#pretty sure thomas is 28

[sinister-things]

Does anyone know when the other ghosts were born?? I know they celebrated Kitty's birthday in one episode but what about the others??

[dcangel]

MY SMUTTY WRITING PROMPTS

I have a shit tone of smut prompts, so feel free to request any numbers for any of following characters: stiles Stilinski, Thomas (TMR), Dave Hodgman, Joel Dawson, Void Stiles, Stuart Twombly, Mitch Rapp, Simon Tarnum, Colin. I literally got pretty much done with this and was abt to post it bc I made the collage at the end and everything AND I FUCKING FORGOT ABOUT COLIN

As you can tell it’s all Dylan’s characters, and these are going to be the main people I write for. I don’t want to write about dylan himself as of right now bc I feel like it’s like sjrkrfk but yeah.

Anyways… there turned out to be 77 total prompts FOR THE SMUT ONES ALONE which is.. yeah

But I do have more than just smut prompts, I have some normal ones and I’ll make another post abt those.

RULES!! Idgaf how old you are as long as your 16+, I only write for fem!readers, and idk what else to add but like the basic rules yk? You can request more than just the prompts such as like sub!reader or sub!character (same for dom), or like maybe a specific kink if I feel comfortable writing for it like a nickname or just something else. You also don’t have to choose from one of these, you could just give me a request, and it also doesn’t even have to be smut. I’m always happy to hear your ideas and randomly thoughts<33

Anywayss…

SMUT PROMPTS—

1. “I want to hear you beg.”

2."Arch your back for me.”

3."You look better with my hands around your neck."

4."Swallow it. All of it."

5."God, you feel so fucking good."

6."Suck on it"

7."You're so fucking hot."

8."Open your legs for me, baby. I wanna see you."

9. “Don’t hold back.”

10. "Ah, fuck.”

11. "That noise...keep making it."

12. "Wrap your legs around my waist."

13. "Let's make this quick."

14. "Don't close your eyes, angel. Look at me"

15. "You're mine."

16. "Such a good little (slut/good boy, good girl), aren't you?"

17. "faster-ah shit-harder”

19. “I wanna go again."

20."I want you. I need you."

21.“Huh...uh...keep going."

22."Wait-uh-do...do that again."

23."Mark me. Mark me so everyone knows who I belong to."

24."Don't be gentle with me-I like it when you're rough."

25."One more time! Please!"

26. "Fuck-uh! I love it when you touch me like that."

26."kiss me again, but- mphh"

27. "lay down, love and let me do you how you deserve it."

28. “You can suck better than that, angel… don’t piss me off, alright?”

29. “Don’t muffle yourself. Let them hear your whiny voice, baby. Everyone should know how good I’m fucking you.”

30. "We'll take it slow."

31. "I've never done this before..” "Well, neither have I."

32."I'll take care of you."

33. "Tell me what you like."

34. "Tell me if it feels good."

35. "We can stop anytime."

36. "Do you trust me?"

37. "I've been wondering what it feels like…”

38. "I think l'm ready (for this/to have sex/...)."

39. "Please be gentle…”

40. "This is going a bit too fast…”

41. “I can’t believe you’re this innocent.”

42. "Makes me want to wreck you."

43. "You've never even touched yourself?"

44. "Show me how you do it when you touch yourself.”

45. "What do you like?" - "I don't know." - "Then how about we find out together?"

46. "It's my first time…”

47. “I can't wait to ruin your innocence"

48. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

49. "It's not a big deal. Let's just get it over with?

50. "I want you to be my first."

51. "I want you to teach me."

52. "Teach me how to make you feel good.”

53. "I wanna touch you too."

54. "Show me how to touch you."

55. "Am I going too fast?"

56. "You're doing so good for me.”

57. "Do that again."

58. "I never thought you could make such sweet noises." - "Me neither. "

59. "It's not scary at all. Let me show you.”

60."I'm worried I won't be good enough."

61. "Is it going to hurt?"

62. "I won't hurt you."

63. "I'm really embarrassed about this...”

64. "No need to worry."

65. "I got you."

66. “Kiss me?”

67. "Will you be my first?"

68. "Will you let me be your first?"

69. "I have no idea how to go about this "

70. "(If you like it), we can go all night."

71. "So (hard/wet) already…?”

72. "Are you sure this is your first time?"

73. "What do you want me to do?"

74. "Is this okay?"

75. "Does it feel good?”

76. "Tell me what to do."

77. "I'll guide you."

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

Jean Lannes:

a. “short, angry, ladderlord”

b. “His personality is attractive, plus the portrait of him by Julie-Louise Volpeli��re is so fine.”

c. “ITS LANNES also any1 who calls napoleon a whore with no fear of repercussions gets my vote”

Henry Paget:

a. “In 1809, Paget scandalously eloped with Lady Charlotte Cadogan (born 12 July 1781), the wife of Henry Wellesley and daughter of Charles Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan and Mary Churchill. On 28 March 1809, Charlotte's brother, Henry Cadogan, challenged Paget to a duel: "My Lord, I hereby request you to name a time and place where I may meet you, to obtain satisfaction for the injury done myself and my whole family by your conduct to my sister. I have to add that the time must be as early as possible, and the place not in the immediate neighbourhood of London, as it is by concealment alone that I am able to evade the Police." It was suggested to Wellington that working with Uxbridge might be awkward. He said that he'd be sure not to elope with Uxbridge. Later, when Uxbridge was wounded in the leg at Waterloo, he said to Wellington "By God, Sir, I've lost my leg" to which Wellington responded "By God Sir, so you have." According to his aide-de-camp, Thomas Wildman, during the amputation Paget smiled and said, "I have had a pretty long run. I have been a beau these 47 years and it would not be fair to cut the young men out any longer." Had a total of eighteen children with his two wives.”

Admin note: His leg that he lost at Waterloo became a tourist attraction. This probably doesn't sway you on whether he's sexy, but it is fun nevertheless.

[acheronist]

woah it seems like i missed the first eleven words of your post but in spite of that would it be okay if i asked about what you think thomas armitage and henry peglar spent four years doing while they were sailing around the equator on the gannet together

LET THE RECORD SHOW THAT IT IS THE YEAR IS 1834. it's also early april. cool and crisp but sunny one could assume. we are boarding the hms gannet (an 18 gun brig-sloop), and we are signed on for four years, sailing across the atlantic and then working in service of the british navy in north america + the west indies. henry peter peglar was born in 1812 and is at this point twenty two years of age. thomas middlename armitage is born in 1805 . much less information about thomas is readily available to me so we're really entering crazygirl speculation, but we know he's at least 28 but probably closer to 29. i love it when the least problematic thing about a couple is their age difference.

i don't know what thomas was up to, besides allegedly being married for eight years and having some kids and then fucking off to the navy instead of being a father (closeted deadbeat dad backstory? married young just to appease family backstory? lavender marriage backstory?) but in the last few year before this henry had: worked under a captain who was notorious for lashing his men, said Yikes this guy sucks i don't want to be lashed, wrote for a discharge, got on a new boat. new boat was captained by the same crazed captain as before, so he bailed again, and ended up on a ship he'd previously been on before, and then got lashed for being drunk and mutinous under the old-new captain anyways. my poor boy. the takeaway from this is when he's getting onto the gannet as captain of the foretop, his shoulders are covered in barely healed over scars.

good news is tho he got a promotion!!!! a few, technically!! henry's captain of the foretop, now, and likely spends his days up in the ropes and rigging, climbing around and fixing the sails. he's good at this and does an excellent job. this is also his first time as a senior petty officer aboard a ship, plus he was acting as coxswain AND working gunner crew when necessary. (shoutout to his childhood in his dad's gunsmithing workshop)

thomas armitage is rated as an AB right now iirc, and with only so many men aboard, surely their paths must begin to cross. thomas has got a pretty good coverstory of Marriage, but henry's never had any romantic affairs recorded thus far and has been pretty career focused for most of his life so far as far as i can tell. oh you've been in the navy since puberty? mm. mhm. okay.

well anyways no one would blink twice at some fellow crewmates who run in the same social circles sharing a meal every now and then. lots of people do that. and henry likes to write, has always liked to write and keep a journal! the atlantic is clear and beautiful but to make good pace, henry doesn't get the time to write until late into the evenings. men aboard see him writing constantly in his spare time, and he gets a reputation for it. once, maybe during a meal, the ships boys nervously ask him if he'd mind helping them with their letters. he laughs and says his spellings not very good, he's not much of a teacher, always been a sailor, but he'll help of course, if they'd like that. thomas can't help but overhear and remembers how it felt to sign his marriage certificate to cecelia with an X, not even able to scratch his own name out across the line. maybe that was better though, he hadn't really signed anything, and it felt like he wasn't truly tied to her, not in a way that was real. marriage consummated, sure, but he didn't know his children. wasn't in their lives. much preferred the company of his fellow sailors, the ease and routine of a crowded ship. sent most of his money home, of course, and never saw them. couldn't send any letters home, couldn't read any letters that managed to reach him, either.

still, if someone aboard was offering to teach, maybe it'd be worthwhile to speak to him more. try and learn. so he strikes up a friendship with mr. peglar. easy easy easy. he's funny, he's clever. gets silly after too much drink, freckles easily under the clear sunlight, works hard and his company is pleasant. he's strong and competent and good at his job-- jobs-- and there's not much to dislike about him. lots of men like him, but even on the hottest days as they sail south, when men strip down to their skins, henry still walks about the decks with his shirt buttoned all the way up. it's a nice thing to see-- thomas has always appreciated it when a shirt is well worn. when a uniform is respected and kept in order. you understand, of course.

so maybe, on a quiet night, one where henry's lingering up in the crow's nest with his pages again, tom gets the nerve to climb up. scares the hell of out henry on accident, and they both laugh it off. make room for each other in the cramped space. talk about the view, the waves and how they stretch out to the horizon, clear and gorgeous. tom hadn't realized the height would make such a difference. henry agrees, explains its part of why he likes to hide up in the heights of the ropes so often. they talk, and talk, and talk until the stars come out. tom doesn't even remember that he crawled up the ropes in the first place to ask henry if he could teach him to write, not until theyre both down on deck and henry's folded his pencil and papers away.

anyways... henry's often busy-- working. always working. its hard to pin him down but thomas begins to seek him out. gets scant minutes of each day to grip his shoulder, friendly-- NORMAL-- and smile. talk. nothing salacious-- of course not, one has to be careful aboard ships lest he wants rumors to start. but still. when henry begins seeking him out as well, it's a good feeling. sometimes the sun shines so bright and thomas gets to crane his neck up, picking out henry's dark silhouette against the blue sky and gets a few seconds to watch him work in the rigging.

and finally the ship gets a land break. a short one, mind, but a break nonetheless. the ship's docked in trinidad, henry practically begs thomas to join him off to a party. friends of someone on board throwing the whole thing over on the beachfront. spoke awful loud about it that morning, so it's not quite an open invitation, but seems informal enough that if they arrive at the right time, no one will notice they hadn't been properly invited. thomas wasn't expected to get drunk under the table like this, but apparently henry's much better at handling his alcohol, and its late-- or very early, depending-- when they finally stumble back out to the beach. its cooler out here and its lovely-- dark and salty and sweet and exotic. thomas hadn't ever been to a party like this. he has to twist his fingers into henry's shirt collar to keep upright, and maybe that's the first time he properly notices the lines of scars peeking out from below the collar. wouldn't ever see them if he hadn't pulled henry's shirt out of sorts while they stumbled over the sand-- giggling like boys and splashing barefoot along the shoreline before they returned to the gannet. and thomas wouldn't bring it up no no no that's far too forward especially because it wasn't something he was meant to see anyways but he keeps it in mind. he keeps it sooo in mind he kind of begins to suck at his job once daylight and the hangover hit him because all he can focus on is wondering how far down henry's back the scars go. what he could have possibly done to be lashed in the first place.

so he doesn't ask. he doesn't ask and he doesn't think about it, just struggles through the alphabet that henry has him copying down and thomas kind of hates himself but he copies his shaky letters down and does his job and keeps a nice distance but still... if he takes every meal with henry across the table then that's fine. they have to go over thomas's terrible alphabet practices and have a billion other things to talk about .

and the gannet moves along, so does thomas. so does henry. and its all well until the ships docks again-- cumana this time, and some men get permission to leave the ship. they'll be back on the sea again for a long while after this so the officers aboard allow it and henry just wants to walk so thomas is fine to walk with him. and it wasn't like they'd planned to find a party again, this just seems to be a joyful part of the world. and it's hosted by some americans this time, so they don't even need to struggle with the language barrier too badly! and thomas tries not to drink so much, wants to be there to take care of henry this time. and stays in the back a bit-- watches henry become best of friends with these strangers and he sings and dances alongside them, and isn't it nice how his face lights up when he spots thomas still there against the wall, so unabashedly pleased that he'd not disappeared while henry hadn't been paying attention!! and well maybe henry stumbles out of the crowd and pulls thomas into the thick of it, his hands all warm from the weather here and calloused from work and a bit sticky from spilled drinks, and brings thomas into the crowd to dance. and gets thomas to sing too because when everyone else is loud, no one really notices them specifically, and its okayyy its okay! its okay. theyre nobody here, it barely matters. just come dance. and thomas does follow after him and he does sing and he does dance. and they rent a room for a few hours before anyone notices they've not made it back to the gannet yet, and thomas gets to peel henry out of his clothes and do up every single button again after, like they'd never been undone in the first place. glances around the room one last time, and couldn't believe henry nearly left his wallet on the bureau top-- tucked it back into henry's pockets himself before they left minutes apart to avoid suspicion. but they got away with it which is THRILLING. and they keep on like this-- a cycle of working with their heads down and indulging away from the ship when they could manage it. halfheartedly teaching thomas his letters, which never quite sticks but that's alright, and seeing the sights and wonders every day, side by side, seeing the turtles swim slowly by and basking together in the heat and excitement of a new place with a strong sense of anonymity.

and its two and a half more years of this, of catching each other's eye between the ropes and Knowing it'll never last, things like this never do, but isn't it nice to have it now? and it's two and a half more years of this, and thomas does get to see the long, gnarled scars that trace down over henry's shoulders and spine, once, twice, three times, more and more until he begins to lose track. and its two and a half more years of secreting affections away up in the crows nest at strange hours when no one would notice. and its two and a half more days until they both get their discharges and the gannet docks again at sheerness and they hadn't talked about it, about what's next, because isn't it obvious? there's nothing next. this wasn't more than an affair, but it was a lovely one. it might even be one that hurts forever.

and it's february 1838 when they meet up at a pub in kent-- thomas kissed cecelia's cheek before he'd and said he was off for a pint with a friend-- and it's in a crowded pub when henry has to lean in across the table to tell him he's signed onto hms temeraire, just because he can't bear to stay in one spot. not anymore, loves the sea far too much to be on shore for very long. and thomas has to tell him that's good-- that's best for him. has to tell him to be careful in the ropes, he won't be there to watch out for him this time. and henry knows better than to ask if there's an address he could write to-- thomas wouldn't give that, and thomas wouldn't be able to write back either way. he'd still never gotten the hang of making his letters blend together gracefully into words, not in the way that henry always could. so they shake hands, fingers digging in a little bit too tightly, until they let go and that's all. thomas armitage and henry peglar go on their separate ways, resigned to the fact that they'll likely never see each other again.

and its seven years until they DO see each other again, running into each other, completely unexpected. isn't it so odd? isn't it so funny how things work out like that? do you think fate's real? well it must be, surely the navy's bigger than this to just be happenstance. they both needed jobs again at the same time, is all. heard the same rumors about john franklin's arctic expedition, whispers of optimism trickling down to even the most common gossiping circles of sailors. both couldn't resist the idea of it. both walked the chatham dockyard with their things in tow, keeping an eye out for hms terror, talking again as if no time had passed, about what to expect from the sandwich islands, if it'd be at all like the west indies... and well, they might be, once they make it that far.

who can really say, though. they're older this time. it'd be different, surely. maybe it'd just be best to be pleased for a friendship-- a more steady, meaningful companionship as they got through the passage. who can say. who could know.

[snowdice]

Little Kestrel (Part 55) [Birds of Different Feathers Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan & Patton & Virgil (future Virgil/Patton but not in this story)

Characters:

Main: Logan, Patton, Virgil

Appear: Thomas

Mentioned: Janus

Summary:

It was supposed to be a quick job either way. Either Virgil would assassinate King Thomas of Prijaznia or he’d be caught and get executed. Yet, when Virgil gets the wrong bedroom and gets caught by Prince Logan and his future royal advisor, Patton, the job ends up getting way more complicated for the 14-year-old. He also ends up sleeping in a (actually pretty comfortable) closet for a few weeks…

Notes: Implied/referenced child abuse, assassination attempt, knives, torture mentioned, captivity, teenagers being really dumb, sexual coercion of minors implied, a minor offering sexual favors, fire

This is a prequel to Kill Dear. I wrote it 100 words at a time on my blog, but this is the edited version. If you want to see how it was crafted (and possibly some future content), look at the tag proofread stories.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53 Part 54

Virgil was beginning to be able to read some of the common instructions in magic books, but Logan still made sure to read out the instructions to him at least twice before setting him loose. He’d started to jot down notes to himself about things, though these notes were not words, but various symbols that only made sense to the boy himself.

Logan had asked about their meaning at one point and received an answer that, while earnest, was unintelligible. The symbols were mostly just pictures of things to represent certain steps in spell casting, but they were filtered through Virgil’s rudimentary penmanship and often bizarre perception of the world.

Though, despite the fact that Logan could not often decipher his chicken scratch, it did seem to help him produce more and more quality charms even as Logan began to introduce more complicated processes to make them. He was a very good student even if he didn’t have the best foundation for learning.

“I add lavender for the next step, right?” Virgil asked, his finger on a word in Logan’s magic book.

“That is correct,” Logan confirmed.

Virgil looked back at the book and mouthed the word ‘lavender’ to himself before turning back to his potion. He grabbed a few sprigs of lavender and threw them into the cauldron.

The liquid popped and bubbled violently, but Virgil didn’t flinch as he once would have, prepared for it now.

After the lavender, Logan knew that it would have to simmer for 5 minutes. Virgil looked down at the boiling liquid, contemplating it for a long moment.

“Can I soak a knife in it?” he asked.

“What?” Logan asked.

“Can I soak a knife in the potion once it’s done?”

“In that potion?” Logan clarified. “In the emergency hand warmer potion?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I think a hot knife would be useful,” Virgil said.

“For what?”

Virgil shrugged. “Cooking food on the road,” he said, “burning wood, stabbing someone and immediately cauterizing the wound.”

“That is… not a standard use for this potion,” Logan said.

Virgil titled his head at him. “Would it work though?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Logan contemplated. “Perhaps. The potion can cause burns if one uses too much of it or if it is used without an appropriate layer between it and the skin. If one were to pick a knife with enough surface area and let it soak long enough, it could in theory get hot enough to do as desired. Hmm…” he thought about it. “There would perhaps be the problem of the potion not sticking to the knife very long as it is intended to soak into fabric. However, cardamom could solve that issue as long as it doesn’t interact with any other ingredients. Let me see that spell.”

Virgil stepped out of his way so he could study the page. “Yes,” Logan said after scanning through all of the ingredients. “I think cardamom would work for something like that. Let me go find some.”

He turned to walk towards where he kept his supplies of potion ingredients. Virgil followed on his heals.

“Can we use a serrated knife?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea, Virgil,” Logan said, nodding as he searched through the cupboard that should hold the coriander. “The knife being serrated would help keep the potion stuck to the blade after many uses and would increase the surface area.”

“That was certainly my intention,” Virgil said smoothly. There was something odd about the tone that had Logan turning and blinking at him. Virgil just smiled at him innocently and Logan turned back to the cabinet finally locating the cardamom.

“So how are we going to use that?” Virgil asked.

“We’ll put it in right before the last step and let it sit for about 3 minutes,” Logan said. “If it doesn’t quite work, we may need to make another batch. There are options other than cardamom, but that’s the first idea that comes to mind and it’s a lot simpler if it works.”

He continued to speak of the many other options they could try as they returned to the caldron as well as how they could test the hot knife. It was already about time for the next step and Virgil did it without interrupting Logan’s rant.

Virgil listened to his suggestions with interest all while still making sure the potion he was making was progressing well.

Logan did eventually take over to finish the potion with the revised steps he’d come up with and they ended up with a potion that looked perfect except it was a few shades darker than the one they’d originally been planning to make.

“Well, it looks good,” Logan declared. “We will need to acquire a knife to test its effectiveness, however.”

“There are a few good ones in the kitchen,” Virgil pointed out. “I especially like the one 10 inch one with the black and white handle.”

“You have been eyeing up the kitchen knives?” Logan asked.

Virgil rolled his eyes as though that was not a perfectly reasonable question to ask him. “We should steal that one,” Virgil said.

“Do you think we’ll be able to sneak past Ms. Heart to steal a knife from her kitchen?” Logan asked.

“We can’t,” Virgil said. The ‘but I can’ was implied.

Logan almost didn’t believe him… and then he remembered the water pouch incident. “It’s the dinner rush,” Logan said. “We should probably wait for a bit.”

Virgil was shaking his head. “The dinner rush is the best time,” he said. “Everyone will be distracted, and all of the knives will be out and in prime stealing position.”

“And if Patton’s mother catches us messing around in her kitchen during her busiest time of day, she will have Father ground us for a week.”

“Then we just won’t get caught,” Virgil said.

“I’m not sure if it’s that simple,” Logan said with a frown.

“You can stay here if you want,” Virgil offered. “I’ll just go by myself.”

“No, I’ll come too,” Logan relented, though he did still have some reservations about the idea.

He let Virgil lead him towards the main dining hall. By now, Virgil knew the kitchens and dining hall very well.

“Stay here,” he said. They were in a hallway a few feet down from the staff entrance to the main kitchen. “I’m going to do some reconnaissance.”

“What type of reconnaissance?” Logan asked, but Virgil had already vanished before his very eyes. With a blink, Logan looked up and saw a dark figure disappear onto a balcony overhead.

Well, Logan really had no choice but to wait there for him. It wasn’t like he could follow him. He could hear the clatter of silverware on plates from the dining hall down the corridor as he impatiently waited. It only took Virgil a bit over five minutes to return. He dropped suddenly from above and landed in front of Logan in a crouch.

“Well?” Logan asked, letting a bit of irritation into his tone so Virgil knew he was displeased. Virgil did not seem to care.

“Got it,” Virgil said with a wide grin, brandishing a large kitchen knife.

Logan flinched back at the unexpected sight of a weapon.

“You said you were doing reconnaissance!” he sputtered. “Not…” he trailed off remembering that while they weren’t in eyesight of anyone right now, they could be in earshot of someone. He lowered his tone, “stealing the knife already.”

“I was doing reconnaissance,” Virgil said with a shrug, “and then I used the information gathered by that reconnaissance to steal a knife.”

Logan narrowed his eyes at him.

Virgil just smiled. “You would have gotten in my way.”

“I would not have,” Logan insisted.

“How many times has Patton’s mom caught you stealing food from the kitchens in the past?” he asked.

Logan pursed his lips. “That is Patton’s doing,” he said.

“Sure,” Virgil said with an eyeroll. “I’ll have you prove it some other day, but for now,” he twirled the knife around in a way that made Logan cringe even though he did seem to have an expert handle over it. “We have a knife.”

“Right,” Logan agreed with a nod. “We should continue the experiment.”

Virgil stored the knife away… somewhere on his person, and they snuck back to Logan’s rooms.

When Virgil handed over the knife, Logan did have to admit it was a perfect specimen for their project: long and saw-like with a heatproof handle.

Logan carefully set it in a shallow dish and proceeded to pour the potion they’d made onto it. They let it sit for a little under half an hour before carefully pulling it out of the concoction with tongs and letting it airdry. Meanwhile, Virgil suggested they set up a testing area with various old sheets and clothing. They’d even found and decorated an armor stand with an old suit that Logan particularly disliked.

“Well,” Logan said once he’d tapped the handle and had not gotten burned by the potion. “I think we can test it now.” For safety, he made Virgil put on thick heatproof gloves before handing him the knife.

“So how do I make it work?” Virgil asked.

“The original potion works through light friction,” Logan said.

“So just start stabbing things?”

Logan went to respond, but before he could, Virgil had already twisted around and sliced through one of the sheets hanging in Logan’s potion room. There was a sizzling noise as the knife cut through the sheet like it was tissue paper leaving two aflame halves flapping about.

Logan leapt forward to tear the pieces of sheet down and the two of them stomped on the flames to put out the fire.

“It’s perfect,” Virgil said with a grin once the charred remains of the sheet were extinguished.

“It does seem to work as intended,” Logan agreed.

“Let’s do it again,” Virgil said.

“Er, well, perhaps we shouldn’t…,” Logan started, but Virgil had already set his eyes on the armor stand they’d set up. That suddenly seemed like not such a good idea to Logan.

He stabbed the armor stand viciously. It went up in violent flames. Logan’s eyes widened as the blaze only seemed to get bigger as Virgil drew back the knife.

Virgil did not seem to share Logan’s worry as he turned and stabbed another piece of hanging clothing, setting it ablaze as well.

“Virgil, no! You’re going to burn the room down!” Logan yelped.

The armor stand, at that very moment, decided to fall to the ground. They had, perhaps, not set the testing area up as well as they should have because it fell directly onto one of Logan’s rugs and set that on fire as well.

“Oops,” Virgil said, eyes wide.

Above the sound of crackling fire, Logan heard a tapping on the door between his bedroom and work room. It opened slightly after a moment and Logan’s father’s voice called out as he was sticking his head into the room, “Um, what do you mean Virgil… is burning the room down!”

The moment Logan’s father fully processed the presence of the flames, he was bursting into the room. He at least remembered that there was a fire extinguishing powder stocked in Logan’s work room even though that fact had slipped Logan’s mind in the chaos. (Perhaps Logan should have thought to set it out when they were testing a fire knife, but Logan would just add that to his growing list of regrets.)

The king managed to put all of the fires out within 30 seconds of poking his head through the door, but the fire left in his eyes when he turned to look at them afterwards was perhaps more dangerous.

Virgil slowly hid the knife behind his back. It was probably a bit late for that.

“What were the two of you doing in here?” the king asked.

“Nothing,” Logan said. Virgil shot him a look that told Logan what the boy thought about his lying abilities.

Logan’s father put his hands on his hips. “‘Nothing’ set the rug on fire?”

“We may have been doing a small experiment,” Logan said.

“What experiment?” the king asked.

“…I do not wish to say.”

“Logan.”

“Virgil wanted a fire knife.”

“A what?”

Virgil frowned over at Logan. “Your resistance to interrogation techniques is deplorable.”

Father turned to look at Virgil and obviously spotted the fact that Virgil was holding something behind his back.

“Give it here,” Father said, though his tone was a bit gentler with Virgil than it had been with Logan.

Virgil debated it for a moment, but then offered over the knife with a pout on his face. Father gingerly took it and the fire-resistant gloves from him. “Where did the two of you even get this knife?”

“You can’t tell her,” Logan said.

“You stole a knife from the kitchens?!” the king asked.

“We borrowed it,” Logan said.

“Can it be used for cooking anymore?”

“…Well.”

“In the intended manner.”

“No.”

“Then you stole it.”

Logan just frowned and looked away.

“I’m going to go put this in a secure location,” Father said, grimacing at the fire knife in his hands. “No more experiments for you two for a month. I’ll sic Patton on you.”

With that, he picked up what was left of the fire extinguishing powder (just in case) and turned to exit the room.

“Well,” Logan said once he was gone. “That was irresponsible.”

“I could steal it back from him.”

“N-no don’t do that.”

“I definitely could though,” Virgil said.

“I did not hear you say that,” Logan said, putting his hands over his ears. “I am not responsible for any more of your actions in this matter. I am going to the library.”

He walked out of the room then and Virgil followed him to the upstairs library. He said nothing more about the fire knife, but Logan would be a fool to suppose he forgot about it.

[alexibeeart]

ooookay i'm about to pop off for a little bit RE: comments i keep seeing about Daft Punk just being whoever puts on a costume and mixes whatever music. so please forgive in advance. here's two examples of what I'm talking about, screenshot and reposted to not put ops on blast:

#1 is hot garbage, get it out of my sight. #2 is ... okay i get where it's coming from in an alternate universe rpg way, sure, cute, pretty harmless but like.

Daft Punk was the 28 year long passion project of two childhood friends who formed their unique talents into an even more unique collaboration; we're lucky to have experienced it! They were always very clear and exacting about their artistic vision. It's not an empty mantle for anyone to just pick-up. The Robots are creative identities developed and embodied by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo so they could a) have a sense of privacy, b) have their music standalone without celebrity gossip, and c) they liked the idea of secret identities and building a fun aesthetic world around their music. The media would often make flippant comments wondering if it was really "them" at events, interviews, even their own concerts. They mostly ignored that noise–famously declining an appearance on The Colbert Report in 2013–but Thomas responded to an interview during their Alive 2007 tour: "Of course not. Who would want to trade such a spot?" The only time anyone other than Thomas and Guy-Man wore the helmets in an officially endorsed capacity was for their film Electroma, which had actors playing robots while Daft Punk directed.

It's important, especially right now as we continue to fight against AI scraping art for marketable content, to defend artists as people who have put blood, sweat, and tears into their craft. And to value that craft. Bangalter, in 2023:

"Now the story has ended, it felt interesting to reveal part of the creative process that is very much human-based and not algorithmic of any sort. [...] We tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can. We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology. [...] As much as I love this character, the last thing I would want to be, in the world we live in, in 2023, is a robot."

sorry to get all serious business, yes i hear myself lmao, but Daft Punk is Daft Punk. okayyyy beep boop bye x

[mazegays]

could've followed my fears all the way down

Chapters: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31

Chapter 30

Thomas’s nerves are almost cute, if they weren’t so worrying. He’s more than willing to hold their hands in public, if he doesn’t have the sling on, but he’s clearly fretting over everything else.

“Do you think he knows we want to kiss him?” Gally asks when Thomas is laughing with Sonya across the fire.

“I think that’s the problem.” Minho watches Thomas’s face.

“What, he doesn’t want to kiss us?”

“More like he’s not sure how.” Minho’s pretty sure Thomas kissed Teresa a few times, and maybe Brenda, but he doesn’t know. It’s not exactly the kind of thing Thomas would have told him about. He doesn’t really want Thomas to tell him about it.

“It’s kissing, it’s not that hard.” Gally scoffs a little.

“Just because we had sex in the Glade doesn’t mean he did.” Minho points out, and he can see when that clicks for Gally.

“We have to talk about feelings again, don’t we?”

When did Minho become the one who knows that first?

… Actually, he doesn’t want an answer to that. 

“Yeah.”

“Thomas wants to go into the forest.” Gally changes the subject.

“No.” It hasn’t been that long since he had a panic attack sitting under one tree, he’s not allowed to go into the forest.

finish on ao3 or continue reading - if you like the fic, please reblog!!

“He’s been talking about it all week. He keeps creating signs for it while he’s teaching me. He wants to go together, but not for long.”

This is a fight Minho’s going to lose, he already knows it. Gally looks like he’s ready to say yes, he probably offered to tell him so Thomas wouldn’t have to.

“Why? He can hardly look at it without panicking.”

“He thinks he needs to get over it. I know he’s said something to Sonya. I think he’ll just follow her in if we don’t go.”

“Well, at least he’s not planning on going alone.” 

“So we’re doing it, then?”

“Maybe this is something we should talk to Jamie about— together, not individually.” is what Minho settles on saying, because he really doesn’t know.. He hates the idea, he doesn’t want Thomas anywhere near that forest and he thinks it’s going to end very badly.

But Thomas is a stubborn shank whose two settings of ‘dealing with things’ involve ignoring them or charging into them headfirst.

“Why Jamie?”

“Because she might be able to explain why it would be helpful, or why it’s a really bad idea and we shouldn’t do it. I know he talks to her about it one-on-one, but for something we do together we need to talk to her together.”

“He’s been a lot better lately, Minho. He’s been able to eat more, he’s sitting near the tree right now and not panicking, the sling is just about off for good. If he wants to try this, why wouldn’t we help him?”

“I’m not saying we wouldn’t,” he pauses, trying to get his thoughts together. “I’m worried, Gally. If this is too much, too soon, it could be bad.”

The two weeks of nearly entirely signing after the initial tree panic attack prove that very well. Sure, it’s better now, but only signing all the time and having to rely on Minho and Frypan to translate frustrates Thomas.

He likes to get his point across, and since no one had known about their sign language before, no one had learned it.

“What else are we supposed to do, make him feel like he has to be afraid of the forest for the rest of his life?” Gally’s worried too, he can tell— and not just about Thomas. “Minho, you want to protect him, we both do. He doesn’t want to be protected from this.”

And the little kids don’t want to be protected from running into the fire pits, but that doesn’t mean it should be allowed.

“That’s different, Min. The little kids don’t know better. We’re all nearly adults, might as well be, with what we’ve been through. Thomas has talked to Jamie about this, he’s been thinking about it for a while. He knows it might be a bad idea.”

“I still think it’s a bad idea.” Minho crosses his arms over his chest, but he knows Gally is right. “I still want all three of us to sit down and actually talk about it, with Jamie or not.”

It probably won’t be for a very long time, maybe less than an hour at first, but he wants to be prepared for everything.

Maybe Thomas will step into the forest and realize he’s not scared of it at all now. Great! Probably not going to happen, but great.

Maybe he’ll immediately have a panic attack. Also probably not the most likely option, not now that he’s actually been working though it with Jamie.

No, they’ll go in, fit a spot, sit and talk for a while. Thomas’s anxiety will build to the point where he can’t keep it hidden anymore, and they’ll leave before it gets worse.

Thomas will want to do it again, so they’ll go back until he’s happy with how long it takes for him to reach peak anxiety levels.

Minho doesn’t want him to do that to himself.

“Gally, this is going to take forever.” Minho realizes. “He’s going to want to keep going back until he can be in there for hours, if not days, without panicking.”

“So we’ll go with him, every time.” Gally says, like it’s as easy as that. “Until he’s okay with it.”

They can do that. Even though Minho’s going to hate every minute of it.

They can’t do this.

They’ve been taking it very slowly with the exposure therapy, as Jamie calls it. Once a week at most, for a few minutes at a time, a little longer each week.

Minho really wishes Thomas would wait.

This is the fifth week, and it’s been twenty minutes. Thomas is shaking already, but he doesn’t want to leave.

He never wants to leave.

“Minho, if he thinks he can handle it, let him.” Gally pulls him back a little. “He wants to try. We have to let him.”

“He’s shaking, Gally.”

“It’s cold. He’s a dumbass wearing shorts and a t-shirt.” Gally raises his voice a little, so Thomas can hear him teasing. Thomas glances back at them and rolls his eyes.

He looks… okay. He’s shaking, but his face is relaxed, not like he’s scared at all.

Maybe it’s not that bad.

“Who do you think is out hunting today?”

“It’s Rosa’s group’s turn!” Thomas calls back. He moves back to stand by them, leaning into Gally’s side.

Gally is kind of their personal space heater sometimes. He complains about it, but Minho knows he doesn’t really care.

“What do you think they’ll find?”

“I don’t know. I saw a moose.”

They’ve heard that a million times. Thomas wants to take them out to see it, but even Jamie, as encouraging as she is about him wanting to learn how to not be afraid of the forest anymore, has nipped that in the bud.

No week-long trips into the forest for a long time for them.

Minho’s okay with that. He doesn’t really like it here either, what with the tree falling on them and everything.

Wait, is Thomas trying to get them over their lingering fears of the forest too?

Damn.

That’s more tricky than he thought Thomas would pull on them.

(Other people, absolutely. Them? Thomas isn’t supposed to do it to them. But that’s Thomas for you. )

“Minho, you’re the one overthinking things now.” Thomas pokes him lightly. He’s smiling faintly when Minho looks over at him.

“So what if I am, shuckface? You don’t have a monopoly on overthinking things.”

“No, but it’s a little weird to watch someone else do it.”

“Then don’t look at me, I guess.”

“Where’s the fun in not looking at you?” Thomas pouts, exaggerated. “Gally, can I share your jacket?”

“I should tell you no, because you’re the dumbass here. But yes.” Minho can’t help but laugh at them as they try to figure out how to get arranged so Thomas will actually be warm without smothering him.

“Are you sure you don’t want help?”

“We’ll figure it out, thanks though, Minho.” Thomas answers, focused on the task at hand.

It’s hard not to laugh a little at Thomas as he tries to squeeze into Gally’s jacket. He’s biting his lip, completely focused, and he’s not thinking about being in the forest at all.

Minho’s laughing too, and his shoulders have dropped a little. He won’t say anything, but he doesn’t like the forest too much either.

If Gally could freeze time, this is one of the spots he’d do it in. Just linger here, in this moment, where they’re all laughing and joking around, despite everything. 

Despite the fact that he knows Thomas chose this spot because it’s not far from where Harriet found him.

He doesn’t want to be anywhere where they’re not happy, not again. They don’t need more sadness in their lives.

“Gally, you’re not even trying to help!” Thomas complains, pouting at him.

“I think it’s hopeless, Thomas. You can have my jacket instead.” Minho throws an arm around Thomas’s shoulders.

“But Gally’s already warm.” 

“And I’m not?” Thomas pulls away a little, just enough to put Minho’s jacket on. Gally’s not expecting him to grab his hand as he steps back.

“Okay, I think that’s enough for the day.” Thomas says.

“You’re feeling okay?” Minho asks, dropping the smile.

“I feel fine, but I’m cold. I want to bully you two into building a fire in the cabin and sit in bed all day and read.”

“Just for that, you can bring in all the wood from outside in your shorts and t-shirt.” he threatens, but he already knows he won’t go through it.

“And maybe I wanted to sit in bed and read. What are you going to do then?” Minho’s hand brushes his arm lightly. Gally can’t tell if it’s intentional or not.

“Read things out loud to you? Then you’ll fall asleep and I can read whatever I want.” Thomas raises his eyebrows at Minho, like it should be obvious.

“What if I want to read something, Thomas?”

“You don’t care what I read, as long as I read it out loud.” Thomas squeezes his hand softly, and. Yeah. It’s true. He doesn’t care.

He’s not much of a reader on his own, anyway. It’s just better when Thomas reads to him. Or Minho, on the rare occasion he decides that it’s his turn.

“So, a fire, reading, and cuddles? Sounds like a good day to me.”

“We can’t forget lunch.”

“I guess you can go and get it for us then, Minho. Thanks for offering!” Thomas manages to say it with a straight face, like Gally’s not cracking up next to him.

“That was not an offer, shuckface. That was a reminder that we need to eat.”

“Sounded like an offer to me, Minho.” Gally’s still grinning, which ruins the effect a little.

“The both of you? Really? I guess if all I’m good for is getting lunch I might as well leave you both!” Minho plays into the part, hand on his chest and everything.

“You’re the one who’s not letting go of me, so if you want to do that, then you can.”

“Yeah, Minho, if you’re really going to leave you have to let go of Thomas first.”

“He’s got my jacket!”

“You can let go of me and get your jacket back.”

“Well, maybe I will!”

He doesn’t, though, and Gally knows he never even considered it.

“Or maybe I’ll just get my jacket back later.”

“You can’t get it back if you can’t find it.” Thomas teases, smiling properly now. “Hey, Gally, cover me?”

“Yeah, of course.” He grabs Minho’s arm where it’s around Thomas’s shoulders, holding him just tightly enough that he can’t get away easily, while Thomas jogs ahead, eventually turning backwards to face them.

“Even if you hide it, I’ll still find it, Thomas!” Minho calls. “Gally, let go of my arm.”

“Are you going to chase him? Because I told him I wouldn’t let you do that.”

“No, but can’t I hold your hand instead, shank?”

“Oh.” Gally slides his hand down Minho’s arm, lacing their fingers together. Thomas has stopped ahead of them, kneeling to look at some plants.

“What are those, Thomas?” he asks when they get a little closer.

“Berries. I don’t think they’re edible though, we don’t have any in the greenhouse.” Thomas shakes his head a little.

His hair’s getting long. Maybe Gally should offer to cut it.

Or not. It might be a nice change.

Gally has to fight to keep his face straight, but Minho’s nudge tells him that he’s not entirely successful on that front.

<- 29 31 ->

[friendly-books]

Side Jobs live blog

Side Jobs

A restoration of faith 

“The kid lifted up her Oxford shoes and mule-kicked her leg back in my shin.” pg. 2 Ha I love this kid already 

“I’m up on North Avenue, and it’s after dark. I’m not leaving a nine-year-old girl out here by  herself.” pg. 3 That’s a good way for the kid to be ACTUALLY KIDNAPPED 

“What happened to your car?”

“Broke down this afternoon.” pg. 4 The Blue Beetle mention!

“It belongs on the set of El Dorando,” she snapped” pg. 5 Ha 

“Sucker,” she called back, her voice merry.” pg. 7 Ha I love this kid so much spunk 

Oh no a troll

Poor kid with neglectful parents 

“A ten-year-old girl’s world should be full of music and giggling and notes and dolls and dreams-not harsh, barren, jaded reality.” pg. 13 Did Maggie have this? Before the Red Court Did Harry have this before his dad died? 

“Her eyes were bright with excitement. “That was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. I want to be a wizard when I grow up.” pg. 22 Ha

“Hey thanks a lot of help, Officer”-I squinted down at her badge “Murphy.” pg. 22 Murphy! Holy cow Murphy attacks a troll. So cool

Vignette 

“I have nightmares about Hell, where all I do is add up numbers and try to have conversations with people like you.” pg. 28 Ha 

“Yeah. Advertising is all about lying” pg. 29 Ha and Bob’s not wrong

“You suck at lying, Harry. You really do.” pg. 29 Ha and yeah Harry isn’t great at lying 

“Why do you do it?

I squinted up at the skull. “Because someone has to” pg. 30 Yep

Something Borrowed 

“Oh for crying out loud, Dresden.” Billy said, his tone amused. “He’s just fitting the tux” pg. 32 Ha 

Poor Kirby 

“For one thing, this” she said, flicking a hand at me. Then she gave me a second, more evaluating look” pg. 37 Rude

“Billy put his face in his hands” pg. 39 Ha

“Once my mouth was open and my lips stared moving, it was pretty much inevitable.” pg. 40 Ha

“Don’t get paranoid Harry” pg. 42 Given Harry’s life I feel like he should be more paranoid 

Oh no the apartment 

Oh dear Bob and Murphy meet 

Oh no Faeries 

“A faerie has taken her place” pg. 49 Oh no

“THE WORST THING about being a wizard is all the presumption; people’s expectations.” pg. 51 That’s the worst thing?!? Really? 

“I keep meaning to go back and fix that, but there’s never time

I had a marriage like that” pg. 52 Ha and which one?

“That’s why you have to be careful what you choose to Look at. I don’t like doing it, ever. You never know what it is you’ll See.” pg. 58 Harry knows that well

“I let out a battle cry. Sure, a lot of people might have mistaken it for a sudden yelp of unmanly fear, but trust me: It was a battle cry” pg. 59 Ha 

The trust Murphy has to run into the fire

The pure force bridge is cool

Good thinking with the sprinklers 

“Jenny Greenteeth would kill Murphy too” pg. 81 Oh no wait why am I oh no-ing I know Murph is going to be fine 

“The next thing I knew, I was smashing my blasting rod down into Jenny Greenteeth, screaming incoherently and pounding as hard as I could.” pg. 82 Protective Harry 

“For one second, for one teeny tiny instant, I felt her mouth move. I felt her head tilt, her lips soften, and my oh-so-professional CPR-just for a second, mind you-felt almost, almost like a kiss.” pg. 84 No that’s not how CPR works 

It’s my birthday too

“I mean, you didn’t get my dad one, and you’re friends with him” pg. 91 Harry get your friends birthday gifts 

“I’ve seen you two fight.” She lifted both pale eyebrows. “What? Have you seen how many brother and sisters I have? I know my siblings conflicts?” pg. 91 Ha

Oh no Thomas is in trouble no wait nevermind 

I can’t tell if Harry would like LARP 

“If you weren’t my brother, I’d probably tell you that you have some awfully nerdy hobbies” pg. 104 Ha and pot meet kettle 

Oh no Molly 

“The streetlights just went out” pg. 110 Oh no 

“And then it went dead, along with the lights, the music playing on the speakers, and the constant blowing sigh of the heating system.” pg. 111 Oh no

Oh no Black Court 

I love the Cobbs 

Cool gravity spell

Nice job with the garlic 

“First, anytime I’m not shooting my mouth off to a cliched, two-bit creature of the night like you, it’s because I’m up to something.” pg. 145 Ha

“Right after my dad died, they put me in an orphanage. It was Christmas time. On the television, they had a commercials for Rock’em Sock’em Robots. Two kids playing with them, you know? Two brothers” I shrugged. “That was a year when I really, really wanted to give those stupid plastic robots to my brother.”

“Because it would mean weren’t alone.” Thomas said quietly 

“Yeah” I said “Sorry I forgot them. And happy birthday.” 

He glanced back at the burning mall.

“Well,” my brother said, “I suppose it’s the thought that counts.” pg. 148 Aw my heart 

Heorot 

Gard and Harry bonding moments let’s go!

“Just basking in the glow of your compassion, Officer.” pg. 154 Ha 

Caine is terrible 

“I glowered at him. I’m not sure I could take it if my dog was smarter than me.” pg. 164 Ha

Caine starts a fight let’s see who wins 

It’s just beer Caine needs to chill 

“Marcone is behind this? That son of a bitch is going to be sorry he ever looked at that-“ 

pg. 169 Harry you should know Marcone better than that. 

Also Marcone mention!

“Me and polite have never been on close term.” pg. 179 Ha

“It hunts in the wizard’s territory. The wizard will come to face it. The Erkling will give us great favor when we bring the wizards head.” 

“Gosh. I felt famous” pg. 186 Ha 

“Enough talk” pg. 189 Gard is going into a rage fun 

Gard is a Valkyrie cool

“Then she leaned down and kissed me on the mouth.” pg. 209 Whoa 

Day off

Aw Harry’s playing D&D with the alphas 

“Again with this decision.” Andi sighed “I mean I know he’s the actual wizard and all, but Christ.” pg. 212 Ha

“Sorry about your wraith, there, Darth Wannabe.” pg. 218 Ha

“I’m a-fixin to defend myself” I drawled, Texas-style.” pg. 218 Ha 

“Molly,” I said, trying to be polite, “I can’t stand the sight of you. Go away.” pg. 222 Ha

An explosion happened and Harry didn’t cause it shocking I’m shocked 

Kirby and Andi have fleas ha

“Mister the cat, appeared exactly as he always did” pg. 228 So cool

“Andi. Please don’t tell me that you and Kirby have been getting down while you were fuzzy” pg. 230 Why would they do that?

Molly set the lab on fire she’s taking after Harry 

“At least it couldn’t get any worse.” pg. 233 Harry you know better than to say that 

What a mess Harry shouldn’t take a day off.

Backup

Oh Thomas narrating 

“He’s Gandalf on crack and an IV of Red Bull” pg. 241 Ha 

“He’ll spit in the eye of gods and demons alike if he thinks it needs to be done.” pg. 241 Yeah that’s Harry alright 

“My name is Thomas Raith and I’m a monster” pg. 242 No Thomas you’re not a monster :(

So there’s a secret Oblivion war going on 

Lara people aren’t pets 

The Hunger is terrifying 

Justine!

Oh no Harry’s in trouble

Thomas can do magic!!! 

“He’ll whip out some kind of half-divine, half-insane philosophy cobbled together from the words of saints and comic books about the importance of handling power responsibly.” pg. 258 Yep 

“Harry’s a master of the skill-as in simultaneous doctorates from MIT, Harvard, and Yale and a masters from Oxford.” pg. 258 It’s interesting to see other people’s perspective and opinions on Harry 

“Locks, though, never seemed to pose a much of an obstacle to my brother.” pg. 261 Ha

“Harry had occasionally accused me of being reckless and overconfident-which is, believe me, staggering magnitude.” pg. 267 Ha 

“He’d turned into a neat freak a few years ago, for some reason, though he’d never talked about why.” pg. 269 Ha 

“It’s a little bit creepy, actually. My brother’s got a voodoo doll of the entire town.” pg. 270 Ha

“I think that genuinely speaking, you don’t have secrets from your brother, man.” pg. 272 Yep unless you count the whole I didn’t tell you were brothers for awhile bit. 

“Bob made a whistle sound.

What the hell? How? He doesn’t have lips?” pg. 275 Ha 

The Oblivion War is scary 

Aw Bob is protecting Harry 

“Scratch one ghoul. My brother hates ghouls with a passion so pure it’s almost holy.” pg. 283 Yep it’s we deserved 

“But the bitch had messed with my brother.” pg. 285 Protective Thomas 

Thomas just feed the bad girl to his hunger 

“Sometimes I feel completely unappreciated.”

I found myself smiling 

“Wow” I said “what’s it like?” pg. 291 Ha

The Warrior 

Aw Michael’s a coach 

“I’m pretty sure there won’t ever be a place like that for me.” pg. 297 Aw Harry :( you’ll get a family home soon 

“She had a bruise on her cheek a couple of days old.” pg. 299 Oh no why does the kid have a bruise on her face? 

“Hi” I said, trying to be unthreatening as I could. I had limited success. Tall, severe-looking men in long black coats who need a shave are challenged that way.” pg. 299 Poor Harry

I love Harry interacting with Michael and Charity’s kids 

“Let me poke around and shine a light on things, so we know what’s going on. If it turns out to be nothing, no harm done.”

“And if it isn’t?” Charity asked 

“I kept a surge of quiet anger out of my voice and expression as I looked at her levelly. “No harm gets done to you and yours.” pg. 304 Yes protective Harry 

“It’d take one he-uh, heck of a serious counter measure to stop me from finding it.” pg. 311 Ha 

“I didn’t want to go off and leave…”

You 

“The sword…”

Unprotected 

“Here” I finished” pg. 311 Just your friends you’re worried about them Harry 

I don’t think Chuck should be drunk and working especially if he’s a electrician 

“I’ve been in burning buildings, man, and take it from me, this place…” I looked around at the wooden framework. “Fwoosh. I’m just saying Fwoosh.” pg. 321 Ha and you definitely caused those building fires Harry 

“Harry Dresden. Saving the world, one act of random destruction at a time.” pg. 322 Ha

“I don’t blame myself,” I said.” pg. 324 That’s the biggest bold faced lie I’ve ever seen. 

Yes you do Harry 

Butters! 

Oh someone in the church is behind it. A Fundamentalist maybe? 

“Watching life through the window and obsessed with how things might have been”

“Dear God,” she said. “You’ve just made Dickens relevant to my life.” 

“Weird, right?” pg. 341 Ha 

Oh no Alicia 

“The son of a bitch hurt my little girl.” pg. 352 Holy Cow Michael swore! :0 

Yes Michael vs Douglass 

“Michael,” I said, gently, “you can’t. If this is how it has to be, I’ll do it. But you can’t, man.” pg. 366 Is Harry saying he’s willing to murder so long as Micheal doesn’t 

Uriel’s here 

“Very kind,” he said and took a swig from the flask.” pg. 368 Uriel drinking alcohol 

I love how Uriel tells Harry how all the little things he did helped. 

“I nodded slowly. Then I said, “Let’s talk about my bill”

Jake eyebrows shot up “What?” 

“My bill,” I enunciated. “You dragged me into this mess. You can pay me, same as any other client. Where do I send the invoice?” 

“You’re…you’re trying to bill the Lard Almighty?” Jake said, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

“Hel-uh, heck no,” I said. “I’m billing you.” 

“That isn’t really how we work” 

“It is if you want to work with me,” I told him, thrusting out my jaw. “Cough up. Otherwise, maybe next time I’ll just stand around whistling when you want me to help you out.”

Jake’s face broadened into a wide, merry grin, and laughter filled his voice. “No, you won’t” he said, and, vanished.” pg. 373 Ha and yes Harry won’t not help people 

Last Call 

Oh no Mac is hurt 

Oh no someone’s messed with Mac’s beer

Caine? Again? What is this guys problem?

Caine is the worst 

Caine attacked Murphy critical fail on Caine’s part 

“You put on a good show act, Harry. It would have fooled a lot of people. It looked…”

“Natural on me,” I said “Yeah” pg. 394 Ouch 

“I tried the door, just for the hell of it and-

It opened 

Well, dammit. I much prefer making a dramatic entrance.” pg. 420 Ha and come on let Harry have his dramatic entrance 

Oh Dionysus cool

“Then she smiled, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed my cheek” pg. 419 Aw 

Love hurts 

“They weren’t a married couple. They were brother and sister.” pg. 423 Ick doesn’t even begin to cover the feeling I felt reading that

Oh no mental magic

“We don’t exactly have orbital satellites for detecting black magic.” pg. 426 They don’t? Then what does Gatekeeper do? I thought that was his job. How did the council find out about Harry, Justin, and Molly? Gatekeeper clearly knew black magic was afoot back in Proven Guilty. 

Oh boy is it awkward between Harry and Luccio 

Evil state fair?

Don’t be mad at Will, Harry he’s concerned about you. 

“She stopped before she could say who Kincaid was like.” pg. 436 Was she going to say Harry? 

“Murph tittered again” pg. 443 Oh no they’ve been caught 

Is it the ride itself? The ride operator? The guy trailing them? 

“I bent my head down to her mouth and kissed her gently.” pg. 445 Yay Harry/Murph moment but now isn’t the time 

“It just isn’t fucked-up enough to really be you and me” pg. 447 Ha I love this is how they realize that they’ve been whammied 

“But hey. On the other hand, he had swindled me out of swindle me out of twenty dollars.” pg. 448 Harry you bribed him 

Oh no Red court vampire 

“He’s completely irrational” pg. 452 Ha

“Mortals are like mayflies, Wizard. They live a brief time, and then they are gone.” pg. 455 Scary how some immortals view humans

I’m glad Harry and Murphy burned the belt. 

Aftermath 

“I cant believe he’s died.” pg. 463 I’m still not over it. 

“I’d been able to learn a few Martian phrases over time” pg. 466 Ha 

“Lake Michigan is jealous and protective of her dead.” pg. 466 Such a good phrase 

Poor Murphy she’s not a cop anymore and now has to deal with Harry dying 

“He always told us if we ever needed him but couldn’t find him, we were supposed to go to you. That you were the person in this city who could help us better than anyone else.” pg. 475 Aw :) 

“Georgia’s pregnant” he whispered. “Seven months.” pg. 475 Yay Georgia’s pregnant nothing bad is going to happen to her or the baby. I refuse to believe it.

“And, if things got hot when we went after the bad guy, he would have been there, throwing fire and lighting around as if they were his own personal toys, created especially and exclusively for him to play with.” pg. 485 I love how other people describe Harry. It shows how Harry is viewed through mortal eyes. Yeah it would appear like Harry like that when he starts setting things on fire with his mind essentially. 

“Watching Dresden operate was usually one of two things: mildly amusing and positively terrifying.” pg. 485 That’s quite a difference 

“Quirky nerd gone. Terrifying icon, present.” pg. 486 I wonder if Harry knows this is how people view him? I wonder if Harry knows this is how Murphy views him. 

“Seeing Dresden in action filled you with the fear that you had just become a casualty of evolution-that you were watching something far larger and infinitely more dangerous than yourself, and that your only chance of survival  was to kill it, immediately, before you were crushed beneath a power greater than you would ever know.” pg. 487 Scary and such a good quote 

“Dresden was gone. His cheesy jokes and his corny sense of humor were gone. His ability to know the unknowable, to fight the unfightable, to find the unfindable, was gone.

The rest of us were just going to have carry on as best we could without him.” pg. 488 Sobbing 

“On the other hand…maybe I just give John Marcone a call and tell him how you’re helping  some of his street-level guys run some deals behind his back.” pg. 498 Marcone mentioned! 

Hendricks!

“I had to go see “Gentleman” John Marcone.” pg. 501 YES! Let’s go Marcone :) 

“He had eyes the color of several-days-old grass clippings.” pg. 509 Interesting with how Murphy describes Marcone’s eyes vs with how Harry describes them 

“Hendricks eyed Gard 

Gard rolled her eyes and withdrew a twenty-dollar bill from her jacket pocket. She passed it to the big man.” pg. 511 Ha

“Don’t confuse yourself with Mr. Dresden, Mr. Borden,” Marcone said, his voice level and cold. His eyes were something frightening, pitiless. “You don’t have the power to threaten  me. The instant you begin to change, Ms. Gard here will fire in Ms. Murphy-and then upon you.” His voice dropped to a barely audible murmur. “The next time you offer me a threat, I will kill you.” pg. 513 Nshslsbshevakbsn I didn’t learn my lesson from last time. I choked on my drink again when I read it. I think I almost hacked up my lung. Ahhh!!! It’s so bi and Harry’s not even there. Will didn’t even threaten Marcone or at least not as much as Harry usually does. And Marcone throws a knife at him. 

“Someone is rounding up those mortals possessed of modest supernatural gifts.”

“Talent search” pg. 516 Oh no

“Someone started picking up on the little guys in town within a few hours of Dresden’s shooting.” pg. 517 Monsters closing in already 

“I’m sorry. About Dresden. He was a brave man.” pg. 518 Glad Gard said that. 

“That was when we had the nightmares.” pg.528  Ah that’s the psych/bad dreams from the end of Changes.

“Dresden hadn’t been muscled as heavily as Will. Harry’d had a runner’s build, all lean, tight, dense muscle that…” pg. 535 Murphy I see that train of thought. Good Harry/Murphy moment and Harry’s not even there. 

“I mean that if Dresden just blew up the Red Court…that means the status quo is gone. There's a power vacuum, and every spook out there is going to try a fill it. The rules have changed. We don’t know how these people are going to react.” pg. 536 Yep things are going to change now. I can’t wait to see the repercussions 

“The man had gills” pg. 552 There’s fish people? What hole in Lake Michigan did these guys crawl out? Why now after Harry’s death? As far as I know there haven’t been any fish people before. 

Such a good fight 

“Dammit, Dresden,” I said into the silence in a choked voice. “Dammit. Here I am doing your job. Dammit, dammit, dammit.” pg. 576 Sobbing some more 

“That’s formor magic,” she said quietly. “One of their lesser sorcerers and his retainers.” pg. 578 Who’s the formor? 

“This is the second time the formor have attempted to move on Chicago-and failed” 578 When was the first time? 

“My boss is always pleased to find those with proper”-she pursed lips-“frame of mind.” pg. 579 Oh Donar Vadderung/Odin is hiring? Well that’s some foreshadowing

“Was she telling the truth, you think? That Marcone’s the one standing in the gap now?” pg. 582 Yes Marcone will help out in for supernatural threats 

“The Justice League of Chicago?” 

“We’ll cover his beat.”

“Until Dresden gets back.”

“It doesn’t seem to be. But…There’s this voice inside me that keeps pointing out that we haven’t seen a body.” pg. 582 Yes can’t wait for the next book. 

Final thoughts 

I love how the story shows Harry at the beginning and how Harry met Murphy. I loved Faith. I love the interaction between Harry and Bob. I loved Billy and Georgia’s wedding. I love that Thomas being Harry’s brother is the worst kept secret. The Cobbs are wonderful. I love the bonding between Thomas and Harry. I love the Gard and Harry bonding on an adventure. No one messes with Mac’s beer. I love that Harry’s D&D character says Gard’s catchphrase. Gard clearly made an impression. I love Harry playing D&D with the alphas. Harry’s day is frankly a comedy of misadventure. I can’t believe Kirby and Andi got fleas. I’m glad Luccio took the scene well. I love how sarcastic Thomas’s narrative is. I can’t believe Thomas has magic. That’s so cool I wonder why he didn’t tell Harry. I love how much Thomas admires Harry and how protective he is of Harry. I love is how much Harry helps people without meaning to. I love that Michael is Alicia's softball coach. I can’t believe Michael swore that’s such a big deal. I can’t believe Harry offered to kill a man so Michael wouldn’t. I love that Uriel tells Harry all the lives he has helped. It’s hilarious that Harry tried to bill Uriel only Harry would try to do that. I love that even Uriel knows Harry won’t stop helping people. Wow Mac gets attacked. Interesting to see other powerful characters from other patrons. So now the Greek and Norse gods are real in this world. I wonder what others? All others? Jim just giving us Harry/Murphy then taking it away. I love how they both realize that we’re hot with the spell. Oh boy still not over Changes. Everyone is in denial about Harry including me. Yay Georgia’s pregnant! I love the different pov and how people view Harry. I love how we got different perspectives on magic and Harry from Thomas and Murphy. I loved all the Marcone stuff all of it. I love how it shows that Marcone views Harry as a worthy opponent. Now the shipper in me thinks this scene is gold. Marcone really does let Harry get away with things that he doesn’t let others like threats and backtalk. I wonder if Marcone would have hurt Will if it was Harry present and not Murphy? And Marcone even warns Harry not to test him back in Death Mask while here he only does so after he’s knifed Will. I love the dichotomy between how Murphy describes Marcone’s eyes as the color of several-days-old grass clippings vs how Harry describes Marcone’s eyes as worn dollar bills. I love how Murphy then describes Marcone’s eyes as something frightening, pitiless. Harry really was a deterrent to the evil side of the Supernatural side and now they’re coming in now that Harry’s gone. I love the Harry/Murphy moments we got in this story. I hope we learn more about the Formor. 

I’ve learned my mistake now. No more eating or drinking while reading the Dresden files. 

Onto Ghost story!

[gideonnavtheninth]

Only the best for the Third House. Strap in, I get real deep in research for the titles on the Third here!!

Okay, Mouth of the Emperor has always been interesting to me. It doesn't align as cleanly as the other titles for other houses usually do, but I'd guess it has something to do with either the fact that they're a super gossipy house on the surface level, OR … their cannibalism habit. Now, I'm not saying that this might have to do with John's whole Cannibalizing-The-Earth-To-Achieve-Lyctorhood deal but I'm not NOT saying that. Anyway, "The Procession" is a fun one. This is a REAL symbol heavy one, so keep all your hands and feet inside the ride. First and foremost, this (X) article held my hand through this whole infodump, so read it if you wanna see where I'm drawing my stuff from. So, I googled "The Procession", and was immediately graced with the title "PROCESSIONS, TRINITARIAN" which, putting a word that has to do with the number 3 in the same title as the thing I am researching for the third house is.... pretty good, honestly. Anyway, unlike other houses, the third house is REALLY really into the 3 thing. Like, okay, third house has 3 members show up, cool, not on the nose at all. In the bible, you have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which as far as I'm aware don't really map onto the third house members, but they DO tie into the running theme of three with the Processions. Likewise, "the Holy Spirit is depicted not only as a divine power but also as a divine "person" speaking though the mouths of the apostles" also has to do with the "Mouth of the Emperor" thing (Double Plus, it ties into why the sewn tongue was between a ninth house member, being the house of the sewn tongue, AND a third house member, mouth of the emperor! not to mention the tie between the ninth house is also pretty interesting when you think about how even numerically, nine is three, three times. Just saying) The article also brings up another running trinity theme

triadic formulas that entail both distinction and equality among the three divine persons (e.g., Mt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:13; Eph 2:18; 3:14–17; 4:4–6; 5:18–20; Rom 8:14–17, etc.)

The article generally talks about the theological debate that comes about having your one true god being 3 gods in a trench coat, and what that has to do with monotheism, which I'm sure someone could tie into the locked tomb but I'm looking more into exactly what's up with this whole "Procession" thing, and we have not yet gotten there. We will continue to not get there, because of course, there has to be something else I spot. Of course, it's minor this time. "The Legacy of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Scholastic Theology." Okay, interesting. Augustine isn't even third house, but just a funny detour to have spotted. He always felt more Third house to me than Fifth house, but sure. Augustine pitches an interesting theory. Firstly, "the Lover, the Loved, and the Love" is really interesting and I would love to deep-dive on that, but I really feel like the "mens, intellectus, and voluntas" is the key thing here. I feel like you can map this onto Nona in a lot of ways, and not to get two books ahead of myself but the third is pretty prominent in NTN, just sayiiinggg....

Anyway, here we see something something procession all the way at the bottom. What's up with that, can we see finally what I was supposed to be researching this whole time? well...

I'm killing my brain with paragraphs of religious theory, but generally the procession ties into the concept of origination. It's separated into Transient Procession, a term existing outside what proceeds it (E.g. baker and his cookies) and Immanent (E.g. that story you want to tell that exists only in the confines of your brain). Now this is used to explain that the trinity is just products of the whole, that being the one god. I actually think there's a strong case to be made that this parallels Nona, Alecto, and possibly the Earth. All different states of the same being, in this case. I think you can probably tie in the resurrection beasts into this concept a lot too. We can also stretch this to mean the Third house is, in a way, either representative or tangibly an extension of the Emperor. And, this actually does have some substance when you think about the titles. All of the houses are SOMETHING of the emperors. Tangibly, they're his resurrected planets, but title-wise, they're his Strength, Mouth, Hope & Sword (curious that 4th house gets two and both the ninth house and eight house get none), Heart, Reason, and Joy. Of all of these, Fifth house and Third house are parts of him, his mouth and his heart. We also have the HANDS of the emperor, his lyctors. Everything else is either an emotional piece of the emperor, like his hope or strength, or they serve a physical purpose, being his sword or shield, or in the case of the Eighth and Ninth, both "keepers" (When we get to the Eighth, I'll circle back to this one) So it's possible we could specifically be seeing them as the Transient Extensions of "God" or John, as opposed to his Immanent Processions. Okay, procession other meaning is a lot simpler.

Now, we don't really see the third as a very orderly place, but it's entirely possible that they serve a purpose in order via a ceremonial force. They're probably the most amorphous in their necessity to John. We know he needs soldiers, we know he needs scholars, we know he needs warm bodies for the war, and we know he needs a spot to put his barbie vessel. But what really is the third to him? They aren't the masterminds of the sixth, but they're exceptional at blackmail, and information gathering. In this way, unlike any of the other houses, they're exceptionally skilled at keeping things IN line. This isn't the most conclusive answer, but it's the best I got. I'm sure there's a lot more here, but this is my surface level stuff! help me out here, drop your thoughts!

Crazy to believe we spent that long on just the MIDDLE title, but well, it wouldn't be the third house without an annoying amount of hidden complexity. Not to be outdone, the last title will have to garner it's own post! Still... Still on page 2 of the book. Hopefully the WHOLE reread isn't me writing paragraphs for every 3 words (... unless?)

[cflostsouls]

Mackenzie Lucille Kenner MAC, KENZIE // 41 // CRESCENT WEREWOLF

I am not rude. I just say what others don't have the guts to say.

[ Sophia Bush | She/Her] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome MACKENZIE KENNER to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 41 year old WITCH/WEREWOLF, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be STUBBORN, but that’s all a façade to cover up their LOYAL nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to FLOWERS by MILEY CYRUS, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. ( Sushi, 28, EST, She/Her) *sierra’s sibling connection

BASICS

Name: Mackenzie Lucille Kenner Nicknames/Alias: Mac, Kenz, Kenzie Face Claim: Sophia Bush Age: 41 Gender: Female Sexuality: Bisexual Date/Place of Birth: March 14th in New Orleans, LA Currently: New Orleans, LA Nationality/Species: Italian/Werewolf/Witch Occupation: New Orleans Police Department Rank: Captain of the K-9 Unit

PERSONALITY

Positives/Virtues/Skills: Confidence: feeling or showing confidence in oneself; self-assured. Intuitive: using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive. Endearing: inspiring love or affection. Self-Aware: having conscious knowledge of one's own character and feelings.

Flaws/Weaknesses: Stubborn: having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something, especially in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so. Blunt: uncompromisingly forthright. Resentful: feeling or expressing bitterness or indignation at having been treated unfairly. Opinionated: conceitedly assertive and dogmatic in one's opinions.

Personality Type: ESFJ-A: Extraversion (E), Sensing (S), Feeling (F), Judgment(J)

Archetype: Caretaker: Cares for others. Guardian: Protects the weak. Leader: Always knows the best thing to do—and people follow. Rebel/Revelutionary: Stands opposed to the status quo and fights for his cause. Survivor: Pulls through no matter what happens, doesn’t give up.

Likes Favourite colour? Green Favourite foods? Medium Rare Steak, Barbecue, Honeycrisp Apples, White Corn, Chicken Caesar Salads, Chocolate Favourite music? Pretty versatile but really likes any type of rock music Favorite books? Crime, True Crime, Mysteries Fears: She fears the fall of the Crescent Wolves and not being able to protect the pack that she grew up in, that she watched her Uncle and cousin lead.

RELATIONSHIPS

Parents: Thomas Kenner † (Father) Danielle Kenner † (Mother)

Siblings: Nicolotte Cadieux (Older Sister) Evan Kenner (Older Brother) Sierra Kenner (Younger Sister)

Children: Unnamed Kenner (22-Year-Old Son) Unnamed Kenner (21-Year-Old Twin Daughter) Unnamed Kenner (21-year-old Twin Son)

Other family: Jackson Kenner (Older Cousin) Partner: TBD Ex-Partners: TBD Boss/Employer: TBD Co-Workers: TBD Friends: TBD Enemies: TBD

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Build: 5'4", 121 lbs, Curvy muscular build Hair Colour: Dark brown, sometimes a soft blondeish Eye Colour: Green Distinguishing Marks: Tara has a couple of scars from her teen years before she ever triggered her gene from when she would get into fights with some of the other untriggered wolves. Wolf Form: Muscular Body, Pure Snow White Fur, Glowing Golden Eyes

Accomplishments: Graduated top of class from University (majoring in Criminal Justice) and top of her class at the Police Academy, is now Captain of the K-9 Unit at NOPD raised 3 children as a single parent

Regrets: One major regret she has is not being able to give her children the big happy family that she had

Secrets: TBD

HISTORY

Mackenzie had always felt protective and maternal, especially as they grew up amongst the Crescents during the Crescent curse, their parents forced to live their days as wolves with one night every month, the full moon, to be with their children in human form. Unfortunately in Mackenzie's teen years, the strain of feeling like she held the weight of the world on her shoulders as she tried to navigate who she was while also ensuring that her siblings were safe and cared for, her growing aggression and temper tended to get the better of her and always somehow found herself in fights with the other untriggered teens. Around this time, however, Mackenzie found herself falling in love. It was a whirlwind kind of relationship, one that made Mackenzie feel more alive than ever, more carefree and making riskier choices than she used to. Thus resulting in her getting pregnant. The first year with her son was amazing. The new parents doting over the little boy until they found out that she had fallen pregnant once more, this time a set of twins. Her partner became distant and was in and out of her and their kids lives. The anger that boiled within her as the realization that she was now a single mother to 3 children under the age of 3 while still being somewhat of a child herself had increased the level of stress that she had already been feeling. It didn't take long for someone to push her buttons to far before she ended up in another fight this time her aggression far too much for her to control thus resulting in Mackenzie's triggering of her gene at the age of 21, leaving her children to be cared for by her younger sister, Sierra. It would be 2 years before Hayley Marshall would come along and have the curse broken, allowing Tara to reunite with her now 3 and 4 year old children. Fast forward to now and Tara had quickly gotten her life together, her main focus on her children and providing for them, put herself through university online while working a full-time job from home and caring for her children, attending the police academy and working her way up in rank to where she is today with the help of her pack.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

—— PLATONIC CONNECTIONS. ❜

best friends.

confidants.

ride or die.

childhood friends.

drunk friends, aka two people who do not spend time together sober but get along only when drunk.

secret friends, aka friends who do not hang around in the public eye as their family or friends may not get along.

sibling like friends.

platonic soulmates.

unlikely friends.

seem like a married couple.

—— FAMILIAL CONNECTIONS. ❜

family friends.

son (22-years-old)

child (twin number one, 21-years-old)

child (twin number two, 21-years-old)

ex/baby daddy

—— ROMANTIC CONNECTIONS. ❜

flirtationship.

one night stand.

forbidden romance.

exes on good terms.

exes on bad terms.

love / hate.

friends with benefits.

enemies with benefits.

—— NEGATIVE CONNECTIONS. ❜

enemies.

life long enemies, aka two people who have been enemies ever since they remember but have forgotten the reason for their dislike.

frenemies.

share a secret, aka two people who have a giant secret together but are constantly afraid the other will rat them out.

current lover’s ex, former lover’s current partner.

—— MISCELLANEOUS. ❜

have mutual friends but don’t get along.

fitness buddies.

[novelmonger]

Book Asks: 1-7, 13, 14, 27, 28, 30, 31, 35 [but swap out 'romance book' for 'book with a romance in it'], 39-42, and 46-50, please?

Oh my, that's a lot! 8D

How many books did you read last year?

According to Goodreads, 20 - but that's not counting all the ones I was in the middle of at the end of the year, nor all my rereads ^^'

2. Do you have a reading goal this year?

Number-wise, not really. That's not particularly important to me. I do want to get through all the books recommended to me in the Book Rec Exchange, which has kind of gone on hold because of moving preparations. Also, because I'm moving to a different county and thus will have access to a whole new library system, I also have a goal of getting a library card there (while keeping my old one, nyehehe >:D) and going through my reading list and seeing if there are any that the new system has but the old system doesn't.

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

7 - again, not counting rereads or ones I haven't completed yet.

4. What is your favourite book this year?

Hmm...of the new ones, I might have to say Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer. It was a really interesting spin on a fairy tale retelling, and the ending really swept me along so I couldn't put it down.

5. What is your ultimate favourite book?

The Lord of the Rings, obviously! I wouldn't be into fantasy at all, were it not for LotR. For that reason alone, I would put that book at the pinnacle, but it's also just an incredibly interesting and beautifully written book in its own right. It's a gift that keeps giving, really.

6. What is a book that you hated but read anyway?

Almost every book I read for literature classes in high school, especially the Modern Novel class :/ I think there was maybe one book in that whole class that didn't have explicit sexual material in it >_< The one I loathe the most, though, is The Color Purple by Alice Walker. I seriously want to burn every copy of that book I see. Disgusting. Scarred for life. And I had to keep a reading journal as I read it to keep track of my thoughts. I honestly have no idea how I passed that class.

7. A book you were hyped about but ended up being disappointed by it?

I watched all three Maze Runner movies before I read any of the books, because I just wanted to have the experience of watching the movies and then reading the books for once. And when I watched the first movie, I was enthralled. I couldn't wait to read the books. I wanted to know every last thought and emotion running through Thomas' head at every point in the story. I was curious to see what might be the same and what might be different.

What I got instead was...a huge let-down. For one thing, the first book was fine, but didn't really do much to flesh out what made it on screen. It was just sort of mediocre YA-level writing for the most part, nothing really to write home about. And then it also included some things that weren't in the movie (like telepathy???) that didn't make a whole lot of sense and honestly just felt like it was muddying the story and making it more complicated than it needed to be.

Then I moved on to The Scorch Trials and had to keep on double-checking to make sure I was reading the right book, because there's hardly any similarity between the second and third books and their corresponding movies. And in pretty much every case, I thought the story was better in the movies. Super disappointing. I was hoping at least for some interesting and fun/angsty character moments that maybe would go a bit deeper than the movies, but nah. A lot of the characters' motivations were confusing and didn't really go anywhere. What a letdown.

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

Romance as a genre is not my favorite. I don't mind romance as one of many elements in a story, even if it's a pretty prominent one. But a book that's all about two people getting together? It really needs to have something else going for it, like really excellent writing or an interesting message.

14. A genre you love?

Fantasy! Epic fantasy, especially! I love me a thick fantasy tome that will delve deeply into a fantastical world, with strange and interesting creatures and peoples, magic and prophecy and epic sword fights and cavalry charges. Dragons, too, if I can get them.

27. The smallest book you've read?

I mean...probably some picture book out there would be the shortest, but I don't know exactly which one. Size-wise, the smallest book I can remember was this little book of prayers I found in old family papers that probably belonged to my grandmother. The most notable one was a prayer for astronauts XD

28. The thickest/longest book you've read?

Hard to say for sure, but probably one of those huge fantasy tomes. Not counting omnibuses or compilations, it might be Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson? It's packed away for the move right now, but Google says the hardcover (which is what I have) is 1087 pages. I may be forgetting some other gigantic tome that's longer than that, but I know the Stormlight Archives books are generally longer than Wheel of Time, at least.

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

For some reason, I'm thinking of Diana Wynne Jones. I feel like her personal library might be a bit less highbrow and inaccessible compared to someone like Tolkien, but still full of really good literature and maybe some interesting finds that I wouldn't normally think of.

31. Is there a particular album/movie/TV show that really matched the vibes of a book you read? Which ones?

This is such a weirdly broad question @_@ After much thought, the only thing I can come up with is the video games ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian all have similar vibes to me as Ursula K. Le Guin's books The Tombs of Atuan and Gifts. Thing is, I can't really explain or describe what I mean, I just know it's there. Maybe it has something to do with ancient evil, sacrifices done with children, and a boy and girl trying to escape? On the surface, they don't really seem that similar, but I've always found them to be similar anyway.

35. Favourite romance novel book with romance in it?

I mean, I could say LotR, because that's my favorite book and it has romance in it. But perhaps "my favorite book romance" hits closer to the mark. In that case, it might be Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Henry Tilney is relationship goals.

39. Favourite book to movie/TV show adaptation?

There may be another one that will come to me later, but the first one that popped into my head was A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Jim Carrey movie is good too, but I'm specifically talking about the Netflix show. Talk about a group of people who clearly understood the heart of a series. It did such a good job of capturing the books' dark humor and over-the-top ridiculousness, adding in some of their own twists that worked better for the medium, taking itself seriously but also not seriously at all....

And the actors! All of the actors are fantastic, not least Neil Patrick Harris. He somehow managed to top Jim Carrey's performance, which I didn't think was possible. I'm also extremely impressed with the three Baudelaires' actors, especially Presley Smith as Sunny (who is my favorite character)! It's already quite a tall order to get such a young kid to act, even with various workarounds like CG and dolls. But Presley Smith was so incredibly good, and it was really fun to watch her grow up over the course of the series, till she was actually able to speak her own lines in season 3.

40. Least favourite book to movie/TV show adaptation?

Again, there might be a better one that comes to mind later, but for now I'll say The Indian in the Cupboard. Those books have been some of my absolute favorites since my mom read them to us when I was six years old or so, and I've reread them over and over again till my copies are now beginning to fall apart.

So naturally I was excited when we found the movie at some point. And I was supremely disappointed. Now, from what I recall, they did okay with Little Bear and Boone. The forced perspective and whatever other techniques they used to make them look toy-sized worked really well, and I liked the scenes of the two of them slowly bonding.

But everything else was awful. It was set in America instead of England, Omri was way too young and his actor wasn't very good, there were too many long shots with overly emotional music playing, and they shoehorned in the plot point about Omri's story that doesn't come up until the second book but don't go as far with it as they do in the books.

I really wish someone would do another adaptation of it, because I really think we all deserve better than that :/

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

Mmkay, so I really like I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells; I think it's a fantastic horror/thriller. But I've heard him say multiple times that the first time he gave his manuscript to beta readers, they were surprised by the supernatural elements that show up halfway through the book. Some were totally there for it, others lost interest at that point. So he changed it to put in a few hints along the way so it wouldn't be quite as jarring. I think it would be really interesting to compare the two versions and see how the effect gets changed.

42. If you could change the ending of any one book, which book would you pick and why?

Lord Sunday by Garth Nix. The whole Keys to the Kingdom series was really good, full of interesting characters and fascinating worldbuilding (as usual with Garth Nix!), but the ending felt like a bit of a cop-out to me. It was one of those cases where he kept on raising the stakes throughout the series until it felt like he'd painted himself into a corner, and he couldn't think of a satisfying way to end it. And I'm not sure I know the right way to end it either, but I'd like it to be different.

46. Favourite literary quote?

Well, I keep a collection, so I can't possibly pick just one favorite above all the rest. But I'll just put in the last quote from a book that I've added - which will probably not seem very "literary," because it's from a Star Wars book XD

Do not concern yourself with success or failure. If you act rightly, those words lose their meaning. There is only the good that you do.

- Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Apprentice: The Day of Reckoning by Jude Watson

47. If you could visit any fictional place possible, where would you go?

Either Abhorsen's House from the Old Kingdom series or the Beast's castle from Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley. Both are great big old houses with every comfort imaginable, with extensive libraries and lovely gardens, and magical servants to tend to you. Abhorsen's House has the added bonus of the talking cat Mogget, but also the inherent danger of the Dead walking around on the other side of the river. So it's really hard to pick.

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

This is actually really hard for me to answer, because I've never been the kind of person who imagines herself into a story. I like to imagine the characters doing things, but not me. I'm too boring, too scared, too shy. If I were in just about any story, I would probably just ruin things or die immediately, so I'd much rather read about other people doing the things.

But I guess if I had to pick, maybe Narnia. That one seems slightly more achievable, because all of the people who get pulled from our world into Narnia are fairly ordinary. Besides...of course I want to see Aslan face-to-face. And if He were there, I think maybe I could be brave enough to do what needs to be done.

49. What is the best title you've come across?

Oh, there are so many good titles out there! But one of the more recent ones that comes to mind is The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. I mean, what an intriguing title! As soon as I saw it the first time, I had to know what it meant!

50. Best book cover?

Another one that's impossible to answer, but I'll share one of my favorites, one that I stared at for hours when I first read the book, and inspired one of my first characters that really felt like mine:

Book Ask Game

[jules-has-notes]

I Love Me — VoicePlay music video

Everyone has insecurities. Sometimes they can make it difficult to like the person you see in the mirror. If you need a little help loving yourself today, take a listen to VoicePlay and Emoni's upbeat reminder that each of us is unique and wonderful.

[NOTE: After the song ends, Emoni promotes her suicide prevention initiative, #WeMatter. If hearing about this subject would be upsetting, you may want to skip or mute that part.]

Details:

title: I Love Me (feat. Emoni)

original performers: Meghan Trainor, featuring LunchMoney Lewis

written by: Ricky Reed, Gamal "LunchMoney" Lewis, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Meghan Trainor, & Thomas Troelsen

arranged by: Layne Stein

release date: 28 September 2016

My favorite bits:

starting simple but upbeat with just Emoni's melody, Geoff's bouncy bass line, and some snapping

all the informercial-style struggle acting

Layne beatboxing while using the hairdryer, which I have to imagine would have dried out his mouth a bit

those harmonies on ♫ "I'm gonna fly" ♫

Geoff's little grimace when he eats the unmixed protein powder

how low Eli gets at the end of his ♫ ⇘ "I'll be fiiiine" ⇘ ♫ riff

Layne's fantastic percussion breakdown

Tony's crisp interjections as he changes into his comfy goth wear

all of the guys cutting out to appreciate Emoni's big riff

Geoff, Tony, and Eli's legato ♫ "I love me" ♫ rhythm under the higher voices going wild

Earl and Emoni's harmonized ♫ "I don't know about you" ♫ run

Nick swooping in to smooch his husband's cheek, and the way Earl's face lights up 😍

Trivia:

The first hair product Layne wrestles with is their tried-and-true ultra hold spray that keeps their ’dos in place through all of their onstage antics. I'm pretty sure the second one is a styling gel from the same product line, but we only see the back of the tube and the current packaging design is slightly different from the one he had in 2016.

The tattoo on Earl's collarbone that he debates whether to reveal or cover was designed in memory of those lost at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando earlier in the year.

This was their first track mixed by Ed Boyer, a legend in the a cappella recording world. Eventually bringing him into their regular workflow has freed up some of their time and allowed them to do even more and better music.

The video description credits their camera work to "Skyn E. Leggs". What a silly way to say they used a tripod.

When this video was first released, YouTube had a more flexibile option for on-screen links, so selecting one of the singers from the screen at the end of the song portion would take you to an unlisted video that was a full-length cut of just that singer for the entire track. Sadly, those have since been made unavailable, but the voiceplay_randomness account on Instagram managed to get copies of most of them: Layne ● Emoni ● Geoff ● Eli ● Tony

[inkribbon796]

Egotober 2023 Day 28: Something Weird, and It Don't Look Good

Day 28: Something Weird, and It Don’t Look Good [COMPLETED]

Summary: Logan’s bad day gets a little weirder at the base.

A/N: Happy birthday to Natemare

WARNING for use of a Lockdown in this fic. No harm comes to anyone. But I just thought I'd warn people.

Title is taken from the lyrics to the Ghostbusters Theme Song.

Prompt: Ghost

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Princey and Iridescence — Roman and Thomas — were in the base. They were hanging out and doing homework and waiting for orders before going on a short patrol or to go home.

They were just hanging out for the most part, until Logan stormed in while they were talking.

And he seemed pissed, even while wearing his costume. He got to his locker in record time and opened it with his watch before throwing his bag in.

Roman and Thomas just stared at Logic as he stared at his open locker.

“Hey, uh, you okay man?” Thomas asked, half turned around to look at the other apprentice.

“No,” Logan said. “I had plans, and they got ruined.”

“Maybe we can hang out afterwards,” Roman said, which sounded like the furthest thing from what Logan wanted to do. He wanted to see his brother. But his brother wasn’t allowed visitors. They wouldn’t tell Logan why, just that he’d been barred from having them.

“No,” Logan said.

“Rude,” Princey said.

Before either of them could give another barb, all the lights went out. Metal vent shields went up on every window and in front of the door. Emergency lights were the only thing lighting up the room.

“Bing?” Logan tried to open a communication with the hero but he didn’t get anything.

Roman and Thomas looked around.

Then Bing’s voice came over the speakers. “Emergency Lockdown has been engaged. Villain activity detected near the perimeter.”

Bing shot through one of the speakers, he looked over them. “Three, great. So, we have a bit of a situation. This place is in lockdown and we need you three to sit tight. We told your folks already that you three are safe. Just stay here. We’ll get a hero back in here soon.”

Then Bing was gone and the apprentices were left in the room.

“Oh. Great.” Roman said as he looked around. “What do you think it was?”

“Obviously not something actively breaking in, or Bing would have stayed,” Logan said.

And then a table flipped up right in front of the three of them. The apprentices jumped.

Roman froze, “Caesar’s ghost, this place is haunted.”

“Ghosts don’t exist, ghosts are just bored demons,” Logan said.

“How would you know, how many demons have you met?” Roman asked.

“I’ve met enough,” Logan said.

All the empty lockers opened and closed and Logan froze.

Marvin had been in here, he wouldn’t just let a ghost just exist in the base . . . Right?

Logan immediately shot one of his improvised EMP blasts from his suit’s wrists towards the lockers. But there was nothing there.

“Woah! What was that?” Roman and Thomas flinched as light and electricity arced off of Logic and shot off towards the lockers.

“An EMP, I designed it to counter Anti and other demons like him,” Logan said.

“Does it work against ghosts?” Thomas asked.

Logan sighed. “Yes it would work on something you would call ghosts.”

“Can you track the ghost?” Roman asked.

“Hardly,” Logan said. “I have lots of gadgets but never the thing I need.”

“That just means you’ll have more things if you do need them, I think that’s pretty neat,” Princey said.

Logan paused. “You’re just saying that.”

“No, it’s true,” Roman said.

Logan opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. Not sure what to say. Then, “That’s possibly the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Roman looked so offended, so Logan went back to watching the room.

Finally Logan spotted movement in the low light and shoved Princey out of the way to shoot at it. The thing that had been on the couch suddenly became visible as it lit up with electricity.

It was Mare.

The demon barely held itself together as the EMP pulse passed. “What the fuck!”

“We thought you were a ghost,” Thomas said.

“What is wrong with you three?” Mare floated over. “I was just watching you three and you shoot at me.”

“In our defense you were invisible, flipping over tables, and opening lockers,” Logan said.

Mare shrugged, “Alright I was trying to scare you a little, but I wouldn’t have done that if I’d known that you could shoot at me.”

The demon turned to Thomas, and smiled at him. “Hey there, kid, Nate around?”

“Uh,” Thomas stalled, looking around the base. “No, what are you doing here?”

“Looking for Nate, he gave me the slip,” Mare said. “So I came over here and Bing told me to watch you three.”

“Oh,” Logan said. “Makes sense I suppose. Strange they would ask a demon.”

Mare looked particularly upset. “Nate threatened to kick me off his tours if I let anything happen to you three. And his tours are the only things he’s useful for. So guess I’m a babysitter now.”

Mare sat back down on a couch and just sat there until the lockdown began to disengage and Bing came in to check on them. All three of them were taken home one at a time. Roman continued to smile and talk to Logan for a reason that Logan just couldn’t understand.

Logan returned back to his home, becoming upset again about why he couldn’t see his brother. About what had happened with Dante and how upset he was. Bing eventually came by to check on him again. To talk and to tinker with some equipment.

Maybe if Logan just worked on something he’d get his mind off things. He certainly hoped so.

[thomasxsides]

Number 28. feeling for each other in the dark, with Thomceit would be lovely if you're up for it

Crack. Flash.

And there, with a run-of-the-mill Florida thunderstorm, went the power, throwing Thomas' apartment into total darkness. "Fuck." Thomas had been in the kitchen pouring wine for himself and Janus, who was in the living room. "Jan?" "Yes, I'm here. Where are your candles?" Janus can see Thomas' heat signature in the kitchen, moving toward the doorway. He stands to approach him. "Uh... I don't think I have any. Maybe upstairs?" Thomas is pretty sure he's in the living room, but he still can't see as his eyes haven't fully adjusted to his pitch-black living room. He reaches out in front of him and, in a couple of shuffling footsteps, his hand lands on cool, scaled skin. He relaxes noticeably and even his smile is audible. "There you are." Janus reaches up and places a gloved hand over Thomas'. "Yes. Here I am. I didn't go far." Lightning illuminates the living room temporarily and Thomas can see his boyfriend smiling.

"You never do."

[exitiumhq]

✧ ━ ACCEPTED ━ ✧  welcome to new orleans elena gilbert-salvatore, stefanie salvatore, nico castillo reyes, alaric saltzman & sebastian! be sure to send in your account within twenty-four hours or your role will be reopened. don’t forget to look over our checklist and make yourself comfortable. nina dobrev, chase sui wonders, taylor zakhar perez, jensen ackles, & thomas doherty are now taken!

[ nina dobrev | she/her ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome ELENA GILBERT-SALVATORE to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 40 year old HUMAN, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be PUSHY, but that’s all a façade to cover up their COMPASSIONATE nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to LOVE SOMEONE by LUKAS GRAHAM, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. ( liza, 30, ast, they/them )

[ chase sui wonders | she/her ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome STEFANIE SALVATORE to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 24 year old BANSHEE, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be HEADSTRONG, but that’s all a façade to cover up their CANDID nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to HONEY by HALSEY, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. ( zero, 26, est, they/them ) * riley's on / off again ex !

[ taylor zakhar perez | he/him ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome NICO CASTILLO REYES to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 28 year old WEREWOLF, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be SARDONIC, but that’s all a façade to cover up their LOYAL nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to CRAZY TRAIN by OZZY OSBOURNE, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world. * gianna's sibling !

[ jensen ackles | he/him ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome ALARIC SALTZMAN to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 48 year old HUMAN/ HUNTER, who is one of the SURVIVORS but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be DOGMATIC, but that’s all a façade to cover up their ADRIOT nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to DREAM ON by AEROSMITH, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world.

[ thomas doherty | he/him ] Another face is seeking safety in New Orleans. Make sure to welcome SEBASTIAN to the home of the resilient. Rumor has it that they are an 500+ year old VAMPIRE, who is one of the RETURNED but we’ll keep that a secret. They are said to be MANIPULATIVE, but that’s all a façade to cover up their DEBONAIR nature. We’ve heard that they can be found listening to I'M A MAN by CHICAGO, which sums them up pretty well. Let’s hope that they can find a way to survive this harsh new world.  

[snowdice]

Little Kestrel (Part 51) [Birds of Different Feathers Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan & Patton & Virgil (future Virgil/Patton but not in this story)

Characters:

Main: Logan, Patton, Virgil

Appear: Thomas

Mentioned: Janus

Summary:

It was supposed to be a quick job either way. Either Virgil would assassinate King Thomas of Prijaznia or he’d be caught and get executed. Yet, when Virgil gets the wrong bedroom and gets caught by Prince Logan and his future royal advisor, Patton, the job ends up getting way more complicated for the 14-year-old. He also ends up sleeping in a (actually pretty comfortable) closet for a few weeks…

Notes: Implied/referenced child abuse, assassination attempt, knives, torture mentioned, captivity, teenagers being really dumb, sexual coercion of minors implied, a minor offering sexual favors

This is a prequel to Kill Dear. I wrote it 100 words at a time on my blog, but this is the edited version. If you want to see how it was crafted (and possibly some future content), look at the tag proofread stories.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50

“I see you wore out Patton,” Logan said to Virgil. Patton glared at him from where he’d collapsed on Logan’s bedroom floor.

Logan had been accosted as soon as he’d gotten out of a meeting earlier in the day by Patton and Virgil as, apparently, they’d slipped up in front of Mr. Deknis. Luckily, the conversation had not been nearly as dire as they’d feared.

True, most people in Prijaznia wouldn’t question the rights of multrums anymore, but racism was still prevalent in some smaller pockets near the kingdom’s boarders. It was easy enough to explain that Virgil was from an area where prejudice against multrums was prevalent (not a lie) and that Patton, with his sensibilities would panic not wanting Mr. Deknis to realize Virgil’s internalized prejudices and would take him away to explain (also not a lie).

It had been easy enough to provide this explanation to Mr. Deknis and for the man to accept Virgil’s apology for his accidental offensiveness. There’d been a bit of lingering suspicion from the gardener, but nothing that wouldn’t fade with time.

They’d fled back to Logan’s room after that to get a chance to breathe away from adult supervision which is when Patton had dramatically fallen to the floor in exaggerated agony.

Patton had become Virgil’s newest victim of training. He currently had bruises and scrapes from attempting to scale the wall of the dovecote. When Virgil hadn’t been able to get him up that way, they’d taken an alternate route which explained the feathers and… other unpleasant messes now stuck to both of them. That’s why Patton was on the floor and not the furniture.

“Patton has a lot to work on,” Virgil said gravely. His eyes flickered to Logan, “but at least he’s willing to work on it.”

Logan shot him a tight-lipped glare. “Go take a shower, Virgil,” he said. “You’re dirty.”

Virgil stuck his tongue out at him in response but did turn and disappear into the next room to take a show.

“And what about you?” Logan asked the figure on the floor. “Are you going to go shower?”

There was a long pause. “I’ a min’te,” he yawned, not opening his eyes.

“Whatever you want,” Logan said. Though, he did sacrifice one pillow from his bed, making Patton lift his head so Logan could slip the pillow under it.

He sat on his bed with a book while waiting for Virgil to get out of the shower. He was pretty sure Patton had fallen asleep on the floor by the time the door to the bathroom opened once again. Virgil was in one of the sweaters Logan had given him when he’d first come here despite now having new fitted clothes of his own for every occasion. It still hung off his frame a bit, but not as much as it once had. He yawned softly, a sweater paw coming up to cover his mouth.

“Tired from your long day of being a menace?” Logan asked idly.

Virgil stopped mid yawn to glare at him.

Logan just smiled back and patted the bed next to him. Virgil seemed to forgive him for his teasing easily enough. He came to sit next to Logan on the bed, curling his legs underneath him.

Logan glanced down at the boy on the floor. “Patton, you can go take a shower in my bathroom if you don’t want to go all the way downstairs.”

There was no response.

Logan tsked. “What have you done to him?” Logan asked Virgil. He used to think Patton was the energetic one.

“He’s fine,” Virgil claimed.

“He’s filthy and unconscious on the floor,” Logan argued back.

Virgil just shrugged and leaned over to rest his chin on Logan’s shoulder. Clearly, he was a bit tired as well even if he wasn’t as much as Patton. “What are you reading?” he asked.

“Just starting a new book on code breaking,” Logan said.

Virgil hummed, but his fingers twitched on his lap a bit.

“Did you need something?” Logan asked.

“When you’re done reading that, could you help me read something?”

“Of course,” Logan said. “I’m at a stopping point, so we can do it now if you wish.”

Virgil nodded and went scrambling over the bed. Logan flinched as he was jostled from his position by the movement.

He opened a drawer in the nightstand that Logan had emptied out from him a while back. It’s where he kept the first protection charm he’d made when not carrying it and a picture Patton had drawn him once. He was also, apparently, keeping a book there.

He plopped said book down on Logan’s lap. It was a book about different species of orchids.

“Mr. Deknis gave me this book and I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few flowers I like by the pictures, but most of the words are really hard in this book,” he explained. “Could you read a few passages to me.”

“Of course,” Logan replied, taking the book from him. The book was on the larger size, though not nearly as large as many books Logan read and was covered with hand-drawn flowers, in particular, orchids. There were small pieces of colorful paper sticking out of the top, marking certain pages. “Are these indicating the pages you’d like me to read to you?” Logan asked.

Virgil nodded, moving closer to once again settle his chin on Logan’s shoulder. He peered down at the book in Logan’s lap intently.

Logan smiled softly as he cracked open the book to the first marked page.

Virgil listened with rapt attention as Logan went through the description of the flowers on each page. Each of the flowers had a short blurb about them along with a table that explained things like how much water and shade each needed. There were 6 flowers in total marked, and Virgil did not interrupt Logan once as he read through them.

Logan glanced at Virgil as he finished reading the last bit of text and Virgil reached out to take the book back. Logan closed it and handed it to him.

Virgil frowned down at the book in contemplation for a long moment.

Then, he opened the book to the fourth marked page. “I like this one,” he said, looking up at Logan, seemingly for approval.

Logan nodded. “It’s very nice, Virgil.”

“How do you say the name again?” he asked.

“Zygopetalum maculatum,” Logan told him.

Virgil���s eyes squinted a bit, and he didn’t attempt to say it. He just nodded.

“We can practice pronouncing it if you’d like,” Logan offered.

He nodded sheepishly and closed the book. “Maybe tomorrow,” he suggested as he stashed the book back in his drawer and curled up on his side of the bed.

“Tired?” Logan asked.

Virgil closed his eyes and nodded, cheek scraping over his pillow.

“Want me to read more of Into the Mist?” Logan asked.

Virgil nodded again, and Logan reached over to the nightstand, his hand passing over the code book he’d been reading earlier to the novel he was reading with Virgil.

Logan didn’t even get a full chapter in until Virgil was softly snoring. They’d probably have to read everything again with Virgil more awake next time.

Eventually, he managed to poke Patton awake long enough for him to rinse off in Logan’s shower, but not enough for him to retire to his own bedroom. Instead, he flopped onto the foot of the bed and promptly fell unconscious again. Logan’s bed was crowded that night.

Want to read more? Click below!

Birds of Different Feathers Master Post

My Masterpost