#elias and ruby

[accidental-apocalypse]

If I had a nickel for every time the end of the world was brought on by an archivist dressed in dark academia doing a dramatic monologue as they were being puppeteered by the Big Bad in a piece of British media, I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice!

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

Oh, they are SO MOTHERFUCKING BACK! This sounds like it's their new "Thunderpussy" - either "Thunderpussy II" or maybe a reply to "Thunderpussy", even? It's hot as fuck, anyway.

And keyboooooooards! BE STILL MY HEAAAARRRRRRRT.

[comfortventure]

oh yeah art dump

[hannahwatcheshorror]

SHUTTER ISLAND (2010)

Dark movie, wild movie, with dark themes, a Bostonian accent, lots of rain and then no rain. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play very well together even when they don’t get along.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trigger Warning PTSD, N-word, Holocaust Camps, Child Deaths, Nude Men, Flashing Lights

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Teddy, a US Marshal who is joined by Mark Ruffalo playing Chuck, his partner. They go to an island off Boston where there is a prison for the criminally insane. They are going there because one of the patients has somehow escaped and they can’t find her anywhere, Rachel just straight up vanished. The boys are hot on the case but are getting such weird scripted answers from everyone they almost don’t believe Rachel even existed in the first place. That is until she shows back up, completely unharmed which is wacky considering there has been a hurricane going on outside and the woman didn’t have any shoes!

Teddy admits to Chuck that he is there to see if he can find the firebug who started the fire that killed his wife, Chuck asks if Teddy is here to kill the man, Teddy has flashbacks from releasing a holocaust camp in WWII and the things he saw there, says he has no interest in murder. That night Teddy suffers from an intense migraine and dreams about the patients, his history, and his late wife. When he awakes it is pandemonium due to the storm, the power went out and the inmates are loose. They use this opportunity of chaos to sneak into the worst block, C, and look for the firebug. Teddy separates from Chuck and gets some information that Chuck might not be in his best interests. He also finds out his firebug might be in the lighthouse because that is where the patients go when they get their heads cracked open and experimented on. 

Teddy abandons Chuck and finds the real Rachel who actually used to be a doctor at the facility, whoever they had back at the facility now is a fake for show. He makes his way back to the mainland and they pretend Chuck never existed. Oh no! Teddy swims to the lighthouse because he is determined to figure out what the Hell is going on in this Island! Time for the plot twist! Not only has Teddy been a patient on the island this whole time, he himself is the firebug he has been looking for! Shocker! Teddy is in his own form of denial about being a murderer so he made up this whole savior scenario for himself apparently. It turns out his wife killed their kids and Teddy needs to right now stop believing the fake stuff and snap back to reality or else the program is doomed.

Chuck comes in and is revealed as Teddy’s therapist, not his partner, and suddenly Teddy remembers. He remembers the whole awful affair of coming home to find his wife having drowned their kids and him having then to kill his wife (per her request). The only problem is after this breakthrough he forgets everything and goes back to thinking he is Teddy the Marshal and going back to trying to solve the crime. This results in him being taken away by orderlies and a shot of the lighthouse to imply he was getting lobotomized even though we have seen inside the lighthouse and know there is nothing inside it. Roll credits.

----------------------HANNAH WATCHES HORROR---------------------

[confessions-heartland]

"Heartland will always be one of my comfort shows, but it's dying a very slow and painful death. It needs to put out of its misery."

[panicroomsammy]

Ruby and Elias play such similar narrative roles getting the apocalypse’s specialist little boy to start the apocalypse by getting him addicted to something that turns him into a monster

[soapoperabarbiestyle]

Rubi icons: Genaro Duarte icons

Genaro Duarte is the godfather of Héctor Ferrer Garza and is enemies with Rubi Perez Ochoa, husband of Elisa Duarte and has a other family his other wife Lilian Duarte, his son Luis and her daughter Naty. He is played by José Elias Moreno.

[ingeniousmindoftune]

Smoke and Sin

Rating: Explicit (18+)

Smoke & Stack x Reader

Note: Set during the chaos in Sinners (2025), the twins— identical, lethal and seductively unholy— find themselves entangled with you, a sly speakeasy informant with secrets of your own. When you slip too deep into the game of lust and power, the twins close in- not as enemies but something far more dangerous…

The speakeasy on Mercer and 5th didn’t need neon. A faint halo of incense smoke drifted like a smokescreen under dim lamps carved from jade. The air tasted of sandalwood and gin. A cracked gramophone dripped ragtime piano keys, each note a slow pulse. You stood at the bar in your black velvet sheath—so tight your pulses showed through the slit that climbed your thigh—and clutched a coupe of ruby-red vermouth. The cold glass sent shivers across your palm.

Pleasure wasn’t your agenda. You traded in whispers: crooked card games, smuggled shipments, alliances bought with lipstick-smudged lies. But word had reached you that Elias “Smoke” and Elijah “Stack” Moore “Smokestack Twins”—twins notorious for leaving trails of bodies—were stalking the Quarter again.

“Trouble, table for two.” Benny’s breath ghosted at your ear. His voice trembled—a good omen. You didn’t spare him a glance. You felt the shift before you saw them.

Two silhouettes moved as one down the smoke-tinged aisle. Elias’ jaw was a blade; Elijah’s gaze a slow burn. Both wore charcoal suits cinched at the waist, collars open to reveal skin that gleamed like obsidian. Their eyes—smoldering coals—swept the room, sucked the air from conversations, blurred the edges of every patron’s glass.

“Y/N,” Smoke rumbled. His voice was velvet and steel. Your spine quivered.

Stack’s lips curved into a grin that tasted of promise and threat. “We missed you.”

You toyed with your glass, the ice clicking against crystal. “Didn’t know I was that entertaining.”

Smoke slid into the seat beside you, hips brushing yours. His nearness sent a pulse through your core. “You’re not entertaining, sweetheart. You’re worth the chase.”

Silk and incense and low-hunger music wrapped around you. The bartenders froze; the pianist’s hand caught mid-note. When the SmokeStacks arrived, the world contracted to their orbit.

But you came armored. A veil of perfume spiked with silver dust—an old charm against monsters. You lifted your chin, letting the soft glow catch your lashes.

“Still flirting with fire?” Stack traced a lazy finger up your thigh. Heat bloomed under his touch.

You tipped your head back, lips curving. “Only when I want to get burned.”

After that, the night blurred in green-whiskey shots and laughter threaded with tension. Lips brushed necks in shadowed corners. You slipped upstairs, guided by Benny’s nod. The VIP lounge glowed blood-red. Velvet sofas curved like sin. Curtains pooled on the floor, as if bleeding.

Smoke and Stack flanked you—two halves of a single desire. Stack’s scent was dark amber; Smoke, raw musk. You let Stack’s hand ghost over your ribs, then slide under your dress. Smoke’s mouth was hot on your nape, teeth grazing, sending sparks along your skin.

Smoke’s lips crushed yours—hard, demanding—tongue opening you like a secret. You gasped, arching into him. Stack’s fingers fumbled with your fasteners, sending velvet pooling at your hips. He kissed a path down your collarbone, tasting sweat and promise.

When Stack’s hand pressed between your thighs, slick with anticipation, you trembled. Smoke parted your hair to expose a tender curve at the base of your skull. His teeth grazed—you inhaled sharply. Every nerve ignited.

“We want the truth,” Smoke whispered against your jaw, voice a caress and a command. “Or we take it.”

Your breath stuttered. “I—I told you everything I know.”

Stack’s lips clamped on your breast, tongue flicking. You moaned, arching, the breath rattling free. Smoke’s fingers found your center, curling in slow, precise strokes. Heat pooled, pressing outward, making your vision blur.

“Say our names,” Roman murmured, thumb circling your clit with cruel devotion.

“Elias…Elijah…” Your voice was a plea buried in pleasure.

“Say our names…” they both growled.

“Smoke…Stack..”

Their rhythm shifted: one twin pulling pleasure from your moans, the other marking you with hot, insistent kisses. You were stretched between them—each movement an exquisite crime.

Then Stack’s teeth sank into your neck. Pain lanced through pleasure, making your blood drum in your ears. A strangled cry tore free. Smoke’s hand froze, crimson unfurling across your collarbone.

“You bit her?!” Smoke’s eyes flared, coal-red anger.

Stack’s grin was wicked. Lips wet with your blood, he pressed another kiss to the wound. “She tasted like sin.”

Smoke’s suit jacket dropped to the floor. He knelt, one hand at your pulse, the other steadying your thigh. His gaze flicked between the wound and Stack’s gleeful grin. “Our pact—if she bleeds, she dies.”

Warm dread pooled in your belly, but the silver dust in your perfume hissed at the venom, slowing its creep. You teetered on the edge of oblivion.

Stack’s fingers brushed your cheek, gentle now. “I didn’t plan it…her scent was too much.”

“Then help her,” Smoke ordered, voice brittle as broken glass. Pain flickered in his eyes.

Your breath came in ragged sobs. “Stack…” It was an apology, a plea.

He closed his eyes, knuckles white as he pressed a kiss to your blood-stained lips. His voice was a broken promise. “I should let you bleed out right here.”

You shivered, tears mingling with sweat and blood. “Then why—”

He silenced you by sweeping you into his arms. Softly, tenderly, as if cradling something precious meant to break. His suit ragged against your skin, his heartbeat thundered against your ear.

Stack hovered, guilt and desire warring in his sharp features. Smoke’s fingers brushed away your tears. “You’re ours,” he murmured. “And I’ll damn the world before I lose you.”

Your heartbeat steadied in his warmth. The twins—destroyers and saviors—held you between sin and salvation.

When they carried you toward whatever came next, you knew nothing would ever be the same.

[livingmybestfakelife]

Love Rollercoaster (pt. 2)

Elias “Stack” Moore x Reader

[Part 1]

“Juke Joint Briefly Owned by the Notorious SmokeStack Twins Mysteriously Burns Down — No Casualties Reported”

The headline of the Mississippi Herald is what you were expecting. As much as you didn’t want to face that reality, the club was gone. The twins and little Sammy were gone. No there weren’t any reports of any losses of life, you didn’t hear from your friends either…well friends and your back door man and secret fiancé.

During your eight month long affair, Stack had proposed to you. He took you to Miss Marlene’s restaurant in her backyard. It was a shack that was spruced up enough to look presentable enough. He payed her five dollars so that you both could dine alone and to help Miss Marlene make up lost revenue for closing the popular spot for the rest of the public for an hour. You ate, slow danced to a few songs on a record player, and he guided you to sit back down before getting down on one knee. A gorgeous oval ruby and diamond halo ring is what he promised himself to you with. You jumped into his arms and sprinkled his face with kisses, his laugh boomed through the shack at your acceptance, you made him a very happy man that evening.

Of course you could only wear it during your time with Stack. Removing your current one and placing it in your purse and he’d slide his ring on your finger every time before kissing your hand. When you were with Stack you were Mrs. Moore, everyone who were friends or respected the twins knew about your relationship and of course wouldn’t say anything, out of respect or fear, either way it was an open secret.

It was one you should’ve been ashamed of, and on occasion you were. But when Stack would make you laugh, shielded you from danger or planned an exciting outing, that guilt was bogged down. You couldn’t honestly say that you were truly in love with Donny. Sure he was a respectable man, had an honest job being a mill supervisor, and he was nice to you. But you didn’t have any chemistry with him on your end, and more often than not he bored you. He was too green for your liking, craving something more exciting than the dutiful housewife path you’re currently in. But you also liked and respected him enough to break the news to him easy for when the time came to tell him that you were filing for divorce.

It would crush him, he loved you and considered himself lucky that one of the most beautiful women in the town married him. But now those plans were over, a part of you was relieved about it, it would eat at you to break Donny’s gentle heart. Once you place the newspaper down you headed to the kitchen to get started on dinner. You planned on making some Oysters Rockefeller and roasted duck breast, something more fancy as a celebration of Donny’s mill closing on a good deal. The only issue is, you forgot to pick up some oysters today. You sigh and go to grab your purse and head to the seafood market before it closed. You managed to make it there forty five minutes before closing, considering yourself lucky for the new automobile Donny purchased you last month at making your commute quicker.

You got out of the car and walked towards the entrance, while you did so you noticed how stuffy the air felt, it being the middle of summer was most likely the excuse. But this was a different type, it didn’t feel right, it especially didn’t feel right that the shop looked empty, and once you entered you saw that it was indeed empty. That’s weird, you know for sure it would be still open, unless Mr. Harrison changed his time without you knowing, but then again why would the door still be unlocked?.

“Hello? Mr. Harrison?! Anybody here?!”

The display around the store was still halfway abundant, the oysters especially were unusually still stacked with a fresh batch. What the hell is going on this evening? Anyone would be lucky to get half a pound of oysters left around this time. Something wasn’t right here, but were you overthinking things? Maybe it was a slow day, but that would be impossible in these parts. All of a sudden you heard heavy footsteps from the back, oh good, someone was here.

“Mr. Harrison?! It’s Mrs. Warwick, I’ve come to purchase some oysters if you’re still selling”

You’re met with silence and the sudden stopping of footsteps for a moment before it picks up again, it gets closer and closer towards the front of the store. You turn and pick up a shopping bag and fill it with enough oysters for you and Donny. The steps behind you get even more closer and now it sounds like it’s finally inside the store. Once you’re done you fold up the paper bag.

“You got you a good batch today Mr. Harrison, nice and fresh….well they always are but-“

You’re shocked when you turn around to see that the man in front of you isn’t Mr. Harrison, or any of his employees, instead it’s someone you didn’t think you’d ever see again.

“Elias?!”

“It’s me ladybug”

You drop the bag without thinking and jump into his arms. He returned the hug with a squeeze and gave you a sloppy kiss, it’s as if he hadn’t seen you in years.

“Oh honey, I thought something happened to you, the fire-the papers said there weren’t any casualties but, there were no signs of you and the others either! What happened?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that anymore baby, what happened was just what it is”

“W-what? How can you be so nonchalant about this, you and Smoke lost your club, you didn’t even own for twenty four hours”

“I know, but some things happen for a reason”

“Um, is Smoke and everyone else alright?”

“Yes darling, they’re okay, I’m okay, and you and I are gonna be fine,

“Elias, how did the fire start?”

“Oh it just happened”

“But-“

“Hey I got good news”

“What?”

“This is ours now!”

You look around at where he gestured, you couldn’t believe it, he was smiling wide and proud, not being able to wait for your reaction.

“Well, what do you think?”

“You bought the seafood market off of Mr. Harrison?”

“I sure did baby”

“This store was his papa’s, he swore he’d never sell and keep it in his family, how’d you convince him to give it to you?”

“You know I can be very persuasive” he winks,

He was proud of himself of being able to distract you from the fire incident. That was a conversation for when you’d be able to understand the situation better. You look around and smile.

“I thought you sunk all your money into the juke joint, but here you are making other investments”

“That’s right baby, I’m coming up in the world, doing something to make you proud”

“I’ve always been proud of you honey”

You reach up and rub his cheek, which makes him lean into the comfort of your warm palm, it’s something different about him, you can feel it, his eyes seem slightly lighter than usual, but before you can question that, your mind shifts back to the store.

“This is a wonderful investment for your future”

“Our future, remember?”

He sees your face twitch and knows you’re remembering your dilemma, luckily he knows just how to help you make your decision.

“Oh right….um Elias darling I-I”

“Don’t you think you’ve made me wait long enough YN?”

“Of course, but sweetheart it isn’t that easy-“

You’re silenced by him walking towards the entrance and locking the door, the slow turn around makes you nervous. He’s upset, that much is obvious, but him not saying a word is bothering you.

“Elias I promise in due time honey”

“The time is up now ladybug, your time with him is over”

He walks closer to you and it makes you stumble back, you’ve never been scared to be around him before. You didn’t like the feeling, he’s the love of your life, why does it feel like you wish you weren’t here right now?.

“What are you talking about Elias….Elias what are you doing?”

His eyes start to glow a bright red color, then his smile, it wasn’t that sweet and lively smile you’re used to from him, his teeth, what the hell is going on with his teeth?

“Elias w-what is going on? Your eyes! Your teeth!”

“It’ll be alright bab-“

You bolt towards the back of the store, slam and lock a door. But the lock would soon prove to be useless, in a flash he was on the other side slamming against it while you tried to look for a weapon, but nothing in here would’ve taken him down.

“YN! I’m not gonna hurt you darling, I’d rather die than do that, it’ll be quick I promise!”

“ELIAS PLEASE YOU’RE SCARING ME”

“Don’t be scared baby, don’t say that to me, you love me”

You begin to cry, you’re frightened and confused, this is something you’d only seen in films at the picture houses or read in books, vampires aren’t real, they can’t be.

“I have all of these plans for our future baby doll, I can’t complete any of that without you. This is our dream remember? Mr. and Mrs. Elias Moore, you run the books and I take care of the dirty work. You remember those conversations, under the covers? In the bed that’s under the roof of our secret apartment….I’m tired of secrets, sick of you hiding my ring, you ain’t gonna hide me no more, you’re gonna make an honest man out me darling. Let me be the father of your babies, you’re gonna give me everything you promised me while I was between your legs!”

“Elias, please!”

The door finally flung open and the next thing you know, your neck was burning from the sharp prick of his fangs, your screams were muffled from an unknown force, making sure no passersby’s could hear your cries and intervene. Your moment of despair soon waned and your eyes got heavy, you were dying, your Elias was killing you. You reached up to touch his cheek, still having enough strength to attempt to move him away from you, he gently grabbed it and kissed your hand before reaching into his pocket to pull out your ring and slid it onto your finger, where it belonged permanently. Soon the world around you went dark.

———————————————————————————

{April 26 1977}

“Right this way Mr. Moore”

The younger man guided him towards the back entrance for a little more privacy. Knowing the older one who was walking alongside him would have a crowd desperate for his attention.

“May I just say that I’m a huge fan sir, I can’t believe I’m talking to THE Sammie Moore”

Sammie smiled and patted him on the shoulder at his excitement.

“I appreciate the love fella”

Once they entered they walked to an upstairs area where there were some closed doors and a couple of racks of costumes hanging. They finally reached a door at the end of the hallway and the young man had knocked on it.

“He’s here!”

The door soon opened to a familiar face, still young and as stunning as he remembered.

“Thank you Simon, please make sure everyone else have done their jobs downstairs before opening the doors”

“Yes ma’am, nice to meet you Mr. Moore, have a good set tonight”

He rushes downstairs, leaving you two in a semi awkward silence, you give him a big smile, he can see some gold grillz covering your teeth and your fangs.

“Well don’t just stand there little Sammie come on in”

You move aside and let him walk in. The office is decorated in what is currently popular in Italy. He can tell it was high quality and expensive. He looks around until his eyes land on another familiar face.

“Stack?”

“What’s happening little Sammie? My my my you ain’t so little no more ain’t ya? Done got old on your big cousin, come on over here!”

He walks over and embraces Stack. He notices his tailor made custom suit, he’s clearly earned a good living for himself.

“How?”

“I guess I was one of the ones you just couldn’t kill”

Sammie clears his throat and adjusts his guitar case on his shoulder.

“So, you own this joint huh? The highly anticipated Studio 54 that everyone in New York has been talking about?”

“Sure is, my YN and I worked our asses off to make this happen”

He reaches out for you and you walk into his arms and sit on his lap.

“We’re excited to see you perform tonight Sammie, we have all your records”

Your sweet and gentle voice tells him. You look equally as stylish as your husband. A leopard print silk dress adorns your body and flows to your ankles, but your solid gold anklet and strappy platform heels are still visible.

“Did you get the wire transfer we sent your manager?”

“I did, even he was surprised at how much the owner of this joint was willing to pay me, said that a Mr. E.M. had to be a big fan to find me this valuable”

They both chuckle and end up having a drink together. After some time passes it’s time for Sammie to perform his twenty minute opening act.

“Break a leg Sammie”

“You be good Stack”

They shake hands and you hug him and kiss his cheek.

“See you around Sam”

The grand opening was the success you knew it’d be. And to have the legendary Sammie Moore open was the icing on the cake. You and Stack enjoyed the show on a balcony on the left side of the stage, you’re sitting on Stack’s lap again, with his arm over your shoulder and your hand resting on his other leg, slightly swaying to the familiar rhythm, he kisses your neck and you smile and lean back on his chest. You can no longer remember most of what went on the night you died and was reborn, all you knew was that you were with the man you were meant to be with, publicly and proudly.

Tags: @tforpresz

[blackpantherismyish]

Uncle Stack’s Wild Day Off. 💰

Modern!Au Elias “Stack” Moore, Elijah “Smoke” Moore X Annie Moore, Jordyn Moore(S&A daughter)

Word count: 1.5k

Authors note: I apologize if the AU description is confusing. 😅 I just wanted to make it clear we ain’t on no Alabama type shit. This is a lil cute fluffy blurb I came up with. As an auntie, I can relate to all of this so I wanted to share. And let me know if yall want more stuff like this.

It starts with syrup.

Sticky, sweet, and halfway across her cheek.

“Unc-leee,” little Jordyn whines from across the table, eyes wide and cheeks puffed like she’s about to explode into laughter. “You said I could pour it!”

Stack wipes his mouth with a napkin and leans forward, brow raised. “And I did. But you said you knew when to stop.”

She looks down at the cartoon pool of maple flooding her pancakes, plate, and a little corner of the table. “I thought I did.”

He chuckles low, that familiar gravel-deep sound that always makes her giggle. “C’mon, syrup queen. Eat up before this place bans us.”

They’re tucked into a booth at Ruby’s Diner—one of the last places in the city with booths high enough to hide from the world and a jukebox old enough to make Stack nostalgic. Jordyn kicks her feet under the table, her tiny black sneakers thudding against his boots.

“You think Mama would let me dye my hair blue?” she asks, mouth full of pancake.

Stack’s fork pauses mid-air. “You ask your mama that, you better be ready to hear ‘no’ before you finish the sentence.”

“Papa said maybe when I’m older.”

He nods, chewing. “That’s code for ‘when you’re thirty.’” Jordyn giggles again, tipping her head like she’s caught on to a secret.

After breakfast, they head to the arcade—Stack’s idea, though he tells her she “wore him down with her big eyes and syrup bribes.” Truth is, he had the whole day mapped out since last week when Smoke casually said, “She been asking about you, man. Wants some one-on-one time.”

Now they’re in the neon glow of the game room, Jordyn’s face lit like a carnival bulb. Stack exchanges a twenty for a fistful of coins and follows her from skee-ball to air hockey to a chaotic driving game she insists she knows how to play. She drives them both off a digital cliff three times and cackles like it’s the best thing ever.

“Uncle Stack, you drive worse than me,” she teases, swinging her little body out of the seat.

“That’s slander,” he deadpans, straightening his shoulders like he’s offended. “I drive like a legend.”

“You drive like someone’s grandpa!”

His mock gasp makes her laugh so hard she hiccups.

Hours pass in a haze of flashing lights and sugar. He buys her a blue slushie—against better judgment—and wins her a giant plush octopus with his precision aim at the basketball game. She names it “Sir Wiggles.” Stack pretends to hate the name, but he buckles the thing into the back seat like it’s a VIP.

They end up at the park just before sunset. Jordyn’s arms stretch wide as she races ahead, spinning in circles through the tall grass like she’s chasing the wind. Stack strolls behind, hands in pockets, smile tucked under his beard.

“Uncle Stack!” she calls. “Race me to the top of the jungle gym!”

He raises a brow. “I’m not tryna break a hip today, baby girl.”

“You said you were a legend!”

He snorts. “A driving legend. Not a monkey-bar legend.”

Still, he jogs after her. Pretends to try. Pretends to lose.

They sit at the top once she’s conquered it, Jordyn perched like royalty on her throne of metal bars, the octopus half-dragging behind them. She looks up at him with quiet wonder in her eyes—the kind that always undoes him, no matter how many walls he pretends to have.

“Uncle Stack,” she says, suddenly soft. “You think when I’m big, I can be brave like you and Papa?”

He leans back, arms stretching behind his head. “You already are.”

She squints, not believing him.

He taps her chest. “Brave don’t mean you don’t get scared. It means you do what needs doin’ anyway. You—” he gently tugs a curl that’s come loose from her puff— “got more brave in you than you know.”

Her smile could break clouds.

By the time they return home, the sky is streaked with lavender and gold. Smoke’s on the porch with Annie, both of them watching with matching smiles as Jordyn tumbles out of the car like a storm, Sir Wiggles the octopus dragging beside her.

“Look what Uncle Stack won me!” she yells. “And I had a slushie! And pancakes! And I BEAT HIM at the driving game!”

Smoke smirks, arms crossed. “That so?”

Stack grumbles, grabbing the last of her wrappers from the passenger seat. “Don’t listen to her. She played dirty.”

“You let her win?” Annie teases.

Stack glances at Jordyn, who’s doing a victory dance on the porch.

“Nah,” he says, grinning. “She earned it.”

Annie kisses his cheek. “Thanks for takin’ her out today.”

He nods, quieter now, watching Jordyn with a weight in his chest that feels like love and something older.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, smiling. “It was good for both of us.”

Smoke tosses him a look—knowing and brotherly. Stack catches it, nods once. No words needed.

As Jordyn runs inside yelling for chocolate milk, Stack leans on the porch rail, sunset cutting across his eyes.

Best damn day off he’s had in years.

The porch creaks beneath them, soft and familiar. The day’s heat is cooling now, cicadas starting to sing in the trees. Stack sits down in the weathered rocking chair, arms draped loose over the armrests, a half-drained beer sweating on the porch rail beside him. Smoke’s got his feet propped up on the step, one hand idly bouncing a tennis ball against the wood post.

Inside, Jordyn is loudly explaining Sir Wiggles’ “backstory” to Annie like she’s pitching a Marvel movie.

Stack chuckles under his breath. “She really said the octopus has a secret twin that lives underground and only comes out when the moon’s full.”

Smoke huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “Man, where she get this stuff?”

Stack doesn’t even hesitate. “You.”

Smoke stops bouncing the ball. “What?”

“C’mon,” Stack says, leveling a slow look his way. “You used to swear you had a twin trapped in a mirror that only I could see. Like I wasn’t the damn twin!”

Smoke pauses, grins slow. “Damn. I did, huh?”

Stack just nods like exactly.

They sit in silence for a moment, listening to Jordyn shriek with laughter inside.

“She’s got both of us in her,” Smoke says, voice a little lower now. “Clear as day.”

“Yeah,” Stack agrees. “God help y’all.”

Smoke smirks. “She’s got my mouth and your stubbornness. Worst possible combo.”

“Nah,” Stack counters. “She’s got your mood swings and my bad attitude. That’s the apocalypse right there.”

They both laugh, that deep-chested sound only brothers make when they’re remembering something that hit them sideways the first time.

Annie’s voice chimes in from behind the screen door. “You’re both wrong.”

They turn in sync.

“She’s got your sarcasm,” Annie says to Stack, pointing, “and his unpredictability.” She looks at Smoke. “But she throws shade like both of y’all owe her money.”

Stack raises his beer. “She do that little head tilt when she’s mad?”

Smoke sighs, nodding. “Like a villain in training. Yesterday she told me I wasn’t ‘emotionally intelligent enough’ to comment on her snack choices.”

Annie throws her hands up. “She’s eight, y’all.”

“Eight going on federal indictment,” Stack mutters, and they all crack up.

“I told her to clean her room last week,” Annie says, coming outside and leaning against the post, arms crossed. “You know what she said?”

“Please tell me it wasn’t ‘I’m setting boundaries.’” Stack groans.

“Worse. She said she was ‘centering herself for clarity before engaging in oppressive labor.’”

Stack coughs into his drink. Smoke wheezes.

“She called chores oppressive labor?” Smoke asks between laughs.

“Deadass,” Annie says. “And then walked away humming like a monk.”

“She’s you with better vocabulary,” Stack says to Smoke.

“She’s you with sass and a grudge,” Smoke fires back.

“She’s both of y’all with a dash of me just trying to survive,” Annie declares, shaking her head.

Inside, Jordyn is now narrating a dramatic octopus rescue mission. Her voice rises and falls with theatrical flair.

“She gon’ run the world one day,” Smoke says softly.

“She gon’ burn it down first,” Stack adds, but there’s pride in his voice.

Annie smiles, just a little tired. “Only if we survive raising her.”

They all go quiet for a beat.

The screen door creaks again.

“Uncle Stack?” Jordyn pokes her head out, curls wild, octopus still clutched in one arm. “Can I have more chocolate milk if I promise to do yoga before bed?”

Stack blinks. “What kind of trade-off negotiation is this?”

Smoke narrows his eyes. “Did she just ask you for chocolate milk like I ain’t her papa?”

Stack smirks. “Mmhmm. Like I’m the department of beverages and you don’t even exist.”

“She bold,” Smoke mutters.

“Bold don’t even cover it,” Annie says, shaking her head. “That child been bypassing your authority since kindergarten.”

Jordyn waits at the door, unbothered by the scrutiny.

Stack points a warning finger, sighs. “One cup. One. And don’t tell your daddy what you put in the last one.”

Jordyn’s grin is nothing short of villainous. “Deal.”

Then she’s gone again, sprinting for the fridge like she owns it.

Smoke groans into his hands. “She really just iced me out like I wasn’t sittin’ ten feet away.”

“Stack privilege,” Stack says with a shrug. “It’s real.”

——

Taglist: @bigjh @anniensmoke3 @hdfen2474 @uzumaki-rebellion @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @killmongerdispussy @theogbadbitch @ccwpidsblog @princesskillmonger @blowmymbackout @theethighpriestess @blktinkerbell @steampunkprincess147 @diamondsinterlude @partylikemajima @mhhhhmmmmmmm @coolfoodrunworld-blog @lilchubbs @thebumblebeesworld @mastertia221b @brownskincheyenne @belleofthefloor @c0tt0ncandi @irefusetobeacasualty @cocoxciv-blog @melodyofmbaku @lb-xci

[uzumaki-rebellion]

"Stack's Lesson" Teaser...

Stack's Lesson by Uzumaki Rebellion

Characters: Elias "Stack" Moore, Ruby Evers (Teenaged Black OC), and Mary.

Warning(s): Mentions of Hoodoo, Supernatural Elements, Violence, Death, The Usual Vampire Shit, and Angst. Post-Sinners movie.

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Ruby Evers's parents haven't come home from Club Juke. Left to fend for herself and her two younger siblings, she investigates what happened to them and the other missing sharecroppers who partied the night before. As dusk looms, Ruby discovers two dangerous predators hidden inside her family's chicken coop.

Author's Note: Ruby is the young girl Smoke met at the beginning of Sinners.

"Black leaves on the Mississippi river

Black leaves in the Mississippi fire

Black leaves in the Mississippi choir

Black leaves on the Mississippi land

And we've got God and cotton

We've got sons and daughters

We've got grit and glory

We've got mama's stories

We've got strength like towers

We've got hope and power"

Kirby – "Black Leaves"

Mama didn't come home.

Poppa neither.

Fourteen-year-old Ruby Evers waited by the bedroom window early Sunday morning, as her younger brother and sister slept near her feet, piled onto one old mattress on the floor. She scratched her leg, irritating a spider bite that appeared fiery red on her tawny skin.

The window faced the path her parents would take to get home from the old sawmill. Poppa carried mama off in their horse and cart looking so handsome. He even wore his tan church vest and matching bow tie. Mama fixed her hair up, uncovering it from the pale blue and white gingham cloth she usually tied her thick braids up with. She took the braids down and added some purple pansies to look fancy for the night. They were so nervous when Ruby came home with her aunt from town and she told them about Smoke Moore paying her cash money to watch his liquor truck. He ended up giving her five whole dollars for doing a good job. She would always remember his lesson about knowing her worth in the world.

Word spread about the men who tried to thief them in broad daylight, but their concern soon shifted with excitement once they heard a new juke was opening that same day. They still had cotton quotas to fill, but the temptation to hear good music from the preacher's son was too delicious to pass up. Tongues also wagged about Pastor Moore's notorious cousins sweeping into town with money to buy the old sawmill outright from an old peckerwood like Hogwood. They wanted to see the transformation of the place themselves.

Glancing at her siblings, she wondered what to fix for them if mama didn't come home.

John-John, her nine-year-old middle brother, mumbled in his sleep. Her seven-year-old baby sister, Mae, stirred under a threadbare blanket. Ruby left the window and padded barefoot into their kitchen area where she piled wood into the iron stove. She struck a match and lit some kindling to boil water for grits. There were a few leftover biscuits from their supper the day before, but they'd gone hard. They would eat them anyway along with some day old boiled eggs, and then do their chores until their parents returned.

Worry poked at Ruby's belly. Her parents had never been gone overnight before together. She wandered over to their sleeping room to check the bed again. It hadn't been slept in all night.

Mae ambled into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes and looking around.

"Where's Mama and Poppa?"

"I dunno. Go put on your clothes and get John-John up."

"I'm already up," John-John said, pulling on his overalls.

Ruby rubbed on his puffy hair and tugged on her sister's two braids.

"Y'all go feed the chickens, and I'll clean up in here. When the grits are ready, I'll call ya."

The children nodded and scampered out the front door. Ruby dressed quickly, made up their bedding, swept the floors clean, and checked on the water. She stirred in the grits and set out plates on the kitchen table. Once the cooked grains were at the right consistency, she whipped a spoon with butter through them, and then pulled the pot off the fire.

"Ruby! Ruby! Midnight is running around out here by hisself!" John-John hollered.

Ruby wiped her hands on her dress and dashed outside.

Midnight, their coal black gelding, ran in an agitated circle near their small tenement garden.

"Whoa, Midnight…easy boy," Ruby said, raising her hands to get him to calm down.

Where was the cart and their parents?

Midnight had broken his harness away from the cart. Maybe the wheels hit a rock, and the cart fell over, injuring her parents. Ruby led the horse to his enclosure and closed the gate tight. She ran down the path the horse would've come from and didn't see the cart or anyone else in the distance. Hoofing it back to their home, she gestured to her siblings.

"Come on in here and eat," Ruby said.

"Where's Mama and Poppa? How come they not here with Midnight?" Mae asked.

Ruby hustled them into the house and scooped the grits on their plates with the biscuits and unshelled eggs.

"Eat," she said.

She ate with them, trying to look at ease, but her heart rate elevated and tension strained her shoulders. After the children cleaned their plates of every single grit and biscuit crumb, she herded the younger ones over to Miss Emmie's home. The elderly woman often cared for younger children while the teens and adults worked the fields.

Miss Emmie stood at her clothesline. She beat rugs of dust early before the temperature rose.

"Miss Emmie, can you watch John-John and Mae today?" she asked, holding up one dollar of the money she earned from Smoke.

"Where you get that money from?"

Miss Emmie took the dollar and turned it over in her hand, making sure it was actually cash and not plantation scrip.

"I earned it. They ate breakfast already. I'll be back later today. Can you feed them again before I get back?"

"Where you goin'?"

"Mama and Poppa didn't come back last night. Midnight came back without the cart. I think somethin' happened to 'em."

"They went to that juke?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Emmie sucked the teeth she still had left in her mouth.

"Maybe I should go get Ben to go look for you."

"That's alright Miss Emmie, I can do it myself. No need to bother Ben on his day off."

"You shouldn't be around no juke joint."

"Yes ma'am, but I'm worried."

"Oh, Lord. Ben!"

Emmie shouted toward her ramshackle cabin. A six foot tall scrawny man with a lazy eye trudged outside.

"Momma?"

"Ben…carry Ruby over to that old sawmill. She's looking for her parents. You can pick up a pound of rice and a pound of pinto beans for me on the way there. Get six chicken tamales for our lunch later. And some penny candy for John-John and Mae. I'm gonna watch them while you help Ruby look for Alice and Roy. Can you remember all that?"

She handed him the dollar Ruby gave her.

"I'll remember."

Ben spit into the dirt and pocketed the money in his trousers. He tucked in his faded shirt and headed back into the house.

"Lemme get my shoes on," he called out to them.

"John-John…Mae…y'all go on inside," Emmie said.

Ruby hugged her brother and sister.

"Be good and I'll be back as soon as I can."

The children nodded and headed indoors.

Ben stepped back out and pulled a straw hat over his head.

"C'mon, Ruby," he said.

She followed him around the side and watched him hitch an old mule to a wagon. He helped her climb onto the front seat and he joined her, holding the reins. He whistled, and the mule began pulling them on their way.

Ben didn't talk, and Ruby didn't engage in any type of conversation. Her mind cleaved onto anything her parents might have said that may have indicated not coming home before they departed. There was no mention of giving other folks a ride or stopping off anywhere. If Poppa was too drunk to guide the cart himself, Mama would've left him behind and come home alone to check on them. The pit of her stomach ached.

In town, Ben pulled up to the Chow's Grocery store on the colored side and tied his mule. Ruby jumped down and sat on a small bench in front of the store to wait. She noticed Lisa Chow pacing the front of an unopened business. Lisa's face appeared blotchy and pink, streaked with tears. Roughly a dozen Chinese adults surrounded her, their expressions fretful. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying hysterically.

"I don't know where they are!" Lisa shrieked. "They didn't come home from that juke joint!"

Ruby's heart lurched in her chest. Another set of missing parents who went to the juke. The pain in Ruby's belly nearly bowled her over as she started breaking into a profuse sweat. Something bad happened.

Ben called over another man they both knew who worked on a riverboat. Calvin was a fisherman and knew everyone in town.

"Cal, what's goin' on?" Ben asked.

Calvin scratched his shaggy head and sighed.

"I don't quite know. I was supposed to drop off a new load of catfish, but the Chows ain't showed up to pay me. I've been waiting out here since eight. Lisa out here sayin' they never came home last night."

"Did you go to the juke?"

"For about an hour after they opened, and then I left early. Had to get up and check my traps at five this morning."

A cloud of dust kicked up in the street as the town sheriff sped off past them. Several other vehicles followed him.

"Something is up," Ben said. "C'mon Ruby, let's get over to that juke."

He helped her up into the wagon again, and they followed the dust of the sheriff's car.

His mouth ached.

Moving his jaw a bit, Stack licked the inside of his gums, searching for residual blood. He didn't like the taste of it hours later, nor did he delight in the pieces of flesh caught between his teeth where he ripped apart Annie's throat.

He opened his eyes.

Annie.

She had been the key he needed to get his twin to join the hive. Smoke chose to kill her instead.

Yet spared him.

He rolled over in the dense straw that covered him and Mary.

The woman who turned him into a lost soul slumbered in a deep, trance-like state, looking like a corpse in need of a casket. Blood smeared the lower half of her face. She didn't seem to mind the traces of slaughter they committed against innocent people. Her rabid mouth had been gluttonous, as if a bloodlust frenzy was second nature to her. He looked at her closely. She slept like a sated baby.

Stack's eyes longed to close. His body floated just under lucidness. He fought it as an internal alarm system kicked in. Two things he became aware of: the warmth of humans and the scent of their blood.

A young boy and girl had stepped into the chicken coop, their chatter bringing his consciousness to the surface. Mary stayed asleep.

Chickens clucked, and the children tossed feed all over the floor, some of it striking the thick straw covering Stack and Mary. Luckily, a large tree kept the coop shaded from the sun piercing through the wood slats. Stack kept still and listened. The young ones ran out quickly, and he heard the fearful neighing of a horse. After that. Silence.

"Are they gone?"

Mary opened her eyes. The sickly paleness of her skin covered in blood told him how his life would be from now on.

Still hiding in the shadows with her.

Always killing.

Never satisfied. Never truly free.

The rest soon come....!!!

[syndrossi]

Okay, this takes place shortly after the NYE prompt for Daemon bearing down on Winterfell to reclaim his boys. Daemon's chosen backstory for full Cersei unhingedness is that he's Rhaegar Targaryen and he survived the Trident to join his family in exile in Essos.

x~x~x

“I am told you begged for an audience.”

It had been so long since Cersei had last heard him speak, the prince she had longed to marry so long ago. She did not count his battle cry in the yard as dragonflame poured from the sky to roast Robert like the beady-eyed boar of a man he was—that had been the furious roar of a dragon come to reclaim his crown.

Rhaegar’s voice had been warm honey before, enough to melt a girl from the inside, and his purple eyes dark and deep, wounded in a way that only she could heal. Handsome men and pretty boys had come and gone from court over the years, but all had paled beside the memory of his beauty.

The sadness was absent from his eyes now, which were both lighter and harder. They burn. Just as she had come to burn over the years with every new insult and indignity visited upon her by her brute of a husband. They had both changed. She was no longer that girl who longed to soothe away his heartache.

I want to burn with him.

“I did, Your Grace,” she said, taking a daring step to see what might come of it.

Rhaegar simply watched, unmoving, the suspicion in gaze lending a hardness to his features that did not lessen their beauty. The years made Robert ugly and fat, but he is as a sharpened blade.

He had heirs now to replace those her father’s men had butchered—the boys that Ned Stark had so laughably claimed as his own. Robert had proved the greater fool in believing him, as though Aemon did not look like Rhaegar reborn.

They should have been mine. She would not have sullied his dragon’s blood with dark-haired children as Elia Martell had, or whatever foreign whore from across the Narrow Sea he had been forced to claim as a bride. Or Lyanna Stark.

It was not too late, though. She was young enough to give him more, and secure her own children’s safety. He may demand that Joffrey go to the Wall. But he would be alive, her sweet son. Myrcella was the right age to wed either of his heirs, Baelon or Aemon, and be queen herself someday, a mother of dragons. And Tommen is so young, he is no threat.

Her father was an old man now and still lacked an heir. Perhaps Tommen could be the next lord of Casterly Rock, should Rhaegar decide to strip House Baratheon of Storm’s End.

“Speak, then,” he said, his eyes continuing to burn into her.

“You are without a wife,” she said, drawing nearer to him with each step.

Her dresses had been moved to the guest hall before the wagons had burned, thankfully, and she was wearing one of her favorites: a deep ruby with sleeves of black silk, the bodice heavy and glittering with black pearls and onyx beads. She had worn it on the days that she decided she would lay with Jaime, the Targaryen colors an act of defiance that never penetrated Robert’s thick skull.

“And you would present yourself as an option?” His mouth twisted faintly. “Your husband’s ashes have not fully flown Winterfell yet.”

“My marriage to your cousin was not of my choosing,” she said. He was close enough to touch, if she dared, and she dropped her eyes for a moment, wondering whether he would be enticed by wounded prey—or if he preferred the lion. “It was my duty to my house, nothing more.”

“A house of traitors.”

The vitriol in his voice was enough to make her glance up, startled. It is to be expected, she reminded herself. My father’s betrayal then threatens to doom our house now. How fitting that she should be the one who could save it.

“My heart never wavered,” she said, touching a hand to his arm. She could feel the firm muscle beneath, that of a swordsman. He was the equal of Ser Arthur Dayne. Even in this, Jaime cannot compare. “I was meant to be your queen. Our fathers chose differently, and the realm burned.”

“I will burn the realm again.”

His growl was low and deep, nothing like those haunting songs she remembered, but it shuddered through her with the same intensity. Every inch of her skin felt hot and she wanted desperately to feel his, to see if it burned like hers—like a dragonlord’s must.

She thought about riding him and feeling that heat deep within—and of riding atop his dragon, of soaring above the world and watching the people below mill about like ants.

Cersei was not a dream-addled girl any longer, nor a blushing maid. She had learned to take what she wanted, as Robert had always taken what he wanted. And Rhaegar had known women before her, and taken them too.

Why should he not have seized the Stark girl and been rid of her after the thrill had waned? For all Robert’s drunken weeping, it was no different than what would have happened once he’d wedded her. Rather than Cersei, it would have been his beloved Lyanna suffering an endless parade of whores and bastards.

“Take me as your queen.” She guided his hand to the swell of her breast, longing to drag it lower. “The Westerlands and the Stormlands will flock to your banner.”

His other hand moved faster than she could blink, closing around her wrist in a bone-bruising grip. “Cowards and traitors. What need have I of their allegiance?” He ripped his hand free of hers. “Know this, Lannister. I will burn Casterly Rock and Storm’s End. I will burn the Riverlands and the Vale. I will make a pyre of those who dared take my son from me.”

Her pulse pounded in her throat, equal parts terror and desire, as he leaned in close. “Pray to your Seven that I do not decide to throw you upon it as well.”

[letsgetrowdy43]

Slipping on love—

Request: Hey. I loved the latest broken bones imagine with Jack. Could it be possible to do one with Quinn? 🥹

“Take my hand, it's icy,” Quinn extended his hand out to her as they exited the foyer of their apartment complex. Her brows furrowed as she brushed him off, "I'm a big girl Q, I can manage on my own," she smiled and pressed a kiss to his shoulder as they ventured out onto the streets of downtown Vancouver in search of a new restaurant for date night.

The winter season was her favourite time of the year, she loved the atmosphere of winter in Canada, the holidays, and the attire that came with the cold. The only downside was the ice.

Her cute dress pants and blouse matched Quinn's date night attire as they searched for some dinner. She smiled brightly as she looked to her fiancé who raised his brows at her before taking her by that hand, not letting her stubbornness get her hurt.

Her cheeks were nipped pink from the chill in the air, as she talked his ear off about this coordinator she had been talking to about a fund the wives of players on the team were trying to start ahead of the boy's cup run. "I think we are gonna do a banquet, it's last minute, but it's for a good cause and-" she squealed as she began to slip but was saved as Quinn's free hand wrapped around her torso and pulled her to her feet. Quinn laughed at the embarrassed look that filled her expression as she let out the breath she had been holding, "now aren't you glad you were holding my hand," he chuckled as she rolled her eyes and let go of his hand in protest to his picking.

"You're so mean to me," she pouted, as she brushed herself off before continuing on their walk. Quinn let out a laugh as she began to walk much faster than him, he tried to catch up to her, apologies spilling from his lips before he slipped in return. She turned around and looked at him, laughter bubbling in her chest as he sat on the sidewalk defeated, "Maybe you should be holding my hand Mr." she looked at him with raised brows as she backtracked to where he sat laughing at his misfortune.

But as she turned around her feet stumbled, her shoes having no grip, and she fell right onto her side. The shriek that left her lips as she hit the icy pavement was enough to stop Quinn's laughter and have him scrambling to get up onto his feet and beside her. "You okay Dove," he looked at her as she winced in pain. "I think I sprained it or something," she mumbled. "what hurts," he said sitting her up, his hands reassuringly running over her thigh as he watched her blink away the tears that were starting up. "My ankle," she hissed as she felt him press a kiss to her temple, worry filling his eyes as he scooped her up off of the ground and into his arms to take her into the closet store or restaurant so she could be out of the cold before he called someone to go and get them.

A tiny artisan shop was the closet business open around them, the older woman behind the counter welcoming them in with warm smiles, offering to find a chair for the girl who profusely apologized for coming in so abruptly. "Thank you so much," Y/n said as Quinn helped her into the chair and then excused himself to call Petey in hopes of him being free to drive them to the Emergency room. The woman smiled as they watched a worried Quinn just outside the window, "is he always such a worrier?" she asked with raised brows as Y/n laughed. "I'm not quite sure, his mom says he's always a little extra when it comes to me," she joked, recalling the time Ellen had pulled her aside to tell her, the time she got sunstroke when they first got together almost four years prior and he stilled worried himself sick whenever something happened to her.

"Oh so he's in love with you?" she said with a grin trying to end his call with Elias quickly. "I'd hope so," she flashed her engagement ring to the lady, a small ruby on a gold band, a Hughes family heirloom that he gave her in the promise of becoming her husnband.

Quinn entered the store just seconds later, his face a little more calm as he found his rightful place at her side, "Elias will be here as soon as he can," his hand grabbed hers reassuringly, as a way to put his nerves his rest, "you okay?" "you're so in love with me," she grinned as his eyes flitted up the the store owner who was pretending not to eavesdrop on them. "I am," he confirmed, "is that a bad thing?" "No, just like seeing you all worked up about me," she mumbled as she motioned for him to move closer to her face before she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before turning to the lady and sending her a wave before the older women sent a laugh and a thumbs up back.

-

-

-

[confessions-heartland]

"I'm glad Lyndy's little friend will be back"

[mastermatoyas]

Isekai/Isekai Adjacent Recommendations Post - Female Protagonist Version

So since a few people are sharing their own isekai recommendations, I figured I'd make a post of my own. Most of these are Korean manhwa, most of them lean more towards romance fantasy than action, and all of them have female protagonists.

The reason for this is that, after noping out of Mushoku Tensei like half an episode in, I now refuse to read/watch any isekai with a male protagonist unless it is recommended to me by like three people that I actually trust.

Anyway, recommendations!

All Time Favourite: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Summary: after dying in an earthquake, a book-loving young woman finds herself reborn in the body of Myne, a sickly peasant girl in a world where books are luxury items reserved mostly for the nobility. Horrified by her circumstances, she resolves to make her own books... and everything snowballs from there.

Why I like it: The worldbuilding in this story is absolutely fantastic. The protagonist is an extremely fun character, and plays really well off the supporting cast. The series is called "Ascendance" of a Bookworm because, in the process of trying to bring books to the masses, Myne brings massive changes to both her own life and the world around her.

Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's heartbreakingly sad. Sometimes you get lovingly detailed descriptions of printing presses, medieval economics, and soup.

A lot of these recommendations are romance-focused, but Ascendance of a Bookworm contains very little romance (arguably none for the protagonist, depending on how you interpret Myne's relationship with a certain character). Because of that, this is the one I would most recommend to people who are not interested in romance.

There is a manga for this one (and an anime), but it isn't finished. The light novel, however, is finished and has a complete official translation. Unlike a lot of light novels, the prose is actually pretty good, too! I would highly recommend the light novel if you're looking to get into this series.

Possible Second Favourite: Concubine Walkthrough

Summary: High school student Yona gets quite literally sucked into the world of the VR game Concubine Walkthrough. Now stuck in the body of the villainess, she has to beat the game and escape this virtual world in time to take her college entrance exams.

Why I like it: The premise seems fairly cliche at first, but unlike a lot of romance fantasy isekai that stay strictly within the realm of fantasy, Concubine Walkthrough is actually science fiction. It's also a tale of palace intrigue, the cruelty of the modern (well, near-future) world, and - yes - it is a love story.

It's hard to fully explain why Concubine Walkthrough is so good without spoiling it, so I won't say any more than that. Just that this is a journey worth undertaking.

Other Recommendations, in no particular order except maybe alphabetical

How to Win my Husband Over:

The protagonist wakes up in the body of Rudbeckia de Borgia, a novel villainess destined to die at the hands of her husband, Iske van Omerta. In order to survive, she begins a campaign to suck up to those around her and convince them that she is not a threat.

Rudbeckia ("Ruby") is a complex and troubled protagonist - a heart-rendingly realistic portrait of a woman who has never felt truly safe in her life. This story comes with massive content warnings for family violence, eating disorders, and self-harm/suicide. Some people find Ruby to be a really frustrating character, since her inability to trust others causes a lot of conflict in the story. I personally really like her, because her inability to trust others causes a lot of conflict in the story.

I'll Save this Damned Family:

The protagonist wakes up in the body of Tara Elias, who is - you guessed it, a minor villainess whose entire family is doomed to face execution. In order to save her entire household, despite the fact that most of them suck as human beings, Tara must use her wits to enter the arena of fantasy politics, throwing her support behind the illegitimate Prince Kyle. (Yes, for some reason most of the people in this one have normal-ass modern names).

The political intrigue in this one is incredibly complex. Tara is incredibly clever, but she doesn't always succeed - she is often outmanouevred, which adds a real sense of tension and urgency.

There's kind of a sideplot early on about Tara losing weight, which some people might find inherently distasteful. However, she goes about it in a normal and realistic way, and the story makes it clear that her worth as a human being isn't tied to her weight, which is actually kind of a big deal for a Korean manhwa.

Mother's Contract Marriage:

Lyrica is a normal eight-year old girl. No, really, she's completely normal - she has no memories of any past life, nor has she gone back in time after facing any sort of grisly fate.

Her mother, on the other hand, suddenly changes one day. Formerly a neglectful drunk living in the slums, she finesses her way into the imperial ball and secures a contract marriage to the Emperor, catapulting Lyrica into the glamorous life of a princess overnight.

Of course, as the audience, we figure out pretty quickly that Lyrica's mother has gone back in time, and is using her knowledge of the future to save both of them from a terrible fate. The story isn't actually about that, though - it's about Lyrica charming everyone around her, finding out about her own magical powers, and unknowingly fighting back against the darker side of the nobility.

The art style is absolutely gorgeous, and really sells the fact that this entire story is being filtered through the perspective of an actual child.

Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom:

Children's fashion designer Lily Lee wakes up in the body of Abigail, the evil stepmother from Snow White. She resolves to shower her eleven-year-old stepdaughter, Princess Blanche, with affection, and to browbeat her distant and cold-hearted husband into doing the same.

This one is extremely sweet and heartwarming, while also dealing with some seriously heavy topics including body image and pretty much every kind of child abuse. Both Abigail and her husband, King Sabrian, are fundamentally good people dealing with some extremely difficult circumstances. Blanche is a sweet kid who has been forced to become mature beyond her years, and who wants nothing more than a loving family.

The Crimson Lady:

Karen Heyer woke up as the heroine of a romance novel. Since then, she has lived through the same year one hundred times. No matter what she does, she is destined to die a painful death at the end of each year - no sooner, and no later.

Having been hollowed out into a broken husk of a person, she resolves to become a serial killer, hoping that death - rather than love - might bring an end to the cycle.

This one seems to be getting close to its conclusion, and every chapter is a massive goddamn cliffhanger. It's one of those stories where every time a mystery is solved, it just brings up more questions, and I WANT TO KNOW UGH.

The Fantasie of a Stepmother:

Shuri was brought into the Neuschwanstein family as a child herself, raised by the ailing Marquess for the sole purpose of protecting his four children after his death. Despite being despised by her four step-children, Shuri nevertheless managed to shield them from harm, and looks forward to finally having a chance to live her own life after the marriage of her eldest step-child.

Instead, however, Shuri wakes up seven years in the past, right after the death of her husband. She must now relive her entire experience of raising the Neuschwanstein children - but is this an opportunity to repair her bond with them?

(Note: yes, Shuri was a child when she was married to Marquess Neuschwanstein. That marriage was not, uh, consummated. I would not call her husband a good man, for a number of reasons, but CSA isn't an element of this story. Important to note because that could obviously be a deal-breaker for a lot of people.)

This is one of the most popular romance fantasy manhwa around, and with good reason. The art is beautiful, the story is intricate, and the characters are vibrant and likeable. Also, the original web novel was written by the same author as How to Win my Husband Over.

The Glamorous Life of a Fake Mistress:

This one isn't super popular from what I can tell, but I'm recommending it because it's actually one of my favourites.

Sally, a common dancer, was taken in as the mistress of Duke Casis Estaban, who desperately wants to divorce his wife, Elysee. Although Sally falls in love with Casis, he remains cold and professional towards her, treating her as a mistress in name only. Elysee torments Sally behind the Duke's back, eventually torturing her and killing her.

After finding herself sent back in time, Sally initially attempts to avoid getting involved with Duke Esteban. However, after realising that this would simply transfer her fate to another person, she makes a deal with Casis - she will be his fake mistress and help him secure his divorce. With the knowledge she gained in her first life, both of the future and of noble etiquette, Sally sets out to achieve her goal.

Along the way, she gives a lot of very modern advice to noblewomen about sex, relationships, and self-esteem. I honestly just like this one because it's a breath of fresh air - Sally is a genuinely kind person, and I think it's easier to root for her in a way because she is a real underdog, as a commoner in a world of nobles and a mistress in a world of "respectable" women. Also, we love a girls' girl.

Villains are Destined to Die:

Probably the most popular isekai romance fantasy out there at the moment. The protagonist wakes up in the body of Penelope Eckhart, who is both the villainess of an otome game and the protagonist of that game's hard mode. The protagonist never actually managed to beat the game, having instead witnessed Penelope's constant deaths at every wrong turn.

Terrified of her fate, and deeply resentful of everyone within the game world, Penelope resolves to survive and beat the game.

In a pattern you may have identified, I like this one because of its protagonist. Penelope is cold, paranoid, and views the people around her as game NPCs. She tries to manipulate others without developing any attachments to them, focusing solely on her own survival. She isn't an inherently cruel person, but caring for others is a luxury she cannot afford.

[mariuspompom]

“Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm’s End. “I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale.” Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man’s nature.”

For the first time in years, he found himself remembering Rhaegar Targaryen. He wondered if Rhaegar had frequented brothels; somehow he thought not.

Robert would swear undying love and forget them before evenfall, but Ned Stark kept his vows.

"Lyanna is a hypocrite for calling out chronic cheaters like robert and then running away with Rhaegar" this is truly funny, the fact that you associate a man who chronically visits brothels, fucks child prostitutes and leaves bastards all around, with a man who left his one (1) arranged marriage for another girl he fell in love with. Especially when Ned already makes this exact comparison in the very first book, first between Robert and Rhaegar and then between Robert and himself, just to showcase how fucked up in the head his BFF Robert was compared to both Rhaegar and himself.

And now I'm not saying Ned should be uncritically treated by the reader as this paragon of virtue and feminism. I'm saying, however, that Ned's standards of "decent behavior towards women" are pretty close to the writer's standards of decent behavior towards women, in universe, considering he has one of the healthiest marriages and probably the healthiest relationship with his daughters in the asoiaf universe and his one basic fatal flaw regarding his sister is precisely arranging her marriage with his BFF Robert, a decision that haunts him to this day considering he spends one whole book reflecting on and regretting his friendship with Robert and his decision to marry his sister to Robert. And this regret is now reinforced by every single one of Robert's actions during or prior to AGOT that Ned finds repulsive, aka his murderous obsession with Dany, his violent treatment of Cersei, his mistreatment of all these women/children and their kids, his approval of the murder and rape of Elia and her kids.

Ned now finally realizes what Lyanna already instinctively knew about Robert's nature from the get go (even if she didn't have all the data at the time). He should have known what she already instinctively knew, despite being so young, but he was too far gone into his delululand of sacred bromance with Robert to care. Now he knows precisely why his sister chose Rhaegar and now he reflects on all this and his regret and guilt run so deep but it's too late because Lyanna and Rhaegar are dead and there is nothing he can do about it. And the harrowing recounting of Lyanna's death in Ned's pov is something for sure, but let's not forget the understated yet still discernable regret and sadness in his visual memory of Rhaegar's death which is in sharp contrast with his complete apathy and emotional detachment towards his living breathing friend who is standing right in front of him:

“I vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to her.” “You did,” Ned reminded him. “Only once,” Robert said bitterly. They had come together at the ford of the Trident while the battle crashed around them, Robert with his warhammer and his great antlered helm, the Targaryen prince armored all in black. On his breastplate was the three-headed dragon of his House, wrought all in rubies that flashed like fire in the sunlight. The waters of the Trident ran red around the hooves of their destriers as they circled and clashed, again and again, until at last a crushing blow from Robert’s hammer stove in the dragon and the chest beneath it. When Ned had finally come on the scene, Rhaegar lay dead in the stream, while men of both armies scrabbled in the swirling waters for rubies knocked free from his armor. “In my dreams, I kill him every night,” Robert admitted. “A thousand deaths will still be less than he deserves.“ There was nothing Ned could say to that.

Ned's trajectory from being a victim of the evil targaryen dynasty and Robert's faithful friend to questioning the entire basis of his old allegiance and realizing that actually Rhaegar maybe should have been King and that his sister was right about Robert because he's indeed full of shit, his subsequent guilt, regret and disillusionment over the regime he enabled, and his inability to save his house from collapse are all core elements of his arc and why his character is so fascinating and tragic. Ned's gradual deconstruction of Robert and his friendship with him is the thought process that led to all of the above. Ned remembering Lyanna's quote about Robert is there precisely to reinforce his disillusionment with Robert and highlight his difference with Rhaegar, a recurring theme in his arc. And it is particularly funny that so many people that call themselves Stark Stans TM (!!!) just swipe away all of the subtext and actual text surrounding this quote just to prove a point that is directly antithetical to the quote, its meaning and its function in the narrative, while also framing lyanna as a hypocrite over it lmao.