”

“When you told me you got a job, I was interested. I was happy for you. The Citadel Agency used to be owned by the Howling Commandos. Steve Rogers was the old owner. When you mentioned you were working there, I thought.. I thought you may have been playing us. Then I realized why you were here in the first place, and it didn’t add up. So I thought maybe you didn’t know. I asked you to be careful because of that. I was only checking in. When I went in, and it wasn’t Curtis, it threw me. I thought they had new management. But not that they sold the company. I had to make sure you were safe. When Jake told me… I felt like a fool.” Ari didn’t realize he was slowly stepping closer to you.

You pulled your sleeves over your hands, “I owe you an apology too..”

Ari shook his head, but you cut him off.

“No, I do. I accused you. I was so rude to you. You were only trying to help. I’m so sorry.”

“If I had just been open and honest, but I wanted to be sure. Earlier today, we were likely under some sort of surveillance. I couldn’t say what I wanted. Days ago, I didn’t want to alarm you, I had to get my facts straight.”

“Well, I’m a little bummed I can’t dispute that, but I am sorry.” You joked.

Ari laughed, “It’s okay.”

“So… I’m your girl?” You slowly rocked back on your heels. “Is that what you’ve been telling everyone?”

Ari chuckled, “I haven’t said it.. But everyone can kinda see how protective over you I am. How crazy I am about you.”

Your face flushed. “Ohhh I see. Maybe you’ll let me buy you a drink sometime? Maybe somewhere that's not here?”

Ari smiled, “I think I can arrange that.”

#Ari Levinson #Ari Levinson x Fem Reader #Ari Levinson x Female Reader #K Writes #Reader Insert #Ari Levinson Fic #Ari Levinson Angst #Ari Levinson Fluff #Chris Evans #Chris Evans Fic

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bellafragolina · 2 years

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Hi! Can I request hcs for Raihan and Leon with a world champ figure skater s/o?

Ooooh, figure skating is so pretty! And hard! You gotta be so in shape to do it, and it's v impressive

🍓🍓🍓

Raihan:

Your number one support and also the manager of your social media. Jk, he just takes so many pictures and videos of you that people mistake his social for yours a lot. He doesn't miss a moment, capturing your every axel and lutz, making sure to zoom in on your complicated footwork so everyone can see just how talented you are

He takes you everywhere with him, and introduces you by your title. Have you met my partner, the world champion figure skater headed for the Olympics? No, well this is them. How talented and gorgeous, right?

Y'all are couple goals, attending each other's events and cheering each other on. Raihan will dress like its a football game, face paint and everything, if you let him. Otherwise, he's putting his whole pussy into clapping and cheering for you while you skate. You've learned how to tune it out, thankfully.

After any of your events, he takes you out to dinner and compliments the shit out of you. He shows you the photos and videos he's taken, and the comments from any he's posted. He's proud of you, and wants the world to know about your skill and hard work.

Leon:

Leon has all you merch. You don't have merch? He commissioned some, so here we are. He's sitting in your competitions with your face and name on everything, confusing the shit out of the other attendees. No one recognizes him because they're too distracted by his pompoms and the crocs he has with your name all over them- where did he get those??

Y'all get harassed by reporters when you go out, but Leon snatches their mic and talks about how amazing you are. You wave at the camera as he talks about all the competitions you've won. You're a World Champion!! That's amazing!!

Talk about a power couple. You both work out together, doing your separate regimens and cheering each other through your sets. He's your biggest supporter, no matter what you're doing in relation to your sport. Exercise? Cheering. Practicing? Cheering. Lacing up your skates? Cheering.

If you ever take a spill on the ice, he's nearly throwing himself over the wall to get to you. He's fretting hard core over any scrapes or bruises, determined to patch them up himself as he makes little jokes to distract you from the pain. He also makes sure to kiss everything better with his Champion Kisses (patent pending).

He's lucky he's cute

🍓🍓🍓

Are you a figure skater, anon? It's super cool if you are! I'm a big fan of skating, so I applaud you!! Have a great night!

~Renee

#raihan x reader #leon x reader #champion leon x reader #pokemon imagines #pokemon x reader

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needlesandnilbogs · 2 months

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arada and/or overse for the ask game!

Arada

First impression: Oh, hey, a lesbian couple! And this one has a name that sounds a little like my friend!

Impression now: Okay but what's going around in her head. She's competent and kind and she's learning how to lead and everything and she's also smart and probably autistic and the narrative doesn't even say anything it's just normal! (She is everything I want to grow up to be, let's be clear)

Favorite moment: We don't get to see that bunkroom scene in Network Effect, but it spins around my head constantly. Onscreen in the actual books I also really like every little moment in Network Effect where it's clear she knows what she's doing when it comes to leadership.

Idea for a story: … I should just paste my entire list of ideas here. It is easier to list the story ideas that don't involve Arada than the ones that do. But specifically: my February goal that's not close to being met is to finish a fic that's just her pov of network effect (current title when I talk about it is "arada pov of network effect" but I have a different working title for it)

Unpopular opinion: SHE DESERVED BETTER IN SYSTEM COLLAPSE. We do not see anything of her and we didn't see anything that even alluded to her leadership in Network Effect. I am very extremely mad about this still and think she should have gotten to go with SecUnit instead of Ratthi.

Favorite relationship: The obvious one when you look at what I write is her relationship with Overse and the infinite ways it can manifest and change depending on how they're changing, but the one I'm really enjoying exploring right now is her relationship with Mensah -- we don't see anything special here, unless you count the line from ASR where it's Mensah and Arada overriding everyone talking to mb about feelings, but I'm really enjoying the space that gives for her to be learning about leadership from Mensah but also knowing when not to take advice. Also I like figuring out how Ratthi fits into Arada and Overse's relationship as best friend but also third wheel.

Favorite headcanon: I really really love the idea that she and Overse are both transfemme demiromantic asexual lesbians and their relationship is non-normative for Preservation. In any universe where they have kids, she's also definitely got three teenage kids for whom she shares responsibility with Ratthi and Overse but she's the primary person to deal with Kid Things. Also also autistic Arada is something I basically don't think about as headcanon anymore because there's serious textual support for it but I guess that counts and it influences how I write her.

Overse

First impression: Aww, lesbians, I love them already (see above)

Impression now: She's the sensible one everywhere but she cares so much and she's doing her best to be supportive all the time and also she's got so much going on we don't see so tell me more about her.

Favorite moment: In Network Effect where she stops in the hall and reminds Arada to be like a bulkhead. Why that metaphor? I must know!

Idea for a story: Oh, so many things. I really want to know what she does for a living, though, so I want to see her growing up and trying six quadrillion different things before she ended up with a large set of vaguely related skills that's somehow perfect for survey work.

Unpopular opinion: also deserved better in System Collapse. See above rant about how Arada deserved better, they both did. They should get to be the ones doing fun stuff sometimes it doesn't always have to be Ratthi!

Favorite relationship: With Arada, but I also think it would be really cool if she was close friends with Pin-Lee, if something about them being the only two without a doctorate meant they ever had moments where they were like. Do my friends understand common sense (or other things where they could both Get Each Other that way). basically I think she and arada should both have more friendship onscreen with the rest of presaux.

Favorite headcanon: Why does she have weapons training in ASR? I have overanalyzed that implication to heck and back and decided the answer is that she grew up in an area of Preservation known for aggressive fauna that think humans are yummy so to go do camping things or anything she had to get medical and weapons training at a young age.

Bonus headcanon for both of them is that if a modern human who isn't very up to date on gender or sexuality met them they would look like a stereotypical femme/butch relationship. Because Arada has short hair and wears basically the same outfit every day while Overse has really long hair and likes to dress up and whatever and then if you look at their hobbies Arada spins and crochets and sews and cooks and can paint so many fancy nail designs and whatever and Overse is over in the corner of their home taking apart the third chair in two days with a hammer and building things and sticking her hands in guts and gore and basically the two of them are out here breaking every stereotype ever by being actual human beings but in this specific way they're exact opposites by earth standards just not in the expected way.

#fandom #murderbot

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goaliekisses · 2 years

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Cooley isn’t just a Pittsburgh kid who dreams of playing in front of the Penguins faithful, or one of the many inspired by Crosby and his club. The connection between him and the captain, between him and the team, runs much deeper. Back before his ascent through the youth hockey ranks, Cooley was one of a bunch of five-year-olds puttering around the ice under the watchful eye of Crosby himself. He was among a group of kids who got their start in the game because of the captain, gifted free hockey gear by No. 87’s Little Penguins program.

When that program started, the goal was just to get more kids in Pittsburgh playing hockey, to give local families an easier path to getting involved in the sport. Now, a decade and a half later, Crosby’s efforts in Pittsburgh have spawned something far greater than he or the Penguins expected.

While watching Ovechkin finally hoist the Cup that year remains one of Cooley’s most cherished hockey memories, his earliest recollection of his own life on the ice began a decade prior, as Crosby was on his way to winning his first title. It was in 2008, sandwiched between Cup Final disappointment and his first ring, that Crosby met with Penguins brass to figure out a way to make the game more accessible for young families in his adopted hometown. “The vision for the Little Penguins program really came from a conversation that our former president and CEO, David Morehouse, had with Sid back in the 2007-08 season,” says Rich Hixon. “Really the focus of it was we were looking to grow the game and really make this an opportunity for Pittsburgh to become a hockey town.”

“Sid came to me originally,” Morehouse said. ”He said he wanted to figure out how to make it easier for kids to play hockey, to kind of take down some of the economic barriers.”

Between the team, Crosby, and a couple sponsors, the Penguins would provide kids between the ages of five and nine free head-to-toe equipment, properly fitted, and 10 on-ice sessions. Six hundred kids enrolled right off the bat, and even more wanted in. So the Penguins increased the number of players they outfitted each year, averaging roughly a thousand per year since. All in all, around 14,000 children have taken their first spins as Little Penguins.

Eric Neilson has had a front-row seat to Crosby’s work with youth hockey, both back in Nova Scotia and in Pittsburgh. A former teammate of No. 87’s in Rimouski, who’s remained one of his closest friends since, Neilson knows better than most how dedicated the Penguins captain is to this work. “He has so much passion for the game of hockey and so for him to give back, that gives him pure joy,” Neilson says. “It’s not something that’s forced. It’s not something that’s, ‘Oh, I have to do this.’ It’s, ‘I want to do this.’

“You know, I got to know Darryl pretty good over the years, on a personal level, away from the rink,” he continues, calling Crosby by the Darryl Sittler-inspired nickname they gave him in their QMJHL days. “It’s not too many times I’ve seen him happier than when he’s on the ice with those kids. That smile that he’s got, that’s a big, genuine smile. He’s about as happy as he’s ever going to get right there.”

And come July 7, when Cooley’s name is called, come that first game in Pittsburgh, when Cooley and Crosby’s journey will come full circle, Neilson knows his friend will be looking on with pride. “It’s just something special and it’s very, very unique. I know that Darryl will never say it, but I’m sure he’s got a little smile on the inside about that. He’s very proud of that.”

“That’s something that for sure I’ve thought about,” Cooley says. “It would definitely be a special moment. And I think a pretty funny moment, too. He’s the reason — he got me into hockey, you know? Made me fall in love with it, too, just watching him compete. To be able to play against him would just be crazy. It probably wouldn’t even feel real.”

very very cute

#good for him!!!#logan cooley #sidney crosby #pittsburgh penguins

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cattatonically · 4 months

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Better Homes and Hauntings - Molly Harper

Synopsis

Author of the beloved Half Moon Hollow series of vampire romances (Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs), Molly Harper has created a standalone paranormal romance in which a dilapidated haunted house could bring star-crossed lovers together—if it doesn’t kill them first!

When Nina Linden is hired to landscape a private island off the New England coast, she sees it as her chance to rebuild her failing business after being cheated by her unscrupulous ex. She never expects that her new client, software mogul Deacon Whitney, would see more in her than just a talented gardener. Deacon has paid top dollar to the crews he’s hired to renovate the desolate Whitney estate—he had to, because the bumps, thumps, and unexplained sightings of ghostly figures in nineteenth-century dress are driving workers away faster than he can say “Boo.”

But Nina shows no signs of being scared away, even as she experiences some unnerving apparitions herself. And as the two of them work closely together to restore the mansion’s faded glory, Deacon realizes that he’s found someone who doesn’t seem to like his fortune more than himself—while Nina may have finally found the one man she can trust with her bruised and battered heart.

But something on the island doesn’t believe in true love…and if Nina and Deacon can’t figure out how to put these angry spirits to rest, their own love doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance.

My Thoughts

This book really ticked all my boxes – paranormal romance, sass, bickering, bantering, a historical mystery, a modern mystery (ish), and ghosts. Sometimes, these all appeared at the same time. Just not all from the same character.

I really loved the multiple POV this book offered. I loved seeing the events transpire from so many different perspectives, and how the house affected everyone differently. But overall, I loved that at the heart of it all, they wanted to try to solve the mystery of who, really, killed Catherine Whitney. (For the sake of ensuring this review is spoiler-free, I’ll say no more on the matter.)

I honestly can’t say whether or not I loved one character over the other, but as a group I loved their dynamic. They were all afraid to admit to each other, and themselves, that there were some very haunted things happening around the house, but once they admitted it out loud, they worked together to find a solution.

There was no secret-keeping, or gaslighting, or trying to sweep it under the rug. There a mildly reluctant acceptance of the events that were occurring, and a team effort to find out why it was happening, and how to stop it. And they really all worked so well together.

The mysteries were by far the threads that weaved these characters together, but they were fairly secondary to the connections being built and the overall goal of renovating the historical mansion to a modern version of it’s former glory. (Did I have to google what the Gilded Age was more than once to try understand? Yes. Yes I did.)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and it made me realize that I’ve read a couple of Molly Harper titles before, a while ago, that I also really enjoyed. Once is chance, twice is coincidence, but three times is a pattern. It’s time I explore more of Molly Harper’s universe, and her series in full.

#Book review #Better Homes and Hauntings #Molly Harper #Catt reads #Catt's life in books

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vonithipathachai · 1 year

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The Mario Movie and the Place of the Film Critic

So. I saw the Mario movie at the theater with my friend. …It was fine. I figure I probably would’ve enjoyed it more if I had a closer personal attachment to the Mario franchise. But I think it mostly accomplished its goals of being pleasant, light-hearted, mentally undemanding entertainment for families and fans of the games.

I will say, though, that as someone who doesn’t consider himself a big Mario fan despite having played his share of Mario titles, I found the discourse around the movie’s critical and commercial reception to be far more interesting than the movie itself. In the days shortly preceding and following its release, I found my YouTube feed being absolutely bombarded with Mario movie-related videos. These included not only blatant spoilers, but videos from YellowFlash, Ryan Kimel, and other anti-woke content creators weaponizing the movie’s success and using it as an excuse to take the piss out of Disney and the critical establishment (not that Disney and certain critics don’t deserve it). Now, I do feel I have something to contribute to the conversation, and I lean more on the side of the supporters of the Mario movie than the detractors. But I’m really not interested in waxing polemic here as, again, there are plenty of other people who are far better known than I am doing that already. Instead I’d like to ponder how we got to this whole situation between the critics and the audience in the first place and what can be learned from it going forward. Because I do believe we’re witnessing change in motion as Mario smashes the box office and big movie studios are finding themselves compelled to take notes. We might as well make the most of it.

The first thing we need to ask, which many who’ve observed large gaps in critical and audience approval ratings on Rotten Tomatoes have wondered, is “What is the purpose of film critics?” Considering the question from a purely utilitarian perspective, I’m sure most would agree that they (at least in theory) act as a guide for the moviegoing consumer. We all have limited time and money to spend on media consumption, and we would ideally like to spend as many of these finite resources as possible on “good” movies rather than “bad” ones. Already we can see an issue here, as what exactly defines “good” and “bad” will vary between individuals. Some audiences simply want a dazzling audiovisual spectacle to relieve themselves from the suffering of mundane life for a couple of hours, while others may be looking for more substance from things like narrative, actor performances, themes, etc. so that they may feel personally enriched by the movie experience. Since the very nature of the professional critic’s job demands that the critic think more, well, critically about the movies they watch—carefully analyzing a film’s strong and weak points to argue for or against said film being worth seeing—they naturally fall into the latter category of defining “good” films primarily on the basis of substance. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be good, as it creates the potential for meaningful discussion and new perspectives which can help the ordinary audience member appreciate movies in a new light. It does, however, create an alienating effect between critics and more casual members of the audience.

Further compounding the issue is that the professional critic, once again due to the nature of their job, is likely to have different viewing habits from those of even other substance-oriented individuals within the general audience. They have to do multiple screenings per week (as many as 10-12 in the UK, not sure about the US) on top of writing their reviews and submitting them before the deadlines. Not only that, they do not have the luxury of getting to pick and choose only “good” movies to watch, but must watch whatever movies are assigned to them by their superiors, including all of the “bad” and mediocre ones. When you have to sit through so many movies, especially Hollywood genre movies that tend to follow similar plot beats, you naturally develop more keenly enhanced standards and sensitivity to whatever sticks out, both for better and for worse. This partially explains how Star Wars: The Last Jedi was able to win significant amounts of critical praise for “subverting expectations” and “taking risks” while at the same time drawing the ire of longtime fans.

With this in mind, it is easy to wonder why anyone would want to be a professional critic at all. A more pessimistic or distrusting individual might say that critics are driven by a desire for clout and prestige. Monetary gain would play a limited role at best, as the majority of film critics are in fact paid very poorly and must find additional income elsewhere. This typically comes through other forms of journalism, as critics are often college-educated with degrees in journalism or communications if not film studies specifically (which in turn explains how many of them can be construed as “woke” or otherwise politically left-leaning). But when the critic’s more demanding viewing habits have such great influence over how they assess what they watch, this limits the scope of people who take their opinions seriously, usually to fellow intellectuals who may or may not lean left themselves. Ultimately, the critic persists out of a sheer love for film as an art form, and the advancement of film as art is something their work gives them a vested interest in.

So then where does Mario fit into all this? When considering the critical predilection for substance instead of spectacle and their more refined viewing standards, along with the Mario movie’s safe, sterilized, corporate-mandated handling of the titular character and his world combined with a barebones and predictable story, it is not difficult to imagine how the movie could be given underwhelming critical reviews, even without accounting for any possibility of woke bias. If the critics can be said to “hate” the Mario movie, it is because it is antithetical to everything they stand for as intellectuals and lovers of film as art. It is pure audio-visual junk food. Well-made and satisfying junk food, but junk food nonetheless. But as far as its target audience is concerned, this is perfectly fine, even if it could do with just a little more time spent on plot and character development. Therefore it can be considered a “good” video game movie. Which makes it all the more curious that the critic scores have caused such an uproar.

As of this writing, the Mario movie sits at a 59% approval rating from critics and a 96% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, which is only a 37% difference. For context, a movie on the site only needs a 60% critical approval rating to be considered Fresh, leaving it only a single percentage point away from Fresh status. It does not even have as low of a critical approval rating as similarly critic-Rotten-and-audience-Fresh movies on the site, such as Venom (30%C, 80%A, 50% difference) and Uncharted (41%C, 90%A, 49% difference). If the critics are too distant from the Mario movie’s target audience for their opinions to be worth consideration, then why is such a fuss still being made? Wanting to break the “video game movie curse” is no longer a viable excuse; by this logic, Sonic would’ve broken it already with two audience-Fresh movies well before Mario. The only logical explanation I can think of is that this is purely a matter of personal validation. The critic scores are essentially the one blemish on what has otherwise been a perfect triumph for Nintendo and its fanbase. …Either that or all the complainers are just a vocal minority and I’ve unwittingly found myself in one of those echo chambers. Maybe it’s a little bit of both, who knows.

I’d like to end this piece off with some advice, not that I expect either party to abide by it. Critics, if you are interested at all in expanding out of the intellectual bubble and gaining greater audience respect, it could be prudent going forward to try and put yourselves in the shoes of the movie’s target audience. Not every movie is trying or even needs to be Shakespeare or have a profound social message. Audience members, especially gamers, if you really don’t care what critics have to say about the movies you like, then just act like it. It makes you look a lot less stupid. And, uh, enjoy this possible new trend of high-quality Nintendo movies while you can. Shigeru Miyamoto’s not getting any younger.

#mario #mario movie #the super mario bros movie #super mario #film critique #film criticism

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