#okay these were all series and not movies but it gets too wordy to say Halloween Movie & TV Marathon

[mari-beau]

Halloween Movie Marathon 2024:

Week Four

[kimbapisnotsushi]

Hi....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite anime (can be series or movies) or top 10 favorite manga? And why do you love them? Also, what are your top 5 (or top 7) favorite moments from any anime (can be series or movies) or manga that you loved?

Sorry if I ask too much, feel free if you want to answer both of my questions or just pick either one......Thanks....

aaaahh no i'm so honored to be asked something like this!! these are REALLY hard questions tho LMAO like holy shit i STRUGGLED. i ended up choosing the series/moments that left me with the greatest emotional impact or were really formative during my younger years. this turned into a really long and wordy post so uhhh sorry about that, I would have added more pics but they couldn't all be the same size so i gave up LMAO. Anyways let's get into it!!

TOP 10 ANIMANGA SERIES/MOVIES (in no particular order)

I. HAIKYUU!!

I wouldn't be much of a Haikyuu!! fan if this wasn't number one on the list (even though I said they were in no particular order, haha). With how the anime adaptation is coming along, I do absolutely recommend reading the manga. Aside from the fact that the art is just gorgeous, I love how Furudate puts so much care into the characters and story. The symbolism and poetic one-liners that have no business being in a sports manga are fucking fantastic, the development is great, everyone gets a happy and fulfilling ending, and it all wraps up like an emotional sucker punch to the stomach. I also LOVE that there's so much canon material for fans to play around with, and that there's so much left to the imagination. Haikyuu!! really is just a master class in storytelling and a total dream to analyze.

II. THE NIGHT BEYOND THE TRICORNERED WINDOW

Okay, I lied earlier. I just HAD to put this one second. (I swear after this the order doesn't matter!) It has an anime series and live-action movie adaptation, which I haven't watched, but I've heard that they don't really do the manga justice. Now, I wouldn't really recommend this one to kids, which I guess can be pretty broad or specific based on your definition? Strictly speaking there aren't any NSFW explicit scenes - nobody even gets naked at any point nor is it the hated ecchi style with random underwear/breast shots or whatever - but the two main characters are pretty euphemistic in, say, the first quarter or so of the series.

(Hiyakawa borrows power from Mikado and when that happens the feelings mirror the pleasure of intercourse, to put it bluntly, but that's not something that actually ever happens. Mostly we, the audience, just see Mikado get red and flustered, although Hiyakawa says/does shit to go along with it sometimes. It gets milder -> nonexistent as the plot progresses because that's not really the focus of the story.

Also, if you're sensitive to dubious consent then this probably isn't for you, since a big part of Hiyakawa's arc is learning how to be less fucked-up than he is and he often uses Mikado's power while Mikado tells him to wait or slow down - not because he wants to hurt Mikado or make him suffer, but because Hiyakawa just genuinely doesn't know that it's the wrong thing to do due to his upbringing. I won't go into why for spoiler reasons, but it becomes really clear by the end of the story. For those of you who are willing to look, I'm going to show a couple pics of this in action down below - otherwise, please skip over it and just scroll down to the parenthesis.

I wasn't really expecting to to go as in-depth as I did about this, and I do love this series, but I also want to give fair warning since the way the dialogue and Mikado's expressions are depicted give off a very real sense of urgency that I would hate for anyone to be caught off guard/be triggered by. I'd love to talk more about it if anyone wants to ask, but I've already diverged enough from the original question.

I don't want you thinking that they have an imbalanced toxic relationship in which Hiyakawa has all the power and Mikado is subservient to him, though, because that's not what it is either. Mikado has always been his own person, and Hiyakawa never tries to control him in any way besides from his own misunderstanding of consent. They help each other on equal grounds, but apparently the anime does a terrible job of showing that.

END )

So, why do I love this series? Well, it's modern paranormal/supernatural, which I'm a HUGE fan of. Apparently Gege Akutami (Jujutsu Kaisen author) named it as one of their own favorites, and once you read it you can really see a LOT of similarities. There's a character just like Okkotsu in that they've done REALLY shitty things and don't know whether they deserve to live or not. There's also a lot of learning how to be brave when you've been running scared your entire life and taking back your own control/power through it. And, other than the heavy stuff, it's actually quite funny. There was one moment I wasn't expecting where I actually laughed out loud.

Also, the characters are really compelling! Aside from everything I said about Hiyakawa earlier, he's one of those nonsensical types who says the most ridiculous things with the utmost sincerity and with a straight face. Mikado acts as his opposite - he easily freaks out and is very expressive. Also, the villain? Like holy SHIT. I could go on about them forever. Like. Holy fucking shit. Top-tier how they handled the boss battle because hoooolyyyyyy shiiiiiiit. But I don't want to spoil, so I'll leave it at that.

Also, the background stories for the characters - once you get to them - will break your heart. Yamashita draws really simply, sure, but they have such a powerful way with storytelling that the emotions just hit you like a brick through the window.

Mostly, though, it is a story about healing, and I'm a sucker when a bunch of people who need to heal in different ways because of the same thing all come together and help each other. I can also guarantee a happy ending, so look forward to that!

III. SNOW WHITE WITH THE RED HAIR

Oh, how I love this series. I know the anime hasn't adapted to its current point, so I def encourage you to read the manga even though it's not complete yet either (and I started in like middle school LMAO). Shirayuki was honestly such a huge role model for me growing up - she was smart and pretty and determined and, even when she wasn't so sure of herself, she always wanted to do the right thing. All the characters in the main squad are so lovely and feel like a real family altogether, and I adore every single one of them. It's sweet and romantic and nails nonmagical fantasy worlds right on the head, and I'd LOVE for more people to get on board with it.

(If you need more convincing, there's pirates and festivals and assassins and a character to love for every single person out there. I know Kiki and Mitsuhide are enough to cause a crisis.)

IV. BOYS RUN THE RIOT

OKAY Y'ALL. LISTEN UP. YOU WANT MORE LOUD AND PROUD QUEER REP IN MANGA?? HERE'S YOUR QUEER REP COME AND GET IT.

It doesn't have an anime adaptation so you can't really watch anything and be done with it, but there's only four volumes so it's easy to collect. it's a story about a transgender teenage boy named Ryo who expresses himself through fashion and GOD I love everything about this series. Jin is the BEST ally. It feels like such a warm hug to see something so proudly represented in manga. ALSO Boys Run the Riot started as a prototype one-shot that the author entered into a contest, and in THAT one of the first characters prototype-Ryo comes out to actually reveals to him that he's Korean!! He kept it hidden and changed his name to protect his identity!! Do you know how fucking REAL Keito Gaku was for that!! Like there is a whoooole conversation to be had about that topic but that is not for now!!

Anyways yes Boys Run the Riot makes you want to cheer and scream when everything comes together in the end because it felt like an uphill battle you were holding your breath through the entire time and I LOVE that they get a hopeful ending. Give it a try, I'm BEGGING.

V. CARDCAPTOR SAKURA

Okay, I'm going to be honest: this is pretty much the only series that has a manga AND an anime in which I've only ever seen the anime. I hear it does a pretty good job of adapting, though, so I'm not too concerned about it. (I do plan on reading the manga to catch up to the Clear Card arc.) I'll also admit upfront that since CCS is a kids' series, there were quite a few problems in it that I didn't realize until I was much older and went back to it.

I like that Sakura feels like a very real protagonist. She was scared and wimpy quite often, and as a kid it was really empowering to watch her develop into someone confident of herself and her abilities. She's got such a great supporting crew behind her, too! I especially loved that CLAMP brought in Syaoran and Meilin from Hong Kong - even nowadays, a lot of non-Japanese foreigner animanga characters fall into the American or European category.

Also, Yuki and Touya. Just do it for them. Seriously. You can watch CCS for them and ignore everything else.

Mostly CCS, for me, was fun and magical and a great escape for a little kid who wanted to get lost in a world not too far from their own. Also, it's got that 90s-drawn aesthetic we all know and love.

VI. PLAY IT COOL, GUYS!

Honestly, I love all of Kokone Nata's works so far. She's one of the more modern authors who got picked up on Pixiv, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where she's going. Play It Cool, Guys! is one of my favorites. It's actually a manga in color, and Kokone Nata utilizes it beautifully. She has so many fun characters and makes normal, everyday life seem so bright and fun. And not to sound like a main character, but I'm also a very clumsy, accident-prone person, so it's really nice to be able to see the crew do everything that I do and do their best to overcome them.

I also love how naturally their relationships develop. Like, seriously - how would a high school kid, two entirely separate and totally opposite college students, a late-20s office employee, and a semi-famous author all fall in together?? Everything is up to fate but Kokone Nata has a way of never making it feel forced. It's not at all unreasonable to bump into each other at the bookstore or in the park - especially when we see that they actually DO interact as strangers first who all happen to hang out/live near each other, and they just drift closer when they finally recognize each other. It's so subtle but so amazing to watch in action.

Also, it's very soothing and fluffy and healing and you absolutely do not have to put the amount of analysis I do into it LMAO, so if you ever need a pick-me-up I absolutely encourage this series or any of Kokone Nata's works!

VII. POKÉMON

Yeah, yeah I know. But I couldn't not include another childhood fave!! It was one of the very first I watched and Ash is honestly such a great protagonist and role model for younger kids. Sure, he can be an annoying brat in the ten-year-old way, but he takes losing like a champ and he always tries to do what's right. He was incredibly selfless, kind, and considerate for a character of that age and growing up alongside that really taught me a lot about what I wanted to put out into the world. Watching any episode just makes me feel comforted and like I'm paying an old friend a visit and it will always be in my favorites list. Plus the dub actually has some HILARIOUS lines LMAO.

Also, the Special Adventures manga series by Hidenori Kusaka is a total gem and was my first introduction to fandom, so if you're a Pokémon fan who hasn't read it then I really encourage you to check it out!

(I would like to make a note that I got stuck after this and was kind of fishing around in my head for the last three LMAO)

VII. HIBI CHOUCHOU

This one is one of my favorite high school romance series - it's sweet and fluffy and might be a little cheesy, but the characters are all so lovely and you can't help but want to cheer them on! The plot is kind of ridiculous when you first start it - "all guys instantly fall in love with the super pretty MC who hates the attention and has been declared 'unattainable' because of her distant attitude towards them and ends up falling for the one guy who didn't act crazy-in-love with her from the start" - but it's really heartwarming to see the growth Suiren and Taichi go through. I also really love Taichi because he feels so different and refreshing from a lot of high school romance manga male lead/love interests that I've seen. (Maybe because of the glasses? I can't name any other male lead/love interest with glasses LMAO.) It's such a gentle series and feels like a warm hug, and watching two quiet people find their way together really did wonders for shy high school me.

IX. FADED FIRST LOVE

Oh gosh, this one is SUCH a gem! You know how sometimes people want representation as a sweet story that's not about an identity crisis but just having fun and in love? That's what Faded First Love feels like. It's genuinely funny and sweet, and while Aoki DOES encounter a couple homophobic problems here and there, it's mostly lighthearted and nothing he can't handle with the help of his friends. He and Iida are both learning and doing their best, and it's one of the series I go back to whenever I want a pick-me-up.

X. JUJUTSU KAISEN

I did say before that I was a huge fan of mixing paranormal phenomena with modern settings, and Jujutsu Kaisen is a great example of that. It's crazy how much thought was put into the technical aspects of that world - every time I think about Gojo explaining to Itadori how to channel cursed energy, it makes my head hurt. The monster designs are so creative and the characters are all such a great bunch. I tear up whenever I remember Miwa listening to Mechamaru's voice recording on the plane. What really nailed it as a Top 10 for me was JJK Volume 0, because hooolyyy shiiiit. Okkotsu's growth was FANTASTIC to watch and I LOVE how confident he is now and how he follows the philosophy of "the people I care about care about you" when it comes to Itadori.

So that's it!! God, that was hard. I hope you enjoyed, and for anyone else reading it I hope this encourages you to pick up one or the other!!

Honorary mentions to: Promare, Kimi ni Todoke, From Up on Poppy Hill, Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, and tbh I'd list more but that would take forever LMAO

This is already a really long post so I'll reblog or make a part two with my fave moments, I'll let you know!

thanks all <333

[snarktheater]

Hey, d'you have any French book recs? I'm trying to work on my French, and rn I have downloaded one of my favourite book series' French translations, but I figured maybe books already written in French might work better? Also have you read the Ranger's Apprentice series? 1/2

RA's def flawed - the books' narration does like to point bright arrows at the protagonists' intelligence, and the last few books def have the tone of 'old white man trying to write feminism', although at least he's trying? - and it's aimed more to the younger side of YA, but it is still a very fun series, and I can ignore the flaws fairly easily, at least partly due to nostalgia? This rather long lol but I'm wordy.

I'll start with the second question: no, although every time the series is brought up I have to check the French title and go "oh, right, I've seen these books in stores". But I've never purchased or read them. It sounds like something I probably would have enjoyed as a teen but I just missed the mark, and these days I'm trying to drown myself in queer books, so that probably isn't happening.

As for your first question, geez, I haven’t read a French book in years, so this is gonna skew middle grade/YA, though that may not be so bad if the point is to learn the language. I will also say that as a result, these may read a little outdated.

I'll put it under a cut, even if Tumblr has become really bad with correctly displaying read mores. Sorry, mobile crowd.

It's also likely that old readers of the blog will have seen me talk about most of these. I don't feel like going through old posts.

One last thing: while I was curating this list I took the time to make a Goodreads shelf to keep track of those.

The Ewilan books by Pierre Bottero

(It's a testament to how long ago I read these books that these are not the covers of the edition I own, and I can't even find those on Google. I'm settling for a more recent cover anyway since it'll make it easier to find them, presumably)

There are at least three trilogies (that I know of) set in the same world.

The first trilogy is essentially an isekai (so, French girl lands in parallel fantasy world by accident) with elements of chosen one trope, though I find the execution makes it worth the while anyway.

The second trilogy is a direct sequel, so same protagonist but new threat, and the world gets expanded.

The third one is centered around a supporting characters from the previous books, and the first couple of books in it are more her backstory than a continuation, though the third one concludes both that trilogy and advances the story of the other books as well.

Notably these books have a really fun magic system where the characters "draw" things into existence. It's just stuck with me for some reason.

A bunch of stuff by Erik L'Homme

I have read a lot of this man's books, starting with Le Livre des Etoiles.

They also skew towards the young end of YA, arguably middle grade, I never bothered to figure out where to draw the line. They're coincidentally also using the premise of a parallel world to our own (and yes, connected to France again, the French are just as susceptible of writing about their homeland), but interestingly are set from the point of view of characters native to the parallel world.

It also has a very unique magic system, this one based on a mix of a runic alphabet and sort-of poetry. I'll also say specifically for these books that the characters stuck with me way more than others on this list, which is worth mentioning.

This trilogy is my favorite by Erik L'Homme, but I'll also mention Les Maîtres des brisants, which is a fantasy space opera with a pirate steampunk(?) vibe. I think it's steampunk. I could be mistaken. But it's in that vein. It's also middle grade, in my opinion not as good, but it could just be that it came out when I was older.

Another one is Phaenomen, which was a deliberate attempt at skewing older (though still YA). This one is set in our (then-)modern world and centers a group of teens who happen to have supernatural powers. I guess the best way to describe it is a superhero thriller? If you take "superhero" in the sense of "people with individualized powers", since they don't really do a lot of heroing.

...I really need to brush up on genre terminology, don't I.

The Ji series by Pierre Grimbert

This one is actually adult fantasy, though it definitely falls under "probably outdated". It is very straight, for starters, and I'd have to give it another read to give a more critical reading of how it handles race (it attempts to do it, and is well meaning, but I'm not sure it survives the test of time & scrutiny, basically).

If I haven't lost you already, the premise is this: a few generations ago, a weird man named Nol gathered emissaries from each nation of the world and took them to a trip to the titular Ji island. Nobody knows what went down here, but now in the present day, someone is trying to kill off all descendants from those emissaries, who are as a result forced to team up and figure out what's going on.

I'm not going to spoil past that, though I will say it has (surprise) a really unique magic system! I guess you can start to piece together what my younger self was interested in. Which, admittedly, I still am.

Once again, this one also has a strong cast of characters, helped by rich world building and the premise forcing the characters to come from many different cultures (though, again, I can't vouch for the handling of race because it's been too long).

The first series is complete by itself, though it has two sequel series as well, each focusing on the next generation in these families. Because yes, of course they all pair up and have kids. Like I said: very straight.

A whole lot of books by Jean-Louis Fetjaine

OFetjaine is a historian, and I guess he's really interested in Arthurian mythos especially, because he loves it so much he's written two separate high fantasy retellings of them! I'm not criticizing, mind you, we all need a hobby.

The former, the Elves trilogy (pictures above) is very traditional high fantasy. Elves, dwarves, orcs, a world which is definitely fictionalized with a pan-Celtic vibe to it. The holy grail and excalibur are around, but they're relics possessed by the elves and dwarves with very different powers than usual. Et cetera.

Fetjaine also really loves his elves (as the titles might imply), and while they're not exactly Tolkien elves, there's a similar vibe to them. If you like Tolkien and his elf boner, you'll probably like this too. And conversely, if that turns you off, these books probably also won't work for you.

This series also has a prequel trilogy, centered around the backstory of one of the main characters. I...honestly don't remember too much about it, but I liked it, so, there you go, I guess.

I said Fetjaine did it twice. The other series is the Merlin duology, which, as the title implies, is a retelling of Merlin's story. Note that Merlin is also in the other trilogy, but it's a different Merlin; like I said, completely different continuities and stories.

This one is historical fantasy, so it's set in actual Great Britain, and Fetjaine attempts to connect Arthur to a "real" historical figure...but, you know, Merlin is also half-elf and elves totally exist in Brocéliande, so, you know. History.

Okay, that's probably enough fantasy, let me give some classics too.

L'Arbre des possibles et autres histoires - Bernard Werber

Bernard Werber is a pretty seminal author of French sci-fi and I should probably be embarrassed that the only book of his that I read was for school, but, it is a really good one, so I'll include it anyway.

It's a novella collection, and when I say "sci-fi" I want to make it clear that it's very old school science fiction. It's more Frankenstein or Black Mirror than Star Trek, what we in French call the anticipation genre of science fiction: you take one piece of technology or cultural norm and project it into the future.

It has a pretty wide range of topics and tones, so it's bound to have some better than others. My personal faves were Du pain et des jeux, where football (non-American) has evolved into basically a wargame, and Tel maître, tel lion, where any animal is considered acceptable as a pet, no matter how absurd it is to keep as a pet. They're both on a comedic end, but there's more heartfelt stuff too.

L'Ecume des Jours - Boris Vian

(no cover because I can't find the one I have, and the ones I find are ugly)

This book is surrealist. Like, literally a part of the surrealist movement. It features things such as a lilypad growing inside a woman's lungs (and, as you well know, lilypads double in size every day, wink wink), the protagonist's apartment becoming larger and smaller to go with his mood and current financial situation, and more that I can't even recall at the moment because remembering this book is like trying to remember having an aneurysm.

It is also really, really fun and touching. Oh, and it has a pretty solid movie adaptation, starring Audrey Tautou, who I think an international audience would probably recognize from Amelie or the Da Vinci Code movie.

I don't really know what else to say. It's a really cool read!

Le Roi se meurt - Eugène Ionesco

Ionesco is somewhat famous worldwide so I wasn't even sure to include him here. He's a playwright who wrote in the "Theater of the Absurd" movement, and this play is part of that.

The premise of this play is that the King (of an unnamed land) is dying, and the land is dying with him. I don't really know what else to say. It's theater of the absurd. It kind of has to be experienced (the published version works fine, btw, no need to track down an actual performance, in my humble opinion).

The Plague - Albert Camus

You've probably heard of this one, and if you haven't, let me tell you about a guy called Carlos Maza

I'm honestly more including this book out of a sense of duty. The other three are books I genuinely liked and happen to be classics. This book was an awful read. But, um. It's kind of relevant now in a way it wasn't (or didn't feel, anyway) back in 2008 or 2009, when I read it. And I don't just mean because of our own plague, since Camus's plague is pretty famously an allegory for fascism, which my teenage self sneered at, and my adult self really regrets every feeling that way.

Okay, finally, some more lighthearted stuff, we gotta talk about the Belgian and French art of bande dessinée. How is it different from comic books or manga? Functionally, it isn't. It really comes down more to what gets published in the Belgian-French industry compared to the American comics industry, which is dominated by superheroes, or the Japanese manga industry, which, while I'm less familiar with it, I know has some big genre trends as well that are completely separate.

The Lanfeust series - Arleston and Tarquin

This is a YA mega-series, and I can't recommend all of it because I've lost track of the franchise's growth. Also note that I say "YA", but in this case it means something very different from an American understanding of YA. These books are pretty full of sex.

No, when I say YA I mean it has that level of maturity, for better or worse. The original series (Lanfeust de Troy) is high fantasy in a world where everyone has an individual magical ability but two characters find out they're gifted with an absolute power to make anything happen, and while it gets dark at times, it's still very lighthearted throughout, and the humor is...well, I think it's best described as teen boy humor. And it has a tendency to objectify its female characters, as you'll quickly parse out from the one cover I used here or if you browse more covers.

But still, it holds a special place in my heart, I guess. And on my shelves.

The sequel series, Lanfeust des Etoiles, turns it into a space opera, and goes a little overboard with the pop culture reference at times, though overall still maintains that balance of serious/at times dark story and lighthearted comedy.

After that the franchise is utter chaos to me, and I've lost track. I know there was another sequel series, which I dropped partway through, and a spinoff that retold part of the original series from the PoV of the main love interest (in the period of time she spent away from the main group). There was a comedy spin-off about the troll species unique to this world, a prequel series, probably more I don't even know exist.

Les Démons d'Alexia

Something I can probably be a little less ashamed of including here.

Some backstory here. The Editions Dupuis are a giant of the Belgian bande dessinée industry, and for many, many years I was subscribed to their weekly magazine. That magazine was (mostly) made up of excerpts from the various books that the éditions were publishing at the time; those that were made of comic strips would usually get a couple pages of individual scripts, while the ongoing narratives got cut into episodes that were a few pages long (out of a typical 48 page count for a single BD album). Among those were this series.

For the first few volumes, I wasn't super into this series, probably because I was a little too young and smack dab in the middle of my "trying to be one of the boys" phase. But around book 3 I got really invested, to the point where I own the second half of the series because I had canceled by subscription by then but still wanted to know more.

Alexia is an exorcist with unusual talents, but little control, who's introduced to a group that specializes in researching paranormal phenomena, solving cases that involve the paranormal, that kinda stuff.

As a result of the premise, the series has a pretty slow start since it has to build up mystery around the source of Alexia's powers, but once it gets going and we get to what is essentially the series' main conflict, it gets really interesting.

Plus, witches. I'm a simple gay who likes strong protagonists and witches.

Murena

There was a point where my mtyhology nerdery led me to look for more stuff about the historical cultures that created them, and so I'd be super into stuff set in ancient Rome (I'd say "or Greece or Egypt" but let's face it, it was almost always Rome).

Murena is a series set just before the start of Emperor Nero's rule. You know, the one who was emperor when Rome burned, and according to urban legend either caused the fire or played the fiddle while it did (note: "fiddle" is a very English saying, it's usually the lyre in other languages). He probably didn't, it probably was propaganda, but he was a) a Roman Emperor, none of whom were particularly stellar guys and b) mean to Christians, who eventually got to rewrite history. So he's got a bad rep.

The series goes for a very historical take on events, albeit fictionalized (the protagonist and main PoV, the titular Lucius Murena, is himself fictional) and attempts to humanize the people involved in those events. Each book also includes some of the sources used to justify how events and characters are depicted, which is a nice touch.

It's also divided in subseries called "cycles" (books 1-4, 5-8 and the ongoing one starts at 9). I stopped after 9, though I think it's mostly a case of not going to bookstores often anymore. Plus it took four years between 9 and 10, and again between 10 and 11. But the first eight books made for a pretty solid story that honestly felt somewhat concluded as is, so it's a good place to start.

[withcolebrock]

Night Changes-My Little Girl

Summary: Y/N goes into labor when Colby is across the country

Night Changes Masterlist

Warnings: swearing, brief description of child birth, I think that’s it

Word Count: 3,430

Author’s Note: Hi guys! I’m sorry that this was not another request, but I got this idea yesterday and had to write it, I hope you guys enjoy it! I love this story (it may be a bit wordy but hey) this is just the beginning of a series that I plan on doing, enjoy!! also this is my favorite gif :) wish it was better quality, anywho This is my gif!!

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked while throwing the bag over his shoulders. Dragging his suitcase, he walked into the living room sighing. “Because I can stay home, we can postpone the trip,” He stopped beside the long grey couch and rested his hand on the arm of it. She looked up towards him, smiling softly. She reached her hand up and held it towards him. He beamed as he took a hold of her hand.

“You and Sam have been planning this trip for months, you can’t just not go,” she sighed as she ran her thumb along the top of his hand. He quickly moved around the arm of the couch and sat down beside her. He pouted his lips as his grip around her hand tightened. “Bub, we are fine, go on your trip,” she smiled as she rested one of her hands onto her growing belly. His eyes glanced down towards her stomach, with an xplr t-shirt that barely covers her stomach anymore.

“What if you go into labor and I’m not here,” he whined as he rested his hand onto her stomach, slowly running his hand along the bump.

“I’m five weeks away from that happening,” she reassured.

“We don’t know that, Love. I want to be here with you just in case,” he continued to run his hand along her bump soothingly. She turned her head quickly meeting his eye and tilting her head towards him. Her eyes narrowed as she looked deeply into his eyes. He let out a soft chuckle, “Love-”

“Colby-” she widened her eyes and pursed her lips forward. He pressed his lips together and shook his head. He looked away briefly sighing. “Go have fun, exploring abandoned places and spooky things. I’ll be home on this couch watching Love Island.”

“Okay, fine,” he lifted his hand up from her stomach, and took a hold of her cheek. He ran his thumb along her cheek bone, “If anything happens, and I mean if you feel anything that may be wrong you call me,” she rolled her eyes dramatically while she took a hold of his hand onto her cheek. He raised his eyebrows looking down into her eyes.

“If anything happens, I’ll call,” he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers softly.

He pulled away whispering, “Thank you, my love,” he watched her slowly open her eyes and her lips curled upwards. They leaned towards each other slowly again, their lips touching briefly as the doorbell rings several times. He groans as he pulls away from her, “Fucking Sam,” he joked as he took a glance towards the door. She leaned her head against the back of the couch as she watched Colby stare towards the door. He took in a long breath before he stood up walking towards the door.

She smiled as she watched Colby walk away from her. She shifted her attention towards the tv in front of her. Colby and Sam quickly share a few words before the both of them walk towards the living room. “Y/N, how are you feeling?” Sam asked as he entered the living room.

“I’m alright, growing a human is all,” she joked as she subconsciously rested her hand on top of her belly. Sam and Colby both chuckled as they looked at each other briefly.

“You’re still good with Colby and I doing this trip?” He asked while he opened his water bottle and took a sip.

“Of course, go have fun!” she drew out the words as she started pushing herself up from the couch. Colby's eyes widened as he walked over to her, taking a hold of her hand while resting his hand onto her lower back helping her up. “Bub, I’m fine,” she sighed as she waved his hands away. He held up his hands in defense letting out a soft laugh.

He turned his head to glance at Sam before shifting his attention towards his very pregnant wife. “Alright, Babe we have to get going,” he sighed as he walked over to her wrapping his arms around her, “I’ll call when I land,” he pressed his lips to the side of her head before he pulled away. He smiled, “And-”

“I will call if anything happens, now leave please, so I can have some peace and quiet.” she began lightly pushing Colby against his body. Sam and Colby both started laughing as they began walking towards the door. “Goodbye have fun!” She smiled widely as she watched Sam pull open the door.

“Bye, I love you,” Colby smiled as he quickly pressed his lips against hers.

“Don’t be having babies while we are gone!” Sam joked while he walked out of the door. Colby rolled his eyes.

“Not funny, Sam,” Colby shook his head as he closed the door behind him.

~few days later~

She pulled the door open to reveal Katrina, Tara, Xepher, Devyn, and Cassie all standing carrying various bags of food and non-alcoholic drinks. She furrowed her eyebrows as her mouth fell open. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked as she rested her hand on top of her belly bump. All of the girls pushed passed the door and entered her house. They began to place the bags onto the counter and pulling out various foods and decorations. “What’s all this?” she continued.

“We are throwing you a little party,” Katrina began as she pulled out a bright pink sash with ‘baby mamma’ written on it, “Here put this on,” she smiled widely as she handed the sash over to Y/N. She quickly read the words and started laughing, the other girls joined.

She pulled the sash over her body while shaking her head. “Why are you guys doing this?” she chuckled. Tara and Devyn began pulling out pizzas among different desserts out onto the counter.

“Well, we figured that after the baby comes we wouldn’t be able to hang out like this that much. So, we decided why not tonight?” Katrina explained nonchalantly while pulling out a bottle of sparkling water. Y/N smiled sweetly as she adjusted her sash over her body.

“You guys are too cute,” she smiled as she picked up a small chocolate cupcake. She unwrapped it and took a small bite sighing in content.

“Tonight, we are just going to eat food and more food and just have a good time,” Cassie said while taking a cupcake into her hand.

“I like that plan!” Y/N laughed as she took a hold of a brownie.

After a couple of hours of the girls eating way too much food and making TikTok dances the group decided to settle down and sit together and watch a movie. At least that was the plan, but instead the girls were grilling her about the baby and Colby. “Woah, guys slow down,” Y/N chuckled.

“Okay, okay, let me go first,” Katrina started as she stopped laughing, “So since the baby is coming soon, can we finally know the name?” All of the other girls' eyes widened agreeing with the question. Y/N rolled her eyes playfully as she let out a soft giggle.

“Colby and I agreed to not tell you guys until she’s here,” she explained as she felt tight squeeze and pressure along her stomach and lower back. She took in a sudden breath as her hand immediately went to the top of her stomach. The room fell silent as the girls looked over to her furrowing their eyebrows.

“Y/N what’s wrong?” Xepher asked. Y/N took in another breath as she tightened her fist fighting the pain.

“I-I uh it’s fine, these aren’t actual contractions, it’s fine,” she groaned as she leaned back into the couch. The girls shared concerning looks between each other, before they all moved closer to her. Y/N took in a long breath, “It’s all good, I’m fine now. It’s probably just Braxton Hicks, those are a thing that happen,”

“They are,” Tara responded, “But are you sure that’s what those are?” she continued as she rested her hand on to her upper back. Y/N looked over to Tara and opened her mouth and shut it quickly. Tara sighed nervously. “You should call Colby,” she suggested. Y/N eyes widened and she shook her head.

“I don’t want to worry him, he just got to New York and-” Y/N groaned again as she tightened her hand around her stomach again.

“And he’s your husband and he should know,” Katrina explained while reaching for Y/N’s hand.

“There’s nothing to know yet,” Y/N trembled as she clenched her jaw. She took in a long breath before meeting Katrina’s eye. Katrina’s face was full of concern as she looked over her best friend. “These are Braxton Hicks, they have to be. I’m five weeks away from my due date, these are Braxton Hicks and I am not calling my husband,” she explained as she stood up from the couch slowly. “Now I have to pee,” she began walking down the hall towards the bathroom when a sudden gush of water left her body.

The girls all watched in shock as Y/N stood still. She turned around slowly to look towards her group of friends. “I think we should call Colby now,” Cassie commented. Y/N scowled towards her as she waddled over to her kitchen barstool as her breathing quickens.

“It’s too early, she can’t come yet, it’s too soon,” she spoke quickly. “No, no, it’s too early, oh god it’s too-”

“Okay, okay,” Katrina whispered as she rested her hand on top of Y/N shoulder, trying to calm her down. “Tara, call Colby. Everyone else get Y/N some clothes,” Tara pulls out her phone immediately while walking into another room to call Colby. Devyn, Cassie, and Xepher ran to her room to pack a few clothes for her.

Tara closed the door behind her as she started calling Colby. Only after a few rings Colby answered, “Tara,” he drew out her name, “What’s up?” his voice was distant from the phone, probably from being on speaker phone.

“Colby, it’s Y/N,” she started while taking in a long breath. She heard Colby’s voice become closer to the phone, she bit her lip nervously.

“Wait what happened? Is everything okay? Tara?” At first Tara didn’t respond, she didn’t know what to say exactly. “Tara, what’s going on?!”

“She’s fine, Colby, she’s alright,” she paused, “But you’re having a baby,”

“What?” he let out anxiously, “Yes, Tara, I knew that, is that why you called me? Because you really didn’t need to scare me like that, I almost shi-”

“No, Colby, I mean tonight,” she rolled her eyes as she clenched her jaw. The line fell silent for a moment, “Colby, Y/N water broke, you need to get home, like now,” Colby continued to stay silent on the other end, Tara couldn’t tell if he was not talking or he had muted himself. “Colby?!”

“Uh, sorry, I’m just, fuck. I had a fucking feeling; I shouldn’t have left.” he explained. The sound of rustling and voices were loud in the background of Colby’s voice. “Are you guys at the hospital? What’s going on?!”

“No, we are going to be heading there any minute, but she wanted you to know before we left,”

“Let me talk to her,” Colby demanded on his end of the phone, he picked up a few of his t-shirts and threw them into his suitcase as he quickly packed his suitcase. Sam, Jake, and Corey doing the same. Colby stayed silent for a moment while he waited for Y/N to talk, “Y/N? Are you okay?”

“Oh I’m great,” she said sarcastically. Colby rolled his eyes as he threw a few jeans into the suitcase. “The girls are taking care of me, I’m alright. I promise,” he sighed as he pressed his lips together. “Bub, stop it, these things just happen. It just-” she stopped for a moment groaning in pain. Colby’s face scrunched together as he heard the pain through the phone. “It just happened to be when you were two thousand miles away.”

“Well we are all leaving as soon as we can, I’m so sorry Babe, I knew I shouldn’t-”

“Colby, stop for a second and breathe,” she paused for a moment, “We are having a baby,” she smiled.

Colby took in a long breath as a soft smile formed to his lips, “We’re having a baby,” After a couple more minutes of them talking, Y/N had hung up the phone to start heading towards the hospital. Colby quickly put the phone into his back pocket as his eyes danced around the hotel room looking for anything else that may be his.

“Colby,” Sam whispered, as he was shifting his glance towards Colby and his phone where he was buying plane tickets. “Dude,” he continued, this time Colby turned his head looking towards Sam. “You’re having a kid!”

“How fucking crazy is that?” Corey joked as the group all gave each hugs.

“I’m going to be a dad,” he said out loud, not really believing it.

~~~

She tightened her grip onto the hospital bed handle as another contraction started. Her eyes shut tightly as she clenched her jaw feeling the unimaginable pain in every part of her body. “Okay, you are doing amazing,” Katrina spoke, trying to be as reassuring as possible. She ran her fingers through Y/N’s hair as she watched her best friend going through so much pain. She wanted to speak but if she opened her mouth, no words would come out all she would experience would be yelling.

It’s been a few hours since she first got to the hospital, and Colby was still several hours away on a plane. It didn’t help that they only allowed one friend in the room. Y/N decided it would be best that every thirty minutes the girls would take shifts. Since all of the girls wanted to be there with her.

A few minutes go by with the contraction, when it starts to ease. The contractions are still a good distance apart at twenty minutes and she wasn’t fully dilated yet. Which was giving her a good long time frame for Colby to get here. Y/N opens her eyes slowly as a shaky breath leaves her lips, her eyes meet a worried Katrina. “Have you heard from Colby or Sam?” Y/N asked as she licked her lips.

“The flight won’t land for another hour, but he’ll be here,” she smiled as she stood up from the bed walking towards the tray near the bed. Taking a hold of her phone, she checks for any messages from the boys. Nothing.

“I can’t do this alone, Kat,” she cried out. Katrina walked towards the bed, leaning down in front of the bed. She smiled reassuringly.

“You’re not alone, Colby will be here soon. Until then you got all of us girls, okay?” she wiped a tear that started to stream from her eyes. Y/N furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Katrina. “I’m not crying, okay,” she whined. Y/N tilted her head forming a smile to her lips. “It’s Tara’s turn anyway,”

~~~

A couple more hours pass with the contractions slowly becoming closer and more painful. As her pain level increased, they had agreed to have all of her friends in the room with her. For a while they seemed to be bearable but as time went on she didn’t know if she could handle it. As another contraction reached it’s end she began to cry uncontrollably. “I can’t do this, I can’t do this, please don’t make me do this,” she cried as she tried to sit up out of the bed.

Katrina and Cassie walk towards the bed quickly trying to help her back into the bed. “No I can’t-please I can’t, I can’t,” she cried out as she tried to push past her friends. Katrina and Cassie both hold one of her arms keeping her still. Y/N looked into Katrina’s eyes and started crying more. “I’m so scared,”

“Y/N,” Cassie said, her tone laced with worry. Both Katrina and Cassie’s hands ran along her arms soothingly. “I know you’re scared, but you are doing this. You are having a baby, you are doing amazing. You can have this baby,”

“I can’t without Colby,” she sobbed, “I need him,” she cried as Katrina and Cassie both sat her down onto the bed, slowly letting go of her arms.

“I’m here! I’m here!” his voice rang loudly as Colby ran into the room. Her eyes land on his figure. She sees him wearing his old Take Chances hoodie and black jeans, with his red snapback on his head. She covers her face with her hands as she cries into her hands. Colby’s eyes widened as he rushed over to her, he knealed down in front of her. He rested his hand onto her knees, his knuckles nearly touching her stomach. “I’m glad this is the right room because that would have been embarrassing.” The room erupted into laughter.

She lifted her head up to meet his eyes, she saw the tears brimming his eyes. Her lips trembled as she saw the wide smile to his lips. The room slowly quiets down as Y/N and Colby look towards each other. “Let’s have a baby,” he whispered as he leaned up and pressed his lips against her flushed cheeks. She giggled softly as Colby helped her lay back down into the bed.

Only after another half an hour, it was finally time to start pushing. The nurses had kicked out everyone else beside Colby. “It’s time, Y/N,” The nurse said while sitting down ready to help her give birth.

“You are doing so good, Love,” Colby whispered into her ear, quickly pressing his lips against her temple before she was instructed to push again. She took in a long breath before she started pushing, squeezing Colby’s hand as tight as she could. Colby pretended he wasn’t in pain but he was, definitely stronger than he thought. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispered again.

“Colby, you are not helping,” she groaned as she leaned her head back against the pillow taking in short breaths.

“Sorry,” he murmurs as he presses his lips to the side of her head again.

“Just one more, Y/N, and you will get to see your daughter,” the nurse smiled as she went back to doing her job. Y/N began pushing again, almost immediately their baby was born. “You did it, hun!” she said doing a once over on the baby, the baby began crying immediately. Y/N turned her head to meet Colby’s teary eyes. The nurse carried the baby over to her and rested the baby on top of her chest. She gasped at the sight of the little human she’s been carrying for the last eight months, since she wanted to be early.

Only after a few seconds they took their little girl away to make sure she was completely alright; because she was so early. “Just a few more pushes then we will be officially done,” the other nurse said sitting done. Y/N huffed as she waited for another contraction to push.

After another twenty minutes everything with the delivery was officially over. They had taken their daughter to the NICU just to give her a few more tests. “We have a daughter, my love,” Colby whispered as he wrapped his arms around her. She smiled to herself.

“We have a daughter,” she cried.

~~~

The doctors had wanted Y/N and the baby to stay a few nights for extra observation, but they seem to believe they both are the healthiest they could be. Y/N had been sleeping when they brought back their daughter from the NICU, saying they could spend some time with her before they needed her back. Colby leaned down and carefully picked up the fragile little girl that was his daughter. He sat down slowly into the rocking chair beside the hospital bed.

His eyes admired the little features, how small her nose was and how chubby her cheeks were. Colby slowly began to tear up as he continued to look over his daughter. “My little girl, you have my heart, my everything,” he took in a quiet shaky breath as he listened to her soft breathing.

[w-ngs]

jan21

hello 2021! you did not get off on a good start. let’s try and be a little better, okay?

i didn’t read much this month (and probably won’t be for a long while because of school), but it was a wild month. well, you’ll see.

***

crooked kingdom, leigh bardugo — oh my god???? i completely forgot that i read this before i left for school and almost didn’t include it in my monthly wrap-up????? how dare i forget this masterpiece.

it was great. i loved it. i think overall, i preferred 6oc because heist stories are my guilty pleasure. but romance-wise... let’s just say kaz and inej have made it to my top 10 ships. but also i read through this so fast because i had to finish it before i left that half the story is kinda just not in my brain lololol

the most intriguing part of the entire story was the anti-wraith. her character kind of came out of nowhere, and i’m not really sure she had much of a purpose than being someone who could physically match inej. i guess she was also anti in the sense that she had no respect, just ruthlessness, which is the opposite of inej and what she stands for. but i don’t know if the anti-wraith was significant enough of a character to really be considered a foil.

i don’t really give spoiler warnings because hardly anyone reads these other than myself lolol but big spoiler ahead. skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to know. cuz i accidentally spoiled it for myself before reading and i kinda ruined it for myself lmfao.

poor matthias. he was there, and then he was gone. i feel terrible for nina. they were finally on the same page, and then he had to act all saint-like and trigger some idiot into killing him. and matthias finally came to terms with what he’d been taught and what he was trying to teach himself (#charactergrowth), so he wrapped things up neatly for himself before the bye-bye. but nina, she finally got her guy on her side and they were supposed to change the world together. sigh.

and of course, we got kaz. he’s my favorite. how could he not be, with his trauma and desire to overcome it but not letting it define him and still maintaining that evil genius act he’s so good at. it definitely hit harder in this story, the extent of his trauma. it made him more real, too. both sides of him coexist, and one could not exist without the other. he’s crazy, in nearly all senses of the word. also crazy in love, the mfing idiot. ugh, i love vulnerable kaz. i love what inej brings out in him, how she knows just how hard to push without driving him over the edge. also i saw a tiktok (this app is gonna come up a lot more in the next few reviews fsjdsdfkjdf) with a photo of them kissing with a towel between their mouths because he can’t touch her but he desperately wants to and what a perfect solution is that their... bathroom scene had me holding my breath. or at least taking very shallow breaths. it was intense. so intimate, i felt like i shouldn’t even have been there. ugh, the cute little babies. uwuwuwuwuwu

one last note. leigh bardugo is a very good writer, plot and characters and all. everything flowed much more smoothly in this book, and once again i was impressed by the detail provided. you go girl. i can’t wait to see the tv series development.

a 10/10.

***

the shadows between us, tricia levenseller — literally what did i read lmaooo. this is my first tiktok book recommendation. and it. was. boring. boring characters that didn’t make much sense. boring plot. i skimmed it after the first 50 pages cause it was so boring. that’s it bye.

a 3/10.

***

manacled, senlinyu — um. wow. i literally......... even hours after finishing it my brain is still ridiculously scrambled. edit: it’s about a month later and sometimes random scenes and images still pop in my head for no reason and then i feel all twisted inside again. i love it.

so, this is not a published book but a dramione fanfiction on ao3. i don’t read fanfics that often anymore, mainly because i’d rather read other things, not because i don’t like them. but i found this one because a tiktok that showed the illustrations in the story and i was so blown away by the fact someone would illustrate an entire fanfic that i just had to read it. and i have no regrets. it’s kinda long and a biiit wordy for me at times but holy shit that hit like a mother trucker. and i haven’t read dramione in ages, not since... years. so this really hit different.

the illustrations are beautiful. they’re what dragged me into the story in the first place, so, of course they are. but i’d literally spend minutes looking at every detail in amazement at how perfectly the emotions were captured and the lighting casting the perfect shadows and just… everything. i know nothing about drawing but my eyes were truly blessed.

i think integrating the handmaid’s tale with the hp world was ingenious. i would never have expected that. and wow. the relationship between the two, it’s…….. i can barely put it in words in my mind, and it’s even harder to articulate on paper. complex, but at the same time not, simply the desire for the other to stay alive. timeless. destructive. their only defense from the harsh reality of their situation. desperation at its most desperate, their one and only survival method. depressing. it’s so depressing. i was so sad, the angst almost too much at times.

the flashbacks were insanely intense. and i thought the handmaid section was bad. it was awful to read. i could hardly bear it, it was so dark at times i didn’t know how either of them got through it all. i mean, they barely did. the near-death scares, the constant need to create a blank slate within yourself in order to not overwhelm yourself with crushing emotions… wartime sometimes has a tendency to sound romantic, but theirs wasn’t anything near romantic, and i appreciate that the author chose to be very real about it.

at the beginning, and in the middle when we went through the flashbacks, i was afraid the love would be toxic. and, well, it kind of was at some points. but in a time like that and a situation like theirs, it would be hard to not have a toxic relationship. i was glad that in the end theirs was a good love, the kind that sustained and kept them alive and got them through until the very end, because it was what they needed from each other. and, of course, my favorite part of it all was draco’s ceaseless possessiveness that only seemed to grow, never fade. i love simpy men.

they deserve each other. i was afraid at the end they wouldn’t, that one of them would die—that draco would die because hermione basically did once already for him, so he would have to “return the favor”—also she was pregnant so there was no way she’d be the one to die—idk many theories. but at the end i’m so glad they both ended up alive. after everything, they deserved it.

i did nothing for two days straight but read this book. except eat. and barely sleep. and i have no regrets.

a 9/10.

***

bloodlines, richelle mead — dang. i used to be obsessed with vampire academy when i was in middle school. i even watched the terrible movie that released because of it. and now i can’t believe i really thought that was peak literature lmfaooooo

i remember adrian being such a funny and interesting character that i picked up bloodlines to see if it was gonna be as good as i remembered it was. i was disappointed. it was just... well let’s just say there wasn’t enough to get me invested in the characters as i used to be. i think what it was is that adrian’s characterization was so weak. he wasn’t as ~quirky~ as i remembered him to be haha. the plot was also way too slow-paced, and a little too easy to guess. maybe if i was 12 again i’d be going crazy over it like i used to. but i’m not a pre-teen anymore and my brain craves stuff along the lines of manacled—destruction, death, angst that wants me to pull my own heart out to stop it from hurting.

a 5/10.

[thenightling]

My horror dislikes list

I love horror, particularly Gothic Horror as a genre. However there are certain common types of horror or sub-genres of horror I don’t really care for.  Just because I don’t like it, it doesn’t mean I don’t understand it or can’t appreciate that others might like it.    This is just my personal opinion and I mean no offense to anyone.  And some of what I may list will be controversial to some.   Bear that in mind.  Horror that I don't care for:

1.  This one is probably the most controversial so I’ll list it first. 

Most controversial:  H. P. Lovecraft.   It's not that he is "too wordy" or "long winded." (Never insult me like that.)  It's not that I "don't get it."  It’s not that he uses “archaic language.”  (These are real things people have assumed when I tell them I don’t like Lovecraft).  I just feel he's overrated.  I don't like his antisemitism, which was considered extreme by 1930s American standards.  And I don't like how he's credited with creating certain concepts that weren't really his doing.  His ideas about long sleeping ancient / forgotten Gods or Old Ones can be found as early as Goethe's Faust Part 2, if not earlier.   Other authors that had similar ideas before Lovecraft include George MacDonald, author of Lilith.     Sometimes I like when other people adapt Lovecraft.  I liked Neil Gaiman’s A Study in Emerald.  I liked the origin of Morpheus’ helm in Sandman: Overture (also Neil Gaiman).  I liked the two episodes of The Real Ghostbusters animated series inspired by Lovecraft.  I even like the spoof Lil Cthulhu.  But I’m just not a big fan of actual H. P. Lovecraft. This doesn’t mean I haven’t read it.  Nor does it mean I don’t understand it.  And I do appreciate his influence on pop culture.  I just feel he’s overrated.       2.  I don't like Rob Zombie movies.  It's all the same to me.  Boring, grimy, sweaty, eldgelordy- full of overused modern tropes like flickering lights, jump scares, and "I haven't showered in a month" antagonists.  He sucked the supernatural out of Halloween and there's nothing truly distinct about any of his films.  It's just a style that doesn't appeal to me. 3.   CG.  I love practical effects.  Most CG is lazy, cartoonish, and doesn't look like it's really there.  I know it can look realistic and gorgeous at time but most horror films don’t take that route.  Most horror directors use it lazily. There’s a Night of the Living dead 4 or 5 by the Syfy Channel where a manhole cover is clearly CG.  Why did a manhole cover have to be CG?!  And there’s CG blood in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, which is very distracting because it looks like jello flying at the camera.  The werewolves in An American werewolf in Paris are already dated and very fake looking yet the transformation in An American Werewolf in London still gets to people today.  The werewolves in An American werewolf in Paris didn't even look real by 90s standards.  They looked like beasts that escaped Who Framed Roger Rabbit.   In the Fright Night remake there's a scene where a windshield shatters in front of Amy's face and she screams on que but she doesn't flinch or blink, making it very clear the glass isn't really there.  Had it been sugar glass or ice to give the effect, there would have been a natural flinch.  I feel practical effects, if you can't guess how it was done, can be more unnerving and the reactions seem more real.  That's why some 80s fantasy is more unnerving for kids than some modern horror.    4.  Jump scares.  Jump scares are lazy.  Being startled is not the same as being afraid.  And when they add a musical chord to accompany the scare it's like idiot proofing ot say "This is where you should react."   The only jump scare that ever worked on me was when I was twelve-years-old watching Interview with the vampire.  Louis says "It's the carriage." and he goes down to the door. And you know damn good and well it's not the carriage.  He opens the door, there's no one there.   You know it's coming, but when he turns his head and Lestat's hand grabs his throat, I jumped the first time I saw that.  I knew it was coming.  But I still jumped.   To me a good scare is when it creeps in and crawls under your skin. When I was watching Let the Right One In I remembered thinking “Ah, this isn’t so scary.” and it was at the part where Eli climbs up the side of the hospital.  It was snowy outside, just as it was in the movie, and late at night.  And at that moment the power went out. For a split second (It was only a second) I thought “Oh, crap!  Vampire child’s gonna get me!”   And I was a grown woman in 2008.  I was twenty-six-years-old. Another incident that made me realize just how scary Gothic horror truly is was when I was watching a History Channel show about the real Castle Dracula.  And it mentioned the locals seeing mysterious lights and noises up in the castle so some priests were sent to bless the place.  A storm came in suddenly and the priests had to do the blessing from a distance.  (This was Poenari castle, not Bran.  Bran is used for tourists.  Poenari is where Vlad spent most of his time but it’s considered unsafe).  And as I watched this I remembered that storm summoning was supposed to be one of the vampire Dracula’s powers. At that moment the door creaked open And I practically leapt out of my skin.   That’s when I knew Dracula is actually scary.

I also had a nightmare once about being a werewolf in the style of The wolfman. In the dream I blacked out during the transformation and then suddenly it was hours or a day later and I knew I must have done something terrible and I found loved ones slaughtered.   I remember the guilt in that dream and I knew The Wolfman had reached me on a level most horror doesn’t, on a fear of what it must be like to be like him.           My most recent experience with a truly good sense of my skin crawling horror was watching an episode of DC Universe's Swamp Thing. A child is possessed with the ghost of Abby Arcane's dead childhood friend.   She's been singing their old song and acting ...well, weird.   "If you're her than prove it?"  She is smiling menacingly.  It looks like she'll do nothing.  Abby turns to walk away.  This is where most jump scares happen.  But it doesn't.  As she nears the door it slams shut but that isn't the end of it.  It's not just a stupid psych out jump scare the way most horror movies do now.  Instead the whole atmosphere of the room changes.  Everything becomes damp.  The lighting dims.   Everything becomes slightly off-kilter or "wrong" like in a nightmare.  It was so atmospheric, so spooky... It was the best Gothic horror moment I had seen in literally years.  I had goosebumps.  5.   The polarization of vampire fiction triggered by the Twilight fad.  Thankfully this is dying now.   But for a while vampires were divided into two styles.  The broody, whiny emo, or the mindless killing machine AKA "the Shark with legs."   I missed the balance of charming and charismatic, but also predatory.  I missed the likes of Frank Langella as Dracula and Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandridge. The Fright Night remake was disappointing for this reason.  I hate that vampires rarely shapeshift now.  I hate the nerfing of their powers.   And I hate that Jerry's human-side was erased as a reactionary response to be anti-Twilight.   It ruined the remake for me.  6.   Ghosts that movie like a broken VHS tape.  The jerking movement ghosts of ghosts that suddenly flicker or spasm and suddenly are a few stepped forward without actually moving...  This works in Ringu / The Ring because she IS a damaged VHS tape but in other ghost stories it doesn't really work for me.  it takes me out of the story and I notice it's following a trend. 7.    Torture porn.   Pity, and gross-out is not fear.  It's like how that game show / reality show  "Fear Factor" confused fear with disgust. "eat these random cow pies" isn't fear, folks.   Actually Torture porn kind of bores me . I don't feel fear.  It's just drawn out mutilation and torture.  I may feel pity for the character or be disgusted by the graphic mutilations but I'm not afraid of it.  And it's lazy and cheap.  8.   Next on Lazy and cheap...  Found footage.  I HATE found footage movies.   Shaky cam and screams into a camera don't do it for me.  And they all feel the same.    9.   Most Zombie Apocalypse movies.  Most recent Zombie apocalypse movies bore me.    There are a few exceptions like the original Night of the Living Dead, which, at the time it was made was unique and atmospheric but many zombie films attempt to imitate it and it becomes bland and formulaic.   I also liked Return of the Living Dead because it was one of the first Zombie Apocalypse movies.  It hadn’t yet become dull and predictable to me that everyone huddles together and it becomes more and more futile until there is no one left or it’s utterly hopeless.  And so as things became repetitive I started to dislike the ‘zombie apocalypse genre.”   Exceptions include Night of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead.  I also like the original White Zombie and I walked with a Zombie but those are pre-Zombie Apocalypse.   There are a few zombie films I like that aren’t that scary but I like them because they are different.  Those include “My boyfriend’s back.”  (Daddy, I love him!”  “He’s a zombie, you freakin’ idiot!”  I love that line).    And Warm Bodies.   And please don’t use Warm Bodies to discredit my status as a horror fan.  I just like it because it’s different.  First, R isn’t that bad of a protagonist.  He’s more well developed than Edward Cullen and he spends half the movie eating the brains of the dead boyfriend of the girl he’s pining for, carrying bits of brain in his pocket.  There’s no sugar coating that.   Also it’s one of the few zombie apocalypse movies to have a happy ending.  Yeah, it’s sappy and a bit hamhanded bu tit has a sweet message.  Sometimes it’s okay to like sweet.

 10.   Remakes that suck the supernatural out of a supernatural story.  I’m tired of gritty.  I’m tired of “grounded in reality.”  The supernatural is scary because it is unknown.  In the case of Child’s Play, a hacked AI doesn’t seem as creepy to me as a soul of a serial killer seeking a new host body. Also the cynical part of me suspects the “grounding in reality” is a direct ploy to get a release in China, which does not like supernatural content in American import movies. This is part of why Disney / Marvel has been downplaying Marvel’s supernatural side.  I miss supernatural horror.   I’m tired of remakes literally sucking out the soul.  

11. Bonus: Anything based on a “true case” by The Warrens.  I believe in the paranormal.   I respect paranormal research but The Warrens were known con artists, even among paranormal researchers.   If you look at most of their haunted house cases there’s a particular formula.  Woman moves into dream home with loving, Catholic family. Weird things slowly start to happen. The husband is skeptical / getting possessed.  The wife goes to the church for help.  The priests can’t help or nothing happens in front of them.   Desperate she attends a Warrens lecture.  Never fear, The Warrens are here!  And lo’ and behold, the house is full of demons!  Demons only The Warrens know how to Handle.  This happens in The Haunted (Not to be confused with The Haunting), it happens in Gave Secrets: the story of Black Hope Cemetery and pretty much every other haunted house story they got involved in.   They made book and TV movie deals and later bigger Hollywood movie deals.  Now half the horror and Parapsychology world thinks they were demonology heroes and not the con artists who once ‘exorcised a werewolf” (Look it up.)  I am not a fan of The Warrens.

[scabopolis]

pre-series au: logan x veronica - you just sway

This was supposed to be a 5-times fic (5-times Veronica asks Logan to dance and 1-time he asks her) but your girl is wordy and can’t write anything without trying to get too cute, so this turned into a pre-series little ficlet (that has more I’ve written so might get finished and posted to AO3). I’ve never ready a 10,000 word 5-times fic and genre bending moves are not within my capacity at the moment.

Written on my bus commute to work and edited hastily. 

This is a pre-series choose your own adventure type situation. Want it to be canon compliant? Go for it! Want it to spin off into a whole world of imagination? That works, too. 

Be kind. Rewind. Er, reblog?

pre-series au: logan x veronica - you just sway

So, you just sway back and forth?

For the past hour, Veronica’s been watching as the girls and boys in her seventh grade class step into their first slow dancing foray with trepidation. And here she stands, off to the side drinking fruit punch and munching on generic Oreos puzzled by the enterprise. It doesn’t come off as romantic as the movies make it look. Frankly her classmates don’t really seem to be enjoying themselves.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting.

Okay, that’s not true.

She’s been to a few gatherings at Lilly’s house (a term she coined to sell them to her dad who believes she is far too young for parties) and they led Veronica to expect the night to be a veritable bump and grind fest. But instead when Low came on all the girls clumped together, giggling at their poor attempts at dropping it low, and the boys hung off to the side looking bored by it all. Lilly isn’t even here, deciding the fête wasn’t worth her time. Duncan is there as his dad informed him it was his duty as seventh grade vice president to be there for his constituents. (Lilly eye-rolled handily at this and Veronica couldn’t tell if Mr. Kane was joking or not.)

As Veronica contemplates dunking her bargain basement Oreo into the fruit punch (would it be like a crunch chocolate covered strawberry situation?) someone pushes her from behind. She thinks it must be an accident until it happens again and continues until she’s standing in the center of the dance floor. She whips her head around, determined to give the personal space bubble violator a very intense lecture, and is met with the smiling face of Meg Manning. Sweet Meg. Sweet Meg who looks so proud of herself. Sweet Meg who looks, dare it be, a little mischievous?

“What are you –“

“I’ll take those, thank you.” And Meg does. Takes the remaining stack of cookies and the cup of punch away from Veronica. “Your wallflower days are numbered.” 

“I was enjoying those.” She’s not sure if she’s defending the cookies or her decision to be a wallflower. Maybe both.

“No you weren’t. And even if you were consider this an opportunity to enjoy something else.”

“Like what?”

“We’re at a dance, Veronica.”

She walks away with those words, and Veronica watches as Meg munches on one of her cookies. But maybe she has a point. Veronica did take extra time to iron her dress for the party. And spent her weekly allowance on a new lip gloss. Dancing is, when she thinks about it, the most logical thing to do. She doesn’t want to waste good lip gloss. Her resolve fades, however, as she approaches a group of friends from her earth science class and the song changes to something slower. Another slow song. God, what is with this DJ? She did not come here to slow dance.

Except when Veronica turns around she sees Meg looking at her. All big eyes and hopeful. She doesn’t have to say the words “I’m rooting for you” but Veronica knows she is. Fine. She’ll consider it an anthropological exercise. She couldn’t figure out the appeal of the whole slow dancing thing by watching, so maybe doing it herself will provide some heretofore missing insight.

Now the decision on who to dance with.

Veronica’s first choice is Duncan. She’s been hanging with Lilly almost every day after school, and Duncan always smiles at her in this way that makes her insides feel a little warm. But Duncan is currently dancing with Susan Knight, a friend from student council, so there goes that option. Casey Gant is always nice to her but in a way that makes her feel she’s being made fun of. Plus she knows he and Sean have been sipping something from a flask all night and she’s too familiar with the scent of bootleg vodka to find that appealing. Which leaves her with very few options.

There’s a tap on her shoulder and she breathes out a sigh of relief, certain it’s Meg taking pity on her. But of course she is just not that lucky.

Logan. Of course.

She likes Logan. She thinks. Well, he’s kind of dating her best-friend (Lilly laughs at her whenever she asks if the two of them are going out) so she kinda has to like him. It’s just –

Well, it’s just --

It’s just a bunch of little things. Like, he has this habit, usually when she just finished swimming and she’s in the Kanes’ kitchen making a snack, of catching her off guard. It makes him laugh to see her jump and he doesn’t ever flinch when she socks him in the shoulder in response. She also can’t tell if he thinks she’s stupid, or if he just thinks he’s better than her. Her middle school survival tool is sarcasm she cuts with a smile. People don’t understand it usually and she moves through the halls unscathed. But then there’s Logan. For every biting piece of commentary she offers, he has at least two more at the ready. It’s incredibly annoying. Can’t he just let her have the last word for once?

He’s looking down at her with his usual faintly mocking expression and she really wants to knock him down. Comment on the fact that he has way too much hair gel in his hair. But he also looks sort of nice. Most of the other boys are wearing ties and jackets but Logan is only wearing well-fitting navy slacks and a white button down shirt. Somehow he looks more put together than anyone else. Must be really expensive fabric or something. So she ignores the voice telling her to say the first mean thing that comes to mind. She also ignores the second (So, did the bottle of CK One break, or did you bathe in it?) and takes a step back.

“What do you want, Logan?”

“You have a problem.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Oh, yes you do. Looks to me like the founder and sole member of the spirit committee insists you dance, but here you are with nary a dance partner to your name.”

“Thank you for the synopsis. I would be so lost without you.”

Logan ignores her. No, that’s not true. She used to think that Logan ignored her, but it’s just this thing he does. Where he pretends not to and then, bam, you’re talking to Duncan about why mushrooms should never be in lasagna and Logan throws in a, “it’s a texture thing, right” and you realize he listens to everything. That’s another one of Logan’s annoying things.

So, Logan doesn’t ignore her. But he does put his hands in his pockets, roll back and forth on his heels, and then duck down a little so he can conspiratorially whisper, “I know someone who could help you with that.”

“Really?”

“Mm,” he hums. “It’s just this guy has very low self-esteem. Hollywood brat, you know. Consistently needs validation.”

Veronica snorts at that. Because Logan is so many things but someone with low self-esteem is not one of them.

“What do you suggest, then?” she asks.

“Well, fragile ego that he has, I think he just wants to be wanted, you know?”

“So Hollywood.”

“All it would take, I think, is for someone to ask. A simple, ‘Dear Logan’” – he pauses, an imperious hand waved in her direction – “we’ll call this poor soul Logan for ease, ‘Dear Logan, please help me in my current state of social misery and dance with me? Please?’”

She carefully considers her options. While not usually one to take the path of least resistance, she opts for it this time. “Logan, will you dance with me?” She puts out her hand.

Logan looks like he’s about to take it and then frowns. “You didn’t say please.”

“Oh god,” she groans, taking his hand. “Shut up.”

[podmore]

Any book recommendations? I have a craving for something but I can't tell what it is yet and you have impeccable taste so i thought i would ask!

impeccable taste? i adore you

i’ve personally been reading a lot of ya novels recently (and fanfic but i mean…) and i have a lot of books on my incredibly long list of potential future reads, but i wouldn’t say i have very diverse tastes so i hope this suits you! (warnings are off the top of my head so if you think it might be a problem for you, i advise you to do your own research!)

ya:six of crows duology/grisha trilogy - two series popular on tumblr, both extensively plotted out and well executed with lovable characters and illegal hijinks. warnings for violence, noncon, harmful mental health institutions, psychological abuse

all for the game series - good for if you like sports and organized crime novels, bad for you if you have like. any triggers or a desire for fluff. however, it does develop a relationship built on explicit enthusiastic consent, and gives you that warm fuzzy feeling from the “family you make” trope. warnings for extreme violence, torture, noncon, csa, nonconsensual/medical/recreational drug use, alcohol abuse, psychological abuse/torture (i really shouldn’t be recommending this but i love it so much sorry)

carry on - short, fluffy, gay, there’s a magic school and a chosen one with decent worldbuilding. also includes fantasy creatures esp vampires and strong platonic m/f best friendship. warnings for violence and a lot of magic fire and explosions

the mapmakers trilogy (the glass sentence) - i read this series a couple of years ago and i loved how complex the world and ideas were, and the specific way it treated the concepts of time and perception. definitely worth a read. warnings for ??? probably violence and some creepy stuff but i don’t really remember

other fantasy:the hobbit - cliched but good for a reason! it’s definitely an easier read than lord of the rings or the silmarillion, and it was written as a standalone originally so it should be possible to comprehend even if you have no prior knowledge of the universe. warnings for violence? i don’t think it’s that bad but there are fights and such. also thorin is a meanie sometimes

all our wrong todays - time travel! makes you examine our world, creativity, and the concept of normal critically and fall back in love with mundanity. does require some mental gymnastics to keep up but the premise is solid. warnings for ??? i read it in january but remember very little of the specifics (which is not a condemnation of the book, just my memory)

nonfiction:walden, or, life in the woods - okay that misplaced comma bothers me but it’s the official title; thoreau can be a bit wordy to get through but once you get into it you too can feel as though you could be out in the woods building a cabin from felled timber and living off the land and your tiny farm and trading with your neighbors in a simpler time. very thought-provoking and calming. has the same energy as the dutch man i met on the breakwater in a faraway coast town who invited me to his boat for tea and told me to discover who i really was in my true essence

silent spring - i already recommended this book in another ask, but it bears repeating. an excellent thought-provoking read, very politically and historically important, still very relevant today with our astronomical pesticide usage. warnings for depression about the human condition and nagging thoughts about the amount of pesticides lingering in your tissues

mythology:the prose edda + volsungasaga - norse mythology is my fuckin jam okay and it depresses me that there’s so little of it in modern canon but these are fairly comprehensive. bonus if you’re into lord of the rings - you can now understand just how much all the concepts we love are recycled in literature. warnings for fucked up family trees (i drew one to keep track of the volsungasaga and my god) and like a lot of murder

1800s english lit (i think?):pride and prejudice - i know nothing about this beyond movies/tv shows but i know someone who has dedicated their life to the love of it so i’m guessing it’s very good. warnings for the sickest burns in the history of literature lizzie bennet is savage af

i know i’m missing a lot of incredible books, but i’ve strained to remember so much i’m a little burnt out for now; i hope this helps, and i can always add more later if need be! i can also recommend you all the fanfic your heart desires in a variety of fandoms i have read A Lot in my time (and written a little too and can always write more on request it just takes me a long ass time to actually do it sometimes)

[kingofthereunitedkingdom]

All right my dudes, let’s talk about this Amazon LOTR series. (Aka, the two cents that no one asked for ever. Seriously, all opinions are valid, I’m not here to fight, this is just what I think. Anyways.) Please read til the end.

I for one was initially very very upset. Because I don’t trust Amazon, okay? Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy was a once in a lifetime miracle. Him and Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens poured their heart and souls into making the best possible adaptation of Tolkien’s masterpiece that they could. Everyone on that production, from Weta to the stunt people to the cast to Howard Shore were committed to bringing Tolkien’s vision to life. Was it perfect? No. Was it as close to perfect as we’re gonna get? Yes! There’s a reason it got all the Oscars. People who think that Peter Jackson’s LOTR wasn’t faithful enough are so deluded that it boggles my mind. It’s like people think he could just snap his fingers and turn the book page by page into exactly what you envisioned in your head when you read it. Modern day filmmaking has so many constrictions it’s not even funny. Producers, lawyers, marketers, auditors, people giving the project money who in return are in it for the money. And these are the people that Jackson had to work with in order to get the film made on the scale it was, rather than a home movie shot on a camcorder in his backyard. With this in mind, it’s a miracle that the films were as amazing as they were. You should actually all go watch the behind the scenes appendices footage on the extended edition DVDs. If you can’t get your hands on the DVDs, a lot of it is actually up on YouTube. The part where they talk about the process of converting book to script is very fascinating and explains a lot. Tolkien did not write these books with a movie in mind. The pacing is a screenwriter’s nightmare, he spends a lot of time on details we don’t necessarily need, and the time frame is positively loopy. You say Frodo was thirty three when he received the ring and fifty when he left the Shire, I say did we need to see Frodo moping around in the Shire for seventeen years? You say that the Fellowship’s travels were rushed, I ask if anyone ever wished they could spend a month in Lothlorien while absolutely nothing happens except resting and crying about Gandalf? I love the books, I truly do. But even I admit that a shot-for-shot adaptation would be awkward and at times difficult to watch.

Now, as for the show in question, do I think that Amazon read the Silmarillion and said ‘wow, let’s spend billions of dollars to make a faithful and heartfelt adaptation!’? Um, no. Somebody in a highrise read that Game of Thrones was ending and realized that now there’s gonna be an open market for that genre of show. Now, who else can think of a series that checks the boxes of fantasy, long and complicated af, pre-existing fan base, and minimal barriers when it comes to obtaining rights? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Tolkien is the million dollar answer (or billion, in Amazon’s case). What gives me hope is (now this might be hearsay, don’t take my word for it because I cannot confirm) that apparently they only have the rights to events that take place before The Hobbit and LOTR. Which is essentially just the Silmarillion and/or the appendices. Now, this could be interesting. The Silmarillion doesn’t have a screen adaptation, so whatever they did would be groundbreaking. There would be nothing to compare it to. But what I’m afraid of is that Amazon would be afraid of it. The Silmarillion is a lot to chew. It’s wordy, the characters would be hard to adapt on screen, and it would be really hard to market it because the concept of the Silmarillion has (unfortunately, but truthfully) long been associated with ultimate geekdom.

This is why Amazon is probably going to pick the lower-hanging fruit and reinvent popular characters we already love. I’ve been hearing a lot about how they’re doing it as a young Aragorn prequel. Which, for surface level selfish reasons depresses the heck out of me because Viggo Mortensen is and always will be my Aragorn. If this was happening years ago and they got Viggo to be the character again in a TV show, I’d be all for it. But unfortunately Viggo cannot age in reverse and if they were gonna use him they’d have to use a shit-ton of CGI a la Carrie Fisher in Rogue One which… *shudders* *war flashbacks*. But then again, Viggo has aged remarkably well. Did you see Captain Fantastic? Maybe with some heavy makeup and nice camera angles- Ah, it’s all just a pipe dream anyways. As long as they don’t bring back Stuart Townsend. Cue more shuddering. But I wish Amazon would understand that they’re investing their money in the wrong horse! We don’t want to see Aragorn reinvented! We’re happy with what we have!

Think about it realistically for a minute, in the hypothetical event that this is a young Aragorn TV show. Amazon is a studio giant, trying to establish themselves among other streaming services known for their original TV shows such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, etc. We, as Tolkien fans, understand that Aragorn’s history prior to the events of LOTR is pretty straightforward. He grows up in Rivendell, is informed that he’s Isildur’s heir, goes into the wild to become a Ranger, fights for Rohan, fights for Gondor, falls in love with Arwen, etc. There’s a sixty year block of time between his childhood in Rivendell and the War of the Ring. That can’t possibly all be covered in one show, as hard as they try. They won’t be able to resolve his storyline, because his storyline and character arc get resolved during the War of the Ring. They would have to establish the fact that he’s the heir to the throne of Gondor, establish the fact that he’s conflicted about his destiny, establish the fact that he goes into self-inflicted exile as a Ranger, and then end the show without ever showing the resolution that he eventually does reclaim his throne and his destiny. Unless they were to just bite the bullet and remake the original trilogy. And then there’s the matter of a love interest. Arwen is his first and only love. Their courtship is fast-paced and they go long blocks of time without seeing each other. Noooot very marketable for a mainstream audience. So how are they gonna spice it up? Give Aragorn another love interest? That would literally completely ruin his character. How about no. Make it seem like a lot more happened between Arwen and Aragorn before the War of the Ring? I mean maybe, but how!? They still wouldn’t be able to complete a story arc, because the meat of the changes in their relationship take place during the original trilogy: Him lowkey wanting her to go to Valar and not die for him, her refusing because she believes in their love, their ultimately getting married and her being crowned Queen of Gondor. Again, you can’t give us any of that without remaking the original trilogy! Cue all the annoyed Aragorn faces.

So, that was a lot of negativity. Maybe this is too little too late, but: I remain hopeful. All is not lost. There is still some good in this world, Mr. Frodo! And maybe Amazon will prove me wrong. There may yet be light at the end of this tunnel. We may yet prevail, and get a thoughtful, heartfelt adaptation. Because done right, we could all use with some fresh LOTR content so we can stop rewatching the original trilogy. Tolkien wrote a lot, and the current screen adaptations have barely scratched the surface. As a fandom (and I most definitely include myself in this), we get very protective over our material. I think this is because we are one of the rare few whose material has remained untarnished and stayed behind the line of corporate greed and terrible adaptations (The Hobbit trilogy walked that line like a tight rope but even it managed to escape the true jaws of the beast.) Maybe, just maybe, this Amazon series can be a chance for us all to take a risk. Because if it pays off, you can all call me a fool of a Took and we can grab popcorn and watch a kickass LOTR TV show. And what would be more awesome than that?

So, in conclusion, I have a lot of feelings about this Amazon show. If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. We’ve got a wild ride ahead.

[frederator-studios]

Meet Ryan North, Writer on Bravest Warriors

And lots of other stuff too: you probably know Ryan from his writing on the Adventure Time and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic book series. He’s also the mind behind the iconic Dinosaur Comics, in which clip art T-Rex, Utahraptor and Dromiceiomimus philosophize on the tri-weekly. He may be the biggest comics star out there who doesn’t draw!? Regardless, I’d like to see a challenger face off against him; he is, apparently, very tall. I caught up with Ryan just as he was in the midst of ECCC 2018:

When did you know you wanted to be a writer, or did it just kind of happen?

There was no "sit straight up in bed at midnight, suddenly wide awake, and whisper 'I want to be a writer'" moment, if that's what you're wondering!  But it's always been something I enjoyed. I went to school for computer science (and have a masters in computational linguistics) but when I graduated I had the choice to a) get a real job, or b) be a writer, and all I had to do to become a writer was fail to get a real job. And it turns out it's really easy to not get a job!

Having studied computer science, you created tech for webcomic authors - how did those projects come about? What other ways have your programming skillz intersected with your creative career?

That's true! The thought process was basically, "There is a service that does not exist, so I guess I'll have to write it.” There were a couple: RSSPECT for rss feed generation (remember RSS? I MISS IT), and Project Wonderful for advertising that doesn't suck. That continues on to this very day!  And of course when it came to writing Squirrel Girl for Marvel, I made her a computer science student too, so there's the intersection.

So if you don’t draw, what motivated you to get into comics - were you just that big a fan?

I was more of a fan in abstract, really - I couldn't get comics growing up, and this was before the internet. But then when I got a job as an undergrad, I took my first paycheque and walked into a comic shoppe and just started buying things at random, and loved them all, so it was nice that my theoretical interest in comics was actually real. I started Dinosaur Comics - my fixed art webcomic - in my last year of undergrad.

Did you discover the dinosaur artwork for Dinosaur Comics - or did they find you?

Some would argue, quite convincingly, that they are a universal constant, and can never be either created or destroyed.

What do you consider your finest accomplishment?

I would like to go to two places: Antarctica and space. I sell plush T-Rexes from Dinosaur Comics at topatoco.com/qwantz, and some AMAZING READERS brought him to both the South Pole, and the edge of space. It is a weird feeling to be jealous of a fictional character you created, but it's a good one. And I'm gonna take all the credit for T-Rex's accomplishments here, even though I had nothing to do with them.

What can you tell us about your writing process? What would you recommend to young writers trying to get disciplined/motivated?

Figure out where and how you work. You have to be honest with yourself. For example, I know that I work best in the morning, and I rarely do good work after 5pm. So I get up at 7am and I write until it's 5pm, and then I stop. I also know that I work best alone, so I don't go to coffee shops or hang out with friends to write. If I'm working, I'm alone. Knowing this lets me set up the circumstances that help me get work done. It's more fun to hang out with friends, but at least this way when I do it I know it's hanging out, so I don't try to work during it, and I can enjoy it for what it is instead of feeling guilty about not working.

Does it work pretty smoothly, writing comics like Squirrel Girl and Adventure Time and having them illustrated by other (super talented) folks?

I've been really lucky, I think, in always collaborating with amazing people.  Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline were my partners on Adventure Time, and we just clicked as a team and we're still great friends, years after the book ended.  We even made our own comic together: The Midas Flesh, published by Boom! BOX - it's about King Midas in space. And with Squirrel Girl it's the same - Erica (Henderson) and I get along great and my favourite thing is getting back art from her - or any artist - because you get to see your words and scenes transformed into pictures that are even better than you imagined.  

What are your thoughts about writing branching narratives / "make your own story" books - are they the Future? What are the biggest challenges, and what have you been most proud of in that area?

I mean, I like them! I like how they capture a lot of the semantics of gaming in a different medium. The challenge is keeping track of state: in a game you can pick up a sword or not pick up a sword, and that's easy: just set a variable. In a book you need to have a choice to pick up that sword, and then every option after that choice has to be duplicated, or else you lose track of whether they picked up the sword or not. There are ways to get around this but most of them involve cheating in some way (ie: just asking the reader if they have the sword, to which they will always say, "Oh yes absolutely, I just love swords especially now that I know they're useful.” So it's always something to keep in mind.

I guess the most impressive thing we had happen was the Kickstarter for To Be or Not To Be: my chooseable-path version of Hamlet.  We raised over $580,000 (for a book!), which was the most-funded publishing project on Kickstarter at the time. That was a crazy book.

How did you come to write for Bravest Warriors?

I was already a fan of the show (having come in after the first season) so it was a matter of saying yes when I was asked if I was interested!  I WAS.

What are your favorite things about Beth, Danny, Wallow and Chris?

For me it's the teamwork: these are people who mess up - and save - the universe on the regular. Also, I love competent characters, and Beth is clearly the most competent character of the bunch. BETH4EVER.

What's your favorite thing about Bravest Warriors in general?

The series is set both in the future AND in space, which are my favourite time periods / general locales to be in. It opens things up to basically any kind of story you can imagine, which is terrific. No idea is too out-there for the Bravest Warriors, which is super fun for a writer, and hopefully super-fun to watch too!  In my first episode (RoboChris) I got to invent an evil robot Chris, and everyone said "Okay, awesome, let's absolutely go with that”.

If you had to describe your writing style in a few words, how would you?

Enthusiastic! And also maybe a little teeny eensie bit wordy.

What are your favorite cartoons, and the biggest inspirations of your work?

I grew up on The Real Ghostbusters, and I loved that that show wasn't afraid to tackle big ideas in what was supposed to be just a tie-in show for a goofy movie (SORRY BUT GHOSTBUSTERS IS GOOFY). It's a lesson I try to take with me: you don't need to talk down to kids, teens, anyone: they're smart, and they'll pick up what you're laying down. Plus that show had Slimer, which I will argue RIGHT NOW is the original Catbug. The longer I get into answering this question the more parallels I see!

Would you ever want to make your own cartoon?

OBVIOUSLY, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING.

(Slimer. Anyone want to draw him and Catbug as best pals?!)

Which 5 books / comics / movies / seasons of TV would you have on a desert island - a desert island with a functional entertainment center?

1. Babylon 5 (all 5 seasons, though we all know you only really need seasons 1-4 and then the “Sleeping in Light” finale in Season 5)

2. A complete print-out of Wikipedia, bound as a book in order to satisfy the requirements of this question.

3. Star Trek TNG (all 7 seasons, thank you)

4. A complete run of Action Comics (because that's gotta keep me busy for a while)

and let's say for the last one...

5... the Bravest Warriors comics by my good friend Joey Comeau (THEY ARE AWESOME AND SO IS HE).

Are you living the dream? Cause it kinda seems like you're living the dream?

I'm 2m tall and I've got my own dog and I've only gotten trapped in a hole once!  THAT IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF LIVING THE DREAM.

Thanks for the interview Ryan! Best of luck in all current and future projects. We look forward to seeing more of the work you do and the holes you get yourself out of.

- Cooper

[bookworm555]

What was your first ship/what fandom was it from, how did you start shipping [BNHA pairing of your choice], ship you like that most people don't, most underrated ship, most overrated ship, favorite headcanon of [BNHA pairing of your choice], favorite canon moments of [BNHA pairing of your choice], what songs remind you of SasoDei, what kind of dates do you think DenEst would go on

Oooh yay, thanks for sending me these!

First ship: Okay, so I can’t exactly remember which one of these came first, but the earliest couples I remember actively shipping were Fireheart/Firestar x Sandstorm from Warriors, Shiv x Talon from Static Shock, and Hercules x Meg from Disney’s Hercules. 

-

How did I start shipping BNHA pairing of my choice: (Gonna go with Tenchako for this next one because they’re a BNHA OTP) Ever since the two of them became Izuku’s best friends early on in the series, I always thought ‘Aww, they’d make such a cute couple!’ Like, they’re both so wonderfully nice, supportive, and caring characters. And while Tenya is formal/schedule oriented, Ochako is bubbly and more relaxed, so they’d balance each other out quite nicely. (Also, they just look cute together.) And can you imagine how adorable supportive Izuku would be if he finds out his two bffs are dating? (And you bet they’d be enthusiastically supportive of Izuku dating Shouto if they discovered those two were a couple, too.) But I digress, haha. Tenchako is just a super cute ship that I wish was more popular!

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Ship I like that most people don’t: Hmmm, not sure how many people dislike this ship, but while I was super overjoyed that SaiIno became a canon couple, I also really like SaiSaku as well.(Like, it’s a rarepair, but they have so many good moments! They have good chemistry, too.) 

-

Most underrated ship: I have a ton, since most of my fave ships are rarepairs. Hmm, to narrow it down to a few, I’d say Juugo/Karin, Tenchako, IceLat, Jed/Octavius (from Night at the Museum), and SuiSaku (Suigetsu/Sakura)

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Most overrated ship: HongIce (don’t kill me). I like them as friends, but I just don’t like them as a romantic ship. Other overrated ships for me are Izuku/Tsuyu (nothing wrong with the pairing; I just prefer them with others), Asuma/Kurenai (again, nothing wrong with it; I just like Kurenai with others, and I wish she wasn’t pushed out of relevance in the series because she was pregnant...), FrUKNote: overrated doesn’t mean bad; I don’t have anything against these ships, and even like some of them; I just mean that they are oversaturated within their series’ fandoms.

-

Favorite headcanon for BNHA ship of my choice:Hmm, I already went with Tenchako for the first one, so I feel like I should pick another for this. So I will go with TodoDeku:Ever since the sports festival arc, Izuku knows that Shouto had/has a terrible home life. So when the two eventually start dating, the first thing Izuku wants to do is bring Shouto over to his house to meet his mom, since, besides being supportive (Inko Midoriya is the best anime mom, fite me), he knows his mom will dote on Shouto. And once Shouto becomes more relaxed at Izuku’s house, I see him really enjoying being there, and visiting often when he and Izuku are on breaks. And since Izuku introduced Shouto to his mom, after Shouto becomes more comfortable with being open about his relationship, he introduces Izuku to his own mother. AHHH, I just realized how many ideas I have for this, but I don’t want to clog up this ask, X’D.

-

Favorite canon moments of BNHA ship of my choice:Since none of these pairs are canon (yet, I can hope), I’ll just go with some favorite interactions between them:Tenchako: When Ochako says that Tenya inspired her to work harder at the sports festival (can’t remember the exact wording, though)Also, earlier on in the series, when Ochako gets nauseous after the mock ‘heroes vs. villains’ exercise, Tenya makes sure she’s okay and rubs her back, even though they were on opposing teams. (UGH, this ship is so sweet, it’s diabetes-inducing, XD)

TodoDeku: Shouto thinking that Izuku is All Might’s secret illegitimate child. I know the reasoning for why he thought that isn’t funny, but the way he initially said it was just hilarious. (Also, Izuku’s reaction to it, XD)Also for TodoDeku, Izuku’s “It’s your power, too!!” line gets me every single time. Iconic af

KiriBaku: The whole climactic ending of Izuku and co’s rescue of Katsuki. I can’t even explain it without getting wordy, so just...have this page XD

AAAND this 

MomoJirou: Any moment where Kyouka gets flustered by Momo is just adorable, XD

-

Songs that remind me of SasoDei:OOOH this is fun, have a mini-version of my SasoDei playlist!

The Writer (Ellie Goulding)I Won’t Say I’m in Love (Disney’s Hercules)Mannequin (Katy Perry)Applause (Lady Gaga)Take Me Or Leave Me (RENT)

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DenEst dates:

Oooh, I can see them going on more ‘traditional’ dates, like movies and dinners, but I also see them both going to concerts/symphonies, as well as cheesy romantic stuff like eating under the stars, or walking down a gently-lit, snow-covered walkway. 

[hannahindie]

The Way You Look Tonight

Characters: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Reader Word Count: 2,285 Warnings: Dean shenanigans, and some hot Sam make outs. These two things are not actually related. I mean, they are, but not...it’s not...I’m bad with words. A/N: Heyyyooooooo! I wrote this challenge for @impala-dreamer‘s “Titles Are Hard” Challenge. It was such a creative challenge, and I was so excited to write this. And since I’m a wordy girl, I’m pretty proud that this didn’t turn into a series, because let’s be real.

Beta’d by my sweet water bear @trexrambling: “Dean better walk reeeeaaaallllllyyyyy slooooowwwwww.” (I freaking lost it at this, like hard. Just say and cackled maniacally.)

And my twinny @pinknerdpanda: aaaaaaand I'm dead. Time of Death: 10:34 am CST 12/13/17 RIP Me“ (Sorry, pookie. ;) )

As always, tags are at the bottom. If you’d like to be added to them, please let me know. :)

“We’ve got a job.”

Sam looked up from his laptop as Dean tossed a newspaper on the table in front of him. He raised an eyebrow, “And?”

“And,” Dean said as he tapped the paper, “it’s not that far from here, and it’s catered. You heard me, catered. C’mon, it’ll be easy. Cursed object, fancy auction, even fancier food, just like the old days, Sammy.”

Sam carefully closed his computer and leaned back in his chair, “This never ends well for me, and you know it. The last time, my date was an old woman who didn’t understand personal space or the word no while you got to run off with the Bella.” Sam shuddered at the thought, “No thanks, hard pass.”

“I said I was sorry about that. Come on, I’ll let you have the girl this time. I know, we can call Y/N! We haven’t seen her in awhile. You two can get us inside, and then I’ll do my thing. And have some of those delicious crab rolls they always serve at these things.”

Sam stood, shaking his head as he collected his things, “First of all, there’s a reason we haven’t seen Y/N for awhile. She’s not going to agree to it if it’s me, and honestly, I don’t really want to. Call Garth, see if he can get someone to cover it.” He pushed his chair in and started to walk away.

“What if I can get Jody to meet us? Will you do it then?” Dean practically whined and Sam stopped and dropped his head in defeat, his back towards his brother.

“Fine. If you can get Jody to go, I’ll do it.”

Dean grinned, “Awesome.”

“I hope your crab rolls are worth it,” he mumbled as he resumed walking towards his room.

Dean waited for Sam to disappear down the hall, then pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed as he wandered towards the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Dean. What’s up?”

There was a long pause, then a hesitant response, “Nothing...why?”

“You mean I can’t just call my favorite hunter and shoot the shit, huh?”

“Dean, you haven’t called me in weeks. I haven’t seen you in, like, three months, and for once it wasn’t because you were in purgatory, or hell, or wherever it is your dumb ass usually ends up. So no, you can’t just call and shoot the shit.”

“Y/N, listen, I’m sorry. It’s been...it’s been busy. Nothing you needed to be mixed up in, trust me, you’d thank me. But I found something pretty straight forward, and it’s not too far from the bunker. I was hoping you could help with it. You’d get to get all dressed up, fancy free food...the whole nine.”

“Something simple, huh?”

“Yea, yea, just a quick crash and grab. There’s a cursed object, silent auction, yada yada yada. C’mon, I miss you. Let me take my favorite girl out on the town.”

Y/N laughed, “You’re an idiot, Dean Winchester. There is a hint of bullshit surrounding this that smells faintly like eau de Samuel.”

“Oh, come on. He’s not even going to be there, he’s taking off to go see some movie with subtitles that’s, like, five hours long. You know you wanna spend time with your favorite Winchester.”

She sighed, “It doesn't take much to be the favorite, you know. I wouldn't be too proud of yourself.” There was a moment of silence as she thought about her decision, and Dean began to think maybe his little plan wasn't going to work after all. “Okay, fine. But you're going to show me a damn fine time, okay? You will retrieve whatever snack or boozy beverage I want, and you won't complain. Capiche?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Dean smiled to himself; this had been too easy. “Do you still have that dress from the job we did in Boston?”

“Yes...why?”

“Like I said, this is real fancy, gotta fit the part, right?”

“I’m going to regret this. Send me the time and the address.”

“Will do. See you soon, Y/N.” The line went dead, and Dean shoved his phone back into his pocket, a smug look on his face.

Nailed it.

“Here.” Dean slipped an earpiece to Sam, and Sam rolled his eyes.

“What is this?” He rolled it between his fingers, trying to figure out where Dean had even procured the small, flesh colored electronic.

“It’s an earpiece. How else am I supposed to know the coast is clear for me to sneak into the auction hall?”

Sam rolled his eyes as he put it in, “You’ve been watching way too much James Bond.”

Dean grinned, “Maybe I’ve been watching just enough.” He cleared his throat, “By the way, Jody had to pull out last minute. I got a replacement, she should be here somewhere.”

Sam looked at Dean sharply, “What? Who is it?”

Dean shrugged, “You’ll know who it is when you see her.” Dean looked over Sam’s shoulder, then nudged him, “Take a deep breath, you only need one shot. Make it count."

Sam’s eyebrows furrowed, “Did you just quote Quantum of Solace at me?”

Dean shook his head, “Who’s the one that’s been watching too much James Bond?” He nodded in the direction of the bar, and Sam turned around.

That dress. He would have recognized it anywhere. The crimson silk draped low in the back, showing off the gentle slope of smooth shoulders and two little dimples at the base of her spine. Sam knew before she even turned around how the neckline plunged nearly to her waist, the slick fabric caressing every curve, how it covered just enough to make his heart race and something in his gut tighten.

“Dammit, Dean,” he hissed, turning to find his brother long gone. He turned back and straightened his jacket. “Might as well get this over with,” he thought to himself as he began walking towards her. Just as he reached the halfway point, she turned, and it felt like his heart had jumped into his throat. The narrow slit that ended mid-thigh dropped open as she shifted, her long leg exposed as his eyes traveled down to her five inch black heels, the straps crisscrossing to just above her ankle. He looked back up just in time to see her face as she realized who she was actually meeting.

Dammit, Dean.

Y/N sipped the champagne the passing waiter had offered her and tried to pay attention to the businessman that was attempting to impress her with...whatever it was he was talking about. She’d lost interest five minutes ago, but he seemed nice enough and, as per usual, Dean was late. She discreetly looked at her phone and sighed; he should have been here twenty minutes ago. She smiled politely at the man whose name she had already forgotten, “I’m sorry, I need to use the ladies’ room, if you’ll just excuse me for a moment.” The man, though obviously disappointed, gave her a tight lipped smile and turned back to the man he’d been talking to before Y/N had caught his attention.

She turned to walk away and immediately froze as her gaze landed on the last person she had expected, or wanted, to see. Sam was standing right in the middle of her path to the bathroom, his eyes wide when they locked with hers. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, and for a moment she forgot why they hadn’t spoken to each other in three months, or why she had moved out of the bunker in the first place.

Sam looked good on a normal day, but when he dressed in a tux, it was like all the oxygen was sucked from her lungs. Today was no exception. His long, chestnut hair had been swept back hastily, a few messy, out of place locks tempting her to tuck them behind his ear. She wondered if he’d finally broken and bought a tux; there’s no way a rented one would have fit so perfectly. She’d forgotten how broad his shoulders were, and how he towered over practically everyone around him.

She took a deep breath and walked towards him, “Sam, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he responded as his eyes traveled down her body and back up. As irritated as she was, a chill ran through her at how he looked at her, his bottom lip tucked between his teeth.

“Quit looking at me like that,” she hissed quietly as she pulled him off to the side. “I was supposed to be meeting Dean, not you. This was...we...I can’t…” she stuttered, her arms crossed as she scowled at Sam.

He frowned, “Listen, you’re not the only one that wasn’t expecting this. I was supposed to meet Jody.” They stared at each other in silence for a moment before Sam cleared his throat, “Listen, it’s too late now. Dean is already trying to get into the auction room and grab the doll, and we need to make sure no one goes in there while he’s doing it, okay?”

She rolled her eyes, “Of course it’s a cursed doll. Because what else could make this evening worse?” She looked around the room before spotting the hall that led to the auction room. “What’s your plan for distracting people from going in there?”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“Sam, I don’t like this anyway. Out with it.”

“Okay, but don’t smack me.”

Before she could respond, Sam grabbed her by the waist, one hand staying there while the other slid down her arm and grasped her hand. He leaned in close, his breath tickling the shell of her ear as he whispered, “Can you at least pretend to like me?” She swallowed thickly as she moved her arms and draped them over his shoulders, her hands locking loosely behind his neck. “Thank you. Now...what is the one thing that makes people most uncomfortable in public?” he asked as they danced slowly across the room and through the crowd.

Y/N pulled back and looked at him in confusion, realization dawning on her when he raised an eyebrow. “Sam, no-”

“It’s just a job, Y/N. Not a big deal. We do this, we move on. Well, we kill Dean, then we move on.”

“Was this the plan for Jody, too?” she asked, trying to contain her laughter as Sam blushed.

He shrugged, “Sometimes you have to adapt the plan.” He leaned in again and his lips brushed her jaw, “Just tell me if you get uncomfortable. We just have to do this long enough for Dean to get in and back out.”

She cleared her throat, “Yea, fine. I’ll let you know.” They continued to dance across the floor and towards the hallway leading to the auction room. She was disappointed when Sam pulled away and grabbed her hand instead, dragging her into the narrow hall.

“I think it’s room 109…here it is.” He stopped and turned back to face her. She gasped as he grabbed her roughly by the waist and pushed her backwards, the wall cool against her bare back. His lips brushed hers, and she could feel them shaping his words as he whispered against her, “Remember, tell me when to stop and I promise, I will.” Instead of answering, she pressed herself against him, her lips crashing into his desperately. She had forgotten how warm he was, how soft his lips were and how perfect he fit with her. The months of anger and frustration melted away as her hands explored the wide expanse of his chest. One of his hands moved up and into her hair, digging into her previously perfect updo and twisting her locks around his fingers. She groaned into him, and she felt him smile.

“Sam…” His lips were like fire as they settled on her soft skin, his teeth nibbling gently at her pulse point. His hands were everywhere; on her hips, in her hair, caressing her through the thin silk of her dress. She sighed as he pulled away, his eyes dark and his lips kiss swollen.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently, the sharp edge in his gaze turning into gentle concern as he searched her eyes to make sure she was giving him an honest answer.

“Yea, I’m....I’m fine.” She sighed, “I’m sorry, Sam. I shouldn’t have left. I know how hard it is for you and Dean to...to just let things happen. I should have fought for it, I should have fought for us. I’m just...I’m so sorry.”

He cupped her cheek gently, his palm rough against her soft cheek and she leaned into it, her eyes closed. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I was wrong, and I should have gone after you. I just...I thought it would be better for you if I just let you go. Winchester logic, I guess.”

She smiled and opened her eyes to find his hazel ones staring at her, “Yea...you Winchesters and your self sacrificing ways. As if you don’t give up enough for this life.” She brushed hair from his face then reached back and pulled the bobby pins from her own, shaking out her hair in messy waves. Sam raised an eyebrow, and she grinned, “We gotta sell it, right?” She winked, and Sam chuckled.

“With the way you look tonight, it’s not going to be a hard sell.”

She opened her mouth to reply and he interrupted her with a kiss, “Don’t cheapen the moment, Y/N.”

Like what you see? Wanna see more? Check out my master list HERE!

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[sweetlysilent]

Unpredictable Pt. 3

Requested: Nope

Hey boo’s, because of the amount of requests I got, here is part three! I’ve also decided it’s going to be the last part. I’d like to say a huge thank you for liking this little series, you’re all amazing, and thank you for reading!

I also wrote this chapter listening to Shameless by: The Weeknd, I tried to find a link for it but there was like none on YouTube, just people that did covers and I didn’t want that oops. 

If you listen to it, it will probably put you in feels. Who am I kidding it totally will oops.

Also, please give me feedback! It’s really appreciated! I hope you all enjoyed this little mini series and thanks for reading and being bomb ass people. :)

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Description: Your brother is Harrison Osterfield, and your his younger sister (by like a few months, which he always teases you about which results in you both arguing), Tom is Harrison’s best friend, you’ve known him forever, but recently you started to feel different around him, making you rethink everything and worry about what Harrison would do it he found out the truth.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of sex.. again.. um.. bYE, and fluff aw.

Word Count: 3,064 (it’s so wordy oml.. SORRY)

A/N: So Tom just dropped a new picture which made me feel so many emotions?!1/?!/?1 And I’m listening to Shameless so asdfdklkjfsk. I sinned, maybe, we don’t know. Ngl this final chapter will make you go on an emotional rollercoaster, whoops.

You woke up to the sound of snoring, turning on your side you saw the most beautiful image you could ever see, spread out in your bed laid Tom, his hair messily in his face, the sheets covering his lower half of his body as his toned chest was left exposed.

You smiled, running your index finger across his forehead to push a few curls that had fallen over his eyes, making him mumble something in his sleep.

Last night was something you’d both truly remember, you’d never experienced anything like that before, and you knew that was Tom’s objective since you had been provoking him all day, and went on that date.

You sat up in your bed, running your fingers over your neck, there were way more purple and red marks than before, making it even more of a challenge to hide them from Harrison.

You carefully got out of the bed, trying not to wake Tom as you grabbed his t-shirt, slipping it over your head, braless of course.

You looked yourself over in your mirror, Tom really did a number on you, you could see his fingerprints on your shoulders faintly, giving you goosebumps at the memories as they flooded back into your head.

You both had certain kinks, only making it even more heated and intense than it was before. Tom loved the feeling of your fingers, especially when you ran your fingers through his brown curly locks of hair, only to surprise him by tugging on them when least expected. You however, you loved how his hands would fit perfectly around your throat, yes, you had that wonderful choking kink, and Tom did it fabulously.

Needless to say, you both barely slept a wink last night, and you could barely walk.

You were thankful that Harrison never decided to check on you at anytime, if he had, that would of been the end of both of you.

You weren’t sure how you would ever break the news to your brother, it wasn’t something you could straight up and say ’oh by the way, I just fucked your best friend last night, hope you don’t mind.’

It just wasn’t that easy, and now you were sure it was going to be even harder to keep it a secret.

“Did I ever mention you look hot as fuck in my clothes?” Tom mumbled, a grin on his face as he looked at your outfit.

You rolled your eyes playfully, doing a little twirl in his shirt, making him laugh and rest against your headboard.

“Did I ever mention that it’s going to be impossible to hide all of these from my brother? Thank you, very much Holland.” You muttered, motioning towards all the marks on your neck.

“I told you, I was going to mark you, because you’re mine.” Tom smirked, looking over his handy work on your neck, a feeling of accomplishment on his face. “Plus, it’s not like it’s going to be easy for me to explain how I left with nothing and come back the next day with all these marks on me.” Tom raised an eyebrow at you, making you smirk at him.

You shrugged your shoulders, looking at all the purple and red marks on his neck and chest.

“Don’t forget those delicious marks on your back.” You teased, making him shake his head and chuckle at you.

“How could I ever forget those? It was the best moment of my life.” He winked, making your cheeks redden, something he loved doing to you.

“Well, as nice as this was, I can’t have Harrison find you in here, so if you’d like to live and see another day, I’d recommend you run now.” You sucked in your bottom lip, crawling onto your bed.

“I hate that we have to do this behind his back, but at the same time it just makes it even more fun.” He grinned, before placing a gentle kiss to your lips.

He grabbed his clothes, letting you stay in his t-shirt, because he loved seeing you in his clothing, before he disappeared out your window.

You made sure he got down carefully, waving a goodbye to him before he disappeared, you quickly shut your window before going to hide all the marks on your neck.

It took you a good hour to hide everything Tom had done, once you knew you were in the safe zone, you went down to the kitchen where Harrison was already making breakfast.

“Hey Y/N, how was your sleep.” Harrison spoke, startling you as you took a seat at the counter.

“Uh, it was good, why?” You asked, your heart starting to race nervously.

“Oh, no reason, just next time you should warn your brother before you sneak company over.” Harrison shrugged, before turning around and glaring at you, making your face turn a deep red.

Were you guys really that loud?

“Sorry Haz..” You mumbled, taking a sip of your tea as Harrison pushed your breakfast in front of you.

“So, who was the guy? Was it the guy from your date?” Harrison pressed on, watching you intently.

“Uh.. -Yeah, -Yup, that was him, -Totally.” You nodded, shoving a forkful of eggs into your mouth as Harrison eyed you suspiciously.

“Y/N, you’re my sister, and you’re an extremely horrible liar, so why don’t you tell me what the actual hell is going on.” Harrison demanded, making your face pale slightly, you didn’t even know where to begin.

You decided to ignore his question, shoving more eggs into your mouth as the doorbell rang, making you let out a sigh of relief as Harrison went to get it.

“Hey man! Come in, we’re just having breakfast and I made extra so you can join us if you’d like.” Harrison offered, as Tom walked into the house, following Harrison back to the kitchen.

You felt your stomach drop, this was going to be interesting.

“Hey Y/N.” Tom smiled, making you glare at him slightly.

“Tom and I are going to audition today, so please don’t do anything while I’m gone okay?” Harrison pleaded, as you responded with a slight nod.

You glanced over at Tom, who was sipping his coffee he had just made, two can play this game.

You got a forkful of your eggs, slowly placing them into your mouth, before pulling the fork out slowly. You knew Tom was watching, you could see it out of the corner of your eye, and you couldn’t help but smirk as you saw him clench his jaw.

“So, Harrison, how do you feel about auditioning? I know you do a lot of short films but this is your first real big movie audition.” Tom grinned, high fiving his best friend as Harrison rolled his eyes, laughing.

“I mean I’m nervous as hell, but I think it’ll be alright.” You watched your brother shrug, taking a bite of his food, as Tom sat down next to you.

“What about you Y/N? How do you feel about Harrison auditioning?” Tom questioned, looking over at you, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

You bit your tongue, before looking at your brother who actually looked interested in what you had to say.

“Honestly, Tom,” You said his name sarcastically, making him chuckle, “I’m really happy for Haz, as much as we argue and bicker all the time it’s nice to see him passionate and happy about something.” You answered honestly, watching a smile form on your brothers lips.

“That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me.” Harrison smiled, making you smile back at him, it was true, you were deeply happy for him.

“Shit, I have to go get ready, our audition is in twenty minutes, I’ll be right back.” Harrison stood up from his chair quickly before disappearing up stairs, leaving you alone with Tom.

“You like to push my buttons don’t you?” Tom shook his head at you, making you laugh quietly.

“Oh I’m sorry, did me eating eggs turn you on? Poor wittle Tommy.” You puckered your bottom lip, faking a tear falling down your face as Tom glared at you.

“Do you think it’s okay to tease me when your brother is around?” Tom growled quietly, causing chills to go up your spine.

“I think I can do what I want, when I want, to whoever, I want.” You smirked, as you watched Tom visibly stiffen, before sitting down on a stool next to you.

You felt his hand rest on your thigh, making you choke on your eggs a bit, you weren’t expecting that, at all.

“If you’re going to tease me, then I’m sure as hell going to tease you too darling.” Tom smirked, watching you squirm at his touch, even more when Harrison came back into the kitchen.

“Did I miss anything?” Harrison questioned, looking between the two of you, he could sense something had happened.

“Nope, just waiting on you man.” Tom shrugged, before glancing at you as you were trying to fight his hand off your leg.

“Y/N, maybe while we’re gone you should shower, you’re sweaty as hell.” Harrison groaned, grabbing his keys and script before heading for the door, Tom followed behind, but not before pressing his back against yours.

“When we get back, you’re so going to get it darling.” He whispered into your ear, making you shiver at his words.

The sexual tension between the two of you was unbearable, how your brother didn’t see that was beyond you.

Once you heard them leave you sprinted to take a shower, Harrison was right, you were sweaty, thanks to Tom and his fucking hands, sometimes you hated him for that reason.

The entire time they were gone you actually were productive, you cleaned your room, did your homework, which you probably did wrong, but it’s the effort that counts right?

You were sitting at your desk typing a paper when you heard talking from downstairs, it had been a few hours since they had left.

“Y/N, we’re back!” Harrison shouted, as you shouted an ’okay!’ back, as you finished up your paper.

You walked downstairs, seeing both of them outside at the pool, drinking some beers, you felt this was the perfect time to get back at him.

You walked outside, quietly approaching behind Tom before running your hands up his back, making him freeze at your touch.

“Hey guys, how was auditions?” You smiled, walking in front of them, seeing your brothers happy smile and Tom’s intense glare at you.

“They went great I believe, I think I really have a chance.” Harrison smiled excitedly, as you gave a thumbs up, before looking at Tom.

“What about you Holland?” You smirked, watching him struggle with his words.

“I think I did alright.” He huffed, before going to sit down somewhere far away from you.

You gave a shrug to Harrison, before wandering back inside, like you said before, two can play this game.

Day soon turned to night, and you were laying in your room, watching a movie with a bowl of popcorn when you heard your window open.

“Well hello stranger.” You teased, popping a piece of popcorn in your mouth as you watched Tom take his jacket off.

“You truly like to test me don’t you Y/N?” He chuckled darkly, making your eyes widen slightly.

You gave a small shrug, watching as he approached you slowly, making you freeze in your current position.

Sooner or later you both were in a heated makeout session, forget the movie, this was way better.

“W-We need to b-be quiet, H-Haz can h-hear..” You mumbled in-between kisses, but at this point Tom didn’t even care anymore.

“Let him hear.” He growled out, as you combed your fingers through his hair, things getting even more heated than before.

You both were so into the moment and each other you didn’t even hear the door open, revealing one shocked Harrison.

“-OKAY, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS HAPPENING HERE?” Harrison yelled, startling the both of you as you both scooted away from each other.

“-WHAT THE FUCK MAN, THAT’S MY SISTER?” Harrison shouted, glaring at his best friend before looking at you, furry in his eyes.

“-AND YOU, HOW COULD YOU HOOK UP WITH MY BEST FRIEND, OF ALL PEOPLE Y/N!” Harrison screamed, making you shut your eyes tightly, this wasn’t how he was supposed to find out.

“Harrison, buddy, calm down, we can explain.” Tom spoke carefully, seeing that his best friend was a raging ball of furry.

Harrison took a deep breath, his eyes shut tightly.

“What is there to explain Tom? You fucked my sister, and you both were hiding this behind my back!” Harrison shouted, making you cover your face, your eyes getting watery.

“Haz, please! You have to understand, we didn’t want to tell you because of this reason.” You cried out, making him shake his head and laugh.

“Y/N, I have every right to be the way I am right now.” Harrison glared, looking between the two of you.

“No, no you don’t, you may be my brother, but I can date who I want, and I,” You paused, looking over at Tom who was watching you intently.

“I-I love him Haz.” You smiled slightly at Tom who’s face lit up, a smile forming on his lips.

“W-What?” Harrison stuttered, looking at you in shock, there was only one other time you had said you loved someone other than him, and it was your first real boyfriend that broke your heart.

“He makes me so happy Haz, I haven’t felt like this in a long time.” You admitted, watching your brothers face soften.

“He really does mean a lot to you doesn’t he?” Harrison spoke calmly, looking at how you were looking at Tom.

“He really does.” You smiled shyly, watching Tom grin and rub his thumb on your cheek gently.

You all sat there quietly before Harrison let out a sigh.

“Alright fine, you two can date, just be careful okay?” Harrison pinched the bridge of his nose, as you squealed with happiness.

“-BUT,” He interrupted, pointing a finger at Tom who’s eyes widened, “If you do anything to hurt my baby sister I will end you, got it? I don’t care if you’re my best friend or not.” Harrison glared, as Tom nodded rapidly, holding his hands up in surrender.

Harrison gave one more approving nod before leaving your room, you felt your heart beating out of your chest, that wasn’t what you were expecting to happen that night.

But as the night went on, you snuggled against his chest as he played with your hair as you both watched whatever movie was on TV, you finally felt at home, and it didn’t occur to you till now that Tom was your home, he always had been.

You felt him kiss your head, mumbling something into your hair.

“And for the record, I love you too.”

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #438

Top Ten Underrated Amiga Games

I had another list all planned and written up for this weekend, but then I saw on Twitter that it was the Amiga’s 35th birthday this week and everything went out the window. That’s the sort of milestone I need to recognise.

I’ve written tangentially about the Amiga before. It was my first computer, my first gaming platform; a lot of the games I played on it back then were transformative experiences. Playing The Secret of Monkey Island, for example, is really what made me fall in love with gaming. Reading magazines like The One Amiga and Amiga Power made me feel part of a community. My knowledge base, my skills, my interest in various things were increased exponentially. Also I wrote tons on the Wordworth word processor and made fun little animations on Deluxe Paint.

Anyway, the Amiga itself was a huge success for a while, and arguably the last great shout for British home computing (it didn’t really take off the same way in America) before the industry moved to PC as a focus. It was interesting being an Amiga user in the 90s, when the wider industry was gripped by the more salacious and headline-grabbing Console Wars between Nintendo and Sega. Some of the games people played thirty-plus years ago are still lionised and discussed to this day; there were undoubted classics there, highlights of the 16-bit age. Games like Lemmings, Sensible Soccer, Alien Breed, Theme Park, The Settlers, the aforementioned Monkey Island games (before the limitations of the Amiga lead to LucasArts favouring the PC…). I’ve even written about my favourites!

But because the Amiga hasn’t loomed quite as large in the cultural memory as, say, the SNES or Mega Drive, there are lots of games that I remember spending significant time on that nobody ever talks about. Games where, if anyone ever brings them up in conversation, I immediately want to stand up and shout “YES I UNDERSTAND”. The Amiga, whilst a huge success, is also dwarfed by the success and pop cultural impact of other platforms, and so what once were curios, mid-tier delights, or often genuine pieces of master are now faded from memory; at best, cult classics. And so we come, at long and circuitous last, to my list.

It’s ten games from the Amiga that I really, really loved, but that nobody ever talks about; that don’t really get their due. I’ve tried my best to focus on games that feel like Amiga games; there are other games I really enjoyed that were available on other systems and arguably are more well-known on those systems. As usual I’ve probably veered widely from even this arbitrary rule. I just make this up as I go, basically.

Super Skidmarks (Acid Software, 1995): an ingenious and gorgeous top-down racer with stand-out pre-rendered vehicles and the great gimmick of your cars leaving skidmarks on the track that appeared to erode the road. Really fun, state-of-the-art, and virtually forgotten. Even had a version of Pong on its loading screen.

Jaguar XJ220 (Core Design, 1992): two racers at the top of the list?! Whilst everyone loudly talks about the Lotus series, for my money Jaguar was at least as good in terms of courses and handling, had better graphics, and a simply phenomenal track designer. Still one of my favourite racers.

Parasol Stars (Ocean Software/Taito, 1991): part of a very famous games series, yes, but sort of the forgotten son. Not as elegant or pretty as Rainbow Islands, but still a delightful and compelling puzzle-screen hook as you collect elements to clear rooms. Tremendous two-player co-op mode that my mum and brother used to get supremely frustrated over.

Heimdall (The 8th Day, 1991): a colourful and action-packed isometric RPG that offered novices like me a relatively simple way into the genre. Just a little bit easier to get to grips with than all that D&D malarkey, and its Norse setting was compelling. Probably most famous for its hair-chopping mini-game.

Curse of Enchantia (Core Design, 1992): a forgotten and rather maligned adventure game that attempted to replace the witty and wordy dialogue of LucasArts’ favourites with a pictures and animation. Far simpler and more arcadey, but I really enjoyed it, and there’s even a saucy bit that us little boys got all excited over.

The Blues Brothers (Titus Interactive, 1991): I loved and enjoyed the film when probably a little too young, so this well-designed platform game ticked all the boxes. The music is faithfully recreated, it has far more strategic bent than most twitchy platformers, and can be played in co-op if you’re forgiving.

Premiere (The 8th Day, 1992): wow, Core/8th Day crops up a lot here… a simply gorgeous platformer with an intriguing “two worlds” hook (flitting between movie sets and the soundstages behind them). Most famous at the time for its phenomenal intro, with digitised speech and everything.

Elfmania (Terramarque, 1994): after everyone had calmed down about Street Fighter (and its, er, disappointing Amiga version), this beautiful brawler emerged. Luscious stages, full of animation and scrolling, and a more strategic, money-gathering hook, made this an instant classic, but its release in the Amiga’s twilight meant its status is overlooked.

Gobliiins (Coktel Vision, 1991): a rather lambasted puzzle/adventure series that I enjoyed at least. Cool and funny graphics showed us a trio of idiot goblins getting into scrapes in a variety of puzzle/adventure stages. I also found it way too hilarious that each subsequent title lost an “i” along with a protagonist (Goblins 3 featured only one goblin, y’see).

Lemmings 2: The Tribes (DMA Design, 1993): yeah, okay, this isn’t exactly unknown. But whilst people rightfully lionise the first game – it did arguably create a genre and you could argue its success paved the way for the GTA series, if you wanted to get all Butterfly Effect about it – the sequel improved in every respect. The Tribes aspect offered multiple avenues to play the game, a wider variety of skills and levels, the graphics and the music were better, and it had a really fun “practice” mode. Absolutely one of my favourite games of all time, and I really wish it was easily playable on modern PCs.

Right, there we go. More-or-less undersung gems. Happy 35th, Amiga! You’re really surprisingly not much younger than me!

[ilovereadingandilovebreathing]

all of them :P

There’s LITERALLY 50 omg >_> Ah well, if I’m procrastinating, might as well go big or go home. Warning: LONG.

Finally, an ask-meme for writers!

01: When did you first start writing?

My first ever time writing stories was in 2nd grade; we wrote stories weekly in my class. The first time I began to consciously write and consider myself a writer was probably 8th grade.

02: What was your favorite book growing up?

Ahhhh so many. Series more than individual books. Starting from when I was really young, my iconic series were: Clifford the Big Red Dog, Henry and Mudge, Horrible Harry, A to Z Mysteries, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Nancy Drew, and The Chronicles of Narnia, to name a few.

03: Are you an avid reader?

Actual books? Not as much anymore. I’m too tired or busy. I read fanfics, though :p

04: Have you ever thrown a book across the room?

Where the Red Fern Grows lol one of the only books to date to make me cry. 

05: Did you take writing courses in school/college?

Writing-specific? No. 

06: Have you read any writing-advice books?

I mean, I had to read like MLA manuals and other “writing tips” books for school, so yeah, I guess.

07: Have you ever been part of a critique group?

Not like a real one, just in class in college

08: What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

I think the best feedback I get is on here, really! You guys are super sweet, and some of you offer some great concrete feedback! I can’t think of anything specific, but I also get really tickled when someone comments on my writing style. 

09: What’s the worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten?

Worst as in quality wise was “this was good.” or something like that lol

Worst as far as soul-crushing...ooo. Story Time!

Freshman year of college. I had to take this like early-level English class, and the focus was on nonfiction writing and stuff like that. My professor often picked apart my papers because he didn’t like my writing style, especially not my prose, because he said it was way too florid (flowery or wordy). That made me really sad, but then I had another professor who taught a senior level class who LOVED my prose, so. It’s all relative. 

10: What’s your biggest writer pet-peeve?

Mmmmmmm when people use the same word over and over and over again (which, I am so guilty of, so that’s probs why it bugs me haha) Also too many short sentences. I literally can’t read something if the syntax isn’t varied enough to flow.

11: What’s your favorite book cover?

OOOOoooo I like this one! But sadly I don’t pay attention enough to have an answer to this...Citizen by Claudia Rankine has a pretty thought-provoking cover. I also like the Penguin Classics cover of The Crucible. 

12: Who is your favorite author?

C.S. Lewis is a p cool dude

13: What’s your favorite writing quote?

Quote about writing? This was an important one for me as a growing writer and person, tbh:

“I deal with writer’s block by lowering my expectations. I think the trouble starts when you sit down to write and imagine that you will achieve something magical and magnificent—and when you don’t, panic sets in. The solution is never to sit down and imagine that you will achieve something magical and magnificent. I write a little bit, almost every day, and if it results in two or three or (on a good day) four good paragraphs, I consider myself a lucky man. Never try to be the hare. All hail the tortoise.” ~ Malcolm Gladwell  

This is literally me and the roots of my procrastination and anxiety with writing anything, be it fanfiction or school work. I worry too much about making it perfect the first time, but another great quote is: “The first draft is always perfect because all it has to do is exist” or something like that. It’s something I’m still working on, but have gotten better at.

14: What’s your favorite writing blog? c;

You mean besides mine :p haha JKJKJK I don’t follow any purely writing blogs, but I’ve read many GREAT pieces from (I missed SO many people in this, so I’m really sorry if I didn’t tag you. I’m too tired to go hunting too far.)

(Sanders Sides) ssides, random-snippets, tinysidestrashcaptain, stillebesat, pirate-patton, among others

(Soul Eater) smokeandjollyranchers, professor-maka, tsarodat, makapedia, kittenintheden, raining-down-hearts, earth-shines, sandmancircus, poisonedscarlett, among others

For non-fandom stuff, hawaiianmint and garnet-portrait have some great poetry that really makes my heart hurt.

15: What would you say has inspired you the most?

As far as writing, I assume....honestly, being involved in fandoms and writing fanfiction! I’m only where I am now because I read so many great writers and  adapted their good habits to my own. 

16: How do you feel about movies based on books?

I haven’t been a fan of a ton of books turned to screen productions, so that doesn’t help. I liked the Narnia movies until the Dawn Treader. I liked the ASOUE movie, and I’m still deciding how I feel about the Nextflix series. Other than those, I can’t think of any significant ones, to me lol

17: Would you like your books to be turned into TV shows, movies, video games, or none?

Books that I like or books that I write? Etiher way it depends on who’s directing.

18: How do you feel about love triangles?

Eeehhhhhhhhhhh overused trope that ruins otherwise perfectly good plots.

19: Do you prefer writing on a computer or longhand?

Computer. It’s so much easier. I won’t even pretend.

20: What’s your favorite writing program?

I just use Word, my dude.

21: Do you outline?

Not as often as I should, but it helps me a lot.

22: Do you start with characters or plot?

It’s give and take between both, usually characters, though.

23: What’s your favorite & least favorite part of making characters?

Favorite is customization and how no one can tell you that your own OC is OOC.

Least favorite is how involved and difficult it can be.

24: What’s your favorite & least favorite part of plotting?

Favorite is how much fun it can be to throw in twists and make it all interesting!

Least favorite is how I tend to overthink things or not be brave enough to really GO for something. Also research can suck.

25: What advice would you give to young writers?

You’re young. Don’t worry about being amazing at first. You’ll learn and you’ll grow. Online, ins a supportive community, is a good place to start. 

26: Which do you enjoy reading the most: physical, ebook, or both?

Physical 100% (I’d print out and read fanfiction that way if I could okay)

27: Which is your favorite genre to write?

Uuuuuuuuuuummmmmm fiction? lol

28: Which do you find hardest: the beginning, the middle, or the end?

Depends on the story, but usually the end.

29: Which do you find easiest: writing or editing?

Editing

30: Have you ever written fan-fiction?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah yes. help me. 

31: Have you ever been published?

Naaahh

32: How do you feel about friends and close relatives reading your work?

Anything other than my fanfics: Shy, but ok.

My fanfics: NONONONONONONONONONONONONO TOO MUCH. EMBARRASSING. -Virgil Sanders 2k4ever

33: Are you interested in having your work published?

I mean maybe, but I’m not good enough, tbh lol

34: Describe your writing space.

My bedroom.

35: What’s your favorite time of day for writing?

I don’t have a favorite, but it often strikes when I should be doing something else.

36: Do you listen to music when you write?

Sometimes! Depends on what I’m writing and how tired I am.

37: What’s your oldest WIP?

I have a lot of things I never finished, but in this case, WIP means, to me, that I might actually finish it, so that would probably be one of a handfuls of old Soul Eater fics I never finished or posted lol

38: What’s your current WIP?

Just one????? LOL

“Patton’s Intuition” (Sanders Sides Fic)

“Virgil the (Semi-)Friendly Ghost” (Sanders Sides Human!GhostAU)

“Eggs and Black Coffee” (A Soul-Eater College!AU)

“A Rose by Any Other Name” (Another Soul-Eater AU)

“Bedside Manner” (Soul-Eater Hospital!AU)

39: What’s the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had?

Mmmmmmm I don’t think I’ve really had any weird ideas. I once thought of doing a Soul-Eater Avatar:TheLastAirbender!AU. 

40: Which is your favorite original character, and why?

I have a few original characters. I guess my favorites would be the twins, David and Preston, from a story I wrote in high school called “Buried Alive.”

41: What do you do when characters don’t follow the outline?

Go with it. 

42: Do you enjoy making your characters suffer?

No, but sometimes that’s just how the story goes.

43: Have you ever killed a main character?

Not actively in the story.

44: What’s the weirdest character concept you’ve ever come up with?

I don’t have one lol

45: What’s your favorite character name?

Cassidy

46: Describe your perfect writing space.

In the mountains, a sunny day, on my back deck

47: If you could steal one character from another author and make then yours, who would it be and why?

Oooooooooooooooo in the fanfiction world, I really love Marin’s (ssides) University!AU versions of the Sides. 

I really like the characters in The Book Thief, To Kill a Mockingbird, and East of Eden. I just really like the personalities and characterizations of those characters. 

48: If you could write the next book of any series, which one would it be, and what would you make the book about?

I’d start a new A Series of Unfortunate Events series about little Beatrice. 

49: If you could write a collaboration with another author, who would it be and what would you write about?

I’d love to collab with so many writers I’ve read on here.

Mmmmmm IRL though it’d be too embarrassing to try to write with a published author because I’d get too nervous and doubt everything I did.

50: If you could live in any fictional world, which would it be?

NARNIA

[allthevmff]

pre-series au: logan x veronica - you just sway

by nevertothethird

This was supposed to be a 5-times fic (5-times Veronica asks Logan to dance and 1-time he asks her) but your girl is wordy and can’t write anything without trying to get too cute, so this turned into a pre-series little ficlet (that has more I’ve written so might get finished and posted to AO3). I’ve never ready a 10,000 word 5-times fic and genre bending moves are not within my capacity at the moment.

Written on my bus commute to work and edited hastily.

This is a pre-series choose your own adventure type situation. Want it to be canon compliant? Go for it! Want it to spin off into a whole world of imagination? That works, too.

Be kind. Rewind. Er, reblog?

pre-series au: logan x veronica - you just sway

So, you just sway back and forth?

For the past hour, Veronica’s been watching as the girls and boys in her seventh grade class step into their first slow dancing foray with trepidation. And here she stands, off to the side drinking fruit punch and munching on generic Oreos puzzled by the enterprise. It doesn’t come off as romantic as the movies make it look. Frankly her classmates don’t really seem to be enjoying themselves.

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting.

Okay, that’s not true.

She’s been to a few gatherings at Lilly’s house (a term she coined to sell them to her dad who believes she is far too young for parties) and they led Veronica to expect the night to be a veritable bump and grind fest. But instead when Low came on all the girls clumped together, giggling at their poor attempts at dropping it low, and the boys hung off to the side looking bored by it all. Lilly isn’t even here, deciding the fête wasn’t worth her time. Duncan is there as his dad informed him it was his duty as seventh grade vice president to be there for his constituents. (Lilly eye-rolled handily at this and Veronica couldn’t tell if Mr. Kane was joking or not.)

As Veronica contemplates dunking her bargain basement Oreo into the fruit punch (would it be like a crunch chocolate covered strawberry situation?) someone pushes her from behind. She thinks it must be an accident until it happens again and continues until she’s standing in the center of the dance floor. She whips her head around, determined to give the personal space bubble violator a very intense lecture, and is met with the smiling face of Meg Manning. Sweet Meg. Sweet Meg who looks so proud of herself. Sweet Meg who looks, dare it be, a little mischievous?

“What are you –“

“I’ll take those, thank you.” And Meg does. Takes the remaining stack of cookies and the cup of punch away from Veronica. “Your wallflower days are numbered.”

“I was enjoying those.” She’s not sure if she’s defending the cookies or her decision to be a wallflower. Maybe both.

“No you weren’t. And even if you were consider this an opportunity to enjoy something else.”

“Like what?”

“We’re at a dance, Veronica.”

She walks away with those words, and Veronica watches as Meg munches on one of her cookies. But maybe she has a point. Veronica did take extra time to iron her dress for the party. And spent her weekly allowance on a new lip gloss. Dancing is, when she thinks about it, the most logical thing to do. She doesn’t want to waste good lip gloss. Her resolve fades, however, as she approaches a group of friends from her earth science class and the song changes to something slower. Another slow song. God, what is with this DJ? She did not come here to slow dance.

Except when Veronica turns around she sees Meg looking at her. All big eyes and hopeful. She doesn’t have to say the words “I’m rooting for you” but Veronica knows she is. Fine. She’ll consider it an anthropological exercise. She couldn’t figure out the appeal of the whole slow dancing thing by watching, so maybe doing it herself will provide some heretofore missing insight.

Now the decision on who to dance with.

Veronica’s first choice is Duncan. She’s been hanging with Lilly almost every day after school, and Duncan always smiles at her in this way that makes her insides feel a little warm. But Duncan is currently dancing with Susan Knight, a friend from student council, so there goes that option. Casey Gant is always nice to her but in a way that makes her feel she’s being made fun of. Plus she knows he and Sean have been sipping something from a flask all night and she’s too familiar with the scent of bootleg vodka to find that appealing. Which leaves her with very few options.

There’s a tap on her shoulder and she breathes out a sigh of relief, certain it’s Meg taking pity on her. But of course she is just not that lucky.

Logan. Of course.

She likes Logan. She thinks. Well, he’s kind of dating her best-friend (Lilly laughs at her whenever she asks if the two of them are going out) so she kinda has to like him. It’s just –

Well, it’s just –

It’s just a bunch of little things. Like, he has this habit, usually when she just finished swimming and she’s in the Kanes’ kitchen making a snack, of catching her off guard. It makes him laugh to see her jump and he doesn’t ever flinch when she socks him in the shoulder in response. She also can’t tell if he thinks she’s stupid, or if he just thinks he’s better than her. Her middle school survival tool is sarcasm she cuts with a smile. People don’t understand it usually and she moves through the halls unscathed. But then there’s Logan. For every biting piece of commentary she offers, he has at least two more at the ready. It’s incredibly annoying. Can’t he just let her have the last word for once?

He’s looking down at her with his usual faintly mocking expression and she really wants to knock him down. Comment on the fact that he has way too much hair gel in his hair. But he also looks sort of nice. Most of the other boys are wearing ties and jackets but Logan is only wearing well-fitting navy slacks and a white button down shirt. Somehow he looks more put together than anyone else. Must be really expensive fabric or something. So she ignores the voice telling her to say the first mean thing that comes to mind. She also ignores the second (So, did the bottle of CK One break, or did you bathe in it?) and takes a step back.

“What do you want, Logan?”

“You have a problem.”

“I don’t have a problem.”

“Oh, yes you do. Looks to me like the founder and sole member of the spirit committee insists you dance, but here you are with nary a dance partner to your name.”

“Thank you for the synopsis. I would be so lost without you.”

Logan ignores her. No, that’s not true. She used to think that Logan ignored her, but it’s just this thing he does. Where he pretends not to and then, bam, you’re talking to Duncan about why mushrooms should never be in lasagna and Logan throws in a, “it’s a texture thing, right” and you realize he listens to everything. That’s another one of Logan’s annoying things.

So, Logan doesn’t ignore her. But he does put his hands in his pockets, roll back and forth on his heels, and then duck down a little so he can conspiratorially whisper, “I know someone who could help you with that.”

“Really?”

“Mm,” he hums. “It’s just this guy has very low self-esteem. Hollywood brat, you know. Consistently needs validation.”

Veronica snorts at that. Because Logan is so many things but someone with low self-esteem is not one of them.

“What do you suggest, then?” she asks.

“Well, fragile ego that he has, I think he just wants to be wanted, you know?”

“So Hollywood.”

“All it would take, I think, is for someone to ask. A simple, ‘Dear Logan’” – he pauses, an imperious hand waved in her direction – “we’ll call this poor soul Logan for ease, ‘Dear Logan, please help me in my current state of social misery and dance with me? Please?’”

She carefully considers her options. While not usually one to take the path of least resistance, she opts for it this time. “Logan, will you dance with me?” She puts out her hand.

Logan looks like he’s about to take it and then frowns. “You didn’t say please.”

“Oh god,” she groans, taking his hand. “Shut up.”

via A Feed Called vmfanfic https://ift.tt/2Cz14Fk March 15, 2019 at 10:04PM