#honestly though this would make a great buzzfeed unsolved episode

[sardonic-the-writer]

Hey, you seem cool and I saw your posts about watcher, could you explain some of it? It looks epic!

First of all thank you so much!! Second of all, Ill do my best to justify it, but I highly recommend simply going to their YouTube channel to support the company directly and everyone that works there. They have all their series like Too Many Spirits, Ghost Files, Puppet History and so much more all in convenient playlists for the public. If my ask doesn't satisfy you enough I cannot recommend checking out @wearewatcher @trashworldblog and @bergoozter blogs enough!

I'll try to keep this short, but basically the main building blocks for this three year old (I think) company called Watcher Entertainment is Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej and Steven Lim. Three best friends who wanted to end a contract with a company that was limiting their creative freedom, namely Buzzfeed, so they could go on to do more. And the company was born—unfortunately right as the pandemic started.

They preserved through and the products are amazing. Ghost Files this year (or last year seeing as 2023 started officially an hour ago for me) got their channel to the first million views ever I believe, which is amazing. It helped bring back a lot of their old audience from Buzzfeed Unsolved and throw them into their other works like Puppet History.

Now, Puppet History is exactly what it sounds like. A fuzzy blue puppet teaching people about history. Sometime inbetween learning about getting thrown out of windows and a lady surviving the propellers of the Titanic, some crazy lore gets thrown in there. I wont say anything though becuase my dear anon that would be spoiling things for you.

Shane's the main cause of that show though. He constructed almost all of it in lockdown I belive. Building everything from scratch—from the stage to all the puppet—puppetering all of them and voicing them all as well. It's his pride and joy.

Ghost Files however is Ryan's baby. He loved Buzzfeed Unsolved when it was still happening and from my understanding it hurt like a BITCH to give that show up. But he did, mainly for all us, just so he could go on to do so much more. Thanks for that Bergoozer. But the funny part is, the show is about hunting ghosts. Capturing proof and all. Shane doesn't belive in any of that stuff. Ghosts? Nah. Aliens? Zip. Demons? Zero. Big fat goose egg. Meanwhile Ryan's in a corner crying and rocking himself when they come anywhere close to contact with a supposed supernatural being.

It's part of what makes the show so entertaining. Not just how hilarious it is knowing Ryan's afraid of his biggest hobby, but also the realness of it all. In the first episode I nearly post of laughing becuase a camera man farted. And while yeah farts are funny, after I was done laughing I realized they could have cut the part about them all admiting it was a farther, and just pretended they had found evidence. But they didn't. And if that doesn't nail it home for you that these people are serious and loving when it comes to their content, I don't know what will.

Also, Steven is a great cook. He eats a shit ton apparently (see Watchers latest episode) and owes a rat puppet a good meal, but honestly I could go on forever about that man. He's just so weird and stupid and crazy. I love him. Highly recommend watching Too Many Spirits just for the crazy names he gives the drinks he makes.

Probably weren't expecting an essay about all this, but this is just my long winded response in saying— go watch their stuff. Support the company. Support the creators. Support the fandom! God knows Watcher recognizes their fandom and appreciates them so much for everything. They repost fanart goddamnit. Name one company that does that almost everyday multiple times a day, if at all.

Cheers mate and happy new year.

[dashuisofanubis]

Another ghost AU

Okay the premise for this one is sort of a what if they figured out Nina was the chosen one and performed the ritual, but its also an AU.

KT, Eddie and Willow move into a boarding house for the prestigious Ankh school. They notice there are a lot of awards and items in the school dedicated to a group of students.

It turns out that on the 7th of July, around 50 years ago, these 7 students were discovered dead. The cause was believed to be poisoning as the students were all from the same house and the two surviving students admitted to having skipped meals at the house that day. The house mother was arrested and sentenced for murder, despite rumours that she was innocent.

The truth of the tale is different:

An ancient Egyptian artefact was believed to have power beyond scientific knowledge, and, once assembled, was said to grant immortality. However, nature must maintain a balance, and for every life extended, another has to be cut short.

Despite all their research, the Secret Society were not aware of these consequences, or most likely were at some level but chose to ignore it. So, when the ritual took place and life was transferred, they had what they wanted, but at a cost.

The Immortals:

Victor Rodenmaar. Location unknown. Has been off the grid for 25 years after vanishing one night in the middle of the school year

Daphne Andrews. Still a teacher at Ankh. Taught many student's parents and has said she will retire next year for the past 20 years

Eric Sweet. Eddie's father, and a man he's always admired and looked up to. He's not what he seems, and is a lot older than Eddie believed.

Mercer, father to one of the lost students. Has realised immortality is not all it's cracked up to be. Having lost his wife 10 years ago, he lives a lonely life and regrets ever joining the society and offering up his daughter.

Jason Winkler. Joined due to degenerative illness, hoping this would be a cure. It was, and he lives a mostly happy life, when he can forget what part he played in the tragedy.

Doctor Delia. Now the CEO of the local hospital, she's experimented with her immortality, to see if there is a way to transfer part of her life to a patient. It took a lot of work, but 11 years ago, she finally had some success. 14 year old Sophia was fatally injured in a car crash, and Dr Delia used her blood in a transfusion, saving the girl.

Rufus Zeno is the final immortal. It was supposed to be Roebuck, but Rufus broke in and threatened the Chosen One, unless he got what he wanted. Wanting to save the girl, and being the only one who hadn't drunk from the cup, Roebuck sacrificed his chance.

(Had he known the girl would die anyway, it might have been different)

Rufus is out there, somewhere, and he's dangerous.

Back to the story:

(Idk what the plot really is but here goes)

The trio (Eddie, KT and Willow) discover the students used to live in Anubis House.

One night, they're playing truth or dare with their housemates: Stella, Marco, Anna, Raf and Peter. KT is dared to go down into the cellar, where she finds a secret panel. Behind it, she finds 7 balancing scales, an intricately decorated cup, and an empty bottle.

The scales have discs with names written on them. The names match those of the 7 students who died. However, the discs are only on one side of the scales, suggesting there were 7 more previously. KT takes the bottle to prove she went into the basement, and something compels her to take the discs as well, which she shows to Willow once they're back in their room.

They let Eddie know about it the next morning and the 3 begin to wonder if the students' deaths were really as they seemed.

Eddie is walking up the stairs when he trips on a loose floorboard. Annoyed, he goes to try and put it back into place when something catches his eye. It's a metal disc, tarnished with age. He cleans it up and sees the word Zeno printed on it.

He tells KT and Willow, and KT realises it must be from the scales she found. Something doesn't feel right, so they decide to investigate.

Eddie jokingly suggests they hold a seance, and despite Willows warnings, they do.

It doesn't seem to work.

The next day, Willow discovers an intruder in the house, someone who looks very similar to photos in the school...

Willow is unnerved but curious, so she says hey to them. They turn around, apparently spooked that someone can see them, and vanish.

Willow tells the others, who initially disbelieve her, but soon they come to meet the former residents of their boarding house.

The ghosts were obviously affected by their own deaths, and the fact that they're ghosts, but it's been 50 years now, so they're getting over it. They generally try to stay out of the students' ways, as they learnt that people generally freak out at the sight of ghosts.

They appeared as ghosts the same moment their lives transferred to the immortals, but were extremely weak and found it hard to keep themselves together. They were unable to dissipate completely though, something was keeping them there. They had to watch as Trudy was arrested; as their house was put out of action till an increase in students forced them to open it again 15 years later; as Victor still wandered the halls; as all the students came and grew and left while they were trapped in the house.

Unable to die, but unable to live.

Slowly, they began to gain more power, and for the past 10 years they've been able to hold a corporeal form for lengthening times, meaning they can actually do things and go places. They're capable of leaving the house for short distances and periods of time, though if they're out for too long they fade away and reappear back in the house with a killer headache.

They think (hope) this means the immortals are weakening, but it could just be they're getting used to the whole being dead thing.

Their lives were tied to the balancing scales and the person on the opposite side, so they each have some connection to an immortal

This means they get fleeting impressions/feelings from their immortal, which strengthens with their proximity.

Connected Immortal and Ghost:

Rodenmaar - Nina

Sweet - Fabian

Andrews - Amber

Delia - Alfie

Roebuck/Zeno - Jerome

Mercer - Joy

Winkler - Patricia

Amber gets the most impressions because Ms Andrews still teaches at the school

Nina and Jerome receive hardly any because both Zeno and Rodenmaar are unknowns

However, recently they've started getting fleeting emotions and visuals that aren't their own. The two missing immortals are becoming active and they're heading for the house.

The ghosts can't do much on their own so Eddie, KT and Willow have to be prepared to discover what these two immortals want and put a stop to it.

Eddie finds out that his dad was once Eric Sweet (he chose a different name after leaving the school, to distance himself), the former headmaster of the school and is horrified by the part he played in all this. A confrontation goes down.

There's a bit where they track down Mick and Mara, now in their 60s, and bring them back to Anubis House to reunite with their former housemates. It would be a really emotional scene because while most of them weren't close, you can't live in close quarters with people for a long time, without forming a bond. And when it ended so abruptly with no goodbyes...well.

They also track down the other immortals and bring them to the house to face their ghosts (literally). Ms Andrews regrets it immensely; Delia has no (some) regrets, but argues she's able to save many more lives this way, Jason is in denial.

Don't imagine immortal!Mercer finally seeing his daughter again, only she's a ghost and he caused her death. He's full of apologies, but they're all based around how he missed her, not how he cut her life short.

There would be a lot of regret and grief all round, and anger on the ghosts' part.

While Trudy probably wouldn't be alive after all this time, the trio and the ghosts want the immortals to clear her name.

Zeno and Rodenmaar arrive at the house. They're both searching for an ancient artefact hidden in the house.

(Is it the mask? Is it the Book of Isis? Robert Frobisher Smythe? Who knows? Not me.)

They also want to try and end the other because, why not. Grudges can last forever.

The trio also meet Sophia at some point, who is undergoing weird transitions as a result of the blood transfusion. Her body is fighting it while also trying to embrace it, and it causes her to randomly absorb life/energy from plants or other people. She can also transfer energy to other beings, but this causes her to collapse. She also still looks 14 when she should be in her 20s by now. The trio befriend her and try to figure out a cure.

While their existences are tainted with regret and bitterness, the ghosts still make their own fun. Sometimes they'll pull pranks on unsuspecting students, or just sit in the back of the class room to listen to the lessons like they're students again. They know for a fact Ms Andrews hasn't changed her curriculum in 50 years and can now recite her lessons by heart. They also like to play games in the house like tag or hide and seek, and they will admit its more fun when you can phase through walls.

When they reveal themselves to the trio, they enjoy tormenting them, but also help them with their games nights, charading the answers behind the other 5s backs. Everyone's had near misses with the 5, but somehow they remain oblivious to the SEVEN GHOSTS living in their house. But then again everyone else is oblivous to the fact the 5 are on some Arthurian quest.

I don't know how this story would end, but the best outcome is that they fight Zeno and Rodenmaar, and some truth comes out that Rodenmaar has discovered a way to reverse what was done and needs an artefact from the tunnels to conduct the ritual. Zeno, meanwhile has discovered another ritual that would give him the power from the other immortals to essentially make himself a god.

Naturally, both are trying to stop the other from achieving their goals.

Initially, KT, Eddie, Willow and the ghosts (and Sophia) attempt to stop both parties, but when they discover Victor's plan they work to take down Zeno. Once he's subdued (taken down by Sophia draining his energy), they summon the other 5 immortals.

Some of them take some convincing, but others are all too ready to give up this immortal life. They get time to tie off loose ends. Ms. Andrews hands in her resignation, Delia entrusts someone (Sophia?) with her work, Mercer has a long talk with his daughter, Eric has an even longer talk with his son. Victor spends his time in Anubis House, telling the kids his story and apologising for taking so long to fix his mistake.

Eventually, the ritual takes place, and the next day sees 7 new students enrolled who look uncannily like the students in the pictures.

(It takes them a while to adjust to the fact they can't walk through walls anymore)

[luxuriantegg]

POV: you're watching Loki episode 5. Loki and Sylvie share a blanket, and then five minutes later sylvie’s like “we’re the same :)” which comes after them holding hands to cause a Nexus event, Mobius implying they're in love, and Loki appearing to want to confess some sort of adoration for her before being pruned,,, and so far, it seems the showrunners/writers are on board w/ calling it a love story,,,,,,,,,,

let’s dive a bit into this ship.

(note: i'm not going to tag this as "syl//ki," and i will not put any ship in the body text without the "//", but tumblr may take the "syl//ki" out of "anti syl//ki" and put it in the ship tag. that's out of my hands. you need to block "anti syl//ki" if you don't want to see that.)

when it comes to defending or being anti syl//ki, I think a lot of people sort of missed the memo on or forgot about the fact that Loki is a frost giant. I have looked on both Twitter and Tumblr and literally have not seen a single person talk about it in the selfcest debate so far. I've probably missed something. So if you have seen this argument, well, here it is again!

so, syl//ki defenders will say,

It’s not selfcest because they are genetically different. They might have different parents since they were adopted by the Asgardians.

If they were genetically similar, then they would also be genetically similar to Boastful Loki and Alligator Loki.

First of all. Loki’s last name is Laufeyson. Sylvie’s last name is Laufeydottir. Due to the naming conventions used here, both can be assumed to be children of Laufey. I realize we haven’t seen Sylvie’s Laufey, but who’s to say they look any different than the one we saw in Thor? Furthermore, there’s nothing to suggest that they weren’t adopted by the same exact couple (i.e., Odin and Frigga or some variation), and if you’re not ok with Thor and Loki, you probably should consider this. Probably. We'll really just have to see what happens if they develop Sylvie further. Who knows, they might get cold feet in the last episode and actually make her Enchantress (Sylvie Lushton) proper.

The second point really pisses me off not just as someone who loves Norse mythology but also just. The race card. Does no one remember the fact that Loki is actually supposed to be blue? He’s not genetically white. There is nothing in his genes that command him to be white. That is a disguise (originally put on him by Odin if I’m not mistaken? feel free to check me on that).

Loki could literally be any gender and/or any color he wants to be. Hell, we've seen him shapeshift into Steve Rogers briefly and Odin presumably for a good while. Really, it's hard to pass judgement on the relationships that the other Lokis have to their respective timelines. We can only make assumptions based on the evidence we have. (but also have fun with headcanons of course)

(also the funny part about bringing up Boastful Loki is ,, everyone is always like “well, are you trying to tell me that our Loki has the same genes as Boastful/Hammer Loki? 🙄🙄🙄” and like, they won’t come out and just say one is white and one is black like,,, :) they’re trying so hard not to sound racist it’s hilarious. AND THEN TO PUT ALLIGATOR LOKI IN THE SAME CATEGORY. LAUGHABLE. str8 up.)

But concerning the alligator, in Norse mythology, frost giants can have kids that are really just. Out there. Jormungand is a snake that can wrap itself around the world, Fenris is a gargantuan wolf, and Hel is a half dead child. Those are just Loki’s kids (note: in the mythology. they also exist in the comics as his children, but I am also aware that Fenris and Hela are not his children in the MCU and trust me, that peeves me a lot). I’m sure there’s more examples though. So like. Potentially????? Yeah, Loki Prime could be genetically similar to Alligator Loki.

Furthermore, according to this Gizmodo article, Alligator Loki is a Loki (2021) creation, and they admit to playing with the idea that Alligator Loki may not even be a Loki. So take that how you will.

So my verdict is that Loki and Sylvie are the same person with different looks, possibly some difference in genetics, depending on the mother.

(note: Loki is marked in his file as genderfluid, technically we cannot know what he was assigned at birth. we only know his pronouns. he could be AFAB. Sylvie may be AMAB.)

I don’t ship lok//ius, and I don’t care if Loki gets with a girl (I actually really like Loki and Darcy) so don’t come at me with the biphobia excuse that’s running around. I will say that yes, I would adore seeing Loki in an mlm or wlw relationship. Yes, it is really cliché to have the two opposite gender-presenting leads get together. Yes, I want to see Loki and Sylvie as friends/family. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m just here to ask if this is selfcest or not.

So yes, Syl//ki really does appear to be a selfcest ship and like, if you’re willing to own that, own it. It looks like that’s how the show’s going so far so,, uh,,, enjoy it if that’s something you want to do I guess. I’m ,, probably not going to though. But congrats on the canon! If it is!

I’m not asking you to stop shipping it, if you do. I'm not even asking you to ship with caution. Overall, I just hope I made you think a little more about it and maybe get a discussion going that doesn't revolve around the same arguments we've heard for the past three weeks.

Because like, it's not hurting anyone to ship it, and if you send hate speech to any shippers or the showrunners, literally what is wrong with you???? there are civil ways to discourse, my lord.

Personally, if I had to ship it, I would only do so as a self-love metaphor, and I think that's as far as I would take it. As it currently stands, it's on the same level of Oncest, so like. it's weird but honestly it doesn't hurt anyone. (and if you don't know what Oncest is, give this video by Sarah Z a watch.) Really it all just amounts to this test from Buzzfeed that you've probably seen in fandom memes before. So you can use that as your squick-o-meter when it comes to this ship.

I will end this by saying I am not pro-ship. Inc//est and pedo//philia have no place in fandom and thinking these are okay could lead to harmful thinking in real life, especially with regards to children in fandom.

Selfcest is not technically on the same level as inc//est, and yes, I know, in the words of the great Buzzfeed Unsolved team, "anytime you have to say technically that's not great" but I really mean it here. We can still say technically here.

TL;DR: yeah syl//ki is more than likely selfcest. don't send hate to people who ship it tho (this includes the showrunners).

[wiener-soldiers]

how to (not) be internet famous - peter parker

summary: peter parker becomes internet famous overnight and doesn’t exactly know how to deal with it, which causes him to end up in a precarious situation.

words: 4k

warnings: rien, mes amis!

a/n: part of the unsolved mini-series! just wanted to write a lil blurb w some world building before i go into more ghost/ghoul hunting. also goes without saying that this is minimally edited, sorry lol

unsolved masterlist | masterlist | add yourself to the taglist! | faq

Peter Parker did not intend on becoming famous.

It was quite literally an accident—a byproduct of being in the right place in the right time. But, completely out of his control, Peter Parker helped solved an Unsolved mystery.

It was one of Buzzfeed Unsolved’s most viewed episodes; the story of Peter Quill, a little boy who went missing right after his mother died. Of course, one theory was that he was abducted by aliens. That was the joke theory.

Until Peter Parker and Y/N Stark proved that theory to be correct.

Being fans of the show, the duo was vaguely aware of the existence of Peter Quill, the mysterious boy who went missing. It wasn’t until Thor traveled back to Earth with the rest of the Guardians did Peter and Y/N recognize Peter Quill.

Of course, their first instinct was to interview him about how he got abducted and ask about some space stories. Their next instinct was to invite Ryan and Shane of the Unsolved Network to interview him as well.

This subsequently made the internet blow up. And Peter Parker became famous because of it.

The video titled “We Solved A Buzzfeed Unsolved Case” garnered millions of views overnight, with thousands of comments flooding the video. Peter’s Twitter went from less than a hundred followers to more than a hundred thousand overnight, and his Instagram blew up in a similar fashion.

He was used to Spider-Man being famous, but Peter Parker had never gotten that much attention before. It was surreal.

He found himself sitting on the brown leather couch at the Avengers Tower (where the Stark family alose happened to reside) the morning after the video was released, staring at his texts blow up in front of him.

Ned: Dude you’re famous?? You’re on the YT trending page!!

MJ: can i meet ryan and shane? also warning: flash and brad don’t know you’re dating y/n so their texts may be a little hostile…

Flash: Damn Parker, how do you know Y/N Stark???

Brad: Why haven’t you brought Y/N around?

Betty: Peter you HAVE to let me interview you for the school news! When are you free??

“What the hell is going on…” Peter whispers, jaw unhinged as notification after notification caused his phone to ‘ding’ out of control.

“Hey Pete,” he hears a voice flow into the living room. His girlfriend walks past him, not before pressing her lips to his cheek. His cheek warms at the contact and his eyes follow her pajama-clad body into the large kitchen.

“Did you see the video you posted?” Peter calls after her. Y/N shakes her head as she throws a banana along with other frozen fruit into the blender.

“No…why?” she calls back. “Do you want a smoothie?”

“No, but thank you,” Peter replies quickly. He turns his body to face her and raises his voice at the sound of the blender turning on, “It’s trending. Like, everywhere.”

“I figured it would,” Y/N calls back, the hum of the blender drowning her voice out.

“How are you so chill?” Peter asks her, slightly bewildered.

“There was paparazzi in the hospital waiting room when I was bored. You get used to stuff like that,” she answers, before making her way back to Peter, smoothie in hand. She positions herself on the couch, placing her legs overtop Peter’s lap.

He places his arms over her shins instinctively. “I’m definitely not used to stuff like that,” he mumbles, still scrolling through his notifications.

Y/N scoffs, “You’re Spider-Man, honey. That comes with press.”

“Spider-Man is famous, not me,” he counters.

The sound of the elevator opening and deep voices conversing cut the couple off as they turn towards the door. Tony, followed by Steve, Bucky, and Natasha file into the common floor, all deep in conversation. They don’t seem to notice the young couple, so Y/N decides to make them known.

“Morning!” Y/N calls out.

Tony’s head snaps up towards his daughter, before shifting and narrowing his eyes at Peter. “We were just talking about you,” he says, walking towards the two.

“Oh?” the younger Stark challenges.

Natasha lets out a soft laugh before patting Peter on the shoulder. “You need a public relations lesson,” she says to Peter.

“A what?”

Y/N lets out a fit of giggles. “It’s to make sure you don’t say something stupid to a large audience,” she tells him, and Peter scrunches his nose.

“Why would I need a…oh.”

Tony smirks at him before showing him his ever-rising Twitter followers. “Yeah, oh. That video you posted basically broke the internet. Even old man Steve is talking about it.”

Steve rolls his eyes but smiles sympathetically at him before handing him a grey folder. “Protecting Spider-Man’s identity is still your number one priority, right?” Steve asks and Peter nods. “So, we need to make sure you don’t say anything stupid or post something that gives away who your alias is.”

“So, what’s in the folder?” Peter asks the adults in the room.

“Homework,” Natasha answers. “I’ll help make sure that your identity stays a secret, but I need you to make sure you read that document very carefully. They’re full of general best-practices and protocol for if your identity is exposed.”

“Got it,” Peter whispers, mostly to himself.

“Great,” Tony says with a pat to his shoulder. “It was a funny video, by the way. Can’t wait to see what you kids come up with.”

Over the weekend, even though Natasha, Tony, and Y/N prepared him as best they could for the storm that would most likely ensue on Monday at school, Peter still didn’t feel prepared.

He stood in the middle of his room, gnawing at his lip and choosing between the dark blue sweater and the maroon sweater. Granted, the sweater wouldn’t make that much of a difference and hide the fact that Peter was still a big nerd, but he had a feeling he needed to make a good impression today.

“Babe, you are overthinking it,” Y/N mumbles from Peter’s bed. Like most weekends, she spent the night at Peter’s place. Although things do tend to get a little heated, most nights the couple just watch movies, play video games, or take a walk around the block.

“You’re not the one going to a public school,” Peter mumbles back. It was true; Tony had tried sending Y/N to Midtown, but the paparazzi was getting unbearable, so she took online classes instead. Y/N didn’t mind missing out on the high school experience—her life was so surreal that nothing could make her feel normal, except Peter or Morgan.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Y/N groans and rolls out of bed. She shivers at the cool breeze caused by the AC being blasted on high as she wraps Peter’s flannel around her body even tighter. “I meant that you’ll look really good in whatever you wear, honey.”

Peter rolls his eyes but turns to face his girlfriend, dark blue and maroon sweater still in hand. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” he admits.

“Afraid everyone will look at you differently?”

“Afraid everyone will think I don’t deserve someone like you…”

Y/N gives him a soft smile before closing the gap between them. She peppers kisses along his shoulder, his neck, then finally his lips. Peter ducks down to look at her, wrapping his arms underneath the flannel she’s wearing and around her waist.

“I love you, ya know that right?” she whispers into his collarbone.

Peter hums in response.

“And the world doesn’t get to decide who or what you deserve. Because you deserve a hell of a lot more than what I can give you.”

Peter groans, “Don’t say that. You give me everything I need.”

“And that’s what matters,” Y/N replies. “Not what anyone else thinks. Okay?”

Peter pulls away and gives his girlfriend a sincere smile, “Okay.”

“Good,” she muses before pressing a final kiss to Peter’s lips. She then takes the maroon sweater from his hands. “Wear the dark blue sweater, I want to wear the maroon one.”

---

Despite Y/N’s encouraging words, Peter’s still nervous.

He’s nerves kick in as soon as Y/N has to leave his place while he packs his school bag. He’s nervous on the subway on the way to school. He’s nervous as he crosses the street towards campus. He’s nervous when he’s walking toward the school entrance, so much so that he can hear his heartbeat over the podcast he’s listening to. And he’s especially nervous when people openly gawk and stare at him as he makes his way to his locker.

Luckily, MJ and Ned are there to save him.

“They’re all staring,” MJ comments as Peter yanks his locker open and reaches for his calculus textbook.

Peter laughs nervously, “I’m aware.”

“You know that clique of really hot sophomores who won’t shut up at lunch?” Ned adds on as he stares at his phone, “They’re all thirsting over you on Instagram.”

Peter slams his locker shut in surprise, “Wh-what?”

Sure enough, Ned’s phone is filled with screenshots of the video on Allison’s Instagram story with the caption ‘hmu peter ;) or i may have to fake needing a tutor to talk to you.’

Peter gags. MJ snickers.

“Oh my god, this is awful,” Peter shudders as he turns around and makes his way to first-period calculus. Ned and MJ follow suite. “Don’t they know I’m dating someone?”

“Peter, if we barely knew you were dating someone until we met her and started handing out with her,” MJ deadpans.

“Speaking of your girlfriend,” Ned butts in, “are you going to tell her about Allison?”

“No, she’d probably laugh. And it’s not a big deal, right?” Peter answer honestly, smiling slightly at the thought of Y/N laughing her ass off at the thought of sophomores at his own school acting thirsty on main.

Ned stops dead in his tracks, “What if she was actually talking to you?”

“Ned, what—”

“Hi, Peter!” a high-pitched voice attempting to sound sultry cuts him off.

MJ laughs in amusement before walking away as Peter squeaks out, “H-hi, Allison.”

Ned pats his shoulder encouragingly before walking away, giving Peter a ‘you’re on your own’ look.

She bats her eyelashes at him, giving him a shy smile. Peter’s distracted by her bright pink outfit—she looked straight out of an early-2000s movie. It suited her, but it wasn’t really Peter’s preference.

“I watched your video, it was really funny,” Allison says, inching closer to Peter.

“Thanks, um look, I gotta go—”

“You doing anything tonight?” she immediately asks.

No, Peter thinks, but he racks his brain for an excuse. May is working so he can’t use her, Tony is at the Avengers’ Compound, MJ has art class, Ned is working on a group project, maybe Y/N…

It’s too late. “Great!” Allison quips, “I’m having a party tonight and you’re invited, hottie. I’ll AirDrop you the details.”

“Uh, thanks,” he mutters pathetically as she practically skips away.

It wasn’t just Allison’s invitation that stuck out to him; it seemed like everybody more popular than Peter was giving him some sort of attention. If Peter didn’t know better, we would’ve been flattered. Instead, he was suspicious.

By lunch, Peter had been invited to three parties, a football game, a boat ride, and more invitations to hangout than he could count. Even Mr. Harrington made a jab at Peter’s internet fame.

As soon as the bell rang, Peter bolted out of his English class and ran out the front gates to take a breath. Even as Spider-Man, public events often felt overwhelming. Now, with no excuse to leave and no disguise to hide his flustered expression, the few minutes of silence he had at beginning of lunch was the only break he got all day.

“You don’t look too hot, babe,” he hears a voice say. From his spot leaning against the railing of the school entrance, he lifts his gaze and finds Y/N Stark staring up at him from the bottom of the stairs.

He stands up immediately and meets Y/N halfway down the stairs. He smiles widens as he gets close to her, “What are you doing here?”

“MJ texted me—said you were feeling overwhelmed,” she says nonchalantly, but concern laces her features. “You doing okay?”

“Just not used to so many people giving Peter Parker attention. And the feeling that they probably just want to hang out with me because they want to be famous makes me icky.”

Y/N hums and reaches for his torso to give him a hug. Peter is on the step above her, so he wraps his arms around her shoulders and rests his chin on her head. “I know how you feel,” she mumbles.

Peter laughs half-heartedly, “Got invited to a shit ton of parties, though.”

Y/N chuckles into his chest, “Oh really?”

“One of which is tonight. Got any plans?”

“Hmm…maybe,” she tells him. “Dad wants me to be his plus one to a gala thing, but I don’t really want to go.”

“You’d rather go to a shitty high school party?”

“I’d rather do anything, honestly.”

A honk from a car parked on the curb catches their attention. Peter looks up and finds Happy peering his head through the window of a black sedan. “Hate to break you two up, but I really don’t want to be swarmed by high schoolers,” Happy shouts, “so we should get going, Y/N.”

Y/N sighs, “And, that’s my cue.”

“I’ll see you tonight, maybe?” Peter asks hopefully, pressing a kiss on her forehead.

“Maybe. Text me the address, but don’t bail on the party,” Y/N tells him before giving Peter a proper kiss. Another honk from Happy causes them to break away, followed by the school doors opening and more and more people filtering outside. A series of shocked gasps at Y/N Stark and Peter Parker in such a compromising position prompt Y/N to start walking down the stairs.

“See you, Peter,” Y/N shouts as she quickly makes her way down the steps.

Peter waves to Y/N in the passenger seat as her and Happy drive away. His phone the buzzes with a text from Y/N:

Y/N 🥰: hang in there bb, love you!

“Yo, dickwad!” Peter hears Flash shout from behind him, “Why didn’t you introduce me to your Stark friend?”

Peter sighs. This was going to be a long day.

---

“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“I want to May…it’s just that—”

“It’s just that you want Y/N there?”

Peter sighs and shakes his head. He sits in the passenger seat of May’s car as she’s parked outside Allison’s house where the party is taking place. He’s beyond uncomfortable: the girl who was shamelessly flirting with him was sending him DMs, asking him when he was going to show up to her party. His skinny jeans—the nice ones saved for special occasions—were still a little stiff because he never really wore them, and he’s sure he’s made sweat stains on his white t-shirt.

“I guess, I just want the high school experience, to feel normal. Even if it’s a fake normal,” Peter says honestly, fiddling with his hair in the mirror. “But everything is easier with Y/N around.”

“Did she answer your texts?”

“I sent her the address and she said she would try to find an excuse to leave the gala early, but I don’t know if she’s gonna make it,” Peter says dejectedly.

May nods understandingly, “If you want to leave, just send me an SOS. I’ll come pick you up.”

“Thanks, May,” he says before pressing a kiss to her cheek. He doesn’t feel his body move, but his feet carry him out of the car and towards the front steps of the house. He doesn’t realize he’s reached for the door until he’s already inside, looking around at the darkened house illuminated by colourful lights and blaring with music.

“Peter!” he hears someone call from the top of the stairs. It’s Allison, clad in a sheer top, lacy bralette, and tight leather pants. He tries not to gawk at her, but he gulps in nervousness as she approaches.

“You made it!” she exclaims over the rumbling bass. Without warning she pulls Peter into a hug, pressing her body close to his. His muscles tense in surprise, but he feels Allison shiver.

Fucking great, Peter thinks as Allison eyes him up and down, biting her lip.

“Do you want a drink?” Allison says, latching onto his bicep and guiding him further into the house.

“Um, sure,” Peter says as he tries to remove his arm from her grasp while still remaining subtle. He fails, and Allison proceeds to run her nails up and down his arm.

Someone shoves a solo cup in Peter’s hand, and he takes a few big gulps immediately. His powers can’t get drunk, but he can sure as hell try if he has to handle Allison’s not-so-subtle advances towards him all night.

“I’m glad you came,” Allison suddenly whispers in his ear before biting his ear lobe in an attempt at seduction.

Peter whips his head around to confront her but before he can say anything, she’s left him to chat with her friends who have been watching the whole interaction in jealousy and awe. Great, Peter thinks before wiping his earlobe clean of her spit.

The party isn’t too bad; a few games of beer pong are going on the patio and people are taking turns jumping into the pool in just their underwear. Peter makes small talk with some people he recognizes, but for the most part, he leans against the wall and watches Flash pretend to be good at beer pong. Every few minutes, he checks the time on his phone and hopes for a text.

At 9:15, Peter has been at the party for forty-five minutes and is on his third drink. He still doesn’t feel buzzed.

At 9:24, Allison checks up on him again and tries to get him to strip with her and jump into the pool. He declines.

At 9:32, Flash loses his third game of beer pong in a row and a heard of angry freshmen finally scare him away from the table.

At 9:47, he hears excited commotion inside the house. He doesn’t bother to look inside and instead stares at the amber liquid in his cup.

He feels a hand fall on his shoulder, and he groans, finally fed up with Allison’s antics. “Look Allison, I think you’re sweet and all but—”

“Who’s Allison?”

Peter’s face breaks into a huge smile at the sight of Y/N Stark, still in her formal evening wear. The dark green, straight gown falls to the floor and the simple dress is bedazzled by nothing except the gold necklace Peter got her for her birthday and the million-dollar Stark smile.

“You made it,” he says in relief and excitement.

Y/N smirks back, “I’m overdressed.”

“You look beautiful.”

Y/N examines Peter’s outfit, “You look good too. This shirt makes your arms look huge.”

Peter blushes but takes a hold of her hands, only half-aware that half of the party is probably staring at them right now. “I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

Y/N laughs, “We were stuck in traffic. Dad wanted to get out of there too, it was pretty boring. We had to drop him off at home, first.”

“You left a boring party to come to another boring party, then. The difference is that you don’t get free dinner over here.”

Her laugh draws more attention to the duo and Peter finally finds the balls to look at the decent-sized crowd accumulating around them. He then notices a familiar face push through the people.

“Oh my god, you’re Y/N Stark!” Allison gushes as she approaches her, “Can I get a picture with you?”

Y/N smiles at her, “Um, sure?”

Allison squeals and shoves her phone into someone’s face, demanding them to take her picture. After a few photos are taken, Allison grabs her arms giddily and says, “You should totally follow me on Insta, these pics turned out really cute.”

Y/N looks amusedly at her, “Yeah, for sure…”

Allison then gasps, “You know Peter, too! We go to school together.” Allison then wraps her arms around Peter’s bicep and Y/N and Peter lock eye contact; Peter looks at Y/N in a state of panic and Y/N looks at Peter with nothing but amusement.

“Yeah, I figured,” she tells her, the amused expression growing.

Allison gasps again, “Peter! We should get a picture together too!”

Before he can really process it, Allison is pulling Peter close and shoving her phone in front of their faces. As Allison makes several different selfie faces, Y/N laughs softly as Peter smiles awkwardly at the camera. Suddenly, the feeling of lip-glossed lips touches his cheek and Peter raises his eyebrows in surprise and watches as Allison presses a kiss to his cheek in front of his girlfriend and what seemed like half the party. Her kisses trail down his neck, jaw, and ear before Peter finally gets over his initial shock and laughs awkwardly.

“Okay, um. That was kinda weird, Allison. You see, I’m ac—”

Allison juts her lip out and pouts, “But these were turning out so cute, Petey!”

Y/N Stark finally breaks out into a fit of hysterical laughter and both Peter and Allison turn to her with a bewildered expression.

“What?” Allison asks accusingly, thinking that she’s being mocked.

“Honey, he’s not interested.”

Allison’s jaw unhinges, “And how would you know?”

“Sweetheart, you’d be embarrassed if I told you.”

She scoffs. “Try me.”

“I’m dating Peter.”

Allison’s eyes bulge. The group of people watching the interaction gasp. Peter chokes on his own spit.

Allison’s face suddenly gets very, very red. “Miss Stark, I’m so, so sorry—"

Y/N holds out a hand to stop her rambling. “Don’t worry about it, love. If I wasn’t already dating him, I would be all over him, too,” she quips before grabbing Peter’s hand and leading him out of the party.

“E-erm, bye! Thanks for inviting me,” Peter calls back as Y/N leads him out of the house and towards the black sedan where the driver was waiting for the two to be done partying.

“All things considered, I would call that a pretty tame first fan interaction,” Y/N tells him as they walk towards the car. Her arm is wrapped around his torso as she leans her cheek on Peter’s shoulder. 

Peter’s arm slings around her shoulders and looks down at her face. Her eyes twinkle in the moonlight and her features are light with amusement. “You’re not mad?” he asks her.

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because another girl was kissing me in front of you. And that you had to out our relationship.”

“Not a valid reason to be mad, to be honest. She didn’t know, and our relationship was bound to get out anyway.”

Peter laughs lightly, “You’re amazing, you know that?”

Y/N hums, “Yeah, I know. But so are you. And don’t worry, after a few weeks, the whole school will be a little chiller about your internet fame.”

A week later, Y/N and Peter uploaded a video where they went ghost hunting with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes and it broke the internet yet again. Needless to say, the whole school was not very chill about it.

[atlasifyllm]

Tell me about Ventus?

You're really gonna drop this on me when I'm doing homework huh ;u; Get ready for an absolute ride mate

(VENTUS IS MY OC)

DEV Thoughts:

Ventus is a character in another story of mine, AuAg. He started off as a side character but honestly? I might switch him to the main protagonist.

Originally, he was inspired by the guitar solo in You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison. His whole character was that song, to be honest. He was originally this arrogant, well known fighter who gambled on switchblade fights. He was known as the King of Switchblade Fights.

Until I watched a Buzzfeed Unsolved episode, where the Ghoul Boys talked about how terrible a prison was to its inmates. And a Vsauce: Mind Field episode, showcasing him mentally deteriorating under solitary confinement.

Then, I just started just whumping him. He was a little bit of a masochist, trying to cause grave injuries to himself in order to escape prison.

Then, I listened to the song Partners in Crime by Set It Off. That's when his character started getting pulled together.

Ventus became a character involved in criminal activity, though is honestly one of the more innocent of the group. No one in that group was more precious to him than his girlfriend, Vepris. They were pretty much:

VUntil one day, Ventus and Vepris got involved in a scuffle with... honestly it's changed so much over the years but their group was NOT on good ties with them. Vepris got shot, but Ventus went off on the enemies, fearing that they've taken away his beloved.

And so Ventus was captured and imprisoned for 4 years. He just wanted to be with Vepris, feeling guilty he may have just led her to being killed.

On the flipside, his younger brother Nimbus, struggled with losing his brother. He would vent to another man, Caligo (originally a vigilante), who then rescued Ventus from prison.

However, Caligo would find this to be a mistake.

Ventus hated being weak in front of Nimbus, and would try and be the "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" bastard that he used to be, both in-universe and out-universe. Caligo hated how arrogant he was, and the two would clash until Caligo makes an attempt on Ventus' life. Caligo goes through a villain arc, wondering whether or not killing Ventus would be a moral option. He's a criminal, right? You have to get rid of the "bad guys", right?

Ventus would then seek comfort from his old crime buddy, Jack. But all Jack wants is to gamble on the "King of Switchblade Fights" again. Ventus eventually sees that he's nothing more than cash to him, but Jack tries killing him now that he knows he has no control over his little dog fighter.

But the last thing he sees is Vepris.

Even when Ven fades away, he can't help but admire the angel right in front of him.

Eventually, Ventus, Vepris, and Nimbus would go after Jack and Caligo.

But that was then.

Now here's now ;>

Character thoughts:

Ventus Fulmen was born out of a simple family, living normally. Until an interaction with criminals led to him being shot as a young kid. Ven would struggle with his mental health for awhile, but he'd meet Vepris. The two of them were inseparable, and both shared a love for punk rock music <3. Ventus would also form an interest in switchblades, a gift from his parents.

Somewhere along the way, Vepris became involved with Argentum's most infamous masquerade-inspired casino, run by a gang of nefarious criminals. Ventus, willing to follow Vepris anywhere, ended up hanging out at this casino often. It's here that Ventus would make a name for himself in poker games and unbeknowst to the innocent public, switchblade fights. Ven would be a huge moneymaker for the gang and its casino through his excellence at switchblade fights, and he and Pris would eventually join the gang as their most elite fighters, the King and Queen. Alongside Ven and Vep, the gang included:

Lucius, the Spade, who was a bartender

Jack, the Joker, who was the mastermind

"Ace", the Aces, who also worked with his brother at the bar

(The rest of these are more vague, Lucius, Jack, and Ace already have designs)

Adamas, the Diamond, a circus master ("Artistic, but Crazy?")

Trifolium, the Club, a security guard ("Sporty, but Violent?")

Cordis, the Heart... hot girls?? ("Lusty, but Manipulative?")

And so, the "Card Suit Gang" (name may change later) would continue to run the casino, getting into trouble along the way due to criminal activity

One day, the casino gets raided by an "enemy gang", causing chaos along the way.

Diamond, Club, and Heart face hardship after this raid, not wanting to be involved with the casino's antics and the target they've painted on their heads.

Jack stays at the casino, trying to keep it afloat after the incident.

Ace disappears.

Lucius faces a traumatic brain injury to the point of needing heavy rehabilitation.

And to Ventus, Vepris dies of after getting shot.

Which terrifies him, after being shot so many years before.

Wanting to protect her, he attacks; and gets captured.

Once again, he's imprisoned and forced to fulfill everyone's wishes as the "King of Switchblade Fights", forced to duel others in hopes that his captors can gamble on him

Four years later, Caligo becomes a vigilante. His main target?

The former members of the Card Suit Gang.

He gets involved with a young pilot, Nimbus, and his mechanic, Aurora. Throughout transporting Caligo, Nimbus begins to open up about his missing brother: Ventus.

Caligo realizes he's a former member of the Card Suit Gang, and aims to break him out of his captivity in hopes he can aid him in his quest against the Card Suit Gang. Once again, this turns out to be a great mistake... to Caligo only.

Ventus isn't the "King of Switchblade Fights".

He's a kind older brother. His main interest is punk rock. He yearns for his "past love". All he really wants to do is get treatment for his mental trauma; unlike a lot of my other characters (hehe Winter Boys), Ventus knows when he's sick and is willing to seek treatment for himself.

Caligo doesn't like this.

How can he justify leaving Lucius to die, if the Card Suit Gang was never inherently evil?

Once again, Caligo attempts to murder Ventus.

If he can't track the entire Card Suit Gang, he can at least get rid of one of the members permanently.

Ventus is still alive, though left behind by Caligo. Of course, Nimbus and Rora are scolding Caligo elsewhere.

Feeling as if Cal's goals are immoral, he seeks the one person he knows how to track: Jack, still at the casino.

Of course, Jack has always been a sleazy guy. He ratted out the Card Suit Gang for easy cash, only to be faced with the casino getting a bad reputation through the raid. Even now, he tries to convince Ventus to become the King of Switchblade Fights again, just to gamble for cash.

Ventus, good old caring, kind Ventus, hates this.

He betrayed them for money? He betrayed HIM for money? He lost Vepris, because of money??

The two get into a scuffle, which Ventus loses.

But he's not alone.

Vepris, also hunting down the Card Suit Gang, saves him.

Vepris isn't violent like Caligo; she only hopes to seek salvation and rehabilitation for its former members. It was her who found Lucius at the brink of death, rescuing him and joining her on her quest.

(Vepris becomes known as the Phantom Queen, while Lucius joins in as "Grandma Lucy"; his head injury has made him significantly weaker, but he still is grateful for Vepris and scouts out information under the guise of his weakened state)

Now that the Demolition Lovers are back, they're gonna make sure Jack and Caligo pay.

Ventus gets to prove that he's the good person Caligo rejected in favor of the idea that the Card Suit Gang must be eliminated for their crimes.

Vepris gets to take back the life that Jack took away from her.

:)

[hypnowave]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. Learn to know your mutuals and followers ❤

okay ily for sending me this no joke!! this is such a huge infodump i'm actually going to cry

1) just dance + dance central 3,, you DEFINITELY expected this one, i never shut up about how much i love both of these games and how they've helped me get exercise 6 days a week during the pandemic. i don't even OWN a copy of dance central 3 yet (though that might change when i get off my ass and actually spend some time looking at secondhand xbox 360s and kinect sensors) but it was something i was completely obsessed with in my childhood and it feels really nice to be able to talk about how happy it makes me without feeling shameful about it being weird or niche. it's a game where you can time travel using the power of swag dance moves, what's not to love?? on the other hand, i got a digital copy of just dance 2020 on discount not long after i got my switch, and i've managed to get the megastar rating on 95 songs so far! i'm hoping to hit 100 before just dance 2021 releases in two to three days, but even if i don't manage to get it by then, i'm still pretty excited to hit that milestone. i'm also currently trying to memorize the choreography for the alternate routine for lady gaga's bad romance and oof ouch my bones

2) i started watching buzzfeed unsolved true crime about two days ago and i'm absolutely hooked. i have no idea how i've gone so long without watching it (save for one episode that i took a look at because i was curious about the particular case they were talking about), but it's nice finally having something to put on while i eat my meals that isn't pokemon or among us. both games are great, but sometimes you just need to throw something fresh into the mix, y'know? it also feels nice going on a true crime kick again in general, haha.

3) I LOVE MY CHARACTERS AND ART and i've been drawing a lot of humans recently! i feel like i'm actively improving and that i'm gradually becoming more confident with my human artwork. i'm no maestro and i know my work isn't astounding by any means, but doodling my friends' characters and seeing their reactions has helped me push forward and try new things when it comes to art. i don't draw my own characters as often, but i've been working on some new plots and it's slowly coming together and it's giving me that sweet sweet serotonin. tangentially related but my FRIENDS' characters and art also makes me incredibly happy. i'm now going to annoy the hell out of them by tagging them; @/polygarnstars you know i would absolutely die for all of your characters (especially bate and fanael. horrible children) + i swear you know my own characters better than i do, @supernovacity if i had a nickel for every time i drew eyvind i'd probably be able to get a better laptop and drawing tablet by now, @arasolcan YOUR CHARACTER CONCEPTS AND DESIGNS SLAP and i always love when i get a chance to hear about them and doodle them, @kingsmanmechanics the starboys live rent free in my head and our current AU is SO GOOD i love it, @fihyn hello i love elvoth and co., and i should honestly take a shot and drawing more of your characters!! they're so unique and i'm excited to see what you have planned for 'em.

4) my cats,, i have five cats and they all share one brain cell. mochi usually has that brain cell. kiki still doesn't understand that she's not allowed on the bed and i've given up on trying to convey it to her sgdhgnshfkd

5) uhh i'm highkey blanking out because i really gotta go get some sleep but man, i can't believe i'm in university. sure, it's a stressful thing to go through, and i'm not going to pretend that the pandemic isn't making it even harder to socialize and get out of my comfort zone, but a year ago i was thoroughly convinced that i wouldn't get to experience this. the fact that i managed to get here and study the things i'm interested is amazing to me and i don't think i give myself enough credit for that :")

[xcziel]

i have to say, i have tried with the MXTX danmei novels (at least, the english translations) and personally ... i just can't

idk if it's the translations themselves (because everyone says the writing is so good in chinese, so something might really be getting lost) or just the style, but they are not enjoyable for me personally to read

the wording is clunky to me, the descriptions dry. there's just so Much stuff that's ... pointless (to me) ghost story/early-episode-of-Supernatural type of events, seemingly just plopped inside the plot? with one or two elements of relevant character or plot information scattered within? i'm guessing possibly this may be due to them being serialized web novels (got to keep people interested chapter to chapter i suppose)

and then the parts where i could really do with more authorial involvement or descriptions are rendered with: "and then that happened" and no more? again, this may be the unspoken genre conventions that i'm not aware of as a western reader, but if that's the case i feel i can be excused for going: wtf?

a character "ascended to the heavens"? um, how exactly? could you describe this process other than "there was a great disturbance that shook the foundations" and then totally side-tracking into petty disaster reparations? how does the character feel? bc all they actually seem to do is shrug and go "oh, okay whatever"

for stories with such high stakes and deep emotions running rampant, there's ... such a lack of affect? and i don't know if that's a cultural thing, a translation issue, or me just marinating in fanfic for so long, but honestly, reading a description of something that would be unimaginably painful happening to a character, but them going, in text, "oh. well, it was justified that happened i suppose. i guess i don't feel it anymore" leaves me literally like "???"

to my reading, the characters are opaque, it almost seems an issue of telling rather than showing. they perform impossibly romantic actions, enact modes of devotion and revenge, but there's no examination of their internal psychology. even inner thoughts are somehow rendered as passive, almost remote? it's like books full of cql lan wangjis. people talk and perform actions, and i'm meant to interpret their emotions purely from that, which is certainly a valid way to write, but i feel i'm not able to properly describe how ... distancing? how ... textbook-like? it makes the stories feel for me

it's like i thiiiink i can see where parts of the novels are deconstructing tropes that are almost sort of invisible outlines of things i've come to expect in fandom reading, made clear more from the spaces left by their absence, so i can guess at the author's intentions there. but unfortunately the execution is what i'm actually left dealing with, and it's ... not something i would ever read by choice? if i picked these books up off the shelf in a local bookstore (maybe they had a really great covers), i'd read the blurb on the back, flip through a few pages, see the rains of blood or the chatty disembodied heads, and put them back down again

i'm not even seriously addressing the sex scenes bc people have made it very clear that those do actually conform to genre and cultural conventions, however irksome they are personally to me as a western reader (they really do read like a straight female's version of gay sex, though. as though they were written het, and then she just switched a few things and the pronouns. the different translations change things considerably between them, but that part still really comes through)

and like these aren't just fantasy stories, they're ghost stories, they're very much Horror stories in aspect - there's far more curses and gore and gross spooky shit that seems to be there just for the sake of being gross and spooky as far as i can tell - than like the 'magic' magic a western reader might expect in a supernatural fantasy. MXTX's writing (or possibly the xianxia genre?) to me has a lot more in common with japanese horror than say, the dresden files or tolkien

and i know part of that is the culture: everything's related to spirits, reincarnation, ancestral honor or debts, and clearly that's why the genre doesn't map directly to the western idea of supernatural/fantasy stories, but like, i still, personally, hate horror stories? i don't care about ghosts either. buzzfeed unsolved and blair witch and the ring leave me equally cold.

so for me, the part of The Untamed featuring gorgeous people in amazing costumes being utter badasses? improbable fight scenes, mystery-solving, and heart-wrenching romance? yes yes yes, a thousand times yes!

the curses, creepy eye-sacrificing, tongue-slicing, flesh-eating, revelling in zombie/ghost/creature skin-crawlingness? a very big no thank you on my part. most especially on the written page

(they toned down a LOT of that in the adaptations)

tl;dr the MXTX books may be the basis for an amazing tv series and adaptations, plus the plots/characters by themselves are iconic and fantastic worldbuilding, but me trying to read through the translations is like making myself do homework, and i have enough other media waiting on my time and attention that fighting to read in a genre i don't normally care for is just not worth it.

i'm sorry mdzs purists, i can understand the frustration of endless bad takes, but fandomers pick and choose their canons, and a lot of us chose cql as the starting point. we're not doing it to be obtuse or obstructive - it's literally just the version that is most satisfying to engage with for some. no hard feelings okay? we all just want to enjoy ourselves, after all

(i mean, i've never read the lord of the rings either and i don't regret it. i still enjoyed the movies)

[bereft-of-frogs]

oooh hit me with some unsolved mysteries recs, please! (i'm deep in the horror/mystery spiral too, especially this week 👻)

So, at least what I’ve been doing the past three days, without much of a break:

Subreddits:

- r/UnresolvedMysteries (the flagship - but the thing about unresolved mysteries though, you really have to sort by Top->All to get the good stuff)

- r/UnexplainedPhotos was kind of fun for a while, but I found the comments to be unnecessarily rude (a lot of like ‘ugh this is a grainy photo, you can’t even see anything - well...if it were a clear photo...it wouldn’t be ‘unexplained’ would it?)

- old staple, r/LetsNotMeet and another one I came across r/CreepyEncounters

- list of creepy r/AskReddit threads

Of course, in the last couple weeks I also marathoned (almost) 100 episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved (’almost’ because I, like a totally rational person who’s having a completely rational emotional reaction to a fucking true crime/paranormal internet series, am leaving one episode out there because I can’t bring myself to like...not have any more to watch? I do this a lot, for shows I really love I like...can’t watch season finales until the new season’s already started premiering. There are some shows that ended, where I’ve never seen the series finale because I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. I’m so emotionally stable.) (also I’m still working my way through the post-mortems)

If you like Buzzfeed Unsolved, I’ve been playing some catch-up on a podcast I really like (but fell behind on) And That’s Why We Drink! They do one true crime and one paranormal story an episode. And this is more morbid history than mysterious but I’ve been obsessed with Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast. (It’s so specific and thorough. It’s the sort of thing that makes me feel Seen, because I just love how they’ve come together over such a specific niche historical interest. It’s honestly what I really loved about academia, and I love that that energy can exist independently, without all the other bs. I love them so much.)

If you can read French at all, this is the article my friend sent me this morning, contains a bunch of other podcast recs. (The article is in French, but the majority of the podcasts listed are in English.)

The other big rabbit hole I sent my friends on, is a classic: The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans. This one is a solved mystery, but reading this guy’s work...so impressive. This guy, pretty much for fun, finds things in the desert through logic and hard work. Very binge-readable write up of his adventures.

As for fictional horror, the show I’ve been watching in the evening (I try to watch one episode of a series a night while doing nothing else, not scrolling, just paying attention to the show) is Chambers on Netflix. I’m really liking it. There are some patches of uneven writing, but it’s otherwise got a great atmosphere and vibe, and I’m overlooking some of the writing problems because it’s honestly one of the only horror pieces out there that uses Native American myth with the narrative actually being centered around Native American characters. It’s honestly refreshing, and makes it easy to overlook some of the issues with the writing.

(I’m thinking of starting Marianne next? How bad of an idea is that? I’ve heard it’s like...really really scary. But also it’s been now over a month since I’ve heard or spoken French (bad) so I thought it might be also a good way to at least get some exposure while I’m otherwise isolated in my apartment.)

Also, my friend let me borrow Bunny by Mona Awad. Super weird. Trippy. Still not 100% sure what to make of it. But it was fun.

SO THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING IN QUARANTINE.

If y’all have any other recommendations, please send them my way! <3 In the replies, or askbox, either way! ;-)

[callunavulgari]

Year-In-Life | 2019

Or that annual New Year’s meme about yours truly.

1. What did you do in 2019 that you’d never done before? Had abdominal surgery! I spent most of April either doped up or unconscious. Long story short, I had an ovarian cyst that they thought was twice as big as my fist. So they fast-tracked me to surgery, and discovered that while I did have an ovarian cyst that was pretty large, most of the issue was that my bowel had fused to my uterine wall. Or was it abdominal wall? Either way, my bowel was glued to where it shouldn’t be and very angry because it had a fairly large pre-cancerous polyp in it. Which I found out a week after the abdominal surgery, when I had to have a colonoscopy. Which leads me to...

Had to do three different bowel preps in less than a month! It’s really not fun, guys. But, I got a cyst removed, a polyp removed, a metric fuckton of endo removed, and got my bowel back where it should be. Also, they confirmed that I can have babies! Which I didn’t know I was so fucked up about until I started crying about it post surgery.

Oh, also I peed in a bedpan. That’s also something I’ve never done before. And and and, been sick on Christmas! - Adding Tanya later in this post means I remembered something else I’d never done before - jumped into a pool fully dressed. Then became... no longer dressed.

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Still don’t remember what my resolution was which- hey, 2020 Heather! Your 2019 resolution is to legitimately lose weight (she says while eating cotton candy ice cream out of the tub) and quit smoking again. Also, maybe be engaged. But mostly, the weight and the smoking thing. 

As for 2019 resolutions- I can guess what they were, which probably boiled down to losing weight. I put on about 20 pounds after surgery and haven’t lost it, because shocker, abdominal surgery really fucks with your core strength. Pretty sure there was something in there about reading 100 books (done), beating 4 games (done), and write something original (done? technically?) and/or novel-length (negative). 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? High school people and a few old coworkers. Nick’s cousin and his wife just had their third kid though. I think it may have actually happened on Christmas. 4. Did anyone close to you die? No.

5. What countries did you visit? Alternatively, what is your favorite place that you did go this year? No countries. Went to North Carolina for our possible last beach vacation. In January we’re going to Vegas for our friend’s wedding, which will be interesting. They’re getting married on a ferris wheel by an Elvis impersonator. May also go to Maine this year, but not sure yet because I only have a certain amount of vacation time. 

6. What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019? Didn’t get a ring, yet. But we’ll see. We also didn’t get the house yet, so lets recycle those wants! Also, while we’re shooting big here, how about a better goddamn president?

7. What date from 2019 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Started my second big girl job on November 18th. Had surgery on April 12th. Not a whole lot else stands out. 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Got a new job! With more money and more responsibility and will look really good on a resume! Didn’t kill myself? Which sounds pretty morbid, but I had a lot of pain in my life earlier in the year. 

9. What was your biggest failure? Not... losing... weight? Because I really need to do that. The heartburn bullshit will likely go away. The sleep apnea thing will likely go away. Your health in general will improve. And you don’t even like food that much anyway!  10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I think I’ve had the flu twice this year and again, abdominal surgery, so yes. 11. What was the best thing you bought? I got nice clothes? Most of the other shit has been knick-knacks. I got more books. A new bookshelf!  12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I don’t know. Mine, I guess. I mean, 2019 wasn’t the worst, but it definitely has not been great.  13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? I have a friend. Let’s call her Amanda. Yeah, her. She’s blown us off a lot this year, which really sucks. The rest of it is her own decisions that only affect us because it’s inevitably going to affect her in a terrible way, but the blowing us off and only using us as passes for free food and ways to do her laundry really sucks.

14. Where did most of your money go? Surgery! My OOP may have been met in April, but the surgery itself was $48,000. I’ve only had to pay about $6,000 because my OOP was 5k, but that still hurts. And my dental sucks, which means I paid out of my ass to fix my teeth. Also, I bought way too many clothes and books. 15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I do still appreciate having a job with decent money. The new job will have insurance after my 90 day probation period (yeah, because you can’t have health care for 3 months even if you work in health care because you’re new). I’m glad that I caught the polyp before it became cancerous. I was happy I could have babies. I got excited about the new His Dark Materials series and The Witcher series and Kingdom Hearts 3 and God of War, and probably at least a couple other fandom things.

16. What song will always remind you of 2019? Face My Fears. Curse of the I-5 Corridor. Hadestown soundtrack. Transistor soundtrack. Wasteland, Baby! album. Billie Eilish in general. Lark of My Heart. But mostly, Face My Fears and Don’t Think Twice. 17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. happier or sadder? Sadder, probably? 2019 wasn’t great. ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter.  iii. richer or poorer? Technically probably on par with where I was last year? I didn’t save quite as much as I wanted to with the surgery happening. Also, my car needed some pricey repairs this year. 18. What do you wish you’d done more of? I do wish I’d written more this year, but I wrote a lot in October. Possibly more than the last two years combined, which was nice. And I read a lot. I kind of wish I slept more. Or ate better. Or worked out more. I’m just really tired this year.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Spent less time with doctors? But I mean, taking care of myself is good and I’ve never had that option before.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Spent it mostly sleeping. We got a bug that was either a really bad cold or a flu, so I’ve spent the last week generally shitty and sweaty and tired. First year that we haven’t been able to do Christmas basically at all. But we spent the hours between 6pm on Christmas Eve and 10am Christmas morning have the most restless goddamn sleep in the world and then opened presents and watched Love Actually and some television (the last two episodes of the Witcher!) while kind of napping on the couch, and ordered Chinese because it was hungry and the only thing open. 21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? Think I’m going to make the pirozki on Sunday, and then we’re doing a gift exchange with some of our friends at his mom’s house. 22. Did you fall in love in 2019? Eh. Still love him.  23. Best month for you this year? Clearly me having a good 2018 while everyone else had a shitty one guaranteed 2019 to be shit, because I honestly don’t fucking know. October was nice. So was August. But fuck most of the rest of it.

24. What was your favorite TV program? Of just 2019? Russian Doll, Glow, The Dragon Prince, Good Omens, Schitt’s Creek, The Terror, Chernobyl, Buzzfeed Unsolved, She-Ra, His Dark Materials, The Witcher... 2019 may have been a meh year, but it had some good shows. Of those, I think my favorite was probably either The Witcher or Good Omens, with His Dark Materials, Russian Doll, and The Terror tying for third. 25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Eh.

26. What was the best book you read? Red, White, & Royal Blue was probably my favorite. I also read Sanderson’s books this year though, which were also absolutely amazing. Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive were wonderful. It was a pretty great year for books too. Books and TV, well done 2019. Middlegame, The Ninth Gate, a lot of rereads. Best one was still Red, White, & Royal Blue though. 27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Do Utada Hikaru’s new Kingdom Hearts anthems count? Because Spanish Sahara by Foals, Obstacles by Syd Matters, the new Hozier album, and the Hadestown soundtrack were all wonderful musical discoveries. 28. What did you want and got? I don’t know. New clothes? A laptop? Confirmation that my ovaries work?

29. What did you want but didn’t get? Well, I lost the bet with Brandon. No ring by the end of 2019. No kids, either, but we aren’t quite there yet. No house. No perfect health? Is that a thing?

30. What was your favorite film of this year? I liked Into the Spiderverse a lot. Detective Pikachu. Rocketman.Frozen 2. Endgame was all right. I didn’t hate the new Star Wars. Toy Story 4. IT. It wasn’t a super great movie year for me.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? The big 3-0. It was all right. The night before we went to Fujiyamas with a couple of our friends, then on my birthday we had breakfast at First Watch, did some Christmas shopping, and went to the Zoo Lights a little after 5. Froze to death because it was snowing and shocker, when snow melts you get wet, but it was nice. Then had a late dinner at Mackenzie River, because it was one of the only places still open and close to our place.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Hah! A better president and a ring is the only thing that I didn’t get from my wishes last year. ----Hmmmmm 33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2018? I did not give up and buys Scrubs. Instead I have a perhaps slightly oversized work appropriate selection of jeans (for Fridays), work slacks, blouses/sweaters, dresses, and skirts. I spent a little too much on clothes this year. I blame discovering Torrid. 34. What kept you sane? Reading was really, really great this year. - STILL leaving this answer, three years running! 35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? David Tenant made a shocking comeback after Good Omens aired. 36. What political issue stirred you the most? FUCK DONALD TRUMP IN THE EAR 20156789. —– Ayyyyy, this was my response from last year, and apparently also the year before and the one before! Hello past me’s, don’t worry, it’s still getting worse. 37. Who did you miss? Myself. Also, my brother, who is still in jail almost a year later and still no fucking trial. 38. Who was the best new person you met? I don’t know. Oh! I do know! I really like Tanya. 

39. Talk about a new friend that you made this year: Tanya is awesome and pretty and fun and possibly at least a little bit crazy, but we all fucking are, come on. She got to come with us on vacation this year and it really made it interesting. Also, Shay and Alicia. I knew them last year, but got to know them pretty well this year.

40. Post a picture from the beginning of the year:

Took this one about 20 minutes after midnight on January 1st, 2019 after my first successful round of Battleshots. The hat went to the winner. It is not the most flattering picture, because I had been drinking already before I had to take four shots of Satan’s cinnamon liquor.

41. Post a picture from the end of the year:

Taken on my birthday, at the zoo. Again, snow melts.

42. A memorable meal discovered this year? Not sure? There’s not a whole lot of new food we haven’t tried. One of the pharmacists brought in some authentic Indian food for one of the potlucks we had and I don’t remember what it was called but it had rice and eggs and was amazing.

43. What was your favorite memory this year? I don’t know. We saw both Hamilton and Les Mis this year and they both reduced me to tears. I also had some good moments with books and tv shows I watched with Nick.

44. What are you excited for next year? There’s a couple new books. The election. Some tv shows, I think? Games? I don’t know, man. I’m trying not to come off as horribly depressed but I am kind of pretty depressed and nobody will ever know because the only person who ever gets this far into reading these things is me, so- hello 2020 me, you were really sad on December 26th 2019 and honestly for most of the year, so I sure hope 2020 is the year that we fucking seize life by the horns or however that saying goes.

45. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2019: I feel like my message from last year is fucking taunting me. Legit though, this is not the worst thing you’ve ever been through. You have a boyfriend who loves you, two wonderful cats that better not fucking die anytime soon, and like, I don’t know, working ovaries. A job. A car. An apartment that has a kind of shitty kitchen and a bath tub that might as well not exist, but is still an apartment! Which is more than some people have! 

I guess my message from last year (it gets better) is in almost direct opposition of this year, which is basically: it could always be worse. 46. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: Feed me sunlight, feed me air In a place where nothing matters Feed me truth and feed me prayer

(seriously, deliriously happy 2018 me quoting singin’ in the rain is taunting me wtf)

First Fandom of 2019: January of 2019 was pretty solidly Detroit Become Human. It hit me hard. Favorite Main Character of 2019: Jonathan Sims. I was a slut for the Archivist in 2019. Favorite Villain of 2019: Elias from The Magnus Archives, maybe? My only other response would be.. dun dun dun, Ben Solo aka Kylo Ron or whatever Favorite M/F Couple of 2019: I... am back on my Reylo bullshit. Favorite F/F Couple of 2019: Can I say Villanelle and Eve even if I didn’t really dip into the fandom? No? Okay, Catra and Adora. Favorite M/M Couple of 2019: Okay, so the three that got me this year was Hank/Connor, Jon/Martin, and Ryan/Shane.  Fandom That You Never Expected To Get Into: Um, Buzzfeed Unsolved. Never would have guessed that one. Also like, while I would have expected Detroit Become Human I never would have guessed my favorite ship. Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Sigh. Twas that Reylo smacking me in the face at the tail end of 2019. Fandom That Inspired The Most Crack: Insert shrug? I read a weird Buzzfeed Unsolved fic above Mothman giving the guys sharable dreams (that were sometimes weird and sometimes sexy) until they boned. Last Fandom of 2019: Sighing again. Reylo. Though Yuletide has made it so I’ve read a lot of Queen’s Thief stuff. Favorite Fandom of 2019: I think that Buzzfeed Unsolved was my favorite purely from a fic standpoint, but Detroit Become Human and The Magnus Archives were both really great too.

[justatiredghost]

Unsolved Academy Ch11 - End

Klaus and Dave run a Buzzfeed Unsolved-style tv show and they’ve just gotten engaged. (Since the plot is now essentially wrapped up, I’m marking this fic as complete. However, I still have some ideas that I might add as bonus episodes later)

“Just so you know,” Dave said. “I seriously considered proposing in some super fancy restaurant.”

They were holding hands as they walked home from their adventurous night out, their steps slow and casual like they didn’t want the night to end, both of them wearing their rings. Klaus raised their clasped hands periodically to suck on what little candy remained on his RingPop despite the awkward angle. Dave’s was already gone. 

“And how exactly did you think we would be paying for that?” Klaus asked, laughing against Dave’s shoulder.

“Now, see, that’s the beauty of it,” Dave said, raising a hand as he laid out his scheme. “If we’d conveniently forgotten our wallets, surely they’d simply let us go. We’d just gotten engaged after all! It’d be kind of a dick move to accuse us of anything or demand payment. I decided against it though, I’d feel bad not being able to leave a proper tip.”

“Amazing,” Klaus laughed, leaning into him. “Man after my own heart.”

By the time they made it back to the house, enough time had gone by that it could charitably be called early morning. Ben was already up and eating breakfast like a responsible adult, no doubt getting ready to head to class. Klaus was still full of too much energy and excitement and didn’t waste any time.

“Ben!” he exclaimed, bounding up to him and holding up his hand. “Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, look! We’re getting married!”

“About time,” Ben said with a smile, looking truly happy for them. 

“Wait, why don’t you look surprised?” Klaus asked, immediately suspicious when Dave blushed crimson and avoided eye contact. 

“Your fiancé there actually asked for my blessing,” Ben chuckled. 

“What?” Klaus said, drawing out the world, and he couldn’t help but laugh, wishing he could have been there to see it. 

“What? I don’t know how these things work. I never thought this sort of thing would apply to me so I never really paid attention.”

“You are too adorable,” Klaus said, pinching his cheek.

“Did he propose with the RingPop?” Ben asked. “I thought it was a nice touch.”

“Oh yeah, and check this out, you’re never going to believe this,” Klaus held up Dave’s hand to show off the plastic ring there as well. 

“Klaus also got a RingPop to propose with,” Dave explained. 

“Oh my god,” Ben laughed. “You have got to be kidding me. You guys really are ridiculous.”

Klaus beamed at that, finding Dave’s hand again and squeezing tightly.

“Come on,” Dave said to him. “We’ve been up all night, I think we’ve earned some sleep.”

“Good idea. See ya, Ben, good luck in class.”

“Sleep well,” Ben said, smiling and shaking his head as he watched them go. 

-

“Klaus Katz,” Klaus said dreamily, hand up in the air as he examined the ring on his finger as if it had a diamond on it. He rolled over on the bed and scooted closer to Dave, taking his hand as he did so. “I think I like the sound of that.” 

“Hmm, I dunno,” Dave chuckled, so close that their noses bumped.

“What? I think it’s perfect. It might as well be alliterative and over the top. Go all in, baby.”

“Over the top is definitely you, but what about Dave Hargreeves?” Dave countered.

“Aww, have you been doodling that in notebooks?” Klaus asked. “Maybe with little hearts around it?”

“Maybe,” Dave said evasively, grinning.

“Adorable. But really, you don’t want to take that name,” Klaus chuckled. “I’m fine with leaving it and all of Reggie’s legacy in the dust.”

“Is that really what you want?” Dave said, voice thoughtful as he ran a hand absently through Klaus’ hair. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, fuck your old man, but it’s not his name I’m taking. It’s yours. It’s the family you and your siblings are making. You took all the shit he dumped on you and you’re turning it into something good. A real family. And I’m honored to be a part of that.”

He extended Klaus’ arm so he could run his thumb gently across the umbrella tattoo there. Honestly, Klaus would have gotten it covered up with a different design a long time ago if he hadn’t found the entire thing so hilarious; a ‘fuck you’ to dear old dad, having his symbol on his greatest failure, and wasn’t Klaus just the perfect representation of how the whole Umbrella Academy business had turned out? Quite literally in the gutter. But Reginald was dead and this didn’t have to be about him any longer. 

After they’d saved the world, Klaus was actually truly glad he hadn’t gotten it covered or removed. Sure, there was still a lot of pain there, but Dave was right, they were making this their own, repairing their relationships and building the family they’d never had. And to represent that, he and his siblings had gone out and gotten the old faded tattoos touched up, tweaking the design to be their own, to represent something else. Something new. 

None of them had really bothered to put it into words but Klaus supposed it sort of existed as a representation of a promise to try to do better by each other, to make sure none of them had to feel so alone and helpless again. And this time, Vanya was a part of it. Not because she had powers now but because she was their sister.

“But you don’t need to keep the name to keep your family,” Dave continued. “So if your dad is all you think about when you hear the name, then by all means, ditch it. It’s just, I know how hard you’ve tried to keep me away from everything he did and how glad you are I never had to meet him. I just don’t want you to give anything up for me that you might regret.”

“I’m not going to regret anything with you,” Klaus said, placing a quick kiss to his lips. 

“Good. If you’re happy, I’m happy. Because you’re my family.”

“Oh my god! You are too sentimental, you know that? I’m way too tired for you to be this sappy,” Klaus laughed, burying his face in Dave’s neck.

“I can’t help it, I get sappy when I’m tired,” Dave said. “Really this is your fault for keeping me out all night.”

“Maybe that’s because I secretly like it,” Klaus said. 

“We could always abbreviate. Katz-Hargreeves. Hargreeves-Katz? I guess we have plenty of time to work it out. When are we doing this anyway?”

“Oh, right,” Klaus said. “I’d been so focused on the asking part that I completely forgot that it’s not over, we still gotta do the actual wedding. When did you want to do it?”

“Fuck, I don’t know,” Dave laughed. “I also wasn’t really thinking that far ahead.”

“We could stick to the plan,” Klaus suggested.

“Yeah, save up, rent a place, then I guess save some more for some actual rings that are a bit sturdier than cheap plastic? We could probably use our average income to figure out how far away that’ll be.”

“Uuugh, math,” Klaus groaned. “Math is for morning us.”

“It is morning. And besides, I know you’re secretly great at math.”

“It’s for ‘after sleeping’ us then because I am not so secretly exhausted.”

“Sounds good,” Dave said with a laugh. “As for the actual wedding, did you have anything in mind for that? I’d be fine with just going to a courthouse and getting the paperwork taken care of or whatever. I don’t need anything fancy, just you.”

“That’s very sweet but you are missing the perfect opportunity for an excuse to put on a wild party,” Klaus pointed out. “And Pogo would probably pay for it.”

“Oh shit you’re right.” 

“Besides, you can’t tell me you never dreamed of being able to have a traditional Jewish wedding.” 

“Aw, has someone been doing research?” Dave said and he looked much too fond.

“Of course I did, babe,” Klaus said, bringing his hand up to frame his face, brushing his thumb fondly across his cheek. “It’s important to you. So? Do you want that?”

“Yeah, actually, I think I do want that,” Dave said, smiling. “I never really thought it would be an option for me so— yeah. Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for?”

“For this, for thinking of me even when I forget. Just for everything. You’re my dream come true.”

“Oh my god, stop,” Klaus said, beaming and maybe even blushing a little as he hit Dave with his pillow, but not very hard. Dave was about to retaliate, the two of them sitting up for a better angle, but Klaus suddenly thought of something and raised a hand. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, I just had an amazing idea! What if we got an elephant?” 

“What? Is that even possible?” Dave asked, lowering his weapon, looking curious but suspicious. 

“I dunno but it would be pretty awesome. Come on, it’s your special day, live a little! What else could we do?”

“Okay, how about this,” Dave said, hands out like he had something huge. “An elephant wouldn’t fit, but what if we went somewhere with a ball pit?”

“I’m intrigued, please continue,” Klaus said with a grin, chin in hands.

“It’s suddenly become my dream to see Diego in one. Can you imagine?”

“Oh my god, yes,” Klaus cackled. “We have to do that now. And I’m not above tackling him into it if necessary.” 

“I’d ask if you think we could get Five too but that’s probably pushing our luck.” 

“I guess it depends if you want to die on our wedding day or not.”

“Point taken.” 

“How about Luther instead?” Klaus suggested.

“It might take more than the two of us to tackle him in though.”

“Ben will help. But we gotta be careful or people might catch on the third or fourth time we tackle someone.” 

-

It felt like something huge had happened, even though a proposal didn’t actually change anything between them. Their day to day was the same, but there was just something so official about it all, it just reinforced the fact that they had done it, they had found love, a partner in life, and they were overwhelmingly happy. 

Both of them went into Vietnam thinking they had nothing, that their lives were virtually over, and now, after somehow surviving and coming out the other side, it felt like their lives were just beginning. This was so much more than either of them ever expected to have and suddenly they had a future to look forward to. Together.

Thanks to the success of their channel, they were able to move out sooner than they’d anticipated. They found a tiny apartment, just like they’d talked about, and even if it wasn’t the nicest, it was still utterly perfect. This was theirs. Their home. They stood there side by side, an arm around each other’s waist, perhaps a dozen boxes full of their belongings strewn about.

“We did it,” Dave said, voice full of awe. “Holy shit we did it. We really are adults.”

“Debatable, but we already signed the contract so they can’t kick us out now,” Klaus said gleefully. 

“I mean, they can, but never mind,” Dave said. “Hey, we can do whatever the hell we want in here! What sort of childhood dreams do you want to fulfill? We could get a hammock if we wanted.”

“Yes! And we need a pillow fort! And lots of hideous decor!,” Klaus said.

“I know it’s only one floor,” Dave said excitedly. “But do you think we can fit a slide somewhere in here?”

“I don’t know, but we’re gonna try,” Klaus said. “And obviously we gotta make it all as gay as possible.”

“Hey, Klaus?”

“Yeah?”

“Love you.”

“I love you too.”

It was so strange for Klaus to be standing in the middle of a home he could actually call his own with the man of his dreams in his arms. He’d lived on the streets for so long, he’d gotten so used to just drifting, never having a place of his own, and the only place he had been able to call a home, the place he’d grown up, was anything but. It had been full of so much cruelty and loneliness. 

But this? This was theirs. And they would make it everything a home was supposed to be, full of laughter and love, where they could both be happy and live the lives they always wanted, that they could be proud of. He hugged Dave a little closer, letting him rest his head against his shoulder and he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Wait,” Dave said. “We’re gonna have to unpack all this shit.”

“Fuck. This is gonna take forever.”

-

(Author’s note: apparently I spoke too soon and I’m not done with this yet, bonus chapter here)

[dongsooks]

Pentagon as uni-students

Admin: Asa Type: AU Warnings: I do not know Pentagon personally! A/N: I go to school in Germany and I’m only familiar with the German and the Kazakh scholar system. But then again I think university is always the same experience with it being a mix of pain but also ~maKinG MEmoriEs~ and getting to know the real meaning of capitalism. Asa out.

Jinho:

Major: Music Education, maybe later on Music Therapy

Just wanted to make his passion into his career

that one ho THAT ALWAYS STUDIES 

IS CALM BEFORE EXAMS??????????

Probably the type that has a long term relationship throughout college to avoid STD’s

really enjoys what he is doing

whenever he holds presentations he has this genuine passion in his eyes like wow???

Teacher’s pet but just because he is the best and is so interested in learning

always asks for extra material to ~expand his horizon~ 

I could also see him starting Music Therapy after he gets his bachelor in Music ed??

because he realises music makes him happy, he sees how music actually makes others happier and he just wants to spread!!! happiness!!! and his love for music!!!

originally started working in a grad-school but then quit to work in an elementary school

less income but he loves seeing the kids all excited and eager to learn it reminds him of himself, sob

Just please imagine him, his calm voice, his patient character and his love for music teaching and helping people?? I’M??

dreams of opening his own music school/music therapy center

Hui:

Major: Music Theory and Composition; Performance

fight me, do it, but:

THEATRE KID HUI????

I mean you can lie to yourself, but in the end we can all see him on that stage being the phantom of that opera 

brags about interships he gets, contacts he makes

works at the local theatre on weekends where he does all the dirty work but in exchange he can view all plays for free

takes girls to said plays to impress them

“Oh the main? Yeah sure we’re like basically friends”

The overly hype one at campus parties

always ends up in a drunk vocal battle with Jinho at the end of the night oh the cringe

Hates the theory parts and always would prefer actually singing, performing, playing than just??reading how?? jesus what he got them vocals for y’all

the type who starts studying for finals the week before and eventually just laughs the lack of sleep away

tries to get the teachers to like him

Hongseok:

Major: Physical Activity, Nutrition & Health Promotion

honestly for the other’s I did research on what majors there are and read into them t make sure they fit but for him I just looked for the English equivalent of what I meant Sport- und Ernährungswissenschaften my german folks will know

okay back to it

campus heartthrob but also campus mom

cooks healthy soup when his friends get sick :’)

and then tells them about all the nutritions inside and what vegetable helps for what 

the typical jock with enough brains to actually study something 

“do you even lift bro?”

“I had to broken legs and sprained all my toes and still got an A in my PE” everytime someone mentions physical pain

will recommend moves for when your back hurts though :’)

Asks girls if they need help with their workouts as a pickup line 

Shinwon:

Major: Fashion

Fashion queen

always well dressed

how he affords to keep his style that good is worth a buzzfeed unsolved episode tbh

comes to 8 am courses in Balenciaga

may or may not have a slight shopping addiction

never seen making money, studying, putting any effort into anything

but STILL ALWAYS ON THAT SHIT

good grades, good looks, style so good Karl Lagerfeld unnies was found shaking in his boots

lures photography majors into taking his portfolio pictures

and his Instagram pictures

probably gets offered one or two modeling contracts eventually

you could swear you saw him in the Vogue the other day

ALWAYS NAKED AT THE END OF PARTIES

The one who suggest Strip Poker EVERYTIME

but that’s for an au coming soon which’s title rhymes with ptg as fucktroys ;)

Hyojong:

Major: Fine arts

has a Kranken, listens to real music and likes to judge people who wear skinny jeans watch out

seems unapproachable but honestly, genuinely is nice when you get to know him

part of the dance group

actually very interested in his courses but always seems like he is about to pass tf out

the guy who’s health you’re just really concerned about but he’s holding up, doing well

really good at art though

like they get displayed in the local museum good 

always a little disturbing but so, so interesting and deep??

Probably smokes them trees to widen his horizon man

dorm FULL OF DAMN PLANTS 

was seen having a whole funeral for one of them once

the type of person where everyone who knows them says they’re so nice and great but you’re on the low intimidated by them

Changgu:

Major: Classic literature

so involved in acting but also writing

writes poems 

goes to poetry slams with Hyojong 

the type of person who you could talk to for hours and hours

writes poems for his s/o’s

cries during emotional plays, novels etc

everyone loves him tbh 

the soft one who is ALL OVER THE PLACE during finals

S T RES S ED OUT so much Tyler Joseph knows NOTHING 

worries so much but ends up with great grades!!!

needs lots of encouragement 

Yan An:

Major: International Studies

to be very honest I just had no idea what else to give him? 

I mean he said he’d be a flight attendant if he wasn’t an idol and you don’t have to go to Uni for that

but I guess this come close enough? 

gets the cultural aspect and everything

seems lost all the time

like in his last year first-years will show him around 

all the teachers are in love with him

he always gets dicounts because eeeveeeryyyonneee loooooves hiiimmm he is sooooo softttt omg

once had a phucboy phase but psshhhh

knows everything before finals but still stresses out

sometimes asks for help because he didn’t understand something and just smiles even though he still didn’t get it bby

generally smiles a lot for no reason

a puppy, a whole pup

YUTOOOO:

Major: Sport and Fitness Administration Management

probably has a scholarship 

wanted something “easy” but “safe”

honestly puts a lot more effort into his sports than school but always makes it

is the best player of the team

his coach probably always on the other teacher’s diccs about him

so he always gets to hand things in later/retake tests 

is unapproachable but nice #2

leaves parties before it gets dark so he only has a small time frame to GET LIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTT

gets drunk and does that “EY EY EY EY” deep, manly, TESTOOOOSTERONE scream thing men do y’all feel me???

I think no one gets what I mean but I feel so passionately that he’d do that I’ll leave it in

forgets to bring his pencil, his notebook, his motivation and HIS DAMN BAG LIKE BOY IS YOU_::;.,:_

but always ready to help and share as much knowledge as he has we’re all just here to make it and leave

Kino <3:

Major: Dance 

whooooo saw THAT coming wow what

yeah but maybe an education minor too?

has his SHIT TOGETHER! WOW !??

the epitome of a teachers pet

but tbh everyone just loves him it’s as simple as that

much like Jinho to be honest so I’m afraid to just repeat myself but shortly:

passionate

in love with what he is doing

wants to share this

is so genuinely happy to do what he does even when it’s hard it’s so?? inspirational?

dreams about opening his own dance studio 

but same as with Jinho I could see him into teaching especially younger kids

not much to say, he’s great and on top of the game 

Wooseok:

Major: Music Theory and Composition; Music Management

wanted to chase his dream but also chase that shmoney

soundcloud rapper

once hacked the university facebook page to post a video of himself recreating the 

“it’s ya boy, uhhh, skinny penis”-vine

gets delusional from the lack of sleep during exam season tbh

“can I borrow your calculator? what’s 4+5?” 

always drunk at parties but a funny, bearable kind of drunk

also seen hungover and full of regret ™ the next morning lmfao 

hungover in class

also brings snacks to class 

but makes it and so will you!!

Requests and Ships are open my children

Masterlist

[theofficialdramallama]

Dear Festividder... (Festivids 2020)

Letter under the cut!

I love pretty much all aspects of all the fandoms I’ve requested, so I’m sure I’ll be so happy and grateful for whatever vid you create, but here’s some stuff to help if you want a little bit more to go on! My suggestions are just that: suggestions - I love to be surprised! <3

Music:

I would love it that the song is the right one for the vid - I have pretty broad musical tastes and there’s not a lot I don’t like, although I’m less keen on the more electronic/dubstep-y side of dance music. I really like folk music, pop-punk, 90s/00s boybands/girlbands, pop-rock, rock, pop (80s, 90s, 00s and some modern pop), 80s power ballads, singer-songwriters with their own instruments, some country, musical theatre soundtracks, K-Pop and J-Pop… I’m pretty old-school with my music tastes, but honestly I’ll listen to almost anything and if it works for the vid - that’ll make me love the song anyway! A lot of my favourite songs have come from vids <3

General:

I love my ships xD <3 However, general fandom vids are great too <3 Character studies, friendship vids, found-family trope vids, cute vids, sad vids, silly vids, bad-ass vids… They all warm different parts of my heart <3 <3

On to the individual fandoms:

~ Higher Ground (TV 2000)

I was amazed that this was on the fandom list! I’ve literally just begun watching it in the past month, am currently on episode 12 (at the time of writing), but will definitely have the show completed by January :P It’s so good! Would love something about the overall found-family aspect of Horizon and the people in it, or in terms of ships - Scott x Shelby, Auggie x Juliette, Ezra x Daisy, Peter x Sophie... This show is perfect for darker vids and character study vids too... Surprise me~! <3

~ Julie and The Phantoms (TV)

This series is so fun and heartwarming and great, and I’d love absolutely anything for it~! <3 I do have a soft spot for Luke (Unsaid Emily though! </3) and the Julie x Luke ship, but general fandom vids, friendship vids, bromance vids, character studies, comedy vids, dark vids, Willie x Alex vids... Anything is up for grabs!

~ Everwood

This show is *chef’s kiss* <3 I adore the small-town community aspect of it, and I do have a soft spot for medical dramas like this <3 <3 As for ships, I would love anything Amy x Ephram, Hannah x Bright, even something angsty for Andy x Julia <3 Character studies (Ephram does spout enough philosophical stuff xD) or even the medical angle are good choices too <3

~ Boy Meets World

Another show that I’m currently watching (and loving) <3 Would love anything in terms of character studies vids, bromance vids (Cory and Shawn though <3), light-hearted vids, angstier vids (maybe about the characters’ families etc.). As for ships, definitely Cory and Topanga - they’re legendary! <3 Again, surprise me!

~ Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)

It’s the boys! Anything crack or light-hearted/fun would be perfect, but if you wanted to take it in a totally different surprising direction, feel free! <3 <3

~ 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) [SAFETY]

A 90s classic <3 Kat x Patrick or Cameron x Bianca vids would suit me perfectly, but if you have any other ideas for themed vids, general fandom vids or anything else at all, feel free to make it~! <3

~ A Cinderella Story (2004) [SAFETY]

A 00s classic~! <3 Sam x Austin would be great, but if you want to make a general fandom vid, or an angstier or light-hearted take on the film, that would be equally great~! <3 

~ Malory Towers (TV 2020)

I loved the books when I was a kid, so this adaptation was a lovely surprise for me~! <3 Friendship vids, light-hearted vids - it wasn’t really a serious show, so anything fun would suit perfectly <3 Character studies could work too <3 Do whatever you like with it~! <3

[allaboutbooks06-blog]

The Magic Cottage - James Herbert

So, after reading the first page I want to find out about Magic, although I do wonder how much I will enjoy this book, at the moment I’m highly interested. I love how the writer uses the character to call out the overused storyline of horror movies, made me laugh. I feel like Mike and Midge are the cute couple, I mean he seems to be willing to change for her, that must be some sort of true love. That makes me question if they will end up together at the end of the book? The feeling that Mike gets at the cottage, the familiar feeling, what if this has a deeper meaning that I will read about later and it will all makes sense? I feel like from the start of the book, Midge is portrayed as almost enchanted by the cottage. Could that be the magic Mike is referring to? The key not working for Mike could indicate that the cottage chooses its resident? Like it won’t let just anyone inside.Which was proven by the key being turned for Midget as I kept reading on. But, why has the cottage chosen her? As I read, the vibe from the locals the two encounter give me the vibe that they clearly know way more than they let on. The whole mysterious vibe is amazingly done by the writer, really makes me want to keep reading until the end.

I feel like it is some kind of magic or good luck from that cottage, whatever it may be, that made it possible for them to get that cottage. There is clearly something weird about the cottage, like it repairing itself? Maybe its coming back to life? I’m honestly not sure but it is a good element added into the storyline.

I also wonder about what happened in Midget’s past, could this be related to the cottage somehow?

Okay, I think that the cottage’s magic could actually not be supernatural magic in a sense. But, what if the magic is actually Nature and all that, rather than it being supernatural, its more like the magic of nature and all? I get the sense through the animals being present within the story, and how the author says noises, making me think that its supernatural, but then it turns out that it’s the birds making the noise, so that’s why I’m thinking that it could be that. But, how can nature fix the issues with the house? I think this is the big thing about the book, but there is also the few side stories that go along with it too.

I love the way this book is written, its clearly shown that the main character, Mike, already knows the ending, yet, he is teasing at it, but never revealing what it is, this keeps me wanting to read it. I’m wondering if there will be a fairy tale end to it? I mean, mentioning pixies and elves, gives me that idea. I also love the humour in this book, it’s great.

I feel like to really understand and enjoy this book, you do need to read it. The fact that Mike is such a relatable character, he is the average human. The build up to the discovery in the loft is amazing. Could that discovery be a sign or symbol of evil?

I wonder about the cult people, since they are disliked by villagers, yet, when they interact with Mike, they seem more hippie/nature lover type of people, rather than evil cult people. I also wonder about that watcher, is that Mike’s imagination?

This book is really giving me mixed feelings, one moment I think that I know what I’m doing and the next I am completely confused. Like, what is Kinsella really scared of? Or maybe he’s just polite? I honestly don’t know. Or the watcher, is he real? Is Mike just imagining him? – I don’t know why but I have a feeling that the watcher could be Mycroft, especially with the slight hint at the future, maybe it is him (Sorry because of later events). Another example is the bird, did Flora’s spirit heal him? – I mean, as a believer in spirits and the paranormal, I could imagine that the long period between her death and her being found could cause her spirit unrest, but is that the deal with the cottage and her spirit?

Honestly, this book confuses me more and more as I keep reading, but it’s that confusion of what really is going on that keeps me wanting to read it.The only theory I can think of right now is that Mycroft might have done something to Flora and that’s why he and his ‘cult’ aren’t welcome in the cottage?

Mike’s sudden healing really has me thinking about the cottage’s powers, if they are real, or maybe he really did overreact, and his burn wasn’t that bad? Honestly- I don’t know.

FLORA IS EVIL?! Could be possibly, the imaginary in that chapter literally brought tears to my eyes, the whole scene playing out in my mind as if I was there, the writer really did a great job at making that ‘visible’ in the reader’s mind. It’s almost scary how great it is, but could the imaginary show an evil side of Flora? Or maybe it’s something that’s inside the cottage?

I do wonder about the deal with the book, l mean, so much is happening and I’m literally swaying from believing that there is something supernatural going on, to believing that it’s all nature and nothing more. – I have to add that I love how Mike is portrayed, he isn’t the ‘hero’, the ones that always are so brave in horror movies, that just doesn’t happen.

Now, Bob, is it drugs? Or was it supernatural? I like how predictable it was that Val had come up the stairs and not a spirit. – So, the only thing I can think up of about that part of the book is that guests like Bob angered the spirit lingering in the home. I mean, starting with his ‘episode’ to the crack in the wall, and then the painting, it seems that whatever lingers in the home is angry. Since the night with bob, the house seems to be literally returning back to its old, broken self, so could it really be that?

I feel like Mycroft isn’t welcome in the home. So he must have done something. I think I’m right, he’s making up an excuse not to enter the home, could he have seen Flora’s spirit? Maybe a flashback of what he had done? I think he’s avoiding the kitchen area, just like Bob. – So, it seems that all of the Synergists are nervous around the place, but why?Mycroft is using Midge’s dead parents in a way to get her to believe in him? It seems like he knows just what to say to her to have her believe in him. The fact that her parents had died in such horrible ways has her wanting to reach them, but, even I, as a believer in spirits, would never even think of doing such a thing, there are so many things that could go wrong, so what exactly is Mycroft thinking and doing? Mycroft brought the guilt to Midge, it was after she spoke to him, so that’s how he turns people to his cult, by digging out their faults and using them.

I really hope that it was the cottage protecting Midge and Mike from whatever Mycroft wants to do. – Okay so, the fact that Midge thinks she saw her parents suggests to me that, the cottage could be ‘making’ the illusion that it was her parents when in reality it wasn’t, to draw her closer. For example, demons are known to take the image of children to invite us to interact with them, because you’re not going to be scared to welcome a ‘child’ into your space. (a little bit of information from Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural, if anyone’s a fan)

I knew it! There is clearly something going on with Mycroft and his cult! But, I’m still confused about Midge and her involvement in everything that’s going on. Mycroft is good at lying and covering his tracks, clearly he needs Midge for something, Mike is in the way, so what will he do?What is Mike’s plan? He clearly has a plan. Okay, no plan, in fact, its turning really bad.

I had the idea of maybe the illusion of the rabbit and rat might be just a hologram of sorts since he didn’t get a chance to touch it, but then as I continue to read, its something else, but I don’t know what.I do wonder what happened to Mike in that room, but at least midge finally listened to him. A bit too late though. It seems that they went back to the ‘evil’ represented as the bats have been released, but how? Honestly, this is the worst book I’ve read so far when it comes to animal deaths, honestly, I’m in tears.

As I keep reading, I become speechless, I have no words, honestly no words, not a single word. The story is moving so well, and I just want to know what’s going on, how will this end? I really do hope for a dramatic ending.

I’m not sure I take this whole idea of ‘magic’. I definitely believe in ghosts, that’s something that I haven’t got a doubt about, but magic in the sense that is described in the book? I’m not too sure about that.

My thought is, what if it’s Mike though? Rather than Midge, it’s Mike who was the whole ‘power’ thing, or magic. Well… this book takes a couple of wild turns towards the end, I do have to say, I am impressed. It seems a little cliché, but in a way that I honestly don’t mind reading about, even thought it was a little predictable, I still enjoying reading it.

I LOVE how the author goes back and he knows that the story is hard to believe in, it makes it seem more realistic, as a rational person, you might not think of it as true, yet there are probably people out there that will believe it. As I finished the book, I’m glad for two things, one, it had a not so perfect happy ending, like, they didn’t end up having their perfect cottage, but at least the Rumbo was fine at the end. All in all, I think this is a great book to read. I recommend it if you’re looking for something that isn’t too realistic. There are quite a lot of small details and events that occur within the book that I don’t really have any opinions on, but I can see how they fit in with the storyline.