#the enemies to lovers we deserved but canon never delivered

[cautiously0ptimistic]

Been neck deep in Dramione fanfics lately tryna convince myself to write something half as good so naturally I had to bring them to life in my game.

[sitp-recs]

Random ask:

Hi Liv! What really draws you to Drarry as a pairing and Harry and Draco as individual characters?

Personally I was always a fan of Draco (because of the whole bad boy rebel thing- I didn’t realise there was so, so much more to him than until I started getting obsessed with Drarry) but I actually never really liked Harry (except I always supported his decisions and loved his sass) all that much in the beginning until I joined the Drarry fandom and realised that in retrospect, he’s an incredible character and wasn’t done any justice at all in the series. I mean the turning point for me was revisiting the part where he tricked Ron into performing well by pretending to give him the Felix Felicis. Like this boy-

But what made me fall for Harry was The Ordeal of Being Known by @lou-isfake . That fic. Oh. My. Gosh. The amount they delved into Harry psyche and the extensive knowledge they had of that character, what he went through and how all of these experiences shaped his life later on; I’m a little suspicious of them actually being Harry’s actual creator and not the terfling (I personally think all rights of Harry Potter should go to them).

And Draco. What the fuck. He’s the most underrated character in the entire series because unlike how he was portrayed as a villain who ended up receiving no redemption arc, he was a victim of his own circumstance just like (his lover) Harry, and they were both very gay grey characters.

And the more fanfics I read, the more and more I fall in love with the millions of slightly altered versions of them both and honestly it’s criminal how little we really know about them. And well, Drarry. My obsession with these reading about these two idiots falling in love (which is canon in my mind) grows enormously every single day and I just pray for more opportunities to get involved within the fandom because I’d quite literally have lost my mind if it weren’t for Drarry.

But my thesis aside I really want to know what you feel about it as well (and your lovely followers too!).

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk x

Well this was one hell of a Ted Talk, I love it! It was really interesting to read your thoughts and insights about this. And TOOBK is an absolute masterpiece, @lou-isfake deserves all the love and praise for coming up with such a moving, thoughtful and emotionally complex story, honestly their mind!!!

As for me… I will admit that I haven’t revisited the books in ages, probably even before Cursed Child came out *hides* I found the increasing plot holes, lack of character depth and diversity issues very disappointing and since fic gave me everything I needed in terms of expanding the universe, I kinda let go of the books pretty early on. I moved abroad 4 years ago and didn’t even think of taking them with me lol for shame 💀

Which brings me to my second point: I’ve never felt particularly drawn to either Harry or Draco in the books. Great levels of sass aside, I found Harry boring, whiny and indolent, while Draco was confined to that one-dimensional bully arc that wasn’t really done in a clever or satisfying way, and didn’t deliver redemption or closure. I’ve never found them compelling as main character/antagonist, I didn’t even care enough to ship them. Now I understand my perception was shaped by young Liv’s limited mind and bad writing, I’d probably read Harry differently and be more compassionate towards him. Isn’t it great that good fic and growing up give us some perspective!

So to answer your main question, what drives me to them is a good “enemies to lovers” story because I freaking love these dynamics. I love the fire, the intensity, the inner conflict, the vulnerability, give me all the implications and complications. Fic makes it possible because it gives them emotional depth while exploring multiple post-war possibilities. There are so many ways to bring them together and pull them apart, and so many interesting ways to expand the universe and the magic lore while doing that. Like you said, it’s refreshing to see those slightly different versions of them finding each other and falling in love! At this point I feel like I’m more knowledgeable about fanon as the canon characterization becomes a distant memory in the depths of my mind. I love it that fics take time to properly explore their trauma and give them the room to process it and to do some self-discovery, whether it’s professional, sexual/romantic, in a found family scenario, etc. One fic that transformed the way I see Harry is Away Childish Things by lettered, it felt like a punch in the stomach but oh, it hurt so good!

I took many breaks from Drarry over the years but I keep coming back because we’re lucky to have SO MUCH top notch content. It blows my mind the amount of talented creators that keep joining the fandom, the superior quality of their works, the sense of community we all share. I haven’t found this anywhere else and it fuels my love for the ship which, let’s face it, might not have survived under other circumstances. I wondered if creating a blog would be a good idea because I didn’t plan on staying around for very long, yet here I am two years later nowhere close to leaving 😂

Wow this got really long and somehow I feel like this was an extremely vague and unsatisfactory answer, sorry anon. Thanks for the ask, I’d love to see other people’s thoughts on this too!

[drarrypotterrenaissance]

Drarry Tag Game

You tagged "💥anybody else 💥 who wants in!!!" and so I took that as a tag for me @kbrick, thanks for making this!

✨  Drarry Tag Game! ✨ Answer any questions you’d like and ignore the rest!

When did you get into Drarry and why? Sometime at the end of 2020/start of 2021 - I was nostalgic for my childhood fandom, and was excited to enjoy it through a queer lens. Also, @amywaterwings told me that there were a bunch of fics I needed to read haha

Which Drarry fic hooked you? What We Pretend We Can't See - that alone probably says it all, but listen. It's Draco as a museum curator with an anxiety-ridden brain that never shuts up. I work in a museum! I have an anxiety-ridden brain that never shuts up! It was the perfect first fic for me to read, and I re-read it on a regular basis 💜

Top three favorite Drarry fics: This question is mean because I can't limit myself to just three, but I'll do my best... What We Pretend We Can't See is my absolute favorite, full stop. BUT, since I already listed that one, I'm going to list three more.

Little Deaths and How to Avoid Them by @greaseonmymouth with art by dustmouth - I was drawn to this fic because of ace!Harry, cried multiple times because of how seen I felt while reading this fic, and when I finished I realized that I was now keeping the world of this fic in a corner of my heart, and just thinking about it gives me the same warm, comforting feeling that I had the first time I read it. I think about the painting in the reading room all the time and I'm happier for it 😊

The Liars Department by @dorthyanndrarry with art by @snarkyships-drarryside - I love this fic so much!!! I was initially drawn in by the art, because I had to know why everyone was dressed the way they were, and the second I started reading I was captivated by the fic too. The premise is incredibly clever, the characters are delightful to read, and every description is lush and delicious! I have returned to this fic countless times since first reading it, and I babble about it frequently to my irl friend because it's hardly ever far from the front of my mind. Also, the museum scene makes me so happy!!! And Draco is so quick-witted about everything, and I love the mirror, and Asbestos is perfection, and I frequently forget that the house elf society in this fic isn't canon, and and and.... Look, this is a wonderful fic, please go read it immediately 💖

The Fall of the Veils by @letteredlettered - this fic was recommended to me because of ace!Draco, and there is one line in particular in this fic that made me sob the first time I read it because of how perfectly it explained the thoughts I could never articulate, and how lovely that entire scene is. I've bookmarked this fic, and my notes say "You know which fic this is, and you love it. Don't cry too much <3" However, this fic is not just ace!Draco! The plot is fantastic, and even though I don't usually adore crime-centered or politics-centered fics I absolutely loved this one, and I highly recommend it!

Why can’t you quit them? I decided that I loved Draco when I was six years old and first saw Tom Felton smirk and deliver his opening line, "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." I'm sorry, but I've always had a soft spot for blonds, and his sweet little face could not convince me that he was evil. So, I was incredibly frustrated when, upon the release of the 7th book, he still had not received the redemption arc I was sure he deserved. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching Draco Malfoy become a better person, and when you add in how much I love their enemies-to-lovers dynamic and the frequency with which Draco (and sometimes Harry) shares my own quirks and mental health issues, I can't walk away. Plus, Draco usually has fantastic style and I love that so much. (Also also, Drarry comes with a supporting cast of Hermione, Ron, and the Slytherins, so I couldn't ask for anything better!)

Would you rather be friends with Harry or Draco? Draco, for sure! His style, his wit, the commentary he would give about everyone and everything, it would all make for a fantastic friendship

Who breaks your heart more often?  Draco - I think I tend to read fics where he is more vulnerable or doesn't have as strong of a support system as Harry does, and he's trying so hard and just needs a hug. I love both of them, but Draco has had my love from day one, and he breaks my heart all the time (luckily, Harry usually loves him enough to put the pieces back together for me)

Ideal career for Harry? For Draco? Harry should be a teacher, especially if it's an unconventional teaching position (kindergarten for muggleborns, for example, instead of DADA at Hogwarts (although that is also good)). Draco should do whatever makes him happy. I've loved a lot of fics where Draco is a healer, where he gets to do various things in the potions field, and even a few where being an Unspeakable seems to work well for him, but my absolute favorite career for Draco will always be museum curator (please blame my own personal career and WWPWCS)

Harry and Draco are being sent to a desert island for a week with plenty of food and water. Each are allowed to bring three additional items (no wands). What do they bring? Harry: a snitch, a broom, a hoodie; Draco: he’d probably try to throw 9,000 grooming products into a bag and claim the bag was one item. The other two would be a sunhat and lube. <- these answers are from @kbrick and they're very correct, so I'm not going to argue with them at all. However, I think Draco might also want to bring a book (or twenty)

Favorite non-Drarry HP character? Ooh, I would have said Hermione for most of my life, but now it's a close tie between Hermione and Ron. Hermione was my role model for most of my academic life and childhood, and she's amazing, but I've recently started to love reading Ron more too, and I love the both of them together

If you had to pick one, enemies to lovers or (enemies to) friends to lovers? Enemies to friends to lovers! I know that's having my cake and eating it too, but I absolutely adore when people in love are also the best of friends, and watching them go from enemies to friends to pining friends to lovers is my favorite thing to read

Would you rather read a fic that made you laugh or one that made you cry? Most of my favorite fics have made me cry, but in the cathartic way where I sob 3/4 of the way through and then feel so comforted and happy at the end - so, I think I'd prefer to cry, but only if there's a happy ending! (I do want to laugh a bit too though.... can I just read all the fics??)

Three songs that scream Drarry to you (feel free to include the Drarry-est lyrics!): The Heart is a Muscle by Gang of Youths - I'm actually writing a fic based around this song, it's the most Drarry song I've ever heard, and it gives me so many good emotions. I would put some of my favorite lyrics here, but I would just end up writing out the whole song, so.... go listen to it! As for the other two songs, well, I'll be honest - I can't really think of any? Usually when I listen to music I think about whether I can choreograph to it, and most of my playlists are devoted to things like that, so I don't have many songs that make me think of any fandoms or pairings.

Favorite authors outside of fic? Alexis Hall!!! Okay, so, I've only read two of his books, but I read Boyfriend Material twenty times in a row in less than a month (I've probably read it over fifty times total by now), and I absolutely devoured Something Fabulous. His writing feels very fun to me, and I love how his characters often sound like my own internal monologues (hi, Luc, I love you for being the same sort of disaster 💜), and I always feel like I'm being hugged when I read his work. I also really enjoy Eva Ibbottson, because although many of her books are somewhat formulaic romances with extra-idyllic settings and minimal physical intimacy and some of my irl friends have complained about that, those are the exact qualities I look for in books that make me happy, and my copy of A Company of Swans in particular is worn thin from how often I've read it. Finally, my favorite book in the world is The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, and I can't not mention that here too. It's been dear to me since I was eight years old, and I will always love it.

Tagging with no pressure, and please feel free to pick and choose the questions you’d like to answer! @amywaterwings @the-greater-grief @excalisbury @l0vegl0wsinthedark @parkkate @drarrily-we-row-along and anyone else who would like to do this! (also, if I tagged you in any of my answers here you are tagged if you wish to be!!)

Thank you so much for making this @kbrick, and for being so inclusive with your tags! 💜💜💜

[cowboy-anon]

It’s a long one, lads, but here’s the ✨ super special whump ✨ I promised! The reason? It’s the amazing @unicornscotty‘s birthday!! (Make sure to wish them a happy birthday! :D ) Happy birthday to one of the first friends I made here on Tumblr. <3 What am I doing to celebrate? Posting a Pirate Whump fanfic (OG story by @unicornscotty, hence it being the present)!!!

!!! Note: You don’t need to read the story to understand this fic, but once you’re finished with this, you ought to if you like pirate whump!

Super amazing story idea courtesy of @milk-carton-whump. Then I made it an AU because rivalry, am I right? Canonically, these two get along pretty well, but a prince and a pirate on the same ship? There’s bound to be some bad blood. Then, of course, a sprinkling of enemies to lovers because why the heck not! :) 

Truth be told, I don’t know if it’s whumpy enough. That being said, I’ve been especially bloodthirsty lately, so there probably is enough whump XD. Hope you guys like it!

CW: Accidental self-harm (biting tongue), alcohol mention, bodily fluids (drool and blood), cuts, death mention (in passing), derogatory language towards the classes (monarchs and pirates), hitting, implied murder (but what do you expect with pirates, y’know?), lots of salt and sarcasm, pirate whump, stitches mention, spartan kick, swearing, swords against throats, sword fighting (!!!)

Now, without further ado:

ENEMIES TO LOVERS SLOWBURN AU - ONLY YOU NEVER GET TO SEE THE END >:)))) 

Alternatively:

Prince v. Pirate

Augustus calls them “scum” one too many times today. Luckily, Alex knows just how to push his buttons back. 

They stare into the murky bucket of mop water by the mast, full and swirling with the grayish tendrils of dirty soap and muck from the ship’s wooden floorboards. Alex can feel Augustus’ presence by the bow of the ship. He takes up far more space than Alex realized when the two of them first boarded this boat. 

But that’s... perfect, they think slyly. Someone who casts such a long shadow surely has that much more to lose. 

“When we first met,” Alex calls suddenly, fighting the amusement in their voice, “you didn’t kill me. I doubt your father will be very pleased to hear that.” They laugh and give the mop another soapy swipe across the deck. Alex looks over their shoulder with a devilish grin. “A prince saving a pirate. A prince too weak to finish them off. I may be scum, but at least I’m not a coward.”

Alex’s grin only grows when they hear the stomp of Augustus’ approaching boots coming down the stairs behind them. “Careful, Gus,” they jive. “That day was a fluke. Mind you, if we do this again, your inexperience will be your downfall.” Alex spins on their heel and laughs at what they see: The prince wielding his sword, carrying himself in a learned but clearly off-centered defensive position. “Very well. I could give you some pointers if you’d like.”

“Pointers?” Augustus scoffs and moves in closer to Alex, sword low to the ground and too tight in his grip. He crosses his feet when he moves, too, Alex notes. All classic mistakes. 

“The kingdom’s best sword fighters have been training me since I could walk,” Augustus continues lowly. “ I spar as one of the best in the kingdom. Don’t overestimate your prowess, pirate.”

Alex laughs. “You think sparring is anything like combat?”

“Sparring is combat,” Augustus spits back. “And as far as I can tell, your sword isn’t even drawn. Does that not invalidate all of the claims you’ve made so far as to your knowledge on the matter?” He gestures at Alex with his sword. “One of the first rules, be prepared.”

“Oh, not at all, Gus.” Without warning, Alex takes the mop in hand and swings it at Augustus’ exposed shoulder with a wet crack. 

Augustus’ hold on his sword falters when his right hand instantly moves for his injured shoulder. 

“First rule, gain the power in the situation.” Alex unsheathes the sword at their hip and holds it out, at the ready, gripped comfortably between their hands. The correct way, they mentally boast.

 “You know,” Alex says, motioning with their sword, “if you’d held your blade a little higher and led with your chest, you would’ve been able to block that blow with ease. But what would I know?” Alex runs their thumb over the engraved hilt of their sword, etched with tallies. Ten to be exact. Ten men. Ten dead men. “I’m certainly not a seasoned fighter, not like the beloved prince.”

Alex’s eyes fall back on the prince, still nursing his shoulder with gritted teeth—at least, that’s what he wants them to believe. Alex catches the way his fingers curl around the handle of his sword with newfound determination, the flicker of mischief that crosses his downturned face. 

If only he knew who he was dealing with.

Augustus lunges, sharp and quick, favoring his right shoulder but still far faster than Alex expects. But they are expecting it. 

Alex drives their sword forward at an angle, and Augustus misses his mark by a good three inches. It was such a simple maneuver, such a simple counter. 

“Now you’ve done it,” Augustus growls. 

Alex rolls their eyes. “Hasn’t anyone told you good sword fighting comes with a clear mind?” 

Augustus doesn’t hesitate with the overhead arc. Alex brings their sword up in a quick parry and forces Augustus’ sword to the left. “Don’t lock your elbows,” Alex quips, coming in with a left cut that Augustus barely avoids. “And never use that move unless your opponent is incredibly vulnerable.”

“Shut up!” Augustus swings his sword hard at Alex’s right side. “I don’t need advice from a pirate!” 

Alex notes his breathlessness as they match his swing from the left. The swords collide, loud and dangerous. But Augustus breaks it up before it becomes a battle of strength. 

Augustus goes for the arc again. Alex slips to the right and his sword hits the wood with a hollow thunk. 

In the time it takes Augustus to get back in position, Alex has their sword at his throat, not quite touching but threatening nonetheless. “What did I say?” Alex purrs, moving in closer. “If your opponent isn’t vulnerable, you are, plain and simple.”

Augustus’s sword crashes into Alex’s, swiping it away from his neck. The motion shocks Alex and stopping the momentum pulls at their back uncomfortably. They barely manage to get their feet underneath them in time to block yet another attack from above with their sword. 

Augustus wipes the sweat from his brow when the two part, watching Alex scramble towards the bow of the ship to compose themself. The smirk on his face is undeniable. “Vulnerable enough for you?”  

“You’re vulnerable,” Alex snaps back, chest heaving, “and predictable.”  

Augustus snarls, taking it upon himself to make the first move once again. Alex sighs but takes their sword to the ready position. 

“I’m surprised you’re fighting so fairly,” Augustus muses, advancing on the pirate. 

Alex takes a step back and startles when their boot connects with one of the stairs at the end of the deck. They need to move, that much they know, but for now they focus on the princely pain in the ass in front of them. 

“Is that so?” Alex steps back onto the staircase, one step, then another, sword extended in front of them.  “What does fair mean to you monarchs?”

Augustus’ expression sours as he begins ascending the stairs after them. “All sword, all skill. True combat. Noble combat.” 

“‘Noble combat,’ hmm?” Alex reaches the top of the stairs and stops. “You mean as noble as oppression can be, don’t you?”

Augustus smiles, taking another step. “I mean as noble as a piliger who follows it can be.”

Alex nods, feigning understanding. “If I could make one note,” they start. 

Augustus glares at them. 

“Fighting fair gets you killed.” Alex pulls their sword to the right, and with Augustus’ sword so low, Alex has a clear view of his abdomen. “And playing dirty? Well…” Alex sets their feet. “Pretty par for the course.”

The kick Alex delivers to his stomach is solid. Augustus manages to keep a hold of his sword on the way down,  but he hits the ground hard, and the moan that leaves his lips is wretched. Well-deserved but still wretched.

Alex clambers down the stairs and back onto the deck, equally impressed, amused, and horrified to see Augustus getting up so quickly. Augustus keeps one hand on his sword and the other on his stomach, and for a brief moment Alex considers kicking him until he stays down. 

By the time Alex decides that’s exactly what they’re going to do, Augustus is on his feet with more fire in his gorgeous blue eyes than Alex’s seen since they started fighting. 

This isn’t going to end well. 

Augustus straightens and rolls his shoulder with a grimace. “I did say I spar as one of the best, pirate. Part of that is being able to get back up.”

Augustus comes in strong with a ruthless swing to Alex’s right side. Alex brings their sword up and out for a block, and although they don’t end up cut in half, their shoulders ache, then burn with a deep familiar pain. Still predictable, they note, wincing. Thank goodness for that. 

Alex isn’t so lucky the next time. Another swipe, fast and aggressive, flies towards their face. Alex sidesteps but trips over their own feet. They’re quick but not quick enough. 

They feel it, the sharp sting of sweat mingling with an open wound. Alex brings their fingers to their face and prods gently at where they think the cut is. When they bring them back to look at them, they’re covered in blood, superficial but maddening all the same. 

Alex grins, glaring through rich brown curls as they click their tongue. “You’re persistent. I like that. But it does seem like someone needs to work on their timing.”

Alex lunges forward, faking with no spared conviction that they’re going in for a jab and instead plant their foot on the toe of Augustus’ boot. With a spin that’s just as practical as it is for show, they slam their elbow into his jaw. “Like so!”

On their way back to the mast, arm alight with near-paralyzing pins and needles, they catch a glimpse of the trail of blood oozing from Augustus’s lip. He bit his own tongue it seems. Poetic almost. 

“Fighting dirty, are we?” Augustus brings his hand under his chin and catches the blood and drool in his palm. “You know, any other time, your kind would be hung for this. But I must admit I’m enjoying this.”

Augustus tosses his handful of fluids across the freshly-mopped deck, more blood than anything else, and wipes his hand on his pants before returning his bloody grip to the sword’s hilt. “Now then. Let’s continue, shall we, pirate?”

Alex bristles at the way Augustus spits it this time, pirate, like it’s poison. At this point, Alex thinks skewering him might not be a bad idea. 

But no, that won’t be satisfying, not for the likes of him. Alex wants to humiliate him. They want to win. And all winning requires is submission. That and a little salt in the wound. 

“You might want to reconsider, Gus,” Alex says. Their stance is defensive but comfortable, balancing on the balls of their feet just in case Augustus tries to make a move. “It is quite cowardly to submit to a pirate, but if the king knew what I planned on doing to you, I think he’d understand.”

Augustus scoffs. “Meaning?” 

“Meaning I sincerely hope you don’t. I’m sure a missing arm would be quite the message to bring back to your fair kingdom.”

Augustus lunges in for a jab, all rage and false-assured thoughtfulness just like Alex expects him to. All it takes is a slip to the side and an outstretched leg to send them stumbling past them, fighting to regain his balance. 

“What did I say?” Alex goads at Augustus’ back. “Vulnerable and so, so predictable. Switch up your moves and it won’t be so embarrassingly easy to send you reeling.”

Alex doesn’t even see the side swipe coming, but they most certainly feel the slice across their abdomen. “Fuck!” It’s heat, raw and burning, but it’s not pain, not yet, not with the blood roaring in their ears. They swallow their blooming panic in time to meet Augustus’ next blow, weaker than the rest have been, with equal ferocity. 

There’s the shriek of metal against metal, invigorating at any other time, and the swords catch on each other at the hilt—the battle of strength and dexterity Alex was waiting for. Will Augustus break it off again?

Alex meets his eyes through their interlocked swords, brown on blue. No, he won’t break it off, not this time. The wolfish grin hiding the twisted agony behind his eyes says it all. That, and the trembling grip Alex has on their own sword. 

“You look unwell, Alex.” Augustus pushes harder against Alex’s block and laughs windedly. “You may want to consider submission.”  

Alex pants and grits their teeth. “And let you miss out on a… a valuable lesson? That’d be awfully rude of me.” They push back.  “Besides, I could ask you the same thing. How’s that shoulder of yours?”

Alex breaks away and feels the first stab of agony rip through their middle, hard enough that when they swing in retort, their sword almost flies from their unfeeling hands. 

“Keep it together,” they whisper, reclaiming their hold on the sword. Then, to Augustus, “If you’d broken the hold purposely, you could’ve reestablished your power in the situation, you know.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Augustus says lowly. Alex notes the cryptic tone in his voice but not fast enough. Without another word, he charges Alex, sword held higher, chest out strong, back straight because of it. 

Alex anticipates the collision and holds their sword at the ready, stepping back towards the mast in preparation for the inevitable block. What they don’t expect is the way Augustus’ foot hooks around their own. 

Alex’s feet fly out from under them, and this time they’re the one who’s stumbling. In their search for ground, they go blind to everything around them until their back collides with the mast of the ship. 

When the space around them registers again, Augustus is right in front of them and his blade puts a threatening pressure against their neck. His breath is hot and wet against their face. Under their chin, they feel the faintest trickle of sweat or, more likely, blood running down their Adam’s apple. 

Checkmate. 

Augustus stares into Alex’s eyes, still out of breath but gradually recovering. “How about that?” he breathes.

Alex stares back and chuckles softly, then groans at another stab of pain in their stomach as the adrenaline starts to wear off. “Not bad, Prince. Legs further apart though. You’re screwing your balance.” Alex dips their hands between themself and Augustus, careful not to nick themself with the sword at their throat, and touches at the tear in their shirt, feeling around for damage. It’s nothing rum and a few dozen stitches won’t fix. 

Augustus follows the movement with his eyes, then raises them back to Alex’s face. “Anything else you want to teach me?”

Alex grins. In one swift movement, they drop their sword, tear the arm holding the sword to their neck away from them, and pull that same arm behind Augustus’ back, shoving him hard into the mast. “Yeah,” they say above his surprised grunt. “Never lose focus.”

Alex gives Augustus’ arm a final rough pull, their chest against his back before pulling away with a huff. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a drink.”

Alex walks across the deck to the sailor’s quarters. They hope Augustus can’t see that their body is on fire.

[eyessharpweaponshot]

hi there!! are there any fics you’re reading right now that you would recommend? i need something good after the season we’ve been given so far 😣

hello there!

I agree, this season has been disappointing - especially considering it’s the last one. but thankfully, our fandom is full of amazing writers that serve us goods regularly. I have so much to recommend, it’s a joke. so prepare for a long fic rec. In no particular order, let’s begin:

1. Chasin’ You - @burninghoneyatdusk

okay. you’re gonna see a bit of a theme with me in these fic recs because the authors I mention are some of my favourites in the world - sam being one of the TOP TIER ones. this fic is a modern au, written about clarke and bellamy as exes (a favourite trope of mine) that have went their separate ways. clarke has moved away and hasn’t kept tabs on bellamy but he's soared to the top as a country star, his hit single being about her and what they had. if there’s any fic from this list you need to start reading, it’s this one.

2. Voices in the Water - @burninghoneyatdusk

It’s the canon version we all wanted. set on earth, clarke’s aunt (nia) forces her into an arranged marriage with king bellamy to unite the clans. but under it all, nia has tasked her to kill him. obviously, as clarke falls in love with bellamy, it’s the one task wanheda probably can’t complete. I'm in love with the imagery and descriptions in this fic. there are honestly some lines that sam writes that I want to frame and put up in my house. absolute brilliance.

3. All Because of You - @burninghoneyatdusk

*sheepishly raises hand* - hi, it’s me again, fangirling over another one of sam’s fics. if you have followed me for a while, either here or on twitter, you’ll have seen me screaming about this fic. I've pulled over while driving to read an update that came through to my email. no lie. I don’t say this lightly but it is definitely in my top 3 favourite bellarke fics of all time. sam DELIVERS with this one. bellamy knocks up his sister’s best friend when they’re both young and they grow together in raising their daughter. this fic flashes between present and future in the most seamless way and we see how in love they were back then but too scared to admit it, combined with how in love they are now that they are mature and older - but yet can’t seem to take the leap. I can’t tell you enough how good this fic is. I'm in love and it’s one of those fics that I would happily have as a book on my bookshelf, the pages worn and falling out from the amount of times that I re-read it.

*I just want to note that sam is doing a fantastic job at running @bellarkefic-for-blm. This is an opportunity for the bellarke community to directly support the Black Lives Matter cause through reading and writing fanfiction. For every fanfiction prompt a participating writer receives, they ask that you donate to an organization that supports the BLM cause. This initiative includes non-bellarke the 100 ships and requests for other content (e.g. gif sets, icons, moodboards, fanart). please check them out and request a prompt (this also includes updates for the above mentioned fics)*

4. Count Your Teeth - @icantloseyou-too

let me tell you, you guys will be well fed after reading this fic. It’s one of the most original idea’s and we get so much bellarke and the blake siblings in this one. bellamy is a treasure hunter and married to clarke, after leaving his thieving days behind him. that is until his past comes knocking and drags him back into that world again - and clarke along with him. absolute chefs kiss!

5. Cups and Sorcerers - @icantloseyou-too

again, such a unique plot with just the right amount of fluff. clarke is a witch who owns a coffee shop and she ends up meeting someone just as unique as her. I’m invested in this to an embarrassing degree and it always puts me in a good mood when this fic is updated. such a light and heart filling read and ciara does a fantastic job of world building in this fic.

6. Paint me in Trust - @pawprinterfanfic

I'm sure this fic needs no introduction. everyone and their mother has heard of it and if you haven’t read it yet, believe me, you’re missing out. a harry potter au that runs alongside the last few movies without being involved with the main characters. essie manages to make an already existing world so different, thrilling and gripping. it emotionally upends you and takes you along for the ride without any intention of letting you off. I'm just in love with it and rightly so!

7. When the Wolves Come Home - @pawprinterfanfic

I don’t know how people aren’t RAVING about this fic more because I certainly am. it’s massive for me to even say this because I love all of essie’s work but it’s my favourite fic that she’s written. I can’t describe the feeling I get when I read how she’s written bellarke in this. it’s a percy jackson au but you don’t need to have knowledge of that world to enjoy this. I actually started reading the books because of this fic. essie writes it so well and incorporates a lot of fantastic elements from greek mythology while also keeping me on the edge of my seat with bellarke’s journey. HERE FOR IT ALL THE WAY.

8. I’ll Find You in the Morning Sun - @cominguproses13x

I’ve never seen a fic talked about as much as this one. with 60 chapters, it’s bound to satisfy any hunger you have for bellarke. it’s set in a post apocalyptic world and it is beyond a shadow of a doubt, my favourite setting to read bellarke in. I've actually stopped reading this fic on chapter 5 because im currently writing my own post apocalyptic au as it was a trope on my bingo card and I don’t want any subconscious spill over, but I fully intend on reading the rest of the fic in one go once my fic is published and done. it deserves all the praise and hype.

9. For Blue Skies - @kombellarke

kayla’s fics make me actually weep. her writing style is just unbelievable and she sucks me into stories so fast. this one is no different. I live and breathe for bellarke as exes and this fic is one of my favourites. it’s a modern au with clarke as a mother and she cascades back into bellamy’s life without warning. perfect angst and anticipation. in love.

10. Love Like Fools - @talistheintrovert

the way I love talis with my whole heart. I'm always obsessed with her fics and the way this one was written was just magnificent. enemies to friends to lovers, roommates, angst, emotional comforting? SIGN ME UP. the perfect mix of all of those and I felt so good after reading this. always a fan.

11. It Had To Be You - @useyourtelescope

I had the honour of pre-reading some of this fic before it was published and I felt so privileged. a regency au with a prank war sprinkled in? perfection. hana honestly writes this so beautifully and I can’t recommend this enough. it’s so unique and we are all so incredibly lucky that there’s something in the bellarke fic world for everyone.

12. Veni, Vidi, Vinci - @carrieeve

Again, proof of the pudding that there’s something in fic for everyone. I’ve never read one like this before and it THRILLED me. murphy and bellamy working together to steal a Vinci? it was the fic I never knew I needed. the bellarke interaction in this was beautifully written and I am just completely obsessed. we really struck gold with the bellarke big bang works this year.

13. A Twist of Fate - @queenemori

let’s be honest, soulmate au’s are always wanted and needed in this fandom and kara does an excellent job of serving us this one. we got some team cockroach in here along with some top tier quality bellarke. what more could you ask for? if you haven’t read this fic yet, you need to. so thankful for kara being the absolute gifted babe that she is.

14. Power Over Me - @sparklyfairymira

okay, if you recently watched the witcher on netflix like I did, believe me, you NEED to read this fic. if you haven’t watched the witcher, this fic will make you want to watch it. the smut in this, the plot, the WRITING. absolutely phenomenal. have I mentioned how lucky we are to have such fantastic writers in this fandom?

15. There’s a Serpent Lying Deep Down in These Still Waters - @shaeheda

post apocalyptic au? SIGN ME UP. bellarke thrown together in unkind circumstances? SIGN ME UP. this magnificent human writing a fic? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP. I'm so in love with this fic already and I haven’t even finished it yet. as I've said, I've stopped reading fics in this genre until my own is completed but I’ve read enough to tell you that this needs to be on your next to read list. forever in awe of the talent here and this fic makes me feel so lucky to be part of something so great.

I hope this satisfies you for a while and that you enjoy all the bellarkey goodness that comes from these fics. I'm gonna drop some of mine below because why not? just in case you’re in need of something more.

1. I Found Peace in Your Violence

clarke griffin has it all. she’s popular, an artistic prodigy and has a wealthy family to boot. so when her perfect world comes crashing down around her, it’s time to sink or swim. she tests positive for the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome gene, also known as the kill gene. clarke is plucked from her comfortable life and placed into a school with people just like her - carriers, delinquents. when she meets bellamy blake there, he looks like everything they say HTS carriers are. a monster, a criminal. yet, he’s the one who protects her.

2. I Am Lost This Time

a void!bellamy fic that we all deserved to have happen in canon. an au where bellamy hears clarke’s radio calls from earth, sees her memories in m-cap and where she really is the key: the one that unlocks his memories and brings him back to her.

3. Purple, Blue, Orange, Red

bellarke are childhood friends and teenage lovers, reuniting in the midst of the same grief that tore them apart.

4. Devil Side

post apocalyptic setting and my favourite fic to have ever written. both of them coming together to survive and protect those in their family, including two small children. bellarke started out as strangers, who would have thought that they’d end up co-parenting in the middle of a world that is too dangerous to survive out in the open?

5. Waste It on Me

a soulmate/reincarnation au that I wrote based off my own breakup and feelings. probably my most popular fic and should keep you going in terms of bellarke feels.

[alldatwrite]

So... today, I'm bringing you my 🌟FANFICTION TOP TIER 🌟

To classify the different tropes on fanfics, we have five categories

Amazing, showstopping, never the same - the category where all my favourite tropes go

Regular favourites - the category where all the good tropes (but not my ultimate favourites) go

Not bad - tropes that I read if there's nothing else to read or if the concept of the fic sounds interesting

Why did I gave this a try? - the fics and concepts that I give a try but end up being boring or disappointing

NO. - the one that I absolutely despise

That being said, LET'S EXPLAIN THE TROPES! (WARNING: THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION)

ANGST: Who doesn't like the angst? The ugly crying? The screaming? The pain? It's just... chef's kiss.

Sharing a bed: it can be applied to EVERY OTHER TROPE. Enemies to lovers? They share a bed. Friends to lovers? They share a bed. Unrequired feeling? Mutual pining? Sexual tension? This has you covered.

Bang or die: only as long as it is consensual, but look, listen, THEY HAVE TO. AND THEY DON'T WANT TO BECAUSE THEY WILL FEEL SOMETHING AND IT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING BETWEEN THEM AND GOD!

Crack fic: It's like humor, which I like, but better. Just surreal and absurd and so full of potential... I love it.

Dark fic: who doesn't like to see their fav character turn dark? The worst things ever are here, and I can't help but feel drawn to it. Like... omg. just. OMG.

Enemies to lovers: Look, this is THE most popular trope and it deserves the reputation. The sublime transition from "I want to kill you" to "I will kill whoever tries to kill you". It can explore SO MUCH, that I just can't deal, I can't.

Fluff: look, I'm a tiny, soft ball, and I need fluffy stuff, I need the cute moments, the smiles, the laugh, the sweet environment. We need some comfort and happiness every once in a while.

Friends to lovers: it's the context, you know? Their transition can be smooth and natural or it can be chaotic at first, but they have that already established intimacy, and I just can't help but love it. It's like it was meant to be, and I can't like it anymore than I already do.

Hurt/Comfort: The wonderful, WONDERFUL moments when A is hurt and B is taking care of them. No matter the type of pain, they have that conexion, that love, and it doesn't even have to be romantic. It's amazing.

Missing scenes: so underrated, oh my god. Yes, give me the missing conversations, the headcanons, everything you have that fills the void that canon has left, everything that expands the character or the universe. I'm a curious person, I want to know more and more about it.

PWP: I love the P0rn, I do, but you have to give me the plot too, the conversations, the stares, the context. And this trope always delivers.

Arranged marriage: if it's well executed, it slaps. The different possibilites, their first meeting... but it's always historical shit that get boring, so I am a bit picky about it.

Baby fic: whether it is the single parent, the pregnancy, or the adoption, I just love it. If the kid is cool and nice, it is even better. If not, I just use them as a pretext for my favourite couple to get together.

Slow Burn: it burns, like the name says, but it makes it all so much interesting. It's hard for this trope to get boring, and it keeps you hanging and waiting for the next update. Sublime.

Body Swap: if it is well executed, it's great. Knowing the other person's body, experiencing their lives... I just adore it, it has so much potential and it usually has a comical side that I just adore.

College AU: Again, I love it if it's well executed. The adult content (not sex, just adult stuff) always gets me, and the coming-of-age element is delicious.

Part two is coming, kids... stay tuned for more

[ladyalice101]

jonsa fic recs

alright, i’ve had a couple requests for recs, so here is my list. these are all fairly recent fics, all written this year i think. all of them are from my bookmarks on ao3, but i picked the recent ones which are my god-tier recs, my oh-my-god-i-love-this-so-much-i-think-i’m-going-to-die, the ones i reread. they have very little in common, but if you don’t find anything on here that tickles your fancy, then feel free to check out my bookmarks. i have just over 100 on there, and every single one on there are fics that i think are absolutely phenomenal.

for @abi117 @why-cant-i-be-careless and @orangeflavoryawp

canon divergent

Victory by moutainsbeyondmountains. one-shot, 5489k.

“You won already, Your Grace,” Tyrion said mournfully. “Enjoy your victory. There are no lands left to conquer. And there are no more dragons.”

if you read no other fic on this list, read this one. seriously. it’s d.ny pov, and glorious. genuinely, i couldn’t give this high enough praise. i reread this A LOT. like, a lot a lot. i could probably quote this fic.

I Want Something so Impure by @asilentfrenzy. one-shot, 10166k.

“You have caused this, you and your queen. You allowed her to speak to me that way, allowed her to order my obedience in my own home as if I’m to be her new dog to train. I am the Lady of Winterfell, and your inbred aunt has no right to-”

“Aye, you are the Lady of Winterfell,” he growled, his eyes flashing with an added flame of fury at the mention of the woman’s newly found relations to him. “The same Lady of Winterfell who not too long ago advised me to be smart, yet it seems that you can’t follow your own advice.”

“Be smart,” she repeated, filling her face with a look of mocking humor. “By kneeling? By allowing her to seize my title and command my people? Perhaps I should offer her these chambers as well. Better, I’ll just offer them to you again, seeing as I’m sure you’ll be sharing a bed. Shall I fuck her as well? As I want to be just as smart as you, Jon.”

so if you couldn’t tell from the summary, this one is sassy af. it features darkish/dominant!jon, which is my jam, and is pretty much just 10k of smut, which is also my jam.

it’s a small crime, and i’ve got no excuse by mxash. 5/5, 8214k.

“did you see her?” sansa snarled, a hand come to pull at his collar, pulling his mouth down only hairs from her own. “your targaryen queen has dressed as though she was a whore to catch your eye.” jon smirked as she bit his lip. what was this? dany had almost recoiled in her disgust and shock, but she hadn’t been able to pull herself away from the horrific sight. my lover and his own sister.

this one serves some dark!jonsa realness, and it deserves more comments/kudos. it is written entirely in lowercase, but don’t let that distract you. the characters are dark, and devoted, and who doesn’t love d.ny catching jon and sansa fucking? seriously, this one is a must-read.

Dark in Bloom by @orangeflavoryawp​. oneshot, 8304k.

"His gravity wavers, the axis of his world tilted to the measure of her lips." - Jon and Sansa. The stain of desire bleeds slowly between them.

yeah orange, i’m reccing one of your own fics to you. seriously though, this is just like ... mindblowing. i cannot overstate how much i love this one. i literally will just randomly remember it sometimes, when i’m just going about my daily business, and i’m like “shit, that fic by orange was a masterpiece. love it.” so, yeah, if that doesn’t tell you how much i love it, then idk what will.

what i’m asking by @amymel86​. oneshot, 1173k.

"I'm not here to talk about that," Theon says, setting off another, thankfully smaller coughing fit. "I'm here to talk about Sansa."

Jon can feel the blood drain from his face. "Is she ill?"

Theon shakes his head, lifting his eyes to Jon as he coughs into his fist. "No," he finally says, his lungs giving him a small reprieve. "The Queen is in her prime. Which is why you are needed."

okay, ya’ll obvi know of amy. she writes so much fantastic fic. but i feel like this one kind of flew under the radar? which is a CRIME tbh. this fic was so ... it was so heartbreaking, but in the best way. it’s not that divergent from canon, bc the main thing that is truly different is that theon lives. seriously love this fic.

A Toss of the Coin by Paige242. one-shot, 3793.

Years after the war, the Queen in the North and the pardoned Queenslayer welcome their first child. Old traits emerge, and Jon worries about this Dragon in a den of Wolves.

ok, so this is a future fic where jon and sansa married. i don’t even know how to describe this one. it isn’t jonsa focused, but that doesn’t make it any less brilliant. it is so unique, and i’m yet to read another fic that explores the idea of one of jonsa’s kids inheriting some targaryen madness. there IS a part two, which was just as amazing. pls do yourself a favour and read this!

Choose by @esther-dot​. oneshot, 5630k

“I know the cost of our loves. I know too well how they fall on the scale, one outweighing the other. I know what you tried to tell me. I know.” She was looking at him now, and he was afraid, but he would say the words that he had been unable to silence. “I never had the chance to choose you, but I would. I would choose you every time.”

THE DIALOGUE IN THIS IS INCREDIBLE. i just reread this to try and find my fave quote, but i actually can’t even pick. there are just so many amazing conversations, between sansa and jon, sansa and d.ny, arya and jon .. ugh, the list goes on. love this, please read.

Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge by alltheshinywords. one-shot, 3187k.

Post 8x03, slightly AU. Tormund and Jaime inexplicably find themselves becoming matchmakers when they notice a certain chemistry between Jon Snow and Sansa Stark. Extreme fluff and silliness.

this one is the least angsty on the list, and honestly it’s just such a good time. i remember reading this while s8 was airing, and honestly it was just so light hearted that i laughed out loud several times, despite being heartbroken over what happening in the show.

canon, but alternative universe

leave behind a love story by aetherae. one-shot, 9562k.

Maybe if things had been different, they wouldn't be like this. They would be worse.

ok, so, despite the summary, i naively went into this expecting a happy ending. yeah, so, no. however, this was one of the most interesting fics i’ve read in a while, because each universe it explored was so different to the ones i usually see floating around. and the writing was SUPERB.

i fell in love with a war (and nobody told me it ended) by mountainsbeyondmountains. one-shot, 18752k.

In which the North and the South have been at war for years, and Sansa unexpectedly finds herself on the run with a certain Targaryen bastard.

this is an avatar/bender au, and it is GLORIOUS. after i read this, i promptly devoured every other fic this author has written bc i loved it so much. the bending is just a backdrop to the amazing enemies-lovers this fic delivers.

modern au

Fuel and Fire by @zarahjoyce​. currently 4608k, 4/?, WIP.

"You see?" Sansa says, smiling now. "If you really have to have a room far away from me, seems like you need to move into a different hotel." As an afterthought she adds, "Or to another planet."

"Bet you'd just love that, wouldn't you?" Jon asks her.

"Loads," she snarls.

He takes a deep breath, all the while just looking at her.

Truth be told Jon will give anything in the world to be able to just-- just--

-

Jon and Sansa, and all the tropes applicable to them.

All. The. Tropes.

ok so zarah in general writes AMAZING fic, they’re always so creative and inventive and i’m always genuinely shook by the fic they write. but like, this one is the god tier one BC TROPES.

when we kiss: mmmm, fire by @dancemajicdance​. 8/8, 39705k.

Sansa might be seeing someone casually, but thanks to Arya, Robb, and Theon, it’s Jon who’s got the inside track on how to get Sansa to take him seriously.

aka: the one where jon finds out that sansa has a daddy kink, and he uses it to seduce her away from the dating scene and into his arms, heeeey-oh!

yes yes, it’s a daddy kink fic, and it’s fucking glorious alright. if that’s not your thing though (even though i’m pretty sure this fic is EVERYONE’S thing) then please, for the love of god, check out the rest of their stuff on ao3. you won’t regret it. even though they don’t write much jonsa anymore, the prolific contributions they HAVE made will go down in history as some of the best jonsa ever written imo.

As Long As We're Going Down by @alienor-woods​. 9/12, currently 42228k, WIP.

Four years after Stannis Baratheon wins the Battle of the Blackwater, Sansa Stark finds herself summoned back to King's Landing to serve as a bridesmaid at Crown Princess Shireen's wedding. When King Stannis tries to marry Sansa off to his illegitimate nephew, Edric, she thinks quick and tells him she's already married--

--to her bodyguard, Jon Snow.

i actually don’t know how to explain how much i love this. it’s written so beautifully, and it’s so realistic and just ugh. read it. the adaption to modern royalty is the best i’ve ever read, and the characters are very raw, and very realistic. (also, yes, the characters have gotten together at this point in the story, in case you were scared of committing to a wip without the satisfaction of some hot and heavy scenes).

[drinkingdeadpeopletea]

we come back a little easier

(read on ao3)

(tw: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, suicidal ideation, canon temporary character death)

(episode 87 spoilers)

He used to be a hero.

He used to be a warrior, sword in his hand and courage of the gods in his heart. He used to be a leader, with armies of men and women who followed him, trusted him, let him lead them into battle for the good of everyone who had ever been hurt by the cruel hands of the Crawling King. They’d all had a quest, a purpose, something that kept their hearts beating through long nights and hard battles. But it had been his quest first. His quest that he shared with the others, as the leader, as the hero they all looked to. His quest, delivered in stirring speeches before an army, in quiet pledges around the campfire, in prayers and oaths to whoever would lend him strength: Kill the Crawling King, or die trying. 

There had been hope, and there had been honor, and there had been swords and steel and blood.

And then there had been only failure. 

Failure even to die trying, failure even to join his brothers and sisters in arms in the lands beyond, failure to send his own sword through his own heart when it was clear all hope was lost. There was only snakelike limbs erupting from the blood-soaked battlefield and dragging him below, twisting him, turning him, binding him. There was only the feeling of his ribs splintered as his own heart was ripped still-beating from his chest. Only the laughter of his enemy echoing around him as he screamed and bled and called for death and found no reply.

Ironic, wasn’t it, to fall like this. To live a life ready to die in battle and to instead become undying. To swear strength and unity and to find yourself alone, trapped in the kind of darkness and pain from which there is no escape. 

After a time, and a time, and an even longer time, he couldn’t scream. He couldn’t pray.

He could only laugh. 

And laugh, and laugh, and laugh, bitter and broken, corrupted and corrupting. Undying Chosen of the Crawling King, that was him. Slave of the god of slavers. It was funny. How could anyone not see how that was funny.

Even funnier, now, to find himself pulled from his tomb to be slave to a half-devil who is himself slave to forces he doesn’t even understand. Even funnier to die and die and die again and still be undying. He laughs, and laughs, as he is dragged across the continent, through jungles and libraries and other things he barely has words for. He laughs as out of nowhere he is weakened. There is no explanation. He wouldn’t ask for one. 

And then he is in a church, a church of a god he may have known at some time beyond knowing. A church with shattered windows, crawling with demons. He is laughing–

and then he is burning. And this has happened before, but it’s different, somehow, this time, he can feel it, and some deep long-lost part of his soul feels the most profound relief. 

The hero laughs, once more. And then he is ashes at last.

~~

She used to be an assassin.

She used to deal death and poison like it was nothing, like it was easy. “Inevitable,” they called her, and she revelled in it, rolled the name around on her tongue. Inevitable. Unstoppable. She always gets you in the end. She serves the Queen of Spiders, loves the Queen of Spiders. She serves the King of Hell only to please her mistress. She appears out of thin air, she finds you wherever you are, she licks your blood of her blade and she loves it. 

Kill her? Let them try. They stuck her with swords, burned her with holy magic. They sliced her head from her body and tore her heart from her chest and buried them in separate places and still she is inevitable. 

It’s cruel, then, that it is not her mistress who comes to put her back together. It is this half-devil, this childish fiend who does not even know what he is doing or who he serves. But he has some sway over her, her, who even the gods feared once upon a time. She is killed, over and over again, and she keeps coming back, as she always will until her mistress’s mission is completed. No matter that in this moment her mistress does not seem to hear her frustrated silent cries. She follows Obann’s whims and terrorizes his enemies and resents every second.

And then he is killed by the dark haired one he was trying to control, and she revels in it. Let him become a writhing mass of refuse and slime. Such is the fate of one who fails their master.

She is halfway up the stairs, out of the cathedral, back to her mistress, when she pauses. The black-sludge-thing that was her captor has swallowed one of its enemies and gravely injured the others. It could win. It could live. 

She slides into the darkness and she curls her fingers around the hilt of her blade and she is home. All for you, mistress, all for you. She lunges out and slices the creature exactly where she needs to to take it apart. She uses the position of the others to her advantage, attacks and attacks and fades away again, and when the creature is barely clinging to this plane she slices through the last few fiendish tendons and her captor falls shredded at her feet, and she smiles. 

The assassin does her job, because of course she does. Inevitable. She always was. She is, still, as she becomes one with the shadows again. 

~~

She used to be a lover.

She used to be a lover, and beloved. She used to be a friend. She used to be part of a tribe, part of a circus, part of a group of talented misfits. She used to be a warrior, too, but that was always second to everything else. 

She’s not sure she’s ever been free. With Zuala, perhaps, for a little while. But she has been a slave to her past, to her mistakes and her cowardice and the chains in her memory, ever since. 

It almost makes sense, when two words from Obann are enough to break her. She has never been free. 

She watches from behind her own eyes as she brings her sword down on the people she loves, sees the fury and betrayal in Fjord’s eyes and knows she deserves it, sees the desperation in Jester’s and Nott’s as they try to reach for her and is glad the door shuts before she can hurt them any more. 

She raises her own tormentor, she follows him everywhere. In her mind, she screams and sobs and calls to the Storm Lord, prays for a miracle every time she sees a cloud and hears no thunder and cannot even summon the strength to be angry. 

She dies, and she dies, and she dies. And for brief moments in the world beyond the world she feels like she can breathe again. There is thunder there, low and distant and rumbling. There is something. But every time, her heart is forced to beat again, and it takes all the willpower she’s ever had to even cry. Not enough. It’s not enough. 

Her feet bring her to a cathedral with shattered windows, and her friends are there, and in her mind she is screaming. Screaming at them to go, to run, or at least to finish it quickly. To finish her quickly, and let it end. Let it end, she begs as she drives her sword into Beau’s chest and watches the blood bubble around the gash. Let it end, she prays, thankful, as she turns to face Fjord and feels his the full force of his furious magic impact her chest. Let it end.

And then seemingly out of nowhere there is a bolt of divine magic, and pain at the back of her neck, and a crack of thunder, and she falls to her knees and screams as all the chains break at once and the storm rushes in through broken windows and all is lightning and fire and relief. 

They all are alive. Against all odds, they are all alive, and they hug her and do not shun her and they walk with her down, deeper, and her friends help her finish it. She rips the wings off Obann, sends her sword through his back and it doesn’t make up for all he has done and used her to do but it’s a start. They kill him, and they kill him again, and they all walk, together, up and up and out. And she is with them, again. And she is loved, and she loves, and she is free.

Yasha steps outside the cathedral, and the rain is on her face, slowly washing the blood away.

[cooliogirl101]

Since I've seen no one else doing it for this one, Hisana/Gin romantic

Gin falls for her, both through a series of sudden realizations and so gradually he doesn’t notice it until loving her is as much a part of him as Shinsou is. 

1. Chemistry

Talking to Yukimura Hisana is easy. 

It’s little more than a passing thought, easily dismissed, and yet he keeps coming back to it. The way she never falters under his gaze like so many others do. The way she always has a retort ready, matching him word for word. It feels like they’ve known each other for years despite only knowing each other for a few short months. 

He knows it can’t last, of course. Sooner or later they’ll be enemies; she’ll do everything she can to stop him (because she’s Hisana) and when she does, he’ll show her no mercy. Their relationship is already complicated by a million lies, by opposing morals and Aizen Sousuke and her knowing exactly what kind of person he is. 

And yet despite all that, being with her feels like the simplest thing in the world when it should have been anything but. 

2. Similarity

She understands.

He once told her that they were more similar than they were different and it startles even him at times how true that statement rings. He has never hidden what he is from her and when they’re alone together– when she’s away from her precious sister and boyfriend, when she doesn’t feel the need to hide her fangs– he can see the same single-minded intensity he feels (to crush those who would dare take away what’s his) mirrored in her eyes. 

Then there’s the fact that she’s guessed far more about him than he should be comfortable with. She may not know about his relationship with Rangiku and all that he would do for her, but she’s intuited that there’s someone he cares about and that alone should have him viewing her as a threat, an enemy.

He doesn’t and that, more than her ability to see through him, is what truly unnerves him. 

3. Loss

Gin doesn’t regret his part in Hisana’s death. It was necessary, he’s long since made his peace with that, and it would have happened even without his involvement. Yukimura Hisana’s fate had been sealed the moment she raised her voice in favor of those already condemned. 

He doesn’t grieve for her. But he can’t help but think that a world without Yukimura Hisana is far lesser for it. 

4. Trust

She came back.

Upon discovering Khimaira’s true identity, even Gin isn’t sure how to explain his decision to propose a partnership with her instead of killing her. He’d made the decision decades ago that killing Aizen would be his duty, and his alone. Confiding in another person was out of the question; people, shinigami especially, were stupid, careless, weak. They were a liability, even those you cared for. Especially those you cared for– he’d learned that long ago. 

And yet, with Hisana…he’d personally witnessed her come back from the dead, from having her soul ripped apart and her mind shattered, just so she could hand-deliver a giant, heartfelt ‘fuck you’ to the person responsible. How could he not begin to believe in her?

(He’d had her pinned against a wall, Shinsou to her throat and ready to kill…and then he’d released her. 

“Why?” She’d asked. Why not turn me in, why let me go?

He hadn’t been sure how to explain that in the event that things went wrong and he failed, she was the only person he trusted to finish his job for him.)

5. The future

A fool’s dream.

He’d long since accepted that he could have no future with Rangiku. One didn’t simply betray Aizen Sousuke and survive. And even if he did, then what? If he returned to Soul Society, he’d be branded a traitor, executed for his betrayal and the murders he had committed on Aizen’s orders. And Rangiku…he knows her well enough to know she’d never accept that. By defending him though, she’d be forever stained, disgraced by her association with him. He loves her far too much to do that to her. 

And yet–

“Ya ever consider what you’ll do after we win?” Gin leans back casually, resting his weight on the palms of his hands. Hisana (and he’ll always think of her as Hisana, no matter what name she uses or face she wears) glances at him, amused.

“A bit premature to say that, don’t you think?” She asks wryly. “There’s no guarantee either one of us will survive winning.”

“Indulge me,” he says, watching her closely. “Would ya go back to being Hisana?” 

She doesn’t say anything for a long moment. 

“I don’t know,” she answers finally, when the silence stretches on too long. “I don’t know if I can ever go back to being Hisana, if it’s even possible at this point. I just…I hate the thought of being his legacy. Of owing everything that I am to him. This body…” She motioned at herself with a disgusted expression on her face. “Sometimes I wish I could just erase myself. Start over, with a clean slate. I deserve that much, don’t I? A new beginning, unburdened by old memories.” Her words trail off towards the end, soften to the point that he has to struggle to hear them. “Then again, I don’t really want to forget. Too much I’d miss, I think.” 

He wonders if he’s imagining the way her gaze drifts towards him as she says that last sentence.

“I suppose the two don’t need to be completely mutually exclusive. I can reinvent myself and keep a piece of my past with me at the same time– I have before. I can do it again,” she muses. 

“Would ya let me be there when that happens?” He asks quietly. He knows it’s too soon, far too soon– premature, as she called it– to be thinking thoughts of the future, but he already knows he wants to be a part of hers. “Be there as you…start again.” Hisana looks at him for a moment, speculative.

“You’re such a large part of my present, my past, it’s difficult to imagine you not being a part of any future I have as well,” she says slowly. “You should know though that I won’t chase you. I’m not in the habit of begging people to stay.” 

“I wouldn’t expect ya to,” he says, before falling silent.

Chances are, the whole topic was a moot point anyway, an interesting thought experiment between two people who knew full well the subject matter they were discussing was purely hypothetical. He knows he doesn’t expect to survive this war and he knows Hisana feels the same way. 

And yet despite knowing that his fate is set, despite having resigned himself to dying for the sake of his revenge over a century ago, despite knowing it’s the height of stupidity to wish for anything else at this point…something about Yukimura Hisana makes him hope for an after. 

(Is this too fluffy? It feels too fluffy considering that it’s from Gin’s POV– it feels weird writing him from a softer point of view. I do think that the process of him falling in love with her would go something like this though-- also the first 3 steps are already WTL-canon, take that as you will.

Probably wrote a bit too much for this– technically the prompt was ‘come up with one headcanon’ and I came up with five– but I couldn’t help it, it combines several of my favorite tropes: ‘enemies to friends to (implied future) lovers’ and ‘two deeply damaged people find comfort in each other/us against the world’

[damienthepious]

>:3c hey i got two this week. happy LKT babes!!

Scattered On My Shore (Chapter 3)

[Ch 1] [Ch 2] [ao3] [Ch 4] [Ch 5] [Ch 6] [Ch 7] [Ch 8] [Ch 9] [Ch 10] [Ch 11] [Ch 12] [Ch 13] [Ch 14] [Ch 15] [Ch 16] [Ch 17] [Ch 18] [Ch 19]

Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Relationship: Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla, Sir Damien/Rilla

Characters: Rilla, Lord Arum, Sir Damien

Additional Tags: Second Citadel, Lizard Kissin’ Tuesday, Pre-Relationship, (for the three of them. it’s established r/d), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Injury, Injury Recovery,  Hurt/Comfort,  (this will also be), Enemies to Lovers, (for damien and arum eventually lol)

Fic Summary: Strange things wash up out of the lake near Rilla’s hut, on occasion. But this monster… this monster is certainly the strangest.

Chapter Summary: Sir Damien and Rilla discuss the issue at hand.

Chapter Notes: did u want: canon typical Damien spiraling? <3

~~

Arum is stable, the offending injury has been cleaned again and sealed and dressed and hopefully, hopefully, this time it will actually start to heal. Rilla’s mind buzzes, exhaustion and adrenaline and the satisfaction of a problem solved. That little shard of black talon (definitely talon, now that she’s seen it up close; add the satisfaction of a called shot, too) is safely and carefully stashed away in a clean sealed vial for later analysis, where it can’t do any more harm. And Arum-

The sedative probably won’t wear off for hours. Probably for the best, considering how exhausted he was before he went under. It’s probably just her imagination, just wishful thinking, but he looks… calmer. Like his sleep is more restful, now, than it had been. Imagination or no, she takes some satisfaction in that, too.

Rilla washes her hands, splashes her face, and when she meets her own eye in the little mirror above her washbasin she sees the bags under her eyes and the hair clouding around her face and the manic tilt to her expression and she- laughs.

Damien. Oh, Damien-

What the hell is she going to do about him?

She could be irritated with him just for coming into her exam room, whether or not the door was locked, but- well, it’s not like he wouldn’t have some rule breaking to throw back in her face. She sighs, dragging her palm over her mouth and noting the visible exhaustion that’s making her shoulders sag.

Well. No point putting it off, right?

She checks on Arum one more time, resettling the blankets more securely around his shoulders, ensuring that he’s warm enough, leaving a cup of water beside the bed in case he wakes before she does (whatever happens with Damien, however she gets him out of her hair, she’s going to get some sleep after this, she needs to).

Dead asleep, still, but- he mutters something, some whispery wordlessness as the back of her hand presses to his forehead to make sure his temperature is still consistent, and the breathy murmur and the way his resting expression goes even softer makes Rilla gently smile before she can help herself, and her brain is still buzzing as she thinks, rest well, you ridiculous monster, and heal.

She steps away from the cot, and she sighs, then. This next part is going to be unpleasant.

Damien is pacing in a straight line when she exits the exam room, turning on his heel to keep going in the same stuck path before he registers that she’s joining him, and then his eyes widen.

“Oh my heart, you are safe! Oh, my dearest Rilla, I was terrified that you had been- I felt only moments from bolting in to ensure that you had not been-”

“Damien. I wasn’t in danger,” she says, keeping her voice low and gesturing for Damien to follow her as she steps away from the door to the exam room, away from the possibility of waking Arum accidentally. Her hut isn’t that big, and it’s not like they could have this conversation outside, but they can at least stand in the kitchen, a little ways away where they won’t literally be shouting (she assumes they’ll end up shouting, frankly) so damn close to Arum.

“I know you are terribly brave, my love,” Damien says as he stumbles behind. “But surely even you must understand- I do not know what sort of- of experiment you are intending to run, but I must advise-”

“He’s not an experiment,” Rilla growls, bristling because she already, already regrets the brief window during which she… did kind of think of him that way. He deserves better than that.

“Regardless, regardless of the why, it cannot continue, surely you must understand that. The danger- the danger the creature presents, to yourself, to any other patients you may have, to the Citadel itself! Rilla surely you can see that it must be destroyed-”

“You’re not touching him, Damien. He’s my patient-”

“It is a monster-”

“Yeah, I gathered that Damien, thanks, but you still aren’t touching him. He’s my patient, and he’s one of a kind, and he’s not gonna hurt me. If he wanted to, he definitely already would have tried something. He’s still weak as hell but he’s stubborn and he would have tried, if he really wanted.”

“Of course the monster wants to hurt you, my precious flower. That is simply what monsters do.”

Rilla scowls hard, turning away from him to pull the curtains aside, realizing with no small degree of wonder that it’s dark outside again. Already. Already? Before she woke Arum to discuss pulling the talon out, she’s sure it couldn’t have been much past sunrise. Saints she needs to sleep. But before she can-

“Damien, I’m gonna put this as simply as I can. He is my patient. That means that it’s my job to take care of him, and to make sure he’s safe and that his injuries are treated. I’m finally at a point where I’m making progress, and-”

“Finally,” Damien echoes, his brow furrowing as his thoughts churn. “Finally? How long have you- how long has this been going on, precisely?”

“Few days,” Rilla says, noncommittal. She- she isn’t quite sure, anymore. She’s been keeping hourly notes, coded longhand, but she’d put it on pause for the surgery, and-

“So,” he says, sounding pained, “when I came to you last, and asked-”

“I lied,” she says flatly. “I lied, because I knew you would respond like this.”

“I am attempting to do my duty, my love. I must protect you and every citizen of the Citadel, must cleanse the monsters' blight upon this land-”

“Not this monster,” Rilla says. “Not him. He doesn’t need cleansing.” She grins, a little wildly. “I already disinfected him pretty thoroughly.”

“You cannot jest about this, Rilla. Surely, surely you know I cannot allow this, it is-”

“Treason?”

Damien blanches, his face going vaguely ashen, and his voice is near-mournful when he answers. “Rilla, my heart, my forever-flower you know that I would never accuse you of something so vile-”

“Even if it’s technically true?”

Damien’s entire expression freezes, as if she has stabbed him. “You can’t mean that. You wouldn’t-”

“He was hurt, Damien,” Rilla says. “And I’m a doctor. I’m just doing my job, as far as I’m concerned. But I very much doubt that the Citadel will see it that way.”

“He is a monster, my love- he could- he could do anything to you, he could kill you or steal you away or-”

Rilla rolls her eyes. “Or lie in bed complaining about the fact that he’s too weak to even stand. Oh no. Whatever will I do to defend myself against the constant annoyance of monsterkind.”

“Rilla you have seen as well as I have the cruelties done by its ilk, the violence and pain! Any benevolence must be a trick, it must be, meant to lull you into a false sense of safety around such a dangerous beast! A devious machination, meant to make you lower your guard for the moment he will strike and then what, my dearest love? What will happen, when you, with your gentle miraculous healing hands, deliver the beast back to strength enough that he may enact his plan? Oh Saint Damien protect us, what will happen when he has been healed enough to harm again? What then, my Rilla?”

“He’s not gonna hurt me,” Rilla says, entirely dismissive. “He won’t. He-” she interrupts herself with a deep yawn, jaw going wide as tears pop into her eyes. “Oh, Saints. I thought I could have this argument right now but I absolutely can’t, Damien. Can you please just trust me, at least enough not to do anything tonight? Go back to the Citadel and we can talk about this in the morning. Right now, I’ve barely slept since I found him, and now that I think I’ve finally dealt with the worst of it and got him stable- I could really use a frickin’ nap.”

“No,” Damien says, slashing his hand through the air. “No, I refuse to leave you helpless and unprotected while that- that creature-”

“My patient.”

“Awaits a moment of weakness! Awaits a moment of vulnerability, wherein he may creep close and destroy you, or curse you, or- or any number of terrible intentions that could come to pass the very instant your mind is settled into well-deserved rest, my love. I cannot stand idly by while-”

“Oh for Saints’ sake, Damien, he’s sedated. He’s not going to slit my throat in my sleep. I promise.”

“It could all be a trick, Rilla. Even with your brilliant mind- the machinations of monsterkind are often more clever than one would expect, and what if this is all some scheme? You are a genius, my Rilla, the greatest doctor in all of the Citadel, and certainly the monsters at large are aware of your prowess, are aware of how many precious lives you have personally gentled back to the realm of the living after countless heinous beasts have expended their most vicious effort to send them to their grave! A doctor of your skill and status- surely monsterkind must be desperate to remove your ferocious protective presence from thwarting their attempts-”

“Damien. First, please try to keep your volume down. I know this is- stressful for you, but the hut is small and the yelling is- not helpful. Second- it’s really flattering that you think they’d pay that much attention to me but I really think you’re overreacting.” She takes a moment to breathe, then sighs quite deeply. “Look, if you’re so worried about it, you can stay here for the night.” She smiles gently, reaching a hand to cup his cheek. “I’m sure you already had a long day before coming over here. Come to bed with me? If it’ll make you feel better, if it’ll make you feel like I’m safer, you know that I love sleeping with your arms around me-”

“I cannot lie idle and sleeping while such a beast rests but one room over, Rilla! I cannot sleep at all while it remains a threat-”

Rilla sighs and drops her hand. “Fine, Damien, fine. If you don’t want to rest with me, then you don’t have to, but I am going to bed and you are not touching my patient. Understand me?” She glares, and the force of her ire could knock Damien to the floor. His mouth goes dry, his words freezing. “If you undo any of my hard work I will not forgive you for that. Do you understand me? I will not forgive you,” she says in a low voice, and Damien swallows. “I don’t care if you wanna sit and guard the door, that’s annoying but it won’t hurt anything, but don’t you dare interrupt his rest.” She pauses. “Or mine, for that matter. Now if you’ll excuse me, Sir Damien?”

She gives him a tight, angry sort of smile, then excuses herself towards her bedroom, her shoulders already sagging again with the weight of her exhaustion, and Damien’s heart aches for her, aches for her to be safe and rested and in his arms-

But he must do his duty, first. He must protect her.

Damien paces outside the door to the room the monster currently occupies, his mind roiling and racing and terrified, and he whispers low for guidance. Rilla’s hut is not particularly large, and he has learned his lesson many times that if he prays as he naturally wishes to, he will keep his beloved from sleep rather effectively, and he does not wish to anger her any further just now. So: whispers. Saint Damien will hear him just as well, anyway. It is only for the throbbing in his own heart that his volume yearns to rise.

A monster. A monster, and his beloved Rilla so determined to see it healthy again. One of a kind- and certainly that is even more of a danger than if this were some ordinary ogre, is it not? What tricks might this beast possess? He could have any magic, and skill, any trick up his sleeve-

“What if it is is not sleeping?” He whispers, eyes sharp on the door as he paces, compulsively drawing his bow, the curve of it feeling like safety in his hand. “What if it is already scheming, already creeping towards my Rilla’s room?” His volume is rising, he can barely control it, he tries, but the words are a deluge he caught up in, helpless, helpless. “What if it is already crawling close to her bedside while she breathes light and lovely into her pillow and then it smiles a demon’s smile in the dark and it laughs at her precious kindness and then at last it raises a savage claw-”

Damien chokes a breath, pressing a hand hard over his heart and another over his mouth. No. No, he is between the beast and his beloved. He would have seen- he would know. That- that is merely his fear taking him by the throat. He must stand tranquil against it.

“Saint Damien- oh Saint Damien please,” he murmurs low, wringing his hands and trying, oh trying to slow his breathing. “Please your tranquility my Saint, I must be tranquil if I am to keep her safe, as she deserves to be-”

Rilla forbade him from harming her “patient.” Forbade him from disturbing its rest, as absurd as that is (what foul dreams fill a monster’s mind in repose? What passes for peace in such a violent, chaotic creature?). But-

She did not forbid him from entering the room. Did she?

He considers that. He looks to Rilla’s bedroom door, closed tight against him.

No- not closed tight. If he abandons his charge to protect her and goes to lay by her side, he is certain that she will gather him up in her arms and her bed and soon he will be blessed to hold her soft and lightly snoring in his arms. She is angry with him, in some misguided way, but she did not lock the door. She would not lock him out.

She did not lock him out of the room where the monster coils, either, though.

He ponders, for a few moments longer, before the thought springs unbidden again- the monster, slipping off of Rilla’s examination cot, slithering across the floor, up the walls, over the ceiling-

What powers it may have, Damien does not know. Camouflage? The ability to creep, silent? He does know of the viciously sharp claws this creature possesses, the jagged teeth that showed in his slackly open mouth-

What if it is attempting to escape?

Out the window, yes, and then- anywhere. It could slither off to find cohorts, other beasts with which to return, to raze Rilla’s cozy, humble home to the ground. It could slink around the side of the hut, could find another window- Rilla’s window, could insinuate itself back inside and-

Another deep, shaking breath.

No. Even if the creature is silent, Damien will hear the pane of glass shatter, if the creature escapes.

He cannot simply-

Damien cannot-

Every moment it is unoccupied, his mind will spin. It will tumble down into the darkness of catastrophe, will show him newer and darker possibilities, and so long as he does not know, not for certain, what the monster is doing in there, Damien will be trapped by these feelings, these foul potentialities.

He must enter. He must have his eyes on this beast. It cannot possibly harm Rilla nor anyone else, if he has it safely under his scrutiny.

And Rilla did not forbid him from entering.

He has one hand on the knob of the door, one on his bow, and he creaks the wood open. His entire frame tenses for the strike, whether that strike be his own or the leaping of the monster, but no such strike occurs. It is dim, in the room. Dim, and still, and quiet.

It is mostly quiet, anyway. After a pause, the door ajar but not yet passed through, Damien recognizes the slow, soft noise of breath, coming from inside. He frowns, but he supposes that it is better, is it not, to know that the beast is still where he can keep an eye upon it. If he had opened this door and it was still as death, and there were no noises of life whatsoever- certainly that would have been a more frightening outcome.

Damien takes a step, and then another, and he leaves his hand on the knob as he suspiciously enters this shadowed place.

Still, no attack comes. The light pouring in through the doorframe illuminates enough that Damien can see the shape on the cot, a long figure curled slightly on its side, covers shifting slowly above its chest.

The monster breathes.

It is repellent. This creature, this vile thing soft-sleeping here in a room meant for human healing, for care, for the comfort of his lovely Rilla’s talents and compassion, it is abhorrent. And Damien knows that Rilla is compassionate, oh certainly she is, but this- this? Certainly, certainly, love, there must be some limits, mustn’t there?

The monster breathes and sleeps and does not move, and Damien is even more nervous, even more furious than he was before.

He paces, but the sound of his shoes clicking on the floor sets his teeth on edge. What- what if his noise wakes the creature? If it attacks him, certainly it would be justifiable, to retaliate. Of course it would. But-

Rilla warned him not to disturb the creature’s rest.

So, until she wakes again, at least, he will not.

There is a stool, close beside the bed. When he had entered earlier, Rilla had been perched just in front of it with her hands on the beast, as if she had been seated at some point, and slowly edged forward in tension and focus until she had hovered entirely away.

If Damien wishes to sit, he is going to need to come close enough to the beast to take the seat for himself.

He takes each step across the floor as if it could be rigged with traps, as if more monsters might leap from any given shadow. This… proves unjustified. Yet again Damien is unmolested by monstrous intent, and when he comes close by the bed he stares down at the creature.

Evil. Evil made manifest. Long limbs hidden beneath layers of cloth, sharp claws obscured, the angularity of that body made slack and strange by sleep, that reptilian face-

The monster’s mouth hangs just slightly open, the tips of sharp fangs barely, barely visible behind his thin lips, the ridged line of his brow softened, the low light gleaming on his colorful, mottled scales-

Damien’s jaw tightens. He picks up the stool and moves it away from the bed, moves it to the corner nearest the door, and he perches up upon it facing the bed with a hand on his bow and a scowl set on his face.

The monster does not wake for this, either.

He scowls for quite some time, until his cheeks are a little bit sore. Then he settles into a glare, his determination too strong to be unsettled by boredom. This is only a trick, regardless of the way this creature looks- fragile, curled there on Rilla’s examination cot. More of his scales are bandaged than not, from what Damien saw earlier, when Rilla was working upon him, and the frill at his neck is nearly in tatters, one of his elegantly curved horns cracked (Damien wonders if that is the sort of thing that heals- not that this creature will have time to find that out, of course), and even despite the undeserved serenity of sleep this monster looks exhausted.

A trick. All of it a trick, of course.

… but a very, very convincing one.

[->]

[welldonebeca]

The Fear You Won’t Fall (XI)

WC: 850 words Warnings: Canon divergence. Fluff. Malfoy family. Developing relationship. Enemies to friends to lovers. Sexual assault. Damsel in distress situation. Lots of fluff now. Y/N/N: Your nickname

You covered your mouth with your hand, trying to muffle your laughter while George watched you.

“How come no one told me about that?!” you exclaimed.

He’d just told you about the day he and his brother had tried to put their names in the Goblet of Fire and ended up with huge red beards and puffy hair, looking decades older.

“Well, lots of people did it,” he shrugged. “It’s not like we were the only ones.”

You shook your head.

“It was a stupid decision,” you decided. “A very stupid decision.”

He shrugged.

“It was worth the try. They got us only for a few months.”

You tilted your head just the slightest.

“Did you turn 17 already?”

He shook his head.

“This April,” he corrected you. “On the first of April.”

You opened your eyes at him, completely surprised.

“On April Fools?!”

He smiled openly.

“Right on it,” your friend nodded.

“Big coincidence!” you affirmed.

He shook his head, smiling even bigger now.

“No, my dear. I call that destiny.”

You rested your head back on your pillow.

“You’ve heard of our pranks, right?” he enquired. “Stuff we do and all?”

You nodded. Fred and George were rather famous in school for their pranks. They’d even been rumoured to have invented a spell along with their usual magical things.

“We made a Canary Cream recently,” he said smiling. “It turns people into...”

“Canaries?” you rose an eyebrow.

George confirmed eagerly.

“They are custard creams,” he explained. “You should take some to the Slytherin Commons.”

You two exchanged looks before you started laughing together.

“Don’t give me any ideas,” you pointed. “Although… That little friend of Draco’s deserves something to keep her mouth shut. Her voice annoys me even if she on the other side of the corridor.”

He frowned.

“Who are you talking about? Parkinson?”

You nodded.

“Who else would that be?” you raised your eyebrows at him. “She’s such a brat.”

George just stared at you, half smiling and half frowning.

“Come on, I thought you were a brat for the last six years,” he pointed.

Your jaw fell open in response.

“I never behaved anything like that to you!” you exclaimed. “I was always very polite!”

He laughed loudly.

You were right. You’d never been close to rude to him or anything like that. Every time he bumped into you or you shared a classroom, you either ignored him or treated him in a cordial way.

“Alright, Miss Malfoy,” he rolled his eyes. “Maybe I was wrong. But you were always just so… Malfoy.”

You tilted your head, completely confused.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Look at yourself,” he pointed. “You’re this… Beautiful girl from a very rich family, with your back always straight and walking with your head up, with your hair in place and your clothes always smooth and clean. I could always smell you from across the room and you never smelt less than good.”

You continued staring at him.

“Thank you,” you said in a low voice.

“You’re welcome,” he looked down at his own hands, playing with the sheet between his fingers. “Well, anyway. You were always this... Perfect girl,” he said firmly. “I always thought you’d be uptight and annoying.”

“Do you still think that?” you questioned in a soft voice.

“That you’re uptight and annoying?” he said, surprised. “No way! I mean, you’re still a Slytherin. But I see how that can be okay now that I know you. And you’re a bit of a goody-two-shoes, even for a Slytherin, but maybe you’re a good influence. Professor McGonagall was surprised when we delivered our homework every single time in her last three of four classes, me and Fred. She said she couldn’t remember the last time we actually did so.”

You chuckled, shaking your head. It’s not that George or his brother had done any homework. You’d just let him copy from yours with some modifications to make it look like it was something he’d done alone – or at least they’d done together – and Fred had done the same. You didn’t mind, it wasn’t like he asked you for it, you were the one offering it to him.

You rested back on the bed and bit your fingernail nervously when a question crossed your mind.

“Do you still think I’m that?”

He looked at you in confusion.

“Annoying?”

“No,” you shook your head, not looking directly at him. “Beautiful and… Perfect.”

George’s mouth opened and closed for a moment before Madam Pomfrey walked into the room.

"Alright, Mr Weasley,” she walked to you. “Time to go, Miss Malfoy needs to take her potions and rest. Go, go, go.”

He stood up dumbly as she pushed him away, and your eyes were completely glued to him.

“Wait,” he finally said, almost out of your field of vision. “Wait.”

The matron put her hands on her waist.

“Mr Weasley!”

“I never stopped thinking that,” he said to you. “I don’t think I will ever find you less than beautiful and perfect.”

And with that, he left.

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[willfulbeautya]

lyanna as the knight of the laughing tree & R+L=J

this is basically a repost of my headcanon originally posted over at @ophidiantes​  ( permalink )  with some addendum.  i tend to deviate from the popular fan theory and show  “plot-twist”  that rhaegar and lyanna were in-love and that she eloped with him,  thus igniting robert’s rebellion.  i also do not subscribe to the show’s BS saying robert’s rebellion was founded on a  “lie”  because robert’s rebellion was founded on many things,  not just lyanna’s disappearance,  but also the murder of rickard and brandon stark  ( and company! )  and the call of aerys for jon arryn to break guest right traditions and bring him robert and eddard’s heads.  these things are not lies and played fundamental roles in fueling the rebellion,  which was initially started by jon arryn rousing the vale into revolt,  and i would go so far as to say that it was only called  “robert’s rebellion”  perhaps after the rebellion itself was already raging in full force or was already won.

anyway,  my headcanon is essentially riding the back of possibly one of the most popular fan theories to grace this fandom,  and as good as canon  ( in my opinion )  at this point:  that lyanna stark was the knight of the laughing tree.  not only did her initial defense of howland reed foreshadow this theory,  it also made the most sense based on what we know of the knight himself.  brandon was too muscular to be the knight,  eddard could not possibly be the knight for the same reason,  and benjen was too young.  the knight could only be a stark,  and could only be lyanna.  there are a lot of other reasons why this headcanon makes the most sense  ( i.e.  it thematically makes for a stronger story ),  but that’s a discussion for another time.

piggybacking off of this,  we also know that the world of ice and fire went more in-depth with the events at harrenhal than the five main books of the series.  in TWOIAF we found out that the knight was hunted down after he disappeared,  and it was rhaegar targaryen who found the knight’s infamous shield and armor hanging from a tree.  we also found out that the mad king took the appearance of the knight as a slight to his rule,  and he was very paranoid and angry,  or as the kids would say these days...   triggered:

King Aerys II was not a man to take any joy in mysteries, however. His Grace became convinced that the tree on the mystery knight’s shield was laughing at him […] he commanded his own knights to defeat the Knight of the Laughing Tree when the jousts resumed the next morning, so that he might be unmasked and his perfidy exposed for all to see. But the mystery knight vanished during the night, never to be seen again. This too the king took ill, certain that someone close to him had given warning to “this traitor who will not show his face.”  ( source: the world of ice and fire )

so!  how does all of this fit into my theory???  for literal years,  people have been out here saying lyanna eloped with a married man  ( lmao ).  that she was not kidnapped and she went willingly  1.)  because she was in-love with rhaegar  ( stop )  and/or  2.)  because she wanted to escape her betrothal to robert baratheon.  and sure,  we can say that she was not kidnapped.  i,  for one,  believe that she went willingly but not for the reasons people think.  the question really is:  what if she did not elope with anybody?  WHAT IF IT WAS A RESCUE?

at the time of the tourney at harrenal  ( 281 ac ),  king aerys was already displaying alarming signs of instability,  so much so that his son staged the very same tourney to gather all the respectable lords from the great houses to convene and talk about a possible coup d’etat.  that didn’t work due to the king’s paranoia,  which only goes to prove how dangerously close to falling off the deep-end he was.  and going by his reaction about the KOTLT,  it’s not far-fetched to assume that he hyper-fixated on the knight even after the tourney was over and considered him her a threat to his reign or an agent of an enemy used to mock his rule.  aerys could have used all his available resources to figure out who the knight was,  including varys’ spies,  though i think what eventually gave it away in the end was the actions of rhaegar himself  ( upon inspection of the events at harrenhal ex-post facto ). 

for reasons unknown at the time,  rhaegar crowned lyanna his queen of love and beauty by the tourney’s end,  offending many great lords and ladies in the process  ( a dumb political move,  considering these were the same lords and ladies he’s persuading to support him overthrow his father ).  what could be the reason behind this???  there are a lot of theories,  including rhaegar professing romantic interest towards lyanna at the cost of elia martell’s honor,  but the only logical explanation would be that rhaegar knew lyanna masqueraded as the knight of the laughing tree.  the blue flowers he laid on her lap were not signs of attraction but perhaps admiration,  and an acknowledgment of some sort,  because her undefeated streak on the joust went unacknowledged by virtue of her disguise.  he could essentially be telling lyanna:   here,  you deserve this victory,  too.  ( and fair enough,  she truly did. )  however,  this very same action,  though noble in its intention,  caused quite a scandal.  it could have very well lead to aerys figuring out that it was lyanna who donned on the shield of the laughing weirwood tree and the mismatched armor  ( courtesy of benjen ).  it’s very much possible that aerys was unwilling to let this imagined slight go unpunished,  and that he could have ordered lyanna stark’s arrest while she was on her way to riverrun to attend cat and brandon’s wedding.  coincidentally,  this would put her in rhaegar’s path,  as we learned from TWOIAF:

With the coming of the new year, the crown prince had taken to the road with half a dozen of his closest friends and confidants, on a journey that would ultimately lead him back to the riverlands, not ten leagues from Harrenhal . . . where Rhaegar would once again come face-to-face with Lyanna Stark of Winterfell, and with her light a fire that would consume his house and kin and all those he loved—and half the realm besides.

any gold cloaks who could have been scouring the riverlands looking for lyanna stark could have run in on the same group,  and once rhaegar had heard about lyanna’s pending arrest  ( no doubt to face the  “king’s justice”  which to aerys was literally synonymous to being burned alive ),  he could have taken the initiative of spiriting lyanna away from harm and into the relative safety of the red mountains of dorne.  but wait,  you may wonder:  what does rhaeger get from all of this?  why would he rescue lyanna stark if they weren’t  “in-love”?  it’s pretty simple.  he gets the third head of his dragon,  considering that months prior,  his wife almost died birthing his second child,  and was obviously too physically spent for a third.  

remember that rhaegar was obsessed with  the song of ice and fire,  and the appeal of lyanna stark,  who could essentially be ice embodied,  might have been too great a temptation for the prince to resist.  there’s also the possibility that lyanna was a greenseer which i wrote about here,  meaning that she was also aware of the prophecy and went with rhaegar to help him fulfill it.  ( a lot of factors are at play here,  not just lyanna’s ability to have green dreams but her run in with a wildling and her vision involving the ghost of high heart.  it’s also possible that rhaegar brought the ghost with him as he journeyed through the riverlands to convince lyanna to fulfill the prophecy with him ).

in any case,  lyanna did not go with rhaegar because she was  “in-love”  with him. remember that lyanna stark was the same woman who said  “love is sweet,  dearest ned.  but it cannot change a man’s nature.”  first of all,  she disliked the prospect of infidelity and thus would never encourage,  tolerate,  or participate in such an act at the expense of another woman.  second of all,  lyanna cared enough about the stark name to defend a stark bannermen.  not a direct family member,  just a bannerman,  and she was willing to throw down for him.  what makes anyone think she will risk her entire family to run away with a man?  even if he was a targaryen or a prince?  what makes anyone think she would do anything to endanger or dishonor her family in that way?  

severing the engagement with robert would be something that she would want,  there is no denying that  ( not just because she disliked being betrothed to him,  but because she disliked being betrothed at all ).  she could have wanted to run away on her own,  but to run away with a married prince?  i don’t think so.  the main rationale people use to prop up this theory was to paint lyanna as a selfish character.  but...  there was never any indication that lyanna stark was the selfish type,  that she would risk her family’s honor life to get her way,  or that she would do something so blatantly stupid  ( under no disguise! )  and would not be able to foresee the possible ramifications of her actions.  lyanna is reckless,  yes,  but she’s not dumb.  she’s romantic and idealistic,  but she’s also painted to have a strong moral compass to possess some forethought,  things people often overlook or deliberately forget so they could either shit on her character or sail their nasty ships.

following the greenseer theory,  it’s also entirely possible that lyanna had no knowledge of rickard and brandon’s fates until gerold hightower delivered the news when he asked rhaegar to go back to king’s landing,  right after the battle of the bells.  around that time,  lyanna was already pregnant.  she would have wanted to go home after finding out,  but she would have been forbidden to leave.  this was the only time she was openly hostile towards rhaegar,  and he parted with her while she had bitter thoughts of him.

all things considered,  i would like to reiterate that  rhaegar and lyanna were not  “in-love”.  they were not secret lovers who annulled a legitimate marriage to get their way,  the rest of the realm be damned.  lyanna felt extremely guilty that the prophecy required physical infidelity on the part of rhaegar,  but whatever “intimacy” they shared,  they did so out of a sense of duty,  not lust or love.  rhaegar remained very much in-love with elia martell until he left for king’s landing,  never to return to the tower of joy again.  and lyanna remained dedicated to seeing through her part in the prophecy,  which she believed would ultimately result in her own death. 

[frazzledsoul]

For the character meme, Jon Snow of course.

Oh, nonnie, as if my love for Jon Snow could be distilled down to a single blog post. But I will try.

How I feel about this character: There’s an old theory from Idol fandom (okay it’s my theory, I came up with it) that you tend to take on the personality of the person you stan. It seems to me that GoT fandom kind of slants this sideways and most Jon Snow stans who are divorced from the wretched shipwars are aggressive den mothers who only seek to protect our boy at all costs (and this goes for Kit as well). Jon was a Stark boy through and through: he had the same noble, generous, purehearted, self-sacrificing, recklessly heroic blood that flowed through Ned and Robb’s veins and I loved him for it. Jon was never going to be that conniving, ambitious political mastermind that people keep trying to convince me that Book!Jon is: he was too good for that. He’s the prototype of the teevee boyfriend I always end up falling for: the grumpy man’s man who doesn’t seek attention or acclaim, who may seem like he hates everyone and everything but who is selfless to the core and will do anything for his loved ones. 

These attributes, of course, are not valued in Westerosi society: they got Ned, Robb, and Jon murdered. In the end, Jon remained true to the spirit of his Night’s Watch vows and sacrificed everything he had for the good of the realm: his lover, his title, his family, his reputation, any acknowledgement of the things he had helped accomplish and fight for. No good deed goes unpunished, and the ungrateful kingdom that had asked so much of him wasted no time in tossing him away. But the fates give, and the taketh away, and sometimes they give back: his heart’s desire was eventually delivered to him in the form of his punishment. His destiny was more than just a consort to whichever queen comes out on top, or an action figure whose only purpose in life was to vanquish that specific supernatural foe: he deserved to live a free, happy, and long life far away from the civilization that abused and disdained him.

Oh, and living a life completely free of politics with his outcast friends, best friend/lover and dog sounds like a perfectly blissful existence to me. In the end, Jon got the ending he deserved.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Jon/Tormund: I could write a thousand metas about how this is the show’s most functional and believable romance, but this post is already getting too long. Jon and Tormund started off as enemies on the opposite side of a war, but Jon gained Tormund’s trust and literall died to save his people: Tormund repaid that loyalty by fighting by Jon’s side for his wars not once but twice. Tormund is the only one to unconditionally love Jon and accept him after everything he’s done, and he was the one who waited at the Wall for Jon to come back to him. Jon wanted to reject both Winterfell and Kings Landing and run away with Tormund long before the final sacrifice was asked of him: unlike Jon’s other romances, they have fought on the same side for a long time and want the same life and future. Jon belongs in the wild with his giant ginger husband, and they will have a good life.

Jon/Ygritte: The ultimate doomed romance and the show’s best het romance. Nothing in respectable society made Jon as happy as he was with Ygritte.

Jon/Dany: Okay, I knew this was an epic disaster a million miles away and yet this stupid show made me ship it anyway. Even if Dany hadn’t turned out to be a mass-murdering lunatic, it was always doomed: she craved power and conquest and he hated those things. So yes, doomed, doomed, DOOMED in canon … but in AUs where things are twisted slightly enough to make things work, I do still enjoy it. But only in AUs.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

Up until that wretched council scene, I would say Jon/Sam. Sam Tarly is now dead to me. I don’t feel that way about Davos or Gendry or Yara or even Grey Worm, but I do feel that way about Sam. Sam knew about Jon’s heritage and warned him about Dany early on and actively encouraged him to break ties with her because of what she had done to his family, but when Jon is finally the one to take her down Sam isn’t willing to support or defend him. He doesn’t speak up for Jon’s claim, he doesn’t defend his actions, he doesn’t even argue against Jon’s execution. When Jon takes the fall for an act that Tyrion was equally conspired in and he is the one punished while Tyrion is placed back in charge and his brother is instituted as king instead, Sam not only doesn’t fight it but uses the situation to supposedly leapfrog over all the trained scholars above him to institute himself as Grand Maester (?) in Bran’s administration instead of honoring his vows to either them or the Night’s Watch. Oh, and I guess the celibacy requirement is excused for him, too, because while there’s wiggle room for a girlfriend and an adopted son, I’m pretty sure Gilly’s second pregnancy violated it.

It doesn’t seem fair, but now that I think on it, their friendship was mostly one-sided: Jon sacrificing and protecting, Sam needing to be protected. So yeah. Sam is forever ruined for me. Unfortunately, since Sam is supposedly GRRM’s stand-in I half suspect he’s not going to ask Sam to keep to any of his vows and have him placed in a high-profile position he hasn’t earned in his version of events as well.

So I’m going to pick Jon/Arya here. I think that’s the only relationship Jon had with anyone besides Tormund that wasn’t sullied by the end. I have faith that Arya will steer her boat around in a few years and visit her brother again, despite the nonsensical assumptions of those script directions.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Jon was justified in killing Dany. She murdered thousands of innocent civilians and was prepared to murder more. By the middle of 8.05, I would have handed a knife to anyone who wanted to kill her, so I wouldn’t have minded if Jaime or Arya did it, either. The only thing I fault Jon for is in (temporarily) excusing her behavior. But I refuse to condemn him either for killing her or remaining conflicted about it afterwards.

My other unpopular opinion is that he actually got a happy ending with the only people who truly appreciated him. But I don’t think I’m alone on that one.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish that Jon had gotten credit for the things that he had accomplished, and that he hadn’t had to face nearly every person who used to trust him turn their backs on him. I wish he had chosen to go into exile instead of being forced there, even if he would willingly embraced the same fate. And I wish that we could have seen him established in Wildling society and to know that Jonmund was officially canon.

But in the end, I was less dissatisfied with his ending than I was with almost everything else, and it was what I cared about most. Jon ended up where he needed to be.

[ironheart-stony]

Novel Length | Stony Fic Recs

Long chaptered fics with delicious slow burn and world building. 

Last updated 4/2/2017. THERE’S MORE LONG FIC RECS - Part 2 IS HERE 

Fics over 50k words.

My Son, My Sun by Wordsplat | T | 70k | superfamily

Just before the events of Iron Man, a baby is left on Tony's doorstep. He wants nothing to do with it at first, but his time in Afghanistan changes his mind and Tony vows to become a better man for his son's sake.

I (created from fantasies) exist solely for you by Mizzy | T | 62k | comicbook office!au

Six years ago, without the Avengers Initiative there to save the day, scientist Dr. Eric Selvig sacrificed himself to save the world, the almighty demi-god Thor was lost to a terrible storm, and vigilante Iron Man – spotted with a nuclear weapon trying to take advantage of the situation – was forever labelled an enemy of SHIELD.

This is a comic book office AU, where Steve is defrosted a year too late, Thor has forgotten who he is, and no one knows Tony is Iron Man.

Also includes: office pranks, inappropriate post-it notes, and superheroes who like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain

The Ghosts of War by scifigrl47 | M | 60k | historical!AU

Steven Rogers never wanted to be king, but he knows his duty, and he does it well. Lord Tony Stark, the king's appointed consort, does his duty as well, even though he'd enjoy his duty more if it actually involved sleeping with the king. As it doesn't, he's just resigned. The war that made Steve king and cost him nearly everything may be over, but a meeting of old enemies might stir up some ghosts none of them are prepared for.

Truth Behind Masks by scifigrl47 | M | 98k | identity porn

Steve Rogers has plenty of friends. He just doesn't know two of them are the same man.

That's just how Tony Stark/Iron Man likes it. Until he comes to regret it.

One More Troubled Soul ♥ by sara_holmes | various | 61k | wintersoldier!steve

And Tony realizes that working out who the Winter Soldier used to be and who he is now are two entirely different things.

Slipping off the Page into Your Hands by Sineala | E | 68k | soulmates!au

Soulmates have their first words to each other written on their wrists. This should make it easy. For Steve and Tony, it is anything but. Steve's problem is that the future he has awoken into is nothing he was ever expecting: he has a soulmate now. Who might be a robot. And if his soulmate is Iron Man, how can he be so attracted to Tony Stark? It should be impossible. Tony's problem is that he is Iron Man, his soulmate is a man whom he in no way deserves, and he is going to fight everything in his heart and do his best to make sure Steve never, ever finds out the whole truth.

I wanted to fix this (but couldn't stop from tearing it down) by missbecky | E | 50K

A visit from a Reed Richards from a parallel world convinces Tony and Steve that they must do whatever they can to prevent their world from falling into Civil War. They can save the world…but at what cost to themselves?

Like Coming Home by missbecky | M | 75K | universe crossover, 616

After a tragic accident, Steve is given a chance to go back in time and deliver a warning to Tony in the hope of avoiding their fate. Something's gone wrong, though, because this is not his world he's ended up in. And that is definitely not his Tony who's planning to delete his own brain.

Sometimes your second chance isn't at all what you were expecting.

Stay With Me (home is where your mind is.) ♥ by sara_holmes | M | 67k | multiverse

Where Steve doesn’t quite die, ends up stranded in the multiverse and would quite like to know how the hell so many versions of himself ended up sleeping with Tony Stark. Well, that’s going to make things a tad awkward when he gets home.

Relativistic Heat Conduction ♥ by BlossomsintheMist | E | 69k | AOU, H/C

Age of Ultron-based, but not entirely canon compliant. Written for the 2013 Cap-Iron Man Reverse Big Bang. Ultron has attacked, obliterating most of the world's superheroes and resistance in a matter of hours. The remaining heroes band together and share what strength they have to get through it, to survive, and defeat Ultron once and for all. Steve Rogers grieves in the wake of the disaster and the heroes' defeat, and no one knows if he will be able to provide the leadership they need--but Tony Stark isn't about to let him slip away that easily.

If We Never Got This Second Chance ♥ by Pookaseraph | M | 50k | time travel, superfamily

When Tony and Steve’s son from the future, Jake Jensen, arrives at Avenger’s Tower, the two of them are forced to confront some hard truths: Tony that he might not actually become a horrible father, and Steve that he might not be able to set aside his discomfort with sharing a child with another man. When they both get a second chance at a first try at fatherhood, it’s up to the two of them to learn from their own future's past.

His Fate Will Be Unlearned by scifigrl47 | M | 94k | canon divergence

Tony Stark spent his childhood making weapons, filling the hole his father left in the world when he succumbed to alcohol, grief, and his own demons. At the age of fifteen, he ran away from home, and made it as far as MIT before all of his responsibilities caught up to him. Now seventeen, he just wants to finish his degree and escape from everything connected to the Stark name.

Steve Rogers crashed into the icy North Atlantic in the 1940's, sacrificing himself to save the world. He never expected to wake up, and now that he has, he's not sure he's glad. The US Army has other plans for him, but for now, Steve is slowly learning to live life in the 21st century, and taking classes at Boston College. He's beginning to suspect that there is no escape.

Boston College is on the T's Green Line. MIT is on the Red. The two lines meet at the Park Street Station, and so will Steve and Tony.

This time tomorrow (where were we?) by dorcas_gustine | E | 85k | Marvel 616

Tony goes to see Wanda, and suddenly Steve is alive and there are Skrulls! Or maybe Tony is just going crazy. Nothing happens in this fic, until the very end. Seriously. There's a lot of talking, mostly at inopportune moments, Tony's views on the acceptable gifts to give people are slightly different from everyone else's and he spends more time than would seem necessary being (half-)naked. What else is new?

And We Are Giants by CapsicleRogers | M | 68k | pacificrim!au

When Captain Steve Rogers wakes from an injury-induced coma, a lot has changed in the battle against the Kaiju. There are new Jaegers with new pilots, new advances in the study of the beasts, even new rules in the Shatterdome. It’s starting to seem like they’re finally ready to defeat the monsters once and for all, but first Steve must learn to get along with his new team of pilots. Especially the troublesome Tony Stark, who’s proving to be harder to deal with than the Kaiju problem itself.

Upon Waking by Winterstar  | E | 80k | serious injury, PTSD, angst

A story of recovery. In a world without superheroes, Tony Stark, the disinherited son of a billionaire, goes to Afghanistan as an embedded media star, only to be held hostage for months until he’s rescued. During his recovery, his therapist Doctor Bruce Banner prescribes an unusual treatment; volunteer work at a rehab center. He meets an eclectic assembled group including a vet who thinks he’s Thor, a physical therapist who might be a spy, and an all American hero, Steve Rogers. It is Steve Rogers, the soldier in a coma, who captures his interest and, eventually, his heart.

Fics over 100k words

Say When Verse ♥ series (9 works) by ann2who | E | 328k | MCU

A series rewriting MCU verse, beginning with an alternate version of Iron Man 2, in which, instead of Natasha, Steve got assigned to help Tony while the genius was slowly dying of Palladium poisoning. Continues there in unfolding Steve's and Tony's journey through acceptance, trust, and eventually love.

In Which Tony Stark Builds Himself Some Friends (But His Family Was Assigned by Nick Fury)  ♥ series (7 works) by scifigrl47 | various | 343k | MCU

Steve takes things like personal responsibility and respect seriously. Tony's got people he pays to take care of that kind of thing, and anyway, he's pretty sure that he's going to die of some exotic disease in his workshop, because Dummy's still a little spotty about what is 'clean' enough to put on an open wound. The rest of the Avengers are in this for personal gain, except for Clint, he just enjoys being a dick.And some things shouldn't be a chore.

Blue Lips, Blue Veins by romanoff | E | 300k | growing up, friends to lovers, slowburn

Tony Stark is Iron Man.

Before that, he was an man with bigger heart than brain. Before that, he was an asshole with a bigger mouth than sense. And before that, he was was a scared little boy. Not that it matters. Stark's always have had iron in their backbone.

Will of Iron, Heart of Glass ♥  series (3 works) | M | 104k | AI!tony

Tony has been held by Stane since his escape from Afghani terrorists, marked dead in the eyes of the world while Stane is free to use his mind, inventions, and company as he sees fit. Tony feels there's nothing he can do and has resigned himself to death to save those he loves. That would be when JARVIS lets Captain America stumble into his old lab.

Steve has been wandering Avengers Mansion in the steps of a ghost, seeing empty spaces, and recurring oddities that mean nothing to anyone but him. He doesn't know who left them, or why the ghost lingers. It isn't even until he enters a dusty lab that things start to fall into place as he meets Anthony, a computer program named for its creator Anthony Stark.

Deep in the Heart of Me ♥ by Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar) | E | 257k | modern/non-power!au, ptsd, parent!steve

There were days when the realization that he was someone’s father made Steve's head hurt, but mostly he was grateful that he could trust his instincts, because apparently Peter was what had been missing from his life. Yes, he still had lingering, unresolved issues from his time in the Army, and sure, he had what Bucky annoyingly referred to as a criminally untapped ass, and no life outside of work and Peter, but Steve was okay with how his life had turned out because of trusting his instincts.

Unfortunately, those same instincts had straight up betrayed him by going absolutely haywire upon being exposed to Tony Stark.

A Higher Form of War ♥ by sabrecmc | M | 292k | historical/royalty!au

Tony is a King with a surprising number of people out to kill him. Steve and the rest of the Avengers are fighting for Pierce's rebellion and end up with Tony as their prisoner. Oops.

Basically one of those bodice-ripping romance novels I don't read (ahem) but with far more gay.

The Captain and His Courtesan by Winterstar | E | 189k | space au

A story of revolution.Captain Steve Rogers is just trying to pay off his debt to SHIELD, carting cargo from the Rim worlds to the Inner Belts in his bucket of bolts ship, the Howling Commando. He keeps a low profile and makes sure his crew is safe and happy. But the universe has a different plan for the once highly decorated Captain of the Honor Guard. The universe drops a Courtesan by the name of Tony Stark into his life. The Captain doesn't like it, but Bucky convinces him that providing transport to the most elusive Courtesan in the Guild could be their ticket to freedom. His crew from the engineer with anger management issues to the pilot who may be a beautiful but deadly assassin wants him to take the commission. What ends up being a simple commission puts his crew in jeopardy and could change all of humanity, because the Courtesan is not really just a pretty face and the Captain of the Honor Guard can fall in love far too easily with a man of conviction - and Tony Stark is a man of conviction.

Newborn series by Ilerre | M | 109k | infidelity, body modification, read all warnings

It all started when they stopped trusting each other.

Power and Paradox by The_Kinky_Pet | E | 221k - WIP | MCU set in BDSM verse

“Billionaire, genius, engineer, philanthropist, submissive.  Yeah, submissive.  Any questions?”

OR

Yet another BDSM-AU.  

The Limitations of Wax ♥ by RayShippouUchiha | M | 175k - WIP | MCU with fem!toni

So Jarvis is the one who pulls her up onto her feet, presses a tool into one hand and a book into the other and tells her to create. Tells her that if the numbers and the shapes and images in her mind hurt so bad then she should build them, should give them form so that they can finally leave her alone.

Jarvis is the one who finally teaches her how to breathe.

Or

Toni Stark grows up with the tale of Icarus swirling in the back of her mind. Instead of taking it as a precautionary tale about hubris and overreaching she decides it's more about the limitations of wax.

Years later when she builds herself wings of her own she makes sure to build them out of better material.

Go Ugly Early by just_another_tinker | E | 156k - WIP | mob!au

He’s The Captain?

This was not good. This was so not good.

There were theories of course, of what The Captain would look like. Most followed the typical Hollywoodesque belief that he was some version of the Godfather, sitting in a dark room with a cigar, commanding his forces with a flick of his wrist. There were even some that even thought that The Captain was not one person, but a whole network of people with eyes and ears everywhere.

The blonde Adonis in front of him was definitely not what Tony was expecting.

Of course, in the end it didn’t matter.

There was a reason no one knew what The Captain looked like.

Because anyone who saw his face never lived to tell the tale.

Sins of Omission by Kiyaar | E | 155k - WIP | dark, torture, skrulls (be warned: this hasn’t been updated since 2013)

A Post-Civil War, Pre-Secret Invasion AU where Steve is dead, Tony's a mess, and everything sucks.

In which Tony deals poorly with Steve's death, falls off the wagon, sees ghosts, and misses a lot.

Oh, and the Skrulls are about to invade.

Indelible ♥ by Penumbren | various | 104k | dimension travel - marvel noir/616

When an experiment goes awry, Tony thinks he may have found an answer to his problems and Steve faces something he's been avoiding for a very long time.

Pulse, Beat, and Measure ♥ by Sineala | E | 134k | hero worship, marvel noir/616

Two men. Two worlds. Life during wartime. 

Holding Out for a Hero ♥ by Wordsplat | T | 100k | medieval au

When Tony was a prince and Steve was his manservant, they were young and reckless and hopelessly in love. But an attack on Tony's life convinces Steve that he can't protect Tony, so he leaves in the dead of night to train until he can. Ten years later, Steve returns to the kingdom a strong and able knight, but his king is both furious and broken-hearted. 

Proof Positive by MegaraNoelle | T | 362k | superfamily, getting together

Tony is no stranger to paternity claims from his female conquests, there's a system in place for them. But when one of the tests actually comes back positive, he makes a rash decision to not tell anyone about it, not even Pepper Potts. All Mary Parker wants is for Tony to spend a little time with their son. Tony has a lot to think about in his life now, how he wants to run his company, how his life is going to change with the arc reactor, and what he's going to do about his son, Peter. Then, the Avengers Initiative pops up, and in waltzes his childhood hero, and enemy, Captain America.

It's All in the Mind (14 works) by inukagome15 | T | 332k | MCU verse mutant!tony

The adventures of Tony as a mutant; how he learned to accept himself and his subsequent growth into his own. Hijinks ensue.

[moltensunlight]

Okay fresh-off the boat of watching s8 thoughts, I’m going to do general stuff first and then get into shipping later, and heads up cause this is LONG:

There were a lot of things I liked about this season, namely the slower pace of the first half of the season and the time dedicated to getting the audience familiar with the characters. The animation was fucking stunning and this is the best any of the characters have looked since s1. I liked that we actually got to see into their everyday lives for that Day 47 episode, and I just want to point out that more character development and the development of the relationships between the characters happened in that single episode than in the entirety of the series. I liked that Allura got to see her dad again, and that the other Paladins got to meet their og counterparts. I liked the emphasis and capabilities they FINALLY placed on the Paladin bonds. I liked that there was some kind of abilities happening with the Paladins (okay so it was only Pidge on Olkarion but still) outside of their lions and I would’ve loved to see more. I loved Hunk’s character SO much this season!! God I loved EVERYONE’S characters because we actually got to KNOW them!!!!! I loved the Alteans!! I loved that Lance got Altean marks (FINALLY HOLY CHRIST I HAD TO WAIT TILL LITERALLY THE LAST FUCKING EPISODE FOR THAT????? FUCK ME I GUESS)!!

But there were also a lot of things I didn’t like. 

Namely: they never resolved the rift creature plot. Literally. Allura has that whole stint with absorbing one and never had an individual moment with it where she used her powers from Oriande to basically deliver a proof of concept and turn it into a life-giving entity before she went all the way with Honerva and all the rift creatures in her? Like they set up the rift creatures as THE thing at the end of this whole journey, the ultimate bad, because it was the source of Honerva’s corruption, so the big bad shouldn’t be Honerva unless she was THE avatar of the rift creatures, which she was NOT after she regained her memories. I like that Allura took on the rift creature herself in an echo of what happened to Honerva, but she should’ve been able to have a moment where her difference in using the rift creature really shined, where she came to an understanding of it and what it was and used the knowledge she gained in Oriande to make a difference from what happened to Honerva all those years ago. Plus we never actually saw what the rift creature showed Honerva to drive her to seek power and quintessence in the first place - Allura saw images of her lovers past and present telling her it was the only way to save the universe, but the universe wasn’t in danger when the rift creatures talked to Honerva. Why. Was. She. Bad. In. The. First. Place.

SECONDLY: I will stand by this till the day I die but I don’t believe that this whole thing ever had to lead to Allura sacrificing herself for the universe. She already lost everything, why the fuck should she be expected to give MORE???? That’s not satisfying!!!! Couldn’t she regain something or build something new??? Create a new life for herself leading her people and spreading peace throughout the universe??? Why wasn’t she the one rebuilding Altea at the end, with Coran by her side???

THIRDLY: I’m beyond bitter at how Lance’s entire character arc was played out. I just... like literally where did his insecurities ever get really played out and addressed directly??? Where was his darkest moment and subsequent rise from that moment more wise and stronger in himself??? The closest we ever got was Keith talking about Lance knowing who he is - but WHEN did Lance EVER get to figure that out??? And then when the OG Paladins were talking about the new Paladins’ strengths and what made them unique and special and important - Lance’s was just that he loved Allura?? That’s it?? I can’t even - my heart literally hurts too much about this to elaborate on it right now. I love Allura with all my heart but she was already great, everyone saw it from the start, and even she felt comfortable in that position of greatness. Blaytz’s whole character is literally designed and made (like literally this is a character design thing I’m looking at) to be Lance’s parallel counterpart, not Allura’s, and I’m sorry but a lot of that speech should have been for Lance. And Lance should have had an ACTUAL FUCKING ARC to prove that greatness within him too. As it stands, Blue choosing him? Him being a paladin of Voltron?? Why even bother?? Shiro and Hunk and Pidge and Keith and Allura ALL had qualities that made them unique and important to the group dynamic and to Voltron, but Lance... he might as well be an extra. He’s the sharpshooter - okay cool, and Allura’s a fucking master with her whip and Keith is a master swordsman - everybody is good with their respective weapon. There’s nothing that makes Lance stand out, nothing that makes him special, he doesn’t have a thing. Oh wait he does - it’s loving Allura. You know, like everyone else loves her too. Guess all of Lance’s fears about being the odd Paladin out and the seventh wheel and not having a thing were all proven true, huh? And I just. This one hurts, guys. This one is personal. I’ll make a different post about it at some point, but out of all the characters I connect to Lance the most, especially because of his insecurities. Long story short, I thought I was actually going to get to see a character like me be a hero and be important and learn where his strengths were. Maybe it was naive of me to think a tv show could actually show me where my own strengths lie after being so lost about it for so long, but I really did hope and believe in this character that was like me. And instead, Lance’s entire story shifted to revolve around Allura. Which god listen I wouldn’t mind it so much if they hadn’t sacrificed Lance’s entire character and arc and development to it. I just feel lacking from his whole arc in canon. He deserved more. Allura deserved more. Fuck.

Finally: this whole season??? Should have been the entire show. I’m serious. Maybe one or two other season where we get to Zarkon’s defeat, but the rest?? Stretch this last season into all other 6 seasons and weave in the most important elements from the other seasons. There was so much... superfluous things that ended up not holding the weight they should have by the finale - the blade of marmora is actually the first one that comes to mind. They were just kind of... around, in season 8, after having so much focus put on them for so long, having them wiped out without real good reason in s7 and then basically having Krolia and Kolivan just - standing around basically in the climax of the entire series????? That’s ridiculous. This season held so much important information that we should have gotten interspersed throughout other seasons, namely the discovery and understanding of oriande (Alfor’s legacy) and the rift creatures. Like quintessence and the rift creatures fueled this entire show but we got almost nothing from the Voltron team looking into it until this season, it was always Zarkon or Lotor, whereas BOTH of those plots should have had periodic discoveries and investigation into quintessence BY THE VOLTRON TEAM instead of other people just handing all the information to them on a silver platter when the plot called for it, and THEN both of those enemies should have yielded to the larger Honerva + rift creatures plot halfway through the series.

(Hey also?? Also??????? Hot fucking take here but Lotor shouldn’t have died. I’m not talking past iterations of the character and what he’s done there, I’m talking about how they set his character up here in vld. Because we saw from Honerva’s memories that he was a victim of his circumstance, and he was honest to god a good person. If anyone he should have gotten a character redemption arc specifically because he was born into such terrible circumstance and was the victim to it all.)

The entire pacing of the first half of this seasons should have been the ENTIRE. SERIES. Interspersed with a couple of episodes MAX with huge awesome robot fight sequences. As it stands???? I felt like I barely knew the characters and their connections to each other until THIS. SEASON. And I literally never felt the stakes. How the fuck did Voltron always get knocked back down, was always weaker than its opponents, but always got back up just from a couple of inspirational words??? Like okay the power of friendship and stuff, but that only works if you use the height of that power in the ultimate climax of your series - as it stands they literally used it almost every season and it got noticeably old. Like especially on the heels of s7, the inspirational speech delivered by Keith sounded nearly IDENTICAL!!! And it just??? Works???????? I just have so much trouble feeling like anything is at stake because team Voltron is always one “inspiring speech” away from winning, no matter what. What happens when that doesn’t work?? What happens when they really LOSE??? And inspirational words CANT pick them back up again??? And no that’s not the series climax, that’s a mid-season finale that they work their way back from and grow stronger from. And god the fights are too. Long. You could’ve condensed the action of the last what like four/five episodes??? Down to two - MAX. And not only would I have been more invested but I would’ve been with you all the way, instead of literally getting tired halfway through. --EDIT: Okay I went back and found out that the final fight sequence was in fact, only two episodes, but with the high-intensity of the episodes that preceded it, by the time we got to the fights themselves i was already teetering on being burnt out on that high-intensity. So just....better pacing. A c t u a l  p a c i n g.

I know this sounds like a LOT more bad than good, but there’s so much emotional weight to the characters and their interactions that I FINALLY got from this season that ends up balancing the scales more for me. Not entirely, there’s a lot I can’t ever forgive vld for, but it helps.

And finally. On to shipping. I just. My heart is honestly crushed. I was literallly hoping until the v e r y end of the last episode that we’d get some hint of Keith and Lance together. Literally!!! The episode ended and I went “oh... that’s it? Like it really didn’t...? Really??” They had so much potential, and their scenes together in this season, though seldom, were fucking poignant as fuck. Keith is the only one to ever address Lance’s insecurities, KNOWING that he has those insecurities. Allura told him he had greatness in him and that everyone sees it when he unlocked the Altean long sword, but she didn’t know he was feeling left behind, or unworthy, or like an extra in the main cast, and the conversation VERY quickly diverted to Shiro. Was that.... was that supposed to fix all of Lance’s problems?? Seriously?? And then the second klance scene together, god I think I knew on some level that it was the last scene they were going to get together, because I literally started crying when Keith actually talked to Lance about his worries about Honerva and Allura and everything. Keith has always been there for Lance and his real, deeper feelings in a way that the canon vld never built with him and Allura. Lance got to see Allura’s vulnerable side, but Allura never got to see his. Keith and Lance have both seen each other at their lowest points, and helped each other back up from those. (And the fucking callback to their bonding moment scene with their clasped hands?? Literally fucking wrecked me.)

With Lance and Allura, it’s only ever been one-sided. Like the one person that really was on the same page as her and connected with her heart and love of Altea and it’s people and it’s magic and wanting to preserve that and work together with the people of the universe rather than through domination and shared in an incredibly unique experience with her in which they both were vulnerable with each other (I’m talking about Lotor and I’m talking about Oriande) - that person had to die off and not come back and get a redemption arc for Allura and Lance to get together at all huh. And this is not a slam against Lance and Allura as a couple, this is a slam against vld’s character and relationship building and development because if they really wanted it to be endgame?? They could’ve done a whole HELL of a lot better than what they did. As it stands with canon vld, Lance and Allura are not equals, and they never will be. Allura ends up being Lance’s “prize” and Lance can never understand and empathize with Allura and her experience like she needs and deserves. Sorry Lance I love you but Allura needs someone she can actually connect to better, and she deserves more than being you “getting the girl” without making an effort to really learn more about her culture and strife. Like fuck, they talk all about loving each other but where? Is it?? Again, where are they sharing cultures and interests and passions and wanting to learn more about the other’s?? Where are they ever talking about their worst fears and insecurities and learning and growing from it together?? What is their common, shared goal??? Because damn Allura’s is pretty fucking big - “save the universe and restore the Altean people” - for Lance’s goal by the end of the canon show to just be “I want to go home”. Yes he wants to save the universe too, but Allura’s long-term goals were never going to be his, and his long-term goals were never going to be enough for her. Allura’s home was always going to be Altea. Lance’s home was always going to be Earth. They’re on completely different pages for vld to effectively sell their romance to me.

Lance and Keith though? They’re on the same page in vld canon. They actually fucking talk to each other about deeper feelings, in. Canon. Until literally the fucking epilogue of the last episode of the entire series?? Lance and Keith had similar, if not the same goals. Keith talked about saving and protecting Earth a lot these past few seasons, and which fucking planet has Lance been pining over and desperate to save and protect throughout the series?? Yeah you guessed it - Earth. Keith didn’t really feel connected to Earth until he established bonds with the other Paladins and then his mom, but after he got back from his time with the blade?? He wants to go back to Earth too. Both Lance and Keith consider Earth to be home. THIS IS IN. CANON. They have access to each other, emotionally, and can connect with and support each other in really important emotional ways. And I’m getting tired and losing steam at this point, but you get what I’m trying to say?? They had so much development and build up, they had a deep emotional connection, and to quote the two of them themselves on this, they “do make a good team.” WHY wasn’t that team canon? They’ll always be soulmates in my heart, and I won’t ever stop loving them and all the content that the fandom has developed for them, but I’ll always be heartbroken over what they could’ve been in canon.

Oh yeah what ever happened to Lance being bi y’all?? Guess that didn’t pan out either huh. Well fuck us I guess.

Extra thoughts: 

Also hey whatever happened to Veronica and Axca developing a romance?? That storyline got stopped cold turkey out of fucking nowhere. That would’ve been AWESOME to see play out for both of their characters even if it didn’t end in an actual romance. Also could we have gotten more of Zethrid and Ezor for context of like, that one whole episode please??

Hey also guess what vld I’m not satisfied with Shiro’s ending. That should’ve been Adam with him. Adam should’ve been on the Atlas with Shiro from the moment they fucking returned to Earth. ALSO HOLY CHRIST WHY COULDNT HE HAVE PILOTED THE BLACK LION AGAIN WHEN THEY NEEDED VOLTRON BUT ALLURA WAS OUT OF COMMISION?????? I WAS WAITING FOR THEM TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT IT BUT IT WASNT EVEN M E N T I O N E D??????????? WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SHIRO’S BOND TO BLACK THAT WAS ESTABLISHED BACK IN THE EARLY SEASONS????????????????

God what else. Well you know I fucking LOVE Ryan Kinkade so jot that down, that episode dedicated to him was so fucking blessed. Hunk had such good fucking lines and emotional beats this season too?? Why couldn’t that have been there tHE WHOLE TIME. Romelle was fucking amazing as usual and I love that she got to learn some original Altean customs from Coran!! OH SHIT Y’ALL THE ALTEANS ARE CHAMELEONS THING ACTUALLY BEING FUCKING UTILIZED IN THAT ONE VOLCANO EPISODE BY ALLURA I FUCKING SCREAMED FUCK Y E A H FINALLY!!!!!!!!! Also just like???? All the Alteans????? Were so fucking good???????? Also also Coran IS confirmed to be magical because I mean uh first off - the Balmera and Altean customs with the Balmera??? Requires??? Magic??? Secondly he operates the Oriande pyramid like Allura and Honerva did. Like fuck that bit about him not being magical.

Hey also on that note, I really wish that Altean magic was better explained in the show??? Like to give us rules for this shit because there’s just so many things that work (or don’t work) because they’re convenient to plot at that time, also hey guess what Allura should’ve have a bigger plot thread of learning magic/training in magic from the staaaaaaaart!!!

I fucking loved the art and the music this season y’all jesus /fuck/ I can’t wait for screencaps of this season because it’s honestly the most beautiful thing I’ve seen. I loved all the stuff with bonds and with the stuff in Honerva’s mind and I wish they had explored some of those ideas way earlier, ESPECIALLY CAUSE THEY HAD MINDMELD HEADBANDS IN S1 WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! Plus like,,,,,,,,,,,,, the bonds between Paladins and lions should’ve been,,,,,,, so much more prominent and explored throughout the series.

Anyway, I’m tired. I wanted to get most of my thoughts out here before I checked tumblr and Twitter. If you managed to actually get through all of this i fucking love you??????? That was dense as FUCK when I didn’t mean for it to be laksjdflkajsFLKJALKFSJD feel free to come chat with me about this season too!!

[identity-matters]

Edinburgh Fringe: My Reviews

I've just come back from The Fringe and these are my thoughts. You can scroll down to see play-by-play reviews but I have a short pre-amble first. Theatre has been a passion of mine for quite a long time so I'm surprised it's taken this long to get up to Edinburgh. On the basis that I didn't know when I'd next be up I took full advantage of my trip and saw as much stuff as I could; and as varied stuff as I could. I like taking risks with theatre because in my experience, for every 3 shit things you see, you see 1 thing that stays with you for a very long time. I've rated what I saw below but it comes with two very strong provisos: 1. These are personal opinions shaped by, among other things: my life; my hopes and expectations of theatre; how I felt during the show and the particular performance I saw. A high grade means I enjoyed it and is no guarantee you will do the same. 2. Everybody who came up to Edinburgh to put a show on is amazing for contributing to the cultural hotpot. A poorer review does not reflect on my views on the people behind it. They are all genuinely great artists for throwing so much into the melting pot. I've given 'A' to three shows, all very different. This is as close as I'll get to giving you my 'pick of the fringe'. * Michelle McManus: The Musical. A great crowd pleaser for lovers of cheese and musicals. * The Last Resort. A dark semi-immersive examination of Guantanamo Bay. * John Robertson (Dominant). Do not go if you are at all prudish or shy, but if you are not this is a anarchic comedy tour de force. With that, on to the reviews: (Monday August 7th) The Dark Room: B+ Comedy based on getting audience members to play an impossible 80s retro text-based game. It had built a cult following - which did not improve the show for first time viewers. The formulaic game portion was surely innovative and hilarious at one point, but now felt like an inside joke with the repeat audience chanting along from the start. That said, the new material and the improvised audience interaction was great and kept it fast-paced and snappy. 5 Guys Chillin': B- A drama exploring the gay 'chill'/sex party scene using verbatim quotes from interviews. This felt like it wanted to be eye-opening and expose a subculture. The problem is that it was exposing a subculture I'm well aware of. I knew the people they speak about and their words. It was certainly interesting and well-acted, but (for me), it slightly outstayed its welcome. This is not culturally significant: D A naked one-man character-driven show that seemed to build itself on the brief 'emotional whiplash: the sketch show.' It seemed to be well-received by many in the audience so it's possible I missed something. The problem for me was that the humour never hit hard enough and the vulnerability felt quite contrived. The actor and especially the technical team were excellent, but the content felt like it was at 60% of what it needed to be to make an impact. (Tuesday August 8th) Briony Redman: B A traditional 'Harold' comedy sketch show exploring screenwriting and modern genres. It was an gentle show, never offensive, often giggly. However, it lacked the bite to be hysterical. None the less, it was sweet and fast-paced and always had something interesting to say. The Canon: B A comedy sketch show based around the literary canon. There is nothing groundbreaking or truly original about this show, but it does present a lot of interesting scenarios and garners a steady stream of laughs. Bonus points for Taylor Swift/Shakespeare mash-up. Shame: B+ A drama about female sexuality told half through vlog and half through live action theatre. This was a really interesting medium that added to the story, made up of likeable but distinctly human characters. The ending packed an emotional punch but the moments leading up to it were slightly too expositionary and fell a bit tepid. Michelle McManus: The Musical: A Actual Michelle McManus from actual Pop Idol puts on a Glaswegian Hyacinth Bucket character for her fictional comedy musical revue. This is a riot from start to end. The songs (ballads from broadway) add to the show and are delivered powerfully and comically. The numbers are linked by an extremely funny and well-delivered performance that surprised a lot of the audience. Evocation: E A retelling of Giraud poems through the medium of gothic puppetry and drone music. This mark may be very harsh, and reflects more my inability to interpret what the hell went on than any mistakes the production team made. It looked gorgeous and chilled me out. It turns out watching theatre has a hard mode and this is it. Reformed Whores: B Musical comedy duo, satirising country and western through sex-positive messages. I like country music and the songs here were definitely catchy. There was a danger they relied a little too strongly on shock humour at times. The biggest problem here was the venue. These are performers that need interaction and raucousness. You're never going to get that in a sterile, small conference room. (Wednesday August 9th) Heroes: B+ A drama from an Icelandic company about how demonising enemies of war impacts young communities. This was well-acted, and the young cast clearly had a great time putting it on. There were definitely scenes in this that had strong impacts on the audience, and this made it well worth watching. However, the characters and fictional backdrop of the play were so one-dimensional and far-removed from reality. I feel like this eroded the social commentary they wanted the play to take on. The Last Resort: A A dark and invasive play, in which you play residents of the recently converted Guantanamo Bay holiday resort. This is excellent and a key example of why it's worth taking risks with theatre. The semi-immersive approach is a great way to make you laugh and relax before the show takes a dark and eye-opening turn. You will feel uncomfortable and you will love it. Oxford Imps: C A standard improv troupe from Oxford Uni. I saw them a lot whilst I was there and enjoyed them, so I went in with high hopes. Despite a few great moments, this was generally a disappointment. Enough of the troupe felt like they were trying to get their own ideas heard at all costs. This made the scenes feel messy and loose because they didn't agree on a reality. Monster: B+ A one man show about toxic masculinity as it relates to domestic abuse. An excellent character actor explains how tapping into unsavoury characters to method act leaks into his every day life. The blurring of all the characters builds into a heavy momentum. There's no payoff here - though I wonder if possibly that's the point. It's an interesting piece of theatre with a great actor but one that feels a little unsatisfying at the end Paul Sinha (Shout out to my ex): B Chaser/Comedian/Former GP performs a stand-up set about the annus horribilis since his partner left him. Stand-up comedy has a different job from a lot of the other work I've seen. First and foremost it's about making you laugh: and the show did that. The audience was in a good mood and the personal anecdotal style kept the laughs rolling. It may not have made me cry, or think, or challenge my beliefs but that's likely beyond its brief. John Robertson (Dominant): A This was billed as stand-up, by a crude and acerbic Australian (host of The Dark Room). In reality, none of it was scripted and instead we got a loose collection of thoughts inspired by the audience and his S&M past. It was a small audience (15ish people) and so all bets were off. Anarchy reigned and all audience members were involved. It was shocking, anarchic and unsubtle but constantly hysterical. He is a master of his work. We're All Going to Die: C+ An ensemble comedy about a group of scientists dying one-by-one on a remote research station. This had a young cast, and I assume this was scripted by them as well. The script was trite and lacked direction or purpose. The constant quipping removed anything but facile humour from what we watched. The characters were all one-directional. That said, it was enjoyable enough. There were some fun one-liners and set ups. It was a perfectly pleasant way to pass an hour. Thief: B+ A dramatic monologue by a queer sailor who puts a brave and defiant face on being forced into sex work. The acting deserves considerable credit here for bringing this complex character to life. In lesser hands this would surely fail, but it was a captivating if invasive performance. The show never knows what it wants to do with the character, though, making his backstory almost comically dark. There is an attempt at moralising at the end that feels a little too neat and tidy. At the end, I left feeling impressed at what I watched, but wondering why I watched it. (Thursday August 10th) Salome: D A one-man production of the Oscar Wilde epic. In typical Wilde fashion the dialogue is clever and knowing and that pulls you through this otherwise ropey production. Production values are low; characters are barely distinguished (Salome speaks falsetto and wears a scarf) and audiences are left questioning whether Salome really needed a one-man production. Kafka & Son: B A dramatic monologue adapted from a letter Kafka wrote to his father explaining his fear. The aesthetics of the play were beautiful and the team clearly had a great deal of respect for Kafka. It was an interesting and relevant biography: I feel like I'll see Kafka's works very differently now. The issue was the content of the show was dry, and at multiple times I found myself looking at my watch. The Odyssey: B+ A highly energetic physical performer reads the story of the Odyssey with pep, gusto and silly noises. The energy and tightness over the whole 70 minute show was impressive and brought a lot of life to the performance. The problem was, I felt like nothing was added to above the story. It brought back feelings of sitting cross legged on the floor in primary school being read classics. It was certainly charismatic and enjoyable but unmemorable. Noose Women: C- A comedy-drama about a TV production company who are convinced by a charismatic cult leader to host a reality show where the prize is death. It was perfectly watchable but a deeply flawed production. The story was paper thin and all drama was resolved within seconds. The central conceit took a back foot to meandering subplots that went nowhere. None of the characters were likeable or consistent; and unfortunately the humour did not make up for it. You could do much better than this at The Fringe.