#i originally wanted to get this done on halloween but then. Um . well u know

[simcardiac-arrested]

(digs up a concept and sketches from october) monster au anyone ? ?? creaturas??

[writinginstardust]

Halloween

Pairing: contains Kaliis Gilwraeth x Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, Tyler Jones x Finian de Karran de Seel, Scarlett Jones x Cat Brannock

Request: @window-sill-reeader asked “ What if Halloween wasn't a thing in the future and aurora gets really excited for it but nobody else knows what it is so she force's everyone to wear homemade Halloween customs and throws a Halloween party for the crew. ”

Warnings: swearing, suggestive things, prepare yourself for Finian’s costume

A/N: Okay so it’s mostly general on the relationships but follows Auri so tends to have more focus on Kalora, then Tylian because I am trash and literally have to put it in everything, and then some very background Scarcat. Um, I had a lot of fun writing this and coming up with their costumes (shoutout to some of the guys in aurorafiles for helping with your suggestions). Anyway, happy halloween! and I hope you enjoy this!

Word Count: 2328

*

“What are you doing?” Kal asked as he walked into the common room and found Auri surrounded by piles of fabric.

“Making Halloween costumes,” she replied simply as if that explained anything to Kal.

“Hallow-what?” Auri stopped her sewing and looked up at him.

“Wait. Has no one ever explained Halloween to you? I thought Tyler or someone would have at least.”

“No. I have never heard of this Halloween.”

“Well, looks like I’ve got some educating to do.” She cleared some space on the floor beside her and patted the spot. Kal came and sat beside her. Before she could start explaining, however, the rest of the squad wandered in.

“Hey guys, what’s u- what are you doing?” Tyler looked quite taken aback when he noticed the mess of material that had taken over the entire space. 

“She’s making Halloween costumes,” Kal supplied. That didn’t seem to clear anything up for the rest of the squad either and Auri frowned at their puzzled expressions.

“It is October right?” She asked.

“Yeah…” Tyler looked deep in thought when he answered, like he was trying to figure out a particularly difficult astrodynamics question. “Halloween, you said?”

“Yep. What, do you guys not celebrate that anymore?”

“I’ve never even heard of it,” Cat said and most everyone else murmured agreements.

“I read something about it once but I can’t remember anything about it.” Tyler seemed irritated by his own lack of knowledge.

“I believe Halloween is an old Earth festival that took place on the last day of October,” Zila piped up. Of course she’d be the one that knew. “It’s origins were in ancient folklore and it was considered to be the day the veil between the physical world and spirit world was thinnest. In modern times it was more an excuse to dress up, typically in scary costumes, and receive candy from neighbours.” Everyone stared at her in surprise for a moment. Zila really did know everything.

“Yeah that’s about the gist of it,” Auri admitted.

“Sounds weird. I’m in,” Fin said, an excited glint in his eyes. “What do we do?”

“Well everyone celebrates- celebrated differently…”

“Tell us.” Kal smiled encouragingly and Auri explained everything. All the traditions she’d heard of anyway. Pumpkin carving, trick or treating, the parties, the decorating, the costumes, the movie marathons, the haunted houses and ghost tours. Everyone looked beyond excited by the time she was done.

“That sounds like so much fun,” Scarlett exclaimed. “Why don’t we do that anymore?”

“I don’t know but we’re bringing this tradition back,” Cat said. Auri was positively beaming. She loved Halloween and was over the moon that all her friends seemed so excited about it.

“Okay so what are the rules for costumes?” Tyler asked.

“There are none. Some people do scary, some go as their favourite characters, animals, memes, objects, celebrities, nurses, princesses. Literally anything. Some people go all out and some just throw on a short skirt and some cat ears. It’s really up to you.”

“Oh I am going to have so much fun with this.” Finian’s eyes were gleaming and Tyler shot him a nervous look.

“I think telling him about this might have been a mistake.” And Auri had to admit, Tyler was probably right. Still. It would certainly be interesting.

“Don’t worry goldenboy. You’re going to love my costume.”

“I definitely don’t want to see it now,” Cat grimaced.

“I second that.” Kal spoke for the first time in a while. “I’m not sure what to wear myself.”

“Don’t worry,” Auri said with a grin. “I’ve got you covered.” Well that was that, then. If Auri had already decided on something like this, nothing was going to sway her. 

“Ooo!” Scarlett suddenly jumped up from where she’d been perched on the arm of a sofa. “We should tell everyone else about Halloween and have a proper party!”

“Oh my god, yes!” Auri jumped up as well. This might just turn out to be the best Halloween she’d ever had.

*

A week later saw the squad and half the legion taking over one of the huge training rooms, dancing and drinking in their homemade costumes. Auri was pleased to see that a lot of people had put real effort into their outfits, though none more so than Scarlett. She’d truly gone all out and embraced the Halloween spookiness and her horror makeup was concerningly convincing. Cat was watching her from the spot she’d claimed against the wall by a plastic skeleton, drink in hand, obviously pining. Auri hoped maybe Cat would finally do something about that tonight or that Scarlett might finally realise. For someone so good at reading people, she was incredibly clueless about her best friend.

Cat looked good. Auri didn’t usually look at Cat that way but even she had to admit the girl was killing it in her retro Top Gun style pilot outfit tonight. Surely Scarlett would take notice of that. Plenty of other people were. Her thoughts on the Cat/Scarlett situation were abruptly cut off when Kal rejoined her with two cups of who knew what.

“Is this living up to your expectations?” He asked as he handed her one of the cups, his cloak brushing against her with the motion. 

Auri was very proud of her work on their costumes. She hadn’t even had to think about what they were going to go as. Frodo and Legolas. There was no way she was going to pass up the opportunity to get Kal dressed up as her favourite elf and well, she was short with dark hair and a love of Lord of the Rings. Obviously she had to come as Frodo. And she’d put a lot of effort into making their costumes look good.

“It’s even better than I’d hoped it would be. Everyone really got into it.”

“They certainly did.” Kal surveyed the room, a smile on his face at how well it had all turned out. At how happy it was making Auri.

“Think we have the best costumes?” Auri asked him.

“Yes. Although Scarlett also looks- Great Maker…” Auri turned to see what had shocked Kal so much and nearly choked on her drink. Finian had just walked in. And he’d certainly had fun with his costume, as promised. Auri wasn’t sure whether she should regret mentioning the existence of slutty nurse costumes or not. On the one hand, it was hilarious. On the other, she could happily have gone the rest of her life without seeing Fin wearing such a short dress. And just where the hell had he managed to find fishnets?

“Hey, have you guys seen Fin?” Tyler, dressed in a very tight spandex superhero costume, walked up to them then, already a bit drunk and clearly not having noticed where their eyes were trained yet. Auri didn’t have speech back yet and lifted her hand, wordlessly pointing in Finian’s direction. Tyler’s eyes followed her finger and he let out a strangled noise when he finally laid eyes on the boy.

“...Fuck...me…”

“Funny, I always thought it would be the other way around,” Scarlett teased as she came over and joined them.

“Yeah, usually...” Tyler said absentmindedly before realising he was talking to his twin sister about his sexual preferences and that was not a conversation either of them wanted to have. “I mean…”

“Just stop talking,” Scarlett cut him off.

“Good idea.”

“Happy Halloween!” Finian yelled when he neared the group, eyes raking over Tyler, very clearly enjoying the sight.

“Yeah, I think it will be,” Tyler breathed, eyes still trained on his boyfriend. Scarlett and Auri both groaned in disgust.

“Get your mind out of the gutter or get out of here,” Scarlett warned him. Tyler thought about it for a moment but the longer Finian looked at him like he wanted to eat him alive, the more he wanted to leave and let it happen.

“Okay, looks like we’ll be off then,” Tyler said. Finian was grinning when Tyler took his arm and pulled him away from everyone, disgusted noises following in their wake.

“Maker, I hate being around them sometimes,” Scarlett bemoaned.

“I don’t know. They’re kinda cute,” Auri tried to defend.

“I’m not sure you would be saying that if you had walked in on some of the things I have.” Kal shuddered at some of the memories.

“Is that not why knocking was invented?” She asked.

“Knocking doesn’t make a difference when they’re doing it in the halls and common room,” Scarlett pointed out.

“Point taken. It’s nice they’re both happy though.”

“I suppose.”

“So...what about you?” Auri seized the opportunity to broach the subject of her and Cat. “Anyone making you happy yet?”

“Not at the moment.” Her eyes flicked over to where Cat was standing though and Auri didn’t fail to notice. She exchanged a glance with Kal who nodded slightly, encouraging her to continue.

“You should go for it, you know.”

“Hmm?”

“With Cat.”

“What!?” Scarlett’s eyes widened.

“How have you not noticed she likes you too?”

“Even I find it rather obvious,” Kal backed up.

“Oh.” Scarlett’s eyes returned to Cat who was looking her way as well. She offered her a smile and raised her beer in acknowledgement. Scarlett waved back quickly before turning back to Auri as she spoke again.

“Go get her.”

“Okay,” Scarlett said absently and walked across the room without another word.

“Everyone owes me big time for putting an end to all that pining,” Auri said as she turned back to Kal, now able to give him her full attention like she wanted.

“We do. And what is it I am to owe you for this?”

“A kiss,” Auri suggested with a small smile.

“I think that would be a fair price.” He paid it then and there, leaning down to lightly press their lips together for a moment before pulling away again. His smile was all kinds of fond and Auri felt it warm her from the inside out.

“You know, I think it would be okay for you to pay everyone’s debts. Don’t you?”

“I do think that would be acceptable.”

“Do you wanna get out of here then?” She asked.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay at the party a bit longer? You were very excited for this tradition.”

“We can have another one next year. Besides, there’s another Halloween tradition I want to introduce you to.”

“And what tradition might that be?” He asked, intrigued. Auri grinned.

“The one where you ‘watch’ horror movies and make out when it gets scary.” Kal’s eyebrows shot up but he was smiling, clearly pleased at that idea.

“I think that sounds like a very good tradition.”

“Me too. Come on.” She took his hand and started tugging him towards the exit. “Let’s go.”

“Do you not wish to say goodbye to the others?”

“They’re already gone.” And looking around, Kal realised she was right. Tyler and Finian were very conspicuously absent from the party - there was no way you could miss them in those outfits - and Scarlett seemed to have slipped away with Cat almost immediately after she’d left them both. Neither of them had any idea where Zila was but she probably hadn’t stayed for long in the first place.

The light in the hall was blinding and they stopped in the doorway for a minute to let their eyes adjust. They immediately wished they hadn’t when a few feet down the hall they saw Tyler and Fin kissing very enthusiastically. How hard was it to wait until they reached one of their rooms?

“Will you two get a room?” Auri said pointedly. Thankfully they stopped and turned to her to apologise. Well, Tyler did. Finian didn’t look the least bit sorry. “I got Cat and Scarlett to get it together by the way. Feel free to thank me.” She grinned, knowing how much both girls’ pining had been driving Tyler mad.

“Oh thank the Maker,” he breathed out. Something flashed in Fin’s eyes in response to Tyler’s words and tone and Auri decided she definitely did not want to know. “I owe you one.”

“Don’t worry. Kal’s got it covered.” Tyler waggled his eyebrows suggestively at that and Auri managed to only blush a little. 

“Would you like me to pay his debt now?” Kal asked.

“Yes, please.” She stood on her toes as Kal leaned down and again captured her lips in a soft kiss. He lingered for longer this time and Auri let him. She wasn’t going to be the one to end this. A throat being cleared is what finally did.

“What was that you told us about getting a room?” Fin asked, a smug smirk on his face. Auri rolled her eyes at him.

“I wasn’t groping my boyfriend’s ass, unlike you.” Fin and Tyler just shrugged as if there’d been no problem with what they were doing. “Just find somewhere private before you start taking each other’s clothes off. Please.”

“We’ll try,” Fin assured. Shaking her head, Auri took Kal’s hand again and started walking down the hall.

“We’re going to bed. See you tomorrow. Stay safe!” She called over her shoulder.

“You too!” Tyler yelled back while Fin wolf-whistled.

“Yes Pixieboy! Get i-”

“Shut up Fin.” Tyler stopped him before he could finish whatever he’d been about to say. Thank god for Tyler Jones.

“I get where you and Scarlett are coming from now,” Auri sighed when they rounded a corner. “They are not cute.”

“They certainly aren’t. But you are.” Auri’s cheeks flushed at that and she bit back a grin.

“So are you Legolas.” Kal frowned down at her.

“I would not say I am cute.”

“I would.” She leaned up to kiss his cheek quickly and he couldn’t help but smile at the action. “Come on. You’ve still several people’s debts to pay.” And, when they reached Auri’s room, pay them he did.

*

Tag Lists: (send an ask if you want to be added!)

Everything: @wonderfilledness @writingbychelle @ad-astraaaa @moderngenius94

Aurora Cycle: @aurising

[clayray3290]

Clayray Closeout 2018

Another momentous year has passed, and I am feeling reflective about my tastes and my year, so once again, clayray is closing out the year. Usually I don’t do this, but this year, I traveled a lot, like A LOT a lot, and I made the move across the country to LA, so before I reflect on my media consumption, here is a list of all the places I went to this year:

January - Baltimore for a baby shower February - San Francisco Sonoma for a wine tasting trip with college friends March - New York City to see musicals April - Las Vegas for PBS TechCon Two days after getting back - Sarasota for Roadshow Less then a week after - Tulsa for Roadshow May - San Francisco for CAAMFest Louisville for Roadshow Literally the day after - LA San Diego for Roadshow June - Detroit for Roadshow Toronto with mom Montreal to see Sarah July - Charlotte to meet up with Colleen and Katy Smoky Mountains for a bridal shower New Hampshire for a wedding September - Moved to LA! October - San Francisco for a wedding Boston Newport for a wedding November - Florida for Thanksgiving

Whew! As you can see, August and December were the only months that I didn’t travel, and that was because August was spent preparing for my big move and in December, my family came to me. What with layovers, I was on 33 flights plus 5 significant buses plus several “road trips” with friends/family, too. And some of these trips were so back-to-back that I barely spent any time sleeping in my own bed!

Now, I’m still in a weird period of transition, but soon enough, I will develop a routine and establish a place here. I moved across the country with no job, no apartment, and very few friends, and it was a humongous change to make. But as scary and hard as it can be, I think I have enough faith in myself that it will all work out and I will be okay. And with that, I’m looking forward to 2019!

But meanwhile, continuing to look back:

Music - Artists

La Luz

Joywave

Jesse McCartney

Younha

Saint Motel

30 Seconds to Mars

Betty Who

The Aces

BTS

Infinite

As always, artists that I saw live are a huge presence in this list: La Luz, Saint Motel, 30 Seconds to Mars, and Betty Who, and technically I was walking up to the venue when Joywave was playing (which I am still bitter about, for the record.) Other artists I saw live this year: MisterWives and Walk the Moon opening for 30 Seconds to Mars, Tamia, Duckwrth and Buyepongo at the Made in LA Festival literally my second day in LA, Gymshorts opening for La Luz, Vincent Vallières and Brigitte Boisjoli and Martha Wainwright and Michel Rivard and Klô Pelgag at the Fete in Montreal, Bleachers, Sara Bareilles at MisCast, Dionysia and Bazmati Vice, Gryffin, and I guess technically I saw Pregnant Boy.

I have been in love with Jesse McCartney since I was 11 and he released new music this year, which I adored (which you will soon see in the Top Tracks), so of course he’s that high up. Similarly, Younha released an excellent album this year and I’ve always loved her. I actually didn’t find Infinite’s album particularly thrilling, but I guess I liked it well enough that I wouldn’t skip their songs whenever they came up.

I had actually listened to The Aces before, but this year was when I really got into them. Their album is stellar and I love their sound and their look!

And as for BTS, my mom’s actually a huge fan and there was no escaping their immense worldwide popularity. I remember when they debuted! It’s great to see how they have grown to be the K-Pop group that has “made it” to the States.

This is the first time in a long time that my all-time favorites like Secret and McFly haven’t been in the top. Secret’s disbandment really hurt, even though we all saw it coming, and I’m still not over it.

Odesza didn’t make it up to the very top, but I also listened to them a lot with my boyfriend. :)

Music - Albums

Younha - RescuE

The Aces - When My Heart Felt Volcanic

Infinite - TOP SEED

Hamilton OBCR

Alexz Johnson - A Stranger Time

Dan Masterson - When Reality Calls

La Luz - Floating Features

Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

Eric Nam - Honestly

Anastasia OBCR

Unsurprisingly, my top artists are showing up in the top albums. I was surprised to see that the Hamilton OBCR was so high, but then I remembered that I featured it heavily in my 4th of July playlist that I played during my party. I’ve been fond of Alexz Johnson since Instant Star, even though I didn’t actually watch the show, and my friend Schuyler and I had a bit of a phase reminiscing about that era of “teen show” singers like her and also Drake Bell.

Dan Masterson is, full disclosure, a friend of mine from college, but his album is really excellent, and you should check it out if you’re interested in piano-based singer-songwriter tunes!

What is there to say about Janelle Monáe except that she is a beacon of brilliance, and we are lucky just to be able to witness it.

The other musical on this list is Anastasia, which is one of the musicals I saw this year. I saw it on Derek Klena’s last evening performance, which is actually one of two times that I saw him. I also saw him in Jagged Little Pill at the A.R.T (he is not the best part of that show, though, Lauren Patten’s “You Oughta Know” is hands down unequivocally the showstopper). The other musicals I saw this year were Allegiance, Hello! Dolly, and I saw the Genies’ Jukebox. Not a musical, but I also saw the off-Broadway show Puffs, which was hysterical.

I’m not sure why I didn’t pay attention as much, but Death Cab’s album this year is pretty great. I didn’t love the Arctic Monkeys’ album as much as I wanted to, though they actually just missed being in my Top Artists by 10 listens. Robyn’s album this year was also pretty stellar, but it was released pretty late in the year.

Movies

As always, subjective ranking and not numbers-based.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Okay, biased, what with my children’s media thing and PBS thing. Tbh I don’t even like documentaries that much, but this one. I wept. And we really needed this film right now.

Blindspotting I saw this at the Independent Film Festival Boston, with a Q&A with Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal afterwards, and just wow. This is an incredible tour de force. Brilliantly crafted and visceral and hilarious, too. I know a bunch of people were drawn to it because of Daveed Diggs and his Hamilton fame, but genuinely, he and Rafael Casal’s passion for this film and overwhelming talent shine through in this.

Searching Look, I love love loved Crazy Rich Asians and Asian August and Asian-American women bringing back the rom com. As an Asian-American woman, I have been waiting for so long for this to happen. But I picked Searching because as a film, Searching takes the screen footage tactic, heretofore only really used in horror films, and capitalizes on it to such amazing dramatic and emotional effect. John Cho is fantastic, of course in this very tense and very stressful film.

Black Panther I cannot believe it hasn’t even been a year since Black Panther. Can we start using the term BBP and ABP for Before and After Black Panther? I saw somewhere that Letitia Wright is the biggest box office star of the year, which is fabulous because she is fabulous (and a Disney princess!). The world-building is amazing, the action is amazing, the eye candy is amazing (Helloooooo Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong’o and...you get the point).

Ralph Breaks the Internet I spent a lot of this film marveling at how only Disney could have pulled this off, this massive ambitious bringing together of so many brands and characters and, y’know, the internet. I also enjoy that this is not a romantic love story, and it is a story about love in other ways. Loving your friends and caring for them and respecting them is so important, and dealing with insecurity is as well. This is such a smart movie, and as somebody who cares about children’s media, that is the standard to which we should aspire.

Honorable Mentions: A Quiet Place (Though of the horror films this year, Hereditary and Annihilation were also very good), Madeline’s Madeline for Helena Howard’s performance, I Tonya because um duh figure skating but does not make the list because trying to pass off Margot Robbie as teenage was laughable, Three Identical Strangers

Movies I Want to See But Haven’t Yet: Eighth Grade, Sorry to Bother You, Support the Girls, Widows, Creed II, The Hate U Give, Halloween, Burning, RBG, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Dumplin’ (My roomie’s in it!)

Movies I Should See But Haven’t Brought Myself To Care About: A Star is Born, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Mary Poppins Returns, Green Book, Love Simon, Paddington 2

2020.12.02 EDIT: I was wrong about Paddington 2. It is an incredible film.

Television

Sharp Objects I’ve read the book (and own it somewhere...) but it had been a while, so Sharp Objects did what a good mystery does - even upon a revisit, the things you don’t remember are tantalizing and the discovery of new clues and revelations keep shifting your perspective and giving it a jolt each time. Amy Adams is phenomenal in this (as she always is) and Eliza Scanlen as Amma gives a piercing performance in this.

Queer Eye All of the remakes happening incessantly is tiring and also eyeroll-inducing (it’s cliche but honestly, where are the original ideas nowadays?), but then we get something like Queer Eye. Reality TV gets a hard rap, but with Queer Eye, you get the entertainment factor and also incredibly moving emotional heft as well. Also, I genuinely wonder at how Bobby gets all that house remodeling done and he doesn’t get enough credit for it!

The Haunting of Hill House I love the Shirley Jackson story and also the original movie (I have not watched the 90′s movie and I don’t think I ever will), so my only real gripe with this show is that I wish they didn’t call it The Haunting of Hill House because it really isn���t. But what it is, is a brilliant family drama launching off of the Hill House story. It is captivating and beautiful and spooky, and also the casting of the young kids is impeccable.

Nailed It! Sometimes you just need to guffaw over people’s ridiculous failures. This show doesn’t take itself too seriously and because it embraces the silly, it’s full of heart and joy.

Élite I love foreign teen dramas. I love murder...in my television/movies. Of course I was gonna love this show. But just because it has these two elements doesn’t mean that I automatically was going to think it’s a great show (It does probably mean I would automatically enjoy it, but that’s different). Both of these genres are rife with tropes, but this show takes them and executes them in such a way that it rings true and doesn’t distract from your enjoyment.

Honorable Mention: Memories of the Alhambra only because it’s still ongoing! It’s a brilliant way of looking at technology and combining it with all the elements of a K-drama that you could want. It’s kinda like if a good episode of Black Mirror (because goodness knows that quality varies) combined with a K-drama.

Also of mention are some excellent series that continued this year. I can’t believe I didn’t watch them when they first came out, but The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Big Mouth are both so so good. Though I have strong feelings about the second season of Maisel and think the Paris bit was just an awkward flex and should have been cut, and the Catskills could have been an entire series of its own. Also, I actually saw Nick Kroll do some readings of all the characters in Big Mouth at the Vulture Festival this year!

In addition to the show-watches-from-the-beginning that I am still working through (Parks and Rec, The Wire, Gilmore Girls, Mad Men, etc.) I’ve also started watching Ugly Betty and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon from the beginning.

There are a few new shows from this year that I really have been wanting to watch but haven’t yet: Killing Eve, Kidding, Homecoming. Mostly Killing Eve for Queen Sandra Oh and also the girl from MMFD!

Okay, whew! That’s enough of that. Where do I even find the time to watch all this stuff??