#lear is the best boy

[butchhamlet]

do you have any good shakespeare retelling book recs?

what a beautiful time to ask this, says guy who has left this ask collecting cobwebs in his inbox for months! because guess who has two thumbs and just finished queen goneril by erin shields! WHAT a fucking play, holy SHIT, this is some of the best characterization of the lear sisters that i've ever read and the exploration of womanhood as filtered through class + race + shitty families + political maneuvering is so so so good. also the things shields does with the og playtext... chef's fucking KISS

anyway, recency bias aside, i've been meaning to make a post about my favorite shakespeare retellings for a while, and i think i never actually did it because i wanted to make a lear retelling ranking list and then i never read some of the ones on my TBR. so whatever. the learlist will happen someday. here are my favorites in general. (here is my goodreads shelf for the retellings i've read, good and bad, and here is the shelf for the ones i have yet to read.)

in no particular order:

a thousand acres by jane smiley: outsold. epitome of what makes an effective retelling--a book that clearly has something to say about and to the original text, but that also isn't afraid to diverge, to exclude here and zoom in there. ungraciously, this is "lear on a farm" and it starts a little slow, but holy fucking shit, i can't do justice in a paragraph to the way this book unraveled me. one of the best books of all time mayhaps. also, introduced the edmund character by describing his ass. 10/10

the last true poets of the sea by julia drake: i don't read that much YA anymore but jesus fucking christ. books tailored for me specifically. twelfth night retelling about siblings + mental illness + being bisexual + love triangles that actually make sense (emotions are confusing!) instead of being contrived + beautiful description + excellent dialogue + THE MENTAL ILLNESS. books that made me start crying in zoom class in 2020

rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard: kind of a cop-out answer because we all know this one. but that does not detract from how good it is. this is one of those plays, at least for me, that makes me think, "ohhhhhh, THIS is what theater can do. this is using its medium to the absolute utmost." it is so clever and it makes me want to cry. i think about "i don't know. it's the same sky" more often than i can say

american moor by keith hamilton cobb: not exactly a retelling, but a one-man play about a Black man auditioning for the lead role in Othello, tangling as he does with his relationship with shakespeare's work and cultural dominance. suuuuuch a good fucking play even beyond the analysis of othello (which is excellent); the language is so fucking incredible. everyone who likes shakespeare should read this.

teenage dick by mike lew: modern teenage richard iii; this one's more reimagining than retelling, because it diverges pretty sharply from the plot of richard iii, but god, it's so fucking fun. and upsetting! really upsetting also.

foul is fair by hannah capin: i will be so real. i read this in high school and some of the YA books i've revisited since did not hold up for me. so idk if i can tell you this is "good" with my full chest. but the pitch is "lady macbeth gets sexually assaulted at a party and decides to fucking kill the boys who did it" and i stayed up until like 1am to finish it because it was such a vicious gleaming wild ride

the stars undying by emery robin: does this count? hard to say, because it's just as much a retelling of roman history than shakespeare's antony and cleopatra (honestly, more, since it focuses on the era where caesar and cleopatra were lovers, which is before shakespeare's play). but i'm counting it anyway because it's bisexual space opera cleopatra and it's the best book i've read so far in 2024 and it's making me crazy and i'm writing a thesis on it < genuinely

peerless by jihae park: macbeth, but college applications, featuring asian macbeths (they're twin sisters >:3) who think their classmate has taken their place in their dream school because of affirmative action/DEI. this play is absolutely VICIOUS. it's macbeth x heathers. think it mirrors macbeth in faltering a little in its final stretch, but it still fucks hard

the wednesday wars by gary d. schmidt: okay, not a retelling; this is about a preteen boy in the 60s. but it's one of the best most genuine and heartwarming books i've ever read and it manages to be hilarious while also foregoing cheap slapstick punching-low humor for a hell of a lot of warmth and passion. and the main character interacts with shakespeare a lot as a running theme so i can justify putting it on this list. #evangelizing

of course, i would be remiss not to mention that @suits-of-woe / @mjulianwrites has written the best take on Two Gentlemen of Verona to ever exist, and i mean that quite seriously. unfortunately it hasn't been published yet so we'll all just have to prayer-circle about it. i would also be remiss not to take the opportunity to. uh. coughs. do a bit of casual self-promo. if you 1. have ocd 2. have gender or 3. think about malvolio a lot. boy do i have the novella for you

will definitely add to this when i read more retellings; feel free to drop recs in the tags/replies/reblogs/my askbox!

[dreamescapeswriting]

Stray Kids Headcannon ~ He Covers Your Lap When You’re Uncomfortable

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - March 2023

⤜MASTERLIST

CHAN:

Man is the type to instantly grab a jacket or a blanket to lay across your lap when he notices you shifting uncomfortably.

he grew up with the twice girls around him and he can sense when a woman isn't feeling too great

"here babe, take this." he'll whisper before sliding off his leather jacket and gently laying it across your lap 

if you're at the dorms sitting down and your skirt rides up just a little he's instantly laying a blanket across your lap. It's not that he doesn't trust the boys because of course he does, he just wants you to feel comfortable 

It's the same when you go out to dinner at restaurants, he'll place his jacket on your lap and smile at you even if he's cold - which he hardly gets cold I mean the guy wears shorts in winter 

"aren't you cold, Channie?"

"me? no?" he smiles as he stares down at you. The AC in the restaurant blasting but he didn't even shiver. not once.

MINHO:

Minho had always been protective of you, he never wanted you to feel uncomfortable and he was always watching you when you were outside of the apartment together

tonight was no different, you'd gone to a new restaurant together and you were wearing an outfit with a skirt not realising you'd be sitting on the floor to eat

"Here," He whispers, sliding off his jacket and gently laying it across your legs. A warm feeling spread all over you as you smiled and thanked him for it 

The whole night Minho watched you carefully, making sure that you were comfortable every second of the night. 

Even when the two of you were getting up to leave, he blocked anyone from seeing you and helped you stand up and straighten out your outfit.

"best boyfriend ever," you whisper before placing a kiss on his cheek, enjoying the way his cheeks flamed bright red

CHANGBIN:

Changbin was the type to instantly take off his jacket and put it on your lap even if you didn't seem uncomfortable. 

in his eyes he wanted you to have a blanket on you or a jacket at the very least so no one could stare in your direction

On multiple occasions, he'd been ready to fight anyone who dared to stare at you for too long if you didn't have something covering your legs.

"Binnie, I'm fine. The dress comes past my knees," You giggled watching as your boyfriend laid the blanket over your legs anyway. The beach was packed with guys and Changbin didn't think it was "fine."

"I don't want you to get uncomfortable," He mumbled cutely before you smiled and pressed your lips to his cheek, promising that you were fine.

HYUNJIN:

"What?" You laughed as Hyunjin practically raced to your side as you watched him. 

The two of you were out by a river supposed to be relaxing while he did some art but now he was in front of you laying his jacket on your lap

He'd watched countless guys stroll past you checking you out and he could sense just how uncomfortable it was making you.

Once he was satisfied with it he smirked to himself and patted your legs softly giving you a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hyunjin," You giggled as he rushed back to his canvas and began painting again, your body warming up as you realised he was covering you up from people seeing you and your chest fluttered.

Hyunjin continued to paint you, adding the jacket to the painting version of you.

JISUNG:

You didn't even think Jisung had noticed how uncomfortable you were at first and it wasn't until you were shifting next to him he realised what was going on.

There were a group of teenage guys were all learing in your direction and smirking to themselves

within seconds Jisung's hoodie was off his back and laid across your lap leaving him in one of his white shirts but he didn't care.

"You okay?" He questioned, sliding out from his spot and letting you sit where he was so you were between him and Changbin and no one could see you.

"Perfect," You whispered, laying your head on his chest

FELIX:

Felix noticed your change in your mood instantly, you went from smiling happily and laughing with the guys to shyly looking down at yourself trying to stretch your dress down a little. Felix glanced around finding what was making you so uncomfortable.

as he tries to stand up you clamp your hand onto his and beg him not to cause a scene, the last thing he needed was some drama adding to his idol rep.

"take this," He said as he slid off his jacket, laying it gently across your lap and glaring in the direction of the man that had been staring at you.

"Fucking creep, he should learn not to stare." It was obvious how pissed off Felix was that you couldn't even wear a skirt in public without being stared at or being made to feel uncomfortable

You just cuddled closer to your boyfriend and tried to relax more.

SEUNGMIN:

Seungmin was the quiet protective type, you'd barely noticed what he was doing at first until Felix had pointed it out to you. 

Tonight you took notice though. You were wearing an outfit that was shorter than most you were used to and you were a little nervous about it. Which was clear to Seungmin,

"What are you doing?" You whispered lowly for only him to hear since you were out with all of the boys. You happened to be sitting at the end of the table in view of everyone passing by.

"Keeping you covered," You smiled at him, he knew you'd always been a little shy when it came to public outings especially when you were in a skirt. It took some courage for you to wear one.

"Thank you," You whispered, kissing his cheek and cuddling close to him.

JEONGIN:

Jeongin was just like Changbin, as soon as you sat down there was a blanket or a jacket spread upon your legs. Even at the dorms. 

"The guys don't look, babe, they don't care" You tried to reassure him but the youngest member was having none of it as he made sure your legs were covered by a blanket.

"I know babe, but it's a sign of respect." He said as he looked at you, you smiled back at him. You were new in Korea and you were still learning a lot about the culture and the way things worked there 

"Oh, okay." You smiled softly, looking at him as he blushed a little. Since moving there he'd been your teacher for a lot of the things you didn't know or understand.

"Thank you, Mr Yang." You teased, kissing his cheek and giggling as the boys began to tease him.

tagline: @chiisaiblog @hanasonmi @sw33tnight @taestannie @illicee @army24--7 @acciocriativity @scarletemeterio @halesandy @aerastus @lost-leopard-beanie @laylasbunbunny @critssq​ @pearlygraysky​ @lenfilms​ @btsiguess-kpop​ @meowmeowisdaname​ @imafivestarkpopstan​ 

[padfootscoldleathers]

i'll leave (a light on) ch.1

The stage lights flash over Sirius's skin and the open air in the arena suddenly feels thin and muted. Performing under the bright eyes of hundreds of adoring fans with some of the best friends he's ever had: Peter, Marlene and Dorcas. He’s at the height of his career, the band has taken off, they're on the band's first international tour. It's everything he's always wanted. So Sirius should feel at the top of the world right now, should be happy but what is there to feel behind a mask you painted meant to show that you feel nothing?

Bought a bunch of makeup

Just trying to cover up my face

He looks into his lap and fiddles his thumbs just to do something, to work up the nerve to say what he came here to. Where do you find the courage to break a heart? "I can't do this anymore." He says it slowly and sighing, but it's a sharp taste. Possibly finally more than Sirius can take in a lifetime. "What do you mean?"

Bought a new prescription

To try and stay calm

But there's always something missing

There's always something in the mirror

That I think looks wrong

His lungs start to burn as his throat swells and voice rasps yet gorgeously compliments the song. The crowd's roaring seeps through his earpiece but he can still hear the buzzing. The annoying wasp of Walburga whispering in his ear when he was young and easily manipulated that beauty was pain; that they were one in the same. Sirius doesn't feel beautiful with hot salty tears sparkling on his cheeks. Doesn't think anyone watching tonight would see a radiance in his silent heartache.

Pretty isn't pretty enough anyway

"You know what I mean, Sirius." Barty was dancing around something Sirius didn't want to acknowledge, so obviously he wasn't going to help. Crouch had to summon his own courage, Sirius had none to spare. "I can't be with you. I know you see it, even worse you feel it and yet," Barty blows out a suffering sigh that leaves his chest caved in. "You let me stay; you let me hurt you."

Sirius winds a hand through his long curls and lifts his head to watch the ceiling fan spin around. "You're not hurting me, Bat." Crouch jumps onto his feet from where he's sat next to Sirius on the sofa.

"Bullshit! Black. You're not just lying to yourself now, you're lying to me too. You know that lies and I never fare well."

It's in my head

It's in the boys I bring to bed

It's all around

It's all the time and I don't know why I even try

The crowd is still raging from the surprise song signifying the end of the concert. They're all screaming their hearts out, probably trying to embed this night into their minds; some happy memory to pull up on a bad day. Sirius never wants to remember this night. Doesn't want to ever recall this bareness; raw and defenceless.

I could try every lipstick in every shade

But I always feel the same

"I can't just come over and pretend that being here and with you isn't eating at me, Sirius. I can't live in this delusion."

"If you knew that why the fuck did you let it drag on for 5 months? Why did you let me believe I could have this? WHY DID YOU LIE?!" Sirius's voice grew louder and louder. With his rage came grief and more anger to disguise it.

"I didn't lie, Sirius, I told you from the moment this started that I wasn't ready!"

"You haven't said anything since! Was I wrong to think that maybe this was working?!"

"YES!"

None of it matters and none of it ends

You just feel like shit over and over again

Oh it'll never change

As the ending chords to the final song fly out the speakers surrounding the arena, Sirius makes his way to the platform that'll bring him beneath the stage. Away from the lights, the crowd, the pressure, the thinning air, the heat, the cheers but not the heartache.

The silence stretches for a buzzing moment, the anger and anxiety becoming something sombre and desolate. "Why now, Barty?"

Crouch slides his arms around Sirius, unreciprocated because there's something in Sirius like a light switch gone off. A skill learned after years and years of having to hide everything he ever was in that wretched house. Hiding because no one could be trusted, no one except Regulus.

No one but Regulus, and Mary, and Peter.

"My mother taught me a lot about love, but I don't think I've ever really gotten the romance bit. Between the movies, and the marriages, and the loves, and the lies it's so hard to even begin to tell what I'm supposed to be feeling." He sighs.

"I've known you since we were yay-high, Sirius" Barty holds his hands about half a metre off the ground smiling fondly. I always kind of thought we'd have a love like the novels and movies. We'd grow up and fall in love and it would be you and me, always. But we did grow up and I still can't love you like that even though I want to. Trying to is eating at me and regardless whether you see it or not, it's eating at you too."

Barty pulls away slowly, slipping his hands from Sirius's back down his arms then further down to hold his hands.

"I love you, Sirius. I always have, I always will but not the way you want. We can't love each other like this." Barty gets himself up to walk the little hallway to the front door but stops with his hand on the doorknob when he hears Sirius start talking again.

"Well, you got what you wanted; a love like the movies. You asked for something fake and you got what you asked for." Sirius's voice echoes through the walkway from the living room. 

"Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead." Barty utters as he leaves. 

The click of that door locking is a changeless and unceasing echo in Sirius's mind like the ringing in his ears. That was nearly three months ago before he and the band left on their All American tour.

He takes his final bow as the platform descends under the stage. He stares out in front of him at nothing in particular. Stays frozen until the platform stops completely. The walk to his dressing room is a blank memory along with every conversation along the way, unlocking his dressing room door. Doesn't remember standing in the doorway to closing the door behind him and leaning against it. Or the mechanic movements to switch out of costume into a big, comfy maroon sweater and soft black leggìngs. From the deep breaths to lying on the floor in the middle of the room was entirely of his subconscious.

Sirius hasn't clicked back into place yet. He is still insensate when Peter comes in a short while later and lies next to him. They both watch the ceiling fan turn and try to follow one of its blades before their eyes can't keep up anymore. Then listen so his pocket watch tick for what feels like forever. Sirius wonders what it would be like to have certainty in life. To know what is coming, when to move, what to do. Wishes he could just have something consistent but nothing seems to stick.

The only love that ever stuck was his family. Reggie, Andy, Peter, Mary, Marls, Cas and Minnie. There is, of course, Peter's very big, very Colombian family. Not to say Sirius doesn't have room in his life for love and romance, but how much more heartache and heartbreaks can you take until you run out of heart?

"Sirius?" Peter whispers after a few minutes. Forever isn't a particularly long time anyway. When he gets no response he starts humming a familiar beat. It catches Sirius's attention which means it did its job. He can't quite pinpoint it and then it all falls into place and he starts to hum along.

"She ain't got no money,"

"Her clothes are kind of funny," Sirius scrunches his nose.

"Her hair is kinda wild and free." Peter goes on in a whisper then jumps to his feet and hauls Sirius up by his torso. Then twirls him around and ruffles his hair. "Oh, but love grows where my Rosemary goes," Sirius continues. "And nobody knows–"

"LI-i-i-Ike MeEee." Peter belts out before he changes out the final note for a screeching high pitch.

"Aagh, oh, stop! Stop! Please! I get it!" Sirius clamps a hand over Peter's mouth and he stops abruptly. It takes a good second for Peter to shut up, but he eventually does. "If I let go–" Sirius glares at him head on. "Gross. Real mature." Peter giggles behind his hand, so Sirius lets him go to wipe his hand off on Pete's face.

Prolonged eye contact.

The dressing room is silent while Peter slowly pulls something out his back pocket. They're in a staring contest so Sirius doesn't look to see what it is. That is before he gets sprayed in the face with a mini water gun. "Down, Bessie." 

Sirius wipes the liquid from his eyes but some gets in his mouth and it tastes... strange. "Is this," he licks his upper lip and Peter raises a brow comically like he's crazy. "Why are you tasting it?" He asks through a laugh.

"Is this my fucking rice water?" He ends, his mouth hanging open. "What? Did you think I didn't know why your hair's so shiny? With your incestuous bloodline you should be balding right now but," Peter scoffs and shakes the spray bottle. "Here we are."

Sirius wheezes out, "You motherfucker." 

"Not yours though." He snips back quickly. Sirius runs his tongue across the line of his teeth and looks down at their feet. He looks up and accidentally makes eye contact. Peter shakes his head, "Not even for your Make a Wish,” before they both start cackling.

That's when Dorcas walks in to find Sirius curled up on the floor wheezing and Peter giggling with an arm against the wall. She scans the room for something, but seems to come up short. "Are you guys high on helium again?" It has the opposite intended effect because it just makes them more manic. Hands on her hips, she says, "Don't make me call Minnie." Marlene pops her head under Cas's arm to take a peek inside. "No! No, don't call Minnie," Peter gets out through his fit of giggles. "We're not on helium."

"Why's Black on the floor barking his left lung out then?" Marls asks, making her way on the floor next to him.

Sirius tries his best to wheeze through an explanation. "I called Petey a motherfucker and he said–"

"Not yours though." Peter adds while he slides down the wall. Dorcas hangs her head with a smile and Marlene absolutely loses it.

Sirius grips her by the thigh, wheezing for air. "Marley, Marls. He said he wouldn't shag Walburga if it was my last cancerous dying wish." Dorcas is hanging on by only her grip on the doorknob. Marlene snorts randomly which acts as the catalyst of their cackles. "You going to tell her how we got there?" Sirius stops laughing and channels his fiercest Walburga glare, "On my dying, laboured breath.”

They then hear heels clicking down the corridor but it's freshly late because Minnie looms over Dorcas, confusion painted on her face. "I don't think I want to know," she mutters, eyeing all of them. "Time to go, the clean up crew wants to get done and get home. Pack your things in and get moving. I haven't got the energy for a pissy Kingsley. He'll take that bus and leave without a moment's notice and you were lucky he didn't get far the last time."

The bus is gone. Sirius is at a gas station. Alone. In the dark. In Texas. He rings Pete. "Why are you calling me from inside the bus?" Peter says cautiously slowly and Sirius chuckles awkwardly. "Oh my– Are you not on the bus?" He hears Peter yell for Minnie to turn the bus around. "Why are you not on the bus?!" Dorcas screeches from the phone. "I told Marls I had to pee!" He hears a tired sigh on the line in the background, probably Peter. Cas yawns, "Sirius, Marley was sleepwalking the entire time." He shrugs and says that he couldn't have known as the bus' headlights flood the street. The door slides out and he's met with an amused and smiling Kingsley, "I knew you weren't on the bus."

His mouth hangs open incredulously. "You bitch." Sirius mutters under his breath and Kingsley starts laughing like he's got endless oxygen.

"Yeah. Lucky."

(day one of spot/get the reference) taglist under the cut

ch.2

@moonyswarmsweaters @sspadfoot @thingthatoncewastruee @probs-reading @cheekyboybeth

@starving-marauder-lover @yourlocalbadgerscales @taleofapart-timepoet @mirrs-ball @tea-blankets-andstars

@where-is-vivian @amberlink @wastingawayinmyroom @ashes-to-ashesxx @percabeth-trash

@equippedtolove @moon-girl88 @jamespotterbbg @drunktayloratthevmas @labyrinthhofmymind

@s0ggyguts @nyx-taylors-version @will-vs-the-homo-sapiens-adgenda @siriusly-insane

[sraksha]

I've said this before, but i struggle with inconsistency, and it was only last year when i started to figure out how to draw humans. So i thought it'd be fun to compile my fave drawings of the LU boys faces, as i feel that is the biggest thing i struggle with.

Let's begin!

THIS-

THIS IS PERFECTION. It's from an angst piece, but this is the best man face i have ever drawn. I have mainly drawn girls, and like, boys are easy enough to draw, but i struggle so bad with more masculine men. But this, to me, is just so so good. Honestly i really like how i drew Time in this one. With the shading and highlights he just looks so good.

This is from the same angst piece and i really like this one. Twi is one of the oldest Links, but in my eyes he still has a bit of a boyish look to him. There were other drawings that looked similar enough, and that im happy with, but this one still speaks to me the most.

ANOTHER NEAR PERFECT ONE.

Whenever i draw Wars, this is the one i pull up as reference, and i say to myself "This is what you're aiming for. Please, for the love of god, try to do this again." Idk, i just REALLY like this one. And he is very pretty, even with his hair a bit messed up.

Ah, Wild from the Links in dresses series. Overall, probably one of my fave drawings lol. In this one his chin is smaller than i usually try to draw it, but come one, he is gorgeous. And he knows it.

To my shock, i haven't drawn Sky that many times to have a lot of variety. He is mostly calm and/or happy in my drawings. But i like this one. Plus he is talking about Sun!

Hyrule is another one i don't have too many drawings of, but this is just so cute. Little fae on a mischievous mood. I just like it so much. With Hyrule, his hair is what i struggle with the most. It's pretty easy to sketch, but i ALWAYS have problems lining it?? I don't get it. But in this one it turned out good.

This is a one-off that i've never been able to draw again. He somehow looks more mature in this?? Idk i just really REALLY like this one. My precious wet rag covered in glitter is processing so hard.

This is in my more relaxed, not-so-fleshed-out style. It's just really cute. The shock! The disbelief! Adorable!

WIMDY. This just feels pretty on brand for him, being a toon Link and all. This is actually the first time i drew Wind! He's adorable and i love it.

Bonus!

This is from my learing curve, and first time drawing Ravio. Im not too happy with the hair, but i really like how his face turner out. He just looks so soft and happy.

Shadow just has cat vibes imo. Line art and eyeliner on point. I just vibe with this whole drawing. Gosh i need to draw Shadow more often.

[kindlythevoid]

Jason Todd’s Reading List

(bc I got tricked deceived shown a comic list of his best appearances instead of the classics that this boy would be reading)

(And then I got carried away so now it’s organized by phase)

(Enjoy and feel free to add as I haven’t read his comics nor a ton of classics~)

Jason’s Reading List:

(this is what I imagine he read as a child; books that Sheila read to him, or if he spent time in the library during story time or checked out books; pre-Robin days)

The Secret Garden

The Three Musketeers

The Wizard of Oz

Alice in Wonderland

Sherlock Holmes

Jason Todd-Wayne’s Reading List:

(so this isn’t quite what I imagine him reading for fun as Robin, so much as what I imagine he read during his school years as Bruce Wayne’s adopted son; books that he may not have picked up on his own otherwise)

To Kill a Mockingbird

Of Mice and Men

The Great Gatsby

Old Man and The Sea

Great Expectations

The Scarlett Letter

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Tempest

Anthony and Cleopatra

The Odyssey

Gulliver’s Travels

Doctor Faustus

Robin’s Reading List:

(these are books that he definitely read in his free time, absolutely found in the Wayne Library and you cannot convince me that he and Alfred didn’t/don’t have a little book club)

Pride and Prejudice

Emma

Sense and Sensibility

Persuasion

Northanger Abbey

Mansfield Park

Jane Eyre

Romeo and Juliet

Much Ado About Nothing

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Henry V

Richard III

Red Hood’s Reading List:

(as if this man would give up his reading habit; however it is now with 250% more angst, death/revival/ghost references, and family/betrayal-related jabs)

Wuthering Heights

Frankenstein

Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Count of Monte Cristo

Hamlet

Macbeth

Othello

King Lear

Caesar

Moby Dick

The Iliad

Catch-22

1984

Crime and Punishment

Anyway there you go!! Feel free to add or reject any of books!! And special thanks to @animal-123-crazy who mentioned wanting to see this once (1) which gave me the courage to make this!!

[grungelvrr222]

what i think the dps boys each read at the meetings

okay so the poems i picked i wrote the whole poem so its a longggg post (i worked really hard to find a poem i thought suited each of the poets)

neil: When I read the book by Walt Whitman

When I read the book, the biography famous,

And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man’s life?

And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life?

(As is if any man really knew aught of my life,

Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,

Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections

I seek for my own use to trace out here.)

todd: A dream by Edgar Allan Poe

In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed—

But a waking dream of life and light

Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day

To him whose eyes are cast

On things around him with a ray of

Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream— that holy dream,

While all the world were chiding,

Hath cheered me a lovely beam

A lonely spirit guiding.

What thought that light, thro’ storm and night,

So trembled from afar—

What could there be more purely bright

In Truth’s day-star?

pitts: The last word by Matthew Arnold

Creep into they narrow bed,

Creep, and let no more be said!

Vain thy onset! all stands;

Thou thyself must break at last.

Let the long conversation cease!

Geese are swans and swans are geese.

Let them have it how they will!

Thou art tired; best be still!

They put-talk’d thee, hiss’d thee, tore thee.

Better men fared thus before thee;

Fired their ringing shot and pass’d ,

Hotly charged— and broke at last.

Charge once more , then, and be dumb!

Let the victors, when they come,

When the forts of folly fall,

Find thy body by the wall.

knox: An explanation by Walter Learned 

Her lips wear so near     That what—else could I do?  You’ll be angry, I fear, But her lips were so near— Well, I can’t make it clear,      Or explain it to you,  But—her lips were so near       That—what else could I do?  charlie: I am he that aches with love by Walt Whitman 

I am he that aches with amorous love; Does the earth gravitate? does not all matter, aching, attract             all matter? So the body of me to all I meet or know. 

meeks: How pleasant to know Mr.Lear by Edward Lear 

“How pleasant to know Mr.Lear!”      Who has written such volumes of stuff! Some think him ill-tempered and queer,       But a few think him pleasant enough. 

His mind is concrete and fastidious,      His nose is remarkably big; His visage is more or less hideous,      His beard it resembles a wig.

He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,           Leastways if you reckon two thumbs; Long ago he was one of the singers,       But now he is one of the dumbs.

He sits in a beautiful parlor,       With hundreds of books on the wall; He drinks a great deal of Marsala,       But never gets tipsy at all.

He has many friends, lay men and clerical,               Old Foss is the name of his cat; His body is perfectly spherical,    He weareth a runcible hat.

When he walks in waterproof white,      The children run after him so! Calling out, "He's come out in his night-              Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"

He weeps by the side of the ocean,      He weeps on the top of the hill; He purchases pancakes and lotion,      And chocolate shrimps from the mill.

He reads, but he cannot speak, Spanish,     He cannot abide ginger beer: Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,      How pleasant to know Mr. Lear! cameron: I used to think by Trumbull Stickney

I used to think The mind essential in the body, even As stood the body essential in the mind: Two inseparable things, by nature equal And similar, and in creation’s song Halving the total scale: it is not so. Unlike and cross like driftwood sticks they come Churned in the giddy trough: a chunk of pine, A slab of rosewood: mangled each on each With knocks and friction, or in deadly pain Sheathing each other’s splinters: till at last Without all stuff or shape they ’re jetted up Where in the bluish moisture rot whate’er Was vomited in horror from the sea.

[p0isonyouth]

Flurry | Spencer Reid

Summary: After bringing your childhood best friend, Spencer Reid, to a family gathering at your hometown, you car breaks down on the way back and a winter storm is brewing.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Warnings: fluff, pt. 2?

When you and Spencer took a day trip over to your parent’s house for a family dinner, you hadn’t expected being stuck with a busted tire, your childhood best friend whom you’ve had a crush on forever, and a blizzard. You expected to be back to Quantico a couple of hours ago, as both you and Spencer had work the next morning.

You were huddled in the back, wrapped up in the awful colored coat that your great aunt gave you, and boy did it provide the warmth. Peering out of the windows, you checked to see if Spencer was anywhere near the car. The boy genius, both worried about the both of you catching hypothermia and the wrath of Hotch if you arrived late to work, had decided to trek two miles to the nearest ounce of civilization that he could find to see if he could find a spare tire or repairman.

Your eyes moved to the door as it opened, seeing the intelligent man with snow in his hair. “Finally!” You exclaim, adjusting yourself to sit up straight. Spencer entered the driver’s seat, tapping on the wheel in frustration. “What took you so long? Did you get any help?”

“Y/N, I had to walk two miles.”

“So, are we gonna die in here or did you get any help?” You pressed, leaning forward in between the seats. The snow began to fall harder, and the sky was getting darker by the minute.

Spencer pursed his lips, turning to face you, his hazel eyes meeting yours. “Someone should be here in half an hour with your new tire. I can’t believe you threw out the spare, why would you do that?” He asked, giving away full disbelief in his eyes. “Did you know that 28% of vehicles don’t have spare tires, and more than half of them get into accidents without them. Yet, you threw yours out, Y/N.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to fit our luggage with it inside the car, Spencer. Jesus, I’m sorry.” To be fair, the circumstances were out of your control, even with the spare tire. Your car was pretty old, so it probably would’ve broken down in the winter chill anyways, it wouldn’t have been the first time.

“It’s freezing in here, Y/N!” He said, wrapping his arms around himself. You sat there, shocked at him for easily dismissing your apology. Usually, you were good at maintaining a poker face—given that that was a part of your job—but it was hard to act as if his lack of words didn’t affect you. Because they did. Badly.

At the continued silence, you leared your throat, cueing him to look down at you from the corner of his eyes. “Thank you for going for help, Spence.” You muttered, returning back to your huddled position in the back of the car. Spencer watched you move in the mirror, cursing himself for hurting your feelings.

“You’re welcome.” He watched you shiver in your seat, biting his bottom lip as he contemplated telling you more or not about the current situation you two were in. You were his best friend, one of the only people who stook up for him during his years of being a teen genius. There was no way that he was going to blame all of this on you.

With another shiver going down your spine, you let out a small laugh, gasping as the pain of the cold hit you. “God, you were right. It is freezing in here.”

With a sigh, Spencer opened the driver side’s door, hopping into the back and pulling you into a warm cuddle. You and Spencer had never been as close as you were now, yet both of you were afraid to break the intimate moment. You snuggled into his side, attempting to wrap the coat around his torso as well.

Spencer wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest as he snuggled his head into the nook of your neck. Your eyes darted around nervously, your mind locked in a relentless battle between reason and longing. You shouldn’t be feeling anything at a time like this, stuck in a winter storm. Still, your thoughts swirled in a whirlwind of forbidden fantasies, each one more tantalizing than the last.

“God, if JJ and Morgan saw this, they’d think they won the lottery.” You whispered, biting your lip as you felt his warm breath on your neck. “By now, I’m sure the whole team thinks that we’re—” You stopped, unsure what to say next. Reid lifts his head from your neck, turning your chin so you could face him.

“That we’re what, Y/N?” He whispered, a groan wanting to come out of your body. You could feel your face grow red, your heart racing. You opened and closed your mouth a few times, at a complete loss for words. You couldn’t think straight, not with his eyes staring down at you.

“I’m not sure, Spencer.” You tried to shrug, but his arms weighted down your shoulders. “You know, my mom offered for us to stay the night. I should’ve said yes, but I just couldn’t stand to see her with that new husband of hers, Winston.” You sneered, rolling your eyes at the mention of your stepfather. He was an older man than your mother, yet somehow inexperienced with the world. Upon meeting you, the man tried to act as your father, but he never would be.

“That bad, huh?” Spencer chuckled, his mind still racing with what you were going to say. He had tried to talk to you the whole reunion, yet relatives pulled you two away from each other each time. He wanted to talk to you about the feelings that he had felt since you two were children, the feelings that her didn’t know you reciprocated. “Winston seemed like an interesting person.

You snorted, rolling you eyes. “Interesting, alright. The highlight of the whole this is that he told me that they’ll put in a fold-out bed in the den just for me, told me that I could be their guest from time to time. Perks of being an only child I suppose, at least for now.”

“Sometimes happiness makes people a little selfish and very dense.” The genius commented, rubbing your arms for comfort.

“I walked down that hallway as slowly as I possibly could. I knew mom would follow me because I was upset. But the last thing I heard was the sound of her laughter before she left the room.”

“It’s not always going to be like that, Y/N.” Spencer assured, running his fingers through your hair. “I promise you.”

“You’re right, Spence.” You nodded in complete agreement. “They’ll have some more children, a nice beig family like mom always wanted. And then I’ll get booted out of the picture entirely.”

“Y/N, you know that your mom isn’t like that. She’s in love, and that changes people. She’ll be back to her old self in no time.” The doctor assured, moving you so you could be more comfortable. Your head rested in the nook of his arm, your eyes closed so you could enjoy the moment.

“All I know is that it’s not worth it. I’m never getting married. Ever.”

“Ever?” Spencer asked, an amused smile playing on his lips.

“No. I’m not.” You replied, eyes still closed against his arm. I’m just gonna have tons and tons of cash, maybe I’ll buy an island or something.” Spencer let out a laugh as you looked up at him, feigning offense. Hitting his shoulder, you gave a small pout. “What’s so funny.”

“Nothing, nothing. I’m just glad you invited me, that’s all. I couldn’t get this much of a show at the bullpen, even from Garcia and Morgan.”

“Why, thank you.” You smiled widely, grabbing his cold hand and messing with his fingers. “I’m glad you’re here.”

His gaze rested on your eyes, slowly making its way down to your lips. Subconsciously, you leaned in closer, closing your eyes to await your moment of bliss. A moment you’ve been waiting for ever since you were a child.

Suddenly, a horn erupted from the distance, lights blaring into the window of the car. You and Spencer pulled apart, your heart beating fast.

What the hell just happened?

a/n: this is my first imagine! how'd you like it and do we want a part two?

[reallyromealone]

hii Rome, i really enjoyed the xiao fic u made where tighnari was readers and xiaos kid and i was wondering if u could make part 2? ty <333

Sure!

Tighnari was surprisingly a quiet pup, rarely crying unless he was hungry or needed a change.

"Why so many tears? I'm here" (name) teased the six month old pup who clutched onto (name) like a lifeline "did someone get lonely?" (Name) gently pet his pups ear, smiling as Tighnari kicked his little foot in joy as a tiny purr rippled through him "such a good boy..."

(Name) wandered the Halls of the inn as the tiny pup in his arms snuggled into his chest while looking up at him with wide eyes "when your bigger maybe you can join me in my garden, so many cool things I can't wait to show you"

Xiao watched at a distance as his mate spoke so lovingly to the product of their love, Tighnaris tiny little tail wagging excitedly as his dam spoke to him like he was the most important thing in his world.

"Shouldn't you two be asleep?" Xiao finally asked as he walked behind (name), resting his head on his mates shoulder and peered down to his pup who chewed on his chubby little hand "he couldn't sleep..." (Name) mumbled softly as the small family stood in the hallway of the inn, both parents cooing and doting on the fox pup who soaked it up.

"Let's go to sleep, little pups need energy to face the day"

X

"Papa! Look!" Tighnari said as he held the hand of another pup, the four year old looking very pleased with his new friend "oh? Whose this?"

"This is my new best friend Cyno!"Tighnari said excitedly "he also thinks plants are cool!"

The family decided to visit Sumeru for a few weeks, Tighnari facinated with the plants and such and vowed to protect sumerus forest after being told nature is delicate.

"That's very lovely, I'm sure you two will be life long friends" Xiao said as the two boys ran off to go play as (name) spoke off in the distance with Tighnaris grandfather about possibly having Tighnari learn archery as the tot was deeply facinated by it and Xiao let his mate handle it, knowing he had it handled.

When the night came Tighnari was passed out in Xiaos arms, lears twitching as he dreamed happy dreams "so what did your father say?" Xiao asked as they tucked their pup into his bed, the pup sucking his thumb as he snuggled into the soft plush bed.

"He wants to surprise him in the morning with his old bow, he's gonna be so excited" (name) said fondly as they watched the pup sleep.

"He wants to be "the watcher of the Forest" when he's older" Xiao said softly as they walked out of the pups room that was covered with pictures of plants and animals and many stuffed toys of both Liyue and Sumerus wildlife.

"He will be excellent at it, he's our pup after all"

[bethanydelleman]

I re-read A Midsummer Night's Dream which was my former favourite Shakespeare and it really paled in comparison to Much Ado About Nothing. However, I can see why I liked it so much formerly. I wasn't as used to the language and the humour is fairly easy to grasp even if you can't fully figure out what they are saying: it's funny because both guys like Hermia and then they switch to Helena.

However, now, the taming of the shrew-esq treatment of Titania bothers me (she had a really good reason not to give up that boy!) and it just wasn't as witty. The part I liked the best this read was the ending, when the three couples make jokes about the ridiculous Pyramis and Thisbe play, Statler & Waldorf style.

I think a lot of appreciation of writing can come down to your time of life. I saw a production of King Lear right in the middle of my degree in cognitive neuroscience and it really hit me hard as a depiction of dementia and aging. I read Persuasion by Jane Austen as a teenager and it meant nothing to me.

I also think some of my love comes down to productions I've seen. I saw Christopher Plummer in The Tempest at the Ontario Stratford festival and I loved it! They had an amazing Ariel played by a small woman in a whimsical blue bodysuit. She was my favourite part. (I think that one was filmed by the way if you want to check it out)

This was just the perfect time for me to read and love Much Ado About Nothing. I'm a lot better at reading and understanding the humour and I've spent a lot of time steeped in writing about women's place in society and their fragile reputations. Hero's story makes me as angry as it makes Beatrice!

It's fascinating to return to literature years later and to feel so differently about it. It's a total cliche, but only because it's true.

[justforbooks]

The word “great” is somewhat promiscuously applied to actors. But it was undoubtedly deserved by Sir Michael Gambon, who has died aged 82 after suffering from pneumonia.

He had weight, presence, authority, vocal power and a chameleon-like ability to reinvent himself from one role to another. He was a natural for heavyweight classic roles such as Lear and Othello. But what was truly remarkable was Gambon’s interpretative skill in the work of the best contemporary dramatists, including Harold Pinter, Alan Ayckbourn, David Hare, Caryl Churchill and Simon Gray.

Although he was a fine TV and film actor – and forever identified in the popular imagination with Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise – the stage was his natural territory. It is also no accident that, in his private life, Gambon was an expert on, and assiduous collector of, machine tools and firearms for, as Peter Hall once said: “Fate gave him genius but he uses it as a craftsman.”

Off-stage, he was also a larger-than-life figure and a superb raconteur: a kind of green-room Falstaff. I have fond memories of an evening in a Turin restaurant in March 2006 on the eve of Pinter’s acceptance of the European Theatre prize. Gambon kept the table in a constant roar, not least with his oft-told tale of auditioning for Laurence Olivier as a young actor in 1963 and cheekily choosing to do a speech from Richard III; but the next night Gambon gave an explosive rendering of Pinter’s poem American Football that threatened to blow the roof off the Turin theatre.

However, Gambon’s bravura was also mixed with a certain modesty. In the summer of 2008 I met him for tea in London and found him eagerly studying the script of Pinter’s No Man’s Land, in which he was scheduled, several months later, to play Hirst. He told me that he had started work on it so soon because he found it difficult to learn lines at his age.

“Sometimes,” he said, “I sleep with a script under my pillow, or just carry it around in my raincoat pocket, in the hope the lines will rub off on me.” I think he was genuine; but with Gambon, one of life’s great leg-pullers, you were never entirely sure.

Gambon achieved greatness without either the formal training or genetic inheritance that are often considered indispensable.

He was born into a working-class Dublin family that had no artistic background; his mother, Mary (nee Hoare), was a seamstress, and his father, Edward, an engineer. When the family settled in Britain after the second world war, the young Gambon went to St Aloysius school for boys, in Somers Town, central London. On leaving at the age of 15 he signed a five-year apprenticeship with Vickers-Armstrongs, leading to a job as a tool-and-die maker. With his mechanical aptitude, he loved the work. But he also discovered a passion for amateur theatre and, having started by building sets, eventually moved into performing. “I want varoom!” he once said. “I thought, Jesus, this is for me.”

With typical chutzpah, he wrote to the Gate theatre in Dublin, creating a fantasy list of roles that he had played in London, including Marchbanks in Shaw’s Candida; in the end, he made his professional debut there in 1962 as the Second Gentleman in Othello. His best decision, however, on returning to London, was to sign up for an improvisational acting class run by William Gaskill at the Royal Court.

Gaskill was about to join the newly formed National Theatre company at the Old Vic and recommended Gambon for an audition: hence the celebrated story of Gambon’s first encounter with Olivier, which ended with the young actor, in his excess of zeal, banging his hand on a nail in an upstage column and bleeding profusely. Far from being the nail in Gambon’s coffin, this led to a productive four years with the National in which he progressed from walk-ons to substantial roles such as that of Swiss Cheese in Gaskill’s revival of Mother Courage.

On Olivier’s advice, however, Gambon left the National in 1967 to hone and pursue his craft at Birmingham rep – a shrewd move that saw him, at the astonishingly early age of 27, playing his first Othello. He moved on later to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and in 1968 made his first foray into television with the leading role in a BBC adventure series called The Borderers.

However, it was through working on another TV series, The Challengers, that he made a contact that was to transform his career. His fellow actor Eric Thompson was moving into directing, and in 1975 was set to do an Ayckbourn trilogy, The Norman Conquests, at the Greenwich theatre. He cast Gambon, against type, as a dithering vet.

He revealed, for the first time, his shape-shifting gifts; and the sight of him, seated at a dinner table on a preposterously low stool with his head barely visible above the table’s edge, remains one of the great comic images of modern theatre.

This led to a highly productive working relationship with Ayckbourn including key roles in Just Between Ourselves (Queen’s theatre, London, 1977) and Sisterly Feelings (National, 1980).

At the same time, Gambon began an association with Gray by taking over, from Alan Bates, the role of the emotionally detached hero in Otherwise Engaged (Queen’s theatre, 1976).

That was directed by Pinter, for whom in 1978 Gambon created the part of Jerry in Betrayal at the National. It was a production beset by problems, including a strike that threatened to kibosh the first night, but Gambon’s mixture of physical power and emotional delicacy marked him out as a natural Pinter actor. That power, however, manifested itself in the 1980s in a series of performances that staked out Gambon’s claim to greatness.

First, in 1980, came Brecht’s Galileo at the National: a superbly triumphant performance that brought out the toughness, obduracy and ravening intellectual curiosity of Brecht’s hero. It was a measure of his breakthrough that, as Gambon returned to his dressing room after the first night, he found the other actors in the National’s internal courtyard were shouting and roaring their approval. Two years later, Gambon returned to the RSC to play both a monumental King Lear and a ravaged Antony opposite Helen Mirren’s Cleopatra.

But arguably the finest of all of Gambon’s 80s performances was his Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, directed by Ayckbourn at the National (1987). It helped that Gambon actually looked like Miller’s longshoreman-hero: big and barrel-chested with muscular forearms, he was plausibly a man who could work the Brooklyn docks.

Gambon also charted Eddie’s complex inner life through precise physical actions. He stabbed a table angrily with a fork on learning that his niece had got a job, let his eyes roam restlessly over a paper as the niece and the immigrant Rodolpho quietly spooned, and buckled visibly at the knees on realising that a fatal phone-call to the authorities had ensnared two other immigrants. In its power and melancholy, this towering performance justified the sobriquet once applied by Ralph Richardson of “the great Gambon”.

When you consider that the decade also saw Gambon playing the psoriasis-ravaged hero of Dennis Potter’s TV series The Singing Detective (1986), you realise his virtuosity and range.

And that became even clearer in 1990 when he played the mild-mannered hero of Ayckbourn’s Man of the Moment (Globe theatre, now Gielgud, London), had another crack at Othello for Ayckbourn in Scarborough and appeared, in 1989, as a romantically fixated espionage agent in Pinter’s TV adaptation of Elizabeth Bowen’s The Heat of the Day: that last performance, alternately sinister and shy, was one of Gambon’s finest for television and deserved a far wider showing.

In later years Gambon successfully balanced his stage career with an amazingly prolific one in film and television. In Hare’s Skylight at the National in 1995 he combined the bulk and weight of a prosperous restaurateur with a feathery lightness – a skipping post-coital dance across the stage with the balletic grace often possessed by heavily built men.

Gambon was equally brilliant as a disgusting, Dickensian, accent-shifting Davies in a revival of Pinter’s The Caretaker (Comedy theatre, 2000), as a perplexed bull of a father in Churchill’s A Number (Royal Court, 2002), as a Lear-like Hamm in Beckett’s Endgame (Albery, 2004) and as a brooding, alcoholic Hirst in Pinter’s No Man’s Land (Duke of York’s, 2008). Even if Gambon’s Falstaff in a 2005 National Theatre production of Henry IV Parts One and Two did not quite match expectations, his work for the theatre revealed an ability to combine volcanic power with psychological depth and physical delicacy.

Ill health and increasing memory problems forced him to retire from stage acting in 2015, but not before he had given memorable performances in two Beckett plays: Krapp’s Last Tape (Duchess, 2010) and All That Fall (Jermyn Street theatre, 2012), where he played, opposite Eileen Atkins, the sightless but stentorian Mr Rooney.

He also continued to work in television and film for as long as possible. He belied the whole notion of the small screen by giving large-scale performances as the black sheep of a big family in Stephen Poliakoff’s Perfect Strangers (2001) and as a reclusive plutocrat in the same writer’s Joe’s Palace (2007).

He was nominated for awards for his performances as Lyndon Johnson in an American TV movie, Path to War (2002), and as Mr Woodhouse in a BBC version of Jane Austen’s Emma (2009). Later TV series included The Casual Vacancy (2015), Fearless (2017) and Little Women (2017).

In film, he had a rich and varied career that ranged from the violent hero of Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), to a heavyweight mafia boss in Mobsters (1991), the aged Lord Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited (2008), a cantankerous old director in Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet (2012) and the bearded Hogwarts headteacher (whom he privately referred to as “Dumblebore”) in six of the eight Harry Potter films, taking over the role for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) following the death of Richard Harris.

He also provided the narration for the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! (2016) and voiceovers for the two Paddington films (2014 and 2017).

But Gambon brought to everything he did, in life as well as art, enormous gusto, a sense of mischief and a concern with precision: he was almost as happy restoring old firearms as he was working on a new role.

In 1992 he was appointed CBE, and six years later was knighted.

He married Anne Miller in 1962, and they had a son, Fergus. From a subsequent relationship with Philippa Hart, whom he met on the set of Gosford Park, he had two sons, Michael and William.

He is survived by Anne and his three sons.

🔔 Michael Gambon, actor, born 19 October 1940; died 27 September 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[rocksteadydeadboy]

📻🙾 [charles as ska/punk lyrics] 🙾📻

playlist [ here on youtube ] or on desktop view of this blog! just some random lyrics that remind me of the lad (not 100% ska or punk songs but for the most part!)

[ 📀 for songs i think fit best / my faves, 💿 for the rest lol ]

📀 The Selecter - Washed Up And Left For Dead

[ basically the entire song lol ] but I like these in particular:

He was washed up and left for dead Nobody told him he was just not wanted It got so cold after midnight

Night after night he's out biting the pavement Hurt his hands clapping for the group He can't dance, but he can certainly cause trouble

📀 The English Beat - Tears Of A Clown

[ full lyrics ]

Now if there's a smile on my face It's only there tryin’ to fool the public But when it comes down to foolin’ you Now, honey, that's quite a different subject

📀 X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents

[ full lyrics ] a song for edwin!

I know you're antiseptic Your deodorant smells nice I'd like to get to know you You're deep frozen like the ice

[His] phobia is infection [He] needs one to survive It's [his] built-in protection Without fear [he'd] give up and die

📀 Amanda Lear - Follow Me

[ full lyrics ] tbh just here so i could have a song for the cat king. entire lyrics apply i love this song

I'll sell you dreams and new desires, I'm trading hopes, I'm open late

Unbelievable, maybe / You'll have a new identity For a second of vanity, I want to change your destiny

I'll give you wings, I'll sell you fame, merry-go-round maybe to Hell I am the key to your problem, so follow me, just follow me

📀 The Specials - Hey Little Rich Girl

[ full lyrics ] a song for crystal (and david the demon)

You left for London When you were nineteen Had to pull off your nice clothes Just living on dreams A man in the bright lights Took all that you own Now he's taken your freedom For a fate unknown

📀 The Business - Another Rebel Dead

[ full lyrics ] another charles gets murdered song :(

They say he killed himself But it was someone else His name was on their list And now he don't exist He didn't stand a chance Upon his grave they dance They were determined to blow him out

📀 Madness - It Must be Love

[ full lyrics ] another edwin song codependent king

As soon as I wake up every night, every day I know that it's you I need to take the blues away

I've got to be near you every night, every day I couldn't be happy any other way

📀 The Specials - It Doesn't Make It Right

[ full lyrics ] 'these cases have to matter', etc

Just because you're nobody It doesn't mean that you're no good Just because there's a reason It doesn't mean it's understood

It doesn't make it alright It doesn't make it alright It's the worst excuse in the world And it, it doesn't make it alright

💿 X-Ray Spex - I Can't Do Anything

[ full lyrics ] this one is a bit on the nose

I can't read / And I can't spell / I can't even get to hell I can't love / And I can't hate / I can't even hesitate

💿 The Toasters - Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down

[ full lyrics ] mostly here for vibes

I'm living in a world where I don't really fit Every day walking through the same old shit I'm gonna get my gun, gonna get prepared I'm not impressed and I'm not scared

💿 Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine

[ full lyrics ] a bit of a niko song as well

I wish everyday the sun would shine Take me to another place in my mind Where everything is beautiful

If we could fly away on wings To a place where all could be true And the skies were blue And love was true

💿 Special Interest - Don't Kiss Me In Public

[ full lyrics ] charles & crystal song #CuteDistraction

Why don't you kiss me in public? And smear your lipstick all on my cheek Boo hoo won't cry for heartless cinema Boo hoo don't cry for you and me

💿 Angelic Upstarts - Never Return To Hell

[ full lyrics ] another overly literal pick lol

Never return to hell Hey boys, quite enough to fulfill the final blow One day all your games will come to an end

💿 Tamar-kali - Boot

[ full lyrics ] another charles & crystal song, i just like this line

She is sweet tasting fruit whose juice is bitter tears

💿 The Oppressed - Do Anything You Wanna Do

[ full lyrics ] mostly for the vibes

Why don't you ask them what they expect from you ? Why don't you tell them what you're gonna do You get so lonely, maybe it's better that way It's not you only, 'cause you got something to say Do anything you wanna do

💿 Angelic Upstarts - Never 'Ad Nothin'

[ full lyrics ] also just here for vibes!

I'm gonna go up in a puff of smoke I wanna go up in a puff of smoke (2x) If I'm goin' out I'm takin' some of you fucks with me!

💿 The English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom

[ full lyrics ] that's right another codependent payneland song

Mirror in the bathroom, please talk free The door is locked, just you and me Can I take you to a restaurant that's got glass tables? You can watch yourself while you are eating

💿 The Specials - Do Nothing

[ full lyrics ] lastly! another depressing one lol. perhaps charles thoughts on being dead in ep 4

They're just living in a life without meaning I walk and walk, do nothing They're just playing in a life without thinking They talk and talk, say nothing I'm just living in a life without feeling

[a-hundred-jewels]

ptsd made me a hardcore marauders fan for seven months

Ao3

content warning: the following contains discussions of school violence, teen violence, (briefly) domestic violence, mental health issues, depression, and trauma. if any of these are sensitive topics for you, please proceed with caution. in addition, if you feel i've missed a warning, please nicely let me know in the comments.

I don't like Harry Potter. 

Sure, I binge-read the entire series in a bored, undiagnosed-ADHD-induced haze at the age of thirteen, have spent countless hours reading and even writing fanfiction for the series, have followed tumblr tags, listened to playlists, watched youtube videos, and am in the process of very slowly hand-binding myself a copy of A Black Mass Over Highway Ninety, but—

I don't like it, but nevertheless, I was sucked in. 

~

"Some kid overdosed," one of my classmates said. 

"What?" 

"They're clearing the hallways."

Our principal had just come on the loudspeakers to issue a "shelter in place" order, telling us to ignore all bells and stay in our current classroom until he came back on and told us otherwise. I was actually glad, hoping the extra time would allow me to finish my Spanish homework before second period, since I'd spent most of the weekend thinking about the Strictly Come Dancing finals and my King Lear presentation in English class. 

I hardly thought about the order itself—they're extremely common in United State schools, both as drills and as actual occurences. "Shelter in place" originated as a milder verison of going into lockdown where, instead of hiding from a potential shooter, students and teachers must simply not leave the room. In any case, I saw no reason to worry, and set about doing my homework. 

~

In fall of 2022, I started my senior year of high school at the age of seventeen. I was having a rough year—my younger sister's depression was at an all-time high and my mother was recovering from a health scare—but, fandomwise, I was doing great. After all, Our Flag Means Death had come out that spring and I was in love. All I wanted to talk about were the gay pirates, and I even bought myself a "Team Edward" t-shirt with Taika Waititi's face smack in the middle as a "back to school" present. Everything was supposed to get better. 

School sucked, because I went to a big public high school that looked like a prison and had equally-shitty Wifi, my (still undiagnosed) ADHD was worsening, and my grades were getting kind of bad. Even so, for a couple of months, I remained confident that my senior year would be my best one yet.

~

Third period was gym class, meaning I was only about an hour and a half away from the King Lear presentation. Senior year was actually one of the few years where I liked gym, which was awesome. It was just me and six boys, all of whom were nice to me, and our teacher was great. I think we were playing badminton that day, when our principal came on the loudspeakers to say that we were, once again, under a "shelter in place" order. 

We were nonchalant about this, just as we had been in the morning. I cannot stress how desensitized children in the U.S. are to things like this, these days. When my little sister was in elementary school, there was a day when the whole school was put in a "shelter in place" because a man was walking around outside with a bunch of knives. When I was a junior, a boy severely beat up his girlfriend in the school hallway, giving her a concussion and leading to two mass protests. There were violent fights at my town's public schools almost weekly—and all of this is very, very normal. I would go so far as to say that my situation was pretty mild. 

So we sat on the floor and did homework as time crept on, wondering vaguely what was going on, but no moreso than that. Third period ended, and we stayed. It should have been lunch time—we were getting hungry—but there was still no word about the lockdown ending. We stayed. Surely, it could only be another ten minutes or so?

And then, one of my classmates looked up from his phone screen, which was displaying a chat on Discord. 

"Oh my god—someone was stabbed."

~

Before, I get properly started, I'd like to be totally clear: the point of this essay isn't to bash the Harry Potter fandom, not as a whole, and certainly not the sections of it I've been in. I met some incredible people while in my period of rabidly consuming Marauders content, and I don't want to put them down or dishonor the beautiful things they've created with my attitude. I loved my time in the Marauders fandom as much as I could love anything at that point in my life and have nothing but respect for the writers, artists, and tumblrinas who welcomed me into their space. 

All of that being said, I think it's fascinating that I fell into a fandom like this one, particularly when I was doing so badly mentally. My dislike of Harry Potter only increases as I grow, as does my indifference, and, while I understand that's a fairly common sentiment shared among Marauders fans, I also get the impression that nostalgia plays a big part in their participation in the fandom. A Harry Potter- loving, bookworm child grows into a cynical teen, and then into a kind, brilliant adult with a "well, fuck it" attitude towards the world, using their limited free time to take that nostalgia from a childhood book series and write the kind of queer narratives they wish they'd had in adolescence. I could, of course, be wrong, but that's more-or-less how I understood the specific parts of the fandom I was in. (I know pretty much nothing about the tik tok side of the Marauders fandom, so we're just not factoring that in at all). Also, note that I said "adult" before, because the majority of people I interacted with were in their twenties and thirties. Being eighteen at the time and still in highschool, they all seemed at least moderately grown-up and untouchable to me. 

All this to say, once again, that I literally didn't care about Harry Potter until I was almost fourteen and, even then, I only started reading it out of sheer boredom. I have pretty much no nostalgia or happy childhood memories associated with the series—I even skipped large sections of the fourth and seventh books because it irritated me whenever the main characters were fighting with each other. I was, at best, a casual fan. 

There's something comforting, though, about being in such a big fandom, especially when your bad habit of choice is binge-reading smutty fanfiction in order to feel less dead. And, regardless of how I actually felt about Harry Potter , the concrete safety of a completed, unchanging series of books and movies where the author was already widely disliked definitely appealed tome and my less-than-stable life. You don't need to worry about a scandal if they've all already happened and, no matter how hard she tried to on Twitter, Joanne can't actually change the contents of the books. In my world of current fandoms and kind writers and actors all accessible on social media, the fuck-ass Harry Potter fandom was a bit of a refuge. 

So that's why I think it was specifically the Marauders that I got into.

~

I don't actually remember how long we were in that gym. It must have been at least two hours, including the class time beforehand, but I barely remember any of it. I texted my friends, frantically trying to determine that everyone I knew was okay, and I told my parents what was going on. To this day, the thing I am most thankful for is that my sister, who we'll call Tabitha, wasn't there. I don't know what I would have done if she'd been in school that day. The other main thing I remember thinking about was my King Lear presentation, which was supposed to happen right after lunch, and, as the time stretched on, I became more and more worried that I wouldn't get to do it that day. 

Shortly after my classmate saw the Discord messages about the stabbing, a video of the fight was leaked across Snapchat, as well as an image of the wound. We all looked on in horror, including my teacher (who we'll call Mr. Blake). It's objectively horrible to watch footage of a child being stabbed, no matter how grainy the video is, but, so far, we'd received no official information from the school, so this was literally all we had, and it had happened in the same building. Our principal wasn't allowed to make any statements (at least to my understanding) without it going through our superintendant and, for whatever reason, she didn't feel it necessary to get ahead of social media on this. 

I was trapped in a school with thousands of other people, one of whom had just assaulted someone. 

~

The night before my second semester of senior year began, I stayed up past midnight reading Dear Your Holiness by @mollymarymarie fleabag AU where Remus is a priest by day and a local rock musician by night, and Sirius has a popular music magazine. I had also spent much of my winter break listening to a podfic of All The Young Dudes (made it to sixth year) and generally rooting around people's bookmarks and gifts to get out of my head, so it's safe to say that, by the time I got to school in January, my brain was practially deep-fried in this new fandom, and it would only get moreso. 

~

Mr. Blake felt, after an hour or so, that we'd be safer in the boys' locker room. He brought us down through a stairwell I'd never seen before, tucked away in corner of a closet in the gymnasium. I was thrilled by the opportunity to explore and filmed the journey on my phone. It's a weird, haunting video, not just for the grim situation and shadowy rooms, but because I'm so lively behind the camera. We're all fairly upbeat, joking about how big the school is and what things must have been like when it opened. I won't share the video here, as I don't feel like doxing myself, but I did rewatch it in preparation for writing this and it's truly disconcerting to look at the inside of a building I haven't been in for over a year, to hear the voice of a past version of myself and know I'm seeing snapshots of a day that changed me forever. 

All there was to eat in the locker room were these Gatorade protein bars—mine was supposedly cookies and cream flavoured. I still remember the taste, sickly sweet and artificial. On an empty stomach, particularly an overly sensitive autistic one like mine, it was a horrible idea, and I felt sick afterwards, but god, I was so hungry. 

I sent a selfie to my parents and Tabitha, then tried to read fanfiction while listening to one of my classmates talk in what sounded like Hatian Creole with his family on the phone. Boys were constantly being paraded in to use the urinals. The walls were painted concrete blocks, the benches were narrow and hard, and so I sat there. 

~

In February, I spend a weekend binge-reading A Black Mass Over Highway Ninety, which kickstarted an obsession with seventies music and fashion. I read and reread the sex scenes during my final few months of highschool, trying desperately to shut my brain up and keep me from feeling so trapped in my daily life and the school I still attended. I got into the works of @spookymoonie, who was incredibly kind to me, and used to visit and refresh their blog every day to see if they'd (sigh) written more porn. Look, man, it was really good porn. 

On the day of my high school graduation, I got dressed in pants that were too small for me, a shirt that was too big, and a cap and gown that made me look like a walking body bag. I mingled with my friends beforehand, taking pictures with people who I now haven't spoken to in months. The ceremony was long and boring but I'm a sucker for that kind of symbolic stuff, so I kind of liked it. I did say for weeks afterwards, though, that I didn't feel like I'd really graduated until I was cycling home, listening to "Telephone Line" on my tinny iPhone speaker. That was my graduation. 

And I only knew that song from the official Black Mass playlist. 

~

By the time we were finally released from the "shelter in place" and sent for lunch, it had been about three hours since our principal's initial announcement back in third period. There was little fanfare to the whole ordeal, and I don't recall any actual information being given to our parents from the school at this point, either, though I could be misremembering. Our principal simply came on the speakers and told us that the lockdown was up and we were to go for lunch. I had a pre-packaged turkey wrap that day—my mum got them from the store sometimes as a special lunch for me. I'm a vegetarian these days, so I wouldn't eat it regardless, but, even if I weren't, I don't think I could bring myself to eat one of those wraps again, not without remembering. 

We'd only been in lunch for about ten minutes when somebody pulled the fire alarm. I don't know who did it, only that it was a student and there was no fire. I hate the fire alarm for the same reasons I hate all sudden, loud noises, and I was so overwhelmed already that I remember crying as we were paraded out into the parking lots, shivering in the cold, late-December air. I sat on a curb and ate my sandwich, wishing I had left when some of my classmates had, as soon as the "shelter in place" was lifted, or at least that I had my jacket and keys with me so I could get my bike and leave right then. 

The fire drill was over as quickly as it had started and, god, I wish I'd left right then. Just grabbed my shit and got the hell out of there. But, well…my English presentation. 

To anyone with rational mind capabilities, it would be incredibly obvious by now that said English presentation was absolutely not happening. A child had been stabbed, we'd all seen it on video and then been trapped for three hours— King Lear was far from a pressing concern. But I was traumatized and one of my groupmates was leaving the next day, so it felt like an emergency. So long as I was focused on my presentation and the soap opera-like melodrama of the play, I didn't have to think about what was happening around me. 

Anyway, we did nothing English related fourth period, instead sitting in a circle and letting our teacher talk us through how we were feeling. I'm very grateful to her for giving us the space she did to feel our fear and anger without judgement, and I will never forget her telling us that we were to use the teachers' bathrooms for the rest of the day, and if any administrators had a problem with it, they could take things up with her. It might not seem like much, but when the stabbing had occured in a student bathroom, it was really nice for someone to acknowledge that we might be scared. 

Another hour, or so, and the day was over. 

~

I also want to get ahead and make sure I'm not framing my leaving of the Marauders fandom as a particularly good thing, or a good time in my life. I was still depressed and unemployed and, even after I finally got a job in August, I managed to hit several more crushing lows before the end of 2023—I was just reading different fanfiction to cope. At the very least, though, I was reading fic for stuff I was actually a fan of, which is typically a good place to start. 

The feeling reminded me a bit of the one I used to get after I'd finished writing and posting a piece of puppet erotica—just this overwhelming sensation of "Wait, what was that?" It's like post-nut clarity, except clearly not. My time as a Marauders fan feels, in retrospect, like a bastardization, an appropriation. I was not a real fan because I didn't really care—I just needed something safe to numb my pain and confusion. That's why it feels so important to make sure I'm not trying to represent or bash the fandom in any way. It wouldn't be fair, because I wasn't really, genuinely a part of it. 

~

When I finally had cycled home and let myself in the back door, I only remember collapsing. My mum was in the living room and I just stood there, I think. All I really remember is this image of how I think I looked, as though my mind had floated out of my head and taken a photograph. My face is very pale and completely blank, my bag somewhere on the floor next to me, and I'm staring at nothing, the performance of being okay just…evaporating. I know my mum told me she'd been facetiming my grandparents and aunt throughout the day and they were worried as well. 

One thing I often forget about that day is that, barely an hour after coming home, I had a violin lesson over zoom. I assume it must have been a similar situation to the King Lear presentation, where I had to act as normal as possible in order to not completely freak out. I told myself that I couldn't cancel, because then I'd have to pay the fee, but, like. I'm pretty sure he would have made an exception. I remember telling him "oh, by the way, I'm a little out of it because someone got stabbed at school today," and seeing the utterly baffled look on his face. He offered to postpone, and I declined. I was not a very good student that day—I think I'd forgotten what we did in the lesson before the hour was even finished. 

I went downstairs afterward and told my mum everything—I think. Either that or I lay in bed. The next thing I remember is going to school the next day, because I was still clinging to that King Lear presentation. Or maybe it was just because I didn't know what to do with myself? No idea. The next night, I was feeling sick and tested positive for Covid. 

So that was nice. 

~

My high school was never the same after the stabbing. Rules got stricter, a mass of teachers quit or transfered, the classes graduated and moved on, and I truly think something died that day. No matter how bad things were beforehand, there was always this hope I felt—this optimism. Even if I'd been cynical for weeks, all it took to love that shitty old building was an orchestra concert or a school play. It was trash, but it was home. That love didn't come back. 

My love for the Marauders proved to be just as fleeting. I literally woke up one day last July with a craving for this Good Omens/Buzzfeed Unsolved crossover fanfiction (called video appeal by ravel_aorla) and that was the end of my phase. Poof! Avada Kadavra! 

I'm proud to say, though, that I'm doing much better now. I'm writing and editing this in my college dorm room, which I moved into just yesterday. I'm also very into My Chemical Romance now, and am able to share that interest (and a long furby) with one of my best friends, @vriska-serketboard. It's been a year and a half since my high school has darkened the door of my feet and I am worlds better for it. 

Call it instinct as a former GSA leader, but that's how I want to end this. It get's better. I got better, and you can too. 

Thank you.

[wandixx]

It's first time ever I post something on Tumblr and I probably won't do it ever again, but this idea kinda stuck with me, so here you go, dp x dc prompt.

Danny is on a family trip in some hero adjacent city (preferably not Gotham, as much as I love Batpham fics, let's give others time to shine). It would be a great chance to rest if ghosts knew and respected words "free time." They don't, so he has to constantly fly back and forth between Amity and wherever he is. He doesn't know how to make portals yet, so he spends quite a lot of time on transportation alone, and then he fights and goes back ASAP, because as much as he can always count on Jazz to cover for him and the fact that Fentons aren't most observant, at some point they have to realise if he didn't pop up from time to time.

So now, he is running like a third day without so much as five minutes to sleep, purely on caffeine and spite, just got this okay looking sandwich from petrol station and strongest coffee he could buy and eat/drink in some secluded place (rooftop, abounded building, some really quiet alley, you know), right before he has to return to his family and act like he had nice night sleep and isn't "the Phantom menace" his parents are always threatening to post mortem murder AND THIS RANDOM PIGEON DARES TO TRY TO STEAL HIS FOOD!!!

Yes, he proceeds to yell at the pigeon because ✨️misplaced aggression✨️

He rants about his life right when local hero is near enough to hear him and just is like "You ok kid?"

They're not even too surprised hearing news about ghost (I mean, there is Deadman and also they probably had seen weirder), but still this boy shouldn't be the only one handling it (how old is he anyway, thirteen?). Oh, he isn't alone in it, ok, that's good. He has two friends (without powers or training) and two years older sister and not even his parents are in the know about his hero gig, well that's bad, gotta help him somehow.

From here, there are two ways it can go (at least I thought about these two)

1. Danny let's out one (1) scream of absolute terror and vanishes from the sight (especially if hero is in costume)

2. He proceeds to yell at the hero, because there is so much steam he has to let out and you know ✨️misplaced aggression✨️ once again (probably would work best if chosen hero was in civies, on their way grocery shopping or something)("There is no way this random civilan will belive me I may as well just continue" Danny Fenton, probably)

This is how Justice Legue lears about Amity (maybe because no one in Amity ever called because "Phantom can handle it" and Danny really didn't want to handle possessed heroes, I like this headcannon)

It can also start when Danny screams at someone's pet, but I don't know enough about dc to tell who would fit (I literally know it only from fanfics. This tag fanfics). Like, I know Damian Wayne is supposed to have a thing for animals, there are Klarion with Teekl (though they may not be the ones Danny would like to meet at the moment) and I think Captain Marvel/ Shazam had some connections with a tiger? But like, I don't think Danny would scream at tiger. I don't know, though. I've seen only a few episodes of the show, but he as well could just do it.

Idk, I just really want to see Danny full on screaming at the pigeon. And a hero. Take it from here, I'm really curious how someone who knows more about these fandoms (and English, it's not my mother tongue, I hope my brain hadn't gone "ah yes, it sounds similar, 'day' is how 'they' is supposed to be written" or something like that anywhere in this post) handles it. Who would even fit?

How do I even end post?

Have a great day/night, fellow Tumblr user

[makoodles]

I like you, so please let me write down this goofy idea I had.

So two best friends, he na'vi, she's human.

Been bestie since childhood, always together, even if both parents weren't happy about it.

Her parents didn't like she picked out so many "animalistic" traits from the na'vis and didn't like her staying in the forest all day basically half naked.

His parents didn't like because, well she was a demon, that it.

They didn't care, they were friends no matter what.

During the years, he began to grown feelings for her, and he started noticing how boys were around her.

They were flirty with her, with his human.

And jealousy started bulding up slowly inside of him.

He hated how guys would have look at her, searched for the naked points in her body, chatting and touching her arms and hands in the meanwhile.

But what he was supposed to do? Being toxic and possesive? About a girl that wasn't even his? He didn't certely wanted to ruin anything they had.

So? He sucked it up.

She was so done with him.

She had feelings for him since the day her period came at 11, it was a rainy day the day before, so the forest was still a little bit humidit.

He noticed the blood, and quickly made a sort of diaper with leaves for her.

Then he rushed her to hell gates, only to be laughed by all the adults.

Always so caring for her, no matter what, so sweet and innocent.

How could she not fall for him?

She knew he proved the same, when he saw how boys looked at her, he looked the same way she looked when na'vi girls talked or touched him.

Jealousy.

One day as they were out in the forest, they were hunting down a little animal, so his siblings back home could eat their favourite meat.

'so caring of him going on a hunt only for his little siblings, he would be such a good dad I'm sure' she thinks

' so caring of her, coming with me on this boring hunt, although she loves see my siblings happy, she would be such a good mom' he thinks

As they walk, the trope of love is being put in their conversation.

His parents want him to find a mate before his 24 year of life, her parents - especially her dad - don't want her to go near a boy, let alone having a husband.

And In some ways the trope about guys being flirty with her comes.

He becomes tense and his mood change, and she starts to get annoyed at him.

She is so frustrated that she says "you are blind by jealousy, you don't see i have love only for you"

It takes a few seconds for they both realise what she said.

And then starts a long conversation, the animal they were traking at this point had a family on it own.

They relationship evols, now they are together but in secret.

He spents all day making gift with his siblings for her, using the excuse they only wanted to make it for her, which was also true.

She spent all day learing long poems, telling them to him when she saw him, making him fell even harder.

Their first kiss is in her room, they were doing absolute nothing, talking about everything and nothing.

Then he kissed her, the kiss was sweet and calm.

And stoped only when he had to take a breath of the pandorian air.

They kissed many times afterwards-

And one day, they programmed their first time.

No special occasion, not the day the got together or the day the first kissed.

Not one of their birthdays or one of their favourite milestones.

A simple day of april.

They place was decided to be inside hell gates, were she could breath without problems, and he anyway only had to breath pandorian air every 2 or so minutes.

She jokes that by that time they would have already finished, and he felled of the branch they were on when she told him the joke.

Finding it so funny he almost broke his head.

No one was there that day, there was a celebration at the village and all humans were invited.

They all got there, but not those two.

She said she felt a little of a cold coming and preferred staying home for the day.

He said he would have go to listen in another place, far from his family, he was now an adult he couldn't possibly stay anymore with his family during this ceremonies.

She made him sneak in.

They read all they could -she did, he couldn't read- about sex and first times.

And in some web there was the hint that, showering first would lube and hurted less.

So she took a shower, and he watched.

Admiring her naked body for the first time, every cut and scratch were made with him.

Every little hair on her body, made him excited.

Every little mark of beauty or not - even if for him all marks on her were beautiful- made him want to kiss them.

He help her hop in the shower, and watch as she carefully put soap on her.

For then to flush under the water.

She jokingly put her mouth under the sources of water, who felled in her mouth.

Like she was drinking raining water from the leaves of plants in the forest.

He joined too, playinfully.

Until their tongues met under the water, and they started this passionate kiss.

He pick her up, she was still wet and had barely anytime to stop the water.

He directed them to her bedroom, where he place her in her bed, kissing every inch of her body.

Every mark, cut, scratch and tiny hair.

"You sure you wanna do this here? Is also you virginity" she said and he looked at her lovely, loving how she was worried for him and how she only wanted to make him comfortable too.

"Yes, my love" he said before kissing down her entrance.

Starting licking and sucking, he had no idea of what he was doing but her pretty moans told him to continue.

Pulling away from that sweetness that was her, was almost killing for him.

A breath in and a breath out.

She kissed him, and he made her taste herself thanks to his tongue.

A big breath from both of them.

And it was in.

Half not fully.

Still blood came out and he felt himself choke down there.

The movements came only after a while.

Poor her, taking such a big size and having to adjust quickly.

Even if for him, they had all the time in the world she was worried someone might have caught them.

She was worried that if they were caught, he would have been hated by the clan.

Her paranoia speaked.

Seeing her struggling, he kissed her hands, breaths, face, ears, everything he could kiss (without causing her to much unnecessary pain) was kissed.

Every praise that come in his mind too.

" You doing the best love " "look at you taking me so well, i love you " "im all yours" " mmh...you are so good, you are doing so good thank you my love " " such a good little thing " "i see you"

After finishing, he kissed her more.

Doing the famous after care, who she like much apperntly.

Then, carefully always carefully, he pick her up and go back to the bathroom, were he showered her.

Making her stay still even if her legs wanted to get down.

Because he knew he had to make sure they wouldn't have been caught.

He made her dress back.

Clean after what they did and then made her lay down on the bed, before going she asked for a kiss, which he happily gave.

"You are mine and I'm yours"

So what do you think? This is silly.

this is so pure oh my god 😭

the childhood friends to lovers trope! AHHHH so so cute, i literally can't 🥺 the whole step by step through their relationship 😭

[consanguinitatum]

Sunburst Finish - my (other) favorite David Tennant audio drama

Hello again, everyone! Today we'll be discussing David's 2002 audio drama, Sunburst Finish!

A bit ago I did a long discussion thing about one of my favorites of DT's audio projects, the 2003 audio drama Tuesdays & Sundays by Daniel Arnold & Medina Hahn. Today's deep dive is into my other favorite audio drama - 2002's Sunburst Finish by Andrea Gibb, with Paddy Cunneen.

I say "other favorite" because boy, do I do a lot of flip-flopping between these two audio dramas. One day one will be my all-time favorite, but then if you ask me the same question the next week, you'll probably get a different answer. They're both just SO stellar, and David is sublime in both. So don't ask me which one I prefer!

Speaking of Gibb and Cunneen - Sunburst Finish isn't the first (or last) time David's worked with them. In this earlier thread I discussed 1997's Bite, a fantastic short also written by Gibb, with music composed by Cunneen.

Here's a little bit about the author(s): Andrea Gibb is an award-winning Scottish screenwriter/actor. As an actor she's best known as Deirdre in All Creatures Great And Small, and as a screenwriter? You name it! Dear Frankie, Call The Midwife, AfterLife, Mayflies...I could go on and on! Her ex-husband Paddy Cunneen is an award-winning Scottish theatre director, playwright and composer for radio, TV and film. Some of his best-known works include scores for Boy A, King Lear and Twelfth Night, and for his plays Fleeto and Wee Andy. He's also an Associate Music Director of the Cheek by Jowl Theatre.

Throughout David's career, he and Cunneen have worked on many of the same projects. Other than Bite and Sunburst Finish, Cunneen's composed the music scores for three more plays starring David: 1995's An Experienced Woman Gives Advice, 1999's Vassa, and 2003's The Pillowman.

But back to Sunburst Finish! I don't know half as much about this play - what was its inspiration (was it based in real life events?), was it written specifically for audio, was the lead character called 'Davey' by coincidence or specifically for David, what if anything was the significance behind the title Sunburst Finish, etc? - as I'd like to know. But I'll tell you what I do know: Sunburst Finish was produced by BBC Radio, and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as the Friday Play. It went out at 9-10pm on 24 May 2002. David played Davey, the lead role. It was directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. Other cast members were Julie Austin as Amy, Ewan Stewart as Uncle Gus, and Helen Lomax as Georgie.

It's hard to talk in-depth about the plot of this audio without giving the thing away, but here's a little something from The Guardian (trigger warning - references to self-harm). It describes the play as follows: "Davey is a gifted music undergraduate with plenty of friends, who appears to have everything going for him - except that he doesn't want to live."

And also, here's the play's BBC Genome entry:

It appears the play was received very well, for in 2004, Gibb and Cunneen adapted 'Sunburst Finish' for the stage. Some 2nd year acting students from David's alma mater, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (the RSAMD, now the Royal Conservatoire) put on a production. On 23 February 2004, it was performed at the Dundee Repertory Theatre (in association with the Rep).

The production was also performed at the Tron as part of the RSAMD student Play:ground season, and ran for one night only on 3 March 2004. Emun Elliott (Black Watch, Star Wars, Guilt and Game of Thrones) played Davey, and Paul Blair played Uncle Gus. The Scotsman had this to say about the play: "...Here, though, the subject is the confusion and despair of a final-year music student who - despite the concern of his parents, sister and girlfriend, and the gruffly affectionate care of his uncle Gus, an aging rocker turned sheep-farmer - finds the darkness in his mind too much to bear. There’s a conventional hint of untold family secrets and lies at the root of the boy’s despair..."

Announcement of the play's performance at Glasgow's Tron Theatre

But back to David's version! For a brief and glorious period in 2018, Sunburst Finish was uploaded to the Internet Archive. It was swiftly removed because REASONS, but many (me-me-me-me!) got to enjoy it, including this iconic moment when Davey sings Nirvana's 'All Apologies' with his uncle Gus, and this adorable little singy-song to Semisonic's 'Secret Smile'!

If you're interested in the play and want to read it, you can...sort of? If you can find the stage screenplay adaptation, that is. One was published in 2004 by Capercaillie Books Limited, but it's sold out everywhere I looked - and as I really wanted one, believe me, I've looked!

There's also a printed version available at the University of Glasgow, though! It's a 103 pg 4th draft script of the audio play - not the stage adaptation - and it's held in the Scottish Theatre Archive collection. Wish I'd read it when I was doing my postgrad work at the University in 2018-2019, but I had so many other things on my research plate, it (sadly) slipped through the cracks.

And that's it for 'Sunburst Finish' - and this edition of Obscure DT!

[curls101]

Tav Loredump Round 2 (Evil Edition): Regan Coleridge

me and @ms-scholars-gown-bnoc have been embarking on our Evil playthrough while we wait for a Act 3 bug to get fixed and they're taking over our brains

LIST (from @tolkien-fantasy )

Round 1 with my good boi Ralxire

This is Regan. Human, Knowledge Domain, Cleric of Mystra. Absolutely gorgeous, but also the most power hungry woman to ever live.

Why did you pick the race you did for your Tav?

Again, I'm trying to play all the races and honestly... I think this was the only way I was ever going to play a Human. It should be the first red flag amoungst my characters - I never play humans. Especially as we'd already established my bud was going to play Drurge, I knew I was going to need to make a really neuanced Tav

Why did you pick the class you did for your Tav?

Listen... I love evil clerics. I love them. I love the idea of piety as not inherently good, but rather neutral at best. Devotion as a force of destruction is my whole shit. I also love the idea of the persuit of knowledge/power as a neutral act.

Mystra is a neutral goddess - not a good one. She is magic. Magic is a tool, something to be understood. Regan does not see magic - or Mystra - as something beautiful. It is a power that can be harnessed and should be harnessed to the extreme.

What is your character’s moral alignment?

Neutral Evil / True Neutral depending on how you look at it

 How did you choose your Tav’s name, if you gave them a unique one?

The party Drurge was already called Cordelia and King Lear happens to be my favourite Shakespeare play. Regan had the right vibe for me - plus some of her scenes have been alarmingly close.....

Coleridge is an injoke just for me. I hate Coleridge. I was made to read the Ancient Mariner in a single night and I've never forgiven him for how long it is.

What are your character’s strongest and weakest stats (strength, charisma, etc)? 

Highest is WIS at 18 (currently). Lowest is DEX at 8. She's a tank

 What is your Tav’s origin story? 

When Regan was about 10ish she was given to a clergy of Mystra. Her parents lacked the means (or, in Regan's eyes, the will) to raise her. She would have been a wizard - most precious to Mystra - but she lacked the aplitude. Knowing that ejection from the monestary would spell her doom, Regan comitted herself to reverence instead. Day in and Day out she performed perfect piety. She contented herself to a future of kneeling at Mystra's feet.

Then the mindflayers happened and suddenly kneeling didn't seem so appealing.

 What was the most significant moment in your Tav’s origin story? 

I think we're in it. But in truth, it's not a single moment that is significant. It's the day-in, day-out subservience of worship. That grated on her.

 What deity, if any, does your character worship? 

Mystra. As the font of power. In future.... perhaps a more apt god will replace her.

 What is your Tav’s biggest priority or goal?

The persuit of power, enough that she may exert it on others.

If your Tav didn’t become an adventurer, what else would they be doing?

I think she'd either still be in that Temple, or she'd become the Main Villian of another DnD campagin

What is your Tav’s most used weapon or spell? 

We're still pretty low level, but I think it will be Spirit Guardians.

 What is your Tav’s favorite school of magic/weapon type?

Her go-to is Weapon and Shield - ideally spear or mace. She's a radient magic girl

How does your Tav fight in a combat situation?

She is in the thick of it, tanking blows and throwing out healing as she can.

 Does your Tav know any other languages besides Common? 

Likely several! Celestial at the minimum

 If your Tav could/does multiclass, what other class would they choose?

Paladin. Hard to think of an Oath she wouldn't break for her convinience though

Which of the companions does your Tav trust most? 

Cordelia/Drurge is cheating, although that's probably true. She sees Gale as imminently manipulateable, so likely him. Everyone else has too much self preservation

Which of the companions does your Tav distrust most?

Shadowheart. Cleric rivalry. Also, she's smarter than she lets on

 Who is your Tav’s biggest rival?

Mystra.

 Who is your Tav romancing, if anyone?

Sorry Gale......

If you’re romancing anyone, why did your Tav fall for them? And why did that character fall for your Tav?

This is some toxic stuff. This isn't a nice romance. Gale fell for her early - and who wouldn't! She's gorgeous and devoted to knowledge. She adores Gale's long winded explainations. Her relationship to Mystra is almost as complicated as his is. He just... didn't see the red flags until it was already too late.

Does Regan love Gale? I think unfortunately yes. But she doesn't love him to make him better. She loves his aptitude for magic, his boundless ambition that drew him to the Orb. She sees his folly not as a moment of weakness - a moment where his inherent insecurity led him to do something terrible - but merely poor execution. She lacks the moral compass that would make Gale better, in another timeline.

 If you’re romancing anyone, who fell first and who fell harder?

Gale and Gale. Sorry, bud

 How does your Tav act around their crush?

So confident. In the real world, she'd be the kind of girl to act supremely aloof around her crush and it would seem like she hated them

 What is your Tav’s favorite moment they’ve had with their lover?

We haven't got to weave sex yet, but it will be weave sex

 What is your Tav attracted to? What are their turn-ons and turn-offs? 

Power, bby. Or, more specifically, ambition. The willingness to chase power.

Turn offs are laziness, lack of ambition and extreme morality

 Does your Tav have any biases against other classes or races? 

Not specifically, only moral stances

 What is the most prominent color in your Tav’s color scheme?

White + pink/orange tones. Ideally I want to lean into white + gold for peak High Priestess vibes

 What is their sense of humor like?

Sarcasm. A little mean, but not intentionally.

 What is your Tav’s guilty pleasure?

Wine and sunbathing. Lounging like a cat. Fine, expensive things - things she's never had

 How easily offended are they? How do they act when offended?

Not especially easy to offend, but if you do get on her bad side, you're never recovering

 How does your Tav react when someone insults their friend/partner?

It depends what her relationship to them is. She's not quick to violence, but verbal beratement is on the table

 How does your Tav dress for different occasions, like very fancy situations?

Regan would have the wardrobe of an empress if she could. Her fashion sense is like... Ethereal Seductress. That dress in Act 3 is going to be a staple

 How did your Tav get their scars, if they have any?

Currently, she doesn't have any. That won't last

 What is your Tav’s relationship with their family?

Nonexistant and she's going to make it everyone's problem

 What is your Tav’s opinion on nobility and authority?

Complicated. She has respect for people who are "self made", but dispises those who are in power by virtue of their birth

 How does your Tav react to wearing the Wavemother’s robe? How do they react to their partner wearing it?

She would wear it 24/7 if she could. She would LOVE Gale in it. She's exactly the kind of woman who would have a thing for dressing up their partner

 What is your Tav’s favorite type of environment? Like in a tavern, a library, out in the wilderness, underground, etc.

Library, ruins...Surrounded by lost knowledge on all sides

 What would your Tav’s Zodiac sign be?

Gemini

 What is their favorite season?

Summer

 Where in the world does your Tav want to visit the most?

Anywhere and everywhere. She's never really been anywhere

 What is the biggest mistake your Tav ever made?

This... is tricky. Unfortunately for the world, she's pretty on the up-and-up rn. She would say something like "not finding another way to apply herself to the arcane"

 What animal best represents your Tav?

You and I both know it's a Fox or a spoiled all-white Cat

 What flower/tree/plant best represents your Tav?

Angel's Trumpets! Gorgeous. One of the most deadly flowers in the world, actually part of the nightshade family. The symptoms of it's poisioning are....knarly. But it's still widely cultivated because it's just so pretty. Comes in pink.

( This means that two of my BG3 characters have toxic plant connotations btw - my drurge in my solo playthrough is a Spores Druid called Amanita Ocreta )

 What does your Tav smell like? 

Chanel CoCo Mademoiselle

 What song best represents your Tav?

When I was making her, this song came on and it was just perfect

Gale @ her though:

 ALSO this is the theme for the run:

What would be your Tav’s favorite music genre?

Pop forever

 What role would your Tav play in a highschool AU? (nerd, jock, bully, goth, etc)

Mean Girl. She's basically Regina George already

 What is the most important item your Tav has?

Regan doesn't have many! Honestly it's money. She never had money before, she didn't need it. Now it's everything

 Where does your Tav feel most at home?

The Center of Attention

 What is your Tav’s philosophy on life?

That ultimately the world is merely about power. Regan has the reductive but unfortunately common view that it is the duty of the smart and capable to grab for power, and the weak to suffer. She'd be a hustler irl.....

 Does your Tav think more with their heart or their brain?

She doesn't have a heart to think with

 What does your Tav want in their future? (domestic bliss, more adventure, a family, etc)

Stability in a position of power. Control.

 What is your Tav’s worst fear?

To be forced to serve

 Is your Tav easily tricked or deceived?

Yes. Her power grabbing is transparent

 If your Tav was granted a single wish, what would it be?

Godhood

 How does your Tav feel about keeping secrets, both their own and others?

A necessity. Secrets are to be used and traded like all else

 How would your Tav react to a love confession?

Amusement

 What are your Tav’s biggest insecurities?

That someone will see her ambition for what it is - fear and insecurity.

 What decision would your party have to make in order for Tav to consider splitting off from the group?

The destruction of knowledge. Sitting around waiting to die. All other positions she at least sees as malleable

 What is your Tav’s favorite food?

Fruits

 How generous is your Tav, especially to those they don’t know?

Regan does not believe in generosity for its own sake. Only for gain.

 If an evil character told your Tav that they wanted to change and help them, would they believe it?

Hah... Well, they'd be talking to the wrong girl

 What meme describes your Tav the best?

  What does your Tav want to be remembered by?

Influential. Strong. Powerful. Awe

 What Tarot Card best represents your Tav?

The Magician both upright and reversed

 What would be your Tav’s major in college?

Buisness or Economics

 Does your Tav consider themselves a hero, villain, victim or something else?

Victim or Hero. She is a Villian though

 How good is your Tav at giving advice? How good are they at following it themselves?

Regan only gives advice to maniplulate others into doing what she wants or to earn their trust. She doesn't take advice. She's too self-important

 How does your Tav get along with each party member?

Gale -> He loves her. She loves that about him Astarion -> They're running the same grift. They get along accordingly Shadowheart -> Tentative. Regan is who she pretends to be La'zel - > They haven't figured each other out yet Wyll - > N/A Karlach -> N/A Minthara - > Remains to be seen. But something tells me they'll get on

 What are your Tav’s other hobbies?

Reading, mostly. I think she learns sections of history for fun.

 (Free Spot: Ask any question you’d like!)

Weirdly, I always think about Caeser when I think of her? I think she's also aiming for like taking an obscure religious office and turning it into power.