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melodygatesauthor · 1 year ago

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Okay guys, I can't believe it's been a full year since I published the first chapter of my first fanfiction story and I'm still going strong today. - (Side note...it was actually yesterday but I wanted to get all my fics posted to AO3 so I could get an accurate word count and tell you all what I've done so...it took me an extra day)

This is going to be a really long post, and I thank everyone in advance for reading all the way through if you make it. I'm taking a moment to allow myself to talk about my accomplishments over the last year, my goals for this next year, and gas myself up just a bit. As an artist, it's really hard to talk about myself in a positive light without being critical, but I'm going to do it anyway. No one asked, but this is one of the ways I wanna celebrate my ficversary so...I'm gonna do it lol.

My First Fanfic Ever

I'd like to start by sharing my beginnings with writing. If I really think back to the very first fanfiction I wrote, I thought it was a Gorillaz fic (which I still have a handwritten copy of in my closet lol), but it wasn't. I think the very first fanfic I wrote technically was a Pirates of the Caribbean fic when I was 11. I didn't even realize that's what it was, I just knew that I was SO into POTC that I wanted to write about it. It had just come out by the way, so I'm really dating myself. This was...2003.

We had this thing we had to do for school, it was like a writing assignment or something, one of those big ones that they gave you, a standardized whatever. I managed to find a way to spin it into a POTC related thing and I went OFF writing this story. It had its own twists and turns unrelated to POTC, but it was a fanfic through and through.

The Beginning of My Fan Art

When I was 12 I started listening to Good Charlotte, to a point that it was my entire personality. Everyone who knew me, knew I loved them. Every fucking art project I had in middle school (7th and 8th grade) was revolved around this band, particularly Joel Madden.

My love for them has come and gone, but I still remember how I felt at the time (not unlike how I feel toward Oscar Isaac now lol). I mean my art teacher literally had to be like "I want you to branch out, you can't make everything about them." And as an adult, I'm wondering -why the fuck not but- ...I digress.

The First Fanfic I Ever "Published"

When I was 12 (or maybe closer to 13), I became OBSESSED with the Gorillaz. When I say obsessed I mean...I listened to the album Demon Days on repeat until it fucking broke. I changed my G's when I would write by hand to match the G in their logo. I made tons of fan art and it was a damn vibe. This was the first time I really discovered fanfiction and learned what it was.

I remember reading one fanfic from some girl on this website (I'm really dating myself here, some of you will know what site this is...) Quizilla. Quizilla was THE site at the time (other than LiveJournal I think, but I never used LiveJournal and didn't know it existed at the time) for fanfiction and what you would now call "buzzfeed quizzes". This girl's writing inspired me to write my own fanfic, which I handwrote and kept in a green folder which, as I said, I still have to this day sitting in my closet.

My very first fic, and yes at 13, included some romance, some non-con (don't fucking ask me why idk even how I knew about that at 13. I was never exposed to this type of thing as a child fortunately) and other nonsense. I published it on this site, and it made me really happy. I don't remember if anyone ever read it or not tbh, but it will forever hold a place in my heart <3

My Best Friend/Emo Era

I met my best friend in high school when I was about 14. She and I are still close to this day. Not as close, but I can still tell her my most unhinged thoughts and she loves me regardless. We met because we both wrote fanfiction and lost our minds over the fact that we did. Thus started my emo era.

She was into My Chemical Romance, and I was into The Used. 2005 was a time lol. The two of us had either a binder or a composition notebook where we'd handwrite our fics and pass them back and forth between classes. I still have the ones I wrote tucked away in my house. When we'd read them she and I would leave little notes in the margins like we all leave comments today.

Most of these fics never got published, they were just for us to enjoy. I did, however, publish a fic when I was about 15, that I wrote to completion. Quizilla ended up going down, and most of us moved to Mibba.com instead, which is still a website.

Edit: I looked at Mibba, and it looks like the website is still there, but you can't search for anything, so Mibba is gone too. Not gonna lie, broke my nostalgic heart just a bit to see...Some fics I wrote on there will be gone forever. Maybe for the best, but it's still kinda sad.

The Avenged Sevenfold Era

When I tell you that Avenged Sevenfold has been my favorite band since I was 15, I'm dead ass. Are they the best band ever? Not by a long shot, but damn the way I still lose my shit over them is unhinged. Anyone who was around during this time fucking knows...they were fucking HOT. Matt Shadows really had the bulky but not shredded body type going on, they all kinda did, and I'm so here for it.

Why I'll never post any of the fics I wrote during this time, even if I get my hands on them...

I wrote them when I was 15, and I was writing about things 15 year olds shouldn't write about.

You don't know cringe until you've read those fics.

It's about real people and I'm not a fan of rpf anymore. I'm all for writing whatever you want and fiction being fiction but there's something that gives me the ick about real people fiction. No offense to anyone who writes it, that's just my feelings.

The way these guys had a hold on me for the next 5 years was ridiculous. I wrote about them a lot, by hand, on my laptop, however I could. I had so many unhinged ideas and stories it's insane. I loved every minute of it, and I always look back on this as my true start into fanfiction.

The End of an Era

All good things come to an end. After graduation, my best friend and I stayed in touch, but grew apart. I went to college and continued writing fanfic. I was pursuing a major in graphic design with a minor in creative writing. I was convinced that even though I was writing fanfiction, I was going to write a book too and it would be a bestseller.

As time went on, probably when I was about 20 or 21, I kinda stopped writing fanfiction all together. My friend wasn't really writing it anymore, and the community around Avenged Sevenfold was slowing down. I was also in the middle of a breakup and it was a whole thing, so I kinda stopped writing around this time.

I'd also, unfortunately, felt like fanfiction was for kids/teens, so didn't feel the need to continue writing anymore. I didn't want to seem like a loser writing fanfiction in my twenties...so I didn't.

For the record, you're not a loser for writing fanfiction. It's a very valid artform and it's fun. We only live for so long, so enjoy it doing what makes you happy, period. I'll probably be writing in my 50s I fucking hope lol.

Anyway, at that time, that's how I felt. I now know it's bullshit to think that way. So fanfiction fizzled out for me, and I kinda moved on to other things.

My Not-fanfiction Era

What was I doing instead of writing? Going through an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship, working on trying to build what I thought was the 'dream' (marriage, kids, a house, e.t.c.), working and playing video games.

Fortunately that relationship ended. After years of therapy (which he told me I needed because he gaslit me into thinking I was crazy lol), I grew the balls to finally tell him to fuck off and leave. It was the best decision I ever made, especially considering this was JUST before COVID hit. I shudder to this day thinking about the fact that I was almost stuck in a house with that freak during lockdown.

When that relationship ended I moved back to Maine to be with my family. I missed them and had spent basically my entire 20s in another state with some loser.

Back to Fanfiction - Kylo Ren Era

So how did I get back here? How did I get back into writing and creating fan art? The truth is, a switch literally flipped in my brain over this guy right here...

I mean...

The funny thing is, I wasn't SUPER into Star Wars before this. I liked it, I'd seen the sequel trilogy in theaters, but to me it was just a movie series. I was literally watching a Sam Collins video on YouTube where he made fun of a Kylo Ren cosplayer's thirst trap on TikTok and was like...oh that's actually kinda hot.

Thought nothing of it though, just moved on with my day...until I dreamt about him too. And then I felt this spark inside me that I couldn't shake. I literally was like...👀 something is happening here.

So I remembered this feeling from when I was a teen and recognized the impending obsession immediately. I actually googled "is fanfiction still relevant" and "is it ok to write fanfiction as an adult?"

The short answers are - yes - and - of course it is -. This was how I discovered the VERY popular Kylo Ren fic Fix Your Attitude by Kassanovella. I read it in a matter of a week, and in that time I started writing my own fic. I also rewatched ALL the Star Wars movies, and then continued rewatching the sequel trilogy on repeat just so I could get Kylo Ren's character down. I wanted to make sure I captured his voice and personality perfectly. - When I say I watched the sequel trilogy 20 times, it's not an exaggeration, I had it on constantly.-

The fic I wrote was called, Yes, Master

The first chapter of that fic was published on 09/05/2022 (one year ago today), and the last chapter was published on 10/14/2022 with a word count of 100,701. Not only is it the longest fic I've written of all the fics I've done, but it's the one I wrote the fastest. I was posting a chapter a day every day until it was finished. I mean...I literally went OFF on this story. I was so proud of it that I went to lulu.com and made myself a physical copy of it that I intend to read as part of this celebration I'm doing lol.

Wondering if anyone would be interested in me revamping this story (rewriting and updating it) and posting here? I would definitely do it if there was enough interest.

I then wrote a sequel called By Your Side which taught me SO MUCH. Here's what I learned when creating this sequel...

Not everything needs a sequel.

Writing a chapter a day isn't realistic.

I should've planned a full outline before diving into this fic.

I'm not into pregnancy fics/domestic fics all that much as far as longfics go.

It's okay to genuinely dislike something you've written and you should try to learn from that.

By Your Side is still to this day one of my least favorite fics (if not my LEAST favorite). I am still proud of myself for finishing it, (it sits at a hefty 85,599 words). I don't have to love it though. I'm just grateful for what I learned in the process of writing it and proud of myself for finishing it despite being sick of it by chapter 8 and still writing 20 chapters after that.

I also wrote my very first Yandere fic, Just You. It's a bit darker, in my opinion, than The Fractured Moon. This fic was a blast to write, and it felt very freeing to write something so disturbing. It was fun to just let myself get into a dark headspace without holding back and not feeling bad about it. It was more

The Rainbow Six Siege Era

During my time writing for Kylo, I went back to a video game I used to play a lot, Rainbow Six Siege. My Oscar Era bleeds into the Kylo and R6S era a little but I'll talk about that soon.

The Siege fandom was an interesting one...one that I'll probably not go back to much, though I may still write a little fic for it here and there as I feel inspired to. I won't dive too much into this as I know most of you are Oscar fans, but I'll mention my accomplishments here and the things I learned.

I wrote another novel-length fic for this fandom called The Recruit and the Hunter which has another 83,888 words. I actually LOVE this story, and still look back on it fondly. It was a fun one to write, and I really challenged myself to write less smut for it, and I succeeded. It focused heavily on the relationship that built between the main pairing and in my opinion it's one of my better slow-burns I've done.

Why did I leave this fandom?

Well, I'm not going to throw shade, I don't like doing that unless I have to, so I'll keep it brief. The long and the short of it is this...

The readers were getting EXTREMELY demanding. I have comments on RATH of people saying things like "I'm going to be upset if you don't give us a happy ending" and "there better be smut or I swear...". It can get really discouraging as a writer when people seem to say "I love your fic but I'll only continue to love it if you do xyz." It puts us in a dilemma, and makes it hard for us to find a balance between providing fan service, and doing what's fun for us to write. It definitely changed the outcome of RATH and I'm not happy that I gave in like that.

The requests I got were confusing and downright weird. I didn't do some of the really weird ones, and I'm not meaning to kink shame, but it was just very niche things that I couldn't get myself into. I think part of why I felt obligated to provide fan service like I mentioned in the point above, and why I caved and wrote some fanfics for these more unique requests, is because this fandom is very small, and I felt an obligation to provide.

Some of the other writers in the fandom are fucking rude. I'm not going to mention names, like I said, but I had very poor experiences with several writers in the fandom, and since I was also integrating into the Oscar fandom at the time, I could see a stark difference in the way I was being accepted in one, versus the way I was being pushed away in the other. There aren't a lot of x reader writers in the R6S fandom, and I was one of them, and there seems to be some animosity between the people who ship characters, versus the people who write x reader and that's where this mistreatment came from. I don't know, I tried making friends over there, and felt like I was getting pushed out.

So anyway, it's not for me anymore, but I still think back to certain parts of it fondly, and I may write a little more here and there as I see fit.

The Oscar Isaac Era

This really is THE era, isn't it?

As I was working on the last 10 or so chapters of Yes, Master, and after my 12th time rewatching the sequel trilogy movies, I started to fall for Poe Dameron, naturally. How could I not? I mean look at him...

So I decided that I would give Poe a prequel to my Yes, Master story called One Hell of a Pilot. This fic was so fun to write, and it's how I became involved with the Oscar Isaac community in the first place. Immediately I started following Dee, and through her I found Mona, and it was just snowballing from there. Whitney and Romana were some of the first to follow me and my shenanigans.

In December, which is when I started writing One Hell of a Pilot, another novel-length fic that ended with 80,517 words, is when I started reading Dee's fics, along with Mona's and many others. I saw their interactions and felt excited by the prospect of making new friends who were just as into some of this stuff as I was. A place that I could be myself and lose my shit over this idiot and not be judged.

I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into.

It all started with a fic that Dee had written, I can't remember which one, probably a dbf!Santi fic, and I asked the innocent question of...

What movie is this from?

Oh shit...I didn't realize what the fuck I was getting myself into. After she told me it was Triple Frontier and I should watch it, my brother and I watched it right away. I told him a friend of mine suggested it. The way we spent the entire 1.5 hours laughing at how bad it was is still a memory I hold dear to my heart. I still didn't know at the time that this loser (Oscar my beloved) would hold a place in my heart from that day on.

My first Santi fic was a headcanon about Santi w/ a plussize reader that I called Preciously Plump. A headcanon that later got a full fic, appropriately named Preciously Plump the One-shot.

So then I read something about Moon Knight, and between Dee and Mona shoving me into it (peer pressure ftw) I caved and watched the show.

Phew...

That gave way to the first Moon Knight fic I ever wrote, How Unexpected which came out on January 3rd, 2023 of this year. I was sure that between Steven's adorable nerdy behavior, and Marc's tough exterior, I'd be head over heels for those two. I was nervous to even TOUCH Jake, because I didn't know shit about his character, and the last thing I wanted to do was write a character without it sounding like them.

I was also afraid at the time of writing the Moon Boys with DID because I didn't know anything about it, and I didn't want to misrepresent something like that. After some time went by, I got my bearings, and started working on A Bit Dodgy.

ABD is definitely one of the fics I'm most proud of. I had learned a lot from my past fics I'd written, Yes, Master, e.t.c., and figured out what it was that works best when I'm writing to not only keep myself interested, but to create a good balance between smut for smut's sake, and pushing the story forward.

When I first started writing ABD, I was sure it was going to be a 30-40 chapter fic, but as I started writing it more, I realized quickly that a lot of the chapters were just porn. Is there anything wrong with that? No...but as someone who's written nearly a million words in this past year, I don't feel the need to draw my chaptered fics out with smut just to say I wrote something x chapters or x words wrong.

That's why ABD ended up getting cut down SO MUCH from my original plan. I just made some decisions that I felt maximized the story more and used the smut as a major plot device, rather than the fic revolving around smut as the plot...if that makes any sense lol. I'm happy to say, that as of today, A Bit Dodgy has concluded, though it's the only fic I've ever finished with such a heavy heart.

I was an Oscar stan HARD after that, diving into Sucker Punch and other silly little movies filled with that silly little man whom I love so so much.

Statistics

Numbers aren't important when it comes to kudos (AO3) and likes (Tumblr) so I'm not focusing on those. What I am going to focus on...is my personal accomplishments. Like I said, I don't normally toot my own horn, but I fucking wrote A LOT this year, and I'm going to take a minute to pat myself on the back.

So NOT including my random blurbs (since I'm not bothering to cross-post those)...

My total word count from 09/05/2022-09/05/2023 is (drumroll please):

791,829 words

GEE

I had thought I would've hit a million by now but I am NOT going to complain. By the grace of the horny demon that runs the smut factory in my brain, I've written more than I ever even thought possible.

In the Moon Knight fandom alone, I've written:

238,950 words

I think the only fandom I've written more for is Star Wars, but I'd have to add it all up and I'm not doing that rn haha.

Just kidding it's:

368,566 words

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I wrote 6 novel-length fics, a total of 147 works, MK holds the record for most fics I've written at a whopping 82 fics!

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It's shocking to look back and see what I've accomplished, and to look forward to seeing what else I can do. I know that this next year I won't have the same word count, probably not even close.

I'm focusing a lot on drawing now as well as writing, plus I'm working on my first novel that I'd like to publish so things will definitely be slowing down. I'm going to continue writing, but the speed at which I churn out fics will be slower in the future.

In Conclusion

Thank you all for the support throughout this year. There's no way in HELL I would've had the drive and desire to continue writing if not for the amazing community (most the Oscar Isaac community lol) behind me. It's not just the kudos and the reblogs, it's the people who I've grown to know since joining the world of fandom.

I never had a ton of IRL friends, and I live alone (happily btw) with my dog. Being able to make some friends here that I genuinely call friends, not just people I know online, has meant the world to me. I would list everyone out, but I have a fear of accidentally forgetting to tag someone despite how much they mean to me so I'll leave it at...those people know who they are.

And to my readers (I hesitate to use the word "fans", that makes it sound so conceited), thank you to the moon and back. Without out, I wouldn't have had the drive to keep going. Kudos, Likes and Reblogs aren't everything, I can't stress that enough, but they do help keep the drive alive. (Particularly the comments). Without the little boost of excitement I get when I see that other people are just excited about what I'm doing as I am, I probably would've given up ages ago.

You all are the reason that this was even possible.

With all that being said, I have a small celebration planned that I'll announce later tonight. In the mean time, stay amazing. You keep supporting me, and I'll keep providing the fics that you all love so much

Love, Melly

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bluezey · 7 months ago

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I'm just sharing this on my Tumblr because, while it's Alastor and Hazbin Hotel related, it's not related enough to spam all over the HH fan groups I follow on Facebook. And, I'm not part of any Hazbin Hotel discords at the moment, which also sucks. So for those reading this, you're welcome to spam it at those places if you think it's on topic enough. Just remember to credit me

As for everyone on Tumblr, let's go all over the place on this topic!

So, I found out much of Vivziepop's characters were made years ago, especially Alastor, she made him way back in middle school. And it made me think way back to college when I made a few of my characters.

I have a lot of them, but three stand out as the ones most used. One is named Bluesy, is an adult human female, admittedly, myself in a role playing world 😅 Another is named Tao, and while technically human, she was created in a lab to devolve humans to their nearest common ancestor, so she has special abilities up to and including a long grasping tail.

And then there's this character I want to talk about. I had to draw her to introduce her to you people, please excuse the crappy colored pencils.

Her name is Lirious, and the more I think of her, the more I realize that I may have made my own version of Alastor

Now granted there are differences, thank God, I don't want to accidentally make a carbon copy. She's a demigoddess, she's thousands of years old, she dresses like that, and she is more than happy to openly flirt into any hot male's pants. But, she is a demigoddess of chaos, she does have a prominent red and black color scheme in her outfit, she has a cane, and, no joke, did not plan this... she also loves making deals.

Now, my DeviantArt page may be gone by now, thank God. But, I made her around sophomore year in college, so that's be about... 2003, 2004. Predating Alastor by five years!

Now, let me clarify, I'm not rooting my own horn or saying I beat Vivzie to the punch. It's fun to have two chaotic beings causing chaos. My point is... how common is it for people to make their official characters, and one is an unofficial Alastor? I mean, we joke about it when we watch other media and think "oh hey, it's Alastor." But no, without even being aware, I made a character, that I find twenty years later, has some uncanny similarities. And, when I brought this up to some friends, they also said that, before they knew of Alastor's existence, they accidentally made their own unofficial Alastors too!

Maybe this is a trope to have some chaotic overpowered being just there to cause chaos with a side of move the plot, I dunno!

So, the point of the post:

One, yes, Lirious and my characters can be available for rps, but it's been a very long time, and I'd rather RP with someone who's above eighteen, because Lirious is more of a mature rated character with how horny she is 😅 The rest of the characters I can make PG, but I'd still recommend more grown up players

Two, and more importantly, have you ever made any characters and realized zed that you accidentally made an unofficial clone of another character? Especially if you didn't plan it that way, and especially if the character didn't even exist yet

Oh, and here's some Alastor for you sticking it out through my entire rambling 😅

#alastor hazbin hotel #original character

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liquidstar · 4 years ago

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I'd love to hear some of your recommendations! And I'm good without any content warnings, but since you're posting this for all your followers to see probably best to add them

Alright sure! I’ll be general then and since you’re just starting out this will sort of be bringing up a lot of really popular ones, the really good ones where the general consensus is “you gotta see this!”, but I’ll also try to give ones from different genres so you have a variety of things to pick from, so this isn’t really a list of personal favorites but I’ll throw in a couple of those too lol, but generally think of this as a handy beginners guide with just a little personal bias.

I wrote a lot so I'm gonna put them under the cut here.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist is a franchise that’s considered a must-watch, it takes place in a world where alchemy is a borderline magical power, but is considered scientific in-universe and follows scientific laws, namely the law of equivalent exchange. Something can’t be made from nothing, to gain something of equal value must be lost. The story follows the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who at the ages of 10 and 11 committed alchemy’s one and only unforgivable sin, human transmutation, in an attempt to bring their mother back to life. As a result, one brother lost his arm and leg and the other lost his entire body, leaving his soul bound to a suit of armor. However the brothers are resolute to regain their original bodies, and the older brother, Edward, joins the State Alchemists, a branch of the military, to try to gain access to research materials to help them achieve their goal. But was that really such a good idea?

Fullmetal Alchemist can be a bit confusing to get into due to the fact that there are two series: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009). The latter is a reboot with a different story that follows the original manga. They both have the same beginning, but diverge paths and tell very different stories. My recommendation for how to watch this show is: Watch 2003 first, and Brotherhood second. Everyone has a different opinion about which is better, but everyone agrees that 2003 has better backstory but a contrived ending, and Brotherhood has a rushed beginning (Because it works off the assumption that you’ve seen 2003) with a great and fulfilling ending. If you can’t do both I say just watch Brotherhood because it will leave you more satisfied and you don’t have to watch 03 to get into it.

For both series the biggest trigger warnings are: Parental death, child death, pet death, war, genocide, dismemberment, religious themes, and miscarriage. For brotherhood specifically: on-screen suicide, and for 2003 specifically: rape (not on-screen) and pregnancy from it. The 2003 series is also a lot darker than Brotherhood which has a more optimistic tone, so that’s worth noting too.

Soul Eater

A show I think is incredibly fun, and a good one for an October watch if you wanna save it. It takes place in a world where certain people have the ability to transform into weapons, and they team up with other people who become their meisters. The characters often travel around, but the main setting is Death City, a fictional city in Nevada based off of Las Vegas but with a huge Halloweentown vibe, and a school right at the top of it called the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA) where a bunch of kids that turn into weapons learn how to hunt down witches and kishins (Beings that consume human souls). The school, of course, is run by the grim reaper, Lord Death himself.

Our main characters for the series are a group of 7 students. Our protagonist Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul “Eater” Evans, a scythe. A loud mouth assassin named Black✰Star and his weapon partner Tsubaki, who has many weapon forms. And the son of the grim reaper, Death The Kid, and his two weapon partners Liz and Patty Thompson, who are twin pistols. There are also a bunch of really lively colorful background characters and antagonists, and the cast of the show being as insane as it is really makes it, on top of the great atmosphere and of course the plot, which just builds more and more as the series progresses. Also Crona is there and we all love Crona.

Trigger warnings for this show include: Child abuse (Mental and physical), manipulation, snakes and spiders (The motifs of two major villains), some very surreal moments that can verge on unreality. Also, in the dub and most subs: misgendering of a canonically trans character. Crona is a character who is non-binary, but the dub and subs use gendered pronouns for them due to general ignorance about neutral pronouns in 2008, though this isn’t the fault of the original series and falls on the translators hands.

Also it’s important to note: that the first 3 episodes are prologues and they take themselves less seriously, there’s more fanservice in them than there is in the rest of the series (Except for Blair she stays the fanservice character :pensive:)

Zombieland Saga

Idol anime is really prevalent as a genre, the most popular being Love Live, but my personal favorite is Zombieland Saga. It’s an idol anime, but it’s also a comedy about zombie girls who become idols. It sounds ridiculous but there’s an insane amount of heart in it regardless, it wasn’t a show I expected to get emotional at but I did! It also made me laugh a lot too. The series itself can serve as a bit of a subversion on what idols are, not just because they’re literally zombies, but because of who the characters are.

Sakura Minamoto is a character who starts off as a more typical idol, a peppy pure girl, as the series continues her struggle with depression gets highlighted. Saki Nikaido serves as her initial foil, a delinquent girl with a criminal record who subvers the idea of pure perfect idols. Ai Mizuno, a former idol who has since undergone severe trauma (The way she died). Junko Konno who has ideals that seem very different on what idols “should” be due to the time period she died. Lily Hoshikawa, an explicitly transgender idol. Yugiri nolastname, a former high ranking courtesan, subvering the pure image of an idol by being a sex worker. And Tae Yamada, a completely nonverbal idol who’s still treated with the same amount of importance as the rest of the team. The premise here really is just that these girls don’t fit the incredibly rigid mold of what idols should be and yet they still all deserve love and they gain a fanbase by being their earnest selves.

Trigger warnings for this series aren’t incredibly severe but since they’re zombies there’s still talks about death and they way they died (Including motorcycle/car accidents, plane crashes, getting struck by lightning, and a heart attack), there’s also comedic dismemberment, as in their arms just sort of pop on and off and stuff like that. The most notable thing is the deadnaming of Lily, the trans idol, by her father, but it doesn’t appear to be malicious in any way.

Note: this series is in the middle of it’s second season right now, if you want to wait until it’s over it should be 12 episodes long and just aired it’s 3rd, so about 9 more weeks.

Death Note

This is also absolutely another series that gets recommended to people right off the bat, and for good reason, this show is an intricate game of chess between a serial killer and a detective trying to catch him, and it’s incredibly easy to get super invested in the suspense of what happens next. The story begins when a shinigami, a god of death, drops his “Death Note” into the human world out of pure boredom. A Death Note is simply a notebook where if you write someone's name in it… They die! And who better to pick up such a powerful object than Light Yagami, a prodigy praised for his genius and academy accomplishments as well as his charm and popularity, and with a very strong but juvenile black-and-white sense of justice, likely due to being raised by a cop.

So naturally Light begins his power trip as soon as he finds the notebook, he intends to “fix” the world by cleansing it of all the bad people, but truly he intends to become the world’s new god. Or the “God of the new world” as he puts it. But there’s one thing standing in his way, a detective resolute on catching him with the codename L. The series entire crux is a game of cat and mouse between these two, as they try to outsmart each other and the murders continue, Light loses more and more of his humanity, L becomes more resolute on catching him. There are more twists and turns than a cheetah race, and it’s honestly pretty addictive to see what happens next.

Trigger warnings here obviously include a lot of death and murder, including suicide, but in some cases it’s a forced suicide at Light’s hands. Also abuse, as Light loses his humanity he isn’t above manipulating and discarding people who love him. And one instance of near-rape on screen fairly early on, but the purpitrator dies before it happens and the victim escapes.

K-On!

Slice-of-life is an incredibly popular genre, and K-On! is the quintessential example of it. It’s a series that not everyone will like, because not a lot truly happens, and it can be overly saccharine or “moe” for a lot of people, and that’s fine. But I personally think that despite not a lot happening, the story has genuine substance, more than you may gather at first glance. It’s true that not much in the way of big plot really happens, it’s mostly life events, that’s why it's a slice-of-life. But it’s not about nothing. The real theme of the show is the fleeting nature of youth. It’s about how important the friendships you form at that time are, how they’ll stick with you for a lifetime, and how everything comes to an end. It’s sweetness even becomes a little bittersweet because you knew their after school tea time would end come graduation, and as they realize this it breaks their hearts a little, but they continue on, because they’re still After School Tea Time!

The series itself is simply about 5 girls in a band, Yui Hirasawa on lead guitar, Mio Akiyama on the bass, Ritsu Tainaka on the Drums, Tsumugi Kotobuki on the Keyboard, and Azusa Nakano on Rhythm Guitar (Who shows up later). They’re in a club at school called the light music club where they waste a lot of their time just drinking tea and eating cake, but they’re having fun and that’s what counts! The series has a lot of really great direction and expressive animation despite the fact that a lot of it is just sitting around and talking, it’s incredibly visually interesting so you don’t get bored.

I honestly don’t think there are any big trigger warnings I can give for this series, maybe that Sawa-chan can be a little too forceful when she wants to dress up the girls in cute outfits sometimes but it’s usually not presented as too creepy especially after season 1 where they tone it down due to straying from the manga.

Mob Psycho 100

This series is an absolute love letter to the art of animation as a whole, the artstyle itself may not seem like much to look at but the animation is some of the most expressive, fluid, creative, and vibrant out there right now, it’s the type of series that you can tell was made with a real passion for its medium and it’s story. It’s protagonist is Shigeo Kageyama, nicknamed “Mob”, a term that literally means “Background character”. Mob is a middle school kid and an incredibly powerful psychic, like, insanely overpowered, but he’s currently working part time for a shady conman, Reigen Arataka. Though it may seem as if Reigen is just using Mob for his powers, their bond is actually a very sweet one and you can tell they care for each other, it’s a very important one at the heart of the series.

The core themes of the series itself are what really make it shine, it’s message is stated as clearly as possible in the opening songs, “your life is your own” and “if everyone is not special, maybe you can be what you want to be”. Put simply, you’re the protagonist of your own life, but the other important message of the series is that all the supposed background characters are just as important. The friends you make, the connections you have with other people and the way they impact you, they’re what make you strong. No one is born special, everyone is just a normal person, and everyone deserves kindness. It’s a series that I recommend incredibly strongly for just how powerfully it portrays this message.

Trigger warnings for this series include kidnapping, possession, a scene with a “man in a dress” joke, and a racist design for a background character. Also (spoilers) a scene where it seems like a child was murdered and a scene where it seems like Mob’s entire family was murdered.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War!

Hey, speaking of amazing animation, Kaguya-Sama is a romantic comedy series centered around the premise of two incredibly arrogant people falling in love. Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are the vice president and president of the student council at the prestigious Shuchi'in Academy, they eventually develop feelings for each other but they’re both simultaneously too proud and too insecure to admit it, so the real crux of the series is the 3D chess they play with each other to try and get the other to confess first. Along with the scatterbrained secretary, Chika Fujiawara, the treasurer in desperate need of Prozac Yu Ishigami, the cast is incredibly fun and they all fit into the comedy great. Every single little game of “do you like me?” that they play is written like the most intense thing in the world, the insane animation absolutely adds to it, making it seem almost like a psychological thriller, the comedy comes from the absurdity of just how much they hyperbolize it.

It’s not pure comedy though, due to a lot of the series being set up around mindgames, the characters are actually fairly psychologically complex with a lot of genuine development stemming from their childhood to explain why they are the way they are. The series may be about mindgames, but the actual narrative frames them as a juvenile way to go about relationships, a way to try to protect yourself from getting hurt because you’re afraid to trust. The entire core theme is that communication in relationships of any kind is the most important thing and you cant replace it with clever little tricks, so the main pair only ever make actual progress when they’re actually upfront with each other. Even if it’s scary to be that vulnerable with someone, especially if you’ve been hurt in the past like they have, the relationships you build off of mutual trust and openness will be worth the risk, and they can help heal you. And one of the things I love about the series is that this doesn’t just apply to the main pair, but it places equal emphasis on the importance of friendship. All the characters' relationships with each other are unique and interesting and they all develop the same way, with trust and openness, and they become better because of each other.

Despite being generally a comedy, a lot of the characters deal with some really heavy things too so trigger warning for: child abuse (not on-screen), child abandonment (again not on screen), anxiety and panic attacks, suicidal ideation- initionally played off as a joke but it becomes very obvious the character in question is legitimately suicidal and in the manga he nearly attempts it but is stopped, this plotpoint will most likely be in the anime at some point as it’s also not complete.

Your Lie In April

Alright I gave you a funny show now I’m going to make you cry. In fact it’s hard for me to type this synopsis because I’m an absolute crybaby and thinking about this show gets me, but I think it’s absolutely worth checking out because it’s a very beautiful sadness. Your Lie In April is a series that follows the stress and trauma young musical prodigies face in their lives, as well as the people around them, and it’s a series about the beauty of music and art, and just how much it affects people. The music in the show is absolutely gorgeous, the way that they convey emotion through it is so beautiful and intricate that it just sticks with you. You feel the music, and you understand.

I’m actually going to give the trigger warnings right now instead of at the end because in order to explain the plot I’ll have to talk about them so tw for: Child abuse (phsyical and mental, on-screen), terminal illness, death, in depth depictions of PTSD, vomiting, panic attacks, the works.

The series follows Kousei Arima, a formal piano prodigy who hasn’t performed since the death of his mother two years ago. Kousei's mother was terminally ill, but she was also incredibly abusive. Kousei has incredibly complex feelings about his mother because of this. The trauma she instilled in him is severe, but because he was a child, he still is a child, and he loved his mom a lot, as any child would, and he didn’t want her to die and he blames himself for not being good enough. He wanted to make her happy, and the only way he knew how to do that was to play the piano. So he played and played and practiced until he was perfect, they called him the human metronome. But he would still get severely punished for being anything less than perfect. He had lost all the passion he once had, and after his mother died it was the final nail in the coffin, his trauma manifests now in a way that makes him unable to play. But all that changes one day in April when he meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono, a girl full of life and passion for music, she’s someone who according to Kousei “Exists in springtime.” and she’s going to help him play again and refined that love for music whether he wants to or not! Teen drama happens of course, but there are much bigger roadblocks ahead.

Assassination Classroom

This series is thankfully generally more lighthearted… Most of the time at least. The premise is pretty simple, but incredibly ridiculous. An incredibly powerful octopus-like creature is the teacher of a classroom of middle school students tasked with the assignment of assassinating him in order to save the world. The series starts off very slice-of-life as it focuses on introducing the very large cast of characters inside of Class E, also known as the “end class”, but it quickly gains traction and gets a lot more intense as time goes on.

The octopus creature in question, Korosensei, is actually a very kind and genuinely good teacher to all his students. The real crux of the series is that it’s sort of a critique on the educational system, the students in the end class are there because they’ve been ostracized from the rest of the campus, far away in the mountains, to be made examples of. Why? Because they’re students that are considered worthless, instead of getting help they’re only pushed back further down in the system and left to struggle within it fruitlessly. They’re given up on, despite being children with so much potential, because they don’t fit a very rigid mold. That’s what Korosensei wants to help them with, and they’re able to grow as people together. As the series progresses you feel such a great sense of unity for the class, they’re like a family, they stick together and it’s very heartwarming. And watching them work as a team of assassins is so fun!

However the series can get heavy at times too, it doesn’t stray from heavier subject matter at all and i found myself incredibly shocked by it a few times, so trigger warning for: Child abuse (on-screen and off), both at the hands of a parent and a teacher and in one case a parent who is also the principal, misgendering of a character, sometimes as a “joke” but other times played dead serious at the hands of his mother, child death- specifically suicide, a successful one as well as 3 assassination attempts that doubled as suicide attempts by the main 3 characters (weird parallel they all got there huh)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Honestly this is a series that is good to go in blind for if you need to tws, it’s a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, but if you don’t want to know more than that you can stop reading here. If you want to know more, it’s a series that starts off very light-hearted and in tune with typical magical girl conventions at first, however by episode 3 it’s made painfully clear that these girls are being led to sign up into something they shouldn’t. It’s heavy, though not incredibly so, but it’s also a lot to explain in a summary. Madoka magica is… It’s Faust with magical girls.

I’ll explain as much as I can without giving too much away. The story begins when Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki encounter a creature who calls itself Kyubey, who says it can grant a wish of theirs and in exchange they have to become magical girls and fight witches. Both the girls are hesitant, but Sayaka wants to wish for her childhood friend’s injuries to be cured so he can play violin again, while Madoka is content as she is and can’t think of a wish. Luckily they have a mentor, a magical girl named Mami Tomoe who helps introduce them to everything. However something is stopping Madoka from becoming a magical girl, a mysterious new student who is also one herself, Homura Akemi, is resolute on keeping Madoka from becoming a magical girl by all means possible, for reasons Madoka doesn’t understand. Things get even more complicated when a rival magical girl shows up, Kyoko Sakura, who becomes Sayaka’s new rival. As things get more heated between those two they discover a terrible secret about the nature of magical girls, and what they truly signed up for.

Spoilers ahead but trigger warning for: Child death, parental death (backstory only), decapitation (off-screen), needles, incredibly surreal imagery inside the witch’s labyrinths that may feel unreal, mind control, suicide, depression and despair expressed by young characters. Also don't bother with Magia Record

The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K.

Alright something lighthearted now, there are a lot of comedy anime I enjoy, a lot of series that have made me laugh, but none has made me bust a gut like this series has, it’s absolutely hilarious. It follows the life of a boy named Saiki Kusuo who has psychic powers. His powers are incredibly overpowered, and he absolutely hates them, in his eyes they cause him nothing but trouble. There’s not much in the way of a plot to describe, because there isn’t any, the series is comprised of 5 minute segments surrounding Saiki and an incredibly vast and colorful cast of characters that are just all completely insane, many serve as parodies as types of anime tropes because the series as a whole is very self aware and doesn’t shy from breaking the fourth wall a lot, but the characters surrounding Saiki are what make his life… Disastrous.

Like I said there’s not really a plot to describe but like FMA people may get confused with this one, there are 3 seasons but one of them is titled “The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K: Reawakened” as is a continuation of the first two with just 6 episodes in it. Also for some reason only the second season isn’t dubbed so if you’re planning on watching it that way you’d have to either stop or switch to subs for season 2

The only major tw I can give here is an ongoing joke about a character being into his sister, he’s treated as disgusting for it of course because he’s a parody of that trope but that doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable, luckily he doesn’t show up much.

Little Witch Academia

Little Witch Academia is a series I personally just adore, it takes place in a world where witches are common and well-known among the people, but the era of witches is over and magic is dying out. However that doesn’t mean passion of magic doesn’t exist, the protagonist is a young girl named Atsuko Kagari, or Akko for short. She’s resolute on being just like her icon, a witch known as Shiny Chariot, as she attends the same magic school: Luna Nova! Unfortunately Akko isn’t exactly a magical prodigy, in fact she can’t even fly a broom, but that’s not gonna stop her, nothing will. Just like Chariot said, believing in yourself is your magic.

Once at school Akko gets into all types of crazy shenanigans with her with her two roommates, Lotte Yanson and Sucy Manbavaran, and occasionally her rival, Diana Cavendish. Akko still struggles a lot in school, in fact her inability with magic is pretty explicitly handled as a metaphor for a learning disability, and though this makes it harder for her she’s still resolute. Though the series is generally episodic, a concrete plot starts to form by the second core. Along with the help of her guidance counselor, Professor Ursula, Akko learns that she needs to unlock 7 “words” to bring magic back to the world, each time she learns a new one it comes with an important lesson to her and ultimately relates back to each of the core themes of the series

The series is pretty lighthearted so the biggest trigger warning I can give is one for bullying, two characters in particular tend to target Akko for not being a good witch and it can really sting to watch. Other than that none come to mind

#if you want stuff out of a more specific genre i can give a list of those too but this is like. general

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fanficflaneuse · 4 years ago

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One Day - Part 6

A/n (and disclaimer): Dear magical tumblr friends, I’m really moved by the great reception this series has had. It is my baby, my first series and also my way of navigating through these trying times. I hold it dear to my heart and knowing you guys like it just makes me ten times happier. Thanks for all the love and support.

Having said that, please don’t hate me for this chapter. It’s peak drama. It can’t get much worse than this (in this series, at least). It broke my heart a little, tbh, but it is important. There’s angst. Both Draco and Ernie behave like arseholes. A little bit of swearing...I’m crossing my fingers for you to like this.

I have also have some news. Remember when I said on the last A/N that chapter 5 was the middle of the series? I lied a tiny bit. I had planned for 10 parts. Now we have 12 lol So this is the actual half of the series.

Dear anon who sent me that angsty / fluffy request, if you’re reading this, last night I came up with a very detailed story line which I’m really excited about. I’ll write that as soon as I finish all of this.

This part includes a quote of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brönte. Also, one or two quotes come from the actual movie.

Anyway, enjoy!

Draco x reader (she/her pronouns) Word count: 2184 Summary: One day AU. Post-war. Since The Battle of Hogwarts, Draco and y/n meet one day a year.

Masterlist

3 May, 2003

(Y/N) sat in the farthest corner of an intimate muggle restaurant. She looked at her wristwatch for what had to be the twentieth time. Draco was two hours late. By now, (Y/N) figured she shouldn’t be surprised. What disconcerted her the most was the fact that she had waited for him. She was about to ask for the check and apparate back home when he waltzed into the restaurant. The man who (Y/N) saw approaching to her was not the sweet and very troubled friend she cuddled with, but rather the asshole that used to bully her and her friends back in school. He walked with his chest puffed, a cocky smile on his lips and an arrogant expression on his face. He was not her Dray, but rather Malfoy.

It took her no time to figure out he had been drinking. (Y/N) rolled her eyes, trying to disguise the hurt and disappointment she felt. He regarded her seriously for a minute. Draco hadn’t seen (Y/N) since that incident at the manor. They tried really hard to keep in touch. Draco’s life at the moment, though, didn’t allow for a lot of profound communication, mainly because he wasn’t honest, not even with himself. He’d drink every single day and party every other night. He’d wake up with strangers, squander his fortune in casinos and pick up stupid fights. Without fail, their owls would travel back and forth every week, but the letters sometimes mounted to absolutely nothing.

Seeing her in front of him, Draco found (Y/N) as beautiful as ever. He realized he was still in love with her, despite his efforts to drown his feelings for her – along with everything else. Perhaps, as contradictory as it sounds, the frustration he felt while having (Y/N) (Y/L/N) in front of him, made him behave like his old self. She was a symbol of everything he wanted and couldn’t have, of every bad thing he thought about himself, of how undeserving and inadequate he was. Much like when he was in school, all of that turned him into an absolute prick.

Draco asked for a whiskey. As he did so, he checked the waitress out. (Y/N) scoffed.

“What?” he defended, as the redhaired waitress walked away, “she’s pretty for a muggle.”

(Y/N)’s eyes widened. He had changed so much in three years after the war…and now he made comments that took her back to her first few years at Hogwarts. (Y/N) wondered why had she accepted his invitation for dinner in the first place. What was she expecting, really? Her friend – if you could call him that at this point – was not there anymore. He was replaced with the insufferable git Draco Malfoy was meant to be all along.

“So,” he said, trying to diffuse the tension, “what’s new with you?”

(Y/N) didn’t feel much like speaking to him right now. She looked away. Draco was hurt by this, but he pressed on. He needed her confirmation that he was a tosser. He needed her to tell him that he was worthless, that she didn’t love him or believed in him. He needed that reminder because he wanted to kiss her so badly, but he knew he wasn’t good enough for her. He wasn’t good enough for her love or her forgiveness or faith. He wasn’t good enough for redemption. He was a villain. He had been, anyway. And people believed it. So, he had to play his part.

“Are you still with MacMillan?” he asked, trying to act nonchalant, as if the news of her relationship hadn’t affected him deeply.

As (Y/N) nodded, Draco’s whole body was filled with jealousy. He knew he couldn’t be with her. He knew she was better off with someone like Ernie MacMillan than himself.

And yet.

(The combination of those two words seemed to haunt him whenever (Y/N) was the topic).

“Even you can do better than that,” he spat.

He was being so nasty that his self-hatred was reaching dangerous levels. People believed this façade to be his true colours, even more than when he actually tried to reveal himself as he truly was. Why, then, wasn’t (Y/N) leaving? Why was she still sitting in front of him? Why would she look at him with those wounded eyes, with that broken heart, and yet keep giving him chances?

The waitress came back with their drinks. The brief interruption allowed (Y/N) to take a deep breath. She still didn’t know what she was doing there. Even if it was her love for him that glued her to the table, at this point he had already exceeded what was acceptable and even healthy. She was on the verge of tears.

“Why are you behaving like your idiotic Hogwarts self?” she asked.

“Speaking about Hogwarts, how’s the teaching?” he countered, completely ignoring her question.

(Y/N) sighed and for some reason decided tell him. Maybe that would shift the atmosphere a little. She told him that her approach to DADA tried to resemble professor Lupin’s: theory and practice in every single class. (Y/N) talked so passionately about her job and her students that it was hard for Draco not to hang onto her every word. For a second there, (Y/N) saw the ghost of a genuine smile playing on his lips. In that fleeting moment, she felt satisfied.

This feeling, of course, came crashing down with his scornful remark: “that’s good enough, I guess”.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked through gritted teeth. She wished he had just shrugged it off again, but he had an answer ready and he shot to kill.

“Well, (Y/N), you know what they say,” he said, not even meeting her eyes. His finger was playing with the rim of his empty glass.

“No, Draco, enlighten me. What do they say?” she asked, bracing herself for a scathing remark.

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” he answered offhandedly.

(Y/N) felt the anger scorching her insides. She glared at him, a fire in her eyes Draco hadn’t seen in the longest time. In that moment, all of her sadness fuelled her irritation as she stood up. The seat fell behind her.

“And she who can’t will hex you,” she stammered before stomping out of the restaurant.

Draco had finally pushed away the only person that believed in him. He thought he was going to feel a bit better, given that had sacrificed himself for her safety. She deserved better. Then why was he feeling so empty and stupid? Leaving more money than he had to on the table, he rushed after his best friend. Draco followed her to an alley where she was about to apparate. He grabbed her by her hand and noticed she was crying.

“What do you want, Draco? What else do you want?” her voice was hoarse and desperate.

“I – I’m sorry,” he murmured.

(Y/N) had to conjure all of her self control to answer to him. “I don’t know what’s the reason for you to put up this horrible façade, Draco. I can read right through you and I trust this…this git I had the misfortune of spending my evening with is not the real you. But I can’t do much about it. Do you want to live your life as the entitled prick you were back in school? So be it.”

“(Y/N)…”

“I love you, Draco. I really do. I just don’t like you anymore.”

(Y/N) didn’t even spare him a second glance before apparating. Once alone, Draco broke down completely. This was not what it was supposed to be like.

...

(Y/N) wiped away the tears in her eyes as she opened the door to her flat. The lights were on, every single one of them. She specifically recalled turning everything off before leaving, so she clutched her wand and walked cautiously around her duplex. Much to her relief, all she found was Ernie sitting crossed-legged in the middle of her bed. She relaxed at first, but then she realized that was also a very strange sight. (Y/N) noticed that he was clutching a notebook in his hands and was eyeing it furiously.

“What are you doing?” Ernie’s eyes shot up. She realized that the notebook he was reading was her diary and her heart almost stopped.

“What is this?” he shouted, tossing her diary at her.

(Y/N) flinched. She knew exactly what he had read and guilt started to eat her up.

“(Y/N),” he roared.

She didn’t meet his eyes, fresh tears welling on her own. Ernie picked the notebook from the ground and started reading out loud.

“I love Draco. I love him with every beat of my broken heart?!” he pressed all of his anger into very single word, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”

(Y/N) didn’t want to listen to her own foolish words. “Stop! Stop, Ernie!”

“I believe Draco feels undeserving of a good life,” he carried on anyway, “I, (Y/N), know he is undeserving of a good life.”

“Ernie, please,” she said, her voice barely audible at this point. She tried to take the book from him, but he just ran out of the room, reading and mocking her in the process.

“I hope those self-destructive behaviours don’t consume him,” he continued, “I, on the other hand, sincerely hope they do.”

When (Y/N) could finally retrieve her diary, they were engulfed by a rancorous silence. They stared at each other for the longest time, not moving an inch. She was inconsolable. His heartbreak pushed him to behave like Draco less than an hour before him.

“I am also a pureblood, (Y/N).”

“What?” the comment seemed very out of place.

“My last name is on the list of the Sacred Twenty-Eight,” he said, adopting a haughtiness she had never seen in him, “My family can be traced back to nine generations of wizards and witches.”

“Ernie, what does that have to do with anything?”

“For the past three hours or so I’ve been racking my brain, trying to think what in the world could you possibly see in Malfoy. The only logical solution I see is that you’re more biased towards blood purity than what you actually admit. Now, I can’t blame you, but –“ (Y/N)’s hand collided spectacularly with Ernie’s cheek.

Had it been a different situation, she would even feel proud about the print of her palm on his face. But rage was seeping from his every pore and (Y/N) felt humiliated. Before he could retort, she barked:

“How dare you!”

“I’ve given you everything. I tried to make this work, (Y/N). I really fancy you, love you even. But not even once have you said those three words to me and yet that…that death eater trash gets all the praise and love and poems and multiple entries on your diary? Bloody hell!”

(Y/N) didn’t know why, but the first thing that occurred to her was to defend Draco Malfoy from Ernie: “he’s not death eater trash.” In that moment, she seriously wanted to slap herself.

Ernie looked at her as though she was insane. “Is that seriously all you got from what I just said?” he said in disbelief.

Before she could even answer he just shook his head. “You know what? Just forget about us, (Y/L/N),” he said before storming off.

(Y/N) sat down in the middle of her room. She felt like a bad person, a very stupid bad person. She had let Draco stomp all over her feelings and broke Ernie’s heart in the process. Why were feelings and relationships so hard and confusing?

All of a sudden, she felt a pair of arms engulf her in a hug. She smelled Ernie’s cologne and sobbed loudly into his chest.

“I am very sorry,” she said.

“Listen to me, (Y/N). I hope we can be friends in the future. I’m much too hurt right now…and I’d be lying if I told you I don’t resent you,” he said wiping away the tears from her eyes and forcing her to look at him. He was also crying.

“But you’re precious and I’d be honoured to have you in my life in whatever capacity,” he finished.

“I feel terrible, Ernie,” she sniffled, “but it would be an honour and a pleasure to have you as my friend…eventually.” They shared a hug and cried a little more.

When they both calmed down, things were strangely nice and light between them. Ernie praised her writing and encouraged her to publish even more.

“I know you adore your job as a teacher, love, but this,” he said pointing at the catastrophic diary, “is really your thing and the world needs more of your writing.”

(Y/N) couldn’t believe her luck. The fact that he was still here, regardless of what had just happened between them, made her heart swell. She was mesmerized by his Hufflepuff traits, his loyalty and friendliness showing up even when he was hurting.

Before he left, he kissed her forehead and told her a few words that would haunt her dreams:

“Be careful, princess. Malfoy really doesn’t deserve you.”

Tags: @fandomscombine @okaydraco @naomi02hook @iliketoast23 @winnsmills @oldfashionedlovergirlsblog @happycomb

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beebleboosuwu · 4 years ago

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Alright.

There are a lot of conflicting emotions about having The Music Man kicking out Beetlejuice from the Winter Garden. Although I am bitter that one of my favourite musicals is being replaced in favour of money and two big names is just.. not sitting right, but I am open to everything and trying to look at everything with open eyes and an unbiased opinion.

Did Will Blum’s influence this a little? Yes.

Was the post a little unsound and unprofessional? I think so but it brought up some great points.

Yes, I agree. The fact that you are selling a name instead of a GREAT show is disrespect to the source material. Hugh Jackman is an awesome guy and his tenure as the Boy From Oz is forever embedded into Broadway his(her)story as being a stepping stone for Hugh’s career. Also you have Broadway star, Sutton Foster, another big name who, if you are a theatre lover, can’t help but fawn and scream in excitement.

We all know and love Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine/James Howlett/ Logan, that’s what people associate him as such. Fun fact he played that role from 2000-2018. Wolverine is known to be big, all muscle and raw strength, but in the theatre world we know him as a musical theatre actor. Jackman first claim to international's fame was in 1999 when he played the leading man, Curly McLain, in the film adaptation of Oklahoma! He played the titular character Peter Allen in Boy from Oz in 2004 which he won a Tony for and Jean Valjean in the film adaptation of Les Miserables in 2012 while that wasn't the best adaptation of that musical, they did include Broadway and West End actors which was awesome! And lastly the most recent entry musical/film role was P.T Barnum in The Greatest Showman, Jackman went on tour last year singing songs from The Greatest Showman and some other songs from other musicals he previously worked in. He is an amazing vocalist, actor and dancer. His performance in Boy From Oz says as such in a review by Charles Isherwood: praising Jackman but panned the show: "Jackman is giving a vital and engaging performance in this pitifully flimsy musical almost in spite of the material he’s been handed. It’s a sad waste of an exciting talent." I’m pumped.

Sutton Foster is a Broadway actress that is well known for her two-time Tony award winning performance as Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She has also roles from other shows such as: Chess, Funny Girl, Les Miserables, Anything Goes, Grease and MANY more. I knew her best as Reno Sweeney from Anything Goes, her vocals are nothing but extraordinary and her acting is nothing to sleep on, she is an excellent dancer and I cannot help to try and recreate in my bedroom when I’m alone. You can say all you want about her, but she is one of the Broadway actresses I know from the top of my head, alongside Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess and Liza Minelli. She is also the younger sister of Hunter Foster of Little Shop of Horrors and Urinetown fame. Foster is going to be amazing as Jackman's partner in the upcoming production and honestly as a fan, I am so excited!

They are both triple threats but.. no one knows a lot about the Music Man. It is a classic and has been around since the late 50′s.

Broadway, coming into the new decade of 2020, is becoming more MODERN. All these new musicals that have come out during this past decade might not have made it to Broadway but they are more aligned with the changing times and modern settings. Though there are musicals based on films from the 80′s that reach out to that generation and reintroduce them into that mind space they were in back in the day.

American Idiot, great musical, angsty music but has that throwback niche to that rebellious stage some, or not most, of us went through in the 2000′s.

Elf, that also starred Will Blum at one point, is fan service to those who love the holiday season and those who loved the film that came out in 2003. I haven't listened to it yet BUT I WILL EVENTUALLY.

Heathers, we all love the Heathers. Also Winona Ryder, who played Lydia Deetz in the 1988 Beetlejuice film, starred as Veronica Sawyer. Like Elf, IT BRINGS INTEREST TO THAT GENERATION SO THEY COULD BUY TICKETS TO THIS SHOW THAT WAS BASED ON A FILM THEY WATCHED AS TEENS. Also can we just forget about the horrible rendition of Candy Store done by the cast of Riverdale? That never happened. NEVER. HAPPENED.

Beetlejuice, Come From Away, Ghost, Once, Book of Mormon, Finding Neverland, Newsies, Kinky Boots, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Big Fish, 21 Chump Street, Amélie, Be More Chill, Hamilton, Head Over Heels, Lazarus, School of Rock, Something Rotten!, Tuck Everlasting, Waitress, Anastasia, Hadestown, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Prom, Ain’t Too Proud, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Frozen, Mean Girls, Six, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical, The Lightning Thief, Jagged Little Pill, Moulin Rouge!, The Cher Show, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, & Juliet, Mrs. Doubtfire.

These are SOME of the MANY shows that came out this decade!

Some musicals are entirely satirical so that was a niche for audiences who love the weird and messed up humour, some musicals are named after the films or shows they were based off of. So old audiences can take interest into coming to Broadway, okay I get that because again, nostalgia, some are entirely original or had little to no source material! Some are based around history, some about civil rights issues and some of them are jukebox musicals that appeal to people who like those artists.

Broadway has always been conservative and prefers to play it safe when it comes to opening a new productions and the dominant audiences have been older and more traditional. So that stereotypical Broadway show people think of is just that, the lead character getting their “want song” in, a lot of dancing, internal or external conflict that ultimately gets resolved with cheerful songs and set pieces. Although newer audiences want those boundary pushing shows so CAN get introduced to musicals like the Music Man, it means nothing if they were never introduced to the strange and unusual first. Everyone wants to advance to find that next big thing but they can’t do that when it is all safe but we did get some of them with Cats, Beetlejuice, Carrie, Matilda The Addams Family and more.

I totally get the interest of bringing back a musical that hasn’t been on Broadway for 20 years (last performance was in 2000) and it is a great way to reintroduce an old piece back into the world again, but it was at the expense of new artists making their Broadway dream a reality. The decision to evict, not close, evict Beetlejuice from the Winter Garden was a big mistake by the Schubert Organization. The Schubert Organization is one of the biggest landlord of theatres in New York, they at least own 17 Broadway theatres. Here’s the reason why they’re so successful:

They don’t keep shows that don't bring the cold hard cash. It’s show business, it has always been about the business and never about the show. As much as we could scream and shout to keep Beetlejuice in the Winter Garden all we want, it is unfortunately their decision to keep them or boot them out. We all know that productions have to be approved by a theatre organization so that production can be leant one of their many theatres, they show also had to keep up a total of sales from tickets above that number per week. As all of you know, that’s what happened with Beetlejuice. Ticket sales dried up and fell way below the amount. There was talk around the theatre community that a production of the Music Man was in the works with Hugh Jackman as the lead. So... they saw Beetlejuice as dead weight and sought out to cash in on Hugh Jackman’s name and fame.

There was a lot of problems from the show but most of their problems came from the critics. Mixed reviews was all the show got but the biggest blows came from the New York Times and Ben Brantley saying that the show never came to that same conclusion of home and belonging like other Broadway shows. This killed their ticket sales cause everyone goes through those reviews before they see a show. However that’s the thing, Beetlejuice never wanted that. The entire creative team and the cast knew that what they had was entirely unconventional, like it was their way sticking of the middle finger at the word conventional.

There's no doubt that the Music Man, Hugh Jackman, Sutton Foster and the cast and creative team will be amazing at the Winter Garden and it is highly unfortunate that the eviction of Beetlejuice was done for the sake of financial greed. I’m glad they were only evicted and not closed, the show IS still on and the public demand for the show is high. I know a lot of us hate the decision but what could you do? It’s all about the business aspect of Broadway and never the show.

Even though Beetlejuice had its problems with its opening following the Harvey Weinstein controversy, having the Music Man revival during this time of political conflict is a little awkward. Let’s trade a sexual, murderous demon for a eulogized conman.. that seems right.

I’m sure the show will be fantastic but the circumstances leading up to the opening is shady and not shining a good light for the Schubert Organization but lets not hate the actors and the creative team of the Music Man, they didn't do anything wrong. Instead, point that dislike to corporate greed, but is okay. The show is not closed and is only evicted from the theatre. Eventually they will find a new theatre on or off Broadway for everyone’s enjoyment again! Also that National Tour is coming up in Fall 2021 I believe, I personally can’t just fly to New York but I will be watching the National Tour if it does roll by where I live.

Keep safe my friends 💚🤍🖤

#savebeetlejuice #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice broadway #Beetlejuice musical #Beetlejuice bway #opinions #music man 2020 #im sad #really sad #like #the marquee #is so ugly #why #uhhhh #I am being bitter

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hija-del-trueno · 4 years ago

Text

I know that forever could never be enough

I tried hard to finish this before Valentine’s Day ended but life happened and the perfectionist in me has reviewed and edited it again and again.

I was given the immense honor and privilege to gift @paddingtonfan69 and I think all of us Stepril shippers know that paddingtonfan is one of our greatest contributors. We all holler at each other on Twitter and Tumblr when they’ve posted. Time and time again they have constantly raised the bar for us all, and doing it flawlessly. (Lol) Paddingtonfan really surprises us with every piece of fic they drop. The horny teen cinamatic universe would literally not exist without them.

So aside from meeting my gift exchange responsibilities I wanted to create an homage of some sorts. I probably haven’t done it any near justice to the great work paddingtonfan puts out but I really hope you enjoy and also super happy to have participated in this gift exchange.

I’ll stop stanning now. 😉

i. Ellen

The year is 2003. The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon re-entry over Texas (a tragedy). Arnold Schwarzenegger has been elected the Governor of California (since when do actors qualify as politicians?). Finding Nemo has come out (Dory is her, she is Dory). And Ellen Johnson, 16 yr old Willingham Junior, just got her first car.

The car is....well it’s a car. A minivan to be exact. It’s a 1987 Toyota Townace LE and the only reason why she even has the privilege of riding such a trash heap is because her grandfather has just passed away and he left it for her in his will. And that’s really the only thing he left for her in his will.

She’s not ungrateful, but the car is old and falling apart.

“It’s as old as you, and you’re running just fine,” says grandma. If only grandma understood that cars don’t run on the same timeline as humans.

But Ellen understands, they are poor. Dirt, redneck, poor. She grew up in a mobile home park at the edge of Sylvan Hills and Oakland City. Her grandparents, Easton and Elise Johnson, raised her after her mother, who was quite frankly a crackhead, dropped her off right after she was born. She has no idea who her father is and the only reason she knows who her mother is, is because occasionally she’ll show up to ask for money for drugs.

When Ellen was 5, her mother came by and practically wrecked the motor home. The woman had binged for a full week and came searching for more. Ellen cried and cried when the few toys she had were swung left and right, at least until her Grandma Elise had the sense to grab her and lock them up in the bathroom while Easton made the crazy woman go away.

As she held her and comforted her, Grandma Elise whispered, “The Lord made loved and cares for you very much, do you understand me baby girl. He has deposited His Grace on you and you must never be afraid. Always be brave, got that?”

Now that Grandpa Easton is gone, Ellen fears it’s only a matter of time before Grandma Elise is gone too. But she’s not scared, she’s always taken things in stride. Growing up she was the star pupil of her elementary school, middle school, and Sunday school. Her heart was always in serving others and despite not having the monetary access to help financially she sought to help through her time and talents.

At the age of 10 she was serving food in soup kitchens on the weekends. By the time she was finishing up middle school she was already the Bible School Coordinator for her church’s children ministry as well as a cherished volunteer in the community.

And word carried through because a week before finishing middle school her youth pastor called her. Apparently, a friend of his’s father was on the board of Willingham Academy and was offering a full scholarship to attend. Ellen got a tour of the place before school started and she was beyond awed at the opportunity the Lord had blessed her with. Without a doubt, Ellen said yes.

In her excitement and haste, there were a lot of things she overlooked. For one, Sylvan Hills to Buckhead was a train and bus ride shy of an hour and fifteen minutes.

There were other things too. Like how the kids there were all rich and snooty. But Ellen paid it very little mind, she focused more, prayed more, read her Bible more, and grew as God meant it to be.

So having a car truly was a blessing. Even if the car in question was a jallopey. She drove it in carefully to the Willingham parking lot, meaning to not catch any of the student body’s attention. Sneakily she got out of the minivan, her head down, gripping her backpack straps tightly to make haste.

“Johnson! What the helllll is that thing?” Unfortunately no haste could save her from her regularly scheduled tormentor Jake.

“Just my new whip, Jake,” she explained defeatedly, moving her feet quicker to get past him. Eventually he and his goons stood in front of her, blocking her path.

“Is that what they sell at redneck dealerships or is that all you could afford?” His others friend sniggered behind him.

Honestly one would think Jake’s comebacks were good considering they were standing in a private academic institution, but they were extremely subpar. Ellen didn’t respond, instead she looked ahead rolling her eyes.

Catching a whiff of her rebelliousness, he stepped closer to her to whisper venom in her ears. “Uh uh Ellen. Learn your place. You don’t belong here remember and you never will.”

It was really beyond Ellen how high school was so much like the movies she’d watch. There was the high school caste system and in Willingham she knew she might have never reached the top. Jake was mad because she was popular and she wasn’t popular by their means of popularity. She certainly didn’t have money or cars or mansions. She was popular because she was extremely kind and was always helping out. Ellen exuded confidence (in the Lord) and people just gravitated around her for advice and nurture.

She easily paid Jake and his bullying no mind. Besides on a daily basis she had bigger fish to fry, like making sure her and her grandma had food on the table and shelter over her head.

Jake stepped back and announced rather loudly, “And don’t park your trash heap close to our cars! We wouldn’t want our tricked out vehicles to get scratched with your deplorable junk.”

“Oh now Jake, don’t be mean,” a voice interrupted behind him. Ellen felt the heavens opened up a bit more to shine upon the angelic voice that had chimed in.

One of the other reasons Ellen was so popular. June Lee. The most popular girl in school, June was a true, modern Southern Belle. Her family was excruciatingly, filthy rich.

“Well, I am a descendant of Robert E Lee himself,” she’d joke in her thick drawl. Ellen wouldn’t be surprised if she was.

June was also extremely beautiful. She had spent her life in the beauty pageant circuit and had only lost twice. Both times later proven to have been bought by her most envious opponents. June was taller than most girls, blonde hair cascading well past her shoulders, light green eyes, and fairly leans and strong (she was in fencing). The blonde bombshell, the Willingham student body would whisper.

Most importantly though, June was Ellen’s best friend. And honestly, Ellen praised God everyday for their friendship. She couldn’t have survived Willingham without her. When she first came to school and everyone had made fun of her for her unapproved uniform (an overly large blazer from Goodwill, and a black sweater vest from her grandpa’s closet), it was June who’d give Ellen her old (but really practically brand new) set of uniforms. Everything Ellen needed to know of how the upper echelon lived, June taught her.

Sure, June had other girls fawn around her. June’s Disciples they’d call them, but if Ellen was a disciple she’d be John, the Beloved Disciple. It was no surprise to anyone that June would come to Ellen’s defense.

“Of course, Queen Virgin shows up,” Jake mutters. A silly nickname, considering that everyone here in a Christian academy is probably a virgin. At least, Ellen thinks.

“Now come Ellen, there is much to discuss and little time.” It’s like the seas part, the group of boys move and a hand pulls at her wrist willing her to continue on her original destination. “I like your car,” June smiles at her once they’re walking side by side, “it has...character.”

They make it to the fellowship room into the small office located inside. It’s technically Ethan’s office but he’s also the Baseball Coach and he just never uses this space so he loans it to the Fellowship leader. And well, June happens to also be Fellowship leader.

Inside, there’s already a Bible and a Fig Newton waiting for Ellen. Normally, Monday’s are for planning out the scriptures for the week ahead. They sit side by side and flip through the pages of God’s word and jot down notes. At least June is doing that, Ellen...well lately Ellen has been distracted.

The butterflies in her stomach haven’t quelled. They never have. They’ve been fluttering inside her since she met June. But now things were coming undone. Now, everything about June seemed more poignant, more beautiful. The girl could trip and Ellen would still think she was an angel. But it was so much more than attraction. June really cared for her, listened to her, and was loyal to her. So in return Ellen was there for her as well. It’s the least she can offer in the relationship.

June blushes. “Now I know you’re not staring at the Word of God like that. What’s got you all worked up?”

“You,” Ellen says and then gasps. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “I mean, sorry.”

The taller girl smirks. “I think we talked about this before.” Many times this year after Ellen came clean to her.

“Yes of course. It’s just really hard sometimes.” Ellen wanted badly for this “crush” to fade away, but it was persistent and if she didn’t know any better she’d say it was growing.

June finally turns to look at her. There’s understanding in her eyes, and something akin to longing, a tinge of it. “We mustn’t fall into the temptation of -“

“-disorderly passions. I know. I understand,” Ellen says solemnly. She looks down to her Bible. 1 Peter 2:11-12.

“Even if we did, Ellen, I’d only disappoint you.” June fiddles with her pen. This here, is perhaps the most hurtful part. The fact that Ellen knows that June reciprocates. It makes her heart beat faster and every glance carries more meaning.

June blames it on hormones and their age. And Ellen, well she wants to argue that she knows when love is love but it’s an argument she’s not ready to make. It’s too soon to say and she’s too naive to know if it really is.

June settles a hand against her cheek.

“But if it makes you feel any better, I think you’re absolutely gorgeous and you got a heart of gold.” Her voice is much too soft and Ellen can’t resist.

They lean closer, their eyes close together. Ellen waits for her lips to connect with hers but all she hears is the chair screech back. “I gotta tee tee something fierce,” is all she says. She doesn’t even spare her a glance and it hurts Ellen more than she thought it would have.

When she’s at the door though, June turns around. “Ellen, our friendship is far greater. We must safeguard it.” She’s right.

And Ellen gnaws at these feelings and ideas throughout the week, throwing herself into her work and academics.

“I will disappoint you, beloved. We will disappoint each other and hurt each other. It’s innate to us, to fall into sin and wear our heart on our sleeves. But His Word says that above all things to guard your heart. I will disappoint you but there’s someone who never disappoints, and his name is Jesus. Let’s think about this and pray, Beloved.”

Ellen continues to be distraught by these words from Fellowship that Friday afternoon when someone hits her car. For a second, she thinks it’s her fault and she groans. The car had spun multiple times and smoke is coming from the smashed hood. She does what any sensible person does, turns off the ignition and steps out. Ellen is okay, thank the Lord but as she stares at her precious car, tears prickle her eyes.

“Oh shit,” a young, burly black man approaches her. He has a cut along his left temple and only then does Ellen realize that his car got wrecked too. “Are you okay?”

She simply nods, too distracted by seeing her precious Townace destroyed. The tears start flowing.

“Fuck,” the young man mutters. “Listen, don’t cry, alright. I was just visiting some family I got over here. I can’t have you crying when the cops come. You’re a female white teen and it’s just bad rep for me. I’m a cop myself, see. A rookie but a cop nonetheless.” He flashed her his badge.

She wipes away at her tears. Getting this black man in trouble is the least of her intentions.

“It’s my fault. I was uhhh trynna get my....iPod to work,” jamming his thumb onto the harmless device, “....darn touch wheel.”

He pulls it out and Ellen can’t help but be distracted. She’s always had a penchant for seeing brand new technology. “Wow you have an iPod!”

He looks up, relieved that Ellen has paused her crying. “Yeah, listen. What’s your name?”

“Ellen”

“Ellen. Okay. I’m Bowser. Listen, I can pay for your.....what is it?”

“1987 Toyota Townace,” she says matter-of-factly.

“Right...Anyways I can pay for that and have it fixed up for you but I have a feeling that thing was already on its last leg so why don’t I just take it off your hands, have my insurance pay you out and you get yourself a normal poor student car, like a Corolla or something of the sort.”

Bowser’s proposal is anyone else’s blessing. She’s heard horror stories of people who hit and run or hit and have no insurance. But still, she turns to look at the car. June thought it had character and she was right. It did. Never one to be flashy, Ellen really only cared about getting to places. The car was still a gift from Grandpa Easton and in many ways, it represented her. Janky but with character.

She looked up to the sky. What would Jesus do? Was the Townace really a want or a need? As the sun finishes setting, and twilight enters Ellen realizes much like many of her other desires, that those aren’t really wants, and she must do what she has to do.

“I accept your offer, Mr. Bowser.”

ii. Blair

She hates Sterling for what she did, but she misses her like a little kid....

Sterling is gone. She left Atlanta in a hurry, far before school started. She’d told her parents it’s because she wanted a head start on getting to know people, getting acclimated and such. Which is really straight bullshit because Blair knows that the real reason Sterling ran away to the Bay early is because she managed to piss off everyone who loves her.

It was the surprise of the century. Sterling had everyone fooled. Their parents, Bowser...April. You see the original plan pleased everyone. Sterling got into Duke, Blair got into Chapel Hill, and April was farther away at Penn but not excruciatingly far which allowed for them to schedule out weekends together. “Todo mundo happy, everyone contento.” At least that’s the stupid happy-go lucky phrase their Spanish teacher taught them.

But it wasn’t a week before graduation that Sterling called everyone together and let the news slip. She never actually accepted Duke. Instead Sterling had applied to UC Berkeley, got in and had accepted. The living room was silent for a good solid minute. And then all hell broke loose. April simply stood up and left. Her parents shook their heads disappointedly (disappointed that Sterling had lied. They would always be supportive of whatever academic endeavors they chose to follow). And Blair, well she was just silent.

It wasn’t till the last day before school that she overheard the massive argument Sterling and April had.

“You’re -fucking- selfish!” April half-yelled, half-gritted.

“I’m selfish! You’re the one who had us in the closet all this time. I’ve always followed my heart and living in the West Coast is going to finally allow me be free from all the repression that his backwater community and you brought upon me.”

Blair pops in her headphones knowing shit is about to hit the fan but later when Sterling is crying under the covers, Blair stops having pity.

“She’s right you know?”

Sterling pokes her head out, her eyes bloodshot and weary. “You too?”

“It is selfish, Sterl. I always thought it was going to be me and you. But now you’ve made your choice.” Blair hates her words but they just seem like the right ones.

“You don’t understand,” her sister gasps softly tears streaming down her cheeks, “You and April won’t ever understand. I have to do this for me.”

Blair can’t help but agree. “Yeah I guess we don’t.”

Graduation comes and goes, and everything just feels to bittersweet. Sterling leaves three days after. She hugs her before entering the terminal and stares sadly when she doesn’t hug her back. In all honestly, Blair is still shocked. Still betrayed.

And now a shy three weeks later she sits in Yogurtopia still feeling the same but now worse because Sterling is not here and despite everything. Her soulmate is gone. Her better half. Her sister. She sighs and her shoulders slump as she cleans the fudge pump, hoping that once again Sterling’s annoyed smack could be heard.

Instead the door chimes ring bringing in a new customer. And lo and behold, her partner in sorrow walks in. In any other world, Blair would revel in seeing April grovel in pain at the hands of Sterling but seeing as in they were both in the same boat she actually felt bad.

April looked worse than when her dad went to prison again in the beginning of Senior year. Her hair was all frizzy and it showed that clearly this summer’s heat was going to be the last thing she would care about. Deep dark circles appeared below her glossy eyes signifying that sleep escaped her. And Blair got a whiff of her. She for sure had no showered.

“Hi Blair.”

“April...how can-“

Interrupting desperately. “Have you spoken to your sister?”

Blair shakes her head. “No. She’s being a bitch so I won’t be reaching out to her.”

“That she is.” They stare at each other uncomfortably because now that the one person who brought them together is not here there really isn’t much else to say to each other. Tragic, really.

Blair decides to break the tension extending a froyo cup the other girl’s way. “Here have some heartbreak froyo on me.”

Like a scared critter grabbing some food from a stranger’s hand, April approaches Blair softly. But when her hand grabs the container tears pool around her tired eyes. “I miss her so much Blair.”

Blair’s not going to cry. Not for Sterling, and while it’s true that she also misses her she won’t lose her dignity over it. She simply nods listening to the other desperate being standing across from her.

“Blair, Sterling is it for me,” April whimpers.

“I know.” It’s all she can really offer.

April zombie walks away to fill her froyo cup and sits in a corner when Bowser walks in. Blair herself had gone back to cleaning the fudge pump. She could feel his gaze on both of them. Blair swore if he asked them about Sterling too she would walk out.

“Ladies,” he says loudly, startling her. She looks up at him questioningly. Across the room, April looks up too. “Come into my office.”

“Me?” April points to herself.

“I don’t see any other lady I could be referring to right?”

Bowser let’s them settle into his office couch when suddenly rips at ‘em.

“Let me give you two a life lesson. When someone parts from your life, you don’t sulk. You gotta pick yourself back up again and stand straight even if your heart is torn to pieces. You wanna know why? Because you’re here beating yourself over someone who made a choice and is off living without remorse. So S-T-O-P Sulking!”

April drops her head ashamedly. What a chump, Blair thinks but also how dare Bowser categorize them together. At least she showers.

“Bowser I’m not sulking-“

“You’re fucking sulking Blair. You sulk differently from this one but you’re sulking.”

Blair crosses her arms and sits back letting herself drown into the couch. She supposed that perhaps she is sulking. At home she rarely says anything. Sometimes her mind takes her into this deep wormhole where she tries to explain why Sterling has made the choice she made and it only brings Blair suffering. Maybe, she thinks, it’s Sterling’s way of sticking it back to her parents because they lied for so long? Maybe Sterling’s gone because she knows Blair is not really her twin or her sister for that matter, and she doesn’t care. Blair’s goosebumps activate when she remembers the latter.

“Sterling made her choice. So now the ball is in your court: you either accept or her choice or deny it and let go. Now, the choice doesn’t have to be made at this minute. Let it simmer a bit but stay occupied. That’s why this summer I’ve decided to hire you both as my bounty hunters for a summer edition of teenage bounty hunting.” His hands open up with the proposal.

Blair turns to meet April’s widened eyes. Ugh, will she even last under her state? Her disdain seems to carry through to her face because Bowser continues.

“I know I lost my best gunslinger but Blair you know we don’t use guns to catch skips. In fact, I think Stevens’ dramatic flair and intelligence can help us capture the skips without causing much ruckus. Think of it as 007 and not Terminator.”

He has a point. Blair nods in agreeable. “Okay.”

“Okay!” A sense of accomplishment literally puffs Bowser’s chest and Blair wants to roll her eyes but instead turns to the other girl who hasn’t responded.

I mean, it’s not like she has a choice at this point and Blair knows she has nothing to do at home.

“Alright, great.” Bowser smiles also not caring for April’s consent either. “Blair, I’m letting you go early but take Stinky over here to wash up and start teaching her everything you know.”

Blair catches the other girl sniffing herself and cringing. Maybe Bowser’s pep talk and plan does pull em through for the summer.

Having realized that her shift truly is over she pulls out of her Yogurtopia apron and hat, motions Stevens out the back door and out into the backlot.

Blair stops suddenly though, making April crash into her when the door slams behind them. In front of her, stands a beat up, broken down mini-van? Is it a mini-van? It’s weirdly shaped like a box but she supposes that maybe at its original time the concept of shape fluidity didn’t exist.

While the dismantled vehicle presents numerous questions in her head it also brings about an influx of ideas, imagination, and creativity. Sometimes Blair astounds herself.

She turns around.

“Blair what-“ she pushes April to the side and starts slamming her hand down roughly on the one-sided locked back door.

“Bowser! Bowser! Open up, I have a question.” Suddenly the door opens revealing a disgruntled Bowser.

“Why can’t you go around?”

She shakes her head and points at the car. “What is that? And has it been there this whole time?”

“It’s a 1987 Toyota Townace and yes it’s been there this whole time.” His hands settle on his hips.

“A Toyota,” her nose crinkles. If she had to buy a Japanese brand she’d take a Nissan over a Toyota but none the matter.

“Can I have it?”

Bowser’s eyes widen. “Umm, you gotta pay me?”

“Pay you?! What the fuck? No you just have it sitting there like trash. Come onnnnn. Please Bowser.”

He crosses his arms attempting to intimidate her but she crosses her own knowing damn well she’s going to win this showdown.

“Fine.”

“Yes! Come on Stevens, let’s go. I have another project for us.”

Operation: Oregon Trail is simple.

Step 1: Build one of those Tik-Tok inspired #vanlife vans from the Toyota during the summer

Step 2: Go to school

Step 3: Come back to Atlanta and drive to UC Berkeley during Winter Break

Step 4: Beg for forgiveness

Step 5: Drive back home for the holidays with Sterling in tow

By Week 3, her and April were busy working on the van in the day and bounty hunting at night.

“Can you pass me the caulk?” April mutters by the corner she’s working on.

Blair smirks, “This cock?” She stands, the caulk gun positioned at her crotch swinging it in her hands in April’s direction.

Catching the joke much too late, April deadpans and rolls her eyes. “Give me that!”

Blair chuckles but never accounts for what she sees next.

“Besides,” April grips the edge of the rod and places it near her crotch while her other hand rubs up and down the tube of caulk, the liquid oozing out from the tip, “my cock is way bigger than yours.”

It’s only until they’re both literally rolling on the floor of the van laughing that Blair knows, this summer is definitely going to be a contender for her Top 5 Best Summers Ever list.

iii. April

Her fingers have frostbite as she pumps gas on the Ace. By the end of the summer, both Blair and her’s ass kicking in bounty hunting had paid off and they used the money to invest in the best for the Ace. The van was now equipped with new 4x4 locking hubs, a new oxygen sensor, a new alternator, new brake pads, new tires, a new battery, and a brand new Queen bed.

The feeling of accomplishment dwindles though when she goes to school. Penn wasn’t her first or her second choice. But it was an Ivy League and one far enough away that she can start being herself without anyone judging her. April has been waiting her whole life to come out of the closet and she does, at least to her mother and she pens a letter to her father in federal prison. That’s not really the problem though.

The problem is that the minute she steps on campus she realizes she’s no longer the main character in her movie. There’s 40,000+ students and everyone moves in and out of classes, student organizations, and greek houses. It’s overwhelming to say the least. She signs up to be in the LGBTQ+ student org, but even attending the first meeting she has trouble settling in. Everyone is so….out, that at the end of the meeting she feels like her parents at the country club: bitchy and judge-y.

Don’t get her wrong, April does manage to make friends at school. There’s Erin and Jen who are in her Feminist Literature class, and Alwyn, a cute gay freshman who she discovered sitting in the back at the next LGBTQ+ meeting like a deer in headlights. But none of them fill the emptiness she feels. The truth is that she knows that most of the feelings she’s feeling can only be quelled by Sterling Wesley.

April is nervous, and understandingly so, that when she finally makes it to Berkeley, Sterling will have already moved on. “I mean yeah she’s probably dating,” Blair says over the phone one night during their weekly check-ins. Blair has been a breath of fresh air during her stay here. They meet twice during their first semester. The first she travels down to North Carolina for a weekend and Blair gives her the “slutty tour” of Chapel Hill. It’s fun because they both get shitfaced but April regrets it when she has to stop three times on the side of the road to throw up as she drives back.

The second time, Blair meets up with her at Penn for Thanksgiving. They actually have a nice formal dinner and Blair brings a paper map to plot out their route for December.

“I finally called her,” Blair confesses.

“You did?”

“Yeah. She’s doing okay. She said she was actually really glad to have heard from me. I told her not to buy a ticket home.”

April really wants to ask her if Sterling mentioned her but she decides against it. It would damper Blair’s emotions at the moment and April was at a place where she really valued Blair as a person.

By the time December comes around she’s actually excited to go back home. She just hoped that home wasn’t as cold as Penn. It was.

“Fuckin global warming,” she mutters. Curse words seemed more common now in her language since moving out but also, let’s be honest, it’s all Blair.

“April! Is that you?” She jumps at the shrill voice behind her.

Turning around she fines herself face to face with none other than…… “Ellen!”

The woman throws herself and envelops April in a big hug. The old April never used to be one for physical touch but again after the Wesleys, all that had changed.

“Oh my goodness. You are now a college woman. Look at you. How’s Penn State?”

Part of her wants to unleash everything she’s been feeling these past few months but then again its Ellen. She foregoes it because she knows even Ellen won’t have the right answers. “It’s good. Everything is good, I have friends. I’m doing very well in my classes.”

“I bet, you always were a star -“ Ellen looks behind her at the Ace, “pupil.” The lithe woman takes a step back looking at the van in its totality. “Is this a 1987 Toyota Townace?” The wonder in her voice does not escape April.

“It is. Me and Blair actually flipped it before we left to school.”

Ellen’s eyes gloss over. She’s no longer there, April thinks, she’s transported herself to another place, perhaps another time. It happens to Ellen all the time, and April always wonders where in fact it is that she goes to. “Ellen?”

The blonde woman snaps out of it. “Oh sorry, I got lost there a bit. You know, I used to have a car just like this when I was a student at Willingham.”

“Oh wow, really?”

“Yes and she was a beaut! Of course, the other students didn’t think so but I thought she had character.”

April nods in understanding. “Well me and Blair are loading her up to drive to Berkeley and pick Sterling up.”

“Oh,” Ellen gushes, “that’s absolutely wonderful. I am so glad that you and Sterling were able to come together and work your differences aside, because I know what you two have is special.”

Now it’s April’s turn to transport herself. To a time when Sterling was just some girl she was trying to beat in her overachiever conquest, and then to a time when the Georgia sun settled on her blonde hair and her moist lips descended over hers during golden hour. “You were right this whole time. Ellen, I love Sterling Wesley, and I’m not sure if you agree or not but I just wanted to say thank you for pushing us in the right direction.” April does not regret her words but she is shocked at her own boldness of coming out to her high school mentor. Call it a spur of the moment.

Ellen’s eyes soften at her confession. “April, thank you for trusting me. I think I always knew but its great to here. I can’t really say that I judge y’all. I love you two far too much to do that. But…I can say that I know exactly how you feel. I actually used to have a -friendship- like yours and Sterling’s.” Ellen grabs her hands. “Oh, oh, her name was June whether you believe it or not.” They both chuckle at the coincidence. “Oh she was so great and so kind. An angel, my angel. But those were different times and we just…couldn’t.”

April knows being in the closet was hard but Sterling always reminded her that there were more people out in this country than ever before and it was true. She met so many other lesbians at school who lived amongst more supportive communities. She can’t imagine what life would be like without all these supports she now held for granted.

“I’m so sorry, Ellen.” But it wasn’t too late, right? “Where is June now?”

Ellen dropped her hands. “Oh she…she’s gone with Our Lord. Right after college, she was diagnosed with cancer. I stayed with her the whole time through though.” A single tear rolled down her pristine cheek until she brushed it away with the back of her hand. April hugged her once again. “Oh don’t you fuss about me. I have a greater love that sustains me, the Lord’s love. And I love all of y’all and being of service. It’s my life’s passion from here till Jesus himself comes for me.”

June and Ellen sit with April throughout the trek. Not everyone gets their happy ever after. What if she and Sterling don’t get hers? Or worse, what if Sterling really has settled and moved on? How is she supposed to move on? April almost quits halfway through the trip when they camp out in Yellowstone (a side adventure they’d planned out). The stars were bright and twinkling above them, when her insecurities bubble through.

“Blair, why did I come on this trip?”

They usually both stick to their edge of the bed. Something about *not being near the object of my sister’s desire because ew gross.*

“Because you’re so head over ass for my sister and you’re going to conquer her back.” Blair hasn’t turned around which is very typical of Blair considering she’s probably tired of hearing her gripe over they same bullshit all this time.

“I just...I don’t know. What if I go and she’s with someone?”

This time she does turn around to face her. “Okay first of all, I think she would have told me if she is like really seeing someone. And second of all,” Blair sits up a bit more and grasps one of her shoulders, “April love is for the brave. And if there’s something I’ve learned about you since I’ve known you is that you are not weak. You have massive big clit energy and when you really, really want something you make anyone your bitch until you get it. Love isn’t something that weak people do. Being in love takes a hell of a lot of hope.”

She let’s go of her shoulder and leans back into her pillow. “So shut up already and just waltz in their to get your woman.”

The rest of the trip is light and fun. There’s so much nature to explore across the country. It’s even more fun when along the way some flirty cops stop them and Blair fakes being her girlfriend to get them off their tail. She even throws in a signature lewd hand gesture right when they pull back into the highway.

Berkeley is just 20 minutes away and the nerves jump back at an all-time high.

“Do I look good?” she asks, checking herself out on the rear view mirror.

“No you look like shit.” Blair’s legs are up on the dashboard and she already told her like 50 times on this trip that that is dangerous but she doesn’t seem to care.

“Haha, I’m kidding. You look hot. Like lesbian hot, I guess. Not that you would be my type or anything. Just saying.”

April rolls her eyes and continues driving. It’s 9pm and she had freshened up her makeup and hair at the last stop knowing this would be their last push to the end. They’ve both been silent. It’s likely the Blair is just as nervous as her in seeing Sterling again and praying that shit doesn’t blow over again like it did last time. So many emotions, so little time to process them all. Compartmentalizations no longer working.

“April,” she can’t turn her head completely to look at Blair because her eyes are glued to the road but she motions her head that she’s listening. “I just want to tell you that no matter what happens right now. Me and you are friends. I think, like, almost best friends. I hope we can stay that way.”

She can’t help but turn to look at Blair because this is the first time she’s ever directed such honest need for her in April’s whole life.

April grips the steering wheel tightly. “Of course. This is surprising to me as much as it is to you but honestly, you saved me this year. This has been the best summer and adventure I have ever had.”

They both share watery smiles. “Okay, okay. Let’s pleaseee stop with the sappiness. Play some Eilish and Bridgers and let’s go get our girl!”

When April puts the van in park outside Sterling’s off-campus apartment she wishes the ground would open up and swallow her. But the minute April hears her infectious laugh and catches a glimpse of her from the side mirror, she gets her bearings. “Stevens always win,” she whispers to herself.

“I missed you, my other half,” Blair says.

Sterling’s crying. April can’t see her but she knows by the way her little hiccups come through when she murmurs, “I miss you too Blair-bear.”

When she walks over to them, Sterling’s back is to her and she makes sure to not interrupt their sisterly moment. Blair being Blair though has other plans. “Sterl, I also brought you a surprise.”

“A surprise?” Sterling says still not having seen her. It’s almost as if time itself has stopped and April notices all the tiny new things that make her fall harder for the girl in front of her. Her hair is longer and even in loungewear, April knows she’s been working out, if only because her ass looks tighter and firmer.

April clears her throat and Sterling immediately turns.

iv. Sterling

“April?” April is here. Blair she knows would come around, but April! The last time they were in front of each other they had been at each other’s throats, hurtful words had been shared, and tears had been shed. The only reason why they even took graduation pictures together was because Debbie harshly whispered into her ear that she would regret it the rest of her life, so she complied, even though they both look pissed in the pictures.

So Sterling is perhaps a little shocked that she is here. And yet the butterflies in her stomach suddenly take flight and the crisp Bay Area air gets thinner making it harder and harder to breathe.

“Hi,” April says breathily too. They keep staring at each other until Blair coughs.

“We’re pooped Sterl. It’s been a long ass drive. Are you gonna take us up to your bachelorette pad?” She breaks off the staring contest she has with April and looks to her sister.

“I um. I only have one bed but uh, you can have the sofa if you want April. Except its like a really tiny sofa, but I mean you’re tiny. But like not like that. I didn’t mean it-“

Blair butts in again, “Sterling, hey. I think we get it.”

Rose creeps up through her neck and cheeks, giving her a beautiful complexion despite the obvious California tan. “Oh ha ha, yeah. Ummm so I mean do you wanna come up...”

“I’m actually pretty tired and this van has a bed. I can sleep here.”

Her reactions are delayed by about 10 sec but she nods in agreement and turns to her sister stiffly. “Alright well let’s go Blair.”

It’s only until they are by the stairs that Blair snickers, “Welp that was awkward.”

Sterling holds her tongue till they’re both behind her door. Turning suddenly to Blair, “What is April doing here?”

“You mean, April, my best friend.”

“Yes,” she seethes. “I know she’s your best friend, she’s practically in all your Instagram stories.”

Blair ponders for a second, “Hmmm I didn’t know you were so invested in my Instagram feed.”

Now that’s just silly of Blair to think. “Of course, you’re my sister.”

“Oh really, because it didn’t seem that way when you left.”

Sterling looks at her forlornly. She knows Blair didn’t come all this way to fight with her but Sterling thought she could get away with not hearing about this. “Blair, come on. You know why I did it?”

Blair crosses her arms, looking around her apartment. Thankfully her other two roommates had already left home for the holidays. “To live in a small, shitty California apartment all for the sake of your sexual liberation.”

“Yes.”

“I just wish you would have trusted me with that. I wish you would have trusted our parents and April. All of us.” Blair grabs her by her shoulders. “Did you forget we are your biggest fans? Sure we would have griped and groaned but, me…..Me, Sterling, I wouldn’t have cared, I would have supported you 100 percent.”

Sterling saw and felt the pain her sister held. “I think I know that now but at the time I was scared. I was scared that the minute one of you tried to stop me I’d cave in and not follow my heart. And so I removed myself the opportunity. Because I love you and if you would have told me to stay, I would have but then I wouldn’t be happy thinking about the what-if and blaming you for it.”

They’re both crying now, knowing that the pain they had caused themselves was unnecessary. No one was to blame, but fear itself was. “I’m sorry I was a bitch to you,” Blair whispered into her shoulder.

Sterling kisses her cheeks. “And I’m sorry I ran away. I promise this is the last time I keep something from you and I promise to be honest from now on. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The clock in her room strikes 2am but sleep is nowhere near her. Having Blair here in her room brings a comfort unlike any she’s felt since she got here. Berkeley, the Bay, and California in general have been so good to her. The people and the ambiance is everything Sterling imagined it to be and more. The only thing its missing is her family, her people. Sometimes she’ll sit and crack a joke knowing Blair can keep the gag going but it falls short to roommates. Sometimes she’s running low on energy and wants to quit schoolwork all together and imagines April scolding her but kissing her ear motivating her to finish so she’ll get the reward at the end. Sometimes she wishes Debbie and Anderson were nearby so they can tuck her in goodnight. It’s hard to want everything and not being able to have it all. She makes amends with what she has and currently having Blair here is everything.

“Dude so then April is yapping it up with the skip, giving a really good New York accent might I add. The girl deserves an Oscar, when Blam! I hit em from the back and down he goes. Poor guy never saw it coming. And that was a solid 2k we used to buy the tires and the alternator for the Ace.” What is surprising though is hearing April’s name fall out of Blair’s mouth so nonchalantly.

“So April is like your new best friend?” She asks timidly.

“I suppose yeah. Stevens is cool. She’s like super resourceful and like really good at mechanics AND she also comes up with all these nasty jokes. I would have never thought she was that cool,” Blair gushes.

Sterling tries to answer but silence follows and Blair speaks up again, “Are you like jealous? Because you shouldn’t. I don’t roll that way.”

“No,” Sterling confirms, “I know you don’t. It’s just surprising is all. Usually I was the one who would tell you every new thing I learned about her and now it’s like she’s some stranger you’re sharing to me about.”

Blair flops on to her belly and grabs the pillow to prop it under her chin. “Look can I just say something, Sterl. April came here all this way to apologize and try to make it right because she truly, deeply loves you. You might think I am biased as her new best friend, and you’re right. I totally am. But look, I know, she said some pretty shitty stuff last time but its Stevens we know she has like 50 mental defense mechanisms that are toxic but she’s grown a lot and she’s really trying. You two are totally different but I think that’s why you work so perfectly. Sterling, you can love anyone you want at the end of the day and as long as they don’t hurt you, I’ll support you but April is really good for you. So just think about it okay. Let her do the work and try to convince you.” Blair waits for her response.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Blair smiles mischievously. “Great. Now I can finally go to sleep.”

“Uhuh, are you sure you didn’t want to throw in some pervy joke?”

Blair snickers and wiggles her eyebrows, “Nah I’ll let April tell you all the ones she knows.”

The next morning, Sterling wakes up at 9:00am. It’s so late that it’s likely that Blair and April are probably already up. She reaches the tap the bed beside her and finds it empty, confirming her suspicions.

“Blair?” She says into the living room. There’s a small circular dining table on the corner with a bright neon pink sticky note that wasn’t there the night before.

Sterl

I was serious about last night. Give April a chance.

She doesn’t know I had booked a flight back to Atlanta.

Drive back with her. I’ll see y’all soon.

Xoxo gossip girl LOL ;)

Suddenly there’s knocking at her door. “Sterling, its me April,” there’s an urgency in her voice and its probably because she’s panicking too. When she opens up the door she finds a frantic April, “I swear I didn’t know she was going to do that. I can’t believe Blair fucking did that. Ugh I should have seen it coming.”

“It’s okay, really, come in.” She moves aside to let April in and Sterling gulps loudly which she regrets immediately right after. She is really super close to embarrassing herself in front of April.

The bane of her existence/object of her affection moves around capturing everything at once. She can tell when she’s making observations, profiling her and storing it away in her mental back pocket. Its annoying, but also extremely sexy. Eventually April’s gaze turns to her, and the scrutiny continues but its much softer. Like her gaze is capturing a mental picture of her.

April is still as adorable and beautiful as she last left her. She wears leggings that show absolutely every hard muscle and a cropped hoodie that shows her hard rock abs. “I saw Starbucks down the street so I brought you a Flat White.” And that right there is the kicker. If she wasn’t wet before just looking at the small woman before her, now she definitely is because the past six months she’s been forced to drink only cold brews with cold foam. Or drip espresso. Ugh.

“Thanks. I should go get dressed and finish packing, so we can go,” she murmurs. She hates that the air is heavy with their awkwardness. She turns to go into her room when suddenly April grips her arm.

“Sterling wait,” April’s hand loosens up instinctively, she would never hurt her, “I think I know why Blair left. She’s giving me a chance. A chance to have the space to apologize and be honest with you.” She sets both Starbucks cups down and pulls out a piece of paper with her perfect handwriting, with red edit notes and scribbles that Sterling can absolutely giggle about. “I wrote this note saying how I felt but its much to drab for my taste. Not when I can try to tell you with my mouth and with my words.”

April stands straight and takes a step toward her. “Sterling Wesley, I am here, having travelled and waited for so long because I would like to apologize to you about the things I said when we last spoke. I was hurt at the moment. I felt betrayed and used, but you were right to feel closeted by my inaction in having us move out of that closet. I’m sorry I wasn’t more supportive of your decision at the time. It’s one of my greatest regrets. Bowser and Blair both tried to nudge me to move on but it was so hard. My heart just kept coming back to you.”

She pauses her look narrowed more determined. “I love you. I know that now and yet I’ve always known the minute you kissed me at Ellen’s office that day. I haven’t been as brave as I could be but I’m here now. I love you and I want us to work and im here to beg you to forgive me because I’ve been living like a lost woman all summer and fall without you.”

There’s no question asked but it lingers heavy in the air. It’s by far the most beautiful, unorganized thought that has come from April Stevens mouth. She licks her lips to relieve the onslaught of cottonmouth she suddenly feels. She follows her sister’s advise. “Convince me.”

Oh how the tables have turned. When the shorter girl looks at her dumbfounded, Sterling takes a step further standing in her personal space. “Convince me we can do this.”

April stares at her bare shoulder since she’s wearing tank top. Her longer hair is half up and half down, tickling her back but not as intense the goosebumps that settle on her skin by being able to hear April’s shaky breath.

“Okay. You were upset that I was still closeted but right before I left to Penn I came out to both my mom and my dad.”

Oh my god, April came out to her parents. If she could have thrown herself at her she would have, but Sterling wanted to remain firm. “That’s great but we are at opposite ends of this country.”

April crosses her hands and licks her lips thinking. “Yes well, there is an app called FaceTime which works wonders for situations like these. Also, John left numerous amount of frequent flyer miles I can use throughout the year to come visit. We can schedule it together.”

There’s really not much more to debate about it. April flashes her a smirk because she knows she won. Or so she thinks. “What if I’m already seeing someone?”

April stops breathing and Sterling’s gaze challenges her. “Well…I suppose there’s only two ways to go about this. One, I can buy you you’re ticket to Atlanta and you won’t ever have to see me again. Or two I could convince you in other ways.” This intrigues her. “Other ways?”

“Yeah.” April steps forward again, her head lifting up, their lips so close. “Convince you that I’m way better. It just requires that we both take our clothes off.”

“Oh then I definitely choose this option better.” And she seals the deal.

It isn’t till the next day as they lay half naked in the back of the Ace after another round of lovemaking. It’s the last night they have to sleep in the van before they drive into Atlanta. The Ace is just outside Ozark, Arkansas is where they decided to settle after their small detour in Branson. Blair and April originally had measure to route two paths, a northern one on the way into Berkeley and a southern one on the way into Atlanta, so all the sites on this trip were as new to April as they were to Sterling.

The sun finished setting, and the cold winter weather seeped in. Sterling feels sated and loved and relaxed. She’s about to let sleep wash over her when she hears April fumble next to her. She pops open and eye only to find the other girl struggling to put on her pajama pants whilst staring at her ass.

Her face reddens when she notices she’s been caught. “Are you just going to sleep with your ass out and the doors open?”

She props herself on her elbows looking back at the question at hand. “Yeah why not?”

April crinkles her nose. “There could be serial backwater lake rapists. I’m at least closing the doors. Plus it’s cold.”

She hums accepting that last bit. But settles her head on the pillow again. “Besides my ass looks really good,” she pulls out her gun from the compartment next to her, “And I have my glock locked and loaded right here.”

It’s funny to see April horny but Sterling lives for it. “That’s really hot,” April whispers probably hoping Jesus doesn’t hear her statement.

“I know it is,” she smirks back.

It’s only until April snuggles next to her that Sterling really starts counting her blessings. She didn’t need much convincing after leaving Berkeley. She’d dated around the first semester but everyone seemed to superficial or too careless or not firm enough or too tall. It’s the height that really confirmed that she missed April terribly so. But the words that had been exchanged had been too harsh and in the April/Sterling playbook, April always won verbal debates. There seemed to be no remedy because in Sterling’s mind the ball had always been in April’s court.

It’s funny just a few days ago she confided in Blair that April seemed like a distant stranger but now Sterling knows it took them less than a day to get reacquainted with each other. And now, well now it seems like they never split.

“Sterl, Top 5 moments on this road trip,” April murmurs against her bare shoulder.

There was so many:

LA was largely overrated but it was fun to drive along PCH with their hair out.

Then they snapped obnoxiously cute pics with the Cabazon Dinosaurs and the Joshua trees

They saw all the weird Alien museums in Roswell

The cowboy drag show in Amarillo

The Dolly cabaret in Branson

“Hmmm I think my top 5, is 5. Singing to all of Taylor’s top hits down PCH while scarfing down our In-N-Out.”

April smiles, “Yeah classic.”

“4. Would have to be the Jesus Mountain out in the desert.”

“Oh yes. I had forgotten about that.”

Sterling laughed remembering the crazy amount of sex they’d have right after leaving Salvation Mountain.

“3. The drag cowboys.”

April snickers next to her, “I think I liked more the lap dance you gave me there.”

“Oh of course, that’s totally why it’s up there. 2. Would have to be all the mind-blowing sex we are having.”

The other girl nods. “Yes agree, yup.”

And Sterling pauses before announcing one, deciding to intertwine their fingers together. “1. Is you coming back to me.” She pulls her hand up to her lips to press a light kiss on it.

Beside her April lightly exhales fast asleep. She’d roll her eyes at having exerted such a romantic moment for nothing. Sterling knows though there is a conviction in her heart. A truth that stands firm now and that will continue to be even after April wakes her up again in the morning. Sterling is going to love her for a very, very long time.

#tbhfanexchange #2021 tbh valentine's exchange #teenage bounty hunters #stepril #blair wesley #sterling wesley #april stevens #ellen johnson

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the-hedge-hypnotist · 5 years ago

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How My Hypno Kink Unintentionally Made Me A Nerd Part 2.

The spell backfires and rather than making Cordelia fall madly in love with him, every other female in the town falls in love with him. Which seems fun at first until he realizes that they’re so in love with him that they’re willing to hurt him and others. Not to mention that Xander quickly (and thankfully) realizes that he does not really want to take advantage of the situation because it’s wrong.

youtube

So let my first say that obviously this should only exist in the realm of fantasy. Making a bunch of people fall in love with you against their will is wrong. In any relationship involving hypnosis/mind control there needs to be consent.

This episode has so many staples of a classic mind control fantasy. You clearly see the affected characters prior to the spell happening and how they look at and treat Xander so that when they fall under the sway of the spell you can fully tell that their mental state has been altered. The way the characters are still themselves and yet have this new element to their personality where they’ll do anything to be with Xander is also a fantastic staple of the fetish like when Willow acknowledges that she has a boyfriend, who she very much likes, but is willing to forgo him to be with the object of her hypnotic desires. Once again, this is only a fantasy and should not be brought into the real world oh hypno play without consent between all parties, but it’s a very fun fantasy all the same.

I can remember being intrigued by mind control in media since I was a kid and seeing even a little bit of this episode while going through puberty made it seem like the greatest thing ever. It would be an understatement to say that I spent a lot of time fantasizing about this episode, this scenario, and these characters who I did not even know. I knew that I had to see this episode again.

So I ended up watching Buffy reruns after school religiously in hopes that that I would catch this episode again. It’s strange to think of it now as we have streaming services that make watching a show from the very beginning easy but I was flung into watching a show without knowing how it started, who the characters were, or even really the main premise of the show but in time I was able to discover a wide world of interesting ideas and characters.

Soon the idea of stumbling onto that episode faded to the back of my mind and I was just watching the show because I liked it. In truth I more than simply “liked” the show, it became my favorite show. From the idealistic version of High School that I as a middle schooler craved, to the lore behind Demons, Vampire Slayers, and magic. I bought the DVD box sets of the available seasons, started watching the new episodes (It was on season 6 at the time), and even started making Buffy references constantly to my classmates and teachers who had no idea what I was talking about. It became one of my character traits for years.

There are other episodes of Buffy in which elements of my fetish would be present (5.15, 6.13, & 7.6 to name a few) but by time I saw those episodes I was already hooked on the show for completely non kink related reasons. These days I often find myself hearing about Hypno/Mind Control content in media and going out of my way to view it for myself but no other example has ever lead to me finding something that I end up enjoying as much outside of the hypno context as Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Just a random note that’s somewhat unrelated to the main body of these posts: It’s been a LONG time since Buffy was on TV and although I still enjoy it a lot, I can’t honestly say that it holds up in terms of quality or that it exemplifies the sensibilities of today. If you end up watching it because of this post then please keep that in mind along with the fact that even though the show ended only in 2003, that was a very different time than now.

#hypnosis #hypnotized #mind control #love spell #buffy #buffy season 2 #buffy the vampire slayer #xander

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curlytemple · 4 years ago

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niche interests list

okay sure yes this is fun! i havent posted a thing like this in such a long time. thank you new gal pal @scottspack for tagging me!

pigs????

alright first lets throw it back to preschool! my fav childhood toys were my baby doll (snookums) and a plush pig that my grandma got me that i just called ‘pig’ ...i watched the babe movies countless times, and piglet? that anxious little guy GETS ME bro. when my preschool did a nativity play and my class got to choose an animal to be in baby jesus’ manger, my mother recalls me saying that i would be a pig because jewish people (jesus christ) wouldnt eat me. she has no idea how or when i learned about kosher foods. ironically despite my namesake i was too afraid of the movie charlotte’s web to watch it more than once because the scary farmer tries to kill wilbur for being small and the pretty spider dies.

sugar creek gang

OKAY this is a book series from the 40s-70s about a group of christian little boys in indiana who went on adventures in the woods and helped people. my dad read a LOT of chapter books to me as bedtime stories when i was little (see also the mandie series, nancy drew and the hardy boys, little house on the prairie) but sugar creek gang is one that really hit. i read all 36 books with dad and at least once again on my own. there was a series of 4 or 5 movies in the early 2000s when i was the Perfect age to have a crush on most if not all of them. this might be too much detail but i have to tell you about these boys. we WILL not be revisiting the heavy religious themes.

the narrator is bill who is Good and Kind and wants to be a doctor when he grows up. his best friend is a chubby boy nicknamed poetry because he memorizes and quotes poems, he is the Detective of the group. BIG JIM is the leader of the group who is supposed to be like, 14, which was very cool and hot, to me. and yes there is a little jim, who is the baby of the group. then there is CIRCUS who is known for his climbing and acrobatics, and his FIVE SISTERS AND BEAUTIFUL SINGING VOICE. dreamboy. i’m almost done listing boys, i promise. a boy called dragonfly who is allergic to everything and hella superstitious. later in the series a new boy named tom moves to town and tom has an older brother bob who is NOT A CHRISTIAN (bully)

tangentially, the buttercream gang, a movie from 1992 that was almost definitely made by some christians who grew up reading the sugar creek gang series which i’m guessing on vibes alone. will spare you Good Boy details but scott is in love with his best friend pete who moves to chicago and falls in with a bad crowd and scott just refuses to stop LOVING HIM. very gay christian film in retrospect.

peter pan

so i know liking disney’s peter pan isnt niche, but it was the way i liked it. tinker bell stan from day one, i watched all of those disney fairies movies, even the ones that came out after i was definitely not intended audience. there was an online pixie hollow game where you could design your own fairies and play mini games where you gathered dew drops or something. had a HUGE CRUSH on jeremy sumpter in peter pan (2003) then i got really darkly obsessed with the idea of growing up when i was 12 or 13, and everything peter pan was deeply My Shit for my entire adolescence. i read the original book and every other twisted version of the story i could find and seriously freaked myself out about wasting my youth.

shug

you’ve probably heard of jenny han now, or at least the netflix adaptations for to all the boys i’ve loved before and the sequel ps i still love you (always and forever, lara jean, coming soon?) but before she wrote THOSE, she wrote my first ever Favorite Book, about annemarie “shug” wilcox, a girl in the summer before starting middle school. it is SO engraved on my heart i cannot explain. i felt so incredibly understood and cant even tell you how many times i read it. thinking about all of the ways it made me feel SEEN is actually making me very tender so i’m gonna go on.

the summer series

on the subject of jenny han, since she was now my Favorite author, when she came out with the summer i turned pretty in 2009, i was ALL IN. it’s not summer without you, and we’ll always have summer were published the next two years. a coming of age series about a girl isabel “belly” conklin who stays at her mother’s best friend's house at the beach in the summers. i really could talk about it forever yall. i actually dont know how to be succinct about it. i will try. her mom’s friend has TWO BOYS. one brother, jeremiah, is the golden boy and her best friend who is in love with her! the older one CONRAD is her childhood crush who's just sort of around while belly is firmly getting over her childish feelings and going out and experiencing teen beach life with jeremiah for the first time and figuring out who she is and wants to be! by the end of the summer he admits he feels differently about her (hence belly internalizing this as The Summer I Turned Pretty) and they get together. this is already too much so i will just say that the next two books deal with a PROFOUND LOSS and the selfishness of grief and the SELFLESSNESS OF CONRAD and i will absolutely lose my shit if netflix picks it up for a second jenny han series adaptation.

pappyland

this was a kids show in the 90′s that features a character named Pappy Drew-It, an artist dressed like a 49er who lives in a magic cabin in pappyland. there’s tons of characters and music and life lessons but the meat of every episode is a detailed drawing how-to (pappy is actually a cartoonist, michael cariglio) and i have a hard back cover sketch book from my grandpa that i FILLED with drawings that pappy and DOODLEBUG taught me to do. there is a running gag that pappy always breaks his crayons.

boy meets world

i KNOW this is beloved by many but i’m counting it because i’m simply too young to have such an obsession with it! the show ran from 1992-2000. i was born in 1996, but reruns on the disney channel and abc family cemented it as one of my favorite shows. cory and shawn, closer than brothers, shameless homoromantics, shawn is cory’s first wife!!!!! truly showed me what a best friend can and should be!!!!!! the great love of your life!!!!! TOPANGA, the og weird feminist girl who said stop shaving your legs and start speaking your mind, ladies! the characters are so richly developed that they are real people to my heart. YES every character on this show is in their late 30s-early 40s and YES i feel like we grew up together. in season one they’re in the 6th grade and we follow them all the way to COLLEGE. countless poignant life lessons, often literally dictated by the wise and hilarious MR. FEENY, cory’s next door neighbor and somehow one of his teachers for YEARS. my love was only solidified by the 2014 girl meets world reboot, centered on cory and topanga’s daughter and her best friend. (which was literally cancelled because disney didn’t want to transition from a kids show to a teen show, something essential to the original. also because that teen show would have had CANON LESBIANS. extremely shameful move in 2017!) boy meets world lives rent free in my heart and i will never evict it!!!!!!!

i consulted my mother when i got stumped for more and she reminded me that i had obsessions with the impressionist art period and babies and ANYTHING fairies or pixies, and i was way too young when my love of the canadian teen after school special degrassi began. she also said bob ross, which i was hesitant to include because he’s been super ~trendy in recent years, but to be fair (To Be Faaairrr) she’s right! i don’t think people really watched the joy of painting as much as i have throughout my life. best sick day show of all time.

lastly i could honestly list anna herself as a niche interest, my mom actually metioned that ive always hyperfixated on my girl friends (gay) but i’ll just note that YES friday night lights, YES barry lyga novels. love to share so many things with you, niche or not, they’re niche in Our Mind.

#with the baby obsession came an obsession with adoption #my aunt and uncle adopted and when i learned that there were ORPHANS whew #i was in preschool judging people for getting pregnant when there were SO many babies without mommies #she had a good point!#also does being a niall girl in 2012 count

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96thdayofrage · 4 years ago

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WAR DAY 7️⃣1️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ 🍵 "Secretary of State Anthony Blinken might have been 'outraged' by a rocket attack on a U.S. base in northern Iraq – that killed a foreign contractor and wounded an American service member and several other contractors – but he shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, it’s the muddled US military mission and on-going troop presence itself that creates nearly all the conditions for current crisis. That this particular truth tablet might be rather uncomfortable to swallow doesn’t make it any less so.

"If Blinken’s boss needs proof, he might consider applying what we could call his very own 'Biden Rule:' that staffers should avoid overly academic or elitist language in memos or policy papers. 'Pick up your phone, call your mother, read her what you just told me,' he reportedly tells aides – 'If she understands, we can keep talking.' Well, does Joe really think most American mothers, or fathers, or other lay citizens, could honestly explain just what the heck US troops are doing – and may well die doing – in Iraq, almost 18 years after George W. Bush’s initial invasion? Give us a break! All that Washington wish-wash about avoiding ISIS-resurgence, 'building partner capacity,' and balancing Iran, is liable to get even a hometown boy like Biden laughed out of a Scranton pub.

"Nevertheless, such attacks could very well derail Biden’s announced intent to reestablish Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, or even lead to a military escalation. After all, earlier this week, NATO agreed to an eight-fold increase in troops for its training and advisory mission in Iraq, and Secretary Blinken has himself begun a review America’s Iraq policy – to include feedback from the Pentagon – which may reach the White House as early as next month.

"There’ve actually been three separate rocket attacks on US bases in Iraq over the last week, one targeting each of country’s distinct communal regions – Erbil in semi-autonomous Kurdistan, another on Balad in mostly Sunni Salah al-Din Province, and lastly on the Green Zone in Shia-heavy (especially since the 2005-08 civil war’s ethnic cleansings) Baghdad. It seems American troops and – more on this soon – contractors still aren’t safe anywhere inside Iraq.

"Odd, that, since I recall plenty past (premature) pronouncements that 'the surge worked,' and that 'we have defeated ISIS.' Well, the first [surge success] bit was always a farce, and, while the second suggestion is basically true – despite mop-up-ops that Iraqi and invested regional forces can handle – it ain’t ISIS that’s set to take the blame for the recently raining rockets. No, that supervillain stature shall – as ever – belong to Iran."

Bogus Boogyman Iran

"Iranophobia and Tehran-alarmism are gifts that keep on giving – if mostly to the likes of Lockheed and Raytheon – in Washington. Only there’s hardly any basis to the threat. The whole thing’s political theater, a false binary blame game meant for domestic consumption and signal-sending to America’s Israeli and Gulf Monarchy mates. Thing is, real people die behind such drama.

"It all starts with what should be suspicious certainty of bipartisan policymakers and media pundits that Tehran’s tugging all the rocket-flingers’ strings. Take Ned Price, spokesman for Biden’s polite liberal State Department. He said, after Monday’s attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone that the US holds Iran responsible for the recent rocket spurt. Then there’s Trump’s former assistant secretary of state for Middle East policy, David Schenker, who was sure – after the initial Erbil attack – that: 'Ultimately, this is all about Iran – the missiles, the weaponry, the funding, the direction all comes from Tehran.' Then again, it’s always worth considering the source. In this case, Mr. Schenker is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy – which is known for its fiercely and uncritically pro-Israel stance, and was initially funded by the Israel Lobby-top dog AIPAC’s donors, staffed by AIPAC employees, and originally located just one door away from AIPAC’s D.C. headquarters.

"Then throw in Douglas Silliman, formerly US ambassador to Iraq from 2016 to 2019, who asserted after the Erbil attack: 'I have no doubt who’s behind it. It is the Iranian-supported Iraqi Shia militias who are behind this.' Only here again an astute observer must channel the street-wisdom of Queens’ own rapper 50 Cent and thus – 'step up in' the Washington 'club' and ask 'Who you wit?' In Silliman’s case, it isn’t 'G-Unit' but the Arab Gulf States Institute that’s now his post-government service 'clique.' In fact, he’s president of the damn thing. Keep an eye on that, it might matter – seeing as from the think tank’s 2015 inception, it was funded entirely by UAE and Saudi sources. You know, it’s enough to make you wonder whether Silliman’s Gulf autocrat paymasters – locked as they are in perennial quasi-war with Iran – might have some investment (pun intended) in having ol' Doug pin the latest bombs-over-Baghdad squarely on Tehran.

"Still, setting such conflicts of interest aside for the sake of argument, both Schenker’s and Silliman’s Iran-the-omniscient assertions strike as just a little too neat, too convenient for Washington’s hovering hawks. Maybe these specific guns did flow from Iran; maybe they didn’t. However, Tehran’s aren’t the only tools available. Iraq has long been awash with weapons, as anyone who ever walked a Baghdad beat – or frightened a few families with aggressive late-night house searches – knows all too well.

"Furthermore, despite Washington’s bipartisan propensity to 'create the enemies it needs' [in order to reap profits and power, that is] – by fabricating foes that seem ten-feet-tall and bulletproof – the truth is Iran hasn’t half the armed strength, or clear control over Iraqi proxies, as the hawks would have you believe. On the military side, Tehran’s mostly weak and unable to project any real power very far at all. Furthermore, as I noted in a 2019 Defense Priorities analysis, Iran’s American-allied regional antagonists – Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE, for example – militarily outspend Tehran by a factor of ten!

"As for Iran’s ostensibly ironclad grip on the Iraqi militias allegedly launching all them rockets – if not exactly a mirage, the situation is definitely far more complex and ambiguous than all that. This much even some senior military officers occasionally admit. For example, after the Erbil attack, the U.S.-led coalition’s counter-ISIS mission deputy commander for strategy, British Army Major General Kevin Copsey, surmised that the fusillade was likely the work of an offshoot, not the core, of the mainline militias typically linked to Tehran. He also noted the crucial – if oft-ignored – concept of local agency: that paramilitaries and their associated politicians pursue personal motives and interests when deciding whether to take violent action.

"Copsey described it thus: 'You have your main militia groups, which arguably have their influence back into Tehran, and then you have these splinter groups that are self-interested. And they’re unpredictable and they’re out of control.' Allow me to surmise that the key words there are 'arguably,' 'self-interested,' and 'unpredictable.' In rebellions, proxy conflicts, and civil wars, matters are rarely clear, and always contingent.

"Here’s the basic rub: The ill-advised and illegal 2003 US military invasion caused most of the current madness; Trump’s 'maximum pressure' sanctions and saber-rattling predictably and demonstrably backfired; Iran’s offensive military capacity is actually rather limited and wildly exaggerated. Yet the one weapon it does have – as do the militias Tehran may or may not have sway over – are several variants of ballistic and cruise missiles.

"To review, then: America’s murky, no-exit, mission plays right into Tehran’s only viable military hands – not only strengthening the hardliners in their government, but turning our ever-adulated soldiers into little more than bewildered rocket-magnets."

Context Counts

"If Biden bolsters the US military’s anti-Iran proxy combat mission – which masquerades as ISIS-elimination – it will, by my count, constitute the fifth phase of America’s 30+ year war on or in Iraq. Call it Iraq War IV. Kind of has a nice ring to it, and ask any movie producer – sequels sell, even if they usually make for awful art (Godfather II aside, naturally). The cost of the running franchise has been fatal for some 2.5 million Iraqis – bombed, shot, starved, or diseased – over those three old school-imperial decades.

"Here on the tail end, in January 2020, the Iraqi government’s American friends went so far as to assassinate the top Iranian political and military figure Qasem Suleimani – on Iraqi soil, without informing the Baghdad government – thereby challenging and insulting Iraqi sovereignty. This triggered (imagine that) a not yet broken wave of political fury within both neighboring countries. In response, the Iraqi parliament voted to require the government to 'end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil and prevent the use of Iraqi airspace, soil and water for any reason' by foreign troops.

"Washington promptly ignored the democratic will of the Iraqi democracy it claimed to have built via its absurdly titled 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' 2003 invasion. There may (for now) be only 2,500 uniformed Americans in country, but these days, a big part of what’s long-bothered average Iraqis is Washington’s use of sundry – and often unhinged – civilian security contractors to do much of the occupying."

Mercenary Camouflage

"Given the tortured track record of America’s mercenary misadventures, perhaps Iraqis can be forgiven their frustration with the ongoing US presence in their country. Anger tends to come in waves and flared again last month, when dear Donald pardoned four American security contractors – from the infamous Blackwater outfit – for their roles in massacring 17 Iraqi civilians around Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. I was in town for that sick show, and we in uniform sure felt some of the understandable blowback. Clearly, American policymakers aren’t exactly known for their self-awareness. Still, it hardly seems as outrageous as Secretary Blinken claimed that some locals might fling a few rockets at a few foreigner bases – and many more countrymen view it as legitimate resistance – when their own government’s Washingtonian 'friends' just let four Iraqi-child-killers off the hook. I don’t know, call me crazy.

"Either way, all this raises the not-so-minor matter of America’s shadowy security contracting apparatus in Iraq – an occupation-outsourcing as old as the adventure itself. The combat and logistics privatization factor is exposed in the composition of casualties in these ubiquitous rocket attacks. Over the last few years, more often than not the majority of the dead and injured have been contractors. For example, Saturday night’s strike on Balad airbase reportedly wounded a South African – I know, a bit on the nose for the mercenary game – employee of the US defense company Sallyport.

"This subsidiary of Caliburn International LLC – which has no less than five retired generals and admirals on its board, including former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly and former Bush-era CIA director Michael Hayden – had been contracted to provide base services supporting Iraq’s F-16 fighter program. Caliburn is perhaps better known for another of its subsidiaries operating America’s largest facility for unaccompanied migrant children. However, as of 2018, the US government had reportedly paid Sallyport itself over $1 billion since 2014 to provide security, life support, and various training at Balad Air Base.

"There, Sallyport has been mired in past scandal. In 2019, a Daily Beast report indicated that The Department of Justice was investigating the company’s earlier alleged role in bribing Iraqi government officials in exchange for contracts costing American taxpayers billions. The Daily Beast’s earlier 2017 investigation also exposed that a clique of white South African security guards – the very nationality of the employee reportedly wounded in the recent rocket strike – had been promoting apartheid and abusing Sallyport’s minority members (along, apparently, with the base’s local dogs). By the way, the irony of Washington – amidst an era of renewed racial turmoil at home – hiring thousands of ex-apartheid soldiers to man its conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa: well, it almost defies imagination.

"So sure, there are key – if rarely reported – contractor connections to the recent rocket attacks. Yet, widening the aperture reveals far the broader and systemic mercenary madness masking – and underpinning – America’s entire enterprise in Iraq and the Greater Middle East. And unless Status Quo Joe, and a largely bought & sold (by defense industry campaign contributions) Congress, address this invisible enemy, then messing at the margins with uniformed boots-on-the-ground counts won’t measurably alter America’s two-decade-old regional adventure-fiasco. Oh, and speaking of those masters of the military-industrial complex contributions to the very congressmen with the power to end this entire hopeless crusade – recall that the F-16s Sallyport secures for the Iraqi Air Force are produced by Lockheed Martin. In the 2018 midterm elections alone, Lockheed bestowed $2,865,014 in blood money on the Capitol Hill crew.

"Only that ain’t the half of it. Consider the scale of the US contractor apparatus, by-the-numbers: In 2019, the Pentagon spent $370 billion on contracting – in other words, more than half its total discretionary spending. By the DOD’s own reckoning – during 1st quarter of FY21 – that translates to 38,164 contractor personnel supporting Pentagon operations in just the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR – from essentially Egypt to Afghanistan). That includes 4,677 in the Iraq-Syria sub-theater – 2,300 of them American citizens. Which is to say, contractors now maintain more than a 2 to 1 ratio over US military members in the CENTCOM sphere.

"There’s a design, and a cost, to all this. According to her June 2020 report, what Heidi Peltier of Brown University’s Cost of War Initiative called the contracting 'Camo Economy,' has been used by the US government to conceal the costs – in cash, killing, and American blood – of its endless, meandering, military missions. The proof is in the mortality pudding: since 2001, some 8,000 US contractors have died in America’s Greater Mideast adventures – that’s actually more than the Pentagon’s official tally of 7,056 uniformed troop deaths.

"That few people know this, exposes its enduring political utility. A one minute Google search offers precise, to-a-man and up-to-date, statistics on US military deaths – but I wouldn’t wish the required Department of Labor archive-mining to find contractor casualty details on my worst enemy. Take it from me, it’s a maddening enough rabbit-hole-spiral to garner a grin from Kafka. And, as matters now stand, more deaths of those once invisible contractors could end up pulling the US into yet another phase of hopeless, wasteful war in Iraq. Now that’d deserve the American foreign policy tragicomedy award for 2021.

"Look, I like context and nuance as much as the next guy, but sometimes the simplicity of 'Sutton’s Law' – a medical mantra that, when diagnosing, one should first test for the obvious – is the best policy prescription. The dictate derives from real-life famed criminal folk hero Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied – perhaps apocryphally – 'Because that’s where the money is!' It’s a hell of a story, the sort Biden’s sure to like.

"And in a sense, it tracks today’s mess. Ask an ayatollah or a local militiaman why he allegedly attacks US bases in Iraq – and a clever one might accurately quip: 'Because that’s where the Americans are!'

"In other words…because we’re there."

###

Danny Sjursen is a retired US Army officer, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), contributing editor at Antiwar.com, and director of the new Eisenhower Media Network (EMN). His work has appeared in the NY Times, LA Times, The Nation, Huff Post, The Hill, Salon, The American Conservative, Mother Jones, Scheer Post and Tom Dispatch, among other publications. He served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge, and Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War. Along with fellow vet Chris "Henri" Henriksen, he co-hosts the podcast “Fortress on a Hill.” Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet and on his website for media requests and past publications.

_____

🍵 All Risk, No Reward: The Perils and Absurdity of Iraq War 4.0. By Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.), Antiwar.com, Feb. 25, 2021.

https://original.antiwar.com/Danny_Sjursen/2021/02/24/all-risk-no-reward-the-perils-and-absurdity-of-iraq-war-4-0/?fbclid=IwAR0URXJQNDvEP5zpVqk6hlEiAGapknSZ6vhg5jHMZ_1nI-Zg7Y0h3uyuRjk

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hyba · 4 years ago

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soooo what's the wip, edge of love about..?? oxo, pe-ersona

👀🙈

That you are sending this means you are either on my mailing list or you have seen it on my website and both are equally lovely so I am EXTREMELY grateful that you’ve taken interest enough in my work for either of those two possibilities and also ELATED 💙

You might remember a while back I was talking about a romance WIP that I was going to write? The Edge of Love is that romance! It’s on my website right now, and I’ve shared the first six chapters, but they’re not going to be up there forever (👀 limited time offer, peeps! 👀). The main idea behind that was for some feedback before I move much farther into the story, & more details on that in the WIP intro post I’ve been working on. But yep, that’s why I’ve been keeping it on the down-low for now!

I’m excited, though a bit shy, about putting this romance novel out there. But I have also decided that I want to be the person who puts things out there and learns from them and continuously hones my writing skills, and ergo have been stuffing my shyness into a suitcase and shipping it off to the middle of the ocean.

Now to answer your Q!

The story follows our protagonist, Sabrina Lennox, as she returns to her Small Hometown from the Big City defeated, unemployed, and with no money to her name. It’s been 5 years, and she’s less than happy to be back where she started, not only because she feels like a failure, but also because the town holds memories for her that she’s done her best to bury and move past. Almost immediately she learns that her ex-beau is going to be in town for the summer, and is less than thrilled considering he ditched her pretty bad, seemingly out of nowhere, back in senior year - the same night that something horrible happened to her.

Anyway, things start looking up for Sabrina, and she lands a job at her old high school for the summer, working as an assistant to Mr. Oliver Lawrence (queue romantic interest Numero 1). They hit it off, and she tries to move on with her life while avoiding Edgar Cooper (her ex) and his billionaire family. But it’s a small town, and sooner or later the inevitable bump-ins happen, and in the course of those meetings, Sabrina uncovers new information about her past breakup with Edgar and what was really happening behind the scenes.

Also, it’s set in 2003 (so technically contemporary lol) when fashion was horrible and we had those cute flip phones, but I’m LOVING that whole vibe! It’s a clean romance, so I’ve been trying to keep it appropriate for all audiences. There’s no problem for me with the romantic content because anyway I tend to not wanna write anything remotely explicit so it will really focus more on the emotional aspect of romance, but there is some content in there that deals with an attempted sexual assault and and trauma that comes with that, so I actually would be interested in hearing what age-level readers think something like this book would be okay for. I’m thinking high-schoolers and above for sure.

The Edge of Love was conceptualized as a billionaire romance, minus the more popular billionaire romance tropes. For example, there’s no new-employee-falling-for-CEO thing going on, or the Mr.-CEO-has-his-life-together-and-is-a-beacon-of-maturity-and-stability-for-young-naive-heroine. I’ve also sought to minimize the power-play of Rich OC & Not-Rich OC in love. I don’t think it’ll read much like the usual billionaire romance, but that’s for more seasoned romance readers to tell me (because I’ve gotta be honest, I’ve not read very many billionaire romances).

Anyway, point is, I’m trying to turn over some common romance tropes and play around with the genre a bit, and at the same time I do plug in some cheeky jokes and sarcasm about the romance genre in general. I’m totally winging this one, and as my first foray into romance as a genre, I’m sure it could be a lot better, but I’m wondering how my style of writing fares in such a genre, and if readers would be interested in it.

Also, one more fun fact! I’m thinking of writing the book in Sabrina’s POV for the first half, and then Edgar’s POV for the second half! I think that would be interesting. Not sure if I want them to end up together, though. Hmm. Hmm. Something to figure out somewhere along the line!

This response is kind of me rambling about the whole project excitedly, but I’ll have something a bit more coherent for you when I make the intro! And, for readers interested in giving it a read, you can read the first 6 chapters on my website, and for those who are kind enough to give feedback, I’ll be going into more detail about that in the WIP intro post as well (I’m just finalizing some important stuff for that before introducing everyone to the book)!

Thanks so much for the ask, @pe-ersona!

#asks #pe-ersona #the edge of love #romance #hyba #amwriting #writers #muslim writers

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socialyawkdude · 5 years ago

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Top 10 animes for first time viewers

Hello, my socially awkward friends,

I’m back after a much-needed vacation to bring you the content, which you crave. In recent weeks, I’ve been approached by friends and colleagues, about what amines they should watch. To say that it was a loaded question is an understatement. With the world of anime and manga being so vast, it's hard to know where to start.

After thinking it over, I’ve decided to follow suit of my supernatural top 10 and do a top 10 for anime for beginners.

Today's post will cover amines for first-time viewers. Let me start by saying that, This Is my Opinion! Please do not jump my bones because of the line-up. Now with that being said, let get this party started.

(10) Sailor Moon/Sailor Moon Crystal

Written by Nanoko Takeuchi

Genre/subgenre: Magical girl, action, romance, shoujo, superhero

Manga original run: (December 28, 1991, to February 3, 1997)

Anime Run: Sailor Moon (1992-1993) 46 episodes

Sailor Moon R (1993- 1994) 43 episodes

Sailor Moon S (1994- 1995) 38 episodes

Sailor Moon Super S (1995- 1996) 39 episode

Sailor Moon Sailor Star (1996- 1997) 34 episodes

The series follows the adventures of the protagonist Usagi Tsukino, a middle school student who is given the power to become the titular Sailor Soldier. Joined by other Sailor Soldiers, they defend Earth against an assortment of evil villains.

Let us start with a classic, remade for the modern-day. For quite a few of my generation, Sailor Moon was our introduction to the world of anime. I can remember watching sailor moon, in the early morning before the school bus came. Sailor Moon was the beginning of my love affair with anime.

Now here is what I got to say on sailor moon. It is a bit wonky, timeline-wise. Sailor Moon's overall timeline can be a bit hard to follow. That is if you are going in-depth with it. As long as you stay away from the headache inducing timeline, you’ll be ok.

(9)Bleach

Written by Tite Kubo

Genre/subgenre: Action, Adventure, Shonen, Supernatural, Comedy

Original manga run: August 7, 2001 - August 22, 2016

Original anime run: October 5, 2004 - March 27, 2012

366 episodes

What can I say about Bleach? It is one of my favorite anime’s of all time. It's not perfect but what is? You have a diverse cast of characters, a good story and plenty of action. In my opinion, that makes a great anime for beginners. For me, Bleach was my return to anime, after years of not watching. I think that I've watched this anime from beginning to end, one too many times.

I'm talking watching the U.S. airing up to the point that I had the watch in Japanese. I finished the anime a full 2 years before the finale aired in the U.S. I would highly recommend this anime to any beginners.

(8) Restaurant to another World

Written by Junpei Inuzuku

Genre/subgenre= Fantasy, Isekai

Manga Original Run: November 18, 2016, to June 25, 2019

Anime original Run: July 3, 2017, to September 18, 2017

12 episodes

I was recommended this anime by a friend of a friend. I am going, to be honest; I didn't know what I was getting into. This would be my first experience with isekai anime. Looking back on this anime, it is quite an anime. Not much action, but at a great story. I would not recommend watching after a 420 session, you will get the munchies.

(7) Sword Art Online

Written by Reki Kawahara

Genre/Subgenre= Isekai, Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Light Novel Original Run: April 10, 2009, to present

Anime original run:

Sword Art Online = July 8, 2012, to December 23, 2012

Sword Art Online II= July 5, 2014, to December 30, 2014

Sword Art Online Alicization = October 6, 2018, to present

And here we go again with another isekai. The genre in itself is pretty much the same across animes. Someone dies and is sent to another world, but Sword Art Online is different. Instead of dying and going to another world; our main character is trapped in a virtual world and if he dies there, he dies in the real world.

In general, I've been pretty hard on SAO because of its a little too real world for me. It deals with some very real-world issues. To give some examples: Death, rape, incest, and other issues. To top it all off, with it being 2019; we are only months away from when the anime begins. (Where is my damn nervegear?)

If you can get past all of that it's a decent anime. The first arc is by far the best. The second arc is OK and the third I haven't finished yet. Sword Art Online is a good anime for beginners, in my opinion. Plus, Sword Art Online always puts out a beyond great soundtrack.

(6) The Saga of Tanya the Evil

Written by Carlo Zen

Genre/subgenre: Isekai, fantasy

Manga Original run: April 26, 2016, to present

Anime original run: January 6, 2017, to March 31, 2017

12 Episodes

Here we are with the last isekai on our list. I understand that there have been quite a few listed, but besides the honorable mentions, there are no more. The Saga of Tanya the Evil is the perfect end of the isekai on this list.

Following the usual isekai tropes, Tanya the evil can best be described as a fantasy, historical alternative reality anime; taking place in a world similar to World War 1. As of this post, I'm only eight episodes in and quite enjoying it. I highly recommend checking it out.

(5) Fairy Tail

Written By Hiro Mashima

Genre/Subgenre: Shonen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Manga Original run: August 2, 2006, to July 26, 2017

Anime original Run: October 12, 2009, to Present

328 + episodes

It was around 7 years ago that a friend recommended fairy tail, to me. At the time, it wasn't my cup of tea. I was following Bleach, at the time, and hadn't leaped into the world of anime. Fast forward several years and it is still not my cup of tea. Now here is the thing, even though I may not be into fairy tail, ii know a good anime when I see it Given that fairy tail is entering its last full season; it a great choice for beginners and old alike. This is why I’m giving it the number 5 spot.

(4) Attack on Titan

Written by Hajime isayama

Genre/Subgenre: Dark fantasy, post-apocalyptic

Original manga run: September 9, 2009, to present

Original anime run: April 7, 2015, to present

Attack on Titan is one of those manga/animes that is a hit from day one. With a post-apocalyptic feel straight out of someone's worse nightmare. This isn't the zombie apocalypse folks; this is something far worse. The following that Attack on Titan has garnered is on par with American shows like The Walking Dead.

Along with the manga and anime, Attack on titan has spawned a live-action movie in 2015. In my opinion, the movie was just as gory and the anime, but a little toned down. If your a fan of post-apocalyptic shows like The Walking Dead, this is one that you have to check out.

A little piece of advice, do not watch the movie until you have seen the first season.

(3) Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

Written by Coolkyoushinja

Genre/Subgenre: fantasy

Manga original run: May 25, 2013 to present

Anime original run: January 11, 2017, to April 6, 2017

13 episodes plus OVA

If there was ever an anime that should be the official anime of this blog, this is it. Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid has been one of my favorite animes that I've seen in recent years. This is not the usual action-pack thriller, that you'll usually see from animes that make there way west. It the cute and funny story of Miss Kobayashi and how she ended up with a dragon maid and the adventures that follow. I would recommend this to anyone, anime watcher or not.

(2) Fullmetal Alchemist/ Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

Written by Hiroma Arakawa

Genre/Subgenre: Adventure, dark fantasy, science fiction, shonen

manga original run: July 12, 2001, to June 12, 2019

Anime original run:

( Fullmetal Alchemist) October 4, 2003, to October 2, 2004

51 episodes plus the movie Conqueror of Shamballa (2005)

( Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) April 5, 2009, to July 4, 2010

64 episodes

Here we are at the number 2 spot. This was a toss-up for number one, but I decided against it. I would suggest watching Brotherhood because it follows the manga beginning to end. Fullmetal Alchemist ends at episode 51 and it is up the movie, Conqueror of Shamballa to bring an end to the story. I saw Conqueror of Shamballa and overall the movie was great. Well deserving of the praise it got from film festivals around the world. Do yourself a favor and check out this anime.

(1) Dragon Ball /Z/GT/Super/Heroes

Written by Akira Toriyama

Genre/Subgenre: Action, Adventure, martial arts, shonen

Manga Original run:

Dragonball= December 3, 1984, to June 5, 1995

Dragonball Super= June 20,2025 to present

Anime original run:

Dragonball(1986 to 1989)

Dragonball Z( 1989 to 1996)

Dragonball GT( 1996 to 1997)

Dragonball Super( 2015 to 2018)

Super Dragonball Heroes(2018 to present)

And here we are at the number one spot. Come on, everyone should have seen this coming. Anime lovers and non-anime lovers have heard of the Dragonball series. While I was fighting for Fullmetal Alchemist to be in the number one spot; it wasn't going to happen. The Dragonball series is perfect for new anime viewers fro many reasons. One of the main reasons is if you get confused, there is plenty out there to help you understand what’s going on. The Dragonball series has been around in manga form since 1984 and anime form since 1986. There is plenty out there to help newbies and confused them, at the same time. Just don't watch the shitty American made live-action movie.

Honorable mentions: Konosuba, Ghost in A Shell, Food Wars and Naruto

Like always my friends, don't forget to like/share/reblog and follow. To get more of an idea of what's coming, you can follow me over on twitter at @socialyawkdude.

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ao3feed-captiveprince · 5 years ago

Text

Hangout for all fandoms!!

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2VJy9YY

by Marvelous_Stark

Just a place for everyone of every random to hang out and talk about their ships and anything they'd like! :)

This is probably a complete waste of my time, to be honest. Facebook is a thing too lol.

You can comment links to works you've made, or ones you enjoy! Honestly post anything but hate.

Have fun, make friends, and please no arguing 😓

Words: 12, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Once Upon a Time (TV), A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, ダイヤのA | Daiya no A | Ace of Diamond, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas, Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator, Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), The A-Team (TV), The A-Team (2010), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), The A-Team - All Media Types, B.A.P, B1A4, Block B, B-PROJECT 鼓動＊アンビシャス | B-PROJECT: Kodou Ambitious, Weiß Side B (Manga), Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Понедельник начинается в субботу - Стругацкие | Monday Begins on Saturday - A. & B. Strugatsky, Team B (Band), Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (Disney Movies), B.I.G | Boys in Groove, Left Behind - Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye, Grey's Anatomy: B-Team (Web Series), Charlotte's Web - E. B. White, B.I.Shadow, Plan B (2009), Battle B-Daman, Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Political RPF - US 21st c., Political RPF - UK 20th-21st c., Political RPF - France 21st c., Hornblower - C. S. Forester, Coldfire Trilogy - C. S. Friedman, Political RPF - US 20th c., C-Pop, The Big C (TV), Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh, Political RPF - Canadian 21st c., Political RPF - Russian 21st c., House of Night - P. C. Cast & Kristin Cast, Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell, Flowers in the Attic - V. C. Andrews, Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie (TV), Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain | Amélie (2001), Les Aventures Extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010), La Vie d'Adèle | Blue is the Warmest Color (2013), Reflets d'Acide (Podcast), Les nouvelles aventures d'Aladin | The New Adventures of Aladdin (2015), Les chansons d'amour | Love Songs (2007), Couple d'Ange, Starry - Dahan & D'Angelo, Llibre d'Amic e Amat | The Book of the Lover and the Beloved - Ramon Llull, L'elisir d'amore | The Elixir of Love - Donzietti/Romani, 愛聖女 | Sainte d'Amour - Takarazuka Revue, Anne with an E (TV), The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton, Formula E RPF, Raffles - E. W. Hornung, Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab, WALL-E (2008), Maurice - E. M. Forster, ボールルームへようこそ | Ballroom e Youkoso, Romeo e Giulietta - Ama e Cambia il Mondo, Villains Series - V. E. Schwab, Biggles Series - W. E. Johns, Nußknacker und Mausekönig | Nutcracker and the Mouse King - E. T. A. Hoffmann, Star Wars: Ahsoka - E. K. Johnston, Leagues and Legends - E. Jade Lomax, Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T. E. Lawrence, Oniisama E, f(x), F-Zero (Video Games), Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, F.E.A.R. (Video Games), F. T. Island, David Blaize - E. F. Benson, To Serve Them All My Days - R. F. Delderfield, Wild ARMs Altercode: F, The Poppy War - R. F. Kuang, F is for Family (Cartoon), F. COMPO, F/X: The Series, Logan's Run Series - William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson, China Mountain Zhang - Maureen F. McHugh, Enchanters Series - K. F. Bradshaw, Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse, .hack//G.U., G.I. Joe - All Media Types, (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE, G.I. Joe (Cartoon), Psmith - P. G. Wodehouse, WODEHOUSE P. G. - Works, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (2009), G Gundam, G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013), The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells, G.I. Joe: Renegades, 聖闘士星矢エピソード・ジー | Saint Seiya: Episode G, Splintered - A. G. Howard, The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells, Marabilia - Iria G. Parente & Selene M. Pascual, だから僕はHができない。| Dakara Boku wa H ga Dekinai. | So I Can't Play H! (Anime), Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, LOVECRAFT H. P. - Works, H2O: Just Add Water, Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee, Triple H (Korea Band), Herbert West - Reanimator - H. P. Lovecraft, H.O.T. (Band), Dream Cycle - H. P. Lovecraft, Once and Future King Series - T. H. White, H.I.V.E. Series - Mark Walden, The Time Machine - H. G. Wells, The Tapestry Series - Henry H. Neff, She - H. Rider Haggard, 私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い! | Watamote - No Matter How I Look At It It's You Guys' Fault I'm Unpopular!, I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (Radio), I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003), How I Met Your Mother, Voyná i mir | War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy, To All the Boys I've Loved Before Series - Jenny Han, I Medici | Medici: Masters of Florence (TV), I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Band), Final Fantasy I, I.O.I (Band), Dark Souls I, I Love Yoo (Webcomic), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), Withnail & I (1986), Suikoden I, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas, Peter Pan - J. M. Barrie, Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu, The Vampire Diaries - L. J. Smith, Union J (Band), Black Dagger Brotherhood - J. R. Ward, Brave Police J-Decker, MAAS Sarah J. - Works, Night World - L. J. Smith, K-pop, K (Anime), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, 斉木楠雄のΨ難 | Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan | The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., K.A.R.D (Band), K-On!, Merry Gentry - Laurell K Hamilton, Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin, Everworld Series - K. A. Applegate, The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin, Society of Gentlemen - K. J. Charles, The Broken Earth Series - N. K. Jemisin, L'Arc~en~Ciel, Dracula: l'amour plus fort que la mort - Ouali, Sackett Series - Louis L'Amour, L'appart du 5e (TV), L'agneau carnivore - Agustín Gómez Arcos, L'amica geniale | The Neapolitan Novels - Elena Ferrante, L'amant | The Lover (1992), Dracula: l'amour plus fort que la mort - Ouali RPF, Dracula: Entre l'amour et la mort - Leclerc/Tabra/Ouzounian & Pelletier, Porgi l'altra guancia | Two Missionaries (1974), The Talon and Chantry Series - Louis L'Amour, Les Crimes de l'amour: Eugénie de Franval | The Crimes of Love: Eugenie de Franval - Marquis de Sade, Les Crimes de l'amour: Ernestine | The Crimes of Love: Ernestine - Marquis de Sade, L'apprenti sorcier | The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Paul Dukas (Song), L'art du crime | The Art of Crime (TV), M&M's Commercials, House M.D., Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin, Super Junior-M, Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Mayans M.C. (TV), Marvel (House of M), Earth's Children - Jean M. Auel, The Culture - Iain M. Banks, Emily of New Moon - L. M. Montgomery, Peter and Wendy - J. M. Barrie, Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery, Emberverse - S. M. Stirling, Ed Edd n Eddy, Guns N' Roses, N.Flying (Band), N.E.R.D.S. - Michael Buckley, Kid n Teenagers (Web Comic), The Inheritance Trilogy - N. K. Jemisin, On n'demande qu'à en rire RPF, Sleeping Beauty Series - A. N. Roquelaure, M A N I A - Fall Out Boy (Album), The Paper Magician Series - Charlie N. Holmberg, Effluent Engine - N. K. Jemisin, Boyz n the Hood (1991), November Rain - Guns N' Roses (Music Video), Happily N'Ever After (2006), Dreamblood Series - N. K. Jemisin, Aubrey-Maturin Series - Patrick O'Brian, The Rocky Horror Show - O'Brien, Seven O'Clock (Band), The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien, Modesty Blaise - Peter O'Donnell, 10 O'Clock Live RPF, Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert C. O'Brien, Twelve O'Clock High (TV), Twelve O'Clock High (1949), 네시 | 4 O'Clock - RM & V (Song), Hairspray - Shaiman/Wittman & Shaiman/O'Donnell & Meehan, Le Petit Poucet | Hop-o'-My-Thumb - Charles Perrault, Back Roads - Tawni O'Dell, Crossroads Series - Nick O'Donohoe, 12時の鐘が鳴る | 12-ji no Kane ga Naru | 12 O'Clock Bell Rings (Manga), Magnum P.I. (TV 2018), Mary Poppins - P. L. Travers, P.S. I Love You (2007), Blandings Castle - P. G. Wodehouse, Prinsessen paa Ærten | The Princess and the Pea - Hans Christian Andersen, Children of the Lamp - P. B. Kerr, Magnum P.I. (TV 1980), 古剑奇谭 | Gujian Qitan (Video Games), 诡秘之主 - 爱潜水的乌贼 | Guǐ Mì Zhī Zhǔ - Ài Qián Shuǐ De Wū Zéi, Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, 灵契 | Ling Qi | Spiritpact, 秦时明月 | Qín Shí Míngyuè | The Legend of Qin - All Media Types, 法医秦明 | Medical Examiner Dr. Qin (TV), Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, 庆余年 | Qing Yu Nian (TV), Tantei Gakuen Q | Detective Academy Q, Avenue Q - Lopez/Marx, 情定三生 | Qing Ding San Sheng (TV), 古剑奇谭 | Gujian Qitan (TV), 你却爱着一个傻逼 - 水千丞 | In Love with an Idiot - Shui Qian Cheng, 开封奇谈 | Kai Feng Qi Tan (TV), 大秦帝國 | Da Qin Di Guo | The Qin Empire (TV), Afdeling Q | Department Q (Movies), Power Rangers R.P.M., The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore, Mary Russell - Laurie R. King, Nightside Series - Simon R. Green, R.O.D: Read or Die & Related Fandoms, E/R (1984), Wonder - R. J. Palacio, Smith of Wootton Major - J. R. R. Tolkien, Deathstalker Series - Simon R. Green, S.C.I.谜案集 | S.C.I. Mystery (TV), S.C.I.谜案集 | S.C.I. Mystery (TV) RPF, The Expanse Series - James S. A. Corey, The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T. S. Eliot, The Daevabad Trilogy - S. A. Chakraborty, Star Wars: Phasma - Delilah S. Dawson, Draka Series - S. M. Stirling, s-CRY-ed, Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland, Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune, T-Ara, Mad T Party Band, T.U.F.F. Puppy, The Tempest Series - T. D. Cloud, The Waste Land - T. S. Eliot, t.A.T.u. (Band), T. J. Hooker (TV), T.M.Revolution, Topp Dogg | Xeno-T (Band), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV), U-KISS, Hollywood U: Rising Star, U2 (Band), The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) RPF, Here U Are (Webcomic), Without You - NCT U (Music Video), UC: Undercover, 1-800-WHERE-R-U Series - Meg Cabot, เพราะรักใช่ป่าว | Why R U?: The Series (TV) RPF, The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas, UC (Webcomic), Whitest Kids U' Know RPF, The Hate U Give (2018), Deux ans de vacances | Two Years' Vacation - Jules Verne, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 第五人格 | Identity V (Video Game), Grand Theft Auto V, V for Vendetta (2005), Henry V - Shakespeare, 第五人格 | Identity V (Video Game) RPF, Final Fantasy V, Code Name: Sailor V, V (2009), V (1983), W.I.T.C.H., Hardy Boys - Franklin W. Dixon, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries - Franklin W. Dixon & Carolyn Keene, 君の名は。| Kimi no Na wa. | Your Name., 四月は君の嘘 | Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso | Your lie in April, 田中くんはいつもけだるげ | Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge | Tanaka is Always Listless, 会長はメイド様! | Kaichou wa Maid-sama! | Maid Sama!, 囀る鳥は羽ばたかない | Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai, كتاب ألف ليلة وليلة | Kitaab 'alf layla wa-layla | One Thousand and One Nights, 裏切りは僕の名前を知っている | Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru | The Betrayal Knows My Name, 結城友奈は勇者である | Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de aru | Yuki Yuna is a Hero, ふたりはプリキュア | Futari wa Pretty Cure, 今日から俺は!! | Kyou Kara Ore Wa!!, Koko wa Greenwood | Here is Greenwood, Bounen no Xam'd | Xam'd: Lost Memories, The X-Files, X-Men - All Media Types, Monsta X (Band), X-Men (Movieverse), Hunter X Hunter, X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X1 (Korea Band), X-Men Evolution, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions, Rockman X | Mega Man X, Star Wars Legends: X-Wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole, X -エックス- | X/1999, Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, やがて君になる | Yagate Kimi ni Naru | Bloom Into You (Manga), Y: The Last Man, かくりよの宿飯 | Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi | Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (Anime), Sarai-ya Goyou | House of Five Leaves, Pokemon + Nobunaga no Yabou | Pokemon Conquest, Y tu mamá también (2001), Ya-ya-yah (Band), Y Gwyll | Hinterland, 传说之主的夫人 - 尹琊 | The Legendary Master's Wife - Yin Ya, Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio | Tales of Count Lucanor - Don Juan Manuel, Yes or No อยากรัก ก็รักเลย | Yes or No: Yaak Rak Gaw Rak Loey (Movies), Olmos y Robles (TV), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), Ya lyublyu tebya | You I Love (2004), Z for Zachariah (2015), Z Nation (TV), Z.Tao (Musician), The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod - Zac Brewer, A.B.C.-Z, World War Z - Max Brooks, Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Lost Souls - Poppy Z. Brite, Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z, House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski, World War Z (2013), Exquisite Corpse - Poppy Z. Brite, The Slayer Chronicles - Zac Brewer, Mazinger Z, Drawing Blood - Poppy Z. Brite, Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes (Downey films), Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV), Sherlock (TV) RPF, Miss Sherlock (TV), Шерлок Холмс | Sherlock Holmes (TV 2013), Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone films), Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (TV Russia), シャーロック | Sherlock: Untold Stories (TV), Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (Cartoon), Sherlock Holmes (US TV 1954), Shall We Date?: Guard Me Sherlock!+, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Captain Marvel (2019), The Defenders (Marvel TV), Marvel Ultimates, Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Marvel Noir, Marvel 3490, Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics), Star Wars (Marvel Comics), Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics), Currently adding more fandoms

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: I'll add more soon - Character

Relationships: I'll add more soon

Additional Tags: I'll add more soon - Freeform

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2VJy9YY

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #captive prince

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