#mr world coda...

[mythgendered]

I've been chewing lately on what the end of Refrain’s stretch of her au looks like— in that spot between the Classic and X series -- and here's some art about it!

disclaimer i swear i had these ideas well before i actually read Mr Mega Man -- but I did steal Roll's outfit from the cover of Vol 2 ikhsdfkh

MEGA WOMAN: Lasting Peace

I think Refrain and Roll get a little taller, with new adult bodies, while their older brother elects to stay on the shorter side— and he’s going by Coda these days!

Refrain stays with Lightlabs, where she is the primary provider of wellness and maintenance for master-type robots. Offering one part routine checkup and one part counseling, she gets called “Doc” a lot— though she stresses that as a robot, she’s neither licensed or certified.

Meanwhile, Roll has made her way out of the old home, and lives with Kalinka Cossack. The twins' dynamic has truly reversed, with Roll out traveling the world, while Refrain lives quietly at home. They both love it.

Coda spends his the days the way he always has— traveling and seeing the world on his own terms. He just isn’t actively dying about it, and visits his family more often.

Dr Light rarely leaves his lab these days, working on a vital project— but he makes sure to make time for his kids.

Noone’s heard from Dr Wily in years, and nobody’s really sad about it.

I want the kids to have a happy ending, one slightly leas conditionally bittersweet than Quintet’s go-round. It doesn’t last forever, because largely i dont like the idea of the classic gang Actually Being Around during the X series— but a good thing doesn’t have to last *forever* to be good, right?

[jensenscomedyelbows]

edit by the amazing and talented and generous @lemondropsonice

SPN FIC REC FEST #11

All-Time Favorites/Free Recs

The only pairing is Wincest

Most are explicit, but those that aren’t are marked accordingly.

THE FIREFLY THAT LOVED METALLICA by fleshflutter

Rated R, but WARNING: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH/RESURRECTION. I passionately adore this indescribably poignant story. Get tissues.

LIKE STARING INTO THE SUN by nyxocity

It was never about the girls. It was about them.

A new OFC in each part, until there are no more FCs at all and it’s just them.

There is also a sequel, linked to the original

RUN IT ALL OVER (THE WEST SERIES) by runawaydr3amer

I LOVE this series with a passion not too dissimilar from Sam and Dean’s for each other

When you live a life like theirs, chasing tail isn't always an option. But sometimes you just want someone to touch your dick, and your brother’s hand is as good as any.

THE LAST OUTPOST OF ALL THAT IS by gekizetsu

I’m sure this will end up on multiple lists during this event, as it’s a fandom classic that everyone loves. I don’t even want to try to describe it. 60K words. Casefic. First time. I think there’s some H/C. Beautiful. So so sad. Joy amidst the wreckage and heartache. I love it so much I should probably get the title tattooed on my body somewhere

NOT FOR SAMSON IN THE TEMPLE by maygra-fic

Coda to my all time favorite, see above. You have to read that one first to truly appreciate how this coda maintains the tone, voice, and prose quality. You feel like it’s from the same author, but surprise! it’s not, and that’s remarkable. Mature Sam and Dean. Elderly Sam and Dean

THE GHOST OF SOMEBODY AT HIS SIDE by runedgirl

Prepare to weep. When I need pain, this one guarantees I’ll get it. Author Description: The night before Sam Winchester meets with his 12th grade guidance counselor for the second time, something very bad happens. One of those somethings that takes only a ridiculously short amount of time – in this case, about three minutes – yet manages to change the course of two lives forever. Or: Sam goes to Stanford, and takes most of Dean's heart with him.

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE by Morgan

This one just…stuck with me. The events that unfold are awful for Dean in particular, but I’m sure it wasn’t a great time for Sam, either. Bobby makes an appearance. Angst for daaaaays, and NON CON/DUB CON warning is red-flag-level. Author Description: Sam loses his mind. It's that simple. Dean doesn't know what to do, but he's not going to walk away from this, he's never backed down in all his life. If you're looking for happy endings, don't come here. This shit is dark.

THE SILENCE OF A SUMMER DAY by wanttobeatree

***Everyone who loves the Winchesters should read this amazing future fic***

Rated PG. The world has moved on. This is their legacy. Haha, yes, of course I’m recommending this one again. No sex whatsoever! Weird, right?!?!

@spnficrecfest

RESTRAINT by DarkEmeralds

Free rec. Rated M. 200k+ words. It's not Spn or Wincest or even J2, not really. I guess it’s technically a J2 AU. I’m sneaking it in here because it’s an all-time favorite of mine. This might not be your cup of tea, fanfic wise. I certainly didn’t think it was mine. But but but…it’s absolutely lovely, it’s extremely well-written, the tone/voice/verbiage is accurate for its time, and it has a happy ending that made me cry HAPPY tears when I was finished. If you like historical romance, you’ll like this. It’s set in Regency England! Author Description: The calling card said Tristan Jarrett, Viscount Penrith. Beneath that, in a lazy scrawl, was the addendum Mr Acklebury, be so good as to wait on me tomorrow, number 10, Half Moon Street. Yours, &c., Penrith. Mr Acklebury was not sure how he felt about being thus summarily commanded to paint his lordship's portrait.

[destieltropecollection]

Destiel Trope Collection | Day 6: Canon Divergent

Ladies | @ididitallofitforyou Rating: General Word Count: 1,130 Main Tags/Warnings: Established Relationship Summary: The ladies in Dean and Cas' life throw them a surprise bachelor party.

Yours Again | @tami-ryver Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 1,935 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Consensual Possession, Castiel Possessing Dean Winchester, Possession, Cursed Castiel (Supernatural), Gabriel is So Done (Supernatural), Castiel's True Form (Supernatural), Angel True Forms (Supernatural), Dean Winchester Has a Crush on Castiel, Wings, Angel Wings, Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), Angel Castiel (Supernatural), Season/Series 05, Misunderstandings, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Fluff Summary: Dean just waves his hand, but stops when he can almost feel something brushing against his hand. His mouth turns into a wide smile when he realizes he is actually touching Cas' feathers. They are like silk and Dean can imagine himself being wrapped by them, luring him to sleep.

priority | @dcforts Rating: General Word Count: 2,034 Main Tags/Warnings: S15e18 Coda, Castiel's Confession Scene, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It Summary: The world is empty, he almost lost Cas again. The world is full, Cas loves him.

the edge of the devil's backbone | @cascigarette Rating: Explicit Word Count: 3,008 Main Tags/Warnings: Dean Winchester Bears the Mark of Cain, Demon Dean Winchester, Fallen Angel Castiel, Blood and Violence, Blood Drinking, Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe- Canon Divergence, Rough Sex, Oral Sex, Face-Fucking, Come Swallowing, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Rimming, Spit as Lube, Church Sex, Angst, Porn with Feelings, Porn with Plot, Alternate Season 10, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester Summary: The demon burns, burns, burns, and the angel is a moth to the flame. Or: Dean succumbs to the Mark of Cain. Cas follows him. Whenever they cross paths, it's bloodthirsty and violent and addicting. Cas asks him to stop. Neither of them are sure if they want him to.

thank god for bruce campbell's abs | @watchinghimrakeleaves Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 3,408 Main Tags/Warnings: Human Castiel, Castiel in the Men of Letters Bunker, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Season/Series 09, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary: Dean decides to expose Cas to horror movies. In the process, he learns some startling things about his best friend.

What the Heart Misses | @thefandomsinhalor Rating: General Word Count: 5,546 Main Tags/Warnings: Canon Divergent, Episode S15E14, Fluff, Sam Winchester Knows, Castiel Does Not Make A Deal With The Shadow, Dean Loves Castiel, Christmas, Gift Exchange Summary: After learning that the Winchesters and Jack celebrated Christmas with Mrs. Butters, Castiel takes the opportunity to give Dean a Christmas present. Which then prompts Dean to reflect on the nature of their bond.

a light in the dark burning brighter | Chi_Yagami (AO3) Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 6,092 Main Tags/Warnings: finale fix-it, injured Dean Winchester, hurt/comfort, confessions, kid Jack Kline, team free will at the beach, Dean finally gets his little umbrella drink Summary: Three weeks after Castiel is pulled from the Empty, when Dean can finally eat solid food and sit up in bed on his own and complain about being fussed over, Sam asks what they can do to make Dean's recovery a better experience—for everyone, Sam adds. Ducking his head, Dean admits to his brother that he still wants to go to the beach and sip on one of those little umbrella drinks in a coconut.

insi(de an)d outside | @thisisapaige Rating: Mature Word Count: 6,688 Main Tags/Warnings: Castiel as God, Angst, Alternate Season/Series 07, Sexual Tension, Castiel POV Summary: Castiel smiled. His Dean— His defiant, determined Dean— was ever the hero. Dean never gave in without a fight, without exhausting every plan and trying every angle. It was so human of him. Castiel could not help but love him for it. "Surely you know holy fire cannot hold a God?" Castiel asked. "You know me." The flames flickered across Dean's face, casting shadows over the hollows of his cheeks. "I had to try."

It was you, only you | @verobatto Rating: Explicit Word Count: 10,131 Main Tags/Warnings: Slow burn, canonverse, season 15, friends to lovers, fix it Summary: After defeating Chuck and the raising of Jack as the new God, Dean wakes up from a revealing. dream. Nothing will stop him now from rescue CAS from the Empty. But a new defiance is looming over TFW2.0. Will Dean be able to use his words this time? Or is gonna be work a big impediment again?

Murder the World | @thisisapaige Rating: Explicit Word Count: 10,160 Main Tags/Warnings: Angst, Canon Divergent after s10e22 The Prisoner, Demon Dean Winchester, Parallels Between Cain/Colette Mullen and Castiel/Dean Winchester, Switch Castiel/Switch Dean Winchester, Violence, Porn With Plot Summary: Castiel said he would be the one to watch Dean murder the world. Now he has a chance to prove it.

Loving you back in time | @verobatto Rating: Explicit Word Count: 15,683 Main Tags/Warnings: Temporary MCD (Castiel, Sam), time travel, top!Dean/bottom!Castiel, falling in love, enemies to lovers, winged Castiel Summary: After locking Chuck and defeats him, Jack comes out with a plan to get Cas and Sam back from death. Dean will travel back in time to try to really stop the Apocalypse from its root, this time Dean will contact Castiel before events, and part of his mission is to try to convince the angel to join him, explaining they're the good guys and angels and Heaven are not, while trying to avoid the urge of kissing his angel. But something won't go as they expected, and Dean will have to change the plan. This is mid season 15 canon divergent fic. The time travel is before Dean going to Hell. I mixed two importants moments, but they're not in the timeline of the season 3, with references to episode 1x12: Faith.

In A Parked Car Exhuming Ophelia | @an-android-in-a-tutu Rating: Mature Word Count: 17,741 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Human Castiel (Supernatural), Interrogation, Demons, Grief/Mourning, References To: Homelessness, baby eating, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Heaven Politics, Unsafe Sex, Pregnancy, Temporary Character Death, Dubious Consent, Summary: The bunker didn’t lend itself to much natural light, and the utilitarian fixtures in the concrete hallways tended to sap people of their colour even on a good day. Maybe that was why Dean looked so much worse than Sam remembered, as worn as he’d ever seen him. The hand he pulled away from his face was shaking, just slightly, and he dropped it quickly to disguise the tremor, but the detail had already been seared into Sam’s brain. Something was very wrong. "I need you with me on this." Sam hasn't spoken to his brother in over a month, so when he shows up in the middle of the night with a powerful demon in tow, he's concerned. It doesn't take long for him to realize that Dean is keeping secrets again, and that whatever he has hidden behind his teeth has to do with the strange woman who seems all too content to remain bound in their dungeon. The demon with white eyes. All Sam wants is the truth, to figure out who she is, and how she's connected to his brother. But people who ask questions, tend to get answers. And they just may be more than Sam can take. An alternate take on season 9 that replaces the Mark of Cain plot with something much worse.

Rock & Roll and Feathers | @verobatto Rating: Explicit Word Count: 20,172 Main Tags/Warnings: Season 15, canon divergence, rock stars, case fic, rock star!Dean, bodyguard!Castiel, mutual pining Summary: TFW 2.0 defeated Chuck, locking him down in a magic box and exchanging him with Castiel's deal with the Empty. Everything would be perfect if Jack wasn't locked inside another magic box too. The only way to release Jack, now the New God, is to find the key. Rowena knows who has it. His powerful father, a retired sorcerer, who would give anything to those who win his rock and roll contest. That's why Dean will sign up as a rock star, followed by his manager Sam and his bodyguard Castiel. Bad thing is, maybe winning a rock Contest is not the only test they will have on the road to reach that key.

Roadtrip to the End of the World | inkdr0p (AO3) Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 24,813 Main Tags/Warnings: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester, Castiel (Supernatural), Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Original Male Character(s), Team Free Will (Supernatural), Sam is a nerd, Dean is a nerd, Cas is an ancient multidimensional being, Road Trips in the Impala (Supernatural), Castiel stops and looks at everything, Las Vegas, Star Trek References, Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff, Dean works through his experiences of the future in 5x04 The End, Dean Winchester Has a Crush on Castiel, Sam Winchester Knows, Dean Winchester Has PTSD, Sleeping in the Impala (Supernatural), Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester Use Their Words, Wingfic, Winged Castiel (Supernatural), Sam covertly gets Dean and Cas to go on a date, Dean Winchester Deserves to be Happy, Castiel Deserves to be Loved (Supernatural), Season 5, In which I repeatedly compare Cas to a cat, Hunters & Hunting, Slice of Life, Canon Divergent (erases 5x05 "Fallen Idols") Summary: “There’s an apocalypse on, Bobby. In case you forgot.” “No Dean, I didn’t forget. But unless you’ve figured out a way to stop it in the next couple of days, I don’t see why you can’t give yourselves a break. This ain’t a sprint, Dean, it’s a marathon. Besides, last year when we realized just how much had hit the fan I seem to recall you being real quick to---” “Vegas.” “Exactly.” “...The Star Trek Experience.” ---------- OR: Dean's back from the future, Sam's back from his break, and Cas is, well, Cas. As good a time as any to finally take that road trip Dean's been dreaming about since he crawled out of the ground and learned the Apocalypse was a real goddamn thing. All he has to do now is remember how to have fun. Fic takes place in lieu of 5x05 "Fallen Idols"; instead of Paris Hilton the boys are off to the Las Vegas Hilton, former home of the greatest place on earth: The Star Trek Experience.

but i'm singing like a bird 'bout it now | @dirtangeldean Rating: Mature Word Count: 26,976 Main Tags/Warnings: Car Impala (Supernatural), Car Conversations, Aromantic, acespec, AceSpec!Cas, accountability, 15x18 coda, switch POV, Healing Dean Winchester, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, Eventual Happy Ending, First Kiss, Dubcon Kissing(kinda), arospec!Dean, Aromantic Dean Winchester, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Post-Episode: s15e18 Despair, Episode: s15e18 Despair - Castiel's Confession Scene, Former Sex Worker Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester Gives Oral Sex, Past Sexual Assault, Mention of Past Sex Work, Dean Winchester's Jacket, Sam Winchester Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester, reader…i have taken liberties, Angelic Grace Kink (Supernatural), Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Angst with a Happy Ending, Minor Original Character(s) Summary: 15x18 fix-it: Dean uses his one last shot to save Cas and succeeds, the fall out that happens when the unspoken becomes spoken all at once has a happy ending. The eventual conversations of comfort, duty, sacrifice, power, obligation, and love ensue. Communicationnatural. OR Dean can't bare to have Cas leave him. And the Empty allows him to stay. OR Reckoning with a first kiss actually being the opposite of happiness simply due to circumstance.

We're at the lost and found | @mercurialkitty Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 27,019 Main Tags/Warnings: Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Post-Season/Series 12 AU, season/series 13, Fix-it, mostly broadcast tv level swearing with a few f-bombs, Hunter's Funeral (Supernatural), canon typical angel slurs, Domesticity, will they or won't they, Castiel and Dean Winchester Need to Use Their Words, relationship beginning, like an episode some story arcs are left unresolved, dadstiel Summary: What would the beginning of season 13 have been like if Cas lived and Mary stayed put?

Desideratum and Other Mishaps | @thefandomsinhalor Rating: Teen & Up Word Count: 28,075 Main Tags/Warnings: Canon Divergent, Episode: S14E13, Baby Jack Kline, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Protective Dean, Fluff and Angst, Dean Worries About Castiel Summary: In an unexpected turn of events, Castiel and the Winchesters find themselves with a toddler on their hands, when Jack, intending to regain his grace, makes a wish with the Baozhu—the wish-granting pearl—instead of Dean and gets transformed into a young child. Unsure how to fix the situation, and with Mary and Sam aiding the hunters from the other world on a hunt, Dean and Castiel are left alone at the bunker to care for baby Jack, where more than one revelation will unfold.

Dean Winchester and the Belly Button Piercing | @teeparadigm67 Rating: Explicit Word Count: 34,800 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Porn With Plot, Domesticity in the Men of Letters Bunker, Dean Winchester has his Belly Button Pierced (And Sammy Doesn't Know), Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Time Having Sex, Openly Bisexual Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester is a Tease, Castiel doesn't understand flirting, Idiots in Love, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Porn with Feelings, Canon-Typical Violence, Piercings, Ear Piercings, Pierced Dean Winchester, Navel piercing, Fluff and Smut, Domestic Fluff, Flirty Dean Winchester Summary: Dean Winchester was 23 when he got his belly button pierced. It was during a time in his life when everything felt like it was in turmoil (long before he even really knew what his life being in turmoil truly meant). He never intended to go out and get any piercings—his father would have never allowed it. For 20-something years it had been his best-kept secret… that was until one fateful night when a hunt went wrong and his best friend had to swoop in and help patch him up, catching an eyeful of his elusive secret. Castiel’s infatuation with his best friend took a dangerous turn that night (not that he wasn’t already treading treacherous waters with his feelings towards the man). He had already known that Dean had a piercing, but he had no idea it was still functional, and equally had no idea that a piece of jewellery, Dean’s own slice of quiet rebellion, would have such a profound effect on him. Now Castiel can’t help but want him and his fading grace is doing very little in hiding his… indiscretions. The idea of it slowly drove him insane. And what makes it worse… Castiel was certain Dean was doing it on purpose.

Castiel's Hidden Pussycat | @macy2me Rating: Explicit Word Count: 41,050 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence - Season 13, Castiel Adopts A Cat, Dean Winchester is Bad at Feelings, Dean Winchester in Denial, Castiel's grace is damaged, Boys Being Awkward, Sam Winchester Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester is So Done, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Frottage, POV Castiel (Supernatural) Summary: Castiel, angel of the Lord, has been saved by a cat. He didn’t intend to keep it. He didn’t mean for the green-eyed cat to work its way into his heart. It’s becoming a bit of a theme. Yet, here he is, smuggling a cat into the bunker. Cas and Dean have been doing a dance for nine years—circling each other, one step forward, by one step back, changing direction, never getting closer, never too far apart. However, when you throw a cat into the mix, the next move becomes a lot harder to predict.

When Dreams Come True | @avonlady42 Rating: Explicit Word Count: 65,616 Main Tags/Warnings: canon divergent, angst and fluff and smut, Dean Winchester has a wing kink, plot twist, inappropriate use of grace, top castiel/bottom Dean Winchester, explicit sexual content, happy ending, marriage, adoption Summary: After Chuck is defeated, Jack forces Dean and Cas to finally admit their feelings to each other and gives Cas his wings back in the process. They end up getting their happily ever after while Sam settles down with Eileen. Ten years they spend together as a couple, hunting when they need to, but mostly living the domesticated life Dean always wanted and Castiel always wanted him to have. Unfortunately, it all comes crashing down one day when Castiel goes on a hunt and doesn’t make it home. Dean will do whatever it takes to get the love of his life back and ends up getting more than he bargained for when he finds him again. This fic is canon compliant through Season 14 and starts off during the Ouroboros episode S14E14, from there it becomes Canon divergent with some of the rest of Season 14 and Season 15 being the same, but slightly different. S15E20 doesn’t exist and there is an alternate storyline 10 years into the future.

We Are The Music Makers (WIP) | Clairebearer (AO3) Rating: Explicit Word Count: 120,932 Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Canon Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Castiel, Action/Adventure, Romance, Sexuality, Domestic Dean Winchester, Human Castiel, Reaper Dean, BAMF Dean, BAMF Castiel, BAMF Sam, Greek Mythology - Freeform, It's all about the souls, Awkward Sexual Situations, Sexual Fantasy, Slow Build, Case Fic, Magic Mirrors, Dark Magic, Demons, Angelic Grace, Mental Health Issues, Trickster Gabriel, Musical References, Pop culture references, Movie spoilers, Fate, Destiny, Free Will, Canon divergent, Cupid - Freeform, Terminal Illness, Top Dean Winchester, Bottom Dean Winchester, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Dean Winchester is Bad at Feelings, Dean Winchester is Not Heterosexual, Bi-Curious Dean Winchester, Temporary Major Character Death, Angst with a happy ending Summary: Set in the aftermath of seasons 8's epic finale. With Sam's life hanging by a thread Dean is forced to call the only being he knows has the power to help: Death. However, like most impossible things they come with a terrible price and it acts as an hour glass hanging ominously over Dean's head as his life-line burns away like a fuse, a full-time job as a reaper waiting for him. Time is short and the world is bent on destroying itself, so when the shadow of an averted apocalypse threatens to resurface and wipe out everything he has fought so hard to save, Dean must do everything within his power - and more - to stop it. His own feelings be damned... If he can help it.

Far From Heaven: Part Two | @Taymarpigeon Rating: Explicit Word Count: 151,921 Main Tags/Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Angel Castiel (Supernatural), Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Post-Canon Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Fluff, Gratuitous Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergent, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Suicide Attempt, Homophobic John Winchester, Abusive John Winchester, Former Sex Worker Dean Winchester, POV Alternating, Top/Bottom Versatile Castiel/Dean Winchester, Possessive Castiel (Supernatural), Possessive Dean Winchester, Extremely Dubious Consent, Dom/sub, BDSM, Risk Aware Consensual Kink, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Consensual Non-Consent, Angelic Possession (Supernatural), Angelic Grace Bonds (Supernatural), Wing Kink, Castiel and Dean Winchester Get Married, Additional Tags in End Note Summary: Castiel is gone and Dean can't move passed it, can't bring himself to stray far from the last place he ever saw his Angel. A place so full of sorrow, yet there is love there too, lingering in the farthest, darkest reaches. Gabriel is done watching Castiel and Dean be martyrs. Jack's fixed up Heaven, all is as it should be, there's no reason these two idiots can't finally have everything they ever wanted. If he intervenes, if Gabriel finally embraces what he was built for in the first place, will it make a difference? Will Cas and Dean finally get their happily ever after? He's not gonna lie, leading three (not so) wise men across the desert was probably easier than this headache will turn out to be. Still, Gabriel maintains that it is possible to lead a horse to water and make it drink. You just gotta know which buttons to push.

[wildlife4life]

Seven (+) Sentence Sunday

Tagged by the super lovely @prosperdemeter2 @gayedmundodiaz @lemonzestywrites @rainbow-nerdss @devirnis @cal-daisies-and-briars @buddierights @disasterbuckdiaz @exhuastedpigeon @dangerpronebuddie @daffi-990 @tizniz @try-set-me-on-fire and @rogerzsteven Thank so much! Go check out all their snippets and works!

Well would ya'll look at that... I'm actually participating in a tag day with an actual wip and not a coda. Whoa. And even better... Its an NFL Buck snippet! WOOOOO! Want to see more NFL Buck? Please check it all out here!

"So." Karen begins, pulling Hen's attention from the book she's been trying to read for the past week. She quirks an eyebrow at her wife, "So?" "So my boss's son's, partner broke their leg Tuesday after tripping over their 15 year old terrier." Karen explains and Hen can't help but look back towards where Paisley is lounging on the arm chair (Hen's favorite seat that she has lost to that sassy fur ball) with worry. Her wife chuckles reading Hen's internal concern, "Babe, Paisley is as pure bred as they come. We'll be lucky if she makes it to 10." "That pure bred survived an earthquake and a collapsed building. I wouldn't put it past her to make it way past 10 out of spite alone.” Hen remarks, turning back to Karen. Karen rolls her eyes, but gets back on topic, "Anyway. Harris, that's the partner, got their hands on some passes to that super exclusive gay club, The Green Carnation for this Friday." "You mean the place that runs a background check rivaling the FBI, makes every patron sign NDA's, and will blacklist a person from every gay bar from here to Vegas if they break said NDA? The place that is rumored to host not only out celebrities, but also the deeply closeted, tilt the world on it's axis if they ever came out, big names? That gay club?" Hen questions, her excitement starting to rise. Her very sexy and somehow very connected wife smirks, "The very one. And poor Harris just can't fathom trying to hop around on one leg and not drink thanks to their newly acquired pain meds. So they had their partner-" "Your boss's son." Hen remembers, leaning towards Karen, who instinctually gets closer as well. "Karson, with a K, starts to asks around his dads work because you know, we're literal rocket scientist working on very classified information." "Who better to invite to a secret club than those who work on secret projects." "Exactly." Karen's smirk becomes wicked (and very sinful), "And wouldn't you know, the only non-straight and married person around is yours truly." Hen honest to go squeals, loud and bubbling with elation, "You got us passes to The Green Carnation?!" "With a pre-paid drink package. All we have to do is agree to the background check and sign the NDA." Karen replies with a broad grin. Hen can no longer hold herself back and practically tackles her wife with a teeth clattering kiss. Karen, as always, catches her and kisses back 110%. ("So, my 48 off falls on the weekend." Eddie states and he takes notice of Buck's sly grin forming, his boyfriend most likely on the same train of thought, "And since it's still your bye week..." "You want to dance the night away with other secret gays." Evan finishes. Eddie smirks, "And get a private room blow job." The quarterback's smile is almost feral like, "I'll make the reservation." And Eddie watches Buck tap on the contact Florists with the green clover next to it. The phone rings twice before a deep voice comes through the speaker, "State your member id." "Buckley, 201-09-18." "Diaz, 201-09-19." A quick moment of silence, then, "What can The Green Carnation do for you today Mr. Buckley and Mr. Diaz?")

Hmm... Is a certain run in going to happen???? We'll see!!! Hope you all enjoyed!

Tagging (no pressure): @hippolotamus @theotherbuckley @watchyourbuck @perfectlysunny02 @aroeddiediaz @loserdiaz @diazsdimples @jesuisici33 @fortheloveofbuddie @evanbegins @buck-coded @glorious-spoon @thekristen999 @spotsandsocks @sunshinediaz @lover-of-mine @hoodie-buck @elvensorceress @gayedmundodiaz @giddyupbuck @goforkinard @bekkachaos @thewolvesof1998 @eddiebabygirldiaz @spaceprincessem @eddiiediaz @honestlydarkprincess @doublecheekeddiaz @transboybuckley @nmcggg @monsterrae1 @missmagooglie @thebloomingheather @bigfootsmom

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Coda: Part Two

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.7k

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Summary: When parents go missing, the only witness left behind is a ten-year-old boy with autism. The team must work with him in order to figure out who might have taken his parents. Meanwhile, Emily's world is crumbling down around her and there is nothing she can do to stop it.

Season Six Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If any warnings exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

You and Emily head over to the bank immediately and get there in ten minutes. You're about to go inside when you feel Alison. Her energy. She's terrified. You look to the street and see the car she got into. The unsub's truck. You walk to the back of it but only two numbers are available on the license plate. The rest is covered by black smoke. The car pulls out into traffic and disappears into the crowd.

You turn and head inside where Emily is sitting with a bank manager.

"The account was frozen. How did she take the money out?" Emily asks.

"We're on an old system. It only updates every night at midnight."

"How much did she want?"

"Well, she wanted to close out her account, but I told her I wouldn't be able to give her everything today. We can't afford it."

"How much is everything?"

"Forty-two thousand, one hundred and seventy-six dollars and forty-one cents."

"The bank doesn't have that?" you ask.

"Not anymore. Mrs. Sparks isn't the first customer to consider closing her accounts."

"Can we take a look at the security footage you have?"

The manager turns her computer toward you and Emily and pulls up the footage. Alison is at the front counter alone, and she doesn't seem to be overly paranoid. The unsub is waiting in the car outside. He trusts her enough to go in alone.

"There's no sign of the unsub. She doesn't look over her shoulder. She doesn't try to warn you or anyone else in the bank?" you ask.

"No."

"What did she say to you when you told her you couldn't give her all the money?"

"I told her I could get her ten thousand now and the rest in two days, but she became hysterical and kept saying that that's not enough."

"Did she tell you what the money was for?"

"No. She just asked for what she could get and she left."

"The unsub is probably holding Charlie at a secondary location which means he might still be alive."

You and Em head back to the police station where Penelope is talking with the team.

"I have run every 'L' I can find, think of, or make up in my giant magic head and nothing hits. I even ran the number fifty in case Sammy has some sort of predilection for Roman numerals. Came up dry."

"Any luck on finding Sammy's next of kin?" Hotch asks.

"In name only. Charlie has a sister named Elizabeth who was last reported residing in Mont Belvieu, Texas. She's not responding to calls or emails."

"Elizabeth," Spencer says. "The 'L' could stand for Liz or Lizzie. Garcia, we need to find her and fast."

"I will move so fast, the earth will reverse its rotation and time bend backward," she says and hangs up.

"Alright, so this unsub has the money he needs. Why hasn't he let the Sparks go?" Derek asks. "He has to be holding them for a reason."

"We might have an answer to that," you say as you walk in. "Alison tried to withdraw forty grand from the branch in Bayside, but she only got ten."

"Maybe he's holding them until he gets the money he needs."

"I think it's more than that," Emily says. "I think he wants a specific amount. Alison kept telling the bank manager that ten grand wasn't enough. That says to me he's told them what would be."

"I saw their energies and was able to get a partial plate. Only two. Alpha-Tango. I don't think that will help, though."

"Sheriff, we're ready to give the profile." Police men and women gather in the main room. "We believe the man you are looking for is in danger of losing a home, property, or a business. We want to focus on residents with large families, single-income households, and anyone with a financial responsibility for others."

"That responsibility is probably what drove the unsub into action. Now, he had no intention of hurting either of his victims. For him, the abduction of Charlie and Alison Sparks was an unfortunate but necessary means to an end. This area has been ravaged by last summer's oil spill, so look for down-and-out fishermen, boat owners, or anyone who used to work in the tourist or beach industries."

"Compare that list to people working part-time or under-the-table jobs. This unsub didn't start with extortion, he was pushed there," Hotch adds to Derek's thought.

"This man feels such a strong obligation to his dependents that he's willing to kidnap and steal from people he knows. He may be in the process of losing someone close to him or has already. Look at recent divorce filings and child custody cases."

"The unsub went to a bank in the next parish. That tells us he has his own mode of transportation, and he is conscious of the FBI's involvement in this case," you say. "By now he realizes the Sparks' accounts are frozen, so he'll be seeking alternative ways to get the rest of the money he needs."

"Canvass banks, pawnshops, and any place that offers quick cash with minimal questions. Thank you very much," Hotch concludes.

Without Sammy's parents, there's a slim chance of getting him to communicate. However, there is one person who might be able to help outside of his family and that's his teacher, Ms. Rogers. Spencer leaves to get her while you and Rossi are inside the empty office to monitor Sammy. He is sitting quietly just drawing. You walk closer to Sammy to see what he's drawing. It's a bunch of blue squares, some colored in and some not. You look at Rossi and notice the bottom of his shoe. You look between the two before addressing Rossi.

"He's drawing the bottom of your shoe."

Rossi looks at the bottom of his shoe to see the same pattern as the one Sammy is drawing. Spencer and Ms. Rogers enter the room and she immediately notices the many drawings.

"Oh, he's been busy. What are those?"

"We have no idea. We're trying to find his aunt right now, but we're hoping that maybe in the meantime you'd be able to help us get through to him."

"Okay, I'll try, but even before this happened, Sammy wasn't wild about talking." she takes a seat next to Sammy and takes out picture flashcards. "These help some kids with autism learn routines."

On the flashcard is a school bus with an analog clock that reads 2:15. You frown slightly at the flashcard. You're not sure what it is but something about that card is nagging at you.

"Sammy, what's this?" Ms. Rogers asks.

Sammy looks at the card and panics. He starts rocking back and forth in complete panic, and you put a hand to your mouth in concern.

"Do you have any idea what that 'L' might stand for?" Spencer asks.

"I have no idea. Sammy. Sammy, you're safe. It's me, Ms. Rogers. I'm here. I'm here, Sammy. You're safe."

Sammy calms down after a few seconds and starts tapping the paper with the blue squares.

"I've never seen that. I don't know what it is," Ms. Rogers says.

"Is he trying to type?" Rossi asks.

"He's playing the piano," you say. "Can we get a keyboard in here?"

"There's a piano at his house."

"You want to take a ten-year-old boy back to the crime scene where his father was shot?" Ms. Rogers gasps.

"Sammy's trying to tell us something. I think it's important we try to figure out what."

"Well, who decides whether the harm to Sammy's well-being is worth whatever information you may or may not get by doing such a thing? He's a child, and I don't think you get to choose what's best for him."

Just then, Emily walks in with a woman you've never seen before.

"Everyone, this is Lizzie Sparks, Sammy's aunt."

If anyone has any say about what happens with Sammy, it's Lizzie. You take the conversation outside and leave Sammy alone to color in the office.

"I still don't see why you have to take him back to that place," Ms. Rogers scoffs.

"Sammy was playing the piano when his parents were abducted, so taking him back to the exact location might trigger an important response."

"He's fragile. It could also wound him further."

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here," Liz sighs.

"You're Sammy's legal guardian right now. The decision's yours," you state.

"No. He barely knows her," Ms. Rogers interjects. "Lizzie, is it? For all we know, she's the 'L' he's afraid of."

"Sammy saw his aunt and didn't even react. If she was the abductor, we'd have seen a visceral response."

"You can't be sure of that. He's in shock."

"We are running a background check right now."

"On me?" Liz asks, shocked.

"It's just procedure, but you have to decide. What do you want us to do?"

As Liz takes some time to decide, you get word that the unsub has taken Alison to a check-cashing store to get the rest of the money. However, she was only able to get a portion of it, not the full amount. The shop owner was only able to give her twenty-five thousand. She wanted thirty but the owner refused.

So, she has twenty-five at the store and ten from the bank. That's thirty thousand but the unsub wants forty. Why forty? Why not settle for just a bit less? Penelope might be able to do some magic with that number. Not only did Alison and the unsub went to the store but a bloody crowbar was found outside the store by the dumpster. It was definitely used as a weapon and it definitely belonged to the unsub.

The end of the crowbar was rusted which is an old fisherman trick. Your dad took you fishing a couple of times and explained the process. A fisherman can use the crowbar to hook crap traps and shrimp catches out at sea. It's common in the area but it confirms one thing.

The unsub is definitely a fisherman.

You're not sure how Sammy will react to being back home after the tragedy, but he seems to be doing fine. He walks in like normal and looks around before immediately going to the piano.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Rossi asks Liz.

"On his fifth birthday. Charlie and I had a fight. It got ugly. I haven't seen either one of them since. Do you think Charlie's going to be okay?"

"I'm hopeful."

You're not. If Charlie was shot and lost all that blood, it's safe to say that the unsub isn't going to be giving him medical attention soon. If he hasn't already, you think Charlie will be dead before you can get to him.

x

Want to be tagged? Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[porterdavis]

Mr. Krugman always makes economics accessible. Here's a good example.

[Oh, and Paul? Here's the musical coda your jet-lagged brain couldn't conjure up]

[popculturebuffet]

How would you rank the Sam and Max episodes?

This is something I genuinely WAS going to do... but my massive workload and how tired I was at the time won out, a sign I was getting the cold i'm still fighting to finish my christmas reviews on time.

Anyways

Beyond the Alley of the Dolls: Is the clear #1. Recency bias is probably in play a TINY bit.. but it has all the jokes you'd expect, the most enjoyable puzzles in the series with me only having to use my guide occasionally, and genuine great tension and that climax is fantastic. While the season still ended on a high note, it's defintely the biggest and best ending of the trilogy. 2. The Mob the Mole and the Meatball: Season 1's best and honestly the best setting in the series.. and the latter games are none too shabby. It's just such a simple yet messed up concept: a chuck e cheese as a mafia front. Give those mafiso teddy bear heads and you have an outright classic. 3. The Tomb of Sammun Mak: The format bender really helped this one: the reel switching is the series best gimmick to shake things up and is a lot of fun. It's also their best asset flip, is packed with some iconic jokes and is charming as hell. 4. Situation: Comedy: While I loved these games from Culture Shock, Situation Comedy is where everything clicked: better puzzles, a great new environment to explore, great additions in mr featherly and two all time great bits: cooking without Looking and Subrban Cowboys (Their probably hiding a cow) It's only not higher up because it has that wonky as hell cow puzzle. I don't mind a long puzzle but I do mind when the puzzle is just "ask until you get the right question but we won't give you clues as to what the right answer are". It's fine if you can give wrong ansers and get great jokes, not so much in a loop but ot their credit the developers learned that lesson. Mostly.

4. The City that Dares Not Sleep: The touching, hilarous, and heartwrenching coda to the whole saga. The puzzles are a bit lighter, not hitting quite that good ballance of "Tricky but managable" and just being managable mostly. But it's still a standout conclusion to the best game in the trilogy.

5. Abe Lincoln Must Die!: This one like Situation Comedy would rank higher were the puzzles less frustrating or the hike back and forth from the street to the whtie house not tedious. That said while both of those can be grating... Abe Lincoln Must Die is just that funny. You have Max running for president against a giant stone abe lincoln, Superball's debut and of course the war song. I'm really disapointed the later games dropped musical numbers, as War and World of Max are bangers. I still listen to the war song regularly and probably will again just bringing it up here. 6. The Penal Zone: A brilliant start to their best season, a llittle lower due to that pigeon. Yes i'll never not resent the pidgeon pizza puzzle, as what the hell was that. But the chapter overall is fun, hilaroius and lets you get into the new groove of things nicely. Plus Max snorting at the penal zone's name will never not be funny.

6. Bright Side of the Moon: The most gorgeous chapter of the original game , with a grand set piece to close it out, a great villian reveal and of course... world of max. once again the song helps really boost this but it was a truly perfect ending to such a batshit season. 7. Night of the Raving Dead: IS a lot of fun. It has the worst puzzle in the trilogy, the dj puzzle, but damn if Jurgen isn't entertaning. Making a vampire lord an overly dorky scene kid was genius, and adding in that poor monster and of all people superball, and pulpy good flint paper and you have a stew goin.

8. They Stole Max's Brain: This one, like many is only so low thanks to one thing dragging it down: in this case the entire sammun mak act. I dreaded it going in and while it was better than I braced myself for it was still not great. You take my lack of love for stock ancient egyptian themeing (You can use it well but you have to work at it as it has cool astetics but is often used clusmily and sameily) and "The world is changed but only one person remember it plots" and i'm gonna have ab ad time. But the first two acts are so fun it compensates. 9. Culture Shock: Culture Shock is decent and is just above the bottom because while funny, a great start to the series and solid... the later chapters of both it's own game and the series as a whole really step it up. It dosne't help the main guests are the soda poppers who i've made my opinons of clear. Only specs dosen't make me want to kick his ass, to build a machine to kick his ass, to build an empire to house the machine to kick his ass!

10. What's New Beelzebub: Is solid. It's this low due to it's puzzles and the soda poppers reveal being VERY mid. I knew going in.. but that's the case with ALL the main villians and Hugh Blizz and The Narrator's reveals are way more effective: Bliss comes off as off from the start and the narrator is well set up whlie still being effective with an aamazing reveal. The Soda Poppers are just little weenies and them being revealed as the lords of the dammned isn't funny it's just.. what. You had Jurgen RIGHT THERE. The Soda Poppers really do ruin everything

11. Ice Station Santa: Starts well and has some great gags, torture me elmer is the best as is buster blaster

12. Chariots of the Dogs: Is fun, I just felt other chapters were better. But the payoff for the birthday and boscow do help this one up. The sexist humor not so much. Still has neat time travle 13. Reality 2.0: This one is only not bottom because it debuts the COPS. It gave us the COPS who rightly go on to play a bigger role in the next two games as the developers clearly loved them and so do I. It also has a fantastic finale, that graet mario joke and more I forgot, saving it from the bottom. But my god this one smells of "we ran out of time and needded a cheap chapter to make 6." I wouldn't be suprised if bduget is why the sequels are both 5 chapters instead as this one just.. asset flips to hell and isn't super fun about it. It TRIES but the digtial setting just feels lifeless. I think this one hasn't been helped by the sequels all having bigger more expansive sets, while this just feels half assed.

14. Moai Better Blues: has some frustrating puzzles like the cloud one, abe lincoln at his worst and that fucking surfboard minin game. Add in some mild racism and this one is just meh. The weakest chapter of them all. Some good jokes but that's standard for sam and max. What's not standard is that goodamn surfboard. There's a few good jokes but this feels like a mishmash of ideas rather than a more coherent chapter. Chariot Reused a lot but at least it was funny

[herdeviousins]

Mr. Viva: When you see a coda near the end of a song, you know you should get ready to wrap it up beautifully. You're a coda too.

Eun-gyeol: Me?

Mr. Viva: "CODA" refers to hearing children like you... who were born to deaf parents. You connect the world filled with sounds with the world of silence, using your voice and hands. And at times, like you. Through music.

[chocochipbiscuit]

Smut 4 Smut rec list!!!!

The 2025 Smut 4 Smut exchange fics are now live!!!!

There are 260 works in the collection, across 148 fandoms! I have no way of reading everything, but here are some of my faves!

The Burning Kingdoms

Beyond the Cold Stars (Priya/Malini) - "Priya and Malini, and the eternity before them." aka POST-CANON SOFTNESS FOR THESE MESSY LESBIANS!!! This is just such a satisfying coda for the series, just wraps everything together for me.

Frankenstein

Life and Turbulence (Frankenstein's Creature/Elizabeth Lavenza) - "Elizabeth singlehandedly gives Frankenstein a happy ending through the power of monsterfucking." THIS IS SUCH A DELIGHTFUL EPISTOLARY FIC. Perfectly matches tone of the original but makes it BETTER because MONSTERFUCKING and also unbelievably tender and insightful as to Elizabeth's own frustrating loneliness with being disregarded and shut out by Victor's fears, including being put aside on their wedding night, and the way she finds a match in the Creature! Sublime!

Pride and Prejudice

Mistress of Pemberley (Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy) - "Mr. Darcy enjoys being master of the great estate of Pemberley, but all that responsibility can be taxing as well. He discovers that sometimes surrendering sexual control to his wife, his mistress of Pemberley and of himself, can be a welcome relief, and a very great pleasure to them both." aka DELICIOUS FEMDOM!!!! FUCK YEAH!!!

Original Work

Honeyed Wine (M!OC/M!OC) - A prince is given as tribute to a terrifying warlord, and unsure of what to expect of their first night together. The prince is trans…and so is the warlord! Double surprise all around, the first of many! This is surprisingly sweet and I love the way it plays with the tropes!

you're a bullseye (F!OC/F!OC) - WORLD WEARY SHIFU AND THE DISCIPLE WHO'S IN LOVE WITH HER!!!! I love the way the fic gets that sense of exhaustion as the Goddess of War just finally gets to go home after yet another battle, and her student is the one who helps take off the weight of her armor (literal and figurative). Very sweet.

Femme Wanted (F!OC/M!OC) - Super-cute childhood friends to lovers, between a straight cis dude and the friend who just recently realized she's a girl! Absolutely sweet and soppy. <3

exístēmi (F!OC/M!OC) - A young woman raised in a cult finds her pleasure with the god's statue. Deliciously creepy and mind-fucky with religion; mind the tags!

b-list (F!OC/F!OC) - SUPERHERO GOODNESS!!! One character's an early-30s speedsters who recently came back from the dead, and she's rescuing the 24 year-old former hero sidekick. There is tension and history and really it's just fun to watch them play off each other and comic book conventions! (Also, YES! Super powers during sex!)

[hideyseek]

HI! 3, 5, 15, 18 :3

HELLO KI !!!!!!!!!! hehehehehehe thank u for indulging my talking powers :3 🥰 not to brag but these got. long.

from the ao3 wrapped [writer's edition] asks

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

DAY AFTER DAY | 日复一日 HAHA. MY BELOVED GRIEF FEELINGS TIME LOOP FIC. the coolest thing i've finished to date, to me -- i just love when magical or supernatural elements allow a story to look at a real-world phenomenon (death, in this case) in a different way. it's also quite a personal guy actually ... i started writing it around the 1-year anniversary of a loved one's passing and was working out the idea with a friend who had also recently dealt with the same thing, so it ended up being (for me) this really interesting ... reframing of my own experience with grief through the lens of someone else's grief? which of course was then reflected through shen wei's relationship with mrs liu in the fic itself. man. what a fic. i did almost nothing but write this fic for like six weeks agahaha. what a beautiful time i would like to never repeat. but also like ... i did not expect to write 24k for that. i had set myself the goal of passing 10k for the first time with a fic in 2024 and then. well. and somehow that like ... jolted me out of a stagnation in my life? this sounds so fucking dramatic lol but i did, in the two months after finishing this fic immediately embark on Several large life changes hahaha. so yknow. this one. :3

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

hmmm i was originally going to say Enough | 足够, which i wrote because i wanted to represent a very specific (to me) Chinese Parenting Dynamic between zhao yunlan and zhao xinci, and i wasn't sure if people would be willing to read about zhao yunlan's terrible father enough to read the fic, and im surprised at the numbers on it. i'm not sure i understand why its so popular (relatively speaking, local maxima in my guardian bonus bingo fics), but well. thats ok.

but i think my actual answer is To the River | 过河, which is my beloved pretty words passively suicidal shen wei fic that also draws heavily from the chinese myth (fable?) the cowherd and the weaver maid. truly, i did not think people would read this fic, mainly bc of subject matter, but then people did! and people liked it! still kind of insane to me, tbh. hopefully this will encourage me to write more of what i really feel drawn to writing (which i guess i do generally do already), but more of what i feel drawn to writing, with more disregard of how it'll be received.

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

ahahaha. "wip". singular. well i am bringing about twelve because i THOUGHT i was gonna buckle down and write weilan xfiles au and then i watched the first shot and ... well. then various things happened. so i guess i'll answer as the two i expected to finish in 2024 and then didn't: weilan xfiles au (which i expected to start drafting in september with the goal of some kind of draft by the end of the year), and then the distance that i run to you | 我朝你奔跑的距离 which i fully thought was going to be like, some kind of oneshot coda fic, and now is. well. not a oneshot haha. hes like 21k now.

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

GU YIRAN. FUCK HIM. WHAT THE HELL. CONFUSING GODDAMN MAN. i mean i only really had to get into the heads of four guys last year to any depth: shen wei, zhao yunlan, gu yiran, and zheng bei, so the list of options isn't that long. but for me to be able to write a character well, i feel that i need to be able to distill them down to a 1-2 words or basic driving elements, and to basically be able to derive all their character arcs in relation to that. to me, shen wei is defined by his want and his responsibility. zhao yunlan i don't know but well ... he wasn't the subject of a longfic.

the other piece is, to a certain extent both shen wei and zhao yunlan are written as archetypes with nuance, and inhabit a very tropey story. that makes them a lot simpler to write, compared to zheng bei and gu yiran, who both come from a show that is -- well. a lot more "real", to the extent that when i'm writing them i feel more like i have to write them as "real people" (what does this mean when they are fictional characters and therefore tools of a given story? mostly that i spend so much time going: okay how would a real person with this background do? lol) and i can project onto zheng bei and his reactions a hell of a lot easier than i could with gu yiran, so it took a lot of frustrated nighttime walks until i could figure out the core part of his character (relative to the fic i was writing about him) that i could relate to enough to feel like i could write him properly.

[sourcreammachine]

best pictures: originals or adaptations

1928: wings

1929: the broadway melody

1930: all quiet on the western front (novel)

1931: cimarron (novel)

1932: grand hotel (novel)

1933: cavalcade (play)

1934: it happened one night (short story)

1935: mutiny on the bounty (novelisation of the events)

1936: the great ziegfeld

1937: the life of émile zola (biography)

1938: you can’t take it with you (play)

1939: gone with the wind (novel)

1940: rebecca (novel)

1941: how green was my valley (novel)

1942: mrs miniver (novel)

1943: casablanca (play)

1944: going my way

1945: the lost weekend (novel)

1946: the best years of our lives (novella)

1947: gentleman’s agreement (novel)

1948: hamlet (hamlet)

1949: all the king’s men (novel)

1950: all about eve (short story)

1951: an american in paris (symphony)

1952: the greatest show on earth

1953: from here to eternity (novel)

1954: on the waterfront (article series)

1955: marty (teleplay)

1956: around the world in 80 days (novel)

1957: the bridge over the river kwai (novel)

1958: gigi (novella)

1959: ben-hur (film)

1960: the apartment

1961: west side story (musical)

1962: lawrence of arabia (dubious - based primarily on lawrence’s own autobiographical account of events)

1963: tom jones (novel)

1964: my fair lady (musical)

1965: the sound of music (musical)

1966: a man for all seasons (play)

1967: in the heat of the night (novel)

1968: oliver! (musical and novel)

1969: midnight cowboy (novel)

1970: patton

1971: the french connection (book)

1972: the godfather (novel)

1973: the sting (book)

1974: the godfather part ii (film)

1975: one flew over the cuckoo’s nest (novel)

1976: rocky

1977: annie hall

1978: the deer hunter

1979: kramer vs kramer (novel)

1980: ordinary people (novel)

1981: chariots of fire

1982: gandhi

1983: terms of endearment (novel)

1984: amadeus (play)

1985: out of africa (autobiography)

1986: platoon

1987: the last emperor (dubious - based heavily on puyi’s own autobiography)

1988: rain man

1989: driving miss daisy (play)

1990: dances with wolves (novel)

1991: the silence of the lambs (novel)

1992: unforgiven

1993: schindler’s list (dubious - based heavily on a novelisation of events)

1994: forrest gump (novel)

1995: braveheart (epic poem)

1996: the english patient (novel)

1997: titanic

1998: shakespeare in love

1999: american beauty (novel)

2000: gladiator

2001: a beautiful mind (biography)

2002: chicago (musical)

2003: lord of the rings 3 (novel)

2004: million dollar baby (book)

2005: crash

2006: the departed (film)

2007: no country for old men (novel)

2008: slumdog millionaire (novel)

2009: the hurt locker

2010: the king’s speech

2011: the artist

2012: argo (memoir)

2013: twelve years a slave (memoir)

2014: birdman

2015: spotlight

2016: moonlight (unpublished play)

2017: the shape of wawa

2018: green book

2019: parasite

2020: nomadland (book)

2021: coda (film)

2022: everything everywhere all at once

2023: oppenheimer (book)

2024: anora

[darkhorse-javert]

This idea was meant to be a fill for #flashfictionfriday, but I couldn't get it beyond vibes in time.

A little Coda to the final scene of 'Elise'.

January 1947

The gravesite was behind him, and so was Sam, walking back home at her husband’s side. Sam, the wife of a Member of Parliament. Never thought I'd say that.

Soft steps crunched on the ground behind him, and after a moment Valentine fell in beside him.

“You are going to back to Hastings then?”

“Yes” And don’t try to persuade me otherwise

A moment of silence as the other man took this in, “The end of an era,” he said softly, “Hilda Pierce… you, Mrs Wainwright…” A sigh “It will be very different in the service.”

That is true, Foyle inclined his head, but kept walking, “You’ll manage.” Isn’t that what you do?

“Yes, I suppose.” Valentine dropped into a heavy silence, still keeping pace. 

The graveyard was quiet, even the birds weren’t chirping. Did they too know everything in the world had shifted?

“I’ll keep an eye and an ear out for her.”

Something in Valentine’s voice, made him pause and look at the other man, 

Valentine in turn tipped his head in the direction Sam had been in, his eyes soft, fond, but behind them a flinty certainty  “If anything happens, I’ll make sure she’s out alright.”

He nodded, “If she needs somewhere to go…” He didn’t have to finish the sentence.

“I’ll send her to you.” Arthur gave a little nod, a frown on his face as he carried on looking in Sam’s direction.

Apparently we both don’t think much of ‘The Honorable’ Wainwright.

Valentine turned back to him “I wanted to apologise Foyle, for how I, we, treated you when you came back to England, and for how we used Sam in that. It was cruel, and while it got a result we wanted - it was wrong.” He held out his hand “Good luck, Christopher.”

He took it and shook it, “Same to you.” They shared a look, “And watch your back with them.”

Valentine’s lips twitched, a slight breath of laughter escaping him.

This time, when he walked away, Valentine didn’t follow him.

[clxscdeyes]

You know...Luna, I was never meant to be your enemy. I was scared too.

Not a day went by where I didn't feel pain and guilt. It took me a while to realize that, but ever since the Coda and how happy you looked....for it all to vanish because of what happened---I'm sorry.

As Luna walks through the Hollow's path, the ghost speaks in her ears. Behind her, in front of her, and surrounding her, the ghost speaks.

My job was never to hurt you, but I can't help it. It's how they made me. They created me. But...but I want to make it right, Luna. I want to help you find your parents. Whether that's your birth parents or your adopted...I'll make both happen. No one will take them away from you. And....and maybe you can finally put me to rest, too. I'm so tired Luna.날...구해줘, 재발.

And Luna's footsteps slows. She stands in the middle of Hollow Silverbrook.

Save me, Luna. Please.

The ghost pleads. The ghost sounds genuine. As if it had been fighting a war and is now exhausted. This entire time. Week and a few days of following the ghost's lead, Luna had felt at the back of her head that the ghost was toying with her, but now....now Luna wasn't sure. The promise of seeing her family was so strong as it had been stolen from her and...The thought of being free from the ghost once and for all was a dream she thought could never be true.

What sealed Luna's belief in this ghost was...

"영자 아줌마...you'll keep your word, right?"

The ghost is silent and then,

"Call me 언니~. I'll make sure that you see your parents and you'll stay with them. No one will get in your way. Not ever again. I PROMISE."

Okay....I'll trust you.

Luna closes her eyes and her body lifts off the ground. She floats, hovering in the air and then...she's fallen asleep.

Mom, dad...Mister Mathis and Mrs Mathis...Eliza and Joey, I'm coming. I'm sorry for taking so long, but I'm coming. There's so much I want to say...

And in Luna's place, a black tree sprouts, growing in within seconds, enveloping and encasing Luna inside. Roots begin to rise and cling tightly onto the soil.

Luna sheds her skin of her human body and traverses through the world of the dead. She wonders the world of the dead in her spirit body. Her mother and father are the first she sees. Luna having never felt any happier can't control the tears that immediately start shedding like waterfalls. She cries. She cries loud, like a young child should.

"Mommy...dadddddyyyy"...., She says through sobs and seeing this, her parents heart breaks. They rush over to her, wrap their arms around her and holds her close. "There, there....it's okay. You're okay."

Was this real? Did the ghost truly give her what she wanted? Luna who only felt her mother and father's embrace then began to feel the warmth and embrace of four more. Ingrid, Robert, Eliza, and Joey. They were all here. Luna closes her eyes, her arms wrapped around her parents. She exhales, sighing out the most relaxed and happy sound. She...really could stay here forever. With them.

"We forgive you, Luna. We will always love you." And if Luna couldn't feel any more at ease than she did? She felt it now. The words sje was scared would never come true or be heard came right out of their mouth.

"You're still our favorite." The children say with a big smile. Robert kisses Luna's forehead and Ingrid runs her fingers through Luna's dark short hair, "and we will always love you." Her parents both kisses her cheeks and then nuzzles her how they would when she was much smaller, "you've gotten so big. My baby is no longer a baby."

And...

Luna.....

Was trapped. The ghost had her right where it wanted her.

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Rated PG-13 for violent content, some sexual material, thematic elements and teen smoking

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/06/review-i-saw-tv-glow-2024.html>

Score: 4 out of 5

I Saw the TV Glow is a movie that's probably gonna stick with me for a while. Even as somebody who didn't necessarily have the queer lens that writer/director Jane Schoenbrun brought to the film, it still hit me like a sack of bricks, a fusion of nostalgia for the kids' and teen horror shows of the '90s, a deconstruction of that nostalgia and of our relationship with the media we love, a coming-of-age tale about not fitting in and living in a miserable world, and modern creepypasta and analog horror influences, all building to an ending where the anticlimactic note it wrapped up on wound up serving as a very grim and appropriate coda suggesting that nothing good will happen after. It's a film where I was able to put together the pieces of the story and figure out where it was headed after a certain point, but the journey was a lot more important than the destination here, serving up a moody, weird tale that felt like something pulled out of both my childhood and my adulthood in equal measure. If you're expecting a simple horror tale with big frights and easy answers, this will probably leave you scratching your head at the end, but if you want a movie with a smart and wrenching plot, compelling characters, and a hell of a sense of style that's quietly chilling without really being in-your-face scary, this is one you probably won't soon forget.

The film starts out in the late '90s in an anonymous middle-class suburb that, while it was never explicitly stated where it's supposed to be, I figured out was New Jersey right away even before the credits rolled and I saw that, sure enough, this was filmed in Verona and Cedar Grove, such was the familiarity of the scenery from my own childhood. Our protagonists Owen and Maddy are a pair of awkward teenagers who slowly bond over their shared fandom of The Pink Opaque, a kids' horror series that airs on the Young Adult Network (a fairly obvious pastiche of Nickelodeon) and is inspired by shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The protagonists of The Pink Opaque, Isabel and Tara, are a pair of teenage girls who developed a psychic connection at summer camp that they use to fight various monsters, as well as an overarching villain named Mr. Melancholy. For Maddy, the show is an escape from her abusive home life, while for Owen, it's a guilty pleasure that he has to watch by way of Maddy taping it every Saturday night at 10:30 and giving him the tape the following week, as not only does it air past his bedtime but his father looks askance at it for being a "girly" show. Things start to get weird once the show is canceled on a cliffhanger at the end of its fifth season -- and shortly after, Maddy mysteriously disappears, leaving only a burning TV set in her backyard.

I can't say anything more about the plot without spoilers other than the broadest strokes. On the surface, a lot of the story that transpires here, that of a creepy kids' show that may be more than it seems, is reminiscent of Candle Cove, only drawing less of its inspiration from '70s local television than from '90s Nickelodeon, Fox Kids, and The WB. But while Candle Cove was a brisk, one-off campfire tale that you can probably read in five to ten minutes (which you should, by the way), this is something with a lot more on its mind. It's a film about a life wasted, one where the real horror is psychological and emotional as Owen realizes that he's trapped in a life he shouldn't be trapped in, and it would not have worked without Justice Smith's performance as the film's central dramatic anchor. From everything I've seen him in, Smith is a guy who specializes in playing awkward nerds like Jesse Eisenberg or Michael Cera, and here, he takes that in a distinctly Lynchian direction as somebody who can't shake the feeling that he's living a lie but is either unable or unwilling to say precisely what it is. After the first act, this becomes a film about a man who's spinning his wheels in life, and not even checking off the boxes expected of a man like him to be considered "successful" seems to solve it. He narrates the film at various points, and as it goes on, it becomes hard not to wonder if even he believes what he's saying. Watching him, I saw traces of myself living in Florida until last year, spinning my own wheels in either school, menial jobs, or just sitting at home doing nothing. He's somebody whose arc struck close to home, and I imagine that, even if one discounts the fairly overt "closeted trans person" metaphors his character is wrapped in, a lot of viewers will probably get bigger chills seeing themselves in him than they will from the sight of Mr. Melancholy. Brigette Lundy-Paine, meanwhile, plays Maddie as either the one person who understands what's going on or somebody who's let her devotion to an old TV show completely consume her and drive her to madness, and while I won't say what direction the film leans in, I will say that it was still a highly compelling performance that forced me to question everything I witnessed on screen.

And beyond just the events of the story, the biggest thing the film had me questioning was nostalgia. In many ways, this is a movie about our relationship with the past, especially the things we loved as children. In many ways, it can be ridiculous the attachment we have to childhood ephemera, holding up old shows, books, movies, and games as masterpieces of storytelling only to go back to them years later and realize that they do not hold up outside of our memories of better times. It fully gets the appeal of wanting to pretend otherwise, but it is also honest about the fact that a lot of stuff we adored as kids was pretty bad. There are several scenes in this movie that show us scenes from The Pink Opaque, and Schoenbrun faithfully recreated the low-budget, 4:3 standard-definition TV look of many of those shows -- warts and all, as Owen realizes later in the film when we see one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen passed off as children's entertainment. There are many ways to read the story here and how it plays out, but one thing at its core that is unmistakable is that nostalgia is a liar.

It doesn't hurt, either, that this is a beautiful film to watch. It may be about how the main reason we're nostalgic for the past is because they were simpler times when we had lower standards, but Schoenbrun still makes the late '90s and '00s look magical, even if it comes paired with a sort of bleakness in the atmosphere that never lets up. The constant feeling of overcast moodiness is not only visually gripping, it serves the film's themes remarkably well, creating the feeling that, even during the protagonists' wondrous childhoods, there's something lurking just out of frame that isn't right and is going to make their lives miserable. The monster design, much of it first seen on The Pink Opaque, was an odd mix of cheesy and genuinely creepy that not only served as a loving homage to the '90s kids'/teen horror shows that this movie was referencing, but still managed to work in the story, especially once shit gets real and those dumb-looking monsters suddenly become the scariest damn things your 12-year-old self ever watched. There aren't a lot of big jump scares here; rather, this is a movie powered by themes and performances, with Maddy's third-act speech in particular suddenly having me take another look at shows like Buffy and Angel that I grew up with in a completely different light. (Damn it, why did Lost have to be so mind-screwy and reality-fiddling that I could suddenly draw all manner of disquieting conclusions about it?)

The Bottom Line

I Saw the TV Glow isn't for everyone, but it's still a highly potent tale of nostalgia and growing up that wears its affection for its inspirations on its sleeve and has a very solid, engaging, and chilling core to it. Whether you're a child of the '90s and '00s, non-heteronormative, or simply in the mood for an offbeat teen horror movie, this is one to check out, and one I'll probably be thinking about for a long time.

[cake-bread]

I want,,; to pick y’all up by the scruff of your neck like catss,,; and put you in my shirt pocket,,,; to let you see the world ❤️

Also I think it’s very silly that Mr Coda speaks in riddles like a gatekeeper of a treasure trove,,,; lobe him ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh you might be the handshake anon too, you seem to like using hearts. I hope it's okay to notice some patterns and call them out. I know you chose anonimosity but you also chose to talk to me. And I want to show my appreciation for that.

I will assume all these mean the same, just said in the Tumblr 'lingo'.

It's fun until you need something quick. And he refuses to let you know. But yes, there is a lot charm to it.

[krispyweiss]

Sam Bush at Woodlands Tavern, Columbus, Ohio, March 29, 2025

Give Sam Bush 130 minutes and he’ll give you a bluegrass, jazz, country-music and full-on rock ’n’ roll show.

At least that’s what Bush and his band did March 29 with a sold-out, packed-to-the-rafters, Saturday-night gig inside Columbus, Ohio’s, Woodlands Tavern, where “The Nashville Blues” bumped up against the Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post” and seemed as normal as anything can seem in 2025.

“If you like it, I’m Sam Bush,” he said at one point. “If you don’t, I’m David Grisman.”

The “Post” rose mightily out of “Bananas,” which is like a bluegrass-calypso recasting of “Tequila,” with the title, shouted on cue, being the only lyric. Deep into the jam, banjoist Wes Corbett signaled something was afoot as he soloed like Jerry Garcia might have had he brought a five-stringer to a 1970s version of “Eyes of the World.” Bassist Todd Parks then played the telltale, rumbling intro and the band bridged three genres - ’grass, freeform jazz and acidic rock - in the course of about three minutes.

Bush, recently arrived from Grisman’s 80th-birthday bash out west, primarily played mandolin, but brought out the fiddle for “Howlin’ at the Moon” and John Hartford’s “Back in the Goodle Days” and played electric banjo with a slide on “Better Man.” He often spoke to somebody offstage as if he was having monitor problems, but in the house, the sound was dialed in perfectly - each of the five musicians clearly audible in the mix and the volume at a Goldilocks level of not too loud and just loud enough.

The band took advantage on a front-porch rendering of Grandpa Jones’ “Eight More Miles to Louisville;” a sinewy version of Randy Newman’s “Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man);” and its rambunctious arrangement of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire.”

Guitarist Stephen Mougin took the reins for “I’m Gonna Ride,” getting a lead turn on the mic in return for his essential harmonies and co-lead vocal throughout the evening. Drummer Chris Brown propelled the band’s Mad Dogs & Englishmen arrangement of “The Letter,” which found Bush riffing about the benefits of cursive and stamps and the downside of the digital age over the vocal coda.

The show’s coda found Corbett switching to electric guitar and employing a MIDI organ while Mougin and Bush, also electrified on guitar and mando, respectively, wailed as “Midnight Rider” galloped out of Darrell Scott’s “Banjo Clark,” before culminating in a very arena-rock-worthy rave-up ending and group bow.

So when the quintet returned to the stage and the 20th century’s first half with a faithful take on Bill Monroe’s “Will You Be Loving Another Man,” the musical circle was unbroken.

Grade card: Sam Bush at Woodlands Tavern - 3/29/25 - A

3/30/25