#288K

[poppurini]

I GOT HIM !!

[funnyjb]

Call it What You Want

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Y/nTaylor_

Liked by taylorswift,joeyb_9, and 1.4M others

Y/nTaylor_ happy moments🫶

taylorswift so proud of you!!

joeyb_9 nice shoes

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joeyb_9

Liked by Y/nTaylor_ and 288k others

joeyb_9 smooth operator

Y/nTaylor_ locked in

Bengals our QB1

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Y/nTaylor_

Liked by joeyb_9, Bengals, and 2.3M others

Y/nTaylor_ Football is fun

joeyb_9 Love you

Bengals queen of cincy

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[freshloveee]

❛❛ 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚 𝐩𝛐𝐬𝐭𝐬 ❞

pairing - nick x oc!jalen

summary - my parents being adorable

notes - credits to @thenickgirl because jalen was technically created on HER page (go follow her shes fucking amazing) these are just some random ones no specific order/timeline feel free to yap abt them in my inbox :))

jalenbrooks

♫ Saturn · SZA

jalenbrooks - still thinking abt that pizza ngl (and nick come home me and the kids miss you)

liked by colorthecosmos444 and 388K others

view all 128,695 comments

nicolassturniolo My mom says hi

↳ jalenbrooks tell her i love her and i miss her and she's a queen and she's amazing and she's my favorite sturniolo

nicolassturniolo I miss you more you should teleport to Boston

↳ jalenbrooks wrong. but i'll come to boston :)))

↳ nicolassturniolo I can't even try to be cute with you 😐

christophersturniolo Hi boyfriend

↳ jalenbrooks hey hottie 😼

↳ nicolassturniolo Who's gonna tell him

larray HI TWIN

↳ jalenbrooks HIIIIIIII

thenickgirl okay nonchalant dreadhead

↳ nicolassturniolo He's the opposite of nonchalant dw

nicolassturniolo

♫ Blind · SZA

nicolassturniolo - Life lately ⭐

liked by spacecampwellness and 487K others

view all 234K comments

madisonbeer the cutest EVER

jalenbrooks RAWHWUEIDCJVBFEH

↳ nicolassturniolo Um...hey...

↳ jadexbrooks nick...come over he's barking

↳ thenickgirl he's so me

tyummyz finest triplet hands down

secretlocket peep that dr. pepper !!!

christophersturniolo Nicolas Stromboli ate pasta

↳ nicolassturniolo Okay car video reference

tarayummy the phonecase is so cute

jadexbrooks

♫ The Spins · Mac Miller

jadexbrooks - i just graduated fucking high school !!!!!!!!!!!

liked by arianagreenblatt and 288K others

view all 124K comments

jalenbrooks crying bc wdym my baby sister is a GRADUATE

nicolassturniolo My baby 😭

↳ jadexbrooks WHY ARE U AND JALEN ACTUALLY CRYING LMAOO

↳ jalenbrooks your literally our child what do you expect

christophersturniolo Valedictorian is crazy

↳ matthewsturniolo You also barely graduated high school so the bar to impress you is pretty low

rolemodel Look at that woman mv!

↳ jadexbrooks TUCKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

colorthecosmos444 harvards calling

jalenbrooks

♫ 3.5 · ian

jalenbrooks - 💩 get it cause its a dump

liked by mattscoquette and 765K others

view all 459K comments

nicolassturniolo The moan i just let out-

↳ jalenbrooks mission success

↳ matthewsturniolo Not at our house plz and ty

jadexbrooks i wonder who got u that shirt

thenickgirl @/nicolassturniolo i see the vision

↳ jalenbrooks i feel like i should be offended

↳ nicolassturniolo ISN'T HE SO FUCKING FINE

christophersturniolo Moments before we bullied little kids on Fort

↳ jalenbrooks we're such good bullies

nicolassturniolo

♫ 360 · Charli XCX

nicolassturniolo - Jalen brainrotting his little cousin part 1

liked by debsmikle and 378K others

view all 178K comments

jalenbrooks HES FITTED UP BRO

christophersturniolo Me, him, and Jalen are a W trio

↳ nicolassturniolo You guys are actually menaces, hope this helps !🫶

matthewsturniolo He's my new best friend

madisonbeer UR SO HOT

samsmcgrath He has better fits than me wtf

thenickgirl ur so majestic it pains me

larray kai...blink twice if you need help

a/n - im sorry this took forever but im hoping to write for them more soon !!

tags/users featured - @tyummyz @thenickgirl @xoxo4chrisss @mattscoquette @colorthecosmos444

@secretlocket

[yuesya]

12/30 Notes

Time for an end of the year roundup~

This year ~288k+ words were written and posted for zenith of stars.

... We, uh, are still a slight ways off from canon at this point, but we've already gotten through most of year one and are coming up fast on year two! Year two has fun things in store. I think we should also be able to hit canon timeline in 2025!

(Rubs hands)

We also have a lot of zenith of stars AU snippets and other Ko-fi extras that were written this year. I haven't been keeping track of the word count for those, though.

At any rate! I'd like to take a moment here to express my gratitude for everyone reading my works. We've come a long way from zenith of stars being a quick little Tumblr post haha. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad there's others out there who also enjoy my silly little plot bunnies.

Special thank you to Ko-fi supporters, who make it possible to keep up a regular writing schedule. I am incredibly grateful for the encouragement and support, and I will do my best to work harder in the coming year!

Happy Holidays! See you all next year :D

[itszouis]

28th january fic rec!

this is kind of a december/january mash up

Just Coordinates (288K) by HachimansKitsune

Harry loved his fans. He liked to interact with them every night, so he didn’t think teasing the fans trying to sneak out of one of his MSG shows early would change his life. But it did. The closer Harry and Louis grew, the more secrets they shared. They knew Alpha/beta relationships rarely worked out. But the more time that passed, the more drawn to each other they became. There was an intensity there that neither of them could deny.

What happens when they take a chance on there being more than friendship between them, only to find that fate is a fickle bitch, with a wicked sense of humor…

And she’s just decided that Harry and Louis are her new favorite playthings. OR Famous Harry meets Famous Louis and they fall in love, but it takes a bit for them to realize that they have.

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Can't get you off my mind (I won't even try) (51K) by starryhaze | @starryhaze28

“Can we do the thing again?” Harry asks and Louis cocks his head to the side questioningly.

“What thing?” He asks softly as Harry puts his empty plate to the side to pull his legs to his chest.

“The happy thoughts thing,” he mumbles, resting his chin on his legs. He’s scared Louis doesn’t even know what he means, and feels embarrassed that he brought it up in the first place.

“Of course.” Louis nods with a soft smile, putting his own plate to the side and Harry breathes out a sigh of relief.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Or the one where everything is just a little too much for Harry until he meets his new neighbour, Louis. An alpha with blue eyes and a soft smile, who always seems to know exactly what Harry needs.

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I Guess I'll Surrender (28K) by therogueskimo | @bravetemptation

A lad’s Christmas holiday provides the perfect opportunity for Louis and Harry to prank their friends.

They decide to fake date.

Feelings kind of get in the way.

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Falling Into You - Full Version (48K) by dbeaux

As a dom and owner of Stockholm Syndrome, Louis takes pride in providing a safe place for people to scene. After a bad breakup, he's not looking for a sub, isn't sure he wants a full time sub again.

University student and curious sub Harry needs a full time dom but hasn't found anyone willing to take him on so he spends as much time at Stockholm Syndrome as he can, pairing up with various doms willing to take him on for an evening.

When their worlds collide, can they find what they need in each other?

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Iris (197K) by TheFoolontheHill

Boy, does your life change when you realize that you've developed feelings for one of your closest friends! Harry wasn't sure if his feelings towards Louis were due to attraction or infatuation. Whatever the case may be, Harry has been through a lot in life and Louis just wants to be a good friend. They grow together and learn together but, little do they know, they need each other more than they could ever imagine.

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these bad omens (I look right through them) (82K) by likelarry

How on earth does someone his parents' age look so damn hot? All of their other friends look... bland and boring.

But Louis, fucking hell. He's something out of Harry's wettest fucking dreams.

Where Louis is Harry's parents' friend and teaches at Harry's university. Harry can't resist getting a taste.

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when the time is right (194K) by refusethyname | @gonebylouist

“Do you live in the cabin by yourself?” Louis then decided to ask.

“I do, well sort of, I have a cat.”

“A cat?” Louis then asked and Harry nodded happily.

“She’s a precious thing, but she always leaves me for this one customer who is staying at one of the cabins. His name is Tomlin-something, I can’t really recall,” Harry said, causing Louis to chuckle this time. The singer shook his head at Harry’s comment and smiled brightly at him. Harry was truly something else and Louis’ heart fluttered.

“He sounds like an absolute arse if he steals your cat,” Louis chuckled and Harry shook his head at that.

“On the contrary, he is extremely thoughtful, didn’t even mind it too much when I spilled my hot tea over him, how is your stomach by the way?” Harry then asked.

“If this is your way of trying to get me to undress again,” Louis joked and Harry’s cheeks grew bright red. The younger man started stammering some incoherent things and quickly averted his gaze, which Louis thought was absolutely adorable.

Or the cabin fic where falling in love underneath the northern lights only leads to heartbreak.

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Lover’s Spit (2K) by Let_Us_Be_Weird

Harry and Louis party at Berghain

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is this flying or falling (55K) by HoldingOnToChaos | @holdingontochaos

Harry Styles is a recently divorced omega who has been planning his lavish solo trip to Tahiti for six months. The trip is to treat himself on the one-year anniversary of his divorce from his long and horrible marriage. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to escape the annoyingly persistent and wildly handsome alpha named Louis.

Louis Tomlinson is a workaholic who was forced into taking annual leave by his boss. He doesn’t love the idea of leaving work for so long so he gets drunk and buys a trip to Tahiti on a whim. When he meets the gorgeous omega, Harry, he finds a purpose for this trip after all.

-- OR the one where Harry and Louis both go on a trip to Tahiti and meet on the plane

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Grace, Too (50K) by taggiecb | @taggiecb

Louis Tomlinson is a dairy farmer on a tiny farm in eastern Canada. His wife of nearly thirty years has left him and his children are all grown up and out of the house. Louis needs help running his business but has no idea where to even start looking. Luckily for him his children know just the man for the job.

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to be loved (and to be in love) (20K) by BlueNeptuune | @blueneptuune

After a few years trying to make it on his own, Harry is forced to return home due to his worsening conditions. He expects the experience to be nothing short of humiliating, but it turns out kindness is lingering in the strangest of places -- you just have to be brave enough to ask for help.

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baby we could be enough (i'll make this feel like home) (52K) by orphan_account

“Did you clean the table?” Harry asks Louis once Rose is done speaking, now occupied with trying to see if she can reach over and touch Harry’s hair from where she’s sat. At Louis’ nod, Harry frowns. “You didn’t have to do that. You’re my guests here, I could’ve dealt with it later.”

Louis just smiles easily, though, adjusting Rose on his lap so that she’s facing Harry better. She manages to tug on a loose wave of hair, and she makes a noise of triumph that both Louis and Harry smile at.

“I don’t mind,” Louis murmurs to Harry, even though he’s looking at Rose. “This one here seemed very excited to talk to you.”

And, okay. Harry can’t help but think of how domestic this feels, all of a sudden.

[harry is a photographer who's trying to find his place. louis is a single father with a smile that feels like home.]

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The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (109K) by kingsofeverything | @kingsofeverything

Louis’ life is steady and calm, moored by his marriage, and tied to his hometown, but after a chance encounter with another man, it’ll never be the same.

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🍭 a lollipop for you if you made it this far!

stat time!

1,546,382 words read (22% more than last month)

22 fics read (-44% less than last month)

18 authors (-46% less than last month)

[klikandtuna]

✨Complete✨

The FINAL installment — Chapter 31, “I’ll Be Waiting For You There,” has been posted, and with that, Sky Clear Blue is complete. (I’m not crying, you’re crying 😭😭)

So if you’re put off by WIPs, fear no longer. Come and live the story of Crowley as a time-traveler who meets a sweet man in 1804. Come and explore the transformational power of love in this 288k-word fic that will make you laugh, cry, and consider your own mortality.

Thank you to everyone who’s been with me on this journey 💛

[thatdramionechick]

Dramione Fics I read in January:

Amor Vincit Omina by Twin_Flame_Blues (288k words)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39735819/chapters/99482019

Days at Malfoy Manor by seagull_in_the_sunset (287k words)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/52005598/chapters/131512735

Creep by cr0ftisprocrastinating (144k words)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42831693/chapters/107599440

The Portrait of Draco Malfoy by SilverDragonGemini (172k words)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56903314/chapters/144689641

[icouldntfindquiet]

I wonder why they posted the Showtime music video on the YouTube channel they used for the tour diaries and not the Vevo channel that all their other music videos are on?

You noticed something weird with their YouTube channel too! @youlovehermadly was wondering why CATB’s YouTube subscribers decreased significantly when it used to be 200k+.

I think they inadvertently unlinked the two accounts (CATB and CATB VEVO) but I’m not 100% sure. You can see the videos are now separated rather than all showing up on the CATB account. The VEVO account has all their music videos while the CATB account has the tour diaries, promo videos, and Showtime. 🤔

I had to look up the purpose of a VEVO account and it’s to hold your music videos and boost visibility. You can link the two accounts so your VEVO music videos show up on your band page. Something happened to make them unlinked but CATB is still under UMG to my knowledge. (UMG uses VEVO to promote music.)

If you add the subscribers for both accounts together, you’ll get 288k subscribers which is around what it was before, I think. Does anyone know what’s happening?! Van, go fix the YouTube channel! 😂

[gameclam3]

The problem is that my explore page fucking sucks because i have 288k likes and a ton of it was from me liking every single thing that crossed my dash including posts i didnt actually like. So its just giving me total schlock like incorrect quotes blogs for shit im not even into . And i kind of want to clear out my likes and start only liking the truly good content. But that number will never go up to such heights again... maybe it's time to let go.

[racewinner]

/i/ feel like i've just ridden 288k

[themculibrary]

Fics Written In 2014 Masterlist

A Long Winter (ao3) - dropdeaddream, WhatAreFears steve/bucky, steve/peggy M, 35k

Summary: In 1945, Steve Rogers jumps from a nosediving plane and swims through miles of Arctic Ocean to a frozen shore.

In 1947, Steve Rogers marries Peggy Carter.

In 1966, the New York Times finds the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

Awake, Aware (ao3) - Misaya steve/tony T, 36k

Summary: Before Steve Rogers disappeared off the face of the Earth, he agreed to an experimental procedure devised by Howard Stark that, if successful, would be used primarily for helping comatose patients wake up. It didn't appear to work, and so Howard put the project and Steve out of his mind.

So when the technology did begin to work, only Tony Stark, barely able to string three words together, was there to see it.

Between the Personal and the Real (ao3) - arsenicarcher (Arsenic) clint/phil E, 21k

Summary: Clint knows how things work between principals and their obeisants. At least, he's always thought he does.

Chrome (ao3) -Seneschal N/R, 1k

Summary: Steve and the future. He's not as impressed as SHIELD might prefer.

Dynamic Reactions (ao3) - Minici steve/tony T, 21k

Summary: In which Tony's ideas always work, anytime is a good time for prank wars, Steve is just overreacting, and shadow warriors won't stop attacking New York.

“Uh-huh. Does that apply to you too, Cap?” Tony says, abandoning his tools, the better to glare him out of his lab. “Maybe if you ate your veggies and took long walks on the beach you wouldn’t have been gutted by an alien? That’s not how this works. You do everything right, your whole life, and you still go down from some missile some day. Aliens don’t give a damn whether you eat your Wheaties. You’ve got to be prepared."

Flitter (ao3) - viestadisaster T, 15k loki/tony

Summary: Tony isn't one to pine after someone, he knows what he and Loki shared was small, very small. A tiny, fluttering heartbeat. Insignificant in the grand scheme of things in the world, the cosmos, in the long life of a god. But sometime’s he finds himself wondering…

First, Do No Harm (ao3) - BarqueBatch, SkyisGray steve/bucky E, 77k

Summary: James Barnes should be just like any other patient Steve sees in his Brooklyn clinic, but the mob enforcer bleeding all over his waiting room chair apparently didn’t get the memo.

i might not say it back (ao3) - sleeponrooftops steve/tony M, 10k

Summary: He spends all night trying to run from what’s coming, but, in the end, it hits him like a sucker punch, and he’s still gasping for breath when it all settles.

No More In Darkness, No More In Night (ao3) - OllieoftheBeholder steve/bucky, clint/phil T, 37k

Summary: He is the Asset.

He is the Winter Soldier.

He is a weapon, a blade honed to perfection and then kept in a sheath, a gun cleaned and loaded and then locked in a cabinet, an object to be used and put away until needed. He is a machine, a thing, an it.

He is a man without a country, without a past, without a face, without even a name.

He is running.

And someone is catching up...

nowhere to go but up (ao3) - anthropologicalhands jane/thor T, 2k

Summary: It is not uncomfortable, waking up with Thor’s arm draped over her waist, their legs entangled under the sheets. It is inconvenient when she wants to get out of bed or, at the very least, look over last night’s data.

Orestes (ao3) - Aublanc T, 288k

Summary: Thanos never pulled Loki from the void, and the invasion of New York never happened. But the peace is only an illusion, and years after Loki jumped from the Bifrost he falls, quite literally, into the life of one Tony Stark. Broken by the emptiness, Loki struggles to pull himself back together in time to stop the Mad Titan from ruining everything.

Say Something (ao3) - laylanbinx N/R, 17k

Summary: Bucky is struggling to regain his memories. Steve just wants his best friend back. Tony plays snarky yet well-meaning advocate.

swallow my pride (ao3) - mwestbelle steve/bucky E, 6k

Summary: When Bucky first came back to SHIELD, Natasha took Steve aside and quietly told him that he needed to be patient. She didn't offer up more than that, but Steve understood. He's been patient. If patience is a virtue, then he thinks he should be up for that sainthood that Tony's always joking about him getting by now.

The Answer You Weren't Looking For (ao3) - songofdefiance steve/natasha, past steve/peggy T, 12k

Summary: Natasha Romanoff seems a bit overqualified to be the person that’s helping him recuperate from the ice.

The Beacons (ao3) - boopboop M, 7k

Summary: To be great, a man must first be broken.

James Falsworth has extensive experience when it comes to taking good soldiers and making them great. His methods have been proved time and again, and though harsh, they always get results. He's never failed to break a man, never failed to prepare him for the horrors that await.

Until Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes throws a spanner in the works.

The Care and Feeding of Traumatized Ex-Assassins (ao3) - Sholio T, 6k

Summary: Steve starts to notice someone's been in his apartment while he's not there. Set after Winter Soldier; spoilers.

Thermotemporal Equations (ao3) - Blinky the Tree Frog (blinkytreefrog) T, 48k

Summary: Bucky Barnes is used to strange happenings; his time with the Howling Commandos has guaranteed that. He's therefore not totally thrown off balance when he wakes up in an extraordinary tower in a seemingly impossible year. He can’t help but be worried though, no matter how much reassurance he's getting from Steve and his new team.

the universe expanded (ao3) - foreverthyme steve/bucky M, 105k

Summary: There is no life without Bucky, or Steve and Bucky from the beginning onward and every place in between.

This, You Protect (ao3) - owlet T, 64k

Summary: The mission resets abruptly, from objective: kill to objective: protect

Winifred and Mrs. Rogers (ao3) - gossamerthreads G, 7k

Summary: The first time Steve Rogers and James Barnes meet they burst into the courtyard yelling and hollering, fists and feet kicking up dirt. Steve sank his teeth into James’s upper arm and James howled and punched him in the eye. By the time their mothers pulled them apart the whole neighborhood was leaning out to watch.

James got the switch, Sarah wore out a shoe on Steve’s behind, and both boys swore they’d be mortal enemies for life.

[miss-celestia13]

A soppy, self indulgent post, feel free to ignore. I’m sure those that know me are sick of hearing about it 🤭 I just had to get the words out of my head. And I am, and always have been, a dramatic bitch. I will never apologise for it.

I published the final chapter of my Duskwood fanfic: Marked Me Like a Bloodstain on Friday. Over a year, and more than 288k words later, my smutty adventure has come to a suitably steamy end. I am drained but I’m also proud. I almost gave up so many times. I “quit” writing every single day, tbh. Still, I kept going. And now, it’s done. It’s a weird, bittersweet feeling.

“Get a grip. You’re not the only one that’s done this. It’s just a story. It’s not real.” You might be thinking/saying. You might also be rolling your eyes, that’s alright. I’ve never been able to do anything halfway. I’m always over the top and way too emotional about things🤣

But it was real to me. It was my escape. It was my heart. It gave me a place to hide when my life turned against me and I had nothing else. My MC, Manon, gave me strength when mine faltered. My overly romantic heart was delighted to have somewhere to put all the big emotions I have felt, and still feel. Despite the constant self doubt and hate, I made it. I did it.

If you made it this far, thank you ❤️ I know some of you followed this fic and I wanted to take a moment to thank you. I never take anything for granted, least of all something like this. Thank you for sticking with me through it all. The friends I made on the way to the finish line were the backbone of many of the last half’s chapters. I won’t ever be able to thank them enough for the constant support, love and encouragement. You know who you are 🥰 I don’t want to tag you as I don’t want you to feel like you have to interact with this. The feel free to ignore includes you, if you wish. But I love and appreciate you more than I can put to words❤️

This story is imperfect, hopelessly romantic and far too long. But it’s mine. I don’t think I’ll ever love anything the way I loved this.

Wattpad Link

[mechanicalinertia]

STMPD Reviews Black Lagoon Fanfiction: BigCountry75's Redneck of Roanapur

This one was recommended to me by a dude on the Black Lagoon subreddit, and I clicked on it somewhat reluctantly. It started well enough, I flipped through a few later chapters and it was pretty cool, but it's 288K words, folks. Moby fucking Dick is 209K words. And while it's true that many, many fics are longer than Moby Dick, or indeed most officially published works, there was just something about it. I was reluctant to read an OC-centric Black Lagoon fic, though, because new-guy-comes-into-town-and-fucks-shit-up rarely works in BGC fanfic, so why should it work in this case?

I needn't have worried. Redneck of Roanapur is well-written, fairly competently characterized, and like Bullets, my previous review, relentlessly fun. Reading it over the past two weeks on-and-off has been a fairly good experience, and, too, an exercise in how (in my eyes) to make a fic defined by one Cool Original Character really work.

In that light, if I want to talk about RoR, I have to talk about its main character, a dude from the boonies of Michigan known as Country. No, really, that's the name he gets, nothing else. And, well... okay, the one thing that might sink this fic for you is that when it's told from his first-person perspective, his, uh, accent is written down in the prose. This can be annoying at times, but in all honesty it isn't as annoying as you'd think it would be, because as far as quasi-authorial inserts go, he still describes things clearly enough to make everything work. His spelling's intentionally off, but his grammar isn't. Ergo, I can read it without being annoyed.

So: Country is an ex far-right militiaman who ditched his former comrades in True Patriotism, and in his effort to leave the country stole a goddamn WW2 B-24 and hightailed it blindly to Roanapur. Yeah. That's it. That's his backstory. He gets his hands on another WW2-era fighter plane later, too.

Okay, so compare that to other various OC-centric Lagoon fics which will not be named, ones starring ex-CIA operatives and elite soldiers with more conventionally troubled pasts and their skills mostly centering around the shooting of guns. They're cool in the loosest sense, but I find most of them incredibly boring, and the fic has to work harder to get around that more often than not. (Success is possible, but I've only seen like one guy pull it off.) Country is more interesting to me because a) his backstory is more out-there but still plausible, it's a backstory you don't see every day, and b) he has a unique set of skills that other characters in Lagoon don't have to the same extent.

I mean, think about it. Those two elements are what make an interesting Black Lagoon character in the actual franchise. Roberta with her FARC training and maid getup; Balalaika's Soviet paratrooper glory days and how far she's fallen; Ginji the yakuza who can literally deflect bullets. There's something that makes all these characters more than just ex-spooks or mercs with training. Some eccentricity. Some wackiness. Some small amount of historical grounding. Country has that, even if his backstory isn't super important. Country has his WW2-era planes, which are fun as hell to watch him and Lagoon Company use. So, he fits right in.

Anyway, Country lands in Roanapur, gets hooked up to the Lagoon Company to use the B-24 as a courier aircraft, and pretty quickly things get weird. See, not only does Country piss off the head of a non-canon crime syndicate pretty quickly in a bar fight, but said syndicate head is tied to a nameless Doctor and his equally nameless Benefactor, who are searching for guinea pigs to do immortality / resurrection experiments on. The Doctor resurrects Hansel and Gretel successfully, they escape, they wind up at the airfield Lagoon Company now occupies. So they're hanging out, raised by the team to not be total murderous monsters, and eventually they attract the attention of the Doctor and his Benefactor, who turns out to be a powerful American politician with ties to Extra Order, the Not-Executive-Outcomes PMC from the first arc of Lagoon. Pretty soon, Lagoon Company and their patrons are duking it out with that one non-canon syndicate and EO in short order, culminating in an epic battle for the fate of the city, all of which is just incredibly fun to read in its sheer paramilitaristic ultraviolence.

Anyway the fic swings between that violence and a lot of surprisingly cutesy shipping. Country falls in love with Sawyer, for one, and that doesn't feel weird, doesn't feel self-insert-y, it makes sense for how the characters are being written in that context... Rock and Revy finally get together... Shenhua and Lotton get together, which I'm kinda iffy on but what the heck... Chang and Balalaika hook up in secret... Even Eda and Dutch pair up as secret agents! So everything is very slice-of-life-y when military planning and blowing things up isn't the order of the day. Oh, and Leigharch comes back towards the end, which is great because I always liked him. In fact, I think that's the main flaw in the fic: the ending feels way too cute and tidy for something like Black Lagoon, a franchise where endings, I feel, need to be ambiguous at best and depressing as hell at worst. It undermines the fun one has reading Country and the Lagoon Company operate a bomber to blow the everloving shit out of a PMC submarine base, or drug fields, or mansions, or whatever. It's an ending that feels at once natural for the fic, but not as earned as it could be.

But beyond that, Redneck of Roanapur is a simple, long, but super-fun thrill ride. If you're looking for something silly to read over the long summer months, flip through this and enjoy yourself.

[mz-elysium]

OVERVIEW

>Genre: urban fantasy, personal horror, political intrigue

>Origin: Vampire the Masquerade, World of Darkness, VtM: Bloodlines

>Tropes: vampires in 101 flavours, doomsday prophecy, everyone is a villain, hopepunk

>Themes: It is never too late to start being a good person.  Rebellion is in a constant state, to guard against injustice. Compassion builds the best future.

PREMISE

The undead lie and scheme for power, in the skyscrapers, grottos, and wastelands of their cities. Humanity, within and without, is their victim. Within them, lives the Beast of humanity’s darkest nature as the vampire’s instinct. Boredom breeds cruelty. Generations of domination and brutality become law, from the noblest clan to the lowest. Love corrodes into betrayal. Power corrupts. Whispers speak of the Final Nights, as something more than vampires stirs in the night.

In these, the longest nights of Wormwood, light can only exist in darkness.

SETTING

Young vampires rose against the corrupt rule of their sires — it is a story as old as time. In 1944, California, America, the rebels won. The streets ran red with elder blood. They called their new land the Anarch Free State. Paradise. Rebels established their new status quo. They had to create their own justice, their own laws of the jungle, their own rulers. 

A new generation of vampires has been sired into the California Free State. They’ve never known a Camarilla prince. Yet, the violent and unpredictable life of an Anarch lick feels a lot like oppression. Their barons can’t protect them from what hunts the hunter. 

In desperation, one by one, cities begin to fall into the hands of the Camarilla. The revolution is over. It failed. Some few remain to rebuild the dream under the blinking light of the Red Star.

Charlie, a fledgling Malkavian, wrestles with her humanity and the realisation that maybe the curse liberated her from the daylit world, its rules and problems. Kindred, of course, have their own, but you can’t win them all. Some of their problems are also pleasures.

Jack, a neonate Gangrel, has drifted through unlife with a thin claim to what little he owns. A curiosity and affinity to the natural world leads him to believe in its power and the harmony of all ecosystems. Including vampires. They should all just get along.

Monroe, an ancilla Ventrue, retains hope that their lives can be better and the Camarilla can be changed to foster this. The schemes and intrigue can end. The weapons can be set down. They can be neighbours, family, friends, and reclaim their lives in an honourable world.

Wormwood is the story of how these three kindred, their friends, enemies, and lovers, find themselves in the Final Nights.

WORKS

Noble Lies of Clan Ventrue (1873-2000) [44k] Monroe’s origin story, from his last sunlit days in the American military to the moment he fled from the Camarilla.

City of Fallen Angels trilogy (2003-2004) [133k, 288k, 173k] The honourable outcast Monroe takes charge of a newly abandoned fledgling, Charlie, as an LA ruled by rebels is challenged by the Camarilla courts. War is on the horizon.

Unmastered (2004) [36k] An old ghoul is entrusted with a month of autonomy in San Francisco, with the promise of more freedom threatening the chains that hold his life together.

City of Gold and Iron (2004-???) The San Francisco Bay Area chafes under the second generation of Camarilla prince, as their beloved rebel is dead and gone. Neonates find their place in the bloody yoke. Ancilla attempt to reform or hold onto power. Elders play their own games, hidden in the shadows.

Links

AO3 // tumblr tag: vtm: wormwood // Google Site

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