#BUT IT'S EXCELLENT WRITING FRICK MAN

[inkstainedhandswithrings]

Thinking abt Umbara again, bc why not. Today's topic: Dogma!

In the arc it is said multiple times that Dogma is blindly following orders. That he is so loyal, he would follow any command given to him and never even think about it twice. Even Krell said that he counted on Dogmas blind loyalty to make his plan work.

But then I remembered the scene in the barracks where Dogma corners Tup and gets him to go rat out the others with him. You know what he says to Tup? "If we don't report this we'll be complicit in their insubordination. Do you really want to be court martialed?"

And I was like OH, IT'S TRAUMATISED!

Because yeah, that makes much more sense. Dogma sees the troopers dying left and right, he knew that Rex and Fives were right, he got it. But he was scared of being court martialed. He's scared of what the consequences of insubordination are. An dif he's willing to go so far than to let others be court martialed, just to safe himself, I'm willing to bet he had some sort of terrible experience being punished on Kamino as a cadet. Maybe a batch mate was executed, maybe the Kaminoans did something to him, idk, but something went down, because he's terrified.

And I genuinely think that's why the others still care about him and look out for him and why Rex only gently corrects him and doesn't yell at him for standing in their way when trying to capture Krell. He's actually giving Dogma advice, mentoring him. Because he knows that this is just a scared boy, trying to survive in a system that has always had it out for him.

The saddest part? After fighting so hard to follow orders and to not make any waves, its still Dogma who executes Krell and bares the punishment. He has to go through what he's always feared the most and he does it for his brothers.

[darkwing-katy]

Had to ask based on your recent Evil reblogs, what are your thoughts on Kriland (Kristen x Leland) ? The chemistry is there for some steamy one-shot fun but I don’t see a lot about their dynamic so just wondering your take.

Also really enjoying your Leland x Reader fic, and am excited for the next chapter!! Are any of your works on Ao3?

Thank you for feeding the community with your work ☺️

Okay, so they tooooootally have a lot of chemistry, right? But I don’t necessarily ship them. Will I read oneshots of them? Absolutely. They just work so dang well together! They would have wild hate sex. They make each other worse and I am here for it, but I also love that they’re on opposite sides that have this strange give-and-take thing going on. His appearance in her life changes her for better and for worse—without Leland, she never would have met David and Ben, never would’ve murdered LeRoux, never would’ve cheated on Andy (I truly believe that), but she also wouldn’t really be happy, you know?

Also I am PEEVED and MIFFED and ANGRY that we got that line of, “You’ve been protecting Kristen for the last few years now; you can’t protect her any longer” in the series finale because WHAT DO YOU MEAN, PROTECTING?! Is Leland in love with her?! Is it that he’s just that obsessed with her that he wants to be the one to end her?! Is it because he genuinely believes that she’s the proper mother of the Antichrist and he worships her even as he hates her?! I NEED TO KNOW DAMMIT

Oh no, side note, now I want fics where Leland becomes some sort of weird uncle/godfather/something to the Bouchard kids because he goes from being completely evil to being…not quite evil but not quite good (as implied by the last four episodes) and he keeps encouraging them to do bad things and they have to be like, “No, that’s bad, we can’t do that.” Something akin to Lilo and Stitch. Or Loki and Mobius. I dunno, I think it’d be fricking hilarious.

Sorry, you got me on a tangent that got sidetracked haha

Anyways, the point is that I love them together but not necessarily romantically together.

Also I’m glad you’re enjoying the Leland x Reader fic! When I got into this show, I thought it was CRIMINAL that there weren’t any Leland x Reader fics out there already. I knew I couldn’t be the only one who’s obsessed with that man, and if that meant I had to be the first one to write something, then dammit, I’m doing it! It was either that or wrote a fic with an OC and that was too much effort, haha.

I do have some things on AO3! I’ve got a masterpost of fics pinned to my page. Three of the four are Lost fics because I’m obsessed with Michael Emerson and Lost. I’ve started posting the Leland fic to my AO3, but it’s several chapters behind the one on tumblr (should be all posted on there by Halloween because I thought that was excellent timing).

Thanks for asking! Sorry not sorry for the long response—the coffee kicked in right as I started typing and the brain got really excited about a lot of things.

[belle-keys]

Matthew Fairchild: Beauty and the Bottle (Meta)

Alternately entitled Matthew is still in love with Cordelia in the Epilogue, or, The Love Triangle made sense thematically, or, Matthew’s character arc was just excellent in ChoT, or, Matthew as one of Cassie’s best.

Feel free to stream Pomme while you read. 

Okay, so now that we’re post-ChoT, I’m starting a new meta series where I break down some of the characters and the issues I had with The Last Hours trilogy now that it’s complete. In this post, I’m exploring the intersection between the Fairstairs, Matthew’s alcoholism, his characterization, and Oscar Wilde (the man). I’m starting off with Matthew, who’s my favorite character in the trilogy and like, my third favorite TSC character ever. This is a review and analysis of his character arc in the series as well as some of my opinions on his character. (N.B. there’s a lot of gushing and simping here. The other ones I have planned are not even remotely as flattering.)

How Cassie writes Matthew

All in all, I thought Matthew was the best written character in TLH and in Chain of Thorns. I thought that his character had a clear-cut narrative arc and that his character also remained consistent from start to finish. Matthew feels well thought-out because he’s fundamentally a character of enigma and a character of subversion. It felt like Matthew was real and wasn’t just a sidekick or an unwilling hero. But moreover, I find that from the midpoint of Chain of Iron, Matthew changed the trajectory of the story completely. I don’t mean in the sense that the love triangle was formed and got in the way of Jordelia (okay, I guess), but rather that Matthew’s character arc threw both James and Cordelia’s own arcs off guard, out of their orbits. This was for the better.

Enigma - It’s incredibly interesting that we don’t know what Matthew thinks or feels, at least not really, due to no Matthew POVs. We got a couple of pages in ChoG from his POV, but that was only to show the Grace kiss, and that was only because we couldn’t have gotten anything from Grace’s POV so early on in the trilogy for obvious reasons. And besides Cast Long Shadows, we got nothing else using Matthew’s narration in the trilogy. Nothing in ChoI or ChoT at all, at the very least. Like… that’s fricking weird, isn’t it? Not weird in the bad way, but weird in the sense that you have characters who are significantly less influential in the main plot/in the Jordelia plot, like Anna or Ari, who get POVs literally all the time. And yet, we never really know what Matthew is feeling at any moment. This is actually awesome. By giving us less of Matthew in the POV, Matthew becomes a larger-than-life character in the story i.e. he’s outside of the reach of the reader; he’s almost untouchable despite being, in my opinion, omnipresent in ChoT. I find it hard to believe people don’t see Matthew as a compelling character by default.

Subversion - Indeed, I was not kidding when I said Matthew is vaguely omnipresent. He is, kind of. He literally threw the Herondaisy ship off its course in a considerable way. His alcoholism and increased depression were always in the back of every character’s mind, and yet, we didn’t really get a peep out of Matthew until we did, and when we did, it always packed a punch. I think the fact that Matthew hides his feelings and his innermost desires is an effective trait that Cassie plays on time and time again by not giving us his POV. We’re always getting a reveal from Matthew, or an unanticipated act from him i.e. “love is a creeping vine”, him going to Edom with James. I know this is partly due to the alcoholism, but it’s a smart narrative choice nonetheless. Matthew is always important without his importance being immediately shoved in our faces: Matthew was instrumental in both the Thomastair arc and the Jordelia arc.

Matthew and Alcoholism

I was really pleased with the way Cassie dealt with Matthew’s addiction and his trauma. The scene where he tells Charlotte about the potion business should have been an extended scene, but everything else was amazing. Cassie absolutely needed to put Matthew through the wringer in ChoT for all of his foreshadowing as being a beautifully tragic young man to make sense. In fact, I had anticipated it would be way worse than it actually was, but alas, it’s fine. I like the way that Matthew absolutely did not have an easy time in Chain of Thorns. Every time you thought the withdrawal symptoms were manageable for him, he either drank again, or got hurt in some way, or simply couldn’t manage the withdrawal symptoms at all. It also was the factor that ended Fairstairs, which was important, as Matthew was becoming, in Cordelia’s head at least, a potential reincarnation of her father. Matthew’s alcoholism was as realistic as possible, at least in the context of a YA paranormal fantasy book. Cassie didn’t sugarcoat or water down what Matthew was facing nor its consequences on his relationships, and good.

Matthew and Cordelia

I maintain that by the Epilogue, Matthew is still in love with Cordelia, that he's leaving in part because of his feelings for her, and that she's very much aware of this (the stone thing seems metaphorical). This is why I say that Matthew's arc is bittersweet: his love will indeed remain unrequited and he has to live with that, at least until he inevitably moves on. He does not have the chance that Jem will inevitably have with Tessa in 100 years. He's leaving James and Cordelia for a reason, because he knows it will hurt to live and have to see it every damn day (in the same way that he was actually gonna run off to Paris alone and by himself at the end of ChoI anyway, before Cordelia has busted in).

In my opinion, the Fairstairs arc was excellent, from a holistic perspective. I will talk about this more in Cordelia’s meta piece, but essentially, Matthew symbolizes the self-liberation trope as it relates to Cordelia (James symbolizes stability and safety). For Cordelia, Matthew is kindled fire where James is eternal cool, Matthew is the bacchanalia where James is the hearth, Matthew is the Bohemian where James is the Gentleman’s Paragon. As you may have noticed in some of my previous posts on this topic, Matthew exists to provide an avenue of freedom for Cordelia: freedom from rules, from Edwardian morals and etiquette, from judgment, freedom from repression - he subverts Cordelia’s expectations of how her own life can play out. It’s for this reason that Matthew is characterized as the hedonist and as the decadent, and why we’re reminded of it time and time again by Cordelia herself. Matthew, by nature of the subversion that we’ve covered in the earlier section, was the ideal choice to whisk Cordelia away from the path she’d thought was carved out for her. If James and Cordelia are two stars locked in each other’s orbit, Matthew is a golden comet that appears out of nowhere but whose power you cannot deny.

If Matthew effectively symbolizes self-liberation and his character plays purely on subverted expectations, then Cordelia not having Matthew and Cordelia rejecting Matthew (Jordelia stans, look away now!) represents the end of Cordelia’s quest to escape society, to escape society’s inherent restrictions, hierarchies and repression, and the end of her quest to attain self-liberation to the fullest. Cordelia has chosen the least subversive path possible at the end of her story and has chosen to stay in orbit after all, and great for her! Matthew, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, will always represent to Cordelia all the sins she never committed, all the choices she never really made, all the opportunities she did not take, and she will always be fond of him for that. Regardless, Matthew was not in a suitable mental place for any relationship in ChoT (see the previous section on alcoholism) and we’re reminded that this freedom that Matthew symbolizes came with a caveat after all. Plus Herondale love runs true yadda yadda. But let’s not pretend that anything is given for nothing - Cordelia indeed has lost something very big by the end of ChoT, and it’s very bleak if you look at it with a microscope… but this isn’t Cordelia’s post! On we go!

Matthew Fairchild as Dorian Gray

So, Matthew is absolutely Dorian Gray. Starting with the physical or immediate similarities, we do notice that Matthew is lean and tall and blonde and angelic, looking the way Dorian is described in the text (we as a society must never let a certain actor, bless him, let us forget this). Dorian makes a deal with the devil to stay young and beautiful forever, while Matthew purchases a truth potion from a sketchy fairy because his trust in his mother faltered; this is the crux of Matthew’s central conflict (which will always be directly proportional to Alastair’s own conflict in the story). Dorian's horrid painting hidden in the attic is Matthew's grim secret about what later happened with the potion. Dorian is a murderer, and Matthew sees himself as a murderer (he isn't one, but he absolutely believes it). Dorian has sold his soul, and Matthew thinks his own soul is forfeit. Both Dorian and Matthew live for the sake of art, freedom, amorality, and beauty. After all, Matthew's key tenet in life is to do “mad, wonderful, colorful” things. But a hidden darkness and silent suffering beneath the obvious beauty are intrinsic in Matthew's character. Matthew turns to the bottle to cope with his own painting in the attic. The fact that Matthew is also bisexual, eccentric, a lover of Oscar Wilde, and positively adored by everyone he interacts with whosoever are also signs of his parallels with Dorian Gray. Both Matthew and Dorian prioritize extensive travels as a means of attaining these mad, wonderful, colorful experiences - Dorian, like Matthew, had fled London to tour the world and gain all the experiences he could gain with his newfound gift. Likewise, Matthew and the Fairchilds having an ever so tangential link to Faerie (even if it's by virtue of his own character descriptions) also helps us picture him as eternal and larger than stuffy London life. Matthew's beauty - beauty of body, beauty of soul, beauty in suffering, beauty as a mere pursuit - is simultaneously Matthew’s core value and core trait. 

But Matthew Fairchild eventually supersedes Dorian Gray. Dorian did not ever have the heart or soul or courage to look his own sin in the eye or to acknowledge the equilibrium that must exist between body and spirit. But Matthew finally opened up that dusty attic by the end of Chain of Thorns and looked the worst of himself in the face. And so, Matthew will retain that grace and beauty and light that is now forever out of Dorian’s reach.

Concluding Thoughts

Matthew is a character who we crave more of by virtue of Cassie’s choice to give us less of him than we would anticipate, especially considering that he’s one of the four cornerstone characters of The Last Hours. He's one of the few characters in ChoT specifically who didn't constantly make me envision Cassie just pulling strings and making things happen out of nowhere. Matthew is aesthetically beautiful on the outside and by consequence, it’s easy to merely watch him flirt with the joy of living like you’re watching a play, which is rather fitting for a character who is timely linked to stagecraft and who claims he would have been an actor in another life. But the other Matthew on the inside is also equally beautiful and shining, and he shows his capacity to love, suffer and still come out on the other side of it all with his cracks glowing gold like kintsugi. In this way, Matthew Fairchild is as relatable to us as he is still untouchable. And that’s fricking awesome.

[tarisilmarwen]

Ahsoka "Dreams and Madness" Liveblog

Heeeeeeeeee.

My week has sucked, let's get into this already, this is some of the only true joy I'm deriving from life right now.

(I'm okay but legitimately, my week has sucked, lemme have this.)

HELLO CORUSCANT YOU'RE LOOKING PRETTY.

Ho daaaaayum, Hera bringing the fire to this meeting.

I am... annoyed by the emphasis on Hera as a maverick though, she was the Rebels character MOST beholden to the protocol and procedure of the hierarchy, the time she saved Kanan was the only time she ever really defied orders and dammit I have just patchworked myself my own answer okay so obviously she's normally very rule-abiding EXCEPT for times when her family and the people she cares about most need her help and no one else will give aid to her.

Curses upon my ability to iron out plot wrinkles I don't like.

Filoni must REALLY not like Xiono, he's giving him all the skeptic lines.

Course this is also one of the times the writing has to be hampered by trying to patchwork and salvage the Sequel Trilogy by explaining why the New Republic ignored the problem of the First Order until it was too late.

HI THREEPIO.

Man I am gonna cry ugly tears when we lose Antony Daniels, he loves playing Threepio so much, he's always up for it, never once complained that no one knows him from anything else.

Right so I get why they had Threepio deliver a message instead of trying to CGI frankenstein Leia into this but also Disney are cowards JUST RECAST THE MAIN TRIO I PROMISE NO ONE ACTUALLY HOLDS IT AGAINST ALDEN, TLJ JUST SUCKED AND SOLO WAS THE NEXT PRODUCT WE HAD TO TAKE THINGS OUT ON.

Seriously, the de-aging and CGI puppetry is starting to get uncomfortable and weird.

Chopper bout to throw hands in this courthouse lol.

I'm sorry, the emphasis on just how LONG this hyperspace trip is is absolutely making me reel with adoration for Ezra, he held the air inside the bridge of the Chimaera and the door closed and Thrawn in place ALL THE WAY TO PERIDEA IN ANOTHER FREAKING GALAXY.

YOUR FAVE COULD NEVER.

Loosen up a bit Rosario, you're stiff.

Oof that little bow between Ahsoka and Holo!Anakin.

Huyang begrudgingly having to remember to trust the Force lol.

Ohhhhh bastard, he put explosives in orbit to stop the purrgil!

.....Making the ring against the planet like that was supposed to be a visual reminder of the Death Star right?

The look of subtle but dawning horror in Thrawn's face when he realizes Ahsoka was Anakin's padawan lololol.

Like, "Ffffffffffffff--"

"Jedi are very good at hiding. They've been practicing that for years." Ah yes, excellent, another moment/quote I can add to my collection of "Thrawn barely containing his seething loathing of Ezra" bits lol.

*perks* Oh? Are we at the interesting parts now?

Ahhhh yes the minivan convoy with mom and dad Sabezra at the front.

There should have been waaaaaay more infodumping in this conversation, I need Ezra to boggle over everything.

Sabine still avoiding the question, but lol at Ezra's "The usual level [of complicated] or worse?" that's so cute.

THEIR BANTER IS ADORABLE I AM PILLOWING MYSELF IN IT AND MAKING A BLANKET FORT.

FRICK THIS IS PERFECT.

Ugh and he doesn't push her to talk about it, he's still so considerate of her armor and walls.

Someone, maybe multiple someones commented that they could see serious Two Towers aesthetics in this and... yeah no this is super LOTR-esque.

Lars Mikkelson continuing to kill it with his performance, as basic as it is.

[SIGHS HEAVILY AT THE CONTINUING INSISTENCE ON MAKING SABINE FORCE SENSITIVE] Okay, Filoni, whatever.

I'm ignoring this, I'm pretending she reached out to Ezra instead.

"Took me in when I really needed help." Ohhhhh do not do that, do not plant hurt/comfort ideas in my head ghgkasuhfkauhf.

He is so softly concerned about her aaaaahhhhhh.

I saw a few people confused by Baylan basically abandoning Shin to things here when he was acting so fond of her last episode so let me maybe shed some light on that situation. Ahem:

THE DARK SIDE DESIRE FOR POWER SLOWLY CONSUMES YOU UNTIL IT IS OVERWHELMING, UNTIL WHAT YOU WANTED THE POWER FOR NO LONGER MATTERS. THAT'S ITS NATURE THAT'S WHAT IT DOES. BECOMES MORE AND MORE OF AN OBSESSION UNTIL IT'S ALL YOU CARE ABOUT.

So yes, Baylan chucking Shin out to find her destiny or whatever because whatever it is that he's trying to seize power from is making him completely overlook her feelings.

"If Lord Baylan proves capable..." LOLOLOL BAYLAN DECIDED TO SCREW THAT NOISE HE'S IN IT FOR HIMSELF MY MAN.

GUNSHIPS! GUUUUUNSHIIIIIIIPS!

:D

Ezra can't leave the one crashed one, awwwwww.

Frick, him being the Noti's protector is just so frigging cute. I need fluff fics.

I'M GONNA DIE FROM THIS BANTER, IT'S ADORABLE.

Battle Couple Sabezra now? Y/Y?

Baylan's whole demeanor is changing, it's like he's soaking up the Dark Side energy of this place. Once again, awed by Ray Stevenson's sheer presence. The man feels massive and he's just standing there.

LOLOL THIS WHOLE ARGUMENT OVER THE "OUR" LIGHTSABER.

I'm grinning.

But also I wanna see Ezra hold his lightsaber again, pretty please?

Ahsoka doing much better now that she has both her blades this time.

*pillows hands* Can I watch Ezra forever please. I missed you son. Never leave me again.

HUYAAAAAAAAANG! :D

Oh man, how much dread and chagrin do you think Ezra had when he saw the stormtroopers?

Ho ho Thrawn looks eager for this.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE.

(They are this close to holding hands you guys.)

This is probably giving Ezra flashblacks.

Oh sue me I want some angst and whump and pain to have happened in the interim.

Ahsoooooookkaaaaaaaaaaa! :D

Oh for, please stop using the beskar as literal plot armor. It sucks a lot of danger out of the fight.

Thrawn being all Xanatos Gambit like the pro he is.

Shin looking like she might cry, oh wow actual emotions.

FRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIICCCCKKK THAT ADORABLE LITTLE LAUGH.

Oh gosh, don't jinx it don't jinx it don't jinx it...

Wheeeeeeeeee that was... fun, actually!

The Sabezra bits were adorable. I have quibbles here and there but I'm just so happy being Sabine being happy and content and seeing Ezra being... Ezra.

Nervous for the last ep though. Hhhgnghhhhh I am very much stressed and I do not wish to be.

[the-mighty-het-speaks]

soph, idk why but this roundtable interview (so-what/2018-02-21-round-table-european-chat) from early 2018 came to mind and now i'm rewatching it (spoiler: it's hilarious as I remember). Still one of my faves. Gotta ask, what are your fave tallica interviews? (also, cant wait to have a roundtable like this one a couple of months from now!!)

2018 metallica sure was something..... the funny part about opening this can of worms is that THIS was my intro to these old fuckers.... this leg of the indoor european tour were the first shows i followed and so i have dissected this convo multiple times. (the whole lars moving back to denmark bit????? omg) ("they're looking for a father figure, lars".... (they have no idea))

even further.... thinking about how much has happened since this chat and contrasting the identities of HWTSD and 72S. HW is such an external record. so much this is the state of the world, this is the state of identities.... which is funny because. 2016 was NOT 2023. if you wanted to write a record about the world you'd write it NOW. if you wanted to write a record about personal state and feelings, they could've written it then, (hearing them talk about their age, but also their youthfulness)... imagine lux, in 2018. it's perfect. so to think about 72 seasons, now.... misery, burning, wrath.... it is SO reflective.. what does a round table look like now. a LOT of feelings. kirk's interview today was HEAVY, james' was serious, i'm sure lars' will be intense. the weight of it all....

BUT,,,, stewing aside,,,, soph favorites:

literally EVERYTHING mr Stefan Chirazi has ever written. that man gets it. he feels it, he knows his shit, he's well prepared. excellent.

besides that....

kirk and gary (VERY inebriated): this is straight brain rot and giggling and just CLASSIC...

lars and dave grohl: OH MY GOD. the wine. cabo. all of it. literally do not need to explain.

james and joe rogan: the bees, the social commentary, the identities.... it's not on youtube in full anymore (still on spotify though) but joe rogan commentary aside, it's pretty tame poltically. just two dudes havin a chat. (:

hmmm.... the david fricke (rolling stone) ajfa interview: very intricate, detailed commentary

the flemming chat too!

that's kinda all i can think of at the moment. also i hate howard stern, he's a prick, acts like he knows everything, jose mangin is such a fanboy, he can't ask a real question, and really any of the talk show hosts (i have the WORST second-hand embarrassment).

[percontaion-points]

Everlife chapter 9

Today's review might be difficult for some; reader discretion is advised

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine 

“Believing is believing.” —Troika 

Killian

Ugh. 

“No concern for Ten?” I spread my still-bleeding arms. “You are wonderful friends. The best.” 

“At the moment, there’s nothing I can do for Ten,” Dawn [the healer] snaps at me. Well, well. The mouse can pretend to be a lion. “Besides. You are well enough to cause trouble, which means she is well enough. I must focus my efforts where they matter.”

So if every injury to Ten is an injury to Killian (or vice versa), then it’s safe to say that Dawn could stitch Killian up and it would help heal Ten. 

She goes still. A man with bright red curls ascends the pile, coming into view. She gasps, a name wafting over our bond. —Nico.—

This would probably be more impactful if we knew who the fuck Nico was. 

This book keeps hurtling character after character at us, as if the author thinks that the more characters, the more stars we’ll give it later. 

“After you attacked Victor, he came to me, admitted his feelings for me. We were going to be together—until he had to defect. Because of you.”

Try asking Kayla how her feelings for Victor worked out. Go on. We’ll wait for you to get back before we continue this conversation. 

“Troika voided [Victor’s] contract, allowing him to return to Myriad. I wanted to go with him, but I was denied. To be with him, I’ll have to go to court.” 

90% failure rate, buddy. Ninety percent. 

She takes a drink. Only a sip, not nearly enough, and only for the boost of strength needed to push and shove the slab from Biscuit’s leg.

So it’s not bad enough that we’re subjected to first person POV switching. But we’re in Killian’s POV, and he’s watching the stuff that’s happening to Ten through her perspective, and instantly knows all of the things that she knows. Because of their bond. 

I sure fucking hope that I don’t have to explain why this is the absolute goddamned worst writing crime you can commit. 

“Can’t be helped, my little hooman.”

CAN WE NOT. 

“Eron called dibs on everything with four legs and fur, and fish. Ambrosine wanted dragons, snakes and creepers like that.” 

There’s literally nothing here about where birds ended up. I STILL WANT AN EMU. 

Two polar bears lounge on boulders...telling jokes?

 “—call a cow that eats your grass?” one asks. “Don’t know,” the other says. “What?” 

“A lawn moo-er.” Laughter abounds. 

When the bears notice Biscuit, they jolt upright, ready to attack. The moment his identity clicks, however, they relax. “Hey, Biscuit. What you doing this far out?” one asks. 

“And with a human.” The other tsk-tsks. “You broke the beast-code.” 

“Frick, Frack, this is Ten,” Biscuit says. “Ten, Frick and Frack. Forget the code, guys. We need to borrow some weapons. And by borrow I mean keep forever.”

Suddenly we’re in a Disney movie, with the comedic relief who have cute matching names. What the hell is happening. 

Though my mind is a jumble of contradictions, I make a decision. — Don’t worry, baby. The dark is where I excel.—

Chapter 9 summary: As mentioned, this is now Killian’s POV. The first couple of pages are basically Killian twiddling his thumbs with Archer and a healer named Dawn. Then Ten gets hit with the bomb from the end of the previous chapter. Although as Dawn is quick to point out, since Killian is upright and talking, Ten will be as well. 

Then we’re subjected to POV inside of a POV. Yes, it’s maddening. Anyway, the person who lobbed the bomb at Ten is somebody named Nico. I don’t think that we’ve seen Nico before, or if we have, he was so irrelevant that he might as well not have shown up. Anyway, he’s doing this because he fancies himself in love with Victor, and obviously wants to defect to be with him. But in the end, he’s barely an inconvenience. 

Killian fills a couple of pages more with his random, rambling thoughts about Ten as she and Biscuit continue on. It seems as though the light from Ten is pushing through his darkness, so his thoughts are getting slightly less… murder-y. 

Biscuit takes Ten to two polar bears who have some weapons, and Biscuit asks for as much as Ten can carry. He then explains to Ten that Shamus went down into the tunnels, which are dark. Which normally wouldn’t be a problem, since he can sniff his way through things. But after the bomb, his nose is full of smoke. Killian pipes up and says that he can help navigate her through. 

[shijiujun]

[SPOILERS KIND OF] TLTR2 - Thoughts on the last 10 episodes + EVERYTHING

Ahhhhh the found family trope gets me every single damn time!!! Honestly Zhu Yilong’s TLTR is the best I’ve seen! 

Okay first things first, TLTR as a whole was EXCELLENT in terms of characters, script, twists, SETS (wow damn TLTR creeps me out episode after episode) and the whole premise seems a little far-fetched but actually melds together really well. Pacing could be slightly better (HAHAHAHA like Wu Xie was stuck in Warehouse 11 on his own like FOREVER in the first half) but they remedied that with S2, the pacing was spot on and I was literally jumping on my feet EVERY WEEK. Reunions? Check. Xiao Ge badass catwalk from the shadows every time Wu Xie is in danger? Check. TEAM BONDING WITH LIU SANG WHUMP?! CHECK. HAPPY ENDING?!!! CHECK (could have done with an alive Jia Ke Zi to be honest, but we’ll take what we can get).

And one thing TLTR does really, really well is like touching, reminiscing scenes? Even with Er Jing?!!! And of course everytime Pang Zi and everyone else thinks Wu Xie is dying, and when Wu Xie himself thinks he’s literally going to die the next moment, wow the script is amazing?!!! I cried (okay but I admit that I cry really easily) soooo many times?!

On Er Jing - The Mole

The moment when Wu Xie recalls Er Jing saving him when he was younger, and how much he trusted Er Jing, and I do feel so sad for both Er Jing and Wu Xie? Like I don’t believe each moment for Er Jing was spent like scheming and tbf he’s not that good of a schemer, ISTG his greed and glee shows up EVERY SINGLE TIME the second he steps into warehouse 11 and Pang Zi is right, “It’s so obvious it’s Er Jing please.” Wu Xie says it as well - if Er Jing truly was a scheming little bij, he would have been seen throughout the 20 years?! So Er Jing perhaps through the years, did think about Er Shu and Wu Xie as his family, I do believe that. It’s just sad af that he chose treasure that he never saw over riches with Er Shu ya know?! 

Not sure if Er Jing and his band of crazy friends are dead or alive? Seems at the last episode Wu Xie asked to send doctors down to treat them, but I guess...

On Liu Sang

In the book apparently Er Jing isn’t the mole but Liu Sang (in a different setting, not the same situation if I recall correctly), but San Shu admits that he was drunk or smth when he was writing the ending and Liu Sang and Xiao Bai ‘disappeared’ LOLOL but San Shu has been supportive always in Liu Sang’s character, so I am soooooo glad my Liu Sang BB is pure, innocent, sometimes scheming, always whump?!! AHHHHH LIU SANG!!!!!

Liu Chang as Liu Sang is fricking amazing damn I LOVE HIS LOOK? Honestly, Liu Chang is my new obsession, I love this man. I really, really do. I love his hair, I love him with glasses, anything tbh. 

And he’s so protective of Xiao Bai?!!! LIKE LEGIT GENTLEMAN?!!! The first time when he tried to save Xiao Bai from Boss Jiao’s people in the cave, and then in the last ep, when the black thingys came flying over, he shielded her with his coat?!!! Not that it would have made a difference but damn, my pure, competent bb Liu Sang.

Also Liu Sang still DOES NOT GET HIS HUG FROM XIAO GE ISTG?!!! XIAO GE HUGS EVERYONE BUT HIM. DAMN. I REST MY CASE.

On IRON TRIANGLE + 4th sister Xiao Bai

Wu Xie is amazing. ZYL is damn frickin amazing too, and Chen Minghao as Pang Zi IS GOLD. HE’S SO DRAMATIC ASS?!!! And young Huang Junjie as Xiao Ge, damn. This is the best trio I’ve ever seen. This is the best trio you need. All the brotherhood shit, all the meaningful stares between Xiao Ge and Wu Xie, COME ON!!!!

And also Pang Zi taking care of Xiao Mei?!!! And Xiao Mei calling him dad?!!! I love it. AHAHAHAHA

Xiao Bai, I don’t even know where to begin. I think it’s cute, her and Wu Xie, and when Wu Xie called her and she didn’t pick up and in the last ep when Xiao Bai left him behind to run towards Pang Zi and the rest and Wu Xie’s AFFRONTED LOOK, I think he’s fond of her somewhat too. Although to what degree, in what sense, well... I just think it’s cute (ALSO DID YOU GUYS KNOW THAT MAO XIAOTONG WHO PLAYS XIAO BAI IS THE SAME AGE AS ZHU YILONG?!!! LET THAT FARKING SINK IN. THEY ARE BOTH 32 YEARS OLD OKAY?!!)

Hei Yang Jing, Huo Dao Fu, Li Jia Le, Kan Jian, Xiao Hua

AHAHAHAHA I just wanna laugh at these few - LJL especially was so mean in Warehouse 11 but the moment S2 starts he’s just a cute, clumsy bun bun who keeps getting KO-ed, glad he’s alive tho!!! Kan Jian too, so skinny and crying all the damn time, who loves his boss so much, he’s the cutest. I see a lot of fics shipping Kan Jian and Liu Sang, and tbh, in S1 I did see it quite a bit.

Hei Yan Jing and Chu Chu is frickin alive?!! Damn Xiao Hua, I knew you would have done something. Honestly, if you have so much damn money, and you let Chu Chu go without a fight after warning her that you take HYJ’s request to keep her safe seriously?!!! DAMN THE REVEAL IN THE LAST EP. Hope they meet. Baron Chen is... gosh, I love this man. Also Baron Chen and Huang Junjie were in The Pillow Book tgt and oooooof I love it I love it.

And all of you know just how much I love YOUTIAO DOC?!!! He was such a major side character in the second half of like S2 and I am all for it. His sass, his eye rolls, the way he takes care of Wu Xie and does things for him even tho he grumbles about it?!!! Damn. I need a friend like that.

On Er Shu

Honestly Er Shu was the mastermind in the novel? If I recall, it was his plan basically to get Wu Xie to go to Thunder City to get himself cured, because Wu Xie would not have done it otherwise. In fact, everyone except Wu Xie knew it was Er Shu’s plan to get him to go and that he schemed it all?!! 

And when the reveal happened, everyone was like “yeah we knew it was him and that we’re all part of his plan but we didn’t say anything” because no one knew which roles they were playing in Er Shu’s plan?! And then yeah Liu Sang turned out to be a mole but I didn’t manage to see why, but he was kind of a morally ambivalent character? And Wu Xie in the novel at one point said that he believes in the kind of person Liu Sang is and that he’s not all that bad after the reveal, so... anyway, ER SHU WAS MEANT TO BE MORE BADASS THAN THIS?!!!

I’m so sad he was really paralysed ;-; I legit thought when he stood up in Ep 29 it was really him and I freaked out but it was HYJ CRIESSSS

--

Overall this was definitely a drama of friendship? Forged over creepy tombs that were a mix of Frankenstein, The Mummy Returns, Aliens vs Predator and Indiana Jones?!!! FRIENDSHIP!!!! At the end of it all, Wu Xie found so many new friends that are definitely going to come running the next time they have to find another tomb? 

Like I was sad Liu Sang didn’t turn up in the last scene but he’s alive thank god, and you can imagine that the next time they need help, Liu Sang will roll his eyes but turn up?!!! And LJL also maybe?! And HDF, everyone!!!!

One thing I wanna know is what the hell is going to happen to the Wu family business?!!! Wu Xie looks like he not going to deal with the power shit, argh IDK he’s back to hobo-ing with his bros which I guess is best life.

EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT IF ER JING WASN’T A MOLE ARGH I’M SO MAD. AND IF JIA KE ZI DIDN’T DIE?!!

I’D WATCH THIS WHOLE DAMN THING AGAIN. 10/10 FOR BROMANCE, FRIENDSHIP, FAMILY AND CREEPY ASS TOMBS.

[fishoutofcamelot]

Merthur

[Send me a ship and I’ll give you my brutally honest opinions about it]

Hooooo booooyy you really wanna open that Pandora’s Box? You really wanna go swinging at that can of worms, my good sir? Well alright...

Okay! So since I respect the fact that people probably don’t want to hear me riff on their otp for a million years, my Brutally Honest Opinions will be located under a cut-off.

Tldr: every ship has flaws and it’s important to see value in the human-ness of that - but while Merthur is an objectively good ship, most of its flaws happen to be ones that personally make me very uncomfortable. If you don’t feel the same way, that’s perfectly fine because we’re all entitled to our own opinions and preferences.

I’ll preface this by saying that every relationship, fictional or otherwise, has some level of problematic-ness to it. People are messy and imperfect, and our relationships reflect that. Lack of communication, codependency, distrust - for the sake of simplicity we’ll call these things ‘Problem Factors’. And these Problem Factors play a big role in determining who/how we ship. That is, each person can tolerate certain Problem Factors while finding others uncomfortable, which leads them to shipping or not shipping certain things. You might tolerate secret-keeping and ship Merwen, while you might not tolerate heteronormativity and not ship Arwen.

I know that the fandom largely likes Merthur, and it’s easy to see why. It’s an objectively good ship - excellent buildup, chemistry, and overall dynamic. They have amazing scenes together and their banter is simply electric. So I don’t blame the fandom for adoring this ship so dearly, and under any other circumstances I probably would too. HOWEVER. It just so happens that Merthur hits up on a LOT of my personal squicky Problem Factors. And if it doesn’t hit up on yours, then great. More power to ya.

I could harp on about codependecy, Arthur’s occasional harshness and violence towards Merlin, fanon interpretations, oversaturation, power imbalance, or even the amatonormativity of the soulmate thing. Those would all be valid things to critique, and have probably already been critiqued to death at this point. So I’m not gonna talk about that. Instead, I’m going to address another elephant in the room that makes me far more uncomfortable than probably anything else:

The Minority Metaphor

I’ll be the first to admit that BBCM’s discrimination metaphor is...shoddy, at best. The victim-blaming, victim-antagonizing, and fascism-apologizing are some major issues that make this show unpleasant to rewatch at times despite it being one of my all-time faves. However, it’s also oddly relatable.

I make it no secret on this blog that I’m an American Muslim. And as a Muslim who lives in a very non-Muslim region of the world (seriously, I’m so deprived of Muslim interaction that I get visibly excited whenever I see one in public), I’m no stranger to discrimination.

When I watch magic-users be harassed for the actions of a rare violent few, despite the majority of them being peaceful people who just want to be left alone - when I watch magic-users constantly feel they have to apologize for being who they are - when I watch magic-users be antagonized in the eyes of the public - you can bet your fricking biscuit that I relate.

I couldn’t imagine falling in love with or being put into a relationship with an islamaphobe/bigot. Even if they’ve changed their views and reformed, it would still be a point of contention for me. Because I’ve been screamed at and harassed, and to think of my love interest having once been on the other side of the fence...I don’t think I could stomach a romantic relationship with them.

Now I love Arthur as a character, but we can’t ignore the fact that he’s part of the oppressive ruling class that has discriminated against and subjugated Merlin’s people for decades - and when he became king, Arthur himself contributed to that same oppression. And though he felt remorse for it, though he was just a young and impressionable child at the time, Arthur also still has that druid camp raid on his conscience (not to mention that he promised the druid ghost he’d make changes, we never see any of that happen on-screen).

Yes, his prejudices were the result of ignorance and his father’s propaganda/conditioning, but he’s not a child anymore. He can’t blame his mistakes on anyone but himself. He had moments of questioning magic, questioning the morality of the Purge, but ultimately fell back to his father’s rhetoric every time. You can blame Merlin and Morgana and his environment for manipulating him in that direction, but he’s still a grown man capable of forming his own opinions, not a pile of clay to be molded by the whims of others.

I sometimes try to ship Merthur, because it has a lot of appeal - but then I remember scenes where Arthur told Merlin that magic was evil straight to his face, and I can’t bring myself to be okay with that. If someone called me a terrorist to my face - and people have - I’d probably cut them out of my life then and there. “Oh but they’re a good person deep down.” Tell that to the people they’ve hurt and offended, Patricia. We can only excuse the bigotry of others because we have not yet found ourselves in the position of their victims.

Of course, canon has shown that Merlin is a far ‘better’ person than I. And by ‘better’ I mean that a lifetime of propaganda and subjugation, as well as the impression of Kilgharrah’s destiny-heavy rhetoric upon him, has brainwashed Merlin into being complacent in his own oppression. He’s okay with supporting and defending his oppressors, choosing the tyrannical ruling class over his own kind, because that’s how his mind has been twisted (not that that excuses his actions either, of course). And though Morgana kinda went off the rails, her heart was arguably in the right place with wanting to overthrow Camelot’s current government. If you’d put me in her shoes, I’d probably want to kill Uther too.

Nevertheless, I can accept that Merlin has more room for forgiveness in his heart, and could somehow find it in himself to love someone who was once (and maybe still is) in a position of oppressive authority over him. Like, I get it. If someone changed their ways, I’d probably be able to be their friend and get along with them, but to be in a relationship with them? Even if Merlin could conceivably fall in love with Arthur, I can’t in good conscience ship it.

Okay, what about shipping them but only in aus? Well, rock meet hard place. I can’t bring myself to ship them in canon because of everything I just talked about, along with the other uncomfortable Problem Factors I briefly touched on earlier. And I can’t bring myself to ship them in aus because I feel that if you have to change things about the ship to make it work, then maybe it wasn’t a good ship to begin with. Plus I just don’t generally like fanon interpretations of Merthur for reasons I do NOT have the time to get into unless you want me to write a full-length dissertation on fandom trends.

So...yeah. Those are my Brutally Honest Opinions about Merthur. I hope you’re prepare to contend with the tides of discourse this will likely spark.

Thanks for the ask! <3

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

La jacquerie (Palazzetto Bru Zane recording, 2016): Reactions

And yet again, Palazzetto Bru Zane proves to be a treasure.

Composed by Édouard Lalo and Arthur Coquard (Lalo died before he could finish it, only writing the first act; Coquard wrote the rest), the opera premiered in 1895 and almost immediately vanished from the repertoire, not to be heard again until 2015, when this concert performance was recorded. (Sidenote: like the score, the libretto also was a multi-person effort: another Édouard, Édouard Blau, worked on part of it, while the rest was written specifically at Coquard’s request by successful playwright and librettist Simone Arnaud. Yes, a woman. That’s awesome.)

It’s currently four o’clock in the morning so this won’t be super-coherent but anyway: I really liked it. Actually, I liked it so much that I immediately put it on to play a second time and I am listening to Act I as I type this.

Basically, the setup of the plot, from what I gather in my “slightly tired, definitely overworked, and working-on-homework-as-I-listen state” is as follows: it’s the summer of 1358 and the people of northern France are upset because life sucks if you’re not part of the rich and famous. Robert (tenor) is the only son of Jeanne (mezzo), a widow and working peasant who sacrificed what she could to send her son to Paris because he wanted to learn and make a better life for himself. This has earned her the ridicule of the Seneschal (bass-baritone). While in Paris, Robert was gravely injured defending a poor man from some douchey nobles; he was taken to a convent and cared for by a woman whose name he does not know but he does know that she is a noblewoman who left shortly before he finished recovering. The noblewoman is Blanche de Sainte-Croix (soprano), who has been engaged by her father, the Comte de Sainte-Croix (bass-baritone) to a nobleman she has no interest in whatsoever, the cameo role of the Baron de Savigny (tenor who I’m pretty sure is in like one scene). However, she is in love with Robert. Two other things add to the problems: one of the peasants’ main complaints is that they have to pay for the wedding of the Comte’s unknown daughter (Blanche, who was separated from her father for several years); and Guillaume (baritone) is a revolutionary leader suspicious of Robert.

there’s a lot of shit that happens but long story short it reminded me of the plots of several major French grand opéras but in only about half the time (the recording clocks in at 1 hour and 53 minutes). here’s the libretto in French and English.

the music is marvelous: I’m more familiar with Lalo than Coquard (I had never heard of the latter), but I only really know Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, although that HARD SLAPS (especially the first movement, which I unsuccessfully tried to learn the solo violin part to because it’s awesome and dramatic as frick. to prove my point, here’s that first movement, but I digress). anyway, because of my relative lack of familiarity with both composers’ work, the difference between the two composers’ work wasn’t that obvious to me, although maybe if I knew their work better that would be different. idk. regardless, the music is of a very high quality all the way through: there are arias and duets and such but overall it does feel quite through-composed. the choral writing is of a particularly high quality: right off the bat, you get hit with this huge chorus of grief and suffering from the peasants and it is marvelous. like “perk up your head oh what was that cool thing?” marvelous. and the Stabat mater in Act II is gonna be something I come back to for a long time. There are also two standout wonderful duets back-to-back in Act IV: one for Blanche and Jeanne and one for Blanche and Robert (first track here because there’s like six tracks of it). My only actual complaint is that I felt like the music when Robert gets murdered by Guillaume (long story) is overly subdued, but that’s all.

the musical forces are all excellent: chorus, orchestra, and the soloists. the SOLOISTS! Charles Castronovo and Véronique Gens are the lovers and they are glorious as always; that’s all you need to know about them. the rest are all excellent as well.

anyway, here’s the recording on Spotify. if you have a couple of hours on your hands, go listen to it. bring the libretto linked above with you. you will not regret this.

[nalufever]

As You Wish Ch. 1 Life is a Highway

I’m massively late (a chronic state of being for myself) for Day 7: free theme ~ which I’ve chosen to write as a Road Trip fic for this year’s Snowells week 2020. 

Eobard picks Frost's car to jack and joins her road trip which is all fun and giggles until a line gets crossed. Eobard learns Frost still has ties with her previous life and if he wants to claim a spot in her current life, he will have a far-reaching decision to make.

Read on AO3 <<here>> more chapters to soon follow! Comments welcomed ;)

Swinging the last minute bag of important provisions (okay, it was all junk food - but very necessary), Frost approached the passenger side of the black boxy vehicle she had decided to use and yanked the handle. The door and her mouth were wide open and then she lunged inside, slamming the door shut after herself.

Despite the need to keep a low profile, icy mist formed, swirling inside the car. “What in frozen hell do you think you're doing?” Frost yeeted her supplies into the backseat. She smacked the man in the middle of stealing her car - landing a solid blow to the back of Eobard’s head. “Seriously? It’s not enough you pull all the big jobs in Central City, you’ve lowered yourself to petty crimes too?”

“Hey!” Eobard pulled his head out from under the steering wheel and let go of the ignition wires in his hands. “Petty? Grand theft auto more like.” He grimaced and rubbed the rising bump on his skull. “What did I ever do to you that you felt the need to try to smash my brain into spaghetti?”

“How much time do you have?” Killer Frost sat back and crossed her arms, starting her tirade off with an ominous glare. “At the beginning of fall, you ruined my favourite leather jacket. Last November, you emptied the bank vault at Central City Bank of the Union before I could! You tore my next best jacket at Christmas time! And -”

No longer willing to be harangued, Eobard sighed and interrupted Frost. “That was rhetorical, as if I pay any attention to what I may have done to others.” Many of the shoppers loading their cars were craning their necks watching himself and Frost, no doubt hoping for talk-show level action. “Do me a solid and lower your volume from fishwife to fish.”

Frost gasped. “Oh. No. You. Didn’t.” She grabbed hold of his arm and wondered why Eobard hadn’t tried to yank her spine out with his speed. Actually, why wasn’t he using any of his power for evil purposes? Why was he trying to jack her car? Or any car for that matter? Oh. A shrewd grin on her face, Frost snorted. “Oh no, you can’t.”

“What?”

“As in, you somehow lost your speed.” Frost could feel maniacal laughter bubbling up, waiting to be released. She needed to get rid of this jackass and get going. “Beat it.” For fun, she raised her voice. “Get out of my car!”

“Darling, but what about the kids?” Eobard moved a bit closer and playfully tugged on a tendril of Frost’s hair. Whispering, he said, “Do you want all these people making a police report if we start a fight?”

“Shut up and drive, dear.” Frost wished she’d gotten more chocolate. Dealing with Mr. Reverse Flash was very much a fudge situation.

“Got keys? I don’t want another braining.” Eobard gave Frost a sideways glance. “I’m sure me fussing with the ignition wires is too much temptation.”

“Pfft.” Frost threw the keyfob at her new chauffeur. “I need to get out of town, now. Head east.”

“Yes’m, Miz Daisy.” Eobard tugged at a non-existent hat and gave the woman a truculent smirk.

Much more relaxed as the distance between herself and certain others increased, Frost found herself starting to enjoy being driven; up until Eobard blew a very stale yellow. “Hey! Did you get your license out of a gumball machine?”

“Don’t you mean cracker jack box?” This time the cheese doodle thrown at his head didn’t startle Eobard. “What are the kids saying these days, anyway?”

“Don’t kid yourself.” Frost made sure to drawl her words to get her sarcasm across to the big bad speedster. “You’re a dinosaur and out of touch with the pulse of current society.”

“You wound me, now I’ll have to take you off my Christmas card list.”

“Exactly! Nobody sends Christmas cards!” Frost ate another handful of cheese doodles and then rummaged at the bottom of the bag for her second chocolate bar. Good thing being evil burned calories - but right now it was self-medication. Eobard was an unknown quantity. Being this close to him was worrisome - who knew when he’d revert to his vibrating hands trick? The one that crushed a person’s heart before they could regret not eating more chocolate? So many things that man could vibrate in a good way but all he wanted to do was cause harm? Rude.

“Then why don’t you educate me on current society?” Eobard hoped he’d said that cooly. Not as a joke about hanging out with Killer Frost - but because he actually meant what he’d asked. It would be nice to have a somewhat proper colleague to exchange thoughts with while he needed to keep a low profile. Once his plan was in motion he’d have to return to centre stage in Central City.

“As fun as that sounds, I’d rather accidentally chop my head off while shaving.”

“Or perhaps stab yourself in the stomach while giving yourself a haircut?” Eobard laughed and took a fast left onto the road leading out of town. “Don’t be too surprised, we have classic TV in the future too.”

“I’m not surprised, Black Adder should be immortalized endlessly as far as I’m concerned.” Frost held onto the inside door handle as the car’s wheels squealed, her voice rising in irritation. “Can you not kill us?”

“And why would I kill us both?” Eobard gave the vehicle more gas, passed a minivan full of presumably screaming children and a set of stoic parents, blowing past them.

“You’re missing your speed, huh?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Frost didn’t even attempt to hide her smirk. “So, what happened to your speed? Why oh why does Mr. Reverse Flash need a car all the sudden?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“What is it? You don’t know what I’m talking about or you don’t want to talk about it? Because -”

Eobard shot Frost a side-glance that was only too easy for her to imagine limned in electric glowing red. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About. It.”

Frost considered pushing the point and decided she’d prefer to live another day. She took solace in the fact she could call her little chauffeur all kinds of names in her head - starting with bitch and not ending until she got to the phrase show-pony. “Just so you know, it might be a good idea to keep under the speed limit. It’s only sixty here.”

“Hmmph.”

“I love icing a cop as much as the next criminal, but you’re in no condition to do evil as per usual, are you?”

“Do I have to repeat myself?”

“Fine, fine!” Frost waved her hand dismissively and shook her head. “I read you loud and clear. You don’t wanna talk about it.” She adjusted her car seat to recline and placed her booted heels onto the dash. “Wake me when we reach a decent coffee shop in the next town over, ‘kay?”

“As you wish.”

Frost had to hand it to ole Eobard, he did know his classic TV and movie quotes.

><><><>< 

Frost sniffed once, twice and let out an outrageously satisfied sigh. The coffee aromas were fricking amazing. She shuddered and her eyes snapped open. Eobard was still driving but now in pride of place in the car’s cup holders were two coffees.

“Um, nice job paying for a drink for me, but there was totally another reason why I wanted to stop.” She sucked air over her teeth and gave Eobard her best disgusted look. The one that would make a normal man grovel for a good ten minutes. It didn’t work on him but it felt good to try. “I’m nowhere near common but I do have the need to stretch my legs and use certain facilities.”

“Who says this second coffee is yours?” Eobard had the audacity to snort. “I have my own personal caffeine needs to meet.”

“Oh, you sweet summer child.” Frost shook her head and smiled brilliantly. She snagged the unopened drink and raised it to her lips, inhaling the delectable scent and then delicately sipping. Savouring it, she said, “You’d better find another coffee shop or hole-in-the-wall diner. Or else, there’s gonna be a little less happiness inside this vehicle.”

“What do I care how happy you are?”

“You’re gonna care.” Frost took another sip and looked at her handsome chauffeur through slitted eyes. “Unless you somehow enjoy the smell of pee? Is that your kink? I would never have guessed. Huh, weird.”

“Ugh. Fine, I’ll stop at the very next place.” Eobard stifled the urge to laugh. Frost wouldn’t appreciate the other rambling thoughts in his head at all. It was oddly satisfying to be here on this road trip with her - even if his powers were out of commission and he had no intention of letting her know exactly why. This situation, it was almost charming. How long had it been since he’d felt challenged? Eons.

“Excellent. I’ll downgrade you to the next slightly less creepy level of weirdo.”

“I don’t care what you do.” Eobard spotted a sign and took the next exit, his high speed making the van squeal its tires. “As long as you hold it for another five minutes, yeah?”

><><><>< 

Frost ambled out of the restroom, only mildly surprised Eobard was still sitting at the booth of the restaurant. Mmm, could it be his superspeed was making a comeback and he needed to fuel his powers with food? Why did she care? If he was anywhere near recovered, he’d be gone - in a flash. She snorted.

“This place has decent poutine, so let’s fuel our bodies.”

Dropping into the seat opposite her travelling companion, Frost picked up the plastic coated menu and gave it a cursory reading. “Just because it says ‘world famous poutine’ doesn’t make it the truth.”

“Well, good to know your sarcasm is at full power.” He rolled his eyes. “But I know for a personal fact this place makes good poutine.”

“Oh, well, then let’s indulge.” Frost dropped the menu like it had third grade cooties. “Far be it from me to disagree with such a smart and well-travelled man.”

“Are you seriously making me tell you to chill?” Eobard rolled his eyes and managed to project a lot of self-assured chutzpah. “And thanks for such heart-felt assurances. I do know my way around this burg.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, old man.”

“As if. You’re technically older than I.” Eobard flicks his electric blue eyes up and down Frost’s body. “But when you’re right, you’re right.” He smiled at the waitress and ordered food for them both; one large poutine, an order of coleslaw and two burgers.

Frost only gave minimal thought to arguing. It was one measly meal, not worth fighting over. But later, if Eobard was going to continue playing lord and master...well, he’d have one hell of a fight coming. As an alpha female, she knew exactly when to pick her battles.

><><><>< 

Eobard clutched his stomach, partly in fear of the heavy load of poutine escaping. The other reason was Frost was a much more of a rules-schmules type of driver. She’d deftly pick-pocketed the keys from his coat after they finished their meal and gleefully took over driving duties. He’d had to relinquish or lose face. That woman had called him a coward - not in so many words, but she was casting much too much shade on his manhood.

“Aw, is the big bad man scared of my driving?” Frost pressed down on the accelerator and grinned maniacally. “I, at least, learned how to in my own time.”

“You tell me that, but I haven’t seen any evidence.” Eobard considered lowering the window. If push came to shove with his stomach contents, it would be less smelly if he barfed into the wind. Ew but no - he should spew and let the wind carry the barf away. Frost had addled his brains entirely too much.

His general interest in the woman had become too strong. What else would he find himself doing just to curry this bewitching female’s favour? Eobard chuckled. He knew what he wanted even if he couldn’t bring himself to put it into words. It was part and parcel of the reason why he’d used her personal trip to escape Central City after his failed experiment. He laughed and clutched his stomach harder. “Don’t give yourself too much credit.”

“How flattering.” Frost mashed her foot down and passed the twin of the vehicle she was driving, although the other one contained a harried mom, a shouting dad and four children. “I happened to actually take lessons unlike yourself.”

“You take that back!”

Frost didn’t know if Eobard was trying to flirt poorly or was just deluded into defending his piss-poor driving - but in either case, she decided to give the superbad man enough rope to hang himself. “Okay, you don’t drive like you’re clueless.” She put extra oomph into her fake laugh - and even if she had to say it herself, it was perfection. This was the laugh that screamed, ‘oh no you didn’t’ - in the highest of registers.

“Maybe I was a little hasty.” Eobard grabbed the holy hell bar and held tight, his otherwise handsome face squinched up into a massive rictus of fear. “Can you maybe just keep it to fifteen over the limit?”

“Wow. The speedster with the mostest is begging me to take it easy?” Frost scoffed, “I’ve got a schedule to keep ya know. Actually, do you know? Pfft. I don’t think such a criminal mastermind would have any idea about us little common-folk.”

Eobard only knew he felt exposed...and horribly mortal without his full powers. He’d be playing into Frost’s hands if he let any of that slip and so he kept playing the one card that had never let him down. “Go nuts if you want nightmares over what I do to whatever unlucky cop tries to pull us over.”

Almost instantly the van lost speed and Frost started to follow each and every proscribed rule of the road. The next twenty miles passed without conversation until the light started failing and it was obvious a motel room was going to be necessary.

><><>< 

“Wow, you actually planned to stay in a shithole like this?” Eobard had the grace to wait to ask this after they got the key from the old and massively overweight motel owner; he’d pretended to be as much of a normie as he could - only unleashing his snark once they stood in the middle of the stuck in the seventies decorated room. The room was an unholy mixture of harvest orange, fruit heavy wallpaper and gold fringed bedspread; safe to say it was a decorator’s nightmare.

“Let me give you my official apology.” Frost bowed, letting her head hang low and then stood upright with a snap. “If only I’d’a known you were gonna tag along and be my personal burden, I could’ve planned a nicer getaway for you.”

“Let that be a lesson to you.” Deciding an imperious tone was his best armour, Eobard charged forward with his ridiculous words. “You’re very lucky I’ve chosen you, d’you know?”

“I’m starting to realize.” Frost hoped her ironic tone wasn’t lost on Eobard. “I’m ever so blessed.”

“Excellent that we’re in agreement.” Eobard sat on the edge of the bed and smiled. “You should go and check and see if the tub is clean enough for you.”

“Clean? Tub? What the hell are you thinking?”

“I’m too much of a gentleman to sleep with you of course - you’ll feel better sleeping in the tub, I’m sure.”

“Mmmmmm.” Frost considered freezing Eobard into one solid mass and then slapping the shit out of his damn rude mouth. Just in case he was only pretending to be at a handicap, she decided to hold off on that - but it was rapidly rising on her list of things to do. “It’s early yet, yeah? Let’s grab some grub and we can decide who’s sleeping in ceramic glory after.”

“As if it’s not a forgone conclusion, but yeah, let’s go find something good to eat.”

[a-vintage-snake]

Once I Called You Brother

Pairing(s): None in this chapter

Warnings: Abusive parenting, both emotionally and physically, Remus typical stuff  Characters: Roman Sanders, Remus Sanders

Summary: When Remus disappears, Roman tries to reflect on their shared past.

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People who were asked to be tagged: @avocados26, @fandoms-will-collide @nottoonormalme Author’s Note: *claps hands* SO. My Dukeceit one-shot gave me so many plot ideas that I wanted to continue it. And I intended the next installment to be a one chapter thing from Roman's point of view, before returning to Deceit and Remus. HOWEVER, after writing 10.000 fricking words for this chapter and not even REMOTELY close to being done, I thought that would be a bit too cray-cray and decided to split it up in not just two, but MULTIPLE separate parts. I write out of order (meaning I write the scene I'm feeling the most that day) so while most of the next three chapters is written, they're not done just yet. Hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner than this one though. Don't worry, we will return to slimy boi and trash rat eventually. Just have some Roman angst while you wait. Word Count: 6790 “Don’t wait up for me!” Remus yelled. “BYYYYEE!!” “REMUS!! Remus, wait!” Roman ran after his brother, but the minute Remus spurred the mare into a gallop there was no chance he could catch up. Baffled he halted and watched as his brother disappeared out of the castle’s gate.

Quickly Roman turned to the stable boy who had brought out Remus’ horse.

“You! Prepare a horse! I need to go after-”

“Your Highness!”

Roman whipped around to see his fencing teacher approaching him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The man huffed. “You haven’t finished your lesson yet!”

“So sorry, mister Moore, but I have to cut this lesson short. My brother, he just-!”

“Absolutely out of the question!” Mister Moore waved away the horse the stable boy brought over. “I allowed you a break, but you have to continue practicing stat if you ever hope to improve your footwork!”

“But sir, my brother! He’s planning to go to the Desolate Mountains!”

“I don’t care if his Grace is planning to go to the underworld itself, you will not skip this lesson!”

“Are you kidding me??” Roman yelled. “I am not going to be stopped by you, you absolute-!” “What is going on here?”

Roman’s back immediately straightened and he shut his mouth, as his father made his way over to the stables. King Augusto was dressed in his hunting attire and was in the process of pulling his gloves on.

“Your Majesty,” Mister Moore bowed when Roman’s father reached them. “So sorry for the disturbance, but prince Roman is trying to get out of his lesson.”

“Out of the question.” King Augusto said as he turned towards his son. “Roman, how many times must I tell you? As the future king, you have responsibilities.”

“But father, it’s Remus!” Roman said.

“Oh heaven above help us…” His father sighed dejectedly. “What has Remus done this time?”

“He just left, yelling that he was going to kill the warlock in the mountains!” Roman gestured to the castle’s gate. “If we hurry, we can catch up to him-!”

“You are not your brother’s babysitter, Roman. Lord knows he scared all those off…” King Augusto muttered as he turned away. “Return to your lesson.”

“But father!” Roman followed after the man as the king ordered the stable boys around. “Didn’t you hear what I said? He wants to go to the Desolate Mountains! We have to go after him!”

His father stopped in his tracks, and Roman froze when he realized what just left his mouth. The king slowly turned to face him, and Roman’s heart started beating painfully fast when his father walked up to him until they were mere centimetres apart.

“I don’t have to do anything,” The king spoke in a soft, dangerous voice. “And you would do well to remember that, son.”

Roman clenched his fists to hide that his hands were shaking.

Show no weakness; show no flaws.

“Yes father…” Roman said, quietly.

A few seconds passed, where the king inspected his eldest son with a cold glare and Roman desperately tried to not break eye contact. But then the king’s gaze eased slightly and he sighed.

“My hunting party will go in the general direction of the mountains,” King Augusto said. “I’ll keep my eye out for him.”

Roman’s eyes widened in surprise, before his face split into a big grin.

“Thank you father!” He beamed.

“Yes, yes,” His father waved him away. “Now get back to your lesson; I expect improvement by the end of the week.”

“Of course!” Roman wanted to give a playful salute, but thought better of it. “I won’t let you down!” “You better not.” The king hauled himself up to his awaiting horse, and rode up to the castle’s gate where his hunting party was waiting for him. Without another glance to his son king Augusto spurred his horse on and rode out of the gate, the king’s men behind him. Roman watched them go, and hoped his father would catch up to Remus soon.

A cough behind him pulled Roman from his thoughts.

“Your Highness,” mister Moore said. “Let’s continue your lesson.”

--

After fencing Roman had etiquette class. When those were done, he was expected at the study hall, where one of his tutors taught him the history of his country, the monarchs that had come before him, the alliances between their country and its neighbouring kingdoms. The many names, dates and places eventually blurred all together, and Roman was relieved when evening came and the lesson finally ended. He wanted absolutely nothing more than retreat to his rooms, collapse on his bed and sleep until sunrise.

He knew he couldn’t. Of course he knew. But the idea was nice.

After a quick change of clothes Roman made his way to the dining room. Mentally he reviewed his lessons of the day, just in case his mother would interrogate him about what he learned.

The dining room was a lovely space, with warm wooden walls, a large fireplace that was currently unlit and tall windows that overlooked the gardens and the landscape beyond it. A long table that could easily fit 30 people stood proudly in the middle. When his parents entertained guests, the dining room was a cheerful place, filled with laughter and jokes, and Roman would love every minute he spent there.

When it was just the family however, the dining room was a somber place. No amount of warm candlelight could quite chase away the solemnness that oozed from the muted suppertime, and the silence made Roman acutely aware of every scrutinizing frown that his parents sent his way.

When Roman entered the dining room, his mother and father were already seated. As the lackey announced his presence, Roman gave a short bow to his parents. But his eyes immediately zoned in on the empty chair that sat across from his, and it’s usual occupant nowhere in sight.

“Good evening Roman,” His mother greeted him. “Have a seat. I trust your day has been well?” “Splendid mother,” Roman answered dutifully, just like every evening. He sat down at his usual spot next to his mother. “And how has your day been?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, aside from a mild headache.” Queen Nadia smiled thinly.

“So sorry to hear that. I hope you feel well soon.” His daily talk with his mother done, Roman turned to his father who sat at the head of the table. “And how was the hunt, father?”

“Excellent!” His father looked quite pleased. “We caught two boar and a doe. Not bad, don’t you think?” This answered exactly none of the burning questions Roman had, but just when he opened his mouth to ask what about Remus the lackeys served up the dinner. Roman bit his tongue and swallowed his questions for now. His parents insisted total silence during actual suppertime.

Knifes scraped over plates, sometimes someone would cough, and the soft sound of chewing were the only things that filled the stillness of the room. Roman tried to focus on the creamy flavour of the quite excellent dish of chicken with mushrooms and potatoes, but no matter what he did his eyes were pulled to the other side of the table. His brother’s empty spot seemed to taunt him.

Silence wrapped around Roman’s throat like a noose. My goodness, dinnertime was always a miserable time, Roman knew that, but today the atmosphere pushed down on him like a crushing weight and Roman wanted nothing more than to break the tension. What was different?

Walking up to the dining room, Remus came from an opposing hallway and joined him. Roman threw a quick glance at his brother, intending to give a casual greeting, but what came out was-

“What the hell is that on your upper lip??”

Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise, but grinned. The soft mush of barely there moustache hair that a 14 year old could grow moved along with it.

“Jealous, bro-bro?” Remus stroked the hairs proudly.

“Pfff, hardly!” Roman laughed. “You look ridiculous!”

“You’re just mad because you can’t grow any facial hair yet! Baby face!” Remus stuck out his tongue.

“Rather a baby face than a dead animal on my upper lip! What did you, torture some poor hamster?”

“Oh, you want to know my secret?” Remus leaned in, a wild grin on his face. “It’s totally actually just glued on pubic hair!” He said in a loud stage whisper. Roman let out a shriek of laughter.

“Holy shit that’s disgusting!” Roman wheezed. Remus cackled along with him, and spread his arms in a proud stance.

“All hail the pubic ‘stache!” He hollered, and Roman had to stop walking and lean his hands on his thighs to laugh.

“You’re so weird!” Roman managed to say through peals of laughter. Remus grinned widely.

“Only the best kind!”

The brothers were still laughing among themselves when they reached the dining room. Their parents gave them disapproving glares, but Roman and Remus couldn’t stop grinning when they sat down. Throughout the quiet dinner the brothers both had to suppress their giggles and smiles whenever they made eye contact across the table.

Roman tried to focus on the dish he was eating. He brought his fork up to take a bite, but paused when he looked at the cooked spinach on his plate. A grin spread on his face when an idea came to him.

When Remus looked up at his brother, Roman was sporting a very dapper looking spinach moustache.

Remus, who had just taken a large swig of water to wash his last bite down, snorted loudly and spit out his water in a large spray across the table. Their mother and father let out double screams of surprise while Remus howled with laughter.

“REMUS!” His father rose from his chair. “You blithering idiot, look what you have done!”

A loud smack echoed across the room as king Augusto backhanded Remus so hard he fell off his chair on the ground. Roman’s light mood disappeared as he shrunk back into his chair; his hand quickly came up to wipe away the spinach from his lip.

“Can’t we have one dinner without you making a fool of yourself?!” His father roared at his son on the floor.

“No- Wait, father, I wasn’t-” Remus stammered. “It was Roman, he-”

“Of course, blame your brother.” His mother cut him off, coldly. “As if Roman would ever be as disruptive as you.”

“Learn to take responsibility for your actions, you moron.” His father said as he sat down again.

Remus shakily got up on his feet, holding his stinging cheek.

“Roman, tell them! Please…” Remus pleaded.

All eyes turned on him, and Roman froze under his parents expecting stare. Oh god, he would be a disappointment if he told the truth. He had been disruptive and childish, all the things his parents taught him not to be. They would be angry with him, furious maybe! He wasn’t supposed to make mistakes like this.

Avoiding his brother’s eyes, Roman merely shook his head.

“There, you see,” His mother looked back at Remus. “Now what do you have to say for yourself, little liar?”

Remus kept staring at his sibling, his mouth opening and closing in quiet disbelief. Then he turned away and ran out of the room.

“Honestly, that boy…” His father shook his head, not bothering to call his second son back. “Where did we go wrong?”

“It’s not our fault, dear,” His mother said. “Some people are just born a little… freaky, that’s all.”

His mother turned to Roman, and he stiffened as she gently caressed his cheek.

“Don’t worry, we’re not talking about you.” She said, her voice sweet. “You are such a good son, Roman.”

She pressed a soft kiss to his temple, before turning back to her dinner. Roman tried the same, but noticed he had lost his appetite.

The next evening when he ran into Remus on his way to the dining room, his brother refused to make eye contact and didn’t speak a word.

Roman’s heart gave a twinge at the sudden memory. He couldn’t take it anymore. He slammed his cutlery down with a bang and stood up. His parents jerked up.

“Roman?” His mother asked. “What do you think you’re-”

“Where’s Remus, father?” Roman asked before the courage left him. His father looked disdainfully at him.

“Sit down Roman. We have rules at dinnertime, you know that.”

“Where. Is. Remus?” Roman repeated. “You said that you would look for him!”

“And I did! Are you suggesting I wouldn’t look for my own son?”

“No, of course not! But then…” Roman looked at his brother’s empty seat. “Then where is he?”

King Augusto let out a sigh.

“I couldn’t find him. He was probably already too far ahead of us.”

Roman’s stomach dropped. His gaze flicked outside towards the mountains in the distance, looming in the fading light.

“We have to go look for him,” Roman said, as he scrambled away from the table. “Roman, get back here!” His parents rose from their chairs as well.

“He’s in danger!” He already had his hand on the doorknob when hands seized his shoulder and hand.

“Roman, sweetie,” Queen Nadia’s voice said in his ear. “Come sit and calm down before you do anything rash.”

“But mother he-!”

“Roman.” His mother’s tone took a warning edge. Roman swallowed, reluctantly released the doorknob and allowed his mother to gently guide him back into his chair. She sat down next to him and faced him, a soft smile on her face.

“Now,” She started. “Tell me exactly what your brother said.”

“I told you! He left yelling that he was going to kill the warlock in the mountains!” He rose once more. “If we hurry, we might be able to stop him!” His mother grabbed his hand before he could run again.

“So he never said specifically that he was going to the Desolate Mountains?” She asked.

“Well he…” Roman shut his mouth, thinking. Wait, had he…? Feverishly he replayed his brother’s exit from this morning in his head. Had he mentioned the Desolate Mountains at all?

“No…” Roman said hesitantly. “No, I don’t think so…”

“Well there you go,” His mother smiled kindly. “No need to worry, sweetie.”

“But then… where would he have gone?” Roman asked.

“Son, do you really think we only have one warlock in this whole country?” His father shook his head with a laugh. “I’m sure there’s plenty of them living in mountainous areas!”

“But how do we know for certain?” Roman’s eyes once again went to the window, to the threatening peaks in the distance.

“I don’t think even Remus would be stupid enough to actually go there.” King Augusto said. “Didn’t we make you both promise to never enter the mountains?”

I’m pretty sure you only made me promise, Roman wanted to say but he didn’t. After all how could he know for certain that they hadn’t made Remus promise as well? “And besides,” His mother added. “Remus is always yelling nonsense! Do you remember, a few years back, when he ran away to the sea to ‘fight the Kraken’, in his own words? He came back two weeks later with five sacks of dead fish and a live squid in a tank!”

Oh yeah, that had been an odd day… Remus had loved that tiny squid though; doting on it like it was a cute kitten or a puppy. He had been devastated when he found the squid dead in his tank a month later.

“Someone murdered him!” “Or he just couldn’t survive in a tank, no matter if it’s a salt water tank.” “No! I took good care of him, and Sir Squiddles was just fine this morning!” “Seriously? You named that thing ‘Sir Squiddles’?” “HE WAS NOT A THING! He was my friend!”

At the time, Roman had laughed at Remus calling a squid his friend and got kicked out of his brother’s room for it. Now thinking back on it, Roman cringed at his own insensitivity.

“But…” Roman tried one last time. “What if he did go…? Shouldn’t we look for him just to be sure?”

“Sweetie, don’t be daft,” Queen Nadia’s voice turned impatient. “You want to risk your own life because you jumped to a conclusion? Or the lives of our knights? What if we sent troops, and Remus turns up tomorrow unharmed? Do you want the blood of those men and women on your hands?”

“…No. No I don’t.” Roman finally sat back down. His parents gave him content smiles.

“I’m sure Remus is fine. He’s just off on another attention seeking ‘quest’, and he’ll be back before you know it.” His mother reassured him. Roman nodded.

“You’re right… You’re both right. Thank you.” He said.

“Very well.” His father sat back in his chair. “Now that’s settled, lets get back to this excellent meal before it gets cold.” Roman nodded and picked up his knife and fork again. Of course Remus would come back just fine! Like his father said, not even Remus would be so reckless to go to the Desolate Mountains!

…Right?

“Oh, and Roman?”

Roman looked up at his father. “Yes?” He asked.

“Don’t ever interrupt dinner time again.” King Augusto said coldly.

“…Yes father.”

--

“Hey! Planet earth to Roman!”

Fingers snapped near his ear. Roman startled, quickly turning his gaze away from the window and back to the other people in the room.

“So sorry, zoned out there for a second.” Roman smiled. “What were we talking about?”

“This is the fourth time you’ve zoned out and missed the punch-line to my story! What is up with you today?” Tristan huffed. “You’ve been more quiet than Farah! You’re not turning boring on us like her, are you?”

The others laughed, apart from Farah in the far corner. She buried her face further into the book she held open on her lap. Even from the windowsill Roman had seated himself he saw her cheeks turn a bright red. He gave a soft wince in sympathy.

“That’s not exactly gentlemanly of you to say of our fair Farah, Tristan!” Roman said.

“Oh, it’s all in good fun!” Tristan fell back on one of the soft sofas in the salon, lounging on it widespread with a lazy grin. “She really ought to grow thicker skin if she isn’t used to it by now!”

Roman wanted to snap at him that Farah didn’t seem to find it fun, but his father’s voice immediately echoed through his head.

“You need to maintain a network of friends, Roman,” King Augusto had said when Roman once asked why he needed to spent time with someone as insufferable as viscount Tristan. “Build yourself a reputation, learn to know your future allies. After all, what is the one thing we always tell you?”

“A royal’s reputation is the most important thing he has.” Roman had answered, the words falling from his lips automatically after years of it being drilled into him. So Roman only smiled thinly at the viscount before turning his head to look out of the window again.

The murmurs of the conversation started up again, and Roman listened without registering any of the words. After two more times of him missing some hilarious joke, the others seemed to grow tired of his inattentiveness.

“Tristan is right! You are boring today Roman!” Tristan’s best friend Brett complained. Roman shrugged.

“I guess today is an off day.” He said without looking towards the other man. He didn’t need to see to know that Brett was trying his best to pose to impressively show off his muscles for his crush Madison.

“It’s not just today,” Madison pouted, gracefully ignoring Brett in favour of braiding Emma’s hair. “You’ve been quiet every time we hung out in the past weeks.”

“Yeah!” Emma whined. “You’ve been so mopey and dull, Roman! What gives?”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Roman instead smiled and brightly said, “Maybe I’ve been brainstorming for new adventures!”

“I sure hope so.” Madison finished the braid. “This mood you’ve been in just isn’t any fun!”

“Are…” Farah spoke up hesitantly. “Are you okay Roman…?”

Roman’s smile faltered slightly. Was he okay…? Why was she even asking? Of course he was okay! He just… Hadn’t been too keen on hanging out with his friends today, that’s all.

It wasn’t that he completely disliked the others company. Okay, Tristan was an asshole, and Brett couldn’t hold up an intelligent conversation even if he tried, but Farah was nice! If a bit quiet. And Emma and Madison could have been good company if they stopped gossiping for a few minutes. He had just hoped he could have had this day to himself. Roman’s schedule was busier than ever! The past weeks were filled with so many lessons of various kinds that at the end of the day he could barely keep his eyes open. After shoving food in his mouth, Roman would collapse on his bed and sleep like the dead. And on the rare few days he didn’t have lessons, his parents made sure he spent time with his friends, the children of the court’s nobility. Two months had passed in a haze.

And there was still no sign of Remus.

His stomach clenched as his thoughts went to his brother. Alright, if he would be completely honest with himself, Remus was partially at fault for his somber state of mind. He knew his parents told him not to worry, but as the days turned into weeks, and weeks had turned into two months… Roman couldn’t help himself. He was distracted at his lessons, grim during meetings and unusually quiet. His parents had asked him repeatedly if he was getting sick the last couple of dinners.

Worrying his bottom lip between his teeth, he considered telling the others. He knew he wasn’t meant to be gloomy, but they were his friends! Surely they would understand?

“I suppose…” Roman started, swivelling his head to look at the others. “I have been a bit worried lately…”

“Worried?” Emma asked. “How so?” “Well… It’s Remus. He’s been gone for weeks now-”

“Oh, so that’s the reason it’s been so peaceful around here?” Tristan laughed. “I already wondered why it smelled nicer around the castle lately!”

“Hey!” Roman said.

“What?” Tristan spread his hands in a ‘what gives’ gesture. “It’s true! How many times have we seen Remus covered in weird dirt and dragging heavens knows what around?”

“Too many times...” Brett said, shaking his head.

“Didn’t he once put a rotting decapitated pigs head in your bed, Tristan?” Emma shuddered.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Tristan made a grossed out face. “It took weeks before the smell got out. And I’m still not sure how he even got in!”

“He did that because you pranked him, right?” Madison asked.

“Yes! Seriously, your brother just can not take a joke!” Tristan said to Roman, who grimaced. Roman remembered that particular “prank” all right…

“Wanna hear something crazy?”

Roman looked up from his book, expecting his brother to grin at him with that “I just brought a live opossum into the parlour and I have called him Jeremy” grin, but instead his brother looked… Strangely nervous. Huh. That was very unlike him.

“Yes…?” He said, curious enough to ignore the warning bells.

“I think…” Remus said slowly.

“You? Thinking? Don’t hurt yourself, brother!” Roman laughed. Remus didn’t laugh, and made a short stuttering movement that to Roman seemed like a wince. Frowning, Roman wanted to backtrack but before he could say anything Remus continued talking.

“IthinkIhaveacrushonTristan!” Remus rushed out. Roman’s mouth fell open.

“You WHAT??” He yelled, abandoning his book in favour of jumping from his chair and joining his brother on the couch. “You have a crush on Tristan??”

“Yell a little louder, I don’t think the people in the dungeons quite heard it!” Remus hissed out while punching his brother’s arm.

“Sorry, sorry, just excited!” Roman squealed. “Oh gosh, are you going to tell him? When will you tell him? And how? Flowers are a classic, obviously, but if you want to be more original you could always slay a grand monster to prove your love-!”

“I wrote a poem.” Remus mumbled. Roman let out a gasp.

“Oh that is PERFECT! And such an unorthodox of a display for you brother! You must truly have it bad for our fair Tristan!”

“Oh, shut up!” Remus punched his arm again, but he was smiling. Roman couldn’t stop grinning as well. How long was it ago that they had this kind of brotherly banter? It felt like years! If Roman were to guess, the last time they truly spent time together like siblings was when they had been kids. And now their 18thbirthday was only a month away!  

Why did they ever stop hanging out…?

“Send him that poem! I’m sure he’ll love it!”

“You think so…?”

“I know so!” Roman gushed. “Tristan is super nice, he’ll be over the moon by it!”

“Wow, it’s almost as if writing a poem for your crush, only for said crush to not only read out said poem out loud and make fun of it in front of basically the whole court,” Roman bit out through a forced smile. “But also ridicule you for having a crush is not even remotely funny, Tristan!”

“It was a little funny!” Brett said.

“Yeah! Didn’t you see Remus’ face?” Tristan snorted. “Come now Roman, it was a harmless prank!”

“A harmless prank that caused my own brother to refuse to talk to me for nearly a year!” Roman very nearly shouted. He had sworn up and down to Remus he hadn’t known Tristan would do something so cruel, but he had the suspicion Remus never truly believed him. Especially since his parents didn’t allow him to cut off all contact with the viscount.

“You will not lose one of your most important future allies because Remus is too immature to handle a joke, Roman!” His mother had bristled. “And that’s final!”

Secretly Roman thought the pig’s head had been well deserved.

“Hey now, calm down.” Tristan held up his hand in a placating gesture, and Roman wanted nothing more than to challenge the insolent cur to a duel right then and there. “I meant nothing by it. Honestly Roman, what’s the matter with you today? You make fun of Remus all the time!”

Instantly the anger inside him deflated.

“Yeah, well-! I…” Roman stuttered out. He couldn’t exactly deny it. “Maybe-! Maybe… Maybe that was wrong of me!” He ignored the sceptical stares. “And besides, Remus has never been gone this long, and I don’t… I don’t… I’m worried, alright??” “I don’t think you need to,” Emma said. “Remus is like a weed; you can’t really kill him!”

“Exactly,” Madison finished the intricate braid in Emma’s hair. “Before you know it, he’ll ride through the castle’s gate and he’ll be back doing… Whatever the hell it is he does.”

“Seriously, what does he even do all day?” Brett snickered.

“He often goes to the library.” A quiet voice said. Immediately all eyes turned to Farah, who seemed to instantly regret saying anything.

“The library? Really?” Roman asked quizzically.

“Remus in a library?” Madison scoffed. “Don’t you think that’s stretching the truth a bit too far, Farah?”

“Does he even know how to read?” Emma simpered.

“It’s true!” Farah said. “I regularly see him when I go to the library!”

Roman swung his legs off the windowsill and sat to give Farah his full attention. “What does he do there?” He asked curiously. While he hated to agree with the others, they were right; He couldn’t exactly picture his chaotic brother to particularly enjoy the library.

“I don’t know…” Farah muttered. “We don’t really talk.” “Wow, what a shocking revelation!” Tristan snorted. “Farah doesn’t talk! Next you’ll tell me that water is wet!”

Another wave of laughter echoed through the room, and Farah looked like she wanted to disappear into her green coloured hijab. Roman glared at Tristan, the irritation rising up to new levels. He was about to snap at the viscount when the doors of the salon opened.

“Your Highness,” The lackey entering said while he made a bow. “Pardon the intrusion, but your parents request your presence in the throne room.”

Roman barely held back a sigh in pure relief, and practically ran out of the room without saying goodbye to the others. He did feel a pang of guilt for leaving Farah alone with those heathens, but he shook it off and made his way to the throne room.

Upon entering he saw his parents, looking regal and untouchable on their thrones, the picture perfect concerned monarchs. Before the throne knelt an older man, his clothes torn and tattered. Most likely he was a peasant from a nearby town. His parents smiled at him when they saw him.

“Ah, Roman! Just the hero we wished to see.” His father beckoned him closer. “Come here.” “Would you repeat your request for our son?” His mother smiled sweetly at the kneeling man.

“A-Ah! Yes, yes of course, your Majesties!” The man shuffled on his knees, so he faced Roman who had walked up to his side.

“Please good sir!” Roman gently grabbed the man by his elbows and helped him stand. “No need to kneel for me! That cold floor can hardly be good for your knees!”

The old man looked surprised, but smiled either way. Roman smiled back, choosing to ignore the disapproving peers he knew his parents were giving him.

“Your Highness,” The man started. “I come to you in dire need. My village is under raid by a manticore-chimera! The monster has killed several of our villagers, destroyed a good portion of our crops and damaged our homes! We’re not sure how long we can keep the demon at bay! But the whole kingdom has heard of your bravery fighting such horrors, and we beg for your help!”

The more he listened, the more Roman felt his heart clench. That fiend was harming his future subjects! His people! Outrage and determination swelled up in his chest.

“Do not worry, my good man!” Roman bellowed. “I shall come with you and vanquish the mighty beast!”

--

He vanquished the mighty beast.

A day’s journey away from the castle had taken Roman, and the knights that accompanied him on every quest, to the village the monster terrorized… The small town sat right by the edge of the Desolate Mountains.

Ignoring the cruel irony, Roman had focused on slaying the manticore-chimera. It had taken all his willpower and several close calls, but he did it. He was victorious, and the monster would do no more harm.

And in the end, every fight Roman suffered through would always be worth it. It was worth it to return to the village after the battle and see the relieved, happy faces of the townspeople. To see their tears of relief, hear their joyous laughter and know that those who had been grieving would get a little respite now that their loved ones were avenged.

It was worth it knowing his people were safe.

And if the people celebrated, and Roman and his entourage were pulled along with it, well who was he to deny an adoring audience?

That’s how Roman found himself surrounded by all the town’s children, who were breathlessly listening to Roman regaling how he had taken down the manticore-chimera. His knights mingled with the adults of the village, who smiled both fondly and wondrously at their prince entertaining their kids.

“And so, while my brave knights distracted the monster, I snuck up to it from behind, narrowly avoiding its scorpion tale!” Roman mimicked drawing a sword. “I waited with bated breath until I saw an opening… And then… POW!!” The children all startled, many of them gasping. “I pierced my sword right through his heart! And the manticore-chimera… Was no more.”

The children ooohed and aaahed when Roman struck a heroic pose, the gold details of his most princely outfit sparkling in the sunlight and his red cape fluttering in the slight breeze.

“When I am older, I wanna be a knight too!” One of the children gaped.

“Oh, and what a fearsome warrior you shall be!” Roman scooped the girl in question up and settled her upon his shoulders. “Known far and wide! Every monster shall quack in their boots upon hearing your name!” The child shrieked with laughter as Roman took off in a gentle sprint, the other kids nearly tripping over their own feet to follow him.

“You are much nicer than the other prince!” The girl giggled above him. Roman laughed, a little confused.

“Other prince? What other prince?” He asked.

“The weird one with the funny moustache!”

He froze. Skidding to a halt Roman was distantly aware that the kids surrounded him once more, pulling at his cape and sash and begging for a turn.

It couldn’t… There was no way!

The girl wiggled on his shoulders. “Keep running, keep running!” She yelled. Roman shook himself from his frozen stupor.

“Ah, I’m afraid this mighty steed has done enough running for today!” The children all chorused their disappointment, and the girl pouted as he lifted her off his shoulders back onto the ground. “How about you play with the knights instead? They have saved your home just as much as I have!”

“But we wanna play with you!” A boy whined. All the other kids nodded in agreement.

“Ah, but maybe, if you ask nicely… My knights can show you how to hold a sword like a true warrior!”

That seemed to instantly cheer the children up. Roman watched with a smile as the group ran off towards the knights. Dread pooled in his stomach however when he thought about what the girl had said.

B-But there probably had been a mistake! There were loads of people with moustaches, and perhaps it had just been a rich merchant travelling his way around the mountains, the only safe (albeit long) path to the kingdom on the other side. Any child would see a fancy gentleman and think him a prince! Roman huffed a laugh, and pretended not to notice how strangled the sound was. That was a totally reasonable explanation! No need to panic over nothing! He would even ask to be sure, so he could laugh at his own foolish behaviour!

He looked around for the village head, a lovely older woman who had introduced herself as Alina before he went to kill the manticore-chimera. He spotted her chatting animatedly with her wife on the edge of the town square. Quickly he approached her.

“Pardon me, my lady?”

“Prince Roman!” Alina grinned at him brightly. “We are forever in your debt for slaying the beast. We simply cannot thank you enough!”

“It was the mere duty of a prince and future king, ma’am!” Roman said. “But I need to ask you something.”

“Anything, your Highness.”

“About two months ago, did a traveller pass through your town? My age, with a moustache, most likely wearing green?”

“Oh, did prince Remus ever return home safely?”

Roman felt like he had been punched in the stomach.

“You… You have seen my brother?” He asked weakly.

“It was a little hard to miss him!” Alina’s wife Nesta said. “He rode in one late afternoon, and stopped only to allow his horse to drink something and to buy some more supplies in our tavern. He yelled that he would kill-” The woman paused when she saw Roman’s face drain of all colour. “Your Highness?”

“What did he yell?” Roman’s voice sounded numb. “Please, what did he say?”

“He yelled that he would kill the warlock in the Desolate Mountains for us, your Highness.” Nesta continued solemnly, all mirth from just mere moments ago gone. “We tried to stop him. We warned him of the danger, but he didn’t listen. He… He rode away before we could talk sense into him. But… Surely your Highness knew this? Our king and queen would not send their son on a mission like that without a plan!”

Silence stretched out for a few seconds as the women smiled hopefully at Roman. Their smiles died away at Roman’s ashen expression.

“You didn’t know…” Alina gasped. “Please, you have to believe us, if we had known prince Remus was there without your parents blessing, we would have sent word to the castle immediately! We wouldn’t have- Prince Roman?”

Roman couldn’t breathe. The sound of the village head and her wife asking him worriedly if he was feeling unwell reached him muffled and faraway, like his ears were stuffed with wax. A coldness like ice spread from his core to his limbs, making his skin tingle. He had the idea that his legs would give out on him any second. The shadows of the Desolate Mountains loomed over him, cold and menacing.

He had actually… Remus truly was that reckless… He had really gone to…

Oh god his brother had gone to the Desolate Mountains!

“Haha! !It seems like we overstayed our welcome long enough!!” Roman yelled so suddenly the women jumped back in shock. He felt himself slip back into his princely demeanour without truly trying. “Thank you for your hospitality, you are such wondrously kind people!!”

“Prince Roman, maybe you should sit down first?”

“Sit down?? Of course not, I feel fit as a fiddle!!” Roman chuckled, edging on hysterics. “Yes, we should definitely be going now!! I should inform the general!! A grand day to you, ladies!!” With that, Roman stormed away, ignoring the protests of Alina and Nesta. He had to find the general, he had to round up the knights, and they had to go look for his brother!

“GENERAL ISOLDA!!” He called out over the town square. The woman in question looked up, a bit shocked to see her prince in such a frenzied state. The knights that were talking to her stood to attention as well.

“Your Highness?” She asked when Roman reached her. “What is the matter?” “Gather all the knights! We’re going!” Roman commanded.

“Already?” The general frowned in confusion. “But we have barely rested for the journey home!” “We’re not going to the castle! We’re going to the Desolate Mountains!”

“What- Are you mad?” The general gaped at him, thinking he must be joking. Roman however could not be more determined.

“My brother is there, general! He has been there for the past two months, and we must find him immediately! We can buy supplies here in the town, and-”

“No.”

Roman stopped dead in his tracks.

“No? What do you mean, no?”

“It means that I am not sending my knights on a suicide mission, my prince!” The general seethed. Roman stared at her, before nodding.

“You’re right… That would be unfair to ask of them. I shall go alone then! Inform my parents of my absence!” Roman turned around to search for his horse, but was stopped in his path by one of his knights. Without Roman realizing more knights had joined the little group, and they formed a circle around him. Trapping him.

“I will do no such thing,” General Isolda said behind him. “Because you will be returning with us.”

“Let me go at once!” Roman turned to glare at the general, who merely looked unimpressed.

“You will return to the castle with us, prince Roman,” She said. “And that is an order.”

“You can not order me!” Roman fumed. “I outrank you!”

“And your parents outrank you, your Highness. I- All of us- Have strict orders to always bring you back home. No detours, no crazy quests. And we will follow those orders no matter what.” Roman bristled, ready to shout and yell. He looked around at knights circling him, closing his escape path off. Many of them had their swords partially drawn, their faces resolute.

“Please prince Roman,” The general said patiently. “Do not force me to tie you to your horse.”

He could not fight them all off, Roman knew that. And the whole journey home they would watch him like a hawk. Admitting defeat, Roman’s shoulders sacked.

“Fine,” He bit out. “But we’ll be leaving immediately. If we hurry we can make it back by evening.” He had to let his parents know as soon as possible, so he could go looking.

As Roman and his entourage left the town, it felt as if the mountains mockingly waved him goodbye.

[officialwagnerrant]

Recommendation

Der Fliegende Holländer Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Franz Konwitschny

Type: Audio recording (Studio)

Composer: Richard Wagner

Opera: Der Fliegende Holländer/The flying Dutchman

Year: 1962

Staatskapelle Berlin, conducted by Franz Konwitschny; with Gottlob Frick, Marianne Schech, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, Sieglinde Wagner, Rudolf Schock and Fritz Wunderlich, Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin

Full review under the cut.

As some of you may know I’ve never been quite fond of the flying dutchman. I feel as if Wagner hadn’t found his style yet when he composed the Holländer, allthough I do enjoy the earlier opera, Rienzi. I feel like the Holländer lacks a red thread, something that keeps the opera together. I feel like you can’t lose yourself in this opera like you can in his other works. Individually the music is no doubt almost equally fascinating as his later works.

Franz Konwitschny and the Staatskapelle Berlin solve this problem. Under Konwitschny’s conducting the Holländer is a real entity, everything fits. The phrasing and dynamics are also excellent and fitting. I also loved the chorus (Chorus of the german state opera Berlin), you can hear individual voices everyone of them outstanding, the chorus sounds very alive and especially the ladies blew me away.

Now, let’s get to the soloists.

Senta - Marianne Schech I only heard her as Venus before and found her a little too light for that role. Now as Senta she was nearly perfect. Many Sopranos tend to sound quite piercing at the high notes, she kept a warm sound throughout the whole opera and was incredibly pleasant to listen to. Strong voice and the right emotions at the right places. Also shoutout to her diction, I was able to understand every single word.

Erik - Rudolf Schock @swanfloatieknight​ and I sometimes make fun of this poor character and say Erik is too weak. And when I had to write a review about the performance I attendet with my class I straight up forgot him. Rudolf Schock makes it impossible to forget about him. He’s your typical Heldentenor, full, dark, strong voice. He sings Erik as emotional, loving and worried, but also gives him some backbone. He doesn’t leave Senta because he has no chance or can’t handle her anymore, he doesn’t want it anymore. He doesn’t want to watch her swoon over some mythical ghost captain anymore.

Holländer - Dietrich Fischer-Diskau First of - I love is voice. It is full and dark, but not heavy. It’s like a deep and yet floating sound which never fails to amaze me. This quality is actually really fitting for a cursed, ghostly man like the flying dutchman. I loved his Wolfram von Eschenbach, I might review this recording at another time, but this is about the Holländer. What I really enjoyed in Rudolf Schock’s performance bothers me with him: He seemed a little too strong, lacked disappointment and other softer emotions. Of course this is a matter of interpretation, yet as someone who loves the more vulnerable Holländers and as someone who knows Fischer-Diskau can sing those emotions I was a little disappointed.

Mary - Sieglinde Wagner I can’t really say much to Mary, it’s too small of a role. She was nice, was rather angry at Senta than worried. At least that’s what her scolding sounded like. Also I love Sieglinde Wagner’s voice.

Daland - Gottlob Frick Big love. Of course Daland isn’t the best dad, he more or less sells his daughter to the Holländer. This get’s a little lost in Frick’s interpretation, he sounds truly fatherly, like a good dad. His voice is fantastic, dark, full. He sounded really calm, some Dalands get a little overenthusiastic at “Mögst du, mein Kind”, not him. Really pleasant to listen to him. Voice-wise one of my favourite bass singers.

Steuermann - Fritz Wunderlich His Steuermann is exactly what you’d expect from the great Fritz Wunderlich - natural, emotional, pure. In this recording his voice also sounds quite dramatic. I admit that every time I see his name on a Wagner recording there’s a tiny bit of hope he actually sings the leading tenor, which of course is never the case since this astounding singer died way to early. In this regard hearing him as the Steuermann does not only amaze me but also makes me sad since, in my opinion, you can hear that he was ready to tackle the big wagner roles already in 1962. He’d been such a great, maybe near perfect Lohengrin, an incredibly raw and a captivating Parsifal, a fascinating Erik. It is a tragedy that never fails to sadden me that he was forced to leave earth so early and in such a sudden, let’s call it what it is, frustrating way.

All in all this recording managed to do what a live performance did not: It made me love the first of the ten works performed at the Bayreuth Festival, which is why I warmly recommend you this outstanding recording.

[stereosounds]

♡  ◟ °  ›   kim seokjin, cismale, he/him, twenty-five   ⋯   ❛   thank you for applying to BANANIRS AND AVOCADIRS, NICHOLAS “COLE” YOUNG  ! before we start this job interview, i would just like to go over a few questions. you said your best attribute was PASSIONATE, right ? well, word around town is that some people find you to be a bit more TACTLESS … but, nevermind that. i’m actually more curious about whether you were actually caught GETTING HEAD IN THE BATHROOM OF YOUR FATHER’S CHURCH last year ? oh, you were ? that’s unfortunate. on the bright side, i heard that you excel at BEING A MUSICIAN …. so that’s cool ! now, one more question … your last manager said that you’re hiding THAT YOU WERE KICKED OUT OF YOUR HOME AND ARE CURRENTLY RENTING AT LIKE A VIRGIN, is that true ? — haha , just kidding ! they didn’t say that, i just read that about you online . anyway , you got the job ! ❜ 】 joy, pst, she/her.

tw: religious mentions, mentions of homophobia, alcohol, drugs. uhhh. i think that’s it as far as this post goes.

alright  ,  alright  ,  alright  !  so  ,  so  ,  so  ,  i’m  ready  to  party  .  first  things  first  ,  hi  !  i’m  joy  and  i  am  super  duper  frick  -  frackin’  excited  to  rp  with  you  guys  .  i  sleep  too  little  or  too  much  but  never  enough  ,  i  love  the  moon  and  i  love  FRIENDS  .  now  that  we’ve  got  my  awkward  ass  over  with  ,  let’s  get  started  on  my  son  ,  cole  !  

okay  ,  so  ,  i  am  not  gonna  lie  to  you  guys  .  i  have  a  shit  ton  of  info  about  cole  up  already  ,  seeing  as  i  cannot  shut  up  about  this  guy  ,  so  this  intro  post  is  just  gonna  be  me  linking  to  you  to  everything  . 

pretty  much  everything  you  need  to  know  is  going  to  be  here  .  

but  for  those  of  you  who  would  prefer  a  brief  summary  ,  i’ll  do  that  for  you  as  best  as  i  can  .  right  now  ,  yes  indeed  .  let  me  just  ..   **  deep  breath  **  

nicholas ‘cole’ young, you would think he’d go by nick but no, he went against the grain and decided, i want my nickname to be from the middle of my name and only parents and teachers and old people call me nick, grossss and so, cole became his preferred name since he was like, six and let me tell you, he felt so clever coming up with this. in short, during his childhood, he was the perfect pastor’s son. he did no wrong, paid attention in class, sat with his hands folded on top of his desk. but even at a young age he could realise this was all forced, this didn’t come naturally and eventually as the years passed and adolescence approached, his posture started to slump and he started to replace his gospel cd’s with rock & roll, indie, and alternative. this, as you can probably guess, did not go over so well with his father, the pastor. 

see, cole had always been passionate about music and the only outlet he really had was the church band he was a part of since he mastered the guitar at the age of thirteen. he got into songwriting and he wrote a few songs about loving god, praising jesus, hallelujah but again, this didn’t feel natural to him. he felt much better writing about things like his crushes at school, or how he felt when his mom had to move back to korea to maintain her family’s business there. they called each other on the regular after she left, and he always felt closer with her as she had always been the more nurturing and compassionate parent.

going into teenagedom, his father’s anger seemed to boil over. probably had a lot to do with the fact cole’s mom wasn’t there to keep him calm anymore, and it didn’t help that cole was finally beginning to form his own mind & personality & opinion about things. he found his own style which meant straying away from his usual wardrobe that was designed to make him look church - ready. his father began to use physical means of punishment for cole, this coming as a result of cole mouthing back every now and then, muttering a curse word or saying the lord’s name in vein--- sometimes it came when cole had no idea what he was doing wrong. he started to resent his father, then felt guilty for feeling such a way for someone the community respected so much, so he buried his feelings and tried his best to keep up the image of being that perfect son. 

he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong when he dropped out of the church band and decided to form a band of his own at the age of eighteen with some friends ( who would eventually become his bestest friends in the entire world ! ) . the band would call themselves MIRVGE and sometimes they’d practise in the youngs’ garage, which cole’s father absolutely hated. but of course he’d wait until his friends left to reprimand him. fast forward to when he drops out of college to pursue his career as a musician and his father is about ready to drop kick him in the face, yeah, that wasn’t a fun time for cole. but they somehow made it through that, and things were.. for the most part, okay. well, okay as they could ever be for the two of them. cole still showed up every sunday for church but sunday’s best started to turn into last night’s clothes reeking like alcohol and cigarettes. 

then of course him getting caught getting head in the bathroom of his father’s church... with his boyfriend at the time. yeah, boyfriend. imagine how pastor young felt about that. well, that boy shortly thereafter became his ex, not that changed his father’s mind at all about essentially disowning him. that leads us to how cole is doing now, kicked out of his family home, banned from the church he spent most of his life in, and a goddamn mess. 

wooooooooooops  that  wasn’t  brief  at  all ...  aha  ...  yikes  ..  can  you  imagine  there’s  even  more  in  the  link  i  put  up  there  ?  let  me  link  you  again  so  you  don’t  have  to  scroll  up  :  here. 

umm what else can i say  ?  he’s  a  mad  hoe  .  he  drinks  ,  smokes  ,  gets  high  ...  on  the  regular  and  all  to  excess  ,  but  i  wouldn’t  say  he’s  addicted  to  any  of  these  things  ,  he’s  just  aha  ...  livin’  it  up  ,  man  ,  livin’  his  besssstttt  life  .

ALSO UHHH i just want to make this clear that cole is honestly.. he really is such a good guy he’s just been making a lot of bad decisions lately and hes just repressing so many emotions????? and has been since last year??? like his dad kicking him out, breaking up with his first love, then wanting him back n but instead getting a rabid squirrel set on him LMAO, the fact that his mom hasn’t been calling him also weighs heavy bc they were always so close and sighs. plus the fact he’s just, so broke rn and had to get a “normal” job when the whole reason he dropped out of college was to pursue his career as musician. he can finally admit he might be a little lost in life right now.

NOWWWW  ...  for  plotting  !!!!  

here  is  a  direct  link  to  cole’s  wanted  connections  .  but  tbh  i  am  not  at  all  restricted  to  what’s  listed  there  .  i’m  more  than  happy  to  just  bounce  ideas  off  one  another  too  ,  as  we  discuss  how  our  muses  might  fit  together  !  but  if  you  feel  like  you’re  gravitating  to  one  of  those  plots  ,  pls  ..  let  me  know  ..  let’s  #makeitshine . 

[octaviangrey]

My Top 20 Fanfic Recommendations

Aka what to read to understand me/my tastes or what fanfic I’d bring to a desert island to avoid boredom.

First off this is my personal favorites and most highly recommended list, you may not like some or all of them, that’s fine.

Secondly, I’ve been wanting to make this sort of list for a while - a collection of my favorite fanfics and authors in one place which I can refer back to/up date as time goes by.

This will be mostly Naruto fanfic, since I’ve been in that fandom the longest, though I have included works from other fandoms such as; The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Inuyasha, MCU, American Gods, Girl Genius, Labyrinth, Van Helsing, and Batman The Dark Knight Rises.

Links to fic, and author page, included. I try to mention if I know someone is on tumblr. Let me know if I missed anybody.

Be sure to read the tags, and pay attention to the warnings before reading any of these - you are in control of what you consume in fandom. If you are feeling unsure about a fic and want to ask someone about it before reading, feel free to contact me! I try to check my messages regularly.

Please try to leave a comment/like/kudos if you enjoy the fics, the authors all deserve them. (If you can’t leave comments, that’s fine too - real life be like that sometimes. Don’t stress over it.)

20. To Trammel Some Wild Thing By Anon E. Mouse

This is completely self indulgent and a delight to read. The characterization is good and its plot is so much fun. I’m an unrepentant Dracula fan, in all his forms, and this ones damn entertaining. Incomplete - Anna/Dracula - Van Helsing

19. Nukenin By WhisperingDarkness

This fic, and the works inspired by it, are so much fun to read. Basically a 3 for 1 recommendation (be sure to check the links at the end!) A great Kakashi centric work, their characterization is excellent and the kids are great! Complete - No Pairing - Naruto

18. Fear By Almighty_Hat

I know, I know this isn’t the OT3, but bear with me, this is a really good series, looking at what ifs and giving us All the Jagers. Great slice of life Girl Genius style. Complete with an Incomplete series - Agatha/Jorji - Girl Genius

17. Klepto By DeGlace

This so much fun! A rare pair for sure, but it is so good. The chemistry between these two is amazingly portrayed. This fic is sexy, it’s vicious, it holds no bars and delivers on every promise. Also be sure to check out their fic Marrow, which just missed this list. Complete - Catwoman/Bane - Batman Darknight Rises

16. More Fair Than Snow By Jalen Strix

Oh man, this is such a good series. This author in general is very good, and has several other excellent fics, but this series is my favorite of the lot. Great balance of magic and real world, interesting use of fairy tales and a wonderful romance. Complete - Jareth/Sarah - Labyrinth

15. The Woods Are Deep, My Dear by Azzandra

Baby Agatha! World building! AGATHAS AMAZING GRANDMA! A delight to read, it is so fricking cute, and Grandma here kicks ass. The author also has some other great Au’s so check those out. Incomplete - no pairing - Girl Genius

14. RED KING By VesperChan but also on AO3

This author has so many great fics, but this is my favorite. They are also on tumblr! This fic is so gripping and atmospheric, a real feast for the mind. Can recommend the Obleisk series too. Complete - Sakura/Madara - Naruto

13. Lost and Found By NovusArs

Fem!Bilbo Baggins finds and adopts baby dwarves and the adventures thereof. The fic is cute, the characters are cute, the lore is great and this is so fluffy you guys. So fluffy. Incomplete - Bilbo/Bofur- The Hobbit

12. Lord Charming by forthright

This fic is sooo good. The drama, the lore building, the execution, all perfect. Now I know the chapter numbers look intimidating, but they are written in 100 words chapters, so don’t fear too much, you’ll get through it! Complete - Sesshoumaru/Kagome - Inuyasha

11. The House that Luck Built By TheBlackestFrost

This is so well researched, it’s use of belief and mythology is superb. I had so much fun reading this, but also I cried during some of it too. An amazing fix that convinces you of the romance with one of the parties being dead for most of it. Author on tumblr! Give! Them! A look! Complete - Laura/Sweeney - American Gods.

10. The Company of Trees By theroadkillcafe

This is my favorite Mokuton!Sakura fic ever. It’s amazing, it really captures the trials and tribulations of a young girl who’s life is changed so drastically. The supporting cast is really good too. Incomplete - No Pairing - Naruto

9. Kill Your Heroes by TheLightAtLastAndAlways aka Evil Is A Relative Term

Aaaaaaaaaa this is so good!!! The lore! The character growth! The plot twists! This is a masterpiece of writing, and I adore it. This author is never afraid to give gritty consequences, while keeping it fun and action packed. Incomplete - Itachi/Sakura sort of - Naruto

8. Retrograde Motion by Crunchysunrises

This is a fantastic example of the Time Travel trope, and tackles some really interesting lore and world building. I unreservedly love the part were we see Sakura’s seals from her family. It touched me so much I reread the whole thing 3 times in short order. Incomplete - No pairing - Naruto.

7. Amaryllis By silverfootsteps

This author is on tumblr, go check them out! And also this fantastic AU fic! I fell in love with this world, and the characters in it. A rich setting to sink your teeth into, with masterful twists and turns. Itachi is a very delicate flower and it’s great. Incomplete - Itachi/Sakura - Naruto

6. Sansûkh By determamfidd

This fic is amazing, I was able to get my mother in fanfic with this. I think it’s really well written, it feels very organic with the Tolkien world. I’m gonna get this hand bound in leather once it’s complete and gift it to myself, I want this in hard copy. Bilbo/Thorin - The Hobbit & LotR

5. Meeting Like This by FettsOnTop

And also the rest of the series. This Author is a prolific Boba/Leia writer, and all of it’s good, so give it a go and check them out! This series really defined this ship for me, and is my favorite work by the author so far. Complete - Boba Fett/Leia Organa - Star Wars

4. The Pilgrim Soul By jachap

Holy heck in a hand basket this fic is a feast. You will drown in this, the richness of this world will linger long after the final chapter ends. This is a historical fic, starting in the 1920’s and just keeps going even in the sequel. So much research has been done for this, and you can tell. Be warned you will cry. Has a sequel that’s just as good and being updated. Complete - Darcy/Steve/Bucky - MCU

3. Hermione Granger and the Serpents Renaissance by epsi10n.

This is my absolute favorite Harry Potter fic, it’s incredible. The author is very good at building tension, and then ending their chapters on cliff hangers, so you spend plenty of time on the edge of your seat reading this. Incomplete - Hermione/currently undecided. - Harry Potter

2. The Eyes Have It By Shana the Short

Written for FaNoWriMo. I adore this, and it’s incomplete sequel. It’s. So. Good. I can not recommend this enough - it’s fun, it explores interesting lore on what it would be like to develop a brand new Kekkei Genkai, and it has great character development for those who would usually go over looked. Complete - Sakura/Chojuro in the sequel. - Naruto

1. Five Kingdoms for the Dead by Evil Is A Relative Term

This is it, this right here is my favorite fanfic of all time. I LOVE this. I love the characterization, the plot, and is one favorite depiction of Madara Uchiha in fiction. Of all time. This author has already appeared on this list before, and I cannot recommend enough going out and checking out their work. Complete - Neji/Sakura - Naruto

This is not the be all, end all of good fic I’ve read, let alone all the good fic that exists, and I am very tempted to just add a list of authors I like too, but that would be a very ambitious list. Seriously, the number of stories I had to put aside because I love them but they are not quite on the list.... I have 1760 subsripctions just on AO3 alone. I couldn’t fit them all on here.

P. S. If you wish to reblog with any fic recs of your own, please do so! I’m always looking for new reading material!

[thecrimsonvalley]

001 | Send me a fandom: Kuon, 002 | Send me a ship: Joseph/Sebastian (The Evil Within), 003 | Give me a character: Brian Pasternak (Yuppie Psycho) 83

001| Send me a fandom and I will tell you my: Kuon

Favoritecharacter:Abe no Seimei. There is just something that resonates with me when itcomes to kick ass female characters that looks like they are 100 %done with all the bullshit happening in horror games. I’ve come torealize by answering this ask and the previous that this seems to bemy aesthetic when it comes to female horror game characters. xD

LeastFavorite character: Whilemy logical brain tells me Doman my goblin brain goes with Doryo. Idon’t know, there is just something that grinds my gear with acharacter that is a tag along but fills just about 0 function besidesa few plot clicks. I wish his role had been more active or that therehad been more emphasis or interaction with him because as he is inthe main game he really comes off as a douche that let’s someone elserun his errands and then bites the dust.

5Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):This is not the time or place for ships in my humble opinion.

CharacterI find most attractive: Abeno Seimei is definitely at the top though, to be honest,aesthetically  I find most of the ladies pretty in this game.

CharacterI would marry: Seeabove answer, I would marry her hands down!

CharacterI would be best friends with: ProbablySakuya or Utsuki. Both seem to be the sort of person I could imaginehaving a good friendship with.

Arandom thought: Fromsoft,I will sell my soul to whatever deity you wish if you remake thisgame or continue this franchises with the sameaesthetics/atmosphere/gameplay.

Anunpopular opinion: Don’thave one for this game as far as I’m aware.

MyCanon OTP: Forall that I know, there are none.

MyNon-canon OTP:See above answer.

MostBadass Character: Thislist is just turning into an Abe no Seimei appreciation post is itnot? There is something so immensely satisfying to her coming intothis clusterfuck of a plot and being like “listen up sluts, I’mhere to fix this!”. It should be mentioned though that I find bothSakuya and Utsuki to be badass as well because of their determinationdespite all the creepy shissles going down.

MostEpic Villain: LordFujiwara. I feel a tad bad for calling him a villain, he would ratherfall into “boss” I suppose but I just think that the build up tohis fight is excellent. This is someone you’ve seen in theintro/trailer material, you don’t know what happened, you’re on edgeand then when he appears, that is some great freaking build up anddelivery :D

PairingI am not a fan of: Thisis not a shipping game for me.

CharacterI feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Wellto be honest, I feel like the minor cast, like Ayako, Doryo ect couldhave been fleshed out better. They are there but they feel likelittle more than set pieces that needs to move at a certain time tomake the plot work. I would have liked it more if they felt more likefleshed out characters I cared/were invested in.

FavouriteFriendship: Sakuyaand Dochin. They just seem to have a sort of close big sister/littlebrother type of friendship. That Dochin, the little bean, tries to beso brave is quite adorable!

CharacterI most identify with: Thatwould probably be Sakyua. It feels like most times I got no frickfrackle idea what’s going on either and it seems that everyone knowswhat’s up but won’t tell me :)

CharacterI wish I could be: IfI could have the same kind of ass kickery as Abe no Seimei I coulddie a happy man.

002| Send me a ship and I will tell you: Joseph/Sebastian (The EvilWithin)

WhenI started shipping them: Startedlow key shipping them as soon as I started playing the game. The shipgrew on me with time and I found that for myself it was one of thefew things about the game I came to enjoy in the end, sadly.

Mythoughts: Heywe had a perfect set up to have some sort of underlying romancebetween two men but we NEED to establish that our “scruffy whiteprotagonist with alcoholic tendencies” is HETRO TM. I knew thatshipping wasn’t possible of course because it’s, well, it’s generallyhow it goes with horror games.

Whatmakes me happy about them: Imaginingthem being huge dorks. This is something that makes me happy aboutmost ships, just imagining them being silly noodles while desperatelytrying to adult. These two are the sort that I see getting into a“who can eat the most marshmallows” contest in the office and assoon as someone opens the door they’ll try to pretend like nothing’sgoing on: “much adulting, very serious!”.

Whatmakes me sad about them: Thefact that Joseph is more or less forgotten in the second game. I’vealways had a thorn in my side with the writing of the games and itfeels like the creator just dumped out Joseph, who seemed to be avital part of Sebastian’s life, in favour of the “oooh mysteriousorganisation, oooh wife!” plot trope that I saw coming from a mileaway.  

Thingsdone in fanfic that annoys me: Abusivetendencies between them. Portrayals of Sebastian being an abusivedrunk who more or less only have Joseph around as a fuck toy, thatreally is not my cup of tea.

ThingsI look for in fanfic: Fluffand comfort. I just need a bit of happiness with these two. Give mesomething warm, gentle and dorky!

Mywishlist: Myinterest with this franchise has stagnated so I really do not haveany wishes for this ship.

WhoI’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:Honestly,I would be most comfortable with them just ending up single. Couldhave been nice to have a game without any implied relationships atall.

Myhappily ever after for them: Thesetwo dorks moves into a house together while they try to figure outhow to care for Leslie and his needs. Adapting to a home life means alot of ups and downs, not to mention creative solutions to creativeproblems!

003| Give me a character & I will tell you: Brian Pasternak (YuppiePsycho)

HowI feel about this character: Ithink Brian is absolutely adorable and I want to protect this littlebean so much. He is really just trying his damn best and he deservesseveral pats on the back for that!

Any/allthe people I ship romantically with this character: Ihonestly have my own head canon of some sort of polyamorousrelationship between him, Kate and Doshi. It all builds around thedynamic of both Kate and Doshi feeling like Brian is a preciouslittle noodle that is too gullible for his own good. They all sharecoffee together whenever they can!

Myfavorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Brianand Mrs Sosa. These characters are just so wonderful in a friendshipmanner. The mental images of her inviting him to their video clubmeetings to watch strange indi horror flicks is just 10/10.  

Myunpopular opinion about this character: Idon’t think I have one.

Onething I wish would happen / had happened with this character incanon: Personalopinion but I wish there hadn’t been too much pushing and shovingtowards Kate in the game. I do like that it seems to be implied to bemore in a friendship rather than a romantic kind of sense but still,I wish there had actually been an alternative to tone it down alittle, does that make sense?

Favoritefriendship for this character: Ihonestly like the idea of imagining some calmer friendships with hosco-workers once the entire game plot is done and over with. Justallowing these people to have some chill and semi normal officefriendships.

Mycrossover ship: Ido not have any of these.

[everbrilliantheartbreaker]

Fanfiction Reader Tag

Tagged by @eyeliner-vampire  ♡ ♡

Fanfiction Reader Tag!

1. When did you start reading Fanfic (How old you were or how long ago)?

When I was probably...11 ish? so like 13 years ago

2. Do you have an AO3 account?

Yeh (LadyWisteria)

3. Do you read WIP (work in progress)? Why or why not?

All the time. I’m not picky about this at all. I’m a simple person. I see fic I think I’ll like? I read. doesn’t matter if it’s finished or not. I’ll make up my own ending til it is lol. also authors need that encouragement. finishing stuff is hard

4. What time of day is your ‘fic reading time’?

Usually late at night (like 1 a.m. and later..much later) but sometimes I’ll waste an afternoon instead (2 p.m. ish til I either have to go to work or I finish the fic)

5. How much time do you spend reading fic per week?

Not remotely as much time as I used, that’s for sure. Anywhere from an hour (if I’m rereading That favorite fic) to 2-4 hours if my friend has sent me a longfic again.

6. Do you listen to podfic (fanfic recorded like an audiobook)?

I...didn’t even know this was a thing tbh, so no. Sounds very neat but also I don’t listen to audio books anymore bcus my attention span re: audio input has gotten so bad over the years I can’t focus for more than a few minutes. 

7. What’s your favorite fic genre to read?

AUs AUs AUs. and fantasy. and fantasy AUs (although good long AU fics are harder to find). I am a very simple person. I see magic mentioned, I read. I also read a lot of romance fic (proving once again that fanfic writing is often better than mainstream original writing, bcus romance is one of my least favorite YA/movie genres). I don’t read as much of them but I also love mystery and paranormal fics

8. Are there any genres that you tend to avoid?

Super angsty no happy ending type stuff. “Major Character Death” is an automatic nope lmao (unless the summary looks reaallyyy interesting or it was recc’d to me). Tragedy is definitely Not my thing

9. What tag(s) do you track?

I don’t track any fic tags (I stopped tracking tags at all since Tumblr changed it from “keeping track of new posts in said tag” to “dropping random posts from that tag into the middle of your dash, and usually the same three”)

10. How do you find new fic?

Nowadays I mostly just read what friends send me or the new stuff a very few writers I follow post, but sometimes I also come across stuff through Twitter or Tumblr and curiosity wins out

11. How do you organize your fic bookmarks?

I..don’t? Is this a thing people do?? If I wanna reread something I either search through my bookmarks by title/author or just. filter by fandom. 

12. Do you subscribe to authors or stories?

Yeh. I only keep up with a very select few of them though. altho part of that is due to several of them being people I followed on fanfic.net years and years ago and never unfollowed, even though our interests may no longer be the same. (the other part is me going “oh I’ll read that later” and then just. never doing it.)

13. What is your favorite fanfic trope?

fake dating and bed sharing are always good

everyone is gay. also Good

14. What kind of plot line are you always here for?

“everything’s the same but they’re soulmates” (oh my god they were soulmates)

mafia AU

MAGIC

I really like in-between scene fics too. the events and character interactions that happen off-screen. I like writing those

15. What can an author do to make you love them?

write about my faves frequently

cool AUs

write about minor characters

good sense of humor

16. What can an author do to make you avoid them?

not into mpreg fics

a/b/o fics make me super wary I usually pass on those, even if the summary looks mildly interesting. they’re rarely if ever done in a way that isn’t rapey and gross

don’t care for fics period that have rapey scenes but you’re supposed to find them romantic

adult/minor ships

characterization is a big deal to me so if I don’t like how they handle the characters, especially faves I probably won’t be back

17. What do kudos mean to you?

when I get one I have a few seconds of “oh someone kinda liked this thing I wrote” and then I carry on about my day >.>;;; (I do appreciate them tho)

18. What kind of commenter are you (No comment, short comment, keyboard smash)?

I don’t comment as often as I mean to or wish I did, but when I do they’re loong comments (I’ve passed the AO3 character limit at least once kshg)

I tend to quote favorite parts and then react to them, and I like to theorize and ask questions about character’s thoughts at a certain part or what author imagines happens before/after the fic

19. Have you ever stopped reading a fic? Why or why not?

Yes. Once because I stumbled into a very sexually explicit fic when that was. Not at all what I was expecting (I was also very young lol), I think there was a very few I quit because they were boring or very poorly written, but most often I “quit” a fic for the same reason I don’t do audio books anymore lmao: because my attention span is sht and my motivation and commitment are extremely fickle things. I either forget or just wander away for a bit and then forget. Often I mean to come back and finish it; it’s just a matter of how long it takes. (I also second hand embarrassed out of a fic so hardcore that it’s been a whole 9 months since I’ve touched it khdfgd)

20. Have you ever read a fic more than once? What is it about that fic that makes you want to read it again?

YES. This requires like a minimum 4 separate posts to really answer but:

Behind Bricks and The Penance of a Killer by Deathbelle

this person is my fricking favorite author ever and these are two of my fricking favorite fics ever, I must’ve reread Behind Bricks 6 or 8 times now and Penance is the BokuAka-centric companion piece to my favorite fic of all time that I always wanted 

Mending Bonds and If the Heart Breaks, Does That Mean There’s No Home? by RussianSunflower3 

Mending Bonds is soft found family fluff centering on a very minor fave of mine and If the Heart Breaks is very angsty found family fluff that also focuses on some minor characters and it always hurts my heart but the ending and the soft middle always heal it right back up (“[Hanamaki] has a heart big enough for everyone in the world, and then some.” ohhhh my godd)

Boiled Frogs by ReginaGalaxia 

this one is. a really hard read centered around emotional abuse and manipulation and hoooo boy it is a rough read especially if you’ve experienced any of that personally but it’s so well written and the character dynamics are great and in its lighter moments it’s fricking hilarious. 

(bits and pieces of) The Roost by Ugglabarn 

 bits and pieces only bcus Roost has a lot of very heavy dark content that I’d have to be in a specific mood to reread the whole thing because it hurts my heart way too much but also it’s one of the best Fukurodani-centric longfics I’ve ever read (PLUS AN AU..!!) and I love love how they write the characters and how much focus there is on the minor members and ships and in its lighter moments Roost is also really funny the most recent chapter was hilarious

Expensive Hotel by Crown_of_Winterthorne

smut. explicit smut. excellent explicit smut with loving polyamorous boyfriends and plenty of consent discussion and kissing. my entire jam right there

Class 1-A Whomst? by Ya_Boi_Hal

this is the funniest chatfic I’ve ever read in my life and the first good chatfic I ever read. absolutely hysterical. also has some really good serious content in the middle and some Aizawa dialogue that punched me right in the feels. 12/10 will read again. sometimes I just randomly say “Mineta whomst??” and cackle to myself

and back in the day it was:

The Flame of Betrayal by DataIntegrationThoughtEntity

I guess traitor! Tahu was a popular trope back when Bionicle fandom was at its peak?? and not everyone liked it apparently but I enjoyed this fic greatly every time I read it it was well written and had interesting OCs and I am actually highly tempted to go reread it again

and Asleep Beneath a Wheat Field by Feline Freak

this was a very peculiar little OC-centric one shot that was also very sad and I don’t know why it grabbed me like it did but I remember rereading it 3 or 4 times at least

21. Do you like sequels?

The fics I like don’t usually come with sequels but The Penance of a Killer is one so Yes

22. Do you like dabbles?

I guess? I haven’t read too many I don’t think but hey, more fic is more fic. Who’s gonna complain about that?

23. What do you wish more fic authors would do?

Write about minor characters more

24. What do you wish more authors would stop doing?

that thing where they latch onto one facet of a character’s personality - or worse, one that fandom made up - and write them as if that’s the only trait they have

25. Do you like one-shots or multi-chapter?

Multi-chapter. I mean both are great obviously but the majority of my faves are multi-chapter and obviously if I like a fic I’m gonna wanna spend as much time in that universe as possible

26. How long do you like chapters to be?

Usually I feel the longer the better. once in a while I’ll hit one that’s so long it’s kind of distracting but extremely rarely

27. What’s your favorite POV (point of view) to read (first, second, third)?

Third

28. What do you think of OC’s?

I didn’t use to care for them very much but as I started reading fic by more advanced writers I found several I really liked. have a very small list of OCs from recent fics I’ve read I would actually kill a man for I love them so much

29. Do you download fic?

No, but seeing as my absolute favorite Bionicle fic vanished off the face of the earth several years ago and I cannot find anything about it an y wh ere sometimes I think about saving my faves. I never got to finish reading that fic and I am absolutely devastated every time I think about it. 

30. Tell me something else about your fic reading! Anything else!

best thing is when my friend and I buddy read a fic and send each other our favorite parts

Tag!

@yaelathewordsmith and @samantha-girlscout  ♡ ♡ ♡