#i understand the book was for an audience from 10 year olds to adults

[jynjackets]

following beth revis on twitter is crazy because she’ll make analyses on how Steela’s characterization and bond with Saw was essential to why he applied intense pressure about the necessity of extremist violence and vigilance against self-preserving demagogues throughout Jyn’s upbringing and I’m like THEN WHY DIDNT YOU PUT THAT IN THE BOOK?

[hannaxjo]

Alan Rickman, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman and all those are iconic in their roles in Harry Potter, but I’ll always be a bit sad about that casting, because having that ‘Marauders era’ cast be age appropriate would’ve just been so much better for the story.

Sirius wasn’t this old man who spent 12 years in Azkaban, no he got locked up at 21. He spent almost third of his life in a cell. He wasn’t this wise father figure to Harry, he was a reckless thirty-something who never really got the chance to mature past 21.

Remus was an exhausted, bone deep tired man carrying both physical and mental scars from the suffering he went through. Because he’s a werewolf, because of the war, because he lost all of his friends. And he’s only 33 when first introduced.

And Snape. Snape wasn’t an old bitter man who just hated everyone and enjoyed being antagonistic. He was 31 in Harry’s first year. He began to work for Voldemort as a teen, and as a double agent at 20. He’s a thirty-something bitter man, who never got to really live or make real connections. From Harry’s perspective he’s scary and intimidating, but really he’s just kinda…sad and pathetic. And then especially that scene where Snape is begging Dumbledore to help save Lily, and promising anything in return. (Because apparently Dumbledore needs something in return…for saving people.) He’s twenty. Barely out of his teens. Rickman was good in that scene, but having someone who actually looks twenty, would better show how scared, young, guilty and just desperate he was. That might not put Dumbledore in such a good light, though.

And then, the characters I think would’ve been the most important to cast age appropriately. And most people probably already agree and know who I’m talking about. James and Lily. They were 21 when they died. When Harry sees them in the mirror of Erised, they’re 10 years older than him. That’s the age difference Ron has with Bill. In that scene I might understand somewhat them being in their thirties, because that’s what Harry wants. He wants his life with his parents, he wants to have been raised by them. Though, I don’t know if the mirror could know what they might’ve looked like in their thirties, since they didn’t live that long. But then, in the cemetery when Voldemort’s wand spits the last spells cast, we see Lily and James as they were. 21. They’re telling their son to hold on just a moment longer. And they are 7 years older than him. In Deathly Hallows, Harry sees Voldemort kill them. They’re not this happy couple who’s got to love each other for a long time, only to have that happiness torn from them, no they started at Hogwarts ten years ago. They’re 21, and they’ve barely tasted that happiness. At the end of the book Harry talks to his parents. They comfort him and promise to stay with him, as he goes to die. Harry’s seventeen. James and Lily are four years older than him.

It wouldn’t have felt as nice. Harry being comforted by someone who looks almost his age. But it wasn’t nice. It was pretty tragic. Casting people who look 21, would’ve really made it land on the audience. It was a tragedy. They were barely adults.

[cloverandcrossbones]

Who TF decided that the His Dark Materials (Golden Compass) books were for kids/young adults?

I attempted to read them when I was the "target" age for them and it was the first time I ever remember tapping out on a book because it was above my reading comprehension (I regularly read books that were 2-3 years ahead of my "reading level" and was generally up for a challenge so that should tell you how much of I struggled). I gave up partway through the second book, The Subtle Knife, and didn't touch them again until this year.

And, boy, am I glad I waited! There is so much to this series that would have just been totally lost on me as a kid. The way it explores theology and morality would have gone right over my head. Even now with a bachelor's degree in English literature under my belt the depth to these books astounds me.

Every chapter of the Amber Spyglass opens with a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost, or one of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, or some other theologian or philosopher or outright Bible verses. Every chapter. In a series that was regularly promoted to 10 year olds. Yes, kids can be pretty smart and I hate when adult authors talk down to them, but what 10 year old is reading Paradise Lost?

I'm not saying you need a degree to understand this stuff, but you would have to have read a lot of foundational texts to get the full depths of the references. I also ended up leaning a lot on the religious study courses I've taken (and theological education from growing up Catholic) to identify specific religious theories/schools of thought which was just fascinating. Religious groups HATE these books! They're extremely critical of organized religion and Christian beliefs especially as they are canonized by the Catholic and Anglican churches. It's a three-book fiction trilogy exploring and arguing against Milton's interpretation of original sin.

So why was this series labelled as YA? Simple, the protagonists are kids; they're 12 years old.

Why did Pullman write about 12 year olds if the series wasn't meant for them? Because the biggest theme of the story is sin and children are considered innocent. Lyra and Will are coming of age and transitioning from childhood innocence to adulthood and its accompanying consciousness/self awareness that allows us to be held responsible for sinning.

Anyway here's an entry to the literal Wikipedia page for the series that I think sums it up:

Although His Dark Materials has been marketed as young adult fiction, and the central characters are children, Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind.

[saintsenara]

Madam. Hi. I'm back.

I am so so curious to know your thoughts on the casting of the 'Marauders'-era characters in the films.

This thought process was triggered by your previous answer to an ask where you said you were not a fan of Alan Rickman as Snape. I personally think it would have impacted the storytelling quite profoundly if they had cast Harry's parents, and their friends, age-accurately.

A few reasons come to mind for me.

Re Lily and James. Not that the Potters' death wouldn't always have been tragic, but seeing 22-year-olds get killed would have definitely hit differently. And in Deathly Hallows p2, when the resurrection stone brings them back, they would have looked very close in age to Harry himself, and that would have hurt real bad to see, really putting things in perspective for the viewer. Basically I'm a slut for pain and I want tragedy and heartache and messy tears.

Re the teachers. This also applies to Remus, specifically, whom I afford a special place in all this. I know the teachers are supposed to be Adults in the eyes of children [the target audience for the first two-ish films], and characters like Lockhart, [who is btw canonically FOUR YEARS younger than James and Lily??] are supposed to serve that (very British) storytelling purpose of the Silly Adult, and later Evil Adult. Snape is also an Evil Adult, Mathilda-style, so I GET that children need to see them as Old People. BUT, children view anyone over the age of 20 as adults??? So like, 30-ish year old teachers look very mature to them and can serve this purpose just fine imho. Anyways, I digress. The reason I would want them to be younger, as they should have been according to the text, simply has to do with the audience relating to them. These are just different stories when these people are in their 20s and 30s when Harry is a kid. Also, the first generation of HP fans would now be their age, opening up a whole new avenue of feelings when watching the films. Watching the films as a kid and identifying with the children vs. watching it as in your 20s and 30s and identifying with Harry's dead parents, Snape, Lupin, etc., would be such a wonderful thing to feel!!!

Re. Sirius. The above points mentioned all obviously also apply to Sirius, but I still think he warrants a special mention. Being 33 and having spent the past 12 years in Azkaban and DYING aged 35??? It's just a different story than a middle-aged man imho. I hope I don't sound terribly ageist, because of course dying at 45 is premature, but it's still different, yknow?

A final, petty note. The chronology of it makes no sense. When we meet him, Gary Oldman's Sirius is not a boy who was sent to prison aged 21, where he has been for the past 12 years. There's a good 10 years missing there by the looks of him, so what's up? Same with Lily and James, it just cracks me up that these people look middle-aged. What do you mean they look middle-aged, they've done nothing but graduate from school and DIE????

These are my countless cents on the matter, and I am very curious to know your thoughts if you would be so kind as to share.

i don't love a couple of the performances [not just alan rickman's, but gary oldman's], but i've been forced into neutrality on the actual casting ever since the films came out by the twist of fate that one of my best friends has never read the books.

[and - in a sign of just how culturally dominant harry potter was in the 2000s - is the only person my age i've ever met who hasn't.]

and seeing her try to understand the films was a trip...

i think those of us who started with the books - or read the books quite soon after seeing the films - don't realise quite how hard the films are to follow if you have no understanding of the basic outline of the story. which is to say, i agree that something is lost in not casting the marauders generation age-accurately - the great tragedy of the priori incantatem or resurrection stone scenes in the book versions of goblet of fire and deathly hallows, for example, is that harry and james are basically indistinguishable because james died when he was only a few years older than harry - but, since the films needed to be accessible not only to people who'd never read the books, but to people who'd never seen another film in the series, the very obvious visual distinction between the two generations makes it easier to understand who's who. if - in the philosopher's stone film - harry had looked into the mirror of erised and seen an age-accurate james, many viewers would - i think - have assumed he was looking at his future self, meaning either that the running time would need to be increased so that it could be explained that he wasn't, or the audience would have to be left not understanding the emotional heft of what they'd just seen.

a longer-form adaptation - if they ever make the tv show, not that i'll watch it if they do - will have the space to do the casting age-accurately [and will also, i imagine, feel less beholden to shoehorning in as many british establishment luvvies as possible]. but the films get a pass on this one, i fear.

[tommysversion]

Unconditionally: Joel Miller x OC (Part 2/10)

Summary: Lucy loves Joel Miller unconditionally. A cross country trip to escort an immune, bad mouthed teenager to safety might just prove it.

CWs: canon typical violence / unsafe sex / age gap / language / spoilers (if anyone cares) / canon divergence / mentions of attempted sexual assault / themes of previous suicidal tendencies

Note: this work is intended for adult audiences only. It is not strictly canon compliant, and was originally posted to A03 when I first ventured into the fandom.

Chapter Index: 1 /

Lucy kicks at a stone as she walks along the row of abandoned vehicles, jerry can in her left hand, swinging slightly.

As far as days go, it’s a nice one. Clear sky, a slight breeze. No people, no infected, just her and Joel and Ellie in Bill’s old truck, pulled over at a rest stop for gas.

It just doesn’t last as long as it used to. Twenty years has watered it down. It’s still usable, but nowhere near what it once was.

Ellie’s gone inside to use the bathroom, to try and loot anything that might still be useful. It’s possible; they’re in the middle of nowhere, it’s likely there’s still some decent loot in there. Lucy doesn’t bother to check. She’s got her backpack full of bullets, MREs, and a change of clothes. A couple boxes of tampons. Some tylenol. She’s set, as far as she’s concerned.

Her new rifle is slung over one shoulder, her handgun at her hip. Oh, and she can still feel the heat of Joel’s mouth on hers as he fucked her like the world was ending, whenever she takes a moment to close her eyes, even though it’s been days. Yeah. It’s a good fucking day.

Lucy crouches down by the fuel tank of an old wagon, pops the cap, and inserts the drip hose. The whole process takes about ten minutes, but the result is a full jerry can. She has to resist the urge to whistle as she practically saunters back to where Joel is crouching, draining the remnants of another vehicle.

“Got some gas.” She drops her bounty carefully. “Where’s Ellie?”

“Waiting in the truck. She found some god awful pun book.” Joel sighs, as he straightens up. “Good thing you found gas too. This shit isn’t gonna last like it used to.”

“We’ll make do.” Lucy bends to pick up her own can, then gives him a fleeting smile. “We’ve got this.”

“Since when were you such a damn optimist?” He asks, one eyebrow raised in amusement.

“Who knows? It’s a mystery. Maybe my entire outlook has changed.” Lucy laughs, leans up and presses a light, brief kiss to his lips.

They can’t get distracted, not here, not now, but it’s just a soft affirmation that she’s there, that she sees him, that she cares. He tastes like gasoline, but she doesn’t care.

“Yeah? Can’t say I mind.” Joel takes her can from her, leads her back to the truck, a small smile on his face as he fills the tank with the contents of one, placing the other in the back for later use. “Fair warning, Ellie’s pun book might kill that.”

Lucy laughs as she swings herself into the passenger seat.

“We’ll see.”

Joel just shakes his head and starts the engine, leaving Lucy to ride shotgun and keep an eye on the road.

She remembers the first handful of times she ever met him; the way she’d been the middle man for those in the QZ who needed medicine, the one doing the brokering, until Joel kept bringing back the wrong drugs. Not on purpose, of course, but he wasn’t a pharmaceutical expert, he didn’t understand that one sort of antibiotic may not be the right kind.

So Lucy had bartered her own ration cards, her own resources, for him to take her with him out of the QZ to collect the drugs herself. He’d been stoic and grouchy about it at first, until he’d seen her shoot.

They’d done a handful of runs like that, where she’d paid him to take her out, to watch her back. On the maybe seventh time, he’d just shown up at her door and asked if she was coming. No payment exchanged. No mention of it ever again. They’d just slid into an easy routine, Joel smuggling in whatever he was paid for, Lucy bringing in medication for the poor of the QZ, watching each other’s backs whenever they ventured out together.

She never asked about his relationship with Tess; they worked together, they were close, that was all she knew. All she wanted to know. She’d gotten along well enough with the older woman, but they’d never clicked the way she and Joel had.

Lucy almost felt guilty that she had lived, that she was the one making this journey, that Tess hadn’t made it, but she knew it was in no way her fault. She found herself wondering whether Joel wished it had been the other way round, even with their newfound intimacy. That wasn’t something she wanted to dwell on, knowing it would overwhelm her if she allowed herself to think on it too much.

She and Joel had ventured out of the QZ together, fought together, protected each other. When a man in the streets of the QZ had threatened her, Joel had beaten him within an inch of his life; that desperate, primal need to protect taking over. Lucy thought she might have been attracted to him before, but that moment had been the defining moment for her, the moment she knew she was desperately in love with the older man. The moment he’d cradled her in his arms, knuckles bruised and bloody from his vengeance on her attacker.

She could still hear his voice as he carried her home.

“I got him for you, darling. He’s not gonna hurt you. Nobody’s gonna hurt you ever again.”

How could she not love him?

She took a deep breath. Then another. Opened her eyes. They were still on the open, abandoned road, the late afternoon sun fading slowly into what promised to be another chilly night. She turned her gaze to Joel, her eyes taking in his side profile, a small smile on her face.

“Want me to drive for a bit?” Lucy offers, forcing herself to look back to the road. She could have looked at him for much longer, but she knows it’s silly; she’s too old to be lovesick, but Joel drags it out of her.

“Nah, we’re stopping soon.” Joel nods to the forest on their right, before he makes a turn into the field, cutting across it to get to the forest.

“Making camp for the night?” Ellie leans forward from the back seat, “Cool.”

“Put your seatbelt back on.” Joel grumbles, drawing a groan from Ellie and another small smile from Lucy.

He drives them into the thicket of trees, keeps going for a few miles before he finally pulls the truck to a stop.

“This will do.”

Joel grabs his rifle and slides from the truck, beginning to unload a few supplies from the back. Lucy stares after him for a moment before Ellie thumps the back of her seat.

“God, you two are fucking gross. Quit staring so we can eat.”

Lucy hates that she blushes as she slides out of her seat, leaves her rifle in the cab but checks her handgun at her hip.

“Shut up.” She manages as a retort, before she moves to help, leaving Ellie snorting with laughter behind.

The trio sit around the portable camp cooker, tin plates of canned ravioli on their laps. Ellie eats like she’s never seen food before, like she’s not sure where the next meal will come from.

Lucy can’t say she blames the kid, honestly. She knows what it’s like to be hungry.

“Slow down.” Joel admonishes, looking up from his own plate to stare at Ellie.

“This is slow.” Ellie retorts. “What am I even eating anyway?”

“This is uh, 20 year old chef boyardee ravioli.” Joel pokes at the food.

“That guy was good.” Ellie enthuses.

“I actually have to agree.” Joel admits; many a night when he couldn’t be assed cooking were saved by the canned meals. Not the best in terms of health, but hey, it tasted alright.

Lucy smiles, picking at her own plate.

“Personally, I preferred the beef stew.”

“Bet that’s hard to find now.” Ellie sighs, wraps her coat around herself. “Can we make a fire?”

“Now why am I gonna tell you no?” Joel asks, not with any heat to it, more in the sense of a father teaching his daughter a lesson.

“Cause it’ll attract infected?” Ellie hazards a guess.

“Nah.” Lucy says.

“Fungus ain’t that smart. Besides, we’re too far out for infected. It’s people you gotta worry about out here.” Joel scrapes the remnants of dinner from his plate, grimaces at the thought.

“People? Why? They gonna rob us?” Ellie sounds somewhat amused, “You guys have big guns.”

“They’d do more than rob us.” Lucy says, exchanging a dark look with Joel. She knows he’s thinking of that night in the QZ once more, of the man who had attacked her.

Ellie takes the hint, her expression dropping into one of concern before she masks it behind cool teenage indifference.

“No fires, then.” She seized a sleeping bag from next to them, unrolled it and sniffed. “Huh, this actually smells good.”

“You got Frank’s, then.” Joel quips, surprising both of his companions with his humour.

“Yeah, yeah. You two can share, right?”

“Don’t see why not.” Joel’s expression betrays nothing, even when Ellie stares at them, her expression loaded.

She’s almost disappointed she doesn’t get a reaction, huffs, settles into her sleeping bag, rolls with her back to the adults. Lucy assumes it’s their ward’s way of giving them some privacy.

Out here, in the woods, there’s no chance of taking off shoes, of sneaking any sort of true intimacy. Lucy double knots her bootlaces before she slides into the sleeping bag, and, even more enticingly, Joel’s waiting arms.

She wasn’t sure what she’d expected; perhaps him to pretend nothing had happened, in spite of his promises. She’s glad to have been wrong, rests her head on his chest, inhaling the gasoline gunpowder sweat scent of him.

“Hey, Joel?” Ellie calls from a few feet away.

“Yeah?” He’s instantly alert, tense against her at the call.

“Those people… there’s no way anyone’s gonna find us out here, right?” Ellie asks, trying so hard to be nonchalant, but her anxiety is peeking through in her tone.

“Nobody’s gonna find us.” Joel affirms, and Ellie sighs in relief.

“Cool. Cool.” She flops back down into her sleeping bag, rolls over again.

Joel sighs, still tense. Lucy immediately understands his plan.

“Wanna take turns keeping watch?” She whispers.

“No, you get your sleep. I might need you to drive tomorrow, okay?” He presses a soft kiss to her lips, then her forehead.

“Okay.” Lucy nods, tries not to look too pathetic as Joel slips from her embrace and wriggles from the sleeping bag, getting to his feet and collecting his rifle.

She wants to stay awake, truly she does, but it’s easy to fall asleep knowing the man she loves is watching over her, knowing he’d never let anything happen to her or their ward.

And so sleep she does, whilst Joel keeps vigil over both woman and child, a one man army against the silence and still of the night.

——

Joel’s exhausted, but he tries not to let it show as he packs up the truck the next morning, waiting for his coffee to brew. Lucy wakes first, sits up, crawls out of the sleeping bag. Her expression is one of half awake, regretful alertness as she surveys their surroundings, rolls up the sleeping bag and crosses to dump it in the truck bed.

“Did you get any sleep at all?” She asks, her eyes roaming over him.

Her concern might have once irritated him, but now? It’s endearing.

“Not really.” It’s a half truth - he gave up any hope of sleep and spent the night on guard.

“Joel…” she reprimands, might have gone further in telling him off if he doesn’t have other plans; he leans in to kiss her instead of talking.

Instantly she melts into his touch, leans in closer, her hand cupping his cheek.

“Don’t worry too much, baby.” He says softly, “I’d rather you were both safe. Besides. There’s coffee.”

The smell of the brewing coffee wakes Ellie; the young girl shuffles over to the camping stove still in her sleeping bag, gingerly sniffs the coffee pot before opening it and swiftly recoiling.

“What the FUCK is that?” She exclaims.

“What? You don’t like coffee?” Joel asks, straight faced.

Ellie pulls a face in response, complains about the smell the entire time they load up the truck, even when the coffee is poured into a sealed thermos.

“Is that really what those Starbucks in the QZ used to sell?” Ellie asks once they’re on the road, Lucy in the back this time.

“Well, it was fresher than the stuff Bill hoarded, but yeah. That’s what they sold.” Joel nods, glancing over at the map on Ellie’s lap.

“Smells like… burnt shit.” Ellie comments, nodding in satisfaction at her own assessment.

Joel’s response is to give her the side eye and loudly gulp from his thermos, leaving Lucy shaking with silent laughter in the back seat.

“Just read the goddamn map.” He says finally, somewhat unsettled by how normal this all feels, how easily they’ve settled into an almost family unit type feeling.

He doesn’t dislike it, but he dislikes having something - someone - to lose.

——

Lucy’s never been to Kansas City before, never planned on going, let alone planned on crouching in an old abandoned building, hiding from a full blown militia whilst Joel shows Ellie the correct way to hold the gun she took from Bill and Frank’s place.

The gun she fired to save Joel’s life, when Lucy had been powerless to help him, trapped six feet away. She owes the teen a life debt, in her eyes. They’ve had close calls before, but nothing like this. She never, ever wants to be so powerless to help him ever again. Turns out he’s not the only one with a deeply protective streak.

“What’s the plan?” Ellie says finally.

“Head for that big apartment building. Get a good view of the city, try and spot a way out.” Joel answers.

Lucy looks at him briefly, the way his hair is mussed, the small blood spatter across his face from where he’d put that young man out of his misery. It hadn’t been comfortable to watch, to watch a man barely above a child beg for his life, but Lucy can’t say she isn’t used to Joel being violent. It’s what he does; he has a violent, feral side to him that comes out when the people he cares about are threatened, and somehow, somehow, she and Ellie have made that extremely minuscule list.

“Cross the city, with those guys out on the street?” Ellie stares at him in disbelief.

“We’ll wait them out, then sneak through. It’ll be fine on foot.” Joel assured her, shifts his backpack onto his back.

They’ve lost a fair amount of supplies with the loss of the truck, but thankfully they were all smart enough to heavily stock their backpacks, just in case. The damn things are heavy, but at least they have a few basics to get them through.

“If you say so.” Ellie shrugs, then, “it’s gone quiet out there.”

“Time to make a move.” Lucy says, checking the ammunition clip for her rifle.

“Absolutely.” Joel turns to Ellie, “put your gun in your pack.”

As they move out, Ellie slips her handgun into the pocket of her sweater instead.

——

“C’mon, get up, you lazy ass.” Ellie sticks her hand out to Joel, who’s sitting slumped against the wall of their pilfered apartment.

“Lazy ass? I’m fifty six years old, you little shit.” Joel grumbles, but nonetheless takes the teenagers hand and allows her to haul him to his feet. Lucy returns from her sweep of the apartment, lowering her gun when she reaches them.

“All clear.”

Thirty three floors up, and his legs are killing him. His legs, and his lower back.

“Fifty six? No fucking way.” Ellie snorts, then turns to Lucy, “are you that old too?”

“Do I look that old?” Lucy asks, without rancour.

“No, I’m just fucking with you. How old are you, anyway?”

“Thirty six.” Lucy admits, as the trio cross into the living room, pull cushions off the couches to sleep on. Makeshift beds will do just fine.

“Fuck, still ancient.” Ellie snorts, throwing herself down onto her makeshift bed whilst Joel spreads broken glass onto the carpet by the entryway.

Lucy doesn’t argue; she can imagine how old she must seem, to a fourteen year old. Remembers how old grown adults seemed to her at that age. The only thing that prickles her is the reminder of the age difference between herself and Joel; twenty years separate them, even if they don’t acknowledge it. In this new world, it doesn’t seem to matter too much, but she still doesn’t like to think on it too much. In case it reminds him, and he decides he’d prefer someone older and wiser.

She had always worried he’d prefer Tess, but that seems like an unfair fear; he chose her, after all, and she doesn’t want to compete with a dead woman. That isn’t fair.

“Hey, Joel? Are you gonna hear if anyone comes in?” Ellie asks as Joel flops himself down beside Lucy, draping his arm around her waist.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Noticed you don’t hear so good out your right ear.” Ellie shrugs.

“I’ll hear it just fine.” Joel frowns, turns away from her, makes a big show of laying on his other side. Lucy takes the opportunity to rest her head against his back, wrap her arm around him. It’s nice to be the big spoon for once.

There’s silence for a few minutes, then…

“Hey guys?” Ellie’s voice fills the silence.

“Yeah?” Both adults respond immediately.

“Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. It runs in your jeans.” Ellie says, deadpan, then cracks up laughing. It takes a moment, then Lucy joins her.

Joel can’t help it, he starts laughing too.

“That is so goddamn stupid.”

“You laughed, motherfucker.” Ellie says between laughs of her own.

“Yeah…” Joel admits, still laughing, “guess I’m losing it.”

“You’re absolutely losing it.” Ellie agrees.

“Shut up and go to sleep.” Joel grumbles, but he’s still laughing; Lucy can feel his body shaking slightly against her, buries her own smile in the back of his shirt.

It’ll be nice for them all to grab some sleep, considering Joel went without last time.

Secure in the knowledge of weapons within arms reach, being thirty three floors up, and the glass on the floor, the trio settle in for the night, exhausted and desperately in need of rest.

——

The makeshift bed made from couch cushions is soft, and Lucy’s body heat is warm and comfortable against him; it’s no wonder Joel manages to get a decent sleep, the best sleep he’s had since they crashed at Bill and Frank’s place. At some point, he must have rolled over, to face Lucy and Ellie. Almost subconsciously wanting to be closer to them, to not turn his back.

Unfortunately, Ellie’s observation had been right; he can’t hear shit from his right ear. Which leads to him sleeping through the intrusion, right up until…

“Joel… JOEL!”

He jolts awake, sees Ellie knelt across from him with a gun to her head. Sees the kid standing over him, gun aimed at his chest.

“Don’t.” Lucy’s voice is ice beside him. “Don’t point that fucking thing at him. Point it at me.”

The kid ignores her, glances to the young man who has a gun trained on Ellie.

“Don’t move. Don’t reach for your weapons.” He instructs. “You don’t hurt us, we won’t hurt you. You good?”

Joel just glares. Ellie rolls her eyes. Lucy doesn’t move, but her gaze is murderous.

“Be cool.”

“Oh, yeah, this is great.” Joel snaps, “totally fine.”

The kid - he’s barely older than Ellie, to Joel - keeps his gun up.

“Dude!” Ellie turns her head slightly to face the older kid, “he just has an asshole voice. It’s cool.”

The kid lowers his gun, then frowns.

“You guys got food?”

Lucy feels a little better the moment there’s not two raised guns in the room, but she probably still would have been explosively angry had the kid not asked that question; she’s venomously defensive of Joel, that’s a plain fact, but the question throws her off, really makes her look at the two boys - because that’s all they are, kids - who have taken them by surprise. The younger boy would barely be ten. The older of the duo, maybe nineteen or twenty, tops.

“We have a little to spare.” She says finally.

It’s not the weirdest situation Joel has ever found himself in, but it comes sort of close; him, Lucy, and three kids sitting around a lantern, passing round food.

“I’m Ellie, by the way.”

“I’m Henry. This is Sam.” The elder of the brothers introduces them both, as his younger brother points to himself and signs his name.

Ellie nudges Joel with her foot.

“I’m Joel, this is Lucy.” Joel considers for a moment, then passes another food package over to Sam. It’s almost unconscious, the way he treats kids that he comes across. Even if he doesn’t want to admit it, the paternal instinct is still enormously high in him, just buried.

——

“So that’s your genius plan?” Joel raises an eyebrow at Henry, arms crossed, clearly unimpressed.

“No, that’s my dicey as fuck plan, but it’s all we got, so.”

Lucy smiles in spite of the situation; she has to hand it to the kid, he’s got guts.

“I think we should go with it. Henry’s right, it’s all we got.” She offers, giving Joel her best reassuring look.

She knows it’s difficult for him to trust anyone; she’s much the same, but in this scenario? It’s probably best the five of them stick together.

“Yeah, alright.” Joel relents, hoists his backpack onto his shoulder. “Better get going, then.”

——

As Henry predicted, the tunnel is empty.

“See; what did I tell you?”

“We literally just got down here.” Joel says, exasperated, before turning to Ellie. “Get your gun out.”

Ellie nodded, pulling her weapon from the pocket of her hoodie. Joel stared at her; he was absolutely certain he had told her to put it in her backpack. Oh well. What’s the point in arguing about it.

“Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut. We don’t know for sure that it’s empty down here.” Joel said finally, taking the lead.

“Man, your dad’s such a pessimist.” Henry said, looking to Ellie.

“He’s not my dad.” Ellie responded, at the same time as Joel affirming the same thing.

“Huh.”

“Guys, look at this.” Lucy nodded to the walls, painted by children as they walked further into the tunnels.

“There were people down here?” Ellie stared as the group headed towards the door.

“Once, yeah.” Joel frowned, then threw out an arm to stop Sam from heading through the door first. “Absolutely not.”

“I’ve got it.” Lucy stepped in front, pushed the door open, gun raised.

The room beyond was clear; it had once been what looked like a school room, with paintings and posters and children’s activities still lying around.

“Can we stay here for a bit?” Ellie asked, watching Sam head for the drawing table.

Joel almost said no. Almost. But there was something about letting the two kids just… have a moment to be kids… that appealed to him. Give them a moment. Let them be free of the burden of this world for a moment.

“Yeah, alright. May as well wait it out until it gets dark, get some cover.” He flopped down into a chair, fine with being beaten for once.

——

The group emerged onto a darkened street, completely deserted. No people, no infected. Just quiet. Too quiet, for Joel’s liking.

“Not much further.” Henry said, “we just go across the river embankment, then we’re out.”

“Where are you guys gonna go? We’re going to Wyoming.” Ellie said, ignoring the look of irritation from Joel. “What? Wyoming’s got room for two more people, surely.”

Joel just shook his head.

“He’ll change his mind.” Ellie informed the two boys, “he always does. First he’s all, Ellie, no, not ever ever ever gonna happen.” She mimicked Joel’s gruff tone, “but then I just ask him like… a million more times and - SHIT!”

A bullet went whizzing past her head.

“Get down!” Joel dragged both Ellie and Lucy behind the nearest stationary car.

“Sniper.” Lucy peeked over the hood of the car. “One, coming from over there.”

“Thinking what I’m thinking?” Joel’s voice was grim, “we sneak round the back and take him out. Clear the way for these three.”

Lucy nodded.

“Wait; hang on. You can’t go out there, you’re gonna get killed!” Ellie protested.

Joel scoffed. “It’s dark and his aim is shit, he’s not gonna kill me.”

“Then he’ll kill us!”

He sighed. “You trust me?”

After a moment, Ellie nodded.

“Okay. Then stay here, with Henry and Sam. We got this. I’m not gonna let anyone hit you, ok?”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Lucy, let’s go.” Still crouched, the adults crept away, behind cars, dodging errant bullets as they went.

It was relatively easy to find the house, to creep up the stairs and find the sniper who was laying siege to them.

Lucy hadn’t expected an old man. She hadn’t expected him not to surrender. It was almost with great regret that Joel shot him in the head, before taking up the sniper rifle.

“Hold them in position! We’re almost there!” Came through the radio beside the fallen enemy.

Joel and Lucy exchanged panicked looks, peering out the window to see the approaching convoy.

“RUN! RUN!”

All hell broke loose.

——

Lucy was still shaking as they crossed the river; she had seen infected before. Plenty of infected. But one like that? That hideous, terrifying giant that had come out of the ground like a beast from hell itself? Yeah, she’d be having nightmares about that one for a while.

Joel, at least, had stopped shaking the moment they’d reunited with the three kids; she was so incredibly proud of him, of how he had silently gotten to work clearing the way, sniping any infected that got close to Ellie.

It was a side to him she had never seen; of course, she had seen him be protective. Been on the receiving end of it, too. But that? That sense of parental urgency to protect one’s child? She could only imagine that was how he had once been with Sarah, and now, reluctantly, Ellie.

Nobody spoke as they left Kansas City behind, finding an old motel a few miles out. As Ellie and Sam made themselves somewhat comfortable in the double bedroom, reading their comic books, Joel, Lucy and Henry checked the windows, barred the door, before finally sinking into chairs and allowing themselves to breathe.

“What an absolute fucking nightmare.” Lucy said finally, leaning her head on Joel’s shoulder.

“Gonna have to agree.” Henry commented, head against the wall, exhaling.

Joel said nothing, just watched Ellie and Sam huddled up together over a book, the latter teaching the former some of the sign language for the words.

“Look, I don’t know how we’re getting to Wyoming. Probably walking. But… if you want…”

The invitation was clear in the words, plain as day, even if Joel didn’t actually say it.

“Yeah. Yeah that’d be cool… it’d be nice for Sam to have a friend.” Henry looked over to the bedroom too, a small smile on his face. “I’ll tell him in the morning. Let them get some sleep first.”

“Good idea… you can tell them it’s bed time then.” Joel managed a small half smile, which Henry returned, getting to his feet.

“May as well get some sleep ourselves.” Lucy said, stretching out onto the floor, tucking her coat under her head. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it would do.

It would be better in the morning, when they could hit the road. Maybe, just maybe, they could be something resembling a family.

——

The comfortable, still, silence was broken by a piercing scream. Joel, Lucy and Henry jolted awake just as the bedroom door burst open, Ellie scrambling out before being tackled by…

“He’s infected…” Lucy’s voice was strained, aghast, as she backed up.

“Joel!!!” Ellie yelled, terror plain in her voice as she tried to wrestle her former friend off her, “help me!”

Henry turned his gun onto Joel as he stepped forward, horror plain in his features; for a moment there was a tense, horrible stand off, Joel and Lucy unable to move to help, Ellie struggling and screaming on the floor.

Almost in a trance, Henry turned the gun on what had once been his brother, and fired.

Ellie screamed again; Joel moved almost on instinct, to move to comfort her.

“Are you alright?” It was a stupid question, and he knew it; before he could get any further, Henry turned the gun on him.

“Whoa. Whoa.” Lucy held her hands up just as Joel did the same.

“Don’t… come on, Henry, give me the gun. It’s okay…” Joel’s tone was strained, but somehow still soothing, still empathetic.

Henry turned his gaze to the growing pool of blood on the floor.

“Sam…” his voice was almost a whisper as he lifted the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

Both Lucy and Ellie screamed together this time as he hit the floor. Joel said nothing, an aghast look across his face.

——

Joel doesn’t bury his dead; it’s not the world he’s used to. It’s harsh, yes, but you leave a comrade where they fall. That’s not the world he wants Ellie to know. It seems too cruel, after everything she’s already been through.

It’s for that reason that they wrap their fallen friends in bed sheets and carry them outside, to the dirt and grass opposite the motel, and dig graves.

It’s a stark contrast to shovelling ashes and dumping bodies into mass fire pits like back in the QZ, but it reminds him that they’re human.

Ellie places Sam’s writing pad on his grave; for some reason, she’s written “I’m sorry” on it. She doesn’t say anything else. Just picks up her backpack and dumps Joel’s at his feet, then starts walking.

“Which way’s west?”

“That way.” Lucy pointed.

“Then let’s go. There’s nothing here for us anymore.” Ellie turned away, not wanting to cry in front of the adults.

Joel sighed, took one last look at the graves, squeezed Lucy’s hand.

“Let’s get going.” He agreed, regret filling his voice as they followed Ellie onto the deserted, open road.

[friendlessghoul]

Anon

I'm not upset at your message. Im inserting a read more because this is long.

I understand your confusion. I think you need more understanding of the time. There are parts that make me uncomfortable, as long as we acknowledge and know that we don't agree with that, we are still allowed to enjoy what we're watching. It is a completely different time. If we only watch things from the perspective that we have now, we would not be able to watch the majority of media from the past. Even within the past 10 years or less.

Watching things from the past give us a view of how things were; how similar we are but also how different and how we have progressed.

In regard to Buster enjoying Birth of a Nation. Yes, he had said that it was a movie he enjoyed, it was the movie that made him realize the potential of what films could do.

I'm pretty positive I know which article you read who mentioned it. I can only say my opinion on that. I don't think Buster was amazed by it because of the story, but because of what they were able to achieve visually on film. No one was really doing epic films like that. From A Filmmakers Life - James Curtis, Page 100 " "You must never forget," Arbuckle had told him, "that the average mentality of our movie audience is twelve years old." Such advice didn't sit well with Buster, who started taking films seriously after seeing Tillie's Punctured Romance, Sennett's pioneering 1914 feature, then thrilling to D.W. Griffth's Birth of a Nation, which he considered a masterpiece. "I thought that over for a long time," he said of Arbuckle's pronouncement, "for three months in fact. Then I said to Roscoe, 'I think you'd better forget the idea that the movie audience has a twelve-year-old mind. Anyone who believes that won't be in pictures very long, in my opinion.' I pointed out how rapidly pictures were improving technically. The studios were also offering better stories all the time, using superior equipment, getting more intelligent directors... 'Every time anyone makes another good picture.' I said, 'people with adult minds will come to see it.'" " In The Man Who Wouldn't Lie Down by Tom Dardis, page 31 -

"In 1917 the motion picture business was growing at a furious rate. The building of new theaters solely devoted to the showing of films gives some idea of how deeply serious the passion for movie-going had become. Starting in April 1914, with the widely successful opening in New York City of the Mark Strand Theater, which had been built with a seating capacity of three thousand on two floors, the construction of ever larger and more opulent theaters proceeded all over the country. The number of paid admissions per week soared into the millions. If any single person can be held responsible for this ever-increasing, consuming interest in films it was surely D.W. Griffith, whose final triumph in mastering film narration during his days at Biograph Studios in the period 1908 through 1913 was summed up in his Birth of a Nation in 1915. It was not uncommon for people to see this film repeatedly; Buster claimed that he'd seen it at least three times shortly after its opening. Everybody saw it, for it was truly the "coming of age" movie for the entire industry."

Same book on page 47 while they're talking about the area around Hollywood it says, "That same year Griffith's The Birth of a Nation appeared, the film that quickly made Hollywood the film center of the world."

It's not just Buster who found the film to be one of their favorites, everyone did. It's what made people take film seriously, not just Buster. A lot of people regarded films as a fad and would fade away and they would go back to live performances. I implore you to read more about the time period, about vaudeville, the beginning of films. Watch more silent films from others rather than just Buster. Chaplin, Lloyd, Langdon, Laurel and Hardy if you just want to do comedy, those are the main ones. I'd say watch Birth of a Nation for yourself. Watch Wings, Ben Hur, Phantom of the Opera, Faust.. Read up about the other actors of the time, I think if you want to better understand Buster and his films, you also have to see what others were doing but also who they were as people. Explore the environment. I know I didn't answer all of your questions, it would be much easier to talk via messaging. But that's up to you. I hope that I at least helped in some way.

[pronounced-unsettling-at-birth]

TW: Talk of violence, SA, childhood SA, Child abuse

Ok, so when I was younger and newer to the internet, I was really into creepypastas. The weird internet horror stories with Jeff the Killer and Ben Drowned, so on and so forth. And it's been a good bit of time since I engaged in the fandom at all, so I don't know if this topic has been talked about at all. But it's important to me, so I'll still give my two cents. To preface: this will mostly be talking about the fan content for the creepypastas (fanfiction, fanart, ect. The stories themselves mostly won't be discussed). This will talk about my experience in the fandom, and how I worry it might have affected other people like me.

As a kid online, I had just discovered fanfiction. Most of what I read was creepypasta content. So-and-so X readers and the like. A very common trope was that one of the characters would save you from an abusive or neglectful home by either kidnapping you or killing them. And by nature, the themes of these books were often dark, so it's not really the gore that I take issue with. But rather the way in which abuse was portrayed. The fandom at the time was largely people my age and younger, and most of us knew that. There was a lot of mystique to consuming this kind of content for me and a lot of other kids. Especially the nsfw content.

But back to the abuse trope: because of the violent nature of whatever creepypasta I happened to be reading about, in order to justify the creepypasta being 'less abusive' than the parents in the story, the parents usually had to be a clean-cut stereotype of an abuser. The parents would be so terrible right off the bat that there would be no room for questioning if killing them would be justifiable in the eyes of the reader. Especially since they're not going to have much time for any characterization, usually being killed off right in the beginning. And this isn't to say that those kinds of abusers don't exist, because they absolutely do. But having it set up like this makes it so that you're always comparing the creepypasta (manipulative, violent, aggressive, also abusive, likely also SA's the reader during the story) to the parents on a moral level. So if the Parents are the base level for abuse at all times, and the creepypasta is always the hero, what does that do to a little kids perception of love and abuse? It royally screws it up, that's what.

As a kid, I read these stories and idolized these kinds of relationships. But because my definition of abuse was so narrow and boxed in, I didn't seek help when I was being abused by my parents. Because I didn't even recognize that I was being abused, because it looked more like the relationship the reader had with the pasta than the one they had with their parents. I didn't realize that I was being SA'd, because these were all things that were romantic when the pasta did them. And usually when you write a book with sex scenes and direct depictions of SA, you write it for an older audience who presumably already have a basic understanding of sex, anatomy, and healthy relationships. But that wasn't the case here, and it was kids (and the occasional adult) writing for an audience they knew consisted of children who didn't understand a lot of those topics. And as someone who was a child in that fandom, there was a lot of glorification and pressure to consume this kind of media. And I will say this, kids are naturally curious. We all discover porn at some age, and it's natural for some kids to be interested in it. But I am ashamed of the older members of the fandom for the encouragement of younger members to consume dangerous media. A 10 year old shouldn't even know what a CNC kink is, and it goes without saying how dangerous that is. Be proud of your sexuality, and own your anatomy-- But understand that the reason we keep kids away from this stuff is because people will take advantage of it. It is a terrible and harsh reality we live in, but the safety of children, and all people, needs to come first. If it was almost unheard of for a kid to even know what a creepypasta was, then this would have been less of an issue. But everyone knew it had a large younger audience. I believe that everyone has the right to create art, own their anatomy, and enjoy media as they do choose. But we need to remember that the internet is a part of our real life. What we read and post carries with us when we leave for work, school, ect.

Thank you if you've read this far, I really needed to get this out of my system. And of course, if you think there are any major flaws in my thoughts then I'd be happy to hear them. When it comes to sensitive topics, multiple perspectives tend to be a good thing. And if anyone else has anything to add, by all means go ahead.

[honeyhotteoks]

I love old fandoms and fandom ships too because of the nostalgia and comfort you get from when you rewatch everything.

As I grew older, I understand that Spike was more dedicated to Buffy and it for real seems like the actors had more chemistry than Buffy had with Angel but that's just me.

Honestly, pls no one give me hate for this but my comfort couple and fandom is Edward and Bella from The Twilight Saga.

Became a fan at 10 and I'm now 26 and still love the books, the movies and I have a Twilight tattoo and I'm still a simp for Edward Cullen.

Yeah the relationship is toxic af and unhealthy and it was hilarious when I was at the Twilight marathon and everyone around me would just scream out 'red flag' whenever Edward did something icky.

But I'm also now a 26 year old watching these movies and being like... Carlisle Cullen's beauty is slept on for real, Peter Facinelli's beauty was UNHINGED in the movies.

Particularly in New Moon, the scene where he's pulling glass out of Bella's arm and Kristen Stewart looks at Peter like she's going to ravage him on that table.

And that moment where he cradles her chin and stares at her with way too much sexual tension is the moment many twihards who watched realised their daddy issues were way bigger than they anticipated (that's me I'm one of them).

13 year old me was blushing and kicking my feet over Edward Cullen and I'm sure I'll be doing the same at 43.

Some of the dialogue he says to Bella is downright cheesy and I still gush over them now.

Like this one,

' Dream happy dreams. You are the only one who has ever touched my heart. Therefore it shall always be yours. Sleep, my only love'.

wait okay i'm about to ramble on about vampires and fandom so click under the cut LOL BUT YES TO ALL

as far as your spike/buffy comment..... a thousand times yes. i do think that smg and david boreanaz have good chemistry, but as i have gotten older i think it's harder to read the buffy and angel storyline as romantic when you understand angel's problematic history and the fact that she's sixteen when the series starts. buffy and spike are really so well matched in the show because i think we got to see the actors as adults playing adults and deal with adult things including sex and romance in ways that feel more engaging to me as an audience member. spike's also a much more funny and messy character compared to early days angel lol which always matched buffy's energy better to me. (i also personally think they are like actual soulmates and i'll ship them until i die buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut i digress)

as far as edward and bella, omg join the club i was VERY into twilight as a kid. i'm 30, so i remember reading the books, seeing the movie cast, reading stephenie meyer's blog, and all that. i literally went to see robert pattinson at the mall for a signing event.... i was truly one of those fangirls LOL

as an adult i think that's a ship that has faded a bit for me just because i think there are other fandoms where the source material for the characters is a lot richer BUT i still watch those movies every couple of years and they are def comfort films for me. plus like..... in terms of tropey good romance, twilight hits so many good beats. like i'm so sorry i can and will watch the scene where edward physically puts himself between bella and jacob (after the jacob kiss/broken hand scene) on literal repeat. i am fully weak for it idc if it's concerning to feminism lmao

also def not to sleep on your carlisle point - they REALLY played with the religious trauma and sexual tension in that scene and as an adult WOW it hits. so 100000% agree

[blackchaisenpai]

Crave - Tracy Wolf Review

This review will contain spoilers but for people who want a spoiler free opinion I will add that here at the top!

I can across this book on kindle unlimited the cover was so vague but when I noticed the small subheading that stated "take a bite" I got Twilight Vibes.

Which is not incorrect assumption this book does feel heavily inspired by Twilight so much so the male MC sends the female MC a copy of Twilight. Wolf has written this in a way that it is very self aware of the parallels between Crave and Twilight.

In my personal opinion I enjoyed Crave more than Twilight. The characters have a bit more depth to them. i thoroughly enjoyed how everyone has a personality. Our female main character enjoys classic art and reading in the library. She also likes bad jokes hanging out with her cousin.

Our male main character also enjoys bad jokes. So we do get a lot of text dialogue between them just sending dad jokes back and forth. It's quite enjoyable. He also has a lot of family issues but does make an attempt to be vulnerable with her.

They are kind of cringey with each other but its a type of realistic cringe I expect from teenagers in love.

Unfortunately, I do feel as though the book is a bit longer than it needs to be. The book is about 500 pages with the audiobook around 11 hours (3 1/2 hours if you're like me).

I do also have some issue with how descriptive the female mc feels during romancer scenes. This is a young adult book so nothing more than kissing occurs. it is just that the way this seventeen year's pleasure is described makes me uncomfortable.

I understand these are feelings teenagers have. however reading about them at my big ass age is a bit discomforting. If I were to read this while I was in that age bracket I would have ranked it higher.

It's a fun read definitely tailored to a younger audience therefore not my usual read. Though I do also like to expand the type of things I read by renting whatever seems somewhat interesting on KU.

You never know what you like or don't like to read until you read it. If you're looking for something to disassociate into for a while this is a good pick for you.

Overall I will give it a 7/10.

*Spoilers ahead*

When the novel starts we are int he perspective of Grace newly orphaned seventeen year old that is on her way from San Diego to middle of nowhere Alaska. Her uncle is the headmaster of an elite private school that Grace will be attending along with her cousin, Macy.

Unbeknownst to Grace the school is essentially monster high with a light mix of Nevermore. A long series of unfortunate events occur before this information is shared with her.

As soon as she arrives in Alaska she experiences endless misfortune. Starting with altitude sickness to multiple attempts on her life. Her uncle Finn and Macy do plan on telling her but it is hard to find a moment to do this with all the craziness surrounding her.

With the realization that she is surrounded by supernatural creatures is amplified when her cousins informs her that she comes from a family of witches. Her uncle is a Warlock and her cousin a witch. Grace, unfortunate is not a witch. The reason for this is that her father was a warlock who gave up his power to marry her human mother.

We have two separate love interests introduced to us early on. Jaxon is a natural born vampire from one of the oldest vampire families. He enjoys being an absolute douche bag and texting bad jokes to Grace. He is the leader of "The Order" the clique of natural born vampires at the school.

The antithesis of Jaxon would be Flint. Flint is a dragon with he power of hot and cold. His favorite snack is marshmallows he toasts himself. He is more is a himbo in comparison to Jaxon.

On the surface it appears as tho both of them are pinning over Grace but that isn't the case. Which I will admit did surprise me. With how similar things appeared that slight deviation was unexpected.

Flint is getting close to Grace as he is the one attempting to kill her. He does not do so out of malice he does so out of necessity. he genuinely felt he was doing the right thing.

Sounds complicated, I know. But this is where the character known as Lia really comes into play. Much like Flint Lia pretended to be Graces friend. They bonded over their mutual grief. Grace lost her parents Lia lost her mate, Hudson. Hudson was Jackson's brother and jaxon had been the one who murdered him.

Jaxon murdered Hudson because he had the power to manipulate anyone into doing anything including murder. Hudson essentially wanted to commit genocide of every race that wasn't vampire; human, werewolf, dragon etc.

How do all these pieces fit together? I will try to simplify this the best I can.

Lia has been planning on completing a ritual using Grace to bring Hudson back to life.

To get Grace in Alaska she arranged to have her parents killed.

Flint knew about this and tried to kill Grace to stop Lia.

The one question that we do not get answered in this book is why Grace? what is so special about her that she is needed to bring a powerful deceased vampire back to life? We learn that Grace comes from a family of witches yet she is powerless. So why did Lia go out of her way to do all this? Hopefully that is answered in the later books.

One final note, the epilogue of this book is from Jaxon's POV. He is arguing with the headmaster (Grace's Uncle) something had happened to grace. She is a petrified state as a result of whatever Lia did to link her to Hudson. It ends with jaxon promising a stone Grace that she will stop Hudson and bring her home.

[mparrott-svad]

"Where am I?" Paper

The place that I am designing wayfinding signs for is dreams. Dreams are notoriously hard to navigate, and the more you try and focus on details, especially reading text, the harder they are to understand. The harder you try to take control of a dream, the more your mind seems to fight back. However, the unexpected and unreliable narrator that is our subconscious mind is what makes dreams so fun. My most interesting dreams are the ones that make the least sense. I want to create signage that is trying to lead you further into the chaos and mystery that is the dreamworld. Signs that lie, misdirect, and confuse even further, but by doing so, lead you down the most interesting path.

The audience for this 7–10-year-olds. Their life revolves around Saturday morning cartoons, playing neighborhood-wide hide and seek, and complex barbie doll dramas. This audience is whimsical, imaginative, and curious. They are natural explorers, even about things that scare them. They are also established in elementary school, and their lives revolve around school, especially friendships with their peers. Social relationships, then, would play a big part in their dreams. A young audience also gravitates towards color. Everything that is cool to a 7-year-old is garishly colored: toys, candy, and cartoons. This helps inform the signage as well, and how to capture the audience's attention. This audience is universal when it comes to gender, race, and socio-economic class, because everyone dreams.

Ages 6-9 are when children’s dreams start to develop. Around age 8, the child is the main character of their dream, and they are experiencing the plot as it unfolds, having corresponding thoughts and feelings about it. Dreams also become longer, with more coherent plot structures. Because kids are so curious, they will naturally want to follow these plot structures. If they were to encounter an interesting, colorful sign, they would want to figure out what it means and where it was leading.

A major inspiration for this is Alice in Wonderland, and how her journey through Wonderland is riddled with confusing characters, misleading signage, and general chaos and dreamy confusion. In the original book, Alice is 7 years old, so this is also a factor in the audience. The whimsy and color that dominate the style of Wonderland will also dominate the style of these signs.

Additionally, 7 is when kids start reading. They can “sound out or decode unfamiliar words”, as well as “use pictures and context to figure out unfamiliar words”. This is key to being able to follow signage; they are able to try and figure out what things say, and take in visual cues. However, still being at this preliminary reading level plays into the slight confusing nature of the signs.

Sources:

[queering-the-classics]

Last Night at the Telegraph Club Book Review

-⨳-

In recent years, the amount of queer YA literature has grown at a near exponential rate. In plenty of major bookstores, libraries, and even within some schools, young adult readers can find LGBTQ+ literature from a wide range of genres— romance, mystery, horror, comedy, sci-fi, and more. Though, if you’re a sucker for historical fiction that includes romance, suspense, and drag shows like I am, then an awesome book to check out would be Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club.

This novel takes place in San Francisco, California during the mid 1950s, in which the United States were in a time of political and social unrest. The narrator, Lily Hu, is the teenage daughter of Chinese immigrants. After Lily finds an advertisement for a “male impersonator” performance at a lesbian bar called The Telegraph Club, her perception of herself is turned upside down. Her exploration into her lesbian identity becomes much more intense after meeting Kath Miller, another teenage girl from Lily’s high school (who is very familiar with the queer scene in San Francisco, and the people within it). It is hard not to fall in love with these two as they navigate their romantic feelings towards each other in a time where their love is forbidden.

Now, this book is a slow burn (emphasis on the slow) when it comes to the romantic aspects of it. However, Lo does an amazing job of keeping the reader’s attention with her depictions of the gay/lesbian and Chinese neighborhoods of San Francisco. This book is overflowing with culture, within both the Chinese and queer populations of the city, and guarantees that readers will finish it with a deeper understanding of these groups. Lo also does an excellent job of depicting the tensions caused by the Red Scare in the United States— the fear of communist spies infiltrating the nation and attacking American democracy. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants, Lily is not only face with the threat of people learning about her sexuality, but also the threat of her father being deported back to Communist China.

Like other books I have reviewed, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a story about resisting the harmful expectations of society and finding pride in one’s identity. It is tender, loving, very passionate at times, and leaves you wanting more (in the best of ways).

My Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10 (this is a pretty lengthy book, and while the build up is nice, it can sometimes drag a little— but once it reaches the “good part,” it stays good. you’ll know it when you get there)

Audience Age Range: 17+ Years Old (this book does include some sexual themes and scenes, so if you are uncomfortable with these topics, this one may not be for you) Other Recommendations: The Boy in the Red Dress by Kristin Lambert & Music From Another World by Robin Talley

-⨳-

[xxarmchairphilosopherxx]

Why we love Five Nights at Freddy’s a tribute to an unexpected fandom

So, Five Evenings at Frederick von Ferdinand’s…

 Ok stay with me here guys I swear it will be ok. No convoluted lore timeline analysis here… Though I can’t promise that one day I won’t throw my hat in the ring and complete my insanity completionist speed run. But until that point inevitably comes, I wanted to take a step back from all the games, comics, and hot topic merch to ask that all important question. Y?

           No seriously how is this franchise so popular? It’s not just with the older audience either but with its apparent core demographic of kids. Which to be fully honest with its release being almost 10 years ago now all us technically started this journey as little ones, so I guess that’s not as surprising. Hm somewhere between Fazbear and today we all grew up… But I digress.

           Let me answer this question by asking another, Why is Harry Potter so popular? Some of you may say “oh it’s the world building or the characters or this that and the other thing lengardium LEveOsA!” No that’s not good enough, 10 vbucks away from Snuffleclaw house!

These are not unique to Harry Potter, these are qualities that almost any franchise needs to become popular. But what was key to harry potters success?

It’s not a fantasy novel, it’s a mystery novel.

Seriously it may not seem like it but almost everyone likes mystery stories. Look at Sherlock the brilliant Brit is one of the most famous characters in all of western media even though most people haven’t even read the originals. Crime tv is the only thing keeping cable tv alive, and the funny kiwi man tells me this mystery box is all he needs to make a good star wars movie! Ok maybe not all of those are the best example but that’s where the magic (heh) comes in. JK “rolling on the floor” hid the mystery series under a fantasy story about wizards, dragons, and all that actual fun stuff. But what made us stay there and not head over to re watch Lord of the rings for the 20th time to tell our friends that Viggo broke his toe, was that human trait so deadly to cats; curiosity.

           We just love what we can’t understand. We need to know it and that’s what keeps drawing us back, not only to the escapades of the least dangerous school in England. But with the recent happenings at old Freddy Foozler’s Italian Cuisine. You know a mystery is good when not even the sharpest minds of Reddit can figure it out… Ok, another bad example, but still this shit is cray just look at these timelines.

 I can’t even tell how many kids are dead anymore! Just like Nancy Drew gets the kids’ reading, so does Harry potter, but more importantly Freddy FazeClanBear get those nerds out of them books and into gaming like God intended.

           Oh, and an aside to this is the pure fact that kids, despite all signs saying no, the little munchkins love to be scared. You know how it felt right? When you watched that episode of goosebumps with the pig head kid with all the lights off? You felt a little braver when it was all over. And it’s the same reason why we all loved to play those violent games or raunchy episodes of family guy when we were kids. When a youngin sees the ratings anything over their given age that’s a challenge. Adult stuff has been and always will be seen as cool and edgy; and gosh dang it if there’s one truth in this world besides the indisputable fact that blue is a flavor and can be only distilled in the 7 eleven slushie machine. It’s that kids want to be cool, and the Possessed Chuck e Cheese Copyright Infringement Brigade got the keys to that all so coveted cool kids club.

           Another aspect that’s gonna get a bit strange is the idea of Character…

Now logically you will ask “how can a bunch of possessed animatronics with a vocal range of distorted child scream to guttural groan from the depths of hell, have any actual character?” Well, My good friend take a trip with me to the forbidden forest of the human subconscious: The internet!!!

Well mainly one aspect I’ve noticed through my many hours spent trudging the coded catacombs in search of the dankest and rankest of memes. That is, when faced with fear we usually try to make it funny. The following are in cannon possessed by a dead kids.

This comedic-fication of Freddy and the Gang came form two sources. First of course was wanting a sense of relief. You can’t be afraid of something when it’s got a mouth full of blunts dancing to snoop doggy dog’s Cremate Cannabis Customarily. And also it was just a natural consequence of the game itself for example. You in the back what is the equation for comedy?

(Pause for your stuttering response)

         That’s right!

          Misery + Time= Funny

          Exactly! Good job gold star for you champ see me after class and maybe you’ll get a little treat~ Wait sorry wrong script hold on (shuffles papers).

          Ahem here we are... These games while also being scary were at times insanely difficult to the point where even the man behind the game itself was unsure if its higher difficulties could even be completed. But from the misery of fear and rage, came the memes of dank and WANK… No no stop no nsfw here! Gosh these scripts are all over the place hold on.

           Ahemx2. Now these comedic bits also happened to mix with some of the core gameplay behaviors of the animatronic animals which lead to some odd things starting to rise to the surface. A Character.

           Take Foxy for example. An aggressive gameplay loop, mixed with his implied solitary nature in Pirates Cove made him generally a grumpy kind of guy who hates the night guard. Maybe he’s even more aware of the situation than the others. Then the big Faz himself with a more strategic code and being the main cheese himself, maybe he’s like the begrudging ring leader of the group and just too tired for this shit. And Bota Bing Bota boom in the primordial soup of Tumblr and deviantart… and hint of furry. You have characters! and characters need stories, and drama, dynamics, backstories, and ships! Oh the ships, the ships like FEDEX!!! And since these primordial soup characters are 50% meme by volume, there is no cannon! But then also, everything is cannon!

        So just like that weird doujin writer taking a bunch of legendary characters and making some weird dating sim and taking up whatever lore he wanted because that’s what everyone did before him (ie Fate Stay Night). So too did Xxgoldenshadowfreddy1987xX using MS paint make his series of comics detailing the break room shenanigans of Freddy and Co. And also inspired the likes of Thisaccountismine23 to write the most poetic story about the end of life, the eternal essence of the soul, and how it can be seen in the eyes of a child. Which just so happened to be set in the Fnaf 2 location with Mike Schmidt and his oddly attractive robot furry friends.

           You see what I’m getting at here? This is why it’s so damn popular. It’s this weird combination of memes, murder, and mystery; it creates a beautiful canvas that’s both as blank and as filled as any creative person wants it to be. And its self-feeding loop too. Fanon affects how one sees the cannon, and with a canon in constant flux and a fanon that shouldn’t even exist, you got yourself a recipe for a once in a lifetime Super Fandom.

           And to wrap this up in a nice little bow you could show your therapist this Friday, I wanted to take a moment and say a few words. 434 to be exact. If there’s one thing I learned growing up and working with kids allot, especially as I got older myself, is that there’s nothing worse than seeing yourself become that adult whose not just out of touch but who mocks a kids hobbies and interests and makes them feel bad for what they’re into. I knew what that was like and I’m sure anyone watching young or old knows what that’s like too. It hurts and it can make that thing that you liked, that gave you a bit of joy or comfort, have a sour taste in your mouth. And that can hurt all the worse. So when I caught myself being like that to these little ones, I didn’t like it. So I swore to be better than that. Now I joke about ‘fuck them kids all the time’. But it’s only a joke pure and simple. I don’t call any of these things cringe anymore even if it doesn’t jive with me, even if I feel cringed by it, I try not to be that way anymore. I don’t like shitting on what could be a kids first forefronts into art, music, or writing. I sure as hell don’t want them looking back on their old work and feel ashamed. If they moved on or not it doesn’t matter, they should be proud of their work, any work, if they gave their all. Hell, you can take a good look at my YouTube channel (@lazyboywiseguy) (#shamelessplug). I know damned well some of that stuff could be called cringe today but I’ll tell you what. Some those vids did some numbers and that means that someone somewhere enjoyed them. To that someone and to me they are not cringe. I like those things and the things I made with them. I like FNAF and the weird ass community it made for itself. And I just want to say to you at home, don’t worry about cringe or based, just be, for that is based-est thing of all. And kids don’t let some old bat say the stuff your into is wack yo. And to any older readers don’t be ashamed of anything that gives you joy. In reality that’s a lesson for young and old. Life’s too short for that, be happy and be good, that’s all you need.

           Sorry to end this on a less than memey note but I think that’s enough out of me. This FNAF lore script won’t put me in the insane asylum itself. So back to my mad ramblings I go, until next time. Smell ya latter.

[playerpurpleusa]

WHY FACEBOOK?!

After all the talk about how Instagram and TikTok can be critical to the success of your personal travel & education brand, you should never underestimate the reach of the Social Media GOLIATH, Facebook. 💪

As a young person from Western Europe or the United States, one could think that Facebook is on the decline. In fact, one could bet that most people under 20, in these two areas, don't know a single one of their peers, who uses the platform regularly.😵‍💫

Here, Facebook is the platform of the old and conservative, whereas TikTok and Instagram are for the youth. 👴 This could lead to the assumption, that overall active users are declining. 📉 If you look at the overall numbers from all over the world though, Facebook has been gaining more active users than they are losing, every year. 📈 EVERY YEAR, except for 2022, shaping the first negative trend in the company's history.📉📉📉

The median age of all Facebook users is still in the 30's. 👨 Another problem is, that all those numbers from around the world don't matter that much, since not everybody understands the language you are speaking in your videos. 🗣️ For PlayerPurpleUSA, this is especially critical, since all of the brand's videos are in German, not English. 🇩🇪 

Why is Facebook still worth the consideration then? 🤔

Simply because of average watch times and audiences, with a lot of time and interest in education. 🧐 People above the age of 21, making up most of Facebook's users, are also way more likely to have the financial means to either travel or immigrate to the Unites States.💸🇺🇸

On Facebook, videos of 1 minute perform the best. 🌟 This is a huge upgrade in watch time, compared to TikTok's numbers of 10-15 seconds. Also, most videos that go over this mark, are also way more likely to go viral, than on most fast-paced video apps. 🏎️🏎️🏎️

Education also has it way harder to engage viewers than pure entertainment. Now, the median age comes into play. 👵 Think about your own experiences: Who is more likely to read a book, research information just for fun and to watch documentaries? 📚 The teenager, scrolling his feed after school 🏫 or an adult in the middle of his life? 👨

So how are people using this to their advantage? 🔥

A good example for this, is the German Manuela Reimann. 👩 She and her husband immigrated to the United States and started documenting their journey on Facebook. 📽️ This is done in the form of short Reels or full on blog posts. ✍️ Ultimately, she sparked interest in the German TV broadcaster "Kabel Eins" and got her own show on primetime television. 📺 This elevated her stardom even more, letting her reach 292.117 Followers. 🌟🌟🌟

An example of a new and fresh account, starting in this niche on Facebook, is "Sissi die Auswanderin". 👩 She is also documenting and talking about her life as a German Immigrant in the USA. 🇩🇪 Yet again, she is using small Reels and some extensive blog posts to gain followers, of which she currently has 1.050. 🌟 She also uses Facebook to push her Youtube Channel, which she uses for her longer videos. 📽️

Last but not least, there is "Auswandern in die USA". 👨 This brand also talks about immigration to the States, using Reels and longer blog posts. ✍️ What makes them unique, is their podcast they just started with OliDayTours on Spotify. 🎙️They are rather successful in their niche with over ten thousand followers. 🌟🌟

What does all this tell us? 🤔

First and foremost, Facebook is not DEAD. 💀

It has a big potential to reach financially stable, information hungry people, mostly in their 30's, with a willingness to read and watch longer content. 🧐 Another observation is, that in PlayerPurpleUSA's niche, content on Facebook resolves rather on actual immigration rather than just travel. 🧳

Personally, I won't start a Facebook account, because I'm directing my content towards younger people and am not into the immigration side of my niche. 🧳📽️ I want to go with trends, not with what worked in the past and is still the same. 🙏

What about you? 🤔

How would you approach this? 🔥

Would a Facebook account make sense for you brand, or do you want to completely debunk all of what I said? 🙏

Let me know in the comments! ✍️

Thanks for reading! 💜 

[esther-dot]

"Yes, I do inhabit my characters. Some of the time, I’m a dwarf. Some of the time I’m an incredibly hot chick riding a dragon. Sometimes I’m a psychopathic 10 year old girl, killing people and slitting throats.”- GRRM. I understand what he is saying. What I don't get it is why he is referring Dany, a 15-16 yrs old, a 'hot chick'.

Each time I see this quote pop up, I have to check that it's real. It is (quote here with a link to the spot in the vid where he says it).

In that instance, he was trying to emphasize how different the characters are because he was talking about the difficulty in switching between voices, so we could be generous and not take his words about Dany (or Arya--this is where he calls her psycho after all--) too seriously.

But, I can’t totally dismiss it because he has said things about Dany elsewhere that are...uh, odd. Here's an example:

Q: If you had to choose a travel companion among your characters, who would it be? (Laughter). A: It would depend on fate and what he wanted to do. If, for example, it was simply about sightseeing, seeing landscapes and getting to know places, I would probably take Tyrion Lannister. I think his acid comments would go very well at certain times. He is a character who likes to get to the point and would surely have many interesting things to comment on. If it were a more romantic getaway, I would take Daenerys Targaryen because, in addition to being a lot of fun, she is a very beautiful woman. Q: Who is sexier: the Daenerys of your imagination or Emilia Clarke? A: Hahaha. The truth is that Emilia is very sexy, but, well, they are different. It's hard for me because I find both of them very sexy. Emilia is older than the character as I conceived it. In the book, Daenerys alternates between being a young girl entering the world of sexuality and being a little girl. Sometimes she behaves like a child playing queen and other times like a fully functional adult in every way. Emilia, who is a 23-year-old actress, plays a character who is supposed to be 17, because we have made her older in the series than in the books, and not a girl between 13 and 16, who is the character's original age. (link)

These are google translated quotes, so that's a big note before reading too much into them. Perhaps this was all said in a very joking way, I don’t know how seriously to take this, even so, I think adults talking about romantic getaways with teenagers is gross even if they are fictional.

I've sometimes thought he was speaking of a character/situation from their perspective, or even simply playing along with the interviewer regardless of his own feelings, and he does write his story in a setting in which as soon as a girl hits puberty she's kinda/sorta eligible for marriage (talked about that some in this ask), so sometimes I wonder if he's answering questions still thinking of things in those terms. With the specific quote you mention, I've thought he's simply using the view that so many in his audience have of Dany (I mean, it makes sense to me that he's knowingly tricked his audience into being enamored with this "hot chick riding a dragon" only to turn her into a villain...), but considering some of his other quotes, like the one I listed...I don't know. Sometimes when I read Dany or Sansa I think Martin must be picturing a girl years older than she is, and the way the fans depict them and talk about them...I think they are too.

I really can't say for sure what he's thinking or doing when he says things like that about Dany, but even with the most generous of interpretations, I find it disturbing.

[seijuurouxryuu]

Raise the curtain

Title: Raise the curtain Author: Shiro (TeitoxAkashi [AO3]/ seijuurouxryuu [tumblr]) Rating: T Pairing: Byakuran/Irie Shoichi Event: @khrrarepairweek Prompts: Ritual Summoning | Theater AU Tags/Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warning, Graphic Depictions of Violence, No Archive Warning

Day 1: Storm Day

The sound of tape rolling filled the theater, a background music as the red, heavy curtain pulled up with squeaks.

[Good evening and welcome.]

[This is a story, of a boy.]

[A boy,] And a boy about 10 years of age, in white shirt, black vest and checkered short, sat in a big maroon chair by a fireplace. He held onto a white-coloured bear and was reading a story book happily, legs kicking slightly. [Who loved to read.]

[His name is,] The boy looked up and grinned.

[Irie Shoichi.]

AO3

The sound of tape rolling filled the theater, a background music as the red, heavy curtain pulled up with squeaks. The stage was dark, empty yet eerie. The audience sat in curiosity, excited to see what the crew would show. There was little to no description on the pamphlet other than an invitation, time and date. It had sparked people’s interest, the drawing of a ring dripping with black ink.

[Good evening and welcome.] A cold, soft voice echoed. The spotlight turned on with a click and at the end of it stood a girl with an eyepatch, holding onto a mic with both hands and staring straight at the sea of human.

She did not smile; she did not bow. She merely stood there like a doll with an emotionless eye. The only indication that she was alive was how she took a deep breathe before speaking again.

[This is a story, of a boy.] The spotlight on her dimmed lightly to purple and another bright one turned on and this time, shining straight onto the middle of the stage.

[A boy,] And a boy about 10 years of age, in white shirt, black vest and checkered short, sat in a big maroon chair by a fireplace. He held onto a white-coloured bear and was reading a story book happily, legs kicking slightly. [Who loved to read.]

[His name is,] The boy looked up and grinned.

[Irie Shoichi.]

Two adults, a man and woman, stepped in as he leaped out of the chair and ran to them.

[He was a young master, the precious, only son of his father and mother,]

Two young girls ran onto stage as well, laughing and hanging off of his arm.

[The only brother to his two sisters.]

The light dimmed and widened as the narrator continued.

[He was their precious child, beloved by all.]

“Brother, brother!” The youngest of them all, the girl, squealed, hugging the boy tightly as she asked, “Can you please read to me? Please?” The boy looked down at her with bright brown eyes and hugged back, smiling fondly. “Of course, my dear sister.”

[And he, too, loved them all dearly.]

The light dimmed back to darkness as the actors on stage acted as though they were proceeding to the story telling. Once fully off, all the sounds on stage disappeared. The narrator shuffled slightly, looking down as her voice turned solemn.

[One day…]

.

Shoichi was reading a book on mechanics, how it was invented and how it could be improved. His brown eyes sparkled as he consumed the words between the pages. The sky had darkened, moon hidden behind heavy clouds and the only source of light he had was from the fireplace. Rain drops hit the windows loudly and the wind blew against it strongly, but none of the noises scared the boy who was far too engrossed.

Until the butler knocked the door and called out. “Young master,” The old man gently said. “It is time for dinner. Master and Madam have been waiting for you.” Shoichi looked up and pouted. He was reluctant to leave the books behind, but he knew he had to put it down because his parents would not eat until he eats.

“I understand. Thank you, Milo.” He carefully bookmarked the page and place it down, leaving for the dining room with the butler.

In the dining room, there sat his parents and his sisters. His sisters had long start eating under their parent’s insistence while the adults sat drinking wine and chatting softly. Upon seeing him, they smiled, the corner of their eyes crinkling. “There you are, my boy.” His father said as he on his chair. “I was wondering if the walls of the library had sucked you in.” He teased.

His mother laughed.

“Our baby sure loves the library.” Shoichi older sister, who was sitting beside him, nudged him with her elbow. “Sho-chan, when are you going to do the puzzle with me?” She asked. The boy recalled promising her to start on a 5000-piece puzzle with her. It was a picture of a forest, blue and green and mystical.

He smiled. “How about after dinner?” The girl cheered.

The youngest then pouted. “I wanna play too!”

“Sure!”

A maid knocked on the door. “Master, madam, young master and young mistresses,” She greeted, voice shaky and undoubtedly wrong. Shoichi stared at her pale face, red eyes and shaky hands. “A guest has arrived.”

Shoichi’s father frowned. “A guest? Are we expecting anyone, my wife?”

Shoichi’s mother shook her head. “No, we are not.”

Footsteps, quiet yet there, echoed down the hallway. The temperature that was already very low from the rainy weather dropped further. Shoichi’s father frowned and stood up. The maid by the door moved away as the supposed guest walked in with a wide grin.

“You…”

Shoichi paled at the dripping blood from the man’s trousers. “Surprise, cousin.”

The rest went a blur and all Shoichi could remember was scrambling away, pulling his sisters down the hall deeper into the house, to where the safe and hidden spaces are. There were screams, gunshots and crashes echoing, the house was shaking, his sisters were sobbing and whimpering. All Shoichi could do was to hold onto his sisters tightly, a ring shoved into his mouth and clenched between his teeth, and run.

“Take your sisters somewhere safe, Shoichi!” His mother hissed as his father fought against the intruder, who seemingly possessing some weird power letting him survive after a shot right on his forehead. She shoved a ring into hands, and quickly ushered them out a small pathway as the main door out of the room was blocked. The maid was sobbing, but her body was controlled to catch them upon the glint of the ring.

“M-madam run!” She sobbed as she rushed towards them with nails that grew too long to be called human, but Shoichi’s mother blocked her way, welding a short sword. “Go!” She said.

Shoichi pulled her sisters and ran.

And ran.

And ran to the library he had always loved.

Shoving her sisters in, he quickly pushed the chair he always sat on, heavy and sturdy, to block the door. It wouldn’t work against that… Creature, but it would at least buy them some time.

He immediately pulled out the small dagger, a gift from his father, and stabbed it into a small hole on the wall beyond the fire in the fireplace. The wall rumbled. There was laughter reverberating.

Shoichi was sweating bullets, hand hurting from the fire but he held on. The wall turned and a small gap opened beside the fireplace. “Go! Quickly!” He shoved his sisters in first.

There was a bang at the door.

He quickly pulled the dagger back and ran into the gap.

The wall closed quietly as the creature—full of black gore and eyes and tentacles—barged into the room, chair shattered.

The creature roared.

It was a long way down, as Shoichi guided them. There was no light, only a tight narrow stairway. The air was thin, but enough. He could vaguely hear the wind and something fluttering. He couldn’t tell where it was from, however.

His youngest sister was sobbing as she held onto both his and their elder sister’s hands. “I want mommy and daddy.” She whimpered.

Shoichi squeezed her hand. He too, wanted to go back and find them, but he couldn’t. He knew that there was nothing he could do, that it was all too late. All he could do was hope that there was someone, something, that can help them at the end of this path.

This path that he had never walked before. His parents had said, it was their last line of safety. That he should never go in unless there was no other way.

He bit his lower lips.

Please.

.

The lights dimmed again, and the narrator who stood stiffly for so long, turned her head, moved back a step, and said, [The three children walked and walked, down and down. The eldest was numb and silent, the youngest long stopped crying and stumbled tiredly. The boy held on and continued down the path with only his hand against the cobbled wall as a guide.]

The stairs on the stage changed, and the three children stood at the end leading to a small room. There was light, finally, a couple of glowing orbs in bottles placed around the room. There was a table, a chair, and a bed with a barrel of water beside it.

The youngest girl couldn’t handle it anymore and sat down, pulling her sister down with her. “Sister, I’m tired…” She whispered, lips chapped and throat dry.

[The sisters held onto each other as the boy quickly touched the walls of the room, trying to find a path out. While the creature may not find them here, he would not want to entertain the slight chance of otherwise. Unfortunately, there was no other way out of the room other than the long stairway.]

.

Shoichi almost sobbed himself. He barely held back because if even he were to fall, what about his sisters? ‘Think, Shoichi, think.’

He stumbled to the table and scanned through whatever that was on it, trying to find clues. It only held a large book in the middle, untouched, serene. Strangely enough, there was no dust, clean as though it was placed not long ago. There was something about the book that was drawing him in, yet scaring him. It was ominous, it was mysterious. He was curious, yet he was afraid.

Shoichi hesitated, and he gave into his curiosity.

With a touch of his fingertips, the book flipped open with a thud, pages fluttering itself to one specific page. The sound jolted his sisters who both immediately quiet down and stared at his back from the stairway.

“S-shoichi?” His elder sister whispered, but Shoichi heard none of it as he read, hands clenching tightly into fists and nails digging into his palms.

.

[The book described, of a fallen creature who feeds only on people’s jealousy and fear. It was a creature, incorporeal and possesses those ordered by its creator. It was a creature of darkness.] The background music had long stopped, leaving the soft breathing of the actors and actresses on stage, the bated breath from the audience, and the solemn voice of the narrator.

[It was a creature that cannot be killed,]

The actor on stage flipped the page.

[Unless one sells their soul to a demon king with white wings and blue eyes.]

.

The page showed a winged creature, silhouette black yet eyes strangely blue and mouth strangely wide in a grin. It was no less scary that the creature that haunted them, but Shoichi was drawn to it. He had no idea why.

On the next page, there was a summoning circle. No description other than it being one to summon the demon king. It was drawn in red, intricate and complicated. It was vaguely glowing under Shoichi’s gaze, as though bewitching him to drop his blood onto it.

The price was his soul, Shoichi repeated in his head.

There was a roar, louder than ever, and an explosion above ground. The walls strangely stood strong despite the vibration.

Shoichi lifted his hand over the circle and cut his palm with the dagger.

Blood dripped onto the page and the circle glowed brighter and brighter, to the point that Shoichi could no longer see a thing.

Her sisters screamed, but Shoichi’s ears were ringing. He felt faint at the blast of pressure and magic and underworldly force.

The light faded away and Shoichi managed to open his eyes again. A winged creature, white haired, floated above the summoning circle with its eyes closed, seemingly sleeping. It looked human, so human if not for the white horns and wings. Shoichi was entranced.

It opened its eyes, so blue and bright, and stared straight into Shoichi’s brown ones.

Its lips pulled up into a wide grin.

“Pleasure to meet you, human.”

.

[The demon king,] The spotlight went off and the stage darkened [Was named Byakuran.]

Unworldly screech echoed from the stage with crashes and fluid-like splatters. The audience shuddered at the noise, not knowing why that despite not being able to see what was going on, they were afraid. Afraid of something in the dark, something that would take their life. None of the noticed the glint in the narrator’s voice.

[Byakuran forged a contract with Shoichi, who wanted nothing but revenge, and killed the creature for him. Byakuran swallowed it and Shoichi and his sisters were left with nothing else other than the carnage it left. No one else other than them had survived.

No one.]

The light turned back on and the boy stood over the house that was left in rumbles. Dawn has broken through the horizon, and the rain had stopped, leaving puddles of red and debris all over. Byakuran walked over to him, standing behind him with his wings fluttering lightly.

.

“Your sisters,” He began. “I’ve sent them away as you said, removed their memories of everything as you wished.” He leaned over the boy’s shoulder and looked at his facial expression.

‘Ah.’ Byakuran shuddered in excitement. ‘Such a lovely expression by a lovely soul.’

Shoichi looked back at him, eyes long dimmed to nothing but hatred and anger and emptiness.

“Thank you.” Byakuran raised an eyebrow, but mentioned nothing of it.

“Are you going to eat my soul now?” The boy asked, turning to face him.

Byakuran hummed, leaned back and surveyed the boy properly once again. He contemplated for a while, a finger tapping on his chin.

His lips stretched wide, exposing his sharp teeth.

“Nope.” He grabbed the boy’s chin and pull it up, leaning down. “You’re too interesting. It has been so long since I’ve had my fun. I’ll leave you alive, let you do whatever you want. I’ll even help you with all you wish to do, but you must make sure that you stay interesting. Once I find you boring,” He paused, “Well, that’s when I will eat you.”

He grabbed the bleeding hand that was clenching onto the family ring, a crest in amber, and slid it onto Shoichi’s middle finger. He bent and kissed the bloodied ring, tasting the sweet, sweet blood.

“I hope that you can stay interesting for a long time, dear young master.”

.

The light turned off for the last time, and the narrator turned back to the audience. [The young master and the demon rebuilt the Irie clan while haunting down the ones who created the creature that possessed his uncle. It was said that the perpetrator was dismembered and hung on the plaza, dripping in blood and laid there for weeks as a warning until it rotted. Ever since then, the young master no longer showed himself again anymore.

They said, that he was eaten, no longer interesting to the demon king. Others said that he left the mortal world and became the slave of the demon king. There were many variations of what happened to the young master, but one for sure, he was the last human who managed to summon the white winged demon king.]

The narrator bowed. [Thank you.] The last spotlight went off and the theater darkened.

Applause echoed through the theater, yet there were no cheers and only confusion.

Suddenly, there was a crunch and a scream, followed by another, and another.

Above the audience, in the private viewing area, sat two men who watched the bloody fiasco down below. “Chrome-san had done a great job there.”

Byakuran was holding onto Shoichi’s waist, nuzzling and nibbling against the pale naked skin, a hand fondling.

“She sure did. The pineapple bastard had taught her well.” Shoichi nodded and huffed. He pushed against the head and pinched the hand. “Stop stalling and go, the smell of blood is stinking.”

Byakuran pouted against his skin. He leaned over and gave the man a kiss. “If I go too early it’d be too weak. Let it gather it strength first. It’d be more fun that way.” He licked his lips, blue eyes shining brightly.

Shoichi scoffed and persisted. “Don’t forget that we still have to attend Decimo’s banquet. Go.”

Byakuran sighed. “Fine, fine.” He let go and stretched. “Will be right back, dearest young master. Stay put.” He leaped from the railing and white wings stretched open.

Shoichi played with the ring on his middle finger and a smile slowly stretched across his face. His eyes shone brown red.

“Soon, father, mother. Soon.”

Only 10 to go.

The curtain closed.

--------------------------

Context: Irie family is one of the richest family. The ancestors had too many affairs and left too many descendants, which lead to one of the heads declaring that other than the main bloodline, none of the branch families can inherit anything. This led to the dissatisfaction of many and the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the bankruptcy of Shoichi’s father’s cousin.

The branch families, all swallowed by greed and anger over the lost of their rights, experimented with creatures and lesser demons. They let it possess that cousin and, yeah all that. So basically because there’s too many and too scattered once Shoichi started the hunt, it took him a long time.

Shoichi became a lesser demon, converted by Byakuran, and slowly raised in rank and strength into a noble demon. The two basically got together after a fight. Anyways, Byakuran never responded to anyone else’s summon is because… Well it was a promise to Shoichi’s ancestor who managed to first summon him. She was too interesting and therefore Byakuran promised to help her descendants should anything happen. And because he is lazy, he decided there and then that he wouldn’t answer anyone’s else summon.

Vongola are one of the demon kings of old blood line. Chrome was converted by Mukuro and was a victim to one of the branch families’ experiments. This is why she and Mukuro is helping.

ANYWAYS YOU CAN TELL THAT IM TRYING TO PATCH THE PLOT HOLES OKAY SHHHHHH DON’T EXPOSE ME AFTER I EXPOSE MYSELF

Hope it was a fun read!!

[I apologize for any grammar, spelling, etc. etc. mistakes]

[olderthannetfic]

okay, i have to ask because i've seen it enough times: what are reading levels? i keep seeing people saying they've read above their level in primary school, and i just have no concept of what those levels are or how and why you can implement them because they're not a thing in my culture. are they in place because english is such a difficult language with such a wide range of vocabulary that children need to be categorized into levels based on how many words they know? what does it look like in practice? are there shelves specifically labelled level one, level two, etc? or do they just mean that the topics of those books are heavier than what children can supposedly process and i just misunderstood something? i've also been the typical bookworm kid, but nobody ever tried to stop me from reading "adult material" by saying that it was above my "level". (they were more like, oh my god that's a naked woman, why are you bringing stuff to school with naked women on it). anyway, i've been so confused about this for a while now. sorry if it's a dumb question but a thousand thanks if you decide to enlighten me.

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Oh no, nonnie, not my pet topic of whether languages are "hard" and how we classify that!

(I have shit to do, so I will summarize and say that I don't think English is a notably hard language. Our spelling sucks, and we overall have a lot of words, but most books young people are reading don't use wildly more vocab than kid/teen books in other languages, AFAIK.)

Reading levels are indeed a way of classifying reading ability by what's typical/expected for different years in school. "Third grade reading level" (i.e. around 8 years old), etc.

Bookworm nerds all read above their grade level because it's basically the minimum level needed to not be seen as behind at that age.

Vocabulary is part of it, but so is complexity of sentence structure. I don't think content is usually included in this level system. It's about capacity to parse the language. (There are a bunch of different systems though, some of them new since I was a kid. I think some of them consider content. But it's definitely more "can you understand this?" and not "will this freak you out because it's porn or gore?")

Some children's libraries do label shelves by reading level, but it's not a widespread thing outside of shelves of books in a grade school classroom. It's not typically used to restrict what books someone can have but rather to describe their level of ability, e.g. when evaluating learning disabilities or helping someone learning English as a foreign language. (So you might give an EFL student a book intended for 10-year-olds because it's easy enough they can practice on it properly instead of looking up literally every other word in the dictionary.)

The publishing industry divides things by broader ranges of target audience age ("middle grade", "young adult") and does try to make the language simple for kids' books, but it doesn't tend to talk in terms of "levels" unless it's explaining the content in a specific kids' book. You'll see catalogues intended for school teachers that include this level of specificity, but it's not part of the book's marketing at bookstores usually. (A school teacher might want a book of exactly difficulty X. A bookstore wants to sell the book to kids in several grades, not make them think it's definitely too hard or too childish for them.)