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wildrangers · 5 months

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Say Don't Go // Ryan Lindgren

Word Count: 2.4K

Summary: Your situationship with Ryan devolves

{For my 1989 Vaults Track Challenge}

Warnings/tropes: unresolved angst, allusions to sex but no smut (like PG-13ish), cursing, cliffhanger

As your eyes slowly opened to the bright morning light filtering through your windows, you had a blissful moment of ignorance. Where you didn’t remember last night or the previous six months, or think of him at all. But when your phone vibrated on the night stand, your traitorous mind thought ‘Is it Ryan?’ and it all came rushing back.

I’ve known it from the very start

We’re a shot in the darkest dark

Oh no, oh no, I’m unarmed

To Ryan’s credit, he’d been honest from the beginning. When you met him at a bar and had immediately gotten lost in his blue eyes, he’d been up front that he couldn’t commit to anything serious. He was entering the last season of his contract and didn’t know what the next year would bring—all he could focus on was playing his best to maximize his next deal.

And that was fine for you, really. You’d been in a long-term relationship that had been fizzling out for some time before you’d pulled the plug a few months before, so the excitement of a fling was exactly what you’d wanted. You’d gone home with him that night and, even though you’d exchanged numbers earlier in the evening, you assumed that was that. But when he texted you the following weekend to come over, you figured what was the harm? You were both on the same page—it was simple.

The pattern repeated for the next few weekends, until one night, as you lounged in his bed before gathering the energy to head home, he spoke up.

“Would you want to come to this dinner at my friend’s house?” he questioned and you turned to face him, brow furrowed. “What’s the face for?” he chuckled.

“Last I checked, keeping it casual and meeting friends is a bad combination.”

“I mean, you don’t have to, I just…they keep busting my balls that I’m making up that I’m seeing someone” he replied, face turning pink.

And that sign of embarrassment, of vulnerability, had kept you from pushing further. Were you seeing each other? Why was he talking to his friends about you? Did inviting you along change things between you?

“Sure, I’ll go” you shrugged, placing a kiss to his cheek before rising from his bed. “They’re going to adore me though and then you’re done for.”

And they had. You had immediately begun teasing Ryan with Adam, clicked with Adam’s fiancée Sam, and enjoyed goofing around with the few other teammates there. You’d been surprised by how seamlessly they pulled you into the fold. Alexis had invited you out with them the next weekend and Sam had insisted you join them for brunch the day after. When Ryan had simply shrugged when you looked at him for approval, his blue eyes twinkling in amusement, you’d agreed to them both.

I’m standin’ on a tight rope, alone

I hold my breath a little bit longer

Months later, you were completely enmeshed in his life. You’d joined the group at bars to celebrate wins, partied with his friends, brunched with the significant others. You’d desperately wanted to revisit what you were to each other, what you were doing at this point. But you loved hanging out with him and his friends, bonding with the girls, and getting to see more and more of his world. You were afraid to upset the precarious balance you’d somehow found with him.

Tonight though, you were nervous. You’d joined Sam and other significant others at her house for a couple of games at this point but this was your first time going to the Garden.

“Don’t worry, the girls will meet you right inside the venue when I drop you off” Ryan offered, soothingly rubbing the back of your hand with a calloused thumb.

“I know, this just seems like a big deal, actually coming to a game” you hedged, gauging his reaction.

“You’ve wanted to though, right?”

“I mean, yeah I want to support you” you replied and watched as the corner of Ryan’s mouth turned up just before he lifted your hand to place a kiss to your palm.

“You’re the best” he said, the sincerity of his words making you ache.

Before you could respond, Ryan pulled over to the curb and placed a quick kiss to your lips. “Have a good game, Ry” you smiled, stealing another kiss before opening the car door.

“Are you down to go out later if it’s a good game?”

“Of course. Now, go before you’re late and have to do bag skates next practice” you teased, butterflies soaring in your stomach at his deep chuckle.

Several hours later, you were waiting with a few others girls down the tunnel following a Rangers win. Everyone had been so wonderful and welcoming, making sure you were comfortable and taken care of while you were in the suite. It made you feel like you could belong here, like these could be your people.

“There she is!” a familiar voice called, and you smiled as Sam ran to meet Adam halfway. Ryan came out seconds latere and you waited in place, unsure of what to do. Did you greet him with a kiss or keep it casual, since that’s apparently what you were to one another?

“Ryan Lindgren!” you heard a voice call from beside you and confusion flooded your system at the mischievous look in Vincent’s wife’s eyes.

“What?” he asked nervously, hand settling on your lower back.

“Why have you been hiding your lovely lady from all of us? She’s just the best! Much better company than your grumpy self—you’re lucky she puts up with you” she teased and Ryan threw his head back in laughter. You were taken aback, having just met the woman a few hours beforehand, but Ryan didn’t seem surprised by her outspokenness.

“Trust me, I know how lucky I am” he smiled, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you into his side. “I just had to make sure she wouldn’t flee once she met you crazy lot.”

Everyone laughed, yourself included, as you turned your gaze to Ryan. He grinned down at you for a brief moment before placing a gentle kiss to your mouth, taking you by surprise. This was the first time he’d been physically affectionate with you while you were with his friends, beyond an arm around you or a hand in yours. You felt something shift between you in that moment and something like hope fluttered in your chest.

Why’d you whisper in the dark?

Just to leave me in the night?

Now your silence has me screamin’, screamin’

That night was different in every way. As the whole team and their partners overtook their local spot, Ryan never left your side. His hand was always somewhere on you—your shoulder, waist, hip, wrapped in your hair as he pulled you in for another deep kiss. The public affection was such a drastic change it was dizzying.

As people began to trickle out, you were giving Adam and Sam parting hugs. “Make sure you keep him in line, Y/N, he’s definitely hit his drink limit” Adam teased earning a playful push from his friend.

“You should know by now there’s no keeping this man anywhere he doesn’t want to be” you joked back, earning a parting laugh as they left the bar. You took another sip of your drink, turning to face Ryan when you felt his eyes locked on you. “What?”

“You should have warned me that I’d end up adoring you too” he said simply and your blood started roaring in your ears.

“What can I say? I’m irresistible” you teased and he smirked before pulling you into him, his mouth easily locking with yours.

When you two ended up in your bed shortly after, even that was different. Sex with Ryan was always good, as he was attentive to your wants and needs. But there had always been a barrier set between you, only allowing so much vulnerability while you were wrapped together.

Tonight, you were breathless from his near constant eye contact, his reverent kisses placed all over your body, his far gentler than normal pace. He was taking his time in a way he never had before, like he didn’t want this moment to end—and neither did you.

So, when you found yourself catching your breath beside him you took a risk, “Could you stay tonight?” you requested quietly, keeping your eyes closed to avoid his intense blue gaze.

“We agreed…” he started but trailed off.

You forced yourself to open your eyes after a heavy moment of silence. “We agreed on a lot of things that don’t seem to apply anymore” you pointed out and he gently moved a strand of hair from your face. “We’re already doing everything a couple does. I’m friends with your friends, I’m going to your games. Can you please just stay tonight?”

His eyes continued searching your face before he finally nodded, settling farther into your bed and pulling you into his side. As you settled on his chest, your breathing became synchronized as sleep approached. Just as it overcame you, you found yourself believing that this meant things were finally going to change between you.

Despite these thoughts, when you awoke early the next morning you weren’t all that surprised by the coldness that met your outstretched hand rather than his warmth beside you.

Why’d you have to

Make me love you?

I say I love you

You say nothin’ back

The next week was the whiplash following a car wreck. You didn’t see Ryan, he ignored your calls, answered via text in one-word answers. You’d had enough of it, which is how you found yourself pounding on his door on a night you knew he had off work.

He finally opened the door, eyes widening when he realized it was you. “Y/N…I didn’t know we had plans.”

“Oh, fuck you Ryan, you know we don’t have plans and you know exactly why I’m here” you angrily retorted, breezing past him into his apartment. You refused to have this conversation on his door step.

“Enlighten me then” he replied and the coldness in his voice made you stop short.

“You’ve been ignoring me all week!”

“I’ve been busy.”

Rage and hurt roared through you as Ryan refused to engage with you, even though you were within feet of him.

“What are we?” you demanded.

“Y/N” he said, forced patience in his voice. “We both agreed from the beginning this was a casual thing.”

“It was so casual you introduced me to your friends?” you demanded and he refused to meet your gaze. “It was so casual you invited me to a game? So casual that you said you adored me that night, called me the best?”

“Adam was right, I’d had too much to drink.”

You stepped closer, taking his hands in yours, desperately trying to make him look at you. “Ryan, please, don’t say that.”

Only silence met you. “I think I’m falling in love with you” you admitted quietly, all the fight leaving your body. His only response was to remove his hands and take a step away.

The roaring sound of nothingness surrounded you two as you desperately waited for him to say something, anything, or at the very least look at you. “You don’t even have the guts to tell me to leave” you laughed bitterly, shaking your head. “You’re a coward, Ryan, that’s what you are.”

And with that, you stormed out of his apartment.

I would stay forever if you say

“Don’t go”

But you won’t

You fought with yourself before finally reaching over to your nightstand to grab your phone.

Can we talk?

He had some fucking nerve. You shook your head angrily, quickly rising from your bed. You didn’t bother to answer his message, instead directing your pent-up energy on removing any trace of him from your apartment, your life. You stripped the bed, tossed the snacks you kept on hand for him in the trash, placed any random objects he’d left behind in a box you’ give to Adam’s fiancée at some point soon. But you couldn’t bring yourself to throw away the jersey he’d given you just a week ago—so you threw it in the back corner of your closet, tossing random items on top to bury it.

By the time you rallied yourself enough to sit down with your phone, hours had passed. You took a deep breath and opened up your photo album, tears stinging to your eyes as you began selecting any that included Ryan to delete them. Halfway through, a new text popped up

Y/N, please, just say something

You scoffed at his nerve and replied only with a middle finger emoji. Your phone screen quickly lit up with his name before you slammed the side button to decline the call. Within seconds, he called back again and you repeated the process, this time shutting your phone all the way off. The digital detox could wait until later.

You shook your head to yourself as you switched into leggings and a crew neck, pulling socks onto your feet. You weren’t normally a huge runner but the nerve he had to demand a response from you after his stifling silence the night before had flooded your body with too much energy. So, you laced up your sneakers and left your apartment hoping to lose yourself in the movement of your body, the crowds of people in the city.

And it worked, mostly, anyway. You knew you couldn’t go back to him—couldn’t let him continue to have his cake and eat it too all while making you feel like shit. Making you feel like you’d imagined what had been developing between you these past months. The worst part was, if he had just acknowledged you last night, asked you not to leave, you would have stayed. Maybe forever. But that clearly was never going to happen.

As you trudged up your apartment steps, legs aching and desperately wanting a shower, you stopped short at the blonde man sitting beside your door. You were frozen, the air stripped from your lungs as his blue eyes rose to meet yours. You took a step back without thinking, unsure where you’d even go.

“Please, don’t go again.”

A/N: Okay, so this was my attempt at unresolved angst which I have never done. Honestly...kind of want to do a part two but only if y'all would be interested lol. More from my self-imposed challenge and the Winter Fic Exchange coming soon

#ryan lindgren #ryan lindgren x reader #ryan lindgren fic #ryan lindgren blurb #ryan lindgren imagine #nhl fic #nhl blurb #new york rangers #new york rangers blurb #new york rangers fic #Taylor's 1989 Vault Track Challenge

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wip · 11 months

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because the notes and reply button on a post bring you to the same place, do you ever intend to get rid of the reply bubble? my post footer is so full I can't see how many notes a post has (note: I have the quick queue labs feature on. I don't want to turn this off, because I use it frequently)

Answer: Hey, @prettyfuckinhot!

So, we can say that we are not planning to change this and remove the reply button. But we are aware that the post footer is crowded, and we might make modifications in the post footer in the future.

It can also be said that we will be experimenting with post footer changes, and hope to update you with the results of these as we can. But the reply option will be staying where it is. We will, of course, keep you posted with all the latest updates here or at @changes

Thanks for your question, and have a lovely day.

—Adam and Maxime

#features #reply bubble #your suggestions

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allay-j11no · 1 month

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𝚄𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚖 𝙽𝚎 𝙸𝚕𝚕𝚞𝚖 𝙽𝚞𝚖𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚖 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚖

𝓘𝓯 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓱𝓲𝓶. . .

this is a lil drabble about my OC's backstory, hope you enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ summer in Manchester was always beautiful. warm. calm. You always had your friends to share it with, no matter how stupid they may be, you always had your older brother to look after you is mum, dad, and your eldest brother said they were busy, that you were being a baby. . . "Rory...you got into a scrap with the neighbor boys again?" "Si n'done nothin' to em' yet they always pick on em'..." "Simon's a big boy, he can handle himself...bet Adam and Ezra were surprised to be beat by a wee lil lass like you huh?" Timothy never got mad. he saw your worth. he saw what you could do. he encouraged this, encouraged you to stand up for yourself. It was no surprise to him when Simon suddenly jumped at the chance to join the military, and you joined in after. Simon and you served together for a bit before he was accepted to the special air service. You joined the marines. "You joined the Military?" Maxim stated, the elder brother who despised your existence. "Marines dipshit." "Jarheads, dumbasses!" he snapped at you. "at least I don't get a full ride from our uncle!" 3 summers ago, you figured out your uncle was playing your father, and that your father has an identical twin. Michael. You met your father the day you graduated basic, one summer after the big reveal, Samuel. Maxim was your asshole uncles golden boy, you and Tim were frowned upon for even being related to him. Both results of drunken hook ups with the same woman. Samuel loved you and Tim dearly, During one of your returns to home, he took you to his club in America. "How's...everything been Rory?" "I got promoted to 2nd Lieutenant last week" You shared everything with him, glad to have your father back three years after this, you were called in by someone Laswell mentioned you to. John Price, you weren't surprised, Laswell looked out for you like you were her own spawn, she was aware of your lack of a mother figure, she filled that role in. "Rory Elizabeth Wright, More known as Wraith, your skillset is for stealth missions, master of infiltration missions, biological mother was Russian, Mila Wright, formally Mila Zhdan. From her you learned to speak Russian, her mother-tong. Biological father was a wealthy Brit, something he and his sibling inherited from their father." you were being asked to join 141. A joint multi-national special operations task force and counter-terrorism military unit, you do the dirty work others don't, your aren't complaining, over the years of being in it, 141 became a dysfunctional family, what made it better to you is, you found Simon. He was better known as Ghost now, but he never complained when you called him Simon, but that was when it was just the two of you.

2216 words, this is a small drabble, if any of you wants me to go into detail about each of the events, I gladly will! what I was doing with the bold Italics was something similar to how Jake Sully narrated Avatar, but made it seem like it was YOU who was telling the story, with any other drabble/story it'll be in Rory's POV

#cod mw2 #cod original character #simon ghost riley #ghost cod #john soap mactavish #john price #price #kate laswell #laswell mw2 #laswell cod #call of duty laswell #Callsign: Wraith #Father price #ghost x oc #drabble #oc backstory #oc brainrot

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grison-in-space · 9 months

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Still listening to 1632, and honestly I forgot how much I like its narrative choices.

Okay, we have the climactic battle scene where the giant marauding mercenary army of pikemen and arquebusiers menaces the brave little 2000s era West Virginia town, right? With the substantial benefit of an M60 machine gun someone smuggled home from Vietnam and buried out in the back of his property. ("look, I'm not like a survivalist weirdo or anything. It seemed like a prank more than anything else at the time!") That did happen sometimes, but that sure was a lucky stroke, yeah? And of course our ragged band of hillbilly heroes, armed with their deer rifles, slaughter the shit out of the giant experienced army of seasoned veterans. Sure. Everybody cheer: remember, this is the army we first encounter raping and killing the shit out of civilians for maximal earnings. The ranks of men begin to fall like a glacier cleaving flesh rather than ice: what an image. Everyone sit back and bask in American technological superiority. USA! USA!

Except.... er, we just took the time to humanize one of the soldiers in that army a couple of scenes ago. He's just joined up to protect his family. His big sister's a camp follower; their family got attacked a year or two ago, and she's pretty, so she got picked as the kept woman in their band. He's just gotten old and big enough to be useful as a soldier, so he's been taken on as a recruit, and he's drinking the crap out of anything he can keep down so he can always be mysteriously too drunk to participate in the looting.

He's pretty sure he's in hell. And then he marches off into that scene of technological carnage.

So this does a bunch of things. One: it's real hard to surrender into treating that slaughter as a total victory when you know that Hans is out in it. We like Hans. He's doing his best and we really hope he lives, okay? (Spoiler: he does live.) Two: it forces you to think about everyone involved--we get a lot of POV from his sister Gretchen next--is experiencing and perceiving these American loons from a specific context that exists beyond them.

There has also just been an absolutely delightful scene where a couple of 2000s-era American doctors are proposing a joint practice with a local Sephardic doctor and he casually suggests they check over everything in Avicenna before they prescribe that in case it works. He's mildly startled when they gape at him like a fish and essaying "uh, you can read Arabic, right?" and when it becomes clear that the answer is definitely no, adds "oh, well, you're in luck, I have a Greek translation!" One of the Americans asks, very cautiously, how many languages he speaks, and he rattles off nine that he's fluent in, another four he's proficient in at least enough to read, and a fifth he's currently picking up for political reasons.

At which point the high school history teacher wanders into the room and asks what's going on, to be told by the Sephardic man's daughter "ah, it turns out my father is a more accomplished linguist even if he doesn't know some things":

"Well, of course!" Melissa snorted. "Americans are ignorant louts when it comes to language." The schoolteacher planted her arms akimbo and gave Nichols and Adams the same glare which had cowed thousands of students over the years. "What?" she demanded. "Did you think you were actually smarter than these people?"

God I love Melissa.

#1632 #Eric Flint

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chiss-ticism · 7 months

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hiiiii can i ask more about percy's pack? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻 what's the group dynamic like, what do they love and hate most about each other? or anything else you wanna share about them! i wish to perc(y)eive

Oh, yeah, of course! tysm for taking an interest 😭

A Not-So-Brief Introduction to the Pack :)

Sir Percival [Ventrue Antitribu] [Templar] [Pack Member]

Art beautifully crafted by @/belthegore - Survivor of the Week of Nightmares, Percival ["Percy" to friends and allies] is feverishly devoted to seeing the Sword of Caine's goals brought to fruition - his near death experience at the proverbial hands of the Antediluvian in conjunction with ~general~ Sabbat propaganda frying his brain in that regard. - He's principled in the sense that he's dedicated to Dominique Touraine's philosophy of 'Absolute freedom demands absolute responsibility.'. The Sabbat, in his eyes, are never going to achieve their goals if everyone is letting their base/Beast's desires control their every whim. There's a time and a place for indulging in such things and it isn't while they're actively fighting a war. - Doesn't necessarily understand the wanton violence some of the sects members engage in but is far from a stranger to violence himself. - Holding every Cainite in the highest of regards - seeing them as brothers, sisters, and siblings in Caine, he will willingly put his life on the line for any of them or even die for them if the situation calls for it [NOTABLY DOES NOT INCLUDE: Camarilla, Tremere, Giovanni, Setites, or any of the others on the Sabbat's laundry list of enemies]. More fanaticism. yadda yadda. - Adamant about sticking to preferred titles/epithets. "His excellency" for the Archbishop, "Grand Inquisitor/Reverend Sister" for the Grand Inquisitor, "The Dark Father" exclusively for Caine, so on so forth. - Kind.

Judith Margolis [Brujah Antitribu] [Ductus] [Black Hand]

- Also referred to as "Judy", "Moody Judy", or "M.J." - A member of the Black Hand. - A scholar of the Convention of Thorns even before she defected, Judy had always been Sabbat sympathetic - even during her nights of holding fairly decent sway within her domains' local Anarch Movement on account of her Bloodline and how much of a vocal proponent of direct action she was. Convinced that the Anarch Movement wasn't doing all it could to combat the Camarilla, she took the fight directly to them: finding herself being bloodhunted out of town for having made attempts on the Brujah and Ventrue Primogen's lives. She diablerized the Brujah Primogen directly, but the Ventrue got away one haven and a handful of bodyguards shorter. - - The Brujah was probably a set-up: having taken advantage of their good will/willingness to hear out members of the clan. Have a trusted insider set up a meeting, go in their place, profit. Conspirators didn't know she was planning on diablerizing them - maybe Final Death'ing to make a point but not diablerie. They balk at the idea, turn on her, and report the crime to one another. The Ventrue would've probably been an attempt to maximize the damage on the way out of town, eventually ending up as a failed break-in attempt that resulted in the haven getting torched but not the Primogen themselves - I rather like the idea that, during modern nights, she ingratiates herself with the local Anarch communities and scouts them out for potential recruits when such a thing is feasible/allowed - She's just as focused on taking out the Camarilla as Percy is, though tangibly less… [gestures vaguely at how willing Percy is to take one for the team]. - Dresses like evil Jesse Pinkman. Baggy pants, beanies, and hoodies galore. All variations of red and black - 5'5'' - Brown hair, dark brown eyes - Physically Late 20s, early 30s

Ida Obertus [Former Revenant, Tzimisce] [Pack Priest] [Children of the Dracon - scholarly wing (Akoimetai)]

- Shortest member of the pack at a solid 5'2'' - Born and Embraced in Montreal - She and Percy are both on the Path of Honorable Accord - Former Revenant, upon being Embraced she kept the Revenant Weakness [OCD] in addition to the regular clan weakness. - While she's perfectly capable of defending herself or reveling in sanguine succor if the situation calls for it, Ida is probably the only member of the pack that isn't on a martial bent. She prefers the time she gets to spend locked away with ancient tomes or helping prep for the Sword of Caine's festivals to, say, engaging in War Parties or the Wild Hunt. - Barring Noddism, of which she and Luther have [good naturedly] debated one another about the semantics of for hours on end, her expertise in life veered toward [supernatural] quirks of the blood: Ghouls, Revenants, trying to figure out what on earth a changeling is and why their blood is allegedly fucked up when they aren't visibly distinguishable in the slightest from everyone else, etc. etc. It would've been to help with the family's whole [gesturing vaguely at usurping humanity] even if she doesn't care about any of that now. - She would love to get her hands on a Lupine's corpse for study but, for a plethora of reasons, it's extremely Unlikely. The handful of times the pack has been Dog tagging they trend towards leaving the damnable creature where they found it - Ida, without fail, asking a one (1) time if she can bring it back to the haven. M.J., without fail, will pretend to humor the idea and put a pin in the conversation with a resounding "No." - She's significantly younger than Luther in age, but also lower than him in Generation [9th]. Both of them are ancillae. - She shut off her nerves via Vicissitude. Pain tolerance is through the roof - She has a personal "Grand Library" in her Montreal haven that she's left in the care of some of her former mortal family. While she keeps the volume entrusted to her from the Library of the Forgotten with her at all times, any books of note she can't cart around with her from domain to domain she sends back to them. - She has a singular Obertus revenant that she brings w/ her from domain to domain. He mostly tend to the haven's cleanliness (barring her own room which she insists upon doing herself) and aiding her in her studies. - - A distant cousin of hers, his name is Colin. - - Percy is polite but noticeably more distant than he is with other Cainites, Luther refuses to engage with him on grounds of his Path, and M.J. orders him around like a Pack Member with none of the benefits. - She knows [Latin, Byzantine Greek (For studying Constantinople), and French (She's from Montreal)] - She's friends with @/Styxnbones' Peona. Montreal Tzimisce buddies :) - She has Eidetic Memory, lending to her exceptionally high stats in the Knowledge Category (aided by the Grand Library she owns)

Ritae Ida Knows: - All 13 Auctoritas Ritae - Ignobilis Ritae: [Allegiance, Acceptance, Contrition, Stealth, and one she's developed for the Pack to use] I don't know if you can tell, but Ida is the one currently giving me brain worms :)

Luther 😎 [Lasombra] [Pack Member] [Caine's Goofiest Goober]

- Noddist scholar. Loves Caine^2 & took part of a now-forgotten ritus that marked his forehead with the Mark of Caine. Now has a "twisted form of true faith" from it. He can essentially use Noddist symbols to scare other vampires away :) - As mentioned, devout noddist now. He initially clung to the stories of Caine willingly forsaking the will of God and the Heavenly Host as comforting and growing to sympathize with the tragedy of the First City. He has these theories about Enoch being buried somewhere in the ocean, having been left there without hope of reclaiming it properly after the flood & wants to go looking but lacks support, time, and wet-suit. The Lasombra Antediluvian's vitae vaguely suggesting that he and some of his clanmates spend a little time with the sea/Mediterranean certainly doesn't help dissuade him from his dreams. - He loves a good practical joke, though, odds are that only he ever really finds them more than moderately amusing. Tough crowd the Sword of Caine are. I've likened him to Bugs Bunny before. - A cold draft always follows him wherever he goes. - Wears his sunglasses at night [He may look like a dork but he does have a valid reason to be wearing them :)] - He puts on a front of just being a Silly Little Guy who doesn't take anything seriously save for his pack and other ritae related to Caine himself. - Do not let him drive. - [he has more Tragedy in his backstory but it's not overly relevant atm :)]

Your Questions! :D

What's the group dynamic like?

-It didn't cross my mind when I was initially slotting puzzle pieces together for Ida, but Percy's bloodline ~generally~ started having issues w/ the Tzimisce as a direct result of his Methuselah diablerizing one in Constantinople. It's a complicated mess of pack dynamics/sins of the father/personal philosophies but I think Ida being a Dracon & sharing their general outlook/reverence for the time|domain: --Being the quieter members of their pack, they enjoy one another's company now-a-nights [I find the mental image of them reading their own niche books in the same room of the communal haven to be a nice one.] but those first few months of knowing one another were capital T tense. Ida, through other Akoimetai as study of Constantinople's vampiric history is ~tentatively~ a side hobby of hers compared to her other (k)nightly duties, was made aware of the Circumstances regarding the Methuselah and his bloodlines' general disposition toward the clan. The stress of the Week of Nightmares and the wounds therein would've been still been fresh for Percy as well. --Ida would prefer that the main clan -and everyone who abides by their rulings- would carefully dissect every choice they make and refrain from haphazardly damning the rest of the clan even further (for Percy it'd be dragging the whole sect down w/ them) further than they already are, playing devils advocate like the Children are want to do: make them consider the weight of their actions and consider the responsibility that intrinsically comes with as much sway as they do. Percy, on the other hand, is like. Yeah… Excellent points to make - we don't always have the luxury of deliberation, though. [this would've been less of a point of contention during the Gehenna War, mind, but she's probably started up again now that things have tentatively cooled down a bit.] --Percy + Ida: wanting the best for Cainites 'everywhere'

- ignoring the fact that Judy has considered hitting him with a car before, the pack wouldn't really be the same without Luther. 1 of the reasons he keeps up his funny little guy routine is that he recognizes that they'd all burn out without a little brevity in their unlives - being as overly focused on their individual goals as they are in a world where the Sword of Caine is in a particularly fragile state. He's happy to provide laughs (or someone to be frustrated with) if it keeps them from teetering on the edge.

- As the Pack Priest - and one who takes confession at that - Ida is probably the Cainite they confide in the most. Few secrets of personal relevance being kept between them (faction stuff is another story), she's the person they'd go to for, say, interpersonal advice or a friend to alleviate their mental woes with.

- Percy & Judy are on the war path, but their respective duties tend to take them away from the Pack for long bouts of time :(. Keeping tabs on one another isn't the easiest thing in the world either

What do they love most about each other?

They're all potently driven in their chosen fields of expertise, being able to talk about their interests for hours on end and provide one another with valuable insight they might've missed. Percy & Judy's combat practice, for example, can be expanded upon by Ida's occult knowledge when they're doggtagging. Luther [through adherence to the faith] & Ida [through being as well-read as she is] provide one another with new perspectives on Noddism anytime they talk about it, etc. etc.

What do they hate most about each other?

- That Percy and Judy are taken away so often [Ida never comments on it but it certainly doesn't feel Good when it happens]

- Judy's taste in music [Percy & Ida do not understand how people listen to Industrial metal. She introduced Luther to the Sisters of Mercy so he doesn't care all that much]

- Percy's staunch adherence to formalities. [Judy has asked him time and time again to just call her by her name]

- That Judy seems to place very little emphasis on the more secular aspects of the sect. [Luther -> Judy. She does believe in Caine, but she mostly joined up for a better chance at dealing with the Camarilla properly]

#My OCs #Percy Tag #Luther Tag #Ida Tag #Moody Judy Tag

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borderlineseaweed · 8 months

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OKay! so I'm not dead,, yet-

So, I decided on the future of "One Day At a Time."

so far...

I will continue writing and expanding on it and the relationships/dynamics of the characters. (yippie)

The main point of view will still be in the eyes of Lizzie and Raz because I gravitated toward Lizzie once I saw her interactions with other interns and towards Raz. Although she is an overall jerk, she lightens up to Raz and the others later.

(Of course, she still teases him, calling him "pooter" and the confrontation with Cassie as the Green Needle Witch.)

More interestingly, Lizzie even later admits her true feelings towards her sister

"I just want to beat my sister, okay?!"

"I love my sister! There! I said it! I know she's a pill, but I love her anyway!"

Also, why did she sign up as an intern for the Psychonauts? Did Lizzie tag along because of her sister or because of something else?

I mean, everyone else has a reason:

Sam is already tied to the psychonauts with Compton Boole and family recognition.

Morris has a connection to Millia as a guardian/parental figure

Adam is a big psychonaut nut and the "big dog" of the group.

Gisu is a genius engineer working with Otto on dreams and psychic material.

Norma is an (egotistical) glory seeker seeking high recognition and a sense of accomplishment.

So yeah, just wanted to explore this character a little more.

Overall, this will be an add-on to my intentional one-shot

The setting is still around 1982-early 80's and will feature implied locations from memory vaults or ones already established. I do this because I love the lore and scraping everything I can from characters' dialogues.

Things might be expanded on:

Characters

Relationship building

Delugionists

Anti-psychic propaganda

International spy missions (MISSIONS! FUCK YEAH!)

Turmoil of elites and power

I will still make my art to coincide with my writing. I want to enrich my storytelling and aid as a visual guide. My guided style seems to lead into a graphic novel type and I suppose it is very fitting with the original idea of the fic. That, and I love maximalism art and I can sprinkle in Easter eggs.

I will open my ask box if you want one scene in particular to be drawn. I will gladly do so! :)

Given my circumstances as a (busy... Currently looking at my schedule, Jesus Christ-) student, updates will be sparse and few in-between.

However! Not all hope is lost because the Psychonauts 2 Art Book is close to finalization! The world of Psychonauts will be further explored, and more concepts will be covered! (double yippie)

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barrygeuse · 1 year

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maitland-deetz household on a snow day!

it's blizzarding where i live today and i just had to get this out of my brain. based on the musical canon, as usual <3

charles:

is up at the ass crack of dawn. this is unrelated to the snowstorm, he's just the first person to get up in the house. he gets up before the sun rises and stays up so late and no one knows why

anyways, he gets to see the calm before the storm (literally) if it hasn't started snowing overnight

usually he is always dressed up, but on days with inclement weather, he stays in his pajamas. i'm talkin' navy blue silk matching two piece pajamas with his name embroidered in white above the chest pocket

while waiting for barbara to wake up he brews coffee and gets hers ready. does the wordle. charles is a wordle fanatic. he and adam have a groupchat where they just send their daily wordle results. charles is really good at it! adam not so much

has a snowblower that breaks so frequently that it's a winter staple to see him and adam in the garage trying to fix the stupid snowblower. they probably spend more time working on it than actually using it

lydia's like, "guys. just buy a new snowblower." and adam insists he can make it work again so she just says whatever and leaves

does a little bit of everything. some reading, makes some tea, dusts the shelves in the bedroom, tries to fix the sink so it stops dripping. being stuck inside makes him restless

delia:

snow is not her thing. she always complains the entire day before the storm about how she's achy and she knows there's bad weather ahead

much like charles, she stays in her pajamas. in fact they have matching pajamas. hers are purple, though, and they say her name on the opposite side

it was a sweet gesture (his idea) and she loves them. lydia pretends to gag when she sees them together

her hair is a wreck. she does not bother to attempt to fix it. really snowy days for delia are a day of pre-accepted dread and she is going to maximize her comfort god damn it

the second last to get up, besides beej, who basically doesn't count because he spends a lot of time sleeping (like a very lazy cat)

has a cup of tea and joins everyone for breakfast. makes conversation. everyone is happy when delia joins because she does most of the talking if they're still waking up

spends a lot of time lounging on the furniture or maybe taking a very long bath with candles and crystals and the like. in the total darkness

it does help to soothe her joints and stuff! she always feels a lot better after a hot bath so sometimes charles tries to coax her to take one (admittedly it does not take much coaxing at all. it's more like a suggestion)

adam:

gets up around the same time that lydia does (usually before her by five or ten minutes) and goes downstairs to help finish up breakfast

also stays in pajamas. plaid pants and a plain tee shirt. has house slippers and his reading glasses on

reads the paper at the kitchen table. likes to keep up on the news. unfortunately they probably didn't get a new paper due to the snow, so he rereads old ones

does the wordle (with commentary aloud to charles about how he can't imagine what the word could be while charles tries to give vague hints but they're way too vague or straight out misleading)

makes hot cocoa for everyone in the evening when it gets dark. the real good kind, by whisking actual melted chocolate into heated milk

takes some time to work on his little projects up in the attic, like whittling or model work. he tends to focus more on house-related projects when it isn't a day he can 'relax'

makes dinner for everyone, too. something warm and comfortable and homemade that leaves everyone feeling full and happy. beams whenever someone compliments whatever it is on their first bite. he knows it's good, but to hear it makes him happy

barbara:

she's the second to wake up and immediately goes down to the kitchen to help charles with breakfast. they usually make it together for everyone

he's got her coffee ready for her when she gets downstairs, right on the counter and in her favorite mug

unlike pretty much everyone else, she gets properly dressed. she layers well to stay warm, but could go outside and not be seen as wearing pajamas

loves the snow. is happy to see it, even when it's dangerous conditions outside (plus it means the whole family will be together for a while!)

it makes her and adam extra cold, though, which she doesn't enjoy, especially when they're trying to rest together or if the family watches a movie, because whoever sits by them has to deal with it

always wants to make a snowman if it's nice enough

forces everyone to dress for the weather if they're going outside. boots, long underwear, hat, scarf, gloves. they complain but they'll thank her for it later

spends a lot of the day reading in the living room by the fire

lydia:

gets out of bed when she hears adam go down the stairs. he knocks on her door to let her know that he’s up and that breakfast will be ready in five or ten

changes out of pajamas but into comfy clothes. so essentially daytime pajamas

doesn't drink coffee but knows that adam will make hot chocolate later and looks so forward to it

when bj gets up she nags him to go outside with her. barbara always frets a little bit and worries she'll get frostbite so makes them both bundle up really good before going outside and will not let them if it's snowing too hard or really windy

adam joins them sometimes. on a nice day where it's sunny and there's not a lot of actual precipitation the whole family (well, save for delia) will go outside and have snowball fights. lydia and bj vs charles, adam, and barb

barbara is SCARY competitive when it comes to stuff like this. she's really nimble and great at dodging. charles is really good at throwing and adam is good at hiding. they are both bad at not getting hit.

lydia is also great at dodging and decent at throwing, and beej just goes to town throwing as many snowballs as he can with as many arms as he can possibly generate. he looks like a cartoon with his arms spinning that fast. it's almost as scary as barbara

it really comes down to barb vs lydia and bj if we're being honest. sometimes adam will "sacrifice" himself by jumping in front of her to catch a hit and it makes her laugh so much

bj:

sleeps in to the afternoon. this is no different than any other day

entertains himself by changing the embroidery on delia and charles' pajamas to say different things and then see how long it takes for someone to notice

lights the fireplace when he gets up because no one else has bothered to

is pleased when barbara offhandedly thanks him for it. he's still not used to praise for the little things like that

think of calvin and hobbes making snow goons. that's him and lydia so very much. they create the most dastardly snow abominations together and have so much fun doing so

showing them to barbara who's like, "those are so terrifying!" forced smile because she is unsure how she's supposed to react

this seems to satisfy them and she is relieved.

eats snow. so much snow. didn't see a lot of it in the netherworld (maybe none at all) and he has no idea why he isn't supposed to just put it in his mouth and eat it.

has the common sense to not eat yellow snow but doesn't care if there's dirt or mud on it.

sometimes the snowballs he throws have bites taken out of them. adam always cringes to imagine sinking his teeth into snow

#this was fun to write i love them all so much #also it's so cold and gross here save me.#bjtm #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice #adam maitland #barbara maitland #charles deetz #lydia deetz #delia deetz #headcanons #beetlejuice headcanons #beetlejuice barry

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wistfulcynic · 2 years

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not to pile more on that one alcoholic SMAU but since there’s disk horse loose at the moment i’m thinking again about the one thing that really bugs me about it (y’know, aside from the Racism). And i know i go on about this a lot, to the point where i don’t dare anymore for fear people will just roll their eyes and say Yes Saira We Are Aware You Are Old Would You For Once Just Shut The Fuck Up About It and my very valid point will be lost.

but here’s the thing, and apologies in advance because this will be rambling. Here’s the thing about Accuracy In Fic Writing and why “canon-typical historical inaccuracy”, though we do love it so, can go only so far.

first, because the 80s are not history. FFS.

but mostly because there’s accuracy in terms of something that's possible and accuracy in terms of something that’s probable. And they are not the same. Douglas Adams, in The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (still the best book title in history) took that Sherlock Holmes maxim of “when you have eliminated the impossible....” and turned it on its head in a way that has stuck for decades in mine. He said (Dirk Gently said) and i paraphrase, that when a thing happens that we think is impossible that just implies that there’s something, some fact, that we don’t know. Which is unsurprising when you consider the vast wealth of things that we as a species simply don’t know. But when a thing seems improbable that’s because it goes against something fundamentally human that we do know. It may be factually possible but our gut reaction is “yes, but that person just wouldn’t do that.”

and this is why i cannot get past the faxing flirtation in That One SMAU. Yes, it’s a cute idea. i get why someone who’s had no direct experience with 1980s faxes would be drawn to it. But lads (gender neutral) the thing is. They Just Wouldn’t Do That.

faxes in the 80s were LOUD. They were SLOW. It took like five minutes to send a single page. Five minutes of shrieking noise, and i do mean shrieking. And i just cannot believe that two neurodivergent-coded characters would have the spoons, the patience, the ability to tolerate deeply unpleasant stimuli, to sit around for hours playing tic-tac-toe via fax. It’s not impossible, not as such, it’s just very, very improbable. That improbability shrieks in my mind like a fucking incoming fax and won’t be handwaved away.

this is where the accuracy in terms of what’s probable in fic comes into play. You might think that this sort of thing hardly matters in a fic about characters from a show where they read Pinocchio 100 years before it was written and 18th century pirates dress like Mad Max, but the thing about the show’s anachronisms is that they are all pointedly deliberate. They say something about the characters. Of course Stede likes a story about a puppet who becomes a real boy, he’s in the midst of his own identity crisis. Ed’s leather outfit tells us so much about who he is, the armour he wears, and provides a sharp contrast to both Stede and who Ed becomes when he’s being the truest version of himself. These aren't mistakes made because the writers couldn’t be arsed to research or because they don’t understand the implications of what they’re writing, entirely the opposite. Which is why if someone writes a fic in which Frenchie invents Ye Olde Spotify Playlist or Lucius calls someone a DILF then, babes, i am right there with you. More of that please.

because those things are both fully in character and, within the universe established by the show, entirely probable. They are believable. They fit the fundamentally human things we already know about these characters and this universe. They are factually impossible for 1717 but that doesn’t matter a bit. That is what canon-typical historical inaccuracy gives us.

it does not give us two kids in the 80s playing with fax machines like they’re toys, or the chat in a dating app. Sorry, but it just doesn’t. It may not be impossible per se, just so fundamentally improbable that it’s still shrieking in my head even months later.

and i know this nudges at the precipice of an even larger Disk Horse, the one about characterisation in fic writing and how much OOC is okay and how much is Too Much, but i guess this is where i fall down on that debate too. i’m okay with my characters doing something that is impossible. What i’m not okay with is them doing what, for them, is improbable. If i ever hit a point in reading where i say aloud “but they just wouldn’t do that,” well. That’s where i’m noping out.

#fandom discourse #ofmd #that one alcoholic smau #yes i am still reading it but in full rubbernecking-the-car-crash mode

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kattythingz · 1 year

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Apple of Your Eye

Summary: Adam has his eyes on a different Eve.

861 / 31420

It wasn’t particularly bizarre, at face value.

The first rose that Reki had received was thorny; it sat innocently amongst the rest of Oka’s fake plants that he tucked into the hanging flower planters for “good hospitality”. Reki thought it was unnecessary (their dope front door and display window more than made up for any hospitality a skater could wish for) but Oka was insistent. So, Reki was more than a little curious when the planters actually caught his eye for once one Tuesday afternoon.

He snatched it a little too eagerly, and, long story short—Reki’s thereon mystery fan never left him another thorny rose, taking care to de-thorn it for weeks to come.

That was, until yesterday.

Langa cried out a couple feet away, and Reki heaved another sigh.

“I told you, you’re lifting off too late!” Reki said. Langa rubbed his elbow wincingly—did he hit his funny bone? Oh, Reki felt that. “You need to maximize that momentum, not minimize it.”

“This ground is actively working against me,” Langa grumbled, returning to full stand, “so that’s kind of hard to do.”

“Is it?”

Langa glowered at him, and Reki chuckled.

“Kidding, kidding.” Reki waved an apologetic hand. “Obviously, the first time’s scary for everyone. But, if you’re serious about skateboarding, you just gotta learn to suck it up. You know?” He grinned. “It’s way more fun like that anyway.”

Langa’s eyes got that weird look in them again—something equally soft as it was sharp. “Yeah,” he said, a little dazed.

“Yeah, ‘yeah’!” Reki beamed. “Now show me how it’s done!”

Langa nodded in that quietly determined way of his and Reki left him to it as his own mind wandered again.

He’d looked it up after getting home last night—what a blue rose symbolized compared to a red one. But unlike the sweet and simple answer of red’s “passion”, blue was… harder to pinpoint. Some results said mystery or unrequited love, while others, fascination and even true love.

But that couldn’t be it, Reki snorted.

He was surprised this person kept up for this long anyway. It had been, what, two, three months since Reki started keeping a vase in his workshop? Dedication like that, it had to be someone from S that was interested in him. He didn’t think a regular person would find anything in him to be “fascinated” with.

“Ah, Reki!”

Reki jerked at the abrupt call, nearly falling off his perch on the half-pipe ledge.

Langa was beaming from behind the makeshift water bottle barrier. “I did it! I got over the bottles!”

“Y-Yeah!” Reki said, finally noticing the barrier was in one, uniform line. “You sure did! That was awesome!”

Langa didn’t take the praise like Reki expected. Instead, he frowned, deadpanning, “You didn’t see it, did you?”

“What? No, I—”

“You’ve got that look on your face again,” Langa interrupted him. “The one you make when you’re drawing.”

Despite the words, he didn’t sound the least bit upset.

Not for the first time, Reki wondered what planet this guy was from.

(No one was actually this chill about being totally ignored during their moment of triumph!)

“Okay, you caught me,” Reki sighed. “I was totally distracted. Sorry.” He smiled, then. “But I still think it was awesome! I don’t need to see it to know that.”

In the afternoon sun, Langa’s faint blush was downright precious. Reki stifled a giggle.

“If you must know, however,” he continued, sliding down the slope to stand on equal ground with Langa, “I was thinking we should get you some protection gloves.”

“Huh? Why?” Langa tilted his head.

“Well, because you work a lot with your hands, right?” Reki wiggled his fingers emphatically. “Those are like, the one exception you gotta make for not needing protective gear. Especially when you get to the crazier moves that need your hands to guide them!”

“Right,” Langa said. “But you don’t wear any either.”

“Pshhhh, that’s ‘cause I’m practically a pro! And I still wear them for S, you know.”

Langa dubiously eyed the Band-Aids littering Reki’s hand, mostly his fingers. “Uh-huh.”

Those cuts weren’t from skating, actually—but Reki hesitated to tell Langa that. Not even Oka knew about Reki’s mystery person (the benefits of having a manager that always came in late), and after unintentionally keeping it that way for about a month, Reki was loath to change that. Even with Langa.

It felt… nice. Knowing someone out there appreciated him this way. He’d like to savor that feeling for as long as he could.

Even if it did sting him twice now in a row in both shades of blue and red.

Reki scoffed. “Hey! Which one of us has been skating for longer, huh?” He crossed his arms. “I think I know what sort of advice I’m giving and taking here.”

“If you say so,” Langa said.

His expression was passive, but Reki recognized that humor in his eyes.

“I do,” Reki huffed.

“Mhmm.”

“Hey.”

Langa was definitely snorting when he passed Reki to try the bottles again, concern seemingly addressed. Reki let him go with only an eye-roll for that.

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hellojenpenworld · 1 year

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January 2023 Reading Wrap-Up (Part 1)

So.... I had a lot of reading done in January. I was on an ebook reading kick and just couldn't stop reading., so most of my reads were ebooks with a few audiobooks thrown in. It was a great feeling. It was really fantastic.

Because I read so much this last month, I'm splitting my wrap-up in 3 parts. Here is my first set of January reads. 😁

Be warned: spoilers are ahead.

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"Tempest" by Miranda Bridges and Kyra Snow, book 4 in the Elemental Mates series.

Zoey is having a bad day. Kidnapped, sold, abandoned on an unfamiliar planet, almost sacrificed and then running into a hot, grumpy alien. Kai thought he would never have a mate after his died, but here he is reacting to a human.

This was a fun and fast-paced story. I liked that Kai was fighting his feelings and doing his best to reassure Zoey that she wasn't just going to be a breeder for his people and how their relationship grew.

I do kind of wish that they hadn't found Kai's mother on the same planet that Zoey was abandoned on, but that was a minor issue overall. I loved how Zoey interacted with Kai and all the names she gave him when he refused to give her his actual name. I loved all the twists and turns the story took as well.

I can't wait for the next story as it looks like it will be a lot of fun and drama as well. I can't wait to see what will happen next.

4.5/5 stars - January 5th to January 5th

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"Zephyr" by Miranda Bridges and Kyra Snow, Book 5 of the Elemental Mates series.

This was one of my favorite of the series.

Daxis has issues with being touched or touching others, but when he accidentally comes in contact with the human, Dawn, he is horrified to find that she is his mate. Dawn is attracted to Daxis but isn't sure why he seems to hate her despite them being mates.

I just really loved this story. Daxis has a lot of baggage from his past and it affects his relationship with Dawn. Surprisingly, Dawn was much strong that I anticipated her being and she shows it a lot throughout. Her growth was well done.

I also really enjoyed seeing more of Adam, Hazel's brother from book one, and how life has changed for him.

5/5 stars - January 5th to January 6th

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"Terra" by Miranda Bridges, Book 6 of the Elemental Mates series.

This book was interesting because Ivy, the human, is unaware of the other humans already rescued and everything else that has been going on.

Ivy is found to be "defective" due to her scars and is supposed to be food for what she calls a "Fire Wolf". However, the wolf bonds with her instead. Maxim needs the wolf to help find the Master and discovers that Ivy is also his mate.

I liked this story and thought it was pretty cute overall. I liked the new characters and the mystery behind the Master. I also found the wolf to be really cool as well.

I did wish it was a bit longer to flesh out the romance a bit more, but overall was a quick and cute read.

3.5/5 stars - January 7th to January 7th

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"Amethyst" by Miranda Bridges, Book 7 in the Elemental Mates series.

I couldn't stop reading this book (unless I was forced to due to work).

We follow Ash (aka, the Master) on his quest to take down his uncle when he runs into his mate, Cora. Cora has been away from Earth for so long that she had to find a job as a stripper just to get by.

I loved this one! Ash finding Cora and their romance was so sweet. I also liked seeing all the previous characters returns and how everything came together in the end.

The romance was rushed,. but not as much as the previous book, and I loved that Cora took the lead the first time.

Overall, this was one of my favorite of the series and I would re-read this series again.

4.5/5 stars - January 7th to January 8th

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"A Walk Along the Beach" by Debbie Macomber, Book 2 in the Oceanside series.

What a read!

After loosing their mother, Willa took it upon herself to care for her younger sister, Harper, and their father while her brother, Lucas, was in the military. Three years after Harper beat cancer, Willa has her bakery and lives with Harper in a small apartment. Harper encourages Willa to start dating freelance photographer, Sean, and everything is looking good. But all is thrown into chaos when Harper's cancer returns.

For the most part, this was good. Characters were interesting and I even cried at points (had to really focus when I was driving and listening to this audiobook at the same time). A lot of things kept me guessing and didn't go as expected.

However, I did feel like Willa forgave Sean a bit too easily at the end and that she should have blown up at him more than once. I know that it is just my personal opinion, but I think it was too easy for Sean to get back into her good graces after everything.

Overall, it was a good book.

3.5/5 stars - December 30th, 2022 - January 8th

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"Artek" by Honey Phillips, Book 1 in the Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers series.

A very cute read.

Artek and his military brothers settled on a ranch after a senseless war in order to start a new life. Now, 2 years later, Artek is ready for companionship and has his eyes on Nelly, the shopkeeper's daughter. Nelly takes the chance on a change and marries Artek, since she has also been attracted to him for a while as well.

This wasn't the strongest story in my opinion. Artek and Nelly didn't have a ton of conflict and what they did have was resolved so quickly that it didn't do much to the overall story plot.

This felt more like a book set up to introduced all the other characters more than a book about growing a relationship between Artek and Nelly. Nelly and Artek spet very little time communicating to each other, which made it hard to accept that they fell in love. Most interactions were off-page.

Overall, it was cute story with Nelly learning about the ranch and meeting the other brothers (who are all different alien species) and everything. It did make me interested in the other brothers, which I feel was this book's ultimate goal.

3.5/5 stars - January 9th to January 10th

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"Benjar" by Honey Phillips, Book 2 in the Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers series.

This was, again, a cute read, but just not very strong in the story.

Benjar kidnaps Ruby to be his bride, which is not what she anticipated when dreaming of an adventure. Now they are stuck together during a snowstorm and may find exactly what they need in each other.

Overall, the story was cute. I really enjoyed as Benjar was attracted to Ruby but thought that she wasn't right for him because she didn't meet his requirements he had planned out. I also liked how they thought of their other brothers, who didn't come to kidnap girls, and kidnapped them brides also.

My problem came with the romance part. I felt like it was way too fast with no idea of how much time was passing, so it all felt like it was same day.

I did enjoy it overall, and I was still interested in continuing the series.

3.5/5 stars - January 10th to January 11th

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"Callum" by Honey Phillips, Book 3 of the Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers series.

This is the book where the series picked up for me.

Pearl find her sister, Ruby from book 2, kidnapped and goes after her only to be caught in an avalanche. She is rescued by Callum, one of the aliens who purchased the nearby ranch and who Pearl has been attracted to. The two are stuck together until the snowstorm lets up causing the unspoken attraction between them to come into the forefront.

I loved this! There wasn't anything between these two other than glances until they were forced to spend time together. I loved watching the relationship grown and become more.

Callum and Pearl were both hurt in the past, which they have made peace with alone, but I loved how they found additional peace with each other. We also start to get hints of things going on outside of this small community and that really interested me to know what else was going to happen.

It gave me hope that this series would just continue to improve and be really great.

5/5 stars - January 11th to January 11th

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"Drakkar" by Honey Phillips, Book 4 in the Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers series.

Drakkar's story was very sweet.

Drakkar knows that his kind do not mate for life. They come together briefly for procreation and then go back off on their own again. They prefer solitude. Despite this, Drakkar leaves his home planet and joins his military brethren on a new world restoring a decrepit ranch. His is surprised when a vulnerable human, Kitty, awakens his protective instincts. Kitty has made many mistakes in her life, but knows that despite how she came to be her daughter isn't one of them. When things get a bit intense with her daughter's father, Drakkar rescues them and takes them to his cave in the mountains. Kitty isn't sure she can trust him, but that doesn't stop her from falling for him.

I really enjoyed this story because Drakkar was so vulnerable with Kitty and her daughter. Their interactions were sweet.

Like that others in this series, the romance did go a bit fast, but that didn't distract me too much from the story. I really liked it.

4.5/5 stars - January 11th to January 12th

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"Endark" by Honey Phillips, Book 5 of the Seven Brides for Seven Alien Brothers series.

This was one of my favorite in the series so far!

Endark is slowly going crazy and the only thing that he can do is get a mate. A mate will calm the rage within him due to his alien nature, at least he hopes it will and he isn't too far gone. He knows that humans fear his kind so he has no choice but to kidnap his mate. Becky is doing everything she can to support herself and her younger brother. Getting kidnapped wasn't part of the plan. Now she finds herself trapped with an alien that both terrifies and excites her.

I just really loved this story.

Endark really had to work to win Becky's trust because of the mistrust humans have towards his alien race. I also liked that he respected her to wait for her despite his need to claim her as his mate to save himself.

I also liked how Becky's brother was there and was an added complication that Endark didn't expect, but accepted, and how Endark won over both of them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and wanted to go right into the next (which doesn't come out until later in February). Very sweet.

4/5 stars - January 12th to January 13th

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So that is part one of all the books read in January. I'll post part two soon. There will probably be 3 parts to this, but that is just how many books I read in this month.

Thanks for sticking around and Happy Reading!

#book reviews #book wrap up #january wrap up #reading thoughts

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valentina-lauricella · 2 years

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A needle in her arm

Dear all, I remember starting to watch CM seduced by the psychopathic characters - they are the raison d'être of the team. I often come across posts about one of them, Cat Adams. Her character is damn fascinating because she is totally hopeless about winning against Dr. Reid and being loved by him. Her personality is so disturbed that she cannot express love except through sadistic mind games. Her character was written to maximize Dr. Reid's ability to maintain mental clarity even under the most stressful situations. She is one of the few people who manages to make him lose control and leave him disoriented for a few moments. And that's so exciting. She endears me and she definitely broke my heart when she told Reid that she wished she could be remembered by him during the execution of the death sentence (a needle in her arm, the stark, bitter reality). "You could have written me a letter," Reid says. Sure, but what effect would it have? Probably none. I'm focusing on the fact that she decided to die to get Reid to notice her. It is the most desperate love imaginable. Poor Cat, she's just a little piece of me. Bravo to the writers and actors who used their talent and commitment to bring these uncanny dreams to life. I'm not a native English speaker, so I don't express myself well, but I hope I'm sufficiently understood. Ah, and this is my secret diary, keep it a secret please.

#cat adams #criminal minds

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luxshine · 2 years

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Moon Knight Primer, Part Fifteen

Moon Knight (2016) #194 -200

Prologue, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV

Ok, so we arrived to the controversial part of the Bemis run, aka: the current official reason of the guys’ split, issue 194, titled: Moon Knight Origin.

I say current because as you may have noticed in the past 193 issues (Well, bit more than that, counting West Coast Avengers, Secret Avengers and Heroes for Hire), is that there’s never been a moment in which any writer has said “HERE, this is why Marc, and Steven and Jake exist”. We’ve had the vague “Oh, Marc created identities for his job and they became real” from Moench, except Moench never once treated Steven and Jake as less real than Marc so there was no… show to that tell. We’ve had the “Co-existing with an alien entity caused brain damage” from Ellis, but that also didn’t explain WHY Steven, Marc and Jake, nor which roles each played in the system. And Lemire, in his almost perfect run, only told us that they had been there for a lot longer than Khonshu, but never told us why -and, to be honest, I think that is part of what it makes Moon Knight very good general Plural Representation, besides the fact that there’s no “Evil” alter (at least not when Bemis is not writing, and even his Jake is not evil in the ways of, say, Typhoid Mary who is possibly the worst example of Plural Representation that the MU has) because it never said “THIS is how you become Plural and it’s the ONLY right way”.

Of course, Bemis had to be Bemis.

And here I have to make another pause to explain some things because given the subject matter I can’t in good consciousness continue without giving you this info.

Maxim “Max” Adam Bemis is the lead singer of the bands Say Anything and Two Tongues, besides writing for Marvel. He is also jewish, and his maternal grandparents are holocaust survivors, he has called himself a Jew who is also a Christian, but the end of the day is that he is Jewish.

Which means that, no matter what I, a gentile, think about how he went about writing the System’s origin, I can’t say that he is “wrong” because he choose to do it this particular way, when he tied it completely to the Spector’s jewish roots. Because at the end of the day? It’s HIS experience, HIS culture and HIS roots too. Just as I can’t speak over the Plural community and have been careful to ask about the things I don’t quite get before launching into an analysis of the comic? I can’t speak over the Jewish community.

Who also happens NOT to be a hive mind.

I have jewish friends who really loved this origin and were angry that the tv show didn’t go this way (Even if they agreed it would’ve been also bad if they had used it since time-wise in the episode, it would’ve been a side note easily ignored. And, well, we don’t know if the writers included jewish people and including gentiles writing hate crimes against jewish people is always tricky); I have jewish friends who hated the origin and loved that the tv show went a completely different route as they also felt that this origin retreaded some nasty stereotypes. And I have jewish friends who couldn’t care less either way. Funny thing that happens when you have a community with more than one person in it, people will disagree.

So I will not make a moral judgment on this origin, because I can’t. I can assume certain things are highly auto-biographical -especially the way Marc learned about the Holocaust from his elders, how he at first didn’t quite understood how horrible it was- and a way for Bemis to explain his own feelings about his own faith (It all begins with Marc telling Jean Paul that if he could live without living in fear? He wouldn’t be jewish. Which… yeah, quite telling). I can, and will, criticize the way he choose to narrate it, but not the content on itself because, again, not my place to do so.

And, for a change, I will start with the good things:

Jean Paul Duchamp and Marc’s friendship is back. And in a loving, sweet way in which we again see how close these two are, as Marc tells Jean Paul something he NEVER discussed with anyone: Not his parents, not his rabbi, not his (granted, terrible) doctors, not even MARLENE. That show of trust is part of what made Jean Paul’s Marc’s confident and I missed it so much.

The initial introduction of Rabbi Yitz Perlman -the funniest guy Marc ever met in his life- and the subsequent explanation of what it was like to grow up jewish, why jewish people love to make jewish jokes where they are the butt of the joke, how people had differing ideas and points. The page where Rabbi Elias finally tells Marc what the Shoah was, and how his father, Marc’s grand father died… well, that is powerful, even as we see that Marc is NOT getting it at first… especially because we see Marc is not getting it.

The subtle implication that Rabbi Elias himself disassociated at some points, made even more clear with Marc narrating that he wishes he could go back in time, to tell him that he understood? Wonderful and adding a little bit more depth to the System’s family ties. That Rabbi Spector is not just Marc’s father, but their Father. Unfortunately, that page also suggests that his father knew how bad Rabbi Yitz really was, which… is not supported by the rest of the story. Again, Bemis.

The juxtaposition of Marc FINALLY understanding what the holocaust really was, as a nazi serial killer tells him about how much he enjoyed working at the camps, with images of Marc imagining a happy and peaceful life with Marlene and Diatrice? One of the most powerful pages in the whole Bemis run.

And while Diatrice looks like a teen in the page where Marc explains to her the System’s condition and not like a 5 year old? That page is adorable, bit of ableist language not-withstanding, even with the callback to Marc not understanding the holocaust when his father explained it to him.

All that? Wonderful and some of the BEST in the whole Bemis run, right there with the System actually interacting in a healthy way.

The bad? Well, I will leave someone else, preferably someone who is actually jewish, to decide if “Nazi criminal pretending to be a Rabbi to escape to the USA, becoming a respected member of the community, while at least ONE person suspects or knows about his crimes -specifically our hero’s father- , tortures and kills children in his basement and witnessing this is what caused the Moon System to split” is a good narrative choice or a bad one. And the same goes to the fact that despite being a Nazi, some artists decided to draw Ernst as the worst antisemitic caricature possible.

HOWEVER, there is one very important thing that, added to what we already have read of Bemis? Makes this not only baffling, but also contradicts what Bemis himself wrote, not 4 issues ago.

See, as Marc narrates to Jean Paul what happened, right after the Nazi who pretended to be Rabbi Yitz tells him that people like him, like Mengele, like Hitler, will always be there, waiting to get them, we see Marc go wild, bite and hit the man, hard enough to be able to run away and save his life. And the narration of the next page says “I wasn’t strong enough to take him, I knew it, but in that moment I became… something else. I became strong enough to fight.”

So of course, the implication was that right then, we saw the first split: Not, as we always have been told, of Marc and Steven… but of Marc and Jake. There was no amnesia, no black out, no typical narration cue of disassociation… but the implication is clear: Jake came out, for the first time, to SAVE Marc’s life from something horrible.

And yet, Bemis will continue to tell us that Jake is the worst of the worst. A little boy, no older than 10, who only wanted to help his other self to Survive, to escape so he wouldn’t be tortured and killed? Is maligned and demonized through the whole run.

So yeah. That is why the Bemis’s origin leaves a bad taste in my mouth, regardless on how offensive or not the rest of it may be.

Well, that and the return to the song of “Marc is sick, that’s what makes the system be the system, and it’s so tragic he can’t be cured” that is implied all over the run despite Bemis also writing the system interacting beautifuly.

In any case, issues #195 to #196 are a quite disgusting affair, not because of the story, but because of the art and the villain. A collective consciousness called, well, the Collective, that is a mass of moving flesh that absorbs everyone it touches into themselves.

Once again, the good of these issues? The Inter-system interactions. From Marc completely zooning out in a movie to go fishing with his boys (And Khonshu fishing out Marlene’s disembodied head) to later on as they are separated within the Collective, how they work together to figure out the problem even if it meant staying in that unified mindscape with at least other 50 people besides them 4? Gorgeous -Steven giving Jake permission to knock out the real bad guy? Perfect given that it was not a “violence is the solution” but a “let’s be pragmatic about this, instead of just talking about it”.

Marc, Marlene and Diatrice going to the movies? Beautiful even if it should’ve been Jake and I will forever hate that Jake can’t be the father to his little girl.

But then… the bad.

The hard on hate on Jake keeps going on, like when Marc and Jake argue about Marc not killing Sun King and Bushman (this time). Because once again, every single time Moon Knight has killed Bushman in the past? Marc was fronting. And the fact that a writer of the series can’t even get that little fact straight really angers me. Especially when it’s one of the few writers who gets that Moon Knight is a system and not a singlet who occasionally changes names.

The continuous casual ableism of other characters referring to Moon Knight as “The crazy one” and, of course, bringing up that one time he ripped Bushman’s face off is still present, despite that one being MARC, not Jake. Oh, and Moon Knight’s identities as Marc, Steven and Jake? Are either only known by the police and the villains... or by everyone depending on the PAGE. Bemis is... not good at keeping track of that.

Oh, and the utterly bizarre.

Within the mind-scape of the Collective as I pointed out, the four guys (That is to say, Marc, Steven, Jake and Khonshu) are separated and Marc is, AGAIN, identified as the one who fronts as Moon Knight. But then the Collective allows him to “Create” new and different Moon Knights, all the “versions of themselves” that they have imagined and… some are downright confusing. As there are multiple female knights, a lot of non-humanoids, and at some point, they beat “Toxic Masculinity” by confronting the sufferer with multiple copies of Steven in a speedo.

I honestly don’t have the mental strength to try and unpack all what that says of BEMIS as a writer, because for Moon knight It is really treated as a one off joke that makes absolutely NO sense.

With that, we enter the last arc of the Bemis run, 197 – 200 which brings back Sun King, the Truth and that Nazi Rabbi who, I forgot to mention, keeps himself immortal by killing Jews. Not as a sacrifice to evil gods or anything, no. It’s that he found a way to turn serotonine into immortality and what he enjoys the most is killing jews.

Seriously, if Bemis was a gentile, he’d be run out of town with pitchforks and torches.

So, “Uncle Ernst” who for SOME ungodly reason knows that Moon Knight IS Marc Spector, the child that he traumatized so badly way back then? Is now the leader of a sadist underground cult and invites Moon Knight to a ceremony of sorts. Moon Knight goes, of course, to try and detain all the inductees (That includes a tattooist serial killer, a snuff photographer, a mafia princess serial killer, and a “common” man who happens to be a serial killer and a mass murderer) and then forces Moon Knight to undergo a ritual to become the Society’s pet killer.

Yes, this is Bemis trying to be edgy for the sake to be edgy as he begins the ritual with Moon Knight (We never know who the hell is fronting, but given how Bemis writes? He probably wanted us to believe it was Jake) fighting and KILLING a “rabies infected” DOLPHIN, and then “Not killing” a man who was “the worst case of animal cruelty in the history of California”.

Oh, he also gets diagnosed by YET ANOTHER super villain psychiatrist, in this case, Foolkiller, with Bipolarity and addiction to sadism, because why not just throw words at Moon Knight to see what sticks?

Morpheus returns and if this starts sounding like me summarizing an outline? Is because at this point I got out-edged. Something that not even the 2006 run managed to do because THIS has Moon Knight crowned “A prince of Death” and decked with a purple version of his outfit.

I will come back to that in a second, when we continue my rant on how Bemis tried his best to ruin Jake completely, but I just want to point out that I can’t summarize issue 199 because I have no frigging idea of what was going on there besides a sort of metaphysical hallucination that Marc was having while fighting Ernst the Nazi that May or may not have happened in the real world because there were flying Cthulhus around, and Bemis was trying to be Lemire and failing HARD. (The only GOOD panel of that mess? Khonshu hugging and protecting Jake and Steven from the outside. It makes NO sense given that they should've helping Marc, AND that Bemis TOLD US that Khonshu doesn't like Steven or Jake but... I take the panel as something nice out of context)

The last issue, 200 is special only in the fact that they asked the previous Moon Knight artists to draw some pages each (not Greg Smallwood, thank goodness, because his art is way too good for this crappy script) including one last pinup by Bill Sienkiewicz of Marc in the rain.

Basically, Marc -because now we know it’s Marc- managed to kill Erntz in his hallucination in issue 199, then had to face Sun King again as he was freed by the Society of Sadists as an “ace in the hole” against Moon Knight, but for some reason, Sun King decided that nope, he’d rather team up with Marc against the Sadists, and they round out the crazy cult from the island who is now on Moon Knight side -Dr. Emmet included- and leave THEM to protect Diatrice while Marc, Sun Knight and Marlene for some reason, go and fight the Sadists and free the Truth, who was becoming a villain convinced that he had been created by Erntz, but they fixed that like, in one panel.

It is THAT bad.

And well, as I said? Bemis REALLY tries to demonize Jake Lockley every step of the way. During the “Prince of Death” trials? We’re SHOWN that Marc is fronting, as we see Khonshu -now for some reason identified as the spirit of the system-, Steven -identified as the mind- and Jake -The “roboust undercarriage” because he doesn’t get a fancy title- as witnesses for all of it as Marc “wanted to handle this himself”. Which means Marc Killed a Dolphin, tortured a man so badly that he made Foolkiller puke after he described his actions, and almost killed ALL of the Society's new inductees and was ready to become Erntz slave... UNTIL the last trial, where Erntz tells Marc that unless he kills the little girl they kidnapped as part of the last trial? They will kill Diatrice. And he is still "Better" than Jake.

Oh, Erntz also says that he “Seeded” the violence in Marc through “the undesirable” sources of Jake Lockley (You know, Gena and Crawley. Because Bemis is not classist at all)

ANYWAY, Marc obviously doesn’t want to kill the little girl -whom we don’t see at the moment because Bemis thinks he’s clever- and in the Inner world? Jake Lockley, whom until Bemis got his grimy hands on him had ALWAYS been Moon Knight’s moral compass? ARGUES in FAVOR of killing an innocent, and YELLS at Marc for “taking” Diatrice for himself because he’s the hero of the story, but still won’t do the “hard” thing to save her. Because Marc is a coward, and is going to leave the choice to Jake.

And while JAKE also decides NOT to kill the little girl? The narration immediately switches it to MARC in control again as the defender of said girl.

Because Bemis can’t let Jake be good.

So... here are the only TWO good pages of #200 in my opinion. Diatrice's fan art of her family, and Sienkiewicz's final pinup.

And so, Moon Knight #200 ends up a mess, where while the System is still a System? There’s nothing of real substance from the last 12 issues. Yes, we now have the “almost victim of a hate crime” origin for the boys, but that was one issue. Oh, and the meme panels of the guys inner world. But as far as story goes? This is the worst let down after the high soar that was Lemire’s run because we have nothing that will last.

Sun King and his connection with Ra? Will never get mentioned again. The Moon Knight cult will have a role in the next Arc, which will take us to the Avengers’ book rather than Moon Knight’s next title (The far better Mackay run in 2021, which, while no Lemire and with its own problems, is HEAPS better than Bemis). The Truth? Gone. And, even worse, Marlene and Diatrice? Will pack up their bags and leave Moon Knight due to the events of our next arc. So really, all that we have from Bemis is what I mentioned which will not get repeated later as yeah, say bye to the System for a while too.

But once again, I am getting ahead of myself. See you next time as we enter the Age of Khonshu, in Avengers #33 to 38, and then back to Moon Knight for the Mackay run... Oh, and probably Devil's Reign. Sorry about THAT in advance)

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight Primer #Moon Knight comics #The Bemis run #What a mess #It's the Bemis ruin #Jake Lockley deserved FAR better #Jake Lockley is not a killer #Marc Spector #Steven Grant #Khonshu #Diatrice Lockley #Marlene Aralune #TW:antisemitism discussed #TW: Violence discussed #I need a drink #and I don't drink

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