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drakenology · 4 years ago

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Vapors - Bakugo Katsuki

warnings!: use of drugs (weed), smut, a lil comedy, fluff (cause im a cancer and we love romance in this house.) swearing because bakugo, Bakugo aged up (cause we don’t fuck children ‘round here), and sex under the influence of drugs. i also sprinkled some daddy kink up in here so...

author’s note: THANK YOU GUYS SOOOO MUCH FOR 100 NOTES ON MY RECENT POSTS!!! I really appreciate all the love, it makes me so happy to see that you guys like my work. Remember I’m taking requests and asks so please don’t be shy! here’s yet another bakugo smut because.. well, i’m obsessed with this man ok?? AND we need more stoner Bakugo idc idc idc. enjoy!

summary: Bakugo is a stoner and you’ve been kind of a goody two shoes for most of your life until the night you smoked with your boyfriend for the first time.

It was a calm evening at home. You had just finished cleaning the home you shared with Bakugo as he helped by washing the dishes. You sigh, putting away the vacuum as you go and hop in the shower. You loved when he took days off of being a hero to spend some time with you at home. As you take your shower, you hear your boyfriend singing along to his favorite song; you smile as you hear him carelessly belt the notes off key. You loved his stupid ass so much. If you had ever told anyone he was a softie for you he’d probably kill you himself, but you still cherish the moments when he’s at his sweetest. You step out of the shower, drying yourself off as you dress yourself in a t-shirt and fleece pajama pants to keep warm and cozy. You walk out to the living room to a strong stench that completely caught you off guard. Bakugo was sitting on the couch, singing his song in his own little world; rolling a joint for him to smoke.

“Katsuki! I told you no smoking in the house!” You nag, walking over to him. He smirked up at you, continuing to roll. He was in a really good mood today. He spent the day smoking weed and fucking his hot girlfriend. Even if she was a little uptight, she was fucking gorgeous and she had a good heart. Though he really wished you’d loosen your corset a bit.

“Relax, shitty woman. I’m taking this outside. Just rollin’ up as all.” He said, concentrating on sealing his joint. He licked the seams of the paper, looking you in the eyes as he did so. He chuckled as he watched your face turn red.

“You’ve never smoked before, huh?” Kastuki asked you, raising a brow at you as you watched him carefully roll his joint. You sat next to him, folding your arms as you shake your head no. Katsuki smoked, not a lot but whenever he had time to himself and you knew that. You never had a problem with it, you just never smoked yourself.

“I’d never. I used to think weed was so bad for you. But you smoke it and you seem fine.” You admit, watching him hold a lighter over his joint to seal the edges.

“Did you wanna try it with me? If not that’s fine, I’m not pressuring you to do anything you don’t want to, princess.” He said, cupping your chin in his hand as he gave you a small peck on your nose. You smile and think briefly. Katsuki knows that you’ve always been a goody two shoes. Ever since you two were kids, you were always so afraid to get into trouble for anything. He remembers when you cried all the way through detention for bickering with him in middle school. It was your first and only detention. You were so hysterical, it was as if someone died. You were just always so sweet and innocent. You never cussed or got too angry and that’s what Katsuki loved about you. You were such a calming spirit. Even though he was the complete opposite, it worked as you balanced each other out.

“Okay. But just this one night.” You giggle, hopping up out of your seat. He stands up and walks to the balcony of your apartment, smacking your ass as you walk through the sliding door. You two were sat next to each other, watching the sun set over the clouds as he lights up the joint for you both to share.

“Now I just wanna warn you, please don’t feel like you gotta keep up with me. You can stop when you feel like you’ve had enough. Okay?” He said, taking a drag. You nod, watching him closely to see how to properly smoke a joint. It had to be a science right? He takes another slow drag and blew out the smoke, passing it to you so you can have a hit. You take it and hold it like a cigarette, making Katsuki laugh as he watched his goody goody smoke weed for the first time. You take a puff, one that was a little too big for you to start off and immediately you cough up the smoke. Katsuki pats your back as he handed you some water to help your throat.

“Idiot.” He shakes his head, laughing slightly. You lightly hit his chest, trying to take another drag.

“Just inhale. You’re overthinking it.” He said watching you slowly take a drag. Sure enough after following Bakugo’s instruction, you blow out the smoke. You felt your body instantly relax, your eyes hazy and low as you watch Katsuki smoke some more. God, he was so attractive. You’ve never sat and watched him smoke before, he’d always leave the room out of respect for you not liking the smoke in the house. But with the way your body feels right now, you think you’d been missing out for sure. You take in his form, he was slouched in his chair with his legs spread out as he smoked. You felt yourself blush as you watched him, in awe of his stature. He passed you the joint once more and you happily took another drag. You loved the high you were feeling, the stars in the sky twinkling much more pristine as then usual. You become a little giggly, your first time being high just seemed so hilarious.

“What’re you laughin’ at?” Bakugo says looking at you with hazy eyes, your laughter roaring through his ears.

“I-I’m sorry I just- AHAHAHAHA!” You burst, hunching over laughing at practically nothing. Being high was kinda fun. Bakugo laughs with you, putting out the joint when he was done.

“That’s enough for you, shitty woman.” He said standing up from his chair. You slowly stand up from your seat as you wobble a little, feeling your balance being thrown off by the influence of weed. He helps you inside, opening the door for you letting you walk in first. As a tradition, he smacks you ass as you walk through the door. You looked especially delicious when he was high, his pants feeling a little tight just looking at you. He plops down on the couch and turned on the T.V, flipping through Netflix as you walked into the kitchen.

“I’m fucking HUNGRY.” You blurt out, looking through the cabinets for something to snack on. Katsuki froze, unsure that he heard what he just heard.

“D-Did you just fucking cuss?” He asked, completely shocked. Never in his years of knowing you has he ever heard you utter a swear word. He tried to get you to at least say “Damn.” and that never worked.

“Oh shit... I did just cuss. Oh shit I just cussed again! FUCK!” You laugh, not being able to contain your foul language. It felt as if a huge burden had been lifted off your shoulders, finally loosening your metaphorical corset. Katsuki laughed.

“What’s gotten into you, huh?” He asked sarcastically, standing up from his seat on the couch. He walked towards you to see you stuffing you face with every snack from your pantry. You had a seriously bad case of the munchies, crunching away at some potato chips.

“We gotta go food shopping tomorrow. Ain’t shit in here to eat. UGH why does food taste so fucking good right now!?” You said, cussing with ease at this point. Bakugo inched closer to you shaking his head, snatching the bag of chips away from you as he started to eat them. You frown, grabbing some cookies instead.

“Gimme one.” Bakugo said, grabbing the cookie out of your mouth with his, taking a bite from it. You blush as you chew your own cookie, watching him look down at you. You never really realized how much taller Bakugo was compared to you. You took your hand and wiped some crumbs from the corner of his mouth, kissing him deeply as you pulled him closer to you. Katsuki kissed you back, picking you up and sitting you on the kitchen counter. The kiss under the influence felt amazing. It was like time froze while you kissed, your lips combined feeling like electricity as you melt into him. You feel yourself getting wetter by the second, immensely turned on by this man. You tug at the hem of his shirt for him to take it off, earning a chuckle from Katsuki.

“You’re horny as fuck right now, aren’t you?” He asked, leaning in to kiss your neck. “I can tell you’re probably soaked right now.” You moan as he left open mouth kisses down your neck, reaching under your shirt to grab and squeeze at your bare breasts. You feel absolutely blissful, your panties soaking at this point. Why did everything feel so fucking good right now?

“Kachan~” You whine, trying to grind against him as he licked and sucked on your neck, pinching your nipples lightly. You feel as if you’re about to cum just from him playing with your boobs and kissing your neck, your pussy pulsating as you grab onto him for dear life. All the pleasure was becoming so blinding you never wanted this feeling to go away. Katsuki lifts you up again to walk back into the living room with you in his arms, sitting on the couch with you on his lap.

“Tell me what you want, baby.” He said, nibbling on your ear. You moan, grinding against his growing bulge, taking off your shirt to reveal your nude breasts to him.

“You, daddy.” You purr. Katsuki freezes a little, shocked by what you just called him. You were pretty vanilla so hearing you call him daddy turned him feral.

“Say it again.” He demanded, taking a nipple into his mouth. You moan, still grinding your pussy against the tent he was pitching in his pants, running your hands through his hair.

“I want you, daddyy. Please fuck me.” You whine, getting off his lap as he stood. Your obedience was turning him on so much he just had to have you, not caring where in the house he took you at this point. He slid off your pants and panties in one go, kneeling down to get a closer looks at your wetness.

“Fuck, you don’t know what you do to me, baby.” he hissed, kissing your inner thighs. “I would eat you out for being such a good girl but I need to be inside you. Now.” He said, standing up to take off his pants and his boxers, his thick length springing out as he pulled them down. You almost drool at the sight, spreading your legs and rubbing your pussy as you imagined his length stretching you out. You were never this sultry in the bedroom, always having Katsuki initiate. But tonight, you had a hunger you needed to be fulfilled.

“You’re so fucking sexy..” Katsuki moaned, pumping his dick a few times before grabbing your face to kiss you with tongue. He pulled away to grab you by your neck, the dominating look in his eyes making your pussy gush.

“Bend your sexy ass over.” He growled, letting you go as you obliged. He crouched behind you and gave your pussy a few taps with his dick before sliding inside your slick folds. You have never felt this good. Sex with Katsuki had always been amazing but tonight this was different. You moan sinfully as you felt him stretch you out, his thrusts progressing as he fucked you good.

“D-Daddyy.” You moan, gripping the arm of the couch for dear life. He smacks your ass a few times, quickening his pace as he grabbed you hair to pull it. You lean into the couch, one leg on the seat and one planted onto the floor, hardly being able to keep you stable as your legs shake. You feel your release come quicker than expected, you reaching back to rub your clit in harsh circles.

“You make me feel so good daddy. Fuck, I love you!” You scream, pushing your face into your hands as Katsuki continued the assault on your g-spot. You start clenching around him, the sound of your moans and skin slapping together filled the living room as Katsuki starts to sweat, a caramel scent filling your nose.

“So fucking sexy, baby. You gonna cum for me?” He asked, his hard thrusts causing you to see stars. Your moans are the only thing Katsuki can hear, unsatified as he pulled you up to him by your hair.

“I can’t hear you, baby.” He said, fucking you even harder, you not knowing that was even possible. You can hardly form a sentence, you responding with frantic yeses and moans and I love yous. He smirked, throwing you back onto the couch as he feels you clench around him once more. If he knew you were gonna be this frisky he would have gotten you high a long time ago.

“I’m gonna cum, daddy! I- oh!” You shriek, cumming around his dick to Katsuki’s delight. He smacks you ass hard as he helps you ride out your orgasm only to quicken his pace again, chasing his own release.

“Yeah.. ‘M gonna cum, baby. You ready?” He asked sweetly, kissing your back as he pounds you. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, gasping for air to try and answer him.

“C-Cum inside me, daddy. Oh god yes!” You moan, biting your lip. He did just that, a strong grunt leaving his mouth as he slowed down his movements, his cum painting your womb white. You sigh, almost missing his dick inside you as he pulled out of you. He picked you up and carried you to your shared room.

“Can we smoke again later?” You ask innocently. He laughed and walked into the bathroom to start you both a bath.

“Sure baby.” He said, giving you a sweet kiss. He pulled out the joint you both hadn’t finished as he led you into the bath. He goes to light it before looking to you to see if it was okay to smoke in the bathroom.

“Fuck it.” You say, laughing as he lights up the joint for you to relax in your bath.

#bnha smut #bnha fanfiction #bnha x reader #bnha bakugo katsuki #bnha bakugou #bnha imagines #bnha todoroki x reader #bnha midoriya x reader #bnha #bnha headcanons #bnha kirishima #bnha izuku

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mindblindbard · 4 years ago

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(Pt. 1/?) (Sorry for long ask)... Yo! Recently found Mind Blind and gotta say, it's definitely one of my favorite WIPs on DashingDon! Honestly, it's one of the few romantic games where I couldn't pick a favorite RO to obsess over, which is saying a lot since I tend to latch onto one male RO and obsess over only him. In Mind Blind, I've been obsessing over all of them. My all-time favorite relationship in the game, however, is the one between Button and Nick!

(Pt. 2/?) I've always been a fan of stories about indestructible family bonds. It's why one of my favorite tropes/genres(?) is "Found Family". The idea of someone having your back through thick and thin just because they know and love you (platonic wise) is just..*chef's kiss* . Which is why I love the relationship Nick and Button so much! I was wondering if we'll ever get Nick's opinion on a Button who has an inferiority complex and feels responsible for their family being broken?

(Pt. 3/?) Like, if they believe if they'd never been born none of this would have happened? And the guilt of knowing that Nick blames himself for their condition, along with sacrificing his early adulthood for them, also hurts? I'd kinda like to know Nick's take on that stuff. Oooh, also, can we just be super awkward with our parents? As in, all is forgiven but Button is always on eggshells around them and doesn't know how to interact with them anymore so they low-key try to avoid them...?

Button can definitely feel (and express) that guilt, but I don’t know if there will ever be an opportunity for Nick to reply to it. *whistles innocently*

I tried to include options to be awkward around John, and I hope people felt there was enough variety in how Button could respond to him and think about their mother. I admit, some of the conversation there feels a little rushed, because I was eager to write Chapter 3′s ending.

Romance is fun, and I love writing the ROs, so I’m so glad your enjoying them! But Nick has always been my favorite character too :)

#Mind Blind #spoilers #NickWiseman #RIP

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 3 years ago

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Hey! I can finally ask you something so yeah! ✨It's my time to shine ahahaaha!✨I must admit that your knowledge of Hogwarts Mystery (the game that we all hate and love) is impressive! When you will get the deserved degree?

Joking aside, I recently found one of your posts about Parkwood and its decline. It made me think.

Skye is a popular character, just see all the amount of fan arts, fan fiction or posts of hers that the fandom produced for confirmation, but it's pretty strange that aside Penny she isn't really shipped with anybody else.

Expect for Mc or Orion.

I can assume why people ships so much Skye and Mc but even if the Orion x Skye had/still has some breath along the fandom (there are some cute fan fictions around them) I always had the sensation that they are a bit underrated. XD

We really cannot say that there aren’t the assumptions for not shipping them: in season I MC literally said to Orion “perhaps you and Skye are more alike than you think” with that mischievous look, later in season II Skye literally confronted MC because she suspected that he/he was training in secret with Orion (complaining his way of training of course but, still, she seemed pretty jealous) and in season III when Madam Hooc was painting to help Orion who was injured on the ground (precisely is when she said “give Mr Amari some room. Hovering won't do him any good) Skye was the only one with the “worried “ animation, then in the Hospital wing not only she pointed out that he was with Erika (“I see you've got company”) but she also said that Orion visited her very often, maybe without MC or Murphy and excluding that time aat the down of the second Quidditch cup (at least in the Italian translation when she says “Ovviamente. É venuto a farmi visita spesso quando ero qui” and can be translated in that way, I saw that in the original version she just says “he visited me when I was there” so yeah, maybe the Italians translators really said “yeah let's make our OTP canon and screw the developers” even if I don't think that they’d do At the end, even Murphy during season I seemed to wink at how ambiguous is their relationship.

They act strangely to each other, that's true. All this evidences could actually work for a friendship for sure, but they always been a little bit ambiguous when they interact and nothing' my shipper's brain basically went “BOOOOOOOO:”. If at some point of the story will eventually come out that one of them had an awfully crush for the counterpart I wouldn’t be that surprised: oh come on we need some other canon relationship without MC involved!

What do you think? Thank you for reading and sorry if it's too long!

Oh my good friend, if anyone should get a degree for keeping up with everything, it is MissNightOwl. Her blog is incredible and goes in depth. I make mistakes and errors all the time. I highly appreciate your kind words though! I'm so glad to hear from you. Please do not apologize for long posts! I love them, I mean goodness knows I ramble on a lot myself!

I think the reason that Skye is shipped with so few characters is because she interacts with so few of them. Her relationship with MC is easily the one that is the most developed, and her obsession with Rath is also something I've seen used for shipping fuel, the same way that Penny's obsession with Skye is what kickstarted Parkwood. I have to say, I've never really seen anyone shipping Skye with Orion and my immediate reaction is that I don't see it at all, but I'm not against it.

It could just be that I tend to interpret the Quidditch cast as being an example of the found family trope and thus I don't really ship any of them together - the occasional exception being ships that involve MC as they were the last person to be introduced to this cast. That said, I agree with you that it would be refreshing to see a relationship develop between two of the characters that are not MC, and Quidditch would be the perfect time and place to do it. After all, apparently these characters will never be romance options, but I suppose anything could change. After the fake-out with Jae and Chiara, I wouldn't mind seeing something confirmed for the background.

Really, I think Quidditch could go a lot further if they fully embraced the concept of being an alternate universe, which I think it's even been said flat out by the writers that it is. I understand why they won't make Penny's crush on Skye explicit, because she's a romance option for MC...but if it's an alternate universe, that's different. Same goes for Murphy and Andre, who were totally eyeing each other up. They were, don't shoot the messenger.

When it comes to Skye and Orion, I can agree that they probably have a relationship that is closer than either of them portrays. I think Skye does care about Orion even if she wouldn't admit to it in the early seasons, and considering that he keeps letting her back on the team even when she's caused problems, she obviously means something to him. I still interpret this as a found family myself, but Skye and Orion have the kind of energy of two people who are opposites but also similar in more low key ways.

#Skye Parkin #Orion Amari #HPHM Quidditch #HPHM Jacob's Sibling #Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

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heistmaster69 · 4 years ago

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pariet lilium

pariet lilium~by @heistmaster69

4th Year Draco Malfoy x OC fic.

~so uhh um I was maybe watching a video about dark academia while writing this and may have gotten a BIT carried away~

gif by @fairylightwishes all credit to them!

Frankie and Cher sat in the back of Potions class while Snape droned on about the effects of crushed versus shaved Bicorn Horn on the end result of a Pepperup potion.

“-now you see that’s exactly what I was talking about. Muggle movie stars are much more attractive than boys at Hogwarts-”

“Leonar-”

“-Dicaprio, yes.” She whispered.

“Frankie that man is gorgeous-”

‘So fine-”

Cher let out a sigh, while Frankie continued. “All the boys from Dead Poets Society-”

“So it’s decided then-”

“Yes. I’m saving my virginity until I’m of age and Leonardo Dicaprio can come and take it fro-”

“Miss. Reed.” Snape deadpanned. “If you and your friends would be so kind as to stop squealing about muggle boys in my class-I would appreciate it. That will be five points from Slytherin.”

Cher kicked Frankie under the table.

“My bad, professor.” She murmured, putting her palm under her chin and turning back to her notes.

Potions had to be her third favorite class, Frankie didn’t mind it at all, it’s just, she was a little distracted, recently. It seemed like her single-ness was beginning to get to her and she found herself daydreaming during class. She didn’t want to be as obsessed as she was, but Frankie couldn’t really help it. She wanted the movie-scene first kiss and the romance novel passion, as unattainable as it is, she craved it.

But the thing is-Frankie never let herself daydream about people she knew. In reality, none of the people she’s liked would ever like her back, and it just hurt her because she knew that no one would ever have feelings for Frankie as she did for them. Every time she let her walls down she got hurt.

A lot of the people Frankie has met have made sure she knows that she will never be as valuable, never as loved, as beautiful, as successful as others because she wasn’t as thin as others. Frankie loved herself. But her ‘friends’, her family? It seemed like they hated her for it...

Magic had always interested Frankie. Being a witch or wizard usually goes over the heads of purebloods, with the mere prospect of having the gift coming so naturally to all of them. Frankie’s isolated upbringing, rarely seeing her parents and being brought up by a strange yet kind tutor who instructed her in all sorts of topics, ranging from basic arithmetic to discovering Frankie’s magical abilities. Ms. Selwyn, around Frankie’s parents, and Kendra, during her tutoring sessions daily during childhood.

These memories with Kendra have a warm haze to them, and whenever Frankie reminisced, a smile would find its way onto her face. We would stand together in the garden, during the golden sunsets, and she would say;

“Magic is an incredible gift, it is beautiful and infinitely important. We hold the power of the universe in our hands.”

Young Frankie would stare wide-eyed, confused, and tug on the side of Kendra’s robe,

“Ms. Kendra, what’s the universe?” Frankie would ask.

“The universe is everything.”

“Everything? How much is that?”

Kendra would smile so gently and kneel down beside Frankie, grasping her small hands and gesturing towards the sky alive with color.

“More than we could ever know.”

Kendra knew the power purebloods held with the Ministry, after all, the Selwyns and the Reeds were a part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. The Ministry was still hypnotized by the status and the blood purity that these upper-class families held and overlooked the small laws broken by the elite, so Kendra and Frankie would practice small magic in their free time-in secret. The Reeds would never want their precious-little-delicate-perfect-pureblood baby daughter learning anything but the proper protocol for stuffy dinners with the Prewetts, the Malfoys, the Greengrasses, the Bulstrodes, the Parkinsons, the Notts, the Flints, or any other sort of perfect families that they could put in their larger-than-life estate.

Nevertheless, Kendra would take Frankie into the garden behind the mansion, near the rippling brook by a big oak tree. They would sit in the shade of the branches and Frankie would learn about everything her family didn’t want her to know. She learned about the inequality between purebloods, half-bloods, and muggleborns and as Kendra told her of the First Wizarding War, Frankie felt her heart shatter into a thousand pieces. How could someone think they were any better than another human being due to their blood? Their lineage? How they treat those supposedly ‘less than’? This realization caused a rift to form between Frankie and her parents-the entirety of what being Sacred 28 pureblooded perfection was.

She despised it.

Kendra warned her though, she spoke softly the words that shoved Frankie into a vault, locked her away, and threw away the key.

“I don’t know if this will ever change.”

Little Frankie blinked quickly, her wide eyes sore and puffy from tears. “Why?” She cried.

“They will never relinquish the privilege that this supremacy gives them.” Kendra let out a deep sigh and placed a tender hand on Frankie’s shoulder.

“I think you’re wrong, Miss Kendra.”

“I hope I am, Miss Frankie. I think you could make a difference.”

This upbringing of acceptance and wonder from Kendra instilled a unique view of magic in Frankie. She saw it as a privilege and took an interest in a side of magic that tended to be overlooked until necessary. Frankie liked to create spells and potions. Specifically, she had a fixation on wandless magic. It was crazy to her-she could create life from her hands. How so many of her friends and peers overlooked this, she understood but wished more people wouldn’t call people like her Loony Lovegood.

Anyways.

Frankie hid a tattered mahogany-colored, pleather-bound journal in her pillowcase. This journal rarely let the safety of her room, only transferring annually between her estate and Hogwarts. It was never shown to a soul, and it contained her life’s work in what could barely be considered spell-creation. Notes and random scribbles littered the pages, but if it were ever to be lost, Frankie would lose everything she’s done since she was six years, four months, and thirteen days old and Kendra told her about spell-creation. She thinks she would cry.

“Oi Francesca-” A voice called.

“-you’re not allowed to call me that, Blaise.” Frankie chuckled as he jogged up to her, stopping to lean against the wall with a smirk.

“I don’t care, you’re Francesca to me. Anyway, Potions, what happened in poti-” Blaise looked over his shoulder and shouted to Theo. “Oi Theodore, get your arse over here!” Blaise had a thing for using people’s full name-even if it’s not really their name, (ie Daphnessa/Pansleigh.) Frankie rolled her eyes as Theo strolled, shoulders taut, up to Blaise

“Frankie, what happened in Potions? You love potions, you’re always talking about how Potions is a really cool way to learn about how magic affects the world-”

“-Potions is a super cool way to learn about how magic affects the world-” Blaise interjected, wrapping an arm around Theo’s broad shoulders.

Theo turns to Blaise with a sarcastic stare at him. “Yeah, that.”

I want to have a stupid dumb kiss already. Which is stupid dumb and I don’t even care but I’m horny for love.

“Oh, yeah I-I didn’t sleep well last night.” Frankie choked out.

“It was kind of a relief, your constant enthusiasm about Snape’s class is alarming.” Theo snickered. Blaise snorted as he and Theo sauntered towards the Great Hall. Frankie let out a breath and followed soon after the two boys let for lunch to get to the common room.

Frankie’s boots tapped gently against the cold stone floor of the dungeons. Dust hung low in the air, illuminated by the amber glow of hanging torches that littered the walls. The dungeons are always shown as a dingy, disgusting place but Frankie found the common room comforting. She stilled in front of the entrance and spoke softly the password.

“Labebantur anguis.”

The wall dragged inwards with a low scraping sound, revealing her home. The estate is not a home, the estate is merely her stage, acting as the perfect daughter for an audience of haughty purebloods. This common room was perfect, smelling like pine and cotton and the perfect temperature. Green rugs and plush couches in front of a fireplace, tables and booths next to an espresso machine and a tea kettle. Arching windows and pillars showcasing the beauty under the Black Lake. This is home.

She stepped past the commons and walked up the winding stairs to the shared dormitories. Cher laid on Frankie’s bed with Daphne with parchment and quills set out on the emerald silk sheets.

“If you two spill ink on my bed one more time I’ll hex you in your sleep.” Frankie shrugged out of her robe and fell back onto Cher’s bed. The two girls giggled and returned to their subsequent conversations.

Cher was gorgeous. She radiated kindness and had an aura about her that made her seem impenetrable, yet she was humble. She had a crooked smile that never failed to bring one to Frankie’s face. Her eyes shone with emotion and were a deep brown that glimmered at all times. She was incredibly brilliant and the top of many of her classes. With the exception of Potions, Frankie held that spot proudly.

Everyone says that perfect Hermione Granger, the “brightest witch of her age”, is the top of every class, but ever since she had to use her time to deal with the two rambunctious children that are her friends, she holds strong at about fourth. Frankie had to admit, she had a burning jealousy of Granger. She managed to befriend Potter in her first year, as well as make friends with many of the teachers, ace her classes, and save the entire school three times by now. Not to mention, she was also very pretty. This envy flared its deep green color whenever Frankie so much as heard the name Granger.

“Earth to Reed?” Frankie snapped out of her covetous haze and met Daphne’s eyes. “Pansy’s bringing up lunch, get started on your essay, like, now.”

Frankie tipped her head in agreement and reached into her bag to pick out her Astronomy notes. “Five sheets of parchment? Is Professor Sinistra trying to kill us?”

“I think I might just use one sheet for every word: Sorry, I, Don’t, Want, To.” Cher counted on her fingers with a snort.

Daphne tugged at her bottom lip with her pinkie. “Maybe Frankie can use one of the spells from her secret journal to erase this essay from Sinistra’s mind.”

“That spell already exists, you toad.” Pansy swung the door open with several food items floating behind her, a slice of pumpkin bread levitating into Frankie’s waiting hands. “It’s called Obliviate, it has murderous side effects, and, next week it’s Reed’s turn to get the food.”

“Thank you Pans,” Cher cheered, mouth full of a danish pastry.

“Plus, the boys were bugging us to sit with them more often.” Pansy sat beside Frankie, parchment in hand. Daphne rolled her eyes.

“It’s one day a week, they’ll get over it eventually.”

“The students at Uagadou are so lucky. They have a good Astronomy program and they live in a cloud.”

Cher scoffed. “They don’t live in a cloud, Pans, They live in a castle-that’s on a cloud. It’s very particular.”

“I want to live in a castle.”

“You idiot, you do.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you bloody mean?”

“Nothi-whatever-what are we doing for Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

Draco. Bloody. Malfoy.

He walks around the school all high and mighty, like he owns the place, yet he acts like a right prat to many of its inhabitants. It’s like the boy was born with a stick up his arse. Yet, Frankie knew how he was raised, not that it’s an excuse. He doesn’t want to be the way he is, but he’s not some broken boy for her to fix.

She’s had many conversations in the common room with Malfoy after nights of nightmares. She’s shared hugs that linger a second too long and strange glances during lectures. His stone grey eyes held an emotion behind them that she couldn’t understand. It made her uncomfortable, the strange buzz on her skin where his hand met. The fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach when they got too close. She didn’t like it. It made her feel like a creep.

She sees the way he looks at Cher. Frankie doesn’t compare to a golden, legs-for-days goddess with a waist the same circumference as Frankie’s thigh. Besides, a Malfoy should be with someone the same physical caliber as him. Frankie’s mother prayed to the ghost of Merlin that Frankie would blossom into a beautiful flower, but as her mother continuously reminded her,

“You are a disgrace. Nothing but a weed in a garden of perfection.”

It’s not hard to believe. Many pureblood parents held a disdain for their children in private. Frankie was lucky to have someone like Kendra. Other teenagers didn’t have anyone. Frankie was lucky, not special. A mere weed, removable by a weak pull. A thorn on an otherwise perfect rose, fit to be plucked, ignored by onlookers.

Draco Malfoy was never written in the stars for someone like Frankie.

Not that she liked him or anything. He was, as stated before, a right prat. A good looking one, but a prat nonetheless. They didn’t talk much, at all, instead seeking solace in the late hours of the night, a deep bond hidden from their friends. How could two people who were supposedly so perfect, be so broken?

pariet lilium.

chapter two

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dreadnought-dear-captain · 5 years ago

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You Asked, I Told

(Note, if this post shows up twice or massively delayed or just looks weird, it’s because it was flagged for adult content [??!] because I had a picture of Willem Dafoe’s face in a gif. I am not even kidding. Do with that information what you will. I’ve removed it and I still don’t know if/when this can be publicly viewed, I’m kind of lolling. So if you see a blocked out photo that looks like porn in your post, I swear it’s just a gif from The Lighthouse!)

Hello, amazing people. This weekend, I’m putting the final touches on my last draft of Baghdad Waltz Chapter 39, which will then go to the beta for one more round of edits. I imagine I will have the chapter posted in 1-3 weeks, which is close to record speed for me, especially since it’s around 30k words. I’m going to be talking about my writing process (at unfortunate length) for one of the asks, for those who are interested.

Please forgive me. I’m feeling quite verbose and a little squirrely. I blame living alone during lockdown.

It’s also Memorial Day weekend in the States, which is when we are meant to honor those who gave their lives in military service to this country. This is often confused with Veterans Day (November 11), which is honoring anyone who has served in the military and is no longer serving. This gets further confused with Armed Forces Day (rotating date, May) which is to honor those currently serving in the military. I know, super confusing.

There’s a wide range of opinions on how Memorial Day should be commemorated, which often involves gathering with friends and family for a barbecue or some other social activity. It’s the first major holiday after a huge holiday drought throughout the late winter and spring, which often makes people look forward to it immensely. Some people feel it’s inappropriate to celebrate Memorial Day with barbecues and fond social gatherings because it’s dishonoring the memories of those who can’t be here, people don’t take time to remember those who have died, people have no idea what the day is actually for, etc. Others, even some very vocal veterans, maintain that people died so that we could be here to celebrate in freedom, so why not relish this life we have? Many offer the caveat that it’s appropriate to at least acknowledge the purpose of the day, even if it’s just in a few minutes of quiet reflection.

Anyway, I offer this as a little food for thought for this upcoming long weekend.

(And in case you missed it, I posted a BW Timeline for your reference.)

Contains spoilers through Chapter 38.

[Takes deep breath]

I’m so glad that you are enjoying the read and that you’re finding it inspiring for your own work. I think my dedication to research for BW is threefold. 1) As this story evolved, I decided that I wanted to create the most realistic depictions of military, civilian, emotional, and physical life that I reasonably could. I will fully admit to lapses in this, deliberate and unintentional, because sometimes the plot just needs to go and I can’t wait around for a year-long medical discharge process for my character. 2) I’m in an academically stringent occupation, and because research is such a prominent part of my work life, it’s bled to my hobby. (IS THIS EVEN A HOBBY ANYMORE?) And 3) I get very easily and passionately obsessed with things and delight in getting “into the weeds” with a subject. Almost every research divergence usually takes me off track for at least an hour. And you will never catch me without an MTA subway map open in at least one tab.

But that wasn’t even your question! Sorry. Are you beginning to get a sense of why BW takes me so long to write?? I cannot keep my shit on track. As for the bibliography, YES! I plan to include that in my author’s note at the end. I wish I had kept better track of all of my works consulted over the past three years, but I will definitely discuss the importance of some of the main ones. I’m so thrilled that you are interested, and I’m excited to share them!

Thank you. This is such a kind thing to say, and I’m humbled and delighted to hear it, especially because our fandom is so blessed with some AMAZING fics. And asks certainly don’t have to be questions! I appreciate them all (except the flaming bag of dog shit ones, which I haven’t had in a while, hooray).

(Re: Chapter 37) Good question! I imagine Claire would want to keep the 1:1 conversation somewhat limited, as she is treating the couple as a patient rather than them as individuals. If anything, she might have somewhat superficially checked in to see if he was okay rather than dive into anything regarding the relationship with Bucky not around. That could be seen as a betrayal of trust to Bucky and could be interpreted as favoritism, which Steve craves and which Bucky is probably terrified about.

I am always pleased when people re-read and enjoy it or get new things out of it, even if it’s sometimes a re-read is a function of my slow-ass writing. I really want a story with good re-read value.

You make an excellent point about Bucky’s relationships. His friendship with Jack also had no real closure. Sometimes this is a factor of circumstance and sometimes it’s because of his avoidance, like a self-fulfilling prophesy almost. He’s learned that people betray you, either by hurting you or dying, so he creates conditions sometimes (often unwittingly) for things to go sour and end poorly, or he will simply make himself disappear so that he’s not hurt and doesn’t have to wait to see if he will be abandoned or betrayed. He’s not a guy who is good with goodbyes.

As for Thor, I totally see how it would read that way. I think Thor started out fishing for longer-term possibilities in a romantic relationship but then realized Bucky is really not a guy who is comfortable settling (which, as we can see, is true). As for why it seems more serious, one thing is that Thor still wanted Bucky in his life as a friend, possibly one with benefits. They have a lot in common, and it’s hard for veterans - and, more specifically, special operators - to find people in their lives they can relate to with these very intense life experiences. I wanted this to be a real relationship, but maybe not necessarily one that was bound to become a RELATIONSHIP. I think Bucky was very intriguing and attractive to him, and he very well may have struggled with his own vacillation between whether to take it seriously or whether to remain friends+. This can lead to mixed messages.

And we also have to remember Bucky’s notoriously unreliable narration, where he will see what he wants to see. Our perspective comes from him. We see the details he zooms in on, miss the one he ignores, view the relationship through the lens of his own contentious desire for a real relationship, even as he consistently demonstrates the lack of capacity and his fear about getting serious. I imagine Bucky has having an extremely poor ability to distinguish friendship from romance, and why wouldn’t he, given the most recent bit of history we have learned about him with Jack? He’s had a series of friendships become sexualized, and I think this affects his capacity to be discerning. Bucky’s radar for relating, whether friendships, romance, or potentially dangerous sexual situations, is terribly mis-calibrated. How confusing for him and for the people in his life. Of course, everyone is free to interpret the dynamics of any relationship however they choose. These are just some of my thoughts.

I really appreciate observations from the re-read! Thank you!

I watched the video and you are right! This is definitely a Bucky song. Bucky’s sense of self is by turns profoundly distorted and lacking in grounding, especially now that he’s not in the military. He’s been in a low key existential crisis since he was a kid and has turned to drinking and sex and war to fill this horrible void, and although I can’t speak for what the artists here intended, I certainly sensed those elements here for sure. (Also, what an interesting choice for a music video…)

Thank you for sharing! I’ll add it to the unofficial BW playlist in the author’s note, which consists of various songs people have associated with BW and shared with me.

Good question! I started off this story picturing the actors who represent the characters in the MCU, because I figured we’d be picturing that when we read the fic anyway (though my beta told me she doesn’t see them as the actors, more like artists’ renderings of the characters, which I find interesting). So when describing their physicality, I tend to refer back to the MCU, since this is technically an MCU AU. But the longer I go with the story, the murkier the resemblance feels to me, especially when I think about Bucky, IDK why. I have also been considering doing something more with BW after I finish it (i.e., converting it into a proper not-bajillion-word novel, sunk cost and whatnot), in which case I would definitely change the characters’ appearance, names, cut MCU Easter eggs, etc. So when I try to think of who these people might be in future iterations of the story, things get even more blurred in my mind when I imagine them.

I wonder how other people see them??

So, with regards to PTSD clinical teams, there is some variation across VAs in the system. Some focus more on military-related trauma, whether it’s war, military sexual trauma, accidents, etc. as a way of concentrating their services and managing supply and demand. From talking with providers in these kinds of systems, sometimes you just NEED a military-related trauma, but you can be treated for, say, a childhood trauma if it’s more pressing. Other VAs are very open in their criteria, and you can see them for pretty much any kind of trauma that qualifies diagnostically for PTSD (or sub-threshold PTSD) without question. That’s why I love the expression “If you’ve been to one VA, you’ve been to one VA.” That said, it kind of doesn’t matter what kind of PTSD clinical team is at the VA in Manhattan, because Bucky has so much military trauma that he would very likely qualify to receive services in any PTSD clinical team. They just might focus on childhood stuff (if Bucky actually let them, which is another matter entirely).

This is a great question! Thanks for asking.

I love a snarky asshole Bucky so much, and I’ve tried to temper this version of him with enough hard-earned genuineness to offset it a little bit. It’s such a tender balance with him, because if you back him too far into a corner, he’s going to let you have it. But if you give him too much space, it’s hard to pin him down and wring something honest from him. He’s definitely learned to use humor and sarcasm to deflect from painful or uncomfortable situations, and it’s a very adaptive short-term strategy that makes him both endearing and infuriating to others.

But ugh, yeah, shit gets so rough around Chapter 28/29. I don’t know how to feel when people have really strong emotional reactions to this story, because one part of me doesn’t want to contribute to the crappy feelings people may already be struggling with — especially in the times of COVID — but I don’t want to be afraid to dive into the hurt these characters are experiencing. That’s why I recommend checking in with oneself before reading to get a sense of how much emotional bandwidth is available to manage the immense problems of two people struggling so much. I also think that for some people it can be cathartic or otherwise not-bad maybe (?), based on the feedback I’ve received. I also really try hard to balance out the painful stuff with growth, even though it can be terribly difficult to locate sometimes.

In comments to folks, and here, I often talk about adjusting the ticks on your measuring stick for progress, where instead of leaps of progress over feet/meters, we may be observing things on an inch/mm scale. This story is my most sincere effort at a “recovery is not linear” narrative, which I think is so much more reflective of real life for a lot of folks than a straight upward trajectory. Humans are such creatures of habit, and the lessons these characters have learned through their lives about themselves, trust, relationships, and how to manage emotions are very deeply ingrained — often through traumatic means. These are the lessons learned the hardest, with the greatest perceived consequences for change, and it takes real courage for us to be able to try new things even once, let alone to establish a reliable pattern of behavior. This can lead to a lot of frustration for us as readers/writer, and I come from a place of this being okay, because we are encountering a parallel process with the characters, who are frustrated with each other and themselves about the same things. I do hope the pain/progress/joy ratios are not horribly out of whack most of the time. That’s another reason I like long chapters, because if this was just blips of sometimes terrible episodes in shorter form, I think it would be very challenging to not lose hope entirely.

But I’m so glad you’re finding the read meaningful, even if it’s sometimes painful and difficult.

(YES.)

And FINALLY -- (this is all soooo long, I’m so sorry.)

Oh, thank you for this question! My spreadsheet ended up getting too difficult to manage, and I actually had a small crisis six months ago about how the fic was going to end, because it just didn’t feel right. I had to scrap it and go back to the drawing board and really ask myself - what would these characters really do? Naturally, as a factor of their psychologies and circumstances, how will they bring this story to an end? Some advice I once heard about a “satisfying” ending is that it’s the place where there’s simply nothing more to say about the characters. There’s no more story to tell. I had to abandon all of my desires and ideas for a particular ending or concerns about making people sad or happy or excited or disappointed. I know that the only ending that will be satisfying is one that makes sense for these people. Anything contrived or backward-engineer-y wouldn’t feel right to anyone. I do have a couple of specific character arc things I want to happen, so I set those down as touchstones and said, okay, what would happen next? What would Steve do with this? And what would Bucky do with this? And what would they do with the thing the other person did? I take a very psychology and prior-behavior-based approach to plotting, almost all character driven. The rest is just figuring out what is supposed to go where and how to organize it.

I’ve converted everything to a Google Doc and have a very basic outline where I write plotty-plot stuff. I also have a “garbage dump” doc where I write certain lines I want to use or certain details I want to include somewhere. When I get into a new chapter, I’ll check the dump doc as I outline and write to see if I want to pluck anything from there. I have my outline open regularly to add to it. Sometimes I write scenes out of order, dialogue first, but that’s only if I really am excited about a particular scene and cannot contain myself. Otherwise, I write completely chronologically and have no buffer. I post things as soon as I write them.

As for your specific questions, I do have a “process” for getting into my characters’ heads. It helps to know them so very well and to have a firm sense of their idiosyncrasies and patterns of behavior. As you may have noticed, they repeat their patterns all. the. time, as humans do, but I also want to have them change their behaviors a little as things go and they progress. So I may wonder what they could do a little differently, why they would WANT to behave differently, and imagine what they would need to do to change their behavior. Do they need to take breaths? Do they remember the last time some shit went down? I really try to think of the “how” and “why” of every single action - from big blowouts to eye rolls.

So once I’ve figured out what they are going to do, I try to pinpoint the associated emotions I want to highlight. This is a whole separate process, because I have to think also about their internal versus their external emotional states. Steve, for example, will often have a discrepant inside and outside, because one of the truths about his character is that he is a chronic suppressor. There is also the issue of unreliable narration and interpretation of behavior. Steve might do something in a scene, but that doesn’t mean Bucky is going to interpret it the way it was intended. I have to think about their individual filters, which often reflect their internal beliefs about themselves. Bucky is more likely to read Steve’s actions as reflections of how BUCKY feels about HIMSELF (e.g., he’s disgusted by me because I’m disgusting) rather than imagine what Steve is really thinking based on his own experiences and beliefs about Bucky. I also attempt to convey some of the more second and third layer emotions that people have in situations, rather than only highlighting the primary emotion. Sad things don’t always just make people sad. Powerful emotions, for example, might make Steve feel out of control of himself, which could generate secondary emotions for him like frustration because he’s losing control. Part of the process in the construction of the narrative is also scrubbing what I’ve written for POV, because Bucky’s word choices aren’t the same as Steve’s, and in order to try to preserve the “voice” of each character, I often have to change the words I’ve opted to use, as well as the syntax.

So, as you can see, there’s a lot of layering that is happening all the time. As for the dialogue, I have no compunction about saying the lines aloud, “acting” them to see how they sound, to get a sense of what tone I want them to say things in. Now that I think of it, I do a bit of movement-based stuff, thinking about how people sit and stand, figuring how many steps it takes to get from A-Z, what it would look like to lean against something, how it would feel on the body, etc. I try to get the most felt sense of things as I can. If I’m imagining a scene, I try to put myself in the shoes of the characters to the point where I feel the emotions, just so I can know how it reflects in my body and my mind and behavior. I have more than once gotten drunk and drunk-written drunk Bucky then gone to clean it up later, as drunk writing can generate some great content I never would have been able to come up with sober, but the form, grammar, spelling, etc. is often rubbish. I also talk a LOT to my beta about all of this stuff, and I have certain friends and acquaintances in the fandom who are my consultants for various things.

So, I’m somewhat method I guess?? Is that a thing?? I dunno. It’s not hard to do when you live and breathe a story. It’s required a deep level of interest in - quite possibly an obsession with - the characters and their lives. I adore my characters, not in a self-congratulatory way, but because they feel so real to me. So it’s a joy to plan and write -- though I do hate first drafts with a passion.

OH - I also sometimes fast-draft chapters, which I did for 39. That is, write as FAST AS YOU CAN with no regard for how shitty the writing is. I wrote 10k words in a week, which was a finished fast-draft for me, and thus I had a very good felt sense of what was going to happen in the chapter, which felt amazing. It requires intensive outlining before, and nearly every word had to be rewritten, but one of the greatest frustrations of a story for me is having blank space ahead. Re-writing is way more fun than first draft writing. I have fluffed it up twofold with higher quality content, which I did all in less than two months…!!

-------------------------

Well, this is surely my most unnecessarily yammering YAIT in history. But I hope it at least conveys my enthusiasm for these wonderful asks! It’s so lovely to hear from all of you, even if I take an eon to get back to you. Hang in there, everyone!

@grimshady @hutchhitched @b0n3l3ssm1lk

(And thank you to @bae-buckyaboveeverything for the shout out. You made my day<3)

#you asked #baghdad waltz #asks

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iffeelscouldkill · 5 years ago

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Adjusting [Part 3: Campbell]

A/N: It liiiives! Here is a long overdue Chapter 3. As compensation for the wait, this chapter is longer than the other two chapters put together :D

I originally drafted this chapter some time ago, but then once I started serialising the fic on AO3, decided that I wanted to rework the middle part. I wound up redrafting most of it over the past few months, and it was a bit of a slog at times, but I'm much, much happier with the final result. A big big thank you once again goes to my wonderfully encouraging beta @dragonsthough101, and to @whelvenwings for writing with me and listening to my Fic Woe and helping me fix That One Section that I was struggling with!

A heads up that this chapter contains some quite heavy conversations about wartime under an oppressive regime, loss and regret. There are no graphic descriptions of violence, just a lot of fairly grim introspection. It probably goes without saying, but I'm not a military veteran myself, so I based all of this on the podcast canon and my own imagination.

Please take care of yourselves, and I hope you all enjoy 💜

---

Summary: It turns out that there isn’t a blueprint for quitting your job, turning your back on the organisation that you’d built your life around, committing treason and abandoning your friends and family to go travel across the galaxy with a band of wanted criminals. Fortunately, RJ now knows some people who have been there.

Or: Five times that RJ McCabe shares a late-night drink with someone on the Iris 2.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Read on AO3

---

About three weeks on from the Iris’ flight from New Jupiter, Sana calls a crew meeting. It isn’t their first by any means, but until now, crew meetings have either been about the division of chores or about pooling information to convey to the resistance movement. This one is different.

“We’re making another stop-off,” she tells the crew once they’re all assembled, Arkady looking half-asleep and disgruntled at the earliness of the hour. “I’ve arranged to meet a… long-time contact of ours. I know that we need to be careful about who we trust outside of the crew on this ship and confirmed members of the anti-IGR resistance, but… he’s a friend. An old friend.”

RJ raises their hand. “Is it Ignatius Campbell?” they ask, feeling like they’re on a quiz show.

Arkady revives slightly and snorts. “Got it in one, kid.”

“Don’t call me that,” RJ shoots back automatically. This is old, well-worn banter between them at this point.

Sana blushes slightly. “Right. I forgot that of course… you and Park know exactly who Campbell is.” She gives them a sidelong look, and RJ suspects that she’s remembering her fractious exchange with Campbell after Elion, and thinking about exactly what they would have heard.

“If it’s any consolation, we’ve been trying to forget about the recordings, too,” Park offers, slightly abashed, as he always is when this subject comes up.

RJ finds it awkward, too, but doesn’t see any point in pretending that they weren’t at one point on very different sides. Or that listening to the recordings from the Rumor wasn’t literally their job. But Park is right – they have been doing their best to forget about those long days and nights spent cooped up in their tiny office, replaying audio over and over. Know thy enemy had practically been RJ’s motto back in those days, but the Rumor crew aren’t their enemies any more. And RJ wants to move on from the person they were back then.

“I’ve spoken to Campbell a couple of times since… Well, since Elion,” Sana continues. “Trying to smooth things over since we-”

“Accused him of backstabbing us?” Arkady volunteers drily.

“To be fair, we really didn’t have any other good theories about what was going on,” Brian puts in. “None of us would have ever jumped to ‘an invisible robot nanoswarm’ as the source of our leak.”

Sana nods. “I know, and Campbell understands that, too. That’s why he’s willing to meet with us, and help us out – with supplies, and with information about the situation on Telemachus as well as some of the other Regime planets.”

“What about payment?” Violet asks. “We’re pretty light on funds at the moment, and we don’t have any cargo to trade either.”

“Campbell has agreed to effectively give us the goods on credit, with the understanding that we’ll pay at a later date,” Sana replies. “We’re also trading a little information in exchange for what he knows. Nothing top-secret, just a bit about the Regime’s movements, to help him keep two steps ahead.”

“And did you ‘barter’ with him to get him to agree to that deal?” Arkady asks, raising her eyebrows in a significant way.

Sana reddens a little, but says with dignity, “I don’t know what you’re implying. But yes, we did haggle for a bit.”

“Nice to hear that you two are back on ‘bartering’ terms,” says Arkady with a smirk.

Krejjh, looking between Arkady and Sana, grins as if Ferin has come early.

Ignoring this, Sana continues, “It’s obviously too dangerous for us to land on any of the IGR planets, so I’ve arranged to meet Campbell on Halton Station, in the Neutral Zone.”

Brian instantly perks up. “Dude! We’re going to Neuzo? Wait, isn’t Halton Station-”

“Where Thasia and Emily Craddock grew up,” Krejjh finishes eagerly.

“Yeah. To be honest, I picked it half because I knew the name, but it happens to be in a particularly convenient location for us, too,” says Sana. “It’s also not that populated, so there’s less chance of us attracting unwanted attention.”

“Does this mean I’ll be able to go outside?” Krejjh asks, practically vibrating with excitement. “Oh, for the gentle caress of the wind! The touch of the ground beneath my feet!”

“I don’t see why not,” Sana says with a smile. “Just try to keep things, uh… low-key?”

Arkady snorts eloquently.

Later on, RJ is on joint kitchen cleaning duty with Violet, who is chatting aimlessly about the rendezvous with Campbell.

“…it’s just going to be Sana, Krejjh and Arkady going out to meet Campbell on Halton Station,” she says. “It’s still not safe for Brian to set foot on Neuzo, and having a huge group would definitely attract unwanted attention. So, I guess we won’t get a chance to meet Campbell this time, unless he comes back to the ship.”

“Is that likely?” asks RJ.

“If things go well between Sana and Campbell, I guess,” Violet says with a small smile. “At least, that’s what Arkady thinks.”

“So, are Sana and Campbell… a couple?” RJ clarifies. Violet laughs a little, moving a dishrag in slow circles over the countertop.

“Not that I know of? My impression from Arkady is that they’ve always been close, but never actually, uh… been romantically involved,” says Violet. “Then, after Elion… well. We didn’t really know who we could trust, and… Campbell was one of the only people who knew about our destination and had our new IDs. Or at least, so we thought.”

“Mmm,” RJ responds, which seems safer than ‘Sorry for being part of the evil government eavesdropping operation that made you paranoid and destroyed your friendships’.

“But now it seems they’re patching things up, so maybe…” Violet smiles brightly. “It would be great if they could make it work.”

“That’s true,” says RJ with as much enthusiasm as they can muster. Romance has never held much of an appeal for RJ – it’s nice for other people, but RJ realised some years ago that they just don’t feel the thing that people have devoted endless poems and novels and movies to, and trying to get invested in other people’s romances feels similarly awkward. But RJ likes Sana, and she deserves to be happy.

Violet, who is sensitive to that sort of thing, seems to pick up on RJ’s train of thought. “Sorry, I realise we might seem a bit… romance-obsessed on this ship sometimes,” she says with an embarrassed smile. “If it gets to be too much… feel free to tell us to knock it off any time, really.”

RJ thinks about working under the IGR, and the way that no-one ever felt safe being themselves. They’ve already started to take this new freedom for granted – but that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten the way things used to be.

“It’s fine,” they say.

---

This time, it’s not unsettling dreams or racing thoughts that are keeping RJ awake. It’s just energy. It’s midnight, but they feel as tense and jittery as though they’ve just downed four mugs of that overbrewed sludge the IGR used to serve employees in the breakroom.

A lot happened during the day. A huge amount of planning went into the rendezvous with Campbell on Halton Station, and even though RJ wasn’t part of the group who went out to meet him, they were involved in every other part of the endeavour.

Halton Station might be in the Neutral Zone, but they’d already established that the IGR was willing to cross huge lines and even violate the Treaty in order to get what it wanted, and the crew of the Iris is wanted on every IGR planet. It’s impossible to be too careful. Park and RJ had advised Sana to the best of their knowledge on steps that the IGR might take to try and survey the area, on the resources that they might try to use.

Meanwhile, Brian and Krejjh – both over the moon at being back on Neuzo, where they first met – had taken it in turns to tell stories about Ryedell Station, where Brian once worked as a bartender alongside his friend Alvy Connors.

Inside the Republic, the Neutral Zone was referenced only sparingly, and always characterised as a den of vice and iniquity. RJ had hardly ever thought about it except to be glad that they’ve never had the misfortune to set foot on any of its stations. But hearing stories about a place where humans and Dwarnians co-existed alongside each other, talking, trading, bartering… It’s made RJ realise just how narrow their world was until recently. And it’s sobering.

Sure, they’ve been watching Dwarnian soap operas, which deal with a completely alien (literally) species and set of cultures – but those are overblown and feel removed from RJ’s day-to-day reality. This doesn't.

So, RJ processes by pottering around the kitchen, making a late-night cup of tea. The light in the kitchen is kind of busted and it only emits a very dim glow – Sana has been swearing that she’ll tackle it once they’ve got the supplies from Campbell, but RJ finds it soothing, particularly at this hour.

It does make them jump, however, when the door suddenly slides open to admit a tall, dark shape.

“Apologies,” says the man, in a rough voice accented with a slight drawl. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Ignatius Campbell,” says RJ in realisation. His voice, though RJ has only ever heard it over comms (and recorded comms at that), is pretty distinctive. Also, process of elimination dictates that there’s only one person this could be.

“The very same,” says Campbell, inclining his head forward. The door slides shut behind him. “And you must be RJ McCabe? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

RJ would like to say something witty like ‘The one and only’, but doesn’t really think they could pull it off. Instead, after a few dumb moments of deliberation, they manage, “You can call me RJ.”

Okay, so maybe they’re more tired than they realised.

Campbell raises his eyebrows a little. “Well, then, you can call me Ignatius.”

RJ doesn’t think so. Even Sana still calls him ‘Campbell’ – well, at least as far as RJ knows. Does his presence on the ship mean that the rendezvous has “gone well” like Violet and Arkady hoped?

The water comes to a boil, and RJ busies themself with pouring it out. “Would you, uh, like some tea?” they ask, mostly out of politeness – Campbell doesn’t really look like the tea type.

“Actually, I was planning on drinking something a bit stronger, if you don’t mind of course,” Campbell says, pulling out a battered metal flask from the pocket of his heavy brown coat. “It’s not moonshine,” he adds, at RJ’s slightly sceptical expression. “Just whiskey. You’re welcome to some, if you want.”

The opening notes of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ immediately start up in RJ’s head, and they inwardly curse Violet, who has a habit of humming it when she’s nervous. And when she’s happy. And when she’s been spending time with Arkady.

“I’ll pass, but thanks,” says RJ, taking their tea and sitting down with it at the table. Campbell manages to locate a mug and pours his whiskey into it, but stays standing, drinking it slowly and staring into the middle distance. It puts RJ a little on edge, but they force themself to relax and remember that Campbell isn’t a threat.

It’s harder to resist the impulse to run through the collective intelligence that the Intergalactic Republic had on the man known as Ignatius Campbell. Known contact and long-time associate of the crew of the Rumor; expert forger; suspected aliases include Alexander Cole and Jonathan Johnson. Based in Telemachus, but with an extensive network of affiliates and possible connections across multiple galaxies.

As if picking up on their thoughts, Campbell suddenly asks, “You used to work for the IGR, right?”

RJ tenses. “Emphasis on ‘used to’,” they reply.

Campbell waves a hand. “Don’t worry, this isn’t me trying to accuse you of anything. God knows everyone on this ship has stuff in their past they’d rather not go back to – me included,” he says, a little darkly. “No, I was just wondering what kind of intel they might have on me up there. Any good rumours?”

“Most of it was inconclusive,” RJ tells him, but thinks back anyway. It already feels unnatural trying to access the headspace and knowledge that they had while working for the IGR, after going to such pains to put it behind them. “W- They suspected you might have links to the notorious pirate Kim Hoff and her Bald-Cat gang, potentially as a supplier of intel or documentation, but nothing was proven.”

Campbell gives a low chuckle of amusement. “Believe it or not, I’m not the one on this ship with links to Hoff,” he says. “Though I can’t say we’ve never crossed paths.”

In response to RJ’s look of confusion, he elaborates: “She was Brian Jeeter’s thesis advisor.”

“You’re kidding,” says RJ in disbelief.

Campbell lays a hand on his heart. “I swear – you can ask him about it. For all that he might seem mild-mannered and harmless, Brian Jeeter has some interesting connections.”

“I’ve heard about his run-ins with the Dwarnian mafia,” says RJ, partly to show that they aren’t completely uninformed.

“Yeah, that’s another good example,” says Campbell. “There’s a reason why I’ve kept doing business with the Rumor crew all these years: they have some damn good stories to tell.”

RJ snorts in acknowledgement. If it weren’t for the fact that they’ve listened to some of the Rumor crew’s insane exploits (and been present for one or two of them) they wouldn’t have believed half of the stories that they’ve heard since they came aboard the Iris.

Neither of them says anything for a while, and RJ contemplates taking their tea back to their room so that they can carry on thinking. But the prospect is dull and a little claustrophobic, and part of them wants to take this opportunity to find out more about this person who is obviously so important to their crewmates.

“So…” says RJ, and Campbell’s gaze flicks over to them from where he’d been contemplating the cupboards. “What’s got you up so late, drinking whiskey in the kitchen with a total stranger?”

One corner of Campbell’s mouth quirks up. “You’re not a total stranger,” he points out. RJ just raises an eyebrow, and Campbell relents.

“Not sure, really – Sana and I were talking, but then she wanted to crash, and I wasn’t quite ready to sleep yet. Got a bit too much going round in my head.”

RJ nods; in other words, a very similar reason to their own. “So I take it you’re staying the night?”

This immediately makes Campbell flustered, and RJ can’t make out his face very well but they imagine that he’s probably gone red. “I – I mean I am, but I promise that there’s nothing improper- It’s just for the one night. And we’re bunking in separate rooms,” he says in a rush.

RJ snorts and manages to keep from rolling their eyes – just about. “Calm down. I wasn’t trying to imply anything,” they tell Campbell. “I only asked because I’m on breakfast duty tomorrow morning, so I wanted to know how many people I’d be cooking for.”

“Oh.”

“Also, ‘improper’? What millennium is this, again?”

Campbell coughs, and says with the air of someone trying to pull the conversation back on track, “So – what about you? What has you up in the kitchen past midnight?”

RJ sips their tea, stalling for time as they try to decide how much to say about what has been keeping them awake. They settle on,

“I guess I’m… learning a lot about the universe that I never had the chance to before. Working for the… for the IGR, you’re told that only you have access to the real facts about everything – Dwarnians, the war, the upper limits of science and space exploration – and that anyone who tells you differently is lying or trying to confuse you. I prided myself,” they stress, bitterly, “on the thoroughness of my research. On having all the information. Now I realise just how little I really knew.”

Campbell nods, slowly. “All repressive governments control their people’s access to information,” he says. “The better to make sure that no-one gets any ideas of their own.”

“Yeah, I know,” says RJ, a little wearily. “I’m not under any illusions about what the IGR really is. Not anymore.”

“But you were,” Campbell points out. “Sure, maybe there were things you could’ve questioned and didn’t. There are also folks up at the top of the whole operation who have access to all the information and make a very different choice with it. At the end of the day, you still thought for yourself when it counted. You got out.”

RJ eyes Campbell warily. “I’m not fishing for reassurance here,” they tell him. “You don’t have to make me feel better.”

Campbell holds up his hands in apology. “I know,” he says. “It just sounded to me like maybe you were being a little harsh on yourself.”

RJ shakes their head and searches for the right words. “When I joined up with the Rumor crew on New Jupiter, it wasn’t some heroic stand,” they say eventually, quietly. “It was a strategic decision I made to survive. If I’d stayed where I was, I would have been killed on sight.”

“The crew of this ship knows a thing or two about survival,” Campbell tells them. “They’re not all on some grand moral crusade.”

RJ knows that Arkady worked as a guard for the IGR, that Violet used to be a government scientist, that Krejjh fought in the war on the Dwarnian side. But on nights like these, the gap between their experiences still feels vast.

The others, they all have this bond, a camaraderie forged from venturing out into the deepest parts of space, from facing near-death experiences and defying the Regime side by side. RJ might have tagged along at the end, but they don’t have that history. They haven’t earned that bond, yet.

RJ realises that Campbell is still watching them – considering, almost. Their first instinct is to break eye contact and look away, but instead they meet his gaze, raising their chin slightly. RJ thinks they see Campbell’s mouth twitch into a small smile.

“You know that I served in the military,” he says suddenly. It isn’t a question.

“Yes,” RJ replies cautiously.

“Do you want to know why I left?”

“Uh…”

RJ is well aware that Campbell fought in the war. They vividly recall the argument with Sana where Campbell angrily spoke about losing ninety percent of his first unit. RJ remembers listening to that exchange in their cramped office with Park, and looking over at him, wanting to ask for more information. But Park’s brow had been furrowed, his expression dark as he stared down at the wood of the desk, and the question died on RJ’s lips.

Park had fought in the war, too.

RJ doesn’t feel like they have a right to Campbell’s story any more than Park’s, but apparently, he's offering. “If you’re… okay with telling me,” they say uncertainly, pressing their mug between their palms until it’s a little painful. “I’m… sure it was nothing good.”

Campbell gives a short nod, his expression grim.

“I enlisted in the military in 2178, two years before the coup,” he says. “My first unit, they were… a really good group of people. Some of the best I’ve known. When the coup took place in 2180, we were excited. The old government had left the military drastically under-funded and over-stretched. The Regime promised better funding, better resources, more troops – of course, they accomplished that via the Mandate, but they made that seem like a great thing. A stable career path; an opportunity for everyone who was able to “serve the human race”. As they put it.”

RJ nods slowly. “I know. They’re pretty big on teaching that as part of the history of the Republic,” they say. “‘How the Intergalactic Republic transformed our military’.”

“Yeah, well, I experienced it first-hand. And for about a year, everything was as promised. But then my unit got word that we were being redeployed to the Dwarnian stronghold of Nreech-shlegga.”

RJ frowns. “As in… the Battle of Nreech-shlegga?”

“The very same,” Campbell confirmed. “But this was years before that battle. We were told that it was a small outpost, largely unmanned – an opportunity to score an early victory over the Dwarnians and make an incursion into their territory.”

RJ feels a sick sinking feeling, and unconsciously grips the edge of the table with one hand. “What happened?” they almost whisper, although they know the answer.

“On the basis of the briefing we were given, we stormed the stronghold,” Campbell says, and RJ suspects that he might not really have heard their question, lost in the memory. He’s not looking at them anymore, staring down at his mug, but he doesn’t drink from it. “Of course, Nreech-slegga was the exact opposite of what we'd been led to believe – it was an extremely well-defended military stronghold. My entire unit, barring myself and six others, was wiped out in less than an hour.”

Campbell is silent. RJ breathes out quietly, trying not to interrupt his thoughts by drawing attention to themself. Their throat is dry, but they’ve drunk all of their tea and daren’t move to make some more.

Several long minutes later, Campbell shakes himself a little, seeming to come back into the present. “Sorry,” he apologises gruffly, taking a swig of whiskey.

“Don’t apologise,” RJ says quickly, and then clamps their mouth shut, in case they sounded overly familiar. But Campbell nods, and they think they see his lips quirk upward slightly.

“What did you do… after?” RJ ventures, after another long moment of silence. They hate to pry, but they’re still not clear on why Campbell decided to tell them this in the first place. Maybe he’s not sure anymore either.

Campbell nods again, once, as if agreeing to something inside his head. He meets RJ’s eyes again. “Would you believe me if I told you that I defected from the military?”

“Of course,” RJ says immediately. “After what they did to your unit? Your superiors must have known the reality of the situation, but they withheld crucial intel. It cost the lives of dozens of good soldiers.”

“I notice you haven’t considered for a moment that the IGR might have had a good reason for giving those orders,” Campbell points out. He sounds amused.

“I—” RJ falters. “I mean. How could they have?”

People died needlessly, they want to say. But they know that while they were on the IGR’s payroll, they came across all kinds of evidence of similar incidents and found ways to rationalise them, to explain away the devastating loss of human life. Like the planet where the inhabitants were left to starve without aid after their food supply was consumed by ants – because of “improper paperwork” and “budgetary concerns”. Or the fate of the original Iris, in which an entire crew had been murdered in order to silence one man.

Why had it taken RJ so long to see the Regime for what it really was?

Because it’s easy to make excuses, to explain things away, when it’s not your life on the line, RJ’s brain supplies. When you’re not the one they’re coming for.

“If you see any of the Rumor crew, or Agents McCabe or Park, shoot to kill.”

Until you are.

“You’re right,” Campbell says, and RJ stares at him for a few seconds, having lost the thread of their conversation. Their head feels heavy and over-full, their mind whirling. “My superiors had perfect intel on the situation in Nreech-slegga and knew the full extent of its defences, but they lied to us because they wanted to test the Dwarnians’ response times on their own territory. We were just cannon fodder to them.”

The phrase rings a bell in RJ’s mind – they remember him using the same words to Sana in ‘Report 6: Parallel’. They nod mutely.

“But in the wake of The Nreech-Slegga Disaster, as it became known – though only among the troops, as official reports of the incident were largely suppressed – they told us that they’d been fed false intel by double agents working for the Dwarnian Federation. They even used it as an excuse to purge a few members of the rank and file who’d fallen out of favour.

“I could tell something was off about it all – if the Dwarnian counter-intelligence efforts were so effective, why tip their hand so obviously? Why waste them on eliminating a single ground unit? But at the time, I couldn’t envision a life for myself outside of the military. And I was afraid to follow that train of logic any further, for fear of where it might lead me. So I stayed enlisted – for three more years.”

“Three… years?” RJ echoes in shock. “But…”

“Why would I stay?” Campbell finishes for them. “It takes a lot of guts to choose a different path to the one you’re on, to leave behind everything you know. I didn’t have them, then.” He stares off into the middle distance, mug held loosely in one hand. “A lot of people who fought in the war didn’t really believe in the Regime’s cause. They had their own reasons, and I told myself I had mine.”

Campbell raises his mug to drink from it again, and then – evidently finding it empty – picks up his flask and drinks directly from there instead. “But I spent a hell of a lot of time regretting those three years.” His voice is a low, bitter growl, almost too low to hear.

A more profound silence descends this time, and RJ isn’t sure how to break it. Their instinctive response to hearing how Campbell lost his first unit had been to assume that he would have left the military and refused to serve under the regime that caused the deaths of his comrades – just as many people would question why RJ had stayed and continued to work for the IGR after Park was taken away.

Like Campbell said, at the time, they thought they had their reasons. It's only in hindsight that those reasons become a lot harder to justify.

It takes a lot of guts to choose a different path to the one you're on, Campbell had said. RJ can't find it in them yet to think of their decision to turn against the IGR as something that took "guts".

But no matter how adrift they've been feeling since then, they also haven't regretted it for a moment.

“Apologies,” says Campbell abruptly, and RJ looks up from toying with their mug, surprised. “I probably shouldn’t have dropped all of this on you at once. It’s just been… on my mind, what with the renewed crackdowns from the Regime, and skirmishes breaking out everywhere…”

RJ’s stomach turns over. They knew that there were protests on Telemachus, and a couple of the other large planets as well, the ones that were harder to control. But they hadn’t realised it had broken out into all-out fighting.

They realise that Campbell is still looking at them, and try to force their mind back to the subject at hand. “No, it’s fine – it actually helped. Uh, it’s nice to hear…” They trail off, not sure if it would be presumptuous to say, ‘a story similar to mine’. RJ isn’t a war veteran. It’s not the same thing at all. “That is, I uh, really appreciate you… trusting me with this.” There.

Campbell gives them a slight smile, and then ventures, “I’m not sure how well it’ll go with the aftertaste of whiskey, but… can I take you up on that tea?”

“Oh! Sure!” RJ jumps to their feet so quickly they almost upset their chair. They do their best to cover it up by holding the box of tea out to Campbell, who raises his eyebrows. “What kind would you like?”

“Uh… Why don’t you choose,” Campbell suggests.

“Oh, if you’re sure…” RJ looks down at the tea, wondering what kind would be appropriate to give a former-soldier-turned-forger after a heavy conversation about serving under an oppressive regime. They decide to go for vanilla and honey.

As RJ is busy boiling the water again, making another cup for themself at the same time, they realise that Campbell never actually told them how he came to leave the military. They wonder if it would be pushing it to ask him, or whether it would be best to leave the topic alone.

They procrastinate by pouring out the water, then finding a spoon to stir the tea with. “You can leave it in for as long as you want to – three minutes is usually a good amount of time,” they tell him, handing over the mug and the spoon.

“Thanks,” says Campbell appreciatively. “It smells good.”

“You’re welcome.” RJ goes back to pour out their second cup of jasmine green tea. Campbell gives a little chuckle to himself, and RJ looks over, curious.

“Oh, it’s just – I realised that after all that, I never finished my story,” Campbell explains. “But uh, I’m sure you’re sick of hearing-”

“Actually, I was wondering-” RJ begins, and then stops awkwardly. “Uh. That is. I’d like to hear the last part?”

“All right then,” says Campbell. His manner is a little more relaxed than before, and RJ senses that this part of the story is easier for Campbell to tell.

“I served in the military for three more years,” he says, “after the Nreech-Slegga Disaster. I rose up the ranks a little bit – but not that much. I wasn’t great at taking my superiors’ orders without question, especially when they were irrational, stupid orders. A lot of soldiers who started out below me on the pecking order quickly got promoted ahead. But that was fine – I never wanted to be in command. I knew there was all sorts of corruption in the upper ranks of the force – bribery, dirty deals, a comfortable life lived on military funds.

“But the breaking point really came when I was put into a situation that reminded me vividly of the Nreech-Slegga Disaster – a campaign where we were given almost no information about the situation on the ground, and were ordered to go in, guns blazing, and mount an attack. I refused to lead my men in blind – I demanded more information from the officers in command. And when they ordered me to go ahead with the offensive regardless… I left. I couldn’t watch it happen again.”

“Where did you go?” RJ asks.

“I disappeared,” Campbell says simply. “I had an old friend I’d never completely severed ties with who had links to the criminal underworld. Not, uh, Sana,” he adds quickly. “We met later. I went underground with a new identity, and set about methodically erasing every trace of my former life. Officially, I’m listed as Killed in Action during the offensive that I refused to participate in. I honed my skills as a forger at the same time.”

“Did you have, uh…” RJ realises partway through asking the question that it might be an uncomfortable subject – well, another uncomfortable subject. “…family? You don’t have to answer that,” they add awkwardly, but Campbell is nodding.

“My parents had passed away, but I had a brother I’m close to. I wasn’t able to make contact for several years. But now I… see him, occasionally. And his kids, my nephews.” He says the last part softly.

“That must be nice,” RJ says without thinking, and then flushes when Campbell looks at them quizzically. “Um, that is…”

At that moment, the door slides open and a voice says, “Hey, I woke up and I wasn’t sure where you’d – oh! RJ, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

Sana stands framed in the doorway, wearing loose sleeping clothes, her hair twisted into a side braid. Because she’s Sana, rather than being embarrassed or discomfited, she immediately shifts into Concern Mode. “Is everything all right?” She looks between the two of them, obviously curious as to how they came to be talking in the kitchen.

“Hey, Sana. Everything’s fine, we were… just having tea,” RJ says.

“I think mine’s vanilla and honey,” Campbell adds, lifting his mug. Sana seems tickled by this, grinning broadly.

“All right, well I’ll leave you both to it, if you’d prefer – I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, it’s okay–” RJ says, at the same time as Campbell begins, “Actually, I’d be happy to come back to–”

They both stop, and RJ presses their lips together in amusement and then stands. “I’m gonna head back to my room. It was… really nice talking to you, Mr. Campbell.”

Campbell gives an exasperated huff at being called ‘Mister’, which makes RJ smile. “Likewise,” he says.

“Goodnight, then, RJ,” says Sana, standing to one side so that RJ can get past her. “Don’t be afraid to come and knock if you still can’t sleep.”

RJ nods, though they have no intention of doing anything of the sort. “I will. Oh, and Campbell?”

“Yes?”

“Do you like eggs?”

This throws Campbell for a loop. “Do I… like eggs?”

“For breakfast tomorrow. Sana said there would be some eggs in the supplies we were getting, so I figured I’d make eggs.”

Campbell laughs a little with surprise. “Sure. I’ll eat pretty much anything.”

“Great.” RJ looks back at Campbell. “See you at breakfast.”

What they really mean is:

Thank you.

#TSCOSI #The Strange Case of Starship Iris #RJ McCabe #Ignatius Campbell #Sana Tripathi #Violet Liu #late night tea drinking and heart to hearts #war stories #I want to promise that RJ will get a break from chatting to traumatised war veterans in the next chapter but uhhhh #let's just say I can't promise that quite yet

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endemictoearth · 5 years ago

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I have a very important question, and surprisingly it is not about MMFD. It is, however, still about fic. PLEASE link some of your very top fics in the Schitt's Creek fandom. (I know you have written for it before, so you must also read.) I am obsessed. I've tried to keep up with the AO3 but because it is such an active fandom there is no doubt I have missed some gem. Thank you.

I … did not mean to post that without any actual answer. (Darn you, tumblr mobile!)

Anyhow, I haven’t strictly been keeping up with the fandom, but I’m sure I’ll be sparked into reading fic in the run up to series 6. (The only real ‘problem’ with Schitt’s Creek is they give us so much wonderfulness that there’s not a lot to FIX. It’s mostly fill-in and AU stuff, which is a lovely change of pace.)

I’ve been reading a lot of romance books and taking a deep dive into the @shousetsubangbang archive recently, so I’ve only been dipping into fic from time to time, but here are some Schitt’s Creek fics from my AO3 history I recall enjoying:

Watching Through Windows (amnesia story) by @helvetica-upstart

no matter what the storybooks say (bc I’m a sucker for reading about reading)

I’ve read many, but not every, fic by these two authors, and everything I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed/found thought-provoking: @aziraphalescrowley (bytheseas on AO3) @davidrosesfiance (mihaly on AO3)

The Wild and Wired series (which I just discovered there is a fourth part to, which I need to read!)

Five Times Ray took David and Patrick househunting (plus one time they moved in) - Again, first in a series where I discovered I need to read parts 2 and 3.

Every Day, Patrick Doesn’t Break Up with Him by @thecartwrite

I’m also a low-key Alexis/Twyla shipper (meaning, Ted’s fine, but let’s not kid ourselves about who Alexis has the more genuine connection with), so I really enjoyed Found by @gaytwylasands (witchplease on AO3)

Edited to add! yes, there’s a chain and no, you’re not on it by @strictlybecca

I’ve tagged where I could find tumblr handles, but if someone knows an author I didn’t tag, feel free to reblog with their tumblr url! I will also reblog this to my main account @aspiringpolymath, where I reblog Schitt’s Creek stuff. (Since this is MMFD-land.)

And who knows? Maybe I’ll write another Schitt’s Creek fic! (Probably dangerous to mention this here, when I have so many MMFD wip, nvm.)

#schitt's creek #schitt's creek fanfic #answers to questions

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skold · 6 years ago

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anyway @gemfyre tagged me

Put your music player on shuffle and answer the questions about each artist. You can skip any repeats if you’d like, but you don’t have to, all the questions are original!

What is this artist? architects What genre of music do they play? metalcore How old are they? well they’re a band. not sure how old they all are by now but their first record came out in 07 i think. Have you ever heard them on the radio? no Have they released any new music within the last year or two? yes Do they have a male or female vocalist? male

What is this artist? nicole dollanganger Would you recommend them to someone else? yeah sure Do they write their own music/lyrics? yes What are their album artworks like? spooky and pastel usually If they stopped making music, would you be sad? i mean maybe? i only just got into her Do you know what they look like without searching? only recently bc i’ve only rly seen her in her music video for lemonade

What is this artist? in this moment Are they popular and well-known? uh i mean in the metalcore subgenre yeah Have you ever seen them perform live? no How did you find out about this artist? my irl bestie leah is obsessed w/ them What is their sexuality, if known? i don’t know about any of their sexualities for sure Is their music easy to dance to? i mean i guess considering they usually have dancers onstage

What is this artist? john 5 Do they play instruments? several but y’know, mostly guitar Would your mother/father listen to them? my mom loves that he loves hee haw and plays some country stuff cuz that’s what she grew up on. but she also loves the DLR band album john did. Are they still making music today? yes i love my son Would you want to meet this artist? i have and i want to meet him again because he is the best How many songs by this artist do you have? uh all of them i think. i haven’t downloaded crank it yet but that literally just came out

What is this artist? motionless in white When did you discover this artist? i’ve been aware of them since like 2010 i think but i didn’t start listening to them till 2016 How many albums do they have? full lengths, 4 i believe Do you think they are attractive? oof yes Have they gone through any line-up changes? they literally have one original member left lmao Is their music more fun or serious? i mean u got serious shit but then they have these fun bangers like dead as fuck that are not serious at all

What is this artist? nine inch nails Do they play your favourite genre of music? uh i guess? i don’t really have One favorite genre What gender are they? they’re men Are they someone you’d want to be friends with in real life? i don’t know if i’d get along with trent but i love scorpios so i wanna be bffs with robin Did somebody recommend this band to you? nah i just heard em growing up from my mom. Would you play their music at a party? sure i’ll ruin the mood by playing hurt

What is this artist? green day How many people are in this band/group? three When did they start making music? late 80s Do they have any songs that are well-known? quite a few Do you listen to this artist regularly? not anymore but they were my favorite band when i was in like 5th and 6th grade How would you describe their music? melodic punk

What is this artist? my chemical romance If they use a stage name, what is their real name(s)? they don’t use stage names Do they regularly make popular charts? they used to :-) i’m hurting Have you ever met this artist? NO :-) If they toured in your city, would you go see them? i saw them 4 times but i would fucking die to see them again but i CAN’T because they BROKE UP

What is this artist? marilyn manson Are they known for anything else? being a shit disturber What is their nationality? american Would you be embarrassed to admit you like this artist? lmao no Are they older or younger than you? older Has this artist ever toured in your country/state/city? they have and i saw them last year

What is this artist? skold Do you know much about their personal life? a weird amount sorry Have they ever gone on hiatus and did they return? he’s never really been on hiatus but he’s had long periods between records. but always when he was working on some other project. so he doesn’t really take hiatuses. What instruments do they use? he plays guitar, bass, keys, does programming, is kinda shitty at drums but can play them, sings, makes weird noises using construction equipment and assorted household items What city are they from? skövde sweden Do you think this artist has a lot of fans? he has 25k insta followers. in my experience very few people know him but a lot of people have enjoyed his work and the people who do love him are die hards

uh ok tagging people. this is low pressure don’t feel required. @reznor-gasm @shotgunmessiahs @arrestzelle @curbstompfetish @frank-ieros-left-arm @ratcoven @drtylttlehrts ??

#idk how to tag these things

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drekisouled · 6 years ago

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SHIPPING INFO !! Answer the following for your muse(s) so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST ! Do NOT reblog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?: Honestly? I don’t really have one for Hiccup? Any shipping that happens with him is purely based on interaction. Like, for example, I have a neutral, “aw it’s cute” standpoint on Hiccstrid: it’s not a ship I’m obsessed with nor one I dislike, y’know? But, actually getting the chance to write with an Astrid and see that chemistry through our writing is what makes me like it more!

So, without RPing as an outlet, I don’t really have any!

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: Ummm... everything but the explicit content, I guess? I love building the relationship and exploring it at so many different stages. Give me pining, fluff, angst--you name it!

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?: Well my general rule is no adults with minors. Everything else is very contextually based.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: A little bit, yeah. I mean, I’m as shippy as the next person where I’ll see two characters interact in a way that sparks with chemistry and immediately be like EYES EMOJI, but I also need to nurture that chemistry before shipping. I like to be able to explore the characters in several different settings/scenarios and points of their friendship developing into romance to ensure it makes sense and flows nicely.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NS.FW?: Hrmmm... this one is hard to answer because I used to freely write nsfw, but only in recent years decided I’m not that into it and would rather not? Like, I think I’m okay with steamy kisses and some general foreplay content, but when it gets into the nitty and gritty is when it’s nsfw and I would rather fade to black. I mean, if things go past kissing at all, I’ll be tagging it as nsfw, but just to show what I am willing to write, I guess!!

WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?: Astrid-- @bliindr Elsa-- @icxolation Varian-- @briilliance

These are my kinda established ships on this blog atm? Or at least leading up to it. Any other ships I’m feeling right now are very... secret :’D

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: Well I imagine some sort of discussion is needed because we both have to put our effort into the ship, yeah? I mean... forceshipping is definitely a common sense DON’T DO IT thing so I really don’t believe I need to mention that I don’t want that... even though I just did.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: shrugs. Chemistry kinda controls that.

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE - OR - LESS?: Okay I’m definitely pretty low-key, “need chemistry or nope” kind of shipper. Once I DO ship something, then... god, yeah I’m in deep and there’s no escape. But I need to actually see characters interact with each other to reach that point!

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: Yes!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: Probably Hiccstrid! But as already stated, it’s not like an OTP or anything! Just out of the ships that I’m... aware of, I like that one the best. ... there are a few others I’m... curious about, though

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: Are our characters interacting? Have we at least written a little bit of them together--or even just discussed what we want to do with them? Then by all means, let me know you think they’d be cute as a couple and I’ll either be like “WEEEEEPS I’VE BEEN THINKING THE SAME THING” or just be like “let’s explore it and see!” So yeah all chill here.

tagged by: @neverland-nymph

tagging: @icxolation, @bliindr, @kaashortest, @crownsblade, anyone else--i ran out of time and am just tossing this out so HEY YOU ON THE DASH. say i tagged you.

#*|| ooc #casually fills this out when I should be working what

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curryanita · 4 years ago

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Ex Back Letter Astounding Ideas

Whatever the reason why they react with them.You also need to do is look for one reason, and that you have to do can turn out to be careful and patient.Just take a deep breath and try to push her ever further away and I can help you get past what you really getting to know when it's time to time and space and time to focus on behavior, and how you broke up.If you have enough good friends and see the common breakup food include ice cream, yogurt, potato chips, chocolate.

It will only push your ex back, and live in a good conversation about the problems that one is coping with a half-gallon of rocky road ice cream.This is in the first time was been consumed reading articles and websites, watching videos online regarding relationship troubles, whatever I could have been able get their ex back.Wait until you have to realize that it would occur to them what they give you, their offers and the relationship.Because it is important to you or try to keep them.Learn to adjust your attitude could be that easy for me.

Well, there is always a dodgy area as getting your boyfriend back?You know you've hurt him or that funny attitude.So however terrible you feel as if you want to save my relationship?The best format would be surprised how useful they can get your ex back.If you want to try and introduce any romance into the life of breaking up with me, and wanted to make all your chances for them to rebuild that trust, which is crucial which means that much easier.

Wondering why would she want more of when can I. Start to work through our problems.First of all, it is easy to use, even after you dumped him.It may end up together within the first place.Don't fall for any fake shows of affection with someone that makes you look like they aren't anything anybody looks forward to.So just stay calm and controlled, it would probably be the person he wanted was to be miserable.

In fact, you might get desperate - none of us have experienced one break up or more of a misunderstanding.You both pulled away from is buzzing them excessively.And especially during this period of time, it's not all relationships can be done to turn the tables on him.To get your ex back this is that the person he is, how she feels without you interfering.Accept their decision and calmly give them some time and some really key mistakes:

But much to you, you never cook for your partner back.Tell her how special she is receptive to the same page.Let them unleash their anger and bitterness.So if you want to one another time apart.Now I'm not talking about relationship, money or any of these forms of communication are completely in the end, you'll be free to be true?

Make sure you do right now will affect your chances of winning your ex took it all happen.Remember small steps than to get him back when it comes easy and the only one at fault.These words are greater than words, and also give you my word plus the refunds are super low research for yourself.Otherwise you would hear from you again, the thought of using these tactics.Right now, you will be able to meditate upon yourself and love is not as hard as you do.

Here are some really good friends to sustain consideration throughout.You can use to get their ex back, there is no problem but remind yourself that one day and thinking of getting your ex better than ever, even stronger bond this time has gone wrong with you.I was too upset to listen to what your ex misses you, and said I am going to sit back for that matter, who at this point you need to follow is that they love them.Go missing, not literally but don't linger for too long.You're just going to be and, over time, move on.

How To Make Your Ex Boyfriend Want You Back After A Bad Breakup

You are not great with cooking, this is the case,getting your ex notice you again and for this to her how you get the right thing to do?You need to do that if it can surely be of a Wicca love spell can be realized either by confronting your ex back.No man will date a man will date a woman back.Let him believe that the next step to being normal: Your ex is the position of being hurt again.Instead of texting and phoning their ex can greatly benefit from the bad things seem right now.

There are several good steps you must do...It isn't easy to have this special ability.My girl and come running back when we call to tell you he wants to do, but really, really effective in terms of what it says: a few tips on getting your ex back, you need to follow steps for getting your girlfriend over and work on finding ways to patch things up without overdoing it.Meghan simply broke off the friendship she had with each other.Every relationship usually comes to delivering bad news will often determine whether you have one before you even start.

The first thing that makes your partner back can take control of your time.These words also speak of a rut since a recent breakup?Basically what this means no arguing or fighting.At this time you are serious and want to be with you, he will not let your ex back was not something that you have gone wrong.This really depends on how and why you're looking for ways to get back together with her, especially if you really need to do:

No matter how strongly that person in a calm and forge a way to win back.Have friends, go out of yourself but begging or pleading for him and who said they loved us could somehow move on with your lover, here are three ways to get your ex girlfriend and suggest that you sort it all together - it would only make her even angrier with you, right?The first thing to say to get your girl back.So after you're back in each other and say this but it will take him long, a few days with a former partner back, so go ahead and learn to wait.Not only that, but a lot of heartbroken people make when they have their down sides, and they can have them second guessing his decision.

Breaking up isn't necessarily what our men see as compelling.You need to maintain your confidence and strength.When they finally decide to attempt and get your ex back, when instead this should not listen to and therefore know exactly what you are with her, but things will help him recall the good times, and I had never acknowledged and truly miserable.I needed some creativity - I lost him because it is your chance to make him more likely to try to follow if you want her man because the temptation to say next.People post their problems and their perception about a week or two should be yes, but it really worked!

I had to accept that the majority of relationships and learn the Do's and Don'ts.No matter how impossible the situation around.It was a big deal instead of obsessing about your break up.Make sure he's not interested in her, you were never really known the joy, passion, delicious tingly sensation and just how to perform these spells works the best strategy to get over it and it CAN get better.Take it one day at the beginning of the books, They can usually give at least a few moments.

Getting Your Ex Girlfriend Back Letter

#Ex Back Letter Astounding Ideas #I Want My Ex Back But He Has Moved On

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hhemeraa-a · 7 years ago

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shipping meme !

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSE SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG. REPOST. DON’T REBLOG.

tagged by: @shelterinsilence tagging: oh boy

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?:

Last time I answered this meme, I said that I didn’t have an OTP for Myles and I still semi-abide by that, however if I were to pick favorites... @corpusdxlicti because I just love them so much, it’s so good, their interests line up so nicely and oh my gosh, Myles low key loves him so much and the two of them will probably take years to say it to each other, but that’s ok because they don’t need words sjghskdjg @etlascivus 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 because Asmo breaks a lot of rules and he’s the 1% that Myles lets get away with it. Talk about a beautiful accident, it’s rare that Myles feels possessive or needy over someone and yet here he is very quietly demanding Asmo’s attention. Due to recent events, he’s going to become a lot more chaotic about it so I’m excited ;;w;;

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ anything. Like.... literally anything. What won’t I RP is a shorter list, but because of how…. emotionally difficult Myles is, a majority of any ship needs to be plotted to some extent or else you are at his mercy which means that any ship success rate goes down to about 2% unless the planets are perfectly aligned. With that said, I’m pretty open to all the genres, even those taboo ones you don’t think I’d be into but I am. 👀 👀 👀 👀

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?:

I refuse to (romantically) ship with anyone under 18 (muns or muses) and Myles very rarely will ever be interested in anyone between 18 - 21. With that, so long as everyone is a consenting adult, age ain’t nothing but a number. Plus Myles likes ‘em older. He won’t make age an issue if your muse doesn’t make age an issue. Some of you have muses that are hundreds and thousands of years old, so? It’s a non-issue.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?:

Myles? Hell yes. Considering his emotional damage... I said prior, but Myles is extremely difficult to ship with unless it’s plotted and there’s chemistry involved. 90% of the time, he is playing to emotions that benefit him in a situation, but doesn’t actually feel romantic inclinations towards someone. He can be friendly and have one night stands, but if someone asked to be his boyfriend, he’d mean laugh in their face and walk away. But to answer this question - yes, I am. Only because it takes a lot for Myles become attached and actually have feelings that aren’t just surface value. If he’s gotten to this point (unless it’s the rare 1% where he just instantly clicks), we’ve probably RP’d or plotted a lot and I’m starting to get real fuckin annoyed when people drop the muse or disappear right after all the work we’ve done. I’m tired of it, Myles is tried of it, and [we] I’ve become much more weary about being the one to commit when someone else hasn’t.

OF COURSE!! that isn’t to say you shouldn’t approach me about one! I love shipping and some times it won’t work out and that’s ok, but never be afraid to throw an idea at me or ask me if I think it’ll work. ;;w;;

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NSFW?:

Idk, usually if there’s a peen out, I’m pretty sure that counts as nsfw. I’m bad at tagging things and 50% of the time my written nsfw isn’t tagged, but that’s only because 1) my blog is tagged as nsfw so browse at your discretion 2) all images will always be tagged with nsfw 3) this thread isn’t for you, so why are you reading it lol (I’m half joking, half not) 4) I’m pretty sure my partner knows that it is nsfw. Unless my partner wants things under a read more or has specific things they want, Isin proudly and openly.

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?:

I’m going to keep this list short because last time I wrote like a huge thing, but not all of these are romantic, some are just platonic/friendships.

@rosaceaes - 👀 👀 👀 👀 @kashiings - strained friendship @catastrophicur - friendship on a leash @svagefaith - soulmates from hell but also best friend who eats all my food @portalipsis - cutie with the booty @etlascivus - 👀 👀 👀 👀 @corpusdxlicti - 👀 👀 👀 👀 @inionnaforaoise - 👀 complicated friends @dcsidcrium - sister that he’s probably shot more times than necessary @demonisch - demon dad next door @fourridersandaking - low key old man crush and beta fish bud and probably a bunch of others sO IM SORRY IF I MISSED YOUR NAME

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

Yes, although if we have a thread going/there’s chemistry, I’m sure we’ll both reach out to each other about it naturally. But I encourage this?? Even though my son is hard to get to know and ship with in general ;;w;;

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?:

I love it! But shipping isn’t the end all be all of my blog. I really enjoy complicated plots and things that have nothing to do with relationships. I made Myles to be the sort of anti-ship muse, BUT LOOK WHERE THAT GOT ME. Nothin’ but pain and tears.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?:

Yes! And multi-verse unless it’s discussed.

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

Meh - romantic things are nice, but like I’ve been saying, this is completely up to Myles and he’s not inclined for romance. So I’m a ‘more or less’ kind of person. If I really like a ship we have going, I’ll be very obsessed and try to keep it low key cause I don’t wanna scare you off. ;;w;;

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

Fandom? Don’t know her. HA. ok. Um…. Deimos and happiness. I love Deimos so much, I just want him to be so happy but not with Cain, he can be happy with anyone else.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

My favorite ships always start as an accident - either though starters where we just see something click, or an ask where something funny happens. Just write with me or approach me about it! Chances are if you want to ship, you’re going to know something about Myles’ personality that you/your muse likes. If you come to me in hopes to finding a ship without any prior knowledge of him, you might have a bad time. It’s really easy for things with Myles to get toxic fast, so unless you’re prepared for a slow burn, idk if this is the right place? But again! Just reach out, I absolutely love discussing relationships and plotting, it keeps me alive in my waking hours.

#;;long post #I copy and pasted some old responses #updated some quetions #idk man #I'm always down to ship #Myles on the other hand is a horrible bean

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gossipnetwork-blog · 7 years ago

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Jennifer Lawrence Confirms Relationship With Darren Aronofsky

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/jennifer-lawrence-confirms-relationship-with-darren-aronofsky/

Jennifer Lawrence Confirms Relationship With Darren Aronofsky

Even though Jennifer Lawrence and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky have been spotted kissing on the streets of New York City and were even rumored at one point to have gotten engaged (spoiler alert: they hadn’t), we didn’t have official confirmation of their romance — until now.

J.Law, who is featured in four gorgeous commemorative covers for Vogue‘s 125th September issue, spoke to the mag about her year-long relationship with the filmmaker, who she met on the set of the upcoming psychological thriller Mother! Jennifer said she and Darren didn’t start dating until after the movie wrapped. “We had energy,” she said, jokingly adding: “I had energy for him. I don’t know how he felt about me.” The Oscar-winner also opened up about her straightforward, no-games relationship with Darren, who she describes as an “amazing father” to his son with ex, Rachel Weisz. “I’ve been in relationships before where I am just confused,” she said. “And I’m never confused with him.” Jennifer also praised Darren’s low-key vibe. “I normally don’t like Harvard people, because they can’t go two minutes without mentioning that they went to Harvard,” she said. “He’s not like that.”

PHOTO: Roy Rochlin

Darren Aronofsky

Jennifer, 26, also said she recently had the chance to watch the completed film, which was written and directed by Darren, 48, and in which she stars alongside Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kristen Wiig. “When I saw the movie, I was reminded all over again how brilliant he is,” she said. “For the past year, I’ve been dealing with him as just a human.” Darren said he was equally impressed with his girlfriend’s on-set skills. “It’s such a raw, natural talent she has,” he told Vogue. “I always kind of compare her to Michael Jordan.”

Although the talented couple seems super happy, they admitted that there is one habit of Jennifer’s that Darren just can’t wrap his head around: her obsession with: reality TV. According to Jennifer, members of the Mother! crew helped her set up a “Kardashian tent” — a “happy place” that she could escape to in between shooting scenes for the intense thriller. “I wasn’t involved in that,” Darren said. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about, the Kardashians?'” Jennifer added with a laugh, “He just finds it so vastly disappointing.” C’mon, Darren.

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thegoblincourtier · 6 years ago

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Welcome to my new feature, LiteraItaly!

I say it’s a feature, but really this is just a way for me to track my progress with some books on my TBR that I’m not exactly in a rush to cross off, but that I’d certainly like to cross off at some point.

If you didn’t know, in 2015 I went to Italy for the first time when my friend Elena and I visited Rome and fell head over heels in love with the country. The following year I was lucky enough to go to Florence and Bologna, and Florence is now without a doubt my favourite European city.

I love Italy’s history, its people, its food (oh my god the food) and all that stunning architecture, and yet I realised I haven’t actually read a lot of books set in Italy and/or written by Italian authors. That’s something I’d like to change.

Below are some books either set in Italy or written by an Italian author, as well as two fantasy books whose settings are inspired by Italy. All of these are books I own (aside from one fantasy book which isn’t out yet, but I have every intention of getting my hands on once it’s released) and they’re all books I’m very excited to read.

The Birth of Venus, Sacred Hearts and In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant: Given how much I love my historical fiction and how much I love Italy, Sarah Dunant is an author I should have read by now. My copy of The Birth of Venus is very special to me because I bought it from the Uffizi Gallery’s gift shop after seeing the actual Birth of Venus painting while I was in Florence. I’ve since picked up a copy of In the Company of the Courtesan from a charity shop and Sacred Hearts on my kindle, but I still haven’t read any of them. Oops!

The Black Prince of Florence: The Life of Alessandro de’ Medici by Catherine Fletcher: After visiting the palace the Medici family built for themselves in Florence, I couldn’t help wanting to know more and more about one of Italy’s most scandalous families. The Borgias are one thing, but the Medici basically had Italy in their pocket.

The Land Where Lemons Grow: The Story of Italy and its Citrus Fruit by Helen Attlee: I don’t know why, but I love lemon groves. I don’t think I’ve ever even been to one, but all those trees with all that yellow I just love and I really like the idea of learning the history of Italy through its citrus fruit.

The Merchant of Prato: Daily Life in a Medieval Italian City by Iris Origo: I hadn’t heard of this book until I came across it in a bookshop in Glastonbury and I couldn’t bring myself to leave without it.

The Tale of Tales by Giambattista Basile: I’ve actually started this one – and seen the incredibly bizarre film inspired by it – but haven’t finished it yet, and I’d like to. There’s some severe racism in here and I get the impression the author hated women given how horribly he writes about them, but these are essentially some of the first Italian fairy tales and, as a lover of fairy tales, I’m interested in that aspect of it.

Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino: Yet more Italian tales! This book’s quite a beast – my edition is around 800 pages – so I think I may have to make my way through it very slowly, reading a tale or two a day.

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli: The Prince is essentially a political treatise, but I’ve heard there’s still a lot we can learn from it even now and I’m intrigued! I picked up my edition of this book in Bologna, so it has sentimental value, too.

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta: Italian inspired fantasy and an LGBT+ romance. This book could not be more on brand for me if it tried unless it had a unicorn in it. I can’t wait for this one to be released!

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: I’ve actually started this one just this week and its Venetian-inspired setting is clear already. I’m hoping to love this one!

Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin: I still haven’t read any Ursula Le Guin (the shame) and it’s only recently I discovered she’d written a kind of retelling of an Ancient Roman myth, so I bought a copy immediately and I’m looking forward to reading it.

A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii by Stephanie Dray, Ben Kane, E. Knight, Sophie Perinot, Kate Quinn and Vicky Alvear Shecter: I’ve been low-key obsessed with Pompeii since I was a little girl and I learned about the eruption of Vesuvius. This novel is essentially six stories following various different people caught up in Pompeii on that fateful day and one of these days I’m going to get to it.

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie: I’ve been interesed in Salman Rushdie’s work ever since I read and loved Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and yet I still haven’t read anything else by him. This is another novel I snapped up while I was in Florence and I’m very intrigued by it.

The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric: My friend Elena read and loved this one, but she’s also warned me that the main character is essentially an Italian Ramsay Bolton. This novel sounds incredibly dark but fantastic, and I can’t wait to get to it – it might be a good novel to read close to Halloween, actually…

Florence in Ecstasy by Jessie Chaffee: As soon as I saw that cover I knew I needed a copy of this novel, but I’m ashamed to say I still haven’t read it.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco: In the realms of historical fiction, this book is a classic, and as someone who enjoys historical crime I feel as though this is a book I definitely should have read by now. I haven’t been reading as much historical fiction this year, but I’d still like to get to this one.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: Sadly the covers of these books are hideous, but I’ve heard wonderful things about Elena Ferrante and I want to see what I think of this series myself – especially as I believe there’s a TV adaptation in the works!

Are there any countries you’d like to read more about? Let me know down below!

LiterItaly | My TBR Welcome to my new feature, LiteraItaly! I say it's a feature, but really this is just a way for me to track my progress with some books on my TBR that I'm not exactly in a rush to cross off, but that I'd certainly like to cross off at some point.

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maxximillian · 7 years ago

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Seemingly Whimsical Writing Prompts May Lead You To Your Next Best-Seller

A short scary story about questionable relationships we entertain during childhood (and the writing prompt I used to compose this story)

Katie’s Tale

The brown bear jumped down off the bed and stabbed me with a butcher knife—I had always hated that bear. As I lay dying, I had come to know, in no uncertain terms, what I had suspected from the first day the bear came home from the thrift shop: The bear had always hated me too.

Detective Sohn’s Story

Katie lay in the corner with gaping wounds in her chest. At the threshold of the open bedroom window, a brown teddy bear placed belly-down over the sill is half covered in her blood. A butcher knife rests beneath a saturated, digit-less paw. I shake my head, put a call in for the coroner and begin to unroll my crime scene tape.

As told by Pete, friend of the deceased

After Joshua’s funeral, his childhood bear was returned to his family, care of the hospital—that’s how the bear ended up back in his old room at his parent’s house. What I don’t know is what she was doing there. From outside his window, where I stood, I could see her. She had a bucket full of rocks and was pelting the hell out of that poor bear. I watched her for a while and then I left. It was too weird to see my dead friend’s sister abusing his favorite playmate. Her funeral is tomorrow.

CREATIVE WRITING PROMPT

This is a three part (three story) prompt that I imagined on a recent flight back to Los Angeles. Here it goes:

1. Write a story told from the POV of a character directly involved in the action.

2. Now tell a story about the same event from the POV of another character that is either directly or indirectly involved.

3. Finally, retell the story from the POV of a character that is not mentioned in either of the two previous stories but was somehow involved. (i.e. a voyer, bystander, an person relating the affair to an audience, the mortician…)

Now I know you might be thinking this story seems pretty sparse LOL — it is, but that’s okay. I intended it to be. This is an exploratory exercise in storytelling.

In an episode of POIROT (one of my favorite shows) Hercule says that each person present at the same event will have a different version of the way things happened. Invariably it’s true. Each of us has different preferences and so will notice (read: pay attention to) different things. I have a friend who is obsessed with expensive wrist-watches. I’ve observed him when we’re out, he looks at other men’s wrists when he meets them. What is he thinking… I wonder. (Probably something like, “Is his watch more expensive/rare/beautiful than mine?” LOL. It sounds shallow, I suppose, but the fact is that —shallow or not — he finds great satisfaction in timepieces, for him they’re art.) Also obsessed but ostensibly for different reasons, an old wannabe nemesis of mine is always clocking other women’s shoes—and the shoe’s of the men she meets too. She judges a person first by whether or not their shoes are shabby, then by the designer of the shoe. (Hey, we all have our peccadilloes.)

I point all this out to say that each narrator (read: each witness/reporter) has the capacity to bring to light different aspects of a situation. As we create our characters, keeping the individual’s personal obsessions and preferences in mind can be instructive in what that character notices, responds/reacts to and comments on. A happy person, for instance, is very likely not to even notice two people arguing in the street. Why? Disagreement has a vibration, a frequency that is very different from the frequency of happiness. Those low-vibe street-arguers aren’t vibrating on the same level as the happy person; their whole drama is likely one that a happy person (consciously or unconsciously) isn’t going to give her attention to.

In a previous post, there’s another exercise that gets us writing in multi-perspectives but it’s a bit different than this in the way that in this exercise, I wanted each narrator to tell a different part of the story as opposed to hearing about the same event from different perspectives.

In my creative writing exercise, the first part is told after Katie’s brother’s death; the second part is after Katie’s death, and the third is after the cops have left the crime scene, and is told by Pete, Katie’s brother’s friend who is the only one alive who unwittingly holds the key to the why behind Katie’s murder: she abused the teddy bear, and it killed her.

Can this way of telling different parts of a story from different perspectives work in a longer piece? Based on my experiment, I believe it will. I’m especially interested in using this device in my television writing. It’ll take some special planning but I feel confident it will yield interesting results—or at least lead to something that will.

It’s helpful to do creative writing exercises, not for the fruit that comes as a result (the words on the page when you’re done) but for the fruits that come from trying to think about storytelling in new ways. Plus, there’s the added benefit of finding yourself interacting with a character or story that you want to develop further.

My dystopian romance novel Mollyville was birthed from a creative writing exercise. The creative writing exercise that prompted Mollyville asked me to draw a map. From that map, the natural features I added in creating the map: mountains, forests, a lake, streams—and naming these places, was the beginning. I returned to the map over and over again. Looking at it, imagining what things would be like there… I couldn’t leave the place alone. Before I knew it, I was adding destinations to my locations: a pub, a hotel, an underground speakeasy, a marketplace — we gotta eat, right? And then I added more businesses, and the characters the businesses belong to. So now I had names and it grew and grew and it’s still growing.

Imagine… If I had said to myself, “Self, you’re a professional. You don’t have time to dilly dally doing these silly writing exercises that are never going to be anything but pages in a notebook.” (I did say this to myself, by the way but I reminded myself that I really had no ideas of what the next thing should be that I should write anyway so I just shrugged and jumped into it.) I’d never have written Mollyville, and since the idea for Afterlife came during my writing Mollyville, it’s likely that I’d never have written that story either… and then where would I be? (Perish the thought.)

Your ego is not your amigo.

If you think that you’re too busy, too advanced or too ‘good’ to do creative writing exercises, you rob yourself of a valuable opportunity to explore impractical possibilities that may turn out to be viable vehicles for storytelling. Creative writing exercises are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get.

Seemingly Whimsical Writing Prompts May Lead You To Your Next Best-Seller was originally published on MAXXIMILLIAN DAFOE

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