#in my hockey romance era

[four2andnew]

Pairs

a Hinny muggle AU (drabble)

Read it on AO3 or below

It started as a joke after one of their clinics the hockey league put on. A silly pass time Harry and the Weasley boys signed up for to keep them on the ice during the off-season, to keep their skills in top form. The fact that the three Weasley brothers could monitor their baby sister at her own figure skating lessons was the only reason Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been able to be convinced to sign three more children up for the very expensive lessons.

The four of them were late to the game, fourteen and sixteen year olds figure skating for the first time with a bunch of boys who had been there since they were three and four years old; and nothing was more hilarious to the experienced boys than the four hockey boys falling on their faces every time they forgot about the toe picks. All the Weasley boys could talk about after each practice was how quick they were going to be zipping around in the ice next season but all Harry could think was how he felt like he was flying. Jumps and twists and spins got his adrenaline pumping more than chasing after a puck ever did. The first time Harry saw a pairs team practicing as their group laced up their skates, the male partner threw the girl five feet over his head while she performed a twist and Harry just knew the thrill of catching a partner after a throw like that had to be the best.

So when hockey season started back up, the Weasley boys promptly dropped the figure skating lessons but Harry kept on. And sure, he was on the receiving end of some razzing from his old hockey teammates; but every single one of them shut the hell up once they saw Harry skating with one hand firmly on a girl’s arsecheek as he held her overhead without even breaking a sweat.

He put his heart and soul into it, even found himself a private coach and started searching for the perfect partner. It was awkward trying to find a partner while he was in the middle of his growth spurts, but eventually he and Cho paired up and even managed to win silver at nationals until Cho’s own growth spurt made their height difference too close and he couldn’t lift her safely anymore, much less throw her. Only four years of figure skating, and Harry was already out of the game unless he could find another partner.

So he set his sights on Ginny.

She was tiny. She was an amazing skater of course. Her spins were so tight and fast, she was essentially a blur of copper. God, the lifts and throws they could nail if she would just start competing pairs. But no, she was dead set on competing individually.

Every time Harry saw her, he’d needle her about switching to pairs. Every early morning practice. Every public skate hour. Every time they sat in the stands to cheer on her brothers’ hockey team. Every dinner at the Weasley’s worn table.

“When are you gonna finally come skate pairs with me, Gin?”

“Every night in your dreams, Potter.”

[joeydaccord]

wondering why bridgerton is coming up in the sports romances category on ku

[n0velaes]

guess who is caving again and adding miss anastasia allen? me. i'm the one who caves again.

[sevynchaos]

diving into the cu hockey series and it better be good

[rimouskis]

could you explain more about what you view as the before era and what you view as the after? i need to learn my herstory

I think this requires a more detailed and educated/researched answer than I can give after an exhausting workday and an after-hours work event, but I'm going to do my best and also open up the floor in reblogs for people to chip in their thoughts

foremost: a DISCLAIMER that this post does not aim to shit on writers from the "before" era. there are many classic fics that I love and enjoy, even if I consider their characterizations to be "less accurate"* than the ones we have in the after era.

*aside to say: accuracy is based only off of literal media accounts we have of these men; we do not know them, we should not claim to know them, and they have had different comfort levels with the media knowing selective truths about their lives [sid out of choice, geno out of media xenophobia] than they did when these early fics were being written.

"before" fics (which I tend to refer to as "classic" fics, and had their heyday in 2012-2013 but continued up until 2016ish) tended to have more regimented roles for sid and geno. sid was usually the protagonist; geno was the love interest.

this came with a cascading set of characteristics assigned to each guy. sid was poor-little-meow-meow'd. geno was the pursuer in the relationship. sid usually bottomed. sid had the whole spacetoaster moment (he was the inspiration for the term, haha). there wasn't much a/b/o fic but sid was, like, the omega-fied one and geno was alpha-ized.

something I've been thinking about more recently is how 2012-2013 era sidgeno displayed signs of Migratory Slash Fandom. I don't think of MSF as an inherently negative/condemning thing, but I think it's a phenomenon that deserves to be mentioned/analyzed, yeah?

MSF thrives on big character differences.... like, grumpy/sunshine, sarcastic/broody, genius/empath. it's all about emphasizing disparate archetypes to create natural tension in a story. this works really well in most romance novels! I love it!

the issues arise when people try to make characters fit into these preset dynamics. and, frankly, when sidgeno first got big, we straight-up didn't know as much about sid and geno. I mean that. despite sid being EXTENSIVELY covered by media from age, like, 14, he was really tight-lipped compared to what we have now.

and geno was.... there. I don't mean that as a diss—he was INCREDIBLE, but the media totally passed him over again and again. or they helped contribute to stereotypes of him being a dumb oaf who didn't know english.

aside: ironically I think that helped in creating sidgeno and not, like.... sidflower or sidtanger. geno was so "DIFFERENT" from sid (aka: russian, characterized by media as not knowing how to speak [in comparison to sid's highly curated media soundbites]) that it meant he was the best candidate for A Ship with sid.

a lot of the really big writers who got into sidgeno were fandom veterans with lots of experience in other big fandoms. to me, that means MSF had a hand in all this. and we should be grateful, because it led to the BOOM of hockey fic, and of sidgeno fic specifically. modern hrpf wouldn't exist without it.

that being said, those template ship dynamics, plus the media's attitude then towards sid and geno in its coverage, led to those characterizations of whiny soft sensitive boy sid who needed to be rescued even though he was the best hockey player EVER, and geno as the lumbering tall strong alpha not-that-bright Love Interest Man.

this isn't to say every fic was this way, or that this is BAD. I, uh, love poor-little-meow-meow-ing sid and omegafying the hell out of him. what I'm saying is that it was a near-ubiquitous characterization across the board.

that all changed in 2016-2018. I personally wholly credit sevenfists, though I imagine it's more nuanced than that, but: my blog, I make the rules here. I don't know if sevenfists was psychic or just highly observant and absolutely excellent at reading people (and that's basically the same thing, right?), but characterization shifts began taking place in fic....

and the coolest thing happened, in that those characterizations were seemingly reinforced by more media coverage. the back to back cups brought with them TONS of interviews with and media about the team, and sid and geno in particular. the coolest part of it was that sid had loosened up a LOT and geno had gotten more comfortable (and had gotten a reporter firmly on his side).

the interviews about sid post 2016 were just SO different. so much information started coming out, and a LOT of it conflicted with Ye Olde Characterizations. as it turned out, sid was deeply one of the boys. he was funny. everyone liked him. he loved hosting. he was insanely comfortable around almost everyone, including strangers, because he's a little freak who's kind to everyone. he can make smalltalk like no one's business. he's kind of gross. he likes to giggle and be in on jokes and get into the thick of it. he isn't some blushing virgin bride sold off of mario's doorstep, yeah?

and geno, too, was finally getting the coverage he deserved. and his personality was both fortified by age and better shown to us through media. as it turns out, he isn't some happy go lucky oaf. he's mercurial and intensely aware of what others think of him (and he CARES). he's sensitive and thoughtful but also can lash out at random times. he has a wicked sense of humor that he uses as a defense mechanism and as a surefire way to get people to like him, which matters to him. and, as everyone says, he is SMART.

if you had to boil it down, I'd say that post-2016, it became clear that SID is the confident one and GENO is the insecure one. and fic caught onto that with a miraculously fast pace. also: they're more alike than they are different, but I still think romance inherently feeds off of difference and tension, so we still exaggerate things to make the stories ✨WORK✨.

I'm not going to give examples of pre- and post- era fics, because I don't want to point any fingers and say someone was doing characterization "wrong." that's not the takeaway I want anyone to have here.

fandom attitudes have changed. it's been 10 years since that first wave of fics, and while I don't think that's very long, it's a hell of a long time on the internet, and in a niche internet community. what was once the standard for fics (and what was well-read, and what people gravitated towards) was different. not worse—different.

I think it's fair to say the "after" era of fics is more "accurate" to what we know of sid and geno. it's also fair to say that this is only the case because we have a WEALTH of information, character-revealing interviews and videos and anecdotes, that Ye Old Authors could only dream of getting.

I really love the story of how everything has changed, and it's a fabulous microcosm of fandom evolution and how approaches to fanworks have changed and grown with fandom, and I think it's all so so cool.

[t00muchheart]

As I do when I am hyperfixating on something, I have read a LOT of supernatural fanfiction in the last few months, and I get a lot of the titles I read from other peoples’ recommendations or collections on ao3, so I figured I’d share some of my favorites in case anyone else is looking for recs :)

AUs:

Spirit of the West by teen_dean

This is a shock to literally no one who follows me because I regularly bring it up, but it honestly is one of the best things I’ve ever read. The 90s horse girl AU of your dreams (or, if you haven’t dreamed of one, that you never knew you needed). The storytelling is immaculate, the symbolism rich, and it only improves on re-reading

And this, your living kiss by opal_bullets

Poet Dean AU featuring genuinely beautiful comments on language and writing and how we encounter stories and words and what they can do, and also some honestly incredible poetry

where there is darkness by quiettewandering

Lighthouse keepers AU! this one is a bit mysterious and I did scream into a pillow after finishing it. If you know the story of the Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers, it is loosely inspired by that.

Phantasma by thisisapaige

Messy Dean, my beloved. Messy, Stanford-Era Dean, my beloved. Dean breaks off from John and buys a haunted house, and things sort of escalate.

For All You Young Hockey Players Out There, Pay Attention by thursdaysfallenangel

I don’t even watch hockey, but this AU kind of made me want to start. Rivals to friends to lovers all while dealing with the homophobia in the NHL

time has come today series by teen_dean

Team Free Will brings in teen Dean Winchester to help with a case, parallel worlds come into play; every version of Dean Winchester falls in love with Castiel & all the good stuff like that

What Baking Can Do by cowlovely

Baker & Dad Dean fic and Doctor Cas? What more could you ask for?

Everyone’s a Critic by Englandwouldfall

Food Critic Cas and Chef Dean meet in a truly unfortunate way. This is worth it for Cas’s reviews alone, but also the Dean-Gabriel dynamic

FROTUS by kathscradle

A President Cas, Restaurant Owner Dean romance that was honestly just a good time

Fix-Its:

take the bones, begin anew by JustStandingHere

This was one of the first fics I read and it is sort of peak disaster™ Dean Winchester. I love a good “I fixed up a house for you and didn’t realize it meant I was in love” fic and this one is iconic

i want to do with you (what spring does with cherry trees) by sobsicles

I ugly cry every time I read this fic. It is a run of Cas and Dean’s relationship in seasons 13-15 and has Dean making a friend and it hurts but also it’s so good. Maybe my favorite Sam line of any fic comes from this fic ("If he thinks what you two do is friendship, then I must just be some guy he happens to speak to sometimes.”)

break the skin (to break the barriers) by sobsicles

Dean gets tattoos, and as he does, he tells the tattoo artist his life story. This is a post-15x19 fic told from an outside perspective and it is so well-done

Dumbassery, Denial, Doing by sobsicles

Listen tbh this list could be dominated by sobsicles and so I am showing restraint by only including three of their works. Their Dean characterization is everything to me and this fic really highlights Dean growing to understand himself better when given the freedom to

Revisions by bizarrestars

THEE what if Dean and Cas got together earlier and Chuck just wrote it out? fic.

a turn of the earth by microcomets

I love a work that explores pre-series Dean, and this one is great. Basically, think what-if later seasons Cas and pre-series Dean met (Strandlines by aeli_kindara is another good example of this premise, but in Strandlines, it is pre-series Cas as well as pre-series Dean).

psalm 40:2 by unicornpoe

On a similar note, psalm 40:2 is a great pre-series Dean, future-Cas fic. I am a bi Dean believer but this fic did sway me toward the gay Dean camp because it’s simply so good.

You Belong Among the Wildflowers by ImYourHoneyBee

Dean fixing his relationship with Jack? You got it. Dean trying to work through losing Cas? Yep. Dean getting Cas back by being stubborn? It’s there.

Who You Gonna Call? by saintedcastiel

Dean has a ghost following him around as he tries to start a life post-series, and for a while, he can’t figure out what’s happening. I love nothing more than Dean telling people he and Cas were married because he doesn’t know how else to explain and this fic delivers so hard

quilts by fleeceframe

A “Cas didn’t confess before getting taken to the Empty” fic. Soft things all around

Miscellaneous:

Fathers & Daughters by sinnabonka

On a different note, this is one of my favorite Claire fics. It looks at Claire’s relationship with Cas and the impossibility of it, and it’s so artfully done.

Bus Loop Madness by batz_in_blue

Literally just a “what if everyone lived, Jack was a toddler, and they all picked him up from school?” AU. I audibly laughed while reading this, and it’s an essential pick-me-up from the heavier fics.

More of my favorite sobsicles fics include: gorging myself on you, still can’t get full (insatiable), and he’s back (with a mind of his own), six hundred sundays (and many more), oh sooner or later it all comes down to faith, things happen (they do, they do, and they do), according to all known laws of life, and profoundly bonded (by law)

Also, honorable mentions to Ninety One Whiskey, which is such a good fic, and Make a Believer Outta Me, which is a Hocus Pocus AU that is honestly just a fun time.

[bookaddict24-7]

REVIEWS OF THE WEEK!

Every week I will post various reviews I've written so far in 2024. You can check out my Goodreads for more up-to-date reviews HERE.

Have you read any of these? What were your thoughts?

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267. Body Check by Elle Kennedy--⭐️⭐️.5

You know it's bad when I can't even remember what this book was about LOL. Thank goodness for review notes.

Something about BODY CHECK just didn't immediately grab me like this author's other books. The mood just felt...off?

I've been spoiled by the newer Elle Kennedy books because this one barely had any prep time before the two MCs meant and went to bone town. Usually, Kennedy's characters have some alone time so we can get attached to them. I know this is her first book, so it definitely had some things that could have been done better. And then I start thinking about how this is a re-edited edition and I'm just kind of mind-blown.

Anyway, other than the fact that this very much felt like a Harlequin novel (not that this is a bad thing, it's just the kind of romance that happens very quickly and with some over-the-top situations), this was one of those quick books that entertains you in the moment and then immediately leaves your mind. I very much wish we'd gotten a bit more about these two before they got together. What we DID get was interesting.

The FMC had a Rachel & Ross situation going on at the beginning of the book and the poor guy was a goner that moment she had some good-good from the hockey player. The best part of this book was the scandal that was haunting the hockey players and the MC's dad. Even though I guessed the twist, it was still fun and entertaining.

If you want spicy spice, this will feed you. You will need milk. But if you want Kennedy's signature (sometimes slow burn) romance with characters who have to work to fall for each other, this one might not be for you. BUT if you're new to Kennedy, this might be a good place to start (only up from here).

I think this is one of those instances where this could have still as a backlist title, especially since most of Kennedy's more recent romance titles are a lot better. I'm not going to talk about her summer series because please.

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268. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a unique take on Cinderella!

ELLA ENCHANTED was both enjoyable and heartbreaking, all because of poor Ella's curse (excuse me, fairy "gift"). It did make for interesting moments where she learned how to maneuver her curse, and moments where I wanted to protect her from the evil people in her life trying to control her.

What I liked about this one too is that the prince knew who she was before her life completely fell apart. I liked that they had a childhood together where they fell for each other genuinely, and not because Ella looked pretty at a ball.

There was so much adventure, fun, misery, and anger felt in these pages. I also really liked that there were magical limitations and consequences for magical troublemaking. It helped the story feel a bit more genuine and like Ella would have to fight more for her freedom (which made for an even better story).

The ending had me smiling like a sap. Man, I'm glad I've finally read some of these classic stories, but I do wish I'd read them when I was younger. I just know my imagination would have been going wild back then.

___

269. Alive & Wells by Bailey Hannah--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Still hung up on that awesome dedication: "For the city girls in their cowboy romance era. And for the country girls who know a fictional cowboy is always better than the real thing." LOL.

I bought this on a whim during one afternoon trip to a bookstore. I know ranchers and cowboys have been getting really popular in romance novels and I've been curious. I remember my co-worker mentioned that she's met cowboys up in Alberta and they aren't as charming as the ones in the books (which is another reason why I love that dedication so much). But you know, I'm the type of woman who lives vicariously through fiction and that's okay.

Western suspenseful romance is a genre I never thought I'd be into, but after Devney Perry I've been unconsciously looking for more books like INDIGO RIDGE and this was a close comparison. We immediately get that threat of a douche husband and the MC's escape sets off a chain of events. She grows a lot as a character as she takes back her identity and strength that she lost during her marriage.

I LOVED the tension between her and the MMC because he has a genuine reason for being so wary of her. I will always love the idea of one MC having the prove themself to the other. Assuming is the killer of so many first impressions and I love that journey to healing that immediate rift. It usually turns into some nice spicy moments and deep connections between the characters--the perfect pay-off.

I liked that Hannah doesn't shy away from showing the painful aftermath of living in an abusive relationship and how one heals from it both with the help of others, but also with their own self-strength.

Also, can't NOT include the amazing cast of side characters who offered such an incredible level of support and entertainment! I can't wait to read their stories if they're written.

I devoured this book in the only way in can be devoured piece by piece every night for a week. Such a great western romance. Highly recommend. Intense TW for DV, potential gun violence, PTSD, and verbal abuse.

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270. Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood--⭐️⭐️⭐️

I went into this completely blind and a part of me is happy about it and another part is curious as to whether I would have picked this up after reading the synopsis. Sometimes I avoid books like this, either because the concept of it gives me anxiety or because I just side-eye it until it leaves my sight.

THE LOVE OF MY AFTERLIFE was an alright read that honestly made me curious about whether I should DNF it or not. I found myself wanting to do anything but listen to an audiobook and that's usually a telling sign. I will admit though that when I forced myself to press play, I DID enjoy what I was reading. Of course, there were some moments where I rolled my eyes, but there were other moments where I genuinely laughed and rooted for the MC.

Her teen life was awful and I felt so bad for her. It's true that that shit stays with you into adulthood (she says, as she thinks of how her experiences as a bullied kid still haunts her to this day) and can even alter the way you view life and the people you let in. What I wasn't a big fan of was how the MC let out her meanness on her neighbour and the people around her. She lived in that lonely bubble for most of her life and kicked people back before they could enter that bubble. In a way, this was a cautionary tale that the prison others make for you becomes so comfortable that it's really hard to break out of it.

The love interest (we all know it's not that Ken doll she meets briefly. This can't be a spoiler because it's always the one who makes the MC the angriest in the most sexually-tense way) was one of the best parts of this book. I loved that we got to know him alongside the MC and that maybe, he wasn't the jerk she thought he was. Their romance was adorable and saved a chunk of the book.

My major issues were her attitude, her obsession with that dude (to the point where it was just creepy), and some reviewers pointed out some inconsistencies that an editor would have caught.

Do I think this could easily be someone's favourite book? Hell yeah, I do. Look at that overall rating! I'm glad others liked it way more than I did. If you like romances with deadlines, a bit of paranormal action, and a grumpy neighbour who is secretly a cinnamon roll, then you might like this one!

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271. The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unpopular opinion, but save for the conflict resolution in this one, I think I liked the first book more. BUT this was still really cute!!!

I think the problem with me and this book was that everyone hyped it up for me. I had already loved Joyce's previous book, so I was doubly excited for THE EX VOWS. AND don't get me wrong, this one was super enjoyable. I had fun and I loved the characters and how they found themselves back in each others' orbits. I love a solid redemption arc.

But.

Something about this one didn't immediately grab me like the other book. I think it was the main trope. I'm not as big of a fan of second chance romances and I think that's honestly a very me problem. The other was an enemies to lovers romance and that is my bread and butter, second chance takes a while to capture me. I do love when a romance is rekindled and it's proven that the MC and her love interest have shared a love all along, but there's no tension like that of enemies LOL.

Anyway, THE EX VOWS was cute! I liked that we get thrown immediately into this uncomfortable situation where the MC is forced to face the one who got away (let their love sizzle down?). As the story progresses, we learn that both characters dropped the ball either from anxiety and a fear of failure, and a lack of self-love and self-importance. In other words, neither communicated (which I will ALWAYS say is a relationship killer). And now, they have a second chance.

I think what makes this story so successful with so many readers is how palpable the connection is between these two characters, and how much they love their friends. But also, the representation of what getting help and putting yourself first looks like. Also, the friendships are so sweet and portray what sometimes happens in life as we grow and change and adapt to what life throws at us.

Also, that conflict resolution. Because please, that was some A+ level writing and I wish more romance novels employed that level of communication and understand during the climax of a story.

Read this book. It's popular for a reason--it's very well written and I am SO excited to see what else Jessica Joyce writes!

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272. Stay Dead by April Henry--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

STAY DEAD was not at all what I was anticipating. For some reason, that cover made me think that this was going to be a zombie apocalypse book (the truth behind entering a book without reading the synopsis). Thankfully, I'm still a sucker for these kinds of books. Survival and running away from someone hunting the MC down? Sign me up!

While I do wish there was more of a survival aspect after the plane crash, I was completely pulled in by the MC's intelligent approach to surviving the people who wanted her dead. There were some moments where I thought it would all end, but she somehow would get out safe. Also, as I've mentioned many times in past reviews, I love when a villain underestimates the MC because it makes the story more exciting.

I also liked that this was a realistic situation because of the reason behind WHY the MC and the previous people involved were hurt or hunted. I won't say it here, but I thought it was very timely. It was also well supported by that surprising third perspective that gives us more of an explanation of what was happening, why it was happening, and the real-life consequences.

And while I did like the hint of a romance there with the childhood best friend, I do appreciate that Henry stayed true to the story and focused more on the MC's journey than the potential romance. It was also left open-ended enough that there is either a what-if aspect to it, or a sequel cooking somewhere.

Overall, this was fun and was non-stop action. Really ended up enjoying this one, even if it wasn't about zombies.

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273. The Switch by Lynsay Sands--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Loved the bi-panic in this LOL gave me a great laugh. But impressed that it was happening in a book published when it was (late 90s).

I'll be honest, I'm always wary whenever I start a historical romance. I don't know if it'll be a story that immediately hooks me, or if it'll be one that has so much exposition that I'll be dragging my eyelids open. Thankfully, THE SWITCH was fun from the very beginning.

These twin sisters were smart and hilarious as they fell into their new roles, even if one twin was slightly more selfish than the other. And to be fair, that was part of the character growth--the one MC learning to stand up for herself and that being a little selfish sometimes is healthy.

I thought that the star of the book was the MMC and his constant confusion. It brought back memories of MULAN and how Li Shang must have felt when he found himself attracted to Mulan when she was dressed as a man. Watching this man trying to figure out his confusing feelings was pure entertainment--especially when this story is set in a world where queerness wasn't something done out in the open. Of course, there were moments that were indicative of the time this book was written (like trying to force someone to sleep with a woman at a brothel to make him "manlier"), but I'll be honest and say I was incredibly surprised with how progressive this novel felt.

THE SWITCH was just pure fun and I enjoyed every moment of it, even if these sisters have a really bad habit of jumping into danger feet first and without looking.

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274. The Hookup Mix-Up by Riley Hart--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

These marshmallow characters were the sweetest LOL. Loved this, but I know I read this series out of order. Oops.

THE HOOKUP MIX-UP was such a fun and adorable time. I love that this couple started with a friendship because the one MC's self-esteem needed to be brought up before he could feel loved and love in return. The way they meet was adorable and the mix-up had me cackling. I just kept thinking "So adorably dumb."

This was definitely one of those books that is meant to be devoured in the summer. The spicy elements were great and their chemistry was jumping off the page. I loved their dynamic and how each offered the other something that they were both missing.

The side characters were hilarious and added so much personality to the book. I do wish I had read their book first. I liked that they side-eyed the MCs whenever they tried to play down what they were doing together.

I DO wish we had gotten more of a conclusion regarding the one MC's ex. I would have loved to see her be more aware of what she lost because she was BRUTAL. This book could have definitely been a little bit longer.

But this was still a fun time and like the past books I've read by Riley Hart, I really enjoyed this one!

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Happy reading!

[kitnita]

thank youuuuu @coffeehound91 & @oetter for tagging me!!

no presssure tagging @teex @txstars @intricatepuckrituals <3

Favorite Color: probably green or lavender!! my current hair color & my last hair color, respectively Last Song: let down by hana eid Currently Reading: horror movie by paul tremblay. it is Not hitting which is disappointing because i lost it for a while and got SO excited when i found it ...... in its absence i built it up 😔 Currently Watching: i am still deep in the throes of a teen wolf rewatch, currently on season 3b which means we are soon getting into the parts i do not remember Currently Craving: i want a smoothie & yet making a smoothie feels like so much effort rn Coffee or Tea: hmmmm probably tea but as someone who can't do caffeine on a regular basis it's a lot easier to get decaf coffee out in the wild Hobby to Try: i started pinterest mom-ing it up last summer & attempted to figure out how to make custom glittery coffee tumblers and then i abandoned my monstrosity when i didn't have sandpaper & kept forgetting to get sandpaper. i would like to finish it at some point!! Current AU: writing wise i'm in the midst of a non-hockey dellywyatt au. also i drew a kind of slapdash wyattharls regency era romance novel cover during the playoffs & have since taken so long researching and outlining its accompanying fic that i scrapped the first drawing (the reason i was going to write the fic in the first place!!) so i could like. do a better one. with researched clothes.

[azsazz]

Girl I am a sucker for a good hockey romance!! I saw your list and I was like YESSSS

In my hockey girl era rn and I love it 🤪🥰

[jarofstyles]

I so badly want to do an American football or hockey h like I’m in my sports romance reading era and I’m feeling inspired but I need it to be the RIGHT ONEEEE…

Coaches daughter?

Team social media manager?

Player’s sister?

The options…. They are definitely there

[sergeifyodorov]

calle, mikko and eichel for the send me a character ask thing >:)

hehehe taylorrrr <33

i confess im terrible at remembering my first impressions so thats gonna be the least filled out part but lets get INTO it

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Cale: “Everyone has been talking about this man’s rosy cheeks and -- wow, he really does have rosy cheeks”

Mikko: [vague absorption of names you hear when you’re watching a game but you don’t know what’s going on][oh yeah that mikko rantanen guy is an av]

Eichel: “The guy who’s kind of bitchy”/ lbr it was mceichel slashfic

IMPRESSION NOW

Cale: Sweet little rosy-cheeked milkmaid of a babygirl. That hair looks like a baby bird. Dude is a nerd, and probably going to be the Avs’ next captain. That Conn Smythe run was memorable as hell, and I’ll always remember him as a playoff performer, even though the Avs are literally all hurt. Except Mikko.

Mikko: HART 2023 WINNER IN MY MIND. For some reason to me (ngl, my opinion on the Avs is “favourable but I don’t think about them”) he is the only Av who played the whole season -- he carried the entire fucking team through that early-season hell where everyone was really really hurt, as opposed to only mostly hurt like they were in the back half (plus Natemac was back). All this has cemented to me that he is an underappreciated big beautiful blonde moose of a man. Great tits as well if i have to be honest.

Eichel: My bitch wife. Mad respect for being apparently the only hockey out there who knows how to take care of his body (i see u going right down the tunnel when somethings wrong instead of trying to tough it out on the bench. Yesssssss). Robbed of the Smythe. People keep trying to say that he’s not better than McDavid -- this is obvious, but that’s not the point! Also I think it’s funny that that attitude (read: self-respect) has caused people (sabres fans) to note him as a locker-room cancer. It turned out that it made him a playoff performer instead. Not that I want VGK to win more Cups (for purely petty reasons, namely that my leafies should win out), but I do look forward to seeing him tear up the playoffs from here to kingdom come. Also, he’s not objectively handsome but i want him carnally.

FAVOURITE MOMENT

Cale: Just watching him skate/man the power-play. His edges are gorgeous, he’s really in the top tier of pure skaters out there. Also the Stroopwaffel Incident

Mikko: Hm. Probably that one media where they had Avs do the heart hand thing and he didn’t understand it? Himbo supreme. Just so large, and so beefy, and so stupid

Eichel: Do I really have to say it?

IDEA FOR STORY

Cale: He is the barmaid that the cowboy (natemac?) sees when he enters the mysterious Old West town’s saloon for the first time. He’s got this sort of quiet demeanour that everyone knows not to mess with, because he’s smart as a whip and he’ll get you if you don’t know what’s good for you. Maybe it turns out he’s also the rival gunslinger and we can have this Dark Cale against nate. (and then they kiss)

Mikko: Equal parts romcom boyfriend and werewolfcore. Werewolf boyfriend. I’m sure there are no paranormal romances with a plot that can be established in this manner

Eichel: I’m still on the mceichel train I prommy but I admit the eichel section in scheherazade was really quite fun… I’d like to stay a little bit in that universe, only not plunking auston in just having him already be there. The eichelston teammates to ex-teammates to teammates again to lovers. They could be gossipy haters together. They could kiss under the moonlight. 

UNPOPULAR OPINION

Cale: I think this new failgirl era (questionable concussion treatment) is a dangerous trajectory for him. We’ve already seen many, many NHLers with promising careers interrupted or cut short by concussion mismanagement, and Cale is one of the best and brightest of the younger generation. I’d hate to see him go down the path of someone like Kariya.

Mikko: HART 2023 WINNER IN MY MIND!!!

Eichel: I’m not sure if eichelthirsting is unpopular or not (or if any of my opinions are unpopular really), but that is what i’m going to say. I saw pictures of him post-Cup with his shorts rolled up all the way and that leg exposed to get the Cup tattoo, and. Awooga. 

FAV RELATIONSHIP

Cale: Cale x a good nights sleep, cale x stroopwaffel. I think natecale is probably a pleasing one, just because they’re both Canadian Weirdguys, but i’m going to be honest I haven’t read many Cale fics. (Yes, to anyone who might b reading, this IS an opportunity to drop your fic recs in here. Id love em)

Mikko: Arsirane, I don’t have time for messing around

Eichel: McEichel, just because of that juicy juicy Narrative. They don’t have any personal beef with each other, but if you lock them in a room I bet they’d complain to one another so much about the media that they’d start spontaneously kissing. 

FAV HEADCANON

Cale: ex-emo kid. We’ve all seen that one photo of him with the bad black hair dye job, whether it’s real or not. I would just like to state that I also believe he can bust out I Write Sins Not Tragedies on the karaoke machine if he is JUST this side of drunk and horny enough.

Mikko: Reportedly funny, but probably the kind of funny where about half the time he doesn’t realize that what he’s said is hilarious, but everyone else laughs at it anyway (he doesn’t mind this. It’s a point of pride)

Eichel: im gonna vote him Most Likely To Kiss His Teammates Platonically On The Mouth 2k23

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (20-26 Oct 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Historically Black Phrases: From "I Ain't One of Your Lil' Friends" to "Who All Gon' Be There?" (jarrett hill & Tre'vell Anderson, authors & narrators) - this has been on the go for a bit, as it's more of a 'dip in & out of between podcasts and stuff' type of book - hilarious and interesting af tho

😍 In A Mirrored Room, Talking To Myself (entanglednow) - 65K, steddie ghost hunter!eddie AU - great characterization, solid plot and legit fucking terrifying!

😍 Pro Deo et Patria (One-EyedBossman (desert000rose), SecretFandomStories) - Differently Okay Local Idiots #14 - 66K, stucky no powers D/s AU - Another great slice of life for these two, Steve gets mad at god and they both are trying so hard and being so resolute to not let the ways they are damaged break what they have together. As always, the writing is so precise and careful and expressive and wonderful. I love this series so, so much.

😊 The Limits of Duty (LeeHan) - stucky bookclub pick - 71K, entertaining stucky fantasy au

💖💖 +126K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

The Magic of His Touch (VelvetPaw) - hockey rpf: sid/geno, 32K - - loved the magic worldbuilding

halloween spirit (wearing_tearing) - stranger things: steddie, 2K - - short & cute with a fun cameo from a real horror movie

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Decoding the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Tombstones With Dr. Nicky Nielsen - Session 1: Ancient Egyptian Afterlife & Hieroglyphics

Spirits, Saints, and Souls: The Secret History of Halloween With Lisa Morton - Session 2: Halloween Comes to America

Seas The Day: Life Lessons From Cephalopods With Dr. Sarah McAnulty - Session 2: Flamboyant, Fun, and Freaky: Learning from a cuttlefish’s approach to life

Handsome - Bob the Drag Queen asks about movie musicals

Handsome - Pretty Little Episode #10

Only Murders In The Building - s4, e5-9

What We Do In The Shadows - s6, e1-3

Gastronauts - s1, e2

Dr. Odyssey - s1, e5

D20: Misfits & Magic 2 - "K's Anatomy" (s23, e5)

D20: Adventuring Party - "How to Save a Life" (s18, e5)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

The A24 Podcast - A Little Danger with Sebastian Stan & Colman Domingo

The Sporkful - “Super Size Me,” Twenty Years Later

Weekend Edition - Little is known about the striped skunk's smellier, spotted cousin. That's changing

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Bessie Stringfield, Motorcycle Queen of Miami

Weekend Edition - A hidden tomb was found in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra

Big Gay Fiction Podcast - Swordplay, Subterfuge, and Romance with Freya Marske

Death, Sex & Money - Bonus: The New Era of Pop Womanhood

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Aftel Archive of Curious Scents

Pop Culture Happy Hour - We Watch Classic Movies For The First Time

Switched on Pop - The virtuosity of Stevie Wonder

99% Invisible - Spirit Halloween

Vibe Check - That’s the 1, 2 Step

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Woman Of The Hour

NPR's Book of the Day - 'How Women Made Music' reexamines the history of music with women at its center

Short Wave - 'Ghost Genes' Could Help Save The American Red Wolf

Code Switch - Spitting on Andrew Jackson's Grave with Rebecca Nagle

It's Been a Minute - Kylie Minogue's tips for staying on top

⭐ Decoder Ring - The Wrongest Bird in Movie History

Re: Dracula - October 24: Not Yet Reported

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Living on Mars

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The South's Hidden Confessional

Consider This - Emo music gets its flowers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Morning Edition - Why female pop artists have been screaming in their songs a lot lately

Ologies - Confectionology (CANDY) with Susan Benjamin

Wild Card - Seth Meyers likes being the punchline

Re: Dracula - October 25: To His Doom

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Venom: The Last Dance And What's Making Us Happy

Smart Podcast, Trashy Books - 638. Smart Bitches After Dark - Tara interviews Sarah & Amanda

⭐ Today, Explained - Is there a Dr Pepper in the house?

It's Been a Minute - The Billboard Hot 100's doom loop; Plus, a new kind of true crime story

Hit Parade - The Bridge: All That Bono Can’t Leave Behind

Re: Dracula - October 26: Continue Our Watching

The Sam Sanders Show - Roy Wood Jr: Finding Comedy in Political Chaos

Decoder Ring - The Surprising History of Halloween

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - The Voices of… BLUEY!!!

⭐ Imaginary Worlds - Who Gets to Survive: The Final Girls of Horror

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Chill Supermix

Presenting Sabrina Carpenter

Rancid

Kylie Minogue

The Hit List

The Original Albums…Plus [Jim Croce] {2011}

[fullgrownpalace]

Hi! I just wanted to say I adore the way you draw Ma'am! She's really pretty in your style ^^

Question wise though, do you have any headcanons or anything like that for her or any of the other characters?

I wish I hadn’t accidentally privately responded to a previous question about my headcanons for her, because it was a LONG LIST, but I’ll try and list a few!

This’ll be long so it’s all shoved under the cut, minus some more private HC’s-

Full Grown/Ma’am

• She’s a huge sweets fan, and once Big Deal gets better at cooking and baking, she has a habit of stealing away muffins or cookies, much to the exasperation and chitterings of him.

• I give her battle scars beneath her suit!

• She has some sort of connection to Reggie which royally pisses her off for A WHILE, especially as Endless tries to push for their friendship. In comes my mentor!AU where a greater looming evil forces them to call a truce and they eventually become like family.

• She’s the original leader/Queen of Endless before Bad Things happened and shunted her into the volcanic stasis until Reggie revives her.

• She’s the original creation of Endless. She was made by a very, very lonely little girl who desperately needed a friend and was scared of growing up, who got whisked away to Endless at its most baby state. Full Grown bloomed into life just about the same age as the girl who created her, and she ages alongside her until the girl grows away from Endless and finally stops coming to Endless. Ma’am stops aging from there.

• She likes wrestling, obviously, but she also likes hockey. She likes the fighting lol

• Big Deal’s affections scare her and make her anxious, she’s scared of niceness and affection in *general*, so she acts up, acts out, lashing out and thrashing and acting petulant in her denial to try and create distance. It doesn’t work.

• She can play a few musical instruments! Namely the piano and guitar, but a few others too.

• She can speak a few different languages, mostly because one of my favorite Matt Berry songs has French in it and I said she can.

• Her music tastes are very wide and varying but she favors acid jazz, psychedelic rock, and hypno-pop.

• Ma’am is OLD, lmao. She clearly is themed around astro-retro futurism of the 50s and 60s, between her house, her theme song, her aesthetic, so I like to put the height of her leadership around those eras.

• She /likes/ entertaining guests. Beneath all her bristle and coldness and axe-crazy mania, when she’s not putting out her icy, angry exterior, she *likes* having guests and being able to entertain. We see her even say that she likes having guests when Brown Roger comes around (poor Brown Roger lol)

• She likes roller skating

• She’s got a closet full of unique clothes, but after Bad Things and her stasis in the volcano, she sticks to wearing her Endless suit because her clothes feel too personal and vulnerable for a long time.

• She’s a hopeless romantic at heart, though terribly scorned, so she hides it beneath briars and thorns and chaos. She loves chick flicks and romance novels and she values loyalty and respect.

• Her and modern technology are Not Friends. Her range in technology goes up until the late 80s/early 90s, and I KNOW the show is technically supposed to take place in that era but that completely bypassed me back in 2019 when I started making my AUs, which take place 2015 and above, so modern technology makes her curse and sneer and growl in frustration.

• She just really likes food. Big Deal has to learn fast how to cook and bake properly for her because she gets very cranky when she’s hungry and she eats A Lot.

• She’s like a giant lizard cat. She’s very bendy and flexible, likes climbing trees and crawling around searching for shiny things, and she likes basking under the sun, even if she complains about being around others the whole time (she’ll also grab Big Deal and curl around him because he’s a little furnace, much to his flustered-ness)

• She’s genderfluid and queer. She doesn’t care about earth terms, she’s a shapeshifting alien queen in a different dimension, human customs and opinions don’t really matter when it comes to who *she* is.

• She and Big Deal manage to cross over onto earth at some point and she creates earth human forms for them.

• I technically have a full name for her but thatsss a bit private and will only be revealed if I talk to you for a while hdhfjd

I have a lot more but for the sake of saving time, I just have those for now for her.

Reggie

• CHAOS GIRL- she maintains her chaotic, bright, colorful nature even into adulthood. I really like focusing on her and her friends growing up into young adults because like.. self projection and also because this show is *about* growing up, and it’s SO interesting exploring that facet and seeing how their personalities, ESPECIALLY Reggie’s, grow and flux, yet how they still stay true to themselves.

• She /can/ sing a lil bit but it’s one of the few things she’s very shy about, between bullying and befriending people like Todd and Esther, and eventually Gwen, who are all so musically oriented, so she kinda just.. hides that she can kinda sing by being so overly dramatic about *badly* singing.

• She grows a steady mentorship/apprentice dynamic with Full Grown (though it depends on AU for how old she is when that mentorship starts, for my main one, she’s almost 13, for a few of my others, she’s older teens) who eventually becomes a like a very dear family member to her

• She’s a sporty girl when she hits her teens. She’s got a LOT of energy and frustration to expel and she winds up enrolling in volleyball, hockey, and rollerderby throughout her teen years to help her adrenaline junkie life and it helps with the frustrations of Having To Grow Up.

• She keeps her tooth gap, she never gets it corrected, and she’s got a very crooked and mischievous smile that lasts her whole life.

• She’s COVERED in freckles.

• She’s very shy around Conelly for a WHILE, they don’t even start dating til Reggie’s like 16.

• She’s actually very good with science, it just takes Ma’am’s mentorship to help her realize that ‘hey she actually sometimes likes learning’ and she likes astronomy, astro-physics, physics, and chemistry (she finds interest when she’s being taught magic and finds out there’s a lot of science behind potions and magic)

• She’s forever a foodie, always munching and eating SOMETHING. She’s a frequent food thief and steals snacks from Mack and Beefhouse, from Full Grown and Big Deal, and from her friends.

• She’s the championed Knight of Endless, in all essential aspects. She undergoes weapons training from Full Grown when she hits adulthood due to other threats on Endless.

• She LIKES dressing up, she LIKES dresses sometimes, she just doesn’t like dressing up the way Judy wants her to, and she doesn’t like feeling clumsy and doesn’t like feeling like she’s just playing dress up to be someone she’s not (unless it’s cosplay, she gets her friends into cosplaying with her).

• Most of her wardrobe I draw her in comes directly from my closet or from my style.

• She gets rebellious with her friends when they’re 16/17 and Todd’s older brother takes them to get ear piercings together, so she’s got two lobe piercings and industrial piercings on both ears. When she’s older, she also has a tongue piercing, because she thought it was Cool™️ and she likes to stim with it.

• In my main mentor!AU, she chops all her hair off to her shoulders directly after her 18th birthday in a fit of frustration and rage and panic. Mood.

• She also puts colored streaks in her choppy hair when she’s older, regardless of shortness or longness, she’s got green, pink, and blue streaks randomly smattered through her hair.

• She’s got severe ADHD and is possibly autistic

• She ALSO likes wrestling, so her and Full Grown cheer and snicker and snort over wrestling.

• She maintains her artistry as she grows and is quite successful with her art on the occasion. She’s the designer for Dustin’s podcast’s merch, Space Draculas. His podcast focuses on mythological legends, paranormal encounters, and supernatural beings with Todd’s older brother a few friends. Any pics of Reggie I draw wearing an alien with fangs is for this podcast of his.

• She and Judy mend their bonds over the years, and Judy is definitely the Team Mom for all her friends.

• Reggie’s first car is a Volkswagen Beetle that’s got a yellow body, but the hood, front two doors, and trunk are all different colors. The car is littered with car stickers and it has pins all in the roof from the inside, and she’s got worm on the strings tied to the rear view mirror.

• She ends up being a very good babysitter, it’s her job as a teenager, so she winds up being very good with kids.

• She curbs her dirty, messy habits as she grows older, but sometimessss she still gets down and dirty on Endless, she’s got no problems with getting muddy and dirty, covered in paint, sticky with sweat and sand, and she has to be reminded that showers are REQUIRED /more/ than twice a week.

• Full Grown regularly chews her out because she tries to enter the witch’s home with her sandy boots on. That’s like.. a YEARS long habit.

• She winds up being a rather well skilled magic user

Big Deal

• Learns much of his cooking skills from infomercials after Ma’am falls asleep, alongside with tentatively befriending Mack and Beefhouse and learning from them. They reach out to him first, with much grace and forgiveness, one day when he’s searching for recipe ingredients and they end up being well friends to him, and eventually, Ma’am as well. (She’s much more resilient and hesitant to befriend the others after everything and many of them are just as hesitant of her but Reggie growing under her mentorship helps)

• He whacks Reggie in exasperation when she tries to steal food.

• He was made by Endless to protect his Ma’am and be a tiny little plush dragon to her.

• He purrs when he’s comfortable and happy, and so does Full Grown (though she represses it for a very long time). He also trills and chitters and chirps in feral little noises to her and she’ll make noises back.

• he looks smooth and round but he’s made up of really smooth feathers and he’ll puff up and flair out in high emotions or shock.

• He’s SO little and she’s SO big. My Ma’am is around 7’0” and he’s like.. thigh/butt level to her.

• He’s the first being to see her cry after her revival from the volcano, regardless of my AU and how long it takes for her to finally cry, he’s always the first one to see her cry.

• He’s a very enthusiastic learner and absorbs knowledge like a sponge, and he loves listening to his Ma’am talk so he’s willing to sit and listen and learn until he’s falling asleep.

• He does NOT like horror movies. He does not care for wrestling, or hockey, it all makes him cringe and fret so much, but he LOVES fantasy, adventure, romance, and music, so Full Grown introduces him to musicals and romcoms.

• he LOVES entwining his tail with his Ma’am’s tail, which, for a long time, is a very rare thing, but it grows more constant as time passes.

• he’s got little padded pawed hands! Tiny hands with little heart shaped paw pads!

______________

Okay these are all I can think of tonight but I WILL update this as I think of more, or feel free to message again with individual characters!

[sm1ling-dopp3lganger]

Telling YOU🫵🏼 abt my upcoming FanComic!-

(Introduction post!-)

The AU and series as a whole is called Sm1ling.TMNT or S.TMNT for short, like a file name. It is still in production but lemme tell you a little about it!-

It’s a TMNT fancomic set in the year 2023 except it’s a little different. The early 2000s and 2010s instead of the nostalgic era going out of style it basically stayed and is mixed with the modern day setting of this comic. Flip phones are still widely used, MySpace is still a thing, YouTube looks the way it was meant to before all the updates but with modern day functionality. They also have advanced technology that is waaaay farther into the future than what we today know. Just don’t tell them that their fav things went out of style years ago, they’ll have a crisis.

It’s a little confusing but trust me it’s cool!-

The comic is also set from two completely different perspectives. It’s also filled with bunch of angst, funny moments, gore(I’m a horror artist so obviously there’s gotta be some blood and guts), action, romance >:].. THE WHOLE SHABANG!- yk all written and drawn by yours truely! This comic also touches lightly on topics like racist, sexism, xenophobia, bigotry,the topic of beauty standards and much more but it’s not the main focus and most of the time characters that act out these issues they get…taken care of- if yk what I mean >:3

Fn let me introduce you to our main cast of characters! Well…the important ones (with pictures but I apologize they’re wildly unfinished, brace yourself this is gonna be a little long)

Griffin B. Corduroy (Juliet >:])

Griffin! Griff is a jokingly egotistical character who seems to know her worth to others and has a “don’t give a fuck” attitude to compliment her girly girl appearance(peak feminism). In reality she’s extremely temperamental with bad anger issues along with has past of issues with trichotillomania, dealing with stress, and body confidence issues. She’s on her own healing journey but it seems she’s doing it her own way…..(she is an original character)

“APRIIIIIIL (L.) O’NEIL!!—”

April!! Our true detective and best big sister!(and older cousin to Griffin) a chilled out personality complimented by her caring attitude makes her like the mom of the group second to Leo despite being older than him. A little awkward in social situations (she is NOT a cool kid) can bring her to being slightly challenged with the turtles shenanigans as she’s prone to panicking but she’s working on it. Despite being an only child she did not grow up a lonely child, meeting both the turtles and her little cousin Griff at 9 which seemed not connected at the time later to be revealed like a butterfly effect as every event around it continues.

“Everything is always connected”

Casey and CJ (New Yorks Vigilantes)

Cassandra! Cassandra(also known as ‘Cass’ or more commonly ‘Casey’ despite the nickname being her little brothers first name) is a stoic teenager with a soft side. She’s slightly soft spoken with a masculine appearance yet feminine tone and often gets confused by others with her gender when in reality it doesn’t matter what they interpret her as, as she’s gender-fluid! She seems most comfortable and commonly referred to with she/her pronouns but finds it extremely flattering when called ‘handsome’ or referred to in a masculine sense. She’s a hockey player by day and a badass rollerblading vigilante by night. She is a strong woman and role model hopefully for others as well as her baby brother CJ especially after she got them out of an abusive household.

Little Casey!- Casey (also known as CJ) is Cassandra’s partner in justice as well as her baby brother! He’s a big boy meaning he’s four years old and goin strong!- his biggest role model is his big sister and he’s happy about it. She’s his favorite superhero!- if you see Casey you’ll see CJ as they’re always together and Casey never lets him out of her sight. Not after what they had to go through. He’s a good mannered rambunctious kid with a lot of energy. He wants to be just like his big sister that’s why he has his ears pierced as he was tired of wearing sticker earrings and wanted real ones. Casey was a little nervous about this at first but he took it like a champ when she pierced his ears. CJ also likes to help around Casey’s job! He pretends to sweep the floors and wipe down counters when he’s with her at her job at the tattoo shop she works at as a piercer. Casey’s boss loves having him around.

Sensei(Master) Splinter

Yoshi! Once a rat in a pet store being taken care of with the bare minimum only to be thrown to the garbage bin when they thought he was dead for sleeping for too long. Now a humble street rat getting chased by everything around it until a little boy at the name of Yoshi. He got a new name his name was splinter but one day it was changed…the day Yoshi left him was the day he was renamed “Hamato Yoshi” the same as his own that he once had to remember him by as he was dumped down a sewer. But that was years ago….. That year he was blessed with his four sons that made up their odd little family. He seen what Yoshi did for him before he left so he followed in the nurturing steps of the only father he’s ever known. Yoshi is still with him in spirit of course. They are interlinked through the name they share an their soul connection not only as owner and pet but father and son. Yoshi’s spirit began watching splinter raise the turtles when they became tots as that’s when he passed. He warned splinter of a terrible danger and that’s when Splinter began to learn the ways of the Hamato with the help of Yoshi’s spiritual guidance and then taught his sons as well. Past his sad and empowering backstory he’s a silly old man that loves his boys and paints in his free time (reason to why the boys have their names)

Hamato Leonardo

Leonardo! Leo(also referred to as ‘Leon’, ‘Nardo’, ‘Lame-o-nardo’ etc) is the eldest of four siblings total and the eldest of him and his brother Donnie who are twins. Don’t be fooled by his serious older brother front he’s not like that at all!- He only wears his glasses at home and contacts everywhere else and he has braces! He’s not cool at all, He’s more of a nervous wreck that cracks bad jokes to cope. Being leader is very important to him because it means (to him) he is his little brothers main protectors! He takes his job very seriously but he’s very emotional and emotion driven. A bit of a crybaby when it comes down to it and not often angry but when he is…it can get a little out of control. It took him a while to get his Katanas, how do you think he got that scar! Pretty embarrassing story- there was also the incident…..Rip Raphs tail.

Hamato Donatello(Romeo >;3)

Donatello! Donnie (second eldest of four and youngest of a set of twins) is the obvious brains of the operation but that doesn’t help with the fact he’s little pretentious. He can be very cocky about his inventions and knowledge on things since he obviously sees it as cool and interesting…others…yk not so much- He’s more of a listener than a talker and is mostly quiet when he wants to be so sometimes when he wants to get a word in he has to interrupt others for them to actually listen. He keeps to himself a lot and isn’t the most outgoing but if you get him talking about some form of science (specifically chemistry or technology) you’ll see him as a whole new turtle. He can often be sarcastic even when it’s unintentional he doesn’t do it to be rude he’s just grown up around idiots so he does it to make a point (he loves his brothers I promise) though he’s not traditionally boyish usually he definitely has stereotypical male interests (which goes against his personality in some of his other versions in media) one of which is him being a huge sports fan especially basketball. Him and his brothers often go out at night to some empty courts and play. He’s alike his brothers in the ways of personality especially table manners…there’s almost zero. Absolute pigs they are- despite being turtles

Hamato Raphael (sorry he’s super unfinished)

Raphael! The rebellious middle child- Raph is nonchalant and confident in his fighting ability but since he’s very anger prone he’s not listened to as much when it comes to plans but that’s okay…since most of his plans are extremely bad(he’s not really good at organizing) despite his rugged and intimidating look(he’s built like a linebacker I’d be scared too bruh) and nature he’s not all that mean. He knows sometimes he can get a little too angry and needs to tone it back a bit he’s working on it. He’s more of a stereotypical asshole character more of a bully than anything but honestly it’s his way of affection most of the time. Unless it’s Mikey. Mikey pisses him off sometimes. (He still loves him tho-) he’s a tough lover but when it comes to animals or kids he’s a big softy. He’s also very patient with others it’s surprising. Especially Mikey since he’s disabled and needs some extra time on certain things. Raph is genuinely caring when it comes to his family.

Hamato Michelangelo

Michelangelo!1!1! The party dude of the group of course!- (also known as ‘MC Mikey’ and ‘the triple threat’) hes the definition of annoying younger sibling but in a lovable way- he can be a bit rude when joking with but it’s natural seeing who he’s grown up with. He doesn’t mean any harm by it genuinely it’s in an endearing way. He’s super active and flexible since he’s hyper mobile but it depends on the day since he’s invisibly disabled! (Like me! We have the same condition) He has A.M.P.S [insert orange ribbon] and it stands for Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome and it’s exactly how it sounds. It’s amplified and generalized chronic pain throughout the body without an actual source. It happens basically because the spine sends a pain signal to the brain like how it would when there’s tissue damage except there’s no cause for said pain single just causing intermediate or constant chronic pain anywhere in the body. He’s learned to live with his disability and for it not to get the better of him but he does hold back from running a lot like across buildings and just uses his rocket board Donnie has built for him. He also constantly does physical therapy throughout the week and takes some medication that Donnie gives to him throughout certain periods of the day so he stays out of constant pain. Past that he acts on impulse as any younger sibling would and usually gets saved by the scute of his shell by his older brothers. Despite this he can very well handle his own. He’s a strong fighter and an absolute tank! He’s a big dude and has an insanely high pain tolerance, reason to why he has the most tattoos despite being the youngest. despite him not being as strategic as his brothers or even his opponent his outside the box thinking is what makes him so good.

Project Genocide. (Hamato Jennika)

Jennika. With a cog heart that ticks and barely beats on its own, it’s still made of gold…sort of

Project genocide was created as a gift for the Shredder by Baxter Stockman. A show of gratitude for his life being saved despite how he was trying to steal from the shredder. Though she was rushed and taken out of her test tube too early. Upon trying to breathe her lung immediately collapsed and filled with fluid, so she eventually died within a matter of minutes of being alive. She was then taken apart out of panic like some object and her organs got modified and individually preserved in a gelatin like substance that held them in place. Her head was put into a jar and a tube as her esophagus as she inhales the fluid in her jar that in which it’s the only thing she can safely breathe. She became this Frankenstein like creature but she could still feel and live like anyone else she just looked….different. She had her life support built into her and with the small flip of a switch she was alive again. She’d never be able to grow on her own or develop mentally forever stuck at age thirteen but she was alive. She is programmed to be a ruthless killing machine and follow orders..gaining her name Jennika stemming from her project name ‘Genocide’. Despite being a literal jarhead she’s swift and ruthless. She’s unmatched compared to some of the highest ranking foot soldiers she was perfect…so she was immediately marked by the foot..the branding hurt but it’s not like she hasn’t felt worse, right? She has built in Tekkō-kagi as a sort of homage to the shredder. They come from in between her knuckles. They were almost used to behead the youngest of the four she was modeled after and created to kill. But…what if she didn’t want to….?

Well maybe you’ll just have to read the comic when it comes out to answer your questions!!! EHEHEHHE 😈

Well that’s all!- if you have any general questions about this whole production just put it in my ask box and I’ll happily answer this is genuinely so fun for me!- I can’t wait for you all to read it ^_^

Also make sure to look out for all their finished character sheets if you wanna get a better look at them!- along with some pretty neat voice claims coming soon but you didn’t hear that from me >;3

[basiccortez]

i’m in my quinn hughes era and i blame @roosterdobson and hockey romance tiktok

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Favorite books I read in 2023

The Ones I Loved

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo - (genre: horror) idk what to tell you about this book, but you should read it. It's about ghosts and grief and Nashville and relearning how to be alive. The romance in it is gay and slowburn. If you love the All For the Game series, this book is for you.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - (genre: fantasy) One of the cleverest fantasies about empire and rebellion I've read in a long time. The female characters are fantastic and complicated, and it's so fun to be inside their heads. The gay romance at the heart of this book is tender and fucked up in all the best ways. Highly, highly recommend.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles - (genre: regency romance) Lovers to enemies to allies to lovers! A poor lawyer inherits an Earldom and discovers that the leader of the local smugglers is someone he is intimately familiar with. Very sweet and well written gay regency romance.

A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K.J. Charles - (genre: regency romance) A grumpy, embattled new Earl with a heart of gold meets a lonely, competent smuggler-turned-secretary with a ulterior motives. I can't overstate how much I loved this book, the characters and their relationship, the way they make each other's lives better and fuller, the way they come to make each other better people gah it's so good ;-; make sure to read the first book in this series first, even though it focuses on other characters

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar - (genre scifi/fantasy) I went into this book knowing nothing about it besides the meme, and I highly recommend that approach. It is gay, the writing is very lyrical and flower, and you will need to let go of the typical scifi genre expectation that the world in which the story takes place will be explained to you.

The Ones I Enjoyed a lot

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher - (genre: horror) relatable 30-something divorcee and 50-something gay barista find a passageway to another world. The world they find...is bad.

The Black Death: New Lessons from Recent Research by Dorsey Armstrong - (genre: nonfiction) summary of the latest research on the plague! V interesting and well explained. Originally a video but the audiobook is available on Hoopla.

Life in a Medieval Village by Francis Gies and Joseph Gies - (genre: nonfiction) great little deep dive into the daily life of Medieval peasants from how the legal system worked to marriage customs.

Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie - (genre: scifi) the main character is the AI consciousness of a ship trapped in one of her ancillary bodies and her sidekick is one of her former lieutenants who was accidentally frozen for 1000 years and is having a very hard time about it.

Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer - (genre: regency era fantasy romance) this was a re-read from my childhood and it held up!

The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English by Hana Videen - (genre: nonfiction) did you know that "lady" evolved from the old english word for "loaf maker" and "lord" evolved from "loaf guardian"?

Role Model by Rachel Reid - (genre: romance) gay hockey romance between a hockey player and his new team's social media manager. Pretty standard romance novel but fun!

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh - (genre: fantasy) the green man of the forest is minding his own business when a young man shows up on his doorstep. english mythology vibes, also gay.

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid - (genre: romance) gay hockey players, enemies to lovers/fuck buddies to lovers romance. if this was originally geno/sid rpf i would not be surprised.