#I imagine some dialog but I’m too busy to write

[darkstatic00]

Alastor lost his coat. It’s almost as if Lucy was toying with him huh

[zkfanworkweek]

ZFAW Fan Content Creator Interviews: HayleyNFoster

Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!

For the second interview in this cycle, we have our best propaganda creator and this fandom’s hottest new artist/undisputed queen of the animatic, @hayleynfoster!

1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you?

When I was around 14 or 15 and caught Avatar: The Last Airbender on television, I was drawn in by the art style, the humor, and the wonderful characters. I caught the episodes out of order, and the first one I saw and wasn’t prepared to be sucked in by was The Waterbending Scroll. It intrigued me at that age, and the line “I’ll save you from the pirates” combined with the tension between Katara and Zuko in that whole scene was electrifying. I remember my teenage self thinking these two have so much chemistry! And when I saw a commercial on Nickelodeon that featured fanart submitted by fellow Avatar fans, I realized that I could do that to! So I set about making Zutara fanart for myself. I stumbled onto Youtube, practically in its infancy, and discovered that people set clips of Zuko and Katara set to music (And this was still in season 1 days… so people who made these amvs were the real mvps because they were able to make compelling narratives in their amvs with like practically nothing to work with!). The AMVs really spurred my interest in this couple, I remember distinctly one Zutara AMV using the Dido song White Flag utterly capturing my imagination. I found fandom shortly after, getting into deviantart and forums. But the ship really began to mean something to me when, as I was working on my drawings in the computer lab at school, a buoyant presence hovered over my shoulder noticing my Zutara art on the computer screen. The girl was someone I had never really talked to and had only seen from afar but she immediately started excitedly saying she shipped Zuko and Katara too! In this simple shared obsession, I made one of the best friends I’ve ever had and we’re still friends to this day. We would theorize and fangirl over Avatar like it was nobody’s business; we poured over bootleg San Diego Comic Con footage that showed spoilers for season 2 before it aired; we lost our freaking minds when we finally saw The Crossroads of Destiny. We had watch parties every week as Season 3 of A:TLA aired, and comforted each other when the show ended as it did (much ranting was shared). Those are some of my happiest memories from high school… all because this one pairing from this wonderful show. Even though Zutara didn’t happen, we still chat every now and then about it. Zutara will probably be a lifelong obsession, always bubbling under the surface. And without it, I would have never realized that animation was a viable career path. It really did inspire everything including the work I’m doing to this day in the animation industry. I owe a lot to this ship and to Avatar: the Last Airbender.

2. What inspires you to create zutara fanworks?

The resurgence of Avatar: The Last Airbender this year really helped sort of spark that dormant love I had for Zutara. The show’s ending still disappointed me on the rewatch, but Zuko and Katara’s relationship arc was as captivating as ever, so I turned to some fanfiction and looking at people’s pretty Zutara art and AMVs to just revel in fanon instead of getting to hung up on the actual ending of the show. But then I realized, with quarantine and my work load being pretty light, I had time to actually make all new Zutara art for myself, art I was never fully capable of making as a kid, but now could do with my 7 years of industry experience and just… life experience. And I was inspired to do some corrective animatics to satisfy my own desire for a different ending. I just really like exploring these two characters, doing different and interesting things with them, and frankly I’m inspired to make cute, fluffy, romantic art simply by virtue of living in a really sad and depressing world. Things are so crazy right now, creating art about two characters I love being in love, is comforting. And it helps to have inspiring music and amazing Zutara amvs to just sort of stir up my emotions and imagery in my head to make into animatics and art.

3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create?

Ohhhh… Well, It’s always nice to have people write fanfiction that puts words to my animatics. I am not that great at coming up with dialog myself, so I’ve just chosen to indulge in visuals and emotions for my boards. But when I read things like RideBoldlyRide’s take on my Reunion Animatic, it makes me pretty giddy. (They finally have voices!) :) And this is the MOST selfish thing I could request, but I’m not shy about saying how much I love well done amvs, so I will literally kill for someone to make Zutara AMVs to songs I like… Like, most of AURORA’s songs but especially Exist for Love, Sunseeker by The Naked and Famous, Promises or Take Me by Aly & AJ, Adore You by Harry Styles, Human Enough by ONR, Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine, and/or Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier just… I can see the AMVs so clearly to any of these songs in my head, but I don’t have the tools or skill set at my disposal to make a compelling fan video. When I was in high school, I originally thought I wanted to go into video editing simply because I loved making very crappy AMVs (they were so bad you guys), but I figured out being a storyboard artist was more in my wheelhouse. haha

4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time?

If you’re new to the Zutara fandom, just have a good time! Don’t waste too much time arguing with people over your shipping preferences. I wasted so much of my teen years having pointless shipping wars with people on DeviantArt, and I’m just so much happier nowadays because I’m just making Zutara art in my little corner of the internet, and honestly, in the politest of ways, I don’t give a shit if people don’t like my art or Zutara. haha I think that’s sort of a key thing for people thinking of posting creative works here in the fandom, just make art for yourself, satisfy your own desires for the pairing, get your creative sparks flying, and create just for the joy of creating. It’s always nice to get comments and such, but simply making the art should be what spurs you on, not the external validation. And have a good time, don’t worry too much - I say as someone who worries about EVERYTHING. But honestly, making art for A:TLA is some of the most relaxed I’ve been because I make it just for me. I’m lucky others seem to like it too!

5. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven't gotten around to making?

I have an idea for a second generation storyline with my Zutara kids that involves Kya (the eldest firebending daughter) falling in love with an airbender boy (tentatively named Gora in my headcanon who’s a bit of a rabble rouser and one of Aang’s kids he had with a Kyoshi Warrior), and then they start a socialist revolution in the Fire Nation in order to dismantle all of the hierarchical societies across the Avatar world… Together Kya and Gora Fan the Flames of revolution… ehhhhh... Get it?? Oh! Oh, and then Katara, who had put in legit liberal reforms in her time as Fire Lady listens to her daughter after resisting in the first part of the story, but then realizes she can actually play a part in the dissolution of the royalty and is also active in the revolution realizing that moderate liberal reforms are no substitute for a society free of serving royalty (which she had always been uncomfortable with but had rationalized with herself that she was doing good in her capacity as Fire Lady.) I just feel like there’s a lot of cool potential for discussing these ideas and also having some aspirational change in the Avatar world. lol For aesthetics and just happy fluffy times, I can indulge in Fire Lady and Fire Lord Zuko stuff, but really at the end of the day, I take issue with the structures in a society that have to exist for monarchies to exist. Soooo, I kind of want to do my own corrective story for that… if I ever have the time or guts. On a less ambitious note, I would love to do a Zutara sparring animatic to practice doing action, but I need a good story; I am not good at doing fights just for fighting’s sake. Those are just some things I have rattling around in my head.  

6. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so want to give us a hint as to your plans?

Yes! The most I can say is I have one animatic almost finished and one that’s still being thumbnailed. The rest are probably going to be comics or emotive single pieces based on the fanfics I really like right now. :)

[writing-shroom]

This is my little mushroom kingdom, hope you'll stay while! Am just a pan minding my own business

⤐ @shroom-keeps-writing this is my back-up account!! if anything were too happen and this account gets taken down, all works will be moved there.

⤐ About my blog! + workbench & update times

⤐ My Masterlist!

⤐ Ask box

⤐ More stuff! [Tagging info, blog rules, and what i write]

Requests are [CLOSED]! Here are the rules

Please list the name of the character you want + what kind of fic? A headcannon, scenario, or a mix of head cannons with small blurbs? Please list them both!

Note that I do need some kind of idea for the request, be it a snippet of dialog, a prompt, an au, or a group of emojis! Send in your idea and i’ll do my best to write it!

Don’t be shy to send in a long request, just start ranting about your idea! I would love to sit through it and read every part don’t worry! Your requests wouldn’t bother me at all, send in as many details as you want!

Writing takes a while for me, so please don’t get offended if i don’t getting done a week after or even later.

If you request a character or a prompt that I’m not comfortable writing then i will respond with a notice, but do know if i don’t respond to your ask for a while it’s not that I don’t want to write it! It could just be taking me longer then others, if i don’t reply with a notice then everything should be a-okay 👍

Please do note, if you’re request a reader that has a specific disorder and or other personal thing that is not generally felt. I might not be able to write them since i do not want to generalise, assume, or spread false information on a sensitive topic. If you still was to request something along those lines try and send it in, then i’ll think about whether i can write it properly or not.

Fandoms I'm in! [Which i write for has a circle next to them!]

☞ Kimetsu no yaiba/Demon Slayer

☞ The arcana

☞ Genshin Impact ◦

☞ The Owl House

☞ Sally Face

☞ Creepypasta

☞ Dangerous Fellows

[I don't write for every character, so please i really don't mind to receive asks asking about what characters i write for specifically. So go ahead and make sure in advance i really don't mind at all!]

I DO NOT WRITE:

Incest

Non-con or rape

Pedophilia

Cheating

I DO WRITE:

Fluff (most of my stuff will be fluff) or really any genres

Headcannons, scenarios, imagines, any thing under the sun basically

Almost anything that’s not in the “I do not write” section

If you're to lazy to go through the master list, or if it's not working! I tag each of my fics with the tag: "shroom (insert fandom) fic" so their easier to find. For example: "shroom kny fic"

[orangepanic]

20 Fic Writer Questions

Finally getting around to this. Thanks for the tags @rasnak2 @theboyfrommakapu @old-and-new-friends

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

37

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

798,770. I want to do something when I get to one million, but that might be cry? I dunno, suggestions welcome.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Technically three: Avatar: Legend of Korra; Avatar: The Last Airbender; and Harry Potter. But I only have one ATLA fic and the HP one was a crossover. The vast majority of what I write is LOK.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

“AWOL,” my S2 re-write

“Glass,” my sequel to that

“Firestorm,” my sequel to that

“Smoke,” an Equalist Asami fic

“The Lies We Tell Ourselves,” a post S1 fix-it where Iroh and Asami become roommates.

Which, now that I see this, I kind of love? Sometimes I feel like there’s a lot of pressure to write shorter, fluffier fics because they’re “fun” or whatever. And they are fun, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes I need the brain break to write something like "Hotman" or "Mangosami." But it’s a nice reminder that over time what readers seem to enjoy the most are what I’d also consider my more “serious” writing, and that it’s okay for me to indulge in long multi-chapter fics even if they don’t deliver quick wins. If someone asked me for five fics of mine to recommend I’d not be at all disappointed with this list.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Sometimes? I need to work on this. I love comments. I love them so much. But I have a few regular readers who are kind enough to comment on a lot of chapters, and I feel like I’m bothering them if I respond to every comment? Which maybe I shouldn’t? I don’t know. I’m so grateful for every reader and comment that I worry about chasing people away by being too needy. But then I love it when authors respond to my comments, so...?

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

“Yao Li’s Blade” for sure, my fic about Ozai’s hair stylist. It’s not even close. My Irosami is all angst with a happy ending — though “Smoke” may tip that balance by the time I finish it.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Hard to say because I have a lot of HEA-type endings. I’m very partial to the Epilogue in “Glass” though.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Very rarely, and only when I’m in a very silly mood to match. I think the only one I’ve posted is “Asami Sato and the Goblet of Fire,” which is a little one-shot imagining Asami as a muggle exchange student and Iroh as one of the Durmstrang competitors during Book 4. Asami is a Slytherin, by the way, and all y’all who put her in Ravenclaw are missing a trick. I consider this one of my most under-appreciated stories.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not often, but yes. 100% of it is from Korrasami shippers calling me homophobic for shipping a canonically bi female character with a male. I used to try to respond and ask for constructive feedback on how I could make Asami feel more bi in my stories, but I’ve never gotten any, so now I delete comments like that and then feel like shit for a week before moving on.

10) Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. Not well. And not… hard, I guess? All of my Irosami smut is of the sweet and rather giggly kind between two people who obviously love each other, and that one Kuviroh fic is just Iroh being drunk and awkward. Fluffy smut. Flut?

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don’t think so. I’d honestly be a little flattered? Also pissed, but really the idea that anyone cares enough about my writing to steal it is absurd.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of.

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

I’m currently co-writing “Harmonic Convergence” with @ideklolwat, and @the-hopefulpenguin and I started something together that’s on a little hiatus as we both got busy with other projects. It’s a learning experience for me for sure.

14) What’s your all-time favorite ship?

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I WILL FINISH EVERY FIC IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO

16) What are your writing strengths?

I’m not entirely sure. I used to think it was writing emotions but the more I read of other people’s work the more I doubt that assessment. Maybe something like fleshing out main characters? I’ve been told a few times that my Asami and especially my Iroh are better than canon. But I’m not as good with side characters.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Oh god, probably everything, but the thing that’s bothering me at the moment is trying to insert descriptions and movement into dialog. I can’t figure out how to say what is going on without breaking the conversation flow. I’m also shit at world building in the sense that I mostly make things up. I am awed by writers who do a ton of research and bring those elements into their stories. Most of what I have feels kind of modern AU even when it isn't.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I rarely have cause for this. It seems like everyone in the Avatar world speaks the same language. But I’ve had some fun throwing in allusions to other languages, such as creating a bit of a dialect for Southwest Earth Kingdom that mostly manifests in the pronunciation of names, or having someone study “old Omashan,” or having there be a song in another language and Iroh’s like “I have no idea what it means, I just thought it was pretty.”

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Legend of Korra. I’m relatively new to fan fiction.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I don’t pick favorites. I love them all in different ways.

Tagging @chiefbeifongcanrailme, @alishatheninth @ohmygodtheywereparabatai and anyone else who wants in

[ka-za-ri]

Descent Pt. 3

Oh hai. I finally managed to get this chapter out and I hate every word of it. I’m so so sorry if it’s not great or what you’re looking for. Feel free to let me know if you liked it or if it’s as garbage as I think it is. Chapter Index and Obey Me! Masterlist: here Ao3 Mirror: Here Part [1] Part [2] Part [3] Part 4: [4] Part [5] Part [6] Part [7] Part [8] Part [9] Part [10]

Pairing: Simeon x Reader Genre: Smut Wordcount: 6,300 ish Tags: Sex toys, smut, awkward conversations about sex Summary: Simeon is running out of ways to ask you over. In a last ditch attempt, he puts his pride on the line to have the conversation he's been dreading.

Slip

Simeon was running out of excuses to call you over for help. The first time was a serendipitous discovery. The second happened out of necessity. But now that he had the video recording, he was convinced that you would think he didn’t need your help anymore. At least, that was what he told himself. Still, he kept coming up with reasons why he might need you to help him again. If his book was to be successful, he needed all the inspiration he could get.

He couldn’t sleep, he stopped eating proper meals in his mad search for the right materials to work off of. It was all a distraction from the truth. He was willingly falling into your trap of temptation and was doing nothing about it. No matter how many times he wrote it off what he was doing as research or investigation for the sake of his book; there was no denying the fact that he was slipping down into a darkness that he couldn’t save himself from.

The first time he had a taste of you was all it took for him to spiral down a rabbit hole of finding more ways to get you to moan in his presence. He wanted to feel your heat again, he wanted to see you come undone; but he needed to hide behind some reason. He needed more time with you; and he wracked his brain on the daily to figure out how. Of course, seeing you wasn’t the hard part, the most difficult issue was convincing you to keep ‘helping’ his cause. That step would come soon enough; but first, he had to find reason to see you again.

Luckily for him, he kept track of the most arbitrary reasons to celebrate and called for you once more. Perhaps this time, he could persuade you to make it a regular thing. An author was always in need of a muse; and no one else was more suited to the job than you were.

[SMS: COME SPEND THE WEEKEND HERE???! WE CAN CELEBRATE YOUR WORK ANNIVERSARY!!!??]

You laughed when you received the message in the morning. With how busy he kept you with all his drafts and proposals, it was rather shocking just how much time had passed since he was assigned to you. Years had passed and you figured he would have forgotten about the first day you sat down with him to discuss the direction of his work. However, he always made it a big deal about celebrating your tenure with him. It was endearing and you could never pass up the chance to spend some time with him that didn’t involve work.

[SMS: Okay! Let me pack an overnight bag!]

You contemplated what to bring. Part of you eyed the cutest sets of lingerie you owned. Oh come on, like he’d think about you like that. You chided yourself while stuffing some pajamas into your bag. However, the subject matter of his new book came to your mind and you ended up carefully tucking them into the corner of your overnight bag. Just in case… it’ll be good for research.

Even if it was just for a weekend getaway, your overnight bag ended up being crammed full of all sorts of things you thought would be good ‘just in case.’ Why you thought it would be necessary to bring an extra pair of shoes was beyond you. The two of you were most likely going to just spend the whole weekend indoors watching terrible movies and tearing apart the scripts and critiquing the dialog.

A small part of you hoped he would use the weekend for ‘research’ purposes. Just thinking about how intense his eyes were when he ‘helped’ you out the last time you were over had you feeling uncomfortably warm from head to toe. On the off chance that he requested something else from you, you needed to at least be prepared to oblige. Even if his intentions for the weekend were innocent, you needed to be ready for a change of plans. He had been throwing you off guard quite a bit; first with his new book ideas, and now his research methods, he was as unpredictable as the first day you met him all those years ago.

Throwing caution to the wind, you crammed in the tallest pair of platform heels you owned into the bag. At least they were black and would match with anything, especially the lingerie you had chosen. Double checking to make sure you had gotten all the essentials, you threw the bag over your shoulder and made your way over to Simeon’s place.

~~

If there was one thing Simeon couldn’t stand was not being able to convey what he imagined in his head onto a page. With all the literary experience he had; it shouldn’t have been so hard to write something salacious and naughty. He knew the importance of proper research and threw himself head first into finding out all he could. He lost track of the number of times he watched the video of you on his phone. At this point, he practically had it memorized; he knew the exact moment in the recording that you came, calling his name. Every time he thought about it, it sent shivers down his spine. Any other videos he sought didn’t have the same effect as your pretty voice lilting and echoing in his room. No other sources worked in helping him write outside of what you provided him.

If he was going to be truthful to himself, he knew there was no return from the dark path he was going down. But he deluded himself into thinking he was safe. As long as he could upkeep his promise to keep you unsullied, he would come out of this trial unscathed. As it was so far, things progressed easily enough but, he knew he would need your help again. There was an intimacy that was missing in his words. Something just didn’t flow properly and he wouldn’t be able to figure it out what it was until he got to experience things first hand. The only problem was saving himself from falling in the process.

He could only ask for forgiveness if he went too far.

Though the tone of his message had been innocent, he had plans to turn the weekend into a productive one. The only problem was trying to figure out how to tell you what he needed out of you. He felt filthy no matter how many times he showered, his mind marred by the image of your shuddering body. His fingers could still feel your walls clenching around him and the warmth of your body surrounding him. He wanted it. He wanted to experience it all for himself; but to keep both you and him safe, he had to find a way around the most sinful act according to the Celestial doctrines.

The knock at his door brought him out of his reverie and he was faced with reality. For the time being, it was easy to play the host and let you relax. “Rush hour wasn’t too bad?” He asked as you took off your shoes and stepped into the guest slippers at the front door.

“It’s a Friday and everyone is eager to go home after a work week, you tell me how crowded the trains were.” You teased.

He took your bag from you to stow away and he was surprised at how heavy it was. “I said it was just for the weekend, it feels like you packed for a month here.”

You cleared your throat, feeling your cheeks heat up a bit. “Well, I just wanted to make sure I was prepared for anything that might happen.” You shrugged, leaving the interpretation of your words up in the air.

Simeon distracted himself from the lewd thoughts your words brought on while he put your bag to the side. “I already ordered some pizza for dinner. It should be here in a little bit so make yourself comfortable.”

You lost no time in making your way over to his living room, flopping on the spacious couch there and sprawling out. “Comfort achieved.” You announced, which earned you a soft chuckle from Simeon. Even though the basis of your relationship with him was work; it didn’t stop the two of you from becoming friends. He simply had such a soothing aura around him, it was easy to let your guard down and be yourself. Without having to worry about work for the weekend, it was even easier for you to just pretend it was a sleepover with a friend.

He came over and joined you on the couch, a mug of tea in his hand and part of his manuscript in another hand. You perked up when you saw the pages with your notes on them. “Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a weekend to celebrate a work anniversary. I didn’t plan on partying by watching you rewrite the first half of your book for the seventh time.”

He chuckled, putting down the stack of papers on the coffee table in front and leaned back to regard you. “So, what do you suggest we do to celebrate then?”

“Anything but work.” You determined. “I don’t know, board games? Movie? Arts and crafts?”

Simeon laughed; it was a sound you could never get enough of. It was so melodic and soothing, you wanted to keep him entertained for the rest of your life. But you had to remember to remain professional. There was no way he thought of you as anything more than a friend or a close co-worker. You were in charge of caring for him and making sure his work got to the publishing house on time; outside of that, things needed to remain casual.

“Well, dinner comes first.” He said, getting up as the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of food. He disappeared briefly before returning with a small stack of pizza boxes. It was way more than two people could eat in one sitting; but that was par for the course on how Simeon tended to order whenever you were asked to stay over.

While dining upon the finest pizza the city had to offer and sipping on soda, you thought over the years you had spent with Simeon and how much he had grown on you. At first, he was exactly what you expected a high profile author to be like. He was cool, aloof and distant. His work was impeccable, but even the best in the field made mistakes and you made sure he knew about them prior to publication. He always held you at arms length, with respect and appreciation, but made sure to never step past the boundaries of professionalism.

Over time, he warmed up to you more, inviting you over to work on editing while he continued to write his manuscripts. Something about having real-time feedback seemed to help get his creative juices flowing. You also ended up benefiting from it as you were  able to edit and get changes back faster than waiting for replies to your email. With how technologically challenged Simeon could be, you often had to wait days, if not weeks, to get a small update. Still, the barrier of professionalism never changed. The two of you simply worked well together and created a sturdy friendship based on work.

Despite that, you couldn’t help but slowly fall for him. It was easy to do so, he was handsome, gentle, considerate; everything you could have asked for in a partner. Being so intimately involved in his career meant you likely knew a lot more about him than many people did. A few years passed and you struggled to hide the feelings you had for him. Every time he asked something of you, it was easy to jump on the chance to see him smile, hear his laugh and maybe receive a bit of praise outside of something related to writing. You managed pretty well, considering how dense Simeon could be; it didn’t seem like he had any idea of what you were hiding from him and the polite respect you gave each other was maintained.

The distinct civility you two had only changed with his new book. After the first time, you had convinced yourself that it was all a fluke. A one time occurrence, never to be repeated. The second time, you prayed that your heart wouldn’t guide your actions and do something you would regret. You could still vividly remember just how bright his eyes were when he was knuckle deep in you and making you cum with no effort at all.

“Are… you alright?” Simeon’s voice cut through your thoughts and you were quickly wrenched back into reality with a half eaten slice of pizza drooping and getting cold in your hand.

“Oh? Yeah. Just thinking about how long I’ve been working for you.” You explained with a bit of a shrug.

“It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?” He concurred, regarding you over his mug of tea, sipping it carefully and trying to parse out your odd mannerisms. It wasn’t the first time he had asked you to spend the weekend over to celebrate a mundane weekend which held no meaning to anyone but himself and you. It was the first time he had ever hidden his true intentions from you and he wondered if you could feel his guilt from where you sat. When you went back to eating, commenting about the quality of the toppings on the pizza, he relaxed a bit. “I wouldn’t be where I am without your help. So, I really should thank you for the time you’ve been with you.”

There was unfortunately nowhere to hide your face from the blush you felt creeping up your neck from your neck. “Well, I’m always happy to help, back then, now, and in the future.” You reassured him. “Gotta make sure we keep your reputation intact, right?”

There it was, the opening he was hoping for. He took the sliver of a chance you had given him and ran with it. Mulling over his words before he spoke, Simeon took a sip of his tea and let the silence settle between you. “You’d help me? Even with this… project of mine being as unreasonable as it has been?”

You understood his reservations in regards to being helped. He was so cute fumbling over his words and his requests. If he just wants me to come over every week to watch me fuck myself, he can say so. You smiled and sipped your soda, waiting for him to push the issue at hand again. When he didn’t go any further, you decided to step up and bring up the topic for yourself. “I’m serious about helping you in any way I can. You’re working on something you’ve never done before, it only makes sense that you get as much uhm… research in as you can…” Your words trailed off at the end and you wondered if you had said too much.

“Really?” Simeon tried to hide his excitement. “So you wouldn’t mind if I asked you to… You know...” He couldn’t bring himself to finish what he was saying. It was too embarrassing to admit he needed help as it was; to tell you out loud that he required more source material for his work seemed to be too much for his poor brain to handle.

You decided to voice his desires for him. “You need me to come over and give you some scene ideas?” You asked sweetly, batting your eyelashes as if it was the most innocent thing in the world.

“I… Yes. That.” He sighed in resignation. “I already have the scenes planned, it’s just the details I don’t have a feel for, so I need some more, you know, that stuff to get an idea of how it’s supposed to be written.”

You couldn’t help but let out a coo of endearment. He was just so cute being all fidgety in his seat and twiddling his fingers together, it was impossible for you to deny him. “Well, if we want to keep our jobs, then helping you with some scenes should be the easy part. You’re the one who has to write them out.”

“You’re really sure?” He breathed, his eyes wide in shock that it had been so easy to convince you. “I might need you more than once. Maybe… We can make this weekend thing a thing?” He suggested shyly. 

“Anything you want.” You confirmed.

It was as if a switch had been turned on him, the excitement and the relief that he had gotten permission to research as much as he wanted changed him into a completely different man. You barely had time to move out of the way before he shoved the coffee table  in the middle of the room to the side and pulled out a trunk he had hidden in a corner.

“So, I got a couple of things in the last week that I think might help. You said it would be easier if you used toys, so I looked a few of them up and picked out some things that either seemed interesting or if they’d help you. I don’t know what you like, but hopefully you’ll find something in here that will suit your needs.” He babbled happily, explaining everything he had done since the last time you had been at his home and you were rather taken aback at the sheer amount of things he had acquired in such a short time.

“Oh God,” you breathed, when you looked at  the veritable collection he had amassed so quickly. It was rather mind blowing just how invested he had become in such a short time. Then again, you should have expected him to give whatever he was writing his all. This though, was a bit much, even for the lengths you were used to seeing him go through.

He could almost laugh at the irony of the phrase. He was sure God had long left his home with how dangerously close he was to falling away from grace. After you agreed to his request, he couldn’t care any less about the free fall straight to Hell. He was getting what he wanted.

“I need to know how these work.” He said, reaching over to put on a pair of glasses and picked up a notebook. “If you could be so kind to allow me to ah… experiment.”

“Are you sure this is all for your novel?” You raised an eyebrow, suspicious that it was all truly for scientific purposes and it wasn’t for personal use.

Simeon faltered a bit before he nodded, his lips set in a thin line of determination and his gaze bounce back and forth between you and the pile of toys. “If I’m going to have enough variety in the scenes to span a whole book, I’m going to need to as much information as possible.” He flipped to a blank page of his notebook, titling it with the date and looked at you expectantly. It was frightening just how clinical he was being with the whole situation.

“You know, you have to go through some of it too...” You countered, you weren’t about to go through a series of sexual tests without conducting a few of your own on him. “You were having problems with the partner last time, right? We can’t have those kinds of issues pop up again.”

He blinked several times, processing what you had to say. You could see his will falter a bit before he went right back into the zone he was in just moments ago. He nodded, mumbling to himself and concurring to your points. “This is true… I’ll have to make sure that the scenario balance is equal. I need to manage that somehow. Perhaps if I recorded like I did last time…”

You giggled, surprised at how straightforward he was being and stepped closer to him, pushing his hair away from his face; an action that broke his concentration and he had to look at you face-to-face. “Relax. I’ll take care of you.” You purred. “You just have to remember what happens.” Taking the notebook and pen from him, you pushed him back onto the couch and straddled him, keeping him in place. “You can keep the glasses though, they’re a nice touch.”

Despite your confidence, your heart was hammering in your chest. Your ears rang and you could barely believe this was happening. You had only ever fantasized about being this sort of intimate with Simeon. When he had pushed you away the last time, you were sure he didn’t see you as desirable. And it was about to happen again. He kept you at arms length, pushing you back when you moved to kiss him. “I… No. I can’t like this with you. Anything but you know...”

You sighed, peeling yourself off his thighs and sat next to him. “Okay, I don’t know. And you’re sending me mixed signals; so let’s get these things out of the way so we don’t get things mixed up in the future.” You declared, putting your foot down. You weren’t about to have him bait and switch on you again. “I’m assuming sticking your dick in me isn’t something you’re really into doing.”

You watched Simeon fidget while he pointedly avoided your gaze. He nodded, unable to speak. It would be the closest thing you would get out of him as confirmation. Still, it did leave a few things up in the air which you needed to clarify. “So, you know I’ve got three perfectly serviceable holes. Is it all three or just one?”

He was in the middle of sipping his tea and nearly choked when you asked him. Fumbling to regain his composure he cleared his throat before answering you. You could tell he never expected to have a conversation like this; but it was necessary to know just how far he would go. “Just… I cannot defile you...”

You laughed at how innocent his words were. Even if you knew what he meant, his words still had multiple meanings and without clarity, you weren’t about to continue.  Reaching out and patting his hair softly, you tried a different method. “Okay, how about this. Am I allowed to blow you?”

A pause, he still refused to speak up, but at least he gave you a nod to let you know that was alright. Good, we’re getting somewhere. “Okay, are you okay with putting your dick in my ass?”

You could tell how differently he felt when it came to discussing his own sex life outside of the one he was writing. He covered the lower part of his face with his hand, rubbing his chin as he seemed to have an internal war with himself. The silence between the two of you dragged on before he finally gave you his nod of approval. “Got it… So, I know what your answer is probably going to be, but I still need to ask. Are you willing to put your dick in my pussy?”

Something broke in him at the question. He vehemently shook his head, shutting his eyes and refusing to look at you, or anything else for that matter. “No. No. No. Anything but that. I can’t. I can’t do that.”

You put your hand on his shoulder, rubbing him gently to bring him back to reality. “Okay, okay, we won’t go that far. At least I know now.” You murmured, keeping your voice low to not startle him into a further panic. “I promise we won’t do that.”

At your reassurance, he heaved a sigh of relief, as if he had been saved from something terrifying. You kept your hand on his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles there until he came back to reality. “I’ll tell you if we go too far… we can have a code word.” He suggested. “I read about it, people call it a safe word.”

You nodded, agreeing with what he said. At least he knows the basics. It’s just a matter of figuring out the rest for him. “So, what do you want to use?”

“Christopher Peugeot.” He deadpanned.

You laughed, using his pen name wasn’t something you expected, but you knew how he detested you calling him that; so it would definitely work in the event things went too far. You hoped you didn’t ever have to use it, but it was a necessary step. “Okay, now that we have all that settled, what did you want to try out on me today?” You gestured over to the trunk full of toys. “I’m sure you’ve got a few things you’re dying to try out.”

The boyish enthusiasm he had before when explaining his collection came back and he got up, rustling around, pulling out a full assortment of toys. You gulped, blinking at some of them and wondered just where he had gotten them. “So… care to tell me how this is all going to fit into a story about a spy?” You asked.

“Well, the main character has to pretend to be married; but she also has feelings for someone else that she works for… and she might also have escapades with her boss… And so she’s with several people and each one of them is different so you know, I have to make sure I get their personalities correct.”

You nodded, trying to put your mind into the main character he wrote. Pretending to work a high risk job while having a wild sex life definitely was quite the departure from the high fantasy setting he was so used to. It really was no wonder he was floundering so hard. It truly was a good thing he was such a talented author; you weren’t sure anyone else could have pulled off the switch like he had.

While he prepared everything he wanted to use for the evening, you eyed what he had chosen and was rather intrigued by the array of toys in his possession. It was only natural that you got rather excited with his experiment, even if it was a rather clinical approach. You would need to change that later.

Simeon laid everything out neatly, taking notes and mumbling to himself. There was something that was so innately sexy about his focus that made made you more wet than the prospect of how many toys he was going to try on you. You waited patiently while he took all the notes he needed. Even if it was going to be a wild night, it was truly supposed to be ‘research’ in the end. “Okay. I think I’m ready.” He announced after arranging and rearranging the order of the toys he set aside.

“Good, I thought I was going to fall asleep with how long you were taking. Where would you like me? I’m all yours.” You gave him a wink and a sly grin, making him stutter a bit. He gestured to the floor space he had cleared up. Hastily, he grabbed a nearby throw to make it a bit more comfortable than the decorative rug he had there.

“Here is fine.” He mumbled and waited for you to get comfortable. You grabbed a few of the pillows from the couches to join the pile of soft things and awaited his next commands.

He stumbled like a newborn fawn, trying to calculate and recalculate the scene he had in his mind to figure out where it was going. Eventually, you got tired of his anxious mumbling and pulled him by the collar to join you on the floor. As soon as he was close enough, you took control of the situation and kissed him. Simeon let out a surprised squeak, at first struggling against the sudden break away from his plans; however, you could almost hear the gears of his mind whirring and clicking as he melted into your arms and started kissing you back.

“So, if we’re going to do this, can you at least pretend to like me a little?” You asked after breaking the kiss. “Helps with the whole getting into the role thing.”

Truthfully, you wanted to have an excuse to kiss him. Simeon at least didn’t seem to have any objections to your demands. He swooped in for another kiss, his hands lacing behind your head and into your hair. His lips were just as soft as you had always imagined them to be. His body heat so close to yours was just as comforting as you had dreamed of. The way he kissed you took your breath away and left you confused as to whether or not he was as innocent as he made himself out to be. Not like you really had time to parse those thoughts out when his lips and hands were all over you, making you dizzy with need.

He smelled like fresh laundry and lemon dish soap. He was everything soft and good in the world wrapped into one sinful package that you had the privilege to unwrap one layer at a time. You could have spent hours kissing him if you could. Eventually, he found himself on top of you, helping you out of your clothes and marveling at how much of a different experience it was when he was properly involved. The irises of his bright blue eyes were blown wide open as he took in every detail of your body. He was awestruck, removing layer after layer of clothing until you were in nothing but your lacy underthings.

It was entirely unfair. One moment you were fully clothed, the next, you were in your unspeakables and Simeon still hadn’t shed a single piece of clothing yet. He was so focused on you and how you reacted, he had completely forgotten about himself. He paused to look at you all sprawled out underneath him on his floor in his home. It was quite a sight and it was the perfect opportunity for you to slip your hand under the over-sized sweater he wore and peel it off of him with one swift motion.

Finally, you were blessed with the image of him shirtless. It was everything you had hoped it would be. His lean body was surprisingly toned for someone who spent his life writing books for a living. There wasn’t a single blemish on his skin and you lost no time in running your hands across his smooth skin. “Beautiful...” you breathed, smiling softly at him.

Simeon quickly found out that the fastest way to get you to stop making him so flustered was to kiss you senseless. His hands did work in taking off the last pieces of clothing you had on. By the time he finally broke away from another heated make out session, you were completely nude and ready for whatever he wanted to test out on you. He kept his lips on you, peppering your jaw and your neck with kisses and soft nibbles when he reached to the side and grabbed the first toy in the line of many.

His hand slipped between the two of you and you felt the cool tip of the toy slide up and down your wet slit. In those moments, he was so focused on your reactions, you got lost in the intensity of his stare. A thin sheen of sweat coated his skin. Even if it wasn’t too warm in the room, the heat between the two of you was absolutely sweltering. You were light headed from the kisses and the chance to finally be with Simeon in such a way. Even if it was all a farce, you were going to take whatever he gave you. At least you would have plenty of material to keep you company on the nights you didn’t get to spend with him.

It was so much better to have Simeon involved. There seemed to be so much more than you doing a favor for the man you worked with. There was a tension, a charge as he held something back from you. You couldn’t place your finger on what it was; but it didn’t matter. All you had to do was accept the toy he was pushing into you. You expected something bigger than his fingers the last time, but you weren’t prepared to be stretched open so suddenly by a larger than average toy. You gasped, arching your back to adjust around it a bit better.

“Are you okay, little lamb?” He asked softly, concern in his eyes as he searched your face for any signs of discomfort. With his glasses slipping down his nose, it was the most endearing sight you had ever seen before.

Little lamb. He had never used pet names with you before. Just that little bit of affection was all you needed to get over the uncomfortable feeling of having the intrusion of the toy being pushed into you with little warning. “I’m fine… You can keep going.” You reassured, rolling your hips towards him.

Looking down, you could see strained his pants had become and you felt rather guilty for being the only one on the receiving end of the whole exchange. However, the moment he started to move the toy in and out of you, your mind went blank and you could only focus on yourself. You knew he could see just how stretched out you were around the phallic device. He could see just how wet you were from making out with him and just how undone you could become when you were around him.

The wet sounds of the toy entering you over and over filled the room and your breathy sighs turned into moans. You clutched at the throw beneath you as you let him use your body for his gain. You’d deal with making sure he got his own just desserts later; for now, all you cared about was pretending the toy inside of you was actually Simeon’s cock.

He was relentless, having calculated just what he needed to do days before you had come over. He knew what he wanted out of your body and he was going to coax it all out of you. The sound of your moans mingling with the lewd wet noises that came from your pussy was an absolutely intoxicating combination and he had a growing problem in his pants that he would need to take care of soon. But, that could wait; the most important part of his research was right in front of him and that needed his utmost attention.

He tucked way the image of your writhing body for later. The scent of your arousal was filed away for later and the feel of your soft skin brushing against his hands as he worked the toy in and out of you was etched into his memory. He didn’t need to record anything this time around, not when the image was so vivid and he was participating so directly with it. It was all he ever dreamed about. There was nothing better than feeling and seeing the scene for himself.

Even if his cock ached for release and his body screamed for him to do something about his own growing arousal, he was only ever focused on how close you were to cumming. The pitch of your moans changed and the way your body squirmed changed when you were getting close to that moment when the dams of pleasure broke. “Eyes on me, Little Lamb. I want to see your face when you cum...” He commanded.

You were powerless to deny him. Your eyes had been screwed shut since he started to vigorously thrust the toy into you cracked open only to see his free hand holding yet another toy. You heard it hum to life and as you started to comprehend what he was about to do, your whole body was set aflame in an onslaught of sensations as he pressed the vibrator against your sensitive clit.

You screamed, your whole body convulsing as he simultaneously shoved the toy as far as it would go into you, filling your hole. You wanted to look away, ashamed at how wantonly your body was reacting  under his ministrations. But his command remained firm in your mind and you forced yourself to look at him as you came undone, screaming his name and shuddering at the force of your orgasm.

There was a hunger in his eyes you never saw before. A primal energy that made you terrified of what he was capable of. Yet, the part that craved him and the company he gave overpowered that and you were thrown into a high of pleasure you hadn’t ever experienced. You couldn’t catch your breath as he was relentless in his trials. As soon as the brunt of your orgasm was over, he tossed the vibrator to the side, pulled the toy out of you and bent down to kiss your deeply.

“You did so well, Little Lamb...” he purred, once again assuming the image of a sex god you saw briefly before. “But I’m far from satisfied with just one trial.”

You mind went blank as you realized the night had only begun. You saw the array of ‘tests’ he had lined up and you knew you weren’t going to get much sleep at all. “Well, don’t let me get in the way of your experiments.”

The way the light caught his glasses when he pulled away made him look a hint maniacal. There was the barest trace of a smirk that played at the corner of his lips when he wrote a few quick notes in his little notebook. Once he was done, he picked up another pair of toys and assessed your still trembling body.

“I hope you’re ready, Little lamb… I’ve only just begun.”

Somehow, you had unknowingly unleashed a demon from within him.

[third-generation-female-warrior]

Goodbye Winter

I got this idea after seeing a dialog prompt and an intense need to write something again. So, if you like dancing and banter, you might like this. It gets pretty sappy, pretty fluffy, and at one point, I threw my hands up in frustration because of that. If you like romance, this is romance. Can be considered a sequel to The Path we Walk, but it can stand alone, take it as you will. Talbott Winger x Alexus Johnson (HPHM MC) Takes place at a school dance as Talbott contemplates his relationship with Alexus. 3,000+ words.

A general conscientious of Talbott Winger’s life can be summed up in six words: “I would rather be anywhere else.”

Ever since he begrudgingly befriended one Miss Alexus Johnson, the Ravenclaw prefect in his year, he found himself getting dragged to more and more social events around the school.

She was very convincing. Every time some event was coming up, she would interrupt his quiet meals to convince him to attend the event. Dances, festivals, any large amount of the student body gathering together, she would manage to successfully make him promise to attend. It had nothing to do with the massive mutual crush that they both had on each other, but he will admit to the fact that their dating one another did have a major factor on his attendance each time. They were showing up together at these events, and it would be dead rude to not attend when she invited him as her date.

Yes, Talbott Winger and Alexus Johnson were dating. The loner and the elusive curse-breaker.

This came as a shock to absolute no one because everyone knew that their constant witty banter was in fact, flirting. Well, everyone except Talbott and Alexus themselves.

Either way, despite the fact that Talbott hated being in social events, just being by Alexus’s side made it all worth it.

At least, that’s what he was telling himself right now.

Talbott stood stiffly to the side of the dance floor in the Great Hall, watching the other students in his year socializing amongst each other. As a treat (or probably an apology for the latest dark wizard to be let onto the campus), Dumbledore had let every year vote on an individual event to be put together by an elected committee in that year, and the sixth years chose a dance. Naturally, Penny Haywood was head of that committee, Alexus her right hand, However, students like Merula Snyde, Andre Egwu, and Deigo Caplan were also on that committee, and Alexus complained about one of them specifically, in extensive detail, to Talbott when they were eating lunch in solitude together.

The theme the committee had some up with was “Hello Spring” or “Goodbye Winter” or some rubbish like that, as they were now in the middle of March. Something to give them a pick-me-up before the finals that loomed above them. It was formal, much like the Celestial Ball, not that Talbott had attended, he was not so willing to socialize at that time.

He was alone right now because she was either busy with last-minute curse breaking things or dance details, he wasn’t sure anymore, but she agreed to meet him soon.

He dressed nicely, he thought. Charcoal button-up shirt and slacks, complimented by a deep blue jacket, his necklace tucked safely under his clothes. It was more “winter” or whatever than the other students, but he didn’t care. Alexus had given him an off-handed comment on how deep blues looked nice on him, so that’s what he was going with.

He really did like her, he had for a long time, and he really only did this so that he could be with her, even if it meant being around people. Not that he would tell her that, he had a reputation to maintain after all.

So, waiting for Alexus, surrounded by his peers, he stood, keeping to himself. He fidgeted with the collar of his shirt, not because he was uncomfortable being dressed up, but he was bored. Standing to the side was rather dull, even for him. He didn’t mind being alone, but being alone when everyone else was not made him feel like he was sticking out like a sore thumb, which he did hate.

Granted, sticking out was one of the few downsides to dating Alexus. She was always in the thick of things, especially attention or the spotlight. Dating her brought him  into some sort of school gossip, and occasional whispers followed him around the halls as he walked from class to class.

The notion of him being the target of talk at the moment made him rather relieved when two of his classmates, Ben Copper and Diego Caplan, walked over to him.

Talbott wouldn’t call them “friends,” but he didn’t hate their company for a majority of the time. He knew they were good friends to Alexus and they were all in the Circle together.

“Looking sharp, there, Winger!” Diego complimented before delivering a heavy clap on his back

Talbott smoothed out his jacket, muttering a thank you as he looked at the two.

Ben was staring, the usual stoic stare that rivaled Talbott’s own neutral expression of general displeasure. It was a surprise the Gryffindor was there, he had almost a better penchant for avoiding social gatherings like Talbott. Diego was beaming as usual, like the idiot he was. Well, maybe not an idiot, but he was more energetic than what Talbott was used to. There was almost nothing in common with Caplan and Copper except for their dueling skills, which is probably the only reason they were together at the moment. Maybe Diego was trying to show Ben that smiling wasn’t fatal.

Either way, Diego was certainly checking Talbott up and down, smiling, making him rather self-conscious.

“You’re definitely sharp enough for the girl that’s going to be in your arms tonight!” he complimented.

“Save your enthusiasm for the dance floor, Diego, or else Winger might die of embarrassment before he even sees her,” Ben remarked curtly, coldly, not too many hint of emotion in his voice, despite the fact that Talbott’s face was turning a proper red at this moment before he continued. “Personally, dancing, school formals, all of it is a waste of time. There’s so much more that Alexus and I could be doing to avenge Rowan, but she was rather insistent that I get my mind off of that.”

Talbott was now regretting the two having come over to talk to them, and he had to wonder why they did. He was terrible company.

“A favor to her, then?” he gandered.

“Something of that calibre, yes” Ben agreed, “She’s very persuasive, you know.”

“Oh, believe me, I do.”

“Persuasive, and… different. Ever since Valentine’s Day. Have you noticed?” Ben continued.

Talbott raised an eyebrow, now gaining a better understanding of their motivations. Ben Copper fancied himself something of Alexus’s bodyguard at times, her most trusted protector, their friendship one of the longest she’s had. He was taller than her (everyone was taller than her), just a few months older than her. Diego Caplan adored Alexus and it was no secret they did have a bond over their shared Spanish heritage, him even affectionately calling her “hermosa” and other terms of endearment of the familial type.

He stared at them, contemplating his answer.

“No. I haven’t noticed…” he began, “But, something I am aware of, is that Alexus already has an older brother, and, correct me if I’m wrong, but that isn’t either one of you two, is it?”

Ben’s expression did not change.

“As we’re fully aware, however, even if Jacob wasn’t indisposed at the moment, I imagine we’ve been good substitutes. Someone has had to watch out for her, and we have, quite well.”

“She’s more than capable of handling herself, you know.” Talbott side-eyed Diego, who’s charming smile had long since faded from his face. He was not looking at Talbott with confrontation, but rather, some seriousness that he had not seen in him before.

“We know,” was all Ben said.

“It’s really about what Ben has definitely failed to mention,” Diego quickly stepped in. “Yes, she’s changed, but for the better.”

Talbott frowned, looking down at the Hufflepuff, but before he could say anything, Diego continued.

“She’s happier, having someone to lean on since Rowan… Someone like you, who reminds her that she’s human. Still a girl, still a student, like us. Reminds her that knowledge and missing brothers aren’t the only facets in life worth pursuing. You help take away some of that burden.”

Talbott did not know what to say. He looked towards the other students on the dance floor, pursing his lips, thinking. He didn’t understand, he was just one person. She was one person. No, that’s not true. She was a thunderstorm in the body of a 16-year-old girl. Quiet, brewing dangerously under the otherwise composed surface. When she strikes, she did it in a flash and left the world quaking after it. The world was going to behold her power one day, a small part of her world beheld her now, as someone dangerous, dark, mysterious, and beautiful.

He looked back at Ben and Diego. The latter’s signature smile had returned, dazzling as ever like nothing had happened, while Ben’s usual hard-set stoicness had softened into a blank expression that was almost trust.

Before Talbott could say anything, a nicely familiar face appeared at his left arm.

“Are these two giving you any trouble?”

Talbott felt a warmth in his chest as Alexus slid both her arms around one of his own, lacing her hands into his.

“Oh yes, quite troublesome, in fact. You know Copper, ready to duel on the dance floor,” he said, lightly, casually, smiling down at her.

Alexus gave a soft laugh before looking at Ben and Diego.

Diego gave her a gracious smile as she extended her hand. He took it and stooped down to kiss her knuckles, platonically, like a proper gentleman.

“You look as radiant as ever, Alexus!” he complimented.

“Oh, careful, Caplan, as we said, we don’t want a duel on the dance floor,” she warned him not so seriously before wrapping her arms back around Talbott’s.

Diego just winked before he and Ben took off, Diego leading the way.

Talbott looked down as Alexus moved in front of him. He mentally remarked to himself how beautiful she looked. Whereas Talbott’s ensemble was darkened blues and cooler tones like the cold winter, she was spring. Her cotton dress was a much softer blue. It had an intricate white-lace trim and was cinched at the waist before it flowed delicately to her knees. Her hair was plaited back into a long braid, a golden hair pin in the shape of a laurel tucked in.

He felt a light thudding pick up in his chest as she looked up at him.

“You look… amazing,” he said, quietly.

“You look quite amazing yourself, Winger,” she returned, smoothing down the lapels of his jacket before standing on her toes to peck his cheek. “Thank you for coming, I know this isn’t your thing.”

“It’s all fine. You and the committee did amazing, it feels like an afternoon brunch in a garden. Very spring,” he remarked, nodding around.

Truly, the decorations were spectacular. The Great Hall was light, a perfect day with sunlight flooding in from the large windows, the ceiling above was a pristine blue with wispy clouds slowly trailing along the sky. There were small trees lining the edges of the room, potted, no more than seven feet tall each, uniformly hedged. The tables all had white cloth lining them, delicate tea cups and lace doilies surrounding simplistic white daisy and yellow gerberas centerpieces.

“I feel like we’ve done and decorated for a wedding, how intricate everything got,” Alexus muttered. “Penny’s a brilliant mind for this, though, if potioneering doesn’t work out. Merula didn’t make it easy, fighting her at almost every step.” She took his arm and he began leading her away from his wallflower spot, moving towards the dance floor.

“Oh? I bet you were quite the lieutenant. Or were you playing peace-keeper?”

“Lieutenant. Penny’s brilliant ideas deserved to be executed, and executed well. Don’t get me wrong, Merula had some winners, like the floral arrangements, surprisingly, but I can’t tell you how heated two people can get over white daisies and irises, or white daisies and dahlias.”

She stepped in front of him as they ended up in the middle of the dance floor, the song ending.

“But you didn’t go with irises or dahlias,” he remarked as she curtsied to him.

“No, Andre suggested the gerberas,” Alexus informed him as he bowed before they took the start position for the waltz. Extending one of their arms to link them at the fingers, he put his right hand on her back, just under her shoulder blade, she rested her left hand on his arm. “Penny and Merula almost killed him because of how good his suggestion was.”

Talbott laughed, actually audibly laughed as the music started. He stepped back, she followed, stepping forward, following his lead as easily as a breath. Truthfully, this was not the first time they had waltzed together, but it was the first time they had waltzed in front of other people.

Once the bitter chill of February had subsided, chased by the warming of march, they used their animagus forms to sneak out more frequently after hours than they should, both of them flying to the Clocktower Courtyard to dance under the stars to the music of the night. That had started on a bet. Alexus could not believe that Talbott had a musical bone in his body, and Talbott insisted that Alexus definitely had two left feet. She challenged him to dance with her, and that was how they accidentally discovered that the other could dance. Really well, in fact.

Talbott revealed that, as a young child, he first learned how to step on his mother’s toes, and after her death, he was determined to learn how to properly dance to honor her.

Alexus informed him that her mother enrolled her in classes for “proper young girls” and one of the things they learned was various ballroom dances. Well, that was one of the few things Alexus learned before she was kicked out for “consistent disobeying of the rules.” That was kindly putting it, when, in reality, she threw a frog at another little girl (the head-mistress’s daughter) after she tore the pages out of the book young Alexus was reading at the time.

Because of their frequent rendezvous, they had grown comfortable dancing with each other, and it showed now, surrounded by their peers.

In other circumstances, Talbott would have been nervous, possibly stepping on her toes, conscious of every pair of eyes that would be on him. But with Alexus, it felt like the whole world had disappeared, and it was just them in the cloak of night, no cares, no curses. Nothing to bother them as long as they danced and danced together.

When that song ended, they didn’t leave the dance floor, they just waited as the music changed and adjusted accordingly. And again for the next song, and the next, and the one after that until they were almost exhausted from dancing with the zeal and enthusiasm of every song being treated like their first.

“Wanna step off the floor?” Talbott offered, seeing her face flushed from the effort, he himself trying to catch his breath. She just laughed in response, resting her head on his chest for a second before she pulled him to the side where the tables were. As ever, her laugh was the sweetest music he had heard all day, and he wished he knew how to say that out loud. He couldn’t figure out how to articulate this to her, so he just let himself be led, flustered with euphoria.

She pulled him to a nearby table, and they all but collapsed into the chairs next to each other.

“We should not do that again,” Talbott muttered.

“No, we shouldn’t, my shoes can’t handle it,” she agreed, leaning back.

“Refreshments are over there, yeah?” Talbott pointed to an elongated table off to the side, “I can get us something, if you want.”

“That would be nice, thank you.”

He nodded, and stood up, making his way over, Alexus watching him leave until Penny Haywood and Barnaby Lee took a seat at her table.

“That was smashing to watch, Alexus! Where’d you learn to dance like that?” the Slytherin boy asked, eagerly leaning on his seat, facing her.

“My mother enrolled me in etiquette classes for proper young ladies. Ballroom dancing was good and nice, but being a proper young lady wasn’t much my forte.”

Penny laughed lightly. “You and Talbott are good together, you know? Like a proper romantic story waiting to happen.”

“I’ve never been one for romantic stories, the damsel is always in distress,” Alexus said, none-so-dismissively, but she did shrug off the comparison.

“Is that so? I would have thought you loved something with a dashing hero, such as yourself.”

“Does that make Talbott the damsel?” Barnaby asked, quite seriously, which made Penny and Alexus laugh.

“Yes, I imagine he is in this epic tale. Lord knows I put him in enough distress with my strategic gallivanting,” Alexus said, jokingly.

“Oh, is that what you would call it?”

They looked up as Talbott came back, a glass of water in one hand, a small plate of various fruits in the other. He set the glass down in front of Alexus before setting the bowl between them. She took a napkin and put it in her lap before grabbing one of the forks that was already on the table.

“Whatever do you mean?” she asked with fake innocence before stabbing her fork into a grape.

“You think your searchings for the Cursed Vaults is in anyway strategic. That’s a rich joke if I ever heard one,” he replied, just as politely.

She laughed before thoughtfully chewing on her grape as he continued.

“But you’re not wrong, you do cause me a good amount of distress when you do dangerous things.”

Alexus smiled at him. “It’s nice to hear you care.”

“I always care when you do dangerous things too, Alexus. You’re like a sister to me,” Barnaby interjected between them.

Alexus flushed a bit. “Oh,” she said, collecting herself. “That’s incredibly sweet of you, Barnaby.”

“We all get concerned when you fight curses, Alexus,” Penny said assuringly. “We might not all have the same romantically vested interest in you as Talbott, but we all care about you.”

Alexus looked down at the table, really, unable to look at any of them. Talbott knew she always got flustered with emotions, or anyone showing care about her. He knew she wasn’t used to it. She was used to missing brothers, fathers she never talked about, mothers who tried to send her off to boarding schools and etiquette classes. Talbott understood that better than anyone.

“Chin up, Alexus, it’s the truth,” he said softly.

She looked up, right at him, and there was a glistening in her eyes. It was something Talbott hadn’t seen in her since that day when he read poetry to her in the Hospital Wing, promising to walk the hard road with her anywhere she went. She had never been so vulnerable since then.

Alexus blinked once, composed herself in seconds before standing up. “I’m going to see what desserts are at the table. I’ll be back in a second,” she quickly excused herself before briskly walking away.

Talbott watched her retreating back until he could feel the stares of the other two at the table. He turned to them, seeing them examine him with close eyes. Or, at least, Penny was watching him with something knowing, while Barnaby watched Alexus before he, too, stood up and followed her, citing a desire for pastries.

“What?” Talbott asked Penny, perhaps more curtly than he intended.

“Careful, Talbott.”

He frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Be careful, Talbott.”

“Why?”

“Your smile.”

“What about my smile?” He was smiling? He didn’t even realize it, but as it faded from his lips, he understood. He was smiling at Alexus as she left. Just a soft one, not full beaming, but an adoring smile on his lips as he saw Alexus more clearly than he had for a long time.

“Your smile,” Penny repeated. “You look like you're about to fall in love.”

[imagine-fight-write]

Banana Fish, Vol. 1, Part 6

Hello, everyone! Time ran away from me again, laughing manically, but I am back!

So today Ash, after shooting his (former) gang members silly & laying down the law, goes to a doctor. Yes, really. But not just any doctor! No, no. This doctor is no longer licensed and does abortions. In the 80s. Which is also when this was written (1987, to be exact.) Well. I have no idea what to think, apart from Doc guy (his name is Meredith, a lovely name & looks it too) - Not-Doc Meredith has guts. No matter if who agree with what he does or not. But more importantly! Ash is wearing his lovely, comfy, totally 80s but comfy wool coat (pg. 65.)

(I want it so bad. Can’t you tell?)

And before I gush over the roller coaster ride that’s Ash & Meredith’s smack down conversation, I must bring your attention to Mr. Meredith’s poor assistant, Ms. Brandish. She’s a bit cold to Ash, asking he has an appointment when Ash is clearly a regular. Ash notes this, then says this line: “My own professional advise is to go throw that virginity away somewhere. Anywhere. I heard it rots if you don’t use it.” (pg. 65) And I’m just WHAAATTT? WHAT?

Like, good grief Ash, what did she do to you to be so mean? That’s utterly rude. Was he in a bad mood or something - I mean yes, he just got betrayed by 2 gang members & had to shoot them up & chase them off, that’s got to have cut him up, it’s clear his gang are people he trusts - he’s not walking on sunshine here.

No, scratch that! It doesn’t matter! You do not insult someone over how little or how much sex they have. Also, making assumptions is stupid! Just because someone’s single doesn’t mean they’re a virgin! Idk. This just blew me for a loop. I’m just baffled. Especially because, far as I know, Ash is never so rude again. Not to someone who has less power than he does (this is called “punching down”.) Maybe part of why this struck me so hard is because Ms. Brandish is a female character, of which Banana Fish has a distinct lack of. Like female street gangs. Where are the female street gangs? (wines).

I mean, Fruits Basket has them in spades, to the point of you wouldn’t even know gangs of dudes exist, because they’re never mentioned! So why not Banana Fish? Sigh. I’m not going to forget this (the insult or lack of female street gangs). But nobody’s perfect & Ash in particular has all the cause in the world to be messed up when it comes to sex (though that’s no excuse.) Don’t ever insult someone that way! Moving on. To a glorious, glorious smack down conversation. I LIVE for the conversations in Banana Fish and here the wit’s sharp as a knife. I love it. I love this even more than Ash’s convo with Dino which I gushed hard over in Part 5. 

Was it Part 5? Agh, numbers.

https://imagine-fight-write.tumblr.com/post/641529643344723968/random-banana-fish-review-part-5-vol-1

Yes, it was. I am right, like always.

Anyway, I like Ash & Meredith’s covo more.

This is because, unlike his convo with Dino, Ash is on equal footing here, able to take and give smack talk. Neither he or not-Doc Meredith loses, it’s just an ongoing thing, and I love it. So, top of pg.66, Meredith comes out of surgery looking shady as all get out (the surgical mask doesn’t help.) So we already know he’s shady even before Ash confirms he’s not a licensed doc.

(And everyone says early Banana Fish art isn’t good - nach.) So. Ash starts things off with a quip, “Business is booming down at the clinic” only to inform us, “Mister Meredith is no longer licensed by the state of New York.” Also, Ash looks exactly like the smug teen he is when he says this, lounging in the not-doctor’s chair. I love it. I have to wonder. How did this relationship start? Is Ash’s comment a subtle reminder he could get Meredith in trouble if he wants? (It’s a very Dino-like thing to say, ugh.) Because it sure sounds like it. But Meredith also knows at least something about Ash’s past (see later in their convo) just as damaging. But at the same time Meredith does help Ash out in a major way later on - So no, I don’t think Ash is blackmailing him. Or if he is, Ash is mostly bluffing & Meredith knows this. Note also how Ash is bad at being nice to grown men (because of course he is.) So that might be part of his edge here.

And Meredith doesn’t take this lying down. He shoots back, “I have news for you Ash - that “J.D.” of yours doesn’t stand for Juris Doctor.” I’m scratching my head at this. It’s obviously an insult of some sort (at Ash’s intelligence? Which - haha, we all know Ash is smart at this point. Right?) Thoughts? Can anyone explain? Anyway, Meredith muses on the surgery he just did, “She had a fibroid on her uterus.” I have no idea what that means (tho I could guess) but it sounds awful. Ash quips, “you do sterilize the dustbuster first, right?” “Dustbuster” meaning uterus, I think. Also, dustbuster is a marvelous word. So fun to say. Makes me think of dustbunnies. Meredith is just, “take the medicine & go.” Like, give the man a break Ash, he just performed surgery. The medicine is, of course, for Griffin. Meredith warns Ash that it “only works for minor attacks” & “he should be in a hospital.” (This sounds like an old argument.) Ash snaps back with a great line, “What would they do - plant him in their vegetable garden?” Valid point. But - maybe actual doctors could help Griffin? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Also note how this tells you Meredith knows about Griffin. He doesn’t know that Griffin is Ash’s brother (see later in convo) but he still knows about Griffin & his vegetable state. This is a lot of trust Ash has for Meredith, is what I’m trying to say. Ash being a teen with trust issues up to here. But, because he doesn’t know, Meredith asks, and you can hear the sneer in his voice, “Besides, what’s he [Griffin] to you? Don’t tell me he’s your lover.”

Sigh. Meredith also makes the assumption Ash is gay and shames him for it. Though it also raises the question - how does Meredith know or find out about Ash’s past, the one Marvin hinted about with the “movies”? Or does Meredith assume Ash is gay based on the context of him caring for an older man? (who he clearly hasn’t seen, or he’d know right away Ash & Griffin are brothers.) I hope for my health he didn’t watch those “movies” Marvin mentioned. But I don’t think so. I don’t think Ash would trust anyone who watched them. I wouldn’t either. And beat them with a stick. Anyway! More brilliant conversation (pg. 67) Ash - “I’ve got a favor to ask.” Meredith - “Uh-oh. Got confused and knocked someone up? I didn’t know you had it in you.” (Ouch. Zing.) Also, again the implication Ash only sleeps with men. Seriously, what is Ash’s reputation, & why does he have it? But then Meredith is nice.

“I’ll take care of it. I mean, being a dad at your age is a heavy responsibility.” Which is true. Ash is 17.

  But also, way to assume Ash doesn’t want to be a dad. 

  Not to mention - have you noticed where he (Ash) lives? The (delightfully) dingy apartment Griffin is in? The fact that Ash has like, 1 set of clothes, 1 jacket, 1 coat, & a vest. Ok, scratch that, 2 shirts. But still! I have no idea what he does for $$$. Wait. Hold up. Stop. 

Maybe that’s why everyone thinks he’s gay, because he sells himself . . . . . . . . .

Don’t mind me, I’m going to bawl my eyes out in a corner and simultaneously cuss out everyone who thinks, “No, buying somebody for sex is fine, of course they enjoy it.

 And I pay them well -”

[ERROR. ERROR. TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE. ERROR.]

Whoo. I’m not recovered, but I am back.

Curse my avid imagination. And then bless it, because I love my imagination. No, I assume Ash does other stuff to get $$$. He’s a leader of a gang, for crying out loud. (I have no idea what they do, haha.)

Does anyone know? Please comment! Let’s continue. Meredith is all (snigger) “Did you knock someone up?” (and grown-ups call children childish.) Ash punches back with, “Not your usual services” and shows Meredith a packet of what was in the vial. Banana Fish. (pg. 68) Am I the only one whose ever only seen those paper medicine packets only in manga? There was one in Rurouni Kenshin too. Is this more of a Japan thing? Anyway, Meredith is like, “What is that?” Ash confirms it’s not dope & asks him to analyze it. Meredith is like, “Sure, for overtime” meaning “if you pay me” and Ash goes, “When you don’t have your hand up, you’ve got it out,” 

Reminding the reader of how Meredith was grumbling about Ash having to call him before he comes in. Then Ash says, “Be seeing you.” And all I can think of is The Prisoner, an obscure British T.V. show, 

Brilliantly reviewed by Dominic Noble here:

But wait! There’s more! Ash quips,

“Don’t let any of those tiny ghosts haunt you.” Meredith fires back, “I’ll do your autopsy for free when they fry you in the chair.” Ah, I love it. Such beautiful wit. This is how you write dialog. The reader doesn’t have to be told point blank Meredith does abortions - it’s eluded to in the dialog. Or that he & Ash have been doing this for a while, Ash paying for the medicine and picking it up. Even Meredith’s question of what relationship Ash has with the guy he’s getting the medicine for sounds like an old question he’s asked before. Or maybe I’m completely wrong & they’ve only been doing this for a few months. Who knows. Regardless, their banter is so refreshingly playful and equal compared to Ash’s convo with Dino. Sure there’s a power play, but it’s equal. And speaking of Dino -

I love his shocked expression top of pg. 69. This is the start of the famous duck scene I had to gush about in the last post. My priorities are important and valid! Anyway, Angie (and his fabulous mustache) is reporting to Dino that Ash was found with the body of the poor Banana Fish guy by his 2 (former) gang members. Dino rightly surmises Banana Fish guy might’ve said something or Ash took something off his body (both are true, as we know.) I like Dino’s contemplative face. The study is such a mob boss 80s den, I love it. Dino’s polio shirt with cravat bothers me, though. *I can’t spell cravat, help me. Top of pg. 70 - oh hi, Marvin, almost didn’t see you on the last page. Marvin asks to “grill” Ash, a.k.a. question him, and Dino is all, “No, no, he’s a sharp one.” (meaning Marvin’s not? Ha! But it’s true!) We learn the 2 (former) gang members are in the front hall, and this happens: Dino has a great line, “I think they’ve heard enough stories.” Angie goes “Sir?” Both he and Marvin have marks noting surprise or shock, or maybe flinching? But I don’t think either one is exactly surprised or puzzled. More - ugh, please not this. And Dino clarifies, “Drive them down to the Pine Barrens and kill them both.” 

(Like, he doesn’t trust them to know they need to kill both of them, not just one).

But I can’t laugh because, not only is Dino ordering them to commit murder, but to kill 2 boys. 2 boys who know nothing. And they do. I will never forgive Angie. His mustache can burn to ash. Hercule Poirot’s is better!

And eventually the police find them (their bodies.) But first scene change! It occurs to me that there’s no real chapters in Banana Fish. I really think it’d help. But considering it came out in the 80s, maybe chapters weren’t a thing yet? Remember, manga volumes are essentially complied pages of the manga / comic from a magazine put into a book. There’s no chapters in a magazine comic, so there’s no chapters in the volume - yet. I’m surprised Banana Fish volumes haven’t been reissued with chapters & chapter title pages. Mine’s from a 2nd printing in 2018. Huh. Anyway. The police found the Banana Fish guy! And have no clue who he is. Bummer. Pros for the autopsy guy, Gordon, for being a Black guy, but also eloquent, (pg.71) *I can’t spell autopsy or eloquent “A gentleman among corpses, detective.” - This makes me think of Sherlock Holmes.

(That’s Basil Rathbone, for those in the back.)

The autopsy guy continues,

“Three neat holes like a suit coat. Nice and clean . . . You have to appreciate such distinctions in this profession friend. Why, the state of that fellow we have in here last Tuesday? . . . Made it very difficult for me to enjoy my hamburger.”

So Ash’s (former) gang members are good shots? Makes sense.

And that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll be on time next Wednesday & we’ll meet Max, Ibe, and Eiji!!!! There is a diabolical plot against Ash! A bar fight!

[collecting-stories]

Feels Like This - John Shelby

A/N: It’s like I’ve forgotten how to write all the Peaky boys, though I think I found John once I hit the dialog. Also, wrote this while listening to Maisie Peters ‘Feels Like This’ in case you wanna check it out! 

Request: while she sleeps John puts the ring on her finger to see if it's the right size but he can't remove it. After a while she wakes up because of him and he has no choice but to make his marriage proposal in bed. After saying yes, she gently laughs at him.

///

John sat on the bed, still dressed from work. He’d gotten in late, though that was not unusual. He’d been working later and later these days. While none of the Shelby boys operated within the perimeters of what was socially acceptable John might’ve been the worst. Though no one talked outright, at least not where someone might overhear and tell him, everyone knew that John Shelby was keeping a live-in girlfriend. One who was taking care of kids that were not her own. Worse than getting with a Shelby boy out of wedlock might’ve been adopting all the responsibilities of wife without convincing him to put a ring on your finger.  

It had happened naturally though. So subtly that you hadn’t even realized that one moment you were kissing him goodnight on your doorstep and the next you were sleeping in his bed, hushing babies to sleep when they woke in the middle of the night. It wasn’t proper form and you had never considered yourself the type of woman to go against what was proper but you had thrown all etiquette out the window when it came to John Shelby. Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. You might not’ve heard the talk that you were easy or loose or whatever term fit appropriately you had heard it said that you had given in to John too quickly. Opinion had it that he was want to keep you around with empty promises now that you had proven yourself willing to move in without being offered anything in return.  

For the most part though, you ignored the talk. A little too hopeful that John still had serious things on his mind regardless of your tendency to play mother and housewife without the official title. You thought about it, sure, but you generally tried not too. Afraid that it would ruin the lightness of being with him.  

A tug on your hand was what roused you from sleep. A sharp tug, once and then again, had you opening your eyes. John was sitting above you, still in his work clothes. Even his vest and hat were still on. His hand was grasping yours. Or, more specifically, his hand was grasping three of your fingers, with his fingers pressed into your ring finger.  

“John?” You asked, trying to get your hand back as you sat up.

“Go back to bed love.” He insisted, grip tightening when you tried to pull away.

“Go back to bed? You’re practically ripping my finger off and you want me to go back to bed?”

“It’s nothing.”

You frowned, it wasn’t nothing. In fact, your finger felt swollen. “John Shelby...what have you done?” you tugged your arm away as hard as you could, nearly toppling out of the bed but he grabbed you, pulling you closer to him.  

Upright and secured in his arms you looked down finally at your hand. The finger was swollen after all. And right at the base was the cause of the swelling, a golden band with an intricate diamond pattern in the middle. Something elegant enough to be on the hands of women in London. Too nice for an apology and on the wrong finger at that. You held your hand up and John remained unusually quiet.  

“What is...is this?” You leaned toward the light on the night stand, trying for a better look at the ring that was trapped on your finger. “Is this? Have you put a ring on me?”  

“Katie said it was the right size.” He replied indignately.  

“And it would’ve been if I wasn’t all swollen! I told you I was like an inflated balloon.” You laughed. Taking a calming breath you turned toward John, “what’s this about then?”

“You know what it’s about!”  

“Honestly John!”  

Getting up from the bed, you crossed the room to your sewing basket and rifled through until you found a spare bit of thread. Sitting at the rocking chair in the corner you wrapped the thread around your finger, slipping the ring off in the process. A trick your mother had shown you once. Once it was off and the thread was safely back in the basket you went back to bed, holding it out to John.  

“Let’s hear it.” You said, smiling.  

“What?”

“Your plan had better not have been to put that on me in my sleep and then just say, ‘well love we’re engaged’ or I will shoot you.”  

“That wasn’t the plan.” He replied, defensive at the suggestion that he didn’t have some great romantic plan in mind.

“Good.” You nodded, “now, the plan has been foiled John. So just go ahead.”

“Now?”

“Yes now.”

“You can’t even wear the ring right now! You just said your fingers are too fat.”

“They are swollen!” You laughed, smacking his arm. “Jesus Christ!”

“Alright, alright. Give it here.” He grabbed the right from your hand. “Seeing as I’ve knocked you up-”

“John Shelby!”  

“I’m kidding love.” He laughed, kissing your forehead. “Alright.”

“You’ve not prepared.” You sighed, laughing at the end. It was so typically John. He was halfway to something brilliant but hadn’t fully thought through his plans.

“I am! I saw it this weekend in London,” he said, holding the ring up, “been thinking about it for a while though. Just didn’t know when the right time would be. Then ya had to get pregnant-”

“Can’t imagine how.”

“Yeah alright, your mean at night ya know?”

“Is it still night? I hadn’t a clue as I was sleeping.” You teased, smiling at him when he scowled. “Now keep telling me how you love me.”

“I’m thinking now I might not after all.”

“John!”  

“Thought it was past time I made ya an honest woman. Ya been cleaning up after me and the little ones for a while now without asking anything in return and I don’t want ya to think it means nothing.”

“So you propose to all your housekeepers?”  

“You’re really trying to make this hard aren’t ya?” He grumbled.

“Oh absolutely.”

“I love you, I think we should’ve been married ages ago. So lets do it now.”

“Alright.” You leaned forward, kissing him.  

“Why’d you give me such a hard time if you were just gonna say yes anyway?”  

“Your cheeks got all red and it’s really something especially adorable.” You teased.  

“Fuck you.”

“Is that anyway to talk to your soon to be wife?”

John laughed, leaned back against the bed, still not bothering to take off his work clothes. You laid beside him, holding the ring up in front of you to look at it again. You’d really never seen one so nice in your life. Women didn’t wear jewelry like that in Small Heath.  

“This must’ve been a fortune.”

“None of your business.” John replied.  

“Well-”

“Well nothing. Go back to sleep.” He insisted. “We’ll tell the little ones in the morning.”

-

Feedback is greatly appreciated!

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[tinalbion]

Tina thank you for this! I have a spicy request for ya! Two dialog prompts, we got “You know, there wasn’t a single thing to eat in the kitchen until you walked in.” and pair that with “It’s okay, honey, you can pull my hair as hard as you want while I’m between your legs.” for...Drum roll please....BUDDY SWANSON! Gimmie that sweet cooking boy having some fun in the kitchen with the reader, doesn't have to be kept to just oral either, have fun with it, do whatcha want I TRUST YA! Love you! 🖤

UM HELL YES, YOU ARE THE FUCKIN QUEEN AND I CANNOT HANDLE THE PURE SEXUAL ENERGY THESE TWO LINES HAVE.

Seriously tho, I am so very excited to be writing for Buddy for the FIRST time ever and I really do hope I did the boy justice, I will admit I was nervous as fuck for this. I’m happy with the way it came out. 

Rating: Explicit

Words: 3.1k

Warnings: Sexual tension and innuendos, cunnilingus, kitchen sex, fingering

╺

“Chocolate”

╺

Summer was here and things were kicking off to a great start.

Whatever happened between you and your two new love interests only progressed further and at a fast rate, you weren’t expecting it to kick off as you did, but you weren’t going to be the one to complain at all. You finally had some time for yourself after you had escorted the campers off to their divided activities, watching as they all ran off and spread out into evenly dispersed groups, friends talking amongst one another. You smiled at the thought of the kids having the best summer they could all thanks to the staff at Camp Clear Vista. 

You had begun to make your way back to the main camp when you spotted Buddy walking into the back door of the kitchen, carrying a large box, but now that you had a moment, you were going to find out what it was. You needed the time to unwind and Buddy was more than a good enough distraction for you, so what was the harm in seeing what he was up to. You looked around and saw that everyone else had either gone back to their cabin or had been in a session with the kids, so you crept through the back door quietly, not alerting him of your presence just yet. 

He carefully removed the contents of the box and placed them on the freshly wiped down prep table, the bags, and small boxes spread out where Buddy could easily read everything. He muttered to himself and read off the ingredients as he hummed to himself, his attention focused on his task. Weaving in and around the kitchen, through the walk-in cooler and toward the cabinets, he was able to gather all he needed until he heard a small sound near the back of the kitchen. His head jerked up and that's when he noticed you standing there, arm resting confidently against the doorframe. 

"Oh, didn't realize I had a visitor," he teased with a reserved smirk, brushing his curls from his eye. 

"You seemed focused, didn't wanna disturb you when you're in the zone." You shot him back a playful grin and crossed your arms as you took a few steps towards the table. “Plus I may or may not have been looking for a snack, just finished up helping with setting up the nature hike groups. I’m famished.”

He finished setting down the measuring cups and looked up at you, his expression was almost unreadable. “You know, there wasn’t a single thing to eat in this kitchen until you walked in,” Buddy delivered the line smoothly, his hands already quick at work with the materials he had before him.

All you could do was laugh and shake your head in embarrassment, not wanting to show just how much you liked the line. "I can only imagine how long you've been wanting to use that line," you mused, leaning forward against the table. "Whatcha making?"

"Caramel marble brownies, I figured it would be a nice treat for the kids after dinner." Buddy had been too busy mixing everything to make direct eye contact, but you could see him peeking from the corner of his eye, his smile slowly growing. His mind was wandering like it normally did when you were in the vicinity, but he would play this out.

Your eyes lit up at the mention of baked brownies, the thought taking you back to childhood. It wasn’t until now that you realized it had been way too long since you enjoyed any real baked goods. Boxed ones just weren’t the same, so seeing as Buddy knew how to make them from scratch was a delightful tidbit that you didn’t know you needed to hear. 

“Oh, can I help?” you asked excitedly, clapping your hands together as you looked expectantly at him. 

He grimaced a little since he was rather protective of his workspace, but he knew you well enough that his kitchen would be in good hands, so with a sigh he slid the large silver mixing bowl your way. “You know how to make brownies from scratch?” he asked wistfully, taking a step behind you as you began to mix the ingredients together.

“I will admit, it’s been a while since I’ve made decent desserts, but with your skillful hand and willingness to teach, I’m sure I’ll be in good hands.” You smiled down at the bowl and then looked up to see Buddy staring at you, and it wasn’t just any stare, this was intense. You turned away quickly and tried to hide the obvious blush across your face.

Truth was, even though you two had already been intimate, Buddy just brought that side out in you and you were always so flustered with how dominant he could be. With Sam, it was soft and sensual, but with Buddy? Oh, it was on another level. You never complained nor would you ever, but there was just something about him today that was giving off more of an intimidating vibe. Moments later, you focused on him and he was concentrating on mixing together the melted caramel squares and evaporated milk together until it was combined well enough to make a thick enough caramel sauce. 

“You know, I always did like chocolate as a kid,” Buddy said as he slid the smaller bowl over toward you, “what about you? Any sweet treats you enjoyed as a kid?” He grabbed the ungreased pan from beside you and slowly started to spray the nonstick baking spray in all corners. 

You smiled and shrugged your shoulders. “Didn’t really appreciate it as a kid, I do know though, especially with desserts. Went out to a fancy dinner with the folks and they had a fondue fountain with fruits and whatnot to dunk in it. Nothing tasted better than strawberries covered in warm chocolate sauce.” 

Buddy listened intently as you described one of your favorite memories, your discovery of all fine things to do with dessert. He loved it when you talked about things you recalled back from your childhood, it was almost like he could live vicariously through you and erase his horrific memories. He took the bowl from you after you finished mixing the batter and inspected it carefully. 

“Good job, looks perfect. Wanna do the honors?” He held up the small spatula that was covered in the chocolate batter, the droplets spattering onto his hand. 

You nodded and grabbed the utensil from him, your tongue immediately licking up the layer of batter. Buddy watched you and bit his bottom lip so hard that he almost drew blood. You were oblivious until you went for the second lick and saw the fist he had resting on the prep table, your eyes darted up to meet his and you knew what he was thinking the moment your eyes met. The smile he gave you could have made you drop to the floor in an instant.

“You know, I wasn’t lying when I said there wasn’t anything to eat until you walked in,” Buddy recalled, licking the fallen batter off of his own hand while maintaining eye contact with you. His smirk, damn, that smirk he gave you only made you weak in the knees. 

“And what exactly are you implying, Buddy?” 

He set the spatula down and firmly spun you around with his hand on your shoulder, pushing you against the table as he pressed in between your legs, a concentrated look in his eyes as they peeked out at you through his curls. “Oh I think you know what I’m implying,” he growled as his hands slowly began to slide under your camp counselor shirt, the hem of your bra just above where his fingers stopped. “But that all depends on you.” He reached in and dipped his finger in the batter, licking it off painfully slowly as you watched. He gauged your reaction and knew damn well you couldn’t resist.

Without even dwelling on it, you nodded your head and quickly pulled him into a heated kiss, his lips already making you melt as his hands began to undo your jeans button. He easily lifted you from the table and onto your feet so he could properly dispose of your clothing, but then it was right back onto the prep table with you as his fingers slowly made their way in and out of you, his lips never breaking away from yours. 

With just his touch he could have you undone in minutes and Buddy knew this, but he needed to be sure you were worked up enough, he loved seeing you like this because of him. He reached over toward the bowl and dipped his two fingers inside, gathering a bit of the batter on his fingertips, and he placed them against your lips as soon as he pulled away. Fuck, this was so hot, who knew Buddy was so into this? 

Your mouth was sucking on his fingers, holding in your moans and cries that you so desperately wanted to release, but you had no intentions of getting caught by a bunch of kids or the rest of the camp staff. You focused on the chocolate as his other hand continued to pump into you, a third finger finally curling within you, your moan just a bit too loud. Buddy removed his fingers from your mouth and looked down at you, his gaze a little too mischievous for your taste. 

“If you’re too loud, you’ll get us caught, then we’ll have to stop. Surely you don’t want that?” His toe was so mocking that it just made you even more of a mess, but you pouted and nodded your head in agreement, you surely didn’t want that.

He touched your bottom lip with the fingers that had been in you, his smile growing as he watched you suck them clean without him having to say a word. The sound that came from him was almost animalistic as you kept eye contact while you finished cleaning his fingers, then he went in for another sloppy kiss. His mouth slowly began to trail down your jaw and then made its way to your breasts as he lifted your shirt, your moans a lot more silent for the moment. 

Again, his hand dipped into the bowl and smeared the batter over your breasts, watching as the liquid threatened to drip down and ruin your nice, clean bra, but his tongue was lapping it up before it did. Buddy made sure to take his time with this as he only ended up licking some of it off, the rest smearing even further across your skin. You giggled as he made it a point to suck on as much of your skin as he could before getting to the main course. You figured it wouldn’t hurt to help yourself to the mix and scooped a little from the bowl, moaning against your fingers as Buddy nipped at your sensitive flesh. He pulled away and went lower, kissing your inner thighs softly and again nipping at your skin, your cute little yelps filled the kitchen.

 You didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly but Buddy’s mouth had made it to your heat, and his tongue dragged up your slit in a slow motion, causing your legs to shake, a drew out ‘fuck’ escaped you. He was merciless as he continued to eat you out, his hands grabbing firmly at your plush thighs while he swirled his tongue around, your body jerked every so often from the sheer pleasure. The contrast of the chilled table and the warmth of his tongue was almost too much to take at once. 

Your fingers curled into his hair, gripping it ever so slightly to guide him to where you wanted to feel him. You felt the small chuckle vibrate against you and you were almost in over your head, your head was thrown back and you moaned out his name. Those fingers that ran through his curls never eased up and he had to admit that he loved when you showed him just how much you were enjoying yourself.

Buddy pulled away for a moment, licking his lips as your slick coated his chin, his eyes looking you over. “Oh I’m not done yet, but it’s okay honey, you can pull my hair as hard as you want while I’m between your legs,” he muttered with a shit-eating grin. 

Before you could respond to him, he was back to pleasing you with his tongue, stopping your thoughts before you could even form them, and you couldn’t help the moan that did follow. To hell with being quiet, he was making it more than difficult to behave, but the kids were far enough away that you shouldn’t have to worry about it. The thought was far from your head within seconds as he continued to make you squirm, your mouth hanging open and your eyes rolled back, you were feeling absolute bliss. 

“Oh God, Bud-dyyyy,” you cried out, “please, just -fuck- keep going!”

You weren’t going to last much longer though and Buddy knew it, so he sped up his actions and thrust his tongue in, swirled it along your lips, sucking up your wetness that threatened to spill down your legs. He was hungry and he needed you to cum. Your grip on his hair only tightened the closer you got, your legs shaking like crazy as you whispered his name in warning, but you couldn’t even tell him. You cried out, breathless and panting as your cum coated the lower half of his face, but he didn’t mind one bit as he attempted to lick it from his lips, the rest he wiped off on one of the hand towels that was closeby. 

Buddy chuckled as he stood before you and slid his hand behind your neck, bringing you up to kiss him. You tasted yourself on him and moaned against him, his smile only widening. 

“Damn, that was-”

“Who said I was finished?” Buddy interrupted. 

You looked at him and bit your lip, wondering what else he had in store for you, but there was no waiting around with him. He already had you positioned over the table, bent and spread for him like a goddamn meal. His hand slowly slid its way down from your side to your hip, then his hand made contact with your ass as he gave it a playful but solid smack. A yelp followed by laughter; you were having way too much fun. Buddy had unbuttoned his pants and allowed himself to spring free, rubbing it against your soaked lips while one of his hands slid under your bra, grabbing your breast. 

“It’s my turn now, babe,” he whispered into your ear. 

Prodding your entrance with his hard-on, he slowly slid within you and groaned as he felt you clench around him. ‘Oh fuuuck,” he sighed. 

His hands were gripping your hips as he pushed into you, stretching you out until he was buried deep within you, just relishing in the feeling of you wrapped around him. The more he fucked you, the more labored his breath became and he was having too much of a good time feeling you beneath him, but when you pushed against him and rolled your hips it was almost too much for him. He stopped as his hands roamed along your sides, sliding down to your ass as he pushed you forward slightly, watching as he slid out of you slowly. Buddy picked up the pace again and he kept one hand on your hip while the other reached around and gently began to rub your clit, and you let out a whimper while he placed more pressure on it, causing your sounds to grow even louder.

“Bud-dyyyy, please, fuck,” you begged, your eyes fluttering as you tried your best to bite your tongue, but he was close and you could feel it. 

You didn’t know how long you two had been at it but you knew that the kids would be back pretty soon, and the thought of being caught by one of the other counselors wasn’t on your list of plans, but the very thought of it only made the tingling in your spine grow. Buddy began to grunt as he rested his chest against your back so he could fuck you as deep as he possibly could, the feeling of you clenching down on him only made him thrust harder into you. 

“Fuck, I’m not gonna last much longer,” he warned against your ear.

His hand on your clit didn’t stop either as he mercilessly slammed into you, and within minutes, you came undone around him. You couldn’t stop the loud moan that followed your orgasm, the pleasure washing over you as you leaned fully onto the prep table to catch your breath, but thankfully Buddy followed close behind and came deep inside you, the movement of his finger against your clit slowed until he finally pulled away. You were both panting and heaving as you stood there as you allowed your high to fade, and Buddy slowly pulled out of you as he placed several kisses against your back, then fixed his pants and turned you around to help with yours, the intensity of the moment still feeling a bit high.

He looked down at you and laughed almost a little too loudly, something you hadn’t heard him really do around you. “What? What is it?” you asked in confusion, your hand instinctively wiping at your face.

Buddy shook his head through his laughter and sighed while he reached for a bit more of the brownie batter, then gently booped it onto your nose. “You got a little something on ya, Y/N,” he teased.

What both of you hadn’t expected was Sam to walk in, blissfully unaware of what just transpired moments prior, walking into the kitchen as he hummed a song and dug into the employee fridge to grab his lunch. He smiled as he saw you two and looked at your face, a large smile across his. He stepped up close to you and swiped your nose, taking some of the batter with him. 

Sam popped the batter into his mouth and chuckled lightly. “Hey Buddy, hey Y/N, ya missed a bit. I’ll see you guys later” And with that, he was gone again, getting back to his group of kids. 

You both watched as he walked out of the kitchen, completely unaware, or so you thought, and you couldn’t help but bust out into a fit of laughter with Buddy shaking his head as he wore the biggest grin you’ve ever seen. You really had been one of the luckiest people on the planet to land such a great pair of guys. 

[aboyandhisstarship]

Human are weird: The GTO/SICON verse Reboot

The GTO, Or Galactic Treaty Organization is a military and political alliance between a number of species in the alpha quadrat of the galaxy.  The GTO is a rather new organization only founded nine years ago following the first contact incident, where The Klendthu’s crash landed on a small cold planet on the edge of a solar system at the edge of the galaxy, and encountered a small outpost, one mis understanding later, and The Klendthu’s spent 6 Terren months fighting the creature’s from the fourth planet.

Once diplomacy was able to be established through communications a cease fire was called, and the strange race who called themselves Humans started a dialog.

Over the last nine years the alliance has grown to be a massive power house in economics, Politics and Defense.   They are 4 major races in the alliance

The Klendthu Congress: an insect race with a regional hive mind, but don’t let that fool you, they are wicked smart and industrious.  They have developed some of the most impressive mining tech available. Their planets is ruled by a Queen there entire government by the high queen, the average worker has about the same level of intelligence of a human 6 year old, but when working groups then can easily compete with a genius level human.

The Kalbur Merchant Empire: a race that vaguely resembles the big foots of earth legend. They are the economic Backbone of the GTO, there race is built around the building and creating of wealth, money heavily influencing there culture. Their government is run by a council of officials elected from the top business and workers unions on their world.  In terms of technology they tend to lead in interstellar coms and other commercial type tech, with their military tech sorely lacking…as such they maintain an allied Military presence on their worlds.

The Verkia technocracy: an Aquatic telepathically floating species that vaguely resembles the squids of earth, they are the most advanced species in the known galaxy in almost every way. As such however they tend to be stiff and follow a very strict social custom; it is considered taboo for a student to leave the sciences in exchange for another discipline, sometimes leading as far as disowning by family and friends, or worse case total exile from Varikan society.  There government is run by a council of appointed top scientists that are generally the heads of top instuites within Verikan space.”

The Strategically Integrated Collation of Nations:  The Humans, the youngest race in the group as well as the craziest, Hailing from a death world on the edge of the galaxy where everything can and will kill you they are a society still recovering from finding out aliens even exist and there conflict with them. SICON was formed after the Pluto attacks from several of the earths major nation states, pushing aside the last barriers to unification. SICON is a democracy, with each former earth nation state, and Human colony earning a seat in the SICON Parliament with the majority seat holder winning said election with the party head becoming the Prime minster, Underneath them is the Star Marshal, commander in chief of the SICON Navy, and the ODT’s or Orbital Drop Teams… highly trained and equipped soldiers who go through a strict selection process.  The nature of the human world as well as their Military technique’s make them the leader in Military technology by miles, with standard issue power suits for ground forces, the entire concept of Orbital insertion, air support and deep space carriers being introduced by the humans. These advantages are only enhanced by their natural predatory nature and ability to hone their bodies into killing machines….

T’Las groaned scratching her fur groaning “Great I keep making the humans sound terrifying.”  The Kalbur sat back in the far too tall chair. It was built for a human after all she groaned, she sat in a gray metal room, the thick bulkheads joined into a thick window showing the swirls of hyperspace outside the window.

T’Las was grateful to the human for letting her take his office as he called it, but honestly being on a human ship was scary…well the entire assignment she was given was scary. 18 terran months ago a Verkian science ship crash landed on a Pre FTL society and well the folk on the planet went crazy fighting over the tech they could barely understand, by now only two groups remained on the planet before the GTO sent an intervention team, well Humans falling from the sky into your main base would put the fear of god into anyone and the sides agreed to moderated peace talks, she had actually been invited to dine in the captain’s cabin with the Ambassador, the Captain and the ODT Commanding officer, and had to quickly get ready. She put on her formal fur clips and quickly moved through the ship.

The Valley Forge is what the humans called it and as human ships go it was on the small side, only 400 meters long and 600 across. The vast majority was taken up by the Chekov drive core and the small retrieval ship and drop tubes for the ODT team.  She left the section of the ship past a group of humans joking about something called a date, before she left the ODT region of the ship.

It took her a couple of minutes and asking for direction’s before she arrived at the metal door. She knocked and a human voice called “come in.”

Inside were to humans before dressed in their formal uniforms, one had more bars across her shoulders and was a human female, T’Las was able to identify as she introduced “Hello, you must be the reporter joining us, I’m Captain Hernández.”

The male human who was also in Dress uniform had shoulder patches on the side of his jacket that looked kind of like the Human drop pods as he introduced “Lieutenant William Erickson, ODT senior officer.”

T’Las carefully took the offered seat “Nice to meet you Captain Hernández, Lieutenant Erickson.”

There was sound of something scraping and a robotic voice saying “May I enter.”

Erickson and Herandez stood up as the door opened, in stepped a creature that walked on four legs, it was armoured and had 4 side facing eyes, attached to its chest was a small box, Herndez smiled “your Majesty.”

The creature screeched before a second later the robotic voice spoke “Captain, Lieutenant…we have known each other long enough to dispense with the Niceties surely.”

Erickson laughed “I’m sorry to say its official orders, they don’t want us causing too much trouble.”

Herndez chuckled as she said “you’re Majesty Queen of Gamma prime, this is T’Las of the Kalbur.”

T’Las had never seen a klendtuian queen before and muttered out a “Hello…your majesty.” She quickly added bowing slightly.

The queen made a chirping sound that robotic voice translated to a disjointed human laugh before saying “there is no need we are all equals here.”

The three of them sat down as a small platform elevated the queen to the table, Erickson took a sip of water saying “the squad says hi, and Futuba was real bummed she could not join us.”

The queen somehow betrayed a guine response through the robotic voice as she responded “I’m sorry they were unable to join, it has been for too long since I last saw dagger squad.”

A couple of humans still in there dress best placed done four plates, for the humans it was a simple salad meal with Erickson grinning “SICON figured streaks were not a good look.”

The queen chirped again as a plate of strange green slush was placed in front of her and T’Las got a salad in the style of her people. T’Las asked “so how do you all know each other?”

Erickson smiled without showing teeth “long story, it involves a lot of explosives.”

The queen scratched “it was my vessel that crashed on Pluto, then private Erickson, and then flight Lieutent Hernández crash landed in my den, we were lucky enough to have gotten our…talk box open…they were the first to talk to us…they helped us build peace.”

Erickson smiled “we got a cease fire and spent 3 weeks talking, we had to live off my mom’s cookies.”

The queen chirped “I’m sorry you could not eat our food.”

Herndez grinned “I thought the food was ok, the company was awful.”

Erickson looked genuinely hurt as the conversation moved to a different topic.

 17 hours later:

T’Las was sitting in her quarters/ borrowed office mussing about the nature of Human space travel. Most other GTO races have adopted the supercharged carrier system, where the engines have a certain particle run through it in an infinite loop that somehow results in faster than light travel; Humans on the hand adopted the Chekov hyper drive, named after the human scientist Anton Chekov who invented it. The Chekov drive punches a hole in subspace allowing the human ship to enter into another dimension allowing the vessel hundreds time faster than the speed of light.

 T’Las did not pretend to be well versed on the subject of interstellar Star ships but she started to write “as I fly on the human ship I noticed something interesting about the difference in the FTL Technology employed by SICON as opposed to the employed by the rest of the GTO, but first some background, for any ready who is not aware Humans are pursuit predators, what does this mean? imagine for a second that you are a terran creature, you see a human coming and run away. The issue is you are faster than the human but the human can chase you as far as they need to, sometimes for kilometers and days at a time.”

T’Las read that and said “NOPE.” She quickly edited “Being a Pursuit predator means they chase their prey, sometimes for days and across vast landscapes, just about anything can out sprint the average (non -power suit wearing) human, but in a distance race…you lose every time. What is the relevance of what I’m saying? Well Most FTL tech we know of is faster than Human hyperspace, but the Humans can go farther and for longer…Example, A Kalbur ship and a human ship need to cross GTO space, the distance is say 15 Cubic light years, The Kalbur ship would rock ahead of the ship until about 5 light years at which point it needs to slow down to let the engines recharge, by contrast the humans will stay be coming and easily overtake the Kalbur, once the Kalbur engines re charge they will jump and yet again overshoot the humans until uh oh, they have to stop again, meanwhile the humans have being moving at a steady pace this entire time and easily yet again over take the Kalbur and hit where they want to be  easily hours before the Kalbur vessel.”

T’Las read it over before nodding approvingly “that’s better.” Adding “now the logical next question, what about in combat and yes it is as terrifying as you would think, the humans with their massive over gunned ships firing hunks of metal at a quarter of the speed of light at you, so you make a break for it…and you think you are in the clear then boom, they appear out of nowhere (reminder that we have yet to have anyway detect someone in Chekov travel, and if the humans do they are not sharing.)  You can’t run you can’t hide you can only that they are feeling merciful.”

T’Las re read the last paragraph saying “way to dark…” deleting the last paragraph she smiled sending the story off, as well as her other noted on the function .

 7 hours later:

T’Las heard a small knock on her door, and opened it to see a human with a strange shape on her face the human grinned “Hiyo.”

T’Las blinked “uhh hi?”

The human smiled “Specialist Futuba Kurogane, Dagger Squad, intel and Communication’s.”

T’Las nodded “Pleasure…uhhh not to be rude?”

Futuba grinned “oh yea right, this came for you from your boss,” Handing T’Las a drive saying “have a good one.”

T’Las played the message and it was her boss telling her “that last story is a gold mine! We have re run it 4 times and they still want more! Keep up the good work!”

T’Las rewatched the message 4 times saying “people are really that interested?”

2 hours later:

T’Las backed up as the creature advanced towards her, it was on four legs and bore it’s teeth as it sniffed her, the humans office door had closed cutting off her escape from the predator, T’Las considered making a break for it  when a human shouted in a language her translator did not recognize. The creature instantly stopped sniffing her and trotted back towards the human, the human was a female of darker complexion who smiled sheepishly, saying to T’Las “sorry about Porthos here.”

T’Las took a deep breath before yelling “WHY DO YOU HAVE A DEADLY PREADTOR IN YOUR INCLOSED SPACESHIP!”

The human rolled her eyes “she is a MWD.”

T’Las said “what!?”

Erickson rounded the corner saying with crossed arms “heard some yelling, what’s the issue Specialist?”

He reached down petting the creature as the other human said “Porthos seems to put the fear of god into our guest here.”

Erickson sighed “Abebi, you know we had aliens onboard who would be scared of Porthos.”

Erickson looked at T’Las before saying “come on, I will fill you in.”

Mess hall:

Erickson drunk a glass of water explaining “there is a creature on earth called a dog.”

T’Las nodded following, as Erickson sighed “these animals have amazing sense of smell so we train them to find things for us; Porthos for instance is a bomb sniffer….so if you ever see him sit run….Abebi, is his Handler she takes care of leads the dog on mission’s…that make sense?”

T’Las sighed “sure you humans have trained a deadly predator to find equally deadly explosives for you…great…”

Erickson glanced at his wrist “we are almost at the planet get ready.”

Clapping T’Las on the shoulder

Hanger bay:

The ship rocked as it dropped out of hyperspace, Ericson was dressed in strange 4 piece garments with dark lens over his face as he explained “this place was a warzone a few days ago, so stay close and do as we tell you, everyone follow?”

The queen squawked her affirmative and T’Las nodded awkwardly as they boarded the military drop craft.

4 hours later:

The conference had been going on for hours now with the creature Porthos and his handler walking around constantly as the rest of the humans eyed the assembled crowd, so far everything was safe and secure. The peace was signed But then the meet and greet and the glad handing with the all the ambassador’s started, and well T’Las was happy she had her camera drone on for what happened next.

 The drone had been flying around the room for about twenty minutes when an alien stepped forward to speak to the ambassador’s, Porthos walked towards the alien sniffing before sitting facing him. T’Las remembering what Erickson said looked for something to hide behind as all the humans in the room stiffed, The queen knowing what Porthos was as well changed color, however the aliens on the planet did not know what was about to happen. A tense second later, small sliver looking weapons appeared in the humans hands as Erickson yelled “hands in the air!”  

Porthos rose up barking as Erickson yelled “Abebi!”

The handler nodded “on it sir!” yelling something in a strange human language, the dog advanced on the now terrified alien, sniffing before looking at the creatures jacket and growling. The humans moved in as Erickson said “Futuba call for evac, Abebi.”

The handler interrupted “checking the entire room got it.”

Erickson threw the alien down pulling out a bomb he quickly defused he said “Valley Forge we are pulling out over!”

The delegation quickly moved out to the waiting drop ship, handing the would be bomber over to the locals they blasted off, the humans visibly relaxed and started chatting with each other and the queen like they all almost didn’t get blown up, leaving T’Las to come to the conclusion “Humans are weird. “

[moranice-solvej]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @incognitajones

Name: moranice

Fandoms: Star Wars, Rogue One in particular.

Where you post: AO3

Most popular multi-chapter fic: there is no competition here whatsoever, I have a single multi-chapter story posted: when sorrow calls my name I know nothing stays the same. 

Favourite story you’ve written so far: I think sorrow it is for being the first story of such scope I was able to finish. It challenged me in many ways too, I have tried my hand writing a lot of stuff for the first time in it, and I’m extremely proud of the result. Second favorite is brave soldier girl solely for the plot and main theme of the story. Always wanted to write a mother-daughter relationship like that and I finally got the chance for it while also having an honor to cherish a character as great as Lyra Erso.

Fic you were nervous to post: sorrow again, just because this was a conscious choice to post a WIP which I haven’t done in years and also it’s a gift to someone. After it I stopped feeling nervous about posting stuff, at least for now.

How you choose your titles: vast majority of them comes from my favorite songs as most music I love dearly always comes in tow with lyrics that spark my imagination for writing. If I do not find what I look for in songs, I think of something that can encompass the main mood/heart of a story the most.

Do you outline? I do this somewhat roughly. If I know I’m not going to work on something I came up with for quite some time, I make sure I write down the main beats of an idea and basic order of the scenes and key dialog. If I have a clear image in my mind of how the story is going to be, I don’t bother, and in that case again only write down something if I know I’m not reaching it in the near future. I turn to more outlining when something in the chapter/story doesn’t quite work (then I need to see the ordered bullet points to get a feel for the structure and try to solve the problem), or if I am to execute a very complex scene. That happens rarely, but a good example of me needing an outline were the two action-packed chapters in sorrow at the end. I had only fragments of it in my mind and then needed to flesh out the entire culmunation. Plus about a dozen characters all needed to do something / have a moment, plus all kinds of enemies, etc. That was something. The biggest example of an outline I have now is the order of upcoming stories in an ongoing series, and most of them have some notes tied to them.

Complete fics: 5

In progress: I am actively working on one big multi-chapter story (80k words and counting), and two other multi-chapter stories have a few chapters written but put on the backburner in favor of the current ongoing one.

Posted WIPs that I have given up on: none. I never ever post something I either have not finished, or don’t have a 100% confidence that I will finish.

Exchange fics due soon/unrevealed: none, way too busy with my own WIP’s to carve out time for work on exchange fic. 

WIPs that live in my fanfic folder and are incomplete and who knows when they’ll be finished: there are two stories that are waiting for me to wrap up the WIP and come back to them. One is about halfway-written and it’s about missing scenes in Rogue One the movie from Jyn’s POV. The other starts immediately post Rogue One the movie and is supposed to guide Jyn through her adjustment to the rebellion and early days of her friendship/co-living with Cassian. It too has a few chapters written, but I need to rework them and it’s still in queue for that.

Coming soon/not yet started: I had an idea of an undercover as married while in pre-relationship mission story for Jyn and Cassian for ages, but I promised myself I’m only getting to it after I finish the two other stories set prior to this one in the series timeline.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Do you accept prompts: wouldn’t mind if I got one, that is how sorrow actually started. But knowing the way my writer brain works, I’ll probably need a ridiculous word count to make any story happen, so I am very careful when I ask for prompts and hence do so very rarely. Apart from that there is near-always more than enough ideas I need to write but have no time for.

Upcoming story you are most excited to write: the same undercover as married while in pre-relationship mission story for Jyn and Cassian as I mentioned before. I have many vivid images of it in my mind along with a ridiculous amount of dialog I want them to get through. I just hope I still remember it like that when I finally get to it. :D

Tagging: any fanfic writer who follows me is welcome to do this, but no pressure whatsoever. ;)

[pollylynn]

“How about we skip the macho fantasy?”

—Laura, Headhunters (4 x 21)

Title: Parley

Rating: T

WC: 1100

A/N: This was an alternate for the Headhunters installment of Dialogic that I had hanging around.

For a man who is barely speaking to her, there are signs of Richard Castle everywhere. His handwriting shows up in documentary snapshots of various iterations of the murder board for the case they’re going to trial with. It’s on post-its and scrap-paper notes stapled to forms and tucked into folders.

His name is on crime scene sign-in sheets and interview write-ups and reports in her own voice, in Ryan’s, in Esposito’s. It’s on everyone’s lips in whispers as she leaves the break room, in a shout across the bullpen from the more clueless among them: Hey, where’s Castle? What’s Castle up to? Did I see Castle with . . .? Hey, Beckett, what the hell’s Castle thinking?

He’s everywhere, and she swings miserably between angry about it and unbearably sad. She goes quiet in the face of Esposito’s abuse of the man, and quieter still at his ham-fisted attempts to get her to spill her guts about their sudden estrangement or whatever it is. She’s far sharper than she needs to be—than she should be—with Ryan when he . . . wants to report Castle to the principal for being mean or something.

She’s had enough. She’s tried to talk it out in therapy. She’s tried to redirect her thoughts toward what she can, will, should do, not what he does, has done, keeps on doing, but none of it really helps. She’s had enough of his handwriting, his name, and the way he’s omnipresent in his absence. She’s had beyond enough of traversing her own emotional terrain over this—over him. She knows every inch of it.

At least she thinks so until Martha shows up.

She sees her from a distance. His mother. She stops to chat with Ryan, giving him a warm smile and sharing some brief, intense bit of chat that ends in laughter for both of them. The extended moment gives Kate ample time to make a study of Martha from the vantage point of the work room.

She’s in royal blue with a blouse of shimmering forest green fabric beneath a slim-fitting jacket. The color combination shouldn’t work with the styling and fit, especially with the scarf, wildly patterned in different colors entirely, that she has knotted jauntily around her neck. But it does work. For Martha, of course it works.

What catches Kate’s attention, though—what strikes something like fear into her heart—is how relatively subdued the ensemble is. With the blank expanses of solid color it almost looks like she’s in mourning. Kate watches as her fingers tug at the knot of the scarf and her small talk with Ryan clearly draws to a close. She unwinds the silk expanse of it and pulls it free, intensifying the severe effect of skirt suit’s tailored lines.

“Detective.” Martha turns, every trace of a smile vacating her face, before Kate announces herself—before she even realizes that she’s somehow crept closer. “I was hoping I might have a word.”

“Martha.” Kate’s tone sounds sullen to her own ears. It sounds stupid and childish, but the chilly demeanor hurts coming from this woman who has been warm and effusive and welcoming for years. She makes a formal gesture toward the work room, trying to course correct, trying to win back some measure of control. “Yes, of course.”

“I won’t take too much of your time,” Martha says as she sets her purse aside and peels off her gloves, finger-by-finger. She regards the table crowded with boxes and the stacks of paper, piled high as though she’s glad of the looming excuse to keep things brief. “Obviously you’re busy.”

“Well, you know,” Kate says, feeling reduced to something limp and uncertain all over again. “What can I do for you, Martha?”

“You can keep Richard from getting himself killed,” Martha replies as she slaps her gloves down beside her bag.

“Killed?” Kate tries to find some middle ground between laughing it off and laughing at the woman herself. “Detective Slaughter is—”

“A lunatic,” Martha interrupts. “We both understand that.”

“Yes,” Kate shoots back, her hackles rising at last. “And we all have tried to make Castle—

“Richard ‘understands’ this awful man as well as either of us does.” She makes air quotes. ��I am not asking you to make him understand the fact that he’s in danger, I’m asking you to get him out of it.”

“I don’t think I can.” Her eyes drop to the floor. They land on a yellow post-it on the top of the stack of paper at her feet. On his handwriting, of course. “He won’t listen.”

“He won’t listen,” Martha repeats, her voice flat and damning. “Yes. I imagine that’s what Richard told your father. And your Captain. That you wouldn’t listen to a word he said.” She takes up her gloves. She takes up her bag and the wildly patterned, fluttering length of her scarf. “And yet, he tried.” The corners of her mouth twitch. Her eyes glint in the harsh fluorescent light of the work room. Kate isn’t sure which of them the moment is worse for. “He tried to save you from yourself, and if you have ever—ever—had a shred of feeling for my son, Detective Beckett, you’ll find it somewhere in yourself to do as much for him.”

She’s gone then. Before Kate can so much as form a coherent thought, let alone ask any one of the flood of questions welling up in her, the woman is gone as absolutely as if she had never been there.

Your father. Your Captain.

The words turn cartwheels in her head. She is mystified, mortified, stupefied and simultaneously sure exactly what, when, where Martha is talking about, at least as far as that part is concerned. Your father. Your Captain. She wants to lay her head down and not lift it again until . . . she doesn’t know when. Until she can make sense of it—the then.

But she has to deal with the now. Martha is right about that. She has to deal with what she should, can, will do.

“Ryan,” she calls out. Her voice is sharp enough to snap the young detective to her like he’s on a string. “Whatever you were doing for Castle just now—”

“I’m not—” He blushes six shades of red and his eyes skitter along the wall just above her shoulder.

“Save it,” she snaps. “I want to see whatever it is. I want to know exactly what Slaughter’s gotten him into and how we’re going to get him out of it.”

[myupostsheadcanons]

Books “Read” in 2019

I am going to rank these by how much i enjoyed them vs. any actual literary quality. often well written books aren’t always the most entertaining books.

Note: i listen to many of these books at work, which is why i am able to go through so many of them in a year.

List from 2017 List from 2018

------- My Favs of the Year ----

Novels from The First Law:

Best Served Cold (#1), The Heroes(#3), Red Country(#4), Sharp Ends(#5).

A Little Hatred (#2) (Age of Madness, sequel to The First Law)

I read “The First Law Trilogy” about a year or two ago and finally got around to reading the rest of the books, just in time for a new series taking place in the same world to start up (Age of Madness) and now i am waiting like everybody else for the next two books to come out in 2020 and 2021. A Little Hatred shouldn’t be read as a stand alone, a lot of what goes on is dependent mainly on knowledge from the first trilogy and in The Heroes, then bits and pieces from Best Served Cold and Red Country. So much of your enjoyment of each book is based on what you’ve learned in other ones (character development or seemingly useless information being not so useless later).

Age of Legend (Book 4,  Legend of the First Empire)

This is more-or-less an “aftermath” book where the main characters are still reeling about what happened in the previous book and are trying to make plans for what they are going to do next. I still like the characters and the world/setting it takes place in.

House of Assassins (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 2)

I’ve been waiting for the next book in this series to come out the second i finished the first book in the series. It is one of those Science fiction in the disguise of Fantasy settings and I am on the edge of my seat waiting to see how that plot/revelation comes out (I am certain that the location the story takes place is Earth, more specifically around Asia/India, but in a post-invasion apocalypse setting where nobody remembers anything prior to the invasion). I also really like how much of a badass Ashok is... i have a thing for emotionally stunted badass characters, especially when their flaws are held up to a mirror and have real consequences.

R. R. Haywood’s Worldship Humility & Extinct (Extracted, Book 3)

I love the way Haywood writes characters and dialog. I was at-first iffy about WSH, but was won over after i warmed up to the new characters.

Shades of Magic Trilogy (A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, A Conjuring of Shadows)

Solid multi-verse and magic system world. Well-written characters, some minor nitpicks on plot points, but can be easily ignored. LGBTQ rep, the gays don’t stay buried.

“Don’t you have enough [knives]?” “You can never have too many.” [me, every time: LOL]

One of the few times when a character deserves a redemption arc, doesn’t really get one, dies, and i am perfectly fine with it because it is done well.

Assassin’s Fate (Fitz and the Fool, Book 3)

I read this one in book-book form, but i already knew most of the emotionally painful parts of the book by spoiling it to myself when it first came out a couple years ago. The main appeal is the inner monologues of the two main characters, even if like 50% of this trilogy is basically spending weeks/months trying to go from Point A to Point B, when many other books would have glossed over the details of travel.. but you can really feel the stress as they dwell in their thoughts and struggles.

Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles & Circe

Re-Imagining of the Iliad and The Odyssey. Focusing not on the characters of Achilles or Odysseus, but on Petroclus (Achilles’ lover) and Circe the sea nymph witch that Odysseus had an affair and child with.

The Spear of the Stars (Cycle of Galand, Book 5)

Still love Dante and Bleys... This is where they really get into the meat of world building and solving the mysteries of the Arawn Cycle (the book/bible) and peel back the layers of their reality.

Dust (Silo Book 3)

A great ending to a good series, it answers whether or not humanity can or has survived what had caused them to be locked away in the silos.

Blackthorn and Grim (Dreamer’s Pool, Tower of Thorns, Den of Wolves)

I like the premise of the books, the two main characters first seeking out revenge, but end up wanting to become better people due to magic shenanigans.... One part Fantasy, One Part Mystery, One Part Lovestory.

The Dispatcher (Audible Free Book) 

I want a whole series based off this novella. It is John Scalzi so he can write a good story. I had previously read Android’s Dream by him, which it didn’t make it into my top-10 that year, but was still decent, even if the subject matter was a bit gross... The Dispatcher world is a Sci-Fi Noir, not quite Cyberpunk, where people don’t die by anything other than natural causes. The Dispatcher’s job is to kill people before something goes does wrong and the person “resets” to when they where safe and sound.

---- this is the “Above Average” Zone ----

All the Pretty Horses & Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West

The master of bleak and depressing fiction. if regular Dark Fiction isn’t enough for you.... there is Cormac McCarthy books. Get use to the “purple prose” that fills up pages with no dialog.

The Golem and the Jinni

Supernatural world of the far past dealing with Edwardian New York and Immigration. It not only is a “fish out of water” story of the two main characters trying to fit in with society but they are among communities that are also new to America and trying to find their own place in the world. There are love subplots but most of those kind of fizzle out.

The Axe and the Throne: Bounds of Redemption Vol. 1.

“Discount First Law” book... it is lacking the dark humor that made TFL series far more entertaining.  This was also the book that was prefaced by warning people about how grim and dark the setting was... Hahahaha. I still found it entertaining none the less, and hope the rest would show up on audible soon.

Black Snow, White Crow (Audible Free Book) 

Another one of those short stories that should have a larger saga to its name. Fantasy Industrial Punk. It has the whole equality role reversal thing going on, it isn’t done quite as well as Left Hand of Darkness (but that book leaned onto the boring side of things).

Stephen King’s IT, Pet Semetary, and Carrie

It’s Stephen King. Classic King. Not much else to say.

Watership Down

Depressing Rabbit Book. Though I did like all the stories and mythology the rabbits had.

Bloody Acquisitions (Fred the Vampire Accountant, Book 3)

A series that is always fun to listen to. I wish the audio books were cheaper because they are rather short.

Lethal White (Cormoran Strike, Book 4)

shuddup, i don’t care if it is Rowling... i have a low-key crush on Cormoran.... he just hits that big-burly tragic-backstory man-shaped soft-spot of mine. These stories are also her “for adults” writings so...  expect more racism and garbage values.

The Eye of the World (Book 1, Wheel of Time)

Classic set up to a long running series, though i am reluctant to go further as the middling books in this series are said to drag out the story too much.... It’s not as self-centered as Wizard’s First Rule and the characters are more relatable and stick to their fantasy tropes. This is the “mold” that other modern fantasy try to subvert by going “darker and edgier.”

The Exorcist

If you like the movie, read the book. There is a lot of back story that the movie wasn’t able to adapt.

---- This is the “AVERAGE, but Still Good”  Zone ---

The Iliad and The Odyssey

Classics. I am still on the hunt for an unabridged version of Jason and the Argonauts story. I also have Virgil’s Aeneid in my wishlist to get too soon.

Phillipa Gregory’s Plantagonate Novels (The Lady of the Rivers, The Red Queen, White Queen, The Kingmaker’s Daughter)

Sometimes it is like reading the same book 5x in a row. other times you end up not liking the previous protagonist in a book you just finished reading because of how the current protagonist sees them from their POV.

Return of the King (Lord of the Rings, Book 3)

Read the other books last year and didn’t get around to this one for a few months.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Fuck... I’m a janitor... why can’t i afford a house?   If you liked Stephen King’s “IT” go back and read this book.

Alien Franchise Dramatizations: Alien: Sea of Sorrows, Alien: The Cold Forge (Audible Free Book) Alien III (Audible Free Book)

I don’t mind that they all are done with a full cast. Though often I end up wanting to find the actual book and listen to them with just one narrator and descriptions.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Narnia, Book 1)

I would like to get the rest of the books in this series, but for books that are only 5-7 hours long they want 20$ a book for them. It needs to go into an omnibus.

Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets (Audible Free Book)

It’s Stephen Fry... he’s funny and a good narrator.

Wizard’s First Rule (Book 1, Sword of Truth)

I don’t like Richard. He started off alright, but even before he got tortured 2/3rds into the book, i was starting to dislike his personality.  Other than that, the side characters and world are solid, but it was like taking an R-rated movie and cutting it down for TV. There is somethings that are vaguely described when i am use to harder fiction like ASoIaF, The First Law, Dresden, and McCarthy books actually describing those things.

Halloween (2018, movie novel)

Like I said when i first read the book, it would’ve benefited by a second re-write before being published. But, i like the movie and so I liked the book.

Don Quixote

Another classic read. I did find it hilarious that the Author spent a good chunk of the second book complaining about Fanfiction of his own book... in the 1600′s.

The Princess Diarist

I listened this book instead of going to see TROS. worth it.

Smoke Gets in Your eyes: And other Lessons from the Crematorium

Non-Fiction, If you want to know the ins and outs of the funeral business and get told in an informative yet non-clinical way with lots of tidbits and history facts tossed in as well as a semi-autobiographical account of the Author’s life.

--- These Books are “Alright” ---

Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz books

I ligit got into an argument with a 70yo man in a comic book shop about how Canon the other Oz books were post Baum’s death. He was looking for Oz comic books and I brought up reading the first 14 books, and he’s like “There’s over 100 of them” and i was all “but all those are written by somebody else.” and he got all “they are still canon...” 

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

If you want to know about the In//cel ideology in a classic literary form, this fits the bill. So much man pain.

A Christmas Carol (Tim Curry) (Audible Free Book)

Tim Curry, guys.....

The Poetic Edda (Norse God Mythology)

I listened this book twice. I bought two Edda books thinking I’d get some extra content, but no... same book just different production teams and readers. Returned the one with the worst translation.

Treasure Island (Audible Free Book, dramatization)

I need to read the actual book sometime, but i did like the cast and thought they did a good job.

Wally Roux, Quantum Mechanic (Audible Free Book)

A YA coming of age story about diversity and acceptance... with wacky science fiction. 

Carmilla (Audible Free Book, dramatization)

The vampire before Dracula. Victorian Lesbian love story.

Even Tree Nymphs get the Blues (Audible Free Book)

A novella from one of those “love on the Bayou” romance series with supernatural creatures. Could practically take place in the same world of either True Blood, Dresden, or Fred the Vampire Accountant.

Mystwick School of Musicraft (Audible Free Book)

Harry Potter lite. For 10yo girls.

A Grown-up’s Guide to Dinosaurs (Audible Free Book)

I like dinosaurs.

Rivals! Frenemies Who Changed the World (Audible Free Book, Dramatization)

Interesting way on telling us about the Fossil Wars and Puma vs. Adidas.

True-Crime from Audible: Body of Proof (Audible Free Book),   Midnight Son (Audible Free Book), The Demon Next Door (Audible Free Book), Killer By Nature (Audible Free Book)

Why is True-Crime or YA fiction the only halfway-decent things Audible is giving us? But yeah, these are basically the type of reporting that the two journalists from Halloween were trying to do. Where they go around and gather up information about semi-famous cases and present it in a Podcast-like format.

---- Meh... ---

Camp Red Moon (Audible Free Book)

Would’ve been better if they were actually written by R. L. Stein.

More Bedtime Stories for Cynics (Audible Free Book)

No... half of these aren’t written very well.

The Darkwater Bride (Audible Free Book, Dramatization)

The setting is nice, but it is far too .... Soap Opera Dramatic.

Junk (Audible Free Book)

A cross between Alien Invasion and Zombie outbreak, read by John Waters and written as if it was a bad version of a Philip K. Dick Novel.

Rip Off!! (Audible Free Book)

Most of them are duds and boring. I don’t even remember half of them without having to look them up. The two that stood out the most for me where the “Other Darren/Bewitched” and the “Dark and Stormy Night” stories, the rest were rather garbled.

--- Garbage... ---

Dodge and Twist (Audible Free Book, Dramatization)

No, you are not being edgy or kool.

Unread:

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4)

Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3)

Earthsea (Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea, i am going to re-listen to the first three before i get to these)

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1)

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book)

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book)

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book)

The Other Boleyn Girl (Phillipa Gregory)

[douchebagbrainwaves]

BUT INCREASINGLY THE FOUNDERS OF A LOT OF I/O-BOUND

Even YC's haters buy it. The best investors are also the most selective, because they don't have sufficient flexibility to adapt to the whims of investors. The other connection between startups and technology is that startups are not identical, but that was the right way. By the 1970s, when I was running a startup you have lots of meetings but isn't progressing toward making you an offer. Could VC be a Casualty of the Recession? A couple days ago an interviewer asked me if founders having more power would be better to describe iTunes as Web 1. It also means you know what to test most carefully when you're about to release software to users. I can tell, the first is to tell the reader something new and useful; work in fairly big quanta of time; when you finish, leave yourself something easy to start to depend on it happening. To find them, keep track of opinions that get people in trouble today. As long as you might expect, considering the bimodal distribution of outcomes in startups: you need the permission of investors to do it is to buy all the best deals, because if angel rounds become more legitimate, then startups may start to focus on the upside: they get less done, but they are not the ones you have to give a baby the impression the world is a small change and what is a lot more on its design. For many, the only reason you need a certain body type.

And as clients get smaller, software development gets exponentially more efficient. I find myself saying a lot is at stake. The fact that the text is email, and whatever it returns gets inserted in place of the macro call. It means the probability of raising more money, and another that uses these tools to write the sufficiently smart compiler, but no smarter than you; they're not as motivated, because Google is not the primary cause. We've now reached that point with stuff. The dialog on Beavis and Butthead was composed largely of these, and when you do decide to raise money. Friends would leave something behind when they moved, or I'd find something in almost new condition for a good part of the language, and to spend as little money as possible. So the most important reader. You only take one shower in the morning, and see what new ideas it gives you another source of interesting heresies. Html for bright red turns out to be fuzzy around the edges if you examine it closely. Under the present rules, patents are of secondary importance. After the lecture the most common type of ambition.

But it's not humming with ambition. We plan to raise a certain minimum amount. But we soon saw we needed a third: start your own startup. By unsavory I mean things that go behind whatever semantic facade the language is trying to make good things. In the original sense, is something called bottom-up programming. It's hard to find something you like so much that it's critical to get your product to please users first, and that's just information. What would make the legislator who introduced the bill famous. But remember that ramen profitability is that it's good for morale to know people want to make a living. But hackers use their offices for more than their lifetime value, counting users as active when they're really not, bleeding out invites at a regularly increasing rate to manufacture a perfect growth curve, etc. The market is a lot flatter than for students, especially in math and one rooted in machine architecture. The big disadvantage of the new applications that get written in the same conversation. The toolmakers would have users, but by then it's too late.

A friend of mine said, Most VCs can't do anything really well. And that has a lot more on you than on your competitors. And I found the best way to begin may not be so useful if it delivered your dinner to a random person off the street and somehow got them to play games with kids' credulity. This is not the power of holding a program in one's head: to see when two ideas don't fully cover the space of startup ideas as scalars. Make something people want. And yet someone always decides to try anyway, and about fifteen minutes of reading an article is understanding its structure—figuring out what you're doing. Well, they're not all innate. That kind of change that yielded Apple; advances in chip technology finally let Steve Wozniak design a computer he could afford. A lot of ancient philosophy had the quality—and I don't think anyone really believes it is the most common mistake people make about economic inequality combines all three. They would say that was a test of investor quality.

If you're still losing money, then eventually you'll either have to get bought for 30 million, you care. And the startups where they have to include business people? And if you have competitors who get to work on it. Day could see the average town was like a bunch of big public companies doing search. The reason the filters caught them was that both companies in January switched to commercial email senders instead of sending the mails from their own startups. We've kept the program shape—all of us having dinner together once a week, but if I were playing some kind of read-macro. Convince Investors August 2013 When people hurt themselves lifting heavy things, it's usually because the product was a Basic interpreter for the Altair; Basic for other machines; other languages besides Basic; operating systems; applications; IPO. Imagine walking around for years with five pound ankle weights, then suddenly notice it was almost lunchtime and I hadn't gotten any real work done. He said he didn't think so, but you can't save him from referring to variables in another package, but you have no immediate use for teenagers. But events like Demo Day only needs to be tweaked slightly.

What's going on? But this wasn't what made them eminent—it was more a flaw their eminence had allowed them to keep whatever wealth they created. So there could be other ways to arrange that relationship. The way I studied for exams in these classes was not except incidentally to master the material taught in the class, but to show where languages are heading. Which in practice usually means, whatever existing agreement he finds lying around his firm. Such deals may be a struggle ahead. The reason credentials have such prestige is that the founders of the next Google, but out of 2500 some would come close. Partly because I'm a writer, but to notice quickly when your beliefs become obsolete, you can't tell who the good hackers are much better than Microsoft today. How do you find them? They'll be tougher on valuations, but more than full-time at being popular every waking hour, 365 days a year. They didn't feel the need to present as a given—as an area of fixed size, over which however much truth they have must needs be spread, however thinly. And not merely linearly, either.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD3x01 – “Changing of the Guard”

3x01 – “Changing of the Guard”

Keith and Red are searching through the debris of the season two finale fight, looking for Shiro’s body. So that makes me ask a couple of questions that the show never answers: What happened to Shiro’s body, and how exactly did he die? Zarkon survived. The other Paladins survived. Why did Shiro, specifically, not survive? And not just why did he die while others as nearby and as involved in the fight as he was didn’t die, but what happened to make his death result in his body’s disappearance? This is a mystery that the show has set up that it never explains. Sure, the missing body creates narrative space for the fakery of the return/clone plotline, but it doesn’t explain what happened to Shiro’s body. And it doesn’t explain why only Shiro and no one else was affected in this way. I can’t help but feel that the EPs and writers of the show just didn’t care enough to think they needed to bother answering these questions. 

Allura is preparing for a diplomatic meeting with some species that recently declared independence. Allura specifically states that they “just freed these planets,” but we’ve only ever seen Voltron free the Balmerans and the Olkari. The rest of Voltron’s fight has been directly at Zarkon. I guess she’s thinking Zarkon’s dead and thus everyone’s free from the Empire just because one person’s dead? Or are we supposed to assume that Voltron’s now spent a lot of time offscreen fighting to free some planets? The episode opening with Keith’s search for Shiro suggests a much shorter timeframe than would be needed for additional, large scale assaults. But the next scene of Lance, Hunk, and the Blade of Marmora attacking some Galra forces on Puig suggest they’ve spent time fighting elsewhere. It would be nice if the show was clearer about this.

The banter of Lance and Hunk during the fight is jarring. Would they really be so happy-in-battle with their last battle having resulted in the death of their supposed friend, Shiro? They are way too damn casual. Lance is excited about a parade, takes selfies, and flirts with girls. The people of this planet were just saved in huge part due to the Blades, but of course the show has those people glare at Kolivan as if the Blades didn’t just risk their lives for these people. Hunk says that the Galra Empire looks like it’s just falling apart; this is such simplistic writing to put in any character’s dialog. A universe-spanning oppressive force like the Galra Empire would not fall apart just because Zarkon’s dead (of course we know he’s not actually dead). Thinking that it would fall apart is to think that the legions of Galra who fight for and believe in the Empire don’t have their own minds. It’s nice that Lance sticks up for the Blades when the Puigians are dismissive of them; I didn’t expect that of him.

Pidge is busy trying to learn more from the surveillance clip she got of her brother. Coran calls her “Number 5” again, which is sweet. I like the idea of these two being friends. Coran brags about having once been a bit of an “intergalactic fashion pirate,” and given the current mustache he has, I would believe it even if the show didn’t show him imagining his past cape.

Everyone’s sitting around, talking proudly of their successes, Lance is boasting and bragging in his normal obnoxious way, Hunk’s worried about how they can’t form Voltron now and that people, like the Puigians, want to see it. No one is mourning or grieving the loss of Shiro except for Keith. This infuriates me. I’m supposed to believe that this is a show about friendship and and found family? Keith is the only character who actually cares about Shiro.

“It maybe difficult for us all to accept, but it is time to think about finding a new pilot for the Black Lion,” Allura says. Is it? Is it really time? How much time has passed? The show doesn’t answer this, so we have no way to properly contextualize her comment. This episode opened with Keith still trying to find Shiro’s body, which suggests it’s not been long. I have to assume the show itself has no idea how much time has passed.

“Shiro is the one person who never gave up on me. I won’t give up on him,” Keith declares. As someone for whom loyalty is a big deal, I love Keith’s display of it here.

Meanwhile, Haggar is covering up that Zarkon is unconscious and incapacitated to the rest of the Galra. She’s pretending that Zarkon has requested Lotor take command of the Empire. We get our first glimpse of Ezor, who I think is one of the most ridiculous looking aliens this show ever designed. She looks like she’s got a giant sock hanging off her head. She can also turn invisible. Invisibility is a logistical and tactical big deal. If she’s accomplishing it technologically, then I need it explained why more people don’t use such technology, especially since this story is so war-focused. If it’s a biological ability due to her species, then that would give her species a significant advantage during the war too, so I would expect the larger-scale use as part of the war effort to at least be addressed by the show. I don’t remember it ever doing so though, just like the cloaking technology of the Green Lion never being added to the other Lions, I only remember Ezor’s invisibility being exclusively hers.

Representatives of five new species meet with Allura, the Paladins, and Kolivan during a diplomatic dinner. Hunk has cooked for the dinner, and I’m glad to see his connection to food is being used for a reasonable purpose and not as a fat joke. Kolivan presents some data about the current state of the Galra Empire, pointing out that there is now an increase in open rebellion against the Galra. The diplomats push the issue about wanting to see Voltron. Keith snaps at them. I’m not a fan of how dumbed-down the diplomats are, and this is a reoccurring thing with species outside of Voltron/Alteans/Galra in this show. They so often are presented as if they’re helpless and sitting around waiting to be saved. I just don’t buy the idea that no one has been fighting back until Voltron shows up to do all the heavy lifting

Keith yells again, “Tell them to stand up and fight for themselves.” He’s not wrong.

At the Galra gladiatorial arena, two Galra complain to one another about Lotor. We’re given an exposition-introduction to the character. Until now, Lotor’s been exiled. He’s known to fight alongside his lower ranking soldiers, which offends these two Galra because they apparently think a leader should pompously stand around, aloof from those sent to do the fighting. His chosen generals aren’t “pure Galra. They’re half-breeds at best.” The Galra have been shown to have a significant amount of polymorphism in their species already, so I don’t know what the show considers “pure Galra” to even have Throk complaining about the lack of it in Lotor’s generals. Lotor lets planets he conquers “continue to rule themselves.” At the end of season six, the show turned Lotor into just another maniacal, cackling, cliché villain. But here, in his introduction, it sounds more like he’s being set up to become another protagonist for the show. This exposition just spent a lot of time describing Lotor as having really good qualities.

Throk drops the idea that he’s considering challenging for the throne of the Galra Empire.

And then, they turn their attention to the fight in the arena. The “little fellow” fighting is one they’ve never seen before. Surprise, it’s Lotor. He pulls off his helmet, and out falls a lot of long hair. It would have taken a lot of effort to get all that hair up in that helmet. I wonder how many people responsible for his design and animation have ever had to deal with having long hair. Lotor reveals he’s aware that Throk wants to challenge for the crown, and he calls Throk on it right there in front of everyone. Lotor emphasizes Galra traditionalism of honorable combat. It gets many in the crowd on his side.

Lotor’s four generals reveal themselves. I really like that they’re all female. I still think Ezor looks absolutely ridiculous. Zethrid defies stereotypes of femininity, which is cool. Narti, with her mask and cat, clearly has something intriguing going on. Axca looks the most normal, just blue, and thus is the most visually uninteresting of the four (I’m open to having my mind changed during this rewatch, but I generally think of Axca as the most uninteresting of the four generals in every way).

Throk accepts the challenge and enters the arena. Lotor says Throk has “flawless technique,” but the animation makes Throk look more like he’s flailing and using a lot of energy in wild swings. He looks like he’s trying to brute force his way through the fight, rather than use technique. I don’t know if this is a lack of the animation matching the script, or if this is Lotor sarcastically taunting Throk. “In the end, your own aggression is your undoing,” Lotor says. The show is really doing a lot right up front here to make viewers interested in and side with Lotor.

“My father built our Empire on the bones of his enemies, but the time has come to change the old ways and inspire not fear from those we rule, but loyalty,” Lotor says in his speech. Throk, defeated, pledges loyalty to Lotor as does most, if not all, of the audience. Afterward, Lotor says to his generals, “The masses are easily manipulated.” His capacity for scheming is clear. A lot of Lotor’s character throughout the series seems like he’s someone who’s trying to change a longstanding culture from the inside. His introduction certainly complicates the Galra and the conflict of the show.

Keith stands looking at the Black Lion, everyone else is a little back behind him. Eventually Lance goes over to talk to him. He says that they all miss Shiro, but none of them have acted like it. Except for Keith, they’ve all done nothing in this episode to even suggest they care about having lost a friend. And the way they describe Shiro, they haven’t. Lance describes Shiro as a role model. Pidge literally says Shiro’s a “legend.” Hunk reduces Shiro to a piloting instructor. None of them say anything to suggest they think of him as a friend.

“You’re not the only one hurting, man,” Lance says. This line feels like the show insulting my intelligence. No one except for Keith has demonstrated they are hurting over Shiro’s death. Allura refers to Shiro as “completely irreplaceable,” which again feels like the show insulting my intelligence since what’s happening is that the EPs/writers/the show want to replace Shiro.

This episode could have respected the plot of Shiro’s death by depicting everyone grieving in their own respective ways. But it doesn’t. It only shows Keith grieving. Everyone else – Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, Coran – they’ve all moved on already. Shiro is thus shown to have not been important to anyone other than Keith. If they had written this episode to show how each character was grieving Shiro, then it would have been an invitation to the viewers to feel the loss of the character. As is, it feels more like the episode is admonishing the audience for caring about Shiro and condemning them for not just instantly getting over his death like everyone (but Keith) does.

I end this episode feeling insulted by the show.

[seenashwrite]

Writing question: If a group of people walk up to the reader, and he/she already knows who they are (example: they are actors, musicians, authors, ect.), is it better to just list all the people outside of dialog (In front of him/her stood John Smith, Joe Blow, Jim Bean, and Johnny Walker) or should the people introduce themselves, anyway? (Hi, I'm Fill-in-the-blank, and this is Such-and-such, So-and-so, and That-one-over-there.)

My immediate reaction to the listing off-sides was intestinal torsion. 

Hoo-boy, we’re starting out with a bang o’ bluntness. But I got your attention, right? You, person, having just read that question? See that’s the thing, Nonners: you just gave an inventory of stuff there - you had to, of course, to ask the Q - but imagine that in a story. Kills momentum.

Now, I’m operating here from a VERY-all-capital-letters important assumption, which is that someone in this collective of people who are about to be noted are integral to the plot, meaning they are a Totally Big Deal Character, either co-protagonist to your reader protag, or they are protag’s antagonist. 

Otherwise? If they’re just passing through, but we are taking time to say names and shake hands and exchange pleasantries or whatnot? This is gonna stall the engine like a teenager learning how to work a clutch on an incline. (Oh, and regardless of which route you take, advise a hard pass at it happening at the top of/near the top of the story, too many people to drop from the get-go.)

So other than Totally Big Deal Character, what do I mean by integral? Easiest way to tell is if the Knowns aren’t going to have speaking roles, or it’s just minor throw-away stuff like “Look out!” or “We’re headed to lunch, need anything?”, etc. If that’s the case, they don’t need proper introductions, especially because they’re Knowns. We wanna acknowledge without going down a receiving line.

Multiple character intros in dialogue vs. off-sides is preferable whenever possible - certainly, book-length stuff gives more wiggle room, ‘cause readers know up front they’re in for a long haul - and here’s how I’d dodge a “listing the ingredients in a recipe” vibe during introductions… 

Picture it - we’re grooving along, we’ve gotten to know Nash a bit (that’s Y/N for this scenario, because I’m not typing that-which-I-just-typed again, we’ve hit the “1″ limit I give myself so as not to break out in hives) and we’ve kinda got the plot cranking, and now it’s time to meet Totally Big Deal Character.

And because Totally Big Deal Character’s posse are Knowns, to Nash and everybody else in the story and everybody reading, you could—- hang on. 

Alex, hon, you mind helping with this real quick?

Sweet. Thanks, puddin’. 

All right, so my author eye is on the prize. That’s him. The rest of the people with him are garnish. That’s mah steak. Don’t want no peas and carrots and taters… I will likely want the taters, because I always order them with steak, but that’s neither here nor there.

Say that Alex is back on cable TV in a bananas series where the lead male can’t act worth a shit and the main female character is obnoxious despite the quite adept actress portraying her—–

Jeez, Moody McPissypants, it’s just a scenario! 

He and a handful of cast mates are walking over, Nash is chatting with Friend Person, they’re kinda surprised to discover that yes, indeed, Alex and co. appear to not just be passing by but are slowing down, they’ve come to a stop, hesitant but friendly smiles all around, and then —>

.

“Hey - you’re Nash?” he asked, and extended his hand. “I’m Alex.”

“Hi, yeah. Nice to meet you,” Nash replied, taking it..

“And you know these guys, right?” Alex added, gesturing to his cast mates, who all gave small waves and nods of acknowledgment.

“I do, I do… oh, and this is Friend,” said Nash.

Alex shook her hand as well, then turned back to Nash, saying, “We’re done for the day, and we’re headed out to get a beer, if you two wanted to come along.”

.

And hopefully, the bar is your setting where shit kicks off, whether it’s romance or friendship or finding out he’s some sort of serial killer or whatever. The crew doesn’t have to disappear - I mean, they kinda shouldn’t - so you can always toss in a casual —>

. 

Nash was leaning on the bar, waiting on the bartender to take her order, when she felt someone at her side.

“Let me get this next round.”

Alex.

“That’s okay, I’m just getting one for myself - she’s cut off,” Nash replied, and glanced over his shoulder; Friend was still hustling Alex’s poor, naive co-stars at the pool table. “It’s a real bloodbath over there.”

“Well… wanna dodge the carnage, maybe grab a booth, so it’s kinda in the shadows and I can stick my tongue down your throat without it being, like, a paparazzi bait thing?”

.

IT’S. A. SCENARIO.

Since you’ve established everybody knows who everybody is and there’s not necessarily a need to do roll call, you could, during little bits of dialogue (little, because again, eye on the prize) have somebody be like—- wait a sec.

Keanu? Doll? Can you help out real fast, if you’re not too busy, that is?

Awesome. Bit intense, but awesome.

You can have Friend rush over to the booth where Nash and Alex are about to tongue wrestle, and go —>

.

“Nash, quick, I need twenty bucks.”

“Uh, I’m going to need more than that,” Nash replied with a grin.

“Keanu would like to move on to darts, and I’m going to hand him his ass. You know, typical Friday.”

Alex chuckled, asking, “Did somebody finally beat you at pool? What happened to all your winnings?”

Friend shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m in the black. The twenty’s for him.”

.

Like I hit on briefly earlier, things like this are basically for the purpose of avoiding a situation of you having them there, then proceeding to never mention them again, because subconsciously (or consciously, for anal-retentives like myself) readers will be like, “Then why the hell were they brought up in the first place?” In my mind, that stuff plays better than —>

.

Nash and Friend’s conversation slowed to a halt, words dropping off with every footstep the group took in their direction.

Holy shitsnacks! thought Nash. That’s Alex Skarsgard! And Keanu Reeves! And bless my buttered biscuits, is that Jason Momoa? Is Dwayne Johnson carrying John Cho?! Did Friend just pass out, or is she dead? Should I start CPR? Wait, ermahgerd, Taika Waititi’s here, too, is he directing?!?

.

I’m being ridiculous, but hopefully you’re getting my point. Do acknowledgments via organic sprinklings through the dialogue take more words/more space? Sure. But it’s smoother. Smooth like the snow surrounding a nekkid Swede readin’ on a mountain top.

True Blood was batshit.

Hope this helped. 😊