#also i'm writing out of order which almost never happens with me. this is shocking.

[venusiancarbondioxide]

good news: i was able to finish two whole points on my nine-point outline

bad news: each bullet point took approximately 2k words. at this rate, i might have an 18k word fic.

[boozenboze]

Hello! I'm unsure if requests are open, if not please do forgive me! I've never done this before- Do reject this if you desire! >.< I wanted to know if you can possibly do- Task 141 x Male! Ghostface Reader, where he's almost identical to the original GF but with a twist, very snarky with his funny remarks despite seemingly being cruel and cold. He's an actual sweetheart when he's comfy around them? Mysterious as they have never seen a photo or proper description of him, as it's either n/a or classified- You can base him off the Danny Johnson Ghostface

An idea for this could be that he's a target from Laswell after various high-status politics suddenly disappear and she orders them to detain him and perhaps even acquire him as a potential ally only for the boys to get to the location and see him absolutely wreaking havoc, almost like a saw movie with how gorey and aggressive he can be? Then he just turns around and just makes a nonchalant comment on how cute they are for being so late? He's partially playful and monotonous with his raspy voice which turns out not to be a device but his actual one- Doing small pranks on the boys as they chase him around the establishment, clearly having the time of his life? Then when they manage to corner him, he's just passive- and he somehow manages to slip away with the promise of 'playing' with them again.

Hyped up on Spooky boys and I love your writing style!!! This has also inspired me to make a Ghostface COD Oc- LEMME STOP LOL -GhostyFaceAnon 👻

Whats Your FavoriteScary Movie~?

Tf!141 x Ghostface!Male reader

Females, She/Her and She/They DNI

A good horror story is made from true events.Luckily thats how M/n’s stories went and thats what made them terrifying.All of his stories would make others uncomfortable,unsettled and to top it off it would captivate the eyes of others.Though there was one part of the story M/n enjoyed the most

The climax

“So your telling me that these politics just disappeared with no trace?”Price asked Laswell,peering over her shoulder.

“Yeah, theres only a little footage of each disappearance. I was editing it and I was able to catch something.”Laswell said as she slowed the video down and pausing it when the figure in black showed up.They were now able to see the Ghostface mask the person wore.

“What the hell?”Soap muttered out, trying to comprehend what he was looking at.The male was sneaking up on one of the many politics that had gone missing before striking a pole across the mans neck.The man fell too the ground and that was the last thing they saw before the footage cut out.

“Do you know who could be doing this.”Gaz asked as he eyed the file that Laswell had been holding.

“I’ve tried but.”Laswell placed the file on the table before opening it.“everything on his file is either scratched out or theres just nothing there.”Laswell said as Priced pulled the file towards him.The only information that was given was the mans code name.Ironically it was S.C.R.E.A.M in all caps.

“This guy is the new Ghostface now or what?”Ghost asked as Soap chuckled.

“Well looks like you two are made for one another, both of ya are Ghosts.”Soap joked as Ghost glared at him in response.Gaz looked at Laswell for a moment before speaking up.

“Where are they hiding these people exactly?”Gaz asked as Laswell showed them a picture of a building.It looked old but it was oddly clean despite the moss that was forming on the front of it.

“I had someone get this for me since all the disappearances happened around this area.Its a crowded area but it has a high rate for people going missing.”Laswell said as Price hummed in response.

The building had moss all over it, and the screams of people could be heard from inside.One had passed out from shock and the others were whimpering or trying to get out of the chair that they were tied to.The room was covered in blood, there were weapons all over the walls, it was just a mess.

“Y-you know we can get pass all of this-w-we won’t tell a soul if you let us go!”One of them yelled out, only to be met with cold metal hitting their throat.

“What makes you think I’d believe you?”A disorientated voice spoke out while running a knife across his neck.The man was shaking now as he felt the tip of the knife be pulled away by the perpetrator.The man in the mask sighed while stomping his feet on the ground like a toddler.

“I’m so bored~!Oh!I have an idea lets play a trivia game!”The male said in excitement as some began whimpering in their chairs, shaking uncontrollably.The masked man made his way to the wall and scanned all of the weapons then smiled once his mic came into view.

“I have a question, whats your favorite scary movie?”SCREAM asked as he put the mic in one of their faces.

“T-the Babadook.”The woman muttered as the male who questioned her grunted in disapproval.

“The Babadook, seriously?Honestly what are peoples taste in horror nowadays”SCREAM said as he moved on to another.

“What about you, whats your favorite scary movie?”The question moved to the man tied next to the woman.

“Holloween you bastard.”The man spat out but was met with a whack to the head.

“No profanity jackass, what about you good sir.Whats your favorite scary movie?”He asked once more with a monotone voice, now eying the man who was still passed out.

“Friday the 13.”He kept his answer short, afraid of what would happen if he said more.The male began to chuckle under his mask as he approached the male who was passed out, still tied to his chair.He lifted the man up and dragrd his chair beneath a dim light that was hanging from the ceiling.

“Time for a trivia~!Answer 3 questions, answer one wrong your little friend dies.”SCREAM said threatening the others with enthusiasm.The man was about to explain the rules until the passed out man woke up and began screaming.The e/c eyes behind the mask looked unamused at the mans cries.

“Please don’t do th-.”The woman was cut off.

“Catagorey:Holloween, who was the killer in the Holloween movie.Come on now one of you have to answer!”SCREAM taunted as the other man blurted out.

“Micheal Myers!It was Micheal you sick fucker!”The man yelled as SCREAM gave him a round of applause.

“Good job....question 2 different Category: Friday the 13th.Who was the original killer of Friday the 13th.”

“Jason Voorhees!”The woman cried out as SCREAM sighed in disappointment.

“Darn, I’m afraid your incorrect.”SCREAM said in faux remorse.The womans eyes widened.

“N-no that is correct I’ve watched that movie to many times to know-“

“If you did watch it as much as you claim you’d know that the original killer is Mrs.Voorhees.”He explained.“Jason didn’t arrive until the sequel.”He continued as the woman shook her head in disbelief.

“Ah...I’m sorry but, seems like your buddy has to go!”SCREAM turned off the light that was hanging over the politician, and the sound of something ripping open could be heard as well as well as a scream.The light was turned back on and Scream was no where to be seen, although the only thing there was the politician, stomach ripped open eith his intestines spilling over his lap.SCREAM moved the males chair away from the light before grabbing the woman who was tied up.She began screaming at him, telling him that “he didn’t have to do this”, he didn’t care it was his job anyway.

“Come on now, the games have to continue!”The disorientated voice said as a smile crept upon his features.

The taskforce made it to the building, weapons loaded and all.The fact that this was just one guy they were dealing with, and they needed all of them together to detain him.

“Just how dangerous is this guy?”Gaz asked himself aloud as Ghost glanced at him.He himself was wondering what they were dealing with.This man kidnapped 4 politicians on his own without being caught, and weeks after their disappearances they’ve just now have gotten a lead on where they were.They began to walk inside but were immediately stopped by the piercing screams that echoed throughout the building.

“Ah shit, I think we may be to late.”Soap said as they approached the room that the scream came from.Price eyed them all as they all nodded in approval, ready to see what was going on behind the door.Price kicked the door down and held his gun up, but almost dropped it once he saw the gorey situation.The others came into the room and Gaz had to cover his noise, the metallic scent of blood and chemicals was prominent and would’ve given anyone a headache.All of the politics were dead, well, besides two.

SCREAM was sawing off the politicans legs off as the other one screamed at him through a gag.He was choking on his own blood due to being stabbed in the stomach multiple times, and was suffocating behind the gag.

SCREAM whipped his head around due too the click of a gun.

“Oh well you all came late how cute~.SCREAM said teasingly as he swiftly pulled out a gun and shot the man whose leg was being chopped off in the head. “Welp gotta go handsomes~!”He continued as he made his way past them all.

The politicians body slumped, already alerting them that he was dead.The team was stunned so the s/c skinned male made a run for it, and Ghost was the first one to snap out of the state of shock.

“He’s running down stairs!”Ghost yelled out as he ran after him.The male being chased slipped while running down the stairs and groaned when he hit the floor.

“Agh-Fucking SHIT!”The male yelled in pain as his ankle throbbed.He suspected he may have twisted his ankle but got up when the other male wearing a Ghost mask footsteps got louder.He stood up and limped away but his adrenaline was high so he started to run again but was immediately stopped by Price who turned the corner.Knowing that he couldn’t turn around he threw one of his knives at Price who dodges it, but it gave him a chance to run pass him,in which he did.He kept running but what do you know, Soap tackled him and they rolled across the concrete floor.M/n got up just as quick as Soap did.The Scot pointed a gun at the mask wearing male who crossed his arms.The others showed up shortly after finding their teammate.

“Hehe...hello?”The man said awkwardly as he backed away from the men who now had him cornered.His eyes scanned the area for an escape which none was there, besides the oh so conveniently placed window that had been opened for some odd reason.Ghost eyed the man up and down, taking note of the dark wear the male was wearing.His outfit had a lot of chains, some of them in which he tied the politicians with.

“Drop your weapons and come with us, don’t make things harder than what it is.”Price said calmly as SCREAM shifted in place.He had been inching closer the the open window and was stopped by Gaz who had noticed the males advances.

“Where are you trying to go hm?”The brown skinned male asked as SCREAM eyed him through his mask.Now that Gaz was upclose, he could see the soft e/c eyes that hidden behind the mask.His heart would’ve melted if he hadn’t known this was the guy that killed those politics.Important politics at that.

“Well I will go where I want if you’d get your pretty ass out my face.”SCREAM said jokingly as Gaz glared at him, blush beginning yo cover his cheeks at the word ‘pretty’.

“How about y’all let me go, and we go our separate ways eh?I mean we don’t want anyone getting hurt do we?”SCREAM asked threateningly as Ghost grunted.

“Can’t we just take him already.”Ghost asked gruffly as Soap looked up at him.

“If he co-operates this could be over with.”Soap said while looking back at the man in black.SCREAM eyed Gaz for a moment before pulling the males hat down to where he couldn’t see.

He then ran towards Price who was ready to pin him down but was startled when the male rolled between his separted legs and grabbing his hat.Once the hat was in his grasp he wrapped it around the man neck before running off.Soap and Ghost started running after him once more and SCREAM made the dumb decision to throw a bar of soap at Soap.The male groaned at the sudden pain on his forehead and stopped to rub his forehead that was now beginning to bruise.

Ghost was hot on SCREAMS tail as they were almost at the exit of the building.Ghost reached out to grab the males mask but stopped in his tracks when the male pulled a bookshelf down, blocking his way.

“Hey!”A monotone voice called out to the lieutenant who glared at him through his mask.He began to step over the bookshelf until the voice was heard again.

“Your shoes untied.”SCREAM said and Ghost looked down to see that his shoe was untied,but was quickly met with a kick to the balls.Out of pure reaction he retracted his movements to bend down and almost curl up.

“Sorry buddy.....I HOPE TO PLAY WITH YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS AGAIN SOON!”SCREAM yelled out as he left the building where the team was now left in bewilderment.The guy that had tortured and killed those politics thought this whole thing was some sort of game.Well luckily for him

THEY WERE GOING TO BE PLAYING ANOTHER TYPE OF GAME NEXT TIME😏

Pt.2

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 4/2/2024

in which i try to clean two different boxes with varying success

new people: hello! the tuesdaypost is a weekly roundup of stuff i've been listening, reading, watching, playing, and making. it is NOT a recommendation series, although i sometimes dabble in critique. when im firing on all cylinders i ask "what is the core concept of this? does it succeed in what i think it's trying to do and what it says it's doing?is it well-made but i dislike it/beautiful but not for me? why? what parts Really Work?"

if you are into purity culture, yelling at other people about the problematic media they consume, or are under 18 i am going to have very little patience for you.

listening

now that i live in houston i am legally obliged to loop the new beyonce album 24/7. there is absolutely truly nobody fucking doing it like her. every song is a multimedia art piece. goddamn do i miss the album as a tool to convey a specific concept/listening order/flow. sometimes (chappell roan most recently comes to mind, although it does feel unfair to compare anyone to beyonce) every individual song is pretty good but the listening experience if you sit down and listen all the way through the album is unpleasant and choppy. not so here. NEVER here.

my favorite like Dance Number is YA YA (it samples nancy sinatra's boots! and the beach boys' good vibrations! wildly different tones despite coming out a year apart!)

the one that goes on four different character/tone playlists is BODYGUARD.

great early roundup of influences, samples, and collaborators. delighted to see five fingers for marseilles listed, a rocky but underrated south african neo-western free on tubi rn for americans

-

reading

also very texas-relevant with the recent pornhub lawsuits! pornhub and sex tech (among other things) have been samantha cole's beat for almost ten years. i trust her to report sensitively and not for like. shock clicks

this site has a free paywall (sign up with your email for a link to the full article) so bots have a harder time scraping articles: this is a journalist-founded site with only the four founders running it and writing articles. while annoying i do think this is a reasonable measure

The platform still has problems, but after years of critical reporting and a litany of legal and reputational consequences, Pornhub is now more heavily moderated than any other porn platform, and most major social media platforms, for that matter. A growing list of age verification laws has put Pornhub in a position where it is compelled to block access to its site in seven states and counting. In theory, these laws are designed to prevent children from being able to access pornography online. In reality, what is going to happen is that children are going to end up on pornographic sites that don’t care what the law says, and where some of the most harmful content that exists online is actively promoted to them.

she's also got a new limited series podcast with CBC about the rise and fall of pornhub, which was fascinating and kept me company during an extremely early morning drive

-

watching

i'm lukewarm about this one but i spend a lot of time getting there, much like this movie

ive been watching a lot of frankly dogshit thrillers, which has made me wonder: what's the deal with supervillans? where did they come from? and thence arrived at the prototypical film Dr Mabuse the Gambler (1922, dir. Lang). the four and a half hour cut on Kanopy is two normal-length movies superglued together, which makes sense as a streaming product but it is sort of a terrifying runtime and took me three days to get through.

sometimes, as we know, i get a real bee in my bonnet about visiting the early versions of things. dr mabuse is the blueprint for every james bond and mission impossible villain, or really any shadowy supervillain with power over [INDUSTRY] or [THE MARKET]. it is a four and a half hour long cat and mouse game through lavish, eccentric sets between mabuse and prosecutor wenk. it has some trouble sustaining itself bc it is four and a half hours long but does deliver on the cat and mouse aspects. this letterboxed review has interesting things to say about the political climate of 1922 germany and how lang subverts the formula of the pulp serial.

really the film opens with mabuse yelling at his cocaine-addicted assistant, but the film properly gets going with mabuse's henchmen stealing a trade agreement (nothing really carbon dates a movie more than a missing trade agreement. vanishingly few post-early-30s movies have missing trade agreements as plot points) and then he crashes the stock market. for fun and profit.

however. i think every time you see an evil man who is a banker or stockbroker or generally uses money as power you have to interrogate whether it's antisemitic. the answer here is "maybe" but i'm not sure if intent matters when contemporary nazi critics were eager to hold mabuse up as "this is the typical jewish criminal". (sorry about the link directly to wikipedia, it's been touch finding online sources for this section). mabuse is not specifically jewish, but there are certainly elements of stereotype. i am still not good at being presented with "this movie has a shadowy behind the scenes figure manipulating the government and all the money ever" and going "hey wait a minute".

after that tremendous glaring caveat, for which i read more contemporary reviews and reviews in general than i ever read for movies in these posts, is it good? eh. a contemporary VARIETY review remarked (and i largely agree)

The direction of Fritz Lang has moments – but Lang somewhat negates his good technical effects by twenty forty-word captions of a ludicrous unconciseness.

the night scenes are particularly well done, and imo are better than many modern night scenes--other contemporary reviews remarked

In this film the techniques of the film camera (Carl Hoffmann’s brilliant photography) are brought to perfection. The problem of how to film lit-up streets at night has been solved for the first time. It is unbelievably impressive to see the glaring lights of speeding cars flash through the night or the rapid passing of an elevated train of the initially blurred, then gradually focussed glimpse through a pair of opera glasses on to the variety stage, the nuances of light and shade—these things alone prove the value of film documentary.

look at this shit! filmed from within the cars! in 1922!!!

this film asks you to believe hypnotism is real and really effective, so i don't think it's that big of a leap when it asks you to believe in ghosts. i don't understand that quibble from contemporary viewers. there are several on screen suicides with like. specific methods. which is not currently regarded as good filmmaking practice. im curious to know what contemporary audiences thought but couldn't immediately turn anything up, and wading through masters’ theses on cinematic suicide is a little beyond my current mental health.

if i were a more content-minded woman this would turn into a clickbait video essay about the antisemitic origins of every supervillan. however i am unqualified and untalented at video editing and i'm sure there are forty theses on this already. this movie is a hard sell to anyone jewish or employed. it is also a stunning example of cutting-edge film technology and part of the genesis of the modern supervillan. Fritz Lang films tend to fall in the category of “movies i am happy to see once and feel no need to revisit”.

-

playing

playing what is effectively the same game three times back to back (breath of the wild, tears of the kingdom, genshin impact) has sort of burned me out on open world games with a focus on battle skill progression and stumbling across little puzzles in the overworld. i have to get itch.io up and running on this pc and find the most linear jankiest possible one-sitting indie thing. or several of them. i might try the solo ttrpg Gentleman Bandit i seem to have acquired in one of the giant charity bundles

brief breath of the wild update bc i don't want to pull screenshots off my switch: i have gotten to the boss fight for the gerudo and goron regions, have not completed them bc my focus in this game is NOT hearts, and am in the middle of the zora temple. despite the quality of life improvements and new regions in totk i think i prefer botw: progression is a bit easier, there are fewer mmo-style hub quests and repeatable quests. things like the stable photos are cute but very repetitive, so are the sign bracing puzzles, and the sky crystal quests for sky shrines feel VERY samey. also dislike how the CLEAR OUT: [REGION] quests with the monster suppression squads reset at the blood moon.

anyway! to genshin! there was an exceptionally fun little event with a surprisingly involved management sim tacked onto the game??? you make and sell potions fulfilling different requirements, and can eventually stock travelling merchants all over the continent. the actual act of making the potions was this block-filling 1010! style thing (screenshot from polygon)

the new region, a port town and tea-growing area called Chenyu Vale, is maybe the prettiest one in the game so far? it's the one that feels the most picturesque and Designed, like this is one huge mansion garden studded with follies. they also added background chatter and noise in the cities and towns, which really startled me and makes them feels much more lived in! this is a fun trick to avoid putting in a thousand NPCs and making everyone's framerate crash. the less stuff in your game, the less shit can go wrong.

also pulled for and got chiyori, a geo-aligned seamstress (and sometime spy???) swordswoman who has what i can only call domme voice

-

making

ok now we'll talk about boxes. i was rearranging my kitchen, as unemployed women are known to do, and noticed this recipe box i picked up back in mass was disgusting. the finish is starting to fail but it was genuinely grody and last summer i packed my kitchen in a blind panic inside an hour and did not have time to address it. i have never seen a recipe box at an estate sale before or since and it made me desperately sad.

it was full of a lot of stuff.

i went at it with a somewhat inadvisable combination of things: wood soap didn't budge it, so i dampened a paper towel in vinegar and wiped it down in the vain hope it would do something. the thing that worked, and would be inadvisable for anything veneered or less densely textured, was baking soda paste and the scrubby side of a sponge. it still smells Very musty even after 48h of loose baking soda inside with several changes, but that might be partly the recipe cards' fault. i would like to refinish this at some point but i don't have polyurethane on hand and the fun little project budget is empty until further notice/i get a job.

the hinge did rust a bit despite my best efforts but that has since been lightly steel wooled and oiled. a well loved object! it's possible the lady who died just fucking sucked and that's why literally her entire estate including many other things families usually keep was on sale, but i would like to think perhaps she simply had no other family? a well loved/used object even if all the recipes are for semi-horrifying fifties new england recipes.

the other box, pre-acids but post-washing: this topp trading card box with seven episode one packets of cards was intact with the original seal. i have verified it was not worth much more than the $5 i paid for it with the trading card obsessed man in my best friend's husband's friendgroup. i bought this three months ago but the man was unavailable to open it until uhhh last week. some sort of liquid got inside it at some point and it was super corroded. i was going to store embroidery floss in here but even with all my powers (barkeepers friend. brasso.) i cannot completely remove the corrosion. it's not corroded Through but it looks bad and feels rough. so it goes. it'll probably hold the tiedown straps in my car bc that plastic bucket is rapidly failing

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks to @orion-lacroix for the tag! I was gonna get to it earlier but... life happened and I forgor.

Eto bleh. Anyways.

(Also I'm writing this while incredibly tired, so I'm sorry if my English isn't up to scratch)

Writeblr Questionaire

How long have you had your Writeblr/writing Tumblr?

I've had this Tumblr account since the beginning of lockdown (March/April 2020 by us) and I created it because of a PM Seymour video. I made like one post that has now been banished to the void, then forgot I even had a Tumblr account until about ¿June/July? last year when a friend of mine brought up the idea of using Tumblr to share her writing, and I decided to do the same.

What's one thing you'd like your mutuals to know about you?

Due to reasons that include but are not limited to me barely having time anymore, I have a tendency to sometimes take a while to reply to people on here.

Don't worry if it takes like a week for me to respond, I'm just like that sometimes.

What's your favourite thing about the Writeblr community?

The amount of people who are infinitely more skilled than me that I can learn and take inspiration from.

Which WIPs or Writing Projects have you been Noodling about recently?

I've had a few emotional scenes for the Tempest Prince brewing in my head (plus I have like an hour with nothing to do after every exam I write, so daydreaming it is)

I'm also somewhat noodling for a small game I'm working on as a side project, but that's less story-related and more technical shenanigans at this point.

Do you remember what inspired them/got you started?

Children of the Stars I don't remember exactly what inspired the story aspect, but I know what the setting evolved from. Basically, I was a huge Mass Effect fan in primary school. Actually, I was a fan of Scifi overall but Mass Effect was peak gaming for me back then. Then somewhere along the line I played Bulletstorm and Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, and this half daydream of an Alien Empire locked in an eternal war for survival began to evolve in the back of my head before turning into the first recognisable precursor to Children of the Stars somewhere in late 2021.

Echoes of Shadows was inspired by the game Tails Noir, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and a Call of Cthulhu campaign run by a friend of mine way back when.

The Tempest Prince was originally conceived of because my first playthrough of Bloodborne coincided with my first reading of the Percy Jackson books.

Is there anything you'd like to see more of on your dash?

Comics and short stories. Look, I don't have time to read a full length book until, like, November again, so a little episodic escape is a nice way to detox from the crap we need to deal with for these exams.

Name any characters you've created: side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who've never been written, the first original abomination you pulled from your rear... whatever you like!

Artemis is a Siberian ARX-11 mechanized shock-drop trooper who was deployed in a conflict so violent that future historians in-universe consider it less of a war than a outright cataclysm.

Quite literally, like the humble sea-turtle: she was born feet first into a hell she never asked for.

She's also one of the incredibly few Androids who not only survived the Fall of Earth, but after her inevitable 'death' by running out of fuel sources, she managed to remain intact for another six hundred years before a Union archaeology team found her and her enclave and managed to restore some of them to working order.

How much time- in your best estimation- do you spend thinking about them?

Outside the story of Children of Strife, this also makes her one of the oldest sentient beings in the known universe and technically the great great grandmother of almost all modern Androids and Biosynths.

It's also rumoured that she helped to raise a child orphaned during the fall of Earth who would grow up to be the military advisor of the first Empress, which technically makes her an important theological figure in the (now dying) Imperial cult.

Yes

Who's the most unhinged?

See, I'd say Adrian from Children of the Stars because he has a tendency to just do shit that makes you worry about his safety, but the thing with him is that he is fully aware of what he's actually capable of and is very cautious to not overstep those limits.

Lyanni, However...

One of Adrian's many nicknames for her is Miragran, which is Callistoan for "Big miracle", because that's what it must've taken for her to have not gotten herself killed yet.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

The fact that the answer is Adrian Castellan does not speak kindly about my mental health, does it...

Do you ever cringe at them?

How much control do you have over your characters? Do they ever write themselves, refuse to co-operate or do things you didn't expect? To what extent?

Not really.

Well, except for Adrian being a typical 27th century child who has no conception of sexism/racism/homophobia etc. beyond it being a footnote in a half-forgotten history textbook, which puts him in situations where it takes him a minute or two to realise that someone's being a prick to Lyanni.

I'd say I have relatively decent control over them. With the exception of the Haliday brothers in the Tempest Prince, 'cause they speak the same dialect of English as I do but I need to dial it back a bit because what's understandable for us has moments where it barely looks like English to foreigners.

And every so often I need to go back and un-Saffa their lines a bit because guess what? My dialect is annoyingly insistent on manifesting itself in these characters.

Are some less co-operative than others?

The old version of Adrian's character was really damn uncooperative. Like, he kept feeling like he was sitting on a story that he couldn't tell, and that was why he kept feeling like he was acting wrong no matter what I wrote him doing.

His current iteration tells that story in a way, and that element of tragedy playing into who he is has made him a lot more co-operative.

When someone asks the dreaded "What do you write about?" question, what do you usually say?

See, most people who know that I write are either close friends who already know what I write, or don't care enough to ask.

My grandmother, however, did ask the one time. That was also the day I realised that I know absolutely no scifi terminology in my home language.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters and do you have a preferred way of receiving said questions?

Listen, if you wrote the question as a note, folded it into a paper airplane and threw it through my window, I'd firstly be very concerned about how in the nine hells you figured out where I live, then I'd be utterly ecstatic for the rest of the day because someone asked me a question.

I keep all my socials separate, though, so if you have any questions then asks, comments, and reblogs on Tumblr are pretty much the only way to go.

What makes you follow another Writeblr account? Do you follow them as you see them? Scope them out first to make sure you align with its content? Or do you follow based on WIPs or vibes?

Imma be honest there are like two people on here whom I followed simply because I know them IRL, and like three total writeblrs whom I followed first.

Everyone else followed me and I said "Ey, sha'p," before following back.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I try to.

Do your mutuals' OCs occupy a space in your Noodle?

Absolutely!

No pressure tag for @honeybewrites and @thatoneterrariaplayers-vault,

[ananke-xiii]

I've finally organized (the majority of) my posts with the proper tags! I'm so proud of myself, I genuinely thought I was never gonna do it but hey, miracles do happen after all!

It took me almost one year but now I've fully realized the importance of tags, this is what I call progress...

It was actually quite a helpful thing to do because I've identified what my major themes are and well, turns out I do write about a lot of stuff, don't I?

I'm sad to report that not all tags work for all posts, I don't know why this is happening and, honestly, I don't care right now. Things will sort themselves out... somehow... magically... in the future.... lol.

I like some of the names I've chosen, some others are too prosaic, what can I say? Inspiration comes and goes.

#myths we live by: general observations and/or criticism about the underlying myths that are prominent/popular in the stories I consume and that therefore play a part in my understanding of the world.

#movies in spn: it's not shocking news to anyone but once I've personally realized the depth to which movies in SPN are not just used as references but as foundational structures to write episodes on it was over for me.

#destiel and betrayal: dean and cas relationship as a marriage of (con)sorts based on betrayal.

#on resurrection: I see resurrections as rebellions against Time, a way to keep the past forever alive, which is the ultimate undead that must rise to be faced etc. And I use Supernatural to explore my obsession, thank you very much.

#billie won theory: I think Billie won because the weight of the role of Death in the narrative was eventually re-established. On one hand, it's a postive thing because Death is too much of a powerful symbol to be discarded the way it was in S10, it was bound to re-emerge. On the other, the way it was re-framed is quite... bad because it gives a problematic and conservative flavor to the finale where Death is glorified and romanticized. After all, let's all go back to the jolly old times that never were jolly, instead they're just old, and be content that there will be happiness in the after-life, yeah! No thank yewwwwww.

#phd in spn s12: I have a fascination with s12 which I can't really explain to be honest. I don't even like the BMOL storyline! But I love Mary and I LOOOOVE. LOOOOOOOOOOVE Kelly Kline so, you know. Maybe that's it.

#time travels in spn: I have a lot to say about time travels but I never manage to write down what I want the way I want so there's not so much in here for now. But maybe... somehow... magically... in the future... I'll be able to write coherently so that people can actually understand me etc.

#spn angels: I have. A.LOT.to say about them. I love them, they're the ultimate dysfunctional family. Apart from Cas, Metatron is my fave, be warned.

#spn s9 is complicated: well, nothing more to add. It is what it is. BUT, ALSO. S9 is kinda good, like... the episodes are, like, not bad at all. And the plot more or less makes sense which is a huge compliment for Supernatural.

#super-m/Others: mothers in SPN are my favorite thing. I mean, I know this is supposed to be THEE show about absent fathers but I honestly don't care, SPN mothers are wild and most of them are also dead. Lot to think about.

#spn lines: some lines that I like or that I want to analyze.

#jack the puer: I have this theory, you know, and it's about Jack and how he perfectly fits the Junghian archetype of the "Puer Aeternus" and one day I'll write more about it, hence the tag. It's like a promise to myself.

#b/w spn: this is about how SPN is a show about dichotomies and how sometimes the lines between polarities get blurred and some other times (too many times) are reinforced much to my chagrin.

Okay, soooooo, finally.... Order in my land of Chaos! Hope you enjoy it! <3

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

https://www.tumblr.com/lokisasylum/728596853469413376/all-jokes-and-memes-aside-lemme-address

I’m a pjm myself but this post is literally so ridiculous 😭 This is some peak stage of twitter’s mind corruption and being out of touch with reality 😂 I can’t speak about the others but I was following you for more than a year and you wrote some of the most interesting posts about jimin’s art I’ve seen here. I may not share all of your views about jimin but to call you a jimin anti is just kinda insane

What should I do? Is it time to call my mom and tell her that I am finally infamous on tumblr.com? Should I pop the champagne?

I will not comment about this blogger's page and its discourse in general, nor about the other people mentioned in the post.

But I will say something first about one person. Peppertaemint is my friend, not my moot. I know, hard concept to understand. Our friendship does not rely on us being kpop moots because we're a lot cooler than that. We're also music fans, not multi stans, but I see that for someone chronically online, this is impossible to understand.

As to me being accused of being a Jimin "anti", I'm genuinely shocked. Because if there's one person that I'm singing praises too as if I'm getting paid (I'm not), it would be Jimin because I'm a weak bitch for the man. But I am not his stan, not his akgae, not his anti, I'm not Army, I'm not multi-stan, I'm not a jikooker, I'm not any other fandom-related label that it's being attached to me. I have my identity which is not related to kpop and I have other purposes in life that do not require for me to look for satisfaction within a fandom. I am merely a person with various interests, as I have been revealing more and more since I changed my blog's direction, who also happens to have one in kpop and some BTS members, with a particular emphasis on Jimin.

I have never "downplayed" his talent or made "shady" posts about him. On the contrary, I've always had to try and see things from a more objective perspective and sometimes I found that it was difficult because my bias towards him took over.

I am a supposed Jimin anti, but he's the only artist in kpop that I've written extensively about and trying to bring my own contribution by writing about his art. I am such a Jimin anti that I have spent weeks doing hours of research after finishing my work in order to be able to write something worth reading about his photofolio. I am such a Jimin anti that I almost cried out of anger when I couldn't access articles that I needed in order to understand some of his concepts. I had put myself voluntarily in a situation similar to my usual academic research at a point in which that type of work was detrimental to my mental health. But I pushed it because I loved that photofolio and it was one of those rare occasions in which I got reminded that there's still joy in doing that when the person I'm writing about is worth it and there's no outside pressure.

I always write about the projects he's involved with. During the time he was announced as Dior ambassador and went to Fashion Week, I have opened up the floor to those with more expertise so that we can take the discussion further and turn it into an interesting weekend debate.

Until I closed my blog on the day of Face's release for personal reasons, I wrote about his concept every single time when something was released. When idiots all over the internet were talking shit about SMFpt2, I had written extensively about the song and the music video. But I am a Jimin anti.

Fan engagement (not stan part of a fandom) can take many forms and we are allowed to do it in whatever way possible. I do not care what others are doing, if they think that their best way of having a contribution is by posting about streaming or reporting accounts. That is not me, it will never be me. The best I can do, and not based on some supposed stan duty, is to write about the artists I like in a way that makes sense for me.

I do not make posts for engagement, this tumblr blog is but one tiny bit in my life and I do not need that. I do not spend my time "dragging pjms" as if they're my personal target. Even when I voiced my complains, I then had talks with anons that brought their own perspective which I understood and made me see things differently. That happens because I am not completely out of touch with reality and I can behave as a normal person who can have talks with a variety of fans.

I'm not writing all this to justify myself for this blogger, but because I do not accept such a gross characterization and because I've put a lot of effort in so many posts I have written about Jimin and I find it completely unfair to be slapped with such ridiculous labels.

Anon, I understand why you brought this issue to me. But honestly, I'd rather not know what is out there. I have my own corner here, a sort of personal public diary. I like to share my thoughts about plenty of other stuff as well, make some jokes, hoping that some of the readers have a sense of humor as well and mind my business. I do not situate myself within any fandom and I refuse to be dragged into situations like these by people who cannot escape a toxic stan/kpop mentality.

[deeksblye]

This is my very first time writing a fanfic and it's also my first time writing in english so please be nice :) I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

This dialogue is happening after episode 15S14 "The Other Shoe"

"Family is all that matters"

As they were leaving the boxe gym Kensi called Rosa, as promised, and told her that everything was fine and they were picking her up in 30 minutes.

As the three of them were entering the house Deeks cheerfully asked what they wanted for dinner.

"Ok so which one of my famous fancy dishes you ladies want today?"

"I actually was thinking about ordering some take out. It's been a very long day, we deserve it." Kensi responded.

"That sounds amazing. What about tacos, or chinese?" Deeks paused for a bit and then added enthusiastically: "Or we could order Rosa's favourite pizza."

Kensi looked thrilled about any of the options, which wasn't a surprise, but Rosa didn't seem to care. Actually it was at that moment that they realized that she had been oddly quiet ever since they picked her up.

"Hey Rose, is everything ok?" Deeks asked in a sweeter tone.

"Oh yes don't worry, I'm fine."

Kensi looked at Deeks with concern in her eyes and then asked "Are you sure? Cause you've been quiet ever since we picked you up."

"AND you didn't show any excitement when I mentioned your favourite pizza, which is definitely an indicator that something is off with you today." Then he added carefully "Come on sweetheart, talk to us. What's going on?"

"I'm just worried. First that woman showed up here covered in blood, and then that men was at the door and Kensi sent me to my room, but I saw that you were grabbing a gun." She said this last part redirecting her attention to Kensi.

The concern and fear in her voice as she spoke were impossible to hide which filled Kensi and Deeks with concern and angst for putting Rosa in that position. After everything she went through she deserved to have a normal and happy life. That was all they wanted for her, and they were doing everything in their power to grant her that, but some days like today they felt like they failed.

Kensi tried her best to calm her down right away "Oh no Rosa, you don't have to worry about that sweetie. That woman wasn't dangerous, we've known her for a few years and she just needed our help. About the men that showed up this afternoon…" Kensi paused for a few seconds, thinking carefully about her next words. "You were never in danger bacause I would never let that men get to you Rosa. Never. You will always be safe with us sweetheart."

"We will always do everything in our power to protect you, to make sure you're safe." Deeks added, his words were filled with love and compression.

Rosa turned her back to them and sat on the couch in a failed attempt to hide the tears that had started to form in her eyes. Kensi and Deeks followed her right away and sat with her, one in each of her sides.

"What else is concerning you?" Kensi asked.

Rosa paused for a few seconds while looking down and then finally let it out. "I know I'm safe around you two. It's not just me I'm worried about, I'm scared for you. I know your job is very dangerous and I don't want anything to happen to you two." She said it all very fast trying to control her emotions but at this point that task became impossible. Rosa started to cry, big tears rolling down her cheeks. Between sobs and looking at them she finally said "You're all I have, and I've already lost everything once. I can't lose you. I just can't."

Kensi and Deeks looked horrified for a few seconds, not knowing what to do or say. Finally Kensi wrapped her arm around Rosa's shoulders while Deeks grabbed her hand and gently touched her knee.

"Rosa baby… Nothing will happen to us, we're always very careful and we know how to take care of us. Besides, we're always looking out for each other." Kensi said in a lower tone, almost whispering.

Deeks finally looked less shocked and spoke "And, in the very unlikely hypothesis that something happens to both of us, you won't be alone. There are a lot of people that love and care for you like my mom and Julia, Callen and Sam. God even admiral Kilbride likes to spend time with you, and that's a huge thing coming from him."

"Exactly sweetheart, you have a family now. Deeks and I aren't the only ones looking out for you. You'll never be alone again Rosa, never. Do you understand?"

Rosa finally calmed down and dried the tears in her face using her sleeves and said with a weak smile "Yes, I know that. Thank you for calming me down."

This was all she needed to hear, she needed to know that she wasn't alone, she never would have to be alone and scared like before ever again, and in that moment she felt at peace.

Rosa laid her head in Kensi's shoulder who responded by holding her thight. Deeks held Rosa's hand and gently rubbed her back. She squeezed his and back in response.

They stayed like this for a few minutes, no one said anything bacuse there was no need. That room was filled with love and in that moment they felt like nothing else mattered. After a while Rosa spoke in a calm voice.

"I think I deserve that pizza now." And she finally showed her beautiful smile.

Kensi and Deeks smiled at her and Kensi gently kissed Rosa's head.

This was definitely all that mattered. Family was all that mattered.

[yaoi-life96]

Monsters Within

Summary: After complete radio silence from nosy Reporter and informant Freddie Lounds and a mysterious email, Detective Will Graham is sent off by his boss to investigate her disappearance. The investigation leads him to the Murkoff Corporation and their involvement in the Mount Massive Asylum, which has been shut down before being reopened to house the criminally insane. Will heads to the asylum in the hopes of finding the missing Reporter. If only he knew what monsters lie inside...

CHAPTER 1

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

A groan escapes a man with dark, curly hair as he walks down the sidewalk. It was far too early to be awake.

The man looks to his phone, 6:47 taunted him. He should still be sleeping, his shift doesn't start him nine!

But then again, his boss is an ass.

He makes it to a tall building, entering through a door with a sign on it.

'Detective Jack Crawford: Private Investigator'

The dark haired man enters a large room with a long table with chairs, as well as a small coffee station.

Where a woman with long dark hair was fixing a cup of coffee.

"You're up too, Bev?" asked the man.

The women, Beverly, just gives a tight smile before sipping her hot beverage.

"Morning Will, ya, Jack called us all in, something must have happened." said Beverly.

Will Graham, Detective Crawford's profiler and 'Prized Bloodhound'. Prized because of his empathy disorder.

Will's empathy allows him to walk through the crimes and as through the eyes of the criminals. It's also thanks to this gift Jack was able to get his detective business off the ground. Not to mention work murder cases.

"What's happened, thought we were working the Museum case." said Will.

Beverly just shrugs when the door opens, revealing a large dark skinned man. This man was the boss of this building, Jack Crawford.

"Good, you're both here, sit down." he ordered.

Will looks longingly at the coffee but sits down anyway. Beverly takes her own seat, sliding over a cup to him.

The dark haired smiles happily at her, picking it up to drink.

"So what's going on, was the there a breakthrough on the museum case?" she asked.

"No, we got an urgent email, and it's an emergency." said Jack.

Will puts the empty cup down, wiping his mouth to look at his boss.

"Who's the email from?" he asked.

"Freddie Lounds, she may be dead." said Jack.

The room goes deathly silent, Will looking at Beverly in shock.

He and Freddie never got along, him finding her news articles tasteless. Not to mention her love of invading people's privacy.

She also tried to write a article on him, but thankfully Jack put a stop to it before she published it.

Though she did become their mole during cases.

But to hear she as killed, that was quite the shock considering she was skilled at getting in and out of many situations.

"How do you know she's dead?" Beverly asked.

"Late last night, I received an email from her." said Jack.

He passes a copy to both his employees. The email wasn't long, just short and quick.

'Detective Crawford,

This may be the last you ever hear from me. I was investigating a new story and I got too deep.

It's bad, really bad!

The truth has to come out, this can never be allowed out. You're the only one I can trust, the only one who can finish what I started.

I don't have much time, they're almost in. This is my final good bye.

BEWARE THE RIPPER, AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LISTEN TO THE MONSTERS INSIDE!

Freddie Lounds'

"Ripper, what does she's mean by Ripper?" asked Will.

"And monsters, where the hell did she go?" wondered Beverly.

"I don't know, but we need to figure it out, whatever she was trying to uncover, it cost her life." said Jack.

"I get that, but what about the museum case, it's high priority." she said.

Jack looks over, his gaze resting on Will. The dark haired man looks around before shaking his head.

"No, why me, I'm not a Detective, I'm just a profiler." said Will.

"Well, this can be your chance to become one, Will, I need your imagination on this." said Jack.

Will just shakes his head. The last time Jack used him for a murder case, Will lost himself in the killer's mind, even bringing something back with him.

"Jack might have a point, while we're busy with the museum case, you can try to retrace her steps." said Beverly.

"Yes, we can join you after we finish the case." said Jack.

Will looks at them, but sees he won't be getting out of this. He sighs deeply, wishing he had stayed in bed.

"So where should I start?" he asked.

"Try her apartment, it's on fourth street, she gave me a copy in case anything happens." said Jack.

He moves to his desk and shows off a small key. He hands the key over, Will reluctantly accepts it.

"Bring a video camera with you, no offence Will, but your handwriting is bad." said Jack.

Will just nods, eying the key as he wonders what he got involved in.

'Hopefully it's nothing as bad as that murder case I worked.' thought Will.

[outcastedang3l]

I posted 333 times in 2022

That's 329 more posts than 2021!

71 posts created (21%)

262 posts reblogged (79%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@lnights

@exquisiteagony

@kind-as-sunshine

@outcastedang3l

I tagged 213 of my posts in 2022

Only 36% of my posts had no tags

#blind channel fanfic - 28 posts

#cult channel - 28 posts

#blind channel - 27 posts

#rpf - 26 posts

#not my fic - 22 posts

#ty talks - 21 posts

#ty talks writing - 17 posts

#wolfpack au - 16 posts

#ty answers asks - 16 posts

#wolfpack series - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 127 characters

#but also sometimes i just have the same song on repeat while i'm writing because the vibes are correct for whatever i'm writing

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

y'all are getting some cult channel for halloween but it's baby cult leaders olli and joonas drawing joel in

18 notes - Posted October 14, 2022

#4

You're Keeping Me Away From The Sunlight

Joel has just turned his first fledgling and Johnny and Samy and the rest of the nest are there to support him

or

Johnny is everyone's sire and Joel is his and Samy's first fledgling who's all grown up now and has a fledgling of his own now

Read on AO3

18 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

#3

IT'S HERE!!! THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE MAIN WOLFPACK SERIES FIC IS HERE!!!!

Beyond This Starless Sky

Read on AO3

Johnny is a millennia old vampire who has avoided relationships like the plague but something about the band he's working with just seems to draw him in.

or

Johnny is an ancient vampire who's emotionally constipated when it comes to love and Blind Channel were dumb enough to turn themselves into werewolves. Now Johnny has to navigate not only already being a pining idiot for his best friend but also the dumbest werewolves he's ever met (but who can blame him, they're really hot and sweet) and trying to help them figure out what wolfpacks do because werewolves were nearly hunted to extinction. Oh, and now there's an EDM DJ and his witch boyfriend (who Johnny has happened to have met before)

21 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

#2

"babe. my love. song in my heart. are you purring" for olli/tommi please 🙏🏻🥺

Have some Wolfpack au because reasons

Olli loved moments like these, everyone just spread out in the cuddle pit they had made in one of the spare rooms. He was currently laying on top of Tommi. One of Tommi’s large hands was spread across his back and the other was in Olli’s hair scratching his scalp lightly. It felt so good and made Olli let out a contented sigh, sinking into the large man under him more.

“Babe. My love. Song in my heart. Are you purring?” Tommi asked, trying to hide a soft giggle.

Olli looked up at him grumpily, upset at his peace being disrupted before realizing he was actually making a noise he hadn’t made before. It made him blush and hide in Tommi’s neck. Of course he knew Johnny purred, it was just a thing vampires did when they felt happy and safe. Which had led them to finding out werewolves can do it too, sometimes picking up traits from their mates (Joel and Joonas could be thanked for that realization when they had randomly started purring too) but it was a shock to Olli because he never expected to pick it up.

Tommi gently pulled Olli’s head out of his neck, holding Olli’s face in his hands. “Don’t hide love, I think it’s cute.”

24 notes - Posted July 30, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

for @lnights @exquisiteagony and @drabbles-from-the-dark-side have a little bit of cult channel that I wrote really quick.

Joonas had seen the man before at the bar, but almost always the man was with friends which meant Joonas couldn't approach unless he wanted too many questions. Not today though, today the man was alone in a corner of the bar, nursing what had to have been the guy's fourth beer. It made Joonas smirk to himself as he ordered another round, taking it over to him. Normally Aleksi would be around to help but it was a ritual hunt night with the moon full and high in the sky, and Joonas knew Aleksi, and Olli to be completely honest, would pitch a fit about not participating.

It also probably wouldn't work well to have Aleksi sounding as bloodthirsty as ever while trying to bring in new members. So Joonas was on his own, but he didn't mind. He knew he was charming and had enough good looks to bring in almost any man or woman, so long as they didn't ask too many questions about their group's more private rituals. Of course, he knew the group looked like a bunch of forest-loving hippies from the outside, but those who had been around long enough knew the truth. Joonas wasn't willing to risk the group's safety to satisfy some outsider's curiosity for a night.

"I've seen you around before, but I don't think I've ever seen you look this lonely." Joonas intoned as he placed the offered beer on the table. "This seat empty?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah." The man muttered confusedly, accepting the beer. "I've seen you around too, but I'm pretty sure that you normally end up leaving with somebody. If that's what you're looking for then you're barking up the wrong tree."

Joonas chuckled and shook his head with a small smile. "Not tonight. You looked lonely so I figured you could use some company."

"Ah, thank you," The man blushed "I'm Tommi by the way. And I guess I could. It's been a particularly shit day today."

Joonas rolled the name around his mouth for a minute before speaking again. "Joonas. Mind if I ask what happened?"

"Lost my job today." Tommi replied with a bitter laugh

"Guess you just weren't meant to be at that job." Joonas shrugged, but it was good for him. It meant that this could be an easy catch for the cult if Joonas played it right.

Tommi sighed. "I guess. It's just been one thing after another though recently. I feel like I have no idea where to go anymore."

"I get it, I've been there." Joonas smiled sympathetically "Luckily I had a friend to guide me out of it though."

"Yeah? You're lucky then, I don't have any friends really." Tommi's eyes had a saddened look to them. "I really only spoke to my coworkers but they were never friends."

"I could be your friend?" Joonas offered.

Tommi looked up at that with a small smile, and oh was that a good look on the taller man. "Thank you, I mean it."

"Of course," Joonas smiled back, it was almost too easy for him at this point. "And if you need a job I know a place. Where I work is looking for more people. It might not be more than secretarial work really but it pays well."

"I'll take anything right now if I'm being honest, but you really don't have to. I can find something on my own." Tommi shook his head but Joonas could already see him giving in.

"Really, I mean it," Joonas smirked "I mean what else are friends for."

33 notes - Posted July 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[eggcats]

As I read more my rating scale has gotten so much nicer it's hilarious. (Note: I don't mean it as a bad thing I'm just getting more into how I want to rate books).

Like, since a lot of what I read now are debut fantasies, almost ALWAYS I'll now give them a star higher than I actually feel - which means they almost all get 4 stars now. Bc while they're not BAD they're not that great - just run of the mill with some typical pitfalls of the trope when they're a new writer. But! They're a new writer. So! I forgive them.

Now my rating is typically this, for context about me rating it 1 star higher than I actually think.

1 star: I finished this book out of SPITE. I hated it and it made me mad enough that I had to finish it so I could write a review. How dare you put these words to paper in this order.

2 stars: It's bad and I hate it. There's at least one or two things that drive me mad and I hate them with a passion. It never quite reached spite levels but I did grit my teeth and bear it to finish this.

3 stars: Run of the mill; Average. Point A to Point B happens. Nothing surprising or shocking, nothing that I didn't go into the book suspecting would happen. I liked reading this but it never grabbed me.

4 stars: I enjoyed reading this, it was fun. Either the story or the writing (or both) grabbed me at times, but there was something holding it back from me Loving It. The characters might not bring me into caring about them past reading about them.

5 stars: I loved this book. I would eat it if I could. Stuff happened that legitimately shocked me, the writing was beautiful, and I was engaged with the characters and cared about them and what happened.

And! That's generally how I've been rating, except now a lot of my ratings are 4 stars. I'm reading a book now that (unless it adds something to piss me off like an annoying talking animal companion that doesn't provide any original personality) I'll give it 4 stars even though I'm pretty sure it's a solid 3 star read. But it's her debut fantasy so I'll bump it up one.

I even wrote a review about one book that I gave it a 4 star bc it was her debut and she's getting the hang of it, and the sequel was a LEGITIMATE 5 star read! She had improved, which is what I was hoping for! Like, I'm not expecting a brand new author to come out the gate being phenomenal.

Also, like I'm just a nobody. I'm not an important reviewer or anything, but I'm just noticing how I've been rating bc I'm only 16% through this book and I'm like "I can tell where this is going and if it wasn't a debut I'd give it 3 stars, but it is so I'm probably rating it 4" which is just. Such a funny thought to have.

[erinelliotc]

"Double D is able to maintain his unreal organized system only because he's set on a daily routine".

YES!!! (I'm going to write a lot, so forgive my bad English).

When I was analyzing Double D and comparing him to me (because I identify deeply with him and personally I believe that an adult version of Double D would be a lot like me), one of the things that came to my mind was: "If I had parents who were never at home and I had the whole house to myself, I would also be able to maintain a very organized system and an established routine just the way I would like, which already happens when my mother travels. But as I live with my mother (who's retired and a bit chaotic) and my routine is constantly disrupted, I'm not able to do that and chaos takes over. I think it's the same with him". (At least I'm able to keep my virtual environment organized. I mean, it's not like my physical environment is a big mess, I still have things in their right place and I always know where they are if no one has moved them, but it could still be better).

I've said before that I headcanon Double D as autistic, and autistic people really need routine, but breaks in our routine are very overwhelming and disturbing. This is my main reason for not having an established routine, because the stress of having my routine constantly broken is worse than having no routine at all. Having a routine would be better for me and my own well-being and would help me function better, of course, and not having a routine is still stressful, but I can't stand it when my routine is broken, so I force myself to not have one as a coping mechanism to survive in a chaotic world.

Double D visibly has a hard time maintaining his rituals and things organized when he's not in a stable place because he's easily affected by things around him, and he's easily affected by the lack of stability and predictability (and he also tends to prioritize others' desires above his own in order to please others and not be a nuisance, as we can see with him, for example, enduring unsanitary situations for his friends), and his summer with Ed and Eddy was very chaotic for him, which messed with his routine and consequently with his head. In Episode "Out with the Old, In with the Ed", Double D's getting ready to go back to school. He checks his supplies, then "The paper clips. I've forgotten the paper clips! Oh, curse those months of unrecommended Summer irrationality!".

In "Cleanliness Is Next to Edness" (I'm not a big fan of this episode, but I think it's still a good example to illustrate what I'm saying), Double D has a big break in his routine: he needs to take a shower and out of nowhere his bathroom disappeared. Now, I know he acts rather stupid in this episode as he could've easily solved the problem by building him a shower, but otherwise there wouldn't have been an episode (just as Eddy says, "What? And ruin the plot?") and I personally think his stupidity is justifiable. Double D's very obsessive about cleanliness, and when he's under a lot of stress, when he becomes very anxious, nervous and scared, he tends to lose the ability to be rational and logical, being led only by his anxiety and fear. Anyway, Double D was shocked by this break in his routine: his parents decided to renovate the bathroom without telling him anything and (probably...? At this point I really can't tell how much they know their own son) knowing how obsessed he is about cleanliness and how much he's affected by changes and disruptions in his routine/rituals, not letting him prepare psychologically for this inconvenience and unforeseen event (not to mention that he enters the bathroom and almost falls from the second floor, like, for heaven's sake??? How can they not warn something like that??). The combo of not being able to take his ritualistic shower + feeling invisible because of his parents not giving a shit and treating him like he didn't exist has affected him deeply. He desperately tries to find a way to get things under control, keep his routine and shower, one of his precious daily rituals (he probably always showers at the same time of day), and the more time passes and the dirtier he gets, the more he loses his mind. When he feels that chaos has taken over and that it'll be impossible to take a shower, he surrenders to the chaos and embraces the dirt to put an end to his stress. As I said, giving up on having a routine and embracing chaos can be less stressful than having your routine broken. I mean, your routine won't be broken if you don't have any routine (stonks).

A small compilation of my very correct eene HCs confirmed by Danny Antonucci himself

[goddessofthedawn]

publishing wrap-up 2022

originally posted on my blogspot blog

Hello, hello--it is that time of year, the end of the year, where I take a look at what books of mine did the best, what did the worst, and let me tell you, it is absolutely the worst book-selling year so far. My first year that I had books out, 2020, I made 200$. Last year I made 80$. This year? $63.74. 

Thank God for day jobs, right? 

But! I don't do this for the money, obviously. I do this because I love it. But let's take a look at this broken down. I have twenty-two books out. 

First, let's get the ones that made zero money out of the way. Didn't sell a single copy, no KNP pages read, nothing. 

Iscariot

This one is actually shocking, because it has been my most popular book, consistently, since it came out. It was my first book, the first in a five-book series, all of which is out now, following a bunch of kids going to Hell and meeting up with the people who are trying to take over. Urban fantasy/horror/adventure. It's a fun time. 

Spahn

This series has never been popular so I'm not super surprised. The Vendettic books follow an 80s heavy metal band and all of their adventures dealing with demon shit. The first two books in the trilogy are out. Main character? Stupidest motherfucker to ever exist. Love it. 

Life in Anachronism

This is my first collection with both short stories and creative nonfiction essays. The people who have read it have enjoyed it. Honestly, I'm not super upset about this one not making money because collections don't take as much work as novels and novellas do. I write stories in an attempt to sell them to lit mags and when they inevitably don't sell and I have enough of them, I throw them together. That being said, everyone who has read this one has enjoyed it. 

Sacrifice

Book 2 in Vendettic! I will say, looking at it, it looks like the paperback is highly discounted right about now, so it might be the time to purchase. This came out last year. Book three will come out at some point, maybe even in 2023, despite the relative unpopularity of this series.

Beyr

Beyr is almost a companion novella to the Pentalogy of Hell series, but it can, definitely, be read on its own. It was an experiment. I'm not gonna lie, I do count it as one of my worst books. Not the worst. But one of the worst. That's maybe something I shouldn't say. 

Carl & Jimmy

Speaking of my worst book! Carl & Jimmy is my worst book. Um. It does have its charms, I think; it's definitely got stuff happening constantly. It's kind of--well, it is--a 70s retelling and reworking about American serial killer Carl Panzram? 

Right or Wrong

Okay, this one is sad because it is the only book on this list of "not making any money" that came out this year. this is the third Aughts Boys book but it does not have to be read in order--honestly, this is the first one chronologically. Follows a kid who becomes friends with a real jerk named Matt and has to struggle with that. My little sister got emotionally connected to Matt and cried, so. 

 So, now that that's over with, let's get to the books that did make money, in order from the least to the most. 

15. Circus Wings (.02)

 My foray into fantasy. This is the first in a trilogy, the third book of which I am currently rewriting, so that will be my next book out. I don't quite know about this book. I don't know. We do have an environmentally conscious lesbian princess, so, there's that. I like the characters. This is also almost an experiment--I'm not a huge fantasy guy. 

14. The Crucifixion of Craig Knox (.35)

These next couple (that I clearly only sold one kindle book of, lol) are technically tied. I'm a little sad about this being down so low, because I do still consider this my best book. I dunno. Like Hell (which you will see a little farther down) might have beat it out. But I really like this one. It's my WM3 one. 

13. The False Prophet (.35)

Book 4 in the Pentalogy of Hell! While I didn't sell any of the first book, I did sell some of the subsequent ones. 

12. The Son of Perdition (.35)

And Book 5 in the Pentalogy of Hell! This one's kinda sad seeing as book five did come out this year, but, you know. I'm just banking on one day, maybe, someone just binging them all on KU. That's what you do when you self-publish six books a year. You hope for the binge-readers. Unfortunately, I'm not a romance author, and write in a million different genres, so I'm definitely doing something wrong, but. You know. 

11. Lake of Fire (.36)

Book 3 in Pentalogy! And it looks like the hardcover is severely discounted right now, like, 5$, so I'd snap on that right now if I were you. 

10. Rewind (.39)

My collection from this year! This one is all short stories. Also, don't get put off by the fact that the title is "Rewind" and the cover shows a record player. It's referencing two different stories. In hindsight it was maybe a poor decision. 

9. Forty Days (1.45)

Book 2 in Pentalogy! Hardcover here is also really discounted, so. You know. If you wanna purchase. Feel free. 

8. The Morph Suit Murderer (2.16)

Sequel to Serial Killers With Cookies. The official series title for this is "abnormal murders" but in my heart and also in my hard drive I call them "stupid-ass murders" because honestly. Also the main character is straight-up nuts by this book which is super fun.

7. One More Sad Song (2.18)

I'm gonna say that out of all of my series, I am most attached to the Aughts Boys books. Maybe this is because I'm still writing books onto it. Like, first-draft-wise. The 'verse keeps growing. But this is the first book based on publication order. Like I said--don't gotta read these in order. The only one that you should probably make sure to read this one before would be the most recent book in the series. 

6. Columbiner (2.86)

Yeah, so, I'm gonna say consistently? This is my most popular book. Like, there's not weird rushes to buy this one, it just so happens that I sell a Kindle copy like, once every couple of months and it's been that way since I published it in 2020. People love school shooting books, I guess. 

5. Serial Killers with Cookies (3.23)

Yeah, so, Amazon's all jacked up mixing up SKWC and the Vendettic books. There's nothing I can really do on my end; I've double-checked the series settings. But trust that this is the first book in the Abnormal Murders books, before the main character goes nuts. I mean, she gets there by the end. God I love Justine.

4. The Horror at Camp New Woods (4.54)

Hey, paperback is currently discounted for this one! Buy now! But this is the second book in the Aughts Boys series, and it is one of the weird, uh... left turns into straight-up horror that happens a couple of times in this series. I mean, this is the only time so far in the published ones, but like, it's gonna happen at least three more times? Look forward if you don't care about 2004 and only care about murder? I guess? 

3. Like Hell (9.41)

Paperback is also currently discounted on this one. But this is the one that I might be like, okay, this might actually be my best book. It's like Beyr but good. This was my first book published in 2022 and honestly? I do think it is a good one. Short and quick, too. 

2. Royal Blood (11.99)

Sequel to Circus Wings. New POV characters. Can I say I like this one less than Circus Wings? I do. But that is definitely a YMMV thing; that one was more action-focused, this one has more political stuff going on. Book 3 we will get a mix because I threw all the POV characters that were still alive into a blender. 

1. Hit or Miss (19.10)

The latest! Book four in the Aughts Boys books; maybe read book one before this one but otherwise you are good. Maybe book three if you want to understand Matt a little more. Maybe book two if you just wanna deal in a little murder. Uh, I got a new cover artist for this one because my original one ghosted me, but I asked her to kinda try to at least match the original covers and I think she did a great job. Also, this book is, I hate to brag, the number one new release in children's hockey books. It beat out a whole grand total of zero other books, but I do have the little orange banner on the Kindle page, which is hilarious. It's not a children's book. It's YA. Amazon counts them together. 

But that's that! That's what my sales looked like this year! Absolutely nothing! But no, it's fine. Obviously I would love to sell more books. Obviously I would love it if you would purchase one or two or twenty-two books right now, or start flipping through them in KU, or whatever. Obviously I want to make money doing this. But it is more important for me to have them available. But if any of these look interesting, please, please, please give them a look. All of my kindle editions are only .99, and like I said--a lot of these are discounted physically right now.

Let's see what next year brings! How many books will Aurora write/publish this year... it bodes not well that the first book is the last Tinon book because those take me forever... 

[everafterfrisk]

Here we go again Folks and today I'll be dissecting the popular topic of "Ruby isn't affected by anything across the volumes"

-I'm gonna be honest and say this claim is pretty much BS

Volume 3

- Ruby falling to the ground in sadness after seeing Penny's Dismantled Body

> Was mortified by Pyrrha's Death at the hands of Cinder

Volume 4

In the DC Comics(which take place during the events of Vol 3-4)

Ruby showcases alot of uneasiness and self doubt

▪︎I.E being worried about how Yang felt back at the end of Volume 3

▪︎Believing that she herself can't go on without her team backing her up

▪︎Questioning if she can truly make the right choice

"No One is truly alone".

"What you can do and Who you are-- These are Two very different things".

"No Person is Lesser for Being Alone,

You miss them but You aren't incomplete without them"

"They may bring Forth the Best in You

But the Best still Belongs to You".

- Episode 2 - Ruby is shown having Nightmares about the events of Volume 3

Vol 5

-After the battle with Tyrian, Ruby was upset that she indirectly got her uncle poisoned as well as not being so welcoming about team JNR joining her as the Problems got increasingly worses

"I should've never brought you guys into this"

But the Most powerful scene in this Volume for Ruby is her talk with Oscar

Where she tells him that how distraught she felt about Pyrrha's and Penny's Deaths & wished she could've gotten to know them better

Proclaiming that if she were have died, Pyrrha and Penny would try to keep fighting no matter the obstacle

As she then says that moving forward is what she has to do in order to protect who she cherishes left

Which parallels Issue #6 of the Comics

"Even When it's Hard---

--Just Live".

Which leads to the 2nd Strongest scene for Volume 5 Ruby

The Letter Scene

"Believe me when I say I know it can feel impossible. Like every single day is a struggle against some unstoppable monster we can never hope to beat. But we have to try…"

As Ruby is writing a letter to Yang about how although the World may seem bleak and while things may be painful in the long run, With the right people working together for a good cause can make an extraordinary change no matter how small it seems at first

Also Ruby LITERALLY TEARS UP DURING THIS SCENE

The Silver Eyes Activated after Ruby had a PTSD flashback of Pyrrha's Death when Jaune was going to clash with Cinder in the battle of Haven

■ Ruby was seen shocked by Weiss's fatal injury from Cinder's Spear strike

Volume 6

■ Felt a little Betrayed by Ozpin's Secret after Jinn revealed the Truth

■ Her Silver Eyes Activated When Blake was almost at death's door against the Apathy

■ Confronted Qrow about his lack of willingness to keep moving forward during "Lost" & "Stealing from the Elderly" Episode

Wanting him to view Team RJNR as people who can fight alongside him instead of just being a bunch of children who needs to be protected

"Just because you don't have an idea, doesn't mean we're out of options! Oz hasn't been here to tell us what to do, but we still managed to get this far anyway. We've been in bad situations before, and we don't need an adult to come save us or tell us what to do. We just did it our way! And I say we do it our way. And if you think you can keep up with us "kids"... we'd be happy to have you"

"We're all in this together, and we're all going to do the best we can. That's all anyone can do. And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility! We're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side"

Volume 7-8

■ Immediately felt guilty about lying to Ironwood about the Other stuff that happen with Ozpin

■ During Her Talk with Qrow, She even questions if she even knows what she has been doing was the correct decision

■ Ruby pleads Harriet in the "Ace Ops vs Team Rwby" to stand down and join her team in saving the citizens

■ Stood in Confusion and shock after witnessing a Silver Eyed Grimm Hybrid

■ in Volume 8 Finale,

Ruby is seen shedding a tear during her fight with Neo(Supposedly as a result of Yang's death)

---> in the Vol 9 sneak peek it showcases Ruby's POV where she was having constant anxiety attacks throughout the fight against Cinder

And in the Volume 9 Chapter 1 Sneak Peek Clip

Ruby breaks down and Cries to herself reflecting upon the events that have transpired

So Yeah I think this pretty much sums up how much these events have had an Impact on Ruby's emotions

(She ain't just Happy all the time and Ignores all the tragedy, if anything she tries using it as a Coping Mechanism of some sort in order to move forward & keep her mind away from the Darkness)

Hope yall Enjoy

[kazoosandfannypacks]

So @accidental-spice has told me I have permission to go off about Killian being a simp in season 4 of Once Upon a Time, and while my official log contains 92 instances of Killian's simpery, I will wait to share that with you until I finish the series and start officially posting about OUaT.

However, I made a list the other day that I would like to share with y'all right now: Top five episodes of season 4 of Once Upon a Time ranked in order of my favorite instances of Killian being a simp.

Special Note: I did not include 4.8: Smash The Mirror Part 1, because, while I am obsessed with how much simpery can happen in an episode where they don't actually interact at all, I feel Colin's portrayal of Killian in that episode deserves it's own post, which I will later write.

Anyways, without further ado, I would like to explain each addition to the list and why it is special.

Honorary Mention: Ep4: The Apprentice

This episode didn't quite make the cut for best moments, as most of them are overshadowed by Killian believing his hand is making him evil. However, there is so much I love about him in this episode: the way he misses the dartboard by, like, 73 feet when Emma asks him out, him sitting on Gold's desk, the fact that he's willing to make a deal with his centuries long nemesis to get his hand back- and not just so he can hold Emma with two hands, but, in his own words, it's in case "Emma should want [him] to hold her." He's not doing this for himself, he's doing it for her, and I think that's very simp of him and worth noting.

#5: Ep12: Heroes and Villains

For those of you who don't remember, this is the episode where, for the second time in his life, the Dark One had a wife who saved Killian from Rumplestiltskin crushing his heart!! While I could go off about how amazing Belle is in this episode, that's an entirely different post for an entirely different time. I love the scene in this episode when Emma gives Killian back his heart, and as soon as he gets over the shock of getting his heart back and actually can feel emotion properly again, he immediately kisses Emma and then reassures her that he's a survivor- a recurring phrase in this season that symbolizes that Killian isn't afraid to be with Emma, and she doesn't need to be afraid of losing him.

#4: Ep2: White Out

This episode truly has it all! You've got his beautiful response to overprotective Dad David ("Whatever Emma and I become, that's as much her decision as mine,") the whole "one half of the ship is captured or dying and the other half goes absolutely feral" trope, Feat. Killian trying to break through a wall of ice one foot thick with his hook, and then the inevitable "you're freezing to death so now you can't object to me snuggling with you, check mate."

#3: Ep23: Operation Mongoose Part 2

If Killian Jones in his normal state is a simp, then Alternate Universe Killian is a simp sevenfold. He literally only has six minutes of screentime with Emma and is a simp twelve times in that span of time, and then, of course, the "how many times do I have to tell you, love, I'm a survivor?" and then his hopeful expectancy at her almost "I love you" and then the angst at the end of the episode. I should also point out that the very moment Alternate Killian and Emma meet is eight minutes and fifteen seconds into the episode- and if you remember, 8:15 is the exact time Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke in the pilot episode. I just think that's neat.

#2: Ep16: Poor Unfortunate Soul

Oh gosh. I will never recover from the "you're my happy ending" scene. I cannot bear it. He's so sad, scared, afraid he's gonna lose her. And his little "don't you know?" Like, "Emma, my love, have I not done enough to hammer it into your head that you are everything good in the world to me?" (And don't even get me started on the idea of comparing "you're my happy ending" with "you were my new dream" from tangled just don't I can't even with this.)

#1: Ep5: Breaking Glass

Why this episode? This episode that's about Emma trying to reconcile with Regina? And with the flashbacks about Lily? And where Killian literally only shows up in two scenes? Because this is peak simp Killian- he runs an errand for his girlfriend, then leaves to take her son sailing. One can only assume that, at the end of the day when he drops Henry off at home, Emma's not home and Killian automatically assumes she's probably overworking herself at the Sheriff's station and goes to keep her company.

And then he gets there and she's clearly been through that stuff that day, and he. He gives her a drink and he's excited when he goes through her box of old stuff and throughout this entire scene he just. He looks at her so so gently. That is the only way to describe him- in this entire scene, he's so gentle. He sees that everything this day has thrown at her has been hard and he makes the choice to be soft for her. I don't know what it is about Killian looking at Emma so gently that warms my heart, but I've rewatched that scene at least ten times, and I still smile every time I think about it.

So there you have it! Top 5 season 4 episodes ranked in order of my favorite Killian simp moments! I can't wait to finish the series and make more posts like this one!

Feel free to reblog this, but don't give any spoilers past season 5 because I'm right in the thick of season 6 right now and don't want any spoilers!

[silverskye13]

Hello I am, going to be ranting about things that don't matter to add my thoughts to a conversation I have no part in, but I read a lot so I have thoughts.

I'm fresh off MattPat's latest Game Theory video talking about how video games might be changing [and ruining] their stories because theorists post their thoughts online. This is an old conversation that has at this point affected every major industry, but got really big when Marvel Movies started getting touchy about spoilers. That is: the idea that because someone has put the clues together in your plot, you MUST change your plot, so you can be surprising. Shock factor in a story is more important than story integrity. And whenever this conversation comes up, almost every time passionate fans say a story suffers when you randomly change the plot. This seems like a no-brainer to me, and whenever I hear a studio has made a bunch of changes to their product in order to shock their audience, my conclusion always ends up being, "Wow, these people have never consumed a good thriller, have they?"

If you've followed my blog for any substantial amount of time, you'll know I love horror. I don't write it... Ever. But if you troll through my liveblogging tags, you'll notice all the books I've read and reviewed and commentated on, barring maybe one, was a horror book. One of my favorite things to do is to sink my teeth into horror and absolutely rip it apart. Did it scare me? Did it compel me? Was it good? Why? My favorite subgenre in the horror category is - well it's ghost stories. But actually, it's thrillers. I love thrillers. I love being given an average joe idiot family, throwing them in a spooky house, setting a killer loose on the premises, and then playing the "oh god, who's the bad guy" game. It's a very fun game that you can really play with thriller books, in my opinion? Because in thriller movies, generally the killer is plastered all over the trailer. But books get ambiguous names like "Ten" with a knife on the front. Love it.

Speaking of Ten, Ten is my favorite thriller. At the same time I was reading Ten, I was also reading another thriller, which I'm going to call "Karen", because I can't actually remember the book title. Karen in my least favorite thriller I've ever read, and a great case story on how not to write a thriller.

Karen started out doing everything right. We had a killer/kidnapper. We have a kidnapped kid. We have a mother who we know is going to be the next victim. We have a house that's being broken into and her children being stalked. The thrill is whether Karen figures out who is trying to kill her and take her kids, and if she can stop them before The Bad Shit happens. It was incredibly compelling. I was engaged with every little crumb and clue the author was feeding me. And I had a really good case for who the killer was and why. This was incredibly exciting for me, because this was the first time I was so immersed in a thriller that I was actively trying to figure out what would happen next -- and I was actually succeeding in figuring it out! All the plot points were adding up. Everything was falling satisfyingly in place! Soon I would figure out how Karen would stop the bad guy! And then, three chapters from the end, the author introduces us to a new character. This is a character we would have no idea ever existed, unless we were in this character's POV. She was completely unknown to Karen, and thus needed her own chapter to explain who she was and why she existed. It was then that the author explains, in an incredibly straightforward and self-aggrandizing monologue, that Karen is stupid for thinking she'd figured out who the bad guy was. And you, dear reader, are stupid by extension. The person stalking Karen's kids? The person breaking into Karen's house? The person harassing Karen and making her feel scared and paranoid and driving the plot towards it's conclusion? Was not the bad guy we had been introduced to in the opening scene and had been lead to believe was the bad guy this whole time. Well, that evil man does exist and is out doing evil somewhere. But he's not the one bothering Karen. This girl who we've never met up until this point is. This girl has no reason to hate Karen. She just does. This girl has no reason to hurt Karen's kids. She just wanted to scare them. And it is this character who we had no reason to believe even existed, who kills the main bad guy and vanishes into the night. Karen thinks she's solved her problems, but really she hasn't. This random character did all the hard work, and all the terrorizing. Karen will never know. But you, reader, do.

I was devastated when I read that chapter. Absolutely gutted. This author had given me a bunch of random puzzle pieces in the shape of a horse, and gave me a reference picture that had a horse on it, and grinned smugly when I didn't realize the puzzle was supposed to make a dog. It was such a bad read, and such a bad chapter, I didn't even finish the remaining two chapters of the book. Those chapters no longer mattered. They were to a story that no longer existed. That is a bad thriller. And it's a story format I have run into a lot with thriller and horror, and it kills me every time. Thriller, horror, and mystery novels even, are a very smart, commentative story format when used well. They don't have to be, but they can! And they thrive best when all the clues the author lays out for you actually add up. In fact, that is the sole reason people read mystery books. For thriller, it's an added bonus, and it adds to the horror. Nothing is scarier than figuring out who the bad guy is, and being unable to tell your main character you're incredibly attached to!! Watching someone walk straight to their demise because they don't know any better is a gripping experience! Or a very vindictive experience, if you happen to hate the character. But regardless, the emotional engagement on that kind of story is incredibly powerful. When a writer builds that connection, forces your emotional engagement, and then shames you for thinking you've figured it out? It punishes the reader for being engaged.

So I've told you about Karen. Now I'm going to cycle back to Ten. Ten was a very good, very successful thriller, and it was one that I had no reason to be invested in. It set me up with an annoying main cast, a submissive main character set to damsel in distress her way to the final chapter, and a love interest I could care less for. But it gave me one good hook. In the opening scene, the two best friend characters are talking.

Girl one says, "Look! There will be cute boys at this party! Why don't you go after him?"

Girl two rolls her eyes and answers snobbishly, "I can't date him. He's fake. Did you see his eyebrows? They're black, but his hair is blonde. He dyed his hair before he came here."

That boy is the killer. That is the first hint that something is wrong. And it was buried incredibly well. The author gave us a snobby character who of course would care about something stupid like that. The author reinforced that character as a bad informant, making her mean to the POV character, making our POV character make excuses for her. "normally she's nicer." Yeah yeah, we know how the submissive main character is supposed to act around her bossy best friend. But as it turns out, her best friend has been off her meds - so of course she's meaner than normal. Her medication helps her control her mood swings. I'm not doing this information justice, but suffice it to say the author gave the audience every clue to who the killer was. And gave us a competent [if easily dismissed] character to read the clues through. Anyone looking for that information and tracking where it was going would figure out who the killer was. I, personally, was blindsided. All the clues were put places where they were easily dismissed, with characters who were easy to hate or ignore. It wasn't until the antagonist revealed himself and his motives that everything clicked into place. And the story was incredibly satisfying, and even knowing how it ended, I reread it again and again. Suddenly all those tiny stupid clues meant the world. I could revel in the fact that I could see it coming. That was an excellent thriller.

Now, all that to say this: I'm not a game designer. I don't write movie or tv show scripts. I am a somewhat functional fic writer who sometimes talks too much on the internet. I love good stories. And I'm intelligent enough to break down for myself why I think stories work. Shock value is nice. Not being able to see a twist coming is cool. But only if that twist makes sense. If you blindside your audience with information they had no way of knowing, that isn't fun, and the thrill is ultimately pretty cheap. It will get you once, but never again. There is no build, nothing to savor or enjoy. And there is no additional tension. Shock is instant gratification. It is everything leading up to the shock that is memorable. In a well written, well integrated thriller, what is mystery on the first read is horror on the second, because you know what's coming. You see every invisible moment of peril you weren't previously privy to. And victories are sweeter when you can grasp the full scope of what the characters are up against. And yeah, it sucks to feel predictable. It sucks to feel like someone out there was smarter than you, because they figured out your clever secret before you wanted them to. But the story isn't about you, the author. The story is, well, it's about the story. And if it's a bad story? No one will read it.

[julemmaes]

Robyn

Rowaelin Month, Day Ten

A/N: I'd planned on posting them in order, but you get what you get. Idk when the other prompts will come tbf. I hope soon. Anyway, I managed to write over 6k words today and I'm pretty fucking proud.

This is just fluff over fluff, so yep enjoy!!

Word count: 3,047

Rowan was unbelievably late as he sped through the streets of Orynth.

So late that the school had called not only him, but also the front desk of the place where he worked when he hadn't answered the call on his personal phone. Sorscha, his assistant, had entered his office with an embarrassed smile on her lips, as if she didn't want to tell him that he had forgotten for the umpteenth time to pick up his daughter from school.

Lorcan had joined him, for some strange reason, but Rowan had stopped bothering when it came to his best friend. He'd been trying to figure out how he reasoned for years and had come to the conclusion that there was no logical sense in the actions of the man sitting next to him, who was currently singing at the top of his lungs to one of the songs on the Frozen CD - which much to the chagrin of both of them, had gotten stuck in his car radio months before, forcing them into hours of torture.

He would never deny that the songs were all quite catchy, but after the sixteenth time Rowan had had to listen to Let It Go at maximum volume, his positive opinion of the film had begun to waver.

As they pulled into the school parking lot, Rowan noticed with deep regret that the only cars still there were those of the teachers and school staff.

They both got out of the car, Rowan walking quickly towards the entrance while Lorcan dragged behind him.

He greeted the caretakers sitting at the entrance, who returned a big smile. A smile that grew even wider when his large, imposing friend entered a few moments later. He stopped to talk to the old ladies and Rowan walked down the corridor he knew led to Robyn's classroom.

He could hear muffled voices from inside the teachers' room on the left and the one he knew belonged to Miss Galathynius coming from the right. He looked out over the classroom, spotting the two people sitting at a desk.

As soon as his daughter saw him, her eyes widened and a huge smile flashed across her face.

No words. No "hello, daddy!" or "I missed you!" from the little girl.

Her teacher turned as she leapt out of her chair and ran towards him, hugging his legs and looking up at him. Rowan smiled at her in turn, running a hand over her hair that was shot in every direction.

"Hello, little bird," he murmured to her. The child's smile widened even more if that was possible.

The woman a few feet away from them pulled herself upright, crossing her arms over her chest and offering a sincere smile to the child, who hid behind his thighs.

Rowan was about to tell her that Robyn was shy with everyone like this, ready to defend his daughter's behaviour as he was used to doing in front of every adult, but he was beaten to the punch.

"It's good to see you, Mr Whitethorn," she said, extending a hand. Rowan shook it without hesitation. "Actually, I just wanted to write you a letter regarding Robyn," she continued, never taking her eyes off the little girl. "Nothing serious," she hastened to reassure him when Rowan grimaced, "quite the contrary. Robyn is remarkably good. One of the best in the class, though I shouldn't offer that information so bluntly."

Miss Galathynius winked at him, but he couldn't process what he'd just been told.

"Sorry, could you-"

The little hands clamped around his trousers tightened a fraction more and Rowan looked down, trying to figure out what was bothering his daughter, but then something happened that he hadn't even dared to dream about in recent times.

"You're here!"

The little girl broke off and ran away from him in less than the blink of an eye.

Rowan turned just in time to see Lorcan grab Robyn in mid-air, spinning her around as he brought her to his chest and showered her with kisses. The loud, incessant laughter that erupted from her seemed too much coming from that fragile little body, but he never tired of hearing it.

"Why hello baby!" said Lorcan laughing in turn, starting to tickle her until she begun to rebel and he was forced to let her slide to the floor. Robyn was still laughing at the top of her lungs and nearly fell to the ground as she squealed left and right, letting herself be pushed around by the closest thing to an uncle she had ever had.

When Rowan turned back to the woman, she was wide-eyed and her lips slightly parted as she watched the massive man dressed completely in black and the menacing face turn into a completely different person the second he had seen Robyn.

He chuckled, "I know, it's not every day you get to see a little girl be so comfortable with a brute like that."

Lorcan, who was listening to everything, looked him straight in the eye and without stopping smiling and playing with the little girl, mouthed to him to fuck off.

"Well, yeah. You caught me a little off guard." she confessed, still shocked to hear how Robyn was having a full conversation with Lorcan. They couldn't hear anything of what she was actually saying, but even just the fact she was talking to someone seemed to have Aelin unsettled.

She returned her attention to Rowan and let out a breath that sounded more like a giggle, "I've never heard her laugh before."

He nodded, blushing a little at the teacher's surprised but relieved tone.

"I'm sure the dean warned you about the problem she has," he said in a low voice. He grimaced at her poor choice of words, "I mean, not problem, but the difficulty she finds in interacting with people she doesn't know."

Liar, he told himself. Robyn hadn't spoken to anyone but him and Lorcan since the day Lyria had died. It wasn't a difficulty, but a response to the trauma that prevented her from speaking to anyone who wasn't part of her immediate family.

"I know, I know. We've been looking for solutions together." she informed him. "I give her a white board every morning. Come on, I'll show you." she turned to the desk they were sitting at earlier and raised the magnetic board, on which a few words were scribbled on. "I'll write here what she might need. Yes. No. I need to go to the bathroom. I'm thirsty. I'm hungry." she read, listing the various options. Rowan gaped. "We've only just started going over the alphabet for a second time, so she can't really read or write yet, as I imagine you know, but the little drawings next to each sentence help her."

She continued talking, but he couldn't quite follow.

The woman in front of him - aside from being breathtakingly beautiful - had done as much as she could to help her child with communication.

"Mr. Whitethorn-"

"Rowan. Please, call me Rowan." he said, clearing his throat once he realized how hoarse it sounded to his ears. Lorcan walked up to them at that point, still holding Robyn in his arms and positioned himself next to him, letting their shoulders touch in a comforting way.

"Call me Aelin, then," she smiled at them both. Then she made a small grimace, turning to Rowan, "I wanted to ask if it bothered you, that I sought a solution like that. Maybe I put her in distress, embarrassed her. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I wanted to solve this on my own. I really wanted to discuss it with you, with your husband too, to avoid misunderstandings. Maybe we could arrange a meeting."

He was about to tell her that she had given him the exact opposite of annoyance, that he had been more than pleased that she had helped Robyn this way, when her words finally registered.

Lorcan, beside him, had opened his mouth wide and his lips were slowly bending into a mischievous smile.

Rowan furrowed his brow, "I'm sorry, what?"

Aelin's smile seemed to falter. "A meeting? With you? To talk about how to handle the situation," then she shifted her gaze to Lorcan, "You're more than welcome to join as well. I didn't know Robyn had two dads, I apologise for assuming Robyn had a mum and dad. That was very rude of me-"

"I love this," Lorcan whispered, laughing in shock. He turned to Rowan with eyes that sparkled with amusement, "I would definitely be the top."

Rowan looked at him with an expression of complete shock on his face, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Robyn gasped, opening her eyes wide and bringing a hand to her mouth, pointing then to Rowan's.

"Yeah, sorry, love. I shouldn't have said the bad word." he apologised, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He turned back to Miss Galathynius, "I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, but we're not married."

"No need to lie, sweetie. I'm sure Aelin," he gave her a knowing look, "doesn't mind at all about our relationship status."

Aelin nodded, "Well, yes. That doesn't change anything. Mr..." she turned to Lorcan, searching for a name.

"Salvaterre."

"Mr. Salvaterre can still attend. The fact that you are not yet married is no reason why you cannot both be present at the meeting. You don't have to worry, we are a very tolerant school and if anyone bothers you, you can come directly to me."

A sound of sheer glee escaped Lorcan.

Aelin continued, "I mean it. I was pleased to see both of you today. I was also pleased to see Robyn smiling so much." she concluded, looking the little one in the face.

Rowan took a deep breath, bracing himself, "No, I meant, we're not a couple. We're not gay. He's her uncle."

The woman's blonde eyebrows shot up and a second later she turned almost as red as the dress Robyn was wearing as Lorcan shook his head muttering something very much like 'you're no fun', which made Robyn giggle.

"Why did you even get off the car?" he asked him exasperated.

Lorcan shrugged, "Because I missed my little bean, you monster." he replied, clutching Robyn to his chest. The little girl clutched Lorcan's shirt in her chubby little hands and Rowan huffed, shaking his head.

Aelin brought her hands to her face, leaning against the desk behind her. She shook her head, her face still hidden, "Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

Lorcan let out a dry laugh, "Don't worry about it. It was fun while it lasted." then he turned to Rowan again, who was still trying to recover from the idea of being involved in a relationship with his friend, "You're really no fun."

"Yeah, no fun dad." repeated Robyn.

Silence fell over the class. Rowan looked at her with wide eyes and blinked once, twice. Robyn was staring at him with a sweet scowl that mimicked so much that of the man who was still holding her, but Rowan couldn't get over the fact that his daughter had spoken while Aelin was still beside them.

He was about to talk, noticing how Robyn had started squirming in Lorcan's arms, when there was a knock at the door.

They both turned, Aelin peering over Rowan's shoulder, and saw the figure of a petite girl with black hair and eyes standing in the doorway, watching them with her head slightly bent to the side. She had a tag on her t-shirt that was too colourful to belong to someone who didn't work in a school with children, so he guessed she was a teacher herself. Besides, Rowan felt like he'd seen her elsewhere. Probably every day when he picked Robyn up from school, he said to himself.

"I know you're not supposed to eavesdrop but I stopped by earlier and heard you were a couple of dads," she said by way of introduction. "I just wanted to reassure you that the school is an extremely safe place. I'm the one who did most of the interviews with the parents," that's where they had met then, "and one of the questions that is asked is just about the tolerance of the people who will be attending the school."

Aelin watched her, remaining silent the whole time and putting on an amused smile, nodded, "That's what I was telling them. How tolerant the school is. They make such a cute couple, don't you think, Elide?"

Rowan turned to her, arching an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was doing. The woman, as if she could truly understand what he was trying to convey to her, nodded her head towards Lorcan, who Rowan only then noticed was standing weirdly, his eyes fixed on the woman in the doorway.

He grinned, deciding to take his revenge right away. "Oh, yes. Thank you so much for the reassurance," Rowan began to play along as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lorcan turn towards him, dropping Robyn to the floor, who made a disapproving noise at being dumped so suddenly. "We are happy to know that this school is a safe place for our daughter. And for us."

Elide offered him a blinding smile, "Good. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased so far. And I am happy that Aelin is the one who is taking your daughter's class. She's the best one here."

Rowan didn't know her yet, but he knew the thing Elide had just said could only be true.

"Well," she said again, giving them an apologetic smile, "I really must go now, but if you need anything, you can find all my contact details on the website. Have a nice day!"

Aelin and Rowan said their goodbyes, thanking her. Lorcan took a while to recover, but when he realised he was staring into empty space he ran towards the door, almost stepping on little Robyn, who was moved by Aelin.

"We are very much not gay, miss!" he shouted into the hallway. Aelin, now beside him and with a hand on Robyn's shoulder, cackled. With Lorcan's infinite luck, someone walked by just then and gave him a stern look. "Oh, shut up ma'am. I'm an ally. The best ally."

Rowan shook his head as Lorcan launched himself in pursuit of the poor teacher and burst out laughing when he heard him shout, "I'm not homophobic! I'm willing to suck someone's cock if I have to prove it to you!"

Aelin opened her mouth wide before bursting out laughing in turn.

Robyn, seeing both adults so happy, giggled too and Rowan bent down to pick her up. The little girl laid her full head of white-light hair on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

She was tired and Rowan really needed to get her home to sleep.

He glanced at Aelin and reduced his lips to a thin line, "I'm sorry about the commotion, I'll try not to bring him into the building again. Even if it means tying him to the seat."

The soft laugh she gave made something tighten in his chest. He frowned.

Aelin didn't seem to notice the effect she had on him, "Don't worry, Elide is crazy about fools like him. If he says the right things, we might start seeing each other outside of school too."

Rowan nodded, now too caught up in the thought of having to take Robyn home to focus on anything else.

They agreed on when to hold the parent-teacher meeting and then he grabbed Robyn's backpack, walking towards the exit.

He was thoughtless as he reached into his pocket for his keys and balanced everything else - including the girl - on his other arm, but when Robyn's hand brushed his cheek, he looked down and his eyes met their twins. Green against green.

"What is it?"

The little girl's voice never stopped making him smile. Each time was like the first time she had said dada.

"I really like her."

Rowan frowned, "Who?"

"Miss Aelin." she whispered, almost as if she was afraid they might hear her.

He smiled at her, "Yeah? You like her?"

"She's nice to me."

Rowan had to put her down as he opened the door and let her get into the back seats by herself.

"I'm glad she's treating you well, love," he let her know, buckling her in.

He hoped she'd tell him more about her new teacher, but like any kid her age, the topic of conversation couldn't last for more than four lines apiece, "Where's Uncle Lorcan?"

Rowan snorted, "No idea, little bird."

Robyn nodded, "Elide is pretty too."

And as if those words had summoned him, Lorcan appeared beside the car, making them both scream. He entered the car in a heartbeat and turned to his daughter, who was still settling into the seat. "Do you know Miss Lochan?"

But before she could answer him, Rowan had entered the car in turn and smacked the back of his head, which made the Robyn giggle, "You're not using my daughter as your wingman. Now stop it and buckle up."

Lorcan gave him a gentle push, before doing as he was told and for once he was happy he'd convinced him to do something.

Or at least, Rowan thought he had convinced him.

"What if I left you a note to deliver to Miss Lochan, Rob? Would you be up for it?"

Rowan knew, even without looking at her, that she was nodding emphatically.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he murmured, "Could you stop calling my daughter Rob, please? You'll give her an existential crisis."

Lorcan clicked his tongue against his palate, "Rowan, I'm not giving her a damn thing. We live in this new world, okay? Your daughter could be called Simon and still be a beautiful princess. Grow up and educate yourself before you talk shit."

"Aaaah!" shouted Robyn, "Bad word!"

Rowan sighed and shook his head, but still he was smiling.

This was his life. Had been for the past two years.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

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