#the most academic writing I did for a freaking anime series

[palimpsessed]

15 Questions/15 People

@theearlgreymage @johnwgrey @artsyunderstudy @shrekgogurt @raenestee @yellobb @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @cutestkilla @facewithoutheart @prettylightsbigcity @thewholelemon @fatalfangirl @aroace-genderfluid-sheep thank you all so much for tagging me! I have loved getting to read your responses and learn more about you all 🥰

Are you named after anyone? Nope. Although if I’d been assigned male at birth, my parents would have named me Ross after Ross Poldark because they were big into Poldark during the original tv series and owned the books. I grew up in the nineties when my only reference points for Ross were: Dress for Less and Geller from Friends, so I don’t think I would’ve liked having that name. My sister would have been Tristan after the character from All Creatures Great and Small. Makes me feel so old knowing both of those shows were recently revived…

When was the last time you cried? Thursday when I found out a very lovely someone made one of my fics into an actual book because they loved it so much they wanted to have a physical copy to read! (I don’t know if they’re okay with me saying who they are so I am being intentionally vague.)

Do you have kids? No. Please do not make me be responsible for another human life.

Do you use sarcasm a lot? I don’t think I know how to have a conversation without it.

What’s the first thing you notice about people? I have no idea.

What’s your eye color? Brown. I think I’ve had them described as root beer brown before?

Scary movie or happy endings? Happy ending

Any special talents? I’ve always been a pal of few words (verbally), but I know how to make them count for comedic timing. My grandpa called me a pistol when I was like 2 or 3 and I made my sister spit take so often at the dinner table, everyone in my family told me I should become a comedian.

I can read backwards. When I focus on it, I can talk backwards too—whole sentences not single words. I always thought it would be fun to try to have conversations, but idk who I’d talk to?

I’m ambidextrous.

Where were you born? About thirty miles from here.

What are your hobbies? My main hobby at present is just fandom. Writing, making art, reading, discord, tumblr... it all revolves around Snowbaz and the fandom. If I’m not doing any of that, I’m probably descending slowly into madness from not knowing what else to do with myself. Like. What do people do? I used to tap and I used to play drums. I enjoy baking but my kitchen is too small to make it worth my while most of the time.

Do you have any pets? Not at the moment. I had two cats who were my babies. Mr. T, who passed away in 2018, and Batgirl, who passed away in 2020. I think I’m feeling ready to get another cat, but I can’t have pets in my apartment and also I don’t think I can afford to take care of an animal.

What sports do you play/have you played? I briefly played basketball in sixth (?) grade. But I got freaked out when we were going to start playing in actual games so I dropped out. I played soccer for one year, was always put in the goal, got bored, and picked at the grass as my entertainment. I did try volleyball and badminton but never went anywhere with either. I was always told that I had swimmers shoulders, but was too scared to try the swim team. I really don’t like athletic competition, it would seem.

How tall are you? You know, when I was a little kid, some test said I was going to be 6’7”. I…am not. 😂

Favorite subject at school? Fuck me. English? I have a degree in it, so let’s say that. Actually, it was probably Book Arts in college. I remember dreading the work of school, but loving the rush of academic success. So maybe the real answer is, whatever I was doing best in.

Dream job? This is what is known as an oxymoron. Honestly, my current job is pretty ideal as jobs go: I walk to work, I have a four day week, I’m union, I’m pensioned, I’m hourly, I work for my city government so it’s non profit and I know there’s a point to what I’m doing, my boss is very hands off, and I have free time for...tumblr tag games.

Tagging to share if you want or to say hi if you don’t. Hi!! @bazzybelle @bookish-bogwitch @excalisbury @foolofabookwyrm-activated @ivelovedhimthroughworse @jbrrring @moodandmist @martsonmars @mostlymaudlin @nightimedreamersworld @otherpeoplesheartachept-2 @stardustasincocaine @tea-brigade @urban-sith @wetheformidables

[silverwindsblog]

Film analysis of Yugioh Dark Side of Dimensions

This is my analysis of Yugioh Dark Side of Dimensions. I will discuss the themes, motifs, and the goals that the film attempts to achieve. This is not a review of the film. I will make a separate post on my opinion on the ending of the film, the characters, and Seto’s relationship with Atem. I watched the subs with the dub script and used both Japanese and English names.

The plot focuses on the duel between Yugi & Seto as well how Atem’s departure impact them and introducing a new villain. The main goals of the movie are to bring the nostalgia back to those who are familiar with the original Yugioh characters, advertising the Yugioh series, and to wrap up any loose ends in how Yugi & Seto dealt after Atem’s departure. Some of the recurring themes in the movie from the Yugioh series are fate (or destiny) cannot change, it is impossible to change the past, fear leads to hatred, and how reminiscing the past can strengthen or hinders you.

Some of the motifs of the film are the importance of friendship, how memories fuels the person’s motivation to strengthen you or consume you with obsession, and technology advancement. While the film achieved its goal to bring back nostalgia for the fans, promoting the Yugioh franchise, and bringing closure to the main characters, the film did not flesh out characters who are not the villain or the main character, fails to acknowledge Seto’s character development and achievements of overcoming his past, getting over his father, becoming a kinder person, and instead emphasizing one trait for the sake of the conflict: His determination to defeat Atem no matter what. Furthermore, while the villain of the movie is interesting, his story of fear, hatred, and revenge is nothing new in the Yugioh series considering that Malik’s story revolves around it. Despite that friendship is the prevalent theme of the Yugioh series, the movie poorly shows it among Yugi and his gang.

How reminiscing the past fuels Seto’s motivation to duel Atem

One of the main themes of the film reminiscing the past can either strengthen or hinders you. Seto’s conflict was to duel Atem again because he saw Atem as a worthy duelist and was extremely upset that Atem did not choose him for the final duel. What Seto wanted more than anything in the world is to duel Atem again because he missed the thrill of having a duel with a worthy opponent and the exciting moments from his past. To him, Atem is someone he wants to experience with and only Atem can offer the same type of thrill and memories to Seto. Now that there is no one that he believed is a worthy duelist, Seto is not satisfied with living in the present. To him, the present does not offer anything that can fulfil his wish. He relieved part of his past by creating a hologram of Atem and have a duling simulation. However, he cannot accept that Atem is dead and that his wish cannot be fulfilled. Seto knew that no matter how much effort he made to create a hologram of Atem, the hologram is not the real Atem.

"It's still not the real Pharaoh, so I still didn't beat him, and until I do, my scars of defeats continue to burn."

This quote highlights Seto’s obsession of his failure to duel Atem hinders him from moving on from his bitterness of defeat. To Seto, dueling is his life and pride and to simply accept that he is the second best is not acceptable. His stubbornness and his reminiscing to his past motivated him to attempt bring back Atem, regardless at the cost of his character development and the world. The memories of Atem fueled his motivation to the point of obsession instead of strengthen him as a person. His accomplishments of getting over his anger of his adopted father, building an amusement park for children, etc are glossed over and Seto ended up experiencing the resentment for not dueling Atem just like his resentment towards his adopted father.

Sheer will cannot bring back the dead nor change destiny

Regardless of Seto’s willpower and determination to revive Atem by completing the puzzle, it is impossible to bring back the dead, change the past or destiny. One, the universal rule is that no one cannot bring back from the dead without any consequences, and two, anything that happened in the past cannot be changed. Both of these themes are common in other films and literature.

Throughout the film, characters talked about how destiny cannot be changed. For example, Shadi mentioned that he cannot interfered with Ryou’s father from obtaining the ring because the event serves as a chain reaction for Yugi to solve the puzzle and have him and Atem defeat Zorc. Another example from the film is when Yugi told Seto at a critical moment that Atem is not coming back because it is fate. What fate means in this case is something beyond human control already happen and it is impossible to change. Atem is already dead and is in afterlife, so he cannot exist in the world. However, he briefly returned from the afterlife to save the world and then goes back to the afterlife. What is interesting is that destiny and fate are used interchangeably. Fate is referred to an event that already happen while destiny is referred as an event happening in the future and the outcome cannot change. However, there are cases where characters defy destiny (Seto not believing Diva speech of defeating him and Yugi refuse to surrender to Diva).  

Fear and hatred

Diva, the villain of the movie seeks revenge for Shadi’s murder and his miserable past. His sense of justice became warped by taking extreme actions to achieve his goal to get rid of evil. Diva feared for the cruel world and is mistreated by the people that the death of Shadi led him to have a cynical perspective and pushing away from his sister Sarah, and his loyal friend, Mani. Of course, this theme already exist in the Yugioh series with Malik wanting to seek revenge because the world mistreated him and Malik pushed away from his sister and his loved ones. Both characters believed that the end justifies the means, are blinded by hatred that they forget their bonds with their loved ones and fell into despair due to their blind obsession with hatred.

How memories strengthen Yugi, Joey and Ryou

One of the major themes of the film is how reminiscing the past can strengthen or hinders you. Memories play a major role in revealing to the audience how the characters dealt with their past and how it impact them. At the beginning, Yugi examined at his deck and said to himself: “He is part of me” which refers to Atem. Despite his sadness for Atem, Yugi accepted that Atem is gone and that they went to their separate ways. Instead of letting the past consume him, Yugi accepted the results and grow as a person. Yugi became more outspoken and confident by volunteer to be a speaker for his high school graduation. He still remembers Atem, but unlike Seto, Yugi’s reminiscing of the past strengthens him. In a critical moment when Yugi completed the puzzle, Yugi told Seto in a solemn expression that “Atem is not coming”. This scene revealed Yugi’s character development that despite missing Atem, Yugi knew that he has his own life, dreams, and goals, and knew that Atem belongs in the afterlife. Even after the brief meeting with Atem and Yugi was happy to see Atem again, Yugi didn’t show any intentions to reach Atem again through supernatural powers. Yugi is able to cherish his memories with Atem as well able to move forward.

For Joey, he escaped the alternative world that Diva sent him through his memories with Atem, though it is very brief moment. Because Joey remembered his friendship with Atem, he was able to overcome his fear of disappearance. In Ryou’s case, his past haunted him and he has to confront it in order to move forward. Ryou was able to move on and face his fears with the help of his friends.

The role of friendship

Friendship is the prevalent theme of the Yugioh franchise and it is expected for the film to discuss about it, even if the main focus is how both Yugi and Seto dealt with Atem’s departure. Unfortunately, the film did a poorly job showing friendship and it is one of the weaker parts of the movie. Even Yugi’s line of being friends with anyone he dueled with felt tacked on in his confrontation with Diva. I personally did not feel a strong connection of friendship in Yugi and his gang, but friendship is still shown in the movie with Yugi & Atem, Ryou & Joey, and Seto & Atem. There were a lot of opportunities for the movie to display the strong relationships within Yugi and his gang as well with with characters. For example, when Joey disappeared from their world, the gang could have get together and remember the moments when Joey helped them to bring him back. Through flashbacks, it would been more effective to display their strong bond with each other and Atem. Even for non-revolutionshippers, Anzu clearly care about Atem at the end of the original series. Whether Atem reciprocated her feelings is debatable. It is rather disappointing for the film to not mention Anzu’s feelings. Even a brief moment of seeing Anzu holding her cartouche sadly is sufficient to display with her relationship with Atem.

In closing

The film strives to bring back the older fans with nostalgia through bringing back familiar duel monsters from Seto and Yugi as well having closure for both of the characters. Did it success? Yes, the film did bring the nostalgia back as well bringing the characters that older fans recognize and able to remember their personality. The characters that are not the main star of the show are remembered through their defining trait by the fans. For Joey and Tristan they are comic reliefs, for Anzu she is the eyecandy and Yugi’s childhood best friend, and for Ryou, a shy and awkward guy yet a caring and loyal person.

Did the film bring closure to Seto and Yugi? In my opinion, yes to Yugi, and both yes and no to Seto. While Seto get some closure since he gets to duel Atem again in the afterlife, the ending is left with whether Seto will continue to duel Atem again (continue to chase his dreams while forgetting the present) or if Seto decides he is satisfied with one duel and then moves on from his past. I will elaborate my thoughts on the ending in the next review. In conclusion, regardless of your feelings towards the characters, the villain, or the ending, the film achieved its goals with the themes and motifs to bring some closure to Yugi and Seto.

[themonotonysyndrome]

Hey i just want to know that if you still make headcanon holy quintet in twst series , if you not is okay ,but if you still make , i have several question ,

What if madoka transform to madokami i want to know boys reaction especially diasmonia boys ?

I want to know what if sayaka got corrupt and the boys reaction(especially adeuce) see witch form sayaka for first time and their think sayaka got overblot but they wrong it worst than that!

I want to know that what boys reaction if they see the witchs and Walpurgisnacht for the first time are they gonna fight or not?

What all boys(especially dorm leaders)reaction homura tell the truth of soul gem and she tell how she looping time to time for 12 years and 100 looping

And btw i am boy its weird boy love twisted wonderland(not really but i love the character design and story(i just hate riddle mom treat him to obey all rules, he need freedom:( ))

Sorry for making many question

Hello! I’m happy that you enjoyed the TWST x PMMM series! Most of my writing projects have taken a back seat due to work and since it’s currently the Ramadan season, I just don’t have a lot of energy to write anymore more than for work. I mean, it took me half a day to answer this ask. 

I definitely want to get back to writing for this crossover series and maybe even copied what I’ve written so far into my AO3 for easy reading and navigating but we’ll see. For now, I’m indulging whatever plot bunnies that come my way so I won’t stop writing altogether. 

So lay them on me, dude! Expanding the series is always fun. (Also, bear with me. This is gonna be a long post). 

@lionheartanotheraccount and I had discussed these actually on Discord! Some were pinned, some were not (I’m an idiot. I should have pinned all of our crossover texts!), so lemme explain what I still remember. Feel free to pinch in if I forgot something incorrectly or left something out, Lion! 

1. What if Madoka transforms to MadoKAMI, I want to know boys’ reaction, especially Diasmonia’s boys

After the anime ended, Lion and I talked about how not that she’s a Goddess, she has the ability to visit Twisted Wonderland on her own and she approached Malleus and the rest of the Diasomnia gang in her human disguise so as not to freak them out. Well, Lilia and Malleus could feel the divinity within Madoka and you can expect the immense shock that not only could Madoka travel across worlds, but she’s also no longer human too. It’s a teary reunion and Malleus’ and Lilia’s hearts break when MadoKAMI explain everything. They comforted her to their best ability but ultimately, it’s been done. There’s nothing else they could do for her. It’s bittersweet for Lilia. Why, a human child ascended into a Goddess so she could save the fates of her friends and every Magical Girls in the past, present and future - she grew up out of necessity and love. Both Lilia and Malleus is proud to be her friend. 

2.  I want to know what if Sayaka got corrupt and the boys’ reaction(especially Adeuce) see Witch form Sayaka for the first time and they think Sayaka got Overblot but they wrong it worst than that!

The existence of a Witch’s Labyrinth is enough to make the boys instantly wary and a bit frighten (not that any of them would admit it). Bad times for everyone. The boys so confused, wanting to help Sayaka. The girls are horrified at the truth of Witches and Magical Girls and Homura is rushing in to kill Sayaka. Chaos everywhere with Octavie shrieking and trying to kill them all, Symposium Magarum blaring in the background and the Witch’s familiars flying everywhere to make sure their Witch could enjoy the music. 

No one could fight Octavia so they had to retreat. Homura causing enough distraction for them to escape. By the time they went out of the Labyrinth, shouting and screams begin. 

Adeuce would the most horrified, Madoka of course, heartbroken. Mami is losing it (to which Homura’s getting trigger happy and refused to look away from her. She’s ready to put Mami out of her misery the moment Mami so much as flinch) and Sayaka is both furious and still in shock. At this point, Homura has no choice but to reveal the fact she knows the truth about Magical Girls in order to explain that no, they don’t Overblot. They... mature into Witches when their Soul Gems turn pitch black. Here’s a little gem(lol) from explorerofsy on Discord:  vil internally: mami is a gem 

vil later when he finds out about soul gems: 

when i said that mami is a gem, i did not expect that to be literal

It’s sad but it made me laugh sick. 

3. I want to know that what boys’ reaction if they see the Witches and Walpurgisnacht for the first time. Are they gonna fight or not?

The moment Homura explains that turning to Witches is irreversible and is the ultimate fate of all Magical Girls, some would deny it. Their magic is different from the girls, maybe they have a way to stop the transformation here in Twisted Wonderland. The academically-inclined students (Malleus, Riddle, Jamil, Vil and even Idia) would delve into hours of research, only to find nothing (I mean, Kyubey is akin to an Eldritch being, something beyond their comprehension so how on Twisted Wonderland would they push their magic against his strange abilities?). The other students are keeping a very close eye on the girls’ Soul Gems. I mentioned in a long-ago post that even Lilia would demand Madoka present her Soul Gem to him for inspection once every week since Madoka is still distraught over what happened to Sayaka. 

Will the boys fight the Witches? Well, in terms of Octavia, the Heartslabyul boys will struggle to kill her, even after Homura explains that the Witch is no longer Sayaka and it’s better to put her out of her despair and give her Grief Seed to Madoka (though Madoka would let Adeuce keep Octavia’s Grief Seed; it’s the only thing the boys have left of Sayaka after all. Madoka at least have years worth of memories of them together). 

In terms of Walpurgisnacht, Homura would debrief the girls and boys the strongest Witch to ever exist (Keeping Kriemhild Gretchen to herself. For now. She really, really doesn’t want to open that horrible can of worms) and showed them just how powerful and destructive she can be using her magic. Malleus would be intrigued in fighting her though. 

4. What would the boys’ (especially dorm leaders) reaction be when Homura tell the truth of Soul Gems and she tells how she looping time to time for 12 years and 100 looping

Characters like Leona, Lilia and Malleus would be shocked stupid. Time magic is already an insanely OP power and Homura, a human child, been abusing and looping time just to find a way to kill Walpurgisnacht? Leona will straight up spit out that Homura’s insane and Lilia will silently agree with him, wondering if Homura has gone mad. Malleus couldn’t help but applaud Homura’s will and her careful planning in making sure her Soul Gem remains pure. Kalim will cry for her; he couldn’t imagine what sort of pain Homura purposely gone through just to save her friends (cue Homura’s awkwardly patting him on the back, telling him not to cry because she made her choices) 

5. And btw i am boy its weird boy love twisted wonderland(not really but i love the character design and story(i just hate riddle mom treat him to obey all rules, he need freedom:( ))

It’s cool! Twisted Wonderland and its fandom are some of the very few fandoms I really enjoy. But then again, I tend to keep to myself and some close friends so I don’t really see the dramas. And you’re right, the story and characters’ design are what hooked me in. I was introduced to Twisted Wonderland when I saw a fanart of a little Azul holding hands with Floyd and Jade, looking disgruntled at being treated like a kid while the Tweels just smirk. That’s why Azul and the Tweels will always be my favourite in the fandom!

Yeah... when you think about it, most of the characters have unhealthy relationships with their family. Riddle with his Mum, Leona with his status and brother, Azul with his childhood bullying, and while we don’t know what exactly happen with King and Queen Draconia, Malleus probably knew them for only a short time (hell, they could even pass away before he was hatched). 

[revchainsaw]

Stargate (1994)

Welcome to the Cult Film Tent Revival my freaky fanatics, prepare yourselves to take the sacrament from across the stars, as we engage in the miraculous works of one of our most beloved Cult Saints, Saint Kurt. Coming to us from the golden age of Sci-fi Adventures, when Hollywood would dump the big bucks into a film so out of this world, we are partaking this evening of 1994's Stargate!

The Message

Every child has an Egypt phase. I remember fondly flipping through my DK Eyewitness guide to ancient Egypt with my Anubis warrior action figure from the movie stargate propped up on my desk. This wasn't even school work, Egypt inspired this young freak to learn outside of the classroom, and Stargate inspired me to look to Egypt in the first place. My father was a military man, as mentioned before, and this film irked him to some degree. He hated that the film was slightly critical of firearms, but mostly he hated that it depicted the high security military installation where he worked unrealistically. You know the high security military installation in the side of Cheyenne Mountain. yeah, that one. I don't know why my father expected a bunch of nerds from Hollywood with not security clearance to have any idea what it looked like in that hyper-secure location, but he did. I suspect after they lost him on the guns he was looking for any reason to hate Stargate, and so, impressionable as I was, I thought for years that this movie was really stupid.

Thank the Gods of Cult that I had the inspiration to give this film a second chance. I have to say, it's a little stupid, but it's not REALLY stupid. Also, Disney's Atlantis is totally just animated Stargate, and that's pretty fucked up.

Stargate is the story of how a big old nerd, whos name is NOT Milo, played by James Spader was enlisted by a bunch of military bad guy types to use his crackpot pseudoscience egyptology crap to decipher a bunch of writings that every other scientist or academic was wrong about. When he does this he succesfully creates a Stargate, a bridge between our world and another.

Our other hero is Sergeant Kurt Russell. Russell is sitting around trying to take two and not call his doctor in the morning, just generally being sad about guns because his son accidentally shot himself. Like father like son I guess. Sorry if that sounds cruel, it's just so desperately reaching for pathos and drama that it kind of enters into the realm of parody parody. I may have been raised by gun nuts, but I am very pro depicting guns as dangerous. Stargate is about as subtle as a pie in the face, or a bullet in the face. Ok, I'm done. Anyway, the military has one more mission for Kurt and he decides for some reason that means that guns are good again for killing bad guys, except for later when he decides that guns are bad again.

So Disney's Atlantis and Guile from Street Fighter enter the Stargate and discover a world where illiterate humans are kept in subjugation by a ruling class of aliens who use them to mine precious minerals and demand to be worshipped as Gods. The leader of these aliens is an immortal alien being who has possessed the body of a teen boy pop sensation and goes by the name of Ra.

James Spader is gifted a wife by the locals because it's so quirky that women are property, i guess, but it's okay because they happen to be in love, and with her help he is able to learn the truth behind this worlds condition. Ra had built the Stargate to travel between worlds and was worshipped in Ancient Egypt, however the people got wise to his BS and he had to escape. He took many humans hostage and crossed the stargate and then banned reading and writing as an attempt to quell any kind of uprising, and it's worked for a long time.

Ra is pissed at the earth boys though because he knows a nuclear weapon when he sees one. Turns out Kurt Russell brought a big ol bomb with him across the stargate as a contingency plan for any aggro aliens they may have found. Hey, they found them so I guess it wasn't too bad of an idea. Ra punishes his worshippers by having them mercilessly bombed and Spader and Russell team up with the locals to revolt. They eventually gain the upper hand and Ra attempts to flee with his Pyramid space ship but our heroes teleport the nuke onto his ship and save the day. Thus launching several Sci-Fi television series that I have never watched.

The Benediction

Best Scene: Ra Footage

The Throne Room Scene where we are first introduced to Ra and his godlike warriors is pretty excellent. It's so menacing how he surrounds himself with a force field of children, and the combination of futuristic technology with an ancient Egyptian aesthetic that this film sells itself on is on it's ultimate display in this scene. I really like the villains in this movie and I savor whenever they get to be shown off.

Best effect: Mastadge Ride

The CG on Stargate is better than in Species which sought to be it's competitor a year later, but it is still dated. It's utilized in cool enough ways and sparingly enough that even though it looks cartoony at moments it is very easy to forgive. Being Easy to forgive however, would be a pretty lackluster qualification for best effect and I'm going to have to turn this honor to the practical creature effects for the Mastadge. When we are first introduced to our alien world one the first things we see is the fuzzy maw of one of these creatures, before it takes James Spader for a very harrowing trip across the desert. These alien beasts of burden do sometimes reveal that they are mounted upon horses, but in close ups they just look so good. I love them and I want one.

Worst Scene: It's just sad OK!

Kurt Russell becomes very popular with the young men from the village of Ra's worshippers. They come to see him as some kind of hero and seek to emulate him. However, these people are very peaceful and not in any way battle hardened. A group of the young men stand up to the leaders and seek to aid the Earthlings in their revolution. They are brave but in many ways out classed by Ra's elite guards. Through the sheer force of numbers they do succeed in casting off the shackles of their oppressors but not before one of the young men we've come to care about is tragically blasted all to shit in slow mo. That scene made me cry a ton when I was a kid, and I dreaded waiting for it as an adult. It is worth noting that if you aren't 5 years old a lot of the drama in Stargate is pretty hamfisted and corny. It's a pretty excellent action movie, and a pretty goofy drama.

Coolest looking Villain: Animals as Leaders

I used to think that Ra was really stupid looking, but I was a kid and was biased towards cool warriors with animal heads, but I really have a much better appreciation for the effects and costume design of all of the godly villain crew than I used to. That said, The Anubis guy in particular still holds up. It's the dope Jackal head, the teal of the armor. It's what I picture when I picture Stargate. The Horus guys are also worth a mention with their awesome hawk jets. I couldn't pick a "Best" villain, so I went with the Coolest Looking.

Worst Aspect: Lacking Character

When I have fond thoughts of Stargate, they almost never revolve around the characters, or if they do it's in a juvenile manner. Who had cool armor, who had cool weapons, or who did the coolest thing? I have a hard time caring about these meandering people. They are inconsistent. They have no flaws that they work on or grow from. They are special because the script insists that it's so, and I don't really care if they succeed or fail at any point in the film. It's a shame because we have a good set up, and good lore. If at any point any body acted like a real person I think Stargate would be better remembered as a film than as the weird older sibling of a long running television series.

Summary

I'd like to say that Stargate succeeds at everything it's trying to do, but it doesn't. Stargate fails in the tragedy and pathos it attempts to create within it's characters; but it does succeed in almost every other way. Stargate is an engaging and exciting action movie. Stargate delivers on it's science fiction concept, and provides some fun fantasy lore to round out it's world building. Stargate is also a great looking (at most times) special effects spectacle. For all of those reasons, It is not a great film, but it is pretty darn good film.

Overall Grade: B

[dandthegods]

Can you explain/sum up the overall attitude Hellenics have towards Riordan? I loved his books when I was much younger, and they're what got me into polytheism (I'm now much much more educated and take the books with a grain of salt). I just find it frustrating that polytheism is now such a trivialized religion. If people did a quarter of what they do to Polytheists to Christians, they'd absolutely freak you out. Also I love your blog!!

Thanks for the compliment, I’m glad you enjoy what I post.

Ooooookay, Riordan. In my opinion, he isn’t respectful to the religion and the Gods and the worshippers of them. On his website, giving an otherwise academic account of the earlier struggles of native Grecians trying to establish religious presence in Greece, he says, “We just found this posted from Associated Press — another story about an attempt by a tiny fringe group of Greeks to revive the worship of the Greek gods. For years, worshipping the Greek gods has been against the law in Greece. Now, this group is seeing how far freedom of religion can go. I love Greek myths, but why anyone would want to worship the Greek pantheon is beyond me. Still, it’ll be an interesting court case to watch.”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with his approach to modernizing the myths. He makes the main demigod characters relatable to kids that don’t get much representation. He makes it funny. He creates an odyssey of adventure in the books and creates new conflicts. He changes the god characters as they change in the traditional myths. Which is all fine. They’re meant to be entertaining and that is what happens.

BUT what changes and frankly sours many polytheists, myself included, is his attitude towards the religion itself and the people. He said the above quote along with these (sources I don’t have access to but here is the link to the post that gives them):

http://practical-magick.tumblr.com/post/116366161150/you-should-tell-us-about-how-rick-riordan-is-a

“It’s strange to think anyone would still worship the Olympians seriously” (X)

“I didn’t realize some people still worship the old Viking gods. Very strange, and a little scary…In my opinion, the more you learn about the mythology, the more impossible it is to take it seriously as a religion… after you’ve met Odin and Thor in the stories, who in their right mind would ever want to worship them?” (X)

“As long as we recognize them as stories that are part of our heritage and long-since stopped being any kind of serious religion” (X)

“Early in the book, the character Chiron makes a distinction between God, capital-G, the creator of the universe, and the Greek gods (lower-case g).” (X) “I don’t have the words for how much I hate this sense of religious superiority” (@ccconfidence )

“…Cernunnos is a bearded guy with horns, and he’s got… a torque, around each of his horns. Was he the god of playing ring toss games? Did you win a stuffed animal if you got one around his horns? I don’t know.” (X)

“…that horrible Disney animated movie based on his life” (X)

If you can’t tell in these quotes, Riordan takes the myths at face value and thinks the ancients and modern day worshippers did/do too. He treats the myths and thinks we treat the myths as many (if not most) Christians take the Bible: as canon fact of the deities.

Now, this contrasts greatly with Neil Gaiman, another author that modernized polytheistic gods. He focuses more on Norse Mythology in both his “American Gods” book and his retellings in “Norse Mythology”. Both are fantastic books and I recommend them. In “N.M.” he introduced it by explaining his process to writing these stories. He went through months of research, cross referencing CLASSICAL versions of the myths, asking and getting editorial advice from classicists and academics in the mythology. Essentially, he shows RESPECT for the mythology and the Gods. And that, I’ve never heard him say it, brings the feeling he would respect the worshippers of the Aesir and Vanir. In “A.G.” he creates versions of Odin and Loki and other gods of MANY pantheons that he expresses are not THE gods. Even at the end of the book (spoiler alert) he shows the actual Odin who explains the version of himself that the story was driven by was not, in fact, THE Odin.

At the end of the book, in a note section, Gaiman explains how his version of America in “American Gods” is not a true America as it is. He feels, and so do I, that he has made an America that is entirely fictional and other. I feel he accomplished that same aspect with the gods he wrote and kept it entirely fictional.

Okay, now that I’ve defended Gaiman, I’ll explain. When Gaiman writes about other people’s gods, even those who are not living any more (as many segments of American Gods illustrate) he shows respect and reference towards them. Riordan on the other than, does not. He mocks the religions his books’ mythologies are based on. He, when given the chance to acknowledge respectfully that others worship the Gods, outright mocks people and devalues us.

I’ve seen things and articles about him and his interviews and he seems to act like an authority on the mythologies he writes about. Greek, Kemetic, Norse, all of them he boasts a “superiority complex” when it comes to his knowledge. And I personally don’t think he should. If he takes them at face value and doesn’t see the reason for myths as entertainment, lessons, and pure FICTION inside of the religion, then he doesn’t understand the myths and isn’t as knowledgable as he claims to be. Gaiman, on the other hand, says in his exposition in “N.M.” that he wishes he could write about the lesser known gods and giants in the Norse mythos but he doesn’t and says it wouldn’t be right for him to assume he can. He shows more understanding of the purpose of myth than Riordan.

When I first saw that he was coming out with the Magnus Chase series, i honestly got upset. Not only was yet ANOTHER pantheon and its worshippers going to get the same treatment, but it was the heritage of my family (my family is 100% Norwegian and as Norse as it goes outside of the worship). So Riordan’s words and attitudes follow him wherever he goes, in my opinion. IF he ever did apologize, earnestly and honestly take back the words he has said and actually LEARNED about the religions he so openly and unfairly mocks, then I would give him a little forgiveness, but as that has yet to be even alluded to, I still say he is an asshat.

So, in short (as I could go on), Riordan is disrespectful towards the Gods, religion, and the worshippers both ancient and modern of any polytheistic religion he decides to incorrectly appropriate with his books. He is unapologetic towards his words against our beliefs and doesn’t see us as sane, moral, and valuable human beings. And he takes the myths at face value and thinks he’s an authority on them. Furthermore, this attitude seems to rub off on his fan base and fandom making it to where they think they know the myths and everything because they read his books. This makes it incredibly hard for worshippers to go through tags and find good, religious content, and for us to hold reasonable conversations and NOT be seen as simply book nerds who take it a little far.

Hope that answers your question. If you want to discuss it more, comment on this, or send me a message and I’ll be happy to reply!

Cheers!-D

[coraltae]

Catch for Me Pt. 1

genre: fluff, sports, slice of life, high school au, baseball player au, diamond no ace au

pairing: taehyung x reader (ft. bts and seventeen members)

word count: 3800++

warning: none

author's note: hi everyone, I’m back with another series, which is quite different from The Seven Deadly Sins (TSDS is still my priority). I love sports anime, so I really want to try writing sports au, though I’m not too sure if it turns out to be a complete failure lol. I was trying something new as I was working on this story. Hope you’ll like this one too!

summary: Being a daughter of a former professional baseball player, you had been taught how to play the sport since you were little and you’d grown to love it - a little bit too much, actually. Even if you couldn’t play in official games, you still enjoyed playing catcher for the team’s pitchers. However, it’s not until after meeting a certain pitcher in high school that you finally found someone’s pitches you wanted to catch the most.

Part 1 (on-going)

"Strike! Batter out! Game set! South Korea team wins!"

The second the umpire announced his last judgment of the game, half the spectators in the stadium jumped to their feet and roared in joy at once. Some of them threw their caps up high, some others hugged fellow spectators to celebrate. A lot of them were seen tearing up in happiness.

It's the one and only time South Korea national baseball team won the Baseball World Cup. How you wished you were there in person during the historical moment to watch the game live. Moreover, when your dad was the ace pitcher standing on the mound, throwing the last pitch that struck out USA team's last batter.

"Yes!" you cheered in unison with the crowds on TV as if you were there with them in the bleachers at the same time when in fact, it happened around twenty years ago when Dad was still active as a part of South Korea national baseball team.

Sanghyuk, your one year younger brother, shouted even louder than you while slamming his fist on the dining table excitedly, almost spilling his milk as he did. "Way to go, Dad!"

Your mom emerged from the kitchen with her hands on her hips, looking furious. Glaring at her daughter and son, she approached the dining table and grabbed the remote control to turn it off.

"But Mom," you protested, "we haven't got to the winning ceremony part yet."

Sanghyuk jumped to his feet and attempted to snatch the remote control from Mom only to fail miserably when she shoved it inside her apron's pocket.

"I have nothing against you replaying your dad's game," Mom started fumingly. "But it's not okay if it's going to make you late on your first day of school. Get up and go already! Your dad is going to be late too!"

However, Dad was currently preoccupied with the sports news he's reading that he couldn't hear what his wife was saying. "What? Black Dragon lost again? Just how many losses are we going to have this season? It's our longest losing streak. If only I can-"

Mom was practically boiling with anger by now as she yelled, "Just get out of the house, you baseball freaks!"

You, Sanghyuk, and Dad flinched at Mom's thundering voice. The three of you quickly got up from your seats and grabbed your things on the couch. With backpack slung over one shoulder and sports bag in hand, you hurried out of the house, following Dad and Sanghyuk into the car. Sanghyuk occupied the seat beside the driver's like usual, so you got into the back seat.

"Your mom called us baseball freaks but she loves us anyway," Dad sniggered as he started the engine of the car.

Sanghyuk crossed his arms across his chest after putting on seatbelt and huffed in irritation. "I don't get it. What is Mom so angry about? She watches the game a lot of times more than us at home."

You peeked at the digital clock on the car's dashboard and let out a strangled yelp. "Mom's got a point. We're late. Don't you have a shoot this morning, Dad?"

"For the sports drink ads? Yeah, but it won't start until-" Dad glanced at the clock. "What? It's this late already?"

Dad stepped on the gas and hurriedly drove you to school, mumbling how Mom would kill him if she knew he dropped you off late. While Sanghyuk kept complaining that it's totally fine to be late because he didn't have any intention to be a model student anyway. You told him off, reminding him that Mom wouldn't let him play baseball if his performance was bad at school. He fell silent immediately.

You rushed out of the car as Dad pulled over at Yonhap High School. The backpack and the sports bag weighed you down, but you had no choice other than sprinting all the way to the school hall. Since you're awfully late, the entrance ceremony must have started already.

Dad rolled down the car window. "I'll come back later after school, Y/N!"

Sanghyuk's laughter was heard from beside him. "Run faster! You might have a chance to enter the track team!"

He's lucky you had no time to deal with him. If not, you would have smacked him in the head for his unnecessary comment.

You cussed under your breath as you entered the school and were faced with the shoes lockers, which meant you had to change your shoes first with indoor shoes before stepping into the school premises. Luckily, you were wearing slip-on shoes, so you managed to change shoes much quicker.

Without even stopping to find out which class you're assigned to, you ran straight to the school hall, dismissing the teachers in the corridor trying to scold you for being late. The hall was already packed with students when you got there and the ceremony was halfway through. A male student - you supposed he was the student representative - was standing on the stage, in the middle of giving his speech. You thought you were doomed, but then you spotted your friend from middle school, Jihye, waved at you. Ignoring the stares from the teachers and the other students, you went over to sit next to her; you're grateful she'd saved a seat for you even when you forgot to ask her to.

Jihye sighed as you put down your things on the floor near your feet. "I don't even want to know why you're late. I can pretty much guess why. You should have at least tried to be punctual on the first day, though."

You laughed apologetically. "Sorry, Jihye. You know our family. We get distracted most of the time. So, what did I miss?"

Shrugging, Jihye said in an uninterested tone, "Nothing much. Some lame ass speeches maybe." She cocked her head towards the male student delivering his speech in front of the whole school. "But don't you think that guy is cute? He's in our class."

So you were in the same class as Jihye and this speech guy. You studied the guy for a while. Instead of paying attention to his face to confirm what Jihye had said, you were more interested in his somewhat quite built physique. "He seems pretty athletic. I wonder if he plays baseball."

Jihye shook her head at your excessive passion for baseball. "I should have known. You haven't changed at all, Y/N. I haven't met you since our last day in middle school and still, there's only baseball in your head. We're finally in high school. You should give a bit more thoughts on dating."

Honestly, dating had never really crossed your mind until Jihye mentioned it. You'd been actively playing baseball and joining little league team since elementary school days, although you couldn't be a regular in middle school because the regulation forbid women to participate in official baseball tournament. With so many practice schedules, you had no time to think about relationships.

"Maybe later. I'd rather focus on baseball for now. Baseball is all I have after all," you answered drily as your attention slowly shifted from the speech guy to the guy sitting next to you.

What caught your eye was the baseball he was holding. He kept tossing and catching it - very softly so the ball wouldn't fly too far away from his hand - as if he was playing catch on his own. Occasionally, he changed his grip on the ball before tossing it again. He was trying not to be conspicuous by not letting the ball go higher than his face. Although, you doubted the teacher wouldn't notice a student holding a baseball in the middle of entrance ceremony.

It didn't take an expert to guess that he played pitcher after a few minutes of close observation. He changed his grip rather often, so you assumed he had quite a few variations of pitches. He would be a great asset for the team, you thought happily.

"Hey there," you greeted him out of the blue, catching him off guard, causing him to almost drop the ball to the ground. "Are you joining the baseball team?"

He nodded absentmindedly, his eyes showing that he totally didn't expect you to talk to him, much less ask him about joining the school's baseball team.

You practically beamed at him in excitement. "Cool! I'm joining too as a manager! I can't wait to see you throw later! I'm Y/N by the way, what's your name?"

"God, Y/N! You're too loud!" Jihye hissed from your other side. "And you're scaring him, for goodness' sake!"

Laughing awkwardly, he shook his head. "No, no. It's fine. I'm Taehyung."

"My name is Jihye," Jihye introduced herself. "I apologize for my baseball idiot friend, Taehyung. And if I'm not wrong, you're in class A?"

Taehyung seemed surprised. "How did you know?"

Jihye shrugged. "I saw your name when I was searching mine and hers." She cocked her head towards you. "We're in the same class."

"Can I ask why did you come to this school?" you asked the question weighing on your mind since before the start of school year, cutting short the introduction session. "I mean, I'm grateful that baseball players actually want to enroll in this brand new school, but won't you normally want to go to powerhouse schools like Shinyang?"

"I was scouted," Taehyung simply answered. "This school provides accomodation for sports scholarship students from out of town. On top of that, I don't need to take any academic exams. So yeah, I accepted it. It's a hard work to convince Mom that Seoul is safe, though. She thinks it's dangerous here."

It was a rather disheartening answer from a baseball player. You were quite disappointed to hear he didn't take baseball that seriously. But then again, you shouldn't judge people just from their passion for baseball. Not all people playing baseball were as dedicated as Dad and Sanghyuk. You should stop comparing other players to them.

"But," Taehyung suddenly spoke again, stopping your train of thoughts, "I want to challenge myself. From where I come from, there aren't many guys my age who play baseball. That's why I came all the way here to Seoul. I want to see if I have a chance against the awesome players here."

Listening to his words, you couldn't help but break into a smile. Taehyung wasn't as bad as you'd thought. He was just a pure, innocent baseball freak who went out of his way to leave his hometown to see how far he could go in a big city. His strong enthusiasm for baseball was seen through his fiery eyes, and that sight always successfully captivated you. Nothing was more admirable than seeing someone passionately chasing their dream.

The countless speeches with varied speakers from the headmaster until the representatives from each after school clubs - when it was baseball club's turn, you were dragged to the stage by one of the teachers, probably as your punishment for being late - finally came to an end after what seemed like forever. Bringing you to the teacher's office instead of your new classroom, the teacher who had made you say a few words on behalf of the baseball team against your will gave you a long lecture about the importance of punctuality. You tuned her out after the first few seconds.

The chatterbox teacher sent you back to your classroom when the homeroom was already finished. Somehow, you and Taehyung ended up as class representatives without you agreeing to the extra job. Jihye filled you in that the homeroom teacher thought you would be able to learn to be more responsible with this. Apparently, Taehyung was also chosen because he was caught playing with baseball during the entrance ceremony. The first day of school was pretty much a hassle so far.

"I can't wait for the school to end," you mumbled, your voice muffled because you buried your face in your backpack on the table.

Jihye, whose seat was in front of you, turned her back to say, "The first period hasn't even started yet."

"I want my ball back." Taehyung sighed as he kept clenching and unclenching his right fist in the seat next to yours; the homeroom teacher had confiscated his baseball. "It feels weird if I'm not gripping something."

Jihye groaned in exasperation and spun around to face the whiteboard again. "I can't believe I'm stuck with two baseball freaks. Give me a break. Just don't talk to me."

Lucky for Jihye, the first period's teacher walked in the next second and forced the class to fall silent immediately. You could hardly concentrate on the lesson since the nextdoor class' first period was P.E. and they were playing baseball outside. From where you were sitting, right by the window, you could clearly see the baseball field beside the school's building. And the clank of the metal bat hitting the baseball sounded very nice in your ears that you wanted to join them play badly, instead of listening to the boring history lesson.

Taehyung must have the same thought. His head snapped towards the window everytime the clank was heard. It'd been a while since you met a person who was as crazy in love with baseball as your family. With all the latest trends in technology, you were happy that some people still loved playing old school sports like baseball.

Baseball hasn't died yet, you thought cheerfully.

***

Taehyung was beyond frustrated when Teacher Bang, his homeroom teacher, asked him and you to stay behind in class to help him with completing the class' attendance list after the school ended. Despite already itching to throw some pitches, he sat back down and quietly worked on the list since Teacher Bang promised to return his baseball once he finished with the task.

"This is stupid," Taehyung heard you mutter under your breath while ticking the boxes beside the names on the list paper he'd created. "Who the hell is Jung Chungoong?"

"It's Jeon Jungkook, actually. The student's rep. You know, the speech guy," Taehyung answered distractedly, not stopping from copying the names of the class A's students list he'd stolen from the announcement board.

In his peripheral vision, Taehyung saw you tick the box next to Jungkook's name on the newly made list and strain your eyes again to decipher Teacher Bang's horrible scribble. You lasted only a few seconds before groaning out loud. "Forget it. I give up. I'll just tick everyone's name. No one is absent today anyway. Right?"

Taehyung only answered with a hum and sprang to his feet immediately as he finished writing the last name. He hurriedly gave the paper to you while grabbing his things.

"I'm going first, Y/N," Taehyung said hastily, rushing to exit the class. "Don't forget to get my baseball from Teacher Bang. Thank you in advance. See you in the field."

"Hey, wait for me, Taehyung!" Taehyung heard you shout as he passed through the door, but he ignored you and ran straight to the baseball field. Although feeling sorry to leave you, he couldn't wait to play with his new teammates. He was too excited to see how awesome the players in Seoul were that he almost forgot changing his indoor shoes with baseball cleats before going out to the field.

The coach and the new baseball team members were seen standing on the field, the players lining up in an orderly fashion, seemingly in the middle of introduction. Taehyung picked the outermost position so that he wouldn't disturb their self-introduction session. The coach saw him coming but didn't say anything; Taehyung assumed he was excused.

"I'm Park Jimin from class A. I play shortstop. I used to play for Hwadam Middle School in Busan," a boy loudly announced, looking very excited and cheerful. Taehyung was elated to know he was surrounded with boys who liked baseball as much as he was. His friends back in his hometown didn't even find baseball fun; they were only playing because he invited them to.

"I'm Jeon Jungkook from class A. I play catcher. I also used to play for Hwadam Middle School in Busan," the boy whom Taehyung remembered as Jungkook from the entrance ceremony said.

"Next," the coach urged when no one spoke afterwards, his eyes meeting Taehyung's.

Taehyung flinched as he realized it must be his turn. "I'm Taehyung from class A. I play pitcher. I used to play for Baeksu Middle School in Daegu," Taehyung copied the way the others did.

"Is that everyone, Scout Han?" the coach asked the lady beside him; Taehyung recognized her as the lady who had scouted him back in Daegu a few months ago.

Scout Han scanned her clipboard and nodded. "Yes, everyone's here. Twenty of them."

"Firstly, I want to ask you..." The coach looked at Taehyung, asking for his name.

"It's Taehyung, Coach," Taehyung offered nervously. It seemed the coach wouldn't let him off the hook for coming late.

As Taehyung had feared, the coach asked, "Taehyung, why are you late?"

"Sorry, Dad. He was with me."

Taehyung saw you running towards the team with Jihye, already wearing training pants. He was wondering why you were here before he was reminded about his conversation with you this morning. You had said something to him about joining as a manager. Jihye must be joining too since she came with you. But what surprised him the most was the fact that you called the coach 'dad'.

"What took you guys so long?" the coach asked you.

"Me and Taehyung are class reps," you said matter-of-factly.

The coach burst into laughter. "I'm worried about the future of the class."

"It's not like I wanted it," you mumbled in irritation.

"Jihye, you're joining?" the coach asked Jihye. Taehyung guessed you and Jihye had been friends for quite a while since your father knew her.

Jihye shrugged. "Y/N begged me to help. I know nothing about baseball, though. Sorry if I disappoint you, Uncle Yong."

"No worries, Jihye. We need all the help we can get." Coach Yong turned to face the players back. The longer Taehyung studied the coach's face, the more familiar he seemed. He just couldn't remember where he'd seen him before. "To all of you, welcome to the team. Some of you might have recognized me, but let me introduce myself. I'm Yong Hyunjin, a former pro baseball athlete." Taehyung nodded as a sign of recognition after the coach's self-introduction, finally getting why he looked so familiar; he must have seen him in TV or something. "You can just call me Coach Yong. I know this school is totally brand new and we only have first-year students this year, but there's nothing wrong with setting our goal high. I'm counting on you guys to bring me to the nationals."

Some of them started whispering, some others laughed bitterly. No one seemed to have the confidence to go to the nationals. Even Taehyung found it nearly impossible. How could you possibly hope a group of first-years which was just formed to win against powerhouses?

"Coach, aren't you expecting too much from us?" a foreign player, whom Taehyung didn't know the name of, asked, sounding more like accusing than questioning. He didn't seem to agree with the coach's goal for the team wholeheartedly and instead, viewed it as a ridiculous request. "We barely know each other on the team while other schools have probably been playing together for three years."

Coach Yong shook his head in disagreement. "It depends on you, whether you take this seriously or not. I believe we can, if we're all in this together. It's up to you to make this work. So, are we good?"

"Yes," a few of them mumbled in a low voice. Some others were hesitant to answer, seemingly still thinking it's impossible to go to the nationals with freshly made team. Taehyung weren't sure of what to think of this. It's worth the try, but logically, it's too early for them to think about nationals when it's still unclear whether they would be able to pass the second round. It's much more reasonable to set the target to reach the quarterfinals or semifinals in the first year. He didn't want to be pessimistic, but he also didn't want to get his hopes up too high.

"Sure, we can!" Jimin the shortstop piped up excitedly, totally a contrast with the others. "We have Jungkook on the team! He's one of the best players in Busan!"

"Shut up, Jimin," Jungkook said in exasperation. "You're exaggerating."

Taehyung supposed that the two of them had known each other for quite a while. He recalled that they were indeed from the same middle school from their introduction. They must have been playing baseball together for quite a while. Honestly, he was envious that they had each other to play baseball with, unlike him.

"I like that spirit, Jimin," Coach Yong said and gave Jimin a thumbs up. "Now, we'll see how good you are in the position you've chosen. Pitchers and catchers first. Pair up and throw some pitches."

Taehyung knew he was in deep trouble. He arrived late at the field when almost all of them had done with their introductions - only Jungkook and Jimin left. The only catcher he knew was Jungkook and someone already came up to him right after Coach Yong finished talking. He scanned his surroundings and his spirit sank as all of the players wearing catcher's gear sets already had their partners. No one was going to play with him too here.

"Hey, why are you just standing there?" You arched your brow at Taehyung, approaching him when nobody else did. "You're a pitcher, right?"

But Taehyung was much more intrigued with the catcher's gear sets you were wearing. "Aren't you a manager?"

“Manager-slash-catcher,” you corrected him. “Dad asked me to help the pitchers train. So yeah, it’s a pain. I’d rather be playing in some real games, but apparently some stupid regulation doesn’t allow girls to play in official high school baseball tournament, so I’m not complaining. This is a lot better than being unable to play at all.”

Taehyung beamed at you, despite your story behind becoming catcher for training pitchers on the team. He finally found a catcher to play with. He couldn’t be any happier than this. “Great! Then can you catch for me?”

You rolled your eyes. “Were you even listening to me? If I’m not going to catch for you, then what am I wearing this gear for?” You threw a baseball at him, which he caught easily with his pitcher’s glove. “Here’s your ball. It’s a hassle to get it back from Teacher Bang - you’re welcome. You’d better throw some decent pitches or you’d be stuck doing class rep’s chores alone for a week. I still haven’t forgiven you for leaving me alone with that damn attendance list.”

“Sorry.” Taehyung apologetically grinned. “Challenge accepted. Make sure you don’t let the balls pass your back.”

You tapped your catcher’s mitt against his chest. “Don’t underestimate me, young man. Although I’m a girl, I’m still the daughter of the famous ex-pro baseball player.”

author’s note: Tell me what you think about the first chapter! I hope I didn’t ruin it too badly. Feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

[anodyne-sunflower]

The Yearbook (Part 3)-High School series

A/N: Part 3! Here we go. The more I write this the more I realize multiple endings is going to be the challenge of my writing hobby…I’m dreading it lol But, I’ll try my best. If it doesn’t come to fruition please understand developing love between one person with 6 or 7 admirers is hell lol Fuck me. Every chapter proves a challenge.

MOOD MUSIC: Everybody talks by Neon Trees

***

Thank the heavens for the bell, in this moment it was the most beautiful sound to grace your ears. If Marius had stared any second longer you would’ve melted under that enchanting gaze. How can people so easily work such charms? It was almost unfair that they existed. You never considered yourself perfect, far from it, but even the endearing traits you held weren’t on par with his. It was like the men at this school were graced by the gods when it came to looks, because you felt your attraction spinning out of control with all the new and familiar faces.

“Are you-“

“I,” The word was drawn out, your nerves kicking in once again when Marius leaned over to you. You weren’t sure what question he was going to ask, but you weren’t going to stick around for it. You were far too flustered at this point, and nothing coherent was building in your mind. “Have to…” You gazed towards the doors to the hallway, eyes widening when you saw Newt passing them by. He was no doubt waiting on you now, hoping to enjoy the small five minutes before the next classes started. You could jump him with joy right now, because he was certainly the perfect excuse to leave Marius hanging. If only to ease your embarrassment about this awkward situation. “My friend!”

“What?” The French student raised an eyebrow, confused by your sudden outburst. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to comprehend your sentence, because you rose from your stool and grabbed your bag on the way out. “Wait, I-“

But, you ignored his words, not wanting to increase the anxiety bubbling up from the encounter. Life at eighteen shouldn’t be this difficult, yet here you were freaking out over another student who just so happened to be handsome. Let’s add that to the number of other guys here you were crushing on. “Newt!”

The student looked up from his notebook, smiling when he found you rushing out of the theatre. He wasn’t expecting you to enjoy the class, but your uncomfortable expression was still a shock. “Are you alright? You look…confused.”

“Y-Yeah…sure. Great.” You blurted out, blushing when you felt Marius still staring after you from the windows on the classroom doors. Did he even realize how much of an effect he had on you? Because, if so…he could stop. “Um, how was class?”

Newt was further confused by your odd behavior. He was used to the number of times you grew flustered, particularly around a certain athlete, but he knew Stephen wasn’t in that class. For all his talents, acting wasn’t one of them. A slight perk in his favor, because even he could pass theatre without a problem. Granted, most of what he said seemed odd to people and therefore they believed he was simply joking with them. “It was…fine.” Newt leaned over, trying to gaze into the classroom as if that would provide the answer for him. Unfortunately, you grabbed his arm and began pulling him away. No doubt embarrassed by whatever caused your shaky demeanor. “I really must-“

“So, science, huh? Bet that was fun.”

“Yes, it was. You’re acting very strange, Y/N.” He whisked his arm away from you, stopping at the small table in the corner of the hallway. He didn’t like secrets, even if prying wasn’t his hobby, he preferred you be clear with him. But, if he was being honest, the blush along your features was the cause for his curiosity. Call it a teenage boy’s jealousy, but he knew what that look meant. “Is Stephen…?”

You dropped down onto the bench, throwing your head back and covering your face with your bag. “What? No! Why would you-“ But, it occurred to you how observant Newt could be. For as long as you could remember your crush on Stephen was a simple secret you kept, but eventually someone would find out. You practically gaped at the athlete every time you came to school. At least Newt wouldn’t tell anyone, and you always suspected he already knew without giving all the details. Still, his pointed look made you sink into your seat. “He’s not in my class. Geez.” You weren’t sure why you couldn’t break the news of the French student to Newt, but for some reason you felt he’d be less enthused by the notion. Maybe it was because he already seemed annoyed at your crush on Stephen, but you didn’t want him to feel anymore uncomfortable than necessary.

“Oh…”

“Why?”

“Sorry, what?”

“Never mind.” You opted to ignore his disappointed look, thinking he was just daydreaming about animals or something. Or the current state of conservation in the world, like he so regularly did. “So, lunch on campus today? Or…”

“Campus is fine.” Newt watched as the other students walked by, some of them bumping into him like he didn’t exist. Not that it ever bothered him, he was well aware of the nature of his position here. People, particularly teenagers, loathe those who would step out of the norm. It’s like they couldn’t comprehend human beings were all different, which he found interesting and regularly took note of. “Cafeteria is serving somewhat decent food today.”

“Lucky us.” Time didn’t allow for much socializing between classes, and you knew Newt had other places to be besides huddled into a corner listening to you drone on about nothing. “I’ll see you in a bit then.” You rose from the chair, standing awkwardly for a second while Newt stayed quiet. He seemed preoccupied with his thoughts, and not wanting to disturb them you simply left with a small smile. Sometimes your friend had moments of acting odd, you always assumed it was his way. But, as the years of being together flew by the more it caused some concern to you. Your mother liked to joke it was a crush, but the very idea of Newt ever liking you in that matter made you burn with embarrassment. “A crush. Pfft.” You sighed heavily, turning the hallway and heading down into the gymnasium.

By the time you made it in, all the other girls were already dressed into gym clothes. Athletic skills was not something you were blessed with, but you enjoyed this period if only for the peace and quiet it brought. Your gym teacher, Mrs. Knight, was not exactly hellbent on working you all to the bone. Her idea of exercise was handing you guys a dodgeball and blowing her whistle until one of you got smacked in the face with it. Most students liked her for her laid back attitude, you being one of them, but not everyone was made to enjoy this period.

“Take your inhaler, Mr. Doolittle. Last thing I need is another kid passing out on me.” Mrs. Knight mumbled on about not getting paid enough, but she threw the student’s inhaler towards him only to shake her head when he struggled to catch it. He was a lanky individual, very pale and honestly quite sickly looking. If not for the bright green in his eyes, you would’ve thought the poor guy dead. He shook the inhaler over and over again, but it was obvious there was very little left of the medication.

“Y/N.” You jumped at the sound of your name, heart easing up when you found your teacher standing next to you. She had one eyebrow raised, dodgeball bouncing up and down in her hand as she looked you over. “Bring your clothes this time?”

“Oh, yes, Mrs. Knight. Sorry.” You gave her a cheeky smile, lifting your backpack as if to prove you had everything. Luckily you did somewhere in your locker, where your clothes sat over the course of the summer. Without a further word, you ran off into the locker rooms to change, leaving her with an amused look that faded when she looked towards the other students.

***

“Damn it.” You cursed under your breath, once again turning the lock to the right combination. At least what you assumed was the correct combination, over the summer you hadn’t bothered keeping such information on hand. Newt may have been the type to take school home with him, you never did. Once that last bell rang, you were quick to shut your mind off to anything academic related. “36…left…no…wait…” you paused between turns, knowing you had likely messed it up again. Whatever happened to using simple master locks? That would’ve been a great deal better for you. Although losing the key was also a likely outcome.

“Y/N?”

That voice, you knew it so well. Every time he spoke it was like your heart ascended to heaven and all was right with the world. That is if you were comfortable using dramatic imagery for your crush on him. And seeing as how your cheeks instantly flushed and your words stuck in your throat, you were. “S-Stephen?” You turned your head to him, still leaning over the lock and fumbling with the dial. “What are you doing in the girls locker room?” You didn’t fancy him a pervert, but he seemed awfully comfortable in here.

“Well, this is the boys locker room.” Stephen’s expression was beyond amused, and having him stand there completely shirtless with nothing but joggers on was too much for your love struck heart to take. His normally kept hair was a mess on his head, freckled skin slightly red from being out in the sun. And you wouldn’t even dare to let your eyes wander down his lean chest where sweat dripped like some ichor of the gods. It was too pleasant, and honestly who would blame you the brief glance?

“Uh…” You choked back an excuse, thoughts now conflicted on what was worse: being inside the boys locker room, or gawking at the track star like he was some prized piece of meat. “Is it?” Certainly by now he was well aware of your hungry gaze, and perhaps the chuckle he released was proof enough. But, you couldn’t tear your eyes away from him. He was so handsome, and so kind and all the good qualities a human being could have. You imagined all sorts of daring fantasies then, all of them ending up far too R rated for a high school student to have. You tried to appeal to the mature woman in you, but that just made you enable your daydreams further.

“I can’t imagine you’ll get much out of that locker. That’s Eddie’s…in fact, maybe you should step away from that.” The athlete was concerned, nothing belonging to the rebel cowboy could be good for the general public. He walked towards you, still smiling at the dazed off look you had. He knew he had a certain effect on girls, not that he abused such a blessing, but seeing you leaned over the locker and blushing was an adorable sight. “Do you want me to escort you back to the girls locker room?”

By this point you were gone. Off somewhere in a fantasy land where Stephen had you against a wall, and hardly allowed a word to escape you. After all, having your lips occupied with his and that talented tongue was prone to cause silence aside from happy moans. “Sure.” You simply responded, backing into the lockers when he passed you by. If only he could trap you there, and ravish you in ways your inexperienced mind didn’t think was possible. You had to entertain the idea he was great at that sort of thing, eighteen or not, it was possible both of you were still virgins. But, certainly he felt needs like you did.

“Do you want to go now?” He laughed, pointing towards the door that led back outside.

“What? Oh! Yeah…yeah…” You coughed pathetically, shaking away the erotic thoughts and trying to regain what little dignity you had. But, with him staring down at you in amusement, it was hard to ignore the heat building up on your face. Not to mention the one smoldering away in your lower abdomen. “I can show myself out. Bye!” A quick and embarrassing escape. But, you couldn’t handle the shame anymore. If he wasn’t aware of your crush before, he certainly was now. As you ran outside of the locker room you didn’t dare glance back at him. You were just busying yourself with ideas on how to redeem your unfortunate awkwardness.

Stephen wasn’t so torn up by the situation though, and tried his best to call after you before he heard the door slam. He watched it swing a couple of times, still thinking about that shy stare of yours. Whether you willed it or not, he couldn’t help but smile at the surprise meeting.

***

“What is wrong with me?” You rambled about, pacing the hallway just outside the gym. You could already hear the laughter and screams coming from inside, the game of dodgeball in full swing. Through the door windows you could make out some students simply sitting on the bleachers, none of them interested in participating in the old sport. Part of you didn’t blame them. Dodgeball became a pretty easy outlet for some teenage angst, and that always meant a visit to the school nurse.

“I don’t have all day, Y/N.” Mrs. Knight pushed open the door, beckoning you inside and towards the game. She didn’t truly care what you did, so long as it took place inside the gym away from the principal. “Come on. And next time bring your clothes!”

You didn’t exactly have the nerve to explain how another student distracted you from changing. And even if you had the proper words you weren’t sure you could openly admit it. “Coming.” You reluctantly agreed, thinking it was best for you to be away from Stephen. Chances are he’d be trotting down the hallway to the track in all his athletic glory. As fun as that was to witness, you didn’t need more embarrassment for the day. You had your unpleasant fill.

“Alright, come on, girls! You can do better than that.” Mrs. Knight took a seat on the side, opening up her magazine and randomly blowing her whistle whenever she heard someone whining.

You rolled your eyes at the others, watching them throw the ball back and forth until the horrid sound of it hitting someone echoed in the room. The fact that it was mainly girls made it even worse. They truly had it out for one another, no doubt falling victim to the rivalries of who was the better looking man in school. If you listened carefully, Balem’s and Stephen’s name got throw around quite a bit. There might’ve even been a few Marius’ in there.

“Alright, Qwerty. There you go. Breathe in slowly, now out slowly.”

You gazed over at the end of the bleachers, curiously watching as the nurse patted the sickly looking boy on the back. He was smiling awkwardly, coughing weakly before taking another puff of his inhaler. P.E. hadn’t even gone on more than twenty minutes before the poor guy was hunched over and struggling to breathe.

“Is that better?”

“Yes, thank you, Mrs. Karpinski.” He blushed faintly when she smiled at him, taking back his medication and stuffing it into her smock. She fussed over him for a second, clearly taking on some parental role considering how often he must have been in her office.

“Great. Now remember, take it easy. I don’t want you back in my office again.” She teased, although the concern she showed him was obvious.

“I promise.” He smiled, waving as she went back towards the doors and to her office. You had to whip your head back to the game, not wanting the guy to know you were just being nosy. It wasn’t like asthma was something new, but actually seeing someone suffer for it was a bit heart wrenching. Teenagers could be cruel, and judging by the giggles coming from across Qwerty it had already started.

“Geez.” You sighed, debating whether to keep him company or not. You never spoke to him before, only passed him in the halls on occasion last semester. Other than his name, there was very little you knew of him. Unfortunately, life wanted to keep it that way for now because the bell rang for next period. On the bright side, that meant lunch was next and you were ready to run out of here.

You practically knocked over everyone on your way out, manners pushed aside when you pranced out of the gym. As far as you were concerned, this was one of the best parts of the day. Granted, the end of the day bell was still in the lead.

“Newt!” You found the studious teen neck deep in a book, mindlessly apologizing to those he bumped shoulders with in the hall. He hardly cared for them, even when they shot him nasty looks. “Newt!”

Newt finally glanced up, smiling when you came running over and almost toppling him to the ground. “I am so glad to see you.” You hugged him tightly, happy to be free of classes and able to enjoy an hour away from it all. Not to mention feeling more secure around someone after that tragic mishap in the locker rooms.

Newt blinked in confusion, book dangling from one hand while the other rested on your upper back. “Likewise…?” He didn’t understand where this sudden affection came from, but he wasn’t about to shy away from it. “Shall we?” He asked, moving you both along the busy hallway while still being trapped in a hug.

“Yes, anything to be away from here.” You pried yourself free of him, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him down into the cafeteria. There was already many tables taken, and by the time you two managed to grab lunch twenty minutes had been wasted. “So tell me again, what exactly is your project?”

“It’s not really a project. More of a petition.” Newt cut the apple on his tray into chunks, sneakily placing some of them up his sleeve and into the tiny mouth of his sugar glider, Jacob. “It’s to stop congress from allowing the oil industry to further harm marine life.”

“Smart. What do you have to do then?”

Newt continued on about the dirty details, but all of his words slowly slipped out the window of your mind. And just when you thought you escaped the embarrassing moment of the day, Stephen so happened to walk into the lunchroom. Needless to say, all the girls turned their heads to him. Each one heavily swooning over the star athlete and likely performing the same daydream you had earlier. If you looked anything like they did, you felt that shame dig deeper. Unbeknownst to you, however, another student hadn’t missed the longing glance you were sending Stephen’s way.

“Why the fuck did you wanna stay on campus today, sounds like a goddamn waste to me.” Eddie flicked some fries from his plate, laughing when he hit another kid on the head. No one dared to say anything to him, otherwise they faced more than the wrath of the cowboy. “Now I got all these damn teachers watching me like I’m about to light a damn-“

“Silence, for once, Eddie.” Balem rubbed at his temples, watching you carefully with the utmost interest. He hadn’t seen you for a good portion of the summer, save for that run in whilst grocery shopping with your parents. He never really paid attention to you after losing touch over the years, but there was something different about you now. A detail he only took notice of when he saw you this morning. Like the summer managed to take the awkward girl he knew and turn her into a beautiful woman. Not that any of your weird qualities had matured over the months, because you still seemed drenched in awkwardness from head to toe. Hanging around that Newt Scamander guy likely didn’t help your reputation.

“You got the hots for her or somethin’?” Eddie laid his chin on his arms, bored out of his mind while he watched his friend lustily gaze at you. Part of him understood the appeal, the sweet and innocent firecracker that you were. It was hard not to be enticed by you, but he was never one to busy his mind with relationships. He figured he had years to find a solid girlfriend, and being eighteen meant he had better things on his mind. Mainly like finding time to smoke, or tormenting other kids in the school.

“I told you to shut up.” Balem glared at Eddie, not keen on delivering all his secrets to him. Friend or not. Besides, just because he found you suddenly attractive meant very little to him. There was plenty women to choose from at this school. But, if he was being honest, there was something frustrating about watching you pine over the athlete. “What the hell does she see in him?”

“What was that?” Eddie played with a toothpick, trying to control the shake in his fingers from not pumping himself with nicotine.

“Nothing.” Balem rose from his table, ignoring the whines of the girl that was sitting next to him. He hadn’t even realized she was still there, but he had better things to entertain himself with now.

“So will you sign it?”

“Sure, Newt.” You smiled at him, still slipping your gaze to Stephen as he gathered his lunch. You wondered if he’d sit with you both, because he often did last semester. However, you weren’t sure that was something you wanted right now.

“Hey.”

Your view of Stephen was suddenly blocked by leather and smug expressions, and you had to stifle the annoyed groan begging to come out. Balem was the last person you wanted to see, but he seemed content with ruining your day anyway.

“What do you want?”

“You going to kick me out?” He mused, slowly biting down on his own apple.

“Even if I said yes, you still wouldn’t leave.” And that was the truth, he could do whatever he wanted and it wouldn’t change a thing.

“Fair enough.” Balem smirked, rolling his eyes when Eddie came sauntering over and taking a seat as well. It wasn’t easy flirting when you had someone snickering next to you the whole time. At least you and him were agreed that Eddie could shove off.

“And you, too. Lucky me.” You sipped on your water, squinting your eyes suspiciously at them both over the rim of the bottle. They never wasted their precious time on the likes of you, especially Newt. So it wouldn’t be too far fetched to believe something was up. “So what do you want?”

Newt was busy chewing on his apple, eyes darting from Eddie, to Balem and then to you. He wasn’t worried by any means, merely intrigued by this sudden turn of events. It wasn’t everyday the two most popular kids congregated by the nerdy watering hole.

“Humor him.” Eddie chuckled, nudging Balem with his shoulder. He wasn’t sure what was really going on, but seeing his friend tongue tied and riled up was worth it.

“Eddie-“

“Yeah, I know…shut up.” The cowboy clicked his tongue when he saw the last teacher leave the room, and he quickly fished into his pocket for his cigarettes. By the time Balem even managed to get a word out the table was covered in smoke.

“What are you doing after school?” Balem questioned, studying you carefully. He could easily tell if you were lying, but that concern went out the door when he saw your eyes widen. How you managed to be pretty even in a state of shock was beyond him.

“Me?”

“Well, who else?” He was growing annoyed by the back and forth. Usually his romantic interests were already putty in his hands by now, seemed like courting you would be far more difficult.

“I-uh…” You looked to Newt for enlightenment, but he seemed just as shocked as you did by the question. “Well…”

“Ain’t y’all cute.” Eddie took one last drag of his smoke, tapping the lip of it on the corner of his tray before throwing it casually into Newt’s open milk carton. The sound of ashes fizzling out made you look over, that familiar anger rising at the two of them for their selfish actions.

“Really?!” You glared over at Eddie, ready to knock that smile off his face until Balem seemed inclined on doing it for you.

“You lack grace.” Balem scolded, ignoring the audible chuckles of his friend. He had one task to fulfill, and Eddie had to go and ruin it for him. “Idiot.” Balem leaned his cheek on his palm, calling over to Newt with disinterest. “Take mine.”

Newt was tilting his carton over, trying to get the cigarette out when Balem called to him. He was pretty positive he had never heard his name come from the popular student before. To say it was surprising was an understatement, but he eagerly looked up anyway. “Oh, I couldn’t-“

“Just take it!” Balem was close to losing it in here, but he wasn’t willing to part on bad terms again. He shoved his tray closer, waiting for Newt to grab the milk. Thankfully, the other student agreed, and slowly reached over the table to pry the drink from him.

Only, as luck would have it, Jacob decided to plop out of Newt’s sleeve and onto Balem’s food. The silence that developed between you all was palpable, and it took all your willpower not to mention once more to Newt why his pet should be kept at home.

“What the fuck is that?” Eddie eyed the sugar glider in disgust, raising his eyebrow and glancing from the tiny creature to Newt. Jacob was munching away on the potatoes, even sniffing up at Balem curiously while you all watched him devour his food.

Balem glanced down at you, trying hard not to seem entirely disgusted by your friend. Newt, however, often made it difficult for him to pretend to be nice. But, he couldn’t handle that angry stare of yours. For some reason it instilled a sense of guilt within him, something he wasn’t accustomed to. “Tsk.” Balem grabbed his drink off his tray, tossing it roughly onto Newt’s and rolling his eyes before leaving you two in peace.

His charitable action caught you off guard, but you snuck a smile his way when he wasn’t looking. For all his cold and aloof nature, there was a human in there after all.

*** A/N: By the way that petition is real, and y’all should sign it.

[seekthemist]

You would even say it glows

As I promised, here I come with my @pynchsecretsanta 2017 fill! All my love and all my best wishes for the holidays to @mild-lunacy <3

This little tale of madness is on the themes of "the Adventure with the Once and Future Camaro" + "A weird guest needs help at 300 Fox Way and the boys are involved". It’s also the first "creative" stuff that I manage to write, away from the terrible, terrible grip of academic obligations. It has been amazing to come back to fandom my heart out, I hope it's not in a weird style because of "residual technical writing"-mode! Everything it's sadly unbetaed at the moment, so forgive and forget the typos, I swear I'll update a corrected version if I can!

All my thanks go to Sae (@picapicae​), that helped me come up with this crazy plot you just read and the Pynch SecretSanta ‘17 team that organized this amazing gig!

Now, off with the reading, mostly under the cut for length!

You can also read this on Ao3!

Adam first jostled awake in total darkness, which given the early winter days could mean anything from three to seven o'clock in the morning. The reflexive switch of his brain that decided to pull his eyes open — governed by a circadian cycle Adam destroyed for himself in high school and did not realign in a semester at Columbia — was compatible with any of these options. He inhaled, gearing up to remember if there had been an alarm on the other side of his slumber, waiting from him to go to work, outline an assignment or grab breakfast while networking with his peers. His breath reverberated humid on his lips, filling his nostrils with a suggestion of smells.

Wood. A familiar sweat. Holly and musk. An impression of heat.

Adam did not open his eyes but allowed himself to exhale, bodily, resting his forehead on Ronan's nape.

Details slotted into position in an easy catalogue, disorienting in their lack of urgency.

Cold ears, a suggestion of chill from the world that somehow existed outside of the cocoon of blankets and duvet. The impossible span of Ronan's shoulders, radiating heat, and the inside of his knees brushing against Adam's. The soft, oblivious breathing of Ronan in his sleep — impossible to match in its pace, and yet Adam caught himself trying.

It was weird to be back. He should probably get up.

Ronan reached for Adam's hand where it lingered on the fabric of his shirt, and tucked it close to his chest with a deep sigh. He did not move further and his breath didn't waver.

It was good to be back. There was no rush to go anywhere.

Adam slotted his body better in their puzzle, plastering against Ronan's back. Comfortable bed and an unyielding body to hold.

He had not planned to go back to sleep, but the warmth made the back of his eyelids heavy and tingling. It was easier to burrow down and let the warmth doze him off again, after all.

********

The second awakening came to a bedroom pooled with indistinct grey light and the mattress jumping around asymmetrically. Adam's eyes were wide awake, heart pounding, before even he consciously realized it himself.

The mattress stopped moving, and an uncoordinated clattering of hooves traced its way on the wooden floor all the way down the corridor.

"Opal!" Adam protested, trying to get up and convince his tongue to come up with an appropriate reproach.

Ronan was splayed on top of him, heavy like a very seductively shaped brick and just as reluctant to being moved, so neither happened. Nor did Opal offer a distant string of unconvincing apologies mixed with complaints for having woke them up so brutally, as she usually would.

The clattering expanded all the way to the ground floor of the Barns and then suddenly quieted.

"Opal!" Adam stressed again, turning his head above Ronan's, still resting between his chest and shoulders.

"What?!" Opal's voice came from the direction of Matthew's bedroom, groggy and grumpy with sleep.

"Shit" Ronan mumbled, reproachful.

Too heavy and too unmoving, even for Adam to be distracted by the way their legs were twisted together.

"Ronan, what the hell did you just dreamt?"

All things considered, a regular morning in the Lynch household.

********

"But how can you not know what you were dreaming, exactly?"

Ronan scratched the buzzed hair on his nape, sliding down the stairs with more elegance that should be legal for someone who couldn't even move a muscle five minutes before.

"Parrish, I'm not grocery shopping when I'm dreaming!"

"Except when you are, I have to hide that heater every time my roommate is around because it heats like a nuclear reactor!"

"That college room is fucking freezing, what is your point?" Ronan gave him a stinky eye while putting on a random pair of socks and bolted out of the door without even shoes on. In the sudden burst of cold that soared through the open door, the black line of he tattoo, visible around the hem of a too-thin t-shirt, rippled like the surface of a lake in a skipping stones game. "Mary mother of Jesus..."

Adam did his best to provide Ronan with a masterful execution of an unimpressed gaze, picking up a coat from the rack before following him outside in the porch. It was as cold as Ronan’s mumbled string of swears could suggest, and missing the bed was all too easy. "My point is that we’re rushing to chase this stuff out in the cold but we don’t even know what it is."

The indiscernible mixture of frost and actual snow crackled under Ronan’s hobbling down the steps, uncharacteristically awkward in the clear attempt not to freeze his feet off. "It doesn't fucking matter, it's like an animal."

"Like what animal?" Adam feigned disinterest, even in the clear smell of attempted deflection in the winter morning air. He still followed Ronan down towards the front of the master house, where a trail of something that looked like hooves disappeared in the thin layer of snow all the way out in the field. The imprints were too big to be Opal’s, too small for a monstrosity like the night horror. None of the Barn’s animal where around, shied away in their carefully curated inside spaces, evidently wiser than the both of them.

"A horse? Another fucking goat? An oversized crazy sheep?" Ronan dragged his words, scrutinizing the field in a studious effort to avoid Adam’s gaze. He kicked on clump of frozen ground and swore again when his feet reminded him of the lack of shoes.

“Nice guesses for the hooves,” Adam mused, closing the distance with Ronan’s back and propping the forearms on his shoulders. “Are we freaking out about an oversized crazy sheep?”

“We are not freaking the fuck out.”

Adam’s smile stretched his skin against the cold air. “Good to know. Especially since you’re the one who told me that your dream animals tend not to leave the Barns.” He eyed Ronan sideways, but got no obvious reaction but a tilt of his head to brush towards him. His blue eyes were still facing forwards to where the trail disappeared, his breath fogging out slightly. “We either go back now or I’ll drop the task of amputating your feet onto Gansey.”

A snarl opened up at the idea, all white teeth and morning stubble, evidently entertained. “The lecture for something like that would be a damn trip.” Ronan turned around and looped his arm around Adam — more around his neck than his shoulders — and headed the both of them back towards the house, foul mood suddenly dropped. His strides were sort of hindered by the cold and the coarse ground getting to his feet but Ronan still moved around with confidence.

A few meters ahead, the master house stood unperturbed and yet constantly changing. In the dreary light of the cloudy day, the solid wood of the porch and the frame of most windows where dotted in twists of holly and mistletoe, the berries shining warmly. The decorations stretched further inside, through the hall and the living room. The Barns were evidently ready for Christmas.

For yet another time since his arrival a couple of days prior, Adam contemplated the sight, while retreating back into the warmth of the house. There was something indiscernible about the festive display, a delicate feeling that kept nagging at the back of his mind and pushing a part of Adam’s brain �� the one desensitised from and genuinely uncaring towards all the common holidays made of family and money to spend — slightly out of balance.

He could feel Ronan’s eyes on him, though, so Adam stopped watching the tree and pushed his efforts into hanging the coat back on the rack.

“You really went all in with the decoration.”

“It’s Christmas,” Ronan replied, matter-of-factly, moving towards the fireplace to light it up and warm his feet there. “Matthew will like this.”

Matthew surely would. At the same time, Adam wasn’t sure if and how he liked it himself, and settling for a diplomatically aseptic I don’t care either way left a bad aftertaste in his mouth.

The feeling was slippery.

It would have been reasonable for Ronan to be pissed at Adam’s lack of participation to this specific brand of Lynchness, but he wasn’t. Incongruently, it was another reason for Adam to feel like he was missing something essential for this whole winter break at the Barns.

********

Following a series of contingencies, 300 Fox Way became the logical destination for Christmas Eve.

Opal cannon-balled herself out of the BMW back door as soon as Ronan parked in a free spot by the sidewalk. In her rush towards the house, completely light up and lively even from the distance, she didn’t even bother with the garden gate and just jumped over the fence to cross the perpetually overgrown grass.

Adam laughed his way out of the passenger's seat. Chainsaw had stayed at home, nested close to the fireplace, so there was no fighting to maneuver a very opinionated bird out. “Maybe they shouldn’t have promised her that she could touch the oven.”

Ronan locked the car with the flashing click on his copy of the key and walked around to join him on the sidewalk. “What a terrible mistake. Also not my problem.”

The grin he flashed Adam — all plush lips and pointy canines — was a mesmerizing when matched with his sleek charcoal grey suit and the almost shocking splash of colour of his bordeaux tie. It would have been an impeccable Sunday best performance, appropriate even for Declan himself, if it weren’t for the loose hanging of the tie and the first two buttons of the shirt undone. Still, when they entered in the house — closing the door that Opal had left wide open behind them — Maura rushed by them, brushing Adam’s arm with one hand and giving Ronan a pointed once-over.

“Looking sleek, Ronan,” she mused, in her very everyday clothing and surrounded by an house that was evidently not in full Christmas celebration attire.

Ronan wrinkled his nose, but managed to contain the contrariness after a year and a half of exposure to the 300 Fox Way's women. “I’m going to Church right after, as soon as Declan and Matthew get here.”

“Of course you are.” Maura’s smile was gentle, but got morphed as soon as she started moving again towards the living room by her calling at full voice. “Blue! The rest of your boys are here!”

“They are not my boys!” Blue called back, but still tumbled out of one of the ground floor rooms and tackled Adam’s side in her best impression of a five-foot tall rugby player. Her skin was dark and still glowing from the wind and the sun from the recent road trip in Arizona and California, and she somehow knitted together three different pieces of woolen sweaters into an oversized dress.

Adam sunk into the embrace, “Hey, Blue.”

“Hey, Adam. Looking good, with your smart boy vibes.”

“There is indeed a clear sense of Ivy League in this hallway,” Gansey — impeccably dressed in cashmere and needlecord trousers, a failed attempt on casual ruined by the inherent poshness of his being — stepped away from a door frame and got closer to them.

There was a very civilized show of hand shaking between him and Ronan — weirdly firm and intense, thumbs slotting together, tendons lifting like wires underneath the skin — before Blue snorted in a very undignified manner. Gansey smiled sheepishly and caved, dragging Ronan close into a hug.

Ronan’s shoulders sunk down, a subtle yield of his imposing figure, one arm circling Gansey’s wide back. “Welcome home, shithead.”

Gansey smiled with the same unabashed delight he would usually reserve to dusty manuscript munched through by time. He reached with one hand and dragged Blue and Adam close. “It’s good to see you, before we go and face the snow up in Montana.”

“We first have to face your parents and the Gansey Christmas dinner tomorrow.” Blue reminded him, but leaned his face against Ronan’s arm and Ronan didn’t bark her off, weirdly subdue by the whole situation.

“Yeah, that’s a controversial truth.” Gansey admitted, but didn’t stop smiling.

Adam stayed silent through the whole exchange, Blue’s small hands clasped on the fabric of his shirt and Gansey’s grip against his arm, while Ronan towered subtly on the three of them.

It was inexplicable and way too convoluted, the way he had missed them. He had not intended to miss anyone in Henrietta, and yet here he was. Here he had been eager to be, since they told him they were going to come back for Christmas as well.

“Hey, human pile!” Henry made his way from the kitchen through the hallway, carrying an amount of plates that shouldn’t have been physically feasible for a human to balance. “Are you going to help me with this? So I can join the group hug. And just so you know, I won’t greet anyone until I can do it properly, because I’m rude like that.”

Blue laughed, Gansey started to apologise, and they all extricated from the twist of limbs without making the process awkward after too much wait.

Reflexively, Adam took a deep breath as well, and went to do his part on the setting of the table.

********

As it turned out, getting to sit down and eat dinner in a very commonplace manner was asking for too much.

The table cloth was spread over a collection of four different tables — mismatched in height and width but at least stable on their legs — and surrounded by a random amount of chairs. There was enough space at least for Opal and Gwenllian, for sure, but the latter had disappeared regally into her attic and Opal had followed suit — probably more interested in what she had in her hair today over anything on the table now that the oven was off.

Calla — very pointedly stressing that no, kids, you just need to sit the hell down and drink your mulled wine, do you think I want you messing around? — had barely put down the fifth pie, while Jimi rearranged Maura’s valiant attempt to vegetable bowls around to make space, when a very marked bang echoed from the door.

Silence fell through the living room.

They were all still turned around when the second ramming on the entrance door came. Nervousness prickled at Adam’s throat, but when he turned around to Jimi, Maura and Calla he caught them simply putting the utensil down.

“How many times did you draw The Fool today, Maura?” Jimi asked, neatly folding the pot holder over.

“Five times.” Maura’s reply was accompanied by the third loud bang.

“Is one of you gonna get that door, or are we waiting for it to get battered down?” Calla looked at all of them, a very unimpressed frown on her forehead.

Gansey and Ronan jumped on their feet in a marked, well-practice unison oiled by years of recklessness and an aptitude to crazy plans that probably beat everyone else’s in the room. While Gansey strolled, valiant as a king, towards the entrance, Adam could not help but notice that Ronan was weirdly tense.

“Do we have any guesses on what is on the other side of the door?” Henry asked, without losing the usual chirpiness, even while he snatched Blue’s pink switchblade from one of the six pockets of her dress.

“Oh, no idea, and I don’t think the Arizona guy with the rifle would follow us here.” Blue replied, trying to sound very sensible while she was actually cautious. She picked up a bat from the umbrella stand and put it on Henry’s hand in exchange of her switchblade.

“The what, now?” Adam looked at the both of them, with the clear underlying of and you haven’t told me about it why?. Still, as the only actually practical person in the room, he recovered Ronan’s mobile from where he abandoned it on the table, because someone must be able to call for help if needs must.

“I would say that’s a story for another moment.” Gansey eyed them when they lined up at his back, close to the door. Another ramming made them all wince, the door evidently shaking under the impact. “Okay, since we’re all here, I’ll open up.”

They carefully lined up on the side opposite to the hinges and Gansey borrowed Henry’s bat to push down the door handle without having to stand too close to it.

Adam didn’t know what he was expecting — and certainly could not imagine what Ronan was thinking to match the sour expression in his face — but he had somehow assumed that whatever was banging would come barging in into the entrance, escalating the action.

Instead, everything was perfectly still and they were left to stare over the threshold, the light on the inside pouring out to light up the doorsteps.

On the other side, a reindeer taller than Blue and with antlers that could easily reach the top of Ronan’s head stood innocently, already detached from all the raucous it had caused. It shook its head as in greeting, and a tinkling followed, not only from the big bell hanging from its neck but also from the jingle bells on the garlands twirled around the antlers.

The reindeer had a very bright, almost shining, red nose.

Henry bursted out in a laugh, “Is that Rudolph the reindeer?”

“It would...appear so?” Gansey was remarkably skeptical for someone who spent years of his life chasing a sleeping Welsh king.

“No, okay, I draw a line at Santa Claus,” Blue lifted her hands up, as if she could bully the reindeer out of existence. The reindeer, on its part, just shook the jingling antlers again and dragged its hooves on the worn-out concrete outside of the door.

“Fuck Santa Claus, get this thing away from here,” Ronan snarled, overcoming the weird silent stillness that apparently possessed him and making to surpass Gansey and get to the door.

Adam could feel the reality shifting around them, in that subtle way that clicked events together in his mind. The Christmas decoration, Ronan gingerly readying the house for Matthew and for the holidays, the jumping mattress, the hooves print on the icy ground.

“Shit,” he gritted out, dragging the palm of the right hand over his face. He could feel Blue, Gansey and Henry’s eyes on him like a physical presence. “That’s not Santa Claus. Ronan dreamt it.”

The howling laughter that followed from Blue and Henry echoed through the hallway. Gansey had that very peculiar expression that he wore when he was trying to maintain a subdue composure but was instead bemused.

“Fucking drop it and help me!” Ronan bit out, reaching for the reindeer.

The reindeer scurried out of his reach, the red nose shining slightly.

“Are you kidding me, Lynch, this is amazing!” Henry’s camera kept flashing, Adam couldn’t even pinpoint the moment he took his phone out to document the whole business.

Ronan and the reindeer were circling each other, in a weird mess rhythmed by the bells chiming around the animal. “Cut the crap before someone see this in the damn garden and help me, for Christ’s sake!”

“Oh.” Blue said, suddenly looking over the reindeer and into her own neighbourhood.

“Uh.” Gansey echoed, clearly conceding the point.

Even though Henrietta had admittedly seen weirder and more concerning stuff than a perfect dreamt version of Rudolph, Adam had no doubt this could be the turning point for finally getting everyone’s attention on the little town and its shady supernatural businesses.

They did get onto it promptly, then, even though Henry was most likely taking a video — “We seriously need a record of this thing, come on!” — rather than helping out.

Surprising no one, dream-Rudolph was just as ill-tempered and shenanigans prone as anything Ronan has ever dreamt, though luckily less deadly than some of his other creations. Huge and surprisingly agile, even with four of them trying to actively coordinate, the reindeer constantly escaped and refused to be cornered. The net result was a merry chase around the garden of 300 Fox Way, vaguely lit just by the light filtering from the windows of house — from which Maura, Calla and Jimi watched while sipping wine cheerfully — and from some streetlights.

“This is seriously not working!” Adam pointed out to the others, after the fourth stumble around the unkempt grass, and the reindeer ran away happily towards the other corner of the house once again.

“I’m afraid that’s true.” Gansey heaved out, resting an elbow against the bark of Blue’s favourite tree to catch his breath. “Jane…” he piped up suddenly “...is the hammock still in the Dream Pig?”

“What fucking hammock?” Ronan turned around, the reindeer having escaped him once more. He was frustrated for more than the exercise, guilt creeping out from the shades of his aggressiveness.

“You mean the net one? I think it’s under the passenger's seat...or I don’t know, maybe in the boot,” Henry stopped filming for a second to reply. How he could manage not to get levelled to the ground my Ronan’s murderous gaze was a mystery. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, four people chasing your Rudolph is already too much.”

“You know what, maybe Henry is right, maybe we’re just scaring it! And we’re not gonna catch it with a net!” Blue protested. “If we could just convince it to get closer…”

“Jesus, maggot, it’s a damn reindeer, it’s bigger than you. Not that it’s fucking difficult, but…”

Adam got moving again, and went to grab Ronan by the scruff. He was tense as a wire and ready to fight, but he did not fight Adam off. “Okay, let’s not start this. You three can try and catch it gently, Ronan and I will recover the hammock...just in case. Deal?”

“Deal.” Gansey confirmed, tossing him the keys of the Pig for him to catch.

They left Henry to put away his phone and the three of them to start a conversation on the theoretically prime method of gentle approach to wildlife. Adam tuned out comments on that time in the valley though with a weird sense of detached melancholy about adventures that did not involve him — even though he had his own share and a life that he chose for himself — and concentrate on Ronan.

“You could have just told me what we were chasing off this morning,” Adam said, matter-of-factly regardless of the risk of escalation with Ronan.

“What about the damn your creations don’t leave the Barns?” Ronan countered, dark in the face with trouble.

Adam opened the car, somehow bright in its orange paint even in the dimly lit driveaway of 300 Fox way. By unspoken agreement, he opened the boot, while Ronan slid himself in the passenger seat after a frustrating challenge with the door — which had behaved perfectly before the first leg of the road trip, so maybe Adam should really give the Camaro a look before the others disappeared North.

“That’s usually true, though. And it’s a reindeer, Ronan, not a H-bomb, you could have just told me about it.”

Ronan made a noncommittal half-grunt and rummaged around in the front, “Jesus fuck this place is a mess.”

While Adam did know a deflection when he heard one he could hardly disagree with the concept, especially while facing a boot that seemed mostly full of hiking supplies, tents, lamps and backup pairs of shoes. “Tell me about it, any luck with the hammock?”

“Fuck no. But there is even more stuff in the backseat.”

Adam sighed deeply. “I’ll come and have a look. If we don’t find it at least Blue won’t freak out about animal mistreatment and whatnot.”

Ronan snorted. “That red-nosed fucker is quick as shit. A net won’t kill it — or hurt it, Jesus — it’s just so we don’t end up on every Goddamn blog in the country.”

Adam moved around a book of maps and lifted what he hoped would be the hammock only to figure that was one of Blue’s crazy net dresses. He was just about to say something — about the blogs, the clothes, Ronan’s nervousness — when he heard the clattering noise and the clamor of voices approaching.

“Adam, watch out!”

He did, prompted by Ronan’s alert, but it did not save him from getting pushed bodily inside the car, the backseat door slamming under the impact of jingling antlers. Ronan turned around on the passenger's seat, reaching for him with clear concern while looking around suspiciously and swearing under his breath.

“I’m okay, I’m all right, it was just a shove.”

“What the fuck is that thing doing?” Ronan gritted out. His eyes followed the Dream Rudolph, currently rushing in circles around the car in a flurry of antlers, garlands and bells. A bit more in the distance, Henry, Blue, and Gansey watched helplessly, cautiously keeping out of the way of this big of an animal in a rush.

At some point around the fifth turn, the Camaro started to vibrate, shaking as if they were back at driving it in off roads paths. The reindeer stopped running around, nudging the sleek metal of the hood with his nose for a second, before turning around and getting off in a rush once again.

Impossibly, the Dream Pig followed.

Like a sleigh on a snow path, Adam and Ronan found themselves dragged along Fox way.

“Fuck, Christ,” Ronan tried to turn on the engine, reflexively, but the Camaro was as unresponsive as it had been in crazy hot days in the Virginia countryside. “Parrish, can you do something about it?”

Adam clasped his hands on the two front seats, trying to soften the increasing shaking of the car while the reindeer brought them off road, towards a dried football field immersed in the dark. “I can work engines, Lynch, not empty hoods full of flowers.”

“Fuck, you’re right. Why the hell is it doing it? How the hell is it doing it?”

They were good questions, but there was no ready answer to them. “Maybe we can try and jump off now that we’re out in a field.” Adam contemplated, trying to problem solve the situation even if it meant leaving the Camaro on its on devices with a Dream Rudolph.

Just as he was saying it, the car stopped shaking and tilted weirdly — first all the way to the left and then all the way to the right, softly and effortlessly. Ronan and Adam exchanged a very alarmed look, and then rushed to look out.

The reindeer was still running, but not on the ground. Slowly but steadily, they all lifted up, and up, and the Pig flew off in the cloudy winter sky. The Dream Rudolph’s nose was shining brighter than a beacon.

On the other side of the windows, thankfully closed, Henrietta grew smaller and smaller underneath them. They began circling the town, and it would have resembled Gansey’s faithful cardboard reconstruction of it if it weren’t for the dark. Streetlight and lit-up windows traced the town in negative, as a photography waiting to be developed, and dimmed out in the distance towards the wild darkness of the mountain and the countryside. The quiet lulling of the Camaro was nothing like the thunderous engine of the helicopter Helen flew them in, and the whistling of the wind outside the vehicle was spaced out by the jingle of bells and Ronan string of increasingly inventive swearing.

Adam pressed his forehead against the corner of the driver’s seat, and began to laugh.

Ronan stopped swearing and eyed him carefully. “Parrish?”

“Ronan…” Adam was having a hard time catching his breath. “...your reindeer is making us fly!”

Ronan was eying him suspiciously, and the worry that Adam self-control finally snapped to leave him in hysterics several tens of feet off the ground was not completely unfounded from his part. Still, it was fucking, recklessly, hilarious.

“This is amazing,” Adam reiterated, liftings his head and looking at Ronan and Henrietta gleaming on the other side of the windows. The laughing fit was only slowly subsiding. “I don’t know how you do it, and you always do it, but come on.”

Ronan back around on the passenger's seat, looking towards the windshield and over it, where Dream Rudolph was still effortlessly trotting around — the red light of its nose reflecting from the bells on its antlers in weird dots around the light brown fur.

“I was kind of hoping you could have fun,” he murmured, at the end, reluctant as ever to express any concept of emotional value.

“What, with Rudolph?”

“I don’t know. Fuck.” one hand snatched up to slide on the buzzed cut hair. “With Christmas, even? I know you don’t like it, not really. But you came back, so I wanted you to have fun. And all these silly stories were fucking fun, when we were little.”

Another laugh started pulling at the corners of Adam’s mouth. “So that’s why you dreamt me a Rudolph? To steal the Camaro from Gansey and drench me in Christmas spirit?”

“You’re an asshole, I didn’t know it could fucking fly a car!”

“Maybe it can fly only this Pig because you dreamt it as well. Why don’t you dream all the other reindeers, maybe we can fly anything with the whole pack...flock…”

“It’s a herd, you fucker,” Ronan’s tension broke into a barked laugh, finally turning back to look at Adam. Their eyes met for a second, before Ronan’s dropped on Adam’s smiling lips, as if to follow their profile and convince himself that he was actually happy.

Still perched with one elbow on the back of the driver’s seat, Adam reached to grab Ronan’s nape. There was no resistance when he dragged him close and kissed him.

That high in the sky in the middle of winter, the inside of the car was cold and so were Ronan’s lips. When he tilted his head and pressed their lips together better, though, the impression of humid warmth from the soft inside of the bottom lip was starking against Adam’s. Adam hummed and caved first, not even trying to play a game of softness and teasing, and pushed forward. He liked the feeling of Ronan’s mouth dropping open between them, he liked even more to slide his tongue inside and feel the kiss tingle all the way down his spine.

Ronan’s mouth felt impossibly hot and familiar, spiced up with the crazy amount of cinnamon Calla had manage to drop in the mulled wine. Adam felt very hungry and very fulfilled at the same time — at every twist of their tongue, at the small itching in breath against his skin while Ronan tried to inhale and drag the kiss deeper, further.

When the need for air broke them up eventually, Adam brushed their nose together, lips still lingering against each other’s, and opened his eyes. In the almost darkness, Ronan still had his eyes closed, intent in their proximity. Everything was surging weirdly against Adam’s chest, so he just tilted his head to the side and kissed along Ronan’s handsome face — the solid cut of his cheekbones against the skin, down the smoothness of his shaved-clean jaw — all the way down his neck.

With a faint sigh at the side of Adam’s ear, Ronan craned his neck in a clear path for Adam’s lips. Adam kissed it, again and again, hyper-aware of the skin warming up at every slide of tongue. A slight shiver followed when Adam made his way even further down, hooking a finger on the perfectly pressed collart of Ronan’s white shirt to close his mouth at the bottom of his neck and suck.

“Shit…” Ronan whistled out between gritted teeth, grabbing at the back of Adam’s elbow, as if to stop him from withdrawing.

Not that it mattered or it was needed. Adam kept at it long enough to leave a mark, and then move slightly down, toeing the line of the two open buttons with two more hickeys all the way down to Ronan’s clavicle. Ronan burrowed a hand in Adam’s hair, when he stopped sucking. His chest was heaving under the open dampness of Adam’s lips, but Adam’s own breath bumped back from Ronan’s skin to his face.

“Should I come to the backseat?”

“I’m not gonna fuck you in a flying car.”

“You need to choose a good way to go, at some point, Parrish.”

They both burst out laughing, again, and by silent agreement they stopped escalating the contacts.

“Hey, Ronan,” Adam whispered, lifting back up without sneaking out of the grip on his hair.

“Mhn?”

The hand combed through his hair and Adam felt like dropping his head against the side of Ronan’s. “It’s a very fun Christmas.”

The smile on Ronan’s lips was a clear stretch on Adam’s temple, when Ronan turned around to kiss it, intensely delicate. “Good to know. But we’re gonna freeze our asses off and fucking starve if we don’t get the fuck down soon,” he gave a very pointed look at the Dream Rudolph, rising his voice from the car. “What do you think, shithead full of bells?”

The reindeer seemed to hear him just fine, shaking his antlers just for the sake of more jingling and bellowing softly. After all the chasing around, it was almost amicable now, leading them in circles that went lower and lower, back towards the field they took off from.

Trust any animal of Ronan’s to be as temperamental as him.

By the time they settled back on the ground, Adam felt much more mentally ready for the Eve and the Christmas festivities to follow. He hadn’t realized he was nervous about them — about having someone worth spending them with for the first time ever, about not matching the mood and the expectation for lack of any practice — until now, with the weight lifted off his shoulders.

Of course, all the occupants of 300 Fox Way and then some, if the rest of the Lynch brothers had arrived in the meantime, would be freaking out. But that was another story, and maybe Dream Rudolph could fly for them as well.

********

On the morning of Boxing Day, Adam woke up alone in the bed but not alone in the bedroom, Opal cheerfully dangling her furry legs off one the chairs and watching him.

“Will you come, if you’re up? Kerah is out already!”

He had to snatch every second it took him to put some clothes appropriate for the type of chill he would experience outside, but at the end Opal got a grip of his hand and dragged him out.

“It’s not that cold!”

“You’re never cold, you don’t count.”

“Kerah says you’re never cold, but Kerah gets cold easily. So doesn’t he count as well?”

Adam laughed, “No, maybe he doesn’t either.”

Appently, for once in his life, Adam had been the last one to wake up. The frosty path Opal led him through was already marked by more than one pair of footprints; when they got to a shady corner close to the bent of creek that crossed the Barns, Declan and Matthew’s backs were as unmistakable as Ronan’s.

“I can’t believe you actually dreamt a Rudolph, Ronan,” Declan was saying.

“Yeah, you fucking said that already. Four times. What’s your point? Is there a time limit on reindeers?” Ronan turned around with one eyebrow up.

“Well, we all know what Declan’s favourite reindeer was, don’t we?” Matthew singsonged, circling his first brother.

“It’s not like I wanted one!” Declan snapped, all too promptly and with an uncharacteristic hinge of fluster in his tone.

“Suuuure you didn’t,” Ronan dragged, a shit-eating grin spreading. "What do you know, maybe I'll give you a lift back to D.C. in a couple of days."

Adam had to stop eavesdropping silently because Opal started losing it, her cawing laugh spreading and prompting Chainsaw to follow suite from where she was stomping around on the ground.

“Well, now we get to keep it, so it’s fair, isn’t it?” Matthew said, as Ronan gestured Adam closer.

A handful of meters head, the secluded corner of the Barns they were at was covered in bright white know and glistening with artificial cold, just like Cabeswater used to do when it changed season for good. In a cheerful jingle of bells, Dream Rudolph trotted around its new home, the red nose happily shining.

It was a good fix.

It had been a good Christmas.

[acrispyapple]

50 more interesting questions

Rules: fill this out and tag at least one person you’d like to know more about! Or just fill it out! Or don’t! Answer only some of them! Make up your own questions! “What kind of requirement is that”, you ask? A reasonable one! Who am I to tell you what to do? Anything goes!

Tagged by @incorrectmidc i had this open for days and i answered a few questions per night lol @o0w0o and @deathbymidnightcinderella  <3

1. What kind of food can’t you stand? spicy stuff and umm food loaded with exotic spices / herbs

2. If you could choose one minor inconvenience to never have to deal with again, what would you pick? my mouse ending up double clicking after a year or so

3. Have you got any useless talents? i have way too much trivia and animal facts. plus random skills with no practical use. oh and playing the piano is also a useless talent for me since i don’t really “use” it

4. If you were really really good at one thing, what would it be? my answer isn’t an “if” thing lol. i have a really good memory. it really helps with mostly anything i do + it makes studying easier. but sometimes people think it’s creepy that i remember little things about them, they think i keep notes about them or something lol-- but i really do just remember.

5. Name a few people you think are extremely good-looking - umm neil caffrey (matt bomer) from white collar, nick burkhardt (david giuntoli) from grimm, daniel shaw (brandon routh) from chuck -- i seem to have a type haha. omg i forgot jo in-sung. i’ve always thought he was handsome! 

6. What was your favorite way to pass the time as a kid? i was a pretty boring kid. i just read books, watched cartoons, and organized things. as a kid i’d look at my toys but never really play with them because i liked seeing them all set up nicely. i just kept collecting stuff i liked. the most i’d do that’s remotely active was play with my dogs

7. What is something you’re proud of? i do well academically and i learn fast. and somehow i’m proud of how i’ve remained the same over the years.

8. What’s one character flaw in people that you just can’t tolerate? i don’t know if this is considered a character flaw but i really dislike poor manners haha. it drives me crazy when people open their mouth while chewing or if it’s too noisy. i die a bit inside. besides table manners and manners in general, i dislike people who are rowdy during inappropriate times.

9. Do you consider yourself to be more of a leader or a follower? both but to avoid stress sometimes i just want to follow. i’m a bit of a perfectionist / rule follower so i get frustrated a lot. i know not everyone is like a machine but it’s hard with my ocd lol. and no this isn’t just me saying ocd like most people when referring to certain things, i actually do have it and i have medication for it

10. What kind of student are/were you? normal i guess. i got along well with people, i didn’t fail anything, and i never rebelled or did anything wild. it was uneventful lol. i’m still technically a student now, but i see it more as an adult thing.

11. Butterfly effect question! Has there ever been a seemingly minor decision you’ve made (at the time) that ended up having a profound influence on your life? i’m sure everyone has one

12. Name your most irrational fear/aversion well it’s not a fear per se, but i have an aversion to most asian food, sorta? the smell sets me off especially if it has a bunch of spices or herbs in it. my nose is just sensitive and i get affected easily by strong scents. but i’m fine with japanese food, maybe some korean and chinese stuff. for fears, iono, i don’t think it’s irrational to be afraid of spiders and big cockroaches ><

13. Are there any fictional characters you find especially relatable? a bunch haha but it’s mostly people associating them with me first. i’m not tsundere..... how dare they

14. If you drink, what kind of drunk are you? Alternatively, what sort of person are you at parties? i don’t think i’ve ever gotten drunk the way people imagine people getting drunk to be like. i remain the same except i get a headache. i don’t really change at all. and in parties i guess i just stay close to my friends. stranger danger lmao

15. Do you fall in love easily? Or does it usually take a long time for you to trust someone? umm no i do not. i mean i can trust them fine but i don’t think i can believe their feelings until they can prove it isn’t just a short time attraction. i’m in for long term stuff so i don’t really wanna waste time if it’s not headed there. but yeah currently in a long term relationship

16. Would you rather have one close friend or 100 casual friends? having fewer friends makes it easier for me to update all of them without getting tired of repeating the same story over and over haha

17. Do you consider yourself to be more of a slob or a neat-freak? always organized and no one’s allowed to touch my things haha

18. Describe a place (imaginary or real) that you would find incredibly cozy i’ve always wanted a seating area near a huge window with a good view, bunch of pillows, earphones + music

19. Do you have kids? If not, do you want them someday? nah i don’t think i can handle it. i’d probably go insane trying to control them and making them become my idea of what a person should be like

20. What was your favorite book as a child? the chronicles of narnia, still love it to this day because it’s really written well

21. Name one thing you just don’t get what all the hype is about WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES A FIDGET SPINNER DO -- yeah i’m sorry, i think it’s stupid

22. Name one thing that you think is tragically underrated i should have an answer for this but i totally forgot lol

23. If you had to be glued to a person for a month, real or fictional (who you have never met), who would you choose? since im in the midcin fandom i’ll just say byron

24. What’s something you’d like the chance to do someday? visit all the haunted places i’ve ever read about, and prolly explore old ruins. i was way into archaeological finds etc way back

25. Do you typically speak your mind when you have a controversial opinion? Or do generally prefer to not rock the boat? i try to say it in the most courteous way possible. i can’t keep it to myself because it would bother me and my mind would just dwell on it forever but i also don’t like offending people haha

26. What’s the dumbest fad you’ve been caught up in? sTiCkY cApS in chat (but i stopped after a month okay, and i was 12)

27. What’s something you thought was cool as a kid/adolescent, but now cringe at yourself for? typing in sTiCkY CaPs. kill 12 year old me pls

28. What’s a trait you consider to be very admirable? being kind and yet still firm when needed even when it comes to friends. i really admire people who don’t just blindly agree with their peers

29. Is there a particular kind of item people always tend to give you as gifts? (For instance, people always get you things with ducks on them because you like ducks, etc.) people give me stuff with owls, bears, hedgehogs, or stars because i love them. i also love stationery and pens. i like getting different colors and i never use them. i just keep them forever haha

30. Do you speak multiple languages? Which ones? i know a bit of stuff from other languages but not enough to be proud of it. i don’t want to be a poser and claim yeaaaahh i speak this and that lol

31. Would you rather live in the big city or the countryside? city please. i hate the quiet countryside. it’s like if someone comes to kill you and there’s no one around and you’d be all “this is why i should’ve been in the city with people everywhere”

32. Has there ever been something you were certain you’d hate, but ended up loving? byron wagner from midcin. when i first started and i saw him i was all, ehh eyepatch dude. so edgy. lmao. i even purposely skipped him during certain events and i regret that now.

33. Do you mind being the center of attention, or do you prefer the spotlight to be on someone else? i don’t want to be the center of attention, i’d feel awkward

34. Favorite holiday? the usual, christmas and new years eve... but i miss having an actual christmas where it isn’t summer...

35. Are you a more go-with-the-flow type of person, or do you need to have things planned meticulously? i always have a plan lol

36. Is there something you loved so much you wish you could forget it and experience it all over again? (A tv show, book, series–anything.) hmm, i can watch something over and over with no problem. all good

37. What hobbies do you have? reading (but it’s mostly fantasy and sci-fi), watching crap, annoying my dogs, playing video games, making stories in my head. I WISH I COULD WRITE AND DO IMAGERY WELL. oh well

38. If you could have a superpower, but it was only mildly useful, what ability would you want to have? the ability to moisturize instantly, one click. that’ll save me time daily

39. Something people are always surprised to learn about you that i like video games and anime lol. and that i’m happy to talk to them T_T

40. Something that took you way too long to figure out i still don’t know how to knife. how to knife~ i mean how to slice things or chop things or do anything in the kitchen

41. Worst injury you’ve had? is it considered an injury when you’ve had to get 4 major surgeries in a year? i mean i guess tending to / waiting for the surgery scars to get better can be considered an injury since it took a while and it was sorta a pain

42. Any morbid fascinations? umm, i can’t think of one

43. Describe your sense of humor i don’t really know lol. i make a lot of jokes and sometimes it breaks the mood for people lol

44. If you had to be born in another era/place, which would you choose? i really like princess stuff but the real medieval stuff would be dirty people who don’t take baths and really horrible stuff so maybe just the fantasy version of that + high speed internet

45. Something you are irredeemably bad at not rambling when i really like something. to the people who’ve ever had to listen to me whenever i got excited about something-- i’m sorry

46. Something that sucked but you’re glad you went through going to a nature retreat thing 3 months ago or something. i had no internet and it made me cry inside but i guess it was fine

47. Would you rather have a really godawful ugly tattoo in a place that is only slightly inconvenient to conceal with clothing (upper arm, thigh, etc.), or the coolest, most beautiful tattoo ever in the middle of your face? (Neither tattoo can be removed or concealed with makeup, and the ugly tattoo will deeply offend anyone who sees it.) i don’t really want tattoos in general so i guess the ugly one.

48. Are you more of an optimist or a pessimist? optimist

49. What would be the most flattering compliment someone could give you? something that isn’t physical or shallow. i’d be really happy if people noticed my achievements or if they liked something about my personality-- or if they found me funny lol

50. Something you feel people often misunderstand about you that i’m not nice lol because i keep to myself unless spoken to irl + that unimpressed scowl i always have. it’s like my default facial expression!

not forcing anyone to do it since it’s very long, just tagging for the sake of tagging! and i think most of the people i know have already been tagged? i’ve seen this tagged post done by most of them lol

@ashnable @nimmywik @captiveotomeprincess @otometrashcan  @princessdiarymdc @arimii @madamemalfoy21 @kinkymint @oh-my-otome

[mfmagazine]

Official Hot Mess

Article by Victoria Laurey

The dynamic duo, known as Official Hot Mess, is anything but that. Landers sisters, Kristy and Lindsey, are a punk/rock band that formed back in 2007, earning them their first record deal before graduating high school. The band members consist of: Lindsey Landers- Niedenfuer (vocals/guitar), Kristy Landers-Niedenfuer (vocals/bass), Jake Freeman (lead guitar), Adam Evans (Rhythm guitar), Billy Burke (bass), and Joe Pezzino (drums). Selling countless albums and topping the charts overseas, OHM is now making their way into the states. Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, this is the ultimate girl pair we should be looking out for. You may have heard their music on your favorite reality television series, such as: The Hills, The City, Jersey Shore, and My Super Sweet 16. Their music video for, “Welcome to L.A” peaked at #2 on MTVU.  With their endless girl power lyrics and in-your-face image, OHM will soon become a household name. With a reality series of their life in the works, we will see inside the world that these girls will invite us into.

These girls are more than just pretty faces and pop/rock edginess. They are also involved in Clean Oceans, an environmentalism campaign formed to encourage young people to help keep the beaches and oceans clean by picking up trash, and not using plastic grocery bags or disposable plastic water bottles. In May 2010, they completed a photo shoot for the NOH8 Campaign. The NOH8 Campaign is a silent protest photo project against California Proposition 8.  The campaign features photographs portraying people in front of a white backdrop wearing white t-shirts, their mouths taped shut and "NOH8" painted on their cheeks On the big screen, Kristy and Lindsey costarred with Andy Dick in the comedy, Kissing Strangers and had lead roles in The Brotherhood V: Alumni.

What is it about your favorite artists: Blondie, Pat Benatar, The Go Gos, and Katy Perry, that inspires your sound?

Blondie, Pat Benetar and The Go Go’s were all iconic women in music and they paved the wave for future female rockers. Were inspired by elements from all of their individual styles, and like to incorporate each of them into our own personal style.

Kristy, you are an animal activist that works for PETA. What work do you take on with helping such a cause? Would you ever be one their spokes-models if they offered you the chance?

We’re both major animal activists and are proud to be active members of PETA. We volunteer at animal shelters and charity events, doing everything from performing at the events to walking dogs and cleaning kennels. We recently shot a very powerful PSA for PETA and would definitely be a spokes model for them.  

Lindsey, you say you are a shopping addict. What are your favorite clothing stores? Do you see yourself creating your own clothing line in the future?

It’s really funny ‘cause I love shopping, and Kristy hates it… but we both love to create styles and design clothes, and a clothing line down the road is a definite possibility. Some of our favorite clothing stores and designers include Guess, Betsey Johnson, Rock and Republic and Gasoline Glamour.

You describe yourselves as being, "Old-fashioned rock and roll party". What about that particular image makes you want to portray just that?

I think a definite element of our styles and personalities is a care free, fun, live for the moment attitude, just like an old fashioned rock and roll party.

When you received your first record deal before graduating high school, what was the experience like for you?  

We were always sort of outcasts in high school because we were always so into our music and not into the academics (we attended a public high school for academically gifted students). So when we got our first deal and had to leave school, it was kind of bittersweet.

When you reached the charts in Asia, Australia, and parts of Europe, what went through your minds?

We were so excited when we heard how well the album was doing, but it didn’t really sink in until we arrived in Tokyo and saw the magnitude of the album’s success.

Your music was featured on popular shows like: The Hills, The City, Dollhouse and countless others. At the time, did you realize how far your dreams of being well-known in the states were becoming?

Hearing our music played on popular television shows is one of the most amazing feelings! To know that our song had the ability to enhance a pivotal moment in the show is a great feeling. Knowing that our fans in the US are finding a connection to our music is incredible-- We don’t take anything for granted and we appreciate every accomplishment we achieve. We’re so excited, we just found out that our new song, “Money Makes the Girl$ Go Round” is going to be featured on E!’s “Keeping up with the Kardashians”!

When you were younger, can you remember what it was like to perform on PBS? What song did you perform on the show?

We’ve been writing music since we were old enough to write. I think the song we sang on PBS was called “My Sister”. It’s one of those embarrassing things our proud Momma whips out on holidays!

Now with success comes a few obstacles. How did you face being taunting by your classmates?

High school was a difficult time for us, we were thought of as rebels and outcasts for pursuing music. While all the other kids were focusing on SAT scores and Ivy League schools, we were touring in Japan and barely keeping our grades up. Even now, high schools not far behind us, but bygones are bygones and we've learned a lot and grown from those experiences, bad and good. However, we'd like to dedicate track eight from Lily Allen's 'It's Not Me It's You' album to them.

You have other interest besides music, which is film and television. What in film and television would you like to pursue?

Music is definitely our focus right now, but we’ve had the opportunity to costar in some really fun film projects and have a few exciting projects coming up in the very near future.

There is talk about you guys doing a reality series about your lives. How do you want your band to be portrayed on camera? Will your other band mates have the same amount of air time as you?

We are working on a reality project now and the most important thing to us is that it is portrayed with honesty. We want our fans to be able to see behind the scenes of Official Hot Mess and the fun craziness that goes on when we get together with the four guys in the band, and the contrast of our lives at home with our mom and dad vs. being on the road.

You said that you went statue shopping with Michael Jackson. What was that experience like? Did you remain close friends with him?

Kristy and I accidentally went statue shopping with Michael Jackson. [Laughs]  One day, we were early for an appointment so we made a pit stop and walked into this store, just to kill some time.  All of the sudden, we hear swarms of paparazzi coming into the store - hundreds of them.  So we're like 'Whoa, this can't be for us.' [Laughs]  So, they shut down the entire store and now we're the only people in there.  In walks Michael Jackson with an umbrella. So we were freaking out and thinking 'what do we do?'. We tried to be really respectful of his privacy, so we walked into another room so he didn't think we were going to invade his space.  You've heard so many things about him like 'he's a germophobe' or whatever, and he was a living legend, so it's a bit intimidating to be around him. A couple of minutes later, he walked into the room that we were in, and he stood there and talked to us for over half an hour.  He was the nicest man I've ever met.  He was not a germophobe at all.  He gave us both hugs when we left.  It was a great time, and a really incredible experience, we even kept in touch for a few months after that.

What was your inspiration behind writing the lyrics for, “Pick your poison", and “Welcome to LA"?

We wrote “Pick Ur Poison” with our friend, Andrew Goldstein from the Friday Night Boys. The song is about a bittersweet love affair. The major inspiration for "Welcome 2 LA" derives from the fact that we come from a small beach town in Florida. It's such a culture shock coming to L.A. and seeing all of the crazy things that are happening. We get booked to play at the Playboy Mansion, and we're from this sleepy beach town in Florida. When you get to the Playboy Mansion, everybody's naked and they all have big fake boobs and you're like, "What the heck is going on?"

Where did the name, "Official Hot Mess", come from?

We call ourselves Official Hot Mess because it seems as though mischief and trouble always have a way of finding us; like the time we thought we were on a flight to LA and ended up in Puerto Rico...or the time my spike heel got caught on Lindsey's pants and I accidentally pantsed her on stage! We've definitely gotten into our fair share of trouble, from accidentally starting a bus brawl to narrowly avoiding arrest for skinny dipping in a pool after hours. We got chased by a wizard on Hollywood Blvd., and we accidentally sat in Bill Murray's seats at his own movie premiere.

What inspires you to write? Does that include past ordeals you had to face that came with the territory of fame?

We're inspired by anything and everything from getting rejected in Hollywood, to falling in love, and sometimes we'll just wake each other up in the middle of the night when we're inspired. The creative process for us is writing and recording.  It's like therapy for the soul…and it’s cheaper than a shrink. You can express anything you want to express, and it turns into something awesome.

When your future audience attends one of your shows, what is the message you want them to leave with?

When people come to our shows, we want them to leave their stress and troubles behind and just come to let loose, have a good time, and escape into the music.