#im talking about the books shes writing and actively releasing

[thesherrinfordfacility]

Hi! I saw your tags on a post talking about car trouble as one of the great good omens fics and I've put it on my tbr! I wasn't really active in the fandom after season 1 so I feel like I missed out on all the great fics. I know about Demonology and Slow Show and I know about others from Aziraphale'sLibrary from their classics tag. But I was wondering what your list would be, your list of what the best and greatest good omens fics are. I'm young, so I have time to read lol

GASPS I HAVE RECS COMING OUT MY EARS @queenofthearchipelago, BUCKLE UP KID💕

this will be a mixture of genres and a lot of them are well known so may well already be on the AL classic lists (but, well, theyre classics for a reason imo) but im just gonna dump them here; these are literally just off the top of my head so won't be very coherent/in order - i'll give the links and ratings, but will leave you to peruse the synopses directly (most will be human AUs, they're my particular favourites), just to save making what will be a huge post even longer!!!

Car Trouble (E)

Petrichor and Parchment (E)

Memory of Eden (M) (and its sequels - imo The heartbreak series of all time. i sob like a baby) (it's written pre-s1 release, so book!omens, but i find it relatively easy to re-imagine if tv!omens is how you imagine them too etc) (no seriously if i ever get any fic professionally bound into a physical book, it's this series)

For Want of a Seed (T) (and also a huge shout out to Right of It also by cassieoh but it's unfinished - ive had it open as a tab in my phone for like a year? in the fervent hope it'll be updated, which fair enough if it isn't!!! but it's beauuuutiful)

Stranger in Paradise (E)

Infernal Bodyguard (M)

Wicked Thing series (E) (and anything by phoenix_soar, frankly. just... damn🫠)

i then also want to shout out a couple of fics from some amazing people on tumblr here (listed in no particular order!) which you may have already seen? but definitely worth mentioning because they're similarly insaneeee:

Shoot to Thrill and Learning on the Job (both E) and tbh anything by @teddybearbutchh, otherworldly affinity for not only writing in general, she's so talented, but her smut is 🫠

How Do We Turn On The Light? (M) by @moonyinpisces is soooo good as a post-s2 fic, she's really captured how i personally imagine aziraphale and crowley to act after the feral domestic, i love her characterisation!

The Loophole (E) by @fellshish is a different take post-s2 but incredibly funny and the apology dance is. life changing

Chemistry (E) by @twilightcitysky, i simply revisit their works time and time again, but this one is a particular favourite!!!

and im sure there are some lovelies that might read this and want to add their recommendations too, or self promote???💕✨ but these are my faves, like i said, right off the top of my head!!!

[orviposition]

I saw someone talking about how with the scenes added in the ebook and with the scenes in the ongoing side story, with emphasis on that one scene where LHH talks about the heroine of ORV, DokSoo might become canon. And while they did mention that they read the side story, I thought that that particular scene pretty much sunk many ships?

oh boy ngl i was a bit reluctant answering this ask but imo this is just fans' wishful thinking rather than singshong walking through a doksoo route.

the doksoo scenes added to the ebook arent really so fundamental to the point that theyre the closest ship to become canon. in fact I'd say that the main reason to make them canon would be that it's a (well-developed) straight ship tbh. in the 1863rd turn, theres an added smoking-on-the-roof scene. kdj tries smoking and immediately has a coughing fit. hsy asks him if she did well in this round. this added scene is a direct parallel to kdj telling her that she did well during the enemy of the story arc

another scene is during kaizenix. yjh and kdj decide to try the romance route and bcs yuri was in love with ricardo, it's kdj who writes the letter "write a story that's for me and me alone" this is also a foreshadowing to what we learn in the epilogue lol. to expand more on kaizenix, we also have yjh telling kdj that his writing skills are terrible despite him reading so much, kdj tells him that with his face he certainly didnt have any problems with courting. yjh then goes on a thinking tangent about how he could not care less about the looks of someone he likes (and we know who is called ugly throughout the book)

as for the lhh part where he talks about orv's heroine (kdj's love interest in this context) he is 100% not referring to han sooyoung. he says that the character he had in mind didnt have as much screentime as the other leads. the main women in orv when it comes to screentime are hsy jhw uriel and ysa. going by lhh's logic and IF his words represent singshong's stance, then hsy is immediately ruled out. i also wouldn't consider jhw for the role either, not only bcs i didnt really see their scenes with a romantic undertone but also why would singshong write kdj's romantic interest love someone else (lhs) romantically?

with uriel, unless you consider kdj/uriel to be a direct parallel to 999yjh/999uriel then i dont think shes The candidate either. now for ysa, im a bit iffy when it comes to her bcs sure she doesnt have as much as screentime as lets say yoohankim but shes also not someone you would consider neglected (like lsh for example) also i genuinely think that romance would undermine doksang's bonds. i think theyre so good BECAUSE theyre platonic

singshong have told us in multiple ways that orv is not a story about a canon romance so you can interpret the ending however you want just dont mis-label the novel's genre (this includes both het and gay romance). plus i just dont think they would shoot themselves on the foot and risk "angering" the largest active part of the fandom (general statement). i dont want to sound arrogant but you cant deny that joongdok shippers are the backbone of orv fandom and joongdok artists have been the only ones to be recruited to promote orv. alter (the official artist before blackbox) is a danmei artist, blackbox is a joongdok shipper, haban (taiwanese release cover artist) has a danmei history, the artist of the simplified cn version release has jd porn on their twitter and so on. certainly singshong are aware that orv didn't get this big bcs some guy recommended it in solo leveling's comment sections

speaking of guys, not every dudebro out there ships doksoo anw, some like doksang, some dont ship anything. the same can be said about the female audience too. not everyone ships joongdok. some ship doksoo, some yoohankim, some nothing thats not canon. im not part of the latest group since i could not care less about a ship's canon status lol

this got WAY too long. if you want a TL;DR refer to the first paragraph

[olreid]

hi! a while ago you made a post somewhat about how strongly disability changes the “self”; things and interests and activities that you conceive of of as core to your being become impossible and no longer can be, etc. it really stuck in my head as a concept which i hadn’t been able to fully wrap my head around previously, and i was wondering if you happen to know of any more lengthy readings on that concept? thanks!

hi i was trying to wait to answer this until i had the energy to do a look through my materials to see if i could find anything but im having a TERRIBLE health week and it's not looking like it'll happen anytime soon. so, short answer: i dont know of anything off the top of my head that i havent already recced here before (i do think the body in pain and zoe belinsky's essay deal with this but im assuming you already know about those).

i also recently read you only live twice: sex, death, and transition by chase joynt and mike hoolbloom, which is a book of letters between two men, one who is hiv+ and one who is trans, about the "second life" that happens after the symbolic death of near-fatal illness or transition. it wasn't so good that i would highly rec it or recommend buying it but it was relevant to this topic so maybe a pdf of that could be useful? similarly, the terrible we by cameron awkward-rich has some writing about this idea in the context of transition that i found useful. in general i know of more trans authors talking about this but maybe that's just a reflection of my reading habits!

another place you might look is in activist affordances by arseli dokumaci, which i think is a relatively recent release; she talks about shrinkage that disability and ableism produce, and although my impression is that she means more in the sense of shrinking access in the physical sense, it's possible that the discussion is more expansive. i literally have not read it yet so i cant say either way!

there r possibly some additional materials in my library or files that might be relevant but it would require more pointed research so i'm gonna just file this away and make a point to post/update you on anything i find related to this question when i eventually get around to it! and of course maybe someone else will have thoughts and can reply with a suggestion .

[olderthannetfic]

I need help deciding something, im not sure whether this is the right place for it but here it goes.

I'm in a fandom that is about 10ish years old, went through a decline and then saw a huge surge at the beginning of 2021 because it got a (very good) show based on the books. While the canon endgame is good ol' friends-to-lovers, the most popular ship is an enemies and lovers with a bunch of 'problematic' elements. It's so popular that it has more fics on ao3 than any other ship in the entire universe in which the story is set.

Now, most of the fans of the ship hang out in a discord server, and I, being obsessed with the ship, joined it in early June. Tumblr doesn't have much content for the ship because of the harassment faced by the fans by antis when the show was released and I detest using twitter so the server is my only contact with that series.

And, everything is cool. The members are super chill, extremely helpful, the mods are great and have excellent events every month for the members, and I've had an overall good experience. I'm not very active, I only talk about once ever 2 or 3 days, but I read all the messages because they tend to be quite interesting.

Now here is where the problems begin: on different platforms, on three separate occasions, I have heard negativity about the server. Once on ao3, an author complained about the server in her notes, and when some fandom newbie asked her to explain she said the mods were power hungry jerks who silenced anyone they didn't like and there was a lot of negativity, and they looked down on everyone who wrote dead dove. On tumblr, a person claimed that they were the founder of the server and they got bullied by the members and made fun of by the mods because they wanted a channel for darker topics (dead dove, underage etc) while this founder did not, and the overall experience left them traumatized. One of my friends from the server left because she said that she had issues with mods and didn't like who she had to be in order to stay in the server.

Which... sounds bad, except the ao3 and tumblr person's reasons seem to directly contradict each other with respect to dead dove? And the server does have a dead dove channel (you have to take a role for it, so you can leave the role and it will be hidden any time) although they restrict underage but that's because of discord's TOS. The server is very much proship so I don't see them looking down on dead dove doesn't make sense. And the tumblr person claims to be the founder, but the server has two people marked as founders and there is absolutely no trace of this third person. None. Not even a mention of x. Neither is there any trace of an argument regarding these topics. As for the person who left the server... she was a good person, but a little insensitive and very likely to jump to extremes, which was why the mods had warned her a couple of times not to do so (some of her statements could come across as ableist even if she didn't mean anything like that). I'd ask her if there was more but I don't really know her that well. The mods are very hands off, only occasionally asking to shift to appropriate channels if required, that too not often. They've been great, and they put tons of effort into creating events and stuff, more than I have seen in any fandom.

I won't say that there had never been issues. I found that sometime last year, there was a pretty big ruckus. There was a BNF, whose works became so popular that it was all anyone would talk about so some people got tired (there were like 200 members back then). So discussions of the BNF's work got relegated to a thread. Later on tumblr some other authors criticized the bnf's work (all her fics reeked of internalized misogyny even if her writing was good, so it's not surprising) thinking she'd never see it (she was on twitter not tumblr), but somehow she came to know and brought it up in the server. The other authors apologized, but then some others got into the discussion and it got into a whole ass free for all where some were siding with the bnf saying how unfair it was that her work had to go into threads instead of the normal channels, and how others mocked her and how she'd been patient. Another group sided with the other authors and said that they had a right to criticism, they hadn't done it on a platform where the bnf would see it anyways, and the bnf had created unnecessary drama by dragging the issues into the server. Long story short, bnf quit the fandom, a number of people got kicked, and 'leave your issues at the door' got added to the server rules, and it was suggested that criticism be done on private groups and stuff where others wouldnt see it (not a rule because the mods made it clear they would not handle any drama outside of the server). There was a little disagreement between two members when one of the actors got accused of being racist (unfairly, imo, based on a couple of paparazzi pics, and the accusations have since been blown away). But that was all. I could find no other records of controversies or bullying, and I spent quite a bit of time searching.

Overall my personal experience has been positive in the server. The closest you get to a disagreement is just people crackshipping the craziest ships and making up increasingly ridiculous scenarios for crack while others go 'MY EYEEEES' or 'BRAIN BLEACH BRAIN BLEACH' but it's all in fun and those members are very close friends who know there's no ill will. And yet every time I see criticism of the server I feel hesitant and wonder whether I'm deluding myself, whether I'm so desperate to have contact with this fandom that I'm turning a blind eye to stuff (even though I don't think I am). But not one, not two, but three different people have said these issues exist on the server, and while one or two could be clowns, ALL of them can't be, right? Not to mention the drama last year.

I don't know, I love being on the server, but whenever I see things like this it makes me uneasy. I'm not sure what to do, I don't want to be a part of it if all these accusations are true.

--

Wait and see, I guess. A bunch of people complaining about a space could mean anything from a literal conspiracy to smear its name to the natural disagreements that arise wherever people congregate to secret nastiness you haven't noticed.

[melop-sia]

for @elphabaoftheopera

WOOT WOOOOOT!!! TO CELEBRATE THE FINAL CHAPTER BEING RELEASED, ME AND MYSTIC THOUGHT OF A BUNCH OF QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN REGARDS TO LFAY!!!!!!!!!!! TO SHOW OUR GRATITUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What was your overall experience / journey reading the fic?

esper / melop-sia: when i started reading, i was instantly hooked. i genuinely don't think i have liked a fic this much as this one. i loved it so much that id actively check my gmail inbox every hour or so to see if a new chapter was posted 🥲 the most chapters i read in a row was 6, and that was when i first discovered the fic!!! after, i became a slow reader and soaked up every little description you wrote because i didn't wanna miss anything– thats probably why i noticed so many parallels 😁!! doing that also let me take it your writing and it's awesome! even awesome enough to get me back into reading stuff! hell, this fic was a reason why i bought gregory maguire's wicked novel 😅 it lit back a love for reading that i hadn't seen for a few years at least! and back to parallels, they were undoubtedly a key part of enjoyment in my journey with lfay! i always got so excited when i found one and wouldn't hesitate to kick around all energised 🥳🥳 im so glad that you went the extra mile by adding the parallels, it vastly improved my reading experience!

mystic / mystic-oni: Okay I've gotta admit I'm not usually the romantic type but they r so cute omgggggg 🥺

I think if i could change anything about the story or my experience reading it i would leave everything the same. It was just something fun, exciting and immersive i could go to after a rough day and although I am guilty of sometimes having one or two chapters stacked up after forgetting to read 😅, I was never finding myself not wanting to read it unless I was trying to savour it for a time when I would need it most. Plus gave me something extra to talk about with esper/melop-sia 😁😁😁

Especially if we were both reading a chapter at the same time. O ye and the characters are so well done and like the ones we all know so sometimes i just forget i'm reading something fan made because it's that good. I actually sometimes finding myself just melding the two together on accident (i mean thats probably expected considering i'm still somewhat new to the wicked fandom but still it wouldnt be possible if the characters weren't portrayed accurately)!

What about the AU stood out to you (in comparison to the adapted material)?

esper: i think what really stood out to me was how much more you fleshed out each character in comparison to the musical. i loved how you gave everyone another layer of personality along with the ones already set by the musical, yet keeping dialogue and interactions so on point 💓! one thing that is so important to me is a character's personality being accurate. i have so much less enjoyment with a fic when characters are written completely different to their "source", so it was a relief and delight to see the consistent characterisation ⭐️⭐️⭐️!!! a bit off topic but i also really liked how you included some references from the book!

mystic: Well, i've only seen one of the musicals on yt (so far, might read the book cuz esper has it and she said she could lend it to me after they had finished it 😁😁). I really felt though from my experience with wicked (not much but anyways 😅) it really fleshed out more of the characters, like how elphaba has nyctophobia cuz it just added another like, obstacle and really added to her character and existing challenges. Also like the letters were a crucial part of moving this fic away from the original material, im rlly proud of myself because while it was in the part of the story where letters were most important, i noticed a lot of familiarity with something but i couldn't figure out what. Then i remembered i had seen the movie "You've got mail" and it was one of the inspirations which i love and made me enjoy the story even more just because it felt familiar in a way.

What was your favourite chapter? Why?

esper: wooof that is a hard questionn 😯😯 i have a few favourites, but ill try to limit it to one or two...... after a bit of thinking, i think i have to say 11 and 19: each for pretty different reasons admittedly 😅. for one, i loved 19 particularly because of how sweet the fiyeraba date was!!! it was the [infodumping gf] and [polite listening bf] dynamic that i lovee so much 🥺🥺🥺 it was so cuteee!!!! the angst was saddening to say the least, but i really enjoyed how you wrote their dialogue and how they finally came to an agreement.

and. onto 11. that chapter was just insane /pos. it was so good i reread it multiple times and thought about it for a while and, at the same time was utterly speechless. i can say one thing though: the yearning. THE YEARNING!!!!!!!! the yearning was so good dudee!!!!!! i usually don't even like yearning but it was just wild how caught up they were both getting and the suspense was palpable. it was so impactful and therefore one of my favourites. close runner up for most favourites is 9 i loved how it finally broke down the established initial barrier and tension between elphaba and fiyero in an engaging way!! another runner up is 21 for an awesome sequence of scenes that made me feeeellll 🥺 soon to be elaborated on!

mystic: Oke im gonna be honest, in order to answer this question i found myself skimming over a lot of chapters that i had remembered i liked and i cant decide on one because they were all so great or had an important event that i couldn't compare to other chapters. I was planning on going into specifics but since i'm so torn im gonna save it for the moments question 😭

Tysm for the indecisiveness cuz all ur chapters are soo good u should be proud. Also it gave me a reason to look back to try and find my favourite and although i didnt get a clear result it was really refreshing reading the older chapters again.

What was your favourite scene or moment? Why?

esper: I HAVE A FEW FOR THIS ONE TOO!!! the first one that comes to mind is fiyero getting to kick jozsef's ass 😁 i absolutely loved how he got back at him after so long and im just a sucker for people getting what they deserve 🥳!!! it was an awesome inclusion and i was so satisfyed with how that turned out. alsooo i loved fiyeraba's bickering pre-museum break in, it definitely wasnt the first or last time i audibly laughed at something in this fic! and elphaba playing go fish with dorothy was hilarious and not near anything i expected for the last chapter of the main story 😅😅😅 that as well as her warming up to dorothy was simply amazing to me!

onto a more wholesome moment, i loved the dance between fiyero and elphie in the empty ozdust, it was such an intimate and romantic moment between them and i couldn't help but love them more after 🥺 following that, the scene of glinda and elphaba making up with each other and becoming friends again! it was just amazing and all around so pleasant to read!!! another few follow ups, glinda confronting fiyero and forgiving him, as well as starting the party! it was a nice flow of funny to touching and then hopeful!

mystic: oke for me its gotta be those bits where elphie does something cool or funny, like in chapter five when Jozsef was tryna splash her with water and she just dumped it all back on him, like that was pretty badass. Also the petition bit in chapter 7 had me dyinggggggg 💀💀💀 (especially the intimidation and fear, i found it pretty funny and also smart how they used that to get people to support their cause). Also the closet bit in chapter nine was really memorable, and exciting to read and I think most people really liked that part. Just the awkwardness and tensionnnnnn aaaaaaah!!! 😁🥲👏👏👏

Okay, and im sure the Ozdust in chapter 13 had everyone on the edge of their seats (Depending on whether u were sitting 😅) when all the secrets were revealed and the truth was spilled everywhere. Ending with quick escape and a great cliffhanger that kept everyone wondering about the chapters to come. There are so, so, so many more but I end up forgetting where after I try to reread (maybe i should have written notes or something idk 😆). Once again thank you so much for making these truly ✨magical✨ moments for people to enjoy.

Thoughts on the ending / last chapter?

esper: i know i already wrote my thoughts in a comment before, but now we have the epilogue so i can talk about that too!! for one, i don't think i would've had the ending any other way. 34 just had a great balance between presented aspects: it was heart-warming but bittersweet. not to mention such a satisfactory read after keeping up for the last month or two!

honestly im so happy about 35!!! honestly after the roller coaster of the "act 2 chapters" im glad we got a tonn of fluff. it was a wonderful peek into fiyeraba's new life and it was sooo cute 🥺🥺 genuinely loved it so much, another one of my favourite chapters❣️ im glad their story got to continue on into a fulfilling lifestyle for both of them 💗💗💗

mystic: Perfect. I didn't think too much about the last chapter before I read it because i didn't really want to go in with a predetermined idea of what I thought would happen because I just knew it might ruin the experience although I was very excited for it and did ponder for... maybe a minute or two 👀, and I came to the conclusion that I wasn't really sure where they would be next, but the fact they got to be together in the end without disturbance was good enough for me. I feel like the mood and especially the dialogue at the end of the chapter and just everything was more than I could have wanted, it was really good and never did I expect she would still be able to help the animals even after she moved and decided to try and just live a quiet, worry-free and normal life with Fiyero. Also just about the chapters before the epilogue, which i also really enjoyed, like how well Elphie got along with Dorothy, how she ultimately beat her final obstacle - her enemy since the beginning, the dark. Also Glinda in charge and Morrible in prison 😈✨🥳 yayyyyy 🎊

Final thoughts

esper: i thank you so much for this fic, it has really helped me through these few weeks and i commend you for making a fic worth all the praise given and more!!!!! im a little sad to see this journey over now, but im glad i was able to be part of it and get my friend into it too! ill likely be rereading as well as consuming some of your past content in waiting for your next project!! i really hope to experience that too 💖 sending much love and support

mystic: One of the only times that I can't help myself from writing "also" way too much because there are so many things I loved about this. Love, Fae & Yero was an adventure that I really felt apart of, and I hope I'm not too attached to let go of it now 😭😭😭

Me and esper spent a while writing this and they and I really want to thank you for your hard work, we tried to have this finished by a certain time and spent a while thinking of our questions as well as the most important things we should say. Hope we weren't too late 😅

AGAIN THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WRITING!!!!!

FROM ESPER AND MYSTIC 💚❤💖

[emma-what-son]

I must say that im not sure if I’m still as excited to read Tom’s book anymore. I was one of the many people that got a pre-order on Amazon as soon as he announced that he was writing a book. The way the sold it was that he would be sharing stories never told, and his experience growing up on a movie set. Well as a huge HP fan i definitely wanted to read that, how are you ever going to get more gossip, or behind the scenes stories than from an actor that’s as in the movies. But from what I am seeing and reading online, the book talks about him and Emma a lot. Like I know that’s always been a topic people love to discuss since Emma said she had a crush on him when they were children. But man this dude needs to let it go, even if it’s for PR and getting more sells. They might be actually be good friends, “soulmates” or been FWB at some point, but this man is milking it till there is no more left. Out of the many young actors that came out of the HP movies only a few have been able to continue their acting caters beyond HP. Emma, Dan, Rupert, Robert, are probably some of the only actors that had a career after HP at least a productive one. I think both Dan and Robert are the most successful actors that came out of the HP cast. Yeah Dan will always be seen as Harry but he’s been getting great roles in shows or movies lately, and you can tell he’s having fun and he picks what he wants to do. Robert is killing the game, he became the latest Batman, and has a bunch of great roles in his career as well. Both Rupert and Emma have continued their careers even if it’s in smaller roles, or TV shows. I think Tom definitely needs HP to be able to get anything, before the book release when was the last time people talked about him? So I see why he keeps going back to it and Emma. But man I think he probably realized he fumbled the bag, specially if he never dated or even had sex with Emma. After years and years of people asking you if you had anything with her, he probably realized he messed up. And maybe even now if he does want anything with her I’m sure she’s the one that’s moved on from him. Plus I’m not sure how his girlfriend is ok with him talking about her so much, like each time people ask him questions it’s always about Emma. Now after she called him her soulmate it’s going to be worse. She must really love the guy to put up with this crap show. As for Emma she’s definitely trying to make a comeback, but surprisingly she didn’t even promote the book on any of her socials. Which is kinda odd if he’s supposedly one of your best friends. You would think you would try and help to promote it. She’s been a bit more active on social media or Instagram. Posting about Prada, but in sure that’s probably due to contract stuff stating she has to promote the product. And even after that promotion it’s definitely not doing good number for sure. So I’m not sure if Prada will be happy with how little attention she’s getting for the adds and perfume itself. She got more attention for being mentioned in Toms book and wiring the intro. Shes also doing that pickleball tournament next month. I’m sure that’s good PR for her and will hopefully help her image. I think people are losing Interest in her and her career and she’s probably having trouble getting used to it. Unless she comes out with a huge project next year, either a huge movie role, or production project. She’s either going to continue to go downhill or some crazy rumors will end up damaging her career even more.

---

Emma is brought up a lot, because he's essentially using her and their friendship to promote the book. I'm sure there's a lot more HP stuff in the book that doesn't involve Emma. It's true that she didn't promote the book in any way. Maybe she thought she'd done enough by writing the foreword lol.

[afklancelot]

For the ask game, all of them!

damn anon you're really putting me out there

well alright then :)

orchid- video game music counts, right? anyways Fanged Fastener from paper mario origami king is perfect. to me.

cactus- currently i'm learning about what would make a good gaming laptop, if that counts. i actually was trying to get into python coding a few months ago, but that's postponed until i get motivation to go back.

bamboo- usually when i get home i change into loungewear: a t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts.

abelia- i don't take to wearing jewelry unless you count my earrings, which i think came from Claires actually??? anyways, i don't really take them off because i never really felt like it.

daffodil- i got one older sister. it would take too long to list how many differences i have from them, so i'll note one similarity: we both wear glasses.

mahonia- strangely enough, impending exam deadlines. turns out trying to study for a big test is great motivation for writing creative pieces. yes i know this is procrastination.

chia- i've got quite a few inside jokes with my splatoon buddies that barely make sense in context, but here's one with a separate online friend of mine: whenever we say our goodbyes we end out messages with an emoji rat. one time i even stopped myself from going to bed because i forgot to give her my goodbye rat.

sage- probably music is the most touching. i was in band from middle school to second year of high school, including marching band in hs, so that might be why i have a greater appreciation for music in comparison to other arts.

edelweiss- ok so back when lostbelt 6 released in japan, they used fairy knight for the fae servants before their true names were revealed. having 'afklancelot' can mean three things: either "a fairy knight lancelot", "away fron keyboard lancelot", or "a fucking knight lancelot." prolly the most creative effort i had in coming up with a url. as for why lancelot, well she's my favorite out of the cast in lb6, and her scribbly face is so goofy so

camellia- i was apparently really antisocial when i was young, even as a baby. my mom once told me that i was fairly content to be by myself on the mattress and would actually start crying if i were picked up. i'm still pretty antisocial irl, but online i can actually be pretty bold in saying what i feel like, rarely with filter.

jasmine- i really liked The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell, it was one of the few horror books that really captured my focus. will not be rereading though because 1) i don't have the physical copy and i have a habit of not rereading ebooks after the first full read and 2) the ending was fitting but made me a bit depressed, i felt really bad for the main character and her helplessness.

ivy- usually when someone talks to me and i answer in short terse answers it means i want to stop talking to them (tho sometimes it's because i don't have much to say). when i answer with stumbled words and a fast way of speaking, it's usually because im trying really hard to piece together what i want to say. same goes for messaging online: i tend to reply quickly to online conversations without much thinking since im excited to be included in discussions. usually when im feeling angry, annoyed, or upset, i tend to sigh dramatically.

chamomile- stuffed animals. preferably those with rounded body types, as they usually feel floofy and are comfy to lie down on/hug.

aloe vera- it's tied between 'flipping an egg on a frying pan' and 'climbing a tree'. idk this is a hard one.

palm tree- lutherrrrr from The Familiar :3 he's such an asshole who does asshole things throughout the story but he's so entertaining with surprising depth if you pay attention. one of the few characters where i'm torn between "i want to see him get a redemption arc and live on to change for the better" and "i want to see this man actively get worse and die from his hubris". so yeah.

nutmeg- aside from my bed, which has fish-themed bedding and has a lot of stuffed animals piled on top, my room's actually pretty neat from most clutter. i usually hang out in a separate room, which is neat in most places, but the only way i can describe the couch i mostly reside on is "messy as fuck".

papyrus- ive recently been listening to a few lord huron songs lately. in particular, Vide Noir and Long Lost ive been listening to on repeat, the former moreso.

taro- well, it depends on the person. if they're not into video games at much/at all, i usually just say general stuff on how i'm doing, maybe talk about books if they're also interested in reading. if they ARE into video games, i may tell them about the various games ive been playing, maybe including the antics ive been gettin into.

[bryndeavour]

i feel very strongly about people actively and knowingly giving jk r**ling money so if thats you please to be fucking off. i cant believe you are handing her money.

[zvdvdlvr]

the witch and reality shifter

w. maximoff

warnings: choking, protective wanda, reality shifter reader (🥴), vecna gets his assed mauled lmao

summary: in some turn of events, vecna

has captured the only other teen with (unmentioned) powers. with the teen compromised, a certain hero saves them.

reader's pronouns: they/them

a/n: no MoM spoilers (i havent seen it), ST4, V2 SPIOLERS, i have not shifted, so idk if have this shit is accurate, and if this writing is uncanonly inaccurate, leave me alone, eddie dies im not okay

"okay, lets haul ass people! you know the plan, chop chop!" steve urged at the four kids leaving the camper.

y/n sighed, already know what happens, and mutters, "what crawled up his ass?"

lucas shakes his head as his friends' words, and looks up at the redhead a few steps ahead.

after giving the house another once over, max mayfield leads the way into the house where it all began.

unconsciousness was like a black wave, unrelentless and violent. beautiful and quite deadly, it is.

y/n was currently fighting that unconsciousness as vecna finally captured them and threw them into the wall. all of this violence was unscripted, but it was certain that y/n couldn't die. it was (literally) written into the fabric of the reality.

shifting realities or consciousnesses was an activity... a hobby of sorts. it helped them forget about the 'real' world, the 'real' issues. it was worse than Hel, y/n's original reality, so they resorted to shifting; a way to project your consciousness into another you, and another reality. it helped release tension between y/n and other people they talked to in their reality.

they had shifted multiple times already, with multiple methods.

marvel, harry potter, mortal instruments and keeper of the lost cities were only some of the books they've shifted to.

during their time in the marvel universe, y/n had explained what shifting was, and dr. strange had given them tips and tricks to help them shift. 18392/10, overall bestie.

wanda basically became y/n's older sister/mother figure.

vecan stopped and turned his head, eyes peering into y/n's. "you belong here... with me..." he drawled, dragging a long finger across her cheek.

"no, peter-" y/n choked out, "i really d-don't."

vines were slowly crawling up her body, tethering them to the wall behind them. keepibg her paralyzed i what they were doing.

"yes. yes, you do." he murmured. "we could do more. we could... rule-" he started.

y/n coughed. "rule what?" they spat.

a smirk pulled at the corner of vecna's lips. "everything."

his hand slowly started to rise. to kill them- to take their powers.

he stopped. "i'm disappointed." he said, resuming his movements.

it started quietly. y/n almsot wasnt sure they even heard anything, but it was there.

scarlet wisps of magick showed from behind vecna.

"hey kiddo."

the scarlet witch stepped out of her portal.

"get off of them." she murmured eerily at vecna, snapping her wrist and paralyzing him.

she worked fast. all at once, the deadly vines fell off of y/n body.

"wanda." y/n whispered, looking at her with a weak smile.

"hello, little one." she said, smiling widely.

then, after a moment, the witch and the reality shifter turned to the struggling Arch-Lich.

[sunlightandsuffering]

I HAD TO REWRITE THIS AN IM SO FULL OF RAGE ABOUT IT BUT HERE IT IS!! AS CLOSE T THE ORIGINAL AS I CAN REMEMBER !! BUT UGH TELL ME WHY THE Y/N FANDOM GETS TO HOARD STONER EREN!?!? Tell me!! Why no one in our fandom writes him!?!? GIVE ME AN ANSWER!!!

Ugh anyway, here have stoner EM, bc I think lazy stoner Eren is somehow immensely attractive.

ston·er

/ˈstōnər/

noun

a person who regularly takes drugs, especially marijuana.

Stoner.

It's a label Mikasa has become increasingly familiar with throughout her academic career. From high school to university, it's a label she is now intimately aware of.

Not because she smokes the devil's lettuce, no, not at all. But because despite rhyme or reason, her infatuation with their small town's resident stoner will not die.

"Mikasa, you're staring again." She huffs in irritation, turning to give Armin a glare, ripping her gaze away from where the very object of her affections lays under a tree in the quad, his head laid upon some pretty girl's thighs as he smokes up between classes. "You don't have to call me out every time." Armin shoots her a daring smile, "I do actually." She releases an annoyed breath, her eyes darting back to the brunette boy in the middle of the quad, handsome and uncaring, very much unlike her, who is currently studying her ass off for midterms.

Armin smacks her arm again as she gets lost in his figure, his tall stature, long legs in black joggers, a grey t-shirt sticking to the corded muscle of his arms, just the slightest hint of his abs where his t-shirt pulls up to expose bronze skin. "Mikasa!" She glares at her blonde friend menacingly, just let her have this at least. This is her break, her reward for all her hard work studying.

It’s not easy being pre-med these days. "See, this is why I need to call you out, if I didn't we'd never get anything done." "Whatever," she mumbles, her eyes sliding back to him, Eren Yeager, her childhood best friend, and the only boy that's every made her heart go boom.

"I don't know why you like him so much, I'm pretty sure he's a criminology major. Wants to be a cop, but he's doing illegal activities almost 100% of the time." Mikasa frowns as she stares off into the distance, her stomach tugging painfully as she watches Eren bury himself in some random girl's stomach. She doesn't know why she like him either, but it won't leave, and she's not entirely sure how to get rid of the feelings, believe her, she's tried. "I don't know, I just," she sighs wistfully, "he's Eren." Armin shakes his head, "And he's really pretty, just be honest." Mikasa turns, her cheeks heating rapidly because that is also true. She smiles sheepishly at her blonde friend, admitting to it, "And he's really pretty." Armin groans, "I wish my love life was quite so easy."

Mikasa shrugs, her attention slipping right back to Eren again, "Whatever, it totally could be, you're just a pussy and you won't talk to Annie. That's entirely your fault." Armin sputters in disbelief, she can hear him choking behind her as he closes up his binder, "And your inability to talk to Eren isn't yours?"

Mikasa gives him a dirty look, "No, Eren and I are starcrossed, we can never be, that's not my fault."

"You barely talk to him, every time he says hi you get all flustered and start berating him about something stupid before telling him to say hi to his mom."

Mikasa packs her own books up a little too aggressively as she snaps back, Armin having hit a sore spot, "Well at least I talk to him!" Armin stares at her in disbelief, "Fine, go talk to him right now if you think you're so great MIkasa. I dare you, go right now and strike up a friendly conversation. Hell ask him to go for coffee with us later." Suddenly her previous assertions aren't quite so brave, especially at the prospect of talking to Eren.

“I can’t,” she says turning back to her computer, eyes set on the article she’d been reading for her biology class, “I’m studying.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re said you were taking a break.”

If looks could kill, Armin would be dead as she scowls at him from over her laptop, “Well it’s over now, Armin.”

The blonde scoffs, turning a page in his textbook, “Sure Mikasa, I think you’re just a wimp. You’re never gonna do anything about it, just face it. He’s probably going to end up with some other stoner girl smoking up in the back of his cop car.”

Mikasa frowns at the vivid picture her friend paints, he’s not necessarily wrong, and as she chances a glance back at the tree he’s sitting under, the idea seems awfully plausible, especially as he breathes a heavy exhale into some girl’s mouth.

“You’re right,” she says, slamming her laptop shut with determination, she can’t allow this future to come to pass.

Armin guffaws, “Mikasa I was kidding, you barely talk to Eren!”

She scowls at him, tone haughty as she reacts to his lack of confidence in her, “Well now I am.”

Abruptly she stands from her seat, and before she can stop herself she’s marching towards Eren with lock quick strides, her pretty white skirt billowing in the wind as she marches with purpose.

Before she knows it she’s there, looking down his attractive form, her silver gaze clashing with spring green eyes, hazy with the high of marijuana. He exhales a long drag of smoke, and there is something hot about how flagrantly he breaks the rules.

Maybe her mom’s biggest fear is right, she has a thing for bad boys, but either way Mikasa can’t deny the way her heart skips a beat as Eren finally notices her.

He blinks up at her lazily, one rough calloused hand coming up to shield his eyes from the sun as he struggles to comprehend who’s standing before him.

“Miks?” He questions in confusion his rough voice wrapping around her name so perfectly, and shit, there is one of the reasons her obsession with the town stoner is so dangerous: his nicknames.

Usually she hates them, a concept carved into her by her mother’s sense of propriety. Mama Ackerman chose her name carefully, and it’s a beautiful one, Mikasa, so people everywhere damn well better be using it.

Eren had never abided by these rules, grinning at her mom cheekily every time he’d call her something other than her name, a small rebellion, and some part of Mikasa absolutely adored it.

Miki, Mika, Miks, ‘Kasa, Mimi, he’s called her by every one in the book and it makes her heart positively flutter. And in a stark contrast to her mother’s views she doesn’t see Eren’s nicknames as disrespectful in the least, if anything it’s a love letter to her name itself, the way he wraps his mouth around each sweet intonation, each vowel emphasizing a different part.

When they were younger, had still been friends, before Eren had rebelled, before his dad died and he’d taken to smoking up as his preferred coping mechanism, still lived in the house across the way, she’d heard it every day, sweet nicknames called as they played in the street, as they caught the bus together. But now, how long has it been, when did they last interact?

The utterance of the nickname alone sends a shiver up her spine, and her cunt aches, the rough edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before, she’s never heard him say it quite like that.

Shit.

“Hi Eren,” she chirps out, her voice coming out much higher than she’d wanted, and she struggles to even out her tone.

“Hi Miki,” he repeats back to her teasingly, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I umm-“

She struggles for a moment, her brain short circuiting, she’d never anticipated getting this far, her interactions with Eren usually consist of short awkward arguments, started mostly by herself out of self-preservation.

“I—“

His lips quirk up slightly at her inability to voice her thoughts and her prompts her, “Yeah sweetheart?”

She opens her mouth to finally spit something out, a confident young woman, studying pre-med, she’s calm and assertive, but she never gets the chance because the groupie next to Eren scoffs in agitation, “Can you hurry it up, you’re blocking my sun, it’s killing the vibe.”

Mikasa deflates like a limp balloon, her cheeks heating with embarrassment. She’s suddenly aware of the third party watching her make a complete fool of herself.

Worse yet, she’s probably close with Eren too. She didn’t think he currently had a girlfriend, but he had been sleeping on her lap not five minutes ago, so maybe her information is false.

But before she can apologize and leave, Eren is snapping, turning to the girl in irritation, “If you don’t like it, you can leave Heather.”

The girl gasps in outrage, her cheeks puffing up, but Eren shoots her a look that brokers no argument, and with an angry huff she’s gathering her things and stomping off towards the parking lot.

Mikasa is pleasantly surprised by the whole ordeal.

Eren shrugs, turning back to her as if he didn’t just dismiss his friend so callously, “So what were you saying Miks?”

She hesitates for a moment, maybe this is the universe giving her a chance to get out while she still can, before she embarrasses herself further. But she can’t lose this opportunity, here, now in front of him, no one else around, it’s her chance.

Tentatively she speaks, forcing out each word, “I was thinking, maybe we could go for coffee or something sometime.”

He hums in consideration, taking another long drag of his joint, looking up at her lazily through his long dark eyelashes, really it’s unfair how pretty he is, especially since he so obviously doesn’t care.

He exhales a long deep breath, and Mikasa watches as his throat bobs with each movement, how beautiful he is.

The wind picks up, blowing the smoke away and her long white maxi skirt in the wind, the fabric billowing around her thighs, the leaves rustling above them.

She tucks her hair behind her ear as it blows in her face, the slit of her skirt exposing just the creamy skin of her upper thighs.

She blushes as she realizes, a hand reaching down to cover herself but Eren tsks, his hand catching hers to smoothie over her thigh, his gaze transfixed on the smooth skin.

He traces from the apex of her thighs down to the soft sensitive skin just behind her knee and she gasps audibly at the sensation.

Eren glances up at the sound, his eyes far away, but they catch on her expression and a wicked smirk crawls up his face as he skims back up to her thigh and then down to her calf.

He squeezes gently around her ankle before reluctantly letting her go, leaning back against the tree with a sigh.

Eren settles back against the large oak tree, “I might be down,” he murmurs, taking another drag of his joint, “But I don’t like coffee.”

“Oh,” she says excitedly, “We can do something else, maybe dinner—“

He cuts her off, exhaling another breath of smoke, smirking unapologetically at her, “No.”

She deflates a little, giving up slightly, is he just teasing her?

“Then what do you want?”

His smirk widens, his eyes flashing with mischief as he leans further back into the tree, his other arm coming up to pillow his head, biceps flexing appealingly, “You.”

Mikasa is struck by the fact that maybe her obsession with the town’s resident stoner isn’t so one-sided at all.

[dieinct]

don't reblog this because im still articulating my thoughts and am basically just thinking out loud

this is the last thing i have to say about this really but i do think it's disingenuous and bad-faith to compare what i would characterize as significant missteps within a good faith attempt to later refusals to listen leading to active and/or malicious bigotry. like, while the goblins are fucked up, im not going to say that some lady writing fantasy and leaning on fairly standard tropes for the genre is doing anything THAT much worse than tolkien making his dwarfs semitic and gold-greedy, especially when she fully did also give harry a jewish classmate. like, it's not GREAT, but it's not intrinsic proof that she was always going to turn out evil or that her books are beyond redemption or whatever. they definitely got worse over time - but also before all the books came out people didn't KNOW what was going to be in them (obviously) but like. im not sure exactly how to express this. i guess my point is, the books were kind of milquetoast representation; it was a good faith but profoundly insufficient attempt. it's easy to point back to OBVIOUS missteps now that we've seen her double down to make further mistakes in sequel and bonus content, and radicalize, but frankly if she hadn't turned out to be a TERF attempting to leverage her social capital for bigotry, i genuinely doubt that so much attention would be paid to her earlier missteps.

it's just like. people are trying to find clues that could justify her later turning, and certainly i can find some; frankly, i find her fat phobia significantly more galling and revealing of a sort of fundamental biological essentialism than, for example, the goblins. like. there are issues of antisemitism in hp, it's just that i really genuinely don't think it's the goblins. certainly before DH (which i only read once, on release day, did not enjoy, and have never returned to). i have way more issues with hermetic / alchemic magic as history, cooption of actual history and historic antisemites as culture heroes while erasing jewish history, similarly: holocaust narratives with no jewish characters, and representations of various human characters who fall into antisemitic tropes as proof of their supposed evil. but people aren't interested in doing any sort of deeper analysis of ... issues in HP other than "a fantasy author ineffectually used clumsy metaphors for social issues" which like. welcome to reading fantasy. she is not outstandingly terrible with respect to that! the thing that makes her terrible is NOT that she did a bunch of stuff that is bad but not exceptional, the thing that makes her terrible is that she unilaterally refused to learn or apologize, and then on top of that went and became a terf.

was only talking about antisemitism in this post bc that's what's relevant to me and because it makes me sooo frustrated to see the goblins trotted out as convenient proof that hp was always irredeemable when what it's guilty of is "clumsy genre fiction metaphors" and not "virulent bigotry". i just think it's genuinely irresponsible (and frankly not a little insulting!) to conflate the two.

similarly i guess there's a LOT of latent / internalized (?) sexism in hp, which does not get discussed in fandom contexts, even though it was the thing i DID notice when i was reading these as a little kid with no awareness of like... stuff like this in books. which is so weird to me! because you'd think it would be as relevant to her understanding of hashtag what feminism is as anything else is.

and just to be clear im saying this as someone who hasn't spent money on hp stuff since i would guess 2008 and who has been reading multiple fan fictions since before '08 that have at this point been running for longer than jkr spent publishing the original series. i am not interested in pottermore, any bonus content, or future works, like at all, and haven't paid any attention to them beyond knowing they're not really anything id be interested in in the first place and then later hearing secondhand how like stupid and racist and terrible they were and having absolutely no interest in pursuing it further.

again don't reblog this im just thinking

[thosequeenboys]

Love Is Love Is Love - Chapter 4 (Ben Hardy x Joe Mazzello)

Summary:  Ben, Joe and Alex prepare for Ben’s departure to film a movie in London, with all related emotions.

A/N: The next chapter will be cheerier, I promise, as the boys reunite - with some London surprises! Thanks to: @jessahmewren​ for your recent encouraging words that helped me reunite with my muse and work through this intense chapter!  You’re the Bee’s Knees! Thanks also to: @heybuddy-drabbles​ for ongoing support and listening to me kvetch while writing this chapter.  You’re the Cat’s Pajamas!

Warning:  This chapter has smut. I mean, the guys are about to be separated! It has an 18+ Only warning and a fire emoji on my Masterlist.  Some cursing too.

Tag List: @warriorteam1924​ @cardyandy​ @watercolouredreams​ @jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​ @crazylittlethingcalledobsession​ @queensilveryrog​ @im-an-adult-ish​ @marianaletosnape​ @the-baby-bookworm​ @honeymazzello​ @igotsuckedintothevoid​ @oniriquex​ @roger-hardy-taylor​ @doctorqueensanatomy​ @chocolatekisses8​

June was the best month because summer was just starting, and it stretched out carefree before them. The spring perennials had dried into brown stalks and were now replaced with hearty hydrangeas in blue and pink hues.  The neighborhood’s evening rituals prolonged the seemingly endless days:  tonguing ice cream cones before they dripped from the evening heat, racing scooters on the sidewalk, chalk drawing on the pavement, telling jokes on the stoop.  The fragrant rose bushes arched over the iron fences that framed the small front-yard gardens.  The evening activities extended into the darkness.  Finally in bed, Alex found it hard to unwind despite Ben’s patient efforts.  Lots of chatter and three books later, he finally fell asleep.

This June would be remembered for preparations surrounding the inevitable separation. While Ben put Alex to bed, Joe ventured upstairs to the ‘extra room’ where infant clothes in plastic bins and baby paraphernalia were scattered among items they seldom used. Walking through the maze of random possessions, Joe found and hefted a large suitcase and duffle bag on wheels and carried them down the steps into their bedroom.

Ben was stretched on their bed reading a script, his long legs crossed at the ankles.  He raised his eyes at Joe’s entrance.

“I kept wishing these would magically appear, but….” Joe said, easing the luggage onto the racks he had set out.

Ben nodded and resumed reading.  

“Ben, Baby, you have to talk to him.  Start preparing him. It won’t really sink in until you’re close to leaving, but… You need to get him ready to separate from you.”  Joe said.

The phrase ‘get him ready to separate from you’ made Ben feel like he was punched in the stomach. Finally, Ben spoke. “I’ve been putting it off….I didn’t want to think about it. Just focusing on the script.  Compartmentalizing. I never thought the travel, being away, would have negative implications.  It seemed par for the course and even glamorous.  An Actor’s Life. I wasn’t thinking of a family. Now, it’s tearing me up to think of being away from him…and you.” Saying it made it real.   Images of his upcoming destiny started to come into focus: he pictured being on the outskirts of the city, working on set for grueling hours every day and then alone in his London flat at night, managing the basics-meals, laundry – under a fog of exhaustion.  It was as if he had to picture it to make himself accept it. Denial can only take you so far.

Joe climbed on the bed next to him. He could tell Ben was off in another place, anticipating the trip as he hadn’t until now. “Hey,” Joe said. “Don’t think about it tonight. Be here with me.”

Joe took the script tenderly, moving the Post-it stuck on the back to the open page.  He leaned over Ben and placed it on the side table, then opened the drawer to retrieve the lube. He kneeled in front of him, tossing the lube next to them.  He slid Ben’s t-shirt up, and with a combination of mouth and hands covered every inch starting at the waist band, pushing the garment upward to access more of that delicious, toned body.  Ben raised his arms and the t-shirt was removed and tossed as Joe straddled Ben, gliding his hands softly now over the smooth, bare chest.  “Joe…” Ben said, “Just…I want to feel you in me.” Joe pulled off his own t-shirt and removed his bottoms.  Next, Ben’s sweatpants and boxers were eased off and tossed.  Sitting back on his knees between Ben’s open legs, Joe’s strong torso arched back slightly.  It exuded a perfect combination of intensity and softness, confidence and vulnerability, as would their lovemaking.   The two naked partners eyed each other. Joe grazed Ben’s thighs, easing them apart, and the blonde closed his eyes, releasing an anticipatory moan, as Joe moved his hand to his husband’s hardening manhood. He worked it a bit as Ben gasped and thrusted to Joe’s rhythmic pulls.   Joe moved his other hand tenderly along Ben’s jawline which caused his lover’s eyes to flutter.  “Look at me, Baby.” Joe said. “I want to imprint your look – your passion and lust and love for me - into my brain.” He flipped the cap of the lube open, and Ben bent and spread his knees wider to allow full access. 

Joe rolled next to Ben and started to ease his dripping fingers into him, one at a time, feeling the resistance and grasp, followed by the release, allowing him to enter deeper.  Finally, Ben whispered, “Joe… God, feels so good.  I’m ready.”

Joe kneeled in front of Ben and pulled him toward his own hardness, which he lubricated generously.  He entered Ben slowly, propping himself on an arm, his other hand on Ben’s thigh easing it wider.  They moved so right, so easily as one, each advance joining them, sealing their love deeply.  Joe resumed stroking Ben, now fully erect, as their rhythmic thrusts quickened.  “I love you, Ben,” Joe panted.  “Love you,” Ben said.  They both moaned as they released, their smooth movements becoming jerky.  They disconnected, Joe rolling next to Ben, as they faced each other and kissed passionately.

The next morning, upon waking, Joe ran his fingers through his hair, last night a glimmer and reality looming harshly. “I need to get the apartment ready for Mariel. She’ll be here in a week.”  With Ben’s extended absence, single parenting would be challenging for Joe, especially with his Netflix consultation requiring monthly trips to LA.  The baby’s eventual arrival would add a layer of complexity. They hired Mariel, an au pair from Peru eager to come to NY, who planned to eventually study graphic design.  Her references boasted that she was a warm, loving and responsible caregiver.  While Ben knew this was a necessity, he was unsettled that their triad was vanishing. Sands would be shifting over the next year as a new normal emerged-a desired and exciting new normal, indeed. They would have to carve out a new family life with the arrival of the baby. The guys decided to hold off telling Alex about the baby until they reunited in London, figuring he could only process one big change at a time, the most imminent one needing to be addressed first.

After breakfast, Ben called Alex over and hoisted him onto his lap as Joe cleared the table, his eyes trained on the two of them.

“Hey, Buddy,  I’m going to be leaving for London in a few weeks for work.  I’ll be gone over the summer, but you and Papa will visit me in the middle, so it won’t seem like that long.  And we’ll FaceTime in between, so you can tell me all about your summer.  Alex listened.  “And, the exciting thing is you’ll have someone special to keep you company-a woman named Mariel.  She’s super nice and she can’t wait to meet you.  She’ll live in the apartment downstairs. She’ll take you to gymnastics and music, and she…”  

“ I don’t want ‘she.’” Alex said matter-of-factly.  Why would he? “I go to Lon-down. Papa too.”

“I know you don’t want someone else.  But, Papa has to work and go to LA sometimes.  I’ll be working so much and wouldn’t be able to spend time with you if you lived with me in London. So, Mariel will help take care of you.  It will take some getting used to, but I know you’ll like her.” Ben encouraged.   Alex had said his piece and didn’t see a need to prolong the discussion.  In his child-like fashion, he quickly scrambled to higher, more familiar ground. “Gymnastics.” he said, sliding off of Ben and proceeding to the foyer where he sat on the bench and waited for help with his sneakers.

“That went rather well,” Ben said eyeing Joe, not trying to cover his sarcasm. He knew this was the first of many discussions, and as the day of his departure approached, there would be more emotions all around.  For now, he packed a water bottle and some snacks and joined Alex to prepare to leave.  At the kids’ gym, Ben peered through the window in the parents’ waiting area. He gave himself permission to bask in Alex’s unrelenting joy as he raised and lowered the parachute with his mates, and ran into it when it was his turn, retreating to his spot before it fell upon him, his feet moving in time to his giggles.  Ben hoped the reality of their imminent family changes would land just as gently upon him as the parachute would have, had he not escaped its billowing descent in time.

So, it went like that leading up to the separation.  They’d mention it, Alex would listen and then deflect.  Joe, meanwhile, dealt with his own onslaught of emotions by pouring his energies into helping Mariel acclimate to their routines and home, the details of which he documented copiously.  She joined their excursions and began to get comfortable with them and dote on Alex.  Ben showed Alex images of London:  double decker buses, the London Eye, Big Ben (not named for Daddy), The Princess Diana Memorial Playground-hoping to build his enthusiasm for their reunion, while reinforcing that Ben would be in another place. Alex gradually registered the images and the impending reality.  He couldn’t ignore the clues that Ben’s departure was lurking: Ben’s sudden shopping trips to pick up last-minute items and Joe throwing items into the suitcase, packing and repacking.  Then there was the vocabulary associated with travel and separation.  The worst word, Alex decided, was ‘gone.’ It was concept he couldn’t fully wrap his head around, but it had a finality and a sadness.  He knew it meant that Daddy wouldn’t be with him.

Four days before Ben’s departure, Ben and Joe woke suddenly to loud wails. “OHMYGOD,” Ben bolted out of bed in his boxer briefs and tore down the hall to Alex’s room, where he found him sitting up in bed, tears falling off his face. “Alex, are you sick??”  Ben practically dove onto the bed and wrapped him in a hug.   Joe appeared at the doorway.  “You left and didn’t say bye-bye,” Alex said through tears.

“You had a bad dream! Of course, I’ll say good-bye and I’ll hug you…..I won’t leave without saying bye-bye. I promise,” Ben reassured.

The day before his departure, Ben brought Alex to the couch.  He took two small blue microfiber pouches from his backpack.  “I got us some things to help us look forward to seeing each other and remember our times together when we’re apart.  Want to see what I got?”  Alex nodded enthusiastically.  Ben handed him a pouch and helped him loosen the strings and open it.   Alex reached in and took out a puzzle piece.  Ben retrieved a puzzle piece from his own pouch, which he inserted into Alex’s, forming an octopus.  “When we see each other, our pieces will join.  But meanwhile, each piece is waiting for the other, just like we are waiting to see each other.”  Alex nodded. He reached into the pouch and took out a little whale statue.  Ben took out a sea turtle statue.  “We both have a sea animal.” Ben noted.  “When you come to London, we’ll go to the Aquarium!” Alex smiled.  Next up were a pair of small model airplanes. “When you visit me, you’ll get to fly on an airplane, and this one,” Ben said, retrieving his own, “will bring me home to you.”  Finally, Alex reached in and pulled out a glittery firm heart.  Ben took his out too.  “These hearts remind us that even though we’re not with each other walking or talking or laughing or playing or reading, we’re still together -- in each other’s hearts.”  Ben lined his red heart up on Alex’s chest, while he eased Alex’s hand that clutched his red heart against his own chest. They smiled.  Then, Ben put the items into their respective pouches. He leaned over and kissed Alex, who wrapped his slender arms tightly around Ben’s neck. That feeling was the most important thing he wished he could stuff into his pouch.

The final morning Joe’s eyes opened at 5:45.  They had 15 minutes before Alex usually woke up and a little over an hour until Ben’s departure. He rolled over and draped his arm over Ben, who was curled up on his side facing away from him.  Joe’s other hand stroked his blonde hair.  “Hey, pretty boy, how about a treat to start the day right,” Joe cooed in his ear.   Ben rolled toward Joe onto his back and Joe’s hands followed, draping one over his chest and the other on his forehead, fingering the blonde tresses.   He moved on top of Ben, letting his weight press into him.  Ben beamed up at him, wanting to take that feeling - the heaviness, the warmth, the familiar, perfect fit - with him.  They moved together urgently, clothed in boxer briefs, kissing as soft moans escaped.   Joe latched onto Ben’s neck, sucking him slowly, leaving fresh marks, the ones from the prior night had started to fade. Ben’s mouth found its way to Joe’s neck, leaving marks as well. Time of the essence, Joe slithered down Ben, taking Ben’s boxers with him.  

“Hey,” Ben crunched his abs with a raised head.

“Are you protesting?” Joe asked.  

“No, I mean, What time is it?? Alex will be getting up….” Ben glanced sideways at the clock.  

“I’ll make it quick. Lie back. I want you to leave you with a memory of me, showing you that I love you.”  Joe took in Ben eagerly, with focus and passion.

“Oh. God. Fuck. Joe.” Ben’s voice was low, and steady, his hips rising slightly in time to his quickening heartbeat.  “Yeah, like that. Fuck. Harder,” he directed. His clipped exhales were punctuated with a rhythmic chant, “Joe. God. Harder. Joe…” Ben felt himself so close to release, his hands tugging on Joe’s auburn locks, when the unmistakable voice called out.

“Daddy? Are you leaving?” It was a sad question, with a known answer.

Joe detached himself from a heavily panting and pink Ben, who held his breath to stop making any noise, his heart beating into his throat, his stomach in a tight curl. After a deep breath, Joe uttered firmly, “Alex, we need a few minutes to get up. Go downstairs and play.  We’ll meet you soon..”

“Ok,” the soft voice padded away.

Joe glanced at Ben eager to finish him.  “I can’t, he needs me….I won’t be able to…” Ben said breathlessly, his head raised.

“You can and you will, if I have anything to do with it.” Joe said.  He wanted to please Ben and have a few more moments of intimacy, delaying the inevitable. Joe knew it was time to pull out the big guns. “I want you to come for me, with my lips wrapped around you…sucking you hard, taking all of you in.  I’ll look up at you as you thrust into me, and release into me, looking so beautiful. Can you do that for me?” He didn’t wait for an answer. Ben crashed his head into the pillow, aroused again, and Joe resumed his skillful pleasuring.  He added a gentle massage of Ben’s balls, causing Ben to resume his chant between moans. Ben came, Joe’s name on his tongue as the gestures slowed, and a final kiss was granted.

“Mission accomplished.” Joe smirked, easing next to his husband.

“God, you’re amazing.” Ben said panting. Then turning to Joe, he asked, “Do you think he heard? You know, when he was outside the door?”

“Heard you cursing?  Moaning? Telling me how to get you off? Chanting my name?  Probably. Look, he’s good in math.  Eventually he’ll figure out that you cursing PLUS you moaning my name over and over TIMES you sounding slightly bossy EQUALS you having an extra spring in your step.” Joe smiled, very proud of the audible results of his handiwork.

Ben looked horrified.

Joe winked. “Don’t worry-at this age, Nah.”  He switched gears.  “I’ll duck into the bathroom quickly and then go downstairs.”  

“Joe,”  Ben said.  “I can…”

“You don’t have to….I have last night as my go-to.” A vision of their prior evening’s passion that started in the shower and ended in bed flashed before Joe’s eyes. “I wanted to give you something special to remember me when you’re away.” Joe whispered.  

“You’re imprinted in me.  All of you.  I love you so mu…” Ben stopped, overcome with emotion.  He swallowed. “We better get moving. I’ll take a quick shower.”

Joe’s hand reached for Ben’s jaw and a kiss enveloped his beautiful full lips.

There wasn’t much talking over breakfast, each of them consumed by their own emotions.  Alex ran a small car back and forth on the table, the movement distracting and soothing him.  Ben kissed his head before he made a final trip upstairs to finish his ablutions and pack a few final things.  He returned with a backpack slung over his shoulder, maneuvering the heavy suitcase. “I better call the Uber,” he said, moving the luggage to join the full duffle bag, already by the door.  Joe wiped the counter with a sponge, yet again, trying to distract himself from his own emotional onslaught.

Ben went over to Alex and sat down.  “Hey, Buddy, come here.” he tapped his knee.  Alex came over and Ben picked him up under his arms. He brought him back against his chest and wrapped his arms around him.  “I have my blue pouch in my backpack, so I’ll always have it close by. You have yours on your bedside table, yeah?”  Alex nodded; his distress evident.  

“Good.  I’ll miss you and I’ll think of you every day.  We’ll FaceTime…”  Ben’s phone lit up.  The Uber was two minutes away.

Joe sidled behind Ben’s chair and rubbed his back as he stood up, easing Alex off his lap. They walked to the entry foyer and Joe took the suitcase down the stoop.  Ben grasped the backpack and duffle bag and Alex’s hand. The car pulled up just as they arrived on the sidewalk.  The driver loaded the luggage and opened the passenger door.  The three boys hugged.  

“Text me when you land,” Joe said.  

Ben nodded and then kneeled bringing Alex in for a final hug and “I love you.” Rising he brought Joe into a hug and kiss. They both uttered “I love you,” at the same time. They chuckled, and Ben peeled away.  He eased into the car and shut the door.  Joe and Alex waved to Ben who turned around and waved out the back window. 

Joe stood behind Alex and placed his arms on his shoulders. “C’mon, Babe. Let’s get ready for playgroup.  Now we’ll start counting the days until we see Dad again in London.”  Alex nodded.  He placed his hand on his chest, soothing the emotions that collected there, causing a metaphorical ache.  He didn’t need any words or pictures.  He now understood the meaning of ‘gone.’

[wychive]

tagged by : @neo-shitty​ (toffee! ilysm hehe)

tagging: @noya-sannnn , @vitriosan , @hwanami , @luthenia and anyone else who wants to participate

slight warning : mentions of food

this is kind of long so it can help you relax if you want to do this!

[ one ] tell me the first song that made you stan your current fave group and why did your faves attract you so much?

wave // ateez

when jane showed me and fely (she already stanned ateez) the mv i was like :00 this song is really good and it goes with my type of music; pumped up and really fun. i decided that i wanted to stan them because of this introduction video that they did during pirate king where san broke the toy hammer trying to smack yunho’s ass SHHSSIJS,, i found them really funny and comforting! they made me so happy and that’s why they attracted me so much. + their amazing music ofc 

forever // exo

alright so i originally just casually listened to exo from wolf era up till 2017 when the kokobop teasers came out. they looked really pretty and so i watched them up till kkb was released. it’s what baekhyun’s voice in the forever teaser that captured me into stanning them. everything about the exo’s attracted me, their vocals, their dancing and ofc their visuals. bonus: their time on the ‘360 show(??)’! im not sure of the actual name for the programme but it was where yixing kept pronouncing jurassic park wrong pls that was so cute and funny how could you NOT stan them!

[ two ] answer the ten questions given by the previous person and write 10 of your own for the next person!

what’s your favorite season and why?

we only have two types of seasons here but if this includes western seasons, i would pick spring! flowers give me a sense of calmness whenever they start to bloom so being in a season where it’s just different coloured plants all around you? sign me up pls

are you a cat person or a dog person?

im a cat person! i currently have two cats as pets

what’s your current favorite song and why can’t you stop listening to it?

it would probably be fever by ateez! this is because it gives off freedom vibes and i’ve been stressed lately so the song is a little oasis for me

if you had the ability to do either of the following, would you rather change something in the past or see into the future?

i would choose to see into the future so that i could change what i do now, whether its related to me being lazy or me being selfish,, i would like to keep the past the way it is even if i had some scarring moments. it’s nice to look back on those and see how far you’ve come as a person.

what’s your favorite movie?

my favorite movie would either be spirited away or paper towns,, i actually don’t have a favorite movie because all of them have affected my life in different ways so yea :D

what did miss rona ruin for you this 2020?

probably the food fair this year,, my group of best friends were supposed to go there to celebrate jane and another friend’s birthday. the food fair happens yearly so it wasn’t anything big to anyone else, but to us it was something special. there are a lot more things but this was one of the major things she ruined :/

what’s your favorite album? (you can name one for each genre you like or you can just name one, it’s up to you.)

toffee why my top three would be day6’s sunrise, bts’ you never walk alone and lauv’s ~how i’m feeling~

if you could talk to your past self (person who lived your past life), what would you tell them?

“hey, dude, i hope you’re doing okay. stop being so selfish all the time alright? and stop comparing yourself to others, it wouldn’t do you any justice. make sure to spread A LOT of positivity even if no one acknowledges it. its okay to cry sometimes too. is my soulmate doing okay? i hope they are. i’ll make sure to find them in this timeline, and the next. whatever it takes. learn to love yourself.”

do you have a go-to person? who is it?

uh i dont have a go-to person,, i can’t vent or rant without feeling like burdening the other person or spreading negativity to them. instead i just kind of rant to myself on discord.

if you could tell your younger self something, what would you say?

“hey, kiddo. don’t fall in love too much nor fool around. it’ll affect you badly. appreciate the things your parents do for you, okay? don’t take anything for granted. ignore the people who call you names, they don’t matter here in the future. just be you.”

how do you spend your free time?

who or what is your biggest inspiration?

if you were a character in a horror movie, which stereotype do you closely resemble? and why?

your top 3 fanfiction tropes! (can be nsfw)

do you believe in soulmates and why?

painting or sketching and why?

what is on the top of your to-do list right now?

list down the top 3 things that make you happy.

who are you simping for right now?

what is your first core memory?

[ three ]  bold the statements that apply to you, italicize your aspirations.

AIR ༉⋆͙̈

i have small hands / i love the night sky / i watch animals and birds when i pass them by / i drink herbal tea / i wake to see the dawn / the smell of dust is comforting / i’m valued for being wise / i prefer books to music / i meditate / i find joy in learning new truths from the world around me

FIRE ༉⋆

i don’t have straight hair / i like to wear ripped jeans and overalls / i play an organized sport / i love dogs / i am not afraid of adventure / i love to talk to strangers / i always try new foods / i enjoy road trips / summer is my favorite season / my radio is always playing

WATER ༉⋆͙̈

i wear bracelets on my wrists / i love the bustle of the city / i have more than one set of piercings / i read poetry / i love the sound of a thunderstorm / i want to travel the world / i sleep past midday most days / i love simply lit dinners and fluorescent signs / i rewatch kids shows out of nostalgia / i see emotions in colors not words

EARTH ༉⋆͙̈

i wear glasses or contacts / i enjoy doing the laundry / i am a vegetarian or vegan / i have an excellent sense of time / my humor is very cheerful / i am a valued advisor to my friends / i believe in true love / i love this chill of mountain air / i’m always listening to music / i am highly trusted by the people in my life

AETHER ༉⋆͙̈

i go without makeup in my daily life / i make my own artwork / i keep on track of my tasks and time / i always know true north / i see beauty in everything / i can always smell flowers / i smile at everyone i pass by / i always fear history repeating itself / i have recovered from a mental disorder / i can love unconditionally

[ four ] the ultimate tag: answer whichever ones you want to because there are a lot.

personal 

name: [REDACTED], alachi nickname: teja, kai birthday: april 11 zodiac: aries nationality: malaysian languages: english, malay,  learning korean gender: female sexuality: biromantic height: 160 cm / 5"2’ or 5"3’

blog stuff

inspiration for muse: music, other people’s work meaning behind my url: fever (current fav song) + core (aesthetic??) blog established: around 2018 but i started becoming active in late 2019/early 2020 followers: 146  ( i love you all )

favorites

favorite animal/s: anything connected to the cat species  favorite book/s: the authentics (abdi nazemian), satellite (nick lake) favorite color/s: lighter shades/mid-tones of cool colours, a dash of yellow

random

average hours of sleep: 6 cats or dogs: cats coffee, tea or hot chocolate: tea current time: 11:34 pm dream trip: south korea, japan, europe dream job: song producer, lyric writer hobbies: listening to music, browsing the internet hogwarts house: ravenclaw last movie watched: harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban last song listened to:  no. of blankets you sleep with: 1 random fact(s): my favourite subjects are biology and english!

[ five ] 10 songs i can’t stop listening to:

eternally - txt

fever - ateez

blue - keshi

lights out - exo

00:00  - bts

strawberries and cigarettes - troye sivan

maze in the mirror - txt

i loved you - day6

 illusion - ateez

 stolen moments - the vamps

[hxghlysuspect-archive]

Zion info - warning: long

triggers: Eating Disorders ; Self Harm

info on zion -

note, i do and am continuing to do research on DID. i am in no way making fun of or glamourizing DID. if you or someone you know has DID and you notice im doing something teribly wrong or some of my information is wrong, please feel free to speak up if you wish. i only wish to learn more

Name: Zion Birthdate: Sep 15, 2000 Pronouns: He/They Favorite Color: #ee799f

Description:

Your basic tiktok Eboy. 5 ft 7. 19 years old. Yaoi webtoon artist. Snake owner. Video gamer. Has DID MOTTO: I'm here for a good time, not a long time - Bisexual - Submissive but bratty.

Acts like he has maybe 2 brain cells to rub together. Born in Australia but moved to South Korea with his mother after his parents divorced. Speaks Korean perfectly but still has his aussie accent when talking in English.

Is in university as an art major, minoring in dance

is allergic to cats.

His snake is a Sunbeam snake named Ra [ PHOTO ]

His mother hates his snake and once tried to sell it online but Zion found the listing and chewed her out- things are now tense between the two over this matter.

Mother has no idea he draws yaoi online for income

Piercings: - Ampallang [ NSFW if you google ] - Labret [ PHOTO ] 

Tattoos: - One very bad koala tattoo thanks to Atlas, about 2 inches tall, on the upper part of his ass. Thanks Atlas- TATTOO

                                   Clothing style: Varies.

Formal style is often consisting of capes (Not like super hero capes) and button down shirts. Rings. Chokers & chains. Think Eboy meets goth vibes i guess? 

I.E.: Photo One || Photo 2 

"Dressed up" consists of over sized torn shirts, knee highs / tights, and heeled boots.

I.E.: Photo One || Photo Two His more casual look consists of over sized shirts that slide down his shoulders and skinny jeans. Chokers, chains, & charms. Lots of oversized sweaters & bat wing shirts. Like Eboy meets homeless man xD

I.E.: Photo One || Photo Two Shoeware consists solely of black boots (heeled & flat) Jewelry = just google eboy jewelry xD Locked necklaces, dangly chain earrings, leather chokers.

Owns a collection of messenger bags of varying styles that he always has one of on. - [ Keeps his drawing tablet in there along with a notebook & other misc items. ]

Almost always has Ra on him- around his neck, curled around his forearm, around his wrist. Sometimes hell clean out his bag and put a soft towel in it for him to sleep in it (youll see him carrying his notebook & tablet in his hand during these cases).

Is Far sighted, so has to wear glasses for reading/drawing/etc. Owns thin framed round glasses:

Zion in Glasses

Zion has three things that he tends to hide from people.

He has a major eating disorder. He's been hospitalized twice for bulimia, once when he was 12 (in for 6 months) & then again at 16 (in for a full year).

He has DID, with 3 altars. Ace (Protector), Atlas (Persecutor), Rue (Gatekeeper). I'll include notes on them below

Zion can't feel pain, never has. His alters do however and if injured, Ace will tend to attempt to front to draw attention to it or get him fixed up. As a result of this, Zion has to be extra careful about physical activities because he can seriously hurt himself and simply not realize.

                                       DETAILS ON ALTERS:

                                               Atlas - Persecutor

Roughly 19/20 years old  

He/Him

Heterosexual

Fronts when the host is in a state of upset (mentally low, depressed, ED is getting bad)  

First appeared when Zion was 13, just after his first stint in the hospital  

Purposely binge eats to make the system sick, is homophobic, purposely starts fights with all of Zions friends to push them away 

Outted him to his mother  

Hates Ra. Will hurt/release/kill him if given the chance. 

Will destroy Zions altar if given the chance  

Tell people he's sleeping with that he has some std, that hes only fucking them because he pities them.  

Will cheat on partner if Zions dating  

Dresses like a complete eboy - long sleeved shirts layered under a dark over sized shirt. Light wash jeans, chains.  

Will often poke holes in the body (new piercings)  

Allergic to soy

+ Triggers  / None  

- Triggers   / The host (Zion) being in an extremely negative head space ; his ED flaring up badly ; Being ANGRY

Often writes in marker. When texting, he curses alot & often speaks in short speech {k. ttyl. w/e.}.

Will start or end messages with a middle finger emoji.

ex of handwriting:    [ PHOTO ]

                                                  Ace - Protector 

24  

He/Him

Has 20/20 vision

Fronts when Zion is stressed or just really needs to step back

First appeared when Zion was 8 right around when his parents started to fight all of the time    

Is the dominant one of the system {As in sexually. Zion is typically a bratty bottom, but Ace is dominant & a top}

Personality is alot more relaxed, more of an observer than a talker 

Is the one most likely to try to act like the host rather than out them as having DID    

Is non religious but respects the hosts choices

Is more preppy in the way he dresses - slacks rather than jeans, polos & button up shirts.   

Gay af    

Allergic to Almonds

+ Triggers  / Certain Songs (Wrong by Max ; Flesh by Simon Curtis )

- Triggers   / The host (Zion) getting hurt ; Zion being in very stressful situations ; Zion being in situations where he could get hurt

When texting, he starts or ends the message with a book emoji to specify its him.

Always ends sentences with punctuation

ex of handwriting:   [ PHOTO ]                                                 Rue - Gatekeeper 

Younger?    Approximately 16/17

She/Her

Sexuality unsure

Paints over Atlas' pages when he's being rude  

Keeps Atlas in check in the inner world.  

Locks away traumatic memories so they don't trigger Zion  

As she grows stronger, can control who fronts & when (meaning she could keep Atlas from fronting)  

Is heavily interested in Augustes work  [ @absque-nocte​ ]

Is very interested in dark topics (death, blood, etc)

Clothing style is alt goth. ( See: Zions dressed up style above )  

+ Triggers  / Talking about death or blood ; Night time (New moons esp)

- Triggers   / Atlas being active

Childish, often written in paint markers. Metallic or glitter preferred.

When texting,ends the text with a skull emoji. Hops topics at random

ex of handwriting:   [ PHOTO ]

Zion hand writing example:      [ PHOTO ]

                                Alter visual head cannons:

Ace:  Brown hair, brown eyes, always very well put together. About 5′8 (Same height as Zion). Slightly paler than Zion himself.

                                                [ PHOTO ]

Atlas: Black undercut hair, tattoos & piercings, blue eyes. Paler. 5′10.

                                 [ PHOTO 1 ]   [ PHOTO 2 ]

Rue:  her hair is shoulder length. Black eyes & kitty fangs. Short, like around 5ft. Very pale.

                                                [PHOTO ]

Note: they don’t look that way outside of the inner world, but this is how they perceive themselves.

[edge-lorde]

hp update: 1st leg of quidditch sideplot completed; jocks reviewed. 

also a few other things. last i left you i had decided to take a break from the main plot to focus on sidequests only. howsoever, the game is set up in such a way that every now and then it will have you wait 3-6 hours before you can play the next level. this actually lends itself very well to how i was playing. i would first start out doing a quidditch level, then hit a paywall and so move to another of the sidequests, and should i hit another paywall id move back to the main plot for a level. in this way i actually got caught up on the chapters and the sidequests for a time. now a new chapter has been released a day ago or so, but i wanted to write an update before i started it, so here we are.

I BOUGHT THE DANG HORSE. the abraxan. i managed to scrape up enough red notebooks to buy it but now i have to gain max animal friendship with it so that quest is at a stand still again. i named it horse town.

andres sidequest ended up extremely bitter sweet... he tells me all about his sports bully and i advise him to confront the unsavory individual, since he obviously didnt want to get the school staff involved. 

the intervention backfired however, and the two ended up dueling. the bully is kicked off the sports team, but andre is also banned from playing the next game. this is rather heartbreaking because he tells you that his grandmother is extremely ill, not likely to live much longer, and she had made special plans to travel to hogwarts to see his next game. she was the person who got him into quidditch and gave him his first real broom, which i now see is the very same one i borrowed from him in year 4 to sneak out of the castle on. snape snapped it in two.

while i am reeling from the realization that no one ever managed to fix that and give it back to him, he says “its ok.... well, no actually, its not.” but hes not mad anymore. he gives me a special quidditch necklace his grandmother also gave him and theres no option to refuse to take it. 

i get the feeling that there was a route i could have taken to get the good andre ending, where the bully is punished but he is not and his grandma gets to see him play. story-wise, its a good tone shift. actions have consequences and the mc has responsibilities. i still want to find a way to make it up to andre somehow....

but back to the main order of quidditch business. 1st off, we have 3 new children.

1: skye parkins. this girl is the heir to the parkins quidditch throne. a big deal, apparently. probably has adhd. penny is a huge fan of hers. i think she and the other 2 new kids change house based on whichever house the mc is in. skye in particular has some great new animations that i am a huge fan of, like tearing pages out of a book ad infinitum, and swinging a broom like a baseball bat in order to knock gnomes out of a stadium and back into hagrids garden. im pretty sure her voice lines are shared with merula. played one mini game with her and it blasted me up from friendship level 1 to level 4. 

2: murphy mcnully. not actually on the team, but an “unbiased” announcer. loves talking quidditch strats and just talking in general. gets his own special talking animations, used both when announcing and talking one on one-- this boy just cant turn it off! possibly autistic, definitely a wheelchair user. gets his own special wheeling animations and when you eat lunch with him his chair never disappears, it can be scene off to the side, empty, not clipping through the table. this is the kind of attention to detail i like to see. did one minigame level with him and was also blasted to level 4. however-- YOU CANNOT PLAY GOBSTONES WITH THIS BOY!!! i imagine that this is because this is a game played sitting on the ground..... i guess it would be too awkward to try to model a scenario in which gobstones is played on a table.... it makes me so sad... his voice lines are also shared with charlie. 

3: orion amari: this boy is the shaggy of the troupe. captain of the team and really into forcing his players to balance on one leg on their brooms for hours on end, he is all about going with the flow, which infuriates the uber-active skye. also has his own special talking animations and body language, just imagine the hippie character archetype and you got it. hes got some pretty sick broom surfing moves and we also get some great trying to balance one-legged on a broom while being attacked by pixies animations from levels with him. i dont think ive gained his friendship rights yet. his facial hair does a good job of making him look more like a teen when hes the same height as all the other kids. i dont think he has any voice lines assigned to him at all. i guess none of the existing kids have voices that would suit him as well. 

the actual gameplay itself is fun too. its like the “focus” minigame in class where instead of clicking the circle, you drag a ball to bonk into the circle and there are 4 of them. sometimes you have to hit them in a certain order, sometimes its timed, and sometimes its both. pretty easy to win. costs a lot of coins that pile on quick. 

ive caught up with the quidditch plot but it was left on a cliffhanger so we shall see.....

[aaronmascoll]

Chapter 33 - Leila

Arguing and yelling, that's all the teachers have been doing for the past two hours. After Leila let everyone into her pocket dimension, she opened another portal to demonstration room. She only let the teachers out so they could talk about where they were going to put all the male students. When the rest of the female staff came, she made it abundantly clear that there was no way any of them were staying in her pocket dimension. Even now, after she restricted all the boys from going within a hundred yards of Spencer's house, Spencer was still curled up in the corner of her room crying. Suddenly having nearly three thousand boys on her front porch was a little traumatizing. They made it worse when they started banging on the walls and windows yelling for her to come outside.

As Leila stood on a podium at the front of the room, a portion of the female teachers argued that they absolutely did not want the male students, or teachers, anywhere near the school. So, when Leila told them that Morgan herself had invited them to join the school, they all quite. "Well, what do we now?" A female teacher sitting in the front said. "We need to replace all those that left."

"We would be happy to take over some of their classes," Mr. Slum said. "I myself teach, I'm sorry, taught a course in healing magic."

"I can vouche for him," Leila interjected. "He's the one that healed Morgan."

"And where is headmistress," the same female teacher said.

"She's in my pocket dimension," Leila stated. "I'm currently feeding her body as much anomali energy as I can provide it. Mr. Slum healed her head injuries, but he wasn't able to do anything about the coma she's in. We're hoping the extra energy will speed up the healing process."

"That's very convenient for you," and elderly teacher said.

"Excuse me?" Leila said with a hint anger.

"You show up and our headmistress miraculously falls into a coma. Then you say she wanted to bring all these men here. And to top it all off, here you are trying to take her place."

Leila didn't have to be told what was happening, she could see that a lot of the female teachers were believing what the elderly woman was saying.

"If you dont believe me, you can go and see for for yourselves. I can open a portal to Wolfenstein's school big enough for all of you, right now."

The elderly woman laughed. "As if I would trust your magic. That's probably what caused our headmistress coma."

"Then perhaps, one of you can use clairvoyance magic," Mr. Slum said. "Maybe someone you do trust, so that the results are to your liking."

"I'll do it myself. It is my specialty after all."

The elderly woman stood up. She said a few words in the language of Merlin and moved her hands in a elegant manner. Leila could see the experience in the way she moved her fingers. Though she didn't like her, Leila hoped that she could learn from the elderly woman.

When she was done, a window of energy opened, and an image came into to view. Rubble and black fire, covered every inch of the once prominent magic school for boys. Not a single building was left standing, and if it hadn't been for the broken fountain, Leila wouldn't even been sure they were looking at the right place. In the middle of the rubble, the tall black creature stood over Mr. Apex's broken and bloodied body. Huge lacerations cover every inch of him, and the blood red flames that had once surrounded him almost protectively, were now dying. A single red spark on his chest seemed to wane as his life force fled from his body. The black creature stomped on his chest, snuffing out the spark, and roared. Leila felt her head begin to throb even though no sound came from the window.

The elderly closed the window and sat back down. "Does anyone else still not believe me." When nobody said anything, she continued. "So where are we gonna put the boys, I need ideas."

A young woman in the back stood up. "Hi, im Mrs. Fume, I teach courses on reading and writing to grades first, and second. Since the dimensions teacher was one of those that left, we can't increase the size of the female dorms. So, we could use bunk beds and put four girls to a room. We do it with the first years so they get used to living without their parents. It helps them know they aren't alone. "

"That's a great idea," Leila said. She was glad they weren't arguing any more and finally moving on. "Mr. Slum, what were the boy's dormitories like at Wolfenstein's school?"

"They were the same as Mrs. Fume described," he said. "Though we did make sure that all four boys were all from different years. It gave the younger boys a chance to bond with kids older than themselves. A third of our students were orphaned when they started showing signs that they could use magic, because as some may know, those born with the ability to use magic are stronger for it."

"What about the non-magic students?" A teacher in the back said.

Leila had forgotten that the school taught both magic and non-magic students. "We'll give them a choice," Leila said. "We could use non harmful spells to activate their anomali energy. We could make a ceremony out of it. Like a coming of age thing."

All the male and female teachers were nodding in agreement, but one still seemed keen on taking them two steps back whenever they took one forward. "Next you'll be telling us we actually to have to teach these boys," the elderly woman from before said.

"Actually, that is what I was going to say next. The male and female students will be divided evenly among the male and female teachers. Any extra course taught at Wolfenstein's magic school will be added to the curriculum as an elective."

"What about necromancy?" A male teacher in the far back said.

The necromancy teacher wore leather robes and a leather mask around his face. The only peice of his body that wasn't concealed by leather was a finger that had no flesh or muscle tissue on it. It just a plain-white bone. "Seniors only," Leila said. "Let's go over it again. The girls will be put four to a room, each from a different year, and it will be the same for the boys. The students are to be divided among the male and female teachers, so until class rosters have been drawn up, classes are suspended. Any new courses being added, that could potentially harm the students, are for seniors only. Is there anything else? Does anyone have any ideas or opinions they want to voice?"

No one said anything, so Leila decided to say one more thing before the meeting was over. "Ok, besides the boys, there is one more student I'd like to enroll in some of yours classes. But, do to special circumstances stances, she wont be able to physically attend. She'll require special, one on one, lessons through a communication device. I know this might hinder some of your personal time, but I'm only asking this as a favor. So, if any of you can spare the time, please come and see me after we're done. Meeting adjourned."

After everyone had left, only one person remained. "Why can't she attend?" The elderly woman said.

"She's bound to my pocket dimension. I tried releasing her, but the guy who made the binding is, levels, smarter than me."

"I can teach her astral projection. It's a more advanced version of clairvoyance magic, so she'll need read the books on clairvoyance, one an two, not three, and if she can master that, she can attend classes without actually needing to be here."

"Thank you, thank you very much. You have know idea how much this means me."

"Its no problem at all. I know you mean well, but just know, if you try to do anything that goes against this school's moral code, my ancestors will hear about. I look forward to seeing how you'll run our school."

"What?"

"You didn't really think after you lead a meeting like that we wouldn't you in charge. Have a nice day Headmistress Leila."