#hey would you look at that this is my 200th post

[nocontextscreenshotsbutevil]

[cantstoptheimagines]

Pretty in Pink (Eddie Munson | Stranger Things)

Summary — You just might be Eddie Munson’s soulmate, whether you realize it or not.

Warnings & Other Tags ➳ Just a fluffy meet-cute; mentions of bars; a few curse words; Eddie being a total fanboy; sudden love confession; kissing; Upside Down doesn’t exist here because Eddie deserves to be happy.

Notes ➳ Word Count is 1,398. ➳ Reader uses feminine pronouns (she/her), who is described as very “girly”. She is also mentioned to have a brother. ➳ Metallica members include those who were in the band during March 1986 (James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and Cliff Burton). ➳ “You’ll really go out with some guy you don’t know?” “Well, you can’t be worse than the guys I do know.” ➳ Based on this post by @eddiemunsonfix​. Thank you for letting me use your idea as inspiration! I hope you like this!  ➳ This is my 200th work posted on this blog! 🎉

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If there was one thing Eddie wasn’t used to seeing in The Hideout, it was the color pink. And you were covered in it from head to toe. 

You stood out among the sea of black-clad older men who regularly attended the bar’s open mic sessions. Striking his guitar, he couldn’t stop watching as you tapped along to the beat of his band’s latest cover. A few people cheered as the room echoed loudly with Metallica’s ‘Creeping Death’.

It was a normal Tuesday night for Eddie and his friends, aside from your presence, of course. As they wrapped up the song and the bar patrons let out another round of cheers, Eddie’s attention was focused solely on you.

It was almost like destiny. His friends called out for him when he left them behind to pack up their instruments so the next group could go on. He ignored them, leaning against the bar, where you sat alone.

Realizing someone was next to you, your eyes turned. Eddie inhaled sharply when a smile graced your lips, and then he muttered, “Hey.”

“Hi,” you said, eyes wandering over his leather-clad figure.

Eddie cleared his throat, and then repeated, “Hey.”

Your smile widened, glancing down at your lap in amusement, “Hi.”

“I’m Eddie,” he said.

You introduced yourself, gently shaking his outstretched hand before gesturing to his guitar, “Nice axe. Your set was really good.”

Eddie looked at the instrument, which was still in his hands, and quickly took up the seat next to you at the bar. The bartender, who he knew pretty well, immediately passed him a bottle of water. Eddie usually liked to ask for one after he and his friends performed. He could feel his friends’ curious eyes drilling into the back of his head.

“Thanks! We’ve been working on that cover for a long time!” he grinned. “I’ve never seen you here before. Are you new?”

“In Hawkins?” you asked, and then continued when he nodded. “Not exactly. Just sort of... passing through, I guess. I’m staying with my brother for a few months.”

“Oh,” he muttered, unsure as to why he felt so disappointed, “so you won’t be here long then?” 

“Not sure yet,” you shrugged. “Maybe you can convince me? Wanna pick me up tomorrow night? Around eight o’clock?”

Eddie blinked. His eyes examined, searching for any sign that you might be messing with him, but you seemed completely serious. You raised your eyebrows expectantly as you waited for an answer.

Eddie wasn’t sure why he found himself gravitating towards you. Dolled up in pink clothes, long and brightly painted nails, and soft makeup, he didn’t expect you to be his “type”. But then again, you also didn’t seem like someone who would hang out at dingy bars like The Hideout, so what did he know?

He chucked, shaking his head and biting his lip in surprise, “You’ll really go out with some guy you don’t know?”

Eddie waited for you to respond. As he watched you mull over your answer, he opened the bottle of water after situating his guitar between his knees.

Finally, you shrugged, “Well, you can’t be worse than the guys I do know.”

Now he was definitely curious. Eddie’s eyes flickered over you, slowly bringing the bottle in his hands up to take a sip as he asked, “And who would that be?”

“I mean,” you huffed with a nonchalant grin, “Kirk Hammett likes to pull pranks on me all the time, so—! Oh! Are you okay?!”

Eddie coughed loudly, nearly spilling his water on the bar. He leaned forward, not only struggling to breathe but also to fully comprehend what you had just said.

“You know—?!” he stuttered, allowing you to roughly pat his back as he looked at your concerned expression. “You know Kirk Hammett?! The Kirk Hammett?!”

You furrowed your eyebrows, and replied, “Yeah. He’s, like, best friends with my brother.”

Eddie reached out, placing his hands on your shoulders. You leaned back in surprise and gave him an unsure smile as you glanced around the bar.

“Is that where you wanted to go tomorrow night?” he asked, eyes wide. “They’re having a concert in the city, aren’t they?”

“I mean, you did play one of their songs, and I have an extra ticket, so I thought it’d be fun,” you shrugged. “So... is that yes? You wanna go?”

Eddie felt as though he might faint. He lightly shook your shoulders, making you grasp onto his wrists. With an excited grin, he practically shouted, “Of course it’s a yes!”

Before you could respond, he stood from his place at the bar. He quickly closed his bottle of water and shoved it into his back pocket. He then grabbed the neck of his guitar in one hand. With the other, he intertwined your fingers, eagerly tugging you in the direction of his bandmates.

“You guys are never gonna believe this!”

You laughed quietly as Eddie’s doe-eyed expression. His mouth had fallen open in awe. When you told him that you had an extra ticket to Metallica’s concert, this wasn’t what he had expected.

Still staring at the sight in front of him, one of his hands arose from his side. He tapped your arm repeatedly before finally grabbing your wrist and shaking it excitedly.

Turning to you with an astonished gleam, he dramatically whispered, “That’s Metallica!”

You smiled, giving him a slow nod, “I know. Do you wanna meet ‘em?”

He whimpered, which caused you to let out another laugh. The backstage crew milled about, doing final checks on everything that would be needed for the show. Meanwhile, only feet away, the members of Eddie’s favorite band were preparing themselves for their performance.

He bent slightly at the knees, placed his hands on your cheeks, and muttered, “I think I’m in love with you.”

Your smile widened as you glanced down at your shoes. You then returned your eyes to stare into his own, and said, “Didn’t expect you to say that.”

“I’m being serious!” exclaimed Eddie. “I need you to marry me right now! Will you?”

“And let her miss our set?” a voice asked. “That’s not gonna fly with us.”

Eddie’s eyes were impossibly wide. Glancing over his shoulder, his jaw fell. He quickly turned back to you, and tried to whisper, “That’s Lars Ulrich!”

You raised your eyebrows, removed his hands from your cheeks, and said, “I know... and he’s waiting for you to talk to him instead of me.”

When Eddie simply stared at you in surprise, pointing to himself, you placed your hands on his shoulders and spun him around, “This is Eddie. He’s a big fan, in case you couldn’t tell.”

Eddie almost collapsed when the band’s drummer reached out to shake his hand. Suddenly, he was being greeted by the other members as well. When he got to the band’s lead vocalist, he looked at you with starry eyes, “I just touched James Hetfield! Gareth is gonna shit his pants!” 

Kirk, the band’s lead guitarist, laughed, “Where’d you pick this one up? He’s hilarious!”

You rolled your eyes, but smiled, “I went to some bar in Hawkins. He’s got a band named Corroded Coffin. They played ‘Creeping Death’ last night, and it was great!”

“Sick name,” grinned Cliff, the bassist. “Maybe we can have a session some time. Have you listened to ‘Master of Puppets’ yet?”

You grinned, running your hand over Eddie’s back as he praised the band’s recent song. You’d definitely have to thank Kirk later for giving you an extra pass to the concert.

“It was good to meet you, Eddie,” said James, shaking your date’s hand once more. “We hope you like the show!”

“Keep an eye on her,” said Kirk, giving you a fake glare. “She’ll dive into the crowd before you can stop her!”

“Oh, whatever,” you laughed. “Get out there! The crowd’s waiting!”

As the band turned to finally go onstage, Eddie turned his attention back to you. He jumped happily, almost reminding you of an excited puppy as he exclaimed, “I’m gonna ask you to marry me every day until you agree because you are so fucking awesome!” 

Before you could respond, he placed his hands on the back of your neck and pulled into a searing kiss just as the band’s opening song began to echo loudly throughout the cheering stadium.

[imjustawordprocessor]

infinity train book four

episode one: hey this is cool i think theyre not straight and i like ryan

episode two: cool kez is a bitch no wait is she idk

episode three: Oh look haha rango. (Why did Ryan flirt with the cat Why did he blush at judge morpho's transformation What) Also I actually y rlly liked this episode not my favorite but

episode four: Cool they're fromcanada I'm going to Kick Min

episode five: Min Shut Up oh NO RYAN DONT FALL OFF A CLIFF oh look Min saved him MIN STOP Oh look Min learned ☺NO MIN APOLOGIZE DUMBASS ☹

episode six: look At Ryan Got a Guitar Ryan Why Are You Changing Clohtes Right Now Now ok go ON stAge pop off ryan!!! Oh MIN W nvm min is sad I love min 🙂 chicken choice judy :) oh look they addressed racism against asian ppl didn't think they'd do it they look so calm in the re min with his stylophone and Bryan with the guitar that actually sounds like an electric guitar not plugged in?? But nice they friends/partner s now ☺

episode sseven: Oh look haha Canadians cold joke FFjiweIDWNIUjdwoi STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP MIN MIN MIN MIN WHAT PLEASE I CNNOT STOP ARGUING OVER ACTULA PROBLEMS YOURE HAVING PLEAAASE DONT GET MAD AT EACHOTHER RYAN MIN NO YOU ARE BEING POSSESSED YOURE COLD JUST GGGGGHHHH RYAN IS OUT GOOD FFFFFCODWJUJE3 NO MIN MIN MIN RYAN YOURE MAKING ME SAD,,, OH LOOK YOUR EXIT OOPS HS NUMBER WENT UP MINNNNN MIN, MIN NO HE DIDNT MEAN TO MIN MIN MIN MIN

episode eight: Ryan communication PLEASE you cnt fix your relationship problems by playing music sheepishly but at least you had enough contact with min to send him a demo of my ouvre butPLEASE man you're killing m e also more proof he made up the nnyc thing not just deleted dialogue mmm parental neglect o do not c RY WHAT DO YOU MEAN TYOU DIDNT TRUST HIM NOW RYAN IS THE ONE CRYING CAN I BE ADDED TO THIS LIST GHUFENJDQNI "I DIDNT MENAN TO LEAVE YOU" NOOO BRO MY LIFE IS OVERWAIGT No itsf ine I think they made up hopefully because min saved ryan from the thing haha woop

episode nine: Who th e hell is jeremely. Hold the fuc who is Jeremty "welp its their problem now lalala I'm a Bell! 😠" says ryan. Oh oh he's not messing around that get out was , really forceful man ok jeremy. Likes hats. Woah did you just say fifth?!?!!?!?! Ryan is laughing menacing;y and I'm scared for his mental health 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

episode rten; Ryannnnn you have to eat something you're not allowed to just give up Ryan . TRYan you're not garbage. Ryan-

Yes ryan Min still wants to play with you :) )) )) )))) he wasn't rushing you he was rushing himself jiwdugyqwoiojwdhewji . Man I love this show I hate it when shows get canceled oops time to listen to train to nowhere for the 200th time. No joke. I am not. I also they're not straight that wink when they were performing was not a friend thing.

Also JEREMY, WAS IN DENIAL ABOUT A CAR CRASH, AND HE WENT TO THE INFINITY TRAIN. W HAT. I DIDNT EXPECT THAT DUDE I DIDNT IDK WHAT EPISODE THAT WAS IN SO IM JUST. JSUT SAYING

hate yo say it this was yer another post that I was going to send to somebody y this site is a lifesaver I think that person would have killed me oj the spot

[itsadamcole]

frenemies

fem!reader x kyle o’reilly

reader is a member of the Undisputed Era and is a guest on Adam’s stream with the rest of the boys, but there’s been a tension building between reader and Kyle that implodes while on stream ...

word count: 5.6k

warnings: angsty, full of smut (hehe), kinda fluffy at the end

— i began writing this pre-ue break up and finished it post-ue break up :) —

masterlist || request an imagine here

~ 18+ content below - read at your own risk ~

Adam convinced you to come over to play video games on his stream. Accepting that offer was your first mistake. You knew Kyle would be there as soon as Adam said, "The boys and I were gonna stream today on my Twitch if you wanna join us." You should've said no, but you didn't put two and two together.

For weeks, somethings been going on with Kyle, and you don't know why. He's been acting more distant from you and when you actually talk to him, he makes short comments and barely says three words to you. You don't understand why and you've never been good at confrontation. Kyle was your closet friend in the Undisputed Era, but he's been cold toward you for weeks.

On Thursday at one, you pull up to Adam's house. Roddy's car is here but Kyle and Bobby aren't here yet. You grab your phone and turn off the car before getting out and walking up to the door. You knock three times and wait for someone to answer.

Britt Baker answers the door. "Hey! Y/N, glad you're here. I wondered if Adam invited you," she says, greeting me with a hug. "I guess you're going to be on stream, huh? You're not here to hang with me and Marina."

You laugh and say, "Maybe I'll stay a little bit after the stream is done to hang out with you and Marina. Roddy brought the whole gang over I'm guessing."

With that said, Marina appears in the foyer and says, "He did. He thought that I should hang out with Britt while the stream is going on. Troy is in the living room watching some of his father's favorite matches.:

"Of course," you say, smiling. "Let me go greet the guys and I'll sit with you guys until Adam says it's time for the stream to start."

Britt lets me walk past and I greet Marina with a hug before strolling over to Adam's game room. I can hear his voice and Roderick's voice coming from the room as I pop my head in. "Hey, losers," you say. Adam and Roddy both look at you and both men smile.

Adam says, "Hey, Y/N. I'm just explaining everything to Roddy. I'll catch you up when Bobby and Kyle get here."

Your heart skips a beat at the mention of Kyle. You keep a smile on your face as you say, "Great. I'm excited. What are we playing?"

"I was thinking some Wii Bowling," Adam says. "Or something Wii related. Maybe some VR games as well. I have Beat Saber, which is fun to play."

You sit in Adam's gaming chair and say, "Wii sounds fun. It's been a while since I've played Wii."

Roddy and Adam both laugh as Adam finishes up.

Bobby gets here about fifteen minutes after you and Troy run in after him, crawling onto your lap on Adam's chair. "Aunt Y/N, what are you gonna play with daddy, Uncle Adam, and Uncle Bobby?" he asks, curious. You smile and hold on on your lap.

"We haven't figured that out yet," you say. "I'll let you in on a little secret though." You lean into Troy's ear and your voice drops to a loud whisper. "I'm gonna beat your dad and your uncles."

Adam, Roddy, and Bobby all look at me and Adam goes, "Hey! I'm the professional gamer here."

You stick your tongue out at Adam and say, "I'm a professional Wii player."

Troy giggles and says, "Yeah! Aunt Y/N is gonna kick your butts."

You laugh and that's when another voice chimes in. "Who said that Aunt Y/N is gonna kick our butt?" You turn your head and look at the doorway.

Kyle. He's finally here.

"Uncle Kyle!" Troy says, scrambling off your lap and running over to Kyle. Kyle hugs the little man and picks him up.

Roderick looks at you then looks at Troy in Kyle's arms. "Alright, buddy," Roddy says. "Time to go sit with mommy and Aunt Britt. Maybe they'll give you a snack if you listen to them."

Kyle puts Troy down and he runs into the living room with Marina and Britt. Kyle closes the door behind him and turns to his Undisputed Era brothers and "bro hugs" them. Then he turns to you and you open your mouth to say something but Kyle says, "Surprised to see you here, Y/N. I didn't think Adam would invite you."

Adam looks at Kyle and says, "Bro-"

You cut Adam off and say, "I'm a member of the Undisputed Era too, Kyle. Or do you not remember saving me from an assault by Toni Storm then helping me secure the NXT Women's Championship against Io?"

Roddy, Bobby, and Adam all stare between you and Kyle as Kyle says, "You're only a member by storyline, Y/N. You're not an actual member."

Your eyes widen and Roderick jumps in saying, "Woah, Kyle. Dude, she's a member of the Undisputed Era. Storyline or not."

Adam says, "Alright before things get out of hand, let's get this stream started. You guys ready?"

Everyone nods. You keep your eyes on Kyle though, trying to figure out why he's making so many hurtful comments. Adam sits in his chair in front of the greenscreen and puts his headset on. You stand beside Roddy while Bobby and Kyle stand behind you too. Adam's going to make introductions. This is a surprise to his Twitch community that you're all going to be on. It's his 200th stream, and it was Adam's idea to bring you all onto the stream.

He looks at the camera and says, "Alright. It looks like I'm live. Is my early crew here?" He pauses and smiles. "It is the 200th stream, you're right. I have a surprise for the 200th stream but I want to wait for more people to get in here before I tell you guys what the surprise is."

You sigh and Roddy says softly, "You seem nervous, Y/N. You nervous?"

Shaking your head, you whisper, "No. I'm fine."

Adam says, "Alright. There's a decent amount of people in here now. Do you guys want to know the 200th stream surprise? It might, how do you say it, shock the system." He smirks and winks a few times at the camera before waving you over first. "Okay, so first we have Miss L/N."

You jump into the frame behind Adam and smile. "Hey," you say before glancing at the chat. "Woah, hi, everyone. Looks like chat is excited."

He laughs and says, "Y/N isn't the only surprise. We got the whole gang here. Roddy, Kyle, Bobby." The three of them join you in standing behind Adam. The chat goes wild and the viewership goes up by a couple thousand. Adam looks at the four of you behind him before looking back at his chat. "Woah, it's going by so quick. So many gifted subs and bits, holy crap."

"Is this a PG stream?" Bobby asks.

Adam nods and says, "Yeah."

You and Roddy both laugh because Bobby likes to curse so much. All of you have to remind him to stop cursing while in the ring sometimes. It's crazy how much he likes to curse, but you like to too so you can't say anything.

That's when Kyle takes his first on-stream jab at you. "Y/N, you better watch your mouth," he warns you. "Adam won't be happy if you start dropping f-bombs on his stream."

To get back at him, you say, "You better watch your mouth before I kick your butt in whatever game we're about to play."

Kyle glares at you and Adam says, "Alright, so I was thinking of games we can play and it's recently been brought to my attention that Y/N is a professional Wii player so let's put that to the test and see just how good she is. Y/N? Game options?" He looks back at you and you begin to think.

"Wii Sports," you blatantly say. "I wanna beat Kyle's butt just because I can."

The group laughs, except for Kyle. You look over at him and smirk. Roddy puts a disk into Adam's Wii console and hands remotes to all of us. Kyle doesn't get one because only four people max can play Wii Sports.

Kyle says, "What about me? I didn't get a remote."

Bobby looks at all of us as we connect our remotes then says, "Maybe you can share with Y/N. I'm sure she wouldn't mind bowling every other frame."

Mentally you groan but physically you say, "Yeah, just pick up your spares, O'Reilly." All of you pick the Miis that you made before the stream. You and Kyle are third to go, and you both decided to throw every other frame. You'd get even frames and Kyle would get odds, so he starts off the game for you both.

Roddy misses a spare in the first, Adam strikes, Kyle picks up his spare, and Bobby gutters then knocks down seven pins on the second shot.

Half the game passes and you're having fun with your doubles partner. Kyle doesn't make any snide remarks toward you and actually cheers you on when you make a spare or strike. In the eighth frame, he actually gives you a high-five.

As Kyle throws the ninth frame, you lean and whisper in Adam's ear while he's out of frame, "You set this up, didn't you? Making Kyle and I team up like this?"

Adam shrugs as Kyle strikes. You get excited and actually hug Kyle. You're now right behind Adam in scoring. Bobby has no chance at winning the game, Roddy isn't that far behind you, and you are just seven pins behind Adam.

You watch as Adam throws his tenth and final frame. He strikes and picks up his spare. Now you're twenty-seven pins behind the leader of the Undisputed Era. He threw a 156 game. You and Kyle can get a 159 if you get all three strikes in the tenth. Technically, you just need two strikes and eight pins on the third shot to beat Adam with a 157 game.

Kyle watches as you get the first strike in the tenth. He cheers for you. You sigh and get ready for your second shot. You strike again. Eight more pins and you beat Adam.

Then it happens. Kyle has had all game to do something to you and he does it just as you throw the ball. It over hooks and you only knock down three pins. You lost by four pins because Kyle decided to yell, "Let's go, Y/N" at you and he scared you so much you jumped, affecting what the ball does on the screen.

The look on Kyle's face was priceless when you turned to him. He looked terrified. "I had it, Kyle!" you shout, kind of annoyed at him. Then you snap. "You just love when I prove myself wrong, don't you? I don't get it. We were so close and all of a sudden, you start acting differently. It's like I did something to you and I don't know what I did."

"Y/N-" Kyle starts.

You cut him off and say, "Save it, O'Reilly." You shove the remote at him and leave the game room. You walk into the kitchen, needing a glass of something to keep you from absolutely losing it.

He didn't need to yell it. He could've done anything else except yell it. It scared you so much that you messed up the winning shot.

Britt and Marina walk into the kitchen and Britt asks, "What happened? You stormed out of there and you looked angry."

After chugging a glass of water, you say, "Kyle happened. Again. He's been up my ass for months and I don't know what I did to deserve this. We were like best friends and he was so excited when I joined the Undisputed Era. Now all of a sudden he's saying the only reason I'm in the group is because of storylines and he's making sure that I prove myself wrong. I say I can beat the guys and he yells something, scaring me, so I mess up the shot and losing to Adam."

Marina sighs and says, "You need to talk to him, Y/N. This pent-up frustration isn't going to do either of you any good."

"I'm not good at confrontation, Marina," you explain. "I never have been."

There are footsteps that come into the kitchen and you look behind the girls to see who it is. It's Kyle. You roll your eyes and try to ignore him even as he says, "Y/N, I'm so sorry. I didn't know that it would scare you like that. I wouldn't have done it if I had thought-"

You snap and say, "You haven't been thinking, Kyle. Not recently, anyway. These comments you're making hurt me. It hurts when you tell me I'm only in the group because of a storyline when you all welcomed me into the group a few months ago."

The girls leave the room, leaving me and Kyle alone. You sip off another glass of water as Kyle says, "I felt like things were changing with us, Y/N. That's why I started acting the way I have been. I pushed you away because I was scared."

Annoyed, you ask, "Scared of what, Kyle? Scared I was going to do something that would risk our friendship? I noticed it too and I was scared too, but I didn't start making rude comments toward you." Finally, you meet Kyle's eyes. They're full of sincerity and regret.

Kyle says, "Come back to the group. I'm sorry for yelling and making you mess up your shot. I promise I'll be good."

"I don't trust you," you say. You have every right to not trust him. Every time he tells you he'll stop making comments, he does it again. He does it multiple times. "You say that then break your promise. It's happened several times at this point, Kyle."

He looks kind of hurt at your comment. Then something inside Kyle snaps and he says, "Such a hypocrite. You tell me that you'd never make hurtful comments but then you say you don't trust me."

You put the glass down and say, "Maybe you understand what I've been going through for the past few months now, Kyle." Tears sting your eyes as you stare at Kyle. "Do you know how many times I've been alone in a room after you've left and I've just cried? Do you know how many times I've wondered what I've done wrong that has made you treat me this way?"

Kyle almost shouts, "It's nothing you did, Y/N! You haven't done anything except being the kindest and the most caring human being toward me for years. I just started to fall for you and it scared the hell out of me so I just pushed you away."

Your jaw drops. You had noticed that your friendship may have been treading into the more than friends territory but you didn't know that Kyle was falling for you this entire time.

The man in front of you is the most vulnerable than he's ever been. He just told you the one thing he was terrified of telling you at risk of ruining your friendship with him.

He avoids eye contact with you as you leave your spot by the sink and walking over to Kyle, who stands on the other side of the kitchen island counter. He doesn't look at you when you approach his eyes and look up at him.

You'd be lying to yourself if you didn't admit that you might have been falling for Kyle as he was falling for you. Kyle's always been so sweet. He cares for you and the boys, and he's never afraid to show his soft side. Sometimes that side of him shows up on television, and you're guilty of trying to coax that softer more adorable side of him out in front of the cameras.

Whenever you and Kyle would be together, it felt like the world around you stopped. Whether that was having a conversation in your shared locker room with Adam, Roddy, and Bobby or just hanging out at your apartment or his house. It was always you and him against the world, and you just want that back.

Kyle still avoids your eyes as you examine his face as he looks at his hands on the counter. You rest one of your hands on Kyle's and he finally looks over at you. He stands at almost six foot but you're at five foot six so he doesn't tower over you. It would be so easy to just lean up and kiss him.

Fuck it, you think before you grab the collar of his shirt and pulling him down to you. Your lips crash to his and both of you gasp as your lips make contact. You're hesitant with kissing him at first but you slowly gain confidence, pressing your lips harder to his. Kyle pulls back and looks at you, panting slightly. "I don't want your pity kisses, Y/N," Kyle says to you.

"Who said it was a pity kiss?" you question, raising your eyebrows at him as you look up at him.

He sighs and says, "Y/N-"

You shake your head and say, "No. I'm not going to let you talk yourself into it being a pity kiss because it wasn't, Kyle. It was anything but a pity kiss. If your dumbass didn't start pushing me away then it could've happened sooner."

Kyle looks down at you and says, "I don't know what you mean."

Sighing, you say, "I noticed our friendship changing too, Kyle. I mean it. I was ready for you to possibly take the next step by asking me on a date or by kissing me. Then you started treating me differently and I thought it was all in my head. Maybe if you just talked to me instead of saying hurtful comments then maybe I would have kissed you before right now."

"So," he sighs. "That wasn't a pity kiss?"

You smile and shake your head. "That wasn't a pity kiss," you confirm. You slide your hands from the collar of his shirt to his cheeks, where you cup his face. "That was the farthest thing from a pity kiss."

Kyle asks, "Do it again?"

Laughing, you get on your toes and kiss him softly. This kiss is slower but more passionate than the last. Kyle actually touches you, resting his hands on the sliver of bare skin exposed between your loose black crop top and your light blue high-waisted ripped jeans. Kyle turns and presses you against the counter before he reaches down and sits you on the counter. You hold Kyle close, scared to let him go.

Your heart races in your chest. This is everything you've wanted for so long. You've wanted to call Kyle yours for months. After today, maybe he will be.

You pull Kyle closer to you and he leans forward, almost pushing you back onto the kitchen counter. That's when you pull back and giggle, "I don't think Adam would like the fact that we're making out on his kitchen counter. I'm sure he and Britt eat here."

Kyle smiles and kisses your jaw softly before he says, "He has an extra guest room upstairs. I don't think he'd like it if we did anything in his house but I think he'd prefer a bedroom than his kitchen counter."

Smiling, you lean your head back a bit as he kisses your jaw and says, "I'd prefer a bedroom than the kitchen counter too."

"Then let's go," he says, taking your hands. You smile and hop off the counter. "We can't make a lot of noise though because Adam is doing a PG stream right now and the walls in this house aren't exactly thick."

You nod and look up at Kyle. He's almost glowing since he told you how he felt. You feel so happy that everything is out in the open. You don't like how he pushed you away instead of telling you how he felt, but you can get over that if it means that everything can go back to how it was.

Kyle smiles and walks out of the kitchen. The stairs are in the living room, which means you have to walk past Britt and Marina to go upstairs. This is going to be interesting.

You and Kyle walk into the living room hand in hand. Britt and Marina look over at the two of you and Britt's eyes widen. Marina points and says, "That was not a thing a few minutes ago."

Your face gets all flustered and you look up at Kyle. He says, "Well, it's a thing now. And if you excuse us, we need to make up for some time. Upstairs. We'll be quiet."

He leads you upstairs and Britt says, "Keep the sheets clean, please. Condoms are in the bathroom." Kyle chuckles as you both get up the stairs.

"The guys could have heard that," you gasp as you reach the top of the stairs. Kyle cups your face with his hands and presses you against the wall.

You stare up at Kyle as he says, "They'll just be jealous that I'm finally getting everything I want." You grab at Kyle's shirt and hold him close to you.

He kisses your forehead and you close your eyes, asking, "Everything?"

Kyle nods and says, "You're all I want, Y/N."

Your eyes open and you meet his eyes. His face is close to yours and you lean your head up, lips barely touching his. "You're all I want too, Kyle," you say in almost a whisper. "You're all I've wanted for months. There's a reason why there was no one else after I broke up with Murphy a few months ago. It's you. You're it for me, Kyle."

He pushes your hair back out of your face and he says, "He never treated you right, Y/N." He tilts his head, almost kissing you.

"You will?" you ask.

Kyle nods and says, "One hundred percent I will treat you better."

You grow tired of being close to Kyle without him kissing you so you get on your toes, kissing him. The kiss is quick and needy. Kyle stumbles with you to the guest bedroom and kicks the door closed with his foot. You're pressed against the door, kicking off your sneakers while Kyle runs his fingers over the exposed skin on your stomach. You shiver under his touch before you pull at his shirt. Kyle pulls back from the kiss and pulls off his shirt. You run your fingers over his tattoo and see the thing on his arm that monitors his blood sugar levels.

"Are you okay to, you know?" you ask, trailing off.

Kyle glances at his arm monitor and says, "Yeah. I took my meds and I ate so I'm okay. For at least the first round, anyway."

You giggle and say, "Mr. O'Reilly, you don't plan on keeping me for the rest of the day and the night, do you?"

He attacks your neck with kisses before he says, "One round and cuddles then we gotta join the boys to finish Adam's stream. We can negotiate what happens afterward later."

Your fingers run through Kyle's hair and you sigh, "Less talking, Kyle. Please."

Kyle smiles against your neck and walks back to the bed. You pull off your crop top, exposing your black Calvin Klein bra. Kyle's eyes are on your body as he sits on the bed. He kisses your stomach and unbuttons the jeans you're wearing and you watch his fingers. He pulls the jeans down, leaving you in nothing but your underwear.

You slide down to your knees in front of him and pull down his loose sports shorts, leaving him in his boxers. You look up at him with innocent eyes and run your fingers over the bulge in his underwear. He sighs softly and leans back on his hands.

It's been a while since you've been with someone, but it's Kyle. Your nerves were shot just kissing him.

Kyle says, "I can see the wheels turning in your head, Y/N. If you don't want to do anything then we don't have to."

You say, "I want to. I want ... you."

He sits back up and pushes a loose strand of hair behind your ear before he says, "You have me."

With that finally said, you smile and leave soft kisses on his knee and thigh. Kyle smiles and you trace over his hardened member in his boxers for a second before you hook your fingers in the waistband. You hesitate for a second before you pull the thin fabric off his body. His erect dick pops out and you gasp at the sight. He's bigger than you thought it was, but you definitely won't complain about it. "Shit," you sigh.

Kyle laughs and watches you. You take his member in your hand and stroke him a few times. Kyle whines softly and lays on his back as you kiss the tip. You nestle yourself between his knees as he legs hang off the bed. Slowly, you begin to take him in your mouth. Kyle gasps and runs his fingers through your hair. Your hands move to his thighs as you bob your head up and down, sucking occasionally.

Soft noises leave Kyle's lips and they go straight to your core. You slip one of your hands into your panties, rubbing yourself to relieve yourself a bit. You moan softly and Kyle gasps, "Keep doing that and I don't think I'll last as long as we both want."

You slowly pull away from Kyle's member, wiping away some saliva that has rolled down your chin as you sucked Kyle off. Kyle sits up and kisses you hard. His hands are on your face as he pulls you up. You straddle his waist and he rolls so he's hovering over you, not breaking the kiss. Your tongue slips into Kyle's mouth as the kiss intensifies.

Kyle's fingers slide down your body until they get to the waistband of your panties. He hesitates before you take his hand and guide it into your underwear. His fingers make contact with your slick folds and you gasp. Kyle pulls back from the kiss and says, "Already so wet for me, baby."

"Only for you," you gasp as his pointer fingers circles your sensitive clit. Kyle kisses down your body and pulls off your panties. He throws your legs over his shoulders and your core is completely exposed to him.

He kisses your inner thighs, close to your soaked sex. You whine and look down at Kyle. He kisses closer to your core. You shiver with anticipation as he finally runs a finger through your folds. You gasp and lay your head back on the bed. "Kyle," you sigh. "Please. I've waited long enough. Tease me later."

Kyle looks up at you and asks, "So there will be a later?"

You look down at him between your legs and you say, "Only if you do something now and don't tease me."

He bites his lip softly for a second before he finally dives in, kissing and sucking on your clit. You let out a soft moan as his tongue circles the sensitive bud. You grasp onto the blankets and smile as he makes you feel euphoric and full of bliss. His finger dips into you and you gasp, not expecting that. Kyle moves his finger in and out of you as you are pulled closer to an orgasm.

Once Kyle adds a second finger and continues to suck on your clit, it's basically over for you. Your legs shake as you are literally seconds away from your pending orgasm. "Kyle," you cry out as he curls his fingers slightly. "Kyle, baby, I'm about to cum."

"Let me taste you, Y/N," he says before continuing to suck on your clit.

Seconds later, your toes curl and you cry out Kyle's name as you release all over his fingers. Kyle hums softly as he tastes your juices and cum. You pant as he gets on his knees and licks his lips. You watch him and try to catch your breath.

He made you cum in minutes just from his mouth and fingers. You begin to wonder how long you'll last when he finally fucks you.

You sit up and leave a few soft kisses on Kyle's chest. Your hands are on the side of his body, holding him close to you. Kyle runs his fingers through your hair and says, "I need to grab something, Y/N, and you need to let me go so I can go get it." Pouting, you let him go and he climbs off the bed. "I promise I'll be quick." He leans down and pecks your lips before putting on his boxers and walking out of the room. You scootch back on the bed a bit as you bite your lip gently.

Kyle returns with a little silver package and closes the door. He walks toward you on the bed but you say, "Lose the boxers before you get on this bed, O'Reilly."

"So demanding," Kyle teases, stripping out of his boxer shorts. "I kinda like it."

Smirking as he crawls toward you, you giggle, "You would." Kyle smiles and hovers over you as you lean back so you're laying on your back. Your hands cup Kyle's face and you stare up at him.

His eyes scan your naked body beneath him and you get a little self-conscious. "You're so beautiful, Y/N," Kyle sighs. "I don't know how I went this long without touching you or kissing you. I really was a dumbass, wasn't I?"

You say, "You were, but I can forgive you for that." You smile and lean up, kissing Kyle. He props himself up on his arms and kisses you back. You wrap your arms around his neck and hold him close.

Kyle pulls back from the kiss after a second before he opens the little package. He slides the contents on himself and you watch as he hovers over you again.

Kyle kisses you and you quickly slip your tongue into his mouth. You smile against his lips and you feel his tip run through your folds. You sigh and slide your fingers into his hair.

You hold Kyle close before he pulls back and asks, “Are you sure you want this?”

Nodding, you say, “I want this. Please.”

He smiles and he sets himself up at your entrance. You take one of his hands and hold it as he slides into you. You whine and gasp as his length fills you. Your eyes squeeze shut and Kyle asks, “Okay?”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “I’m okay. Keep going.”

Kyle continues to slowly slide himself into you. You grip his hand until he’s completely inside of you. He lets you adjust and you nod when you’re ready for him to move.

He begins to thrust slowly, making you sigh softly. You wrap your legs around his waist, holding him close as he picks up speed.

Soon, the room is filled with your moans and the sound of skin slapping. Kyle’s thrusts are hard and fast into you. His lips are on yours as he tries to silence your moans.

His lips leave yours and attach to your neck. Your back arches off the bed and you sigh, “God, you make me feel so good. I love how good you make me feel.”

Kyle mumbles, “I love you, Y/N.”

You smile after Kyle’s words. His tip finds your g-spot and you cry out, “Fuck, right there. Oh, God, don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

“I would never even think of stopping,” Kyle pants as he fucks you.

Moments later, your legs begin to shake and a pit forms in your stomach. Your lips are on Kyle’s again, passionately kissing him as he thrusts hard into you.

Kyle’s movements get sloppier and your whole body seems to shake as you’re pulled closer to an orgasm.

You whine, “Kyle.”

He says, “Cum for me, baby. I wanna feel you cum again for me.”

Soft whines and moans pass your lips as the pit in your stomach bottoms out and you release on Kyle’s length inside you. He cums into the condom. He helps you both ride out your highs before he collapses onto you.

Both of you are sweaty and panting as you recover. Kyle smiles and buries his face into your neck.

“Worth the wait,” he pants.

You giggle and look at him. “Did you mean it when you said you loved me?” you ask.

He looks up at you, meeting your eyes before he says, “Of course I did. I’ve been falling in love with you for weeks. I didn’t just say it and didn’t mean it, Y/N. I would never say it and not mean it.”

You lean your head up and peck his lips before you say, “I love you too, Kyle. Does this mean that we’re together?”

Kyle smiles and says, “Let me take you out on an official date then we’ll talk about it.”

[captainwho77]

200th Post Special: Or how Ozpin killed Jaune arc by accident part one

Jaune dreaded the day he was called to Ozpins office. Was it because of the forged transcripts? No. Was it for something far worse like failing grades? No. Was it for starring at Ms. Goodwitch’s sweet ass? No. No-one would get in trouble for admiring such beauty. 

This was different as Ozpin called him for a meeting. A personal meeting with both him and the parents of his girlfriends...his harem of girlfriends. 

When he reached the top of the tower, he was meet with each some of the parents of the girls he dating. Taiyang Xiao Long of Ruby and Yang. Willow Schnee and her butler Klein. Ghira and Kali Belladonna of Blake and lastly Minerva Nikos the mother of Pyrrha.

“Ah Mr. Arc, why don’t you come and sit down by Mr. Belladonna and Mr. Xiao Long?” Ozpin offered the seat near the window to Jaune as the blonde boy nervously walked towards the seat to avoid the looks of the fathers. 

“Now then. Let’s begin.” Ozpin said to the rest as they took their focus onto the boy

“Jaune Arc. Is that correct?” Ghira asked him as he nodded “Interesting. Throughout time, the Arcs are known to have many children throughout each generation. Though I believed your the first to have multiple partners.” 

“Well considering this is Julius’s and Juniper’s kid, that’s kind of a understatement.” Tai added in 

“Wait! You know my parents?” Jaune asked

“Know them? They’ve kicked my ass back in the day!” He said with annoyance 

“That wouldn’t be a problem if you weren’t such a ass.” Willow butted in as Klein nodded in agreement“Hearing your school reports, it sounds like you got what you deserve.” 

“Plus there’s the fact you’ve used to bully Mr. Julius.” Klein added

“Hey let’s not go there right now.” Kali said as she smiled “To be honest, when we heard about you from our girls, we were surprised to know how much you care about them without going overboard.” 

“They’re important to me but I know my grounds when it comes to their space.” Jaune responded as the parents watched Minerva walk towards him 

“Do you truly love our girls? This isn’t just a way to make your family famous again right?” She asks him. It was known the Arcs were famous until Julius Arc Stepped down from the Huntsman career and cut ties with anyone else who is a huntsman. Could he be using the girls for his own advantage?

“No. I wouldn’t do that to them.” He said honestly to her “I..don’t know what happened to my father during his time as a huntsman..but I would never use the girls to regain something that I never needed. Because Arc’s don’t need that publicity to honour our family name.” 

After hearing that, Minerva smiled and moved to the side to see Ghira standing tall, looking down at the boy.

“Jaune.” He said as the next second he bowed down to the boy like he was begging “PLEASE MARRY MY DAUGHTER!!” Everyone was shocked to hear the chief of Menagerie begging him to marry Blake

“HOLD ON THERE LION KING! IF THERE’S ANYONE MARRING THIS KID, IT’S GOING TO BE MY GIRLS!” Tai stood up and personal to Ghira as the rest were also shocked 

“Gentlemen please. We all know he’ll marry both Weiss and my other daughter Winter.” Willow said 

“Both of them ma'am?” Klein asked in concern

“Why not? It’s about time Winter get’s someone as kind as Jaune here.”

“Well she’ll have to look for someone else because Blake is more willing to marry him!” Kali said as she and Willow gave each other death glares.

“I have an idea how we can-” Minerva was cut off by Ozpin

“I have an idea of how we can determine who get’s to marry Mr. Arc if you’re all willing to cooperate.” The headmaster stated as the others stopped fighting for Jaune

“Um...what do you have in mind, Headmaster?” Jaune asked as Ozpin walked over towards him, look at him in the eyes and kicked him towards the window, shattering the glass as Jaune fell. Everyone stood there in silence, trying to process what happened

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!!” Everyone screamed at him, demanding an answer

“Simple. Find the boy, and see if he’s alive. The winner will be the one who’s daughter gets to marry him.” The headmaster smiled while drinking his coffee.

Will Jaune survive the fall to sue the school for attempted murderer from his headmaster? 

Who will get Jaune to marry their daughter?

Where is Raven during all of this? The real question is, who gives a fuck about her?

Stay tune until next time in I have other things planned right not but will finish this later, I promise.

[nymph1e]

Okay fuck it, I gotta give in, I gotta watch through Supernatural. AFAIK, it's all on Netflix; at least I saw it on there in passing. Going into this, is there anything I should be aware of? Are there any episodes I should skip, any seasons? Should I start from season 4? I know the basic plot and concept, and I know it's very monster-of-the-week. But aside from me highkey shipping Destiel already, that's all.

Well my first piece of advice would be

but uh, let’s fucking ~GO~

If you’re actually jumping into this hellhole (why why why) don’t start at season 4. It’s tempting, but seasons 1-3 are some of the best shit in the whole show, also having context for Sam and Dean’s characters, and their relationship with the supernatural up to season 4 really highlights how fucking wild the introduction of angels is in the show. it’s basically a complete paradigm shift.

I would recommend you watch seasons 1-5 basically as is, though if you’re in a rush, season three is kinda skippable as long as you read a general synopsis. This is the original arc of the show and it shows. A friend of mine, @sammwinchestersdimples​ has said she’d have been fine if the show had ended there, and I can totally see her point. After season five things start to get... uhhhhh... not as good. THAT BEING SAID some really amazing seasons come later, and you’d get nowhere NEAR the Full Destiel Experience without them. What REALLY sucks is that all the seasons have good moments in them, so even if the seasons are generally bad, they’ll have episodes of GOLD. But fuck it, here’s a season-by-season breakdown.

Season 6 - This is the first... “eh” season. There’s a lot of character choices made in this one that I don’t like. The plot also doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with itself and it has no real main villain... or I guess it has a twist villain? This is also the season where they start chucking in the typical “no homos” you get when a show is queerbaiting, so they can point to the no homo bits and claim the queers are delusional.

Season 7 - The absolute WORST season, imo, is season 7, and it features Cas the least out of all the post season 4 seasons. You can tell the writers genuinely tried to write Cas off here. Not to mention the main plot is completely stupid. HOWEVER this is the season where we get golden things like Cas showing up to Dean’s prayer naked and covered in bees, and the episode where Charlie (best girl) is introduced and Dean subsequently has to flirt with a dude because she, a lesbian, cannot. (Wow so straight, Dean)

Episodes Not To Skip:

6x03 - A good Cas/plot episode (spot the famous destiel quote)

6x04 - A good all-round episode, also Jackles directed it so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

6x09 - This is one of the Batshit Episodes. Definitely watch.

6x10 - On the one hand, Cas episode. On the other, no homo, megstiel episode. Your choice.

6x11 - Good episode.

6x15 - THE ULTIMATE META EPISODE. Sam and Dean are teleported into Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles’ lives on the set of Supernatural and it is so batshit.

6x17 - Jolly good episode, and nice destiel content.

6x18 - Time travel episode, which is always fun.

6x19 - “Baby in a trenchcoat.” ‘Nough said.

6x20 - The Man Who Would Be King is the destiel episode. It is infamous in the fandom, and for good reason. It’s not just a good destiel episode, but one of the best episodes in the series. With banging lines like “Freedom is a length of rope. God wants you to hang yourself with it.” and “For a brief moment, I was me again.”

6x21 & 6x22 - The last two episodes are kind of must-watches after TMWWBK, trust me.

Episodes Not To Skip:

7x01 & 7x02 - follows on from s6 final. You don’t wanna skip.

7x05 - Good general episode

7x06 - Again, good general episode. Sets ups plot for the season.

7x08 - Ugh. So the A plot for this episodes invoves Becky, the insane, stalker, fandom-insert character, roofie Sam into marrying her (and it’s heavily implied they have sex - and it’s treated as a joke despite being LITERAL RAPE). BUT this is the episode where Garth is introduced and Garth is fucking amazing. So. IDEK.

7x10 & 7x11 - Plot important.

7x12 - Time travel episode! See if you can catch the bi!dean moment ;)

7x17 - Cas is back! Or is he???

7x18 - GARTH EPISODE

7x20 - CHARLIE!!!! WATCH THIS EPISODE!!!!

7x21 - Cas episode. It’s... interesting.

7x22 - The tagline for this episode is “Sam and Dean seek out an Alpha” 😭. It’s a Cas episode.

7x23 - If Cas weren’t in this episode I’d say skip it.

Season 8 - A fantastic season. If The Man Who Would Be King is the destiel episode, season 8 is the destiel season. When you watch this, DM me so I can RANT about all the amazing destiel this season. It’s also, again, a great season in general I remember watching it as it was airing it was soooo good. You have the arrival of the Bunker, you have Kevin and Charlie being awesome, some nice sprinkles of batshit episodes, BEST BOY BENNY rocks up in all his glory. Fucking epic season. Only downside it Sam’s character takes a bit of a dive. I’d recommend you watch through all of this season.

Episodes To AVOID:

7x13 - I literally pretend this stupid fucking episode doesn’t exist. Basically Dean impregnates a woman with Super Pregnancy and she has a daughter who becomes an adult within hours and then dies. The end. Everyone hated it. Man fuck this episode. Of course it was written by Buckleming.

Season 9 - Sadly, after how amazing season 8 was, and how spectactularly season 9 was set up, this season is a disappointment. It’s an ok season. It’s not bad, it’s not good, it’s just a bit all over the place.

I was going to give you the normal episode list to not skip, but looking through, most episodes this season should be watched for one reason or another. Either they’re Cas heavy, they do some interesting character building, or they feature one of the awesome side characters like Charlie or Jody.

This season is probably the height of the war in the writers’ room about destiel. Some writers want to no homo the whole thing and back way off, while other writers want to lean into it hard. So in the same season where SPOILER Cas loses his virginity to a random reaper woman and Dean kicks Cas out of the bunker to fend for himself, you also have Cas’ fatal flaw used as propaganda against him by Metatron being that he’s "in love” with humanity Dean. /SPOILER Whatever you do DON’T SKIP THE FINAL FEW EPISODES. TRUST ME.

Season 10 - Haha oh dear. This season is likely the biggest for wasted potential. You saw the end of season 9, right? You go “HOLY SHIT YES LET’S DO THIS” and then they do... season 10. They really became experts at setting up an awesome season only to fuck it up in delivery, right? Again, not a bad season, per se.

Episodes To AVOID:

9x05 - In which Dean wants to fuck a dog. I am not joking. I wish I were. Basically a spell-gone-wrong makes Dean doglike. it’s weird. it’s batshit. Not the good kind.

Season 11 - Season 11 is a pretty good season! They tried to give Dean a female love interest but Jackles said  ✨No✨ and played Dean as brainwashed and uncomfortable the whole time and I love him for it. Of special note this season is the episode Baby (11x04), which is my favourite episode in the series! It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s weirdly shot. I love it! We also get casifer this season which is awesome! Some episodes are skippable, but they’re generally good episodes.

Episodes NOT to Skip (ignore the 10 year special):

10x01 & 10x02 - Great episodes, Dean in this is *chefs kiss*.

10x04 - *sighs* Fan Fiction. A 200th episode that is simultaneously a love letter to fans and laughing in fans’ faces. I’ve never liked this episode for the second-hand embarressment of it all, but you should watch it and see if you like it.

10x06 - Pretty good episode.

10x07 - Jody AND Donna! Fantastic episode!

10x08 - Dadstiel rears his ugly head. I fucking love how Cas adopts two (2) kids over the course of the series and in both cases Dean eventually goes “ah fuck, I guess I gotta co-parent this thing”. Also we get some KILLER destiel this episode. hey go on a DATE and Cas tells Dean he’s a good person ^_^

10x09 - Good episode. Much destiel.

10x10 - Charlie episode!

10x11 - Teen!Dean! Need I say more?

OK so I just had a look, and you really just need to watch every episode from this point in the season on. Enjoy!

Season 12 - Another example of a TERRRIBLE season, is season 12. Season 12 is also one of the most destiel-heavy seasons in the show. You see the issue? Like, it’s got a stupid plot that makes no sense and has no fucking cohesion, but you also FINALLY have the writers going “fuck it” and all in on the destiel. After this point Dean never has another non-Cas love interest and vice versa, they stop giving us whiplash from baiting and no-homoing. IF the conspiracy theory is true, and the end of the show is shit because of executive meddling, this season is the one where the writers decided they were gonna push for destiel endgame.

I gotta tell you the truth, I skipped this season in my rewatch, so all of my memories are from years ago when it first came out. This seson was the last that I watched live (for a reason). Should you skip it? No. But I’m not well informed enough about this season that I can point out what episodes you should or should not watch.

Season 13 - Congratulations! You’ve reached the point where the show’s gotten consistently good again! (just in time for most of the audience to have already left lol). We start off with SPOILERS Dean mourning Cas like he’s lost the will to fucking live. I’m talking complete despondence, praying for Cas to come back, lashing out in anger at everything, one of the darkest points we’ve ever seen him at on the show, then pulling a 180 and being super happy the second Cas comes back. /SPOILERS They also introduce Jack, who is the SECOND child Cas decides to adopt and Dean ends up co-parenting (Sam too). In fact, Jack is explicity Sam, Cas, and Dean’s kid.

Season 14 - Another good one. My only issue is where they decided to take the plot at the end of the season. I’d recommend watching it all, regardless.

Season 15 - And so we’ve come to the end of the line. This season was... well it was actually pretty good. It started off with what we hellers lovingly refer to as the “divorce arc” where Cas and Dean have a big blow up, and Cas leaves, but that ends with Dean praying on his knees for forgiveness and a nice hug. Honestly this season you can cut the tension between the two of them like a knife, and you can tell Misha and Jensen were doing it deliberately.

I’d say watch up until 15x18, then you decide what to do with the last two episodes. If you want you can watch them to understand just why people put their conspiracy theory hats on, or you can send me another ask and I’ll rec you some post 15x18 finale fics! There’s one fic that’s a replacement for 15x20 written in script format that is particularly good.

Anyway that’s it. It’s kind of left me a little sad, to break down the show in this way. Especially coming up to season 15 nd remembering all the wasted potential. Honestly if you do decide to watch the show, good luck. I hope you enjoy it. I’m also glad you never had to be put through the bullshit false hope that came about after 15x18.

[savvyqueen18]

SilveeLocke | Let's Go Eevee ZombieLocke | Pt. 6

Happy 200th post on my tumblr!

♡♡♡

Part 6: Bird Problems

♡♡♡

>Next Part

>Previous Part

>Part 1

>Meet Silviana

>Meet Xander

She walked through the lush green grass. Taking in the sunlight and shaking off the dreadful darkness of the mountain she had just escaped from. Listening to the sounds of the pokémon around her she closed her eyes. Without looking, she could identify a couple different pokémon.

Ekans, rattata, and…

“Hey Junipur let’s get another teammate. The next gym is water, let's get Trahp trained up a little more,” she chuckled and looked at Junipur. She was on Silviana’s shoulder looking straight ahead. She didn’t seem to look grouchy or upset in any way, but Silviana could see that the pokémon was clearly ignoring her.

Fine, I don’t need your opinion.

“Maybe catching a teammate will lift your spirits.” Silviana said grouchily. Walking a couple more steps, Silviana noted the flock of birds in a nearby tree. She gave a half smile, “And I know exactly who it will be.”

Silviana went to grab Junipur to place her on the ground, but she jumped off Silviana’s shoulder anyway. Silviana pulled out an empty pokéball, keeping her eye on the flock, and crept close to the tree.

With a grunt she threw the pokéball at the tree, it hit one of the Spearow and the whole tree erupted into angry caws.

Oh no…

Silviana managed to catch the pokéball as it fell back down. She scooped up a growling Junipur and began to run.

“You know,” she directed her comment toward Junipur, “sometimes it’s better to run from battles instead of taking them head-on all the time.”

She could see the town at the edge of the path. She was quickly running out of breath as the flock of Spearow chased her.

“Spark! Thunder shock!”

A bright yellow blur zoomed past her and she felt her hair raise from the electricity that shot through the air. When she looked back again Spark was on the grass, his body sparking and ears twitching. The Spearow flock that was chasing her had dispersed.

She could hear Xander laughing behind her, “Oh man! What did you do to upset those guys?”

She gave a relieved smile to Xander, “Thanks Xander, I didn’t hurt them, I just caught,” she pulled out the Spearow she just caught, the little bird looked at Xander, “this little fella.” When she spoke the Spearow turned to glare daggers at her.

Uh oh.

The bird flew straight up at her. Silviana covered her face with her arms, dropping its pokéball. Xander scrambled to pick up the ball and sucked the Spearow back in. He just chuckled at the messy state her hair was in. Silviana gave a sigh and adjusted herself.

“Thanks for the help,” she grumbled when she was done.

“You’re~ welcome,” he chuckled and gave a bow, “Man that little guy was a riot,” he continued to chuckle.

Hey that’s actually not too bad a name, Riot… She blinked at him happily.

On the ground, Junipur was eyeing a cowering Spark who was once again hiding behind Xander’s legs.

Silviana chuckled as she watched the two pokémon. Looking at Xander she said, “Anyways, it’s good to see you again. How are your pokémon doing? How was your gym battle?”

“Things are great! Spark is doing well, he’s gotten a lot stronger since our first battle,” he chuckled nervously and picked up Spark, the Pikachu nuzzled his cheek, “And our fight with Misty was super eas–

“Misty? You already fought the second Gym Leader?” Silviana was both surprised and disappointed.

“Yea! It was an awesome battle!”

Although Silviana was disappointed in herself she didn’t let that ruin Xander’s good mood, “That’s great,” she put on a big smile for him, “I hope my battle with her is just as epic! Well I guess I have some catching up to do now.” She started to walk off toward Cerulean City, “I’ll see you later Xander,” she waved at him.

“Actually! I was heading back into town to pick up supplies, plus the next route is south, so I might as well go with you.” He said as he caught up to her.

Silviana sighed inwardly to herself, but she was grateful for his company. As they reached Cerulean a stranger came down the path. His eyes flickered back and forth looking at the ground as he adjusted his purple scarf. There was a strange pokemon sitting on the boy’s shoulder, its green fur coming out in two little spikes on top of its head and it chatted to him with a smile. The boy wore rolled up jeans and a large sweater with a star on the bottom. He didn’t spot the two trainers until he almost ran into them.

“Oh uh, s-sorry I’m just–” he paused, cutting himself off, his eyes blinked a couple times as he looked at Junipur who was sitting on Silviana’s shoulder, “Did- Did you train your Eevee to do that?”

“Actually uh,” Silviana hesitated as she looked at Junipur.

“Y- You must be a good trainer then! Ah, here,” he grabbed her hand and put a pokéball in it, “I’m moving back to Kalos but I needed to give this guy to someone from here before I go,” he started to back up behind them pulling his blonde hair out of his face.

“Ches- Chespin!” the strange pokémon cried.

“I didn’t want to take him out of his own region. Thanks a bunch!” And the stranger took off in the direction of Mt. Moon.

“Ah, I didn’t even get his name.” Silviana was at a loss.

“Well what’s in the pokéball?” Xander peered at the ball in her hand.

With a click, she opened the pokéball and out popped a Bulbasaur. The little pokémon had a dark green bushel of leaves on his body and a lighter color for his body, it was only a little differently colored than the one she had seen in the forest, but she knew it couldn’t be one of those rare genetic discolorations.

Silviana gripped Xander’s collar with one hand, pulling his face close to hers as she yelled, “Oh my gosh! I saw one of these in the Forest we passed through!” She pointed to the little green pokémon, she let go with a sudden realization, “And he just GAVE IT TO ME!” She gripped his shirt with both hands shaking him a little.

Xander laughed nervously and patted her hand, “Dang Sil! I’ve never seen you get this excited about pokémon before,” he smiled nervously.

Junipur, who had jumped off Silviana’s shoulder stared at her trainer questioningly. Spark looked up at his trainer worriedly, but with a glance over at Junipur then at Silviana, he flicked his ears back and made himself smaller.

Silviana had let go of Xander and was pacing, looking at the Bulbasaur the entire time, “Oh gosh, now I have to name him… What name, what name, what name…”

“Well you could name him after a vegetable,” Xander shrugged.

“boK choY!!” Silviana put her fist in her hand. The little green pokémon looked at her with bright eyes.

“Bok Choy?”

“Yea, but you have put more emphasis on the last letters,” Silviana smiled brightly as she patted boK choY on the head, “It’s cooler that way.” She gave the Bulbasaur one last big smile, “I’ll keep you out with me while we train for the next gym,” she put her hand to her chin, “although, I don’t think grass will do very well against water, or was it the opposite?”

She tucked away boK choY so they could continue walking. They chatted lightly as they reached the entrance of Cerulean until Xander stopped on the stone path.

“Okay, well have fun training,” he gave her shoulder a light tap, “and if I were you I would try to make all your pokémon as strong as Junipur there.” Xander walked off toward the next route.

“Thanks Xander! See you later!” She waved to him.

“Oh by the way, don... go... route…” his voice faded as he continued to walk in the opposite direction.

“I hope he knows we can’t hear him,” she smiled at Junipur as they headed into town.

She took out Riot. The bird pokémon was still glaring at her.

“Oh come on, you’re going to love journeying with us, right Junipur?”

Junipur hopped off Silviana and stalked toward the bird. Riot focused on junipur with beady eyes, he squawked when she came closer.

“Vee!” Junipur widened her stance and flattened her ears. Riot opened his wings and lowered his head, squawking loudly once again.

“Uh, guys... Don’t, you just became teamma–”

Junipur leapt onto Riot. The bird tried to jump back, but Junipur had him in her claws before he had a chance to do anything more. Junipur and Riot rolled around on the concrete of the city’s walkway, Junipur pushed off with her back legs and landed hard on Riot’s body. She managed to pin one wing awkwardly under him with a paw and with her other paw firmly held down his beak.

Riot struggled for a moment before stopping and staring at the Eevee. His breaths came short as his little chest rose and fell quickly, he looked up at Junipur with as wide eyes as a prey that’s been caught.

“Junipur, that’s not right, stop it,” Silviana walked to pull her pokémon off of each other. Before she could touch them Junipur walked off of him. She sat down and looked up at Silviana with her eyes. Riot scrambled to stand on his claws, looking tentatively at Junipur then glaring at Silviana.

“Shh, it’s okay Riot,” Silviana stretched out a hand. Riot’s feathers fluffed up. Hearing Junipur growling right next to him, he shook out the aggression and hopped up, and onto Silviana’s hand.

“There we go,” Silviana stroked Riot’s crown and the little bird shifted his wings, awkwardly fluffing up his chest feathers, “All right, let’s go get’cha trained up. What was that northern route Xander was talking about.”

♢♢♢

“Yea! Let’s go Riot!” Silviana cheered. She and Junipur stood on one end of the bridge that led north out of Cerulean city. She had boK choY sitting next to her taking a nap while Riot circled their last opponent. boK choY had battled the first few trainers they had run into while Riot was finishing out the last two on the battle bridge.

The Growlithe barked at Riot with each swift peck the bird gave to it. Swooping down one last time, Riot gave one last hard peck to the Growlithe. He knocked it over, landing on it while it was unconscious.

“Woo!” Silviana cheered waking up boK choY. She walked over with the little green pokémon on her heels and Junipur on her shoulder. Riot landed on her wrist, she stroked his feathers before putting him back in his pokéball.

“What a good battle miss,” The other trainer walked up to her and shook her hand, “Cinder here is a tough cookie, but that was a good battle nonetheless.”

Silviana gave the trainer a smile and walked off the other end of the bridge. The path she was taking veered off to the right, but a commotion off to her left caught her attention.

There was a figure in a black outfit that was shouting.

That outfit looks familiar. Silviana stopped to watch what was going on. The figure in the black outfit had two other pokemon beside him, but he was facing toward the large rock wall that cut off the route. The Zubat that he apparently owned gave a screech at the rock wall before the trainer shouted.

“Evolve you stupid runt! If you're not going to evolve then I might as well get rid of you!” He pointed his finger and the Zubat screeched again. The Koffing that was on his other side let off a spurt of poison. The black clad figure scoffed once again, “Of course, typical weak pokémon, I thought you were something special, having been bred from a lab, but I guess you’re just as weak as normal pokémon. Zubat finish it off.”

The Zubat let off a small screech as it was knocked out of the air by a green blur. It crashed into the wall and landed on the dirt unconscious.

The stranger turned around to see a furious looking little girl with an Eevee on her shoulder and a Bulbasaur at her side. The Bulbasaur’s vines were retracting from the hit to the Zubat. The man’s face contorted into a look of disgust.

Silviana saw the big red “R” on his shirt and knew exactly who he was. She looked behind him to see a little orange pokémon cowering against the rock wall, it was scuffed up badly and a little flame flickered weakly at the end of its tail.

“Stop hurting that Charmander,” Silviana commanded.

The grunt just laughed at her, “What makes you think I’m going to listen to you girl?” The stranger walked closer to her, Silviana held her ground. He got about a foot away when Junipur started growling at him, “Aww,” he teased, “isn’t that cute, maybe we can do something with that fighting spirit of yours,” he reached a hand out to touch Junipur.

[ohblackdiamond]

starfucker (gene/paul, nc-17)

Yeah, I heard about your Polaroids, that’s what I call obscene...

Written for and on Paul Stanley’s 67th birthday, I’m just a day late in posting it here.

Gene’s introduction to America almost twenty years prior had been like a kid moving to Disneyland. Everything was bigger in America. Everything was better in America. Everything had that candy-coated glaze of promise, still hanging heavy and dazzling in his heart: here, you can make it; you just need the drive and the smarts and the guts. Here is a dream you can snatch up, if you want it badly enough.

He had tried to explain it once, when half the band was more maudlin than full-on drunk, but Ace and Peter both had zoned out entirely and Paul, for all he was first-generation on both sides, for all he’d been hoping for commonalities, didn’t understand either.

“You’re telling me the exact same thing my parents did.”

“They were right.”

“They wanted me to get there through college, Gene. They didn’t tell me I could do whatever the hell I wanted and succeed. It’s bullshit, man. You’re too—the American Dream stuff might’ve been true during Ellis Island and all that, but it’s not now.”

He’d looked at Paul, really looked at him, hoping to find something beyond the cynicism. He didn’t. Paul might as well have been one of his sixth graders for all he’d pay attention without the threat of penalty.

“You don’t get it. You don’t get it because you’ve never lived anywhere else.” Never lived how he had. Selling fruit in the streets with his mother. Living on government rations. Living scared. Paul’s rare, mopey accounts of his own childhood were blissful in comparison. Whatever bullying he’d received, he’d never gone hungry. Never been afraid for his life. He had no idea what a blessing that was. None.

It just confirmed what Gene had already known. They shared a faith, but not a background. Hell, Paul hadn’t even had his bar mitzvah. None of that cultural belonging tied the two of them together. Maybe not even personal belonging, either. Gene was an outsider even in his own band.

Paul just shook his head and shrugged.

“They said that, too.”

So Gene had gradually left that kind of serious talk behind over the course of the tours. It wasn’t worth it; he knew the other three weren’t intellectuals, but he was starting to think they were actually morons. Ace and Peter were busy getting drunk, stoned, or both before and after concerts—hit him at just the right time, maybe a full moon, and Paul would indulge, too—and Rush’s guys were just leading them further astray. Gene felt like trying to get Bill to get them to tour with the Carpenters next, as if that would cut down on the antics.

As for himself, well, since he couldn’t manage any stimulating conversation with his bandmates, he was settling eagerly for stimulation with his groupies. Something else that was bigger and better in America—the size of its women’s breasts. Must’ve been the fluoride in the water. He’d been in the process of chatting up two girls in Ace’s room when one of them had made the tremendous mistake of taking the communal laundry bag off Alex’s head during one of his particularly drunken comedy routines.

It was like flicking the papal mitre off the Pope’s head. Worse, it was like unmasking the Lone Ranger. Alex and Ace had, predictably, gone ballistic and chased both of the girls out of the hotel room. Gene had followed them at a distance, only to hear them mumble about “fuckin’ scary rockstars” and see them digging in their purses for payphone change to call their boyfriends. Well. That settled that.

That settled plenty, except he was still half-hard. He could hear Ace and Alex and Neil whooping from the room, and he knew that a new comedy routine from the bag was already underway. Gene grunted to himself and dug the key out of his jeans pocket and let himself back in his room.

“Paul? You still in here?”

“Hey.” Paul looked up from the T.V., frowning. His hair was wet, and he wasn’t wearing anything beyond a loosely-tied blue terrycloth bathrobe Gene could’ve sworn had been Paul’s only constant companion since they’d started touring. Like every other member of the band—every member except Gene—he lacked the innate shame to even yank on a pair of boxers at the sight of a non-groupie visitor. “What’re you doing here, Gene? Thought you were picking up those girls in Ace’s room.”

“The bag threw them out.”

“The ba—oh, yeah,” Paul said, snorting. “He’s high as shit, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried. But I am holding it against him.” Gene paused. “I thought you’d be back to your room by now, too.”

Paul shrugged and went over to turn up the volume on the T.V. An Easy Bake Oven commercial was playing, of all things, the little girl onscreen spreading frosting on the cake. So banal it was a little annoying. Looking at him, though, Gene realized Paul was just trying to catch the jingle at the end.

“I was gonna, then I took a nap and a shower.”

“No girls?”

“No girls.”

Not that much of a surprise. Paul could be indifferent, downright cold to company, which had always struck Gene as a little annoying, if not potentially disastrous. Couldn’t be merrily flamboyant onstage and then aloof as soon as he walked back to the dressing room. Bad publicity in the making. He’d be pleasant enough during what few interviews they’d scored as a band, but it was obvious he didn’t actually want to do them. Gene wondered if Paul was getting more egotistical, or if that latent shyness was just setting his nerves on edge. Paul was the only deep-down introvert in the whole band. He’d have to get over it at some point.

Besides, even if Paul wasn’t as assiduous about getting girls as he was, he still managed to have one in his bed at least half their tour nights. So if he was lonesome, that was his own fault. Paul walked over to the set to turn up the volume one more time—God, he always had it up too loud. Knowing why didn’t make it much less aggravating.

“Really not my idea of a thrilling evening.”

Paul flopped back on the bed.

“What, because of the girls? Just get a taxi and go to a nightclub. There’s gotta be one around here somewhere.” A pause, and a stifled yawn. “Where the hell are we tonight, anyway? Austin?”

“Austin was last night. Tonight’s Corpus Christi,” Gene mumbled.

“Oh, right. Good thing they remind me beforehand. Last time I fucked up the city they were almost rioting.”

“You told Pittsburgh they were a wonderful audience—”

“And it was actually Kansas City. I know, Gene.” Running his hands through his hair, looking more like a damp poodle than a human being, Paul sighed. “Could’ve been worse. Could’ve told Charleston they were Pittsburgh.”

Gene snorted and sat down next to him on the bed. Paul was splayed out on his back as if it were one of their lousier photoshoots, but he at least moved his legs to give Gene more room.

“We’d be mounted on some redneck’s wall.”

“With or without the makeup?”

“With. You think they’d dare? It’s like yanking off Batman's cowl.”

Paul laughed, shaking his head.

“Some of the girls don’t even want the makeup off. Don’t you think that’s weird? Like…” Paul was considering, or trying to. Always a bad sign, because Paul tended to trail and never get to the point, in public and in private. Gene had been taking spokesman duties during interviews and news stories out of necessity, not desire. Paul could’ve stuck to a script, sure, except they didn’t have one yet, and Peter and Ace would just bungle things with the press, Gene was positive of it. “Like, okay, if I’m gonna fuck someone, I don’t want the pretense.”

“You mean you don’t want to be Starchild for them?”

“No, not… not exactly. I mean, I don’t mind, but… you ever feel like they’re conning you? No, not… conning, but… they’re not being real, you’re not being real…”

“Paul, if you want an honest relationship, I don’t know why the hell you’re fucking groupies.”

Paul glanced at Gene then, and snorted. His hair had fallen in his eyes, and he just blew it back with a breath.

“I’m not complaining, I’m just saying I wanna be real with somebody sometime. Don’t you?”

“God, no.” Gene paused, leaning back on his arms on the bed. “You wanna be real with someone, be real with your shrink.”

From the corner of his eye, Gene saw Paul’s face fall slightly. Shit. He’d forgotten Paul had one of those. Or used to, at least. Gene opened his mouth, not to apologize, exactly, just explain, but Paul started back in, oddly unruffled, before he could manage.

“Give it five minutes and you can watch the Johnny Carson show with me.”

Gene groaned.

“You know I could’ve done that at home, right?”

“Well, yeah, but here you don’t have to pick up your own towels.” Paul paused. “Not that you do that anyway, but…”

“Move.”

“Okay, okay.” Paul shifted over again amiably as Gene scooted in. Soon enough, Ed was introducing Johnny Carson with all his usual insane vigor, as if he hadn’t been on air every single weekday for the past decade. Maybe Carson wouldn’t be such a bad avenue for KISS, if Casablanca could up their notoriety enough for him to consider it. There didn’t seem to be a method of self-promotion left they hadn’t at least tried to stoop to over the last two years. Even immolation was only barely out of bounds.

Beside him, Paul was paying more attention to Carson’s Carnac the Magnificent routine than it probably deserved that night—Carnac was already spouting off fake curses to the audience.

“What’re you pissed about?”

“I’m not pissed.”

“Yeah, you are.”

Gene heaved a sigh. Carson’s studio audience laughed loudly in the background.

“I had a big number coming up.”

“A big number?”

“Yeah.” He paused. “Tonight I was gonna bang my 200th chick.”

“You’re counting them?”

Gene gave Paul a look that was a cross between bewildered and long-suffering, a look he used to reserve for the slowest of his students when they were scrawling out one-step equations.

“Of course I’m counting them. What did you think the Polaroids were for?”

“I thought you just took pictures of the ones you liked, not every girl you banged!”

“No! It’s a record for posterity, Paul.”

“You’ve probably got twenty posterity running around already,” Paul said with a snort. “I know you don’t wrap it up half the time.”

“They’ll have the most successful dad since Charlemagne.”

“Who?”

“The fifth Beatle.”

“Oh, shut up, Gene.” Paul twisted off a couple of rings as he spoke, scrambling over Gene to set them on the nightstand. The small plinks against the plywood sounded oddly final. Paul returned to his spot on the bed immediately afterwards. “Nothing stopping you from going to a club, you know.”

Gene shook his head.

“I don’t want to deal with drunks. Maybe Ace and Peter don’t care, but I’m not running the risk of her passing out before we get to the hotel.”

“There’s always at least five sober girls at the disco. You’re just being lazy.” Paul clasped his fingers together, stretched out his arms with a groan. “You really want to hit number two hundred tonight?’

“That was the idea.”

Paul looked contemplative. Gene was always thrown off the rare times that look flitted across his face, because ever since he’d met Paul, he’d been fairly convinced the man didn’t think so much as base his life off shaky impulses. And not like Gene himself did, either, not in terms of libertine conquests. Paul was more like an anxious, gangly dog, as apt to hump a girl’s leg as turn tail and hide in a corner. He tried not to let it show, but five years of knowing him, and two years of being a door away, at best, meant Gene knew better.

Clearly, though, Paul was thinking now. Those hormone-addled synapses were firing, fully oblivious to Carson’s latest jab toward President Ford. He was even yanking his hair back and squeezing those last drops of water out onto the carpet as he turned to look Gene dead in the eye.

“Give me your room key.”

“What?”

“Give me your room key.”

It was perched next to the T.V. set. One key hanging from a small metal hoop. Gene got up and handed it over, eyebrow raised questioningly. Paul spun the keyring absently around his finger. That thoughtful look hadn’t faded from his expression yet, but his mouth twitched just slightly up.

“Now get your camera.”

“Paul, what the hell?”

“Number two hundred just volunteered.”

Gene stared.

“You’re kidding me. Tell me you’re kidding me.”

“I’m not kidding!” Paul was still spinning the key. “You want your two hundredth lay and you don’t want to leave the hotel to get it.”

“That doesn’t mean—shit, Paul, you can’t just—”

“Can’t what?”

Paul was looking at him with an expression so obnoxiously blithe and amused that Gene almost wanted to snatch back the key and tell him to stop screwing around. But that might only encourage him, at this point. Those wheels were turning to some inevitably questionable conclusion. God, they all had to stop spending so much time at those raucous parties, no matter how good they were for filling up his photo album. They were giving Paul disturbing ideas. Gene cleared his throat, tried to explain.

“That’s not something you volunteer for.”

“No?”

“Paul, c’mon, it’s pretty damn qu—”

“You’ve still got a hard-on, Gene.”

Shit. Gene’s eyes went straight to Paul’s crotch, almost accusingly, but that bathrobe was loose enough around his frame that he couldn’t tell. That was it, he couldn’t tell. It couldn’t be that Paul was shooting all this bullshit, trying to get a rise out of Gene, while he was completely soft. No. Couldn’t possibly be.

“Don’t flatter yourself, damn it, you didn’t see their tits—"

The only solution was to follow along. Keep on going, and keep on going, until Paul backed off. He would; Gene knew he would. Then they’d finish up on Johnny Carson and bitch some more about girls or about Peter and Ace or about Paul’s more recent exes (one of whom had been sleeping with Joe Namath, which seemed to bother Paul on some weird intrinsic level that Gene frankly didn’t understand) before finally calling it a night. Pass out like the lousiest excuses for rockstars he’d ever heard of.

“I’m not flattering myself. I’m just saying you’ve still got a hard-on.”

“Shut up, Paul.”

Paul didn’t shut up. Of course he didn’t. He just started humming the chorus of “Strutter” as he stretched out on the bed, ankles dangling from the edge. Gene shifted before getting up entirely and pulling his suitcase out from under the bed, taking out his camera. Plenty of shots left. He’d had way higher hopes for Corpus Christi than Paul Stanley on his bed. He gritted his teeth, willing Paul to back out, and back out now, except he could feel Paul’s eyes on him as he got back to his feet, camera in hand. Could feel the interest there, the intrigue. Paul was going to match him. At least for now, Paul was going to match him.

“How do they usually pose for it?”

“Between their tits.”

Paul frowned.

“I mean, I can try, but…” and he dropped the key on the dead center of his chest. The key looked like a forlorn found object a bird had tried to line its rather furry nest with. “No. No, that’s not gonna work.”

“God, no.”

“Maybe I should just hold it.” Paul picked the key up, frowning. “Or… do you want more of an interesting angle, should I have the edge facing the camera?”

“Paul, I’m taking a picture. This isn’t your art portfolio here.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t just hold it.”

Gene groaned.

“Okay, hang on.” Paul got up and headed for the adjoining bathroom. Gene could hear the water running almost immediately, and a few seconds later, Paul returned, bathrobe still tied closed. “All right, ready.”

“Where’s the key?”

Paul raised his tongue. The key peeked out, tarnished bronze on pink, and Gene groaned.

“You’re gonna choke on that.”

“Iy-ull be ’ine—” Paul nearly spat out the key. Gene swallowed a laugh as Paul took the key out, wiped it on the bedsheets, and shook his head. “All right, all right, I’ll just have it in my hand.”

“Okay. Then sit down.”

Paul sat down on the bed. Gene picked up the camera, zooming in carefully, as Paul held the key between his forefinger and thumb. He looked like he was about to crack up. The camera flashed, the picture ejected, and soon Paul had snatched it away, shaking it vehemently as the image started to appear.

“Wait—wait, give it here, I’ve gotta fill out your name at the bottom.” Honestly, Gene was aiming for initials. P. S. could stand for anything

“I’ll fill it out! God knows I don’t charge for autographs.” The developing image, though, was getting clearer and far more disappointing. Paul’s face wasn’t visible. Instead, Gene had taken a close-up of the key itself, leaving not more than an inch of Paul’s index finger in the shot. “Gene! Oh, fuck you!”

“It’s gonna ruin the photo album if I’ve got a hundred ninety-nine chicks in there and then you!”

“It’s gonna make it the best album ever. Take it again.”

Gene hesitated.

“C’mon, take it again.”

Gene gave him a long-suffering look. Paul started fluffing out his hair as if this were a photoshoot instead of the prelude to the most questionable conquest either had ever attempted. Raising the camera once more, Gene was sorely tempted not to warn him first before he pressed the button.

“Fine. Three, two, one—"

Paul popped the keyring right back into his mouth the second before the camera flashed. The key dangled between his lips like the sultriest provocation. He grabbed the photo before Gene could voice a protest, holding it up for both of them to see.

This time Gene had caught him. Really caught him. Paul leaning in from the picture, poised and eager, broad hands resting on the bed. There was a bit of glare from the key in his mouth, a wanting, amused look in his eyes that the slightly-out-of-focus shot didn’t hide at all. But Paul was still disappointed.

“Aw, fuck, it’s a little blurry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“One more.”

Reluctantly, Gene picked up the camera again. Paul shifted on the bed, this time propped up on his elbows, one knee raised. The bathrobe was riding up, showing more of both thighs than Gene cared to see. But it wasn’t indecent yet. Just—

Snap.

Snap.

“Safety shot,” he insisted when Paul glanced at him curiously. He raised his hand before Paul could reach for the developing photos, gathered them both up and watched the image emerge. Clear this time, perfectly crisp. Maybe Paul nerved out a bit during interviews, but in front of a camera he was golden. Absolutely golden. Dragging the attention away from everyone else in the picture, clawing it away with only a pair of pursed lips and big, dark eyes. It was annoying during KISS photoshoots, but here, with only him, only him on the bed, it was something else. Something Gene didn’t want to own up to as he stared, fascinated, from one shot to the next, finally setting them both down on the bed without a word. He barely heard the next words out of Paul’s mouth, a come-on that shouldn’t have been a come-on at all.

“Let’s keep on.”

“Keep… keep on?”

“Yeah,” and Paul laughed, turned to his side just a bit more, hand running against the edge of his robe. “You’ve got the film for it. You wanna?”

The words seemed to reverberate in his brain. You wanna. An offer. A proposition. Unbelievable. Totally unbelievable. Paul couldn’t be doing this to him, couldn’t be unraveling him—upping the ante, that was all it was, just upping the ante. Yeah. Yeah.

Gene’s fingers fidgeted before he picked up his camera again, feeling some stupid warmth spread across his face. Dimly he could hear Carson questioning the night’s special guest with all his usual slick irreverence, barely a patter in the background. Two words, too easy and casual, and all he could manage was a nod before raising the viewfinder to his eye for another shot as Paul offered up his most shameless smirk for the camera.

He kept on. God only knew why. He’d been with more photogenic girls. There was nothing alluring to him about how Paul was posing. Awkward, whiny Stanley Eisen, that douchey high school senior who always looked stoned—there was nothing sexual about him. Six years down the road, he was still that kid, no matter if he’d changed his name and curtailed his diet, no matter if he’d grown out his hair even more and stolen some slivers of confidence. No matter if he was slowly peeling open the bathrobe, revealing inch upon inch of his broad, hairy chest as Gene snapped shot after shot in a mindless rhythm. No matter if he was wearing that sex-soaked smile and tilting his head just so, languid and eager.

No matter if he reached up and trailed his long fingers down Gene’s arm. As Gene leaned over, as Gene got on the bed, the camera became the only thing left between them, the only piece of distance. The only separation. The photos were spilling out onto the bed like scattered confetti, each one revealing a little more and a little more.

By the tenth shot Paul was toying with the tie of his bathrobe, lying on his side, back arched. The robe had slid down past his shoulder, exposing his rose tattoo. There was a half-healed bite mark just beneath it and Gene couldn’t help but wonder which groupie had left it there.

By the fifteenth he’d cast the robe aside entirely. Gene’s hands were sweaty against the camera, thumb slipping on the button. He was on his knees now, Paul sprawled next to him, back against the covers, completely exposed and half-hard, hips arching up against nothing at all.

“Paul.” Gene barely recognized his own voice, the heaviness there. He was still looking at Paul through the viewfinder, still watching his head raise and his lip curl from a distance as he answered.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t pose like that.”

“Why not? Too provocative for you?”

“Not provocative enough.”

Snap. Paul bristled slightly—there’d been no countdown this time—but then he reached a hand out, sliding it against Gene’s thigh as the photo ejected, forgotten.

“Oh, yeah? You got me in a good mood, Gene, I’m open to critique—”

Gene put his hand on top of Paul’s and lowered the camera, setting it down on the edge of the bed. Looking at him full on, all barriers gone, those still-damp curls and those big brown eyes and the teasing strokes of his hand rubbing his thigh, inching over, over, to grip and fondle his hard-on through his pants. Gene sucked in a breath, fingers curling around Paul’s and pushing his hand aside, gaze never wavering from his face.

“They don’t have me in them.”

He didn’t give Paul a chance to answer. Barely a chance to open his mouth before Gene leaned in and over him, cupping his chin and crushing their lips together. Paul’s mouth tasted like the cherry tarts room service had brought down a couple hours ago, the ones he’d said he wouldn’t eat, and his lips were chapped and hot under his.

Paul was shoving his tongue in Gene’s mouth before Gene could even manage it, reaching up to yank Gene on top of him, rocking up against him desperately as his hands dug beneath Gene’s shirt. All coyness, all pretense utterly shattered. Gene laughed throatily at Paul’s freneticness, but he wasn’t any better, fingers fumbling with his own shirt, trying to peel it off while Paul’s hands roved over his back, short nails leaving light pink lines across his skin. His pants and boxers were off only moments later, Paul’s help no help at all, wriggling and rutting against him as he tried to unzip himself and toss the clothes aside.

It was a tangle of limbs, imprecise, messy. Paul nibbling at Gene’s neck, groaning as Gene’s hand went for his dick, stroking him hastily. Time seemed to collapse on itself. Gene didn’t hear the T.V. anymore or the raucousness from Ace’s room or the groans from Peter’s—all he heard was Paul gasping beneath him, all he saw was Paul flushed and willing and wanting, mumbling for him, indistinct rambles that sank somewhere deep inside him. A feeling he was chasing. A feeling that he might belong after all, only for a moment, a feeling that he might belong with him.

Gene grabbed the lube from the dresser, slicked himself up before turning Paul on his stomach, figuring that might be easier. His fingers were slippery as he started to prepare, inexpertly at best. The backdoor wasn’t his favorite with girls, honestly; too much prep for a less-exciting finish, at least for them. But Paul wasn’t going to be that way, already back to bucking up, relaxing into his touch as he eased himself inside him. Gene reached around, breaths heavy as he grasped Paul’s cock again, stroking unevenly with his own thrusts, grunting hard as every twitch and jerk of his hips drove them both closer, closer—

Paul came first with a low groan, spilling into Gene’s hand, sliding against the sheets. It wasn’t long for Gene after that, just a few more thrusts at best before orgasm coursed through him, utterly blinding. He all but collapsed against Paul after, eyes shut, panting against his sweaty skin as he pulled out, draping an arm haphazardly across Paul’s back before he fell asleep.

---

Everything was better in America. Even, Gene assumed, the morning afters.

Most of his involved asking the girl to leave before the crack of dawn. In fact, Gene had half-expected Paul to be gone by the time he woke up, slinking back to his own hotel room to clear his head of last night’s madness, but he wasn’t. Instead, Paul was leaning against the nightstand, bathrobe back on, eating a bowl of Cheerios. The usual hotel breakfast spread rested precariously on a tray on top of the T.V. “Morning, Gene.” Paul clinked the spoon against the ceramic bowl with every scoop.

“… Morning.”

Gene sat up slowly, reaching over the edge of the bed for his clothes and tugging them on, at an utter loss for words. He could feel Paul’s gaze on him, was sure it was amused and not worried. Not concerned. Had to be. He cleared his throat, finally managing to string a sentence together.

“Where’s my camera?”

“On the table. Figured one of us was gonna step on it otherwise.”

“And the pictures?”

Paul grinned and pulled open the nightstand drawer. There, beside the lube, were the photos, in order, neatly stacked.

“Right here.” He handed them over. “Oh, I couldn’t figure out which one you liked, so…”

Gene sifted through the photos, nail digging against the paper’s edge. At first, he was just looking at the images, turning one after another in his hand. His own documentary of the entire evening’s descent, up until that debauched climax.

Their climax.

But then he looked at the lettering beneath, and he stared, eyes wide. Every photo, every single photo, was signed in bold black scrawl across the bottom:

“Paul Stanley, #200.”

“Paul Stanley, #201.”

“Paul Stanley, #202.”

“Paul Stanley, #203.”

“Paul Stanley, #204….”

“Paul, what did you—”

Paul set down the bowl of cereal.

“Oh, yeah. Well, you said you couldn’t have an album with a hundred ninety-nine girls and then me. So I figured I’d just even things out.”

“Even things out.”

“Yeah.” Paul dug through Gene’s luggage, finding his teasing comb, and started to drag it through his bushy hair. “That was sixteen pictures. Number two hundred’s taken care of, so that just leaves us fifteen more.”

“Fifteen more.”

“At least.”

It took a minute to dawn on Gene. More than a minute, honestly. Paul had averted his eyes, the only sound the tugging of the comb, when Gene finally answered, slow smile spreading across his face as he reached over to yank at one of Paul’s stray curls.

“You’ve got a huge ego, anyone ever tell you that, Paul?”

Paul laughed, brushing his hand away, offering up a grin of his own.

“All the damn time.”

[koboldkatalyst]

“Just Like Every Other Woman”

Hey!  @peggyjemmafitzrogers I’m your Secret Santa again!  Let me know what you think of this one.  The writer’s block hit me hard, and eventually I tried something pretty knew, and a little out of my comfort zone.  I hope you have a great start to the New Year!!!

I think I’m also supposed to tag @steggyfanevents....

Okay, here goes.

Possibly the 200th, or 225th (he’d been keeping notes in a sketchpad before it had mysteriously disappeared during his time away looking for Bucky) thing that Steve Rogers had noticed about Agent Margaret Carter was that she was just like every woman.

He remembered the amazement in her voice as she’d said to him on the that fateful car ride “You have no idea how to talk to a woman do you?”  She had been right, he didn’t have any idea, still didn’t if he were honest.  The formula might have increased his physical prowess, but that left over awkwardness had just compounded inside his skull.

When he’d uttered his words initially, he’d stood by his statement, he didn’t know what would make a beautiful woman like her want to join the army.  But the after the question and accompanying look of mixed amusement and exasperation, he couldn’t meet her eyes.  He was a little embarrassed sure, but her expression had reminded him of how he’d felt the first day he’d met her.

He was certain that the 5th thing he’d noticed about her was her right hook, and how fluidly she’d knocked Gilmore Hodge into the dirt.  It reminded him a bit of Sharon Barnes, Bucky’s older sister.

One afternoon in particular, Sharon was twelve, Steve and Bucky six, and when Sharon stopped by to pick them up after school she saw Steve’s newest black eye was blooming under an already existing eyepatch.  She demanded to know what had happened and Bucky’s exact words were “Tommy was pickin’ on Stevie for hi eyepatch, and when Steve tried to shove him off, Tommy hit him.  So, I had to hit him back.”  Bucky then held up his hand, and the already swelling knuckles.  It was that evening, in the alley by their building, that boxing lessons began at the Sharon Barnes’ School for Wreckless Weaklings. She taught Steve and Bucky everything she knew, and that amassed for all of what Steve had to go on prior to meeting Agent Carter.

So, the longer he’d chewed on it, the more Steve had thought that although it was an unusual path, Agent Carter was there for the same reasons he was, and as far as he could tell, the army could do with a few more women like her

This impression of Agent Carter did not diminish the longer he knew her, especially after they both started running with the 107th.  Steve had idly wondered once whether Peggy (they were now on a first name basis) kept track of the number of times she was told that she “wasn’t like other women”.  Now, by his own admission, Steve hadn’t had much occasion to know many women himself, but the longer he knew Peggy, the longer he felt that the people who made such comments really weren’t paying much attention.

An early mission had involved Sam, Peggy, and Steve luring a group of guards from their posts surrounding a small Hydra cell.  Sam and Peggy had taken cover behind some leafless trees, and Steve being brightly colored, and exceedingly large, had been the obvious choice for distraction.  Once he’d run far enough to all but somersaulted out of the line of fire, Peggy and Sam took aim. Out of the maybe eight Hydra soldiers, Peggy got six, and Steve was certain she could have gotten the other two no problem.

“Come along gentleman,” she’d sighed, as she picked herself up from the ground, and began phase two of the incursion.  Sam had whistled real low as Steve and he followed briskly behind her, “She’s not like other women, Cap.  You better not blow this.”  Steve used the fact that they were coming up on the entrance as an excuse to ignore Sam’s romantic implications.  He was also remembering that he had seen Peggy undoing her pincurls, and redoing her victory rolls from the day before.  It had taken her about ten minutes in total, and Steve was reminded of his mother doing something similar on mornings when she had their landlord over for coffee.  She always reminded him that presentation was important, no matter where you were going.

Apart from being an excellent shot, Peggy was of course an adept code breaker.  Steve had never gotten the chance to ask how it was she came to be working on Erskine’s project, but he knew enough to know that she was reasonably fluent in at least four languages, and had spent some time at the Home Office.

During a brief respite at base camp, Colonel Phillips walked into the mess one morning red faced, and ranting about some communication he’d received from the Soviets, in Russian.  Even with his enhanced hearing capabilities, Steve wasn’t able to make out much more than “Damned Commies…”  In a rare moment of grace, Steve and Peggy had been eating breakfast together.  The Commandos were giving them both a suspiciously wide berth, but so far Steve wasn’t doing too badly, due in large part to the fact that he was encouraging Peggy to explain what Morris Dancing was, something that required little participation on his end.   

Unfortunately Colonel Phillips’ abrupt entrance had interrupted her, and Peggy had vacated her seat across from Steve, and promptly appeared at the side of her commanding officer.  Plucking the potentially classified document our his hands, she had given it a quick once over, chuckled to herself, took Colonel Phillips’ arm, and escorted him out of the mess, presumably back to his desk.  A young looking kid stopped next to Steve and said “I don’t understand how she did that.  Anyone else tried to manhandle the Colonel like that, they’d be mucking out the latrin for a month,” he shook his head as he walked on to join some friends, “I’ve never seen a woman like that.”  Steve remembered all the older women he’d known who lived in his apartment building.  The piano teacher who lived upstairs had a husband who was known for being something of a curmudgeon with a short fuse.  The one time he’d had occasion to get after Steve and Bucky for playing stick ball to loudly as he walked past, his wife had taken him firmly by the elbow, and drug him past, chastising him all the way for discouraging growing boys from getting their exercise.

About a week later, on another mission, huddled around a fire cooking what passed for sausages, and trading stories, and someone finally thought to ask Peggy about the message.

“Oh that,” she wheezed, leaning into Steve’s arm, still laughing at the previous joke Li had shared.  “That was a complete mistake.  It was in Russian, and they used the correct encryption, but as far as I can tell, the poor fellow was three sheets to the wind when he wrote it.  He was insisting that he needed soldiers to help him free a woman who had been jailed by her husband, except the words he used didn’t make sense in context.  He was talking about the nursery rhyme ‘Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater.’

Normally this wouldn’t have garnered quite the same raucous response, but Dugan had brought out his own whiskey, and those that were able to be, were already fairly tipsy.  Junior through back his head and cackled, “You are funnier than any woman I have ever met.”  Peggy sort of dipped her head humbly.

“Yes, well, it wasn’t really my joke, it was the Russian, and whoever bothered to give him a book of english nursery rhymes.”  Steve thought about a high school english teacher he’d had, who would bring in stories about her clumsy and dimwitted basset hound Ophelia.  Mrs. Grady always insisted that the credit for the stories go to Ophelia, since they were the only talent she possessed.

A couple months later, Bucky was dead, and Steve was sitting in a bombed out bar, failing to drown his sorrows in what remained of the abandoned inventory.  Peggy sat with him, voice kind, but without pity.  He didn’t have the attention span, or the energy at the time to appreciate the time they spent together quite as well as he otherwise would have.  When he’d had time to process more completely, he realized that out of everyone, she was the one who had come and found him.  She had had the exact words that he needed to hear, even if they weren’t the words he wanted.  He realized then, with thundering clarity, that he’d had it all wrong.  Peggy Carter couldn’t be just like every other woman, or every other person for that matter, because no other person in the world made him feel understood the way she did.

[mostlyeviloverlord]

We Shall Be Monsters: Prologue

Hey readers! For a long time, I’ve been working on a retelling of Frankenstein for its 200th anniversary! I’m finally getting the first part of it ready to publish--just in time for Halloween! Please enjoy this AU set in 1790s Edinburgh. 

What if Victor had brought the female creature to life in Scotland? What if she didn’t agree with the choices made on her behalf before she was brought to life? 

What if she rebelled? 

-- Prologue: Victor

Most people would never make a monster of their own choosing. Even fewer would choose to do it twice.

Victor liked to think, though, that the form in front of him was not his choice. He was being forced into this second abominable act. If he had known that the first would be so terrible before beginning his journey, he would not be here today.

It was only meant to be an experiment, but one that had turned out to have its own thoughts, and will--and demands. Demands he now had to meet, or risk the lives of other people. Not that he thought of them as he stared at the female body.

What would happen to him if everyone knew? If his father, Henry, or Elizabeth found out, after all that had happened at their home in Geneva--the atrocities done to William and Justine?

Worse, what if the world--the unworthy, stupid, selfish world--saw the flame of knowledge that he had lit, and attempted to replicate his actions?

No--no one would be able to do what he had done. He alone knew the secret. He alone had spent the hours--the years--learning the formula behind artificial life. But what horrors might other, less intelligent men work when he, a genius, had been so foolish?

Foolish to bring his first work to fruition, and foolish to attempt it again.

Victor had had many second thoughts, many sleepless nights wracked with terror as he hurtled toward this point. He felt the effects of those wild, feverish nights driving him half-mad now, a fever burning through his very soul. No--he would not be foolish again. He would stop this madness--!

He lifted the scalpel over the body, suddenly anxious to destroy it.

And yet, something stopped him at the last moment, just before he plunged the blade into his work. Who knew what pain her mate might inflict on the world should Victor destroy her now? The creature had already shown itself more than capable of terror when rejected. And there was no way Victor might stop it on his own. That vile insect was too strong, too fast, too physiologically perfect to defeat hand to hand.

Perhaps, Victor considered, this female still held the key to his peace and salvation. If he did only one extra task … There might still be a way to send the demons of his nightmares away forever.

Victor nodded this time as he prepared the final steps of his task. Yes, they’d go away. The monster had at least kept his own promises, of that he’d seen enough proof.

And hopefully, once out of sight, they’d tear one another apart. They were made for destruction. So let them wreak it on each other.

**

The scientist bothered only to name himself.

“Victor,” he had said with a gesture to his chest, and eventually she repeated it. But it didn’t take long before the female creature became distracted with an apple left within her reach on the floor. She caught it between her scarred hands and rolled it between her palms. She’d been easily distracted since coming to life--like a child.

Victor supposed this was what the other might have been like … had he stayed near it at all.

But how could he have lingered? When that horrible thing opened its eyes, moved its twisted black lips, came for him? A lesser mortal might have fainted, prey to the creature’s first violent impulses. Victor had done the wiser thing and fled.

And yet, not the wisest thing he might have done. Ah, if he could go back and put an end to the creature while it was still so weak…

As he had done ceaselessly for hours, he observed the childlike monstrosity, perched on the edge of her chair with his fingers to his mouth, his eyes wild with lack of sleep. He knew he had made mistakes. How could he not, after the conversation he had had with the other?

Here, however, watching a full-grown woman learn to giggle for the first time through tangles of long dark hair nearly as wild as the scientist’s own, Victor could almost feel redemption at his fingertips.

He rose, drawing the creature’s attention, and took a step forward towards this makeshift daughter he had built.

But the moment those eyes fixed on him, Victor shuddered and drew to a halt. He’d tried harder with the eyes, tried to make them less monstrous. But they were still watery and yellow--horrible to look upon. Again, now that he had finished his months of feverish toil, he felt breathless and dizzy with disgust.

It didn’t matter that each limb was perfect, that the female should have moved with dazzling grace; the unnatural circumstances of her birth, like the male, had somehow distorted even this. Animation had made them both hellish. Demons with demonic impulses, which were already displayed in the male. This being, this monster, moved like her mate; would she not also grow to think like her mate?

What a fool Victor had been to hope that this destruction might work in his favor.

The creature made a grunt--of inquiry? Distress? Innocent curiosity? Victor ignored it.

In the laboratory, there were many chemicals, many delicate and dangerous items that required a steady hand and extra care. Victor reached out and smashed a container of kerosene on the floor.

As the creature startled at the loud noise, Victor lifted a candle from his desk, closed his eyes only a moment to mourn his mistakes, and hurled the flame into the kerosene.

The poor stupid monster didn’t even know enough to cry out yet, to stay away from the fire. Victor counted on that as he fled into the salt-sprayed darkness around the island hovel.

He expected to feel a moment of loss for all of his notes, his years of research. Yet, as the flames grew, he felt only relief. “Never again!” he shouted into the inferno spilling out the open door. “Never again will anyone replicate this horror!”

Then he turned to face the cold Scottish darkness with the heat of the fire at his back. Let the consequences come, if they must. He would be ready for them.

Prologue: The Creature

He came for his bride, expecting the light of heaven. Instead, he found the fires of hell, consuming all that he might have loved.

“What have you done?” he bellowed at the small figure standing in front of the burning laboratory. Frankenstein trembled all over, but he did not faint or flee in the face of his creation’s rage. “You made a promise, Victor Frankenstein--you dare to break it now?”

“Yes,” he cried as sparks burst in the air behind him, “I dare! I shall never create another like you, nor shall anyone else on this earth!”

He loomed over his creator. How diminutive Frankenstein was, how frail. How imperfect and perfect at once. “I reasoned with you before, but now I see you were unworthy of my efforts. If you insist, Frankenstein, I can bypass reason with force.” He raised a finger to Victor’s face. “You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!”

“There is nothing you can do to me,” Victor seethed in return, wielding a tiny and near-harmless scalpel for a weapon. “You shall never, never have your vile request.”

In his despair, he laughed at the smoke-filled night sky. “And yet you believe me the monster.”

“You are the monster!” Victor shouted, his voice shrill and broken with exhaustion. “You and your fellow demon both. If I had not, together you might have caused chaos and bloodshed rather than go away into the wilderness.”

“Do you believe me so faithless?” he asked. “I have not broken my promises. I would have honored this one, too.”

“Would she have honored this promise?” asked Victor, gesturing back into the ruin. “A vow made before her birth? Or would she have resisted, and left you to the world of men--there to be abused as you were, and there to wreak further destruction? You both would have ruined everything I could love.”

“I still can do that,” he threatened. “I still have revenge--if you destroy what I might have loved, I can destroy every cause you have to rejoice in this world.”

Their tirade was interrupted by a loud crash beyond the building. Startled, he viewed the ruin, as did his creator by his side. He and Frankenstein in silence walked quickly around the side of the building. There, he found a broken window. Among the shards on the earth were footprints trailing into the sea.  

Victor caught his breath. “She survived.”

He felt his heart drum against his chest. “Rejoice, creator; I may stay my revenge upon you yet.”

Just the prologue for now, lovelies! I’ll post links to everything else as I publish them, unless I get a request to post chapters on my blog. 

[shadlad24]

The Forsaken Hope

“Mother?”

Gabrielle flinched from the word and the sweet voice speaking it. Oh, gods. Solan! I’m- He- What is he doing here? She watched mutely as Xena cut through the prison encasing her son until the small boy slumped onto her. Oh, gods; oh, gods! Has he been here the whole time? T- …two years now! How? Why? He didn’t do anything wrong! It was me! Me!

Xena got the answer out of her child, who was somehow even smaller in the afterlife than he had been in death.

Most of the color had drained out of his eyes so that they had become pale blue, reflections of his mother’s. “I didn’t want to go.”

Oh no… Somehow, Gabrielle knew why though Xena got mired in greater disbelief.

“You chose this?”

The bard’s aching heart once more ground its shattered pieces into a fine powder at Solan’s soft-spoken response, how he looked to her whenever he hesitated to continue explaining himself. How can you even think to spare my feelings? Oh, Solan...

“Hades told me that, in the Elysian fields, y-you—” the first worried glance that pierced Gabrielle’s soul—“don’t even know you’re dead. You just live the same day over and over, thinking your family’s gonna be home any minute, but they never come—” a second, innocent lance to her desecrated spirit—“And the next morning, it just starts all over again…”

/

From the depths of her cocoon, Hope shifted to try and get more comfortable.

It never worked.

The moment she rose up from sitting on her heels to recline more on her spine as if in a hammock, the constricting embrace that she so wished was Gabrielle’s snapped and let her upper half drop. Much like how Gabrielle had released her daughter and ran out of her parents’ barn so many months ago. “No!” Hope cried dully, though she knew in another few months, she’d change position again and maybe be squeezed hard by the cocoon once more. If not, then maybe a few months after then, or a few years. Maybe a decade.

Eternity stretched before her, offering unlimited possibilities of tantalizing misery.

She was in Tartarus, after all.

Her near-white eyes drifted to the cocoon that was somewhat beside and in front of hers.

Where Solan was.

Part of her punishment had been to watch the poor boy miss his mother, languish without her embrace, as Hope did the same thing. Watch his profile avidly drink in every moment that he could of his and Xena’s life together, from the second he was born to the moment he died. Watch the life drain out of him though he had been dead longer than she had.

Hope watched Solan shrink, little-by-little. Lose ever more color from his skin, eyes, hair. Sometimes she wondered if the same was happening to her but could not see herself. Furry, fuzzy coils always wrapped around her, loose yet unrelenting. She could not shift them to see even a flash of her own skin or hair, for they were Gabrielle’s, something Hope ached for but could never have, even before being condemned to the dark side of the underworld.

. Hey all,

A month of Intertwine, and it’s all over. *sniffle* I, uh, HOPE you’ve enjoyed it. Thanks, all. Words of support would be great, for the work I’ve done and that still yet to be done. …A willing, able, and reliable alpha/beta reader would be even better. Here’s to HOPING! :’) Until next time,

ShadLad24

PS: Guess what! My next post will be my 200th! What should I do to celebrate? Hmm…

Somewhere

Flash-fic mood. Did you ever, like me, wonder where Gabrielle went during “God Fearing Child” while Ares was dogging Xena? Well, wonder no more! (LOL) Please enjoy this excerpt from one of my one-shots.

—

Sprinting back the way she had come, past Xena and Solan, the blonde hurtled toward the catacomb of cocoons. She would rip each one to pieces to find her own child if necessary.

I know you’re out there; somewhere! My, my love; my hope. Please; let me find you…

#

Hope was around every corner in the underworld, always glittering out of reach and slipping through Gabrielle’s scrabbling fingers whenever the battling bard tried to take hold of it.

“Please, Hope,” she said lowly as tears leaked through her perforated soul and cascaded ever faster down her invisible face. “Please…”

Bright blue eyes glowed in the dark aways ahead; an abandoned baby sat in the middle of the tunnel, dressed in burlap and chewing on the lamb toy she had been given by her mother.

The woman raced to scoop her infant up into her loving arms but was too late; a looming warrior appeared and ran the tiny child through with the sword that had once been Gabrielle’s salvation. “No!” she screamed, tearing at hair she no longer had either.

Long honey-blond locks, so like her own before another of Xena’s blades chopped them off, flashed in the light of a mounted torch even farther down the path to nowhere.

Gabrielle pursued those silky tresses with renewed vigor. “Hope!”

But they turned to a frazzled orange mop, turned to ashes on a funeral pyre, before she could even touch them. 

Her empty hands clutched at steadying wood that wasn’t there until the staff that she had long since thrown away cast a shadow on the cavern wall another few feet ahead of her.

A vision of Ares taking Hope out of a razed town in a flash of light, the replica of her mother’s quarterstaff throwing a sliver of darkness over the bard for a split second, blinded her.

In her momentary disorientation, Solan’s first words to her on their first reunion played in her head. ‘Hi, Gabrielle! Wait ’til you see! I got a staff; just like yours!’ 

But she never got to see Solan’s staff, never saw him alive again after Ephiny, the giver of Gabrielle’s first staff, shooed him and Xenan out the door. Instead, the bard had given her last staff a meaningful look before closing that same door on it and then leading her daughter by the hand to her first death.

“No!” Lunging for her old weapon only for it to be carried away by a river much like the one she had set her Hope on and thus lost forever too, she soon realized that the sounds enveloping her in their own constricting web had changed.

Instead of the muffled wailing of the damned, she heard her own sweet little giggles, the laughter of a shy child playing with her mother.

Thick voice catching in her narrowing airway, Gabrielle choked, “Oh, Hope! Please! Mommy’s here. Mommy loves you! She just wants to hold you…” A deathly sigh rattled her chest and broke apart the lump in her throat. “Mommy can’t hurt you anymore, baby. W-won’t! Never! Please let mommy see you…” she begged though she knew the effort was futile.

“Give it up, mother,” that hateful growl rustled the short hairs on the back of her neck.

Leaping to her feet and spinning around on the spot, Gabrielle pressed her senses to their limits in hopes of regaining her lost hope.

All that was left to her was the familiar hollowness around and within her. The weight of her guilt and grief, of her sheer Hopelessness, crushed the childless mother into the dirt.

I will go mad if I keep this up. I will wander the bowels of Tartarus until I die. Then I will leave my body behind and continue searching for all eternity…

There was something else I was supposed to do. What was it? Watery green-blue eyes sought the answer in the flickering shadows. Proxidicae! she realized in a dread-filled second as a contingent of Zeus’s personal guards marched to and past her in military formation without ever knowing she was there. The baby! Solan! Xena!

One last prayer escaping from her ruined Pandora’s box of a heart, Gabrielle conceded defeat. Alright, my love. You do not want me with you; I understand. I will leave you be for now. But I cannot do as you asked. I will never give up on you, Hope. Never. I’ll find you and bring you home someday. I promise.

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/kim-rhodes-briana-buckmaster-supernatural-interview-part-2/

Kim Rhodes, Briana Buckmaster 'Supernatural' interview Part 2

One thing about Lynn Zubernis; she knows how to get any interview subject to just let it all out and spill the tea all over the table and drip down on the floor. Her interview with Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster was such a huge one, we had to split it into two parts. Part one is here. Lynn's latest book, Family Don’t End With Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Has Changed Lives (You can order it here), hits today, and from the reviews, it's a must must read! If you want to attend her Los Angeles book launch check it out here. You just might meet some of your Supernatural favs there. Her latest book features With contributions by Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard, Jim Beaver, Rob Benedict, Briana Buckmaster, Osric Chau, Matt Cohen, Ruth Connell, Gil McKinney, Rachel Miner and Kim Rhodes, and a Dozen Passionate Fans! Check out her classic interview with Misha Collins and Jim Beaver. Check out when we interviewed Lynn on her own Supernatural experiences. Check out exclusive excerpts from Lynn’s upcoming book! Now for the continuation of Lynn's interview with Kim Rhodes and Briana Buckmaster: Briana: I just sent my husband a picture that someone posted of us [Briana and Kim] on twitter – it was probably you, Kim – and he was like woah, you guys look so hot, I know why people ship you now! Lynn: I love your husband. Briana: I would actually rather Donna be with Jody than anybody. Lynn: So would many fans. Though it won’t happen. Briana: No, it won’t happen, sadly. It will happen in our heads… Lynn: And in fanworks… Kim: I’ve actually seen some really beautiful art of us, like the backs of our heads, we’re lying entwined in bed. Briana: [wide eyed] Nooooo! Kim: OMG yes, I’ll send it to you. Briana: [clapping] Oh, send them to me! Kim: But it was really so tender, so beautiful. Kim: Now I don’t talk about ships much because it’s such a dangerous mine field. Lynn: It is. Kim: People take it really personally, and the reason I don’t talk about it is twofold. One, I don’t wanna get in trouble. Like ultimately I’m a teenager inside, and I don’t want to make anyone mad and be like aaaahh they’re yelling at me. But secondly ships are so personal, I don’t wanna say anything… I mean, I am an actor. I’m also a fan, I’m one of everybody. But if I walk in a room, I carry a responsibility with me. And so if I speak to a ship, there’s a volume to my voice and I don’t wanna say anything that would get in anybody’s way of what makes them happy. Lynn: Because validating one ship can invalidate another. Kim: YES! That’s the thing. Briana: That’s why we don’t like to answer the ship questions. Lynn: But you answered it perfectly – you didn’t wig out, you didn’t refuse to answer. I love what Kim said, “frankly I ship Jody with everyone.” Kim: Mm-hmm. But that said, one of the things I love so much that only people in fandom get is that what I just said — that I’ve seen pics that are tender. Like the ships generally involve sex, but they are about relationships. Lynn: That’s why they’re called ships. Kim: And I think that’s, like no wonder people take them so seriously! No wonder people treat them so seriously, because they are tender because they’re about two people being in love Briana: Yeah. Lynn: They are. Kim: And so it’s not porn. It can be pornographic, but it comes from a place… Lynn: Of love, and relationship… Kim: Yes. It’s not like ‘Mr. Beaver Goes to Camp’ or whatever the fuck, there’s a genuineness to the ships, so that’s also why I don’t speak of it, because I’m not gonna piss in somebody else’s rose garden. I don’t know what would be stepping on toes. So it’s actually not out of – like there are some people who don’t talk about ships because of an unwillingness to acknowledge what they are, and I actually think they are something precious and important to each person. Lynn: Me too. Kim: So that’s why I don’t go in there. Lynn: I love how passionate shippers are, but I don’t care who you ship. It’s like fantasy – everyone has their own fantasy, and your fantasy is important and personal to you. Briana: And you’re invested in them, right? Frankly, it’s like religion and politics. Kim: Yeah, yeah. Briana: It’s like hey man, everyone has an opinion, and yours is not more correct than hers. Lynn: I wish there weren’t such a thing as ‘ship wars.' I understand that it can feel like a zero sum game, like if my ship ‘wins,' then yours ‘loses,' but really it’s usually not. Briana: It’s just not a sexy show! I don’t really understand the wars. That’s the first time I got in trouble on twitter, and she saved me. She was like everybody chill out; she doesn’t know… Kim: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Briana: So I now know, yeah. Lynn: The perception is that for once, fans actually had a little influence, that The Powers That Be kinda listened to what fandom wanted with Don’t You Forget About Me, an episode that was essentially Wayward Daughters – because for once, all factions of the fandom wanted it. Briana: Is it all factions? I actually have no idea. Kim: No, there are definitely haters. Lynn: Some people have problems with the Claire character but not many with Jody or Donna, I don’t think. Kim: God bless her, Kathryn Newton is a very brave actor, even if she’s being brave and doesn’t know it. She doesn’t try to soften Claire’s edges. She’s like, oh, this is a sullen, angry teenager. And you know what? Sullen angry teenagers can be shitheads. So there are people who go wow, Claire’s kinda a shithead… Briana: She’s being truthful… Kim: But you know what? You’d be a shithead too if you went through this. Lynn: The multiple traumas that girl has been through… Kim: My own mother, when we were talking about how I was at this age and at that age when we brought up the age of 16, my own mother said ‘Kimmie, I always loved you, but I didn’t like you when you were sixteen.’ Lynn: And it’s a testament to Kathryn’s acting that she’s playing what the character was intended to be. Kim: Yes. And I would like to think that the fandom influenced this episode. We always use the phrase love letter to the fans, and I think that phrase can really be offensive. Briana: I agree, I think it’s patronizing. Kim: It’s like, why do you think that? You don’t think this is just like a good episode? You know what would actually be a love letter to the fans? Listening to the fans, that would be a love letter to them. So I don’t mean this in reference to this show, let me be really clear, not in terms of Supernatural, because I thought the 200th episode was charming – I’m on record as loving that episode – I just mean the industry says oh it’s a love letter to Marvel fans and you’re like No, it’s actually not. Briana: It could’ve been. Kim: But it’s actually not, it’s got whats-her-face with her tits up to her chin and no plot line. Lynn: Sort of placating, like chew on this for a while. Briana: Like, that’ll hold you over for a while. Kim: So it’s my personal opinion, like from my own experience, that episode was as much of a love letter to the fans as I can give. Like to me, I knew the desire there; I knew the relationships that were important to the fans – and to me. And that’s the other thing, that’s why I felt so passionately about this episode, is because the same things that were important to the fans were important to me as an actor. The authenticity of the relationships, the love — the deep broken flawed love between all 5 of the people at that dinner table — the humor that comes from love and pain and fear and the love and pain and fear itself – just that phrase, that’s the scary thing about family because you have so much to lose. Briana: And I think that’s kind of the conclusion of the whole television show. Lynn: YES! That’s exactly what I said in my review – like, that’s Supernatural! Kim: Yes, yes, so when I read the script and even more so when I saw the episode, to me, I hope fans took it personally. Because I didn’t hear anything from anybody in any position of power at all. I have no idea how it was received, no idea what they meant, da da da, I did my job and went home. But for me, where I come from, that was personal to the fans. Because like you were just saying, I can’t contact every fan. When I’m in an autograph line, I can’t meet the intensity of a person’s experience; I can’t give them the time I would like to, it’s just physically impossible. Lynn: It is. Kim: So my heart for that entire episode was connected to the fans and my awareness that this was a gift to them. That they may or may not have created as a gift to me – which is fucking awesome! Briana: Like, right? Kim: So yeah, that’s my Kumbaya. Briana: That’s super true, especially about Wayward Daughters, the idea that people are like I hope that Wayward Daughters can happen for the fans, and I’m like really? Because it would be unbelievable. And like I said, Kim and I have had very little to do other than just any time Riley or Betty contact us, who are kinda running the whole campaign, they’re always like, we’re gonna do this, are you guys cool with this? And we’re like omg YES! Kim: Like the thunderclap thing, we don’t even know what that is. Briana: They are on it though. The idea that this could give something to others, while we would also benefit from it, right? Lynn: It felt that way. We had this discussion at the academic conference; there was a panel on fan/producer relationships. And a panelist said look, it’s all about money. If TPTB are listening, it’s because something will make them money. And I said, do you think there are small occasional exceptions? Because I felt like this episode might have been. Kim: It has to be a perfect storm though. They probably looked at the arc of the season, and like you create the arc of the season, you’ve got the Darkness, dealing with duh duh duh and now because Jensen and Jared are getting their asses handed to them with their schedule, they need some lighter episodes, where they get to go home and remind their kids who daddy is, and also, they’ve got Thanksgiving breaks smack dab in the middle of it, so we can’t have a high special effects episode that we split on either side, so it could also have been just technically, I don’t know, who haven’t we seen? What are the ideas we’re fucking around with? Briana: This is what I do when I’m with Kim, I’m like no no no no this is what happened. [to Kim] Because remember last season, when they dropped her off at your house, and I’m texting Kim going wtf is happening? Kim: [nodding] Briana: And then she tweeted ‘I don’t know, I’m not watching!’ Lynn: [laughing} But you’re right, they specifically set up the possibility. Briana: They did! Lynn: Like that seemingly throwaway comment that you’re a hunter now too. Kim: But if I had a dollar for everything they’ve ever set up that never came to fruition, I would not have to work this year. Lynn: True, but at least it’s a possibility. Kim: Oh, she’s totally coming back. Briana: You know what I’d love to see? I’d love to see Donna as a hunter like she doesn’t know she’s dating a werewolf… Everyone: [laughing] Lynn: So Kim, talk about that dinner scene. Kim: OMG it was the most fun thing I’ve ever shot! Lynn: I laughed so hard. Briana: It was just a good solid scene. Kim: Well, first of all, we ALL, like everybody was excited to be doing the scene because it was funny and tender and sweet and spoke to what everybody does well. So nobody was like eh, I’m not gonna look good in this scene, you know? It’s like, I definitely come into some scenes and am like, this isn’t my scene, I’m here to make you look good, and I’m happy to do it. Briana: Yeah. Kim: But this was, everybody had their moment. Lynn: And all five people just totally brought it. Kim: I can’t think of another episode that had such a quintessential Winchester family dinner. That’s what it was, that’s what a Winchester family dinner is – we’ve got monsters to kill, and please wear a condom. Lynn: [laughing] And Jensen and Jared just sort of like, What? Huh? [caption id="attachment_46042" align="aligncenter" width="600"] What?[/caption] [caption id="attachment_46043" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Huh?[/caption] Briana: OMG it was so good. Lynn: And Jody’s exasperation, everyone was identifying with Jody and her exasperation with them. Kim: It was really well written too, there wasn’t any like, oh now we’ve gotta change to – like, the transitions made sense and were earned. Lynn: True, true. Who wrote that? Kim: Nancy. Lynn: Oh, oh, Nancy Won, yes, I really like her! She did her homework. She can stay. Like, forever. ETA: [SOB!!!!!] Briana: Yeah, this episode was great. Good for her. Kim: it felt really really good. I thought that scene was so much fun. Lynn: And Jensen was busily making a fort out of his mashed potatoes? Kim: [wry smile] Again, when it’s not their coverage, you have all kinds of things happening. And we were shooting it the last night before everybody left for vacation, so people were kinda mentally already on vacation. They were like, ooh, you want real wine in your glass? And I was like, NO! Because I had to drink two bottles of it. God, it was so bad. But yeah, it was hilarious. Lynn: And there were adlibs? Kim: It wasn’t so much adlibs, but Stefan, who directed it, is always open to that – I don’t think I tweeted this but there was that moment I looked at Claire and said, ‘you were right.’ And I had told Stefan, you know what’s missing from this script? Is an acknowledgment from Jody that she was wrong. Lynn: YES. Kim: I said, I really really need for Jody to show Claire the respect of you were right. Briana: [nodding] Lynn: And that was so important, because that’s what allowed Claire at the end to heal. Otherwise, why would there have been healing? Kim: Right. And why, knowing who Claire is, why didn’t she spend the next scene going okay I told you so? Briana: Like, I’m outta here… Lynn: She would have. [caption id="attachment_46045" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Tweet @Kimrhodes4real[/caption] Kim: Yeah! So, back to the scene, what did get cut was that when I said ‘don’t pull up the drawbridge,’ Claire had an addition that we weren’t really sure, but we’re pretty sure it was a butt reference in the script, but then we all started trying to come up with euphemisms for having sex that aren’t really words for sex. Lynn: lol Kim: The ‘Sit. Stay’. That was originally supposed to be ‘No, no, you’re family too, sit down.’ And I was like, there are too many words there for the level of panic that Jody is feeling. There’s just too many words. So I said, can I try something else? And he [Stefan] said you can do whatever you want. Lynn: That’s nice, that collaboration. Briana: it is nice. Kim: And again, when I justify WHY – if I just say, I don’t think Jody would say that, can I say something else, I guarantee they’re not gonna be like oh sure go ahead, say whatever you want, we don’t care. But when I say, the level of panic does not match the intellectual capacity that Jody would have to have to say ‘no no you’re still family’ – no, this has to be a problem. No. Sit. Stay. Lynn: And the great thing is, their faces at that moment, we got that comic moment too. Kim: Yes, because the irony – the thing I love – is that I spoke to them like they were puppies, and they responded like they were puppies. Lynn: [giggling] A pure behavioral reaction! And it worked. Kim: I also try to use my mom voice with them whenever I can because they are not used to having a mom voice. Briana: And the show is all about them dealing with their mother’s death. Lynn: Yes, and longing for that mothering. Kim: And that’s another aspect of mothering. So I love to see that, their reaction, it was kind of like ohhhh, we just sat and stayed. Like the confusion of why did we do that? That is magical! So the sit stay was kinda an adlib, it was what came out of my mouth at the time. The other thing is, Alex was supposed to reach for my wine, and I was supposed to just swat it away, and they had two cameras running at the same time, so I’m glad they got it because my head was turned at the time – because Katherine Ramdeen is an exceptional actor. [caption id="attachment_46046" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Katherine Ramdeen and Katherine Newton. Tweet @kimrhodes4real[/caption] Lynn and Briana: [nodding] Kim: And she’s got enough method in her to do that. One of my favorite things – I was watching Colony last night – and one of my favorite things is when actors let their characters be good liars. I hate it when like you see an actor selling a lie that the other character buys, but they’re so bad at it, you know that it wouldn’t actually work. So Katherine is like, I’m trying to grab a glass of her wine, and I know she probably isn’t gonna roll over, so she waits until I’m not looking. Lynn: Which is exactly what a kid would do. Kim: Which is exactly what a kid would do! So I turn around, and she’s got the wine all the way up to her mouth, and I had to stop dead in my tracks with what I was saying and be like hey – and that was Kim you saw acting — like how the fuck did you get that wine? Stop, put it back! Lynn: That’s probably why it played so real. Briana: And that’s everything. Like that’s, of course, the actors, but also a director trusting their actors and also a writer giving you a scene that’s long enough that you’re like oh wow I get to ACT in this scene. Lynn: I feel like Supernatural works so well because all of you care so much about your characters and how you play them – and because it can be so collaborative. Briana: [to Kim] And you’ve worked with Stefan before. Kim: Yes, Stefan and I knew each other. But also? That’s Jared and Jensen as well. Briana: That’s very true, they set the tone. Kim: I think most directors kind of feed off of how Jared and Jensen are responding to the actors, because I’ve definitely seen some moments of ‘hey you know, I’m thinking of doing…’ and Jared will be like, yeah. And Jared would never shut another actor down because that’s not who he is as a person, but you can tell if you know him if he thinks it’s a bad fucking idea, frankly. And Jared’s like, it’s not my job to tell you it’s a bad fuckin’ idea, but that’s not gonna serve the script. Sure enough, it’s like no, let’s stick to the script. So it’s not really a free range kind of environment. Lynn: Nor should it be. Kim: Right, but I know that when I offer a note I’m not boning somebody else. I know my job. I know the stars and I know how to serve the script. Lynn: And at this point, you know this character. And Jensen has talked about directing you, so he knows. Kim: Yes, Jensen has directed me! Briana: Jensen directed you? Kim: It was awesome. Jensen gave me one of my favorite notes ever. EVER. So he comes over, and he goes, ‘this line, duh duh duh duh duh, what are you doing there?’ and I said, ‘saying it really fast because I don’t know what I’m doing.' And he goes, ‘and that’s exactly what it looks like. So can I tell you something?’ Briana: [laughing] Kim: And he was like, let me give you something to think about, and I was like OHHHHH, now I know what I’m doing there. Lynn: He knew what you would need to get it because he could put himself in your shoes. Briana: Yeah, and he also has an outside eye. Kim: And he also could tell what I was doing, that I was saying it real fast to get to the next part. Speaking of Jensen, so the scene as scripted ended as I stood up to go I said ‘I’m gonna go get some mashed potatoes, long running’ and then I swallowed the wine. Lynn: That was scripted? Kim: I wanna say yes, it was scripted. And then I’m like okay, potatoes, potatoes… that was actually in there for my sister because my sister along-runningpotato joke… Lynn and Briana: lol Kim: And then Jensen goes, ‘well this is fun.’ Lynn: Wait, so that wasn’t scripted? Kim: Oh no, the scene was done! So that long fourth shot of Kathryn going heh heh heh… Lynn: And that awkward silence? Because Katherine and Kathryn did that so well too. Kim: Oh yeah. Everybody thought the scene was over, but until we hear cut – also that’s a testament to the writing of that scene because we were having so much fun playing it – Lynn: That you just kept going… Kim: We just kept going, like until you call cut, we’re just gonna keep going! Lynn: And everyone stayed in character! Kim: Yeah. Briana: When an actor really likes to do a scene, it’s because it’s well written. It’s not necessarily that they get to do the most or because they do something that’s really rad for their character or really badass, if the writing clicks so well with the character, it’s just like this magic. Kim: It’s like being on a ride, instead of pushing something. Like, you can push the car or you can drive the car, and when a scene is well written it’s like YEAHHHh we’re cruising. Lynn: The process is so similar to writing, especially writing fiction, it will feel like that, and I’ll say it out loud sometimes, because there’s nothing like when people talk in a way that people would never ever talk. Kim: I get so angry when the writer tries to do my job. In life, when I say I’m feeling X Y and Z right now, well then something else must be going on, because nobody actually has to articulate what clearly is going on! Briana: Exactly. ‘I’m feeling?’ No. Lynn: Unless you’re in the middle of a therapy session… Kim: Oh, or the history recaps. ‘Well, you remember that one time when…’ or ‘I thought I’d never forgive you when…’ Briana: OMG yes. Kim: Like, really? Do you need to tell me that? Lynn: Occasionally Supernatural does have a problem with exposition. Kim: And well, sometimes it’s necessary. A necessary evil. Also, it is not to be equated with bad writing when you have to serve a higher purpose. Which is make sure people know what the fuck is going on, especially new viewers, right? Lynn: Right. It was so interesting when I was on set to learn about the process that a script goes through, especially notes from the studio about making sure a new viewer would know what was going on. I had never thought of it that way. Kim: Of course. Like, how we gonna know that so and so? Briana: But mostly the fans know a lot more than the producers. Kim: And frankly in this day and age, fucking google it! Lynn: Or there’s always the superwiki! Everyone: [is laughing] Lynn: So before we end, a lot of people are saying that Colony is really good, and that your character is in the bad guy uniform. Kim: I’m in disguise. I watched it last night in my hotel room. I start off really light, and in the next episodes my character manifests a lot more. You see what her purpose is, where she is in the resistance and how the other characters relate to her. It’s intense. I play a mother, with 2 sons, in the resistance. No husband. And in 10 episodes, not once did I have to emotionally justify myself. I never had a comment of where my husband was. Lynn: Wow Kim: I know. Sarah and I had a discussion about how well written the female characters were that we were so un-used to having to that – as women, as female characters, we always emotionally justify our actions through a relationship with generally a male character. Either a child, a husband, a love interest. I’m doing what I’m doing and somehow it’s because of this or that, not just doing what you’re doing because it’s the right fucking think to do. Briana: It’s a resistance movement. Kim: Unheard of. And so Sarah and I were talking about how different it was, because we’re used to rooting ourselves in an emotional relationship and need from another character. And just rooting ourselves in our own convictions and beliefs was not a place we were familiar with. Lynn: Novel Kim: It was awesome! But also last night, I was in the script a little bit and I had read it, but watching it I was actively upset by what I saw. Not as an actor, as a viewer. I knew what was coming and it still got me. And I was like, how did that just happen? And I was live tweeting and dicking around and like ‘yeah resist forever’, and then I was like I’m done, I have to go read my book now, I’m upset. And it continues to get more upsetting. Lynn: So it’s dark. Kim: And the beautiful irony of Carlton Cuse is that this is about aliens landing, but the darkness is pure humanity. And also because you know like on twitter I follow kind of a dark segment of the population. In fact a lot of the people I follow have never seen my work. They know I have a blue check mark next to my name and as far as they’re concerned they know that it means it’s open season on fucking with me sometimes, like let’s see if we can scare her off today. But because of that, the resistance, I’m like, I know this thinking. Briana: You’re familiar with it. Kim: It’s like, this is people who are familiar with how hideous humanity can be. It’s an intense show. It’s up for Season 2 already, there will be 13 next season. [Whether or not Kim will be back was up in the air at the time} Kim: I never have a problem with how a character is treated though. Briana: A character you play? Kim: Any character. As long as the level of treatment equals the level of story change that it inspires. So for instance, in Colony when shit goes down and I’m like, how could you do that? It’s equivalent to the force that was needed to drive the story in a new direction. Lynn: So it’s not gratuitous… Kim: Yes, that’s the thing! So in terms of Supernatural, I think I’m a little different. I don’t say you shouldn’t hit – like oh I have a problem with the female character being beaten up. What I say is I want to see an equal payoff for what happened. Like when Jody got the shit kicked out of her is what Claire needed to see that to go ‘OMG she would have died for me.’ So that, I don’t think that’s gratuitous. When a beloved character dies and the trajectory of the rest of the show is like running over a speed bump and it continues, then I don’t care how simple and sweet and beautiful the death may have even been. Not warranted. Briana: Tell good stories! Kim: Yes, and with Colony, it’s incredible and necessary. All the horrible moments. At that point, Kim and Briana realized they needed to go sign autographs, so I snapped a few pictures. Lynn: Awwww, you guys. Kim: We’re just honestly as delighted with each other in real life as we seem to be onstage. Briana: I was so excited to come to this con, because she and I haven’t seen each other in a while. Kim: it was like Ooooh, I get to see her in a couple days Kim: [to Briana] You actually smell really good… Briana: It’s a perfume I got in London… Kim: Mmmm nice. We will continue through the launch of Lynn’s book with some of her best Supernatural interviews. Check out Kim and Briana's chapter – along with many other cast and fan chapters – in Family Don’t End With Blood. You can pre-order it here.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[vulbyte]

story time!

hi, sorry but i haven’t posted anything good in a while so i thought i’d post something related to the animation i’m working on!... it’s only a small chunk and i’m kinda nervous about posting this but i’d love some feed back, so i hope you all enjoy!.. also this will related to the comic and animation so please keep that in mind... also, please don’t be too harsh...

prolouge

>insert and family is out on their yearly camping trip. The day is a normal clear day. The drive to the camping grounds is along a paved dirt road with trees to both sides. There are trees to both sides and the road is quite long, insert is waking up from his sleep and this is where the story starts…<

Chapter 1: back again for the dozenth time.

I wake from my sleep with a bang to my head and an instant headache. I quickly jolt up with the music from my phone still playing in my ears. It’s house music, with bleed from the car's stereo. I look out the window to my right seeing the bumpy gravel road and a wall of pine trees… as we pass the trees it all looks so similar like a pattern on loop… there’s very little fauna on the ground due to the lack of light caused by the canopy of the trees… any part of light that does shine threw looks like a small island in a sea of orange dead plant remains…

    I look forward seeing that my parents sitting in the front seat. Lightly bobbing and dipping their heads to the music that they're listening to. Dads tapping his fingers on the wheel while he’s snickering about something, while mom taps her hand on the wheel. i can't stand the “best of the 80’s” rock my dad likes so much. Not for the fact it’s rock, but for the idea of listening to the same song for the 200th time is just too much. I would love for him to be a little more open minded about his music choices but it’s just a never ending uphill battle with bad puns mocking the1 edm artist he knows i like and endless claiming that edm isn’t music. But i got my lovely headphones which have broke at least 10 times but i'm too cheap to replace them and i can deal with the slight noise they give off.

    I look to my right noticing my younger brother and sister some how sleeping threw that massive pot hole. My brothers against the left door. Drool running down his face and down the door dripping on the handle. My sister’s head is tilted right forward supported only by her neck and her chest. I move my left arm noticing how uncomfortable it is and i can quickly feel all the blood rushing back into my arm making me feel like i got dozens of pins suddenly stuck in my arm. I notice dad glance in the rear view mirror look back in the mirror and notice that i’m now awake. I can notice him talking but can’t hear a word he’s saying due to my music. Take an ear bud out to hear the middle of his “good morning world” speech…

“-lmost at the camp ground! Can’t wait for this weekend! How about you kid?”

“other than the recent blunt force trauma to my head i think alright…”

“Yeah, meant to hit that one. Was hoping you and the others would wake up!”

    “welp, your plan worked for one of us…”

“Meh, better one than none…”

        “thanks, my brain cells appreciate it…”

Mom quickly buts into the conversation sensing my bitter mood.

        “Hey hun, could you please take this piece of paper to the office once we park at the camp ground and tell them that we’ve arrived?”

    “sure, i can probably say hi so shawn while i’m there.”

        “Thanks, hun!”

I notice we’re right beside the office as she says this and i quickly jump out of the car ignoring the whole wait “till we park” so i don't have to wait 10 minutes for dad to back it.

I look upon the rotting shack thinking of how this place was when i was much younger. Now it just looks like an old house outta a bad horror movie. I look thru the window on the door trying to see shawn while i walk in. i quickly hear a chime followed by shawns voice coming from behind the counter,

“Just a second!”

    I look over the counter seeing the big guys ass move back and forth while trying to do something to the computer. I look around the office placing the paper on the counter, noticing a chair behind me. Kick the chair behind me and fall back into it. Making a screeching across the floor. I see a small spark and shawn's voice quickly follows

“FUCK! Shit shouldn't have said that with a customer in here. Fuck, shouldn’t have said that… i should just shut the fuck up… i’m just going to shut up…”

    “yea, ya should.”

“Hey! Is that you insert?!”

    “yup” (adding a popping sound after words.)

“Hey, i know i asked you this the other day but why did you literally change all your usernames to that?”

    “a bunch of annoying idiots in school where mocking me in school, they were pissed i was inserted into their group last year even though i did literally all of the work and got them a high b. buy anyways they started calling me insert along with rest of the school. It started to bug me but i decided to own it and it still bugs me but least i own it and other people can’t use it to bug me. a kinda win…”

“Well, ya should stop moving so much”

    “ya, i can totally control what my parents do”

“Oh hey, did you know the tides supposed to be really low tonight?

    “yay, another low tide. we can go pick dead seaweed and watch crabs eat dead starfish.”

“No, it’s supposed to be really low.”

    “okay, i see what you’re getting at. how low?”

“Low enough to see the what's at the bottom of sandy bay...”

    “what’s at the bottom?”

“No once can tell, the currents so strong they can’t send divers in there because they’ll get pinned against the bays seamounts.” and the sand causes whatever is down there to be distorted. They got a good idea what’s down there but they're not completely certain.”

    “okay. so there’s going to be a massively low tide on a super crowded beach, you know how i hate being in crowded areas…”

“Dude, thats the best part! Did you hear about that big earthquake yesterday up north?”

“no, i’ve been in a car for the last 2 days with the only access to internet being the hotel wi-fi for 30min before i passed out at 4am, and the 3 gigs of cell data, no wait. 1.5 gigs because i need the other half to get back and i’m not wasting it looking for news.”

“Okay okay i get ya, i know you’re a music whore”

    “bitch you know i am!”

“Anyways, there is going to be another one tonight that’s supposed to cause a huge rip! an-”

    “how big?”

“Huge! At least  250 km long and 50 km wide there expecting!”

    “woah, where is it happening?”

“That’s the best and probably only good part! From ahousat down to seattle!” there’s a huge evacuation going on because of it!”

    “ya realize we’re there right?”

“Ya, my parents already jumped ship. They were practically dragging me out the door but i convinced them to let me stay!”

    “how?!”

“Well i told them what i told you at the beginning.”

    “I know you better than that. What you actually say?”

“...i told them i’d watch over the visitors…”

    “was that so hard?”

“Yeah! If i skip work to go to this this thing you’ll tell my parents!”

    “dude, i said something that you did which i don’t even think is or was bad in front of old staff of this place. when we were 8! we’ve literally doubled our life since then. and other than that technicality i would never tell on you! You’ve covered me more than enough! now shut up and when’s this thing happening?”

“It’s supposed to fracture at around 1am tonight.”

    “what’s supposed to fracture?”

“Remember 8th grade scie-”

    “ohhhhhh, so a tectonic plate is going to break off tonight? or at least a chunk?”

“Before you interrupted me i was going to tell you that but yeah, it is…”

    “so you wanna meet up on the beach later tonight? just us?”

“No man! I gotta work!”

    “uhhh, we’re the only ones staying here tonight. literally the whole campground is empty except for us. and probably the town now that i think about it.”

“Fine! You promise not to tell!”

    “what are we? 8 again? of course i won’t tell on you if you come! but i might say ya did if ya don’t!”

“Fine! I’ll come but you better not tell!”

    “for the 3rd time i won’t, and this is your thing not mine. you should be pumped!”

“I am but i’m also scared about what my parents might say or do if they find out!”

I turn around walk towards the door and walk thru the door and say

“they won’t meet me at my campground tonight!

And i shut the door behind me.

_______________________________________________________________

if you read it i hope you enjoyed it and please leave some feed back! i’d love to hear what you have to say!

[mariemary1]

All You Need to Know About Instagram Takeovers: How to Host a Takeover in 6 Simple Steps

Even though Instagram takeovers seem trendy now, they first started to gain popularity back in 2012 with brands like General Electric, Burberry and Food Republic inviting Instagrammers to take over their feeds for a day.

What started out as a fun way for brands and Instagrammers to collaborate, has now transitioned into one of the valuable aspects of any Instagram marketing strategy.

If you are wondering what Instagram takeovers are and how to organize them to boost your Instagram marketing efforts, this post is for you! We’ll go through six steps of a successful Instagram takeover, covering the various types of guests and takeovers and the ways to promote your takeovers.

What is an Instagram takeover?

An Instagram takeover is the process of taking over someone else’s Instagram account temporarily and sharing content with their audience. Instagram takeovers are an incredible way for brands, individuals and influencers to collaborate and cross-promote content.

Takeovers started with brands allowing other Instagrammers to post photos to their feeds for a short period of time and have continued to evolved alongside Instagram’s feature set. Video, Stories and live video updates have all added new, and exciting, dimensions to Instagram takeovers.

Why do takeovers work so well?

According to Gary Vaynerchuk, a well-known entrepreneur and social media marketer:

These takeovers are not only fun, but are also a great example of a 50/50 value exchange—a partnership that’s mutually and equally beneficial.

With a takeover, the host gets someone who can bring value to their followers while the guest gets to reach a new audience with their content. It most cases, it’s a win-win situation.

Here’s our guide on how to organize a takeover…

6 Steps to organizing a successful Instagram takeover

1. Set goals and metrics to watch

When it comes to organizing an Instagram takeover, you might want to first consider your goals for the and the metrics you want to track.

Your goals will influence the strategy behind your takeover and the metrics you choose will allow you to measure the success of the takeover.

Here are a few goals and the relevant metrics you could consider:

Increase brand awareness – Followers growth, reach, number of views, number of mentions on other channels, etc.

Engage the community – Number of interactions (likes, comments, views, or direct messages), number of live viewers, etc.

Promote a product or an event – Traffic to your website, number of conversions, number of attendees, etc.

For example, Kuno Creative, an inbound marketing agency, experimented with having employees take over the company’s Instagram account. Their goals were:

To grow Kuno’s following, presence, and activity on Instagram

To make Kuno’s company culture and values transparent and top-of-mind by consistently providing engaging visuals

The metrics they measured were followers growth and engagement rate, which they defined as (“Likes” + “Comments”) / “Followers at the end of a takeover”.

Last up for our #EmployeeTakeover is our Graphic Designer, Michelle Kicak (@m.kicak). When she’s in the office, you can find Michelle clicking away at her desk to design the latest website and strategizing with the team to create the best user experience. She is constantly trying to find new inspiration and trends to incorporate into her web designs. Michelle is a #Cleveland native and loves to try all the new restaurants that this great city has to offer! Stay tuned for big things this week! | #lifeatkuno #CLE #KunoCLE #UX #design #inbound #graphicdesign #cleveland

A photo posted by Kuno Creative (@kunocreative) on Oct 24, 2016 at 7:57am PDT

Side note: They found that the average weekly engagement rate on their Instagram account grew by +17.14% through the employee takeovers. If you are curious to learn more, Andrew Osegi of Kuno Creative wrote a great article about their employee Instagram takeovers and the things they learned from the experiment.

2. Decide on your guest

Once you have decided on your goals and metrics, the next thing to consider is who to invite as a guest. There are three common types of guests. Depending on the objective of your takeover, you might want to choose one type of guest over another.

Here are the three main types of guest you could work with for an Instagram takeover:

Influencers

Employees or colleagues

Community members or customers

Let’s take a look at each of them below…

Influencers

The most common type of guest is influencers. With this type of takeover, influencers in your industry would usually take over your account and share content aligned with their area of expertise.

Having an influencer on your company’s Instagram account is a great endorsement for your brand. It shows your followers that the influencer trusts your brand. Your followers will also benefit from being able to hear from an industry expert. It’s similar to having a well-known guest on your podcast, Facebook Live, or Twitter chat.

What are influencer takeovers good for?

Providing value through useful content

Driving social engagement

Raising brand awareness

Example: Last year, Brian Fanzo, millennial keynote speaker and change evangelist, took over Buffer’s Instagram Stories to share social media and community building advice.

Employees or colleagues

The next most common type of guest is employees (or your colleagues). Through an Instagram takeover, your colleagues can give your followers an insider’s view of the company and connect with them on a personal level.

Your colleagues can share about your company from their perspectives. Their perspective of the company might be very different from yours, making such takeovers fun and entertaining for your followers. Letting them take over your company’s Instagram will also add variety to the account and allow your followers to hear from and interact with more people from your company.

What are colleagues takeovers good for?

Engaging your community and building relationships

Showcasing your company culture

Building your brand image

Example: In the past, we experimented with this strategy. We called it #weekinthelife where Buffer team members took turns to share about their life for a week. As a fully-distributed team, this was a fun way to share our way of working and connect with our community.

Good morning everyone! Tom R here again starting off our Tuesday in the #weekinthelife at Buffer We started off our day with one of my very favourite days, our monthly “all hands” meeting! As a gloablly distributed team this can be a bit of a logistical challenge, so we hold the meeting using zoom.us video chat software, which has been really amazing for us. These chats are usually led by @joelgascoigne and @leowid and provide the entire team with high level thoughts, vision and goals for the company as we grow. I always leave energized and I inspired! It’s been very fun seeing all the new faces since our last all hands, just one month ago (I think we have *twenty* new people since then, woah!). I’ll be back later with a photo of Jessie, and another surprise!

A photo posted by Buffer (@buffer) on Nov 3, 2015 at 8:58am PST

Community members or customers

You can also invite community member or customer or ambassador of your company to take over your company’s Instagram account and share their experiences that are relevant to your company and followers.

Instagram is always about community. Having community members or customers take over your company’s Instagram account shows that you value and trust them. It also shows that you are proud of your community and customers that you are willing to let them post on your Instagram account. Furthermore, they might share a different perspective on your industry and help create diversity in your content through user-generated content.

What are community takeovers good for?

Building relationships with your community and customers

Creating user-generated content

Showcasing your awesome customers

Example: Sony Alpha invites photographers who use its cameras to take over its Instagram feed and share photographs taken with a Sony Alpha camera.

Hey everyone, @wantedvisual here just checking in with you guys with my first post of this takeover! If you guys follow my Insta, you will see that I specialize in aerial and landscape photography, and I will be sharing some of my behind the scenes work with you guys right here throughout the day! Don’t forget to also check out my Insta story right here on this page, and on my Insta as well! For this first shot, you are looking at the beautiful Empire State Building, lit up and surrounded by a sea of color. Using my Sony Alpha A7s paired with the Zeiss 35mm f1.4 lens, I was able to get this crispy clean shot without worrying about taking my ISO a few notches up. Pairing the low light capability of the A7S with a fast prime is a great combination for when you want to shoot in situations with little to no light; the results can be amazing! ISO 2000 | f1.4 | 1/200th sec.

A photo posted by Sony | Alpha (@sonyalpha) on Jan 29, 2017 at 11:05am PST

Bonus: Guest on another Instagram account

Instead of inviting guests to take over your company’s Instagram account, consider representing your company as a guest for someone else’s Instagram takeover — an influencer, a community member, or even another company.

This is an excellent way to reach a new audience that has been built by someone else, without too much effort. It is unlikely that you two have the exact same followers so such takeovers help to expose your company to new people. If you have a great brand, it’s likely that your community would love to have you on their Instagram accounts, making such partnerships easy to organize. Imagine how cool it’ll be to have your favorite brands appear on your Instagram account!

What is it good for?

Building brand awareness

Reaching new audience

Example: When Brian Fanzo took over Buffer’s Instagram Stories, Brian Peters, our social media manager, also took over Brian Fanzo’s Instagram Stories as Buffer (What a Brian-ception ).

3. Choose a type of takeover

Thanks to the amazing features on Instagram, there is more than one type of content your guests can post on your company’s Instagram account. They could:

Create Instagram posts

Post in your Instagram Stories

Go live with your Instagram account

Instagram posts

Having your guest post on your Instagram gallery is the original way of taking over an Instagram account. This helps to add variety to your Instagram gallery.

For example, WeightWatchers invites its member to take over its Instagram account for a day to share about themselves, their favorite food and recipes, and their experiences through Instagram posts.

Instagram Stories

Sometimes, you might want to keep your Instagram gallery to a certain theme or you have set guidelines for your Instagram posts. Instagram Stories can be a great way for a guest to take over your account without posting on your gallery.

For instance, ThinkGrowProsper posts inspirational quotes and tips on its gallery so a takeover to post on its gallery might not be suitable. Hence, Ruben Chavez, the owner of the account, invited Gary Vaynerchuk to take over ThinkGrowProsper’s Instagram Stories instead.

Instagram live videos

Instagram live videos are another great way of Instagram takeover without having the guest to post on your gallery. As this feature is relatively new, I haven’t come across any Instagram live video takeovers yet. But I believe it’s happening!

If you know of any awesome brands doing Instagram live takeovers, we’d love to hear from you.

Tip: There are several other smaller details that you would want to consider. They are:

How long do you want the takeover to be? (Instagram posts takeovers tend to be a week, Instagram Stories takeovers are usually a day, and Instagram live videos are probably an hour or less.)

What content are you looking for? (It can be helpful for the guest to know what you want her or him to share — tips, opinions, product review, etc.)

For Instagram posts, do you want to use a branded hashtag? (You can have one hashtag for all your takeovers or a unique one for each takeover. #instagramtakeover and #takeovertuesday are popular hashtags for Instagram takeovers.)

4. Promote the takeover

Even if takeovers are common on your company’s Instagram account, it might be great to announce it and give your followers a heads up. Here are a few common ways of promoting an Instagram takeover:

Announce it on Instagram

You can announce the takeover through an Instagram post or a story a day or week before the takeover.

Shopify gave its followers a heads up about an upcoming Instagram Stories takeover. Such posts are helpful for Instagram Stories takeovers as there might be more people who would scroll through their Instagram feed than view all Instagram Stories.

Be sure to catch @AmberMac on our Instagram Story today. She has a BIG announcement to share with you all ☝️ #shopify #inspiration #workhard #motivationmonday #entrepreneur

A photo posted by Shopify (@shopify) on Jan 23, 2017 at 5:46am PST

Promote it on other channels

You can also promote it on your other social media channels (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat) to draw more attention to the takeover. People who follow your company on Twitter, Facebook, or Snapchat might not follow your company on Instagram. Cross-promotion keeps all your followers in the loop.

When Brian Fanzo was taking over our Instagram Stories, we share the fun news on Twitter, too.

We did a huge Instagram Stories takeover with @iSocialFanz today! Join in on the fun here https://t.co/93YiZ9IveG pic.twitter.com/GUn4vziIFi

— Buffer (@buffer) August 17, 2016

Help guests to co-promote

After you announce and promote the takeover, you can also invite your guest to do the same. There is an incentive to promote his or her own Instagram takeover if he or she wants the takeover to be a success.

Amber Mac, who was taking over Shopify’s Instagram Stories, promoted her takeover on her own Instagram account, using the same graphic Shopify used.

Follow me on @shopify today for a huge announcement that could change your life as an #entrepreneur. Get more info on my @shopify @instagram Story takeover.

A photo posted by Amber Mac (@ambermac) on Jan 23, 2017 at 5:57am PST

5. Execute the takeover

So here’s where I let the secret out…

You don’t actually have to let your guest login and take over your company’s Instagram account!

There are generally two ways to go about an Instagram takeover.

A full account takeover where your guest gets access to your company’s Instagram account.

A semi-account takeover where your guest sends you the media files to post on her or his behalf.

Full account takeover

Depending on preference and objectives, a full account takeover might be more suitable than a semi-account takeover. For instance, if you wish to let your guest go live with your company’s Instagram account, you’ll need to grant the guest full access to your Instagram account.

Advantages:

It will feel more authentic as your guest would have actually taken over your account.

There’s less hassle as you do not need to post anything on the guest’s behalf.

Your guest can see and quickly reply to comments with your account, especially for Instagram Stories as the replies will be direct messages in your company’s account.

It’s the only way for your guest to go live with your Instagram account.

Disadvantages:

It is less safe to share your password online, and your account might be compromised.

You have less control over what your guests post, when they post it, and what they do with your company’s account. (If you trust the guest enough, this won’t be a worry.)

How to set up a full account takeover:

If you prefer a full account takeover, we’d recommend using a secure way to transfer your password such as One-Time Secret. It’ll be great to change your password after each takeover as an additional security measure, too.

To use One-Time Secret, type your password on the website and create a secret link. If you want to make it more secure, you can also set a passphrase.

Once your guest opens the link to retrieve the password, the link will disappear forever, keeping your password safe.

Semi-account takeover

If you are afraid of compromising your password or if you prefer to help your guest do the posting, a semi-account takeover will be more suitable. The guest has to simply send you the photos or videos she or he wants to post, and you can post them at the times you prefer.

Advantages:

It’s safer as you do not have to share your password online.

It makes things easier for your guest, which might make the partnership more enticing.

You will have control over when to post the photos or videos.

Disadvantages:

It might feel less authentic as you are posting on your guest’s behalf.

Your guest will not be able to reply with your account. (They can still reply with their own Instagram account.)

Your guest will not be able to see any replies to her or his Instagram Stories as the replies will be direct messages in your company’s Instagram account.

You wouldn’t be able to let your guest go live with your company’s Instagram account.

How to set up a semi-account takeover:

For a semi-account takeover, there is slightly more work on your end. There are two main steps for you to take.

Step 1: Getting the media files

Get the images or videos from the guest through your or your guest’s preferred way of transferring files. This could be through email, Dropbox, or Google Drive.

For Instagram posts, you’d want to get a caption from her or him, too. For Instagram Stories, your guest can create stories on her or her mobile phone and save them by using the “Save” button in the Instagram app.

Step 2: Uploading the media files

For Instagram posts, you can use Buffer to schedule Instagram reminders, and you’ll receive a push notification on your smartphone when it’s the time to post.

The advantage here is that you don’t have to manually transfer the files from your desktop to your mobile phone. When you schedule an Instagram reminder with the Buffer web application, we will automatically transfer the photo to your smartphone through the Buffer app.

For Instagram Stories, you’d need to transfer the files to your smartphone as there isn’t a way to post them through the desktop directly at the moment. (A neat workaround is to schedule Instagram reminders using Buffer again but instead of posting on your gallery, press “Cancel” and go to your Instagram Stories.)

When you want to post the stories, swipe up to access the photos and/or videos added to your mobile phone in the last 24 hours.

Tip: If you are using Buffer for Business, you could add your guest as a team member of your organization and let them add posts to your Buffer queue. This will save you and your guest the hassle of transferring files and coordinating the timing of the posts. Here’s a full post on how to do that.

6. Wrap up

Once you have completed the Instagram takeover (yay!), the only thing left to do is review the performance of the takeover.

One of the best ways to measure success is to compare the change in the metrics you identified in the first step. For example: How many followers did you gain during the takeover? How much engagement did you receieve?

Kuno Creative, the inbound marketing agency mentioned at the start of the article, measured their followers growth throughout the several Instagram takeovers and found that they’ve gained 450 followers since they started running Instagram takeovers.

Apart from looking at the numbers, Kuno also analyzed what worked well for them. They found that content that captialized on trending topics, videos, GIFs, boomerangs, and high-quality images performed well during the takeovers.

Finally, the last thing to do is to show your appreciation to your guest. At Buffer, we like to give our guests a small swag token whenever possible. At the same time, we would ask the guests if they have any feedback for us regarding the collaboration.

Over to You

Instagram had pushed out many great features and improvements in 2016. I believe it will continue to do so in 2017, making Instagram takeovers even more exciting! As a recap, here are the six steps to organizing a great Instagram takeover:

Set goals and metrics to watch

Decide on your guest

Choose a type of takeover

Promote the takeover

Execute the takeover

Wrap up

Have you done Instagram takeovers as either the host or guest before? How was it? Do you have any tips for a great Instagram takeover?

Thank you.

Thank All You Need to Know About Instagram Takeovers: How to Host a Takeover in 6 Simple Steps for first publishing this post.