#originally made this for c-to-j while he was reading it and put that in the body of the post

[mademoisellesarcasme]

meme for the Vorkosigan Saga.

[yr-obedt-cicero]

“I must not publish the whole of this.”

At some points in this letter1 H’s words have been crossed out so that it is impossible to decipher them; and at the top of the first page, a penciled note, which was presumably written by J. C. Hamilton, reads: “I must not publish the whole of this.”

Hamilton's correspondence has been altered and butchered by several hands a number of times. We know after Hamilton's death all of his letters were put through the filters of his friends and family. Gouverneur Morris was requested by Eliza and son James to go through Hamilton's correspondence to; “examine and select such as ought not to fall into the hands of those who might publish them.” [x], and not to mention Eliza herself or the many biographers she hired (Also like JCH and Allan McLane), Hamilton's will executors, etc. A few letters are noted by LOC to have been accidentally damaged by Henry Cabot Lodge when he made copies in the 20th century. Additionally, then there is the matter of the letters Hamilton sent to others that were then placed in other's hands - vulnerable for alterations - and were then subsequently returned to the Hamiltons', or could have found their way into other collections. Which has evidently affected the surviving correspondence we have from Hamilton, as there have been added dates, numbers, cuts, censors, and notes, that others have added onto the letters repeatedly.

With this being said, Hamilton's surviving correspondence has been butchered by the hands of other's alteration multiple times. One of Hamilton's most explicit and homoerotic letters was also censored considerably, and while there have been several posts trying to uncover the original print—I was more curious to see if John C. Hamilton was the actual culprit of censorship. Throughout the April 1779 letter, there are plenty of sentences that are blotted out. And in pencil, there is a faded message at the top that supposedly reads; “I must not publish the whole of this.” As I mentioned, several people have gone through Hamilton's correspondence so we - for the most part - cannot be solidly certain who it was. After receiving an ask of someone wondering if it could have been Eliza, or the other Hamilton children, maybe even Gouverneur Morris like all the other possible candidates previously mentioned. It made me realize we aren't actually sure who was the one to stumble upon the April 1779 letter and censor through it. Some have even claimed it wasn't JCH, due to the ink blotting in the 6th of September, 1780, letter from Hamilton to Eliza - that Harold C. Syrett said was JCH's - not resembling the same pencil marks made in the April 1779 letter.

In fact, when John C. published the April 1779 letter in Volume 1 of Life of Alexander Hamilton, he included everything from “Cold in my professions, warm in my friendships...” to “There is a total stagnation of news here...” but swiftly cuts out all the other paragraphs until “Fleury shall be taken care of. All the family send their love.”, but publishes the postscript. And does the same in The Works of Alexander Hamilton. So, this has made many believe he was guilty of censoring the April 1779 letter, but again, he was just the one to publish it. How do we know Eliza didn't make the notes or censors? Or Morris? Or any of the other Hamilton kids? (Since whoever used the pencil is different from who used the ink in Hamilton's and Eliza's letter)

So, I thought to try and compare the pencil handwriting to that of John Church's to try and decipher if it was actually his or not. The pencil message is faded, and the other half is relatively inconsprehensible beyond “publish the”;

Using John's correspondence with Martin Van Buren for examples—John Church writes his I's pretty similarly to the note on the letter, even having a bit of a twirl at the end which is slightly apparent on the message.

Although the T at the end of ‘Must’ is a bit odd. It's separated from the rest of the word which I've never seen JCH do before, but it also is noticably missing the intertwining line, yet still has the curl at the end that he does.

The ‘Not’ almost completely matches his own, even with the omitted line through the T often missing when he wrote ‘Not’.

Although the ‘The’ is less tightly knit as John usually wrote his, and it doesn't appear to have the small downward line his always began with.

Overall thoughts; it definitely isn't Eliza's or Gouverneur Morris's. Way too loose and less formal to be Morris's, and Eliza's penmanship has a lot more twirls and small details, even in older age her writing doesn't resemble this one. But I'll also try comparing it to James's (Also using his correspondence to MVB) since he also seems to have had a role in altering Hamilton's letters if he was part of the request that Gouverneur Morris do it. And his writing is a bit similar to John's.

His I's are taller and slimmer than the one of the note, making it more similar to John's.

John's ‘Not’s are of closer resemblance, James's are usually smaller in comparison to the rest of his words.

James's Th's are sharper in his ‘The’s, but they are closer to the ‘The’ in the letter compared to John's that usually turn down in the beginning.

TL;DR, it's either James's or John's, most likely John's. And if it is John's, he wasn't the only one censoring Hamilton's letters since there are several different censoring techniques that were used when filtering through Hamilton's correspondence (I.e. ink blotting, pencil marking, cutting out pieces, etc).

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 15 Thoughts

Chapter 15 for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group!

Yes, dragon is very snake-like! Swallows prey whole.

Honestly I am good with Sun Wukong putting Tang Sanzang in his place here. Especially when he started crying at the mere prospect of walking. If anything he should have cried at the life of the poor horsie lost! Not because it inconveniences him a little.

Truly he encounters a problem and goes ‘Oh, woe me!’ right away! Instead of trying to figure something out he basically gives up, it really is no wonder that the largely self-sufficient Sun Wukong who has encountered far greater trouble in his life already gets annoyed with him.

There’s a little typo in the Anthony C. Yu version! The first line of the combat poem reads “The dragon extending sharp daws” when it should be sharp claws!

In the German translation Sun Wukong specifies that if the dragon doesn’t give the horse back he will kill him to avenge the horse’s death, which I find to be a very sweet addition. Horsegirl Wukong all the way!

A longer bit about writing ahead. I played a game with lovely worldbuilding and lore which has been given out very naturally, so my eye easily fell on this detail.

Hm, I don’t know but some of the infodumping about the lore of locations just doesn’t feel very natural. In this instance I have various ideas on how to better it.

Perhaps they could have just mentioned the name of the river and Sun Wukong in his boundless curiosity could have asked why it’s called that.

Or they could have just mentioned that there has been nothing evil about this stream and then the name of it upon which Sun Wukong could have asked something along the lines of ‘If there was never anything evil about it, why is it called that?’.

It could have also been established beforehand that he likes to know a bit of history behind locations and their names specifically and note that others know about this. Then they may tell him these things right away as they know he’ll want to know anyway.

Or is it actually that local spirits have a habit of dishing out info about the location they inhabit with this much detail? On the off-chance that this might be so, it would be good to mention in a footnote at least.

Though even just restructuring it a little would have worked as I found in the German translation, which summarize the history behind the name in one sentence. Roughly translated it says “There was nothing to complain about this stream, it is merely very deep and broad and the water is so crystal clear that birds of prey, when they look down while flying over it, mistake their mirror image for members of their own species and plunge themselves into the water. Hence the name Eagle Grief Stream.” Flows far better in my opinion, pun intended.

Back to the story at hand jumping straight to killing instead of negotiating how else the dragon could pay them back like say get a new horse is a little hasty. He’s a dragon, he could probably get a new one somehow. A lot of this conflict could have been solved through proper communication as is literally explained during the conflict resolution.

Human form Ao Lie! With fashionable pearl jewellery I see! Why did Guanyin take those I wonder? Perhaps it was to make the new harness.

Horsegirl Wukong strikes again! This time making sure the horse gets good quality gear only.

And Tang Sanzang falls off the horse again. There will probably be two types of falling of the horse. One is getting knocked off somehow during tense moments and one is just sliding off the horse in a silly manner during more light hearted and comedic moments like this one.

Ehm… Why are Muslims listed with minor threats? I don’t like that, I don’t like that at all. This was omitted from the J. F. Jenner translation. The German translation kind of kept it, but used the specific groups mentioned in the original text, which isn’t all that much better.

This chapter made me really consider how nice it might be to get a remake of the story, which sticks as close to the original as possible while ironing out plotholes and contradicting parts as well as all these less than stellar outdated details. It’s a great story with a ton of intricate details and much if it holds up to this day, but it has flaws that just don’t need to be there.

[fuumiku]

hiiiii you don't need to reply to this i just wanted to say thank you for the kimbliza :)c its always refreshing to see riza rarepairs and i think your brain is huge for liking kimblee/riza ... i rarely see people being interested in it and i think thats a shame when they only have one interaction in the entire series BUT it is kimblee calling riza out on her bullshit while also calling her ojouchan/little lady like cmon... just that leaves possibility for such an interesting dynamic.... and im personally obsessed with the valentines day art bc this meme instantly came to my mind when i saw it LMAO anyway!! thanks again for sharing your kimbliza i hope to get to see more of your art/thoughts of them!!! have a nice day!!

Omg thank you so much! :D I don’t usually answer asks like these out of self-consciousness but the meme is too accurate to keep to myself and you are sooo right! I loved your tags as well lol they gave me a good chuckle.

I can’t find the post again, but I once read a post that went like "the reason that you’re both touch-starved and touch-averse is that you’ve spent so long without human touch that you interpret every contact as a threat" and I really do think that fits them both. Hehe might as well put a song I love here that fits them and this theme really well: Touch by July Talk

If you want more of my thoughts, @fumifooms is the blog to look at! I’ll link my kimbliza tag on there here. I recently did a sort of masterpost of kimbliza crumbs in canon because I am starved. I’ll also shout out @tombraxas because they churn out awesome kimbliza posts and fanfictions regularly! I owe it to them for having radicalized me as a kimbliza shipper lol

Kimblee literally meaningfully impacted Riza’s character fundamentally so hard like damn!! For a rarepair that is a massive win. Idk the interaction they had feels so special. I do think people tend to forget that Kimblee doesn’t say the things he does out of malice, ouugh he’s so interesting!! I think Kimblee and Riza have soo many parallels actually. Blunt and strong convictions vs quiet, reserved and a follower. Both ready to kill their superior/commanding officer if the situation demands it. His iconic “don’t avert your eyes from the dead” speech was originally meant for her not Roy and no one can take any of this away from me. I’m like Denji eating the cake with my hands lolol. The flavor kimbliza has is simply unmatched. Riza is my special wet cat little war criminal princess (Wet cat and war criminal have the same first letters, if not equivalent then explain 🤨 /j)

I do plan on making more kimbliza art yes! I actually have a few actual Valentine’s day themed ones in the works lol. I’m rather slow and busy though… ;w; Also fics! I’ve already made two short ficlets, see them on my ao3! I’ve been hyperfixating on them for like 2 months now with no sign of stopping… I have so many wips. My kimbliza spotify playlist is my longest playlist ever 😭 I scoured both ao3 and ff.net and read everything about them I could find. I may be obsessed.

[here-inmy-mind]

june 7, 2024;

The opposite of love is indifference

The night did not go nearly like I imagined it would. originally I had planned to go to dinner by myself after a really weird day and night of minimal contact with C. I just wanted some down time to read and eat and not lay around and think about how badly I messed things up.

but i missed him, and I was afraid of another night by myself.

I ended up asking him to come, which, I'm not sure I would categorize as a mistake or not. We talked and dealt with some issues, but I also had a panic attack in public. At my favorite restauraunt.

How about I get into it instead of just rambling? because I've been putting off even thinking about the night, it was so cringey in every way, and I'm incredibly confused about like 90% of it..

Dinner started off great, even though for some stupid reason after all this time I'm still nervous every time I see him. After the conversation we had the day before about most of the issues that we had lately I felt a lot better, but apparently being content isn't something that I can just accept, because part of that night was still bothering me.

On our way to grab dinner we ended up talking about my last name, and C mentions that I must be glad to soon be rid of my married name. I explained that I was keeping it. I don't think it's something that he could understand even if I tried to explain it. I just need that link t my kids. Even though J isn't part of my family anymore, I've thought so much about it and as much as I would like to get rid of anything that has any kind of link to him, this is also the only thing that links me to my kids on paper. I could be petty and cut that tie to take myself even further away from him, but it feels like taking myself a little further from my kids too. Like saying "this name I gave you is garbage to me now, I'm out, but you're stuck with it." It feels like one single part where he would be closer to them than I am. I've been there for them every single day of their lives while he waltzed in and out when he felt like it, I was there for all of their moments, always, and it feels like giving up that name gives him something that he doesn't deserve. Its absolute insanity to me that I would have to ask his permission to add my last name to theirs. But this is the way it works.

In my head, this wasn't the issue. I brought it up because when he laughed and said that was dumb on that night, I made a joke about how if he didn't like it he could change my last name. His response was to laugh at me and say "I hope you don't think I'm going to propose to you".

Like..don't get me wrong, I can take a joke. It takes a lot to offend me. But..ouch..? Right in the pride, which I don't have a whole lot left of.

I probably could have let it roll right off.. but he's reacted like this before when I bring up anything future related. usually joking, because if anyone isn't ready t jump into anything, it's me. His reaction is always the same, like it's hysterical to even consider any kind of future with me.

Except that I've already had someone decide that a future with me wasn't worth anything. So when he laughs about it it makes me feel small and completely worthless. It's sometimes hard enough to believe that he doesn't think I'm weird and someone that he doesn't want to be around. I still find it hard to believe that he actually loves me, and my brain tells me daily that it's ridiculous to believe him. "He doesn't tell you that much, it must be bullshit." "He doesn't want you to meet his family, obviously he's embarrassed of you" "He doesn't want to see you, he just feels bad for you"

The problem that I had with how the conversation went wasn't what started it all though. It was his response to me bringing up wanting to keep my name.

"Yeah, that's really fucking weird to me"

Immediately backs off, arms crossed, won't look at me, I can see his jaw flexing.

Panic.

Because those are the things people do before they swing.

I tried to save things, i think.. I explained why it's important.

"You have your reasons, so whatever."

Panic x2

My brain is in overdrive because.. why? Why does that upset him? Why doesn't he want me to be close to my kids? I've worried so much about him and the kids, and worried that it was to early for him to meet them, worried that they're attached and will hurt even more than I will if it ends, worried that he doesn't like them, that they're too much. Why does he want me to break this little connection I have with them if its so important to me? I don't understand why he looks like he thinks I'm garbage.

He swears its not jealousy so I assume this is the explanation. He looks so angry that I can feel it. The waitress can feel it, the people around us are looking. I've stopped breathing and I don't know what I did wrong, but I do know that he's probably right about me being trash.

I cover my face to hide the fact that I'm gasping for air and can't get a breath, every muscle in my body is tense, my eyes are tearing and I'm watching his hands because they're in fists, but I don't think he would get that, I don't think he knew. I hope he didn't.

We kept talking and he thinks it is jealousy. He brings up the wedding photo on my laptop. He thinks that I'm waiting for my marriage to fix itself so I can go back to him.

His dad walks in and sits down with us before I can explain that I'd be dead if I was still in that marriage, but not before I can open my mouth and make things infinitely worse. Not before he tells me that what I said about it being ok that he's jealous makes him feel like shit. Not before he can say that he screwed things up and I can wonder what in the fuck he thinks he did wrong, I'm the one saying things that are hurting him when I'm just trying to make things better.

His dad sits down and the conversation is done. And it feels like I'm 17 again and everything I say gets turned around into something that ends the whole thing, before I learned that you can have a conversation about an issue and it can be ok, no one is going to walk out, no one is going to tell you the problem is with you and that you're not worth changing anything for. I'm 17 again and feel like I'm heading home to get pushed against a wall and screamed at. I'm 17 and it feels like when we get in that car his fist is going to his my head rest and it's going to be my fault. We walk out and I managed to be nice to his dad. I wish I could see his family on a night that isn't terrible. I wish it wasn't always a fluke that his dad turns up when we're together. I wish he wanted me to meet them. I wish I knew for sure that he doesn't get angry enough to hit. I do know that if I go home to my house i'll be safe from that, but not from me. I can do way more damage on my own.

He doesn't though, and we go back to his house and its ok. We lie on the couch and watch tv. I try to get his clothes off and he doesn't react, I don't know why, I assumed it's me. I tell him I thought about it and he's right, it's really weird for me to keep my last name to be the same as the kids.

I go to bed with him and I'm just a little bit less than I was before.

[joeonmusic]

The stories behind the songs on my new EP out on 3rd January

I don't send postcards anymore when I go on holiday. I used to before I could WhatsApp every vaguely interesting thing I see to the person most likely to appreciate it, but I like the thought that people showed they cared by sending them even when the cards frequently arrived after they'd got home.

With these songs, I'm sharing stories about places I've discovered with listeners who I hope will find them interesting, even though I haven't been there in person. I want to take my listeners on a journey in a "wish you were here" kind of way, giving them a snapshot, so they can read more about it if they want.

First up on the EP is Skeleton Lake, which was the newest song on the EP, written in September and released on soundcloud as a demo on Halloween to give people a taster of my new stuff while I was waiting for it to be mixed properly. I read about Roopkund Lake in the Himalayas and was immediately fascinated by the mystery surrounding it. There's something about that part of the world and the mixture of the spiritual and the danger of those imposing mountains that really captures my imagination, so this rather grizzly end that so many people found on the shores of a lake 5,000 meters above sea level grabbed me as pretty amazing to look into (from afar). The story's put onto a riff-laden Bowie-esque guitar song with a bit of swagger. I kept it fairly simple on this one, but with hooks that I hope will draw in lovers of retro-ish rock.

Track two (meandering Lights) was originally going to be the lead track. The riff is recycled from one I wrote and played in my last band in Russia about 20 years ago. It sounds very different now to how it did then and and I re-wrote the lyrics to give it a more interesting story. This time we're off for an extra-terrestrial encounter with J Allen Hynek, the debunker turned UFO encounter classifier, after whose work close encounters of the 3rd kind was named (he even made an appearance in the film). This is the most musically unusual track on the EP with some samples, keyboard parts and guitars heavily laden with effects. I wanted to create something that felt other-worldly, as well as telling the story of Hynek's conversion into believing the stories told to him by expert witnesses of craft that couldn't be created by human technology of the time.

Track three takes us to Bangkok for a bit of retail therapy, no wait... what's happened to the shopping mall? Catfish rule the mall is a song about nature reclaiming a very unlikely place. A dispute led to an arson attack on a shopping mall, which was then abandoned roofless and filled up with rain during the monsoon season. All this water meant it became an attractive place for mosquitos, which didn't sit well with the locals, who put various types of fish into the water to eat the larvae and control their numbers. These fish found it an ideal place to live and thrived there, swelling in numbers until anyone going in would be amazed at the numbers of fish in the water. Musically, this song features a descending riff in the verses over a 6/8 rhythm and overlaid layers of guitars and keyboards that are supposed to create a slightly underwater feel. The chorus features some of my favourite slightly odd chords, like B♭dim7 and C#m7(♭5) and the song ends with a coda that gets more frenzied and deranged - it was the last part that I came up with on the song and probably my favourite bit.

The fourth place to (not actually) visit is Utopia, which despite being a very common concept all over the world has never actually been created anywhere, as I say in the song. I guess dystopia is a lot easier to imagine and agree on what it is, which could be why we always seem to be living somewhere closer to that even though you'd think we'd want to avoid it. Thomas More came up with his original version of Utopia in the sixteenth century and many others have created their own literary versions. I'm sure we all dream of living somewhere peaceful, with more equity and fairness, but we're stuck in a system that is very resistant to any such changes. I wish I could send you a postcard from Utopia and invite you all to join me there, but it's not happening any time soon. This is a slightly more standard indie-sounding song and has been compared to blur in how it sounds (although that could mean anything with their eclectic back catalogue in my opinion).

The final journey takes us to the gates of hell, and it stinks. A dirty bluesy (mixed with low-fi American alt-rock slightly reminiscent of Pavement) song tells how Soviet scientists drilled into the desert in Turkmenistan and accidentally opened up a massive fiery sinkhole. The Darvaza Crater, as it is now known, has been burning for about 50 years and you can smell it before you see it, hence the name of the song, Darvaza Stench! Again, my favourite part is probably the coda when I let rip with some frenetic guitar work and what seems like a sedate menacing song bursts into fiery strumming and smashing cymbals.

I hope you enjoy listening to this EP as much as I enjoyed creating it and will consider buying a copy on Bandcamp. https://joepeacock.bandcamp.com/album/postcards-from-places-ill-never-go-to

If not, then please at least check it out on Spotify if that's where you listen: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/joepeacock/postcards-from-places-ill-never-go-to

[385bookreviews]

1.71.2. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

SPOILERS

Pages: 624

Read Time: 10 hours and 21 minutes

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ Storyline: ★★★★★ Dialogue: ★★★★★ Characters: ★★★★★

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

TWs for the book: S*xual content, trauma, flashbacks, PTSD, emotionally and physically abusive relationship, panic attacks, claustrophobia, discussion of r*pe, monsters, s*xual harassment, mentions of child neglect and starvation, violence, death, racism (faeries/humans), blood, nudity, age gap, drinking, torture, talks of war, weight loss and throwing up, blood, confinement, torture, grief, su*c*dal thoughts, slavery, sexism, fire, classism, eating disorder

POV: First person; Feyre/Rhysand (last chapter)

Time Period Location: The Spring Court, The Summer Court, the human lands, The Middle, and The Night Court of the fictional continent of Prythian, and the island across the water, Hybern.

First Line: Maybe I’d always been broken and dark inside. 

While the first book was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, the book is a retelling of Hades and Persephone. Set three months after the events of Under the Mountain, Feyre and Tamlin have returned home to the Spring Court, and Feyre is falling apart. Her magic is starting to manifest, a product of the seven High Lord’s powers coming together, and her trauma is destroying her. Tamlin becomes territorial and possessive and refuses to let her leave the house unless under guard. The return of Tamlin’s scheming High Priestess friend Ianthe is tearing a further rift between Feyre and Tamlin. On their wedding day, Feyre panics and mentally begs anyone to save her from this situation. Rhysand hears this plea through their bargain bond and winnows (teleports) into the middle of the wedding and kidnaps Feyre, calling in the bargain they made Under the Mountain that she spend a week out of the month with him in the Night Court. She stays in a palace of moonstone atop a mountain, not subjected to cruelty and torture like she thought she might be. During this time Rhysand requests she learns how to read and how to mentally shield herself from daemati (telepaths) like him. At the end of the week she returns to the Spring Court where Tamlin interrogates her about everything that happened. He starts to smother her more, refusing to allow her to train with her magic. Whenever Feyre finally pushes him, his magic explodes the study and almost injured Feyre save for the shield she manages to put around herself. Rhys comes for her the next month, and she meets his cousin Morrigan, a bright, happy woman who wants to be friends with Feyre. The last time she goes back to the Spring Court, however, Tamlin locks her in the house, Lucien doing nothing to help her. She has a panic attack and loses control of her magic, melting her engagement ring off her finger. Rhys senses this and sends Morrigan to save her. They take Feyre to the Night Court, and, when she says she refuses to return to the Spring Court, they bring her to Velaris, the City of Starlight, the Night Court’s best kept secret, a city of peace and life and art hidden from the world by the masquerade that is the Night Court’s cruelty. She meets the rest of Rhys’ court; Amren, an ancient monster trapped in a fae body, and Cassian and Azriel, Rhys’ general and spymaster respectively, both Illyrians (bat winged faeries) and both of whom Rhys considers his brothers, as it is also revealed that he is half Illyrian/half High Fae. They ask Feyre to join their court and join them in the battle against Hybern, the country of Amarantha’s origin. Hybern possess a powerful, ancient relic called the Cauldron, and the court needs Feyre, a Made faerie, to find a powerful spell book called the Book of Breathings that will nullify the Cauldron. Their various trips and missions take them all over Prythian, to the Weaver’s cottage in The Middle, to Adriata, the capital of the Summer Court, to the Court of Nightmares, the other half of the Night Court, to the human lands, to Feyre’s sisters’ estate, where they meet with the human queens, and to the Illyrian steppes in the north part of the Night Court. During this time Feyre and Rhysand are obviously attracted to each other, but during a trip into the forest to train Feyre’s magic, during which Lucien discovers Feyre and she sends him back on threat of death, Hybern attacks and kidnaps Rhys. Feyre kills her way back to him, but when she finds him he has been tortured and poisoned. When they can’t get back to the Illyrian camp and the poison is slowly killing him, Feyre kidnaps the Suriel, a faerie with abundant knowledge. The Suriel tells Feyre how to save Rhys and also reveals that he is her mate. She is angry at him for hiding this from her, and as soon as she heals him and they regain the power to winnow back to the Illyrian camp, she asks Morrigan to take her away into the mountains to hide from Rhys and process what to do. In the end, she hears him out as he tells his story of how he has always known that she was his mate, even when he met her in the Spring Court before either of them knew who the other was. They both accept the mating bond. The court meets with the human queens, who, upon their previous visit, had demanded to have proof that they could trust the fae. So Morrigan, using her truth magic, showed them Velaris. They still refused to give over their half of the Book of Breathings, and left. But one of the queens left the book in the house, hidden under her skirts. They now possessed both halves of the book (the other half stolen from the High Lord of Summer, Tarquin, in Adriata) and Amren spends time decoding the spells. During this time, Velaris is attacked by Hybern, their wards shattered by the Cauldron and their secret revealed by the wicked human queens. Once the spells are decoded, the court travels to Hybern to nullify the Cauldron, but once there, are immediately caught by an old “friend”, a resurrected human named Jurian that the court new during the old War. He had been tortured by Amarantha and his soul trapped into his eye that she kept on a ring for 500 years. Now, brought back to life by the King of Hybern and the Cauldron, he and the King capture the court, keeping them in line by shooting poison into Azriel’s chest. It is revealed the King is working with Tamlin and Lucien, who offered Hybern’s armies passage through the Spring Court and a place to shatter the Wall with the Cauldron in exchange for the King returning Feyre to Tamlin. Feyre refuses to go with Tamlin, and he thinks that the mating bond has been forced on her and that she is under Rhys’ mind control. The King shreds Cassian’s wings, and, against Tamlin’s will and knowledge, Ianthe is revealed to have been working for Hybern this whole time, and gives up Nesta and Elain to the King, who makes them immortal via the Cauldron to prove to the human queens that he can offer them eternal life. When Elain comes out of the Cauldron, Lucien reveals her to be his mate. In a desperate attempt to save the Night Court and her sisters from any further harm, Feyre pretends to break free of the control Tamlin thinks Rhys has over her, and begs the King to break the bond between them. This allows the Night Court and her sisters to escape, but Feyre remains with Lucien and Tamlin, who take her back to the Spring Court. When they return and everyone demands to know what the hell just happened, Rhysand reveals that Feyre is High Lady of the Night Court, and that their mating bond is still intact, and that Feyre is to be a spy in the Spring Court and topple it from the inside. 

Feyre Archeron: Unlike some other fantasy heroines, Feyre doesn’t immediately bounce back after the events of Under the Mountain, but deals with depression, guilt, PTSD, eating problems, and severe anxiety. She loses the ability to paint and feels completely smothered by Tamlin. You watch as she slowly pieces herself back together in the Night Court and accepts her feelings for Rhysand, and then bravely sacrifices herself for her new found family in the end. I love her loyalty and strong will, and this makes her an incredibly likable character, even though she can get a bit nosy at times. 

Rhysand: While Rhysand’s actions during the first book are incredibly questionable, I feel as though a good enough explanation was offered for them, however misguided they may have been. I loved how Sarah J Maas was able to go back and point to the foreshadowing that showed that Rhys and Feyre were mates all along, and it didn’t at all feel like it came out of nowhere. Tamlin was who Feyre needed when she was human, but after Under the Mountain, for who she became, Rhys and Feyre were meant for each other. 

Storyline: I loved the fast paced, constantly intriguing storyline. There’s always some kind of scheme or plan happening that puts you on the edge of your seat for the whole thing. I also really enjoyed Feyre’s dynamics with the rest of the Court of Dreams, as she didn’t just fall in love with Rhysand, but with the Night Court as a whole. 

Representation: There are more POC characters mentioned in this book than the previous. It can be interpreted (in my opinion) that Rhysand, Cassian, Azriel, and the Illyrians are POC, along with the restaurant owner they visit, and almost all of the High Fae in the Summer Court. Lucien is missing an eye and has a mechanical/magical replacement. Rhys and Feyre suffer from PTSD, and Feyre also has an eating disorder and depression and some su*c*dal thoughts.

Summary: I love the plot of these books as they are always entertaining and engaging, the spicy scenes are definitely worth the 55 chapters of slow burn, and all of the characters and their dynamics with each other are lovable. SJM really makes you hate the villains of the story, but leaves some room for pity and understanding for some of them (like Tamlin). 

Quotes:  “There are good days and hard days for me-- even now. Don’t let the hard days win.”-Morrigan (p. 239) “’To the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys’...’To the stars who listen-- and the dreams that are answered.”-Feyre and Rhys (p. 337)

[sodasback]

Bet

JJ Maybank x Reader

Reposting from my deleted account with minor edits.

Not my photo. All credit to original poster @pop-punk-maybank​ <3

"You wanna put some stakes on this, Maybank?" You asked, feeling especially cocky.

"You think you can beat me at beer pong?" JJ asked incredulously. You had to admit it was pretty arrogant of you to think you could beat JJ, aka beer pong king of OBX.

"Oh, I know I can babe." You doubled down. JJ smirked.

"Alright, what do I get when I win?" JJ asked confidently, putting his hands on the table and purposely flexing his muscles as he leaned forward.

"Whad'you want?"

JJ smiled. "After the game is over, you have to jump off the dock, into the marsh." You frowned. You were a little let down by the anti-climatic nature of his dare; it was unlike the blonde.

"I didn't bring a bathing suit." You quickly retorted, shaking your head, knowing that wasn't an option.

“Yeah, I know. You aren’t wearing a bra either.” JJ smiled devilishly. A chorus of “oohs” came from the group that was gradually gathering around. Your mouth dropped open a little.

You closed your mouth and glared at JJ for a second. “Bet.” You said and gasps of disbelief and giggles left the small crowd. Even JJ raised his eyebrows, a little surprised at your answer, but he regained his confident front quickly. “And if I win, you have to show me the video Pope took of you from last weekend.”

JJ immediately dropped his smirk. Pope and John B shared glances, obviously knowing what JJ says/does in the video. “Yeah, that’s not happening.” JJ said looking away.

“Only if you lose.” You reminded him and JJ looked up at you. “What? Is JJ Maybank scared to lose at beer pong to a chick?” You challenged.

Laughs and more “oohs” came from the small group of party-goers. 

JJ looked at you for a minute. “Fuck it. Fine. Let’s do it.”

The game got set up.

“Last chance to back out, Y/L/N. You ready?” 

“I’m always ready for your JJ.” You teased. He shook his head, knowing the tactic of trying to distract him with flirting all too well. You looked at each other in the eyes and took the first shot at the same time to see who would go first. Your ball bounced off the rim of the solo cup and of course, JJ’s sunk in one. You took a breath in and JJ smiled and cocked his head at you. 

“Get used to passing those back to me, Y/N/N, because you’re not gonna keep them at all tonight.”

“Yeah, keep talking shit, JJ. We know this is the only way you’re scoring tonight.”

JJ’s first shot of course went right in. “Drink up, babe”

You smiled and grabbed the first cup, downing it easily. “How’s losing taste?” He asked, getting cockier by the second.

“Just shoot your shot.”

He does and sinks another one, shit-eating grin only growing more. “Balls back.” He smirked. You glared for the umpteenth time that night, but matched his smirk as you rolled the balls back and downed another cup. 

“You regretting this bet now?” JJ asked as he sunk another one. 

“There’s a lot of game left, Maybank.” You continued feigning confidence. 

Finally, JJ misses one. “Fuck” JJ whispers under his breath. “Alright, Y/L/N, let’s see what you got.”

You shot and made it, grinning at JJ. “Okay, okay. it’s just one.” JJ says and gulps down the first drink. You sink another one. “Balls back.” You smile.

You waste no time sinking the 3rd one. “Getting nervous, J?” You ask. But before he can answer, you’re missing your 4th shot, “Not really.” JJ replies cooly. 

The game went on and of course... JJ won.

“Never shoulda bet against me, Y/L/N.” JJ gloated smugly. “I definitely should have raised the stakes though, because jumping into the marsh with your clothes on isn’t really that satisfying for me.”

“Who said I was gonna keep my clothes on?” You asked seductively as you shimmied out of your denim shorts, but leaving your cheeky underwear on. JJ gaped at you for a second before regaining composure and smirking at you. You turned your back to him and took your top off before swan diving off the dock. 

“Fuck that’s cold!” You yelled when you resurfaced and approached the ladder to get back on the dock. JJ had a towel ready for you, but when you went to grab it, JJ pulled it back, just out of reach with that shit-eating grin on his face. You shot daggers at him with your eyes.

“First, say: ‘JJ is the sexiest, funniest, smartest guy I know and I was completely wrong for thinking I could beat him at anything.” 

If looks could kill, JJ Maybank would be one dead pogue from the scowl you were giving him.

“Fuck that. JJ, give me the fucking towel.” You said reaching for it again and not realizing your bare chest was coming out of the water. JJ smirked down at you and licked his lips, before you threw your arm over your chest to cover your boobs. He chuckled to himself, “The water really is cold, huh?” he teased, 

“JJ.” You said sternly.

“You gotta say it.” 

You inhaled deeply, “JJ’s the sexiest, funniest guy and I was wrong for thinking I could beat him.” You muttered and slurred quickly under your breath.

“What was that Y/N/N? I didn’t hear you.”

“Fuck you ...JJ is the sexiest, funniest, smartest guy I know and I was wrong-”

“Completely!” JJ clarified.

“-completely wrong for thinking I could beat him. Now give me the fucking towel, Maybank.”

JJ held the towel out, unfolded so it completely covered the view of you climbing the ladder so no one could see you, but he didn’t turn away, instead he kept eye contact with you even as you struggled to cover your boobs while climbing up the ladder. Once you emerged, he wrapped the towel around you and smiled. You held the towel around you as you kept eye contact with JJ a little longer than usual. You looked away first and cleared your throat. Getting nervous, you stuck your hand out for a handshake. “Good game, Maybank.”

“Good game, Y/L/N.” He said sweetly. And with his guard down, you easily pushed him off the dock and into the water. You laughed as did a lot of the party who witnessed it. 

JJ surfaced, “Oh you are so dead, Y/N! You know that right?” JJ said dangerously as he quickly paddled over to the ladder and you started to retreat.

-

You and JJ ended up in a tickle/wrestling match, after he chased you. And as the party continued, JJ only seemed to cling to you more. You couldn’t help but think that maybe the relationship between you two was more than just shameless flirting, that maybe it could be something more. JJ let you borrow some of his clothes after you both ended up in the marsh, so you could be warm and comfy. You were in his lap with is arms around your waist, sitting around the fire, when your brother texted that he was on his way to pick you up. 

“Time to go?” JJ whispered to you, resting his chin on your shoulder as he read the text on your phone. 

“Yep, it’s that time.” You sighed and leaned into him for just a second before standing up. JJ followed you away from the fire. “So I’ll see you tomorrow night at the movie thing? I’ll bring back your hoodie all washed.”

“Oh no, don’t worry about it. Looks better on you anyway.” JJ smiled as he brought a hand up to your cheek and ran his thumb along your jaw. You couldn’t suppress the butterflies swarming your stomach. You both looked down at the other’s lips when a horn honked loudly. 

Both of your heads snapped in that direction and JJ’s hand immediately fell from your cheek. “Y/N let’s go!” Your brother yelled from his truck

 Now, Jj was the one who cleared his throat awkwardly, “Okay, so yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

You laughed at the awkwardness of the situation, “Bye” 

JJ bit his lip, shoving his hands in his pockets and smiling before turning back to the party.

You walked over to your brother’s truck. “I’m just gonna go inside and go to the bathroom real quick.” 

This earned an eye roll from your brother.

When you walked out of the bathroom and out of the Chateau, you saw JJ grabbing a drink from the cooler ...and he wasn’t alone. Your heart sank as you saw him handing a girl you’d never seen before a drink, both smiling and laughing before JJ followed the girl and sat next to her around the fire. 

Maybe it was all in your head. Would JJ Maybank actually be more interested in you than just a friend he flirted with? He did flirt with everyone after all. You just thought maybe it was different with you. Did it really only take 5 minutes for him to move on to the next girl? 

“Hey, you okay?” A voice asked, pulling you out of your heartbreaking thought spiral. It was Pope. He was headed inside to get some water. Pope followed your gaze to where JJ and the girl were, the tears in your eyes threatening to slip out.

“What?” You asked after not really processing what he said as you finally broke your gaze off JJ and looked at Pope who gave you a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I’m fine!” You said wiping your eyes. “My brother’s waiting to take me home, so I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow?” You sniffled. 

Pope smiled sweetly, “Yeah, see you then Y/N.”

You got into your brother’s truck and he started driving back to your house when you got a text from Pope. 

Pope: I know you lost, but I’m gonna show it to you anyway.

Then another text came through, this one was a video. The video of JJ from last weekend.

In the video, all 3 boys were out in the hammocks, visibly drunk, or high ...or both. JJ being the worst of the 3.

Pope was holding the phone. “So JJ, your turn: who’s the one girl on the island for you?”

JJ scoffed drunkenly and it was clear that he didn’t know Pope was filming: “Bro, obvusly it’s Y/N/N dude. Y/F/N fucking Y/L/N. I’d simp so hard for that girl. ...I just want to buy her flowers. I think she likes peenie...ponies...pennies ..whas it called?” 

“You mean peonies?” Pope clarified. John B looked at Pope and realized he was filming and gave Pope a knowing smile. 

“Yeah those. Penonies, pen- whatever. I just want to treat her like a princess. Like sleeping beauty ...Y/N loves taking naps. Or Belle... she reads a lot n stuff ...or ooh Ariel, that’s the one. She’s just like Ariel ...like a mermaid.”

“Y/N has y/h/c hair” Pope stated but JJ ignored this.

“Yeah anything else, J?” John B asked wanting JJ to continue.

“I dunno dude. I just want to brush her hair n feed her grapes.”

John B and Pope couldn’t help but laugh, “Feed her grapes?” John B asked laughing.

“Yeah, dud-” and with that JJ finally turned and realized Pope was filming, “Arr you fucking recording this?!” JJ asked starting to reach over and wrestle with Pope. 

“Oh my god. I cannot wait to show this to Y/N.” Pope laughed.

There was more wrestling between JJ and Pope before the video stopped. 

You smiled down at your phone. “Thanks Pope <3″ you replied back.

Taglist: @railmerafe @moniamaybank  @hernameisnoell @moonrisebeach @october-cameron @abbyj1822 

[johnemulaney]

John Mulaney: From Scratch in Las Vegas, September 4

Once again, spoilers for the show and what will presumably be in the special. This is about his relapse so tread with caution is that will be an issue for you. However, the tone of his struggle is the same one he used in his past specials so if you didn’t have any issues then, I think you’d be ok with this. Of course, use your own best judgement, friends.

The opener was Seaton Smith. 

He opened with trying to find the rich people in the crowd but acknowledged that they’d go mwrmwmwrw money isn’t everything so then he started talking about golf and went aha I got ya’ll. 

There was a joke about weed being the only Christian drug

He had a bit about when white people are nice, be nervous

He had a bit about there being a black man on the Bachelor and was like America (ABC and Disney+) were not ready for a black man to be fucking a house full of 50 white women. That shit premiered on Tuesday and the Capitol burned on Wednesday.

He also did some crowd work and roasted a couple in the front row for having different answers about kids and she was like I didn’t hear the question and was roasted about how not hearing questions you don’t want to answer is certainly a tactic, often used by drug dealers

He also had a bit about how different child rearing is in Texas versus New York and about how hitting your kids is treated differently, like his dad would have just threatened it whimsically. 

Now on to the Main Event!

The first thing he said was “hiiiiiiiiii” exactly in the tone you think he said it in. he followed that up with a little shrug looking adorable and a little bashful

“It’s him! Mr. Problems. Oh Las Vegas, Oh my god” he then talks about how Vegas is a land of vice and a Choice for him to preform in as a recovering addict. He had a sober buddy and 3 bodyguards with him at all times. 

“And here’s what happened” December 18, 2020, he gets invited to a friends apartment for dinner AND HE’S TWO HOURS LATE because he stopped, coked out of his mind, at SNL for a haircut because he still had his building access badge and he went to the hair department and they were like, he’ll leave faster if we just do this, and then he stopped at his drug dealers. 

He called venmo and cashapp, apps for drug deals and was like what do normal people even use them for. He maxed both out paying for drugs. 

He was the best looking person at his intervention. “Coke skinny, new cut” and the 12 people intervening looked like shit. He looked “tears for fears while they all looked jerry garcia” (I hope you know who those musicians are besties). 

He immediately yelled “Can I go to the bathroom” to you know, dump his drugs because when you walk into that, you know what it is. 

He was not allowed to go (he would be asked if he still needed to pee later and would say “what?”

There were 6 people in NYC and 6 people over zoom in LA because he guesses 6 people couldn’t be bothered to fly in for HIS INTERVENTION

Interventions can go two ways, it can be kind of accusatory and this is how you let us all down, or it can be supportive. Everyone but Nick Kroll got the memo to be supportive.

Nick Kroll went first.

Nick Kroll listed all the ways John was a bad best friend and brother over zoom and John was getting texts during the intervention saying Nick wasn’t supposed to do that and they were all sorry. 

Bill Hader went next. he originally wasn’t going to be able to make it so he had recorded a thing but since he was there, he did it live. (He would eventually send the video to John in rehab, which is not what you want on the way to rehab “awesome, more intervention”)

He tried to derail the intervention, “there’s not enough latinx representation” he said he’d go to any rehab except the one they had picked out for him. This was a star-studded affair and he was mad no one was being funny. 

 Natasha Lyons went next, telling him his life and career is in shambles

So he gets carted off to rehab after this intervention. Don’t let 12 comedians pack your bags for 2 months at rehab. it was bombas socks and iphone chargers. 

A little secret about rehab, you’re not allowed to bring drugs in. You remember how he was late? In his pocket on the way to rehab included: a huge amount of pills, 3g of coke (which was 2g by the time he got there, courtesy of a koala station in a gas station bathroom), and $2000 in cash. He had other plans for the weekend. He was admitted for xanax, coke, perocet, and adderall addiction. Say what you will, but he does not do anything half way.

It’s 4am when he’s sent to detox, he’s been awake for 3 days. 

He also gives a small lesson on how to get drugs. Find the lowest rated doctors on yelp and webmd reviews and go ask for them, they need all the business they can get. You become like Captain Phillips, I am the doctor now. 

Dr. Michael was his shady doctor. He was a first avenue apartment where he would write prescriptions from his kitchenette where his girl Minerva was always asleep. “I didn’t kill my wife Minerva.” But John would ask for his drugs, Dr. Michael would write the script and then ask what he needed it for. Dr. Michael would also make John take his shirt off, always offering a flu shot and going no, shirt all the way off (in case you were wondering how bad this addiction actually was)

The first moral is now you know. The second moral is get vaccinated.

He’s sent to the regular ward the next afternoon and they finally get him to sleep. 

He’s sketched out that doctors have last names at this establishment

He asks for drugs such as klonopin and is taken aback a bit when he doesn’t get them. The doctor is like PA state law says no, and so John suggests they go to a CVS in Jersey to get some. 

His bestie Pete Davidson starts calling that night. Except Pete changes his number every month and a half so John has him send a selfie and saves the new number under some other random name, at this point in time, Pete is saved as Al Pacino. (We get an Al Pacino impression) John is asleep and his nurse sees Al Pacino trying to call him 5 times and so she wakes him up. 

Pete Davidson and John Mulaney did not do drugs together. (The author is lowkey surprised and sad about that, like if Pete was my bestie, we’d make so many poor choices) But Pete was always very supportive of his sobriety. 

John needs recognition so badly, in group when they introduced themselves he said “I’m John M.” and no one cared. So he left a tabloid out with the news of his admittance and his face on it in the rec room on the table. The not being someone was “driving him bananas.” When they talked about what they do for a living and he said I’m a a stand up comedian, someone asked if he made a living that way. He said “yeah ask your daughter” (or your son)

One of the things you do at rehab is break up with your drug dealer.

One of his drug dealers only bought drugs to keep John from buying worse off the streets and only got into the game because John kept asking him for drugs and was his only buyer. That guy was originally a painter and John has no idea how they met. John is the only person to turn an innocent man into a drug dealer. 

Here he did the Baby J is back baby joke. the Park Theater is one of the biggest stages in the world so he did that joke in one pace across the stage and said the stage is that joke long. 

“I am no longer on drugs. It’s very good but also ah---” He’s in a 12 step anonymous group. 

“I need attention, clearly.” After a show you think he would be sated, but no. 

He wants that attention that the kid who’s grandparent died and showed up to school dressed for the funeral and got to sit in the beanbag chair for reading despite it not being his turn, gets. He went on about being willing to let one of the lesser important grandparents die so he could get attention, for quite a while. 

He feels left behind in science, like his C’s and D’s in those classes. All those classes were was putting things on a windowsill for the janitor to throw away. He had a bit about how the fuck people put dinosaurs back together, it’s like getting wayfair furniture without the instructions. 

He also things the moon belongs to America. Like we got there first and when other countries say stuff about the moon he’s like mmmmmmm.

He also had a joke about paying to get into college and like, for white people that’s always how it’s been. 

The show ended with him going over the highlights of that GQ interview that he was so coked out for that he forgot he did it entirely. He has no memory of it at all. He was just called up that day and asked for an interview and you know how coke is the best drug to receive attention on? He just did whatever he wanted with that attention. 

And that was the show.

[sohin-ace]

Josuke & Okuyasu - Magazine

Inspired by that one fanart I can't use because I can't find the artist.

Enjoy~

'Boys will be boys'.

We don't count the times this excuse was used to justify the hormone-driven and often stupid decisions or behaviors of male teenagers.

This applies to our two protagonists, Josuke and Okuyasu who just happened to be at that age where boys were curious about their own selves but most importantly of course, curious about the opposite sex.

They couldn't really be blamed, sexuality was a normal part of a teenager's life after all. Which may or may not imply them oogling questionable things here and there or watching specific videos, for instance.

Josuke and Okuyasu decided to feast their eyes as a part of their numerous 'bro dates' as they called them, and made it a regular thing.

Of course, they made these moments very secret. Only them could know what sinful things they were doing after school. They trusted no one else than each other and nobody should ever know about their activities.

They especially couldn't let a girl know about their shenanigans. Oh no, that would be an absolute disaster if they were to be caught red-handed by a girl from their school. They would have to carry the heavy title of 'disgusting perverts', stamped right on their foreheads for the rest of their highschool years, if not their life.

One day as they got out of school, they decided to check out the X-rated section of a local konbini, section placed strategically in the far corner of the shop, and opened some nice porn magazine for their needy eyes. As one does.

"Yoooo Josuke check this out!" Okuyasu exclaimed to his friend while pointing to one of the pages, already blushing madly and coughing up an impressed chuckle.

"Oh my god!!" Josuke whisper-yelled to his friend, trying to not catch people's attention. "That's hot! You think those boobs are real?"

They kept on drooling over pictures of sexy women in bikinis or underwear and posing suggestively for 10 more solid minutes, completely forgetting about their surroundings.

They weren't really worried about getting caught as the section they were in was pretty far away from the entrance of the store and nobody really passed by this corner of the shop anyways.

As they were in their own little fantasy world, they didn't notice a certain H/C haired female coming up behind them.

"Hey isn't that the red head girl from last time?" Josuke commented as he pointed at a certain picture.

"The one who was licking a cherry? Yeah I think so." Replied his tan best friend who started chuckling.

"Who even licks cherries like that?"

"I don't know but she can lick my cherry if you know what I'm sayin'~"

They both snorted obnoxiously and stupidly to themselves until they suddenly heard a very familiar someone right behind them.

"Hey guys! What's up!"

The boys jumped, screaming high pitched 'Eeeks' and 'Uwahs' at the sound of your sweet voice startling them into the worst heart attack they'd ever experience, threatening to cut their short lives even shorter.

Josuke nearly dropped the lewd magazine from his clammy hands and they both turned around abruptly, sweating bullets as they desperately and clumsily hid the piece of dirty evidence behind their backs.

'Oh no. God, everything but not this...' They both thought in unison, as if connected.

The last thing they could have ever expected or wanted, was seeing YOU, of all people, here out of all places and now, out of all times. They really had the worst luck. Suddenly, getting struck by thunder seemed appealing.

"O-o-oh hey Y/N-chan..." Okuyasu stuttered shakily, still sweating profusely.

"What uh... Ahem... What are you doing... here...?" Josuke continued clearing his tight throat and eyeing his best friend with rising anxiety.

The boys were silently communicating, trying to come up with anything, any excuse to either hide their shameful crime from you, or make you leave as soon as possible. They had to work their so-called 'bro-telepathy' like they never did before.

"I was passing by to get some strawberry milk, but then I recognized your hair in the distance! I'm so glad to see you!" You smiled angelically at them while showing them your little pink carton of strawberry milk like it was some prize.

You were beaming so brightly at them, they almost had to squint at your radiating light and beauty. Oh no this was bad, they were both striked by you like an arrow right through their heart.

'She.... SHE'S TOO CUTE FOR THIS WORLD!' They both screamed in their heads.

You, in particular, should never know about what they were doing. EVER. You were way too pure and too innocent for this. Who knows what your reaction would be if you discovered their lewd secrets? Would you judge them? Be disgusted by them? Never talk to them ever again? They couldn't possibly risk that.

Sadly, they were not as glad to see you here as you were to see them. You eventually asked them the oh-so-dreaded question that they wished you'd never ask.

"So, what were you boys doing? Reading manga?" You leaned over to the side slightly trying to see what they were hiding behind their backs and they both panicked.

Obviously you didn't notice the big 'R18' sign over all three of your heads and surely, you couldn't know what this part of the store was since you probably never checked it in your entire life.

In an amazingly coordinated moment, Josuke swiftly handed the magazine to Okuyasu while walking towards you, passing in front of the Jobro, the action completely hidden from your sight.

Josuke came in front of you and grabbed your shoulders, smiling big and trying to act as natural as he could.

"Aah um yes! Manga! Actually there's this one manga I wanted to show you, good thing you're here!" The pompadour-haired haafu was still obviously in utter panick, even if he tried his best to play it cool.

As Josuke was trying to deflect your attention from their guilty pleasure, Okuyasu took this advantage to turn around and scurriedly hide the magazine back in it's original shelf.

You were confused at their shady behavior and furrowed your eyebrows a little bit. You noticed Josuke was sweating and panting slightly, but your eyes traveled to Okuyasu fumbling with the magazines behind and you tried to make out what he was doing.

But Josuke wouldn't let you discover their evil plan for anything in the world, and so, he cupped both your cheeks in his large hands earning a gasp from you as he almost squished them, and turned your head back to face him.

He leaned down to your height and your eyes widened, puzzled by his spontaneous actions.

"Y/N Look at me! Look at my eyes!" He stared at you with a serious expression and you blushed at his sudden bold act and how close he was.

"J-jojo...?" You yelped as your heart was beating fast in your chest.

You were so confused as to what the hell was going on and why they were acting so weird. You knew the two could be up to some truly bizarre adventures sometimes, but that was just so strange.

Whatever they were trying to distract you from, it was working. His face was so close to yours, and his big hands were so warm, you subconsciously put your small ones over his wrists in response, face now red with blood and adrenaline.

You were beyond puzzled at everything that was happening, but you were so lost in Josuke's ocean blue eyes, you completely forgot about what Okuyasu was hiding so clumsily.

Speak of the devil, the tan male suddenly came up to you both, and Josuke released you from his grasp as his best friend made a surprisingly genius offer.

"Ohh Y/N, you didn't pay for that milk yet, right? Good, it's my treat then! Josuke, let's get some too! I'm thirsty."

The scar-faced boy casually wrapped a large arm around your shoulders and swiflty turned you around in his strong hold, effectively dragging you away from the adult section of the store, and barely letting you any time to even glance at the overly sexual display around you.

"Eh? What about that manga you wanted to show me?" You looked back at Josuke, regaining your composure slowly.

"Oh that? Never mind, it's not important anyway- Hey Okuyasu, do you want banana flavor or chocolate?" The fourth Jojo quickly changed the subject as he opened the fridge doors and picked up some drinks.

"You guys are acting so weird today..." You loved the boys, and they usually brought you into their messes, that wasn't anything new, but sometimes you really couldn't understand them. "I'll go wait in line while you guys make up your minds."

You gently patted Okuyasu's chest who almost forgot to let you go and you walked away towards the cash register.

When you were finally out of earshot, they both stared at each other, thinking of how they just dodged a bullet so big, it might as well just have been an atomic bomb.

"D-dude... That was so clutch man...." Josuke sighed, still swallowing his stress out and his best friend only shut his eyes and cringed before grabbing his drink.

"Just shut up, let's not talk about it..."

"Aaahh!!" Okuyasu let out a loud sigh of delight as he sipped his banana milk. "Man, that hit the spot."

"Yeah! Nothing better than some fresh milk in the summer. Great idea Y/N."

You three walked out of the store and headed back home, enjoying your drinks. You giggled at their over-the-top reaction and handed them your own carton.

"You guys want to try strawberry flavor?"

"Oohh~" Okuyasu gushed before smirking and taking the item from your hands. "An indirect kiss from my little Y/N! Lucky~"

Josuke gasped and snatched the drink as well, snickering when he was done. "Can't say no when she's the one who proposed huehue!"

"Well you both drank from the same straw, so technically you two kissed too!" You laughed at their priceless shocked facial expressions.

"WHAT?!"

"Naah dude, no homo, no homo." Josuke patted his friend's back, reassuring him with the holy expression famous for saving countless men from potential homosexuality.

Okuyasu sighed in relief. "Yeah, no homo! Still in the bro zone, bro."

You snorted at their questionable reasoning and kept on walking when you suddenly saw two familiar faces coming towards you.

"Oh! It's Koichi and Yukako!" You waved and smiled at the couple who approached you.

"Oh hey guys, what are you doing?" The short male greeted with a smile.

"Oh nothing much, I bumped into them in the konbini." You sheepishly answered and Yukako quirked an eyebrow at the two suspicious looking males next to you.

"Really?" She feigned, still staring at them. "What were they doing without you I wonder..."

"I don't know, reading manga I think? I'm not sure, they wouldn't tell me." You tried to look between her and them and they seemed to glare at the girl as hard as she did them.

"Huh?" She scoffed and shifted her weight on one leg." I bet you guys were reading porn again. Y/N I can't believe your patience around those guys."

"HUUUHHH???" Koichi yelled in pure surprise at the revelation and you three widened your eyes.

"YOU FREAKIN- OH MY GOD SHUT UP!" Okuyasu gasped and screamed at the girl who was smirking in victory.

"W-what?" You stuttered and looked at the two visibly stressed boys. "Po-... I don't- ... What??"

"Y/N DON'T LISTEN TO HER SHE'S LYING!" Josuke guiltily tried to reason as you covered your mouth in shock.

"Well it's the truth, right? Did I hit a sensitive subject, perhaps?" The brunette chuckled cutely, infuriating your friends even more.

"YOU'RE DEAD!!!"

Josuke sprinted towards Yukako who easily hoisted her awe-struck boyfriend over her shoulder and ran for dear life, having no regrets whatsoever.

An old one. A very old fic, it hurts to read it. I'm going to go ahead and post some old stuff I wrote just to get them out of my drafts. I hope they'll be enough for my beautiful gangsters.

[wrenhyperfixates]

Fluff Alphabet

A/N: This is a bit of a collab with my bestest best friend @lokistan! The ever amazing Star helped me come up with a question for each letter and she wrote the entirety of “N” herself! Hope you enjoy :)

Permanent Tag List: @lucywrites02​ @frostedgiant​ @lunarmoon8​ @twhiddlestonsstuff​ @lokistan​ @lowkeyorlokificrecs​ @gaitwae​ @whatafuckingdumbass​ @castiels-majestic-wings​ @kozkaboi​ @cozy-the-overlord​ @birdgirl90​ @myraiswack​ @mythicalgarlicknot​ @what-a-flammable-heart​ @mlqcikemenmc​

A=Adoration: What do they adore about you? • Everything. How understanding you are. Loki’s been through a lot, and you’re always patient with him. Even if he was nervous about the relationship in the beginning, you let him take his time, reassuring him you could go slow. And knowing all that, you always checked if he was alright, making sure you weren’t doing anything that made him uncomfortable or weren’t going to fast. He didn’t think anyone else would be quite as considerate as you.

B=Beauty: What do they find most beautiful about you? • Your smile. When you look at him with your face all lit up, he thinks his heart is going to burst from joy. No one else had ever looked at him quite as softly, as kindly, as genuinely as that. He likes to think about your smile as he drifts off at night. It gives him the best dreams.

C=Cuddles: Do they like cuddling? • Not at first. Loki is very guarded and letting anyone into his space is a big decision. Once he warms up to you, however, all he wants to do is snuggle. His preference between big spoon and small spoon depends on the day. When he’s feeling particularly antsy or small, all he wants is to be held in your arms as if sheltered from the world. But on his better days, when he just wants to protect his little mortal, he likes to wrap his body around yours, keeping the two of you in your own little bubble of happiness.

D=Date: What’s their favorite date you’ve had? • The first one. He was too nervous at first to go out with you in public, resulting in a dinner for two in his quarters at the Tower. It was happiness like he’d never known before, the first of many soft, quiet moments you two would share. Loki remembers being too nervous to take your hand in his and being pleasantly surprised when you were the one to hesitantly intertwine your fingers together. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget a single moment of that night.

E=Embarrassed: What about you makes them flustered? • The little things. Like when you take his hand in public. Or say you love him. Or throw a smile his way during a debriefing. Or laugh at one of his jokes. Everything you do seems so natural, so genuine, that it throws him off guard for a moment. When he realizes that’s because all the small things are reflections of how much you love him, his face goes bright red!

F=Forever: How do they plan the rest of your life together going? • Honestly, Loki doesn’t like to think about it. He just knows he needs to be with you, and that’s enough. Though, he did find a spell to expand a mortal lifespan, and plans on asking you if it’s ok to use it. If you say yes, he imagines whisking you away to a cabin in the woods for a while, spending some of your many years just basking in each other’s presence. If you say no, that’s fine too; he’ll still treasure every moment you have together and knows he’ll see you again some day.

G=Gifts: Do they like giving gifts? Receiving them? • Loves giving them; mixed feelings on receiving. Loki adores you so wholly and completely, he thinks it only natural he gives you a gift here and there. Ok, at least twice a month. If he sees something that reminds him of you—and most things do in some way—why not gift it to you? You always love them and want to give back to him. It always makes Loki confused because he had never seen himself worthy of such tokens of love. With every one you give him, you change his mind a little more.

H=Hello: What’s their favorite way to greet you? • With a kiss. Nothing long or extremely passionate, usually just a peck on the cheek or back of the hand. Sometimes, he’s too nervous to say he loves you out loud, but the little kiss says it all. Besides, the god considers it an honor to be allowed to be the one to give you such affections, and he plans on making the most of the privilege.

I=Impression: What was their first impression of you? • He’s intrigued. Loki never liked to have particularly strong feelings either way toward someone. But, despite being the God of Lies, he doesn’t like to deceive himself. There was some unplaceable thing about you that drew him in. Eventually, he realized it was because you never scorned him or cowered for him. No, you were always attentive and interested in listening to him. For someone like Loki, that was rare, so of course he wanted to stick around you.

J=Journal: Do they keep a journal? • Yes. Not religiously or anything. If he misses a few nights, it’s no big deal. He does like to quickly jot down a few thoughts when he can, though, usually about time he spent with you. Then when he can’t be with you at the moment for whatever reason, he can pull it out and flip through, reliving the memories with a smile on his face.

K=Kisses: What’s their favorite part of you to kiss? • The back of your hand. Asgard was a fairly formal place, and having been raised a prince, it was common for him to bow and place a kiss there. But with you, it was different. More meaningful. It was almost a way of bringing his old culture with him, yet making it his own. He wouldn’t always bow when he did it. In fact, more often than not, it was sans bow. Instead, if you were walking down the street hand in hand, he’d lift yours to his lips and plant a quick, gentle kiss there. Or if you were sitting together on the couch, he would do the same. Really, they were a good, fast little reminder of his affection for you at any time of the day. How adorably flustered it made you was just a bonus.

L=Love: How do they tell you they love you? • Through the things he does. Sometimes it’s hard for Loki to actually say the words because of his fears, so he opts to show you. He’ll ask if it’s ok to take care of you if it’s something bigger, not wanting to make you uncomfortable. So if you have a tough day, he’ll ask if it’d be alright if he draws you a bath or gives you a massage. If it’s a smaller thing, he doesn’t mention it. He’s not looking for praise, he just wants to show he loves you. So, sometimes he’ll make your favorites for dinner or dessert, or suggest watching your favorite movie or comfort TV show. Of course, you always notice and respond with “I love you, too.”

M=Mischief: Do they prank you? Prank with you? • Absolutely. Loki is the God of Mischief, a title he prides himself on much more than God of Lies. He never does anything too serious to you, just small things. Like convincing you of something absurd or making an illusion of a rather large bug, just enough to make you jump. Even better is pulling pranks with you. Like convincing Thor everyone but him can lift Mjolnir now. Or making Tony believe he’s going crazy and that beeping he keeps hearing is in his mind. And the best part of it all is when Loki gets to hear your beautiful laugh.

N=Never: What's something they would never do to you? • Push you. Loki understands that some things take time and patience. He would never pressure you to do something that you're not ready to do or say. Loki knows what the weight of the world feels like and would never put you through that. 

O=Original: How original are they when it comes to wooing you? • It can go either way. After all, not too many people have magic at their disposal, and Loki loves using it to impress you. Then again, he loves to throw in cheesy pickup lines that make you grin like an idiot because he just looks so adorable saying them.

P=Protective: How protective are they of you? • Very, but he tries not to let it show. Loki doesn’t want to stifle you or make you think he believes you’re weak. You’re actually one of the strongest people he knows. Still, he always watches over you and checks in on you, making sure you’re alright and no one is upsetting you. And if someone has, oh boy, they better watch out because he certainly will have some choice words for them. Of course, that would come with a threat to the person not to let you know he’d spoken to them. Unless he’d gotten your permission to intervene.

Q=Quiet: What quiet, peaceful moments do they appreciate the most? • The ones where you don’t need to be doing anything else. So many people always need to be talking, but with the storm of thoughts always swirling in his mind, Loki appreciates the quiet. The fact that you two can just lay together saying nothing means so much to Loki. He likes just enjoying your calming presence, looking into each other’s eyes, almost as if communicating through the silence, the special kind that only those as close as you two could truly understand and appreciate.

R=Romance: How romantic are they? • Extremely. Loki loves to sweep you off your feet. He’s a little shy about it at first, but once he’s comfortable, he’s constantly writing/reading you love poems and songs. Candlelit dinners become commonplace and you find rose petals lining your way the table more often than not. And if you ever watch a rom-com, you can bet Loki will be taking notes.

S=Sharing: Are they good at sharing their emotions with you? • Sometimes. If his fears of you leaving get the better of him or cause the problem, he doesn’t really want to talk about it and risk making you upset. Instead, he just lets you hold him when you can tell something’s wrong. But for most other cases he slowly learns how to trust and open up to you, telling you what’s going on inside his mind.

T=Trust: How much do they trust you? • A lot. There's not a single other person in the universe Loki would ever let hold him the way you do. He doesn’t tell anyone else his feelings, either. He loves you and knows you’re there for him, though, so he trusts you won’t tell anyone else. It helps that you trust him so much too.

U=Upset: How do they comfort you when your upset? • By holding you. Even if you’re not at the point where you need to cry, Loki will encompass your body with his, tucking your head under his chin. He’ll whisper sweet nothings in your ear until you feel better, rubbing his hands up and down your back. When you finally look up at him, he’ll shower your face with kisses and ask if you need to talk. If you say no, he just keeps holding you for as long as you’ll let him. If you say yes, he listens intently, offering words of encouragement or advice when you finish. He always makes sure to tell you how proud of you he is for doing your best.

V=Vulnerable: When was the first time they were vulnerable with you? • The first time his nightmares woke you up. You’d both fallen asleep on the sofa watching a movie. Unfortunately, he was startled from his slumber by the dreams that so often plagued him. You rubbed his back while he caught his breath and calmed down. Once he was doing better, you offered to listen to what was wrong. Unable to keep it in any longer, he broke down in your arms. After sharing with you, he felt better than he had in a long time. He didn’t have another nightmare for two months.

W=When: When did they realize they were in love with you? • The first time he said the words. He hadn’t thought about it, so it wasn’t premeditated. You two were just swaying to some music, and you’d looked up to place a quick kiss to his lips. He just looked at you and said the three-word phrase. You replied immediately, seemingly not thinking about it either. Loki realized his heart had known it before his brain, but it was in that moment he realized how true the words were. He loved you.

X=Xaphoon: What kind of music reminds them of you? • Classical music with big, sweeping movements. So often they start off soft, feather-light. Then they crescendo into something bigger, something brighter, something dramatic. It reminds him of the way he feels for you, how it swelled into that big moment of pure and complete love and adoration. If the piece calmed back down again, that was the best, since he’s feelings had settled into his bones, becoming part of him.

Y=Yearning: Do they yearn for you when you’re apart? • Very much so. If he has to go on a mission for a while or accompany Thor to Asgard, he misses you terribly. He’ll look at photos or make an illusion of you, but it’s not the same as actually having you there. When he gets back home, the first thing he does is run into your arms, telling you how much he missed you. The sudden confession he never exactly plans always made him blush.

Z=Zoo: Would they want any pets? • Only if you did. Loki was kind of neutral toward the whole pet thing. Sure, if someone else had one he’d always go and pet it, but having one of his own wasn’t that big of a deal to him. If you did want one, though, Loki would immediately take you to find just the right companion. And once you brought it back home, he’d love to play with it or look at it or tell it how cute it is. Practically becoming its best friend, he can be easily persuaded to adopt one or two or a dozen more. And, of course, he’s so absolutely adorable with it, you’d risk your heart exploding from a cuteness overload and let him pick the one to adopt that time.

[shezzaspeare]

Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

Blessie presents – The Science of Fanfiction: A Study In Sherlock (2021) • Next

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SOURCES • Pinterest, Google Images, Wikipedia, Literary Terms, Conan Doyle Estate, Definitions, The Sherlock Holmes Book, and Google

[foilfreak]

Beauty and Her Beast: Chapter 2

Warning: This fic is rated NSFW and contains graphic depictions of things some people may find disturbing or alarming, including, but not limited to: violence, gore, unhealthy family relationships, Oedipus complexes, gratuitous amount of pornographic literature, ableist language, physical, mental, and emotional abuse, etc. If you are someone who does not enjoy fiction with these elements in them, then I suggest you refrain from reading this, because this fic will have all that, and probably a lot more. So, this is your first and final warning to turn around and go somewhere else if stuff like this just isn't your vibe, because from this point forward, your emotional wellbeing is in your own hands, and I will not be accepting blame if you disregarded my warnings and ended up reading something you didn't like. Idk why I feel compelled to write one of these despite this being Resident Evil fanfic, but I figured I'd cover my ass just in case.

(Link to ao3 version in comments below)

Chapter 2:

The journey to Mother Miranda’s personal laboratory was much shorter and more enjoyable than the original walk to the meeting site, in Salvatore’s humble opinion.

Mother Miranda was mostly quiet, distant, and preoccupied throughout the duration of the walk, even more so than normal. That being said however, while this sort of behavior would usually spell disaster for whichever one of the 4 lords was forced to be in her presence during these sorts of moods, in this situation, Mother Miranda did not appear tense or agitated or hostile like she usually would be. Just lost in thought. As though she were only quiet because she was too busy thinking about something else to speak. She didn’t even seem to mind his various attempts at starting conversation, which surprised, but endlessly delighted, the mutant man.

‘Mother must be in a very good mood today. She hasn’t hit me or told me to shut up the whole time we’ve been together. Maybe she’s made another breakthrough with the cadou? I’d certainly be very happy if I were in her shoes’ Salvatore excitedly thought to himself as the woman in question stepped forward to unlock and open the large steel door of her personal laboratory, allowing Salvatore to step into the facility before closing and locking it again behind her.

“Moreau, do you recall the set of mutation experiments I began at the beginning of last year?” The raven mother asked, turning around and beginning to quickly make her way down the long, dark corridor.

“Y-you mean… the o-ones with the new c-cadou strain th-that I… that I d-developed… f-for you?” Salvatore stutters, breath labored and body struggling to keep up with the taller woman’s vastly larger steps.

“Correct” Mother Miranda says, turning a corner. “As impressed as I was with the final results of this particular strain, I’m afraid it still isn’t good enough. None of the subjects I implanted with cadou last year turned out to be favorable candidates.”

Salvatore stops in his tracks, a look of horror and agony on his face as news that he’d failed mother once again practically tears him apart from the inside out. “O-oh Mother… I-im so s-s-sorry to h-hear that… b-but don’t w-worry… I’ll-I’ll try h-harder next t-time… I w-won’t fail y-you again Mother, so p-please… please j-just give me a-another chance to get it r-right… i b-beg of y-you…”

Mother Miranda stops and turns toward the mutated lord, staring at him in silence as he drops to his knees and grovels at her feet, begging desperately for his failures to be forgiven.

“Off your knees, Moreau, this behavior is unbecoming of a Lord such as yourself. Besides, I never said that you were the one to blame for the lack of successful results, nor am I necessarily displeased by the fact that these experiments yielded failed vessels.”

Salvatore allows his gaze to rise to his mother’s face, where, true to her words, the parts of Miranda’s face that Salvatore could make out from behind her mask did not appear marred with the familiar expressions of anger and disappointment that the 4 lords were usually met with after another round of failed vessels.

“Y-you’re… you’re not upset with m-me?” The deformed man asks, his voice laced with shock and disbelief.

“No, my child, I’m not upset with you. While these experiments may have ended in failure, they did provide me with useful information that may prove to be pertinent to our mission in the near future. In fact, as I said earlier, the reason why I’ve brought you here is because I want to give you a gift, as a reward for all your incredible work. Did you expect me to be upset with you simply because this round proved unsuccessful as well? Do you really think so poorly of your loving mother, who works tirelessly to ensure her children are happy and rewarded for all their faith and trust in me?” Mother Miranda sniveled pitifully, turning her gaze away in mock dejection as Salvatore, horrified that he’d insulted and hurt her somehow, scrambles to his feet, gently taking both of Miranda’s hands into his own and holding the supple skin to his bloated and deformed face, desperately hoping this would comfort her.

“No no no no, o-of course n-not, Mother… I-I’d never expect s-something like th-that from y-you… and-and I k-know better… b-better than a-anyone… just h-how h-hard you w-work… not j-just on y-your experiments… but f-for all o-of us… too… you l-l-love us… you… love ME… I-I’ll always love y-you, Mother… always” Salvatore blurts, stumbling over his words as he tries desperately to comfort Mother Miranda, an effort he’s seemingly rewarded for, when Miranda takes one of her hands away and brings it back to the top of Salvatore’s head, once again gently brushing her hand against it.

Salvatore’s knees nearly give out from under him as the heavenly sensation washes throughout his body like a raging typhoon, leaving him feeling tired and weak yet hungry and wanting for more, though whatever that “more” was, Salvatore was quick to beat it back down deep within himself, knowing this was neither the time nor the place for him to be entertaining such… primal desires about someone like Mother Miranda, no matter how little he intends to act on them.

“Thank you, Moreau. You always know exactly what to say to make Mother feel better. You’re such a good boy” Mother Miranda says, making sure to put extra emphasis onto the last two words as she reaches forward and pulls Salvatore closer to her.

“G-g-g-gggg… good… boy… me?” Salvatore chokes, tears beginning to fill his eyes as Mother Miranda’s arms come to wrap around him, pushing the deformed man’s face to lean against the soft, feathery material of her bosom.

“Yes, Moreau. You’ve always been very special to me. From the day I met you, you’ve been such a good, well-behaved boy that I never have to worry about” Miranda begins, her face blank and expressionless as she passionlessly strokes Salvatore’s face. “No matter how simple the task, those 3 are always making mistakes of some kind and forcing me to come and clean up their messes after them, especially that snake Heisenberg. But you? No, never you, Moreau, not my special, perfect little boy who always tries his best to make Mother happy. Do you enjoy making Mother happy, Moreau?”

“Y-y-yES! Of-of c-course I do” Salvatore moans, his voice slightly muffled by Miranda’s chest as he violently nods his head in affirmation, tears freely falling from his eyes as his head swims deliriously from the endless wave of kind words and gentle touches.

“Good! I always knew you did. And for that, I'm going to reward you with something very special. Something to… keep you busy... while I’m away for a little while” The raven mother coos again.

Salvatore stops for a moment when the meaning of Miranda’s words finally registers in his brain. “While… w-while you’re… away? You’re l-leaving us?” Salvatore asks, his voice growing increasingly distressed with each word.

“Only for a short time, hopefully,” Mother Miranda answers, “but yes, at the end of this month, I will be leaving the village in order to attend to some very important business I have. I’m not sure how my journey will fare, however I'm optimistic that it will be the key necessary to finally getting my Ev- uh… pardon me; the key to finally achieving our goal of creating a perfect vessel. Doesn’t that sound nice, Moreau?”

“It-it does” the deformed man says quietly, still put off by the mention of Mother leaving, but not wanting to put a damper on his mother’s incredibly rare good mood. “But… where is i-it… th-that you’ll be g-going… an-and for h-how long?”

“Just down the mountain to pay someone a visit, however I have no idea when I'll be back. That will depend on how successful my mission goes, I suppose.”

Silence falls over the two as Salvatore, still upset by the news that Mother Miranda would be leaving, continues to take in the comfort and warmth of his Mother’s arms for just a moment longer, selfishly wishing that Mother held him more often. Eventually however, Mother Miranda does pull back from the superficial embrace, gesturing for Salvatore to follow her once more, which the deformed man begins to do without question.

“Of the 4 of you, you’re the last one to come and pick your gift,” Miranda says, unaware of the visible slump that Salvatore’s shoulders take on upon hearing this. “However, despite there only being one option left, it would appear as though your siblings have decided to spare you their usual games of trickery this time around. If anything, I think you might be the one to have ended up with the best deal after everything is said and done.”

Salvatore looks up at Mother Miranda with an expression of mild confusion, wondering what on earth she could mean by that. His musings are quickly interrupted however, when the two enter a large room filled with various pods.

“Of the 22 test subjects we started with last year, only 13 were genetically compatible with the cadou parasite, and even then, only 4 ended up surviving the full mutation phase. Despite their impressively stable conditions, they still aren’t suitable vessels for my purposes, however I felt as though it would be such a waste to just do away with them. So, with that in mind, I’ve decided that my gift to you all, before I must leave you for a time, is to give one test subject to each of you.”

“G-give? You’re… y-you’re giving us t-test subjects?” Salvatore repeats dumbly, not certain he understood where this was going.

“Correct” Mother Miranda affirms. “This is easily the most successful batch of mutations we’ve seen to date, and given the amount of time and effort I poured into making sure these last 4 survived until now, I’d at least like to see some use gotten out of them before they die or suddenly lose control of their mutations and go rogue.”

“Like… l-like what?” The hooded man asks nervously.

Miranda merely shrugs her shoulders, uncaring. “Anything you like. Housekeeper. Playmate. Labrat. Partner in Crime. Whatever it is you desire of your gift, you may have without question. And in the event they refuse you… well, you’ll at least have a fun little toy to chase after for a little while.”

“I... see...” Salvatore says quietly, growing less and less excited about this whole “gift” thing, now that he knows that his gift is just another person.

Another person to scream and wail at how unbelievably hideous and disgusting of a monster he looks, no doubt.

Without another word, Miranda heads over to the large control table located in the middle of the room, pressing a few buttons before 4 of the many identical pods begin moving toward them. Steam pours out the tops and bottoms of the metal pods as the large capsules slowly finish lowering themselves from their hung pedestals, displaying them directly in front of Miranda and Salvatore.  The man in question stands anxiously in front of the still sealed door, nervously fidgeting with his fingers as he waits for Mother to show him his gift, a myriad of thoughts and fears and worries flying throughout the mutant man’s mind.

“The first 3 have already been chosen by your siblings, but the one on the far right is all yours” Miranda says, pushing another button that causes the singular pod in question to click open, its door slowly beginning to rise upward toward the ceiling.

Salvatore nods in understanding as he tries to avoid watching the door of the pod open, instead hyper focusing on what Miranda is saying as the tension in the room becomes so thick it feels as if it could be cut with a dull knife.

After what felt like an eternity and a half of waiting, the pod door finally finished opening, and in that exact moment, as the disfigured man’s gaze finally fell upon the sight of his gift for the first time, his eyes went wide in shock, his mouth dropped open in disbelief, and his hands fell limply to his side in complete and utter bewilderment at the sight that stood before him.

“That… th-that’s… for me?” Salvatore manages to croak out, his throat suddenly dry as a desert and the air from his lungs having left him the second before.

Raising his hand up toward the creature wired into the pod, the hooded man finds himself unable to look away, feeling almost mesmerized as his mind struggles to figure out whether all this is really happening, or if he’d finally succumbed to the insanity of his condition and dreamt all this up as a sick and twisted way of coping with his soul crushing loneliness. Either one was just as likely at this point.

“I’m sure you’ll still be quite pitiful on the day I have to leave, but at least this way you’ll have something to keep yourself occupied with until I return, yes?” Mother Miranda says smugly, clearly pleased by his reaction. “So, what do you think, Moreau? Do you like the gift I’ve gotten for you?”

It wasn't until after several moments of silence that Salvatore finally responded. After stuttering and slurring unintelligibly over several sentences worth of responses, 2 words, and 2 words alone, finally managed to tumble from the mutant man’s lips, his eyes shining as he finally reached forward enough to slowly and carefully intertwine his fingers with the small and delicate hand of the beautiful young woman that slept peacefully inside the pod.

“She’s perfect!”

[paradox-psyc-hoe-sis]

Peter Parker Fluff Alphabet

Peter parker x reader

Word count: 2.1k

Warnings: None, other than tooth rotting fluff

A/N: howdy! It's been 84 years since I last posted any originals so here's a fluff alphabet, I plan on doing quite a few more in the future! Enjoy - Aphrodite

A - activities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Between school, Peter loves to spend time with you in his & May's apartment. He sees the city so much while being spider man, so a cozy night in with pizza and Star Wars is his favourite thing. Peter will try and spend as much time with you as possible, but you both have tight schedules due to being avengers, so he'll take whatever he can get. He always feels guilty about not being able to spend as much time with you as he wants, so sometimes you have to reassure him that any time spent together is time well spent.

B - beauty - What do they admire about their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

Peter is 100% about personality over looks, and he thinks the most beautiful part of you is your kind and caring nature. He loves your open mindedness and the fact you treat everybody equally, but he also loves the sarcastic and witty side of you. He values your personality loads, but it's just a plus that you're also the most gorgeous person he's ever seen.

C - comfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

When you feel down or a bit anxious, Peter can always sense it. He doesn't blatantly tell you, but he always shows you a lot more physical affection to make you feel better. He'll hold your hand and rub small circles on it with his thumb, he'll cuddle up to you and gently massage whatever part of you is closest to him, anything to physically distract you. If you're alone then he'll give you small pecks or the forehead - not only does it make you feel better, but it also makes him feel better too.

D - dreams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

Literally every day. When he's bored in class, when he's trying to get to sleep, when he sees something that reminds him of you; you're on his mind a lot, he absolutely adores you.

E - equal - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

It depends on the situation. When you're on a mission together and there's even a slight threat, he's automatically dominant and gets very protective of you. But usually he's quite passive, with a hint of dominance when he gets jealous.

F - fight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

You and Peter rarely every fight, but when you do have small arguments he's always the first to apologise. The only time you both have had a really serious fight is when you got badly injured after a mission and he got angry that you unnecessarily put your life at risk. However, he was still the first to apologise, as he couldn't stay mad at you for long.

G - gratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

Oh boy, Peter is SO grateful for everything you do. In fact, he's grateful even when you aren't doing anything. Just knowing that he has the most amazing and kind s/o in the world makes him so thankful.

H - honesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

You know pretty much all of Peter's secrets, so there isn't much for him to hide. Even when he does have something he wasn't planning on sharing, he always tells you. He knows you won't judge or tell anyone else, therefore he often uses you as a human diary.

I - inspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around?

You and Peter both changed each other for the better. Peter made you appreciate the small things so much more, and has taught you a lot about his favourite things, music, and science. Whereas you've taught him a lot of hand-to-hand combat, and love teaching him your hobbies & the languages you know.

J - jealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

Peter trusts you completely, so when he sees you spending time with another man then he doesn't really mind. He knows you would never flirt with anyone but him, but as soon as he sees the other person get handsy then he's automatically pissed. He's quite good at hiding his emotions though, so he'd only be slightly passive aggressive towards whoever is flirting with you. He knows you can handle yourself, but sometimes he just wants to make sure people know you're his.

K - kiss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Your first kiss was amazing. You had been dating for a few months and were spending the night at the avengers tower, in which Peter has a room. You were both cuddled on his bed, eating ice cream, watching Back To The Future when you caught him looking at you. You didn't have time to say anything before he leaned down and pressed his lips to yours. Before you could register what was happening, he leaned back with a crimson blush plastered on his cheeks. You cupped his cheek and pulled him back in, this time for longer. His lips tasted of the chocolate brownie ice cream he had been eating, but it was so wonderful and sweet that neither of you will ever forget it.

L - love Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

The first time Peter told you he loved you was mid-battle. You, Peter, Sam and Natasha were fighting a group of criminals who were trying to infiltrate Stark Industries - while fighting one of them, you looked over to your boyfriend when you spotted one of the criminals with a knife running up to Peter behind his back. In an instant you jumped over and saved him, using your abilities to your advantage. Once the crimumal was on the floor, Peter laughed, mouth agape, "I love you so much!"

You froze, completely shocked, not knowing what to do. It was only later that evening when you knew what you had to do, so you caught Peter in the hallway of the tower and kissed him, with as much passion as you had in your body. Peter responded quickly, one hand resting gently your waist and the other cupping your cheek. You both stood there for a few minutes, lips working in harmony, before you pulled away and pressed your foreheads together.

"I love you too."

M - marriage - Do they want to get married? How do they propose? What would the marriage be like?

You and Peter are still young, so marriage isn't something you both have thought about too much. Despite this, he knows that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you, and eventually get married and start a family. He hasn't brought it up with you as he doesn't want to scare you off, but he knows you feel the same way.

N - nicknames - What do they call their s/o?

Peter has loads of cute pet names that he loves to call you, but also has a few silly ones from stupid incidents in the past. He still calls you 'apple' from when you first met and you spilled apple juice all down your clothes, but his signature pet names are 'honey' and, in private, 'baby'.

O - on Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

It's very obvious to everyone in the tower and at school that he's head over heels for you. He's constantly making heart-eyes at you, and is always talking about you when you're not around. He compliments you so much that you don't think he's ever said a normal sentence without letting you know how appreciated you are!

P - PDA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

Peter isn't the biggest fan of intense PDA, but would go crazy with it when you're alone. When in public he usually sticks with holding hands, a hand resting on your thigh or around your waist, and small pecks on the temple. When you're alone Peter loves to cuddle, give you small massages of your achy muscles, and would happily kiss you non-stop. But Peter really loves the domestic affection you share, like when he washes your hair or gets to cook with you.

Q - quirk - Some random ability they have that's beneficial in a relationship.

It's almost like Peter can read minds. If you think about something small that you want, then he'll get you it the next day. You don't know how he does it, but you've always believed that your connection is more powerful than anything you've ever felt. Fancy red velvet cake for dessert? He's already there with a slice. Thinking about rewatching the Harry Potter movies? He'll suggest a move night just in time.

R - Romance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

Peter is very romantic, and likes doing a lot of the cliché things that happen in the movies. But Peter has a lot of creative ideas when it comes to dates and ways to spend time with each other, so you're always in for a good time. He would do anything to make you happy, no matter how cheesy and sappy it is.

S - support - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

He would do anything to help you achieve your dreams, and will always help you reach success. He studies with you, trains with you, and is there at your beck and call to make sure you know you're supported.

T - thrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

You and Peter don't really have a routine, but neither do you spice things up too much. You're always trying new things, and neither of you lead boring lives, so there's always fun stuff to do.

U - understanding - How good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

Pete is extremely empathetic with you, and knows you better than you know yourself. You've been through some stuff that he doesn't know too much about, but he supports you through everything that he can, and you always do the same.

V - value - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

Your relationship is the most important thing in the world to the both of you, but more so to Peter. He's lost too many people in his life, and the thought of losing you makes him want to die. You're his world, his life, and his one true love, and there's nothing more important to him than the bond you both have.

W - Wild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

Peter and you definitely have different love languages and show love in separate ways, but one thing that unites you both is the love of having you hair played with. When you both are cuddling and drifting off to sleep, peter will run his fingers through your hair, gently massaging your scalp. And sometimes the roles are reversed, you delicately toying with his soft curls, earning small hums of comfort when he feels your warm fingertips against his forehead.

X - XOXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

Kissing and cuddling is Peter's favourite thing. Being soft and vulnerable yet feeling completely safe means the world to him, and it's even better that he gets to do it to you.

Y - Yearning - How will they cope when they're missing their partner?

He barely copes. When you're on a mission and he's in the tower he has to find somebody to pester because he doesn't have you there to mess around with. Usually he annoys Bucky or Sam, but he'll be clingy with whoever is there until he has you back in his arms.

Z - Zeal - Are they willing to go to great lenghts for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

Peter would simultaneously kill and die for you, and sacrifice all he has left in the world. If it made you happy, he'd do whatever you asked :)

[leoneslover]

𝐅𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭 ♡

Sugawara Kōshi x reader(fem!)

Warnings: none

A/n: I missed posting self indulgent stuff 😔😔 anywayz, here’s the answers to the fluff alphabet for Suga that no one asked for lol. This is lowkey self-insert btw.

Original template Nsfw version

★彡 A = Admiration : What do they absolutely adore about you?

• Probably the fact that you have so much in common.

I feel like he’d be the type of person to bond over shared interests. Wheter that be a show that you like, a band, a hobby, or even the fact that your personalities are alike; is enough to make him grow a soft spot for you and those shared things in his heart.

★彡 B = Body : What is their favorite part of your body?

• Your waist and your lower back.

He wouldn’t really mind pda, but at first he wouldn’t be so sure on wheter you’re into it or not. So he found a nice middle ground to start with, and that was just holding you close to him at all times. Wheter you’re walking through the hallways, on a crowded street, or just standing there and talking to someone; his hand would naturally get a hold on your waist.

Even after a long time dating each other, he still has this little habit. But it’s ok, none of you really mind it, and it kinda grew on him by this point anyways.

★彡 C = Cuddles : How do they like to cuddle?

• Facing each other, one arm around your waist and the other stroking your head.

He likes to be able to watch you fall asleep next to him, and he loves that you’re the first thing he sees when he wakes up. He also loves this position cause he’s able to kiss you as much as he wants in many different ways. (And also makes him able to press your foreheads together and fall asleep like that 🥺).

★彡 D = Dates : What does their ideal date looks like?

• I said it once and I’ll say it again, this man is a picnic enthusiast. Period.

He’ll take you to lots of different locations only to have a little picnic date for the day. And if you like to cook or bake, then he’ll definitely help you to make something the day prior only so you can share it on the date.

★彡 E = Emotions : How do they express emotion around you?

• I feel like it’ll take him a little bit to open up to you, but after he does, he wouldn’t be afraid of telling you how he feels if needed.

He doesn’t see emotions as weak, and doesn’t really mind to show them around you if he feels comfortable enough. Though he prefers to be the one comforting you instead.

★彡 F = Family : Do they want one? If they do, when?

• He definitely does, but it’s not the first thing he has in mind.

He’d like to settle down at some point in his life. Buy a big house so he can have two or three children if you’re up for it. But he wouldn’t rush it, he’ll just let things happen and enjoy his youth first, he has time to think about family later.

★彡 G = Gifts : How do they feel about gift giving? What are their habits when it comes to this?

• He likes giving meaningful gifts.

Not a big fan of really big and impressive stuff, but rather small things that would remind you of him, or a certain date that you guys had, or maybe even an in joke that you guys made up. Also a big fan of letters and little love notes that he’d slide here and there.

★彡 H = Holding hands : When/How do they like to hold hands?

• He loves holding hands. It’s one of his favorite things.

He does it mainly when you’re walking around during summer, since it’s too hot for him to press you against him by your waist like he normally would. But wouldn’t mind doing it some other time if you like it.

★彡 I = Injury : How would they act if you got hurt?

• Mom mode activated.

He would try to act calm around it and treat the wound properly, but on the inside he’s so worried he thinks he might scream. Would constantly check on you after he’s done, and give you instructions on how to treat it on your own (if he isn’t around to do it for you).

★彡 J = Jokes : Do they like to joke around with or prank you? How?

• YES of course he does.

Not a big fan of pranks, but would do a lot of questionable stuff just for fun (and of course you’re gonna tag along, I mean, he has a point on the majority of those). He’s probably joking around you all the time, and you probably have a handful of random in jokes by now to the point that that’s the only way you guys communicate.

He’s chaotic let him be.

★彡 K = Kisses : How do they like to kiss?

• Slow and passionate.

Your kissing sessions with him could go on for hours honestly. He loves kissing, but what he loves the most is when he can pour all his feelings into one and give it to you like if his last breath depended on it.

Would stroke your hair or back while you’re at it.

★彡 L = Love : How do they show they love you?

• Affection. Lots and lots of affection.

He’s clingy asf, so expect a lot of hugs and kisses that might catch you off guard a couple of times.

Also words of affirmation. He’ll tell you how much he loves you and how much you mean to him almost daily.

★彡 M = Memory : Favorite memory together?

• When he first told you he loves you.

He remembers almost vividly everything about that time. How your eyes opened slightly, how your eyebrows rised up almost instantly, how you stared at him for a solid couple of minutes as if you were still processing the words. And how you finally whispered ‘I love you too’ while looking away.

He likes to think about that before he goes to bed.

★彡 N = Nightmare : What is their worst fear?

• Being replaced, especially for not being good enough.

He’s afraid of other people taking his loved ones away from him just because they’re better than him. He knows he’s not the best in anything, which is the main reason why he tries so hard to keep improving, and why he puts others before himself.

He’s scared that if he doesn’t try his best at everything, someone else is gonna take his place.

★彡 O = Oddity : What is one quirk they have?

• No matter the situation, he always knows what to say, and when to say it.

★彡 P = Pet names : What do they like to call you?

• Bunny and Darling are his favorites, but he literally calls you whatever he feels like.

★彡 Q = Quality time : How do they like to spend time with you?

• He likes to hang out with you as much as he can.

Having lunch together, going on dates, tagging along whenever you have to go out and buy some stuff, studying at your place, having sleepovers, you name it.

He just enjoys your company too much 🥺🥺

★彡 R = Rhythm : What songs reminds you of them?

• Selfless -The Strokes (shameless plug for my smau ahem go check it out if u haven’t already ahem).

• As the world caves in -Matt Maltese

��� Midnight City -M83

★彡 S = Secrets : How open are they with you?

• 100% clear

The only times he keeps stuff from you is when he’s planning a surprise for you or something.

★彡 T = Time : How long did it take you to get together?

• Probably a couple of months.

He likes to let things flow naturally, so it probably started of as casual friends who flirted a little bit too much. And before you knew it he was already kissing you in your front door after what it felt like a date.

★彡 U = Upset : How do they act when you’re upset?

Would ask you about it right away.

If it has to do with him, then he’d profusely apologize and try to make it up to you for it.

If it doesn’t, then he’ll gently rest your head on his lap, playing with your hair as he listens to you rant about whatever it is that is making you feel bad, and then give you advice if needed.

But if you don’t wanna talk about it, then he’ll give you your space. Though he’d check on you frequently, making sure you’re not neglecting yourself.

★彡 V = Vaunt : What are they proud of? Do they like to show you off?

• He’s proud of how far he has become as person, and how he’s still improving on himself.

He’s also proud of you of course, and he absolutely adores showing you off. Why wouldn’t he?

★彡 X = X-Ray : How well are they able to read you?

• He’s used to having to read people all the time, so he’s probably pretty good at it.

However he still likes to ask directly rather than to beat around the bush, he wants to able to help you if needed.

★彡 Y = Yes : How would they propose to you?

• He would probably plan a whole day together before hand.

Would bring you breakfast to bed, take you out for lunch, maybe a little walk around the park or going shopping or whatever you feel like doing. And then take you out to a fancy restaurant that would probably be too fancy and a little sus tbh.

But he’d only propose once you get back to your house. He’d stop you before you can get the keys to your front door. Ask you if you had fun today. He would smile softly at you, saying how he’s glad that he’s able to spend so much time with you and how you make him the happiest man alive. Before actually getting on one knee.

If you say yes he’s absolutely kissing you in your front porch and carrying you inside bridal style.

★彡 Z = Zen : What makes them feel calm?

• Write his feelings down.

Whenever he feels like he could do some relaxing, he’ll just make himself a cup of tea and get a notebook out. He could write for hours, from really heavy stuff to random thoughts. He just pours it all out in the paper.

After he’s done, he feels like a brand new person.

[little-chattes]

Ok so I’ve done a complete re-read through and one thing that kept nagging at me was how little Gideon and Harrow’s relationship makes sense given its quite frankly abusive origins. Harrow spends her whole life making Gideon’s a living hell and Gideon just… forgives her. Total and complete forgiveness for an irredeemable girl.

At first I took the sudden shift in their relationship as lazy writing to rush along the end of the story, but that didn't make any sense either. Muir strikes me as an intensely purposeful writer. Then I remembered that Muir is also an intensely Catholic writer and it hit me. Muir isn’t writing a story about a healthy human relationship, oh no, she’s writing a story about Christ’s relationship with The Church… if Christ was a sword toting butch lesbian and The Church was a sardonic bone witch. Call it tender blasphemy. 

Now Gideon’s role as a Christ figure is fairly easy to parse out given that her dad is… God. But for the sake of self indulgence (I have to put my 15 year long flirtation with Christianity to use somehow) I’m going to go through all the parallels anyway. There are a LOT of them.

Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).

Miraculous Conception

Luke 1:34-38

34 But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I [e]am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the [f]holy Child will be called the Son of God. 

Gideon is conceived by artificial means when one of God’s own servants (Mercy) delivers a sample of John’s genetic material to Wake, a ‘normal’ human woman who chooses to carry Gideon in her womb. Notably, the sample lives far beyond its point of expected viability, thus making the conception somewhat miraculous (“Only the sample was still active, no idea how considering it was twelve weeks after the fact” HTN 441). 

The Cuckold

Matthew 1:18-25

18 Now the birth of Jesus the [a]Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been [b]betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to [c]send her away secretly. 

Gideon the First decides not to kill his lover, Wake, and releases her out the airlock (AND HE TOOK PITY ON ME! HE TOOK PITY ON ME! HE SAW ME AND HE TOOK PITY ON ME” from Harrow’s vision of Wake’s note, HTN 124) just as Joseph took pity on Mary, his betrothed, by deciding to divorce her quietly instead of making her infidelity public which would condemn her to death by public stoning (Deuteronomy 22:21). Gideon the First knew that Wake was pregnant and didn’t tell John because he thought the baby was his. Similarly, Joseph goes on to raise Jesus as his own son.

The Birth

Luke 2:7

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a [f]manger, because there was no [g]room for them in the inn.

 Neither baby Jesus nor baby Gideon were given a proper cradle, one being laid to rest in a manger where the animals ate and the other stuffed in a transplant bio-container (GTN 23). 

The Dead Children

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

King Herod intends to kill the prophesied King of the Jews and instead of finding the specific baby, he just has a bunch of them slaughtered. However, Jesus escapes the slaughter of the innocents by Herod when his parents secret him away to Egypt.

 When the great aunts gas the nursery and kill the 200, Gideon is meant to die along with them but escapes her fate.

Now this event has a completely different biblical connotation for Harrow. 

Firstly, the murder of the 200 children represents Original Sin. In the bible, Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, and as their descendants, all of humankind is doomed to also bear the weight of that sin from the moment we are born until the day we die. This is a fact that is drilled into Christians as soon as we’re able to understand it, we are born wretched and unworthy sinners, and there’s nothing we can do ourselves to fix that. 

“I have tried to dismantle you, Gideon Nav! The Ninth House poisoned you, we trod you underfoot—I took you to this killing field as my slave—you refuse to die, and you pity me! Strike me down. You’ve won. I’ve lived my whole wretched life at your mercy, yours alone, and God knows I deserve to die at your hand. You are my only friend. I am undone without you.”

Harrow is a multitude, she is 200 children, the entire future of her house. Shes not just one human being,, she’s the whole damn church.

Naz/Nav

he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Although Gideon is not from the Ninth, she is given the Ninth name Nav when she arrives as a baby. Similarly, Jesus is known as Jesus of Nazareth, though that is not where he was born.

The Poor Bondservant

Jesus' role as a servant is emphasized many times in the bible. He was a carpenter's son born in a stable 

Philippians 2:5-8

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

 Gideon is described as being made “a very small bondswoman” (GTN 24)

The Sword

Matthew 10:34

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

The Wretched Sinner

Harrow is wretched, self loathing, and cruel. 

She is in thrall of the enemy of god, a figure who was once gods most favoured warrior, cast into hell.

She is like the depiction of the sinner who loves the devil

It's important to note that Harrow isn’t a single person, she is a multitude, the entire future of her people condensed into one body. 

The Enemy of God

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, nholding in his hand the key to othe bottomless pit1 and a great chain. 2 And he seized pthe dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and qbound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into othe pit, and shut it and rsealed it over him, so that she might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

Before the fall, Satan was described as a “guardian cherub” who resided in the garden with God (Ezekiel 28:14) 

(a funny aside, in the bible the devil is known as the great deceiver but in HTN Muir specifies that Alecto is incapable of lying)

A Life of Abuse 

Isaiah 53:3

"He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem”

They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff" (Luke 4:28–29).

Gideon lives a life of mockery and is abused by Harrow.

An Unlikely Savior

Despite the fact that Gideon does not fit the expected image of a Cavalier, Harrow chooses Gideon to be her sword and protector.

Despite the many openings Gideon has to make Harrow pay for the pain she caused her, she remains loyal to her

Trust

Harrow realizes that she cannot face the lyctor trials without Gideon, and places her trust in her

Christians are told they must place their trust in jesus in order to reach salvation

Purifying Water

Acts 2:38

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Harrow confesses her sins to Gideon and puts herself at her mercy

Gideon forgives Harrow totally and completely, she baptises her

One Flesh

Mark 10:8

and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.

“The imagery and symbolism of marriage is applied to Christ and the body of believers known as the church. The church is comprised of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and have received eternal life. Christ, the Bridegroom, has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the church to be His bride” (x)

Ephesians 5:25-26

25 gHusbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and hgave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by ithe washing of water jwith the word,

They take the vow of necro and cav, one flesh one end

Gideon’s forgiveness of Harrow is reaffirmed

Harrow risks her life to stay and fight with Gideon, even if it means her death and thus the destruction of her death. Her love for Gideon is now greater than her love for the Body.

The Sacrifice

John 19:34

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

They will look on the one they have pierced'" (John 19:36–37).

Gideon chooses to die for Harrow, death by piercing

and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

In order to complete the lyctor process, Harrow both physically and spiritually consumes Gideon

Because of Gideon’s sacrifice, Harrow attains eternal life at the right hand of god

The Tomb

The Resurrection

1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus

Harrow turns her body into a tomb for Gideon, a tomb fashioned after that on the Ninth

Resurrection on the Third Day

Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:46-47 

“So many months had passed: and yet, at the same time, she had only lost Gideon Nav three days ago. It was the morning of the third day in a universe without her cavalier: it was the morning of the third day—and all the back of her brain could say, in exquisite agonies of amazement, was: She is dead. I will never see her again.” (HTN 374)

Just in case you missed this important piece of information, Muir repeats it three times.

Go, and tell them, then, that he that was dead is alive, and lives for evermore, and has the keys of death and the grave,"