#but yeah kudos to whoever did the art for this opening

[quibbs126]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful this artwork is?

For context, this is the opening sequence of Evoland 2, if anyone was curious. I’ve been wanting to back and replay it for a while and I decided today is the day

[dreamlover31]

Love Will Find a Way: Chapter 2

At the end of an exhausting day at the shelter, Alexa returned to her apartment to get herself ready for her date with Rafael later that evening. After entering her apartment, she headed towards her bedroom where she left a trail of clothes in her wake as she went into the bathroom, she turned on the faucet and stepped into the warm spray of her shower. As the water cascaded down her naked form, the stress of the day had essentially been washed away along with the suds from the body wash, shampoo and conditioner; when she was finished, she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body. 

After exiting the bathroom, Alexa made haste to the walk in closet, as she browsed through her wardrobe, she felt a little giddy at the idea that she was about to have dinner with the most well renowned ADA in all of Manhattan. After making a second sweep of her closet, she finally settled on a spaghetti strapped, maroon colored dress that practically screamed sexiness. Hmmm, I wonder if maybe this is too forward…I mean it’s a gorgeous dress but I just don’t want to give him the wrong impression, suddenly she was startled by the vibrations coming from her phone that laid on top of the dresser right across from her bed.

As she looked at the screen, she saw that it was a text from Rafael.

Hey just wanted to let you know that I’ll be a little late in picking you up, have to finish up some paperwork at the office, I should be there no less than 5 minutes.

After she read his text, she quickly sent one of her own telling him that she understood his situation and that she would wait for him, once it was sent Alexa continued to finish getting ready; she decided to go with the maroon dress and then picked out a pair of black four inch heels. From there she went through her jewelry box and decided on a pair of black beaded chandelier earrings and a choker, then she sprayed on her favorite rose scented perfume and went over to the long wide mirror that hung on the bathroom door, as she gave herself a quick glance over, she thought to herself: oh yeah, this is definitely the outfit…I hope Rafael doesn’t have a heart attack when he sees it. It was then that she heard a knock at the door, when she reached it, she opened it ajar only to find that it was Rafael standing there holding a bouquet of roses.

After she unlatched the chain, Alexa proceeded to fully open the door and stepped aside to let him in, as she turned around to face him, his jaw practically fell to the floor when he said:

“Wow…you look beautiful”

“Thank you, are those for me,” Alexa asked as she pointed to the bouquet in his hands.

“Oh yes, here” 

After he handed her the flowers, Alexa went into the kitchen to put them in some water, meanwhile, Rafael decided to take an impromptu tour of tour of her apartment. Overall, he was impressed at how meticulous and coordinated the furniture was; a beige colored couch that sat in the middle of the living room as an oak brown coffee table laid out in front of it, a 50-inch plasma screen placed up against the wall on top of a TV stand that matched the color of the coffee table. Also, he takes note of the colorful landscape paintings that hung along the wall, when he finished looking across the room, he then made his way towards the bookshelf that sat on the left hand side of the room. 

As he glanced at the collection of romance, crime and justice, and self-help books; he did not notice that Alexa had come up from behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder, he quickly turned around as she said:

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you”

“It’s alright, I was just admiring your collective works of art here”

Alexa smiled, “Well shall we make our way down to the restaurant” 

After gathering her purse, they made their way out the apartment and upon exiting the building, Alexa slinked her arm around Rafael’s as they walked down towards the Italian restaurant. During their stroll, Rafael couldn’t help but peek at Alexa’s remarkable physique, her long slender legs, the curvature of her body and the pout that formed from her perfect lips that made it difficult for him not to lean over and kiss her. Alexa felt Rafael’s gaze upon her and smirked.

“Why don’t you take a picture it’ll last longer”

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare”

“It’s ok I get it”

A few moments later, they made it to the entrance of the restaurant, before even entering; the smell of garlic bread and parmesan flooded their senses. Their mouths practically watering as they entered, Rafael made it known to the hostess that they had a reservation, after it was confirmed, she escorted the two of them halfway across the restaurant to their table. Once they were seated, a waiter came by to take their drink orders, both Rafael and Alexa ordered a glass of red wine. As he took his leave, the two of them looked upon each other while being surrounded by the chatter and commotion of the restaurant, a few minutes went by before Alexa decided to break the ice:

“So how’s work?”

“Ugh…brutal, I recently lost a case in which a television actor and his friend gang raped a woman in the bathroom of a nightclub”

“The Bobby D’Amico case?”

“Yeah”

“Oh man…I saw it on the news, but kudos to whoever leaked that video of the two of them almost raping that undercover cop. Those bastards got what was coming to them”

“I couldn’t agree more”

It was then that the waiter came back with their glasses of wine, at the same time, Rafael and Alexa placed their order. He ordered the chicken parmesan while Alexa ordered a simple pasta dish, as the waiter departed from their table again, the two of them continued their conversation:

“Listen I hope you don’t mind me asking but what made you decide to work at a domestic violence shelter?”

Alexa paused for a moment as she took a sip of her wine.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to…” Rafael’s voice trailed off but then Alexa interrupted:

“No it’s ok…um my dad he uh…he would use my mother as his personal punching bag, whenever he thought that she was cheating on him or for no reason at all. One time he beat her so bad that she bled out all over the kitchen floor, she had to have 20 stitches in her head.”

As she continued to describe the horrors of her childhood, tales that involved severe beatings and acts of emotional terrorism, small tears started to prick in her eyes. Rafael reached out to comfort her by placing his hand on top of hers as he looked upon her with eyes that conveyed to her that he understood her pain, with her free hand; Alexa wiped her eyes.

“I’m really sorry you had to go through that…I know what it’s like to live in a house where you don’t know what’s going to set a madman off”

“What do you mean?”

“My father was like yours…he took out his misery and self-loathing on me and my mother, I hated every minute of it, there were times where I’d pray for his death. Even though he’s been dead for 15 years, my hand still curls up into a fist whenever I think of him. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it’s probably one of the reasons that I became a prosecutor…I wanted to provide a voice for those who were being treated like they were less than human beings”

“Wow…I don’t what to say”

“Well we all have a past, the trick is to not let it define us”

“True”

The waiter came back with their orders shortly after, when he left, they reached for their utensils and proceeded to dive into the fine cuisine displayed before them. During the course of their meal, Alexa and Rafael continued with small talk, but then he brought up the subject of her last relationship and all of sudden it was like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

“There’s really not much to tell Rafael”

“I’m sorry I don’t mean to pry”

“Alright…you want to know the story? I gave the guy a year of my life that I’ll never get back only to find out that he’d been screwing some piece of office trash on the side”

“If you don’t mind me saying, he was a fool to let someone as smart and as beautiful as you go…seems to me like he didn’t know what he had”

Alexa smiled as his words sunk in, it became apparent to her that maybe she had finally found someone who would appreciate her and possibly love her in the way that she deserved to be, once they cleaned off their plates, Rafael asked for the check. After paying the bill, he proceeded to walk Alexa back to her apartment building, along the way; Alexa thanked him for his kind words but he reiterated to her that he meant every single word.

“Well here we are,” Alexa noted as they stood facing each other outside her apartment building.

“I had a really great time tonight”

“Me too”

After a brief moment, Rafael leaned in to kiss Alexa only to have her pull away from him.

“I’m sorry, I just”

“It’s ok I understand”

“Please don’t take this wrong way, I really like you but I just want to take things slow”

“Alexa, It’s alright”

With that, they exchanged their goodbyes as she made her way up to her apartment, as soon as he had visual confirmation that she was inside, Rafael walked down the street and waved down a passing cab. Alexa looked out her window as she saw the cab drove by with Rafael in it, as she made her way towards the bedroom, she began cursing at herself for letting a golden opportunity get away from her; What the hell is wrong with you?

Tagging: @madpanda75 @laceybellerain @southern-magnolia @tropes-and-tales @thatesqcrush @teamsladsandgents @karens-imagined-world @itsjustmyfantasyroom @youreverycolor @misssirenlove @beccabarba @glimmerglittergirl​ @madamsnape921

[tfw-needs-baby]

sam winchester | internet personas

based on my own experience. 

read on ao3? 

Sam Winchester and his brother stumbled upon fanfiction and the fandom a while ago. He swore to himself that he would never, ever go back and visit the crazy people that existed there. 

Well, sitting in his room in the bunker, he was bored and had nothing much to do because the supernatural had been pretty quiet for the past month or so and he was scrolling aimlessly through new articles and finding nothing. He doesn’t know how or why the idea popped into his head, but it came and he was curious at the time, so why not? 

‘Best places to’ Nope, delete that. 

‘Where to join a fandom’ Delete that too. That just sounded stupid. 

‘Fandom friendly sites.’ Yeah, that sounded about right. He clicked onto the first link, and it immediately brought him to a site called ‘Fandom.’ 

How ironic. Although it didn’t exactly help him much, it was just an explanation guide to their platform and what it had to offer. The rest of the links weren’t much help either, and he sighed. Alright, how to find the fans...wasn’t there something called livejournal? 

According to a couple of articles, old and inactive journals had been purged, but were still doing pretty well. And then, the Winchester searched up ‘best places to read fanfiction.’ 

A couple of suggestions appeared underneath ‘Popular on the web.’ 

‘Wattpad - tumblr - kindle words - deviantart - archive of our own - asianfanfics’ 

Huh. Visiting a couple of sites, Wattpad and Fanfiction.net and Archive Of Our Own popped up frequently, so he decided to visit Wattpad first. He went to browse works and choose fanfiction, and it brought him to a selection of hot and trendy stories with millions of views on them. Woah. It ranged from k-pop to a selection of animes to CBS shows and weird crossovers. The ‘x reader’ tag seemed very popular and he shivered, reminding him of Becky. 

Signing up wasn’t hard either. It had only taken him a couple of minutes. But when he was reading a selected few from the hot section, they didn’t exactly grab his attention. A lot of them seemed to be written by younger ten to fifteen year olds. They did have a large amount of potential and amazing storylines, he’ll give them that. 

Then he wandered over to Fanfiction.net. The sign up process was easy, but the site was a bit more historical and a bit more him. There were multiple forums, and he scrolled down and viewed a couple of them. Oh. They were similar to roleplay, but just - more building along a storyline with it, if that made any sense. The sign up was pretty easy here too, and he smiled as two notifications popped up in his gmail for both sites. 

Backtracking now, he went off to ‘archive of our own,’ nicknamed ‘ao3’ for short and a paragraph popped up and he skimmed through it quickly. It was just a warning that everything could be viewed by whoever and whatnot. The writing here definitely seems way more advanced, way more complex and interesting, with canon divergences going all out and unheard au’s. And the cliche plots we’re simply adorable. 

He went over to sign up, and raised an eyebrow when it stated that you needed to get an invitation, and all you had to do was enter in an email. And wait a day for an invitation. 

Hopping onto tumblr, he made an account quickly and started scrolling through it, and everything seemed different somehow. Like, more modern day than the last time he came to the page. The fandom had definitely become smaller due to a ‘nsfw ban’ and he couldn’t decide whether that was a good or bad thing. They had gifsets of memories that had happened about three years ago, with their final stand against Chuck, and he smiled as he went through year’s old blogs that never updated anymore, reblogging everything ‘Supernatural’ underneath the username ‘babytrenchcoatnougat’ and he started to tear up when he stumbled upon a post where they had created a small art of playing the rainbow slinky with Dean based on a gifset of a memory. He still remembers how happy Dean had been when he got it just for him, he played with it for the next week. 

A couple of week’s later, Sam want’s to do more than reblog and comment on content. Sam does have artistic potential, and he could definitely look into that. Although, writing seems easier at the moment, and he scrolls through an endless amount of fanfiction on archive of our own - ranging from major character death to general fanfiction - from his brother and best friend sleeping together to him turning into the boyking to high school universes to Apocalyptic worlds where they have failed.

He wants to write his own world, where they’re all happy and care-free and able to actually live happily, where no one he’s loved has died. Making a post on tumblr he states: By any chance, is there anyone on this platform that can help me with a non-romantic general Supernatural fanfiction?

He places a couple of normal tags that fit into the category, then presses post. About an hour later, he gets a reblog from someone called @ misha-moose-dean-burger-lover [and wow, that sounds like a handful] offering to help. 

I’m available if you need me to, @ babytrenchcoatnougat ; what’s the plot? We can discuss more in DM’s if you’d like! Besides, I’m free for the week, but if you need a beta reader I can offer a couple of people that I know. 

Sam sends her a message. 

babytrenchcoatnougat: can you give me some advice or writing tips if you have any? i'm not looking to make any implied romantic pairings in the fic

misha-moose-dean-burger-lover: well, that depends, what’s the fic going to be about? 

babytrenchcoatnougat: i don't know yet, maybe team free will 2.0 just taking a roadtrip to nowhere without a destination in sight after defeating chuck?

misha-moose-dean-burger-lover: eeeeee

misha-moose-dean-burger-lover: that sounds like a awesome idea misha-moose-dean-burger-lover: you're definitely going to want to have specific destinations in mind, and only a hint of angst, and what they’re going to do at these locations 

misha-moose-dean-burger-lover: use transition words and make sure it doesn’t repeat often, descriptive details but don’t use it in every scene, and make sure there are frequent movements in the characters so they don’t sound so stiff, and make sure to slowly transition into the next scene, as time skipping to every scene will make the story seem boring. misha-moose-dean-burger-lover: make sure the characters aren’t ooc either! 

And so, Sam writes. He writes until his eyes hurt and he definitely needs some sleep, so he sends a quick message to a beta to read it over for him and they do, gushing about how the plot was wonderful and badly needed after all the terrible angst that occurred this season. He smiles, giving his thanks before uploading the first chapter out of 15, 13k words, onto ao3. 

[He checks over the grammar and tags over fifteen times.]

He can hardly contain his excitement, jumping around happily all day, even baking Dean a pie which makes him get sprayed with holy water and go through every test just to make sure he isn’t some supernatural creature. 

Later that afternoon, he checks his ao3 underneath the same username and finds out it’s gotten about 150 hits, and 38 kudos, which makes his heart swell. He’s also gotten a comment, and he presses comments eagerly. 

‘Kill yourself, psycho virgin fag.’ 

He re-reads the comment a couple of times, eyes tearing up and dropping his phone onto the kitchen table recklessly. What the fuck. Was his story really that bad? Did those people who didn’t leave a kudo really hate his story that much? Did the fans think his story was too child-like? Badly written? OOC? Do they really hate him that bad that he actually should commit- 

Sam breaks down right then and there, pushing his computer aside, placing his head down and crying softly. Castiel and Dean don’t find him until an hour later, and he’s still softly crying. They rush over to him, Dean quickly sitting to the right while Castiel sits to the left. “Sammy? What happened?” Dean asks, and the younger Winchester shakes his head. 

“N’thing.” He mumbles, and the older Winchester sighs. He’s just being stubborn, when he doesn’t want other people to worry about him, afraid that he’ll give them his problems. “Sam, please, if you talk to us, then we may fix the problem together. Remember, we made that promise two years ago, to be more open with each other.” The former-angel now archangel says, pushing Sam’s hair out of his face. Sam takes a shaky breath, pushing himself off the desk and grabs the laptop, opening it up to the recent fanfiction he had written, and Castiel and Dean both skim through it before Dean snatches the laptop. “Is this a fanfiction?” He looks at him as if he’s crazy, and Sam slowly shakes his head in agreement. Castiel walks over to Dean, both of them reading the first chapter silently, and everytime he glances over to see their reactions it seems unchanged. His brother probably thinks he’s weird, and Castiel is going to find him crazy-

“Damn, Sammy, you’ve got talent.” Dean says, and he actually sounds impressed. “W- what?” 

“That is incredibly written and a wonderful idea, I think we should go on a roadtrip ourselves,” Dean nodded in agreement. “Is this why you’re crying? I think this is perfect.” 

“Wait - you two do find it weird or anything?” 

Castiel and Dean look confused. “Why would you think that Sammy? I like it.” 

“You should uh - read the comment.” He says, and it takes the angel and older hunter a moment to find the comment section at the bottom, Castiel pointing at the button. Their faces turn into pure fury. 

“I’m going to smite them.” Castiel all but growls out, and Dean shuts the laptop closed. “Don’t listen to ‘em, this is fucking amazing, got it? I want the second chapter. Don’t listen to what anyone else says, they're probably jealous that we’ve got a New York bestseller writer and all they can do is write the abc’s.” Dean hugs his brother, Castiel immediately joining right in and Sam sighs happily. They stay there for a bit, muttering out a ‘thank you’ before jumping up slightly, seeing that he’s gotten two more comments on his fanfiction, and nervously opens up the comment section to see that a user called ‘quicksilvermalec’ writing on how much they enjoyed the fic and can’t wait to read the second chapter while an anonymous user has attacked the one that insulted him, throwing a whole truckload of insults and Castiel smiles. “They got what they deserved.” The archangel says, and Dean shouts ‘damn straight’ joyfully. “Would the two of you want to write fanfiction with me, then?” Sam asks while writing the second chapter about an hour later, and the unison ‘yes’ gives him a warm feeling in his chest. 

[tran5rightsos]

Forget Your Feet and Where They Fall

Summary: Awsten hangs out with his friends Ashton and Luke and ponders the nature of the universe.

Tags and Warnings: Capitalism, Body Horror, Outer Space, Angst, Brain Damage

Word Count: 1602

Leave Kudos?

“Hey, Luke,” Awsten called as he approached the airlock.

Luke started, as if Awsten had broken him out of deep thought, and turned his head so that he could see him with his right eye. He’d lost his left and a degree of put-togetherness years ago, the scar running from his lip to his eyebrow hinting at what had happened to it. If you looked at the scar from the right angle, it was perfectly straight.

“Awsten!” Luke grinned and stood. “Going out?”

“Nah, I just finished up at the drills. I got you something,” Awsten told him, digging through his pocket. He pulled out a piece of stable dranix and handed it to Luke. “It’s waste from the engines,” he explained.

Luke turned the glassy substance over in his fingers, transfixed by the rainbows glittering within. It looked much cooler in bright light, but the lights along this hallway were kept low to minimise Luke’s headaches and prevent seizures.

“Woah. Why is it small?”

“One of the waste coolers was leaking and some cooled on the floor,” Awsten explained, “Ashton’s fixing it now.”

Luke grinned. “Ashton’s good at fixing engines.”

“Yeah, he is.”

A buzz sounded over the speaker above the door and Luke pocketed the stable pranix. Once his gloves were on, he gripped the lever for the outer door and pulled it closed for whoever was waiting, muscles straining with the effort. People could say what they wanted about Luke being deadweight, having someone whose only job was to open the airlocks was a fucking gift. On most vessels Awsten had worked on, you’d have to wait like half an hour for someone to become available to do it. On one vessel, the airlocks would only be opened every six hours for shift changes. Awsten shuddered at the memory.

Luke flooded the airlock with oxygen and opened the inner door, allowing Otto to step inside as he took off his helmet and shook out his hair.

“Hey Otto,” Luke greeted, flopping to the floor with a huff.

“Hey,” Otto returned as he set off to wherever the fuck he was going.

In a way, he and Luke had the perfect friendship. Otto was bad at being friendly and Luke was bad at telling when people were coming off as unfriendly, happy with just getting brief hellos from anyone who passed.

“You wanna go to the bridge when your shift ends?” Awsten offered when Otto was gone.

Luke looked confused, probably needing a moment to switch from door-opening mode to conversation mode. “Why?”

“The stars are really pretty from this asteroid. We can see them if we go to the bridge.”

Luke’s face lit up. “Can Ashton come?”

“Sure.”

Luke and Ashton were both at least five years older than Awsten, but they’d been cryofrozen partway through a mission when an attack on the vessel they were working on had left them grievously wounded, Ashton by a cleaver through his wrist and Luke by a saw to the face. They were a package deal when it came to employment as Ashton refused to take any job that wouldn’t allow Luke to go with him. Most people would never bother to take on someone who could barely walk without getting dizzy, but Ashton was hard-working and a genius with dranix engines and he made it worth allowing Luke to tag along.

Awsten had been skeptical of their arrangement at first, wondering why Ashton would bother working to support them both when he could just drop Luke off at some station or outpost and set his sights on retiring before his body broke down and left him penniless. Luke was talkative, though, and Awsten quickly got the impression that Ashton likely blamed himself for Luke’s “brain getting sawed in half,” as Luke had put it with a big, crooked smile.

When it came to reattaching Ashton’s severed hand, something had to be said for the miracle of modern medicine, but, even with all the implants they’d put in to alleviate symptoms, Luke just hadn’t been as lucky. Sure, being friendly and optimistic was nice, but it didn’t buy food.

Usefulness aside, Awsten had to admit that Luke had grown on him in the past months. It was nice to have someone on board who was always excited to see him and Awsten had learned that they could have some pretty good conversations if he didn’t change the subject too quickly.

Ashton showed up a few minutes later, sweaty, grimy and somehow making his short-sleeved utility jumpsuit, welding goggles and boots look almost sexy. In another life, he probably would have been a model. Luke too, now that Awsten thought about it. They were pretty attractive men.

“How are the engines?” Awsten asked conversationally.

Ashton shrugged as he took off his goggles. “They’re shit.” He always said that and Luke always laughed. “The artificial gravity might fuck itself up tomorrow, so watch out.”

“We’re going up to the bridge to look at the stars,” Awsten told him, “You wanna come?”

Luke looked between them, eye gleaming. “Really? Can I come?”

Awsten pat his shoulder and gave him a tight smile. “Yeah, of course!”

Ashton looked like he wanted nothing more than to pass out in his bunk, but he nodded. “Sure.”

While docked at asteroids, Captain Hand liked to keep the doors to the bridge open so that crew members could come and go whenever they needed anything from him. Awsten liked that he was a lot more laid back than other captains he’d had, never demanding appointments and shit.

“Hi, Captain!” Luke said as they entered, thrilled to see him even though a moment earlier he’d looked like he was about to throw up from the dizziness of walking here.

“Hey, Luke,” Lucas returned, “What are you guys doing up here?”

“Just looking at the stars,” Awsten told him as Ashton led Luke to a seat.

Luke gazed up through the windows in wonder, already a million miles away from the bridge, the asteroid, the endless struggle to survive. Awsten wished he could do that too, just look at something pretty and forget that the universe was cruel and life was agony. Maybe Luke’s inability to focus on more than one thing at a time was actually his greatest gift, an art form everyone else could only dream of.

Unfortunately, even Luke couldn’t remain at peace for long. After a few minutes of silent staring, he grimaced and rubbed his head.

“You okay?” Lucas asked worriedly.

“Head hurts,” Luke mumbled.

“C’mon,” Ashton prompted, heaving himself up from his seat, “Let’s get you showered and lay down, yeah?”

Luke nodded and allowed himself to be helped up and led out of the bridge, less balanced on his feet than he’d been a few minutes ago, though he still smiled through the pain at everyone they passed. Maybe he was onto something there.

Awsten shook his head. Luke Hemmings had the secret to the universe figured out and he didn’t even know it.

“Lazy dumbass,” someone muttered in response to one of Luke’s greetings, not even looking back as they turned down a corridor.

Luke’s face fell as he stopped and looked where the guy had disappeared. “I’m not dumb,” he said softly, “It just takes me a while to think.”

“Hey, he’s just an asshole,” Awsten assured him, “He’s bitter ‘cause you’re prettier than him and you have a badass scar.”

“I used to be good at fixing stuff,” Luke told him sadly, “It’s not my fault I can’t do it fast enough anymore.”

“I know,” Ashton murmured as he nudged him to keep walking, clearly convinced that it was his own fault.

Awsten frowned. It wasn’t right for Ashton to silently punish himself for what those pirates did.

“Where do you wanna live one day?” Awsten asked Luke, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Huh? Oh.” Luke thought hard. “Maybe Venus?”

“That sounds cool. Living underground. Maybe you could get a cool Venusian girlfriend who doesn’t know what the sun is.”

“I’m gay.”

“Boyfriend, then.”

Luke looked dreamy. “Yeah.” He nudged Ashton. “We could be neighbours!”

Ashton smiled at him. “That’d be cool.”

It was a nice fantasy. Awsten looked at his hands, at the dirt that he could never get out no matter how hard he tried. Maybe one day it would mean something, the years of sweat and pain. For now he could just fantasise, imagine all the lives he wished he could have and hope that he was heading towards one of them.

[ichika27]

Winter 2020: Episode 3

I said before on my first Winter 2020 post that I’d give the anime I chose to watch 3 episodes to see whether or not I’d continue watching.

Here are my thoughts on them.

First off, Magia Record.

It’s not like the main Madoka series but I can’t exactly put my finger on why. It just feels different but not in a bad way of course. It’s still interesting due to the mystery but I’ve not connected with any characters yet. By that I mean, other than Iroha, I don’t feel like caring much about the other girls yet. That’d probably change in later episodes the more I know about them but I don’t know how well they can showcase everyone when, according to the OP, there are gonna be a lot of characters for this show unlike the main one with 5 important characters (plus Kyubey).

Still, it’s good although I wish Iroha gets stronger cause right now she hasn’t really done much in terms of fighting. All the better character development in the future though so I’d look forward to it.

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (2020)

Different from it’s previous adaptation not only in art style but also in how they handled the first few episodes. The art style still kinda uh, confuses me on how to feel? Some characters look good in this (Childman looks way younger here than he did in the first anime. It was the reason I didn’t recognize him at first.) while some looked better in the first series (Orphen looks like a pretty boy in this style but I think he looks more handsome in the old style).

Since the way they handled the story is different, for someone like me who watched this like, more than 10 years ago and remembers little of it except some parts in the beginning and end, this made me feel excited and interested. For one, back in the first anime, the thing about Azalie being the dragon was a spoiler but here it’s showed in the beginning. Her dragon form is called ‘Bloody August’ in the first anime but here, I don’t think I remember her being referred to as that. Anyways, start of adventure soon, I hope? There’s a lot of magic school flashbacks here and while interesting, I’d like to see the main characters get more screentime (Orphen, Claiohm, and Majic).

Bofuri continues to be a fun and exciting series about cute girls playing a VRMMO! Despite being an OP character, watching Maple and Sally fight is still fun and also, the mods are starting to nerf her lol.

Still no overall plot at the moment and I dunno what that would be later on but for now, I’m just enjoying the ride. I’m curious about the blond guy though - the knight who got 1st in the event whose face isn’t shown. What will be his significance, I wonder?

The Case Files of Jeweler Richard is an okay show, I guess? Not the ‘case files’ I was hoping for. They have little detective work done and the show is more like ‘Character of the day needs a jewelry-related thing and has some personal problems and is helped by the 2 main guys whose shop becomes some kind of counseling room’. It’s not bad as I said but its kinda boring at times. While Richard and Seigi are the MCs, the ones with the spotlight is whoever the character of the day is. It’s episodic right now and there maybe a bigger plot later but I’m not sure if I’d still continue following this series. It’s nice if you like jewelry though as they do give info on that so kudos to them as the ‘jeweler’ part is not just something they threw in - the characters actually know stuff about it.

So verdict is: semi-dropped for now. Might come back later if I felt like it but it’s not a priority anymore. I wanted a detective series, dude. Oh and Seigi might be straight and has a thing for that girl he met before but if you guys wanna ship the two MCs, there are some shippy stuff here for you as well :)

Hatena Illusion explains to us why Kana’s family steals: her mom’s family makes magic items and they decided to sell them even thought they’re dangerous. Her mom, Maeve, thinks this is bad and runs off with the guy she likes and also goes everywhere to steal the ‘artifacts’ (magic items) so they would pose no danger. She does replace it with a non-powered replica so the people she steals from won’t miss them. Reminds me somewhat of DNAngel.

That said, Kana is annoying as heck. Typical tsundere who is violent and keeps hurting Makoto even when something is her fault. Makoto is some kind of dormat as well which is annoying. Ema, the maid makes things worse with her stupid comments which doesn’t help and Kokomi, while annoying in the first episodes seems like the only one with common sense and I ended up liking her in episode 3.

I want to drop this show cause Kana pisses me off but hey, Makoto just became a magical (thief) boy and now I need to give it 2 more episodes! It’s rare for there to be a protag magical boy. Most of the time, they’re either supporting or background character but Makoto is a co-protagonist (I know Binan Koukou exist but that’s more of a parody anime).

I’ll be back on whether or not I’ll drop this completely after seeing episode 5.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun is one of the few shows here which has a different ‘style’ in presentation which isn’t bad and actually makes it stand out. The story is also fun with the seven mysteries (and if you watch the OP, everytime a mystery is revealed, they stop being shown as silhouettes in the next episode’s opening) with their respective rumors and backstories. We also have some new characters and some clues about Hanako’s past.

I like this show. It’s cute and has some adventures and a tiny bit of romance (I already ship Hanako with Yashiro) and comedy. The current story with the stairs seem like it’d be fun as a video game haha. I’d definitely be watching this one til the end.

Side note: this and MagiReco feels similar due to the ‘rumors’ and such. I mean, they started dealing with some rumored ‘stairs’ this time. It’s like MagiReco’s seven mysteries is spread in towns instead of just in one school. Just saying the coincidence is interesting.

A Destructive God Sits Next to Me is probably the biggest disappointment to me for this list as I looked forward to this since last year. I needed a replacement for Chuubyou Gekihatsu Boy and this seems perfect but character-wise, it is not.

While it is funny (the first episode had me laughing so hard), there are a lot of scenes that just annoys or frustrates me. The 2nd episode in particular was unbearable and the only thing that kept me going is the thought that I promised to watch 3 episodes. By the end of the episode, all of the frustration I felt just broke when Koyuki had the misunderstanding with the girl and I ended up crying. Yeah, I cried. It sounds stupid and it is which makes it worse. I only ever cry in comedy anime when there’s either a heartwarming or dramatic scene. Here it’s frustration.

I can tolerate Hanadori since Koyuki can and does punch him when he goes too far. It’s Tsukimiya I can’t take. His actions and personality gives me nothing but pure annoyance and hate (except the notebook scene in episode 1 which is really funny). He’s a mean-spirited character and he just makes me uncomfortable. Their homeroom teacher too, is annoying, by the way.

We have a new character this time, though who looks up to Hanado-- er, I mean ‘Miguel’-senpai. He’s annoying but only a little as its his first appearance. I’d give this 1 or 2 more episodes as I want to see who and what kind of person the long-haired guy in the OP is but I don’t think I can take this entire series.

Too bad as the art style is super cute and part of me low-key ships Koyuki with Hanadori (their interactions are cute sometimes esp. when Hanadori drags Koyuki in his fantasy). It also got a banger OP I can’t stop listening to. If I’m able to ignore or at least get used to Tsukimiya, I might watch more. Might. I’m not positive I can take it.

--

These are all my personal thoughts and opinions of these shows. They’re not an indication of whether or not you, the reader of this post, will enjoy it. Give them all a shot and maybe you’d end up liking them more or less than I do as we all have different taste and sense of humor. Hope you guys are enjoying this season’s anime offers. I’d write more about these later on probably when they end or when I decide to completely drop them.

[imaginaryparisienne]

It was very dark November day. All the lights disappeared from the air. In the subway people squeezed me like half empty toothpaste tube and it was exactly how I felt that day – empty and unneeded.

“Hey, lady, just smile!” – somebody cried out for me when I walked into Starbucks, dreaming only about large coffee with lot of sugar to wake me up. Oh man, smiling never has been my keen. I’m from Eastern Europe. People don’t smile without reason there. Smiling is privilege, reserved to special occasion, right? I stuck to it. Working as a make-up artist I learned to talk to people. I discuss with myself because they can’t answer me back – having their faces blocked under layers of makeup, not letting to open their mouth or eyes. Mostly I just babble about nothing, but sometimes memories hit my brain and I opened my soul up, saying out loud the weirdest story from my childhood. Like funeral of guinea pig on the meadow. Me and my best friend Dominika holding hands in the circle of other kids standing around the small shoe box - the modest coffin. Dandelion crowns on our bright hair. Dominika’s pouty lips, teary eyes, skinny knees with several scabs. Our solemn look. Me, always so serious, so conscious, even as a child.

When I walked out on the street, holding my coffee, it was started to rain. Not having the umbrella I had to hide under the trees. “What a gloomy day” – I rumbled to myself, when unexpectedly my phone rang. It was Katie aka Katinka. She worked in local newspaper as an assistant of photographer, we met each other during our English classes for emigrants, couple years ago. Lonely, naive and despaired I struggled with reality, being an open aim to all these cruel guys who just used me and never called back. Katie was my only light in a dark when things went wrong here. Always ready to giving kudos. I could ring her in the middle of the night and she was there for me, listening carefully and bring my sanity back. Now it was her to ask for help.

“Hi, dear, I need to have makeup done immediately”, she said directly. I heard desperation in her voice. “Some famous actor will be here in couples of minutes and Meggie had problems again, fuck, I can’t with her, what am I supposed to do right now? You are my only hope. Please, take a cab and go here. I fought for this photoshoot so hard”. “Who is he actually? – I asked her, throwing the empty paper cup into the bin and hailing a cab. “The young movie celeb, a matinée”, Katie answered, “His name is Timothée Chalamet. Have you heard of him? He is rising star, year or two and he will be too expensive to having him. So the time is now. Are you already in the cab?” “Yeah”, I assured her. “Take it easy. I’ll be there soon”.

We arrived to the studio almost in the same time. Timothée was tall and skinny, with a tousled mop of curly hair and very pale skin. I instantly thought of warm it up, a tone or two. “Just Tim”, he said to me with a smile and shook my hand. Then he sank into the armchair with a sigh. “Need more sleep, sorry” – he murmured, yawning. After checked his deep eye bags I couldn’t agree more. Some work must be done on this delicate angel skin. I took a bobby pin and pin down his mischievous curls, to have forehead uncovered. It surprised me how silky his hair was, my fingers wandered way to long through it.

He closed his beautiful green eyes. Long eyelashes put a shadow on his cheeks. Before I arrived to the studio I googled him and found out that people Photoshopped his pictures into the classic art. I thought then it was funny, but now I was sure he IS just a real piece of art. How even a man can have such a rosy lips, I thought. I should use the applicator but I couldn’t help myself and decided to smooth the color by my fingertips. The sensation was overwhelming. It was like to touch a fresh opened marshmallow.

I dripped a drop of liquid make up on my hand palm, waited for a moment to warm it, then smudged it slowly on Tim's skin, in circled movements. I felt his strong bones structures under my fingers, contrasted with velvety skin. Holy fuck he was damn sexy. “You are such a perfect mix of masculine and feminine”. Words escaped me before I even could stop myself. But he just smiled back, so I asked, “Do you mind I put the makeup on you in more girlish way? I mean some color shadow and maybe shimmer lipstick”.

He agreed so I did this. My hands worked vigorously and soon Tim’s eyelids shone like moonlight and his perfectly curved lips become more pinky and glossy. So kissable, I thought and suddenly my mind went to Dominika’s childish lips. A sweltering summer’s afternoon many years ago. We lurked behind the garages, our sweaty bodies rubbing against each other, I tasted the salt on her skin, we licked each other lips not knowing what more we can do. It was like hot hurricane, like desert storm. When we at last felt apart I still had in my mouth a sweet pieces of bubble gum called Donald, which Dominika forgot to spit out before we started to kiss. Never again I felt that way, with any of men who fucked me, no matter how sophisticated things we did in bed. There were nights when I still dreamed about those childhood days of real closeness, tender and mild.

“So go for it.” Tim suddenly opened his eyes, looked directly into me. Have I said it aloud? Oh my God. I shook my head with a shame. “You described it so beautifully. You long for it. Why are you fooling yourself? Look at what you have done in my case.” He looked at the mirror, glancing his face. “You almost transform me into beautify gal, and I appreciate it, love it, because why not? But do you know what it means to you, what it show about you, hmm?

I gasped the air not being able to say a word. This beautiful creature sitting here said it out loud all my secret thoughts and call my childhood dreams. How this young guy could be so perceptive? “But how did you guess it so perfectly?” – I blurted out still astonished. Some shadow flitted across his face. It was a brief moment but I noticed. “Cause I feel the same?” – he murmured and closed his eyes again, lying back to the armchair.

We didn’t talk anymore. I worked quickly, giving my best. The photo session turned to success. Many other magazines commented it as another proof that Chalamet is brave new world softboi icon, who has courage to live up to whoever he want to be.

It has been almost a year since our met up. Sometimes, cuddling with Katinka in our bed, listening to the sound of raindrops pouring down the New York street I think about that rosy lips boy. No doubtfully he helped me find my own voice, but is he already find it for himself?

[ohsomanylovelywords]

(Neville/Hannah) Something More - Chapter 3: Not as Planned

A/N: The long-awaited (mostly just by me) third chapter is finally here. It has literally been almost 7 years (!) since I updated this story. I'm unfortunately plagued with two of the worst writer qualities: I'm a huge procrastinator and a total perfectionist. But I'm trying to get back into writing, so I can move on to the next chapter (of this fanfic and the next chapter in my writing).

I also want to extend a special thank you to whoever wrote my first passive-aggressive comment on FF.net (or at least that's what I like to call it) back in 2013 and in response to your question: I'm not stopping yet. This was the first fanfic I ever wrote and I'm still incredibly proud of it.

I think the unfinished business of it all was keeping me from moving forward, but I still have so many more words I want to write. For July NaNoWriMo, I'm trying to finish and post some of my drafts and write some new stories, too.

You could probably read this chapter as the beginning of the story because this is where the conflict starts, but I also wrote two chapters before this, which could serve as a prologue, introducing you to the minds of the two main characters and the personalities of the side characters.

Ideally, I would love to write at least 3 more chapters spanning from 4th to 7th year, one more for 4th, one combining 5th and 6th, and then one for 7th, but maybe an epilogue, too.

As always, I'm incredibly grateful for every read, favorite, kudos, review, and follow.

Disclaimer: Definitely not J.K. Rowling. I am merely borrowing her characters for my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours).

Link: Read the story from the beginning on Ao3.

---

Hannah was seated on the other side of the greenhouse, her chair edged up against the window and her face illuminated by the morning light.

Neville started at the sound of his name. "Mr. Longbottom." Scanning her list again, Professor Sprout smiled before adding, "and Miss Abbott." Extending an appreciative nod toward her top two students, she continued down the list of partners.

Neville's eyes instinctively returned to Hannah's seat by the window. Catching his eye, she grinned and raised her hand, quill in tow. He only managed a quick nod in response before her attention shifted elsewhere (or more specifically, to Ernie Macmillan). Shaking his head, to dispel wandering thoughts, and wandering eyes, Neville attended to his practically nonexistent notes by hastily copying the instructions from the board.

"Working with Hannah, huh?" Seamus commented, with a meaningful nudge in his side. Neville's ears burned at the reminder of his crush. Admitting he fancied Hannah Abbott may have been a mistake.

Dean, sitting close enough to overhear, rolled his eyes at Seamus' waggling eyebrows. Regardless, he grinned and slapped Neville on the back, offering whispered words of encouragement: "Go get her, Neville."

Neville only gulped in response. He was still working on getting her smile out of his system. After four years, they had yet to have a proper conversation.

In his short-lived fame their first year, Hannah had congratulated him on winning the final ten House points, pushing Gryffindor past Slytherin in the House Cup for the first time in years. In his haste, he stuttered out, "You're wel—thanks, um." Hannah just smiled. Then, she ran off to join the other students who had whooped and cheered when Dumbledore awarded Neville. Beyond offering her a quill or confirming an assignment due date, he hadn't actually talked with her since first year.

Neville distractedly collected his materials while searching his mind for conversation topics. Herbology? He definitely knew a thing or two about plants, but that might be a bit redundant. Quidditch? Though, to be honest, he didn't follow the sport all too closely. The Triwizard Tournament? Or maybe—

He looked up from his plant to see Hannah smiling down at him. The words hitched in his throat.

Instinctively, he pulled the plant a few inches closer. Just a little more oxygen. Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Hey, partner," she offered, unperturbed by his shyness.

"H-hey," he managed.

As she sat down, he racked his brain for something more substantial. "So, uh, the Triwizard Tournament. Should be exciting, yeah?"

Hannah tensed. Oblivious to her discomfort, Neville continued. "The two other schools seem interesting, to say the least. Durmstrang are a right bit intimidating, especially that Viktor Krum. And the Beauxbaton lot are quite good-loo— er, graceful."

He coughed awkwardly, not catching her eye. Though, her mind was elsewhere. "And then, of course, there's Harry being in it and all. Poor bloke."

Hannah's silence finally broke.

---

Harry Potter. The fourth champion.

The would-be applause was replaced by stunned silence, the spell unbroken until Dumbledore spoke.

"Harry, did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"*

Every eye followed Dumbledore's calm gaze. Harry, no longer hidden by Ron Weasley's lanky frame, rose to his feet. Seemingly in a daze, he walked forward. Incessant muttering followed him.

Colin Creevey attempted a late slow-clap but was quickly silenced by Ron and Hermione. The latter, frantically shaking her head and the former, glaring.

Ravenclaw rationalized Harry was either extraordinarily intelligent or dangerously stupid.

Slytherin had already written off the Triwizard Tournament. None of their house had been chosen after all.

Gryffindor was shocked. And mostly divided.

Their initial jubilation marred, Hufflepuff stubbornly refused to welcome the additional Hogwarts champion.

---

"Poor bloke?" Hannah echoed hollowly.

Neville faltered. "Well, yeah, I mean, who'd want to be in a tournament likely to cause their premature death?"

"Hmph. Well, it's certainly convenient. Not the first time he's risked death to play the hero."

Neville only stared. He had never heard Hannah talk badly of Harry—or anyone else, for that matter.

"That's an— interesting take on it," Neville acquiesced.

"What's interesting is Harry Potter, of all people, found a way into the Triwizard Tournament." She calmly pulled on her gloves as she said this, as if it were a completely natural statement, an undeniable frustration.

Hannah's voice never grew above a whisper, but with each new word, she became increasingly agitated. "It's incredibly interesting the "Boy Who Lived" couldn't stand to let someone else have the glory for once in his life—and Cedric worked his arse off for seven years to deserve a place in the tournament but Harry manages to cheat his way in an—"

"Wait, what? You can't really think that, can you?" Neville remarked incredulously, and loudly.

Sensing a possible commotion, Professor Sprout shot them a puzzled look, quietly cautioning them to get back to work. Neville nodded apologetically.

He wanted to shoot Hannah an equally perplexed look, but she was decidedly ignoring him, pretending to pore over her notes. Taking her lead, he focused on the familiar lavender flowers sprouting from the plant in front of them. Aconite, more commonly referred to as wolfsbane.

Neville's mind automatically returned to that first day of Defence Against the Dark Arts last year. His professor's warm smile. And the hearty laughter that had escaped from his own lips. That day Professor Lupin had awoken his then-dormant self-esteem.

His "unfortunate condition" revealed, Lupin was forced to resign. Neville found himself trying a little harder than usual in Potions. Maybe he could find a way to use this plant's properties to make a stronger, more effective potion. If only he could help Lupin conquer his fears the way the professor had helped Neville conquer his.

The boggart in the cupboard. Even before it took shape, Neville knew what it would be, who it would be. Professor Snape had taunted and abused him mercilessly over the years. According to Snape, he was a pathetic imbecile, barely playing at being a wizard.

"Riddikulus!" With a snap, Snape stumbled across the room in Gran's clothes, the oversized vulture hat teetering on his head. The whole classroom erupted with laughter. And Lupin's warm smile lit up his face, and for the first time, he looked young again. For once, Neville was able to make Snape look stupid, instead of the other way around. For one brilliant moment, Neville was in control.

Pulling himself back to the task at hand, Neville realized he needed to face his fears again. "Riddikulus," he whispered.

"What?" Hannah remarked sharply.

"Oh, no, that was just—," but Neville surprised them both when he said, "Ridiculous. What you said. Harry would never do that. Did you get all that from Ernie Macmillan?"

Hannah's cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red, whether from raw anger or embarrassment that Neville had called her out for her close relationship with Ernie Macmillan, though Neville vaguely hoped for the former.

---

"I just don't get why people think Harry is so great," Ernie continued. "He's always trying to be the hero and we all have to suffer for it. He literally almost caused Justin to die when the Chamber of Secrets opened our second year."

"Ernie," Susan warned him gently, glancing at Justin.

Justin shrugged off the concern. "I'm fine. It's not like Harry personally petrified me. It wasn't really his fault that time."

"Yeah, whatever. My point remains; he always needs to be the center of attention. Right, Hannah?"

Her mouth stuffed with food, Hannah nodded aggressively in support of her best friend.

"See? This is why Hannah's the perfect girl. She's always loyal, a Hufflepuff through and through." Ernie directed a bright smile at Hannah before returning to his food.

Turning sharply to face her, Megan's nose ring glinted even brighter in the Great Hall's candlelight.

Hannah had first glimpsed it in the sports section of the Daily Prophet. The photo showed her sister, Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, triumphantly raising the team's trophy from a summer tournament win. Similarly, Megan lifted her head to show off her shiny, new trophy of rebellion, their mother smiling tensely at her side.

"Forget to mention something?" The short line of parchment was delivered via owl, alongside the article clipping, ripped from that day's Daily Prophet.

Megan responded only a few hours later:

Thanks for the note, Han. Hope you're having a nice summer, too. Mine's been simply lovely. I'm spending lots of quality time with my family.

Just kidding, I'll get to the point. (It actually has been pretty all right, though.) Basically, I woke up one morning, decided to explore Muggle London, walked past a tattoo shop, and you can probably figure out the rest. (Disclaimer: I did not get a tattoo. Yet. I wanted something a bit more immediately visible.) What can I say? Impulsive decisions are kind of my thing, you know? Regrets? None.

By the way, your reaction was significantly less harsh than Susan's. She sent me a Howler, shocked surprise followed by mostly compliments, but still.

Unsurprisingly, mum threw a fit. I'm pretty sure she was close to bribing me into never leaving my room, but dad reminded her that similar threats had never stopped me before.

Promise to tell you more soon! See you in Diagon Alley in a few days (that is if I'm ever allowed out of the house again)

P.S. Mum is currently arguing with a reporter in the fireplace. Apparently, she is willing to pay a very large sum of money to prevent Witches Weekly from releasing an exclusive statement from her clearly unwell daughter ("Fuck Quidditch.")

Hannah knew her mother's tight-lipped smile came with an air of practiced grace. "She's just going through a phase," she assured herself and anyone else who cared to listen (or more likely, happened to make a passing remark about her youngest daughter). If that were the case, Megan had been going through a phase for quite some time, at least since she had arrived at Hogwarts.

P.P.S. I expect to hear more news about you two love birds once we can finally talk in-person.

Now, Megan gave her a meaningful look. She had been teasing her mercilessly since Hannah told her Ernie almost kissed her goodbye before leaving for his family holiday. In the moment, she hugged him, instead. They parted awkwardly after that. She still wasn't sure what to think about it. Neither acknowledged it when they reunited on the train, and they immediately returned to their typical, friendly banter. It had been more than 2 months since the almost-kiss, and they still hadn't talked about it. Hannah was admittedly relieved by that fact.

Refusing to answer Neville's question, Hannah fumed silently, attacking the wolfsbane with her shears and hacking off whole chunks of the stem in her frustration.

"Miss Abbott!" Professor Sprout let out in a shocked cry. Yet again, she was surprised to see the seemingly perfect partnership failing so miserably. "What in heavens do you think you are doing to that poor plant? The stems are the most valuable part!"

Hannah stared at the mess before her and shrugged sheepishly. Professor Sprout hummed her disapproval and shifted to observe Neville's work.

"Miss Abbott, I suggest you ask your partner," she emphasized the word with a pointed look at both students, "how to shear wolfsbane properly—Good work, Mr. Longbottom, but this should be a team effort."

Neville nodded twice, glancing at his partner with a wary expression. Setting her own plant down, Hannah begrudgingly observed Neville's technique.

Grasping the flower firmly with one gloved hand, he gently peeled away the branches, his hands gliding effortlessly across the plant's stem. She had to admit it was impressive and strangely soothing to watch.

Hannah started when Neville looked up. His eyes barely catching hers, she immediately turned away with a haughty, "Hmph." He sighed and continued working. She attempted to replicate his work, but once again, caught herself staring at his hands. They were more calloused than she would have imagined.

Professor Sprout asked Neville and Hannah to stay after class. She offered them the usually vague rebukes, then reminded them to at least review each other's notes before the next class. However, as soon as the professor walked away, Hannah quickly turned to leave.

Neville ran after her. Grabbing her arm with a loose, yet surprisingly firm, hold, Neville entreated her to wait. Not daring to look him in the face, she instead kept her gaze on his hand.

Lowering his voice, Neville insisted, "Harry would never willingly join the tournament. He'd have to be positively out of his mind."

The possible truth behind that statement pulled at the corners of her mind, but Hannah pursed her lips and ignored it. She was a Hufflepuff through and through, loyal to her house and to her friends. Cedric deserved this. And Harry had taken it away from him. Neville couldn't possibly understand.

Shaking her head, Hannah released her arm from Neville's loose grasp. She walked out of the classroom without another word.

---

Out of breath by the encounter, Neville sighed, releasing the breath he was unaware he had been holding. That did not go as planned.

[dayo488]

fic writer asks

Tagged by @burninghoneyatdusk​ and @bookwormforalways​ ❤

Name(s)?

dayo488 (tumblr, ao3, and twitter - though I don’t use twitter for fandom stuff much, since it’s also connected to my IRL friends too)

Fandom(s)?

I’ve only posted the100 fic so far, but I’ve got a QotS one-shot (like 1500 words) in my folder that I haven’t posted yet.

Where you post? AO3

Most popular one-shot (by kudos)?

I don’t actually have any one-shots posted yet, just multi-chaps, but I do have a Bellarke one-shot that I did randomly a few weeks ago and the above-mentioned QotS one-shot.

Most popular multi-chapter (by kudos)?

Stay Here Tonight E-F-L, slow burn, angst, mutual pining  Clarke goes with her best friend Wells to a wedding of one of his fellow firefighters, Raven. Come to find out when they get there, that the groom is none other than Clarke's boyfriend of a year, Finn. Stuck with having to blow up Raven's wedding day, Clarke has to deal with the guilt of being the other woman, even if she didn't know, and figuring out how to move on.Surprisingly, the worst day of her life, just might lead to more happiness, family, belonging, and love than she's ever known as she makes friends with some unexpected people. But she has a hard time with one person in particular in her new circle. Bellamy happens to be more stubborn, hardheaded, and protective than anyone she's ever come up against, but she might also see a different, kinder side of him that she never thought he would have.

- It was actually my very first fic and I really didn’t expect people to like it as much as they did. I wrote a lot when I was younger, but drifted away from it until I started this idea. It wouldn’t leave me alone and kept developing in my brain so I wrote it down. And now it’s got almost 900 kudos which is completely mind-blowing to me. But it helped me rediscover my love for writing, so I’m eternally grateful for whatever burst of bravery made me post it. Plus, I made some pretty awesome friends by doing so! And it was nominated in the Bellarke Fic Writer Awards, which is incredible!

Favourite story you’ve written so far?

Moved By You

E-F-L, mutual pining, slow burn, angst, canon universe, kidnapping, hurt/comfort, found family

When Clarke finds out that the Ark cannot sustain oxygen past a year, she, along with 3 other experts in their fields, join the prisoners on a mission to Earth, to find out whether it's survivable in the even they can't fix the oxygen systems. However, one of the other adults with her on the mission betrays her and trades her to a Grounder village. Clarke must figure out where she belongs and who she is as she struggles with what her life looks like now. She finds that she enjoys the people of her village, but still feels torn between the people who want nothing to do with her anymore, and the people who she finds she wants to be with, including the village's leader, who is annoying and pushes all her buttons, but also has a depth to him that she hadn't expected.

- Even though SHT holds a special place in my heart, MBY is my favorite. It stretched me in ways that was exhausting, but SO rewarding. I had to research Trig language and survival techniques and fight sequences and other things that I don’t have knowledge in. But it was SO fun and getting to write the found family portion of it was my absolute fave. There’s a few things I’d redo if I could, but I’m really proud overall of how it turned out. 

Fic you were nervous to post?

There’s always a measure of anxiety every time I hit that Post button on all my fics, but actually, my Aladdin four-parter (I Can Show You the World) was probably the one I was most nervous about posting, just because I’d never really done a re-imagining fic before. I had to blend the OC characters and the100 characters and it was a little nerve-wracking. It definitely wasn’t near one of my more popular stories, but that’s okay - it wasn’t really meant to be taken very seriously anyway. I had the idea and wanted to see if I could do it - it was more of writing exercise really. Especially since I didn’t want it to be a musical, but wanted to incorporate the songs anyway. But yeah, I was still really nervous.

How do you choose your titles?

Song lyrics, totally. I have a playlist for each of my fics in my spotify and there’s usually one that I pick specifically that kind of just reminds me of the whole vibe of the fic and I usually pick a favorite line from that.

Do you outline?

Sort of? I have a VERY messy bullet point list for each of my fics of storylines and plot points I want to include, character arcs, character traits, background info, ideas, scenes, even dialogue. But it’s not in any sort of organization lol. I should probably work on that.

Complete works? 3 posted. 2 one-shots not posted

In-progress works? 1 posted. 3 not posted. 

Coming soon/not yet started?

I seriously cannot decide which fic to post next since my inspiration and excitement over the 3 multi-chaps I’ve currently got going shifts every day. Here’s the breakdown so far -

- Treasure Hunt AU, tentative title that I don’t want to say just yet since it may change. This is the one I’m leaning towards posting next. Basically, Bellamy is a treasure hunter/authenticator, with Raven as his partner in crime, and Clarke runs the Palace, an art gallery/school that her father opened when he was alive. Bellarke used to be married - a few years before the fic started they met while Bellamy was on a hunt and needed information from Clarke and she joined them and they fell in love. Then they ended up splitting up and hadn’t spoken in years until Bellamy finds a lead on a BIG find that sends him back in Clarke’s orbit. Very angsty, lots of mutual pining, lots of danger, lots of craziness. (That’s a terrible summary - I’ll clean it up before I post it lol)

- We Were Built to Last - Fantasy AU (this started as a Wonder Woman AU, but morphed into something no longer resembling that at all lol). In this one, Clarke grew up a princess on the Island - a place where the women are trained as warriors because when they turn 21, their “gift” (basically a super power) reveals itself, except Clarke, who is apparently the first woman to not have a gift manifest. The men don’t receive gifts either, but no one knows exactly why (and it’d be a huge spoiler to reveal the reason here 😉). Bellarke grew up best friends and when she’s young and wants to start her training, but her mother forbids it, Bellamy helps her learn anyway, with the help of his mother who is the Head Warrior. Anyway, Clarke discovers that her father didn’t die like everyone thought years ago and instead was kidnapped by Queen Nia, an escapee and outcast of the Island for using her gift for death and destruction. Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia, Raven, and Murphy go on a quest to rescue him. It’s a VERY complicated plot with a LOT of world-building so I’m not sure I’m ready to get this one out yet, even though I’m like 5 chapters in.

- Between the Raindrops - Apocalyptic AU loosely based on the show the Rain, though the plot of the fic is VERY different than the actual show. One day, the rain starts falling and whoever it touches, dies. Bellamy and his sister are the children of a brilliant scientist (Aurora) for the company Eligius, who has access to a bunker that they end up staying in for 6 years. When they finally emerge, they are confronted with a world they no longer recognize. And also a traveling group of survivors - whose leader Bellamy doesn’t understand or like (spoiler - it’s Clarke, and they fall in love 😂). I’m actually the farthest in this one - 6 chapters finished, but I’m kind of at a block with it right now. 

Prompts?

I’ve got one that I haven’t started, still trying to get the ones above finished first before I dive into any others right now. Real life has been crazy the last few months and it’s all I can do to get I Don’t Want to Dream About You finished first! 

Wow that ended up being lengthier than I expected! But it’s very fun to get it all typed out - especially the WIPs I’m super excited about! Thanks for the tags, friends! I love reading your works and being a part of this fandom ❤

I never know who to tag in these, especially since most of you that I would usually tag have already done it (I’m so behind!). You are all an inspiration to me, and I wish all nothing but happiness and inspiration for you in 2021!

[mintchocolateleaves]

Dude. ShinRan. With Body Swap AU. Pretty please?

This is over 3k, and there’s still so much I could write. Hope you like it dude!

It first begins on a Tuesday.

Ran is sat eating lunch with Sonoko, savouring her home-made bento, picking up vegetables with her chopsticks when it happens. She is wondering slightly, what Shinichi is doing with his male friends, missing how he normally eats lunch with her when everything just… changes.

One moment she is sat in the classroom, her back to the sun. The next, she is standing on the school’s roof, surrounded by male classmates, leaning against the walls.

“Kudo-kun?” A classmate says as she looks around the roof, her eyes wide. As a karate champion, Ran’s knows her body extremely well - this is not it. She feels taller - maybe a few inches - and her balance is off. Instead of feeling hair against her neck, she feels the wind brushing against skin instead.

She shudders.

“Eh?” She looks down at her uniform, realises she’s no longer wearing her skirt but rather trousers. After a seconds hesitation, she closes her mouth, suppressing the cry of alarm she’s pretty sure she is at risk of creating.

She turns back to her classmates, pretty certain that somehow she’s in her best friend’s body. Now she needs to figure out how exactly Shinichi acts around his other friends so that she doesn’t… make him look like an idiot.

Her - no wait, Shinichi’s - phone buzzes against her blazer pocket and Ran reaches into her (Shinichi’s) pocket for his phone. The I.D says Ran, and while Ran feels like throttling whoever’s broken into her phone, correctly guessing her pass-code, she also has to keep her cool because she’s in Shinichi’s body and he doesn’t get angry in the same way she does.

“Hello?” Ran says into the phone. She stills a bit at the sound of Shinichi’s voice echoing her words, shock rippling through her body.

“Ran-” Her real voice comes from the other side of the phone, but from the lack of an honorific, she’s pretty sure it has to be Shinichi. Unless more than just one person has been… what does she even call this - swapped?

“Yes..?”

“It’s me,” her voice echoes, (which isn’t actually very useful, when someone else is in her body.), “I mean… It’s Shinichi. You’re… I’m still up on the roof, right?”

Shinichi doesn’t seem to have any idea what’s going on either, so Ran decides against the sarcastic response on the tip of her tongue and responds with a neutral, “yes, you are.”

Muffled curses echoes from the speakers, Ran’s voice but Shinichi’s frustration. Great, Ran thinks, now people are going to think she swears.

“I’m on my way up,” Shinichi says, “stay right there.”

Ran closes her eyes for a second, pinches her hand as she realises this is reality and not the most vivid dream she’s ever had in her life.

“Sure,” Ran says, ending the call without saying goodbye, because it’s a very Shinichi thing to do, and she needs to act like Shinichi, even if just for a few seconds. Taking a step back, Ran turns back to Shinichi’s friends and places his phone back into her blazer.

This is messed up.

“Ah, was that Ran, Kudo-kun?” - “Obviously, it’s not like he’s got anyone else phoning him, isn’t that right, Kudo?”

“Oi, oi…” Ran says, because that’s a habit Shinichi’s formed over the years. Quite an annoying one at that, she thinks. They give her - well, him, but Ran’s not going to overthink that… particular detail - grins, expectant expressions and raised eyebrows.

“Yes,” Ran sighs, “that was Ran.”

It feels odd to talk about herself in third person - but Ran is pretty sure that if she tries to explain how she has swapped bodies, and has just gotten off of the phone with the real Shinichi, it’s only going to cause more confusion.

And Ran can’t deal with anymore confusion, no, thank you.

“Ooh,” one of her male classmates - Hanasabe? - grabs her attention, “what does your girlfriend want?”

Ran is about to say that she’s not Shinichi’s girlfriend when the door slams open and she watches as her own body comes racing out onto the roof. It is eerie, Ran thinks, as she watches her body run towards her, even when she knows it’s Shinichi.

“Ran-” She says, because she knows Shinichi will only tell her off if she lets other people know what’s happened.

“Ran-” Shinichi says at the same time, which causes Ran to frown slightly at him - herself? What is going on? He recoils, stammers, “I mean Shinichi… haha, of course.”

Brilliant, Ran thinks, now everyone’s going to think she’s weird as well.

“Let’s talk away from that lot,” Ran says, pointing back at the other boys.

Shinichi raises an eyebrow at her as she leads them away, although Ran’s not quite so sure where they can go to talk this all over.

“Okay,” Sonoko says after school as they are walking home, “so Ran, you’re in Shinichi-kun’s body and Shinichi-kun is in Ran’s body?”

Ran knows that this sounds odd but it’s true. She’s and Shinichi have both had to pretend to be each other during classes, which was… actually pretty difficult. She’s not used to responding to questions aimed at Shinichi, especially when the teacher calls on them. Shinichi’s not very good at it either.

“Yes.” Shinichi sighs. Usually on a Tuesday’s, Ran stays back and attends karate practise, but with everything that’s going on… It’s not like Shinichi actually knows any martial arts, so he’s coming home with them now. “That’s what’s happened.”

“Hmm…” Sonoko stops, looking between the two. Despite having known her for years, Ran doesn’t actually know what’s going through Sonoko’s head. “No, I don’t believe it.”

“I told you we shouldn’t have told her,” Shinichi says, raising an eyebrow at Ran. His expression looks out of place on her face.

“Don’t be stupid,” Ran scowls, “Sonoko’s my best friend, she deserves to know.”

Sonoko grimaces, gaze bouncing between them both. She says, “I don’t know how you’re doing it, but it’s super creepy how much you can act like each other.”

“We’re telling the truth Sonoko,” Ran protests, as they start walking again. She’s tempted to just give up, but she knows she needs to keep going. “We wouldn’t make stuff up like this.”

Crossing her arms, Sonoko taps her foot against pavement. After a few seconds, she gives a sharp nod. She says, “alright.”

“Alright?” Shinichi splutters. He’s probably thinking Sonoko’s an idiot for believing such an outrageous story, but Ran feels relief spread through her veins.

“Alright,” Sonoko repeats, and she races up to Ran, “we’re going to prove it first though.”

“How exactly are we going to-”

“Ran,” Sonoko leans in to Ran’s ear, voice lowering to a whisper, “how’s that letter turning out?”

Ran feels her face flush as she takes a step away. She’d been talking about it a few days ago - thought about writing Shinichi a love letter and just leaving it in his locker if he enjoys receiving them so much - but she hadn’t actually been serious about it.

“S-Sonoko!” She cries, the sound odd in Shinichi’s deeper voice, “that was a joke and you know it!”

Shinichi cocks his head to the left, lips pursed as he watches them.

“Ran!” Sonoko grins, “it really is you!”

They turn back five minutes later.

Ran blinks, and she is back in her own body. Shinichi turns back to her and gives her a half-hearted shrug.

“I’m me again,” Ran says, pulling at her blazer. Sonoko turns back to her, almost disappointed.

“That was over pretty quickly…” She sighs.

Beside her, Shinichi is tight-lipped, brows furrowed with confusion. Ran tries not to overthink it - what are the chances of it happening again? - before shaking her head.

“Yeah,” Ran says, “at least it’s over with though.”

The first few days after swapping, Ran and Shinichi are both on guard, waiting to see if it will happen again. After the fifth day, Ran decides that if it was going to happen again, it would have already. Shinichi however, remains on guard.

It happens during the weekend when she’s visiting Sonoko’s house.

She’s sat talking about Sonoko’s favourite theif, Kaitou Kid, when all of a sudden she is crouching over a dead body - a man who’s probably been dead for days. In her head, she registers that she’s seen a murder before, she’s known Shinichi long enough that it’s unavoidable, but it’s feels almost like it’s the first time.

She feels horrified - but for some reason her heart rate doesn’t increase. Her breathing remains steady. Where normally tears would burn at her eyes, now they don’t. She is horrified, her eyes widen slightly, but she’s not in her own body, so it does not react like it normally would.

“You say you’ve figured it out, Shinichi-kun?” The voice belongs to Inspector Megure, and Ran turns to look up at him. She feels Shinichi’s phone in his jacket pocket buzzing, and pulls it out. It’s Sonoko, but probably only because she’s changed her passcode since last week.

“Do you mind if I just?” She points to her phone, despite the fact that she’s at a crime scene and Shinichi’s apparently just found out who the killer is.

Inspector Megure frowns, but ultimately, he gives her the go ahead.

“Ran,” Shinichi says when she answers, “I’m so sorry you had to see that.”

“It’s alright,” Ran replies, “you… you need me to tell them who did it, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Shinichi says. He gives her his deduction and Ran struggles to retain it all, but somehow she does. Ran doesn’t know how he’s figured it out, but somehow the evidence fits together, and she watches as the criminal breaks down and admits it.

Later, when she leaves the crime scene, promising Inspector Megure that she’ll return and complete her side of the case report, she makes her way to Sonoko’s house.

“Ran-” Shinichi says as she steps inside.

“He…” Ran takes a step forwards, and she’s pretty certain that the confusion is registered on her face, “do they always admit to it without a lawyer present?”

After that, Ran and Shinichi make a decision to stay together more often than not.

It increases the rumours of them being in a relationship, or married as Sonoko likes to claim, but Ran has to admit that it does make the body swapping easier. Situations where both of them present are easier to decipher than situations they have to suss out themselves.

Ran hates that it means she comes across more murders, but that’s hardly Shinichi’s fault. He’s never hurt someone, he just calls out those who do.

The first time Shinichi solves a murder in her body, Inspector Megure is shocked. So is she, but Shinichi doesn’t actually apologise for it, and Ran, being truthful, doesn’t actually care so much because she’s already on the crime scene.

“Ran-kun…” Inspector Megure says, “how did you figure it out?”

Shinichi opens his mouth to explain, but Ran speaks instead. With the voice and arrogance of Kudo Shinichi, she says, “I’ve been teaching her a few things about being a detective. She’s trying it out.”

After the fourth solved murder between them, the newspapers start to call them a detective duo. Shinichi seems to find it amusing, often remarking that he’s doing all the work so she should shape up, but Ran doesn’t do anything other than roll her eyes at him.

She can’t exactly kick him - it’s not fun if she has to feel the bruises as well.

“If I have to deal with all this detective stuff,” Ran crosses her arms when the body swapping becomes a daily occurrence, ranging from ten minutes to several hours, “then you need to start learning karate.”

Shinichi, in his own body, raises an eyebrow and says, “why would I do that?”

Ran points her finger at him, irritated. “I have competitions coming up soon, and if I have to pretend to be a detective, then when you’re in my body, you sure as hell need to be able to pretend to be a karate champion.”

The logic behind it is slightly flawed - she’s technically asking him to become a champion, because it’s impossible to become one. But after a few minutes of arguing, Shinichi relents.

Ran makes her way to the Kudo mansion every morning before school to teach him what she knows, until she thinks that he’s good enough to join the karate club. 

Teitan Academy seems to go crazy at the prospect of Kudo Shinichi joining a club - especially after months of his refusing to join any. They start to talk about he’s utterly whipped and unable to say no to Ran.

It’s kind of true, in a way.

The first time they meet Hattori Heiji, it is when they are hanging out at the Mouri detective agency. He comes inside, when they are switched, and demands to have a deduction competition with them both.

“One of you must be making the other look good,” Heiji claims, which, technically is true, “by giving each other the answers. And I’m going to find out who.”

When they start the case, they are in their own body. She watches as Shinichi gives the first half of a deduction, standing by Inspector Megure, after disproving Heiji’s own theory. Then, she feels a sudden bout of light-headedness which she has learnt to associate with their switch, and finds herself in Shinichi’s body.

Shinichi doesn’t miss a beat. In Ran’s body, he pretends to take over the case, giving the rest of his deduction. It’s impressive how much he’s adjusted to the strange phenomenon that’s befallen them.

Later, when he leaves, Heiji crosses his arms and says that they’re pretty cool, although it’s strange that a couple would solve murders together rather than go out on normal dates. He claims that there’s something strange with them both though, and claims to figure out exactly what it is.

Heiji finds out when they are at the Holmes convention.

Shinichi finds out about the contest from an ad in the newspaper, and he solves the questions with ease, getting himself a spot among other participants. It’s nice to see him so excited over it,  Ran thinks, watching as he talks about Sherlock Holmes with other guests on-route to the mansion, but it’s really not her thing.

She decides she’s just going to sit this one out and let Shinichi enjoy it.

“You guys!” Heiji waves to them when they arrive, “I thought you might show up!”

Ran isn’t sure whether to be admired or freaked out by his dedication to figuring out what exactly it is about them, that makes them odd.

“Yeah,” Shinichi’s too overjoyed at being able to immerse himself with other Holmes fans to be overly suspicious, “you enjoy Arthur Conan Doyle’s book too Hattori?”

“Eh, I’m more of an Ellery Queen myself,” Heiji says. At the glares he receives, he adds a shaky, “although I do admit Doyle’s books are a literary masterpiece.”

“I’ll admit a secret to you Hattori-kun,” Ran says when Shinichi’s off fangirling over Sherlock Holmes and the quiz he’s been handed, “I don’t actually like Sherlock Holmes that much either, I’m just here for Shinichi.”

Heiji gives her a grin. “I’d figured as much, the other’s didn’t seem to take a shine to you, like they did to him.”

Ran lets out a small laugh. She’s not aware that she’s just given Heiji the piece of information that will lead to his discovery of their current predicament.

They swap shortly before the murders begin. It’s late, so they consider going to bed immediately, but Heiji draws them into the kitchen, where they sit awaiting the results of Shinichi’s thousand question Sherlock test.

When the murders begin, Ran can see the moment Heiji starts to suspect. Shinichi searches the crime scene, and Ran starts asking questions to the other guest like Shinichi has taught her too. When they’re back indoors, she explains people’s alibi’s to Shinichi and lets him figure everything out.

“Oi,” Heiji calls them over after a while, and asks them for the alibi’s of each person. “What do you guys think?”

By the second murder, Shinichi seems to have an inkling on how the murderer killed both people. The next attempted murder leads him to a conclusion, and he readies himself for the deduction.

To everyone else, Mouri Ran is brilliant at solving murders.

She does it with ease. And she tricks the murderer into admitting their acts with the Holmes question, talking about the questions they’d had to fill in.

“The question of the dancing men,” Shinichi says, “how funny that you’d forget one of the more difficult questions.”

Once they have finished their deduction, the murderer remaining under a watchful eye as they wait for the police to arrest him, Heiji confronts them.

“You two…” He crosses his arms, “…do you keep swapping bodies or something?”

Ran does not know how to respond, so she lets Shinichi. He says, “that’s stupid Hattori, it’s not even possible.”

They both still.

“There!” Heiji claims, pointing between the two. “Nee-chan calls me Hattori-Kun, so you must be Kudo!”

“Circumstantial evidence,” Shinichi huffs, crossing his arms and doing a good job of acting like Ran when she’s irritated, “people don’t just swap bodies.”

“That’s right,” Ran says, avoiding saying Heiji’s name at all, “that’s impossible.”

“Okay,” Heiji grits his teeth slightly, unwavering in his beliefs, “I can prove it. Nee-chan, what’s your favourite Holmes novel, you told me earlier remember?”

Shinichi blinks, and Ran can see him as he struggles to guess. Eventually, his shoulders tense and he asks, “Scandal in bohemia..?”

Heiji makes the sound of a buzzer, crossing his arms into an ‘x’. He shakes his head, “the real Nee-chan wouldn’t need to guess. Plus, Nee-chan, you told me that you didn’t even like Sherlock Holmes.”

Shinichi turns to Ran and almost looks betrayed. “You don’t?”

Ran feels the strongest urge to kick him.

Send a pairing and an AU and I’ll write it! (It probably won’t be as long as this one though)

Master post of all my writing can be found here.

[kyliesmilie26]

Doctor Blake Mysteries - S2E3. Otherwise known as Kylie’s inane and rather insane review… part eighteen...

We come to the penultimate post, it’s been one heck of a ride...

We learn almost all the answers in this part of the review...

*Doctor Blake Mysteries 2x3*

We’re back in the Ballarat Historical Society building. Elsie is taking down a book from the shelf, okay, maybe we’re in the library? Not relevant Kylie, move on.

Lucien enters the building. And it’s definitely the Historical Society for point of interest.

“Miss Patrick, good morning.”

Elsie is immediately on the defensive. “I’ve told you everything I know.”

It seems as if that blonde piece of hair from that wig has set off a ping! in Lucien’s genius mind. He’s somehow drawn a conclusion as to who indeed has done it.

“Yes, yes. But your colleague hasn’t.”

Martha! Quelle horreure! But why???

But I could be jumping the gun…

Lucien: “Miss…”

Martha fills in the blanks for him. “Harris.”

“Ah. Miss Harris.”

“How can I help you?”

I don’t think at this point she’s cottoned onto the fact that Lucien has figured out she murdered the man of many names… either that or she has and is trying to use her womanly wiles to distract him…

“Does the Historical Society have any material, any books…”

Cue a shot of Aaron peeking through the door to look at Martha.

There’s a lot of peeping tomfoolery afoot in this ep!

“… on migrant settlement in Ballarat?”

Aaron, who we discover is with Mattie, points to Martha.

She smiles at Lucien, I think she is pretending to be blissfully ignorant that he knows it’s her…

“A few actually.”

Lucien acts positively chuffed at this. “Wonderful! I’d love to see what you have.”

Meanwhile Aaron is nodding at something Mattie must have said. Probably confirming with Aaron that it’s Martha.

Martha is bending down behind the counter to retrieve one of the books Lucien was  referring to when Charlie makes an appearance by the door.

Martha: Uh oh. The shit’s hit the fan now… I’m f****d…

She plans her quick escape.

Charlie: “Stay where you are!”

She claims that she was “just getting her purse.”

Hmm, likely story.

Elsie seems shocked at this turn of developments. “Martha?”

*Doctor Blake Mysteries 2x3*

In case you hadn’t guessed, we’re in the interview room at the station. Opening shot has Lawson sitting, all poised to begin the interview, Martha sitting opposite him, trying work out if she can somehow still talk her way out of what she’s done. And Lucien standing behind Matthew, to his right and our left. He’s standing in front of both a window and one of the two radiant heaters in the room. I wonder what has Lucien so deep in his musings now?

Let’s find out why she did it.

Matthew proceeds. “Martha Harris. Member of the Australian Communist Party since 1943.”

Lucien starts to turn around, and then the camera focuses on a up-close shot of Martha. And I can’t recall it, but there’s a young female police officer standing guard behind her along the wall. Well, she looks female, it’s so dark where she’s standing. I’m actually surprised they are even referencing female police officers… kudos DBM team!  

Martha begins her defense, “The Soviets were our allies, and it’s not illegal.”  

Matthew continues her profile. “Sacked from a government job under suspicion of having a relationship with an attaché (for those who are unsure of the meaning: another word for diplomat, representative or ambassador) at the Soviet Embassy…”

Ah! She didn’t??? Well, why else would she kill him?

And this means Jean was right, he was a Soviet! She isn’t often wrong, as I’m sure Lucien would be thinking as the camera turns back to him. A picture of someone putting all the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind, his arms crossed.

“… who subsequently went missing.”

It’s all coming together nicely now, excellent writing team!

Matthew wants to know is that why she moved to Ballarat.

“No. I have a sick aunt who lives here.”

Does she? Or is she producing one out of thin air…

“Suffering from…”

Lucien answers before Martha can, “Diphtheria.”

Okay, I take it back; she wasn’t lying about her sick aunt. Sorry Martha. But should we believe you, really?”

Another part of the mystery clicks for Lucien. “Does she know you were wearing her wig in the park?”

Ah-ha! Right!

She chooses not to answer, instead asking if she may smoke.

Filthy habit that, you know it will kill you? (Not that they would have known much about that in 1959). My apologies to any smokers who read this, no offence intended. :)

Matthew doesn’t answer, so she takes it as a yes and goes to get her pack of cigarettes from her purse.

Lawson is more concerned about getting to the bottom of why she chose to kill her lover/ex-lover. “How many identities did you manufacture for him?”

He starts to number them off, along with some information on the real identity of the aliases.

Sven Lundqvist – he died in Wendouree in 1912 at the age of three.

Niels van der Berg died in Castlemaine in 1897. He was only six months old!

I’m gonna add my own “Bloody hell!”

“Tor Olsen…”

Martha cuts in, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Yeah, sure you don’t. Pull the other one.

Lucien asks her if she likes poetry. Had to come into it sometime. It was referenced enough throughout the episode.

She clears her throat as if to say, You tell me, I’m not giving you anything.

And again, we get Lucien reciting some more of the poem.

“Foreknowing all bounds of passion, of power, of art, Mastered but could not mask his deep despair Even as she turned with Hermes to depart, Looking at her last on her grim ravisher For the first time she loved him from her heart.”

Well, they could not have chosen a better poem to fit the story. Wow! I’m not much of an expert of the analysis of poetry, but this poem rings true for this storyline.

Lucien wants to know if, “Was that… what it was like for you?”

Does it get much better than this DBM writers? Wow!

“Holding him while he died?”

I stand corrected! Outstanding job!

Lucien goes on to say that whoever this attaché was, that she loved him.  He now gets out of the seat he’d sat down in briefly. “You’d given up everything for him. Everything. And he couldn’t even remain faithful.”

Had to be, didn’t it?

He is now sitting on the table next to Martha.

“What about his marriage?” Yep, I’d like to know about that too.

He wants to know if that was the last straw; the one that broke the camel’s back so to speak.

She still avoids the question. I guess her lack of answer, is an answer in itself. For the record, here is her reply, “You should charge me, if you have anything, or let me go. But there’s no reason to go on talking like this.”

Bringing back too many painful memories for you Martha?

Matthew comes back into the conversation, “You’re right.” And he adds that this case is no longer in their jurisdiction and that some agents on their way to talk to her.

“Unless you have anything else to say, this interview is over.”

Martha looks like she might want to say something, will she? And Lucien seems to pick up on this, “Miss Harris?”

She thinks better of it, “No. I have nothing more to say.”

She has what appears to be a mint or some kind of chewing gum and goes to put one in her mouth…

She has nothing more to say because she wants to kill herself!

Lucien immediately puts a stop to that!

He grabs her hand and tries to take the “lolly” from her.

“Cyanide! Sugar-coated to disguise it.”

Between the two men, they manage to get the poison from her grasp.

“You did love him!” Lucien exclaims.

She looks down at her lap.

“PASSIONATELY!” Lucien yells, banging his hand on the desk. “But unlike you, he was trained to walk away.

She finally cracks, “I gave up everything for him. I found him new places to live, new identities. But every time, he found another lover.”

“And the message you wrote in that book…” Lucien says, everything making sense to him now, “…you were arranging to meet, weren’t you?”

So, she wrote the message! I assumed it was him, although I’m sure that was the intention of the writers.

“I’d had enough.” She pauses for a moment, “He was a traitor.”

Ooh Lawson looks so so stern here! (Yet also slightly confused.) “To his country?”  

She shakes her head, chuckling, “to me.”

TBC...

Only the last couple of scenes to go.

Hope you’re enjoying it... even if its well and truly behind schedule...

[crownoyami]

Chapter 6 - Archangel

Title:  Archangel

Pairing: Gabriel/Sam Rating: E Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Warnings/Tags:  Drinking, Frottage, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Killing, Hitman Gabriel, Feet, Switching, Bottom Gabriel, Bottom Sam, Top Gabriel (Supernatural), Top Sam Winchester, Rimming, Oral Sex, Public Display of Affection, Rough Sex, Marking, Violence, Minor Character Death, Mentions of Rape, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting

Summary: Secrets had a way of being discovered. For hitman Gabriel, his biggest secret may just cost him the only person he ever loved.

AO3 Link To Story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16273952/chapters/38265968

Author’s Notes: I want to mention a few things before we get on with the story. If you do not know this month is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and like last year I will be writing an original novel. This means I will not have much time to update and after this fic is complete, I probably won’t be posting anything (besides the Reverse J2 fics once I get the dates for those and whatever I manage for the Gabriel Monthly Challenge).

 Secondly, since I was dumb enough to sign up for every Big Bang that I could I don’t have anything pre-written and waiting for posting like I have been lately so it’s going to be even longer before I can post anything since I have to actually write it.

 Thirdly, I know that I’ve mentioned that I’m trying to get a book published before but I don’t think that’s going to happen how I wanted it to. So what I’m doing now is writing a novel that fits in the parameters of the publishing company I have my heart set on (dreamspinnerpress.com) Hopefully if I can get a book that matches what they want they might later on (if it sells well) let me publish Stanford Art.

 And I don’t say it enough but thank you to everyone that presses that Kudos button, and leaves comments, I swear you guys are my brighten my day more than you know!

   ~*~ This has been edited by Gamermom!

     Chapter 6

   Getting Karen had been easy. While Gabriel hadn’t expected anyone to target her, he hadn’t been expecting anyone to kidnap Jo either. Gabriel didn’t even have to explain everything that was going on, all it took was arriving at her door and saying there was trouble and Karen was packing a small bag and following him to his car. Charlie was quick to give him the all clear when he arrived at the house, which Gabriel took at her word and carefully ushered Karen inside. It only took a moment for Gabriel to open the doorway and Karen to rush toward her husband.

 Gabriel set his unused bag down beside the door for a quick escape if needed and smiled at the scene. Karen had her arms wrapped around Bobby’s neck while complaining about leaving her in the first place. It was sweet how Bobby blushed for a second before kissing her, relieved nothing had happened to the woman he loved. Gabriel didn’t dare look to Sam, no matter how tempting it was. There was nothing else in the world he wanted more than a love like the two older people before him.

 Killers didn’t deserve love.

 “So now what do we do? Just sit around and wait for whoever is gunning for you to show up?” asked Rufus who had taken a seat by Charlie. The dark-skinned man seemed relaxed, a glass in his hand but there was a .9mm beside him on the table, ready to act if needed.

 “Depends, Charlie did you get a response from Kali or Crowley?” asked Gabriel making his way to observe her tablet. Charlie could work faster on a keyboard than anyone he had ever met, it was why she was recruited in the first place. Though he could do a bit of hacking and understood some of the programs she had taken the time to explain to him, there was nobody better at the job than her. Watching Charlie bite her lip for a second, Gabriel knew the answer. Lowering his voice in a calming manner, Gabriel tried to reassure the woman in front of him. This wasn’t her gig. She was to remain at HQ and direct him, she was never trained for being in the thick of things.

 “Have you tried Crowley more than once?” asked Gabriel. Charlie turned and glared at him for a moment, her hands clenching every few moments while she spoke. “I know how to do my job, so far I’ve tried everyone I could think of and nothing. It’s like they blacklisted my contact info, if I wasn’t able to get into the system I would have thought I was fired.”

 Though she said it as a joke, Gabriel frowned. “We don’t get fired, we get burned.” Glancing at the tablet again, Gabriel paused before leaning over Charlie and typing a series of codes into the tablet. “What are you doing?” asked Dean who was glaring holes in the back of Gabriel’s head while he typed. Gabriel didn’t turn away from the screen, not wanting to become distracted from his time-sensitive coding.

 “I’m bringing up the contracts list, typically they are assigned out specifically, but there is a prime list given to every Head which is then routed to whoever is the best fit for the job. I may have slipped a back-door into my boss’s system last time we were together in case I wanted priority at anyone on the list.”

 Charlie blinked from where she had been carefully looking at the screen and swiveled to look at Gabriel. “Wait… you and Kali…?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. Gabriel shrugged before answering. “We were on again off again for the past couple years. Was too complicated for more though, thankfully I was able to slip the virus in before we broke it off shortly before I moved here.”

 “Dude you slept with your boss?” asked Jo, still close to her mother but looking much better than when he left. Shrugging again, Gabriel finishing his coding and started to browse through a rather extensive list of names. “With this kind of work the lines between right and wrong blur easily. Not many coworkers in this business who haven’t slept together. Cuts back on the questions we can’t answer.”

 “Gabe…” began Sam who Gabriel noticed was standing only a few feet from him. Hearing the beep from the tablet stopped whatever Sam was about to say as Gabriel leaned back to give Charlie space. Ten seconds later, Gabriel sucked in a breath at the list. Charlie called out his name when she spotted the same thing he did, worry tinging her voice while she spoke.

 “It’s everyone… Gabe… they’re cleaning house.”

 Gabriel shut his eyes for a second, pushing down the feeling of betrayal before opening them and taking in the list again. “Someone must have hacked the system, even if they wanted us all dead there’s no way this would be authorized. Contact everyone you can, leave a warning if they don’t answer and explain what we found. If someone got in we can’t trust any orders given, all contracts need to be revoked. Think you can do that?”

 Charlie nodded her head, easily taking over from where Gabriel had left off. “And what exactly are you going to be doing while she plays hide and seek with your people?” asked Bobby who had his arm wrapped around Karen. Gabriel looked at the bag he had prepared earlier, sitting by the doorway.

 “I’m going to HQ, it’s the only place I can think of to start searching for Kali and Crowley. Chances are they’re dead… but if they aren’t I need to find out what’s going on and with them at least I know when they’re lying.” Glancing around the room, Gabriel sighed before speaking again. “It’s up to you if you want to stay here or move to another safe house, but I would prefer you stay here. This is one of the safest locations you could be and it’s well stocked, I shouldn’t be more than a couple days.”

 Gabriel turned to fling the prepared bag over his shoulder when it was grabbed by a large hand. Turning to look at the one stopping him, Gabriel had to hold back a sigh as he looked at Sam. The man was furious, as he had every right to be. They hadn’t had time to talk, but Gabriel was certain learning your lover was a hired killer was probably something they should have spoken about before.

 “Gabriel, we need to talk before you leave.”

 This time Gabriel couldn’t hold back a sigh, yeah, they needed to talk. Glancing at the open floor-plan Gabriel wondered where exactly Sam thought they could have any privacy. “Sam, you’re pissed, and I get that you have every right to be… but I have to move. If Kali and Crowley aren’t dead, then they are at least being held captive and I may not like them most of the time, but they are my bosses. I owe them to try and help.”

 “You mean they’re the people who give you names to kill?” asked Sam, raising an eyebrow. Gabriel didn’t hesitate to nod, while he wanted to try and plea his case he doubted Sam would even listen to him now. Not that Gabriel blamed him, he had caused enough pain to the taller man. “Yes Sam, they are the ones to give me a name to take out. There is only one level above Crowley, a man I’ve never met who makes the list, then Crowley gets it and divides it for the group leaders and Kali as my leader sends it off to whoever is best fitted for the job.”

 “And you don’t think there’ something wrong with that? I mean what do these people have to do to get trained hitmen on their asses?” asked Dean who was staring at Gabriel who shrugged. “No idea. Sometimes we’re given background info if it will help us on the case, but for the most part we shut up, don’t ask questions and get the job done. The less I know the better.”

 Sam took a step back from Gabriel then, shaking his head as Gabriel spoke. “I trust my boss, and while she may be a Grade A bitch, she wouldn’t send me on a mission unless the person deserved it. I even somewhat trust Crowley to an extent. They didn’t get to be where they are by fucking with people and sending us out on pointless missions.” Slinging the bag over his shoulder now that Sam was no longer holding it, Gabriel pointed toward the door.

 “Now I’m going to hopefully save their asses and get to the bottom of this.” Opening the door, Gabriel stopped as Sam called out to him. “Were you ever going to tell me?” Sam asked, and though he didn’t turn around Gabriel could picture the exact look of betrayal on the other’s face. “No,” responded Gabriel still not turning to face Sam. “I would have been happy if you had never found out. I was never going to tell you Sam, and I am sorry that you know.”

 With that Gabriel shut the door and started on his way. While it wasn’t what Sam wanted to hear it was the truth. Gabriel would never have gotten Sam tangled into this mess if he could have helped it. For a couple of months, Gabriel had been lucky enough to have the tall man, to embrace the idea of retirement in the future, of coming home to Sam’s warm smile for the rest of his life. Just like the dreams before them, Gabriel watched as it died, as his happiness was once again ripped away.

 Sam would want nothing more to do with him now, if Gabriel was lucky the man would allow Gabriel to get them out of this mess and if he survived perhaps Sam would accept the house as a parting gift. There would be nothing keeping him close by anymore, not without Sam.

  *~*~*~*

  “Well that went well,” remarked Charlie who was still at her tablet although she glanced up every few moments to look at Sam. Her comment earned a snort from Jo who was now sitting by her own strength although Ellen was close by, not wanting her daughter to leave her sight after nearly losing her. “He wasn’t even going to tell me.” Spoke Sam, his tone defeated while he continued to look out the door where Gabriel had been only moments before.

 Charlie rolled her eyes before speaking. “Of course, he wasn’t, would you? Could you tell the love of your life that you kill people for a living? That at any time you could be killed yourself if you fuck up a job? No, you were happier not knowing, and maybe in a decade or so he would have been able to retire and spend the rest of his life making it up to you.”

 “She’s right you know,” mentioned Rufus who took a small sip of the glass in his hand. “Gabriel is what? Almost thirty? Forty is retirement age in his business, your body starts to shut down and no matter how much you train you can’t always have the same reflexes as in your youth. Programmers and hackers stay on longer of course, but field agents? They can only milk your skills so much before throwing in the towel and so long as you keep your head down it’s not a bad retirement plan.”

 “How would you know?” asked Bobby who had let go of Karen. For her part, Karen was making her way slowly over to Sam, not wanting to startle the hurting man but needing to offer comfort where she could.

 “I know because it was my job,” grouched Rufus. “retired at thirty-eight when a stray bullet busted my knee. Wasn’t any good to anyone anymore so they let me retire early and gave me my pension package. I told you that I used to be CIA, just because you thought I was talking out of my ass didn’t make it any less true.”

 Seeing the look on Bobby’s face while he tried to process that his best friend used to kill people for a living, Charlie decided to speak up while observing Sam. “I get that you’re going to have trouble processing this, but Gabe isn’t the bad guy.” Dean cut in then, while he wasn’t exactly yelling his voice was raised. “The man kills people and you’re trying to tell us that he’s not the bad guy? What kind of brainwashing have they done to you?”

 Shaking her head, Charlie kept a close eye on her screen from where she was waiting for contact from one of the other hackers. “No brainwashing, just facts. Gabriel is sent to take out people I’ve screened first. He may not know what they’ve done but I’ve made it my business to know as his handler. I’m not saying it’s right, or that there couldn’t be other ways to go about it, but the results can’t be argued with. I didn’t like it at first either, I mean who would? But Gabriel does what he can, all the agents do with the hope that their orders are coming from someone who is doing theirs. He goes in and gets the job done, no questions, but he isn’t a mindless killer. He doesn’t hurt innocents that could get in the way even if it would make his job easier.”

 “How do you know?” asked Sam, his arm wrapped around Karen while turning blood-shot eyes to Charlie. “How do you know that he doesn’t take out other people and just not call it in, so he doesn’t get in trouble?”

 “First off,” began Charlie, typing in a reply to one of her fellow hackers to make them aware of the situation. “Gabriel isn’t the kind of guy, you should know that by now. Sure, he can be a dick with the best of them, but he isn’t the kind who would harm people just to save his own ass.” Grinning at the answer she received from the other hacker, Charlie pulled out her phone and sent a text to Gabriel to let him know that one of his friends were arriving for backup. “Secondly, I’m his handler which means that he’s on my watch when he’s working. I hear everything, I record it and it’s all analyzed to make certain the agent isn’t lying.”

 Turning to face Sam again now that she knew Gabriel would be protected and her program could run by itself for a few moments, Charlie caught Sam’s eye. “Lastly though? I was an innocent Gabriel was sent to kill. I had hacked into their system for bragging rights and they thought I was a spy who needed to be eliminated. He was sent to kill me, but the second he saw me he made a different call that could have gotten him put on the cutting board. He risked himself to take me in alive and made certain nothing happened to me while under his care no matter how much I fought him.”

 Shrugging, Charlie smiled at the memory. “Gabriel isn’t a ruthless killer, he does his job but if the situation calls for it I know he’d rather put himself at risk than harm an innocent, orders or no.” Hearing a beep come from her screen, Charlie looked at the sequence of data coming through before a large smile broke out on her face. Tapping the side of her head where her earpiece was located she easily turned on her communication.

 “I found them, looks like you’re going to meet up with Bal in about four hours I’m sending you the address now.” Gabriel must have said something as Charlie’s eyes softened for a second before she spoke again. “Will do,” spoke Charlie before tapping her ear again and muting her side of the connection. Blinking for a moment, Charlie hesitated before typing. “He asked me to sign the house over to you, so you wouldn’t have to pass by him after you officially called things to an end. Tell me Sam, is that the actions of a mindless killer or of a man trying to take care of the one he loves?”

 Sam didn’t answer, not that Charlie was expecting him to. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned against Karen who was still wrapped around him. He had a lot to think about.

   P.S. If you want to keep up to date on my writing add me to Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter or Instagram as CrowNoYami ;-) Also, if you want to see what I’m reading (I always review so you know what you’re getting into) I’m on Goodreads as well, the same name as always.