#also featuring quinn and grace

[peachhcs]

being oblivious | the wonder years

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

the guys find out will knows samy & demand to meet her!

word count: 1.9k

i’m writing this as if they were 16 so that’s why the dialogue might be kind of silly, but anyways. i imagine them being very fan girly about meeting samy & also excited so here’s their origin story :) p.s. i’d love any prompts or ideas for little blurbs or imagines for them so if you have any send them my way :)

au masterlist

the boys agreed to a slow and lazy sunday with the first day of ntdp practice tomorrow and no one wanted to be too bent out of shape. drew and aram's voices were the only ones filling the living room as they argued over mario kart together while everyone else just tuned them out. will was splayed across one of the chairs mindlessly scrolling through his phone when someone nudged his leg.

the blonde's gaze found ryan's whose eyes were wide with disbelief. "what?" will mumbled as ryan flipped his phone so his friend could see what made him look so surprised.

his screen was a photo of will and samy hughes standing next to one another at the beach with wide smiles. not understanding ryan's shock, will raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"you know samy hughes?" ryan finally got out. his words caught the attention of the rest of the guys sitting around them. their heads spun in will and ryan's direction, waiting for a response.

"uh..yeah? you guys didn't know that?" will wondered, gazing at everyone else.

"no? how do you know her? do you know luke, jack, and quinn too?" ryan continued, excitement now in his voice.

"we're family friends. we grew up together. i grew up skating with her brothers," will had to laugh. he for sure thought it was common knowledge that their families were close and spent every summer together since they were babies.

"you're lying," ryan countered, disbelief on all of his features.

"no, i'm not. you see the picture. that's obviously me," the blonde chuckled while the rest of the guys started crowding around to see the other pictures ryan had dug up from mrs. smith's facebook account.

"why on earth would you keep this information from us?" aram muttered.

"i didn't know you guys didn't know. i dunno. it's not that big of a deal," will shrugged some, falling back into his chair.

"not a big deal? are you serious? you're family friends with some of the best hockey players in this country," ryan exasperated.

this was quite amusing to will. sure, he knew how popular the hughes family was, but it never really mattered to him and he never really thought about it until now. he's always just hung out with them every summer and that was so normal for will that he didn't realize it was a big deal to other people.

"wait, ann arbor is like..thirty minutes from here. do you think we'll ever run into samy?" drew exclaimed after the realization. a few of the other guy's faces lit up too and they all looked to will for an answer.

"uh..i don't know? maybe?" the boy shrugged. he didn't really know what samy did during the school year besides go to school and play soccer.

"wait. do you think we can meet her because you know her?" ryan's head popped back up.

"erm..i don't know. maybe?" will mumbled.

"what do you mean maybe?" gabe raised his eyebrow and suddenly will felt like some teacher with kids surrounding him waiting for answers like the guys were surrounding him with wide eyes at the idea of meeting samy hughes.

"i mean..we're close, but not that close. she hung around with grace a lot, so i don't really know how she'd feel about a bunch of guys wanting to hang out with her," will shrugged again.

"dude, you know samy hughes and grew up with her and you're telling us she doesn't wanna hang out with you?" aram deadpanned.

the blonde rolled his eyes and huffed out a sigh, “okay, i’ll ask, chill out.” the guys grinned, pumping their fists at the idea of meeting samy.

will immediately got a response after sending a brief text samy’s way. she was very much up to the idea and agreed to talk to her mom about letting them drive down to ann arbor for the day. after some more final arrangements, will, gabe, ryan, drew, and aram were all stuffed into a car together driving the 30 minutes to samy’s house.

the entire car was filled with excitement and chatter as they discussed samy and her brothers. will just kept to himself, still thinking how amusing all of this was and how much these guys were simping over samy.

they rolled into the driveway and will spun around in the driver’s seat, “just don’t be too weird, okay? don’t make her uncomfortable.”

“roger that, smitty,” ryan teased making everyone snicker but will. the five boys clamored out of the car and followed their friend up to the front porch, letting will do the honors of knocking.

some footsteps could be heard until the front door swung open and a very smiley samy stood before the five boys. all of them but will suddenly became shy under the girl’s bright smile. “will!” the girl exclaimed and immediately pulled the blonde into a tight hug.

“hey hughesy,” will chuckled as he squeezed her back. the two embracing missed the looks that came from will’s friends as they watched the interaction unfold.

“come on in. jeez, i can’t believe you’re gonna be in michigan for the next two years with me,” samy continued talking as she led everyone into the foyer.

“i bet you wish it was grace instead,” the blonde teased making samy roll her eyes. “whatever. it’s so cool to meet some of you guys. i guess you already know who i am,” the brunette chuckled as she turned her attention to will’s friends who still stood silently and awkwardly behind them.

“it’s nice to meet you. i’m ryan, that’s gabe, drew, and aram. we kind of begged smitty to meet you,” ryan spoke up, sticking his hand out. samy giggled as she happily shook ryan’s hand.

“wow, i’ve never had fans before. it’s always been my brothers,” the girl smiled.

“don’t let the ten year old girls hear you say that,” will mumbled. samy flushed before ignoring his comment.

“is that will?” a new voice came into the mix. the boys looked up and saw mrs. hughes walking towards them with a large smile on her face. the older woman tugged her arms around will’s frame, squeezing the boy tightly much like samy did.

“hey mama el, it’s good to see you again. thanks for letting us come over,” will chuckled.

“of course, anytime. you know you’re always welcome here now that you live 30 minutes away. i know i’ll be expecting a lot of visits from you. all of you, actually. our home is your home. my boys have all been through the dev program, so we know what it’s like,” ellen smiled towards the other guys.

“i’m sure that’s the only reason why they came over is to see quinn, jack, and luke’s baby photos,” samy giggled in a teasing tone. some of their faces flushed in response.

“come on, i’ll show you guys around,” the girl started further into the house leaving the boys no other option but to follow her.

after the extensive grand tour of the hughes family home, the six sat around the deck enjoying the remaining bits of summer weather. “what are you guys most excited about for the dev program?” samy wondered, trying to get to know everyone else some more.

“probably just getting to hang with these guys all the time. we’ve all gotten pretty close already,” aram chuckled as he reached over to tussle up drew’s hair. the other boy squirmed away, quickly fixing his hair.

“new people, new place, new coaches. lots of things to start learning,” ryan added in.

“is it weird being away from home? my brothers never had to go far since we already lived here when they all did it,” samy wondered and most of the guys nodded.

“for sure, but it’ll be a good experience, you know?” ryan said and samy nodded.

“well, at least you guys have one more friendly face around here. you’re all welcome to come to my soccer games this season too,” the girl quickly beamed.

“right, i forgot you switched sides,” drew said.

“if you guys ever play with her, you better hope she’s on your team,” will cut in making samy flush and the other guys chuckled.

“uh oh, she better than you at soccer?” gabe snickered, pushing at will’s shoulder.

“she’s better at me in everything,” will nodded.

“remember that time i scored 3 goals on you and luke on the ice? ugh, i still think about that day and how you two had to pay me each $10,” samy laughed.

“don’t remind me. you cheated anyway,” the blonde crossed his arms, eyeing the girl beside him.

“i did not! you guys were just mad a girl was better than you at your own sport,” samy quickly defended herself.

“whatever. we’ll get our redemption this year,” will huffed. the girl just rolled her eyes and the two once again missed the looks from everyone else.

the entire time they’d been there it was nonstop flirting from both samy and will. they expected the two to be close, but they didn’t expect the amount of teasing and very painfully obvious to everyone but them flirting. will’s cheeks reddened anytime samy poked fun at him and they saw the way samy’s gaze lingered on the blonde when he wasn’t paying attention anymore.

no one said anything until they were back in plymouth that night. all of them kept glancing at the blonde, wondering if he’d say anything, but nothing came from him as he stretched out on the couch and started scrolling through his phone.

ryan eyes bounced from gabe’s to aram’s and then to drew’s. will didn’t realize the silence until he noticed the guys lingering by the entryway occasionally glancing at him.

“what?” the boy laughed, confused by their behavior.

“you and samy are a lot closer than you led on,” ryan started causally as he leaned down on the couch.

“i guess. she’s like a sister,” the blonde chuckled, clearly not understanding the deeper implication trying to be made. the family zone. it definitely did not look like a sibling relationship to the guys.

“a sister? you flirt with her like she isn’t,” aram finally got to the point, a teasing, shit-eating grin on his lips as he took one of the chairs.

“flirt with her? what the hell are you on about?” will grew confused.

“dude, be so serious right now. there’s no way you don’t see it,” ryan laughed.

“see what?” now will was getting frustrated with the laughter coming from his friends.

“you guys were literally flirting with one another the entire time, it was disgusting. there’s no way you haven’t had feelings for her or some shit,” aram cut in again.

“for samy? no way. we’re friends. we always have been. i could never see her like that,” the idea even made will shudder. all he had ever seen her as was another sister to get annoyed at and bother him whenever he was doing something.

“mhm,” gabe mumbled.

“jesus, you guys are so annoying. i kind of regret bringing you along,” the blonde rolled his eyes, refocusing his attention on his phone.

“you say that, but i give it a year at the most and then you’ll realize what we’ve been saying was right all along,” ryan snickered with another annoying grin. the other guys nodded in agreement.

the only thing will could do was ignore their comments because none of them were true. him and samy were like brother and sister. there were no feelings nor would there ever be.

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is: MISSBERRYCAKE! They have six fics posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and five of them posted to the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by Missberrycake:

When the Sun is High (I'll Meet You in the Woods)

An Act of Grace

If I Loved You Less.

Blackbird

The Wonder

"I'm nominating missberrycake for a spotlight because I've loved a number of her works that I think have been underappreciated. Her pieces can be quite melancholy, but I think are really lovely and always leave me feeling content. She writes dialogue and characters in a very believable and layered way. I first came across her after her most popular fic, though I think she's done some fabulous ones since!" -- anonymous

Below the cut, Missberrycake answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Ooh, I have a long and storied past with shipping and, while I've been a Stranger Things fan since the start, I hadn't really picked up any shipping threads until S4. I think Steve and Eddie have a great mix of that jock and loser dynamic and enemies to lovers vibe that works really well - but also the ending to S4 was really ripe for some good angst storytelling. A little reminiscent of Stucky or Reddie.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Hm. I'm not sure. I am a sucker for time travel, but I don't think I've red too much of that. Probably slow-burn - I just love being frustrated!

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Well … according to my most used tags on Ao3, it's AUs and Time Travel, and Friends to Lovers shows up there as well, which all sound right. I know that I'm enjoying a book or show or whatever when I think, I need to write and AU of this!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

Ahh! That's too hard - I have a lot of bookmarks for fics I love! It’ probably a battle between Lovesick in Loch Nora by red0aktree and standing up the dead by heartofwinterfell. The first is so gah, you know? So romcon. The latter, I love the concept. Even though it's Max-led, Eddie is fabulously done in that fic, for sure.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Not really - ideas tend to swoop in when I'm not actively thinking about it. I have had a niggling little thought about a folklore esque cryptic came back wrong story, something creepy, you know. But we'll see!

What is your writing process like?

Overly organised! I'm a planner, so I need to know what the ending is before I start - I will generally map out acts and scenes and character arcs before I write the first sentence, which I think helps me immensely so that I don't have to do so many edits later.

Do you have any writing quirks?

I'm sure I must do, but I don't know about them. I guess - I'll tend to write all my dialogue in a scene first as a but of a template and then fill in the gaps.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Oh, when I've finished for sure. The only time I've ever abandoned a fix was when I posted as I was going on a schedule and it really killed the enjoyment of it for me - too much pressure on timing and the lack if ability to go back and fiddle with things.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I'll stick to my Steddie fics, so it would have to be An Act of Grace, for the Bigbang. I adore that fic, honestly, and worked really hard on it. I think it came out almost exactly how I wanted it and I was so excited when posting finally arrived!

How did you get the idea for An Act of Grace?

It was two things, really - firstly I had watched ‘Howards End’ with Joseph Quinn in and fully needed to see Eddie in the similar time period, I could not get it out of my head - the idea of a servant Eddie and aristocratic Steve came to me pretty quickly after that and was too perfect. Also, though, I wanted to do something with a distinctly English vibe to it (I am English!) - I sometimes feel a bit at sea writing USAmerican characters and settings, so something more familiar I though might work better for me.

When writing When the Sun is High (I’ll Meet You In the Woods), what was something you didn’t expect?

For it to be so popular, actually! Particularly as it was being posted. It's my most popular Steddie fic by a country mile and I'm really fond of it - trying to get a version of Steve and Eddie who had a history to work with canon was a fun challenge.

What inspired If I Loved You Less?

Well, its an Emma AU, so Emma! I was watching the most recent film adaption and NEEDED to write it, but I also loved Clueless growing up, so putting a modern twist on it made the most sense to me. The placement of characters in that story was very fun!

What was your favorite part to write from Blackbird?

The tree decorating scene, for sure. I love that part of Christmas myself, so I had a great time adding in little bits and pieces from people I know and traditions they have.

How do/did you feel writing When the Sun is High (I’ll Meet You In the Woods)?

Gosh, it feels like it was so long ago! I was just excited to get something out into fandom, I think, and to become part of the community.

What was the most difficult part of writing The Wonder?

Ooh, probably knowing that it wasn't going to do very well? 😄 I completely love that little fic, so to kind of keep it contained to just Eddie and Wayne - even mostly Wayne - was tricky. Sometimes less is more!

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

Hm. In the epilogue of An Act of Grace, Claudia gives a little speech about Steddie. I think I like that a lot for the way it kind of sums everything up so nicely. A bit of a snapshot of them as characters.

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Nope! I've taken a bit of a break from writing at the moment, buy I've been at it for 13 years, so I'm sure I'll be back at it in the future.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Just to say thank you to whoever submitted my name! It's made my month, probably!

Thank you to our author, Missberrycake, and our anonymous nominator! See more of Missberrycake's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub]

SO's Bookclub : The Viscount Who Loved Me

Title: The Viscount Who Loved Me Author: Julia Quinn Genre: Romance

Goodreads Summary :

Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry—he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield—the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate is the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams...

Review:

It should not have taken me a month to read this, I've just been super distracted...

The second book of the Bridgerton series focuses on Anthony and Kate's romance, and I found it to be a lot of fun, actually. While this is only the second book I've read because I am reading them in order, I can already see why this ends up at or near the top of the lists.

If you've seen the show -- there's a lot that the show pulled from the book, more so than I had expected. It definitely hinges on that enemies to lovers-ish trope. (And while not a favorite of mine, personally, I think it's handled relatively well here.) Kate is a great protagonist -- she's smart and clever and holds her ground really well, which makes her someone to root for. Anthony is... fine. Look, I probably will never like these male heroes because they usually descend too far into anger and bad boy with a heart of gold figures out love when a level headed woman straightens him out gets a little old after a while. Plus, I do appreciate Jonathan Bailey bringing some great charm to the show that book Anthony lacks a bit.

But I think there's a lot of fun to this book, too. There's a real competitive spirit that's enjoyable to read. The pall mall, family stuff is great and a clear stand out in the book, which I can see why they adapted it. I also think the book does tension relatively well, and the push and pull between Kate and Anthony works!

I do still think there are times the book drags (I felt this in the previous book as well) where Quinn sometimes lets scenes go on for a little too long, or she gets repetitive within a scene. But as someone who isn't an outright fan of romance novels, and has read quite a few bad ones, Quinn is at least a solidly good writer, and it's a fairly quick and easy read.

The only plot thing that I took any issue with is the fact that two thirds of the way through, Anthony and Kate are forced to marry due to circumstances of the time, and I wish they could have not been forced into it? Part of it is the schtick of Anthony having to really fall in love with his wife, and I get that. But that kind of thing just isn't my cup of tea. All things considering, I really don't have a whole lot to complain about with this one.

One drawback coming from someone who's watched the show first, is the fact that these books are so focused on the couple, we don't get as much of a sense of the greater world. All the rest of the Bridgertons play a relatively small role (though it's nice to see Daphne and Simon back). Eloise shows up at the end for the first time as a little spy, which is cute. Colin continues to be a delight, though he's less in this one. I'm surprised Benedict was hardly here, and there's really no mention of the younger ones or even Violet. I will say, one of my favorite things, though, is that Kate and Penelope got to have an entire sequence where they strike up a friendship, and I did love that!

I was also kind of surprised that, while they were featured a lot in the first half of the book, Edwina and Mary don't play as big of roles in this book as I thought they would. They're still very important to Kate and her character, though, and their family unit is really nicely on display throughout.

Also, we end on another tease of Lady Whistledown, and I am so ready for it. But, alas, we have to get through Benedict's book first. So, let's do it!

Overall, I think if you liked the show, you probably would like this as well. It's fun and uses the tropes it sets up relatively well. It's still a regency based romance novel written in the early 2000s, but I think it is better than a lot of the same kinds of stuff written around and at the same time.

Rating : 4 stars

[ghostfaceaddams]

It's the Great Pumpkin, Santana Lopez

Part One

summary: Santana loves Quinn, but she also loves Halloween.

warnings: cussing and alludes to smut.

word count: 2,688

Santana loved Halloween. The cool decorations, the scary movies (where she got to hold Quinn when she got scared), haunted houses that made her blood rush like crack, corn mazes, pumpkin pie, the not too cold but not too hot weather, getting to scare little kids with Puck, the parties. She was really in her element at this time of the year. It was all so perfect. She was infatuated with October.

Quinn, on the other hand, despises Halloween. The decorations were too much work, the scary movies were called that for a reason, haunted houses were worse than the movies (she didn't have to worry about the money because Santana paid for her, the only time she didn't fight her girlfriend on money because if she was going to face Quinn to something she didn't want to do then she could pay for it), corn mazes took too long and were confusing, the pumpkin pie-well, she actually couldn't complain there, she got cold easily (but she couldn't complain there either because most of the time Santana gave her her own jacket or sweatshirt), Santana and Puck were cruel and childish (it was this friendship that reminded Quinn she was dating a child), and don't even get her started on parties. Having to find the perfect costume (that usually matched Santana) and the heavy ass cauldron Puck and Santana got out for punch. It was ridiculous. She hated October.

Currently, Santana was giving her another reason to despise the month.

They were in the middle of a passionate make out session, the one's where you can't stop touching each other and you're breathing heavily. They were consumed with each other. Or at least Quinn was. Suddenly Santana was slowing down the kissing to pecks. She grinned down at her excruciatingly frustrated girlfriend.

"Close your eyes." Santana pecked Quinn on the lips and hopped off the bed with grace.

Quinn huffed but did as she was told. She stretched her legs out in front of her and placed her hands on her hips. A few seconds later she felt Santana hovering over her and couldn't help but grin. Feeling Santana so close was one of her favorite things, the intimacy felt like it was on a spiritual level for her.

"Open them."

Quinn wished she hadn't.

She slapped Santana hard on the arm. A frown immediately overtook the Latina's features. Even though Quinn couldn't see her, she knew the brunette had her eyebrows furrowed in that way that creased her forehead and was gaping at her.

"Ow! What the hell Quinn?" Her voice was muffled behind the depths of the mask.

"Seriously Santana? We were in the middle of making out and you just had to put that ridiculous thing on!"

Santana had slipped on a Michael Myers mask (the one from the first Rob Zombie remake because she had all of them [and each mask from the movies and show of Scream], insert Quinn's eye roll). She sighed and slipped the mask off, tossing it down the bed where it toppled off and onto a pile of clothes on the floor. She wrapped her arms around Quinn's waist pulling her close.

"You're right babe, totally not romantic. I apologize." She kissed Quinn on the corner of her mouth to prove her point.

Quinn relaxed in her lovers embrace and cupped her strong forearms. She sucked her lips into a pout and gazed up at soft brown eyes that were the axis of her entire world.

"Don't worry, I won't make you go downstairs and get butchered by my brother so he can come upstairs and kill me." Santana grinned.

Quinn slapped her again but Santana only laughed this time. 'Asshole.' Quinn thought. She couldn't believe this was her girlfriend sometimes, the woman she planned on spending the rest of her life because yes, they were that cliche love where they grew up together and only ever dated each other.

"Don't talk about me dying Rob Zombie style!" Quinn exclaimed in her high pitch voice.

Santana's eyes widened adorably making it hard to be mad at her. Seriously, when she got all soft and excited like a little kid it melted Quinn's damn heart.

"Baby, you just made a horror movie reference!" She shook Quinn slightly.

Quinn rolled her eyes and looked away from the bright, warm, intoxicating eyes. She didn't want to give in to those dimples like she oh so often did.

"Yeah well you started it." Quinn muttered.

Santana jerked Quinn's body down earning a squeal from the blonde. Quinn's hands immediately went up and tangled into luscious brunette locks (it was just reflex at this point, like wax on wax off).

"I'm gonna fuck you so good Fabray."

Quinn chose to ignore her girlfriend's poor grammar and focus on said girlfriend mauling on her neck and shoulder. Santana's tongue dipped out ceremoniously, Quinn's hips bucking up on their own accord. The blonde sealed her eyes shut and tried to calm down the excitement shooting down her stomach and between her legs.

"You may want to lock your door so Angel doesn't walk in."

That happened more than Quinn cared to admit. And every fucking time it happened was right when Quinn was on the cusp of orgasming. Later that night she'd have to get herself off, alone in her bedroom. (More often than not she'd end up calling Santana.)

"He's gone." Santana murmured against Quinn's earlobe, her teeth nicking Quinn's ear in a devilish smile.

Quinn slapped Santana on the arm but it didn't hold any power to it this time. She was deteriorating at a rapid pace.

"Ass." Quinn was already breathless.

Santana smirked and unzipped Quinn's Cheerios skirt. 'Maybe making horror references isn't so bad after all.' Quinn thought in a euphoric bliss as Santana made her come the second consecutive time.

*****

"We have to go shopping." Santana told Quinn as they put their clothes back on.

Quinn's uniform was on the floor on her side of the bed (just thinking that gave Quinn goosebumps, she couldn't believe they had designated sides). Santana was picking through her room to find some clean clothes to slip on. It was still something they argued about and Quinn expected Santana to keep their place clean (or at least picked up) in the future.

"What for?" Quinn's husky voice was making an appearance and Santana couldn't help but shiver as she zipped up Quinn's Cheerios top.

"Costumes, duh." Santana said with a crinkle of her nose. What else would she be talking about? Did Quinn not have a calendar?

Quinn sighed and turned to look at her half dressed girlfriend. She was in a black push up bra and underwear with sweatpants (the ones that hung low on her hips that she knew drove Quinn to quite literal madness, Quinn hates it when she wears them for family movie night because all Quinn does is bite her lip or chew her fingernails). Her abs were on full display and her hair was down and slightly fucked.

Perfectly gorgeous.

She scooted closer, Santana following suit like it was second nature, making Quinn smile. The blonde draped her arms around the Latina's neck and Santana rested her hands on Quinn's hips. They worked so well together in every aspect of life; in Cheerios, in New Directions, in their relationship. Whatever Quinn did, Santana followed. Wherever Santana went, Quinn followed.

"It has to be perfect if we want to win." Santana reprimanded the blonde.

"We won last year Tana." Quinn whined.

Not that Quinn was mad or annoyed by winning, she loved winning just as much as Santana (one of the ways they sometimes clashed). But her girlfriend put so much on winning any Halloween related competition, it was exhausting.

"And we're going to win again this year!"

Quinn pursed her lips. It was adorable seeing Santana so confident but she felt like a bitch because she didn't care as much about winning this costume competition like Santana did.

Usually Santana was all knowing in the subject of Lucy Quinn Fabray and noticed things no one else did. But when she was in the Halloween zone, she was in the zone. She was looking off to the side, her eyes huge and animated.

"It has to be something genius, something that no one else has thought of or can do. We have to blow them away, which won't be hard to do considering it's us." Santana tilted her head to the side and smiled proudly.

Quinn smiled and shook her head at how excited her sweet girlfriend was. She hoped with every fiber of her fucking being that nothing bad ever happened to Santana to take away her happiness. It had been a close call with her abuela and there were still bad days, but Santana still smiled and got excited about Halloween. She knew it probably wasn't healthy, but half of her happiness depended on Santana's happiness.

"What? Were you, were you thinking about not going?"

Quinn frowned realizing where this was going. She didn't want to break Santana's heart, the girl got so excited around Halloween time and it was in her "element" as Santana called it. The girl was like Jimmy Fallon in Fever Pitch. She didn't want to upset her best friend or ruin this for her.

"Santana." She started halfheartedly, dropping her arms and pulling back.

"No! Quinn, you have to go."

"Oh, I have to?" Quinn arched a sexy eyebrow challengingly.

"You're my girlfriend, and in relationships you support each other. Like how I go to your silly book club meetings with Berry," Quinn smiled at that. "Or when you got kicked off the Cheerios but still went to watch me. Or how I let you live with me before my parents found out about us and Mercedes let you live with her. Or all the times I've made you bacon or went to the store to get you pregnancy cravings and never snapped at you for your mood swings. Or how I helped you back on the Cheerios this year. Or when I sprained my ankle freshmen year and you carried me around like my knight in shining armor." Santana really could go on for hours.

Santana smiled crookedly causing Quinn to roll her eyes. Her girlfriend knew when she was right and it was annoying as fuck, but she loved it.

"I get your point. 50/50." She smiled.

Santana beamed and nodded her head. Quinn gazed into Santana's hopeful teddy eyes and felt her heart ache in the most wholesome way. She looked down as she she crawled onto Santana's lap. She rested her arms on Santana's shoulders while Santana slid her hands to the small of Quinn's back where Quinn's top had ridden up. (Perfect unison.)

"Alright baby, since I know how excited you get and your parties are always epic,"

"The fucking best." Santana confirmed.

"I'll go." Quinn finished as if her girlfriend hadn't even spoken, smiling her warm, charming smile.

Santana squealed making Quinn's smile widen so much it hurt her cheekbones and mouth. She flung Quinn onto her back and started kissing her all over, giggles erupting from Quinn like the sighs of an angel.

"I love you Lucy Quinn Fabray." Santana threw her head back and shouted.

Quinn laughed and shook her head, completely content. Her girlfriend sure was something else. She was so happy she got lucky and was able to see this soft, closed off side of Santana. Her heart of gold and manners weren't out of the ordinary if you knew her, but sometimes she got so excited and did things like this that even surprised Quinn. Surprise or not, she loved it. And Santana.

"I love you too crazy woman. Now let me up before my mom has to send out a search party for me."

Santana huffed but hopped off of Quinn and the bed. Quinn slid her feet into her tennis shoes and stood up, entering Santana's awaiting arms. Santana had slipped on one of Quinn's many t-shirts she had left at Santana's. Quinn smiled at the shirt and slid her hand into Santana's.

They walked downstairs hand in hand, Santana occasionally rubbing their hands against her thigh as if to make sure Quinn was really there. They walked past the kitchen and to the front door where they were stopped by one Maribel Lopez.

"Quinn! I didn't know you were here."

Quinn's eyes widened in alarm as arms were thrown around her neck. She wrapped her arms around her surrogate's mothers back and looked at Santana worriedly. Santana shrugged nonchalantly. Quinn hoped for Santana's sake that Maribel had just gotten home and didn't hear the animalistic noises from the two horny teens.

"Yeah, Santana and I were going over costume ideas for school next week."

She assumed they'd get to that since her and Santana did that every school year. She must have been right because Santana burst out in a smile that made the whole house glow.

"Awe that's so sweet. You two were always so cute at Halloween time. Remember that time when you went as Cinderella and Tana went as-" Maribel started.

"Okay mami, we don't need to reminisce on every costume pair Quinn and I went as."

Quinn grinned at the blush on her girlfriends face. Santana was known for her "razorblades hidden in my hair" attitude and obsession with Halloween, but she still got embarrassed and shy whenever someone brought up Quinn and Santana as kids. Quinn adored how hard Santana worked to shut down the stories.

Maribel gave her daughter a look then turned towards her second daughter. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"I would love to Mami but my mom's expecting me."

Since they had been in each other's lives since elementary school, Quinn was suppose to call Maribel and David by their first names. Quinn felt awkward doing that, and so there was no confusion, she got to call them Mami and Papi. And Santana called Judy Mamma F.

Every time Santana heard Quinn call her parents that she smiled like she couldn't do anything else in the world.

"Alright, but I expect you both over tomorrow night for dinner." Maribel pointed a warning finger at the blonde.

"Okay." Quinn laughed lightly.

Maribel brought Quinn into another hug (this one more relaxing for Quinn) and kissed her on the side of her head as she pulled away.

"Be safe."

"I will." Quinn smiled reassuringly.

Maribel walked away, having learned that the two lovebirds liked their alone time to say goodbye. Santana walked Quinn the three steps to the door and spun her around to kiss her softly. They were that cheesy couple that did "goodbye kisses" but if anyone asked Santana denied it, and if anyone pointed it out they got to fear the Latina's wrath.

"I love you, you know that right?"

The intensity and worry in Santana's voice was suffocating. It took Quinn away, to some secluded, unknown place that held all the wonders and beauty of the world that couldn't be described by juvenile words or actions.

"Of course." Quinn pecked Santana on the lips, hoping it said everything she couldn't. "I'll text you when I get home about shopping."

Santana beamed and brought Quinn closer against her. "How did I get so lucky?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and smiled. "You got help with math and I got a friend."

Santana crinkled her nose as she smiled and sweetly kissed Quinn again, her tongue dipping in first. They stayed pressed together for a moment before Quinn reluctantly pulled away, every atom in her body screaming to stay connected to Santana, like she was what kept Quinn's heart beating.

As Quinn walked away Santana playfully slapped her ass. She turned to shoot her girlfriend a glare and skipped to her car. While she started her car, she thought back to how her and Santana had met and was thankful that the Latina excelled at everything but mathematics.

Which was funny, because now Santana was better than Quinn at math.

[triviareads]

Hello, sorry to bother, can you recommend historicals where the hero or heroine play an instrument? Or even don't play but like music

Always Be My Duchess by Amalie Howard: Montcroix a cellist and there's an EXCELLENT scene where he's hard after watching Nève dance and he's trying to play his cello to exercise his frustrations but then she shows up and he proceeds to play her like a cello, vibrato and all.

Theory of Earls by Kathleen Ayers: Maggie plays the piano so stirringly that apparently it borders on wanton for her Victorian audience. The hero Tony is also a gifted pianist and this book features piano fingering, piano oral, and a ruination... on a piano.

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake by Sarah MacLean: Ralston is secretly a great pianist and he's playing very angstily when Callie sneaks into his house to request that he give her her first kiss.

Patience by Lisa Valdez: Both Matthew and Patience are cellists, I think they duet at some point, and there's a this super hot scene where she's in his lap with her legs spread and they're both playing his cello which leads to more.

Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas: Helen is an accomplished pianist and plays for Rhys in the prior book while he's recovering from his injuries and he's *entranced*. In Marrying Winterborne, Rhys also tries to bribe her into sleeping with him by offering to buy her a new piano. It does work. Kind of.

An Island Princess Starts A Scandal by Adriana Herrera: I mean, they must enjoy the opera enough for Cora to go down on Manuela in their private box during a performance.

In Which Winnie Halifax is Utterly Ruined by Alexandra Vasti: Ditto for Spencer and Winnie ^^

And if you wanna read about endearingly shitty musicians, there's always the Smythe-Smith Quartet series by Julia Quinn.

EDIT:

M is for Marquess by Grace Callaway: Thea and Tremont first meet after she plays the piano and he's super stirred by it and he later admits he wanted to take her on said piano.

[cabeswaterdrowned]

2023 character wrapped: 9 characters you loved in 2023! Was tagged by @pinkhysteria

From left to right this is Spencer Hastings (Pretty Little Liars), Tessa Gray (The Infernal Devices), Julian Blackthorn (The Dark Artifices), Katherine Pierce (The Vampire Diaries), Karou (Daughter of Smoke and Bone), Daisy Jones (Daisy Jones & The Six book + show), Natalie Scattorcio (Yellowjackets), Andrew Minyard (All for the Game), Theta Knight (The Diviners).

Nat is the only one of these chars I actually met this year, however the others were from things I reread or rewatched and/or had new content and/or consumed a new content thing I hadn’t before and then Spencer is a carry over from last year when I met her + I do rewatch pll episodes or sections of the show p regularly even if I haven’t rewatched chronologically yet.

Obviously I have many other honorable mentions firsr here are some of the other characters I did in fact meet this year who I loved: Lottie Taissa Shauna and Misty (Yellowjackets), book! Eleanor Vance (The Haunting of Hill House novel), Courtney Dilaurentis (Ali’s Pretty Little Lies the pll books prequel), Kate Wallis (Cruel Summer), Catherine Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights), Gabby Bishop (The Fever), Atl (Certain Dark Things).

Other chars I loved previously I consumed a new thing featuring: Grace Blackthorn (The Last Hours), book! Aria Montgomery (Pll books I read the last couple this year), Nico Di Angelo (Riordanverse) even though in this case consuming the new thing was what dampened the hyper fixation I had with him due to my rereads last year (I thought about including him in the 9 because I did talk about him a lot in first half of the year but I’m just too depressed about this :/). Also I figured riordanverse will feature a lot in my next years wrapped for obvious reasons.

Other chars I have loved in the past and loved this year: Julia Wicker + Alice Quinn (The Magicians), Buffy Summers + Buffyverse ladies generally (Btvs) , the other Liars including Mona and Ali (Pretty Little Liars), Ling Chan and Evie O’Neill (The Diviners), Emma Carstairs (The Dark Artifices), TVD girl trio and Rebekah (The Vampire Diaries), Nico Di Angelo and Piper McLean (Riordanverse), Kevin Day (All for the Game).

Tagging: @zutaralesbian @serenity-the-firefly @sergeantpixie @lavenderhazed @madwomanwithawarehouse @exycourtbesties whoever else would want to do it if you want to!

[bookclub4m]

Episode 195 - Pop(ular) Culture Non-Fiction

This episode we’re discussing the topic of non-fiction Pop Culture books! We talk about cult classics, the Disney channel, the futch scale, and being Eldritch Millennials. 

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Join our Discord Server!

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Street Unicorns: Extravagant Fashion Photography from NYC Streets and Beyond by Robbie Quinn

Poisoned Chalice: The Extremely Long and Incredibly Complex Story of Marvelman by Pádraig Ó Méalóid

Part 0: Introduction

I Am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future by Michael Molcher

And Don't F&%k It Up: An Oral History of RuPaul's Drag Race by María Elena Fernández

The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace Perry

Note: Anna didn’t have the Disney Channel because she lived in the woods in Alaska. It also did not exist in Canada until 2015.

The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson

That's So '90s!: A Pop-Cultural Guide to the Raddest Decade by Jo Stewart and Lisa Gillard

The Bizarre World of Fake Video Games by Super Eyepatch Wolf

Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter by Katharine Coldiron

Other Media We Mentioned

Attack of the New B Movies: Essays on SYFY Original Films edited by Justin Wigard and Mitch Ploskonka

Introducing Postmodernism: A Graphic Guide by Chris Garratt and  Richard Appignanesi

FRUiTS by Shoichi Aoki

Wikipedia

Miracleman: The Silver Age by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham

RuPaul's Drag Race (Wikipedia)

The Pit Stop S16 E01

Glee (TV series) (Wikipedia)

Euphoria (American TV series) (Wikipedia)

Abbott Elementary (Wikipedia)

The Simpsons is Good Again by Super Eyepatch Wolf

Taskmaster: Series 17, Episode 1

Plan 9 from Outer Space (Wikipedia)

Every Frame a Painting

Links, Articles, and Things

Follow our Twitch channel!

Jam and Matthew will be streaming Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp on Saturday, June 8th at 3pm PT/6pm ET. 

Jam made an image to promote it.

Jam’s Top Ten Video Essays About Media They Haven’t Experienced

Mood board (Wikipedia)

Blockbuster (Wikipedia)

Walkman (Wikipedia)

Milk caps/Pogs (Wikipedia)

Tamagotchi (Wikipedia)

Webring (Wikipedia)

Which Pokémon are the most goth?

20 Pop Culture Non-Fiction Books by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

Indigenous Celebrity: Entanglements with Fame edited by Jennifer Adese & Robert Alexander Innes

The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men by Manuel Betancourt

Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture by Zeba Blay

The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me by Keah Brown

She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson

Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip-Hop History by Jeff Chang & Dave Cook

Producing Sovereignty: The Rise of Indigenous Media in Canada by Karrmen Crey

Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris

Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones

K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television by Grace Jung

Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart by Jen Sookfong Lee

Indiginerds: Tales from Modern Indigenous Life edited by Alina Pete

Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse by Maya Phillips

The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit by Julian Randall

Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong by Katie Gee Salisbury

First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game by Nadirah Simmons

Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith

Making a Scene by Constance Wu

Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, & Philip Wang

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group or Discord Server, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, June 18th when it’s time once again for One Book One Podcast as we each pitch a book we think we should read and you (the listeners) get to vote!

Then on Tuesday, July 2nd we’ll be discussing the genre of Law/Legal Non-Fiction!

[anonymousredactedconfessions]

The person hating on Porter so viscerally and then comparing the lack of hate he receives and the wildfire of hate for Alexis, as if we weren’t supposed to hate on the literal abuser… bad look.

I think it also goes to show you haven’t been paying attention to the hierarchy that’s been set up for us, nor the character you’re talking about. Vincent isn’t violent until violence is called for (saving Lovely from literal torture and to-be-death). He wouldn’t have ‘torn some of Porter’s limbs’ because he’s not sadistic and malevolent. He is someone who is being preened to become a figurehead of a well known vampire family. If he shows himself to be too hot headed, too quick to anger? Not only would he be completely contrasting his character, he would be showing the entire vampire world that he isn’t anywhere near ready to lead. He would be taken less seriously than he already is.

Now, an argument could be made that it’s not what he wants. Vincent doesn’t want to be a King. He doesn’t want to hold all that responsibility. But he also has been shown to be very loyal to William. Very eager to make William happy, and proud. He isn’t subservient but he’s less likely to question William’s decisions. He wants to stay in William’s good graces.

So being needlessly violent goes against Vincent’s morals, ethics, and goals. Sure, he doesn’t get along with Porter, but a punch-on is the MOST you’re going to get from Porter and Vincent, considering their conflict and how (frankly) mild it is. Because it is, their conflict and their fighting is nothing, NOTHING as compared to other conflicts we’ve seen (Alexis-Sam, Quinn-Darlin, etc.) which all feature themes of abuse, and breaking from these cycles (though my thoughts on Alexis-Sam has been made QUITE clear). Vincent is the bigger person in these situations because he is literally, THE bigger person. The one that is being set up to take over. That’s why the summit fell to him. Political warfare doesn’t allow much room for blatant violent and unchecked emotions.

Also, saying Porter is poorly accented is just so weird and definitely not as much of a slight on Porter as it is Erik himself. Porter may have a stranger combination accent than most (he is 100% a mix of European and Australian, from experience) but he’s not poorly accented. In fact, the enunciation on some of the words is done so well in Australian, in a way that is hard to come by. The dialect of European is one that doesn’t contradict the Australian counterpart but rather compliments it. If it was a shit accent, I’d say otherwise. But it isn’t.

I am happy to go more into detail because I love dissecting characters and the building of them, but let’s wrap this one up by saying - yes. You can be annoyed at Porter, and you can think he deserves to die or whatever, your opinions are your own. But to think that’s something Vincent should do is character assassination at it’s finest, and would only be a terribly confusing plot line for Vincent to enact and follow.

-😈❤️‍🔥

.

[lyinginahammock]

DC - The Reigning King of TV Superhero Animation

Let’s get this out of the way - on September 7, 1992, DC won the battle for TV superhero animation for all time with the premiere of the Batman: The Animated Series season 1, episode 14, “Heart of Ice”. The heartbreaking tale of Mr. Freeze’s origin, it won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program. Honestly, if nothing DC every put on broadcast TV ever again was any good, this episode would still be talked about as one of the greatest pieces of animated TV ever. 

But instead of resting on their laurels, DC decided to keep kicking ass. “Beware The Grey Ghost,” “Almost Got ‘Im”, “Trial”, “Mad Love”, “Growing Pains”, “Over the Edge”, “Old Wounds” - all amazing episodes of animated television from Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures. 

Then, in 1999, DC decided to go for (and pull off) a Batman hat trick with the debut of Batman Beyond, a series originally designed to sell toys that the writers decided to make kick ass. But still, it eventually had to come to an end, and Marvel breathed a sigh of relief. 

Until November 7, 2001, when DC dropkicked them with the premiere of The Justice League, which transitioned into Justice League Unlimited with grace and style and was similarly amazing, but appeared to end that run of successes. 

At the same time, DC released the series that sealed their eternal victory and proved them the king of superhero animations - Teen Titans. An anime-infused take on the superhero team of the same name, it featured DC’s trademark complicated storytelling and ran for five years, followed by a pretty good movie. And the theme song fucking slapped, both in English and Japanese.

Also running concurrently was The Batman, another interesting take on the caped crusader which reimagined the origins and appearances of his rogues gallery and had some absolutely heartbreaking twists and turns.

After that came Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I’ll die on this fucking hill - the show is better than people online give it credit for. It focused on the campy elements of comic books of yore, but also gave us the amazing episode “Chill of the Night!”, an examination of what it means to be the Batman.

Then came Young Justice, a wholly original take on a number of DC heroes and villains and marked the TV premier of fucking Superboy. The first season is, in my mind, damn near perfect.

Of course, you have stuff like Teen Titans Go! but that isn't conducive to my point, so I'm ignoring it.

Finally, we get to the present day with programming like The Harley Quinn Show and My Adventures With Superman, the former of which has gained a strong fan base and the latter of which shows amazing potential.

So, why does DC's animation devision have so many absolute fucking bangers under its belt while Marvel doesn't have nearly the same track record? Well, I have a theory.

Marvel hit it big with the MCU and thus have a sort of cannon and, as such, the characterization of their characters has to be pretty consistent across mediums, even animation. DC, however, doesn't have anything like that and can reimagine their characters any way they want. That and their animation department has been kicking ass so long they've proven that, left to their own devices, they'll pump out quality material.

So, yeah.

[afantasycourt]

independent multi muse rp account featuring a variety of muses from acotar, bridgerton, the witcher, marvel, and more. written by kel, 21+, she/her, uk based.

open starter tag

currently reading: fourth wing

rules & mules are under read more

MUSES.

bridgerton.

hyacinth bridgerton: florence hunt, danielle rose russell

sophie beckett: alexandra dowling

francesca bridgerton: ruby stokes, hannah dodd.

lucy abernathy: adelaide kane.

kate sharma: simone ashley.

daphne bridgerton: phoebe dynevor

edwina sharma: charithra chandran

penelope featherington: nicola coughlan

anthony bridgerton: johnathan bailey

benedict bridgerton: luke thompson

colin bridgerton: luke newton

violet ledger (bridgerton) - ruth gemmell, connie jenkins

lady danbury - arsema thomas

queen charlotte - india ria amarteifio

a court of thorns & roses.

nesta acheron - phoebe tonkin

elain archeron - lily james

feyre archeron - freya allan

rhysand - undecided

throne of glass.

yrene towers - zendaya

elide lochan - danielle campbell

aelin galathynius - skylar samuels

dorian havilliard - matthew daddario

rowan whitehorn - henry cavill

the witcher.

jaskier - joey batey

yennefer of vengerberg - anya chalotra

cirilla of cintra - freya allan

shadow & bone.

alina starkov - jessie li mei

stranger things.

chrissy cunningham - grace van dien

eddie munson - joseph quinn

nancy wheeler - natalia dyer

once upon a time.

emma swan - jennifer morrison

robyn mills - tiera skovbye

alice jones - rose reynolds

snow white - ginnifer goodwin

drizella/ivy tremaine - adelaide kane

the musketeers.

queen anne - alexandra dowling

constance - tamla kari

ninon de larroque - annabelle wallis

aramis - santiago cabrera

merlin/arthurian legends.

lancelot du lac - santiago cabrera

elaine of corbenic - undecided

lady morgana - katie mcgrath

guinevere - angel coulby

the chronicles of narnia.

lucy pevensie - georgie henley

susan pevensie - anna popplewell

wednesday.

wednesday addams - jenna ortega

enid sinclair - emma myers

downton abbey.

sybil crawley - jessica brown findlay

daisy mason - sophie mcshera

other.

hayley marshall - phoebe tonkin ( originals )

hope mikaelson - danielle rose russell ( legacies )

rebecca mikaelson - claire holt ( originals )

freya mikaelson - riley voelkel ( originals )

amy pond - karen gillan ( doctor who )

yasmin khan - mandip gill ( doctor who )

morgan stark - katherine langford (marvel)

bucky barnes - sebastian stan (marvel).

peggy carter - hayley atwell (marvel)

rebecca barnes - tbd (marvel)

RULES

RULE ONE/OOC INFORMATION Hi, my name is Kel, I'm over 21+ and use the pronouns she/her. Time zone is GMT.For now, my blog will run on a queue as I'm busy with some real life stuff. But sometimes, I may come online for an hour or two, depending on my mood. Blog is selective, private and mutual only. Also OC, multi fandom and multi-muse friendly too.

 RULE TWO/THREADS AND REPLIES  Replies can take a while to reply to, but I am not ignoring anyone. Please message if I haven't replied within a month.The best way to begin threads are through sending ask memes. I will also post open starters and maybe the occasional starter call. Not really a plotting person either; prefer to go with the flow.

RULE THREE/TRIGGERS I don't really have any triggers. That being said I will tag other people's triggers the best I can, and if I don't feel free to send a message and let me know. Don't send anon hate either. We all make mistakes and can't remember everything. Regarding shipping, I'm open to anything really. That being said, don't force any ships on any of my characters. I'll just unfollow/block if it continues to happen.

RULE FOUR/ETIQUETTE I do not tolerate any forms of hate. Racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia and any other forms of hate are not tolerated on this blog and I don't want to see any of it on the dash. It's an immediate hard block if I see anything. Respect each other, it's not that hard.

RULE FIVE/SHIPPING. Regarding shipping, I'm open to anything really. That being said, don't force any ships on any of my characters. I'll just unfollow/block if it continues to happen. I mostly ship for chemistry, but don't mind discussing ships beforehand if anyone wants to try anything out.

RULE SIX/SMUT AND MATURE THEMES Smut will not be featured on this blog. All other mature themes will be tagged accordingly and I'm pretty much open to anything except rape, incest etc.

CREDIT All gifs, icons etc on this blog do not belong to me. Credit goes to their rightful owners.

[kismetconstellations]

21 33 48 for the fanfiction ask, please? ^w^ thankyou!

Of course!

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Oh gosh, where do I start?

Possibilist, the author of some of my absolute favorite Faberry (Quinn Fabray/Rachel Berry from Glee) fanfiction, is one of my biggest inspirations as far as prose and utilization of language goes.

Francesca Lia Block has a similarly sumptuous command of the English language. The sheer imagery crafted by her choice of words is decadent, hypnotic, and awe-inspiring.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Margery Hamilton's works (The Little Prince and The Velveteen Rabbit, respectively) possess a beautiful wisdom and melancholy sort of magic that grip my heart in a vise every time I revisit them.

As far as Barlyle (Phineas Taylor Barnum/Phillip Carlye, my OTP of OTPs) stories go, there's--

SilverLynxx, for her enviable lexicon.

BuddysImpala, for her sheer dedication and the number of creative and vastly different fics she was able to turn out.

Schizanthus, for running an amazing blog while also being a human thesaurus and dictionary, and the best proofreader a writer could ask for.

The_Girl_Who_Got_Tired_of_Waiting; a truly wonderful friend and imaginative storyteller with an incredible grasp on these characters whom I fervently wish had the time to write more.

And, I can't forget jackpip and Vudonn and gay_jeans and wolfzaa and Kibbers and so many others who made the Barlyle fanfiction landscape the magical place it was during its heyday.

There's also hollycomb with her cozy, down to earth style of fic-writing. Under the Table and Dreaming is far and away my favorite in her catalogue.

And, before this answer completely gets away from me, as it's already begun to, I would be remiss if I didn't include DutchXFan for the indescribable charm and carved-irreparably-into-my-soul candid rawness of her work Once Upon a Time, and The_Blonde who, despite writing Real Person Shipping fics, possesses the uncanny ability to draw me into every universe they create and leave me utterly spellbound and earnestly devouring every word. just once to be lifted strong and i'm half-doomed and you're semi-sweet are two sublime examples that I highly, highly, highly recommend giving a read if you can surpass the ick factor of them featuring a cast of real people as the central characters. The world-building, alone, is absolutely exemplary.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

From BuddysImpala on my massive Phillip Has Major Depressive Disorder fic, just a dead man walking:

"Me? Finishing this fic at 3:40 in the morning, against my better judgement?

It’s more likely than you think!

This fic is heartbreaking and wonderful all at once. There are some legitimately published works that don’t invoke as much emotion from me as this fic those, and I love absolutely every single word. Bless you for choosing to grace us with it two years ago — it’s writers like you in the fandom that have solidified Barlyle as my OTP to end all other OTPs. I am not going anywhere.

Bless you. ❤️"

Oh, that's just my heart-- swelling so much it's got caught in my throat.

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

Hurt/Comfort. I'm an absolute sucker for the sense of catharsis that comes from characters looking after one another and slowly but surely healing in the wake of trauma.

---

Thank you very much for asking.

[rondo-of-blog]

Cool Comics I Read - 11/28/2022 Edition

Today on DC Universe Infinite I read DC Comics Presents #41, Catwoman (Vol. 2) #54, and Harley Quinn (Vol. 1) #11!

DC Comics Presents #41 (written by Martin Pasko) is part of an old comic series that's essentially just "Superman teams up with XYZ!" (and other letters of the alphabet, but I'd be here all day listing them all), and in this issue he teams up with... The Joker?!

The cover is absolutely irresistible, with Joker gleefully plummeting to his doom as Superman is faced with the dilemma of saving The Joker or saving Perry White (Superman's Friend Jimmy Olsen's Boss). I skimmed through some of it, but highlights include how very very Queer Joker is in all of it. :)

Catwoman (Vol. 2) #54 is what I believe to be the first issue in that volume that was written by one Devin Grayson. I haven't read a whole lot of her work, buuut I've heard nothing but good things about her from my beloved Cluster. If this issue is anything to go by, that reputation of hers is well-earned!

It's got this adorable story of Selina stealing a gem and then becoming very bored of it, only to quickly turn her ire from the gem to the ungrateful museum that didn't do enough to protect it! So, she puts it back... and steals it again... then puts it back... steals it again... and so on, leading to massive ramping up of the security and (as we later learn) the insurance policy for it.

Nothing really happens in the comic besides Selina bamboozling greedy museum dudes, but Devin makes it such a delight. I'm definitely considering reading further issues she wrote for this volume of Catwoman! (By the way, if you like Catwoman, I recommend the current run that Tini Howard's doing!)

Speaking of series I'm considering reading more of... that brings us to Harley Quinn (Vol. 1) #11, written by Karl Kesel! I cannot say enough good about this issue, every page I read of it was almost constant bliss. I'm not familiar with the name Karl Kesel, but for some reason I wasn't expecting much based on it! Oh how wrong I was!

What drew me to it was the hijinks-laden cover, featuring Harley Quinn on a motorbike with Robin (Tim Drake) and Batgirl (Cassandra Wayne), riding off a rooftop with Nightwing just barely holding on! What followed truly did not disappoint.

Despite a kind of trite beginning featuring a retread of the scene from The Killing Joke where Barbara is shot by The Joker, the comic basically immediately recovers with some of the most charming banter I've ever read between Babs and Dick. Dick in particular is in monumentally good form, I was reeling from the charm he had on the entire time.

Harley is an absolute chaos gremlin the entire issue, and it suits her! Speaking of things that suit her, that brings us to Barbara's old Batgirl costume! Harley's wearing it, this issue! "No one else was," she memorably states in the comic.

Tim and Cassie are also here, with Tim being pretty cute and Cassie being a darling I loved to see on every page she graced with her presence. There's this really fun visual note where Cassie's making a heart with her hands while watching Dick & Babs argue.

I'm very curious to read more - especially considering this comic predates the Arkham series and the New 52 so Harley's in her original get-up! I never get tired of seeing it, and hey! If this issue's anything to go off of, apparently I've been missing on a lot of fun Harley comics! I'm definitely considering reading more of it, but that'll have to wait another day.

It's 11:38 PM (CST) as I write this, and I'm all comic'd out for the day. Finding these hidden gems on DC Universe Infinite was a treat, and really served to justify my membership yet again. Looking forward to when I get back to y'all, whenever I feel like sharing about what I've read!

[ao3feed-harleyquinn]

Missing Person Case: From Mamas Boy to MIA

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/iKsLA4E by Icey5105 “What are you doing?” They pointed the gun at Harley from the sidewalk, “You can’t-“ “Making a call.” Harley pulled a lever and a bat signal lit up the sky. The officer’s jaw dropped, “Wha-“ “Go inside, officer.” Harley advised, “And tell Gordon to get up here: I have an offer.” The officer did as told. A pair of boots thudded behind her just as the door slammed open. Gordon gasped. “Quinn?” Gordon asked, bewildered, “Wha-“ “An offer?” Batman growled, “You pulled my emergency signal for-“ “My son is missing.” Harley’s serious tone made them both silence, “Find him alive and I’ll turn myself in. If you don’t, I’ll blow the entire city up - including myself. Understood?” — A Sequel to Arkham’s Fallen Angel. Read that first. This is part 2 of a series and won’t make sense otherwise. Also, full disclosure, this probably won’t be my best work. I’m… ah, dealing with medical issues. Sorry. Words: 1179, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English Series: Part 2 of To Arkham to Angel to Allen: A PJO x DCU Crossover Featuring Nico Di Angelo Fandoms: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, DCU, Young Justice (Cartoon), Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, Harley Quinn (Cartoon 2019), Young Justice - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Characters: Nico di Angelo, Pamela Isley, Poison Ivy, Harleen Quinzel, Harley Quinn, Clayface, Nanaue Sha'ark, King Shark, Edgar Cizko, Dr. Psycho, Rogues Gallery (Batman), Justice League (DCU), Cadmus (DCU) Relationships: Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Nico Di Angelo & Pamela Isley, Nico di Angelo & Harleen Quinzel, Nico Di Angelo & Harleen Quinzel & Pamela Isley, Nico di Angelo & Justice League (DCU) Additional Tags: Team as Family, Project Cadmus, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Villains, Nico di Angelo Needs a Hug, Nico di Angelo Needs Therapy, Harley’s Crew, part two of a series, Almost everyone in this needs therapy, and some of them will get therapy!, Arkham Asylum, Insane Nico Di Angelo, Insanity, Morally Ambiguous Character, Nico di Angelo-centric, Villains with Morals, Anti-Hero, Anti-Villain, Everyone Needs A Hug, Murderer Nico Di Angelo, Child Soldiers, Violence, Dead Thalia Grace, Dead Jason Grace, Mad Scientists, Human Experimentation, Experimentation, Unethical Experimentation, Kidnapping, Injured children, Dead child, Child Death, Spoiler: No One Dies in this Fic, But Bodies Of characters are found, dead bodies read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/iKsLA4E

[ippnoida]

JLF New York announces speaker list

JLF New York, produced by Teamwork Arts, pioneering Indian curatorial company, returns for its 8th edition on 10 and 11 September 2024, at one of the world’s most culturally alive cities. The festival, which embodies the energy of its mother ship, the annual Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), will bring back its signature camaraderie, books and writers, and ideas and conversations that make it truly special. Held at prestigious venues including the Asia Society, the National Arts Club, the Center for Fiction, and Sundaram Tagore Gallery, JLF New York promises a rich tapestry of debates and dialog, featuring a roster of speakers.

JLF New York 2024’s speakers include André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name, Homo Irrealis and Find Me, whose new memoir My Roman Year will be released in October 2024. Joining him is Devika Rege, celebrated for her debut novel Quarterlife, recognized as a landmark in contemporary Indian literature. 

The festival will also have Navdeep Suri, distinguished diplomat and translator, who has brought to life his grandfather Nanak Singh's searing ballad on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Khooni Vaisakhi, alongside Harpreet, well-known singer and composer, known for his innovative repertoire. Renowned filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, celebrated for cinematic works like Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Bandit Queen, will also grace the festival, as will Josephine Quinn, professor of Ancient History at Oxford University, and author of the book How the World Made the West.

The line-up continues with Shashi Tharoor, prominent author and politician, and Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee dedicated to health and education advocacy in the Middle East. Tarun Tahiliani, famous fashion designer known for his fusion of Indian textiles with contemporary styles, will also be featured, bringing his unique artistic vision to the festival.

Nermeen Shaikh, co-host and senior producer at Democracy Now! will also be a part of this year’s program. Kanishk Tharoor, author and senior editor at Foreign Affairs, and Sanjoy K Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts, will contribute to sessions with their expertise. The festival will also feature Sree Sreenivasan, a digital innovation leader and president of the South Asian Journalists’ Association, Aroon Purie, eminent Indian media industry leader, and Mohit Satyanand, entrepreneur and investor. 

For more information, please visit:

JLF New York: https://jlflitfest.org/new-york

[namemozo]

Unique 4 Syllable Boy Names: In the realm of baby names, the allure of elegance and a melodious rhythm often draws parents toward choices with four syllables. These names, with their rhythmic cadence, not only sound harmonious but also carry a certain grace and sophistication. From timeless classics to trendy modern picks, four-syllable boy names provide a vast and diverse array of options for parents seeking a combination of uniqueness and linguistic beauty. This exploration into the world of 4-syllable names unveils a collection that transcends cultures, blending tradition with a contemporary twist, offering a symphony of sounds for the newest addition to the family. Also Read: Best Middle Names for Quinn  50+ 4 Syllable Boy Names Here is a table featured with 4 syllable boy names with meaning & origin: NameMeaningOriginAlexanderDefender of the peopleGreekSebastianVenerable, reveredLatinBenjaminSon of the right handHebrewJeremiahGod will upliftHebrewNathanielGod has givenHebrewDemetriusFollower of Demeter (goddess)GreekMaximilianGreatestLatinLeonardoBrave lionItalianEzekielGod strengthensHebrewCristianoFollower of ChristSpanishEmmanuelGod is with usHebrewEvanderGood manGreekMontgomeryMountain belonging to manNorman FrenchThaddeusCourageous heartAramaicValentineStrong, healthyLatinRaphaelGod has healedHebrewTheodoreGod's giftGreekZachariahRemembered by GodHebrewMalachaiMessenger of GodHebrewGiovanniGod is graciousItalianXavierBright, splendidArabicEliaki... Read more at: 465+ Unique 4 Syllable Boy Names - Top Elegant Picks