#i want more witty snarky black girl characters

[heavensincarnate1111]

the whole debate around annabeth being black will forever be unserious to me because making annabeth black was such a insightful choice. it gives annabeth so so much more depth to her character like her whole thing was that she's a genius, she's extremely smart but a lot of people underestimate her and don't take her seriously because she was a blonde and blondes are stereotyped as being dumb, annabeth's whole character was contradicting that but now that annabeth is a black woman it makes so much more sense because if there's any demographic of people that are never taken seriously ITS BLACK WOMEN!!!! as well there's a part where in hoo where annabeth says she's wishes she wasn't blonde like piper (a native american woman) and hazel (a black woman) because no one takes her seriously be she's blonde... like rily.. you mean to tell me that book accurate annabeth (a blonde white woman) is more underestimated than two women of color LIKE CMON this is why making annabeth black makes so much more sense for her character and don't even get me started on the whole percy rachel annabeth triangle like if they do cast rachel accurate to her book description i want to see your best american girl edits EVERYWHERE when botl gets adapted

[dandelioncrownns]

random grishaverse facts/trivia (mostly tgt/kos, tbh), because i love useless details. Also, attempted organisation, because i like order too. + ft. my unwanted commentary

the darkling

has a sweet tooth

loves animals and nature in general

for those of you who have read demon in the woods, he got to meet the white tigers :)

his bedchamber walls are carved into trees bc he loves the woods

his favourite trees in particular are pine trees (or just evergreen trees in general)

he used to be afraid of the dark (many possibly worrying? interesting? implications to this; i won’t get into it here tho)

he likes bright colours, but wears black all the time basically for the aesthetic

he met his younger half-sister, Ulla, when he was a seer’s apprentice in Fjerda 

the darkling is a musician! He plays the fiddle, and growing up, he played the balalaika and oud (i wonder if he can read tablature,,) 

His father was a very powerful heartrender (maybe this is why the corporalki are valued so highly by him?)

genya

she got an amplifier between the end of R+R and the start of KoS (kestrel bones)

Genya used Dekora Nevich, the Ornamental Blade, to poison the King

It smells like cinnamon and is a warm golden colour

the royal family / nikolai’s bio family 

the King once cut himself on his own sword

genya named the queen’s dog 

until she was like 11, Genya was like the daughter the queen never had (omg i really wonder how Nikolai and Vasily felt about that? ik it’s not really mentioned, and Nik kinda acts like he just met Genya is S+S, but they must have been a lot closer, right?? I mean genya was almost always at the grand palace with Queen Tatiana, and nikolai just really wanted his parents’ attention, there must have been some kind of maybe one-sided jealousy/sibling rivalry thing, right?? I digress- for now)

also the queen in a dog person

p. sure Nikolai is a mommy’s boy

(possible explanation:) he looks exactly like his real father (except for his eyes). Nikolai even has the same laugh as Magnus

the queen was also fed up with Vasily and his horses

Vasily rides a white gelding horse and Nikolai rides a speckled grey horse (called Punchline)

speaking of, vasily is definitely a horse girl, but like... just the worst (darkling 🤝vasily)

Queen Tatiana’s letters to Magnus Opjer were “very racy” 

 She doesn’t approve of women in trousers

Linnea is ~1 year younger than Nikolai

she is good at math + studies engineering at ketterdam (I wonder if maybe she and Nikolai crossed paths when he was at uni- they’re around the same age, so maybe?)

The King and Queen hired a clown for nikolai’s 10th birthday (the worst birthday party he’d been to, inclusive of the night Vasily died, according to Nikolai)

Nikolai is afraid of spiders (and also clowns???)

nikolai:

he can juggle

Nikolai sucks at learning languages 

he once spoke Fjerdan so badly a man named Knut offered him a ruby to stop

his Kerch seems pretty good tho

Nikolai met The Darkling when he was 14

Nikolai is a baritone (as is Jesper!)

In his free time, Nikolai writes bad poetry (remember that time he got stabbed w/ a letter opener bc his poetry sucked?)

he went through an emo phase/ existential crisis before becoming sturmhond.

during said emo phase, he wrote rhyming poetry pretty much exclusively

He also took philosophy classes at uni (PPE?)

alina:

alina tried on the same rose dress that the Queen watched vasily die in

Nikolai gifted Alina a VERY low-cut cobalt lace gown (In the words of Nadia, “The bodice might as well be cut to the navel.” )

Alina hates herring, but Zoya and Nikolai love it

She is VERY sarcastic and snarky!! I feel like this gets glossed over so much in the fandom, and just why?? (she’s so gloomy and over everything 90% of the time, i love it so much)

So this isn’t technically a fact-fact, but there is no way Alina wasn’t at least a little bit into women. Did you read how she talked abt genya? Zoya? there’s no way she wasn’t into them

Alina doesn’t really like hard cheese

zoya + zoyalai:

Zoya’s horse is called Serebrine

Zoya can use her lightning as a defibrillator (I’m sure other squallers can do this too with the right training)

Zoya likes Nikolai’s hands (and Nikolai likes Zoya’s feet lmao)

she has ‘weird (long?) incisors’  

she definitely had a crush on Nikolai since Ruin and Rising

kaz:

Kaz grew up on a farm in Southern Kerch, in Lij

Kaz is a both a cat and a dog person  (he just likes strays)

Matthias is a dog person, obviously

All the other crows are cat people 

He likes hot chocolate

both he and nikolai like brandy

hates cereal

Kaz is obsessed with magic + likes puzzles

actually very funny if he wasn’t terrifying (honestly?? at leat 70% of his dialogue is just witty quips/jokes)

Kaz’s right leg is the one he broke, and the dregs usually get their tattoo on their right forearm

the other crows:

Jesper has been known to go line-dancing (and would like country music) 

Mal and Jesper were friends in S+S!! (Probably) Jesper has a not-really-secret crush on sturmhond. 

He also had a VERY not secret crush on Kaz before wylan, ofc

Matthias’ middle name is Benedik

Nina would win in an arm wrestling contest against Jesper

Inej has a thing for Kaz’s eyes

Nina was at the orphanage with the other grisha kids in R+R

In the opening scene of CK, Jesper was wearing a navy waistcoat with little gold stars (his fashion is just top tier honestly)

grisha- powers, etc.:

A solar eclipse would have no effect on the Darkling’s powers, but it would make it harder for Alina to summon.

Fabrikators can make flowers bloom

The twins have shark teeth amplifiers

Adrik and Leoni are saints

general world stuff:

Gay marriage is legal in Kerch!

there was a landbridge connecting Shu Han and Kerch but the council of tides covered it

Antimony is used as mascara

kruge is pale purple paper currency

ravkan currency has Nikolai’s face on it (ig not anymore tho?)

Hringkälla is celebrated on March 20th

the distance between Ivets and Os Alta is only about 100 miles? (i’m just going to willfully ignore this, because thats,, so small?)

Mermaids and dragons exist(ed) in the grishaverse

misc:

the daughter of the duke of ivets has a daughter who can play the harp

there is not fourth tale of krigi

The baroness Natasha Beritrova is fifty (as of KoS) and has lands near caryeva

Elke Marie Smit is from one of the most powerful Kerch families and is just 16 in KoS

Oncat is an orange tabby

Anya liked Joost a lot :( (I got way too attached to them at the start of SoC and was so sad + confused when they died lol)

david eats hard boiled eggs for his working days in the shops

‘Malyen’ is the Ravkan version of ‘Malcolm’ (very fitting)

Nikolai brought the kids at Keramzin toy boats + frequently sends Alina and Mal gifts 

The triumvirate would also visit them every feast of Sankt Nikolai too :)

star signs / birthdays (ik the gv constellations aren’t the same as ours, but idc):

Inej: Cancer (june 21st - july 22nd)

Kaz: Capricorn (december 22nd - january 19th)

Nina: Leo (july 23rd - august 22nd)

Jesper: Gemini (may 21st - june 20th)

Matthias: Taurus (april 20th - may 20th)

Wylan: virgo (august 23rd - september 22nd)

Kuwei: aries (march 21st - april 19th)

Darkling: aries

Nikolai is most likely either a gemini or cancer (but he could also be a Leo or Taurus). Whatever it is, he is a summer baby.

Alina and Mal have the same birthday (they were given the Duke’s birthday when they came to the orphanage)

heights:

Jesper is 6’2” - 6’3”

Kaz is 6′

Matthias is 6’4

Nina is 5’9”-5’10”

Inej is 5’3” - 5’4”

Alina is ’short’ (5’3”?)

Mal and the Darkling are ‘tall’ (tbf, like all the characters are tall >:( I want my short people rights)

Nikolai  (well, stumhond, but i think they’re the same height) is described by Jesper as tall (so 6’2”+?? why is everyone so tall??? I-)

Zoya is several inches shorter than nina (zoyalai height difference lets go)

Kuwei is slightly shorter than Wylan (who is about 5’8”?)

there’s definitely more, so if you made it this far and have any more, pls add to the list!

[zalrb]

Hey Zal, I know you've always talked about how Buffy is a great show and how many shows try to be like it and if it's not too much can you please discuss Buffy impact on TV as a whole

Lol

They even watch "Surprise" in the Fault is in Our Stars, which is literally the only thing I remember about that movie.

But anyway. Well, there are a lot of articles and in fact entire academic theses on how BTVS changed television, there are many interviews about it too:

“Russell T Davies said that he used Buffy as a model for when he was rebranding Doctor Who, because [Buffy creator] Joss Whedon was the first person to actually say you can have genuine comedy and life-changing events happening on the turn of a dime.

“You could laugh in one moment and be terrified the next moment, and the two emotions actually complement each other.

“Joss was also very keen to make sure that every event had a repercussion. Nothing happened without it having a follow through. He changed the face of sci-fi TV as a genre, I think, completely.”

This impact can be as obvious as the television shows that Buffy very clearly inspired: for one, Veronica Mars. Like Miss Summers before her, Veronica was a small blonde with a quick wit, kicking ass and taking names in a fictional California town that was a magnet for demons (this time metaphorical), darkness, and danger. Even without knowing about showrunner Rob Thomas’ reported appreciation for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the connection between the two shows is unmissable. They even share some of the same actors, with both Alyson Hannigan (Willow on Buffy) and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia on Buffy and Angel) appearing as recurring characters on Veronica Mars after their stints on Buffy the Vampire Slayer had ended.

Uh, but two things I will say, though, is its use of Metaphorical Monsters and Dialogue had great impacts.

So Metaphorical Monsters: Buffy sleeps with Angel who loses his soul and becomes Angelus and torments everyone around her = I slept with a guy and now he's mean to me.

In Lie To Me, the Monster of the Week is an old friend of hers who has a brain tumour and wants to be turned into a vampire to live forever so she feels different about killing him once he becomes a vampire and so the emotional crux/arc of the episode is Buffy growing up and decisions become less black and white and more nuanced and layered and muddled.

The Metaphorical ___ is now a kind of staple in television. Shonda employs it in all of her shows, every Grey's Anatomy case, every Private Practice case, every Scandal case reflects the emotional lives of the main characters.

The dialogue, the witty, snarky, pop culture heavy, back-and-forth, pithy dialogue, I mean, BTVS wasn't the first to do it, Scream had come out before BTVS, Dawson's Creek came out while BTVS was in its second run and KW wrote for both Scream and DC, but there is a certain charm to Buffyspeak to point that it's known as Buffyspeak and then you get shows like Gilmore Girls etc.

[modern-alebrije]

ok, cinderella (2021) rambling:

it's definitely more light hearted than most cinderella stories. much like Happy Feet 2 (2011) the opening number is rhythm nation performed by,, basically every character. then there's this super drastic tone shift from everyone singing and dancing to camila cabello in a basement.

however it becomes clear pretty quickly that this cinderella is in a much better living situation than most other cinderellas. for one, she's very clean. at one point one of the stepsisters is like, "there's dirt on your face," when there's literally not a hair out of place on camila's head. she has a very spacious basement bedroom, again very clean, with a nice queen sized bed, and lots of space for her dressmaking, because this cinderella is a girlboss designer. her relationship with her stepfamily is more tense than straight up abusive. really only one of the stepsisters is mean, the other is just kinda simple, and the conflict with her stepmother comes more from her not supporting cinderella's girlboss ambitions.

also, idina menzel plays the stepmother and, no shade to miss cabello, but every time they sing together idina sings cabello under the table.

but yeah, the stepmother's whole deal is that she wants all her daughters (cinderella included) to marry well so that they can have a secure future, later we find out that this is because she tried to Have It All when she was a young woman and lost her husband for being too ambitious. this causes friction with cinderella bc she dont need no man, she just wants to run a boutique! but women arent allowed to own businesses in this kingdom >:( . cinderella is less "a servant in her own house" in this and more of like, the family's black sheep, she's a creep, she's a weirdo. she's also very sassy, very snarky, actually so is everyone else. everyone's always making witty comebacks and snide comments.

speaking of weirdos. i didnt like the costuming, especially the townspeople's. it was all over the place, like there'd be a man in one of those baggy peasant shirts and burlap pants next to some dude in jeans and flannel. and cinderella's ballgown top (bustier?) was too big for her. like, she'd dance and she would literally move inside of the thing, it fit her like a turtle shell. the skirt was ugly too. oh! near the beginning she goes out to sell one of her dresses, and she runs into the prince in disguise and he buys it, its a whole meet-cute thing. later we see his little sister wearing it at the ball after its been hyped up as like, "wow, ella youre such a boss designer," and its literally three pieces of tulle wrapped around each other.

which reminds me, something i really liked was the prince's sister, princess gwendolyn. she's this precocious young woman with a ceo haircut who has all these ideas about how to improve the kingdom and she just wants a seat at the table but the king wont allow it because she's a girl. also she's constantly dressed in these medieval executive realness outfits with like, turtlenecks; i found it very funny. the movie could've been about her and i wouldve been happy.

the pumpkin. the pumpkin. billy porter shows up in a gorgeous gold get-up to do the whole fairy godmother thing, and after giving cinderella her ugly dress he turns a crate into a carriage and horses, and the birtish comedian mice into her driver and footmen. now, granted not every cinderella needs a pumpkin carriage. the grimms' cinderella gets her things from the tree at her mother's grave and the birds. however, the fairy godmother, the glass slippers, the transformations, and the stroke-of-midnight thing are all present here and, i think, the pumpkin carriage is part of that iconic perrault bundle.

honestly i'm not so mad at it now that ive had some time away from it,, but i wouldn't watch it again. the songs all felt very... shallow. it's a jukebox musical, but it doesnt feel very cohesive, and breaks into song and dance very abruptly. ultimately i dont think its that bad of a movie, but its not good either. what it is bad at though is being a cinderella story. i think if you called it something like "the dressmaker and the prince: a modern fairytale" and just played with general fairytale tropes a la Ella Enchanted (2004) and Enchanted (2007) without being explicitly a cinderella story you wouldnt lose anything. the screenwriter+director, kay cannon, has worked on 30 rock, new girl, and basically created the whole pitch perfect franchise, as well as the short-lived netflix comedy, Girlboss. when i heard about that last one everything about cinderella (2021) kinda made sense.

[whoslaurapalmer]

shadow and bone 5-8 

okay first   -you know the more i think about it the more pissed i am that botkin only did show up for a hot second -i hope he shows up more if there's another season but?????? what a MISSED opportunity with alina!!!!! like!!!!!!!!!!! i can't believe it honestly  -not ONLY is there more of him in the book!! but it would've been great with alina being shu!!!!  -they really didn't think that through, did they. botkin is RIGHT THERE and they missed him  -take out nina and put in botkin!! or take out all the crows and give them the justice they deserve in their own season and put in botkin!!!! (the books, as enjoyable as they were to read, still suffer so much in terms of pacing and not having a super tight plot and the show should’ve taken advantage of the opportunity to make changes to make it better and 90% of the time the show just finds a way to drop the ball!!!!!!!!!!!!) 

-also i don't remember what article i read this in, if it was the slate one or a different one, about alina deserving a teacher who doesn't, know you, beat her with a stick  -like, as usual! ON THE ONE HAND baghra is allowed to be a character that's not a good person. characters are allowed to not be good people. that's fine. i like baghra!  -on the other hand..............................................don't smack your students nobody learns from being smacked around 

i was really excited to see alina not take the path baghra told her to -- because again i had been disappointed to see the show not make any major changes to make the plot better (crows interacting with alina doesn’t count bc as people have rightly pointed out, the crows plotline really doesn’t matter here it’s just them having a good time and filling in space) so to see alina do something different and actually show a lot of agency and be competent on her own was great!!!! wish it hadn’t taken like five episodes to get there, though!!!! i know a lot of it is because she’s completely out of her element in the little palace but that’s a big complaint about alina across the board, that she doesn’t have the most distinct personality, and to see her thinking for herself and especially thinking outside of mal was nice also her getting in the carriage the crows are stealing was the funniest thing  oh but her setting the maps on fire in episode one does not count, because that was completely unnecessary, there was no reason to not just have all the cartographers go in the first place like in the book. 

-i was kind of rooting for arken, because he was just enjoyable with the crows, and because i just completely forgot about kaz seeing him meeting zlatan, but good for kaz for being on top of that, that’s my boy 

-that’s a shame about marie  -but uhhhhhhhhh -“i don’t want to die with the wrong face on” i get what she’s saying but i thought that was. weird 

in the continuing ‘nina and alina have similar things happening and i still don’t know what to make of it????????????’ thoughts, nina and matthias trying to keep warm / alina and mal trying to keep warm, matthias being afraid of nina / mal not being afraid of alina i love nina a lot but i am just not invested in nina here  oh and nina was spying for the darkling??? i don’t have the energy to think about if that tracks for nina’s character  also i never thought about how kind of uncomfortable all her lewd lines are, not because matthias is uncomfortable, but because nina comes off sounding less teasing or flirty and more kind of pushy and creepy  they’ve only known each other for............how long  what is even time here 

-it’s not that baghra isn’t threatening but........no it’s that baghra wasn’t threatening  -her talking to the darkling was like. it was weird? there should be so much weight and power in them talking to each other 

-i did like that she said to alina that the darkling had a lot of practice manipulating naive girls cause, yeah girl that’s what it was -you thought you decided to kiss him yourself???? you think he was really surprised??????? nnnnnnnnnnnnnno  -the thing is i have like very little sympathy for the darkling. very little. i get the allure, everybody who was ever a teenager gets the allure of the dark emo boy wearing all black with the tortured past, i’ve been there!!! i did my time!!!!!!  -i am still doing my time. we’ve all seen kaz.  -and yes i suppose ben barnes is. good-looking. -look it’s the beard. i just hate that beard. -and the darkling and alina are, not an interesting pair, but interesting halves  -two people with completely opposite powers, one who knows how to use them and has for centuries and the other who just discovered them, both the exact match for the other in terms of dark/light and scope of ability and lifespan, who are looking for a place of belonging but also a place of power  -and then he puts a collar on her to use her as his own personal weapon and their possible existence on even playing ground stops, cementing the gap in power dynamics that has been there from the start in their relationship, and always would be, and confirming him as manipulative power-hungry jackass #1 who doesn’t care about grisha or ravka but himself  -and he deserves what he gets in the end. (both times, even!!!!)  -so much so that the demon in the wood is included in the back of ruin and rising and when i got to it i was like ‘okay but the dude’s dead now so i don’t care about this sudden backstory i am being given’ and i did not read it. to this day. i have not. 

-also the darkling kisses alina like he’s physically attacking her and you know what??? that tracks, i guess 

-i love the heartbeat in the scenes with a heartrender!!! i think that was a nice touch.  -i also love all the little hints about jesper being grisha 

-i don’t remember much about zoya in the trilogy since most recently i read rule of wolves but i do not recall zoya sleeping around with everybody and i don’t like it  -zoya’s very proud but??? even there she kind of kept to herself, didn’t she  -she literally has a million better things to be doing than fucking everybody  -and they just fling zoya’s aunt out there???? sure fine whatever  -we get zero good zoya content and then you just give that  -and now she and alina are friends enough for her to say a witty pithy hero statement?????????  -uggggg 

-we saw luda for a hot second so i do not care about her!!!!!  -must it always be For The Death Of A Woman 

-“most grisha aren’t fighters. they fix things, they make things.” wow i love that line a whole lot 

-inej is just gonna sew the wound herself!!!! a legend!!!!!!  -and then inej just STABBING THE DARKLING and kaz BONKING A VOLCRA ON THE HEAD -i love them with my whole stupid heart i love them  -like.......something something the best characters in this bright stunning magic world are the non-magical characters vibing on an entirely different plotline  - ~wring magic out of the ordinary~ 

-it is necessary to have the bones under alina’s skin. no  -noooooooooooooooooooo -noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! 

-mal saying “you’ll wish you killed me here!” oh boy yeah he will!!!!! also, you tell him, mal 

-milo coming in HOT  -goat ex machina 

-“telling you half a story is not the same as lying” what are you, a child???? -man alina fucking slam dunks him in the tent! good for her. 

-i love snarky characters but again. jesper does it ALL THE TIME that his lines start to sound repetitive or he’s just doing snarky plot nutshelling 

-“remember who’s driving” WHAT ARE YOU, A CHILD?????? -in the last two episodes specifically i was like ‘WHAT is with this dialogue???’

-alina: /reaching for mal on the skiff  me: are you gonna. do the hint  me: oh well it’s fine if you don’t, alina deserves that 

-actually, i would kill for The New Crew of kaz, inej, jesper, alina, mal, and zoya -what a team..........what a time......... me: kaz is gonna say the thing he’s gonna say it kaz: the deal is the deal me: /fingerguns at the tv 

-oh re: is kaz too soft here  -................................actually yeah, maybe a little 

-with kaz having the hair pin instead of alina and mal selling the pin(s) for money, how will the darkling find alina? -not necessarily a BAD thing. just a thought 

-overall, did i like it??????? i don’t know!! some things were enjoyable!! sure failed at A WHOLE FUCKING LOT, THOUGH  -i do know i’m gonna reread six of crows, though 

-i just had a terrible thought. if we get a season 2 and they do the sea whip there's gonna be so many dawn treader jokes, aren't there. 

[thewritingstar]

any colorcrack ship heehoo

Pairing: Blossutch (Blossom x Butch) 

Fandom: PPG

Tag list: @shellielyzabeth @over-under-through1  and @yosuehere (for no reason winkwink)

so we just gonna pretend like i didnt know who sent this. And i'm also gonna pretend that you aren’t tempting me with Blossutch.....but...Blossutch...

Okay but evil Blossom?????? 

also this oneshot got outta hand but im okay with it. This is filled with flashbacks sorta and don’t ask me how the town got destroyed cause idk

Triggers: mild blood, minor character death

I hope you enjoy because i really like this :) 

----

She could recall the first time she had used her powers for evil. It was a whirlwind of emotion as the bodies fell to the ground one after the other. The people she vowed to save now were at their knees begging for mercy before she turned the other cheek and walked away. The vision of perfection was no more. 

It was devastating to feel that crack. Her heart slowly turned black until it became locked up against her will. There was no turning back now. She once scoffed at the saying "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Now it was a cruel future. 

Instead of leaving the place she once called home, she stayed and lived above it all. Her powers were now her protection as death threats and missiles were sent her way each day. She ignored them of course. She took a book out of Princess and had others do her bidding, but her hands had seen blood many times. 

It was too late now. 

The falling of Townsville wasn’t something anyone had ever thought would happen. Not when the three supers lived within the city limits. As they grew up, the city had stayed protected no matter how many robbers, villains or monsters threatened their home, they always saved the day. 

And then it happened. Something unexplained had taken over the city like a thick fog. The girls did their best to try and stop it but something had changed the minds and the hearts of the people. 

When the world goes to shit, you have two choices. Save the world and fight for what is right or watch it burn slowly and take what you can. Rebuild the empire to your liking and every negative thing about humans will be revealed. 

Humans are selfish, even the purest ones have corrupt thoughts. As the world is on its deathbed, true colors show. He had known it all too well and yet he was one of the dumbest people for thinking he could change it back. Restore good and evil, even though he was brought up with the lather. 

Corruption and destruction were his game while being a hero was hers. It was plain and simple. He was bad and she was good. Or so that was how the story was told. Maybe the story had lost its way a long time ago. Nothing was ever that black and white. 

--

Then the world had lost its mind and he was now bound to a chair with chains biting into his skin and the once notorious sweetheart was standing there with a blade and enough ammo to kill half the city. Sometimes he didn’t want to believe it. That she had lost the hero's glow and fell into the darkness he knew personally. 

Why should he fix this mess when the world has shunned him? It was the same question she had asked herself long ago. 

He sat watching her. His voice was muffled by a shitty cloth rag that he could easily spit out whenever, but he would play her game. His fingers tapping on the armrest as he twitched in his seat, he was never good at staying still for long. 

The first time he had met her was back when they were kids. She was bright eyed and witty. A leader for those who needed one and had a killer punch. Although they weren’t pair counterparts, they had more in common than not. He found himself near her more often as the years passed.

Now she just had a killer punch. 

He had been watching her for quite some time now. Usually people in his position would be dead but he wasn't like them. He was better. He understood her even with that mask on. He might have special powers with shield but she somehow had one he could barely break. 

She was staring out of the giant windows of her private office. The sunset sat on the horizon and if the city wasn’t in complete chaos then he would have thought it was beautiful. It was a massive space overlooking the city. He knew this place quite well but it felt foreign and lost as if it was a memory he tried to remember but never had. 

 Her grip on the knife tightened as she turned and walked up towards him. Her eyes raking over him as if she were examining her prey like a vulture. She was the embodiment of everything good in this world even if she was wearing all black and hadn’t smiled in years. He couldn’t blame her but he missed the way the corners of her eyes would crinkle when she laughed and the blush that tinted her cheeks. If he could go back in time for one more moment of that, he would in a heartbeat. 

He gave her a raise of his eyebrows and she scoffed. It was too quiet for his liking so he shuffled the cloth out of his mouth. 

“Blossom.” he spoke and she shivered as if no one had said her name in years, and maybe they didn’t.

She wasn’t the Blossom who was a golden child and adored by the world anymore. In fact her name sent fear through the bodies of those who dared to utter it. Instead of everything nice, she was just a black hole that sucked out the life of everything around her. 

“Butch.” She replied and he didn’t think hearing his name come from her would hurt so much. 

“Let me go.” He stated as if she would. They both knew he could break out of them. They weren’t stupid but maybe playing to the worlds cruel game was all they had left. 

-

Most people couldn’t say they saw the hero fall. Dying a hero was something her sisters had the pleasure of receiving and yet their sister was now the queen jewel of the evil capital. 

The day he held her at the funeral. She had to watch the blood pool around her sister's lifeless bodies and there was nothing she could do. She had saved the city countless times and the minute that it went up in flames, her sisters lives were target practice and those who cheered them on had now put the stake through them. 

The horror of seeing her sister smile as she died in her arms haunted her. She wondered why she was the only one to survive. 

“You’ll save the day, you always do.” Bubbles had said happily as if she wasn’t bleeding out of her stomach. 

Next to Buttercup choked on bile as she used her last strength to smile and brush the matted hair out of her sister's face. “You’re a leader Blossom, always were. Always will be.” 

Sometimes if she was alone with her thoughts for too much time she could hear her sister's laughter and the snarky comment of the other one. She could see them flying around, playing tag and just having childish fun.

 But it was all gone now. 

-

Behind her on the desk was Octi. The infamous plush of the youngest sister. Blossom wanted to blast it to shreds and never see it again but he had convinced her to keep it. He stared at it then back to her. He wondered if she ever held it close to her chest and allowed herself to grieve, probably not but it was worth the thought. 

He had been captured by her countless times. It was on purpose too. He broke in, stole something  and hoped that she would be there ready to add another scar and they would fight, and then he would be thrown out. He would come back again and again just to see her. 

He hadn’t seen her in months now. After a while, only her goons paid him a visit and he would just drop the item and walk away. There was no point if she wasn’t there. 

And now he was in the position he needed. She was right there for the taking and he desperately wanted to hold her again, just like he did before all this shit happened. 

He moved in his chair, the chains rattling and getting her attention. He didn’t want to play anymore and decided to send a green spark on one of them but her hand came down on his wrist snuffing out the light. 

Her face was inches from his as her cold stare pierced his soul. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were set in a thin line as if she was challenging him, daring him to break away. He loved her eyes. They once glowed with a vibrant pink that he could only describe as breathtaking. They gave her away every time but now they had turned to a frozen stone and it was harder to see what she was thinking. 

“So you’re finally gonna kill me then?” He asked, his voice calm and collected as she continued to glare. The blade of the knife was held at his neck and he thought about moving forward to see what she would do. 

“It would be easier that way.” She stated and that stung even when it shouldn’t have. 

His eye twitched and his foot moved quickly to tug at her ankle causing her to move forward and her chest touched his. She had moved the knife away quickly. Now it was held above his head and he smirked before quickly hiding it. It was nice to know she didn’t want to plunge the knife into him. 

“I always liked you better pressed against me babe.” His foot not letting up as the other one trapped her in. Her other hand was now gripping his forearm and he lowered his eyes. He wanted to know that the Blossom he once cared about deeply was still there. No matter how many shields she had up, he was good at destroying things. 

She was silent and he waited. Her silence was something you couldn’t mess with. Those gears in her head were turning and the smallest shift in her eyes had given her away. He knew she wouldn’t kill him. She couldn’t. Whether she liked it or not, he was the only thing she had left and even if it was a petty thing, she knew better than to throw it away. 

“Let go of me.” She hissed through gritted teeth and his feet only dug deeper into her ankles.

He smirked. “I’m the one tied up babe.” She used her free hand to slap him across the face and yet he felt nothing. He had made himself numb to the cruel world, the only thorn in his side was her and even that was barely scratching the surface. 

But he hated that. He desperately craved for the pain even if that's all it was. Pain. A pitiful idea. He once lived for the thrill of the chase. The waiting of a battle as he was some cheeky teen stealing things just so that some girl would notice. The truth was his heart had been through so much heartbreak that it never went away and he was just tired. 

He picked his head up from the blow and she was breathing heavily. Her knife was lowered and was resting in her hand. He shot her a toothy grin which made her bristle. “Mm playing rough today?” 

Her face flushed red as she pursed her lips together and bit back a snarl. “Stop talking.” 

There was something about pushing his luck that he thoroughly enjoyed. “Don’t be shy.” He snickered as he tilted his head up with a cocked eyebrow. “You can’t hide.” 

“You really wanna be saying that shit while I'm holding this.” She waved the knife in his face and he rolled his eyes. 

“Tell you what babe.” She frowned deeper. “You can kill me, go ahead. This world should have been destroyed ages ago but-”

“But what?” She rested herself in his lap. 

Butch let out a deep laugh as he smiled. “You have to kiss me.” 

Her face turned towards the window and he saw that she still wore the earrings he gave her years ago. He bucked his knee up grabbing her attention back. 

“Just one peck and then bam, you’re done.” He said smoothly as he eyed the knife. 

“Why?”

“You were the smart one for a reason, figure it out toots.” 

Blossom watched him closely and she knew what he was doing. No. It wasn’t fair and she wouldn’t give herself that kind of relief. Years ago maybe, but not anymore. She didn’t deserve happiness.

 She pushed off of him with a great force, breaking free from his feet before ripping the chains off of him with a powerful blast and stomping towards the windows. Her blood red heels echoing on the marble floor as her hips swayed. 

“Leave.” She spat and he rubbed his wrists where the chains had been. “Just leave.” Her voice gave out at the end as her head hung low. 

His eyes went to the door. He should have turned around and left. He should have just ran and went back to drinking and drugs and drowning back into the darkness, it would have been easier that way. But his mind ignored all that. He had waited too damn long to be in her presence again and he was a selfish asshole. 

-

He saw her fall off the deep end as the world turned its back on the shining light. They snuffed her goodness and took whatever innocence she had remaining and left her high and dry. She had pushed him away and lifted up the walls, she said it was to protect him. It never was. It was a cruel lie to justify how she felt. He understood completely because that's what he had been doing since he was a child. 

The pain of losing the closest people to you was something they shared. His brothers fell to the same fate as her sisters and instead of suffering together, they had distanced. 

-

Her back was towards him and he took the time to look her over. He found it adorable how she still wore her bow in her hair, maybe it was to keep her sanity and pretend like it didn’t mean anything. She stood tall and proud back in the days and she was right now but it was different, she was different and he knew that. 

Her hair was long and pulled back into the tight ponytail she always wore. He knew deep down she wanted to run to him. Forget back the past and go back to the days where they could be themselves. Even with the unforgiving circumstances, he thought she looked as radiant as ever. 

He stood behind her before reaching for her hand. It had been almost a year or two since he had touched her skin. She could easily turn around and slice him with the knife, end him right then and there. The voices in his head had silenced as the tips of his fingers touched the slight curl of her palm and he felt the spark that he longed for. It was small but he had felt it, he prayed she did too. 

He closed his eyes as he took another step forward and when she didn’t pull back and retreat, he held her hand. The once warm skin was ice cold and he didn’t know if he wanted to cry from how much she was suffering and he was once too blind to see it. It was crystal clear now. 

 He waited until his eyes watered as he felt her fingers curl around his. The breath he was holding was let out and he blinked rapidly to make the tears fade away. He felt how her hand tighten around his and her body shook slightly as if the wall she had put up now had a raging storm pounding against it like a dam on the verge of breaking. 

He pulled her until she was flushed with him. He raised her other hand and placed the knife against his neck. 

“It’s okay.” He whispered. “If it will bring you peace-” His words were silenced as the knife fell with a harsh clank and tumbled around until the ringing stopped. 

She looked at her hands with a fear she had only felt a few times before. Her shoulders went slack as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. 

“They hated us.” She cried into his chest. “W-we saved them and yet-” She could bring herself to say it. He wasn’t sure if she ever said that they had died. It would mean that it was true, despite it being years. “H-how...how could they do that to us?” 

He didn’t say anything but only clutched her harder. “They destroyed me.” Her head picked up as she looked at him. 

Eyes wide and puffy as she looked at him as her lips quivered in disbelief. She reached for his cheek where the indent of a healed scar was. She had been the cause of it but it faded over time and she traced her finger over it, whispering to herself. 

“And I destroyed you.” The heartbreak in her voice was unbreakable as he let the tears fall. He shook his head. 

“No, you-”

She nodded and pushed away the excuses. “I did.” Her eyes were searching around his face wondering how much damage she had caused him. “You were my light and I did the same thing to you as they did to me.”

Her breath caught in her throat as his lips pressed against her cheek carefully. It was soft in such a way that if she were a porcelain doll on the verge of shattering. 

“What they did to you is unforgivable but I don’t blame you, Blossom. I could never blame you.” He was honest. She might have pushed him away and even fought him but she was still the one who had held him when he cried and kissed his pain away. “Please baby-I. Please.” 

There was a heavy silence weighing over them. His eyes were glued to her and he would be a fool to turn and leave now. Not again. They say the end of the world brings out the worst and two broken people who had seen their loved ones suffer and end tragically only meant for a catastrophe. Instead of a violent fight of shouting and guns a blazing, their weapons were tossed aside and the dam had broken as she stared at him. 

The golden sunset was ready to fade into a new inky night as he told her he wasn’t leaving again as his lips brushed against hers. Never touching fully. 

“I don’t deserve to have you, not anymore.” 

“You don’t have a choice.” He stated and held her as she tried to pull away. “But.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gun with the bullet that could penetrate through their superhuman forms. “You can tell me to leave and I won’t come back again.”

She was once a little girl who called for her to save the day. A teen that people worship and even a woman that they feared. She had done it all. Phases come and go but the only thing that didn’t change was her heart towards him. She would be lying if she said she had forgotten all the times they shared. Forgotten about how they would sneak away during school and have their way with each other as she giggled endlessly. Forgotten when he told her he loved her the first time on the rooftop. 

She was a fool for thinking she would throw it all away. The world had made a mockery of her when she turned towards the darkness for revenge and yet the thing that she could have done, could have, was right in front of her for the taking. 

“Or. You can have me for the rest of time and the world can go to hell.” 

The gun was held out to her. An offering that would either would vaporize any hope she had left, or could leave her feeling something more than just a hollow shell of a person. 

She took the gun from him and for an instant she thought about holding it against herself. In that moment, the pain could end. She could easily forget about it all and fade away into the abyss. Her mind traveled to that dark place until the memory of her sister’s bright smile came into view. 

“Blossom you deserve happiness and I think he’s the one for you.” 

“I can second that.” 

Her eyes looked into his and she saw a gleam of hope. The moment after she had lost her sisters was spent with her heart suffering and yet he wanted to be by her side through it all. He could have cast away those feelings and left time and time again but he was here. 

The metal burned her skin as she held it, fingertip on the trigger but all her attention belonged to him. Her fingers twitched and shook as she asked him the question that weighed on her mind.  

“Could you ever learn to love me again?” Her voice meek with a slight whimper.

Butch brought his lips to hers, touching them soft as a feather. “I never forgot.” And kissed her as if it was the last thing he would ever do. 

Those flashbacks of them together before the decay of what they had known came back in a rush and she wondered how she ever let them go. His hand wrapped around her waist and he felt the upward curl of her lips against his as her arms came around his neck. Her body molded to his as she held him tight, afraid that when he pulled away, he would be gone again. 

When the world goes to shit, you have two choices. Burn down with it or rise above and see the new horizon. 

And when he looked back at her with a smile that felt rusted and worn, her eyes had held a spark that became reignited. Like a flower blooming after a harsh winter, the life from deep within herself began to resurface. 

“I have always loved you, even in the darkness.” He spoke and he was blinded by the small smile on her lips. 

“And I love you.” 

Those tears on her face held years of misery but it was leaving her mind as she stared at him. The vibrant pink against an electric green. She felt those chains around her heart break off as the warmth came in. 

“So what do you say?” He asked as he kissed her cheek.  

“Let the world go to hell.” She whispered before crashing her lips against him and as if she was desperate to quiche her thirst. 

She smiled against his lips as he let out a growl. Blossom pointed the gun towards the window and fired. The glass raining down over the city as the light from the horizon seeped in.

The idea of good and evil was long on when the city’s morals became corrupted. All that was left were two people who knew better than to become incinerated.  

---

i hope you liked it!

[hyperspacial]

Since nobody is asking for it (but also I've seen a lot of negativity and that makes me sad) here's my reaction to the s3 teaser. I'll preface it by saying the art style doesnt bother me, it kind of looks more similar to the Casa Amor designs than the main s2 cast. If the writing is up to the same standard as s1, I'll be happy.

Twink. I know this man has to at least be bi because every character needs to be romancable, but that is a twink who works in finance or some shit. He's cute, but his charm could be better 8/10

OH MY GOD. WHAT IS THAT. HIS HAND. HIS FACE. Fusebox KNOWS how to shade dark skin we've seen that, so why does this man look like a middle schoolers anime drawing? And the Letterman jacket? Barf. -3/10 put that thing back where it came from or so help me.

I LIKE her a lot. I see the resemblance to Lottie but she looks intelligent and I'm into it. Her pose is one of the more understated and I want my MC to be friends with her. 7/10

I know people are already stanning this one but I think shes gonna be snakey. Maybe it's how shes not looking at the camera or her lips, but I get Allegra vibes. Which can be fun, I just hope her snarkiness and self interest will be smart instead of petty and dumb like Hannah's. 4/10 I'm watching you girl

I feel like so obviously the MC. If not then I hope shes an LI. 5/10 I have very little thoughts about her

She looks fun. I hope shes not just going to be a reiteration of Chelsea because as much as I love my bra I'd like a witty bestie this season that MC can gossip and banter with. Someone like Marisol but less noncommittal and more kind to others. She could also be the Mean Girl (TM) but I doubt it. 8/10

Hooooooo my goddddddd I love her so muchhhhhh. The outfit, the smile, I love her. I know FB has been listening to everyone wanting a non snakey black woman and us sapphics got shafted last season soo.... also those shorts? That's a bisexual AT THE VERY LEAST. I think shes very sweet and shy and I love her 100/10

You cant fool me, that's just a white Jasper. The reason I couldn't get into Carl was because his pose looked like a Justin Beiber kinda thing, and that's the vibes I get here. I am Not Interested 1/10

What a cutie. The outfit is questionable but I like and trust him. He seems to be a good one to couple up with while I wait for this season's Jake or Noah to realize his feelings for MC 9/10

I really hope that the other characters look more diverse stylistically. I was hoping for a goth/alt boy this season, and also none of these boys are beefcakes? Also where are my tattooed people????

Regardless, I'm excited to actively be in the fandom as chapters are being released instead of retroactively engaging. Plus any new content has me hopeful :)

[poemsforpersephone]

The third and final book rec list for fans of The Last Sun!

The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen has really cool empathy powers which, although not the two way bond Brand and Rune share, does remind me of the emotion reading aspect in TLS. The m/m relationship in it is also super sweet. 

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee. This one I’m recommending because the protagonist is a snarky asshole just like Rune, and the writing style is so well done. It’s m/m and genuinely such a fun and quirky book. Also the cover art is gorgeous!

Silver in the wood by Emily Tesh. This is an LGBT novella where a wild man called Tobias lives in a place called “Greenhollow,” , where, and I quote, “Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.” So im recommending this one simply because of the involvement of secrets and troubled pasts haha. 

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. The front cover of this one gives me The Hanged Man vibes like, all the way to the bone, which is initially what prompted me to rec it on this list. But also: “Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.” Idk about the dirty magazines but the rest of it scREAMS Rune. and the main character is a lesbian!!! yay!! 

The Black Veins by Ashia Monet. “In a world where magic thrives in secret city corners, a group of magicians embark on a road trip—and it’s the "no-love-interest", found family adventure you’ve been searching for.” It’s like someone looked into my heart and picked out my deepest desire and then wrote it and gave it life. This book is super diverse and super awesome. 

The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a f/f take on Dracula basically. I’m recommending it because the main character and her sister go through a traumatic event similar to the loss of the sun court, when men come and burn their home to the ground along with their people and they’re captured and taken as slaves. It’s about family, friendship and survival, and it’s beautiful. 

The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco. An LGBT book where climate change deniers are the villains? ... you have my atttention. 

Prosper’s Demon by K.J. Parker. This is about a morally questionable exorcist!  It’s a satirical, interesting take on the topic of possession with a kick ass cover. 

The Wishing Heart by J.C Welker. An LGBT fantasy novel where our protag, Rebel, finds a jinni’s vessel and is thus thrust into a whole new world of trying to keep said jinni from everyone else and find a way to free her! The world building is awesome and so are the characters.

Tarnished are the Stars by Rosiee Thor. “A secret beats inside Anna Thatcher's chest: an illegal clockwork heart. Anna works cog by cog -- donning the moniker Technician -- to supply black market medical technology to the sick and injured, against the Commissioner's tyrannical laws.” i have the hardbook version of this and the cover??? is so?? beautiful.

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum. TALKING OF PRETTY COVERS. “Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends.”

Predatory by Brooklyn Ray. WERELEOPARDS FRIENDS!!!! god damn wereleopards im?? so happy. m/m 

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta. FOUND FAMILY QUEER WITCHES. need i say more. 

Portraits of a Faerie Queen by Tay LaRoi. The fey run amok in this one! f/f with a gorgeous front cover.

Unbroken by Brooklyn Ray. step 1: rent haunted house. step 2: fall in love with witch-turned-demon who inhabits it. step 3: profit???

The High King’s Golden Tongue by Megan Derr. This one is lovely! Nice world building with an emphasis on languages and kingdoms, and a lovely m/m romance that builds from kind-of-enemies-but-not-really to lovers. the audiobook of this is great. 

Salt Magic, Skin Magic by Lee Welch. SORRY YOUR BOOK IS SET WHERE? MY HOMELAND? MY COUNTRY MY COUNTY MY HEART? we never get any attention imma go cry in the corner. its a historical fantasy m/m romance in YORKSHIRE gosh im here for it. And let me tell you... this is one fantastic book. I really, really enjoyed it.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. fantasy, m/m, lotsa swords!

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst. f/f fantasy with a princess who has fire magic in a kingdom where magic is forbidden! 

Freedom’s Fate by Jennie Taylor. SPAAAAAAACE i love books in space.

Pegasi and Prefects by Eleanor Beresford. “Charley's final year at Fernleigh Manor is complicated by a runaway pegasus, unwanted Games Captainship, a dangerous new rival and, most of all, falling head over heels in love with another girl. What is a reluctant Senior Prefect to do?” catch me while i swoon.

The Necromancers Dance by SJ Himes. m/m vampire/necromancer romance, urban magic and fantasy, very fun and smooth read, a little bit insta love but not totally. 

The Star Host by F.T. Lukens. “Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of people possessed by the power of the stars.” a m/m fantasy book set to a sci fi fantasy background.

Empty Vessels by Nicholas Williams. “Lucas Mahler babysits clones all day, but he's trapped under the legacy of his body-builder father and his genius girlfriend. When Lucas tries to rise above, he's murdered. Waking up in the body of a clone, Lucas embarks on a mystery full of blood, old friends and lost loves.” idk the whole clone thing in this just always reminds me of lord tower making all the different fake versions of people he knows lmao. 

BOOKS NOT YET OUT

So, the thing is. 2020 is very close friends, and some awesome books are even closer. These below are books I’ve not read yet, since they’re not out and I am a poor ARCless girl, but they’re books you definitely want to keep an eye on.

Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer. Bisexual OCD protagonist who is a witch D: its everything i could want. 

Wild Sky by Zaya Feli. LGBT fantasy with dragons! It sounds so, so fun.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust. “A captivating and utterly original fairy tale about a girl cursed to be poisonous to the touch, and who discovers what power might lie in such a curse...”

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos. “The Raven Boys meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, about an openly gay high school senior in small-town Georgia.” m/m fantasy which looks super sweet.

Cemetery Boys by Auden Thomas. “Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.” THIS SOUNDS SO COOL oh my god. Yes PLEASE. 

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey. “A sly, witchy dark comedy about four teens whose magic goes wildly awry.” Magic, darkness, comedy, what’s not to love for fans of the tarot sequence??

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune. I absolutely love T.J.  Klune’s writing so I can’t wait to get my hands on this. m/m superheros!! friends!!! get excited!! I think anyone who likes how witty K.D. is will enjoy this writing style. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. YES ANOTHER ONE this looks so good too we are BLESSED. “A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret.”

Fragile Remedy by Maria Ingrande Mora. “Sixteen-year-old Nate is a GEM—Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue created by the scientists of Gathos City as a cure for the elite from the fatal lung rot ravaging the population. As a child, he was smuggled out of the laboratory where he was held captive and into the Withers—a quarantined, lawless region.” The idea of the Withers kind of reminds me of the westlands.

The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig. UHM im always here for lgbt vampires in young adult fantasy fiction. The author says that “this book is gay and filled with monsters” which also fits the last sun so i figured it belongs on the list lmao. 

Ruinsong by Julia Ember. “In a world where magic is sung, a powerful mage named Cadence is forced to use her power to torture her country’s disgraced nobility at her ruthless queen’s bidding.”

[thesffcorner]

Get a Life Chloe Brown

Get a Life Chloe Brown is a romantic comedy, written by Talia Hibbert. It follows Chloe Brown, a freelance web designer from a wealthy family, who one day has a near death experience. This shakes her profoundly, not just for the obvious reasons, but also because she realizes that if she were to die, she would have nothing to show for herself; no friends, no boyfriend, no adventure and no interesting events. In an effort to change that she makes a list of things to do, and meets a person that just might help her do it: Redford, her new superintendent. I was interested in this book ever since I heard it was coming out, because the premise, for whatever reason reminded me of a mix of two things: the profoundly stupid, yet profoundly watchable film What’s Your Number, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s story-line in New Years Day. This book is neither stupid nor silly; it’s one of the funniest, well written rom-coms I’ve ever read, and not since Red White and Royal Blue, have I liked two characters this much. Let’s start with the writing. I didn’t know Hibbert was British, but one page in and this book was so British it hurt. From the jokes to the banter, I felt like I was watching an episode of Bad Education, and I laughed out loud more times than I can count. Both characters are very snarky, and Chloe especially has a rather dry sense of humor that comes off as rude to others, because it’s so stiff. I found it hilarious, though the real standout for me was Red, because his internal monologues had me in stitches. Let me give you a sample of the jokes, here are a few. “We definitely have bears” “We don’t. If we had bears, it’d be in the news all the time. You know. Fine upstanding British man attacked by a bear. EU to blame. Brexit now.” Gigi appeared helpfully on her shoulder and said “Don’t mumble, darling. Nice big words. Repeat after me: ‘I want to ride you like a stallion.’” “Red snorted: ‘Who are you, Dr. Phill?’ ‘Ah, don’t start that manly crap. We talk about our feelings in this house, boy.’ ‘Can I talk about my feelings for your wife?’ ‘This bowl would be a great hat on you’” This couldn’t be more up my alley. Outside of the humor, the writing on the characters was equally well done. Not only do we get a very good sense of both Red and Chloe as individuals, but Hibbert makes the chemistry between them palpable. I believed that these two people could barely hold off from ripping each other’s clothes off, and later, when they became more emotionally invested, I believed in their romance. All the characters are well written; from Chloe’s family, especially her sisters, to Red’s friend Vic and even his mother. Because we get POVs from both Chloe and Red, I was worried they might sound the same, because both are such snarky characters, but they didn’t; they have very different personalities and ways of approaching their problems, which I found was translated quite well. The plot wasn’t particularly complex; it mostly just follows Chloe making a deal with Red so he can help her tick off things on her list, and slowly getting an understanding of what is actually important to her and what isn’t. The book does also follow Red coming to some realizations of his own, notably what he wants to do with his life, now that he’s escaped an abusive relationship. Which leads me to two points of caution for this book. The first is that the cover and the synopsis might mislead you into thinking that this is straight up comedy, which it is, but more in the vein of How to Be Single or Trainwreck. There are some really heavy topics discussed in this book: there is the aftermath of an abusive relationship, disability, trauma from loss, PTSD even, and a very brutal verbal fight that doesn’t pull punches. It’s a funny book, but it has surprising depth, and Hibbert really touches on some heavy and complicated topics, while maintaining an overall light tone. There’s even a warning on the first page of the book about some of the triggers, so tread lightly. The other point are the sex scenes. Now, readers of romance, and those who are familiar with Hibbert’s other work, will probably know that this book has sex scenes. I’ve heard from other people that they either found them extremely hot or completely over the top. I fall in the former category; the sex is explicit, but I think the scenes are paced well, are genuinely engaging and steamy and actually explore the characters, and their growing attraction to each-other. The only critique I do have is that the characters, especially Red do sound a bit OOC in them, because there’s a lot of dirty talk that is a bit much even for him, but honestly, outside of laughing at it, it didn’t personally bother me. Let’s talk about characters. There aren’t many, but each gets a moment to shine. Out of the supporting cast, my favorite was Vic, though I can’t wait for Evelyn’s book, because she seemed like a hoot too. Out of the leads, let’s start with Red. Redford, who I imagine is named after the dog, being a ginger and all is a charming, attractive and confident man, who has been through a really abusive relationship that has made him spiral into bad decision making. He has quite a few flaws, the most notable being a chip on his shoulder about being treated as a spectacle, or a commodity, by people who are richer than him and can therefore buy him in many ways; buy him for his looks, his time, his talent or just simply observe him like some kind of circus animal. I found all of his quirks understandable and well written; he does make some stupid decisions, and he seems to be incapable of saying no. But he was the better adjusted lead out of the two, which was nice. He did veer off into being a little too perfect and considerate at time, which was just a tad unrealistic, but I really liked his personality a lot. Then we have Chloe who I adored, even though she falls definitely in the tradition of quirky, type A female protagonists. She is obsessed with lists, organization, planning out her days and her life, and there’s a good reason for that: she suffers from fibromyalgia. I will admit; while I do know two people in my life who have, fibromyalgia I knew very little about the disorder. I didn’t know that it seems to be caused by trauma for one, nor did I know that it leads to brain fog or short term memory loss. I think the way the illness was described in the book, and the way it impacted Chloe’s life was presented very well; I can definitely understand and sympathize with how she had developed her coping mechanisms, the healthy and unhealthy ones. Chloe is a very strong character; she is funny, she is smart, she is witty, and what I liked most was she knew her limits, knew when to push and when to take a break, and was actively fighting to live a life she would be proud of, in spite of fibromyalgia. I really liked how well Hibbert explored both what it’s like to live with an invisible illness, and the toll it takes both on the person and those around them, but also how having an illness or a disability doesn’t mean that the person can’t take care of them-self or live a perfectly good life. I’m not disabled, so I can’t speak to that representation, but as just a humble reader who wanted to learn a bit more, I was satisfied. One other thing to note is that Chloe is both plus size and black. In terms of race I appreciated the conversation she had with Red about privilege, and I think perhaps a bit more could have been explored on that front. In terms of weight, Chloe’s weight is mentioned at several points, but it’s not really a factor. I kind of liked that; Chloe gets to be a fat girl who is content with her life, and it’s not even a factor. It was nice. Overall, this book was great. It’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s very sexy, and it tackles some deeper issues and topics like class and disability in a nuanced and lighthearted way. If you are looking for a good romance with some substance, I highly recommend it.

goodreads

[sparrowkingsley]

More badass women I forever Stan.

11. Spider-Gwen/Ghost-Spider

How to make my favorite superhero even more cool and steal my heart for real? Easy. Give me an alternate universe and give the cape over to a strong, female lead and I'm sold. Gwen Stacey, thank you for being truly awesome!

12. Sara Lance

So Sara Lance is definitely one of my favorite bisexual characters. She snarky, she got the puns, she god damn assassin, she the captain, she a god damn legend. I mean for real the moment she was introduced as Canary I was like... omg, *swoon* ! Her character development is just awesome.

Oh and Avalance is one of top ships for life.

13. Shuri

I was actually beyond sad she doesn't have more screen time in the movies because Shuri is the best. Witty and an actual to goddess genius who doesn't take shit from anyone. She even becomes the Black Panther in the comics for awhile and to see that in a onscreen adaptation would be truly mind blowing! I found out she has been introduced in Marvel Rising a show I really, really need to catch up like ASAP, I've just been distracted by other shows and stuff recently so... it is on my list! Oh and she is offically a Disney Princess! I don't make the rules, it is just a damn fact!

14. Adora/She-Ra

Speaking of my "distractions", obviously I've been living and breathing She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and I'm still pretty high on it and probably will always be. The She-Ra crew took us to new heights with LGBTQIA representation in animation by giving us a Canon lesbian main character and so many other things that just make me so damn happy. Adora has that dumb jock energy and that's something I absolutely ADORE! (Sorry, not sorry)

Cough, oh BTW Catra is my favorite (I'm definitely biased when it comes to her i admit it!) so I'm happy with them being together, like SOOOO much but my ship for Glimadora never really died and my main ship is still Glitradora

... sorry Bow you're still my best boy, I promise!

15. Harley Quinn

Speaking of characters bringing us some beautiful representation lately, ladies, gentlemen and my non binary beauties I give you the one and only Harley Quinn! With the latest adapation giving us all we wanted with her relationship with Ivy her being canonical Bisexual is only one reason why I truly love this character. Harley broke out from her unhealthy relationship and has become one of the greats if not the greatest anti heros of all time. Fight me on it. Won't matter. Because I love her and I will never stop.

16. Posion Ivy

You know you gotta love a woman that stands up for her beliefs... even if that belief is that plants are better than people annnnnnddddd she's not wrong. Personally I have a black thumb but I have thing for plant Goddesses like her.

17. Catwoman

Oh speaking of my favorite DC women, Catwoman was my first crush. Yes, the Michelle Pfeiffer version in Batman Returns. No, my little baby queer heart didn't understand why at the time. Basically this theif took my heart before anyone else. Definitely the reason I have an affinity toward cat like or cat girls in general soooooo there is that. I love her because no one can tell her what to do. Not even Batman. She is just like, shiny thing i want, i take and hmm maybe I care enough not to kill you if you get in my way but who knows?

18. Abby

So I obviously played the game at this point.

Oh do I stan Abby? Um yes obviously. How couod you not? Am I conflicted about it? Nope. Ellie will always be my girl in this series but at the end of the day Abby's character growth and development sort of stole the show. Like Joel changed when he met Ellie, Abby changed when she met Lev. Cricumstances made her the bad guy. Did she do fucked up shit? Of course. Does she deserve redemption? Yes. I know a lot of people still hate her but I don't get it. I think the perspective shift was one of the most brilliant story telling in a game I have ever witnessed. I'm still emotional about the whole experience.

If you are an asshole that sent the voice actor Laura Bailey death threats unfollow me because fuck you. Seriously. Fuck. You.

19. Azula

Speaking of characters that have done evil things. Let's turn our attention to one of my all time favorite villains. Azula came in and we asked Fire Lord who? Fourteen years, a Clever prodigy that literally has killer instinct and it is not afraid to use her deadly force.You fear her every time she catches up with Team Avatar and then... they go and make you feel bad for her at the end. At least I did.

She loses everything. Her allies. Her throne. Her mind. Humanly flawed and not at all one deminsional.

20. Seven of Nine

Y'all have no idea how truly fucking happy I am that Star Trek brought her back. Seven is my favorite character in the whole series. I was obsessed with the Borg as a kid and when they introduced her character I just instantly fangirled so hard over her. I'm still fangirling over her. Bringing her back literally made me cry. She literally has transformed so much through the years and I can not wait to see where her character goes from here.

To top it off, my heart literally tried to kill me when she had that hand hold scene with Raffi, I was like... omg... omg! Yes, please!!!!! That's all I wanted as a little queer watching this series i just didn't know it at the time.

My mother is literally pissed about this btw. In the novels Seven and Chakotay actually date for awhile and I was okay with it but she loved it. Then that scene in Picard happened. My mom and I have very few things we bond over and Star Trek is one of those. But basically she refuses to believe that hand hold is anything but platonic and I'm just waiting at this point like... come on Star Trek. Give me this one to me please.

Anyways...

Thank you for coming to my blog to witness my undying love for so many women characters. Probs more to come since I'm a hopeless, queer fangirl lifer!

[sadchappuccino]

Worth Dying For

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader, mentor!tony x reader

Warnings: fluff, ANGST, blood, death

Summary: As a shield agent you were sent to protect Peter Benjamin Parker aka spider-man. You didn’t expect to fall for him, especially since there is a problem.

Request: 1 and 11 from the prompt list with Peter Parker pleaseee, thank youuu

Prompts:

“She never misses, she never quits, and never loses. If you’re alive, it’s because she wants you alive.”

“The kiss tasted like tears.”

A/n: this took longer and is longer than I expected

———

You walked down the hallways of Midtown high-school, with what seems like hesitation and fear. That was what people thought you were doing, but it was all a facade. You had a sleek smirk in your mind. You made this character to become friends with your mission. You had to protect him from any harm and what better idea is there than becoming friends with the dork by becoming a dork yourself.

It wasn’t like you weren’t one at heart, you just had to toughen up to become the spy you were. It involved a lot of death and murdering. It wasn’t like you weren’t used to it, your entire life consisted out of training to become an assassin in the red room. Lucky for you Natasha helped you with becoming a kid again, a kid with incredible smarts and fighting skills.

“Target acquired” you mumbled in your mic when you saw him. “Stop calling him ‘target’ jeez y/n, you’re not going to kill him,” Tony said from the other side of the call. “No, that would be an easy mission” you grumbled under your breath. “Wow, you’re really one of a kind, aren’t you?” he joked on the other side. “You could say that, not everyone kills people on a daily basis since they’re merely eight years old.” you replied snarky, you always put on this brave face, not scared of anyone or anything. When you were working you would be sarcastic, witty and sometimes just plain rude. However, at home you like to read sappy novels and watch romcoms. You loved to snuggle up in your blankets and have a steaming cup of hot chocolate in your cold hands. But it shows weakness, so you only did that when you were sure no one could be watching.

“He’s with two friends, from their appearance I’ll guess, Edward Leeds and Michelle Jones” you whispered to Tony. “Alright, go talk to him kiddo, make some friends” the billionaire said.

“Making this personal could compromise the mission” first and foremost was the mission. It was the whole reason you were there and you were on the clock, so there was no socializing or making friends. Just analyzing and protecting.

“Come on loosen up Katniss” Tony said over the comms. “I thought Clint is Katniss” you snickered. “You’re just as serious as Katniss and you have an amazing aim, so who gives a fuck” he sighed.

“Cap would be disappointed Tony, I got to go, I’m nearing the…… person of interest” you said, not wanting to have the ’you’re-such-an-assassin’ talk again.

You ‘accidentally’ bumped into Peter. “Oh sorry, I didn’t see you there” you apologized to him. It was all planned out, you would ask him where to go and seeing that you have the same classes you could walk together to it.

“It’s okay- Are you the new girl?” Peter raised his eyebrows, you couldn’t deny how attractive he was, but it wasn’t worth losing your job. “Is it that obvious?” you chuckled. “No. It’s just that I’ve never seen you.”

“Okay, could you maybe help me find my class, I have no idea where everything is” you shrugged with a small grin on your face. “Sure what do you have next?” Peter asked you. “AP biology”

“I have the same, if you want I could walk you there” Peter seemed incredibly nervous in your eyes. Which wasn’t something you expected since he his behaviour as Spider-Man consisted mostly out of cocky jokes. “Sure, let's go, I don’t want to be late” you smiled at him.

“you guys should kiss already” Tony said in your earpiece. “Shut up Stark” you seeth through your mic. “Did you say anything?” Peter looked at you curious, he swore he heard you say Mr. Stark’s name, but he opted on asking you less suspicious. “No nothing”

“Okay, let’s go to class”

Weeks went by and you kept a close eye on Peter making sure nothing bad would happen. You couldn’t deny the chemistry that was building up between you.

“Hey Peter, do you want to do something after school?” you asked him. “Totally platonic of course” you smiled sweetly at him. He was the first boy that you actually liked and didn’t just pay attention to for the mission.

“Yeah- I- I would love that” Peter stuttered. “Perfect, let’s go to your place” you tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “Ye- yeah I’ll see you after school? At the entrance?” He asked you with the faintest hint of a blush on his face.

“Okay” you smiled back at him. Before you walked away, you saw Peter fistbumping the air and you silently chuckled to yourself. “See you later then”

Hours later you were both sitting on Peter’s bed just rambling about random stuff. “Okay so if you would have to choose between drinking water for ever or never eating fast food again, what would you choose?” he asked you, curious to what your answer could be. “Honestly I would go for the food, the only times I eat that is when I’m with my…. Friend anyway” you had to pause to think of a right way to describe Tony without letting him know anything, when you and him would work in the lab you would always buy a cheeseburger, but only then.

“How about you?” you turned to him, his bright brown orbs were shining in the prosthetic light of the lamps in his room. His lips were inching closer to yours, it was like your whole world stopped for a few seconds. “Pete, I think we should watch the movie”it broke you not to kiss him right there and then, but you had to remind yourself why you were at midtown, why you met the beautiful brown haired boy. You were his secret bodyguard nothing more, nothing less.

———

“Come on y/n you like him and he likes you why not ask him out?” Tony whined, another month had gone by and you were still one square one, only two things changed, your feelings for Peter had tripled and you had a feeling that something was wrong.

Tony and you were training together, just like everyday, since you started the mission, he tried to set you up with Peter. “I said I won’t do it, I have more important things” you grunted whilst hitting the punching bag, “plus I have a gut feeling that sometime is wrong.”

This made Tony stop, “Y/n, your gut feeling hasn't been wrong until now, if you think something is wrong we should investigate it. Now.” His eyes were filled to the brim with worry.

“Okay. Let’s go.” The entire night was spent with you and Tony trying to find something, anything, that could be a hazard to Peter’s life. It was nearly 6 am when you found out what was going on.

“It’s hydra” you mumbled. “What did you say?” Tony looked up at you, his hair was messy and he was clearly tired. “Hydra wants the new generation of superheroes dead, they could take the world over when you guys die, you ain’t the youngest anymore Tones” you joked lighthearted, it was the kind of jokes you always made with Tony.

“Okay, FRIDAY run a facial recognition on y/n’s school and see if any of the students are in SHIELDS database” Tony commands. “Should we just cancel my school tomorrow?” you laughed a bit. “No you have to protect him. Take your suit with you and your guns too” Tony orders.

“You’re saying that I can have my weapons with me” You smiled, you felt more secure with some firearm on you. Tony nodded his head in response and you beamed happy at that.

“Well talking about school it starts in an hour so I have to get ready” you smiled at Tony and walked to your room. You jumped in the shower and changed into your leather skin tight bodysuit. Over it you pulled on some jeans and a hoodie. You hoped that people won’t notice the black suit you wore under your clothes.

You walked down the school corridor with your hands in your pockets. You felt the security of your knife and you were happy to be back in the game.

“Hey y/n, why are you wearing such thick clothes? It’s near summer?” Peter asked you. “I have my reasons Pete. I actually wanted to ask you something” you noted, “but it has to be in private, meet me in our free period by my locker alright?” You walked away leaving no chance for him to answer.

“Okay bye” he shouted after you. The day went bye while you kept fiddling with the weapons you wore. The hours went by slowly and you couldn’t wait until you would meet Parker at your locker.

When the moment of glory finally arrived, you walked there with confidence no one had ever seen coming from the ‘shy nerd’. You saw Peter standing near your locker, looking around nervously.

“Hey Peter” you said shaking him out of his thoughts. “H- hey y/n, so, what do you want to ask?” Peter stuttered nervously, he secretly hoped that you would ask him out on a date, since he liked you a lot.

“I know that you’re spider-man” you stated matter of factly. “You- I’m not spider-man” Peter’s voice was pitched and had gone a few decimals up. “I know Peter, I’m a SHIELD agent and your bodyguard” you showed him your badge, “now, Tony and me have reasons to believe that HYDRA wants you dead, and there is a chance they’ll do that today. So you have to watch your steps, I’ll keep a close eye on you to be sure. Keep your suit with you at all times, if something goes wrong, you run to me, I’ll save you” You ordered.

“What- HYDRA wants to kill me?” Peter asked in shock, he just got hit with a ton of information and it was hard to process. “Don’t worry, I’m here to save you and I have Tony on speed dial if anything goes wrong” You smiled sympathetic, “now change, they can be here any moment” you grabbed the hem of your hoodie and pulled it over your head, your black suit was shown to Peter. You discarded your pants to and opened your locker to grab some more weapons.

You had a holster around your upper leg and your middle in which, knives, guns, shockers and other high tech gear was located. You turned around and Peter stood there flabbergasted. “Come on change, you want to be ready when they come” and you were right because a few moments later HYDRA soldiers showed up with blazing guns.

“You coming Spider-man” you yelled while you shot two men, “bullseye” you joked. “What the-” Peter mumbled before taking someone out too. Together you had the upper hand and easily won, “that’s so nice about HYDRA, they don’t have a properly functioning brain” you joked.

You called Fury to pick up the dead and unconscious bodies, “we have something that needs to be cleaned” you said into your phone. “Coming” he grumbled back at you.

Everything went by in a flash for Peter, one moment he was in school, having a regular day, and the next he was in SHIELD headquarters watching an interrogation with the girl he likes, who’s also an assassin.

“Like that girl could kill me” the men who was being questioned by Fury said. “Listen up,” Fury placed his hands on the table with a slam, “She never misses, she never quits, and never loses. If you’re alive, it’s because she wants you alive.” He pointed at the scrape on his arms, “Now that wound is nothing compared to she could and would do if you don’t tell anything”

You turned off the television you and Peter were watching the encounter on. “No need to see that” you chuckled. “Are you okay Pete” you placed your hand on his shoulder and stared deeply in his eyes. “I’m fine, just a lot of information” he sighed. “It’s going to be okay, I’m here for you” your face was incredibly close to his, your lips even closer as you cooed some reassuring words to Peter.

You bit your lip before backing up, “Let’s go to the compound, Tony wants to talk to us” you stood up and waited for him to do the same.

Together you drove to the compound, with you in the driving seat of course. You entered the compound and went to the lab to talk to your mentor, “Hey Tony, have you found anything” you asked, plopping down on a chair. “Yes, actually, I’ve found their last bases,” he said, “he kiddo” Tony turned to Peter, “how are you?”

“Hey Mr. Stark, I’m good” Peter smiled. “We should go take them out then, before they can do anything” you suggested immediately. “Good idea, but let’s go to sleep first” Tony was deep in thought for a while, “You can’t sleep here, it’s too dangerous” he looked at you with pleading eyes.

“He can sleep with me” you announced, “We’ll go with my motor” you turned to Peter, “It is the easiest way” you shrugged. He looked simply shocked, “who even are you?” he asked you. “I’m the same person Pete, this is just another side”

Together you walked to your motor and rode to your home, “you know what’s funny” Peter said from the couch in the big loft. “What?”

“That we’ve known each other for months, have met a lot of times, but I’ve never been to your house before” he chuckled a bit. “Don’t take it personal Pete, only Tony, Fury, Nat and Maria had been here and now you of course. Not even Steve was allowed to come and he actually begged me” you snickered at the memory at the super soldier pleading you to see your house once, it was like a big SHIELD fact, only a few people knew that you exist and even fewer knew where you lived.

“You know Captain America?” he turned to look at you with a gaze of admiration. “I know all the avengers, I used to be a red room assassin so I had some intel on HYDRA, they needed me and after that Tony practically raised me and Nat became like a big sister to me.” you smiled.

Peter was drop dead silent for a few moments and it scared you because you couldn’t shut him up on most days, even if you wanted to. “What’s wrong” you jumped on the couch next to him. “Do you actually like me?” Peter blurted out, the question took you by surprise, normally he would never be this abrupt. “I- Peter” you sighed, this was a first to you. You didn’t want to talk about your feelings, yes you liked him, you liked him a lot, but you didn’t think you would have to say that to him, ever.

“I get it, I just hoped that there was a chance that we could actually be something” Peter shrugged, trying to hold in his emotions, “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess” he looked down to the ground. “Bye y/n”

The conversation you had with Peter destroyed you only your goal was clearer, you had to make sure he would be okay, you wouldn’t mind if you were to die in the process anyway. You went to bed and hoped that tomorrow would be the day that you would eliminate the threat.

The next morning you woke up with a good mood, you walked over to the room next to yours, “wake up sleeping beauty” you knocked on the door, but there was no response, “Pete? Open up.” You started to get anxious, why wasn’t he answering? “Alright I’m coming in” you said before opening the door to see an empty room.

You walked over to the open window and stared out of it for a fraction of a moment. You saw a small note on his bed, ‘Hey y/n, I’m just walking outside for a while, I’ll be back soon.’

“That idiot” you muttered. Who would just leave while they are being hunted? “God fucking damnit” you sighed, you quickly changed into your black suit woth combat buits and tied your holsters around your middle and upper leg.

You walked outside, you had to find him before things would go bad. You ran to the streets and looked around for the man. You saw a red and blue blur swing over your head and immediately knew that it was spider-man. You jumped on your motorcycle and followed the shade around New York.

You heard gunshots and knew that you would have to go there, with a sigh you turned your bike around and went into the direction of the sounds. You knew that Peter would go there.

You stopped at the shooting and stepped off of your seat. You saw Peter fighting them off, and helped him quickly. You fend off the bad guys and cuffed them to the walls with his webs.

You walked to him and pushed him against the walls, “you idiot” you grunted out. “Y/n calm down I just went for a small patrol” he ensured you, it didn’t work though as you began to scream at him, “You could’ve died, HYDRA is everywhere lately! You’re my mission Parker and I cannot fail my mission”

The eyes on the costume went a bit larger before Peter ripped off the mask, “Is that all I am? Just a mission” his voice was shaking, laced with pain. “Peter~” your eyes were filled with tears, slowly rising up to your lid. “No! I’m not just some number for you to protect! I’m an actual person y/n!” his shouts were deafening as a single tear rolled down your cheek.

“I’m going to the compound” Peter sighed before he swung away to the home of the avengers. You lowered yourself to the floor, your knees were propped against your chest as you let out soft sobs.

After a few minutes of wallowing in your self pity you stood up and rode to the compound to. You couldn’t help but feel an ache in your chest, it was so painful just because Peter was the first guy ever who you liked. He was the first guy who you wanted to gold into your arms and tell him that you love him, that you don’t want anything except for being with him.

You cries were muffled by your helmet as you drove off, you felt alone and it scared you, these past months made you feel human, you had real friends and you never felt that happy in your life, maybe the day you met Tony came close but that’s it.

You were close to the compound almost there you saw the destruction. You quickly accelerated and sped off to the fight. When you were the fight had almost stilled only a handful of HYDRA agents were left. You stood up and began to fight alongside the avengers.

When everyone was gone you walked over to Tony and Peter, “What happened?” you asked them, wiping away some blood that had splattered on your face. “Why would you care?” Peter snarked at you, the words dripping with venom.

“We were attacked by HYDRA,” Tony said looking between you and Peter, “what happened between you two?”

“We had a fight that’s all” you shrugged making Peter scoff. “We’re still having a fight” you corrected yourself. The joke made Peter even angrier at you, how could you be so careless about him, like you never wanted to be friends with him and wouldn’t even think about being more.

You watched around the battlezone, everything was mostly intact, there was damage but it would all be able to be fixed. That is when you saw a single man, bleeding from head to toe, pointing a gun at Peter. The man pulled the trigger and you jumped in front of it, taking the bullet for him.

The metal pierced your skin, you screamed in pain as your body hit the ground, you couldn’t think straight anymore, everything was a blur and you didn’t even notice that Tony shot the shooter.

Peter cradled your body, keeping you close in his arms, “Y/n, I’m so sorry for yelling at you” he sobbed. You silenced him with placing your lips on his, the kiss tasted like tears, “you were never just a mission Pete, I love you” you started to cough up some blood.

Tony jumped at your side to, “Y/n, don’t die, please” you were surrounded by the people you loved most when the black spots entered your vision, “I love you Tony, so I have to say this. My death isn’t your fault” you sputtered out. “Y/n stop, you’re not going to die, just save your energy” he pleaded. “Guys,” you placed your hands on their cheeks, “I love you both, only Tony you more in a dad kinda way” you snickered.

The black seemed so inviting, so you looked at your loved ones one more time, before your body went limp and the voices of Peter and Tony disappeared with it.

———

Everyone was wearing black, it’s the colour people wear on funerals, a colour associated with pain and loss. There was a soft drizzle as the ceremony was held. Peter tried to contain his sadness, if only you wouldn’t jump to save his life, if only he could save you. You would be walked beside him, maybe even holding his hand at a cute date Peter had set up.

He wanted to rip his hair out for letting you down, he failed you and he had to live with his choice, because you loved him and if you thought he was worth dying for he would live for you.

———

Masterlist

Taglist: @loxbbg

[swainlake]

Hello! So now that got has ended I'm looking for some tv shows that I could watch after I'm done with my exams. Do you have any suggestions? I'm not looking for anything specific, although if you have watched some good period dramas, I'd love some recommendations. Also wanted to add how much I love your blog, it's really beautiful

tysm that’s so sweet!! i love giving recs so i’ve got a bunch that you might like under the cut; i’ve put a ♡ next to my favs

period dramas:

NEW WORLDS (2014)this one is a mini series, only 4 episodes long, but please don’t let that stop you! it’s about anti-monarchism and rebellion and forbidden love in the 1600′s & is set in both england and america. i cried more than once but the ending is so bittersweet and hopeful!! 

POLDARK (2015—)i have a love/hate relationship with this one tbh. i started watching because of the main relationship but i ended up really into it for the side relationships instead?? the actual political plot doesn’t interest me but i love the drama between the family members. also i adore the women in this show, every single female character is well-written and realistic and you’ll love them all (even if at times you hate them). the men tho? the men are pretty much collectively the worst. “what’s wrong with the women in this family?” “the men.”

SPARTACUS (2010—2013) ♡i started watching this before i ever got into game of thrones but if you like the fight scenes in got, you’ll enjoy this! great characters, great fight scenes, great friendships. this one is based on gladiators who are fighting for their freedom.

THE WHITE PRINCESS (2017) ♡okay firstly and most importantly: jodie comer stars in this so you know it’s good. it’s also got michelle fairly (catelyn stark) in it though tbh she wasn’t my favourite character in this and i didn’t find her likeable at all. it’s not very historically accurate ofc but the relationship between henry/elizabeth is honestly the perfect enemies to lovers rep & always lowkey reminds me of book!sansa/jon possibilities

PAN AM (2011—2012)this one isn’t like game of thrones at all but it’s only one season and it’s super cute and has a lot of famous actresses in it like christina ricci & margot robbie. based on the adventures of a crew of pan am stewardesses, this is a good combination of lighthearted fun and chilling cold-war drama. an old favourite. 

THE MUSKETEERS (2014—2016) ♡i’ll be gushing over this for years to come tbh it’s really just that perfect. the relationship between the musketeers is so lovely, the personification of ‘brotherhood’ really, but also the romantic relationships are really good too?? which for some reason i personally hadn’t expected. my fav couple is aramis/anne (anne is played by the actress who played roslin frey!) because the forbidden love & the respect and adoration between those two is just perfect but really every relationship (even the ones that don’t become endgame) are written very well

OUTLANDER (2014—)i haven’t watched every single episode of this one but from what i have seen it’s very good, and has some similar themes to game of thrones!! the sex scenes are epic, the main relationship is lovely, and overall its a very realistic show that features supernatural elements!

THE LAST KINGDOM (2015—) ♡i’m not going to lie: i started this series by skipping straight to 2x7 because i’d seen gifs of the relationship between aethelflaed and erik but it was so good i ended up going back and starting from the beginning! this show reminds me of ‘vikings’ more tham game of thrones but it’s not as gory and the characters aren’t all assholes. side note: if you love sansa stark as much as i do you’re gonna love aethelflaed, lady of mercia! she’s actually a real person but this show is based on a book series that looks super interesting! honestly the main character also kind of reminds me of jon snow

HARLOTS (2017—) ♡oh my gosh how do i describe this show?? the family dynamics are so! intricate! and! beautiful! honestly just stunning. everything about this show is s t u n n i n g. the costumes are colourful and vivid and honestly i’d recommend watching just for that but the storyline really does keep you hooked!! also: liv tyler and jessica brown findlay are love interests in this which is honestly a dream come true

BLACK SAILS (2015—2017)okay full disclosure; i haven’t actually seen this but i’ve heard very good things and it’s on my list!! it’s about pirates, i think there’s some queer rep (can anybody confirm??), and there’s lots of amazing women. again, allegedly. 

dramas:

THE SOCIETY (2018—)i literally watched the entire first season in a single night so it must be alright, right? basically all you need to know about this is that a town full of teenagers go on a field trip & then return to find all their parents mysteriously missing and their town closed off from the outside world. it’s basically lord of the flies but modern! with some kick-ass friendships! and amazing young women (one literally teaches herself to be a doctor can you believe?)! 

SHARP OBJECTS (2018)if you haven’t heard about this one yet idk what rock you’ve been living under but welcome back! this one is a m a z i n g but also hella chilling and the ending is such a shocker if it hasn’t been spoiled for you yet!

THE BOLD TYPE (2017—) ♡i always describe this one as ‘sex and the city for millennials’ but i’ve never watched a single sex and the city episode in my life so i honestly don’t know how accurate that is?? but it’s about a group of 20-something year old women who are best friends and work mates and they love each other so much?? the relationship between the girls is my favourite thing about the show but the show honestly tackles a lot of relevant issues; trump, age gaps, queer rep, immigration, racism, etc. i can’t recommend this enough!

CODE BLACK (2015—2018) ♡you know those episodes in greys anatomy where everything is life-or-death and you’re on edge for the whole episode? that’s basically every single episode of code black. this is hands-down one of my most rewatched shows ever. i love medical dramas and this one balances well written characters with action-packed medical miracles so honestly what’s not to like?? 

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES (2018—)okay admittedly the only reason i watch this show is because of the main couple but i can’t help it when they’re just so gosh-darn cute!! they love each other so god damned much! i wasn’t completely sold on this straight away but by ep 3 i was HOOKED. if you like supernatural romances/dramas that are more mature than your usual cw show, this one is a good choice!

THE OA (2016—) ♡i can’t even put into words how much i adore this?? but also: it will confuse THE SHIT out of you. no matter how smart you are, this one will leave you scratching your head. basically: a group of people who’ve had near-death experiences get kidnapped and experimented on. it’s not as brutal as it sounds, in fact the show is exceptionally beautiful, but it does deal with some hard themes and the good guys don’t always win. 

12 MONKEYS (2015—2018)do you like time travel? do you like forbidden and yet totally-still-devoted-to-one-another-anyway love? then this is the show for you! this one is dark and gritty and deals pretty realistically with the concept of time travel & self-sacrifice and what people will give up to create a better world. it’s got a happy ending & you wont regret watching!

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018)oh this one will make you cry. in a good way though! long story short a family grows up in a haunted house and it affects them in ways they cannot imagine. it’s hauntingly beautiful and poetic and everybody should watch it at least once imo

comedies:

THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL (2017—)okay so this one counts as a period drama as well but it’s about a COMEDIAN so i put it in the comedy section lol. okay so long story short, a woman is left by her husband, she’s worth 1000 of him & everybody else knows it because you seriously can’t help falling in love with this woman but ofc there’s period-typical sexism she has to face as she struggles with being a single woman, a single mother, and an up-and-coming comedian. def recommend.

SANTA CLARITA DIET (2017—2019)drew barrymore is a zombie!! who lives a normal life but also eats people!! it’s only weird for the first couple of eps. the family dynamics are snarky and witty and they manage to make gore funny?? honestly this entire show is legit laugh-out-loud darkly hilarious.

[comeondowntosouthparkrpg-blog]

Lola Thomas

Will she friend us on Facebook yet? Lola has been accepted! Send in your blog and faceclaim!

out of character info

Name/Alias: lexi (yeah im gonna try this again because looks like the negativity is GONE. BLESS.)

Pronouns: she/her

Age: 18

Join Our Discord: Yeaaaah

Timezone: central

Activity: 7 ( i do work so activity will prolly bump before 2pm and after 8pm lmao )

Triggers: nada

Password: jimmy can fast pass my ass ;))

Character that you’re applying for: Lola Thomas

Favourite ships for your character: going in this with a clean slate so try and give me a favorite ship? ’,:)

in character info

Full name: Lola Diane Thomas

Birthday: May 20th.

Sexuality, gender, pronouns: pansexual, female, she/her

Age and grade: 16 (almost 17) && senior.

Faceclaim: Taylor Hill

Appearance:

Head: Lola is what you call a tall glass of water. She’s refreshingly attractive. Her eyes are neither blue or green but a weird combination of the two colors, making them pop against her naturally darkened complexion. Her hair is soft and wavy and like to tangle near the ends by the time Lola is out of school and on the way to work. It’s color likes to change with the rare sunlight, meaning if she is outside in the sun all day every day natural highlights will appear in her honey chestnut tresses. Her nose is like a little button that deserves to be booped constantly. Her lips are full and plump- to that she owes genetics. Lola believes it is her only good trait.

Body: A natural looker. She stands at about 5'8, so be prepared if you’re tiny. She will tower you with her legs for DAYS.  She doesn’t have particularly large assets but they are there. And it’s a nice handful on either side of the equator. You just gotta look for them behind her non-stop barrage of sweaters. She likes to say she has a white girl booty- its cute && snooty. Her shoulders and cheeks are very, very, lightly dusted in freckles you can only see in the winter. Despiter her tall figure, Lola is NOT a bean pole, she’s slim thicccc weighing about 145 pounds and it’s not in her face.

Style: Lola dresses like she lives in Goodwill, trendy and thrifty. She would kill for knee socks and button up blouses. She aims to look like ‘The classic look of a teenager in the 90’s’. Her shoes will never don a heel for she believes she is 'too tall’ for them. She likes to keep a mellow color scheme for all her clothing items. Tan, green, white. Sometimes she looks like the first instagram post you see tagged * v i n t a g e. *

Personality: 

First off let’s get this straight, with Lola it’s not a personality but more of how she adopts a personality to fit each social clique she is suckered into that day. If you dig deeep deeeeeep down pass the meme references and pop culture shout outs- she’s awfully shy and hates making the first move in ANY kind of situation. She is sympathetic to most of the problems she hears- other than relationship ones. What’s a feeling for someone else other than your cat? She doesn’t get it. Skittish doesn’t even cover how much of a fraidy cat she is.. One little boo when she’s not expecting it is enough to get Lola to shriek and jump three feet into the air. She does have a nuturing instinct, finding it rather difficult to see anyone lonely or upset.

Once you get to know Lola, she is a sweetheart with a soul of gold. She would freeze in the frigid temperatures to keep her friend warm. She’s the girl who will sneak you into her house so you dont have to go home if you’re scared too or can’t. She is quite snarky however- as if a dam broke and every witty thought ever spun in her head rushes out. Once you get her talking about something she is personally interested in, good luck shutting her up. Lola is also a very superstitious person. Never one too step on a crack or split a pole. Her biggest quirk would have to be her need for reassurance that her jokes are funny. She thinks of herself as a comedian but is already sure everyone thinks she is trying too hard. She is a rather dull girl on the outside, moody and solemn. But if you can crack into her cold shell there’s an ooey gooey sweetness inside. Lola is often easily upset- movies to road kill make her tear up. Anytime she even gets mad the salry reminders if her lameness well up in her eyes. And that only pisses her off more.

Despite having a cool exterior she can and will snap- just push the right buttons. 

History:

Lola wouldnt deem herself an outcast yet she would always feel that way. Whether she was cheering with the girls or writing lists with Jenny, her feelings were uncontrollable. Her anxiety makes it impossible to determine if someone is being nice to her or if they have a plot to harm her. In middle school, Lola secretly dreamt of becoming a goth kid- going as far as painting her nails black for two years. But her fears never made her set out to do it. Plus everyone was a little then so isn’t that technically confirming? Her school work was the only thing Lola was ever certain in. Work was easy, you couldn’t fuck it up by being a complete oddball. It was practically memorization. After starting high school, Lola was practically a wallflower. Hell she was the wall and the flower all wrapped in one. She dropped every friendship and dedicated herself to her studies and her pets. After she got a job she was allowed to have them finally and her fur babies were the only things she cared about truly and deeply. For they could never hate their mother.

Things were always tough for Lola, socially or economically, but that didn’t mean her childhood sucked. It just meant instead of a Barbie dreamhouse for Christmas she got the summer edition Barbie. Not a house. Just the doll. Jealousy is an emotion often clouding her anxieties and judgement on people. It caused her to lose her best friend since.. Well, as long as she could remember. Lola grew jealous and almost possessive over Jenny. She probably didn’t mean too but when she saw Jenny getting along with people when she couldnt caused a burning rage to settle in her chest. It got so bad Lola didnt even speak to anyone for a week before blowing up and ruining her only real friendship.

Just because she looks innocent doesn’t mean the brunette is. There are probably a few flat tires and keyed cars residing in South Park that are Lola’s own doing. Not to mention she is a total bystander. You wanna skip school? Cool, yeah I’ll watch for a teacher. You wanna smoke pot in the bathroom? It’s all good as long as she gets a hit. These are all childish 'bad behaviors’ but as Lola sees it, there’s no point in trying that hard to be bad. After all the one time she tried it, the poor thing almost died from hypothermia after blindly listening to a slumber party dare.

You aren’t supposed to sneak out in slumber parties. Or streak in Wal-Mart. Or jump of a bridge into negative temp waters. But these are all things Lola did too prove she was cool. And it ended up with her grounded, being hospitalised for pneumonia, and gaining a large fear of heights. And a hatred for party games.

Sample paragraph:

Of course, it was another cold blustery day. Chestnut tresses fluttered in front of her sight along the whole way home, it didn’t matter how many times she forcefully blew the bangs out of her face- they always flopped back down. Numbing fingers clutched tighter to the soft cloth lining of her jacket pockets. The index fingers and thumbs of both hands pinching at the materiel. Gosh- why is it always freezing? Dull orbs flittered around the blank scenery of the all too familiar path from her house to the school. The only sounds Lola could hear were the crunching of her flats against the snow and the wind whipping furiously around her. Boring. It was all white and boring. Lola was tired of being bored. She imagined that would be the only feeling she could muster for the rest of her life and it made the corners of her glossed lips tug down.

She shook her head as if to clear the thoughts instantly, humming a tune to distract herself as she continued on her trek.

One step, two step, three step…

…Sixteenth step-

Lola really needed a friend. A small sigh lifted her chest and as it billowed past her mouth she noticed movement in her peripherals. Was she really looking down this whole time like an idiot? How embarrassing! She clenched her hands into fists, further rumpling the jacket from its own pockets. Avoiding any kind of eye contact she swayed over to the side near the street and hurried her steps along. Too fast to count now. She passed the figure and her hands slowly unfurled. The blood rushing to her digits made them quite warm and her face flushed as well. God she was awkard.

Just as she thought she was in the clear, Lola felt a tap on her shoulder and her heart stuttered in its cavity as she stumbled to a stop. Fuck.

Headcanons:

🌟 owns a bike but rarely rides it.

🌟 has one cat- a black kitten named sparrow.

🌟 also two rats- yin and yang which are little chocolate colored sisters.

🌟 3.8 GPA

🌟 wants to learn french

🌟 owns a polaroid camera kinda girl

🌟 gardens in her free time

Anything else:

Im really insecure so if it takes me time to reply its cuz im demeaning myself and my baby and my words. 

[lastgenpodcast]

The Marvelous Captain Marvel

​Captain Marvel is the latest entry in the MCU lineup, and my most anticipated of 2019. This is finally the first movie with a female superhero lead, though it still boggles my mind that Black Widow never got one, and takes us back in time with Carol Danvers origin story as Captain Marvel. After Black Panther’s break through last year and success with seven Academy Award nominations, this movie had some big shoes to fill. So, the question is, how did our lady do?

First, some spoiler free thoughts for those who are still pending a viewing of the film. As a woman, I was clearly on the train for a good superhero film. I enjoyed Wonder Woman immensely and felt that, while it had its own hurdles, the film was one of DC’s best in a long time. With that qualification, I can say that I actually enjoyed Captain Marvel more than Wonder Woman. I loved the 90s soundtrack in the movie, which I found more engaging than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The character development was done well, though there were no crazy twists and turns that were not televised. It was also interesting to see the “start” of the MCU - the pre -Avengers Initiative pitched by Fury at the end of Iron Man, which I still remember got a huge pop in the theater. The very opening of the movie will get a tear out of every Marvel fan. The colors popped when they really needed to and the special effects were gorgeously integrated into the movie that allowed it to feel grounded while taking you to the skies. The only issue that I had with the film was in the first half of the film - the camera work in the fight scenes. I don’t like that hand-held, close up view of a fight - pull back and let me see what’s going on. Other than that, I can confidently say that Captain Marvel did not disappoint and made me excited to see how they continue to use the character going forward.

Alright, now let’s enter into spoiler territory. From here on out, I want to dive a little more into specifics, but I won’t go into the entire storyline as I think that that’s not as important as some pieces.

First, I feel like I should say that, while I have dabbled in the comic book world and enjoyed my fair share of Marvel, I have not had the opportunity to read Captain Marvel and so I was not familiar with her, her story, or even the differences between the Skrull and Kree races - the only exposure to them was via the MCU films and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series (which I have unfortunately not had time to keep up with for the past few seasons). However, even with my limited knowledge, this film did a great job of ensuring that no prior understanding was required. I’m sure if you had more familiarity there might have been some fun nuggets, but nothing was necessary for this viewer’s enjoyment.

As a movie that played around with timelines, there’s always the possibility of confusion on the viewer’s part. However, this movie, while giving us plenty of glimpses into Carol’s past, was never disorienting to the extent that I was taken out of the movie or had difficulty following the storyline. They did a brilliant job casting McKenna Grace, who you may have seen as young Theo in The Haunting of Hill House, as teenage Carol - she again shows great acting acumen and promise for great things in her future career. The sequence where we see the greatness that makes Carol superior than any Kree allows Grace to shine as brightly as Larson and cements the fact that it’s not how many times you’re knocked down, but how many times you get up that matters. Without that terrific young actress in this role, I feel that the movie might have not have had the impact it did, especially with younger viewers.

Ok, so, let’s discuss a bit more about our heroine. While Marvel loves to have the main character tied to someone that is already familiar to the viewer, I feel like it’s done in such a different way in this film that I don’t think it’s actually comparable to the prior situations. Usually, the new character, despite being the main character, can sometimes be outshone by the familiar face - or rather the familiar face is there to help our character because the main character has some weakness that precludes them from fully realizing their true potential and the familiar character acts almost as a guide of sorts. In Winter Soldier, Black Widow is there to help Captain America navigate the new world on his own and his dealing with what Bucky has become. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, you had Tony there to guide Peter in this new life as a superhero with all the fancy gadgets, though the scene in Civil War should have given it away that Peter was doing pretty well in his friendly neighborhood hero role. Many times, the films seem to force the main character off to the side while the familiar face walks them through their own film. Here, however, in Captain Marvel, Danvers is not overshadowed or pushed aside. While we have Fury as the familiar face, Danvers actually takes on the role of tutor to Fury’s young agent. He has no idea about the vastness of the universe and what is possibly out there that could threaten the world he is living in. Danvers never needs to rely on Fury, at most, they work as a team with both characters holding their own. And the fact that they did not brush aside our main character shows that the writers knew they could not do that to our female heroine - which is similar to Wonder Woman. Both of these heroines show that they do not need the male counterpart in their film to be successful or to get things done.

The writers also gave Danvers a great sense of humor - while she’s not as one-liner witty as Starlord or snarky as Stark - she has her own understated humor that hits when it needs to but doesn’t define her character. The other great part of Danvers is how she carries herself. One of the people I watched the movie with denoted that Danvers holds herself with confidence throughout the film, not cockiness. This distinction allows for the viewer to fall in love with her more than say the cocky Iron Man or Starlord, who come off as somewhat obnoxious at times. I love that there was no typical woman discovering her strength or beauty - Danvers knew she was strong but once she realized how strong she was throughout her life, she became even more powerful.

Speaking of strong women, Danvers counterpart Maria Rambeau is another character worthy of praise. I loved that not only was she Danvers flying partner, they had a deep connection that was clear despite the small pieces that the viewer gets of it. There was no typical girl fighting or competition that can sometimes tank female relationships. Both women had their own strength and they recognized the other’s. An important scene that needs to be called out is the one where Danvers shows up to Rambeau’s place after the years she’s been “dead” - there was no fighting or hurtful doubting that soured their relationship. It was acknowledged that Rambeau was deeply hurt that her friend had gone, but she didn’t need it explained that Danvers had no control of her disappearance. They did what the best of friends can do - they easily fell back into their friendship routine of jokes and taking care of each other. This is what true female empowerment is about - no bitterness or jealousy, just understanding and love. You want to embolden women - show this type of relationship more in movies.

Speaking of relationships, I need to point out the thing that was lacking in this film - but that was lacking in a good way. There was absolutely no love interest for Danvers. There was no time where she was put into that trope of female in love - the closest we get is her friendship with Rambeau, but this does not prevent her from taking care of what she needs to take care of, at the end especially. They didn’t do the love interest with Danvers’ teacher or some past love that she was trying to figure out. This film allowed Danvers to shine as her own independent person without being defined by someone or something else controlling her emotions. If anything, this film shows that being in control of your own emotions, while acknowledging they are there, is its own super power. Jude Law’s character, Yon-Rogg, is the one pushing Danvers to be less emotional - a clear parallel to how women are spoken to most of their lives. How many times do we classify a woman as “hysterical” while a man doing the same would be “passionate”? Yon-Rogg constantly tries to push Danvers to put away her emotions, but she finds out that there is power in harnessing those emotions and allowing them to work for her. Fighting them just leads to worse outcomes, while embracing them, along with her entire being, takes her to the next level and puts her above everyone else. She can truly do anything once she accepts who and what she is - all of it. I can’t think of a better message for all females.

While I’m sure there’s plenty that I missed after my first viewing, I can say that this movie did not disappoint. It lived up to my own internal hype and brought me a strong female character that I want to show off to everyone. Celebrate women and support this movie by going to see it on the big screen. Show Marvel that they should have done a female-centered movie long before this, but if waiting allowed this to be their first, then huzzah!

[vincent-marie]

A Look Back on TREASURE PLANET

So recently I rewatched TREASURE PLANET for the first time in about fifteen years and… I'm not gonna lie, it's still my personal favorite of the 2D Disney animated features from the early to mid-2000s.

Let's be real. Of the 2D features Disney released around that time period, TREASURE PLANET is one of the more solid films. ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE had some interesting ideas and some really nice design work and animation, but it really needed to be at least two hours long if it wanted to flesh out the characters and the world-building without requiring supplementary material (like a special edition of Disney Adventure magazine). Hardly anybody remembers BROTHER BEAR was even a thing, and the less said about HOME ON THE RANGE, the better. (Seriously, that movie wasn't even worth the Steve Buscemi cameo.)

The only other film of that era that has really held up was LILO AND STITCH, and I'll admit it's probably a better film than TREASURE PLANET. It took more risks in terms of character, setting and originality, and emotionally it leaves more of an impact. (That scene when Nani sings to Lilo makes me cry like a baby every time.) My only problem with it is it always felt like two entirely different movies collided with each other and it never felt like they really meshed well. Otherwise, I agree with most fans that it’s a good film.

Also, of course, there was the excellent THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, which was just such a huge departure from Disney’s normal schtick and trying something more Tex Avery-esque, only for it to be a perfect storm instead of a total crash and burn. That is much to be proud of.

Going back to TREASURE PLANET, I can understand that most folks walk away saying it’s an "okay" film. I, however, am not one of those people. I've had a real soft spot for this movie ever since I saw it, but now I appreciate this film for additional reasons.

Namely, the animation and effects work. Holy crap, is this movie gorgeous! It's like watching Don Bluth's ANASTASIA, except I don't have to feel guilty about historical inaccuracies. (Now it’s just scientific inaccuracies, but STAR WARS gets away with that all the time.)

Directors John Musker and Ron Clements had apparently wanted to do a sci-fi retelling of "Treasure Island" since before they started working on THE LITTLE MERMAID. With that in mind I do feel like this movie would have fared better with critics back in the early 90s during the Disney Renaissance. However at that time they would not have had such elaborate and detailed CG effects within arm's reach. There's something I really enjoy about the use of 3D backdrops so that they may do sweeping camera movements, and that's not even getting into the lighting effects to establish atmosphere.

What's more, there are a lot of subtleties to the character animation that I never appreciated until now. You could just pick one character and focus on him or her during the whole movie and find a lot of fun little quirks in their dialogue or walk cycles.

Admittedly, much of this film’s appeal probably depends on how much of an animation fan you are. In my case I was watching John Silver’s animation and I suspected that Glen Keane was probably in charge of animating him (as there are moments when Silver looks so much like Ratigan). Those suspicions were confirmed during the end credits and I was delightfully geeking out about it.

It’s also easy to see where this film might not have had a lot of mass appeal. Most of the focus on the story is on Jim Hawkins and his daddy issues, which by the early 2000s was already a cliche of a character arc. And it’s not helped by the fact that Jim himself is... well, kind of on the bland side as a protagonist. There’s not a lot about him that makes him any more or less interesting than any other teenage male lead. But for what it is I think the movie did fine at establishing and building the relationship between Jim and Silver, which does have its warm and comforting moments. For both of them.

And at least the film is straightforward with its plot and characters and it’s not a structural mess like HERCULES, a previous venture by Musker and Clements.

Something I’ve noticed over the years is that TREASURE PLANET has a little bit of a cult following. I distinctly remember this one time when I was taking a storyboard class in college; we were assigned to do a “Master Study” assignment by recreating the key story frames in our favorite scene in a favorite animated movie. One of my classmates picked the scene when Jim is brought home to the inn by the police and embarrasses his mother. I recall being so impressed, and even a little envious, that she got the character design style down to a T. (If you’re wondering what movie/scene I picked for my Master Study, I picked the Big Ben scene from THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE.)

Then, of course, some friends and I suspect that TREASURE PLANET might have fared better if it had been released a bit later, more towards the height of the Steampunk craze. It’s not quite what I would call “Steampunk”, as it takes place in a sort of alternate universe version of the 18th century and not the Gothic era, and most of their transport is solar-powered and not steam-based. Nevertheless it’s easy to see how fans of Steampunk could find it appealing, with its mostly earth-tone color pallet to evoke the painted illustrations of the classic novel it was based on. Also that combination of a pre-20th century aesthetic with out-of-this-world science fiction elements is pretty much, in my opinion, what makes Steampunk so much fun to play around with. Also, a robot made out of copper. End of story.

In terms of why this film didn’t do so well when it was released, I suspect what stunted its success was the marketing. I could be wrong, as I was actually living in Honduras at the time of the film’s release, but we got some TV stations from Denver, Colorado. I remember a lot of the TV spots spent most of their time highlighting the goofy comic relief moments with Morph, and there was a real emphasis on the presence of B.E.N., even though he's in less than one-third of the movie. In other words, the film's success might have been partially sabotaged by a marketing team that seemed to think if you don’t take your film seriously at all that will somehow draw in the crowd.

Although speaking of the comic relief characters, I actually don’t mind them that much. I always thought Morph had a lot of cute, funny moments that weren’t too obnoxious. As for B.E.N., I kind of have mixed feelings for him. On one hand, the directing team made better use of Martin Short’s improvisational skills than PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN or WE’RE BACK! ever did. But on the other hand, does B.E.N. have to be so loud and shouty? However, while B.E.N. is a real screw-up, he’s not so much to the point where I want to see him get smashed with a sledgehammer. He’s generally likable, not at all loathsome, and just annoying enough, but not TOO annoying.

However while we’re still on the subject of B.E.N., I’d just like to add that the CG animation on him is really nice. Making him 3D gives him a sort of sense of solidity compared to his hand-drawn humanoid compadres, and to top it off his animation isn’t at all stiff or feels like the CG is holding him back. There is some really expressive squashing and stretching going on with his dialogue. It’s so subtle in places that you’d probably miss it if you’re not looking for it. A lot of CG animation studios at the time like Pixar and Dreamworks had not quite mastered squashing and stretching themselves, so kudos to Disney for pulling it off so well.

Now if I may indulge a little on why I remember this film fondly, my favorite characters were always Dr. Doppler and Captain Amelia. They are both fun and engaging on their own, but together they are weirdly adorable. Granted, I've always thought them getting together at the end was a bit rushed, but I still totally buy it.

(What I don't buy is that they'd be so eager to have kids after Doppler showed such annoyance and revulsion towards that toddler alien girl at the beginning. I get that the creators wanted some visual shorthand to indicate that they're an official couple, but they could have just been wearing wedding rings or throw in a little more of them dancing together.)

Part of the reason I love these characters on their own is the casting. I was already familiar with Emma Thompson from Ang Lee's adaptation of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and her character of Eleanor Dashwood was very quiet and reserved. You can imagine my disbelief and delight hearing her play an assertive, witty badass as Amelia. (As if I didn't already think Amelia’s design was cool.)

As for David Hyde Pierce, I had only occasionally watched FRASIER growing up, but when I saw this movie I was familiar with him through some other memorable voice acting roles, particularly that excellent Season 8 episode of THE SIMPSONS, “Brother From Another Series.” In other words, I already knew him to be funny, snarky and charismatic.

While I'm on about the casting, I feel like there's a totally wasted opportunity to have these two characters in a room together, say, before the black hole scene, exchanging witty banter to show how compatible they are in a casual setting. It’s a shame that Emma and David didn’t record their dialogue together, because with her being an accomplished writer and with his skills at improvisation, there could have been some good verbal combat by way of “Much Ado About Nothing-Meets-Frasier.”

But looking back, I remember I immediately loved Captain Amelia just on principal. As a kid I never really gravitated that much to any of the Disney princesses. I can’t really describe why, but it was mostly how they were marketed as just looking pretty and (arguably) kind of passive in their own stories. Not to mention how when Disney Princess became a brand, they really amped up the girly cutesy-ness to their preexisting images. Not to say there’s anything inherently wrong with cute or feminine things, but it really made me feel like a weirdo who somehow wasn’t fit to be called a girl.

Captain Amelia, on the other hand, had her own style of femininity by wearing a classy, more masculine captain’s uniform along with thigh-high high-heeled boots (that she has no problem running in). She had a no-nonsense attitude, she was focused and cool-headed in a stressful situation, she was downright snarky and took crap from no one. In other words, she was the type of woman I wanted to be when I grew up, and to this day she is my favorite Disney Lady, bar none.

And while I’m at it, I’m just going to add that I’ve always found Dr. Doppler more attractive than your standard Disney prince. Besides his character design looking like a canine version of Roger from 101 DALMATIONS, he just always seemed like he’d be fun to get a coffee with.

Well, that’s about all I really want to talk about regarding TREASURE PLANET. It’s a shame it’s not remembered by more people as it does have some really good elements to it, but in some regards I can kind of see why it wasn’t a huge critical success. If you haven’t seen it already I recommend checking it out as it’s a pretty solid standalone film that doesn’t need supplementary material and covers all the bases with the plot and some fun character moments here and there. If you’re an animation fan I cannot stress enough how you really need to watch it, or even rewatch it, because, again, the animation and effects work is just a real feast for the eyes.

[dramioneficindex]

Title: Epiphany Author: phlox  Rating: M Genre(s): Angst, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Suspense Chapters: 5 Word Count: 27,004 Summary: “What would you say if I told you the Hourglasses were not an isolated incident? Or if I told you that this most surely involves deep magic going back centuries to the founding of Hogwarts? What would you say to helping me solve a mystery that could hold the future of the school in the balance?”“I’d say it’d be just like old times, Granger.” Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Fest/Exchange: Otter and Ferret Alternate Links: AO3  Published: April 26, 2012 Themes: Hogwarts Professors, Magical Items Draco: Broody, Curse-Breaker, Draco’s Patrous [Ferret], Hogwarts Professor [Teaches DADA], Redeemed Hermione: Campaigner, Hogwarts Professor [Charms] Locations: Hogwarts Libray Side Pairings: Harry/Ginny Friendships: Hermione & Harry, Hermione & Ron Characters: Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall, Ron Weasley Warnings: Implicit Sexual Situations

Title: Epiphany Author: ruafair Rating: PG-13 Genre(s): Romance, Angst Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3,238 Summary: After being married for several years, Hermione and Draco are getting divorced, and through the process, remember why they fell in love. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War Fest/Exchange: dmhgficexchange Published: November 19, 2007 Relationship: Already Married, Divorced or Separated From Each Other [almost divorced] Themes: Marital Problems Draco: Redeemed Characters: Original Characters

Title: Epistles Author: DrSallySparrow & olivieblake Rating: T Genre(s): Friendship Chapters: 42 Word Count: 12,357  Summary: Letters between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, exploring their bromantic history.  Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War Published: July 21, 2016  Completed: December 24, 2016 Relationship: Boyfriend/Girlfriend, Engagement and Marriage (at some point) Themes: Friendship, Letters Characters: Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Theo Nott, Narcissa Malfoy, Ron Weasley, Pansy Parkinson 

Title: Equality Author: Aradia1013 Rating: M Genre(s): Angst, Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1,619 Summary: Ron gets taught a tough lesson. Ron-bashing, character death, adult themes. Oneshot. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Published: December 3, 2012 Relationship: Engaged/Married (At Some Point) Themes: Adultery, Endearments Draco: Manipulative Side Pairings: Ron/Hermione, Ron/Katie Characters: Ron Weasley Anti-Characters: Anti-Ron

Title: Equilibrium Disturbed Author: pagan  Rating: T Genre(s): Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3,190 Summary: He’d been staring at her a lot lately. Granger. Hermione.  To such a point where he’d even been distracted from his work. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Fest/Exchange: Otter and Ferret Published: April 12, 2013 Themes: Co-workers/Office/Partners, Travel [Alexandria, Egypt] Draco: Curse-Breaker, Redeemed Hermione: Curse-Breaker

Title: Eruption Author: River In Egypt Rating: MA Genre(s): Angst, Drama, Romance Chapters: 3 Word Count: 22,615 Summary: An explosive encounter at an anniversary celebration in Malfoy Manor shatters their worlds in all-consuming heat and leaves them burning for more. How can Draco and Hermione rebuild from the smouldering ruins and create a new start? Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, Epilogue Compliant, Mature Dramione Holiday: Valentine’s Fest/Exchange: dramionelove Valentine’s Fic and Art Fest Published: February 21, 2013 Themes: Adultery/Cheating [Draco and Hermione cheat with each other], Co-workers/Office/Partners [Draco becomes Hermione’s boss], Events/Celebration [Party], Potions Draco: Business Man, Manipulative, Snarky, Snob, Witty Hermione: Feisty, Know-It-All, Ministry Employee, Witty Locations: Malfoy Manor, Ministry of Magic Side Pairings: Hermione/Ron, Draco/Astoria, Harry/Ginny Friendships: Hermione & Harry Characters: Astoria Greengrass, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley Warnings: Adultery, Angry sex, Angst

Title: Essays Author: lazer-angel Rating: T Genre(s): Romance, Humor Chapters: 3 Word Count: 13,966 Summary: Essays. I’ve always loved them. That is, until someone started messing with my essays… Status: Complete Timeline: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Year 7 Published: December 27, 2009  Completed: January 9, 2010 Themes: Apologies [Draco], Draco Kisses Hermione to Shut Her Up Draco: Snarky, Witty Hermione: Feisty, Know-It-All, Point of View, Witty Locations: Hogwarts Library

Title: Et in Arcadia ego Author: LuciannaMalfoy Rating: T Genre(s): Angst, Dark, Drama Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1,736 Summary: Even in Arcadia, I exist, Draco hoped, but he forgot that life has its unexpected turns. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War Fest/Exchange: Reverse Challenge 2010 Published: June 25, 2010 Pregnancy/Children: Single Parents [Hermione has a daughter] Themes: Ministry/Politics Draco: Broody, Death Eater Hermione: Campaigner, Single Mother Side Pairings: Past Hermione/Snape Characters: Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Severus Snape Warnings: Psychological Trauma

Title: Etudes on Marriage Author: JoJo4 Rating: K Genre(s): Romance/Drama Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3,200 Summary: Something is bothering Hermione, but Draco doesn’t know what it is. (Complete) Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War Published: March 21, 2004 Relationship: Already Married Pregnancy/Children: Children Names [Tom] Themes: Music [Hermione plays the piano], Marital Problems/Divorce, Apologies [Draco and Hermione] Hermione: Emotional Locations: Malfoy Manor

Title: Eventually Author: ashleyfanfic Rating: T Genre(s): Fluff Chapters: 1 Word Count: 5,424 Summary: On Christmas Eve, Hermione relives the moment that changed her life forever, and also finds a new hope. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, Semi-Epilogue Compliant Holiday: Christmas/New Year’s Fest/Exchange: dramione_remix Published: December 27, 2012 Pregnancy/Children: Single Parent [Hermione has a daughter (Rose) and son (Hugo)] Draco: Draco’s Feelings, Redeemed Hermione: Single Mother, Widow Locations: Malfoy Manor Side Pairings: Harry/Ginny, Neville/Pansy Characters: Ginny Weasley, Molly Weasley, Pansy Parkinson, Rose Weasley Character Deaths: Narcissa Malfoy, Ron Weasley

Title: Ever After Author: damnedscribblingwoman Rating: M Genre(s): Adventure, Angst, Fluff, Romance Chapters: 7 Word Count: 23,597 Summary: Draco and Hermione fall under a sleeping curse and get thrown into a dream world filled with the fairy-tale version of their friends and family. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Fest/Exchange: Reverse Challenge 2014 (Hawthorn & Vine) Published: January 18, 2014 February 17, 2014  Relationship: Breakup/Together Again, Divorced or Separated From Each Other [Divorced] Pregnancy/Children: Children Names [Scorpius] Themes: Conflict/Bickering, Cooking/Baking [Draco & Hermione], Curses/Spells, Draco’s Dark Mark, Events/Celebrations [Ball], Fairytale [Alice in Wonderland, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstitskin, Peter Pan], Marital Problems/Divorce, Scars [Hermione], Trapped Together Draco: Divorced, Redeemed Hermione: Bossy, Divorced, Emotional, Feisty Locations: Ministry of Magic Side Pairings: Draco/Astoria, Harry/Ginny Characters: Albus Dumbledore, Antonin Dolohov, Arthur Weasley, Astoria Greengrass, Blaise Zabini, Cho Chang, Colin Creevey, Dolores Umbridge, Fleur Delacour, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Grangers [Jean], Harry Potter, Lavender Brown, Lucius Malfoy, Luna Lovegood, Minerva  McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Nymphadora Tonks, Pansy Parkinson, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Seamus Finnigan, Sirius Black, Vincent Crabbe Warnings: Implicit Sexual Situations

Title: Ever Fallen in Love Author: That’sSusanToYou  Rating: T Genre(s): Romance, Friendship, Drama Chapters: 1 Word Count: 11,402 Summary: A story about denial, rejection, and lots of weddings. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Published: November 21, 2011 Relationship: Friendship Themes: Adultery/Cheating [Hermione was cheated on], Apologies [Draco], Travel [Naples, Italy] Draco: Redeemed Hermione: Emotional, Feisty Locations: Hermione’s Flat/House, Ministry of Magic Side Pairings: Hermione/Blaise [Past], Harry/Ginny, Draco/Astoria, Blaise/Original Character Friendships: Hermione & Harry Characters: Astoria Greengrass, Blaise Zabini, Ginny Weasley, Narcissa Malfoy Character Deaths: Ron Weasley

Title: Every Night Author: tayz Rating: NC-17 Genre(s): Plot? What Plot? Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1,421 Summary: In the midst of a terrible war, Hermione and Draco find comfort in each other by meeting every night in a dark, deserted classroom. Lust, passion, possibly romance, depending on which way you look at it. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 7, War Published: August 2005 Relationship: Forbidden Love/Secret Relationship Themes: Apologies [Draco] Locations: Classroom

Title: Everybody Wants to Rule the World Author: attica Rating: T Genre(s): Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 12,016 Summary: Funny because when he saw her he kind of stared. There was just a funny feeling inside of him because when he’d first walked out everything looked so different but she uncannily stayed the same.  Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, AU Published: July 15, 2006 Themes: Alcohol, Jealousy Draco: Broody Friendships: Draco & Pansy, Hermione & Harry, Hermione & Ron Character Deaths: Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy Character Birthday: Hermione

Title: Everybody’s Got One Author: Starky Rating: K Genre(s): Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 8,856 Summary: The happiest memory he could conjure wasn’t good enough. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 8 Published: January 14, 2011 Relationship: Friendship Themes: Chocolate, Head Boy/Head Girl, Magical Creatures Draco: Draco’s Feelings, Redeemed Hermione: Know-It-All Locations: Potions Class Characters: Blaise Zabini, Ginny Wealsey, Horace Slughorn, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Pansy Parkinson

Title: Everything About You Author: typewriter91 Rating: T Genre(s): Drama, Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3,620 Summary: He thought perhaps he’d always loved her. At first, it’d been a hateful love. He’d loved torturing her, knocking her down to pick himself up. He’d loved how it’d woken him to a world of colors when everything else was grey. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 8 Published: March 23, 2015 Themes: Secret Feelings, Friendship, Hurt and Comfort

Title: Everything Changes Author: inadaze22 Rating: M Genre(s): Romance, Fluff, Humor Chapters: 17 Word Count: 76,191 Summary: “Thank you for cheating on me, Ron. It’s the best thing you could’ve  done. Thank you for stopping me from making the worst mistake of my life.”  Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Published: December 11, 2007  Completed: January 3, 2008 Relationship: Engaged/Married (At Some Point), Friendship Pregnancy/Children: Children Names [Addison Narcissa, Benjamin Draco, Grace Andromeda, Unborn Baby], Pregnancy/Child Birth Themes: Adultery/Cheating [Ron cheats], Affection, Alcohol, Co-workers/Office/Partners, Cooking/Baking [Hermione], Cruciatus Curse [Hermione is tortured], Cuddling/Spooning, Dates, Driving [Hermione], Endearments/Pet Names, Injuries [Hermione], Jealousy Draco: Ministry Employee, Protective/Possessive, Redeemed, Sex God, Snarky Hermione: Bossy, Emotional, Feisty, Ministry Employee [Head of MLE], Point of View Locations: Ministry of Magic, The Burrow Side Pairings: Hermione/Ron, George/Original character, Harry/Ginny, Ron/Original Character Friendships: Draco & Ginny, Draco & Harry, Hermione & Ginny, Hermione & Harry Characters: Arthur Weasley, Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour, George Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Grangers, Harry Potter, Molly Weasley, Narcissa Malfoy [Deceased], Padma Patil, Parvati Patil, Ron Weasley, Teddy Lupin, Victoire Weasley

Title: Everything Comes With A Prize Author: evil_kitten18 Rating: K Genre(s): Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2,507 Summary: She hated him that much he knew. Now he needed a way to change that.  Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Holiday: Christmas/New Year’s Fest/Exchange: dramione_remix Alternate Links: ff.net Published: December 19, 2012 Relationship: Engaged/Married (At Some Point) Pregnancy/Children: Children Names [Lyra, Scorpius], Pregnancy/Child Birth Themes: Matchmaking/Blind Date [Matchmaker: Harry], Mistletoe Draco: Redeemed Characters: Blaise Zabini, Harry Potter Featured Holiday: Valentine’s

Title: Everything I am  Author: PurelyPoison Rating: M Genre(s): Romance, Angst  Chapters: 41 Word Count: 99,587  Summary: Summary: “I’m impossible to love apparently, didn’t anyone tell you?” “Now that…that I don’t believe at all”, he laughed lowly, staring straight back at me and in that moment, I was lost. HG/DM Lemons, Violence and mature themes! Status: Complete Timeline: Year 6, War  Published: February 7, 2014  Completed: Noveber 5, 2017  Relationship: Secret Relationship, Fake Relationship  Themes: Kidnapping and Imprisonment [Hermione], Nightmares, Insecurity, Abuse and Assault, Draco’s Dark Mark, Final Battle, On the Run, Death Eaters, Curses and Spells  Draco: Broody, Manipulative, Possessive and Protective, Death Eater, Turncoat Hermione: Feisty, Manipulative Locations: Malfoy Manor, Hogwarts, Grimmauld Place  Characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Narcissa Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Lavender Brown, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Fenrir Greyback  Character Deaths: Dumbledore, Narcissa, Lavender, Sirius Lucius   Character Point of View/POV: Draco, Hermione  Anti-Characters: Anti-Ron  Warnings: Explicit Sexual Situations, Profanity, Violence, Mentions of Non-con 

Title: Everything Is Coming Up Draco  Author: Pierrej92  Rating: M Genre(s): Romance, Angst  Chapters: 12 Word Count: 57,485  Summary: “You can’t trust a snake Granger, we bite remember?” Hermione smirked gently, “they say that about lions too.” When Draco and Hermione come face to face with one another at Hogwarts for their eighth year, they have to finally work through the unresolved feelings left from one summer night. Winner of Best Hurt/Comfort Fic in Dramione Fanfic Forum Spring Awards 2017. COMPLETE. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 8 Alternate Links: AO3 Published: February 7, 2017 Completed: June 1, 2017 Themes: Apologies [Draco], Roommates, Nightmares [Hermione], Alcohol, Abuse and Assault [Draco], Flashbacks, Friendship, Arguments, Insecurity [Hermione], Psychological Trauma [Draco has PTSD],    Draco: Redeemed, Broody, Draco’s Emotions, Stubborn  Hermione: Feisty, Hermione’s Emotions, Compassionate, Vulnerable, Stubborn   Locations: Hogwarts Friendships: Draco and Theo, Hermione and Ginny, Characters: Theo Nott, Dean Thomas, Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Narcissa Malfoy Character Birthdays: Draco Character Deaths: Lucius Featured Holidays: Valentine’s Warnings: Explicit Sexual Situations 

Title: EVIGILATIO  Author: darkcivet/FallenCrimsonStar Rating: MA/NC-17 Genre(s): Drama, Horror Chapters: 1 Word Count: 5,000 Summary: She could Apparate to the other side of the world and he’d still find her. She couldn’t run forever. Not from what she wanted. And especially not from him.  Status: Complete Timeline: War  Fest/Exchange: dramionelove Adopt-A-Prompt 2015 Alternate Links: ff.net  Published: June 2, 2015   Themes: Horcrux Hunting/On The Run, Magical Creatures [Veela, Werewolf], Stalking Draco: Death Eater, Determined, Lusty, Veela Hermione: Blushing Virgin, Feisty, Lusty, Order Member  Friendships: Hermione & Harry, Hermione & Ron Characters: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley  Warnings: Explicit sex scene, war violence.

Title: Evil Geniuses Author: mister_otter Rating: M Genre(s): Humor, Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 5,145 Summary: Draco’s plans for a romantic evening with Hermione go curiously awry. Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-war Alternate Links: LJ Published: April 6, 2011 Relationship: Boyfriend/Girlfriend  Friendships: Draco & Goyle Characters: Gregory Goyle, Original Characters

Title: Evil Plans for the Good of the World Author: lalejandra Rating: MA/NC-17 Genre(s): Humor Chapters: 1  Word Count: 14,305 Summary: Draco feels nothing inappropriate and never to excess. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 7 Published: March 28, 2004 Themes: Baths/Showers, Head Boy/Head Girl Characters: Albus Dumbledore, Blaise Zabini, Daphne/Queenie Greengrass, Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, Pansy Parkinson Additional Notes: Uses the name “Queenie” for Daphne

Title: Evil Takes a Form in Draco Malfoy Author: missshyness Rating: K Genre(s): Angst, Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 4,418 Summary: Hermione learns about the importance of context as she sees hope for a redeeming Draco. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 6 Published: October 2, 2012 Themes: Draco’s Dark Mark Draco: Death Eater, Redeemed, Snarky Hermione: Feisty, Point of View Locations: Great Hall, Gryffindor Tower, Room of Requirement Characters: Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy, Minerva McGonagall, Narcissa Malfoy, Ron Weasley

Title: Exception Author: greywolfheir Rating: T Genre(s): Romance Chapters: 11 Word Count: 29,550 Summary: Dramione throughout the book series—a romance between the pages. It’s an in-depth look at the books (books only, not the movies) with each  chapter corresponding with a book in the series (some books have two chapters) Status: Complete Timeline: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, War, Post-Hogwarts/Post-War, EWE Published: July 29, 2013  Relationship: Engaged/Married (at some point) Pregnancy/Children: Children Names [Rosalinda Marie, Scorpius] Themes: Amortentia, Apologies [Draco & Hermione], Cruciatus Curse [Draco & Hermione], Dancing, Events/Celebrations [Yule Ball], Promises Draco: Emotional, Snarky Hermione: Bossy, Emotional, Feisty, Know-It-All Locations: Diagon Alley, Great Hall, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts Express, Hogwarts Hospital Wing, Hogwarts Library, King’s Cross Station, Malfoy Manor, Potions Class, Prefects’ Bath, Room of Requirement, Slytherin Dungeons Side Pairings: Harry/Ginny Characters: Bellatrix Lestrange, Gregory Goyle, Harry Potter, Horace Slughorn, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Moaning Myrtle, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Viktor Krum, Vincent Crabbe, Voldemort

Title: Extracurricular Author: dbshaw Rating: M Genre(s): General, Romance Chapters: 5 Word Count: 11,713 Summary: Hermione loves being Head Girl, it’s just the Head Boy and his best friend she’s not too fond of. She wonders if there’ll ever come a time when they all learn to get along. Status: Complete Timeline: Year 7 Fest/Exchange: Reverse Challenge 2010 Alternate Links: ff.net Published: June 29, 2010 Themes: Alcohol, Injuries [Draco & Hermione], Trapped Together Draco: Prefect, Snarky Hermione: Feisty, Head Girl [Head Boy: Blaise] Locations: Great Hall, Hogwarts Library Friendships: Draco & Blaise, Hermine & Ginny, Hermione & Harry, Hermione & Ron Characters: Albus Dumbledore, Blaise Zabini, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Irma Pince, Pansy Parkinson, Peeves, Poppy Pomfrey, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, Vincent Crabbe Warnings: Implicit Sexual Situations, Mild Profanity, Mild Violence

Title: Extreme Quidditch Author: artemisgoddess Rating: M15 Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Humor, Romance Chapters: 1 Word Count: 8,240 Summary: “Isn’t it obvious, Malfoy? If everyone’s desperately craving excitement because everything’s been boring and mundane…” She leaned closer, lowering her voice, and Draco held his breath. “…then we’ll give them something extreme.” Status: Complete Timeline: Post Hogwarts/Post War, AU Published: August 26, 2012 Themes: Co-workers/Office/Partners, Flirting, Quidditch/Flying Draco: Business Man, Draco’s Feelings, Redeemed Hermione: Bossy, Know-It-All Locations: Diagon Alley Side Pairings: Harry/Ginny Characters: Harry Potter Warnings: Violence

Title: Eye of the Needle Author: mister_otter Rating: M Genre(s): Humor Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3,240 Summary: Playing good Samaritan for Pansy, Draco visits a certain shop to make a rather delicate purchase… Status: Complete Timeline: Post-Hogwarts/Post-War Published: February 1, 2010 Themes: Magical Items Hermione: Accountant Locations: Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes Side Pairings: Blaise/Pansy Friendships: Draco & Pansy Characters: Pansy Parkinson