#been having a due south situation since i was a teenager time to make some gifs about it i guess

[thenightblogcometh]

You ever feel like you don't know who you are? Like if you weren't around somebody, or that somebody wasn't around you, that you wouldn't be you, or at least not the you that you think you are. You ever feel like that? (insp.)

[aquadestinyswriting]

Carrying on with the replies to the lovely comments that have been left.

@blind-the-winds

#maaaaan I was just about to say this was starting off with Hot Fuzz vibes#(what with city cop adjusting to life where the most interesting thing for teens to do is harass cops I mean)#but then the shots rang out and I'm like :O :O :O#poor Farran tho#and Elowyn of course D:#poor the latter particularly because it's easy to see this was right out of her depth so to speak#but excellent to see that they've both been dragged into these shenanigans#and that Meredith seems to be adjusting just fine haha

Yeah, I wanted to start out with some fun shenanigans before getting into the drama. I took quite a lot of inspiration from Due South and, yeah Hot Fuzz, for that. It makes sense since this is the first time most people have seen an SGC officer in full uniform on guard duty, and teenagers are assholes mischievous sods. Yeah, while I imagine that Elowyn has been shot at plenty of times at this point in her career, having her duty partner get shot protecting her will still leave her reeling a bit. Nothing like an emergency situation to create a lasting bond, right?

Titan Modern AU- Chapter Two

Summary: Meredith takes guard dty as seriously as she does everything else in this job. While giving a warning two an ill-informed youth, Meredith witnesses the shooting of a Torejar police officer. Her Field Medic training kicks in and she rushes over to assist.

Words: 1,712

Tags: @druidx, @sparrow-orion-writes @warriorbookworm, @thesorcerersapprentice, @blind-the-winds, @philosophika, @the-down-upside-finch, @hippiewrites

Warnings: shooting, blood, guns, violence, gunshot wounds, If I've missed anything please let me know.

Notes: This was a much tougher chapter to write than expected. There's a lot going on, but I've tried to keep everything as consistent as I possibly can. Also, yes, Meredith is using military time, as she rightly would.

Meredith steadfastly ignored the children that were doing everything in their power to try and make her move or speak,

“C’mon Larry, we’re gonna get in trouble.” one of them, a young pre-teen with blonde hair said, just as his companion took another step towards the woman. The taller of the two snorted disdainfully,

“Quit being such a wuss. It’s not like they can actually do anything!” he retorted. Meredith kept her eyes straight ahead, but was making a note of just how close the teenager was getting to her out of the corner of her eye. The teen stepped forward another two paces until he was standing directly next to Meredith, who still didn’t move. At least not until the kid reached out to try and grab her Shanter off her head. She quickly reached out, grabbed his wrist then quickly pushed him against the wall, twisting his hand behind his back,

“Bad move, kid. Lookin’ is fine, touching is a nono.” she stated. She glanced back to see what the blonde-haired kid was doing. He was standing rooted to the spot, face drained of colour. Meredith nodded to him then returned her attention to the teenager that was now struggling against her grip,

“Oi, geroff!” he complained, ���So I reached out to touch you, that ain’t illegal!” he protested. Meredith shook her head,

“Actually, son, I think ye’ll find that it is.” she retorted, “Under Fangthane law, it’s illegal to harass an officer of the Stronghold Guardian Corps while they are on duty. Touching any part of the uniform counts, as does blocking their line of sight. I was just bein’ nice earlier.” she told him. The teenager snorted,

“Yeah, well we ain’t in Fangthane are we? This is Toreguarde and this is assault!” he cried. Meredith snorted,

“The Consulate counts as bein’ on Fangthane soil, pal. Now, I’ve every right to read you your rights and arrest you, but I’m feeling generous. I’m happy to let ye go with a warning, provided you don’t do it again.” 

Meredith didn’t get to hear the youth’s reply as a lanky Fangthanian man wearing a rumpled suit rushed past, quickly followed by two Torejar people wearing what seemed to be leather duster jackets atop dark blue uniforms. Probably members of the Toreguarde police force then. The Fangthanian pulled out a gun just as he was about to round a corner, aiming for the woman. Right as he pulled the trigger, the tall, lanky man shoved his partner to the side. Two shots rang out, causing every civvy in the area to scream and run for cover. The man took both shots, one in his shoulder, the other in his leg, and fell to the floor. 

Meredith immediately let go of the youth she had been warning and ran over to the prone officer, right as the other woman picked herself up. A crowd immediately began to form around the group as Meredith pulled the male officer’s coat open to have a look at his shoulder, then glanced down at his leg. Both were bleeding far more than she would have liked. She sucked in a breath through her teeth and looked up at the people milling around her. She pointed to one of them,

“You, call an ambulance!” she snapped, then pointed to another, “You, go in the front door of the Consulate. There’s a first aid kit on the wall on your immediate left. Grab it and bring it back here!” When neither person moved, Meredith growled, “Move it!” she snarled, already moving to place as much pressure on at least one of wounds the man had sustained as possible. 

The two unwitting volunteers nodded, one pulling out a mobile phone, the other dashing off towards the Consulate. Meredith grimaced, realising she didn’t have enough hands to stop the man on the floor in front of her from bleeding out since she couldn’t reach his leg from her current position. She looked up again, noticing that the female officer was hovering uncertainly nearby, her face pale and hand hovering over the holster of her pistol,

“Oi! I need another pair of hands here! You want this man to bleed out or not?” Meredith snapped irritably. 

The dark-skinned woman quickly shoon her head, as though coming out of a daze. She quickly knelt down next to her partner,

“Farren!” she yelped. She looked up at the other woman, “What do you need me to do?” she asked. Meredith gestured to the gunshot wound on the man’s leg,

“Put as much pressure on that as you can manage. With any luck I’ll be getting a hold of that damn first aid kit pretty soon, but I reckon that leg’s gonna need a tourniquet.” she replied. The officer nodded and placed her hands on her fellow officer’s leg. She winced at his hiss,

“Sorry, Farren.” she apologised. She looked over to the woman that was helping them, green eyes meeting blue,

“Thanks, I don’t know what I’d be doing if you weren’t on hand.” she said. Meredith shook her head, concentrating on the task at hand,

“Ye can thank me after we’ve got your pal here stabilised.” she replied. She looked up at the man with the mobile phone she’d directed to call for an ambulance, “How long?” she called. The businessman nodded, looked over to Meredith and placed his hand over the speaker,

“They’ll be here in two minutes.” he called back, quickly returning to the call. The woman that Meredith had told to get the first aid kit pushed through the crowd and handed the box to the Fangthanian woman,

“Here, is he going to be alright?” she asked. Meredith glanced up at her taking the box with one hand and opening it with practised ease,

“Hopefully.” she muttered. She pulled out a pack of gauze and a roll of bandages and quickly began patching the officer’s shoulder up. It wasn’t her best work, but it would have to do. She looked up at the crowd of people again, glancing briefly at the leg, which was still bleeding profusely through his partner’s hands,

“Anyone got a belt they can live withoot?” she called, her accent slipping with her rising anxiety as she felt the man’s breath begin to falter. Another businessman stepped forward, quickly unbuckling and unthreading the belt at his waist,

“I need a new one anyway.” he said, handing the item over. Meredith nodded, taking it. She shifted a little,

“Reckon you can keep some pressure on that shoulder for me while I try to tie this leg off?” she asked. The man nodded and quickly placed his hands on the bandage as Meredith took her hands away. Satisfied that the shoulder was taken care of Meredith shuffled next to the female officer,

“‘Scuse me.” she murmured, trying not to shove the other woman away too much as she manoeuvered into a position that would allow her to tie the belt around her patient’s thigh. The Torejar officer stared at Meredith as she worked. She opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of approaching sirens caused her to look in the direction they were coming from instead. 

The paramedics were quick to take stock of the situation and thanked Meredith for her quick thinking and resourcefulness as they loaded the male officer onto a stretcher. Meredith groaned and dusted off her hands as she pulled herself up again. She looked over to the female officer, who was hovering nearby. She was pale and sweaty and half in shock, Meredith noticed.

“You gonna be alright?” she asked. The Torejar woman nodded, wiping her bloodied hands on the towel one of the paramedics had handed her,

“I will be.” she said. She looked up at Meredith and held out a hand, “Thank you. You’ve saved the life of a good detective.” Meredith shrugged and shook the offered hand,

“I was only doing my duty.” she replied, “Part and parcel of being part of the SGC, Miss..” she trailed off, eyeing the officer expectantly. The Torejar woman coughed im embarassment,

“Oh, yes, sorry. There wasn’t time for introductions earlier. Detective Elowyn O’Toreguarde, Toreguarge Investigative Branch.” she replied, “The man whose life you just saved is Detective Farren Breakwood, my partner.” 

Meredith nodded and snapped off a quick salute,

“Constable Meredith Gruksdottir, Clan Ironforge, of the Fangthane Stronghold Guardian Corps.” she replied. She smirked a little at the slightly confused look that Detective O’Toreguarde was giving her.

“Gruks… dottir?” the detective murmured. The Torejar quickly shook her head and smiled, “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Constable, but I’d best go with my partner and make sure he’s not going to do something stupid when he wakes up. I’ll probably be by in a day or two to get a witness statement, if that’s alright?” she asked. Meredith nodded,

“Of course, Detective. I’m typically on guard duty between the hours of 09:00 and 17:30, with a lunch break from 13:00 to 14:00 hours.” she replied, “You’d be best getting the statement either during my lunch hour or after I clock off for the evening, as I’m not permitted to speak unless necessary during guard duty.”

Elowyn quirked an eyebrow at the reply and nodded again, scribbling a note into her pocketbook,

“Duly noted.” she muttered, “Well, I guess I’ll let you get back to it then.” she said, quickly bowing her head slightly before dashing off into the back of the ambulance just before the doors were slammed shut and it drove off to the nearest hospital.

Meredith shrugged, looked back to the front entrance of the Consulate and sighed, noticing that the two boys from earlier were long gone. Well, as long as the older one heeded the warning Meredith had been giving him, then there wasn’t anything else for it but to get back to work. She tilted her wrist, checked the time and marched back to her position. She still had another two hours before she could clock off, and it wasn’t like there was anyone else to take over. Maybe she could get away with handwriting a report summary until she could get to a computer to type up a full one?

[tryingmybestpls]

Golden

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Summary: The Reader and Bucky go through different stages of the Reader’s pregnancy.

Rating: T

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: Mentions of pregnancy, giving birth

Two Months

Y/N had been mulling over how she was going to tell him since she found out a week ago. She had thought her anxiousness and worries would have faded away after she saw those two little lines on the test. No, they had only increased ten-fold, only worsening when she went to her doctor and got an official test. Her stomach tossing and turning when the doctor told her that she's been pregnant for eight weeks. Y/N was now stuck with the most important and difficult part of this whole thing-telling Bucky Barnes that she was pregnant with his baby.

How does one tell an over one hundred year old super soldier that they're going to be a father?  Getting a tiny Brooklyn Dodgers onesie made? Too cliché. Make some awful pun themed dinner that might include "buns in the oven"? Might go over his head. Hand him the sonogram that she had gotten after the pregnancy test just to be sure? He's from the forties, what the fuck is he going to know about a sonogram?

Y/N was terrified over he was going to react. Bucky was barely getting used to the world, barely getting used to having control of his own mind. And while he had been doing a lot better and he makes sure to take care of himself, Y/N didn't know how he would handle the stress of a baby. Did he even want to be a dad? Y/N didn't even know if she wanted to be a mom, but she know that somehow it felt right. They've never even talked about having children and now-well they were sort of past the point of thinking about having kids.

The whole situation made her want to vomit, and she was pretty sure it wasn't just from the morning sickness.

Y/N eventually landed on telling him over dinner. Nothing too fancy, just the usual place they always go to so that Bucky wouldn't think anything was up. All day long as she sat through meeting after meeting, her date got closer and closer, and that dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach grew with every second. Y/N felt like she was going to vomit by the time she met up with her boyfriend back at their apartment. Luckily, Bucky talks the entire car ride to the restaurant, complaining about something Sam did that day. She uses her training for good, covering up her nervousness with a neutral face.

They made their regular small talk as they sit in the back of the restaurant at their usual table. Y/N orders her usual lemonade while Bucky orders a Coke. They share a basket of bread and Y/N hopes that the carbs soak up the acid that keeps threatening to rise up her throat. Each time she wants to bring up her news, their waitress would come up with refills, an E.T.A on their food, or just to ask how they were doing. And each time, Y/N would glare daggers at her back once she was turned around to walk away.

Then their respective plates of pasta were placed in front of them. Bolognese for Bucky, arrabbiata for Y/N. While usually she immediately dives into her plate, the way her stomach is twisting and turning, she's unable to eat. Y/N pushes her pasta around with her fork as she works up the courage to talk to him. She just didn't know how to say it. All she knew is that she had to say it. Y/N puts down her fork, moving to wipe her now sweaty hands on the cloth napkin on her lap as she looks up at him. Bucky was raising a pasta laden fork up to his mouth as she opened hers.

"I'm pregnant." She finally blurts out. Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper, barely audible over the noise of the other guests at the restaurant. She was afraid that he couldn't hear her, afraid that she was going to have to say it again. But by the way Bucky's eyes widen, she knew that he had heard her loud and clear. He lowers his fork, mouth opening and shutting.

"I-What? You're-What?" The super soldier asks, looking from her face to her stomach and back to her face. Y/N felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach, the blood draining from her face.

"I-I'm pregnant. I found out last week." Y/N manages to get out, still looking down at her plate. Her eyes started to sting and she tried to blink her eyes rapidly in order to keep her tears at bay. Bucky's silence is deafening and Y/N wishes she could run out of the restaurant, but it's like she's glued to the chair. She wants him to say something-anything, but he is silent. Y/N is about to say something when he holds his hands up, almost in defense.

"Wait. I-I don't want you to be upset. I'm not mad-I just don't know how to put my feelings into words. I'm happy. I'm really happy. I just-You know I'm not good with words." Bucky finally speaks, stumbling over his words. Her eyes widen and she quickly looks up at him.

"I-Really?" Y/N asks, the knot her stomach slowly unraveling. Bucky nods, a small smile appearing on his face. This time the tears that are filling her eyes from happiness.

"I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about babies or raising a child, but I'm sure I can figure it out." Bucky jokes, his metal hand fiddling with his utensils on the table. Y/N feels a million times better, a huge weight being lifted off of her shoulders. He looks up at her again, "I'm happy, Y/N. I am."

"Me too. Me too."

-

Four Months

As Y/N walked into her apartment, the only thing on her mind was kicking her shoes off, taking off her bra that was digging into her sides, and taking a much deserved nap. Her meeting had ended early and with Rhodey not needing help with anything, she had decided to return to her apartment. Yet, with not even a foot inside of the apartment, she was immediately greeted with an argument.

"No, what I am saying is you're painting wrong." Bucky snaps, which makes Y/N's eyebrow raise. Her boyfriend wasn't in sight, but he certainly was in the apartment somewhere. She sets her things down, walking over to where the arguing is coming from.

"How the hell can I be painting wrong? I'm putting paint on the wall. The wall is getting painted." Sam fires back and Y/N has to force herself to not laugh, covering her mouth. She stands in the doorway of the guest room, taking in the sight in front of her. The floor and furniture was covered in plastic tarp, blue painting tape lining the white molding and outlets. Painting supplies littered the room and standing in the middle of all of it were two idiots, both of them holding paint rollers covered in a light sage green paint.

"I'm sorry-what's going on here?" Y/N questions, motioning to the two of them and the mess in the room. Their heads snapped towards her, nervous smiles spreading across their faces. They looked like two kids that have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Hey doll-uh fuck-surprise." Bucky announces a little defeatedly while Sam gives a one handed jazz hand. Y/N laughs, carefully stepping into the room as the 106 year old man tries to explain, "I-We were going to surprise you by painting the room. Why are you home so early?"

"My meetings ended early and I am extremely surprised. Thank you and thank you too, Sammy." Y/N says sweetly, smiling at the two of them. Bucky lets out a sigh of relief and Sam chuckles. While the men may not see eye to eye all of the time, Sam has been a great help to both of them. The man had some knowledge about babies and children, being the proud uncle to two little boys, and he had been trying his best to put some of Bucky's worries at ease.

"I'm just trying to be a really great uncle." Sam teases, which makes the super soldier roll his eyes.  Bucky didn't have any living siblings and Y/N's teammates were the closest thing she had to family so it was going to be Uncle Sam, Uncle Rhodey, Auntie Pepper, Auntie Wanda, and so on and so forth. Their little patchwork support system that they were incredibly grateful for.

"Do you two need any help? I can't because I am pretty sure I'm not supposed to be inhaling paint fumes. But I can give Peter a call, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Y/N offers, grinning from ear to ear. She knows that both men weren't exactly best friends with Peter Parker, both of them having gotten their asses handed to them by a teenager. Y/N didn't have any issues with the kid, hell she talked to him on a weekly basis. He reported to her every Friday, filling Y/N on his week. While it had first started as him telling her what Spider-Man did, it soon turned into a three hour long meeting that included take out while he filled her in the weekly drama and tales of him and his two friends. And every Friday when she would return to the apartment, Sam and Bucky would greet her by calling her traitor.

"Jesus-No, we are okay doll. I think we can manage, right Sam?" Bucky asks, looking at the other man. Sam just nods, holding his paint covered roller a little higher.

"Yeah yeah I think we will be okay. This room will be done in no time."

-

Seven Months

Y/N watched from her seat at the kitchen island as Bucky moved around the kitchen, attempting to make dinner.

Y/N had been put on bed rest due to the fact that the Super Serum that had affected Bucky's DNA was causing the baby to grow at an accelerated rate. Seeing that this is going to be the first baby born with the serum (that they know of), the doctor wanted Y/N to be cautious.

Bucky, had taken the doctor's words incredibly seriously, going so far as to not even let make any food, like he is doing now.

"Bucky, baby, I can help you, y'know." Y/N tells him as Bucky attempted to follow a fairly simple recipe for marinara sauce. It was already going south pretty fast. He hadn't bought the right type of tomatoes and hadn't chopped nearly enough garlic. She kept herself from micromanaging the whole thing, but it was getting harder and harder to do so.

"Doll, I used to make dinner for me and my sister. I think I can handle this." He replies, setting the knife he was using to chop up the yellow onion aside. He scoops up the onion in his hands, moving to toss it into the big pan on the stove. The onions sizzle as soon as it hits the olive oil covered surface of the pan.

When Y/N had told Bucky she was craving pasta, she had kind of meant that they would just pick something up. Bucky had decided that he would make the meal himself and Y/N, once she saw how excited he was, didn't have the heart to tell him that she had wanted take-out.

It was actually sort of sweet, seeing him trying to hard to make this meal for her. All he wanted to do is take care of her, take care of their baby. She loved cooking for him for the same reason. It was a way to show her love, to show how much she cared about him and he just wanted to do the same.

"Alright, Barnes. I believe in you." Y/N responds, smiling at him. She just watched as he cooked (and occasionally danced to the jazz music that was playing on the record player). It didn't matter if the meal sucked, Bucky was just trying his best to take care of his girlfriend and their child.

But for the record, the meal did suck.

-

Eight Months

It was a sight, seeing them together.

Bucky held their daughter close to his chest, bouncing her carefully as the light started to filter through the blinds of her hospital room. A smile was stretched across his tired face as he moved from side to side, cooing to her softly. His hair was a mess, his clothes incredibly wrinkled. The morning light surrounded the two like a halo and if Y/N could, she'd take a picture of them. A picture of her family.

Their daughter had been born a month early, which wasn't too surprising considering with how fast she had been growing. Although it was a shock when Y/N's water broke the night before while they were sleeping. Then Y/N had spent most of yesterday in labor, finally giving birth to their sweet baby girl-Rebecca Natalia Barnes, named after Bucky's little sister and Y/N's best friend-in the evening. Bucky had started crying when Y/N had told him that she had wanted to name their daughter after his sister, not thinking that Y/N would have wanted to pay tribute to his long dead sister.

"Look Rebecca, mommy's awake." Bucky says softly, looking over to where Y/N was laying in her bed. The Super Soldier grinned at her, still rocking their child. Y/N smiled at the two of them, shifting on the bed so she can sit up a bit more as her boyfriend walked over. She looks up at the two, her heart swelling with the way Bucky looks holding their daughter.

"Hi baby." Y/N says hoarsely, the bundle of pink shifting and squirming in Bucky's arms. She holds her arms out, silently asking if she can hold Rebecca. Bucky carefully places the newborn into her arms before he pulls the plastic chair closer to the bed, not wanting to be too far from either of them.

"I can't believe she's actually here." Y/N announces softly, taking in every detail of her daughter's face in the early morning light. She had Bucky's blue-gray eyes and his nose, but her hair. It felt weird to see her, felt weird to be holding her. Y/N felt like she was dreaming, but the pain she had gone through the night before-the pain she was still feeling now-had made it real.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Bucky asks, looking at mother and child interacting. Y/N nods, tears filling her eyes as she looks down at her daughter. She presses her lips against Rebecca's forehead, taking in that baby smell that every parenting book seemed to mention. Bucky is still smiling, looking at the two, "My two beautiful girls."

Hours from now, the hospital room would be filled with friends what were more likely family, wanting to share this incredibly special moment with the Y/L/N-Barnes family. Rebecca would be introduced with her aunts and uncles, each one of them getting a chance to hold and introduce themselves to the newborn.

But for now, for now, the three of them were alone. The three of them sat together in this room, all getting used to each other. Nothing else existed outside of this room, nothing else mattered outside of this room. All that mattered was that they were together.

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Spelling Bee (Brick/Blossom)

Happy birthday to @genovah​! She is always inspiring me to come up with more PPG content, a true hero. I’m back with another entry in the ongoing Shooketh, Not Stirred high school AU Reds series for your entertainment. As always, this can be read alone, but it happens in the same universe as part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5. This is also posted on my AO3.

Summary: Brick and Blossom hunker down in the library to study for the upcoming regional spelling bee.

***Reblogs are extremely appreciated, since this probably won’t show up in the tags due to cursing. Thank you! <3

xxx

In fairness, Brick had come to the library during his free period with the pure intention to learn. And he was certainly learning something. But somewhere between sliding into his seat opposite Blossom and watching her lips move around insouciant as if it were a strawberry slathered in ganache, his purity was torn from his weak, teenage boy fingers and there was absolutely no going back. 

“Brick, are you listening to me?” She touched his hand across the table. 

“Yup.”

“Did you need me to repeat the word?”

“Yup.”

“In-SOO-see-uhnt.” She sounded it out slowly, and hand to god, that dominating SOO went straight to his cock.

This, of course, was fine. 

“Origin?” he asked. 

She twirled her hair around her finger and puckered her lips. “French.”

Fuck.

“I…”

Blossom mistook his increasingly horny stupor for plain old stupor and sighed. “Are you even trying? Because if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were completely fine with Darla Dimpleton going to regionals instead of one of us.”

“I am not fine with that.”

Darla Dimpleton was an unassuming, unthreatening nobody with the personality of plain oatmeal. Brick would never have even bothered to learn her name had she not committed the cardinal sin of scoring so much extra credit while everyone else was busy having lives that she stole the number one GPA right from under him. Which meant she stole it from under Blossom too. Which meant Brick was no longer a respectable silver medal to Blossom’s gold, but currently ranked third and therefor merely happy to be on the podium at all (and for the record, no one has ever been happy merely to be on the podium, just like no one has ever been happy winning Most Improved: you sucked, and now you suck a little less. Except this time, you actually suck more because Darla fucking Dimpleton decided to Quaker Oats her way to the top of this rat race that doesn’t actually matter, but it’s the principle of the thing, i.e., the only thing that matters.). 

All of this to say, Darla Dimpleton was the Worst™ and she was one hundred percent going down. 

“Are you sure? Because you’re being awfully cavalier about this. Some might even call you insouciant.”

It was a testament to Brick’s powerful fondness for winning and being seen doing it that he spelled insouciant in one Darla Dimpleton-shaped cock blocking breath.

Blossom smiled like she knew something. “Much better.”  

Yeah, she knows a lot of things.

The problem with dating, Brick was convinced, was that suddenly the mundane became extraordinary. Everyday experiences that he had previously taken for granted—flying around Townsville, enjoying a cup of coffee, thwarting his sometimes murderous demonic overlord from distributing incriminating polaroids, that sort of thing—were suddenly exciting, thrilling even. Because now he got to do those things with Blossom, and Blossom was cool in a smarmy, elitist sort of way that both softened his heart and hardened his dick all at the same time, and that was kind of A Lot to deal with at 9 a.m. on a Tuesday.

“All right, do me,” Blossom said, and Brick coughed so badly his aforementioned weak, teenage boy fingers shook to stifle himself. 

Mercy, he thought, probably. But all his blood was rushing south and it was going to take a supernatural willpower to get through these words so that one of them could beat the upstart porridge peasant to this year’s regional spelling bee. 

“You’re the boss,” he said, because it was true, and also because he liked the way she looked at him when he said it. Like he was now the ganache-coated strawberry in this overextended metaphor that he was too laden with Homeric concupiscence being in her general proximity to unpack. 

Concupiscence, there’s a ten dollar word for you, you horny genius. 

He made a mental note to brag to Blossom about this later. 

“Okay, let’s see…” Brick made a show of organizing the flashcards so that she wouldn’t see him discreetly re-situate his pants under the table. “Your word is cymotrichous.”

Blossom tapped her lips, and Brick found himself sympathizing with the Puritans in their absolute befuddlement over the libidinous effect of women having lips. Witchcraft, surely. “Could you use it in a sentence for me?”

Compelled entirely by black magic and therefor not responsible for his imminently questionable choices, Brick obliged her with: “Thinking about how I’d rather run my fingers through your cymotrichous hair for the rest of free period instead of sit here spelling words no one’s ever heard of.”

Blossom, who he was dead certain was extremely thirsty for him and had been for years long before they ever reconciled their rivalry, leaned over the desk separating them. Her hair, long and loose and indeed quite wavy today, was tempting. “Brick, are you flirting with me?”

It was a well-known fact of being a Weak-Fingered, Teenage Boy that one must never reveal such weakness, especially not in front of one’s girlfriend. On the other hand, co-opting said weakness and rebranding it as the suave truth was galaxy brain levels of flirting. And Brick, as has already been established, was a horny genius. “Yup.” He leaned in to meet her, and he twirled her hair between his fingers because they were weak for her, indeed. “How am I doing?”

Blossom, too determined to let her thirst deter her from her goal of sweet, academic retribution and bragging rights, tapped a finger to his lips. “Great. But we have so many words to spell, and only thirty minutes left to do them all. So get shuffling, stud.”

Well, he could work with that. One thing that made his relationship with Blossom work very well was their insatiable competitiveness. Whether they were whaling on each other over an empty parking lot, debating the efficacy of post-its as a note-taking device, or combining their powers to Captain Planet a cornmeal know-it-all back down the leaderboard where she belonged, they were relentless glory chasers. And the greater the challenge, the more they enjoyed the experience and each other. 

Blossom spelled her word perfectly, by the way. She stretched out the o-u-s at the end in a bewitching little whisper as she pulled away and her hair slipped through his fingers. That moment when the light changes and the temperature shifts and you’re weightless in a state of existential anticipation of something monumental about to happen, but not quite? That happened. Thirty minutes to explore the shape of that anticipation was enough time to taste it but not enough to savor it. Which, Brick supposed, was about to make this the best thirty minutes he was likely going to get all week. 

“Are you ready?” Blossom watched him from behind the card she’d drawn. She had a glint in her eyes that told him she was smiling behind that card. 

“Anytime.”

“Your word is eudaemonic.”

That fucking gorgeous ooh again.

“Define it.”

Blossom flushed as though he had just ordered her to bend over. She bit her lip (it must have been a ten Hail Mary’s kind of day when the Witch-Finder General caught a flesh and blood woman doing that with her improbably sorcerous lips) and grinned. “It means producing happiness. Based on the idea of happiness as the proper end of conduct.”

Producing happiness, which is proper, much like how Blossom came off as proper and even prim around adults, when really she was the most fun, most confident, most person he’d ever met, especially when she was spelling in that chiffon top (son of a bitch, that was a great top on her), and the only conduct he was interested in was of the happiest kind.

“Oh.” His throat clenched, and then his stomach twisted, and then his pants grew little too tight again in a full-body chain reaction that began and ended with a fierce determination not to give in first even though it would mean release because release would be meaningless without this etymological tête-à-tête. 

Don’t think about tête-à-têtes. 

Seventeenth century, noun, borrowed from the French meaning literally “head to head” (please, please stop hurting yourself like this).

“Brick?”

Brick cleared his throat. “Yup. Got it. E-u-d…”

Crisis averted, Brick picked the next card and promptly choked on his own tongue. Blossom made a show like she was concerned and are you all right? and please drink some water. Brick drank her water, which of course she had had her anatomically heretical lips on earlier, which was just fantastic for him. Tuesday fucking morning. 

Milieu was her word. 

“Milieu, hmm.” Blossom’s smile was spellbinding, which was a pun because he punned when he panicked. “Origin?”

You bitch, he thought, and be cool, and also, witchcraft.

Brick leaned back in his chair, slipped his trembling hands in his pockets, and squeezed every ounce of anything you can do I can do better into a winsome grin. “French.”

Blossom’s adult-facing façade cracked like an egg, and he got a glimpse of the raw delight she felt for this game, for the words, and for him for making it happen. For cultivating the electric milieu, if you will, currently driving them both into a state of impassioned, competitive euphoria at 9:42 a.m. in the library. 

“Right, um…” She stumbled over her words, and Brick had to restrain himself from crowing for joy and risk the rheumy-eyed librarian coming to scold them. 

By the time they got through another set of words, they were each visibly frustrated and doubly turned on by the other’s masochistic resolve not to throw in the towel. 

“Okay, ready for another round?” 

She wasn’t even trying to hide her intentions now, and that was just fine with Brick. “Of course.”

One more.

If it was another French word, he was fucking done. 

“Really?” Blossom truly had ice in her veins for the way she was able to school her face then. He couldn’t read her, and that was very bad. 

If it’s another fucking French word…

He could be over the desk and on her faster than you could say concupiscence. 

“Okay.” Blossom set down the flashcard she’d drawn and folded her hands on the table. She looked him dead in the eye licked her lips. “Succedaneum.”

The bookshelf shook but Brick’s fingers didn’t as they pinned Blossom’s over a Dewey Decimal-stamped spine and he kissed her with all the horny passion of a teenage genius who would make a note to thank the devil for giving women lips. One of his better ideas. 

xxx

“Hey, has anyone seen Blossom? I’ve sent her, like, four texts!” Bubbles shoved her phone, open to the ignored texts in question, in her sister’s face. “She was supposed to help me with Chem homework.”

Buttercup ducked. “No, and watch where you’re swinging that thing.”

“I saw her earlier,” Boomer said. “She was with Brick coming out of first period.”

“Oh, yeah.” Mike slung his arm around Boomer’s shoulders. “Don’t they both have a free period right now?”

Buttercup rolled her eyes. “What a scam. Whoever decided to give the A-students free periods while the rest of us mere mortals gotta slave away is a straight-up Supervillain.”

Boomer snapped his fingers. “Hey, I just remembered! They both decided to compete for the spot at the regional spelling bee this year. I bet that’s what they’re doing.”

“God, that’s the saddest thing I have ever heard in my life. That’s a new low even for Blossom.”

“I heard there’s a cash prize for the regional winner,” Bubbles said. “It’s like twenty thousand bucks! Remember, everyone in school signed up and we had to have that assembly to narrow it down?”

“Twenty thou— How the tits did I miss that?!”

“I mean, it was all over the school,” Mike said. “We signed up too.”

“What? And no one thought to tell me I could’ve won the lottery?”

Boomer chuckled. “Dude, come on. You wouldn’t have stood a chance in hell against Darla Dimpleton.”

“Who?”

Bubbles cast Boomer a not worth it look, and he just sighed. “So, if they’re studying for the spelling bee, do you think they’re in the library?”

At that moment, Butch came bursting down the hall a little too fast to be human. Open lockers rattled on their hinges as he passed, and a Sophomore girl’s binder went flying, scattering looseleaf papers everywhere. Buttercup looked ready to punch him in the dick for breaking the no powers in school rule. “Guys, you’re gonna shit!” 

“Calm down before you blow a load, Jesus Christ.” Buttercup yanked him back down to the floor so he wouldn’t spontaneously float. 

Sensibly, Boomer asked, “Why?”

“‘Cause Brick and Blossom are making out in the library right now!”

Mike cringed. “Oh, come on.”

“The hell they are,” Buttercup said. 

Bubbles smiled. “Good for them.”

“I’m serious! There were books everywhere, and the noise—”

“Oh look, there goes my dignity. Better catch it before it gets away. C’mon, moron.” Buttercup dragged Butch down the hall over his protests. “What were you even doing in the library? I didn’t think you knew where it was…”

“Like that could ever happen,” Mike said. “Those two wouldn’t waste a minute of study time if it means beating out the competition.”

Boomer did not look so convinced. “I don’t know. I mean, they’re officially, for real dating now,”—“Finally!” Mike interjected—“so it’s not that unbelievable.”

The bell for the next period rang. Bubbles groaned thinking of stewing for an hour of Chem. At least she shared that class with Boomer and would not have to suffer alone. They parted from Mike and walked together through the throng of students rushing to get to their next period.

“Hey, do you think…” 

“I mean…” Boomer shrugged. 

They rounded the corner and nearly ran into Blossom dashing to her next class with a rushed “Got your texts talk later bye!” before she disappeared into the crowd. 

Bubbles whirled on Boomer. “Did you see her buttons—”

“Completely uneven—”

The late bell rang and made them jump. Among the last stragglers, they both dashed a bit too fast to get to class and made it to their seats just as Mr. Micelli finished writing a problem on the board. 

Boomer winked when she caught his eye a couple desks away from hers, and it took everything she had not to laugh.

“Good for her,” Bubbles said to herself. 

“You are late,” Mr. Micelli said. 

Everyone turned to watch Brick sink into his seat, his short hair totally askew and looking healthily flushed for a Tuesday morning. 

Boomer burst out laughing and needed a whole minute to calm down. 

He’d tell her later that the detention was worth it.

xxx

Witchcraft! 👁️👄👁️✨

[xo-cuteplosion-xo]

Midnight ball | Chuuya x reader |

Midnight Ball | Chuuya x reader | (female reader)

I feel like I'm doing Chuuya dirty with this one-

Warnings- references to some NSFW themes, inferred attempted rape, mentions of drug use.

(really hesitant on actually posting this... nothing happens, but I don't wanna make people too uncomfortable)

Undercover missions were normal in the port mafia. Every once in a while they would come up. You went on a lot of these missions. Even the ones you didn’t care for.

The air was brisk, not too cold, but not a comfortable warmth either. It wasn’t every day you were called in on what should have been your day off. The clouds covered the noon sun, keeping its warmth tucked away. It felt as if it may rain. Maybe snow would fall with how cold the air was. The trees were bare of their leaves and the grass slowly warping to brown. The winter flowers, in full bloom. You shivered tugging the scarf closer as you walked towards the black buildings. Stepping inside was bliss, the air warm and welcoming. You walked slowly towards the elevator stepping inside as it carried you to the level Mori’s office was.

Making your way into the office, your eyes landed on the short male you had become close to. Running a hand through your hair you looked to Mori. “Ya know it’s my day off right? This better be important.” you had guts talking to your boss like this. Elise snickered from the corner of the large room, drawing a picture. Most likely something rather disturbing, as she tended to do.

You hadn’t noticed it before, but Chuuya’s face was contorted in both disgust and anger. Whatever this was, gave him quite displeasure. “He’s having us go undercover. Instead of picking another female… he’s making me wear a fucking dress.” his eyes narrowed in Mori's direction.

“Well, you work well with (y/n). I carefully considered members like Kouyou, but none of them matched what I needed for the minor mission." Mori grinned as Chuuya huffed, crossing his arms.

You tried to imagine him in a dress, but the only thing that you could think of was Kouyou, considering they did both have ginger hair. Shrugging you grabbed Chuuya’s hand, tugging him away. You figured he could brief you on the mission later.

~

As the sun fell under the horizon, and the moon took its place in night's embrace, the two of you settled inside the limo. Chuuya’s arms were crossed as he tugged on the dress. His eyes set in heavy glares. His hair happened to be up in a neat bun. It had taken a lot of fighting and shouting that could have deafened somebody. He was even dolled up with light specks of makeup. The red dress suited his form, his height made it ideal for heels. He already had a feminine figure, so there wasn’t much you needed to do to pass him as a female. He kept squirming around glaring at you. “How the fuck do girls wear these dreaded things.” he hissed, referring to the corset hidden beneath the silk he wore.

Snickering you shrugged leaning back. “They say beauty is pain,” you hummed, leaning back in your seat. This wasn’t ideal for you either. You much preferred to be slightly dressed down from this. Looking as fancy as you did now wasn’t modest, and it sure wasn’t something you liked to wear. You were sucking it up so why couldn’t Chuuya? Could he really be all that uncomfortable? “I could loosen it a bit.” you offered, but Chuuya shook his head staring at himself. He had mastered heals within a handful of moments so you weren’t worried about him tripping. The real challenge would be flirting with the target.

This was a two-person job due to the size of the party and the security around the target. One of you would distract the guards while the other smooth-talked their way into a private area with the target. They would either get the extent of the information this person had managed to take early this morning or silence him. You two hadn’t decided who would be doing what. It was more one of those whoever gets there first situations. The car pulled up to the entrance just as your thoughts finished. Stepping onto the ground you waited for Chuuya. The clunk of his heels on the pavement were steady and even. You went to remind him about his expression, but he rolled his eyes. “I know, no scowling, glaring, or yelling.”

You smiled gripping the edge of the dress, pulling it up so you could walk the stairs without tripping on the (f/c) fabric. Your hair was down but pinned in specific places. “Don’t forget, no swearing. We have to act ladylike Chu.” clicking his tongue, he pinched the fabric of his dress and walked up after you. Entering the large mansion you were escorted to the ballroom. Standing at the railing that overlooked the floor you smiled. Never in your life had you been to one of these. You truly wanted to participate at least a little.

Chuuya noticed the excited glimmer of your eyes and grabbed your hand. Tonight, you both were trying to pass as two female teenage siblings whose parents wanted a night alone. Without a boyfriend, the two of you showed up alone. A naive action when it came to noble parties. These were incredible to get into. You had to have power and money somewhere. He pulled you down the stairs, flashing you a small smile. He wouldn’t admit but this wasn’t that bad. He didn’t mind the corset or the way the dress flowed in the wind. He minded the hair since he always wore it in one specific style. He’d done this once before with Dazai but doing this with you was different. Probably because he wasn’t being forced to be the fiance this time. “We might as well try to enjoy ourselves.” he was surprisingly skilled at keeping his voice higher in pitch. There were a few occasional slips, but he sounded somewhat feminine.

Smirking you pulled him to the food table. “I’d say you're actually enjoying yourself Chu.” his eyes narrowed for a second before playfully hitting your shoulder.

“Sure I am.” he huffed looking over the table of snacks. He grabbed one of the tea-sandwiches and took small bites. Despite how he tried to enjoy himself, he was focused on the mission. There was still no sign of the target. Two older-looking gentlemen came up to the pair of you, holding their hands out.

“Would you two care for a dance?” Chuuya’s mouth twitched to snarl, but he quickly put on a smile despite how much he wanted to string profanities. You glanced at him, inhaling softly, you tapped his shoulder as if to reassure him.

“Depends~ how old do you think we are?” you two had decided on your roles already. To spare Chuuya some dignity you would try to be the more seductive while he played the part of the shyer, more innocent twin. Since he was a boy playing a girl, he matched the innocent child-like stereotype well, considering he didn’t have breasts.

One of the men standing in front of you chuckled lightly. “Teens, though it’s not like we're hitting on you. We simply wish to take you for a dance. You appear lonely.” Chuuya was sick to his stomach already. The last time he’d done this he didn’t have to deal with these situations because Dazai had been there. Yet, as he looked to you, he tilted his head. Your hand grabbed the man's as you looked back to Chuuya.

“Trust me, it’ll be fun. There aren't any men our age, so trust me.” the act flew softly off your lips. There was a hidden motion when you flicked your ankle. It would have passed as your feet were slightly sore to anybody else. Chuuya glanced to the railing, spotting the target. He nodded, faking a smile as the two of you entered the dance floor.

With every pulse of the music, you got closer and closer to the edge. Your eyes tracing for the amount of guards. Though based on what you were observing you had both already found them. It was a widely known fact your target had a thing for younger females. Not young like Elise but teenagers who appear frail. You and Chuuya most definitely looked the part tonight. Dipping you back your eyes met Chuuya's, a smirk crossing both of your expressions. When you returned to the normal position you switched partners.

Things started going slightly south from there. While you two had managed to keep your dancing rather close to one another, you were starting to drift apart now. Chuuya moved closer to the stairwell, while you made your way towards the back doors. Despite how you tried to move back towards him, your dance partner kept you moving in that direction. Eventually, you noted what was going on. Occasionally these types of missions had unexpected twists. This was one of those twists. You hadn’t thought to watch for other predators. Trying to rip your hands from his you glared. “I ought to get back to my sister.” you wove innocence into your voice, but he paid no mind as if he had not heard you. As the music ended, the rough grip that had succeeded in pulling the two of you apart let go. A silent satisfactory smirk placed over his lips. Walking from you he headed back to find another dancing partner.

Walking around you began to search for Chuuya among the crowd. Innocently asking couples and other women if they had seen a short, rather young-looking female ginger dressed in red. They had shaken their heads but one couple pointed towards the stairs. You curtsied respectfully, racing to the stairs only to be stopped by the two men you had previously been dancing with. Batting your eyelashes you explained somebody had seen your sister walk up these stairs not too long ago.

You couldn’t help but feel worried despite knowing Chuuya could handle himself with the utmost care. He was strong both physically and ability-wise. You bit the inside of your cheek figuring, they probably weren't idiots. If they had separated the two of you they had to think you already knew something was up. You'd probably made that worse when you tried pulling away in the dance. The high-heels were beginning to get rather annoying. They were difficult to run in, jumping would probably result in a twisted ankle if you don't land perfectly. You made sure to blend away into the crowd. Losing their eyes you slipped through doors until you made it into a hallway. Laying out the map of the building in your head you walked the halls trying to find the staircase leading upstairs. You had to dodge behind corners to avoid security. It took you close to ten minutes to finally reach the stairs. There were so many rooms it would be difficult to find which one to enter. You narrowed it down to two in your head. The others would be a waste of time, the two you had narrowed it to were close to the ballroom, small, and were bar areas. Off-limits to party-goers as well. There would be no interruptions to their perverted actions.

You looked around, spotting a guard, you gripped the edge of your glove with your teeth. Walking up as if you were scared you began to stumble purposely over words. “I-i think I’m lost. I needed the ladies room and I couldn't find my sis or the ballroom.” faking tears as you got closer, the security officer's eyes softened as you approached. Taking you as a younger female instead of an adult, he offered out his hand. You gripped it before smirking as your ability activated. Moving your hand away, you tilted your head. “Sleep,” you commanded them. They fell to the floor with a thud. Grabbing the gun from their belt you checked that the safety was on. Assured it was you stashed it in your dress. Walking to the first room you burst inside finding no sign anybody had been there, you closed the door.

Making your way to the next option you pressed an ear to the door. Whispers and the sound of metal sent you to a light panic. Glaring at the door you pulled the gun out and switched the safety off. Entering the room you pointed the gun only to hear clicks follow. Your eyes darted to the sound. “So there were four.” snarling you entered and shut the door with your heel. Your mind began thinking of every way to get away from this situation. You lowered your gun with a defeated sigh. Letting it drop to the floor, one of the guns pressed to your head. Their hand grabbed your wrist as you looked to the mop of passed-out ginger.

“Damn idiot,” you hissed knowing this was probably the result of drugging. There was no way in hell he’d be beaten by mere ability-less scum. Shoved to the floor you glared. Your hands were pulled above you. Looking to the side you snickered at the poor idiot who touched your skin. “Kill your boss,” you commanded and their body dropped you and turned to the person whose hands were on your love interest. When the next guy pointed the gun at you, you swept them off their feet, whistled, and pointed. “Shoot them.” with another fire, two of three were dead. “Now shoot yourself.” and so they ended up three of three. Tossing off the heels you made your way over to Chuuya. Checking his pulse you rolled your eyes.

You lifted him in your arms before leaving the bloody scene. Your dress was now stained with splatters of crimson. Jumping from the window, then to a tree, and down, you placed Chuuya in the limo. Grabbing a bottle of water you opened his mouth and poured it down his throat. He stirred a bit, his head falling on your shoulder. Blushing lightly you found the back of his dress was open and the corset already loosened. “Got there just in time.” you sighed as the limo pulled to your small apartment. Lifting him you carried him inside. Dropping him to the bed you sat on the opposite side of the bed.

It took three hours before his eyes fluttered open. Holding his head, he glanced at you. “Why the fuck are you here?” of course his first words would be aggressive. He could hide it all he wanted by the shiver of his body and the way his hands moved to his back made it clear. Finding the strings and ribbon undone as well as torn his eyes widened for a fraction.

“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to be separated like that.” you played around with your gloves looking back at him you pulled a thing of makeup wipes from the side table. Tossing it to him, you sighed. “I hope you don’t mind, I had Dazai lock pick your door and get you your usual clothes.” he couldn’t even be mad at you for letting that bastard into his house. His mind was still focused on recollecting what had happened. He was beyond humiliated. He should have seen it coming. “I should have gotten there faster. They shouldn’t have been able to even get that close. I’m so sorry Chuuya! I’ll talk to Mori about not putting you on these types of missions. I know you're mad but please… say something.” you twirled a strand of your hair on your finger.

“I should have been prepared.” he looked away from you before feeling your arms around his body. Your head laid in the crook of his neck as you shook your head violently. He felt something wet soil, the shoulder of his dress. Turning so he could pick your head up, he blinked, startled to see the water dripping from your eyes. “You’re crying?” he sounded baffled, confused even.

“I should have let you be yourself! If I hadn’t pushed you to act like an innocent defenseless child, that situation would have been different.'' Chuuya gripped your shoulders laughing lightly as he shook his head. “You didn’t even have a good time! You hated being there.”

“No, no, (y/n)... I... Fuck!” he was bad at words, so as he tried forming the correct words he kept shaking his head. “I enjoyed spending time with you! I’d prefer to accompany you as a man next time. Neither of us are at fault. Missions go south. Nobody got hurt, sure I feel like an idiot, I’m utterly humiliated that I let my guard down and got drugged up, but nothing happened.” he pressed his forehead against yours, his thumb wiping away the tears on your cheeks.

This was out of character for him, but it was a side only you gotta see. He hated seeing you break down or get upset over things you had no control over. His hands wrapped around your ungloved ones. Your skin touches him with a small shyness. “Can I?” he asked watching you nod as his lips passed over yours.

“We both deserve a break from work. How about we tell Mori we are taking two days off?” you hummed looking into his eyes. He smirked and nodded. His lips pressing back to yours in a heated kiss. You pressed him underneath you with a smirk. His face went red as he glared.

“You’re a fucking pervert.” he hissed watching you snicker.

“Wow Chu, I'm so offended.” you leaned back into a kiss as his cheeks turned a brighter shade of red. “Think this makes us a real couple.” he rolled his eyes as you rolled to lay next to him.

“Yeah, I guess.”

[bae-science]

it’s t-t-t-t-time for another newt bae-science fic rec extravabonanza! same rules, same boys, same bullshit! let’s get into it:

a beginning; a second chance by @dykesword

other newt and i have a long and intricate ritualistic battle to become the alpha newt, but i gotta give credit where it’s due. if you like to annotate your books for fun, this fic will give you a looooong comment you’ll want to write, and for good reason! there’s a lot of really well done metaphor and character detail in here, while still keeping a very soft, melancholy but with a hopeful edge tone. and also, like, the care and detail in which newt’s mental state in the aftermath of the precursors’ abuse is depicted is so so good, and delightful to read

husbandly duties by @kingeiszler

i am soooo biased with this one bc technically it was made for me but GODDAMN it’s good. this shit has everything: gottlieb trio sibling dynamics, vanessa in giant femme earrings, hermann yearning, newt and karla infodumping together, newt’s terrible and accurate gaydar, gay crime, the newmann dynamic and why it works boiled down to its bare essentials, pride and prejudice glasses touch, and neon green acrylics. required reading for the vanessaverse

Say That Again by @robertfrobisherslover

WOOF. if you like mutual pining and lack of communication from men with rocks for their emotional processing centers, and guncle (gay uncle) newt and hermann and KILLER artsy sex scenes, and themes of words unsaid in a story about LANGUAGE..... oogoogogoogouhufug. the writing style is clear and well paced, i LOVE little mako’s scene she’s such a cutie, and there’s like. a line. that’s a play on the whole “it’s always been you” trope. that lives in my mind rent free forever.

speak right to my heart without saying a word by @thekaidonovskys

i’m just gonna paste the comment i left on it here, because that sums up what is so absolutely incredible about this fic the best:

so sometimes you stumble on a piece of fiction that you add to your little collection of stuff you would show a person if you wanted them to understand a part of you that you can't quite explain eloquently, or it would take too long, etc etc, and i've never really found something like that for my autism until now, which, like, poggers. and i'll be as straight up as i can while still being the biggest lesbian in the great state of ohio (not a hard feat but alan invented computers so i love continuing on the autistic tradition of being a living miracle), the chameleon effect hit me like a mack truck. catholic school in the deep south is the most potent and effective form of ABA therapy imaginable :/. so sometimes i wonder what i would be like if i didn't have such a strong ability to pass, and here's where we finally get to the part of this comment where i just vomit compliments at you: you nailed it. you got it. i don't know if you're on the spectrum, but either way, well fucking done. trauma therapy research talks a lot about healing fantasies, which are fantasies, usually in the form of daydreams, that abused/neglected/traumatized/etc people create that directly address a struggle they have and take the form of a scenario in which that struggle is helped in some way. it could be an abusive parent repenting and showering them with the love they never had, or someone finding them during a panic attack and somehow knowing how best to comfort them without having to ask, or being intimate with someone and having a scar or physical deformity they've been shamed for be given attention and care. and i think you have created the ultimate perfect healing fantasy for autistic people, or at least those with """"high functioning"""" autism. it has a character who is visibly and undeniably on the spectrum having the pain and trauma going through life like that causes being acknowledged and validated, they are purposefully paid attention to because person b genuinely likes them and wants to understand and respect who they are and how they function in the world, and thus get The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known as well as the eventual rewards of being loved, person b makes a genuine effort to help teach them social skills in a way they can understand and learn through and is there for them when these skills are being practiced, their space and boundaries are respected but they aren't infantilized or thought of as an emotionless robot, and they receive love and comfort on their own terms not despite of but because of who they are, even specifically being asked not to change the way they are because that way is lovable. they are openly desired. writing is my fucking JOB and it's still difficult to put into words how much you got 100000% right about the dream with this fic. i have been in the EXACT and i mean EXACT same situation as hermann when he asked newt if it was his personality itself that made people not like him, because i deadass made a spreadsheet of all my personality attributes i thought could be preventing me from making friends in college, and then asked my fellow nd friend to see if there was anything i was missing. so i guess what i'm trying to say is that this amazing, and i'm bookmarking it and putting it on my next fic rec post, and maybe one day way way in the future if i ever get a partner i want to explain the whole autism thing to, i'm gonna have them read this.

The Facts With Newton Geiszler, PhD by what_alchemy (NSFW)

storytime: i read this fic a few years ago, completely forgot the title and author, and ended up thinking about the part where hermann admits to having fucked a trailer hitch when he was a teenager, at least once a week. last november, i say to my friend samara on twitter, head of the BSHCU (buttslut hermann cinematic universe), hey this seems like something you’d have read, do you remember a fic where... and samara says FUCK i do know what you’re talking about lemme find it. so if the fact that i have been looking for this fic for like, two years, and that it contains a moment so iconic all i had to say is, “hermann says he fucked a trailer hitch” and she IMMEDIATELY knew what i was talking about, does not convince you to read this... go back to catholic school i guess.

Feeling Blue by TempusPetrichor

fics where newt goes back to work as a biologist, especially a xenobiologist, post pru are really interesting, and usually have something neat to say about recovery, how it isn’t linear, how it often involves us returning to things we love for comfort, etc. this one sure does! some good emotional and physical h/c, LOVE the use of the ghost drift, and it’s always fun to see post pru fics use dialogue very obviously taken from dbt, trauma-specific therapeutical texts, and anything that shows the author has experience with, or did their research on, ptsd therapies.

You’re Everyone That Ever Cared by KlavierWrites

you know a fic is good when it’s an only 9k slowburn and still manages to reach infinite regress levels of are you fucking KIDDING GO TO THERAPY. newt “acts of service” geiszler may have a little misplaced misogyny due to his broken woman-centric gaydar. as a treat. the fucking. post-drift scene where hermann subtextually screams “LOOK IN OUR BRAINS YOU FUCK I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU I JUST HAVE AUTISM AND CAREER IN STEM DISORDER” is soooooo. god just hermann in general in that scene is great. if you like classic mid 2010s era newmann, ghost drift romance, and good ole mutual pining, this is a treat.

Baby, You're Hotter than my Bunsen Burner by SkySongMA

moronosexual hermann representation is something that can actually be so personal

Times of Stress by RadioMoth

the boys are processinggggggg. man what a good, quick and powerful punch to the gut. if you like post-pr1 catharsis and physical h/c, AND are the one friend that likes to comment at the end of the movie that hey newt got beat the fuck UP, check this one out.

black tea by @faggotcas

okay first of all, god fucking tier url, lee. second of all, food as a love language is my SHIT. i love the very slow relationship development here, where you see them making a genuine effort to get along and that in turn leading to feelings reigniting. it’s such a sweet little moment of a fic, with a nice atmosphere and tone to fit it

now here’s the part where i usually drop my latest fic, but i haven’t written one this month because i’ve been busy launching an audio drama! you can find it here, it’ll be right up your alley if you like cryptids and gay scientists and enemies to lovers and good ole americana, but since this is a newmann post, i’m gonna recommend the pacific rim audio drama duology i did a while back! part one is called conversations from the brink, and it’s a little slice of the pr3 we better fucking get from streaming that godawful looking anime. love and lesbians to everyone ❤️

[justlikeeddie]

hey so look okay here i am standing shamefaced outside your door asking you if you wouldn't mind sharing or re-linking if you've shared before the names/numbers of the handful of spn episodes you've watched so i can get a slightly more informed flavour of the show when i inevitably capitulate to reading fanfic without giving up too much of my finite time on this earth to watching multiple seasons of supernatural.

GOOD NEWS - here are All Ten Episodes of SPN I Have Watched So Far, In The (Correct) Order I Watched Them. They are also rated for gay angel content, which tbh is mainly what I’m watching for, for the benefit of anyone else who may be in a similar situation.

15x20 Carry On - I maintain that watching the finale of this show first is the funniest thing you could possibly do, if you’re happy for it to be a completely incomprehensible experience. Witness Dean getting nailed to death. Cas content: 0.5/10, for one line in which his memory is briefly invoked at some kind of pie festival the Winchesters are attending

1x02 Wendigo - I only watched this because I was coming off a Due South jag and I thought it was funny that Callum Keith Rennie was in a very early episode. This is probably only worth watching if you too want to check in on how Callum Keith Rennie was doing c.2005, and/or if you are interested to see what the two leads looked like before they became the exhausted 40-year-olds in most of the gifsets, though I imagine there are probably better S1 episodes to do that with, not that I know what they are. Cas content: 0/10

4x01 Lazarus Rising - this is the Castiel introduction episode, although he only shows up in the final scene, and most of the rest of it is prime Men Stand In Rooms Talking To Each Other. When he shows up it’s good though. Cas content: 5/10, and all 5 of the points are for making the line “I am the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition” somehow even more intense than it looks written down

10x05 Fan Fiction - I maintain that trying to understand the first 200 episodes of the show by skipping to the one in which a girls’ high school puts on a musical summarising everything that has happened so far is the funniest thing you can possibly do. This episode is stupid, but I do recommend it, if you can stand to hear the word “Destiel” come out of the mouths of the actors. Cas content: 2/10, in that he isn’t in it, but he’s being played in the musical by a teenage lesbian, which seems Right

4x16 On The Head of a Pin - watched this in an attempt to watch “a good Cas episode”, although the (interesting) conceit of Cas experiencing doubt for the first time was overshadowed by the discovery that this show thinks that the way angels fight is that they just punch each other. Sure. Cas content: 6/10, not enough interaction with Dean, but strong points awarded for the beginnings of a crisis of faith and also being forced to his knees with a bloodied face

3x11 Mystery Spot - @the-omnishambles (who watched the first few series of the show in the 00s) kept telling me this was the one good episode she could remember. This was literally the first episode I thought was great from start to finish, and the knowledge that this show is capable of an episode that is good all the way through makes almost every other episode so much more of a shame in comparison. Anyway, this is a Groundhog Day conceit and it’s genuinely very funny. Cas content: 0/10

4x02 Are You There God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester - I thought that since Cas didn’t do much in the first episode of S4, maybe he started doing more in the second episode. He doesn’t, and this episode is boring, apart from literally the final scene (again), when Cas shows up to tell Dean he should show him some respect, which - according to most of the fanfiction I’ve consulted - sends Dean sexually insane. Cas content: 4/10, and all 4 of the points are for nobody realising they should have cut this scene if they didn’t want billions of words of Dean being dommed by an angel to exist on the internet

4x06 Yellow Fever - this is another silly episode, because by this point I was getting the hang of the fact that the silly episodes seem to be the most watchable. Dean gets a ghost disease (?) that makes him scared of everything. It’s pretty funny. Bonus points for a scene where he is hit on by a (male) deputy sheriff for literally no reason. Cas content: 0/10

5x03 Free To Be You And Me - this is the “Bert and Ernie are gay” episode, in which Cas shows up in Dean’s bathroom because Dean is The Only Person Who Will Help Him, and Dean agrees to help him but also insists on being present for his first sexual experience. Seems a bananas decision to make Cas very awkward about sex - rather than just uninterested in or intellectually curious about it - if you don’t want to make it clear that angels can fuck, do fuck, and might want to fuck Dean. Also seems a bananas decision to have Dean appear to fail in his extremely solemn promise to get Cas laid, if you don’t want to make it clear that he presumably just had to sort Cas out himself in the car afterwards. Cas content: 8/10, two points removed for not showing whatever happened in the car afterwards

5x04 The End - this episode was the second one that I thought was good from start to finish, so honestly it’s great to know that the show managed this at least twice in the 320 chances it had. Anyway, in order to convince Dean to do what heaven wants him to, another angel projects Dean into a vision of a nightmarish, post-apocalyptic future in which Dean has become a ruthless killer, Sam has been possessed by Lucifer, and Cas has got into yoga, orgies, and weed. I thought at least some of this was a joke every time I saw it referenced in a shitpost, but it isn’t. Cas content: 9/10, point removed purely because he’s not in the whole episode, but he’s high, sad, and dressed in a big baggy shirt when he is. Bonus points for the canonical creation of a self-contained AU for people to write depressing but very explicit fanfiction about. Extra bonus points for the insanity of airing this episode directly after the Bert and Ernie one.

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Fic and tag masterpost

(to be updated from time to time)

Last update: 24 Aug

I've decided to have a masterpost with both tags and links. Figured maybe there is merit in organizing them here in tumblr for ease of searching and navigation. Will be doing a lot of cross-posting from Ao3 in the next few days as well.

--

Lin/Tenzin pairing

Adversity

Multi-chapter, work in progress, AU, pre-LoK,

Latest status: up to Chapter 15 uploaded in A03

Blurb: Lin and Tenzin are both at the height of their respective careers – she with the Metalbending Police and he with the Air Nation. Questions about their future begin to arise and things come to a head when Lin responded to an emergency call. Would her job take them from each other forever? Eventual happy ending. Alternatively: The one where Lin and Tenzin had to go through adversity like Lin’s dangerous job, a near-death experience, temporary separation and memory loss, unplanned pregnancy and Tenzin’s responsibilities before they end up with a family.

Tumblr chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Ao3 link |   Ff.net link

Contentment

One-shot, completed, AU, pre-LoK

Blurb: Ever since she made it to Chief of Police, she found that she was able to take more control of her schedule. Nonetheless, quiet Friday nights at home like these were rare. Alternatively:

The one where Chief Lin Beifong and her last airbender spend a typical night at home.

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Ao3 link  |   Ff.net link

The Airbender’s Wife

Multi-chapter after Contentment, work in progress, LoK AU

Latest status: up to Chapter 12 uploaded in A03

Blurb: Korra arrives in Republic City to reside at Air Temple Island to begin her Airbending training.

As excited as she was to leave the compound in the South Pole, she was wary of living with her Airbending Master and his mysterious wife. The airbender’s wife, who, Korra realized, she has never met before. Alternatively: The one where Tenzin throws caution to the wind and chooses Lin over repopulating the Air Nation.

Tumblr chapters:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Ao3 link | Ff.net link

The Right Beifong

One-shot, completed, post-LoK AU

Blurb: For all the bad blood between them, there was no one else that the Beifong sisters would trust with their secrets but each other.

One might argue that guilt may have motivated Suyin’s actions. Lin learned not to question it, not when a secret has remained undetected for more than a decade. Who knew that it would all unravel in a hospital room in Republic City. Lin Beifong was expected to mother an airbender. What if she did give birth to an airbending Beifong?

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Ao3 link | Ff.net link

Harmony Tower

One-shot, completed, pre-LoK

Prompt/headcanon: What if and why does Lin smoke?

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Grey Eyes

Two-shot, completed, pre-LoK AU

Prompt/headcanon: What if there was a secret airbending child and what if Tenzin learns about it after the break-up

Blurb: He broke up with her then she destroyed part of the island.

He regretted it but she had already left.

He tried to look for her but she managed to evade him.More than a year later, by chance, he was drawn to a baby picture in Chief Toph Beifong’s billfold.

Alternatively, Tenzin finds out about his airbending daughter in the Earth Kingdom.

Tumblr parts: 1 | 2

Ao3 link

Respite

One-shot, completed, end season 3 AU

Prompt/headcanon: Soft/protective Lin taking care of Tenzin after he’s hurt post-Red Lotus encounter (Married AU)

Blurb: Chief Beifong had seen a lot of blood and death in the years that she had been serving in the force. She was no stranger to injury as well (she’s a Beifong, no one would have expected any different).However, nothing could have prepared her to see her pacifist husband bruised, bloodied, battered and at the brink of death.

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Ao3 link

Blended

One-shot, completed, Modern AU, now a multi-chapter, WIP

Latest status: up to Chapter 3 uploaded in A03

Blurb: Republic City was known to be a melting pot of cultures.

This was where people go to for new beginnings and to search for happy endings.

People were relatively more open-minded here compared to other cities or nations.

However, not everyone’s road to happiness is straightforward - Lin Beifong in particular believes that, by now, true happiness for her is elusive.

A modern AU with no bending where Lin finds herself with three kids, where Tenzin is Mr Big Shot CEO, where Mako is an overprotective son, where Ikki endears herself to Lin, where Bumi is the cool meddling godfather/uncle and where Pema is out of the picture.

Tumblr post

Ao3 link

Parapraxis

One-shot, completed, pre-LOK AU

Blurb: Parapraxis: a lapse of memory or mental error, such as a slip of the tongue or misplacement of an object, which, in psychoanalytic theory, is due to unconscious associations and motives; commonly called a “freudian slip.” | Alternatively, the one where a wrong title and a wrong name were said in different occasions and Lin could not complain about the outcome in the end.

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Ao3 link

Untitled Thwarting Fate

WIP, pre-LOK AU

Overview: Linzin endgame AU

Latest status: up to Chapter 5 uploaded in A03

1 of 3 (or 4?) chapters (or more, if I decide to post them in chunks)

I really haven’t thought this out (shrugs and looks around shiftily)Pre-canon AU (prior to Book 1)

Blurb: All her life, Lin Beifong had been trying to go the path that she thought was right. All his life, Tenzin had been trying to go the path that he thought is expected of him. Trying being the operative word.  --- Alternatively, the one where it started pretty much the same but with Pema's illness, the Red Lotus being active, and Lin Beifong going a detour in her career - everything changes.

Tumblr parts: 1 | 2

Ao3 link

Homecoming

One-shot, completed, pre-LOK AU

Blurb: After travelling to the different Air Temples, Tenzin arrived back at Republic City to a surprise that he did not expect.

Ao3 link

Bubble Bath

One-shot, completed, pre-LOK AU

Blurb: Lin sank into the bathtub, sighing as the warm water relaxed her tired muscles.It had been a long week and it was only Wednesday

Lin Beifong had a long and busy week at work. At least, she is able to pride herself in not forgetting any important occasion at that time. ...Or did she?

Ao3 link

Pretense

One-shot, completed, pre-LOK AU

Blurb: As far as the Earth Kingdom is concerned, Lin Beifong is in a relationship with the son of the Avatar .No, not that one.

Alternatively, the one where Lin engages in a mutually benefitting arrangement with the son of Aang.

Ao3 link

—————————————————————-

Lin/Bumi pairing

Happenstance

One-shot, completed, pre-LOK AU

Blurb: Alternatively, the one where Lin Beifong’s happiness started on the night of what was supposed to be her wedding: an encounter with Bumi during his brother’s nuptials that turned into something more.

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Ao3 link

Arranged Legacy

One-shot, completed, pre-LOK AU

Blurb: By some ill-conceived agreement, the eldest of Toph Beifong and the eldest of Aang were arranged to be married. Neither wanted to but they felt that they had to. Could they find companionship with each other? Could they rise above their circumstance and prove once an for all that they were worthy of their parents’ legacies? | Alternatively, see Lin and Bumi come together and make the best of their situation - and maybe create their own legacy.

Submitted as part of the 2021 Avatar Pro-Shipping Rare Pair Challenge

Ao3 link

Discretion

One-shot, completed, post-LOK AU

Blurb: Bumi watched the teenagers pair off during Varrick's wedding. Observers might think he was turning melancholic but he wasn't. After all, under the cloak of the night, he also had someone to pair off with.

Ao3 link

===

Tags

Generic

·       toccatina's fanfics: all fics, regardless of status or pairing

·       toccatina wip: fics which are not yet complete

·       toccatina completed: completed stories, includes one-shots

·       toccatina draft: just a draft, open-ended

·       writing prompts maybe: usually a post inspired by a prompt/message/another post

Specific

·       linzin fanfic: Lin/Tenzin stories

·       linumi fanfic: Lin/Bumi II stories

·       toccatina airbender: posts for Airbender’s wife

·       toccatina adversity: posts for Adversity

- #toccatina untitled: posts for that untitled Linzin story

======

On an unrelated note:

I’ve created a ko-fi acct, feel free to drop by if you would like to donate.

[commonwealthoccurences]

A Price To Pay

Prompt: Childhood Sweethearts and Happy Times

Word Count: 1,731

Days: 20 and 21

CW: Descriptions of rotting ghouls and general Wasteland nastiness.

There was something inherent in the Wasteland that Sole knew, in the long term, was new; the fact that if you loved someone you’d kill someone for them without question. Hell, if you cared for them at all, and maybe even if you didn’t, you’d kill someone for them. In the years before the War, a true declaration of love was saying that you’d kill someone. Now, it was simply fact, and Sole knew that all too well.

The first time Sole killed someone for John was when they were mere kids. They grew up together, tucked into a backwoods settlement of a few families that managed to stay hidden enough to not get hunted down by Raiders for their resources. Sole and John had been attached at the hip, constantly bickering like no other, but ready to defend each other at a moments notice; there was no one who could insult Sole but John, and vice versa.

They had been playing in the fields when something had begun stumbling through the waving reeds of grass, drifting from side to side in their movements. Sole had noticed it first; they were always the more observant one of the two, which they had never failed to brag about when it came to being competitive. Their grip on Hancock’s shirt was deadly and they made the mistake of attempting to tug him to the side, to get to some sort of shelter, away from whatever was making its way towards them with ill intentions. The movement caught the attention of the creature in the grass and it began moving even faster, now with a target to lock onto.

Sole’s parents had made them carry a knife on them since they were seven; you were never too young to defend yourself in the Wasteland. With shaking hands, too small to fit properly around the handle, they tugged it from their boot and stood in front of John, tiny face brave as a feral ghoul came stumbling into the clearing.

It was dragging one of it’s legs, nose oozing something slimy and indescribable, various wounds exposing their bones past leathery skin and torn muscle. The creature reeked, and considering it was a mobile, rotting corpse, they supposed it only made sense. Still, they recoiled at the smell as it flooded their nose and made their eyes water. Teeth gritted, their knife was raised higher, shaking in their grip.

The ghoul took a moment to recognize where the two children were, eyes glossed over from whatever was dripping from the holes in its face. Before they could take in another stuttering, hesitant breath, the situation was over. The ghoul charged forward, and as they had practiced so many times with their parents, they lunged at it and stabbed. The blade went clean through its skull and out the other side, and it stopped struggling.

A young John stood in shock and awe, though he would refuse to admit that he froze up in the face of his first real enemy in the future, and hid his trembling hands behind his back. This was the Wasteland; fear was a recipe for death, and he didn’t need to be part of Goodneighbor yet to know that. With a harsh swallow, he placed a hand on Sole’s shoulder. He nearly leaped back when they jumped, whirling on him with the knife raised, shaking like a leaf in the wind. “It’s okay.” His voice was higher than usual. “Its dead, I think.”

The second time Sole killed for Hancock was a reflex. At this point they were teenagers and had long joined the patrols that wound through the fields surrounding their tiny settlement. Armed with what weapons there were to spare, Sole and Hancock were always on the same patrol. They had gotten so used to sparring each other, moving around each other, and watching each other’s backs better than their own, it was simply stupid to separate them. As dawn crept onto the horizon in the form of the rising sun, the duo set off, leaving footprints in the fresh morning dew as the distance between them and home grew.

There was no hesitation in Sole’s movements this time, when they heard the pinching of claws tapping in their ears. It was horrifying, really. The clicking of pincers that promised a horrifying death were more than a warning to back down if you weren’t ready to put your life on the line and risk it all. But John had grown into his recklessness and a slight ego, and Sole knew that he wasn’t going to simply let it go. He had a point to prove. To who, they didn’t know.

So as he moved forward, a sly grin on his handsome face, his gun far too loose in his grip for such a situation, Sole knew they had no choice but to have his back. They mimicked his motions and got further to the ground, jaw clenched in frustration. If he had more than a single thought of being so competitive rattling around in his brain, they would get into a lot less complicated situations that looked a lot like this. Too late to be regretful now.

When the clearing gave no sign of the ominous clicking that grew ever louder, Sole and Hancock shared a confused look. There was no hulking shell in a threatening shade of green on the horizon. Then the ground shook and knocked Sole to their back, Hancock falling with a dramatic yelp as he landed with his head against a curb. They swore far louder than they should’ve with death in front of them, staring down with beady eyes, when he failed to move. 

They were faster on their feet than with their trigger finger, but they had no choice. They fired without hesitation, long practiced by experience with the Wasteland, proof that they were worthy of surviving. The Mirelurk was dead before it drew it’s breath to release a musty screech. Sole scrambled to Hancock’s side and carried him home, only to watch and laugh as his mother scolded him for his recklessness as he was given mandatory rest with an ice pack strapped to his head.

Sometime after that, Sole lost count of everyone that had lost their life for crossing them and Hancock. The numbers blurred in their nightmares, countless lost gazes, accusatory snarls, and harsh barks of laughter that had them shooting upright in the middle of the night, clutching at their head or heart, praying that someday they might wake up from a refreshed night of rest. Of course, they had always been a dreamer; Hancock was the first person to remind them of that.

And maybe it wasn’t so bad, despite the nightmares and the scars they had to prove that they were willing to lay down their life for Hancock. He had killed for them before, too, without a second thought the moment something threatened them. Even when they weren’t speaking, when the anger stretched into a loud, angry silence, he was the first to have their back as soon as things were going south. They never felt cold when he was near, never felt abandoned.

So maybe, they thought, that was why he had asked them to fulfill his biggest favor of all. In the middle of the night, Hancock had entered their room with a soft knock and a haunted look, eyes far away. That wasn’t so unusual, but Sole had become long used to telling when Hancock was high. He wasn’t. He was simply disturbed, and whether it was due to something he had witnessed or something echoing around in his brain, they weren’t sure.

The ensuing conversation was something they’d never forget for the rest of their life. A teary Hancock, hands pressed over his mouth as if he were horrified at the thought of letting his request escape his mouth. Once he’d gotten it out, had observed their gasp of shock and the way they folded back into the couch with horror and understanding, he simply bowed his head. Repentant for something he couldn’t do himself.

There was a debt to be paid, and it was well known throughout the Commonwealth that Hancock didn’t take kindly to being crossed. The debt came in the form of rivers of blood, betrayed expressions in empty eyes on ghoul corpses that laid in the streets, turned on by their people. Their neighbors, their family. There was a debt to be paid, and Sole was ready to collect on his behalf.

The morning of the collection, there wasn’t a word spoken inside the State house. Hancock had draped himself over the couch since the night before, so high he couldn’t comprehend forming words, face solemn despite the fact that he was on cloud nine. There was no escaping what was to happen. It was his fault, anyway.

Sole strapped their weapons to them slowly, despite the practice they had in it, the fact that it was something they’d done all their life. No breath came easy when they looked themself in the eye in a cracked mirror that hung on the chipping wall. Their face had aged a century in twenty years, lined with stories in the form of scars and wrinkles, dark circles screaming that they couldn’t sleep and it was all for their love for him.

Something kept them from looking back at Hancock when they turned to leave, to complete their mission. It wasn’t regret. No, they could never regret protecting him, whether that was in the form of keeping an iron grip on his reputation or physically. It was simply to hide the pity in their eyes; he saw right through them, there was no mask they could put up, and Hancock simply hated to be pitied.

The trek to Diamond City was dreadfully short, sickeningly so. The climb to the Mayor’s quarters even more so. McDonough looked up from his desk with a harsh glare until he realized who it was, and soon replaced it with a grin so fake it hurt to look at. When he asked what he could do for Sole they simply sighed and emptied all emotion from their gaze. Then, they reached for the silenced gun on their hip, and before he could react, raised it and took the shot. They had come to collect.

[c-atm]

Time after time (art by @invaderakira )

"Thanks for the ride, you two," Stevonnie smirked, climbing out of the backseat of Pearl's cream Impala, grabbing their bag as they did.

"It's not a problem, Stevonnie." The pale skin and peach haired teen offered.

"Yeah, it was good to see you, Vonnie." Bismuth added truthfully, with a smile, "Just wished Rose came with you. Been a while since we saw her, you know."

"Definitely would have been a nice surprise at Connie's birthday, especially since Steven didn't show." The disappointment in Pearl's voice was evident.

"Go easy on him, Pearl." Stevonnie requested, "He's going through something." They paused, looking up at their window on the third floor of the apartment turned dormitory. "As for Rose...I'll try to get her to join me for Christmas when I come back up, but she's been busy too." They chuckled, rubbing their nape. A tell-tale sign that they were holding something back.

They were never that good at hiding info, unlike their sister, Connie. 

Bismuth and Pearl shared a glance but let it slide. If anybody was an expert on the subject of Rosarie Quartz Universe, it was Stevonnie Ashura Maheswaran.    

"Well, If you say so." Pearl relented.

"Besides, we got to get to AMC," the rainbow dreadlocked ebony beauty reminded her 'friend.'   

"Right."Pearl agreed as she revved up the engine before turning back to Stevonnie, "let Rose know where mad at her for not showing up and going," She teased, grinning.

"Tell Rose to drop us a line or something. We worry about you two." Bismuth added just as cheekily.

"Yeah, yeah. You guys are way too young for that." Stevonnie held their left hip as they put more weight on the corresponding leg, right hand holding their bag over their shoulder, "but, trust. I'll let her know." 

Alright then," Bismuth buckled her seatbelt leading back, "We'll hit you up later. Keep you posted on the whole Connie-Steven situation."

"Bet." Stevonnie gave a toothy smirk, "You two have fun on your date."

The two younger women blushed but didn't say anything, Pearl opting to wave while Bismuth just rolled her eyes with an abashed smile before the two began to pull off from the curb. 

With a sigh, the college sophomore turned to her apartment building of brick and marble and walked up the stone steps before opening and entering the crystal glass and gold plated door to the white tile and yellowed wall hallway. 

“Hey Ty,” They waved at the security guard, a slightly older Afro-American man who sat behind the mahogany sign-in desk, as they always do.

“Oh, Stevonnie.” He greeted with a smirk as he looked up from his copy of the ‘rules of power,’ “How was your trip? Family doing good?”

“Yup, everyone doing good...Seen Rose today?”

Ty rubbed his head, “Naw. Haven’t seen her since you left.” he held his chin, “though, that’s par, of course. You guys did have a visitor,"

"Oh?" 

"Yeah, thick girl with blue hair in cone buns, I forget her name, but she was in our physics class. "

"Abrasive and haughty."

"Very."

"Dark blue lipstick."

"Yup."

"Huh." Stevonnie kissed her teeth knowingly. 

 "Don't worry, didn't let her in." He assured, "Seemed a bit too forceful for a welcomed guest of yours and Rose."

"Thank you, Ty," They smirked, "really appreciate it."

"No problem, Von. Ah, and before I forget…" He reached behind the desk, pulling out a couple of boxes and handing them to Stevonnie. "You two got some mail."

"Thanks again, Ty." Stevonnie looked down at the boxes, smiling gently at the sender's name: Carmine Universe.  

Rose's mother, better known as 'Aunt Pink' to Stevonnie. 

"Another of your care packages from home?" Ty teased, getting a nod.

 "They worry." Stevonnie jested. "Alright, time to see the girl herself." Stevonnie situated the boxes under their arms after they moved their bag strap between their breast."Thanks for everything, Ty." They chuckled.

"Yeah, no problem, Stevonnie. Give my regards to Rose." Ty requested before leaning back in his chair.

"Will do." 

Ty gave them a nod before opening his book again as Stevonnie walked past, heading towards the elevator in the back of the hall.

Stevonnie lucked out to see the smoke-colored doors open, revealing one of the building tenants; a light-skin teenage girl with black hair and brown highlights. 

"Hey Leona, hold that for me." They ran forward, catching the doors due to the girl's help. "Thanks, Leo."

"No problem," Leona responded, looking a bit confused, "you coming back from somewhere?" 

"Visiting family," Stevonnie arched her left brow."Been gone for five days."

"Oh?" The teen looked away, uncomfortable.

"Ww~hh~hyy?" Stevonnie did not like Leona's shocked tone. 

Leona pursed her lips in a thin line. "Well, Terrie and I heard some noise from your place two nights."

"Noise?"

"Screaming, argumentative screaming." 

' So, there is a chance... I'm going to have to fuck someone up this week.' Stevonnie pondered and nodded as they pressed their floor number. "Thanks for letting me know, Leo."

"Yeah." The woman responded a bit lower as the elevator door closed, getting a glance at the calm anger on Stevonnie's face.

Stevonnie drummed the boxes with their fingers as they waited for their floor inside the burgundy box. "She's probably going to try to play it off, like nothing, so gotta be watchful of that. I hope it was nothing more than a screaming match." Stevonnie sighed as the elevator door opened again, revealing the third floor.

Brown tiles and walls with five led lights and ten lined up doors greeted Stevonnie as they made the trek towards the eighth door of the floor, not too long of one since the third was across from the elevator. They could hear the sounds of televisions playing and various foods cooking as they made their way through the hall; usually, more people would be chilling in the lobby or the fifth-floor hall. "Guess the dorm's heads cracked down for the day." They chuckled; it was a natural thing; the third and fifth floor was a bit of a rowdy bunch.

Stevonnie stopped at their door and listened for any similar sounds. "Silence. No cooking or TV," They muttered, listening closer. They could hear slight music being played as well as…

" ZZZZZZ~zzzz"

The sounds of snoring.

"Well, she's here." Stevonnie teased softly, feeling a weight slid off their chest. Placing the boxes down, and digging into the back pocket of their jeans, they borough out their key to unlock the silver locks of the burgundy wood door. Slowly she turned the gold plated knob and pushed forward. They didn't want to wake Rose yet. 

Making sure the door doesn't creak, Stevonnie opened the door wide, holding it with their foot as they slipped the packages inside; swiftly and silently before closing the door behind them. Just as quickly and just as quietly. 

Grabbing the packages and looking around their space’s living room, Stevonnie kissed their teeth while putting the boxes on their glass table. The room was deep cleaned, tidy, nothing out of place, and meticulously organized. Same for the bathrooms, kitchen, and Rose's room, which Rose was not in at the moment.

"Which could only mean." Stevonnie began as they walked to their room. They opened the door cardboard wood door to a nicely sized 'L-shaped' bedroom. 

The walls were painted purple, with a throw rug on the wooden floor. There was a closet on the left side of the entrance door, and at the left corner, a bookshelf filled with informative textbooks, manga, Blu-ray movies, and games. The right side had a beanbag chair in the corner.

  In the north side pocket of the room, in front of the window, was their black, steel, 'L' computer desk, complete with a two-monitor computer setup and all they require to study, game, stream, or work. Beside it was a blue mini-fridge. Along down in the center of the wall sat a Bluetooth sound system playing the ambiance music Stevonnie heard from outside. Between the two was a wine redwood six-drawer dresser.

Opposite the wall at the south end was their bed 'set up.' A queen mattress on a raised metal platform, with two side tables on each side the same color as the dresser and on, said bed under their violet blanket, hugging their stuffed lion was Rose. 

Stevonnie shook their head as they walked up to their bed and sat down beside them before peering down to closely examine Rose's face. Brushing some of her pink curls out of her cream-colored face, Stevonnie scanned for anything out of place beside Stevonnie’s cleaned room. 

They brushed their thumb across Rose's soft cheeks, plump cupid-bow lips, and round upturned eyes, trying to see if she was wearing any makeup in an attempt to hide any bruises. They sighed in relief when they found nothing.

"At least that's a good thing to see." Stevonnie mused, caressing her long time friend scalp, 

"Ah!" Rose groaned at the feel of her lump being glanced, her hand instantly going to the spot, " Tender, stop touching." Rose grimaced as she opened her eyes to the cause of her lumps aggravation. "Vonnie?" Her natural, velvety tone whispered before a small, soft smile graced her lips.

“Yo, Rose.”Stevonnie greeted, ruffling through Rose’s hair, careful of the lump. “Had a nice sleep? A nice five days alone?” 

“Uneventful, Vonnie.” Rose grinned, letting go of the stuffed toy and laying her head upon her friend's lap.

“Really?” Stevonnie pursed their lips, nodding with their fingers on their lips,” Nothing at all?” They looked around their clean and tidy room, “So what with the cleaning job then? Not usually something either would do. Part of the reason we get along so well as roommates.”

“I thought it because we used to get into trouble together during our high school years.”

“You mean you used to get in trouble, and I bailed you out, time after time.” 

“Cause you never got into trouble on your own, time after time.”

“You mean when I was saving your ass, defending your character, calling you out, or having your back. Time after time.”

“Tsch!”  Rose turned to face Stevonnie’s deep brown eyes,” that goes both ways, you know that.”

“I do,” Stevonnie smirked, “ And I’m thankful for you always doing the same for me. Being someone, I can trust, fully.” They pressed their palms on the yellow star of their red shirt, a teasing smile on their face,” am I, someone you can trust, fully Ro-Ro? “

“Hmm.” Rose groaned, “I hate when you get like this.” She sneered, “all investigative and guilt building.”

“Well, I hate it when you try to lie to me.” Stevonnie countered.

“What am I lying about?” Rose implored

“For one.” Stevonnie brushed her hair, “why have you gone radio silent with Steven and the others? Not like you to go a whole month without contacting anyone from home.”

Rose remained silent for a moment, “Did mom and dad ask?”

“Along with everyone, but yes, Aunt Pink and Uncle Greg did ask...Also, Bismuth and Pearl wanted to come up and see you, but I figured that probably wouldn’t be for the best, at the moment.”

“Aw, I would have like to have seen them.” Rose grinned sadly, “ Are they together yet?”

“Eh?” Steveonnie waved their hand, “their...Something.” They arched a brow,” though. She’s definitely over her infatuation with you, sorry.”

Rose booped Stevonnie’s narrow nose, “Hey, who led my younger brother on?”

“Ah! NOOO!” Stevonnie shook their head, “I didn’t know until he told me he felt that way, especially since he treated Connie and me the same way. You!” they pressed Rose’s button nose, “knew that Pearl was feeling you for years and didn’t do anything to dissuade her, -tap- . It’s why we fought when we first met, remember.”

“You mean, sucker-punching me.”

 “You deserved it, I apologized, and you got caught slipping.” Stevonnie chuckled, “besides,” Stevonnie tapped their chest. “Look what you got out of it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rose brushed it off with a chuckle, and a comfortable pause settled between the two of them.

”Why are you hiding what happened, Ro-Ro? WHAT are you hiding. Ro-Ro?”

Rose hummed at the worry in her friend’s voice, “nothing, Von-von. Don’t worry about it.” She gave Stevonnie a grin, “I got it.”

“Is that why there was screaming heard two nights ago?”

Rose remained silent.

“Why you cleaned our usually messy home?”

Rose growled.

“Why there’s a bump on your head?”

“Actually, that was an accident.” Rose admitted, “Hit my head dozing off during a late-night...Hard. Leaned right off the chair and slammed onto the floor.” 

Stevonnie shook their head, laughing a bit, “Yeah… That tracks, clumsy Rose.”

Rose huffed, “You love me.”

“And because I love you. I worry, in particular, when you act very differently from my best friend. So spill it.” Stevonnie poked Roses’s cheek, “What’s going on, Rosebud?”

“ Rosebud, huh?” Rose sighed, “that’s dirty...Using that name.” 

“Yeah, but now you know I’m serious.”

“Yeah…” Rose rubbed her head in annoyance, “good job making me feel like a burden.”

“I mean, it been eight years. Being a burden at times comes with being a blessing. It’s what makes friendship so interesting.” Stevonnie sighed, “I just lucked out that you’re way more of a blessing than a burden.” 

“Stars,” Rose groaned at Stevonnie’s victorious grin, “Fine, I’ll spill.” Rose patted the Indian beauty cheek, “ if only to give me some peace of mind.”

“Appreciate it, Ro-Ro.” Stevonnie grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “ Now speak.”

Rose sighed before she began her tale. “Ok, so, you know I started my internship at Scion labs eight weeks ago.”

“Yeah, How’s that going, by the way?” Stevonnie started, “Connie was gonna choose that as her work-study next year.”

“Hehe, uh.” Rose pursed her lips in a straight line. “Well, I feel better about that now than I would’ve, a few weeks ago.” She held her finger up to stop Stevonnie from asking questions, “Let me talk.”

Stevonnie nodded, agreeing just to listen as Rose spoke of what happened a few weeks prior and how it related to her communication blackout, as well as what happened when Stevonnie was gone. 

“So...Within the first two weeks of my being at the lab, my supervisor, Ms. Lane, gave me more attention than the other interns she had under her. Letting me in on some projects and promotion they were doing. Saying that she was grooming me for when I become a member of Scion labs. It's part of the reason why I was coming back late during that time. So in the third week, she had a business conference.”

“I know you were gone for three days. Said you had a nice hotel and all that but had to cut it short.”

“Yeah...Well. That was a lie...I didn’t tell you everything that happened during that time.”

Stevonnie did not like the sudden drop of temperature in her friends’ tone of voice, “Am I gonna have to beat someone’s ass.” They huffed, kissing their teeth.

“Ease, Vonnie. Let me finish, Yeah? Yeah…So the second night of the conference, Ms. Lane decides to take us out to celebrate and see the city. We went to this nice Korean BBQ, had a good time, ate some good food, drank some sake, it was charming...time...Until it wasn’t.”

Stevonnie took note of the hurt in Rose’s voice, taking her friend’s hand in theirs and kissing her knuckles, a sign that they wouldn’t think anything less of Rose, no matter what.

“I don’t remember what happened after getting back to the hotel, but I woke up in a bed that wasn’t mine, in nothing but my boyshorts and a blouse that wasn’t mine, next to a passed out Ms.Lane, who was bare. I gathered my stuff, crept out of the room before running to mines, and just claimed to be sick for the rest of the trip. I could not look at the woman at the moment. Matter of fact, I got a cab and left.” 

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?” Stevonnie implored. 

“Cause I didn’t know what happened and didn’t wanna instantly jump to the worst conclusion.” Rose nearly barked, “I still wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. She was my supervisor and helped me a lot during that time...Plus, I didn’t want to bother you with what I thought was a possibility.”

“What… What you thought?”

The cold, protective rage in Stevonnie's voice was sweet to Rose but was that precisely why she didn’t tell her best friend and self-appointed protector.

“Yeah, a week after she all but confirmed it.” Rose started again. “One night, Lane caught me as I was trying to leave, ask me to stay behind to discuss the following week’s assignments—thoroughly business-like...Once, she got me into her office and got me to sit in front of her desk...She forced herself on me.” Rose shuddered in disgust. “She threatened my internship, held it hostage.” Her voice began to break as she shut her eyes to keep from crying. “She grabbed me and told me I was out if I didn’t repay her affection from the night in her hotel room.” She gripped Stevonnie shirt like a lifeline, trying to calm down. It took a few minutes and Stevonnie to hold her close to do so.

“Rosebud..” Stevonnie started.

“I didn’t do it…” Rose assured her, sniffling a little. “I knocked her across her temple, hard.”

“That’s my girl.” Stevonnie knew just exactly how hard Rose could hit. She was a near six-foot, robust and curvy stunner who can (and has) knock out grown-ass men since high school. She was also one of the sweetest, most kind, and unintentional flirtatious people Stevonnie knows. Traits Stevonnie swear she inherited from her mother. Looks and personality, just bigger on both fronts.

"Did you try to kill her?" 

"No!" Rose grimaced, "Or not intentionally, she did hit her head on the way down, but I was too concerned with just getting away to check." She admitted, "I felt sick and ashamed knowing that someone I looked up to, even slightly, would take advantage of me like that. I just shut down internally. Drove into my work and studies cause the labs kept me despite everything. At the moment, I was working remotely. As for Lane, she was expelled from the labs...I don't even know how far she went, but still..." 

"I'm so sorry you went through that, Rose." Stevonnie hugged her friend, "but I still wished you told me what happened. Instead of just handling it by yourself."

"I didn't handle it, more like it resolved itself…Somehow." Rose admitted, hugging her back, "Someone was watching out for me and was also a victim; they said something, I guess...At least that's what I got from Holly when she came by two nights ago, trying to start some mess."

"Holly?" Stevonnie looked at Rose with narrowed eyes, "Holly Agustine with the cone hairdo and blue lipstick? She came looking for trouble?"

Rose nodded, "She actually liked sleeping her way through the internship and blamed me for Lane's firing, said I took away her golden ticket. Victim-blame me." Rose looked down, "said If I didn't want the attention, I shouldn't have been so needy."

"Oh! Fuck her!" Stevonnie announced in rage. "I better not see that bitch try to act all civil with me."

"Don't, sweetie," Rose said, patting Stevonnie’s fist. "You don't need to fight for me."

Stevinnue sucked their teeth in response before breathing out, "I'm not going to look to fight her actively."

"Please don't."

"But if I catch her coming out her face. Specifically, if your name is involved - knock-" Stevonnie smacked their first into their palm to make their point.

Rose said nothing, but she did chuckle. "My hero," she teased before breathing out. 

"Thanks,"  Stevonnie smiled gently.

"For what?"

"...Opening up Ro-Ro."   Stevonnie brushed Rose's hair, "I know it must be hard to speak on it."

"It's...still pretty fresh." Rose confessed, "but it's a bit lighter now." She held Stevonnie by the waist, "thanks for forcing me to speak on it and listening to me, just being here for me."

"No need to thank me, Ro-Ro. We got each other, time after time."

Rose shook her but didn't argue, feeling content.

"So, what about your radio silence?" Stevonnie inquired, "Not saying you have to tell anyone about this, but a bit of contact would ease everyone else's mind and could help you too.."

 Rose hummed, "I guess. Just give me time…"

"Yeah, on your own time."

[dweemeister]

Best Live Action Short Film Nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards (2021, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

NOTE: For viewers in the United States (continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i) who would like to watch the Oscar-nominated short film packages, click here. For virtual cinemas, you can purchase the packages individually or all three at once. You can find info about reopened theaters that are playing the packages in that link. Because moviegoing carries risks at this time, please remember to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by your local, regional, and national health officials.

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages. No pandemic was going to stop me this year, as I was able to view the short film packages virtually thanks to a local repertory, the Frida Cinema of Santa Ana, California. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Oscars. Films predominantly not in the English language are listed with their nation of origin.

The Present (2020, Palestine)

Since the 1990s, the Israeli military has set up hundreds of checkpoints within Palestine’s West Bank. These checkpoints have impeded Palestinian movement within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, supposedly to better protect the extraterritorial Israeli settlements there. Directed by Farah Nabulsi, The Present could have easily fell into an agitprop trap – leaning on political outrage rather than the individual emotions that power this film – but it deftly avoids doing so. On the day of his wedding anniversary with his wife, Yusef (Saleh Bakri) decides to go shopping with daughter Yasmine (Maryam Kanj). Yusef and Yasmine travel to and from Bethlehem (which is in Palestine, but is not easily accessible by Palestinians) to purchase a new refrigerator, groceries, and a few goodies for Yasmine. The process of traveling just a few miles from home proves onerous and humiliating.

Nabulsi’s film never feels like a lecture, instead preferring to juxtapose the cruel ironies that these Israeli checkpoints embody. The viewer intuits how militarized and confusing these checkpoints must be to the Palestinians. Israel’s apartheid mindset extends to the West Bank – the checkpoints have a single lane for Israeli drivers and a gated, narrow entryway specifically for the Palestinians. Past the checkpoint during their time shopping, life seems briefly normal. That Nabulsi can navigate the contrasting emotions between these scenes reflects the tautness of this film and its hints of Italian Neorealism. Bakri, as Yusef, is excellent during his tense conversations with the Israeli soldiers, even if some of these moments feel more stilted due to the actors playing the soldiers and the guerrilla filmmaking this piece employs. For Kanj, as Yasmine, one can see her anguish in seeing her father discriminated against on what should have been a special day. For Palestinian children, injustice is a rite of passage.

My rating: 8/10

Feeling Through (2019)

It is a chilly night in New York City at an hour where few are outside by choice. Teenager Tareek (Steven Prescod) is homeless. After saying good night to his friends, he happens upon Artie, a deafblind man (Robert Tarango, who is deafblind himself) holding up a sign requesting anyone to assist him. Curious and half-willing to help, Tareek taps Artie on the arm. Artie pulls out a tattered notepad and marker, asking for help to get to a bus stop. What follows is an uplifting connection between two cast-off souls, sharing each other’s good company and good humor if only for a brief time. Director Doug Roland based Feeling Through on an encounter he had with a deafblind man named Artemio. Roland’s film was accomplished in collaboration with the Hellen Keller Center.

Cynical viewers might view Feeling Through as syrupy, its swirling score too manipulative, the screenplay predictable, the filmmaking pedestrian. To different extents, each of those criticisms are true, but that does not undermine the raw inspiration responsible for this film’s pulse. It boasts solid performances from Prescod and Tarango – the latter a kitchen worker from Long Island and possibly the first deafblind actor in a lead role in film history. Roland’s screenplay beautifully strips away stereotypes of deafblind people. Tarango, as Artie, is neither overly dependent nor secluded from society. He knows that being deafblind sets him apart from those who can see and hear, and embraces the difference – lending a refreshing directness to how he communicates. Despite its lack of filmmaking or acting pedigree compared to its other nominees in this category, Feeling Through enters this Academy Awards season without a single loss in any of the film festivals that it screened in. No wonder: it is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense, without ever glossing over how difficult it is to be deafblind.

My rating: 9/10

Two Distant Strangers (2020)

Production on Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe’s Two Distant Strangers began in the shadow of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Its emotions are raw and there is no doubt behind the importance of the film’s messaging. Carter (rapper Joey Bada$$) has had some first date with Perri (Zaria Simone), and leaves in the morning to get home to his pet dog. Just outside the apartment building door, a police officer named Merk (Andrew Howard) stops Carter, profiles him, and ultimately kills Carter in cold blood. Once Carter dies, the film cuts to Carter and Perri in bed once again. Immediately, the viewer knows this film is a time loop a la Groundhog Day (1993), and, no matter what precautions he takes, Carter just cannot avoid execution from Merk’s hands. Through the film’s structure, Free and Roe capture the sinking, repetitive feeling that black Americans go through when hearing the news of yet another incident of police brutality.

Good intentions and urgency, however, do not necessarily make a worthy film. Some of the editing in Two Distant Strangers’ middle third shows too many images of Carter’s bullet-riddled body. After the first few instances of the time loop, the viewer does not need another glimpse of a lead-shredded corpse, blood splattering across pavement. The filmmaker’s fury towards Carter’s situation – that nothing will change – is already evident in the idea of such killings. Combined with the questionable dialogue in the final time loop and the mediocre acting, this all feels exploitative, an unwitting product of Hollywood’s history of fetishizing black trauma. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), historically, likes to reward films they perceive as demonstratively staged and thematically urgent. Two Distant Strangers meets both these criteria, but this material could have retained its rage without as much sensationalism.

My rating: 6/10

White Eye (2019, Israel)

Like Feeling Through, Tomer Shushan’s White Eye – the winner of the Narrative Short Film award at South by Southwest (SXSW) – was based on an actual encounter in its director’s life. Late at night in the streets of Tel Aviv, Omer (Daniel Gad) has spotted his stolen bicycle locked onto a rack. Omer lost his bike more than a month ago, has not filed a police report, and seeks to reclaim it as soon as possible. The police are of no help, and the people proximate to the intersection where these events take place are unwilling or hesitant to help. The now-owner of the bike is an Eritrean refugee named Yunes (Dawit Tekelaeb), and he insists to his manager (Reut Akkerman) and to Omer that he did not know that the bike was stolen property when he purchased it. And yet Omer’s tenacity and fit of passion spirals the situation beyond his or Yunes’ control.

White Eye is impressively staged, filmed in a single take – no cuts, no edits, all in real-time. To compare this film one last time to Feeling Through, White Eye accomplishes all it needs to say at a short film’s length. Some might claim Saar Mizrahi’s cinematography and 360º smooth-rotating is just another modern filmmaking gimmick; instead, it submerges the viewer into Omer’s mentality as he fights to retrieve his bike. The purposefully subjective framing questions the viewer on what our reactions might be in this situation, how deeply would we allow out outrage – and perhaps our ethnic/racial biases – to guide our actions. Shushan challenges the audience not to adopt Omer’s conclusions and emotions so readily, and he does a masterful job in appealing to and challenging one’s empathy as it becomes clear there will be no storybook ending.

My rating: 8/10

The Letter Room (2020)

By virtue of its central actor, The Letter Room is the most high-profile of this year’s nominees. Elvira Lind’s film is a dark comedy and its approach and tone are difficult to categorize. Richard (a mustached Oscar Isaac, who is Lind’s spouse) is a corrections officer who has requested a departmental transfer. With the transfer, he trades a more hands-on role for an office job. As the prison’s communications director, his responsibilities now entail filing through all of the prisoners’ incoming and outgoing mail – reading through all of the letters, reporting to his superiors for prison rules violations, censoring materials if necessary. At first, this role is as tedious as his previous position. But when Richard begins to read the histories of the prisoners and their loved ones, he becomes emotionally invested in a particular exchange between one death row inmate and his loved one (Alia Shawkat).

The Letter Room, despite a serviceable performance by Isaac as the unusual and stiff lead, has a milquetoast commentary about how the American criminal justice system imprisons more than just the inmates. These themes shambolically merge with Richard’s inherent loneliness, his inability to separate his own feelings from the voyeuristic work that his new position entails. This is a fellow looking for meaningful human connection, finding none, and attempting to understand something he has never found. The Letter Room curiously never questions the tricky ethics of Richard’s decision to intervene with the decisions made by Alia Shawkat’s character, and how the power disparities of his interactions color his life. The film’s conclusion is unearned, placing too neat a bow on a film that cannot balance its incongruous themes.

My rating: 6/10

^ All ratings based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

From previous years: 85th Academy Awards (2013), 87th (2015), 88th (2016), 89th (2017), 90th (2018), 91st (2019), and 92nd (2020).

[picturejasper20]

Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts Review

Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts is animated show that was created by  Radford Sechrist ( Kung Fu Panda 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Penguins of Madagascar) and developed by Bill Wolkoff  (TRON: Uprising, Star Wars Rebels and Once Upon a Time). It´s based of the webcomic ¨Kipo¨ created by  Radford Sechrist. The show was produced by Dreamworks Animation Television and animated by Studio Mir.

The story of the show takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, in which mutated animals called ¨mutes¨ live on the surface while humans live in underground cities ¨Burrows¨ to ensure their safety from the dangers of the surface.

The protagonist is Kipo Oak, a 13 year old girl, that is forced to leave her own burrow and search for her father,  Lio Oak, after she is separated from him. On the surface she meets other humans survivors and friendly mutes than join her in her journey.

Animation

The show was animated by South Korea’s Studio Mir, which is known for animating shows like  The Legend of Korra and Voltron: Legendary Defenders.

The animation of Kipo and the age of the wonderbeasts is good overall, is not Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles´ animation but it works well for modern animation standars.

At first glance, is easy to notice the show is highly inspired by anime.Radford Sechrist has admitted he is inspired by anime films such as Tekkonkinkreet (2005) and the Studio Ghibli films.

The show has some good character design as well, while they are based of anime, the show has its own style that makes them feel more unique. 

While the humans designs are decent, the series really shines when it comes to the mutes designs. Each is different from the other and it is hard to find two mute that looks exactly the same.

It also has some wonderful backgrounds that really make you feel that you are in a post-apocalyptic setting, with human cities ruins that have been abandoned for more than two hundred years.

Soundtrack and sound design

The series has some pretty memorable soundtracks that usually fit well with the scenes and rarely feel out of place.

The person behind the soundtrack is  Daniel Rojas, who also wrote many songs for the series.

In a interview, Daniel Rojas explained that while working on Kipo they tried to have diverse soundtrack, they would mix up different genres that would change depending on the episode.

¨Rad Sechrist’s vision for the show was to be diverse and inclusive on all fronts, including the music. We wanted to tap on a ton of different genres and mix them all up: take folky banjo riffs and put them on top of a trap beat, write a classical piece for Scarlemagne but do a hip-hop remix of it – it was a purist’s nightmare!¨

The music and songs of Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts are one of best parts of the show in my opinion, and i think it wouldn´t be the same without them as they are important for story and characters.

As for the voice cast, most of them work well for the show,some performances are better than others but overall they are decent.

Story and characters

The story of Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts is quite unique for modern cartoons: It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, which is rare to find in Western animated series. 

There has been some animated series whose setting is post-apocalyptic like ¨Adventure time¨ and ¨Steven Universe¨ but these story elements were usually secondary or part of the lore in those shows. The fact that Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts is post-apocalyptic is very important for the story and characters.

The show also has 30 episodes and each one lasts between 23-24 minutes, which means that many things can happen in one episode. The pacing, however, is well-done despite being a short series. There are some episodes that focus more in the story while others help developing the characters and their relationships.

The foreshadowing is well-executed most of time, sometimes is very subtle, which makes it easy to miss the first time watching it. Since many things are foreshadowed it rarely makes the story elements feel that they came out of nowhere or just appear for the sake of the plot

The lore its very interesting as well: In almost every episode a new type of mute is introduced. Each type of mute has their own culture and lifestyle, which keeps the story fresh and nonrepetitive. 

For example: The timbercats are anthropomorphic cats that live on trees and are woodcutters, they love to sing and would do anything they can to protect their home.

One of the main themes is about the unending war between mutes and humans that has lasted more than 100 years. The relationship between humans and mutes is one of the most important aspects of the story and its what drives the main characters.

Kipo and the age of wonderbeasts pacifism and human´s relationship with nature themes seem to be clearly inspired by Studio Ghibli´s films, specially from Princess Mononoke.

Another big theme of the series is that people have the capacity to change, to grow and become better individuals, which shares a few similarities with the animated series Steven universe. It´s not uncommon for the series to have antagonistic characters that become allies later in the story.

As for the characters, they are well developed, each one having its own arc and backstory. Many episodes focus on their relationships which are quite complex and change over time.

Kipo Oak, the main protagonist, is someone who always believes there´s good in everyone, even those who hurt and take advantage of others. She´s unique in the sense that she tries to be positive in a world where pretty much everyone is selfish and only care about themselves.

To quote the exec producer, Bill Wolkoff: ¨I loved Kipo instantly. Here is this relentlessly positive person with this great sense of wonder, set it in a dangerous world, which would turn most people cynical. This was the perfect character to root the rest of the show around.”

While she prefers solving conflicts through talking, Kipo is someone who is not afraid to fight if someone dares to hurt her loved ones. She usually tries changing her methods according to the situation.

The other protagonists are: Wolf, a tough yet caring girl who grew on the surface and has a dark troubled past; Benson, a carefree teenager who loves music and his best friend Dave, a talking bug mute; and Mandu, a small pig mute that is adopted by Kipo.

Each character is given enough screen time to develop and explore their psyche. However, some character arcs can felt a bit rushed at times due to being a short series.

Another thing i liked about the series is how the conflict is not black and white, many characters have a reason that explains why they act in a specific way and we get to learn about both sides of the conflict, no one is 100% good or 100% evil, which feels accurate with post-apocalyptic setting

Kipo and the age of the wonderbeasts has also been praised for having a inclusive cast: Many characters in the show are POC and some even are LGTB+. Wolkoff has talked about how it was important for the show to have this type of representation since times are changing and so does the media we consume.

“We also have a really diverse cast that is reflective of the world today,” he adds. “It was really important for Rad and I to have a creative team that was diverse and inclusive to tell these stories in the best way. We wanted to empower our team to make decisions that we couldn’t have made on our own. That’s why the show feels authentic and has a fresh perspective. It’s also very funny.”

Conclusion

I think Kipo and the age of the wonderbeasts is very well done and is a good example on how to make an good animated series. It would be great if more creators in animation tried taking more risks and making shows that both kids and adults can appreciate.

Due to its setting, characters and story, the series also manages to feel unique and different, which is good in a medium that sometimes relies on using the same tropes and story elements. 

It´s a short series but its worth of watching if you enjoy Studio Ghibli films, anime or shows like Steven universe.

Sources cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipo_and_the_Age_of_Wonderbeasts

https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/its-the-end-of-the-world-and-shes-just-fine-kipo-and-the-age-of-wonderbeasts/

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/interview-with-daniel-rojas-composer-on-kipo-and-the-age-of-the-wonderbeasts/

[creepingsharia]

“I Never Thought We’d Face This Much Hatred”: Muslim Persecution of Christians, November 2019

by Raymond Ibrahim

Slaughter of Christians

Syria:  On November 11, Islamic gunmen opened fire on a vehicle known to be carrying Christian leaders.  Two Armenian priests, a father and son, were killed; a deacon was seriously wounded.  ISIS claimed the murders of Father Abrahim Petoyan and Father Hovsep Petoyan.  The Armenians were going to inspect repairs on an Armenian Catholic church that had been earlier damaged in Deir ez-Zor. “We continue to feel the presence of ISIS,” responded the Armenian Catholic Archbishop Boutros Marayati of Aleppo, adding that Deir ex-Zor “is a very important town for us, because it is there that many of our martyrs were killed as they fled the Turkish genocide of 1915. Today there are no Armenian Catholics left there. Undoubtedly, the Turks don’t want us to return, because our presence would be a reminder of the Armenian genocide.”

Turkey: On November 19, in the streets of the city of Diyarbakir, Korean evangelist Jinwook Kim, 41, was stabbed and later died from his injuries. A 16-year-old Muslim was later arrested.  According to the report,

Kim had arrived in Diyarbakir with his family earlier this year and was pastoring a small community of Christians. The assailant stabbed Kim three times: twice in the heart, once in the back. Officials, however, claim that the incident occurred in an effort to steal Kim’s phone. Local believers urge the authorities to investigate the incident as an assassination, rather than an attempt at extortion. Kim was married and had one child, although his second is expected to be born in the coming days….  He had lived in Turkey for five years.

“This wasn’t just a robbery; they came to kill him,” insists another local Christian, who received a death threat the day after this incident:

We always get threats. A brother prophesied a few days ago that they (the government) are going to kick out these foreigners, and probably kill a few Turkish brothers. They are going to cause chaos. They know that I am trying to spread the Gospel, so they may target me too. This may be a sign.

Ethiopia: “Two Ethiopian pastors have been beheaded in Sebeta, near the capital Addis Ababa, in an outburst of violence against Christians” that erupted after a leading Muslim incited his supporters against the government over some supposed infraction against him.  The report adds that “the situation on the ground has become quite challenging for Christians and many churches have been burnt this year. There is also an unverified report that a group of Christians has been forced out of the majority-Muslim town of Ginir, located 303 miles south-east of the capital.”

Nigeria: Muslim Fulani herdsmen continued their murderous raids on Christian communities.  Two incidents were especially notable and identical.  First, in the early hours of November 14, machete-wielding Muslim raiders hacked to death four Christians as they soundly slept in their bedrooms in Agban village, near Kagoro.  All of the slain were farmers and members of the local church.  Ten days later, on November 24, Muslim herdsmen attacked Agom, a Christian village in southern Kaduna state’s Sanga Country, around 4:30 a.m.  There they hacked with machetes an 87-year-old Christian to death and shot another Christian in the head, killing him instantly.  Both of the slain, regular churchgoers, had also been sleeping in their homes.

Cameroon: On November 6 in Moskota, Islamic militants connected with Boko Haram attacked a church where they killed David Mokoni, a retired pastor, as well as a hearing-impaired Christian boy; another pastor was shot in the leg.  Afterwards the militants looted the church, taking even the pastors’ ceremonial robes.  “Boko Haram has been stepping up its attacks on Christian villages in Far North Cameroon in an attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate from north-eastern Nigeria all the way to northern Cameroon,” the report says.  This most recent attack follows a “brutal spate of attacks since late October, by gangs of up to 200 militants, [which] has left eight dead”: “The first of the attacks came on 30 October with the looting of six mainly-Christian villages in Mayo Sava district….  On 31 October, five people were hacked to death when militants armed with axes, knives and wooden clubs stormed the village of Kotserehé. A sixth wounded man later died from his injuries.”  Rebecca, a witness, described the slaughter of a boy in Kotserehé: “He was a 15-year-old adolescent. He was so deeply asleep in his bed that he didn’t hear any of the noise around him. They thrust the blade of the axe so deeply into his skull, to the point we had to use a hammer to get it out of his head.” Many Christians have been displaced by these ongoing attacks and live in “extreme misery,” added another local:  “This is beyond persecution. It is a dramatic situation, plunging thousands of families into a deplorable humanitarian crisis.”

Pakistan: Muslim bakers murdered a teenage Christian coworker and police are covering it up, alleged Sarwar Masih, the father of Akash Masih, the slain 18-year-old:  “My son was an expert at baking and making shawarma and burgers” and his “expertise was liked by the customers.”  As a result, “he faced discrimination and religious jealousy at his workplace. He often complained about the unfavorable situation at the bakery, but he continued working to help his family.”  One day the bakery called the father and said his son was sick and sent to a hospital.  Sarwar rushed there only to learn that his son had already died.  When he contacted police, the bakery threatened him and police were unresponsive, claiming that his son had “committed suicide,” even though signs of torture were visible on his neck and back. “These are delaying tactics to defuse the evidences against the culprits,” Sarwar last reported: “Christians face hatred and discrimination even after their death.”

Separately, on November 16, an armed Muslim mob attacked and drove out the Christian families of a small village in Lahore.  One Christian teenage girl, Sonia Sarwar, was killed and six others were seriously injured in the riot.  “The attack was aimed at displacing around ten Christian families from this area,” Nazir Masih, whose legs were wounded in the attack, explained: “Arshad Kambho, an influential Muslim, wants to grab the property of the Christians.”  Since 2015, Kambho had been trying to steal the Christians’ land; he took them twice to courts and twice the courts ruled in favor of the Christians. “Since then, Kambho has been creating disputes with the Christians to damage them and drag them into an allegation,” said another local.

Attacks on Christian Churches

Syria:  On November 11—the same day that two Armenian priests were killed in a hail of bullets (see above)—three car bombings occurred in the city of Qamishli, which holds a significant Christian population.  One of the bombs detonated near a Chaldean church and killed at least six civilians, as well as damaging the church building; another detonated near an Assyrian Christian owned market, and a third detonated near a Catholic school.  All were claimed by ISIS.

Egypt: On Friday, November 1, a fire broke out in a Coptic church in Shubra.  According to the report, “The fire had started at around 8:30am close to the church theatre hall, in a building adjacent to the church itself. Anba Makary, Bishop of South Shubra, was then officiating Mass on the ground floor for persons with disabilities. They were all safely evacuated.”  In the preceding two weeks, two other churches were torched in October.  Police concluded that the fires in all three cases were due to electrical malfunctions.  Christians argued otherwise, indicating that arson was responsible.

Separately, the civil council of the village of Neda ordered the church of St. George to remove its bell tower, in keeping with Islamic law.  The church, fearing that this is just the first warning of a downward spiral  to closure, made a direct appeal to President Sisi.  According to the November 17 report,

[T]he actual construction of the church has been a slow process. It was originally established in 1911, but it didn’t receive building permits until 2006. Because the village Christians are poor, construction has been slow. They are afraid that the village extremists will stop them from continuing construction without the intervention of the President.  Churches are a contentious subject in Egypt, which is an officially Islamic country. The construction of churches is tightly regulated by the state…

Pakistan:  A Muslim mob demolished a wall and the front door of a Catholic church in the Punjab on the pretext that it was not formally registered.  However, according to church member Naseer Masih, “Muslims do not want the church in the village because they have bad feelings towards Christians.”   The report explains:

“On 4 November 50 policemen arrived in front of the [church] gate and asked Catholics if they had ever had problems praying in church. Christians have responded that they had never had difficulties. Meanwhile, a crowd of 60 people gathered to bring a tractor and hammers. With the tractor they knocked down the door, then the Muslims completed the destruction with hammers.”

Police just stood by and watched.  “[W]e had no warning from the police before the accident,” said Naseer. “The Muslims carried out the destruction and the policemen did nothing against them. This means that they are on their side….  We have prepared all the documents,” he added, concerning the legality of the modest and now ruined church that was built in 2007.

Turkey: According to a November 21 report, “Turkey’s Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court, has recently approved changing the historic Chora Greek Orthodox Church located in Istanbul, currently a museum, into a mosque”:

Commentators say that sets the legal precedent for transforming Hagia Sophia, the very symbol of Byzantine and Orthodox Christianity, which is also currently an official museum, back into a mosque….  The interior of the [Chora] church, which was originally built as part of a monastery complex outside the walls of Constantinople, is covered with some of the oldest and finest surviving Byzantine mosaics and frescoes.

Chora Church’s uniquely old and surprisingly intact artwork was first made in 1315—over a century before the Turkish invasion and conquest of Constantinople in 1453—and includes images such as of Joseph and Mary (above).  All these historically precious frescoes are set to be destroyed in the church’s transformation into a mosque.

France: On Sunday, November 3, a statue of St. Bernadette in the chapel of the St. Florent hermitage in Oberhaslach was found beheaded. Because two churches are reportedly violated every day in France, this bit of vandalism attracted little attention.  According to PI-News, 1,063 attacks on Christian churches or symbols (crucifixes, icons, statues) were registered in France in just 2018.  A separate January 2017 study revealed that “Islamist extremist attacks on Christians” in France—which holds one of Europe’s largest Muslim populations—rose by 38 percent, going from 273 attacks in 2015 to 376 in 2016; the majority occurred during Christmas season and “many of the attacks took place in churches and other places of worship.”  Unsurprisingly, the parish where the beheaded statue was found suffered an arson attack the year before.

General Hate for and Abuse of Christians

Norway: A group of Muslims beat, robbed, and threatened to kill a Christian evangelist if he did not convert to Islam.  According to the report, Roar Fløttum was “preaching the gospel and praying for the sick” on November 27, following a prayer meeting in the church he attends in Trondheim, when he encountered a group of Muslim men.  During their conversation, the Muslims indicated that they had physical pains and injuries.  Fløttum offered to pray for them, they accepted, and he complied.  They said they felt better and urged him to go with them and pray for another of their friends who was also suffering from a foot injury. Fløttum went.  “They were very nice and I couldn’t believe they would deceive me,” he later explained.  They took him to a backyard, pushed him down a cellar staircase, and began to beat and kick him in the face.  They kept him hostage there for about an hour, robbed him of his credit cards and about a thousand kroner (equivalent to about $108 USD). “While they kept me there, they threatened me and said they would kill me if I did not convert to Islam,” recalled the Norwegian. “They wanted me to say some words in Arabic [likely the shahada, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,” which, when recited before Muslim witnesses, makes the reciter a Muslim]. I was scared and actually thought they were going to kill me because they said they had a knife and didn’t want witnesses.”

Egypt:  A knife-wielding Muslim man stabbed a Christian family—consisting of a mother and her two sons—and left one of the sons in critical condition. The incident occurred on the evening of Sunday, November 17, in Minya.  When the Muslim man saw the family sitting outside their home, as is customary in Egypt, he began yelling at them to go back inside.  When the older son refused to comply, the man, identified variously as “Ali,” or “Muhammad” went to his nearby home and returned with a knife.  He lunged at the family, stabbing the mother in the head, slicing the younger brother’s face, and stabbing the older brother several times in the gut (images here). A separate report adds that, “Last year, Mohammed attacked another Christian man with a cleaver…. He is known to hate Christians.”  “We can’t get back to the village,” one of the sons last reported.  “Right now, we try to avoid fights and disputes with them. The extremists’ family live in a house which is not far away from us. We will not let them induce us to fight them or anything like that. If we did something like that, we will lose our rights to punish the extremist. We want law enforcement.”

Uganda:  On November 10, Muslim relatives of a Christian father of four young children poisoned and almost killed him for leaving Islam.  Ronald Rajab Nayekuliza, 48, had converted earlier and proceeded to build a church and raise pig livestock.  His brothers, already angered by his conversion, responded by building a mosque near the church, while local Muslims regularly hurled stones at the church during Sunday worship.  Next, his older brother, Anus Wako, began sending threatening messages:  “You rearing pigs is against the faith of our father.  We are from a Muslim family, and our father did not allow the keeping of pigs. While our father was still alive, you were a Muslim; that is why he gave you land to live in, not for the construction of the church. Our family has become a laughingstock to our Muslim neighbors.”  Then, on the morning of November 8, Ronald found six of his piglets slaughtered: “I knew it must be my brothers; that really confirmed my earlier fears. My brothers had threatened me with witchcraft as well as receiving curses from Allah. This has made me live in great fear of my life and that of my family.”  Two days later he attended a memorial for his father, where his brothers and other local Muslims were gathered. Before leaving, Ronald told his pregnant wife that “he was feeling a kind of nausea,” she said.  “Immediately he started to vomit, then followed by diarrhea, with fever and complaining of abdominal pain.” They rushed him to a hospital, where he lost consciousness.  After doctors confirmed that he had been poisoned with a pesticide, police were sent to the brothers’ home: “When the four brothers saw the police vehicle, two of them fled,” a Christian local said. “The police arrested two brothers, Anus Wako and Kalipan Waswa, who were released on bond after four days.” Ronald spent more than a week recovering in the hospital.  “My husband is better but still very weak, with blurry vision and feeling numbness in his body,” his wife last reported.

Pakistan:  On November 10, Muslim arsonists reportedly torched a Christian home in Al-Noor town.  Witnesses saw two motor cyclists who had attended a nearby Islamic rally hurl a packet near where the house first caught fire. “The fire was extremely hot and it melted the stuff inside,” Manzoor Masih, the father of the family explained:

It looks like they used some chemical which turned all the stuff into ashes within no time.  The fire damaged beds, mattresses, furniture, trunks, cloths, crookery, fans, computers, the UPS, and the entire electric system….  For the last six months, different groups keep [sic] pressuring my family to leave this neighborhood and go to a Christian settlement.  However, we never gave into their threats…. I never thought we would face this much hatred for not selling our house.  It’s really heartbreaking and disappointing for a Christian living in this country…

Turkey:  A recreational facility in the town of Dargeçit  which is being referred to as the “Nation’s Garden” is, it was revealed in November, being built atop the graves of Christian and Armenian Christians—both of whom were victims of the 1915 genocide by Ottoman Turkey. “Is it now the turn of our deceased?” responded Evgil Türker, chairperson of the Federation of the Syriac Associations: “This mustn’t happen; we strongly condemn it… Of course, this event reminded us of the past. There had been similar cases in the past….  [T]his is looting. This is proof that the deceased of others [meaning non-Muslims] are not respected…. [T]his mentality has to be stopped.”

Egypt: In order to silence him, a Christian activist and social media blogger who exposes the plight of his coreligionists was arrested and falsely charged with “terrorism.” In response, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a statement in which it “strongly condemns” Egypt’s treatment of Ramy Kamel:

Mr. Kamel is an activist and prominent member of the Maspero Youth Union, advocating for full civil rights for Egypt’s Coptic Christian community and documenting abuses against its members. On November 23, National Security Agency officers stormed his home; confiscated his mobile phone, laptop, and other belongings related to his advocacy work; and took him into custody. One day later, the Supreme State Security Prosecution announced a series of spurious charges against Mr. Kamel, including membership in a terrorist organization, spreading false information, and disturbing the public order.

USCIRF Vice Chair Nadine Maenza elaborated:

USCIRF calls on the Egyptian government to immediately release Mr. Kamel from detention and dismiss the preposterous charges against him. His arrest casts doubt on the sincerity of Egypt’s promises of working toward greater religious freedom; Egypt cannot pledge improved rights and freedoms for Copts and other non-Muslim communities, while at the same time bringing false charges against its own citizens who are advocating for those same reforms.

The USCIRF statement concludes with relevant background information:

Egypt’s Coptic Christians represent the single largest non-Muslim community in the Middle East, likely comprising 10-15 percent of the country’s population of over 100 million. Despite their integral role in Egyptian society and history, they have long faced discrimination and periodic violence for their faith. In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF found that although the Egyptian government has made some modest progress toward legalizing informal churches around the country and improving public discourse about Coptic rights, it has taken few steps toward systematically improving religious freedom conditions for vulnerable Christian populations, particularly in rural areas.

Pakistan: The only Christian journalist registered with the Lahore Press Club finally resigned after years of harassment and discrimination from her Muslim coworkers.  Gonila Gill, 38, covered the persecution of minorities since 2002.  In 2014 she married a Muslim journalist, while remaining Christian.  The harassment began in earnest soon thereafter.  Her coworkers “told me that I would never get pregnant until I converted,” while her husband was accused of being an “infidel.”   She finally quit, “owing to the mental torture her colleagues put her through from not converting to Islam” notes a November 19 report.  “Speaking to the media, Gill said people are vile, but no matter what she will not lose faith in her religion.”

Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic.  Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed in 2011 to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that occur or are reported each month. It serves two purposes:

1)          To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2)          To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

[omxriis]

               hi   guys      !      this   is   something   i’ve   been   tossing   back      &      forth   in   my   head   for   a   lil   bit   ,   but   the   fact   of   the   matter   is   that   my   muse   for   mari   was   starting   to   run   low   ,   but   i’m   a   mess      &      don’t   wanna   let   go   of   him   asdfjkns   ,   so   i   decided   to   revamp   him      !      or   more   accurately   ,   bring   old   mari   back      !      so   below   u   will   find   his   old   biography      (      thank   god   i   still   have   his   old   intro   up   sdfgkjfsd      )      as   well   as   a   little   update   bc   he   needs   smth   to   give   him   a   kick   up   the   ass   :/   this   shouldn’t   rly   affect   most   of   my   plots   but   if   u   would   like   to   plot   smth   w   him   ,   pls   let   me   know      !

&& .   announcing   his   royal   highness  ,      (      𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈   𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈   𝐙𝐔𝐋𝐔      )      ,   the      (      𝟑𝟎      )      year   old      (      𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍   𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄      )      of      (      𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐀      )      .   he   is   often   confused   with      (      𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐄𝐋   𝐁 .   𝐉𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐍      )      .   some   say   that   he   is      (      𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒      &      𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍      )      ,   but   he   is   actually      (      𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐑      &      𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐅𝐔𝐋      )      .

trigger   warnings   :   brief   mentions   of   death      &      illness   .

*    𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑪𝑺   .

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋   𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄      &      𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒   :      omari      (      god   the   highest      )      malachi      (      my   angel      )      zulu      (      heaven      )      .

𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒    :      mar   ,   mari   .

𝐀𝐆𝐄   :      thirty   .

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘   :      4th   of   august   .

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑   :      male   .

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐒   :      he   /   him   .

𝐙𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐂   :      leo   af   .

𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐎𝐍   :      christian   .

𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍   :      crown   prince   of   botswana      (      self   -   proclaimed   professional   pain   in   the   ass      )      .

𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒   :      writing   ,   reading   ,   being   in   social   situations   ,   solving   problems   ,   traveling   ,   annoying   his   siblings   .

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐒   :      loud   eaters   ,   obnoxious   people   ,   big   insects   ,   being   responsible   for   his   actions   .

*    𝑨𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑻𝑰𝑪𝑺   .

bare   feet   in   mornings   ,   neatly   folded   clothes   ,   an   organised   shoe   closet   ,   messy   sheets      &      an   unmade   bed   ,   missed   calls   at   2am   ,   highlighted   passages   in   a   book   ,   dogeared   pages   ,   unanswered   texts   ,   tucked   in   shirts   ,   unfinished   books   ,   warm   tea   ,   warm   jumpers   from   the   dryer   ,   odd   ceramic   mugs   ,   hidden   springs   of   water   ,   worn   out   military   boots   ,   fallen   leaves   during   autumn   ,   poetry   at   midnight   ,   sleepy   morning   voice   ,   unsent   letters   .

*   𝑩𝑰𝑶𝑮𝑹𝑨𝑷𝑯𝒀   .

               when   botswana   gained   its   independence   in   1966   ,   it   seemed   as   if   things   were   going   well   .   the   democracy   they   had   built   was   stable      &      it   appeared   as   if   the   land - locked   country   had   no   problems   ,      &      for   a   while   it   hadn’t   but   after   a   few   years   the   peace   in   the   government   started   to   dwindle   .   too   many   people   wanting   too   much   power   ,   somebody   said   .   they   jumped   in   feet   first   without   any   real   clue   how   to   run   a   country   ,   said   another   .   but   over   time   the   uninterrupted   tranquility   became   obsolete   .   botswana   was   slowly   going   down   a   sinkhole   until   1985   ,   when   the   south   african   king   titled   his   eldest   son   ,   arno   zulu   ,   the   king   of   botswana   .

                the   change   shook   the   botswanian   government   to   the   core   ,   a   change   that   it   needed   .   at   first   the   people   of   botswana   weren’t   sure   how   to   react      —      this   new   monarchy   was   something   nobody   had   expected   .   but   the   newly   crowned   king   had   ambition      &      he   had   stride   .   he   had   a   set   vision      &      a   set   plan   to   follow   ,   all   the   while   he   was   kind   to   his   people      &      a   fair   ruler   .   it   didn’t   take   as   long   as   he   expected   for   the   botswanians   to   settle   under   his   rule      (      not   being   given   the   south   african   throne   was   a   huge   knock   on   his   confidence   as   a   royal      )      so   the   speed   his   country   settled   was   comforting   .

                however   ,   the   king   could   never   forgive   his   father   for   throwing   away   his   right   to   the   throne      &      instead   promised   it   to   the   youngest   of   the   zulu   heirs   .   this   bitterness   ,   however   subsided   into   a   more   a   more   subtle   distaste   as   he   settled   into   his   new   role      &      a   short   few   years   later   ,   he   was   married   to   a   libyan   princess      &      not   too   long   after   that   ,   she   fell   pregnant   with   their   first   child   .   the   pregnancy   wasn’t   easy      ;      there   were   a   few   complications   along   the   way   but   after   only   8   months   of   carrying   him   ,   omari   malachi   zulu   was   born   .

                omari   wasn’t   by   any   standards   an   extraordinary   baby   .   his   birth   was   easy   ,   all   things   considered   but   as   the   first   born   child   of   the   king   of   botswana   ,   he   had   responsibilities   he   never   even   knew   he   had   .   the   country   accepted   him   with   open   arms      &      celebrated   his   birth   in   an   ornate   fashion   .   after   all   ,   he   was   the   first   born   child   of   their   first   king   .   streets   were   decorated   with   the   botswanian   flag      &      music   filled   the   streets   for   days   after   .   the   prince   was   a   vision   ,   as   many   called   him   .   he   looked   strikingly   similar   to   his   father   ,   even   small   features   like   the   dimples   in   his   cheeks      &      the   crease   between   his   eyebrows   as   he   smiled   .   for   months   botswana   was   full   of   joy      &      that   joy   started   to   bring   the   country   back   into   the   state   of   peace   they   had   at   the   very   start   of   their   independence   .

                   the   birth   of   their   future   king   gave   them   hope   .   stability   .      &      in   turn   they   treated   their   leaders   with   grace      &      kindness   ,   living   in   harmomy   .   it   was   almost   idyllic      ;      omari   grew   up   in   a   world   where   everyone   was   at   peace   as   opposed   to   just   a   few   years   before   he   was   born   .   he   had   everything   he   wanted      &      was   treated   with   respect   ,   so   he   treated   his   people   with   respect   in   return   .   he   grew   up   in   a   loving   household   ,   full   of   books      &      all   the   learning   tools   a   young   heir   could   need   ,      &      although   his   professor   was   hard   on   him   ,   omari   did   not   let   this   harden   him   .

                as   a   child   he   had   always   been   a   free   -   spirit      ;      he   was   intrigued   by   the   idea   of   traveling      &      had   read   about   all   the   places   in   the   books   from   the   palace’s   library      &      from   strangers   who   had   stayed   at   the   palace   in   passing   .   he   was   quite   content   ,   he   had   a   certain   mischievousness   which   often   caught   the   guards   out      &      a   long   string   of   jokes   that   could   keep   people   laughing   for   days   .   however   ,   for   a   child   living   in   such   a   large   expanse   it   was   incredibly   lonely   ,   so   it’s   to   be   expected   that   when   his   brother   was   born   ,   omari   was   over   the   moon   .

                the   pair   were   like   two   peas   in   a   pod      ;      where   you’d   see   one   ,   you’d   no   doubt   see   the   other   following   not   too   far   behind   .   they   grew   close   quickly      &      omari   was   fiercely   loyal   to   his   younger   brother   .   however   ,   much   like   any   ordinary   older   sibling   he   could   be   difficult   .   although   he   wasn’t   nasty   ,   he   was   a   bit   of   a   tyrant   .   causing   ruckus      &      playing   pranks   on   his   brother   was   omari’s   favourite   pastimes      &      although   they   had   their   disagreements   ,   he   did   it   with   love      &      there   was   very   little   omari   wouldn’t   do   for   him   .

                when   his   brother   was   born   ,   omari   learned   a   lesson   in   sharing   .   when   his   sister   was   born   ,   he   learned   a   lesson   in   protection   .   growing   up   he   was   educated   on   how   to   run   a   country   successfully      &      how   to   be   a   good   king   ,   but   nobody   taught   him   how   to   be   a   good   brother   .   sometimes   he   could   be   intolerant   to   who   he’d   often   call   the   ‘ bonus   zulu   children ’   just   to   irritate   them   ,   but   despite   his   annoying   habits   his   siblings   were   his   best   friends   .   they   filled   the   empty   void   that   would   otherwise   still   be   hollow   in   the   palace      &      on   stressful   days   ,   they’d   be   the   ones   to   aid   him   in   unwinding   .

                the   pressures   of   becoming   king   one   day   didn’t   truly   hit   full   force   until   he   hit   his   teenage   years   .   he   was   expected   to   set   a   prime   example   not   only   for   his   country   but   also   his   siblings   ,      &    although   he   did   a   good   job   at   being   generally   liked   by   his   peers    &      the   like   ,   he   realised   soon   enough   he’d   have   to   get   out   there      &      represent   his   country   ,   so   that’s   what   he   did   .   he   started   travelling   the   world      &      meeting   new   people      &      after   a   while   ,   he   went   to   college   .   someone   had   briefly   suggested   a   college   in   portugal   so   he   decided   to   go   there   ,   studying   literature      &      modern   language   .

                it   was   here   where   he   met   barbara   de   bragança   ,   being   in   college   at   the   same   time   as   she   was   getting   her   degree   .   due   to   his   royal   status   he   was   invited   to   stay   at   her   college   home      &      after   taking   the   opportunity   ,   the   two   quickly   became   close   friends   .   he   completed   his   education   in   portugal   before   he   jetted   off   to   carry   on   exploring   the   world   ,   however   he   never   lost   touch   with   barbie      &      he   started   to   become   more   responsible   as   he   prepared   to   one   day   be   king   .   while   on   his   travels   he   learned   a   lot   about   different   cultures      &      could   strike   up   a   conversation   with   anyone   over   anything   .

                give   or   take   a   few   years    &      his   family   asked   him   to   get   engaged   to   the   princess   of   hungary   ,   fanni   croÿ   .   the   arrangement   was   strange   given   they   already   had   a   history   but   due   to   it   being   for   the   benefit   of   botswana   he   agreed      &      then   they   were   engaged   .   however   ,   just   as   they   were   starting   to   figure   things   out   the   engagement   was   called   off      &      out   of   his   confusion   ,   omari   took   off   without   a   word   to   anyone      &      has   been   m.i.a   ever   since   ,   only   keeping   in   touch   with   a   short   selection   of   people   .

*     𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀   .

omari   is   a   lover   of   adventure      &      experiencing   new   things   .   people   might   call   him   a   thrill   seeker   ,   but   he   just   believes   that   a   life   without   experiencing   everything   you   can   isn’t   a   life   worth   living   .   he   enjoys   learning   new   things      &    is   always   keen   on   hearing   different   opinions   to   benefit   his   own   ,   however   he   can   come   across   as   being   quite   opinionated   when   it   comes   to   his   own   thoughts      &    he’s   not   afraid   to   speak   his   mind   ,   which   sometimes   got   him   into   trouble   when   he   was   younger   but   has   earned   him   great   respect   as   he   grew   older   .

                in   general   ,   omari   is   kind      &      thoughtful   .   he’s   been   influenced   a   lot   by   his   father’s   way   of   ruling   the   country      &      is   a   firm   believer   that   you   should   treat   people   the   way   you   expect   to   be   treated   ,   but   he’s   not   afraid   to   stand   his   ground   when   he   needs   to   or   protect   those   that   he’s   closest   to   .   when   it   comes   to   his   family      &    his   close   friends   ,   omari   will   go   to   the   ends   of   the   earth   for   them   even   if   it   was   just   to   bring   them   a   pretzel   from   europe   .   he   values   them   a   lot      &      is   extremely   loyal   to   them   .

                however   ,   omari   can   be   quite   flaky      &      fickle   .   when   it   comes   to   making   decisions   regarding   his   country   ,   he’s   very   clever   in   his   approach    &    makes   sure   it’s   the   best   decision   but   when   it   comes   to   his   personal   life   ,   he’s   not   very   good   at   all      &      often   has   to   seek   advice   from   other   people   just   to   make   the   correct   decision   .   he   dislikes   situations   that   are   too   messy   ,   which   is   one   of   the   few   reservations   he   has   about   being   king   because   he   knows   he’ll   be   stuck   in   some   but   he’s   working   on   his   habit   of   fleeing   before   the   situation   gets   too   bad      &   instead   striving   to   resolve   them   .

                he   can   be   pretty   mischievous   ,   since   when   he   was   younger   he’d   often   play   pranks   on   the   guards      &    his   siblings   just   to   ,   as   he   used   to   say   ‘ pass   the   time ’   so   although   he’s   someone   you   can   trust   with   your   secrets   ,   he’s   not   someone   you   can   trust   not   to   scare   the   living   daylights   out   of   you   the   next   chance   he   gets   .   he   loves   to   have   fun      &    is   slightly   worried   that   when   he   becomes   king   all   the   fun   he’s   having   now   will   no   longer   exist   ,   but   following   in   his   father’s   footsteps   is   something   he’s   always   been   keen   in   doing      &      seeing   how   well   he’s   doing   pushes   him   to   do   the   same   .

                although   his   father   isn’t   so   bothered   anymore   by   the   fact   that   he   was   ,   as   omari   sees   it   thrown   to   the   side   for   his   younger   brother   ,   omari   is   extremely   bitter   about   it   .   even   though   he   loves   botswana      &      its   people   ,   he   still   heavily   believes   that   since   his   father   is   the   oldest   of   the   zulu   heirs   ,   he’s   rightfully   in   line   for   the   south   african   throne   so   the   fact   that   his   uncle   ,   who’s   little   over   ten   years   older than   him   never   fails   to   stir   up   troubling   thoughts      &      now   that   his   grandfather   has   fallen   ill   ,   he   sees   this   as   an   opportunity   to   start   conflict   with   his   uncle   .

*   𝑼𝑷𝑫𝑨𝑻𝑬   .

ok   i’m   literally   just   gonna   bullet   point   the   things   that   have   changed   for   him   bc   i’m   too   lazy   to   go   back      &      edit   this   entire   bio   sdfkjdnsjkg

but   u   guys   already   know   gramps   is   dead   ,   which   means   ayo   is   king   ,   which   means   the   cousins   failed   in   their   attempts   smh

mari   was   slightly   bitter   after   the   coronation   ,   but   it   only   lasted   for   a   short   while   ,   bc   news   hit   him   that   his   father   wasn’t   very   well   ,   which   meant   that   mari   would   have   to   step   up      &      do   more

i’m   gonna   say   to   save   confusion   that   he   just   wasn’t   doing   enough   .   he   rarely   got   involved   with   political   moves   ,   so   that’s   crucial   now   since   his   father   can’t   cope   as   usual

so   i   don’t   rly   know   how   this   will   affect   him   ,   it’ll   either   make   him   kick   his   ass   into   gear      &      do   shit   with   his   life   or   he’ll   get   so   stressed   he’ll   have   a   break   down

WHO   KNOWS

[justsomewritingsandshit]

The Struggles of a Male Veela (Part 5 - Selene’s Got A Date)

Louis Weasley x Soulmate!OC

Length: 3190 words

Warnings: soulmate!au, altered ages of next gen, female OC, Hunter Parrish as Louis, fxf date, mentions of sAd bOI hOuRs

Part 5 of this series | Masterlist | Part 4 | Part 6

Selene has never been fussy when it comes to dating – for her, (so long as the person expressed an interest, didn’t seem oddly clingy, or overly possessive) anyone was game. So, when the attractive Mari Singh (of Ravenclaw house) asked her out… well, she said yes.

Mari and Selene had been ‘classroom friends’ for years, so she had supposed it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable. Their rapport was friendly enough, and Mari was an attractive girl, so there was no real reason to say no.

Plus, Selene happened to know that she was the first girl that Mari had asked out since her coming out over the summer. Selene felt that she had a sort of duty to treat Mari to a wonderful time, setting a good example of what Mari should look for in a partner, should she choose to date again. Too many people let themselves be in bad circumstances, simply because it’s all they knew, and Selene wouldn’t let Mari’s kind soul be one of those. Selene wished she’d had a person do the same for her, when she was younger. It would have saved her a lot of broken hearts.

In the end, the two girls arranged it for their date to be the first Hogsmeade trip, which was on the last day of the month. The two of them were going to end up spending their entire time there making awkward but friendly conversation, and drinking butterbeers – there was never much to do in Hogsmeade, after all.

If anyone was asked to go off and experience Hogsmeade, they’d come back and say that it felt as if the village had been unchanged for hundreds of years. Contradicting that analysis was the known fact that many of the buildings were only two decades old, as some of them had to be repaired after the war. And, the war memorials and plaques in the middle of the village were only a few years old themselves.

Despite the newer builds, the town was one of the oldest magic-only communities in the United Kingdom – there were much older communities in remote areas of South America, Asia, and in concealed tribes all throughout Africa, though. There wasn’t much to the small town, just a joke shop, a sweet store, a few small trinket shops, a pub or two – basically; nothing much for the teens whose only chance at an off-campus activity was a monthly trip there.

So, yeah, dating at Hogwarts was kind of the worst.

Louis didn’t find out about the date, until what he would consider the last minute.

On the eve of Halloween (a Friday that was surprisingly mild for the season), Selene and Louis found themselves once again at their usual haunt – a large, wooden table located in the back of the ginormous hall that was the library.

Said teens were staring intensely at the parchments clasped in their respective hands. Louis’s happened to be a letter from his mother, a long winded one that was reminding him to try and ‘stretch’ in his veela form weekly – the fact that she went on to describe how it may feel similar to a female’s period was why he was contemplating an attempt at trying to burn it with his gaze. Selene’s parchment held the notes that she’d taken down in Charms earlier that day – at that moment, they weren’t making any sense to her.

“Louis? This new Charms stuff, I don’t get it. Help me out over here?” Selene’s interruption was received warmly by Louis, as Fleur Weasley (nee Delacour) had, in her lengthy letter, began to describe the severity of her monthly flow to her teenaged son.

“Go ahead.” Louis eagerly ditched his parchment to the side, one-hundred-percent ready to never read it, ever again. “Was it the wandless stuff we started this week? On Tuesday?”

Selene sent him a confirming nod, going into her dilemma, “If I’m casting a charm like ‘protego totalum’, how am I supposed to control what I’m casting it on? It’s, uh, pretty important that it’s cast on the right thing.”

Louis was momentarily distracted by the way her brows furrowed together in obvious confusion, sending his mind spiralling. By the time he managed to force his stupid veela brain to focus, he realised that he had succeeded in the task of being weirdly silent for close to a minute. If there was a wizard-god, then Louis prayed to them that Selene would just think he was seriously contemplating her question and coming to a slow conclusion. “I guess it could be one of those charms that are always going to require a wand. Or, you can just think super hard while casting.” Louis let out a breathy chuckle.

Entertaining this thought, Selene muttered, “I don’t know what wizard-kind did before they realised they could use a wand.”, as she flipped over her parchment.

It hadn’t been a real question, but none the less it had amused Louis to think up an answer to it. He chuckled, crossing his arms on the table to rest on, “I can just imagine it was a bunch of people awkwardly performing ‘accidental magic’, like when we were kids.”

His words caused Selene to laugh too, as she pictured people in old-timey clothes waving their arms accidentally and setting something on fire. “The first person to use a wand must have been like; ‘what?’!” Selene’s face got slightly warmer, as her breathing was interrupted by her chortles, “They were like ‘Bartholomew,” Louis had to cover his mouth in order to hide the snort of laughter he produced at Selene’s excellent impression of the ‘Bloody Baron’. His uncle’s impression was nothing on hers. “Thou hast pick-ethed up a stick, which doth work well-eth’ at mastering thoust powers’.”

Both of them had stomach cramps, trying to contain their laughter. Louis had tears building up in his eyes, and his face was turning red. Selene had doubled over, laughing mostly silently, the only sound being her inhaled breath and the slapping of her had against her knee. Their ‘quiet’ laughter was eventually drowned out by the librarian’s shrill cry of, “Get out of my library if you’re not going to follow the rules!”

Hurriedly, the two of them pack up all their belongings, erupting into occasional giggles every time the two caught each other’s eyes. They burst from the library’s entrance, and the Gryffindor and Slytherin stumbled along the large corridor. By the time they’d reached the end of the long hallway, they both decided it was best for them to start making their way to their respective common rooms.

There was calm silence for ten minutes.

Eventually it was broken. “So…” Louis’s shoulders were hunched over a little, his hands looking as if he’d shoved them as deep as he could, into the pockets of his school trousers. Making himself look smaller was his main way of coming off across nonchalant. However, the only thing he looked, was uncomfortable. “The, uh, first Hogsmeade trip is tomorrow. Are, um…” He paused to inhale some confidence, “Are you going to go?” Louis wanted so bad to shout out, to ask (or even beg) her to go with him on this trip. The sixth-year could imagine it now; the two of them wander the lanes of Hogsmeade together, their noses getting redder the longer that they’re out in the cold… their breath visible and intermingling, as they get closer and closer… maybe, a kiss? Oh, Louis wanted nothing more than that.

“Yeah, I-” Selene argued with herself. She shouldn’t have felt uncomfortable (awkward?) telling Louis about her upcoming date… and yet, she did. Which was absurd, because they were friends! “Uh… Actually, I have a date.” Merlin, Selene’s stomach squirmed. She felt awful admitting this to Louis, even though there was no need to, at all. Her nerves made her ramble, “With Mari Singh, from Ravenclaw. I think she’s in your Transfiguration class?” Selene went on, her mouth moving a mile a minute, but Louis heard none of it.

The blonde boy felt like he’d been physically hurt, despite knowing he certainly had absolutely no true right to feel as pained as he did. Selene Morgenstern was his soulmate, sure, but she didn’t know that. He hadn’t informed her that destiny (and, he guesses; his veela instincts) had fated them to be together. Plus, he was pretty sure that he hadn’t let on about his romantic feelings towards her either.

The Slytherin was her own person, and as such; allowed to date whomever she wanted…

But Louis was allowed to be upset about it. Even if it was irrational to be so. Boys (well, really, he’d insist that he was closer to a man, now) could be emotional too! However, he wasn’t going to expose said hurt feelings to Selene. He was upset by her words, but they were just friends… just friends, even if he did have different sentiments towards her.

Everything Louis Weasley had been taught by his family as a child was blooming into fruition in this moment; good friends support their friends – no matter the personal consequences.

As if the gods above had granted him lee-way, Louis’s turning to go up to the Gryffindor Common Room was fast approaching. “Well, uh, you have a great time! I’ll see you later!” Hastily exiting the situation seemed to be the only way to end this conversation, plus Louis was finding that his eyes were quickly filling with tears, and he didn’t want Selene to see them.

“Uh, thanks, Louis! See you!” Frantically waving at the back of the already turned-away boy was not the way a cool and collected Slytherin behaved. For love of Merlin, why was she acting like this? In true Slytherin sentiment, Selene ignored the way her stomach clenched up the moment Louis was out of sight. “Ugh, I need to get more sleep.”

Louis spent that night clutching his pillows tightly to his trembling body, desperately trying to not burst into his veela form. It was exhaustingly difficult to hold on to his human form, as his veela’s desire to fly away from all the pain he was facing was almost too powerful. The teen was virtually bursting at the seams, due to the effort it took to hold back this side of him.

His heart felt like it was under an intense pressure, as if it was being compressed. And his skin was positively feverish! Every pore along his body was asking for relief. Every muscle fibre itching for some form of freedom that only his veela form could give to him.

And to think, Louis had bitterly mused to himself, all this because I’m jealous. Louis knew, deep down, that he had no true reason to be jealous, or hurt, or sad, or angry. Selene was not his. Not his girlfriend, nor anything more than his close friend! The girl was her own woman. One who can decide for herself who she wants to love, and whom she wants to date.

Still… His acknowledgement of this fact did not miraculously send him into recovery.

Louis remained lonesome and feverish through the night.

There was a problem with Selene’s date.

Or, rather; there was a problem with Mari Singh – well, not really.

Okay, so the issue was with Selene. She was positively sure that there were a dozen other places she’d rather be, than on this date with Mari. The Slytherin clearly did not feel one iota of a romantic stirring towards the bird.

Now, that’s not to say the other girl was not lovely! Mari was smart, pretty, and rather funny - an all-around kind person.

Still, Selene found herself wishing that she was not the one opposite the Ravenclaw in the Three Broomsticks. And, that wasn’t to say it was an awful date! Not at all. It was a… nice affair. They talked over a butterbeer, and giggled at each other’s stories... And, yes; the conversation had been (sometimes) intelligent and (somewhat?) interesting.

Selene just felt like something was missing from it all, though.

“I was like; ‘why does this always happen to him?’!” Mari let out a chortle at her own story. It was a rather long-winded, yet deeply hilarious, anecdote of her families’ latest vacation. Her father apparently fell off a dinghy that the whole family had been sitting in, right into the arms of what may have been a hairy man (or, perhaps, a large bear), whilst not even in the water yet. “Anyway…”

The two female students had slowly been making their way back to the castle. And, now they were standing at the crossroads of where they’d each have to turn away to go to their separate common rooms.

Before Mari could even say anything else, Selene had to be honest with her, “Mari, I had a nice time today, but, uh, I have to be frank with you… I like you as a friend, Mari, but I-” Selene paused, to place her hand on the Ravenclaw’s shoulder and to carefully choose her following words. “I, um, I don’t feel for you, romantically that is.” Mari’s face began to crumble, “I’m sorry, but I had to be honest with you. It would be cruel for me to get your hopes up like that. You’re my friend but sparing your feelings now would only hurt you later. Right?”

Mari mulled the words over, but finally nodded her head softly.

Selene removed her palm from the other girls’ shoulder. She felt obliged to offer up some information that might soften the blow she’d just been dealt, “Plus, it wouldn’t be fair to Naomi…”

Mari’s head tilted to her left, “Gnomes?” It was a cute nickname Mari had for her roommate, fellow Ravenclaw Naomi Gardener. “W-Why would it be unfair to her?”

Selene heard the thinly veiled excitement in her voice. It was well-known within the female population of their respective year-group, that Naomi Gardner fancied Mari Singh. It was true that pretty much everyone knew that, but only Selene heard said information first-hand from Naomi. “Well, Naomi may have mentioned something to me… But it’s probably best to ask her about it.” She leant forward, pressing a friendly peck to Mari’s cheek, “Thank you for a lovely time, Mar.” Sending a wink to the girl, Selene began to walk away. “I hope we’re still friends, Mari! Good luck!”

Louis didn’t expect to see Selene the next morning.

Not because he assumed that something… like that... would happen between the two girls. No, not at all! Rather, Louis was surprised to see Selene, since he had decided to try to avoid her altogether.

Also, the idea of seeing her in the boys’ bathroom was incredibly surprising.

“Um, hello?”

Carefully, Louis angled his entire body away from the approaching teenaged girl. As quick as he could he tucked himself away and buttoned up his trousers. Due to his complexion, the flush on his cheeks was all too visible. Even knowing she could see the blush; he tried his best to act casual as he walked over to wash his hands. Selene was in his peripherals the entire time.

“So,” Louis shook his hands out, getting them dry enough to wipe against the fabric against his thighs – he didn’t even think about using his magic or wand to dry them. “Uh, what brings you to the men’s bathroom?” Before he could embarrass himself, he tucked his hands into the back pockets of his trousers. It was an attempt to seem casual.

Selene let a faux look of sadness creep onto her face, “Well, when I saw you practically running down the hallway when you saw me coming, I figured I should check on you.” She rested her shoulder on the wall to her right, “After all, I am a good friend.”

Louis’s was sure that his heart was going to jump out of his chest. Even though he knew that she was being a nice person, a great friend, his veela hindbrain was absolutely screaming at him. Surely that meant she was accepting the bond! Checking on her mate, right? Merlin! Louis had to snap himself out of those thoughts, because they weren’t facts. He knew first-hand that not thinking truthfully only damaged your own feelings.

“I- I just,” Louis was tongue-tied now. How exactly could he explain that he didn’t want to hear about her amazing date with bloody Mari Singh? “Well-”

Selene cut him off, not wanting to hear any of his poor attempts at lying to her, “I wanted to vent to you, about my date last night.” She rushed out first, before pausing. The Slytherin was gathering herself, choosing her next words carefully. “It was alright.”

The male noticed the lack of enthusiasm in her description of the event. His stomach lurched in awkward excitement.

She let out a quiet laugh, “You know… I was going to talk to Emmaline about it all, but-” Her head lolled to the side as she thought hard, “But I don’t know, I just-” Eventually, Selene pushed off the wall she was leaning on and strolled closer to the him. “I guess I just really wanted to talk to you.”

Louis was sure that he wasn’t breathing. “Oh.” In fact, he was pretty sure that he hadn’t been breathing for Selene’s entire speech. “Okay. Yeah... Alright.” Taking his hand from his pocket, he gestured over towards the exit of the bathroom, “Shall we, then?” Yes, that was normal. If only his heartbeat could chill out, too.

Luckily for them, there was only one first year in the otherwise empty hallway. Said single first year awkwardly still stood, deer-in-headlights-style, as they witnessed the two elder teens exit the boy’s’ bathroom together.

“So,” Louis was trying his best to seem calm, “It didn’t go well?” He paused, before clarifying, “Your date, I mean.”

The two of them were back in the school’s library. It was during a shared free period of theirs, and like always Selene and Louis were nestled together at their table. Heads were pushed closer to one another than strictly needed, both attempting to talk as quietly – they were in fear of the librarian, who had already given them both the most scathing look when they’d walked in talking.

“No, it was fine.” Selene answered him, her lips twisting into a grimace as she thought over the date, “Nothing awful, it just - it didn’t feel right.” She played with the quill in her hand, “I guess when I’m on a date, I want it to feel nicer than a ‘fine’ or ‘alright’.”

Louis nodded, understanding what she meant. “True.” There was silence as the blond wrote down a sentence or two on his parchment. He could feel the tingle of Selene’s eyes watching him do so. “So,” He began again, “No second date, then?”

Selene averted her eyes from his form, pretending that she didn’t catch him observing her from the very corner of his eye. “Not with Mari, no.” She looked down to her work, and unbeknownst to her Louis did as well.

Both had smiles on their faces.

TAGGED:

@iamwarrenspeace, @itsnolongerteen, @stilesloverdaily, @immortalmurphy, @fandomsandotherstuff, @mcheung0314, @aw-hawkeye, @glimmering-darling-dolly, @thenodmonster, @realgreglestrade, @seninjakitey, @theshortegg, @gqlqxies, @footballiskillingme

[csichick-2]

I'm semi-plotting a Lashton Mpreg AU in my head that may never end up on paper because I get nervous about sharing RPF.

So in this potential story, shortly after Ashton joins the band, he passes out after a gig and at the hospital they find out that Ash has been physically and sexually abused and also that he's pregnant, which Ashton himself didn't even know yet.  He's also malnourished cuz he was trying to lose the weight he was gaining from his pregnancy because he just thought he was getting fat.  Liz conveniently has a sister that's a social worker who conveniently also happened to be at the gig.  She works her social worker magic and Liz and Andrew get emergency custody of Ashton and his siblings.  Lauren and Harry weren’t abused - Ash took it all and never said anything to keep them safe. Ashton almost has a miscarriage because of the abuse and malnutrition, but the baby's a fighter and pulls through. He considers having an abortion because the pregnancy resulted from rape, but ends up deciding to have the baby. He's nervous that Liz and Andrew will throw him out when he turns 18, but Liz reassures him that they'll never force him to leave, but that if he chooses to, they'll help him find a place of his own and help him out financially until he's able to support himself on his own.

 Ashton's first night home from the hospital, he has a nightmare and Luke - who's room is right across the hall - ends up crawling into bed with Ash and comforting him.  This happens several nights in a row and eventually Luke just stops starting out in his own bed and is all "yeah Ashton and I share a bed now, deal with it."  Andrew thinks it's a bad idea cuz Luke and Ash are 15 and 17, but Liz is all yeah Ashton's already pregnant and Luke can't get pregnant, so let's just roll with it.

 Luke and Ash and Cal and Mikey keep doing their thing with the band and they start getting comments on YouTube asking if Lashton is having a baby cuz Ash has started showing and Luke is always fussing over him.  Luke, Cal, and Mikey do a video without Ash so he’s not forced to talk about it and address the abuse situation as tactfully as they can and leave a link to an article about the trial related to the abuse.

 Ash finds out he’s having a girl and the first time Luke feels her kick, he refers to her as “our baby” and Ashton falls in love with him right then and there.  Luke’s also been reading pregnancy books and has pretty much decided that he’s helping Ashton co-parent this baby whether his parents like it or not.  Liz and Andrew aren’t thrilled cuz Luke’s still only 15, but there’s not a whole lot they can do about at this point.

 I haven’t worked out the details, but Luke manages to convince Ash, Liz, and Andrew that his name should be on the baby’s birth certificate as her second father.  Liz is also in the delivery room when Ash goes into labor - like a week after a gig cuz the band isn’t letting Ash’s pregnancy stop them - but Luke is the one holding Ash’s hand and supporting him through giving birth to Baby Hemmings-Irwin. Ashton names her Lucie after Luke and her middle name is Elizabeth after Liz.  The night they bring Lucie home from the hospital, Luke says that since he and Lucie share a first initial, their next kid’s name has to begin with an A and Ash is all “I literally just gave birth so we’ll talk about that much later.”  A few week’s later, Ash turns 18 and Luke proposes to him and Ash is all WTF because Luke still is only 15, but he says yes cuz they’re stupid in love, but he figures it will be a long engagement until Luke’s 18.  Except in New South Wales, you can get married at 16 with the consent of your parents and the court and Luke’s a persistent bastard and pulls it off, so when the boys - with baby Lucie - head to London for songwriting, Luke & Ashton Hemmings-Irwin are married.  

 Around when it’s announced they’ll be be opening for 1D on the Take Me Home Tour, Luke starts talking to Ash about having a second baby and has already figured out the timing to make sure the baby’s not born until after the tour.  Ashton doesn’t know how to say no to Luke, but says they can only start trying if Cal and Mikey are okay with it in case another pregnancy ends up ruining the band. Mikey's all "wait you mean you're not already pregnant?" cuz he figured they started trying their wedding night.  He and Cal give their blessing and by the end of 2013, their son Avery is born cuz Luke won the A name argument.  Their management throws a hissy when they find out Ash is pregnant and threaten to kick him out of the band and replace them, but Luke, Cal, and Mikey all say they’ll quit if that happens, so management begrudgingly puts up with it. There’s some backlash from fan parents thinking two irresponsible teenagers having a kid is a bad example for their children and Luke is all “Excuse me, my husband and I planned the timing of this out very well thank you very much” on twitter and the internet explodes cuz Lashton are married.  But generally the reaction is positive and the boys have fun with it letting fans guess when the Lashton baby will arrive and the gender.

 Early 2015, they have twin boys who's names begin with C and M cuz they're nerds like that and then have another boy a year later, which is how they have five children before Luke's 20th birthday.  Ashton pops out three more boys in 2017, 2018, and 2019 with no plans of stopping with the babies because Luke desperately wants another girl and Ashton at one point foolishly told Luke that he can get his pregnant as many times as possible up until Ash's 30th birthday and Luke ofc was all "challenge accepted."  Luke's also become an expert at planning pregnancies around their tours so while a few times a show has started late because of Ash’s morning sickness, they've never had to cancel one.

 Ash gets pregnant again right before the World War Joy tour starts, but because I'm evil, he miscarries, which they find out at the first ultrasound when there’s no heartbeat.  And Luke blames himself.  Because if he hadn’t insisted on using every available baby-making opportunity - the largest age gap between kids is the 17 months between Lucie and Avery - and given Ash’s body more time to recover between pregnancies, then maybe they wouldn’t have lost the baby.  And also wonders if maybe it was God’s sign that they’re only meant to have 8 kids. Ashton tries to give Luke some space, but he’s hurt that Luke is withdrawing from him.  Luke confides in Mikey a lot and Ash goes to Cal and both of them are all “dude, I love you, but I’m not your therapist.”

 When the window that would have a kid be born during the gap between the North America and Australia legs of No Shame passes by with Luke making zero effort to actually make a baby, Ashton decides to take matters into his own hands.  So the whole shirtlessness at Fire Fight is totally baiting Luke into wanting to have sex again cuz they haven’t since the miscarriage not even with Ash topping, cuz Luke only tops when they’re trying to conceive.  They’re also asked in an interview if there are any plans for more kids and Ash is a cheeky bastard and says that he fully expects to be pregnant by the end of the year because Luke loves how he looks pregnant.  And Luke is giving him “WTF did you really just say that?” looks.  And then finally have an adult conversation and Ashton tells Luke that the miscarriage wasn’t his fault and that sometimes that shit just happens and dammit they’re going to keep trying until Luke finally gets his second girl.  They start the baby-making process once they know the due date will be past the Australia shows, and Ash knows he’s pregnant with multiples even before the ultrasound because the only previous pregnancy where he had really bad morning sickness was with the twins.  That still doesn’t prepare Luke & Ash for the doctor telling them that heartbeats 1, 2, AND 3 are all nice and strong and Ash immediately turns to Luke and tells him he’s a dead man.  Cal and Mikey were baby-sitting while they were at the doc’s and are all nervous because Cal, Mikey, and Liz are the only ones that know about Ash’s miscarriage.  But all is good and they find out that all three babies are girls and two of them are identical.  Ash does go into labor early after the last Australia show, but they’re able to stop it, but he’s on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy which makes him really crabby. They’d been planning to stay in Australia until the babies were born anyway, their families are able to help out with the rest of the kiddos.  Liz & Andrew Take them for Christmas because Ash doesn’t need that chaos and he ends up going into labor in the middle of the night on Christmas morning. They realize they won’t get to the hospital in time so Luke ends up delivering the first baby in their bedroom but the paramedics get there in time to deliver babies two and three.  During the delivery, Ash informs Luke that he’s going to be getting a vasectomy, but Luke’s not sure if he actually means it given that 20 minutes later he also threatens to castrate Luke with a rusty spoon. They name the babies Soleil, Luna, and Astra - as in sun, moon, and stars.  Mikey’s all wtf you guys are weird and Cal’s all “you’re only just figuring that out now?”

 I haven’t decided yet if they’re done after the triplets or if Ash sticks to his original promise to let Luke knock him up until he’s 30 because they’re already at 11 kids and that’s a lot.  If they do have more they’re going to wait a whole year before even thinking about trying because they’re gonna be more short on sleep than usual because three infants.  Lucie is a mini Ashton in girl form, but the rest of the kids all have Luke’s hair and Ash’s eyes or Ash’s hair and Luke’s eyes.  While the kiddos all know what their daddies do cuz they drag the kids on tour with them and hire tutors instead of sending them to school like normal people, they never push the kids towards learning any instruments.  But Lucie starts banging about on Ash’s drums when she’s five and he starts teaching her and his heart grows about 50 sizes that she’s taking after him and it’s the cutest thing ever.  Haven’t decided what level of musical talent any of the rest of the kiddos have but Luke does make the mistake of leaving one of his guitars out while Avery’s teething and it ends up with tiny tooth marks. He also ends up taking the lip ring out because baby number 5 is a grabber and pulls on it and Luke decides it should go before the kiddo is strong enough to rip it out and cause a lot of damage and pain.  I haven’t done the research on hair dye and pregnancy, but might be losing out on Ash’s hair color evolution.  And his earring because again tiny grabby hands, though it can always appear later once they’re done having babies.

 I might do Malum as a side pairing - I haven’t decided yet. And since Ash is pregnant both times they open for 1D, that might facilitate Larry and/or Ziam coming out but that wouldn’t be a major plot point.

 I did make a Sims save with teenage!5SOS last night to play this out.  I was too lazy to make their families so it’s just Cal, Mikey, Luke, and Ash sharing an apartment and then I used mods to immediately make Ash preggers.  The guy in the next apartment was having loud sex when they were trying to go bed so I sent Ash over to go yell at him since he can blame pregnancy hormones.  This same neighbor also tried to invite himself over to eat their food after Ash made dinner so this guy is going to be one of those neighbors.  I’m trying to avoid using the money cheat as much as I can, but they’ll need a bigger space by the time Avery’s ready to age up to toddler.  I might move them into the swanky penthouse apartment with an indoor basketball court because it’s the only lot where I’ve found a place to put a rock climbing wall where it doesn’t get rained on and break every timer the weather’s wonky. Eventually Cal & Mikey will have to stop living with them but I’ll worry about that when there’s no more room for them.  My mods let me do household sizes up to 25, so that part’s not an issue, it will just be a no more beds problem.  Mods will also help me make sure that the right number and gender of kiddos are born each time.  I’ll just have to force myself to not age up the babies the second they’re born because Sim babies are the world’s biggest pain in the ass.