#listen I think if I was a fictional character that would be a fan favourite quality seeing as to how similar kaveh and I are

[kavehater]

If you want to learn how to be pathetic come to me <3

[thevulturesquadron]

Today has proven, yet again, that Fans(TM) shouldn't have access to direct communication with the creatives behind the media they consume, unless it's in moderated spaces.

I'd say that a good chunk of the online active fanbase does not know how to interact with someone who provides them with a creative work and doesn't know how to offer constructive criticism. I am not even going to touch on the fact that these people have basically no comprehension skills or media literacy. It's a festering culture of entitlement, and the only way in which they can express themselves is by complaining and demanding.

I wish this wasn't the case, but that's the reality we live in and it has just gotten worse in the past few years. Fans should not have the means of speaking directly to creatives by tagging them in posts or reaching out to them on platforms that only allow for a couple of sentences and raw emotions.

You want to talk to the people that spend years of their lives building something with love in a crazy stressful environment? You need to work for it! Genuinely, these people should have to go through the challenge of writing a structured essay where they stop and think and wonder why something was created that way, every time they want their opinions read/listened to.

And in this particular case (following the Dragon Age AMA), the way some Solas/Lavellan shippers (I know most fans out there are decent people that mind their own business) behaved was beyond belief and excuse. You should really take a step back and look at how you've been treating other, real people, for slights, perceived or otherwise, aimed at a fictional character. Regardless of how you feel, you absolutely do not have the right to treat strangers like that. Talk in your friends groups, vent and rant and let out whatever emotions you need to, but when you interact with people outside of your sphere, talk as you would to a person you just met.

The only mistake the devs made in that AMA was to expect a mature exchange, which was clearly something that people who love stripping their favourite characters and narratives of any complex layers are not capable of.

[swiftiethatlovesf1]

Toto Wolff with wife reader. He's getting jealous because of the fictional character and she finds it ridiculous. Up to you how it went. Thanks!! :))

The unexpected embrace from the F1 community took you by surprise. When you first entered Toto's world, you were prepared for whispers, raised eyebrows, and even a bit of backlash. After all, you were younger, and Toto was an established figure in the sport, a powerhouse in every sense. The age gap was an obvious point of conflict for some, but you were ready to face it all for Toto and your relationship. What you didn’t anticipate was how quickly the fans would fall in love with you.

Your social media accounts started to blow up. What began as a trickle of followers turned into an avalanche of admiration. Edits of you, fan pages dedicated to your every move, and endless comments flooding your posts with praise and adoration. They adored your presence at the races, your interactions with the drivers, and the way you seemed to brighten up the paddock. Some even started calling you the "Mother of the Paddock."

But it didn’t stop there. The fan obsession grew. People started making marriage proposals in the comments of your posts, “Marry me instead!” and “If Toto ever slips up, I’m here!” were regular occurrences. Accounts popped up dedicated to every aspect of your life, dissecting your fashion choices, your favourite hobbies, and your relationship with Toto. They’d dubbed you the “F1 Sweetheart,” and your charm was infectious.

Toto, however, wasn’t as thrilled as you. Of course, he was happy that you were accepted, and that people loved you. But as the fan obsession grew, so did his discomfort. It wasn’t the attention that bothered him—it was how much people loved you. After all, you were his.

One evening, as you were scrolling through your phone, giggling at the latest fan-made meme, Toto walked into the room, his brow furrowed in a way you recognized all too well.

"What's so funny?" he asked, trying to sound casual, but you could hear the tension in his voice.

"Oh, just another silly meme someone made of us," you said, holding your phone up to show him. "Look, they’ve photoshopped us as the royal couple of F1."

He barely glanced at it before sitting down beside you, his arm possessively wrapping around your waist. "Hmm," was all he muttered, his jaw clenched slightly.

You put your phone down and turned to him, immediately sensing something was off. "Toto, what’s wrong?"

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face before meeting your gaze. "It’s just… all this attention on you. I’m happy that they like you, but it’s… it’s a bit much, don’t you think? All these people asking you to marry them, making accounts dedicated to you— it’s like they forget that you’re mine."

You couldn’t help but smile at his jealousy. "Toto, you’re not seriously jealous of a bunch of fans, are you?"

He looked at you, his eyes a mix of frustration and vulnerability. "Maybe I am. It’s just— you’re everything to me. I don’t like the idea of sharing you with the world, of other people thinking they can just—"

You interrupted him with a soft kiss, your hand gently cupping his cheek. "Toto, listen to me. I’m yours. I always have been, and I always will be. No amount of fan attention or silly comments is going to change that."

He sighed, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly as he leaned into your touch. "I know. I just… I want to keep you all to myself."

You chuckled, pressing your forehead against his. "You do realize how ridiculous you sound, right? We’re married. I’m literally wearing your ring."

His lips twitched into a smile, and he pulled you closer, burying his face in your hair. "I guess I just can’t help it. You’re so perfect, and sometimes I still can’t believe you’re mine."

You wrapped your arms around his neck, holding him close. "And I’m not going anywhere. So, how about you stop worrying about the fans and start focusing on the fact that you have me all to yourself, right here, right now."

Toto pulled back just enough to look into your eyes, his expression softening as he finally let go of his jealousy. "You’re right. I’m sorry, it’s just… I love you so much. Sometimes it’s overwhelming."

You smiled, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead. "I love you too, Toto. More than anything."

He leaned in, capturing your lips in a tender, passionate kiss that made your heart flutter. When he pulled away, there was a new determination in his eyes. "I’ll try to be better about this. But just know, I’m always going to be a little possessive when it comes to you."

You laughed, giving him one last peck on the lips. "As long as you remember that I’m yours and yours alone, I think I can live with that."

He smiled, his hand gently caressing your cheek. "Deal."

[strange-pass]

Hello! I saw you had requests open! I was wondering if you could write something that's like... just domestic life fluff. Maybe they're in the human world together and just chilling. I don't know. But just some nice domestic life fluff. Either with Barbatos, Solomon, or Simeon. I cannot decide as my heart is longing for all three of them right now 😂

Up in the Human World

Domestic life Headcanons

Pairing: Simeon, Barbatos, Solomon x GN! Reader (separately)

Synopsis: Simeon, Barbatos, and solomon go to the human world to visit MC

A/N: These were so adorable to write. I was so excited that anon requested these because I haven’t written fan fiction in a bit so I’m glad people want to see more work! I decided to try out a new divider because I find this one so cute honestly. I may try out a couple depending on what I’m writing. This was written as romantic by the way! Have a lovely day 🫶

Requesting here

genre: Romantic fluff, no warnings!

word count: 1270+ altogether

💐 Simeon:

-Simeon loves visiting you in the human world because he barely gets to go, he’s either in the celestial realm or in the devildom. When he does go, he stays with you for a month or two before he absolutely needs to go back. This visit is considered his break and he loves spending it with you.

-You and Simeon have a movie night every week, just you two in order to spend time together. There are some human movies that are available in the celestial realm, but rarely. He suggests two types of movies, bad movies, and romantic movies. Since he’s a writer, he likes to criticize the direction and story telling of the movies, he cannot believe how bad and cliche some of the movies you have, get. He tends to gravitate towards romance movies when suggesting a genuine movie, this is because he likes the emotional closeness to you. When he’s watching these movies though, he sometimes thinks that you two have way better chemistry than the main characters in these story lines and thinks of how you two would handle situations in the movie. He likes when you pick a movie though, he likes to explore different options and styles of writing. One thing that will never change is how he loves to cuddle you, if you’re alright with it of course.

-Since he has a garden in the celestial realm, he grows various flowers outside of the home. He grows the, outside because he thinks direct sunlight is better for the flowers. This is also for your own good in case you have an allergy to the pollen. On occasions, he grows plants inside that don’t smell in case the weather isn’t ideal. He’s still a bit naive since the celestial realm has the same kind of weather every day. When he brings seeds to your home, sometimes you need to tell him that they don’t grow in this region of the world. Once he gets used to the technology you use, he makes sure to check what grows in your part of the world. He tries to grow your favourite kind of plant, and gets you to water the plants with him.

-The first time he’s asked to sleep in your bed, he’s a bit red in the face. He insists that you don’t need to offer him the bed.. the real reason is because he’s nervous of being so close to you, he’s not sure of the habits he does in his sleep, or how you’ll react if he accidentally pulls the blankets off of you, or something bolder like pulling you closer to him. No matter what, he’s happy that you wanted to sleep in the same bed as him since it shows you trust him.

💐 Barbatos:

-Barbatos asks for permission to visit you in the human world when he has a vacation. The downside is that he can’t stay for very long since he serves Diavolo, but comes as often as he can.

-Whenever he visits you, he has a habit of serving you like he would Diavolo. He does not mean to do this, but since he cares about you, he automates to his butler personality to show how he feels about you. You need to remind him that he can sit and relax around you. He listens to your advice for a while, until he gets antsy and ends up cleaning so you have a perfectly tidy place without any worries.

-He loves baking together, it’s not just a way to spend time with you, but both of you can sit at a table and enjoy your handiwork. Depending on your baking level, he will pick a recipe that’s a bit above your level so he can teach you how to bake it properly. He finds it to be a fun challenge for both of you, his part of the challenge is making sure that it’s fun for him and you to do.

-You have different foods in the human world, and he wants to make sure he tries all kinds of cuisines. This gives him new ideas for his own cooking, and a fun date idea. He suggests something new for dinner every night he’s there, so you go to different restaurants in order to try dishes. The thing is… going to new places all of the time can be a bit exhausting, so you ask him about delivery and he’s a bit surprised by it because he’s never tried ordering food through an app. They have akuber in the devildom, but Barbatos always makes supper, so he never needs to order out. After some time, the money adds up so Barbatos just makes the food himself since it’s cheaper for you and he makes excellent food, even if he’s never cooked the dish before.

-Barbatos always sleeps by himself, so he seems like he is glad to be joining you for sleep. In reality he’s a bit hesitant BECAUSE he always sleeps by himself. It’s a bit of a vulnerable position for him, but as long as he keeps reminding himself that it’s just you, he’s having the most comfortable sleep of his life alongside the person he cares about the most.

💐 Solomon:

-Solomon visits you a-lot since he doesn’t technically work anywhere, he goes wherever he’s needed. The downtime between him going somewhere is spent with you, at your home in the human world.

-He loves cooking for you! Mostly to your detriment… He has so much passion for what he makes for you, but you can’t tell what he was trying to make most of the time. He says that he put his own spin on the original dish, and then questions why you look so shocked as to what recipe he was trying to replicate. He always thanks you for making food or ordering though, just as long as he’s no where near the kitchen.

-When you’re doing something in your home, you’ll find little love notes in random places from Solomon, he leaves these in hopes that you’ll find them and feel loved. They are always in little envelopes that are stamped with a red rose to signify his love. He hides them in the weirdest places though, in a shoe, the back of the freezer, between the cushions of a couch, and the pocket of a coat you haven’t worn in a while.

-Whenever he goes out, he almost always comes back with a game for you to play with him. It could be a game as big as monopoly, or a dice game like Yahtzee. What he doesn’t want you to know is that he is great at all types of games because he’s been alive for so long. The only thing that gives him away is how overly confident he is, sometimes a bit cocky as well. This can also be his loss because he doesn’t replay games for long periods of time since he doesn’t have many people to play them with. When he loses, he feints being sad, but loves seeing the smile on your face when you win.

-Solomon is actually the first one to suggest sleeping in the same bed, he’s a bit cheeky like that. He has absolutely no problem in sleeping beside you, but he never shows just how excited he is. This is his own little dream, being beside you and making sure you’re safe through the night. Maybe in the morning he’ll surprise you with breakfast as well, made with all his heart, of course! Seeing you is his motivation for working, and he glad he visited.

[mazzystar24]

I totally get I just finished my exam week (I had to do a math test at 8am Sat😭). Wish you luck tho!

Also do you have any good buddies fics? Destiel too?

Math test at 8am is BRUTAL

Thank you I will definitely need it😭😭

Unfortunately I only have buddie fics to offer😔:

(Warning I do like a fair amount of angst)

Right where you left me - by hyacinthusbloom ( @thebloomingheather on here) - when I say I might be as big a fan of this fic as I am of the show I MEAN IT, you do not even understand how much I love this fic or how obsessed I am with it, I have reread it so many times despite it still being in progress that I think I may genuinely qualify it as addictive, me and @estheticpotaeto legit wait for updates like a dog at the author’s door istg, like everything about this fic is flawless and written with so much love and emotion and the way the writer captures the effects of trauma is just amazing because it’s so rare to find this level of diving into ptsd and the more uncomfortable aspects of it that are more taboo or less understandable to people, like I can yap for an hour about this fic but I’ll just say READ IT

Any fic by daisies_and_briars ( @cal-daisies-and-briars on here) but one of my favourites of his is Both blade and branch and muscle memory and four can keep a secret and appetency and the two she’s writing right now (change the prophecy and steal my sunshine) -wow at that point I should’ve left it as any fic because that’s a lot of favourites😭😭

Any fic by @loserdiaz plus with them you get enough lighthearted fics to even out the angst

Ooo I’m not sure what their username on here is but lizzybizzyzz is also another writer who I just love their fics

Fractals by hobbitprincess - one of those fics that make you squeak at how much love these fictional characters have for each other

Beneath my mother tongue by archerincombat - the angst the writing the way they hit every single emotional beat? Amazing

Anything by this_is_moony_lovegood

Leave the light on (I’ll be coming home) by HMSLusitania - the presumed dead Eddie fic of your dreams, a constant reread for me it’s just 👌

Anchored by adorkable_buddie - sorry Chris you gotta be injured sometimes just for us to get our buddie dreams hope you understand and we appreciate your sacrifice 😔🫶

empty, broken, lonely, hoping by daniweb - when I tell you I love the presumed dead trope you best believe I’m telling the truth because the ANGST?? Yes please, LISTEN it’s the closest you can get to the emotional beats of killing off a character without ever killing them off because you love them and happy endings too much so TIM MINEAR TAKE NOTES I KNOW YOU SAID YOU LOVE THEM TOO MUCH TO KILL THEM, anyways back to to the point this fic again is just flawless execution by the writer like absolutely love it

every time we stop talking (the universe starts screaming) by withmeornotatall - emotional destruction and I absolutely love it, divorce era 2.0 and it HITS

Home is where it hurts- by rileyblue2001 - can you tell I hate the Buckley parents because I HATE the Buckley parents

The one with the return of the sex addiction by buddiefication (pumpkincreamcoldbrew) - I’ve reccomended so much angst so have a funny little light hearted buddie fic with the father bobby vibes we all love❤️❤️

Okay back to the angst tho 😭😭- out of ashes by Ashavahishta - AHHHHHHH THIS FIC JUST AHHHHH STOP THE WAY I WOULD DIE FOR A FOLLOW UP FIC TO THIS AHHHH I LOVE IT SM AND ITS LEGIT A ONE SHOT I CRIED SO HARD

Falling Slowly; Sing Your Melody (I’ll Sing It Loud) by Princessfbi ( @princessfbi on here who I also love sm of their fics so highly suggest just going on their page and looking through all the fics) - absolutely love it, legit gave me brain rot and got me obsessed for a GOOD while

I'm comin' back, don't let me go by wikiangela ( @wikiangela on here also love love their fics again so check them out but this one is probably my favourite of theirs)

Okay this is looking more and more like a uni reading list so I’m gonna shut up now but I hope you enjoy these fics and that a few of them emotionally damage you like they did me because I love to spread the joy (see: pain and suffering) 🫶🫶

[stellamalonesolaria]

BTS Kim Taehyung X Reader X Jeon Jungkook FF | see through me | oneshot

pairing: model!kim taehyung x fangirl!reader. slight jungkook x reader. slight jimin x reader.

genre: obsessive love au, angst, age gap au

warning: minors dni as the post contains: violence, sexual violence, gore, foul language, drugs usage, nsfw: nipple play, masturbation, cock sucking.

word count:

11,419 words 62,280 characters

what was i listening to: click here

author's note: have not proofread, kindly ignore any sort of grammatical or spelling error in the story. hope you enjoy this fic.

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At the benevolent age of nine, when kids continue watching their favourite cartoons, you’re introduced to fashion magazines by your best friend Evie who has been dreaming of becoming a model before she could even learn how to walk and because of her you’ve been obsessed with dresses ever since.

At the age of ten, while you’re trying out the new clothes bought by your mom, who appears to have the exact opposite taste in fashion as you, you’re also scrolling through one of the newly released magazines. As you go through the pages covering the latest articles containing information about some of the finest designs in the world along with their creators, you stumble across, a young model, who looks like he’s in his late teens, absolutely captivating your attention with his beguiling style and looks. You glance at the far-end corner of the page, locating his name, as you read out loud ‘Kim Taehyung.’, a name that would be inscribed within your heart for life.

At the age of eleven, when the young model turns legal, you read a tabloid on your mother’s phone, stating how Kim Taehyung, the person you’ve started admiring, will start out his career as an aspiring actor. You read the comments on the web article praising him for his aspiring acting venture, some even thirsting over him due to his swoon worthy looks at such a vulnerable age. Some calling him their daddy, perplexing you with the fact that he’s a father of so many girls. A smile forming on your delicate features as you now fantasise him appearing on television now.

At the age of twelve, you’ve collected many pictures and photo cards of your beloved then-model now-actor Kim Taehyung. You have your first celebrity crush as your cheeks turn a scarlet shade of red whenever his scenes come up on the netflix show you binge watch with your mother in which he’s starring. Your parents think how adorable you’re with your little crush on the prominent figure in the entertainment industry right now.

At the age of thirteen, your best friend Evie confesses her crush on the aforementioned actor, you feel a pang of jealousy that day, realising that the feelings you harboured for the actor are more than a mere crush your parents like to title your adoration for him. You return home and decide to keep your love a secret from your parents and Evie, fearing they’d not understand if you did tell them.

At the age of fourteen, you’re exposed to the dark web, your other friend Jason introduced you to the site saying that he found hard core porn on here. At first, you were skeptical of dark web but with your growing infatuation with the actor and the multiple posters and collages of his cut out pictures on your wall, all the fan fictions on tumblr not being able to satisfy your increasing thirst for him, the urge to have him, you have had to resort to this mystic side of the internet now. You’ve found over a million shirtless pics of him on the dark web but you seemingly want more. As you surf through the illegal webpages, you find an ai generated porn site, which contains nude pictures of celebrities created by artificial intelligence. You now feel perverted as you shamelessly enter his name onto the search bar, as the site automatically and quickly generates your favourite’s naked photos. You feel yourself growing hot, your fingers sliding inside your panties as you masturbate by rubbing, slapping and inserting fingers inside your core. You curl your fingers inside your vagina while thinking of Taehyung, your walls perfectly grasping over your fingers. Oh how you wish, the fingers pleasuring your cunt were not yours but his instead.

At the age of fifteen, you’ve saved enough money to bid for Taehyung’s hair strand on an illegal auction site. You’re sold his hair strand at the cost of 10,000 dollars, exceeding your budget but you’d never back down when it comes to him, you’ve compulsively rewatched his shows and movies over a hundred times and even cursed out his female co stars on internet forums for establishing such a close relationship with him. You’ve also targeted the actresses he was being shipped with by sending them death threats so you’ve had to have his Dna with you, even if it’s through a hair strand, at any cost. You use your dad’s credit card to pay for the highest bid you entered, transaction going unbeknownst to him.

At the age of age of sixteen, your obsession dies down after being sued by the actresses for cyber bullying and your grades falling down. You’ve to momentarily stop fan girling over the charming actors to excel in school. As time goes on, you lose interest in Kim Taehyung, slowly letting go of your obsession and after a while, you’re being confessed to by a sweet boy, Jimin, whose feelings you start to reciprocate due to his compassionate and tender nature. His facial characteristics are remarkable as well, he could easily start out his idol career with his angel like voice gifted to him by almighty. You both start dating immediately after the confession, going on little dates where you doll up yourself by caking your face with makeup, adorning yourself with pearls accentuating your beauty, taking his breath away. Few weeks into the relationship, on the auspicious occasion of Christmas, you both share a sweet kiss under the mistletoe, your lips quivering due to the adoration jimin pours into passionately kissing you, gently moulding your soul with his, serenading your soft plump lips with his love filled pecks. Your relationship with him seems to be going well, however, a few months later, as your friend Evie gets her first modelling gig for a colossal fashion corporation and Jimin gets into coaching for bagging the top universities, his eyes set on Wharton, you also get busy with your studies, slowly drifting away from him, it hasn’t affected you much at first as you both called each other frequently. Gradually, those calls have also become infrequent, leading to you becoming distant from him, this ultimately resulting in frustration due to festering of unresolved skirmishes. You both started to hate each other with time due to improper communication problems in your relationship with him. Many weeks have passed by with you and him holding grudges against each other over every fight you both have had in the past. Now with your seventeenth birthday approaching, you’re planning to sort things out with him and be the reasonable one this time for the sake of your birthday. You plan to text him to meet you soon but you’re taken aback when he texts you first asking you to visit him in the evening. The following evening, you go meet him in the park, chirping because you’re happy he’s the initiating to resolve your conflicts with him and he does the exact opposite, contrary to what you’ve hoped for, he breaks up with you instead, you fall on to the ground, kneeling down, as those words leave his lips with no hesitation, you spiral into a melancholic state as tears pool near your eyes, silently wishing for the earth to rip into two halves and swallow you whole. This is like a dagger plunged through your heart, you let out a shriek, a painful whisper of the aching heart Jimin left you with, you watch him leave you in doldrum, you get up on your feet, trying to regain strength to walk back to your place, after you’re done crying for him in the park. Few days have passed since the heartbreaking separation from your beloved, which has still left you burning and ceasing into ashes as the pain is too much to endure.

Your friend Evie visits you during a short break from her modelling career, seeing you in a devastatingly pathetic state because of Jimin, she gasps, “Y/n babe who died?”, she asks concern evident in her tone, “Jimin broke up with me.”, you respond your voice croaking as a faint whisper, “Oh no honey, we need to revamp you. That piece of shit is not worth your cries, oh no honey, I’m here for you, I’m so sorry for being so late.”, she comforts you as she coos into your ears, her words feel like a lullaby because her voice starts to soothe you down and ease your aching heart, “Thank you Evie”, you say sincerely, “Always here for you baby, you know what’ll cheer you up? Love Marathon on Netflix!”, she chirps trying to distract you via a drama, in which, your once beloved star Taehyung acts in as the second lead, “Sure”, you give out a small smile to her as she sets up a laptop in front of you and plays the first episode of the drama. Few hours later, Evie has fallen asleep on your bed while you’re watching the show’s sixth episode in which Kim Taehyung’s character is trying to convince the female lead into choosing him instead over the main male character after a messy breakup with the male lead. You watch him attentively as he says, “I promise if you choose me I’ll treat you much better than he ever did, please-“, to which the female lead responds, “Eun suk-ah, I love the male lead and I think I always will, even if he has hurt me or broken my heart countless times, I don’t think I’d be able to ever get over him.”, Taehyung sighs as he hears her, “You know what, you love him but you deserve to be with someone who makes you feel loved as well and not just leave you because you’re going through a rough patch, you deserve someone who is willing to fight for you no matter what.”, he says as you feel his eyes directly staring into yours through the screen as though he’s directing these words towards you with sincerity glinting in his eyes, his words deeply resonating with you which feels like a warm embrace to your soul, you feel like he’s hugging you figuratively with the words that leave his mouth, still staring into your eyes via the screen, he continues, “don’t give up on love because of one bad experience, you’ve me, always did, come back to me, I’ll heal you, you deserve all the love there is in the world.”, your heart skips a beat, Kim Taehyung slowly enveloping your senses again, your tears dry up as you feel a jolt of excitement, you pause the show as you get up and search through your drawers to find his hair strand which you had bought a little while back from the dark web, you gently whisper to him through the screen, “I’m never giving up on you Taehyung. I deviated from my love for you for a while but I’m back on track baby. You’re the first person who has ever taken my breath away. You’ve completely taken over me.”, you say as you feel an intravenous thrill within you, slowly, reviving the feelings and rush your ten year old felt when you first looked at him.

At the age of seventeen, you’re hell bent on becoming worthy of Kim Taehyung, you have seen a path after so long, you’re determined to make him all yours one day and for that you’re now willing to go to any extent and your first step being making yourself perfect. You try to achieve academic excellence first while you graduate high school. You’ve decided to get into Harvard and for that you over exhaust and over work yourself. You don’t sleep, don’t breathe, don’t eat, don’t socialise or do anything, you completely and solely focus on studying economics and your extracurricular competitions to get into Harvard with three months to your graduation. You study 22 hours a day and the rest of the 2 hours you participate in debates, you barely sleep a wink on the weekends, your only motivation being him and that is more than sufficient for you. You have finished your syllabus worth of four years in two months, you’ve excelled and aced in all the extracurricular competitions and activities you participated in, it was hard but you’ve a long way to go to get him. You’ve completely cut off contact with Evie due to your hectic study schedule, Harvard being your goal. You’ve exams this month and you’ve to score full, not even one mark should be deducted so that you could graduate with honours. You revise well, studying for 23 hours and sleeping for one hour only everyday. You keep yourself hydrated so that you do not pass out after so much work. You appear for your exams, trying to not even have one mark deducted from the perfect score you keep on aiming for as if your life depends on it, and it does, Kim Taehyung has become the sole reason you breathe this damned oxygen. Time passes by as your result day approaches, on your result day, your score card is handed to you, you compulsively open the sheet only to be faced with brimming disappointment after you see five marks being cut off, crushing your aim of achieving full marks. You’re devastated, and you’re panicking, life is unpredictable and you need to be ready with a plan B if you ever in your life have to draft a plan to achieve something and you’ve learnt this the hard way after the break up with Jimin, hence you’ve a back up plan ready although your breath still shortens and you still are paranoid but there is a way to still be on track to your way to Harvard; a recommendation letter from your professor, facing only one challenge though, the professor seems to despise you for some reason. The following day, you go upto the professor’s cabin requesting for him to pen you down a recommendation letter but he profusely declines, you raise an eyebrow, of course he wouldn’t budge like that, one think you’ve learnt from your past mistakes is to never back down, always keep on scheming, like the one time, even at the expense of 10,000 dollars for Taehyung’s hair strand, you have had gone to hell and back to earn that and now that Taehyung is the one at stake, what would you not do to get him, you’ll give up your life to get him. You hike up your skirt revealing your milky thighs, willing to seduce the professor if that is what it takes to help you go to Harvard, you unbutton your top, your cleavage visible enough to make any man walking by grow hot. You move towards your professor, showing off your collarbones and cleavage, letting him get a sight of your pink lace panties, “Do reconsider Mister Walter”, you say in a seductive tone, beads of sweat form on his forehead. You unbuckle his belt and go onto suck his cock that springs out of his pants as you pull his pants down. An hour passes by, you come out of his office, correcting your white top and bra to hide the hickeys covering your breasts, you’ve had slept with the professor, losing your virginity to him. You look at the recommendation letter, a step closer to the man of your dreams. You plaster a smile on your face as you read the letter. You apply to Harvard with all the accumulated prizes, grades and now the recommendation letter, confident you will get in.

On the day of the announcement of college application results, your mom drives you to the public library to get a print out of the Harvard letter. She reviews the printout as it comes out. She falls to the ground as she reads the words on it, tears escaping her eyes, you think, she must’ve been crying tears of happiness but your face falls down as you read the email. Harvard has rejected your application. You scream in agony, you’re frustrated, you tear the paper and crush it under your feet. It cannot be possible right? Tears brim down your face as you laugh in disbelief, you mom gets up on her feet as she comes to hug you trying to console you, “It’s okay baby, you can apply to another college, not getting into Harvard doesn’t equate to the end of the world okay?”, she says. Yes, not getting into Harvard would not be the end of the world but not getting Taehyung would kill you. You look at her and say, “do you not have a building you can donate to have me get into Harvard”, she looks at you and then laughs, “If I did, I wouldn’t be working a desk job, honey, I know you worked hard for this but there’s more to life than this, plus, you’ve the will, will can move mountains.”, she says as you roll your eyes not believing her words, you haven’t given up yet, no you would not, you try to come up with back up plans to get into Harvard, maybe a drop year could help. You get into the car with your mother as she drives you back to your place. On the way you notice, that the usual road to your place is under construction so your mother pulls back and onto another lane, with a little effort, even though she has taken a different path, but it’ll guide you to the same destination. Suddenly you’ve an epiphany, there are other ways to get Taehyung, plus getting into Harvard would’ve been an easy way to have him and you like challenges, the harder it becomes to make him yours, the more you start to yearn him, strengthening your love for him. As if luck is on your side, suddenly a pamphlet flies on to the glass pane of your window, you lower down your shades to obtain it, the advertisement/poster reads, ‘CASTING AUDITION FOR A KDRAMA FEMALE CHARACTER’, your brain devising and unlocking another route for you to obtain Taehyung i.e. to get into the same acting industry as him. You review the details on the poster, it has provided you the information on the venue and the audition dates a week from now.

“I want to be an actress!”, you announce startling your parents, “What?”, you dad asks with a puzzled look on his face, “I want to go audition for the female character role in a kdrama”, you state as he still looks at you confused, you hand him the pamphlet, “Drive me there on Wednesday.”, your dad thinks you’ve lost your mind but relates it to you trying to cope with the rejection you faced from Harvard a while ago. He reluctantly agrees.

Wednesday has come,

you’re done hiking your skirt to a level where your underwear is blatantly visible to everyone, you cake your face with makeup, you straighten your hair and get your nails done. You’re all set for the casting audition. Your father has a disproving look on his face as he sees your attire but chooses not to say anything since you’ve turned the legal age. He drives you to your destination, it is an amphitheatre and there is a long queue with many girls who are dressed in a similar clothing as you, they’re wanting to chase after fame while you chase after Taehyung, you guys are pretty similar but with different wants and needs after all. Hours pass by, you keep on retouching your makeup, you mentally prepare yourself, trying to look luscious and confident. Your name is called after what feels like an eternity, you correct your hair and enter the casting room. As you enter the hall with the casting director seated behind the judgement panel, he looks at you and whispers something to the lady. She laughs a little looking you up and down while you choose to ignore the duo. They hand you the script and ask for you to read from it. You pour your passion and emotions to it, remembering why you got into acting in the first place. They look pretty impressed by your acting skills or so you think. You bow down to them feeling successful as the lady says to you, “We’ll call you to let you know whether you’ve gotten the part or not”, this excites you as you hum on your way out of the hall. The other girls think you’ve got the part looking at how you brim with ecstasy.

Days pass by but you receive no phone call, you’ve attempted to call the casting director a few times but again heard no response from them. This disappoints you as you panic. Your mother sees you in this painstakingly position, “Y/n I think you should apply to other universities now.”, she states, “We cannot keep on supporting your rendezvous for life”, you look at her with a frown, “Just a few days before they call me, I promise they will call.”, you mother just shakes her head and leaves. A week later, after calling them a gazillion times, you go to the amphitheater, to see the lady who was present there when you took the audition that day. You run after her as she notices you coming towards her, she’s panic stricken. You slow down your pace to ease her out. You bow down to her as she nods her head in acknowledgment. “Why did I not receive a call?”, you ask with a burning heart. “That means you were not eligible for the role.”, she says with a nervous face, “The look on your faces said otherwise the day I auditioned”, you say not believing her words which annoys her. “Maybe it’s the problem with how you look, you do not fit the beauty standards, your nose is too big and your jaw is too broad.”, she says in the most condescending way ever, fuming you but you choose to remain silent, you bow to her one last time and head out. You come back home after hailing a taxi. Your mother looks at you as you enter, “Welcome home.”, she says, you ignore her greeting and go upto your room, you know your parents won’t provide you with the money needed for plastic surgery, yes, you’ve been considering plastic surgery, you’ve to look like you’re worthy of Taehyung as well, your brain never stops working, you’re determined to achieve any height to get him to be all yours.

You pack your bags the very same day and announce to your parents that you’ll be living independently from now on, they look surprised and ask you the reason behind such a hasty decision, you just bow to them and walk out.

There's

the red zone in Busan, miles away from the city you’ve had been residing in, which operates a prostitution ring, you’re headed there to earn money for the cosmetic surgeries you want to get done.

You catch the first train to Busan. You reach the brothel where your now colleagues are residing. You greet one of the older women there who has a disgruntled look on her face as she views your face. She invites you inside and hands you a lingerie that you need to wear at all times. Your nipples are visible through the light material, your milky thighs look radiant exposed like that, the only thing that’s properly covered would be your core, your butt is half visible for the men to walk by and get a good look. The rule at the brothel is simple, the more men you’re able to lure to your bed, the more money you make but there’s a rule that 50% of your income must go to the older lady who just handed you the laced lingerie as she is the head here. You stand leaning on the door of your assigned room as you wait for men to enter the red light area. After a while, a man comes in, ladies trying to seduce him, he ignores them all as he lays his eyes on you, you’re beautiful, he comes near you and gently rubs your nipples, you think you’ve captured your first prey, your first client who is decent looking and not that old but he soon leaves you feeling empty as he enters the room beside you, all that nipple play for nothing, you grunt in annoyance. Your first client turns out to be an old geezer who frequently visits the brothel, the second old man you’ve sex with, but anything to get your goal, The old man fucks you relentlessly, but you ensure that he has a wrap on while he does that. Time flies by, as more men visit your room to fuck your brains out. You earn a lot of money but half of what you get goes to the older lady, annoying you, you’ve still not accumulated enough money to fund your surgery and weeks have gone by. You start to bear grudges against other ladies who increasingly taunt you since you’re able to bed more men than them and you also grow tired of the older lady who takes away majority of your money and keeps it to herself. This happens for two more months before you snap, you cannot wait any longer, so you barge into the olden lady’s room who seems to be taking a nap on her bed. She is able to afford a beautifully decorated chair next to her thanks to the money you earn. You tip toe to the place where the chair is kept. You slowly lift the chair up and using all your force you start hitting her face with it. You’ve gone berserk as you keep on shoving the lady’s face with the wooden chair, brutally killing her. She doesn’t even get the time to scream to save her life as you not so helplessly kill her. You drag her body to the bath tub, and run the tap over her face, washing the blood off of her. You wash your hand and mop the floor with bleach leaving no blood stains, you also wash the bed sheet containing the lady’s blood with bleach. You then subtly open the safe in her room with a key that she always holds, even while sleeping, you quickly grab the money and jewellery kept in the safe as you run away with the money out of the brothel.

You hide your face with a black scarf so that no one identifies you from Busan, especially the men whom you’ve slept with. You’re on your way to Gangnam, the capital city of plastic surgery. You go to a goldsmith and sell off the gold jewellery in exchange for a lot a money.

You’ve researched enough about plastic surgeons in the city and there resided many to help you out with getting prettier. You phone one of the numbers inscribed in the phone book containing all of plastic surgery clinics’ numbers. The receptionist picks up your phone, giving you a slot for your appointment tomorrow. The following morning, you get ready with the money in a black bag. You head out for your appointment to the designated office of the surgeon. You arrive before your appointed time. You plop yourself on the velvet couch in the waiting area as you look at the clock waiting for your turn. You yawn a bit getting tired waiting when suddenly the receptionist calls out your name. You get excited as you tread one step closer to making Kim Taehyung yours. You enter the doctor’s cabin. It is evident that the doctor himself has gone under the knife with his alluring features and facial harmony. You take a seat in front of Doctor Kim Seokjin as he looks at you, scanning your face, trying to formulate a facial correction plan in his mind.

"

So Ms Y/n, what are your worries?”, he says in a gentle tone. “Doctor, my nose is too big, my jaw is too broad, my eyes feel droopy and my boobs they are too small. I want to feel pretty.”, you say genuinely, Jin looks at your face once again as he hums. He takes out a notepad and starts scribbling on it, “I understand where your concerns lie Ms Y/n but these are a lot of procedures so they will cost a lot and you’ll have to maintain a certain diet and exercise regularly if you get them done or you’ll relapse to your old form in a desolated manner.”, he says administrating you a mixture of medicines for you to consume after the procedures are done. “Okay Doctor Kim, so when can i come for these surgeries now?”, you ask to which he responds, “In a week, I will have to analyse your facial features and then accordingly operate on you.”

A week passes by, you’re sat on the velvet sofa yet again waiting for your turn to come. The receptionist once again announces your name for your meeting with the doctor but this time you’re led to an operation room. You’re asked to change into a loose hospital attire. After you’re done changing, you’re asked to lie down on the stretcher prominently placed in the middle of the operating room, you adhere to their instructions and position yourself horizontally on the bed. Doctor Jin comes in wearing his surgical mask and cap and a robe as well. While preparing the surgical apparatus, you’re informed that you’ll be undergoing ‘Rhinoplasty, buccal fat removal, double eyelid surgery as well as breast augmentation surgical procedure’. You’re given a hefty dose of drugs to make you have a deep slumber while the doctors and surgeons operate on you.

Post surgery hours are critical for any patient and you’re no exception to it. You’ve bandages wrapped around your face and your chest. A nurse tends to you as you lay down on the bed assigned to you. The nurse gives you medicines. You’ve paid for the surgery beforehand so you need not worry about the after care that follows. You’ll be subjected to bedrest for almost a month before your body starts healing the scars and recuperates the changes on your face and body. You’re under 24/7 supervision of the doctors till then.

A month flows by quickly, you bow down to doctor Seokjin for his services as he nods in return. You go to the place you’ve rented for a while. You go up to your room’s washroom to look at your new face endearingly. A pretty face surely does make everything better. You take a day off and rest as the following day you’ll return back to your hometown and meet the amphitheater lady again.

The following morning, you wake up, admiring your ‘fixed’ face in front of the mirror. You’re all set to leave for your hometown. You catch a train from Gangnam back to your residential area. You get inside a cab as soon as you depart the train station, you guide the driver to the location of the amphitheater.

Once you reach the venue, you step inside the multipurpose hall. You’re not surprised to see the lady sitting on a chair reviewing forms for another casting audition for another project. You go upto her and wave your hand in front of her face to grab her attention. She looks at you, her focus entirely on your being now. Her eyes widen as she recognises you and the altercations you’ve made to your face and chest as her eyes ogle at your enlarged breasts. “So you were saying shit about my face, how it is the reason as to why I was disqualified, so, I corrected it”, you say with a bizarre grin on your face, almost scaring off the lady in front of you. She regains her composure from petrified to one who is succumb to all kinds of weird because she works in a theatre and art is weird, precisely. “Oh honey, you still won’t get the role”, she looks at you pitiful even though she seems quite impressed with your persistence to become an actress, unbeknownst to the real cause of your actions, “Why not?”, you squeal disappointment evident in your voice, “I’m willing to go to any lengths to become an actress, I’m determined and ambitious, I promise.”, you try to persuade her but she just has a sympathetic frown directed towards you, “I’ll be honest with you, I appreciate your sincerity but darling, it wasn’t just your face, your connection matters too, the one who usually gets the acting role needs to have a reputable background and a wide network to help fund the production unit if ever required and clearly since you hadn’t even been to college, no matter how persistent you are, no director will choose you, that’s the bitter reality”, she states it in a sad tone, desolating any chances you’ve had in acting, of course, you’ve known how important connections are, precisely why you wanted to go to Harvard, you look at her while your brain is racing to find another solution to help you achieve your goal to have your beloved man all to yourself, that is until, the lady continues, “Although there is a way, you can broaden your contacts”, you look at her with glint of hope in your eyes, “What is it?”, you ask desperation visible in your voice, “The Movie Mafia”, she states simply, “Movie mafia? like the underworld gangsters who fund the films in exchange of sexual appeasement?”, you ask as she just nods, “How do I meet them?”, you ask and she just slouches her shoulders as an indication that it’s for you to discover. You sigh and bow to her as a token of gratitude for opening another way for you.

.

You know you’re willing to do anything so you log into dark web, memories from when you have had been fourteen and masturbating to Taehyung’s pictures, fresh in your brain, you feel blood rushing to your cheeks at the thought of it. ‘Focus Y/n’, your brain screams at you and you internally scold yourself for getting distracted at the thought of Taehyung. You open a web page on the dark web which discusses the movie mafia, you enter your query—inquiring their location, you wait for a bit before you receive a text notification from a stranger on your messages who is requesting for money from you in exchange of the movie mafia’s address. You immediately oblige to his condition and send him the amount asked by him. He sends you the location in return. You immediately hail a cab so that you could go to the prescribed venue.

Upon reaching there, you stumble across a dark valley, your instincts directing you through the alley, your gut tells you that you’ll find the ‘movie mafia’ there. You find a small door engraved within the walls, as you’re about to open the door, a small voice startles you, “What are you trying to do”, the voice states, “I want to get in and meet someone inside.”, you respond, “I see”, that’s all the voice says before the person, who’s had been previously talking to you, kicks open the door, “there you go”, he says, “Thank you”, you say smiling ear to ear.

You enter via the door to see a few men arm wrestling, while few of them doing coke and a few of the others fucking women out in the open. Your attention is solely focused on the only one who stands out from them, presumably, the leader.

Everybody stops doing what they do as they hear their leader speak in a hoarse voice, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”, he asks, you ignore his questions as you look at him, “I want to become an actress”, you say as you grin at him, weirding him out, “Ok and?”, he says curtly, “Make me one”, you simply say as you take the seat beside him, reducing the proximity between you two, “Why the fuck would I do that?”, he spits, you start undressing, you unbutton your blouse, revealing your bra, as you go onto unstrap your bra, you say “Because I’m hot as fuck”, you say as you throw your bra away on the ground, now sitting topless in front of him, the other men stare at your breasts shamelessly, some even drooling a bit while the leader remains unfazed, “I’ve seen hotter bitches than ya’, that too natural ones, I know silicon implants when I see ‘em”, he says making you frown, “Is that so?”, you simply whisper, “Now get the fuck out of here before I fucking shoot your head”, he says and you do not comply, you will not give up, your will is enough to move mountains, “I’ll do anything, I’m determined to become an actress, I’ll fucking even clean up your dirty laundry and help you out with whatever fucking business you have, I’m willing to cross any boundaries, go to any lengths as long as it promises my acting career’s stability.” you say as the leader raises an eyebrow in amusement, “Anything?”, he says softly, “‘Kay, Jaemin, take her and teach this whore a lesson.”, he says, you’re ready for whatever life throws at you because you’ve only one destiny i.e. Taehyung and you’re willing to mortgage off your soul to the devil for this. Jaemin proceeds towards, as he picks you up on his back unannounced, you immediately clutch on his hair as you bite his ear off with force, astonishing both him and the leader, blood oozing out of his earlobe as he puts you down in panic, you spit out his flesh from your mouth, “Anything.”, you say, answering his question. The leader shoots Jaemin on spot, “Hanbin and Lee Know, don’t disappoint me”, as the leader says this, you see a man approaching you, while the other surprises you by grabbing your exposed breasts, this maddens you, you kick the man who has his hands over your breasts in the stomach, you notice a screwdriver in his pocket, which you swiftly take out, this doesn’t go unnoticed by the other man who is standing in front of you, he plunges forward to punch you in the face, you’re able to dodge his attack, you then smack his head, which annoys him, meanwhile the man who held your breasts, comes out in front of you and slaps you and kicks you in the stomach, you fall down and start laughing as the other man grabs you by your hair while the sexual offender keeps on slapping you, you stab the other man’s hand with the screwdriver, you insert it and then rotate it while it is in his skin, the man screams in agony, loosening his hold on your hair, you then stand up quickly and punch the sexual offender in the face as he falls down on the ground due to the brute force, you kick his filthy hands that touched you without your consent repeatedly, you then gauge his eyes out with the screw-diver, laughing maniacally, the other man who was too busy catering to his injured hand now comes to you, to save his colleague but before he does that, you slip to his behind and then stab his neck, killing him on spot. Your moves have impressed the leader while you continue tormenting the disgusting man who touched you, you neuter him with the bloodied screw driver. , the leader silently spectates it before shooting the latter.

.

The leader’s three men died humiliatingly after being defeated by an insane woman. “I believe you now woman”, the leader says, “‘Tis Namjoon, welcome to the club”, you smile as he introduces himself, “Y/n, sorry about the three men by the way”, you say as you bow to him, “Don’t mind them”, “So now you’ll make me an actress?I’m ready to do anything.”, you ask, he nods his head, “But under one condition, you’ve to successfully complete this mission for me, then i’d make you a star.”, he says, you nod happily, “Okay what’s the mission? I can go now!”, you say hastily, “Calm the fuck down. You’re not trained for it yet, Sang-min, here will train you for a month before your mission, if you achieve what I’ve planned for you, consider yourself as a successful movie star in the entertainment industry”, he spits to which you oblige.

You step inside your assigned dormitory where you’ll be living with Moon Sang-Min, an actor himself, who’ll train you for your mission a month later as well as help you improve your acting skills and PR behaviour.

The next morning, you’ve water splashed on your face at 3 am, you shriek, only to see Sang-Min sitting on your bed with bucket in his hands, he picks you up from the bed and throws you onto the floor, “The fuck man?!”, you say clearly fuming, “your training starts now”, he says nonchalantly, you immediately regain your composure as you stand up straight. He instructs you to run fifty kilometres and you comply, you run around fifty kilometres in two hours, doing anything to get Kim Taehyung. He engages you in intense warming up and workout sessions, you both hit the gym and use the gym machineries to strengthen your muscles and core, you also do boxing with him as he teaches you new moves and orders you to perform them on him. The next thing he does is take you to a shooting ring, where he teaches you as to how to shoot and hold the gun, you’re startled by the loud noise at first even though you’re wearing noise cancelling headphones but gradually as each bullet pierces through the target board, you get used to it. The next thing he does surprises you, he torments you by tying you to a chair and beating you to pulp and then instructs you to escape this set up, you first are unable to but then he teaches you various techniques to help you get out of miscellaneous scenarios. You’re then expected to learn all forms of swimming methodologies and you’re forced to learn taekwondo moves on the same day as all this. At last to give you a peaceful closure to this rigorous training he put you through, he trains you in the field of acting, introducing you to various forms of articulation of emotions on your canvas of a face. You both call it a day as you step into the shower for a quick bath and are expected to fall asleep in five minutes at 1 am during night time.

The

next day, Sang min again wakes you up at 3 am. Gradually, as weeks pass, you get used to this hectic and intense indoctrination. Your inculcation ranging from getting drowned, electrocuted, shot to becoming a black belt in taekwondo, running hundred kilometres in half an hour, mastering swimming techniques and learning how to act gracefully while maintaining a good reputation online and how social media management would be the most effective way to become a leading figure in the industry to expand your influence over the general public, you learnt all this thanks to the tutelage provided by Moon Sang-min.

A month has passed by and you haven’t even felt it pass by so quickly as you were too engaged with getting ready for the mission. You pat yourself on the back as you get one more step closer to your destination (being Kim Taehyung).

“I see ‘em muscles on you.”, Namjoon says honestly, “Kudos to Sang-min for training me”, you say as you smile sheepishly. Namjoon guides you to a secret room where there’s a screen and a projector, he takes out a stick as he signals for one of his henchmen to turn on the projector. The white screen has an image of an old man on it. Namjoon points his stick at the old man. “He’s your target”, he says, you listen to him intently as you scribble down the details he narrates to you regarding the mission. “You’ll be seducing this man as a hostess of our club to the VIP room where you have to tie him up to a chair and electrocute him.”, he says, “Sounds easy”, you state, “‘Til you hear about his tight security, he could be having sex with ya’ and have his men watch it. Your fight is not against this old geezer but actually against the army of men he roams around with. Can I rely on ya?”, he asks, now sounding serious, “Absolutely!”, you chirp, this man doesn’t scare you, in fact, if it took for you to defeat his gigantic swamp of pics to get Taehyung, you’d exactly do that.

You’re wearing a black satin dress which hugs your curves and accentuates your cleavage, bringing prominence to your enlarged breasts. You’ve applied ample amount of makeup on your face, lastly putting on a cherry red lipstick to make yourself look enticing. You wear a gold pendant to put emphasis on your slender collarbones. You’ve hidden a laser tag, rope and a small gun under your dress. You also have liquid phosgene and chloroform in small bottles in case of emergency. You’re taken to the host club via a black jeep. You retouch your makeup and hair before entering as a hostess.

Time flies by, while waiting for the old geezer, your target. He finally arrives after what seems like an eternity to you. You roll your eyes but after the amazing acting sessions by Sang-min, you’re able to masquerade your bored expressions with the one that is usually possessed by a seductress. You walk up to the man, purposely swinging your hips to draw attention to your ass, you see him surrounded by ten bodyguards and seven ladies. You serve drinks to his men, out of which, only five seem to accept the drinks offered by you. You get noticed by the old man whose attention you intended to grab, by serving drinks to his men. He invites you over to sit on his lap, you smile at him enticingly as you lean down, making him have glimpse of your nipples through your exposed cleavage window, you sit on his lap and start stroking his dick, he starts growing hot, you guide his fingers to inside your dress, he plays with your clothed nipples, now wanting to lick and suckle on them as well, he removes your sleeve off one of your shoulders, you gently hold his hands and your fingers point upstairs, showing him the VIP room where he could have you whole, he licks his lips and asks his men to follow you and him to the exclusive room, unbeknownst to the smirk that’s slightly playing on your lips as you’re able to successfully lure him into the room.

As you’re about to enter the luxurious VIP room, the five men whom you served drinks suddenly faint and fall down onto the floor, the other men get alert while you’ve to quickly jump into action so you immediately put a cloth sprayed with chloroform over the old man’s mouth causing him to faint, you immediately tie him up with the agility and speed you acquired through the training, as soon as the other five men who were tending to the fainted men, get up and look at you tying their boss, they set into attack you. One of the guys tries to punch you which you dodge gracefully as you form a full circle with your leg and kick his leg causing him to fall down on his knees due to the incinerated injury, the second man then approaches you with a gun, you kick the gun out of his hand as you electrocute him and cause him to faint, you kick the first man again, now in the balls and then shoot him in the head, killing him on spot, the third and the fourth men attack you at the same time, you’re able to successfully escape their punches while you attempt to kick their stomachs and punch them in their face simultaneously, you shoot them as well, killing them on spot, the last standing man, jumps at you, causing you to fall down, you both keep on rolling over each other, trying to gain dominance over the other, then you suddenly grab his hair and feed him the bottle of phosgene, killing him on spot as well. Namjoon arrives a while later while you’re looking at your freshly manicured nails. Namjoon looks at how you’ve successfully accomplished your task and then pats your back, you look at him while he does that, “I don’t want felicitations, I want to act.”, you state with a poker face, Namjoon nods his head and says, “Tomorrow morning, meet me in the same hall as the day we discussed your mission”, you nod in return.

The following morning, you dress up extra as you’re excited to finally come miles closer to Taehyung. You can’t wait to achieve your goal and as you become closer to your aim, your heart starts failing due to overloaded excitement and thrill.

Namjoon is seated on one of the black chairs wearing a suit, he looks at you as you enter the room, you sit on the seat beside him. “So what now?”, you say excitedly, he takes out a picture of a young man in front of you, “You’re going to seduce him now.”, he says, you frown at his words, “Is this another mission?”, you ask, he shakes his head, “No, sleeping with him will make you a star”, he says, “So I just have to sleep with him?”, you innocently ask, he again shakes his head, “If only it was that easy, you need to record yourself sleeping with him and then blackmail him to cast you in one of his projects.”, he says, surprising you, “I’ve to record a porno now?”, you say slightly fluttered, “…and use that as your ticket to K-entertainment industry.”, he finishes speaking. “Where do I find this man though?”, you ask, “You’ll know soon don’t worry sweetheart.”, he says.

And you do get to know where you’ll locate him, you’re now sitting right next to him at a bar as he’s looking at scripts of his future projects. He is a director after all. You’re wearing a revealing red dress, your cleavage prominently visible, your milky thighs exposed to the man. You’re just waiting for the workaholic to notice you. Although he is known for sleeping around but right now he’s too engrossed with his work. You’ve to somehow distract him from his work. What a perfect plan to incorporate your ideas as well. Your glass slips out of your hand, spilling juice on his glasses, he is bound to look up at you now, but to your surprise, he still doesn’t, that’s when you come up with an impromptu plan to clean his glasses, you suddenly tap on his shoulders, he looks at you stunned by your beauty, you then speak to him, “Kind sir, may I wipe the juice droplets that trickled down to your glasses?”, you ask politely, your voice soft, he melts as he slowly complies to your request, you flash a smile to him while you take his glasses in your hand and wipe them using your handkerchief. You both then engage in a conversation at the bar, where he’s telling you how his name is Jungkook and that he’s a director and you’re telling him how you’re an aspiring author, your inspiration being L.J. Smith. He seems pretty into you by now. You stare into his eyes before capturing his lips into a small sweet kiss which he reciprocates, his lust, clear as crystal. You both make out till you reach out of the club, he phones his driver to get his car, you both silently walk up to his car, where he helps you sit. He kisses you there as well in the car, his spectacles sometimes clashing with your nose bridge making you chuckle. you reach his apartment and as you’re about to enter, he stops you. He makes you remove your dress in front of him in the corridor before letting you in his house, he also ensures that you have kept your small purse outside his door. After this, he pounces on you like a beast, devouring you. He puts his glasses on a night table in front of the bed in which he’s about to take you in wholly. After you both are done with your intense love making session, with his hickeys painted all over your body, he asks you to leave, that surprises you a bit but you do as he says, you get out of his apartment and step into your dress outside his gate.

The following morning, Jungkook receives an email from an unknown sender, he immediately opens the mail out of burning curiosity but that turns out to be his biggest regret ever as he’s met with the video of him fucking you on the bed. In one of the scenes, he’s seen snorting coke through your ass while actively spanking your ass, if the media gets a hold of this footage, it would ruin him, which he fears the most. The only thing most astonishing about this entire incident more than the sex tape was the fact that you were somehow able to film the sex even-though all your stuff had been barricaded outside his house. He wonders as to how you’ve done the deed and then he notices his spectacles on his nose bridge, he fucking yells out your name as realisation sinks in, you spilled the juice on his glasses on purpose, in order to blackmail him with his sex tape where he’s doing drugs the wolf way. He immediately responds to the email, wanting to meet up with the sender, who he thinks is you, and he turns out to be right, as you sit in front of him, wearing a red lipstick, still looking hot as ever. “What the fuck do you want, woman?”, Jungkook questions panic lacing in his voice. “I lied about being an aspiring author, I wanna be an actress! You’re a hot shot director.”, you say, Jungkook now understands you, the likes of you who desperately want money and fame, he’s disgusted by girls like you who use deception to actively climb up the ladder but he has no choice but to submit to your qualms as you hold an integral piece of evidence that will destroy his career. “Okay, the first thing today I’ll do will be cast you in my new project, Cha eun woo is the male lead.”, he says as you frown, Jungkook notices the saddened expression on your face, “You don’t want to work?”, he inquires, “I’ll be honest with you, I actually don’t want to act”, you say truthfully as Jungkook looks taken aback by what you just said, “Then why the fuck are you blackmailing me woman?”, he asks as a scowl forms on his face, “fame is not what i want”, you say as jungkook raises an eyebrow wanting you to continue, “there’s someone I want for whom I could go to any extent, cross whatever lines that exist between us, just so that I could one day make him mine.”, you say as you think of Taehyung, Jungkook doesn’t understand what you say that is until you take out a small plastic bag out of your pocket containing Taehyung’s hair strand, you carry it everywhere with you as a token of your undying love for the aforementioned man, “This is actor’s Taehyung hair strand, I bought it when I was fourteen via dark web.”, you state, surprising him, “You love Taehyung?”, he states now even more amused by you, “I think what I harbour for him surpasses love, he has become the sole reason of my existence.”, you state with fire blazing in your eyes, Jungkook notices how your soulless eyes finally show emotions at the mention of Taehyung, now it wouldn’t be just pure blackmail motivating him to get you to work with Taehyung but also his own curiosity to get to know you better. “Come tomorrow, I’m planning to replace the villainess of my tv show in which Taehyung is starring, I think you’d be a perfect fit for the character”, he says, “Why not the main female lead?”, you question to which he smirks before replying, “Taehyung’s current girlfriend is playing that role alongside him now.”, as these words leave his lips, you feel a pang of jealousy within your heart, in fact, your soul set to arson by the revelation of this fact, looking at your current expressions, Jungkook taunts, “did you really think he’d go on in his life without dating anyone? did you never consider this being a possibility?”, he snarks, you roll your eyes, “it stings a lot I’d admit it but even if he was married, that wouldn’t stop me from making him mine so what even is a girlfriend in front of me?”, you retort, Jungkook looks surprised as he raises his hands in surrender.

The following morning, you wake up at 4 am, grooming yourself, getting ready, it takes you 5 hours to get ready and you still don’t feel like that is enough, you’re finally going to be meeting your destination, the person who has owned your heart ever since you’ve been ten. You wear the most expensive dress there is in the closet, you keep on screaming out of sheer excitement and nervousness, you haven’t eaten a thing since morning as this is the least you can do for the man who has had your heart stolen by him, your soul belongs to him, you solely only belong to him, the entire long drawn journey, finally bearing fruitful results, you grow overwhelmed with emotions as you’re nearing him. You’ve fainted five times already at the thought of meeting him. This is your condition before even meeting him, what would even happen when you meet him.

Hours pass by, as you reach the sets of Jungkook’s ongoing project. The d-day has finally arrived. You’re gonna meet the king of your soul, your body, your heart heck your everything.

Moments before the grandeur meeting. You finally see him, your soul which was aching for even a glimpse of him is now taken abode to heaven. Your heart thirsting for even a glance of him gets quenched when you finally see his features. God has carefully crafted in the formation of this handsome man, his features absolutely breath taking, his eyes, a beautiful shade of light brown. Fireworks explode in your chest as you fall to your knees at the sight of him, that is, until you see him with his supposed girlfriend but not for long. Jungkook comes near you as he helps you stand up while your soul burning with envy looks at the woman as an involuntary scowl forms on your face. That woman seems familiar to you. Where have you seen her before. You keep on pondering and that is when it clicks you. The man you’ve been desiring since most of your childhood is dating your childhood friend Evie?!. This is a shock to you, how did she even bag him is what you wonder. Suddenly, Taehyung’s eyes are directed towards you, your hearts skips a beat as you stare back into his beautiful and mesmerising eyes. Taehyung leaves his girlfriend to come talk to you. As Taehyung’s approaching you, Jungkook whispers into your ears, “He doesn’t like women who immediately jump onto him so you might want to curb your urge to just fuck him here.”, he says while you tune it all out because you’re in your own world because of Kim Taehyung. “Hey, you’re new here!”, he says smiling at you, you keep on admiringly staring at him before you’re pulled out of the trance as he waves his hand in front of you, “Oh i’m sorry, yes I’ll be playing the new villainess here.”, you internally scream as you’re talking to Taehyung live in action.

“Now kiss!”, Taehyung moves forward to kiss Evie, but as they’re about to kiss, you scream, you make others think that it’s impromptu method acting but all you’re trying to do is not let them kiss, this is when Evie notices you and recognises you, she’s a bit surprised by your ‘sudden acting’. “Bravo acting”, Jungkook praises you as you bow to him, then Taehyung comes to you and as he’s about to come to you, you intentionally slip on your heels, causing for Taehyung to hold you by your waist to prevent your fall. You both bore into each other’s eyes, feeling an electrifying spark, your breath shortening due to him being so close.

“Cut!” The cast wraps up for the day, “You did well”, Taehyung smiles at you feeling something between you spark, “So did you”, you reply honestly. “Can you give me your number?”, he asks, your heart starts racing hard, “Sure”, you smile at him, you jot down your number on a paper and give it to him. He smiles at you and then proceeds to leave with that whore.

You secretly follow Taehyung as he’s with Evie, he hands the note with your number to her, you’re so confused by this but you choose to ignore his actions as you’re more focused on admiring him. Taehyung goes to his apartment while Evie is alone, this is also the night, you’ve set up to have Taehyung break things off with Evie immediately because you know you cannot stand to see them together anymore.

You dial in Moon Sang-min’s number on your phone and tell him to come with his car, he follows your word and arrives with his car, you get in and push him out, “Do what I told you to do”, is what you say him before he nods and goes Evie’s way.

“Hello”, Sang-min says to Evie, she gets startled by his sudden appearance, “Hello Oppa”, she says blushing profusely, of course she is attracted to him, Sang-min subtly puts his arms around her waist as they continue talking as someone captures their meeting, unknown to her. That someone being you, you post their interaction via Dispatch on Jungkook’s instructions.

An uproar is caused in the morning, multiple death threats sent to Evie by Sang-min’s fans, which you think she deserves, you hum happily, as you learn about the hate she’s receiving.

You get a text from an unknown number, the text reads, “Hi Y/n babe, I missed you so much, please text me when you read this, It’s Evie, Let’s meet up, I kind of need you right now.”, you immediately respond back, agreeing to meet up with her. You wear the second most expensive dress in your closet to visit her.

She’s looking at the ocean while waiting for you in a cafe’s balcony, the café that is owned by Jungkook. As soon as she sees you entering the café, she waves at you. You go towards her. You take a seat in front of her as she motions to speak, “I’m so sorry we haven’t been in contact for so long!”, she apologises genuinely, “it’s okay”, you smile at her as you say that. You both talk about how your lives have had been while you’ve been away from each other, you lie about your life though.

Hours pass by, as you both catch up, that’s when Evie strikes up her concerns with you, “You know Y/n I’ve been getting so much hate ever since someone pictured my harmless interaction with Sang-min oppa and you know I can stand all that hate but this one hurts because even Taehyung is mad at me now.”, she says, surprising you, “Has he broken up with you?”, you say barely being able to hide your happiness, “Noo ew; we’ll never break up, in fact we’d get married.”, she says, this turns something in you as you offer her brown sugar to add to her coffee, which she happily complies with. “You know Evie, while growing up even I’ve had a huge crush on Taehyung”, you say as it surprises Evie now, “Is that so?”, she says, “Yes, things get messy when a simple crush blurs its lines with desire, passion and undying love for the person”, you say confusing her, “How so?”, she asks, “Crush is something you can get over, the love I’m talking about transcends peak obsession, you know where you blur the lines between good and evil for the one you love.”, you say explaining to her, she still doesn’t understand but gives you a small smile, “That’s cute but whom do you love that way.”, she asks curious, “Taehyung”, you simply reply while sipping onto your coffee, her face gets rubbed off of any smile on her face, as she slowly loses her consciousness, slowly diving towards death, wholly because of the poison you did add to the brown sugar sachet before handing it to her. There stands no one between you and Taehyung, you’ll ensure no one does.

The next morning, the entire nation is in splits after the devastating announcement of your childhood friend’s murder orchestrated as a suicide by you due to online bullying and harassment she faced online when she has had been alive. You grab your purse before heading out to Taehyung’s place as you know he’d be the most devastated one by this news and you stand corrected, he’s crying, he’s spiralling down into doldrum but worry not he has you to nurse his broken heart, you offer your fake condolences to him and then console him, feeling a bit envious because of Evie’s death impacting him so much but whatever at least there would be no more hurdles between you and him now.

You and Taehyung have been getting pretty close now, especially after the day Evie left this world’s premises. You’ve always offered him a reliable shoulder to cry on. Taehyung is slowly forgetting about Evie and getting over her death as you fill up the empty holes in his heart. Taehyung is gradually falling in love with you, he spends all his time with you, even on the sets of the show you’ve been taken in as the female lead by Jungkook now after Evie’s passing. He loves all the moments he has spent with you as he replays your conversations with him all over in his head again and again, he cherishes you and is planning to confess soon to you.

The day Taehyung confesses to you, you feel so mellow and gentle, you’ve a song written for him by a famous singer, Keara Graves, you sing the song to him as your response to accepting his confession. You both get into a relationship moments later. Your plan has effectively worked well, you’ve come a long way with everything, you’ve to pat yourself on the back for never giving up and going through hell to obtain the man whom you call very much so yours now. You have had known that meeting someone during their vulnerable period makes them get attached to you and that is what you did with Taehyung, you waited for him to get vulnerable, strike at the right time and then win his heart.

This has been quite a journey for you, you’ve learnt a lot about yourself and how much you can do for this man you’ve promised to love forever in this life time. You’ve achieved your goal successfully. This feels unreal to you but then you remember you’d do anything to have him even if it means putting your life at stake and you did do everything you could to have him. You’re in love with this man, there’s no denying that, you’ll always love him no matter what happens and you’ll ensure he never leaves your side nonetheless.

This is the love story where you relentlessly love him and go to any extent to get him to become yours.

This is your story of loving him and how love and will can move mountains, just like in your case.

Thinkin' 'bout the day when we first met The way you made me feel and how you left What I wouldn't give just to be more To be someone that you hold and you adore Look at my eyes See what you mean to me Feel the beat of my heart I need to believe that I could walk through fiery burning love But you still wouldn't feel the heat Feel the heat It burns in me But you see through me I could walk through fiery burning love (you see through me) I could walk through fiery burning love You always know exactly what to say To pull me in before you walk away But I don't wanna go through this again To act like I'm okay just being friends Look at my eyes See what you mean to me Feel the beat of my heart I need to believe that I could walk through fiery burning love But you still wouldn't feel the heat Feel the heat It burns in me But you see through me I could walk through fiery burning love Oh now, I'm calling out I don't have the words to say Maybe in another life it could be another way In another life you'd stay Look at my eyes See what you mean to me Feel the beat of my heart I need to believe that I could walk through fiery burning love But you still wouldn't feel the heat Feel the heat It burns in me But you see through me I could walk through fiery burning love (you see through me) I could walk through fiery burning love

~Keara Graves.

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the end

[connorsnothereeither]

in a hyperthetical modern au, what tv shows or music you think your characters would like?

hmmmmm I’ve been cooking on this question since you sent it-

Ulysses: I feel like Ulysses is very folk music and blues, leaning into jazz maybe, when it comes to what he listens to. Maybe some classic rock in there, and I sometimes picture him listening to big band music from like,,, early 20th century, for some reason. I honestly really think,,, that Ulysses loves sitcoms and soap operas. I think he likes things like Friends, How I Met Your Mother, maybe even leaning into things like the Office. I think he fucking ADORES Grey’s Anatomy. If it’s not his favourite it’s close. Ulysses would find them comforting: long running shows with endless episodes. Something he could put on as a safety blanket because they’re like familiar friends. A season by season chronology of these characters lives; learning, growing, falling in love, discovering themselves. It’s the find of thing he writes about, after all. The history of peoples lives.

Virgil: Music wise, I think he listens to classical music a lot of the time honestly? I think he just likes it as background noise. The obvious answer feels like it would be true crime… but I don’t think so. I think Virgil knows true crime would be harmful for him to watch because it would feed his paranoia. But I think he LOVES quirky procedural dramas and monster of the week shows. Psych, Bones, Elementary, veering into the realms of Twin Peaks, X-Files, Buffy and Supernatural, even Gravity Falls. Things where there’s enough meat for him to sink his problem solving conspiracy brain into the lore, and the magic systems, and the week by week whodunnits, but fictional enough that he can, if he needs to, pull himself away.

Daniel Thorns: I think Dan in a modern AU would dig folk music a lot. I also think he���s a big fan of… whatever kind of horny yearning modern alt rock shit the can Dan & Neph playlist has going on lmao- but he probably has a soft spot for 2000s pop rock. In terms of TV… I don’t know honestly. I don’t think he’s the kind of guy to watch TV much. I think he likes,,, cooking shows. Great British Bake-off type beat. I think he puts them on in the background while he crafts and does leather working :)

Leopold: points at this 1920s bitch. That’s a Jazz Man. He likes Jazz. Even in modern day. In terms of TV shows, I think Leopold has a guilty pleasure for cosy mystery shows. Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Murder She Wrote, maybe even something like Only Murders in the Building. He just thinks they’re fun and cosy and he curls up with a hot drink and blankets on his big couch to watch them at night before he goes to bed. I think Daisy and Owen say they hate them and it’s cringey but will also get super engrossed walking by halfway through an episode, and up falling asleep on the couch with him while he watches them, and when he’s finished Leo carries them each to their room, despite the fact they’re like, fully 18 and 16.

C.W. Hare: This is gonna sound like a bad rabbit joke. But genuinely… I think he’d really like hip hop. Hip hop, R&B, potentially rap. I don’t know, there’s an energy to him that just screams it to me. TV show wise is complicated… I’m not sure honestly. I don’t think he watches a ton of TV by himself, but I think he will watch anything his friends put on because he wants to spend time with them and engage with the things they like. He’d watch anything J. Amp, or even Beckett, Artisan, or potentially even Jay puts on. He doesn’t watch the show for the show, he watches it to spend time with people.

[lichanicksstuff]

What books would characters from The Hobbit read?

This idea came up to me a while ago, but now I have to share it, so here me out ig:

I think Bilbo would read everything he can get his hands on. But mostly fantasy novels, history books, basically anything that would include a piece of unknown world. I just know that he would love Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne and I think he would enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books.

Here's a controversial one, but I think Thorin would mostly read poetry. Especially the Lake Poets. He would read poems about home, love, a warm place where people can feel safe. That's what he wanted, that's why he wanted to regain Erebor. (He would also read romance novels in his free time, but nobody knows about it. Fili and Kili would die twice if they found out. Of laughing and because Thorin would chase them with a knife).

Kili wouldn't read much. He would mostly watch films, but if he once in a while picks up a book it's usually a romance-comedy, or the worst and the most traumatising horror book, a person could ever read. He would recommend them to people by saying "It's a really good book! You will enjoy it!" and then laugh when they come back traumatised. He would like "Ring", "Haunting Adeline" and literally anything by Jane Austen.

Fili would read mostly criminal books or just contemporary fiction. He wouldn't have high expectations for books, but he would complain about every detail if he didn't like one. He would be the type of guy that says "the book was better" after he watched a movie based of a book. Even if he didn't read this particular book, he would say that, just to piss people off.

Porn.

Ori would read contemporary fiction, like Fili, and he would be the victim of Bofur's and Kili's recommendations. Poor guy. He would also read classic romance novels. I have a feeling that he would love Jane Austen's and Bronte sisters' works. I don't know why but it fits. Look at him.

History books and war literature. Do I have to explain myself? This guy would give you an hour long monologue about the emergence of the Balkan countries and you would listen to every word he says. After that he would make you a cup of tea and then asked what books you like to read. And somehow, even if you read a completely different genre, he would recommend you something that you would really enjoy.

Nori's the type of guy who says that he reads everything, even if that's a complete bullshit. He would only read criminal novels (he would have read all of Agatha Christie and killed you if you would say you don't like her work) and sometimes japanese classic literature. And by that I mean Edogawa Ranpo and his "The Human Chair" or "The Hornworm".

I just know that Dwalin would have read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" like twenty times as a kid. When he was a little older, he tried classic literature, poetry, adventure, sience fiction, war literature, a few romance novels, horror books... He's the true "I read everything" guy. His favourite authors would be Dostoevsky, Karl Adolph Gjellerup (but he wouldn't be a fan of the femme fatale thing) and John Milton.

Cook books.

[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. You can friend me on Goodreads here.

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

___

297. Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung & Joosun Lee (Translator)--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Did I enjoy this book? If I say that I listened to this audiobook and then went and bought the physical book as a trophy, would that be enough to show how much I enjoyed this book?

I wasn't sure what to expect from ALMOND, especially because it was recommended in a batch of other recommendations that were either low-ratings or DNFs. But I'm so glad I gave it a shot because it was an incredible read with, ironically, a lot of heart.

The MC is teen boy who was diagnosed with a disorder that leaves him without the ability to understand emotions. As tragedy strikes his small family, the truth of his situation is made even more obvious. That horrible moment sets off a chain of events that will lead the MC to incredible character growth and, in some ways, showcases him showing more empathy and understanding than others who CAN feel emotions.

ALMOND isn't the kind of book where I'd say I loved the relationships the MC cultivates, but I did appreciate them and the role they played in helping him grow. One of his childhood friendships is slightly abusive, but because the MC is so straight-forward, I was able to look past that and see the friendship through his eyes. The character in question is morally questionable, but his intentions (when stripped of all emotion) were things that made that friendship worthwhile.

There were many moments of prejudices, assumptions, abuse, and grief, but because it is from the perspective of someone who lacked emotion, the story felt strangely candid. I really, really enjoyed this book and it definitely left me thinking about how the world is and how heavily it depends on emotions and the perception of situations BASED on those emotions.

I highly recommend this one for anyone looking for a unique story in translation and for anyone who wants a very interesting exploration of grief.

___

298. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Andy Weir will always be an auto-buy author for me. I don't know if I'll get to his books right away, but you bet that book will always be preordered.

After hearing so many good things about PROJECT HAIL MARY, I finally told myself to start reading Weir's latest. The hype doesn't lie--just like with THE MARTIAN, weird somehow made a book heavy with science and tech talk feel like a hilarious adventure.

For anyone who wasn't a big fan of Weir's second novel, keep in mind that this one is more in line with THE MARTIAN, just definitely a bit more science fiction. Weir's famous wit is mixed into some seriously interesting science as the MC races to save the world from a sun-ending parasite. The way that the past and present were braided together made the story flow so well and I liked that we slowly had information given to us AND the MC.

I really loved the connection between the characters in the present time, and enjoyed the back and forth of the characters in the past. That wit and banter in both made me laugh a few times, or at least smile. And despite this being a bit of a lengthier read, it flowed so well! (The only reason why there is such a gap in my reading is because I had to pause and focus on other books first). But even as I was reading the other books, I couldn't stop think about this one and what would happen to the MC and his new friend.

While THE MARTIAN will always be my favourite by Weir, this one is a close second. It had that fun energy that his debut had and kept me hooked. The MC and his new friend were great together and I loved their bond of their need to protect each others' homes.

I highly recommend this one if you're looking for a science fiction book that isn't too heavily science fiction, save for a few aspects, but could also technically be speculative fiction set in space.

___

299. The Stars Beneath Our Feet by David Barclay Moore--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE STARS BENEATH OUR FEET was one of those books that I went into fully blind and without any sort of hype. It has lived on my bookshelf for years and I finally picked it up in an attempt to tackle my physical book collection.

There were times where I almost DNFed because I was wary of the MC and how his grief was driving him down a very not-nice road. I find that even though these books are sometimes tough reads, I do appreciate them being middle grade reads because it will hopefully help a young teen who is in need of reading a similar experience in their lives.

But ultimately, I loved the character growth. I liked that the MC takes accountability for his actions and although he ends up making decisions that work better for him, he still has his human moments where his questions what is right and what is wrong. And through it all, we see his best friendship grow and face some pretty heavy obstacles. We also see him making a new and unexpected friend and I really liked how that was approached and that representation.

The messiness of grief is also a big topic in this book, and also the queer representation that wasn't made into a plot line but was just a fact was refreshing.

I thought this book was also a great allegory for following your dreams even when everyone else thinks they know what you need or want. At the age that the MC is, a lot of people think they're the ones with the power to determine what a kid should or shouldn't do with their lives, but I liked that he made his own decisions--even if they were difficult choices in the end.

I think this would be a great read for anyone who loves LEGO, anyone who wants stories that explore grief and how it affects a family, and the difficult decisions made when one lives in a community full of gang violence and at-risk youth.

___

300. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Definitely one of those books I had to restart a couple of times, read the synopsis to remind myself why I was reading it (LOL), and then had to sit with while listening to the notes at the end of the audiobook.

This book hits hard and I ended up getting hooked on it. I feel like this is definitely one of those books that could be read more than once in the future. It was such an incredibly powerful read. It was such an interesting take on humanity and how lonely it can feel, even when surrounded.

There were definitely some jarring moments, but the way everything was described made it so easy to see everything in my mind. I could easily imagine the land the women explored and the way everything started changing as time went on.

I think one of the most fascinating things about this book was how we get to see the story form from such a young perspective and then we watch her grow and see how the perception of her world changes. She has a wholly different experience than the other women, simply because of her age. We get to see how the idea of womanhood changes throughout the years as she navigates this strange world, which is something that the other characters never really get to do.

The end of the audiobook had some great commentary on the novel and offered deeper explanations of the themes in I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN. Some of the important points centred around consumerism, feminism, and sexuality.

Overall, though the story itself feels bleak, there's a certain level of hope that you can't help but feel for this lonely character. And though learning where they could be was certainly a twist, it could also be a sign of new beginnings away from the humanity that kept them encaged.

___

301. Forgotten Romance by Saxon James--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm so sad to see this series end!!!! These two idiots were so in love.

This was one of my more anticipated reads in this series and while it wasn't a favourite, I still loved their love story. It wasn't as spicy as the other books, but the tension and chemistry was there between the two.

I loved seeing the side characters and the kids were hilarious and adorable. I found the ending a little too easy BUT I still liked it.

I'm really sad to see this series end, especially because there was one character who deserved an HEA. But I'm excited to see what new series Saxon James does next!

___

302. The Black Girl Survives in This One by Various--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE BLACK GIRL SURVIVES IN THIS ONE was at times hilarious (because of the twist in the usual cliches), entertaining, and terrifying. Some stories were better than others, but overall the collection was a great exploration of how we perceive Black characters in horror. I loved the intro to the stories because it expressly mentions the portrayal of Black characters in horror media, so you kind of have a very clear picture of what's coming next.

First, I want to say that it was very refreshing knowing that no matter how dire the situation was in a story, the Black character survived. Not a spoiler, it's literally in the title.

That first story HOOKED me, it was my favourite and immediately creeped me out. I think that of all the stories, that one was the one that really scared me. I remember I was listening to the audiobook at night, while brushing my teeth, and I had to pause what I was doing to fully feel that terror that crept in during the story. The reveal of said story had me wondering if I had locked the doors of the house and the twist at the end had me yelling out because while not wholly unpredictable, it was just such a classically great ending to a scary story.

As I mentioned before, some stories were better than others and some were outright weird. Some stories I wish we had for longer moments than a few pages in an anthology, while others I thought were too long.

Overall, if you're looking for a scary anthology for this upcoming Halloween season, I highly recommend this one. You get a good dose of terror with your social awareness of how media treats characters that aren't caucasian. You'll especially feel this when a certain group of people become the victims in these stories.

___

303. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE PAIRING is probably the spiciest book McQuiston has written, but in my opinion, it's also the most sensual. I really liked how they wrote this story and how they presented this relationship. I liked how messy the characters were, but how they found each other in their own unique way.

And trust me, I know this can be polarizing--the conflict of their love and how they find themselves in the end.

But I loved it. I loved the back and forth and the sexual tension that kept building and building as the book progressed. The travel and the wine and the food--these were all aphrodisiacs for a relationship that shuns the conventional ways of viewing a relationship. I remember it took me a moment to adjust to the idea that these two characters were so sexually active after their relationship ended because past romances have (falsely) taught me to believe that the only way to show love is to be abstinent until the reconnection happens. But not every great romance is the same.

I genuinely loved their sexual chemistry and how their relationship evolved into what it is by the end of the book. They are literally on a tour of over-indulgence so it's only fair that they over-indulge.

But beyond the chemistry, I genuinely enjoyed the commentary on the food and wine. It was informative and gave the book an interesting fullness so the story didn't solely focus on the romance. I felt like I was going on tour with these two and was enjoying their company along the way.

The star loss comes from a few things. One being how the miscommunication was once again a star player in this romance. While I DID love learning about their history together, I thought it should have been a strong enough history for them to communicate beyond the initial misunderstanding.

Another reason for the loss of the star is that I felt this one was a little on the long side. There were moments that would fly past, but then I'd hit these patches where the story would just lag and it ruined the rhythm of the book for me. Overall, this felt like one of those books where I felt every hour passing of the audiobook, whereas there are some books where I don't even notice the time passing.

Overall, I really enjoyed the characters and their romance. I liked them individually too and how much they showcased their growth after their breakup. One of the best things McQuiston did for this book was making it have a dual-POV narrative. Reading this from the other side added a wholly different level of angst for the romance between the two MCs.

I'd recommend this if you love travel, food, wine, and a whopping amount of sexual tension. While it isn't the spiciest book on the market, it definitely has a very fun sensual element. It presents an interesting side of sexual connectivity that we don't often see in traditionally published books and, trust me, my pansexual self was very content with some of the things mentioned in this book.

___

304. The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore--⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Honestly, this was cute but not spicy enough to get that "spicy romance" byline.

This was, for all intents and purposes, a hallmark movie put into a book. The romance was kind of quick and didn't have a lot of body to it. The MMC is self-aware enough to know that he tends to fall too hard and fast, so I was surprised (not) when he falls so heavily for the FMC.

I always find it fascinating how certain books get hyped up for their spiciness and then only have a couple of scenes of spice. It's not that I want a book with a lot of spice--I enjoyed this for what it was--but I know some people will jump into this one and be disappointed.

The story itself was cute and cavity sweet. The romance was a little insta-romancey, but it had a surprising mystery. While everything was a bit predictable, it was still fun to guess with the characters to see whodunit. This added layers to the story that made it harder to put down.

My biggest gripe is with the FMC and how much of a pushover she was during the whole thing. Someone does something scary around her store? Let me not call the cops because I don't want to be a nuisance! Her decision-making skills were truly something else. And you're telling me this woman was once the secretary of a CEO? Please. He would have eaten her alive.

And back to the spice--this wasn't closed door, but like, the scenes were BBQ chips level of spice. They were quick and just...shrug.

But again, I didn't stay for the spice. This was a cute romance I'd recommend for Autumn reading. LOL I HAVE ALREADY ORDERED THE OTHERS. Don't judge me too much.

___

Happy reading!

[utilitycaster]

What are some of your favourite podcasts / podcast recs?

It's hard to pick a favorite though I will say at the moment Midst is the one I think I look forward to the most, so I'm just going to go through basically all podcasts I currently or relatively recently previously listened to and sort them by rough genre. Note that as with all recommendation requests it helps to know the vibe of what you're going for and what's important to you (I know I just was like hey I'll take most music recs but the commitment for music is like the length of a song, whereas podcasts/books/movies/tv are a bit more time put in)

Actual Play:

Longtime listener of NADDPod and TAZ which I'm guessing if you follow me you are broadly aware of but if not feel free to ask more; I also post about Worlds Beyond Number enough that you might know what it is. I checked out Burnt Cookbook party a while ago both because I liked Jenna Stoeber's work with Polygon and because someone asked me for Actual Play podcast-only recs with more than one woman or nb player that weren't RQG and I was like oh I should find some. Anyway it's quite good! it's definitely lower production values than bigger podcasts but the plot is highly original and really good, the vibes are fantastic, the characters are a lot of fun, and all in all worth checking out. I also do listen to the Re-Slayer's Take which I've really enjoyed! Everyone's good but while I was familiar with (and a fan of) Jasmine Bhullar and Jasper William Cartwright's work, Jasmine Chiong as Farah speaks to the Grouchy Old Hunter Woman fan in me and has been a personal standout. It is very heavily edited, which does take some getting used to. Also, I mentioned RQG (Rusty Quill Gaming). It comes with the caveat of "very good but slow to start and then doesn't really stick the landing, imo, though the epilogues help" but I can recommend with that warning.

Scripted Fiction

Camlann. Modern post-apocalyptic Arthuriana/Folklore of the British Isles, with some hints of other folklore as well. 1 season; hoping they get funding for a second because it was very well done and also I want Gwen and Morgan to kiss.

Midst. Hard to describe but if you follow me you've seen a lot of posts that might help. Extremely good! About to finish in a bit over a week's time! Check it out and I advice you check out the first 3 episodes at once to get a feel for it; the three-narrator thing is also "get used to it and it will be fine".

The Penumbra Podcast. Originally envisioned as an anthology podcast but then two specific settings (noir-y space opera and medieval court monster hunters) were very popular. Also nearing its end.

The Silt Verses. Quite literally everything on this list would be described as "New Weird" and "has queer characters" and this is maybe the New Weirdest. Anyway, set in a world where gods are real, require human sacrifice to live, and society is both very complicit and also uses the gods to sell shit. I think people who are mad about D20 or CR not being explicitly political enough should listen to it. Extremely good. Also in its endgame, but they've had a very drawn out schedule as of late.

Welcome to Night Vale. You are on Tumblr; presumably you know the drill. I can't say I'm like...super following what happens but it's one of those things that's been a constant in my life for over a decade and takes up a very pleasant hour-ish per month. This feels like damning with faint praise but the earlier stuff was great and it's still strong, it's just, you know, the inevitable slowness of an indefinitely long slice-of-life-ish show vs. the more plot-driven ones above.

Within the Wires. By one of the Night Vale Creators. I have a post about it but it's set on an alternate history Earth where a cataclysmic war/plague/various other bad things absolutely destroyed the population in the early 1900s, leading to a very different global society. Some people say the seasons are very uneven in quality. They are incorrect. The seasons follow different people and all are in the form of found audio, so they are all quite different, but it's entirely a matter of personal preference if you like a season or not; it's not that some are Objectively Better.

Wolf 359 finished a long time back and I haven't relistened since my original listen in like...2018, but of "podcasts that have finished" it's worth it. Weird space stuff.

Informative(?)

Home Cooking by Hrishikesh Hirway and Samin Nosrat; was a pandemic project that now only airs yearly, really, but worth checking out if you like cooking.

I found out about Home Cooking via Song Exploder, which is just Hrishikesh Hirway talking about songs. Great podcast; the editing is fascinating and I have found a lot of good music from it!

I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats. Has only two seasons but they are both very good if you like The Mountain Goats as a band.

No Such Thing as a Fish: the QI (British quiz show) (if you're British you know this better than I do) researches talk about weird facts and riff on them.

Sawbones: Justin McElroy and his wife Dr. Sydnee Smirl McElroy talk about weird medical history and dumb wellness trends on tiktok. This is one of the earliest podcasts I subscribed to back when I did not drive nearly as much.

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Has also completed and there's a book that's basically covering the same ground. It's not like, purely informative; it's very anecdotal (as is I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats) but I learned a lot from it.

Honorable mention: I just didn't have the time or energy to keep up with Ologies by Alie Ward but what I listened to was fun and interesting and my sibling is a big fan.

Comedy and Miscellany:

Beef and Dairy Network: also British, on the Max Fun network with the McElroys. Fucking weird. I debated putting this in the scripted fiction because it's basically "what if Welcome to Night Vale was a little less story focused but still had throughlines and was specifically about the cattle industry in some absurdist alternate version of our world" but stuck with comedy bc the absurdity outstrips the plot. It's weird!

My Brother, My Brother, and Me: you probably know this one; either you love it or you don't.

My Dad Wrote a Porno: also British and from what I understand a bigger deal over there. Has uh. reached completion, in that they decided they were done, but the books apparently go on (sorry Rocky I'm not buying them). A guy and his two good friends read and roast his father's self-published erotica e-books about Belinda Blumenthal, Pots and Pans saleswoman, ft. bad accents, corporate espionage, and, of course, The Duchess.

The Empty Bowl: Justin McElroy and Dan Goubert of Cerealously's ASMR podcast about cereal. legitimately has helped me calm down when anxious at night. I am not even a big cereal eater it's just entertaining and chill.

Anyway any other podcasts I have listened to I've either forgotten, weren't good enough to recommend, just disappeared without any conclusion [*cough* king falls am] or involve way more reservations than I am willing to go into without knowing more about what you are looking for.

[aquilacalvitium]

who is this Nate?

Oh.

Oh, buddy.

Oh I get to talk about Natewantstobattle and you will regret this.

So! I'm not a NWTB expert so don't expect a full bulletpoint presentation BUT I can share my experience!

Natewantstobattle is a nerdcore turned original artist who made songs about video games, anime and cartoons for years and only recently (last year I think) decided to leave nerdcore behind and focus entirely on original music.

He's made some BANGER songs, has the voice of an angel and seems to have the same enthusiasm about dark/demonic fictional imagery as myself ^_^

He's made a lot of FNAF songs which is how I found him. His music got him noticed by Random Encounters (RE) who make small-budget indie musicals based on video games and decided to make a five-part special musical based on FNAF for which they reached out to get Nate involved. He appeared and sang as a prominent character in that musical as well as plenty of others that they made. Markiplier was also in that musical.

Nate is popular with a lot of Jacksepticeye and Markiplier fans as his content focuses on similar games, leading to the same people finding him. Because of that, the fans' habit of making characters or "egos" for youtubers from their videos also extended to Nate and honestly while I still listen to his music I haven't been active in the fandom for a while so I have no idea how many egos there are now, but I'm desperate to rejoin the fandom space and catch up!

Anyway, the egos I'm very well aware of are Natemare and Phantom.

Haha yeah, he kidnapped Matpat for that music video.

The video in question is for Mangled, a 2~ minute song based on FNAF 2. The character he portrayed was an instant hit with the fans and was subsequently dubbed "Natemare" as a play on nightmare.

Also in 2018 Nate released a limited edition Natemare shirt thus confirming the name as canon and also I have that shirt so cough cough.

Secondly, Phantom!

MAN I LOVE PHANTOM!

From a music video for a song of the same name.

As far as I'm aware there's practically no canonically confirmed information about him other than he makes deals and steals people's souls. That lead to a lot of fans calling him a demon, including myself.

It took me five years to put together a cosplay for Phantom because I couldn't find one part! You'd think it would be the staff, right? Impossible to find an exact replica, right? No. It was the bloody shirt. I couldn't find a single freaking long sleeve red button up shirt for YEARS. I've got it now, though.

His original albums so far include Sandcastle Kingdoms, Paid in Exposure and To Let Go. That one is actually currently coming out one song at a time on his YouTube channel and music streaming platforms. There's only two songs out at the moment and I think the plan was to release them slowly until they were all released by the time the album itself dropped, but it was announced last month that it's been brought forwards to the 18th! That's in FOUR DAYS!!!! The last song to come out was Forgotten on Tuesday which is the one you saw me blogging about. It slaps so fucking hard you have no idea.

If you want any personal recommendations for his music, my favourites of his original work are Phantom, Forgotten, All I See, Perfect by Design and Branded.

PIf you look up Phantom you may see it titled as a Hazbin Hotel song but actually it came out a good while before Hazbin Hotel did, he just realised how well the character of Phantom matched with Alastor from HH and released a remastered version with some of Alastor's voice lines over it.

My favourites of his nerdcore songs are Mangled, No More, Stay the Course, Time to Move on and Ask for More. That last one is about Food Wars. I don't even watch that show, that's just how good the song is.

Oh! As an addition that I almost forgot to talk about, he's also a voice actor! He's appeared in Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, he plays the main character in Luck and Logic and has appeared in multiple video games like Dream Daddy, Yandere Simulator and Monster Prom.

[ciaossu-imagines]

For day 17 of the event, I used the word ‘hands’ from prompt 8 for Gokudera from Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I really enjoyed thinking about this one and I hope any fans of the series will enjoy these small headcanons 😊

What ‘fandoms’ would the character belong to?

I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, but I really do believe that Gokudera is someone who is really into horror movies. While he loves the genre as a whole, I do believe he has favourite series and horror movie villains. He’s a big Freddie Krueger fan, is a fan of the Exorcist movie, the Insidious series, and for horror-based television shows, he’s a huge fan of Stan Against Evil for sillier things and From, American Horror Story, and Channel Zero for more serious horror television.

I do think Gokudera is someone who would have gotten really into Supernatural. He’s not only watched the series in its entirety at least twice, but owns all the seasons, as well as some merch.

Let’s get clear one of my strongest fandom headcanons for this boy. Gokudera? Huge Dungeons & Dragons nerd. He loves everything about the game, the different worlds, and he’s always dreamed of doing a campaign. Even before he gets to, he has at least a half-dozen potential characters drafted up and figured out. I do like to headcanon him getting into a D&D group, consisting of various characters (most definitely including Byakuran, Shoichi, and Julie) during high school. However, it’s always been a dream of his to have a campaign with his fellow Guardians, but that isn’t something that happens for many years, not until Lambo is a teenager and better able to handle the game, though the poor Dungeon Master has a hard time re-explaining the rules and guidelines to Lambo every damn session.

Gokudera also gets into other tabletop rpg’s, such as Call of Cthulhu.

I do think that Gokudera would be a huge fan of MonsterQuest and Destination Truth. He’s really always going to enjoy any documentary series or movies based around cryptids, urban legends, and things of that ilk. He really enjoyed Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, for its stories and he’d always try to guess and would keep track on how many he guessed correctly.

I do think Gokudera gets into podcasts. He has several Dungeons & Dragons podcasts he listens to, like Critical Role and Dungeons & Daddies. He also really enjoys podcasts like Lore and Welcome to Nightvale, along with some horror-based podcasts.

[fictionadventurer]

Hello

3,8,9,13,14,15,18,20,21,22,26,30,33,39,41,44,45,46,48,52,55,58,60, for the ask game !

(I recognize that i may have asked too many questions.....partly as an excuse to get more book recs!)

Okay, let's do this!

3. How many books have you read (this year) so far?

According to Goodreads, 77, but that counts a lot of short stories, novellas, and in one case, a serial story where each part counts as a single book.

8. A book you've always wanted to read but never got a chance?

Lots, but lately I've been thinking about how I've never gotten around to reading A Canticle for Leibowitz, despite being recommended it years ago.

9. A book you're never, ever gonna read?

Harry Potter.

13. A genre you aren't a fan of in particular?

Horror.

14. A genre you love?

One I've recently started to define as vintage fiction--cozy books that are old enough to be classics, but aren't high-brow enough or famous enough to be considered classic literature.

15. A reading habit you could get "canceled" for?

Leaving so many books unfinished for no good reason.

18. Recommend a book to the person who sent you this ask.

Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien--a very fun fairy tale fantasy he wrote for his kids.

20. A book series you can't wait to read.

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur feels like a fantasy book that should have a minimum of four other books already available for me to read, and the sequel can't come fast enough.

21. A book series you're never going to read.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

22. A celebrity's book rec that you loved?

Jo Walton enthusiastically recommended Desire by Una Silberrad and introduced me to a new favorite obscure author.

26. Your favourite reading position?

Sitting?

30. If you could have access to anybody's bookshelf, dead or alive, which person would you pick?

I am sticking Manalive on Steven Moffat's bookshelf so he will write the adaptation (and read the rest of Chesterton and become Catholic).

33. Do you annotate as you read or prefer not to?

Absolutely not. When I read a book, I want to read it with fresh eyes, as the person I am now, without the person that I was last time chattering in the margins.

39. Favourite book to movie/TV show adaptation?

The 1995 Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorite movies of all time.

41. If you could read the first draft of any one book, which book would you pick and why?

I'd like to read the original version of Black as Night by Regina Doman, which apparently had an entirely different plot before major rewrites.

44. Favourite book protagonist?

I can't pick one favorite! I'll just mention that Wilkie Collins has written some of my favorite female characters in Victorian fiction--Marian Halcombe in The Woman in White is one of my favorite characters ever, and I loved The Law and the Lady mostly because of how much I loved the narrator.

45. Favourite book villain?

One of the reasons Little Town on the Prairie is my favorite Little House books is because of how well Wilder presents Nellie Oleson and Miss Wilder as villains.

46. Favourite literary quote?

How am I supposed to pick one?

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go to Goodreads and find something that got highlighted in Kindle.

Okay, here's a quote I highlighted in Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell that I had completely forgotten about.

He was just the kind of man that all his neighbours found fault with, and all his neighbours liked.

48. If you could be a part of any story you've read, which book would you pick?

I'm just going to live in the cottagecore atmosphere of your average Elizabeth Goudge book.

52. Do you like audiobooks? If yes, which is your favourite audiobook?

I adore audiobooks!

Probably the coolest one I've ever listened to was the full-cast audio recording of Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, because it takes place in a world where people often sing in their day-to-day lives, and this audio version has the characters sing all the songs!

As far as ones that are readily available, my favorite is the Jim Dale version of Around the World in 80 Days. That man's range of voices is astounding!

On Librivox, Vanity Fair (Version 2) has the best Librivox narrator I've ever heard. Most of the time, I'm just happy if the narrator pronounces everything correctly, with bonus points if they have a fitting accent. This woman was doing multiple accents!

55. If you could have any book related job in the world (librarian, editor, publisher, writer, etc), what job would you pick?

Writer.

58. A book that emotionally wrecked you?

I wept through large portions of In a Far-Off Land by Stephanie Landsem.

60. Talk about books! Anything you like, maybe share some more recs<3

I've just started Codename Edelweiss by Stephanie Landsem, and I'm excited to try another book by the author, because I've heard even more good things about this one.

[duckprintspress]

Meet Aether Beyond the Binary Contributor ilgaksu

Wondering what Aether Beyond the Binary is and why you should care? It’s Duck Prints Press’s latest anthology, currently crowdfunding: 17 stories, modern aetherpunk settings, outside-the-binary main characters! Help us reach our funding goals by checking out the campaign now!

About ilgaksu: Full-time fandom cryptid, Furby enthusiast, and the human embodiment of that one gif of Elmo on fire, ilgaksu was born and raised in an  undisclosed location, living in several others, and now currently residing in [REDACTED]. Their interests include collecting haunted toys, using their artistic practice as an excuse to forget to do their laundry, and playing with fictional men like Bratz dolls. They have not unclenched their jaw yet today, but they do remember to drink lots of water. 

Link: personal webpage

This is ilgaksu’s first publication with Duck Prints Press.

An Interview with ilgaksu

What is your “dream project” – the thing you’d see as the culmination of your work as a creator?

I have a list of dream projects – a big queer space opera trilogy, a series of detective serials, I want to pastiche all of the genres I adored growing up – but I think I’m never going to find the culmination of my work. I’m going to have to make do with whatever I do while I’m alive, and other people can argue about that for me or something. The work is the work. It has to speak for itself without me defending it.

When you look at your “career” as a creator, what  achievement would you most like to reach – what, if it happened or has  already happened, would/did make you go “now – now I’m a success!”?

Does any writer actually get to the point where they fully believe they’re a success, and the feeling lasts forever? This is a genuine question. Where are they hiding? I want their advice.

What are your favorite snacks and/or drinks to consume while creating?

I have to have at least three emotional support beverages, and one of those will always be a form of iced coffee, then usually bubble tea, and then usually water. These are because I clearly run on three separate hydration systems. Snack-wise, I don’t tend to eat while I’m actually making things, but I like churros and loaded fries and ramen and salmon on bagels and, listen, I just really love food.

Describe your ideal creation space.

I like writing somewhere near a window, ideally when it’s raining outside, with three emotional support beverages and my favourite headphones and the very specific song that works as white noise in that moment on repeat. Possibly for the next five hours.

Do you like having background noise when you create? What do you listen to? Does it vary depending on the project, and if so, how?

I have to have background noise or I can’t focus to write, and it’s usually music with lyrics. I tend to have a mix of current songs I’m fixated on in a huge Everything playlist, and then I often have a smaller playlist for the project itself. Like I said before, I can also easily listen to the same song on repeat for as long as it takes to finish the necessary section, even if it that takes hours, because after a while I stop hearing the music itself – it functions as white noise.

Share five of your favorite books. (You can include why, if you want!)

Wolf Hall Trilogy (Hilary Mantel, technically 3 but)

The Dream Thieves (Maggie Stiefvater) 

Evensong’s Heir (L. S. Baird)  

Daughter of Fortune (Isabel Allende)  

The Magpie Lord (KJ Charles)

Share five of your favorite (blanks). 

Five favourite current bubble tea flavours: Earl Grey, Snow White, Rose, Lavender, Honeydew

If you could give one piece of advice to a new creator who came to you for help, what would that advice be?

You don’t want to write like me. 

That probably sounds incredibly arrogant, but let me explain: the most common thing I’ve had said to me by a new creator, or a fan of my work, is “I want to write like you.” And I get where people are coming from, and I get it’s from a place of admiration – which is very very flattering, of course – because early on in my writing career that used to be a desire that consumed me to. But my point is this. I realised that it was futile to want something like that, because I would never be that creator, with their experiences in life and reading that had informed how they view the world and filter it into their own work. Even if I tried to mimic it, and maybe if I managed it on a superficial level, it wouldn’t be animated by the same mind moving through it, and so I’d be doing us both a disservice. So, I no longer want to write like other people. I want to write more and more like myself. And because of that, I try and advise people to redirect how they’re verbalising that desire. What is it about my work, or anyone’s work, that speaks to you? What parts of it don’t work for you? What is it you want that’s similar – the assurance of their authorial voice, their breadth of lexis or grammar, the themes they focus, how they make you feel as a reader in that relationship with them through the text? Identify those things. Start from there, and think about who you are and take these little ingredients from everyone you’ve read and loved, and everything you love in the world outside writing. Do that instead. Not only will it help you identify more concretely the goals you’re working towards in your craft, but you deserve a voice as a writer that’s solely your own.

What would you say to a demoralized creator to inspire them?

The same thing I said earlier but reappropriated: nobody can write like you.

ilgaksu’s Contribution to Aether Beyond the Binary

Title: chameleon trick

Tags: be gay do crimes, be gay solve crimes, established relationship, heist, manchester, non-binary, past tense, present tense, suicidal ideation (mentions of), united kingdom, third person limited pov, trans man

Excerpt:

Sasha turns on him; gleeful, sparking with it. It’s less a dropping of a mask and more of a perfect, total illumination as they ask, “How did I do?”

You would think they were an amateur at this, looking at their borderline puppyish excitement. They even tilt their face up, less in expectation of a kiss and more in certainty of one. But they are both working. Martha has read the codes of conduct at this factory: no fraternisation during work hours. And so:

“I don’t have time for your praise kink right now,” Martha says, and sidesteps them.

End-of-post reminder: check out our campaign on Kickstarter! It ends January 25th – we’re about half-way done.

[bucktommyweek]

Resources for Writing

Hey everyone!

I am not necessarily the best person to ask about this but I have had a couple of conversations/asks about ao3, how it works, as well as asking for some tips if you're new to a fandom or to writing fan fiction as a whole.

I am not a great writer by any means but here are a few things I find essential and some resources/writeblr's I follow on here.

I also think fic should be as accessible to as many people as possible, just like books, so there are some tips on how to make your works more accessible.

These are also not requirements to participate in BuckTommyWeek, so please do not think that, or that I am trying to tell you what you must do to participate. These are simply tips I have found helpful over the years since learning how to to write.

- Paragraphs - 

It is better to have more paragraphs than it is to have less, especially to make your writing more accessibly paced for screen readers. Long paragraphs can make it hard to read.

Start a new paragraph when a different character is speaking. This will make it easier to discern who is saying what.

Start a new paragraph when there is a new topic/time change/event.

Start a new paragraph for dramatic effect.

Here is an example using one of my own fics.

Without paragraph breaks

In my example, we don't know that Chimney is the second voice until the word "replied" because the dialogue is squished together.

The second paragraph would be hard for some people to read but especially those with  a screen reader. The screen reader won't pause, so the pacing would be off for someone using one.

Here is an example from the same fic, only edited

We can now see with the paragraphs that the first voice (Tommy) and the second voice (Chimney) are different, even before we get to, "Chimney replied."

The paragraphs are also used for dramatic effect, in an attempt by me to help the reader understand that Buck is not only listening, but he is confused.

- Quotes -

Using quotations when someone is talking will help decipher speech from action or description. This also helps with accessibility.

Note: For anyone using Grammarly, it LOVES to remove opening quotations from the middle of paragraphs, it's done it to me so often I have tried to catch it but sometimes don't.

Example One: Sorry, I'm late, the fire was a beast Tommy said as he approached Buck from the doorway.

So are you replied Buck.

Example Two:

"Sorry I'm late, the fire was a beat," Tommy said as he approached Buck from the doorway.

"So are you," replied Buck.

- ao3 -

-Page Breaks for Accessibility -

This recommendation is mainly accessibility related and that is how you break up time jumps or scene changes within your fic when posting to AO3.

For accessibility with screen readers, what some people input as page breaks does not translate well.

This was something I didn't know until I was told but hyphens, often used as page breaks, get read aloud. It was something I never even thought of.

So if you have multiple hyphens, it will literally be read aloud repeatedly, depending on how many you have.

Example 1:

Buck pulled Tommy close, hand gripping his neck as they kissed.

---- will be read as, "hyphen hyphen hyphen hyphen," out loud.

Buck entered Chimney's hospital room ahead of Tommy.

AO3 has something that can fix this, but it does involve switching from HTML to Rich Text mode.

Example 2:

Click on Rich Text after you have copied your work in, or copy it into Rich Text mode in the first place

2. Click on the line button and a line will be inserted. This will be read as a break by a screen reader.

As far as ao3 goes, I use their own FAQ page whenever I'm looking for help on the site.

I will however show you my personal favourite part of ao3.

This button lets people know you liked their fic:

This button lets you save the fic to your ao3 account, AND you can make it private OR you can make it a Rec.

This will help other people find the fic, and you can make notes. However please note that the writer can see what you say there. I've never personally had any terrible bookmarks, but there have been some that kind of sucked, if I'm honest.

The most important section of ao3 for me as a creator, and many other creators is this.

I know comments can be intimidating, but a simple heart emoji, an "I loved this," or "This part was my fave," can really make a creator's day.

It can inspire them to write more, and to know that they are not just yelling into the void.

This got really long-winded so I do apologize but I hope I helped in some way.

-

Some writeblr's I follow myself to help with my writing: @fixyourwritinghabits @novlr @heywriters @wordsnstuff @handywritingresources

I also have my own writeblr which is under utilized for sure @projectwriteherewritenow

If you've read this far, thanks! If you have any questions asks are open or you can hit me up @evan-privileges (formerly alilypea)

Late tip: Don't use the word JUST much as I do. Dang lol.

[leedee013]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 ILU have fun!!!!

AFTG ask game

I LOVE YOU TOO MWAH

all my answers are going to be under the "read more" because hoo boy.

When did you first read aftg?

I first read AFTG by listening to the first audiobook while riding around the bus and trains in Germany, then Seth died, I immediately needed to finish the series, and then I read the entire series in less than 48 hours rifp.

2. All For The Game or The Sunshine Court?

All For the Game. The Sunshine Court is about my son, Jean, but also... because he's my son I have a lot of points where I simply like what I wrote better! and a fair number of complaints with TSC, since a lot of the way Jean's trauma rears its head is far less realistic than how Neil's trauma rears its head.

3. Favourite scene(s)?

I won't lie, one of my favorite scenes is when Neil gets back from his father's home and the Foxes all sleep on the floor together. I'm a huge sucker for found family and hurt/comfort and MAN that scene ticked off all my boxes. It's the one that I'll actually go back every now and then to reread. Wymack's joke about "Wesninski" and that feeling of finally having a family gets to me literally every time. And blah blah yeah I also really love the mentality of Andrew dragging Wymack behind him as he crashes through everything just so he can get back to Neil's side.

4. If you could choose to make one fictional place from the books real, which one?

That place they go to when they get ice cream/milkshakes before going to Eden's Twilight! It sounds amazing

5. A character you think deserves to be more present in the books?

Hngh this is difficult because I do believe that, at least as far as AFTG goes (aka excluding TSC) the characters are all as present as they need to be. Neil is very tunnel-visioned, and I think that it's a solid amount of screentime for each character, so to say. Like my first thought was Seth, but it wouldn't have fit Neil's character for Seth to haunt him at all. Therefore, I think overall I'd liked to have seen more of Jean for purely selfish reasons. Also more Renee!

6. A non-canon ship you love?

Jean/Renee, Jean/Jeremy, Jean/Kevin, Renee/Riko, and then any mix and match of those characters in throuples/quoples/poly ships! I'm also a big fan of Dan/Renee because woooo enemies to lovers?

7. A part of the extra content you whole-heartedly agree with

Andreil never say "I love you" or get married. Also that Dan gets to take over the Foxes when Wymack retires. Also Sir and King but like. Who doesn't agree with that.

8. A crackship/crackships you've come to love

Rinee (Riko/Renee), I adore it so much okay. I love the healing energy of it all and also the way that Renee attracts the most strange and unhinged people to her.

9. Underrated aftg fanartist / fic writer (tag them!)(link if they're not on tumblr)

well obviously @capcavan @jtl-fics and @emry-stars-art can never be OVERrated. But I think the true underrated AFTG fanartist is @noomyart <3

10. A villain you think is fucking hot

well. uh. villain I guess would be Nathan. Antagonist? Riko

11. A side character you love and/or appreciate

NICKY, I love him so much. Also Renee. And Dan. And Matt. I'm so mad I can't just say Jean anymore since he's not really a side character anymore GAH

12. Favourite narrative foil?

I adore the Riko/Neil narrative foil. Both the sons that were not wanted, both having their lives attached to Exy and using it as a way to solidify their freedom/independence, while Neil had someone who tried to save him and Riko could only ever try to save himself.

13. Favourite narrative symbolism?

In general my favorite narrative symbolism are the keys; how they unlock opportunities for Neil; how they are signs of trust that others put in him; how they are something I don't think he ever thought he'd have (solidity/a home). I also love how much symbolism they hold for him, as well.

14. A character you would actually get along with in real life

Nicky (we'd bond over escaping our parents by running to Germany and using each other as an excuse to practice German) or Matt (because he's chill he's fun and he reminds me a lot of some of my actual friends from college).

15. A character you love but would deck in real life

Neil lmao

16. How did you even get here?? How did you discover AFTG?

I was browsing the Banana Fish tag and saw a post that was like "hey! do you wish that you had a series that was everything you loved about Banana Fish but with way more of Eiji pole-vaulting? then you should check out All for the Game for its mafia-infused sports anime vibes! and huzzah I haven't gotten off the hook yet

17. Would you play exy?

I feel like I'd be pretty good at it if I'd put my mind to it. It seems like fun and also I'm a bit of a masochist so I think the rougher plays would be really fun!

18. A fancast you will never let go of

Tbh I don't really have a fancast for any of the characters

19. A fancast you love that is super silly

I did see a guy the other day who made me double take and go KEVIN???? in my head if that counts

20. Which character would be the last to die in a actual zombie apocalypse?

Probably Renee tbh because she's unsuspecting, can broker peace between people who are fighting, and has absolutely no issue wielding and using knives in fights.

21. Would andrew minyard have beef with you?

Idk I feel like we'd vibe really well but wouldn't necessarily be close. He might get annoyed at how go-with-the-flow I am, though

22. Hyperspecific aro and or ace kevin headcanon?

I enjoy these headcanons and seeing people write them but I personally don't ever write him as either aro or ace. All the power to those who do though <3

23. Something you are very sure will happen in TSC2

Trojans win and 2. Jean meets the Foxes again before/after a game and it's emotional

24. Nicky or Allison? (Character wise and personality wise seperate)

I'm biased but Nicky. I relate way too hard to his story to not be biased here. But also I relate heavily to Allison and love her as well. I think she's also a lot more underappreciated out of the two, and gets a lot of unfair hate.

25. You're now only allowed to ship Kevin with one person (1) who is it?

man you're really out here discriminating against me and my poly ship here /t, but if it's only one person then I'd say Jean because again, I'm biased.

26. A 2000s song any one/ship/group of character would listen to

I feel like Andrew would secretly adore Lady Gaga's Poker Face and know all the lyrics even if he'd never sing along.

27. A detail or element from an older draft you would've loved to see in the final draft

LMAO so. I'm personally a fan of the version where Riko shot Kevin because Neil dodged/Kevin dove in front of him. I don't think I would have swapped the ending that we got for it instead, but I did think that it would have been an interesting change.

Also Riko and Kevin with longer hair

28. If you had to kill a fox. (Seth doesnt count.)

Aaron, because oh boy that poor medical student is probably already begging for some anvil to drop on him from the heavens

Question 29 for jean! Name a favorite Jean dialogue/quote

All of them because Jean is my favorite but also I think I'm going to go with "I will endure. I will endure. I will endure" because it's the first one I found while flipping through my copy of TSC and skimming for lines I thought were powerful. A classic is "Did a week away from the court damage your ball-battered brain?" (TSC 24), though. And then of course, as a Jeanee fan, the entire conversation between Jean and Renee on pages 68-69 where they talk about finding the joy in small things in life and taking a chance on himself and and

anyway hello thank you for coming to my TED talk