#This is a bit jumpy and no particular plot but it was fun

[goonlalagoon]

The Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry || Leagues and Legends

A few months back I wrote a Leagues & Legends/Hogwarts AU as a birthday present for a friend who’s also a huge fan of the books, and figured I may as well post it here!

When Laney Jones goes under the sorting hat, her back is perfectly straight and her face is placid, relaxed. Her hands fold neatly in her lap, and none of the students and professors think she’s anything other than calm, maybe even disinterested. 

Internally, she quite seriously threatens the Hat with a fiery death if it spits out her secret. The threat alone would probably merit Gryffindor, but the Hat isn't easily swayed by mere stunts. When the rip along it's hem opens, it sends her to Slytherin.

(Such a thirst to prove yourself. You'll do well there)

She's practically a squib. She makes no attempts to claim otherwise, because if you say you're Merlin reborn everyone watches you, but when they think you're a step away from being a muggle they take the fact that you got some coloured sparks as a victory, even if you're supposed to be turning a matchstick into a needle. Pride is one thing, but Laney knows that sometimes you have to let people think poorly of you so they won't look too close. 

She excels in herbology, potions, and magical theory. She won't excel at History of Magic until her second year, because she is unequipped both for professor Binns and for the way all of the magical history she knew was geographically removed from everything they covered in class.

(Laney Jones isn't a squib; her mother is a squib, so that effectively makes Laney a muggle. Her brother is a wizard, though she hasn't seen him since she was eight. She scours the Prophet every morning, because she still thinks her big brother is the centre of the world)

Rupert Hammersfeld had already read every History of Magic text book on Hogwarts' seven year book list at least once by the time he was ten. He stays awake in Binns' classes making detailed notes anyway, but most of them are his own thoughts and recalled external sources. Rupert likes history; his mother is a curse breaker, and so he knows plenty of non euro-centric history from her, and his uncle made sure to teach him at least some of the history of the parts of India their ancestors hailed from as well. He writes out theoretical alternate lesson plans when he's done transcribing his years-old notes on the British goblin wars.

He's read a lot of textbooks over the years, curled up in the Hogwarts library in the holidays. He watched years worth of students pass through the halls before it was his turn, helping his uncle with the paperwork and quietly finding the homesick kids at weekends with his palms full of hot-chocolate and handkerchiefs tucked into his pockets. 

His uncle fretted, sometimes, that he couldn't give Rupert as much time as he deserved. The world outside thought he did, of course he did, the headmaster of Hogwarts having to raise a child, it was a wonder he had any time for the boy at all. They sniffed and murmured about how irresponsible, how unseemly, it was for that Elizabeth to have not only had a child out of wedlock but to have then left it with her respectable, long-suffering brother to raise while she ran wild. 

He was pure-blooded (that his father had magic at his fingertips was one of the few things Rupert knew, not because his mother gave two figs about blood status but because one of the few stories she shared of him included the elegance of his preserving spells), from a line that could trace itself back to the Founders, and he just wanted everything to be orderly, calm, and safe. He spends ten and a half minutes under the hat, discussing where he should go. The hat is quite adamant, but Rupert knows how people would talk and takes a while to convince.

(Usually, the hat accepts a direct request to go into a certain house - but this is from a self-imposed sense of obligation, and under it there’s a strong sense that the hat’s option would be really nice, actually, so it insists)

The Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins don't have any first year classes together; for historic reasons they tend to be paired with the Ravenclaws, which suits Rupert quite well. He's from a family of Gryffindors, but they can be a bit...much, sometimes. He’s all for chivalry and protecting those who need it, but from a lifetime in the castle he’s familiar with just how often the Gryffindor common room exists in a state of chaos.

He's aware of the black almost-squib in his year anyway, of course. He watched his fellow first years arrive on the boats, matching names to faces as they were called up to the front of the Great Hall, noted houses. And you could never escape the gossip - a castle full of teenagers lived on rumour and hearsay.

Rupert sneaks down to Hogsmede regularly, to meet up with Sez and Bart. He slips past Laney in the halls or out on the grounds, unseen, and he says nothing to anyone - not that there was a student out of bed, or about the mix of muggle tricks and magical practical jokes she was carefully practising with, night after night.

They don't meet properly until third year, when they chose between the optional subjects and classes became more widely mixed between the four houses. Laney takes Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. She doesn't particularly like the sound of muggle studies, but she knows her own grades - the extra work is worth it, she figures, for that number of perfect grades to outweigh her abysmal practical demonstrations. Besides, she's eyeing the idea of a political career, and she figures it wouldn't hurt to be officially Able To Speak the Muggle Lingo.

Rupert signs up for all of the same subjects except for Muggle Studies as well, so their schedules rather abruptly align almost completely. It's several weeks into third year before Rupert (hesitantly) offers her the recipe to a colour changing powder he'd found in a market stall, one summer visiting his mother. Laney had been hiding dyes up her sleeves and hidden in bracelets for years, turning mice green when she was supposed to make them into a pin cushion. The Dozen Drop Dyes she’s been using are expensive, and require active enchantment to make. A powder is in several ways easier to hide, and it’s something she can make herself with the help of a few magical ingredients.

She drops her Magical Theory books down next to him in the library the next day because he'd been struggling with the underpinnings of Gamp's Exceptions (again. It just didn't make sense! What was different about food? He could conjure wooden furniture, but he couldn't conjure spices that were made from dried bark. It wasn't logical) and Laney was painfully aware of anything even close to a debt.

By the end of the year, she would be trading notes and explanations because it was easier to study together than alone. He would be occasionally transfiguring things in class for her, always partially and always incorrect, and talking her through the non-magical defences he'd learnt over the years of helping Sez and Bart track down dangers in the streets of Hogsmede and the edges of the Forest.

At the start of their fourth year, there are  two arrivals of particular note. One is a red-head who towers over the first years, and the other is short even by the standards of his cohort. Farris, Jack, goes into Gryffindor. Sanders, Grey, has an extended period under the hat and is finally sent to Ravenclaw.

(Jack thinks the hat sounds a bit grudging about it)

It turns out that Jack is actually in their year, a transfer student. When asked where from, he shrugs and says "here and there", which people generally take as either home schooled, or expelled from every other magical school in the world, because it turns out that Jack gets into fights the way most people breathe.

It isn't even duelling; magic is rarely involved. Rupert half-suspects that's intentional. After all, when you're fighting someone over the fact that they've just said something dismissive about the muggleborn, sending them to the hospital wing with a broken nose without drawing your wand at all does rather illustrate the point. Rupert lectures him about fighting and files neat, official complaints and sends home form-written teacher’s notes where it will help.

(Grey slips safely beneath the radar, by and large. He doesn't get letters at breakfast, but occasionally he'll find a book he's never seen with his name on the fly leaf in the Ravenclaw common room. Spider had been at Hogwarts, once upon a time, and he used to slip out to Hogsmede, and after all -  the Ravenclaw tower was guarded only by riddles.

This was all immaterial, given he could also turn into a spider at will, but at heart Spider appreciated the detail of these things)

Laney and Rupert quickly discover that it is very difficult not to like Jack. He seems permanently cheerful, but has a streak of dark humour that never fails to make Laney snicker. His magic is all over the place, which Rupert marks down to his haphazard teaching. Some of the fourth year material  is old hat to him, and some of their first year spells are novelties.

He also has a distressing (to Rupert, at least) tendency to wander at will into the Forbidden Forest. Rupert makes sad sounds whenever he catches Jack wandering in or out of the trees, and ignores the guilty awareness that he's been gradually working on containing an acromantula infestation in there for years. 

Laney tells Jack she isn't even an almost-squib, magically speaking, early in their fifth year. She had thought about it the summer before but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She's too used to secrecy, and she can't just hand this over to someone without knowing for certain that they won't let it slip. He stares at her, delighted, and immediately produces a battered jacket imbued with a shield charm. She pours over it, and he promises to write to the friend who made it for him to see if she can be persuaded to share her secrets. 

Laney and Rupert are too busy with their own studies to help Jack catch up on the patches in his own past learnings completely, so he’s had a mismatch of tutors since the professors first realised he was missing several foundations. Somehow he ends up being taught second year Charms by the runty first year he shared a boat over with. Grey trades off time running Jack through old class notes borrowed from Laney and Rupert to explain things he hasn't necessarily studied yet himself for time going over the material the fifth years are currently studying. 

(Grey is vaguely considering taking his OWLs early, except then he'd take the NEWTs early too, and he'd be stuck out in the world with stunning grades but no legal guardians, too young to do things like rent a flat or get a job even with his forged papers placing him as a few years older than he actually is)

Jack gets letters sporadically, usually accompanied by pictures covered in sticky fingerprints. They rarely seem to be delivered by the same bird twice, until he goes home to Mexico for one winter break, Grey in tow. They have a great time, even if Grey complains about the heat, but he also notices that none of the family know anything about what their youngest has been up to for the past six years. 

He corners Jack about it once they're back at Hogwarts, in a roundabout way, and it spills out - the one magical son in an entirely muggle home, except for a mother who had some magical relatives and extended family friends in several different countries. They'd fabricated an excuse for why he was leaving home, and Jack hadn't gone back since. His mother had been insistent that it would be good for him, better than staying at the local underground schools or going to the closer boarding school in America, even if she hadn't been able to verbalise why. She just knew.

His mother had been quite keen to hear what he'd been up to since he ran away from school, but Grey knows he wasn't supposed to have heard that conversation and won’t be getting any answers if he asks.

Laney listens closely, peers sidelong at Grey, and smirks at them both. 

"Well, I had to forge enough paperwork to get onto the Hogwarts register and fool my mother." While Grey splutters at the new information, Rupert tilts his head and asks ‘why Hogwarts’. She's never spoken about this before, and he hadn't wanted to pry. Laney shrugs. 

"Uagadou acceptance can't be faked, and I was actually born in England - mom and dad were over for a year living with my uncle, diplomatic stuff - so it was just feasible that I would have gone onto their register not Uagadou's." She smiles, sharp. "And anyway, everyone at Uagadou uses gestures not a wand, so magic would be a lot harder to fake."

They derail into a conversation about different schools of magic. If Rupert or Laney find it odd that Grey goes quiet when they mention Mahoutokoro, the school of magic closest to his home town (though they don't know this, precisely, just that he has a certain face structure and accent, and a tendency to slip into Japanese when he’s grumbling over books without realising), neither mention it. 

Jack waxes unexpectedly, passionately lyrical about how colour coding robes is harsh and minimising and biased anyway, because it rewards grades not effort, and some of the more flashy, non-grade related ingrained colour shifts follow no reasonable pattern, with no care for context.

Did you know that if you kill an aggressive giant with a third year spell you'd use to play pranks on your friends every week (and a lot of luck), your robes turn shimmering gold for 'services to the community'? But if you kill a rampaging dragon as it tries to eat you after razing an entire village with a curse you've only heard of and never dreamt of using, they'll go white as snow.

The year Laney, Rupert and Jack reach their sixth year of school, Grey is finally old enough to go to Hogsmede with them - well. According to his paperwork, anyway. They had offered to take him before through the hidden passage Rupert preferred for getting to the village to meet Sez, but he'd waved an ink specked hand to decline because he was too recognisable, too obviously not old enough to be on a Hogsmede trip, and that meant he wouldn't be allowed into the bookstore, so what even was the point?

Jack cheerfully trails Grey into the bookstore, holding a growing pile of books and trying (and failing) to see any kind of rhyme and reason behind the collection. Laney peels off to the joke shop to buy a few new toys. She comes out with a mental list of other purchases for Rupert, Jack, or Sez to pick up for her later to make sure nobody draws too many connections to her.

Rupert wanders around the local houses with his pack full of gifts he's carefully brought down from the castle - a pepper up potion brewed with better ingredients than a family could afford, a handful of pages carefully transcribed from an old rare book that only existed in three collections in the world for someone's research, several bags of cookies baked in a corner of the kitchens (the house elves had gotten used to this when Rupert was a child and didn't panic too much nowadays) to hand out to anyone he knows is having a bit of a rough patch, or will just appreciate a friendly visit.

They meet up at Sally-Anne's place as always, because it's good, cheap food and Rupert wouldn't dream of going anywhere else unless required by circumstance to be a Noble Example of a Pureblood Son.

(Sally had inherited the Hog's Head not more than a couple of years ago, but she's been practically running it since she was fifteen so everyone thinks of it as Sally-Anne's)

When Rupert arrive there are already textbooks scattered over his favourite booth. He, Jack and Laney all have a Care of Magical Creatures group project to work on. Grey is theoretically working on his own History of Magic essay, but is actually pouring wide eyed over their notes. Jack is waving his hands as he talks at length about dragon communications to an increasingly fascinated Grey and a frustrated Laney, because none of this is in any of the five books she's read, Farris, where are your sources - Rupert nudges her as he sits down, because while the mystery of Jack's sporadic yet strangely specific knowledge base is something they both agree they need to get to the bottom of, they've also agreed they should probably make sure they do it somewhere they can't be overheard, given how much he slides away from it.

Halfway through doodling a dragon (it's supposed to be a Liondragon, but Jack knows it's a poor copy of the carved sketches he's spent years watching George leave on tables, support beams and pieces of firewood) Jack feels a chill on the back of his neck, and shrugs it off as residual paranoia. 

The window explodes a moment later, and he pushes himself thoughtfully up from the scattered glass.

"Huh, so I guess that was an anti-apparition ward being set." He tries to explain this to the aggressive fellow Gryffindor who's loudly threatening to go fetch the aurors, and winds up tearing up his robes to act as a tourniquet because he isn't carrying any dittany and it's not like he's going to be given his wand back to actually repair the splinching wound anyway so he needs to do something.

Laney catches his eye as the two searching men start tearing up the floor in search of the rumoured tunnel to Hogwarts. She's fiddling with the bracelet on her left wrist, a dark wooden bangle with - if Jack remembers correctly - some constellation etched onto it. Rupert goes very still beside him, eyes apparently fixed on Sally shouting furiously at the Wizards tearing up her pub.

The hidden compartment on Laney's bangle flips open, and the room is abruptly plunged into night as it fills with dark mist. Jack lunges forwards towards the wizard holding their wands, and rolls cheerfully to his feet amid the sound of them clattering to the floor. From somewhere off to his left he can hear the loud oof of someone who has just been punched in the guts and probably hasn't been in a fight other than a magical duel since he was ten and doesn't remember how to roll with the punches.

In the dark, Jack grins.

[kuronekonerochan]

Hi...how are you? If you don't mind me asking what are your top 5 favorite danmei novels (until now)? And why? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....

Hi, sorry for being slow at answering!

In no particular order:

Ok, so I liked the 3 from MXTX:

 - Grandmaster of Diabolic Cultivation/ Mo Dao Zu Shi 

This one I loved but it has a particular style that ppl might not like in that it feels jumpy, confusing and with information gaps while reading, even though eventually everything that matters does end up being explained...in other works this would probably be just lazy writing, but here it is clearly an intentional choice bc 1) she doesn’t do this in her other novels 2) this is in WWX’s pov and dude has heavy ptsd and adhd, plus he tends to pretend to take everything lightly as a coping mechanisms...all this put together and it’s easy to understand why the story has such an unreliable narrator that even the other characters constantly point it out. I ended up loving this extra layer of storytelling.

 - Heaven Official’s Blessings/ Tian Guan Ci Fu

If you’re in the mood for a saga type long ass novel with a ton of interesting side stories and side characters with a main character who is a true cinnamon bun in sweet romance with a side dish of sweet sweet aaaangst.

- Scum Villains Self Saving System

The most entertaining out of all of them. It manages to be a parody of two genres, both danmeis and wuia/jianghu harem het novels (fighter of destiny style) with OP leads, while also being its own cute and funny story with a heart to it.

From other authors:

 - Meatbun’s 2ha/ Dumb Husky and his White Cat Shizun 

What if someone took a look at the parody that is SVSSS and said...”no, you know what? This really deserves to be an epic, long ass, and I mean, topping old classics’ length novel packed with angst, filled with pain and topped with despair...and then we’re sprinkling some funfetti on top to fool y’all”...and you know what? that’s some good cake. (If you’re into cdramas SVSSS is to 2ha what The Romance of Tiger and Rose is to Goodbye My Princess).

- Priest’s Sha Po Lang:

Steampunk China plus creepy voodoo tribal ritual magic, involved in internal and external wars over petrol (with a different name) and with our leads in Iron Man suits, fighting, among other enemies hot young(er) hands on, on the field, western troop General, the Pope, that I can only visualize in my head as Jude Law. I tell you all of this nonsense just to say that instead of the ridiculous fun this should be, it ends up being a very compelling romance with lots of scheming and heavy plot and some heartbreaking scenes.

- The Golden Stage:

This is a court drama type novel with friends-to-rivals-to-lovers that is just the right length and compelling with not too many plot twists but two main characters who are really great both individually and together and this is the one out of all in the list I feel like re reading the most. It really is a solid read and I feel like I’m selling it short, bc it really is good. It is similar to Sha Po Lang and To Rule in a Turbulent World, a simpler version of those but not worse for it.

(Since you said top 5 and I’ve said 6, I regretfully cut down Heaven Official’s Blessing bc even though I love it, unlike MDZS or SVSSS, it didn’t feel like a standalone novel because some of the several storylines of the side characters that I loved were left open ended (although the main characters had a complete story arc), as if this book was supposed to be the first of a series and those characters would have their own spinoff books where I’d know where their story took them...except this really is a standalone, and so the lack of resolution bothers me).

>> Honorable Mentions:

- To Rule in a Turbulent World

This one doesn’t go in the top 5 list yet bc it’s not fully translated, last time I checked (tho it’s very near the end). As an ongoing novel, I adore it. If the ending isn’t terrible it might be in my top 3. It’s similar to the two above in plotlines but it has a quality to it that it takes care to make every character in it multidimensional. There are no good and bad characters, even the ones on the opposite side are given something that makes them relatable and human. Plus, the characters all change throughout the novel, most of all the protagonists and the novel gives itself breathing time between events where you just chill with the characters and learn about random things like agricultural practices. 

- The Wife Is First

This one is just that light fluff feel good one that is great to pick up from time to time since it’s on going. Dumb Jock husband did everything wrong in his first life, gets a re-do and from then on it’s adorable respect the spouse juice and awe of said spouse smarts. Cute. Also, there’s a baby pet tiger.

>> Others I did like, just not in the top 5:

 -Faraway Wanderers and Lord Seventh/Qi Ye by Priest:

Qi Ye is similar to To Rule in A Turbulent World/The Golden Stage/Sha Po Lang. I really liked it still, just a tiny bit less than these. Since it’s the same author as SPL and I think it was written earlier, I have to say, the writing only got better.

Faraway Wanderers is a short read, but you’re only gonna like it if you’re ok with amoral main characters (I guess that is true for many on this list but it’s more obvious in this one bc the novel and the characters are unapologetic about it).

- YuWu by Meatbun - Still reading it, but is isn’t grabbing me like 2ha did.

>> I assumed you only wanted danmeis as in period fantasy bl novels, but if we go modern, fantasy or not:

 - Silent Readings by Priest:

I love crime fiction novels (love Ding Mo’s novels) and this is that type of conspiracy, murder novel with smart criminals and smart investigators. Little romance, but still there.

 - Guardian by Priest: 

Priest is hilarious and except the last part that gets a bit heavy on the lore this is just a joy to read. Also pretty short.

- Advance Bravely:

I read it a long time ago and it’s okayish, with some cute and some weird, problematic characters. 

- Addicted/ Heroin:

Also read it (this is 2 books) ages ago...and this one is NOT cute. It starts out as a pretty normal, but kind of toxic very typical oldschool drama/manga romance right down to the step brothers’ trope....and then it keeps escalating to new levels of WTF am I reading?!! All I have to say for this one is, that while I cannot recommend it per se, nor say it’s good, the title really is fitting, bc it is addictive as f.

[ticklygiggles]

Pranks for Lucifer | The Fantastic Three

Collab with @otomiya-tickles

A/N: Huhu, we're at it again! It had been a hot minute since my sweet Ginny girl and I wrote something together, and of course we had to write something with our current obsession: Obey Me!

Summary: The Anti-Lucifer Squad is plotting again like always, and Lucifer complains about it to Diavolo and Barbatos. Minor mistake! Looks like his borthers and that human aren't the only ones he should be careful of!

Words: 2,493

"What kind of plan?" Barbatos asked curiously, munching on one of his favorite Madam Scream's Macarons, looking as carefree as he could be, even as he was sitting right beside his Master.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes, not at Barbatos, but in general. He had been dealing with a particular trio all week and just told his two companions the gist of it.

"Now, you're probably overthinking, Lucifer!" Diavolo reasoned, his calm demeanor almost making Lucifer angry.

Of course he was not overthinking. He knew his brothers better than anyone, especially Belphie and Satan. They were always up to something, trying to embarrass and piss off Lucifer, and now they had found an ally and who knows what kind of pranks they pull in the Human World?

"I'm telling you," Lucifer said with a sigh, seeing how Barbatos reached out for another Macaron. "They're up to something. The human has been… extremely touchy these past few days,” he explained, recalling all the times he felt the human's hands on him only yesterday. "Faking they almost fell and landing on me, holding onto my sides and squeezing unnecessarily hard."

"Why do you say 'faking'?" Diavolo inquired, tilting his head to the side. "Humans are silly creatures and not as gracious. They tend to fall a lot, don't they?"

Barbatos chuckled behind a gloved hand and Lucifer looked at him cautiously, "Young Master, humans do tend to fall all the time, but is it not a little weird that Satan and Belphie seem to be there every single time it happens?"

"How do you know?" Lucifer asked, frowning a little.

Barbatos looked at him with a sided grin, "I have been watching too, Lucifer," he said and Lucifer couldn't stop the sudden warmth assaulting his cheeks, he cleared his throat.

"What? Why is Lucifer blushing?" Diavolo asked excitedly, pointing at Lucifer’s cheeks, which he tried to cover up with haste.

“Am not,” he said, but Barbatos already replied, “Hehe. Why My Lord, I think Lucifer is only telling us half of the story.” Lucifer turned his head rapidly, looking at Barbatos in surprise.

“What do you mean?” he asked, noticing the rather teasy look on Barbatos’ face.

“You act like you don’t know. But don’t go tell us something without finishing the story,” Barbatos continued, and Diavolo looked from one to the other, chirping happily “what what?”.

“There is nothing more I need to tell you except that they have been acting strange. Suspicious brothers, touchy human, end of the story,” Lucifer argued calmly, but his heart was racing. When he welcomed Barbatos and Diavolo into his private office and they spotted the scheming trio hopping around Lucifer’s door before bolting off, he thought he could explain briefly how they had been acting funny all this time.

Obviously he knew all their tricks and plans, and among them was one particular thing they were plotting: they were trying to tickle him, but was that really a detail he should mention? Ah, he shouldn’t have underestimated Barbatos. He tried to shrug it off and took his teacup for a few hasty sips, burning his lips slightly.

“Hmm,” Barbatos hummed, looking not so impressed.

“He is all flustered,” Diavolo observed aloud, still sounding slightly confused, but intrigued.

“Am not,” Lucifer sighed again.

"He does," Barbatos mumbled with a smirk as he reached for yet another macaron. "Can My Lord guess what Lucifer's brothers and that funny human are trying to do?"

"Don't," Lucifer warned, looking at Barbatos with nasty eyes and then at Diavolo. "There's nothing to guess, I was just letting you know since they were acting suspiciously when you-

"Are they trying to tickle him?" Lucifer widened his eyes slightly and he cursed when he felt the warmth over his cheeks creeping to his ears.

Barbatos covered his mouth as he let out a charming laugh. "My Lord really is quick," he said, clearing his throat. "Indeed, Lucifer didn't want to admit they're trying to tickle him. I think it's a fun prank," he teased, raising an eyebrow toward Lucifer and grinning wildly.

Lucifer growled just as Diavolo laughed brightly. "It is a good prank. I wonder if they'd found out where Lucifer is the most ticklish?"

"Shall we ask them?"

"Don't you dare," Lucifer said, feeling his stomach doing a little awkward flutter, his heart racing. "Look, I just thought briefly that they were trying to do so-

"To do what?" Diavolo asked with a grin just as wild as Barbatos'.

Lucifer stared at him. Of course he was going to force him to say it, he swallowed and settled into the couch, trying to look calm. "To tickle me, but of course they wouldn't dare to try something so childish."

The happy smirks at the sound of the word they were waiting for really made Lucifer feel uncomfortable, and he unconsciously tensed up completely, keeping the teacup in his lap as if it could offer some protection.

“No, perhaps they would not,” Barbatos said calmly. Lucifer’s heart was pounding against his chest. As much as he felt himself driven into a corner by these two, he refused to make the first move. The silence between Barbatos’ and Diavolo’s words seemed to take ages too, making the anticipation only grow.

“But we do. Don’t we Barbatos?” Diavolo said gleefully, confirming Lucifer’s fears.

“Yes, we do. I think Lucifer should drink his tea first,” Barbatos said. Lucifer really tried not to show how flustered he was getting here. They were just calmly plotting to tickle him now after all this, right in his face?

“Please do not lower yourselves to my brothers’ level,” he tried to argue, clenching the cup carrying the hot liquid in his hand. They were going to tickle him, they definitely were. He had to get out of this.

Diavolo chuckled, shaking his head softly. "When you know where Lucifer is ticklish, there's no such thing as lowering levels," he said calmly and Lucifer noticed how Diavolo's eyes were intently looking at his cup of tea, waiting for Lucifer to drink the whole thing.

This tea was the only thing protecting him from an inevitable attack, so he clung to his cup, not caring if the liquid grew cold.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Barbatos moving forward and Lucifer couldn't help but flinch backward with a soft gasp. Barbatos and Diavolo laughed softly.

"What is wrong, Lucifer?" Barbatos asked, grabbing a third macaron. "Are you a bit jumpy now?"

Lucifer wanted to disappear. "Why are you doing this?" He nearly whined, eyeing his companions and then the door of his room. "I'll kick you both out of here if you do anything funny," he warned.

"Now, Lucifer. Why are you being so mean? We just want to have some fun!" Diavolo said, overly excited. "And since you already finished your tea, I'm sure you want to have fun too, right?"

"My-!" Lucifer looked down and he widened his eyes. His cup was empty! Not even a single drop of tea inside. "What- how did you- No." It was no use though. Diavolo gently placed a hand on Lucifer’s leg while Barbatos leaned forward and easily and gracefully snatched the empty cup from his hands. Lucifer grabbed after it as if it would do him anything good, but Diavolo’s hand moved from his knee to his arm while Barbatos put the cup on the table.

“Shall we start?” he asked eagerly. Barbatos chuckled. “Please do not ask me, My Lord. It is your call.” Oh, that it was. Diavolo dove after Lucifer like a happy child, instantly grabbing ahold of his torso with wiggling and digging fingers. Lucifer gasped, but on his other side appeared Barbatos.

“S-stop, you two t-this isn’t.. H-hey!” he gasped, managing to hide his laughter so far, but still, they were going too far! Barbatos placed a hand gently on his knee and squeezed, firm enough to make Lucifer jolt a little.

“Sensitive as ever,” he said, and it sounded like a compliment, but Barbatos was smirking and ahhh Lucifer really wanted to squirm out of here, but he only felt Diavolo hold onto him tighter.

“Hey hey where do you think you’re going?” he teased, his fingers on his torso spreading out and digging in more firmly. Lucifer gasped again, fighting back any sort of laugh or giggle that threatened to come out.

“You’re aha- you’re beheing like Belphie and Sata-ahh!” Lucifer felt his ability to resist slip away more and more.

“Yes, your brothers! I understand this is what they wanted to see,” Diavolo replied, his fingers attacking Lucifer’s sides with frantic enthusiasm. When this didn’t give him the reaction he desired, the rapidly wiggling digits moved up higher and prodded against Lucifer’s lower ribs.

Diavolo's fingers rubbed the right spot over Lucifer's lower ribs, the sensation making him spasm heavily before soft, embarrassing giggles started to pour out of his mouth.

"Oh, well done, Young Master," Barbatos said and Lucifer tried to compose himself, but he was giggling already and he knew he couldn't stop now. The dam was broken.

"S-Stohohop im-immehehehediately!" Lucifer giggled, closing his eyes and feeling his cheeks burning as he got a hold of Diavolo's wrists. "I s-swehehear I wo-ahahaha!"

Lucifer kicked his legs as he felt Barbatos' hand creeping up his thighs from his knee, squeezing at the flesh near his inner thighs.

His giggling surely turned a bit more frantic and Barbatos chuckled. "Do not forget, My Lord, that Lucifer has an extremely ticklish lower body."

Lucifer growled and he felt embarrassed, exposed, humiliated by the fact that Barbatos knew this information about him. He hated how observant he wa-

"What? Right here?" Diavolo asked and Lucifer threw his head back with loud laughter as Diavolo's fingers suddenly vibrated against his lower belly. He bucked forward in an instant reflex, dropping against Diavolo who carefully steadied him with a hand on his shoulder while his fingers continued to knead the taut flesh of his lower belly.

“Diahah-a-Ahh Bahaharbatos nohoho!” Lucifer whined shamefully as he squirmed against Diavolo and Barbatos picked up his leg so he could squeeze all around his knee, including the back of it. Lucifer simply lay squeezed in between them, writhing and giggling uncontrollably. He felt his ticklishly assaulted stomach flutter even more from the inside when he heard the two men chuckle charmingly.

“I have not seen Lucifer enjoy himself this much in a while,” Diavolo said fondly. His hand that held Lucifer’s shoulder moved down and playfully squeezed Lucifer’s lower side, making him arch back again, gasping loudly.

“Eehehehehe y-you two are so- aahaha!”

Barbatos chuckled, "What, so you are not denying it, Lucifer? Are you enjoying yourself?"

Wanting to sound intimidating, Lucifer growled, but uncontrollable giggles filtered in as Barbatos moved his nimble fingers from Lucifer's knee, squeezing their way up to his inner thigh.

"Cuhuhuhurses! Stahahahap!" Lucifer threw his head back against Diavolo's shoulder, quickly turning it to the side to avoid that ridiculous gentle look he always gave him when Lucifer laughed so carefreely like this.

"He is still not denying it," Diavolo teased, clawing at Lucifer's lower stomach with one hand and tickling his lower side with the other, his thumb gently pressing against a pressure point on Lucifer's side that positively made him cackle and arch his back.

This was so humiliating! He couldn't stop his laughter and they kept finding and abusing sensitive spots that made him jerk and shriek and the worst part that he was not… totally hating this.

“Ahahah! Nohoho - ughheheehhe…” From wording various protests, Lucifer felt himself slowly calm down until he was merely squirming against Diavolo and giggling and laughing breathlessly. Once in a while he would mutter a soft “S-stohohop!” but strangely he kind of found acceptance in the fact that these two were going to tickle him until they were pleased.

By the time they were, Lucifer was breathing heavily, still chuckling and giggling a little. “A-are you done?” he asked, wheezing tiredly. The two men chuckled as well.

“Yes, Lucifer. We are done,” Barbatos said, finally sitting back and going back to enjoying the macaroons.

“That was fun! It was fun right, Lucifer?” Diavolo said, and Lucifer wasn’t quick enough to snap back, blushing slightly and his lips moving wordlessly.

“He is still not denying it. My guess is, he thinks so too,” Barbatos said, nodding with this satisfied look on his face. Lucifer tried to glare, but found himself failing to.

“You two are going to be the death of me,” he muttered, still short of breath, but he couldn’t fight the urge to smile again.

Lucifer shifted until he was resting against the back of his sofa instead of Diavolo's body, and as he cleared his throat, Barbatos gave him a refilled cup of tea. Lucifer mumbled a soft 'thank you' and his hands shook as he grabbed the cup.

Barbatos couldn't help but chuckle and Lucifer glared, a smirk pulling at his lips. "Are you sure you'll keep eating those?" He pointed at the macarons with a move of his chin. "You're going to get... soft," he teased and Barbatos raised an eyebrow.

"What? Soft like this?" He asked and Lucifer gasped when his cup disappeared from his hands before Barbatos' fingers clawed at his upper thigh. "Did you eat many macarons, Lucifer?"

"Ahahahare- are y-you cahahahalling me f-fahahat?!!" He squeaked, kicking his leg and pushing at Barbatos' hand.

The butler stopped and he basically swallowed a fifth macaron as Diavolo laughed at the scene, giving Lucifer his cup back.

"Ah, but it's a shame you don't want your brothers to see you laughing like that, Lucifer," Diavolo said, smiling brightly at Lucifer. "You look so beautiful laughing so carefree!"

Lucifer's cheeks flushed again and he let out a sigh, covering his eyes with one hand. "I told you to stop with the compliments, Diavolo."

"Doesn't Lucifer look absolutely beautiful when he laughs, Barbatos?"

Barbatos hummed, nodding his head as he drank a bit of tea. "Really beautiful, his brothers would probably be mesmerized… or scared?"

Lucifer snorted. "I don't wish my brothers to see me like this. They wouldn't let me live."

"Oh! So it's okay if we do it?" Diavolo asked and Lucifer swore he saw a tail wagging behind him.

He opened his mouth to say something back, but no words came out and instead, his cheeks turned red again.

"He didn't deny it," Diavolo said and Barbatos chuckled. "He did not, My Lord. Then, I guess that is a yes."

Lucifer cleared his throat, and closing his eyes, he drank more tea, trying to hide a smile behind his cup. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Yes. Only these two demons could ever have the chance to do something as humiliating as tickling him, after all, he also had a free pass to get a little revenge on them.

[slendermanheadcanons]

Greetings. I bring to you stupid as shit head canons, in no particular order. These might be stereotypical, in which case I apologize.

- LJ is extremely claustrophobic. It’s easier when he’s not alone, but he can not do small rooms. He’s embarrassed about it, but he always rushes down cramped hallways, always takes the stairs compared to an elevator, never uses hotel bathrooms.

- Slender is the youngest of the Slender-Brothers and gets treated as such by the older three. He HATES it. Splendor is the worst, always a mother hen and won’t. Leave. Him. Alone!

- Speaking of Slenderman, he’s a workaholic. He regularly forgets to eat, sleep, socialize and everything else when a new stack of demonic paperwork comes in. Hoodie is the only one who can even attempt to break this habit.

- Trender tailors Slender’s suits for him.

- Slender’s red tie is from Sally, who said a long time ago that he needed more color. He always wears the red tie.

- Liu’s murder is the only kill Jeff feels bad about. When he found out Liu (magically) survived, he tracked him down, killed everyone in the hospital that got in his way and cried into his baby brothers hair for an hour. Then they got McDonald’s.

(I’m fine with either of the woods brothers being the older one, but I normally go with Jeff being older)

- Masky and Hoodie are different that Tim and Brian, but not to the extent of multiple personalities. They are more like a state of mind or a persona the two swap into when they are working. Toby, who knows both of them well, says they aren’t that different they just don’t talk as much. The rest of the Creeps beg to differ.

Being caught doing stupid shit by Brian is one thing. Being caught doing stupid shit by Hoodie is Scary.

- there is a Slender-Mansion, though the only ones that live there are Slender, his proxies and Sally. Others might stay for a while, as it’s a bit of a safe house, but always leave within a month. The residents get jumpy around new comers, which comes off as passive aggressive behaviour and in Slender’s case, actual aggressive behavior.

- Slender is simultaneously more animalistic and more human then people give him credit. He feels an array of emotions but can’t express them due to a lack of a face and the fact he’s a Demon and Demons Do Not Act That Way.

He’s fiercely territorial and needs to be warned before someone comes into his Forest. The proxies are fine, they are His, but anyone else needs to make their intentions known or get the fuck out.

- BEN is actually pretty old. He died when he was twelve and so is stuck in that form but is actually nearly thirty. He doesn’t act like an adult because he was stuck in a video games as a twelve year old for 7 years and that wouldn’t help his development.

- Liu’s favorite color is moss green. He wears a lot of turtle necks in that color and normally rolls the neck out so it covers the lower half of his face. He’s very self conscious about his scars. Jeff is fiercely supportive of him and tries to make him feel better by showing off his own. It doesn’t help, but Jeff means well.

- Everyone lives in fear of Jane. She’s a terrifying 6 foot 1 lesbian who could crack man’s skull between her thighs. She has drop kicked demons. Looked god in the eye and flipped him off. Everyone lives in fear of Jane.

- Clockwork is a literal gremlin and has the Best friendship with Toby. They commit arson together and paint each others nails. It’s sweet :)

- LJ has a cockney accent he plays up to be Extra Annoying. He’s also able to adjust his height so he can go from tall to Taller in the blink of an eye. He can also warp various other aspects of his appearance at will to make himself more/less threatening, depending on his mood.

-LJ also drains the color out of whatever he touches. He doesn’t do it on purpose, it just turns monochrome in his fingers and makes him sad. It regains it’s color eventually but he can’t wear all the pretty colors he wants to! :(

-Candy Pop’s hair and clothes are the only exception to LJ’s abilities and LJ is delighted to find this out. This lead to him get pummeled by a gaudy pink hammer for stealing all of Candy Pop’s clothes.

- Jason the Toymaker and LJ are... friends. They get along well enough and often work together on “projects”. They can never stay in the same place for too long as LJ naturally annoys everyone within a twenty miles radius just by existing and Jason’s temper is Not Fun.

- The Toymaker is also a thorn is Slenderman’s side because he’s a nosy bastard who quite literally has rats for spies and has them everywhere. Slenderman has his proxies trained to shoot him on sight.

- the Proxies relationship with Slender is interesting. It’s evolved from “ok It owns our souls and we kill for it and it doesn’t kill us.” To “ok working for a Demon ain’t that bad He’s actually kinda a dork.” To finally “HEY BOSS TOBY SET THE PORCH ON FIRE AGAIN CAN YOU HELP PUT IT OUT.”

Slender is very happy to have a family. He will never admit it, but he is.

- Slender loves Blackberries. A lot.

I think that’s enough for now. Sorry there’s so much. If you want more I can give more “plot” heavy ones or more stupid ones. Boy do I have a lot of stupid ones.

Thanks for enjoying! - The Headcanon Anon (not anon here but eh)

[hottestthingalive]

Bluebells (2)

Chapter 2: Bulbs

Ao3 Link here.

Chapter 1 here.

Notes: Yay, second chapter is here! Expect the next one... any time between next week and a year. 

Plot: Virgil isn’t okay (I promise), life sucks, and things get gayer. 

Tw: Cursing, disappearances, mental and physical abuse

-

Morning came in the beeping of a shrill alarm.

Scratch that, Virgil decided as he sat up blearily, shutting off the alarm immediately. Doesn’t count as morning if it’s still dark out. 

He grabbed his phone, wincing as the bright light shone into his retinas. 2:31 A.M, the screen said. He was doing pretty well, then -- as long as he got to the coffee place by three, he’d be able to complete a four-hour shift in time to get to school at seven thirty. 

Ugh. He hated the night shift, but his boss liked having the cafe open 24/7, and he ought to be grateful; it was the only time (other than the weekends) that Virgil was able to actually work at, and due to the shitty time the pay was pretty good. It even made up for the lack of tips. 

He got dressed quickly, throwing on his patched sweatshirt over his ripped jeans and torn shirt. Makeup was fast, too, just some cheap foundation and dark eyeshadow under his eyes to hide how crappy he’d been looking lately. No sleep will do that to a guy, he thought, doing his best to hide the dark shadows under his eyes, or at least make them look like eyeshadow. Say what you would, being an emo these days had some perks -- people thought the exhaustion and ragged clothes were for aesthetic, or some bullshit like that. 

Virgil was out the door quickly, locking it behind him and tucking his keys into his pocket. The boards on the porch creaked under his sneakers, and he grimaced at the noise. Creepy as all hell, that. 

As he walked in the darkness towards the better part of town, avoiding the patches of light given by the streetlamps (What if I get mugged?), he reached into his pocket and pulled out his headphones, plugging them into his old phone. Sure, it was dangerous to listen to music while walking alone at two in the morning, but this particular street bordered the woods, and no one wanted to cause a commotion near the home of the fey. There was a reason all the rich homes were in the center of Torbrook, sheltered from their mythical neighbours by human shields.

The ironically-called Sleep was standing at the counter when he arrived, sipping from an obnoxiously large cup and wearing his sunglasses inside. Because of course he was.

“You’re early, Anxiety,” he drawled, tossing a black apron across the counter. “Go sit down. You want a coffee?”

“I’m here to work,” Virgil deadpanned, tying on the apron, “not to buy shitty coffee.”

“Listen, we get a free drink for every shift, and you look like you need it,” Sleep retorted. “Do you ever sleep at all?”

“I need the free drink for later, when I get off,” he said, avoiding the question as he set his bag down in the back room, using his extra time to check his phone. 

Sunnyside had left him a voicemail. 

“Hey, Anxiety,” a voice said into his headphones. “It’s Beck, from the Sunnyside Hospital for Elderly Care. You still have some unpaid bills from last month -- do you want us to email them to you, or mail them? Please get back to us as soon as possible. Thanks!”

Crap. 

“Everything okay?” Sleep asked, giving him a concerned look from the doorway. “Need me to stick around for a bit?”

“I’m good,” he said, mind scrambling for an explanation. “My, uh, my grandma forgot I had a shift today. She got worried.”

“I’m surprised Robin’s even letting you work here. She was always so protective,” Sleep grinned. “I haven’t seen her around town lately. How’s she doing?

Protective? the voice in the back of Virgil’s head screamed. She's in a hospital! How is she supposed to be protective when she thinks I’m living with my aunt and that her shitty insurance is paying all these bills, while as far as anyone else knows she’s just getting a bit reclusive in her old age?

“She’s good,” he said, forcing a smile onto his face as he went to stand behind the counter. “Bossy as ever.”

“Tell her I said hi,” his coworker nodded. “Alright, if you’re good, Anx, I’d better get going. I want to get a short nap in before school starts.”

“Got it,” he agreed, standing. “See you in English.”

“Bye, girl!” Sleep trilled, waving as the door slammed shut behind him. 

He dropped the smile almost instantly, glaring down at his purple nails. Four hours. He just had to get through four hours. 

“Morning, Anx!” chirped Morality, coming through the doors of the cafe. Virgil sighed internally. Morality was always so cheerful. It didn’t make any sense. “Can I just get that nice caramel thing you made for me last time?” He passed his thermos over the counter, still smiling. 

“Sure,” he nodded, taking Morality’s cup and grabbing his own. His coworkers, Oak and Swift, had come in half an hour ago, thankfully early, so he passed the containers to Swift as he untied his apron. “One caramel latte, and for me, as much espresso as you can get into a cup.”

“Anxiety, you’re going to give yourself a heart attack,” Oak deadpanned, but she took his place at the counter. “Have fun at school, kid.”

“When has school ever been fun?” Swift pointed out, before xe turned to face Anxiety. “I’ll give you three shots.”

“Five.”

“Three.”

“Four,” Oak said, “but no more coffee for the rest of the day.”

“Fine, parental figures,” he rolled his eyes, picking up his backpack. “Four.”

“Hey, I thought I was your parental figure friend!” Morality cried, managing to look betrayed even as he giggled. 

“You’re the paternal figure, popstar,” Virgil told him, hopping over the counter to protests from both Swift and Oak. They didn’t have to wait long for their drinks, and soon the two of them were in Morality’s car, sipping on the life-giving substance. 

Morality was unusually quiet, had been since they left the cafe, and finally Virgil broke the silence to ask “Hey, everything okay?”

“Oh, it’s fine, kiddo,” he grinned, but the smile quickly faded. “It… It just sounded like you made a pun with my name.”

“...Your real name?” Virgil said, blood running cold. “I’m so sorry, Mor, I didn’t -- I swear, I don’t know it--”

“No, of course you don’t,” Morality nodded, smiling again, more genuinely this time. “I’ve just been a bit jumpy lately. The forest’s been so… quiet. We’re entering spring -- shouldn’t we be seeing more faeries?”

“Only Seelie,” Virgil shrugged absentmindedly, staring out the passenger-side window at the foreboding trees in the distance. “Unseelie will mostly be returning to their realm for the winter.”

“I don’t know how you remember that stuff,” the other teenager sighed. “I can never keep track.”

He hadn’t meant to say that. Shit. “I always liked those stories,” he said, chuckling weakly. It was enough to fool Morality, or maybe that was just because he had spotted his boyfriend. 

“Sweetheart!” Morality called, rolling down the window. “C’mon, you’re gonna be late for school!”

“Thank you, love,” smiled his boyfriend, sliding into the backseat and kindly ignoring Morality’s blush. “Anxiety, I see you’ve stolen the front seat again, you heathen.”

“Best friend privileges,” drawled Virgil, taking a sip of his coffee. “Morning, Princey.”

Prince rolled his eyes, before leaning forward and stealing Morality’s thermos and drinking from it. “Listen, One American Reject, I’ll have you know that while I respect and honor best friend privileges, I will still attempt to steal the seat closer to my boyfriend at any opportunity.”

“Fair enough,” Virgil nodded. “That was one of your better nicknames, too.”

“Thank you,” he grinned as Morality started the car. 

“Anxiety and I were just mentioning how we haven’t seen much activity from the forest as of late,” Morality said. “Put your seatbelt on, honey! Have you noticed anything?”

“Er… I haven’t seen as many fey recently, no,” Prince answered, biting his lip as he fastened said seatbelt. “It’s dangerous to go near the forest, anyways -- they might be there, and we just haven’t spotted them.”

“But usually I see something,” Morality countered, drumming his fingers on the wheel. “It’s just… concerning.”

“Speaking of fey, did Mariposa make plans for the play again this year?” Virgil asked Prince, turning in his seat to face Morality’s boyfriend. “She always tells the actors about her weird precautions first.”

“What do you mean, plans?” Prince raised an eyebrow. “I’m new, remember?”

“Oh, Ms. Mariposa always gets worried that the fey will try to attend the school play,” Morality laughed. “Apparently they did one year? It was ages ago. But she always goes all out to try and protect the auditorium during rehearsals and performances and stuff, all salt lines and horseshoes, and she paid the school to make sure the doors and windows have iron on them. She even hangs bells everywhere! I get performances, kinda, but rehearsals? Tech’d notice if anyone snuck in, and they can’t exactly be actors!”

“They could, actually,” Virgil said, and then mentally smacked himself. Sleep deprivation was going to kill him.

“Really?” his cheerful friend asked, surprised. “I thought they couldn’t lie!”

Apparently, I’m the one who can’t lie today. “They can’t,” he agreed reluctantly, because he’d dug this grave and now he had to lay in it. “But acting is different from lying. People are aware you aren’t actually that person, that whatever you say on stage isn’t necessarily true, and they’re faeries, so they exploit that loophole.”

“How do you know that?” Prince inquired, staring at Virgil with a strange expression on his face. 

“My gran. She, uh, used to tell me about meeting some Seelie once, when she was young, and was wearing an iron pendant. They… tried to tempt her by telling her about celebrations they had, and mentioned a performance,” he lied through his teeth, thinking fast. “She was confused, like you were, Mor, and they told her that.”

“I didn’t know your grandmother had almost been taken,” remarked Prince. “Could I ask her about it? That necklace sounds… fascinating.”

Virgil felt himself tense, even as Morality chirped “Oh, I love Robin! She’s so nice! Remember those cookies she used to make for us?”

“They were great,” he nodded, plastering a smile across his face. “But, uh, she’s been kind of sick lately. Not really up to visitors. Sorry.”

“Oh, alright,” Prince nodded, suddenly all bright cheer again. “What were you saying about those cookies, love?”

He tuned out, head pressed against the soothingly cool glass of the window. Those bills were going to suck to pay -- mortgage payments were due soon, too, along with the money needed for everything else. His aunt wasn’t going to be any help at all, the bitch, but his job at the cafe didn’t pay enough for all of the money he owed.

The money just didn’t add up. A sigh escaped him, quiet enough that Morality didn’t notice. He was going to have to dip into his college fund again, huh?

Virgil liked to sit near the windows in classes. Sure, it could be a bit distracting, but even with the coffee, he was too exhausted to pay attention anyways. He liked being able to sit and watch the trees in the distance, observe the squirrels in the large elm that grew beside the school. 

An acorn dropped onto the open windowsill, rolling towards Virgil slightly.

And, of course, there was another reason he liked this placement. 

Elm trees didn’t have acorns. He knew this, had known it when the very first of the nuts had appeared, when he had picked it up in curiosity and noticed it was a little too light. Acorns weren’t heavy, of course, but they had some weight to them. He’d popped off the acorn cap with his fingernail, noticing the smell of sap, and his suspicions had been proven correct -- the nut was hollow, with a folded, thin wedge of paper curled inside.

Peeling out the paper had been difficult, but with one hand doing as he pretended to rummage inside his desk and the other feigning note taking for the teacher’s benefit, he had managed to extract a note. 

He did much the same thing with this new acorn, glad that his seat was in the back of the class and that Ms. Vlinder, his math teacher (and Ms. Mariposa’s wife) was writing out a long problem on the board. Stashing the hollow nut in his desk, he unfolded the paper on his notebook, as stealthily as possible. 

Anxiety,

I should be able to meet you later today -- Advice has agreed to cover for my absence. I’ll see you then, unless plans change. The usual spot.

You’re probably reading this in math again, so stop procrastinating on your work, please. Just because you do not like the subject does not mean you should neglect it. Besides, it would probably take up less of your time (like you keep complaining it does) if you actually took the time to do it in class. 

Logic

He grinned to himself. Well, that was something to look forward to, at least. 

“Anxiety,” said Ms. Vlinder, raising an eyebrow at him from the front of the classroom. “What are you reading?”

His face flushed red. “Um… nothing.”

“Well, whatever it is, it doesn’t look like calculus. Save it for after class, please. Now, can you answer the question on the board?”

He’d gotten lucky, thank god -- the question was one from last night’s homework, and he’d actually done it for once. Virgil muttered his response, slouching in his seat and trying to ignore the heat on his cheeks. Morality cast him a glance, mouthing Are you okay? from his seat closer to the board. 

Virgil nodded briefly at him, stuffing the note into the pocket of his sweatshirt. 

“Stay for a second, Anxiety,” Ms. Vlinder told him as the bell rang for lunch. He did so, fidgeting nervously where he stood. 

“Do you want me to stay?” Morality asked quietly, coming up to him as the other students left the classroom, casting a glance at their teacher. 

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he shook his head, mustering up as much false bravado as he could. “Save me a spot, though.”

“Of course, kiddo,” grinned the other teen, before also leaving the room. 

“Are you doing okay, Anxiety?” Ms. Vlinder asked once the room was empty, eyes on Virgil. “I normally wouldn’t ask, but you’ve been extra distracted lately, and your grades have dropped. Even in English, and you’ve always been praised by Mx. Cee for your work in that class. Do you want me to talk to your grandmother?”

“I’m fine,” he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets and curling his fingers around the note in an attempt at comfort.

“My wife mentioned seeing you when she went to pick up our coffee this morning,” the teacher told him, frowning. “That would have had to be a very early shift, Anxiety. Are you sleeping alright? Do you want me to talk to the counselor-”

“I need money for university,” he interrupted, the practiced falsehood he’d told everyone about his job falling easily between his lips. “I’m fine, really. Can I please leave?”

“...Okay,” she finally nodded. “Have a good lunch.”

“Thanks,” he said quickly, grabbing his backpack and practically running out the door before she could change her mind. 

His friends liked to eat lunch out in the courtyard. It was easier for all of them, the cafeteria being too loud for Sleep and too stressful for Virgil. For March it was relatively warm, and it was an unspoken tradition for every member of their small group to find themselves near the same elm tree that bordered the math classroom for lunch break now that the cold had finally broken. So that was where Virgil went, slipping out the doors with his hood up, ignoring the brief chill of the wind. Morality waved to him, patting the ground besides him, Prince arguing with Sleep about something. 

“Why are you fighting again?” Virgil sighed as he sat besides Morality, setting down his backpack to lean against it. “What did Princey do now?”

“Me?” the dramatic male asked, aghast. “Why me?!”

“We were debating who your mysterious boyfriend might be,” grinned Morality, elbowing Virgil. “That’s who gave you that note, right?”

“Spill, girl,” Sleep drawled, taking a long sip from his Starbucks cup. Where did he even get that? Torbrook didn’t have a Starbucks! “Is he hot?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend!” Virgil protested, face red again. “The note -- stop rolling your eyes, Sleeping Beauty, I don’t! -- is none of your business.”

“Aw, you think I’m beautiful!” cooed Sleep, as Morality protested “It is certainly our business! We’re your friends, and as such we have a right to know about your love life! It was in the best friend contract, Anx!”

“No, it wasn’t,” Virgil rolled his eyes. The ‘best friend contract’ had been something he and Morality had made when they were nine, meant to be a joke. Morality’s mom had helped him frame it, and he’d hung it near his desk. It still was on the wall in his room. “I wrote that.”

“Well, I deedn’t expect that to work, anyways,” Morality grinned, and Sleep and Virgil groaned, Princey letting out a snort. “Still, though!”

“Yes, Anxiety, tell us about your mysterious lover’s note!” Prince exclaimed, pretending to swoon. “Every last detail of your courtship! Tell us about your Romeo; did you make the first move, or did he? Have you kissed yet? Do we know him?!”

“I’m certainly hoping I’m not Juliet, because she was thirteen and he was a grown adult, and also they died,” Virgil deadpanned, though internally his mind was racing, scrambling for an excuse. He seemed to be doing that a lot, lately. “Also, no, no, and no! I’m not dating anyone! The note was from a friend of mine who lives outside Torbrook. We, uh, met up over the weekend, he left it for me because when I got there he was out to buy groceries, and I just realized I accidentally grabbed it from his house.”

“You never leave town,” Morality shook his head. “Try again.”

“Actually,” Sleep interjected, actually looking interested now, “last Sunday he wasn’t at work for once. Asked me to cover for him. Are you telling me you actually went to visit this friend?”

“Yes,” he sighed. “Now they get it. We all know I’m doomed to be alone, anyways.”

“If you keep talking bad about yourself I will physically fight you!” Morality screeched, tackling Virgil into a hug as Sleep rolled his eyes in fond exasperation and Prince snickered at them both. 

After school, he found himself walking home. He never accepted Morality’s rides on the way back from school, always coming up with some excuse or another to walk. Virgil suspected the cheerful teen believed he was sneaking off to see someone, which would explain how that idea had started, but the truth was that he simply couldn’t let his best friend figure out that his grandmother wasn’t in the house. As far as Morality or anyone else knew, he was living with his grandmother in their nice house near the edge of town. As far as his grandmother knew, he was living with his aunt in her apartment a few towns away, and their shitty insurance was being supported by said woman. Only he knew the truth: that when his aunt had come to visit his grandmother in the hospital when she’d first been admitted a few months ago, she’d sat down with him at the dining table and told him that he wouldn’t be staying with her. 

“I have nowhere else to go--” he’d tried to tell her, but Caroline (she had no other title, having grown up outside Torbrook) had stood up from her seat, eyes shards of ice. 

“I’m not having Lydia’s child in my home,” she’d spat, and Virgil had recoiled at the mention of his mother. “My sister poisoned everything she touched -- she was driving, that night when she died, wasn’t she? Killed your father and your sister, and finally took herself down too. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did it on purpose. She was like that.”

“She -- it was an accident!” he cried. “Don’t talk about Mom like that!”

“I will talk about her any way I damn well please, Anxiety,” his aunt snapped. “You’re just like her, you know. You even call yourself after her! You could have chosen anything, and you decided on a goddamn disorder!”

“Gram told me-”

“I don’t give a fuck what she told you. That woman’s batshit crazy. She tore apart our family to come back to this town, and when I thought the cycle would finally end with her, my idiot sister forgave her, and granted her custody of her child when she died.” Caroline had paused there, picking up her bag. “You’ve been poisoned by both of them, Virgil, and I’m not risking my own life or happiness to deal with helping you just to let you go back after the old bitch dies. The old woman will be gone within a month without money for her treatment, you know that, and I’ll take you in then, finally get around to fixing you.”

She glanced at the rainbow flag magnet sitting on the fridge, holding up a picture of Virgil and his grandmother smiling together at the camera, her expression twisting from simple hatred into something ugly. “Maybe we’ll finally be able to get that gay bullshit out of your head, then.”

“Who am I supposed to stay with?” he’d asked, quiet and resigned, because he understood what was happening, had known deep inside the moment that his grandmother had told him to call Caroline that things would go wrong. 

“Just stay here,” she’d rolled her eyes. “You should be able to care for yourself, Virgil, you’re almost an adult. I’ll see you in a month, when she’s gone.”

He’d felt like laughing, even with the dark bags under his eyes and the crippling exhaustion he hadn’t yet learned how to manage, when his aunt had come back a month later, expecting to see her mother on her deathbed. The confusion and anger on her face when she’d seen Robin sitting up in her bed, hooked up to an IV but chatting merrily with a nurse, and had heard the old woman say “Oh, Carol, hon! I know we’ve had our differences, but I’m so glad you’ve been able to put them past you to care for our Anx, and help with the bills. The doctors say I should be out by August, dear, just in time to see him off to college. How will I ever thank you?”

His aunt had looked at him, standing on the other side of the bed, where his grandmother wasn’t looking, and he’d grinned, twirling his finger near his temple in gentle circles, the sign for crazy, and pointed at first his grandmother, and then himself. There had been a brief flash of fiery anger in her eyes, before Caroline had returned her gaze to her mother. “No need,” she’d smiled benevolently, and Virgil had to give it to her; she was a brilliant actress. “We’re family, after all. It’s what Lydia would want.” 

(He’d regretted taunting her later, when she’d thrown his grandmother’s favorite vase against his head as he tried to leave the house, trying to escape her wrath. She’d been screaming that he was poison, as toxic as his mother and grandmother before him, when the world fuzzed to black, and had left Virgil to wake up a few hours later with his bright purple hair dark with water and blood. He’d only seen her a few times since, when they’d met outside the hospital to visit his grandmother. They’d never mentioned it, and if she noticed how he was constantly on edge around her, she didn’t tell him.)

Virgil snapped himself out of his thoughts, unconsciously rubbing the back of his head. The injury had healed, now, but sometimes he found himself touching the spot anyways, especially after certain nightmares. 

He glanced around as he ducked into a gap between the trees, shifting to the right through a bush to find himself on the rough path he’d carved out over years of walking through these trees. 

It had been too long since he’d visited, he saw -- the grass had begun to regrow, and he muttered silent apologies to the forest as it was crushed under his torn sneakers. A faint breeze swirled around him, lifting the branches, and he grinned to himself. Virgil wasn’t much for gods, capital G and singular or otherwise, but he’d always believed these woods held a magic all their own, even beyond the faeries that used it as a portal between his realm and theirs. The place seemed to hum with it, a quiet force all its own, and he half-believed he’d only ever survived his adventures into it because it let him, had perhaps even guided him to the field of flowers when he was young. 

It was only a matter of minutes before he reached the clearing, and he shivered as the sunlight hit his skin fully, the afternoon sun’s warmth combatting the cool breeze. 

“There you are,” he heard from behind him, and he whirled around at the familiar voice.

“You’re starting to look like Slenderman,” he grinned at Logic, who had grown taller again.

“Those legends were inspired by my people,” the faerie said, rolling his eyes. “And I will have you know I am of perfectly average height for an Unseelie. At least I am not the size of the average mushroom, like those flowery nitwits.”

“Don’t be rude,” Virgil scolded, but he was still smiling, and pulled Logic into a hug even as he said it. “I missed you,” he muttered into his shoulder.

“...I missed you as well,” Logic told him, warm against the crisp March breeze. “It has been a long winter.”

“You look exhausted,” he pointed out, frowning as he pulled away to examine the shadows under the faerie’s mismatched eyes. “When did you last sleep?”

“I’m not the only one,” retorted the other, taking his hand and pulling him further into the sunny space between the trees. The grass was soft as the two sat, Virgil taking off his backpack to put it besides him. “I told you you would need adequate rest to ensure your head healed properly.”

“It’s fine,” he grumbled. Logic still moved behind him to check, examining the skin on the back of his head. “It really is, L. The magic did the trick -- no pain, no dizziness, nothing.”

“It looks alright,” the faerie conceded, although he still seemed perturbed. “Be careful, though, Anxiety. It may have been a while ago, but head wounds can have lasting effects.”

“I know,” he nodded, turning to face Logic again. “Now, why do you look like you haven’t slept since August?”

“I could say the same to you.”

“Logic.”

“It has been an… eventful winter,” sighed the dark-haired faerie, lying back in the grass. “There has been strife in both courts for years, but everything has gotten worse now. The heir to the rule of the Seelie Court has gone missing.”

“What? How is that even possible?” Virgil asked, staring down at him. 

“He disappeared in late summer, at the very end of August. Both courts have assumed they are being framed for what happened.” Logic closed his eyes, frustration seeping into his words. “I’m… friends with him, I suppose. I’m a bit worried about him -- Prince was never known for his intelligence.”

“Prince?” he blinked, a cold wave of suspicion washing over him. “Short, dramatic, acts like he stepped out of a Disney movie? Acts like the universe personally affronted him and will only accept an apology if it brings cookies?”

“You know him?” asked the faerie, eyes flashing open as he sat up. “When did you meet him? How? Did he hurt you?!”

“He sounds like Morality’s boyfriend,” Virgil told him, a mix of confusion and anger and fear rising in his chest. “Princey moved to town just in time for school to start -- they started dating in January. Apparently they had Christmas together, some cute fairy tale kiss under the mistletoe.” He’s vaguely aware his breath is quickening, but the blood pounding in his ears is far too loud to concentrate. “Oh god, L, what if he hurts Mor?”

“We cannot be sure your Prince is the same as mine. It could just be a coincidence,” Logic told him, moving closer to hold Virgil’s shoulders. “Breathe, Anxiety. It is alright. Do you remember the pattern you taught me?”

They did a breathing exercise, a four-seven-eight method Virgil had once led Logic through when they were fourteen and the faerie had been having a panic attack. He’d had no idea Logic remembered. 

“We’re going to have to figure out a way to definitively identify whether they are the same person,” he heard a while later, once he had calmed. His head was on Logic’s lap. He didn’t remember lying down, but long fingers were running through his hair and Virgil was far calmer than before, so he shrugged it off. “There’s no way he’d be willing to accompany you near the forest, right?”

“I doubt it,” he shook his head. “Everyone’s scared about this place. How’ve you been getting the messages to me? Could we use that?”

The faerie sighed. “Unfortunately, no. I’ve been making use of the birds in the area to do that -- a little magic, a promise of food, and they do whatever I wish.”

They sat in silence for a time, each with thoughts running rampant through their minds. Something tugged at Virgil’s attention, and he focused, trying to remember what he’d forgotten…

“His eyes!” he exclaimed, startling them both. 

“What?” Logic asked, a trace of amusement in his voice. “What about them?”

“Shouldn’t they be like yours, if he’s a Seelie?” said Virgil, sitting up. “All… fey-ish?”

“That isn’t a word.”

“Shush, you. Point is, shouldn’t I have been able to tell he was a faerie because of that? Or because of his ears? Do Seelie also have the pointed ears, or is that just your lot?”

His eyes widened. “An illusion, of course! Anxiety, you absolute genius!”

“I try,” he grinned. 

“The solution would be to pose as a human, accompany you to your place of schooling, and speak to him myself!” Logic exclaimed. “Do you have any human clothing I can borrow?” He hesitated. “Only if it is alright with you, that is. We can come up with another solution.”

“Actually, that works out,” Virgil told him. “I lied to my friends about visiting someone out of town over the weekend -- they’re going to ask for photos or something for proof, knowing them, so you can stand in as my imaginary friend.”

“What were you actually doing?” Logic asked, frowning, and Virgil mentally cursed. Why was he so goddamn perceptive? “We haven’t seen each other in a few months, so it was not on my behalf, and I have never known you to lie without reason.”

“...I was visiting my gran,” he confessed, staring at the blades of grass under his hands. “She hasn’t been doing too well lately, and my aunt still isn’t helping with money. I’m probably going to have to take more shifts at my job, and I wanted to see her without my aunt there for once before I started having no time to.”

“You told me once that it was strange that my people made me work even as a child,” Logic said, voice quiet. “You are clearly not doing well, Anxiety, and your health is precarious enough as it is. You should have gone to human doctors for that head wound, and you appear exhausted.”

“I’m fine, L,” he snapped. 

“No, you aren’t!” 

They both were startled by his shout, and Logic pinched his nose in faint exasperation. “I apologize. That was unnecessary. But I think you really should inform your grandmother of the situation. At this rate, even if you save her, you may kill yourself in the process.”

“She’ll make Caroline take me in, or ask a friend of hers from out of town. I can’t leave Torbrook now,” he shook his head. “I can’t. I’d be leaving you, and Mor, and… and God, L, there’s some sort of curse on this place, and I want to go to college, I want to see the world before I’m dragged back here!”

Everyone, even the fey, knew of the strange power of the town, and its effect on its residents. Virgil had watched people try to leave for years, to go to college or to just finally escape, and yet somehow, every single person, even the ones who hated the place most bitterly, were dragged back, unable to stay away permanently. It had happened to his gran, he knew -- she’d left, married a man she’d met in college, had his mom and Caroline, and then when both of the girls were ten, had found herself divorcing her husband and returning to Torbrook. Robin had hated herself for it, said so to Virgil after she’d had a bit too much wine, but she hadn’t seen another way -- the place had seemed to pull on her soul, and she couldn’t drag her new, innocent family along with her. 

The only people who had ever seemed to permanently escape were the ones who had accidentally revealed their names, and Virgil suspected that was only out of pure necessity. They could only survive on the outside -- returning to Torbrook was a death sentence, or worse, with any faerie or opportunistic human ready to use their true names against them. It was what had happened to Taylor, formerly called Yellow. They had accidentally told their true name at a party, gotten a bit too vulnerable, and one of their friends had told the whole school. They’d left town the next day, and hadn’t been back since. Their parents had occasionally visited them, but never seemed able to permanently stay with their child, much as they wanted to. Eventually, the visits stopped, and then so did all communication.

Taylor could have been dead, for all anyone knew, the pull of Torbrook doing to them what it had done to all the others who had resisted -- first sickness, like the flu, a shivering weakness, and eventually… 

Well, after a girl called Fortune had died in the hospital near her college, the doctors unable to help her, no one had wanted to risk it. 

So Virgil couldn’t leave Torbrook, even if he wanted to. He was saving every second for college, and maybe for a trip after that if he got lucky. 

He wouldn’t.

Abruptly, he stood. 

“Anxiety, I-” Logic began, and Virgil knew him well enough to know the other was about to apologize, and he couldn’t take that, not then. 

“Meet me here again in a few days, okay? I’ll bring clothes and stuff, and I’ll let the school know you’re a visiting student. They let that kind of thing happen, usually assume it’s a cousin who was born here who got the sickness. Super lax about it, weirdly.” He was aware he was babbling now, as he grabbed his bag, but he couldn’t stop himself from speaking. “Sunday should work, yeah? You can come with me on Monday, I can say we drove down from your home together.”

“Anxiety, what if it is him?” Logic asked, interrupting him mid-tangent. “Not only will we face the wrath of the next ruler of the Seelie Court, but will also expose the fact that we have been… consorting.”

“I’m not letting Mor get hurt,” said Virgil shortly, stepping back to leave. “I don’t need my best friend getting kidnapped by a faerie on my plate, too. I’ll see you Thursday.” He turned, and, without giving Logic a chance to respond, left the clearing. 

It was Sunday before he knew it, and Virgil was exhausted. All of his friends had noticed that he was more tense, more tired, more snappish -- he remembered muttering something about college admissions, which made sense since the letters were supposed to be coming in the next couple weeks, and they passed the mood change off as heightened anxiety. If Sleep noticed him picking up more shifts than ever, mowing lawns and doing whatever he could for money around town, he didn't say anything, and Virgil was grateful. Besides, Sleep himself was an insomniac -- he would just be a hypocrite.

Not to say Virgil had insomnia. More than anything, he wanted to fall onto his bed and sleep for a week. But he couldn’t, not yet.

He asked for the day off for both Sunday and Monday. His boss didn’t protest, telling him to go get some rest in a quiet tone. Sleep didn't make fun of him like usual, either, and there was no teasing him about going to see a boyfriend, only a quiet thumbs up.

The forest was quiet when he entered, a bag over his shoulder, and he shivered. It was disconcerting. Virgil had gotten used to noise, blasting music over his headphones as he worked, and then in lectures or with his loud friends every other moment. Faint birdsong, wind in the trees, dirt under the combat boots his gran had bought him two Christmases ago -- he wasn’t accustomed to them anymore. 

Perhaps that’s why Logic could sneak up on him so easily. 

“You look awful,” the faerie said bluntly from beside him, startling him enough that he almost tripped. He got lucky -- Logic reached out to steady him, concern shining in his strange, mismatched eyes. “Anxiety, you… you look worse than when I last saw you. Are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine,” he said, trying for a smile. Judging from the look on Logic’s face, it wasn’t convincing. He patted the bag. “Look, I brought you clothes. Got a couple of outfits. And, bonus-” he reached into his coat, pulling out a hairbrush and the scissors his grandmother had used to use to cut Virgil’s own hair when he was young. “We’re finally going to make you presentable, Tarzan.”

“How dare you?” Logic exclaimed, but there was no heat behind his words, just a quiet underlying concern that Virgil almost hated more. “My hair is perfectly fine!”

“Listen, you look like a member of Aerosmith,” Virgil rolled his eyes. “I’m thinking we can put it in a bun. Or maybe cut it even shorter! I’m just saying, you’re cosplaying a rocker from the 80s.”

“My hair isn’t that messy, or that long!” the faerie protested, but he let Virgil lead him to an old tree stump and sat down, albeit reluctantly. “Not too drastic of a change, Anx, or I swear, I’ll turn yours pink.”

“Eh, I needed a new dye job, anyways,” Virgil shrugged, and narrowly dodged Logic’s attempt to swat at him. 

Half an hour and much swearing later, the disheveled hair was brushed through and tied into a bun. Logic looked unbelievably cute. It was not fair in the slightest -- Virgil’s dark gay heart wasn’t built for this kind of shit!

Alright Virge, stop checking out your friend. he snapped at himself mentally, handing Logic his phone to see his new look as he reached into the bag. He’s a faerie, firstly, and also, you’re doing this to save Mor. Haven’t got time for this, you disaster gay. 

“I will confess, this does suit me,” the faerie smiled, looking up at him. “You’re quite good at this.”

“My gran taught me,” he shrugged, before dumping the bag of clothes onto Logic’s lap. “Pick an outfit.”

“This is not the same kind of clothing you wear,” blinked the faerie, looking through it. 

“You’d hate wearing my clothes, and they wouldn’t even fit you,” he pointed out. “I brought you… I dunno, nerd stuff. Should make you look respectable and smart, or whatever -- we’re going to play into all the stereotypes, today. Besides, people ought to think of you like you are, not like some emo.”

“You think I’m smart?” Logic asked, staring up at him. 

“You’re the smartest person I know, dumbass,” Virgil told him. “If you don’t want to wear any of that, it’s fine, I packed a T-shirt and jeans, and you could borrow my hoodie, I just thought it was kind of more your style-”

“No,” the other smiled, and wow, Virgil was really gay. “You… yes. I would prefer to be thought of as smart or respectable, I just didn’t realize that was something that could be done.”

“Anything’s possible when you harness preconceived prejudices,” he grinned in response.

Virgil couldn’t mask his amazement when Logic whispered to the forest, convincing the plants to grow together to make him a screen to change behind (he’d always been fascinated by magic, even when they were kids), but forced himself to stare at his phone when the faerie went behind it. He’d read through the same Tumblr post four times without understanding a word of it when Logic said “Anxiety?”

He’d chosen a black polo and a dark indigo tie, a shade that perfectly offset both colors of his eyes, paired with dark pants and his rabbit-fur boots. He looked hot.

“You… you’re going to need different shoes,” Virgil choked out.

“Oh, yes, I suppose I will,” Logic nodded. “Here, I am going to attempt an illusion.” He ran his fingers over his ears, and the points vanished, rounding. The rest of his features softened, less harshly fey and more human. He paused at his eyes, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” the human asked, as they had yet to change. 

“Eyes are… harder to hide,” the faerie confessed. “For fey they are quite literally the windows to the soul. I believe I will require an external object near my face to mask my eyes to cast the spell on.” He bit his lip. “If we restyled my hair to have bangs a bit like yours, I could use that, but I do not wish to ruin your hard work.” 

Virgil frowned, thinking back, before snapping his fingers. “Princey carries around contact solution in his bag! I bet that’s how he’s doing it -- casts the illusions on the contacts, pops them into his eyes, good to go.” He grinned. “You, Logic, are lucky I am so blind.”

“Excuse me?” he frowned. “I think your vision is alright. I wouldn’t have let those scissors near me, otherwise.”

“I wear contacts too, most of the time; good excuse for my weird eyes, people who don’t know me assume they’re colored. Plus, glasses don’t match my aesthetic.”

“What aesthetic?” Virgil glared at him, and Logic snorted in laughter.

“Don’t be rude, nerd. Anyways, I carry around my spare pair of glasses just in case, because if I lose a contact I can’t see without them. I was going to have to switch over to them soon -- don’t have enough money to buy another box -- but I can lend them to you for now, and we can cast the spell on them. Will the prescription affect you?”

“Let me see them,” Logic frowned, and Virgil pulled his glasses case out of his coat, handing the frames over.

The faerie tried them on, frowning briefly before running his hand over them. The glass shimmered for a moment, and suddenly his eyes only had color in the iris, one a paler green than Virgil’s own, the other a dark blue. “There. And I can see through them fine -- just have to change my own ability to see to do so. Easy shapeshifting spell.”

Virgil smiled despite himself, looking at the different colors. “We’re still eye buddies, huh?”

“I wasn’t about to give that up,” Logic grinned as he rolled his new eyes. It was so much more obvious when he did that, now that he actually had evident whites and pupils. “How do I look?”

Virgil stepped back, passing an appraising glance over his friend. “Very human,” he decided. “Also, very nerdy, so welcome to the weird kid club, L.”

“Excellent,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm, before his features adjusted into something more serious. “Are you sure you want to do this, Anxiety? For all we know, your Prince isn’t mine at all. I can think of no reason for him to disappear for so long into human society.”

“I can’t risk Morality getting hurt,” Virgil shook his head. “We’re doing this.”

“Alright,” Logic nodded, before his face split into a sly smile. “Now that I look human, though… There are some things you’ve mentioned in Torbrook I’ve always wanted to see.”

Virgil laughed despite himself. “Well, you should probably stay with me tonight, for appearances’ sake anyways… Okay, sure. Let’s go see the library, and then we can stop by my house.”

“How did you know?” the faerie asked, startled, as they started collecting the supplies Virgil had brought.

“Magic,” he grinned, and Logic punched him in the arm without any real force. 

“Ass.”

“Dork.”

Even as they laughed, fear’s cold claws sunk into Virgil’s heart. He swallowed. What if Prince was who they thought he was?

What would one of the most powerful fey in the Seelie Court do to the human and the Unseelie that exposed him? 

He glanced over at Logic. The faerie was beautiful when he smiled, even with his teeth disguised to look duller and more human. The sun streamed through the trees, lighting up his dark hair and contrasting the shadows painting fragile pictures across his skin. 

What if Prince hurts him? the little voice in the back of his mind whispered. 

No. He wouldn’t let that happen, Virgil decided, pushing the fear deep, deep down. Not to Logic, or Morality, or Sleep, or anyone he cared about. 

The world was so shitty, as it was. He wasn’t about to let the few people that made living in it bearable suffer.

“Anxiety?”

Logic’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see the faerie looking at him. “Yeah, L?”

“It’s going to be alright,” he promised, reaching out to hold Virgil’s hand. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

“Okay,” he nodded. And it helped, really, because he knew faeries could only tell the truth, or at least what they believed was the truth. Logic was the smartest person he’d ever met, and if he really believed that… 

Everything would be alright.

[stratsandwhiskeywritestuff]

Q+A With Strats and Whiskey!

We held a brief Q+A over on our Twitter, and had some awesome questions come in! We’ll post em here too for everyone to see. Have questions for us too? Hit us up on Twitter or in our ask box :D we’d love to hear from you!

Questions include asking us about the collaborative process, about writing kink together, the trust that takes, what characters we love writing most and our thoughts on writing in general!

PaleGlimmer: I asked about collab writing because I have no idea how you make it work.

WHISKEY: I’ve been collaborating on stories since I got into Hannibal. For me, it started as an offshoot of online RP. If you go back far enough you can see that, because the writing is stilted and jumpy, and you can tell that two people are writing. I’ve had three major collab partners in my fandom life and after a time our “voices” and styles start to gel and it becomes more seamless. That, for me, means that’s the right partner to write with, because you start taking on their mannerisms and descriptions, and they take on yours, and people can’t tell (or can tell very vaguely) that two people wrote a story.

As for technicalities, we just “tag” each other with part of the story for the other to continue it. Sometimes it’s short tags, dialogue, or brief descriptions, other times we get carried away (in the best way possible) and end up writing 6k a day. With Strats and I, we started with preferential characters and usually tagged for just them, but now we cover everything and everyone in our tags.

STRATS: Whiskey covered this pretty well. With Whiskey, We share characters pretty evenly now, and just write about 200-300 word chunks back and forth, but there are definitely characters we each feel more comfortable with. And scenarios we both excel at! Even if I haven’t written much, I’ll tag Whiskey in if we are coming up on something Whiskey is better at, and vice versa. (For example, Whiskey is much better at pretentious Hannibal speeches than I am, and I have a particular fondness for writing emotional breakdowns. This doesn’t mean we are the only person to write those, of course, just that we tag each other in more often.)

If I’m writing with anyone else, I usually write the same way. There’s only one person I’ll still do RP-style writing with. Usually I try to match my partner’s style, so for example, when I wrote with YAMD I focused a lot more on detailed descriptions than I usually do. I can’t really describe it, I just try to align with how my partner writes. 

I’M NOT VERY HELPFUL, SORRY :D

Cuttlefishcatfish:

1. What do you love about writing?

STRATS: When you finally get to that moment, that scene you’ve been thinking about for AGES, the one you have entirely plotted for weeks. 

Also, writing emotional breakdowns. Give me a sobbing panic attack any day. 

WHISKEY: The moment you hit the flow point and everything just makes sense; either an idea just CLICKS or you finally get over that plot point you were worried about and you are racing through.

2. What do you hate about writing?

STRATS: god why haven’t we yet invented a way for me to think words onto the page? I’M SO TIRED. 

WHISKEY: That meme? The one that goes like “I need this very specific fic and I need it immediately… which means I need to write it… but I just wanna read it, not write it”. That.

3. One writing tip that you could give to other writers.

STRATS: When I was a teenager I came across some writing advice from an author I loved (I want to say Steven King, but it’s been years). The advice was “sit down and actually write.” And I was PISSED. As a teenager struggling with motivation, I hated that advice. 

Now I’m almost 27 and I can safely say that the best writing advice I can give you is JUST FUCKING WRITE THE THING. Even on days I feel like my writing is garbage, I force out a bit of garbage. Force your way through the shitty parts so you can get to the fun parts. You can always go back and edit the shitty parts later (and often it turns out they weren’t as shitty as you thought they were). 

WHISKEY: Practice. I’m sorry, I’m trite and boring but honestly that’s the only way you will get better, get into a habit of writing all the time, and start to find your own voice. Practice even just 100 words a day, coz that’s 100 words more than you had yesterday.

4. One overused word in fanfics?

WHISKEY: Oh god our beta actually points these out now haha! I’m terrible for teeth/tongue/lip action (he tongued the corner of his mouth, flashed his teeth, bit his lip)

STRATS: any time someone’s smile “quirks up at the corners” or you read the words “fluttering/thrumming pulse,” that’s me. It’s always me. I have been called out on the hummingbird pulse before. 

5. Have you guys disagreed on a story direction? If yes, how do you resolve that?

WHISKEY: I don’t think we have *disagreed* really, once in a while we find that a story doesn’t flow how it should, and we start over, or a character we had planned in our head ends up written differently on a tag. In that case we usually just ping the other and explain what we were after (we have a chat always open alongside writing) and figure out what works best for the story. I can think of a couple times that’s happened and it’s always a super chill and fair affair; both of us have “won” those kinds of things before.

STRATS: We gel really well together, and often our stories are at least loosely planned out from the beginning, so it doesn’t come up much. Every once in a while one of us says “so I don’t think this is working” and we usually do our best to find a way to change it around. It’s not really “fun” to write together if you’re making your partner write something they aren’t happy with, so we try to take each other’s opinions into account. 

6. How did you guys manage to let the other into your thought process? Writing is intimate. With a writing partner, that person knows what your kinks, opinions about things, etc. are. Was it scary to let that person in and see you being vulnerable with your works? This is assuming that you let your personality bleed through your stories.

So, this is an awesome question actually, thanks for asking it, and the answer might sound a bit weird so bear with us! We both get a bit of a (major) crush on our writing partners when we write, and after. Not in a way that would be considered cheating or manipulative but in a way that is… intimate. You said it right that it’s intimate. Neither of us want to date the other (besides, Strats is married) but we love each other and spend a lot of time together with our writing.

There is a lot of trust there, and opening up is a process. I think with Strats and I, we started talking about a kink we shared (human furniture) and it sort of bled out from there. “Oh, I also like bondage! And I’m a huge fan of cock and ball torture, you into that?” and it grew from there.

There were some kinks that we came across that we’d both agree were not our jam and we’d just put them away, and there were some kinks that at one point were not one of our kinks but now we share them. These are interesting ones because it happened absolutely organically; neither of us ever push the other into kinks we know make the other uncomfortable, but we do offer the chance, if one of us is so inclined.

For Whiskey this was ABO and feminization, for Strats it’s underage. Once in a while we’ll push a little to see how we feel about those things, but there’s always a carte blanche to back out if anything makes us uncomfortable. It’s honestly such a safe place to explore these things that we really love it. Also both of us are super kinky and very open about it so there’s usually VERY little (if any) filter when we talk sex/kink.

Blue Posey: Where do you get the ideas from? Your stories are so varied.

WHISKEY: We shamelessly pluck ideas from the Hannigram Kinkmeme on Discord, we have about 150 saved in a spreadsheet that we random number generate from when we want a new idea. Sometimes it’s AUs of movies or other shows that we like, sometimes it’s just an idea that we’ve had that we put out into the void and one of us will freak out and connect it to something.

STRATS: we also both keep track of twitter and tumblr and will send each other prompts based on those. We are following quite a few non-fandom porn accounts… 

and of course, sometimes I wake up at four am and text whiskey absolute gibberish and in the morning we write a fic.

Christina Shinn: I always like knowing about what gets writers really excited about their own fics. How writers overcome their writer's block. What motivates writers. What are some pet peeves of writers. YAY! Love your fics!

WHISKEY: 1. I get excited about fics I know people are excited about. If Strats pings me with a story idea and she’s stoked about it, I’ll catch that fever and be entirely into exploring that story. Likewise if someone commissions us or requests a story that really digs its heels in.

STRATS: 1) I’ve gotten a LITTLE less vain now that I do commissions and gifts for other people, but generally, every single thing I have written is something I’ve wanted to read, and so I love rereading it. Sometimes I’ll cringe at a typo or a mistake or an awkward line, but overall, I love everything I write. I have spent hours retreading my own fics before. Write the kind of story you want to read!

WHISKEY: 2. Writer’s block is an asshole and honestly I have no actual “fix it” for you; collab writing definitely helps because you have someone to soundboard off of, but even then sometimes we find ourselves just stuck. That’s when we start yet another original story XD

STRATS: 2) Writer's block occasionally eats me alive. If it’s REALLY hitting you, take a day off. It’s okay. Take a break. Do something fun. 

But once that day is over WRITE THE THING. Write something terrible. Just do it. You can always fix it later

WHISKEY: 3. Collab writing is hugely motivating for me, it’s an immediate and awesome feedback loop of love. You tag, you send it off, and someone FINDS THAT IDEA COOL ENOUGH TO CONTINUE and ping you back, and you have new material to work with that didn’t come out of your head and… it’s great, it really is. Also feedback from readers. Even if it’s critique (note: not “I hated this” but “this could have been done differently imo”) it’s a great way to keep growing and moving as a writer.

STRATS: 3) collab writing is really motivating for me because I am a Guilt Monster and other people are relying on me. For my own stuff, I’m motivated because I’m writing something I like. Something I want to reread later. 

If a story isn’t working for you (and it isn’t required for some sort of work or whatever), stop writing it. Go write something you like. It’s okay to say “actually, I don’t want to write this one anymore.”

WHISKEY: 4. I think every writer has a pet peeve regarding their own headcanons. Some people hate endearments with a pairing, but have their own pet names that work for them in their personal headcanon. In others’ work? There are certain things that irk me, but they’re also entirely personal. If I feel that a character has been written really OOC in a fic that is marked as canon for instance, it grinds my gears. THAT SAID that’s also the writer’s own prerogative.

STRATS: 4) I have too many pet peeves to mention because I am a snob, but I still have relatively low standards for what I’ll read, so I’ve read a vast variety of things. 

Besides what Whiskey said about characterization, I have a few aspects of life that I’m somewhat knowledgeable about, and I can’t stand when people get it WRONG. Special mention goes to people writing children badly, which is the entire reason Family of Choice exists. If you don’t have children or know children, PLEASE do some research into child development before you write them. It drives me up the wall when kids are doing things they shouldn’t be at that age. NEWBORNS. DON’T. GIGGLE.

[charlottedabookworm]

So I’ve seen your watching Star Trek posts- I’ve seen the reboot movies and walked in and out of a room where someone was binge watching voyager. That’s it. Where should I start if I want to start watching Star Trek?

Okay, so.

A lot of people would say that you have to start with this specific series or that and then watch this one afterwards but honestly, my major piece of advice is this: when you pick a series, stick with it

Because the first couple episodes (or entire season, in the case of some of the series) can be pretty bad as they settle into the characters and the lore but they do pick up and there’s no such thing as a bad Star Trek series

No, not even Star Trek: Enterprise, despite what you may have heard

Anyway, I’m going to start with a list of the series and the common abbreviations, because I tend to use said abbreviations a lot:

Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (DS9)

Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)

Star Trek: Discovery (DISCO)

there’s also the animated series, which isn’t bad but I prefer not to think about

Each of these series is self-contained; sometimes characters and plot points cross over, but it isn’t necessary to watch one series before another - even things based on events happening in earlier series are easy enough to pick up without that extra understanding

You don’t have to watch them in a specific order. Most people don’t. I certainly didn’t. You can just pick and choose as a series catches your fancy and watch them that way and still have plenty of fun.

Some people choose to watch the series in production order, which is how I've listed them above (TOS->TNG->DS9->VOY->ENT->DISCO), and that isn’t exactly a bad idea because then you don’t have that disconnect of going from a series made in the last decade to one made in the 60′s.

But, in-verse chronology, the series go like this: ENT->DISCO->TOS->TNG->DS9/VOY (with DS9 and VOY taking place over the same-ish time period, DS9 starting shortly before VOY). Some people prefer to watch them this way - it means that, quality wise, you jump around a bit because of production dates but if that doesn’t bother you then it’s a fun way to watch them

In all honesty, though, it doesn't matter

I started by watching VOY with my mum and that is my favourite series to this day - partially due to nostalgia, I’ll admit - but I didn’t watch Star Trek in any particular order (mostly because I was 12, but also because it doesn't matter)

TOS is a bit cheesy, because it was made in the 60′s, but it’s the original and fun to watch - as long as you can get past the seriously outdated special effects. TNG is always a good starting off point - the first series/season is quite frankly terrible but it picks up a lot. VOY is my personal favourite but you see very little of Starfleet outside of the main crew due to the circumstances, so if you’re interested in the wider federation it probably isn’t the best starting off point

DS9 is set on a space station and is probably overall the best series in terms of continuity but I wouldn’t recommend it as a starter due to the fact that it’s so different from the rest of the series

ENT is all about the founding of the Federation and is a bit jumpy but it’s nice, you get to see a lot of rules and laws developed after they mess things up - it also has more series/season long story-lines which are uncommon in the earlier series. DISCO is the same, series/season long story-telling over the episodic format which has it’s pros and cons - it’s harder to get to know the characters properly, but you also watch the story slowly unfolding

And, no idea if this has any effect on the choice but: TOS, ENT, and DISCO are all shorter, 2-4 series/seasons each; and TNG, DS9, and VOY are all around 7 series/seasons long.

So, yeah.

I’m sorry, this is very rambling and probably stupidly unhelpful, but it’s really up to you and what you want out of a Star Trek series

TOS or TNG might be the best starting off point - TOS specifically because you said that you’ve watched the AOS (Alternate Original Series, aka the reboots) and that means that you’ll already be familiar with the characters - but I’m still of the opinion that it doesn’t really matter

Sorry I can’t be more helpful

@accursedsith - I know you like Star Trek too, any suggestions?

[shyanlibrary]

do you know of any fics where shane is something other than a demon or an alien?????? like a different type of monster? thank you so much! i love your blog u are doing the lord's work!!

Hi! This is an updated version of this list. This one includes newer fics, others I didn’t knew fit in here, and also includes Angel!Shane, Vampire!Shane and SuperPowered!Shane.

be all my sins remembered by spoopyy

Summary: In every lifetime, they find each other.

Rated: E

Commentary: Boy, I don’t even know what else to say about this fic that I’ve recommended so many times by now. So I will say what I always say about it: It’s perfect. The worldbuilding and characterization, Shane’s POV is delicious. And also, he’s a vampire here.

skeptics and true believers by cooliohoolio 

Summary: The hot new kid that frustrates Ryan on a daily basis may or may not be a werewolf.

Ryan Bergara is in his junior year and president of Buzzfeed High School’s supernatural club; Shane Madej is the new kid that’s started showing up to meetings only to shit on Ryan’s belief in the paranormal. Normally, he would be annoyed with such a skeptical asshole– except, said asshole is also really fucking attractive, leading to a weird mixture of frustration and attraction Ryan has no idea how to deal with.

Then Ryan notes that there’s one subject that Shane doesn’t have anything to say about: werewolves. His discomfort at the mention of the subject and consistent absences on full moons is more than enough to pique Ryan’s curiosity. Whatever’s going on, Ryan is going to get to the bottom of it…even if it kills him.

Rated: T

Chapters: 7/?

Commentary: Werewolve AU. High School AU. I haven’t finished this fic but so far so good, it’s a lot of fun.

May I Say I Loved You More by Luntian

Summary: He felt Ryan’s warm palm on his shoulder. By then he knew he couldn’t lie anymore.“I—well, uh…” Shane inhaled deeply, “Promise me you’ll believe.”

Ryan was puzzled, but he nodded almost immediately.

After a long pause, Shane finally continued, “I’m not human.”

“What?” Ryan whispered. His eyebrows furrowed.

“Well, I was human, then—and then I died.” Ryan stared. Shane realized he was making no sense. He sighed, “Okay, listen. I am an angel.” Shane glanced at Ryan, trying to see his reaction but he saw no expression on his face. “I was sent on Earth to, uh, complete some mission.”

“You’re an alien?!”

“I’m an angel!“

/or/

Shane is an angel with a time limit. And a boyfriend.

Rated: Not Rated.

Commentary: Oh, man. This fanfic is so sad– I’m not gonna ruin the ending for you, but it’s a good story with great characterization. It broke my heart, but it also made me laugh and feel all warm. Shane is an angel here.

Late Night by juniperProse

Summary: “This was it. This was how he would die. A wolf broke into his home and ate him. Or, at the very least, chewed on his bones until it got bored and moved on to its next victim. Fuck.

A small voice told him the wolf didn’t break in, you basically LET IT IN, idiot, and hey wait how the fuck did a wolf manage to get up to his apartment when it was on the /third floor/, and as he was distracted with his thoughts, he tripped on his rug and fell on his ass, hard.”

—

Or: A wolf forcibly stays the night at Ryan’s house. Ryan is scared. Lamps are broken. “Buddies” are made.

Rated: T

Commentary: Werewolve AU. This one… is in another level. Shane pretends he doesn’t know and Ryan just– loses his shit for a night. It’s awesome and deserves much more love. 

Blood Buddies (with benefits) by Squeakyshroom

Summary: Ryan thought they were just friends, but one night and one bite has him questioning everything.

OR: Shane’s a fledgling vampire. Ryan’s an idiot.

Rated: E

Commentary: Look– this author? I love her. She has a very unique style and the way she writes their dynamic is something else. This fanfic in particular is a lot of fun, and I hate the fact that I know one and every damn Twilight reference in it. Shane is a vampire.

It also has one of my favorite mental images/scenes in a fanfic ever. If you guess which one is, come tell me about it, lmao.

au contraire by cactsu

Summary: Shane is a bored deity with a sardonic sense of humor. Ryan is a demon who’s a tad too jumpy for someone of his kind.

Certainly not a match made in heaven, but they sure as hell make it work like it is.

Rated: G

Commentary: In this one, Shane is a Deity and encounters a young Demon Ryan. I love this fic! It’s such a great story with a good plot, and original AU ideas. It was posted when no one else had wrote Demon!Ryan and boooy, if it’s good. It’s amazing, actually.

Oblivion by InkStainsOnMyHands

Summary: Tragic consequences typically follow when a god falls in love with a human. Typically…

Based on the comment:

“My theory is that Shane is the devil and was just super bored. Then one day he chanced upon a poor scared Ryan and thought “this is pretty fun” and now follows him to supernatural sights to have a giggle at his expense. But that’s also why they never capture anything on video, because the evil spirits and demons know Shane for who he really is and are too afraid to mess with him.”

Rated: E

Commentary: Deity Shane falls for mortal Ryan and things may have gone wrong at some point… but it has happy ending, I promise. God, I love this story to no end! It was one of the first fics I read and I love it, it’s wonderful!

Lost in Limbo  by americanchemicals

Summary: Series. As Ryan Bergara’s guardian angel, it was Shane’s sole duty to make sure that no harm ever came to the human, while also making sure that he didn’t discover his true identity.

Rated: T & M

Contains:  All the Angels &  Longer than Forever

Commentary: Both these fics are very good. I love how serious it takes itself and how good the characterization is. The second fic is my favorite of the two.In here, Shane is an Angel.

The Non-Believers by Delayedresponse

Summary: All because you don’t believe in something, does not mean it doesn’t exist.

Shane Madej learns this the hard way.

Rated: G

Stories: 3/?

Commentary: In this series, Shane dies and comes back as a ghost– until he realizes he is not just a ghost. He is a Banshee. I love this series a lot and I wish the author would finish it. I’ll wait forever for it, too.

Bloody Hell by AussieBookworm

Summary: One of the gifts of being bitten by a vampire, Shane supposed, was his improved hearing. For example, he could hear Jen quietly humming a song she claimed she hated, Quinta having a conversation with her mother about her father’s surprise birthday party, and Ryan leaving a meeting room and walking over to him.

***

Shane is a vampire and Ryan starts getting a bit too close to the truth, completely by accident

Rated: T

Commentary: In which Shane and Ryan visit an actual Vampire Hunter for an episode, and Shane wants to destroy something. In this one, Shane and Sara are vampires and good friends, and Ryan doesn’t know his pal is exactly what he is looking for.

The Supernatural’s Not Out to Get You by kathakoito

Summary: Shane is cthulhu. Ryan’s a skeptic.

Rated: G

Commentary: Listen, I bookmarked this fic at AO3 as “WHEN TENTACLES ARE CUTE” and that’s all you need to know about it. Shane is a Lovecraft God and everything is amazing.

The fairy man won’t hold for you (the hollow). by boogara (Alexander_Slamilton)

Summary:

Rated: T

Commentary: I haven’t finished reading this fic so I don’t exactly know what creature Shane is, but he’s not a demon and that’s why I’m adding it here. Once I finish it, I will come back and edit. But the point here is that this is a very good fic so far, I’m loving it.

Wings  by americanchemicals

Summary: Series. When Ryan Bergara found out that Shane Madej was an angel, his life suddenly became very interesting.

Rated: M.

Contains:  Angel with a Shotgun (not the same as the one up) & Sunday Dinner

Commentary: By the same author of Lost in Limbo, this series is also pretty good for the same reasons. I prefer Lost in Limbo, but this one counts with wonderful fluff that will make you melt. Especially the second one. Shane is an Angel.

the night goes on by pinned_eye

Summary: ryan is lonely at a masquerade ball, until a handsome man asks for a dance

Rated: G

Commentary: Little, very cute thingy. Vampire Shane. It’s very pretty.

[ghosts-forever]

My Chemical Romance was an important band to many.

To me, when I was in middle school, I would listen to their music and feel a little bit more understood during a time where I couldn’t properly articulate my pain. Their music, which brimmed with the feelings I couldn’t express, was an inspiration to many like me. Their last album, Danger Days, took their punk rock sound and crashed it against the floor, instead grappling with creativity and fighting against those who dared hold us back. The sound was poppy, fun, jumpy, something you could dance to. The ideas behind this album didn’t reach me until a few months ago, still, when I listened to it back in 2010 I loved the change. 

My Chemical Romance always tried to break the mold with creativity. Some examples would be having a funeral procession to lead to their live performance in England (I believe it was England), or having live dancers accompany a Helena performance. With The Black Parade they created a separate band entirely, and with Danger Days separate personas. Personally, the impact of this never hit me until, once again, a few months ago. What daring, what creativity!

My Chemical Romance has always been a band about change, about speaking out, about meaning something. Personally, I think Danger Days was the album that took it a step further. It was now about self-betterment and creativity. They took what they knew people expected of them to do and went in the opposite direction. They wore bright colors, dyed their hair in some cases, created a plot and characters you could root for. The band was no longer about marching, it was about running, never stopping.

“Keep running.”

Party Poison, Kobra Kid, Jet Star, Fun Ghoul. These characters were people we felt comfortable with, because they fought for us, just as the band did. But Danger Days was about having fun just as much as fighting. While one track (Sing) could be about the empowerment of music and helping others, another (Vampire Money) could be about ridiculing the Twilight films and bands that wrote music for them just to make money.

In particular, the band has had an element of self-indulgence on the band members’ part. Skylines and Turnstiles was written by Gerard Way, lead vocalist, after he saw 9/11. Helena was written after the death of the Way brothers’ grandmother (Mikey Way is the bassist). Kids From Yesterday is the most striking to me, also being in Danger Days. It’s about the acceptance of growing up, growing old, and how “we are the kids from yesterday.”

Though the success and impact of Black Parade is not to be scoffed at, I always go back to Danger Days. It makes me happy, sad, want to write and draw and change the fucking world. With the tagline ART IS THE WEAPON, how could I not feel inspired? DESTROYA makes me dance and sing along, with its sexual moans accompanied with overpowered drums, Na Na Na puts images in my head of comics I could make, the perfect morning cartoon. I could continue to gush, but I feel that would be counterproductive. The ideas of these people don’t fall flat on me anymore, and recently I’ve been having a hard time thinking of anything else. No one else has ever created separate personas for an album, then moving on. No one else has released albums that sound like completely different bands one after the other. No one else, at least music wise, has had ideas and beliefs that resonate with me so completely. With no other strangers do I want to be as happy and fulfilled and healthy, as they created that for others who needed a voice.

I recently started becoming obsessed with these ideas after discovering that the true lyrics to Vampire Money weren’t “we came to suck” as I had assumed in my original, child-friendly CD, but instead “we came to fuck.” I just couldn’t stop listening after that. Their sound is so nostalgic to me. It brought me back to the time when I was losing hope, but regained it through Danger Days. Danger Days was like a new band that taught me to dance and sing in the face of opposition rather than curse my fate. Black Parade was a voice, showing that I wasn’t alone, and Revenge and Bullets was a musical atmosphere of pain and understanding, all of their music stuck with me until this moment. 

I do have to give a shout out to their last releases, Conventional Weapons, which came out in the form of 5 vinyl’s in 2013. Although lacking in persona as with the other albums, it speaks louder with its lyrics. “And if you save my life, I’ll be the one who drives you home tonight… and if they ever let you down, I’ll be the one who drives you home tonight.” So many of these songs speak to the fans, addressing them with love and understanding. Not only that, but most tracks share the qualities that make me want to smile and dance, which I’m always happy for.

Lastly, Fake Your Death, their last song released in their greatest hits album, really brings home their message. At the moment, I’m having a hard time taking away a message I could be confident with explaining here, but the song overall carries great melancholy to me. Where Conventional Weapons was a fist up in celebration of what they had achieved, Fake Your Death was a farewell. I would highly recommend anyone check out the ‘trailer’ to the song. It’s a video that shows their evolution from an upcoming band, to one that changes lives.

And that’s what they are: a band that changed lives. They changed so much. They changed their image, from uneasy, to angry, to cheering, to overwhelmingly positive. Positive in the way that they would cheer for you, make you dance, make you laugh, make ideas. They changed my life, and that’s revolutionary, I think. I don’t want to think of them as a light that went out (“even lights can fade away”) but as a beacon. They did so much in the 12 years they were together, and though Fake Your Death makes me feel melancholic, someday I want it to make me feel happy too. Instead of the pain of losing their ideas and empowerment, I want to feel glad that they gave me that in the first place.

Overall, though, the worst part of my recent obsession, is that no one seems to feel the same way. No one seems to remember them, what they did. When rediscovering Danger Days, I wanted to express my amazement at the creativity they achieved, but I was late to the party. There were so many thoughts in my mind back then that I can’t express now, unfortunately. I want people to know what they did, how creative they were, what an inspiration they were and are. To me, music has become stagnant- no one wants to make something impactful, they just want to make anything with a beat that sells. My Chemical Romance had a message, an aesthetic, and saved thousands of people with their sound. Can other musicians today say the same?

[hollowgroverp]

Hello, my darlings! We give you our latest plot shuffle! We had an overwhelming amount of those who wanted to participate so we did our very best to include everyone who commented on the event post. We welcome everyone to use this shuffle for in game interactions. Meaning, you can, throughout the event, post reactions to what your character’s specific shuffle is. Not all starters have to relate to this right away, or at all even. Meaning you can begin all interactions on a good note, and really invest your character into what’s going on around them, then later on post something and pursue plots related to the scenario everyone was placed in.

More on how this works is that we put together plot scenarios for everyone of something specific that will happen to your character during the event. Some are open ended and you can work with those involved in your plot to determine what happens next, others are a bit more close ended and you are welcome to show the after math of that event. We encourage everyone to continue to plot for the event outside of these and please let us know if you have anything major you’d like to clear. Just a reminder the event starts tomorrow, Wednesday, July, 5th at 7 pm CST and will run through Wednesday, July 12th. In game, the event will take place Saturday, July 8th. More can be found about the event here.  

Founders' Day History Trying To Repeat Itself

It, of course, wouldn’t be Founders’ Day without a few shenanigans and leave it to Nolan Dunhurst to keep with last years tradition.  Kegs and Eggs would not be complete without some streaking to follow and when Nolan and Adam Haley team up for a bit of drunken fun things are sure to get a bit rowdy. Throw in a beautiful blonde with a knack for fun, Riley Wilder, and you’ve got a sure first equation for chaos. After more drinks then three of them care to stomach, Adam and Nolan are set on making good on a new tradition. Streaking. This time the plan doesn’t involve streaking through the parade, Nolan gets about half way across church street before he’s caught by Sophia Greyson, with pants in hand. This leaves Riley and Adam to their own drunken fun, which ultimately ends in the blonde almost stumbling into a Raya Guerriero. Raya, slightly jumpy from being around all the people and the noise of Founders’ Day, is on edge, to say the least, and rowdy blonde running into her only seems to trigger her annoyance. Adam, sensing the tension tries to jump in but only seems to make the situation worse with his fast talking and of course, a few wrong words and the two are ready to fight despite Riley’s words of discouragement. Scarlett Cardwell isn’t having any of it though. Refusing to let the day be ruined so early she breaks up the fight, taking Adam by the ear as she drags him away.

Can’t We Just Have A Parade Without Chaos??

When a prank goes awry, things get dangerous. A few high school boys stole some firework and in an attempt to be funny they accidentally set them off during the parade from their float. Thalia Dunne is almost knocked right off her float trying to avoid them. Thankfully Lukas Blackwell is there to save the day. Rory Seibert had the dogs out for the parade, frightened by the loud sounds of the fireworks they begin to panic and Rory loses control. The dogs scattered in fear causing chaos through the parade line. One dog, in particular, came barreling into  Anastasia West and it was love at first sight. The sweet dog took to licking her face in apology. The Hell’s Kitchen float didn’t get off so lucky as they swerved to miss one of the fleeing dogs causing Isolde Harabo to lose control of it and almost run Emmett Bryson right over. Thankfully, Emmett and the dog he was helping were saved at the last minute by Isolde bringing the float to hault. 

When Magical Babies Attack

They never saw it coming. A designated kid zone set up at the carnival was the scene of a fiasco no one ever anticipated. What would happen if you gathered together several children with magical affiliation and watched what would happen when they channeled each other's powers. Catriona O’Shea and her twins, Levi Calhoun and his girls, and Rowan Hastings with his niece Valarie couldn’t have known what would come from the five children playing closing in the children’s area of the carnival. Arthur Grey would sadly find himself on the receiving end of this child’s play. It comes first as the sound of a little girls voice calling to him in his mind. Telepathy was always an odd thing to experience first hand, but Levi’s eldest was only just experiencing the first stages of it. As she ran through the play set trying to escape another child playing tag, in her mind she sounded in distress causing Arthur to panic as he tried to find the little girl. When he reaches the Kid Zone he soon found himself experience a string of magical shenanigans that he certainly didn’t sign up. Signs of magic in children this young war rather uncommon but when those children got together their strength only caused surges in power. Lifted clean off the ground at the amusement of the children, Arthur found himself suspended in mid air. Then suddenly a pool of water holding the duck game, stirred, and Arthur found himself drenched by its contents. The children continue with this playful play of powers for a good five minutes before Cat, Levi, and Rowan discovers what is happened. Coming to Arthur’s rescue Cat saves Arthur from the childish torment of the children.

Leave It To The Hypnotist To Cause A Little Entertainment

After last years fiasco, many objected to bringing back the hypnotist but many couldn’t resist. After all, last year had lead to a lot of laughs for those who got to watch. Of course many were hesitant when volunteers were asked for so naturally a few people were nudged into it who weren’t all that pleased with the idea. Sloan Burkhart, Alastair Ferris, and Maggie Blackwell were three of those unfortunate souls who got strong armed into. Lucky for Maggie, hypnotism didn’t work on the original and she knew it. Alastair was no believer, he rolled his eyes in protest at the ever idea of being on stage for something as ridiculous as this.

sleep...sleep... sleep....

Maggie watches in amusement as the human and the vampire on either side her drift off into a slumber and the hypnotist looks frustrated by Maggie’s awake state. A sheer smirk of satisfaction on her lips as she shrugged. To everyone’s surprise though, one in the audience had fallen under the words. Mia Conroe would find herself under the spell of the hypnotist. Taking Maggie’s place on stage she sat with the other two.

“Now, when you hear the word freeze, I want to you to charge, tackle, dismantle and tear limb from limb (figuratively) the quarterback. The three of you are defense players, and he has the ball.” With this, he whispers a name in the ear of each of the

Then, with the snap of a finger, the three wake up. After that, they are set to the side, standing there in confusion and no idea what happened. But it’s all part of a bigger show.

The hypnotist sets its sights on two more players in his little game. Katja Chekhov was just passing by when she was plucked from the crowd much to her dismay. The scowl on her face should have been a dead give away. Matty Stevens was the next piece of the puzzle. After a few moments, Katja and Matty soon believe their police men.. and their on a secret mission. The hypnotist whispers a word to them.. a name. The name of who they are after now.The audience is now watching them perform, hiding behind the walls on stage, and using fake hand guns as they walk around in stealth. The other three are off to the side, now working out and waiting for the big game.

Then suddenly the hypnotist stands up says one name: “Colton DeForest” The crowd can hear him groan, Colton had seen this one play out before.

“FREEZE!” Katja and Matty both yell out, pointing their fake hand guns at the man.Uh oh.. they aren’t the only ones playing the part. At the sound of the word, Mia, Alastair, and Sloan are off! And it’s down with the quarterback! Or in this case, Colton. Looks like our lovely police officers have captured the bad guy, thanks to the help of HG’s very own football team. Who knows if they’ll remember any of this though.

A Performance Gone Awry 

A newcomer to town Alexz Brookes landed herself a performer spot during the carnival. Her impressive vocals seem to blow the crowd away and it's a show no one will forget. Of course due to some miss placement of water by the newest generation of witches an electrical fire starts at left edge of the stage that causes some of the stage equipment to shake loose and fall right onto the path of Avery Carter-Wate. It would have crushed the young witch had another witch not been on hand, Ezra Gillies, Telekinesis stopped the debris from falling onto Avery. Chaos in the crowd erupts as the fire becomes noticeable. Jamie Taylor and Nathaniel Greyson, not being ones to run from trouble jump into action to get everyone safely away and isolate the issue. Fallon Robinson had been enjoying the show with Darcy Hastings when everything started to fall apart, when a piece of the stage broke out, threatening to crush and the little girl Fallon used her force field to protect them both.  Rachel Silver wanting to help starts directing the crowds away from the stage as Jamie and Nate get everyone in imminent danger out of trouble. Jamie climbs on stage to help Alexz, assisting her off the stage while Nate went to put the fire out. Another piece of equipment falls and this time Rachel plays the hero as she pushes Nate out of the way. Once safe, Rachel, Nate, and Jamie contain the fire and everyone is safe with a few minor injuries.

Thankfully, the main stage was still up and running, the crowd demanded an encore and Alexz was able to give it to them from there.

Temperamental Hybrids Ahead

It starts with little jabs, Cassie Cresswell, chalks it up to a bad day. It starts with a run in with her father at the Parade. Cruel words from a grieving father lead to emotional scars that will be long standing. Factor in the crowds of people and the new hybrid finds herself more stir crazy than she cares to admit. A gaggle of teenage boys obnoxiously playing pranks press her last few buttons that when Violet Beaumont-Murphy comes plowing into her as Violet tries to escape the fire that had started on the stage, the collision causing Cassie to snap. Eyes flashing a dangerous yellow color, Violet finds herself face to face with an angry hybrid. On his way to help out Jamie, Dash Hastings’s attention is diverted to Cassie and the woman. Slipping between the two Dash tried to talk Cassie down. Warning Violet, he told her to run. With calm words, he gets Cassie to listen long enough for the young woman to plead with him to get her home so she could be locked up before she turned. Respecting her request Dash pushed through the crowd, Cassie in tow as they made their way the few blocks to the Cresswell’s home.

Once inside Dash locked Cassie away for her own safety, promising to not let her out until they knew it was safe. With that Dash stepped away to call Isabelle Cresswell and let her know. Little did Dash know that someone had slipped inside and let Cassie out in his absence. To his horror, he returned to find the door wide open and an angry snarling wolf staring him down. Dash tried to escape but Cassie attacked regardless. Little did they know that who ever had set her free and poked the bear and set a wild animal loose in the town.

Watching from the sidelines as Jamie fought the fire, Isabelle and Lorelei Holt waited for the crowds to clear. As things began to settle, Isabelle phone rang, answering she was met with a panicked Dash. Hearing his words she was instantly spurred into action. Telling Lorelei of what happened, Issy asked the woman to retrieve Jamie Taylor and Gideon Henry and have them meet her at her home. With that, she took off for her house. Lorelei, Jamie, and Gideon not far behind.

When she reached the house she found a batter and bruised Dash laying on the front lawn, being circled by a rather large wolf she realized was Cassie. Lorelei, Jamie, and Gideon came charging towards the house causing the Cassie to snarl turning in their direction.

“Stay back,” Issy cried and Cassie’s attention turned back to her sister, lunging towards her both Jamie and Gideon moved to tackle the wolf, knocking Cassie to the ground mere inches from Isabelle. Cassie was too strong, her teeth sinking into Gideon’s shoulder as tried to get him off, finally knocking the vampire to her side. Jamie was carelessly tossed to other side knocking into Lorelei knocking her out. Panicked, Jamie tried to help her not noticing the wolf circling him once more.

Watching the scene unfold before Isabelle wanted to act but she was scared to use her power on her sister. Not wanting to hurt her. Watching though as she circled Jamie, ready to pounce she couldn’t bare the idea of him being hurt. Placing herself between Jamie and Cassie as the wolf went to lunge Issy felt a surge of power as her hands came up trying to stop Cassie. Watching in shock as the wolf was knocked backward. Her new power of telekinesis had made its appearance and it had been just enough power to knock the wolf out. With Jamie’s help, they get Cassie back into her cell and lock the door before returning to help the others.

What Goes Bump In The Night

Under the cover of the event, a group of supernatural creature slipped into town. Through out the day, they sparked the fire of chaos. It starts with setting off the hybrid, a fire to distract everyone, then finally setting the hybrid free. The plan, however, doesn’t come to fruition the way they picture. Ideally, the hybrid would have caused the final strands of chaos for the night, ultimately causing, to their hope, more hybrids. When the plan doesn’t play out the way hoped though they quickly moved on to plan B. It starts with Dean Miles, snatched amongst the chaos of the fire, they feed him their blood and snap his neck. Leaving him in the bushes and waiting for him to wake.

From there they move on, hungry for a little bit during the block party, they snatch up Evan Rider. They leave him for dead behind one of the stages. Luckily Kitty Mastrano stumbled across him just in time. Her healing magic bringing him back from the brink of death. When he finally awakes he tells Kitty the story of a vampire claiming to be a part of the Clave attacked him. Scared of what this meant the two grabbed the first original they could find, Noah Blackwell.

When Dean Miles awoke, he was hungry and confused. The block party was well underway. Unaware of what had happened to him he stumbled his way out of the bushes, drawn by the smell of blood.  Mirelli Guerriero stood only feet ahead of him, having just cut her hand open on a sharp bottle. Driven by the hunger he attacked, caught of guard there was very little Mirelli could do to stop the new vampire. Hearing a scuffle, Adelaide Beauchamp followed her senses only to find a terrifying scene before her. One that took her back to Founders’ Day last year. Charging forward she pulled Dean off of Mirelli. It was like all of a sudden she was seeing the world through different eyes and she knew she had to help this new vampire the same way she’d been helped this time last year.

The Clave’s loyal followers didn’t stop there. When their back up plan to send a freshly turned vampire loose on the crowds of the event didn’t work they turned to creating more chaos of their own. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong women to try that with when they came across Delilah Reyes and Emma Sawyer away from the crowds. Emma gets a vision of what’s to come just moments before, the element of surprise gone when a Clave werewolf tried to jump her she was ready. The two young woman found themselves cornered by four members of the Clave. With almost embarrassing ease Delilah and Emma held their own against them. With three unconscious, only one remained. “Nik Greyson sends his regards.” The man said with a sick smile as he made to treat. Delilah and Emma made to go after him but were stopped as Noah Blackwell appeared, grabbing the man by the throat. Nora Hastings appeared just in time to realize the man before she had been the one who had made her believe she’d killed her own family.

Jack Haley, Scarlett Cardwell, and Sheriff Colton DeForest show up at the scene just in time to arrest four Clave members. 

They didn’t know it yet, but it would be clear soon that the Clave had returned.

[booksbwaybadflower]

CURSED CHILD!!

One of the biggest queerbaits of 2016, but still a high-quality story before the Scene Which Must Not Be Named. This was honestly one of the best experiences of my life and I have to tell you guys about it, or at least type it all out before I forget the details (I mean, it took all day to see.)

Naturally, this will contain MAJOR spoilers for both the live show and the script (as well as the seven-book series), so read at your own risk! (I really can’t do this thing justice by writing it all out, either, so if you’re willing to die for a ticket, trust me, it’s worth it). There were signs everywhere around the theatre telling me to #keepthesecrets, but it was hard to be vague in some places. Trying my best not to be Wormtail. If you haven’t seen it, just don’t read this. :)

First things first, the LIGHTING. I am a slut for good lighting effects and this was no disappointment. Smoke machines to reveal beams of light, dry ice for the dream sequences, projections and colors and perfectly-placed spots, this show had everything. That, of course, paired with the fantastic backdrop, and it was breathtaking. The set consisted mainly of old-fashioned suitcases – doubling as gravestones, the top of the train, chairs, tables, columns, and more – and were so fun to see be taken offstage in unison.

The scene changes were choreographed! Along with the score that fit perfectly with the story (and wasn’t at all your classic, whimsical Harry Potter theme music, I might add, but much deeper and more intimidating), actors would swoosh their capes over the set piece they were about to take off IN TIME TO THE BEAT OF THE UNDERSCORE. And it was like a movie – music going in and out unnoticeably. Sadly there was no live orchestra, but the music cues were all exact. As for the choreography, anytime they wanted to either buy time or add intensity, the ensemble members came onstage with their cloaks to do twirls and jumps and bring the props in and out of the center all symmetrically, then the lights would snap on and everyone would snap to position almost as if it were a jumpcut in a movie. It was astounding.

Now, the effects. I have no idea how they did most of them! They held the time-turner between their hands – suspended in the air – but I’m pretty sure there were no strings, with the way they were tossing it around. Going into the Ministry of Magic, the actors turned around, walked into the telephone booth, and the thing SUCKED THEM INTO THE PHONE. I DON’T KNOW HOW. Despite watching for a trapdoor opening or SOMETHING, there may as well have been actual witches on that stage. Similarly, the polyjuice potion. Sure, they’d stick their head under their cloak and another head would come out, so it’s easy to assume that the second actor was under the cloak. But here’s the weird part – Delphi, for example, transformed into Hermione, then, once transformed, flung her cape over her shoulder and walked to the other side of the stage. No lump of another person. But the one where I actually muttered “no way” out loud to was when she and Scorpius-turned-Harry ran through a door stage right to escape from the voices of the real Harry and Hermione growing closer and closer, then the moment the door closed behind them, Harry and Hermione entered stage LEFT. This, my friends, is not possible. Either they both have identical twins, or there was actual teleportation happening on that stage. There was not enough time at all for them to slide through a trapdoor and take off their cloaks and return to the other side of the stage. I can’t stop thinking about that. And the DEMENTORS! I can’t believe how good they looked. Whatever material they used was perfectly flowey, and when they first came out at the end of Part I, one of them flew out into the audience and directly in front of where I was sitting. Chills, dude!

The invisibility cloak bit was cool – Albus and Scorpius duck under it and hide behind a bookshelf in the library, then McGonagall enters, trying to catch them. She looks around for a moment, and a chair shifts in front of her. Then another chair. Then a stack of books topples over. She pretends she doesn’t see anything (love her), and then Scorbus appears behind a different bookshelf. I’m literally so impressed.

The swimming during the second task reminded me of how The Little Mermaid did some of their swimming effects when travelling Broadway brought it a few months ago.

Every time someone used a time turner and landed at their destination, there was this ripple effect that effected the entire stage that I can’t describe in words. The whole audience went “whoaa” the first time it happened; we were all so convinced that the solid walls were wavering. Maybe it was lighting or something, but if it was, even staring at one stationary beam on the fly didn’t get me to see it. The illusion worked so well as an indication of time travel, especially with the underscore!

Now, it’s been a while since I read the screenplay, but as an actor I know that no one sticks exactly to the script when performing live. It’s hard to say how many of the added lines, directions, expressions, and pauses were character choices versus improvised today, but they all worked great. Specifically in Part II, when Scorpius comes back into reality from the hell dimension. He sings a few of his lines, and shouts a lot more lines than necessary, which leads me to…

When Scorpius doesn’t know what to do, he just screams. Some notable examples –

Scorpius is on the train alone, and Albus decides to sit with him. He offers him sweets. He screams.

Albus and Scorpius are trapped in Godric’s Hollow, 1981. Their parents travel back to find them. As soon as Albus sees his parents, he runs to them and hugs his father. Scorpius runs to his dad and then stops. He screams. (“We can hug too, if you like,” Draco says.)

Scorpius is getting emotional trying to explain to Delphi how much they’ve screwed up time. He screams. Then he quickly mutters “sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry.”

That’s the thing, too. He’s so unbelievably human. This actor has such a way of getting into this character’s head and making him three-dimensional that it’s brilliant. Not only does he quickly back off as soon as he finds himself shouting, he is jumpy and self-conscious and always unsure what to do with himself, trying so hard to win everyone’s approval. His hand gestures – especially in Part I – are awkward and fidgety, but as he gets to know Albus better and better, he relaxes around him and doesn’t shout so much. That might be what made the montage so sad, when they were forbidden to see each other. You watch Scorpius’s walls go back up. You watch him recede into his old, outcasted, eleven-year-old self. Hence my tearing up when Albus told him that he never believed the rumors about Scorpius being Voldemort’s child since he was so kindhearted. When Scorpius teared up (probably the first time he had gotten a genuine compliment like that), I did, too.

For some reason, Scorpius is oddly obsessed with Bathilda Bagshot. When they go to Godric’s Hollow, he sees her door there and exclaims that he recognizes it. She opens the door and walks past, where Scorpius then jumps up and down in excitement. “My geekiness is a-quivering!” Later, they need an ingredient from her house and he knows that she notoriously left her house unlocked. He tries the door. It opens. He quietly screams.

And the characters. Scorpius was of course my absolute favorite thanks to the brilliantly talented actor’s – Anthony Boyle’s – take on him, but Ron was the perfect comic relief. Young Harry was adorable and just how I imagined him in the books. Ginny was just like her mother, and Draco just like himself. Also the Sorting Hat was a fedora. I personally felt like Delphi was too flat of a character and therefore we do see her big plot twist coming a little bit, and I didn’t like that Harry shouted so much (sometimes it’s more fun to see an actor trying to fight an intense outbreak than exploding into one), but otherwise this was a very well-cast show. My favorite part of Ron’s character was his lack of a filter, in a sense. Whatever he was thinking, he said. While standing up and removing his coat, “I’d like to volunteer to be transfigured into Voldemort. I don’t know why I’m taking my coat off.”

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, my analysis on how gay this particular performance was! As we all know, the lines in themselves are very cute (“Hi, Scorpius. No, I mean I’m Scorpius. You’re Albus. Scorpius.” “If I had to choose a companion to watch the return of eternal darkness with, I’d choose you.” “Always.”), but there were little things, too. Like Amos pointing his wand at Albus to threaten him, and Scorpius instinctively putting his arm in the line of fire should he try to curse him. All of the hugs were balancing the line between awkward and sentimental. There was even a little nose boop during the Scene Which Must Not Be Named. The flirtiest part, though, was definitely in the bathroom with Moaning Myrtle. “Engorgio,” Albus commands a piece of soap, which then magically grows. “Consider me engorg-impressed,” says Scorpius before turning around and walking out, covering his face with his hands. Tell me that’s not a really bad pickup line he’s embarrassed that he actually said.

It’s just odd how much of the show is read differently than it was performed. I read Scorpius to be this shy, insecure kid, but Anthony Boyle played him to be constantly embarrassed by himself and shouting nearly everything he says, then regretting it. The scene I sobbed the most at while reading – Hagrid finding baby Harry – was played comically live. The scene I found the most hard to read – Harry seeing his parents die (and every other character’s reaction) – was the most heartbreaking live. I am literally blessed to have been able to see the difference between stage and script (and meet the actors at the stage door!!) and it was worth every pound.

[niennavalier]

OC Ramble Time Pt 2!

Okay, so I'm gonna try to keep these a bit shorter (because the other post took way too long), since I'm gonna do a bit of talking about some of the other characters who are attached to the Disaster Boys (Anders and Alex) story and all that good stuff. So... just jump right in I guess?

Elias Elsker: So pretty much, if you read my whole thing about Anders, Elias is the kid that he takes in. He's real energetic and fun, very open while simultaneously being really awkward (not that it really bothers him). Honestly, he's just really friendly and loves people - animals, too (he's learned a bit of magic and usually has his snake familiar, Xanathar, somewhere nearby). (If you know D&D lore, yes, that's a reference, because Elias also started as a character for me to play. Arcane Tricksters, y'know?). Also impulsive, albeit not in a super self-destructive way. More like his cost-benefit analysis is just bad and sometimes he just does something kinda dumb. He's also pretty jumpy and very prone to running into furniture when his brain goes into panic mode.

Overall, he's just well-adjusted. Yes, he lost his parents young, but he had a good relationship with them, and then also grows really close with Anders. Just wanted a character who didn't have a bunch of issues for once, yknow?

For some other random facts: I tend to write him at either 16 or 21ish, depending - sometimes I wanna write him still learning from Anders, sometimes while he's more out on his own. Also, he's ace and some sort of romantic (AKA, he doesn't fully know and hasn't put a label on it, but if I were to say as the author, he's probably panromantic) and really fun to write/play for those relatable ace moments.

Aishah Rayyan: Alex's twin sister, so I won't go into her backstory in depth, except to say that she came out of their tragic past really differently. She got pretty much adopted into her best friend's family, so while Alex was having a rough time, she ended up having a relatively normal life - albeit with some guilt over losing contact with her brother, and, well, the effects of childhood trauma and the like. She and Alex reconnect over the course of whatever plot I actually write for them, and after all of whatever that is, they and all their other friends (talked about down below) end up all living together. And in that dynamic, she's 100% the mom friend. But less doting and more Tired. She's generally pretty laid-back, practical, and would love a quiet night in with loved ones, but ends up in this constant state of "please stop blowing up [insert kitchen appliance here], I haven't even kind of had enough coffee for this." At least before probably trying to fix the problem, until her girlfriend shepherds her to bed. (And that's assuming she's not hyperfocused in on something, because sometimes that's just what happens. Given a problem, she's gonna solve it).

(Oh, and quick note, she's the other old character who's since gotten reworked. Old tag was for "Taylor Fairfax" but then, unlike with Alex, she went through a pretty massive edit.)

Celine: Nope, no last name yet because names are hard, but she's Aishah's girlfriend. She's about the same age, just a little younger, and an aspiring theatre actress. She's really outgoing and warm, charismatic and super easy to get along with. More than a touch dramatic. Also a lot more traditionally feminine than most of the other female characters I write, and sort of the other resident mom friend, but...I guess in the more stereotypical way? (And she's really vocal about her support for Anders and Alex in particular - she finds them adorable and is one of few people who's never been intimidated by Anders. She just sees how he melts in front of people he cares about).

Oh, also, she and Aishah met at some sort of community theatre performance. The story that their friends tell is basically that in the middle of a scene, as she was on stage and Aishah was in the audience, their eyes just met, and that was it. Obviously, in reality, it wasn't that simple, but there are a lot of meet-cute vibes there.

Valon: Okay, now we get into the territory of my lovable idiot children (which, kudos to whoever knows where I'm stealing this particular name from. If you do, uh, you'll definitely know why this character is the way he is). Aishah's childhood best friend, and the one whose family adopted her. Also the one who's largely responsible for pulling her a bit more out of her shell. He's... just a big dumb idiot? Real big personality, constantly ribbing all of the people he's around and cracking jokes, just likes the energy of being around people in general. Always down to try something new and ridiculous, no matter what it is, even if that means destroying electronics (or the oven). And bluntly honest, but not in a mean way?

Also, he's bi and is pretty often just going out on casual dates for fun. Just sorta waiting to see what happens. But really, he's much more proud of Aishah's love life, though, and gladly takes credit for being the one to get her to ask Celine out.

(Oh, also, cause it was vaguely referenced above: he's the one who was - and is - intimidated by Anders.)

Arina "Ari" Varellian: My other idiot child, but also the character that I probably relate to the most? She grew up around a lot of technology as a kid and developed a good amount of skill with it (coding and stuff - I know nothing about it but she can, it's fine). But what it ultimately did was introduce her to a lot of other pieces of media - video games especially (but also TV and movies are a big part of her life, too). Basically, she's just a glutton for entertainment and fiction and keeps up with all the nerd content.

But she doesn't fall into that "introverted, awkward nerd" type. She gets along really well with Valon, actually - very similar type of big, open personality and always ready with a hearty laugh. She's just here to have a good time, and to try new things (and to force her friends to try new things with her). Basically, she's the person who would go looking for a way to learn parkour after playing something like Assassin's Creed (because it looks cool) or would - and did - plan an entire camping trip after playing Red Dead 2 (because the outside is pretty, guys). Plus, also dragging them into things like escape rooms and D&D games, because these things looked fun.

And, because this is important to me, she's aro ace and very much a way for me to write my perspective? All the "what's up with sex when you could have cake? Or dragons?" and "look, these characters are pretty but why would I sleep with/romance them?" While simultaneously making sex jokes at her friends' expense and shipping fictional characters like there's no tomorrow.

And that's all for today!

The main other characters attached to my Disaster Boys. Tried to keep it short because I'm sleepy, but, as per usual, I could and would gladly talk more about them later (even though some of them do sorta vary in terms of how much I've written and developed them).

Although, a couple last things: I've technically also been sitting on one more character to add into this crew - specifically another friend of Ari's. But I've done markedly less development there, so I'll come back to that some other day. And there are other characters attached to Anders aside from just Elias, I promise. He does have his mentor (whom I mentioned but didn't go into, since I tend to write her more into backstory) and his own found family, but some of those characters belong to a friend, cause that all developed via some D&D sessions. Didn't seem right to add that here.

[theoutsanityshoppe]

Hnnngg KH3.

Note: This is my using Tumblr as a place to scream into the void my thoughts. I’m not looking for responses - or for anyone to try and change my mind, so please don’t bother. I’ve been playing these games since I was 8 years old when they first came out. 

Since I’m gonna be talking about the entire game, I’m gonna slap this on:

So all morning I’ve been highly annoyed and frustrated but unsure why until I let my thoughts just go on their own and I realized I’m just super huffy and upset about KH3 as I finished the game yesterday.

I’m writing this more entirely to get my thoughts/feelings down and maybe move the fuck on from them and not at all to influence peoples opinions on the game. 

But pretty much from the second I entered the Kingdom of Corona I was complaining throughout the entire game. That kingdom in particular pissed me off the most what with it beING THE GODDAMN MOVIE SCENE BUT FUCKING SCENE LINE BY FUCKING LINE and bored me almost to literal tears. I was infinitely more excited [and enjoyed it more!] to play Arendelle than I was Corona, and I can’t stand Frozen but love Tangled as films. 

I know Nomura has never been the best at linear, or hell for that matter, simple story lines but I felt that KH 3 was a mockery of what it could have been. It feels like it, and at the same time us, the fans, were shoved into the corner while other projects were worked on instead and only just finished because “well shit it’s been so long we gotta get something out there”.

The story line was the single shortest and most disappointing out of all of the games - and I have played every goddamn one of them [tho not very far into DreamDrop, the fact that you could drop mid-boss battle infuriated me to no end and I gave up on that game entirely after I had a single hit to go on a fourth attempt on Riku’s boss at Notre Dame]. They focused way too hard on the visual aspects of the game - the scenery, the characters [except, apparently, their hair as Rapunzel's hair made me cringe every goddamn time she showed up] the battle affects, the magic... all the most stunningly beautiful things I have ever seen. The vastly open worlds were amazing too - omaigod it was crazy just exploring every nook and cranny.

But the worlds were utterly pointless. There was no princess to save. No keyhole to lock. No Maleficent to stop. No Pete to beat up. No real REASON for the Heartless to even BE at the worlds and even less for Sora to be there! The only one that made any sense for why baddies were there was just Monstropolis cuz Vanita’s was there, thus, so were the Unversed. [Which was fun except it had already been spoiled that he was gonna show up there so good on your advertising team Square Enix /sarcasm.]. It was just Sora running around seemingly forgetting constantly that there is a HUGE ASS WAR coming literally around the corner. But naw, let’s just have him run around being a pirate during the middle of an incredibly jumpy PoC#3 film recreation. You really demanding we know these films forwards and backwards to enjoy the game??? Fuck that. [Also, I see they tried hard, but the faces on literally everyone in PoC scared the crap out of me. They showed too much teeth and despite trying to show enough human emotion still felt robotic and creepy. Sora, Donald and Goofy were freaking adorable tho.]

The only worlds I thoroughly enjoyed were Toy Box [cuz, gasp! It didn’t just follow the fucking movie line by line!! It was actually new and original but felt like it could be a Toy Story...story!!!] and San Fransokyo cuz I’ve never seen Big Hero Six. I purposefully didn’t watch it because I didn’t want to be bored to tears watching the fucking movie but with Sora, Donald and Goofy thrown in cuz why not. [Side note: Replica Riku and the Cubes showing up was awesome.]

On the topic of worlds: WHERE. THE. FUCK. WAS. RADIANT. GARDEN.

Why in the actual hell was it just a “””””””””””background””’”’’’”””” world???????????? Why was the completed version of Hallow Bastion - a world that has been in just about every goddamn game in some form or fashion minus DreamDrop NOT IN THE “FINAL” GAME [yes I know this is not the end of the series I’m talking about the final for this damn saga]. IT;S A FUCKING IMPORTANT WORLD and all we get is backdrops of it while other characters are there??????? THEY EVEN BROUGHT ANSEM THE GODDAMN WISE BACK AND STILL WE DIDN’T GO THERE. OR EVEN MEET THE BASTARD AGAIN.

There was no purpose for almost all of the old Organization characters to even be in this game, other to be puppets for Xehanort and just pointless background characters.

“But Bri! Vexen helped give Roxas and Namine bodies!” SO. WHAT.

Roxas goddamn did it basically on his own. Despite it being A HUGE plot point that no one has any damn idea how to do this, even Vexen being a bit out of it, Roxas just fucking appears out of the blue having basically put himself together at this point cuz - reminder! SORA NEVER FUCKING WENT TO RADIANT GARDEN AND VEXEN NEVER SAW HIM ONCE. So how the SHIT did Roxas’s heart get inside a vessel???? Even if it was the vessel that they just left on the goddamn floor of the labyrinth and not the one at Radiant Garden THAT MAKES NO SENSE.

Nor their overly drawn out death scenes and the weird ass Grim Reaper heartless. Or that weird “Final World” other than a very obvious way to throw Cirithy int here at the last freaking second. Or that we had to watch the same scene twice only for some new bastard to show up [Lingering Will, and I will admit I was cheering that whole fight cuz hell yes go Terra but still why didn’t he show up in the first place?????? Why did Sora resetting the whole fucking world apparently trigger him coming?????]

AKGJAKJFHGADFG Like I said before I’m only writing this out to air my own frustrations on the game - if you love this game, fantastic, I’m very happy for you -it has plenty of good aspects to it too. I am not trying to change anyone’s opinions on the game.

BUT AUGH. I FEEL SO HORRIBLY CHEATED. I won’t even go into my rant about Kairi - there’s enough text posts out there about how horribly they wrote her. How pathetic.

Xion being there made 0 sense too. I’m happy AF she, Roxas, and Axel got their happy ending but annoyed as hell as to WHEN they got it - but frankly just about everything in the actual story happened during the last goddamn second. 

I get wanting to set up intruge for later games - but this was a) a main title game and b) supposed to be the end of Xehanort’s Saga/Sora’s. WHY. WASN’T. MORE. ANSWERED??????? In my opinion: aboslutely nothing from Union Cross should have been in this. Not a damn thing. That should all be in the past and NO ONE from the current games should be from the keyblade war *coughfuckingVentusLariumandElrenacough*. I’m excited and want to know about that war and everything from the past but I’m sick of them trying so hard to connect it to the current characters - just place is in the goddamn past! Or STOP AGING CHARACTERS - how the fuck is Xehanort and Eraqus so damn old but Ventus, Larxene, Marluxia and Xigbar are apparently 100+ years old but all look like they’re between 16-30 [minus Xig who looks like 50 cuz of the streaks in his hair]. Also that surprise that Xig is Luxu????? Exciting at first cuz I adore him as a character and am happy to see him continue to be a main player but WHAT?????? THE?????? FUCK???????? 0 sense. Makes 0. Goddamn. Sense.

And how ARE the foretellers still alive???? WHY the hell are they still alive??? And why didn’t they fight each other at the end - we watched them try and murder each other in the damn back video!

Again: yeah, ok this is all being set up for a later game to come out in the future. SO DO THAT IN A WAY THAT DOESN’T MAKE THIS ONE FEEL LIKE A THROW AWAY MIDDLE GAME!!! That’s what KH3 feels like - like Chain of Memories or Coded. It took me 35+ hours to get through all of the worlds [and find all of the treasure/lucky emblems] before it ACTUALLY started getting into the real plot of the story aka the real reason I was playing the goddamn game. In the end I finished the game at 43 hours. So. Less than 10 hours of this entire game was dedicated to the fucking plot and the rest was to reenacting Disney film scene by scene line by goddamn line with absolutely no purpose or meaning to anything. 

KH2 is infamous for confusing players cuz no one knew who Roxas was at the beginning but was a fucking masterpiece - it had so much thrown in and yea, a lot of questions left over, but we actually had enough to be satisfied. We had new characters and new villains and enough interactions between them all to get a great feeling about what’s going on. KH3 simply threw together last second answers with next to no explanation other than “that’s just how it is” in order to just move on and that PISSES ME OFF TO NO END. 

KH3 also just felt like a movie - there were so many cutscenes!!! AND DURING BATTLES. SERIOUSLY???? DURING THE FINAL FIGHTS BETWEEN ALL 13 DARKNESSES?????????? 

Also something that I hated and refuse to acknowledge because to me it feels 100% like a Rowling/Snape scenario: Fucking Isa/Saix.

Not once in any game do we get the feeling that Saix is redeemable. Not. fucking. once. [not including BBS in which he was an innocent]. I’m perfectly happy with villains getting them - I love that! BuT WHERE WAS IT???? He was a cruel and sadistic bastard in all the other games he’s in - especially KH2! [and a jerk in 358!] WHERE DID THIS NEW FRIENDSHIP WITH LEA/AXEL COME FROM???????? Give us the goddamn redemption - don’t just have him show up after NEARLY MURDERING THEM AGAIN and be all “and now they are friends. weee” that is bullshit. He deserves NOTHING right now.

Frankly the whole way all of the Organization members who haven’t been given backstories died annoyed me. Larxene’s goddamn secret [why fucking mention it if it’s not gonna be in the damn game???] Luxords weird ass trump card that was useless and we never even saw what it was. Marluxia suddenly “getting memories back” - bitch what memories??? And how almost happily they all went????? What????? Now they’re totally cool with Sora murdering them????

Also Demyx...just Demyx. I love him but he was pointless in this. He did 1 thing. And they didn’t even need him for that. Vexen switching sides also made little sense as again: he had only ever been set up as a villain before. Ok- they SORTA set up a redemption arc for him and Ansem but then promptly dropped it and we never saw either of them again. SAME WITH TWILIGHT TOWN. We went through all that trouble to get the virtual world set up and then???? Never???? Mentioned???? Again???? We didn’t even get to GO to it which is what I was 30000% expecting to happen.

You know what else: where the heck were Leon and the gang. They’ve been a vital part of many KH games - including both main titles. Why weren’t they in this. In fact were ANY Final Fantasy characters even in this??????? Siefer and his change were apparently locked in the sandlot that was completely un-accessible from anywhere in Twilight Town. Cloud didn’t show up and since the Collesium was gone [I was ok with that tho] neither did Sephiroth as a mini boss].

AND

NO

HALLOWEENTOWN

EITHER

Another world that has been in almost every game and is A MASSIVE fan favorite! You were able to come up with a story line for the second game, you could have easily figured one out for this one - hell you didn’t even need Oogie you could have had fucking Vanitas as the baddie here instead of at Monstropolis. 

This entire game felt like a cop-out to just get the story over and done with to move on to other stuff and that infuriates me. I’ve put too many hours and too much of my life into this series to get such a shitty ending to this particular part of the story. Yeah I get that no matter what it would end confusing - Nomura is king at that. I get it: this game is a perfect example as to why you need to know what your ending is to a story before you dive head first in. I don’t think [if I remember correctly] anyone thought the game would go past the first one so there was no reason to add more to it which is fine. Then it went crazy in traditional Nomura fashion lol. Which is fine! But at least have SOME kind of understandable plot!!! I’m still confused as to what exactly was going on - especially since so many characters kept changing their reasoning [YEAH IM LOOKING AT YOU XEHANORT. Not sure I liked his ending either. Yay he’s gone - but really? A happy ending with his best friend WHO HE MURDERED?]

Still don’t know what the hell Kingdom Hearts really is. Or why Sora and co didn’t just use it to try and fix the worlds. Also I feel like it must be hella annoyed at everyone like the Dragon from DBZA lololol like “WHY DO YOU PEOPLE KEEP CREATING ME JUST TO HAVE SOME SNOT NOSED 15 YEAR OLD SLAM THE DOOR IN MY FACE AGAIN???” kinda thing hahahahaha

I think I need to start a second post cuz this one’s getting weird.