#10 year old me DEVOURED that series

[tin-wufborf]

Tin's Favorite Sterek Fics (Part 8)

Hello again, and welcome back to Tin's Favorite Sterek Fics! As always and ever, thank you all so much for all of the likes and shares for this series. I hope everyone's finding some new reading material or getting to revisit some fics they haven't seen in a while.

No more yappin' from me today. We're just going to hop right inti it.

Smoochies and squeezies to you all!

List and links to previous/next part(s) below the cut.

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DISCLAIMER: This is me warning you all that some of the fics I've included in this list may cover explicit, dark, and/or "taboo" subject matters. I cannot express enough how little I care what anyone thinks about any of that; all I want is for you to use caution when reading anything I've listed here and to please review and heed whatever tags the authors have provided in order to keep yourselves safe. Your experience from this point on is your own responsibility, not mine and not the authors'.

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19

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Keep it Steady by patchesjames (T | 1/1 | 3,155)

Derek had moved from the table into the gap between Stiles’ legs where they still hung down from the counter. His hand was brushing the bruise on Stiles’ cheek, his son unconsciously leaning into the touch and Derek murmuring something that sounded like, “He’ll never do it again.” Stiles dropped his head to Derek’s shoulder and the boy’s hand went from Stiles’ cheek to the back of his neck, resting lightly.

Up until now John had hoped this had just been some sort of whiskey induced hallucination, but now-now he wasn’t so sure.

Or the one in which Derek is even more protective than Papa Stilinski.

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A Rainbow and a Grocery List by afullrevolution (NR | 3/3 | 5,987)

Scarred and scared, Stiles had to learn to be who is - to be comfortable in his own skin - before he could figure out what he wants. Once he figures out what he wants, however, he also has to determine the best way to ask for it.

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Silver (vibrator) Bullet by nothing_left_sacred (E | 2/2 | 6,087)

Stiles hadn’t meant for it to become a thing. He’d just been interested in helping out his fellow man. He certainly hadn't meant for anyone to find out about it.

Or the one where Stiles makes amateur porn, and of course, a certain alpha finds out about it.

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Waiting Games by Jerakeen (E | 1/1 | 6,315)

Being an only child and heir to the throne, Stiles had always known he may not have the luxury of marrying for love. When he’d realized he was an omega to boot, things had taken an even more uncomfortable turn for him.

Omegas are rare. An omega as the heir apparent is almost unheard of.

Which is why there is no wiggle room when it comes to the tournament.

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Our Hearts Are Tigers by skoosiepants (T | 1/1 | 7,586)

This is what Stiles figures out after a week of harboring Isaac: he’s kind of a dick, for a ten-year-old.

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we're painted red to fit right in by hoars (NR | 1/1 | 7,837)

"They're here for you, little wolf." Peter says, silky soft. "Ready to devour your soul. Did you think we were afraid of hunters? Oh, no." Peter shakes his head and chuckles a dark sound. "They're human. They die. They all die eventually. A werewolf wants a pack to fend off them. The Primeval and his servants. Only as a pack do we stand strong. Alone? You're easy. What did you think, Scott? We were all desperate to belong? To be family?"

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Dirt Lots & Backstops by Onlymystory (T | 3/3 | 8,653)

Written for Holly, who won one of my Sterek Campaign fics. Her request was "Sterek and baseball. Canon, not AU. Bonus for cheesy innuendos and the appearance of the San Francisco Giants." Chapter 2 has the second bonus.

From the sidelines, Derek waved a hand. “You sure you want to pitch, Stiles? It doesn’t seem like your position.” “I’m pretty flexible actually,” smirked Stiles. “But, I mean, as fun as catching can be, I’d rather pitch as a general rule.” “Are we still talking about baseball?” Isaac rolled his eyes. Stiles flashed him a grin. “Everyone handles balls a little differently, pup.” “Oh my god,” muttered Erica.

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Valentine's Day Candy in Aisle Four by linksofmemories_archive (E | 1/1 | 8,998)

“It’s so commercialist, and all it does is bring people down who don’t have a special someone.”

“Basically.”

“Are you two seriously discussing your hatred of Valentine’s Day when a man with a gun is walking around the store?”

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covalent bonds series by HalfFizzbin (3 works | T-E | 9,204)

Derek's a hot nerd. Stiles is a nerdy jock. A LOVE STORY FOR THE AGES.

1. seems to me it's chemistry (T | 1/1 | 4,153) Awkward Nerd Derek has been crushing on Handsome Jock Stiles since forever—so getting paired with him on a Chemistry project is definitely the best/worst thing that's ever happened to him. 2. positively charged (E | 1/1 | 3,379) Derek takes Stiles home to meet his family. It's a terrible idea. 3. soluble (E | 1/1 | 1,672) Derek comes back after summer break all hot, beardy and brace-less. Stiles honestly has no idea what everyone's freaking out about.

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The Morning When It's Clear by BarlowGirl (E | 1/1 | 13,593)

“She makes me have dinner with her and the Sheriff every week,” Derek admits. “She keeps saying I don’t eat well enough. Too much fast food, she says. I keep reminding her I’m a werewolf and then I get a lecture about cholesterol. That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Did you accidentally puppy-dog eye her?” Scott asks seriously.

“I – no? What the hell, no.” He levels a glare at Scott. “And dog jokes aren’t funny.”

Scott laughs. “You totally did. Oh my God. That’s priceless.”

Or: Derek feels, basically.

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Five Times Stiles Doesn't Actually Need A Condom (And One Time He Does) by otter (M | 1/1 | 14,481)

Stiles doesn't actually mean to become Beacon Hills High's go-to guy for free condoms and sex advice. It just happens.

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Taylor by Ashabadash (T | 12/12 | 14,565)

When Derek’s nephew gets dropped off on his front porch one Saturday morning, Derek realizes his life is never going to actually fit into the category of normal. But when a local witch has bounty on the poor kid’s head, and isn’t afraid to hurt innocent people in the process, Derek realizes normal is really just a fantasy.

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Mermaider by nothing_left_sacred (M | 3/3 | 15,517)

“So what you’re saying is; you’re a mermaid princess.” Erica concluded.

“Yes, clearly. That is what I am saying. Thank you for putting it so concisely.” Stiles sassed, frowning at her. He wasn’t fucking Ariel; this was so far from being a Disney movie it wasn't even funny.

Or the one where a perfectly normal Beach Vacation escalates way too quickly, because this is Stiles' life.

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Bones Straining Under the Weight by weathervaanes (E | 1/1 | 15,645)

One of Stiles' favorite things about life is Derek Hale's food blog. He never expects to meet the man in person.

~

“Derek,” he says again, and the name feels very strange on his tongue. “You don’t mean Derek Hale.”

His professor’s eyebrows reach up, eyes widening. “You read his blog?”

"Uh. Worship. Would be a better more descriptive word. That is Derek Hale?"

Jimmy chuckles. "Good-looking guy, huh?"

"You mean to tell me the Food Network hasn't snatched him up to dethrone everyone else from daytime TV."

Jimmy smiles a small private smile. "I don't think TV is his medium."

Stiles raises an eyebrow. "Shy?"

The man laughs heartily at that. "No, I wouldn't say that. He just has particular forms of expression, like eyebrows and chili powder."

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que tu m'aimais encore by magneticwave (T | 1/1 | 19,931)

Wolves mate for life, don’t they?

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Thirteen O'Clock by kyrene (E | 3/3 | 22,213)

The thing about an actual real-life cockatrice that none of them had known, which would have been good to know before the fact, was that it wasn't just its gaze that could kill a man.

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Resurrection by Amethystina (T | 3/3 | 24,754)

Derek hadn't planned to die, least of all when he had finally started to acknowledge the growing attraction he felt for Stiles — an attraction he knew was mutual. But die he did, his soul ending up in Purgatory just like he had been told that it would. Despite this he felt unable to let go. He couldn't forget the life he had left behind — his hopes for the future.

So when the opportunity presents itself for Derek to return to the land of the living, he takes it, heedless of the rules he might be breaking. Even partnering with a hunter seems like a small price to pay.

Dean Winchester can get Derek out of Purgatory and back to Stiles. Derek's willing to take that chance.

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I Saw Lon Cheney Jr Walking With The (Drag) Queen by scarletjedi (E | 8/8 | 41,248)

When Stiles is entered in an Amateur Drag Competition, he thinks it's just what he needs to recharge his batteries after everything that's happened. He never accounted for just how much performing as someone else will make him confront himself. Something has to change, because as Ru says, "if you can't love yourself, how the hell can you love somebody else?"

Can I get an amen? Let the Music Play.

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He's Not Mine by Sunnee (E | 19/19 | 68,534)

Derek comes home to find an abandoned werebaby on his front porch and Stiles volunteers to help him out. Surprisingly, that is just the beginning of his problems.

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Stiles's Story Time by trilliath (E | 16/16 | 125,851)

Where Stiles is a librarian who is in charge of the kids' reading hour and such. And Derek is 6-year-old Scott's adoptive dad. And Stiles has his own take on Stories and Scott loves wolves and Derek tries not to admit that he likes the way Stiles's face looks in those glasses. Or something like that.

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[word-wytch]

Don't Stand So Close To Me — Chapter 7

Eddie x Teacher!Reader

Chapter 7/? 4.1k. Series Masterlist

✏︎ Reality — something that Eddie is uncomfortably familiar with.

✏︎ Series Summary: Forced to move back home to Hawkins after your fiancé cheats on you, you begin to fall in love again with an audacious 20 year old metalhead, only there’s one problem — he’s still in high school and you’re his English teacher.

While you struggle starting over in a place you never thought you would return, Eddie struggles feeling stuck in a place he can’t manage to leave — until you offer to help him. Of all the lessons learned, the most important are the ones you teach each other.

✏︎ Series CW: forbidden romance, slow burn, smut (18+ mdni), true love, internal conflict, student-teacher relationship, 10 year age gap, mutual pining, sexual tension, emotions, drama, angst, character development, happy ending :)

Chapter warnings: weed, angst, sibling death mention

Eddie held a joint between his lips, the paper wetting in his mouth as he tapped out a melody on the fretboard of his warlock, fingers making contact with the strings at a feverish pace. He took a long drag, exhaling the smoke through his nose. The ash on the end of it was dangerously long, threatening to drop onto his bedsheets at any moment. 

He paused, reaching over toward his nightstand to tap off the excess into the crowded ashtray and instead knocked over two empty Mountain Dew cans. They sputtered drops of sticky liquid onto his magazines before clattering onto the floor. Eddie cursed. He sighed and reached down into the abyss between his nightstand and the bed to retrieve them, cringing at whatever else may have fallen down there that he had long forgotten about.

It was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon and Eddie had been awake for all of two hours. There was a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach. A feeling that he was all too familiar with on Sundays. He returned his hands to the fretboard and noodled around with the strings, tapping out the melody again as the tingle of the drug washed over him. 

He glanced over toward his backpack slumped in the corner by the desk. It was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon and he had not even thought about his homework. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He had thought about it. Quite a few times actually. 

Yesterday he thought about while he was hunkered over the monster manual that he had to reach into his backpack to retrieve. He thought about it while he was at band practice last night too. And again while he was at the gas station at one in the morning, loading up with cigarettes and twinkies. He even thought about it while he was devouring them in front of his television.

He didn’t think about it at all on Friday night though. Well he kind of did, but that’s because he was mostly thinking about you and it just sort of came with the territory. He was mostly thinking about the way his hands felt around your waist, the one he had been itching to touch for two months now. He thought about the way your body felt in his arms, so warm and soft and real.

He thought if he could play it over and over again in his mind that he could exist in the moment for longer than he was given. He wondered when he would be given another. If he would be given another.

He thought about you, out with your friends at a bar he wasn’t even old enough to drink at. He thought about how often you went out like that, and how many times it would be before someone else saw you the same way he did.

His finger slipped and he muttered a curse at the sour note. He adjusted his headphones and glanced around the room. 

There was a pile of clothes at the foot of his closet that had been there for almost a month now. A pile of records in front of the cabinet meant to contain them for even longer. The dust was starting to collect on the top of his amp beside it. He couldn’t even remember the last time he vacuumed.

He wondered what your home looked like. If you had a pile of records too or if yours all had homes like they were supposed to. He wondered what sort furniture you had, if you had any posters or paintings or empty Mountain Dew cans sitting around collecting dust.

Probably not. 

His stomach growled. He had barely left his bed let alone eaten anything yet today. He peeled off his headphones and set his guitar to the side as he climbed out of the warm comfort of his bed. He opened his bedroom door quietly and padded down the short hallway into the kitchen. The linoleum floor was cold against his bare feet. 

He opened the fridge door slowly, careful not to wake Wayne sleeping in the dark living room. He glanced over the milk, eggs, and sparse condiments, spying a plastic bag with leftover once-frozen pizza inside. There were two pieces left.

Eddie glanced over toward the living room, hearing Wayne softly snoring on the fold-away bed. He looked back at the bag of pizza and grabbed it before quietly shutting the fridge.

There was a pang of guilt that came over him as he crept back down the hall toward the lighted door of his bedroom. Guilt for taking the last of it. The pizza. The bedroom.

He shut the door softly and returned to the warmth of his bed, folding his legs under him as he peeled back the plastic baggie.

Cold pizza always tasted better when he was high. Everything did. The combination of the cheese and the cold red sauce, the chewiness of the crust as he bit into it. Even the little brown sausage nuggets had more flavor.

Eddie sighed as he felt the food travel down his throat and fill his empty stomach. 

He thought about you again, wondered what you were doing at that moment in time. He thought about you making lunch in your kitchen. Probably a sandwich, or a salad — something healthy. You probably ate it at a table, even wiped it down after you were done. He thought about you in your quiet apartment all by yourself and wondered if you thought about him too.

He wasn’t entirely sure you returned his feelings. Not like how he felt about you anyway. He swore he could feel it though, there was something. Something about the way you sighed when he held you, how easily your body pressed to his, like it wanted to be there. It was the way you never drew away when he drew closer. The way you looked at him. The way you laughed at his jokes and watched him as he left the parking lot. 

Eddie glanced at his backpack slumped over by his desk.

He picked a few crumbs off of his sweatpants and sprinkled them onto the floor, taking care that they didn’t end up in his bed.

He wondered what you would think if you walked in right now. 

What sort of interest could someone like you possibly have in someone like him?

If there was one thing he was really good at, it was wasting his time.

______

It was a Monday morning and Eddie Munson was tired. Tired of the looks people gave him as they passed him in the hallway. He was tired of waking up early to come to a place that he’d outgrown. Tired of not being good enough to leave it.

He felt his eyes lose focus as he twisted the dial on his locker. It took him three tries before it opened.

He had stayed up entirely too late again. For why, he wasn’t really sure. Maybe to punish himself. He supposed waking up at noon the day before didn’t exactly set himself up for success either.

In his defense he did finally crack open his chemistry textbook at 8 PM, but he might as well have been reading Greek. He stared at at the letters and numbers and formulas until he finally just gave up and tossed it back where it came from.

He did your homework though. He read the final chapters of the book and took notes on them as assigned. There would be a test on Friday and he didn’t want to disappoint you. 

He stared into the contents of his locker, at the crumpled papers already accumulating underneath the pile of textbooks that were strewn about without a home.

Suddenly there was a soft voice that came from the other side of the cold metal. “Hey Eddie.”

Eddie swung the locker door inward. Chrissy Cunningham leaned against the locker next to his, clutching textbooks against her soft white cardigan.

“Hey,” he said, giving her a hesitant look.

“So I hear you can, um,” Chrissy bit her lip in thought, glancing off to the side, “Hook people up with certain things. If you know what I mean.”

Eddie raised his eyebrows and grabbed his history textbook before shutting his locker. “Yeah, I know what you mean. What do you need?”

“Well, Tina’s having a Halloween party again this year on Saturday and I was wondering if you could, you know. Deal.”

Eddie thought for a moment. He thought about how much money he had, which was not a lot. Not enough to get the tattoo he’d been wanting for over a month now. He thought about how good it would feel to focus on the prickling sting of the needle driving into his skin for a few hours. It was hard to think about anything else when you were in the chair, and he liked that about it — like a strange meditation. He could use a break from his thoughts lately.

“Yeah, I can deal. What are we talking?”

“Just grass I guess, not trying to kill anybody,” she said with a little chuckle. “People always overdo it at these things.”

Eddie gave a single nod, “I’ve got that.”

Chrissy smiled, “Great, here’s the address,” she said, reaching on top of the books she was carrying to hand him an orange flyer.

He took the paper in his hands, looking at the little hand-drawn ghost with the date, time, and address on it. Come and get sheet faced. 

“I’ll see you there then, yeah?”

Eddie looked up from the paper, creasing it in the center with his thumb before shoving it into his pocket. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

“Great,” she said. Her eyes glanced over him, scuffing the toe of her white shoe against the tile absentmindedly, “Looking forward to it.”

______

“Harpies don’t have ranged attacks, we’d be better off hitting them with spell damage while you tank them,” said Jeff, flicking his empty milk carton across the table at Mike.

“Their song is ranged, what are you talking about?” Mike retorted, flicking the milk carton back at him.

“That’s not an attack, dumbass,” said Jeff, chuckling.

Dustin glanced over at Mike and interjected. “The song lures you into close range so they can hit you with their talons. And they can do it from a distance, so…”

“But it’s not an attack,” said Gareth with a smirk.

Eddie sighed and swallowed his mouthful of tater tots. “It’s not an attack.”

Jeff laughed. “See?” 

Mike shot Jeff a look, “Well, the spell casters aren’t going to be safe hanging back either way.”

“Guess you’ll just have to hold agro then, Pally,” Jeff said, flicking the milk carton back across the table. The older guys chuckled as the carton tumbled into Mike’s lap.

“Hey uh, by the way, I think we’re gonna have to make band practice later on Saturday,” said Gareth, “My grandma’s in town and we’re doing like… wholesome family shit, you know how it is.”

Eddie wished he could say that he did. “I can’t do it later, I’m going to a Halloween party on Saturday.”

Dustin snorted, “What are you going as?”

“Nothing. It’s, um, a business arrangement,” said Eddie with a look, hoping he would take the hint.

“The one at Tina’s?” asked Gareth, his eyes lighting up.

“Yep, that’s the one.”

“Can I come?”

Eddie paused, giving him a puzzled look, “I mean, I guess. I could probably use some help.” And some company, but he would never admit that. “Why do you wanna come so bad?”

There was a gleam in Gareth’s eye, “Cindy’s gonna be there, I saw her with one of those orange flyers in science today.”

A low oooh emanated from the table followed by a nudge from Jeff.

Eddie shot Gareth a look, “Who?”

“Cindy. You know, Cindy Wallace, from the science project?”

Eddie looked unimpressed, “Oh, the one you bailed on us for? Yeah I remember.”

“Yeah well, she’s gonna be there, so,” said Gareth, sitting back in his chair.

Eddie sighed, “Fine, you can come, just don’t make an ass of yourself or I’m leaving you there,” he said decidedly, popping another tater tot into his mouth.

“Cindy can take him home then,” laughed Jeff, nudging Gareth again.

The table erupted in laughter. 

______

Eddie stared down at the chemistry homework that was now past-due as you went over the first equation for the third time. You had been at this for twenty minutes and he was comprehending absolutely none of it.

“It’s kind of like baking a cake, like all the ingredients come together to create this new thing. It’s different than math in that way,” you said gently, “Here, let’s use the equation for water as an example,” you said, scratching it out on the upper lefthand corner of the paper.

The fluorescent lights beat down on him, tiring his eyes even more than they already were. It made his skin feel hot. He hated the lighting in school. It was clinical, and oppressive, and made him want to take a nap. He blinked, watching your hand move across the paper, noting the soft dusting of chalk that still lingered on your knuckles.

“Ok, now let’s apply this same concept to the first equation here.” You scratched out the problem and walked him through solving it step by step.

He followed along, trying his best to pay attention. It was like you were saying words but his brain was not computing.

“Does that make sense?”

He sat back and looked at your handwriting, neat and pretty. None of it connected. “Um,” his eyes bored into the paper, unable to face yours. He was afraid he would look up and see frustration, or even worse — disappointment. 

His face felt hot, his chest like someone had placed a weight there. The numbers and letters blurred in front of him as his voice caught in his throat. 

He felt like an idiot.

He could feel your eyes glance over his face and he worked up the courage to meet them.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally, digging his nail into the side of the pencil. He swallowed as he felt the heat rush to his face again, his pulse pounding in his ears. “I’m an idiot, I —” He stared down at the paper again.

He wanted to cry.

“No you’re not,” you said, your voice was warm and kind.

His nose burned as tears threatened behind his eyes and he hated himself for it. Hated himself for feeling like a child. For being unable to solve a basic problem even after all the extra help. Hated himself for still being here after six years. He didn’t know what he did to deserve your patience. He wondered when it would expire or if he was better off just dropping out. Maybe then he could ask you out like a real adult. He didn’t feel like one though. Not right now.

He felt a hand on his back. 

He turned to look at you. The softness in your eyes could have melted him. Your gentle hand moved back and forth between his shoulder blades soothingly and he sighed at the touch. 

“You’re really smart, Eddie. This just isn’t your thing, that’s all.”

You meant it, he could tell.

His eyes were large and wet but his tears obeyed and did not spill over his lashes. “Thanks,” he said softly. “For your patience, for your time, for �� everything. I don’t know if I deserve it, but…”

Your hand stopped moving. His heart lurched. He watched as your expression changed, like you were pained all of a sudden. Your pretty mouth twitched, eyes lowering in thought. 

“Please don’t say that. It’s really no trouble, I…” Your eyes darted back and forth between his, laying down words like you were hopping across a stream on small rocks, careful where you landed. “I really like… spending time with you. I…” 

He leaned closer toward you, like a magnet was pulling him. “I like spending time with you too.” He could feel your breath against his cheek. His eyes lowered to your lips, so soft and so close. He wondered what it would feel like to close the gap and snatch them up in his.

Your eyes grew wider and Eddie swore he saw your face turn a deeper shade. He ached when you took your hand away.

“Let’s put this away and work on something else. I think you just need a little break.” You turned back toward your desk, bringing that same hand behind your neck as you cast your eyes downward. “Maybe we can come back to it later, or on Wednesday.” 

Eddie swallowed and glanced away, turning to put his homework back in the beat up folder it came from. His face felt hot all of a sudden.

“So, uh, how was your birthday?” he asked, searching for anything to distract from the nerves twisting in his gut.

“Oh, it was uh,” you tidied your desk, “Fine. It was nice. I listened to the tapes you gave me,” you said, meeting his eyes again.

“Oh yeah?” He perked up.

“Yeah, multiple times actually,” you said, a bashfulness creeping through your smile. “I really liked them.”

“Really?”

“Yes really. I love music that’s driving, you know? Like, it takes you somewhere. It’s got this energy about it that’s really addicting, like it makes you want to move. I can see why you love it so much,” you said. Your eyes were sparkling, the redness in your face fading.

“Which one was your favorite?”

“Favorite song or album?”

“Both. I’m curious.”

You put a curved finger to your lips in thought. He loved it when you did that. “I think I liked Paranoid the best out of the two. And then song, let’s see... I think… War Pigs.”

Eddie blinked, “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s a protest song, which I love. It’s the one that really made me pause and think, you know? It’s really true, what they’re talking about. How war is a game played by people who have power and the pieces are the people who don’t, who have no other choice but to be played. It’s a really powerful song. Catchy as hell too.”

Eddie propped his elbow on the desk, resting his cheek against his hand. He was tempted to bring you his entire collection if it meant that he could listen to you talk about them all the way you talked about everything — with careful perception. 

You sighed softly, lowering your eyes before meeting his once more. “You know, I think more people would like it if they really listened.”

There was a tug at his heart. A loud and restless part of him stirred — awakened, acknowledged. “That’s what I’ve been saying,” he said breathlessly. “For years.”

You smiled at him in a way that made him feel something he felt so rarely. Seen.

He twisted at the rings on his fingers.

“Did um, did you do anything fun this weekend?” you asked, tidying a few papers on your desk.

“Nah, besides the usual stuff. Band practice, campaign planning,” he said, trailing off. “Homework,” he added quickly. “How was the rest of yours?”

“Oh, uneventful. Reading, errands… just boring stuff. I tried decorating for Halloween but…” you glanced off to the side and he noticed your brows furrow slightly. “I just haven’t been feeling all that festive this year. It’s weird living alone.”

Eddie nodded solemnly, shifting in his chair. “Yeah, I uh, got invited to a party this weekend but I can’t say I’m really feeling festive either.”

“Oh.” Your face dropped. It happened so quickly that he almost didn’t catch it before you corrected it. “Are you going as anything?” you asked innocently.

“Nah. I’m just… going.” 

He wondered what you’d think if you knew why. You — behind the desk with chalk on your hands and worry in your eyes. You — staying later than required, with no extra pay, for him — a drug dealer.

He cast his eyes downward and thought about his father. A criminal. Only he was in jail and Eddie was free. Free to sell drugs to teenagers. They had more than a few things in common — he couldn’t manage to graduate high school either. 

He kicked himself for even mentioning the party.

There was a deep worry in your eyes, deeper than you could hide. “Please be safe.” 

Eddie leaned closer, “Are you ok?” he asked softly, probing you with his dark eyes.

“Um,” you lowered your eyes again, thumbing at the eraser of the pencil in your hand. “This time of year is… complicated for me.” For once you looked at a loss for words.

“What happened?” his voice was gentle.

You sighed and met his eyes. “My brother,” you started, swallowing as if your voice was caught, “My older brother, he… drove home drunk from a Halloween party. He was 17 and new at driving, and the roads were wet, and — “ you swallowed again, blinking as you stared off into nothing, “He didn’t make it home.”

The waver in your voice made his heart clench. “I’m so sorry.” 

He looked at you. 

You — who he watched day after day from the back of the classroom. You — who had all of the answers. 

You looked so small from this side of the desk. 

Your hand trembled, hovering above the mess of eraser shavings that the two of you had made together. He wanted to touch you. His hands twitched in his lap. When you found the courage to meet his gaze again, he caught the barely-there shimmer of tears threatening your lower lashes, and he couldn’t help himself.

Pulse racing, he reached across the space between and took your hand in his.

Your eyes were wide with trepidation.

“It’s ok,” he said softly.

His touch was delicate at first, timid until you squeezed back. His eyes fluttered up to yours for just a second, searching for approval before returning to your hand. 

Your hand. The hand that writes back silly notes on his papers in green pen. The hand that opens his gifts wrapped in newspaper as if they were Tiffany’s boxes.

He rubbed his calloused thumb over your knuckles, wiping away the chalk. Your fingers were cold, fragile almost. Your palm so soft and warm against his. You had a paper cut on your index finger, he noticed. 

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, swiping the knuckle from your other hand underneath your lashes quickly.

“Don’t be, it’s ok.”

He brought his other hand around yours, his grip solid and gentle all at once. He felt you relax and his curious fingers changed positions, as if he was trying to commit the touch to memory, to feel as much of your hand as possible. What surprised him was how eager yours was to do the same.

He felt your fingers move against the back of his hand, along his tendons, his knuckles, his rings, feeling the strong bones under the soft flesh. The pulse in your wrist hammered against his, your palm starting to sweat.

The echo of footsteps clicked up the hall, coming closer. Your eyes flashed up at his and you took your hand away.

You cleared your throat, sitting up straight again as the footsteps passed the door. “Um, thank you,” you said.

“Sure. Anytime,” he said softly, scratching his head.

The two of you sat there a moment in stillness. Nothing but the ticking of the clock and the clicking of heels moving away now.

“He was really something else,” you said softly, the light in your eyes returning. “From what I remember anyway. I was in eighth grade when it happened. You know, I can’t even say you would have liked him. I mean he was…” you trailed off, lost in thought, “He was in a different crowd. But he just had this energy about him that was so… magnetic. You have that in common at least.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Magnetic?” 

The look you gave him made his heart flutter. A glint he caught in your eyes, there for only a second. “Yeah.”

You thumbed at the pencil on your desk again, brows furrowed in thought. “I never really went to many parties. Not in high school, not in college either. There’s a part of me that feels like I really missed out.”

“If it’s any consolation you’re really not missing much,” he said with a little chuckle. 

“I know but it’s still… an experience.”

Eddie nodded. “Yeah. Can’t argue with that.”

You sighed and looked at him again, the worry creeping back onto your features. “Please be careful, ok?” 

“I will,” he said. “I promise.”

______

A/N: We thought Tina’s 1984 Halloween party was angsty, who’s ready for Angstfest 1985??

I also want to make a little note that I hope teacher!reader having this very specific backstory element doesn't deter anyone from the story! It was important for me as a writer to give her a reason for her behavior and relationships (specifically with her mom). It's all going to make sense, I promise! Just stick with me 💜

I want to give a special shoutout this week to the people who leave feedback (especially every single chapter!), and to the people who send me excited asks and messages. Your encouragement really keeps me going, you have no idea. (I do love all your hearts too, shy folks, please don’t get me wrong! They make me smile and I cherish you.) 

I’m a small blog. I have less than 1k followers (but I’m closing in!). When I posted chapter one I had 165. This is my first big series and I’m learning a lot in the process. So if you love this story and feel comfortable sharing it, please do! I love you.

***If you want to be tagged or asked to be and don't see your name here, it's because I couldn't. Update your settings like this!

Taglist: @mermaidsandcats29 @toxicjayhoo @ooo-protean-ooo @jadequeen88 @wroteclassicaly @kissmyacdc @mantorokk-writes @msgexymunson @bebe0701 @latenighttalkingwithgrapejuice @bibieddiesgf @idkidknemore @alizztor @godcreatoreli @shotgunhallelujah @ethereal27cereal @munsonsgirl71 @luna-munson83 @eddiemunsonsbitcch @tlclick73 @emxxblog @siriusmuggle @sidthedollface2 @dollalicia @lma1986 @catherinnn @eddiemunson4life420 @readsalot73 @ruby-dragon @3rriberri @princess-eddie @nightless @eddiemunson011 @trashmouth-richie @eddieswifu @thew0rldsastage @quinnsfineline @chaoticgood-munson @beep-beep-sherlock @emily-roberts @averagemisfit03 @vintagehellfire @haylaansmi @newlips @munsins

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Tags continued in comments 💋

[yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere]

so, alright, here are the movies/MEDIA that make me go *oh shit I'm so bi, omg bisexual panic*

so, alright, here are the MOVIES that make me go *oh shit I'm so bi, omg bisexual panic* (it can be very bi-vibes movies or simply movies that make me feel how very deeply i love being bi, or the ones i just enjoy rewatching-not necessarily with bi/queer representation!) : Red, White & Royal Blue 2023 , The Mummy 1999, The Little Mermaid 2023, The Little Mermaid 1989, Anne Of Green Gables 1985, Anne Of Green Gables:The Sequel 1987, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story 2000, The Road to El Dorado 2000, Mulan 1998, The Cutting Edge 1992, Ten Inch Hero 2007, Rebel Without A Cause 1955, The Fallout 2021, Better Off Dead 1985, Anastasia 1997, Cinderella 2021, The Idea of You 2024, Rise Of The Guardians 2012, 10 Things I Hate About You 1999, Do Revenge 2022, Charlie’s Angels 2019, Bottoms 2023, Cadet Kelly 2002, Lemonade Mouth 2011, The Little Vampire 2017, John Tucker Must Die 2006, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 2016, The Princess and The Frog 2009, The Addams Family 1991, Addams Family Values 1993, Treasure Planet 2002, Atlantis: The Lost Empire 2001, The Favourite 2018, Challengers 2024, Upgraded 2024, Fallen 2016, The Half Of It 2020, Feel The Beat 2020, My Old Ass 2024, (+ will probably keep adding to this soon-ish)

+ edit TV SHOWS that my bi heart loves: One Tree Hill(OTH), Shadow and Bone, Roswell 90s(OG), White Collar, Reign, Mary & George, Heartstopper, Wild Cards, Living for the Dead, Warrior Nun, XO Kitty, Wednesday, Maxton Hall : The World Between Us (2024), Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous(JWCC) & Jurassic World Chaos Theory (JWCT) , Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Dawson's Creek, Vampire Academy 2022, Fallen 2024, Willow, Dickinson, Heartbreak High, Teen Titans, Legacies, TheAddamsFamily(1964-1966), Love Victor, Lockwood&Co, Queer As Folk, The L Word, Shadowhunters, Ginny & Georgia, Get Even (2020), Geek Girl (2024), Agatha All Along,

+ edit BOOKS/ BOOK SERIES that my bi heart absolutely LOVES:

Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer, Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi, The Folk Of The Air Series by Holly Black, The Diviners Series by Libba Bray, The Devouring Gray Duology by C.L. Herman, GRISHAVERSE books (Six of Crows!!, Shadow and Bone, King of Scars-3 mini series) by Leigh Bardugo , This Woven Kingdom Series by Tahereh Mafi , Fallen Series by Lauren Kate, Elixir Series by Hilary Duff, The Cemetery Of Forgotten Books Series by C. R. Zafón, The Keys To The Kingdom Series by Garth Nix, Infinity Cycle Series by Adam Silvera, Anne Of Green Gables Series by L. M. Montgomery, Bloodlines Series & Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead, An Ember In The Ashes Series by Sabaa Tahir, The Selection Series by Kiera Cass + STANDALONES Lauren Kate-Unforgiven (standalone book in my opinion), Eoin Colfer- Airman, David Nicholls- One Day, Gayle Forman-Just One- Day & Year & Night (mini series), Vanessa Len-Only a Monster (mini series here too), Adam Silvera- History Is All You Left Me, Adam Silvera- They Both Die At The End , Adam Silvera- The First To Die At The End, Becky Albertalli-Imogen,Obviously, Mason Deaver- I Wish You All The Best(+short novella here!), Casey McQuiston-Red, White & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston- The Pairing, Casey McQuiston-I Kissed Shara Wheeler, Casey McQuiston-One Last Stop, Aaron H Aceves-This Is Why They Hate Us, Wen-yi Lee- The Dark We Know, Mason Deaver-The Feeling Of Falling In Love, Sophie Gonzales-The Law Of Inertia, H.E.Edgmon-The Witch King & The Fae Keeper (duology!) , H.E.Edgmon-Godly Heathens & Merciless Saviors (mini series here!) , Carlos Ruiz Zafón- The Midnight Palace, Isabel Abedi- Whisper Haunted House, Francis Scott Fitzgerald- The Love Of Last Tycoon, Leo Tolstoy- Anna Karenina, S. E. Hinton- The Outsiders, Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera-Here's to Us & What If It's Us (duology), Page Powars- The Borrow a Boyfriend Club,(will keep adding here probably!)

BOOKS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BISEXUAL HISTORY & ACTIVISM:https://www.tumblr.com/ruimtetijd/686000390089621504/list-of-books-about-bi-history-and-activism-from

+ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q--nIkJu0OS0BgiyZmdKVwOVg1G90SFzWijNDWFTt58/edit#heading=h.wqkaxpi7o5je

+about THE MUSIC:

love you all, we need MORE bisexuality in media!!

+some links:

The Bisexual Flag, its meaning and history!:https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/762664140472008704?source=share + Lani Kaʻahumanu talking about how bisexuals have ALWAYS been around!:https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/762663819491328000?source=share

also i recommend this podcast ‘A Little Queer Podcast’ by two incredible bisexual people Capri Campeau and Ashley Whitfield. episode linked here, ‘Debunking Bisexual Myths and Stereotypes’ :https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wcP8HBIY0IyVxROjpZPNg?si=TIHDv-eFQi-mdsCS6zKzNA (all covered here for real!) +also check ‘A Bit Fruity Podcast’ by Matt Bernstein (very educating one!!)

THIS song (bi bi bi THIS IS OUR SONG!!) by Sub-Radio (the lead vocalist Adam Bradley is bisexual♥) :https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/765512527066087424?source=share &https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/765512891127480320?source=share + THIS BAND SINGING THE BLACK PARADE but make it ever more queer pride parade♥ :https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/765565710891155456?source=share &https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/765565917201612800?source=share (you’re scaring Ron you’re scaring Rooonn) + an awakening with HSM(?) :https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/765565797378719744/mndvx-subradioband-happy-pride-yal-anyone?source=share

(+IMPORTANT) (Nov,2023)-A Bit Fruity Podcast (created by Matt Bernstein (gay American Jewish man) Ep with Moe Dabbagh, a gay Palestinian American with family currently in Gaza. ‘Queers for Palestine & The Power of Pinkwashing’. Palestine has been occupied for more than 76 years now, since 1948 year. This ep gives you a LOT of information, especially if you are one of the people who can’t see right through the propaganda; or the ones who go ‘well if you’re gay then go to Gaza and see how that goes for you’. Queer Liberation is a liberation of Palestinian people. We can’t have one without the other. Free Palestine. Free all the people that are not yet free. This is where we start!! Ep on youtube :https://youtu.be/Xsgdk-DDSXc on spotify :https://open.spotify.com/episode/62WOjKJYih6lhuisP8tmZH?si=soRArGs1QeWqEzEaiSVlUg on iheartcom:https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-a-bit-fruity-with-matt-ber-117844074/episode/queer-palestinians-the-power-of-129612460/(keep learning & keep showing up!)

!!.http://alqaws.org/siteEn/index & https://queersinpalestine.noblogs.org/ + https://www.instagram.com/queersinpalestine/

[sipsandfables]

Unfiltered Thoughts While Reading: Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

⚠️⚠️⚠️ BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️⚠️⚠️

Chapter 1

If I were Violet, I’d be like “Forget these biscuits and EXPLAIN YOURSELF SIR” 😂

If Brennan survived, then why did Tairn’s old rider die? 

“Stop bringing logic into an emotional argument.” Hahaha love Violet

I will say though that if she’s going to be mad at Xaden, she can be mad at Brennan for the same thing

Chapter 2

is this foreshadowing? Will Violet or someone else learn the art of ward building to save them all?

“Weapons are the only things that can win this war” for someone so intelligent, I’ve never heard Brennan say anything more foolish than that 

Andarna is a teen 😂

will she go through an emo phase? Hahaha

At least it sounds like her mom wasn’t in on this murder plot 

“Fucking Dain.”

Lol agreed

Chapter 4

I love how Dain acts like nothing happened. Like, wtf? Why are you surprised Violet hates you?!

Unless he didn’t know about the plan somehow and we all just assumed he did.

Also, maybe another mind reader read his mind and he didn’t actually tattle? But even if that’s the case, he still read Violet’s memories without her permission this whole school year

Chapter 5

“I’m pleasantly fuddled but not entirely sloshed.”

Lol I’m using that the next time I get drunk

Chapter 6

Violet has more self-control than me. She should have let Xaden stay the night lol

Chapter 7

I knew it! So, less dragons are bonding because of the war and the venin. I wonder if they are bonding with the rebels or just staying out of it completely 

Chapter 8

so Aaric is the kings son?! Bold move 

And now Liam’s little sister?! This series is going to kill me 😭😭😭

oh shes angry lol 

“What in the angry-Mairi was that about?”

Lol I love Rhiannon

“I've danced with Malek more than my fair share over this last year and told him to fuck right off every single time. ”

LOL

Fuck this dragon and fuck Varrish. What. The. Hell.

I’d be so pissed if someone ran after that because that stupid dragon is killing people in the way anyways. Hide ya kids, hide ya wife, they’re flaming everyone up in here.

“If Solas comes near you again, he knows I will devour his human whole and let him rot within me while his heart still beats, and then I'll take the eye I so graciously left him." "That's...graphic."

Tairn has the best threats lol he and Violet were made for each other

Chapter 9

I knew Imogen would grow on me!

Omg I bet the person they’re interrogating is Xaden. He never made it out to his post and it’s why he hasn’t come to see Violet. I just don’t know how they can keep the dragons from each other 

“"I can take her," Sloane fires back, white-knuckling her knife, "From what your letter said last year, her joints pop right out. How hard can it be?" "Seriously?" I shoot a reproachful look at Imogen. "I can explain." Imogen puts her hand over her heart, "You see, I didn't like you last year, remember? You're kind of an acquired taste."”

hahahaha I love the banter in this series

OMG!!! Nadine!!! I am NOT okay with how fast characters be dying in this damn series!! 😭😭😭

Chapter 10

I knew this dude was sent by Aetos. So freaking sloppy! And the more this book goes on, the more I think Dain didn’t know about the War Games thing. He’s an annoying prick but I don’t see him being malicious enough to let Violet walk to her death. Plus, I actually don’t recall him shitting on people with a relic. He just seems to hate Xaden lol 

Welp, there goes my theory about Xaden being tortured lol

I find it hilarious that Xaden is so obsessed with Violet’s hair lol

Chapter 11

“Coconspirators with a vested interest in keeping each other alive.”

Lol love Imogen. She’s giving me Ron Swanson vibes here with his “work proximity associates” speech 😂😂😂

Banning people from knowledge in order to keep their corrupt secrets from the public is not sustainable. Sure, it drastically slows the distribution of information but the truth always comes out - it’s just a matter of when!

I wonder if the Scribes are translating everything from the old language in order to hide more lies

 Varrish grinning at Violet saying “dragons don’t take orders from humans” does not bode well. Has he found a way to control dragons? Or at least influence them with blackmail or something else?

Varrish is such a dick. Like, get a life dude. 

Chapter 12

That comment about a blade of grass sticking to Violet was so random. 

Chapter 13

This Varrish guy is the worst. He’s like Miss Umbridge from the Harry Potter series

“You wish you were my type. I’m phenomenal in bed.”

Hahahaha I love Imogen. SHE BETTER NOT DIE

Oh no, I bet it’s that freaking survival class test! They’re getting kidnapped!

Chapter 14

Tairn is so sassy and I love it

Obviously, the water is drugged! Have they never read a fantasy novel?! 

I adore Ridoc 😍

HE BETTER NOT DIE

You would think there would be more crossover activities and exercises between riders and infantry if they have to work together so much and infantry are expected to work alongside dragons

Chapter 15

Rhiannon is responding to Violet keeping secrets way better than Violet is to Xaden lol She’s like “hey, you’re hiding something and that’s fine but don’t lie about lying” with Violet. And Xaden is like “Honestly, I have secrets I can’t tell but here are all of the intimate details of my life.” Come on Violet! Quit trippin' and get back with Xaden lol

I don’t like the rift going on between Rhiannon and Violet this book. They need each other and it’s annoying lol

Alright 2 things that annoy me about this book so far:

1. The lack of Xaden and Violet scenes  2. Violet being mad at Xaden for keeping secrets from her in order to protect others

 Chapter 16

Yesssss, Imogen is spitting facts!!! Hopefully this will convince Violet to let him back in

“I’m still speaking.”

Okay Imogen 👀 She could get it 😏

Oh man, I really hope nothing happens to Rhi’s family and she blames Violet for keeping her in the dark

Of course she misses the interrogation technique class!!! Bad move man

Chapter 18

Theory time: Omg is death what’s powering the wards??? Is that why so many more people are dying at an alarming rate? They need more students to die to power up the wards? And maybe daggers work because they are an instrument for causing death?

“I want you.” All day. Every day.

LOLLL

Omg I love how ride or die Rhiannon is about Violet lol 

Who’s soul is Nolon mending?!

Chapter 19

Theory time: Solas’ orange is off and Dain’s dragon's breath stinks because they’re giving the dragons some concoction. Maybe it’s to control them? 

“Humans have the memories of gnats. Dragons hold grudges.”

Pearls of wisdom from Tairn lol

Damn it Tairn lol while I love that he put Varrish and Solas in their place, things just got a whole lot worse for Violet 😬

Chapter 20

“Ugh. Let’s go throw knives at shit.”

😂

Has Mira met Imogen? They’d be two peas in a pod lol

I’m also shook that they kill civilians. Wowwwww

Chapter 21

Man, this is starting to feel like Final Destination since all the Resson survivors are dying one by one

“History and current events are tied because one influences the other.”

Interesting foreshadowing 

I like Devera and I feel like she’s trying to do the right thing while the rest of leadership goes to shit. Like Professor McGonagall does when Dumbledore is no longer headmaster 

“That’s what we’re not going to do.”

You tell em, Devera!

I bet Varrish will be in charge of the torture lessons given his background and he’s going to try to kill Violet 

I was JUST wondering where Dain has been. Haven’t heard his holier than thou whining in a while lol

omg I called it in the last book! Her mom gave Xaden those scars! I also still think I’m right about Dain being guilty of being a prick but not of sending his best friend to get murdered 

Rhiannon is so smart! She reminds me of Bree from Legendborn 😍

I knew I liked Aaroc/Cam for a reason! Hope he doesn’t die….

Chapter 22

It’s strange that Violet is so bad at remembering names when she studied to be a Scribe her whole life lol

Chapter 23

For some reason, book 2 reads a little more like a YA novel than the first book

HAVE THEY LEARNED NOTHING?! Don’t  eat or drink anything!!!

Okay, you didn’t drink but did you eat the jam?!

Ridoc and his snake confession had me cackling

lol I totally thought Ridoc broke first but he was lying haha

I knew fucking Varrish would somehow weasel himself into this training

They’re using Dain? Well hell.

Also, isn’t his signet supposed to be a secret???

Chapter 24

Wait, they’re practicing on civilians?!?! At what point do people wake up and think “hmmm, we’re the bad guys”?

"We should consider quitting the quadrant." Ridoc jokes as we walk over the door and out of the chamber, "We'd be kickass thieves." "With dragons," Sawyer agrees. "Unstoppable," Ridoc says with a grin.

This is giving Six of Crows and I. Am. Here. For. It.

Unlocking doors? hmmmm interesting 

Chapter 25

I know exactly who did this! A scribe! It was the person walking in the hood earlier that Violet noticed. I wonder if it’s her friend or someone else

Those statements have to be true - Markham is acting too squirrelly about them

FUCKING JACK IS BACK?!

Idk how I feel about this book now lol like really? 

Hundreds of cadets die every year and they spent valuable resources and time to mend him?! What happened to “we let the weak die”?! This is utter bull

Also, Nolon mentioned how hard mending a soul is….it doesn’t sound like Jack has a soul 

Chapter 26

I love the nonchalant way Sawyer and Ridoc are ready to murder Jack lol

Chapter 27

Territorial Xaden is the best lollll he’s like who the hell's jacket is that and why isn’t it mine?! 😂

Well, that escalated quickly 👀🔥

Chapter 28

Oh that has to be his ex. The one that Bodhi mentioned

I knew it!

Chapter 29

“Pull yourself together”

Tairn with the tough love 😂😂😂

“I will already know, as I am continuously with you,” he grumbles. “Forced to bear witness to the awkwardness that is twenty one year old humans.”

💀💀💀

I forgot who Professor Kaori is but I love them!!

Chapter 30

FINALLY Violet realizes how hypocritical she was being about Xaden when she tells her friends part of the truth

I bet Andarna is sleeping longer than expected because she’s going to be powerful as hell lol

Holy shit. Too many people die too often in this series. I don’t even remember who Eya is!

Ridoc better not die

Chapter 31

Freaking JACK saved her?!?! What is this rouse?!

I 👏🏾 don’t 👏🏾 trust 👏🏾 him 👏🏾 

Let’s go Aaric! Sidebar, I need a novella about him. He sounds hot

Chapter 32

I thought Aaric ‘s brother died in Threshing! Well I guess Xaden could have killed him then lol

There’s no way Nasya sleeps through his post every time. I bet he’s spying on them

Oh Imogen has it taken care of lol good. Also, that’s a badass signet!

Chapter 34

“The birth of iron rain” !?

That sounds ominous

OMG LADY STOP DRINKING THINGS FROM OTHER PEOPLE

Fucking hell. I honestly can’t even feel anger for Nolon’s betrayal because I’m too annoyed with Violet rn lol

Chapter 36

So Dain is finally choosing the right side!

I’m so glad Varrish is dead! He’s the worst lol. Violet will definitely have to watch her back from Solas

Yay! Devera came through!

The secret is out! Finally!

Chapter 37

🌶️🌶️🌶️

Chapter 38

Andarna is back!!! Yayyy!

I bet this “blood magic” means sacrifice! they have to kill people to build a new ward

I knew Mira would punch Brennan after seeing him for the first time haha

Chapter 39

The 6 strongest riders: Caden, Felix, suri, bodhi, violet, Brennan - I’m surprised Mira isn’t one

Chapter 40

I do think Violet is a little slow on the uptake when it comes to understanding her power which is surprising since she’s so smart

I’m excited about this sibling trip lol

Chapter 41

“Fuck it. We don’t need a luminary.”

Mira is a whole vibe lol

Cat is the worst and Violet is annoying me by listening to her lol Xaden is obsessed with you girl - ignore this jelly belly lady

Well that explains why Violet was trippin' hahaha wasn’t her fault

Chapter 43

yeah I agree - allowing people to die on the parapet is unnecessary lol

Holy shit ! This entire hike is stressful as fuck!

RIDOC!!!

Chapter 45

“The problem with mankind is we too often find our souls to be a fair price for power.”

Chapter 47

I hope Violet kicks Cat’s ass and makes it embarrassing for her lol

Chapter 48

Well that was hawt lol

Xaden talking shit about Dain will never get old lol

The way Xaden feels about Violet reminds me of Rowan to Aelin because his love isn’t conditional and based on if she’s “good” - “If you’re a monster, I’m a monster” (Queen of Shadows)

Xaden is very swoon-worthy lol

Chapter 49

I feel like it’s always Sawyer pitching the idea to just kill an annoying enemy (Cat, Jack, Varrish) and I’m here for it 😂

HE BETTER NOT DIE

oh no….am I starting to find Dain not so bad? Lollll

Chapter 52

Theory time: I really think these nightmares are real - somehow the Sage is communicating with Violet through her dreams Theory Time: I bet she gets captured or agrees to go to the head Sage by the end of this book to set up the next book

Oh god, I really hope an attack doesn’t occur while they’re on this training mission and then Violet feels responsible for not putting up the wards sooner 😬

Chapter 53

Violet must be thinking of Xaden and how he might go mad since his dragon was previously bonded with someone in his direct line

Fucking Solas. I almost forgot about this enemy!

Chapter 54

Honestly I’m surprised she doesn’t have more enemies since if you kill her, you essentially kill 4 beings in one swoop

Andarna is a badass

Chapter 55

No lie, this fight between Xaden and Violet is a little silly and getting exhausting

Ah, I came to the wrong conclusion about Xaden and his bond with Sgaeyl 

Chapter 56

Omg is Xadens second signet mind reading? That would explain a lot. It would also explain why he’s scared to share since they execute people with that signet

Called it!!! I’m glad her response was not immediately “I don’t love you anymore”

Now I need to reread these books to see when he reads her mind. Oh man, I hate to say it but it kind of sounds like what Dain did to her last year

hmmmm, that was too easy lol

Ugh, we’ve been here before - Violet discovers a big secret about Xaden right before some war conflict and they’re fighting in the midst of chaos. Not sure I’m a fan that it’s a repeat of the last book lol

Chapter 57

well I’m glad Cat has stopped being a twat and decided that focusing on saving the continent is the way to go over petty squabbles over an ex lol She reminds me of Lysandra but in a good way lol 

I think the trouble with the writing of their relationship is that Xaden is so amazing and their relationship is so magnetic that their conflicts feel forced. The obstacles they face within their relationship are hard to develop when Xaden is always saying the right things after they fight lol Not that I’d want it any other way - but I think that’s why I’m struggling with not rolling my eyes when they get into arguments. Violet deserves to be angry about the betrayal but then it just feels like her decision on what she’ll do next about them takes FOREVER and it feels like it’s dragged out across a whole ass book.

Omg did Brennan come?! Is he announcing his “undeadness”?!

Violet immediately wants Xaden to use his secret signet on the others? I don’t disapprove at all but that better mean she will forgive him swiftly lol

It isn’t in Violet to NOT help innocent civilians if she can.

“I love you enough to bear the weight of your disappointment.”

Total mom sacrifice right there!

I need a novella of their mom and dad and how they got together lol

Chapter 58

If I were with the Rebellion, I’d agree to help Navarre on the condition that they make it public knowledge that Venin are real and they’ve been lying to citizens for centuries in order to keep a specific amount of citizens safe - that way, they’re not leaving innocents to die AND if they all survive the battle at Solstice, the rebels will walk away with an additional win (the entire continent knowing the truth)

am I the only one who visualize white walkers from GOT when I read about the venin in this book? Lol

Alright let’s go!!! Way to not turn into the enemies! 

Chapter 59

What is with Andarna’s scale colors?! Their changing colors have been mentioned all book - I wonder what’s the significance? Is she a rainbow dragon?! That would be dope lol

Jack's dragon's eyes are weird? Another reference to dragons seeming off! I bet they’re controlling it! But who would want the wards to fail? Who is Jack in league with if Varish is dead? IS Varish even dead?! Did freaking Nolon bring him back to life like he did with Jack?!

What the heck?! Did Jack become venin?! Why did he slaughter his own dragon?!?

Chapter 60

I knew he became venin! But didn’t realize it was for SO LONG!

Well, everything is going to hell in a hand basket 

“Fucking Jack.”

Ain’t that the truth lol

There’s no way this battle is in this book, there’s not enough pages left!!!!

Chapter 61

Can Andarna turn invisible??!

I’m so stressed lol

Chapter 62

Omg is Andarna a chameleon?!

Chapter 63

Theory time: Andarna is head of the seventh den of dragons! This is why she’s so unique. She’s not actually black like Tairn . I bet she’s one of one making her the head of her den. It would make sense since she’s an orphan 

Add-on to the theory: I think both journals are right but describe it differently. Warrick says six AND the one that combines all which must be what Andarna is since she’s always changing colors. Lyra’s journal says seven because it combines the six and the one

Good thing Andarna can make fire now!

Chapter 64

Not a Liam letter 😭😭😭

This heartfelt moment between Andarna and Violet is everything. 

The way that Andarna looks up to Tairn gives me all the feels

What about Sloane?! Can she somehow reverse her power and GIVE instead of siphon?

Ah yep, apparently she can.

Her mom is going to sacrifice herself! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Chapter 65

I’m honestly surprised Xaden killed the main sage. I figured he’d be a bigger part of the storyline 

Don’t tell me Xaden is also now Venin?! 😭

NOOOOO 😭😭😭

Sgaeyl is pissedddd

Chapter 66

OMG WERE THOSE XADENS DREAMS THE WHOLE TIME?! 

I can’t recall if Violet only had the nightmares when she slept near Xaden 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I am unwell.

[asmolbirb]

Birb liveblogs the final Temeraire trilogy: League of Dragons

Overseas travel edition! I devoured this book on a 15hr flight without the ability to update my reactions live, so here they are all in one go, with much less screaming in the tags

So obvs I’m devastated that Tharkay is gone again but it’s tickling me pink that Laurence is like “oh we’re cuddling on dragonback? It’s Tharkay or bust for me uwu”. And it’s undeniably hysterical that in the middle of The Most Important War Effort So Far, Novik is taking extra time to discuss dragonback cuddle logistics. Truly zero notes

Naomi Novik stop killing off everyone Laurence cares about challenge ToT ToT ToT

Laurence screaming and thrashing while Hammond and Temeraire play dress up with him might be the funniest running gag in the entire series

I LIED the funniest running gag in the series is every single description of Temeraire “heroically” expressing 1 singular generosity

The Miss Merkelyte romcom C plot is absolutely sending me. What the fuck is happening lmao

CALL THARKAY A FUCKIN WHACKAMOLE THE WAY HE’S ALWAYS POPPING UP OUT OF RANDOM-ASS HOLES IN EVERY WRETCHED SWATH OF BACKCOUNTRY ON THE PLANET

“I’m soooo over my act of treason it doesn’t bother me at all” <- words dreamed up by the utterly deranged (someone who is not over his act of treason even a little bit)

Awwww baby’s first PTSD…….. :(

This will not surprise anyone but I’m immediately obsessed with Ning. Big fan of a character whose primary narrative purpose is to tell everyone they’re being big old idiots

Hoo boy the way Laurence handles his authority, particularly when reprimanding rude subordinates, sets off my competency kink like no one’s business. And he’s built like a linebacker on top of that?? *fans self* I’m so so glad we get to see him be a proper captain again, it’s a lovely bit of closure to finish out the series

“My dear, that is the Temeraire, herself” PARDON ME I MUST SQUEAL, I’m so unbelievably soft for this owo

Laughing my ass off at Laurence turning his raggedy band of ferals into a bunch of crypto bros

Man remember in the first few books when the divine wind was this mighty and rare thing? And now it seems Temeraire is loosing the thing twice a chapter. I love *clenches fist* a tangible depiction of growth over the length of a narrative

Crying screaming gnashing my teeth over Tharkay showing up out of nowhere at the end of everything and saying “hey. Do u wanna retire with me while ur dragon menaces the government? Do u wanna do that maybe forever? Haha jk……. unless…..?” They’re both so silly and speaking in so much euphemism. It’s gonna take them 10 years to even kiss each other. I’m coming apart at the seams about it

[official-megumin]

Y’know, I generally like to think that I’m pretty good at staying in my lane, so I don’t typically stray too far into fandom stuff or whatever.

But as some people may know, destiny as a franchise recently turned 10 years old. And I wanted to talk a bit about that.

Back when I was a wee little girl at 14, destiny popped up at my local gamestop, this was back before gamestop left Denmark as well.

Back then I didn't even go to the internet. So all I knew about destiny was that it was made by the people behind halo. Which at the time was my favorite series.

All I had to go on about destiny was the little pamphlet I got when I pre-ordered it.

And the way all these worlds we've all grown up imagining visiting, being presented? It just captivated me, the way all the characters looked both like they came from a distant past and the far future all at once.

So I went the rest of the year just looking at this pamphlet. Again, I barely went online at this point, so I had no idea how excited people were online, I had no idea that I could find out more about it online.

And then it came out, I barely knew how my xbox worked, so it took me a week or more to even get access to the game.

So I made a character, a male warlock at the time. The promise of great powerful magic and discovery had me intrigued.

And I will never forget the first time I saw the game.

The intro, seeing humanity go to Mars for the first time, seeing the traveler and what it could do.

The shifting landscape in the back, almost showing how this is something that has happened time and time again, repeating for eons.

All with some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.

And then I got control of my character, and ghost spoke to me. I got to look around an abandoned road leading to a great wall.

Ghost told me I had to hurry because something was stalking us. I had no idea what.

So I kept going into the wall.

I still knew nothing, but this world already had me hooked. Around every corner was mystery and excitement.

As I went further through the wall, they found me; the fallen, a race of space pirate spider monsters.

Back in 2014 I just saw them as cheap copies of the covenant from halo. But as the years have passed, it had become so obvious that they are much more than that.

Luckily just before the fallen found me, or I found them really.

I found a rifle, a rifle that has stayed with me every since that day.

I still have my original khvostov in my inventory after all these years, still safe in my vault.

After fighting my way through the fallen, I came out the other side of the wall. And the world opened up.

It was a huge space port, filled with ancient secrets and rocket ships designated for the stars, but left to rot on Earth.

As I didn't have much time to play back then, it took me a while to get further.

A couple months later I reached the moon. Another place we all know so well from staring into the night sky.

But standing there in the dust of a great calamity felt different. And of course, we had neighbours there now.

The hive and their organic gothic architecture.

I pushed forward and reached Venus, another location that has etched itself into my memory.

The jungle, the vibrant volcanic pools everywhere, the blue lava and of course. The vex.

I robot hivemind existing beyond time. Like the hive and even the fallen. Their architecture was unlike anything I had seen in a game before.

It was geometric and ancient, it defied logic yet felt real.

It devoured Venus and imposed itself on everything.

Then I got to Mars, a planet that had defined my imagination unlike any celestial body till then.

Here we met the cabal. A race of militant giants.

At the time I didn't much care for them. But as we have moved further into the series, I have come to miss them as they were then greatly.

They were like us, they were conquerors and scientists. War pushed their limits in all fields of existence.

Like us, they tried to understand the vex.

And that let us to the black garden. The final level of the original game.

As I wasn't very experienced with gaming, I couldn't beat the final boss.

And as much as it's embarrassing to admit, it made me rage. And I ended up breaking a table.

This rage marked my end of playing until I was 15.

I had very limited money, so I didn't get to buy any dlc, or even play online with other people till then.

But then I somehow saved up the money to buy the taken king.

And since then I have bought everything on day 1. And the franchise has become a constant for me. It's become a source of comfort and excitement.

Be it exploring the dreadnaught or braving the plaguelands. Destiny 1 always sparked wonder.

Then destiny 2 came out, and I stuck around even in the darkest hours of the franchise.

It always hurt to see how much people hated what I loved so much.

As forsaken came out, my thoughts and feelings about my gender were starting to resourface.

I started struggling more, but destiny was still there for me.

A year passed, and by this point I had admitted to feeling how I did, and I came out as trans.

With the nex expansion called shadowkeep, old content returned too.

The first ship you got in destiny 1, the arcadia class jumpship. Returned, and it had me excited.

I started over, made a new warlock, female this time. To reflect who I now was. It also saw us return to the moon. It let us, for the first time in destiny 2. Explore hive architecture.

And I loved it.

This time was especially hard for me. It was a time of the players being the least hopeful since destiny 2 launched.

And it was a time where I was on the brink of collapse.

I attempted to take my own life, and in the wake of that. I came out to my fiends and aquaintences.

Luckily for me, this still mostly worked out, and I kept having friends to play with.

As the year kept going, beyond light was announced, and I lost interest for a while.

Gear would be sunset and I would lose all the armor I had worked so hard to aquire for years.

I didn't come back till the season just before transmog was introduced.

It happened to drop on my birthday.

Since then I have played pretty much constantly.

We have seen highs in the form of witch queen, and lows in the form of lightfall.

But I stayed through all of it. Enjoying all of my time spent in the process.

And now, tens years after I set out on this journey with bungie leading me and all other players.

It's over, the light and dark saga has been completed.

We defeated the witness.

And I'm thankful I got to experience it.

Few things in my life has been there for me as consistently as destiny.

I left out so many things that has happened over those 10 years.

I barely have mentioned the lore and how it helped get me back into the game several times over the past decade.

I have alluded to how much the music has meant to me.

But it has been the one consistent thing about the game, and now all the original composers are gone.

And I'm sad to see it end. But I regret none of my time in this game.

Neither do I want to see it go now.

Bungie has announced the next multi year saga. And I'm ready for it.

I'm excited to see the mystery and wonder return to this franchise so near and dear to me.

Thank you bungie, for letting me have this in my life

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #51 – Monstress Volume 8: Inferno by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

This is the last volume of Monstress that’s currently published and (since vol. 9 is coming out in November) the second-last I’m going to read this year. Which could be either a good or a bad thing, I suppose. This is the first volume I can say I genuinely didn’t enjoy, not even grading on a curve fro the highs of the rest of the series but in general. Not awful, but not good either – by far the most ‘comic-bookey’ plot arc so far, and I really don’t mean that as a compliment.

Through a variety of contrivances involving Maika’s friends journeying to the centre of her mind to try and wake her up from her coma and finding a massive and seemingly living statue of Adara Farclaw – the previously semi-mythical ancient hero-sage of the cats – our main cast (plus the ghost of Maika’s childhood self created by the sheer intensity of her own self-loathing) find themselves on the prison world where Zinn trapped all his kin to keep them from devouring the world we’re more familiar with back in pre-history. They’ve adapted surprisingly well, adopting humanoid forms and farming for the food they need. Immortal but sterile, their history since has been dominated by an endless race war between the first generation Fallen Houses (Zinn’s peers) and the second-generation and much reduced in grandeur (but increased in numbers) Defiled. Zinn, Maika, and the fragment of the Shaman-Empresses’ mask they brought with them are a chance to upset the balance of power, or perhaps even escape – and both sides are willing to do anything it takes for that chance.

Though all that plot aside, the actual point of the volume is to a) provide great reams of lore on the Monstra in general and Zinn’s past and present relationship with the rest of their species in particular and b) give Maika a chance to work on her self-esteem issues and guilt over accidentally killing and eating her mom as a child by providing a tulpa of 10-year-old her to scream at, protect, and reconcile with. Also a bunch of stuff about cats.

I can see the version of this story that works for me, at least in broad strokes. But yeah, the one that actually exists really didn’t. The largest part of that is just allocation of narrative resources, I think? As the book goes on, it has become steadily less interested in the themes and aesthetics I find more compelling to focus on it’s deep lore mythohistory and melodrama among the elder gods, to the point of just leaving the actual setting with its fascinating politics and societies entirely for basically the last two volumes. It begins to make me question why I’m still reading. Maika as a character is profoundly interesting, but having her just clearly announce her issues to a literal embodiment of them is not, to me, particularly compelling reading.

On an aesthetic level, the strange and alien prison planet let me deeply unimpressed. It was all so..familiar. Even the two warring nations of eldritch god-monster have ended up basically human-sized and human-shaped, farming and eating and using tools and building structures in instantly recognizable ways. There’s an excuse offered, but I’m still left wondering why even bother if it’s going to be so unspectacular.

I also found myself disappointing in how...monotonous, I suppose? The aesthetics of technology are growing to be. The guns, tools and armour of these cat worldwalkers who’ve been living underground on this prison world for centuries look almost identical to what technology of the Shaman Empress and the toys the Blood Court uses and- Even if you can torture and justify it all to make sense, it just gets boring and samey eventually, you know? Makes the world feel small.

Which is related to my thematic issues with the volume, in a way. The story is clearly much more interested in the grand, superhuman drama of the monstra, the exploration of multiple worlds and lost continents, space age high technology, more species and relics and myths and just – it all piles up so much that the result just ends up feeling more generic and boring than the more focused and detailed world of the first few volumes was. This is made far worse (for me, anyway) by the fact that Zinn seems to have been personally involved with literally every major historical personage that was mentioned at any point.

The most concise way to put it is that at the start of the story Maika et al really felt like people inhabiting a world, and now it’s at Star Wars levels of the world feeling like a canvas for a specific set of people’s melodrama. Nothing wrong with that, in the slightest – I just prefer the other, and feel a bit cheated by the shift.

On a different thematic level I kept waiting for some real, like, narrative pushback or reversal about how the Defiled are treated as these disgusting morally abhorrent abominations for the fundamental crime of being genetically impure and ‘spiritually mutilated’ and...never really got it?

Anyway, pacing wise the arc is much too short to be a complete, satisfying version of the story it wants to tell, and much, much too long to be a part of the longer story it is a detour from. The story never becomes offensively bad, but I am honestly reading as much out of inertia as anything by now.

[pieandpaperbacks]

Top 10 books of 2023

My favourite books of 2023, in no particular order:

A House With Good Bones - T. Kingfisher I was so disappointed when this didn’t win the goodreads choice awards for horror of the year. It’s so creepy and unsettling but in a uniquely T. Kingfisher way that somehow manages to still be funny and kind of cozy.

Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett Of all the Discworld books I read this year, this one was definitely my favourite. I feel like Pratchett started to find his stride in this one, which I noticed more reading chronologically. Also it’s a spoof of Macbeth, and I’m a sucker for anything with Macbeth jokes.

The Bone Season (10th Anniversary Revised Edition) - Samantha Shannon I’ve loved the Bone Season series ever since I binged it in 2021, but the first book always fell a little flat for me. This revised edition fixed all the problems I had with the original. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a really unique fantasy/dystopia.

A Day of Fallen Night - Samantha Shannon I love Priory of the Orange Tree, so I was a little hesitant about a prequel, but ADOFN somehow managed to surpass Priory. It’s a  perfect high fantasy that spans many countries and characters, and features multiple sapphic characters, as well as bisexual, asexual, and other queer folks. This was my absolute favourite book of the year.

Stone Butch Blues - Leslie Feinberg One of the most important queer novels of the last 50 years. So glad I read this.

Tell Me I'm An Artist - Chelsea Martin This book found me at just the right time. It asks what it means to be an artist, and explores the intersections between the art world and privilege, and looks at the age old question; what is art?

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir I am so late to the Locked Tomb hype, and I can’t believe it took me this long to pick up Gideon the Ninth! The Locked Tomb is quickly becoming one of my favourite fantasy series.

Heartstopper Volume 5 - Alice Oseman I waited all year for this instalment of the Heartstopper series to come out, and I devoured it in one day. Alice Oseman's work is always beautiful and heartfelt, and Volume 5 of Heartstopper is no exception.

The Well of Ascension - Brandon Sanderson I dipped my toes into Sanderson's work for the first time this year, and I started with the Mistborn series. While the prose is not the most complex, the characters and setting are what truly drew me in. So far, The Well of Ascension is my favourite of the trilogy.

Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher I read six T. Kingfisher books this year, with the first one being Nettle and Bone, and it's still one of my favourites. A weird dark fairytale with goblin markets, a quest to kill a prince, grave witches, an evil puppet, and a chicken possessed by a demon. What else could you want?

[jackie-gremlin-ghost]

Today marks 7 years since the reawakening of my Captain Underpants hyperfixation, which had been asleep for a very, very long time.

I had first discovered the books much like any kid in the late 90s/early 2000s; at the Scholastic Book Fair. If I remember correctly, the first one I had found was the second book, Attack of the Talking Toilets. I remember thinking how silly the cover looked, and it drew my little elementary school self in like a moth to flame.

I had quickly read it and absolutely loved it, and like discovering a new favorite treat for the first time, I immediately wanted more.

I was able to find the first book in my school’s library so I was able to get the full story on the two best friends who pulled the ultimate prank by hypnotizing their grouch of a school principal, and how it immediately became the worst decision they ever made.

And I loved every second of it.

As the years went on, I eagerly anticipated the Book Fair’s arrival at my school and would beg my mom for a few dollars extra, just so I get my hands on the newest adventure.

I devoured every single story I could find and bought as soon as I could, and each one was more entertaining than the last. From alien lunch ladies and zombie nerds, to a megalomaniac professor with an incredibly silly name in a giant robot with charts that you could use to give yourself a silly name (mine is “Poopsie Bananachunks” BTW), to an insane hypnotized woman with Medusa hair that gave atomic wedgies.

The more I read and reread these stories, the more I couldn’t help but think that it would make a pretty fun movie, or at least a tv show.

These stories had been with me through a lot of ups and downs in my life, the biggest being my parents’ divorce. They were there to remind me that even when times could be tough, you can make it through and still be able to laugh at even the silliest of things, no matter how old you got.

By the time I was 10, I got my hands on the latest book in the series, The Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 1. I loved it as always, but was shocked to see it ended on a cliffhanger. This had never happened before. I was anxious to see what would happen and how George and Harold would get out of this mess.

But… it would be some time before I got those answers.

Time went on, and my attention went to other things. I found new hyperfixations over the years, and while I didn’t have the 7th book at the time, I was eventually able to get answers thanks to the internet.

Eventually I entered middle school, and I found myself drawn to new book series that I grew to love, but Captain Underpants remained a big part of my childhood and some of its happiest memories. And for a while, I thought that was all it would be; memories to just fondly look back on.

But that all changed the winter of 2016.

It was the halfway point between Christmas and New Year’s, and I was gonna be 24 in less than a month. I was spending my downtime between holidays like any other bored 20-something year old; scrolling through Tumblr, of course. It was during that time that I stumbled across this post by @mondentertainment. It was photos of posters from a Licensing Expo, showcasing upcoming animated projects, be it films or series.

Among them were a few that sounded promising, others not so much.

But what caught my eye was this.

A poster from DreamWorks with a very familiar face on it.

I could barely believe what I was seeing, and from the comments and reblogs on the post, neither could a lot of other people.

It was like a door that had been long locked in the back of my brain finally burst open, and all those memories came flooding back, particularly of a reoccurring thought that ran through my young mind whenever I would look at those illustrations every time I turned the page.

Could it really be true? Was one of my favorite childhood books finally getting a chance to truly come to life on the big screen?

It had already happened once before after I read Coraline in middle school, so there might be a chance.

As you could probably imagine, I poured my thoughts of hope and excitement into the tags as I reblogged the post.

And when the trailer finally dropped three months later, it was like meeting that one childhood friend you never truly forgot all over again.

So much happened after seeing the movie on opening night, including meeting Dav Pilkey himself!

And all the great memories and friends I’ve made since rediscovering the fandom all lead back to that one moment on December 28th, 2016.

And I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

[somereaderinblue]

It's already Day 6 of Trigun Fanfiction Appreciation Week. I don't want any regrets so here goes: I give you a VW mpreg rec list. If this isn't your cup of tea, that's fine. If it is:

what I am trying to cultivate… by Altered-Havoc (Altered_Karma)

100/10, I've lost count on how many times I reread this. Both of them have suffered & after everything, they finally get a soft epilogue. Angst? Who dat? This is 80% comfort to me.

Surprise, Wolfwood! It's A Bouncing Baby Plant! by @attackofthezee, rated T

WW returns from the dead & there's a surprise waiting for him. 3 guesses as to what it is.

Until The End by squishycake, rated E

“Someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story.” – Richard Siken A bittersweet fic wherein an aging WW makes peace with his mortality but not before Vash two new lives.

Innocent Souls by NaughtyJacks (JackalJamboree), rated T

In a quiet moment, Vash asks WW to bless the two blessings he carries. Vash knows WW is still keeping secrets from him, but he also knows that he's decided to choose Vash & his kids over them. And that only makes him love him more.

o' light, won't you shine (upon souls of youth) by seventhgiver (fifthgiver), rated T

Another bittersweet fic wherein WW still faces his canon death, but Meryl & Milly are there to support Vash through thick & thin. There's angst, but it really does have a happy ending.

dear star and spring bud, my preachers by elemmacil, rated T

Post-canon AU where VW have a child. Does a great job at depicting their awe over the fact that they were allowed to make this dream their reailty.

I've Taken to Calling Him Nico by mak000000, rated G

Short one-shot wherein Vash tells WW that the little boy he assumed to be Lina's baby brother is in fact someone's kid. 3 guesses as to who's the father.

i’d give you the sun (i’d give you the sun) by justotherdays, rated M

Set post-Trimax, full of nothing but tenderness & a much deserved happy ending.

This is not humanity's song, this is ours by O_ToJoy, rated M & T

An AU where Knives's victory is short-live & WW has to pick up the pieces, one of said pieces being Nikolai. He's 16 years too late, but that won't stop him from trying.

Talk About Timing by lucifergooseifer (Lucifergooseifer), rated M

A small detour causes everything to NOT go according to plan. BUT! Nothing (too) bad happens, I swear.

A Black Angel at Your Side by hazeltea (madlovescience), rated E

I would've listed this at the top but then I read it, cried, & slapped it here. I want to devour this but also throw up. On a side note, I like how this fic depicts Livio's still somewhat religious view on Plants & how said view is deeply embedded in NML's culture, which causes conflict with the Earth Federation. There's also a Meryl POV chapter where she justifiably remains wary of Livio/Razlo, which really individualizes her. Also has fanart.

Flower Dew, Deep Waters, Desert Thirst & Use My Heart by cloudbureiku, rated E & M

Aside from smut, there's also tender caring & non-sexual intimacy, all of which are three of many reasons why VW is our bread & butter.

Lavender by @vaporame

Gotta love it when Plant pregnancy involves markings & telepathic bonds. Totally makes breaking the news to your s/o less nerve-wracking. Their other VW works are also recommended.

Modern AUs

To Build a Home by hielhue, rated G

Everyone is alive & happy, and WW narrates how he met Vash, fell in love & started a family.

cause everything else is a substitute for your love by @sascake, rated M

VW have a bad history when it comes to using protection despite one of them ironically owning a sex shop. They're not perfect but they make it work.

little moment verse by justotherdays, rated G & M

VW's journey as parents. In the second fic in the series, the author isn't afraid to write how some parents, no matter how much they love their child, still inevitably struggle. Which is why it's important to have support.

devil on your shoulder (or the angel laying on your tummy) & paint the town red by cloudbureiku, not rated & G

The former guest stars the one & only Kuroneko while the latter shows us why it really isn't advisable for heavily pregnant parents to sit on the floor.

[thatonebirdwrites]

Fandom creators tag game

1. What sort of content do you create, and what is the thing you’ve made that you’re most proud of?

I write stories. Usually original science fiction, but in the past two years, I've branched into fanfiction. I also create art and music.

I'm damn proud of my rewrite of Book 2 of Legend of Korra in my Shared Moments series.

I wish I could find a publisher for my original fiction; then I could share what I'm most proud of but alas. The publishing market is incredibly hard to get into and I don't have the health to self-publish, so we'll go with the Korrasami tales for now. For art, I'm damn proud of this piece I did of Lena.

2. What fandom(s) do you create for?

Korrasami from Legend of Korra.

Supercorp from CW's Supergirl

Rojarias from CW's Supergirl.

3. What is your current favourite ship (or brotp if you prefer), and how controversial is it?

Korrasami. Not controversial much at all. (As a side note, Supercorp feels like an angstier Korrasami. Might be why I like that ship equally well. Supercorp doesn't seem controversial?)

4. For your answer to question 3, are they canon?

Yes, Korrasami is canon. (Supercorp isn't necessarily canon, but there's so much evidence of it in the show that it might as well be.)

5. What was your first fandom, and how old were you?

First fandom I created something for? Or first fandom where I dived into and read everything I could? Because if it's read everything I could, then it's Star Wars before Disney threw out the old Canon (still salty about that). I'd have been pretty young -- still a kid when I was devouring all the Star Wars books. I didn't have any favorite ship though while I did this.

For something I created, Korrasami was the first one I wanted to create art and writing for to be honest. That was three years ago when I started writing Korrasami.

6. What is your most unhinged fandom creation to date?

Oh, that's a Supercorp one. I was inspired by a weird camera glitch, and wrote an unhinged horror set after season 6. The first part of it is in tumblr. I have yet to publish to AO3 mostly because I want to finish more of it before I do. Sort of loosely based on Lovecraft's Color out of Space.

7. Do you remember what started you off creating fandom content, and if so, what was it?

Three years ago I first started drawing and writing Korrasami. Then I branched out into Supercorp.

8. Do you let people you know in real life see your fandom creations?

Only my trusted friends and siblings.

9. How do you feel about fanworks of fanworks? Has anyone ever made something based on a thing you made?

If anyone did, they have never shared it with me. I would love to see it, and I'd treasure it always!

Though if I'm being honest. I doubt I'll ever get fanworks. Why would anyone go to that much trouble for something I wrote? I doubt anything I write is worth that much.

10. What feeling do you most often try to evoke with your creations?

I want to show possible healing journeys that aren't the most painful angstfest known to humanity. I want people to feel the journey too, to capture the world within the character's senses so that their tale feels real.

Whether I achieve this, I have no idea. Some people have written very kind comments stating that I have, and I am delighted by those comments.

11. Has someone ever paid your work a compliment (in any form) that has stuck with you, and what was it?

Two people have said I made a place feel alive through the storytelling and worldbuilding I did. That compliment haunts me in all the best ways, and I have done my best to try to keep that tradition going.

12. What’s your favourite thing someone else has made that you’ve seen in the last 24 hours (and link it if you can find it again!)

It was a Supercorp art piece, but after searching, I can't seem to find it again. It was Lena leaning backwards into Kara's arms, while Kara gently holds her. Colored piece, digitally drawn I think. They look almost like they were swaying back and forth.

13. Give a small sneak preview of something you’re working on right now (eg a couple of sentences of fic from a WIP, a gif set theme, a small piece of a larger picture, whatever you feel happy to share)

Korrasami:

Korra looked at their entangled hands. “Yeah, yeah, it’s just some stitching.”

“And yet, that ‘some stitching’ made something wonderful.” Asami was determined to remind Korra of what she could do. It’d been her mantra for the past six months. She wanted Korra to regain her confidence, but it'd been difficult. Thanks to Asami's foolishness they'd both backslid.

Korra had called it Asami’s paranoia.

Maybe they were both right.

Supercorp:

Lena rises before dawn, prepares her corporate armor, and heads to her full-time job as CEO of L-Corp. Today’s agenda includes four meetings, one of them with the board, an hour of lab time, a brief lunch, and a visit to Florence in late afternoon.

It’s the visit with Florence that troubles her the most. The exposure to the strange artifact gave her unsettling dreams, and she woke in a cold sweat after a particularly gruesome one. In that one, she’d had no control over her body, only watched in horror as another person used her abilities to harm all she loved.

Kara had woken too, and her gentle reassurances had helped Lena fall back asleep, this time with no dreams.

Diving into work to escape the nightmares is how she copes. Perhaps not the healthiest, but undoing all her bad coping mechanisms will take far longer than just admitting they exist.

Rojarias:

Tomorrow morning? Sam reeled from the news. That gave her very little time to pack and prepare Ruby for Sam being gone a week or two.

Yet here she was again, unable to say no. Especially not when two beautiful women were looking at her expectantly.

Damn, Sam was too gay for this. “All right. Tomorrow it is.”

14. Have you ever seen/read anything made by the person who tagged you? If so, what was it and what was your favourite thing about it? (pick a favourite if there are several)

Yes, I have. I'm not entirely sure what exactly they published on AO3 however. I found the tiny Kara piece absolutely hilarious.

15. Do you leave comments on fandom works, and if so how would you describe your comment style?

I do leave comments, yes. I share my enjoyment of the piece, sections that really stood out to me, and/or an overall feeling I got from the piece. I'm trying to be more consistent about it since I know how much comments mean to me as a writer, and I know other writers enjoy them too!

16. How many works in progress do you currently have? Will you finish them all?

Original fiction: (on hiatus but I do plan on finishing) 3

Korrasami: 2 (plan on finishing them, yes).

Supercorp: 3 (yes, plan on finishing them.)

Rojarias: 1 (yes, I need to get on this as it's due next month actually).

Art for Supercorp: 1 (I also need to work on finishing this before the due date next month. I got the rough sketch and need to run it by the author to make sure it's what they want, before I go to town inking it).

17. what’s the longest it’s ever taken you to finish a fandom project?

Shared Moments: Books 1 through 3 (the finished ones) took me a year. A million words no less. Whew. I'm working on Book 3.5 now. I tend toward longer works, which takes a few months to complete.

My shorter fiction (the ficlets) take less than an hour usually.

For art, it takes me one to three weeks.

18. Describe the thing you made most recently in a way that is technically true, but also completely misleading. Link the thing if it’s published!

These paralleled kisses shake their world. (A chapter for Unraveling Realities)

19. Do you ever engage with fanworks for a fandom you’re not in? Which one(s) and how did you get into it?

I'm not really sure what counts as being "in" a fandom or not. If I enjoy something, I'll engage with it, but does the engagement mean I'm "in" the fandom now? Or do I have to create something and talk with others in the fandom to be considered "in?" How does this work?

20. Recommend a fan work from your fandom to your followers

I absolutely adore Make this your home by pcrtifacts so much I even made fanart for it. It's not finished, but it's regularly updated and so, so good.

Suggested tag list, but there are no rules here, follow your heart.

A mutual you have never actually spoken to but think seems cool -- All my mutuals are really cool! And I'd love to read more of their stuff. Thanks all of you for sharing your stuff!!

The most recent person whose content you engaged with (eg read a fic, reblogged art, whatever form you feel best fits) -- I'm not sure? Maybe the person I reblogged this from?

Someone whose content you saw via tags/reblogs and you followed them because of it @luthordamnvers (I honestly love the indepth knowledge of the show nic has, how willing to share that knowledge, nic's kindness, the fics they write. Honestly, all around wonderful person.)

Someone in your fandom that you think makes cool things @ekingston (Shape of Soup being my favorite plus the art is amazing.)

Someone in a different fandom that you think makes cool things (this is hard. I really only seem to follow or find Korrasami, Supercorp, and on rarer occasions Rojarias or Dansen. There's some Star Wars folks that do fun things, but I can't remember their usernames tho.)

Someone you always tag on things like this @nottawriter

Someone you have never tagged before (I can't remember who I tagged before, so I guess whoever wants to play this game?)

Someone you would like to get to know better @pcrtifacts (love, love their make this place your home fic. And chatting in comments with pcrtifacts has been lovely.)

Someone who makes art you like -- @snazzy-korra (honestly, she's an all around amazing person, and Iove all her art and chatting with her. So grateful for our chats too.)

Someone who writes fics you like: @fazedlight (I seriously love everything mel writes. It's all so damn good. I even wrote a fanfic continuation of a piece I really liked of mel's ficlets. First and only time I've ever done that.)

I suspect some of these people have been tagged multiple times. My apologies if so. But I did want y'all to know how you're appreciated and how much I enjoy your content too. :)

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 10: Lessons in Larceny Only a mischievous kitsune could turn a lockpicking lesson into an innuendo fest.

Mitsuhide x OC; Hideyoshi x MC (Mai)

All Chapters Archived on Ao3 

Logline - With Mai, Hideyoshi, and Aki missing, Mitsuhide and Katsuko reluctantly team up. Disguised as a merchant and his concubine, can they outsmart the man known as the God of Deceit?

“What do you think of my gift?” Mitsuhide gestured to his former personal quarters, which now sported a few feminine touches – a low table filled with cosmetics, a rack displaying the recently purchased peach kimono, and a delicate tapestry.

What it did not contain - a window.

With Sho next to me, oohing and aahing over the surprise gift, I could not tell him exactly what I thought about his room switching gambit. “I am overwhelmed, Master Kyubei.”

“After all, with your new wardrobe arriving soon, I believe you should have more space.” He paused and then his Kyubei disguise was marred by a smile that was pure Mitsuhide tease. “Perhaps some might say I’m spoiling you, but this is what you deserve.”

More space… ha!

The new room did not appear any larger than the previous one. In fact, it seemed smaller, with the smell of sandalwood and cinnamon pervading every corner. It would be like sharing a room with his ghost – or astral projection (not that I believed something like that was possible, although if it had been possible, I completely believe Mitsuhide could and would practice it). Crowded in, with no means of escape. Now that Mitsuhide slept directly under my old window, in the room closest to the stairway, I would not be able to sneak out in the night without waking him up.

The curtailed freedom on my end resulted in curtailed conversation for him, as I gave him the silent treatment for a few days, and our meals devolved into me glaring at him while he devoured a series of increasingly disgusting smelling meals.

(It’s possible that he didn’t consider eating in uncomfortable silence a loss).

Whatever he did while the sun was up, I had no idea. While I suffered days of beauty regimens (apparently my skin needed ‘help’ and my hands were ‘hopeless’) under the guidance of sweet but uninteresting Sho, he would, in that long dark wig, disappear in the morning and not reappear until it was time for Sho to return to the house she shared with her mother and siblings. I couldn’t leave the house with her, in case she was a spy for Shojumaru, nor could I leave her alone for the same reason.

Needless to say, the whole beauty routine was mind-numbingly dull. I had never enjoyed the twenty-first century version, and the Sengoku stuff was even worse. Thankfully, the merchant class that I would be moving about in didn’t conform to the aristocratic customs of shaving off their eyebrows and blackening their teeth.

So when after five days of repetitive afternoons and silent evenings, the first of my outfits was delivered, I was nearly tempted to kiss it in relief, even though it was pale pink. At least it meant that Mitsuhide would take me out.

Somewhere.

Anywhere…

“…the meeting of the Kaigoshu?” I was impressed in spite of myself. “How did you manage to get an invitation to that?” Even Francisco, who had been based in Sakai for several years, hadn’t managed to break through that barrier (or maybe he had, but didn’t realize what it was).

“Another spice merchant owes me a lot of money.” That was all he had to say about the matter. Gambling was illegal, so I was left to wonder what the spice merchant had done to get in Mitsuhide’s debt. Potentially that fell into the ‘you don’t want to know’ category.

“And you’re permitted to bring me?” Sounded fishy. I doubted that anyone else would bring a courtesan to what amounted to a city council meeting.

“I am certain you’re aware of the concept ‘it is better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.’” It was the night prior to the meeting, and rather than go back to my room to sulk, I had allowed my curiosity to get the better of me and had followed Mitsuhide into his office. “In my observations, it appears to be your primary mode of operation.”

“I’m familiar.” I could not deny that I’d found myself asking for forgiveness a lot.

From the look he gave me, Mitsuhide had expected that answer. “Not that it would make any difference in this particular situation, for Kyubei is not the type to ask for either permission or forgiveness.”

Yeah. I’d figured. “Do you have a particular plan? Or is this simply for reconnaissance?” Maybe he already had a theory to test out. Who knows? I wasn’t in the loop.

“Oh my, I see you’re talking to me again. Did we get bored with the silent treatment?” He didn’t look at me when he asked, preferring instead to unroll a scroll of paper, and read (or pretend to read) it.

“I’m talking to a co-conspirator about a mission. As soon as we get those details figured out, then you will become invisible to me once again.” Well, he probably hadn’t been invisible since birth, but I would give it my best shot. “So? Plan? Generalized snooping?”

He put down the scroll and sighed – theatrically, so I am sure he didn’t mean it. “If you can wander amongst the Portuguese merchants and listen to their conversations, that will allow me to concentrate on the Japanese ones.” He didn’t mention Shojumaru specifically, but I figured the man had to be at the top of our suspect list.

Ok. Cool. Was that so difficult to tell me? “And if it looks like you’ve gotten into trouble, I should create a diversion so we don’t have to fight our way out? Not that I couldn’t fight if you need me to.”

“Dear me, are you questioning my competence? I will not get into trouble.” He picked up the scroll again and I am certain he was just using it to shield himself from me.

I took no offense. I was just happy that I was finally going to be permitted to do something. Well. Tomorrow I would be doing something. Tonight… I couldn’t face another night staring at the windowless walls of my new room.

It wasn’t until my third circuit of the office that I realized I was pacing.

Mitsuhide glanced up and distracted me from my walkabout. “Is there a reason for your prowling? One would have thought that you went through here thoroughly the other night.”

“The other night I was looking for something in particular.” I paused in front of a neat display of musical instruments – a flute, a koto, and a biwa – arranged neatly among some Noh masks – had these, like the furniture and décor, belonged to the previous tenant? They looked too exquisite to belong to whomever had painted the walls red and black, and owned that gruesome screen in my former bedroom. Something told me that these were Mitsuhide’s, although I couldn’t back that up with any evidence. Just… a feeling. “Now, I’m just looking.”

He finally put the scroll down. “Any competent spy ought to be able to perform both at the same time.” He motioned me over to his desk, opened the drawer for like… three seconds… and then slammed it shut again. “What is in the drawer, brat?”

Oh.

A game.

A puzzle game.

I love this stuff. “A pot of ink, a spare brush, three locks – probably Chinese in origin, a roll of paper, and not my letter, which you really should return to me.”

He raised one eyebrow. Ok now you’re just rubbing it in that you can do that and I can’t. Then he opened the drawer again and peered inside. “You missed four items.” He pulled them out of the drawer as he named them. “A small clump of dust… a crumb of… mm… is that dried rice?” He popped it in his mouth and bit down on it (and… ew). “Still unknown. And a set of lock picks.” He held up a few metal rods of varying lengths and thickness.

Oooh. Lock picks. That was interesting. I wondered if he could show me how to…

He derailed my thought by asking, “what does this combination of items tell you?”

“That the desk is commonly used by a thief who writes a lot of letters and rarely dusts? Particularly a correspondence thief who also has a cast iron stomach.” I sent him a look of contrived innocence along with the snark.

“Consider the order of the items in the drawer. The placement shows that the locks were used more recently than the paper.” He laid them next to each other on the desk. They were all rectangular shaped padlocks, one with kanji characters written across it, although I suspected it was Chinese, not Japanese, simply because most locks in this era were made in China. “You do appear to be interested in these – considering brushing up on your burglary skills?”

Hey, a girl’s gotta have a parachute.

“Aki says no knowledge is ever wasted.” Show me. Show me. Show me.

The eyebrow went up again. It was getting a workout tonight. “Yes… you are indeed uncharacteristically fixated on these. Dare I suggest a lesson in larceny?”

I mimicked his bored tone. “Why yes, I believe I would find that a pleasant interlude.”

Aaaand of course he took my wording and ran with it. “Oh my. If it’s a pleasant interlude you want…”

Walked right into that one.

He smirked and patted the cushion next to him. “Sit down. Observe. It’s simply a matter of sliding a shaft,” he held up one of the metal rods, “into a tight chamber, and finessing it until you gain entry.”

That totally deserved an eyeroll, so I provided it, but I did want to acquire this skill, so I sat where indicated and waited for him to begin.

“A very eager pupil indeed.” He set the three locks in front of me. The one with the kanji opened by combination, and would be impossible to pick, but the other two were keyed locks, with the keys already resting inside the locks.

“The bolt is spring-held in place by its shape, wider at one end than the other. The key is generally used to push the spring open.” He pulled one of the keys out, fastened the lock, then slid the key back in. “Listen to the sound it makes when it hits the spring.”

Click.

“However, the process is easier to feel than it is to explain.” He locked the lock and handed me the key and the pick. “First unlock it with the key but slowly. Get used to how the motion feels when the key presses on the interior sides to free the bolt.”

I have in fact unlocked locks with keys before, even these antique (though not at the moment antique) rectangular ones. Unlike modern padlocks, which rely on rotation, the locks used in this time require a bit of force to open, especially if the pin sticks – which it did in this case. In the end, I had to jam my palm against it to exert enough pressure on the key.

“Some things do require a bit of sensitivity.” He locked the lock and returned it to me. “Try with one slow, smooth stroke. Caress the inside of the lock.”

Seriously?

I side-eyed that one, and received from him a look of such theatrical innocence that I’m surprised the Gods didn’t smite him for it. Great. And I’m sure that if I called out his wording, I would be the one accused of having a dirty mind. Fine. I returned my attention to the lock and put the square key back inside, trying to pay attention to the moment the key depressed the spring enough for the lock to disengage.

Click.

“Now the keys to these locks vary somewhat in shape.” He held up the key I had just used which was basically a square tube. Then he showed me the other key, which was two horizontal double bend curves, running parallel with about a quarter of a centimeter between them. “They operate in the same fashion – to compact the spring on the other end.” He returned the curved key to the other lock and the bolt disengaged. “As you have no doubt already surmised, if you want to go about opening locks, it’s impossible to carry with you the number of appropriately shaped keys in which to do so. Hence, these.” He lifted up two of the two metal rods.

Returning to the original lock, he inserted one of the picks on the left side of the square keyhole and pushed it all the way through. Then the other pick on the right. With a minimal amount of wiggling, the bolt slid out.

Hm, that seemed almost too easy. I repeated his actions on the lock…

Click.

… it was literally that easy. “I don’t understand. What’s the point?”

“There’s a reason why most people carry their most important valuables on their person, or hire armed guards.” Mitsuhide handed me the other keyed lock, the one with the curved hole. “Although this one should take slightly more effort.”

In seconds I had the other lock open.

“Of course, it’s also true that most people – most honest people - don’t expect to encounter a lock, or they find themselves unexpectedly in chains. So, one must improvise.” He pulled two of the sticks from my hair. Of course, my hair immediately jenga’d into total entropy. He relocked the locks and gave me back the hairsticks. “Try it with these.”

I blew my hair out of my eyes and got to work. With the wooden hairsticks, it was a bit more difficult – I was afraid to put too much pressure on them because –

Snap!

“Damn.”

“Such language.” The tone was teasing, but I got the sense he really did not appreciate me swearing.

With half of my hair stick now wedged in the lock there wasn’t much else I could do. Reluctantly, I turned the lock back over to Mitsuhide who shook it until the reminder of the stick fell out. He silently handed it back over to me. I suppose he didn’t want a souvenir of #lockpickfail.

“Now this one.” He held up the combination lock. It had five rotating barrels, each with four kanji characters on them. “There is no key, it will open when you arrange the letters in the correct order.”

Yes. I had gathered that part of it. “So it’s a matter of trial and error until I hit the correct combination?” Math has never been my strength. I knew there was a formula for figuring out how many possible combinations there would be, but I didn’t know what that formula was, and to be honest, I wouldn’t be able to do that sort of calculation in my head anyway. I had a feeling the answer would be in the realm of ‘reallybigion.’

“Hm. You could try that.” Mitsuhide waved to a cushion on the other side of the room. “Over there.”

Yeah, I don’t want to sit next to you all night either.

I took the lock to the indicated spot and proceeded to try and solve the combination.

About twenty minutes later (just a guess, no clocks in the Sengoku), when I realized that the job was made more difficult because the barrels were slippery, Mitsuhide’s voice interrupted my concentration. “Did I fail to mention that you likely will not have enough time to go through all the potential combinations before you are interrupted, or your prison cell floods, or you are executed at dawn?”

“Why yes, I believe you did fail to mention that.” Dammit, I had lost my place.

“Or even,” Mitsuhide oozed over to my side, “in addition to being chained to a wall, it’s completely dark in the cell… or you’re wearing a blindfold.”

That was all the warning I got before the world turned pink. Figures he’d put a pink blindfold on me. “Hey! Ask permission before you do something like that.”

I reached up to remove the blindfold but was immediately distracted by Mitushide, who seated himself directly behind me. He reached around my waist and put his hands on top of mine. His breath tickled my neck, and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat pounded against my back. It was like being enveloped in the essence of him, surrounded by cinnamon and sandalwood, and Mitsuhide.

He adjusted my grip on the lock. “Can you feel the tension on the bolt?”

I could, in fact, feel tension everywhere.

His heartrate had picked up slightly.

Or maybe that was mine. We were so close together it was impossible to tell any longer.

Resolutely I ignored that (pretty sure he was trying to distract me on purpose) and concentrated on the barrels of the lock.

“Keep the pressure on the bolt.” He placed my index finger on the underside of the bolt. “Now, can you feel as I turn the barrel the moment when it becomes slightly looser?”

I held my breath – why, I don’t know, it wasn’t necessary – ignored the pounding in my ears, and concentrated on the barrel he was turning. He was right – there was a moment when the were less pressure on the bolt.  “There!”

“Very good. Now, the next one. Keep the tension level even but slide your finger to the next barrel. Feel the pressure while I slowly twist it.” His voice rasped in my ear. Had he lowered his tone to a sensual purr just to further distract me?

Well, it won’t work, sir. I concentrated on the tension in the lock and not the curious breathlessness that was building inside me. Not on that buzzing that was traveling along every nerve ending. Not on the way certain muscles had tightened. “There!”

“Good. You might have a talent for more than chaos.” He moved on to the third one, and again, I identified the spot relatively easily. “For this one, you rotate the barrel. Slow, even speed.”

Those cool calloused fingers guided mine across the rough bronze surface of the lock, placing my thumb and pointer finger on the fourth barrel. “Don’t forget to keep pressure on the bolt. You don’t want to undo all the work by releasing prematurely.”

Carefully, I twisted the barrel, trying by feel to reach the place that would loosen the bolt another degree. In one sense it was not unlike when Aki had taught me how to listen to the wind when I was practicing archery. And yet in another, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. All my focus was inward, as only the tiniest shift would alert—

There! Without checking with Mitsuhide, I moved on to the final barrel. He made a faint hum of approval, so I knew I had been correct.

That approving hm reverberated through me, fizzing, celebratory.

But not yet. I had one more piece to decode.

My hands almost were too small for the lock, because in order to establish the final placement of the last barrel, I had to keep the pressure on the bolt and make sure none of the previous tumblers slipped out of place. I wanted to speed through, to hurry, but that would be the worst possible strategy. I bit the inside of my cheek for control, did my best to keep from trembling.  If I messed it up now and had to start over, I would scream in frustration.

“Slowly, stay steady. You’re almost there.” Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed Mitsuhide was nearly as breathless as I was.

As soon as the final barrel was in the correct position, the bolt disengaged with a –

Snap

It shot out of the lock…

… and it clattered to the floor.

Finally, I let go of all the air that had damned up in my lungs.

Mitsuhide backed away from me in that instant. By the time I had ripped the blindfold off, he’d beamed himself back to his desk, put the lock back together and rescrambled the barrels. “Practice. With your eyes closed, because I don’t have another lock.” He handed me the lock.

I jumped to my feet. “Um, yeah. Great idea. I think I’ll go do that in my room.”

“Mm, yes, the quiet of your room would be advisable.” The smile he gave me had dialed the wicked up to eleven. “You do appear to be rather overstimulated.”

I didn’t exactly run out of there. But it felt like I did, especially as I thought I heard Mitsuhide’s laughter follow me out the door.

@bestbryn

@selenacosmic

@mllorei

@tele86

@lyds323

@akitsuneswife

[needcake]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers!

Thank you for the tag @shachaai!!

Anyone who wants to do it, please feel free to steal!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

42! Some older stuff didn't make the jump from ff.net and lj to ao3

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

357,987, half of that is for universal river alone haha

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now mainly Hetalia, but I used to write a lot of Naruto some ten years ago. I also dabbled a little with Captain America, Star Trek, Inuyasha and some other random fandoms over the years

4. Top five fics by kudos?

In this universal river - 196

Such sound and fury - 157

Contagious - 115

I hope this finds you well - 107

Arthur's obligatory day off - 104

Considering that these are all one-shots and universal river is currently 28 chapters long, I'd place it much lower on this list lol

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! Might take me a while because I like to do it from my computer instead of my phone, but I try to reply as quickly as possible. I feel so guilty over some older comments that I never replied to that I try to be on top of it as much as possible.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmmmmmm I think it's a tie between the For now we see through a glass, darkly and I held sugar between my fingertips, under water

As much as I like a cathartic ending, I really do enjoy a pit of despair every once in a while (The earth devours is also going to have a sort of bleak ending lol)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Such sound and fury and Old new beginnings, as in they don't end in a compromise or in a vague hopeful note. Characters went through the process and came out better for it on the other end. That's always a happy ending to me.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I received some, usually from England fans who think I'm massacring their boy

9. Do you write smut?

Yesss, smut is a lot of fun!

10. Craziest crossover?

I'm not really big on crossovers :(

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

That I know of, once. It was a Naruto NaruHina fic that a friend of mine found cross-posted on orkut, some kid thought it was good and wanted her friends to see it. I asked her to take it down and direct people to the ff.net page but I stopped following up on that after a while. This was of course some 15 years ago XD

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

A faery song was translated into Chinese! But I'm not super comfortable with translations, specially when people ask me if it's ok to post them in different platforms. I'd rather keep it all on Ao3 where I can see what it's being used for.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@rein-ette and I did a collaboration on a Tokyo Olympics series and I also did a collaboration with @rosesandalfazemas where I wrote two pieces and she provided beautiful art <3

14. All time favourite ship?

Engport and McKirk <3

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Mmmmm I used to have two Naruto fics that I always hoped to finish but I have long accepted I'm never going back to them again lol and because of that I try to never go into bigger projects without having finished the full draft, so that exact same thing doesn't happen again. So yeah, might take me some time but I still hope to finish In this universal river and The earth devours haha

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told it's description, which I find funny because I always think I'm doing a terrible job at it lol but to me it's managing the tension. It's something I adore doing and I try to be better at it with every new fic.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Descriptions lol I feel like if I were writing any kind of original fiction instead of fanfiction based on a pre-existing work no one would know what my characters looked like apart from eye and hair color lol

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Eeeeh I'm kinda iffy about it. When used right, in the right context and with actual meaning within the narrative I think it can be cool as hell, but having Naruto as my main background I cannot tell you the amount of random japanese thrown in for effect that made no sense and pissed me offfffffff, so yeah, I don't really love it. For many years Hetalia was also plagued by this and I have to admit I did it too. I was learning russian back in college and I thought it'd be cool to throw in some russian in a fic, only to receive a comment telling me I shouldn't use google translate and that the word I used was feminine and not masculine as it should be. Which is, you know, the kind of mistake you make when you're learning a new language and haven't fully grasped gender rules yet. I felt so ashamed after that that I never tried it again lol

I will say this though, sometimes I prefer when people don't use foreign words when it's just thrown in there. I speak English as a second language and I don't mix it up with Portuguese unless I'm tired and/or drunk. I'd rather writers give me a reason why these characters are suddenly reverting to their mother-language and use that to add to the plot instead of just randomly throwing stuff there to give it a foreign color.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Inuyasha!! Back in 2004! I wrote a behemoth of 38 chapters and posted it all in one thing thing on ff.net (I later cleaned it up and fixed it with 38 chapters lol)

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Forget-me-nots, 1212: fever dream (part of the 2021 whumptober) and And he became a pillar of salt (part of the 2023 hetaberia week) :)

[dearest-painter]

Revolting Children! PT.2

Summary:Electro’s child (Jamie Foxx version) is a spider man/child…when a portal opens up they meet old and new people who want them as their family making them realize they’ll never be safe

TW/CW:Yandere behavior, unhealthy behavior, unhealthy relationship,abusive behavior,abusive relationship,Jamie Foxx’s Electro is used bc he’s my favorite!,Reader got their spider powers at 10 years old and is now 15-16,Reader talks to themselves,very out of character characters,this is a series,Reader own a pet rat name Remi whose basically like Sebastian from Suicide squad 2,Reader doesn’t know about the spider society,Reader is the same as Miles aka both got bit by a spider that wasn’t from their universe/wasn’t meant for them,a shit load of time skips,added romantic yanderes as I realized Reader is basically the same age around most people,tell me if I need to add more

Luckily Rio let you stay at her house and in the living room as it lets you be in a safe place. You and Miles were eating on the rooftop, he had a taco while you were absolutely devouring a burrito as you were hungry as SHIT! “FUCK THIS IS GOOD!” Miles chuckled as you were so into it, soon you wiped your mouth so you had things off of your face. Remi was eating the food you guys bought for him. You two went to his room but before you got on his bed you took off your shoes and saw his limited edition collectible. “Oh my god you got that!?” “I did! Wanna see it!?” “Of course!” You got up and saw it and held the packaging. You held it like it was glass then put it back in its spot. “So beautiful! You are so lucky!”

Miles chuckled and nodded his head, he knew you were interested in the same things as he was but soon you two heard someone outside so you both leaned out the window. “WHAT DA HELL!?” That’s all that left your mouth as you saw Gwen which made her chuckle, you look as cute as the day you two parted ways in the portal…she hasn’t seen you in forever and you’ve even cut and dyed your hair a bit but you also had a big lighting painted on your face and Miles had a spider painted on his nose. “Gwen!?” “GET YOUR WHITE ASS IN HERE!” Gwen nodded as she went in and you immediately shut the window so no one else saw. “Miss me?” “Y-yeah I did! How’ve you been!?” She smiled as she finally had her mask on but she saw you weren’t smiling at her…more so pissed and a bit annoyed.

“I’ve been good, how’ve you been Y/N?” You looked her up and down before sitting at Miles’s ‘workstation’ or what you call it at least. “Been okay…anyways Miles I’m still not done with your spider” “Still!?” You chuckled and nodded his head as he groaned. Gwen sat on his bed with her shoes on which made you cringe as you were raised that shoes come off on the bed in anyone’s house but she probably grew up differently. Gwen hated how close you two were acting..what did she do wrong?

“You wanna get changed Gwen?” She nodded as you handed her clothes then went to Miles and started to finish the heart spider on his nose, you found it cute each time it twitched as he looked like a baby deer. “Almost done…” Gwen came in and she saw you finishing Miles’s face paint which she found cute so she smiled more. “Annnndd…DONE!” You got down and put the face paint away as you took out a pocket mirror, Miles smiled at it. “Picasso, I like it!” “Let’s go show your mom!” “Hold on let me add more to yours!” Gwen was watching you two…she was beginning to be jealous of Miles but she knows he sees you as a sibling yet she doesn’t know why she’s jealous.

[apictureofelizabethdarcy]

Y'all. I might be a little emotional tonight due to the overlap of post-period blues and being very very sick, but like... I am so excited for this new wave of PJO love. Because those books meant and continue to mean so damn much to me.

When I was 10 years old, I my dad bought the boxed set of the first four for me from a Scholastic book order. The last Olympian hadn't come out yet - it came out a month later. My dad chose it for me because it had Greek mythology, and I was going through a mythology phase at the time. I didn't know what he ordered, because he filled out the forms and sealed the envelope after my brother and I went to bed, and I took them to school the next day like a dutiful kid. When they came in, I had no idea what to expect, but I ended up devouring them. Because they made me feel seen in a way I never had before.

TW: adults not being assholes about neurodiversity, brief mentions of sexual harrassment and bullying, brief vague mention of self-harm, death of a loved one

You need to understand that at this time, I was your stereotypical "gifted" kid - undiagnosed dyslexic autistic with OCD and ADHD comorbidities. We lived in a super tiny rural town (like 16 people in my graduating class tiny) with very limited internet access (I had dial-up until I was 13) and virtually no support for my needs even if I had been diagnosed. The first time I had a meltdown from sensory overload, I couldn't stop crying and went catatonic - rather than being comforting, my teacher grabbed me by the shoulders and condescendingly asked if I'd "gone off my meds or something" and told me to pull it together. I also hit puberty super early, and was being sexually harrassed daily because of it, and nobody did anything about it. Not my teachers, not the principal, no one. When I told my parents, I was accused of being "melodramatic" and "overreacting." I learned pretty early that adults couldn't be trusted.

And then came Percy Jackson. And for the first time, I had a character like me - a nerd who played trading card games, who loved being in the water, who had ADHD and dyslexia. Who talked back and defended himself against the adults who talked down to him. And the whole story was about not being like your parents, about fighting for a better and more just world. A character who was powerful and funny and tough and whose disabilities were a part of his super power, not something to be overcome. And I fell in love with the series as a whole.

Like head over heels in love. It was embarrassing, actually. When I would lie awake at night, I would pretend that my parents weren't my real parents and that I was actually a child of Hermes who hadn't been claimed. I became obsessed with Ethan Nakamura - or at least, the self-indulgent, angst-and-lore fuelled fic version of him I created in my head. I started writing my diary entries pretending that I was Nico di Angelo. One of my first eer fanfics was just Clarisse and Percy talking and bonding over having shitty families, and her apologizing. It was VERY important to me that Clarisse be forgiveable back then. I sought out PerNico fanart when I was at the local library after school, and tried to create my own myth-o-magic cards but gave up when I couldn't figure out how to draw a manticore.

And then House of Hades came out two months before I turned 14. I borrowed my friend Axel's copy because I couldn't afford it, and oh boy did that hit me. I was going through a religious phase at the time but I was also coming into my bisexuality, and that caused a major personal crisis. So the scene with Cupid hit me really, really hard in a not good way. I remember sitting in my living room with my parents and brother while they watched Big Bang Theory, and I had to close the book and go to my room. I couldn't read for three days after that. But it also solidified my obsession with these books. 😅 A lot of other bad shit happened that year, to the point I started self-harming, and the PJO fandom provided comfort and community and distraction.

I spent the summer between eighth and ninth grade writing cringey Solangelo fic in which Will was a chronically barefoot Texas boy who got his first kiss playing truth or dare with Charlie Beckendorf. He liked Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, and they had their first dance to "Thinking Out Loud" while Lee played guitar by the fire. I set the wallpaper of my first ever cell phone to Nico fanart that I had to photograph because I didn't have internet access to download it. I played Paola Bennet's "Soldatino" on loop when I was having a bad day and pulled multiple all-nighters on my worst nights drawing PJO fanart.

Sword of Summer released my freshman year of high school. I borrowed a copy from an older boy I was hanging out with - I think his name was Michael? our friendship didn't last, but I'm grateful anway, because that book did. I had only been identifying as gender fluid for 9 months when that book came out, and my coming out was far from ideal. Meeting Alex was the coolest thing that could have happened to me. AND (s)he helped me to bond with my niece, who was 12 years old and already so much more aware than I had been at her age. I called her Magnus and she called me Alex - until we got the point in the book where they started dating.

And the summer after high school was super traumatic. I spent my summer helping my grandfather take care of my grandmother while on home hospice. It was emotionally draining, because this woman had as big a hand in raising me as my mother, but as the end got closer, she got mean and then violent. I was watching her die in slow motion, and it fucked me up big time. But during our moments of quiet, when she would be asleep and my grandfather was out in the garden, I would read Trials of Apollo, and even though those books hurt so deeply, it helped break me out of my numbness, and provided some great laughs along the way.

And when I got to college, the Riordanverse was one of the first things that helped me bond with the people who would become some of my best friends! I'll never forget sitting at the Rachel Carson dining room debating the phylogeny of sandwiches and discussing Red Pyramid with Sage and Kailtyn. I even tried (unsuccessfully) to make us Camp Halfblood T-shirts for candlenights one year. 😅

I know there are parts of the books that are problematic. But I also love this fandom so, so much, and I am so glad that it was able to touch so many of us. I still lay awake dreaming of Camp Halfblood. Of capture the flag and the rock wall of death, of blue coca cola and jelly beans. I buy blue Takis whenever I see them because they remind me of Percy. I can't drive past our local dam without snickering over the "dam snackbar." I know how much this series meant to my little queer neurodivergent heart, and I am really excited for the younger generation who may be discovering this world for the first time.

[nequittezpaswrites]

The Twilight Films: I have no memory of this place

As I tinker with the draft for Inter Vivos, I decided to watch the first Twilight movie for what I'm pretty sure is the first time since it came out in theaters. I have no idea where it's streaming these days and had no desire to find out and pay whatever subscription service has its rights this month, so I did this by purchasing the first three films on DVD at a thrift shop for less than $10.

For context, I was 16 when the movie version of Twilight came out. I read the first book probably in early 2006, and devoured the rest of the books as soon as they came out. I went to a book signing for the release of Eclipse in 2007, and at that book signing I wore a black t-shirt on which I'd written "I sparkle in the sun" in glittery silver puff paint. Stephenie Meyer read that shirt, and smiled a little and made a comment along the lines of "Do you?", and then she signed my books.

(Aside: I no longer possess these books. Once the book series was finished, I no longer had a fervent desire to see what happened next fueling my love for Twilight, and hating on Twilight became popular and a means of demonstrating that you were not Some Silly Little Girl pining after Sparkly Vampires. The signed copies were donated, so they've either found a new home, or are sitting among their fellows on the shelves of a Goodwill somewhere. Seriously. Go into any thrift store with a book section and you'll be able to find a copy of Twilight. Or, perhaps, any book that sits in a thrift store for over a fortnight metamorphoses into a copy of Twilight...)

I don't remember how I felt about the Twilight movie at the time, though I can guess I didn't like it as much as the book. I don't remember seeing New Moon or Eclipse in theaters, but I know that I must have, because I still have the ticket stubs. My Twilight ticket stub, alas, appears to have been tragically lost to time.

(Aside 2: I made a habit of collecting ticket stubs from about the age of 12-13 until things went fully digital and you stopped receiving physical tickets for anything. This is how I know I saw The Wombats in concert three separate times, and just rediscovered the fact that I possess an autograph from the late Morgan Spurlock on a ticket stub from a screening of his Comic-Con documentary.)

I have no memories of seeing the second and third Twilight films whatsoever. I'm positive that I never saw Breaking Dawn, because by the time it came out I was in college and was distinctly Too Old to Be Excited About Twilight. And, while I have participated in the "Twilight Renaissance" with fic and meta commentary, what little I delved back into the source material was strictly the books, not the movies.

Which is all a very long-winded way of saying that I went into watching this movie very, very fresh. I had no memory of this place. And so, now that I'm twice the age I was when I first saw Twilight, my thoughts on the first film:

The effects aged poorly. They can't have looked good even for the time period, right? The vampire running looks utterly goofy, the jumping is clearly on wires, there are shots where people are sort of gliding in such a weird way that they don't look inhuman so much as like they are standing on a treadmill.

All the meme-able lines deserved to be memed. I knew it was coming, and "the fluorescents" still made me laugh out loud.

The fashion was certainly... current for the time.

I've only read excerpts of the books in recent years, not done a full re-read, but boy, does all the stuff I found romantic in high school look like a parade of red flags now. I feel like this must have come across worse on screen than it did in the books. Surely. I hope.

Alice was barely in this film? I suppose she plays a larger role in later books, but I was surprised how little time she got here. I think Rosalie actually had more screen time. Odd.

I was pleasantly surprised by the chemistry. Yeah, it's awkward and stilted a lot of the time, but there are a few scenes where Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson seem legitimately drawn to each other, and it's cute.

In short, I had a good time, and look forward to watching New Moon so I can enjoy Michael Sheen hamming it up as Aro.