#maybe one of my favorite moments so far of book Louis

[r0bbers02]

probably one of the funniest things book Louis has said

He is so down bad for lestat even after all those years it's hilarious, like dude, it's been quite a while since you and Claudia "finished" him and you are talking like this about him sjsjshshs

[mermaidsirennikita]

So You'd Like to Fuck a Villain: Romance Novel Recommendations

Have you gotten caught up in a villain ship? Are you, perhaps, what might be called a villainfucker?

The issue with stanning for villains and wanting them to have romantic love and happiness and possibly group sex, is that they often don't. At least, not onscreen. Some of the most popular romantic ships, obviously, have been villain ships--Reylo spawned a wave of romance novelists (though, I might add, many do not actually write villain-centric romance novels, which is fine), Darklina powered no small part of Shadow and Bone's publishing success... and let's be real, the success of the soon-to-be-ill-fated-from-what-I'm-hearing TV show. On a darker level, Interview with the Vampire took off in no small part because people love the tainted love that is Louis and Lestat, where maybe? They're both villains? (Definitely more Lestat, but you know.)

You know what the great thing about a romance novel is? The villain has to get a happy ending. They just must. It's a rule. If a villain is a lead, the HEA is guaranteed (rhymes), or it's not a romance novel.

So, for Cupid's birthday, I'm recommending some of my favorite villainfucking romance novels. I just think that we deserve it.

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Wicked Villains by Katee Robert.

As you might guess, this series is in fact about villains getting their happy ending, full stop. And it does so by adapting Disney villain ships and placing them in a contemporary setting full of organized crime, sex clubs, and deals gone wrong. It is fun, it is campy, and it is very, very sexy. Check the trigger warnings (which Robert typically lists for each book on her website)--some of these do feature heavy BDSM and CNC.

The diversity of the pairings is so appreciated--while my favorite thus far is the first, Desperate Measures (Jafar/Jasmine with a mob wife "you killed my father" spin, for those curious) you get several triads (Hades/Hercules/Meg, Beast/Gaston/Belle, Ursula/Ariel/Eric, to name a few) and the ever-coveted sapphic Maleficent/Aurora moment. I don't think there's a straight person in this collection of characters. Contemporary romance can be a hard sell for me, especially in terms of villainy... But these are just a ride.

HISTORICAL ROMANCE

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas.

Obviously, if you haven't read Devil in Winter yet, you need to read Devil in Winter. It's a classic--not just of historical romance, but romance in general. Though, pro-tip: I would recommend reading the preceding It Happened One Autumn first, as that's where the villainy takes place. Devil in Winter is about a recovering villain--a rake who did a very, very bad thing (kidnapping his best friend's lady love) simply because he did not want to get a job. I mean.....

Sebastian St. Vincent is a soft touch villain, and not just because he's super good at touching. You know he's going to roll over and beg for it with his seemingly-gentle, secretly-iron-willed heroine; but it's watching him get there that's so fun. His bark is worse than his bite, but he does deliver quite a bark (and quite a bite). If you like 'em snarky and slutty, read this book.

Duke of Sin by Elizabeth Hoyt.

If you like a blond villain who seems better at lounging about than doing manual labor, Valentine Napier takes what St. Vincent was doing to another level of insanity. St. Vincent is sane; Valentine is not, and he's a lot less fun about his kidnappings. Fortunately, his heroine (dispatched to spy on and steal from him) does not take any shit.

This is a book for those who like them loony, because I really don't think Valentine reforms in the least. He just falls in love, all while running around naked in bedazzled, open robes and brandishing a knife. At least he's good in bed and keeps giant, nude portraits of himself in his own house. Keep in mind that this book does delve into some pretty massive childhood trauma, including all kinds of abuse.

Villain I'd Like to F...

This anthology of novellas delves into five stories of historical romance villainy, by five great authors. I'm going to list each novella and its author, as these collections typically disband after a period of time, allowing the authors to sell the novellas individually (though you often can find the collections in online libraries like Libby). In the brackets!

[ Lady Viper and the Bastard by Eva Leigh.

Do you enjoy Dangerous Liaisons? Try this delightfully sexy Georgian-era novella about a widowed vamp and an illegitimate libertine, teaming up to break apart two young lovers (for a price). Except what happens when these two assholes start to catch feelings? Notable in that these characters are in their forties, know themselves, and do engage in some fun role-playing.

Seven Sinful Nights by Nicola Davidson.

Our young-but-ready widowed heroine is toiling in the service of her dickish in-laws... Until the owner of the local gambling hell (who isn't above murder and torture, and does enjoy dominating a bit) shows up demanding payment for her brother-in-law's debts. Those who love an innocent heroine lured by the darkness will love this one, a she very much goes willingly to her "doom" of being his mistress for a week, and loves every minute of it. It's sexy, it's sweet, she also loves a torture moment, there's some exhibitionism.

The Gangster's Prize by Joanna Shupe.

A Gilded Age gangster is thrown off balance by the young woman who comes to him demanding help in finding her missing father. But wait... who's in his dungeon as we speak? Could it be? Her dad? Joanna doesn't pull her punches here, and it's delightfully wacky. Watching our hapless villain hero be like "uhh, what screams from the dungeon" while our heroine looks for her father... who he has captive.. is hilarious.

The Bootlegger's Bounty by Adriana Herrera.

Did someone say sort-of pirates? Our heroine is a nightclub singer, and she books passage to New York with a dangerous rum runner. There's a lot of sex in this one, and--delightfully--a triad, as there happens to be a young gentleman who catches the eye of both our singer and our rum runner...

The Conquering of Tate the Pious by Sierra Simone.

Hedonistic nuns? A Norman invader (in more ways than one) who turns out to be a lady conqueror? As in, a conqueror who is a lady and conquers ladies? I think yes. Our proud abbess Tate is ready to stand up to the Wolf, but what happens when the Wolf is very sexy and cruel in the best possible way? ]

The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe.

If there's one thing Joanna Shupe loves, it's a hero (or a villain turned hero) who hates your dad. This book opens with our casino-owning hero beating the shit out of someone, and when he meets the headstrong spoiled rich girl who wants to open a casino for ladies and needs mentorship... He takes her up on it. All while planning to take down her father (as revenge!!!).

While Clay isn't a super hardcore bad guy, he is pretty violent and pretty diabolical. What makes this book is, of course, his dynamic with Florence, and her defiance of norms that quickly has him completely besotted. This book has a very good grovel, and it should. Does anyone deserve Florence?

... and after reading this one, you can mosey over to Shupe's next book, The Devil of Downtown, in which a bad, bad gangster gets his ass emotionally kicked by Florence's goody goody angelic sister.

The Dragon and The Pearl by Jeannie Lin.

This is another one that benefits from reading its previous book, Butterfly Swords, first. In that novel we're introduced to the treacherous warlord our heroine is fleeing--Li Tao. Lin doesn't shy away from his intimidation factor: he even gets into a sword fight (that turns into an outright brawl, lmao) with the hero. In this novel, Li Tao gets full focus, kidnapping a former emperor's concubine to get information out of her.

What follows is a match of wits that gradually gives way to two manipulative, emotionally closed off people falling madly in love with each other while being unable to say it. Li Tao is a cold, seemingly-unfeeling villain-as-hero, and he really pushes how far he's willing to go to reach his end goals in this book. Also, there's a sex deal. If that matters to you.

Daring and The Duke by Sarah MacLean.

Again, one that does in fact benefit from reading the two preceding books, Wicked and The Wallflower and Brazen and The Beast (fortunately, they're both good!). Ewan, our titular duke, is the villain of both--and he is completely batshit insane in his pursuit of his childhood sweetheart, Grace. Who, for reasons relating to villainy, wants absolutely nothing to do with him.

This is a book-long grovel the way Sarah MacLean does it best--with abject shame and humiliation. Ewan is put through the ringer: and he should be, because he did a really bad thing! And was legitimately a nutjob of a villain! But that's what makes it so, so good.

PARANORMAL/FANTASY ROMANCE

The Four Horsemen by Laura Thalassa.

This series has the rather bold take of "what if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Fucked". Starting with Pestilence, bleeding into War and Famine, and ending with Death, this series is a bit bonkers. But it doesn't let up on the extent of the villainous heroes' determination to lay waste to the world. There is a lot of gore. There is a lot of moral ambiguity.

But it's also legitimately funny. Pestilence discovers the joys of a bathtub. Death receives his first blowjob and is like "I don't know, maybe the apocalypse is bad". It's campy, and it's fun, and it leans the fuck in to the concept. I would recommend reading these in order, as the love stories stand alone but the overall arc leads to a big finish (and there are lots of finishes in between, if you know what I'm say--)

The Tenebris Trilogy by Kathryn Ann Kingsley.

If you're interested in the occult and some Lovecraftian vibes set in a pseudo-1920s world, this is it. Our heroine is on the search for her brother, and who is to assist but his stuffy-hot professor who happens to be a cult leader and has perhaps merged his body with that of a Cthulu monster?

What's interesting about this series (which cannot be read as standalones, and must be read in order) is that our hero is legitimately loony tunes, and our heroine is into it. She falls in love with him and his monsters, and that does... extend to the physical. (Tentacles, everyone! Shadow tentacles! Think Venom.) I will add that there's a lovely secondary romance with a trans heroine (with a hero that's not a villain) and it is excellent, but at one point an antagonist is transphobic towards her. An attempted off-page forced detransition occurs. The main heroine is totally supportive of the secondary heroine and stops it, but read with caution.

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole.

This rare villainess/hero romance sees a sorceress heroine take a deposed demon king captive to coerce him into impregnating her so that she can bear his heir (all for villainous purposes, of course). Yes. So this book is heavy on the dubcon--lots of edging, lots of people chained to beds--but to be frank? He is into it. We have a stern, morally upright hero being driven to the brink by the baddest of bad girls, and it's great.

This book is a bit controversial because of the content, and I do recommend checking out my IAD Cheat Sheet before reading for a full list of triggers/details about the world of Immortals After Dark. But it reads fairly well on its own, and I personally adore it. The sex is hot, the romance is angsty, he gets back at her in every possible way, and it's so fun to see a villainess take center stage and bring out the dark side of such a noble hero.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole.

Here, we focus on an immortal valkyrie heroine who's had centuries of near-misses with her would-be Berserker love--every time she kisses him, he remembers his past lives with her and promptly dies in increasingly gruesome ways. He's always be good and loving to her... which is why she's so shocked when he returns to her, this time in the form of an immortal-hating torturer who's taken her captive.

This one is dark--yes, he does torture her (not that badly, but there are other scenes of torture at the hands of different villains which are... bad). But if you can hang in there, I think you'll find a very compelling romance with a legitimately troubled, intense hero and a woman he can't get out of his head. There's also a very, very good bathtub scene that turns into "let me blindfold you so you can't see my hideous scars".

Lothaire by Kresley Cole.

The villain romance to end all villain romances (best read after Dreams, so you get the one-two punch of a pair of very different villainous heroes). What happens when you mix a 3,000-year-old megalomaniacal vampire with a 24-year-old whip-smart human woman he believes houses the soul of the goddess he's supposed to wed? A fucking ride, and possibly my favorite romance ever, that's what.

Lothaire goes HARD. It goes hard on the villainy (this is a story of a villain falling in love, not a villain finding redemption), it goes hard on the sex (with possibly one of the most infamous sex scenes in romance, and I love every word of it), and it goes hard on the angst. As much as Lothaire fucks with Ellie's head and is determined to deny his love for her, she's determined to one-up on him and will never, ever break. I think this book is always best summed up in a scene early on where he kisses her, bites her lip, and draws back, smugly expecting horror--only to find her grinning through the blood and pulling him in for another kiss. Tell me that isn't villain romance perfection.

Sworn to the Shadow God by Ruby Dixon.

Not so much a super hard villain romance as it is a "falling in love with Death himself" book, this wacky romance finds our gamer girl heroine falling through a portal to another land and... yes, sworn as the mortal companion of the God of Death as he attempts to complete a trial set before him by the father god. It is funny, it is sexy, it's adventurous, and it is for the Reylos.

You think I'm joking. No. He is very clearly modeled after Kylo Ren, and he sweeps around in dark cloaks and emo smashes about being the God of the Death, and it is glorious. He's less bad than he is detached and uncaring, but, you know... Death. By the end of the book, though? He cares very much about one particular person.

Look, man. Check your triggers always, especially with romance novels about villains. These won't work for everyone. But I imagine... if you like a villain... some of these are for you.

[ironwoman359]

Taylor Reads - July WrapUp

So I have a spreadsheet where I keep track of all the books I read each year, and I also keep a scrapbook style reading journal where each month has a spread of all the books I read that month, and I'm going to start putting my wrap ups here on tumblr, because I can :3

I had a unexpectedly fruitful reading month in July; I only read three books in June, but the League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk comic here on tumblr made me want to read some classic victorian sci-fi, which pulled me out of my reading slump and got the ball rolling on some of my reading goals.

Here's everything I read in a glance, and beneath the cut is a little blurb review for each book!

The Black God's Drums by P. Djeli Clark - 4/5 Stars This is a fantasy novella set in a post Civil War alternate history steampunk New Orleans featuring street urchins and sky pirates. Need I say more? P. Djeli Clark became an auto-read author for me after I read Ring Shout, and while this didn't have quite the punch of that story, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells - 3.5/5 Stars My first classic of the month, I went back and forth on whether to rate this book 3 or 3.5 stars (I think it's rated 3 on my storygraph, actually), because while there were parts that were slow/boring to read, some of the prose was very memorable, and the ending was excellent. I find Dracula to be a bit more readable, but if you're interested in these early sci-fi classics, I still definitely recommend it.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - 2.5/5 Stars This book, on the other hand, I found mostly frustrating. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more in a serialized fashion similar to Dracula Daily, because the long descriptions of travel to a place where nothing much happens and lists of fish and mollusk species that our main character saw quickly became boring. These moments were interspersed with genuinely interesting character moments and scenes of adventure, but reading the whole book in one week really detracted the impact of those scenes for me. Maybe read an abridged version if you're interested in the story but have more trouble with older books.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - 4.5/5 Stars This was by far my favorite of the classic sci-fi (or would this be classic horror?) books that I read this month. The book is presented as a mystery that, as a modern reader, it's hard not to know the twist to, but even then, the execution keeps you engaged the entire time. This is by far the most readable of the classics I read this month as well, and is also very short, so there's nothing holding you as a modern reader back from checking this one out! I dinged it half a star because I found the ending to be a bit abrupt and unsatisfying; I wish we'd gotten to see our pov character react to the final explanations and truths instead of him just vanishing from the story. But still, this was very very good!

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron - 4/5 Stars Do you want a sapphic YA fairy tale retelling where our black lesbian protagonist decides to attempt to single-handedly overthrow the patriarchy? Yes, yes you do. While not a perfect five stars, this book still felt absolutely tailor made to my specific tastes, and if I had been a teen myself when it came out I probably would have been obsessed with it. Kalynn Bayron just had a snow white retelling come out last month and if it's anything like this then I need it in my hands yesterday.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells - 3/5 Stars Reading the book that is credited for popularizing the idea of a time machine as an avid fan of time travel stories today was an interesting experience. I have a few more books of his on my tbr to go before I can make a final judgement, but I'm not sure if Wells's writing style is really connecting with me. I found this to be a little more readable line by line than The Invisible Man, but there were more striking character moments in that book than in this one. Still, seeing the arguable origin of one of my favorite sci-fi subgenres was very cool.

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer - 2/5 Stars I started writing a stand alone review for this book and it's already over one thousand words long. It seems I always have more to say about a book that I thought was bad than a book I thought was good. Suffice it to say, this book had a good premise (if you're into that sort of thing) but it needed several more rounds of editing. It felt like I was reading an unpolished manuscript that had been sent out on submission, not a finished product that I paid money for. Very disappointing.

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson - 4.5/5 Stars There's not much you can say about this book on its own, as it's the third book in a trilogy, but suffice it to say it was a perfect ending to said trilogy. I have so much love for these characters and this world, and I can't wait to start reading era 2!...after I start Stormlight. And Warbreaker. Why am I trying to read the entire cosmere before Wind and Truth comes out why is this my life-

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan - 4/5 Stars So this is a book that I started on audio back at the end of May, and for whatever reason I listened to the first 60% or so in a few days and then just...stopped. Had no desire to pick it back up, not because it wasn't good, it was, it was really good, I just had some kind of mental block on it for some reason. Then in a burst of inspiration after finishing the Hero of Ages a few days ago, I put the book back on and listened to another hour of it, then finished the rest on ebook during a slow couple hours at work. Again, not much to say about this if you haven't read the first book, She Who Became the Sun, but I highly recommend this duology, it's incredibly written, queer as hell, and the ending was extremely satisfying.

Abeni's Song by P. Djeli Clark - 5/5 Stars Beginning the month where we started it with P. Djeli Clark, this time with his middle grade debut! I love middle grade books, I usually read at least one per month if not more, and this was an absolutely stellar example of the genre. A great coming of age story based on West African mythology with lovable characters and the type of plot that will keep even adults hooked, I highly recommend this and can't wait to read the sequel when it comes out next year!

[our-detective-so-supreme]

For the ask game

19), 9), 38) and 14)

Thanks for the ask! :D

19) Which is the funniest moment in the series?

Moran in the anime version of the Phantom of Whitechapel arc, specifically at the start and end. I can't help but crack up when he calls Louis a "traitor". 'Cause it's like? How??? XD

To clarify: I know what he was getting at in that scene, but I can't help but laugh at him! At least he comes around later.

Then at the end when Jack joins the team, again, idk what Moran was so worked up about, but it's just so hysterical! Especially his "Huh?!" in the dub!

9) Sexiest character

Just one?

Well, Moran is basically 75% of the series' fanservice; I mean, look at those muscles! Well, actually most of the guys are ripped-

Then of course, there's William with his infamous line that sends chills up my spine every time!

I don't think I can choose just one; I could so easily measure them on a scale of cute to sexy, however! (I'll have to do that for a separate post, though; these answers are getting kinda long-)

38) Do you read or watch any other adaptations of Sherlock Holmes?

As a matter of fact, I do! :)

The Granada TV series is one that I'll always recommend; it was actually what got me to read the canon again! The attention to detail and faithfulness to the source material are things I never get tired of. There is a reason subsequent adaptations pay homage to the late Jeremy Brett; he was literally born for the role. (Heck, he was even Jean Doyle's headcanon Sherlock)

And while I'm currently taking a break from it (very long story), the Hayao Miyazaki & Kyosuke Mikuriya collab that is Meitantei Holmes (known in English as Sherlock Hound) is another great anime based on Sherlock Holmes. It has many of the traits typical of the Ghibli movies. Need I say more? Also, that version of Moriarty is essentially inB4 Waluigi.

The Great Mouse Detective (the children's books, not the Disney film, though it's good too) is another series I've enjoyed so far, even though I've only covered three of the eight books so far. I look forward to continuing when I get the chance!

Much like YuuMori, these three are also really great introductions to the canon, or just enjoyable on their own.

I've seen others, too, but I don't think I can really recommend them as much. Maybe I should make a tier list one of these days!

14) What is your favorite quote or scene?

The scene in The Final Problem arc where Fred tells William there's really no reason for him to die had an impact on me.

Because aside from it being absolutely true, it's also the first time Fred speaks up without so much as a nudge from anyone else. That was all on his own accord. And if he does finally get a backstory in Part 2 (please Miyoshi-sensei!) , it will only add more to his speech later on. Though even without a backstory, it still tells us how much William means to Fred (and the others as well, obviously).

[old-long-john]

I having a real Sam brain takeover in the last 30 or so hours, just with everything, and the song about Louis is making me so excited for what he and Jacob could do in the next season, so:

What are your favorite acting moments from Sam and Jacob in the show? Could be from just the second season or from both seasons, up to you (I'm curious about your favorite acting moments from other people too, the whole cast is great, but that feels like too big a question lol)

GOD OK SO

I've had 3 insane days of iwtv and Raleigh Ritchie madness and I'm so tired right now, but I want to answer this finally! I know whichever moments I choose I'll hit post and then suddenly remember 10 others that I should've included, but what a gift to have actors who are that talented.

I'll try to keep it to top 3 moments for each of them, over both seasons, under the cut because I witter:

For Sam:

The story of his turning by Magnus. I think Sam's just extraordinary in that scene. The layers of performance, the fact that Lestat is giving them both something raw and real, the fact that you can see that it’s not a relief, it carves a piece out of him to say it out loud, the fact that you can see the moment he puts the wall back up again when he says 'but I have a capacity for enduring', the fact that he does use it as an opportunity to disarm Louis and to try to excuse the inexcusible ('it's why I don't particularly like being abandoned'). It's just such a stand out moment from the version of Lestat we see in most of S1. And also Sam said that he put in the line 'I didn't want this', because he thought it was important that the audience heard him say that, and I think it's vital to the scene working as completely as it does.

From S2 it has to be the moment in the trial when he finally takes accountability for what he did by dropping Louis from the sky. Every second of that speech is just perfection. And the expression on his face when he's poured his heart out and finally said that he's sorry and Louis just looks away, because there can't be forgiveness for that, not ever but especially not in that moment, just wrecks me. He fucked everything up so badly and I think Sam shows us that he's really truly beginning to reckon with that and with the awful consequences of his being a shitty maker and husband. Reckoning with being a shitty father unfortunately doesn’t come until far too late.

I'm trying to go for something less obvious than the reunion scene, which I love so much. I think maybe my 3rd favourite Sam acting moment is the two performances cut together between the trial and the retold version of Claudia's turning. The subtle horror of it, the way he seemed genuinely unnerved by Louis' mania, the regret on his face as he's recalling it, the regret on his face before he's even done it, the way he's still oscillating between performance and true feeling in the telling, the moment of insane dark comedy when he says 'and you have to drain her first Louis'. That scene was honestly the most shocking part of ep 7 for me.

(also, the 'tickets please' scene because jesus christ)

For Jacob:

I mean it's the whole show, really. He's just transcendent. But one moment that I really love, just for the extreme contrast it shows between past and present Louis, is when early in S1 he pushes back against Daniel's (fair!) point about his total rewrite of the way he talks about Lestat by reading from Daniel's autobiography. He's so otherworldly and alien in that moment, so detached from humanity somehow in his mannerisms when he picks up the book and leafs through it for the right page. And then flexing his powers by setting the tapes on fire in the bin. He's at his most cooly vampiric because Daniel's picking at a real emotional vulnerability, and the way Jacob plays it is so fascinating to watch.

In S2 I LOVE when Louis gets nasty. Especially when he makes Daniel tell him what Alice said when he finally asked her to marry him. What Lestat said during the trial was kinda true: 'Louis was deceptively agile with words. A trenchant form of verbal amusement.' That man knows how to slit someone open with just the right turn of phrase and I love to see him do it. The glee in his eyes when Louis laughs at Daniel saying 'she said no' is just everything. Like, my god dude, I know he was asking for it but jesus. I also just love that Jacob was scared we wouldn't like Louis any more after S2, as if we weren't all gonna love him even more for all his fucked up complexity.

And my 3rd favourite Jacob acting moment is the Loumand fight in 2x05, because holy fucking shit. Everything I said above times a thousand. The 'does he wanna lick my boots' tongue out, the getting right up in Armand's face, the gleeful savagery, the speed with which he crumbles when Armand brings Claudia into it. I think it's one of my favourite performances by any actor in anything ever (and Assad absolutely meets him at the exact same level).

Since you mentioned the others, I'll also say shout out to Delainey for every second she was on screen but especially 'now I know what two blood-fat cocks slapping hands feels like', because I lost my entire fucking mind at the way she delivered that line.

[cbrownjc]

Hope you are well! Which is your favorite episode and why?

Hey! I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. :-)

My favorite episode? It flips between EP6 and EP7. At the moment, EP7 edges it out simply because there was so much meat - and foreshadowing - to unpack with it, even now. And its construct. And the layers.

Lestat and Louis on the balcony before the final dance was just mesmerizing. It's not the only scene in the show to feel theatrical in its presentation to me, but it's one of the top ones. What Lestat says in that scene isn't direct dialogue from the book, so much as a stream-of-consciousness thought which you think maybe shouldn't work when delivered as a monologue in live action, but it does. And to think they almost cut the scene out is insane to me.

And then, the ballroom dance. Most romantic moment in the show (so far) IMO. I still get kinda breathless watching it.

And can I mention the music? The reuse/remix of "Come to Me" during the dance? Perfection.

And you know, maybe using the first movement of "Moonlight Sonata" in the episode was a bit on the nose (using a classical piece that is widely said to be inspired by an opera about, and particularly the death scene of, another libertine character, Don Giovanni), but it was still effective IMO. I particularly loved its use in the final scene when Daniel first begins to break apart Louis' narrative ("where does the trash go Louis?") Even after watching the episode way more than once, it still gives me a little thrill when it starts up. (BTW, the only reason I know this little random fact about "Moonlight Sonata" is that it was the first full classical piano piece I ever learned to play years ago. I know many things about classical music, but my opera knowledge, in contrast, is very sparse.)

And I've talked before about the upending of the whole narrative of the season when it comes to the final moments of Daniel breaking through Louis' carefully constructive narrative and revealing its unreliability. From Rashomon to The Usual Suspects, it's not rare to see this kind of thing done in films or even theater, but it is rare for TV. And this show didn't just do it for a single, stand-alone episode, it did it in regards to the whole season.

And while EP6 had the whole Magnus monologue, the train scene, and the 1970s flashback, EP7 was stronger in hitting its points and setting up tension than EP6 IMO. Given that it was the season finale, it makes sense, of course, that it would be.

So yeah, at the moment, it all goes to EP7 as my favorite right now. And I'm not someone who will usually pick season finale episodes as my favorites, but this one just did it for me.

[shadowsong26x]

AMC's Interview With A Vampire for the TV series ask!

my all-time ultimate fave character: My precious murder kitten Armand. He's been my favorite since the books and the show did not change that.

a character I didn’t used to like but now do: ...hm. I guess you could say Louis? This is the first version of him I haven't been...like, generally I find Louis kind of boring lol. This version, I don't. I also like the way they fleshed Santiago out here.

a character I used to like but now don’t: Hm. I'm...I actually don't think my opinions on most of the characters have shifted across this adaptation? I guess I'm a little less fond of this Lestat than I have been of other versions, but not by much?

a character I’m indifferent about: I guess Madeleine?

a character who deserved better: So this is a complicated answer but I think I have to go with Claudia. Both for the obvious narrative reasons, but also...like obviously no live-action adaptation is going to make her six the way she is in the books, and I recognize that the show had to age her up for practical reasons (had to cast someone at least 18, could only age her down so far), but I do think her story loses something when she's older than 10/11 (as she was in the 1994 film and the stage musical). Also I'm still mad about the stuff with Killer in S1, I think that was gratuitous.

a ship I’ve never been able to get into: Don't think there are any that have shown up onscreen so far. I mean, I'm generally pretty neutral on Louis/Armand in any version, but in an Ambivalent way rather than in a Not Interested way, if that makes sense?

a ship I’ve never been able to get over: Armand and Daniel. I'm looking forward to them actually having a chance in this version lol.

a cute, low-key ship: A low-key ship? In this fandom?! Lol.

an unpopular ship but I still enjoyed it: I honestly don't know what the unpopular ships in this fandom are lol.

a ship that was totally wrong and never should have happened: The one that comes to mind is books-only and also I'm not...100% sure it counts as a ship? The stuff that goes down with Sybelle is. Weird. Anyway, given where they're going with Daniel and Armand in this adaptation, I'm hoping we can skip all that. And maybe fix some of the issues with Benji (see, aging him up from twelve would make sense but that's a separate conversation and like. Several seasons down the line lol).

my favourite storyline/moment: There are quite a few, but the first one that comes to mind is Louis and Armand wandering through the Louvre together. The way Armand just casually deals with the guards; and then the way he talks about his history with the painting. I did also like Dream!stat.

a storyline that never should have been written: The Killer stuff in S1. As I said. Gratuitous. Still mad about it.

my first thoughts on the show: 'Not sure how I feel about the timeline change; it'll probably be either Real Bad in a fun way unlike the QotD movie which was just Bad or Genuinely Good and I'm not sure which I'm hoping for.'

my thoughts now: I like it a lot; I think it mostly does interesting things to the source material and the changes it makes either make sense/work or are minor enough that they only stick out to me as trivia (i.e., shifting Armand's timeline like 50 years for...reasons?) Also I am really looking forward to getting Gabrielle next season.

Ask me about a TV show!

[jaydonsjam]

Werewolf By Night III

Werewolf By Night #2-4 written by Gerry Conway while WBN #5 written by Len Wein

WBN #2-5 pencilled by Mike Ploog (he also inked #5)

WBN #2-3 inked by Frank Monte WBN #4 inked by Frank Bolle

Here we are again to talk about 4 issues of Werewolf By Night! Specifically we’re gonna be talking about WBN #2-5! I didn’t think I’d love this book as much as I do but I’m glad to say I was wrong! Jack Russell is such a great character to follow. So far, he’s been an anti-hero unlike some of the other “monsters” we’ve followed. I like that he continues to struggle with the wolf part of him but as of yet, he’s managed to only hurt those who would harm him. I can’t get over how engaging this book is for me. It continues to be fantastically drawn by Mike Ploog (who suits the horror genre so well) and Gerry Conway knows how to get you in the head of a werewolf. Some of my favorite moments from these 4 issues are ones of just Jack running through the city or forest as a werewolf where it’s mostly inner monologue. Maybe I’m giving Jack too much credit but it also seems like he’s gaining a little bit more control of his wolf side or they are becoming closer to each other. Idk maybe I’m reading too much into this stuff.

Issue two opens with the cops chasing Werewolf through the city. I gotta say this was my favorite opening out of these four issues. Conway’s writing just excels when we’re following Jack in wolf form and it’s so engaging here. Jack leaps from rooftops and buildings to the edge of LA but hits water. A helicopter goes overhead so he has no choice but to jump in when a net falls from the copter. He fights a shark and kills it which is pretty hardcore.

Look at that art by Ploog. I love it. It’s one of my favorite panels from this issue. Anyways, Jack is found by two beach goers and they take him home. We find out that Jack is staying with Buck Cowan and Jack has a girlfriend named Terri. They discuss the Darkhold and Buck mentions a priest named Father Joquez and suggests that he could translate the Latin faster. Joquez takes the book to translate it for them. Jack and Buck have a conversation where it seems like Cowan is onto Jack about something going on related to the full moon. It’s a great moment. He is supposed to be a journalist so he should be able to figure it out if he’s smart. I like Buck and I hope there isn’t something more sinister to him. We then meet a man named Cephalos and his associate, Louis. He immediately seems creepy and even mentions owning a red helicopter and that he saw Jack out there. Jack goes with them and as soon as he gets in the car, they knock him out with gas. Jack wakes up in a giant test tube. It turns out that old Cephalos used to be a little person but did experiments and grew his body much larger but now he needs a lot of energy to function so he plans on using Jack’s werewolf form as energy. I will say this whole backstory and energy generating stuff doesn’t make a lot of sense and this is my least favorite villain out of these 4 issues. Jack transforms and breaks out of the glass and fights Louis which I didn’t mention that he’s also a little person. Jack gets his ass kicked by Louis which again, I’ve talked about this before, it takes me out when a regular person can go toe-to-toe with a werewolf. Jack gets the upper hand but due to Cephalos and his energy power-up beats up Jack and runs into his helicopter. This does have a pretty good ending when Jack, still in his werewolf form leaps onto the copter and causes it to crash above the Hollywood sign. Overall, I liked this issue but the villain stuff didn’t work for me. I still liked the interpersonal moments with Jack and his various friends and also it had a killer opening couple pages. Plus, Mike Ploog’s art is awesome.

Issue three opens with Father Joquez translating the Darkhold when smoke starts to come off of the book. He frantically calls Jack but screams out and then the line goes dead. Jack takes Buck’s car and heads to the monastery but on the way there transforms into the wolf and has no choice but to let the car crash off the side of a mountainous road. He makes it to the monastery and finds that a 12th century monk named Aelfric is possessing the body of Father Joquez and he has released a Grey Death upon the land. We find out that he originally came into possession of the scrolls that would come to make the Darkhold. He was burned for turning a knight into a skeleton.

The burning of Aelfric at the stake (pictured above) is actually pretty brutal cause it shows his face start to turn into cheese pizza. This comic seems to get away with more violence each passing issue but that might just be in my head.

Pictured above is what the Grey Death does to you. Mike Ploog’s art is perfect for horror. He is so good at drawing brutal, unsettling horrific stuff. Aelfric pins Jack to the wall with a mystic spell as his sister comes to find him and the mad monk brings her inside as well. But at the sight of his sister in trouble, Jack is able to break the mystical spell and has to fight a Minotaur named Dragonus. It’s a cool fight. Minotaurs are my favorite mythological creature so you include a Bull-man and you’ve got me. Jack ends up leaping over the bull and it rams into Aelfric and pierces him with a horn killing him. Because the mad monk dies we see Dragonus fade away. This was another fun horror issue and I didn’t mind the ending to the fight cause Jack can’t really go toe-to-toe with a powerful sorcerer. That would end badly for him. I really love that Jack didn’t have to fight a normal human for once that he got to fight a creature that is believable enough to be able to tussle with a werewolf. I kinda wish the fight went longer.

Issue 4 is the best out of the bunch. Jack is hunted by a southern version of Kraven. What can I say except for, I thought I’d hate this issue cause Joshua Kane is just a man and he’s got an exaggerated annoying accent but damn it grew on me. Most of this issue is a prolonged cat-and-mouse game between Jack and Joshua but it’s paced really well and by the end of it, I couldn’t get enough. The one negative is the ending. It was lame. I wanted to see Jack kill Kane but instead he’s killed by an animatronic bear or was it a real bear? Idk it was a weird ending. I get that it was because Kane apparently did all the hunting cause he didn’t feel fear and he wanted to inflict fear on his victims. Also, I didn’t mind that Kane could go toe-to-toe with Jack cause he was a skilled hunter who had killed all kinds of animals and was skilled in different kinds of weapons. This was a fun read.

Issue 5 is another strong chapter in the Werewolf By Night saga. Joshua had a brother, Luther Kane and he gives Jack a task to murder a billionaire who ruined his life and in exchange he’ll cure Lissa before she becomes a werewolf. I like the twist that Jack’s target is a senile old gentle man so he can’t go through with it. I was expecting this dude to be a bad guy so when he did turn out to be nice, I was happy to see Jack spare him. He literally had no idea what was happening. Plus I think it would’ve changed my mind on Jack as a character if he did go through with it. Instead Jack goes back and breaks a guy’s back on a desk and Luther gets accidentally impaled by a thrown knife.

I gotta say this had lots of action and the twist pushed it up for me. Mike Ploog’s art is something else and I love the way he draws the werewolf. The amount of detail he can draw on the face of a hairy wolf man just looks fantastic. He was born to do horror comics and he’s quickly becoming an artist I look forward to seeing what he does next. Jack also shows in this issue that he can drive a motorcycle better than Johnny Blaze. Sorry I had to. Werewolf By Night continues to be a highlight of my comic reading list. I look forward to every new (new to me) issue of this book. Next up Tomb of Dracula!

[neversetyoufree]

do you have any theories about the teacher? I honestly can’t figure him out

Ohh man, teacher is fascinating. I can’t make any claims to understanding him 100%, because I really have no idea what role he’ll ultimately play, but I definitely have some thoughts I’d love to share.

Long story short, this man is shady as hell and probably keeping tabs on everything from behind the scenes, all for his own enjoyment. 

My favorite theory about teacher, and also by far the one that’s most supported right now, is that he sent Noé after the book of Vanitas (at least partly) because of Noé’s unique views on the blue moon. I call this a theory because it hasn’t been outright stated in canon, but I will be genuinely shocked if this isn’t the case.

Given his intent with Louis and the way he talks about having fun after adopting Noé, it seems pretty clear that he initially took Noé in because he thought he might be fun to observe. Noé was both an Archiviste and a vampire raised among humans, after all. That’s a jackpot of potentially interesting traits. Then, once he spent time with him, he discovered that not only was Noé an Archiviste raised by humans, but he also had no fear of the blue moon! I cannot imagine this shitty man’s delight at his discovery.

So then teacher, guardian of this strange, interesting young vampire that loves the blue moon hears that the book of Vanitas has been spotted in Paris. Of course he’s going to send Noé after it! There’s almost no way that the resulting situation won’t be entertaining for him. Maybe he knew more than he let on, and heard rumors of the book being wielded by a benevolent human, or knew that there would be a mystery well served by an Archiviste, but even if he really had only heard vague rumors about the book’s location, that would still be more than enough.

VnC’s entire plot is spurred by the fact that teacher thought it would be interesting to see a vampire that loves the blue moon come face to face with the blue moon’s servant, and I’m sure he’s lurking about somewhere, keeping tabs on Noé’s journey and just eating up the heartbreak and the chaos.

As for another theory, I’m also pretty sure that during all those times in Noé’s flashbacks where he’s away from home on his mysterious unknown business, he’s not actually gone (at least not all the time).

I mean, imagine you’re teacher. You’re taking care of your cursed grandson and a magic orphan because you think they might be interesting, and nothing will entertain you more than setting them loose on the world and seeing what they do when left to themselves. They won’t behave nearly as interestingly if you’re lurking about and visibly watching them all the time, but if you actually leave them alone, you don’t get to watch the results. Solution? Tell them you’re leaving home and then stick around, either in the castle or somewhere nearby, and keep tabs on whatever they’re doing. We haven’t yet seen a vampire that can turn invisible or do any shapeshifting more complex than teeth and claws, but if anyone would be able to do it, I feel like it would be Mr. “The Shapeless One.” And all those unexplained absences are way too conspicuous otherwise.

Plus, his appearance to save Noé from Louis would be way too convenient if he wasn’t somewhere around Averoigne and, if not actively watching the kids, at least monitoring them enough to know about the business with Mina being executed. Given how shady everything else about him is, I’m simply not inclined to believe that teacher just happened to hear something was happening with the kids and managed to arrive at the church at the exact right moment to save Noé. How did he know he had to head home? How did he know where the kids had run off to? I’m convinced he knew exactly what was going on, and simply stepped in when it suited him. He’d had his fun watching what Louis chose to do; no sense in losing Noé in the process.

I’m also sure that he has something to do with the vampire queen’s current situation, and quite possibly Charlatan/Naenia by extension, but I could not even begin to tell you what that connection is. We know that he was the queen’s original right hand man, but we have no idea why he left, or under what circumstances. We have no idea how much official connection to vampire politics he maintains, or how much underground influence he might still wield. We also have no idea what any of his motivations are, beyond the fact that he’s entertained by watching distressed and interesting people like Noé and Louis, which means it’s hard, for me at least, to even guess at what he might be up to on a broader scale. I’m sure whatever he’s doing is for his entertainment, but as to what that entertainment consists of, I’m stumped for now.

There’s also a theory I’ve seen tossed around that teacher is really Murr, watching everything from Noé’s shoulder, and while I do not actually think this is true, it’s too fun not to mention. It fits quite well with the whole “he’s secretly watching” theory that I do subscribe to, and is also, just, like, kinda hilarious. Imagine if teacher was actually in the room for all of Noé’s petty little arguments with Vanitas, and all his “but I don’t like you or anything” declarations of love. Noé would be so embarrassed. It’s incredible. Plus, like, imagine we find out The goddamn Shapeless One has been spending the past several months using a litterbox and getting head scritches. Nothing could be better.

Like I said though, I don’t actually think this is the case, because, if nothing else, Murr just seems like the wrong type of cat. Murr cuddles up to women but regularly scratches Noé, and seems perpetually annoyed with everything and everyone. If that’s the same elegantly smug bastard that we see in all of Noé’s flashbacks, then he’s been doing some serious method acting, lmao. Plus, I feel like teacher probably has some actual real life responsibilities to deal with, and since Murr’s with Noé pretty much all the time, he wouldn’t really have time to, y’know, do his vampire aristocrat things while he’s busy playing cat.

So to summarize, teacher is mysterious as hell, possibly puppeteering everything from behind the scenes, definitely keeping an eye on Noé’s journey for the sake of his entertainment, probably somehow connected to Naenia/the Queen, and Not Murr, though I dearly wish he were.

Also, I think the VnC fandom needs to more widely acknowledge the fact that he is, unfortunately, Very Pretty.

[flying-elliska]

one of the most impactful things I have read lately are two of French author Edouard Louis' books, Pour en finir avec Eddy Bellegueule and Qui a tué mon père (translated into English as The End of Eddy and Who Killed my Father). It's been two months and I'm still thinking about it.

The first book is an 'autobiographical novel' about the author's childhood growing up as an obviously gay boy in one of the poorest areas of France, until he leaves and reinvents himself as a writer. It's fraught with bigotry, abuse, bullying, violence, deprivation and social despair, and it's one of the most harrowing things I have ever read. It reads as many things as once : a recognition of trauma, an angry exorcism, a cry for society at large to pay attention, and to be honest, as a horror story.

It was criticized by some in France as portraying the working class in a manner that was too negative, which tells me they missed the point entirely...ironic for a book by someone who actually grew up poor - one of my least favorite things ever is progressives telling a marginalized person they can't talk about their own experiences because they don't fit the desired mold. (The French love to romanticize the working class and I'm pretty sure it's often an avoidance mechanism.)

The point of the book is so obviously not about 'look at how terrible and bigoted those poor people are'. Little Eddy spends a big part of the narrative trying to escape - himself at first, then his family/circumstances and the persistent homophobia everywhere. In the end of the book, he finally manages to get accepted into a fancy high school in the city on a scholarship and tries really hard to fit in. The last scene of the book is a bunch of his - educated, upper/middle class - classmates throwing homophobic taunts at him, starting the cycle anew. I can't think of a clearer way to say 'this is not a story about a sad gay boy escaping the evil bigoted countryside for the city and then everything was wonderful!!!! this is a story about a systemic, pervasive problem.'

One of the key arguments of the book, to me, is how homophobia, sexism and bigotry in general are both a product and a reproduction mechanism of social and economic exclusion. For instance, he describes how the norms around what it means to be a man in his village (being tough, disobeying authority, quitting school early to go work at the factory, drinking alcohol, neglecting your own health, fighting over women, repressing your feelings, etc) perpetuates the cycle of poverty ; but again this isn't 'oh these people are so stupid' and more 'these people are trapped'. Because he makes it evident how degrading and dehumanizing poverty can be, this masculinity reads as a desperate attempt to cling to a certain amount of dignity - it's an extremely dysfunctional coping mechanism. At the same time, anyone falling outside of the mold is violently ostracized (like Eddy, who tries and fails to fit in). So the system keeps reproducing itself.

In Who Killed my Father, the author makes his political argument clearer. This is more of an essay, centering on his father, arguably the most complex figure in the first novel. The man is an angry, bigoted alcoholic who makes his family miserable ; at the same time he is the son of an abusive father who makes a point of honor to never hit his kids or wife even though it's very normalized in this context. In this essay the author keeps talking about the moments of almost tenderness with his father that haunt him, the picture he has of him doing drag in his youth, the fact that the father tried to leave the village when he was young to find a better life for himself with a close friend but failed and had to come back - the moments of what-ifs, of trying to struggle free from the cycle, when the system appears almost fragile and not so unbreakable after all, that the son kept holding close like a sort of talisman.

The narrative is structured around the fact that his father injured his back working in a factory and that he had to keep doing physical labor afterwards for money, instead of resting to recover, until it completely destroyed his body. Now he finds himself bed-bound at 53. Louis inquires into who is responsible for this premature 'death'. After considering individual choices, he turns towards political decisions - the successive governments, left and right, who have been destroying the French welfare system for decades and accelerating inequality. The point is to step out of the neoliberal obsession with personal responsibility and who is guilty and who is a bad or good person, and look at systems.

An element that isn't focused on but hovers over the story constantly is that this village is one where the majority of the population consistently votes for the extreme right National Front party in most elections. The book is too angry and nuanced to be some stupid "it's not their fault that they're racist because they're poor!" argument. It doesn't make any excuses for how awful this is but instead illustrates how dehumanization replicates itself, how people being denied basic dignity leads to them wanting to deny it to others. If you want to really understand the rise of the far right you have to look at where the inequality comes from in the first place, and how easy it is for people in power to wash their hands of it by blaming the bigoted masses. (Just like you can blame societal ills on minorities ! Two for one strategy.)

Towards the end of the essay, the author talks about how proud his father is of his son's literary success - for a book who clearly depicts him as a horrible person ! And this is a man who has spent his life openly despising anything cultural, because it never showed him a life like his own. But maybe now he feels seen, now he knows people want to read about these things. Maybe there is a reclamation of dignity through looking at the horror head on. Maybe his son somehow slipping through the cracks of the cycle gives him more room. The man stops making racist comments, and instead asks his son about his boyfriend. Most importantly, he asks his son about the leftist politics he's engaged in. They talk about the need for a revolution.

I think what strikes me the most is this attitude of "wounded compassion" that permeates the book. What do you do when your parents are abusive but even after you grow up, you can't help but still love them, and you know they've been shaped by the system that surrounds them ? Recognizing, speaking the harm is essential. You need to find your own freedom, sense of worth, and safety. You need to dissect the mechanisms at hand so they lose at least some of their power over you. You need to find people who love and believe you. But then what? Do you dismiss your persistent feelings of affection and care for those who hurt you as a sign you're just fucked up in the head ? You could just decide to never speak to them again, and it would be justified, but is that really what is going to heal you the most? It's important to realize you have the choice. But there are no easy conclusions.

This makes me think of a passage I have just read in Aversive Democracy by Aletta Norval. The essential ethos of radical democracy, she says, is about taking responsibility for your society, even the bad parts, instead of seeing them as a foreign element you have to cleanse yourself of. It's too fucking easy for queer progressives, especially the middle class urban kind, to talk about dumb evil hicks, to turn pride into a simple morality tale, and forget that any politics that don't center the basic dignity and needs of people are just shit. The injury is to you and by you and you have a duty of care just as much as a duty of criticism. (And this is obviously not only applicable to class matters.) You can't just walk away and save your sense of moral purity. (This is not an argument that the oppressed are responsible for educating the oppressors ; it's about how privilege is not an easy simple ranking and it is too damn easy to only focus on the ways in which you are oppressed and forget the ways in which you may have more leeway.)

There is no absolute equivalence between political and family dynamics but the parallel feel very relevant somehow. Several truths can coexist at once : you needed help and it was not given. You were let down. It's important to recognize that people are responsible of how they treat each other. You need to call out what isn't ok and stand up for yourself. At the same time, there is a reason why things are like this. Making people into villains is often bad strategy (within reason!), and in the end, easy dichotomies are often an instrument of power. The horrors you have been through might have given you a very specific wisdom and grace you do not have to be afraid of ; you are not tainted by your compassion (it is very much the opposite of forced forgiveness ; it has walked through the fire of truth.)

To me these books fit into what French literature does best, sociological storytelling a la Zola or Victor Hugo - the arguments aren't new and they can come across as heavy handed, even melodramatic. But I'll argue that the viscerality is the point, how the raw experience of misery punches through any clever arguments about how exploitation persists for the greater good of society. Really worth reading if you can do so with nuance.

[chaotic-bells]

I was tagged by @imbellarosa and @justalarryblog 😊 thank you! And sorry for the delay and rambling lol

my check in tag

This is a bit long... so I’ll just add the break not to bother people with my ramblings. 

1. Why did you choose your url? I created tumblr because of a fanfic, and I've been reading them since I was 11. And I will always love fanfic. Fanfic is the answer to all life's problems and bad canons. I can't imagine living in the world where I don't have fanfic to continue a world I love or to fix issues in a world that was promising, or just to wait until the next bit of canon came out. You have to imagine I started reading fanfic when there were only 2 Harry Potter books available and I was waiting for the translation of the third one (that came out end of 2000, and yes I was reading fics by then). So yeah... I wanted something related to fanfics, and I really am terrible about online identities. Probably should've used something more creative, but oh well. I like it well enough now, it is one that applies to all fandoms I love.

2. Any side-blogs? If you have them, name them and why you have them. Yes, I have @randomsideposts as my attempt to create a tag system and save my favorite posts. I failed. I also have @kenshin-and-maki for my cats, and a third unnamed one as sort of a journal/vent blog, for those times I just need to write stuff down and I don't want to keep things to myself. No one follows me and that's the way I like it. It's kind of dark.

3. How long have you been on tumblr? A year and a half only lol a baby by Tumblr standards.

4: Do you have a queue tag? Me? Organization? What? Jokes aside, I don't really like queueing stuff. I'm either here or I'm not. I'll schedule a post for a random future time, just so I don't forget the post, but a time I know I'll be online to interact with it/the reactions to it. I do that when (for example) Louis posts and I see posts that are not related to that that I'd like to reblog, but not right at that moment.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? Because of a cute Larry fic where Louis and Harry become mutuals without knowing they're the other one. I liked the dynamic they described of how Tumblr worked and I wanted to see if it really was like that, because my previous experiences with Tumblr were... confusing enough that I didn't stick around for more than 20 minutes.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp? It's Louis and Liam, who are definitely my favorites. Don't get me wrong, I love all the boys, but Liam and Louis (and their friendship) are just really special to me. And this pic is just... so cute. Also, @whatagreatproblemtohave and @evilovesyou demanded either me or @promisethatillnevertell change our profile picture, and that we should duel to see who would keep it because it was getting confusing lol (it was one of the outtakes of the House of Solo photoshoot). I would never fight Lou so I changed it. And I love it because it has my two boys 😁💕

7. Why did you choose your header? Because the livestream was so awesome and even if it's blurry i like it. Also, I never use the desktop version of Tumblr so it's probably a mess, but I like what I see on my mobile so it'll stay.

8. Whats your post with the most notes? Probably my Youtube comments about Louis? I know it has over 1k notes, which... wow.  Also, my little wistful post about keeping the livestream format after lockdown did ok too.

9. How many mutuals do you have? No clue, but I love them all.

10. How many followers do you have? 900 or so.

11. How many people do you follow? 654 blogs

12. Have you ever made a shitpost? Who hasn't?

13. How often do you use tumblr a day? No clue, dozens of times. I won't scroll too far down, just enough to distract me for a couple minutes while I'm waiting for something to load or if my brain needs a break from work.

14. Did you once have a fight/argument with another blog once? Who won? I've argued before with a Liam blog at the end of the LP Show 2, but it was a misunderstanding, I didn't express myself the way I wanted to. Pretty sure a bunch of Liam blogs have me blocked because of it still. Other than that, I'm pretty peaceful, and I really try to just stay out of drama.

15. How do you feel about “you need to reblog” posts? I hate them. It is a passive aggressive way of someone thinking their opinion is better than yours, usually has a comment like "if you don't reblog you don't care about this" or "I don't care if it doesn't fit my blog asthetic, I'll reblog it anyway". Congrats? Do you want a star for it? I'll reblog it if I think it has important information, despite these annoying comments, but only once. If it's a post I've seen multiple times, then everyone saw it multiple times.

16. Do you like tag games? Love them, but recently I've been a bit lax. Once you start saving them in your drafts, it snowballs into unmanageable levels.

17. Do you like ask games? I love them, but whenever I reblog one I only get 1 or 2 asks. :(

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? I... don't really care enough about that to keep track lol

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? Yes, but I won't put them on the spot

20. Tags? I don’t know if you’ve done this before, so feel free to ignore it? As usual @promisethatillnevertell @whatagreatproblemtohave @technicallysideacc @maybe-i-missyou @vintageumbroshirt @thedevilinmybrain @beckydoesthings

[liberty-barnes]

someone tagged me so let's go

first of all, thank you to the lovely @coffee-styles for tagging me in this, now enjoy

About me🦋

Birthdate ➪ November 20th (fun fact, I was born on november 20th 2002 which in european writing is 20/11/02 so you can read it backwards and still reach the correct date, i have the best birthday, i know) Pronouns ➪ she/her Ethnicity ➪ portuguese Gender identity ➪ cis female, as far as i know, but i wouldn't mind having a dick for practical purposes, it just sounds easier Sexual orientation ➪ bi and ready to die Personality ➪ bisexual disaster, sarcastic little shit, but also mom friend cause we just don't get enough love so i have to give it, but know that i mostly express affection through teasing and sarcastic comments... so basically a right mess Zodiac ➪ scorpio aka the best one Favourite colour ➪ louis blue, sage green, lavender, and pastel yellow Where I live ➪ switzerland (in the alcoholic, anti-bern, anti-france, anti-each other sometimes, kinda french-speaking part) now watch out for the nsfw part and hold on cause this is about to get wild

KINKS/WHAT CAN EASILY TURN ME ON✨

i have a thing for arms and people who can effortlessly hold me up | pretty people i can wreck | bratty sub and gentle dom, all depends on the days | deep voices | boys in skirt | girls in suits | pretty lingerie | got a bit of an exhibitionist streak in me too | more than one partner is definitely something i like

CELEBRITY CRUSHES🔥

okay this is about to get long cause i have platonic crushes aka people whose beauty i admire and want to be friends with but wouldn't see myself dating/sleeping with, and the ones for whom i would drop to my knees no problem

so platonic are:

Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Gwyneth Paltrow, RDJ, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Wood, Ariana Grande, Gemma Styles, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, Luke Hemmings, Anthony Mackie, Kit Young, Sadie Sink, Dylan O'Brian, Thomas Brodie-Sangster

and the others are:

Scarlett Johansson, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Taylor Swift, Brie Larson, Melissa Benoist, Orlando Bloom, Kat McNamara, Matt Daddario, Zendaya, Katherine Hahn, Ashton Irwin, Crystal Leigh, Owen Patrick-Joyner, Freddy Carter, Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield

there are probably many others i just can't remember them at the moment

Health Problems✌🏼

anxiety, adhd, ptsd if my therapist is to be believed, social anxiety (cause apparently social anxiety and normal anxiety are different but oh well), recovering from depression so that's fun, abandonnement issues, iron deficiency that just won't leave, i've twisted my wrists and ankles more time that i can count, had a knee injury when i was younger so now i'm a human rain detector

FAVORITE SONGS😜

Defenceless - Louis Tomlinson | If I Could Fly - One Direction | Fine Line - Harry Styles | Flicker - Niall Horan | Dúlamán - MALINDA | no body, no crime - Taylor Swift | Truly, Madly, Deeply - One Direction | Lover of Mine - 5SOS | Sunshine - Ashton Irwin | Mum - Luke Hemmings | Polaroid - Liam Payne | I Don't Mind - Zayn (yes i know it's unreleased but i still love it) | Coimbra - Amália Rodrigues

there's a lot of others but i tried to (mostly) limit myself to one per artist and 13 total cause lucky number

Aesthetics🌆

constantly changing but you got the grunge vibes, oversized sweaters cause i want sweater paws, soft comfy clothes, comfort over style except when i wanna make an effort

Describing my perfect day🌻

alone at home, watching a movie or reading a book/fanfic, no responsibilities, no worries, hot chocolate, eat whatever i want without feeling naseous, not too hot but also not too cold, no sensory overload, no anxiety over what i have to do, blissful quiet

Pet Peeves🙄

not saying "please" and "thank you" (it's basic human decency, come on), not taking off your shoes when entering someone's house (but maybe that's just cause i grew up in switzerland), people trying to lie to me (you can't, stop trying), people trying to manipulate me (again, you can't, stop trying)

and as for the dared, anyone who wants to do it is welcome to!

hope you liked that

[stomach-rental]

which book out of the getting in deep series is your favorite?

good question! :D I personally like....inner workings or under my skin the best. I mean, I DO love the first book because it has louis in will the Longest and they’re both freaking out as they figure out what to do about this crazy shit, but louis is angry so much and also it’s difficult because you’ve gotta bounce around the first version and the second version to get a good picture of everything. so. my reasoning for the other two is:

UNDER MY SKIN:

- involves them doing their FIRST willing vore. I’m so proud of you boys!!

- will is really starting to feel protective here and is coping with his new feelings of actually slightly Enjoying this process, though he doesn’t understand it yet.

- martin zachs is a Very hate-able villain and I appreciate that.

- awkward moments, but Good Moments because will and louis are on a lot better terms than the first book

- MULTIPLE really good descriptive swallowing scenes that always drag me in to like. FEELING what the characters feel. all of the swallowing scenes are usually like that but these particular scenes really hit for some reason, probably since they’re actually starting to be fully aware of and understand what’s going on. when will got his intestinal sphincter hurt? I Felt That Panic So Hard I was internally SCREAMING the whole time

- fancy clothing :) they all get to be fancy and dance. we appreciate it. I especially loved will’s silly attempt to get louis to dance to the under my skin song,,, they deserve to have fun together

- BENI GETS ADDED TO THE GANG OF PEOPLE IN THE KNOW!!!!! and REESE DOES THE VORE??? REESE !! reese hated every minute of it but I love him so much, he’s so good, he’s probably my favorite side character and it’s good to see him doing his best to help however he can. even if it leads to him feeling. horrible sometimes.

INNER WORKINGS:

- sadly less vore than last time but when they DO do the vore, will gets to do it all by himself with TWO people for the first time. YEEHAW

- travel time! they get to actually go to california and get involved with fun travel stuff. I went to california a couple of summers ago and I Swear I was trying to put myself in their shoes the whole time, because I really enjoyed getting to see them experience new things together.

- sandra pearl was a KICK ASSSSSS VILLAIN I liked her a lot, she’s fun to imagine animatics to. (wink wonk ;) )

- WILL SHRINKS FOR THE FIRST TIME WILL SHRINKS FOR THE FIRST TIME WILL SHRINKS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! g/t FUN I love getting to see and hear about g/t perspectives. it’s so good

- we ALMOST get to see what it would be like for louis to be forced into being swallowed by someone else-- a horrible scenario, yes, but one that I feel would bring up a lot of necessary feelings for louis to address. - more massaru time hell yeah! we get to see his family :D! I loved meeting them and getting to see more information on his life, he’s such a good character and he cares so much

- the scene where will has to pull louis and massaru out? yeah. ouch. I felt that. but it was also a LITTLE disappointing because I would have loved to see Will and Louis coping with seeing each other hurt and trying to take care of each other despite the size differences....

- introduction to our boy MILTON!!!! MILTON ily..

overall both of them have their flaws, as do all of the books, but they have to be the ones that are like. my Top favorites at the moment. I dunno, maybe that will change with spilling guts as it goes! so far spilling guts has been good but because I’m Hyperfixated and it is still in the process of updating, you can bet that I’m sitting here Slamming my head against the desk as we wait for them to be able to actually. communicate. I KNOW that it wouldn’t be nearly as hard if I saw the full book but it’s hard because I’d like to just shake louis by the shoulders and Yell at him (nicely. in a kind way that is full of the rage of a thousand suns). they’re wonderful books and have been written Incredibly well, I just!! I wish that I could be more patient kdhfksjdfk

[itswildwinters]

Ask for writers

Thank you @theisolatedlily and @soldouthaz for tagging me, I really appreciate it! This lovely tag was created by @soldouthaz, which I think is brilliant to get to know other writers!! I love it, so thank you Sarah!

This is quite long, but I still hope it’s entertaining!

1. describe how you first started writing and when you first posted: I’ve always wanted to write. I know that I only began publishing this year (January 2020) but years back, I always would open up a blank document and just... write. Lack of confidence and language barriers (I wanted to write in English, but it isn’t my first language and I only became fluent three years ago) have made it so that I would never finish a story. I think we all had our wattpad moment but even on there I would never really publish because the platform just wasn’t right. But then I discovered ao3, where I’d read fics and also improve my English. Then I found out about fests, and I decided to participate in one last year (2019 BLFF) and my first fic then came out! 

And ever since, I’ve been able to write and finish what I start. It’s as if the lock that had been put to block my creativity had been destroyed; posting my first completed fic has acted as a turning point. I was extremely nervous when I first posted, still am, but now I have this need to write and I love sharing what I write and ever since I became a writer, my life’s been a lot better!

2. which of your characters do you typically resonate most closely with? do you base any characters off of yourself?: I switch between Louis’ POV, or Harry’s POV depending on the story; I tend to sprinkle a bit of myself in the characters I write, but then again they’re also completely different from me! I’ve never based a character completely on myself, which I find quite boring (haha); sometime unconsciously, I’d write a character based on someone I knew. I think some examples on how my characters can look a bit like me, is Hamlet in a sea of mist which has gotten his clear-headedness from me; or in my Murder Mystery fic, the way I describe Louis’ fear is heavily based on how I feel whenever I’m faced with something that makes me uncomfortable.

3. where do you often find inspiration?: art (paintings, music), books, quotes, poems and movies!

4. has quarantine helped or hindered your writing process?: having so much free time on my hands has definitely helped; I would seek refuge within my stories, to spice up quarantine!

5. do you listen to music/noise while you write or do you prefer silence? I love love love playing classical music (Chopin, Saint-Saens, Debussy, Yiruma, Einaudi, Faulkner, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Mozart to name a few) while writing. I can’t write when it’s anything else. But I can also write when there’s nothing; hearing the rhythmic clicking sound of the keyboard as I press over its keys can be relaxing to me.

6. what is your biggest writing pet peeve in your writing or in general?: hm in my writing I guess I tend to write very long sentences, and also I still do grammar mistakes. I hope to work on those points. I also find the way I space my fics very annoying (which is why I’ve begun making outlines!).

7. describe your ideal writing setup: in a couch or a bed with several pillows piled up behind my back, classical music in my ears and a steaming cup of tea next to me.

8. favorite time of day to write?: I love writing when it’s very early, usually after I’ve woken up and freshened up. I don’t like writing when it’s too late because I’m not a night owl; rather an early bird. I especially love when I write and it’s still dark outside, then slowly dawn breaks in and the sky becomes tainted in warm hues of orange, yellow and sometimes even purple and pink.

9. favorite genre to write + one you’d like to try writing in the future?: I love writing fantasy, horror, suspense, action, thrillers. Especially angst and hurt/comfort, as well as slow burn. I’d like in the future to explore sci-fi and magical realism!

10. do you struggle with writer’s block? how do you typically overcome it? I haven’t suffered from writer block so far, which I’m glad!!

11. what is the easiest part of your writing process and the most difficult? writing is the easiest, but outlining (as in, coming up with plot ideas) is quite difficult for me. Also dialogues can be a bit of a problem to me.

12. how do you come up with original characters? (if applicable): I just make them up in my mind, and create them when they’re necessary to the story, giving them personality traits that will help the story develop.

13. what is your favorite and least favorite word? it’s hard to choose cause I have several but favourite: petrichor and least favourite: big

14. what is one thing about your writing that you’re really proud of and one thing you hope to continue working at?: I am proud of the way I describe, which allows me to really settle the story in its verse. I love describing, giving importance to the ordinary. Also feelings; I love describing them and exploring how I can translate them into words, so that the reader can feel them. But I have to work on my dialogues methinks.

15. what work of yours has your favorite ‘verse/world building? how did you come up with it?: those who from the Pit of Hell, roam to seek their prey on earth. I’ve always wanted to begin writing thrillers/Murder mystery fics and with that one I think I managed to? I had read an article on forensic medicine back in the 19th century and it sparked this fic’s plot!

16. what font and size do you write in? single spaced or double?: Arial, 11pt, single spaced

17. what is a typo(s) you find yourself making consistently?: I don’t know if this can be considered as a typo but I tend to repeat, within a paragraph, A LOT my character’s name instead of using pronouns. This is because I’m afraid of confusion when another character arrives in the scene.

18. (if applicable) do you separate fic writing from fandom?: I don’t know if I understood the question properly, but yes? When I use Louis or Harry in my fics, they’re completely different from real-Louis or real-Harry; they’re my characters, they only have the same names, but their personality reflects in nothing real-life Harry and Louis. 

I think to answer this better: I do separate fic writing from fandom, but I still think that fanfics are important to a fandom; I haven’t heard of a fandom without fanfics! Fanfics spice up fandoms, I reckon, they’re important to bring people together.

19. what emotion is your favorite to write? which is the most difficult?: Angst is my favourite thing to write, as well as fear. And I struggle with writing humour, I’m not a funny person to be honest

20. what is one thing you hope readers always take away from your works?: I always hope they like my writing and the plot, also the way I portray my characters. I want my readers to feel the writing, and the story in general. I just want my readers to truly enjoy what they read from me <3

21. what is the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?: I was told to always write very specifically and to fit my writing into a mould — don’t write ‘he’s’ but ‘he is’, or write shorter sentences, or stop describing so much. But in the end, there isn’t one way of writing — write the way you want.

22. which one of your works would you most want to see turned into a film/television show?: only one? ahhh this is hard! But I’d love to see those who from the Pit of Hell, roam to seek their prey on earth be turned into a movie. There are also a couple of wips that I could see on-screen but I’ll stick to that!

23. do you write scenes chronologically or out of order?: chronologically. Haven’t explored anachronies (analepsis/prolepsis) at all, but I might soon!

24. how do you handle criticism?: really well!! As long as they’re constructive and not mean, I love hearing what people think. Criticism is the best way for me, a person whose first person is not English, to improve!

25. what is the advice you would give to someone who is looking to start writing?: DO IT!! Honestly, don’t tell yourself, ‘I’m not good enough’. Just do it. Open a blank document and write your heart away, even if it’s not a story; just begin it. Explore your writing style, then maybe try to mould it into a plot. Writing is not limited to a certain category of people; it’s not just for those who can write. Writing is for everyone, and like most things, one must begin before improving (practice makes perfect!!) <3

26. what kind of feedback on your work always makes your day?: anything!!! Just the fact someone clicked on my story, read it, and took time to leave a comment — just that is enough to make my heart bursts with joy. I am so so grateful to every single person who’s ever read something from me.

27. which fic ‘verse of your own would you most like to exist in? which fic’s characters would you most like to befriend?: The verse I’m talking about is still a wip, but the siren/mermaid one that I’m currently building! I’d love to live in it.

28. what do you always enjoy getting asks about/wish people would ask about more?: Anything, really, my inbox is open to anyone and for everything! I love discussing books, movies and poetry as well as quotes, and maybe I wish people would come forth to ask me more about my fics or my wips, if they have any inquiries! Or I’d love to write drabbles! 

29. what has writing added to your life? how has it changed you?: It has made my life so, so much better. Writing has stitched up a gaping hole in my chest. It’s permitted me to improve in English, has made me more confident and has allowed my creativity to flow. I just... I love writing so much. It has also allowed me to meet some incredible people on tumblr, which I’m very grateful for!!

30. why do you write?: for many reasons; to spice up my life, to help me develop my creativity, and because I love it. I’ve always wanted to be a writer.

boost yourself + tags!

1a. share the last sentence you wrote:

The words echo around his head and collide with his temples like truncheon blows.

2a. describe the wip you’re most excited about:

I’m excited for all of them, but I’ll go with my third BLFF fic. It’s very angsty, post-war, ABO, exes to lovers. It tackles heavy topics, it’s such an emotional fic. I’m so so excited for her (she comes out in January).

3a. share the piece of dialogue from one of your works you’re most proud of: 

This is hard. But I’ll go with one from in a sea of mist cause the way Louis answers Harry... I love it:

“I feel like you want to kill me,” he pants out, using his right arm to hold himself up while his other hand comes up to rub at his burning cheek and nose, where Louis had hit him with the sole of his shoe.

“Before our date? No, never,” Louis blinks sweetly, chuckling and climbing up as Harry smiles to himself.

4a. share the best first and last lines from your work(s): I will do only those that are already published:

best first lines are from the hope that warbles in my fluttering breast: There, against the window, was stuck millions of snowflakes, their see-through quality no more as they huddled together, pushed against hard surfaces by the merciless wind. 

best last lines are from in a sea of mist: It takes a while for Harry to go to sleep, elation pumping through his veins so fast that the previous tiredness he felt has flown out of the window. But when he finally focuses on Louis’ heavened out breathing, and when he breathes in Louis’ natural perfume that always acts as an ambrosia over him, he manages to close his eyes, and for the first time in a while, he dreams of a future that’s devoid of any darkness.

5a. link the last fic you read: currently reading sweet like honey by @falsegoodnight and Spoonful of Sugar by @zanniscaramouche and they’re absolutely amazing!

6a. link the last work you published: in a sea of mist

7a. link to your ao3 (if applicable): tomlinvelvet

8a. someone that inspires you: Louis <3 his music and just his personality overall leaves so much scope for the imagination. There are also so many writers (both non-fanfic writers and fanfic writers) that inspire me daily.

9a. a comfort fic/work that you’ve been grateful for this year: even the best laid plans and just a flicker in the dark both by @falsegoodnight as well as eyes off you by @soldouthaz ... these fics are just so amazing, everything about them is top tier

10a. other writers that you’d like to tag! @falsegoodnight @scrunchyharry @hadestyles @mercurial-madhouse @youreyesonlarry @raspberryoatss @jacaranda-bloom @soldouthaz @behisoneandonly @vintageumbroshirt @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed @lougendarey @quelquesetoiles <3 no pressure ofc!

[yikesharringrove]

mob boss billy falls for trust fund brat Steve

I’m going combine this with an anon request I got that’s similar.

anonymous asked:

Mafia Boss Billy fucking his worst rivals aka Mr Harringtons son, Steve, them both knowing who they are, but not giving a shit about it. Steve just really loves to get fucked by that thick cock of Billy’s and he doesn’t care that his own father hates the guy 👀

So there’s some fucking, some general violence, bad things happen and are bad, murder boyfriend energy.

Read on ao3

Billy Hargrove was infamous around Chicago.

The Hargrove Family was well established, ran the fucking streets for decades the title of Boss being handed father to son.

Neil Hargrove had groomed his son from a young age, kept him in the room to observe as he spoke to his dogs. Explained the precise techniques he used for torture. The first time he made Bill kill a man, hold a gun to his head and pull the trigger, Billy was twelve.

Billy was Neil’s favorite attack dog.

He could just say his name and strike absolute fear in the hearts of anyone who heard it, anyone who was threatened with it.

Billy was known for having cold eyes, a heart of steel. Rumor is, he killed his own father to take over the company, had an expensive funeral for him.

He took over the large office, headed up the businesses they used as a front.

Pictures would surface of him in expensive clubs, doing lines of coke off strippers, letting twinks sit in his lap, suck him off while he lazily sipped expensive whiskey.

Steve Harrington was a brat.

The Harrington family ran Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and were building themselves in St. Louis.

They were the Hargroves’ biggest rivals, had been encroaching on their stake in Chicago, had plans to take over as much of the midwest as possible.

Mr. Harrington had never been afraid to use his son as a bargaining chip.

Steve was pretty, but he was a simpering idiot according to his father. Only good to be thrown to the enemy, with a promise he’d do anything.

He’d been fucked over plenty of desks, had been tied up in grand penthouses, choked on the cocks of the bosses his dad wanted ally-ships with. The Harrington Family owed the establishment of their branch in Cleveland to Steve’s asshole and his willingness to be choked.

When Steve first met Billy, they were unaware of the other.

Steve had been on a bender, blowing through his father’s money after the settlement of a partnership in Detroit. He was in Chicago, being watched by two of his father’s men, the two had been assigned to Steve when he was young, keeping a close watch on him.

Billy had watched the pretty boy stumble into the club, the lights dim, the music low, base-heavy.

Steve was out of his mind when he slammed into the broad chest, had gazed up into sharp blue eyes, tugged a blond curl that had escaped the bun at the crown of his head.

Billy took him home that night, had fucked the rich brat in his silk sheets, on his dresser, on his bearskin rug, over his desk, against the shower wall.

They exchanged phone numbers the next morning when Steve hunted down his clothes, called his car around.

They started meeting up every time Steve made his way to Chicago, happening more and more often as he started to want Billy more and more.

But after a few months, Steve noticed some mail, envelopes addressed to William Hargrove.

“You’re, you’re a Hargrove.”

“You know the name?”

“You know the Harrington name?”

“Course I do, those assholes keep creeping on my turf.”

“Yeah well, I’m one of them.” He held out his hand. “Steve Harrington. Nice to meet you.” Billy just laughed, pulling Steve into him by his outstretched hand.

“Unfortunately, I don’t care. Wouldn’t give up that tight little hole for nothing.”

They kept fucking, keeping it behind closed doors, in secret. Steve didn’t want his father to know, thought he’d try to use him as leverage to get Chicago. Steve was happy, letting himself be in something close to a relationship for the first time in his entire life.

But then his father had a request, was ready to send him to Columbus to reason with a client.

He had opened his mouth, complained to Billy and the man he was supposed to meet with was found dead in Lake Erie two weeks later, the mangled body had to be identified by dental records.

Mr. Harrington is livid.

He knew Hargrove had something to do with this, thought maybe he had sabotaged the deal, not that he had killed to protect whatever was left of Steve’s honor.

Steve was in Chicago the next day, booked a flight the minute he heard the news of the body in the lake. Had shown up at Billy’s apartment in a long coat, nothing underneath. Billy slammed him against the closed door, kissed him fiercely while peeling the coat off him.

“Can’t believe, can’t believe you killed a man for me.”

“That freak you out?” He lifted Steve up, his legs wrapping around Billy’s waist as Steve fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.

“No. It’s, God that’s so hot, Bill.”

“He begged for his life. I really took my time, made sure he knew he was gonna die just for thinkin’ about touchin’ you.” Billy set him on the leather couch, settled himself between Steve’s legs. “I’m the only one that gets to touch you. Gets to fuck you.” He ground his hips down, biting at Steve’s ear, growling in it. “You’re mine, Princess.” Steve moaned as they moved together, their cocks sliding together, hard and hot.

“Bill, want you to fuck me. Claim me.” Billy stood off the couch, forced Steve down onto the floor, face pressing into the soft rug, ass in the air, silver plug visible.

Billy pulled it out, loved watching the way Steve stretched around the thickness of it, the way his hole fluttered when it was gone, leaving him empty, wet with lube.

Billy spat on it.

“This little hole is mine. Mine to open up, mine to fuck.” He pressed his cock in, sighing at the velvet heat around him. He went hard and fast, hands rough on Steve’s hips to keep him steady, slammed into this hard enough to bruise, the sound of their skin slapping together, Steve’s loud moans, his own grunts all he could hear. “Would kill for this hole, have killed for this hole. For, for you, Princess.”

Steve came on the rug below him, hand flying over his dick, crying out as he tightened around Billy, muscles going stiff before collapsing, breathing heavily into the rug. Billy never slowed his pace, kept slamming into Steve, chasing his orgasm.

“Come inside. Only, only person I’ve, ever let fill me up.” That threw Billy right over the edge. He shoved his way in a few more times, cumming deep in that fluttering little hole. He flopped next to Steve, chest heaving as Steve rolled on top of him.

His fingers drifted down, two pressing back into Steve, keeping him full.

“You really never let anyone cum inside you?”

“No. Didn’t trust anyone enough not to use a condom. “

Billy’s mind short-circuited at the idea that Steve trusts him.

“Jesus Christ.” Steve looked at him, his eyebrows furrowed.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“I think I fucking, love you.” Steve’s face was blank.

“No shit, Idiot. You tortured and killed a guy that was hypothetically going to fuck me.”

Billy laughed, Steve shifting around on top of him as his chest moved with it.

“God, Stevie. I really went ham on the guy too. Like, really went to town.”

“And the whole time you were doing that, you didn’t once think maybe this about more than fucking?”

“I really didn’t.” He was giggling. “How long did you know?”

“When I heard they pulled that body out of Lake Erie. Your family has no ties to the Camorra family. There was no reason for you to off him, except me.”

“Was it too big a gesture?”

“Nah. Don’t mind a little death. it’s all part of the gig.” He put his head back down. “For the record, I love you too. In case you didn’t already know.” Billy kissed the top of his head.

“I almost went after your father, too.” Steve was quiet for a moment. Billy was worried he’d gone too far, said too much.

“Let me know if you do. I wanna watch.”

[busterkeatonfanfic]

Chapter 22

As Nelly washed her face and braided her hair that night, she could scarcely believe that the weekend was almost over. It had been a happy blur of fishing, bridge lessons, walks in the woods, songs under the stars, and tonight a campfire and a ukulele concert after a dinner of wheat cakes and maple syrup. And of course, not a trivial amount of that time had been passed in bed with Buster. As she’d spent those blissful hours with him, time zipped by without her noticing. 

Buster was humming to himself from the other room and Nelly wondered if the weekend had gone the way he’d expected. She wondered, not the first time, what had he expected. From the way he was behaving, he seemed cheerful and serene, but she wasn’t sure. Men were mysterious. Tomorrow he would go back to his wife and she would return to being a cog in the United Artists machine.

Before leaving the washroom, she brushed her teeth. She was half-tempted to shed her chemise and knickers ahead of bed; they always ended up torn off in the middle of the night anyway.

In the other room, Buster was sitting up in bed with the blankets pulled over his lap and her little red book in his hands, paging through Mistress Nell Gwyn. She felt a flush of embarrassment and regretted not bringing a more serious book along.

“Are you reading it ‘cause the main girl’s called Nelly?” he said, looking up at her.

Her face warmed as she checked the lock to the front door and turned off the floor lamp near the kitchen. “No, I like Marjorie Bowen and I hadn’t read this one yet. The name’s just a coincidence.” And it was, truly. “What do you read?” she said to switch the subject. They’d gotten around to discussing their favorite music (they both liked Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and Paul Whiteman), but not their favorite books. 

Buster looked slightly abashed as she switched off the table lamp by the sofa. “Does Popular Mechanics count?”

“Well, not as far as novels go,” she said, crossing the room and lifting the corner of the sheets on her side of the bed to slide in next to Buster. 

“I read a dime novel once and awhile. Mostly don’t have the time,” said Buster. “But your book—she’s sweet on old King Charlie?”

Nelly took the book from him, amused. “King Charles II,” she corrected. 

“Why d’ya like it?” said Buster. He burrowed deeper into the covers and snuggled against her shoulder like a boy wanting a bedtime story. 

“I like novels based on real things. I get a history lesson and the people from back then feel more real.”

“Did you see my picture The General?” asked Buster.

“Of course,” said Nelly. Her memory of the film wasn’t very strong, but she knew that she had enjoyed it quite a lot and remembered gasping with the rest of the audience at his daring stunts on the train. She seemed to recall that she found him good-looking with his long hair and sober looks, but apparently not so good-looking that she’d felt compelled to write him a mash note or glue his picture into her scrapbook like she had with John Barrymore.

“Now that picture, you see, was based on real facts. And the train was really called the General!” Buster launched into the story of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862, and Nelly listened with contentment to his animated retelling. He talked all about the production of the picture, having to find narrow-gauge railroad tracks, learning how to operate a steam engine, hiring the National Guard to play soldiers, and playing baseball near the Willamette Valley. “I thought it was my finest picture but the critics all blasted it. Said it was a flop. I haven’t been able to make sense of it. Guess they thought I should leave the serious acting to types like your fellow, John Barrymore.”

“He’s not my fellow, Buster,” Nelly chided. She ran her fingers idly through his dark hair.

“What happened to being his leading lady?” he said, kissing her bare upper arm.  

“Oh, don’t tease me for being romantic when I didn’t know him. I didn’t know what he was really like. Didn’t I tell you? When I was in Tempest, he came right into the ladies room and pissed in the sink right in front of me. And if that wasn’t enough, he picked his nose right in front of me too! He was so drunk he couldn’t tell left from right. I had to help him back to Mr. Taylor.”

Buster laughed. “You’re kidding.”

“Gosh, I wish I was. He kept us there all night he was so drunk. They had to build a sort of carousel for Camilla Horn and him to finish their ballroom dance.” Thinking of Tempest, Nelly was reminded of something that had been on her mind since her hours with Buster had begun to draw to a close. “I want to say something serious to you now though.”

Buster, to his credit, didn’t try to make a joke. “What’s that?”

“In the book”—for a second, Nelly lifted the red volume that lay between them—“Nell Gwyn is just an orange seller at the playhouse. One night, King Charles invites her to a tavern with his friends Rochester and Buckingham. He remembers seeing her before and likes her. While they’re eating and drinking, he asks what she means to do with her life and she says that she wants to be an actress. Then she dances for him and he leaves her a pair of silver shoes as a gift because she pays for his food and drink. You think that he’s going to see to it that she becomes an actress, but he doesn’t. He has his own matters to worry about and goes on with his life, but she becomes a successful actress on her own—I’m only halfway through of course—and anyhow that’s how he notices her again. He goes to a play and she’s starring.”

“Oh yeah?” said Buster, obviously not understanding. 

“Well, what I’m saying is I appreciate you putting in a word for me with Mr. Taylor, but if you want to continue seeing me …”

Here she paused. It was a brave thing to say aloud because she didn’t know, not for certain, if Buster did want to see her after he dropped her back off at her apartment tomorrow. It wasn’t just false modesty. For all she knew, he had getaways with girls all the time, a new one for every weekend. His waywardness with women had, after all, been one of the first things she’d heard about him back in River Junction: all a girl had to do to seduce him was walk into his dressing room. 

“I don’t want any more favors and I won’t ask for any. I don’t want to play angles anymore. In fact, I prefer to try it on my own in the future, getting parts that is, just to see if I can, if I’m good enough to make it without help. Like Nell Gwyn was.” She let out a deep breath, afraid of his reaction.

“I think that’s fine,” he said, putting a hand on her jaw and turning her head to his so he could kiss her lips. His expression registered no displeasure. “Only I never talked to Sam Taylor. You did that one on your own. Honest.”

Nelly could hardly believe it.“Really?” she said, scanning his eyes to see if he was being truthful. 

“ ‘Course not. Had nothing to do with me,” he said.

“Oh. Well…” said Nelly, feeling silly.

“I’ll make a note. No angles, no favors. I’ll let you go it alone like your Nell Gwyn.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Tell me what happens next in your book, though.”

Feeling that a weight had been lifted, Nelly went on. “Well, the King sees Nell at a play and as soon as he notices her silver shoes, he remembers who she is.”

“Then what?” said Buster, caressing her hand. 

“I don’t know. Then she becomes his mistress,” Nelly said. She felt embarrassed to admit that she read such books.

“Did he have a queen?”

“Oh yes, Queen Catherine, the one who got the British to start drinking tea, but she doesn’t get much mention in the book. Mrs. Bowen’s more concerned with his mistresses. He had about a dozen. There’s the Countess of Castlemaine and Moll Davis, who’s another actress. Nelly was just one, but she was the most loyal.” She looked down to where Buster was holding her hand in his and rubbing it with a thumb, and wondered what he was thinking about her foolish taste in novels. 

“Will you be my mistress?”

Nelly turned her face to him, stunned. For a moment, she thought it was just one of his many jokes. One look at the beseeching expression on his face told her it wasn’t. Such waves of happiness and consternation struck her then that it was several seconds before she could answer. “Yes,” she said. There could hardly be another answer. And yet even as she consented, she thought of the Countess of Castlemaine, Moll Davis, and the Duchess of Portsmouth.  

“You got this look on your face,” said Buster.

“Do I?” she said, feeling flustered. 

“Yeah. A look that’s telling me you got something on your mind you ain’t telling me.”

Now that they were being so honest, she couldn’t deny him the real answer, even though it was preposterous to ask for faithfulness from a man who was already someone else’s husband.

“Well, are there others?” she said, searching his eyes. 

“Other what?” said Buster, cocking his head a little. “Mistresses? No.” He squeezed her hand. “Now I ain’t going to lie, I’ve had steadies before, not what you’d call mistresses exactly, but cross my heart I haven’t been with a girl in months. Are you asking if I’ll be true to you?”

Nelly looked away. “Oh, I don’t know,” she said, but reminded herself she was trying to be honest. “I suppose I am and it’s the silliest thing to ask. I know you’re married. I’m not asking you to… Well, I guess I don’t know what I’m asking. Maybe I’m a little jealous, not about your wife, but about other girls because I—I like you already.” She looked back at him, fearing his reaction, but he was only regarding her in the same interested way he had when she’d relayed the plot of her book. “Please don’t take what I’m saying the wrong way, I know it seems like I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth,” she said hurriedly. “And I don’t expect you to keep me either like King Charles keeps Nelly, with satin and pearls and houses. Oh, I’m sorry for making this such a muddle. All I should have said was yes. I just want to be pals like we’ve been this weekend. I know it’s not right to ask.”

“ ‘Course we’ll stay pals,” said Buster. “And I promise no satin and pearls. I can still buy you dinner, can’t I?” 

Nelly laughed, her spirits feeling lighter. “Of course you can. I just don’t want to be a kept woman, okay? You can still do all the normal stuff a fellow would.”

Buster’s hand found its way down the front of her chemise and she pulled in a sharp breath as he rolled his finger lightly around the perimeter of her nipple. “Like this?”

She nodded, her eyes closing as his thumb joined the finger and pinched with gentle pressure. Her mind went back to the sight of him between her legs in the forest, his dark messy hair that he’d stopped slicking down with Brilliantine during the course of the weekend, and she groaned at the memory. She rolled onto her side, Buster’s hand still busy at her breast, and slid her hand beneath the brim of his pajama trousers.

“You’re not wearing any underwear,” she said, grasping the warm, silky length of him. 

Buster shifted onto his side. “Yeah, you’ve been teaching me something about efficiency.” He gave a wince of pleasure as she began to move her hand up and down. He withdrew his hand from her chemise and put it in her knickers, and she felt as warm as she had in the sun on Saturday as his fingers began their clever work.

They exchanged pleasures like that for a couple minutes before Buster began tugging her chemise over her head. She unbuttoned his pajama shirt as he played with her breasts. It would be a terribly long time before she was ever bored by the way he tensed his stomach when she touched him, making all the muscles stand out like they were sculpted in marble. She pressed her breasts against her chest as she pulled his pajama shirt the rest of the way off of him, and Buster began wrestling her knickers down. When they were all the way undressed, both still lying on their sides, Nelly put her leg over him.

“Let’s try it without,” she whispered, as Buster kissed her neck and ear. It was a crazy thing to ask, but she was beyond thinking straight. 

“What, without a thin?” he said with surprise. 

“I think it’d be okay. If you pull out before--” She blushed. “I want to see how it feels without it.”

Buster kissed her forehead once, twice, three times in obvious gratitude. “Alright.” 

Nelly shifted herself lower and guided him into her with a hand. For a few moments, Buster was perfectly still. Nelly breathed deeply, feeling him without a barrier for the first time and jubilant with the sensation, as well as the weight of his proposal. A mistress. 

He made love to her more slowly than he had on previous occasions, pausing for long stretches to kiss her, then grasping her backside to push himself deeper. Eventually, the slow pace sent her into such a frenzy that she took control of the rhythm. He caught on and went faster. When every muscle on him stood out again as if sculpted, she knew he was close. 

“Don’t forget to pull out,” she said, seeking his eyes. 

“I won’t,” he said breathlessly. He gave such a fierce, pleasurable thrust that she keened, and that caused him to withdraw suddenly and rock himself against her stomach until he came with a shuddering groan. 

She stroked his cheekbone when he was finished. His eyes had closed and his breathing was deep and satisfied. Buster Keaton’s mistress. She was so filled with the thought that she felt barely any guilt when she thought of his wife. It was, after all, easy to justify. He was not intimate with her; she had realized that when he mentioned that he slept alone. She had never forgotten his statement the night of his party either, that the marriage was headed for divorce. But there she cut off her thoughts. She was getting far too ahead of herself. It was enough that they had gotten on like a house on fire and that Buster was holding her in his arms now, smelling like sweat and cigarettes and himself. 

“Buster,” she said. She could tell he was starting to fall asleep.

“Mmmph,” said Buster. 

“We should set an alarm for tomorrow. My tram leaves at 6:45 and I’ve got to be at work around 7:30. We should get up at four so we have time to pack and so I can get ready.”

Buster rolled onto his back and cupped the crown of his head in his hands. “Don’t worry about the tram, I’ll drop you off.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I don’t want to get you into any trouble. If anyone sees us, they’ll talk,” she said. 

Buster opened one eye and lifted his eyebrow. “Let ‘em talk,” he said.

“Okay,” said Nelly, not quite knowing what to make of this attitude. 

Nell Gwyn had been no secret to King Charles II’s subjects, but somehow Nelly thought that Buster Keaton’s public would be less tolerant if he got into the habit of parading around a mistress. Nonetheless, she didn’t argue with him. As she cleaned his seed off of her in the washroom, she didn’t have a thought except for how happy she was when she was around him.

Note: Just a PSA that this is fiction and not an endorsement of the pull-out method (although Planned Parenthood notes that it is 96% effective if used correctly 100% of the time). Obviously it doesn't prevent STDs. You should always use protection with a new partner. ;)