#only other books i read lately were the locked tomb books and that was too long ago for me to vibe with

[sonjabysonjamorgan]

somebody pick themed names for my pokemon so i don’t end up using characters from hilary mantel’s historical fiction trilogy about king henry viii’s advisor thomas cromwell from 1630-1640

[suzannahnatters]

IT'S TIME YOU ALL HEARD ABOUT MY GIRL ARCANGELA TARABOTTI, SALTIEST NUN IN CHRISTENDOM

So, I first heard about Arcangela Tarabotti while I was doing the study for my novella THE CITY BEYOND THE GLASS, which is set in Renaissance Venice and inspired by a real historical practice: At one point during the sixteenth century, nearly sixty percent of all the noble women in Venice lived in convents. And the vast majority of them were there against their will.

For complex dynastic reasons (or basically…money and prestige), only one son and one daughter in each generation of Venetian noble families were permitted to marry during this period. The remaining sons resorted to the famous Venetian courtesans to find the companionship which was denied them in marriage, while the spare daughters were locked into convents. The system was unsustainably wasteful and had to be abandoned within a few generations, but by that time it was already too late - many of the old patrician families of Venice were already going extinct. (You can read more on this in Jutta Gisela Sperling’s book Convents and the Body Politic in Late Renaissance Venice).

While it lasted, the system had plenty of opponents. In 1619, Patriarch Giovanni Tiepolo said, "More than two thousand patrician women…live in this city locked up in convents as if in a public tomb. …They are noblewomen, raised and nurtured with the highest delicacy and respect so that if they were of the other sex, they would command and govern the world."

Even when they have suffered oppression, women throughout history have challenged the status quo, and the women of Venice were no different. Arcangela Tarabotti is the foremost example.

Arcangela was just 11 years old when her father sent her to the convent of Sant'Anna. He considered her to be unmarriageable because she had a physical disability, which she had in fact inherited from him. She would spend the rest of her life there, taking vows as a nun in 1623…a fact about which she was in a white-hot fury.

"Why, then, do you defy the works of the Most Just One by decreeing that many women should live all together, alike in dress, dwelling place, food, and conduct, when the Lord of Lords makes it a miracle of His infinite wisdom for all things He created to be different? Why do you want to bend to your whim contrasting wills created so by nature? It is nothing less than wanting to change and correct the deeds of a Creator who cannot err."

During her early years in the cloister, Arcangela gained a reputation for rebellion and outspokenness. At one stage, it took a direct command from the Patriarch himself to force her to cut her hair. Despite this, Arcangela was able to access a high standard of education at the convent and became a philosopher and writer, corresponding with an impressive network of the thinkers of her day. She wrote multiple works critiquing the misogyny entrenched in Venetian society - including a scorching expose titled Paternal Tyranny.

“Only hell itself bears a likeness to the suffering of these enforced slaves of Christ," Arcangela wrote concerning the Venetian women imprisoned in nunneries. "Over the gate of Hell, Dante says, are inscribed the words ‘Abandon every hope, who enter here.’ The same could be inscribed over the portals of convents.”

Contrary to the polemicists of her day, Arcangela maintained that women were fully equal to men and even argued that they should be able to become lawyers and judges. "Both male and female were born free, bearing with them, like a precious gift from God, the priceless bounty of free choice. If in God’s eyes woman is not less privileged than you with respect to her physical or spiritual qualities, why do you wish her to seem created with such great inequality, you enemies of the truth, proclaiming her to be subject to your impulsive, mad whims? In short, woman is deserving of less respect than you only when you have reduced her to this state by your scheming."

"When women are seen with pen in hand, they are met immediately with shrieks commanding a return to that life of pain which their writing had interrupted, a life devoted to the women's work of needle and distaff," she argued.

Tarabotti maintained that she did not condemn all men simply for being men: "Stricken by a guilty conscience, some men will say that I speak with excessive temerity about all men in general. They are greatly mistaken. If they behave justly, they will be protected from my attacks and those of others. I separate the just from the wicked (who are the subject of my discourse), since not all men are bad and not all women are good."

As a keen amateur historian, I’m accustomed to wincing when people assume that all women living before about 1920 were ignorant, oppressed, and unable to inherit or control property (as if world history was not long and diverse and filled with creative, bold, and influential women). For a limited time during the Renaissance, however, things really were incredibly bad for Venetian women. To find out more about Arcangela and her times, I highly recommend Letizia Panizza's translation of PATERNAL TYRANNY, published in 2004 by the University of Chicago Press!

[the-yuri-librarian]

This blog has been running on auto pilot for a while, and tbh I don't really know what to do. I worked 2 jobs from Jan-April, got a break during May where I only had one, and now I'm working two jobs again. All my creative energy is going into my Tifa X Aerith FFVII fanfic, and I don't really have the capacity to do more writing than what I'm doing for that. I also haven't been reading a lot of GL comics lately? There's been a fuckton of fanfic and a lot of sapphic scifi/fantasy novels, but no comics

It's weird, I kinda wanna write reviews for some of the books I've been reading, but the Tifa x Aerith golden saucer fanart I found on Twitter the other week has been doing numbers, and it kind of made me realize how little traction my reviews were getting, especially compared to that post which took like 30 seconds to make lol

Not complaining or anything, just thinking out loud. Like, I like running this blog, and the time in Jan where I was analyzing Bloom into You and getting asks and shit and really talking to people about yuri was a lot of fun, but I just don't have the space for the kind of effort that requires rn

All of this is to say, if you still enjoy this blog and have stuck around as the art from my queue slowly trickles out (and don't worry I'm doing my best to keep that queue full so it's gonna keep going), I appreciate you. And, to the new people, maybe go through and check out some of my old posts. I think I did some pretty cool stuff (if you find a massive wall of the locked tomb novel series posts you've got too far lol)

And, if you like FFVII, go read my fanfic! It's called A Different Kind of Reunion, and it has two chapters so far with a third on the way (and many more to go after that)

[paradoxcase]

I picked up my sister and her friends from their week-and-a-half-long hike around Mount Rainier on Friday, and they were still staying with me for a bit until the last one left today, so I took a little break from the Locked Tomb. It's kind of hard to stay up late reading and writing out tumblr posts when someone wants to go to sleep in your living room at 9:30 PM every night

Anyway, on to the glossary

There's actually a lot of interesting worldbuilding info here that I would have loved to have heard about in the actual text of the story, like this isn't like the LOTR appendices where all that information really is extra stuff, or details that aren't important to the main story, or related stories that don't affect the main plot too much, this is just like, basic information about the premise of this universe, and I only found out about it in the glossary at the end of the book

Argh

Anyway

So, yes, this actually did make it into the text of the story, I remember Gideon talking about this. But then, at the end of this glossary, it says

So, if the reason necromancy normally doesn't work in space is that it doesn't have a thalergy anchor, which presumably has to be something that generates a lot of thalergy, is the reason that Lyctors can do necromancy in space that the Lyctor themself is a large enough source of thalergy to be a thalergy anchor? I remember that when Mayonnaise Uncle tried to siphon Ianthe she told him that he couldn't siphon her thalergy fast enough to outpace her generation of it, so that seems maybe accurate. But if that's the case, couldn't any necromancer in the presence of a Lyctor do necromancy in space as well? If the main point of Lyctors is to be able to do necromancy in space, couldn't the Emperor just have a large collection of regular necromancers hanging out with the Lyctors to do that? I also got the impression from the epilogue that the Emperor was more or less confined to his space ship and was not able to actually personally go down to the planet, and I'm curious to find out why that is

So, ok. All of our cavaliers are listed in the Dramatis Personae as being cavalier primaries to the various heirs. But, presumably, being the heir means there is a living ruling necromancer that they are the heir to (well, except in Harrow's case, and I gather that maybe Isaac was technically the ruling necromancer of the Fourth, but probably under some kind of regency arrangement with Magnus and Abigail), and those necromancers probably also had cavaliers, at least at one time, and wouldn't it make sense for the cavalier of the ruler to be the cavalier primary? Like, obviously when it comes to Harrow, her parents' cavalier was officially dead even if her parents were only unofficially dead, so that would pretty much make Ortus (and later Gideon) the cavalier primary, but is it just an accident that something similar happened with all the other houses, making all the other heirs' cavaliers the cavalier primary? Or do rulers sometimes decide to rank their heirs' cavaliers higher than their own cavaliers?

This is also the first information we have about what the Resurrection was. So, it's not just the resurrection of God, but of the entire system, which made all of the planets undead planets that radiate thanergy? I'm having trouble imagining what disaster could cause the destruction of the entire system. Even if the sun turned into a red giant, I think that would only destroy the inner planets, and the outer ones would be fine (just hotter). I'm guessing the reason that necromancers can't reliably reproduce on regular planets is that babies need to be exposed to thanergy in the womb to become necromancers, so that only happens with reasonable frequency on undead planets. Also, if the nine planets in their current state were recreated by God, why did he choose to make them just as uninhabitable as they were before the Resurrection? Surely if he can restore planets after they were destroyed, he can also do some terraforming while he's at it?

This is the first mention in the book of the River, which seems to be the afterlife (although I've also seen it in some comments here, and in some tumblr posts about Palamedes that probably contain spoilers that I haven't read enough of the books to get properly spoiled for yet). But I gather that getting Gideon back isn't going to involve this, since probably Gideon and the other cavaliers that were absorbed by their necromancers don't wind up in the River

So, this seems to discredit Mayonnaise Uncle's statement that the Ninth House was never meant to exist as merely something that some Houses believe to be the case. And indeed, the Emperor didn't seem to think that Harrow wasn't a proper heir, or wasn't mean to be called to become a Lyctor, or that he disapproved of the Ninth House in any way. It's interesting that it says the body in the Locked Tomb was "placed in the Ninth House in order to show it respect", so I kind of wonder if whoever it was was not actually an "unfathomable enemy of the Emperor" and in fact had some other kind of relationship with him

So, there is some development of means of FTL travel, but this doesn't really explain very much about it. I'm curious why they would use this within the main system itself, though - IIRC, I calculated they were going a max of like 5 or 6 times the speed of light to get from Pluto to Earth in an hour at their shortest distance, so at approaching light speed that would only take like six hours; if we make a probably bad and wrong estimate that the longest distance is like three times the shortest distance, that's still less than a day. People sit in economy seats on commercial airplanes for longer than that. Why set up a stele in the main solar system just to save less than a day on the longest possible trip you could make there? Or did they just not even bother to have ships that even go at approaching light speed, and just rely entirely on the stele system, whatever it is?

Also, this says there were "originally seven full Lyctors". We've been told repeatedly throughout the text of the story that there were eight original Lyctors. So does that mean that one of those eight was not a "full Lyctor" and was incomplete in some manner?

[octaviasdread]

any girls! dark academia movie recs? i really struggle to find anything not about a group of boys (as much as I love them)

SO MANY!!! This is probably a far more detailed answer than you were expecting but this is a popular question and I want to keep a list for myself and others.

Feel free to add to it/give opinions. I've tried to give a tw for anything I can remember

Girls! Dark Academia Movies/TV Shows

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

1950s Women’s college

Art professor! Julia Roberts

She’s legit the female Mr Keating of the art & college world

Feminism vs. Tradition

Maggie Gyllenhall x Ginnifer Goodwin; their characters were more than friends. Fight me.

Does not end how you expect

Strike!/All I Wanna Do/The Hairy Bird (1998)

MY FAVOURITE!!!

Free on YouTube under one of its various names

Comedy

1960s all girls boarding school

Young Kirsten Dunst

Group of girls plot to sabotage a merger with a boys school less prestigious than their own

Secret attic clubhouse meetings of the D.A.R aka Daughters of the American Ravioli (eaten cold, ew)

girls get political & advocate for their rights using ANY elaborate and chaotic scheme

TW: eating disorder, vomiting & creepy male teacher but the girls plot against him too

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

based on a short book I read for uni by Muriel Spark

1930s girls school in Edinburgh

Scottish teacher! Maggie Smith, controversial with a focus on romantic ideals

Spoiler alert, the liberal teacher is actually a fascist

Her group of fave students has cult- vibes and it’s fascinating

Picnic at Hanging Rock

1970s movie or 2018 mini series

Never watched either but I plan to

Wild Child (2008)

00s romcom every UK teen girl loves

Emma Roberts as the spoiled rich American teenager sent to a strict English boarding school

Plots to get herself expelled but oh no she’s making friends with the girls who help her

And the headmistress has a hot son, and he’s nice??? Double oh no

ICONIC SCENES

Everything! Goes! Wrong!

omg she burns the school down

Feel good, comfort, nostalgia

St Trinians (2007)

English girls boarding school

The kids are all criminals, no joke

So are the teachers

CHAOTIC

gay awakening for british girls

Art heist pulled off by school girls

Government tries to shut them down but oh no, the education minister & the headmistress are ex-lovers

Colin Firth x Rupert Everett in drag

Superior cast: Jodie Whittaker, Gemma Arterton, Juno Temple, Stephen Fry, Colin Firth, etc...

embodies the phrase 'problematic fave'

St Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold (2009)

Mystery, pirate ancestors, hidden treasure

omg Shakespeare was a woman

girls disguised as boys to infiltrate and rob the posh boys school

Villain! David Tennant in that ICONIC boat scene

Teen girls vs. ancient misogynist brotherhood

like the first film but MORE chaotic and BETTER!???

The Falling (2014)

1960s all girls school

best friends! but its unrequited love

Agoraphobic + distant mother aka mommy issues

Sudden death and the school suppresses/ignores the students grief, sparking mass hysteria & a fainting epidemic in the girls

Cast: Maisie Williams (GoT) & Florence Pugh (Little Women) & Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders)

TW: teen pregnancy, death, vomiting, underage s*x, sibling inc*st, past s*xual assault

READ THE PLOT SUMMARY FIRST

The Book Thief (2013)

Based on an amazing book by Markus Zusak

set in 1940s Nazi Germany

Daughter of a communist whose family were taken by the Nazis/died is fostered by an older couple who teach her to read & she paints a dictionary on the basement walls

Coming of age story about a compulsive book thief. No joke, this kid steals books from banned book burnings and breaks into the mayor's library through the window

Family hides the Jewish son of an old friend in their basement and he helps her to start writing about her experiences in the war

TW: death, bombings, WW2 anti-semitism

Mary Shelley (2017)

Overall good & roughly biographical

Pretty costumes and aesthetic

Modern feminist take on Mary Shelly in her own time period

So many INACCURACIES for the drama so don’t take it as truth

Percy Shelley slander and not all of it is justified

Cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, and Maisie Williams

The Secret Garden (1993)

Based on a fave childhood book

1901 colonial India & Yorkshire, England

Orphaned, spoilt & neglected girl sent to live with her reclusive Uncle in the English countryside

Gothic elements, mysteries, secret doors/passages/locked gardens

local boy with a flock of animals, magic, kids chanting around a fire and all around immaculate vibes

Happy ending!!!

Hidden Figures (2016)

African-American women as mathematicians for NASA

1960s space project

Women balancing a career and family obligations

Deals with racial & gender discrimination

Loosely based on the lives of Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan who worked for NASA as engineers & mathematicians

Anne of Green Gables (1985) & sequel (1987)

Adaptation L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ books

Canada (late 1890s/early 1900s)

Highly imaginative & bookworm orphan is adopted by a reclusive elderly brother and sister duo

Small town & school years comedic drama

Unrequited Enemies -> Friends -> lovers

Inspiring new woman teacher

Girls re-enact Tennyson’s poem and nearly drown for the aesthetic™

Dramatic poetry reading with INTENSE 👀eye contact👀

Writer! Anne & English teacher! Anne dealing with unruly girls school antics

Collette (2018)

biographical drama on french writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Collette

Victorian & Edwardian era France

More talented than her husband so she ghostwrites for him

Fight for creative ownership of her wildly successful novels

Affairs with a woman called Georgie and also with Missy, born female but masculine presenting

Cast: Keira Knightly, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark)

Enola Holmes (2020)

Netflix book adaptation

Younger sister of Sherlock Holmes

Victorian era! feminism/suffragettes

Mother-daughter focus

Mystery, adventure, secret codes, teens running away & escaping from (and eventually fighting) assassins

Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Fiona Shaw, Millie Bobby Brown

Ginger & Rosa (2012)

1960s England

best friends since literal birth navigating troubled teen years

poet & anti-nuclear activist! Ginger

off the rails but also catholic! Rosa

Shout out to Mark & Mark the gay godfathers we all want

family troubles 

TW: older man has an affair with a 17 yr old

Testament of Youth (2014)

based on WW1 memoir by Vera Brittain

young woman (writer & poetry lover) escapes traditional family & goes to study at Oxford University

abandons to become a war nurse

romance, tragedy and war trauma

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harrington (GoT), Taron Edgerton (Rocketman), Colin Morgan (Merlin)

Little Women (2019)

Writer! Jo & Artist! Amy

Mother/daughter focus and sister dynamics

the March sisters’ theatre club is *chefs kiss*

champagne problems edits of Jo x Laurie are a mood

Ambivalent ending perfectly captures Louisa May Alcott’s dilemma with the book the movie is based on

set in 1860s America

ALL STAR CAST and a Greta Gerwig masterpeice

Lady Bird (2017)

coming of age in early 2002/2003 Sacramento, California

all girls catholic school

writer! Christine aka Lady Bird wants to get outta town and start her life again at college 'in a city with culture'

Mother/daughter dynamics - so realistic!

I live for that Jesus car stunt & the nun's reaction

school theatre program

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein

Another Greta Gerwig gem

Beguiled (2017)

Virginia, civil war era

Girls school with only five students and two teachers left

Find an injured Union army soldier & bring him inside

Women & teenagers want his attention (v. problematic) before uniting against him

(tbh you'll either love it, hate it, or watch once & forget it)

Sofia Coppola film so its very feminine gaze

TW: violence, death, underage

Legally Blonde (2001)

No questions will be taken

Elle Woods was the blue print

TV series:

House of Anubis (2011-2013)

I know it’s a kids/young teen show but I still unironically love it

ANCIENT EGYPT!!!!

Modern day with Victorian era links to treasure hunters & Egyptian research expeditions (stealing from tombs)

Chosen one plot lines, curses, kidnapping, mysteries, secret tunnels under the school, elixir of life

Teens have investigate & protect themselves cus oh no the TEACHERS are involved in some shady stuff

new American kid at British boarding school is the actual premise not just a fanfic au

Nostalgic, light-hearted, funny, and kinda cheesy but I will accept no criticism

The Alienist (2018 -now)

Mid 1890s, New York

Woman’s private detective agency (Season 2)

Serial killer mystery

Woman secretary turns detective and teams up with a criminal psychiatrist and a newspaper editor to solve crime

TW: violence, child pr*stit*tion

Cast: Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, Daniel Bruhl

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

Woman chess prodigy

1950s & 1960s

TW: drug & alcohol abuse

Gentleman Jack (2019 - now)

Based on the diaries of Anne Lister

Victorian Yorkshire, England

Upper-class lesbians

Confident, suit wearing! Anne Lister x shy! Ann Walker

Business woman! Anne running the family mines

Cast: Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster) & Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders)

TW: violence

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

bubbly/ambitious single mom + intelligent daughter

bookworm! Rory Gilmore gets into a prestigious private school and then an Ivy League college

Small town drama is comedic gold

Fast dialogue packed with pop culture and literary references

Comforting & nostalgic

TEAM JESS

Anne with an E (2017-2019)

Loose adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s ‘Anne of Green Gables’ books

they completely change the plot lines but it’s still very good content!

Orphan girl with trauma and a love of books/poetry is adopted by an elderly brother & sister duo, bringing light and fresh ideas to a rural community

Feminism, girls writing club, lgbtq safe spaces, girls eduction, black/indigenous representation

Miss Stacy as THAT inspiring teacher

Aunt Josephine’s lavish gay parties have my heart

TW: creepy male teacher tries to marry a student, racial discrimination, indigenous assimilation school

Victoria (2016-2019)

Adaption of Queen Victoria’s life

Victoria navigating her political, royal, and personal life

Albert’s involvement with The Great Exhibition, 1851 (on cultural + industrial innovations)

Alfred Paget x Edward Drummond is exquisite

Gorgeous costumes and aesthetics

TW: bury your gays trope

Derry Girls (2018-now)

1990s Northern Ireland during the troubles

Comedy, episodes 20-25 mins long

English boy sent to an all girls Catholic school with his cousin

✨Dead Poets Society parody episode ✨with a free-spirited female teacher

Sister Michael, the sarcastic nun who hates her job & reads the exorcist for giggles

Wee anxious lesbian! Clare Devlin (plus her friends wearing rainbow pins)

Badass with bad ideas! Michelle Mallon

Main Character! Erin Quinn

Lovable weirdo who would fight a polar bear! Orla McCool

Wee English fella & honorary Derry girl! James Maguire

Dickinson (2019-now)

Loose adaption of the poet Emily Dickinson’s life

Set in 19th century Massachusetts, US

Historical drama with modern dialogue & music that works SEAMLESSLY

gives a great understanding of Emily Dickinson’s poems

💕Vintage gays! Emily x Sue💕

Theatre club, writing, poetry, dressing as men to sneak into lectures, love letters, teen drama, feminism, and an underground abolitionist journal as a brief side plot in season 2

Wiz Khalifa plays death in a horse drawn carriage

TW: opium use

A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-2019)

Based on great childhood books

Bookworm! brother, Inventor! sister, and baby sister with sharp teeth

Mystery, secret organisations, orphaned siblings figuring things out & fending for themselves against the villain after their fortune

Adults either cartoon evil, comedically incompetent, or SPIES

Boarding school, library owner, scientific researcher, and theatre episodes

Ambiguous time period which is really fun to try and pin point

Killing Eve (2018-now)

Classic detective who has homoerotic tension with the assassin she is tracking down

British Detective! Eve Polastri figures out the notorious assassin MI5 are investigating is a woman, is fired & then put on a secret MI6 case with a small team

Assassin! Villanelle, a psychopath with a tragic past and a mastery of both accents & fashion

Woman MI6 boss! Carolyn Martens, head of Russian section

Travel Europe following Villanelle’s killings and escaping the assassins sent by Villanelle’s organisation

‘You’re supposed to be my enemy and moral opposite but omg you’re the only one smart enough to get me and why am I obsessed with you????'

🚨 GO IN FOR A KISS AND THEN STAB YOUR ENEMY 🚨

Cable Girls/Las chicas del cable (2017-2020)

Spanish drama set in 1920s Madrid

Four young women at a telecommunications company form a group of friends and help navigate the difficult situations they are all in

Secret identities, dangerous pasts, murder, crime, lgbtq couple & throuple, trans man character, feminism/suffragists

girls commit crimes for humanitarian reasons and cover! it! up!

UNDERRATED SHOW!!!!

Gorgeous costumes and set

Haven’t finished it yet and I’m catching up

TW: abuse, violence, death

Outlander (2014 - now)

haven’t watched yet but plan to

Woman time travels to Scotland, 1743

Rebel highlanders, pirates, British colonies, American revolutionary war

Time jumps between 18th & 20th century

[casxmorgan]

Books Books Books

100 Years of Solitude

11.22.63

120 Days of Sodom

1491

1984

A Brief History of Time

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Child Called It

A Clockwork Orange

A Confederacy of Dunces

A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters

A Land Fit for Heroes Trilogy

A Little Life

A Naked Singularity

A People's History of the United States

A Scanner Darkly

A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Song of Ice and Fire

A Storm of Swords

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Walk in the Woods

A World Lit Only by Fire

Accursed Kings

Alice in Wonderland

All Quiet on the Western Front

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Pretty Horses

America, the Book

American Gods

American Psycho

And then There Were None

Angela’s Ashes

Animal Farm

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Anna Karenina

Anything Terry Pratchett, But, Mort is My Favorite

Anything Written by Robin Hobb

Apt Pupil

Artemis Fowl

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Asoiaf

Atlas Shrugged

Bartimeaus

Batman: the Long Halloween

Battle Royale

Beat the Turtle Drum

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Belgariad Series

Beloved

Berserk

Bestiario

Black Company

Blankets/habibi

Blind Faith

Blindness

Blood Meridian

Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery

Bluest Eye

Brandon Sanderson

Brave New World

Breakfast of Champions

Bridge to Terabithia

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West

Calvin and Hobbs

Candide

Carrie

Cat's Cradle

Catch 22

Cats Cradle

Chaos

Child of God

Choke

Chuck Palahniuk

City of Ember

City of Thieves

Cloud

Collapse

Come Closer

Complaint

Confessions of a Mask

Contact

Conversation in the Cathedral

Cosmos

Crime and Punishment

Dan Brown

David

Dead Birds Singing

Dead Mountain: the Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Delta Venus

Die Räuber (the Robbers)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Don Quixote

Dragonlance

Dune

Dying of the Light

East of Eden

Educated

Empire of Sin: a Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

Enders Game

Enders Shadow

Escape from Camp 14

Ever Since Darwin

Every Man Dies Alone

Everybody Poops

Everything is Illuminated

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Fahrenheit 451

Far from the Madding Crowd

Faust

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

Feet of Clay

Fight Club

First Law

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers in the Attic

Foundation

Foundation Series

Foundation Trilogy

Frankenstein

Freakonomics

Fun Home

Galapagos

Geek Love

Gerald’s Game

Ghost Story

Go Ask Alice

Go Dog Go

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid

Goldfinch

Gone Girl

Gone with the Wind

Good Omens

Grapes of Wrath

Great Expectations

Greg Egan

Guards! Guards!

Guns Germs and Steel

Guts (short Story)

Half a World

Ham on Rye

Hannibal Rising

Hard Boiled Wonderland

Hatchet

Haunted

Hawaii

Heart Shaped Box

Heart of Darkness

Hellbound Heart

Hellraiser

Hell’s Angels

Helter Skelter

His Dark Materials

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Hogg

Holocaust by Bullets

House of Leaves

How to Cook for Fourty Humans

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Huckleberry Finn

Hyperion

I Am America, and So Can You

I Am the Messenger

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

I Was Dr. Mengele’s Assistant

In Cold Blood

In Search of Our Mother's Gardens

Independent People

Infinite Jest

Into Thin Air

Into the Wild

Introduction to Linear Algebra

Invisible Monsters

Ishmael

It

Jacques Le Fataliste

Jane Eyre

Jaunt

Job: a Comedy of Justice

John Dies at the End

John Grisham

Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Johnny Got His Gun

Jon Ronson

Journal of a Novel

Jurassic Park

Justine

L'histoire D'o

Lamb

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Les Miserables

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Life of Pi

Limits and Renewals

Little House in the Big Woods

Lockwood & Co.

Lolita

Looking for Trouble

Lord Foul’s Bane

Lord of the Flies

Lyddie

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Maldoror

Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media

Man’s Search for Meaning

Mark Twain’s Autobiography

Maus

Meditations

Megamorphs (series)

Mein Kampf

Memnooch the Devil

Metro 2033

Michael Crichton

Middlesex

Mindhunter

Misery

Mistborn

Moby Dick

Mrs. Dalloway

My Side of the Mountain

My Sweet Audrina

Nacht über Der Prärie (night over the Prairie)

Naked Lunch

Name of the Wind

Neuromancer

Never Let Me Go

Neverwhere

New York

Next

Night

Night Shift

Norwegian Wood

Notes from Underground

Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea

Of Mice and Men

Of Nightingales That Weep

Ohio

Old Mans War

Old Mother West Wind

On Heroes and Tombs

On Laughter and Forgetting

On the Road

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of Us

Painted Bird

Patrick Rothfuss

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

Persepolis

Pet Sematary

Peter Pan

Pillars of the Earth

Poisonwood Bible

Pride and Predjudice

Ready Player One

Rebecca

Red Mars

Red Night (series)

Red Shirts

Red Storm Rising

Redwall

Replay

Requiem for a Dream

Revenge

Riftwar Saga

Ringworld

Roald Dahl

Rolls of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Round Ireland with a Fridge

Running with Scissors

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind

Scary Stories to Read in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Schindler’s List

Sein Und Zeit

Shades of Grey

Sharp Objects

Shattered Dreams

Sherlock Holmes

Sho-gun

Siddhartha

Sisypho

Skin and Other Stories

Slaughterhouse Five

Smoke & Mirrors

Snow Crash

Soldier Son

Sometimes a Great Notion

Sphere

Starship Troopers

Stiff, the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Storied Life of A.j. Fikry

Stormlight Archives

Story of the Eye

Stranger in a Strange Land

Surely, You're Joking

Survivor Type (short Story)

Suttree

Swan Song

Tale of Two Cities

Tales of the South Pacific

The Alchemist

The Altered Carbon Trilogy

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Art of Deception

The Art of Fielding

The Art of War

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation

The Autobiography of Henry Viii

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Beach

The Bell Jar

The Bible

The Bloody Chamber

The Book Thief

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brothers Karamazov

The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories

The Cask of Amontillado (short Story)

The Catcher in the Rye

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Clown

The Color out of Space

The Communist Manifesto

The Complete Fiction of H.p. Lovecraft

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

The Dagger and the Coin

The Damage Done

The Dark Tower

The Declaration of Independence, the Us Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

The Devil in the White City

The Dharma Bums

The Diamond Age

The Dice Man

The Discworld Series

The Dresden Files

The Elegant Universe

The First Law Trilogy

The Forever War

The Foundation Trilogy

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence

The Geography of Nowhere

The Girl Next Door

The Girl on the Milk Carton

The Giver

The Giving Tree

The God of Small Things

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Hagakure

The Half a World Trilogy

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Hiding Place

The History of Love

The Hobbit

The Hot Zone

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hyperion Cantos

The Jaunt

The Jungle

The Key to Midnight

The Killing Star

The Kingkiller Chronicles

The Kite Runner

The Last Question (short Story)

The Lies of Lock Lamora

The Little Prince

The Long Walk

The Lord of the Rings

The Lottery (short Story)

The Lovely Bones

The Magicians

The Magus

The Martian

The Master and Margarita

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

The Monster at the End of This Book

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Music of Eric Zahn (short Story)

The Name of the Wind & the Wise Man's Fear

The Necronomicon

The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing

The Night Circus

The Nightmare Box

The Odyssey

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Orphan Master’s Son

The Outsiders

The Painted Bird

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Plague

The Prince

The Prince of Tides

The Princess Bride

The Prophet

The Queen’s Gambit

The Rape of Nanking

The Red Dwarf

The Republic

The Rifter Saga

The Road

The Satanic Verses

The Screwtape Letters

The Secret History

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Selfish Gene

The Shining

The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

The Silmarillion

The Sirens of Titan

The Six Wives of Henry the 8th

The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Speaker of the Dead

The Stars My Destination

The Stormlight Archive

The Story of My Tits

The Stranger

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

The Suspicions of Mr. Witcher

The Tao of Pooh

The Things They Carried

The Time Machine

The Time Traveller’s Wife

The Tin Drum

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

The Wasp Factory

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

The World According to Garp

The Yellow Wallpaper

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Things Fall Apart

Thirsty

This Blinding Absence of Light

Tiger!

Time Enough for Love

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Toni Morrison

Too Many Magicians

Traumnovelle

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuf Voyaging

Undeniable

Under Plum Lake

Universe in a Nutshell

Unwind

Uzumaki

Various

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia

Walden

War & Peace

War and Peace

Warriors: Bluestar’s Prophecy

Watchers

Water for Elephants

Watership Down

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Wheel of Time

When Rabbit Howls

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Why I Am Not a Christian

Why People Believe Weird Things

Wizards First Rule

Wool

World War Z

Worm

Wuthering Heights

You Can Choose to Be Happy

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[pompompossum]

It was always the quiet days that set Mond’s Cavalry Captain on edge. As a man who makes his living on hushed gossip and drunken secrets, a quiet day was a dangerous day. While Mondays usually set the city square into a frenzy, with the announcement of new bounties for aspiring adventures and the restocking of goods across the various vendors in town, the torrential rain that met the city as the sun rose that morning meant that only those who lacked their daily essentials were left scrambling about, bouncing between buildings in search of shelter. 

That isn’t to say that he was slacking off with the poor weather hanging overhead. No, that would be too easy. Rather, poor weather meant paperwork. And by the Seven, Kaeya swore to himself that Lisa had been hoarding every miscellaneous form she could get her hands on for him to review since he had forgotten to return that one book on Snezhnaya he had borrowed after one of his operatives spotted La Signora in the city. It wasn’t his fault that the tomb had made for the perfect paperweight after he had found it was worthless for his intended purposes. 

The smile she’d worn as she cornered him in the lobby after his lunch break earlier in the afternoon had bordered on sadistic. He was on his fifth hour of administrative work by now and, between the pounding rain howling against his window and the strain reading by candlelight put on his one functioning eye, he scraped his chair against the hardwood away from his desk as he brought a hand up to nurse his aching head. 

He’d probably have to stay in the barracks tonight. The rain showed no signs of stopping and his apartment, tucked snug in the side street near the travelling vendors’ market, was too far to traverse in this weather. Perhaps he could fashion a makeshift cryo umbrella, if only he could reach the end of this damned paperwork. Public relations, damage estimates for recent Abyss encounters, and was that paperwork for the library? Gods, Lisa really hated him right now, huh? The captain was certain he had a nice vintage squirreled away in his wine cabinet at home. A lovely barolo gifted to him by a noble from Fontaine not long after his rise to Cavalry Captain. Though Kaeya had never abstained from alcohol, certainly since he was old enough to legally drink, the thought of wine at the time had driven him to hide it away. He supposed that Lisa would make much better use of it than himself and made a mental note to find it when he got home. 

With a sigh, the captain stretched in his seat until his neglected joints popped, groaning at the release of tension. Given his busy schedule, he had forgotten his plans to stop for supper at Good Hunter. Glancing at his pocket watch, a gift from the Traveller, he noted it was past Sara’s typical business hours. Ah well, a cup of tea would have to suffice. With it being so late, he would have the luxury of the headquarters’ common room to himself. While many of the higher ranking officers of the Ordo took breaks and tea in their own private offices, a common room on the second floor was provided for the knights to avail of. And the last time Kaeya checked, there had been a small kitchen there, one where Miss Noelle was handy to store that lovely chamomile tea she had served him recently. 

Rising from his desk, he made his way from his office and down towards the common area, giving a brief, lazy salute to any knights stuck on nightwatch. He was thankful that Swan seemed to be off this evening, likely on shift at the city gates. Barbatos knows that man took his job far too seriously, and Kaeya was too tired to receive his advice on following the Ordo’s handbook effectively. Instead, the few knights he passed were content to simply share brief “hello”s and well wishes to their captain, and soon Kaeya found himself striking matches in the common room before watching the water slowly rise to temperature, the flames waving faintly in the hearth. As the water came to a boil, he busied himself with finding just where Noelle had hidden her tea that evening when suddenly he heard the floorboards in the common room creak. Hmm, curious. Placing the tea tin on the counter gently and snuffing the flame with a gust of cryo, he crept to the corner of the doorway, curious to see who else might be roaming the halls after hours.

No one, so it would seem. The room hadn’t changed since he entered, with no sign of anyone. Except the door had been jarred and there was a soft sniffling sound coming from behind the chaise lounge on the other side of the room. Light on his feet, the captain came closer, spotting a familiar shade of blonde crouched against the window behind the furniture, tiny legs tucked in tightly, face smooshed into her knees.

“Klee? What are you doing up past your bedtime?” Kaeya softened his features as he watched her jump, making sure to not crowd her in her hiding spot.

“Kaeya!” And oh dear those were tears, weren’t they? “Klee didn’t know you were here…” 

“And I you, my little Spark Knight.” He considered her spot, sitting next to the window overlooking the city, including a clear view of the city gates. Visibility was poor, but Kaeya could see the window’s view of Dawn Winery in his mind. In the daylight, one could almost make out the servants’ outdoor lounge and the vineyard. “Would you mind if I sat with you?”

She gave a small nod, hiding her face in her knees once again. Oh dear Captain Kaeya you’ve found yourself even more trouble tonight, huh? One of the knights had left a plush blanket draped against the arm of the chaise. Given the chill of the glass, surely it would be appreciated. Picking it up, he bent down to sit against the window, his legs bent awkwardly to fit behind the furniture. Gently, he wrapped the blanket around her, tucking the little Spark Knight in with a pat on the head. Then, he sat and he waited. Situations like this called for patience. Slowly, he heard her shift in the blanket as she loosened her posture, coming to rest her head on his arm. 

“Klee doesn’t like it when it rains.” The young pyro wielder whispered, so quiet Kaeya strained to hear her. “It’s cold and I can’t use my vision or play with Razor or Qiqi. And… and it makes me worry about where mommy is.” Ahh, there it was...

It wasn’t long after his promotion that Alice had left Mondstadt. At first, when Alice had arrived at the Varka’s office with a tiny child clinging to her skirts and peeking out to take in the building, it was assumed the situation would be a temporary one. As one of Teyvat’s greatest minds, the alchemist’s research was of great importance to the Ordo. Used by both the Knights and common folk alike, her Teyvat Travel Guides served as crucial tools for any adventurer and her work with the Hexenzirkel provided invaluable data for the study of the Abyss Realm. So, for her to announce her intentions to leave Mond for research purposes was unsurprising. 

But, seasons had passed and letters from the alchemist had been few and far in between. Though Alice spoke of her love for her little Spark and her hopes to see her again soon, each letter shared a common theme. Complications had arisen and research would take longer than expected.  While his web of intel ensured him of her safety, it had been about five months since Kaeya had heard of a letter arriving from her. Alice is a strong woman of course. While visionless, her alchemic abilities, as well as her ability to craft and deploy explosives, made her a formidable opponent in combat. There was no real worry over her safety. But, loneliness was understandable. While Mondstadt’s Chief Alchemist is a highly capable and intelligent man, socialization was something Albedo often neglected. Rather, he was more often than not a phantom within the Ordo Headquarters, appearing from his private laboratory only for resource gathering and the occasional trip to visit Timaeus in the city square. Thus, like many of the children received by the city of freedom, Klee found herself in the protection and care of the entire Ordo. A child of Mondstadt through and through. And that meant she was under Kaeya’s care tonight.

Running a hand through one of her pigtails, tucking a stray lock behind her ear, he looked out into the rain. “Storms like this are sad, aren’t they? Can I share a secret with you?” 

“Big brother Kaeya has a secret? Klee promises not to tell!” The young knight assures him, raising a pudgy little finger to her lips, her voice hushed and earnest. A child’s naivete is something sacred, indeed. Her reaction brings a tiny smile to his face.

“I don’t like the rain either.” Storms bring memories of retreating backs, the biting sting of rejection and the chill of abandonment. When the wind howls, getting caught in the rain is like a kiss from the Tsaritsa against his exposed skin, reminding him of the delicate embrace of her cryo shield that night. It makes his vision thrum and flicker against his hip and causes the skin beneath his eyepatch to ache something fierce. Rain means tragedy and pain, and honesty in a way Kaeya has long since denied himself the pleasure of.

“Klee wonders if mommy has shelter, or if it’s sunny where she is.” 

The rain brings the worst of Kaeya to the surface, melts his shields of mockery and cryo and leaves him stark and defenseless to the storm. But-

“It has to rain sometimes, if the flowers are to grow and the rivers are to last. Without the rain, the world loses a part of itself. And I’m sure that even when it’s cold, Miss Alice is kept warm knowing that you’re safe and sound here.” Klee lets out a soft noise in thought. She’s been slowly worming her way into his lap, pulling her blanket around them both in the process. “Besides, the rain makes us seek shelter and warmth and brings people closer together in doing so. We can appreciate our time in the company of another and look forward to seeing the sun when it’s over. It’s always nice after the rain, isn’t it?”

The young girl tucks the blanket under her chin, leaning her head back against his chest to look up at him.

“Klee likes the rainbows after a storm. And the way the air smells. And Klee’s favourite mushyrooms like the rain, so they grow extra big after!” Her voice grows in her excitement, chattering like a Springvale squirrel. 

“That’s right. It’s not very nice out right now, but we have plenty to look forward to in the morning. After you get some rest.” Klee is a wonderful child, but he was glad to say he had never seen her cranky from lack of sleep. And he was not in the mood to find out what that looked like, especially with the experiments she and Albedo have been concocting lately. The smell of gunpowder and flaming flower stamens emanating from the alchemy wing within the past few weeks had been concerning to say the least.

“But Klee’s not tired yet..” 

“Then how about you join me for some tea and then we’ll see. You caught me just as I was brewing some.” Chamomile would be useful for chasing away any bad dreams, and the sooner the Spark Knight was back in bed, the sooner he could return to his work.

“Okay!” Still so vibrant and loud at such a late hour. Kaeya supposed that their secret sharing time, and its quietness, were over for the night. “Can Klee have honey in her tea? Pleasee?” Sugar might not be a good idea this late at night but what the hell? Kaeya could be the fun brother tonight. Rising to his feet with a bundle of Klee and blanket in his arms, he let out a light chuckle. 

“I’m sure that can be arranged, my dear Spark Knight.”

It didn’t take long for the tea to work its magic. While she may have whined over the prospect of going back to bed, Kaeya found himself moving to protect her head from hitting her tea cup more than once as the pair shared a late night snack. He wasn’t sure who had left a tin of baked goods in the kitchen, but he made note to stop by Good Hunter early tomorrow to replace them. Making their way back to solitary, Kaeya lifted her up to rest against his shoulder as they reached the stairs. Pulling back her bed covers gently, Kaeya laid her down gently, placing Dodoco beside her.

“Okay, firefly, hat and scarf, please.” While she had been dressed for bed, she had kept those on, likely to ward the chill of the building at night. As she passed each of them to him, he hung them on their respective hangers above her desk, each adorned with a different breed of crystalfly. She was asleep before he even turned around. Kneeling down next to her cot, he pulled the thick, red quilt up and over, tucking her in in a familiar motion, making sure Dodoco was tucked in just as tight. Smoothing down her hair, he rose to his feet, moving to snuff out the bedside lantern. 

“Good night, big brother…” It was soft, muffled by pillows and blankets, but Kaeya heard her loud and clear. 

“Good night Klee. Sweetest dreams.” Shutting the door as quietly as possible and sharing a brief greeting with Wood, the Cavalry Captain made his way back to his office. But not long after returning to his desk, sleep caught up with him as well.

---

The wind was too loud, even with his hands over his ears. It was the first storm since Kaeya began living at the manor and it was dredging up sore memories. It made him think of Mama. It was always cold in Khaenri’ah, so if it was cold in Mondstadt it must be freezing there tonight. She had found materials to work on that blanket she had been planning just before his father whisked him away. It had been about six months now since he arrived in Mondstadt. Kaeya wonders if she got to finish it before the weather got colder. Kaeya wishes he had had the chance to help her with it. She always made him tea before he sat and watched her work.

It was past 8 o’clock, the time Master Crepus set for him and the young master to head to bed. The two children shared bedrooms next to one another, their beds sharing the same wall. Kaeya wondered if the person in the bed next door was finding it easier to sleep. Diluc had warmed up to him instantly, even as the adults around them worried over what to do with a lost and scared child, still wrapped in the lord of the house’s rain soaked coat. While Kaeya still struggled with some aspects of Mond’s language and various dialects, Diluc’s running dialogue of funny stories and history lessons of all his favourite places in Mondstadt had made it easier to pick up the language fast. On more than one night, Kaeya found himself lulled to sleep by the boy’s stories of Arundolyn and Rostam, only to find himself safe and snug in his bedroom by morning. 

Curling his fists in his blankets, he wondered if Diluc was still awake. Clutching the lightest of the bed clothes to his chest, a knit chenille blanket Crepus had gifted him his first night in the manor, he crept out of the room and across the hall on the balls of his feet. Diluc’s bedroom door was unlocked, but Kaeya hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. What if Diluc got mad at Kaeya for waking him up? Kaeya was only a year and a half younger, but what if the redhead thought he was a crybaby? Before he could make up his mind, the door, not fully shut when the elder boy had gone to bed, creaked open on unoiled hinges. From the doorway, Kaeya watched as the body laying in bed shifted before letting out a small groan.

“Kaeya..?” Darn it, Kaeya thought, as Diluc sat up, rubbing at his eyes lazily with his fist, “What’s wrong?” Kaeya froze like a deer in the headlights, unsure what to do. At his silence, Diluc perked up, squinting into the darkness to make out the shape in his doorway. “Kaeya? Is everything okay?”

“I can’t sleep…” His cheeks burned with embarrassment, little feet shuffling against the cold hardwood. He wrapped his blanket around himself tighter, tucking in his chilly nose and mouth, as if it would muffle what had already been said. The older boy watched him for a moment, before shifting in bed.

“Wanna sleep here tonight?” To punctuate his question, Diluc patted the empty space next to him. Kaeya gave a small nod before padding into the room, moving fast before the redhead could rescind the offer. Crawling under the blankets, he snuggled into the warmth, savouring the safe space. He hadn’t noticed from the doorway, but Diluc had stuffed animals in the bed with him. Kaeya hadn’t seen them before, but his older brother was adamant that he wasn’t a little boy anymore. He was just shy of 12 years old, after all. So it made sense he would be sensitive about needing plushies to sleep. Kaeya held the paw of a dog-shaped plush as he turned his head to face Diluc.

“What’s keeping you up?” Diluc had a furrow between his brows as he looked at him, having settled back into bed. He had wrapped his arms around his pillow, squishing his cheek into the fabric as he tried to read his brother’s face in the dark. He pouted as he said it, as if he had phrased something wrong. “You don’t need to tell me, but I want to help.”

“The storm,” Kaeya took a deep breath to calm himself, wrapping himself into the blanket cocoon tighter and pulling the plushie closer. “I want my mama… She always let me sleep with her when it was scary outside.” The smell of fresh linens clinging to the sheets around him was so different from the smell of lavender she carried. The pillows felt nothing like the comfort of his head resting on her chest, her fingers smoothing the knots in his hair. 

“I miss my mom too,” Diluc’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “I didn’t get to know her, but dad has so many stories about her. Whenever I have nightmares, he lets me stay in his room for the night and he tells me stories about her until I fall asleep.” His grip on the pillow tightened. “Our moms aren’t around, but we have each other! We can scare the nightmares away, right?” The young redhead had raised his voice and Kaeya tried his best to stifle his laugh. Laughing would be mean, mama said so. And Diluc’s bed and stuffed animals were more comfy than his cold room with all that wind howling outside his window. So, instead he nodded.

“Mhm!”

---

Sleeping sitting up was never good for the neck or back. And sleeping on a mountain of paperwork and pens wasn’t much better. 

The sunlight had been a rude awakening. The torrential downpour had broken, the clouds parting to reveal the sunniest day Mond had seen in a while, light catching on the puddles as a rainbow stretched lazily across the horizon. It would have been pretty if it hadn’t been so impolite in waking the Quartermaster. Letting out a croaky yawn, Kaeya popped his back as he stretched like a cat across his desk. The paperwork beneath him was a lost cause, so why not. Gods, Lisa was going to have his neck. Better buy a few electro resistance potions before he faced her today. 

Looking over his desk to survey the damage, he noticed a bundle of red cloth complete with a small note written in clunky, childish handwriting.

“Good morning, Kaeya! Klee made fishy toast and skewers with Aether and Paimon for you. Enjoy! :)” 

Kaeya let out a huff of laughter at the doodle she had left at the bottom of the note of them both standing in the sun. The way she had drawn his face told him that Albedo had given her art lessons again. Tucking into his breakfast, Kaeya gazed out the window. The storm had dissipated to reveal a cloudless sky, and from his office he could see the people in the market square milling about, mingling and laughing in the balmy spring air. 

The view told Kaeya that it was going to be a good day today.

[translations-by-aiimee]

Dig a Grave to Dig Out a Ghost - Chapter 31

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 31

"Stop staring. It's not like I can run away." Lin Yan couldn't help muttering.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He grabbed Xiao Yu's wrist. Hadn't they buried the hatchet?

"I said I wouldn't drive you away."

Xiao Yu turned his head and looked out the window like he couldn't hear him. For some reason, Lin Yan felt that his demeanour made him look sad, like the shadow standing alone under a street lamp on a rainy night, waiting for him quietly outside the car window for the day that he opened the door.

However, there had been some strange developments during this period. Lin Yan found that when he was concentrating, he could close his eyes and perceive a greenish-black shadow in Xiao Yu's direction. The butterfly orchid on the windowsill had a warm, pale yellow glow floating around it, but it was much fainter than the one he had seen around the little Daoist priest on the mountain. Lin Yan found an explanation for this in a journal devoted to Daoism. All living creatures in the world have yang energy. When ghosts pretend to be human, looking at their aura of yin-yang energy can usually break the illusion.

In ancient times, this ability was called "Opening the Third Eye." It usually took a long time to practice and it was extremely rare to acquire it accidentally like Lin Yan had. He sighed as he stared at the dream-repellent talisman on the paper and thought that this was a good thing. The next time he came across a strange person, he'd be able to tell whether they were alive or dead, meaning he wouldn't get tricked by the little girl again.

Since the little girl had shown up Lin Yan and Xiao Yu were basically inseparable, which really made him feel embarrassed. He wasn't sure why but Xiao Yu’s presence seemed to have completely aroused his hidden desires. Lin Yan couldn't remember ever having these kinds of urges before. Now, he was taunted by the slender figure in front of him, and he had to rush to the washroom for the third time to relieve his uncomfortable situation.

After a steamy dream, the habits he had abandoned during his adolescence suddenly made a resurgence. Lin Yan locked the bathroom door, pressing himself against the door and wrapped his fingers around his shaft. He slowly reached moved to the tip, pressing it, rubbing it; the whole thing feeling like it was on fire. Lin Yan bit his fist and muffled a groan, impatiently adding more pressure. When he stroked the underside, the top pulsed painfully. When he stroked the topside, the emptiness underneath him made it so uncomfortable he could cry. Nothing he did was enough to satisfy him. He held onto the sink to catch his breath and roughly splashed his face with cold water to extinguish the heat in his belly. "You pervert," Lin Yan scolded himself, staring at his reflection in the mirror.

Fortunately, Xiao Yu didn't stick to him like he did before. He even took the initiative to stay by his side a few times and he never moved to avoid him. Lin Yan wiped his hands with a towel and suddenly remembered what time it was, making him slightly aggravated.

Professor File Folder's secretary had called him a few days later than planned while Lin Yan was in the middle of being constantly tortured. When he heard the sweet female voice on the phone, a shock of fear ran through him. Since the girl in red had appeared, he was instinctively wary of any female stranger. The female secretary said somewhat apologetically that the team had just returned from a business trip with the feng shui master, and was finishing the roster of the Ming tomb archaeology artifacts.

"It's a bit late today. Are you free tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? You can come directly to the institute to see the materials you need."

"Let's do it tomorrow." Lin Yan casually drew a talisman on the paper, a charm meant for deception. "I can come at 10 o'clock if that works for you."

"That works." The female secretary paused: "Umm. . . can you not tell the professor that I'm just calling you now? I've only been here for a short while, it'd be embarrassing if he found out."

Lin Yan hung up the phone and saved the secretary's number on his phone. When he looked up again, Xiao Yu was still sitting in the same posture, as if he didn't care about that discussion at all. He threw the pen into the sofa and rubbed his forehead against Xiao Yu's shoulder. He murmured: "I found something that might explain your situation. Come with me tomorrow?"

Xiao Yu's eyes went cold. Lin Yan guessed that he would react that way. He sighed and said: "I know you don't like it, but I think this whole thing started when I entered your tomb. The two of us are connected, and now even Second Immortal Gu's spirit is being dragged into it. As the saying goes, it is better to take the initiative than wait around for death to show up. Maybe the person who brought me to your tomb will know something."

"It's dangerous." Xiao Yu frowned.

"I know." Lin Yan dragged his pillow into his arms. He thought for a second: "I still have you. Really, you make me feel much safer."

Xiao Yu didn't deny it. He gently touched Lin Yan's hair, with something he couldn't read hidden in his deep eyes. Lin Yan grew anxious and subconsciously grabbed Xiao Yu's wrist. He asked: "You'll come with me, right?"

Xiao Yu remained silent for a while and then nodded.

---------

When he brought A-Yan some dinner, Lin Yan mentioned how he was being forced by Xiao Yu to learn Daoism at home. The little Daoist priest was so excited that he didn't even touch his dinner, instead pestering him to share more details. The books made Daoism out to be much simpler than it truly was. Each spell required a focused mindset in order for it to work. The most talented people only tracing out the symbol might get a measly tenth of the intended effect, but most would only get a scrap of useless paper.

"I-I'll teach you when I get out of the hospital." The little Daoist's pale face flushed with excitement and his eyes were gleamed brightly: "It won't be as good as my master's lessons, but it should be fine for a beginner."

Lin Yan didn't know how to react. He lay down on the next hospital bed with his head resting on his arms, staring at the ceiling of the room in a daze. He said that he was unlucky enough. Not long ago, he was sitting in his classroom and talking about his archaeological experience with the shy girls in the class, freaking them out whenever he mentioned the corpse. The youngest man in the dormitory pointed to the little Daoist sitting in the corner and told Lin Yan to glance over at him and that he should be careful. There were rumours that people who offended him in their freshman year said they saw ghosts. He squinted his eyes and made faces, making everyone laugh.

But now he was being targeted by a ghost. He was worried about things that he didn't know how to fix. He had even bought a can of cinnabar to learn how to exorcise ghosts from the little Daoist priest. Lin Yan sighed and lamented: "I want to learn, but I don't want to be forced to do it."

"He's been weird recently. He has a lot on his mind, but he won't tell me what he's thinking." Lin Yan rubbed his face. "A-Yan, what do you think ghosts think about all day long?"

The little Daoist was silent for a while, and answered the wrong question: "You care about him very much."

Lin Yan turned to face A-Yan, subconsciously playing with the sheets with his fingers. He helplessly said: "Obviously I care. We're stuck together 24/7. Even my girlfriend wouldn't get this kind of treatment." He glanced at the phone and frowned, pushing himself up on the bed: "I have to go. It's Weiwei's birthday. I promised I'd be there and I shouldn't be late."

"Weiwei?"

"The one who upgraded our tickets for us during the lecture." Lin Yan glanced sheepishly at Xiao Yu.

A-Yan tore off a loose thread from the blanket. The little Daoist priest twisted the cotton thread around his fingers loosely. He gestured his sharp chin towards Xiao Yu, and inquired: "He's letting you go?"

Lin Yan was going to just nod his head but suddenly clued into what the Daoist had said. He threw the pillow towards the little Daoist priest, and said happily, "There's nothing to let go of. Even people being stalked by ghosts have basic human rights, don't they?"

The little Daoist put his chin on the pillow. He shook his head: "I-I can see that he likes you."

Lin Yan stiffened. His tone was somewhat unnatural: "Stop talking nonsense. What does it matter who he likes." Lin Yan packed the dinner containers and hurriedly changed the subject: "What do you want to eat tomorrow? I have ribs at home. I could make soup for you?"

A-Yan stared at him for a long time. His skin was very pale but his eyes were very dark. His pupils were more dilated than usual. In addition, he was covered with a sheen of sweat. At first glance, he looked a bit like a reptile. After staring at Lin Yan, his whole body was covered in a cold sweat. A-Yan's mouth twitched. A trace of coldness flashed in his eyes and he said softly: "Ghosts are very possessive about what they want. Don't mess with them."

Lin Yan's hands stopped moving. After A-Yan spoke, he suddenly felt that the room had grown too quiet and he panicked. His eyes fell from Xiao Yu's back and moved all the way down to his black boots standing on a small section of floor tile. Lin Yan barely squeezed out a smile: "Don't worry, I know. We're just strangers, really. I want to live a normal life again."

Lin Yan had always tried to avoid going to the same events as Weiwei, but he couldn't really avoid it this time. On one hand, he promised he'd go. On the other hand, he was getting sick of staying looked up in his apartment recently and was bored. Just looking at the talismans and spells plastered all over his house, the thread-bound books on the table, sofa, and his bed, Lin Yan felt like he had become an old witch in a fairy tale. All he was missing was a broomstick to fly out of his twelfth-floor apartment. He just wanted to hear another human voice. Lin Yan sighed. Any human voice other than Xiao Yu, A-Yan or Yin Zhou.

But, in the end, once Lin Yan showed up at the address, he was regretting it. Weiwei always loved to have a good time. He didn't make it in time for dinner and was dragged directly to Houhai for the second stop of the night when he showed up at the restaurant he was supposed to meet them at. The summer night was warm and humid, with bars lining the lake's shoreline. The evening breeze was filled with the light scent of lotus flowers. The atmosphere reminded Lin Yan about the old days. After dinner, he and Weiwei would walk along the lake with a street lamp casting their shadows on the ground. When the jazz musician took off his hat and whistled at the two of them, Weiwei unceremoniously blew kisses back, and Lin Yan smiled warmly at her side.

In all fairness, his past with Weiwei was pretty good. It wasn't perfect, but it was simple and heartfelt.

At that time, he also seriously thought about proposing to Weiwei. He had thought out a future that he could see her being a part of.

So what happened?

The background music of the bar was wild, the strong drum beats hitting his eardrums, and even his heartbeat synced with the rhythm of the music. Lin Yan was bored out of his mind. He sat in the corner with a cup of Chivas whiskey infused with black tea. Men and women embraced in the dark, twisting their bodies between the small gaps between the tables, like a frenzy of madness. The amount of tea in his cup was slowly going down and the whiskey burned his throat. When he drank it all, Lin Yan felt that the world was spinning. He dizzily lay across the table, whispering a name over and over again.

. . . Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu.

His brain was muddled from the alcohol and it didn't have a filter anymore. It took Lin Yan a long time to understand what he was saying. "You're a fucking pervert." He smacked himself.

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1969

The X-Men, those dino-obsessed mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 52 - 63) - written by Arnold Drake, Roy Thomas, Linda Fite and Don Heck, drawn by Werner Roth, Barry Smith, Tom Palmer and Neal Adams.

step aside, Wall-E, these Sentinels have nothing on your range of emotions (X-Men 59)

When we last left our X-Men, they were smack-dab in the middle of a big, convoluted plot! Let me refresh your memory:

The X-Men had to beat a hasty retreat;

Polaris had joined her father Magneto

Magneto was injured;

Iceman had quit the team because he still had faith in Polaris;

Eric the Red appeared, making overtures towards Magneto.

And the whirlwind continues! The X-Men (sans Iceman and Cyclops) sneak back into Magneto’s base! Eric the Red reveals himself to be Cyclops! They set a trap for Mesmero! Which is sprung by the wayward Iceman! But he has pertinent information! Lorna is not Magneto’s daughter, she’s just an orphan! Bobby (hilariously) has the papers to prove it!

magneto has now fucked up the relationships he has with all of his children before any of them knew he was their father. mad props (X-Men 52)

Lorna breathes a sigh or relief, glad that she doesn’t have to be evil anymore. (Because obviously, evil is hereditary. And even though she keeps sensing everyone’s ‘evil vibrations’, she stayed with Magneto out of her own volition. SO.) Without Polaris’ power to back them up, Magneto and Mesmero flee.

After this, the X-Men come back to live at the mansion again. No muss, no fuss. Roy Thomas, who’s returning to the book, wastes very little time undoing some stupid decisions made last year. In fact, 1969 has a pretty strong showing, with plotlines flowing almost naturally into one another, a bigger cast and the introduction of one of my favourite villains. It’s pretty palatable.

The one snag is a superfluous issue where the X-Men fight Blastaar and Jean kills someone. (Never comes up again, don’t sweat it.) I wouldn’t even mention it, were it not for this moment where Jean uses some super duper mind machine:

does this remind you of... anything? no? just me then (X-Men 53)

So, anyway, remember Scott’s beloved brother Alex?

i love that jean is all smiles about scotts terrible and all-encompassing ability to repress everything (X-Men 54)

I can sort of understand why that whole third Summers brother was such a huge secret for so long, considering Alex was not even kept a mystery and it still took SIX YEARS for him to be revealed.

Alex is barely introduced before he gets the old plot-bat to the face, getting mixed up in a fight when some pharaoh claims all mutants are pharaohs, being children of the Sun? Apparently, all of them are powered by cosmic rays i.e. the sunlight. Alex is kidnapped, as is Cyclops, and just as Cyclops ponders how happy he is that Alex is not a mutant despite him having the X-Gene, he is attacked by the pharaoh and Alex saves his brother using newly minted energy powers! Oh, the irony.

when I say that I want Alex to wear his old costume, I obviously mean this sexy Egyptian skirt-ensemble (X-Men 55)

Alex and the pharaoh are apparently two sides of the same coin, being charged by the same cosmic rays: when one waxes, the other wanes. The pharaoh locks Alex away in a tomb, cutting him off from those sweet, sweet sunbeams and taking all the power for himself. Like a Power Ranger villain, he grows in size and becomes… the Living Monolith! The X-Men take him down while Alex accidentally blows up the Living Monolith’s temple.

Alex, afraid of his own power, flees into the desert and is apprehended by… the Sentinels?! Surprise, bitch! Lorna is also abducted by them out of her New York apartment. Their next victim is Iceman, and they deliver him to… Larry Trask! (Son of.)

My favorite thing about Sentinels is that, despite the fact that they are objectively huge, they are still able to sneak up on people. Apparently, these murderous periwinkle toaster ovens are so quiet, you only notice when they rip open a roof to get at you. (X-Men 59)

Larry Trask hates mutants because:

They killed his father;

He’s a racist.

Determined not to repeat the sins of his father, Larry has a helmet with which he can use to take direct control of the sentinels, so hopefully they won’t rise up and rebel this time. Somewhere, Asimov is rolling his eyes.

On live television, Larry Trask baits Iceman into attacking him, trying to smear him and mutantkind in general. In the mean time, the Sentinels strike everywhere, taking Unus, Angel, Banshee, the Living Monolith… Even Wanda and Pietro. It´s a literal who´s who of sixties mutandom! The only exempt ones are the Changeling and Magneto, the latter only because he’s been a robot for a while now. Mesmero is just as shocked by this unnecessary retcon as we are.

Just as Larry orders the Sentinels to kill every mutant in the compound (including Bobby, Lorna and Alex), a family heirloom is ripped off his neck. Apparently, this medallion was some kind of protection: the late Bolivar Trask knew little Larry was a mutant and tried to hide this fact from the Sentinels.

The Sentinels turn on Larry faster than you can say “Is being betrayed by AI a hereditary trait?” The X-Men intervene and, after unleashing the might of Havok, they end up in a debate with the Sentinels, turning their own logic against them:

Protecting humans is more important than killing mutants.

So, to protect humanity, they must destroy the cause of mutation.

The Sentinels promptly launch themselves into the sun. Neat.

On a side note, the relationship between Jean and Scott is shelved for now? It seems like they’re dating, but also not? It’s such weird storytelling, especially because their annoying will they or won’t they has gotten so much focus in the past and the relationship between Lorna and Bobby is crystal clear:

Scott. Jean. Is it really going to take Chris Claremont to DTR you two? Fuck’s sake (X-Men 60)

Because Havok’s powers still threaten to overwhelm him, the X-Men contact a former colleague of Professor X… Professor Lykos.

Let me tell you about the sheer, amazing sixties wonder that is Professor Lykos. Originally, Thomas envisioned him as a vampire, but the Comics Code forbade vampires. So, instead, Lykos ends up a human who was bitten by a magical pterodactyl at a young age and who can only survive by draining other people’s life force. He can also hypnotize people into doing his bidding.

Yes.

Lykos suspects mutants might be the cure to his strange, strange ailment, and begins to drain Alex. But to his (and our) sheer delight, he turns into a pterodactyl!

I just love this damn idiot so much (X-Men 60)

Be like Sauron! Choose evil!

The X-Men barely figure in this plot. Ordinarily, I’d be bothered by the fact that these three issues are more about the villain than the heroes, but given that it’s Sauron, I’ll let it slide.

See, Sauron’s tale is a tragic one. Not only is he a weird pterovampire, he is also in love with a sweet girl whose father forbids him from seeing Dr. Lykos, because he is… poor! Gasp! (Those billionaires, not even a doctor is good enough for their daughters.) Sauron, slightly corrupted by his dino-side, realize that it’s a lot easier to just kill Tanya’s father than to impress him by robbing banks for cash.

When he attacks the man and sees the reaction of his star-crossed lover, Lykos realizes Sauron is far too much in control. Sauron is too evil! Lykos/Sauron promptly flees to a cold, distant region, the same place where he got bitten all those years ago, figuring he’ll stay in isolation and starve himself of the human energy he needs. But, just as he is utterly ravenously out of his mind, Tanya finds him! In order to protect her, Sauron sacrifices himself by throwing himself off the mountain… straight into the Savage Land..

The X-Men (sans Angel) follow him into the Savage Land. (It’s unclear why? To retrieve his corpse? Annoyingly, in the next arc, Sauron is not brought up again.) There, they run into Ka-Zar, who’s embroiled in a fight with… prehistoric mutants?

Angel, meanwhile, follows the X-Men in their footsteps, only to end up on the other side of the fight, with a strange white-haired man named the Creator who claims to be the mentor of these Savage Land mutates. Angel pledges him his wings, gets a snazzy new suit and flies off to fight the X-Men. Only then does the man secretly reveal himself: he’s… Magneto! (The true one, not a robot.) And he wishes to rule the savage land!

Angel and the other X-Men briefly fight, but soon the situation is sorted out and the X-Men go and confront the Creator. Magneto, who is way too hammy to ever hide his true nature for too long, reveals himself and the fact that he created these… mutates, including the creepy Brainchild. (He’ll become important later.) The X-Men defeat Magneto and he seemingly dies again.

Without Magneto there, the mutates revert to just being regular cave(wo)men:

I love that Ka-Zar, WHO HAILS FROM THE SAVAGE LAND HIMSELF, has no scruples othering his own kin. (X-Men 63)

The comic accidentally ends on a sad note: the X-Men confessing that they’d give up on their powers in a heartbeat. Not to nitpick, but while I buy that coming from Beast and Cyclops, this issue is less clear-cut when it comes to Jean and Bobby, who have a much better handle on their powers and, more importantly, present as human. It could potentially be an interesting issue to explore, but instead, it is swept under the rug, presenting the team (once again) as a boring but unified front. It remains one of my critiques of this era: the X-Men barely get fleshed out as individuals, other than the broadest of strokes (Leader; Rich Boy; Joker; Smart Guy; Girl). Pity.

Didn’t you take Art History? One thing that has definitely improved is the overall art-style. Artists experiment with panels and splash pages, stepping out of the traditional 2 by 3-grid that Kirby loved so much. It makes the stories more dynamic and, because the writers get more issues to tell their stories, the artists get more space to do their art.

I mean, check this ish out:

Fuck yeah, mental powers represent. (X-Men 57)

Ugliest Costume: None! I really like Havok’s black bodysuit with white stripes and the Sentinels design looks so much less dorkier than before. A+.

Best new character: Sauron, duh. Does he team-up with Dr. Doom at some point? That would be some ham-to-ham combat.

Most audacious retcon: There’s a second Summers brother?

What to read: 57 to 59, which is the plotline dealing with the much improved Sentinels. 60 and 61 if you have a soft spot for vampiric pterodactyls.

[ghostmartyr]

/clears throat/ so, Immi, I hear you like the locked tomb, which is fantastic! from one person also escaping the snk series into TLT to another, what did you think of the characters and plot in HtN? are there any things you're most excited to see when Alecto comes out in 2022?

-pats lifeboat- This baby can fit so much trauma.

SPOILERS, naturally.

With another paragraph informing the curious that unspoiled is the way to go into HtN, since if you aren’t lost and confused, are you really reading Harrow the Ninth?

I read it all in one day, and that was a choice. It does mean my memory and understanding of what all went on is slightly dependent on someone else on the internet exploding over a particular set of paragraphs and explaining their significance to me, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

HtN disappointed me on one front in that I was hoping seeing more of Harrow 1.0 would help out any future fic endeavors. On everything else, like the first one, being told the story is such a good time that I’m willing to wait on a full comprehension of where it’s going.

I also really like second person.

What I loved most about HtN is how even without Gideon mentioned until very, very late in the book, you can feel her absence everywhere. In the wrong bubble flashbacks you’re commanded to examine the strangeness, but even in Harrow going about her day, the isolation and the wrongness of it decorate her every action. She’s alone, and she shouldn’t be, and the loss she’s unaware of bleeds into a constant echo of grief.

I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated absence as a narrative tool so much. Obviously griddlehark hours go hard once they start in HtN, but even before then, there is so much power to their connection that looking into a world where it never exists still manages to punch you in the heart with how much each one inhabits everything the other is.

The whole series is amping me up with a few thoughts on loneliness, honestly. Gideon and Harrow grow up alone on the Ninth, save for each other. It takes leaving for that to be any kind of good thing. The first book is tag team Among Us with everyone in their little clusters, slowly learning what other people are about as they all drop dead.

The second book has a different vibe and different plot things going on, but it’s similar in that the protagonist gets thrown into a world they don’t fit and have to put on a show. Only now there are even fewer people to familiarize with, with that number correlating directly to how they all killed the person closest to keeping them from being alone.

Lyctorhood is taking the person dearest to your heart and trapping them there forever while they’re stripped of everything that made them who they are.

...Also Ianthe is there.

Gideon, Mercy, and Augustine are the last Lyctors standing after 10,000 years. There were only seven, starting out. Sixteen acolytes who came to the First. The only pair who didn’t succeed in condensing themselves is separated from the pack and sent to live away from their peers on a tiny planet that no one has anything good to say about.

Alecto is John’s -- who even knows, past A Lot, and he puts her to sleep and locks her in a prison no one but he can get past.

God has seven friends. More if you want to count the people in the Cohort, but realistically, he has seven friends. Then they keep dying.

Harrow spends HtN in a spaceship with five people.

One is trying to kill her.

One ordered that one to try to kill her.

Two could not care less about the useless baby Lyctor.

One is Ianthe.

There is no real endgame. There is surviving life, and life has become a game of running as far away as possible so you don’t share your ruin upon your inevitable death.

It’s bleak and sad.

Harrow’s healthiest relationships are with dead people, and some of them she didn’t know at all in life.

Reiterating it, the most plot significant bit of the world is finding someone else in the world, swearing yourself to them, and smashing your souls together until you’ve lost the connection entirely.

My brain’s not in the best place so I can’t do more than gesture loudly at it, but a few people have mentioned that the series’ thesis is a counter to Ianthe’s statement that love is acquisitive.

Harrow tightens her hold around Gideon until Gideon would rather she just strangle her and get it over with, all things considered. It fucks them both up, and when they start working to get past it, circumstance wraps a chain around both their throats.

The necromancers who become imperfect Lyctors have all acquired their cavaliers, and besides the cav, it kills that bond.

Harrow’s rejection of that is why Gideon’s soul is still in the world of the living (and John blood).

She has spent her entire life eating pieces of Gideon to keep herself a horrid imitation of whole, and when she is finally offered that, she refuses.

Grief and how Harrow just can’t are active elements of the book, and Magnus gives her more therapy in five minutes talking about it than she has ever had in her life, but the reason why that isn’t the end of Gideon is because, unlike all the other Lyctors, Harrow turns the offer down.

With the exception of Babs and Ianthe, the relationship between cavaliers and necros about to do the Lyctor thing is cavaliers promising to burn for an eternity while their necromancer lives off the fumes.

Fuck that is Harrow’s response.

Cytherea says, in the aftermath, that they had the choice to stop.

Harrow stops.

A lifetime of doing exactly what Gideon is telling her to do with her death, and Harrow chooses to stop.

Harrow remembers Ortus’ poetry. She regularly sees her congregation off to their deaths. She keeps Gideon’s glasses. She views Palamedes, head exploded and all, as an infinitely better person than she is because of the quality of his exemplary character. She pulls Gideon the First from the incinerator on the night she plans to kill him.

Kiddo has so many fucking issues, but somewhere, she has learned to respect people for being people. That’s why she and Gideon are the heroes of the story, ultimately, and Ortus saying that they’re heroes worthy of the Ninth doesn’t fall flat. They’re actually trying.

Where that puts us for Alecto, I don’t pretend to know.

Since the first book is the temptation of an end to isolation, only to have it snatched away, the second book is the continuation of isolation with a few promising sparks of human connection that pave the way for hope...

That leaves the third book to shed the isolation and allow the connections to thrive.

With Gideon and Harrow MIA.

I know that the books kick things up into high gear in the final acts each time, but if they’re both gone for the majority of the book, no matter how much fun it is, I’m going to miss them. They’re the core leads, and I don’t want to be without them in the final part.

The 2022 release date has aged my soul. I deliberately planned my GtN read to land a month before HtN came out, then suffered when that was delayed. When really that was nothing at all. I hate waiting.

(Insert note that I’m very glad they aren’t forcing Muir to rush anything out. It’s been a rough time, but also, just in general authors should have the opportunity to create the best versions of their art they can, so the extra time hurts, but it’s obviously for the best.)

What I’m most excited for is probably the cover art. The first two have been awesome, and the artist said he’d likely do print sales for all three when the third’s revealed. My wallet cries but my heart does not.

What I dare not be excited for is the potential for Gideon and Harrow meeting again and perhaps hugging. In their own bodies.

I’d take other bodies, but ideally, y’know.

Also I would love for Harrow to finally meet her popsicle girlfriend.

I doubt it would be a wholly positive experience, but by golly I want it. Maybe they could hug too. It would probably kill Harrow again, but who doesn’t expect several people to die again in the third book?

However it plays out, I’m expecting to enjoy AtN. The writing’s the sort that I’ll happily follow wherever it goes. For everything else, there’s fanfic. The only real worry I have is the whole book will be narrated by Ianthe, and while I mentally groan at that, I actually find Ianthe’s commentary delightful, so even in the worst case scenario I’m having a good time.

Thank you so much for the ask.

[the-yuri-librarian]

This is GL challenge for you (if you choose to accept them).

1.a) Please write your top 3 or top 5 favorite tropes in GL.

b) From each trope, write at least 3 GL that you love.

(Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them).

2. a) What is the first GL that make you want to know more about and eventually love GL?

b) What is that one GL that have a special place in your heart (for whatever reason)?

The GL can be in in the form of manga, manhwa, manhua, books, tv series or movies.

Thanks so much if you want to answer this long ask.

Ok here we go:

1. Tropes I enjoy with series as examples:

A. Idk the proper name for it, but I really love stories where the grumpy one falls in love with the sunshine one. Series with this trope: Pulse, Mage & Demon Queen, Moonlight Garden, Opium, Kemono to Waltz, maaaayybbbeee What Does the Fox Say, there's probably more that I'm forgetting. Realized after I moved on to other tropes: Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch From Mercury is very much this, as is I'm in love with the villainess....there's definitely more

I really like this trope because I just think it's romantic and adorable. You get to watch as the sunshine one's quirks slowly melt the heart of the grumpy one until the grumpy one has fallen head over heels, and they often have no idea it's happened until it's too late.

B. I also (and I hope this is not too cliche of me) really enjoy stories where one or more characters have a queer awakening. Series with this trope: Love Thy Neighbor (sort of), Bloom into You (sort of?), The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at all, Failed Princesses, Can't Defy the Lonely Girl, The Summer You Were There, Lily Love, Octave, Wono to Waltz (pretty sure at least, also been a while), I Love Amy, Goodbye My Rose Garden, Her Tale of Shim Chong (sort of), Blooming Sequence, After Hours, Hana & Hina After School, I Can't Believe I Slept with you, The Barefoot Nina (I think), etc. etc.

This one is also great because of the sheer cuteness. The intense blushing, the heart racing, the way their crush slowly starts to consume their thoughts, their eyes begin to linger on their crush's lips. It's also really fun to see what the final thing that makes them realize they're gay is, cause it's always a little different. It's especially fun when they're already doing gay things and are just in denial about their feelings. I hope this isn't too basic of me lol

C. Honestly it's hard to pick a third, but as of right now I would say that I really enjoy stories where the characters are doomed by the narrative. I haven't read a lot of girls love comics (manga, manhwa, webtoons, American comics) where this is the case, so I'm gonna be including some books and a couple anime here as well but: Love Thy Neighbor (probably), Qualia the Purple, The Locked Tomb Series, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Kitanai Kimi ga Ichiiban Kawaii, The Barefoot Nina, Destroy it all and love me in hell (maybe, I've only read the first couple chapters of this), The Summer You Were There, Throw Away the Suit Together, Nevermore (ending pending) etc.

I just really really love a tragic ending. Sometimes, love isn't enough. It can't save you. Sometimes love is too much. It dooms you. It's just so incredibly compelling to me. Not to say I dislike happy endings, but ya know

Sorry there are so many repeat titles. More about this below, but I haven't actually read *that* much yuri, all things considered

2.

A. So, funnily enough, the first time I encountered the term yuri was through yaoi? Like, when I was an early to mid teen, death note yaoi and Naruto yaoi were wrecking havoc on the early-ish internet, and that going "what's yaoi" also got me the definition of yuri also, which lead me to Naruto yuri AMVs

But, in terms of what made me interested in girls love as an adult, there is only one answer: bubbline. Basically, during my extended undergrad, I watched adventure time all the way through for the first time and fell in love with Marceline X Bubblegum as a ship. To use an old school term, they were my one true pairing. That lead to Steven Universe (shout out to IRL friend Selena (psuedonym, they know who they are)) and she-ra. Then, I went and got my master's in English, which lead me to reading a lot of canon literature, and while there was some queerness, it was fee and far between.

After I graduated, I had about a summer where I had no job, I was about to move in with my partner, I was about to get my second master's in library science, and I was like "fuck. I really want to read something that made me feel the way Bubbline made me feel at first." Which class to the answer to the next part:

B. When I was in that state of "I want to read something gay that makes me feel like Bubbline does," I went to my local bookstore, where I just so happened to pick up Gideon the Ninth (I refuse to say more except read the series if you haven't it's great). And it blew me away. Afterwards, it was a two years straight of reading a ton of queer fantasy, scifi, and horror (there was a fair amount of non-queer stuff there too). Then, in February of 2023, I read A Restless Truth. It is the second in a historical fantasy trilogy, I had not read the first one, I just knew it was sapphic, and WHEW. It was the first book I ever really read with what we affectionateky call spice in the girls love community. And it broke my brain. I finished reading it (the main couple is great btw) and two days later immediately read it again. It's SO hot. This made me starved for sapphic content with a desperation I had not felt before, which lead me to witch from mercury, with lead to revolutionary girl utena, which lead to yuri comics (this is Sept of 2023), which lead to well....here. so, all things considered, I have not been reading yuri/girls love comics for all that long, but now that I've started, I'll probably never stop

I hope that answered your question? And I hope it wasn't too boring!

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book Three: Pestilence (Ignis x Reader) Chapter Twenty-Two

Famine and Pestilence stood beside one another as they admired the view from the overlook in Lestallum. Their hands were connected, fingers intwined together. The golden-haired girl looked toward her sister once feeling a familiar tug on her body. "Are you ready, Pestilence?"

(Y/n) nodded. "Yes, let's depart."

Famine gripped her hand tighter as she teleported to where the blonde was. While teleportation was usually a quick and easy thing to do for the Horsemen, this time it was slow and difficult. It took them about ten seconds to teleport and when they arrived in Cartanica, Famine was exhausted. She threw herself against the railing with a huff. "Okay, that's the only time I'm teleporting two people..."

"Our teleportation was only meant for one, not two," Pestilence chortled. "Though I do appreciate what you've done for me, Famine."

"Of course!" She giggled. "We're sister after all! I'd do anything for any of you."

"Hey!" A bubbly voice suddenly shouted.

The Horsemen turned around and saw Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis step off the train. The sharpshooter bounded over and stopped in front of the two girls. When seeing Pestilence, he examined her. "We were all worried about you, (Y/n)!"

Said girl hushed the boy, not wishing for Ignis to know she was here just yet. "I've missed you all, as well, but I beg of you: keep your voice down."

Prompto blinked in confusion. "Why?"

"You four will be descending into the quarry, correct? I would abhor distracting Ignis with my presence in his current state. I shall be here when you've finished tending to the royal tomb," she whispered.

"A-Are you sure?" He inquired. "Iggy's been really depressed lately and I think if he knows you're here, it would definitely brighten his mood."

(Y/n) looked toward the advisor as Gladio escorted him over to a bench and sat him down, leaning the cane against the railing. "Yes." She then looked toward her sister. "Could you accompany them, Famine?"

"You've read my mind, Sis," the emerald-eyed girl winked. "You don't mind, do you, Prompto?"

"N-Not at all!" Prompto cheerfully replied, his cheeks slightly red. "I'm gonna go tell Noct!"

Famine followed the blonde while (Y/n) remained where she stood. Her (e/c) eyes traveled over to Ignis and she gasped when she saw he pulled out her summoning orb. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she walked down the loading platform to get closer to him but was extra careful not to get too close in fear he would sense her presence.

A faint breeze blew across the land, whipping through the girl's ivory locks and carrying her scent. She combed a few stray strands behind her ear, looking away from Ignis and staring at the ground. When she looked back up after a few seconds, her eyes widened in bafflement when seeing he was looking directly at her. She knew his eyesight was gone, but she could tell he was looking straight at her.

"(Y/n)," Ignis called out as he stood up from the bench, leaving his cane behind as he slowly made his way over toward her.

Pestilence clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from calling out to him. She took a few steps back as he approached. Her footfalls were silent and she headed in a different direction, but what shocked her the most was how he was able to follow her even after changing her course.

Ignis suddenly stopped his approach when detecting her actions. "I know not of your retreat, but I pray it's not due to my appearance, darling."

(Y/n) was flattered and shocked by the term of endearment. She lowered her hand away from her mouth so she could speak. "Your appearance does not frighten me, Ignis. How... How did you know it was me?"

He smiled faintly at the question. "The scent of mock oranges-a fragrance I've come to relish in our time together."

"I see..." She murmured emotionlessly. She placed a hand over her chest, turning her back to him. "You will be accompanying the others down to the quarry shortly. I will not be joining you, but I shall wait here for your return. There's something I have for you."

Wordlessly, Ignis closed the distance between him and (Y/n). Because of her scent, he was able to walk straight toward her. When he felt her presence a few inches away, he outstretched his hand and managed to place it on her forearm. His gloved hand gravitated downward until he found her hand. He grabbed it and spun her around before wrapping both arms around her small frame, pulling her flush against his body. He cradled her head against his chest while his other arm remained secured around her waist. He nuzzled his cheek against her hair, inhaling her scent. "Truly an enticing scent."

The Horseman felt herself beginning to blush at his words. "I-Ignis..."

"I vow to do all in my power to prevent what happened at the altar to reoccur," he declared. "Your absence at my side was a tragedy I by no means desire to endure once more. I beg of you, remain at my side. Although a guilty request, I implore you to reflect on it."

(Y/n) giggled at his words. "There's nothing to think about. Did you forget of what I spoke of with Ardyn upon the altar?" She pressed her cheek against his chest, listening to his soothing heartbeat. "By no means shall I betray you. I plan to walk alongside you for as long as you'll allow me."

"I would have it no other way, (Y/n)," he replied, stroking her snowy locks.

Suddenly, the couple had to part ways when Prompto called Ignis over to the elevator. With help from the blonde, he grabbed his cane and followed Noctis, Gladio, and Famine to the elevator. She waved at the group, but Noctis and Gladio had yet to notice her presence. Famine and Prompto were the only ones to wave back. Of course, Ignis had no clue of her gesture and was unable to wave back as he stepped onto the lift. She watched the elevator descend into the quarry before deciding to sit on a nearby bench to rest. She closed her eyes after staring up at the sky for a few minutes, forcing herself to sleep for a while.

<----------<<<<<

"Hey, wake up," someone hissed.

Pestilence opened her eyes and saw War standing in front of her. "What a pleasant way to be awoken."

The redhead rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "I'm only here because King Aeshema told me to check in on you."

(Y/n) stared into her sister's azure eyes. A smile appeared on her face as she stood up. "You've never been a good liar."

War's eye twitched slightly as she gritted her teeth. "Fine! I was worried, all right?! Is it a crime to worry about my sister?"

"No," (Y/n) giggled. "Though you didn't have to lie. Thank you, War. His Majesty told me what all you, Death, and Famine did. I'm terribly sorry for causing such worry."

The other girl huffed out a sigh. "What happened in Altissia was horrible. When Death told me you were missing, I couldn't believe it. And that boy... I've never seen someone so devastated."

"Are you still against our relationship?" The snowy-haired Horseman asked.

War shrugged her shoulders. "I don't even care anymore. Even King Aeshema thinks this'll be good for you... How could I possibly argue with the daemon king himself? Besides, after seeing Ignis like that, I...am quite envious of you, Pestilence."

(Y/n)'s smile shattered. "War..."

"Don't say anything," the redhead snapped. "I already know what you want to say, but I'm not going to listen. I fell in love with a monster who I believed loved me back. He broke down my defenses and stabbed me in the back when he saw the perfect opportunity."

"I believe there's someone out there who can and will cherish you dearly," she replied. "Don't give up just yet."

War looked away, gazing toward the distance. "I hope you're right..."

The sound of the quarry's rickety, rusty elevator grabbed their attention. They saw Famine alongside Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis as they exited the elevator. The heavy atmosphere (Y/n) sensed from the group was gone and she wondered what happened to change it. As she walked over to the group, Prompto and Famine sauntered off to talk in private while the others remained where they were. Noctis and Gladio, after having failed to notice her presence earlier, stared wide-eyed at Pestilence.

"The hell you've been?" Gladio sneered.

"Gladio," Ignis hissed scoldingly, yanking his arm out of the brute's grip.

"Watch your tongue," War growled, glaring at the shield.

"It's fine, Ignis, War," (Y/n) replied before staring into Gladio's amber eyes. "Believe it as you may, but I was suspended in an endless cycle of life and death at the bottom of the ocean. It is thanks to King Aeshema I stand before you today."

"The daemon king?" Noctis muttered.

The snowy-haired girl turned her gaze to the ravenette. "Yes." She then revealed the vial in her grasp. "He also granted me access back to the Inner Sanctum to secure the herbs I needed to help Ignis. Famine and I had to venture to the Rock of Ravatogh for the final ingredient, but we completed the remedy in the end."

"What does it do?" The azure-eyed boy questioned as he stared at the pale blue paste inside the vial.

"Cures blindness."

All three boys were taken aback at her answer. A feeling of hope, which had been extinguished until now, reignited inside them. "This can't be real," Gladio commented, his temper from earlier gone.

"I assure you, Gladio, it is," (Y/n) said. "It will also heal the tissue around his eyes. It will take time to see results, but I promise it will work. You will regain your eyesight, Ignis. If I may, could we begin the treatment right away?"

Ignis used his cane to make his way over to her, using her scent as a guide. Seeing this, the Horseman took his gloved hand in hers when he was close enough and escorted him over to a nearby bench. He felt around for the bench before sitting down and placing his cane aside. Pestilence carefully took off his visor and winced when seeing the extent of the damage caused by the Ring of the Lucii. She placed the protective eyewear on the bench beside him before tracing the skin around the scars. A sorrowful sigh came from her as she analyzed the damaged skin. "I truly am useless for an immortal."

Ignis reaches up with both of his hands, grasping hers gently. "Perish the thought, (Y/n), for it is false. What transpired the day of the rite was none other than the fault of the empire. We were all powerless."

"Still, I feel as if I could have altered the events," she confessed.

"As do I," he admitted.

Desiring to change the subject, Pestilence removed her hands from Ignis' face once he released her. She took the top off the vial and poured a small amount of paste on her finger. "Now then, let's focus on your eyes." At her words, he opened his eyes slightly and she could see his once glistening emerald eyes were glassy and dull. She could tell it was painful for him and commanded him to shut his eyes. With a gentle touch, she began applying the paste. Every time he winced in pain, she apologized and he would reassure her.

Once (Y/n) finished applying the paste, she watched his skin absorb it. "All right. That'll do for today. I'll apply more in the morning. You should see some results around tomorrow afternoon."

"What is this remedy, (Y/n)?" Ignis inquired, his aching eyes feeling relief for the first time in a long while.

"It's one from time immemorial. A forgotten concoction meant to heal those suffering from blindness. This isn't the first time I've used it. We've a few monsters in the Inner Sanctum that posses powerful poisons that result in blindness. This remedy has served us well over the years." She put the cap back on the vial before it disappeared with a small puff of smoke.

The sound of the train whistle grabbed their attention. When they heard an announcement that the train would be leaving shortly, Ignis stood up and caused (Y/n) to back away slightly. She didn't make it far before he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer. She stared up at his sealed, scarred eyes as his hand slithered up her arm and toward her neck. His long, slender fingers trailed up the side of her neck until they stopped at her jawline. His index finger glided down her jawline until stopping at her chin. Gently, he took ahold of her chin and titled her head upward. He leaned down and placed his lips upon hers, kissing her tenderly.

Their kiss didn't last long because it was interrupted by a slightly annoyed Noctis. The raven-haired boy shouted for them to board the train before it departed without them. The couple begrudgingly unlatched their lips from one another.

(Y/n) grabbed Ignis' visor before looping her arm around his and escorting him back onto the train. As they boarded, she saw Famine place her lips on Prompto's cheeks. With a giggle, she vanished. The sharpshooter hopped onboard with a giddy grin and red cheeks, which made the Horseman smile.

Pestilence guided Ignis to the boys' cabin and opened the door for him. He stepped inside, the girl close on his heels. She closed the door behind her as the advisor placed his cane down before sitting on one of the bottom bunks. Once he was comfortable, (Y/n) walked over and gingerly placed the visor on his face.

"Thank you, darling," Ignis sighed in content.

She smiled at him. "You're quite welcome." She ran a hand through his slightly sticky locks. "I would suggest taking a shower. You smell miasmic."

"Our adversary in the quarry is to blame," he stated. "A malboro no less. A shower sounds quite lovely at the moment."

"Those monsters are rather rancid." She moves her hand from his hair to his face, caressing her fingers across his cheek. "Are you familiar with the bathroom's location? If not, I'll gladly assist you. Just ask and I'll do anything for you."

Ignis wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, resting his head on her chest. "You are a temptress no doubt, but I shall be fine."

(Y/n) wound her arms around his neck and leaned her head atop his. Even though he didn't smell like his usual cologne, she welcomed his warmth and touch. "All right. I'll wait for your return."

[yue-muffin]

Time Raiders (2016)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

In my quest to consume the entirety of the DMBJ franchise available in English, I have decided to start with the non-canon movie because at least this one has an ending, unlike the train wreck that is Reboot/Chongqi’s pacing. I will probably be bitter about that for all eternity, but I digress. I heard good things about the movie from the bird app, and as I am a Pingxie shipper at heart, I decided to finally watch this one.

P A R T O N E

The cut-in animation to the title was gorgeous, I do so love the qilin in every adaptation. It’s particularly striking here with the gold outline and geometric, maze-like lines. It looks like the cards at the very beginning were being arranged in the image of this qilin.

My first reaction upon seeing white people in a dmbj adaptation is: oh no, the English, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear perfect English that matches the actor’s lips! What a miracle, haha. I remember The Lost Tomb 2 being the worst for how many lines had to be in English, sob.

These look so cool. I see we start off with a good old “seeking immortality” antagonist, and an obsessed collector who has dedicated his whole life to this apparently. As usual, he is a scumbag threatening the locals.

The old guy’s accented English is also better than TLT2, ha. The breathy/nasal quality is not at all uncommon. I don’t know what language the locals speak though.

Me, immediately: Zhang Qiling already??

I know he appears in rather early in TLT1, TLT2, and Reboot/Chongqi, but he’s so often mysteriously absent or stuck behind a gate (or in Reboot’s case, put on a bus) that I got excited, ok.

My favorite Zhang Qilings are the cold-looking pretty boy types in terms of my mental image of the character, but this one is also very easy on the eyes and as usual, unfazed in the face of danger coming at him with a knife. This is the only series in which I’m not bothered by the constant cast change between adaptations (unlike Ever Night), I suppose since it’s been this way from the start.

I’m interested in seeing how the backstories differ from canon. It’s actually rather interesting that this is pretty much an official AU, like that’s kind of wild as a concept. I’m used to the late 1990s/early 2000s anime adding new characters and changing plot points and endings everywhere, but Time Raiders takes it a step further.

Zhang Qiling being an ultra-competent badass who doesn’t even need a weapon to take the bad guys down never changes, no matter the universe. He steamrolls everyone, no questions asked.

Did he- he break the blade with his bare hands hahaha. Oh, yup, and a Zhang Qiling with a weapon is even more dangerous. I see those severed fingers. Such a good fight scene and we’re not even 5 minutes into the movie.

I love how he could have simply fired the arrow while he was still on the statue, then jumped down, but he had to be Extra and fire while he was jumping off haha.

It- the divine piece was right there?? By “beneath the statue” I would have thought it would at least be under it, not in a convenient little slot on the side of the altar area haha. So Zhang Qiling’s mission is to destroy the divine piece(s)? To, um, save the world apparently.

WHO ARE YOU? What an excellent question to ask a Zhang Qiling (and that staring into the mirror shot, too.)… I wonder if this one even knows - it’s possible he doesn’t have his signature amnesia here.

Wait- a gate? I think it’s in a cave or something in the novels, but gates have significance in DMBJ. The cinematography is really nice in these mountain shots. I know nothing about film, but I like the shots in the snowy mountains.

This Zhang Qiling knows and practices martial arts on screen! You would think he’d pull some moves normally, but in the drama-adaptations he tends to just beat people up as efficiently as possible. Sometimes with his sword. Other times he just fights ‘em. I have to admit Jing Boran looks excellent going through some forms. He nailed the force and power underlying every movement, then exploding outward with a strike. I do like the impression it leaves.

I, on the other hand, am an absolute noodle and look ridiculous when I do martial arts.

What in the world is happening in this flashback scene with the weird CGI qilin. Ah, it’s when he received his tattoo. That was super dramatic.

Wushanju is looking real edgy with the heavy iron gate on the interior, haha.

He is puzzling (ha!) over those cards so intensely you’d think it was a thousand piece puzzle instead haha. You’re almost there! Just a few more to finish the qilin!

Aw, is this our Wu Xie? Haha his facial hair is- hm. But I love his voice it’s so soft. Really fits that “Mr. Naive” vibe.

Is that. Is that the author of the series. I found out that he makes cameos in almost all (if not all of) the adaptations!

NO. ONLY I CAN FINISH THE PUZZLE. HANDS OFF BUDDY.

Why are there so many pigeons in here. Who let them inside.

A writer, who came to hear his story and turn it into a novel- HA yup it’s the author.

“This should be a story about me and him.”

Ahh I’m loving it already. DMBJ is the ultimate bromance story. Fair warning, I do ship Pingxie so my shipper goggles will be on throughout the movie. But even without shipping, you do have to admit the series is a bromance underneath all the mystery – between the Iron Triangle, between Wu Xie and Xiaoge.

This Wu Xie is a photographer and that is sort of adorable. Already there’s a theme emerging of needing to record events and telling stories. Interesting that he wants to turn his memories into a novel to record his experiences, because otherwise he’s afraid those memories might turn into a mere story in his own head. Wu Xie, that’s a worrying mindset.

Those ancient mask things always make me crack up, I don’t know why.

Ooh, background about Wu Xie’s birth into the Wu family. I’ve never read up to the part in the books where they go into his place in the family in detail. To be fair, his grandfather had three sons and only one of them had any kids – and Wu Xie is his parents’ only child. So, he becomes the only one who can really carry on the family legacy. Aw, I really like seeing his extended family present though! In the dramas we only ever get either his Second or Third Uncle, and he rarely ever mentions his parents even though they’re alive.

And there’s his namesake! The origin of his nickname, and the irony once the story gets into the Sha Hai timeline.

Wu Xie was a bit of a rascal as a kid, haha. To be fair he has a pretty sharp tongue in the novels and is mostly a pure cinnamon roll in the early dramas.

Little Wu Xie in a suit is so adorable. Nooo kid don’t go into locked up abandoned places. He’s already so adventurous haha. Seems that it’s not actually abandoned judging by all the lights on, but.

UH. MASKED MAN BEHIND YOU. I think he wants that item back. This is why you don’t go into abandoned places, kid. He definitely does not learn his lesson though. Also why are you still holding onto that thing, just drop it, I think he wants it back.

Haha he kept one of the coins.

WOAH. Every month someone in your family dies?? That’s uh- sort of traumatic. Also that would be a really good first line for a novel…Just saying. I do love the singing though.

Oh, the Nine Families exist in this universe too! They even give a quick explanation about the ranking system.

Oh yeah, I love how Wu Xie is such a nerd for all this knowledge of ancient texts and tombs. And YES HE FINALLY DOCUMENTS STUFF FOR ONCE.

Uncle Three looked dead for a moment there, scared the shit out of me too.

VAMPIRE MOTHS? Oh I hate bugs I would not be okay lol. WHOOPS. You guys are really good at reading ancient texts on the fly lol.

That’s the mask he has in the beginning of the film, isn’t it. NO DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. AHHH. So you just put it on your face?? Well that was a stupidly simple way to open the door. I’m guessing the creator didn’t care if anyone opened it.

This guy just severed his own arm, ok…and how many years later is his hand still clinging to it? UH. THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. Then he proceeds to steal the box thing.

Ah the white dude again. I am so happy there is GOOD ENGLISH though haha.

Oh, hi Zhang Qiling. Just hanging out on a rooftop I see.

He looks so melancholy. Someone give him a hug! This adaptation makes him more human, less stoic robotic superhuman, I noticed. You rarely see him eat or drink anything in the other adaptations, but here he’s just chilling on a rooftop having some drinks haha. It’s ok. I love all the Zhang Qilings.

WHAT THE HELL, LIGHTNING? What the hell is this high tech machinery haha. Eight days? Coincidentally eight days after sitting in a tomb for how many years.

That is a very Extra bookcase to hold a book that apparently has ALL the secrets.

WOW that is a fancy notebook. It looks so beat up in the other versions haha. In this one, it even gets its own hidden shelf in a giant portable bookshelf!

The props for this franchise are so cool and detailed. I always wish they would show more of the creative process in the BTS, I’m such a nerd for that stuff. The Longest Day in Chang’an was pretty good at that, which is half of my enjoyment of that show haha!

I’m also still pleasantly surprised they bothered to incorporate other languages. I’m not sure what the Snake Lady and the old man in the beginning were speaking, but at least the English is good.

I can’t believe they worked in a steampunk chastity belt this movie went all out, huh. Also with these weirdly high tech structures and lightning and moving tomb structures.

And all the pieces start coming together! So that’s why it’s believed they hold the secret to immortality. What a steampunk-looking key.

Is that a writing desk??

Oh, they’re getting a team together to go tomb raiding! Ha, forget money! You may or may not end up dying on this adventure, so who cares about money, right.

He’s so cute standing there with his camera. Look at the little smile as he watches everything going on!

It’s a desk and a storage container?? Oh, there are ~qualifications~ to going on tomb raiding. Makes sense. That is the oddest looking sword.

Must appreciate Zhang Qiling’s fingers in every adaptation. They look very strong and steady here. Let’s not talk about the slooow trailing across the handle.

Wow did you really just throw sand in his face. Have we not learned not to mess with Zhang Qiling after he trounced that first guy who attacked him. I love the fight scenes so much after the bore-fest that was Reboot/Chongqi’s second half of Season 1.

Super pretty, but why did it cause him to stop and stare in the middle of the fight?

This is like a Final Fantasy sword haha. Also I think you should stop while you’re ahead, why did you think a table would stop this dude. (Hey, it’s Da Kui! He was in the novel but not TLT1.).

It’s HERE. Their first meeting. How did he know the coin was on that cord? It wasn’t visible, I don’t think. But uh. That was a hilarious move on his part, he is so Extra?? He just casually flicks the necklace off with his big-ass sword and it drops into his hand. Then casually goes “oh, here, you dropped this” as if he wasn’t the one responsible for it coming off in the first place!!

HERE IT COMES. The unnecessarily long eye contact. Pingxie in every adaptation needs a Staring Into Your Eyes scene.

Real smooth.

Ahh this Wu Xie is such a cutie. He’s like a puppy.

WHAT. Third Uncle, I can’t believe you let him tag along so easily haha. In the beginning he was scolding Wu Xie to never get involved in tomb business, then what happens? They’re going tomb raiding!!

Next Up: to the tomb we go! This can’t end badly or anything what are you talking about.

[tmariea]

Correspondence

Rating: G

Paring: Bagginshield in mention

Summary: After Frodo comes to live with Bilbo, he writes a letter to Balin and The Company to tell of the news, and reminisce. This being the first draft, in which he perhaps does more reminiscing than he first intended.

----------

Being the first draft of a letter composed to Balin and The Company of the Lonely Mountain, composed in Bag End, The Shire in spring of 2980:

Hail Balin!

I hope this letter finds you well, and I apologize that it has been so long since my last.  Undoubtedly I have missed hearing from all of you in The Mountain.  I have had some trouble finding someone capable of carrying messages for such a long way, but I have recently met a fellow named Strider, a ranger who was travelling to Rivendell and promised to see my letter into the right hands.

Today I write to you with momentous news!  Momentous, and life altering for certain, but perhaps not entirely wondrous.  My Nephew, Frodo Baggins, has come to live in my care at Bag End.  I am very glad to have him here, and to have another soul to fill Bag End much the way it was intended.  But this comes at the loss of his parents, Drogo and Primula Baggins, my closest cousins.  I am very saddened by their passing; they were amongst the few family I had living close by that did not view my small adventure as a matter of scandal.  Frodo is saddened as well.  Sometimes I see the same grief in his eyes that I have seen in my own.

But, when he is not saddened, he is settling in well.  We had a grand time cleaning out one of the guest rooms and outfitting it to his liking.  He smiled so widely when I let him choose some books from the study to fill the small shelf in his room.  It was the first time he smiled like that since coming to live here.  I remember thinking I would never smile like that again too.  I enjoy trying new recipes for all of Frodo’s favorite foods (see!  I am quite amenable to company when it is not 13 dwarfs bent on cleaning out my larder!), and we have also been planting the new spring’s flowers alongside Hamfast Gamgee and his son Samwise.  Frodo and Sam seem to be mostly interested in rolling about in the dirt and crushing the flowers at this age, but we managed to plant some Forget-me-Not, Sweet Pea, Zinnia and Lavender.  Each of these are flowers that have some meaning for goodbyes, remembrance and peace; it would be similar to giving a gift of obsidian, green aventurine, and aragonite.

Otherwise, Frodo is doing his best to run me into the ground between dashing about Bag End with no consideration for fragile heirlooms, and making all kinds of mischief.  I feel far more respect for Glóin than I ever have before for raising Gimili, and that is even without Frodo having the ability to find his way into forges, armories, mines, and other dangerous places where fauntlings or dwarflings should not find themselves.  I’ve already had to smooth things over with Farmer Magot over an incident with Frodo, his cousins, and a good many mushrooms which did not belong to them.  If you could ply Glóin for advice on handling energetic youngsters, I would be much obliged.

Frodo asks after Gandalf quite frequently.  He was quite taken with the old wizard when he visited two years ago and of course showed off his fireworks.  He is convinced since Gandalf is a wizard and the two of us friends that I could summon him with a wave of my hand and then ‘poof’ there he would be on the front porch.  The way Frodo imagines it reminds me in a way of the arrival of the company, although all of you arrived with far less magical ‘poofs’ and far more falling into the front hallway!  But, at any rate, if you happen to see Gandalf before we do, would you mention that we miss him on this side of the world as well?  Truth is I haven’t heard of him, not even the barest rumor, since that visit two years ago.  I know well that he can take care of himself but that doesn’t stop a Hobbit from worrying!  I will give a letter for him to Strider as well, to be left at Rivendell for whenever he might pass through next.

Frodo asks for the story of our adventure quite often as well.  He wants to hear about how his Uncle fought a dragon.  As if it was not how his Uncle mostly snuck about and hid from a dragon while others did the fighting.  Telling it again and again makes me nostalgic for those days, and miss you all very dearly.  Balin it makes the grief so fresh.  I had thought it tempered by time and distance but it aches like an emptiness inside me.  I have lost whole evenings after putting Frodo to bed just staring into the fire.  Oh how I wish we had occasion to meet again!  Maybe we should make the trek to visit you in The Mountain.  Walking all that way would certainly use up some of Frodo’s endless stores of energy, and then all of you could keep him entertained for a time.  And how lovely it would be to introduce you all.

I wish beyond anything I have ever wished that I could introduce Frodo to Thorin and Fili and Kili.  Fili and Kili would think him great fun and enjoy teaching him how to get into even more trouble.  And Thorin… you know he loved Fili and Kili so much, loved being their Uncle and having a hand in how they grew.  One only had to watch the three of them together to know that Thorin would have made a wonderful father.  I can picture it so clearly in my mind’s eye, Thorin and I and Frodo sitting around a hearth while I tell stories and Thorin plays his harp and Frodo laughs.  So clearly that sometimes I have looked to my left only to be surprised that no one is there.  We talked about it once, you know, what things might be like once we had reclaimed The Mountain, what it might be like to have a home into which we could welcome a young Dwarf or Hobbit.  One quiet evening, when it was warm and the stars were bright, and we were hopeful.  It’s strange and somehow even more lonely to miss a time which never came to pass.

At any rate, in absence of a visit in person, I was wondering if you might be able to send a current drawing of The Company?  I did a sketch as soon as I returned to the Shire, and Frodo loves looking at it every chance he gets.  But since it was only from my own memory, I worry that I may not have captured every detail as faithfully as I would like.  And then I beg, if there are any drawings of Thorin, Fili, and Kili that could be copied, I would dearly love to have them as well. The last image I have in my head is of each of them lying on that horrible battlefield.  In doing my own drawing I had to fight so hard to keep their lifeless faces from tainting this memory.  More days than I like to admit I lose that fight.

That is the end of my requests for you then, except for one more, which is to send me news of how you all fare and what you have been doing in The Mountain as of late!  I have included some small gifts with my letter, if you could see that they make their way into the right hands.  There will be a new pastry recipe for Bombur, and I had to employ every skill at trickery I learned with you all to pry the secret from my great aunt’s cookbooks.  For Bofur are a few images of some of the new toys I have bought for Frodo; I did my best to guess at what the mechanisms might be.  Ori expressed some interest in Hobbit fashion, so I there are some sketches of the most fashionable Hobbits at this spring’s harvest dance.  If you would not mind, I have included some drawings to place on Thorin, Fili, and Kili’s tombs as well – Zinnia for Fili and Kili, and for Thorin the single blooming tea rose.  And finally for all of you, some sheet music for a song that everyone can sing and play together.  I hope this last gift will give you all an excuse to gather around a fire together once more.

Yours in eternal friendship and burglary – Bilbo Baggins, Bag End, The Shire

This draft will be discarded in favor of a new version with far less cross-outs, and absolutely no tear stains.  It will find itself into a locked drawer in Bilbo’s writing desk, to join Bilbo’s sketch of the company (when Frodo isn’t begging to see it) and a few other important pieces of correspondence.  When Balin’s reply arrives, Bilbo will read this draft once more before throwing it away for good.  In its place will be added the new letter, a sketch of ten smiling dwarfs – only slightly older and more weathered than Bilbo remembered – an image of Fili and Kili with their arms slung about each other’s shoulders, and one meticulous sketch of King Thorin Oakenshield, drawn only a year before The Company set out for the Shire and copied by Balin’s own hand.

[superpuppies]

Week 10/16 – 10/22/2019

At the Graveyard

Yay! Tommy and Merton are back again, this one take place after Merton Was Loved but by no means do you need to have read any of my other Tommy/ Merton stories. I simply reference some characters that are from the previous tales.

Having moved to their new city Tommy and Merton are looking for a better place to live with some space for Tommy to run free on those full moon nights, plan a wedding, work full time and try and spend some time together. While out with Lydia for work Merton thinks he might have found a place that could be a solution for 2 of those needs.

This story contains public sex & some slight restraint, so now you know.

If you would like to read this and all of 2019′s weekly writing challenge stories click HERE or continue read below for today’s tale.

Dialog prompt: “A graveyard is an odd place to meet someone and yet, here you both are.”

 Tommy glanced down at the directions on his phone again, Merton had messaged him early in the afternoon that he had found a place for him to run during the full moon and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  Full moon was tonight and he need to go running to vent somethings, so as soon as he could he could he ran from the stadium and GPS’s Merton’s message.

When he pulled into a graveyard parking lot, he wasn’t overly surprised, the last part of Merton’s directions had been “on foot” and mostly consisted of a list of names. Merton had been going to a lot of graveyards and cemeteries lately with Lydia for work but still something about this was just weird. Locking the car, Tommy notices the sun was quickly setting so he picked up the pace.

Cresting a hill, he had to slow down to take a better look at eh fading names on the stones in the growing dark, he was in the old part of the yard and some of the stones where difficult to read even in the daylight. He was supposed to turn left at ‘Jacob McClain, so if he could just find the man. “There you are,” Tommy huffed triumphant and turned. “Merton! this is a bush!” he practically growled finding this was become far to frustrating. His phone buzzed in his hand a new text message flashing onto the screen. ‘Merton: Go through the bush.’ Tommy glared at his phone but pushed his way through the branches, they were surprisingly easy to maneuver through. Stepping out the other side Tommy found himself in a large clearing completely surrounded by the bush he had just come through a mausoleum in about halfway down in the left side and a few head stones here and there but very spacious.

Merton was sitting on the stone step of the mausoleum, a headlamp around his neck, book on his lap, basket beside him and a grind barely holding back his laughter on his face.  Merton waved at Tommy as the sun disappeared behind the bushes. It wasn’t full night yet but the wolf decided it was close enough. Tommy felt the changes over take him almost phantomlike, he was so fixated on how happy Merton looked. Seeing his mate so content helped elevate the stress of the last few months.

Merton had been in a great mood since they moved int that shitty little apartment, it was temporary while they looked for a real place and it would do for a little while but Merton had just been a bundle of happiness. He loved his new job and coworkers all a bunch of nerds geeking out about the paranormal with him and he was clearly having a blast planning the wedding. A small part of Tommy was jealous of how well Merton was doing with everything but he couldn’t be mad just because it seemed like Merton had finally hit his stride.  

“Hey Tommy,” Merton stood and kissed Tommy’s cheek. “How was your day?”

“Oh, you know,” Tommy leaned down and returned the show of affection in kind. “a lot of running and getting yelled at, You?”

“Crawling around graveyards looking for any sing of graveling. Getting dirty, thinking dirty and planning our first full moon date where we don’t have to hide you in the house of hearse the whole time.”

“You’ve been a busy boy.”

“Well you know me, can hardly sit still these days.” Merton glanced at the ground a little embarrassed. Ever since they moved into that shitty little apartment, he had been abuzz with happy, nervous energy. At times he felt like he was bouncing all over the place. “I hope you’re hungry.” He took Tommy’s paw and grabbed the basket with his other hand. “I got your favorite, it’s no Hungry Bucket but Grannis’s Kitchen Shack is supposed to have the best fried chicken in town.”

Tommy moaned appreciatively as he let Merton lead him down a small stone pathway. “You spoil me.”

“I don’t know about that; I mean if I wanted to spoil you, I’d learn how to fry chicken myself.”

“OOH-HH, Merton Chicken!” the idea alone was delicious.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Merton put down the basket on a blanket he had laid out and motioned for Tommy to sit. “we both know weird things happen I’m in the kitchen.” Merton settled next to Tommy and opened the basket.

“Yeah but so do delicious things.”

Merton smiled shyly and handed Tommy a bucket of chicken. He then pulled out a bowl and a fork for himself. He stabbed a diced veg, smiling as he watched Tommy tare into his chicken. “Good?” Tommy just nodded going in for another bite.

Lydia thought she was going to puke at how cute they were being or at least sound like they were being from her hiding spot. Merton had been acting giddy ever since they got here this afternoon and then she saw his writing out step by step directions to this spot and she decided to get to the bottom of it. Sure, she could have just asked him what was going on but where is the fun in that? So, she followed him, it had quickly become apparent that he was putting together some sort of dinner event but now it turned out to be just a date with Tommy. Nothing juicy like Merton having an affair or something. And sure, a date is a graveyard is weird but Merton is a delightfully weird dude, that’s why she loved him so much already. Alright, alright time to embarrass them, have a good laugh and head home for some dinner herself. Shifting up on to her knees she began a jovial scold. “You know a graveyard is an odd place to meet someone and yet, here you both are.” She finished brushing the dirt from her pants and looked down at them. “Oh my.”

Merton looked like he couldn’t decide if he was going to pass out or scream, while Tommy seemed genuinely surprised by her presence, oh yes and appeared to be a werewolf. Lydia stepped around the large tomb stone she had been hiding behind to get a better look at Tommy, “Fascinating.” She sank down to her knees in front of him. Tommy watched her but resumed chewing on his chicken. “No wonder you’re such an expert on Werewolves, Merton, you’re marrying one.” Lydia laughed, excitement ringing through the sound.

Tommy smiled at her in what he hoped read as warm, and tilted the bucket towards her. “Chicken?”

“Why thank you.” Lydia selected a leg from the bucket and Tommy’s smile brightened. Settling the bucket back to right he reached over and patted Merton’s leg comfortingly.

“Deep breath, Merton.” He soothed but his eyes never left Lydia.

She turned to Merton, who’s mouth was moving in staggering frantic, confusion but not making a single sound. He finally pulled in some air and asked quietly. “why are you here?”

“you were acting weird all day, so I fallowed you.” Lydia shrugged, Merton’s face fell and Tommy out right laughed.

“You probably thought you were being so cool.”

“Lydia, please, you can’t tell anyone about him. I promise he’s a good werewolf, a very, very good werewolf.” Merton grabbed her wrist, his voice pleading, his face begging just everything screaming of desperation.

“Of course, he is. She patted Merton’s hand. “I’m not going to tell anyone about your fiancée.”

“Oh, thank god!” Merton sank forward resting his head against her hand.

“You and I are going to talk about this, a lot, like, a lot.” her smile grew and she turned to Tommy. “And I have about a thousand questions.”

“Can I only answer a few tonight?” Tommy asked biting into another piece of chicken.

“Of course.”

“Then fire away.”

Lydia settled more comfortably in front of them, taking her hand back from Merton. “So, are you super-fast?”

“I’m pretty fast.”

“Are you super strong?”

“I’m pretty strong.” Tommy shrugged again.

Lydia pressed her lips together disappointed. “Okay, so you’re pretty fast and pretty strong, are you smatter?”

“Nope, that’s what I have Merton for. My sense of smell is usually really good though.”

“usually? Why only usually?”

“I didn’t smell you tonight and I should have.”

“Oh, really, I wonder why you couldn’t?”

Tommy lean forward, into her and took a lift sniff, more focused now he could easily pick her out of the surroundings. “You smell like warm earth and ink.” Sitting back with a shrug, “You must have just blended into the rest of it.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” Lydia frowned and glanced at Merton who was mechanically piking at his salad.

“It’s pretty nice actually, a lot of women reek of perfume.”

“Not that, though I’ll take the complement assuming it was one,” Tommy nodded.  “the not being able to smell me.”

“Well, it’s not like you mean any harm.”

“But that’s just it, what if I did?”

“I’d smell it on you. People with bad intentions smell different.”

“What do bad intentions smell like?”

Tommy tilted his head back as he thought about it. “Kind of bitter.”

“Huh,” Lydia scratched behind her ear. “what does Merton smell like?”

Merton glanced up, curious why he had never thought to ask himself. Tommy chewed on a bite of his chicken thoughtfully then leaned over and took a deep inhale of Merton’s neck. Merton bit the inside of his cheek to quite a soft squeak. “Merton smells like candles, hair gel, coconuts, warmth, home and” he sniffed Merton again, his voice dropping a bit. “want.” Merton’s neck and cheeks tinted pink. Tommy leaned in closer and licked behind Merton’s ear. Merton out right shrieked then. “He tastes good too.” Tommy smirked at Lydia, she chuckled.

“You like to tease him.”

“Only a little, but yes, there are parts of me that like to see him a little panicked. You can’t tell me that wasn’t adorable, just look at him.” They both turned to Merton. “Cheeks flushed, panting like he just ran three miles, smelling like a sex god and all I did was lick him a little.” Tommy turned back to Lydia. “Something I’ve done a hundred times before.”

“Not in front of people!” Merton gasped out in defense.

“Only ‘cause I didn’t want to share you, oh and you didn’t let me tell anyone we were dating.”

“But now you do?” Merton asked sinking back in on himself.

“I thought she might appreciate it.” Tommy shrugged.

“Oh,” Merton looked down at the salad on his knees and told himself not to over think, it probably wasn’t what it sounded like.

Tommy frowned and gave Lydia an apologetic smile, taking Merton’s salad off his knees. He wasn’t surprised by the lack of reaction; Merton had a tendency to lose track of his surroundings when he sank into a doubt spiral. “He’s still not good about other people knowing… things.” Lydia nodded her understanding, in their short amount of time together she had very quickly learned that Merton was a sensitive soul. Tommy took Merton’s hands, “Merton. Tommy to Merton, come in Merton.” Merton glanced up at Tommy, broken eyes not really seeing as his heads whirled wildly. “Don’t do that, Merton.”

“What?” Merton asked, knowing he should be responding but not really listening. Tommy pulled Merton toward him, forcing him up onto his knees fumbling before he landed against Tommy’s chest. “What are you” Tommy pulled him in to a tender, deep kiss.

Merton let himself sink into it, shifting about so his legs were more comfortable and he ended up on Tommy’s lap. His arms wrapped around Tommy’s neck, his hands digging into fur and shirt alike.

“No wondering off without me, remember.” Tommy chastised lightly, pulling away.

“Sorry,” Merton whimpered leaning in for another kiss.

Lydia cleared her throat loudly. “Still right here.” Tommy smiled as Merton shot his eyes over his shoulder but not willing to turn his head. “So, we should do lunch this week.” Tommy wrapped his arms around Merton’s waist and put his chin on Merton’s shoulder. “I still have questions, but it’s getting late and I haven’t had dinner. So, I’ll call you.”

“Okay, sounds good.” Tommy smiled brightly at her as she stood and brushed off her knees.

“Alright, well then, you boys have fun.”

Tommy smirked as he watched her get her bearings, Merton dropped his head to Tommy’s shoulder, his face bright red. This was so embarrassing, how was it Tommy made him forget about other people, especially his boss!

“Be at the office by ten thirty, Merton.” Lydia said ducking into one of the bushes.

“Yes, ma’am.” Merton barely managed to squeak out. They heard her push through to the other side and start down the path toward the car park.

“That wasn’t so bad.” Tommy chuckled.

“I can never go to the office again.” Merton moaned sinking down on to Tommy even farther.

“Awe, don’t say that, you’ll make Lydia sad.”

“So embarrassing.”

“No, embarrassing would have been if I’d stripped you down the minute, I laid eyes on you and she was stuck in her hiding spot listening slash watching us as I went down on you or more.” Merton whimpered pathetically against Tommy’s shoulder. “What if I had knotted you,” Merton wiggled against Tommy, just the idea of knotting got him horny beyond reason. “and then she thought it was safe, came out of her hidey hole and saw us. You probably would have passed out from embarrassment. Then there we would be, you unconscious, locked onto my dick as I tried to explain to your boss that I’m a good werewolf. What would that have gotten us?”

“Me locked on your dick.” Merton groaned desperately in Tommy’s ear. He wasn’t going to say this but that was what he had been after the whole time he was planning thing date night thing of theirs.

“And a whole mess of trouble, whereas now, we have lunch date with our friend and a chance to get you locked in place.” Tommy lifted Merton’s chin giving him a wink before kissing him, pulling him in tighter.

“Behind in the dirt.” Merton groaned against Tommy’s lips.

“Wha” Tommy began but Merton pulled his shirt over his head.

“Take me from behind, face down in the dirt. Knot me.”

“So, we’re just gonna get right into it then.”

“yes.”

Tommy smirked darkly, pushed Merton from his lap and shifted on to his own knees. Kneeling over him, Tommy rolled Merton on to his stomach and lifted his hips. Once he was sure Merton had his knees under him, Tommy popped the button on Merton’s pants and yanked them down. Merton rocked with the force of it and smiled to himself.

Tommy ran his paws over the globes of Merton’s ass. Spreading them he found a small purple ring protruding from Merton’s slicked up hole. Tommy let out a hungry growl. “Such a bad boy, how long has this been inside you?” Tommy flicked the purple ring. Merton whimpered and wiggled hips. Tommy ran a paw down Merton’s spine, pushing up the back of his shirt. “Answer me.” He spanked the right side of Merton’s ass.

Merton yelped, feeling Tommy’s hand disappear for the next blow he stumbled out an answer. “Just after I texted you.”

“That’s pushing three hours.” Tommy chuckled. “You let me chit chat with your boss while this was inside you? Bad, bad, Merton.” Tommy looped his finger through the ring and began to pull. Merton tried to straighten up but Tommy pressed his shoulders down to the ground. Tommy watched Merton hole expanded to release the varying sized bumps of the butt plug. With only the last bump left Tommy paused to open his own pants, that out of the way he remover the last of the plug and smirked at the small trickle of lube dripping from Merton. Such a good boy, so well prepared.

Dropping the plug Tommy caught some of the lube in his paw and smeared it over his dick. Tommy rubbed himself over Merton’s twitching hole. Merton whimpered needy, rocking back against him. With the embarrassment completely forgotten Merton smelled like sex on a stick and Tommy wasn’t going to waist that. Tommy tightened his grip on Merton’s hips. In one smooth, slow push he eased into Merton, a possessive growl rolling his throat as he did. Merton melted around him, a desperate keening moan leaking out of him.

Fully sheathed in Merton, Tommy’s hips made a sharp shallow thrust. He smirked as Merton scratched into grass. He snapped his hips forward again, before settling on a mild pace. “Harder!” Merton snapped pushing back to meet his thrusts.

Tommy grabbed Merton’s shirt pulling him up against his chest then out of the shirt entirely. His hips picking up force and speed. He licked from Merton’s left shoulder to the back of his left ear, loving the shivers and whimpers the pulled from Merton. “What was that,” he ground his hips into Merton. Merton’s hands scratched down his sides desperate for as much contact as he could get. “I think I missed it.”

“Fuck me! Show me who I belong too. Make me your Bitch.” Tommy frowned. “carve it in to me. Knot me, God, Knot me!”

Tommy covered Merton’s mouth. Okay Merton wanted him rough, he could play rough. He would have to have a talk about that ‘bitch’ thing later preferably fallowed by some papering and spooning. Tommy picked up Merton’s shirt and used it to tie his hands behind his back, then pushed him down. “use me.” Merton moaned into the grass.

Well that’s gonna get added to the discussion. Tommy frowned again pressing Merton’s face into the ground “Shut up.” and began to fuck Merton with seemingly no regarded for Merton at all.  His movements fast, hard and violent.

Merton lost himself in it, tears welling and falling down his cheeks as twigs in the grass scratched against his face. He rocked back against Tommy, groans and moans, of encouragement spilling out off him. Tommy clamped a hand over Merton’s mouth again a frustrated growl curling in the air around them.  “Shut up.”  Tommy growled and slammed into him, Merton bit down on Tommy’s fingers. “AH, no biting!” Tommy’s vice tilted back up to its usual octave as he pulled his hand free shaking the spit from it. Ge-bus what was wrong with Merton tonight?

Tommy tightened his claws around Merton’s hips, just shy of breaking the skin. He wanted to run his hands over that beautiful skin but too much touching ruined it for Merton when he was like this. Though not touch just wasn’t an option for Tommy. Merton didn’t seem to have to much of a problem with the spanking earlier. He needed to make Merton come, was it bad that he was getting tired? No, he’s been running around all day. So, he could be tired, Right? Yeah, yeah, he could be tired. Okay so how to make Merton come? On, one of these nights he needed to come and knot Merton. Alright what was surefire way to make himself come? Merton screaming or begging his name. That’s not likely with Merton in this mood. Merton babbling incoherently while he went down on him. Well that would help with the coming but not with the knotting, probably not the best plan. Chained to a wall Merton, no, very few walls and no chains.

“No, no.” Merton cried into the grass, Tommy slowed even more and stretched over Merton’s back.  “No, Tommy, don’t...” Tommy lifted Merton’s face out of the grass turning him to get a better look. Merton’s cheeks were tear streaked and flushed his mouth gasping open eyes half glazed. “don’t stop.” Tommy felt himself grow harder, Merton groaned pressing back against him, his bound hands scratching against Tommy’s stomach. Damn it, Merton! “Don’t stop, Tommy… Tommy!”

Oh no, Tommy wrapped his left arm around Merton’s chest, using his right for leverage against the groaned. “So, dangerous.” He growled in Merton’s ear, letting the wolves instices over take him. Merton screamed in what he hopped was bliss because there was no stopping him now.

When Merton screamed again Tommy clamped a paw over his mouth with a warning growl. Merton shuttered beneath him, and that was the final push. With a howl Tommy exploded into Merton, the base of his cock expanding, locking the two men together while his seed pumped into Merton.

A scream ripped from Merton’s chest as the heat from Tommy’s ejaculate, pressure from Tommy’s knot expanding inside him and Tommy’s hand clamping tighter over his mouth pushed him over the presuppose. His back arched, his eyelids fluttered as his whole body twitched. His knees gave out under him and he and Tommy collapsed to the ground. They lay there panting, neither one sure they could move.

Tommy took his hand from Merton’s mouth and licked behind Merton’s ear. That was the taste of blissed out satisfaction he liked to find on Merton. “Good boy.” He rumbled in Merton’s ear, pulling back just enough to untie Merton’s hands. Wrapping his arms around Merton. “We have to get out of that shitty apartment, with its paper thin walls. So, I can destroy you somewhere more comfortable.”

“Agreed, but this was nice too.” Merton curled and uncurled his fists making sure blood flow was as it should be. He turned his head to look at Tommy, bringing up his right hand to cradled the back of Tommy’s head. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” Tommy rested his forehead against Merton’s “With maybe a few minor notes.” Merton chuckled pulling him down for a kiss.

[crue-sixx]

The Lady In The Water

Title: The Lady In The Water

Author: tiddly-winx

Fandom: The Dirt

Summary:  The tortured soul of a murdered woman lingers above her watery tomb.  Her spirit resides in the apartment she once called home, her power growing stronger on rainy days. You are a medium-you can see hear and talk to ghosts.  You must help them find the light.

Note: Based on the Haunted Apartment HC.  The character of John Rimbauer and his house Rose Red are of the mind of Stephen King.

Warnings: Swearing, violence, paranormal and scary shit, implied rape murder and drowning, ghost sex.  If you are squeamish please don't read.

Late 1880's

Amelia Grace was a low level worker, who had joined the labor union in the strikes for better working conditions.  She soon went up the latter in the Union ranks and became the spokesperson for the cause.  Across the continent in New York, a horrible fire broke out in a textile factory that burned over 100 poor souls of women and girls alive.  The owners had locked the doors with heavy chains during working hours, so that their employees would be forced to work their entire shifts with no breaks.  One of the machines had caught fire and in a matter of minutes and only a handful of workers jumped to safety, though not entirely safe.  They sustained broken bones and horrible burns-scarring them for life. 

She was now speaking at a rally against a Seattle based businessman John Rimbauer.  He had built a factory in the city where he employed the cruelest of men to be his overseers.  She had been speaking with some of the women and girls in his employ and from what they relayed to her, John Rimbauer had an insatiable sexual appetite.  When he'd come and inspect the books, he'd call some ladies into his office and spend extended periods of time with them. afterward the ladies having expressions on their faces that looked as if they'd made a pact with the devil.

She was nabbed by his men that night at her residence and taken to a sewer.  She had been chained to the floor with little room for movement.  Before her, John Rimbauer himself stood before her and clucked his tongue "Little hens should know that it's the rooster who calls the world to arms" he reached down and brushed a thumb against her chin delicately.

Amelia spat in his face, to which he calmly wiped off the saliva.  With a wicked grin on his face, he took from her what all people value most-consent.  Over many weeks, he deprived her of nourishment and forced her into debauchery previously unknown to her.  When the flood waters came and filled the sewers, she met her fate, but not before she cursed his name, his family and wherever he'd reside.  But her spirit remains to this day tethered to her apartment unit, where the very thing that was her death became the source of her power-water.

Death was only the beginning.

Early 1980's

You had heard rumors of the missing woman named Amelia Grace, that she was still alive somewhere in a bog in Ireland for some shit like that.  You didn't believe a word of it, so you decided that she was long since dead and buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in the city. 

You see, you were a hunter of all things paranormal and your brother Mick had given you a hot tip that something was going down in his friends' apartment.  He said he'd hear a woman's whisper softly in his ear, then a cold chill would wash over him like he'd been splashed with ice water.  You didn't bother with all the high-tech equipment, you had a knack at attracting weird shit to you, which is why you were always secretly Mick's favorite sibling, from the day he found you playing with an imaginary friend.

You were rolling a ball and he thought it was hitting the wall and rolling back to you with momentum, but when he saw the ball stop in the middle of the room and roll back to you, he shit his pants.  He made sure to watch you so you didn't say anything to your parents and wind up in the loony bin, instructing you to shut the Hell up if you saw or heard anything out of the ordinary.

You had moved up here in his place with him to help him with his medical condition, paying him back for all the childhood memories he had shared with you.  He made you feel normal, while all the other kids (including your own brothers and sisters) called you a freak and rubbed your face in the mud.  He had warned you about his band mates, that they'd try to get in your pants.  You teased your brother "I might just need someone in my pants,  my hand does get lonely down there".

He chocked on his coffee and said "You're disgusting" with a furrowed brow.

You met his friends, they seemed really cool.  You knew better than to admit you could see, hear and communicate with ghosts right off the bat, but this place felt more powerful than others.  To your ears, a leaky faucet was the scream of a person in pure agony.  It sounded like someone dragging a rusty fork across a chalkboard. 

You only stayed five minutes until you had to leave.  You quickly apologized and told Mick to explain it to them later.  You knew they'd scoff in your face-just like everyone else did.  You elected to stay away a few days and do some research and you were giddy with glee when you saw Amelia Grace's name on the records of tenants, you had to go back almost 100 years worth of documents at the library, the building had changed hands so many times it was almost impossible to track the original owner.

While you were away, things started getting more noticeable around the unit, then going downright dangerous.  The landlord had said that nobody lived in this unit longer than a year, especially males, and they would soon see why. 

On the rare occasion that Vince actually did the dishes, something in the dishwater caught his eye.  Where should have been his reflection, the visage of a pretty woman took it's place.  She was smiling at him and laughing, then she raised her finger and curled it towards her.  He was completely captivated, him not knowing he was leaning over the sink and putting his face in the soapy water.  Her touch was like a ray of warmth, her hands caressing his face with the softness of a feather pillow.

When he opened his eyes, the woman had turned into a rotting shell of her former self. She let out a shrill scream and her leather, bony fingers clasped his head tightly and tried to drag him deeper.  He panicked and tried to pull away from her, but this only strengthened her resolve and almost had drowned him in the sink when Tommy pulled him up with "What the Hell Vinny?!  Why're trying to drown yourself dude?!"

Vince looked back to the dishwater, where the majority of it was splashed about the countertop and floor.  His eyes were wild like he'd taken a hit of a drug, but he hadn't even touched anything like that yet today.  "Th-the girl..." was all he could stammer while Tommy tried to console him. the drummer telling the singer that he was probably still either drunk or high from last night.  It took more convincing on Tommy's part to calm his friend down, but it was done.

A week later, Tommy was in the shower when he heard a bubbly voice from the drain calling his name.  I also sounded distant, like it was far away.  He bent down to listen, and as he was eye level with the drain, a thick clump of hair sprang up and wrapped itself around his neck.  It was slimy and stringy, and way too strong to be just normal hair.  He stumbled and fell, dragging up even more hair with him.

He watched in utter terror as he saw decaying flesh drag itself from the drain and assemble before him.  He looked into the dead eyes of the female, her hair wrapping him in a cocoon of mold, debris and the unholiest of foul smelling filth that not even the devil himself could concoct. Tommy was so horrified that he didn't even notice the temperature of the water was rising substantially-beyond what was normal or bearable to a human to withstand.

His skin began to sizzle, and chemical burns began to appear on the surface.  It was then the pain overtook his fear and began yowling for help.  Nikki was in the kitchen when he heard Tommy fall in the shower.  He got up to see if he was okay, but knew it was quite the opposite when he was screaming for assistance.  Nikki kicked down the door and had to look away only for a moment before helping his friend. 

He grabbed up a towel to wrap around Tommy, who was shaking from shock and fear.  Nikki then got on the phone for an ambulance and did as the dispatcher instructed him to.  Normally he would have told whoever was giving him orders to fuck off but he didn't want to hurt Tommy any further.  Vince came home to see Tommy be wheeled away on a stretcher and he looked to Nikki for answers.  "What the fuck happened?!"

"I don't know" Nikki was so mad he was shaking "Maybe the landlord fucked with the boiler or the damn thing's broken!"  he went and cussed out the landlord over the issue and the landlord insisted that he didn't touch the boiler, even going as far as to show them that the boiler was up to code, in working order and at a reasonable temperature for bathing.

Vince remembered what happened to him and relayed it to Nikki "Dude, there's something off about our unit man!  I saw some bloated chick in the water while I was washing dishes last week!"

"You're so full of shit Vince!" Nikki laughed sarcastically "I don't know what to believe, you saying we have a ghost or you saying you did the fuckin' dishes!"

"I'm serious!" he actually started bawling "Remember when Mick's sister Y/N could only stay a few minutes before she looked like she was gonna be sick?"

Nikki DID remember you, only because you were hot and he wanted to fuck you.  He did think it was strange that you focused on the water pipes in the unit, but he was naturally attracted to people who were somewhat odd.  "Vince, get it out of your head that our place is haunted!  If you don't like it you can move the fuck out!  I'm staying right here!"

The blonde stared in disbelief and said "You know what?  Fuck you, Sixx!  There's something wrong with this place!" he walked backward while flipping Nikki the bird with both hands "I'm staying with Mick and Y/N!"

With all the events of the day, Nikki opted to drink alone in the apartment and shoot up.  He was alone in his bed, in a drug induced sleep when he felt the soft wetness of your kisses on his cheek.  He jolted awake to see you naked straddling his hips.  He smirked as you gave a playful wave. and said "Surprise!"

"How'd you get in?" he asked in his slurred speech.

"The window" you giggled "Just like everyone else!" you leaned forward so your nipples grazed his and said "You know, I wanted you to fuck me since the day I saw you..." the rain outside made the light distort your features so he couldn't see what you actually were-the ghost taking your form, the thing he truly desired.

Now Nikki Sixx wasn't one to turn down sex when it was freely offered so he leaned forward and kissed your lips, then moving down to your breasts.  He was getting hard just by touching and kissing you.  He reached down to play with your pussy but you stopped him "I'm already so wet for you, baby" you groaned into his mouth "Just fuck me already" you pulled his cock up and you slid him into you with ease.

He moaned loudly, you being wetter for him than any other bitch before you.  "Jesus Fuckin' Christ Y/N you're so hot..." he slowly began thrusting into you, but you leaned forward and pinned his arms to the bed.

"No, no, no Nikki" you chastised "I'm callin' the shots tonight" he chuckled, him secretly liking a woman dominating him.  "You just stay still and I'll ride your cock like the Lone Ranger rides Silver..." he laid back, with your still pinning him down.

Soon, he was at his limit "Oh my god Y/N you're gonna melt my dick off!" he then shot his load into you and after a moment of bliss, he stared in silence as you began rotting right in front of him.  You were decaying rapidly, the stink of human waste oozed from the walls, dripping slowly like molasses.

He knew that Vince was right- their place was haunted.  He tried to get the ghost off of him, but her frame became heavier with each thrash.  He got some relief when she stopped only to be horrified when she began dry heaving.  He knew what was next, but he couldn't stop it.  She vomited sewer water onto him, the putrid potion going in his mouth and up his nose.  Thankfully he closed his eyes as the torrent of dirty water hit him. 

When he was finally able to get up, he noticed what felt like to be soft wet kisses was actually a dripping faucet right above his bed.  He looked around to try and find the mess the ghost had made of his room, but the only mess he could find was of his own doing in the crotch area of his sheets.  He cleaned himself up a little, got dressed and went over to Mick's where he told you all that he believed what Vince said was true.

"Told you, asshole!" the singer retorted.

"So what do you want to do now?" you asked both of them "With Tommy in the hospital and you two here, the unit's empty right?"

Mick looked at you and said "Oh no Missy!  You're not going over there alone!"

"Mick I HAVE to" you told him sincerely "I've been doing research on the building and I think I know who she is...all I have to do is speak her name and she'll be gone" you put a hand on his shoulder "I am not that scared little girl anymore Bobby" you called him by his real name, him reluctantly letting you go.

The unit definitely smelled like a sewer that was for sure.  You turned on all the faucets and opened the windows to let the rain in.  The howling wind and the metallic scream from the pipes became one-you seeing the ghost in front of your very eyes.  She was looking at you not in hatred but curiosity, like she was reading an interesting book.  You locked eyes with her and dared not break the stare.  "Amelia Grace!" you shouted.

The ghost hollered in pain, a look of surprise overtaking her.  You said her name again and she screamed louder.  You shouted her name a few more times, bringing her to her knees.  You knelt in front of her and grabbed both sides of her head, sending her images of the newspaper clippings you found in various libraries.  She stopped screaming, and tears of joy began rolling down her face.  Her skin was healing itself so she looked more alive than dead.  "John Rimbauer has paid dearly for his misdeeds" you gently told her.

"His house was cursed, claiming his beloved daughter" you went on "his family in ruin.  You have been avenged, Amelia.  You don't need to linger here anymore..." you gave a soft kiss on her forehead "Go in peace..." she smiled, a heavenly glow engulfed her as she made peace with her death.

The rain stopped, the whole unit soaked but it was warm again.  When you came back to Mick's place, you were exhausted and plopped down on your bed without a word.  While you were asleep, Mick took the time to tell them about you and your gifts.  They believed every word-even Tommy when he came back from the hospital.

They quickly moved their stuff from the unit to Mick's place and you all slept in the living room where there was more area to accommodate more bodies.  They didn't want to go back, and you didn't blame them.  You kept in touch over the years and you deepened your research to locate Amelia Grace's remains in the sewers.  You eventually did and arranged for a proper burial, her epitaph reading "A revolutionary, murdered before her time.  May she find comfort knowing her death was not in vain"  you felt a warm hand touch yours, you looked up to see Amelia Grace.

"Thank you" she said as she handed you an antique necklace "If I ever had any daughters, I'd want them to be as courageous as you..." she kissed your hand and vanished for the final time.

"Who you talkin' to babe?" your husband Nikki asked, your twin girls Amelia and Grace not far behind him.

"Just an old friend" you assured them, looking back at the grave and closing the book on the case of Amelia Grace for good.