#its not a bad book but there are parts that just kinda drag and i am not super into the characters besides Maelstrom who despite

[wraithsoutlaws]

for those keeping track i had to stop reading 'no coincidence' because it looked like [redacted] died and i felt my soul go too

[zombie-bait]

Louis begging and pleading on his knees for Lestat to give them a daughter….. every time these writers make Jacob Anderson break down crying while covered in dirt I become even more enamored with him. Amc Louis is such a freak but in a “this man has been driven to the end of every rope he’s ever climbed and I understand where he’s coming from” kinda way. You really feel him being the most “human” vampire, as they say in the books, even though he’s pretty bad at being either one. Armand and Lestat are fully unhinged (though they’re also very morally complex characters, don’t get me wrong) even in situations that don’t call for it but poor Louis is out here being tested by every single fucker he stumbles onto. Its a part of their nature while Louis was very much not like this in his human life. Obviously he struggled a LOT, he was the chosen son forced to make all the bad decisions and to take all the blame in a society that would not have him. He had his moments of cruelty because it was demanded of him. But in season 2 we see that he has been driven to a point of destruction. He steps into sunlight, he grows numb and detached at the thought of Claudia’s departure, he hallucinates the love he killed, he drags a young girl’s near-corpse across his bedroom floor and begs for her to suffer alongside him. Lestat talks about vampiric loneliness in the trial but Louis drags along human suffering wherever he goes, amplified infinitely through his vampirism. Some part of Louis just can’t let it go and the world certainly doesn’t make it easier for him.

[samandcolbyownme]

Sam had been focusing too much on working that he had ended up neglecting his relationship. You guys had planned to go out on a movie dinner date weeks in advance and already had dinner reservations set, he is too busy working to realize that the reservation was 30 minutes ago. Should you have reminded him? Yes. But you also feel like you shouldn't have to because if he cared then he would've put his work aside for a few hours to spend time with you. ANGSTTTTT but also fluff or smut at the end, dealers choice 😏

Warnings: Slightly angsty, strong language, reader breaking down, crying, yelling, suggestive language, kinda sad but happy ending

Enjoy!

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Sam has missed reservation times. He’s been late to pick you up sometimes. He’s even had to cancel last minute, but you understood. For the most part, at least. You knew he had deadlines to make, people to update, plans to make, and flights to book.

Once the number of times he’s practically bailed on your reaches double digits, that’s when you really started to get mad. His reasonings, you’re sure were valid at the time, but you would get so mad you thought it was a bullshit excuse, so that just made you pissed.

You said something, you had a long talk one night, got on the same page again and everything was good, almost seemed better.

But only for a short while until things started to gradually trickle back into its cursed routine. You’d say something to him again, then it would just repeat the cycle. Back to square one with it. Finally, maybe after one or two more times, you gave up on what you felt like you just wasting your breath.

One night, while you’re laying in bed getting ready to go to sleep, Sam comes in after edited his one video for hours of the day. You feel the bed dip down and his body slides up against yours.

“I made us reservations at the Mitz, they couldn’t get us in until three weeks from now, so figure out what you want to do before or after and we can do that.”

You stay silent for a second before speaking. Your voice is in a very low whisper, “You promise?” He kisses your shoulder and nuzzles his head into your neck, “I promise. I’m sorry I haven’t been with it lately.”

“You and Colby have been busy. I get it.” You roll over to face him, “I guess.. I just feel like you forget I’m here sometimes.” He shakes his head, “I’m sorry I make you feel that way.” He kisses your forehead and you close your eyes, “I love you.” He rests his forehead against yours and lets out a quiet sigh, “I love you so much.”

Over the last three weeks, Sam and Colby surprisingly didn’t have much going on, so it worked out in everyone’s favor. You and Sam pretty much stayed home, and when he did edit, he made sure to include you.

Which is why, when that certain Thursday evening rolled around, you were absolutely crushed. It felt like, in a weird way, a betrayal. It really wasn’t that deep, but to you it was.

You scoffed as you hear the front door open, rolling your eyes as you look to the small clock on your vanity.

07:30 PM - 30 minutes past your set reservation time.

You drag the makeup wipe down your face, wiping away the hope you had painted on earlier in the evening. You can feel the burn growing in your eyes as you try not to cry.

You may think that two times isn’t bad, but it’s not really about the amount of times it’s happened. It’s more about how Sam doesn’t realize it’s happening. He doesn’t put up a fight, he just gradually buries you under all of his paperwork.

You hear him making his way up the steps and you know in your heart that it’s not going to be good. You take a deep breath, wiping over your face one more time with a clean wipe.

“So guess where Colby and I get to go next month.”

“Hmm?” You hum lowly, but loud enough for him to hear. You keep your stare fixed on yourself in the mirror in front of you. Sam walks closer and you feel every muscle in your body tense up.

You really didn’t want to fight with him - again.

“What’s wrong,” He asks, laying a hand on your shoulder. You were so mad at him, his touch only made the urge to cry even harder to fight back. You shake your head, “N-nothing.” You stand up, “I think I’m just gonna go get a bath and then go to bed.”

You grab a clean change of clothes and before you walk out, it’s hits Sam. He lets out a sigh, “Oh fuck.” You turn around, “Congratulations.” You give him a fake smile, “You figured out what’s wrong.”

“Y/n.” Sam calls out but you walk away. He follows after you, “Waitwaitwait.” He grabs your arm, pulling you towards him, “I am so.. so… sorry.” You tilt your head back resting it against the wall as you let out a slight laugh, “It doesn’t matter Sam.”

You look at him and his face falls, “W-What do you mean by that?” He stands up a little straight as you just simply shrug.

He shakes his head, “No. don’t say it. Please.” You chew on your lip as you feel the tears well, “I’m not..” you quickly swipe away the tears dripping down your flushed cheeks, “I’m not leaving, Sam. I just..”

You let your hands fall to your sides, and you just crack, spilling all of your emotions, “I need more, Sam. I-I know. I know that me getting upset over dates might be silly, but they’re important to me, Sam.” Your voice cracks and you look into Sam’s glossy eyes, “You’re everywhere, Sam. But you’re not here.”

You sniffle, voice cracking quietly, “And it’s hurts.”

He scrunches his nose and nods. You blink and the tears fall, “I shouldn’t h-have to be the one to remind you, fuck Sam. I shouldn’t have to remind you.”

“You’re right.” He mumbles quietly as he nods. You look up, sighing, “I do not want to end us, Sam. Please know that.” His hands slide to your waist, but you speak before he can, “We need alone time. We-we need time to just be a normal couple sometimes.”

You bring your hands to your eyes and just sob.

Sam pulls you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you as he whispers how sorry he is, “You are the most important thing to me, okay?” He presses his lips to your temple and you nod, mumbling, “Mhm.” You’re trying to get your crying under control as Sam continues, “I’m so sorry I missed tonight, baby.”

He sniffles and that makes you cry harder, “I’m sorry.” You sob out and Sam cups your cheeks, “Hey.” He raises his voice slightly, catching your attention. He raises his brows and leans in, his voice calm, “You don’t ever need to be sorry about anything, okay?”

You nod and Sam shakes his head, “You did nothing wrong, okay? I deserve to be called out on my bullshit. You did the right thing.” He kisses your cheek, “You’re my number one priority, from here on out I promise I’m going to prove it to you every. Single. Day.”

You smile slightly and you feel yourself gradually calming down, “I just didn’t want do make you mad.” You sniffle out, gasping out for air because of how worked up you had yourself.

You were slightly embarrassed, but Sam really doesn’t seem like he’s judging you at all. He laughs slightly, “Trust me, it would take you doing something a lot more stupid than getting upset over me being a dumbass to be mad at you.” He smiles and rubs your cheek with his thumb, “I love you.”

You smile, looking up at him, “I love you, too.” You lean in, pressing your lips to his and you feel him smirk. His voice is quiet against your lips as he mumbles, “Is this a bad time to tell you that Colby and I want to bring you on to the channel. Take you with us on every investigation?”

You lean back, looking up at him, “What did you just say?” He scratches his forehead, “When I got home, I was going to tell you that Colby and I were talking and we both agreed that when you’re on investigations with us, they turn out so much better than when it is just us, so with that.. we did a little poll thing in XPLR club and it turns out that the fans want you to join us. just as much as Colby and I do.”

You stare at him for a few seconds before you gently push his shoulder, “you couldn’t have just led with that, babe?” You laugh, “I embarrassed myself infront of you for absolutely no reason.”

He shakes his head, “First off, don’t be embarrassed. Second off, you calling me out on stuff that bothers you shows me you care enough to communicate with me, and I honestly cannot tell you how much that means to me.”

You bite down on your lip, “You might not be able to tell me, but I think you just might be able to show me.” You raise your brows as you look up at Sam and he smirks, instantly lifting you up against the wall, “Where to?”

You smile, “Take me to bed.”

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Thank you so much for reading! As always, let me know what you thought! I love you all! 🖤

Likes and reblogs are majorly appreciated!

[seeingivy]

miscommunication 

roommate eren x f!reader 

you and eren get lost in translation

**find the mini-series masterlist here

content: eren kissing ur neck beware, mentions of floch and nifa (trigger warning), MISCOMMUNICATION TROPE (im sorry, normal people is my favorite book and it’s just so much better when they realize it later)

an: this is the worst chapter of roommates. one bc I hate it. two bc its short. three bc I didn’t proofread it. four bc I just needed to establish this part so I can put in some sweet, sweet pining, misunderstanding, pretending like you don’t like each other, angry confession okay??? all in good time just bear with this bad chapter SO I CAN ESTABLISH THE REST OF IT OKAY. also I can’t tell if I overhyped that the next day is bad but I think it kinda sucks but if ur let down let me know :0000 

previous part linked here

- 

You and Eren wake up at around three in the morning, when Eren promptly falls off the couch and smacks his head against the coffee table. You’re thrown awake by the absence of his arm around yours and the sound of him hitting the floor, blinking in the dark to find him. 

“Ren.” 

“Hm?” 

“You okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get you to bed, pretty girl.” 

You feel his hands on your shoulders, lifting you up, as he drags you back to your room. You’re still half asleep, blinking your eyes open, as he pushes you into the bathroom. You sit on the toilet seat, holding your head in your hands as you try to pull yourself awake. You can hear him moving around in your room, only to return with a pair of clothes in hand. 

“Good morning, sleepyhead. Change and we can go to bed.” 

You nod, your eyes screwed shut, as you reach forward to take the stack of clothes from him. Before you can,, you feel Eren take your hand, stopping you from moving any further. 

“Something wrong?” 

“No. I just wanted to look at you again. With the dress on.” 

Suddenly, you’re wide awake. You pull your hand back, putting them at your sides as Eren presses his hands to your arms, squeezing twice. He’s staring down at you, his bottle green eyes warm with a tint of tiredness behind them. 

The closeness is deafening - every sense of yours is heightened, going haywire. His hands on yours, the remnants of his cologne on his neck, the pit in at the bottom of your stomach igniting. You can barely think straight. You swear his hands are trembling, his fingers feather soft on your arms. 

“Something wrong?” 

“Shut up, Y/N. I’m trying not to kiss you.” 

You laugh, wrapping your arms around his waist as you push yourself closer into him. At least you do the same effect on him that he has on you. 

“You should just do it then.” 

You can feel his laugh vibrating through his chest, his heart pounding against your ear. You can’t help but squeeze tighter - the entire thing, him pressed against you like this -  making your heart pound, overstimulating you. You can’t tell if it’s the tiredness or him - maybe a little bit of both that makes your heart rush like this.  

“Are you listening?” 

“Did you say something?” 

You feel his hands reach for the bottom of your chin, lightly guiding your face upwards so he can take a look at you. You can feel the blood rushing to your cheeks, at the sight of him looking at you, like that. 

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” 

“Nothing.”

You feel him smiling against your forehead, the air catching in your throat when he presses a soft kiss to your forehead. You can feel him moving, peppering warm kisses along the side of your face, a smile pressed on his, as he moves all the way down to your jawbone. It burns more, his lips in that spot, the way his fingers are pressing into yours. 

“Ren.” 

He’s still moving lower, his lips ghosting over the side of your neck. 

“Are you okay? With this?” 

“Y-yeah.” 

You can feel him giggling against you, his soft lips on your neck, his arms pushing you into the sink behind you. You can feel your skin shaking, the sensation making the tingling in the pit of your stomach stronger, your skin warm to the touch. 

You can feel the breath getting tangled in your throat, panting at the feeling of him on your neck. The second you breathe out, you can feel Eren’s hand firm on your shoulder, him lifting his head off the side of your neck. 

“Stop doing that. You’re driving me fucking crazy here.” 

“Doing what?” 

“Breathing. Like that. All breathy. You know what you’re doing.” 

“My bad. I’ll just hold my breath for a really long time.” 

He lifts his arms, squishing your face in his hands as he smiles at you. You reach forward, pressing your fingers into the dimples on both sides of his cheeks.

“Okay, kitty. Put your clothes on. We’re going to bed now.” 

“Ew.” 

- 

You wake up to the sound of your doorbell ringing, the space in your bed next to you empty. You blink your eyes open, spotting the tiny green post-it note left on your pillow. You can recognize Eren’s handwriting scribbled on it immediately. You can tell he was rushing, by the way the letters are sliding off the page 

morning sleepyhead. picking up breakfast, be back in 30 

You jump out of your bed, pulling on the Eren’s hoodie that was in your room, to answer the door. You’re met with a girl, one you don’t recognize, who's balancing a bright pink box in her hands. 

“Ah. Thanks. Here you go.” 

She places the box in your hand, moving past you and settling into the kitchen table. She’s got short blonde hair, just around her ears, with pale green eyes. Like Eren’s, but duller. Although you suppose any eyes would be dull compared to Eren’s. To you anyways. 

You swear the girl is familiar to you, trying to place where exactly you know her from. You settle down into the seat across from her, folding your hands as you observe her. 

“Are you Samuels new girlfriend or something?” 

“Uh no. He graduated and moved out. I live here now. I’m Y/N.” 

She nods, her head lazily leaning against the back of the chair. She’s tapping her fingertips against the edge of the table, like she’s waiting for something. In your house. 

“So where’s Rennie?”

Rennie. Eren. You avoid the burning in your chest, the tightness setting in your jaw. 

“He should be back soon. Just groceries. How do you know him?” 

“We’re seeing each other. I’m Hitch.” 

Hitch. Surely she can’t be the same Hitch, can she? She’s suddenly all too familiar, the realization hitting you - you don’t just know Hitch, you know too much about her. You remember wiping the internet, going on every social media platform you owned, just to find out more about her. To figure out why Nifa, why your friends, had to pick her - as a roommate, friend, person - over you. 

You remember it all too well, Nifa awkwardly telling you that she had found another roommate that she was more compatible with for the next semester. That Hitch was a better fit. Floch, telling you that you just weren’t the one for him. And every other little friend you had, telling you that you weren’t special, they didn’t want to be around you, that you were no longer friends. 

“You said your name was Y/N? Do you know a Nifa by any chance?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Were you her roommate?” 

“Yeah, just for last year.” 

“Still loudly sing in the shower?” 

You can feel the back of your throat burning, the implication of the question sticking in your mind. Singing in the shower. She knows you sing in the shower because Nifa told her. Loudly. Like it’s a bad thing. 

“I’m kidding!”

Nifa never told you it bothered her. She always thought it was funny, claiming that she had front row seats to our concert. Your concert. Is Eren making fun of you when he talks about your singing?

Right on cue, you can hear Eren jamming his key in the door, swinging it open. He’s balancing the bag of groceries in his right hand and bouquet of orange tulips in the other. He sets the bag on the floor, handing you the tulips, as he leans forward to press a kiss to your forehead. 

You lean back, burned by the sensation, as you glance over at Hitch, who's still seated at the table. You can see his eyes get wider, his fists curling at his sides. 

“Dreyse. What are you doing here?” 

At the sound of his voice, she finally looks back up, a smile spreading across her face as she leans over to hug him. Every part of this feels wrong, your stomach burning at the sight of the two of them in front of you. 

“You miss me?” 

“Uh. Yeah, but-” 

“Perfect. Marlowe’s throwing a party tonight and-” 

You set the bouquet of tulips down on the table and pull your shoes on, running straight out of the door. You swear you can hear Eren calling your name as you turn the corner to Armin’s. 

 -

“Y/N.”

“Jean, perfect.” 

You push past him, padding your way into his apartment. You settle directly on the table, tapping on the top for him to take the sit directly across from you. He looks mildly confused, the toothbrush still lodged in the side of his cheek. 

“Why are you here at the ass crack of dawn? And half dressed?” 

“It’s nine o’clock. And I have something to ask you.” 

“Okay. Shoot.” 

“What do you know about Hitch? Hitch Dreyse?” 

You can see his eyes widen, him automatically reaching to scratch behind his neck. He knows. He has to know.  

“Jean.” 

“Not much. What do you know about her?” 

“Bullshit, Jean. Please.” 

“Did you hear about her from someone or something?” 

He’s not going to tell you. Not unless you tell him first. 

“Okay. Promise you’ll take my side? I know you’re Eren’s friend but you’re my friend too. If there’s something I should know, you should tell me.” 

He nods, giving you a weak smile. 

“After the concert, Eren and I went home. We kind of…had a moment I’m not really sure.” 

“Armin owes me fifty bucks.” 

“What?” 

“Had a feeling the whole flirting thing was gonna piss Eren off. Bet fifty bucks he would make a move after. Go on.” 

“I thought he liked me. But I woke up this morning and Hitch was there and he was gone. She told me that they were seeing each other.” 

You can see his muscles pinching, his eyes not meeting yours.

“Eren and Hitch…are complicated. They aren’t seeing each other per say, but they also are?” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” “They’re both on the soccer team. During the season, there’s a bunch of parties, pre-games, events that everyone has to go to. There’s this really big banquet at the end, for all the athletes, that’s super fancy and catered and stuff.” 

You nod, visibly noticing Jean talking slower, dragging out the story as he goes on. 

“Anyways, last year, Eren was really hung up on this girl he was talking to, Historia. He thought it would be embarrassing to show up alone, so he made a deal with Hitch. That they do this, whenever soccer season comes around. She has some guy she’s on and off with.” 

“What’s ‘this’? Like they just pretend or?” 

“No. You know how Eren is, you spend a lot of time together and it just ends up happening. Doesn’t really mean anything.” 

You nod, taking in Jean’s words. You spend a lot of time together and it just ends up happening. It doesn’t really mean anything. Like you and Eren. You can feel the tears spilling out of your eyes, warm and salty as they spread down your cheeks. You feel Jean move to your side, his fingers light on your face as he wipes them away. 

The words sink deep into your chest, replacing any warm, soft feeling that was left in your chest, because Eren doesn’t like you. You were just there. You stay there till your tears subside, pressing your fingers into your skin to will the pinkess away. Jean opens the door for you and you amble back into the hallway, making your way back to your apartment. 

It’s okay. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. You can just tell him it didn’t mean anything for you either, so it doesn’t stay awkward between you two. He’s your roommate, nothing more, nothing less. You guys were just messing around, it doesn’t really mean anything. 

-  

Eren’s been panicking for a better part of the last thirty minutes. He left - to get you breakfast and that stupid bouquet of tulips to start the morning off right. Instead of finding your stupid, sleepy face snuggled in your bed, he found you in the kitchen, with Hitch settled on the table. That’s the last time he leaves you. 

He’d seen your face the second you ran out the door and realized he’d messed up. Horribly. Some part of you looked small, reserved, quiet. Like the first month the two of you lived together, when you avoided him like the plague. Nothing like the girl you were with him, the girl you were for the past few weeks - funny, lively, perfect. 

God. He’s so dumb. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. He can just tell you that it’s a dumb deal, that he’ll break it off for you. He doesn’t care if he technically owes it to Hitch because you come first. 

He hears your key jamming in the lock, the words on the tip of his tongue as you walk in. 

You look different. Dejected. Small. He wants to hold you, just so he can see lines around your eyes when you smile, to reassure him. That you’re okay. So the two of you can go and he can kiss you. Tell you that you mean the world. That you’re the moon, the stars, everything in between. 

“Hi.” 

“Hey.” 

He sees you lodge yourself on top of the kitchen counter, farthest away from where he was standing. 

“So, we should talk about last night, Eren.” 

“Okay. What about it?” 

“Just what happened, why it did, so we’re on the same page.” 

“Okay.” 

So he has to tell you now? What about the day he planned? And the stupid Wordscape he spent six hours coding for you? 

“It was a mistake, right?” 

Oh. A mistake. You think it’s a mistake. He read you all wrong - the fleeting touches, the shy smiles, the long hugs. He read you all wrong. You’re lovely, in all the best ways, to everyone around you. The things you did for him weren’t special or above anyone else - you were just kind enough to do them for him. Because why would a girl like you like a guy like him?

“Right. Yeah.” 

“Okay. Good.” 

There’s an awkward silence standing in the air, the two of you looking at each other. He’s ignoring the stinging in his chest, the way his heart is burning, but not the way it did when you smiled at him. You’re ignoring the biting, scathing, sharp feeling growing in you - at the thought of Eren, Hitch, Nifa - all of them tumbling into one. 

“Cool. Glad we cleared it up. That we can still be friends.” 

“Me too. You know, it happens. We can just keep things the same, like they always were.” 

You both turn to the side, the dryness settling in your throat. Eren doesn’t catch you wiping your tears. You don’t catch Eren fighting down his. 

Eren doesn’t realize that Hitch was the perfect girl to break you in your stead - the only girl that could make you feel so small, you wouldn’t even think twice about it. 

You don’t realize that Jean and Eren aren’t as close as you thought they were, that you were better off asking Armin and Annie, who knew how Eren felt about you. 

Things aren’t the same after that.

- 

an, again: ok I promise more fluffy, angsty, pining, romance after this I just needed to word vomit this out LOL I promise next chapter will be longer + better and (hopefully) tomorrow. also like this fully didn’t start with plot and then I had to think of one so pls forgive me

next part linked here

taglist: @maliakealoha @smolone88 @mykyoon @squirrelspoetry @roronoazorosbxtchh @fell-4-u @erensleftnutt @thelazylemur @mg63k @filunara @mblrrr @spidersinmybutthole @lezsie @erensmoodygf @maesthebestmonth @nanamiswife22 @lalalucidity @lapin0u @cullenswife @leafguitar @saiyasworld @rebeccawinters @mrs-sullys-blog @red-moon-dream @icansmellsouls @luvinclouds @katestrophes @amourely @6sakusa @miralbdo @k0z3me @celiniverse @txminie-blog​ 

[secretmellowblog]

One thing I feel people almost always overlook about Javert is that:

The book’s narrator is usually harsh/sarcastic towards Javert, and that harshness is why his character has pathos. Javert is able to be sympathetic because Victor Hugo has basically no respect for his beliefs. Javert is so pitiable because Hugo mocks and drags him on basically every page he appears.

I’ve mentioned before that the message of Les Mis is (paraphrasing) that ACAB— Javert is the best police officer it is possible to be, and he is terrible, because the laws he enforces are terrible. His law & order ideology is terrible. Everything he believes is fundamentally wrong, and so deeply wrong that it deserves no respect.

Yes, Hugo acknowledges that Javert occasionally has a misguided kind of nobility— the nobility of holding yourself honestly to a set of bad rules, the nobility of following a terrible moral code even when it hurts you. But Hugo has no respect for Javert’s bigotry, or his bootlicking, or his deranged obsessive worship of law and order. Hugo portrays the way that Javert martyrs himself for his ideology as strangely honorable— but the ideology itself is mocked and condemned. Hugo thinks martyrdom is cool, but that Javert is martyring himself for a terrible cause.

In his most sympathetic moments, Javert’s worldview is portrayed as pitiable…. not a worldview that’s worthy of true total genuine respect, but a worldview that’s deeply pathetic in its wrongness.

Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs.

This is part of why those old 2012-era les mis fanfics always threw me off, if anyone remembers the fandom trends at the time. XD People used to write Valjean and pre-barricades Javert having political debates, as if the two of them could make arguments about law that were equally valid and worthy of respect, and pre-barricades Javert had a worthwhile set of beliefs that Valjean could learn from. But to me it’s personally kinda like, no XD. Nah. The whole thing about pre-barricades Javert is that he does not have any valid points to make. He has nothing resembling a point. He is “ignorant” and determined to stay that way because he literally believes that thinking is evil. He is a violent authoritarian whose worldview is just “mindless self-destructive bootlicking and bigotry.” I joked about it in a previous post but if we want a character who offers a genuinely meaningful counterpoint to Valjean’s philosophy, who could debate him on politics, and who could represent justice while Valjean represents mercy— that character is Enjolras, not Javert.

Valjean has a fascinating complicated relationship with law and politics and violence, but Javert is just a deeply pitiable brainwashed creature who martyrs himself for Wrong things.

Hugo pities Javert, but he does not treat Javert’s worldview --‘authority is always right, rigid social hierarchies must always be enforced, human life has no intrinsic value, the police must violently suppress any kind of crime or rebellion’— as something that deserves to be genuinely respected. It is not something that’s even worthy of debate. It is wrong, it is nonsense, it is an incoherent cruel self-contradicting ideology, and Javert only believes it because (to quote Hugo’s sarcastic narration) “thought was something to which he was unused.” (Or to be more charitable, Javert believes these terrible things because he was born inside a prison and has been brainwashed from birth into internalizing a cruel carceral view of the world.)

And I think Hugo generally does a good job of walking that tightrope — having pity for Javert without portraying Javert’s ideology as something worthy of genuine admiration. He sympathizes with how rigidly Javert holds himself to his own moral code, while condemning the moral code itself for being idiotic. He has empathy with Javert’s sincere self-destructive dedication to what he believes in, while pointing out the things he believes in are all stupid. He pities Javert’s martyrdom, while condemning the nonsense that Javert martyrs himself for.

One of my Top Ten Favorite Pathetic Javert Moments is this one, when Javert recognizes Marius’s body after the barricades:

A spy of the first quality, who had observed everything, listened to everything, and taken in everything, even when he thought that he was to die; who had played the spy even in his agony, and who, with his elbows leaning on the first step of the sepulchre, had taken notes.

Because Javert martyrs himself so earnestly for this terrible cause! He “takes notes” even when he believes he’s going to die and the notes cannot possibly be of any use to anyone, simply because taking notes is the thing he has been ordered to do. He’s so self-destructively dedicated to performing these useless pointless tasks because he believes there is real ~dignity~ to his mindless bootlicking— when there isn’t.

That’s why Javert’s emotional breakdown and suicide hit so hard for me, in a way that it wouldn’t if the narration was forgiving towards his stupid belief system. The contrast between Javert’s sheer pathetic terror and the often harsh/sarcastic narration is just….wild. It makes Javert sympathetic without making his awful ideology seem good, reasonable, or valuable. (And while this is only adjacent to the point I’m making- the harsh narration in Derailed also emphasizes the way Javert has been trained to view his own thoughts/emotions with contempt.) Javert is deeply pitiable/sympathetic without his ideology being framed as correct. And the whole tragedy of his character comes from the fact that he is utterly entirely wrong.

If I were to summarize the pathos of Javert, I wouldn’t say “he’s sympathetic because he’s a noble anti-hero with good strong morals who makes some valuable points about the importance of law” or w/e. I’d say that you can feel sorry for him because he’s a wretched brainwashed creature who’s never done anything right even though he wants to, and is deeply ridiculously pathetic without ever realizing it.

As Hugo puts it: “without himself suspecting the fact, Javert (…) was to be pitied.”

[middlingmay]

“Let me get this straight: You’re calling me at 3 am, disrupting my beauty sleep on a workday, to ask me out?" - for Buck and Bucky please!

Hello Anon!

Thanks for the request - this one was so fun to write. I hope you like it :)

They’d settled near each other, after the war.

On that Florida air strip, where Wisconsin lay one way and Wyoming another, it had taken root inside Gale: the life ahead of him with patient, wonderful Marge, who no man could ever deserve, had stopped driving him on, compared to the life behind him with John.

When Gale had turned up on John’s doorstep, all his bags in hand and asking if he knew of any rooms to rent in town, he’d gotten to enjoy the sight of Major John Clarence Egan speechless for the first time in his life.

Gale had achieved what the combined forces of the US military, countless missions, German fighter pilots and a POW camp could not.

John had tried to offer him a room at his house, but Gale refused. It would have been easy, so easy to say yes and slip unspoken into this something between them. But Gale was sick of it being unspoken. He wanted to do it right this time.

In the days following his arrival, they found Gale a place to live, and like John, he found himself a little part time job to keep him busy and keep him from plundering his savings from his military salary, which remained largely untouched and offered a pretty little nest egg should he ever need it. (But not for the little apartment he and John found for him; that was hopefully only temporary.)

In the weeks following his arrival, they spent time together doing up the parts of John’s house that had gone without care for a little too long, and making Gale’s apartment feel a little more like a home. They went to eat in restaurants and John showed Gale his favourite haunts (not all of them bars, he was pleasantly surprised to see). They drove and walked around, perfectly aimless for once in their lives.

But none of it, Gale thought, could have been constituted as a date. And Gale did so want to date John. He wanted to take him out and make him feel special and walk him to his door at the end of the night and see if he could be lucky enough to steal a kiss.

He just had to ask him. Because apparently John was a gentleman, following this thing at Buck’s pace.

Gale had almost asked him that first day he’d turned up tired and hungry and John had taken care of him like it was the easiest thing in the world.

He’d almost asked him when John had dragged a heavy second-hand bookshelf up a flight of stairs to Gale’s apartment because he knew how Gale loved books and cleanliness in equal measure.

He almost asked him when Gale had a bad day and a worse evening, and John had steered them passed all the bars, up to Gale’s apartment, settled him with a poorly-made tea, and read to him from a physics book where he mispronounced half the words (Gale thought at least half must have been on purpose).

And now Gale was lying awake at some ungodly hour because he almost asked him.

Gale had been a cocksure pilot; one of the best, him and John. He had led squadrons of men in war, kept his guys together in a POW camp for a year and a half. He knew himself and what he was about. But here he was, flaking out, being a coward - a whole big pile of chicken shit - over John, who'd never made him feel anything but brave.

What kinda man was he?

Gale threw back the covers and hauled himself out of bed.

He was Major Gale W Cleven—Buck—goddamn it, and he could do this.

One of the selling points of his apartment had been its own private line. He padded out to the tiny lounge and picked up the phone and dialled the number he knew off by heart by now.

*

They were finally flying home, he and Buck. Just like he promised.

Gale grinned at him from the left. It was that grin he tried to hide sometimes, the one that showed off the apples of his cheeks and couldn't disguise his soft eyes when he looked at John.

When they both turned eyes front to enjoy the clear blue skies together that would take them home, Bucky saw them. The white far-off pinstripes of a hoard of incoming German fighters. But they were still a way off; they still had time. Buck still had time.

“Bail out, Buck!” They were so close to going home, he wasn’t risking Buck now.

But Gale just smiled at him. “Since when have you backed down from a challenge, Jon?”

The Germans were nearly on them.

“Gale! Go—get out! I’ll cover—!”

Gale petted the yoke unhurried. “Easy, Bucky. We’re safe as houses up here. Last two pilots left in the sky, just like you said.”

The Germans opened fire with a shrill ringing, ringing, ringing—

John bolted up in bed, chest heaving and heart beating hard and fast.

The phone was ringing.

He collapsed back onto the sheets. “Fuck.”

He almost let the phone ring out. It was fuck-knows-when in the morning. But then he remembered the very exclusive list of people who actually had his number, and he felt like he was jolting out of a nightmare all over again as he scrambled to catch it before it ringing stopped.

Buck. Buck might need him.

In the hallway, he snatched up the phone as soon as his fingertips grazed the smooth dark plastic. “H-hello?”

Whoever was on the other end was lucky to hear his voice over the thundering of his heart.

“It’s me, John.”

Buck. He knew it. “What is it?” He asked blunt and panicked. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’! Nothin’ John, I swear.” Buck exhaled slow. “Uh, I uh, god. I’m sorry; I wasn’t thinking.”

Sheepish. Buck sounded sheepish. He could work with sheepish. It wasn’t frightened, afraid.

“It’s fine, Buck,” he said. Heart finally getting under control. “C’mon, it’s fine. What’s on your mind?”

“I just, um. I was wonderin’. You promised me a baseball game. I was wonderin’ if I could take ya.”

Bucky frowned. Much as he was warmed by Gale remembering a promise he made what felt like a lifetime ago; and as much as something inside tingled and sparked at Gale asking him to one, he did wonder if Gale hadn't woken up from the same kinda dream as him. The kind that made it hard to fall back asleep and left you reaching for distractions.

But still, like hell he was going to pass up this kind of opportunity. “Well—well, yeah, Buck, of course. I'll take you to a game. “

“No.” Gale blurted too loud down the line. “No, I wanna take you. Like a…”

That tingling and sparking thing caught and used up John’s body like tinder. “Let me get this straight,” he sad faintly and cast a look at the hallway clock finally. “You’re calling me at three am, disrupting my beauty sleep on a work day, to ask me out?”

Maybe Gale’s blood was pounding as furiously as John’s, because that was the only reason he couldn’t have heard the delighted, tremulous, terrified disbelief in John’s voice.

Instead, Gale rushed out over the line, “No, no. I know. It was—God, I’m sorry, John. Go back to sleep. It was stupid—just—goodnight.”

John was left calling the dial tone Buck.

Stupid, Buck had said. Well, John felt everything he had ever wanted at his fingertips. If Buck wanted stupid, he would give him stupid.

It wasn’t far from John’s house to town, so he didn’t bother with a coat. He simply shoved a sweater over his undershirt and some boots on his feet and took off running.

By the time he got to Gale’s apartment building, the cool night had turned to fog, to a gentle spray, to a light rain. The thin pajama pants he wore started to stick, and his curls caught droplets of dewy moisture and sprinkled them on his face and neck.

He unlocked the door to the building with the key Gale had cut for him and headed straight for 1B. He knocked once and Gale didn’t answer within three seconds, so he let himself in the apartment, too.

The lights were out and Bucky headed for the bedroom, figuring Gale had gone back to bed to try and get some sleep. The curtains were thin and some strains of the street lights lit the room a little. John saw Gale, his back shoved against the wall, all bundled up like they’d never been able to do at the stalag.

He got close and gently shook his shoulder. “Buck. Buck.”

Gale woke quick and was upright in a second, eyes alert but mouth full and puffed up in sleep. “John? What’s wrong?”

Gale tried to get up out of bed but John pushed him back down. “S’okay. All good, Buck.”

“What are you doing here? It’s—”

“’Bout 3.20am. You never let me answer. On the phone.”

Gale cleared his throat and looked at his covers like they were some new textbook that demanded all of his attention. John smiled small and cheeky out of Buck’s sight and reached out to pluck up a strip of covers with his fingers to tease the material out of Buck’s grasp.

“Yes,” John whispered, smug and happy. “Obviously you can take me on a date.” He sat on the edge of Gale’s bed who now looked at him eyes wide and full of wonder. “But I want the whole nine yards: good seats, hot dogs, you desperately trying to follow along—the whole shebang.”

Gale smiled that same apple-cheeked smile from John’s dream. “You come all the way here in the rain to say yes to a question I chickened outta askin’?”

“Mhm,” John agreed cheerfully.

Gale laughed and collapsed back onto his bed. Only John’s damp clothes and the crumb of decorum he had left stopped him from collapsoing down with him.

“Thank you, John. I would love to take you out.”

“’Kay,” John said softly biting on his lip before collecting himself before it was too late. He stood up and slapped his hands on his thighs. “Well, g’night Buck. Sleep tight.”

He turned on his heels to make from the room and Gale called after him.

“John!”

John spun round, hand on the door jam. Gale looked at him, exasperated and fond.

“It is 3.30 in the morning. It’s rainin’. You can stay till morning.”

John shook his head, droplets spattering the wall. “You gotta wait for that, Buck. Your girl isn’t easy.”

Gale gave an amused huff and leaned his head back against the wall, before John’s words took root. He sat up at the gall of of the man and yelled through the open door. “Since when?!”

He heard John’s laugh even as the front door to his apartment swung closed.

[speedofsoundsketches]

Why was Sonic X a failure in Japan? Why are most Sonic animation and manga books a failure in Japan?

I’ve always wondered about this considering by and large why Sonic doesn’t quite reach the same level of popularity in his home country as he does most anywhere else. I think it simply comes down to the adapted materials being just too weak in comparison to what Japan expects.

We in the US are very fond of Sonic X enough to have been the main driving force behind funding the third season after it dropped in Japan due to low ratings there. I loved it enough as a kid to ask my grandmother to record it on vhs for me if I couldn’t catch a new episode airing. (I sure feel old saying that)

But if we’re being real for a moment, for all the love I have and still have for the show, it’s insanely weak compared to any of its anime contemporaries. Imagine making a largely slower paced, meandering, boring in scale version of the hyper crazy fun world that is the games. And the animation jumps in quality episode to episode. And the stories seem hastily pulled together sometimes just making big leaps in logic or believability and having an annoying kid forcibly dragging the whole show of crazy powered animals down to his level. Everything that bothers me about the films is just a bigger repeat of the worst parts of this show.

And to make things worse, Sonic X released in 2003. Let’s see what other anime were being released at the same time:

Full Metal Alchemist

Astro Boy

One piece

inuyasha

Zach Bell

HE HAD NO CHANCE.

And this is no where near exhaustive. I’m only picking the main ones WE knew about. Japan literally cooks up so much anime in a single years worth of seasons. With all the possible options that Japanese children can watch, Sonic X really just becomes a drop in a bucket. It’s different in the US since we don’t have nearly the same amount of releases in anime as they do in Japan. We typically only bother to localize the ones they can better guarantee will be successful. It’s kinda sad to think that our options are so minuscule that Sonic X was seen as a notable show compared to other US children’s cartoons of the time. (I’m not saying our cartoons are bad btw just very different especially back then).

So, this is just the same problem with any of the other Japanese based adapted materials like the OVA or mangas. Fun as they are and appreciated by current fans, they’re nothing exceptional enough to grab an audience that gets literally spoiled with the best anime and manga has to offer. You compare these to any other popular manga/anime series and they do not measure up.

[littlespacereader]

Hiii, if your requests open was wondering if you could write a Caregiver Moonknight fic. M not really sure on a plot idea just kinda seeking some comfort.

Hope you having good day/evening/night!!!

I loooooovvvvvveeee a comfort Moon Knight Fic!! Especially with some CG Steven love🥰 You’ve got it @aew-kun-age-regression ! I hope you enjoy this fic!!

And the Lights Will Flicker

Caregiver!Steven Grant & GN!Little Reader (SFW)

Tags - crying, stuffie, hurt/comfort, cuddles, storytime

Nicknames - Darling, little one, sweets

London was known for its rainy and overcast weather, but nothing like this. This was a fullblown thunderstorm and a bad one at that.

What started as a simply rain storm soon developed into a tropical storm night. Rain whipped back and forth, thunder roared outside and lightning flashed. Just terrible terrible weather for London.

Steven looked outside with sigh. Today he had planned to try out a new park to read some of his favorite books at. But the weather wouldn’t allow anyone to do much of anything today.

So inside he stayed, reading on the couch, reading at the table, reading pretty much everywhere.

His reading was interrupted temporarily by the sound of knocking at his door…or so he thought.

He set his book down and unlocked the many locks on his front door to find it empty. But a look down the hall answered his questions.

His neighbor Y/N, was trying desperately to get their stuck key out from the keyhole. The banging was a result of this problem.

“Need a bit of help there Y/N?” Steven asked as he walked over.

“Steven, hey! Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind.” They said a bit shy.” Y/N is one of you only people Steven knowns that says his name properly…unlike the people at his job…

“These stupid old locks never work. I’ve already put in two work order and I haven’t heard anything back from anyone.” They said with a sigh. They were soaked head to toe, having got caught in the storm without realizing no doubt.

“I don’t blame you my keyhole does the same thing. But usually when I do this,” Steven wiggled the key just enough that the key unwedged itself from the door, “it does the trick.” Steven smiled.

Y/N smiled back as Steven handed them the key. “Thank you. It’s been a long day and this door isn’t helping.”

“I can see that. Got caught in the storm?”

“Yeah…I didn’t know it was going to be so nasty.”

“Neither did I. But it’s a good day to stay in and read a nice book.”

“I think I might take your advice. Thank you again Steven.”

“Of course. If you need anything feel free to pop over.” Steven offered. He knew they lived alone and were, for the most part, on their own. So he always offered a lending hand, being the good neighbor he always is.

“I will. Thanks again.” And with that Y/N entered their apartment.

They sighed, throwing their wet belongings to the side before dragging themselves to the bathroom for a nice long and warm shower to take the chill out of their system.

They were definitely regressing tonight. If there was ever a night they needed regression, it was tonight. With the stresses of school and family pressuring them, they needed the escape regression always brought them.

So after their shower they pickled out their favorite pjs, grabbed their stuffies and sippy cup and climbed into bed. The storm went on outside, but inside surrounded by fluffy blankets, Y/N laid peacefully reading one of their favorite children’s books.

~~~

It started to get later into the night so Steven called it for himself. He got dressed into his pajamas and was just starting to brush his teeth.

The storm outside was getting worse and worse by the minute. But maybe it would lull him to sleep?

Just as he spit out his tooth paste and wiped his mouth, the lights started to flicker.

“Marc is that you?” Steven asked as he looked around worried.

“No it must be the storm.” Marc replied internally.

Suddenly the lights and power went out. Steven jumped but quickly recovered. No power…guess he should grab some candles.

Usually the power would come back on soon after but it seemed to be staying off for longer this time. Steven crossed his apartment and grabbed the supplies.

He lit two candles and placed them on his table. He was about to light the third one when…

Knock, Knock, Knock.

There were three frantic knocks at his front door. Maybe it was the landlord explaining the situation? Or maybe…

Steven didn’t stand around pondering. He rushed to the door and quickly unlocked it to find Y/N, holding onto their stuffie, crying.

All at once Steven froze with worry and shock. Y/N looked so young and afraid. It broke his heart. “Y/N, are you okay darling?”

They shook their head as more tears escaped their eyes, “’m scared! No light!”

“Did the storm knock your power out too?” Steven asked getting a nod yes from them.

“Well there’s no need to be scared. I’m sure the power will come back on soon-.”

“Can…can I tay wit you? ‘ill its back?” They asked so timidly.

Steven smiled, “Of course you can! Please come in, make yourself at home.”

Y/N walked into Steven messy apartment, but not too far in. Steven could see they wanted to hang out around him instead.

“Would you like some water or juice?” He offered as he closed the front door.

“Juice please,” They replied.

Steven nodded, “Well how about we get comfortable for the night? Have a seat on my couch over there and I’ll go grab you a cup of apple juice.”

They nodded back and walk towards the couch. Steven came over and set two of the candles on the coffee table infront so rheum would have some light in the makeshift living room.

On his way into the kitchen, Marc started to speak up, “Steven…your friend…are they a-.”

“Regressor? I believe so.” Steven replied internally.

It wasn’t like Marc and Steven were new to the idea of regression. After all what they went through themselves, they were no stranger to coping mechanisms. Steven could recognize it right away, from the moment that door opened and he was met with Y/N’s eyes.

He felt a sense of protectiveness wash over him as he turned back to the living room, plastic cup of juice in hand. He always protected Marc, so what more would it be to protect Y/N too?

“Just makes sure they’re okay and comfortable. I’m worried about them.” Marc replied.

Marc wasn’t one for emotions so hearing and feeling his other self so worried for the Little made him feel a little better. Like he wasn’t the only one who was concerned. Almost like another person was there to help him along.

“Don’t worry, I plan on taking good care of them for as long as they need me.” Steven replied.

“Here we go. One cup of juice for you and a cup of water for myself,” Steven said taking a seat on the couch next to Y/N, “Now I must ask, did you friend want something to drink? It slipped my mind to ask them earlier.” He asked gesturing to their stuffie.

They lifted the stuffie to their ear as if they were whispering a secret to Y/N. Then they shook their head, “They aren’t thirsty.”

“Oh well that’s a relief. But if they need anything you be sure to let me know. That goes for you too.” Steven winked, getting a small smile from Y/N.

Another particularly loud thunder decided to strike at that moment. Y/N instinctively reached for Steven who gladly opened his arms to the scared Little.

He wrapped his arms around them, bringing the Little in close. Y/N grabbed his shirt and hid their face against his chest, tucked away under Steven’s chin shaking like a leaf.

Steve lightly rocked them and shushed their worries away. “It’s okay darling it’s okay. I’ve got you. I’ve got you, you’re safe now.”

They stayed like that for a moment together, just the two of them holding onto one another with all of the love and warmth there could ever be in this world. After a moment he could feel the little one start to relax and settle down in his arms.

They lifted their head and looked up at Steven with a small smile. “Tank you.” They said in a voice so small and innocent.

“Of course darling. It’s really scary outside but you don’t need to worry anymore. I’m right here.” He replied placing a small kiss to the top of their head.

“How about a book while we cuddle for a bit?” He asked getting another smile and nod from Y/N. They needed a distraction from the storm or they would be upset all night.

Steven picked Y/N up and into his arms, resting them on his hip as he went around his flat in search of a good book for them. The problem was…most of them weren’t for someone as young as Y/N.

“Most of these are on Egyptian mythology. Do you want to hear about that?” Steven asks.

Y/N looks at the book curious but shrugs. “What’s it ‘bout?”

Steven face lit up to see the little one’s curiosity. “It’s about the Egyptian gods. What the Egyptians believed was each of the god purpose.”

“Woooowwwww!” Y/N eyes lit up as they listened to Steven enthusiasm.

“How about we settle in for the night, cuddle up and start this book together? Sound good sweets?” Steven asked getting a sleepy nod and a small yawn.

So back to the couch they went. Steven sat them down and wrapped the two of them up in a big soft blanket from his bed.

“Okay, where should we begin?” The book opened and pages started to turn. Y/N cuddled into Steven’s side and listened as Steven started to read along.

“Taweret is the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility. The name Taweret means "she who is great" or simply "great one".” Steven began to read.

~~~

It was last midnight when when power resumed itself in the apartment complex. The storm still raged outside but inside was nothing but blissful peace.

Y/N was fast asleep, one around wrapped around Steven and the other around their stuffie. Their head rested on Steven’s shoulder as they dreamed away.

Steven was in a similar position. He was fast asleep as well, one arm wrapped around Y/N’s shoulders holding them close to himself, the other held onto the open book. Steven’s sleeping head rested on top of Y/N’s.

While before they were just neighbors, after tonight they might’ve just become something a little more special.

[nethhiri]

Siren Charms: Chapter 9

Zoro x Siren!Reader

Sea King

Luffy, Usopp, Brooke, and Chopper were fishing without much luck. You were watching from your post, serving as shade for Nami and Robin, with your wings held over them both while they relaxed on deck. You felt kinda bad for them. You knew how it felt to hunt with no reward. An idea formed in your head. Nami groaned as you gave up being her shade and went to where they were fishing and looked into the water. Not a fish to be seen. Luffy was lamenting their lack of luck, about to give up completely. 

"I can try something." You looked at Luffy for permission.

"I'm so hungry I could eat a Sea King!"

You grinned. "I can get you one." 

"Really?!" Luffy's eyes were wide. "Do it! Do it! Do it!"

You perked up, very eager to make him happy. You took off running down the deck with a huge smile on your face, jumping off the railing to take to the sky. Flying just over the water's surface, you let the very edges of your wings skim the waves, slapping them as your wings flapped. They watched as you flew back and forth several times, the excitement fading as it went on for some time. Just as Luffy was about to get bored, you let one of your wings drag in the water and suddenly shot upward. A huge shadow appeared under the water's surface, breaching the water, enormous jaws snapping in your direction. It fell back into the waves with a thundering splash. 

"WHOA!" Luffy exclaimed. 

"I didn't think she could do it," Usopp said. 

You doubled back, baiting the Sea King to go after you again. It barreled after you, but this time when it breached the surface, you maneuvered into a backflip, slowing down enough that you were above it instead of in front. You matched your speed with the hulking beast, grabbing one of the large spines that erupted from the scales on its back. You pressed yourself nearly flat on its back, tucking your wings hard against you, gripping with your thighs. You pulled your mask and goggles over your face, bracing for the impact of the ocean as the beast dove back into the water. 

"I wanna do that!" Usopp had to hold the back of Luffy's shirt as he threatened to go overboard. 

Luffy was the only one watching that didn't gasp. 

"She's crazy!" Nami yelled. 

"She's gonna drown!" Chopper was clutching his fishing net nervously. 

"I volunteer if she needs mouth to mouth." Sanji leaned on the railing, daydreaming. 

The feeling of the water rushing past you was exhilarating. This was something you used to do when you were younger for fun as a challenge. Sometimes you could travel using them, though you had to go wherever they went without a way to steer them. When it surfaced again, you let out a cheer and waved to the boat. The beast realized that you were on its back, rearing up and falling backwards into the water, trying to smash you against the surface. You were far too resilient for that to work. The next time it came out of the water, you jumped from its back, a bit slower now that your wings were wet. You flew towards the ship with the Sea King right behind you.

"Luffy! You ready?"

You skidded to a stop on the deck, turning to watch Luffy punch the Sea King so hard, it immediately went down. 

"Woohoo! We're eatin good tonight!" 

You watched as Luffy enlisted Zoro to help Sanji butcher the thing. It was very entertaining to watch them bicker with each other, even more entertaining to watch Zoro chop the beast to pieces without breaking a sweat. You returned to your post as shade umbrella; the sun would help dry your feathers out. Plus, you were learning more about them as Nami and Robin chatted back and forth. You couldn't help but look at Robin's book over her shoulder. 

"It's rude to do that you know."

"Huh?"

"To read over someone's shoulder."

"Oh. I didn't know. But I can't read most of it, only this part." You put your finger over the poneglyphics. The simpler words in the common language you could recognize. 

"You can read that?"

You nodded. "We don't have very much written, but the statues or monuments we do have, have this kind of writing." Most everything was directly passed down from your mentor. Only the specific gathering places had remnants of the old culture. 

Robin flipped to a page with a cube, covered in writing. "Do you have one of these?" 

"No. Never seen one." 

"How very interesting." 

After a pause you added, "Sorry for reading over your shoulder." 

Robin gave you a warm smile. "It's quite alright. You didn't know."

Later that evening, the crew ate well. And you learned that Luffy could eat a whole Sea King, as he said. You had a plate yourself, though it didn't satisfy your hunger. Waiting again, for everyone to go to bed, you set off to find something more appetizing, especially after expending so much energy. And again, gray eyes were watching. 

[littlecrittereli]

It's been a long time since I watched Wild Kratts but I didn't even know he had a fandom, I'm so happy, and your story made my dream come true, I would love to create a story like you, but I'm not very good at writing stories What tips would you give to a beginner <3

I don't consider myself a super great author to be honest, I'm much more confident in my illustrations! But as someone who is completely self taught: here are some tips I use when I write my stories! (these may not apply to everyone, but they do help me) Outlines

If I'm writing a plot-based story I make an outline of all the major plot points I want to make and separate them into chapters. I reference this outline when I'm writing a chapter and it helps me meet all my "goals" for that particular chapter! Of course you can be flexible with this. Say one of your plot points dragged out a little too long and you want to save something for the next chapter, you can adjust your outline as you go! Sometimes your idea will change as you write it, and that's okay! revise your outline accordingly. For me, it's handy so I don't end up spiralling completely off the path I intended and lose the conclusion I wanted to have. Here's an example of the outline for my Reprogrammed AU. (Only chapters 1-5 to prevent spoilers for unreleased chapters)

as you can see, it doesn't have to be super formal. This is literally just in my notes app. As long as you can understand and follow your ideas, that's all that matters.

Get a Beta Reader!

I do not actually have a beta reader currently, but sending your writings to someone to proofread is one of the best ways to get genuine feedback. Try to find someone who is also pretty educated on proper grammar. I learned more about proper formatting from a fanfiction beta reader than I did in school im so fr. At the very least, make sure this person is comfortable with giving you constructive criticism. If something reads a little awkward or if a plot point doesn't make much sense/could be solved with an easier method, it's a lot easier for someone to point out when they didn't write the piece.

Study fanfictions/books you enjoy

Honestly... just reading a lot has made me a better writer. You will begin to notice the way authors describe certain feelings or environments, and that can give you insight on how to go about writing your own ideas. If I find an author I really like, I will try to dissect WHY I like them so much. Is it their accurate characterization? Do they describe emotions well? Are their plots engaging? Is their dialogue interesting? Find out what makes their writing so interesting so you can incorporate those traits into your own story. This goes for the way they format their writing as well. For example, I've found I prefer when chapters are around 1k-5k words. Really short chapters can make the story seem choppy when the reader has to constantly click to the next page, it kinda breaks the immersion of the story. Instead I try to use chapter breaks as interesting pausing points for suspense. I love it when authors leave their chapter on a slightly unfinished note. So I'm curious for the next chapter, but also I feel fulfilled with what I've read so far. And I've discovered this by analyzing the stories I enjoy!

And the most important advice I can give.... PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!

Writing is similar to drawing in the sense that in order to learn, you must DO it. You have to make the shitty stuff before you find out how to make it better! It's honestly just part of the creative process. I still have some short stories I wrote back when I was a preteen and ITS BAD LOL but I needed to go through that in order to learn and grow and be more confident in my storytelling capabilities. And just like illustrations, everyone starts at a different place and everyone's process is different. SO BE PATIENT AND DON'T GIVE UP! Write that story! Even if it's bad, who cares?! You wrote something! And next time, you will write something even better!

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Wasted 7

Warnings: drug dealing/use, violence, noncon, and the usual. Proceed with caution.

Feedback is always welcome. Love you and thanks for the wonderful responses so far.♥♥♥♥

The other girl in this one is from Black Light

Part of The Club AU

The lug of a brute of a douche shoves you through the doors and flings you towards the curb. You stagger and feel the heel of your shoe bend precariously. No way. You look down and check that it hasn’t snapped. These are nice shoes.

“Hey,” you turn on him as your friend puts her arms out to steady herself, “you don’t have to be rude.”

“Go,” he tilts his head, pointing at your companion, “both of you.”

“You coulda broke my shoe.”

“Leave,” he snarls.

You puff and flutter your lashes. You look over at your partner in crime then back to the burly bouncer. You squint as you see how he watches her fix her wig as it slumps forward on her head. You stuck your teeth and chuckle.

“Bro, she’s not into you, and she’s not gonna be if you keep being a dick,” you spout.

“What? I’m not– go!” He sputters.

You cackle and signal to the other girl. You can’t believe it. He’s acting like some schoolyard bully. He probably read a book on negging and thought it would help work through his insecurity. No amount of manipulation can make him tolerable. The scar isn’t bad, it’s his personality that’s repugnant.

“Come on,” you grab Snickerdoodle, “we’ll figure something else out.”

“Don’t come back,” he growls.

“Don’t come back,” you mimic in a bellowy voice, “dumbass.”

You drag your friend away and she waves, “oh, bye!”

You yank her up beside you and shake your head, “you don’t have to be nice to that jackass.”

“He’s just doing his job.”

“He’s an asshole,” you insist, “he sees someone who can feel more than self-pity and spite and he can’t stand it. Don’t let him get to you. You're too good for him.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I just… he does have a way of picking you out in a crowd,” you say, “men don’t usually mature past adolescence, you know?”

“Oh… well, I was thinking, it’s probably not anything like that. Because that would be kinda weird, but my theory, so you know he has that cool scar and he probably thinks it’s ugly so he tries to protect himself by being mean and scary. Like, I read somewhere, this thing; hurt people hurt people.”

“Jesus,” you roll your eyes, “tell me you don’t have live, laugh, love on your wall.”

“Hmmm, I put it in the wrong order. I thought it was love, laugh, live, because love always comes first.”

You laugh but she’s not amused. You stop and look at her in the yellow cast of the streetlight as you pass beneath it. 

“Sorry, I’m not laughing at you.”

“I know, I do things backwards,” she shrugs.

“No, not backwards, just your own way,” you nudge her gently, “don’t worry about it. We’re done with that place.”

“But… but that guy– wait, are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” you shake your head and hold back a shudder, “just some scummy dealer…” you swallow as you continue around the corner, “thanks for coming to find me.”

“That’s what friends are for,” she trills, “you wanna sleepover? I have cookie dough!”

You chew your cheek. She’s sweet, too nice for you. Yet the hope in her voice makes it hard to deny. Besides, you know how much is hurts to be left behind by people you thought were your friends.

“Sure,” you take her hand, “but I get to choose the movie.”

🍸

The sleepover doesn’t involve much sleeping. You doze for about twenty minutes during the showing of Mean Girls but wake to the imaginary weight of a hand around your throat. The man, the one referred to as Buck, haunts your mind with his gritty threats. Both encounters mingle in a twisted nightmare that has you restless.

Snickerdoodle tosses and turns but is otherwise passed out beside you. She hugs a stuffed yeti in her arms as she snores gently into its fluffy head. There’s a certain bravery to her so boldly following her own tune. 

You sit up and gently leave her. You grab your phone and bite your thumb as you scroll without reading. You’re not going to give up. That asshole deserves vengeance but you know you can’t bring her into it again. She doesn’t deserve that.

You don’t need to get into the club, you just have to wait him out. When he’s least expecting it you’ll get him. You don’t know what you’ll do but you have time to figure it out.

You languish in the silence. You close your eyes and see him again, you hear his snarls, you feel his grimy hands. And that powerlessness returns to you. Your chest knots up as the memory of gravel chafing through your shirt speckles across your skin. The echo of your own pathetic pleas roll through your head.

You can’t just wallow in that one night. It won’t define you. You’ve survived worse for longer. Just keep going, like you always do.

You move around awkwardly, tiptoeing as you find your purse and ease open the door. You creep down the hallway and past the closed doors of the slumbering suburban house. You bring up google maps and search for the closest coffee shop. The least you can do is wake your new friend up with something sweet. You do owe her after all.

[moodywyrm]

i just redid my room this week,, and it has me wondering what abby and readers room/apartment would look like !! and if they would have any pets or plants and things of those sorts !!

-🧸

you have just opened the floodgates. I fucking love home decor n decorating shit, I literally went Bonkers when I got to decorate my bedroom in my college apartment.

ok so I drew out a floor plan.

so this is gonna be. a big one. so. jerry spared literally no expense when he got abby her college apartment. sure its one bedroom one bath, but it's got a spacious living room that connects to the kitchen. there's a big ol island in the kitchen where abby got so many stools bc she wanted to fit all of her besties. thinks her washer n dryer are in the worst spot ever, but they're the stacked ones so it isn't as bad as it could be. that lil area next to the patio? her reading spot. she never really knew what to do with the space until she met you, and then it clicked. reading nook. one of your guys' favorite dates was hitting every thrift store you could to find a good coffee table and old armchairs. one green, one pink, one baby blue. she loves them to bits, they're absolutely moving into her next place with her. she literally Made a bookshelf to store all the books you gradually left at her house, and it's become your joint shelf now <3

the sofa is Huge and her dad bought it for her, it's black upholstery. her apartment doesn't have one particular style, just very Abby. I forgot to draw it in but there is absolutely a trophy case in the living room. her medals and old jerseys are on the wall, mixed with your band posters and art prints. her favorite parts are the framed photo graphs of her friends and family, including multiple of you. she specifically picked an apartment with great windows, and this came in so handy when you moved in because the both of you basically have a fucking Jungle of plants. Hanging plants, plant stands, plants on every surface. ur babies. the walls are a kinda neutral white color, nothing super special, but it really doesn't matter when it's covered in so much stuff! plus, you usually have colored lights on (like salt lamps, candles, bluetooth color shifting lightbulbs), that the walls are usually just whatever color you want them to be. the couch is covered in throw blankets, that you brought in. the main living area, bedroom, and closet are all dark oak hardwood-tile, with the softest rugs known to man, especially in the bedroom bc neither of you want to step on ice cold tile in the winter.

the bathroom is a different, simple white tile. the shower has glass sliding doors, that abby absolutely uses to look at u while u shower n vice versa <3 it has a built in tub that u make full use of. the bathroom counter is covered in candles, trinkets, skincare, hygiene products, but all very organized bc it makes abby stress less.

the bedroom. ok. her bed? godly. so fucking comfy. king sized, with the softest sheets ever and the plushest comforter and blankets. satin pillowcases you brought in <3 abby religiously washes her bedding, so it cycles from black to pink to blue every three weeks. the bedroom walls are also covered in art prints and wall hangings, but all of these were picked by the both of you. a lot of it is thrifted or bought from local artists, bc you absolutely drag abby to local craft fairs and the like <3 that chest at the end of the bed holds spare bedding and ,,,, other things ,,,, it is locked. on the wall between the doors to the bathroom and closet is a huge standing mirror, and underneath it is a small table and area for you to do your makeup. gives you top tier fit pics, it is also the mirror abby uses for ,,,, other things. it also! gives u a perfect look at abby while she's working at her desk. above her desk is a huge wall grid/corkboard that she hangs a bunch of shit on. I forgot to draw them in but she also has more bookshelves on the wall across from the bed, specifically four small-medium ones, separated by a dresser that holds a bunch of spare stuff and some of her workout gear that she uses often enough to keep out of the closet.

ok the fun stuff. books fucking Everywhere!!! and cool dishware that you thrifted when you moved in. the kitchen is so well loved and worn in, bc you two love cooking together. the couch is much the same way, well worn n comfortable as all hell, literally one of your favorite spots in the apartment. ur actual favorite spot? the patio. it's beautiful, covered in plants, always burning incense out there, comfortable seating, a beautiful view of the park across the street. u and abby spend your weekend mornings out there, usually bundled up into one big chair while abby dozes and you read, drinking coffee or tea or your preferred morning beverage. the apartment smells so good bc candles and incense and abby's rigorous cleaning. her apartment feels like home for the both of you, carefully curated to be a little sanctuary after long days of classes and practices and just general stress.

this is my magnum opus. I have a problem. I will probably speak more on this.

[chiiyuuvv]

Hellooo could you do a xikers first date imagine :0

• PAIRING — xikers x gn reader (idk if i used she)

• GENRE — nervous xikers, fluff, kissing on cheeks since its the first date, honestly could have been written better, yeah.

• WORD COUNT — 663

• AUTHOR'S NOTE — ty for requesting!! (Lowkey wanna write minjae)

• TAGLIST — @hyunukitty , @lil-elle

MASTERLIST! – JOIN THE TAGLIST!

MINJAE ☆

Spent the whole day before the day cleaning up the dorm, and kicking the boys out

Makes sure youre all comfy and safe on the couch surrounded by blankets and pillows and stuff animals as he spoils you with sweet

Starts a speech about how happy he is about you being with him, but stops when you throw a popcorn at him

His arm is wrapped around you the ENTIRE time, your head on his shoulder

And you fall asleep, waking up when the boys start teasing you ♡

JUNMIN ☆

Junmin wanted to take you to the beach

You were complaining about how hot it was and he was like "oh yeah me too." And just casually takes off his shirt

You got even hotter <3

Arms wrapped around your waist as he drags you to the water

Throws water at you, even though you told him not too <3 ♡

SUMIN ☆

Sumin invites you to the mall!!

Going to each shop, trying on clothes or showing it to the other

Wants to hold your hand so bad but is scared

You found this pair of shoes that you really like but you've ran out of money, so sumin insists that he can pay for it

In return, you gotta go on another date with him ♡

JINSIK ☆

Study date because exam season is coming up

But you werent studying your text books, you were studying each other's face

Jinsik tucks a strand of hair behind your ear, scooting his chair closer to yours

He'd try to show you some random pencil magic tricks

Stops when you kiss his cheek ♡

HYUNWOO ☆

Prepared you food that his mom helped him with for his picnic

Very nervous because he doesnt think his cooking skills are the best, but he still put his whole heart into it

Almost melts when you tell him how good the food is

After your done, you look up at the stars, pointing out anything interesting you've seen

Gets up randomly to give you a forehead kiss, looking away when you look at him ♡

JUNGHOON ☆

Junghoon didnt have anything planned, he just wanted to have some alone time with you

Little unsure because it wasnt the best date ever, but you still made the most out of it

Telling you to shut your eyes so he can pluck some flowers out of a bush and hands it to you with a blush

Ends up giving you his icecream when you accidentally drops it on the ground

Walks you home, your hands brushing against each other when he finally finds some courage and decides to hold it ♡

SEEUN ☆

Going to the museum because its been a long time since you last went

Taking pictures of you mimicking the statues and paintings, your biggest hype man

Stops at statues/paintings to giggle about the.. parts.. that were there

Wraps an arm around your shoulder because he can

Stops at the gift shop to buy you a necklace ♡

YUJUN ☆

Arcade date with yujun!!

Jumping around with happiness when you get your tokens

Wants to play every game with you

You make a bet, whoever loses has to pay for dinner

But he still pays, even if you lose ♡

HUNTER ☆

Hunter likes steak, and texas barbecue, so why not take you to a steakhouse

Kinda insecure because is this a good first date?? Would you like it??

But when you say you love steak too, he feels reassured

You were talking when you had some barbecue on the side of your mouth, hunter unconsciously wiping it off for you

But goes red when he realizes, quickly looking down with a shy smile. "This is so good right!!" ♡

YECHAN ☆

Takes you to an amusement park

Offers to pay everything when you keep saying no

Feeding each other churro sticks <3

Hyping each other when you decide to go on a scary rollercoaster

And keeps saying how cute you are when you put on different headbands at the gift shop ♡

[toaarcan]

Weirdly in some ways I think the Archie reboot kinda saved the book's direction in a sense. Not in the obvious "Well Ken Penders just ate half the cast and the other former writers could do the same" sense, but in the "Saving Flynn from having to actually write post-Mecha Sally stories" sense.

Eggman in Archie always kinda had the benefit of a sizeable double standard from the protagonists. He always received significantly more leniency than the heroes gave other villains. The most obvious case of this is probably Issue 177, where you get to see the juxtaposition between how they treat Eggman and how they treat Mogul, Naugus, and the not-yet Hooligans.

They all get sent to jail with a wave of Nicole's hand. Eggman, though?

Eggman is at their mercy at he gets told to go home.

Now, you might argue "Well the other villains are inside the city and Eggman's outside it," but counterpoint:

A) He's still lying beaten at their feet and all of the FF and Chaotix on the current roster are there. Even if you give Eggman the most generous interpretation of him being a "Power type" character in Riders, he's not going to overpower all of them. They can drag him inside. Bunnie, Knuckles, Vector and Mighty could probably all do it with one hand.

B) Nicole can do this.

At this point in the story, there are no Legionisation victims that Eggman can threaten to blow up to use as a bargaining chip, the Egg Fleet can't break through the shield and Nicole is fast enough to morph the city wall itself to defend anybody outside it. He's never been more beaten than he is right now. And they let him go.

And it should be noted, this is before the contract between Archie and SEGA was renegotiated in 2010, Flynn was writing under the same lax mandates that allowed Penders to write Issue 150 at the time. And while he's obviously not going to be allowed to take Eggman off the board permanently, we're not too far from Sonic X doing its own story where Eggman got sent to jail for a bit and broke out. Heck, a couple of years later, Flynn has Eggman spend an entire year of comics as a gibbering loon stuck in a cell in his own city. So I don't doubt that he could've had Eggman get captured here, and then during Enerjak Reborn, they could be forced to release him so they could try and turn the Egg Fleet on Enerjak, to little success.

Flynn likes to write Eggman earnestly believing that he can kill Sonic and co. whenever he wants, he just chooses not to win because he'd be bored. I think this is a gross misreading of the general character of Eggman (who deliberately tries to kill Sonic in SA2, and while he is calm and respectful on the outside, is an incredibly sore winner if you exit out of the game and then get his recap once you load in again), I can let it slide in Archie because the character is very different.

I bring this up because, consciously or not, Flynn has the FF do it too. In both 177 and 200, the FF have Eggman beaten and are free to capture him, and they just don't. And bad things happen because of it. Everything Eggman does from 177-onwards is on the heads of the heroes for not doing their level best to stop him.

And the best part is that Sonic comments on it later.

Man I miss this Sonic. IDW Sonic would be giving a two-page monologue about freedom here.

Which brings me around to my point. If things had gone back to normal after the Mecha Sally saga, Flynn would've been in a terrible position. Let's assume that this is a perfect world and Penders never showed up to ruin everyone's day, and thus only the intentional crimes are in play, not the millions of people he killed with the Genesis Wave when it flipped the entire multiverse on its head. Flynn would nonetheless have had to try and return to the normal status quo after 250.

Eggman is either directly or indirectly the cause of literally all the trauma the characters go through in that stretch of the comic. Indirectly, it's his legion that Geoffrey and Hershey were fighting when Hershey was either killed, assimilated, or faked her death, thus causing Geoff to lose his shit and revive Naugus. That caused Bunnie to lose her powers and Nicole to get ostracised and then exiled, along with the loss of the throne to Naugus, severely weakening their position as Naugus is more than okay with cutting deals with Eggman, which he does in 234 to try and get Elias assassinated en route out of the city.

Directly, he blows up Antoine, putting him in a coma and breaking Bunnie, causing her to leave, and then there's the obvious point of Mecha Sally itself, and Sally spending however long that was in-universe suffering inside a prison made of her own body.

And this was post-2010. The mandates were there. Even if he was allowed to keep Sonic and co. angry and traumatised for a while, he would've had to snap back to status quo pretty quickly, and it would've destroyed any semblance of internal consistency within the book.

This is my fundamental issue with Flynn's Eggman. He wants Eggman to be the biggest villain Sonic will ever face, a tyrannical conqueror who commits atrocities for fun and pulls the "Geneva convention more like Geneva Suggestion" schtick, but he's writing a licensed comic based on a videogame character for seven year olds, where the protagonist is obligated by the license-holder to treat the villain as a goofy loser and has been known to call him "Baldy McNosehair." Flynn wants Eggman to be a serious villain, and the series itself doesn't.

With Mecha Sally, Flynn came perilously close to breaking the internal logic of the comic for good. And in that regard, a giant retcon wave that made it so that none of that bad stuff had ever happened probably saved his bacon.

[yabigrail]

I Attempt To Read A Book By Every BSD Character

in case you cant tell, exams are over and i have way too much free time...

PRELUDE:

so these are ones that ive read before i started this compilation, but i remember them pretty vividly so ill include them here:

the great gatsby by f scott fitzgerald

8.5/10 = ITS SO GOOD LIKE OMFG i love gatsby with all my heart and soul and will defend him until my death - some solid plot twists,,, even tho im not a fan of the chara in the show so far, the book is amazing

grapes of wrath by john steinbeck

5.5/10 = i actually read this bc of a les mis fanfic if you know you know - its not insanely good but also not insanely bad yk - tbh was all worth it for chapter 39 that chapter was a cut above the rest... ending left me with no closure and was just plain strange

crime and punishment by fyodor dostoyevsky

8/10 = i read this over a term and got super attached to it LMFAO i love all the characters so muchhhh - it kinda dragged on in parts but otherwise was so good,,, much gay subtext

little women by louisa may alcott

9/10 = ITS SO CUTEEEEE i love the movie too i sobbed so much in parts of this book

and in UPDATE 1:

no longer human by dazai osamu

7/10 = i got thru this in less than 24 hours its a super fast read, kinda depressing tho ngl but not as confronting as it was made out to be (maybe im just desensitised) - never gonna be able to look at dazai the same way again

[winterrhayle]

rank all of the 6 lunar chronicles books! i've asked a few of my friends irl this and ive seen very differing opinions so im curious (and ive seen how much you like ranking so..😂)

LOLLLL yeah ranking is my favourite thing ever ever ever ever ever ever its so fun okay (this is kinda long sorry hahaha) :

winter - this probably isnt a shocker, bc well ^^^ my url😭 literally what does this book NOT have. its 800+ pages, it contains so many perspectives, every single ship, every character dynamic is fully formed, the plot is insane and weaves together so well, the drama, the luna visuals, JACINTER, MISS WINTER HAYLE BLACKBURN.... like......... name a better book.... exactly. winter > everything. this is my go to book to reread and i think that its actually etched into the grooves of my brain. i have 2 copies of this book and they are my prized possessions

fairest - okay this ranking might be controversial, and i hate levana as much as everyone else does(just a disclaimer lol). but I LOVEEEE a character study, specially when said character is a villain. i read fairest after i'd completed all of the main 4 books and it just added so many more layers to the lunar characters (winter, levana, jacin etc), and also introduces us to evret, who is talked about in the main series but as we know he dies before the events of tlc :( but i loved his character and i found this book so interesting, also as a winter girl it was cool to see her parents, and her as a baby / toddler,, and also the og trio winter, jacin and selene / cinder own my WHOLE soul bc they are soooo <33333333333333 this book actually breaks my heart soo bad every time but i still crave rereading it bc its so good

cinder - ahhh when everything was somewhat simple, i like rereading this one to just go back to square one and like. reminisce on how everything begun and look at all of the seeds marissa planted (like that brief mention of winter and the descriptions of jacin aka the blond guard or whatever it was they described him as) . and i just love the kaider of it all of course and idk this one is just so nostalgic to me

scarlet - something about this book just keeps me on edge every time i read it. i literally cannot put it down once i start it and even though i know all of the plot twists and everything now im just constantly hooked. i love the visuals of this book, with the farm in rieux, and futuristic paris, and the fight in the abandoned opera house, soo cool. also i love how well this book in particular ties into little red riding hood because every single time i read the part about michelle actually being ran under glamour, aka the wolf disguised as the grandma like in the og fairytale, i am GAGGED its such a cool way to tie it into the lore of this series. annndddd i feel like i do talk about scarlet on here a lot because of winlet but i do NOT talk about wolf enough so let me just say something: wolf is such an interesting and complex character andi loveeee him and i love how much his personality varies from babygirl to actual killer hahhah

cress - i love this book to death BUTT i feel like some of the desert chapters kinda did drag on a little, especially as ive read this book so many times they're the scenes i tend to skim through (and this was true even BEFORE i became a cresswell hater tbh), but other than that this book is 10/10, i love the farafrah chapters especially, and i loved watching jacin be annoying and also i loved watching the rampion crew start to fill out and become bigger, ALSO this book has that iconic miscommunication scene where thorne and cress reunite with the others but thorne is blind so he didnt know that 'the wolf' cress was talking about was just our wolf (ze'ev) and the chaos of all that and cinder and dr erland and them almost getting arrested and escaping on the rampion / iko was pure chaos ALSOOOO this book had the technical introduction of winter bc you hear her adopting scarlet to save her which is fun so yeah !!! if they took out the cresswell of it all this book would be higher bc theres so much to love (and i mean this literally, this book is SO LONG)

stars above - this feels weird to rank because it isnt one full book, its a set of short stories, and the reason why its down here is because the only ones i consistently go back to are something old something new and the princess and the guard, if those two were full books they would probably be in the number 2 or 3 spot tbh (specially princess and the guard), but the thing is with stars above is that theres just a little too much filler for me,, like thornes chapter is pointless and is not interesting at all, and the little andriod actually is really sweet but i wouldve happily sacrificed that and thornes chapter to get more content with the other short stories, as i feel like they had a lot more to say (i do love cinders cameo in the little andriod tho)