#there are some sci fi movies i have to turn off bc i Cannot
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silenthillmutual · 4 months ago
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☕️ How do you feel about horror films in the 2010's? What were some of the best and worst to come out of that decade in your opinion?
oh hmmmmm let's look at what i've seen that came out in the 2010s
great, really loved - tucker & dale vs evil (horror comedy that will always be famous. to me.); get out (i like us and nope as well but get out to me is like the tightest writing of the three. and then nope and then us.); it ch1 (i have a fond memory of seeing this on my birthday so i have a bias for it :]); annihilation (i love sci-fi horror films so fucking much. ik there's big differences between the book and the film but i cannot wait to read the book anyway!); mandy (i have got to get high and watch this. epic film)
good, decent film - black swan (i do not get what the discourse is around this movie. no it's not the most mind-blowing film experience but idk ppl act like there's nothing worth redeeming in it.); the cabin in the woods (this is a p good movie, do not get me wrong, but it would've been better without the joss whedon stink on it); paranorman (will probably get bumped up a notch once i've rewatched it tbh); what we do in the shadows (mockumentaries i love u); crimson peak (can i just take a sec to say media literacy is ass on this site bc of that one post about crimson peak.); green room (wanna rewatch this one bc its premise is right up my alley); the boy (benefits from Better Than I Was Expecting); happy death day (groundhog day plots are really hit or miss for me but i did like this one. i support women's wrongs.); a quiet place (i need to see the sequels bc i hear day one is good but this was def a unique premise and i liked how the end product turned out); color out of space (goes on a touch too long imo but i'd love to watch it again); us (i still enjoy us just not as much as get out or nope. there's some clunkiness in us.)
a little mediocre but i'll put it on - my soul to take (no real notes on this one other than not being big happy w its ending); grave encounters (probs a little higher up on the meter bc i do enjoy saying 'im lance preston and this is grave encounters' at random); american mary (also on the higher up side bc i'd like it to have been. idk. gorier? also the ending felt kinda anticlimactic.); the babadook (film got spoiled for me long before i sat down to watch it. my partner despises it. i just wanna know why no one has pointed out that the kid is obviously autistic and him being presented as a burden is kinda fucked up); hereditary (i think this is a decent melodrama, and ari aster is not untalented, but oh my gooooood people piss me off about this movie lmao and the mom sounds exactly like my mother.); mom and dad (the parts w the parents i think are much stronger than the parts w the kids but interesting concept for a short story.); it ch2 (i think it doesn't quite match up to pt 1 but it's not bad. i might rewatch it and see how i feel.), ready or not (i'd love to rewatch this one and have my mind changed on it)
i don't remember this one love and light - the woman in black (i'll give this a rewatch later); the purge (i only have the vaguest memories of what happens in this one bc i watched it at 2 am w some classmates while studying abroad); it follows (i see both a lot of love and a lot of hate for this movie so i kinda wanna rewatch before i settle on an opinion)
boring - fright night (i watched this in high school bc i really liked david tennant but i tried rewatching it as an adult and i couldn't get hooked); the conjuring (i'm so sorry to everyone who loves these films but i could NOT get into this.); the witch (sorry.)
i dont recommend tbh - saw 3d (not one on my rewatch list in the series but it's also not the worst film in the set on account of it not being jigsaw or spiral); in fear (i watched this while studying abroad in scotland and i got very let down at just how little was going on in this film.); tusk (parts of this movie i was struggling not to laugh at. didn't feel bad for the main character in the least. not nearly as disturbing as everyone kept making it out ot be imo.); the love witch (i thought 'oh this has to be a critique of rad feminism it's too campy to be taken seriously' but alas i was wrong); midsommar (i am keeping my mouth shut on my real opinion of this movie.)
abysmal. sorry. - dark shadows (i will admit there are burton films that i still find joy in but this is definitely not one of them. really weird movie from what i remember); silent hill: revelation 3d (idk how they fucked up worse than christoph gans but they did!); jigsaw (how the fuck do you make a saw movie that's BORING. booo logan we hate ur pussy!)
woah sorry i just looked a t a list sorry this is like a massive wall of text.
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uwuwriting · 4 years ago
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Moments that made you question your relationship Haikyuu edition
This sadly wasn’t requested bc well MY ASK BOX WAS THANOS-ED OUT OF EXISTENCE, so this is something I came up with until some requests have piled up. Thank you again for 3K you cannot imagine how much you guys motivate me and keep me going in this awful time. You can always dm me so we can be friends *like legit I love meeting new ppl on the internet so yeah* and don’t ever hesitate to send in your asks. Love ya.💖💖💖
rules
masterlist
warnings: crack, I ain’t kidding you this post is just on steroids
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Kuroo Tetsuro
One time you were being both childish and having an argument over which sci-fi movie was more likely to happen in real life when this man just snapped at some point and gave you a whole scientific explanation to why you were wrong. He ended up giving you a biology lesson because he also explained how the virus would work. You deadass were staring at him in disbelief half the time, questioning your life choices. 
Kenma Kozume 
He thought you had been sleeping on his bed while he was playing so he got into bed and cuddled you only to realize, one hour into the cuddle session, that you weren’t even home yet and that he had been cuddling a lump of clothing. He promised himself to never tell you about this but he forgot to turn his camera off and you found out while you were editing his video. You had to conduct a full blown interrogation in order to get him to confess to what actually went down. 
Yaku Morisuke
You two went to the mall one day because he wanted to buy a new jacket for practice so you went to the sports department. An employee came to help you and you realised that he had been showing kids clothing when Yaku exited the dressing room dawning a 10-12 year old sports jacket which he thought was very stylish and made his eyes pop. When you explained to the employee that Yaku was almost an adult he deadass looked at you for a whole ass minute before apologizing to Yaku and moving on. Yaku joked that they would think that you were some type of creep as you proceeded to use violence to shut him up.
Atsumu Miya
He got drunk during a party after one of their major victories and you went to get him so he wouldn’t like, jump out of some window and break his neck. You, however, got there just in time to see your boyfriend butt ass naked on the second story balcony of the house the party was held in, screaming at the top of his lungs that he dedicates this leap of faith to his girlfriend before proceeding to jump into the pool that was under him. The video was uploaded onto youtube with a shot of you, face palming yourself the moment his feet left the ledge. 
Osamu Miya 
Happened at the same party, he was also drunk af but he wasn’t doing anything dangerous, he was just laughing at his twins’ antics when you came and just looped your arm through his, leaning on his shoulder since everything was kinda turning. He ripped his arm away from you saying that, and I quote “Get your hoe hands off of me, I have a girlfriend.” He then proceeded to flick his wrist and walk away and into a glass door. You didn’t know if you should be touched or offended. 
Suna Rintarou
You had trusted him with babysitting your fish tank while you were on vacation with your family. He realized that he forgot to feed your fish only when one of them started floating and he kinda lost his shit. So he overfed them which resulted in them not being able to move when you got home. You asked him where Nemo was and with a serious expression he said that Nemo escaped through your toilet drain. 
Ushijima Wakatoshi
For a long ass time he didn’t understand sarcasm so whenever you would say something cheeky he would just answer with a dead panned expression or a very very serious answer. So one time you were arguing with Tendou when you said “Bite me” so this little shit answered with a very smug look on his face “I haven’t gotten my rabies shot yet.” The next day Ushi told you that he had arranged an appointment for a rabies shot at the local hospital.
Semi Eita
You were getting a pad so you could change when Semi manhandled you to take the candy you were holding. When you told him that it was a pad he didn’t believe you and he had to wrestle you to take it. Seeing that it was actually a pad he looked you dead in the eyes with a very disappointed look on his face and just threw it away without a second thought. 
Tendou Satori
You had gone out to dinner with your parents and your dad was telling yall a story when the fateful phrase of “So I was standing there.” and from across the table a very low “Barbeque sauce on my titties” was heard. Everyone looked at your brother before your mom scolded the poor kid for something he didn’t say. You and Tendou were just staring at each other, a silent plea for forgiveness and mercy leaving your boyfriends’ lips as you glared at him. 
Oikawa Tooru
You had been quarantined together and everything was going fine, surprisingly, until you ran into Tooru in the dead of night eating a ketchup sandwich on the kitchen floor while watching ASMR videos on youtube. When you asked him what he is doing he answered that he got hungry and since yall didn’t have anything tasty to eat he is watching these videos imagining that he is the one eating that fried chicken wing. 
Iwaizumi Hajime
You thought he was awake because my mans was keeping a full fleshed conversation going until you said something bad about yourself and he lost it. His eyebrows furrowed and he turned to you with a very serious expression on his face before saying “I’ll beat your fuck!” followed by a “Sugar gay” as he turned his back to you and started snoring. 
TAG TEAM AY: 
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strangeandforlornbooks · 5 years ago
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best books with morally ambiguous narrators!
all y’all’s problematic faves and villains! :) also included are third person narrators but in books with morally ambiguous leads/themes 
Sci-fi
Scythe by Neal Shusterman: in a future free from pain, disease, and war, people can live forever. ‘scythes’ are given the power to decide who lives and who dies to preserve the balance. sad and kinda gives of hunger games vibes, if you like that.
Neuromancer by William Gibson: basically invented the cyberpunk genre. strange and removed protagonists. (a team of computer hackers have to face off against an evil AI). you kind of dislike everyone and suddenly you’re crying over them. one of those trippy sci-fi classics.
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut: very beautiful and very very sad (same author as slaughterhouse five). the richest man in america has to face a martian invasion. more about free will and bad people doing good things than a plot that makes any kind of sense.
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick: set in an alternate universe where the germans and japanese won world war two. not really like the tv show at all- it’s not an action story, and there’s not really the hope to somehow fix the world that drives a lot of dystopia stories. instead its about how people survive and connect to one another in a hopeless society.
The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow: a supercomputer convinces the leaders of the world to keep the peace for hundreds of years by taking their children hostage and obliterating any city that disobeys. what happens to the hostage protagonists when war seems inevitable? lots of morally fraught decisions and characters slowly losing their identity. (plus a fun lesbian romance)
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson: a brilliant mathematician and a dedicated marine fight to keep the ultra secret in world war two. fifty years later,  a tech company discovers what remains of their story. one of the most memorable sequences in the book is a japanese soldier slowly becoming disillusioned with his nation and horrified by the war even as he continues to fight.
Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick: another one of those sci-fi classics that’s not at all like the movie. there is a bounty hunter for robots, though, as well as a weird religion that probably is referencing catholicism and a decaying society with a shortage of pets. kind of a trip.
Wilder Girls by Rory Power: girls trapped in a boarding school on an isolated island must face a creeping rot that affects the animals and plants on the island as well as their own bodies. the protagonists will do anything to survive and keep each other safe. very tense (and bonus lesbian romance whoo)
The Fifth Season by N K Jemisin: three women are gifted with the ability to control the earth’s energy in a world where those who can do so are forced into hiding or slavery. some veryyyy dark choices here but lots of strong female characters.
Historical Fiction
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: two victorian lesbians fall in love as they plot to betray each other in horrific ways. lots of plot twists, plucky thieves, gothic settings, and a great romance.
Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiwicz: a powerful roman soldier in the time of Nero plots to kidnap a young woman after he falls in love with her, only to learn more about the mysterious christian religion she follows. very melodramatic but some terrific prose. 
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: a blind girl in France and a brilliant German boy recruited by the military struggle through the chaos of the second world war. ends with a bang (iykyk.) very sad, reads like poetry.
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang: graphic novel reveals the story of a young boy fighting in the boxer rebellion in early twentieth century china. the sequel, saints, is also excellent. beautifully and sympathetically shows the protagonist’s descent into evil- the reader really understands each step along the way.
Fantasy
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: three triplets separated at birth, each with their own magical powers, have to fight to the death to gain the throne. lots of fun honestly
Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo: everyone in these books is highly problematic but you love them all anyway. a ragtag game of criminals plan a heist on a magical fortress. some terrific tragic back stories, repressed feelings, and revenge schemes.
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King: idk how to describe these frankly but if you can put up with King’s appalling writing of female characters they’re pretty interesting. fantasy epic about saving the world/universe, sort of. cowboys and prophecies and overlapping dimensions and drug addicts galore.
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud: lots of fun! a twelve year old decides to summon a demon for his cute lil revenge scheme. sarcastic demon narrator. lighthearted until s*** gets real suddenly.
Elegy and Swansong by Vale Aida: fantasy epic with machiavellian lesbians and enemies to lovers to enemies to ??? to lovers. charming and exciting and lovely characters.
The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen: an orphan boy must compete with a few others for the chance to impersonate a dead prince. really dark but very tense and exciting and good twists.
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: fantasy epic. heroes overthrow an evil empire and then struggle as the revolution dissolves into warring factions. interesting world building and three dimensional characters, even if they only have a small part.
Circe by Madeline Miller: the story behind the witch who turns men into pigs in the odyssey. madeline miller really said, i just used my classics degree to write a beautiful gay love story and now im going to write a powerful feminist retelling because i can. queen. an amazing and satisfying book that kills me a lil bit because of the two lines referencing the song of achilles.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer: the tragic backstory for the queen of hearts in alice in wonderland. a little predictable but very fun with a compelling protagonist
A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) by George RR Martin: ok I know we all hate GRRM and rightfully so but admittedly these books do have some great characters and great scenes. they deserve better than GRRM though. also he will probably never finish the books anyway....
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket: not really fantasy but not really anything else either. plucky, intelligent, and kind children fight off evil plots for thirteen books until suddenly you realize the world is not nearly as black and white as you thought. 
Classics
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: gothic romance!! a new wife is curious about the mysterious death of her predecessor in a creepy old house in the British countryside...good twists and lovely prose.
A Separate Peace by John Knowles: not really morally ambiguous but one awful decision suddenly has awful consequences and certain people are haunted by guilt forever.... really really really beautiful and really really really sad. boys in a boarding school grow up together under the shadow of world war two.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: while imperial russia slowly decays a beautiful young woman begins a destructive affair. a long book. very russian. the ending is incredibly tense and well written.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding: I think you know the plot to this one. the prose is better than you remember and the last scene is always exciting.
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie: one by one, the guests on an island are slowly picked off. one of Christie’s darkest mysteries- no happy ending here! very tense and great twists.
Contemporary
The Secret History by Donna Tartt: inspired the whole dark academia aesthetic. college students get a little too into ancient greece and it does not end very well. lovely prose but I found the characters unlikable.
Honorable Mentions
The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherford: has literally a billion protagonists, but some of them are morally ambiguous ig? follows a few families stories’ from the 400s ad to irish independence in the 20s. beautifully captures the weight and movement of irish history.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: how morally ambiguous can you be if you’re, like, eleven? a lot if you’re a criminal genius who wants to kidnap a fairy for your evil-ish plan apparently!
Redemption by Leon Uris: literally my favorite novel ever. the sequel to Trinity but can stand alone. various irish families struggle through the horrors of world war one. the hero isn’t really morally ambiguous, but the main theme of the novel is extremely bad people suddenly questioning their choices and eventually redeeming themselves. sweeping themes of love, screwed up families, redemption, and patriotism.
The Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo by Dorothy Dunnett: heroes redeem themselves/try to get rich/try to save their country in early renaissance Europe. if I actually knew what happened in these books I'm sure it would be morally ambiguous but its too confusing for me. in each book you spend at least a third convinced the protagonist is evil, though. lots of exciting sword fights, tragic romances, plot twists, and kicking english butt.
Bonus: Protagonist is less morally ambiguous and more very screwed up and sad all the time
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: you know this one bc its quoted in all those quote compilations. basically the story of how one horrible event traumatizes a young man and how he develops a connection to a painting. really really really good.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: hard to describe but strange... not an action novel or a dystopia really but sort of along those lines. very hopeless.
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its-love-u-asshole · 7 years ago
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Stars and Stitches [fic]
Pairings: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Summary: Kei has never been crazy about going out on Valentine's Day, and he and his boyfriend know how dangerous it can be on top of that. Instead, he'd much rather stay in for his celebrations, and he's glad Tetsurou is now on the same page. 
Rating: T
Warnings: mild swearing, some making out bc you know the drill
Note: Hello! I made it in time for Valentine’s Day lol. This is my gift for @momomirasaki124​ for the @hqvalentineexchange​ <3 I tried to incorporate most of your prompts, so I really hope you enjoy ; ; Big thanks to @emeraldwaves​ for reading this over! 
AO3
The sounds someone should hear in the morning are easy enough to guess...
The muffled sounds of traffic, a few birds chirping, and maybe some dulled footsteps from the sidewalk just outside. All of it together marks the beginning of a new, work filled day, which Kei would rather not think about.
Today is different at least.
What Kei hears is different too, and the sounds automatically make his mornings better than most people's. His alarm has become the distinct crack of Tetsurou's back as he stretches to get up.
It happens so often, Kei can now expect it, count on it. If a morning comes without the three little pops of Tetsurou's spine, then can it really be a new day? Not in his book.
He's happy they've reached the age where Tetsurou has stopped going on business trips so much. Mornings are way less dread filled these days.
"Ah fuckin shit," Tetsurou curses, one of the only few times Kei gets to hear him curse, because the other is far too much of a goody goody for that. Kei cherishes it.
It's a constant now. Like Kei spilling sauce on his shirt at dinner, or Tetsurou stubbing his toe at the end of the bed. Routines are hard to break.
He snorts as Tetsurou touches his lower back out of shock, as if this doesn't happen every damn day.
And, like clockwork, Kei delivers his line: "Quit whining old man."
It's his favorite, because Tetsurou is far from old in his book, and looks about ten years younger than he is. It's unfair. But while Kei may look like an older man, Tetsurou is the one who's beginning to complain like one.
"I don't know if we should order that, it looks sort of spicy doesn't it?"
"Kei, that's way past our bedtime."
"Can you believe the neighbors let their yard look like that?"
And fuck it, Kei laughs harder, especially when Tetsurou finally looks at him.
Tetsurou turns to him, eyes beady from sleep, his brain still working out how to distinguish shapes instead of blobs. Not like he needs much cognitive power to deal with his little shit of a husband, which he'll probably realize in .2 seconds. The raven's hair is as much a mess as it ever was, except now some of the hairs are more of a dull gray than a sleek black. Doesn't really bug Kei much. He still pulls on it, whether they're having sex or when Tetsurou clogs up the DVR with sci-fi movies.
Tetsurou complains about how he's probably going to go bald at sixty because of Kei. Kei pulls harder.
Wigs are a thing.
They have their little staring contest for another few seconds before Kei regrets his decisions. In response to his smug little grin, Tetsurou unleashes a new tactic, one Kei simply cannot overcome.
Tetsurou farts.
Yup like a twelve-year old.
It's loud too, and Kei's not about to stick around for the smell. They'd had a big dinner the night before.
What a fool he'd been.
Tetsurou just lets one rip right into their newly washed bedspread and Kei may not be a big athlete anymore, but the speed at which he jumps out of bed is unrivaled. His knees buckle because Kei never stopped being a baby giraffe in some sense, and he topples over, his brain not awake enough to communicate to his legs that uh hey, you guys can walk you know?
"I want a divorce," Kei mutters, staying on the floor because why not? It's fun down here.
Tetsurou gasps, leaning over the bed cautiously so that his face is peeking down at Kei. The image is almost cute enough for Kei to forgive him. Almost. "On Valentine's Day? That's a bit cruel isn't it babe?"
Kei throws a pillow at him, and since they're not above this kind of retributive justice, a war ensues. Kei always insists on having a shitload of pillows on their bed, though half of them end up on the floor and Tetsurou ends up only using two, but it's for the aesthetic™ okay?
Also, Kei likes having a good supply of weaponry. Some of these are back support pillows. They can kill, and he knows it.
The fun ends when Tetsurou stubs his toe on the edge of the bed again, and Kei doesn't care about counting it as a cease fire. He fuckin' won, bitch.
Tetsurou ends up running ten minutes behind because Kei has to break out the first-aid kit and make sure he didn't break something, and then he's scrambling to get ready, avoiding the bed at all costs.
Meanwhile, Kei plops himself down on their couch and listens to Tetsurou drop nearly every bottle in their bathroom. He clicks on the television, sipping his coffee leisurely and humming because Tetsurou finally remembered to buy his preferred brand from the store.
He hears Tetsurou curse from the kitchen this time, and yeah, that...that was a mug he'd just heard.
Yeah, working from home is a blessing. He'd clean the shards up later.
Kei has more pressing issues at the moment, like the fact Tetsurou fucking clogged up the DVR again.
Defiantly, Kei erases one, but just one. If something seems amiss, then Tetsurou will come for his cooking shows and he cannot miss who goes home this week. They're three episodes away from the finale, it's a crucial time.
He changes the channel to some stereotypical romance flick just to provide background noise, and remembers what Tetsurou had said earlier.
Valentine's Day.
It's not like Kei had forgotten, how could he? It's like the holiday threw up on anything within an infinite mile radius. Pink hearts, red streamers, cute cards and flower bouquets littered every grocery store he passed. There were ads on T.V. too, not to mention the influx of romance films and the public displays of affection he'd been forced to witness on the street ever since February 1st.
Yeah, so it's Valentine's Day. What a shock.
Kei hardly hates the holiday though, and not just for the candy clearance sale the day after.
A few seconds later, Kei is broken from his thoughts by a wet, sloppy kiss hitting his cheek, and he's not proud of it, but he yelps. Tetsurou is smirking at him, and screw it, Kei's revenge meter is all out of juice for now. He leans forward, catching Tetsurou's lips greedily.
He can feel the wetness on his cheek still, and he wipes it off, making Tetsurou laugh against his mouth. Asshole.
But Kei's smiling like an idiot.
Kei's breath still stinks too, he's almost positive, so that's payback enough.
Not like it ever matters.
Soon enough Tetsurou is wetting Kei's dry lips with his tongue, and the innocent kiss develops the potential to get too steamy too fast.
The last thing they need is Tetsurou's office knowing his husband gave him a boner first thing in the morning.
Or maybe they do.
Fuck 'em.
Kei clumsily sets his coffee down on the table, knowing a few drops sloshed out onto the sides but not really caring about the stickiness as he moves into Tetsurou's lap. Large, rough hands take their reserved place on his hips, rubbing circles in the exposed skin lazily. Kei moans, letting his tongue tangle with his husband's, and just because he can't help it, he tugs on his black strands, messaging Tetsurou's scalp.
From the way Tetsurou groans at the treatment, they know it's too much for a goodbye kiss. At least on a work day.
"Save it for tonight stardust," Tetsurou practically purrs, and Kei's so used to the nickname by now he overlooks it altogether. He does plan to save it for tonight actually.
"Don't be too tired when you get home then," Kei whispers, delivering one last peck to Tetsurou's lips before he climbs off of him. Tetsurou is at least twenty minutes late now.
"How dare you, since when do I get tired?" Tetsurou says, getting up to stretch lazily. It's not really a question they have to answer, not when they'd recently started knocking out before eleven. Their college selves would be ashamed.
Kei leans back, admiring shamelessly as Tetsurou fixes his tie. He's allowed okay? Fifteen years gives him permission to do mostly anything. Tetsurou's not as cut and carved as he used to be, but he's still the envy of all their neighbors, not to mention eye candy for plenty of them.
Tetsurou's the ultimate image of someone who aged well and looked happy doing so, walking out of the house in his slacks and button up like he didn't realize how admired he was. Kei's sure he does though, he just doesn't really care unless Kei's the one doing the admiring.
Yup, that's right. Kei married the neighborhood hottie, his mom would be so proud.
Tetsurou preens from the attention Kei gives him, leaning down lift Kei's chin and give it an affectionate squeeze. "Take out for dinner?"
Kei snorts. Duh. "It's Valentine's Day, isn't it?"
Tetsurou grins, and already, Kei can't wait for him to come home.
Their Valentine's Day traditions have changed throughout the years, but the holiday refuses to let go of at least some of its spark. When they were in college, they'd actually gone out, fighting for reservations at nice restaurants, going to new movies, or sometimes even doing the stupidest things imaginable...
Now though, Kei's patience for the crowds and the stress was even more thin, and his expectations for a romantic night out were simpler, more private.
Basically, Valentine's Day had become one of the few nights of the year where they elected to do nothing. Nothing.
No cleaning, no cooking, no worrying about meeting up with friends or scheduling home improvements, just...nothing. They ordered food, the most unhealthy sort Kei could think of, and spent the hours together, watching shitty movies and reminiscing.
It's cheesy, he knows. But he doesn't mind that anymore either. It's so cheesy, and he loves it. He loves Tetsurou.
It's the perfect way to spend a night in his mind.
Over the years, Valentine's Day fills him less with butterflies, and more of a calm nostalgia. A comfort, a warmth.
Kind of like Tetsurou himself. Kei smiles; he knows the feeling is mutual.
That's one thing he does appreciate about getting older. The confidence in his partner, the content which comes with the smallest things. The need to pretend or hide is long gone, chipped away at throughout the years until it ceased to exist.
When he was younger, he'd always wondered if he'd ever get to point like this, how it all would feel...
He guesses this is what it's like. He finally knows the answer, grinning as he watches Tetsurou trip over his own feet as he races out the door to work.
This is fifty.
--
When they're twenty-four, they're not as enlightened.
"Kuroo, please stop," Kei pleads, and yes, he really does plead. As above freaking out as he usually is, this is ridiculous. His voice is a high-pitched whisper, and his shoulders are tense, looking every which way in search of a possible security guard or serial killer (anything could happen alright?) coming for them.
"Relax babe, we can do this no problem," Tetsurou shrugs him off, tying his old sports jacket around his waist and eyeing the chain link fence in front of them. At first glance, it doesn't look so tall, but Kei has his doubts.
In the distance, he can hear the crowd cheering as the opening act of a concert takes to the stage. He really does like this band...maybe--oh my god no!
Kei reaches forward as Tetsurou touches the fence, about to start his climb, grabbing his hands instead. This is a bad idea and they both know it. Tetsurou only blinks at him, torn between pleased and confused that they're touching, and Kei can't help it, he blushes despite his annoyance.
He keeps their hands locked together though.
"We're too old for this, you're not exactly eighteen anymore," Kei scolds, and he winces, the backpack he has on suddenly bothering him. They'd stuffed a good amount of beer in it earlier, hoping to have a romantic night at the concert.
Problem is, they're broke bitches, so actually buying tickets to said concert wasn't a possibility. Tetsurou had been so confident about finding a way in though, Kei had simply rolled with it.
How dumb of an idea could Tetsurou possibly conjure up?
That's what he'd thought. To this day, Kei doesn't know why he keeps testing fate.
Maybe it's because with Tetsurou, he doesn't need much convincing that things will work out. And really, they always have, just not always in the way he anticipates.
Tetsurou grins at him, kissing Kei's knuckles softly as he laughs. "Psh, you make it sound like I've got liver spots already, it's just a fence. We'll be over it no time..."
Tetsurou's voice climbs in pitch, playfully egging Kei on as he scoots closer, but Kei sees through it, and won't let the control slip so easily from his grasp.
Kei huffs, dodging Tetsurou's kiss to his lips. It takes more willpower than he'd like to admit. "Okay, what about this: I'm not eighteen anymore. Are you trying to kill me?"
He's not joking either. Kei wouldn't call himself a complete klutz, but he's not exactly Mr. Elegance. He can't even stand on one foot for too long, and his boyfriend wants him to hop a fucking fence?
If they get caught sneaking in with a crap ton of beer (assuming they make it over the fence without eating shit), they're dead, and Kei would rather not make that call to his parents to bail him out.
Tetsurou just laughs, the sound sudden and downright hideous, but Kei loves it anyways. "Stardust, you look as young and beautiful as the day I first saw you..."
"We're going to end up in the ER again," Kei deadpans, refusing to let the nickname get to him. It causes him to blush up to his ears, and even in the dark, he's sure Tetsurou can tell, but it's fine.
Compliments will get him nowhere.
Tetsurou slumps against Kei, a full body pout, and Kei can't help but laugh, pushing him in vain. Damn, Tetsurou is heavy.
"Hey stop--ah! Stop!" Kei pleads, his voice a whisper in between broken giggles. His legs are giving, and screw it, he just lets Tetsurou fall on top of him. Grass stains be damned, he is not losing this battle.
They end up wrestling for a bit, the grass soft and inviting, before Tetsurou pins him there, always better when it comes to contests of brute strength.
I'll get him back later. Kei never fails to.
Kei's laughter comes in short, fading bursts, his lungs fighting to catch up. Tetsurou's hands frame his face, and looking up, he can see the night sky is serving as the raven's own personal backdrop.
There's a lot of stars out, he notices, and for a moment, he wonders if it's really fair that Tetsurou gives Kei all the celestial nicknames. They seem far better suited to him, especially when those golden eyes are shining as bright as the stars above, focused solely on Kei.
Kei's own, personal galaxy, wrapped up in one person.
Ugh, listen to yourself. Shut up.
Tetsurou's rubbing off on him, and he's not a fan.
Rather than stew in his embarrassment, he meets Tetsurou's lips halfway, and the raven pauses just briefly, as if asking permission. It's almost a tease too, with how Tetsurou's breath tickles Kei's face from how close they are, the hesitation too considerate and too maddening all at once.
Kei grants the wish, and the kiss sends sparks through him, all the way down to his toes as he melts against his boyfriend.
It's short, because they're out in the open and Tetsurou knows how Kei is about their privacy, but that doesn't stop him from quickly rubbing their noses together before he finally pulls back.
Dork.
Tetsurou sighs, staring down at Kei fondly, and the blond thinks maybe now they can just skip all this and go home. After all, it's Valentines' Day, and the concert is probably on T.V. anyhow.
However, when has Tetsurou ever conceded so easily?
"Well, thanks for that, now I feel like I could climb two fences," Tetsurou says triumphantly, and Kei's smile instantly falls as his boyfriend smirks. "Maybe even a whole mountain."
"I'm leaving you." Kei gets up, but he doesn't go anywhere. He's all bark and no bite, sadly.
"Yes yes," Tetsurou says, because goddammit, he knows Kei's ass isn't going anywhere either, and turns back to eye the fence. "Now, back to business."
"Why are you like this?"
"I just like proving you wrong baby," Tetsurou says, putting one of his feet into an opening in the fence. Oh my god you're serious aren't you? Fucking...
"I highly doubt I'll be proved wrong," Kei says, already taking his phone out in case he needs to call someone. That, and part of him really does worry about his boyfriend's safety, and he'd rather not actively watch the climb. On the off chance Tetsurou actually gets over the fence, Kei notes, the raven will never let him forget it, so it's a losing situation all around for him.
Tetsurou turns to him, his hands and feet now locked into his starting position, and gives him one last dazzling grin. "Watch and learn."
And oh, Kei learns.
He learns that damn, he should be a motherfucking psychic with how good he predicted this shit.
They end up in the ER about half an hour later, but Kei's not really as concerned as he'd feared. In fact, he's starting to get bored. He knows it's bad, but the 'hehe I was right' potential behind this whole night has him giddy, and he can only hope he and Tetsurou stay together for the rest of their lives, just so he always has a chance to bring it up.
They hadn't gotten caught by anyone, but Tetsurou had lost his footing on the fence halfway to the top, and ended up with a deep gash on his thigh. After the initial freakout of driving them to the hospital and signing Tetsurou in, only to find the injury was an easy fix, he calmed down.
Three hours of waiting room scrabble and twelve stitches later, Tetsurou is signing out at the front desk about ten feet from him. Kei sits in the overly stiff waiting room chairs, ready to get up and help his boyfriend limp to the car. No excessive activity for a week and a half. Those are the doctor's orders, and Kei plans to enforce them, strictly.
This night has been a stressful one, but at least it was winding down.
Now, Kei only wants to go home and relax, maybe curl up with Tetsurou and watch the missed concert on pay-per-view and nurse his boyfriend's hurt ego.
The night is still young.
Plus, he can see the slight guilt in Tetsurou's eyes, the damn romantic. As if this could possibly ruin Valentine's Day. Hell, this is the best Valentine's Day Kei has had so far.
And the holiday would only get better, if the both of them were involved, no matter how stupid the shenanigans.
Tetsurou smiles sheepishly at him as he turns from the desk, and Kei shakes his head fondly, standing to allow Tetsurou to use him as his own personal crutch.
As heavy as Tetsurou is, Kei doesn't mind the weight.
Tetsurou groans a little from the pain as they walk through the parking lot, and when there's no one in sight, Kei allows himself to reach up and kiss the corner of Tetsurou's mouth.
"You know, maybe next year, we should stay home and order takeout," Kei suggests, his smile smug, and Tetsurou kisses it right off.
The raven sighs, but looks about as happy as Kei feels, despite the stitches in his leg. "You know what stardust, you might just be onto something."
--
Kei smiles at the memory, sipping wine from the mug Tetsurou bought him for his 50th birthday (because he's classy like that, and who needs wine glasses?).
He has his feet in Tetsurou's lap, and he's eating directly from the box of fried rice they ordered, because Tetsurou prefers pan fried noodles anyways, so they just order their own sides.
Kei is laughing so hard he fears he might choke, and with a pout, Tetsurou throws a spring roll at him.
"Hey! If you get crumbs on the couch, you're cleaning it," Kei protests, eating the spring roll because fuck no you're not getting it back now.
"You tell this story every year," Tetsurou groans, but he's laughing just as hard. "When will you give it a rest?"
"When it stops being funny, which will be never," Kei says with a shrug, because it is the most obvious thing in the world at this point. He likes to call that ER episode the most memorable Valentine's Day they've ever had, but he'd rather not have a repeat.
No, he'd been right all those years ago.
Sitting here in pajamas and fighting over what movie to watch, eating foods that'll go straight to his thighs...
This is his kind of Valentine's Day.
Doesn't mean he can't remember their younger ones fondly though, as stupid as they were.
And judging from the way Tetsurou is looking at him, like their back lying in the grass all over again, Kei knows he feels exactly the same.
"Guess I'll have to endure then," the raven says, pulling Kei into his arms, and he doesn't sound the least bit upset about it. "Happy Valentine's Day."
And yeah, Kei thinks, it most definitely is.
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comradecowplant · 4 years ago
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WELL it was an easy read and I finished the book already. I gotta do a classic Dani Vents About a Story post that will include significant spoilers, so be careful if you are reading/want to read The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargraves. I’m about to bitch about it a lot, but overall it was an interesting book that I’d still (mostly) recommend if you have an interest in historical fiction surrounding the Norwegian witch trials.
Most of it was really good, although a few theme threads and character arcs completely fell apart in the final act. I knew it was going to be dark-- again, 17th century witch trial shit-- but the actual “murder my favorite characters” bit thankfully didn’t begin until pretty late in the story, which lets the focus remain more on the lives of the women vs their horrific deaths. The author does a (mostly) great job at creating interesting characters you fall in love with, and succeeded immensely at bringing the landscape and village of Vardo to life.
BUT 
IN THE LAST LITERAL FOUR PAGES, THE NARRATIVE TOOK ALL THE MEANING THAT THE PROTAGANISTS HAD CREATED OUT OF THEIR HARDSHIPS AND THREW IT OVER A CLIFF (LITERALLY! & EACH USE OF THIS WORD HERE HAS BEEN THE PROPER USE. although i guess a fictional event cannot be truly ‘literal’ BUT WHATEVER I AM NOT GETTING LOST IN THE WEEDS WITH PEDANTICS). I am so fucking mad, and it serves as a reminder to why I typically don’t read/watch many period pieces these days, unless it is a period setting in a fantasy/sci fi world. So many people think that in order to bE rEaLiStIc when writing about periods in history, you simply MUST be as grimdark as possible, especially with conclusions, but I find that perspective boring and uncreative as hell. Bitch it’s already fiction! it’s already lies! you are god in the universe you write, have some courage and don’t concede to established tropes that center on garish suffering to define the experiences of historically (& contemporaneously) marginalized people! At least in a medieval-set fantasy story, you get the vibes of the historical setting, but also your friends can swoop by on a dragon and rescue the innocent pants-wearing fisherwoman who is about to be burned alive by the racist woman-hating church.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love a story with a messy & unhappy ending. I even love an occasional grimdark story! But as I get older, I see & feel more the evils which inspired these historical events and how they still burden our world today, and I do not enjoy spending my free time reading/watching movies that are centered on suffering for suffering’s sake-- if I want a story about senseless violence & the underdogs who never win, I will just turn on the fucking news. SO, for me, the dark stories I do enjoy cannot just be traumaporn in a difference shell, the darkness has. to. make. sense. You can’t spend 300 pages on a woman overcoming her grief of losing her brother/father/fiancé/half her village & learning how to be a #StrongIndependantWoman, then have her just kill herself on the last page. It just isn’t narratively good, it just isn’t! And to be clear, the author could have gone WAYYYYYYYY darker in many places throughout the book & did not even come close to going full grimdark. I think overall she greatly succeeded at balancing hope & hopelessness. It was done so well in fact that I was lulled into a false sense of security that maybe just maybe there might be a way out for our ladies, a conclusion that didn’t end with the kind of complete misery that historic fiction tends to skew towards. But there is this overwhelming sense in the final few pages that, probably due to the aforementioned loyalty to perceived “historical accuracy”, she hadn’t included enough suffering (even though there is PLENTY of tragedy to go around by that point) & she didn’t know how to finish the story. So when in doubt, kill 👏 those 👏 gays 👏 (although we don’t know the fate of the other woman, who has entire chapters given from her perspective, but Meren just says bye & we never hear about Ursa again 😤)
Which brings us to, yeah, it did have gay shit like I thought, and up until the garbage of the last four pages, it was a very touching romance. But it too concluded in a way that is only satisfying if you squint, and adds to the inconsistencies that I mentioned above. I’ve never in my life said this before, and it makes me ill to even type this, but, *sob* it probably would have been a better story if the two women had remained platonic friends and no touch-a the booba. I know a lot of people think I’m One of Those cringe queers who will read/watch absolute garbage just if there is a queer person (which tbf I definitely also do sometimes, & it’s actually very valid of me, thank u very much), but if that were true I would have finished that awful Warming Trend book that I blogged about like 2 years go, or read any of the hundreds of stupid “subtext” trash that folks like to recommend, or ship Supercorp (no offense to anyone who ships them, I get it, Katie McGrath is hot, but come on, there is a perfectly good lesbian already on the show), or watched Glee. No, I do actually have some standards--  Are they super high, as a love-starved reader/viewer who uses romantic fiction as a primary means of escapism/coping with my shitty life? No, lmao. But as a writer, and as a queermo, nothing grinds my gears more than a badly executed lgbtq+ storyline.
Anyway, I just finished the book an hour ago so my crankiness & disappointment is raw and thus I am all over the place with this rant. I hope I’m not coming off as being too hard on the author, because despite it’s flaws, I am very glad to have serendipitously found The Mercies, and I look forward to checking out KMH’s other works. It’s been a long time since I’ve dug into a book and read it in just a few sittings like I did this, repeating “just one more chapter” for hours until it’s suddenly 3 am, and despite the fuckery to my sleep schedule it contributes to, the feeling is good-- it brings me back to simpler times when I actually was able to experience an ease from the constant uneasiness I always carry in my chest. Idk, moral of the story is that reading is fun, & when I get stuck in my Bad Turns & don’t read for months, it becomes easy to forget how much solace can come from a mid-quality but seductive (not in a horny way. but sometimes also in a horny way, lol) novel. Like, most of my reading these days is miserable 20th century theory or other academic/non-fiction writing related to our depressing capitalist hellscape & impending climate disaster, and The Mercies helped me remember that my roots lie in fiction. It also has me inspired to revisit a couple of historical fictions projects I have laying around, aND MAKE A WOMAN-EMPOWERMENT, ANTI-RACIST, QUEER AS HELL PERIOD FICTION PEICE THAT DOES NOT END IN COMPLETE GARBAGE! And in the meantime, I shall be revisiting the works of Sarah Waters, the only bad bitch I know of who writes queer historical fiction without relinquishing her characters solely to the suffering they experience ✌ 
If anyone has read this far and has any books/authors to recommend (wlw focused preferably, historical fiction or any genre as long as the story itself doesn’t rely on the tropes I touched on, recently published also preferably bc I have a long list of older books/authors but i don’t keep up with new releases like I should, & a lot of the ones I know are white & cis so PLEASE send reccs for more diverse stories/authors if you have them) 
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I saw on your SpIn page that you like comparing written storytelling to other mediums. Do you mean like a book that was turned into a movie or something? Or could you give an example so I understand better? It sounds really interesting and close to one of my SpIns! (private response or not, doesn't matter to me)
THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME AN EXCUSE TO INFODUMP YOU WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL PERSON
And nope, that’s not what I meant (seriously, do NOT get me started on books that I’ve read that were turned into movies. it.... won’t end well), but it’s understandable confusion! 
What I meant is that every piece of media has a type of storytelling and certain narrative elements that are unique to them. Let’s compare books and movies for example: the reason you have to change books when turning them into movies is because books and movies are fundamentally different mediums. 
Books, for starters, are text-based medium. Books tell a story. While most writers know the ‘show, don’t tell’ rule, books are still ultimately told through words and not images. All images can to be described by words, but the reader will fill in the blanks with their own imagination. Books have the luxury of getting completely into the main character’s head, and can therefore make things very, very clear, by giving the character internal monologues, for example. It’s also generally understood that you’ll spend at the very least a couple of hours reading a book, most likely a couple of days, so books can go into great detail about the characters/plot/worlds, etc.
Movies, however, are a visual medium. Movies, unlike books, do not tell their story, they show it. While movies do have a point of view through which the story is told, it is usually less clear than in books; additionally, in movies, scenes can switch between characters on the drop of a hat, whereas in books, this would generally be discouraged unless you have a clear mark where the change can happen (between chapters, for example). Movies also have a shorter ‘runtime’ than books; movies can take up a maximum of three hours before the audience starts complaining that it’s too long. 
(Movies also have one other major advantage over books: audio. While certain audiobooks may have simple songs or sound effects, movies have an entire soundtrack. They have sound effects, they have hand-picked songs for scenes, they have completely new songs composed, etc. etc. The soundtrack is used to define the mood of any given scene and/or the entire movie. Depending on how good the soundtrack is, it can make or break a movie. This is not relevant to the comparison, I just wanted to point it out.)   
So, when adapting a book to movie, you will obviously need to deal with changes in medium. Because books have the time to be more detailed, movies will need to cut out subplots or even change the main plot in order to fit it into their own, much more limited, runtime. Movies also need to adapt the written descriptions to actual images; this can be a problem, if a) the fanbase is particularly picky, or b) if the directors/producers/whoever in the production staff is lazy. In addition to this, movies can show the story from more perspectives than the book usually can and/or will, so it will often give different characters a larger role in order to be more engaging to the viewer (for example, spending more time with the villain than the book does, in order to build suspense). This, too, will often lead to changes in the plot.
This is why change when adapting books to movies is necessary: ultimately, books and movies are different mediums that have different rules of storytelling, and what works in one might not work in the other. Anyone who demands that books cannot be changed when adapting to movie is quite frankly not thinking about it hard enough.
(That said, there’s also something called ‘I don’t care’ syndrome in Hollywood, where they only use big-name books to market their movie, rather than try to make it a faithful adaptation (see also: Percy Jackson). This, understandably, pisses off the fans of the book. Frankly, I hate this. If you’re gonna adapt a book, at least try and make it resemble the original, please and thank you.)
This example got out of hand, but my point is that all mediums of storytelling are unique. Some quick examples of how other mediums (can) tell stories (under the cut bc this is already way too long whoops):
Comics are a medium between books and movies, in that they are a visual storytelling device, but can spend more time on developing their characters/plots/worlds than movies, because people are willing to buy multiple volumes of a comic. 
American superhero comics are especially fascinating to me, because they’ve created such a vast universe that DC (and Marvel I’m pretty sure, though don’t quote me on it) have destroyed their entire universes multiple times just to try and get some control back over them (spoiler: it didn’t work). That stories can get so vastly out of hand seemingly without anyone noticing until it was too late is incredibly fascinating to me.
Video games are in a unique position because they are interactive; the player actively makes decisions in them. With some small examples like tabletop RPGs, visual novels (though you could argue those are games), and choose-your-own-adventure books, this is the only medium that has access to this. Because of this unique feature, they can incorporate things such as ‘karma’ endings (aka if you make bad choices you get a bad ending). They also have some other features they can utilize to make their storytelling more unique (such as the ‘save’ function, which Undertale did especially well), but I’ll leave that bc I suck at games so I know fairly little about them.
TV shows are like movies but better, imo. TV shows have the exact same advantages and disadvantages as movies, except that they have one thing movies do not: time. TV shows can take multiple episodes (the length of which varies, but serious adult shows seem to be around the 1 hour mark per episode) to tell their story, and thus they have the time to incorporate more detail/subplots than movies. Of course, this does mean that you need to learn how to pace TV shows differently than movies, and also you need to actually have the attention span to watch one (which. I do not. yikes).
Animation is yet another form of audio-visual storytelling, but this one has the added bonus of not needing to be limited by making things look ‘real’. In fact, it’s better if they do not. This makes animation one of the best types of media for fantasy/sci-fi shows that need more creative visual storytelling than live action movies/tv shows will allow.
Anime is a sub-genre of animation that I find particularly fascinating, because anime isn’t western, and therefore follows different storytelling rules than I’m used to. Just a little western animations vs anime comparison:
Western: moving characters, even in the background; animation quality is fairly consistent throughout the show (except maybe in the latter eps when they run out of budget); backgrounds are usually not that detailed; usually episodic rather than plot-driven; usually focuses primarily on humor rather than serious emotion/plot; primarily used as a medium for kids’ shows.
Anime: background is static, only lips of characters move; backgrounds tend to be very detailed; animation quality explodes during fight scenes/emotional climaxes; usually plot-driven rather than episodic; is more often used for serious storytelling than western animation; used equally as a medium for kids’ and adult shows (and can therefore delve into more mature themes than western animation generally does).
I know anime usually gets written off (at least in the west) either because people don’t like the art style or because of the ‘yaoiz/weaboo’ fanbase, but it’s a really unique medium of storytelling when it isn’t pandering to creepy men and/or pedophiles. 
(Houston the anime industry has so many issues I’m gonna cry)
I’m too new to Podcasts to know clearly what the rules, advantages, and disadvantages to this type of storytelling would be, but with the huge success of podcasts like Critical Role and The Adventure Zone, I think that there is certainly a draw to this type of storytelling that no other has. I really should start listening to see if I can figure out what it is.
So yeah that’s basically my main special interest! Lots of me thinking about what the most innovative use of HP would be in a game, what the uses of live action vs animation is, whether a certain story is better told through TV or book, etc. etc. I love it so much and PLEASE if you have any questions ask me! But! Again, thanks for asking I love infodumping!
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