#the funniest part is that the title of this chapter is supposed to be ‘The Three Gems Part 2: Persistence’

[maldito-arbol]

Houston, we have a problem

[rickie-the-storyteller]

Writing Share Tag!

Thanks for the tag, @theeccentricraven!!

Rules: Share some of your writing.

I want to share an excerpt from a brand new project I've been working on. It has no official title right now, but it's a teen romcom sort of thing, so let's just call it "Untitled Teen Romcom" lol.

Chapter 1 of Untitled Teen Romcom:

She and I actually go way back - she’s been in my life since primary school. I have known her since I was 5. Like it or not, she has always been there. So maybe her presence just takes me back to when I was a dumb 5-year-old chump.

She was the very first girl to ever break my heart. 

What do I mean by that? Well, long story… It all started about 10 years ago. Flashback!

[ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO -  ZEKE’S RECEPTION CLASS,  TUESDAY,  2ND JUNE, 2009]

It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Proposal day. I had been planning it for weeks, conferring with my best mates on all the finer details. 

Sebastian was in charge of rounding up the rest of the reception class to be my "guests'' (whatever that means… I think I just wanted to have witnesses for some reason. Five-year-old Zeke just did everything loudly. I went out of my way to draw attention to myself back then. Thankfully, I have grown up since. Mostly). Jacob's job was to distract Miss Jackson so she wouldn't interrupt (he’s the king of distraction. Always has been, and likely always will be. Nobody beats him at wasting everyone’s time. Even the people he claims to like. Like me. He’s great, though - don’t get me wrong. A world-class procrastinator, but also one of the funniest people I know). Even bossy little Eshe Brown had a role - making sure Hope looked extra pretty that day (actually, her real job was to distract her until I was ready to come out to reveal my big surprise. The thing with Eshe, though, is that she’ll look for any excuse to give someone a makeover).

This was it - the moment I'd been practising in the mirror every night for weeks. I had my speech scripted in my head.  I had it all meticulously planned out - get down on one knee, profess my deep admiration for Hope Kamani's unparalleled beauty, and pop the question for her to be my betrothed. Yep, you heard me correctly… I was going to ask Hope to marry me. 

Well...in the way that a 5-year-old asks someone to "marry" them anyway. But in my mind, this was deadly serious business. I think it was just a matter of wanting to finally do something about it after spending so long keeping it to myself. After months and months of admiring the beautiful Hope Kamani from afar, I was finally going to profess my undying love for her and ask her for the privilege of being hers. Tell her that I loved everything about her, that she made me the happiest kid in our class, that I thought about her every single day, and that I wanted to make her happy too (I can’t believe I still remember that part of the script…). Simple enough, right?

She caught my eye right from the start, with her bright, friendly smile and her shining dark hair styled in braided pigtails (that was her signature look back then. Right now, it’s single box braids with blue hair extensions). To me, she was the most beautiful girl in our whole class. Maybe even the entire universe! That is honestly how I felt about her at the time (5-year-old me was so dumb, good grief). She had to be my bride. I had to win her over somehow… no matter what. Even if it meant humiliating myself in front of all of our friends with a heartfelt, soppy speech. I was willing to put myself out there. I was willing to do that for her. She meant that much to me.

“Now’s the time,” Seb whispered to me once everyone was settled for lunch. Everything was perfectly in place.

Go time. It’s now or never…

I fixed up my posture and puffed out my chest, trying to seem bigger and braver than I actually felt. Channelling every ounce of bravado and charisma my little body could muster (I believe I was trying my best to exude the confidence and manliness of one of those grizzled bachelor fellows proposing to his one true love... At least that's what I'd seen on the telly at the time. My mother was into that sort of thing back then), I took a deep, fortifying breath and strode over to where Hope was sitting with a bunch of other girls. I then awkwardly cleared my throat to gain their attention.

“Oh, hi Ezekiel,” Eshe greeted me a little too loudly. She was clearly nervous on my behalf. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey,” I replied with the same level of clumsiness. Trying to pull myself together for the big part, I pushed past the shyness that was slowly beginning to creep in, before continuing. “I have something important that I need to say.”

They were listening. She was listening. 

"Hope Kamani," I proclaimed in my loudest, deepest and most mature and serious-sounding voice possible (which still came out an octave higher than intended). "You are the prettiest girl in our whole class. Actually, the prettiest girl in the entire world! At least, as far as I know.” 

At that, a quiet smattering of "oooooh" sounds rippled around the room (because at this point, I had gotten the attention of the entire class). I noticed Hope's eyes widened in surprise, her mouth forming a little 'o' shape as she looked around at her equally rapt audience of classmates. 

I went on with my passionate speech, unable to fight the big old grin spreading across my face at this next bit.

"And I don’t just mean that you look pretty. You do, but you are also funny, smart, so very nice, and just… really, really cool. I love you, Hope. I can't help but love you!" I grabbed her little hand in both of mine. 

Here goes nothing…

“So… will you mar--”

I couldn’t even finish the sentence. You know why? Because I was rudely cut off. The bloody sound of Hope’s high pitched, piercing laughter cut me off like a harsh knife. The raucous peal of Hope's laughter drowned out all the words I was meant to say next, sending my soaring confidence into a spiralling freefall. "HAHAHA! Oh my days, Ezekiel! You're TOO funny!" She doubled over, not even trying to suppress the obnoxiously loud uproar, hands clutching her stomach as tear-inducing cackles of mirth poured out of her mouth. 

That wasn’t meant to happen… 

At this point, most of my fellow classmates joined in on the laughter. I felt my face begin to hot up in humiliation. Crestfallen, I opened and closed my mouth uselessly, trying to get another word in. I briefly glanced at Eshe, and she looked even more uncomfortable than she was at the start… Disappointed, too. And slightly apologetic. I looked across the room to where Sebastian and I were sitting, I saw that he was still there, but he didn’t look too happy at how things turned out. Even he knew this plan had backfired spectacularly. I desperately tried to regain control of this spiralling situation I’d suddenly found myself in.

"B-but I'm being serious!" I sputtered helplessly, my voice cracking with hurt and embarrassment as I fought back pitiful tears. That horrible sound only intensified from there.

Her mocking laughter reached fever pitch, each explosive bray beginning to feel like a physical blow. My vision began blurring as the salty tears escaped, the shame pouring over my face and burning my cheeks. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I pivoted on one foot and bolted out of the cafeteria, hoping my sudden retreat would spare me from further ridicule. But there was no escaping that awful noise. The sound of cruel mirth pouring out of that dreaded room. The mortification was too much for my fragile 5-year-old ego to bear. I hid by the coat pegs right outside our classroom. When I knew that I was finally alone, the dam broke. Broken sobs started coming out, wracking my tiny frame as the echoes of merciless cackles coming from the cafeteria chased after me, haunting my every step. 

At that moment, I felt so small and stupid, like everyone was laughing at how pathetic I was for thinking a girl like Hope could ever want someone like me. I now refer to that feeling as “Kamani-ness.”

I cried for quite a while… right until I had no tears left. My face felt flooded with scorching embarrassment so intense I thought I might faint. What did I do wrong? Nothing went how I scripted it. Nothing went according to plan at all!  This...this wasn't at all how I'd imagined it playing out. Where was the breathless joy? The teary acceptance of my gallant proposal? The swell of music and admiring applause?! Or at the very least, some basic dignity and respect. Like, she didn’t have to say yes to me. But there was no need to be that mean about it!

END OF EXCERPT.

Hope you guys enjoyed! I know it's a bit long lol. But I wanted to give the full flashback! I'm quite proud of it.

It leads to a full-on rivalry between the two kids... it's a lot of fun. They're sort of frenemies (like, they don't like each other, but they don't hate each other either. Plus, they're always hanging out. By choice).

Tagging these folks to go next if they wish: @mysticstarlightduck, @mjparkerwriting, @clairelsonao3, @gummybugg, @leisoree,

@isabellebissonrouthier, @fire-but-ashes-too, @winterandwords, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @sam-glade,

@toribookworm22, @sleepyowlwrites, @dragonedged-if, @yourlocalcryptidinthewoods, @soph1333,

@janec23, @jay-avian, @fayeiswriting, @rbbess110, @pb-dot,

and @the-stray-storyteller.

[marengogo]

7 Nation Army - Part 1: Welcome On Board of The Idyll, I’m Your Captain; Kim Seokjin

The Astronaut - by Jin  [The Astronaut - Single]

[Music is a very big part of my life and I’m MOSTLY INCAPABLE of writing without music, so I just thought I'd share what I am listening to while writing this]

–🐺–🐺–🐺–

I started tearing up the instant I wrote the title of this post and then tears started pouring the second I wrote “The Astronaut …”. I swear, I’m trying so hard to make this post coherent, but I can’t stop crying so please, forgive me if it makes less sense than it usually does. I really was hoping that I’d feel calm today, because I knew, I could already tell, that writing about Jin was going to trigger me. But, I’m now realising that trying to hold off from crying yesterday just meant that I was going to be a mess right now. Fuck me honestly; this is going to be very raw and probably very long, so be warned.

“7 Nation ARMY” was (still is) supposed to be a series talking about the members' individual journeys in chapter 2. I chose a watercraft for each member and it took me forever to figure out which one to associate to Jin, as I couldn’t quite tell the direction he was taking in his chapter 2, in the end I chose a narrowboat (in case you don’t know —> this is a NARROWBOAT). Narrowboats always give me this feeling of calm. As they travel slowly, I’ve always felt that those who have one are people who take their time to enjoy life. They may not be the most beautiful type of ships out there, in fact they look a bit awkward at first, but their insides are usually always spectacular.

However, now I know why it took me forever to understand what ship was mostly suited to our dear Jin, it was never a watercraft after all, it was a spaceship all along (which in hindsight he has left to probably go and get the narrowboat I was talking about, so I guess he can have both?! …). Kim Seokjin had always been the grandiose captain of a majestic spaceship. Yet, we only have maybe only 1 month left to follow the journey of the Idyll and I don’t know what to do with myself. NGL, I feel like Makoto in the Girl Who Leapt Through Time at the very end.

I believe I’ve explained this before but Namjoon was the first member I “clinged” on when I decided to give BTS a chance, because of his love for study, languages etc. Eventually, as I started to fall more and more into becoming ARMY, and before becoming OT7, I had a very long pit-stop in the world of Kim Seokjin. 

I spent months trying to find reactors who would appreciate Jin. Trying to find people who realised how smart he is, how conceding he is, how serious he is. As for me at first it was the realisation that he was the funniest member of the group. Not the member who laughed the most (Hobi), not the member who tried to make the members laugh the most (Jimin), simply the funniest member of the group.

Usually, genuinely funny people try to make anyone in their radius laugh, not just the members, friends, or people they care about. If anyone around them is able to smile because of something they’ve said or done, then they would feel accomplished. To delve even deeper, let's look at comedians, because to make someone laugh as a profession is far much harder than making someone cry. Usually, as a comedian you use personal absurd events, sadness and tragedies to try and reach others, so that they can either feel better about themselves or just not have to think of themselves for a minute or two.

I’ve learned to become a life comedian because of my experience in life, my dad was my inspiration number one. Everywhere he went people would always laugh, always be happy, he’d take very shit stories of his life and turn them into the funniest jokes you’ve ever heard and as a child I always thought “when I grow up, I want to marry someone that is as funny and smart as dad” not smart and funny, but funny and smart. Because you also have to be hella smart and clever to understand how to be funny and what lines you can cross in order to make a joke and hopefully not offend, resulting in the opposite of what you intended to achieve. But I digress as always.

All of this just to explain why the phrase There’s often pain in laughter is so true. But you know what is also true? When you are genuinely able to make people laugh around you, like anyone, not just people that know you, it makes you feel so freaking good, because you’ve connected and helped that person forget worries, even if for just a little bit, which is why being a successful comedian is a rewarding job in the sense that when done successfully it is an instant give & take. And as we may, or may not know, Jin wasn’t the happiest of people right from the bat.

Here is a nice compilation that shows the relation/balance between Jin, Joking & Being Happy:

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And here is just a more in depth video about somethings you may or may not know about Jin

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I will not lie, having people constantly compare him to other members with regards to dancing or rapping was so hard, SO FUCKING HARD, and every once in a while I'd get the dumbass mf who would challenge his singing and I’d lose it, like, BITCH HOW DARE YOU?!

LOL. Even writing about him brings me joy and laughter, until I stop and think of the present and start tearing up again. The present. Trying to make this present into a present is kinda hard and bitter at the very moment, but in his very jinful way he did leave us a little present: WOOTTEO!

I’m hoping that Woottweo, among the many things he was designed to do, will keep us up-to-date on how Jin is doing in the military; “yeah, right, how?” As I've said, I’m very raw writing this and I just keep throwing up all that I am thinking 😭😭😭. On another note, it would be so interesting for RJ to meet Wootteo. I think it would be rather interesting. Is not quite as similar as having different mothers but so much different isn’t it? RJ and Wootteo would be like step-siblings, but in the end it wouldn’t be about the fact that they share the same thing in common, it would be about what they do with what they share in common; right?

Now, I’m not so sure I should mention this, because I’ve been trying to keep a couple of things to myself, but I think in order to understand my next point you probably need to know that I love Coldplay. I was in high school when I first heard Trouble. I was so captivated by the production and not knowing the name of the band and just memorising the song I kept on going with my day. Now I can’t remember if Yellow or Trouble came first, but all I know is that I keep seeing Yellow’s video with Trouble’s lyrics in my head 😂.

With the passing of years, I’ve ended up loving, so much so that, even though my all time favourite band is Queen, if I ever get married, the song would be their “Til Kingdom Come”. But, all of this just to let you know that this, THIS is not only a full circle moment for me, but also a “I AM SO HAPPY YOU BOTH MET MOMENT” moment, because you are both so amazing (you should have seen me during the whole My Universe Era, and even when they covered Fix You to begin with!).  I mean look at him:

Then, many many MANY years, I had to, once again, change country and for the first 6 months of me living alone in this new world, all I did was listen to Coldplay’s discography for 6 months in a row, non-stop, in order to feel peace and serenity. This was the year 2012 and BTS were still grinding in a gym, with cloudy mirrors in Gangnam, South Korea.

Eventually I adapted, I got back to studying Japanese, easily I have a big mouth making friends and being my usual goofy self. I started exploring new music and living my life in my new world, where ARASHI was once again my pillar. Untill one day, in 2019, a “chinese group” named BTS was going to perform in my new world, while ARASHI was going to go on indefinite hiatus.  I was so bitter, so angry, and as I watched this 7 “chinese” men taking over my world, I looked up at the big screen where their huge Hyundai AD was playing and I thought: “Who the fuck do they think they are?” Fast forward February 2020, I finally got my answer: “They are your saviours, bitch”.

So here I am, a whole thanks to them survived pandemic and depression later, being able to smile and properly cry because of 7 men, but feeling a complete wreck because of 1.

“I love you, to infinity and beyond, my loud thinker, Kim Seokjin,

I respect you, in ways you can’t imagine, my handsome comedian, Kim Seokjin,

I’ll miss you, o so freaking much, my almost bias, Kim Seokjin

AND I’ll be waiting, Till Kingdom Comes, my one and only, Kim Seokjin”

You better come back to me all in one piece in 2024/2025, if not, all hell will break loose,

Marengo.

[ronearoundblindly]

The Stark Legacy (14)

Rusted, part of Book Two: Mind (see previous or series)

Summary: Bruce tasks Bucky with taking extra baggage to Wakanda while Sam Wilson recovers.

Warnings for tough (but vague) talk about past accidents and physical trauma. Rated Teen/Mature so 15+ only, please.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN—August 2038

“I don’t think I should leave if something is wrong,” Bucky said, staring in at Sam Wilson reading a book while getting blood drawn in the lab.

“It’s not really…wrong. He just…” Bruce replied. He couldn’t explain it. Wilson adjusted holding his book with the hand not being stuck, showing the title Total Applications of Quantum Field Theory.

Bucky pressed a finger against the two-way glass. “You don’t see anything wrong with that?” He scoffed, partly concerned for his friend, partly annoyed to be the chauffeur to a teen on a trip across the world. “Seriously?”

“Am I supposed to be panicked he’s got different interests since waking up? That’s not uncommon with head injury—”

Bucky fumed. “Everything weird is common with head injuries, apparently, because you people don’t know anything about them. It’s 2038!”

“You people? I think…I should be offended.” Bruce may have been completely jaded to ‘smartist’ mockery, but he also loved the chance to study such an extensive turnaround of Sam Wilson’s recovery. The patient remained irritable, sarcastic, and alert with full motor-function. He had occasional headaches but, most bizarrely, had developed not only an interest in but the ability to understand all sorts of scientific studies quickly. “Look, Bucky, you won’t be able to do anything if it is wrong anyway. No offense. It’s not something you can just—” Bruce slowly swung his fist through the air, making a small ‘pow’ noise.

“Don’t do that,” Bucky said flatly.

Bruce pursed his mouth. He was definitely not the funniest Avenger, but he did try every so often, usually failing and immediately retreating to a cave of algorithms to plot his next joke. The team repeatedly called it ‘cute;’ Hulk didn’t like that distinction either. Hulk had toppled cities for less.

“I’ve got a couple data sets and stuff for Shuri, too. Let’s load up the quinjet and get you on the way. Looks like Little Sam is coming up the drive now,” Bruce continued, pointing out the far window.

Bucky groaned. The ball-capped girl trudged down the lane with two massive hard suitcases. She was barely big or strong enough to maneuver them, yet he watched as she waved off one of the security members who came over to help her. The guard pointed her in the direction of the landing pad. Stubborn, Bucky internally groaned, just like good ol’ Pa. Bruce returned to shove a box of odds and ends against Bucky’s chest. The doctor looked at him seriously for a moment.

“I’m glad it’s you taking her. Also, don’t mention the,” and he waved a hand over his head. “Fair warning.”

Even though it was not necessary, Bucky made Sam strap herself into the chair up front, damned if he would be responsible for any other injury on Stark’s daughter. The two were quiet for all of takeoff, and they’d flown over nothing but water for a while before Bucky glanced over.

Samantha sat tucked up like a rolly-polly, craning her neck to look out the window curiously.

“You look like you’ve never flown before. Natasha’s taken you in one of these, hasn’t she?”

“I’ve never crossed an ocean,” the girl replied in a voice so small he could hardly hear it.

That was a quaint notion. The Avengers bounced from continent to continent almost daily, occasionally planet to planet even, and Sam was afraid of a body of water. She rubbed her hands over her arms, stopping only to rub her legs. However, she still looked on, fascinated.

“Alright,” Bucky finally broke in after another half hour, “I’m gonna ask what I’m not supposed to.”

Samantha looked up at him, shocked but quiet. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Are you harming yourself?” He regretted asking the second the words came out, but then he felt the impulse to double down. “I’m asking because the hair, and the scars on your arm, and the limp.”

“Those weren’t from—” Sam cut herself off. “No, Captain Barnes, I do not harm myself on purpose,” she chimed systematically.

His eyes flickered back over to her at the distinctive choice of words.

Sam looked at her feet. “There was an accident. The Bartons like to bike, motorcycles and dirt bikes specifically. I am…terrible at it, so the last time we did, I was behind Nate on his Ducati, and we crashed.”

“Why does Tony not know about this?”

“I was 14, and that was the day Clint told me Tony was sending me to boarding school. I…said some—I screamed several choice things and ran off. Nate came to find me, even though he was a jerk about it, and I got on his bike to go home.”

She stretched out her legs into a seated position. “When we were close enough to see Clint waving us back over, Nate raised his hand to waive and hit a ditch, but see, we were right by a bit of a hill. I went flying when Nate skid trying to correct us. They said I smacked a tree—” Sam grabbed her left arm, “—and then my momentum and weight snapped my leg.”

Bucky tried to imagine the absolute horror for the Bartons. If Bucky was so worried about strapping her in for one flight, how anxious must Clint have been… He knew immediately why someone wouldn’t tell Tony, if it was at all possible to hide it.

“Compound fracture of the left humerus. Compound fracture of the left femur. Damage to the growth plate, so my left leg stopped growing at age 14, resulting in a now one inch difference in length. I tried not to listen when they said how many pins were in there. I stared at the ceiling. They made Nat,” Sam swallowed, “explain why we couldn’t tell him. So I didn’t go to boarding school, and after four months I went to Harvard with Cooper. Well, I lived there.”

Bucky knew that stare, the one where you know the past can’t change so you stopped reliving it, the one where you try over and over to accept the hand you’re dealt, the one where you remember everything and feel nothing. Steve used to pull him out by recalling baseball stats incorrectly. Bucky would always snap out to rub his knowledge in that punk’s face. He could try a version of that on Sam Stark, something else for them to talk about.

“What’s quantum field theory?”

She didn’t change her gaze but scrunched her nose in thought. “Um, like which area do you want? Electromagnetic? Chromodynamic?”

Well, that was nice while it lasted, Bucky thought, already lost. 

“Do you know what normalization is?” she continued.

So she couldn’t pick up on hints either… “How about like I’m from the 1940s,” Bucky requested.

“Well, they knew some bits in the 20s—” 

Bucky frowned on purpose, deeply, comically.

“Right. Basically,” Sam thought out loud, making a roundabout motion with her hands, “how… stuff interacts within a—where it is.”

“What stuff?”

“Subatomic particles.”

“Ok, and we’re done with that.” Bucky had zero intention of going back to the shrunken feeling of not following the teacher in school, but he could still gain some context for Falcon. “How smart do you need to be to understand that stuff?”

Sam sat, confused. “That’s not a quantifiable question. It’s not a specific neural requirement.”

“Nineteen-forties—”he reminded through gritting teeth.

“It’s my personal belief that you can learn anything if you have the right teacher. If you make the subject relatable and applicable to something in your life, you remember it. So instead of starting with quantum field theory, you could begin with the psychological field theory or how people interact with where they are.”

Although a perfectly reasonable association, Bucky snorted. “You don’t get out much, do you?”

“You know that I don’t. Why else would I be so excited to leave the country I’ve been in my whole life?”

“Is that why you’re so…fidgety?”

“No.” She continued to scratch and shift in her seat.

“Do you have a rash?”

“Why did you ask about field theory? Uncle Bruce need a book club buddy or something?”

“Sam, I mean, Big Sam was reading a book.” 

Samantha’s eyes grew wide, and her head snapped over to look at him. To his surprise, she seemed just as concerned as he was. 

“Thank you! That’s weird, right?”

“He…” She tried to get a spot behind her right shoulder blade. “You mean, he can follow—he is learning very quickly?”

“Essentially. It’s like he woke up and was smarter.”

“I feel like Big Sam would be a little offended—”

“That’s not what I mean,” Bucky sighed, but Sam had already quieted.

“So,” she began after a long pause, “how worried are you?”

“It’s not exactly a health risk, to be smarter, but I just—what else could change?”

Lil'Sam remained silent this time, holding one arm against her chest, seemingly lost in thought. When Bucky’s eyes flicked over to see if she was even still sitting there, he saw her staring at him. He looked again. She wasn’t staring at him per se, but her eyes were fixed on his metal arm. Loads of people still stared at the arm, so in public, he covered it with clothes and a glove. He thought back to the wedding. He’d been covered; she couldn’t have seen it then. Didn’t she already know about it? Suddenly, he wished he’d worn more cover than a tank top even if it was summer and they were flying to an African nation close to the equator. Why would Sam still be wearing sweats? He glanced again. She was still clutching her left arm against her.

“Are you in pain?” Bucky asked.

Sam snapped back to reality, suddenly guilty and ashamed of her rudeness. She didn’t convey the same in her response, abruptly announcing, “I’m tired. Can I go lie down?” She didn’t wait for a response, either, and unbuckled to rush back into the jet’s cargo area.

Teenagers, Bucky thought.

[Ch 15: Judgment]

[Main Masterlist]

[101flavoursofweird]

2021 Fanfic Meme

Tagged by @samcybercat, thanks!

Word count for the year: 85812 words on AO3

Number of stories posted to Ao3: 115

Pairings written for:

Janice Quatlane/Melina Whistler

Perfuma/Scorpia

Randall Ascot/Henry Ledore/Angela Ledore

Lucille Layton/Roland Layton

Luke Triton/Arianna Barde

Luke Triton/Marina Triton

Brenda/Clark Triton

Flora Reinhold/OC

Hershel Layton/Claire Foley

Swift/Rook

Raphael/Marie

Anton Herzen/Sophia

Fandoms I wrote for: Professor Layton, Rhythm Thief, She Ra and the Princesses of Power, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts.

Most popular story:

By hits and comments, it’s Ready Now— a PL AU where Layton adopts the Barde siblings…

By kudos, it’s Bespectacled— a Kipo oneshot where Hugo needs glasses.

Story I’m most proud of: Again, it’s Ready Now. I’m amazed at how much I’ve written for this fic! I have a bad habit of not updating multi-chaptered fics, but I really enjoyed writing about Arianna and Tony (and Crow) going to live with Layton. I liked writing from Arianna’s perspective in another (unfinished) fic, so at least something good could came from that and the Spectre’s Call gang could get more content.

Funniest: I think that would be Cut Concepts, a Miracle Mask fic based on the concept art of Henry and Randall. Henry gets a moustache and Randall gets an AWFUL haircut when he’s older. And I’m just pleased with the punny title!

Kinkiest: I haven’t written anything like that this year. I even went back and deleted some ‘kink’ fics on my old account because they made me cringe.

Saddest: Probably all the JANICE/MELINA ANGST… Inheritance, Secrets, Of Poodles, Crushes and Holiday Plans, and Drag Me Down.

Irrelevant is also sad for the subject matter…

Least Popular: I’ve been writing short fics based on prompts that are approximately ten lines long, so obviously they won’t get as much attention. Most most recent one, Inheritance has the least amount of kudos, but that’s ok!

Most Cringe-Worthy: You shall not pass for the Lord of the Rings references. But it’s kind of supposed to be cringy with Clark being a LoTR fanboy…

Favorite Opening Line(s):

From What have you got to lose?…

“Dibs on the dog!”

Randall clutched all of the metal tokens as if they were priceless treasures. “You’re always the dog,” Randall argued.

“Duh!” Dalston jabbed a thumb at the blue dog logo on his T-shirt. “I’m the only one who actually owns a dog. So hand him over!”

Favorite Closing Line(s):

From Flowers From A Ghost:

“I need a list of anyone and everyone who would want to harm the professor and Luke,” Flora demands.

Clive sighs, but straightens up in his seat. He smirks. “That would be a terribly long list—“

Flora points her pen at him. “Then you’d better start talking.”

Top Scenes from Anywhere You Would Choose to Have Illustrated: Just anything from Ready Now, but specifically the moment where Arianna hugs Layton for the first time at the end of the first chapter.

Also, Flora comforting little Kat after a nightmare during a short oneshot titled I'm not gonna lose you now

Story I haven’t yet written, but intend to:

I neeeed to finish the next part of Ready Now. They’re nearly at Lost Future… After that, we may get a flash forward to the future, but then again, I’m not sure because I know flash forward futures can be quite divisive!

I also desperately need to finish the second part of a fic I started back IN LAST JANUARY called All For Naught.

There’s at least two more parts of Put Yourself in the Narrative I want to write— the Brenda & Clark fic, and the Monte d’Or fic.

And I’d really like to write more fics for She Ra and Kipo, now that I’ve done short oneshots for each already!

Fic-writing goals for 2022: As I just said, I definitely want to write more for She Ra and Kipo! I also have an idea for a Mirio/Tamaki fic that I’d like to write!

Tagging: @asa-liz, @vermontwrites, @edward-elbowlick, @northelypark, @sixtyfourk and anyone else who sees this and wants to do this!

[linskywords]

criminal-minds-fanfiction wrote a bunch of questions for authors that you’re supposed to let people ask you, buuuut I felt like answering all of them instead of doing my actual job this afternoon. 😄 Here we go:

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction?

Like 25 maybe? I started writing about a year after I started reading it. I had a fanfiction-deprived adolescence, y’all.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

The hockey boys pulled me in years ago and they haven’t let me go. I do sometimes write other things: I almost always participate in Yuletide, and I’ve actually written a bunch of Animorphs fic under a different name (ask me if you want to see it!). Mostly hockey RPF, though.

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

Haha neither. Well, I guess OC’s, if I had to choose -- I don’t read or write reader inserts. But I tend to keep OC’s for original fiction.

4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

I was very confused about fic having genres before I realized this was probably referring to the genre of the canon works. Um...sports. :D

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

Don’t make me choose my favorite child. Um, probably the first wolfverse story -- I don’t know if it’s the best one, but I’m very grateful to it for starting the ‘verse!

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

None of them, if that’s an option. If I really had to choose...probably the Kirk/Spock fic I never finished even after uploading it to AO3 and promising to finish it this time. I still want to finish it!! But it would be the first to go.

7) When is your preferred time to write?

I don’t have a strong preference. Afternoon/evening. I like having multi-hour blocks, and I use the Forest app to keep me off my phone while I do it.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Plot bunnies come from all over the place: random thoughts, memes, real-life conversations, suggestions from other fandom people. I tend to have a pretty strong “THIS IS A STORY I WANT TO WRITE” response when something grabs me the right way.

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

Haha this is probably why I’m not supposed to just answer all of these in order. XD I’ll answer for my current WIP: the scene where Geno kisses Sid for the first time. So soft. So angsty. 😈 (My own story has cursed me to love Geno. I am doomed.)

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind?

In general: I know how my stories are going to end when they start. Sometimes it does evolve a bit as I write. One thing I’d like to play with is including more of the main characters being together at the end of the story, instead of ending it at the moment when they get together; the latter makes sense from a tension perspective, but I’ve been finding when I read lately that I want more of the happy times at the end, so I’m going to try to move in that direction.

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Only for typos, I think.

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

Ooooh. Either Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews. There’s something so compelling to me about Patrick’s fanon voice. And every love interest in every original story I try to write is Jonny.

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

I...don’t really write about characters I don’t like? I wish Auston Matthews would shave his mustache.

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories.

About fifty percent of the titles I come up with are desperate scrambles because I’ve got nothing. The other fifty percent I have a perfect song lyric for from the start.

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

I only write OC’s in original fiction, but: I’ve been phonebanking lately, and I’ve been writing down all the good names I come across. The best so far is someone with the last name Quackenboss.

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?

MAGIC.

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

Oh...oh no. Um.

“It doesn’t matter what he was thinking about. His knot popped; that’s the important thing.”

Some of you can probably guess what that’s about. :)

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Mostly on my computer. I have a lot of beginnings of stories I haven’t finished yet; many of them I’ll probably go back to. I tend not to post things until I’m done or close to done with them. (That one Star Trek fic being an exception. Mea culpa.)

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

YES. The 1988 timer one and the 1988 story where Patrick’s a girl who sneaks onto the Blackhawks in disguise. I’d love to do a Bennguin version of both of those.

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Hm. Some of them I think I rushed a little. More Than I Could Ever Promise, I think it needs a good old-fashioned battle scene in the mountains at the end to really round out the plot.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Have I mentioned astolat? What, only two or three hundred times? I should mention her again, then. Give me that woman’s ability to plot. Inject it into my veins.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

Haha. I often have slightly cringy moments in my old stories. You Made My Life an Adventure, I definitely didn’t really know what I was doing yet...

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

I usually listen to music.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Turned on.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Yes. The sequel to My Heart Forgets to Beat.

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?

The Sid/Geno wolfverse story I’m working on now is maybe the hardest thing I’ve ever written. The language barrier is such a new challenge for me.

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

I don’t formally outline, but I tend to have a sense of the major plot beats. One reason I love writing fic is that the plot and world tend to be straightforward enough for that. I have a lot more trouble doing that with original fiction.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

This will radically reduce the amount of time I spend writing original fiction.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

Like You Have a Secret I think is less read than some of the others because it’s het, but I really love it. Similarly, some of my stories that are inspired by other works (Tangled, Doctor Who, The Giver) tend to be read less because people think they need to know the source material, when really I deviate from the source material so much it’s not important.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Huh. Probably not. I’m definitely surprised when some stories take off -- Kinda Narrows It Down I wrote pretty quickly, on a whim, and I was surprised by the extent to which it resonated with people. Turns out lots of people think Tyler was coming out in that tweet. XD

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)

Ooh. Ignoring the terms of this question, but: I just read this TK/Patty story and loooved it. It’s a different take on werewolves than the one I use in wolfverse, and it’s super compelling:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24029188

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Hahahahahaha. (I mean...less so than you might think.)

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

I absolutely love it when people write screaming flaily responses to my fic. Also anytime anyone says that they’ve been having a tough time and my story was exactly what they needed. Maybe my favorite was the responses to More Than I Could Ever Promise that told me it read like a novel; that meant a lot to me right then.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

Fandom is amazing; people almost never give me concrit. I did have someone ask once if I randomly chose when to stop writing and just ended my stories there. I was pretty offended, since of course that’s not true at all, but I can see where they were coming from: my stories tend to wrap up after the characters get together, and sometimes there’s a lot of potential story left to tell at that point. But stories have to end sometime.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

I tend to share them! I find other people’s enthusiasm to be strongly motivating, and sometimes people have awesome suggestions I wouldn’t have thought of.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?

Well, I only have the one. XD Sid...is about to have an important conversation with Mario.

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?

Ooh, I’m not sure I’m the write person to answer! No idea, really. My recent TK/Patty is probably pretty funny. Or maybe Quality Time, where Patrick doesn’t understand why he keeps losing track of time when he’s cuddling with Jonny. Anything with a super dumb protagonist, probably.

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.

Wow, I have no idea. I’ve never really written a story with someone, so I’m not sure how that would work. I want to say astolat again but honestly I’d be too intimidated.

...no, I’m gonna say astolat. Even if I made a fool of myself I think I would learn a ton.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?

Third. For some original stuff I like first person, but third feels right for the hockey boys.

40) Do people know you write fanfiction?

My close friends do. Most of my friends have the vague idea I write fic, but they don’t know my username or anything.

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written?

Patrick Sharp. No question.

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.

I will legit listen to a new album with a doc open to write down promising lyrics. Titles are HARD, y’all.

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?

I think people guessed where the Tangled fic was going. Though I also liked the guesses that it would be about Patrick’s mullet. XD I don’t really mind when people guess twists -- in the kind of story I write, it’s more about the experience of reading it than about surprise!

44) What is the last line you wrote?

“His parents have always been very respectful of any choices Sid’s wanted to make. They haven’t pried into his private life when he’s tried to set boundaries. But they’re wolves, and they know him a lot better than Jordy does. Sid isn’t going to be able to keep it a secret from them what he’s going through.”

...no guarantee it survives in that form. :D

45) What spurs you on during the writing process?

Getting the story out of my head and into reality! Spoon out that lake, baby.

I also do love the prospect of posting it for people to enjoy and respond to. It’s one of the reasons I find fic so much more rewarding than original fiction, where the timeline to a readership is so much longer.

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?

Things, probably.

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about?

This exercise might be going off the rails a bit. (If anyone does want to pose this to me, feel free!)

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

Ooh. Mutual pining. Friends to lovers. Werewolves. :D

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

The first fic I ever, ever read was a random Kirk/Spock one I found through google, and I was like “OMG IS THIS WHAT AROUSAL FEELS LIKE”

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Oh man. Angst, as long as it can have a happy ending. But it just wouldn’t be the same without the smut.

[dredshirtroberts]

Tagged by @tumbleweedtech!!

What is your total word count on AO3?

Oh thank god you're asking me to look there where they calculate it for me so i don't have to try and figure it out across all eleventy-million of my fucking WIPs xD.

uhhhhh looks like...274,424 heh. that's lower than i thought but then again I post very little of what i actually write so...

How many fandoms have you written for?

On AO3? if I lump the related ones together (which i do) it's 4. If we're talking across the board in general? uh...f u c k. there's so much i haven't posted or thought about posting yet. just go ahead and like. add ten more on top of the four fandoms on AO3 i think that's about close if we're counting crossovers and inspired-bys

What were your top 5 fics by kudos?

Right Back to the Beginning

Constellations

Please, What?

Spearwort, Iris and Ash: Spearwort Yellow for Joy

Lia & Em's Adventure In Thedas Part I: The Wrath of Heaven

Do you respond to comments - why, why not?

I... want to? I try sometimes, if someone's comment touches me or came at a particularly bad time. It's overwhelming to respond to people - I'm a lurker by nature and never really grew out of the habit of teen-me knowing i wasn't supposed to be looking at the fics i was reading and so i wouldn't interact with them or the authors at all. So it can be hard to like. reconcile that I'm a fully grown adult person who is allowed to not only read and write what i enjoy but also that like. other adult people are reading and enjoying what i write? and that they'd want to tell me? I admit to also falling out of what little habit i'd started due to continued weirdly critical (yet not *negative*) comments that just. rub me the wrong way so I can't figure out how to respond? yeah.

What's your fic with the angsty-est ending?

Again I guess if we're going by what's actually posted, I'd probably have to say the Super Fucking Old fic I added from my FF.net days: A Late Summer Afternoon (hopefully that's the right link - sometimes copy and paste doesn't work the way i want). warnings for MCD. I...imagine you might be able to pick up on why that one's my angstiest ending xD I generally try to like. end my stories on a positive note? even if it's not all better yet - so the second angstiest would be Color of Your Eyes or Have This probably. Likely more Have This over Color of Your Eyes but they're both relatively tame as compared to my earliest writing xD

Do you write crossovers?

Uh...yes but i haven't posted any yet. Most of the reason nothing I write gets posted is because I am incapable of writing small projects and I get nervous about posting chapters before i know where i story is going yet because i feel like i can't edit if it's been posted? Anyway I'm going to try and get over that eventually. Not right now, though. I still have to edit some stuff.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Hate is a strong word. I...assume most people who have commented mean well, regardless of how their comments may come off to me on my end. Several have rubbed me the wrong way due to phrasing and an inability to read tone over text-based communication, but I refuse to believe they would have kept reading if they didn't like most of the story. Certainly it has been generally positive feedback across the board so I don't feel comfortable at all calling any negative comments i've received (intentional or not) "hate"

Have you ever had a story stolen?

As far as I'm aware, no. Thankfully I tend to write shit that people just don't care that much about so I'm pretty safe I think. Watch that come bite me in the ass xD

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nah. I hope one day to be proficient in my target language and will be able to translate my own fics myself but see aforementioned note about how no one really cares that much about what i write xD it won't happen unless i do it myself.

What is your all time favourite pairing?

You want me? to pick favorites? in THIS economy?

What is a fic you would like to finish but don't think you ever will?

currently none are looking like "never gonna finish"es which is good. RBttB sat unfinished for a long while and I probably won't polish the ending on that one, but it's technically done. I also don't want to finish that one either so. it wouldn't have fulfilled the requirements of the question.

Writing strengths?

You want me? to compliment myself? in THIS econo- alright alright i know, it's a terrible joke. Uh...I understand i'm pretty good at smut. and descriptions? i think? I feel like my humor is unparalleled but that's also because i'm pretty sure i'm the funniest person in my apartment (we'll just casually not mention i live alone...) Seamless integration of current and historical memes? Puns? i don't know. i am super confident about writing but i couldn't tell you for sure what i'm actually strong at.

Writing weaknesses?

uh. Getting anything finished. endings. d i a l o g u e. writing. flow. pacing. repetition. writing. see what i did there? i told you my humor was awesome. no but really i struggle with actually starting to write and then it ends up being a lot of me repeating myself a bunch until i find the sentence or four that work best. and like. my pacing is weird so it can be hard to...figure out what i'm trying to say? oh and commas. i use commas wrong.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

I enjoy the shit out of it. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I try really hard to get it right. if I'm not 100% positive it's correct I will change the whole sentence. mostly because i only know a handful of people who know languages other than English and I am bad at reaching out for help when I need it. mostly the second part though.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

YuYu Hakusho! A friend and I wrote this epic fucking self-insert not-quite-isekai style fanfic back and forth in notebooks back in the 6th grade (which was about...oh. nearly 20 years ago jesus i'm old). Only one of my notebooks survived when she decided anime was demons and the devil trying to tempt her away from Jesus so a lot of the story was lost. It was also in pencil so it's half worn out of the notebook as it is. then there was the phase i went through where i decided i could make my notebooks more interesting by cutting them into shapes which lost me a bit of text in the margins that i'd forgotten about... look we're mostly lucky i had it at all or that i've kept it all these years. Why do i still have it?...hm.

What's your favourite fic?

Of mine? So far it's probably a toss-up between Spearwort, Iris and Ash and Lia & Em's Adventure in Thedas. you know. My two biggest projects Oh...oh possibly also the Current-Reworking-The-Title fic I've started that I've not posted anything of yet in the Arcana fandom. Which is also a huge major project. I don't write small if I can help it, apparently.

of someone else's? You want me? to choose favorites? in THIS- yes i know that's the same joke three times. I think it changes based on what I need most out of my fic reading experience. I have an extensive bookmark collection on AO3. one of them in there's probably holding a spot as favorite, most likely.

Tagging: @concertconfetti, @daughterofdungeonbat, and anyone else who wants to do this! If you want a specific tag to do this, please LMK and i'll tag you <33

[5lazarus]

Hey Laz! I'm very curious a about Fire in the Empire and Josephine, Leliana, the panties 👀🔥

And also Hilda if you feel like it because I love the name ❤️

hey!! thanks for the ask :) Fire in the Empire is the next chapter of Fen’Harel’s Teeth, based off this song. I like it because I think it describes every character’s state of mind as they tear through the Exalted Plains--Briala, Lavellan, Hawen, Solas, Blackwall, and Iron Bull. Especially Solas, Blackwall, and Iron Bull. here’s a snippet. I’ve always been fascinated with how you find the Soul Canto in the trenches, so I opened the chapter with it:

The girl is bleeding out all over the table, but under her is a leatherbound book that remains dry. Imladris tugs it out from under her, gently pushing the still-warm corpse aside. She can see the girl’s eyes through the grill of her armor. “What was she reading?” Iron Bull asks. Imladris examines the title. “The Tome of Koslun. Is she viddathari?” “Nah,” Bull says. “We moved all our spies out when the demons came.” The book is battered and the pages are thin and cracker-hard; it’s been left out in the rain before, and carefully dried. Carefully Imladris turns the pages, staining them with the grime and blood of her gloves. She reads aloud, “You have seen the greatest kings build monuments to their glory, only to have them crumble and fade. How much greater is the world than their glory? The purpose of the world renews itself with each season. Each change only marks a part of the greater whole. The sea and the sky themselves: nothing special. Only pieces.” She snaps it shut, thinking-not-thinking where she has heard it before, a Qunari woman in prison once, intoning those four words like a prayer to an atheist god, nothing special only pieces nothing special only pieces. The sounds of the fighting stops abruptly, and Blackwall comes crashing into the barracks. “That’s the last of them,” he says, panting. “The last of the demons. And the fucking Orlesians. Are you alright?” Imladris glances at the corpse, who turns its sightlesss eyes to gape at her. She blasts it with fire, leaping back towards the stairs as Iron Bull cleaves it with his huge greataxe. When they are done the girl is eviscerated, but whatever took her has returned in tatters to the Fade. They leave the room behind, but Imladris takes the Soul Canto with her.

For the Josephine/Leliana story, I signed up for Sapphic Solstice and my girlfriend ended up getting assigned me. This is the story she’s not writing, because I decided I wanted to do it. I decided I wanted to write more femslash in DA after she told me it accounts for less than 10% of fanfic, and why not them? I have only one line: “The food was bad and the shoes were worse.” Hilda, though, is a short story I’m working on, loosely based off my own grandmother. It’s about a whole host of things--how Eastern Europeans assimilated into USA whiteness & thus respectability, the rage of older women who have cut themselves into pieces for an ideal that has always lied to them, the sex work of bad marriages. I’ll put the rest under a cut. My original work tends to be very, very intense, though I've written some sillier stuff ("Nice Try, FBI" is the fucking funniest thing I've ever written, and I'm very proud of it). This one, though, is very much serious. Probably one of the nastier things I've written about, though I hope the fact that I'm writing it with compassion comes through. (but that's another conversation--I don't believe in writing with dislike!)

My grandmother was a Czech and Russian Jewish woman whose first language was not English, who told everyone she was Irish Catholic like her first husband, my grandfather, who died when my mother was a child. She kept having children to try and get that boy, put kept pushing out daughters, even as the family fell more and more into poverty. They’d move every month to avoid avoid getting evicted by the landlord when the rent was due, for example. And then my grandfather died, and my grandmother put herself to work as a secretary to explicitly seduce and marry her bosses, and netted three of them. She once told my mother, “Some women are meant to be secretaries. Others are meant to be married. I’m meant to be married.” That was the only two options she presented, and the only two options she still considers acceptable.

So it’s about those angry, hateful old women who never had any chance to be anything besides a helpmate for a man, who refused any chance to be anything besides a wife, who actively sabotaged her daughters and granddaughters who tried to be anything besides wives. There’s been this tendency in recent family epics I’ve seen from other white Americans writing about their ancestors’ “immigrant & assimilation experience” in very romantic terms, though the Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna pushes back against that for the Italian-American experience, and was what made me think that maybe it’s time to tell these stories that before, only get whispered after a few drinks while the women are cleaning up after Easter dinner in the kitchen. It’s experimental, and I suppose it's a very USA story! I want it to be fully drenched in its time--a small town half an hour outside of New York City, from the perspective of a woman who was born a bastard in 1938, raised by drunks and who married drunks. I’m writing it in the 2nd person and in stream-of-consciousness, and I took a break before I get to the climax. Here’s a snippet, content warning for the protagonist’s memory of antisemitism:

You do the dishes and run the water too hot, and you think about how you want a new kitchen, with enamel finishings, and little hens to pretend you have the comfort of a country life. Your mother was from the country, in the old country, and she hated New York. Too dirty, too loud, too prying. The neighbors would listen when she cried, and the whole neighborhood knew about the traveling salesman, and that he was a Jew, too. She’d cry over your curls; she herself was a perfect blonde, just like Jayne Mansfield, with the swoop of hair and a birthmark too. You hated it, you hated your hair, and so did your mother and she burned you and the kitchen too when you were a girl, trying to iron it out. The fire department all came and they laughed and they were rude to your mother, and the neighbors heard, and all the girls at school did too, and even after the birth of your third daughter, the women would smirk when you’d go by. You’re angry, you’re angry that you bleached your hair and you’re losing it, you’re angry that Shirley Temple had those curls and she never straightened them, everyone loved them and you had the same exact curls and nobody loved you, did they? Except those men. They loved something. At least you kept them away from your girls. Better than your mother, that’s the truth.

[sapphiresandsunlight]

1, 9, and 13 for the fanfic end-of-year asks?

(in this response to this post)

Hello!

1. Favorite fic I wrote this year

I suppose I would have to say Never Know How Much I Care? Because it was more of a departure/more ambitious than other works in that it was longer, had at least a tiny semblance of plot, had some smut, etc. Also the fic exchange was WILD and it was very exciting to be a part of it, so that was cool.

I do have a soft spot for At Least Out Loud, I Won't Say I'm In though, as it mainly got dreamed up in my head on a drive into the city and then came out pretty much fully-formed right out of the gate, like Athena?

9. Favorite writing song inspiration

O manne, my musical tastes are and always have been Extremely Uncool, so my ficwriting inspirations are no exception. I have to cite the playlist I made of melodramatic power ballads for ...And I Feel The Hand Of Fate as the most direct inspiration, given that each chapter title comes from a song lyric (I hope it is 250 chapters because my titles list is inexhaustible). I just like the Dramz, yo.

13. Most memorable comment or review

O MANNE is it pathetic or hokey to say that every comment or review someone gives is amazing to me and feels like an undeserved gift? 20/10, could never not recommend.

That being said, if I have to narrow it down, some things that come to mind are:

*Someone writing a detailed comment on how my fic could be a sexy political thriller (and that I would of course be an executive producer)

*Someone writing that my fic was like a White Walker because they were like a poor corpse that kept getting reanimated and then killed by it over and over again

*Someone complimenting me on my usage of "louche" to describe Jaime, which I had been very pleased to use and was tickled that someone had noticed

*A reader saying that if they had found my fic when it was still anonymous they would have recognized it because my Jaime was the funniest in the fandom (here I am Deeply Conflicted about whether it's more rude for me to argue with a compliment or to let something so wildly inaccurate stand, but it was exceedingly nice nonetheless)

*Someone commenting on a smutty chapter that I had been nervous about publishing with a simple "jesus christ ! ! !" (😂😂😂 they later clarified that it was not a bad thing, and of course even if it had been I would not have resented the criticism, but it was hilarious)

*My exchange recipient leaving lovely long comments on every chapter...when dozens of things were being published at the same time, readership was consequently low, but it was very nice to know that at least the intended giftee was reading and hopefully enjoying (several others also commented and ilu all too)

*Anybody who comes back later to leave another comment or re-read kudos, etc, because it's awesome to be initially appreciated but very exciting to have Staying Power

(I took "this year" to mean "2020", which just barely cuts off all the very nice people who said nice things about my first fic, published on 12/21/19)

[datleggy]

a list of every anime i love/recommend, accumulated over the last 10+ years

1. NATSUME YUUJINCHOU 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

The main character is a teenage boy named Natsume, whose parents died when he was too young to remember them properly. He’s passed around random relatives homes, but because he can see yokai (spirits), he’s ostracized by classmates and his foster families (ALL HIS CHILDHOOD FLASHBACKS ARE SO FUCKING SAD) and eventually very distant relatives (an older couple who never had kids of their own and have so much goddamn love to give D:!!!) take Natsume in, and the story basically starts from there. 

It’s a very heart-warming story following Natsume’s new life in this new town, accepting his ability to see yokai, forging new relationships in the form of friends and family, and even with the yokai themselves. 

This is honestly probably my favorite anime/manga period, because it’s so sad but so cathartic and you watch as the main character grows and learns to trust those around him, and finally gets the unconditional love he’s always deserved, not to MENTION THE FACT THAT THEY DO A WHOLE EP WHERE NATSUME IS TURNED BACK INTO A LITTLE KID AND IT IS SOOOO GOOD OMG

Plus for those of you who enjoy whump, this show has a decent amount of it. Mainly emotional whump, but also some episodes where Natsume is injured or sick--as well as I believe one where his companion (the chubby cat on his shoulder who’s actually a pretty badass yokai) gets shot with an arrow and is down for the count. 

10/10 would and have watched again. 

2. KODOCHA NO OMOCHA 

SUMMARY/REVIEW:  The main character is a sixth grader named Sana. She’s a gifted actress on a t.v. show everyone likes and she’s silly and fun, very intuitive and surprisingly empathetic for a child. 

Her main problem is in school, where Akito, who she deems the leader of her class’ wolf pack of rowdy rude boys, lets them terrorize not just the teacher, but all the girls in class, as well. 

I don’t really want to give a lot away, so I’ll just state the obvious. This anime/manga is shoujo, which means that it does focus on a romantic relationship throughout the series. Mainly the one between Sana and Akito. Sana is absolutely oblivious about her own feelings, while Akito is a stubborn little shit. 

I remember watching this at like, age 12 maybe? And I really enjoyed it because (although I do enjoy your typical silly doesn’t take itself too seriously slice of life shoujo) this particular anime, while super funny and light hearted at times, was also really dramatic and even kinda dark, which was surprising considering the characters ages and the general kid-friendly vibe (especially the opening for the anime). 

3. DETECTIVE CONAN

SUMMARY/REVIEW:  Our main character is initially Shinichi Kudo, teenage detective, who’s on a date with childhood sweetheart Ran (whose father also happens to a detective but like....not a good one lmao), when his nosy ass self decides to go and check out some shady business and gets “poisoned”. 

The poison he’s given is intended to kill him, but what it actually does is turn him back into a child. And now, as Conan Edogawa, (who’s 7 but like....we just supposed to believe all these cops and detectives on the force are cool with a seven year old wee lil babe on these really gruesome ass crime scenes??? lmaoooo) we follow him on his adventures as he solves crimes and tries to solve the biggest mystery of all, his own! 

I absolutely LOVE this anime/manga, even though I’ll be honest, there is SO MUCH FILLER, but I like the characters enough that I really don’t mind. The show is at least 900+ episodes in at this point, and there are a total of 26 movies so far, last time I checked. 

Also, the show is a whump fangirls’ dream come true. The main character is thrown out of windows, balconies, shot at, and in one occasion actually shot, he’s had broken bones, sprains, almost been blown up or drowned/burned, been sick, and oh, his occasional transformations from child to teenager are incredibly painful. 

This show is probably at fault for my love of whump, since it was one of my first animes at like, age 9. smh. 

4. THE DEVIL IS A PART-TIMER!

REVIEW:

I’m not even going to summarize this one. The title does it for me. This is truly one of the funniest animes I’ve ever seen. Motherfuckin Satan works at a McDonalds part time and it is the BEST. 

Technically I would count this show as a kind of harem, but only because there are like three main girl characters after the overlord Satan himself. I usually dislike harem type animes but the way this is done is sooooo good I couldn’t resist. 

I would watch a million filler episodes of Satan trying to solve problems at his minimum wage job tbh. I love every single character, I love the plot, I love everything about this anime! In terms of comedy (with the occasional plot driven serious moments) this is IT bro. 

5. BLACK BUTLER

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

The main character is Ciel Phantomhive (roughly 14 years old). His parents are killed, his house is burned to ashes, and he’s kidnapped (around age 9 or 10 I believe) and abused. During this abuse Ciel calls upon a demon to free him and help him get revenge on those who harmed the Phantomhive household, which is where Sebastian, one “hell of a good butler” comes in. 

We then follow Ciel and Sebastian on their path of vengeance, and along the way we meet Ciel’s human servants, three very clumsy and seemingly bad at their given tasks characters (i love them all), and some of his extended relatives and connections. 

My favorite thing about Black Butler is the art, both in the anime and manga. Everything is so detailed and pretty! 

The characters are interesting, the plot is dark but they manage to make most of the series overall pretty light-hearted and funny in general. Though of course there are chapters/parts of the series that get really grim (which duh, the whole thing focuses on revenge so...) 

I have to say, the arc I enjoyed the most has to be the movie, Black Butler: Book Of the Atlantic. It is beautifully drawn and sooooooo entertaining. 

6. INUYASHA 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

Our main characters are Inuyasha, a half-demon, who’s been in a sort of spiritually binding coma for the last few decades, and fourteen year old Kagome, who falls into an old well in her family’s shrine and finds herself being transported into another time period. 

Together, she and Inuyasha travel across the lands in the feudal era to find the scattered shards of the shikon jewel, a powerful jewel which grants anyone who possesses it ultimate power. 

I was too young to stay up and watch Inuyasha on adult swim, so my mom would tape the show on a VCR for me to watch the next day after school--yes, I’m old old. lmaoooo I ADORE this show. 

It’s so good! It’s got everything! A tortured lil half-demon with a sad past who’s stubborn and rude but got a good heart! A fierce and equally as stubborn main protagonist, who’s whole ass family knows exactly where she goes off to??? and are supportive af????? like???? her mama packs her and her squad of demon/exorcist/demon hunter pals bentos?!?! lmao i love it. 

The characters are awesome and funny and likable as all heck, and of course they all have their sad backstory, but like, unlike some animes (lookin at YOU Naruto) they don’t go mega overboard on it, at least not without some plot behind the episode. 

7. YU YU HAKUSHO 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

Before I even start in on the summary, ya’ll should watch this soley bc of the cute ass 90′s style animation alone. LOOK AT ALL THAT SHINY HAIR!

ANYWAY. Main character is teenage hooligan and overall cutie pie Yusuke! He gets struck by a car and fucking DIES in the first episode after shoving a little boy out of the way, only to end up in the spirit world where the head honcho up there (who looks like a wee baby) tells him “Oh shit, didn’t expect you to like, actually do anything self-sacrificing EVER so like, you’re not on our list of people who were supposed to die today...” 

And uh, I don’t wanna give anything away, so I’m just gonna say that if you haven’t seen this anime yet, you definitely should! It’s hilarious and dramatic, the fight scenes are very well done, all the side characters, who eventually become main characters are a blessing (specifically Hiei, who’ve I’ve had a crush on since I was 12) and the ending is a satisfying one, which you can’t really say for a lot of media. 

8. CHRONO CRUSADE 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

I still get weepy when I think of this anime, so all I’ll say is it’s about a badass demon slaying nurse and her demon companion and some very tragic shit. 

It’s a great anime overall, especially if you like crying yourself to sleep at night :) 

9. GHOST HUNT

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

The main character is high school student Mai, who is hired by Naru, the head of a Shibuya psychic research, and together, with a group of questionable exorcists/psychics, they encounter paranormal phenomenons and some outright scary shit. 

I’m not really a fan of the horror genre tbh but I do like mystery, and the series deals with that quite a bit. They deal with each case for several episodes so nothing feels too rushed. 

The series is really fun in a creepy, wtf is that way. I recommend the manga, only because it’s more detailed in terms of plot than the anime. 

10. ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM 

SUMMARY/REVIEW: 

I didn’t really make this list in any particular order but if I had to say, Assassination Classroom and Natsume Yuujinchou probably tie for BEST ANIME PERIOD! 

This anime is about a weird ass “alien” creature, no one knows where it came from or why tf it’s here on earth, all they know is that in one year it’s threatened to blow the world up. 

His only request to the government is that they let him become a teacher for Class E, the worst class of Kunugigaoka Junior High School, and he will stay put, so that they can attempt an assassination on him during this one year period. 

AND LISTEN! I am a shallow hoe, so I literally never would have read this manga or watched the series had I not been roaming Barnes and Noble one day with my S.O. and picked it up to read as a JOKE! 

I was hooked after the first chapter and I am soooooooo glad I picked this manga up, bc it is absolutely not the type I would normally go for, cover art wise. I finally, after many many years, learned not to judge a book by its cover bc LORD this anime is so goddamn good, you don’t understand! Like, I’ve watched it so many times and still laugh at the same parts, cry at the same parts, am proud af at the same parts! like, this anime is an instant classic and should definitely be more popular than it is. 

assassination classroom and natsume yuujinchou????? MASTERPIECES! 

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1, Chapter 13 (One Last Yeehaw)

• It's the chapter everyone's been waiting for! We're pregnant, we get to tell our spouses, we get to tell our friends, we get to tell the courtly ladies, Olivia wears leather, our MCs get to buy a crib for an poppy seed-sized something in their womb that doesn't even know what hands and legs are yet (forget cribs), and the best news of all...WE ARE FINALLLY LEAVING TEXAS!!!!

• If you don't want to see this post on your dash, these are the tags to block: #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs and #long post.

• Screenshots:

Hana: The Universal Studios 77 YouTube channel

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan and the HIMEME YouTube channel

Maxwell: @itsbrindleybinch

Title: Spreading the Word

Alternative Title: It's a Child, Not the Gospel 🤦🏽‍♀

• Before I start talking about the chapter...storytime!

• Sooo...my first pregnancy was a couple of years ago. And I like telling the story of how I broke it to my husband coz it is pretty damn funny. We'd been trying for two years, and had a couple of times when our tests would be met with a disappointing negative. So by the time I did get pregnant, the hubby was a little wary of hoping too soon.

• I had an inkling just before my periods were expected to arrive, because I found myself flopping down on the bed immediately after work, without even making dinner. No morning sickness, no giddiness initially, just constantly feeling so tired. Anyway, hubby insisted I wait a couple days more before a test because he was too afraid of getting his hopes up, and I agreed.

• I took my test around 4 or 5 that morning? And had to wait a couple minutes for the lines...and THERE WERE TWO. Do you really think I could keep such news to myself for more than ten seconds?? (even that was too much). Of course I was going to shake poor hubby awake and show him the test.

• It took five vigorous shakes to wake the poor guy up, and as soon as he was somewhat awake I shoved the test in his face (I was excited ok! 🙈) forgetting that without his glasses he couldn't see shit (very high power). "I can't see anything," he said sleepily, so I gave him his glasses. Ensuing conversation went as follows.

H: There are two lines.

Me: Yeah...sooooo...? 😀😀

H (sudden realization what two lines are supposed to mean): OMG there are two lines??? *sleepy smile*

Me: YES. I'M PREGNANT.

H (weakly): Yayyyy. (pause)...can I go back to sleep now?

Me: But what will I do???

H: You also sleep.

Me (running on sheer adrenaline now) : I CAN'T SLEEP I JUST FOUND OUT I'M PREGNANT.

H: Oooookay. (is too sleepy at this point to process anything).

Me: (excitedly hops over to Google at 5.20 in the morning and types out "I'm 4 weeks pregnant now what")

LMAO. That first pregnancy was quite something.

• The chapter begins with the MC sending her spouse a text. Depending on whether you mentioned a surprise, mentioned that you need to have a talk or texted emojis instead, the LI will react accordingly.

• With the surprise option, the LI flirts with her. With "we need to talk", they appear tense and believe she's angry with them. The emoji option is the funniest, coz the MC sends a string of emojis with the last one being this: 🍞, and the LIs are confused and referencing the bread (I've seen only two routes of this one - Liam talks about the Cordonian Baker's Festival which will only happen after a couple months, and Hana speaks about a bread course). The MC is puzzled at first, then gets to choose how to tell her spouse the news.

• AAAAAND NOW THEY KNOW.

Liam: Ecstatic and excited at the thought of holding his own child in his arms. Immediately after, he worries over the preparations they will need to make, the childproofing of the throne room and the things they will need to get ready, and it is the MC who calms him down.

I personally love that the narrative makes a mention of Liam "recentering himself" here, because it does show me that this is a rare display of raw emotion, of Liam letting go of his control, and you get a glimpse of what calming down for him looks like. Wish it hasn't taken four books to actually muster up the effort to write that.

Hana: One of the sweetest reactions ever - "We're going to be moms?" and a hearty squeal after that. She then becomes emotional and teary, cries with joy. There's some gentle teasing of each other where they call each other "cute", and then Hana tells her she's so glad she gets to share both this moment and this entire journey of pregnancy with the MC.

Hana doesn't show many signs of her intensive planning in this particular scene, because this - again - calls for raw emotion where the LI basically forgets their "normal" and truly savours that moment, but we do see signs of the same type of planning in other scenes.

Maxwell: WHOOPS with joy and excitement as soon as he realizes. Wants to scream out the news on a mountaintop. He promises the MC that their family will be the most awesome, most fun one that the kingdom has ever seen.

I love how Maxwell's overall vibe in this chapter seems to reflect his family situation - he definitely wants to be the exact opposite to his own child what his father has been to him. It's a pity they don't explore that enough.

Drake: Wild with joy, can't stop grinning. But also worried about whether he is being careless with the MC and is overly concerned for her. Calls her not just by her surname but also her first name. I wonder if that should be added to my Book 1 tallies 😂

• That TRR lullaby music is going to be played so much after this that we'll eventually get sick of it. I know it. I know it already.

• The LIs also get to check in with the MC about how she's feeling, and you as the reader get to decide how she is feeling at the moment (ecstatic, nervous, scared?). We also get the option to decide when to break the news to our friends (at the reception itself, or the next morning at breakfast). I think enough of us had an axe to grind with Savannah and Bertrand for the stunt they pulled (with our help) last book, that most people slammed that "reception" button like their lives depended on it.

• The LIs also act in different ways before their friends find out about the pregnancy:

Liam and Hana both dote on the MC, and Hana specifically keeps the MC's dietary restrictions in mind (gets sparkling water/orange juice in place of champagne/mimosas, asks about caffeine content/salmon during breakfast - this varies depending on when you make the announcement). With Drake, the group figures out that he has something on his mind because he's grinning nonstop, and Maxwell tries really really hard to hint at the MC's pregnancy by using phrases like 'bun in the oven' and 'expecting', and gives up in frustration when no one catches on.

• There are three ways you can tell the news to the group - if you're at the reception, you can leave them to guess, get the LI to announce via loudspeaker or scream it out. If you're at home, the same three options except the second one is simply the LI delivering the news in a more low-key manner.

•

YOU'RE SUCH DORKS ISTG.

• Bertrand is happy for us but Savannah is surprisingly (to my great joy) nowhere to be found.

• CELEBRATORY DIAMOND SCENE. For 30 diamonds, which is usually reserved either for finales or turning-point diamond scenes. Again, these scenes deal with the newness of it all, the jubilation, the end of a (not very long, actually) wait, and the LIs get to talk about family.

•

The sex part is 🔥 🔥 🔥 as usual, but the parts that really justify the 30 diamonds we're spending come before and after that. Each LI, as I've mentioned before, responds differently, but the thread that connects them all is the awe and wonder at this new life, and their plans and worries for the future (Good. You all should be worried if Olivia's diamond scene is anything to go by).

- Liam: In the pre-sex portion, the focus is on celebrating this moment they have alone - as parents - together, because once this news is brought out to the world, both they and their child will be thrown into the spotlight. I have spoken in this essay about the kind of upbringing royal children tend to have and the lessons they unknowingly learn in that environment. Liam has gone through this, he is aware his child will go through it too, but he wants the child to have as normal a life as he as a father can provide. This is clear in the last portion of the scene, where he touches the MC's stomach, marvels at the life they both created and - as per the MC's choice - communicates with said child. My favourite option of course is the lullaby, because it's one that Eleanor used to sing to him - and it is interesting how a lot of Liam's memories of an actual parent, doing actual parent-things, is of his mother.

- Hana: In the pre-sex portion, she speaks about how nervous they've both been over whether this pregnancy would happen and the pressure from the court, and how excited she is that that moment is finally here. When the MC asks her if she is nervous or scared, Hana tells her that even though everything that has led up to this (leaving her parents, having a new life in Cordonia) has been unknown and scary, knowing that they will finally have their own family outweighs "all the worries in the world". In the last portion of the scene, they flirt playfully, leading Hana at some point to wonder about whether they should set ground rules if the child is going to be such a charmer. She's already got a whole range of things prepared - from a pregnancy kit to snacks and drinks appropriate for the MC's condition - but the MC encourages her to relax and not worry too much. You can tell that Hana is already in the zone of wanting to be a better parent for her child than her own.

- Maxwell: I find the Maxwell version of this scene really interesting this time, because it deals with both his struggle to change for his child, and his struggle to NOT be the kind of father Bartie Sr was (finally they address this!). The first part of the scene involves Maxwell being his usual excitable self, wanting to scream the news from the rooftops then realising that it might be too risky for his wife. He speaks of wanting to "rewire" himself into "Good Dad mode". The last portion is especially poignant, because he speaks both of what a life without the MC would have been life (an enjoyable Beaumont Bash, but one where he is forever searching for someone, and feeling constantly lonely, like something is missing in his life), and he also promises his wife that he will be the kind of father who will learn and grow from his mistakes, and who will be there whenever his children need him most, not just drop by on the day of their child's wedding.

- Drake: Drake also falls back into old-habit before getting into father-mode - he mentions celebrating with drinks before realizing the MC cannot have them. The MC gets to choose either a non alcoholic beverage or a massage, and as far as I have seen the massage comes with yet another family story about his father massaging a particular spot in his mother's shoulder that would easily tense up. It astounds me how much effort the writers make into making Drake's scenes and exchanges so much more personal than the others. Like the others have their moments in this scene too - but in their cases such moments are the exception, not the norm. In Drake's it's always the norm.

In the aftermath of the scene, the couple get to discuss how they will bring up their child, even though that child will be heir to Cordonia's throne, and get to choose if they want to bring that child up with a sense of normality, or to appreciate the benefits they get from the royal life. In the end, all Drake wants this child to know at the moment is how much their parents love them.

• We now have brunch, hosted by the newlyweds. If we have not yet announced our pregnancy, Bertrand will simply announce us the way a herald would at a royal event before Savannah teases him for doing so, and if we have, he mentions that we are "celebrating the happy news with them once more". Bertrand speaks of being overly formal when he's very happy, and is even happier to mention the word "wife". That'll last.

• Leona gives Bertrand a cup of bourbon as a reward for the way he stood up to Chuck, claiming that she thought of him as a "pretty boy" who knew nothing, but was impressed by his behaviour on the wedding day. At this point I can only roll my eyes and finally celebrate when Auntie Bitch disappears. We've wasted way too much time than necessary on Drake's shitty family.

• If you haven't announced the news, you announce it after this scene. There are a few slight changes, esp the drinks mentioned in certain cases because the brunch is a more relaxed atmosphere than the reception so the food and drink items mentioned are pretty low-key. But everything else is pretty much as is.

• Bertrand and Savannah have a honeymoon to plan, which means we will finally get a break from them too, and Bianca asks us what we're planning in order to celebrate the news. Maxwell suggests getting a gift for the new arrival (9 months before arriving), and Savannah suggests they go to the general store and get something from there. The MC is nervous, because she wasn't exactly planning to meet Cassidy West again. Thankfully, he isn't at the store, so she's pretty safe 😂

•

All the LIs have items they will check out with their friends/wives, but the scene varies related to who the MC married. Minimally in most cases, quite a bit in just one. As usual.

Maxwell shows us baby socks, and realizes that this child is a "miniature human" who will have small-sized everything. Virtually nothing changes in this scene except for Maxwell calling the child "our baby" instead of "yours" in his own playthrough. Everything else is disappointingly identical.

Hana shows us a toy tea set (it's still early days but Hana tells the MC it will be fun to practice and to think of the treats the child can eat from that). If you are married to her, she gets a single line referencing the childhood scene where she waited in vain for her mother at her own tea party.

Liam's scene is the one wit the diamond option - as the King of Cordonia whose entire country's future rides on this child, he is the one who gets to show the MC (+ LI in their respective playthroughs) the crib. There are two variations in this scene - the ones where Liam speaks about "our heir". Other than that, very little difference (though he does mention Constantine in one line later, so I guess that's a plus).

Drake shows the MC a wooden rocking horse. In his friend playthrough, he speaks of the gift as something the child can have to remember "ol' Uncle Drake" by. But if you're married to him, there is a whole set of dialogues where Drake talks of riding horses being part of the Walker DNA, and there is a reference to the secret wedding (riding off into the sunset), and there is interactive banter between the MC and Drake that you don't see much of in the other playthroughs. I wish I could say I'm surprised.

• I mean...seriously??? Maxwell gets NO OTHER VARIATIONS??? Hana's mention of her mother never coming to her tea parties isn't even followed up by a line expressing comfort from the MC????

• Just as we got there options for our nursery decor, we also get three options for the crib (classic, royal, forest fairytale). The royal option is lavish, all gold and cream, and the fairytale option is whimsical, wood finish and the same patterns of forest animals and flowers and leaves as the walls. The classic option is, like its corresponding decor, "very neutral. very baby".

• We exit the shop as quickly as we can either because Maxwell broke a trampoline (in the Liam, Hana and Drake playthroughs), or Hana dropped some teacups (in Maxwell's playthrough).

• Once we're done shopping, we get a call from Olivia, who is at our estate in Valtoria, asking us for the most precious thing in our room. But before she can ask, we tell her we're either furniture shopping or pregnant. The option the writers want us to be choosing is "pregnant", because there's a scene where Olivia secretly happy-cries for us when she learns the news. We can agree to loan her either some fancy shoes, our engagement ring (in the Maxwell playthrough, apparently, there is a reference to the twig ring he made back at the beginning of Book 3) or the Cordonian Royal Sceptre. She isn't sure if she'll come back alive, so she thanks us in case she doesn't.

• The ensuing Olivia diamond scene comes with a chance to figure out what Olivia is upto, an advantage over Auvernal, and a tiny hint at a Nevrakis name for TRM.

• I must say, the writers never cease to go all out for Olivia. Even over the female LI that should have been treated like a co-protagonist. And it's tiring because yet again I'll have to see half the fandom drag Hana just so they can drool over the white girl (in fact I already have).

• Olivia's sprite on the left side of the screen...is going to take some getting used to. It's disorienting. But it's fine after a second one!

• Anyway. She is now at a casino in Monte Carlo, meeting up with Bradshaw and Isabella. She's clearly in super-spy mode, since she refers to the King and Queen of Auvernal as targets rather than their names or titles. She has a better edge over the two if she is honest about her intentions and doesn't pretend she just bumped into them.

• Bradshaw speaks about King Liam sending his 'attack dog' to them and 'not doing his own dirty work' which is hilarious considering this man is from a militaristic society yet doesn't even know the C of combat training and has never done anything besides strategizing.

• Isabella always delivers her stinky, unwarrented opinion as if it holds any weight or has any relevance. In Olivia's case, she mentions Anton's marriage contract with Olivia and wonders aloud how the Queen/Duchess still trusts her enough to allow Olivia in her inner circle after that. All three options to push back at Izzy are 🔥 but my favourite one is "you look like you know all about poor judgement" (which is true, look at who she married).

• Olivia then gambles with Bradfraud and Stinkybella, with whatever the MC chose to give her as stakes. The best option is to simply call Bardfraud on his bluff, because he folds easily. Depending on whether Olivia wins or loses the game, he either asks the guards to place the item in the penthouse, or to get more funds from there. Olivia takes note.

• She then has to make sure she nicks the key to the penthouse from Stinkybella, either by acting tipsy or by coming closer to her for an "awkward hug". Both do the job.

• She learns the following from the penthouse:

- Bradfraud and Stinkybella stay in separate rooms, which means things "aren't as rosy" between them.

- She finds a letter of rejection, doubtless from another royal couple, and this is an indication that they aren't as popular as they pretend to be.

- She finds a map of a land she doesn't recognize (is it Monterisso? Olivia would recognize a map of her own country...and neighboring countries...but who am I fooling it's not like team TRH concerns themselves with such ridiculous things as logic!), which has troop formations on it. They're planning something called Operation Swan. I've heard of "Black Swans" and "Swanning About" used as military terms, but there's not a lot I understand from this. Perhaps this leans more towards a "black swan" idea - where they will launch a surprise attack with a nation they are allying with? IDK.

- Basically, we have enough leverage to win against these two, thanks to Olivia's work.

• In any case, someone comes to the room, and Olivia is on the verge of getting caught. So she'll need to scale her way down.

• This shows us if you have Olivia pray to her ancestors for wings:

(Theodosia is clearly the Renaissance Nevrakis)

• If you don't choose to scale down, Olivia will land on the pool instead, but even then she makes it out okay. She decides to keep an eye out because Bradfraud and Stinkybella could pose as a problem for Liam and the MC.

• Olivia is operating on her own, as far as she has told Bradfraud, but the possibility that Liam is aware of what she is upto still exists. And the MC has no clue even if she is Liam's wife because:

a. The writers are too lazy to code this for Liam, and

b. It's not like the MC puts any effort into finding things out anyway

• We're now leaving the Walker Ranch, a couple hours later, and saying our goodbyes to Drake's mother and aunt. I heave a sigh of relief at the fact that there's no additional "memories" from Bianca become this family has gobbled up enough of our attention. Seems like their horrible attitude was really about the money they didn't get after all (it's a fair gripe to have, but doesn't exactly warrant the attitude they've been throwing around).

• Leona still acts like she did us a huge fucking favour hosting us, even though she was an awful host and seriously deserves to lose her ranch. Bianca tries to be civil but no apologies from her for allowing her son in law to be treated like crap until his wedding day. Seems like all Walkers have a habit of expecting civility from others while giving none.

• Bianca asks us to keep in touch and I'm pretty sure a huge chunk of the fandom said "no way in Yeehaw Hell".

• Liam continues to be mysterious with regards to what Olivia is up to, and Esther - who I HC'd as inquisitive - seems not to care enough to ask more.

• The LI tells us, as we leave, that Kiara, Penelope and Madeleine will be traveling in the jet with us, and it's up to us to decide how we break the news to them. If you own corgis, that features as an option. Two of the options (writing on a cake and announcement by corgi) come with a simple "Coming Soon...The Royal Heir", but the charade one is my favourite 🤭

• Penelope is that particular Drake/Walker Ranch stan who loved the time we spent at the ranch and Kiara is the rest of the fandom, who would much rather be in Cordonia than cooling her heels in Texas.

•

AAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA.

The MC then tries another charade, one that resembles cradling a baby in her arms, which Kiara takes to mean "American football" (thank God they don't force Cordonians to call it "soccer" anymore), Madeleine takes to mean "a common pirate jig" and Penelope somehow gets the guess right (though Kiara is the one who straight-out says it).

• The ladies are ecstatic, and congratulate us. Penelope calls for drinks, but Kiara has the common sense to add that the drinks should be alcohol-free. Madeleine informs us of the events lined up for us, including the Apple Ball which will doubtless be the ball we will be attending in the finale.

•

There's a small private moment where the LIs dote over the MC more than necessary, wanting to pamper her and keep her in comfort. The MC calms them down, convinces them that they have a very good support system/are a great team together who can achieve anything.

• Mara still finds out about the pregnancy via Maxwell scouring the online shops for corgi-themed onesies even when he is the father. Which makes sense. It's still Good Dad Mode 😁

• In the tiny space of time it took between Madeleine finding out we were pregnant and us talking to people, she managed to schedule a conference for the same day! At least let us confirm the pregnancy with our docs???

• Plus, announcing this early, even if you're not royalty, is pretty risky. You're mostly advised to not disclose it too soon because the first trimester can be a little risky. And there are also cases where your first ultrasound turns out to not be that happy moment where you see that yolk sac and hear its heartbeat, or an ectopic pregnancy 😔. I recall reading about it on pregnancy forums before my first ultrasound (and stressing, but I had to be prepared) and not being satisfied until I confirmed it for myself.

• The writers and the readers know she'll be pregnant because that is what the story is, but perhaps if the team hadn't wasted so much time on the Walker Ranch, they'd at least not have to hurry like this.

• Actually...no. "Hurrying" would be the wrong word. Because they're going to stretch the press conference itself to like two chapters, it seems like. Basically they will spend time on everything that isn't important to the story as long as it's important to their pet character.

• The summary of Chapter 15 (CHAPTER FUCKING FIFTEEN. We're stuck at the beginning of all this even by CHAPTER FIFTEEN) speaks of the press conference heating up, so I'm having an inkling that there will be some pretty heavy stuff being asked in between? Maybe with regards to alliances, or a new scandal, or something else. But it's not going to be easy at all, that much is pretty clear. It's going to be frustrating and there's going to be stuff that will anger the LIs I think. I could be wrong, though.

• Overall this chapter does better in terms of variations even though they still do beef up Drake quite a bit over the others. But at least Liam, Hana and Maxwell get the rare opportunity to briefly address the mistakes (too small a word for what they've done) their parents have made. It's still not enough though. Esp considering the last 9 chapters have seen such an overall of Walker history and Drake's memories and the others have barely a handful of chapters to catch up.

• Sometimes I wonder if Olivia's independent investigation is also fueled by her desire to be so different from her parents and aunt as to wipe out the memory of their betrayal through her deeds. I do wonder if she will burn herself out completely in the process. She is made of sterner stuff than that, I know, but the determination she was showing in this scene and in the last few chapters was on another level.

• I wonder if we will get intel on Monterisso as well (I don't fully trust Amalas yet), or whether the narrative plans to establish this country as the underdog we will be supporting. Who knows. But I'm sure we will see more of that country in further chapters as well.

• That's it for this chapter, I think. Until the next one!

[superpuppies]

Hobbit High school

Chapter 1: The Stories Exchanged

Fandom- The Hobbit

Characters- Ori X Dwalin, Bilbo X Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Gandalf, Thlandral, Legolas

Rating- PG13

Word count- 4924

Archive Link- https://archiveofourown.org/works/10027448/chapters/22350188

Summary- Ori and Bilbo meet before class to exchange stories (as the title may suggest) and Dwalin joins the two younger Ri brothers for dinner.

Hey all, here’s the newest from my mind, please keep in mind that I do have dyslexia and I really do try to fix all spelling mistakes but some will always slip through. If you spot some please let me know and I will do my best to correct it. Thank you.

Moria is a quite suburb, nestled prettily between the Lonely Mountain, where Lady Galadriel’s School of Medicine shown bright and the White City. In the old days it was a fairly bustling mining town but now it was just a quiet place between a bustling city and a large college of medicine. This fall morning was windy with a chilling under tone as the sun was only just beginning to peek through the gray clouds at six thirty in the morning. Ori Ri had walked to school with his brother, Nori as usual and now sat in the bleachers watching the football team run through their morning drills. Well more watching Dwalin Stealbuster run through his morning drills, of course Ori would never admit that was why he was there. Whenever asked he always said it was to meet with Bilbo for a quick homework review.  This of course only cemented the two younger boy’s reputation as nerds even more, despite the fact that most of the team didn’t believe it. Though the story was hard to dispute when Bilbo always showed up and most of the time papers and note books where passed back and forth between them.  

Two months after Ori and Bilbo had come clean to each other about their crushes, Bilbo surprised his friend with the first of what would become many erotic tales featuring Ori and Dwalin. It was only after receiving three such tales that Ori returned the favor in kind supplying Bilbo with ones featuring himself and Thorin. This secret game of gifted tales turned into something adjacent to a competition to see whose story could affect the other more. There was only one rule to this little competition of theirs; they would only receive a story if they both had one to give.  Today was one such day.

Ori pulled his too large gray and green horizontal striped cardigan tighter around him as he heard Bilbo step up on to the aluminum. He turned to his friend and smiled as Bilbo’s medium length soft brown hair flew wild in the breeze. Bilbo was wearing one of his father’s old maroon corduroy jackets over a dark blue button down and some well-loved, faded jeans. He had an old brown leather satchel that the two boys had found in a local thrift shop slung across his chest to rest on his right hip. Ori’s smile widened as he thought how much his friend looked the part of a literature nerd, there was no doubt that Bilbo would follow his parents down the path to librarian but he may also add writer to that path as well.

Bilbo is the only child of the Baggins family, who had been personally invited by Mayor Oakensheild to help bring the library up-to-date. Dori and nine-year-old Ori had dragged Nori to the re-opening celebration.  While exploring the new building Ori found Bilbo bunkered down in the fantasy section. The two young boys became quick friends over their shared love of literature. Over the years Bilbo became very comfortable in the Ri household, so much so that when Ori brought up the suspected affection for Thorin he had very little trouble admitting to it and wrangling out Ori’s thoughts on Dwalin.

“Windy this morning.” Bilbo said, as he got closer to Ori.

“It’s probably going to rain before lunch.” Ori nodded at the sky.

“Yeah?” Bilbo sat down to Ori’s right.

“I can smell it.”

“When are you going to get rid of this thing?” Bilbo picked at Ori’s cardigan. The striped thing clashed with Ori’s earthen fire hair, besides doing nothing at all for any semblance of fashion his friend might have. Ori wore brown slacks with a brown and teal argyle pull over. Bilbo was fairly certain his friend couldn’t look any more like an old man trapped in a young man’s body if he tried especially with that cardigan.

“I like it.” Ori said brushing Bilbo’s hand away.

“You bought it as a joke; you’re not supposed to wear it all the time.” Bilbo huffed opening his bag and pulled out a maroon binder. Ori shrugged reaching down by his feet for his canvas messenger bag.

“It’s comfy.”

“It’s ugly.”

“It is, Ori.” Thorin said leaning against the field fence before gulping down some water. Both Ori and Bilbo turned to the football captain.

“Shut up, Thorin. No one wants your opinion.” Ori said with playful defiance, Thorin just laughed dropping his water bottle back onto the bench.

“It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. Nerd boy. Isn’t that right Bilbo?”

Bilbo blushed slightly as he smiled. “That’s what I keep trying to tell him.”

Thorin laughed again and ran back out to join his team.

Bilbo watched Thorin’s retreating back with longing.  One early spring afternoon two years ago, Ori came to the realization that Bilbo had a heavy crush on Thorin.  So, while both boys where sitting in Ori’s room Ori confronted Bilbo about it and was forced to admit to his own feelings for Dwalin.

Ori dropped a black folder onto the binder Bilbo was holding, startling his friend into catching it before it slid to the ground. Bilbo tightened his grip on the folder and turned sharp eyes on Ori, who just shrugged. “What, I dropped it.”

Bilbo smirked. “Yeah right.” But his voice showed his hurt feelings. “And to think I stayed up writing two of these for you.” Bilbo handed Ori the binder.

“Two? Oh, don’t I feel special.” Ori flipped open the binder. “What are they about?”

Bilbo cracked open the folder. “They’re both the same basic idea but I couldn’t decide who should be in what role so I wrote it both ways.”

Ori laughed as he started reading, though the more he read the more he decided he didn’t like this first tale.

Bilbo put away the folder, pulled out a notebook and sat writing quickly. “What are you doing?” Ori asked, Bilbo had never before not at least started the story given to him.

“I forgot to finish the story treatment for English.”

“Geeze, you’re lucky Professor Thranduil accepts hand written stuff from you.” Ori said rolling his eyes in disbelief.

“He would from everyone if their handwriting wasn’t so atrocious.”

“Well most of us prefer the computer anyway.” Dwalin said dropping down onto the bleacher in front of them.

Ori started at his sudden appearance and pulled the binder up to his chest as he asked. “How do you do that?”

Bilbo smirked; he was also surprised by Dwalin’s fairly sudden appearance but not as much as Ori seemed to be. Dwalin’s ability to silently appear had come up several times before and still continued to confound them.

Dwalin shrugged leaning back to look at Ori. “It’s a skill.”

“I imagine.” Ori said relaxing his hold on the binder slightly. Bilbo’s smirk grew, part of him enjoyed watching the two of them dance around each other. No matter how many times he tried to encourage his friend to confess to Dwalin, Ori simply wouldn’t do it. Not that Bilbo could bring himself to be all that upset by it, he got a good show most of the time and he couldn’t say a word to Thorin about his own feeling so he had no right to be upset. There was also the chance that he was misreading Dwalin’s kindness because he knew how Ori felt about the older boy.

“Why do you two sit out here? It’s too cold to just be sitting.” Dwalin asked his eyes never leaving Ori’s face.

Both Ori and Bilbo shrugged in response. “I walk in with Nori and this has just kind of established itself as the place. Besides were else would we go?” Ori said drawing invisible patterns over the story on his lap.

Dwalin half smirked. “Inside, the library or something. The school is open you know, just somewhere else so you don’t have to sit out here in the cold.”

“Stealbuster!” Coach Boromir shouted from the field, Dwalin looked back at the field and the familiar weathered face. “Leave the worlds quietest cheer squad alone and get back down here.”  Dwalin rolled his eyes at his teammates who were silently mocking him behind their coach and stood. He smirked again as he hit the field and he heard Ori and Bilbo let out an unenthusiastic, “Go team. Fight.” before returning to what they had been doing. Coach Boromir chuckled briefly but quickly went back to barking orders at the team.

Ori watched the team for a while but didn’t want to seem like a creeper and eventually turned back to the story Bilbo had given him. He never really cared for the stories in which Dwalin was almost submissive to his every wish and this one was getting to be too much in that vibe. He read on a bit longer before turning to the second story. Bilbo closed his note book and glanced at his watch as he put it away. They still had about twenty minutes so he opened the folder with Ori’s story in it and began to read.

 Coach Boromir gathered his team and sent them inside to get cleaned up. As he picked up the last of his papers, he noticed the younger Ri and his friend still on the bleachers reading. With a sigh he walked to the bottom of the bleachers and called out to them. “Ori, Bilbo” The two boys looked up. “You should be heading in too.” The boys glanced around and noticed everyone else had moved inside and began to gather themselves up. Once done they trotted past him with an apologetic. “Sorry Coach.”

“Just get inside.”

 Nori was showered and dressed first as per- usual having thrown around his power as ‘Most bad-ass on the team’ the entire team did not agree with this statement. They did however agree that he was one of the funniest and had the best beard. While they all sported pretty impressive beards for young men still in high school, Nori had already set his into interact braids and patters that hinted at the star pattern he would be known for in his adult life. He had his reasons for wanting to be out the door first. One he needed more time for beard matiness and two he wanted to get to Ori. Since the rumor that Nori was “screwing Ori senseless every night” had made its way to his little brother. Ori had blushed so hard upon hearing the rumor that his cheeks almost matched his earthen red hair while he sputtered out denials that were sadly less then convincing. Ori had begun pushing him away and the only time he was allowed to be with Ori publicly was in the early morning.  

Nearly done primping in the mirror a ruckus broke out in the showers, so reluctantly Nori peeked in, to see what was going on. Two of the younger boys, Fili and Kili to be exact had started some sort of water fight. Nori sighed; he had no intention of dealing with them so he turned to Thorin who was toweling off nearby. “Thorin, your idiots, blond and black.”

“God, damn it!” Thorin grumbled pulling on a pair of dark jeans and marching back toward the showers. “Fili! Kili!”

“Yeah, yeah” Fili answered, he was the more brazen of the twins and enjoyed riling his ‘uptight’ Cousin.

Nori smirked as Thorin began verbally leaning in on his cousins in that almost kingly tone of his. It was times like these that Nori and Dwalin thought he sounded like his father, Mayor Oakensheild at one of his many speeches. Nori was tightening that last tight into his beard when Dwalin appeared in the mirror beside him. “You know if you keep playing with it, it’s going to fall off.”

Nori rolled his eyes. “Is that why you just let yours flop there?”

Dwalin stood a good head and a half taller than Nori; his beard matched the deep black of his hair and falls more naturally, so that from the side it almost looked like extensions of his hair that ended about an inch off his chin. “It does not flop.”

Nori reached up and smushed Dwalin’s beard. “Yeah you’re right, it’s too short for that.”  Dwalin shoved Nori away from him.

“I hate you.”

Nori laughed at Dwalin, Thorin walked back into the locker area behind them in a huff, pulled on a dark blue shirt before grabbing his brush and going to town on his hair. “It’s like they do it on purpose, like I don’t have enough to deal with!” Thorin grumbled.

“I don’t get why you take responsibility for them.” Dwalin said with a sidelong glance at Thorin.

“Because if I don’t and they get into trouble, I get blamed for it.”

“Well, sucks to be you don’t it.” Nori threw over his shoulder walking to the door.

 Ori stopped in the hall to fix his bag. Bilbo smirked; to anyone else this wouldn’t seem all that odd except for where they stopped and that they stopped there most mornings. The locker room door opened and Nori practically leapt onto Ori’s back. “Ori! I love when you wait for me!”

Ori tightened the strap on his bag and braced himself to take on Nori’s weight. “Well if I don’t you chase me down the hall, jump on me and make me fall over. So it’s just better to stand here.” Nori laughed loudly as he tightened his hold on Ori.

Immediately following the Ri parents’ death, by car accident, Nori acted out for several months, causing quite a bit of trouble for his eldest brother and now legal guardian Dori in the process. When nothing seemed to be working to straighten the young Nori out, Dori gave a last ditch “God Help Us” effort, by placing a seven-year-old Nori in charge of the five-year-old Ori. To Dori’s and many other’s surprise, Nori took to the task extremely well. Because of this the younger siblings developed an exceedingly close bond. As they grew Nori began to show his affections more publicly, randomly hugging his younger brother or finding other ways to have some sort of physical contact. This struck Dori as a bit odd but he was sure it would come to an end as Nori entered High school, it did not. When two years later Ori entered high school himself, the displays became even more overt, to the point that Nori was often seen hanging off of his brother in the hallways.

Ori for his part enjoyed the attention from his brother, though sometimes Nori could be a bit embarrassing. There were times when he wished Nori would stop but on the whole, he did truly enjoy knowing how much his older brother cared for him. Dwalin looked away from the two brothers as Nori snuggled into Ori’s cheek causing the younger boy to blush and turn away.

Thorin smiled and wrapped his arm around Bilbo’s shoulder as he chuckled at his friends. “Why are you friends with these weirdoes?”

Bilbo used his answering shrug as an excuse to brush closer against Thorin as he looked up and said. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Thorin shrugged in return as he ruffled Bilbo’s hair. “I’m pretty much stuck with them at this point.” Dwalin started down the hall without them. “Even if I stopped hanging out with them I’d still be associated with them through family. So, you know what’s the point.” The Oakensheild’s, Stealbuster’s and Ri’s had been dear friends and figureheads of Moria since the town’s creation.

Bilbo smiled again as he tried to get his hair to lie properly. The group fell into step with Dwalin and an easy joking atmosphere began swirling around them. Almost a half hour later the halls where filling too much for Ori and he began to pull away from his brother. When they stopped at Ori’s locker Ori had to physically push Nori off of himself. “Get off me!” Ori said half laughing half panicked as he swatted Nori’s returning hands away. Ori’s ritualistic morning please and shove, rang in Dwalin’s ears and as the first bell sounded Dwalin dropped a hand on Nori’s shoulder. When Nori didn’t move Dwalin grabbed him by the shirt collar and began dragging him down the hall. Thorin chuckled as he turned for his own class.

Ori and Bilbo settled into their seats and muttered to each other that whoever came up with an eight AM Math class was clearly the devil. The teacher began roll call as Kili and Fili sauntered into class. She paused and disappointedly watched them head for their seats. “Please try to be here on time gentlemen.” Kili just nodded while Fili turn and smiled at the teacher, flashing some charm.

“Yeah, sorry about that Coach was talking to us.” The teacher made a notation on her roll book and continued call. Fili settled next to his brother two seats behind Ori and Bilbo. As the lesson started Bilbo pulled out the folder from Ori and some blank paper so that it looked like he was taking notes. Ori sat with the binder-spread open before him; he twirled his pen in his fingers as he began reading Bilbo’s story again.

The day proceeded normally, Ori and Bilbo did their best to stay as far away from Fili and Kili as they could and as per- usual they had one minor run in with the twins. Thankfully though the run in was a small one with only the twins throwing sad reference to the rumor about Ori and Nori at them as they separated for their next class. When Ori and Bilbo got back together for lunch Ori sat across from Bilbo and with a lowered head handed back the first story.

“Not this one, Bilbo.” Ori hated when he gave back a story, he felt as if he didn’t appreciate them. But these types of stories were always strange to him and left him feeling very bothered so he never kept them.

“I thought as much.” Bilbo said shaking his head as he slid the story back into his bag. “You have a weird aversion to the idea of him treating you like that.”

Ori pushed at the mashed potatoes on his tray a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks. “It just doesn’t feel right…natural? I guess.”

“I don’t know about that?” Bilbo said picking up a carrot, Ori eyed his friend. “I just call it like I see it, Ori.”

“Then why don’t you call Thorin like you see him?”

Bilbo glared at Ori. Fili turned toward the boys a table away at the sound of his cousin’s name. “It’s not that simple, he’s only nice to me because he thinks he has to be.”

“What, is that supposed to mean?” Ori laughed.

“Because of his dad.” Bilbo rolled his eyes.

“Okay that is utter bull shit and even if it wasn’t, which it is. How is that any different then what I’m dealing with?”

“He doesn’t have to be nice to you.”

“He’s my brothers’ best friend of course he’s not going to be an asshole.”

“I don’t understand why you simply refuse to see it.”

“Fili!” Kili snapped as he leaned into his brother. Fili turned back to his dark haired baby brother with a smirk. “I’m talking to you, what the hell are you looking at?”

“Sorry Kili, but I think I have an idea.”

“Oh yeah?” Kili sat back and pouting, shoved a fry into his mouth. “About what?”

“A little prank we can play on the fag and his book worm.” Fili nodded at Ori and Bilbo so Kili would look, the two would be victims looked as though they were starting to fight with each other. A smirk settled on Kili’s lips, they were generally speaking his favorite victims, fairly easily frazzled and quick to freak out, you just had to know the right buttons to push. Though lately Ori had grown immune to any menschen of the rumor he and Fili had started about Nori screwing him senseless almost nightly. So maybe a new topic wouldn’t be such a bad idea for a while.

“Hmm, what brought them to mind?”

“They were just talking about Thorin and I think we should teach them to stop relying on our dear cousin’s kindness all the time.” Fili’s smirk darkened. “Just give me some time to fine tune it and we’ll have our fun…” The bell cut through the cafeteria and Fili’s sentence. Fili watched Ori and Bilbo stand and walk out the door with a mob of other students. Fili and Kili fallowed at a safe distance and watched as Bilbo opened his locker put his math and soc books inside along with the folded returned story as he grabbed his German text. Fili crept closer and when Bilbo turned pushing his locker closed as he walked away into the hustle of the quickly moving hall. Fili reached out and grabbed the locker door before it slammed shut, pulling the door open he grabbed the folded story and shut the locker before merging back into the crowd.

 At the end of the day Ori stood at Bilbo’s locker and apologized for their little tiff at lunch while Bilbo filled his bag. Nori and Dwalin came up and stood on either side of Ori ready to walk home. Ori and Bilbo said their good byes, Dwalin waved and Nori just threw himself on to Ori’s back. Just before closing his locker Bilbo reached in for the story but couldn’t find it, thinking he must have already put it in his bag while he was talking to Ori he shrugged and closed the door. He would find the story later when he got home but right now he had to get to violin lessons.

Ori walked quietly beside Nori, thankful that he had managed to get his brother off him but now he was impatiently waiting for Dwalin to deviate down his own street. He was tired and an afternoon nap was looking great right now, he smiled at the thought of it.  Until he realized that Dwalin should have left them two streets ago he glanced up at Dwalin and unconsciously asked. “Wha?”

“Dwalin can’t go home right away today so he’s staying with us for dinner.” Nori answered and nudged Dwalin’s shoulder. “I told you he wouldn’t remember.”

“Oh.” Ori glanced at the ground, he vaguely recalled Nori mentioning something about this a few days ago.

“Mom’s having the carpets cleaned and I’m not allowed in until they’re dry.” Dwalin offered up as explanation.

“That’s just the nice ‘mom’ way of telling you that you’re gross and disgusting and she doesn’t want you around for a while.” Nori jabbed.

Ori sighed as the thought of his afternoon nap evaporated.

“Then why would she send me to your place?” Dwalin arched an eyebrow confidently.

Ori let out an audible huff as he realized he was going to have to make dinner, Nori looked at Ori who had picked up the pace in his growing frustration.

“Oh, come on Ori.” Nori wrapped his arms around Ori’s shoulders and leaned against his back. “Dori’s supposed to have left us stuff for fajitas.”

“Really?” Ori smiled slightly.

“Yep.”

“I’m not doing dishes.” Ori said pushing Nori off of him and crossing his arms.

“Well, duh. I mean he’s got to do something to pay for eating my delicious fajitas.”

“Nice.”

“Excuse me! I am the guest!”  Dwalin sounded almost appalled.

Ori walked up the step to the front door in a much better mood. It looked like that afternoon nap was going to happen, along with Nori’s famous Fajitas and dinner with Dwalin. He opened the door, kicked off his shoes and dropped onto the sofa. Today was turning from fairly good to pretty great. Nori dropped his bag on the coffee table and dragged Dwalin into the kitchen to wash all the veggies and dishes he needed.

 Nori flipped the meat and vegetables into the air again and smirked at the grumble Dwalin gave him while setting the table. “Hey, do me a favor.”

“What now?” Dwalin said dropping the last plate unceremoniously onto the table.

“Go wake up Ori for me, it’s almost done.”

“What?” Dwalin’s tone softened.

“He’s usually asleep by now so go wake him up.”

“You mean he’s usually in here cooking and you’re falling asleep.”

“Yeah, when you guys are over. Rest of the time I’m doing shit around the house and he’s passed out on the sofa.”

“Really?” Dwalin chuckled.

“What are you laughing at?”

“It’s just weird to think of Ori as the lazy one.”

Nori narrowed his eyes at Dwalin. “Do you know why Ori comes to morning practice with me?”

“So he and Bilbo can check each other’s homework, how nerdy is that by the way?” Dwalin smiled leaning against the counter.

“No.” Dwalin’s smile fell. “That is just some stupid cover story. He comes to practice with me because if I didn’t drag his ass to school every morning then he wouldn’t show up.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Nope, he does this all the time. Comes home takes a nap, has dinner, goes to his room and does whatever the hell it is he does until some unheard of hour of the night then morning comes around and I have to drag his whinny ass out of bed and the whole cycle starts all over again.”

“Aww, that’s kind of adorable. You being a caring big-“

“Just go get him.”

Dwalin laughed as he walked out into the living room still not believing Nori in the slightest. Ori lay on the sofa, his head back, mouth slightly open, his legs sprawled wide over the rest of the cushions, he had twisted himself somehow so that his shirt had rolled up and exposed the milky skin of his stomach. Dwalin’s eyes caught and hung there memorizing the slight rise and fall of his breath.  

Walking closer Dwalin told himself that he would just grab Ori’s shoulder and shake him awake but his out stretched hands ignored him and instead did a gentle, ghostly glide over the exposed skin. He let out a quiet sigh at how soft it was and spared a quick glance back to the kitchen door but thankfully Nori was still preoccupied.  Turning back, his fingers ghosted across the exposed patch and played in the red trail that linked Ori’s navel to his groin.

Ori moaned as his left arm vacated its perch on his chest with a swipe to settle on his stomach. Dwalin pulled his hand away barely avoiding detection.  Silently berating himself for what he had done. Dwalin took Ori’s shoulder and shook the boy awake.

Ori grumbled once before opening his eyes as soon as he saw Dwalin leaning over him he shot upright an embarrassed blush creeping over his skin. “Dinner’s ready.” Dwalin said as he forced himself to look away from Ori’s quick fidgeting fingers and walk back into the kitchen.

“Thanks.” Ori said quietly pulling his shirt down.

Dinner was full of corny jokes, bad impressions of Dori and Coach Boromir, old stories and embarrassing ones. All three boys laughed hard and often; Ori was glad for it too because there was something really embarrassing about having Dwalin wake him up. The festivities were interrupted by a knock on the door; Ori excused himself to answer it.  “Hello Sheriff Stealbuster.” Ori smiled up at the man Dwalin would be in twenty years. Dwalin really was the spitting image of his father only not balding and rundown looking yet.

“You don’t have to call me ‘Sheriff Stealbuster’ it’s either ‘Mr. Stealbuster’ or just ‘Sheriff’.” The man chuckled it was a low warm sound that washed over Ori.

“Yes I do, it’s what you are.”

“Does that mean I should call you ‘student Ri’?”

“If you want but it might be kind of hard to distinguish me from my brother.”

The Sheriff chuckled again as he fallowed Ori back into the kitchen. “There’s no problem there, you’re the good kid in this family.”

“Hey dad.” Dwalin said dropping his plate in the sink.

“Dwalin.” The Sheriff smiled at his son and turned to Nori with a nod.

“Hey” Nori grumbled as he slid down in his chair. “I could hear you, you know.”

“So are we clear for reentry?” Dwalin asked.

“Yep, so let’s go before she thinks we got shot or something.” They all smiled at the idea of it, as Dwalin gathered his bag and put on his shoes. “Thank Dori again for me would you Nori.”

Nori scoffed. “Why, what the hell did he do?”

The Sheriff looked around the house. “Where is he anyway?”

“Minas Tirith medical conference.” Nori supplied.

“Oh” The Sheriff’s voice was tinged with concern as his eyebrows raised.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I just always thought Dori liked Ori alive.”

“Nice! Get out of my house.” Nori glared.

“Hey now, if you don’t knock off this threatening behavior I’m going to have to take you into custody.”

Ori sighed, this game was old. “I’m going to go do homework. It was nice seeing you again Sheriff Stealbuster.” With that Ori snagged his own bag and climbed the stairs. About thirty minutes later he heard the Sheriff’s car pull away.

[ourneverendingpossibilities]

I’m Sorry (8/?)

Anime: Kuroko no Basuke Pairing: Aomine Daiki x Reader Rating: K+ (Fluff!) A/N: The newest chapter to this story. I uploaded it back in July on my DA. While I may not post works here, on occasion, I’ve posted there because I’ve found ideas to inspire that are easy. I’ve still been taking breaks from writing, and it’s hard to fit in time for it. But I really hope this chapter makes up for my absence. When you get inspiration, it strikes and you take that opportunity!

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The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions, and you were finally glad to have a bit of a break. Between dealing with Haizaki, helping Kise with Perfect Copy, and trying to understand how Aomine had ANY connection to your father, you were worn out mentally. The idea of going to the hot springs with Touou seemed like a good idea, but you chose to stay back, needing to come to terms with your current situation. You were in love with Aomine Daiki.  Somehow, despite it seeming like an impossibility, being able to fully admit to having those feelings made things less... stressful. Like you'd been in denial for so long, and you had to accept things would never change. You wanted Aomine to lose, because you wanted to see if he would smile again.. He always enjoyed himself when he played basketball, up until their coaches changed. The mindset of the entire team had taken a hit.  Now that everyone has been separated, and their powers have been utilized in other schools, it seems to have eased the tension between the Miracles. Some of them were still strained, mainly with Akashi, but for the most part, everyone got along well.  Everyone except Aomine. The conversation you had with Kise a few weeks back resonated through your memory, and you couldn't help but smile softly. ______________________________ Kise stares at you, confusion and curiosity mixed as he hesitantly takes the paper from your fingers. He almost forgets his senpais are around, but he can't find the words to ask them to leave. When he opens the letter, he skims the contents, eyebrows furrowing in deep thought. "I don't understand ____cchi..." he mutters, placing it on the table in mild disgust. "If you were supposed to come to Kaijou, why did you follow Aominecchi instead?" Rubbing your arm lightly, you let out a sigh, trying to calm your nerves, "Ryouta... I couldn't abandon Daiki... Everyone else around us had... But I swore I'd never do it... I couldn't... In the end, he means more to me than everyone else." He leans back in his chair, running a hand through his hair as he absorbs your words.. To think, he could've had you at Kaijou... To be even closer to you than he is now.. Kise is conflicted. "Is it out of pity?" You almost jump, hearing the whisper, but your resolve hardens immediately, eyes narrowing in anger and anguish. "OF COURSE NOT! YOU, of ALL people, should know that Ryouta! I'd never be friends with you guys for the sake of your titles! I never ONCE gave a shit about 'Generation of Miracles'.." your voice lowers, lips slightly trembling as you direct your gaze to the ground, waiting to be swallowed whole. "If anything, I was jealous." Those words made Kise's head snap up, eyes wide and immediately filled with confusion and hurt. "Jealous?? Why would ____cchi be jealous of us?" You couldn't meet his gaze, feeling ashamed and embarrassed for ever admitting such a dirty secret. "Why WOULDN'T I be jealous of you guys?!" your head lifted then, revealing everything to the boys around you, "You get to play the ONE sport I love with everything I have! The one thing I was exceptional at! But you guys overshadowed me, overshadowed the girls' basketball team.. And we lost the funding for it. Teiko only wanted to invest in the BOYS' team... because you six were better than me... better than our team..." You growl lightly, wiping away the stupid tears falling down your cheeks, further aggravating you.. How can you be so weak? "The closest thing I could do after that was be on the team as the 'manager'... And even though I helped Satsuki with scouting and training regimes, it didn't change the animosity I felt towards you guys... For taking the one thing I had away... Girls were jealous that I was close with you guys... But I didn't always feel that way... Some days, I felt like an outcast.. If I didn't have Satsuki and Tetsu, I would've quit the team sooner..." Kise blinked, stunned and almost breathless at your words... "Y...You almost quit.... being our manager?? But... why? What did Kurokocchi do to keep you around?" You smiled sadly, wanting this moment to be over and done with.  "He told me that everyone is useful on the court, regardless of the position... He was the only one... Out of the six of you, to notice the way I felt.. How upset I was for no longer being able to play.. But the funniest thing about that... is Daiki was the one who gave him the advice in the first place..." You feel a chair being pressed against your legs, and you look at Kobori, giving him a soft smile as you sit down, gently rubbing your legs. Standing did make you tired, and this whole night had been a whirlwind of emotions.. Lately, you'd been experiencing it, and you just wanted to sleep for the next week... "Anyway, it seems Daiki has been doing more than just giving advice... Considering he somehow knows my dad.. and I wish I knew how they met.." Kise sighs, moving forward to rest a hand on top of your head, gently caressing your hair. "You know ____cchi... you could always ask him.. I don't think Aominecchi would keep that from you... If he went all the way to your house to drop off that letter in the first place." You shake your head, biting your bottom lip anxiously, "I want to... But I don't want to bother him with anything anymore... I don't want him to be burdened by me..." A light tap on the head startled you, and you whimpered slightly, turning your gaze to the hot-headed captain.  "It sounds like you're running away ____..." he frowns, causing your eyes to widen slightly, "You have the right to know... And you should ask Aomine what connection he has with your father. It means a lot to you... And I bet... He's waiting for you to ask.. Why else would he give you that letter?" Kise smiles, watching the interaction between you and his captain. If anyone is able to convince you, it's him. Because he knows you'd never talk back to your senpais. Standing up, he lets out a sigh, catching your attention, "___cchi, go talk to Aominecchi... It's the only way you can fix everything. You deserve to know the truth." All you could do in a room full of boys was nod.. Because the reality is, you need to know. __________________

There you sat, in your backyard, on a swing couch your mother had bought while on vacation. The cushions were comfortable, and you were feeling very tired from having to deal with a lot. However, as much as sleep sounds like the best thing to do, you made yourself stay awake, because the visitor you were expecting was to arrive soon.  The sound of footsteps echoed across the cement, and you halted your movements, feet digging into the grass as a way to balance yourself. You could feel his warmth before he reached your place, a tall shadow shading you from the sun. You weren't sure what face you were making, but you turned your attention to meet his deep blue eyes. "Thanks for coming... Daiki..." His eyebrows furrowed, a hand buried in his pocket. He was a bit surprised you'd called him, unsure if he had ruined things. But when he heard the tone in your voice, he knew you had questions.. And it was his turn to come clean. "Took you long enough..." he mutters, moving to sit in the spot beside you. At first he keeps his eyes on the fence, the frown growing deeper as time passed. When he had enough of the silence, he turns his gaze towards you, almost startled at the soft look in your beautiful hues.. "I'm sorry..." you whisper, a bit sheepish, "I was unsure how you'd respond... Now that you're here... I don't know what to ask..." He sighs softly, leaning back in his spot as the couch lightly sways in the breeze. "You could start from the beginning..." You bite your lip, fingers curled in your lap as you look at him, almost desperate, "H...How did you know my dad?" He turns his full attention to you, debating whether to grab your hand or just lay them in his lap. He lets them lay in his lap instead, gathering the courage to admit to everything. "We met on the day he died."

_____________________ "Y... You're.... Aomine-kun...?" The raspy voice caught Aomine's attention, his eyes widening at the scene. There, with a stab wound bigger he'd seen, was a middle-aged man, struggling to walk. Without thinking, he ran to him, stripping off his jacket and wrapping him in it, trying to urge him to sit down. "It... It's not safe for you to be walking around! Please wait here, I'll go grab ___!" "No! Don't!" The scream startled him, freezing him in place as he stared down at the man. Taking in his appearance, he recognized his eyes from a photo you showed him on one of your dates... His blood ran cold... ".... You're _____'s dad..." A weak smile curls on his lips, as he tries to nod, but only coughs up phlegm and a bit of blood... His time was running out, he had to get this to the boy quickly..  "A....Aomine-kun... P...Please... t...take this..." He's stunned to see three letters... One written for him, one addressed to your mother... and the last was addressed to you.. "D..Don't read it until you're alone... J...Just please... t....take good care.... of..... ____...." By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late.. And despite doing everything he could for him, your father died.. leaving behind three letters.

______________________ "I stayed with him until the doctor told me to go home... At that point, I had no idea what to do... I couldn't find it in myself to tell you... But I remember seeing Haizaki in the distance..." 

That sickening grin, the way he licked his finger as though he'd gotten revenge... Anger began to boil in his blood, and he wanted nothing more than to find him and beat him dead. "Dai-chan...." Your voice brings him back, and he turns his head towards you, startled at the feel of your fingers on his cheeks, wiping away a few tears that escaped their confines.. He's left stunned, breathless at the look in your eyes... There was no trace of anger, only a deep understanding and sadness... It broke his heart. 

Without thinking, he pulls you into his arms, burying his face in your hair as he held you close.. His mind and heart were racing, and everything he wants to say is jumbled, incoherent.. He was a mess and the only thing soothing him was knowing you were right here... Against his chest... "I'm sorry.... ____... I wanted to tell you sooner... I just... I couldn't figure out how... I felt so ashamed... I couldn't save him.. I couldn't do anything but let Haizaki get away.." Your body is trembling, but not just from your own emotions. It was from this broken man in front of you... Who had been there the day your father died.. Who was able to meet him... before his untimely demise.. All you could do was hold him, adjusting your position so you were in his lap, burying your face in his shoulder. "D....Dai-chan...." you whisper, moving a hand to cup his cheek, wiping the few tears shedding from his beautiful blue hues. "It's okay...." you smile gently. Seeing him broken, raw and full of emotions has you caught up in a hurricane of emotions. It's hard to hold on, but seeing him shedding tears, being open and completely vulnerable with you, it has you falling in love with him all over again.  "Listen, we will make him pay..." you mumble, keeping his attention focused completely on you. "It's not your fault... With everything that happened..." you stop, trying to collect your thoughts. "It hurts... But I'm happy you told me... Because I can fully heal and move on.."  You find all strength has left your body, and you slump against him, burying your face in his neck. You allow yourself to be vulnerable with him, to be open and sob into his warmth embrace. You can't push him away, and his warmth seems to be the only thing keeping you together. You should be telling yourself this is wrong; that you need to let go of him because you're not with him anymore. But your heart... It tells you to keep him in your grasp, to hold him tightly until your fingers bruise.  He is your safe haven, the one place you can be yourself.  "_____... I'm so sorry..." he whispers, a hand gently massaging the back of your head. Without thinking, he presses a soft kiss to your temple, eyes closing as he contemplates his next words.. "_____.... I..." A soft snore reaches his ears, and he suddenly stops. Turning his head, he looks down, seeing your peaceful expression, as you sleep in his arms. He feels his eyes soften considerably, unsure how to proceed.. He thinks this is a sign to leave things as they are for now, because he doesn't want to screw up twice.. So he carefully adjusts himself, so he's laying on his side, you tucked between the rest and his arms. He figures this is the time to leave, to let you rest, but he feels a hand tug on his waist, causing him to halt. "D....Don't go... Dai-chan..." His heart melts at the soft plea, and he feels the light breeze pick up. Adjusting his position to shield you, he leans down once more, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead, letting his lips linger longer than necessary. And just like all those times in middle school, he lets himself drift to sleep, making sure he has you in his arms, never letting go. 

[zuwritesstuff]

When You Try To Write a Candlenights Oneshot but it Turns Into a Multichaptered Adventure

Tw: Minor character death, injuries, prosthetics, slight angst, implied betrayal?

A/N- Hiya! This is chapter one in a (hopefully) multichaptered series and I have a lot to say but mostly I wanna thank @anonbeadraws because their Magnulia comic, (which you can see here if the link works lmao), which inspired a real cute scene in here, thanks so much to them and to YOU for reading this, have fun ;) (and please, I don’t mean to sound Desperate but reblogs > likes) also, you can find this on ao3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/22352998 and find the companion piece that you should really read if you want this whole Universe to make sense ijsdkncjfjdlnd right here https://archiveofourown.org/works/22228207

Chapter Title: Something To Come Home To

3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days ago

“And then she said-”

“‘I like you and I love you.’” Everyone in the breakroom chimed in, including those just passing by. Magnus beamed, proud of the fact that he had told this story so many times everyone in the room knew what he was gonna say. He was currently recounting the story of his wife’s confession of love and was draped over a chair dramatically, swooning. 

“Isn’t it romantic?” He said, grinning upside down at Merle and Taako. Taako scoffed and went back to drinking his coffee, rolling his eyes. Merle threw his hands up, shaking his head.

“I’m aromantic, leave me out of that.” 

“And I’m not, but you’re such a sap, it almost disgusts me.” Taako said, patting Magnus’s shoulder. 

“Hey, don’t be mean. Emotions are good, and being a sap is a good look on you, Maggie.” Carey Torres said, next to Magnus. Killian Alvarez and Noelle Nelson were also sitting at the table sharing a look.

“Is it?” Noelle said, stifling a laugh with her prosthetic arm, red and cyberpunk-esque. “Cause it kinda looks like he’s gonna explode.” Magnus sat back up, shaking his head as the blood that rushed into his head flowed back down. They all chuckled, and Killian, feet up on the table, (despite Merle’s protests), looked over at Carey.

“Being a sap is good, yeah?”

“Uh, yeah. Being emotionally forward is...good…” Carey said, blushing and looking away. Killian did the same, and everyone else at the table mentally groaned. The tension between them was, frankly, killing everyone who witnessed it. The two, plus Noelle, were a lean, mean, terrifying machine, and had been together for so long everyone who met them were, frankly, surprised that they weren’t a couple.

Killian took her feet off the table, leaned forward and said, “Well, uh, if that’s the case-” But whatever Killian was gonna say was drowned out by the loudspeaker above them.

“Dr. Highchurch and Agent Burnsides, to Wing F, ASAP. Repeat, Dr. Highchurch and Agent Burnsides to Wing F, ASAP.” Merle and Magnus looked at each other with concern. Wing F was the hospital wing, where Merle worked on their team’s, (Merle, Magnus and Taako’s), off days. 

“Mag, uh, not trying to worry you, but didn’t….didn’t Julia and Steph go on a mission today?” Carey asked gently. Magnus’s eyes went wide. He pushed his chair away and rushed out, with Merle close behind. 

                                                      ~

                      3 years, 3 months, 1 week and 6 days ago

Magnus took a deep breath and stepped in. Director Austen had just called him into her office. He had just finished his formal training with the Bureau of Benevolence and was waiting to be assigned a mentor, like most of the rest of his class. He had spent the last week fooling around with a few of his classmates, like Taako and Lup Enno, a pair of twins that were trouble personified, or Barry Bluejeans, a soft-spoken nerd who was supposed to be a scientist but ended up becoming a full agent. 

“You will train with Agent Waxman, here.” An older man stood next to Director Austen, looking down imposingly. He was built sturdily, even at his age, with a crooked nose and rough and calloused hands, with a small goatee and scar next to his right eye. Magnus stuck out a hand towards him, looking Waxman straight in the eyes.

“Magnus Burnsides, pleased to meet you.” Agent Waxman chuckled, shaking Magnus’s hand firmly.

“Call me Stephen, alright? Lucretia is one for formalities, for sure.”

“Her name is Lucretia?” Magnus whispered, horrified but amused.

“Thank you very much, Agent Waxman. That’ll be all.” Lucretia said, a ghost of a smile on her face. 

Magnus and Stephen walked out of Lucretia’s office chatting idly. Magnus learned Stephen had worked at the B.O.B for a very long time- almost 25 years, which is very long for a job that gets people killed almost regularly. He had a daughter, who had also had recently joined B.O.B, and just gotten her mentor; she was actually in Magnus’s class, but alas, apparently they had never interacted. Stephen was also nearing retirement- Magnus was the last recruit he was taking on, he told Lucretia, then a few more years and he was out. 

“Man, I never thought that far. Getting out? Nah, I’ll die before that, I think.” Magnus said casually. “I’m more of action first, get hurt, think after that kind of guy. Or don’t think at all, that works too.” He added, shrugging.

Stephen laughed and shook his head. “You know, I was wondering why Lucretia assigned me to you and now I know why. I used to be just like you, hot head and ready to give my life before anything ever happened.”

“Used to?”

“I found something worth coming home to, kiddo, but I suggest finding one soon cause the missions I go on? You’re gonna need it.”

“Alright, old man, whatever you say.”

“Ya know, you say that like its an insult. If I wasn’t old I wouldn’t have lived- trust me kiddo, living comes after everything you thought was worth doing. Then you’re cruising and focusing on the little things, all the good things.” Stephen said lightly, not looking at Magnus. He scanned the base, looking around as Magnus considered this. He had always been, not to be cliche, known to rush in. Protect, don’t think, get the mission done. If he got through it, great, if he didn’t, whatever, but if his friends got hurt, or didn’t complete what was needed? Failed. Living after the mission wasn’t all that high in his priorities, but the Director saw potential in him- she had to since he passed and she gave him a mentor, he reasoned. 

“Ah, there she is.” Stephen said, waving over two silhouettes in the distance. As they approached, Magnus’s jaw dropped as he saw the prettiest woman he had ever seen in his life, and one of the hairiest men he had seen, though he wasn’t paying much attention to him. The woman was tall, pretty much rivaling his own height, with long, curly hair wrapped into a braid behind her. Her skin was dark and glowing, with soft brown eyes that made you feel like you were wrapped up in the comfiest blanket under a beautiful night sky. She was, to be crude, buff as hell, with broad shoulders and a broader smile, Magnus noticed as she smiled at him, sticking her hand out.

“Julia Waxman. I see you’ve met my dad.” Magnus said nothing, just managing to close his mouth and shake her hand. He stared as Stephen laughed at him, patting his back.

“Julia, love, this is my apprentice, Magnus, and this is the first time he’s been quiet since I met him. What’s up, Errol?”

One of the hairiest men Magnus had seen smiled at Stephen, with a thick scruff and a long ponytail, shrugging his broad shoulders. “Not much, Steph, knew I had to come to find you once I got little Jules here as my apprentice.” Julia scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Errol, you’re like five years older than me, at most, shut your damn mouth.”

“Yeah, you’re a baby, that's what I said.”

“Fuck off.”

“Language.” Stephen said, almost instinctively. 

“Magnus!” Magnus suddenly announced, eyes lighting up and grinning at them all. “My name is Magnus. Burnsides. I’m a new recruit, but I’m made of legend material, that’s for sure.” He said, rambling. “I’m, uh, Hamilton-esque, not throwing away my shot but actually, fuck Hamilton, cheating on his wife I trusted him, I thought he drunk respect women juice when actually-”

Errol burst out in laughter out of nowhere, holding his sides. “Oh Lord- I’m sorry Magnus but that is the funniest shit- man, why’d you have to get the funny recruit, Steph-”

“Hey what the-”

“Julia Bernadette Waxman when I say watch your language I mean it, thank you.”

“Oh god Dad, why’d you have to expose me like that,” Julia said, burying her face in her hands. Errol, laughing even harder, clutched at his sides. “There was absolutely no reason to do that, why?”

“Bernadette, oh lordy lord, I can’t-” he said, wheezing, using Stephen as support. Julia rolled her eyes and looked at Magnus.

“I’m sorry about those two, they’re kindred spirits, Errol had my dad as his mentor, and both of them are idiots.” She said, directing the last part towards the two laughing men.

“I'm...Magnus.” Magnus said, looking right into Julia’s eyes and short-circuiting again. Julia gave him a slow, confused smile and laughed a little.

“Yeeah, yeah alright, Magnus. I’ll see you around, alright?” She looked at her dad and said, “I’m going to meet some friends; you two do whatever. Bye, Maggie.” She waved and walked away, leaving Magnus staring at the spot she was at.

“Julia…” he whispered to himself, a blush and grin growing wider and wider, shaking the hand that shook Julia’s as if to regain feeling back into his lovestruck self.

                                                      ~

                            3 months, 2 weeks and 5 days ago

Magnus ran like his life depended on it, almost shoving other agents out of the way as he ran, only thinking of Julia and Stephen. He skidded to a halt at the start of the wing; Merle crashed into him as he abruptly stopped, but he didn’t care. He stepped forward into the wing, but Merle’s hand stopped him.

“Give me a minute, kiddo. Let me see what happened, you don’t- we need to know first.”

“No, Merle. I can’t. No.” Magnus kept walking, but Merle stood in front of him, stopping him.

“Hey, hey, hey- this is my job, let me do it.” Merle said, looking up at Magnus. “Let me see what happened, and then I’ll come to get you, you don’t know what happened yet.” Magnus looked down at Merle and saw the sincerity in his eyes. He nodded and collapsed into a nearby chair, head in his hands, as Merle rushed off, talking to another doctor as they sped towards wherever they were. He, for once, sat quietly. Honestly, he didn’t know what to do. Stephen’s words from so long ago echoed in his mind. The something to come home to had turned into him, and Julia, and the rest of his team, and if something bad happened then-no. Nothing bad happened, Magnus reasoned. It couldn’t have, but there was no way. It was Stephen, for god's sake. There was no way.

After what seemed like an eternity, Merle came back, looking grim. Magnus stood up, searching for any sign of good news in his face. 

“I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, it’s bad.” Merle said, gesturing forward. “We don’t...well we don’t know for sure how it’s gonna turn out, Magnus. I-I’ll do everything I can, but you need to know, we don’t know yet.” He took a deep breath and opened the door, leading Magnus in. 

Julia and Stephen lay on two hospital beds. Errol, more shaven and well kept than he was two years ago, sitting by Julia’s side, looked up at them both. Magnus immediately rushed to Julia’s side, hovering over her, not sure where to start. Her face was cut up and blooded, only emphasized by her ragged breathing. The blanket that Wing F gave covered her up, but not enough to obscure her newly amputated right arm and leg, from the elbow and knee down. Magnus looked at Merle, silently, for any kind of explanation.

“There was an explosion, the whole building came down, and the way Julia was caught...she was probably right next to the blast, and the rubble...she's lucky to be alive Mag.” he said, looking down at her sadly. “She's on heavy anesthesia right now, they had to do a field amputation just to get her out; she was just….crushed, and there was just no time. It's looking like she’s gonna have some hearing issues on her right side as well, and there weren’t any issues of much heavy brain trauma, but we have to wait for her to wake up. And, well, Stephen…” he trailed off, looking at the man lying next to her. He was hooked up to an oxygen machine, it breathing for him. “Comatose. We don’t...god, Magnus, we don’t-” 

“He’s gonna wake up, Merle.”

“Kiddo-”

“Damn it, Merle, he’s gonna wake up! He has to- he c-” Magnus’s voice broke, and he angrily wiped tears from his face. “He’s got things worth living for and he’s gonna wake up, alright?”

“Alright, alright.” Merle said gently, touching Magnus’s shoulder. “I’m gonna go talk to whoever was on duty when they were found, you’re gonna stay here?” Magnus nodded, sitting heavily down next to Errol. Merle walked out, and the two men were silent for a moment, only listening to the beeping of the heart monitors and breathing, both artificial and otherwise.

“Man, I was just near here, Wing E, visiting a friend and I saw them wheel them in.” Errol said, breaking the silence. Magnus said nothing, not even acknowledging his presence. He just stared out to Julia, barely even breathing. Errol sighed and asked, “You know what she’d say about this?” Magnus didn’t respond, so he continued. “She’s left-handed.” Errol looked at Magnus seriously. “And she wouldn’t want you to act like this is the absolute end of the world.”

“You heard Merle,” Magnus said softly. “Julia...and Stephen is...he’s…”

“Not gonna give up without a fight. And if he goes, then, well…” Errol looked up at the ceiling, stretching out, settling in, clearly preparing for a long wait. “I’m gonna find the bastard that did this and make him suffer.”

                                                      ~

                           2 years, 7 months and 3 days ago

“Alright buddy, now’s the time.” Aubrey Little said, slapping Magnus on the back. “You’re gonna ask that girl out, and she’s gonna say yes, and if she doesn’t, you’re gonna respect her boundaries.”

“Hell yeah, I am.” Magnus said, standing in front of his mirror, making one last check to his appearance. Littered around the apprentice boy’s dorm was Taako, Barry, Aubrey, and Jake Coolice, all there to hype up Magnus. He, (and Julia), had been pining for a hot minute- everyone in their “class” was very ready for all of them to get together, so the 5 of them had gotten together to keep Magnus from chickening out, (he loved the friendship that had grown between him and Julia, and didn’t want to mess it up for the world), and to give themselves peace of mind. The rest of their class did their own thing, usually, but rest assured, everyone knew the dance Julia and Magnus kept around each other. 

“Alright, let’s get this thing going.” Taako said, standing and clapping his hands together. “My mentor wants to meet up and spar a little, and I can’t wait to beat his ass.”

“That’s mean, T,” Aubrey said, scrunching her face up, looking at him through the mirror. “Duck’s a nice dude.”

“One, he will not tell me his real name, does anyone even know it?” he asked nobody in particular, “two, he can’t lie for shit, so when he tried to fake compliment my sparring skills, it just, just didn’t work.” He shook his head, sighing. “He has so much to learn.” 

“My mentor is a doctor, technically an agent but he works mostly as a doctor; he’s super interesting.” Barry chimed in. “A little weird, kinda hippie-ish, but cool.”

“Nerd.”

“Thanks, Takoda.”

“Barold, don’t start with me, I will fuck you up, I know you have a crush on my sister, I can and will use this to my advantage. And, also,” he turned to face Barry, “You’re bi, and we’re twins, why not me? I’m clearly the superior twin.”

“Huh, I wonder why…” Barry said sarcastically, blushing at Taako’s accusation. “And I don’t have a crush on your sister, I’m dating your sister.” He mumbled.

“Excuse me, you’re fucking WHAT?”

“Hey, bi twins!” Aubrey said, going over and high-fiving Barry as Taako threw his hands up, super done.

“I think we’re losing focus here, guys. Also, bi-pan solidarity.” Jake said, finger gunning at Aubrey. She gasped excitedly and then shook herself, turning back to Magnus.

“Right, yes, Magnus, come on, you’re meeting Julia at the coffee shop and asking her out, let’s go!” Aubrey said, spinning on her heels, pointing and walking to the door. Magnus scratched the back of his neck, walking slowly and then stopping. 

“Uh, guys, maybe this is-”

“Alright, enough of this- Magnus, you’re gonna ask Julia out cause you are so, so head over heels for her. Isn’t that true?” Taako said, clapping Magnus’s shoulders and looking into his eyes.

“I mean…”

“Magnus, yes or no?”

“Its, uh, complicated-”

“Magnus, bud, answer the question.” Barry said, looking at him sympathetically.

“Yeah...yeah, I’m super gone for her. I like her so, so much, I just wanna hold her all the time and be with her ‘cause I just, she’s so nice and funny, so fucking funny and beautiful, so so beautiful, inside and out, and she’s got such a good heart and all that but I don’t want to ruin our friendship because it’s super amazing and she’s super amazing and-”

“Magnus?” A voice said from the doorway, soft and quiet. There stood Julia, slack-jawed, looking around like she was trying to grab words from the still air around them, but she found none. Aubrey stood to the side, looking back and forth between the two of them. 

“Lets, uh, go guys. Somewhere…” She said, slipping out of the door, turning around and giving Magnus a thumbs up as she did. Taako patted Magnus’s shoulder reassuringly and walked out with Barry, who waved at Julia but didn’t get one back, and Jake, who threw up a peace sign at Magnus, trying to reassure him as well. 

Magnus, face burning, looked to his shoes and said, “Hey, Julia…”

“Did you mean it?”

“W-what?”

“Did you mean what you said?” Julia asked, walking close to Magnus, looking him right in the face. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t say it, ‘cause I heard you, but did you mean it?”

Magnus looked at her, locking eyes with her, and took a deep breath. “With all my heart.”

Julia bit her lip, looking away as a slow smile spreading on her face. She covered her mouth, looked back at Magnus as she put her hands on her hips, looking a bit contemplative before saying, “Can, uh, can I kiss you?”

“Uh,” Magnus laughed a little nervously, stepping towards her shyly, “that would be nice, yeah.” Julia grinned and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. Magnus wrapped his hands around Julia’s waist, lifting her up and kissing back with a fierceness that kind of surprised him. They swayed for a bit, staying together for as long as their lungs could let them, and upon hearing the wolf whistles from their friends outside, they broke apart, giggling at each other. Magnus put Julia down gently, stepping a little away, still shy, blushing even harder. Julia chuckled a little, stepping close enough to put her right hand on Magnus’s cheek.

“You are, no doubt, adorable.”

“Oh?” He asked, snaking an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. “Do tell…”

“Maybe after you’ve taken me on our coffee date? You gotta explain how you got from ‘I’m Magnus’ to this.”

“Is this..is this not good?” Magnus asked worriedly, biting his lip, standing up straighter as if to put a little distance between them.

“No, no, this is good- hey, Magnus?” Julia said, looking in his eyes, putting her other hand on his cheek and stepping closer. “This is so, so good.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good...I just don’t wanna mess this up, you know?”

“You won’t- you’ve already got me, hook line and sinker.”

Magnus smiled, kissing her forehead, then the tip of her nose, and then her lips, softly, before backing up and holding out a hand for her to hold. “Coffee date, then.” Julia smiled and took his hand, squeezing it tight before leading him outside. 

                                                        ~

                                    2 months and 2 days ago

Julia gripped the parallel bars, sweating, walking clumsily. Merle stood next to her, ready to help when needed, and Magnus stood at the end, offering encouragement.

“Come on, you’re so close, you got this love.” He said as Julia approached the end. She gritted her teeth and shook her head, trembling with effort, slowing. “No, no come on baby,” Magnus stepped closer but Merle held a hand out, signaling for him to wait.

“She can do this, hold on lovebird.”

“I-I can’t, Merle,” Julia said, looking down at her right arm, fitted with a temporary prosthetic. “It’s not strong enough.” She had decided to train one limb at a time, leg first, so her right leg was was fitted with a black, wired, titanium leg, hollowed out to look like geometric art, snaking up Julia’s right thigh, printed to match the size and shape of her other leg. She looked up at Magnus, clearly using all her strength to hold herself up.

“Merle, come on man, let me-”

“No, Magnus, hold on.” 

Merle walked right up to Julia, looking up at her, seeing her welled up eyes, her still slightly scarred face, straining with effort, he pulled down his right sleeve, exposing his prosthetic. It was made to look like it was carved out of wood, with smooth, ringed patterns flowing down his arm. He held it up for her to see and then pointed at her with it.

“You’re right. It isn’t strong enough, but you are. You can do this. This,” he pointed to his own prosthetic, and then hers, “is a part of your body now, use it to your advantage. You are strong enough, Julia; you need to trust yourself- now come on.” He stepped away, waiting for her to follow. She looked to the sky, blinking away tears, and leaned forward, shifting the weight onto her prosthetic leg, stepping forward. She shook, almost falling, but managed to get to the end. Magnus walked forward quickly, and this time, Merle didn’t stop him. Julia collapsed into his arms, and he held her upright, stroking her hair.

“You did it, see? Was that so hard?” Julia laughed a little, wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face into his neck, nodding. Magnus chuckled a little, kissing her hair. “It’ll get easier. And hey, now you know exactly what you need to beat in terms of prosthetic coolness.” Magnus looked over to Merle, grinning a little. Merle rolled his eyes and smiled, shaking his head.

“I think we’re done for today. When are you gonna send for a permanent arm, Jules?” She pulled away from Magnus a little, still using for him for support and shrugged. Merle sighed and stroked his beard. “It’d be better to get it sooner, rather than later if we’re being honest. You need to get used to them both. And, seeing as you’ve got almost no wait time here, as opposed to a regular hospital, it could be really quick.”

“I know, I know, but…” Julia closed her eyes and shook her head. “I just...I need time, I just need some time.” She looked back up at Magnus, and then away, who realized she wasn’t just talking about recovering physically- she was talking about Stephen, who didn’t make it. They realized he just wasn’t going to wake up, that the machine was just keeping his heart pumping for him, and pulled the plug. During his funeral, about the entire B.O.B. came, and just about all the seasoned agents, including Merle, talked about him. They laughed, they cried, and Julia, who sat in a wheelchair for the funeral, not having recovered physically or mentally enough to start her prosthetics, didn’t speak the entire week. 

Merle, having just connected the dots, sighed. He walked to Julia, put a hand on her shoulder, and said, “I miss him too kiddo. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“1 pm sharp.”

“Yeah. And, Magnus.” Merle said, turning to him, “I think we’ve got a mission coming up, I talked to Cretia, she said shes found something we gotta look at.”

“When? I gotta…” Magnus looked at Julia, who rolled her eyes at him. 

“I don’t need protecting, Magnus.”

“No, I know that, but, uh,” 

“Alright, Merle, could I talk to my husband for a second?” Julia said, starring daggers at Magnus who, actually, felt good about it. If Julia could get mad at him, she was...making progress. Not just sad, but mad, he reasoned, is progress. Merle took the hint and skedaddled out of there, and Julia just sighed. 

“Magnus, hon, I am so, so grateful for you, you know that, right?”

“Mhm, I am aware.”

“I just...I’m gonna be okay if you go out and do your job, you know? It’s just for a little, and I’ll probably stay in and chill, maybe call some people over to visit.”

“Yeah, but,” he grimaced a little and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, I just wanna make sure you’re okay, you know?”

“Magnus…” She said softly, shaking her head. “There are more than enough people making sure I’m okay right now- I just want you to be you, please? Don’t treat me different because,” She looked down at her leg, sighing, “because of this. I want the Magnus that thinks going to the store is a grand adventure, not the one that treats me like a fragile thing. I’m not fragile, and I don’t need...you know?”

“Yeah. Yeah, no, I get it.” He said, nodding. “I just gotta be there for you, but I can do that while...being me, but I gotta say, this is hard, you know? I know its infinitely harder for you, just, watching you try to walk, I just feel like I should be there more. I just need to do more.”

“Magnus.” She put her hand on his cheek, her left hand, her gold wedding band glinting in the light, and he nuzzled into it, sighing and closing his eyes. “You staying by my side? That’s all I need. Something to come home to.” He opened his eyes, searching her eyes for the recognition that was there, she knew she was channeling her dad, and she smiled sadly. Magnus leaned down slightly and kissed her, softly and sweetly. Julia stood on her tiptoes, instinctively, barely aware that her prosthetic was as well, to meet Magnus’s lips. He pulled back and nodded.

“Then that’s what I’ll do, love. I’m gonna stay right here, with you.” He grabbed her hand on his face and kissed it, and then grabbed her right hand, putting his arm on her waist to keep supporting her, and kissed her prosthetic as well. She sighed with happiness and kissed his forehead. 

“Come on, let’s go home…” She said as Magnus helped her walk to the wheelchair she used for long distances, for now. Magnus helped her wheel out of the room, chatting idly as a shadowy figure nearby looked on. 

                                                   ~

                                                Today

 Julia walked, slightly unsteadily, to the door. She cracked it open, and then smiling wide, opened it fully, revealing one slightly timid Angus McDonald.

“Hello, ma’am! It’s nice to see you up and about!”

“Aw, thanks, Angus- it’s nice to be up and about, but you know you can call me Julia, yeah?”

“Yes, I know ma’am.” Angus grinned up at her as she laughed, shaking her head.

“Well, come on in, kiddo.” She said, gesturing for him to come in with her right arm, specifically, which looked like her leg- black titanium, geometrically arranged but, the fingers and wrist were jointed, allowing free movement. Angus was, understandably, amazed; they talked about the specific mechanics of it as Angus walked inside, (the doctors and scientists of the Bureau of Benevolence had been working on neurally controlled prosthetics that worked the same way actual limbs did- nerves sending messages to muscles to contract and move, but instead of going to the muscles, it travels down wires to wherever it should have gone if the limb was still there. This lets the user control their new arm as if it was still flesh, and the Bureau scientists were looking for someone to test it on when the accident happened), sitting at a dining table, directed by Julia, as Magnus came out of the kitchen, holding a platter of grilled cheese sandwiches in one hand and a pitcher of lemonade in another. 

Angus looked surprised as Magnus put these down on the table and went back to the kitchen. “Did...were you expecting someone?”

“Oh hon, there’s either always someone at the house or someone to give food to,” Julia said as Magnus put plates and glasses down, kissing Julia’s hair as he passed by.  “we kinda just make food to prepare for both now.” 

“Mmm, nothing to do with the fact that you said, and I quote, ‘I want nothing but a shitload of grilled cheese and lemonade for lunch’ huh?” Magnus asked, chuckling as Julia gasped and pushed him playfully.

“Magnus, there’s a child!”

“To be fair to Magnus, ma’am, I am 15, and I train with Taako too, he has more of a sailor’s mouth than Mr. Keene and he was an actual sailor.”

“I’ll talk to him about that…” Julia muttered, grabbing a sandwich, scowling.

“Wait, why do you call Argo ‘Mr.Keene’ but me Magnus?”

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with Mr.Keene, and I have spent a lot of time with you.”

Julia chuckled at her husband’s offended expression, sipped her lemonade and smiled at Angus, who smiled back, though his grin faded into a more serious expression in a moment. He seemed to be considering something for a few moments, before looking up at Magnus grimly.

“Sir, do you remember what we talked about the other day- at Taako’s apartment?” He, of course, was referring to last weeks incident- essentially, Kravtiz Ajal, Taako’s boyfriend, had gotten stabbed based off of some bad information, and had barely gotten out with his life, but Angus had suggested the traitor might have come from closer to home since this was the second time in months that a worker of the B.O.B. had gotten hurt, or killed, based off of some bad information. Magnus nodded, grimacing down at his plate. Julia put a hand on his shoulder and turned to Angus, confused.

“What’s happened, Angus?”

“Well, after Kravtiz got hurt, I got to thinking- this isn’t the first bad incident that the Bureau has had, clearly, but it was the second time in a few months that someone had gotten severely hurt off of bad information, is that correct?”

Julia sighed, nodding. “The tip we got was on the inside, it seemed solid, but…” She trailed off and now Magnus took her hand, squeezing it slightly.

“I know you must have heard this a lot, ma-” Angus sighed, looking up at her. “Julia. But I am very, very sorry for your loss. And I’d like to help you get to the bottom of this.” Julia looked up curiously at him. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that these incidents happened so close to each other. Someone has an agenda- I don’t know what, but something is going on.”

“Well, what do you think, Ango?” Magnus asked, sitting back. “I’m sure you’ve got some ideas.”

“I do…” Angus said, looking directly at Julia. “I think its time we questioned your partner, Kalen.”

                                                To Be Continued

First Chapter (you are here) | Previous Chapter (N/A) | Next Chapter

[elliepassmore]

The Darkest Minds Review

5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: dystopian, powers, road trips, found families TDM is one of those books you can just keep coming back to after years and still like it. I'm not sure if it's the road trip aspect to it or the realism or just that it's so damn good, but every time I think it's drifted off my favorites list, I'm reminded again in some way that I love the book. I think the way Bracken set up the world is fascinating. The story starts in flashbacks, and we see Ruby's first experience with death and with IAAN. The way the disease and the camps are built up I can actually see how one thing led to another which led to this alternate!USA that's basically a military dictatorship that put all the still-living kids in concentration camps (it would be funny if it wasn't sad how premonitory this aspect of the story is). The world has classified the kids based on the old State Department terrorist warning system, so Green is the least dangerous (just super smarts) and Red is the most dangerous (pyrokinesis). In the middle there's Blue (telekinesis), Yellow (electrokinesis), and Orange (mind control), though the government has done a damn good job of erasing all the Red and Orange kids. I like how the sense of bleakness and dystopia in the book also exudes a sense of freedom and 'anything's possible' at the same time. The first setting we see is Thurmond, one of the camps for the living kids, now dubbed 'Psi kids' for their powers. Thurmond is basically a bleak landscape that rotates between work and sleep with a thorough washing of mud and rain mixed in with fear and hatred. Bracken makes the setting visceral and it feels like you're there when Ruby is. The next setting we get is 'out in the world,' which doesn't turn out to be the boon Ruby thinks it is as, mentioned above, the US is basically a military dictatorship at this pointand the economy has down turned, meaning there's more ghost towns than not and just about everyone and their grandmother is looking for a Psi kid to bag and get a reward for. Ironically, this is the best and happiest setting out of all three, since this is where we're on the road trip in a very beat up black van called Black Betty after the song. Finally, there's East River, a safe haven for Psi kids by Psi kids. There, there is no color classification system and, while everyone works for their share, everyone seems happy and free. Beyond the setting, there's so many fantastic quotes in this book, from the first line of the first chapter (not the prologue): "Grace Somerfield was the first to die" (3), to the last paragraph of that chapter: "The government was never scared of the kids who miught die, or the empty spaces they would leave behind. They were afraid of us--the ones who live" (8), to the line that gives the book its title: "the darkest minds tend to hide behind the most unlikely faces" (456). The writing is in an interesting style I'm not quite sure how to classify. At times it seems like Ruby is directly talking to the reader, while at other times it's clear she isn't. But beyond that, there's just a richness to the writing that I enjoy. Obviously, all the kids are traumatized by their circumstances in one way or another. Ruby is afraid of her powers and of letting anyone touch her, and she's also generally mistrustful of the world that she's seen. Liam is definitely an optimist and wants to believe the best of everyone and the world, but there are definitely moments when it gets to be too much for him and he isolates himself. Chubs is cynical and extremely mistrustful (and feels a lot of guilt). Zu lives out her traumatic memories in her dreams, and has chosen to be nonverbal as a way of control. Other characters we see also have issues pertaining to the world around them. Ruby has a desire to protect people, but is also still wants the peace and freedom she believes she can find by living with her grandmother. Despite her wariness of the world, she is a tad too trusting of the other kids she finds in it, so long as they aren't obvious about the danger they pose. I did like that Bracken included bits in the beginning about Ruby having trouble socializing, even with other kids, because it had been so long since she'd actually communicated with anyone outside Thurmond. Liam definitely wants to protect and help other kids, sometimes to the point of putting himself in harm's way. He's extremely trusting, as both Ruby and Chubs point out, and likes to see the best in everyone and every situation. As the story unfolds, we see he has a lot of guilt over something that happened at his, Chubs', and Zu's camp, Caledonia, but he's still trying to make the world better for other kids. Liam's a refreshing character since, despite his optimism, he understands that nothing will ever be normal again, but he holds onto the hope that it can at least get better, and I feel like a lot of optimistic characters in books, especially dystopian ones, tend to be blindly or naively optimistic. Chubs is the most cynical of their group, and pretty much hates Ruby in the beginning simply for the danger she puts the others in by proximity. Once Ruby gets past his walls, however, it's obvious he cares a lot about the people he considers 'his,' and is willing to go to the mat to defend them. He wants the world to be better, but I don't think he necessarily believes in it like Liam does. He's definitely the bookish, mom friend, always reading or having knowledge about one thing or another and chastising the others when they do something that could get them killed or hurt. Out of all of them, I also think Chubs is the funniest and has some of the wittiest, if not the wittiest, lines in the book. Zu is alsohilarious. She has a way of expressing herself, either through facial expressions or writing that makes her a fun character to read. Despite everything, she's still so innocent in the world, and is the youngest of the group at 12, and it shows in the little things, like her picking out a bright red dress for Ruby to wear while they're on the run or how she'll sass the boys about one thing or another. Despite being light-hearted, Zu's also good at getting to the center of heavier subjects quickly and being serious when she needs to. Zu's one of my favorite characters in the series and I'm glad she got her own solo book. Relating to characters, one of the things I love most about this book is that Bracken gives us several antagonists. At large, the main antagonist is the world around the Black Betty gang. On the smallest scale, though, we have mini-antagonists that are the tribes of kids roaming around that don't necessarily have others' best intentions at heart as well as the League, who remain in the background but therethroughout the story. Then somewhere in the middle we have the other two antagonist characters. One, Lady Jane, is the skip tracer who caught Liam the first time and is after them again (and is very good at it). And the other is *SPOILER* Clancy Gray, aka the Slip Kid, who turns out to be the antagonist no one was expecting. He's a psychopath (clinically, imo, but the book doesn't actually say that) and has no problem manipulating Ruby and the others with his Orange powers, nor does he have any problem turning the kids of East River over to the PSFs. It's great because Bracken makes us hate him more than the other antagonists, despite him only being in the story for like, 10 chapters. *SPOILER END*. Liam Short-Story from Back of 2018 TDM Paperback Ed. 4/5 stars Liam feels younger in this story than I think he actually is. If I'm getting the timeline right, and he was with the League before he went to Caledonia, and he was in Caledonia for a year, then he's 16 or 17 in the story, around the same age Ruby is in the main one, but he feels younger, somewhere between 13 and 15. There are parts where he feels older, but mainly he feels like a kid. The story gives good background information on Liam, Cole, and the League. The story really goes to show how soft Liam is, even as a kid or in the League. There's a scene where he describes fighting back against some kids who were beating him up and how he bloody well felt guilty about it. True to character, though, he thinks the best of the League and the people in it until some pieces of info are dropped that aren't supposed to be and he ends up realizing the League is shit. In terms of the League, it's definitely as bad as Liam claims and Ruby realizes in TDM. In this story, they train kids to fight and go on ops, but not to use their powers or think for themselves. The training and the punishments associated with it are another kind of punishment, another kind of control over the 'freak kids' IAAN has left untouched. It's a military/assassination organization and it feels like it. It feels angry and vengeful and gross in that way places can have a trace of emotion. Finally, there's Cole. He only shows up a little in the story, but when he is there damn is he an asshole. It sounds like he inherited his and Liam's bio-dad's temper and lashes out when things don't go his way or when he's frustrated. Having read the rest of the series, I can say I feel bad for Cole and situation he's found himself in, but at the same time, I'm not sure if rage and lashing out are the best ways to deal with it.

[marril96]

The Distance Between Us

Chapter 4: Beauty and the Beast

Pairing: Rowena x reader

Summary: Lucifer is an asshole, and Sam is worried.

Editor: @cherrypierowena

Bollocks!

As if it wasn't bad enough that she was stuck having to tutor you this entire semester — you and your little gang just had to be at Biggerson's.

Some bloody luck she had.

Poor Sam. The lad deserved better than to be stuck with the likes of you and Lucifer's awkward brother. Not to mention her own brother. Fergus was the lowest of the low. What made Sam want to hang out with him, she didn't know. It certainly wasn't his personality.

"It's our bros," Lucifer said snidely while they waited for their orders to arrive.

"We're so bloody lucky," Rowena deadpanned.

He snickered. "It's like a family reunion."

"Ugh."

Hell to the no.

She resented every cell, every drop of blood, every atom she shared with Fergus. If there was a way to sever familial ties with him, to stop being related to him, she would do it. She would jump at the chance.

Sadly, all she could do was pretend he wasn't there and make snarky commentary. It wasn't nearly enough, but it was something.

The server brought their orders over; Rowena's sandwich and iced tea, and Lucifer's disgusting greasy burger with mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and a few other things she didn't recognize and Coca Cola. She didn't like to admit it, but the boy was a pig. Even worse than Dean Winchester. Sometimes she wondered why she was dating him.

Which was stupid, because she knew why.

She needed him.

His horrible sides she just had to deal with.

Nothing in life was free.

"So," Lucifer said, taking a huge bite out of the abomination that was his burger. Red and yellow smears circled his mouth. "You really agreed to tutor Y/N?"

God. Not even Gavin, Rowena's five-year-old brother, ate that messily.

She was dating a toddler.

"I was basically forced into it," she said, shuddering at the memory. Why did Mr. Shurley have to do that to her? She thought he liked her.

He made her tea — bloody good tea — every time she came to visit Lucifer. Was nice to her. Never talked down to her.

Only to pull this nonsense.

It wasn't fair.

She didn't want to tutor you.

She didn't want anything to do with you or anyone else from your little gang. Aside from Sam, who, unlike the rest of you, wasn't a loser.

"Your father's an arsehole."

Lucifer snickered. "Told you so."

He did. Plenty of times. And every time she shook it off, said she thought he was nice.

Biggest mistake of her life.

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Lucifer asked, "You gonna do it?"

"I have to, don't I?" Rowena responded, helpless, dejected. Pathetic.

She'd said yes. Had signed a verbal contract. There was no getting out of it now.

He snorted as if it was the most ridiculous thing in the world.

Which it kind of was.

If someone had told her a week ago she would agree to tutor a loser girl, she would have thought them mental. And said so to their face in far less nicer words.

"It's not funny!" she hissed.

"It's hilarious," Lucifer countered, grinning like the arsehole he was. She sure knew how to pick them. "You're not gonna get anywhere with her. She's dumb as a stump."

"Don't you think I know that?"

She would be wasting her time, and for what? A barely solid D? If you even got that. Any future F of yours was on her. If you failed, in the eyes of Mr. Shurley and Ms. Hanscum, she failed as well.

The dumb were incurable, but she doubted they cared about that.

She was expected to perform a miracle. All for a clean record and extra credit.

Some would call it a fair exchange.

Rowena called it nonsense.

"You're smart, babe," Lucifer said, nodding, "but not that smart."

"Thank you," she said sarcastically.

What a supportive boyfriend he was.

"Y/N's a moron. I heard she almost failed math two times."

You failed two whole years, Rowena wanted to say, but she elected to keep the retort to herself. She didn't want to look as if she were defending you. Even if it was true.

When it came to school, Lucifer was a tool. But what he lacked in brains he made up for in brawn. Evened things up a tad.

"She was close to it Freshman year, as well," Rowena added.

"My, you won the lottery with that one!" Lucifer laughed.

She groaned. "Thanks to your father."

"Like I said, told you so."

One thing was for sure — she didn't find Charles Shurley cool anymore.

With a father like that, no wonder Lucifer was a bastard.

"You should teach her wrong. Make her fail every test," he said, beaming as if he'd just come up with a cure for cancer.

Rowena was mortified. "Do you want my record to get worse?"

He chuckled as if it was the funniest thing in the world. "You're taking this way too seriously." His tone was nonchalant, like he was talking about the weather. "You got a few smudges on your record — so what? Look at me!"

Aye, look at him. Look at his grades. And his attendance. And his behavior. The way things were going, he wasn't going to graduate — again. One more slip and he might get kicked out. Not even his father could get him out of that one.

It was easy for someone like him to judge someone like her.

"Who cares about college?" he added.

"I care!" she snapped. She bloody cared. She cared about her future, which she hoped would take her far, far away from this blasted town. Lucifer could always count on his father to have his back with money. She wasn't so lucky. Her mother barely made ends meet on her minimum wage job. "Not all of us have a daddy with money to take advantage of!"

She knew she'd made a mistake as soon as the words spilled out.

Lucifer glared at her with murder in his eyes. His fingers wrapped around her wrist, tight as rope. Dug into her sensitive flesh. Nails bit crescent marks into her skin.

Rowena returned the glare, hers just as deadly, just as threatening. Fear shimmered under the surface; she willed it back, begged it not to show. She could handle this. She always did.

"Watch your pretty mouth, Rowena," he hissed.

Hit a nerve, did she?

One of her most impressive talents.

"Let go of me," she hissed back. He couldn't grab her like that in public. What if someone saw?

He stared at her for a long moment, let his threat sink in. Then he released her, and clasped his hand over hers softly, gently, as if nothing bad had ever happened. As if he hadn't grabbed her so hard bruises had already started to blossom over her wrist.

There was a time she was terrified of this side of him. Now, after many months, she just accepted it. It was who he was. A part of him she couldn't change no matter how hard she tried. The only thing she could do was accept it.

So he got a bit rough with her from time to time.

He wasn't perfect. Neither was she.

What was she supposed to do? Leave him?

She'd worked so hard to get with him to do that.

A few bruises were nothing in comparison to what he gave her. To what being with him gave her.

Nothing in life was free.

A few moments passed in silence so uncomfortable it could be cut with a knife. Then Lucifer smiled and said in his sweetest, kindest tone, "You'll be a great tutor."

As if nothing had ever happened.

*****

Rowena's phone rang at exactly nine PM, startling her from her thoughts of boredom. Lucifer and Olivette had invited her out with them and their gang, but after the day she'd had, she didn't feel like being around people.

People were a bother.

Even her friends and boyfriend.

They were, dare she say, an even worse nuisance.

One she'd chosen, but still. She couldn't deal with them. Didn't want to deal with them.

Let them get blackout drunk and make absolute fools of themselves without her.

Seeing Sam's name on the screen brought a smile to Rowena's face. He was her favourite friend. Her only true friend, if she dare say so. He liked her as she was. Treated her with nothing but kindness. Never talked down to her or acted as if she were lesser, as if she owed him something.

The lad was the definition of a best friend.

"Hey," she said in her happy tone she always uses to greet him. He deserved nothing less.

"Hey," he said back. "How come you're home? I thought for sure you'd be at Garth's party."

Garth was the only loser boy the popular kids tolerated, mostly because he often had the house to himself and happily let them party there. And sometimes supplied them with alcohol.

Rowena scrunched up her face in disgust. "No bloody way!"

She hated parties like that. People drinking like animals, and afterwards acting like animals… It was disgusting. Undignified.

Her idea of a party was something more classy, with suits and evening gowns and alcohol in reasonable amounts. Saying that out loud usually earned her raised eyebrows and mocking snickers, but those didn't bother her. After all, she wasn't the one drooling on the floor after shagging a couch thinking it was a person.

Sam laughed. "Figures."

Rowena let out a chuckle of her own. "Why'd you call me if you were so sure I was there?"

"Thought it was worth a try."

"Fair." She had to give him that. "I take it Dean's there."

"Mhm. Texted me a few minutes ago. I can't really make out what he was trying to say, but I'm pretty sure he'd just earned the title of keg master."

Of course he had.

"Impressive."

"Really impressive," Sam agreed through laughter.

"Seriously, though, what's with the call?" Rowena asked, clearing her throat. Usually she and Sam chatted. Quicker and more comfortable than phone calls.

"I, uh, wanted to ask how you're doing. With everything."

Her hand instinctively flew to her wrist, started rubbing it. The place Lucifer's fingers had stabbed into were raw, sore, light bruises already blooming.

She would have to hide them with makeup tomorrow before school.

Not a big deal, she told herself. She'd done it before. No one would notice — they never did. She was a professional.

"The whole tutoring thing," he clarified. "And Y/N."

"I'm… good."

Sort of.

"That's great." He was silent for a few moments, took a couple of breaths for courage, then said, "I know you two don't like each other, but it's gonna be fine. Y/N's not that bad."

It took everything in Rowena's power not to explode into laughter.

You were bad. You were a loser. A bum. The kind of girl who was perfectly content with her place at the bottom of the barrel.

She, on the other hand, had fought tooth and nail to never be there again.

She couldn't understand people like you. Happy in their misery. Lifting not a single finger to change it, to better your lives.

You disgusted her.

"I suppose we'll make it work," she said.

As long as you listened and did what she asked of you, it would work.

Sam sighed. "Can you give her a chance?"

No way in hell.

"Sam—"

"Please. She's not the best student, but she's smart. She just needs a chance."

She could picture him giving her the puppy eyes.

Bollocks!

"Fine." The word tasted foreign on her tongue. Foul somehow. "For you. But she'd better be on her best behaviour! I've no patience for slackers!"

"She will be," Sam said, relieved. Elated. "Thank you."

"Like I said, it's for you," Rowena said nonchalantly.

She didn't like you, not one bit. But for Sam, she could pretend. She could tolerate you. For a few measly hours she could forget about the school hierarchy and look at you like a person rather than a loser.

In theory, that was.

It shouldn't be hard, she told herself. After all, it wasn't like she loathed you. You were just an unappealing person, that was all. She could deal with that. Maybe. Sort of. Hopefully.

She did deal with Lucifer.

One loser girl shouldn't be a problem.

"Well, I appreciate it," Sam said.

She knew he did. Thing about him was, he was genuine. A good person. A good friend.

Rowena sometimes wondered what he was doing, being friends with her. What was it that he saw in someone like her?

You, she understood. You were a loser, but, as much as she hated to admit it, you stood for your principles. You were truly, unapologetically you, no matter what she or other popular kids thought. You believed in something.

Rowena wanted popularity. Wanted to be on top of the food chain. And she'd worked her hardest to get there, no matter how many people she had to put down on her way up.

She wasn't proud of it, but it got her where she was now. That she was proud of. Her hard work. Her dedication and effort and drive. Her aim that could, if she wanted so, reach the stars themselves.

People like you looked down on her for that. She didn't particularly care what you — any of you — thought, but…

Sam was one of you.

Technically.

His opinion mattered.

Strange as it was, he seemed to think highly of her. Highly enough to be her friend.

She couldn't comprehend what it was that he saw in her, but she hoped it was something good.

Because, the way things were, she needed someone to see the good in her.

She'd lost the ability to long ago.

*****

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