#but alas hes up against some of my fave boys

[ioniansunsets]

I love all your Heartsteel hcs they are making me melt <3

Can I request a scenario of Aphelios going to non musician!readers house after a long day and then just spoil them with cuddles and hugs until they go to sleep? Hes my fave and I’m just so normal about him and the rest of Heartsteel thank you <<3

✖ Heartsteel!Aphelios Chilling with Reader ✖

✖ Word Count: 1.5k

✖ Tags: Established R/S

✖ A/N: SORRY FOR TAKING A WHILE!!!! Wrote this with Worlds in mind! Also imagining their little collab with Knotted + The Rocklove apparel drop❤️ Our boys have been busy.

I...also got really carried away, I just like soft warm domestic established relationships..........

Also doing this with the headcanon that Aphelios can still very softly whisper (like how he talks to Alune). He can sign, he can type fast with just one hand but! His favorite thing is to let you, his precious partner, hear him when it really matters.

----

It was a long month for Aphelios. He wasn't, miserable, to speak but he was slowly reaching his (already low) mental limit. The stress of performing in front of millions truly catching up to him.

Heartsteel was finally going to perform on stage so it has been practice after practice. Photoshoots, interviews, Instagram lives, meetups for collabs at stores, showcases for new merch, feedback for social media content, approving this and that. It has been non stop work and Aphelios was far beyond burnt out.

He was exhausted and he hasn't seen you in days. As such, when Alune finally squeezed some time out of everyone's schedule to give them a day off (after a grueling final full dressed practice run right before the actual performance day) the first thing he did was grab a ride to your place. It was a quick goodbye wave to the other members, thanking the staff with a curt bow before he ran to grab his stuff, change and fucking book it. Dropping you a message on Discord to let you know he was finally done and coming over as he calls for a ride.

It was late already too, the sun had set and all Aphelios could really do what think about you. Actually, all he could think about when he wasn't working on band stuff was you.

His hands and legs jittery, itching to finally see you, feel you, hear you, hold you. Oh gods, to have you in his arms again. He sucks in a breath at the thought.

How he so craves you to salve his faltering, exhausted soul. He sighs, turning up the music in his headphones as he leans against the window of the passenger's side. Fingers tapping to the beat as he tries to calm down, a smile on his face already at the thought of seeing you again.

He wasn't used to this. Being away from you this long and being so busy as to not even be able to chat with you often. Before Heartsteel picked up traction the two of you were practically inseparable, he would spend time writing songs in your room as you worked. Or Aphelios would just invite you over to his place to chill as he made music. The simple joys of being able to work from home as an artist. But alas, fame comes with responsibilities, and as much as he loves finally making it in the scene, it was tough going through the withdrawal of not being by your side.

His heart races in anticipation as the car stops at an all too familiar road. Grabbing his things, he pays and leaves, slamming the door to the car shut.

Aphelios was practically flying up the steps to your apartment, out the cab he half walked, half ran to your door. Standing by the gate as he calls you to let you know he's here.

When you finally open the door, you're met with the most excited smile, his eyes almost close with how wide he is smiling.

Your usually calm and cool boyfriend dropping everything he was holding to throw himself into your arms the second the door opened. The softest of his whispers as he presses his cheek against yours.

" I've missed you, so much."

You could tell, the way his body sinks into yours. The way his arms grasp you tighter than he ever has. The way he lightly nuzzles you. So uncharacteristic but so understandable at the same time. You laugh a little, telling him how much you missed him too as you held him close.

" Let's stop standing by the door. Come in Phel."

His shoulders rise and fall in a silent chuckle as he picks up his things form the floor to step into your house.

It was the usual domestic slice of life happenings that he was so used to doing. The absolute heartwarming comfort of just going on autopilot. Putting his things in the same spot he always has in your room. Going to get a bath, grabbing a change of clothes from his own shelf by your bed. The way you already helped make him dinner while he was bathing because you just know he hasn't eaten all day. It was perfect, it was like how things always was. A reminder that even though so much was going on, he was still yours as much as you were his.

" I'm excited for you. But you sure you can stay the night? You'll have to wake up earlier than if you stayed with the band you know?"

[ Being by your side is the only way I'll be able to calm down before tomorrow. It's worth the hour of sleep I'll miss not being in the venue hotel.]

The two of you update each other on your lives as he ate. You telling him about the things that happened through the month, watching small videos he took behind the scenes of the shoots, making fun of the other members together as you sit by his side by the dining table. You telling him about your time with your friends, telling him how much you missed him, how happy you were to be with him again too. And oh, the way his leg would reach out to yours, his foot lightly hooking you by the ankle to feel you close as his hands were busy with eating and typing to you about his day. It was nice. It was right. It was the cute little things that you were so used to with Aphelios. Your own hand reaching back out to hold his side. Aphelios' eyes closing as he takes a deep breath, enjoying the feeling of you holding him close after day after day of the noisy meals with the band or the desperately lonely silence of eating in a changing room between sets. It was a nice change of pace to finally be here with you.

Time ticks by and soon enough it was getting really late. Aphelios insisting to help you with the dishes since you cooked, so you did him a service by just hugging him lovingly from behind, giving the back of his neck soft kisses as he smiles with his head tilted to the side so you can rest your head on his shoulder.

" Sleep?"

You ask him softly as he puts the dishes away and dries his hands. Aphelios nods, it was getting late and he had to wake up at 5am to go through even more preparations tomorrow, but that's tomorrow Aphelios' problems. He shoves the thoughts to the back of his mind as he focuses back on you and your beautiful face.

Slowly the two of you walk up to your room, just like everything else, a warm familiarity as he walks to lie down exhausted, on his designated spot on the bed, pulling over some of his plushies that he left at your place as you join him in bed. As you crawl onto the soft bed and lie down, almost instantly you were pulled in close, his arms wrapping around you tight as he sighs again with a smile, enjoying the skinship.

The two of you get comfortable, his face lightly pressed into your shoulder as he laid in your arms. One of your hands around him as the other lightly strokes his hair, comforting him from all the work he has put in to reach where he was. Aphelios just couldn't help but feel all his trouble melt away, that ache in his muscles magically leaving him. Trying his best to fight off sleep as he wants to spend every minute more with you. It was not enough, never enough. Hours, days, years, spent by your side but in the end, all he can do now is but enjoys the little seconds before his consciousness wanes.

Once again, the warm comfort of the usual that has now become but a precious rarity. As he flits in and out of consciousness, he does one final act of love. You smile as he pulls himself up closer to your ears.

" I love you. Goodnight..."

As you adjust yourself to face him, you're met with a warm smile, his dyed hair falling softly around him on you, an almost ethereal glow on his skin from the moonlight seeping in from your window as he blinks at you with half lidded eyes, barely open from exhaustion. Truly a beautiful sight, one that you can't help but to cherish.

" I love you too Phel. Rest well."

You reach out to give him a gentle goodnight kiss on his lips, and just like tonight, and all the nights you have spent, and will spend, with him, he reaches out and kisses you back. So matter of fact, so expected that it was almost comical. He loves you and you love him. And that was right. Slowly the two of you fall asleep in each others arms once again.

[seokmatthewz]

Lucas, Wooyoung, Taemin

wooyoung!!!!!!, xuxi, taemin

send me your top 3 biases and i'll rank them according to my preferences!!

[kira-fluff]

there's only one bed - haikyuu

a/n: once again i'm writing one of my fave tropes (dif fandom tho) bc i can :) if you wanna see more haikyuu characters or a dif prompt, request 'em here! (pls make me write more of them i enjoy this too much) random thought but hiroo koji is hot asf?! a song to show my mood while writing this NOW LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLEEEEEE

pairing: selected haikyuu!! characters x fem!reader tw: swearing, not edited

pov: you're in love with him, but he doesn't know that. then, of course, just because life hates you, you get stuck in a hotel room together on the class trip with him due to some "mix up". and there's only one bed. one. *sigh*...

-

tsukishima kei "i'm sleeping on the bed. my legs are too long for the couch." honestly, how is it possible for you guys not to bicker about like,,,, everything?? in classic gentlemanly fashion, tsukki only thinks about himself. and you're not afraid to tell him this (how did you fall for this bitch again?) this begins an argument that lasts at least an hour, or until you look at the clock, seeing it's almost 1am. tsukki sighs, "i'm tired. look, i'll sleep on the sofa but you better not snore". you stuck out your tongue in reply, slinking into the bleach-white covers of the hotel bed. secretly, though, tsukki kind of wanted the argument to end with the both of you sharing the bed but alas, you were too damn stubborn and he was too proud to ask. he, of course, was the first to awaken. he didn't feel all that too unlucky, however, because he got to see you all curled up on the bed, hugging one of the pillows close to you, softly snoring.

kuroo tetsuro "i'll take the floor, don't worry." when you both received the same hotel keycard number, you glanced at each other - this couldn't be right. just your luck, you also weren't allowed to switch rooms (and even if you wanted to break the rules, you didn't know anyone else's room numbers, thanks to your teachers collecting phones before bed). upon opening the room, you were shocked. there was only one bed, of course. just your luck. kuroo immediately took the initiative to take a sheet off the bed, placing it on the ground, as you did not have the luxury of a couch in your room. you weren't about to let your crush endure the rock-hard ground of the hotel room when sleeping in the same bed was practically harmless (for everything and everyone except your heart). kuroo would keep asking you, "are you sure? are you positive?", trying to gauge your comfortability with it all by your answers and expressions. finally relenting (and exhausted), you both showered and slipped under the soft sheets of the hotel bed. halfway through the night, kuroo decided he would've likely gotten more sleep if he slept on the group what with his heart racing with every movement you made. at last turning on his side, arm under a pillow, he closed his eyes, begging sleep to come. instead, his eyes shot open as you snuggled against his back, sighing softly as your arms snaked around his torso. he could scarcely move, much less breathe. poor guy didn't get much sleep, but it might've been worth it to see your blushing face when you woke up, embarrassed to see what you'd done.

kozume kenma "let's just sleep together." this boy does not have TIME to be arguing over who gets the bed and he's too tired to argue with you over him sleeping on the ground. he's a smart boy, figures you won't allow it anyway. he doesn't really give a fuck so he just says it outright. like, ok, does he actually really, really like you? yes. is this probably screw him over? a little. but is it also sort of a win? absolutely. kenma doesn't actually like to lose when he thinks he has a chance at winning. so yeah, you may wake up to him holding you tight. what can he say? you're very warm.

oikawa tohru "ok, GEEZ you can have the bed, you're welcome." you didn't get two words out before he inserts his "gracious" offer to you. to be honest, he actually just doesn't want you to feel guilty for taking the whole bed so he figures acting sort of a little asshole-ish would work (it kind of does). it works until you pull the sheets toward yourself, huffing an irritated, "fine!" and you see his relieved and soft smile. now the bullshit becomes clear. "wait a second, tohru. you.. uh, let's sleep together? i mean on the bed.." his eyes widen - he was sure you didn't see through his little plan, but you did (dammit, you can read him like a book). he sighs, "really, y/n, it's okay." he smiles gently, urging you to sleep as he announces he's going to shower. when he finally finishes his eight-step skincare routine and walks out of the bathroom, he's shocked to see you're still awake. he blinks a few times, shuffling to the chair by the fridge, but you grab his wrist. "please, tohru. just for tonight?" as if he could ever say no to you. he nods, you both situating yourself comfortably under the covers. he will probably awkwardly warn you of his sleeping habits so you aren't as surprised as you might've been when you wake up for him holding you tight in his arms, his face nestled in the crook of your neck. iwaizumi is going to wish he was deaf because oikawa will N E V E R stop talking about this.

matsukawa issei *laughs* "you're kidding, right?" this man is in DISBELIEF like??? how could they screw up this bad?? it's honestly hilariously, such a bad failure. once he realizes you're not laughing he kinda goes "oh shit" and feels kinda bad. he'd try to get other people to switch with him but girls would be all like "nO i dOnT wAnNa sLEeP wiTh sOmE gUy aND ThERe'S noT enOuGh rOoM iN hErE fOr hER" so he quickly gives up. "hmm, so...bathtub? g'night!" your eyebrows raise and you clasp onto his hand, "wait, wait, wait issei!! why can't you, uhm... with me...?" he stares at you before laughing, "see? i told you, you're hilarious." your cheeks puff out, "i wasn't joking, issei-kun!! sleep with me!" his eyes widen. your eyes widen. your cheeks flush. "i-i-i didn't mean it like that! just forget it!!" you huff, plopping down on the bed, covering yourself in blankets in embarrassment. he chuckles again, joining you under the covers, unable to resist the urge to poke you as he muttered as soft, "silly girl," you both drift off into sleep. you awake to practically all the covers shoved off the bed. yeah, as far as bad habits goes, matsukawa probably has the worst.

hanamaki takehiro "the helleys stay ON during sex" "oh my god it's just like the shrek x reader fic i read" this man is straight up chaotic evil like ?? you couldn't hold back your laugh like wtf???? takehiro ??? anyway, he knows how to make things a lot less nerve-wracking and less awkward, at least if you've known him for a long time. you'd probably end up getting no sleep because of his impromptu pillow fight ("BATTLE ME TO THE DEATH YOU COWARD"), and then he'd insist on showing you every meme he's ever collected (he has a folder just dedicated to oikawa crack shit posting). you're not able to stop yourself from laughing throughout the whole night. your neighbors want you dead, but it's worth it.

iwaizumi hajime *sigh* "i'll just go in shittykawa's room." like, it's not even up for debate. he doesn't wait for your answer. the moment he enters his hotel room and sees you already standing there, confused, he takes in a languid breath before walking right out the door. this entire guy's life is, like, constant pain. he goes to oikawa's room and (unfortunately) is dumb enough to tell him the truth. so, yeah, oikawa snickers and slams the door in iwa's face all like, "better go back to your little crushy-wushy and spend a romantic night together~" (the only thing iwaizumi wants to crushy-wushy at this moment in time is oikawa's fucking skull.) so iwa stomps his way back to your room, a vein popping out of his forehead. he left the keycard in your shared room, so he softly knocks on the door. when you pull open the door, a look of relief flashes across your face as you whisper a soft, "there you are", pulling him into the room with your hand on his wrist. hajime is surprised, to say the least. he can see remnants of tears under your reddening eyes - you were crying? to you, it had seemed like the last thing iwaizumi wanted to do is sleep in the same room with you, like he was disgusted by you. it hurt, your crush acting like he didn't even want to be in the space as you (though it was the very opposite). iwaizumi doesn't know why you're crying but timidly pulls you to him as you both lie down together. he's so unsure until you wrap your arms around his chest, whispering a soft, "thank you, haji". he might just melt on the spot.

futakuchi kenji "move, i'm sleeping here, too, dummy." prick. you fell for a smartass, you knew that, but you didn't know you'd have to share the same room as him. it was already late when you settled yourself in your spacious bed, humming to yourself in contentment. you were lucky enough to get a room all to yourself. or so you thought. you were just about to turn off the light when you heard the door unlock and slide open. you froze in fear only to stare across the room at none other than futakuchi kenji. "um, this my room?" you said sarcastically. kenji sassily held up his room keycard, deadpanning, "how do you think i got in the room, y/n?" you scowled, shrinking further under the covers, "whatever. well, i'm not moving so good night." he glowered at you, "great, that makes two of us. now scoot over." if you asked to cuddle, though, he'd go all soft. muttering a shy, "dummy...", he'd hold you in his arms, caressing your hair (as if he hadn't dreamed about this situation before).

bokuto kotaro "HEY HEY HEY!!!! ----HEY YOU'RE IN MY ROOM!!!" bo is straight-up STOKED to be in a hotel. like teachers have had to shush him like nine thousand times already. he's already loud enough, but when he walks into the room and sees he has a room all to himself he gets a little lonely, but also tries to show everyone how cool and mature he must be because he got a room to himself and they didn't. i mean, he thought. but he thought wrong. you walk in the room mid bo's mirror pep talk. (and of course, he was shirtless). you flushed, covering your eyes with your hands (though there were a few cracks in that shield). he shouted - you shushed him, trying to figure out what went wrong. bokuto was surprised at first, but it quickly grew to enthusiasm, "THIS IS GONNA BE THE BEST SLEEPOVER EVER!!!!" you had to calm him down as he rushed over to the bed, jumping on it a few times before snuggling under the covers. thankfully, that was all it took for him to be out like a light. you're first to wake up in the morning, basking in the glory that is beefy bokuto arms wrapped around you, his spikey hair soft against the skin of your neck. turns out he told the hotel the wrong number for his room.

akaashi keiji "there seems to be some mistake. i'm going to talk to front desk." istg NOTHING shakes this guy? at least, he appears calm and collected. inside he's screaming like AHHHHHHHHH because a part of him doesn't really want to be a gentleman. a part of him just feels like saying, "well, what can you do?" but akaashi knows he's better than that. so, he heads to the front desk. the woman smiles, apologizing and saying there's really nothing they can do about room arrangements without charging the school for an extra room. akaashi then goes to his teacher, who suggests asking others to switch rooms. as it turns out, there's an uneven amount of girls and guys, resulting in the room assignments not having enough space to accommodate an extra student. keiji trudges his way back to your shared room, volunteering to sleep on the ground. you feel awful, urging him to take the bed, expressing your thankfulness to him for trying to work things out anyway. he insists, saying he can't let a girl sleep on the ground. this turns into a back and forth of different excuses exchanged, ultimately resulting in him letting out a tired laugh. "alright then, shall we just share?" you grin, nodding your head. how lucky can he get? he's a light sleeper so when you lean closer to him, sighing in your sleep, he can't help the smile that grows on his face.

ushijima wakatoshi "goodnight, i hope you sleep well." sleeping together is not a problem to him. as long as you're comfortable with it, it doesn't really faze him. if you're hesitant at first, he'll pat the bed, urging you to sleep next to him. "it's comfortable, you won't have to worry about being sore tomorrow." (as if that's the problem wakatoshi?!) he's so cute and oblivious though so how can you resist him? no promises that you're not going to wake up hugging each other close, however. he wonders, though, why does his heart beat so fast when he's around you? maybe he's stressed out. it'd be best to ask tendo for advice tomorrow. (he just laughed and smacked ushijima's back saying, "wah~ ushiwaka, you're getting older aren't you~?") he was very confused, "yes tendo-kun, we all are."

terushima yuji "well, it can't be helped. night, gorgeous. ;)" when you both discover your predicament, he sends a wink your way. this mf doesn't even try he's just like "damn that sucks" and then man-spreads on the bed with a little smirk playing at his lips. you have to resist the urge to smack this boy istg idk how you do it "yuji-kun, don't you think we should, like, tell someone?" you said sarcastically with an eyebrow quirked up. he replies with a lazy, "nah", his tongue piercing sticking out. you can try to pull this guy off the bed but the moment he stands up for you, he acts like all his limbs have no function and just falls on you like "can't walk, sorry". -_- like. dude. the night would end with you falling asleep due to exhaustion from trying to move this fucker. he'd tuck you in all sweet, softly caressing your face (fuckin' simp), before moving to sleep on the couch. well, he was going to, until you smiled and opened one eye saying, "thanks yuji. sleep here, too, 'kay?" this guy thought his heart might explode. god, you drove him crazy. expect him to ask you out in the mornng.

daishou suguru "hmm.. well, this is interesting." he's panicking, really. nothing prepared him for this moment and why did you look so adorable in your little jammies with little strawberries on them like??? NOT FAIR ?? your cute little doe eyes stare up at him, so trusting. you really think he's a good guy (and he is!), but the fact that you don't just believe what everyone else says about him and his snake-like appearance warms his heart more than you know. yet, when you mention you wouldn't mind sharing the bed with him, if it's just for a night, he can't help saying "i'm a guy, too, you know.." you blink in confusion as he sighs, "nevermind." he finds himself falling impossibly harder as you sweetly whisper a soft, "goodnight, suguru." as you turn off the lamp. you have him wrapped around your little finger.

miya atsumu "sweetheart, what are ya doin'?" when you, at last, made it to your hotel room, it was late. like, really late. you carefully opened the door, thankful for the lack of squeakiness of the hinges. all the hotel room lights were off, so assumed your roommate was asleep. changing into your pajamas as quietly as you could, you slipped into bed. sleep came quickly after that, your breaths evening out into a soft rhythm. you awoke to a strange voice - not at all sounding like the female you thought your roommate was. it sounded very familiar. you assumed you must still be dreaming until the voice asked again, "doll," a slight chuckle, "why are ya in my bed?" you slowly blinked your eyes open, vision still bleary. as your vision focused, you realized that it was, indeed, a man. and it was miya. miya atsumu. your crush. and there you were, gripping tightly onto his white shirt, your bodies flush together. you shrieked, flying off the bed in surprise, whamming your head against the nightstand. he laughed, "that must'a hurt. ya ok down there, darlin'?" you popped back up, staring at him in disbelief, "i.. you're in my room? how...?" he shrugged, "i'm just as confused. not gonna lie, though, ya sure were warm." you both flushed, simultaneously embarrassed by his words. this was going to be a long trip. there was no doubt about it - miya atsumu was head over heels in love with you.

[avintagekiss24]

—belated; bucky barnes

pairing: mob!bucky barnes x black!reader

word count: 4738

warnings: 18+ ONLY, smut, sex, rough sex, anal sex, biting kink, choking kink, spanking, pain kink, vaginal fingering, mean bucky (my fave), ring kink cuz i love it when boys wear rings

squares filled: @buckybarnesbingo Y3: Birthdays ; @badthingshappenbingo Biting ; @star-spangled-bingo N1: Taking Charge

request: bucky barnes + "pay attention to me or i'll make you" + anal + choking + spanking + biting + pain

author note: it's been foreverrrrr! i'm so sorry! i had to work myself through a little slump! hopefully this makes up for the almost two months we've gone without a fic! this is story #2 for my 5k celebration, all fics will be tagged #5k...holy god. this was formatted in the beta text post editor on desktop, if anything looks weird, that's why :)

gif by @pedropcl ; line divider by @firefly-graphics

James Buchanan Barnes is possessive.

One of those massive hands around the back of your neck as you walk casually through the streets. Fingers wrapped around your wrist, or shoulder, or hip in a tight grip. He pulls you in close— right into his side as shopping bags hang from the tips of his metal fingers.

Bucky Barnes wants every man on the streets of Greece to know that you are his.

Not that you mind; quite the contrary. You just smile and giggle when he throws his heavy arm around your shoulders and hooks the crease of his arm right underneath your chin. Slip your hand into the back pocket of his loose dark jeans (giving that little tush of his a squeeze). Slink your arm around his little waist and breathe in his scent— heavy and woodsy— as the two of you stroll.

After all, he’s just as much yours as you are his.

All of his friends, Sam, Steve, Clint, all see the change in him. The little soft spot for you that blinds him entirely— turns him in a mushy puddle of emotions and puppies and rainbows. Very different from the Bucky they grew up with, but a Bucky that the three of them have come to enjoy. It’s a change of pace from the enforcer they know.

The two of you don’t talk about his work— in fact, it’s the reason why you’re in Greece to begin with. A late birthday present to make up for the fact that his “work” just happened to be the waiter at the restaurant he chose to take you to for your thirty second birthday. Come on babe, he chuckled as you scowled back at him over the rim of your wine glass, watching as he stained his white napkin red with his bloody knuckles, you know what they say, kill two birds with one stone… not funny?

Two weeks, two nonrefundable, open ended tickets, and five grand in bikinis, shorts, and shoes later, you’re getting some much needed Greek sun on your deep brown skin.

He’s even letting you call the shots for a change. Letting you wake him up at the ass crack of dawn to have breakfast— a spread of breads, cheeses and fruits on the balcony of your room as the sun rises. He doesn’t say a word as you drag him through the city, stopping at each little boutique and shoe store. Sits patiently as you try on every dress, every skirt, and every silk top in the entire country it seems.

Bucky even bit his lip as you gazed at engagement rings— hinting that princess cut is your favorite as you held your hand up into the natural sunlight as one adored your finger. Smiling over at him and wiggling your eyebrows all the while as he narrowed his eyes and plastered a fake smile on his face.

Today has been like all the others, a lazy day spent on the beach, a quick nap underneath an umbrella, a concoction of too much sun and too many margaritas going straight to your head. Now, you’re kinda sleepy and kinda drunk, but most importantly hungry— and Mykonos sounds like a great place for dinner. Despite Bucky’s objections (you’re too tired and too drunk to handle a ferry), you’re dressed in a cute little flowery sundress, him in an out-of-character white tank top, open pale blue and green striped button down and khaki chinos— you forbade him from bringing anything black— and you’re flip flops are slapping against the cobblestone street towards the ferry.

“Drop your attitude,” You say, glancing over your shoulder as he pays for your tickets, “You owe me.”

“Yeah, yeah, that excuse is wearing thin, girl.” You stumble a little with the motion of the ferry as you step onto it, having to grab onto the railing to steady yourself before Bucky grabs hold of your wrist, “Water only for the rest of the night.”

His voice is low and borderline threatening as he presses his lips right against your ear, and you know not to press him any further. You like to stick your toes right up against his line and that’s what irritates him most about you (always what he loves most), but you and he both know you’d never dare cross it.

Bucky pulls you behind him, hand around your wrist, that possessive trait rearing its head as male eyes fall on you as the two of you pass by. He finds an empty spot, away from the crowd, and plops down on the bench as you step up on the lower rung of the railing and stare out over the sea.

Within twenty or thirty minutes, the ferry pulls away from the dock and you can’t wipe the smile from your face. The sun sets off in the distance, the bright lights of the city turning into little pinpoints. Small droplets of the cool, salty water splashes up in your face as the wind and the ferry whips it up. You keep glancing down at the phone in your hand as you broadcast your current view to your instagram, laughing softly as hearts and emojis explode on your screen.

You lean forward, tilting your phone and smiling wide, waving into the camera before you shout out how much you love it here. The words are barely out of your mouth before an arm wraps around your middle, a wide, hard chest pressed into your back, “That’s enough,” he reaches with his metal arm, grabbing your phone, ending your live feed, “You’re too drunk to be hanging off the side like that.”

“I am not,” you struggle against him lightly as he sets you on your feet, “What is your problem?”

“I’m annoyed.”

“Well, duh. Why?”

He slips your phone into his pocket and crosses his arms over his chest, sharp blue eyes piercing into yours, “Pay attention to me,” he says low, eyes dropping down your body real slow as he drags his bottom lip between his teeth, “Or I’ll make you.”

So that’s what it’s about. Bucky Barnes feels neglected between all the shopping and beach days and margaritas. Jealousy is cute on him.

The words though, they strike you right to your core— feel them down to your bones. A hard swallow pushes through your throat as your lips part, big brown eyes softening as your breath starts to rush a little harder. You hate to admit— not really— you love this Bucky. This is work Bucky, a man you rarely get to see. Slightly scary, anger brimming just below the surface. Jaw tight, eyes hard, head tilted just a bit. He’s menacing, and it makes your lips twitch into a small smile.

Shrugging defiantly, you cross your arms over your chest, “You didn’t pay much attention to me on my birthday.”

“Not true.”

“Not true?” you nearly shout, eyes going wide, “I ate alone while you beat the hell outta our waiter behind the building! I had to wait two hours for my slice of cake!”

“How is that my fault?”

You scoff, “Oh, I dunno, maybe because our waiter was spitting out his teeth in the alley out back— all thanks to you.”

“I have to work. You know that.”

“Not,” you hiss, “On my fucking birthday.”

He knows he’s wrong for that shit, so he stands there, huffing quick before he cocks his head again and just blinks back at you— unamused. He won’t apologize, it’s just not in his nature, but his usual attempts to make you happy after he’s fucked up aren’t working; so he’s at a loss.

And you’re enjoying that. A little too much if you ask him.

But alas, it’s not fun to fight on vacation, and you have taken far too many liberties when it comes to his tolerance for attitude. It’s been fun— and you’re just drunk enough to push him one last time.

You move slow, walking right up to him, so close that each inhale pushes your tits into his body. The smirk quirked up on your lips grows as you peer up at him, eyes bouncing between his as you place your hands on his forearms still crossed over his chest.

Bucky lifts his eyebrow as you push up on your tiptoes and push your chin forward to bring your lips close to his, “And just how are you gonna make me pay attention to you, James?”

He inhales deep, pushes it out real slow as he tilts his head even further. A smile spreads on his face and you just know that this is the last thing his work sees before he rearranges the bones of their face. This is exactly why his clients pay him as well as they do.

Thick fingers are wrapped around your wrist again, nails digging into your skin as he starts to pull you behind him. He weaves you through bodies, you nearly having to jog to keep up with his strides. Laughter bubbles up in your chest, a little shriek escaping as he pulls you down some stairs to the lower level of the ferry. Once your feet hit the last step, Bucky whips you around his body, sending you spinning and laughing until you bounce into an old, rusty metal barrel.

The smell of salt fills your nose and lungs as you inhale, covering your face with your hands. Your skin is hot, lips slightly numb as you dissolve into laughter again. He’s right, you’re a little too drunk for this.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be down here.” You mumble, brushing your wild hair out of your face.

“I could give a fuck,” he answers, stepping up to you, grabbing your face in his hands, “You’ve been testing me the entire time we’ve been here all over some stupid shit.”

Another giggle pushes through your lips as you bat your eyes, “I wouldn’t dare, Mr. Barnes.”

Bucky sucks his teeth as he drops his metal hand around your throat and squeezes gently, the rings on his fingers cool against your skin, “I was stupid, okay? But don’t put on that little innocent act, girl. You’re trying me, and I’ve had enough.”

A smile cracks onto your face, teeth sinking into your bottom lip. You wrap both hands around his one wrist and slip them up his arm, feeling the soft metal as you continue to goad him, “You got some proof, big man?”

The tip of his black and gold thumb prods at your lip, pushes just inside. You wrap your tongue around it and suck gently, keeping your eyes on his all the while.

Bucky laughs, deep and earnestly, “Proof, she says. She needs proof.” He glances around before he spins you quick, facing you away from him as he lifts your dress to reveal your pink satin thong.

You squeal loud, pushing and slapping at his hand as he grabs a handful of your ass, “Bucky! There’s people!” you laugh, “Oh my god!”

“Keep your voice down,” he warns, wrapping his metal fingers around your throat again, “Understand?”

A jolt of electricity flashes through you as you wiggle in his grasp. He tightens his grip around your neck as you wrap your fingers around the edge of the barrel, swallowing hard.

“That requires an answer, honey.”

The chill in his voice, added with the slow circles and soft tickles of fingertips against the back of your naked thigh sends a pang through your belly, “I understand.”

He chuckles soft and with a quick peck on the cheek whispers, “Good girl.”

Bucky curls his left arm around your chest, hooking your chin in the crease of his arm as he grips your right shoulder. You grab on to it with both hands, out of instinct, eyes wide and skirting around for any signs of other human presence down here. Bucky turns, moving you with him to eye the steps quickly again before that flesh hand sweeps around to the front.

The soft material of your dress falls over his hand as he rubs your stomach— his rings catching and snagging your skin. That hand pushes downward, over your thighs, gripping and kneading the soft flesh before he grabs the hem of your dress and pulls it upward, exposing those expensive panties again.

“Bucky,” you hum, his name trembling on your lips with the vibrations of your excitement, “Baby.”

He rucks your dress right up— right up around your waist and pulls the slack behind you, pressing his body into yours to keep it in place. The dark stubble adorning his cheeks and chin cuts into the side of your face as he nuzzles in, humming to himself soft before he kisses the corner of your mouth.

Those fingertips start to trace the hem of your thong— slowly. Back and forth, back and forth. From hip to hip. Your eyes flutter. Fingers grip the soft black metal of his arm a little harder. Legs go to jelly as another hard swallow passes through your throat.

“Ain’t got all that mouth now, do you?” He whispers, fingers slipping just inside the silk of your panties to tease the delicate skin underneath.

When he slips his hand in— all the way in— cupping hot skin, fingers dancing between folds and teasing a wet slit, an influx of air fills your lungs. A gasp, small and clipped sounds in the back of your throat as his fingers start a rhythm. You melt into him, head resting on his shoulder as your hips push forward to meet greedy fingers.

A naughty finger pushes in quick, and then a second— all the way to the black and silver rings dressed on them. His arm tightens around your neck as he presses his lips right against your ear, “You need to apologize.”

He fucks his fingers into you, withdrawing slow, and then pushing back in— each time the edges of his rings stopping him from going deeper. You can’t help but purr as you continue to grip his arm with both of your hands.

“I don’t think—“

“All I want to hear,” his words clip yours, each one slow and drawn and deep, “Is I’m sorry for testing your patience. I won’t do it again.” He curls his fingers, the pads stroking that sweet little spongey spot, making you clamp your legs closed around his hand, “Let me hear you.”

You can’t. You won’t. Too stubborn and too drunk to give in to him, wanting to win just this once.

If there’s one thing James Buchanan Barnes does not like, it’s hesitation. It’s dangerous, he always says. You think too long, you get hurt. Predators don’t hesitate.

Well, you like being his prey.

Only a few seconds pass before Bucky tuts in your ear, seemingly disappointed in your obstinate behavior, but you both know it’s just the opposite. His cock pressing into your ass tells you so.

The fingers disappear. The arm choking you just right pulls away and your dress falls back around the middle of your thighs. You huff, wiping quick at your forehead and pushing your wild, curly hair out of your face again.

Your hands find your hips in irritation but he slaps them away quick as he sucks his teeth, “You must really want this spanking, girl. Keep it up.”

That you do— keep it up. Huffing again. Crossing your arms over your chest like a petulant child. Brown eyes cut back at him over your shoulder to find sharp blues already on you. A smirk on his face.

Metal fingers curl around the back of your neck, pushing you forward gently until your thighs press against the old metal barrel again.

“Lean forward, kitten.”

Voice as smooth as silk while you do so, gripping the rusted edges for balance. Your dress is yanked up again— rough this time— and twisted around his Vibranium hand. Then there’s warm, the warmth of skin against yours. Gentle brushes of fingers and a palm rubbing slow circles, then pinching and grabbing soft— prepping your skin for what’s to come.

He pauses for just a second, no doubt to scan your surroundings and then pulls his hand away. You lung forward with the slap he levels to your behind within a fraction of a second— the sound sharp and heavy.

There’s another, and then a third in quick succession before he’s massaging your skin again. Real soft and sweet. Tears burn at the back of your eyes at the sting that radiates through, all the way to your bones but the molten heat deep in your belly spreads like a fire. Each breath is hard and shaky, heart thumping against your chest but it’s so good.

Bucky switches to the other cheek, skilled fingers sweeping over your canvas of skin before he cracks you— one, two, three.

You squeal with each one. The thud of those heavy rings around his fingers send a quick, new shockwave every time, building on the one before it. The tips of your fingers go red from holding on to the rusty old barrel as tight as you are, but your brain? She’s fuzzy and warm, and drifting up into the clouds with each swift slap.

Bucky is a methodical man. Three for the right cheek, three for the left, three right in the middle. His hand sneaks around your hip, giving it a squeeze before it comes back around and drops to the inside of your thigh. Grabs the meat of it— digs his fingernails in just to hear you yelp. Cups your cunt in his palm, feeling the heat and the wet— makes him groan all low and dirty.

He bunches your hair in his hand, tugs you up by it. Spins you around to face him before hoisting you up and settling you on top of the barrel.

“You want me to fuck you so bad, don’t you?” He growls, ripping at the button and zipper of his jeans.

You just hum in response, wrapping your legs around his waist and throwing your arms over his shoulders.

Bucky grabs your chin, forcing it up before he squeezes your cheeks, “Huh? Answer me.”

Damp eyelashes flutter as hot air escapes from parted, hot lips. He leans in real close, cock pushing right at your slit and kisses you hard as he slips his arm around your waist. He breaks away quick, sloppy and loud before pecking your lips once, twice, three times again.

“You want me to fuck you, girl?”

The weight of his words are felt right down to your core, a shiver passing between the two of you. You let your heavy head fall back and your eyes close as Bucky nuzzles into the side of your face, his pretty white teeth skipping along your neck, nipping and nibbling.

“I want you to fuck me,” you whisper after mere seconds, finally submitting in this cat and mouse game, “Bucky, please.”

That’s all he needs— all he wants. For you to submit, after letting you have the reins for one day too long. He sinks into you slow, spreading you open with each inch, biting down into the side of your neck as he bottoms out. His teeth dig in a little deeper, a little harder as he starts to move, rocking back and forth almost succinct with the waves of the water.

You’re moving with him too, meeting each of his thrusts with your hips. You keep your legs tight around his waist, feet dangling and bouncing against the back of his thighs. A trail of hot kisses are pressed along your neck and down your shoulder before traipsing back up— teeth grazing along your jaw.

Long fingers skip up your side and between your bouncing tits to only wrap around your neck again. They squeeze, gently, as his pace starts to pick up, hips shoving harder and faster— that old barrel starting to scrape against the wood floor.

The force makes you louder, moaning with abandon as if the two of you are all alone on this little ferry. Bucky makes quick work of you, shoving metal fingers into your mouth— giving you something to suck on to keep you quiet.

“That’s a good girl.” he growls, voice gritty and low.

He’s punishing after that. Each snap of his hips thrusting you backward, the barrel you’re on top of tipping back and then slapping down on the floor. You yelp with each one, your mouth going slack around his digits as your hands fall to the edges of the barrel for some semblance of balance.

It’s obscene, the way you can hear your fuck. The wet of your cunt. The squeak of his cock plunging into tight, slick muscles. The heavy thud of his hips pounding into yours. The slap of your flip flops falling to the wood floor as he’s quite literally fucked them right off of your feet. It’s filthy— crude— and so very Bucky.

You’re back on your feet before you know it— before you realize it. Spun back around, Bucky’s hard chest and stomach pressed into your back. He grabs both of your hands and places them back on the barrel, his metal hand staying on top of yours, fingers gripping fingers.

Eager hips wiggle back into his as you hiss and sink your teeth into your bottom lip, groaning low. Your head drops when you feel his cock push through your ass cheeks— wet cockhead pressing against your hot rim.

He starts to fumble around behind you, each passing second making you more and more impatient. There’s a soft click, and then a light suction sound— something squeezing.

“Bucky,” you hiss, pushing back into him again, “Hur—”

The word breaks off right in the middle as he levels a quick smack against your hip— a warning. Then your ass cheeks are pulled apart, wet, slimy fingers sliding and prodding at your quivering rim. He brushes slow strokes, circling, pressing his fingers gently as he preps your little hole for what’s to come.

“What kind of freak brings lube to dinner?” you smile, gasping as he pinches the inside of your thigh.

You lurch forward when he grabs the back of your neck and yanks you back into him, lips right against your cheek, “The kinda freak that was gonna fuck you in an alley after dinner. Now shut that mouth.”

He’s pressing again, this time harder, his cockhead popping into you with force. You grunt with the initial intrusion, Bucky stopping his assault to allow you time to adjust to him— but that doesn’t last long. Your mouth goes slack again. Eyes slam shut, head falls forward as he slips in, deeper and deeper and deeper until his stomach is flush with your ass.

He wiggles— so you can feel him, feel him tickling the deepest part of you. Slaps at your ass again, quick, fingers glancing off your skin and leaving behind a hell of a sting. Then he’s fucking you again, slower this time, savoring the tight, glove-like hold your body provides.

Metal fingers grab at the hem of your dress again, tugging it up before they push back into your panties, finding a swollen, hot nub. Pinching and rubbing smooth circles against it, flicking and thrashing at the bundle of nerves before he shoves his fingers back into your cunt. They curl, those fingers, and pet your insides with surgical precision— only James Buchanan Barnes knows how to fuck you like this.

The heel of his palm slams against your clit as he fingers you rough and fucks your ass with gusto. Sleazy sounds gurgle up in your throat, the slapping of skin and the waves crashing against the side of the ferry, the rush of the wind filling your ears. Bucky pulls you flush against him and slithers his tongue just beneath your ear before his teeth grab a hold, tugging soft.

Teeth keep nipping— along your jaw, your cheeks, ears, neck. He fucks into you hard as he shoves his flesh hand into the neckline of your dress, gripping your tits. Pinching and kneading hard, thick nipples, mumbling sweet nothings all the while.

Your stomach churns, muscles tensing and flexing as synapses start to fire off in quick succession. Quick goosebumps pop up along your skin as your stomach tightens and you can taste it it’s so close. Bucky knows it, feels it as your walls constrict around his fingers, your asshole tightening around him. Vibranium fingers keep rubbing, keep fucking into your pussy hard, palm slapping against your clit, adding more and more pressure until the coil snaps.

It’s hard, and sudden— your body freezing as your orgasm consumes you. Bucky clamps a wet hand over your mouth as you mewl and bite into his palm, your hips thrusting forward with each wave of your release. He pulls his fingers from you to slap at your jumping clit, pressing the pads into it before he rubs quick little circles and then slaps at it again.

He drops his hand to your chin, yanking it up as you nearly cry, mewling and trembling with your release to kiss you hard and sloppy as you come. He kneads your tits with his mammoth hand as aftershocks flash through you, your used body jerking at random. Within seconds, there's a cloud of warmth in your ass. Rough grunts in your ear, growing louder with each spurt of his cock, your hot muscles milking him.

You let him use you, let him fill you up full of his silk. Grab his hands and lace your fingers with his as he empties long ribbons in you. Pull his arms around your waist and hold them there as he rides it out, his head falling to your shoulder. The two of you stand there, resting against that old barrel, breathing hard, skin sticky and balmy. Salt from the ocean in your nose.

Bucky’s the first to pull away, glancing back at the stairs before he pulls himself gingerly from you, leaving your body empty, a dribble of his come slipping out with him. He catches it with his fingers, drags them up the back of your thigh and between your ass cheeks before he shrugs out of his collared shirt and white tank top.

He cleans you up sweet with the tank top. Keeps his arm around your waist to steady you as he wipes at your thighs and your hot, sticky, puffy cunt, shushing you soft when you jump and whimper at the contact. He flings the messy tank top over the side of the ferry and rubs your hips and stomach real slow, murmuring into your ear all the while.

Diligent fingers then rearrange your thong— and cop a little feel, cupping your sensitive, swollen sex, giving it a little pinch so he can laugh when you shiver and squeak. Bucky pulls your dress, tugging lightly to get it back straight around your waist before smoothing it over your ass and thighs— even pulls at the top, making sure your tits are sitting pretty.

You can’t even open your eyes, overcome by alcohol and sleepiness and a post sex high. He fumbles with your fingers as your head lulls on his shoulder, a soft hum vibrating in your throat in your murky haze. Bucky lifts your arm by the elbow, sliding his hand up your forearm until he’s cupping your hand in his.

“Open your eyes, baby.” You groan in protest, causing a chuckle to rumble through his chest, “Come on.”

So you do. You always do whatever this man wants you to do— and there, right on your finger sits that big princess cut engagement ring you teased him with days before.

“How about we skip dinner and find a church, huh?” he whispers, kissing your cheek soft and sweet.

You glance at him over your shoulder, eyes wet as a smirk tugs at the corners of your mouth, “And if I say no?”

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” He laughs as you adjust in his arms, pushing up on your tiptoes to cup his handsome face and kiss him on those pretty pink lips, “Then I guess I’ll have to fuck some sense into that pretty mouth of yours, won’t I birthday girl?”

[artemisunicorn]

My Top 10 Yuri!!! On Ice Songs

(And the poor reasons and explanations as to why they are my faves)

No one asked but this is my lock screen btw

Honorable Mentions

- Minami’s Boogie

This song is so fun and Minami is adorable when skating to it

And the part where he’s playing along is so cute

Would be ranked, but the uncut version can kinda drag on

But either way it’s just a nice song to get you dancing

- Intoxicated

I absolutely adore Chris and this song is pretty good

Tbh I was pretty torn for putting it on the list but some of the others just beat it by a little bit

It was never one that I listened to constantly, so when I listened to the soundtrack to pick out songs, I was pretty impressed by it

Alas, it shall stay as an honorable mention

- On Love : Eros

Please don’t hurt me ;-;

This song is great

I literally just ran out of spaces when I was listening to the soundtrack

It would have been number 11 probably I dunno

But yeah I have nothing against this song, it’s really good

- You Only Live Once

I freaking love this song SO MUCH

I was debating on keeping this list for skate exclusives, hence why this song is more of an honorable mention

But if this list wasn’t skate exclusive, this song would be so high-

Honestly it’s not even an honorable mention

This is me saying that this song is amazing and the cute slideshow that goes over it makes my heart happy

Basically I’m giving it an unnamed place on the list without sacrificing a spot for the named ones

- And now the actual list -

10 - Partizan Hope

Ah yes, everyone’s favorite meathead J.J.

This song is pretty

Like really pretty

I actually hadn’t heard it completely before I listened to the whole soundtrack for this list

And what a shame, honestly because it’s so good

It definitely would have been ranked higher if I’d listened to it constantly like I’ve done for the other songs

But yeah overall really great song

9 - Serenade for Two

Next up we’ve got Mickey

Another song that I never fully listened to until now

But geez it’s so good

And Mickey skating to it brought so much more emotion

It really had ya girl crying over here

It was just so sweet

The only thing is that I wish it didn’t break for this man to speak only to go back to singing again

I dunno if it’s just me but it breaks the immersion

But even still, very good song

8 - On Love : Agape

Yurio oh Yurio

Yup, this song beat Eros

I think the vocals really just push it higher for me

It’s so good

The voices sound so sweet and ethereal and the music is just amazing

Really a *chefs kiss* moment right there

And Yurio really sells it, especially at the Grand Prix Final

Actual tears y’all

I was a proud mama y’all don’t understand

7 - Yuri on ICE

And of course we have our main boi Yuuri

This song is just one of those that really just hit

Best part is when it just drops to the piano and Yuuri just glides on the ice

It’s so peaceful

And it’s so emotional

It tells a whole story

His journey of finding love and holding it close

And he dedicates it to Viktor every time

Eros might be about showing the world who’s boss, but this song is showing his bonds and he really puts his heart and soul into it every time

Why am I crying

6 - Still Alive

Leo getting the love he deserves

This song has really stood out to me from the first time I heard it

I don’t really have an explanation, I just really like it a lot

It’s a bop and deserves to be heard

BUT ONE THING

THIS SONG IS CRIMINALLY SHORT

TWO MINUTES AND TEN SECONDS

WE’VE BEEN ROBBED

Nah but for real though

I really wish it was longer because it’s a great song

5 - Stay By Your Side (Duet) | Stammi Vicino (Duet)

Viktor and Yuuri have my entire heart

In all honesty I have no idea if that’s what it’s actually called but google translate says that

I cannot read that-

Please correct me if you know the actual title ;-;

Edit : I’ve been told it’s called Stammi Vicino

But yeah anyways

THIS SONG IS SO PRETTY

And it’s even better because of the pair skate that goes with it

which I’m already crying about but we’re not gonna talk about that

Gah my heart

It’s so nice!!!! It really warms my heart

I don’t know if it’s because it’s a duet but my tears are FLOWING

But seriously I can’t gush about it enough it’s just such a nice song

4 - Theme of King J.J.

Our meathead is back and better than ever

I love this song okay

And J.J. really sells it here

You can hate J.J. as much as you want but you can’t tell me you weren’t clapping and singing along with the audience as he skated-

And his end pose

Ugh it’s great

What a king

This song is just so much fun

Mixed with the visuals and just the whole theme of it all

It’s just a fun song and I love it

3 - Shall We Skate?

My baby Phichit getting the recognition he deserves

But if y’all wanna talk about a fun song, look no further than right here

This song is an absolute BLAST

And Phichit sells it like no other

And once again, his ending pose is just so cute

Please I want to hug him so bad

I can’t express how much this song brings me joy

And I know I complained about the speaking parts in Serenade for Two, but it really works here

Also it’s supposed to be from a movie so it works in that regard too

Overall, such a good song

2 - Terra Incognita

Phichit back at it again

Maybe I’m biased because he’s darling

BUT DAMMIT HE’S MY FAV BECAUSE OF HOW HE SKATES

This song’s harmonies are EVERYTHING

And dare I say

Once again

The ending pose is so nice

I’m always putting this song on repeat because I love harmonizing with them

I’m a huge musical nerd and a whole sucker for harmonies so yeah

This song is ugh

I don’t even need to say

1 - Tales of a Sleeping Prince

And Georgi takes the number one spot

I really have no reason as to why this is my number one song

Every time it comes on, it’s put on repeat

Georgi isn’t as entertaining to watch as Phichit, but the music really carries him here

BY THE WAY

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW THIS SONG WAS CUT SHORT FOR COMEDY

C O M E D Y

it was funny ngl

BUT STILL

I really be singing along like my life depends on it

And I love key changes too

This song just delivers

0 - History Maker

Yes I cheated

I don’t even know if this counts. It’s *technically* a skating song since they skate to it in the opening so it could count, but either way I absolutely love this song

If I actually counted it, it would easily be number one

That shot where Viktor takes over at the beginning makes my heart melt AND FOR WHAT-

It just brings me so much joy

YOI is my comfort anime and y’all History Maker just beats me over the head with love

It’s one of those openings I have never skipped

I can’t bring myself to

Also the album cover is just so freaking good???

AND THE ANIMATION IS SO NICE?????

It makes me so happy and I don’t know why

Y’all please

Plus my best friend and I scream the entire song whenever it comes on in my car

I’m not crying you are

Post posting edit : Terra Incognita and Tales of a Sleeping Prince keep switching between first and second place, so let’s just say they’re very close for first (which I thought I mentioned but oh well)

Post posting edit pt 2 : I definitely plan to update this list because upon listening to the soundtrack even further and discussing the rankings with y’all, some songs have jumped higher or fallen lower for me. I’ll make an updated one soon :)

(I tried to cut the post, but I’m on mobile. Sorry y’all ;-;)

[sunshinexlollipops]

I loved your Sterek matchmaker fic! It was GORGEOUS!!!

oh my goodness, an oldie, anon!

honestly, I feel like my older fics are gems or...................disgraces.

there's a lot of stuff I wouldn't write now, or would do entirely differently. alas, we call that growth, but I think its pains tend to come when you look at where you were when ya started. 😅

tbh may put a disclaimer on old fics...

but still— it was kinda cute! I just wanted a little oneshot where oblivious Stiles finds out that the reason Derek didn't like his choices is because Stiles himself wasn't the option. ah, good times.

if you liked that, you may like a couple others!

ones I'd personally recommend now are:

-My Uncle Will Go On

funny ASF. written to a drunk cover of Celine Dion's "my heart will go on" by some random Russian guys (at least, per the description).

I love the dynamic in this fic and it's pretty funny, but it does have mpr*g so that may not be your cup of tea, anon.

I Hate That I Love You

another solid choice, albeit I would probably write the ending a *little differently these days. (I've grown to really like communication in fics and now I get frustrated at a lack of it.)

still, I love Stiles' humor and descriptions in this story. it's a quick and cute oneshot with a little hurt/comfort and just overall stupid misunderstandings over feels. Derek has words, but boy, is he fearful of them.

That's Debatable

one of my fave sterek fics. granted, I no longer write for high school pairings bc 1) I'm no longer that age myself and 2) I don't write about minors or anyone under 21 doing anything anymore lol. them's my personal rules. I mean, I'm not against kid love or implying smut bc teens do be bonking, but I'll leave mature storylines for mature adults. let kids/teens be kids/teens, and give them stories where they don't have to equate to adults.

still, I did enjoy this fic, bc it was based on a class of mine and 2 guys that were in it. the whole "I'd catch you" bit was inspired by them, as they were arguing which was faster— a gazelle or lion. and it just so happened they decided to "pretend" to be their respective animal choices, and that was what one guy said to the other. tension was THICK in first period!

still, I sincerely enjoy this fic and apart from some minor tweaks (and aging up some shit, like maybe a college-bound story), this stands strong as one of my personal faves.

---------

hope you enjoy the tiny rec, anon. 💛

happy (late) Halloween, and I hope your staying safe/healthy and having a good day! thanks for sending this ask and spreading some love, I appreciate it! :)

[bleachbleachbleach]

HELLO.

I just wanted to say that I love, love, love your tags on that character/tool post a lot! Some of my favorite shows/books involve characters that can't keep it together and just barely make it to the end of the story or make it there in an "inconvenient way" and tbh I find that usually the narratives that follow these characters don't really work away from them either--the narrative is just usually more questioning instead of fully formed.

Like, 'what if/how would', y'know? There's less of a clear meaning and more just 'what if they hadn't done that. what if they had done that. what if all that meant nothing. what if that struggle was all there was'.

But oh boy, when they DO work away from the narrative. *chefs kiss*

I mean, most of my favorite Bleach characters are narrative nightmares who either hinder or cut off lines of theme in the story entirely. And, in general, I think there are A LOT of characters in shonen--a genre known for very long narratives that can't possibly complete every thought but also can't just abandon all those characters introduced ESPECIALLY the fan favorites or personal favorites--work in the way you described.

Tbh i think your tags really highlight why so many ppl get drawn to these characters/why they're so fun to play with in fanfiction.

If you have more to add or more thoughts about this you want to lay down I am here, eagerly awaiting and ready to pick them up.

Also, who do you think in Bleach is the most fun characters who sort of drop kicked the story, in your opinion? Who's the one you like the most? And who's the one you dislike the most?

[For posterity the referenced post is this one.]

Aww, thank you! That’s really lovely to hear. I was anxious about even putting it in tags because I don’t think I presently have the capacity to explain it well—and even if I did might still sound bananas to many. Or at least the bit about negotiating with characters and how *they* feel about being subjects in stories. Because as much as that really is my practice saying it out loud takes me back to like… FFN in 2003 where every store was prefaced by extensive chat-form back-and-forths between the fic author and their character "musies" and that is not something I think fandom would benefit from bringing back in force, hahaha. But anyway.

Here’s the part where I disappoint because I don’t think I actually know Bleach well enough to speak to it in this context. WHICH SOUNDS DUMB EVEN AS I TYPE IT BECAUSE LOL WTF IS THE NAME OF THIS BLOG WE ARE CHARLATANS AND POSERS FOR CLAIMING AS OUR NAMESAKE NOT ONE BLEACH BUT THREE BLEACHES but truly, my experience of Bleach has a shallow depth of field. I feel like I have weirdly intimate knowledge of some severe rabbit holes but a non-existent to uneasy sense of the gestalt.

Like idek man, in my "slow re-read where I am actually paying attention" Ichigo hasn’t even met Byakuya and Renji yet. ToT

I'm gonna put this behind a cut because it spidered all over the place, but in summary:

characters and their capacity to produce narrative failure

the charm of longform serialized series and their invitations to imagine stuff

me attempting to talk about Hitsugaya and feeling a fool, as usual

I guess in general terms, I’m really interested in characters and their capacity to produce narrative failure. Not failure as in 'bad' but failure as in things that break form or are circuitous or are actively detrimental to a narrative arc. All my strongest examples of what I’m thinking of are from a different fandom and therefore not relevant to this blog, alas. By comparison I think anyone in Bleach can keep it together better than the characters that are immediately coming to mind, lol. But I think this idea dovetails often with trauma narratives, or depression narratives, because these things are often… non-narrative? Like, there’s no fourth or fifth for minor fall or major lift. Sometimes it’s the same thing over and over again, or maybe nothing. Maybe it’s the exact same self-sabotage narrative dictates could have been avoided. Maybe it’s some act that emanates forth but cannot be explained because it cannot be explained and will never be explained. That’s a version of what I’m talking about, in any case, though not the only version.

Your note about longform shounen definitely resonates with me, too. In my mind I don’t like long things and I prefer series that are more self-contained but whenever I have ever landed in a long-term fandom, with a piece of media I felt obliged to carve out chunks of my life for, and to interact with at that level of creative fannishness, it’s always been something stupid long and serialized by the seat of its pants. I know plot holes or dropped threads bother a lot of people (makes total sense, don’t get me wrong) but I find these things incredibly attractive. I see them as invitations to join in the fun. Especially when it’s so much a part of the form and genre to have this, as you said, lack of real expectation that every thread will be followed to its conclusion (or that it would be worthwhile to do so) and every thought completed.

There’s this piece by David Grann that was published in The New Yorker in 2004 that I really love that speaks to part of this idea, albeit in terms of fictional universes versus fictional characters. But Grann is talking about Sherlock Holmes (Doyle original) and the ways that Sherlockians would like, approach apparent lapses in narrative and then solve them according to the established rules of the universe. I just love that. There’s also the line, "Never had so much been written by so many for so few," which LOL if that ain’t fandom I don’t know what is!!

I feel like I’m actually talking about three distinct but related facets of these thoughts in this post, except all at once and without clear transition, uhhhhh.

Gah, I am broken and now can ONLY think of examples from my not-Bleach fandom, but to try a different tack and add yet another facet to this already funhouse-mirror post, my various attempts to write Hitsugaya often feel like they come up against a version of this. I think Hitsugaya has aggressive side character energy, and I find it difficult to make him the center of a story and have it feel right to me. He feels different to me than writing other minor characters, where they can be the center of their own stories even if their story is not the main story. Like, two of my fave characters in my other fandom have literally like… three lines in 350+ episodes and it feels easier to imagine THEM at the center of their story and I think what it comes down to is that Hitsugaya probably prefers what he not be written. And when he does become more narrative I think he’d prefer that none of it was happening in the fist place. But at the same time he always seems to be…around??? whether there is really a good reason for him to be present or not. XD So while, say, he and Bartleby "would prefer not to" (because THAT'S what this post needs, a Melville reference), Bartleby actually opts out and Hitsugaya out here volunteering.

He also often feels non-narrative to me because he feels very declarative, if that makes sense? Like, the coming-to-decisions or coming-to-realizations parts of existence happen pretty quick, or are approached perfunctorily. I feel like I find narrative in the "coming" part of that equation and instead Hitsugaya will be like, well, I’ve already done that part without you, and/or plan to do that part in the future and it will still be without you, the audience. Anyway, here’s the determination I’ve made, here’s what I’m going to do, and here begins the long and probably tedious process of my doing that thing (off 2 go train in a cave for a bit). I don’t think he actually believes the world is that simple, Tab A into Slot B, but I do think he’s already made that assessment and can see coming to terms with that as a horizon, if that makes sense. So even if he doesn’t know the answer to something, or is completely at a loss of what to do (what to say to Hinamori? how to productively address the number Aizen’s done on him) there’s still not necessarily a story there. Maybe the answer is you grind, and it is repetitive and boring. Maybe you just hold things. There’s not even the act of learning how to hold things, necessarily, just the practice of doing so.

Wow, that probably doesn’t sound good! I feel like I need to suffix this with the assurance that Hitsugaya is my absolute runaway character in the whole series and this was true 15 years ago and it is still true now (truer, even) and everything I just said are reasons why I love him.

[fandom-will-be-my-fall]

Spill your heart out about Walter.

Okay so I basically got this question in what, January?? but I’m answering it now since I just rewatched the movie and have inspiration, sorry for the late reply Anon

Okay so, to start off this post with some keyboard smashing because that my primary go-to for expressing my emotions

sgklhfsgjksdlgdghkjlgjhOHUFLUSKHDGSLIDRGKJGKFSDHGlhjglksdhkglshglllllfa. knjcthxiudhusmnvsoidhéytbvonjyxclkkvbr. haeylicfvshdkgikc

HANDSOME BOY. HANDSOME. ‘NUFF SAID.

I could legit stare all day at his beautiful face… look at him. Enchanting sky blue eyes… fluffy, wavy brown hair, cute round cheeks, lovely smile… those hidden freckles that you can hardly spot and only in certain screenshots but nevertheless they’re there to raise the cuteness factor… ALSO HIS LASHES. MAYBE IT’S NATURAL?? MAYBE IT’S MAYBELLINE?? WE SHALL NEVER KNOW

Here you may be able to spot the freckles if you squint hard enough. I have 77 screenshots but this is the best example I could find.

Secondly… well, he’s a sticc. A short sticc at that (though still slightly taller than me bc I’m smol), but a sticc regardless! And that seems to be the most attractive cartoon body type for me. Don’t judge me, I just have a thing for twinks, I’m… twinksexual or whatever.

Look at him! He would fit through my doorcrack.

(Maaaybe the reason for me liking sticcs so much is partially the fact that I like the idea of a boyfriend I can protect and support, physically and emotionally. I’m mad at the universe for not letting me scoop him up in my arms bridal style and smooch the HECK outta him.)

I’ve encountered a few posts that claimed he’s got cake but, come on. That concept has canonically been proven to be false, even by Lance. This man is flat and you can pry this opinion off my cold, dead hands.

Speaking of hands! I like his big ol hands. Nice shape. They look soft. I wanna hold them.

According to a DVD commentary, and the visual facts, he has no shoulders whatsoever. Back in Venice Killian was able to restrain him effortlessly with only one foot on his chest, even as he kept struggling ans squirming and generally put in as much effort as he possibly could. Before then, he claimed the database was the first thing he has ever caught in his life.

Conclusion, our boi’s very much NOT athletic. Which makes sense for a scientist, braining all day and stuff, and because he probably barely even eats, or sleeps which are by the way both pretty concerning implications but anyway.

STOP BEATING UP THIS POOR FRAGILE LAD FOR GOD’S SAKE. Makes me want to protect him even more. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you get what I mean.

Now, on to the actual reason I’m so head over heels for him, a.k.a his personality.

He is one of the sweetest, kindest, purest boy characters I have ever seen in fiction, if not THE number one himself. (All my other cinnamon roll crushes are, or have been a villain at some point and WILL resort to violence if provoked.) Look at him, his pacifism… is unbreakable. He’s dead set on making the world a better place, by peaceful ways, and helping humanity. If that’s not a quality to be cherished then IDK what is.

And he’s just such a refreshing character. He likes pink, K-dramas, glitter, kittens, things that aren’t traditionally “masculine” (but is never made fun of those things in particular in the movie) and I love that. Nothing’s sexier than a man who’s, despite society’s shitty standards, openly and unashamedly himself!

His femininity is, if anything, just another turn-on. (This didn’t intend to sound sexual… but oh well.) I love his little hand gestures and mannerisms, dorky ramblings, the way he says “yep” popping the “p” at the end, all the small yet significant traits that were incorporated into his character. Bless you, SiD creators, bless you.

Have I said that he’s a genius?? Which is pretty obvious but c’mon, he graduated at 15!! He can modify human genes!! He successfully turned a man into a pigeon on the first try!! (The serum wasn’t the first prototype but we can assume he didn’t experiment on living humans with the previous ones.) And he’s still just 20!! Like what is that if not hella fucking impressive???!??

His inventions, to the untrained eye, may seem “stupid” or “childish” but alas! The observer couldn’t be more wrong! Because despite the odd designs and themes they’re all highly effective, as we have witnessed in the battle against Killian. And he is extremely creative for coming up with such ideas! Told you he’s brilliant!!

Which makes me all the sadder about how much they underappreciated him at the agency. In his words, nobody ever listened to him, or gave him a chance. They just left him and his “weird” ideas next to the men’s bathroom and called it a day. How could they be so blind? Didn’t they see the potential in his inventions? Oh well. Maybe I’m just being a smartass bc I have more knowledge, living outside that universe. But I’m totally right.

And I was honestly ready to throw hands with Lance for hurting the boi even further. (I’d stand no chance whatsoever, but still.)

Oh no baby please don’t cry.

He did cry in that scene though… you could see a tear rolling down his cheek and if it wasn’t for the machine beeping… He did have a pretty rough day afterall. But HEY, if we dwell on it too much the scene loses its comedic effect!! A guy gets sad over a stupid soap opera, har har har!! Now let’s move on, keep it fast and snappy for the kids, don’t let them overthink it!! Can’t have any emotional breakdowns onscreen. Keep it lighthearted y’know. Then let’s kill a random side character and have our dear protagonist almost die twice.

(Well jokes on you Blue Sky! I’m no kid, but a devoted fangirl who can and will overthink any material of my fictional faves at any given opportunity.)

You know what else I love about him though?? His love for animals!! And pigeons, especially Lovey!! He loves her so much, gives her gluten free breadcrumbs, nuzzles her, the first thing he does when he finds out Lance can talk to the pigeons is ask if she loves him too!! Like… That’s so pure and wholesome.

This here. THIS RIGHT HERE. BROTP forever.

(Not gonna lie, I used to be crazy for pigeons for like, an entire year or something. Not as in looking up all the facts there are about pigeons as I do nowadays with cartoons, but I’d feed them regularly and write my little observations on their behaviors. Did you know they sometimes scratch their neck with their leggies like dogs do?)

I think I’ve summed up mostly everything I love about this nerd. Oh wait, almost forgot the sass!! I love how sassy and smug he can be sometimes, in like, a really harmless way but it’s still a very nice characteristic.

Since I’ve ran out of coherent things to say, here’s an incomplete list of things I want to do to Walter Beckett. Put at the end of this post so those of you who were only here for the analysis part and not the selfshippy gushing don’t have to read further:

kiss he

like seriously

just kiss he a whole lot

cover his whole face in kisses

one kiss for each of his freckles. a finishing kiss onto the tip of his nose. then repeat the cycle

hug him. hug him like the world is ending. hug him so tight he can barely breathe

then ofc let go and apologize bc I would never hurt him on purpose

cuddle him

hold him close, let him lay his head on my chest

run my fingers through his hair

listen to his breathing

discover that he’s fallen asleep on me and smile fondly, then soon drift off to sleep myself so we can wake up entangled in eachother the next morning

fuck he

pin him to a wall and snog he

make him go cherry red

fluster he

compliment him. praise him. appreciate him. he’s a prince, a hero, an angel, a wonderful human being and he needs to know this

feed pigeons together

listen to his scientific ramblings and bird facts

write him love letters and give them to him. maybe read it aloud myself if I’m feeling brave so I can see his reaction in real time

serenade he

be the love of his life, and have him be mine

just… soft things, man

cook something for this malnourished sticc

make him small handmade gifts

they’re nothing like his gadgets but I tried

draw he

have him be my muse in general

not like he isn’t now but it would be lovely if he was real too

carry him bridal style

be the feral cryptid that lurks in his house when he isn’t around

sing along to cheesy pop-song together really badly

watch cheesy rom coms

flirt with eachother clumsily until we’re both laughing at our awkwardness

or, alternatively, shower him with compliments until he literally cannot handle it

have sleepovers together

give him hand kisses

be of emotional support

[destielfanfic]

Group Ask #181

Relevant links to find lost fic

previous group asks - feel free to browse them!

spnstoryfinders

Guide to Finding Fic

Guide to Finding Lost Fic

PSA - Save Your Faves!

Also, please check out our Tags Page and see if the fic in question could be found under some plot/ trope/ pairing related tags! And big thanks to all followers who do check out tags before sending in the ask!!! <333

Ask #1 ( @twinkjensenackles): there’s this fic…#1

can you help me find a fic 👉👈 if not could you tell me some tumblrs/twitters/instagrams that do find fics? (if you can ill put the fic description here in case it happens to be one of your favorites or something) dean and cas had gotten drunk and dean thought it would be a good idea to prank cas and say they got married, cas is all happy but dean is like “oh no” you dont have to answer it but if you do happened to know it PLEAASE tell me😿 thank u😻 ur blog is greatly appreciated❤️

Found by @nickelkeep!

When In Vegas by Dmsilvis, TobytheWise [NC-17, 16,500 word count]

Dean has figured out the most perfect prank. The prank to top every other prank. Ever. Getting his best friend drunk and then convincing him they’d gotten married in their drunken stupor was easy. Dealing with Castiel telling him he’s been in love with Dean for years? Well, that’s a different thing entirely. Castiel wakes up married to the love of his life who he’s been secretly pining over for years. Now he just has to convince Dean that he’ll be the best husband ever, making sure Dean will never regret the decision he made that night. Things take a terrible turn when Castiel finds out everything was a lie in the name of a prank just as Dean realizes how much he truly loves Castiel back. Will they be able to overcome this misunderstanding or was their relationship doomed before it even started?

Ask #2 (anon 1): there’s this fic…#2

I've been looking everywhere for a fic, and I just can't find it! Dean gets a job at a sex shop (I think Crowley owns it, but it might be Castiel's), and it works out well, since he's a masochist, but not a submissive, so he doesn't go into subspace. It's a lengthier fic with CBT, shibari, etc, but I can't find it anywhere. I read it on AO3, but I can't find it based on the tags. Any ideas?

Ask #3 (@kitkat0522 ): there’s this fic…#3

Hi, I'm searching for a series that I read years ago. It involved Cas becoming human, started living with Bobby (cooking/cleaning) while the boys were still hunting. Dean is in major denial over his relationship with Cas, and is really against anything physical ...

Desperately looking for a long Destiel series. The majority of the stories are explicit and revolve around Dean not being comfortable in his sexual relationship with Castiel. Other parts that I can remember include Cas living with Bobby, Dean running into an old gf and Cas getting jealous and almost leaving. I think towards the end of the series Sam actually ended up with a girlfriend. The series takes place over several years and the boys are graying by the end. I have googled like crazy, help!

comment - my first suggestions were new testament [just more of the same’verse] by outpastthemoat and Return to Sender Address Unknown by gedry, alas, those were not the right fics.

Found by @gogoaubergine:  The Writing on the Wall by DasMervin (submitted rec)

Ask #4 ( @alexasbliss ): there’s this fic…#4

Hi! So I need help finding a fic, I’ve gone through the possible tags with no luck but there’s also a chance I may have overlooked it. Now I’m doubting if it’s a real fic lol but from what I remember it was on ao3 and in the fic Dean is kidnapped but escapes, but he’s dealing with some bad ptsd from it so his therapist (I think?) suggests for Dean to find a way to cope with his anxiety and he decides to go to a ranch to help clear his mind and Cas works there and he’s like a horse trainer?

Found by anon: Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses by Blayzepwa [NC-17, 58,600 word count] When Dean’s therapist, Ellen, suggests that he tries something called equine assisted therapy to help him deal with his PTSD, he thinks she’s crazier than he is, and that’s saying something. Horses, seriously? Yeah, really not his thing. But then he meets Castiel, the awkward and…well, kind of strange volunteer with the program. At first he’s unsure of what to think about Castiel, or his horses. But as he builds up his confidence, both in himself and others, he learns a couple things: horses are actually pretty freakin’ awesome, family can surprise you, and that occasionally good things come wrapped in strange packages.

Ask #5 ( @lovesagoodstory1 ): there’s this fic…#5

Hey I’m looking for a fic Cas is Deans Dom they’re at a club he kisses Jimmy thinking it’s Cas I can remember the rest. Help!!

Ask #6 (@iamthebigbanana ): there’s this fic…#6

I’m so sorry to bother you, I have never done this before but it’s driving me INSANE not remembering this fic, basically chuck writes cas out of reality and he comes to dean in his dreams multiple times to try to remind him that he’s there?? And chuck keeps trying to write him out of existence but it doesn’t work??? Like cas keeps coming back like “you have to remember!” I’m so sorry to bug you and if you don’t know either it’s fine, either way I LOVE your blog and THANK YOU for everything!!!!!

Ask #7 (@alwayspraisethemockingjay): there’s this fic…#7

Hi! I was wondering if you could help me find this fic. I’m very sure it’s recent in that it was written in 2019. Plot: dean and cas are both highschool teachers and it’s enemies to friends to lovers. Dean is forced to help cas with his debate club (I think debate club). Also at some point they break up and get back together. Thank you so much!!!!

[dangermousie]

A looong book rec post

I haven’t been watching too much, but I have been reading a lot, so wanted to share some of my recent faves...

Kate Avery Ellison, Kingmakers’ War series - one of my stalwart favorites, this one is 9 books in and still as good as ever. Adventure, twisty plots, an OTP to die for, fantasy, etc etc. Our heroine, Briand, is an orphan existing on her aristocratic uncle’s sufferance in a war-torn kingdom, when the series starts. From then on, we go to a war against a royal usurper, dragons, battles, mind-reading, evil pirates, and en epic OTP or two. 

Why should you read this? The characters are all intense and wounded and complex and have contradictory goals. Our heroine is tough, prickly, needy for love yet fighting it, at one point a thief queen and a dragon controller and gladiator and God knows what. Briand is 50% of the reason I love these books. her OTP Kael is most of the other 50%. When we first meet him, he is an unassuming steward at Briand’s uncle’s estate, but we quickly find out that Kael is actually a monarchist agent working for the prince kicked out by the usurper, there to find someone who has the ability to control dragons. Kael is a true rarity to me - a fully realized male character with his often incompatible with heroine goals in a female-centric YA fantasy. Briand is pragmatic and hates noble causes. Kael is a hardcore idealist dedicated to his prince beyond anything. A lot of the tension in their relationship comes because he can’t and won’t put her first above his goals and it wounds her but kills him because he cannot exist without her but he cannot function without his honor (how this gets resolved is wonderful, actually, delicious, angsty and in character.) There is so much delicious torment and angst. The secondary characters are also great, from Briand’s ragtag band, to Prince Jehn, the man Kael is sworn to beyond anything (who is manipulative and cold and tortured and intense and longs for love from his arranged wife who is even colder and more manipulative and more tortured than he is.) Sometimes I want to murder Jehn and sometimes to comfort him (you like whump, boy did I find a character for you), but he is always fascinating. There is no love triangle, but lots of tortured attractive peeps and lots of plot. GO READ!!!!!!

Kate Avery Ellison, Sworn saga - the second book is out. This is a fantasy/romance/evil werewolves story. I think by now the tough heroine/tortured hero dedicated to incompatible cause is a KAE calling card, one that I really love. I am not big on werewolves because cuddling a dog is NOT romantic, but I love this story anyway. Our heroine, Red, lives in a world where humans are ruled by werewolves. The werewolves can’t have kids with lady werewolves, and certain women are biologically compatible which is indicated by some mark on them. Those Chosen get taken away to make wolf babies whether they want to or not. Red has that mark but her whole life is the Resistance and not getting caught. Also getting revenge for her mother and her childhood friend Kassian, killed by evil werewolves. Alas, she gets caught, her mark is out, and the scary terrifying Silver Wolf himself is one of the party escorting her to the capital. She gets close to Silver Wolf when, due to plot reasons, they are alone and have to fight for survival. Oooooooh. PS Her mom is still alive and may need rescue. PPS who do you think the Silver Wolf is? If you guessed her childhood friend turned into a werewolf by evil werewolves and self-loathing and tormented and deadly, have a dog buiscuit! Heroine’s goal is to free the humans, save her angsty childhood friend/hot not-friend-any-more etc. This is SO delicious. And angsty. 

Sarah K. L. Wilson, Bridge of Legends series - I just finished book 2 and I am soooooo in love. A cool fantasy world with immortal beings who may or may not be benign but want to possess humans, sleeping dragons that need to be appeased by blood, destruction, a truly tortured and messed up OTP and just general deliciousness. Our heroine is a member of the city watch who just may be unknowingly groomed to be sacrificed to a dragon in a ritual most people think meaningless. Our hero is trying to save his sister (the initial target for sacrifice before she gets replaced by heroine) but unwittingly unleashing hell on the world. IT IS SO GOOOOOD. When their world basically explodes, they try to make it right.

I leave you here with the first line from the summary for the third book: “She's stuck in a clock. He's going mad. Can they save each other?” What’s not to love? The fifth and final book is out this spring. 

Rhonda Mason, The Empress Game trilogy - seriously entertaining space opera with lady gladiators and intergalactic conspiracies and romance and spaceships and psionics and angst and lots of fighting. I am so into this one but I am getting lazy so this write up is short :)

[ofieugogyshz]

F/O list

It has occurred to me that maybe I need a post version so I can link back to it for mobile.... So here's a basic copyedit of the desktop page. I apologize for the blown up icons. I have tried different ways to make this post and alas, it will only show up blown up. ....no wonder everyone is making carrds or other outside pages

Main F/O forever and ever is Lance from Pokemon.

It’s been about… 18 years??? long time. A very long time. And only recently has TPC/Game Freak been feeding us Lance fans some very good content. bless pokemon masters. His tags are #my champion, #notes from my champion, #notes from my husband, #notes to my champion, #notes to my husband, among a handful of others. Because we've been together for so long, I'm not comfortable sharing him, but it doesn't mean I won't interact! It'll just feel weird seeing shippy stuff with others ._.;

I have some familial f/os, though the idol kids are more like “best girl/best boy” and I don’t have an self-insert or interactions with them, to be honest. But I’ll proudly post about them and gush over how precious they are.

Speaking of the kids, here are MINE. I love these kids so much and they mean so much to me and bring me so much joy to see and light and I can't even begin to words how important they all are towards my happiness, so you'll just have to look in their tags and see.

Otoya is my most precious idol son, i love him so much, i have so many pins and an itabag for him. pls do not harm the sunshine or i will not like you. at all. eiichi. His tag is "my idol son"

Rin is also my most precious idol girl! She’s super energetic and ADHD and basically her and Otoya are practically the same person. Both super sunshiny idol kids who brighten my day! Her tag is "nyan daughter"

Nozomi is actually more like a little sister to me, even though she’s the Big Sister of the group! She likes to tease the others sometimes, but she’ll also offer advice to the group when its needed, and guided μ’s together from the shadow. She also reads tarot! Her tag is getting changed from “nozo daughter” to “nozo sister”.

Mari! I just vibe with her. Also the whole pretends everything is okay and tries to be super cheery and obnoxiously shiny. Plus, we both like metal. I love her and I feel for her okay??? Her tag is "shiny daughter"

Hanamaru too! she was the first aqours girl i liked, bc we’re both bookworms, and then she fell out as mari fell in (and the anime reduced her to zuramaru and *judges yoshiko*), but she’s fallen back in the more i see of her in the mobile game and in general! and i realize that we both aren’t the fit type but if she can do all the idol stuff then maybe one day I can too!! i forgot her tag, it might have been "zura daughter" or "book daughter"

I love all these girls and Rin and Mari tend to be the top two bestest girls. as a result of them being the high energy cheerful type, I’m anticipating that Ai will be my best Nijigasaki girl. so far, yes. Her tag is "aidol daughter".

Caulifla and Cabba are my saiyan kids but honestly i forget about cabba a lot whenever i try to list my son(s). their tag is “my saiyan children”, as i cba to make separate tags for them when I don’t come across posts of them as much anymore

I’m sure there’s others that I’m forgetting, but those are the main ones. I also sometimes reblog my friends’ fave llsif girls under “#tomato niece” “#rice niece” “#rubesty niece” “#buubuu niece” and "#mermaid niece". I’ll add links later . I also group the girls and otoya under the tag “my idol children”

There’s also my Pokemon family to consider, as I’ve come to realize that it’s more than just my husband!

This is my bratty stepson, Silver. He’s more Lance’s kid than mine. We snark at each other a lot, and there’s not much a “push come to shove” level of care between the two of us so much as “Lance would be disappointed in us if we let anything happen to the other”. But he’s grown a lot since Lance took him under his cape wing, and has become much better liked, even at the Dragon Clan. His tag is “Tsundere Stepson”

My cousin-in-law on Lance’s side, Clair. She doesn’t like me, like, at all. It wasn’t until our mid-twenties that she started to calm down on the major dislike she held for me. She felt it unfair that I wasn’t being held up to the same standards that Lance expects from her, and held it against me, though she’d never openly say why. Just a simple “I don’t like her!”, followed up by her searching for excuses when asked why. We still aren’t friends, and aren’t the first person the other would turn to, but we can tolerate being around each other. She’ll only do favors for/with me if Lance is the person asking her to help. Her tag is “Tsundere Cousin”

Miss Honey, from SwSh’s Isle of Armor! She’s so amazing, so pretty, and SUCH A GOOD MOM. She helps take care of the Dojo and its students, she used to be the CEO of a trading firm, AND she will kick your ass. She also helps the students’ mental/emotional health, she’s just so caring and kind and SUCH A GOOD MOM. did i mention she’s a good mom? because she’s my mom. Her tag is “Kickass Mom”

Cynthia is a friend!!! I’d say from.... was it 16 that DP came out stateside? Anyhoo she’s a very lovely person, can be pretty wise, definitely a fellow ADHDer, we get along about myths and can hyperfixate on those a lot, and she’s a good role model/big sister-type friend! She’s very helpful to those that ask for or need her assistance. also she shipped me and lance and stuck her nose into helping move that along but that’s another topic for another day . She doesn’t have a unique tag yet; it’s currently “cynthia tag tbd”

Lastly.... Moving out of Pokemon and onto the last member of my familial f/os

Say hello to my Grandpa Nevin. He is an old dragon and an outlier and should not be counted a very wise old man. He has so much wisdom and importance to me (and Chise) that I don’t think I would have enjoyed the series or cried as much as I have without him. He’s so very very wise and important. I don’t know what else to say, man. He’s just says important things that hit right to the heart. A different outlook on things, a way to make you rethink. His nickname for me would be something like “Teller of Tales” or something that alludes to me being a writer. He doesn’t have a tag yet.

Uncategorized: sometimes boogiepop is here and I’m not entirely sure why beyond “I strongly feel a connection to it”. Please behold the original cosmic enbity:

Anyways, that’s all! Thanks for getting through this list! 

[queenofthedramedies]

Legacies Opinions 2x03: Take the Win!

Hello, my lovely fellow Legacies fans! 

Spoilers ahead!

Who doesn’t like some pranks, teen angst, and magic. Oh, and did I mention the hundred and twenty-five ships we have this season?  

During this epi we got so many shipping moments, and some major pain for a few, select characters. 

Let’s get into those ships first. (And, beware, I am super-sleep deprived so I may have forgotten some details.)

Handon: Handon had a lot of moments in this epi. Some were angsty, some were funny and some were a little bit scary. It all started with the annual football game. For those of you saw last season, you might remember why it was that the Salvatore Stallions wanted to win so badly. Hope and Landon can agree on one thing; they both suck at football. And with Jo’s jealousy heating up, Hope was going to take a hit. In this case, literally when Landon tackled her, but it kind of felt like he didn’t want to hurt her, falling to the ground under her. Or maybe that was just me. 

Hope, trying to maintain her not-being-Hope-Mikaelson front, went running off with an “injury” and straight into her old homestead. She’s making tracks for Landon and Raf’s room because she needs to track down our errant wolf-boy. Pause to play with Lan’s things. Bad Hope. Going back to doing her work, she got caught by Landon because “Hello” who did not see that one coming. 

Together, Handon go to try to save Raf and Hope finds an excuse to get naked. Because I want to get on with my new life so much... Ha-ha, Hope! As usual, Lan is attacked by the new monster, because he is Xander Harris and exists to be monster-bait. Oh, and Lan finally gets to kill a monster! Yay! But Hope runs away! Boooo! But Landon gets to hug Raf. Yay! And that’s the end of Handon, until the next epi...

Jandon: So, it looks likes Jandon is still hanging on even though Hope keeps appearing and stealing Landon’s attention. Landon, you’ve got a bit of drool, son, and Jo is not taking this crap. She’s all about the game and proving that she is the top dog this season while trying to maintain her relationship with Landon. Something feels like it is going to crack. 

And it looks like it might be Jo, herself, when she decides to go with A Dr. V suggestion. She attacked poor Ethan, who is also kind of an alpha of the humans, but not like the alpha guys we’re used to (more on that later). Attacking Ethan places a further strain on the growing rift between Jo and Ric. Oddly enough, Landon seems to blame himself for Jo’s behavior, instead of wondering if she’s okay. Or maybe that’s just me.

For those of you who are not familiar with Alaric’s past. He, too, had some anger issues discussed in (I think) S2 of TVD and that might be where Jo’s anger issues are coming from.   

Joya (Jo x Maya) I still kind of wonder if there will be something between Maya and Jo. While Landon and Hope kept being pitted against each other. Maya kept chasing Jo around the field. Given what Jo did to Ethan, that might make for a nasty little shocker if they were ever to get together, but, then again, TVD and TO loved to pair people together and create major angst

Mizzie: There were more Mizzie moments and I don’t think I can handle how this is developing. I might turn into a puddle of goo. MG wanted Lizzie to help rescue the Stallions from Dr. V’s wanting Landon to be the QB, which is Liz’s spot, but she wanted to obsess over Sebastian. She did agree to show when MG offered to help her with her new guy problem and this meant we got more Mizzie moments including Lizzie almost admitting to herself that maybe she actually kind of has feelings for young Milton! OMG! But, alas, she ran off after Sebastian. 

Libastian: Seriously! What in the hell is Sebastian, anyway? Vampire? Seriously! Cursed vampire? Maybe. One of my fave moments is when S confesses to Lix what he is and she laughs at him. S finally breaks from moody vamp to a “What in the hell do you find so funny and I’m feeling quite absurd here.”  An embarrassed vamp. I love it! Give me more of S finding out things that make him go “WTF?” 

Hafael: Sorry, Hafael shippers. There weren’t really moments in this epi. for you. There’s Hope wearing Raf’s shirt and turning him back. Which might be a lot? Who knows? 

Hosie: Oh, Hosie shippers. I do feel bad for while Jo is crazy about Landon and Hope is trying not to go: “Hey, you remember when we used to be friends but now we’re like the Veronica Mars theme song? And you’re such a major B to me? Over a BOY!” Nope. Not cool, ladies. time for Hope to be like: “Hey, Jo, you used to like me. We used to go hunt monsters and hold hands for the hell of it (monster fighting) and I miss us. Don’t set me on fire!”

Ethan and Hope (Hethan?): So, I kind of have a vibe with these two, as in I think there is a high probability that they will get together, (even if its for five minutes.)  He seems like a decent guy. I think I could ship them. I think. Do I see them as end game. Probably not. He’s human and already got hurt by one of Hope’s nearest-and-dearest and that will not go well in the long run. 

Maya and Hope (Haya?): Maya obviously likes Hope. And they have a nice friendship, but how long will that last when Maya finds out the secrets of the Salvatore school? And how will she react to what Jo did to Ethan? Tempers might flare. I honestly do not know what will happen to Maya, but I could see her lasting more than one season and who knows what is to come. Other than the writers. 

Ric and Sheriff Mac: Yes, the adults are trying to get their flirt on but Ric might back off since Jo had her little moment with Ethan and that’s going to go sideways since: Hello, who breaks their arm without having run into something or having someone run into them. Sheriff Mac is going to look into that one and Ric will be trying to cover it up.

Not-a-ship: Ric and Dr. V. These two men really hate each other. I wonder why since Dr. V is “up to something” and Ric knows it but does not know what. They butt heads all epi. long and it ends in an assault. Good job, Ric, temper-temper, and we wonder who Jo gets it from? Oh, and Dr. V is not quite what he seems, if you saw the end of the epi. and that is scary AF! He’s like a shark-snake thingy! Oh, my! 

So, I don’t know about you, but I know what I’ll be doing on November 7, 2019 when Legacies returns with “Since When Do You Speak Japanese?”

Have a Happy Halloween next Thursday! 😊

-J

[truthbeetoldmedia]

The 100 6x05 "The Gospel of Josephine" Review

Y’all breathing okay? I think there were a few times when I held my breath this episode and boy howdy! I’m glad The 100 can still give me those moments. Now let’s dive right in to the episode:

Bonjour Josephine!

Last week we got a tiny bite of Josephine. Tonight we got the whole "gâteau opéra”, emphasis on “opera”, for the story of the Primes seems to be a long and bloody Shakespearean affair on an alien moon. Jaux!Clarke (see what I did there?) has barely fired up her silicone memories before she dispatches poor Kaylee with a cheese knife. Apparently Kaylee assisted, or at least didn’t prevent, Josephine’s last host body’s “death”, and she’s been on ice for six years waiting for a new host to be born and grow up. (Which we learn later is because they need a fully developed over-21 adult brain to host an adult’s memory chip, as they overload and kill child hosts. Glad we don’t have to see how they know that.)

Apparently Russell and Simone “jumped line” to bring back Josephine so I’m assuming it’s setup like an organ donor list, except people wait actual decades to talk to their loved ones again. The price of eternal life, eh? Also I can bet there will be some VERY unhappy Primes once they find out Russell and Simone cut line to get their daughter back amongst the living. Josephine seems to be hardened by her long life, and thinks very pragmatically and cold. She has successfully “other-ed” everyone except her loved ones...which is not comforting but also, I can’t help but think the gang would be very happy to have old Clarke back when they get a taste of real cold indifference from Jaux!Clarke.

Her “parents” give her time to adjust and we see Jaux!Clarke painting while dancing to French rap — a sentence I never thought I’d type for a sci-fi show review. She’s of course been given a task: find out how many nightbloods, aka hosts, our Space Popsicles have (since we really can’t call our gang the 100 or the delinquents anymore I’ve decided to call them this, fight me) to keep the Primes from becoming extinct. How hard can it possibly be to pretend to be Clarke right? All I thought was give Bellamy Blake and Jordan Green 10 minutes alone with her and she will figure that out real quick. (Also I was SO pleased to discover I was correct with guessing those two!)  

Space Popsicle™️ Fam finds skeletons in the closet!

Jaux!Clarke meets up with Bellamy, Jordan, Gaia and the rest of the SpacePops™️ Fam and starts acting weird immediately. (Subtle at first but someone forgot to check if she knew Trig ha!) She dodges her first bullet and finds Abby to try and find out how many nightbloods might be on the main ship, only to hear herself called a monster and have Abby compare her book to the Eugenics books of our time. I enjoyed seeing her squirm at Abby’s assessment of her book, though Abby doesn’t have a lot of room to judge...

When Abby questions why her left-handed daughter is writing with her right hand, Jaux!Clarke needs to find a reason to exit stage left and she sees Bellamy and Murphy looking for Jordan and follows them. They find Jordan in the spooky science closet full of skeletons (subtle the Primes are not) and Bellamy is of course in full Dad mode™️, asking Jordan what the heck he’s doing. Jordan delivers quite possibly my favorite line of the season, thus far:   

“What you would’ve done, The you before Praimfaya, anyway. Heart over head. That was always my favorite Bellamy.”

Monty and Harper's son, ladies and gentlemen!! Y’all I nearly jumped to my feet and clapped! Because that Bellamy is also my favorite Bellamy! And this whole season is a little odd feeling to me because Bellamy already feels like he’s been body snatched. Let’s hope this wonderful line delivered with perfection by the fabulous Shannon Kook is a sign we will get some old “I say, screw fear. I’m telling my own damn story” Bellamy Blake back this year! (Can I get an amen!)

Back to the science skeleton closet:

Jaux!Clarke Tries and fails to lure team SpacePops™️ out but Jordan and Gaia keep digging around and they end up watching the first “successful” upload of Josephine by Gabriel and her now very old looking father (og body) Russell. We also learned it took 25 years for them to develop and perfect the AI tech and lord knows how many corpses to get there.

We don’t know yet but I have a feeling we can guess the “old man” is Gabriel and “the Children of Gabriel” are followers against the “Primes ways” and are a result of him regretting playing God to get Josephine back and exiling himself once Josephine and fam got a little to unhinged about “hosts” and “nightblood”, leading others to follow his example. After Jaux!Clarke calls Murphy “John” and says a few other strange things, Bellamy asks to speak to her alone and, I’m just saying, if you watch this scene you see that Bellamy already KNoWS this isn’t “normal” Clarke. He isn’t sure what’s wrong yet, but he knows enough to test her and he can tell she can’t really understand what he’s saying in Trig! So he pulls a signature “Bellamy” move and yanks her back by the throat and starts asking questions because he’s now officially in panic mode —

BUT alas! She had a syringe of that lovely paralytic on hand just in case and the last thing we see in this scene is the horrible realization in Bellamy’s eyes as he lies helplessly paralyzed on the ground: there is a cold stranger behind his best friend’s beautiful blue eyes...and he cannot process his fear and loss fast enough. Welcome back heart over head Bellamy, we’ve missed you!!

Cut to Jaux!Clarke finding Murphy in the bar and revealing her true identity and confessing “Clarke is dead. My parents killed her” (listen I don’t buy it kids) and offering our favorite morally questionable cockroach something he might not be able to pass up: eternal life. Given his recent brush with death and sudden fear of hell….oh boy! It’s gonna take him a minute to realize he should help his friends, I just hope he realizes that before he’s made a full deal with the devil.

Diyoza and the Brat

This pair is a surprising team up, but if I have to suffer through Octavia’s “redemption” they couldn’t have picked a better reward than my favorite Season 5 addition (besides sweet Shaw! I’m still bitter about that guys) DIYOZA! Sassy, amazing fighter, the universe’s longest known pregnant lady. I could watch an entire show about her. (Also Ivana Milicevic is a dream in this role.) She’s the gift that keeps on giving, cool as a cucumber while stuck in space quicksand as Octavia is about to go under because she cannot be still for one second. Probably because if Octavia’s quiet she’ll think and with that comes dark thoughts: how she failed as a leader, how she was willing to abuse, torture and maybe even kill her brother, how her brother, the one person who she thought would always love her through her greatest faults, finally couldn’t take anymore and rejected her. She doesn’t have anything left to lose. Rock bottom meet Octavia Blake, Octavia Blake meet rock bottom.

Now I know I sound harsh but after Season 4 I was beyond seeing her as anything but a villain. I know she is on her way to redemption, but I’m glad they are giving her the long way through the dirt and mud, letting her soak in the cage of her own making a while. And giving us the wonderful Diyoza to lighten the mood. I am all for unsuspecting road trip buddies in shows (Arya and the Hound anyone?) but unfortunately so far all Octavia’s done is try to murder people, throw tantrums, and sulk. Oh well, at least Diyoza is getting in some practice for when she finally gets to have her 200-year-old baby! Really though bless her heart, she deserves some kind of sainthood for this.

Mount Weather + City of Light + Commander worship, shaken not stirred

I actually dig the intersecting of all the “bad guy” storylines into one big villain origin story wearing Clarke’s face. If nothing else it’s a poetic rehash of all the previous seasons, but refreshing enough to not seem stale...for the most part. I grow tired of the Flame/commander story and miss the more simple “teens surviving the unknown my learning to depend and care for each other” story of the first few seasons. BUT considering Season 5’s underwhelming last half, if there is one thing I can say about Season 6 of The 100...it’s not boring! And for a show that sometimes paces the plot too fast I was actually okay with that this time around! I did not want it to take three episodes for our fave family of 150 year old space popsicles to discover Clarke is “dead”. Also I am so glad it was the magic duo of Bellamy and Jordan that made the realization first.

Final thoughts

Eliza Taylor has grown so much as an actress over the seasons! She looks like she had so much fun playing Jaux!Clarke and she gave her such a different “spirit” than our usual worried and sometimes snarky but mostly serious Clarke Griffin. Just the way her eyes dance lets you know it’s not “real Clarke”.

I neglected to mention the importance of Jordan knowing “Delilah” before her change to Priya VII, so his spidey senses also go off around Clarke because he knows what a person who just got body snatched acts like! When he took “Delilah” the flowers I was like my poor son.

This episode was great because the focus was tighter and had fewer characters to keep up with! (Listen I love ensemble casts but they have not given Raven a strong independent storyline since Season 4, and I love Emori but she doesn’t really have a lot to do at the moment either, as for Echo...why she was made a main character when Harper was right there all those seasons? I’ll never know.) All that to say, I like when they break up the cast a bit and just focus on a few at a time to really get that interpersonal development between characters. That used to be the bread and butter of this show. Don’t get me wrong, I still love The 100 and find it unique and fun and twisty and exhilarating and at times beautifully heartbreaking.

(Episodes 1x05, 1x07, 1x13, 2x15, 2x16, 4x13 and 5x13 are perfect examples of this.)

But I do yearn for those slower, deeper days of, say, a boy and a girl grappling with the moral quandary of torturing a stranger tied up in the cockpit of a crashed spaceship to save a dying friend. Sometimes bigger and shiner isn’t always better. But no matter how this season goes, The 100 is still one of my favorite TV shows ever, and deserves a spot up there with a lot of other great sci-fi dramas of the past two decades.

As of now all I need to know is: where the heck is Bellamy Blake and is he okay?!

Gina’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

The 100 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on the CW.

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Latvia to Eurovision with a cinematic French rendez-vous

Supernova with their strict-on decision to only focus on all that’s radiofriendly this year went to hell for me. I mean, I like me some pop tunes, but not those that are purposefully marketed to be enjoyed by the massive sheeps of the Eurofandom who usually fall for those songs by Michael James Down, Will Taylor, even Ylva & Linda... because at the end of the day they’re all just shallow and pointless outside the ESC bubble.

Well the best they could do is to accept some different winds out of nowhere! And so they did when the audition stage hit place and we guys got to witness the 33 shortlisted tunes for this year, among which of them are loudly and proudly different - like “Alligator” and “Grow”, which I did not fathom but I was also raging for their not qualification for - more precisely “Alligator” which was way more outstanding of those two I mentioned. The guys that performed that song were fun, their performance choice was fun, they could have totally rocked on Supernova... but alas.

In fact not that many alternative songs made it to the final down-to-16 cut! There might have been a couple of those that sound nothing a radio would play unless it’s not playing pop on its purpose (Laime Pilnīga’s ”Awe” comes to mind right away), but in the end of the day, not many of those survived and we were graced with some... choices, like letting Samanta Tina waste herself on a cocky-ass tune with terrible chorus rhyme-scheme and unbearable charisma and putting through the most Eirodziesma-like mess-fest with the Beaver guy on top of it. Honey I like you in costume but... not in this emploi.

I don’t blame them though, as one of non-blatant-pop tunes conquered the Latvian hearts for this year. These next Latvian people in Laura Rizzotto’s succession are collectively named Carousel and their song is “That Night”.

It sets a romantic mood throughout, like we all are reliving this magical last date - it was in a restaurant, the candles were lit, the restaurant looked vintage with bordeaux satin tablecloth on the table, and the couple is having a smooth evening... until the love runs out to the probably cold and rainy streets and the other half of the couple starts longing for one's love. That's all I can imagine with this.

So yeah, I really like this! It's got lovely instrumentation that doesn't need all the over the top instruments - just guitar, simple drums, etc.; the noir flair is distinct on here and that's not bad on here; this is just a simple and soft song that you too could play in your own restaurants when all the lovely couples have romantic dinners and sip wine. And in some kind of a French movie, too (with the lead role being a curly redhead artiste with striped sweater, looking for love in Paris (because it’s so romantic in there honhonhon). I'm not sure if the revamp touched upon this one little problem I noticed but the problem kinda seems to be that the chorus repeats. A lot. And verses are way too short that they could be easily forgotten against the 4th and 5th time one would be hearing the "lo-o-o-o-ove, where? Are? You?" line, and then lulled into sleep at how peacefully relaxing it is. Which is indeed of a problem because repetition has quite a bit of a negative effect on people. Yes, it gets the song onto your brain more easily, but the repetition drives people insane too. Just like it was suspected for “Story of My Life” (Belarus 2017) on its original version to be unable to be ‘stood’ - after the 2nd chorus, the rest of the song just went like “hey hey hayayayaho” until the end. Naviband fixed the problem by throwing in another vocal onomatopoeia in a form of the song bridge and I loved them for it, even if there still were too many “hey hey hey”s at the end, haha.

Final conclusion? Yep, issa good entry, and if anything it’s helluva underrated. Say what you want about it being “boring”, to me it’s somewhat fresh and exciting, because the melodies are pleasant, the instrumentation is top notch and Sabīne’s vocals are relaxing. Delightful starry night music, oh yes, thanks a lot for it, Carousel, I’m taking it.

Obviously, after they won Supernova, there was a lowkey uprising from fans who were dead certain on wanting Edgars Kreilis or Markus Riva to win, eek. Honeys, honeys. I do like those two as well, BUT for a bit of a mess that Supernova 2019 was with some of their decisions to include, I think it’s for the better they finally let themselves go lighthearted over it all rather than blatant tryhard to sound radio for the masses just cuz the NF wanted. Just forgive Carousel for winning, okay? Okay. ^_^

Approval factor: Definite yes from me, because why wouldn’t I rate it a yes. Yay brotherland!

Follow-up factor: For me personally this is miles better than Laura Rizzotto's last year's melodrama. Overall I think it just flows nice and is a delightful addition to the Latvian collection.

Qualification factor: This I cannot think about all too often but I am not sure if they'd... stand a chance anymore? I'd use to think it did, but that was weeks before supposedly much stronger entries rushed in, squeezing Latvia into an uncomfortable position. But I really hope it's just charming enough to kind of get through. Sort of. A little bit. I'm positive about it happening, but not that much. And a lot of older audiences might love it enough to vote it, too.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

I admit that I got way too heated about hearing Supernova’s new approach to selecting entries, but in the end it turned out that I didn’t need to worry all that much in the first place - some of those alternative entries we got were very nice (or at least the entries out of the standart overbearing radio-pop norm), both in their actual auditions (this time they were on an actual stage in front of a jury instead of the listeners pick-pocketing the submissions themselves) AND among the actual picks. But what else is there to be note-worthy in this year’s edition of this show?

• Well, among of the auditionees there were those too-weird-ass bands/artists (some of them I mentioned), and you saw me mention the “Alligator” song to you beforehand, which is done by an ambitious project ATOM.LV (so did I mention “Grow" by Waterflower and her show is worth mentioning as well <3 Those flowers in her hair, the hair color, the makeup, her overall image (it’s like Jamie-Lee upgraded) and the dance moves are ADORABLE <3333 but the song is... hmm... :c). And I’ll repeat myself - those guys rocked! I may have not been a massive fan of this but I can at least commend them - they had a good song structure going on, a clear message (alligators from the stars *catchy trumpet fanfare part* trying to probably conquer the world, yeah!) and an outrageous tribal image with that facepaint on! Awh hell yeah! Who wouldn't want THAT through the live shows??? Ah, only the Latvian juries ofc. (And me because I never got the appeal of this but I sure felt sad for 'em kids hoping and wishing for them through :x)

• Thank Goodness I had my faves through - all hail Double Faced Eels! They're the little legendary pop band who went all their way to compete in some Youtube contest and have had sung with Bebe Rexha as the prize for winning it almost 1,5 years ago :o Believe it or not but I have heard of them way before their Sulernova stint - I got introduced to them through a friend, known on Tumblr as Soupgeist. :3 And I don't regret stanning a name I know, as "Fire", their entry in this year's 'Nova, was a pop-rock banger with some electro in! Granted the vocaliat might've had some troubles singing live but he still pulled it off nicely in the finals, with that energy coming out on top! Yeah yeah, uguns. 🔥

• Like I mentioned earlier, there were people rooting for other favourites this year so heavily, and that annoyed the hell out of me, because I thought that Eurofans have some sort of evolving tastes that accept more than just pretty pop boys/girls with not-so-special songs? Well, I mentioned that Eurofans’ targets were Edgars Kreilis and Markus Riva. The latter felt so attacked about him trying to achieve his representation dream over and over he even tweeted about it once... well I did like his song “You Make Me So Crazy”, but I found it a little too overrated with the fans. So I did Edgars, but his song was way catchier and had way more personality than being a club track, I tell ya. Why would his song be renamed from “Fire” (yes, he partially shared a song title with that Double Faced Eels’s song!) to “Cherry Absinthe”, anyway? It gives it a bit more of an exciting feeling, tbh. ^_^ So I ended up rooting for him a little bit more out of the two ‘pretty’ pop boys, if I had to accept one of those kind of winners that everyone wanted (like everyone wanted just either yesyes or The Middletonz for Hungary this year).

• There were a lot of other nice chosen songs too that I would’ve loved to discuss, but I just can’t not mention the Riga’s Beaver as one of the more memorable moments here. I did write earlier in this that I was disappointed though. Not because of the beaver being out of costume and coming at us as a young-to-middle-aged stunning lad, but because the Beaver-entry, “Tautasdziesma”, was a “Supernova”-times cluster-mess. I think of this as a charity music medley-parody of some sorts, and that doesn’t bode with me well, and sometimes I like parodies, like the one Klemen Slakonja (aka the guy who portrayed Putin for a musical number once) did in his country’s NF in 2012 (that he hosted) was fairly nice (although a bit too much), but... ehhh... at least the men are fine and their costumes were dandy.

• Let’s not forget that those auditions had this one glorious thing going on during the performances - we saw shots of the jurors judging all of the 33 shortlisted acts with... rather less-than-enthusiastic looks, and man oh man were they fabulously done with this shit <3333

if that’s not a big indicator of them being too dead inside to be judging anything that day, then idk what is...

Anyway, I am finished with this review also, and I’m happy about it! I don’t think I can move any of this at a more quicker pace (seriously, I have to do so many more even during rehearsals!!!), but I am still trying to do my best. Good luck to the Carousel quartet and may they not flop in May! To hell with the naysayers sweeties, you’ll do just fine x ✨

[simptasia]

🔥 torchwood, lost & detroit become human??

torchwood: i don’t think its that bad. the way the bi rep was handled is kinda wonky because… 2006 but like, overall its a good show. series 2 especially

also i love gwen. i dunno how much gwen hate still exists now but yeah

lost:��

the finale was great, fantastic, beautiful, A+++

the characters matter more than the ~mysteries~

i like/love jack, kate, ana lucia, michael, charlotte, shannon (heck, insert any female character name here because they’ve all gotten ragged on)

jacob is a bad person

i don’t think kate & sawyer work as romantic partners, i just like them as friends. i approve of several ships in the love square but thats one i’m ehhh about, and i know its very popular

i like sayid/shannon. nay, i love sayid/shannon

but overall im happy the modern lost fandom is fulla queer feminists because from what i’ve seen, the old lost fandom (2004 to 2010) was… not as pleasant

detroit become human

oh gosh this is gonna be bad (i have friends who hate this game)

i wanna make it clear ahead of time that i absolutely am aware of the flaws in this game and i’ve even spent a lot of time discussing them with my friends.nobody can diss dbh better than a dbh fan, believe me. i can be aware of something’s flaws and still like something (anybody whose followed me for lost knows i’ve dissed the flaws in lost loads of times. i still love it!) 

also the dude who wrote/directed this game is an asshole, an idiot, a sexist and a bunch of other bad things. thats not an unpopular opinion, i just wanted you guys to know that i know this. when i praise dbh, i’m not praising him

long story short, i like the creation not the creator

i went on a bit so its under here

despite who made it: it’s a good game, brent

i think despite its flaws, there’s more good things than bad things

allegory isn’t inherently racist. note my emphasis

“heavy handed”, “on the nose” and “not subtle” aren’t bad things? i see it get used as insults a lot but to me i got no bother. not subtle doesn’t mean bad. bear in mind that i’ve grown up a star trek and x-men fan so yeah

i don’t wanna say the word overrated because i don’t believe in that. i just find it interesting how certain characters are getting a lot of attention (e.g gavin, nines) whilst other characters are ignored or reviled. thats not me saying the characters whom are popular in fandom should be ignored, thats me saying i’d like more focus on other characters i like too e.g markus, kara, kamski, the jerries, north, josh, rose & adam and a bunch more. i just really like all the androids and some humans okay

like, its pretty obvious why simon (white man) is being adored whilst josh (black) and north (woman) are being ignored and despised respectively, right? and thats not me hating on simon or saying less simon. i like simon! (or like, what can be done with him bcuz canon simon has no depth)

i just happen to like josh and north! which deserves its own bullet point

not only do i like north, i love north and she’s one of my fave characters!

i do not agree with the often used phrase “hank and connor are the only worthwhile part of this game”, in fact, i hate it. sure, the best part of the game, go ahead. but the only worthwhile part? fuck you, because

i like markus and kara and their stories! whilst most my problems with this game are in markus’ story (just trust me on that), overall i still like it. and kara? heck theres not a single kara chapter i don’t like. and on that note:

i don’t consider kara’s story to be useless. yeah she’s not part the revolution plot but thats not bad. i think it provides a balance. think of it like this: markus represents The Leader, the liberator, the messiah. he is fighting for his people. and he comes from a privileged background. connor is representing The Man, The System, depending on how you play him he is rebelling against The System or is a part of it. now what does kara represent? The People. her and the other androids she encounters represent the average android in this world. markus and connor can’t do that so i feel its important we see her. we’re seeing what markus (and maybe connor) are fighting for. and i think thats really important

and besides all that, i just plain like it okay

i like markus/north, i think they make a good couple (moreso in my head than in the game but i still think they’re sweet in the game)

the concept that pacifist markus and north don’t “make sense together” is stupid because ur assuming north is bloodthirsty and has no room for growth. and that all couples need to agree with each other. also north for violent markus and simon for pacifist markus also makes no sense to me becuz 1. people aren’t rewards, 2. ur confusing simon with josh. again. and 3. violent!markus and north would just be enabling each other. if north is to be with any markus, it should be pacifist markus because they’d be good for each other. also all three of them being options woulda been nice but that’s not an unpopular opinion anyways so moving on

the awkwardness felt about markus/north coulda totally been fixed by literally just one change. take the “lover” indicator and move it until after their first kiss. that way the timing is far less jarring and because the player can choose the kiss or not, the “lover” thing feels more like “yay i made their relationship grow” and less “oh whoa that was sudden”. if that was moved and nothing else changed, markus/north would’ve been way more loved. but alas, markus’ relationship scanner is just damn awkward

markus, my markus, is a verse and a kind, socially inept boy (i like how with the jericho four, north is a rowdy girl whilst the other three are various kinds of soft boys in their own way. i think thats cute and neat)

connor is not an innocent niave dumb bimbo (save that for the bedroom) and i wanna remind ppl that he’s an expert on psychology

the humans killed by daniel, ralph, echo (blue traci), shaolin (HK400) and north all deserved it

north, josh and simon would not all hate each other, fuck you. these people are meant to be friends, remember? (also jericho OT4, y’all!!!)

the facial expression on simon’s face after markus and north kiss at the end is gentle approval. he looks happy, some ppl are just projecting

i don’t mind that alice is an android

the way some markus/simon shippers talk about north is downright sexist and i think most north hate is caused by sexism & rape apologism

(i’m a live and let live kinda person about ships and also i’ve very into multishipping so some y’alls behaviour is perplexing to me)

there is nothing inherently morally wrong with shipping hank/connor. connor is capable of consent and age differences aren’t inherently bad. and the only reason this ship is controversial is because hank looks old and he’s not conventionally attractive. nobody would care otherwise

kamski isn’t evil, he’s morally ambiguous / chaotic neutral

i, uh, like kamski/chloe. its interesting (i’ve embraced that it’s fucked up) and i like the idea that chloe actually does love him. its kinda tragic?

a bunch of that was more about the fandom than the game but whatever. and as usual when i make a list, theres probs more but like, thats what comes to mind

yeah there was room for improvement on this game but overall i think its great and i like the characters, more than that i like what can be done with the characters. like, its a nice place to build from. and like, the people who are all like “if ur a fan of detroit become human, ur a bad person” can just fuck off

thats not how… anything… works

and besides its a piece of android media, done in a story based game, that has android babes and is fulla allegory and it’s something i can analyse to death (and as a bonus, the graphics/rendering/mocap/texturing are PHENOMENAL)

of course this is something i would like and i won’t apologise for that

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Gosh, I never did post my con report for Ice and Fire Con, did I? Well, 3 weeks past, but hopefully not too late...

4/26, Thursday evening: Arrived in Columbus airport. While packing my big-ass suitcase for the con Wednesday night Thursday morning, I realized my white makeup had somehow disappeared, but I looked up a Party City in a Columbus suburb that had some. (Didn’t have time to go shopping on my way to the Chicago airport.) So, having figured that I could rent a car for the whole weekend for less than the price of a Lyft from the airport to the lodge, I did so, found that shop, bought that makeup, and had a lovely drive to Deer Creek State Park. Approaching the park, I found the name was very accurate, as a deer was crossing the road on the way there, in a very stupid way. “Should I jump the fence? Or go back in the road and wander everywhere? Durhurhur!” Finally he got a clue and I moved on, only for another car to zoom around me like I was standing still. That’s how you get deer through your windshield, son.

But anyway, got to Deer Creek Lodge by 9ish, got my room and registered and all, and started seeing people I’d met last year. Chloe (@liesandarbor) and Emmett (@poorquentyn) and Wendy (@wendynerdwrites) and Jim (@warsofasoiaf) and all, as well as others who I don’t think have tumblrs (or I don’t know them) but are excellent folk. And I heard there was an unofficial party that night, thrown at the cabin of the Chicago boys (who I don’t know actually), same as last year, so I headed down that way. This year the party was in support of one of their fellows who’s getting married, a Stag and Doe party, with raffle tickets and games, so it was extra fun, besides the drinking and all. :)

Picked up a raffle package that included a blue rose flower crown, and had a moment when I met Tara (@ageeksaga) and she thought I was Wendy, lol. I was like, nope, sorry, I’m the other short brunette Jewish fandom fave from tumblr who’s dating a guy named Jim. (And who sometimes wears blue rose flower crowns.) She was tired, it’s hard getting this con ready, I didn’t blame her at all, but lol. :)  Also at the party was Michael (@1000eyesandone) and his wife Adrienne, who are awesome people who I met at last year’s con, and ended up hanging around a lot with this year. Anyway, after a night of drinks and meeting people and drinking and chatting and drinking and games and drinking and winning tickets and putting them in the raffle prize choices (there were many cool prizes but only a few that I really wanted so I put most of my tickets in those), they had the raffle, about 1am I think, and I won a prize! Woo, chocolate and popcorn and bath bombs and other relaxing things. And then I was tired so walked back to the lodge with a bunch of other people, did a tiny tumblr update, and collapsed into bed.

4/27, Friday: The con officially opened today, and I got up late but made it to the second half of the ice breaker opening thing. They had the bingo where you’re supposed to find people who meet the qualifications for the bingo square (newbie to @iceandfirecon, newbie to cons in general, prefer direwolves to dragons or vice versa, have a particular fave house, are a shipper - I volunteered a lot for that one, and so on), and also that game where you have a name on your forehead and you have to guess who it is (I was Janos Slynt, joy), and I met some very neat people. Then I went down by the lake (or creek, I guess?) for my picture with a wolf! And here, some more pictures:

Logan is such a good boy. :)

Caught lunch with Wendy and Jim and Michael and Adrienne, then I went to the Q&A panel given by the Ironwood Wolves people, where they talked about the education work they do with their ambassador wolves, and what wolf behavior is like, and all that interesting stuff (watch the video, there’s a sweet sleepy wolf in it). Got some pictures of the lake, went to the History of Westeros meetup for a bit (I have a processing thing with podcasts so I can’t listen to them, but Ashaya and Aziz are the most excellent people), and soon it was time for the @asoiafuniversity meetup panel with me and Emmett.

Alas, we were up against Quiplash in the big conference room, and I don’t think the schedule was that clear unfortunately, so we didn’t have many people showing. (Unlike last year where we got a pretty good crowd!) But for those who did come, we explained what we do, and discussed some meta topics, and it was really nice. Then I caught the end of Quiplash, which is kind of a Cards Against Humanity -type online party game where you write the answers and the audience votes... well, it’s fun, and I got to be in the last answer panel, and even had an answer some people liked. :)

Went over to the vendor room and saw so many gorgeous things, ASOIAF art and statuettes and cloaks and such, but the only thing I bought was butterfly fairy wing earrings. (Which I think takes my number of butterfly earrings up to... 10 maybe? I have a lot.) Then as it was starting to get dark I went back to my room and got ready for Shabbos (had the room key situation arranged with the hotel staff, since my Jim wasn’t at the con), and then... it was time for IaFcon’s first musical!

Inspired by the awesome performance of Tara and Brian last year in D&D’s “You’re Welcome”, this year the crew put on WESTEROS, a tribute/parody of Hamilton. And oh my gosh it was sooo good. You should watch it, honest. (@draganchitsa, I spent half the time thinking of you.) Of course the costumes and casting were excellent, and there were some truly fantastic lines, all telling the KL story from the start of AGOT to the Battle of the Blackwater... Including one last song for the shippers among us, heehee, oh gosh I was covering my face and blushing the whole time. :) :) :)

Then dinner with Wendy and Jim and Emmett, then back to the con room for karaoke. :D  As it was Shabbos I didn’t perform myself (didn’t want to deal with not using the mic and stuff), but I sang along with everybody, including when Michael did Head Like a Hole to the music of Call Me Maybe, which was hilarious. ;) That ended about midnight, and I headed back for sleep, as big day Saturday... or should I call it... Weirwood Day!

4/28, Saturday: Got up early(-ish) to get my weirwood tree costume ready. :) My makeup, since I’m not that often a cosplayer (like almost never), took a while (took forever, didn’t get to two panels I wanted to see, thankfully they’re on youtube now), and I had a panel I was actually on at 1pm and I still hadn’t put the bloody tears on at almost 12:30... So I dressed up and wigged up and leafed up, and headed out, got stopped on the way for a picture, got to the panel just a wee bit late... but still, it was an excellent panel, all about the animal symbolism in ASOIAF, lots of discussion of direwolves and how they interrelate to the Stark kids; as well as other houses, dragons, lions, krakens, bears, birds, trout... all that sort of thing. The panel’s up here on youtube if you want to see me as a white-and-red dorkus talking about direwolves. :)

Then there was the tourney, outside, which looked awesome, but it was coooold out and I still wasn’t quite done with my costume, so I went back to my room and had lunch and got finished up (occasionally glancing out the window since my lodge room had a tiny corner of a view of the tourney field), and finally... finally I was ready. :D 

Headed toward the con rooms with a big backpack full of art books for my panel (that was going to be after the costume parade, and I so didn’t want to go back and forth), as well as my bag full of ravens. :D   On the way, had a selfie with Ashaya (@buskerlenny), who had an excellent Danelle Lothston costume. Made it in time to catch the end of Emmett and Silas’s panel on Lovecraft Mythos and ASOIAF, listening while I checked that my leaves and ravens were all arranged properly. (Next time safety pins maybe?) And soon other cosplayers started coming in, including the lovely older lady who was such a perfect Old Nan last year -- this year she was the Ghost of High Heart, with a weirwood-print dress, and she was delighted to see me. :D  She had a photo taken with her sitting and me standing (as a tree) behind her, which I haven’t seen but hope shows up one of these days, it should be so neat.

And then the costume parade! So many amazing costumes, so much fun. While we were waiting to line up, I actually started tearing up (because of my contacts, eyeliner, mascara, god knows), but consensus among those who looked at me that it really didn’t hurt my makeup much and really fit the crying-tree look? so hey. :)  Last year in the parade people stopped to do performances, but this year they separated out the performances till after the parade (and the voting only for that), so it moved pretty quickly. But I got a lot of applause for my weirwood, especially when I lifted up my “branches” with the ravens on them. And I heard someone say that if they had been doing voting, I probably would have won, which is really really nice. :D :D :D

Then I sat down for the performances, and oh my gosh. There was a Rohanne vs. Dunk rap battle (with shoutout to Jaime/Brienne lol), a Brienne vs bear fight (set to the Bear and the Maiden Fair of course), Chloe did a parody of Free Fallin’ (with Lyanna and Ashara themes *wince*), and there was Michael as Tom O’Sevens singing Edmure’s Floppy Fish song that had everybody lol’ing... but the room went dead quiet in awe for Septon Meribald’s Broken Man speech. Damn. (And yeah, I cried some more.)

Group photo time!

All these amazing people. :) I’m kind of easy to find, though, lol.

And then there was my and Ashaya’s panel on the history of ASOIAF fanart, also with artists @sanrixian and @palewhiterabbit. It went really well, I think, lots of cool info... I brought my Art of Ice and Fire books, the D&E graphic novels, and some @kallielef and bubug prints (also one of @chaouenmadrid’s sansan books), Ashaya had Draw ‘Em With the Pointy End and another art book... but alas, we were up against the trivia contest in the big conference room, so again not that much of a crowd. (Someone asked me if I was cross-scheduled because Emmett and Wendy and I won trivia last year, idk lol, other people won too.) But anyway, the people who were there for the panel seemed to like it a lot -- not sure if it was filmed, but if it was I’ll put up the video eventually. Or maybe I could write down my mental notes, if you like.

Afterwards, I headed back to my room for dinner, and when Shabbos was over I took a few selfies (including some duckfaces for Kelly Sue DeConnick, whose costume inspired mine), and then washed up. Because party time!

(me and Wendy, at the party - I’m wearing little bird earrings and this tshirt)

I have few mental notes for the Flea Bottom Fete, alas. Just that it was a hell of a lot of fun, tons of great music (having a convo in the hallway, “oh wait this is my song, gotta dance”), people’s party cosplays were hilarious -- I recall Michael’s punk Bloodraven, there was a group of sexy Greyjoys, Tara had party Cersei, a bunch of girls came with a Qarth dress theme, and of course there was stripper RobbWind... and, well, there was a bar. :)  (And also someone brought macarons, nom nom nom.)

4/29, Sunday: I had to check out by noon. I had a panel to give at noon. I managed to get packed up, check out, put my suitcase in the car, and make it on time for this panel, coffee’d up and everything. I consider that a grand success. And then in the very excellent panel (on GRRM’s many other works, with me and Aziz and Amin Javadi and one of the con volunteers I didn’t catch his name augh), I managed to actually sell a few people on reading Wild Cards, I think. Truly a success. :D  And then the closing ceremonies were lovely -- and the wolf puppy from the photos that were taken Sunday even came, oh my gosh he was so cute... but sigh, alas the con was over for me.

I’d left a note on the Facebook group that I’d rented a car and could take up to 3 people back to the airport for an afternoon flight, and a few girls had contacted me that morning to take me up on the offer. So that was a nice trip. :) Returned the rental easy, caught my short flight easy, and was back in Chicago by Sunday evening to watch Avengers and get dinner with my @jimintomystery. A lovely weekend, full of ASOIAF and friends and fun, I truly hope to do it again next year!

(goddamn, this is long. no wonder I never properly wrote up last year’s con report...)