#I honestly can't see a book series at al;

[mayullla]

A little present event: fem reader 🦋 + yandere Al Haitham 🌺 🥺

Title: Learning to love

Character(s): Al Haitham (Genshin Impact) Summary: He offered a proposal, a trial of sorts to see if you and him were really a match. Warnings/tags: Yandere themes, fem!reader, soulmates au, toxic relationship, manipulation

The continuation to: The Akasha's choosing [ - A little present~! Event - Closed - ]

You bit your lip when you saw Al Haitham waiting for you outside your small humble home again seated on one of the outdoor stools. "You are awake. I thought you would sleep a little more considering how tired you were last night from getting lost in the forest."

"Thank... thank you for finding me back then..." You looked down, it was because of him that you were able to find your way back home. But it was him that you were running away from that you winded up there. You know it was much, if anyone knew that someone was trying to avoid them this much to the point they would become lost... it would hurt the person. Yet you could not help yourself.

These feelings inside yourself felt like they were twisting your stomach yet you just can't push it down.

"Hmmm. Well, you don't have to worry about that though you should really consider other ways to avoid me."

You flinched at his words, feeling your heart rate speed up as you looked away guilty.

"I notice a long time ago that you were avoiding me, heading out so early in the morning when you usually stay in bed a little more in the past." Al Haitham looked at you from his book, waiting to see if you have something to say before continuing "I am guessing you are not really fond of this idea of soulmates. That you are acting like this? Personally, I think I would be much better if you were to say outright say that you hate me rather than run away constantly like this."

"I-I don't!"

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

"I really don't... I just don't think that uhh... you and me are meant for each other." You sighed finally admitting to why you have been acting like this for a long time. "That there might be a mistake in the Akasha... I just don't think we are compatible. I am sorry... I should have told you that sooner."

You glanced at Al Haithams face wondering how he would react before looking down again in guilt. You didn't know how to bring the subject up and had avoided it for the longest time. In all honestly you were intimidated by him.

"So you are saying that the Akasha had made a mistake?" Al Haitham asked closing his book. "Are you sure? I don't think most people if any would take too kindly to what you said especially the sages." You flinched again suddenly realizing what you were implying. That the akasha that was created by the past dendro archon, which was used by everyone in Sumeru had made a mistake. You wanted to take your words back, your face flustered as you tried to think of a way to recover from the situation.

Al Haitham watching you sighed, leaning back a little as he stared right at you. "I understand having doubts. Even I wanted to see for myself whether this was just some delusion someone in the academia made yet was accepted by those sages. Those who only rely on the akasha when it is also controlled by mere men are nothing but fools who can't think for themselves."

You found his words harsh but stayed silent.

"Hmmm, how about this. We shall do a little test between us to see if we are compatible or not." You looked at Al Haitham in surprise. What did he mean by that?

Al Haitham shook his head a little a small sigh escaped his lips, raising a hand a little as he started to explain. "While I too am not particularly fond of the idea myself, how about seeing for ourselves whether we are actually compatible or not and stop playing this cat-and-mouse chase that would only lead to nowhere."

"We can do a series of tests for an extended period of time. If we don't think we are compatible we can go our separate ways and forget all this happen. But if we do, we can continue on and see where this takes us."

Your eyes looked at him in surprise, but the more you thought about it the more it made... sense. You could see for yourself if the two of you were actually compatible with each other.

Agreeing to his proposal you could not help but feel a little determined but you could not help but wonder, "But what should we do first?" Much to your embarrassment you never really dated before too focused to take care of yourself and putting food on the table.

"Hmmm just do things that couples do. We could start by *not* avoiding each other and work away from there." You flinched a little at this personal attack, unable to look at him in the eyes again.

But you did see a small smile on his lips.

The two of you started slow, Al Haitham being patient with you as you tried to be less awkward with him on your side. You guys started first by going to the forest when you needed to go there to collect herbs, mushrooms, and berries. With him mainly there to protect you from monsters or eremites and treasure hoarders. Most of the time he was reading a book a little farther than you as you go about collecting.

He tried to offer help to you a bit, but still too awkward you declined telling him that he should instead rest while you do your work. Instead, you had to promise him that you would tell him if you need his help getting something that was too far of reach or dangerous.

A lot of your lunches were spent with him. You now purposefully pack up meals meant for two people rather than one. As you seat in the grass or under a tree or maybe at home when you worked on the small farm you had you would share your meals with Al Haitham. He would eat without saying much, but you did notice he would look a little annoyed when you brought soup and later made sure not to bring them too often. (Al Haitham also offered to pack or buy lunches every so often to be fair, and when you first time you tried his cooking you could not help but be surprised. It was good!)

You didn't go out in public much with him since both of you did not want the attention of others. And when you did most of the academia students would stare in shock unable to understand that the famed scribe had a partner while others cooed at how cute of a couple you guys were.

An old granny had called the two of you cute when you were out picking groceries with Al Haitham right beside you examining the vegetables as he too needed to stock some food in his own home. You were flustered at her words, wanting to deny that you were a couple but with a glance that Al Haitham gave you, no words came out of your mouth as you tried to smile.

You thanked the grandmother for her words.

Next were small touches and kisses, your face was never this hot till when Al Haitham told you to kiss him. You were embarrassed when he started grabbing your hand or placing a hand on your shoulder but you stifled all your complaints as you told yourself this was a trial and that it was fine. But you still could not help yourself but become nervous as you stare at his face after what he said.

Al Haitham was always patient with you, and if you didn't want to do this you were sure that he would be fine with it. But seeing that he was trying, you would feel guilty if you were to say no now.

You looked at Al Haitham's face an eyebrow raised waiting before he asked if you do not want to do it. You shook your head telling him it was fine. He always reminded you that both sides needed to put in the effort, and you knew he did. So you must... it was just a small kiss really.

He waited for you, made no movements to take the lead in the kiss, and left you to do it as you took small hesitant steps toward him shyly. With Al Haitham sitting down you were forced to lean towards him as you close your eyes unable to stare to look into his face in such a close distance. You didn't see his reaction back then as you quickly kissed and then turned your back from him unable to look at him.

What was a small peck on the lips soon spiraled from there. Moving too fast you thought to yourself, as if whatever wall that you thought was there between you and him was never there from the start. But you thought that it was fine, that this was just a test to see if you were compatible. As you forced yourself to get used to the thankfully rare kisses that Al Haitham would make. But more often than not you were forced to sit on his lap or he would lie on yours as you both either nap, read a book, or finish an essay for his case.

There were some days he would stay at your place, stating that he was too "lazy" to go back home when he was tired and told you to think of this like another test. He didn't like it when you offered to sleep on the sofa scooping you and tossing you on the bed with a hand on your waist to prevent you from leaving the bed stating that this would be the most comfortable way to sleep at a single person bed, pulling you closer to him. You felt it was too intimate but didn't voice your thoughts when you heard his small snores already fallen deep asleep.

Whatever you tried to make space between you and him on the bed whenever he decided that he would stay for the night would quickly be gone as you would find him always holding you tight in his arms the moment you wake up almost like a stuffed toy that a kid liked.

You kept repeating to yourself that this was a trial if you were compatible and if things just did not work out that everything would just work out as you two separate unknown to you that Al Haitham was still awake looking down at your hair, his arms tightening around you.

To him, this was never a trial, but you were just too precious after all as he let you think as you please. He knew that you were never comfortable with his affections. But he knew you would get used to it. He would not let you go even if you didn't. You would get used to his touch, the idea of him by your side, he would make you get used to him and let him mold you to love him just as much that anxiety would drive you insane when he is not around.

He would never let you go.

[vampyresovereign]

TWISTED CHARACTERS AND THE MUSIC I THINK THEY'D LIKE! (scarabia vers.)

my favorite dorm i fear uh WOOOOOHOOOOO PART 4 BABY!! MILKING THIS SERIES DRY FOR THE NEXT 3 HOUSES FOR REALZIES!!! -isa<3

KALIM AL-ASIM

oooooooh boy. Kalim would be another Twisted character that I feel would have an EXPANSIVE music taste, especially since he's in the pop music card/team/club thingy whatever it is BUT Y'ALL KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. Growing up in the Land of the Scalding Sands (which is so obviously a nation inspired by the Arabian peninsula and North Africa I mean come on yall.) I feel like the earliest music he'd be exposed to (and would honestly stick to) would obviously be regional music, popular artists like Fairuz, Nancy Ajram, etc. Honestly, arabic music/english-language arabic inspired pop would be his go to's but I also feel like he'd thoroughly enjoy world music too. Anything you can dance to, really. From Sean Paul to Carly Rae Jepsen, he wouldn't really have a problem if someone else was handed the aux. Unless you play like.. death metal. I can't really see him liking that.

JAMIL VIPER

jamil was kalim's servant for pretty much the entirety of his formative years, so i feel like similar to him, he'd obviously have some arabic pop on his playlists, maybe play it in the background while he's washing dishes or something. but he wouldn't be pop/dance music's #1 fan (he'd like to dance but not to something like really mainstream pop). I don't know where I saw this, it was on some headcanon page or something ERGHHHHH IF I HAD THE LINK I WOULD LINK IT BUT essentially it said something about how they headcanoned Jamil as the type to read those romance books made for like middle aged women (he would lock himself in his room to read it and not tell no one too) AND I AGREED SO HARD so that like kind of put the idea in my head that he would be an alternative/slow rnb lover type of guy. he like just got back from a long ass day of LIFE TBH and carrying the scarabia dorm on his back and is now using the last few hours of the day to rewind and he like turns on The Weeknd/Amy Winehouse/Lana Del Rey/Miguel/Brent Faiyaz to set the mood for scenarios in his head.

had to cut jamil short or i would start glazing if you sent a request im still writing gang DW -isa<3

[ofliterarynature]

JUNE 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf bookclub*]

The Language of Thorns • Transitions: A Mother's Journey* • Sipsworth • The Watchmaker of Filigree Street • Sunbringer • Someone You Can Build a Nest In • The Curse of Chalion • The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi • Heartstopper Vol 5 • Knit One, Kill Two • A Letter to the Luminous Deep

Slim numbers this month! But we had a few days off of work, and a couple of these were long -

The Language of Thorns (4 stars) - I don't really enjoy Bardugo's work anymore, but this survived my very first TBR poll by my interference because I love fairy tales and retellings! I think Bardugo had some cool stories, made some cool twists, the illustrations were nice to look at - I think she definitly has the structure of fairy tales down, but I don't think she quite has the language. I don't love her writing style, but it really doesn’t fit here all of the time. I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep it, but I think I'm leaning towards not. I don’t own it, but I also plan to read the Hinterland collection by Melissa Albert.

Transitions (3 stars) a graphic novel based on the real-life experiences of a mother coming to terms with her child’s transition. I could maybe see this being a helpful book for someone whose parent is also struggling, but it was a bit too short and occasionally abstract for me to really understand the mother’s behavior - we definitely struggled to find anything to talk about at the bookclub meeting.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (3.5 stars) - I wanted to like this more. I definitely liked parts of it, most of it even! I just really hated the entire Grace subplot and it dragged the rest of the book down for me. Also, major deja vu at the ending? I don't know why, I can't remember reading this before. Will probably read the sequel and more of the author’s work, but I'd love to read KJ Charles’ version of this.

Sipsworth (4 stars) - it was fine? But I was also bored enough on occasion that this really should only be 3 stars, and I only finished it because it was short. Overly sentimental.

Sunbringer (5 stars) - fun! Really wish I could have picked this up right after book 1, it gets right into things and I’d forgotten a bit more than I liked. I didn’t realize that this series was set up to be more than just a duology, so news on book 3 soon I hope!!!

Someone You Can Build a Nest In (4.5 stars) - also very fun, would recommend to fans of fairy tales if you don’t mind some gore and body horror.

The Curse of Chalion (4 stars) - did I love this to the bottom of my heart? No. Did it hold my attention and keep me entirely engaged! Yes! So overall I’d call it a great read, and I really need to get the next book(s) on my reading schedule.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (5 stars) - WHAT a delight!!! Sailing ships, a reluctant hero, non-romantic relationships at the forefront, what’s not to love? I wish some of Amina’s friends had gotten a bit more development, but I also dearly love her and her terrible cringe-fail husband. While we wait for the next book I should go back and actually finish the author’s earlier series.

Heartstopper Vol 5 (5 stars) - also fun, and if I had more time I would have absolutely launched myself into a full Oseman read/reread (I wish her later novels had been released in the US when they first came out, but I’m glad we have them now!)

DNF

Knit One, Kill Two (4%) - the problem with cozy mysteries, especially with the slightly older ones, is that they tend to give strong vibes of having been written by women of a certain social class with certain views, and the writing just does not age well. Within 4% we got a conversation about dieting and calories and a tasteless comment about a homeless individual, and I was out.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep (31%) - this one’s been getting a lot of buzz, which, honestly, means it could have gone either way for me. It did not go, alas. The story was dragging, the back and fourth between timelines was frustrating, and the letters were not really convincing - if the siblings had set out to solve their siblings disappearance, maybe it would have had more pull, but it really felt like a lot of spilling your guts to a stranger and not much else. Too bad, because I do enjoy an unusual story structure if it works.

[aurorawest]

Reading update

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - 3.75/5 stars

I hate myself a little bit for using this word to describe this book, but it's a meditation on modern (western) culture, the drumbeat of living a purposeful life, and, imo, the millennial condition.

It also, separately from that, made me think of the song 'New Constellations' by Ryn Weaver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13EX7qGdUGI

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles - 5/5 stars

This book features Gareth Inglis, a member of the gentry whose father shipped him off to his uncle when his mother died. Gareth never saw or heard from his father (who remarried and had another child) again, and no one knew he existed because his father was a piece of human garbage. Which meant I couldn't stop thinking about my former father-in-law, who had two sons from his first marriage whom he, as far as I could tell, never had any contact with after remarrying and having another child. Life imitates art?

Anyway, it's KJ Charles, so you pretty much can't go wrong. I saw someone refer to this as enemies-to-lovers and realized my toxic trait is railing against people who want to apply enemies-to-lovers to everything. Spoiler alert, this is not enemies-to-lovers. But it is lovely, and includes Gareth and Joss Doomsday (a smuggler) bonding over beetles.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by SA Chakraborty - 4.5/5 stars

It was no Daevabad Trilogy, but then again, I remember finishing City of Brass and being like, yeah, it was fine, I'll probably pick up the sequel at some point. It wasn't until Kingdom of Copper that I grew to really love the series, so I'm hoping the same happens with this. This book was a lot of fun, and the fact that all the characters were middle-aged was pretty delightful. I'm definitely excited to see where this series goes.

The Long Run by James Acker - 5/5 stars

Excellent YA book about two lonely jocks in New Jersey.

Feel the Fire by Annabeth Albert - 3.75/5 stars

His Accidental Cowboy by AM Arthur - 4/5 stars

Brida by Paul Coelho - 1/5 stars

One of the reviews for this book on Storygraph says it 'aged like milk' and I can't put it better than that. This is a soul mate AU where souls undergo cell division, essentially, and your soul mate is from your same base soul from before the soul split in half. Okay, great. Oh but wait, the soul always divides into male and female. And your soul mate is always someone of the opposite sex, even though that doesn't make sense because as souls divide again and again, that means there are a lot of people out there who came from the same original soul as you. Also, witchcraft? Also also, even though the book is called Brida and is ostensibly about the title character, her whole journey was really just to serve the unnamed male character, the Magus. This isn't implicit either, it's completely explicit. At the end it's like, 'sometimes young women come along to show men the way' (I'm paraphrasing but...not much).

This went straight to my give away pile, and I hated it so much that the rest of my Coelho books joined it (except The Alchemist).

Enlightened by Joanna Chambers - 5/5 stars

Or, For The Love Of God Please Give David Lauriston And Murdo Balfour A Break, And Preferably A Happy Ending.

They got one, btw.

Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amélie Wen Zhao - DNF

Honestly, the Mad Libs YA title should have warned me off of this one, but I always give my Illumicrate books a try. Cartoonish villains and protagonists I find myself liking less the more we get to know them. The prose is quite good but not enough to make up for the character deficiencies.

Solomon's Crown by Natasha Siegel - 5/5 stars

Blurbed by no less than Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness supremacy!), Rainbow Rowell, Freya Marske, and CS Pacat. Did I go into this book with insanely high expectations? Yes. Did it mostly meet them? Yes! If you're a Captive Prince fan, this one's for you.

Siegel tells us up front, before the book even starts, that it's a romance and not historically accurate. So don't go into this expecting a historically accurate love story between King Richard of England and King Philip of France. It is, however, a gorgeous romance. The world-building is top notch. Even if it's not totally accurate to the High Middle Ages, it feels accurate, if that makes sense? Siegel really captures the feeling of being in a different world. Lush writing, amazing sexual/romantic tension, lovely sad boys. Highly, highly recommend.

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots by Cat Sebastian - 4.75/5 stars

I docked .25 stars because it bugged me that they didn't move in together at the end. Idk, just felt too 'look, I'm subverting romance conventions!' Still good, obviously.

Like Real People Do by EL Massey - 4/5 stars

A very wholesome and low stakes hockey romance. I found myself often thinking that the interactions of the men on the hockey teams seemed unrealistic, but it was charming and sweet enough that I didn't care.

The book reads like fanfiction, which is because it was fanfiction—but it's in a mostly good way, not a bad way (*cough* All The Way Happy *cough*). Apparently the original version was Check, Please! fanfiction, which I am vaguely familiar with as a thing that exists. Apparently it's a web comic? Anyway, I enjoyed the book enough to pick up the sequel.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 20: Saidin

Welcome back to my reread folks! It's almost Christmas so let's tell a story about the big man himself (pictured above). He might just have a present for you! I also have one: the usual warning that this reread has spoilers for the whole of the series. Don't keep reading if you don't like that.

Once again we have a painfully obvious chapter icon. This chapter is called saidin. It's got the Dragon's Fang. I literally don't know what to say.

Rand kept them moving through the night, allowing only a brief stop at dawn, to rest the horses. And to allow Loial rest. With the Horn of Valere in its gold-and-silver chest occupying his saddle, the Ogier walked or trotted ahead of his big horse, never complaining, never slowing them.

Poor Loial. We have been drawing a lot of attention to his horse-free shenanigans at this point. I wonder if he's wondering why he even brought the damn horse.

Rand was sure she was no older than he, but at that moment she suddenly seemed as old and as cold as the mountains, and more regal than Queen Morgase at her haughtiest.

She is in fact older than most extant mountains.

“All I want is to see it in the light of day. I won’t even touch it. You hold it. It would be something for me to remember, you holding the Horn of Valere in your hands.”

I'm honestly not fully sure what she's up to here. Is it part of a plan, a way to try and establish her control over Rand, or is she just so power-hungry that she can't control herself?

He had never seen an Aes Sedai act the way she did, and she looked young, not ageless.

Considering that Jordan doesn't seem to have decided that the ageless look is the result of the Oath Rod yet (we'll cover that more next book I think), I can only assume that his intent was either becoming a Darkfriend interfered with that look or that the Mask of Mirrors weave's main purpose in bygone days would have been to hide channeling ability at all.

It was a kind of smile that always put his back up—but at least it was a smile.

Really there's a great deal of emotionally abusive tactics in Lanfear's arsenal, though frankly Jordan doesn't seem to fully recognize them as such considering how so many women act in the same ways. There's a lot that we could break down there but I think l'll leave it be.

“A village inn,” Selene sniffed. “Dirty, no doubt, and full of unwashed men swilling ale. Why can’t we sleep under the stars again? I find I enjoy sleeping under the stars.”

It's a common topic in the fandom about the hilarity of the Forsaken finding themselves in the current conditions, but I don't think it gets highlighted enough that Lanfear finds the modern era so repugnant given the choice between it and outright camping, she prefers camping.

Selene met his sally with silence and an unreadable look. After a moment, they started on again.

Lanfear suffers from the same affliction of many smart people in that she's very clever but not the least bit persuasive, nor good at figuring out how others will respond to her persuasion. She's probably so used to just using Compulsion and brute force to get what she wants at this point that it's hard to tell if she was always like this or if she was a better people person in the AoL.

Out of the clay at the bottom of the pit slanted a gigantic stone hand holding a crystal sphere, and it was this that shone with the last sunlight.

Ozymandias eat your heart out. Getting completely buried until now probably helped the male Choedan Kal a great deal; considering that the female one has spent the last three and a half thousand years partially exposed. We know that Portal Stones can be worn down too, so honestly I wonder if that exposure is what made the female statue much less reliable than the male.

Selene rode close and took hold of his arm. “Please, Rand, you must come away.” He looked at her hand, puzzled, then followed her arm up to her face. She seemed genuinely worried, perhaps even afraid.

Honestly this situation has got to be completely terrifying. The Choedan Kal could absolutely obliterate Rand if he tried to use it directly and Lanfear wouldn't even have enough warning that he was doing it so she'd get fried too. And of course, she can't just tell him because there's too many lies between both of them already.

“Till shade is gone,” he mumbled, “till water is gone . . .” Power filled him. He was one with the sphere. “. . . into the Shadow with teeth bared . . .” The power was his. The Power was his. “. . . to spit in Sightblinder’s eye . . .” Power to Break the World. “. . . on the last day!”

If you don't agree that this is one of the most badass sayings in this series, please unfollow me immediately.

“Did I . . . do something?” He frowned, trying to remember.

Something happened Rand, but honestly even I'm not quite sure what. Genetic memories gave you the willpower necessary to survive? Lanfear did some kind of trick to separate you from the sa'angreal? A safety mechanism within managed to still function after all this time and rejected your connection without a key? The Wheel realized there was literally no logical way to prevent your demise and so just kinda skimmed over what should have happened next?

I seriously have no idea what happened. Makes it hard to talk about this chapter to be honest because even the Wiki only gives me a "he breaks free" explanation and while obviously Rand does get better I'm not sure that "breaks free" is the correct description. I even checked Leigh Butler's reread since that's pretty on-point. Nada.

What the fuck happened here?

The people eyed the newcomers curiously, with no sign of hostility. A few stared a moment longer at Loial, an Ogier walking alongside a horse as big as a Dhurran stallion, but never more than a moment longer.

I doubt very much that there'd be much traffic through here (the Hunters for the Horn mentioned next chapter are clearly exceptional), since there's not really any civilization for miles past this point, but maybe the stories of Ogier hold on a little stronger in these parts since they're such a big part of Cairhien?

“The Nine Rings” had been one of his favorite adventure stories when he was a boy; he supposed it still was.

Now what could that be a reference to?

“I can’t, Selene. The Horn. . . .” He looked around. A man looked out his window across the way, then twitched the curtains closed; evening darkened the street, and there was no one else in sight now except Loial and Hurin. “The Horn is not mine. I told you that.”

Another temptation rejected, I suppose. Poor boy's gotta be doing a lot of that lately, and he's really only going to get worse at it for awhile.

Next time: Light-hearted inn shenanigans.

[alfietalksaboutcomics]

The Comics I've Read in March

I've devised a new type of monthly post for this blog, I'm going to keep track of and talk a bit about comics I've read each month that are either some of my favorite reads or ones that I'd find it interesting to ramble about. This is in large part to keep track of what I've read in any given month and to create little time capsules for myself. Without further ado let's get into what I read this month starting with my the single issues.

Single Issues

X-Men Forever #1 by Gillen and Maresca

X-Men Forever #1 by Kieron Gillen and Luca Maresca is a weird issue. It exists in this bizarre liminal space in terms of continuity. It takes place after Immortal X-Men but before the already released first two issues of Rise of The Powers of X. So essentially the issue is playing narrative catch up, it's explaining how we get from Immortal X-Men to Rise of The Powers of X. That being said it's not like you could read this before the first two issues of Rise of The Powers of X, it is very much is built around the expectation that you have already read those first two issues. So like I said, the book finds itself in a bizarre liminal space.

Despite all that weirdness, the book is still fantastic. It was an exhilarating read that just didn't let up. The hits just kept up coming at a breakneck pace. It feels like the book is weaving together two halves into a complete article of clothing, picking up threads from one half and effortlessly weaving it into the other.

On the art front I was happily surprised. I didn't dislike Maresca's art on Children Of The Vault but I didn't love it either. I don't know if it's that he has stepped it up or if it's the fact that this is a different colorist but it's exceptional work. The facial work in particular blew my breath away on several occasions. To return to the coloring for a second, in the past I haven't considered myself a fan of Blee, I had thought of his colors as bland and washed out. But for whatever reason here I absolutely adore his work and I can't exactly say why.

I have two favorite panels from this issue, the first is Sinister Doug's little chest hair, it's absolutely adorable.

The other is actually a set of panels. It's when, upon learning that the mutants who walked through the gates are alive, Charles Xavier falls to his knees and breaks down into tears. It's a perfect payoff to when he broke down in tears when he thought he sent them all into a meat grinder at the Hellfire Gala.

Resurrection of Magneto #3 by Ewing and Vecchio

I haven't really talked about Resurrection Of Magneto by Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio online in any form so let me rectify that here. Resurrection Of Magneto serves as a coda to Al Ewing's time in the Krakoan era, it only makes sense that in this final stretch the focus shifts to his two primary focus characters in his X-Men work, Magneto and Storm. Resurrection Of Magneto has been a fantastic book all the way through and this issue is no exception.

Despite Ewing's always fantastic writing, the most continually notable thing about this series to me is the work Vecchio is doing in it. I was a fan of his work even before this series, but even I must admit that his work in Resurrection Of Magneto has been a improvement by magnitudes. It's honestly been shocking to see him shine like he has in this series where before his art wasn't nearly at this level.

My favorite panel from this issue is rather silly but it's the panel where we see the array of the Phoenix's opposites. It has to be my favorite because it brings in a deep DEEP pull in the first fallen. A bizarre character from the tail end of Claremont's return to Uncanny X-Men in the late 2000s.

X-Force #50 by Percy and Gill

X-Force #50 by Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill is the final issue of Percy's run on X-Force. I've been a massive fan of this run all the way through. Percy has been doing what seems almost impossible in big two comics nowadays, a slow burn story. Indeed making it to fifty issues is pretty miraculous at this point and time.

X-Force #50 gave me a adrenaline rush while reading it, but not for the reason one might hope. No, all the while reading this comic my brain was racing with one question: "How the hell do they wrap this up in 20 pages?". The answer? They rushed to the conclusion. It's not bad but it does feel uncharacteristically rushed. I have the feeling that Percy thought he may have had more runway then he actually did, that he had to wrap up unexpectedly quickly. Which sounds insane to say considering he already had fifty issues worth of story, but given what we know about the sudden editorial change in the X-office it seems possible that if Jordan White stayed on perhaps Percy would have been on X-Force for even longer.

As is X-Force #50 is fine, it's a utilitarian ending for a story that feels like it needed more room to breathe. That being said overall Percy's run on X-Force is exemplary comics.

Series

All-Star Superman by Morrison and Quitely

Before All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely I never read a superman comic before. Hell, the only other DC I read was Spirit World #1. So in a effort to read something other then a marvel comic I decided to pick up one of the most famous and beloved Superman stories of all-time.

I find All-Star Superman to be a exceptionally hard series to write about. Even though it's only twelve issues, those issues are dense. I've always thought that Morrison does a great job making a single issue feel like six. All-Star Superman is no different, the issues are dense and feel like they tell their own complete stories.

Based off the iconic cover to the first issue of the series and knowing a little bit about the basic premise I honestly thought that it would be an exploration of the character of Superman and how he deals with his impending death. I was admittedly, very wrong. The series is in fact not an exploration of Superman, but his mythology. The series spotlights the major characters of Superman's mythos like Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Bizzaro, Lex Luther, and more. It feels like a celebration of Superman and the characters history.

On the art front Quitely delivers amazing facial expressions as always. I first encountered Quitely's art in New X-Men, where he really gets to shine by having so many weird freaks to draw. All-Star Superman doesn't nearly have as many bizarre freaks which does make me sad, that being said the work is still incredible.

A complete aside but, my favorite character from All-Star Superman has to be Lex Luthor, the man just has impeccable hater energy.

Lex Luthor is Ahab and Superman is his Moby Dick, I just have to admire the complete and total devotion to hating one man with every fiber of your being.

Moon Knight by Lemire and Smallwood

Back in January I wrote about Moon Knight by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey. I would describe that run as sleek and stylish, it largely runs on vibes. Back when I wrote about it I put a lot of attention on the fact that the series really doesn't focus much on Marc Spector's interiority. Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood sits on the opposite end of the spectrum, focusing so much on Marc's interiority that the fourteen issues almost entirely takes place inside Marc's mind.

The series is a deep dive into the fractured mind of Moon Knight. Marc and all of his alters get a focus. The first arc starts off with a lot of inertia but honestly kinda slows down at a certain point, it doesn't feel like it needs to be five issues. In the second arc the focus shifts primarily to the alters and we see the world from their perspective which is conveyed through different art styles, it's a pretty smart way to go about fill in artists. The last arc sees Marc reconcile with his alters and go after Khonshu who is trying to take over their body. The last arc is by far the strongest in the book in my estimation, Smallwood returns as the primary artist and his work is just so above all of the fill in artists.

The art across the series is stellar. Smallwood is the primary artist and he brings a otherworldly feel to the comic. It honestly reminds me a little of Sienkiewicz's work at times, which makes sense given he worked on the original run of Moon Knight. Special mention also has to go to colorist Jordie Bellaire, who brings the same careful use of color and it's absence like she did in the Ellis and Shalvey run. Both Smallwood and Bellaire's combined talent lends the book a almost chalky look? Which sounds odd to say but it's the best word to describe the look of the series.

My favorite sequence from the run has to be a flashback that takes place after the funeral of Marc's father. Marc laments to his mother that his father hated him, when she retorts that his father did indeed loved him, Marc experiences a dissociative episode and Steven takes over. Marc's mother reacts poorly telling him to knock it off.

This sequence deeply resonated with me. While I don't suffer from D.I.D I do suffer from Bipolar and I can recall having similar conversations with my own mother when my episodes would flair up. The tragic thing is that for both Marc's mom and mine it doesn't come from a place of malice but a misunderstanding of their child's condition. It's a wonderful depiction of what it's like for your loved ones to not truly understand your condition and it's the moment that most impacted me.

Silver Surfer Requiem by Straczynski and Ribic

Silver Surfer Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribic is a beautiful series both visually and narratively. It's kind of funny that I read this so soon after All-Star Superman since they have such similar premises. A being of great cosmic power—in this case the Silver Surfer—is faced with their own approaching death. It's a fairly superficial connection but one I find funny all the same.

The writing is quite lovely but the real draw is Ribic's art. There are ample splash pages which are so amazing and breathtaking I want to frame them. I've always thought that Ribic's art has a mythic quality to it and here is no different.

It's very hard to pick one splash panel to showcase here, there are so many amazing ones in this short four issue mini. The one I ultimitely landed on showcasing is this one:

It's a page of the Silver Surfer before he was the Silver Surfer approaching Galactus with a bargain to save his home planet. It's a pretty simple page but something about it just sings to me. Galactus's machinery is a precursor to Ribic's later celestial technology in Eternals. And something about Galactus's face just feels so omnipotent, so beyond human, so unknowable.

Black Cat by MacKay

Before I go any further I feel the need to give some context, in preparation for the upcoming Marvel event Blood Hunt I decided to read all of Jed MacKay's major marvel works, some of which I go over later in this post. I'm calling it my MacKayathon. Black Cat was the first step in that and my god is it a good first impression.

Before reading MacKay's Black Cat I had no opinion on Felicia Hardy a.k.a the Black Cat. around twenty-eight issues later I find myself utterly obsessed with this character and her world. MacKay's Black Cat run is stretched across two volumes, two annuals, one giant-sized issue, one one shot, and one mini. Even when spread across multiple titles, twenty-eight issues of Black Cat is insane.

Black Cat is all about heists. In fact the first volume is essentially her stealing stuff from everyone in the marvel universe, including, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Danny Rand, and even fucking Kade Killgore. The highlight for me has to be the last two issues where in the process of stealing from Tony Stark, Felicia creates the Iron Cat suit of armor, which is really an amazing design.

The supporting cast is also great, from Black Cat's crew Bruno and Dr. Korpse, to her aging mentor the Black Fox, to her rival and leader of the Thieves Guild of New York Odessa Drake. It's a great cast and MacKay made me care deeply about all of them. Generally Mackay has that effect, of taking characters I either didn't give a damn about before or didn't even know and elevating them to become some of my favorites.

On the art front for the first volume, Travel Foreman does a great job but his pencils is occasionally hampered by colorist Brian Reber, who's colors are fantastic with all the other artists on the series but don't gel with Foreman's pencils for whatever reason. The future lead designer on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kris Anka does two issues and brings his trademarked stylistic flair to the book. In my opinion though, the artist who best fits the series is the one who comes in for the last two issues, MacKay's future collaborator on Avengers, Carlos Villa. Villa just feels like a star who is waiting for the right book, something about his expressive faces and style just feel perfectly suited to big two comics and especially the expressive Black Cat.

One complaint I have about the art is the way Black Cat is sometimes sexualized for the male gaze. For the most part outside of the first annual this isn't really a big issue in the interiors, but the covers for the first volume it's a entirely different matter. J. Scott Campbell's covers for the first volume most resemble pin up posters, it's a little gratuitous and just feels gross.

Sadly due to covid related reasons the initial run of Black Cat was cancelled prematurely. Fortunately the second volume came out only a few months later, however it starts somewhat oddly. Black Cat volume two begins with three event tie-in issues. They are by no means bad, they are quite fun in fact, but they do interrupt the flow of the book somewhat. However after those first three issues the new volume picks back up the threads of the old volume and starts to continue the story.

Issues five through seven of the series comprise The Gilded City arc which is essentially the pay off to everything that has come before it. It's a wonderful end to the story of MacKay's Black Cat. However that's not quite the end, there are still three more issues that comprise the Infinity Score arc of the series. The Infinity Score arc is a weird one, It's building off of the Infinite Destinies series of annuals that introduce hosts to the infinity stones. Some of the annuals are good but others are pretty bland if I'm being frank. In Infinity Score Felicia must assemble the infinity stone hosts to pull off a heist. Unfortunately the series was cancelled again, with only three of the infinity stone hosts gathered. The silver lining to this is that MacKay gets to finish up the story in Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score, even if seemingly the original plans had to be changed as no more infinity stone hosts join Felicia's team and she has to make do (much like MacKay) with what she has to complete the job.

For the second volume the bulk of the issues are penciled by the returning Carlos Villia. However the Gilded City arc has Michael Dowling, a fill in artist for the first volume, return. Dowling's style is much more reminiscent of Foreman's then anything done by Villia. But honestly he works wonders none the less. Luckily the cover artist has changed from Campbell to comics superstar artist Pepe Larraz. Larraz's covers much like all of his work are breathtaking, and unlike Campbell's work it manages not to sexualize Felicia for the sake of the male gaze!

The last bit of MacKay's run on Black Cat is a five issue mini, Iron Cat. This series sees the return of that exceptional Iron Cat suit of armor as Felicia's ex, Tamara Blake steals the armor and makes a attempt on Felicia's life. Black Cat must team up with Iron Man to take her down and get back his armor.

The art team on Iron Cat is Pere Pérez on pencils and Frank D'Armata on colors. Pérez does a great job, his work is very detailed but still has a lot of life to it. D'Armata is someone I have complicated feelings about, his color work often gives comics this weird glossy look, as if everything and everyone was covered in Vaseline and shoe polish. His colors often are very cold to me, especially building interiors. However here his work doesn't bother me so much, sure I still would have preferred Reber but D'Armata gets the job done.

Iron Cat is a good bit disconnected from the rest of the run. For instance Bruno and Dr. Korpse, two central characters in both volumes of Black Cat, barely appear at all. But it's still a great comic and one that compliments the rest of the run.

Taskmaster by MacKay and Vitti

Taskmaster by MacKay and Alessandro Vitti is a fun and short series, it's only five issues and it's plot is pretty straight forward. The basic gist of the plot is this: someone has killed Maria Hill and framed Taskmaster, Black Widow is after him to avenge Hill but Nick Fury Jr saves Taskmaster's life and recruits him to finish Hill's mission, which involved securing a old H.A.M.M.E.R a doomsday device, the only wrinkle is that to get access to the doomsday device Taskmaster must get close enough to three super spies to copy their biometric signatures or whatever. And that's essentially the plot of the book, sure there are a few twists towards the end but now you largely understand the structure of Taskmaster. Each issue focuses on Taskmaster getting the biometric whatever of one of the super spies, rinse and repeat till it all comes to ahead in issue five.

The thing that makes the series worth the read though is Mackay's voice for Taskmaster. Mackay's Taskmaster is just a lovable goofball.

Taskmaster is just a real joy in this series, he is just such a silly little guy. That being said MacKay doesn't pretend that Taskmaster is all jokes, he's a competent mercenary who knows when to put his straight face on. He's simultaneously lovable and pretty scary, it's a great balance.

There are really only two notable things about Vitti's art in this series to me. firstly his men are big and bulky, which doesn't really speak to anything deeper but is the main thing I remember about his art here. The second thing is that he gets a lot of range of emotion out of a skull mask, Taskmaster is constantly expressive in pretty extreme ways, that alone deserves some props.

I'll just present my favorite panel from this series without comment.

The Death of Doctor Strange by MacKay and Garbett

I wouldn't regularly pick up The Death of Doctor Strange by MacKay and Lee Garbett. I'm just not a huge Doctor Strange guy. That being said, it's the precursor to MacKay's run on Strange and Doctor Strange and by the rules of the MacKayathon I am compelled to read it. With that being said I quite liked The Death of Doctor Strange.

The titles really gives the central premise of the book away, Doctor Strange is murdered, the twist however is that he is going to solve his own murder! This is possible because a unspecified amount of years ago, Doctor Strange took a week off his life expectancy to create a version of himself to avenge his death, the wrinkle though? He only has that one week to solve the case! This is a pretty fun and clever concept and by far the most compelling thing about the book. Seeing this past Strange reckon not only with his future and the choices of his future self makes for good drama.

Upon Strange dying a magical protective seal around the world fails, thus enters the Three Mothers, a trio of beings who capture magic users to feed their eldritch and fetile master, the Peregrine Child.

Besides being creepy and serving as antagonists these villains start a funny trend across MacKay's work at Marvel, the elaborately designed weirdo villain team. Two examples of this from his later work would be the Twilight Court and the Bloodcoven.

It's just a funny recurring beat I've seen in his work.

I honestly don't have strong opinions on Garbett's art generally, his work somewhat reminds me of Joshua Cassara's, especially in the faces. Both artists employ pretty blocky anatomy. Antonio Fabela's colors are quite nice, they especially pop when it comes to the more magical moments.

Earlier on in this post I talked about how I admired Lex Luthor's raw hater energy. Well Doctor Strange has his very own hater, Baron Mordo. I know just about nothing about Mordo except for the fact that he hates strange and hates the idea of Strange dying by anyone's hands but his.

Closing Thoughts

So that concludes the "My Favorite Comics I've Read in March", this post honestly turned out a lot longer then I expected clocking in around 3,500 words. But overall I think this has been a worth while exercise. See you next month, the MacKayathon will continue!

[shummashum]

The third romanceable character in S6, Hiro Tachibana! As he is the last character of this season, there'll definitely be secrets that run through the season and the mastermind of everything. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story progresses.

Since neither Zeus nor Klaus had anything that could be called a "backstory," he must inevitably have one… But honestly I have no idea what secrets he's hiding. Still, one thing worth noting is; until now, his expression was either expressionless or lost in thought, except for a few instances. Aaand I'm kinda sure his blank face will be twisted by all kinds of emotions as the story progresses, so I'm really looking forward to that.

Hiro Tachibana Ch1 [1~5]

uh what's this silence

uh… guys? guys?? what are you doing now

eh eh,,, why are you so angry from the beginning,,,,,, I said something about face twisted stuff above but still this is 1-1 you know I just started reading the story you know?!

um could you please restrain yourself a little seeing you like that makes me feel a little suffocated eh please? shall we try something called calming down take a deep breath take a deep breath

but well he became unfamiliar the Hiro Tachibana I knew was not the type of guy to show emotions like this hard was he triggered by something or what

Hiro slowly approached Zeus, who made no sign of moving, step by step…

erm… is this the development of 1-1? uh… harsh he became a twin pop or whatever

and the scene went black

and everything went back to normal then what on earth was that 1-1 non-existent memories? or a preview of future?

When she was about to leave the classroom, a magic note flew into her view and landed in her hand.

now it's everyday life they're really slaves, aren't they what I said that Prefects are postgrads and professors' slaves was just a joke

Anyway, she met Al and Cae on the way, and asked them if they also had come here after receiving an emergency call.

oh… that that was mentioned at the end of Klaus' Happy Ending that I'm back blabla

sword slash… there are many things that come to mind that was existed at the bookshelf that contained the stolen books, and at the case displaying the cameo in the Ministry's library too then does our BBW dude also have the ability to cut through the dimension

but I got a feeling that BBW won't be the culprit in all the cases from S6 onwards, all routes are sequential… there'll be a separate villain that involved not only S6 but the entire flow of the story, at least I think so I'm not sure though

At that time, Zeus and Hiro appeared.

they… look fine what was that scene, really?

no not right hand right foot

that series of words that blue haired nocturnal idiot used those when introducing himself in the preview

uh I wanna think about muffin jokes but the only muffin I know is

this so I can't ugh

well we need to increase your intimacy level! so I'll tell her to bake muffins for you

he smiles way more often than I thought? well since this much time has passed, those two would have become friends to some extent

[voicesofchaos]

Zexal Month - The Empress

So this theme is supposed to talk about our favorite character. But again I feel like I have talked about Yuma and Vector so many times. It would be cool to talk about underappreciated main characters like Tron or Durbe. But I figured I wanted to do this like the Numbers post and instead look at the characters that are nobody's favorite character! So I am going to go through the minor characters in Zexal, note anything special about them and then make-up what happens to them after the series. Going to be another longer post! @zexalmonth

I'm going to start with Kotori's friends. We see Kotori spend most of her time with the Number's club but honestly I feel like off-camera she probably spends a lot of time with them off-camera throughout the whole series. Even though they are extremely minor characters in the series I feel like they are an important but separate group of friends that Kotori treasures. Epilogue-wise they stay friends with Kotori for a long time and maybe at like Kotori's birthday party they even start to become friends with the Number's club as well. Although Rio is annoyed by how much they like Ryoga.

Let's keep talking about classmates but talking about a bunch of characters that were mostly one-ofs at the beginning of Zexal II.

Except for Taichi/Spencer who debuted early and gets tricked by Tokunosuke/Flip a lot. He was also an important enough character to appear in Arc-V! So I am going to say after Zexal he got so tired of being bullied that fled to another dimension and in Arc-V's Heartland he ended up murdering the Arc-V version of Tokunosuke/Flip.

Then we have the student council guy. Not much to say about him honestly except that he becomes really good friends with Todoroki/Caswell after the series. Sure.

The flower lady continues her flower club and goes on to become a surprisingly good duelist with her Plant Burn strategy.

The comics drawing guy goes on to become an award-winning comic book artist for her his comic called, THE LUKEMAN!

One more notable classmate, Yatagarasu. I guess he is named that as a reference to being a good soccer player but why waste such a good name on a nobody Yugioh character! Yatagarasu is an iconic Yugioh card that is responsible for creating the first ban list! I say after the series he keeps simping for Rio for some time until he meets a certain someone else on this list...

Before we leave the school we need to talk about this teacher. This guy totally goes to jail for cyberterrorism. Everything in episode 3 anf 4 wasn't an act.

Moving on to World Duel Carnival! This Soccer deck guy, he dates Yatagarasu. Speaking of dating, Construction Boy dates Anna for a little bit but she ends up dumping him. Camera guy develops a crush on Akari and becomes her stalker until she gets a restraining order put on him and eventually he ends up in jail for illegal pictures. Then the Tomato guy dies of a heart attack at a young age.

Can't forget good old Charlie McCoy! This guy has one of the only on-screen kisses in all of Yugioh ever! Thus guy! You know what, I don't have anything else to say about him.

Let's move on to one-off villains! The gangster duo from episodes 11 and 12 who took advantage of Shark end up teaming up with the first guy in Zexal II the Barians brainwashed. Together their form a criminal empire that dominates the underworld. Until the Zexal version of Ushio/Trudge takes them down.

Speaking of gangsters. Did you know that only 2 fusion monsters were ever summoned in all of Zexal? Kaito summoned 1, Twin-Photon Lizard. And these guys summoned the other! They go on to become edgelord duel champions.

Again remember this guy that worshipped Kaito for literally no reason? Yeah that is all I have to say about him. He is just funny to think about.

What I want to say about Anna's friend who get married would make this post NSFW so I ma just going to skip them...

We see the mothers of most of the Numbers Club. But did you remember that Tetsuo/Bronk also has a hot sister? Just feels like wasted potential. They could have done so much with her character!

Finally we come to this idol. Fun fact, when Girag was hinted to be coming to Duel Links, a lot of people thought this idol was being added to the game as a playable character! In episode 92, Shark plays the guitar in a band with her. So my final post-Zexal headcanon is that her and Shark are friends-with-benefits on the down-low.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this very silly list of forgettable characters. I'm sorry if your favorite was so forgettable thaat they couldn't even make this list.

[fleetsparrow]

@about-faces said:

Including Tec? I think what’s happening in that run is really darkly beautiful and hopeful. Unless you specifically mean Chip’s Batman run, in which case, I fully agree.

Honestly, I think I'd probably be more into it if it didn't seem like the most recent in a long series of never-ending crises that get rebooted every few years.

As an Elseworlds or an Imaginary Story? Hell yeah, sign me the fuck up.

But as current/concurrent canon? I'm fucking exhausted, mate.

But then, I have felt the same for years. Because when I got back into comics, it was Nu52, Court Of Owls, and Forever Evil (in... whatever order they happened in, I can't remember). Then it was Rebirth. Then it was another fucking crossover event where everyone died or lost their personalities with no explanation or payoff. Then another one.

Tbh, not specifically related, but I think that's why I'm also so baffled by the hate that people have for Wayne Family Adventures fans. Like, it's not canon. It's more or less an Elseworld. Everyone can still go back to the current canon when they want to see people killing each other and making shitty life choices that get erased in a year or fuck up things for everyone else. But why harsh the buzz of people who are tired of fighting every single day for a hint of joy in their escapist hero media actually finding that joy and having fun? Like, who is it hurting, in the grand scheme of things?

I felt the same way during the Grayson run, when I was one of the few Tumblr people who was reading and overall enjoying the book. People were so angry over it, where every new decision was destroying their faves, every fan of the comic was obviously a Fake Fan, and people were straight up harassing the creators on Twitter over comics that, let's remember, had been submitted and done months before publication.

Like, I get it. Comics are frustrating! It's very hard to be a fan of a living media that changes with every new writer or editing team!

But, like, man, it is so much harder than it needs to be sometimes.

And like, I get it from both sides. On one hand, yes, there's absolutely a space for publishers to put out darker stories, just as with brighter stories. It's when everything still feels beholden to the grimdark of Frank Miller et al, AND when openly enjoying the more fun stuff gets one called not a real fan or somehow what's "ruining" fandom, that it gets exhausting.

Which is really a long and rambling way of saying, yeah, I mean ???

I just think at this point, I'm going to start waiting for trades of runs instead, though.

[wromwood]

BTTF quiz thing

Tagged by @rose-of-pollux. Thanks! Tagging @penny-anna and if anyone else wants to do this, they can!

This year:

How many times would you guess you watched the first back to the future movie?

Does "this year" mean how many times I watched the first movie this year? If so, then.... none, actually. But I was thinking about it a lot! If it's asking how much I've seen the movie over the course of my life, then sooooo many times. Can't think of a way to start counting.

2. Did you get any sweet bttf merch? If so, what!

Again, not this year, but in December of 2022, I got a little BttF skateboard keychain from the merch table of the Back to the Future musical.

3. How many cans of Pepsi Free did you chug this year?

I'm a Coke guy.

4. What was a favorite bttf fanfic you read this year?

Too many to choose from by penny-anna, who wrote so many this past year that I can't decide. Maybe the one where Marty's a borrower.

5. A favorite bttf fanart you saw this year? (please give us a link, not a screencap/repost!)

Honestly, I haven't seen or saved much BttF art. Sorry!

6. Did you create any bttf fanart or fanfic? If you did, what one(s) are you proudest of?

I'm more of a BttF lurker. I did write an extra verse for the "Something About That Boy" song from the BttF musical, but I didn't post it.

7. How many times were you late for work this year?

None. Most of my work was remote, and I was always on time for the work that wasn't.

8. Did you watch any other movies/tv shows with BTTF actors in them?

This year? ... wow, I really can't think of anything.

9. Was there a memorable moment you heard a Huey Lewis song this year?

Ooh, fun question! I'm gonna cheat a bit. This year, I relistened to a whole lot of Weird Al, so to prepare myself for "I Want A New Duck," I re-listened to "I Want a New Drug." I found myself grooving to it because I hadn't heard it in a while.

10. How many times did you fall down this year?

At least once or twice.

11. Did you get to see BTTF: The Musical? What was your experience like?

Yes, in London last December. It was super fun and I was bouncing in my seat by the end. I just wish the rest of my memories of the London trip were as positive.

12. How many times did your mom retell the story of how she and your father met?

None this year. My dad got close to telling the story once or twice.

13. If you could describe your year in a BTTF quote, which one would it be?

"I mean, what if they say I'm no good? What if they say, 'Get outta here, kid, you got no future?' I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection."

14. ⚡️LIGHTNING ROUND⚡️ Did you get to: go on any trains, skate on a skateboard, ride a horse, drive a DeLorean, run in the rain, go to a dance, hang up a clock, play the guitar, pull an all-nighter, read science fiction, or drive thru Burger King this year?

Yes, I went on a train (if you don't count subway trains, at the beginning of 2023, I took a train trip from Edinburgh all the way to Burnley, got driven to Colne, then rode the train back from Colne to Edinburgh). I went to a ceilidh and a couple of theater society dances. I unfortunately pulled my fair share of all-nighters finishing my dissertation. I read some sci-fi, including the first book of the Monk and Robot series just recently.

15. Your future is whatever you make it! So what are you going to make of this coming year?

I'm going to get back into the habit of writing regularly and finish my novel.

[halflingkima]

My Favorite Books of 2023

My book bracket did help me narrow down my actual favorites of the year. It wasn't an exquisite reading year, especially compared to the couple prior, but I did still read quite a few good books. I'll give mini-synopses and brief reviews below the cut, but I've also linked my storygraph reviews for each with their star ratings.

9. This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): When Arthur's wife Amy dies suddenly, he finds himself in her hometown, boarding at the inn run by Amy's childhood best friend Mona and Mona's daughter Oneida.

This was just a right book, right time for me, I think. There's a lot going on in here about motherhood, [best, female] friendship, the selfishness of love, the nebulousness of personhood. I don't know if this would've hit as hard if my best friend hadn't just had a baby, but that's the beauty of it – I'll never know. There was also a focus on art and artistry that I really liked, and I'm a sucker for an ensemble cast. I also appreciated that even though there were intended "reveals" or "twists," they were written as more authentic secrets than as if trying to be a thriller.

8. The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): From the afterlife, a group of women from popular superhero stories tell their sides of the tales.

This book is structured as a short story collection, but there's a worldbuilding throughline; the women are having a night together at a bar in the afterlife. I'm not a comic book fan, but even I could discern which characters were were talking around (mostly DC properties). It's more of an exploration than an outright critique of the fridged trope. After all, a character's death is always meaningful: How did she die? Did she deserve to? Was there any other choice? All these women died for valid, viable reasons, could only be saved at the expense of the world, but – that does not make them less of a person. Even as a mere creative writing exercise, I really enjoyed this one.

7. Die: Fantasy Heartbreaker by Kieron Gillen et al. (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): A group of highschoolers in the 80s create a ttrpg that comes to life, literally disappearing into it for two years; now, when they're established adults with families of their own, they're summoned back.

Honestly kinda hard for me to justify putting a single volume of a comic collection on my favorites but... this slapped. As a D&D enjoyer, it brought the best elements of post fiction and RP together; the "real" characters are complex and rounded 40yos with families and lives, but they're as invested in their "PCs" as humanly possible – having had to actually be them for years. The second one went to kind of a weird place, so I reserve judgement on the series as a whole, but volume one is impeccable.

6. And Then I Woke Up by Malcolm Devlin (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): An epidemic sweeps the world, manifesting in the infected people hallucinating that all non-infected are zombies; at a rehabilitation center, a cured man tells his story.

This one's hard to convey my thoughts about. The most powerful element in this book is the nuance – of morality, of belief systems, of perceived reality. This isn't strictly a zombie story, but it effectively utilizes the best parts of one to provide a sort of narrative foil to the genre. There's quite a lot of social commentary in the guise of perception-altering disease. I'm certain I didn't pin it all down with one read. Definitely on my re-read list.

5. Our Dreams at Dusk [quartet] by Yuhki Kamatani (⭐️|⭐️|⭐️|⭐️⭐️): When Tasuko Kaname fears he's been outed at school, he flees, contemplating suicide until a mysterious "someone-san" leads him to a community center full of peers and mentors.

I hunted this down on recommendation from Julia Drawfee and was impressed my library has it. I can't resist a short manga series and this is a beautiful one. Seeing as the majority of my manga reading days were in the 00s, I was expecting a subtler story & was extremely impressed by the nuance and diversity of queerness in this story. The whole series is beautiful and wonderful but the kicker was weeping through the entirety of the final volume.

4. Kill the Boy Band by Goldie Moldavsky (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): A group of teen girls – superfans of the boy band The Ruperts – accidentally kidnaps a band member, and events quickly spiral out of control.

It's 👏 camp 👏. God, I'm tempted to stop there. There is a very specific reader this appeals to, and having been solidly in the One Direction fandom, I'm afraid those readers are few and far between. The vibe is, essentially, boyband slash RPF reader/writers that do not genuinely believe the boyband is secretly dating. You have to have genuine passion (peak boybandom obsession) and realistic reason (the boyband is truly just some dudes). And the distance to poke fun at yourself while genuinely empathizing. God this vibe is so difficult to describe. It's my own boyband fandom white whale lmao.

3. Husband Material by Alexis Hall (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): Luc and Oliver are still in love and very happy, but as a number of their peers get engaged, tie the knot, and otherwise build families for themselves, the couple feels pressure facing their future.

I can't believe I read this this year. My only apprehension with this one was that of any sequel – it wouldn't be as good as the first book. And the stakes were high, since Boyfriend Material is one of my favorite books ever. Stakes doubly high because I wanted to reread it first and feared it wouldn't live up to my memory. But they both knock it out of the park. Husband Material's ending glides over some nuance, but I agree with the stance and it's in the UK so I'll let it slide. It's not a "why does this exist sequel," but actually a sequel with something to say which I really appreciate. Right onto my favorites shelf, and can't wait for the rest of the series.

2. Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️): In a world of courtly vampires, Remy is a Reaper (vampire hunter) while rumored to be half-vampire himself. When a mysterious vampire disease begins sweeping the nation, he finds himself reluctantly investigating with a vampire lord and lady from a neighboring empire.

I love vampire books. I love zombie books. Hence: zombie vampire book??? With canonical bisexual polyamory??? I've not seen anyone dislike this, but I've also not seen many people at all reading it. Much like Rin Chupeco's YA fantasy series The Bone Witch; I think they're just a criminally underrated author. This series is giving very similar vibes to bone witch – deep, rich worldbuilding, diverse characters, unique lore – but clearly and intentionally aged up – graphic gore, explicit sex. Which is all to say it's everything I loved as a teen reader, but built out to satisfy me as an adult with wider life experience.

1. The Radiant Emperor Duology by Shelley Parker-Chan (⭐️⭐️|⭐️⭐️⭐️): Zhu Chongba usurps her brother's destiny of greatness and passes herself off as a man from her childhood in a monastery to her adulthood on the battlefields of Mongol China. When her Mandate manifests, she moves to challenge the Great Khan himself, while a number of other political players have their own plans.

Hey this???? Altered my brain chemistry. I'm cheating and lumping the two together because that's how duologies work in my mind; greater than the sum of their parts. But Hoo Boy did these drive me insane in discrete and unique ways. I can't say much about this series without waxing on forever, so I'll keep it to this: I had heard this pitched as a fantasy Mulan retelling and it most certainly is not. It is a historical ensemble saga about duty, identity, and personhood, with some minor magical realism. I can't find it for the life of me but that post about how being aro and/or ace gives ppl access to new relationship flavors, shrimp-color-style? I think this duology might do the same. It felt like the author had hacked into my own genetic code and started braiding something in there.

[sebastianstansqueen]

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing 12

A/N: We are back with part 12 I hope you al like this it's been a minute, fuck some one did something to my tagglist god damit! as always Feedback is always appreciated if you want to be Tagged, either send an ask or comment on this or click on Taglist open.

Wordcount: 3,337

Warnings: Angst, Smut, Bru you guys are going to see why Brock is a dick to Y/n, dark themes? Maybe, death, sadness, lots of fluff, Bucky and Y/n are getting closer!!, theres a lot if I missed any thing tell me

Masterlist //  Taglist open // Series Masterlist

Tags:@cherryblossomskye - @babylooneytoonz - @wonderlandfandomkingdom - @miraclesoflove - @amelia-song-pond - @leyannrae - @avengerlex - @pineprincess - @nik2write - @dorothea-hwldr - @rosie-posie08 - @scxrletrecsmarvel -@ginger-swag-rapunzel - @brownlee-22 - @vicmc624 - @austynparksandpizza - @calwitch - @dontbescaredtosingalong -

Wanda pushed open the doors of the library, Y/n looked around at all the books. “This seems familiar.” She mumbles to herself as she walked around, Wanda frowned a solum look taking over her features. “What's wrong?”  

“A lot has happened in this room, this was your safe haven from the world, from James, this was also your saddens place.” The woman with red hair told her.  

Y/n tilted her head. “What do you mean saddens?”   “You found our your parents died in this exact room.” Wanda gulped.  

“I don’t really hold an emotion to that Brock must have taken a lot form me, I want your help to get me to rember.” Y/n quietly said her voice a little shaky. 

Brock sat in his new office, the one meant for the king, Jack walked into the room. “What's your plan your majesty, the queen seems to be fine with being back in the north.” 

“Jack, I need my queen that doesn't mean I want her.” Brock told the man.  

Jack looked at the king. “Brock no we can't not now.”  

“We haven’t had time since that brat came into the castle.” Brock rolled his eyes. “I want your lips around my cock not hers.” He stood from the chair walking up to the man.  

“This is why your father treated you as a child.” Jack whispered. “He didn’t trust you.”  

  Brock whipped his head up at the guard. “Don’t call me a child.” He hissed then he walked away. “What's the plan?”  

“We march.” Tony slammed a fist on the table. 

Bucky sat across from the other king. “Tony, do you think it’ll work we could be in war for who knows how long, I don’t want Y/n to be involved until the end.”  

“I know that’s why she’ll stay here until she’s ready and has her memories.” Tony told him. 

Y/n and Wanda were sitting across from one another, when Wanda looked up. “Your birthday is tomorrow.”  

Y/n looked up at her. “Hmm.” 

“No plans?” Wanda asked.  

“I mean I don’t know any of them so not really.” Y/n told her.  

Wanda frowned. “Your technically the Queen of the north, they throw a big party a ball if you will plus all of the allies are already here preparing for a war, why not do it big for your twentieth birthday.”  

“Wanda.” Y/n sighed.  

“Please.” She begged.  

Wanda walked into the office. “I want Y/n to have a proper birthday.”  

Bucky looked at Wanda. “What?”  

“I want her to have a birthday tomorrow one fit for her she deserves it over all of us.” Wanda tells the men.  

“Dose Y/n request this?” Tony asked.  

“No, but I as her best friend does.” She said honestly. “She’s been through hell and back, she lost a child already and married twice, all while being nine-teen, you two owe her this show her that you that you love her both of you, this kingdom needs some hope and so dose she I think we all do.” 

Thor stood up. “I think the little witch has a great Idea I night of celebration before we go off to war.” Every king in the room agreed. 

Y/n walked to the room she was staying in when the king, James was walking the opposite direction, he stopped so did she. “Wanda is good at convincing people.” He told her.  

“What do you mean by that?” She asked.  

“We’re celebrating your birthday tomorrow.” He smiled. “I agree with Wanda when she told us that you of all people deserve it.” Y/n frowned. “What's wrong? 

“I asked her not to she pleaded with me but I don’t want to this year has been rough from what I can tell.” She sighed.  

“Can I show you something?” James asked her, she nodded, he led her to a different wing of the castle, they walked into a large room. 

“Is this your-” 

He cut her off. “Our room before.” She looked around venturing deeper into the room then she walked up to a shelf with books on it and a gold arrow.  

“I know this what is it from?” She asked him. 

“You gave it to your younger brother; it was his first arrow you taught him to shoot.” James told her honestly. 

“I cared for my brothers, didn’t I?” she asked.  

He nodded. “Yes deeply.” 

“Did I love you, care for you as I did them?” She asked. 

He frowned. “I want to be honest with you, but it will hurt you and I.” She turned to look at him. 💖“Your last spoken words to me before you were taken were. ‘What you’ve done to me has hurt me more than you killing me I would rather be killed than have what you did to me happen, you said you loved me but since all this Hydrana shit has happened you’ve pushed me away your castle fills colder than this snow that covers the floor beneath you and I, I agreed to this because of the kingdom they still need a queen, I’ve stayed here being quiet and being treated like shit for your kingdom because I care I don’t think you’ll be able to make it up to me because you’ve hurt me, you act like you care about me and what I’m seeing in my sleep but I know it’s just you trying to make yourself feel better that you hurt me to make it even to say that you ‘care’ but you don’t your selfish and hell you don’t even notice how your own advisors treat me this place, the north, doesn’t feel like a home. At first maybe I did love you and you loved me but James, you’ve pushed me further away from you than just a wedge you’ve pushed me across the ocean. So please let’s just pick a tree and then go back to the castle so I can help Wanda’ I don’t deserve your trust I don’t deserve you Y/n but I do love you.” 

“I assume you apologized.” She assumed he nodded. “Then I forgive you, you saved me for a worse fate I imagine.”  

Next thing she knew was his lips we’re on her’s in a warm and passionate kiss, he undid the dress she wore and practically tore the corset off of her body, his hands ran up and down her soft skin. “You're okay with this?”  

“Yes.” She nodded eagerly. 

He pushed her to bed with the soft material meeting her skin Bucky tugged his close off his body needing her’s Bucky slid slowly into her, her body sprung out with goose bumps. “I was horrible let me make it up to you, be a real husband.” His tone was soft as he spoke.  

“Yes James, I’ll let you be my husband once again.” Y/n’s voice shook as she spoke.  

He left marks on her neck and breast as he worshipped her body the way that she deserved he moved in and out of her, his marks claimed her body more than he ever could he showed his love as he moved in and out of her, she shook under him her legs quaked this was real love what he was showing her he knew it, this was better treatment than he’d ever given her and she deserved it, her back arched against the bed as she milked his member for all it had.  

He moved down his tongue licked at her wanting cunt as he fucked her with his mouth instead, he nipped at the red bud, she squirmed with a light squeal as he did this a few times Y/n’s legs raped around his shoulders. “I want you up here.” She moaned.  

  He smirked as he did the actions, he was doing previously, he moved in and out pumping back and forth her hair could be felt on her lower back as it was now loose nothing holding it up. 

Late into the night James held his queen to his chest he looked down at her with an easy smile she looked at him with the same type of smile. “What?” Her voice was course and rough.  

“I wish this is how we started our life together.” He sighed.  

Her brows furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”  

“I mean I wish we started with love, and you did not hurt after.” He sighed.  

“You took me, my first time?” She offered, he nodded, then she laughed. “Well, no shit it hurt your large, that’s why Brock always felt so small.”  Bucky laughed at the barbaric esque joke. 

“Your mother would have died if she heard you utter something like that.” He smiled. 

Y/n shrugged. “I don’t rember her but if you say so.”  

Y/n woke up surprisingly feeling refreshed, she stared at the edge of the bed closest to her, Bucky laid still asleep next to her, then the door opened she pulled a fur blanket up to her chin covering her nude body, Tony along with a little boy walks in. “Happy birthday.” The little boy said walking up to the side of the bed-that was empty moments ago-with a large stack of pancakes.  

“Thank you.” She smiled at him, the boy frowned. “What's wrong?” s 

“You didn’t address me.” He said.  

Tony spoke up. “When you thank someone Y/n, you usually address them, your like that you always show the specific person your thanks by saying their name.” Her face fell theas people seemed to know her better than even she did.  

‘Aron’ Tony mouthed. “I am sorry about the confusion, Thank you Aron.” She corrected 

Bucky took a deep breath as he woke up. “What's going on?” He looked around at the three siblings.  

“Uh, I and Aron were doing our tradition that we give our sibling a terrible birthday breakfast, it’s terrible because we made it and none of us know how to cook so yeah.” Tony answered with a smile, Bucky nodded, then Tony looked between the husband and wife, noticing how Y/n kept the blanket up to almost her neck, and Bucky’s bare chest. “Oh, Aron I think we should give them a moment.” Tony said as he pulled his brother along.  

Bucky laughed; Y/n looked at him with furrowed brows. “Your brother was so awkward.” She hit his chest softly with the back of her hand.  

“I don’t think it's every day he sees his little sister naked with her husband.” She laughed, then the door opened and Wanda and Natasha walked in.  

“Your brothers out there blushing like a fool so do what you want with that.” Wanda laughed, the two were dressed Y/n was dressed in an off the shoulder shirt that squeezed in at the stomach then a brown skirt and a corset over the top with a floral pattern. “Tonight, for the ball you’ll be dressed in something fit for it.”  

The day was one of the most relaxing Y/n, Bucky, and anyone in the castle have had in a long time Y/n and Bucky sat in his office across from each other. “We should go for a ride.” He spoke up breaking the silence.  

“Yeah, we should, or we could do something similar to last night.” She smirked, bighting her bottom lip.  

He had a playful smirk on his lips too. “We could but I think Wanda might kill me if I ruined your clothes midday.”  

“Hmm, maybe you don’t have to ruin my clothes, maybe I could just pull down my underwear, like I am now, then I could sit on your desk, and pull your head down to my needing cunt.” She spoke as she did the actions she spoke of, Bucky licked and bit at her as he let out a wine of need then there was a knock at the door neither of them heard, the door was pushed open, Bucky looked up stopping his actions immediately, a growled ripped through his chest, when his eyes met Steve’s.  

“What?” He snapped.  

“Your sisters have arrived, were still waiting for your brothers.” Steve rushed. 

Bucky sighed, pulling Y/n off his desk, Steve turned and left the room, Y/n pulled her underwear back on. “I wasn’t aware that you had siblings.” Y/n said.  

“You were once, they’ve already met you, I’ll have to explain what happened.” He huffed as both walked out.  

“Ruth, Becca.” He smiled as he saw them, he hugged the two girls, they greeted there brother. “Where's John?” He asked ruth.  

“Were fighting currently.” She sighed.  

James looked at her with furrowed brows. “What about? I can have you pulled you out of the arrangement it happened when mom and dad were around, I can undo-”  

He rambled Ruth cut him. “I may hate my husband but that doesn't mean that the North does not need this alliance, now let me see your bride.” Ruth smiled at the Queen. “Y/n it's good to see you again.” She hugged her.  

“It’s good to see you again also Ruth.” She smiled. 

Ruth brows furrowed. “Your off, what's going on Bucky?” She turned to her brother. 

Bucky sighed wanting to forget all about what had happened. “It's a long story, but short Y/n was kidnapped by Hydrana and they cast a spell to remove her memory and we’re working on it.”  

“Good luck.” She smiled at her.  

Rebeccah ran up and hugged her. “I’ll still show you love memories or not, Happy birthday.”  

“Thank you.” She smiled both of the girls had not noticed the man and the older girl missing.  

Bucky followed his sister. “What's going on what is the fight about?”  

“Bucky, don’t worry about it you have more important things than your sister, for example your wife needs your help.” She told him as she continued walking in a fast pace.  

“Y/n is fine for a few minutes alone I want to check on my sister.” He urged. 

“I’m fine Bucky.” She stopped in front of the room that used to be hers before she left.  

He shook his head. “Then why don’t I believe you?” He asked.  

“I can't control what you think.” She told him, she walked into the room and shut the door, Bucky huffed.  

Y/n walked up behind Bucky and grabbed his hand. “What's wrong?”  

“I don’t know.” He mumbled.  

Y/n knocked softly on the door hearing a light ‘come in’, she walked in closing the door behind her. “Y/n, how can I help you?” Ruth asked.  

“Tell me what's wrong, Bucky doesn't need to know.” It was a silent promise not to tell her husband.  

Ruth wet a washcloth swiping at the make up on her face, a purple and blue bruise was shown on the side of her face over her right eye. “I caught John with his wore and he did this, so I’d keep quiet from his father mainly.” Y/n frowned with a nodded understanding the pain.  “You wouldn't understand though Bucky wouldn’t hurt you like this.”  

“No, I can't say he would but that doesn't mean I don’t understand.” She sighed. “Bucky gave you little explanation as to what happened.”  

Ruth looked at Y/n with furrowed brows. “What do you mean?” 

“I was kidnapped by Hydranian guards and taken to Hydrana where I was married to Prince Brock, he made me forget everyone I loved, and I'm still rebuilding my memories, Brock wasn’t great either and from what I’ve gathered is I was pregnant with Bucky’s baby, but it died.”  Y/n explained to the woman.  

“I’m so sorry Y/n.” Ruth apologized.  

“It’s not your fault.” Y/n shook her head. “I’ll leave you be, but let Bucky know eventually.” And then she left.   

Y/n walked down the hallways as she did she noticed people putting up decorations Bucky came up be hind her making her jump. “How did it go?”  

“It went well, I think it is best for her to tell you herself though.” She sighed, Bucky nodded.  

Sooner than later the party was in full swing the people of nobility all wore mask that was Y/n’s main input A masquerade for her birthday , Y/n and Bucky were in their shared room, getting ready for the party, Y/n wore a blue dress with see through heels along with butterfly pins pinning her hair into place, a mask with diamonds, and lastly a tiara sat on her head. Bucky and her walked to the doors. When a wave of anxiety ran through Y/n. “What if they think I am a tarot?” She turned to her true husband.  

Bucky cupped her face with both hands. “They wont think you’re a tarot you never purposely did anything, besides I'm the king and you’re the queen, I’ve excepted you back in you’ve never have done anything that has caused anyone pain and it’s your birthday, I want you to have fun, alright.”  

Y/n nodded. “Alright.” 

The doors to the ballroom opened. “Announcing Queen Y/n and King James.” The man who announced everyone. 

The two of them walked down the steps looking gracefully, hand in hand everyone stared at them. The steps were steep as the two of them walked down to the dance floor, Y/n was scared that she’d fall down the steps eventually they met the same marble floor as the stairs. “Let us commence with a toast to my wife and the queen whose birthday we are hosting this evening.” Bucky held a glass filled with wine every one clanked their glasses together and cheered, as they cheered Y/n couldn’t help but to look for Wanda. 

While the party was going on down in the ballroom Wanda was working at her wits end to help her friend, even though the party was her idea she went on and out of her way to distract them.  

Petero walked briskly past Y/n, she left Bucky’s side and followed Wandas brother, until she got to his side. “Where is Wanda?” Y/n asked the man with light blond hair. 

“I’ve been looking for her too.” He answered her.  

Bucky walked up beside her. “What’s going on?” He looked between the man and his wife.  

Y/n looked at her husband. “We are looking for Wanda, we can't find her anywhere, I’m worried what if Hydrana found out she’s trying to break the spell on me, and have kidnaped her.”  

Bucky put his arms around her. “I assure you she is fine, possibly roaming around the castle or the gardens.”  

After hours of the party going on, it ended though there was a spy from Hydrana and it was Jack Rollins, who had overheard Wanda breaking the spell, once he’d gotten the information, he rode off and to Hydrana.  

At the end of the party Y/n and Bucky when to their chambers, Yelena came in to help Y/n undress. “Where Wanda?” Y/n asked the woman.  

“I haven’t seen her all night.” She lied with a small shrug of the shoulder; she’d found Wanda in the library earlier. 

 After Y/n was in a nightgown Yelena left the room, Y/n sat on the plush bed across from Bucky. “I’m really getting worried for Wanda.” 

“If she doesn't come out of hiding by tomorrow, we will send out a search for her I promise you that.” Bucky promised as he held her hand on his lap giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

Once Jack got back to the castle of Hydrana he marched into the bedroom of the king, Brock, and sat up. “The little wench is planning on breaking the spell.”  

“Which one?” Brock asked. 

“The one who she defended when you stayed in the north.” Jack explained to the naked man.  

“Fuck if she breaks the spell Y/n can tell them everything, we march tomorrow morning.” Brock said determination in his voice.  

As Y/n slept she toss and turned all night her mind flooding, her eyes snapped opened and she caught her breath, Bucky felt her whip up in a sitting position. “What's wrong?” He asked concern evident.  

“I remember everything.”  

[geek-and-destroy]

Wheel of Time - End of Book 1

This is post 8 in The Wheel of Time Read - see the previous post - covering chapters 49-53.

A few days ago, I started reading The Eye of The World by Robert Jordan, book one in The Wheel of Time. And because I have nothing better to do, I decided to post my thoughts on the internet, a few chapters at a time. This post talks about my first impressions of chapters 49 (The Dark One Stirs) through 53, (The Wheel Turns) the final chapter. Chapter summaries can be found here (I’m not putting links to the individual chapters, I don’t want to venture too far into the wiki).

It has been one hell of a ride, hasn't it?

Over the course of these last few weeks, I've become familiar with a whole new, rich world, understood several of its cultural nuances and most importantly, got to know some AMAZING characters that I cared about. As a kid, reading Harry Potter, (trans rights!) Percy Jackson, (Uncle Rick is probably the least problematic author ever I love him) LotR, Holmes, Poirot and all the other fantasy/fiction that one reads, I had very deep relationships with the characters and there was hardly anyone in them that I didn't like. As I grew up and became critical of things, this became a little less frequent. Reading Wheel of Time has been the first time in a long while that I pretty much effortlessly liked (almost) all the people in it. Each character has a different kind of charm to them.

First, let's get to the plot of the last chapters before getting into looking at the book as a whole.

Rand touching saidin and defeating Ba'alzamon was not only very well-written, but hella consistent as well! In the Prologue, Lews Therin's memories were slow to come back, and for that time, he was in delirious magic inertia too. Rand had it in a similar way, though less delirium, probably because the OG Dragon Dude used much more of it that time. Really shows that RJ is not messing around with his systems. Always a good sign for a fantasy series!

I honestly didn't expect the final scene to go this huge. I thought that something in the Eye of the World would confirm Rand as the dragon reborn, he would harness a tiny amount of saidin and protect the Eye, roll credits. Maybe a little bit of Trolloc/Halfman stuff. This was much better - it sets up Rand as much more powerful than the other saidin-user we've met (seen from afar in a cage), a real threat to an all-powerful dark lord which justified the frantic chase in the book so far. What matters is that now, Rand Al'Thor has been set up as one of the most important figures in the series by taking an active role and showing initiative. I can't tell you how much I appreciate an active protagonist

Also, let me just take a minute to appreciate the kind of masculinity in Shienar - the men, after returning victorious from what they thought was a suicide mission, don't go apeshit on ale and manly man dancing. They are boisterous in their celebration, but they also adorn their hair and armour with flowers. To be clear, this is the type of region which, in typical fantasy settings, has a 'martial culture' and is filled with 'hard men' and is 'not for the faint-hearted.' Shienar is all of those things, and also celebrates like this. Fucking love it.

As for future predictions, I think RJ has proved that he can surprise me. But I will still try - Rand fucks off and has a B-plot for a while until he returns due to some kind of calling. I think he's gonna meet Min and/or Thom during the course of this. (side note: HES ALIVE, HES ALIIIVE) I think in the second book at least, his arc is going to be trying and failing not to tap into saidin, then embracing his power in some kind of struggle. He's already come out of this a much more mature guy, which is sure to grow even more.

Tar Valon is going to be an interesting little melting pot. Not only Moiraine, Lan and the Emond's Field posse, but also the Caemlyn royal family will be there. Political machinations shall commence with aplomb. Moiraine has the main task of covering for Rand in front of the Amrylin Seat (did I spell that right?) while Lan has her back. I'm also looking forward to his interactions with Nynaeve. The way it ended on that front in this book, I'm expecting things to happen between them. Although Perrin, I think, probably won't stay there for long. He's got his wolf buddies. He'll be taking a nice, thoughtful walk on the wild side. (Absolutely GUSHING over Perrin's character development btw) Mat, honestly, I haven't a clue what he'll do.

Mat, at this point, is pretty much the only one I can think of that I don't love. I like him, but I think he's being set up to play a more active role in things in future books. In this one, things just kept happening to him, and unlike the others, he's yet to take charge. Hopefully, he'll get over this dagger thing and explore his royal bloodline more.

Moiraine remains my favourite character. I read a post saying she is the calmest person ever but simultaneously has absolutely zero chill. Couldn't agree more. I was legitimately scared at one point that she would die in the final battle. I know she's got a big-ass narrative target on her head by being a mentor figure in a fantasy series, but at least it is postponed. Please tell me she never ever dies ever and is forever her awesome self or I will cry.

The book wasn't 100% perfect, of course. I've mentioned a few criticisms before on these posts. Like a lot of fantasy writers, Jordan is prone to indulgent travelogues showing off his very well-built world. It's good, but it gets tiring after a point. It also seems to be, as it stands, a simple good vs evil narrative. Defeating evil is difficult, sure, but the concept of Evil is a thing. It can be done right, but fourteen books don't survive on black and white morality. What I'm hoping for (and we did get some of it in EotW) is that we get more fundamentally good but actually really bad Aes Sedai whose 'ends justify the means' ways come to bite them in the ass.

Another thing I mentioned earlier that all young women we've seen are attracted to Rand. I really don't like love triangles. I've read and watched them done well. I simply don't like them. So yeah, I'm hoping for less of that.

It's been a super enjoyable read. I'm very very excited for what happens next!

I will be continuing this series of posts, but the next one will probably come in two weeks. Never seen a Darkfriend more sinister and evil than... Midterms. shudders

[imminentinertia]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 tags

@boysbeloving tagged me, thank you, sweetie darling!

It will be long and there will be gifs so this goes under a read more.

KinnPorsche the series, Tankhun Theerapanyakul Yeah yeah hot men everywhere and also Erika but Tankhun is the most amazing character in this plot-bizarre production-drippy unhinged delight of a TV show. He dresses wonderfully, he's a beautifully creative bully, he has some of the best lines, he's all for killing Tawan, he adopts Chay on sight, he may seem like just an over the top camp spoiled brat but there's a sinister undertone there that I also like a lot. I honestly want KPTS to get a season 2 primarily to see what Tankhun does.

Hannibal, Francis Dolarhyde I'm not putting this here just because I happen to love Richard Armitage. Or maybe I am, a little. But the thing is, I also happen to love Dolarhyde in the book Red Dragon and I was a bit worried (but not really, because Hannibal was a very intelligent and creative show) about what they'd make out of him. It turned out they made him true to book Dolarhyde and downright mesmerising, and upped his intensity quite a bit. The scene with the original watercolour, oh my god.

The Fall, Alexandria The Fall is a wonderful film and an aesthetic joy, but behind the beauty and the heavy emotion it's actually a brilliant commentary on reception theory, which is something I'm very very interested in (there may be a uni degree involved here). I mean, Lee fucking hot Pace is in this and my fave character isn't his, but the little girl who interprets and visualises Lee's character's stories. They really nailed it with the casting of her, too.

Killing Eve, Oksana Astankova/Villanelle Best. Villain. Ever. She's deranged and her clothes are amazing and she's funny and murderous and competent. And she has Jodie Comer's expressive face. For two seasons this was great but not even Comer could save the rest, sadly.

BBC Robin Hood, sir Guy of Gisbourne Shush. He's hot and troubled and he's historically wildly un-correctly dressed Richard Armitage. (The show was actually pure fun for a while but it caught feelings eventually, and the third season has some pain to it, especially for and about Guy)

SKAM, Eva Kviig Mohn Je suis Eva. I relate so much to her that it can't be healthy. Never mind Isak and Even whose season caused SKAM to go viral, Eva's season is important to me on a very personal level.

We Best Love, Yu Zhen Xuan He corrects his behaviour around others so little and I adore that. Zhen Xuan has zero fucks to give (except about Pei Shou Yi), and I don't care how paperthin and odd the plot of the show is, how questionable the kiss scene is, how magnetic Gao Shi De is or how beautifully heartbroken and pissed off Zhou Shu Yi is (well I do care a lot about some of this, but), as long as Yu Zhen Xuan is around I'm happy.

Good Omens, Crowley Book-Crowley was a massive favourite from his first slithery appearance, and show-Crowley is David Tennant who's misplaced his hip joints. What's not to love.

Deadwood, Al Swearengen Historically uncorrect like cocksucking whoa? That's evidently fine with me as long as it's a Western and gritty and filthy and violent and sarcastic and with Ian McShane. He was splendid as Odin/Mr Wednesday in American Gods too.

The Honourable Woman, Nessa Stein We're not strictly in a fandom anymore, I think, as I wasn't an all out fangirl about this show, but oh my dear gods what Maggie Gyllenhaal does with Nessa Stein. Her performance is haunting and the character is complex and flawed and gorgeous.

Fuck, I should have slipped in Gillian Anderson in something/anything. Oh well.

I don't think I talk to ten people here these days, to be honest. If you have read this far you're so tagged because wading through this proves that you love me.

[electronswrites]

What do you think about the "Dark Knight" Trilogy?

I think it's partly to blame for everything wrong with modern comic book movies, because they performed really well, so studios thought: Oh, audiences want stories about comic book characters, but with all of the sci-fi, magic, camp, fun and joy (everything good about comics basically) stripped away, and that's basically every comic book movie we've gotten since then.

IDK who decided fantasy needs to be more "realistic," but if there's one thing I'm definitely NOT looking for in my escapism, it's a "more grounded take." Do you know what's incredibly realistic? Real life. And do you know why I like fiction? Because it's not real.

I'm not saying those movies were terrible, I just wish they had bombed at the box office so I didn't have to continuously suffer through "oh, this isn't magic; it's actually [the most boring five minutes of your life you'll never get back]" scenes over and over again every time I go to watch a comic book movie, because God forbid that anything ever be fun or silly. We have to be super serious in our movie about a man dressed like a bat fighting crime. 🙄🙄🙄

And, I really hate that they cast so many PoC characters as white people. They cast an IRISH actor to play RA'S AL GHUL. Brah. Get the fuck out of here. NO. And of course there can't be a Lazerus Pit, because, again, God forbid anything be cool or fun in Nolan's joyless colorless universe. That would be terrible!

And of course we can't have a Robin, because this is a super serious comic book movie. Instead, we'll showcase Bruce's more human side with a forced love triangle featuring a woman with as much personality as a wet piece of printer paper. God, she was insufferably boring. And I will give them credit, the actors for Two-Face and the Joker were great at their jobs and delivered compelling AF performances. But Christian Bale was not a good Bruce Wayne. He just... annoyed me. A lot. He really gave me the impression that his Batman cared more about his ego than he did the people of Gotham. Which, is a pretty obnoxious character trait in a superhero.

Honestly, those movies are a perfect example of how to make a comic book movie for people who hate comic books. I could feel Nolan's contempt for the source material radiating off of his script. I could see him rolling his eyes at me. "Oh, you like magic? You like fun campy villains? Fuck you, here's Bruce Wayne's depression beard."

I'm just so sick of watching movies made by people who clearly don't like the source material and think fans of the source material are cringy and annoying. Same thing with these new Star Trek movies. "Fuck you for liking the original series. I'll wipe it from the timeline." Like, damn, if you hate the original stuff THAT MUCH, why don't you just create original characters for your generic action movie then?

But they can't, because they want the name recognition from Batman, but not the actual lore and mythos. So I'm forced to get my hopes up and be disappointed time and time again. So, yeah, they were pretty mediocre. Didn't care for them. Soundtrack was incredible though. Definitely recommend listening to that.