#give me that magical realism baby

[specialagentartemis]

Black Women writing SFF

The post about Octavia Butler also made me think about the injustice we do both Butler, SFF readers, and Black women SFF writers by holding her up as the one Black Woman Writing Sci-Fi. She occupies an important place in the genre, for her creativity, the beauty and impact of her writing, and her prolific work... but she's still just one writer, and no one writer works for everybody.

So whether you liked Octavia Butler's books or didn't, here are some of the (many!!! this list is just the authors I've read and liked, or been recommended and been wanting to read) other Black women writing speculative fiction aimed at adults, who might be writing something within your interest:

N. K. Jemisin - a prolific powerhouse of modern sff. Will probably have something you'll like. Won three Hugo awards in a row for her Broken Earth trilogy. I’ve only read her book of short stories, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? and it is absolutely story after story of bangers. Creative, chilling, beautifully written, make you think. They’re so good and I highly recommend the collection. Several of her novels have spun out of premises she first explored through these short stories, most recently “The City Born Great” giving rise to her novel The City We Became. Leans more fantasy than sci-fi, but has a lot of both, in various permutations. 

Nisi Shawl - EDIT: I have been informed that Nisi Shawl identifies as genderfluid, not as a woman. They primarily write short stories that lean literary. Their one novel that I’ve read, Everfair, is an alternate-history 19th century that asks, what if the Congo had fought off European colonization and became a free and independent African state? Told in vignettes spanning decades of political organization, political movements, war tactics, and social development, among an ensemble of local African people, Black Americans coming to the new country, white and mixed-race Brits, and Chinese immigrants who came as British laborers.

Nnedi Okorafor - American-Nigerian writer of Africanfuturism, sci-fi stories emphasizing life in present, future, and alternate-magical Africa. She has range! From Binti, a trilogy of novellas about a teenage girl in Namibia encountering aliens and balancing her newfound connection to space with expectations of her family; to Akata Witch, a middle-grade series about a Nigerian-American girl moving to Nigeria and learning to use magic powers she didn’t know she had; to Who Fears Death, a brutal depiction of magical-realism in a futuristic, post-war Sudan; to short stories like "Africanfuturism 419", about that poor Nigerian prince who’s desperately sending out those emails looking for help (but with a sci-fi twist), and "Mother of Invention" about a smart house taking care of its human and her baby… she’s done a little bit of everything, but always emphasizes the future, the science, and the magic of (usually western) Africa.

Karen Lord - an Afro-Caribbean author.  I actually didn’t particularly like the one novel by her I’ve read, The Best of All Possible Worlds, but Martha Wells did, so. Lord has more novels set in this world—a Star Trek-esque multicultural, multispecies spacefuture set on a planet that has welcomed immigrants and refugees for a long time, and become a vibrant multicultural planet. I find her stories rooted in near-future Caribbean socio-climatic concerns like "Haven" and "Cities of the Sun" and her folktale-fantasy style Redemption in Indigo more compelling.  And more short stories here.

Bethany C. Morrow - only has one novella (short novel?) for adults, Mem, but it was creative and fascinating and good and I’d be remiss not to shout it out. In an alternate-history 1920s Toronto, scientists have discovered how to extract specific memories from a person—but then those memories are embodied as physical, cloned manifestations of the person at the moment the memory was made. The main character is one such “Mem,” struggling to determine who she is if she was created from and defined by one single traumatic memory that her original-self wanted to remove. It’s mostly quiet, contemplative, and very interesting.  (Morrow has some YA novels too. I read one of them and thought it was okay.)

Rebecca Roanhorse - Afro-Indigenous, Black and "Spanish Indian" and married into Diné (Navajo). I’ve read her ongoing post-apocalyptic fantasy series starting with Trail of Lightning, and am liking it a lot; after a climate catastrophe, the spirits and magic of the Diné awakened to protect Dinetah (the Navajo Nation) from the onslaught; and now magic and monsters are part of life in this fundamentally changed world. Coyote is there and he is only sometimes helpful. She also has a more traditional second-world epic high fantasy, Black Sun, an elaborate fantasy world with quests and prophecies and seafaring adventure that draws inspiration from Indigenous cultures of the US and Mexico rather than Europe. She also has bitingly satirical and very incisive short stories like “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” about virtual reality and cultural tourism, and the fantasy-horror "Harvest."

Micaiah Johnson - her multiverse-hopping novel The Space Between Worlds plays with alternate universes and alternate selves in a continuously creative and interesting way! The setup doesn’t take the easy premise that one universe is our own recognizable one that opens up onto strange alternate universes—even the main character’s home universe is wildly different in speculative ways, with the MC coming from a Mad Max-esque desert community abandoned to the elements, while working for the universe-travel company within the climate-controlled walled city where the rich and well-connected live and work. Also, it’s unabashedly gay. 

And if you like audiobooks and audio fiction (I listened to The Space Between Worlds as an audiobook, it’s good), then Jordan Cobb is someone you should check out. She does sci-fi/horror/thriller audio drama. Her works include Janus Descending, a lyrical and eerie sci-fi horror about a small research expedition to a distant planet and how it went so, so wrong; and Descendants, the sequel about its aftermath. She also has Primordial Deep, about a research expedition to the deep undersea, to investigate the apparent re-emergence of a lot of extinct prehistoric sea creatures. She’s a writer/producer I like, and always follow her new releases. Her detailed prose, minimal casts  (especially in Janus Descending), good audio quality, and full-series supercuts make these welcoming to audiobook fans. 

-

Nalo Hopkinson - a writer who should be considered nearly as foundational as Octavia Butler, honestly. A novelist and short story writer with a wide variety of sci-fi, dystopian futures, fairy-tale horror, gods and epics, and space Carnival, drawing heavily from her Caribbean experiences and aesthetics.

Tananarive Due - fantastical/horror. Immortals, vampires, curses, altered reality, unnerving mystery. Also has written a lot of books.

Andrea Hairston - creative and otherworldly, weird and bisexual, with mindscapes and magic and aliens. 

Helen Oyeyemi - I haven’t read her work but she comes highly recommended by a friend. A novelist and short story writer, most of her work leans fairytale fantastical-horror. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a collection of short fiction and recc’ed to me as her best work. White is for Witching is a well-regarded haunted house novel. 

Ashia Monet - indie author, writer of The Black Veins, pitched as “the no-love-interest, found family adventure you’ve been searching for.” Magic road trip! Possibly YA? I’m not positive. 

-

This also doesn’t include Black non-binary sff authors I’ve read and liked like An Owomoyela, C. L. Polk, and Rivers Solomon. And this is specifically about adult sff books, so I didn’t include Black women YA sff authors like Kalynn Bayron, Tomi Adeyemi, Tracy Deonn, Justina Ireland, or Alechia Dow, though they’re writing fantasy and sci-fi in the YA world too.

And a lot of short stories are out there in the online magazine world, where so many up and coming authors get their start, and established ones explore offbeat and new ideas.  Pick up an issue (or a subscription!) of FIYAH magazine for the most current Black speculative writing.

#books #book recs #science fiction

[finitepeace]

3 months since I finished Hannibal tv show. Not moving on at all from hannigram.

and here are the fics that i read to soothe the pain and pretend that the mess that is hannigram relationship has been tidied up.

Personal favorites are marked with 🦌 <this is supposed to be a stag but then it turns out to be a goat???>

arranged by time setting.

11 season1 fics, 11 season2 fics , 2 season 3fics, 14 post/before canon fics, 5 fics AU, 2 missing scene fics, 2 collections.

Season 1 divergence

Kissable by FragileTeacup |2,5k words | A Season 1 AU ficlet which explores a simple premise: what would have happened if, after Will had gone to Hannibal's house and confessed to kissing Alana Bloom, he had ended up kissing Hannibal? 

Consenting to Dream by emungere | E, 38k words | A seduction through physical objects. It starts with a scarf loaned to Will on a cold day, but Hannibal, as usual, isn't satisfied with anything small.

🦌 Marriage of Inconvenience by FragileTeacup | 3,5k words E | When Will Graham hears that Hannibal Lecter has been threatened with deportation, he's far more dismayed than he ever thought he would be. But a flippant suggestion from Brian Zeller gives him an idea...

Beau Ideal by Gweezle | E, 21k words | will used to be a model -who might be attracted murder-

🦌 Dancing with the Beast by proser | E, 86k words | In order to catch a mediocre serial killer, Will must pose as Hannibal's date for a series of pretentious social events.

La Maison Rouge by Randstad | 2k words, Hannibal starts to show up at Will's house at the crack of dawn to make him breakfast, killing two birds with one stone: cooking is one of his many passions, and, honestly, Will Graham is climbing up the list.

Hyacinth House by bluesyturtle for Azremodehar | 80k, E,  It all starts with an injury Will sustains while sleepwalking. [Podfic] read by justbreathe

Kindling by gleamingandwholeanddeadly (something_safe) | 10k words, e | When Franklyn's advances of friendship become too much for even Hannibal to politely ignore, he enlists Will's help.

🦌 Separately to a Wood by emungere | 13k words, T, canon-divergence in which hannibal proposed to will on their 2nd day meeting. 

Demolition Lovers by thefangirlingdead | 76k words, E, hannibal got found out early, kidnapped will to run with him and will struggled with the usual ‘i love him but he is a murder’.. 

🦌 Small Repairs by Devereauxs_Disease | E, 20k words, divergence season 1, hannigram keeps finding reason to meet each other 

Season 2 divergence

🦌 The Fox's Wedding by thehoyden | E, 11k, post S2 finale fix-it, hannibal took will to japan

Amourette by Petronia | 3k words, E, divergence on season 2 

I shouldn't feel lonely when you're gone by Angelic_Disaster | 28k words, E, amnesiac Dr. Lecter,

Slip the Veil by ThisBeautifulDrowning   21,844  Post-Mizumono, Will heals, and thinks, and follows his heart. 

🦌 each according to its kind by chaparral_crown | 192k words | Season 2 divergence | instead of taking revenge and planning to expose hannibal, will drop everything and run away 

Where All Ladders Start by emungere | E, 43k, season 2 divergence, hannibal regrets and releases will from prison 

Pattern Break by ThisBeautifulDrowning | e, 72k | No, Will was going to deal with Hannibal Lecter on his own terms. The man deserved to reap what he'd so carefully sowed, didn't he? After his release from the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Will doesn't return to work for the FBI.

🦌🦌🦌 if you will come all the way down with me by coloredink | 7k words, M, they left together with abigail, but at what cost??? 

Season 3 divergence

🦌 their beaks not yet turned red by chaparral_crown | M, 130K words, magical realism, baby lecter!! post 1st half of season 3, hannibal went to trial but his conjugal tryst with will brought a stork delivered gift | After Hannibal is arrested and the trial dates are set, the stork visits Will Graham. With it, it brings a baby, a legally binding birth certificate, and a hope chest full of gifts for her. Nobody except Will thinks this is weird.

A Postcard and a Knife by Canis_cosmos | E, 37k words, divergence from season 3 when chiyoh threw will out of the train to the past and met young hannibal 

post S3 / before S1

God and Glasses by purefoysgirl | 1,1k, G, domestic life of married hannigram 

Lean On Me by OneWhoSitsWithTurtles | 2k words | Written for the airport-related AU prompt: "I fell asleep on your shoulder and you were too polite to move or wake me up AU" with a Hannigram twist.

We Killed a Dragon Last Night and  Sounders of Three by  inameitlater | time travel/loop/groundhog day

🦌 Hear My Soul Speak by DarkmoonSigel | 130k words. WIP. Last updated early 2022.  | An AU about how Will might of met Hannibal differently since they both knew Alana. A dinner party gone wrong or terribly right. You decide. Not Beta Read.

🦌 When the Devil Smiles Back byGoldenUsagi | 26k words |  A remix of Silence of the Lambs, where Clarice finds herself occupied not only with catching Buffalo Bill, but with unraveling the mystery of what exactly happened to Will Graham. And Hannibal knows more than he’s letting on about both.

🦌🦌🦌Bigger than a Breadbox by KatherineKrawl | 4k words, E | Every day at work, Will's lunchbox is filled with decadent creations, prompting questions from curious coworkers. Hoping to solve the matter, he asks Hannibal for a 'simple' sandwich, but quickly learns Hannibal doesn't quite grasp the meaning of this. Or does his boyfriend have an ulterior motive for his lavish lunches?

TKO by sidnihoudini | 16k words Molly deals with the aftermath.

The Shape of Me Will Always be You by MissDisoriental | 279k words, 1st person POV, | post-fall, hannibal left will so will could return to his old life

A Discreet Madness by emungere | 4,4k words, M, post-fall | 

A Damn Slippery Life by Magical_Destiny | 2k words, T, post-fall, molly reacts

Something Else by HotMolasses | 2,1k, T, hannigram talking about that gutting scene...  

🦌🦌🦌 Say Cheese! by Devereauxs_Disease | 6k, M, murder husband’s vacations keep appearing in freddie lound’s tattle crime 

Cold Beds and Warm Cannibals by Devereauxs_Disease | E, 4,4k, smut and overcoming distrusts

🦌Fruitful by Everett_Harte An AU remix of 'Hannibal'. Where they both meet several years before the show, start dating, and get married. And bang, a lot.

AUs

🦌 the true kingkiller by ORiley42 | 41k words, M, there’s even a very well made podfic for it!, hannibal is a mummy and will accidentally freed him. consequence: will fell in love with him.

Ethics & Aesthetics by FragileTeacup | 106330 words, a Regency A/B/O romance | pride and prejudice au

🦌🦌🦌 Remember (that you are) to die by  13empress | 230k words, WIP last updated  2017 | ABO au, amnesiac will woke up with 13 years past experience including being a parent, a one half of murder husband, and a wrongly incarcerated FBI agent 

Oddbodies by toffeecape | E, 72k words | Will is an off-brand sentinel. Hannibal is a reputable guide. What could go wrong?

🦌🦌🦌 Overcoming by purefoysgirl | 547k words, E, A/B/O victorian AU, MY VERY FIRST HANNIGRAM FIC! brought me here and now i'm stuck

Howling Outside Your Door by nobetterlove | 14k words | Content to spend his days on the surgery floor, Hannibal is tasked to present emergency room policy to a Cognitive Science class. He's somewhat reticent, but a single whiff of air changes everything. The professor, Will Graham, is an enigma. A dark bruise covers his right eye and the ripe burnt-sugary sweetness is tainted by a tang of suppressants. How much can finding his true mate really change Hannibal? And when it comes to darkness, where does acceptance lie? 14k words

missing scenes

My Husband by VictoriaAGrey | G, 3,5k words, hannigram being sweet married couple

Mise en Place by WrathoftheStag for Devereauxs_Disease | G, 1,8k, outsider POV -one of the kitchen staff in hannibal’s dinner party- 

collections i'm checking out

In Which Loverboy Lecter Prostrates Himself at the Altar of Will Graham 

Fresh Meat Friday

Hannigram Extended Universe

Trope: From Sex To Love (Valhalla Enchanted) by TigerPrawn | 14k words | the omega prince Charmont is in need of an alpha to see him through heat until his betrothed arrives from a distant kingdom. The recently freed slave one-eyed mute is just hideous enough to be the perfect temporary alpha to service the prince.

Forgemaster by Llewcie | 11k words | Charmont, the newest Dionysus, loses a bet to his roommate Aphrodite, and is required by her to go on three dates with a god of her choosing. Before he even gets out the door, he scathingly insults the gentle, mute Hephaestus, and then must scramble to make amends.

Blood on Steel by MonstrousRegiment | Ella Enchanted/Valhalla Rising crossover, series of 24k words work

#fic rec #hannigram fic #hannigram #hannibal lecter #will graham

[kingofthering]

motogp rpf survey - results (part three)

When I did the survey, I asked people about the concepts that they would like to be able to read in this fandom. I went through all the answers and classified them by categories. When it made more sense, I separated some answers in various lines. The "contexts" section is supposed to be more precise ideas than the "general" category but to be quite honest, both categories are similar.

Under the cut, you will find ideas for the following categories :

general

contexts

rosquez

vale

vr46 riders

other specific pairings

general

I’d love to see more AUs.

some sci-fi / fantasy, sports AUs

Anything action/adventure with angst like a spy au or smth OR a normal/no motogp au…..maybe rider/mechanic au….TWO mechanics au….other sports au….

Asexuality and polyamory

different soulmate aus like red string of fate, first words, etc. etc. and maybe wish baby aus (see: hockey rpf)

Fake relationship because that's great always

coming from the f1rpf fandom i think i was very spoiled with the mass of fics that exist and the length of some of them and that what i am kind of missing i loove a good slowburn or long fics general and motogp doesn‘t have a lot of those (i know very big coming from someone that doesn‘t write themselfes) i just love being able to explore the relationships in fics very thorough (be it romantic or platonic) like yes give me the pining, the weird flirting attemts, the award first dates (or morning after), the reactions of friends/family to them, give me all of that and more imagine something like „everything changes“ (i hope you are familiar it is basically a f1 fic that outlived both drivers careers and its 5mio words long) of course it doesn‘t have to be in that extent but like going through their entire carrers (together and apart) and seeing how the relationship changes (would work really well with rozquez or pedronzo but also with so many others)

Full long fics

I’d also love more sports aus in general!

Magic Realism

Maybe some kine of soulmate fic? I feel like the writers don’t write about it and if they wrote it is left unfinished -and this is not a dig for them but it is just an observation-, also this one is just for me but as someone who LOVES angst and hurt/no comfort I realised there isn’t a lot of hurt/no comfort but this is only me who loves to cry over fics 😂

More A/B/O stuff or maybe AU where riders (mainly MotoGP riders) have normal jobs and are the guardians or adopted parents of riders in the lower categories

more fluff!

more of the riders being normal people (obviously they are not but like normal people jobs). i think a normal person job contrasted with a decidingly not normal love story would be good. maybe some espionage i would like that as well.

More poly relationships maybe?

Not exactly concepts, but I do think we deserve some long 100k+ word fics! I love shorter single-chaptered fics but sometimes a slow burn is required Also maybe I'm a weirdo pervert sicko but there isn't enough PWP (on ao3 at least). Someone get on that please <3 for me <3

Pure domestic fluff, aus like college/office

this fandom needs more internalized homophobia discussion!! these men are all catholic ik it would be crazy in the brain space for everyone. also marc choking kink tine travel or body swap aus

Oh i like silly fics too, something light and funny and a bit crack is always welcomed! Also text fics, they're great (forgot to put them in the tropes i like, so here). A silly little text fic with a riders group chat could be very funny. Also like i mentioned before, amnesia fics and injury/feelings revelation fics work so well for motogp rpf, id love to see more.

Vampire AU (because I really liked that in 'a few leaps of faith)

I really like genderbending and the challanges being a woman in moto would bring

contexts

Carnivorous circuits for sure.

I'm a sucker for Single dad/kid fics and AUs in general. I also kinda like it when one person is famous/a rider and the other one isnt

Street racing. It's more of a car thing, but I'm sure motorcycles do a similar thing. I'm a suckered for au's like that and I haven't seen nearly enough in the motorsport community as a whole, not the mention motogp has like...none (that I've found at least)

Okay next, i always love a good football au! Any pairing okay, football au are just the best. Long fic, ficlet, national teams, local teams, rivals, teammates... Everything is great <3

rosquez

a long canonverse rosquez from vale’s POV

A lot of the rosquez content I've seen has been post-reunion which is of course lovely but I would love to see more stuff set pre-Sepang...exploration of the ways their relationship was already a little toxic...foreshadowing galore...I Would Like To See It

More rosquez post reunion. Further exploration of agnst-crrnt's rosquez time jumping fic.

If anyone writes the Rosquez baby AU at some point I will be eternally grateful!Longggg vale/Marc from Marc’s rookie season through to vale’s retirement

UH. Well first one is very basic, the more rosquez reconciliation fics there are, the more i will be happy lol. It would be very interesting also to see more Vale dealing with his internalized homophobia (which he definitely has) and the crippling fear he has when it comes to Marc (basically lets get Vale to therapy lmao), and a bit more of how Marc was conflicted with his desire to be with his idol and the desire to be him, and also his feelings after all the injuries and the horrible honda year, like the conflict again with the desire to win and the need to be cared for (put him in therapy too lol). So like, Rosquez reconciliation where they still are two little shits (affectionate) but older and wiser (author sended them to therapy holding them at gunpoint).

Vale and marc as teammates, age gap between various stuff, power dynamics between people, especially between mentors or menteesvale/marc being teleported into a universe where they never argued and seeing what it could have been

just general rosquez reconciliation

vale

hmmm dad vale bc him being a girl dad has my whole heart

The enigma that was young Rossi‼️

vr46 riders

Lots of vr46 academy au's where they have special powers? Personally I would also love some darker stuff too.

Relationships between the VR46 riders. They’ve spent so much time together since they were young and the dynamic isn’t talked about enough. Also, someone please write about the hero worship they have for Vale, the synthesizing of this god like figure they’ve grown up admiring to the very flesh and blood man they’ve come to know.

vr46 harem au

other specific pairings

Dani and Jorge get banged by Vale together

I would like to read more about the marc/Fabio relationship post 2020, especially in relation to the physical and mental difficulties that marc had to face

i would love more aleix poli content we talk a lot abt his boyfriends but it ends up only talk ! let that man fuck all his guys !!!!

I'd love more Marc/Fabio fics. I think their relationship could be a little bit like Marc/Vale but not as passionate and destructive.

marquezcest

pedrenzo arranged marriage au that is 50k but lives only in my head………

Then i have this idea of a Luca/Bezz guardian angel au, where luca is the angel assigned to bez and bez is his usual self who is VERY HARD to keep alive (and he really gets on Luca's nerves at first, cause luca is the type who reads all the manuals and gets the maximum score at text and all of that and little chaotic bez just... doesn't make sense to him). I will never write it cause i'm not a writer, but i want to put this prompt out to the world cause i'd love it so much if someone felt inspired by it!

Okay last thing (i'm sure there is PLENTY more but i don't have so much space lol), a Tony/Fabio full story would make my day, it doesn't even to be long, i'd just be happy to read more about them <3

#motogp #valentino rossi #marc marquez #rpf #motogp rpf survey #motogprpfsr #maybe this can give inspiration to some people #this was fairly interesting to read through

[thetragicallynerdy]

WIP Folder Game

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I got tagged by @dragonmuse, thanks for the tag friend!!

Okay. We all know I have a thousand WIPs on the go at any time, right?? I have a problem. So please don't judge me for how many things are in my folders XD

OFMD (20 fics)

safeword

lesbeens fang ed

jim kinktober

shifter au - jim runs

jim ed modern flower shop tattoo parlour biker au

fairy godparent jim

poly au - ed flashback

remington steele au - your name is the only word i can say (gotta be the way, gotta be the one) - #5

remington steele au - caught in a cell together - my love keeps growing still the same (just like a cancer) - #4

jim ed shifter romcom transfem ed

jim ed shifter silliness temp tattoo

remington steele au - hypothermia - and you won't give me a straight answer - #3

jim ed vampire ed

deaged jim ed stede baby time

and we will build a home from the wreckage - jim olu cowboys

jim jackie snow poly au

sorry about the blood in your mouth i wish it was mine

oluwande sex worker au

hanahaki polyam times

5 times jim realized they have a whole family and the 1 time they'd already figured it out

Undeadwood (6 fics) (only considering ones I think might have a chance of being finished for UDW/have any desire to return to, sorry)

snea snek snatthew ch 3

teen bb amos chapta 8

practical magic - magic realism au

the nemesis

firefly au

lighthouse keeper au

So. Uh. 26 fics in total lmaooooooo

Ask away if you're curious????

I'm not tagging 26 people XD But, if you feel like doing it, I'm tagging @yerbamansa, @alfalfairy, @yourlocal-charlatan, @oluwandesorange, @halfeatenmoon, @redxluna, @ginbiscuit, @zombiethingy, @bringinghometherain

I have a really hard time remembering who of my mutuals writes, so if you don't see yourself on this list, but want to do this, consider yourself tagged!

#ask game #tag game #wip folder game #tragicallynerdy writes #i have. a problem

[sopheadraws]

When it comes to Brittany S. Pierce, people’s interpretations are all over the place. It ranges anywhere from <3 innocent babie <3, to severely cognitively impaired, to manipulative liar who pretends to be stupid so others obey their will (which I’ll later accuse her mother of, but that’s neither here nor there). Anyways, I’m adding my opinion into the cacophony because, despite the indecisive fanbase, thorough Brittany meta is lacking in quantity. Also, I tend to think my opinion is best, as is human nature.

This analysis is rooted in autistic!Brittany, and while its unnecessary since I’ll go through many of her autistic characteristics, here’s a post detailing the headcanon and a medical article describing the diagnostic criteria in simple terms if you’re unfamiliar with the disorder. I understand that not everybody considers Britt neurodivergent, and that’s totally fine - I’m always up for a healthy conversation/debate! - but please give me a heads up if you plan to respond critically because a lot of this is based on my own experiences as an autistic teenage girl, so unmentioned critiques can feel personal fast. Now without further ado:

A Deep Dive Into Brittany S. Pierce <3

Auditory Processing Disorder “APD” is a subdivision of Sensory Processing Disorder “SPD” which is a quintessential element of an autism diagnosis. APD is pretty much exactly what it sounds (haha pun) like: despite somebody’s hearing abilities, the brain fails to process auditory input properly. The APD trait I hear discussed most in autism spaces is the inability to filter out background noises, but Britt seems to struggle most with interpreting meaning from words. Sometimes when people talk to me (“dolphins are just gay sharks”), even though they’re speaking clearly and I’m very literate in English, it sounds like jumbled nonsense (“dulfanz-our-goost-gae-shorcks”). This accounts for what I’m calling Brittany’s “so close you can taste it” lines. Think of her claim that Christopher Cross discovered America or that O is the capital of Ohio; a man named Christopher C. is indeed credited with discovering America and O is the only capital letter in Ohio. As a whole, they often misunderstand things told to them directly, and it seems a lot less foolish if she only understood half of what was being said via APD.

I’m calling the category of Brittany lines that can’t usually be rationalized as possible by anybody over seven (e.g. Rory the leprechaun, storks delivering babies, and anything with Lord Tubbington) the “stranger than fanfiction lines.” Now, I could take these at face value and say she’s tapping into a magical dimension, but I have my own set of autism driven realism issues, so, without a pre-existing fantasy world, I’m using my significant brainpower to twist Brittany into plausibility =D I ultimately think the best explanation for the stranger than fanfiction lines is echolalia. Echolalia is the repetition of words or phrases, and it’s usually associated with autism. Autistic people often reuse other people’s words, and since we usually think in pictures and have various social communication problems, it’s easier than formulating new sentences. Or we just like the tongue movements/sound a word makes. Personally, I quote songs a lot - if you say something loosely related to a Taylor Swift, musical, or Glee lyric, chances are I’ll sing it - and dipsomaniacal is a new fave to say randomly. There’s some evidence for Britt doing this in canon, unrelated to the stranger than fanfiction lines. While Brittany is known for calling him Blaine Warbler, it actually originated from Rachel and the infamous spin the bottle kiss. They also repeat ‘uber weird after Blaine in the That’s So Rachel reading, and the last line of that scene is them talking in time with Blaine, a behavior seen in S1 with Santana. However, it interests me most that she calls Artie a robot, as we see her dad call Stephen Hawkin, another wheelchair user, a robot in S6.

Basically, I blame the Pierces for how terribly adjusted their child is <3 (Mostly Whitney. Assuming Pierce actually has an IQ of 40, he’s disabled too and deserves some slack in terms of spreading misinformation.) In her admittedly limited screen time, Whitney manages to do two positive things: be an LGBTQ+ ally and let her younger daughter do soccer, I guess. Otherwise, she kept the truth about Stephen Hawking from Brittany for 20 years, cheated on her husband on their honeymoon for claiming infertility, crapped in random barns, insulted her husband’s intelligence, publicly insulted her husband’s appearance, and arguably restricted her daughter’s intellectual growth. To be honest, I realize Whitney isn’t that deep and I don’t actually hate her, but if people can hate Brittany for being a comedic character from the 2010s, I’ll do the same thing to their mother in defense of Brittany. Fight stop the violence with violence, baby! Anyways, I don’t think echolalia alone can explain the stranger than fanfiction lines. At least, not without a source. And that’s usually where upbringing comes in.

I’m ruling out nature automatically because there aren’t chromosomes telling people to believe in unicorns. Well, some people - including autistic people (hehe see what I’m doing here?) - are more inclined to believe falsehoods, but falsehoods have to be fed by someone else. With autism, the reckless believing tendencies come from literal thinking in part. Also, since SPD makes processing the outside world difficult, we often can’t recognize “obvious” truths in the first place. My extended family hated watching movies with me because I used to ask questions every five seconds lol. Setting Pierce aside because he seems to follow Whitney blindly; Brittany’s unnamed sister, Sue, and Whitney are the remaining suspects.

I assume Brittany’s sister is significantly younger than Britt because she played soccer with a seven-year-old in S1 (technically she could’ve been the coach, but that throws off my theory that the Klaine/Brittana wedding was child free), and children aren’t clever or mean enough to throw off anybody’s world view so badly :) Sue does seem the obvious answer, but she didn’t meet Brittany until they started high school, and she’s consistently baffled by Britt’s behavior despite encouraging her own eccentricities in the other Cheerios. And that leaves Whitney as the perpetrator, blaming her Scientology and gambling addiction on a cat.

Finally, I do think there’s a few times when Brittany intended for her jokes to be jokes. I don’t think it happens as much as you might expect, but there’s a scene in S3 when JBI is interviewing Brittany about her class president candidacy, and she tells him she’s voting for Rick “The Stick” Nelson before turning to Santana and laughing that clued me in. I think the mentality behind these lines (the “pun intended” category) is best explained with an anecdote from my own childhood.

When I was little - maybe six or seven - I really wanted to be funny. Well, I wanted to be liked, and since I didn’t understand social cues, my solution was humor because I knew my dad told jokes which made me laugh, which made him likable! Unfortunately, as a literal thinking child, I had no idea how to do this, which meant I parroted the only joke I knew (“What time is it when an elephant sits on the table?” “Time to get a new table!”) in hopes of chuckles. This went about as badly as you would expect. After a while, my parents got rightfully fed up with this joke and got me a joke book. I had no sense which of these jokes were funny, which wasn’t helped by most of the book being about taxes, bad marriages, and other stuff aimed at adults.

It wasn’t until a routine walk to the convenient store that my comedy dreams were fulfilled. My dad, little sister, and I used to walk to the “snack store” to buy a drink each and share a candy bar. While we had some routine favorites, we also tried out new candies together. However, there were a few bars my dad refused to buy because he’d disliked them prior to our snack store outings. Most infamous of these forbidden fruits was the Zero Bar. We tended to reference the Zero Bar when picking our next treat, and on this fateful day I said, “It’s called the Zero Bar because zero people like it.”

And my dad laughed. He laughed because of something I’d said. I was elated!

The only catch up was I hadn’t actually intended it as a joke. After all my attempts to be funny, the only thing that apparently worked was speaking my mind. This singular incident didn’t rewire my understanding of humor - I attempted the parroting tactic with the Zero Bar joke after all - but it’s the most pivotal moment in my mind. To this day, I play up my neurodivergent thought process to make others laugh. I reference Glee at seemly unrelated times with mock enthusiasm to callback times I’ve mentioned Glee with real enthusiasm or talk about my other interests in forced monotones.

There isn’t any actual evidence that Brittany has the same weird complex about humor, but some of their interactions regarding stupidity parallel it. In general, when they’re away from Santana, Brittany appears fairly insecure about her neurodivergence. I might even go as far as to say that she doesn’t joke without Santana around. Now, I don’t think Britt knows what her atypicalities are until they’re presumably diagnosed at M.I.T., but every neurodivergent person I know knew something was wrong before being diagnosed. (I want to talk about how Blaine’s diagnosed autism is a foil for Brittany’s undiagnosed autism at some point, but you didn’t sign up for autistic!Blaine, so now isn’t the time.)

Anddd, that’d pretty much it for now :) I intend to write more in depth Brittany meta in the future, but this is a decent overview for the time being. I hope this made you think, and I’d love to hear your thoughts if it did!

#just going ahead and reposting this because I'm sure the original is long gone #brittany s. pierce #brittany s pierce #brittany pierce #autistic brittany #glee #glee meta #meta #my writing #actually autistic #asd #autism #textpost #philosophie of mind #sophea 1.0

[vicsy]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @pitconfirm and @boxboxbrioche. Thank you <3

1. How many works do you have on ao3

Currently I have 20 posted works (and 1 on anon, we don't talk about it)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 

198,413 - not that many!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Formula 1. I used to write for wrestling fandom, too.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

green light, red wine (and i don't feel fine) – 571 kudos, Fernando/Lance (ongoing).

wish you away in my dreams – 412 kudos, Daniel/Max.

shatter my life apart (see me for somebody else) – 334 kudos, Fernando/Lance.

your smile, so bright (i want to save that light) – 294 kudos, Daniel/Max.

guess my future and map it onto your fantasy – 290 kudos, Fernando/Lance.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I respond to EVERY comment I receive. It is very important to me because I really value people choosing to spend some time to write a comment that will definitely brighten my mood and inspire me. I have to thank them and that's out of question.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh, I'd say it would be my piarles magical realism au fic – bless my darkness; bless my light. I think it's more of an open ending but I intend to expand on that fic one day, so it makes more sense and what I have in mind for it is very sad (but it gets better).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Uhhhh. I feel like most of my fics read as "happy for now" or maybe it's just my perception. If I had to choose, then evocatio and aforementioned your smile, so bright (i want to save that light).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, never. Hope it stays this way.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! All kind?? I am not sure how to answer ahaha but tbh I tend to write the smut that "fits" my personal view. It is easy to fall into the "everyone reads fics with smut more than without smut" hole but I won't force something just to be more appealing.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not a big fan of crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. If somebody steals my fic, better run.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, back in wrestling fandom. I also translated some of the fics I read and wrote (also for wrestling fandom).

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, with @boxboxbrioche! We have something else cooking together but our existing baby is, in my very humble opinion, fucking amazing – sink your teeth, Fernando/Lance vampire au with a twist.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Oh, tough one. I'd say, as of today, Strollonso and Maxiel.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have some fics marinating in my gdocs that I came up with a long time ago and some things have changed since then. Like a major werewolf au, vampire piarles fic and an a/b/o fic that will get me in fandom jail if I ever get it done (it's very ambitious).

16. What are your writing strengths?

This feels like bragging lmao... I write action well. And introspection, character study. Metaphors are my best friends and boy or boy do I love to use them. I want to say... the plot in general? I feel like that and pace in general is something I can write well. I rely a lot on "mic drops" and always make sure they hit the spot.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I OVEREXPLAIN EVERYTHING. THIS WON'T GIVE ME PEACE. and also dialogues. I do not know how humans communicate apparently. Smut isn't my biggest forte and it always feels like a convoluted strategy I need to play out.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't mind it. I sneak a couple of phrases or words of endearment for characters whose primary language isn't english. It's always tricky to write someone who isn't a native english speaker solely in english. You kinda walk the fine line between keeping it as close as possible to the way the character speaks in real life and how you would interpret them speaking in english.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

God......... anime fandom when I was 12.... bye.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Well, I gotta give it to my first love – green light, red wine (and i don't feel fine). Beloved mafia au <3 it brings me joy.

this was fun! I'm gonna tag @mysticalbreadcollective @leclercenjoyer @flawlessassholes @wolfiemcwolferson @lil-shiro @pinkierre <3

#tag game #vicsy writes #thank youuuuu this was actually fun to write out

[bettyfrommars]

hi!! i was wondering if you could give some movie, book, tv show, or fic recs for my spooky szn media list this year? a lot of the things you write are absolutely the kind of vibe that im going for, so i figured you would be the best person to ask for those kind of things. im very new to the horror genre (just stepping out of slashers and into magical realism and paranormal type things). and ofc you don’t have to, but id love to know what some of your favorite twilight zone episodes are!

no pressure to respond, you were just the first person i thought of when it came to asking recs from, since your taste seems to be the same niche that i have.

(btw im 18+ so you don’t have to worry about giving tame recs)

I love you for asking this because it gets me excited for the season and reminds me of things I need to revisit. Okay, so I'm going to start off with books because this is very important, and I love this series sooooo much this time of year. I usually re-read it or listen to the audiobooks, it's called the Pine Deep Trilogy by Jonathan Maberry (Ghost Road Blues, Dead Man's Song, and Bad Moon Rising), and it's such a fall fic you can taste the colors. It's based in a town known for its Halloween celebrations (lots of cornfields, haunted mazes, lots of actual evil lurking) There are ghouls and zombies and vampires in this and it's so thrilling, the pages will fly by.

Also these story collections by Joe Hill: Full Throttle and Strange Weather.

I do a rewatch of the show Tales from the Crypt every year, that is a staple. I'm also a sucker for anthologies like Body Bags, Creepshow, and The Monster Club. I watch a LOT of campy horror and campy slashers, most of which I'm sure you are familiar with. I was going to make a list of the b-movies and MST3K episodes I love, but I don't think that is what you are asking me for, and I don't want to get carried away and embarrass myself 💀 If you are interested in those things, pls leave another anon message and I will.

I will forever recommend the vampire series True Blood, it's iconic and I believe the first two seasons are free on Amazon Prime.

Favorite Twilight Zone episodes! I can tell I would love you in real life because you ask the best questions. Definitely "To Serve Man" that one still gives me shivers when I think about it today. "Nightmare at 20,000 feet" but I prefer the John Lithgow version in Twilight Zone: The Movie, because look at the original version, I actually feel sad for this baby:

"A Most Unusual Camera" I think that is the name of it is another one. "Will the real martian please stand up" is so good. Oh god, and "The Lonely" is another one. I used to be on the road a lot, and if you ever are, I recommend The Twilight Zone collections on audible, they are acted out like old radio show dramas.

As far as fic rec from here, I've actually been thinking about searching around for ones that have a spooky/fall vibe and doing a post about it---hopefully soon.

You are a doll, and I am so happy you reached out xoxoxoxox

#betty's asks #spooky reads

[healerelowen]

Baby fever go brrrr

So very self-indulgent eloist librarian kids time

-They differ in age based in groups of 4 considering that they were made in batches of 4. I'll give a list of em from oldest to youngest and also I'm going with @ratherpekewliar's idea of naming them after literary subgenres.

-Group 1(Eldest); Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Mystery.

-Group 2(Second eldest); Dystopian, Adventure, Horror, and Thriller.

-Group 3(Middle); Literary, Magic, Memoir, and Bio.

-Group 4(Second youngest); History, Travel, Guide and Spirit.

-Group 5(Youngest); Cozy, Quiet, Mythic, and West.

-Small note for some of the names, a few of them had been condensed since, you know, it would be a bit weird if you named your kid 'Magical Realism', plus I think it just sounds better.

-All 20 of them are curious, busy bees. All day, every day is spent finding and discovering new files for their mother and my lovely wife, the Archivist, to archive.

-The fifth group is still getting used to things, considering that technichaly they weren't really a thing until just recently. So they're still little infant babies in robot terms. As in they can walk, they can speak a few coherent words but otherwise are still babies <3

-Sparky is an aunt of 20 niblings now I guess./vvv lh

-Very curious about organic life, and having a father who is such a thing never fails to fascinate them. Archivist sometimes has to pry them off whenever they pile up on me though.

-They really enjoy it when I or their mother tells them stories, especially during bed time.

-Speaking of bed time, we all just kinda collectively sleep in a large pile together. It's very cozy.

-I love being a father of 20 fictional kids :)

#eloist #healer elowen #i'm feeling so soft right now #like I just wanna cuddle up with my wife and 20 kids #then again it's Saturday evening so that'll have to wait until later #edit: My apologies I miscounted again snnbndsbn #I was like. I knew but my mind was like '16 children' meanwhile I literally was like 'Gee I sure do love my *20* children. wink wink' #but yes now we have the correct number of children in the bunch

[barbiegirldream]

ouch yeah the difference between comics and movies is what created the rift on how civil war is perceived by the audience. like in the comics it was very blatant commentary since if i remember correctly the talking points were fascist and the main target were mutants for simply being born like that and it was deeply fucked up to put them on any kind of register/list because again nazi rhetoric obvious even to a complete idiot. but the movies had a lot of problems to transfer this idea, mainly i think because of:

a) no mutants, already bad plot change since the mutants were literally the main point of it all, beings simply wanting to exist in peace because they were born like that. they changed it into superheroes being the main target but the thing is with mutants it was literal blatant fascism but here the waters were muddied because none of the avengers were born like that, which brings to point

b) the avengers and mcu as a whole were trying really hard to be realistic and gritty and when you go full realism, yeah country sovereignity and oversight of powerful organisations are common and expected. when the writers tried to make it based on our reality they wrote themselves into a corner, because yeah no shit the avengers would be fucking hated to hell and back if they were real, they do whatever the fuck they want with zero oversight and no respect for any law of any country. when in the comics mutants were treated horribly even as babies then the discrimination is very in your face and no sane person would agree but when a team of random people have the power of several nukes combined in a story that hopelessly clings to realism? no sane person would say "yeah sure leave them unchecked, i trust this group of strange unstable people to never do anything bad or destructive"

have no idea if my ideas make sense im sorry i might be blabering but this was the thing that has been bothering me for a while like yeah obviously comics address real life issues all the time through smart storytelling but the mcu movies are simply not smart enough for that they just fuck everything up . idk how to explain it better but the comics have a type of suspension of disbelief (destroyed towns being magically fixed, conflicts being solved in a few issues, etc.) like old cartoon shows where after the episodic disaster the town is back to normal. but mcu really wanted to copy reality and the laws of it 1:1 ratio and it became a huge mess

exactly but also civil war the movie was a mess. cause t'challa was only on tony's side to catch bucky. peter didn't know what the fuck they were fighting for just that iron man wanted him to help contain captain america. tony grabbed him last minute cause he saw spider-man catch a car with his bare hands and figured yeah that'll be useful. a lot of tony's support hinged on being able to leverage the Winter Soldier against people. cause I feel like a lot of people forget in Civil War that most people involved were not interested in the Accords. Like yes Steve opposed them but he more opposed keeping Bucky locked up.

Natasha swapped sides half way through cause she also didn't give a fuck and she's an international super spy she was Neva signing something that would allow the government to track her actions. Black Widow the movie kinda proved this.

Once T'challa realized that Bucky was not at fault he helped him and gave shelter to Steve. In the end Steve had all his friends by his side ready to back him up and fight to the death for him. And Tony had Rhodey and Pepper... right back where he started but Steve was still in his corner.

AND after Far From Home/No Way Home I think it's safe to say if Peter was ever asked to actually sign the accords he'd have been right there with Steve punching Tony in the face.

So I think it's safe to say the narrative of the MCU Civil War ultimately shows you that Steve is the good guy in the right but since the law branded him a fugitive all these cop brained people who only ever say acab cause they saw it trending are on Tony's side

(ALSO Civil War as a movie completely disproves the premise of Endgame and I think Steve got the worst ending out of any character including those who fucking died.)

#long post

[gravitywonagain]

If you're still doing the WIP game I'd like to hear about Under Streetlights

i am! i will always be doing this game! i love this game! sorry it took a month to get back to it! thank you for the ask <3<3<3

Under Streetlights is one of my babies :) it is a strange vibes, modern, magical-realism story in which lwj and wwx match on grindr while trying to pass the time in florida, thirteen years after wwx died. it is very loosely based on the song "3 Nights" by Dominic Fike -- like, super loosely. the name might change, i'm not sure yet, but if it does, it'll probably be to another lyric in that song.

it was actually my first attempt at writing from lwj's pov, and my first attempt at writing a story that swaps povs. it'll be 5 chapters long, the first 4 are fully drafted, the fifth is started, but i've been writing it for several years at this point, so that means almost nothing. i want it to be completely finished (at least drafted) before i post it.

the vibe of it is really fun for me, because it's this weird, off-kilter feeling, like being caught on the back foot in a daydream kind of thing. the first ch -- and the second one, too, actually -- have it, but the rest of it will need some editing to make it feel wrong in the right way. this lwj did not have the coping mechanism of dangerous and chaotic nighthunts, so he went with other things, namely anonymous sex and smoking tobacco. lwj smoking is a big part of this story, so be aware of that if it's a problem for you. it's okay, wwx doesn't like it either.

there's mentions of magic, but it's not a modern cultivation thing. it's a magic is real but rare and we all just kind of deal with that thing. still, full resurrection is pretty weird. it also gives almost no answers in terms of how or why wwx came back, but it does have some gruesome details of wwx waking up in his coffin.

i also have 9-box moodboards made for each chapter (except the last one because it's not even really plotted out yet, except for very major beats) which i started doing when i needed a break from words (meaning both wagbfm and just writing in general). so those will at least be posted here, if not embedded in the ao3 chapters when they go up!

okay, enough rambling. here's an excerpt!

His jaw is tight, sore from another night of clenching his teeth through the same nightmare. (Headlights. Shattered glass. Twisted metal. Blood. So much blood, and not enough. His chest heaves against the airbag that isn't there.)  The cigarette paper is thin against his lips as he takes another drag. He rolls them himself, buying tobacco and papers rather than red and white cartons full of convenience and plastic. He tells himself he likes the ritual of it. Mostly he just likes the flavor better.  When he lets himself -- when he can’t help himself -- he imagines--  Smoke rushes out with his breath and he squeezes his eyes shut. Skin pulls tight over his cheekbones until he relaxes, opens his eyes again. Inhales.  He imagines-- Wei Ying would have thought this was cooler. He can picture it so clearly: Wei Ying with his leather jacket and his roguish smile, hanging off Lan Zhan’s arm, watching the easy motions of Lan Zhan’s fingers, closing his lips around the filter, leaning in with flame flickering in his stormcloud-grey eyes as Lan Zhan cups the lighter and the paper begins to burn…  It’s an indulgence. One that makes his hands tremble.  Lan Zhan had always wanted to be cool to Wei Ying.

WIP Ask Game

#dragons-of-ara #wip ask game #under streetlights #my writing #i really want to finish this soooooon so i can finally post it because i love it so much #thank you for asking about it!!

[infamousmonkey-cat]

I guess the mental illness wants me to do ofmd reaction posts now so here we go

called it on the rabbit :( all the world will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies... rip

last week i was like "wow i was way off" but now i'm kind of feeling like my fic actually did a pretty good job of capturing the general vibe of these last two episodes

speaking of which i have two separate wips in my draft folder from weeks/months ago (before any s2 promo). one has ed bonding with a rabbit and one has ed being scared of spiders (which i'm PRETTY sure is new information, right?). spooky

dang that crew's getting whittled down! ivan (what did guz do??), the swede and now buttons. i have mixed feelings about this. it kind of feels like it's leading towards everyone going their own ways--not necessarily one by one, but certainly not staying together as a crew. which is probably necessary growth and shit but also feels quite bittersweet

idk what the general fandom reaction has been to buttons turning into a bird yet but i'm on board with any and all magical realism this show wants to give me

1x05 and 2x04 both end with ed and stede leaving a party that is on fire, having hit a major turning point in their relationship. i like symmetry

maybe it's just because i've been catching up on wwdits but izzy's arc this season feels "baby colin robinson" to me. i'm genuinely enjoying the stupid disaster that he is this season

i've been SAYING (to myself inside my own mind) that stede is the service top in this relationship and i feel like that is basically textually confirmed at this point

"pop WHAT magnitude? pop WHAT?"

stede risking a curse for that gay little outfit might be my favourite thing he has ever done

i wonder if that suit could possibly be a metaphor for anything

so weird that ofmd and iasip both independently did nut-allergy-being-mistaken-for-a-curse episodes

for ep 5 part of me was like "oh wow they're really gonna keep them apart for basically the whole episode??" but i actually love them having their own little adventures and then reporting back to each other at the end of the night so w/e

waxing moon <3 <3 <3

eta actually i want to say a bit more about this scene: FIRST of all the role reversal is very Something, second of all the fact that ed got to kiss stede like he wanted to the first time around. kind of rewriting history, but in a good way. very Shark

i miss zheng. girl where ARE you

#ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers

[fountainpenguin]

are we allowed to tag you in posts to credit you for inspiration? i have some fop worldbuilding stuff ill post eventually that you've helped inspire and i want to give you credit :]

Thank you for asking! I appreciate that a lot, and please do feel free to credit- congrats on being ready to share your stuff!

You can tag me as @fountainpenguin on Tumblr and/or FountainPenguin on FFN and/or AO3. Tumblr tag is great when you're on Tumblr, the others are optional as you wish :)

Again, that's exciting! Have fun! Always itching to see someone else's take on the FOP world.

---

The one clarification I'd want to give is, Yeah, credit me for things related to my stuff and anything you want to acknowledge that inspired you, but please don't say "Credit to Riddle" for something that I didn't portray and/or in an ambiguous way; please make sure it's known what you did vs. me.

Ex - Fairies in the Riddleverse are like marsupials so they have pouches for holding their babies in. In my fanfics, the pouches are reproductive body parts (the way kangaroos use them), so I'd feel super uncomfy if new fans started reading my stuff fully expecting human godchildren to climb inside pouches because they saw someone credit me "for that idea."

I'm not the only one to give Fairies pouches, but "pouches so godparents can carry godchildren" is an example I know would make me feel weird... I have 0 problem reading this in someone else's universe where it's obvious their take on pouches is cartoony and aesthetic, but we do magical realism and reproduction over here, so please... don't send people over with a 'so godparents can carry their godchildren- credit to FountainPenguin for the idea' expectation... skldfj I would die.

Thank you for asking; I'm pretty chill and I appreciate the question, and I'm honored to have been an inspiration. Have fun with your take on the FOP world! Always glad to see more people around :)

#FAIRIES! #ridwriting #asks #Anon #credit #?? I'll come up with a better tag or something

[allsassnoclass]

The Catch

Pairing: Michael Clifford/Luke Hemmings Rating: Teen Key Tags: Magical Realism, Witch Michael, Awkward Luke Word Count: 6,246 Read on AO3

Summary:

Michael Clifford, the town witch and most eligible bachelor, announces that he'll only date the person who manages to get the key from around his cat's neck. Luke Hemmings, the awkward local photographer, keeps accidentally running into the cat, even though he knows he has no chance with Michael.

Based on this post (contains a spoiler)

Luke enters the diner with a pep in his step, feeling better than he has in a long time.  It’s been a great day, the kind that can only be ruined by a genuine catastrophe, and the odds of that occurring between dinner with Ashton and going to bed tonight are slim.  He had a shoot earlier with a new set of parents and their adorable little girl, and although the baby spent a lot of time crying, shoots with infants are his favorite.  The pictures are going to turn out amazing, and he can’t wait to edit and print them.  He’s been sleeping a lot better this week than the past few months since Michael gave him a sleeping potion, and his favorite coffee shop still had a chocolate chip muffin in stock when he stopped by earlier.  By the time he slides into the vinyl booth and grins at Ashton, he’s genuinely considering asking Michael out when he stops by his shop later, because it’s the kind of day where everything seems to be going right.

“Did you hear the news?” Ashton asks, pushing a drink towards him and leaning forward discreetly.  Luke usually gets the same soda and food order each week, so Ashton always orders for him if he arrives first.

“What news?” Luke asks, taking a sip and relishing in the explosion of carbonation on his tongue.  This diner has bendy straws, which is another delightful bonus.

“Michael isn’t accepting suitors anymore.  He threatened to hex anyone who asks.”

Luke’s heart sinks.

“Really?” he asks.  Ashton gives him a sympathetic smile and nods.

“He seems pretty serious.  Apparently he’s already followed through.”

Luke’s heart sinks even lower.  He pushes his drink away, carbonation and bendy straws losing all of their luster with one simple piece of information.

“I’m sorry, Luke.  I know you liked him.”

Luke shrugs.

“Yeah, me and everyone else,” he says, running his finger through the condensation left on the table from the path of his glass.

Ever since he hit an appropriate age, Michael has been the most eligible bachelor in the area.  He’s a witch, which is already rare, but he’s extremely powerful on top of that.  He has blonde hair with dark scruff around his face and black tattoos swirling in intricate patterns around his arms and legs, but his most striking physical feature is by far his enchanting green eyes.  Luke could happily spend hours trying to find the words to describe their beauty, but Michael has infinite positive qualities outside of his captivating looks.  More than his physical features, Luke loves his heart.  He has a wicked sense of humor and knows how to wield sarcasm, but he never takes jokes too far.  He won’t put up with any shit, but he’s also known for giving away small charms or doing simple spells for free if he overhears someone complain or learns about problems through the grapevine.  

His words get mushy when he’s excited, he blasts rock or EDM music while he makes his potions, and he always makes Luke double-check the price total of his order at the register because he doesn’t trust himself to do simple math right.  Luke has had a crush on him since the first moment he stepped through the door of his shop.

Michael has been dealing with pushy, ambitious suitors for years.  Supposedly, one woman went so far as to obtain an illegal love potion from another witch and try to use it on him.  Luke can’t fault him for throwing in the towel, he just wishes he had waited one more day so Luke could shoot his shot.

Maybe this is better than getting rejected to his face, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.

“Hey, there’s still hope!” Ashton says.  He reaches forward and takes Luke’s hand across the table, giving it a little shake.  “He gave his cat a key to the shop and said that whoever gets the key also gets his heart.  So you still have a chance!”

Luke furrows his brow.

“That poor cat,” he says, thinking of the beautiful black cat that he sometimes sees lounging around Michael’s shop, although he always ducks away before Michael comes to the front to help him.  “Everyone is going to be hunting him.”

“Yeah, but think about what will happen if you’re the one who catches it!” Ashton says with a bright smile.

Luke grimaces.

“I don’t think I’m the type of person he wants to catch his cat.”

“Come on, Luke.  He’d be lucky to have you,” Ashton says gently.  Luke shakes his head.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” he says.  “How was your day?  How was work?”

Ashton sighs, but dutifully switches subjects.  Luke does his best to listen and not sink into his head while he picks at his meal.  He even lets Ashton order him dessert, wanting a slice of cake to drown his feelings in before he has to muster up a smile for Michael in his shop.

He might not be able to ask him on a date, but he still needs to refill his sleeping potion.

“Chin up, Luke,” Ashton says after he pays their bill.  “You’re a cat -ch.”

Luke rolls his eyes, but the pun prompts an involuntary smile.  He can always count on Ashton to do his best to cheer him up, and he tries to carry that with him as he makes his way down Main Street.

Michael’s shop always looks tantalizing and enchanting, but especially now, with the sun dipping low in the sky and everything painted golden with a hint of pink.  The shop itself is a red brick place on the corner attached to a boutique next door, with a dark purple awning and an old, ornate wooden sign hanging above that reads Clifford Magic in big, swirling letters, with Spells, Charms, and Potions of All Kinds underneath.  The windows have the same thing printed on them in purple, and the displays house various plants, vials, and cryptic-looking ingredients.

Luke usually walks right in, but today he hesitates by the door, reading the notice posted there on regular old printer paper.

It’s exactly as Ashton said.  Michael Clifford has forcibly removed himself from the market to everyone except the person who catches his cat.

A small movement catches the corner of his eye in the window.  The cat in question freezes from his spot amongst the items in the display, one foot raised.  His clear green eyes stare at Luke unwaveringly.

Luke has always thought that the cat’s eyes look remarkably similar to Michael’s.  He hasn’t seen the two next to each other to compare, and it’s not uncommon for witches and their familiars to share more attributes than just their particular brand of magic, but it strikes Luke every time he sees the cat.

The animal shifts, causing the sunlight to glint off the gold key attached to his collar.  Luke doesn’t get a good look at it before the cat leaps away, disappearing deeper into the shop.

Luke pulls the door open, bell tinkling above him to signal his arrival into the crowded space.  The inside of the shop is atmospherically dim, with glowing objects stacked on shelves and jars forming pyramids on tables.  There’s always at least one old, yellow light bulb burnt out somewhere in the store, and Luke can never place the sweet, vaguely dusty smell that permeates through the air.

He makes his way to the table where Michael stocks sleeping potions and looks for the one Michael suggested for him last time, but in a bigger size.  They come in different strengths and help in different ways depending on if the taker has nightmares, insomnia, or if environmental factors like noise are keeping them up, but Luke knows his prescription from last time.  He finds the one for insomnia at the strength he needs and picks up the thin vial.  It’s small enough to easily fit in his hand and sealed at the top, blue liquid swirling hypnotically inside.  All he needs is a few drops in his tea each night for restful sleep.

“Hey Luke,” a voice says right by his ear.  He jumps and drops the vial, fumbling and flailing and generally making a fool of himself until he finally manages to catch it.

“Stop doing that, you asshole,” he whines while Michael cackles.  His dark hoodie makes his pale skin and light hair stand out even more in the dim shop, although it could be the faint shimmer of magic on his skin making him seem luminous instead.  His laugh is wild and uninhibited, and Luke flushes at the sound, either from embarrassment or pleasure at causing it.

He doesn’t mind when Michael laughs at him.  He likes being the source of his happiness.

“You’re so easy to sneak up on,” Michael laughs.

“I could’ve dropped this and broken it,” he says, brandishing the vial.  Michael shrugs.

“I wouldn’t have made you pay for it, don’t worry.  Did it work last week?”

“Yeah, thanks.  This is the most rested I’ve felt in months.”

“Good,” Michael grins.  Luke automatically mirrors it, then spends a beat too long smiling at Michael without saying anything.

“Can I help you find anything else?” Michael asks, just as the silence starts to roar in Luke’s ears.

“Uh, nope!  That’s it today!”

“Cool, I can ring you up, then.”  Luke follows Michael to the register and hands over the vial, then his credit card.  He cranes his head to try and catch a glimpse of the cat while Michael completes the transaction, but he seems to have disappeared.

That’s probably a good thing.  If Luke were him, he’d lay low, too.

“Here you go.  Have a good day, Luke.”

“Thanks, you too,” he says, taking the sleeping potion and his receipt.  He gives Michael a smile, but it fades as soon as he leaves the store.

He hopes the sleeping potion works against a broken heart.  He doesn’t want to be up all night thinking about how he even has less of a chance with Michael now than he ever did before.

-/-

Luke doesn’t catch a glimpse of the cat for another three weeks, although he sees evidence of him everywhere.  He trips over traps set up at various points in the city, and Michael had to make an announcement after the first day that anyone who brings physical harm to the cat will get hexxed.  Still, evidence of people’s efforts to capture him litter the town.  According to Ashton, Michael incinerated a few traps that he deemed too close to the shop.

When Luke does run into the cat again, it’s when he least expects it.  He packs one of his cameras and a sketch book into his bag, then sets off for the woodsy area behind the studio.  On occasion he’ll take shots of clients back there, but they mostly stick to the garden where there’s natural light for portraits, so Luke has started thinking of the forest as his own special place.  There’s a clear area near the stream that’s the perfect size for him to sprawl out, and Luke likes to pretend he’s a wildlife photographer or that he can draw and head there to relax.

Except this time, there’s already someone else there.  Luke freezes at the sight of the cat caught in a crouch, key conspicuously hanging from his collar, eyes fixed unwaveringly on Luke.

For an eternity, neither of them move.

“Sorry,” Luke says finally, voice abrasive in the otherwise quiet space.  “I didn’t know you’d be here.  I’ve never seen anyone else here, actually.”

The cat blinks at him.

“Can I sit?” he asks, gesturing to his usual patch of grass.  The cat doesn’t say anything, because he’s a cat.

“I usually come here to clear my head and relax, so I won’t bother you, don’t worry.  It’s a nice spot, right?  Nice and quiet.”  He carefully lowers himself to sitting, then snorts.

“Sorry, it’s usually quiet.  I mean, when I’m not talking.  I ramble when I’m nervous.”

The cat blinks at him again, still crouched over his paws like he’s ready to spring up at any moment.  Luke rubs a hand over his face and groans.

“I’m monologuing to a cat.”

He glances at the cat, realizes how that came across, and throws out a placating arm.  The cat flinches.

“I mean, no offense,” he cringes.  “I know you’re a magical cat, so maybe you can understand me, in which case this is even more embarrassing, and I’m going to stop now and let you get back to whatever you were doing, although I really hope it wasn’t hunting because I like all of the wildlife here and I don’t want you disrupting the ecosystem.”

He takes a deep breath, cheeks stinging with embarrassment even though the cat is the only one here to witness his awkwardness.

“Please don’t tell Michael about this,” he says.  “If you two have some sort of magic communication thingy, he doesn’t need to know how much of a disaster I am outside his shop, too.”

The cat tilts his head, bright green eyes questioning.  Luke’s not sure what the answer is supposed to be, so he opens his bag and pulls out his sketchbook.  Maybe he can use this opportunity to practice his live animal sketches.

When he finally finds a pencil and looks up again, the cat is gone.

-/-

Luke sees the cat more frequently after that.  He doesn’t see him when he stops by the shop to pick up his potion and awkwardly exchanges a few words with Michael before running, but he swears he catches glimpses of him from the corner of his eye just about everywhere else.  He sees more and more evidence of people trying to catch the cat as well, although no one has been successful.

Luke thinks the cat is far too intelligent to fall for any of the primitive traps he’s seen.  He also can’t imagine Michael actually being willing to marry anyone who hurts his familiar.  If someone truly loved Michael and was willing to put in the work he deserves, they wouldn’t try to catch the cat, they’d befriend it.  Sure, it would take a lot longer, but Luke thinks it’d be better for everyone.

Because of that, sometimes Luke trips the traps he sees.  He’s not sure if that’s technically allowed, but he hates the idea of the poor cat making a mistake one day and getting hurt because of it.  There’s no formal competition, so it’s not like a referee is going to jump out of the shadows, give him a foul, and shame him in front of the whole town.  He just has to be sure he doesn’t get caught.  He doesn’t want any of these hunters to turn their traps against him in revenge.

This trap snaps shut with more force than he anticipated, and he yelps in surprise.  He’s glad that no one is here to witness it, but his hopes of getting away discretely are dashed when he turns around to find the cat staring at him.

“Uh,” he says intelligently.

“Meow,” says the cat.

“Don’t tell anyone,” he begs.  He and the cat seem to be accumulating secrets between them at an alarming rate.

“Meow,” the cat repeats.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt!  Some of these traps are really dangerous.  I know you’re smart enough to avoid them, but we all have our off days.”

The cat meows again, taking one step toward him.  Before he can come any closer, he whips his head to the side, every nerve on alert, then bounds off in the opposite direction.  Luke doesn’t stick around to see who or what spooked him.  He takes that as his cue to leave and speedwalks back to Main Street.

-/-

Luke sees the cat more often than he sees Michael, it seems.  The cat shows up at Luke’s spot in the forest more frequently, inching slightly closer each time while Luke rambles about the most recent batch of senior portraits he’s taken, a new song he’s fallen in love with, or Ashton’s latest attempts to push him out of his comfort zone.  The cat always listens intently, gazing at him with his chin resting on his paws.  Sometimes he doesn’t talk and they coexist in silence instead.  Luke’s sketchbook fills with little doodles of the cat in various poses surrounded by leaves.  Most of the other pages include continuously improving sketches of Michael.

“What do you think?” Luke asks, showing the cat a page of his cat sketches.  The cat cocks his head and takes a few curious steps forward

“Mrow,” he says.

“I’ll take that as a shining endorsement,” Luke laughs.  “Maybe I’ll bring my colored pencils next time and try to figure out how to color your eyes.  You and Michael have really pretty eyes, did you know that?”

The cat meows again, sitting up tall and preening.  He’s a truly stunning creature, with his smooth black coat and bright eyes.  Luke knows that his sketches will never perfectly capture him, but he’s enjoying the challenge.

“Michael?” someone calls nearby, disturbing the serenity of the forest.  Luke glances at the cat quickly, but he doesn’t scamper away like Luke expects him to.  Instead, he meows, and a moment later someone stumbles into the clearing.

“Oh,” the man says, straightening.  Luke recognizes his curly black hair from Michael’s shop, which he sometimes covers if Michael is unavailable.  What makes things stranger is that the cat, who Luke has ever seen be friendly with a human in his entire life, immediately trots over to him and twines himself around the man’s legs, purring loud enough for Luke to hear.

“Hello?” he asks, brow furrowed.  The man–Luke is pretty sure his name is Calum–picks up the cat, who continues to purr and rub the top of his head against Calum’s chin.

“Sorry for barging in,” Calum says, trying to twist away so he can speak without getting a mouthful of fur.  “I was just looking for Michael.  I need his help in the store.”

“And you thought he’d be in the woods behind my studio?” Luke asks, tilting his head, eyebrows knitting together.

“Well, yeah,” Calum says, like it’s obvious.  He offers no further explanation.

After a beat of them staring at each other, the cat meows.

“I thought he doesn’t like people.” Luke gestures to the cat, who has managed to wriggle out of Calum’s hold and drape himself around his shoulders.  From the grimace on Calum’s face, his claws are digging in.

“He knows me,” Calum sighs.  “I’ve known him as long as I’ve known Michael, and he knows I’m not after the key.”

“Why not?” Luke asks.  Calum laughs.

“Mate, Michael’s basically my brother.  The last thing I want is to marry him.”

“Meow,” the cat says definitively.

“Oh,” Luke says, feeling a blush heat his cheeks.  He forgot that just because he and half the town are in love with Michael doesn’t mean everyone is.  That’s good; people need friends and family.  Maybe once Michael gets engaged, Luke can get over his obnoxious crush and be his friend, even if he has to watch someone else be his partner.

“Do you think… is the cat going to pick someone good?” Luke asks.  Calum frowns.  “I know he’s super smart and Michael obviously trusts him, but there’s a lot of people after that key.  Michael won’t end up with an asshole, right?”

“‘Someone good’ meaning someone like you?”

This is the most mortifying conversation Luke has ever been involved in.

“Of course not,” he says, hunching his shoulders up to his ears.  “Meaning… someone better.  Someone who Michael would want.”

Calum’s expression softens.  From his shoulder, the cat stares at Luke steadily.  It makes the hair on his arms stand on end.

“He knows exactly what Michael wants in a partner,” Calum reassures him.  “Whoever gets that key is going to be who Michael would’ve chosen for himself.”

“Meow,” says the cat.

“Okay,” Luke says hesitantly.  “That’s good.”

“Meow.”

Calum reaches up and scratches the top of the cat's head.

“Well, we need to get back to the shop,” Calum says.  “See you around, Luke.”

“See ya.”

The cat twists to keep eye contact with Luke until they’re swallowed by the trees.  He can hear Calum berate him for using his claws for a few seconds until the forest descends to a lonely silence again.

-/-

“Hey.”

Luke, predictably, jumps out of his skin at the voice, especially with it so close to his ear.  Michael, predictably, laughs.

“Oh my gosh,” Luke moans, covering his face with his hands to avoid eye contact with everyone else in the coffee shop who saw him get scared shitless.

“Is this seat taken?” Michael asks.  Luke peaks through his fingers to see him gesture at the other chair at his table and shakes his head.  Michael kicks the chair out and plops into it, setting his coffee cup down in front of him.

“You’ve got to stop doing that,” Luke whines in an attempt to distract his racing thoughts from the fact that Michael chose to sit across from him even though there are plenty of open tables around them.  “What if I had been holding my coffee and spilt it all over?”

“Easy, I wouldn’t have done it then,” Michael says.  “I never sneak up on you if I think it could end badly.”  He takes a sip of his coffee, winces at the temperature, and gestures to Luke’s open laptop.

“Editing some pictures?”

“Yeah.  Just a passion project, not an official shoot.”  He tilts the laptop to show him.  They’re all shots from his place in the forest, a continuous effort for him to capture some of the beauty and wonder he finds there every day.  He lets Michael click through them, watching carefully for every smile and blushing at every compliment.

He doesn’t remember the cat pictures until Michael lands on the first one and pauses.  The cat had joined him about halfway through the shoot, creeping closer to see what Luke captured and meow approvingly every time Luke showed him the camera screen.  He’s gotten more comfortable being near Luke, even playing with a fern that Luke had dangled around like a string for him to chase.  When he got bored of Luke’s photography and found a patch of sun to rest in instead, Luke couldn’t resist taking a few shots, moving painfully slow in an attempt to keep quiet and let him sleep.

“Sorry,” Luke says, wondering if he should’ve asked Michael’s permission before taking the photos.  “He visits me in the forest behind my studio sometimes, and he’s such a pretty cat.  I couldn't resist.”

“It’s fine,” Michael says, leaning towards the computer.  “I just didn’t realize you took them.”

“Well, I haven’t seen you since I did.”

“Right,” Michael says, glancing at Luke and smiling privately.  “These are really good, Luke.”

“They’re my favorite in the batch,” he confesses.  “I like the way the sun shows all of the different colors in his coat underneath the black.  I wish I could’ve gotten a picture of his eyes, though.  You both have such beautiful eyes.”

“We both do?” Michael grins.  Luke’s heart thumps loudly in his chest.

“Yeah,” he says, choosing honesty over cowardice.  “They’re a really beautiful seafoam green.  I’ve always thought your cat has the same color, but I’ve never seen you next to each other to compare, so maybe I’m wrong.”

“No, you’re right,” Michael says.  “You’re the first person to notice that.”

“Really?” Luke asks.  “But you have so many admirers.  Someone else has to have caught on.”

Michael snorts.

“Admirers.  Sure.  Except none of them seem to be interested in me as a human being with my own thoughts and feelings.  That’s why I’m doing the whole key thing.  It really showed me how many people were talking to me because they enjoyed my company and how many people just liked the idea of getting with a witch.  It turns out that most of my conversations before this were unwanted advances and uncomfortable come-ons.”

He picks idly at the paper sleeve around his cup, frown etched into his face.  Luke wants to find a way to wipe it away, but he’s worried that it goes deeper than he can see.

“Those people have no clue what they’re doing,” Luke says, resisting the urge to reach out and put a comforting hand on Michael’s arm literally seconds after he talked about unwanted advances.  “If it makes you feel better, I like you as a person.”

“I know,” Michael smiles.  “That’s why I’m sitting here with you instead of sulking in my shop alone.  As much as I like you and you like me, I realized we haven’t talked much outside of the shop.”

“Oh,” Luke says, trying not to turn into a puddle of mush at the I like you.  “What do you want to talk about?”

Michael shrugs with a small, lopsided smile.

“I didn’t think this far ahead.”

His awkwardness feels familiar and endearing.  Luke likes how it softens him and puts them on a more even footing.

“Well, let’s start easy.  What do you like to do?  Besides magic, of course.”

Michael grins and begins talking, easily capturing all of Luke’s attention.  His laptop goes to sleep unnoticed, Luke too busy snorting at Michael’s jokes and enjoying the attention when it’s his turn to speak.  Michael is fun to talk to, and he’s interesting.  Luke could spend weeks listening to him explain magic, but he could also spend days hearing him talk about his favorite video games, concerts he’s been to, and adventures with Calum.  He's a good listener, too, asking about Luke’s family and hobbies with just as much attentiveness as Luke gave him.

The coffee shop staff ask them to leave five minutes after closing.  Michael looks just as startled as Luke feels to find that hours have passed.

“You didn’t even drink your coffee,” Luke says as he shoves his laptop into his bag.  Michael picks up the cup, no doubt cold and disgusting by now, and throws it directly into the trash.

“It’s fine,” he says.  “Maybe I just got it so I’d have an excuse to talk to you.”

“Really?” Luke asks, following him onto the street.

“Maybe,” Michael says, giving him a cheeky grin.  “You’ll have to see if I show up tomorrow.”

“What if I have a shoot tomorrow?” Luke asks.

“Do you?”

“Yeah.  But I’ll probably be here after.”

“Then I’ll probably stop by,” Michael says.  Luke smiles and adjusts his grip on his bag.

“Okay.  Cool.”

“See you later, Luke.”

“See you.”

Michael turns and heads towards his shop and apartment.  Luke forces himself to turn towards his own home, but he can’t force the smile off his face.

-/-

Luke and Michael continue meeting at the coffee shop over the next few weeks, and on the days when Luke doesn’t see him, he sees the cat.  Various traps still lie in wait around town, but the competition has become so normalized that Luke barely notices them anymore.  Michael said that he’s getting bothered less due to people losing interest, and the cat seems happier and more enthusiastic whenever Luke sees him.

The one downside to the waning competition is that Luke’s crush still stubbornly hangs on, as if fewer people liking Michael somehow increases the chances of Michael liking him.  It doesn’t help that their coffee conversations feel like dates, nor that the cat has taken to affectionately headbutting Luke in greeting before scampering to a safe distance away.

Luke is going crazy.  He has heart palpitations multiple times a day, which can’t be healthy.  He keeps sketching Michael’s face when he goes to his spot in the forest, and the fact that he can do it so well from memory is a red flag.

He tosses the sketchbook to the side and tips backwards onto the grass with a groan, scrubbing his hands over his face.  The cat meows in what he assumes is a question, and he turns his head to look at him sideways.

“This is your fault, you know,” he says mildly.  The cat huffs, indignant.  “Don’t give me that look.  I’m right.”

“Meow!” the cat says, stalking forward.  The sun manages to worm its way through the trees and glint mockingly off the key still around his neck.  Luke turns back to the tree branches above him.

“I’m supposed to be over this by now!” he moans.  “With Michael unavailable, I’m supposed to get over this silly crush, but now that he keeps talking to me and you keep hanging out with me here, it’s not going away!  If anything, it’s getting worse!  I know he’s not going to fall for me, of all people.  I don’t need this false hope.”

He throws an arm over his eyes, just to be dramatic.

“I’m glad no one else has gotten the key yet,” he confesses.  “I’m glad you’re waiting for someone who’s right for him.  He deserves the right person.  I just wish I wasn’t still holding on to the hope that it could be me.”

He exhales and listens to the wind stir the leaves above him.  The cat stays unusually quiet, and he wonders if he scared him away with his pathetic pining.  Maybe if the cat hates him, he can finally get it into his head that he and Michael won’t end up together.

Four paws land squarely on his stomach, making him jolt.

“Meow,” the cat says forcefully, peering at him.

“Huh?” he asks, pushing himself onto his elbows.  The cat stays put, warm on his gut.

“Me-ow,” he repeats, green eyes boring into him.  Goosebumps erupt on his arms, like there’s magic crackling in the air.  The cat pushes himself up and sits tall, tilting his chin and giving Luke a side-eye.  Luke’s breath catches in his throat.

“Are you… what are you doing?”

The cat keeps staring at him, the key hanging from his collar.

“Okay, wait.  Hang on.”

Luke sits up, dislodging the cat from his spot with a disgruntled mrow.  The cat rubs his head against Luke’s arm, and he flinches away from the unfamiliar sensation.

“Meow,” the cat says, tilting his chin to reveal the key again.

“Are you offering me the key?” Luke asks.  The cat side-eyes him again hard, then meows once.  Luke blinks.

“Is this serious?  Are you going to claw my face off once I reach for it?”

The cat huffs and rubs against his arm again.  Luke tentatively reaches up and runs his fingers through the fur at the top of his head, right between his ears.  He tries it again, scratching a bit, and the cat leans into it and purrs.

“Okay,” Luke says, more to himself than to the cat.  “Okay.  This is weird.  I wasn’t expecting this. I’m petting the cat.  Do you let all the boys do this?”

The cat meows sharply, then presses against his hand and resumes purring with even more pointed enthusiasm.  Luke gets the impression that he’s losing patience.

He tries to picture himself untying the key, then using it to let himself into Michael’s shop to show him.

He could do it.  The cat is offering, and Luke would love to date Michael.  He’d try his best to make him happy, and Michael makes him happy, too, if the past few weeks of the best coffee conversations he’s ever had are any indication.

He could do it, but…

“I don’t want him to be disappointed,” he says, already envisioning Michael’s polite sadness when Luke is the one to present the key.  “I know he trusts you, and you obviously like me, and he at least likes me as a friend, but what if he doesn’t like me like that?”

The cat stares at him with those big, sympathetic eyes.  He rubs against Luke’s side, then climbs onto his lap and settles in to resume purring.

“You’re a stubborn little guy, aren’t you,” Luke says with a smile, running a hand along the cat’s back.  The cat shifts so the key is still easily visible, and Luke continues petting him while he lets his mind wander.

If Ashton were here, he’d tell Luke that Michael would be lucky to get him and that the cat obviously has great taste.  He’s always trying to boost Luke’s confidence with ridiculous compliments like that, but he rarely has someone like Michael’s cat backing him up.  Luke knows that all it took was kindness and patience, but he still can’t believe he managed to charm the cat so thoroughly.  It’s almost as mind-boggling as the fact that Michael seems to find Luke to be great company outside of shop hours.  He even invited him to a concert with him in the next town over in a couple of weeks, and Luke is trying to muster up the courage to bring him here, to his private sanctuary.

Michael and the cat both have been the ones to seek him out.  They could’ve easily chosen a different spot in the forest or chair at the coffee shop, but they want to spend time with Luke.  Maybe Michael would be okay with Luke as a partner.

If he isn’t, Luke can let him go.  Michael won’t be held to an agreement he doesn't want, just like he won’t hold Luke if he needs to leave, too.

“Well…” he considers.  The cat cracks one eye open to watch him.  “I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?  Even if he says no, at least this way I’ll have tried.”

He stares at the golden key, unnaturally shiny and beautiful in the dappled sunlight, and reaches for it.  The moment his fingers brush it, the crackle of magic fills the air, wind whipping around them, the force of it pushing him flat on his back with an oof.  A heavy weight falls on his lap, winding him again, and when Luke blinks to clear his vision he finds Michael peering back at him.

“You,” Michael says, jabbing a finger at Luke’s chest from where he straddles his thighs, “are too fucking self-deprecating.”

“What?” Luke asks, still grappling with the fact that Michael is sitting on him and the cat is nowhere to be seen.

“You think I wouldn’t want you?” Michael demands, poking him again.  “You’re funny, dorky, absolutely adorable, and when we’re together I feel more comfortable than I am around just about anyone else.  You never tried to take the key until it was offered, and you were always nice to me as a cat even though i wouldn’t let you close.  Why would I give my heart to anyone else?”

Luke gapes.  His thoughts feel like they’re wading through molasses in an attempt to process everything being thrown at him.

“You’re the cat?” he asks, because it’s the easiest part of that speech to respond to.

“Yeah,” Michael says with a toothy grin.  “My whole family are shapeshifters, but only a few people know.  Don't tell anyone.”

“Why didn’t you transform and tell me instead of letting me freak out about not being who you wanted?” Luke asks, face heating.

“Because I wanted you to go for what you want, for once,” Michael says.  “And I wanted you to choose me because you want to, not because you felt pressured by me watching.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Luke lies, even though he once did the exact same thing when asked out in high school.  Michael levels him with a look.

“I do like you, though,” Luke amends.  “Which you know because of the embarrassing things I said when you were a cat.  I’m so sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” Michael says.  “It was cute.  Seriously, you’re so fucking cute, Luke.”

“Stop,” Luke groans, covering his face, which he’s certain is tomato-red.

“Hey, I mean it,” Michael says, gently prying his hands away.  “I really like you, Luke.  I hope you’ll let me compliment you more now that we’re dating.”

“We are?” Luke asks, a light, undefinable feeling blooming in his chest.

“If you want,” Michael says, letting go of his wrists and drawing his hands back to himself.  “You got the key.  You haven’t told me to stop sitting on you yet.  Unless you’re changing your mind?”

“No!  No, I want to,” Luke says quickly.  Michael grins.

“Good.  That’s settled, then.”

“There’s something else I’ve been wanting, too,” Luke says, suddenly emboldened by the glimmer in Michael’s eyes and the intoxicating knowledge that his affections are returned.

“Yeah?” Michael asks, entire face lit up.  “What is it?”

Luke pushes himself onto his elbows and swallows, mustering up as much courage as he can.

“A kiss?” he asks, heart thundering in his chest.

Michael’s grin grows, which Luke didn’t think was possible.  He reaches forward to cup Luke’s jaw in his hands, sending a pleasant tingle of warmth through his nerves.

“You should always ask for the things you want,” Michael says.  “So far I’ve liked all of your ideas.”

He closes the gap and kisses Luke sweetly.  Everything inside of Luke settles to a gentle hum, and he knows in his heart that this is what magic feels like.

#my writing #muke #5sos fanfiction #5sos fic #man i fought tooth and nail to get this posted this weekend #it's much later than i would've liked but it's here! #first non-ficmas muke on my ao3 account :) #i feel like this is going to be the year of muke for me i have a lot of ideas and wips for them #anyway please please please enjoy i miss posting fic

[moodywyrm]

hi bb! how was renfair?? :o

alsoalso do you have any fav book recs? i’m trying to buy more books to fill up my shelf !

- 🩷

hi baby!! renfair was so fun!!! We got a bunch of compliments and I got a really cute carnelian thumb ring, plus some trinkets from my friends and the sweet renfair patrons who brought trinkets to give out (which I wanna do next time!!) we saw a bunch of dogs 💕 and talked to really nice vendors!!! now i have a few new lil pink decorations for my room bc fake flowers and butterflies 💕💕 And I got a really good fizzy drink!!! good food all around!!! I’m so excited, we wanna find more renfairs to go to!!

The only downside was thag it was prettt hot and my outfit included a big cardigan + I’m on period, so I overheated pretty easily but my friends assured me k looked cute 💔 and i didn’t get flirted with 💔 but other than that I had so much fun!!! i had so much fun with my friends, i love them so much :( n we got post-excursion mcdonalds, it was the best sprite I’ve ever tasted 💕💕

for books I have a couple faves yoj might like!!! for the whimsy I’d recommend like anything Anna-Marie McLemore, although my fave is When The Moon Was Ours (it’s literally been a fvaorite for years now, it’s magical realism 💕 my fave genre) also I really like the These Violent Delights duology by Chloe Gong, it’s a 1920s Shanghai retelling/reworking of Romeo and Juliet and it’s so good!!! That’s all I can think of rn, but I might have more brain tomorrow 💕

#🩷 anon #moodythoughts

[elusivemellifluence]

Read 2022

We've reached the wonderful time of year where I make graphs analysing my reading habits like I'm some sort of science experiment.

In 2022 I read 102 books / 30,760 pages.

Keep reading for much, much more detail.

(My charts look less spiffy this year because I switched to a different chart making tool. This one doesn't let me customise colours. But the prettier options I found had the infuriating habit of just leaving out the data labels if a chart got unwieldy, and did not have an option I could select for "if you can't fit them on the chart itself, use a key". I picked function over aesthetic.)

First, and I can't believe I never thought to do this before, here is a graph of my total books over each year since I started tracking.

My lowest book count so far this year. But to be fair, I also wrote over 50,000 words of fic and started learning Mandarin Chinese. Plus my mum died and I could barely read for weeks.

And here is a similar graph of my total pagecounts.

The Books

The majority of my reading (62%) was in the form of ebooks, followed by paperbacks, audiobooks and hardbacks. It's pretty much the exact same proportion as last year.

This year most of the books I read were my own (70%), with the rest borrowed from the library. It was a more even split last year.

The longest book I read was The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee at 592 pages. The shortest was The Future God of Love by Dilman Dila at 55 pages. The average length was 301 pages.

This is my average book length over the years. Not a whole lot of variation, but this year was the lowest so far at 301 and 2015 was the highest at 356.

The oldest book I read was The Art of War by Sun Tzu, originally published around 450BC. The most recent was The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, published 23 September 2022. Most of the books I read were from the 2020s and 2010s.

My average rating was 3.9/5. There were 15 five star books, which is fewer than last year, and the lowest rating was a single 2. There's a much bigger gap this time between the number of four star books (57) and three star books (22). I was trying to move away from the mindset that DNF (did not finish) is the ultimate sign of disdain, because it made me feel kind of obligated to finish a lot of solidly average books because I didn't actually hate them. This year there were a bunch of books where I was like "I could keep reading this and it probably won't be bad. Or, I could stop reading right now and probably not regret it." Often, I did, and so I ended up with a lower proportion of 3 star reads.

The vast majority of books were new reads, not rereads.

My favourite genre is (as always) fantasy, followed by historical fiction, science fiction, nonfiction and romance, with a few mystery, horror and contemporary, and a handful of magic realism, literary fiction and thriller.

I read mostly adult books (72), and some young adult (21) and children's (9). I also read some baby/toddler books for babies/toddlers I know, but didn't record them for my stats. I really liked Sometimes Cake by Edwina Wyatt and I'm Not Cute! by Jonathon Allen.

It's my second year keeping track of the original language my books were written in, with a vague goal of 'some translated works'. 95 of the books were written in English, but I also read some translated from Japanese, Chinese, Portugese, Spanish and Swedish.

The Authors

Most of the authors (63) were cis women. I said last year that I'd aim to read more by trans and nonbinary authors but didn't end up doing that. I'll give it another go next year.

(The key couldn't quite fit in the stupid image, Ukraine should be listed after Hungary (also with 1 author))

The American hegemony is evident as always, but hey, this time it's just barely over 50%, that's something! And Australia was the second most common nationality, which is nice for me as an Aussie.

In my fifth year of aiming to read two authors of colour for every white author, that ratio is still going strong.

The Protagonists

Like with the authors, the majority of protagonists were cis women. Also like with the authors, I was aiming for a higher proportion of trans/nonbinary characters this year and didn't end up getting there. (I did read some short story anthologies with lots of trans characters, but that doesn't show up in the stats because short stories collections have too many characters to count for these purposes.) Oh well, I'll try again next year.

More protagonists were people of colour than not. That's nice. There was also one character whose race/appearance was never described, and three where the question of "is this character a person of colour?" can't really be answered in a meaningful way (a dragon, an alien and a wolf).

I'm thrilled to announce that straight protagonists are not the majority! At 44%, they're outnumbered by queer or indeterminate characters.

#read 2022

[burningdarkfire]

books i read in apr 2024

[these are all short + casual reviews - feel free to ask about individual ones if u want my full thoughts or ask for my goodreads!!] 

rosencrantz & guildenstern are dead - tom stoppard ★★★★★ (play)

i watched this performed live with billy boyd and dominic monaghan as the leads and tbh thought it was "just fine" but being able to read it at my own pace ... the devastation really set in 😩

delicious in dungeon vols. 4-7 - ryoko kui ★★★★☆ (fantasy manga)

finally overtook the anime and i'm really looking forward to getting into the meat of the story!

exit west - mohsin hamid ★★★★☆ (contemporary, magical realism)

loved the writing style and the perspective, it's very beautiful and very human

close to death - anthony horowitz ★★★★☆ (mystery)

one of the stronger installments in this series. i always enjoy a story-within-a-story kind of frame, however loose!

none of this is true - lisa jewell ★★★★☆ (thriller)

extremely readable and genuinely thrilling book with a disappointingly weak ending 😔

vigilance - robert jackson bennett ★★★★☆ (dystopian)

nothing particularly new or fresh about a gun-obsessed america but RJB does know how to make a point and stick to it

penance - eliza clark ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

ostensibly is a critique of true crime although imo it mostly just reads like. true crime. possibly i am not familiar enough to pick up on the nuance. but also, hilariously, it's at least a little bit about teenage girls who are socialized about tumblr and that really lent a flavour to my reading experience

autobiography of red - anne carson ★★★☆☆ (contemporary, verse, mythological re-telling)

started this as an audiobook and could not follow it at all - switch to paper to finish but. hmmm. i think it just needs more out of me than i currently have to give

green dot - madeleine gray ★★★☆☆ (contemporary)

i didn't know this was just a book about a young woman who is the affair partner of a married man but it really is just that. probably fine if you like that sort of thing but i don't so i was bored

this wretched valley - jenny kiefer ★★★☆☆ (horror)

light on the tension and suspense, heavy on the gore and suffering. not much in the way of themes or any deeper storytelling

everyone you hate is going to die - daniel sloss ★★★☆☆ (memoir, essays)

listened to this on audio and it felt more like a podcast than anything. sometimes funny but often just rambling and crude

lobizona - romina garber ★★☆☆☆ (YA fantasy)

pacing is poor and it reads much younger than it's marketed. it also reads a lot like baby's first trans narrative. i think this would be a great book if it'd been written for pre-teens instead!

[DNF] minor feelings - cathy park hong ★★☆☆☆ (memoir, essays)

listened to this on audio. racism is real but so are annoying people 😭

#my posts #reading wrap up #liveblogging books #books