#its less popular than it used to be when the chapter was new which is nice but i still see it kick around

[lightnersdream]

ive changed my mind since i wrote that post if Swatch got their hands on that email freak they would rip his arms off and personally drown him

#mostly joking. but also *eyes bloodshot #ive seen some . portrayals #dib noise #and interpretations #when i wrote that i didnt mean it in a ship way #they could hate eachothers guts for all of time and i don't think Swatch would do something as extreme as the acid 'theory' implies #like i cannot stress this enough. if you treat acid theory like an actual theory about the events of the game #and not just alternate universe/fanfiction shit #it implies Swatch and Queen are the most unnecessarily cruel antagonists in the game ??? #like. id hesitate to call either of them really truly evil because thats the point #and if they really did do something that cruel even to an actual villain type character #with the way the game is written it would just be weird as fuck and bad writing if it was canon??? #its less popular than it used to be when the chapter was new which is nice but i still see it kick around #or be one of the only reasons someone mentions Swatch

[vgfm]

Predicting Future Fountains in Deltarune: The Missing Ingredient

I’ve noticed a trend of Deltarune fans trying to predict what will happen in future chapters. It’s a common trait of a fanbase undergoing hiatus brain. One of the most common forms of prediction is trying to guess where future dark worlds will pop up in the light world. Some fans’ predictions have made more convincing arguments than others, but so far all of the ones I’ve seen seem to be missing a key ingredient—one I intend to share today.

To begin, I’m of the opinion that it is more or less impossible for anyone outside of Toby’s development team to accurately predict all of Deltarune’s chapters outside of making a wildly lucky guess. We have been teased some information regarding chapter 3 and, to a lesser extent, 4 and 5. The further removed a future chapter is from 1 and 2, the harder it is to predict. On top of that, I’m anticipating that the full game will introduce some earthshaking twist that will throw the narrative on its head—this will likely occur around chapter 6 or 7, but it could be sooner.

Despite this, fans (including myself) have attempted to predict each chapter’s dark world location by scraping together what little evidence we can. One of the most common arguments is to assert that each dark world so far has followed a trend that future dark worlds must follow as well. Perhaps the most popular trend argued for is the “double door rule,” i.e., the argument that each dark world’s entrance in the light world will be a pair of double doors.

The Double Door Rule

The strongest piece of evidence supporting the double door rule is the entrance to the librarby computer lab: in Chapter 1 it was a single door, but in Chapter 2 it became a double-door entrance. Apparently this was such an important detail that Toby was willing to retroactively change content from a previous chapter. This has led fans to speculate that other locations in Hometown with double doors will become future dark world locations.

On the one hand, I do think that light world locations with double doors have a decent chance of becoming future dark worlds. However, I think many fans neglect to mention that this “rule” already has exceptions to it. The most obvious exception is the Dreemurr house in Chapter 3. None of the doors in the house are double doors, and it’s 99% confirmed at this point that this location will be Chapter 3’s dark world location.

On top of that, it could also be argued that the dark world inside the unused classroom does not follow this pattern either. There is a double door that leads into Castle Town, but this is a separate dark world from the unused classroom. We see the great door, which is a double door in the dark world, and going through it takes us to the Card Kingdom dark world. However, in the light world we can see that neither door leading into the unused classroom is a double door.

Even if one were to argue that the Great Door still “counts” as Chapter 1’s dark world having double doors, it doesn’t do us much good if those double doors only exist in the dark world—by that logic, any door in the light world (single or double) could lead to a future dark world. On that note, the fact that the librarby’s door was “retconned” into being a double door in Chapter 2 means that the same could happen to any future dark world location as well, even if that’s not the most likely outcome.

Despite its flaws, I don’t think the double door rule is completely without merit. I think the purpose of double doors is to indicate a potential location where Kris and Susie will use their dark world entrance animation first seen in Chapter 2.

I think the likely reason for the library’s door being changed was to allow for this new animation to play upon entering Cyber World. In other words, this rule may help in predicting dark worlds that Kris and Susie will enter intentionally, but won’t help when predicting “unexpected” dark worlds that appear like the one at the end of Chapter 2.

The Missing Ingredient

With this in mind, I believe I’ve stumbled upon a more reliable pattern that can be used to predict future dark worlds: one that has applied to the first three chapters’ dark worlds and may likely apply to Castle Town as well. I’ve seen many fans point out that dark worlds are strongly associated with the idea of escapism: toys and games, the internet, and television. I think this idea is on the right track, but it’s missing one key ingredient that I alluded to earlier.

To better explain what this missing ingredient is, we need to take a look at Chapter 3’s upcoming dark world. This dark fountain was made inside of the Dreemurr living room, and although previews have shown some possible influence from other parts of the house, the dark world appears to be primarily themed around the television that Kris turned on. I think the fact that the dark world is primarily themed around television rather than the Dreemurr house as a whole tells us a lot about how future dark worlds will operate.

The way I see it, it’s not enough for a dark world location to be somewhere “important” in the light world. It’s not enough for a dark world to have a double door entrance. A dark world needs to exist as a playing field for gameplay scenarios to take place. But above all else, a dark world needs a theme. And so far, the themes we’ve seen all relate to escapism—specifically, a type of escapism that can be expressed as a relatable interest or “medium” of some kind—that’s the missing ingredient.

Chapter 3 seems to codify this trend, as what we know of that dark world implies that it is not simply a “house-themed” dark world, but instead a TV-themed dark world with perhaps some flavoring from the rest of the Dreemurr household sprinkled in. We see something similar in Chapter 2 with fair fliers from the computer lab appearing as set dressing in an otherwise computer-dominated light world.

I think that a “house-theme” dark world theme would not have been sufficient for Toby’s purposes, especially if there are future dark worlds that will also take place in the homes of other Hometown residents.

In other words, I think this trend of media/medium-based escapism does limit the likelihood of certain locations from becoming future dark worlds. For example, the Mayor’s office may not become a dark world unless it’s established that the Mayor has some specific interest or hobby that she brings to work that would become the theme of her dark world. Otherwise, an “office-themed” dark world would break the trend of escapism and would likely be bland to boot.

Additionally, this might also make Asgore’s shop less likely as a future location, as his dwelling area only has a TV (which has been done) and, given Asgore’s meager living situation, it seems less likely that he’d have paraphernalia from some escapist hobby locked behind his double doors. We do know that Alphys lends comics to Asgore, but these are already present in his main dwelling area, and the prevailing theory among fans is that a flower shop dark world would be in the mystery room in the back instead of the rooms we’ve already seen.

Another reason I doubt a flower shop dark world, at least in Chapter 4 or 5, is that Toby said in his summer newsletter that Chapter 3 “is shaping up to be a pretty strange one. I mostly focused on unusual gameplay elements, and it’s not too heavy on the story… Anyway, Chapter 4 will be a much more standard chapter!” Since Chapter 3 is implied to focus on the Dreemurr family, it would feel odd to me that Toby would deem this chapter as “not too heavy on the story,” only to include another Dreemurr-focused chapter in Asgore’s shop so soon after it.

My takeaway from Toby’s assessment is that he doesn’t consider Chapter 3 story-heavy because Chapter 3 focuses more on gameplay than story, but I believe it’s also because the Dreemurr focus will lend itself more to a character-focused narrative rather than one that moves the immediate main plot forward significantly compared to Chapter 4. This also implies to me that Kris may not be the Knight, given that the chapter where Kris creates a dark world is viewed as a “strange” outlier and less story-focused, but the subsequent chapter is viewed as “more standard,” which would make sense if chapter 4’s dark world is created by the real Knight.

Predicting Future Dark Worlds

So where do I think future dark worlds will take place, based on this trend? Well, so far we’ve had dark worlds based on toys and games, the internet, and television. In addition, the game has also made reference to three other forms of escapist entertainment that may play a future role in the plot: literature, art, and video games.

To start, we have literature—specifically, fantasy literature. We’ve seen multiple references to Gerson’s Lord of the Hammer series, and this series is near and dear to the heart of Father Alvin, one of several Roaring Knight suspects. I’ve theorized that Alvin is the Knight, so it would make sense that he’d create a dark world themed around his father’s book series.

Now, you might ask: shouldn’t that have been in the Library? Well, I argued in my Alvin Knight theory that the librarby fountain was botched—if Alvin is the Knight then he likely didn’t intend to create a computer dark world, but was forced into the equipment closet when Berdly and Noelle entered and he created Cyber World from there. The fact that a literature dark world wasn’t used in this instance could imply that it’s being “saved” for a different dark world.

So where might a literature-based dark world take place? A possible location could be the school—there’s currently a locked classroom on the opposite side of Castle Town from the former Card Kingdom.

The school is connected to Gerson and besides the librarby it’s the place that would most likely have books in it. However, the church is another possibility.

The Church

Many have theorized that there will be a church dark world, likely in Chapter 4. I don’t disagree with this notion, but one thing I partially disagree with is the idea that this dark world will be purely themed around the town’s religion or that it will portray the town religion as a form of escapism to fit with the trend of dark worlds as escapism. I somehow doubt that Toby would make a commentary on religion that on-the-nose, given that he removed a series of Clover lines that merely hinted at charged topics like religion and gun control.

Instead, I think a church dark world will follow the trend of Chapter 3’s dark world: it will primarily be themed around an escapist hobby or interest, Gerson’s literature in this case, and the church-y elements will be background dressing. On that note, I think there’s a strong possibility that the church will have more than one room in it. If it does, then I think the dark world will not be in the main hall of the church and will instead take place in a back room, either Alvin’s room or a classroom used for the church’s youth group.

There is a snag with this prediction, however: Castle Town. In the past, I’ve thrown around the possibility that Castle Town may have been created by Gerson—specifically, created from his old writings (hinted at by the old papers seen on the floor of the supply closet).

If this is the case, then Castle Town would satisfy the role of being a “literature” dark world and it would follow the same theming pattern as the other dark worlds we’ve seen.

So where would this leave the Church? Well, a church dark world would still be possible without breaking the pattern I’m arguing for. Instead of the church being a literature-themed dark world, it may instead be an art-themed dark world instead. My evidence for this mainly relies on one line of dialogue: Spamton referring to easels and CRTs.

“WE DON’T NEED ANYONE ELSE!!! WE DON’T NEED [[Easels]] or [[CRTs]]!”

For those unaware, a CRT is an old type of television—the type that the Dreemurr household has. Spamton makes numerous references to future Chapter 3 characters, namely Mike and Tenna, but the easel line is the odd man out—it could be a patented Spamton-grade non-sequitur, but the fact that it’s paired with a reference to television makes me think it’s significant.

An Artistic Alternative

Unless if Toriel has a hidden artistic side, there’s no evidence of any easels in the Dreemurr household. It’s implied that Asriel has some artistic talent, given his framed drawing and the game assets on his computer, but there’s no easel in his room either. Whoever drew the Neo body might have some artistic talent—if so, I suppose this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a Blook house dark world. However, I think there’s another artist candidate: Alvin.

I’ll admit, I am stretching things a little, but I think there’s a possibility that Alvin could be an aspiring artist—emphasis on the “aspiring” part. We do see an old drawing of his in the unused classroom--it’s heavily implied that he drew this as a child, which would explain why it’s yellowed and why (presumably) Gerson held onto it.

Most people draw when they’re kids so it’s not unusual to see that Alvin did so, but from a narrative standpoint this could be intended to plant the seed of the idea that Alvin is associated with the arts.

We know that Alvin’s youth group also partakes in arts and crafts, as evidenced by the angel doll that Noelle and Dess made, so it’s likely that Alvin has at least some experience as an art teacher, even if it’s for something as pedestrian as afterschool children’s crafts.

We also know that Alvin hung around with Asriel, and both of their drawings are described as “poorly drawn,” perhaps suggesting that Alvin may have mentored Asriel at one point.

I could see “poorly drawn” being a flavor text calling card to describe art associated with Alvin in the future, perhaps with a joke where the flavor text describes his childhood art interchangeably with his most recent attempts. Alvin being an artist would also dovetail nicely with my past musings on whether Ralsei was created from a drawing.

If Alvin’s an artist then this would line up with his questioning of whether his father was proud of him—while this line could be referring to any Knight-related activities that Alvin’s engaged in, it could also double as his overall view of his career choice and talents (or lack of). It’s hard to make it big as an artist, and having a father who’s far more successful in his own field would highlight Alvin’s perceived inadequacies even further. To top it off, I’ve previously pointed out how Gerson’s life parallels the life of J.R.R. Tolkien and Alvin may or may not parallel his son, Christopher Tolkien. Well, it just so happens that one of Christopher Tolkien’s professions was being an illustrator, best known for drawing the maps of Middle Earth.

How sure am I of Alvin being an artist? Not very, but I think it’s a distinct possibility. If one were to ask me what interests Alvin would likely have outside of his religion and his father’s work, then art would be the first thing to spring to my mind. At best I’d give it maybe a 60% chance of being true. I mainly bring it up as a “backup option” for the Church’s theme if literature is already taken by Castle Town, given that there’s some scant references to art that can be cobbled together around Alvin, at least when it comes to teaching children. Seeing various doodles come to life as darkners would be interesting, at least.

Chapter 5

So Chapter 4’s potential church dark world could account for either a literature theme or an art theme. Earlier I mentioned a video game theme, so where does this fit? Well, I think the answer is obvious:

Deltarune has been heavily associating Noelle with her interest in video games and comparing them to dark worlds. The Spamton Sweepstakes has only doubled down on this association by teasing a future ice palace location from Dragon Blazers.

I think it’s more likely that this location will be in chapter 5 than, say, 6 or 7, because it was teased as one of the final images in the Spamton sweepstakes, which primarily teased content in the next chapters coming out.

On top of that, Noelle is an important character and Chapter 2 heavily implies that she will return to our party at some point, given that there’s unused dialogue referencing her being in Castle Town and equipping items that she currently can’t without hacking. Each member of Noelle’s family also seems poised to play a role in the narrative, so it would only make sense for things to come to a head in the Holiday household for Chapter 5.

Chapter 5 taking place in the Holiday house would also align with my earlier observations on Chapter 3’s dark world: a “house-themed” dark world would be too drab and would be less appealing if future dark worlds take place in other character’s houses. Having a Dreemurr dark fountain and Holiday dark fountain makes a lot more sense when one can be themed around television and the other around video games.

Another strength around this prediction is that, despite my attempts to tie my dark fountain predictions to my Alvin knight theory, I think overall this prediction can complement most major Knight suspects. I’m no stranger to the fact that Dess and Mayor Holiday have become rising stars in the field of Knight speculation—having dark worlds in the church and Holiday house would fit with ether of them being the Knight, given that they’re a religious family with history in the church, and the house fountain’s reasoning should be obvious. On the flip side, I think both locations also work for Alvin: the church is obvious, and Alvin learning (or already knowing) that Noelle is connected to the Angel would give him incentive to pursue the Holiday family.

On that note, if Alvin is the Knight then I think his arc will not only involve him trying to use a dark world to revive his father via his dust-covered hammer (likely during Chapter 4), but also using said revival as a means to tempt Noelle with the idea of reviving Rudy in Chapter 5, assuming his health takes a turn for the worse when he tries to go to church. This turn has some foreshadowing in Noelle’s line about wanting healing magic to be real for her father’s sake—Alvin could have the means to make such a wish come true, or at least make Noelle think that it will.

The Future

So where does this leave Chapters 6 and 7? I have no idea. Like I mentioned, I think there are major plot twists yet to be seen or hinted at in this game, and chapters 6 and 7 could break the pattern of previous dark worlds (if 6 and 7 even have dark worlds at all). If I had to come up with another form of escapism, then I suppose the town festival could be seen as a form of escapism in a similar vein to the toys and games of Chapter 1.

We have seen a few references to fairs and carnivals in dark worlds, so this would bring things full circle. If all of Hometown takes part in the fair, then a dark world with a fair theme could occur anywhere, even outdoors, or possibly even encompass the whole town.

Last on the list is the shelter.

Honestly, I have no clue about the shelter. I’m not even sure whether the shelter will be opened in Chapter 6 or opened in Chapter 7. Most fans say 7, but making it Chapter 6 would fit the Gaster theming that’s been associated with that location, and ending Chapter 5 on the gang heading into the shelter would be one heck of a cliffhanger. I can’t say what escapism could be associated with the shelter. If the shelter is the final chapter, then maybe Deltarune itself will be portrayed as the escapism, though I’m not sure how you’d make a Deltarune-themed dark world when you’re already playing Deltarune. If the game is going to have a chapter that’s the odd man out, then 6 and/or 7 are the likeliest candidates, imo, which basically makes them impossible to predict.

As I’ve alluded to earlier, any number of things could derail my prediction: there could be a huge twist, the festival could come sooner than Chapter 6, or the church could be a red herring. I remember in Chapter 1 when several fans (myself included) were confident that chapter 2’s dark world would be in the hospital due to the early screenshot of the fun gang dressed as doctors.

It’s very possible that Toby knows we’re going to assume there will be a church dark world when he has no such plans. It’s also possible that dark worlds won’t follow a consistent pattern at all and everything so far has just been coincidence.

Still, I think if we are going to make predictions to pass the time then it helps to come up with predictions that are internally consistent, or at least ones that have something narratively or thematically interesting that’s driving them. To me, throwing darts at a board and deciding fountain locations based on a building’s doors just seems far less intriguing. Those are my two cents, anyway. Either way, I can’t wait to see the next status update prove my prediction wrong before it even gets off the ground. Until then…

#deltarune #undertale #deltarune theory #noelle holiday #kris dreemurr

[arkus-rhapsode]

Manga Recommendation: Tower Dungeon

So looks like Arkus Rhapsode is here to recommend another fantasy manga after the last one. So this time we're going for a bit of a different flavor with the series Tower Dungeon by by Tsutomu Nihei who you may know as the creator of Blame! and Knights of Sidonia.

Now I've known about this series for a bit even though it is relatively new. Having only started last year in Monthly Shonen Sirius. But I remember its announcement from people like Manga Mogul and hearing Makoto Yukimura (Author of the incredible Vinland Saga) recommending it. Now I always loved Sword and sorcery so I was gonna read it eventually, but it just wasn't translated. However, now being able to read the available chapters, I can say this is a very different type of fantasy series.

The premise is very basic: An evil sorcerer has killed a nation's king and kidnapped a Princess and now the royal knights need to ascend the "Dragon Tower" to save her. One battalion has conscripted a young man named Yuva for assisting troops medically has found he has impressive strength. Now Yuva must strengthen himself for the journey ahead as they explore the deadly tower.

Now like all simple premise stories, the real strength is in execution. And unlike the other fantasy series I've talked about before which have bucked the trend of "RPG fantasy" be leaning more into a traditionalist fantasy stories a la Tolkien, this goes for the more realist fantasy of something like Berserk or Dark Souls.

The world of Tower Dungeon may have things like magic and dragons, but it is a dingy, dirty, and lacks any frills. Knights wear heavy armor and people are covered in blood and scars from their adventures.

The mighty Dragon Tower itself? The most iconic thing about this series and the basis of the adventure? Looks like this. This isn't an opulent tower, this is a massive imposing structure where monsters dwell.

However, unlike some grim dark or edgy fantasies, this world isn't indulgent in its darkness. The violence and death are never cool or cheap. They are simply the way the world is. Even when magic exists, the world is still like Medieval Europe and all the "joys" that come from it.

The people as well are similar. These aren't romanticized or polished fantasy archetypes that often come with the idea of a Dungeons and Dragons style adventure, these feel like average joes plucked off the streets having to do a job. If you are say a fan of something like Chainsaw Man, this sort of post modern emphasis on people acting like regular weirdos and not some "anime characters." And I think that is something quite nice that even in a fantastical world, we can see our regular selves in them.

But that's just the story, what about the art? Well if you've noticed this series does have a very minimalist style. Something similar to that of Land of the Lustrous or Chainsaw Man. These almost scratchy and not the most detailed designs that make use of their simplicity to create this very unique atmosphere.

Creature designs themselves are less fantastical and more grody. Feeling as if they come from an off shoot of man rather than some majestic beast. Right down to the cat people.

This series is still new and sadly hasn't been officially translated yet. I've had to use mangadex to read this, so my heart goes out to the translator team. I can understand that this may be a niche that's not for everyone, but its something that feels like such a good sign for fantasy as a genre. A genre that I think has somewhat been stagnated in popular belief with the greater emphasis on Urban Action manga and the reliance on escapist fantasy anime like isekai. To see a more dirty but down to earth take on the premise, I highly recommend it.

#manga #manga recommendation #recommendation #tower dungeon #tsutomu nihei #nihei tsutomu #blame! #shonen sirius #chainsaw man #dark souls #knights of sidonia

[jbaileyfansite]

Interview with The Telegraph (2023)

We all know what is meant by McCarthyism. It ­popularly refers to the first half of the 1950s, when Senator Joseph R McCarthy led a ruthless ­campaign to hound suspected communists out of the US government. What’s less well-remembered than the Red Menace is the Lavender Scare: by an executive order from President Eisenhower, McCarthyism also targeted gays and lesbians. “If you want to be against McCarthy, boys,” the senator once told the press, “you’ve got to be either a Communist or a c--ksucker.”

Thus gay men and women, living closeted lives as they worked for the state, were targeted by sinister-sounding bodies: the FBI’s Sex ­Deviance Investigations Unit, ­Washington DC police’s Sex ­Perversion Elimination Program and the Department of State’s M Unit. All sought to identify ­government employees deemed to be security risks vulnerable to blackmail.

Popular culture lost sight of the Lavender Scare until it was brought into the light in the US by Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel Fellow ­Travelers. Set mostly in the early 1950s, it told of a tangled romance between two men; Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller, a handsome war veteran and political fixer who steers clear of emotional attachment until he meets Tim Laughlin, a sweet young Catholic newcomer to DC whom he nicknames Skippy and sets up in the office of a Republican senator.

The novel was not published in the UK. But now it has been adapted for television, and one piece of ­casting in particular feels ­calculated to get the attention of audiences beyond the US: Laughlin is played by British actor Jonathan Bailey, best known as the Regency heartthrob Anthony, 9th Viscount Bridgerton.

His co-star is the American Matt Bomer, who, like Bailey, professes ignorance of what the New York Times, in its review of the novel, referred to as “the Lavender Hill mob”. “It’s a chapter of LGBTQIA history that I was completely ­unaware of,” he says.

This is not the first time the novel has been adapted – it was staged as an opera in Cincinnati in 2016. By then it had already caught the attention of Ron Nyswaner, who laboured over bringing the book to the screen for the best part of a ­decade. Best known for his script for Philadelphia, the 1993 Aids courtroom drama which earned Tom Hanks his first Oscar, it was his stint as a producer of Homeland that persuaded Showtime to fund an expensive eight-part decades-spanning drama. “I’m still in ­disbelief that we were able to tell this story on the scale that we were able to tell it,” says Bomer, who is also an executive producer on the drama.

The scale is considerable. The period detail of 1950s Washington, in both corridors of power and gay demimonde, is lavishly recreated. And as the story progresses it parts company with the novel, which opens with Hawk looking back at the closure of his career as a ­diplomat in Tallinn in 1991. Nyswaner’s script expands to take in other pivots in modern US ­history: the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the spread of Aids in the 1980s, when the now-married Hawk and the dying Laughlin meet for a final reckoning.

I met the drama’s two stars in London earlier in the summer, before the actors’ strike in ­Hollywood put a stop to such encounters. It was the first time they’d seen each other since the end of the shoot. Bomer, though just off the plane and heavily jet-lagged, exudes a chiselled, blue-eyed intensity. Bailey fizzes with puppyish energy. Both are themselves gay and Bailey in particular sees their casting as a sign of ­progress. “We would not be playing these parts five or 10 years ago,” he says. The highlights of his CV are mix and match. He has played mainly straight characters on ­television in the likes of Broadchurch, Crashing and W1A, and gay characters on stage in the Sondheim musical Company and Mike Bartlett’s play C--k in the West End. 

The career of Bomer, 10 years his senior, looks a little more linear. His most high-profile film role is as an object of ladies’ lust in male-strippers drama Magic Mike and its sequel. But in 2014 he won a Golden Globe playing a closeted journalist in HBO’s adaptation of Larry ­Kramer’s play The Normal Heart. In 2018, he made his Broadway debut as part of an exclusively gay cast reviving The Boys in the Band, a ­portrait of gay life in 1960s New York. 

Earlier on the day we met, ­Stanley Tucci had said on Desert Island Discs that he doesn’t see why straight actors shouldn’t play gay characters. “I think it’s incredibly complicated and nuanced,” says Bailey with a sigh. “You just want to make sure that everyone feels there’s enough space at the table. Everyone who is panicking that they’re never going to be able to play outside their own experience is wasting their energy.”

Bomer counters that it ought to cut both ways, that gay actors should be allowed to play straight. He speaks darkly of movie ­producers who “wouldn’t hire me because of who I was”, of gay actors who “weren’t even given a shot. A lot of it boils down to opportunity. Was ­everyone given the opportunity for the role? There is something about seeing the most authentic version of who you are represented on screen. It gives you hope.”

In Fellow Travelers that ­authenticity is portrayed most unswervingly in the bedroom, which the plot requires Hawk and Laughlin to visit often. “I haven’t necessarily really seen gay intimacy in a way that I would want to,” says Bailey. I gently remind him of Linus Roache, who plays a senator in ­Fellow Travelers but, back in 1994, starred in Jimmy McGovern’s Priest as a Catholic priest struggling with his sexuality – graphically so in a central scene with Robert Carlyle. “Oh yeah, that’s true,” he says. “I looked to that a lot.” 

As is on trend for male actors ­nowadays, both leads look ­impeccable with their shirts off in low honeyed lighting. “Hawk is ex-military and he also wants to appeal to people in bathroom stalls,” ­reasons Bomer, who did period-appropriate Royal Canadian Air Force drills and looks no less ­pneumatic than he did in Magic Mike.

Bailey concedes that Laughlin, who orders milk the first time we meet him, boasts the body of a Greek god for the simple reason that the shoot overlapped with Bridgerton (yes, he confirms, the newly married Anthony is back for the third season). “There’s no way Tim would have had a Bridgerton body, but what can you do if you’re commuting? I was like, I really want to lose weight to tell Tim’s story, but I lost fat and just got really ripped.”

How resonant is the history ­portrayed in Fellow Travelers to today? It’s easy to play six degrees of separation between now and then. For instance, McCarthy’s ­closeted sidekick Roy Cohn is a lead character (played here by Will Brill). A ferocious prosecutor of both communists and gays, he would go on to be Donald Trump’s lawyer, before dying of complications from Aids. It was Trump’s three appointees to the Supreme Court who this summer enabled a 6-3 ruling releasing businesses and organisations from the obligation to treat same-sex couples equally. The landmark ruling occurred just days before I met the actors, and has been widely interpreted as a ­profound attack on LGBT rights.

“There is an entire generation of men and women who suffered and struggled and loved under a ­government that felt that its morals were more important than their personal freedoms,” says Bomer. “And that’s exactly what we see happening today. Whether it’s McCarthy or the current Supreme Court justices, are morals more important than freedoms?”

Source

#fellow travelers #jonathan bailey #matt bomer #the telegraph interview #interviews:2023 #jonny bailey #interviews #NEW!

[path-of-grass-and-leaves]

Localizing A Magical Journal

When I was starting out, every book I read on the subject of witchcraft seemed to contain a long list of crystals and imported herbs. Many of these were not easily accessible and didn't fit into my personal practice. Magic came easier to me and became significantly more meaningful after I started localizing my practice.

It has also made writing my magical journal that much easier. Even after over a decade of practice, I still found the task of writing a grimoire to be a daunting one. Adding more local and personal elements to my practice has helped me to organize my journal, making the act of actually writing in it much less strenuous.

If you're looking to localize your grimoire and don't know how to get started, here are a few ideas:

Sections for Native and Invasive Plants

This section can include folklore, culinary uses, medicinal uses, cultivation, a planting calendar, which animals/insects they attract, and a personal correspondence list. I would write one chapter for invasive plants and another for native ones. Additionally, you could add a section for garden crops if desired. I would also add notes on toxicity to humans and pets.

Why work with invasive plants? Because they're abundant! Foraging them helps reduce their population and we get the benefit of a new plant to use in our practice. In fact, mugwort, a popular herb among the occult community, is an invasive plant where I live.

Local Animal Symbolism Section

I organize my animal symbolism section by mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, and fish. These chapters can include folklore, physical characteristics, behavior, habitat, diet, and correspondences/symbolism.

Entries can be made more personal by observing animals and recording experiences (just no hand feeding or interacting). I also like to include different forms of veneration. This can be spiritual in nature, like leaving offerings, or mundane, like installing a nesting box for birds.

A chapter on bugs and insects is also a good idea. This could be helpful if you keep an outdoor garden and want to record information on common pests and pollinators.

Local Stones and Crystals

One of the least ethical occult practices, in my opinion, is the use of crystals. The rising popularity of crystals is the cause of a lot of suffering. Does that rose quartz really promote love when it was sourced through child labor? It's important to know where your crystals come from and how they are harvested.

One way to localize your stone and crystal collection is to research which are specific to your area and where to find them. For example, there are certain rivers in my area that contain agate, jasper, and quartz. If you can't go out and search for them yourself, finding an ethical distributor to purchase from is more than sufficient.

Entries can include their composition, how they are formed, what they are used for, and personal correspondences.

Family Recipies and Local Edible Plants

I imagine that having a recipe section would be very important to a practitioner who performs most of their workings in the kitchen. I love to cook, but it rarely makes its way into my practice unless I'm preparing an offering of some sort. Either way, I think that having even a small section of culinary recipes can be beneficial, because it adds a personal element to a grimoire.

I would include your favorite recipes, family recipes, and even dishes that can be made from locally foraged plants. Correspondences can also be noted for each dish and recipes can be specific to certain deities, holidays, or workings.

Urban Legends and Local Superstitions

Urban legends and local ghost stories can be a fun addition to any personal grimoire. You can research the origins of these stories, read the personal experiences of others, and record them in your journal. You can also visit places associated with urban legends (only if it's safe and legal to do so) and record your own experiences.

Another way of localizing your grimoire is to research common superstitions in your area and where they come from, or record your own family superstitions.

Local Spirits and Places of Importance

For spirit workers, research local spirits and entities, their associations, appearance, and origins. In addition to this, write individual entries on spirits that you work with personally. I would include their assumed appearance, location, personality, how to call them, preferred offerings, and areas of strength/weakness. You can also add a section on thoughtforms, if you use them in your practice.

It's also important to think about which local areas are significant to you personally. Is it a river? A clearing in the woods? A hiking trail? Your own backyard? Make a list of areas that inspire you. How can you get there? What grows there? What kind of animals live there? Are there spirits? Would you perform specific workings in these areas?

#witchcraft #grimoire #book of shadows #witchcraft community #local witchcraft #witch tips

[csuitebitches]

Reading List: Spirituality, Globalisation, Parenting and the 0.99 Cent Pricing Bias

What I’ve read (🖤) and planning to read (🤍)

Books

• Fall of human intellect - A Parvasarthy (genre: spirituality, humanness) 🖤

Academic Papers

The backlash against globalisation - Stefanie Walter (from annual review) 🤍

In recent years, the world has seen a rising backlash against globalization. This article reviews the nature, causes, and consequences of the globalization backlash. It shows that, contrary to a popular narrative, the backlash is not associated with a large swing in public opinion against globalization but is rather a result of its politicization. The increasing influence of globalization- skeptic actors has resulted in more protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist policies, some of which fundamentally threaten pillars of the contemporary international order. Both material and nonmaterial causes drive the glob- alization backlash, and these causes interact and mediate each other. The consequences are shaped by the responses of societal actors, national gov- ernments, and international policy makers. These responses can either yield to and reinforce the global backlash or push back against it. Understanding these dynamics will be an important task for future research.

The causes and consequences of urban riot and unrest - Tim Newburn (from annual review) 🤍

This review explores those varied bodies of work that have sought to un- derstand crowd behavior and violent crowd conduct in particular. Although the study of such collective conduct was once considered central to social science, this has long ceased to be the case and in many respects the study of protest and riot now receives relatively little attention, especially within criminology. In addition to offering a critical overview of work in this field, this review argues in favor of an expanded conception of its subject matter. In recent times, scholarly concern has increasingly been focused on ques- tions of etiology, i.e., asking how and why events such as riots occur, with the consequence that less attention is paid to other, arguably equally impor- tant questions, including how riots spread, how they end, and, critically, what happens in their aftermath. Accordingly, as a corrective, the review proposes a life cycle model of riots.

Parenting and it’s effects on children : reading and misreading behaviour genetics (from annual review) 🖤

There is clear evidence that parents can and do influence children. There is equally clear evidence that children’s genetic makeup affects their own behavioral characteristics, and also influences the way they are treated by their parents. Twin and adoption studies provide a sound basis for estimating the strength of genetic effects, although heritability estimates for a given trait vary widely across samples, and no one estimate can be considered definitive. This chapter argues that knowing only the strength of genetic factors, however, is not a sufficient basis for estimating environmental ones and indeed, that attempts to do so can systematically underestimate parenting effects. Children’s genetic predispositions and their parents’ childrearing regimes are seen to be closely interwoven, and the ways in which they function jointly to affect children’s development are explored.

More than a penny’s worth: left-digit bias and firm pricing- Avner Strulov-Shlain (from MorningBrew) 🤍

A penny saved. What’s the difference between $2.99 and $3.00? Basic math says one cent, but you probably perceive the difference to be about 22 cents, a new paper by a University of Chicago business school professor estimated. The research explores left digit bias—the phenomenon where consumers’ perceptions are overly influenced by the leftmost number in the price—and it brought receipts, analyzing retail scanner data on 3,500 products sold by 25 US chains. And while it might seem like every price you see ends in .99, the paper argues that retailers are leaving money on the table by underestimating this bias when setting prices.

#c suite #powerful woman #strong women #ceo aesthetic #personal growth #c suite aesthetic #working woman #beauty #empire #that girl #books #academic papers #parenting #globalisation #99 cents #0.99 marketing #marketing strategy #riots #spirituality #spiritual books

[bonebabbles]

Riverstar's Home Finished

It's a good book in the last 5 chapters. It's a bad book in the first 23.

THE GOOD:

It pumped the breaks BIG TIME on Clear Sky's ridiculous "redemption arc," giving him the space to be the fantastic, greedy villain he functions best as.

The dialogue is written very well. It's been pointed out to me that generally Kate Cary writes good dialogue, and it really shows. There are some excellent lines and quotes in this book.

This scene between Tall Shadow and River Ripple is superb.

Riverstar's arc is handled competently. It's a story about learning to balance peace and self-defense, and not lose what makes him special in the face of Clan pressure.

Night, Riverstar's deputy, is a woman who remains his platonic friend. This is a very low bar but it was cleared.

Arc is a positive portrayal of an adoptive parent, though it is only mentioned briefly. Riverstar thinks highly and lovingly of him.

Gray Wing being angry tutorial tips every time Riverstar died was funny.

Clan cats being able to create rafts and use willowbark as binding is now canon

The ending action is commendable. The struggle over the bridge was compelling, and excellently showcased both Riverstar as a unique perspective who handles conflict in his own way, and Skystar as a xenophobic dictator who uses his religion to justify his greed.

THE BAD:

So many characters come out of nowhere, they are introduced endlessly.

Which especially sucks because those intros aren't terrible, but you don't get the chance to see their traits in action.

A lot of Riverstar's most interesting traits have been removed, or are not complimented by the story.

For example; in Chapter 19 he starts having an identity crisis about who he is and what makes him special; but because he's frustrated and lost about this for several chapters, you just get Grumpy Riverstar until he has his epiphany while fighting Slash.

MOST of this book is recap that destroys a MASSIVE draw of the character by making him less mysterious.

For example; Turns out he couldn't swim until the second book of DOTC, he hasn't been in this territory longer than the other cats, and he spent 6 months locked in a house doing nothing.

It's a real slog and PACKED with filler. God it's boring. The first 18 chapters have nothing to do with the last few and 5 more are dedicated to traveling.

They managed to brutally kill another female character (Flutter) in an arc already notorious for its misogyny, give her no speaking lines before that death, and forced blubbering romantic pining onto a character who was popular in large part because he didn't have that.

His new mate, Finch (later Finch Song), appears suddenly in chapter 24, three quarters of the way through the book, and they fall in love at breakneck pace. She's pregnant 4 chapters later.

Finch also ends up giving up everything she loved, her whole life, including her friends and family, to follow Riverstar home and give him biokittens so he can finally get over Flutter. (they dont even name a kid after her)

Final rating: 4/10 Should have been a novella

It's not as fucking awful as Onestar's Concussion or Leopardstar's Hernia. It is a readable enough book and does have a solid ending, but you could skip more than half of the book and miss nothing.

Fans of Riverstar will probably be disappointed by the pointless retcons, but will enjoy the last 10 or so chapters when he's true-to-form. The original content that's worth reading would have fit just fine into a novella.

If you want to read it but aren't interested in a DOTC recap, I would recommend just reading the Tall Shadow/River Ripple scene I linked above and then starting from Chapter 19 onward. I wouldn't buy this one unless you're a dedicated Riverstar fan, or don't plan to read DOTC and want to use this book as your only experience of the main arc.

#bones reads rh #Riverstar's Home

[fanhackers]

Radio, Radio!

I almost didn’t write this post for fear that you guys will think I’m even more of an old than I even am, but a) fuck it and b) there’s a way in which everything old is new again, so bear with me.  *takes deep breath*  OK, so when I was a young fan, a lot of my fannish life happened over the RADIO.  Yes, RADIO, that–I was about to say, that weird looking box with dials on it, but you probably don’t even have a radio. (*Shut up, shut up, I can’t hear you, la la I am going to live forever!*)  But you probably listen to something like radio on Spotify, or you listen to podcasts, or you might even use an app to listen to some great legacy radio station in your area.  So imagine you had a dedicated box just for that.

Anyway, in the before-times, radio then–like podcasts now–was a way to do fandom.  Music people know this of course, but I’m both a fan and a theatre person, and man, radio theatre was the best, and fannish radio theatre even better.  Britain had and still has a really strong radio drama tradition, which is smart because it lets them produce new plays by new writers for a fraction of the cost of a staged production.  But NPR in the US used to do radio drama too–they had a show called NPR Playhouse / Sounds of Theatre which I was devoted to.  

I have two particularly strong fannish memories from this era. First,  the joy of hearing the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on radio. Douglas Adams wrote Hitchhikers for radio and radio is the best way to experience it  - I mean, Zaphod having two heads and three arms is radio joke if there ever was one, and then all these poor TV and film people had to figure out how to actually get an actor with a second head. (Footnote 1).  I backtrack here to say that if you don’t know what I’m talking about, never read or saw any version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, click on the link and have yourself a whale of a time (or a bowl of petunias of a time.) (Sorry, the whole Hitchhiker’s thing makes me instantly 12 years old FOREVER. My whole world is Hitchhikers, Star Wars, and Doctor Who– Five.) 

Moving on: the second great fannish radio experience was NPR’s dramatized version of Star Wars, which had Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels playing their original roles, and Perry King as Han Solo - Perry King, you will remember (who am I kidding, you will absolutely not remember, but anyway), became a fan-favorite for a show called Riptide, so that was okay, too. And they expanded the text! And added new scenes!  I can remember Mark Hamill giving an interview talking about how different it was to play the part for radio; he talked about how you had to sort of put movement in your voice at all times: “I’m–grunt–putting on my–harumph–jacket!” But he was great at it–obviously, since he’s become such a famous voice actor since. And it’s wonderful that podcasting has brought theatre and fandom back into the medium of sound - podcasts are the obvious new media version of all this.

Okay, so bring this back to fan studies, these personal fannish reminiscences (and awesome links—you’re welcome!)  are brought to you by Martin Cooper’s book Radio Legacy in Popular Culture: The Sounds of British Broadcasting Over the Decades (Bloombury, 2022, excerpt available at the link).  Make no mistake, this is a fannish book in its way - Cooper is interested not just in radio but in artistic works that are in some way about radio, which he regards explicitly as fanworks about radio: 

In the case of fandom it could be alternative storylines; in our case of radio listening, it can be a reinterpretation of what has been heard on the airwaves. Hence, it is plausible to think of the responses I analyse in the chapters that follow as reinterpretations and critiques of radio listening; that they have been produced by professional writers and musicians makes them less of a subculture and more of a series of transformative texts that extend the meaning and understanding of the medium of radio. They are portrayals of the everyday action of listening to the radio: of paying attention to the programmes, the discussions, the documentaries, the dramas, the daily shows and the DJs.  

Note that the book has a specifically British focus, but British music and drama have influenced fandoms all over the world. I mean, Radio, Radio; Video Killed The Radio Star; Oh Yeah (There’s a Band Playing On The Radio), Radio Clash –Cooper frames all these songs as part of a British transformative fannish response to the medium.  Radio on! 

–Francesca Coppa, fanhackers volunteer

(1) I got the chance to meet Mark Wing-Davey, who played Zaphod Beeblebrox both on the original radio show and on the BBC show--he's a big-shot theatre director now, but I honestly could not keep my inner 12 year old under control: I basically had my fists stuffed in my mouth because OMG Zaphod Beeblebrox!!! my heart!! and finally I just kind of choked out, "sorry, I can't--excuse me" and fled the dinner. *facepalm*

#author: francesca coppa #forever 12 #radio fandom #so glad that podcasts and podfic are a thing now!!

[bleach-boyz]

Chapter 4: Jackasses

prev. // next

Almost the entirety of the year 2000 was spent filming stunt after stunt for Jackass. MTV had decided to produce and air three seasons pretty much back-to-back, starting in October of that year. That meant that you all needed to make an enormous amount of content extremely quickly. Beyond just being contractually obligated to, you filmed so much because you wanted to ensure that you’d all make it into the show as often as possible. You knew the producers were getting footage from a few different sources, which meant there was a lot that ultimately couldn’t be used. You wanted to make sure that what you were filming was good enough to make it into the show.

You were behind the camera a lot of the time when filming, but you would sometimes participate in the stunts where the main point was just to watch someone get hurt. You were often filmed attempting and failing to do something on a skateboard or simply slamming yourself into something hard. You almost never got genuinely hurt, and it became a bit of a joke how indestructible you were.

Pain was never an issue for you, and you’d much rather take a bump than be involved in any pranks or gross-out stunts. At some point the boys caught on to how much you didn't like vomit so whenever they would puke during a stunt, which was happening more and more frequently, they’d intentionally get close to you to make you upset. This torture did inevitably work over time to desensitize you to it, though.

The release and subsequent popularity of the Jackass show were the final push needed to skyrocket Bam to a new level of fame. 2001 brought both his Element Skateboards partnership and his introduction into the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games, which, in combination with Jackass and the CKY films, had him raking in an absurd amount of money. Bam’s life had become a ball of chaos, and you and the crew were just along for the ride. He’d constantly fly you all out with him to different appearances he had to make for his skate merch or Jackass, and you got to see places you’d never seen before. 

By the end of its first season, Jackass was officially a cultural phenomenon. Besides Bam, Ryan and Dico over time became the most popular and recognized member of the CKY crew due to being the stars of some of the most memorable stunts and skits that made it into the show. This meant them and Bam were asked to come to L.A. to shoot more often with the rest of the reoccurring cast as the seasons progressed. The rest of you were definitely less famous but still acknowledged constantly as "the CKY crew" or "Bam’s crew" by the public, especially in West Chester. West Chester wasn’t a very big town, so everyone and their mother knew about the kids that "made it big" with a Hollywood TV show. 

You basically never had to pay for your own drinks at the local bars anymore, and you’d also noticed that the dudes were starting to get a lot more attention from women than they ever had before. You resented that part a little bit. You knew those dumbasses didn’t deserve having so many beautiful women around them, mostly because of their inability to be humble about it. You didn’t say anything though, since you were also getting extra attention from men and occasionally women, and you didn’t want to appear hypocritical.

After your breakup, you started sleeping around a little bit with those random people who’d approach you. You’d never been particularly interested in one-night stands before, but you thought you’d try them out in an attempt to get over Chad. You couldn’t really tell if it helped, but it was still fun in the meantime. You weren’t shy about your behavior, but early on you decided to keep any hookups with women on the low. You knew that, unfortunately, your friends would only have straight guy fetishizing nonsense to say about it if they found out, so you mainly confided in Jenn with the details. 

Sometime in early 2001, while the show’s second season was airing, a senator started a campaign against Jackass, claiming MTV was responsible for helping parents protect their kids or some bullshit. It was their persistent and ruthless attack, in combination with a few copycat incidents, that led to MTV caving and canceling the show after its first three seasons. 

Of course, the entire cast and crew were extremely frustrated by this, and you became a bit worried over what this would mean for all of you career-wise. Bam would obviously be okay, but for the show to be cancelled barely a year after it started, that could be bad for the rest of you. 

Luckily, you got word soon after the cancellation that perhaps the most important project any of you would ever work on was greenlit and would begin its filming as soon as possible—Jackass: The Movie. 

The Jackass movie was especially important to you because Jeff and Spike, after some begging from your end, were allowing you to be one of the assistant directors. Your duties mainly included creating the schedule, being the go-between person for the cast and different crews, and just basically helping Jeff with anything he needed. This meant that you were there every shooting day and got to spend a lot more time around the Jackass cast members that you’d barely interacted with before. 

Every member of the Jackass cast was a big character in their own right, and that created a high-energy and often unhinged environment. They were all really nice, but everyone was also constantly trying to fuck with each other, and even though you were rarely a target, you still had to keep your guard up. Especially when you were around Steve-O and Pontius. 

You'd become close with those two over the course of shooting. At first, you just found them entertaining and good company when getting fucked up, but as you spent more time with them, you really started to care for them. You cared for all the cast and crew, of course, but you'd had a hard time moving past a friendly coworker relationship with most of them. Steve-O and Pontius had instantly pierced through that, and they felt like your brothers in the way that the CKY crew did. That didn't mean they weren't dicks, though. Your close friendship ultimately just meant they felt comfortable messing with you. 

Bam and Ryan were the only members of the CKY crew that were official members of the Jackass cast, but Raab and Dico both managed to get one stunt in the movie. Although their involvement in the film was less than that of the show, the two and Rake didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it. With the extra time they were all able to dedicate themselves more to the continuing CKY film series.

You were in the peanut gallery for a few of the stunts in the Jackass movie, but you weren’t tasked with any stunts yourself due to being busy with assistant director responsibilities. The only thing that you filmed was an alternate take of the "Off Road Tattoo" stunt. Steve-O had been running late that day for some reason, and when it looked like he might not show up, Jeff asked if you’d consider doing it instead. It had originally been your idea, after all. After maybe five minutes of contemplation, you agreed. You’d been getting a lot of tattoos lately anyway, and you weren’t the type to regret something stupid and fun like that. 

The tattoo artist gave you pretty much the exact same fucked-up smiley face that Steve-O got when he finally arrived to set; only yours didn’t make it in the movie. You were only slightly irritated by that, but you knew that there would be no reason to show the same stunt twice. Also, Steve-O was absolutely a more entertaining presence on screen than you. Jeff promised your cut would end up in the extras included in the eventual DVD release of the movie.  

By far the most rewarding and fun time you had filming was in Japan. You’d never been out of the country before, and to go somewhere so beautiful and different was very exciting. When you weren’t filming, you spent a lot of time alone wandering around different parts of Tokyo, trying to experience the culture and everything it had to offer. 

Just because you were in a different country, though, didn’t mean that the partying would stop. You were still getting dragged out to bars every night with the rest of the cast and crew, immersing yourself in the Tokyo nightlife. However, it was one of the more uneventful nights that you remember the most.

-

A bunch of the guys had insisted you all go to this burlesque strip club up the street from your hotel after you finished dinner. You weren’t particularly interested, but you felt like getting drunk, and it wasn’t like watching attractive women dance would be hard for you. 

When you arrive, you go straight to the bar with Pontius and Dave while the other members of the cast and crew try to find a place to sit. You three collectively buy a round of beers for everyone and head back over to pass them out to the group. They all had to spread out a bit due to there not being a spot big enough for everyone to sit together, and you set your beer down at a table with Ryan, Bam, Steve-O, and Chris. Before sitting down yourself, though, you decide to go back to the bar and take a couple shots. You could handle your alcohol pretty well, and the atmosphere of the club was making you kind of anxious, so you thought you’d push yourself a little faster toward your desired level of drunkenness. 

"What are you havin?" Knoxville asks as he comes up behind you. 

"Not entirely sure; I just kinda yelled "two whiskeys" so.." 

The bartender comes back with two mystery whiskey shots for you, and Johnny asks for two more for himself. When he receives them, he thanks the bartender with some weak Japanese vocabulary and pays for all four shots. 

"Loaded with MTV money? Or is this just your Southern hospitality?" You ask, and he chuckles. 

"I can’t help being a gentleman." He says, and you both cheers, throw back the shots, and head back to your respective tables. 

Pontius secretly paid a dancer to go give Dave a lap dance, which made you all die of laughter as you could tell he was both delighted and stressed out by the situation. Besides that, no one was really jumping at the opportunity to interact with any of the dancers, and you found it quite funny how awkward everyone seemed about it. It made you wonder why anyone wanted to come there in the first place. 

Bam later pulls out his wallet and asks if he can buy you a dance, to which you decline. 

"Why? You’ve slept with women, right? I thought you’d enjoy it." He says with a smug look on his face, and your eyebrows furrow. You know you’ve never told Bam about any of that, so you assume that Jenn must have let it slip at some point. It’s obvious Bam is just bringing it up now publicly to be a little shit. 

"Wait, you have?" Ryan asks, surprised. 

"No way, dude." Steve-O says. 

"Hubba hubba." Pontius jokes. 

"God dammit, Bam.. I mean, yes, but it’s not anyone’s business." You respond, and all the guys start clamoring over the realization. 

"How many times?" Ryan prods, and you start to get out of your chair. 

"Wait, so you’re a lesbian? I think I owe someone five dollars." Steve-O says. 

"I’m going to the bathroom." You say and leave before any of them can think of another dumb thing to ask or say. 

Once you come back, it seems like everyone is ready to head out, despite only being there for an hour. Most of you just go back to the bar in the hotel and continue drinking, chatting, and messing around with each other there. 

"No, seriously, which is better, sex with men or women?" Steve-O asks after a couple hours, trying to bring the conversation back to where it was earlier. 

"There’s no way it’s better with men. We’re slobs, brutes, slaves to our desires." Pontius says, and you laugh, feeling a little more open to talking about it now that you’re drunker. 

"It really depends," you say. 

"Shit, you’ve probably made more women cum than any of us." Steve-O jokes. 

"Certainly more than you, Steve." Knoxville says as he walks up next to him, one hand behind his back. 

"I’m going to bed, children." He continues and goes to shake Steve-O’s hand, but as he does, he pulls his other hand out from behind his back and attaches a mouse trap to Steve-O’s fingers. Steve-O screams, and the rest of you let out some loud, drunken laughter. 

"Fuck!" Steve-O exclaims as he slowly pulls the trap off his fingers. Knoxville, dying of laughter, pats him on the shoulder. 

"Okay, okay, now I’m actually going to bed. Goodnight ladies." Johnny says as he heads off to his room. 

"What an asshole." Steve-O says as he calms down. 

"Man, what time is it anyway?" Pontius asks, and Bam checks his watch. 

"11:52," he says. 

"Damn, it’s not even late; we’re so boring tonight." Pontius responds. 

"I’m gonna go to the convenience store down the street and get some snacks.." you say as you stand up and see that the hotel bar is starting to close down, "and beer." 

"I’ll go with ya." Ryan says as he gets up too. 

"Why don’t you just meet us up in Steve-O’s room once you’re back?" Bam says, and you nod and head out with Ryan. 

As soon as you two head out, you hand him a cigarette and pull out your own. This was routine anytime you two were outside together. 

You go to light yours, and then light Ryan’s. "Thanks." He says, and you look him in the eyes for what feels like the first time tonight. 

Ever since that revealing conversation you had with Ryan around a year and a half ago, you were slowly becoming more endeared by everything he did. His little jokes, his laugh, the way he’d subtly take care of you—you really just liked being around him. You'd also started confiding in each other more often. You loved everyone in the CKY crew, but Dico was the only one you'd ever really been able to trust with any personal information. You knew everyone cared for you in their own way, they just had a hard time taking anything seriously; everything became a joke. That's why it meant all the more to you that your friendship with Ryan was becoming more emotionally intimate.

You’d been avoiding admitting to yourself that you’d developed any sort of feelings for him, mostly because he was still on and off with the same girlfriend. Over time, it had become obvious that the two had lots of problems, and Ryan would catch a lot of shit for it. You genuinely did think it was a relationship that Ryan needed to get out of, but you didn’t want to say anything knowing that you had a bit of an ulterior motive. He was pretty whipped for her anyway, so even if they did break up, you knew he’d be upset for a while. In the meantime, you are just going to have to keep pushing down any feelings you have towards him. It sucks, but you hope one day you'll be able to push hard enough for the feelings to go away for good.

"How’re you feeling?" You ask as you both start walking towards the convenience store. You try to keep your eyes on the sidewalk to make sure you don’t stumble or trip over anything. 

"Drunk." He says point blankly.

"Right. Same." You say and feel a little awkward for asking that question. Luckily, Ryan chuckles a little bit, and it defuses the tension. 

"How are things going with your girlfriend?" You ask suggestively. Normally, you wouldn’t dive into this subject so soon in conversation, usually afraid the real reason behind such a question would reveal itself. However, you have far less tact and control over the things you say when drinking. It’s only sometimes a problem. 

"Oh, she broke up with me right before we flew here." He says, and you raise your eyebrows. Historically, the two breaking up just meant there would be a couple weeks of turmoil and anger on Ryan’s end before they’d inevitably get back together. Though, Ryan had been acting surprisingly chill this whole trip so far. At least in the times you’d seen him. 

"Do you think it’s actually over this time?" You ask, and Ryan sighs. 

"Yeah… I think so. I don’t know... I usually just chase her and wear her down until she agrees to get back with me, but I'm not sure I can do that anymore. It's exhausting." He says, slurring a little bit, but you can tell from the tone of his voice that he might really believe what he’s saying. 

"Bam says I gotta get with someone else so I can finally get over her." He continues, and you hold your breath for a second. 

"That might be a good idea." You say as casually as you can. 

"Is that what you did when you broke up with Chad?" He asks you, and you side-eye him. 

"Yeah… kinda. Well, I haven’t really dated anyone since then, but hooking up with people sorta helped. I think the main factor in getting over it is time." You say as you two approach the front of the store. You throw your cigarette on the ground and stomp it out. Ryan does the same. 

"So hooking up with girls helped you?" Ryan jokes as he pulls open the door and holds it for you. You roll your eyes and walk inside. 

"This is exactly the reason why I never told anyone; I knew you’d all have some bullshit to say." You complain and then trip over nothing as you turn into an aisle. Thankfully, you catch yourself, and Ryan laughs a little too loud for how quiet the store is. 

"I’m sorry, I’m a guy. How is the thought of two hot chicks hooking up not supposed to excite me?" He joins you in front of the beer. You reach inside the fridge and pull out a 12-pack of the cheapest. 

"Oh, so you think I’m hot then?" You ask mischievously. He stares at you and smiles. 

"Duh… I mean, well, a lot of the dudes do." He says, and you furrow your brows. 

"They do?" You ask and head towards the instant noodles.

"Yeah, like Steve-O, Pontius... I’m also pretty sure I even heard Jeff say something once." He says. You feel satisfied and giddy over Ryan admitting he found you hot, but you wish he hadn’t tried to deflect from it by bringing up the others. 

"Steve-O and Pontius will fuck anything with a pulse." You state as you grab a couple of the spicy chicken noodles. 

"I mean, you’re right, but still..." He says, and you decide to drop it for now as you head towards the cashier. You'll have plenty of time to overthink his statement later.

"Are you not getting anything?" You ask, and Ryan’s mouth falls open. 

"Right." He goes off to another aisle, and you pay for the noodles and beer. You can hear the sound of things falling off their shelves, and you give the cashier an apologetic look. 

Ryan comes back with a few bags of chips and candy. 

"You like the ones with the potato guy on them, right?" He asks and holds up a bag of Calbee chips. You smile and nod. Once he pays for everything, you’re on your way. 

You get back to the hotel and head up to Steve-O’s room like instructed. 

When Steve-O opens the door, you and Ryan wade through empty beer cans and a few whippet chargers to get into the room and see Pontius and Bam hanging out on the bed. 

"I hope you’re tipping your housekeepers well, Steve-O." Ryan says as you both put down your bags. Steve-O laughs as he goes through your bags and grabs a beer and a bag of chips. 

"I can't believe you two aren’t loitering around the local bars preying on desperate women." You say to Steve-O and Pontius as you grab one of the cups of noodles and fill it with water. You meant the comment not as a judgment but as a genuine expression of surprise. Lately, Steve-O and Pontius were getting with different women almost every night, but you hadn’t seen that behavior as much in the last week. 

"Our charms aren’t exactly appreciated by the ladies of Tokyo." Pontius says. 

"They aren’t appreciated by any ladies anywhere." Bam jokes, and you laugh as you put your noodles in the microwave. 

"Why don’t you two just give it up and touch each other?" You ask, and Steve-O and Pontius stare at each other for a second and smile like they know something you don’t. 

"Nahhh. He’s not my type." Steve-O giggles. 

You spend the next hour and a half drinking and fucking around a bit more, but you personally are at the point where more beer was just going to make you more tired. The most eventful thing that happens is when Steve-O manages to get into Knoxville’s room and pee in his suitcase as revenge for the mouse trap earlier. Other than that, you'd say it's been a relatively chill night, which you sometimes prefer to the usual partying because it allows you to get to know and bond with the cast and crew better. 

After you say your goodbyes, Ryan walks with you back to your room, citing needing his hat back that you borrowed earlier that week as the reason. This reasoning is suspicious, but you disregard it as drunk Ryan logic.

He follows you inside your suite, hands in his pockets, as you grab the black baseball cap. 

When you hand it to him, your fingers touch and you look into his eyes. It is at this moment, drunk and exhausted, that you know you can't push it down any more.

There had been nothing particularly special about that night so far; you’d spent the majority of it with other people, not even sitting next to each other. Maybe it was how rosy his cheeks were in the night air or the way your shoulders brushed past each other when you were walking outside earlier. Maybe it was how he held the door open for you at the store and remembered what kind of chips you like. Maybe it's the way the sleeves of his new jacket are too long on him or the way he's biting his lip right now. You don't know, but standing here together now, you give up. 

You like Ryan, maybe a lot. This past year and a half, you’d been able to mostly suppress any feelings you had, leading to months where you didn’t even think about it, only for him to smile or say something that would bring those feelings back stronger. You’d been so forceful, doing your best to control the uncontrollable, but you understand now that you can't will it away. You need to deal with it.

The room is quiet—too quiet. You stare at each other for what feels like an eternity, but in reality, it is probably only a few seconds. You swear you see his eyes dart to your lips. 

It would be so easy to kiss him now and push him onto the bed—make him understand the way he makes you feel. It would be so easy, but you care too much about him to do that. He’d just been broken up with, and even though it had been building for a while, you know that it has to be affecting him deeply. If he had made a move on you that day after you and Chad broke up, you might have reciprocated, but you also would have ended up resenting him for it. It’s not fair to dangle that promise of intimacy and comfort in front of somebody who just lost it. It would taking advantage of them.

So you wait for him to say or do something, anything. After a moment, he says "thank you", pulls his hand away, and yawns, looking at his watch. 

"What time do we have to shoot tomorrow?" He asks you, and you snap out of your daze. He puts on his hat and gives you a small smile.

"11," you say as you look at the clock on the bedside table. It’s almost 2:30. 

"Not bad… alright goodnight!" He says cheerfully and leaves. 

Just like that, he’s gone. He left, like tonight was any other night. You well up with emotion, the feeling of dread reigning above all. Dread that finally accepting your sentiments about Ryan will only lead to your torture. That he may never be able to reciprocate, that you’ll spend too much time obsessing over something that will never be. You know you're being dramatic, but you can't stop the thoughts from racing through your head.

You sit down on your bed and rub your eyes, drained.

What the hell were you going to do now?

————————

Idk if I like this chapter lol. Sometimes this story just feels like a Wikipedia article. I realize I set myself up for it to be like that since I started so early in the timeline- I just hope y’all appreciate a slow burn. I promise I’m gonna be picking up the pace though.

ALSO lmk if you wanna get tagged when I post new chapters 🤔 next one is gonna be about Haggard

#bam margera #ryan dunn #brandon dicamillo #chris raab #cky #cky crew #jackass #jess margera #cky imagine #viva la bam #my fic #rake yohn

[astr0-philia]

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟜: 𝕄𝕒𝕪𝕓𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕒𝕚𝕟'𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕓𝕒𝕕!

Prolouge 1 2 3 4 5

Some memes to start of the chapter:

 

[Third person]:

It felt surreal, like she was floating in a dream. [Y/n] was entering the Pomefiore dorm and never had she seen such a regal and beautiful architecture in her whole 700+ years of living.

Rook led [Y/n] through the hallway explaining each bit of the dorm in great detail and passion. He looked like he was infatuated with the dorm. It was amusing to watch as he would go in detail, with joy and pride written all over his face. It was cute and quite funny.

Then he suddenly stopped in front of her, making her hit his back with her face. He turned to [Y/n] quickly as she started rubbing her nose, as it was still in pain as he asked.

"Dame Princesse! Have I told you about our magnifique housewarden Vil Schoenheit?" he questioned with eyes twinkling with curiosity. As if he were expecting her to know the guy called Vil instantly.

[Y/n] looked at him in confusion. "I have never heard of a person named Vil Schoenheit. More or less seen him either...." 

Rook's face dropped in horror as she spoke. He looked at her as if she had just killed his family and stole his riches. His eyes shone in disbelief and shock. She sweat-dropped as his gaze became even more intense and unnerving.

"Did I....say something wrong....?" she asked in uncertainty as she looked up at Rook.

Rook shook his head, as if trying to bring himself back to reality. He grabbed both of [Y/n]'s hands in his in haste and pulled her closer to him. 

"Non, Dame Princesse! You did nothing wrong. I was just quite shocked that you did not know of our housewarden." he replied with a smile on his face. It looked quite strained to say the least but [Y/n] chose to ignore it for her own good. 

"It's just that Roi du Poison is so popular here in twisted wonderland as a model and actor. Yet you do not know him." He filled her in with the information quickly.

'Ah....he doesn't know I'm from another world does he....' 

"Ahhhh....I am from the countryside where not a lot of information gets through to. So I guess that is why I didn't know about him at all!" [Y/n] couldn't believe she lied so badly through her teeth. He probably won't even believe her at this point!

As Rook examined her suspiciously to check for any hints of lying on her face, [Y/n] couldn't help but cringe at the thought of getting found out. He stared at her for quite long before jumping back and grinning at her. 

"Ah I knew you weren't lying mademoiselle! Now let us go and introduce you to Roi du Poison as you still don't know him!" Rook quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her too a big door in the middle of the hall . It was different from the other dorms around it. It stood out with its intricate designs and bigger size. 

At the top it had a label which said "Housewarden" on it with cursive letters and fancy designs. 

Rook knocked on the door with care. As if trying not to displace any of the designs on the door. They waited for a few seconds before an alluring and confident voice called out from the other side of the room.

"What is it now! Come in." exclaimed the voice with a hint of annoyance. 

'I guess he is annoyed as it is quite late right now....'

As they entered the room. In the middle of the room, stood the gorgeous man with all his glory. Hands crossed and standing like a model. He radiated authority and confidence as he stared at them as they walked into the room like they were small ants before him.

"Rook....what have I told you about not interrupting me when I am doing my skin care in the evening!" He exclaimed at Rook with even more annoyance than before, rubbing his temples. 

"Ah! Roi du Poison I wanted to introduce you to the new student in our dorm!" he stated, pushing [Y/n] in front of him with some force. 

'Nice way to put me on the spot dunce head....'

As [Y/n] regained her composure, she nervously looked up to meet the gaze of the beautiful man. Only to see that his face was filled with surprise as he looked at her with curious eyes. 

"Oh! So its you...." He smirked and looked at her up and down, sizing her up like he did before in the ceremony, to check if I had any flaws and such. [Y/n] turned to Rook feeling uncomfortable. Only to receive a nod of approval and understanding from him, with a strained smile once again.

"Well I guess you don't look half as bad as those potatoes that came in a while ago." He said exasperatedly at the thought of the new first year students. 

'Damn.'

"Uhmmm..... Nice to meet you [Y/n] Alastaire at your service!" She exclaimed in fake enthusiasm while bowing, trying to get on the beautiful man's good side. 

"Hmmm...." He came closer to her in a hurry and spoke again. "You must keep your shoulders straight when bowing, not slouched-" As he straightened her shoulders. "-you must always talk formally to a person you just met-" Grabbing her face with force making her look at him. "-and you must always keep a clear tone when speaking to someone who ranks above you in the system." He said, staring into her eye's.

Hah- what a joke. Him? Ranking above her? Wouldn't fucking dream on it. What was he a model? She's a princess, nothing beats that. 

[Y/n] looked at him with great annoyance and stood with confidence. Trying to defy him but he wouldn't budge.

"The name is Vil Schoenheit darling. Don't forget it." he said with amusement.

Rook then coughed nervously to get their attention, in which he succeeded, when they both snapped their heads towards him.

"Well then I shall go and lead Mademoiselle to her dorm room. Roi du Poison do I have permission to leave?" He asked politely and carefully, acting like he was walking on thin ice around Vil.

When Vil finally said yes after some convincing. Rook and [Y/n] were finally let go from the jaws of Vil's room to the hallway.

"Rook.....is Vil always this strict" [Y/n] asked with concern in her tone. As she couldn't believe what she had just experienced moments ago in Vil's room.

"Dame Princesse. Please do get used to Roi du Poison's attitude. This is the common personality of Vil, and nothing will change it." Rook mumbled to her. As if trying to make sense of the situation.

"Okay then! Now let us go to meet your new dorm mate, and see your new room!" exclaimed Rook going back to his normal attitude once again.

'Was he bipolar....?'

He then led [Y/n] through the hall again filled with portraits and pictures, before they stopped in front of another door like the previous they had entered. This one was a bit smaller than the other one and had less intricate designs on it . 

This time instead of knocking on the door like before. He swung it open with great force. Shocking both her and the person who was inside the room. 

"Ah yes. [Y/n] this is your dorm room and here are the spare keys to the dorm if you need-" passing her some keys in a hurry. 

"Wait a sec-"

"-and if you need me just go to the door across from Roi du Poison." Then he left, leaving both [Y/n] and the new stranger in the room looking like fools.

She turned around slowly towards the stranger she had been put into a room with. She stared at him in awe at the guy in front of her. The male had beautiful cotton candy like purple hair and shining blue eyes, which held pure innocence in them . Just as she was about to introduce herself to the cute looking boy. She was interrupted.

"Hah? You're my roommate? A GIRL ? I can't believe this...." The boy looked surprised yet quite annoyed as he looked at [Y/n]. 

'Huh? Maybe he is mad because I invaded his area...'

Quickly she bowed her head down towards him, shocking the cute boy.

"I am so very sorry that I invaded your place! I barged in and disturbed you. I am your roommate from today onwards and I hope you forgive me for this slight inconvenience." exclaimed at the cute guy in an apologetic tone. It shocked the cute boy after hearing her say those very words, as he raised his arms in alarm waving them in a haphazard way.

"N-no I didn't mean that in a mean way! It was just that I was a bit disturbed at the moment. I am sorry!" He exclaimed back in an apologetic way as well bowing down to her as well.

As they both lifted their heads up after a couple of seconds. They looked at each other. 

Fits of giggles erupted from their mouths as they both couldn't keep a straight face at the ridiculous situation. 

In the midst of the laughter they introduced themselves to each other.

"*Wheeze* M-my name is Epel Felmeir. What's yours?" He said before going back into his fit of laughter.

"W-well my na-name is [Y/n] Alastair. Nice to meet ya dude!" While also going into the same fit of laughter after some moments something happened.

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*SNORT*

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[Y/n] slapped a hand on her mouth in shock, as Epel also looked at her in disbelief.

The moment they had eye contact again they fell into fits of laughter once again. 

At this point both were a mess. Trying to grab on to whatever furniture was next to them to keep them standing straight and at one point [Y/n] had grabbed on to Epel and they both held each other as they were holding on to their lifelines. 

As the laughter started to diminish both Epel and [Y/n] regained their composure. 

"Heh. Nice to know that a person with a good sense of humor is my dorm mate." Stated Epel in amusement and happiness. 

"Me too dude. Me too." [Y/n] agreed with Epel as they spoke to each other.

As they started talking both started to have small talk and asking questions like "What's your favorite color?" or "What did you do before coming here." and stuff like that. 

"Well Epel. Once again with seriousness. I do apologize if I did invade your space in the beginning." Said [Y/n} once again.

"Aw shucks man! You ain't invading my space! You're my friend now!" exclaimed Epel in happiness, as he finally got his first friend in NRC. Even [Y/n] couldn't be any happier after hearing what Epel said. 

"Aw thank you Epel!" She shouted in glee as she hugged Epel. Epel couldn't help but blush at the action.

As the night drew in [Y/n] and Epel were still talking, with occasional fits of laughter here and there. 

At one point [Y/n] and Epel had dozed off and had fallen asleep on his bed.

'Hey this might not be as I thought it would be' [Y/n] thought before dosing back into a deep sleep.

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Bonus Scene:

"[Y/n] I don't get how Rook does all this french shit at all. He just goes 'Beaute', 'Non' and 'Roi du Poison' every single chance he has." Vented Epel to [Y/n] n] n] as she sat in front of him on her bed listening to him with keen ears.

"Well I mean it's Rook we are talking about Epel. It is bound to happen anyway!" explained to Epel as she also had no mental capacity to deal with Rook's shenanigans as well.

As their conversation went on outside the door Vil was walking in the hallways trying to get to his room. Just as he was walking past the doors. He couldn't help but eavesdrop at the conversation the 2 were having. So he lent an ear and put it in the gap of the door that was opened up in front of him. as he heard Epel speak again.

"-like one time he said 'I'll speak french between your legs'- " shocking Vil at the vulgar language.

"-and then he said 'The hottest things i ever been told.' " Vil was terrified to say the least at the moment. 

"I can just picture someone screaming bonjour at a penis" exclaimed [Y/n] trying to keep it going.

"Sacrebleu mademoiselle vagina" shouted Epel at the top of his lungs laughing out loud.

"Hon hon hon titty croissants" [Y/n] laughed with him.

*Wheeze*

" TITTY CROISSANTS?!" Epel wheezed at the comment.

"ROOK WOULD TOTALLY SAY THAT" [Y/n] cackled at the thought of it.

As the laughter went on inside the room. Vil stood there speechless, too shocked to even process what he had just heard. Shaking his head to bring himself back to his conscience. He muttered under his breath.

"None of you should ever be having sex-....." 

As he left the door never looking back, traumatized by the turn of events.

-------------------------------------------------- ------

Authors Note:

Hello everyone! I hope you like this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing the scenes and characters and I hope you like it too! Please don't forget to give me any advice you have. I want to try to make this book fun for you and everyone who is reading this book!

So if you do have some, I will be waiting for your advice!

Have a nice day and or night!

#rook hunt #vil schoenheit #epel felmier #crowley #twst grim #twst #twsited wonderland

[gloster]

FAVORITE FANFICS OF 2022

What is up, you guys? HAPPY 2023. We did it. We somehow made it through 2022 that, in 2 words: TRIED IT. 2022 tried all of us in so many ways than one. Emotionally, mentally, physically, and beyond.

We all had ways of coming up with ways to get through the rough year. Friends & family (both blood & chosen). Music. Movies and shows. And of course fanfics.

The world can be turning, burning, but at least fanfics can always be counted to take us away from harsh reality and bring us into the sweet world w/our fav characters, OTPs falling in love dozens of ways.

Every year fanfic writers both familiar & new to me blow me away with their talent, their writing, their brilliance. And every year I always do this traditional post to give them their flowers.

If you're interested in past lists, here are the ones for 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018

Without further ado, here are my favorite fanfics of 2021

1). prince & prince by Authoress aka @kiribakus (tododeku)

Summary: Note to self: don't accidentally fall in love with a prince who's in an arranged marriage keeping your kingdoms from declaring war against each other. Especially when you're spying on him as his manservant.

Jaw. On. The. Floor. Jaw. Still. On. The. Floor. This story is the reason why this post is coming January 1st instead of the December 31st. I stayed up till almost 3 in the morning to finish this story and my jaw was on the floor when I read it. My jaw is still on the ground as I write up this review. I buddy-read this w/my bestie @littlenightdragon & our mind are still blown by what we read.

This story has been a long time coming. This is considered the classic fanfic in the tododeku community. It's took me while to get to it since there are so many stories I wanted to get through, but I finally did. Quite frankly, because this is such a popular fanfic, I don't know what else I can say that other readers haven't said in their own rec posts.

However I will happily say this one lives up to the hype. I repeat: LIVES 👏 UP 👏TO 👏THE👏 HYPE! The writing, the dynamics between Izuku & Shouto, the smut that was just 🔥🔥🔥, and again I APPLAUD @kiribakus for how the story was done. This is loosely based off the Captive Prince trilogy, so if you're familiar with the trilogy, you definitely see the elements of the story while also having this fanfic be its own thing. Not an easy thing to do, so massive kudos 👏👏

2). The Pakhan's Jewel by theangryuniverse (viktuuri/victuuri; mpreg)

Summary: No one had ever heard the omega speak.

It was not that they had never heard him at all. They had all heard the voice of the omega at some point – a gentle laugh, for example, a quiet hum, or, quite more often, lustful cries and moans, caused by the Pakhan himself. But the omega never spoke, and never deigned to even look at them, for they all were beneath him, and mattered less than the dirt beneath his feet.

For they all knew that Katsuki Yuuri's heart belonged to one man only - and that man was Viktor Nikiforov, the Pakhan himself.

Someone had said, I believe it was either here on Tumblr or Twitter, that the YOI fandom is keeping itself alive w/fanfics, fanart, and posts on our favorite ice-skating couple. I 1000000000%. And this fanfic is proof of it.

Oh where oh where do I begin? Let's start with this. We have ABO and a Mafia AU with an established happily-married couple who give the same intense, overly-passionate in love energy as Gomez and Morticia Addams.

I repeat an ABO Mafia AU story with a couple who give off the same intense, passionate happily-married energy as Gomez and Morticia Addams, which I needed so badly and was greatly needed. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I ate it up like candy. I devoured every chapter.

My favorite element of the story is how Viktor is the Pakhan, he's the boogey-man that keep enemies and allies alike on their toes. Yet Yuuri is the one who keeps him on his toes- and knees-and however Yuuri decides to see his husband fit. It was sooooooo good. Like if Yuuri told Viktor to burn the world, he'd do so happily. He was such a simp for his husband the same way Gomez is for Mortica and I ATE IT UP.

And I'll definitely check out more stories by this author & suggest you do so too.

3). Winter Song by proantagonist (viktuuri/victuuri)

Summary: The set of Yuuri’s mouth softened into a private smile as Victor squeezed his knee beneath the table. His hands were bare, free from the gloves he so often wore when they were together on the rink, and the heat of his palm burned straight through the denim of Yuuri’s jeans. He slipped his own hand beneath the table and found Victor’s. Hidden from sight, their fingers began to flirt and play. A secret conversation all their own that needed no words.

Yuuri was aware that at some point—a moment in time he couldn’t quite place—Victor had become his boyfriend.

There wasn’t a single instant when it happened. It was a slow awareness, as if Victor had silently been asking the question for months now, and Yuuri had been giving him the answer a little more with each passing day.

Another YOI story? Why, yes, yes it is. Was this another one that gave you all the feels? Yes, yes it did. This one- all I can say is 10 10 10 10 10 across the board. This one was canon, in a way that was more so behind the scenes/deleted scenes that the creators didn't want us to see but the fanfic writer was like Yeah....FUCK THAT, we're getting those bonus scenes.

In this one, we see Viktor and Yuuri develop more as a couple while also coming into their own. I love how it's equal. Like yes, even though Yuuri has social anxiety, Viktor has his own issues with self-worth, past relationships, and expectations. The author noticably took time with the relationship where we see them become a stronger team, better friends, and a sweeter couple.

Such a joy to read.

4). The Roundabout Way of Fate by @itsmyartfam (tododeku)

Summary: “His quirk will get attention no matter where he goes. But if he ends up working with heroes then he’ll have their protection. That’s why I said most doctors and nurses have minor healing quirks- because people with powerful ones often catch the attention of heroes, who will in turn protect them from any villains who also have their eye on them.”

“Oh! Okay. Okay… this… this is a lot…. Heh, and I was worried he’d breathe fire…”

“Don’t ever forget- Izuku’s quirk is a good thing. He just needs to be a bit more careful than most children.”  _________

Midoriya Izuku wants to become a hero. Midoriya Izuku is born with a healing quirk. He learns how to save people a different way.

You ever read a story that's so canon yet not like canon, but you wish it could be canon? Like if you had a chance to redo canon, you'd pick an alternative. Well, for this one, if I could make it canon, I would in a heartbeat. Like it was among one of the first fanfics I read in the beginning of the year, but the fact I still think of it fondly proves how much of a great, fun read it was.

There are so many things I love about this fanfic. Obviously the writing, obviously the pining that goes on with both Shouto and Izuku. But I think the main things are I love how Izuku has a quirk, a Healing quirk at that, that seems so minimal to society but he's like, NAH You're not gonna push me around and treat me like I'm delicate flower. There were even scenes where he had to remind Shouto of that, and it was too satisfying to read.

But most of all, I love the platonic relationship between Izuku and Bakugo. This is one where you can tell there is a bond there, but it's much healthier with boundaries clearly set. One where Izuku isn't afraid to call Bakugo out & Bakugo actually thinks things before before just exploding.

I ADORED IT. Just as much as I adored the author @itsmyartfam for making Izuku a healer. They had expressed they dealt with backlash from other readers who didn't agree with the quirk, but I thought it was very fitting. Given Izuku's personality, his caring nature, his compassion, healing is perfect match.

5). flawless by @irishseeeker (kathony/kanthony)

Summary: Kate Sharma is the diamond of the season.

Viscount Anthony Bridgerton plans on courting and marrying the Diamond of the season.

Kate is going to make that as difficult as possible.

First off I like to give massive thanks & props to @irishseeeker for doing the damn thing and giving me what I wanted. Me & my besties @littlenightdragon & @kila09 all agree on several things

Season 2 KICKED ASS. Season 2 carried. Simone & Jonathon did what needed to be done and carried season 2 on their bare backs.

Season 2, much as it is amazing & gave me my new favorite OTP, would've been better if Kate had been made the diamond. It definitely would've given the Queen the buzz she wanted. It would've been made the season more better- not to mention take away the barely-there love triangle they were trying for and failed at EPICLY.

The fact @irishseeeker as if they could hear my thoughts took the idea and run with it, they have my eternal gratitude. Currently it is a WIP, but y'all should definitely check out because you'll be devouring and begging for more. I know I did.

6). Bottom by Anonymous (kathony/kanthony)

Summary: By day, Anthony Bridgerton is in control. He eats at exactly the same time every morning, he exercises for exactly the prescribed amount of time, at work he never misses a deadline or forgets to show a friendly face, and at home he's a dedicated son and big brother, always there when his family needs him. His life since his father's passing has been about control.

By night, Anthony is ready to let go. He doesn't want to think. He doesn't want to plan. He wants to let go and let someone else take the wheel. (Or the dog leash.)

This is Anthony's journey into being a sub.

Before this story, I never really read femdom unless the couple is a queer-sapphic couple. Now after this story? I just want more. Especially if it's Kate being that dom. Like please give it to me. Please please please.

Mind you, we don't get much of Kate or kanthony/kathony until the last chapter. The beginning is more so Anthony and Simon, but the main thing I love about this story is how it does explore Anthony's trauma with being the oldest, having so much expectations placed on his shoulders. Which is what the show did hint at, but didn't go deeper. In this story, we did. And I appreciated it.

7). All That series by @himawaribees (Itafushi)

Summary: Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuuji first meet at a frat party and proceed to have lots and lots of sex. Like, a silly amount of sex. Some (the author) might say they have too much sex.

Follow itafushi's journey as they fall for each other and slowly, eventually get together!

This was an unexpeted I found on Tumblr, I believe. I've been rocking in the Jujusten Kaisen fandom for awhile- also highly recommend the anime as well as the manga. But as long as I've been rocking in the fandom, I didn't have a definite ship. Until now.

Sometimes, all it takes is a good fanfic to kinda show you how well a ship can be. Which is what happened here.

I've always liked Megumi and Yuuji's dynamic in the show. Definitely gives sunshine & grump energy. Eager pup & annoyed cat. But this story, along with many from the author proved how that dynamic can work even more than as a couple. The way I just devoured the first story of the series, then the 2nd one, then the next, and the next till I finished what's been poste & am eagerly awaiting the next update.

Honorable mentions:

Sweet Tooth

Trust Me

Slow Down

8). Like, Comment, and Romance by @xskyll (tododeku)

Summary: In the hero community, it’s common for popular heroes to have merchandise for sale. Amongst these items are a few staples: t-shirts, figurines, and, of course, replicas of their costumes. This is where Deku, a well-known YouTuber, comes into play. Deku’s Hero Analysis is a series where the host, Deku, dresses up in official pro hero costumes, then does an analysis of each hero and reviews some of their merchandise. Joining him is Hito-nyan, the sarcastic cameraman who never shows his face and loves to push Deku’s buttons. And watching them is pro hero Todoroki Shouto, who absolutely, without a doubt, does not have a crush on Deku. Except actually he does, which is fine, because it turns out they have a friend in common and getting to meet the adorable YouTube star is more likely to happen than he ever would have dreamed.

Midoriya Izuku + Youtuber. A combination that never crossed my mind and never seemed so right until now. Like second, I started reading the story, I was like WHY DIDN'T THIS COMBO CROSSED MY HEAD BEFORE. It makes total sense, especially with how in depth his hero analyses are and how much of a fanboy Izuku.

Along with Izuku being a total fanboy, we also have Shouto who becomes a massive (obsessed) fan with Izuku's channel, and quickly afterwards with the boy himself.

I love how we got the unexpected duo that was Shouto and Ochako, a duo I didn't realized I needed until now.

9). Most Favorite Bedtime Story by Sasunaru (drarry; mpreg/implied mpreg & veela-Draco)

Summary: Scorpius' most favourite bedtime story? The story of how his parents fell in love. And his grandmother tells it the best!

My friend Melissa aka Sasunaru can go no wrong when it comes to her pen game & her wickedly brilliant brain. This was no differeny.

A simple story, but a sweet one nevertheless of how young Scorpius loves hearing his favorite story, how his parents first met and fell in love. And who better to tell the story than the grandmother who was there to witness the love story unfold before her eyes.

10). Like Honey and Grenadine by bazooka (taekook)

Summary: A Somewhat Cosmic Adventure, In Which: Jeon Jeongguk is both a Flustered Meme Child as well as the King of Hell; Kim Taehyung is really good at peeling back layers; Jeong Hoseok can go wherever he wants; balance requires sacrifice.

A retelling of the Abduction of Persephone, but with extra awkward flirting and way more gay.

OMG, this story. OMG, THIS STORY. It just delivered. And I eat. I ABOSLUTELY LOVED LOVED LOVED IT.

We have a Hades and Persephone AU, which I never get tired of, but in this one it was a bit more modern, kinda like Lore of Olympus where Taehyung quickly finds the boogey-man everyone fears and is weary about is a nothing more than a bunny. So insanely cute.

Honorable mentions that I seriously wanted to add to the list but this post is already lengthy. All amazing, all greats reads by various writers y’all should check out:

With Just A Little Help From Our Friends by @sashadistan (tododeku; ABO AU w/Shouto quietly pining, Izuku being oblivious, Kiri being helpful, & Bakugo being done w/all their butts)

Letting It Go by dreamchaser31 (kathony/kanthony; Kate being through w/Edwina's shit & calling her out AS SHE SHOULD, Anthony & Lady D backing her up all the way)

Brighter than The Sun by @goldentruth813 ( sheith; a retired vet in care of care & Keith answering the call)

Hooked on You by @trenchcoatkitten (tododeku; heartwarming story invovling cats, Shouto being a pet daddy, and Izuku a knitting mentor that he falls hard for)

in his hands by @softlystarstruck & @babooshkart (drarry; trans-drarry who are happily married w/soft BDSM & even softer aftercare)

And there you have it, folks. Those are my top fanfics of 2022. I can already tell I'm gonna have LOADS for 2023. To the authors, thank y'all so much for your incredible stories, including the time and effort.

Happy New Year, guys

#favorite fanfics of the year #favorite fanfics #fanfic recs #fic recs #tododeku #mha #my hero acedamia #tododeku fanfics #tododeku fanfic recs #kathony #kanthony #kathony fanfic recs #kathony fic recs #tododeku fic recs #tododeku recs #viktuuri #victuuri #viktuuri fanfic recs #viktuuri fic recs #victuuri fanfic recs #victuuri fic recs #itufashi #itufashi fanfic recs #itufashi fic recs #taekook #taekook fanfic #taekook rec #drarry #drarry fanfic recs #drarry fic recs

[kissvamps]

pomegranate seeds

chapter iii: spring

word count: 2.9k and each word whopped my ass sum serious chapter warnings: this is completely unedited i'll prolly edit it during daylight hours, professor's sim's dying body..., shuri is so silly i love her, supernatural stuff, zahira suffers from vampirism and shuri suffers from lesbianism, meeks the pet snake mention, riri williams my god she is so fine, zahira's niece kinda wild, zahira and riri being adorable that's it tbh no real warning fr omg tag pookies (i almost forgot): @motheroffae @afriques @clinicallykrazy

a/n: omg writing this literally took eighteen years off my lifespan this must be how griot be feeling like i literally have to serve two years in the psych ward for the stress this chapter has put me through so i hope y'all like it (especially the lil supernatural mentions like i'm tryna set the stage fr) and shoutout my sister kayla for threatening to delete the shuriri kitchen edit off twitter (i needed a fire under my ass to finish writing this)

ღ ღ ღ

The sophomore almost felt guilty for feeding off of her physics professor.

Almost.

Mr. Sims made a simple class that Zahira wanted to try and enjoy a complete pain in her ass. Sitting crouched over his body, the vampire sighed heavily as she inspected the gashes fae made to get to his liver and the puncture marks in his neck. After all these years feeding, there was still no way to avoid the brutality of it, but she’d learn how to make it look like something else, like an accident.

The first thing her mother taught fae once she started feeding was how to emulate animals when wounding whoever she fed from. The very last thing Zahira needed was someone calling the cops on her black gay ass and finding out she’s a vampire.

So today, there was a violent coyote that somehow found its way on campus and it just wasn’t Mr. Sims lucky day.

Picking up her seemingly half-dead professor, Zahira would’ve laughed at the outrageousness of the situation if it weren’t for how poorly Mr. Sims’ blood was agreeing with her stomach. Fae raced outside carrying Mr. Sims' bridalstyle and didn't stop until she was just outside of MIT’s robotics laboratory, which was a very popular location for coyotes in Cambridge to appear.

MIT’s humongous campus was still something the vampire was getting used to, even after almost two years, but it was something she was extremely thankful for at the moment.

Zahira dropped the paling and bleeding professors’ body in the green grass, dry from waiting patiently in the spring heat for the first shower of the new season. The sophomore heaved yet another heavy sigh and pushed the campus emergency button on the nearest tall blue pole, “Hope he know going to hell.”

Her mouth was still trying to deal with the lackluster taste of his blood.

The vampire tried not to take too much pleasure in feeding, it made faer feel less like a human, more like something else.

But what was more human than feeding? The consumption, the indulgence, the satisfaction? They had to eat just like everybody else, feel the contentment of a filling meal. So why must she subject herself to being otherly for doing what everyone does?

Maybe it was the pure joy she felt lapping at the blood as it poured out or the excitement she had as she listened to Mr. Sims’ scream fade into the background as fae removed his liver messily with claws much longer than before, how she embraced the warmth of the thick blood she sustained faerself with?

His blood had been disappointing but his liver was much better. Something Zahira’s mother told her when fae had to start feeding; a liver will always satisfy. Livers had more of a fermented taste to them and were one of Zahira’s favorite vampiric delicacies, they reminded her of pickles.

Despite finally feeding, the sophomore still felt a knot of anxiety growing in her. And Zahira knew it wasn’t from dropping her professor’s corpse off in front of the robotics laboratory building.

Fae had been getting hungrier. It wasn’t just needing to feed more frequently, but her body demanded large quantities of blood, it was nearing unsustainable. Long after fae fed, there’d still be an ache in her gums and a sharpness to her teeth she couldn’t control.

Just like now in the closest bathroom in the robotics laboratory building, Zahira washed the dried blood from under her nails and gargled mouthwash, trying to ignore how Professor Sim’s blood was putting a hole in her intestine.

Faer recent discomfort with feeding always loomed over her after she ate, but she tried to brush it off. Tonight, faer and Riri were going on a date and nothing made her feel better than spending time with Riri. Just the thought of the genius caused a warm smile to spread across Zahira’s face. She couldn’t wait to see Riri tonight.

So long as she and her Riri were okay, things would be fine in faer life.

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Shuri sat strangely on her bed talking very animately to her mother via her kimoyo beads wrapped like a necklace around the neck of the only Hello Kitty plush she couldn’t bear to leave back at home. The transfer student finished unpacking her bags around the time Zahira left for her introduction to physics class and Shuri was exceedingly grateful for the privacy. She was a little bit apprehensive about her roommate and no number of adoring pet names could keep the Princess from shivering at the memory of sharpness of her teeth and the chill in her stare.

“Mother, she had fangs,” Shuri exasperated, “I’m not sure what human explanation you can find for that. What if she knows I’m a vampire too?” Learning about human culture had been very fascinating for the young Panther, including learning about the different body modifications. In countless cultures there were piercings, tattoos, gauges, cranial elongation, scarifications. There was not a word of humans sharpening their canines.

“Shuri, if this Zahira is a vampire and recognizes you as one, what harm could come to you that would not eventually fall back on her?” Her mother’s warm laughter carried through kimoyo beads and the sound almost put the young vampire at ease, “You worry too much, child.”

The Princess nodded and stood up with the Hello Kitty plush in her arms, “I suppose you’re right, Mother. I’d just feel better if my senses were not so weak.” Yet another side effect of her lack of feeding, the Wakandan royal’s senses were significantly weakened. Prior to taking the heart-shaped herb, Shuri’s vampire senses were superb, one of which was detecting other vampires.

Without her senses, there was no true way for the supergenius to know if Zahira was a vampire without catching her roommate in the act.

Queen Ramonda spoke tentatively, “Why are your senses still so weak? Haven’t you been feeding?” The vampire in question pursed her lips as she looked around the room guiltily, “Of course I have, mother. I suppose it just hasn’t been enough.” 

“Now I know my daughter is not speaking of starvation after literally moving to another continent so she could feed?” Shuri’s mother asked in disbelief.

The Panther cheesed, “It was so wonderful talking to you, I will call you again soon. I love you, mother!”

“Shuri Udaku, if you hang up this call—”

Shuri grinned cheekily, “Mother, this American service is so poor, you’re breaking up–”

Cutting herself off to end the call, Shuri contemplated her mother’s words. She’d only just gotten to MIT and already she was so engrossed in her roommate and barely giving any thought to the whole reason she came.

Feeding wasn’t scary for Shuri, nor did it give her the power trip that some got from it, but it was empty.

In Wakanda, it was a frequent occurrence for people to go feeding in pairs or groups, to bond and rejoice. The only person Shuri could go feeding with was Aneka and she didn’t want to bother the already very occupied warrior.

Even if the Princess did have someone to go feeding with, there was nothing to eat here. Well, nothing she wanted to eat. Drinking from other vampires in Wakanda was much easier, there was an understanding and a balance of power. Here? There were only humans who Shuri could easily drain dry on accident, especially with how long it’s been since she last fed. Her classes started early tomorrow and she would be in a world of pain if she kept operating on an empty stomach.

Something would have to give.

The Panther jumped a bit at the sound of keys jingling in the dorm room key but relaxed once she caught sight of her roommate’s coily, pink ponytail. As Zahira made her way into the room, Shuri questioned her comfortability. There was a strong possibility that, if Zahira was a vampire, she’d clocked Shuri the second she met her.

A possibility that her secret had been uncovered.

“-ain’t no damn way you tryna come up here, Aamiina. I got classes everyday this week, majorette practice, and me and Riri be going out, ion really have time for it.” The sophomore told the person on the other line of her phone sternly as she walked into the room with a couple grocery bags.

To the Princess, it looked like Zahira clearly had other things to be concerned with. One of which was Riri.

Her Riri.

Shuri stood frozen by the door as she mulled over whether she should give Zahira a small smile or act as though she wasn’t listening to her phone call. Those bags look heavy, maybe I should help with those, Shuri mentally debated intensely with a light purse on her lips.

“Watch out, Shuri,” The biochemistry major muttered as she buzzed past a dazed Shuri frozen by the dorm room door, hands starting to cramp from carrying the bags up two flights of stairs. “I said Shuri, didn’t I? You change ya name to Shuri, Aamiina? Was talking to my roommate, not your crazy ass.”

Shuri decided it would be best to give Zahira a small smile and help her roommate with the grocery bags, moving from the door to take the grocery bags from her with a soft smile on her face. Zahira sighed in relief and returned the Panther’s smile with a small one of her own that made the transfer student’s face heat up.

Stop being gay, Shuri repremanded herself as she snapped out of the slight trance her roommate’s pretty smile put her in so she could put the groceries bags on Zahira’s black desk.

“Miina, I’m so fucking serious. If you come up here spouting my brother’s psalms and shit, you better hope Shuri here to let you in cuz I already told you I got shit to do.” The sophomore took her phone from between her shoulder and ear and dropped her bookbag off by her dorm bed.

Zahira pressed her phone into faer chest and threw a glance at the Wakandan royal fidgeting with her fingers, “Imma take this outside, let Riri know where I’m at if she come by, okay?” Shuri was already nodding before her roommate finished asking her, “Of course.”

“Bitch, you dating Riri? 190 IQ Riri??” Aamiina practically screamed into her phone.

“Yes, I’m dating Riri now, you late as hell, Miina,” The biochemistry major disclosed to her nosy niece as she slipped out of her shared dorm room, “Now can you tell me why the ritual can’t wait til summer? Ion even have Meeks no more.”

Aamiina sat up from her slouched seat on her bed back at home in South Carolina with confusion laced in her tone, “Wait, what happened with Meeks?” The sophomore looked around at all the lingering bodies in the hallway and decided to carry the conversation downstairs for discretion. 

“I was messing with this girl that live on my floor, Keyondra, right? She stole him after I told her I wanted to break it off, “ Zahira shook faer head as she thought about the situation all over again, “Can’t believe her triflin ass stole my fuckin emotional support animal.” Meeks was a pet snake that fae had a special bond with ever since she was a child, an Eastern kingsnake named after his mild-manneredness that loved to wind itself around the trellis in faer family garden. 

As time passed, Zahira realized Meeks’ importance went beyond just being a pet or the support animal that kept faer sane her freshman year, he was her familiar. The sophomore understood that without Meeks her development as a vampire would be stunted but it was never made clear how.

“You lost your fucking familar cuz of sum gay ass situationship, Zahira??” Aamiina asked in complete disbelief.

 “Don’t curse at ya auntie like that, whoa? There have been lesbian situationships that have ended worse, trust me.” Zahira really didn’t think that the situation ended that badly but Keyondra was known on campus for her dramatics. “And ya daddy told me you almost got our goddamn spirit stone stole behind some fucking white girl in ya trig class.”

Each family of vampires was known as a tribe and each tribe was different. Different powers, different practices, different elements. Zahira’s tribe was known for its earthly ties and strong roots in Hoodoo practices. One of ties included an important slab of obsidian that was imbued with the power of countless ancestors, plainly referred to as the spirit stone.

An important tie that was almost stolen directly from Aamiina’s hands.

“Ohmyfuckinggod,” The high schooler groaned in annoyance, “That nigga be telling all my business? I literally hated Ashley’s guts, y’all always tryna pin that gay shit on me.”

Zahira laughed at her niece as finally made it down the two flights of stairs, “Aamiina Martin, did you or did you not go to prom wit her? Over the adorable lil pookie pie in ya AP stats class?”

“Ugh, you and dad stay talking bout Tia, I told y’all they was not checking for me. Y’all haggard niggas stay in my business, don’t even know what–”

“Alright, alright, just tell me when I need to have Meeks back.”

“Tomorrow? The fuck? Me and dad leaving tonight. It takes two days to get to Massachusetts cuz he drive like he geriatric but you need to bond wit Meeks anyways since he just been chillin wit ol’ girl all fucking year long.” Neither her brother or her niece had told faer much of anything about the ritual that would take place in the upcoming days and with how her schedule looked fae was honestly afraid to ask.

“Chill on me, you acting like I killed that lil nigga or sum.”

“Is killing Meeks something outside of Keyondra’s capacity?” Zahira rolled her eyes at her niece’s questioning. 

“I know going on a date wit my girlfriend is beyond her capacity, so if you don’t mind I got somewhere I need to be at.” Zahira stated clearly before hanging up on Aamiina. The vampire needed at least an hour to get ready and that would be physically impossible with Aamiina running her mouth.

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“And here I was thinking you forgot about little ol’ me.” Zahira couldn’t do anything but grin at her girlfriend, leaning against a cute little black Corolla with her arms crossed, looking as fine as ever. Her outfit was simple, a deep orange jacket zipped halfway over a white short-sleeve top and some loose fitting white jeans. The engineer had on her matching Air Force 1s, diamond studs glitzing in her ears and two gold chains swinging against her chest as she pushed herself off the car.

She looked unbelievably good.

Zahira could smell the soft, earthy cologne Riri liked to use, the spearmint gum she was chewing, and even faer favorite dark chocolates in the backseat of the black car behind Riri. Fae could her Riri’s heartbeat speed up when she smiled at her, the blood thrumming in her veins, she swore she could almost hear the thoughts swirling in her girlfriend’s head. She was used to her senses being ungodly strong after she fed but, for whatever reason, it wasn’t overstimulating today. Mr. Sims had done faer a favor yet.

The vampire cheesed down at the young engineer and took note of how the engineer’s heart skipped a beat, “Hey, baby. You look….nice.”

Riri rolled her eyes playfully as she reached for Zahira’s hands with a big grin, “Just nice?”

The vampire smiled down at their joined hands so hard her dimples showed, “You look really nice, Riri.” If fae complimented her Riri any further her head would swell up like a balloon.

“Thank you, baby, you look…” The young genius trailed off as she took Zahira in all over again as the golden hour sunlight caught her, dark brown skin absolutely shining and hot pink hair appearing even more vibrant as the sunlight made the coconut oil fae coated her hair with glitz.

Zahira still had all of her gold jewelry in and it paired prettily with the sky blue dress she had on and the white and green scarf fae used to tie back her afro. Of course, feeding earlier had made faer skin even more glowy and hair even shiner, though there was no way for Riri to know that.

Still, the vampire giggled a little at her girlfriend’s speechlessness. “I guess that means I look good, too, right?”

Ironheart shrugged with a smile that made Zahira feel dizzy, “I mean, I guess.”

“Well, we gon go somewhere looking this good or you just gon stare at me all day?” The vampire teased as she leaned down to press a light kiss on Riri’s nose. Fae let of of one of Riri’s hands to hold the side of her face as she placed another kiss on her forehead. And then on her cheek. And she kept planting soft pecks all over her girlfriends’ face, even when Riri started giggling like a fairy.

Riri beamed up at her girlfriend, eyes still closed as she basked in the lingering warmth of her kisses and the usual iciness of faer hands. She opened her eyes back up slowly, still reeling from Zahira’s touch, “I was just gon stare at you, but if you wanna go somewhere there is a little place I had in mind.”

The vampire nodded, looked at her Riri and smiled so wide her face started to hurt, “I’d like that.”

#kissvamps #black!writer #kissvampswrites #pomegranate seeds series #shuri udaku fic #riri williams fic #vampire!shuri #hbcu!shuri #writing this almost killed me #i hope yall like this food like omg #riri so fine omg i need to be sedated #zahira need to call me too like #lesbian #black lesbian #black lesbians how i love you #hbc #black writer

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Wednesday...

SpaceTime 20240117 Series 27 Episode 8

How the mysterious Centaurs gain their comet-like characteristics

Close encounter with the gas giant’s Jupiter and Saturn is causing a group of frozen outer solar system asteroid like worlds to evolve comet like features.

Discovering a fast radio burst in just four days

Back in 2017 a CSIRO telescope has found its first ‘fast radio burst’ from space after less than four days of searching.

The most distant and most powerful fast radio burst ever detected

In summer 2022, astronomers detected the most powerful fast radio burst ever observed. And coming from a location that dates halfway back to the Big Bang, it also was the farthest known FRB spotted to date.

The Science Report

Claims a plant-based diet could put you at lower risk of getting COVID-19,

The ancient grinding tools that help explain the earliest chapters in human history.

Tasmanian Quolls are changing genetically in response to the decline in Tasmanian Devil populations. 

Alex on Tech at CES 2024.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. Later, Gary became part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and was one of its first presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #nasa #esa #astrophysics #spacetimewithstuartgary #starstuff #spacetime

[allie-campbell-bradshaw]

Chapter 9: Hurt

A/N: I am so glad to be back in the full swing of things. You have no idea how much I have loved watching this story develop…not to mention my craft too! I mention this in my notes for every chapter, but just in case you missed it– I do not give permission for my work to be re-posted without credibility. If you do want to post this story to your page, please be sure that you tag my account or at least mention its original source in your post. Again, thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy :)

Warnings: Swearing (It is the navy after all)

Chapter Nine: Hurt

BRADLEY’S POV

The reading quiz in chemistry was a breeze on Tuesday. Although I must give credit to Trace for that one. She knew exactly what parts to study and which paragraphs from the reading would be questioned. It was like she had a natural gift for intuition.

Although there were some highlights, the rest of the week was a drag. Allie and her two friends were not in the cafeteria at all for breakfast that week. I couldn’t not blame myself for that one. Despite Emmett continuously pestering me for updates, I didn’t bring Allie up at all. Well, I at least didn’t bring her up first. And thanks to the rigor of the academics, it was pretty easy to forget her while I was focused on my studies. Yes, I still thought about the two encounters we’ve had, but seeing her less and not thinking about her as much has made that slight hurt go away.

Flash forward to Thursday, and we were now sitting in our flight training course, scratching our heads as we read, and re-read, and re-re-read the same problems over and over, not seeming to make sense of them. It started off pretty easy, with basic takeoff and landing calculations. Now, in the middle of this fifty question test, they were referring to flight gargan that I had never heard before. There was a scenario about a wing that made no fucking sense. 

Natasha and I made eye contact with each other. She let out a deep breath as she played with the pencil in her hand, looking way more flustered than I did. Javy was sitting next to her, keeping his hands buried in his face, elbows on the table, as he struggled to get through the problem.

“Time!” Officer Tate called out in a military-esk yell. She was our professor for our aircraft interior units. We would work with her once every three weeks. This week we focused on the parts in the nose of the aircraft. She was a rather large woman, with skin deeper than Javy’s and thick black glasses. She looked to be in her mid-30’s, but I wasn’t ever good at guessing ages. 

All of us put our pencils down right away, half of the class learned the hard way that if you kept writing after she called ‘time’, you’d get a 0. Even if it was only a split second after she yelled out to us. However, I feel that our immediate sense of ending the assessment came from frustration and overall just being over it, rather than her conditioning. 

There were 8 of us in the class. Very small, but that’s what you expect when you go down such a specific, and dare I say not very popular, career path. The guy that has assumed the role of the class pet, Taylor or Tyler or Tyson (something like that) volunteered to pick the papers up, which Officer Tate gladly accepted.

Once Ty-whatever the fuck- was back in his seat, she gave us our next assignment, one that was due by the next time we saw her in September. We had to learn the names and purpose of every mechanical device that was in the middle of the airplane, right below the wings.

We were randomly put into pairs, everyone excited about their partner except for Natasha, who got put with the pet. She gave me an annoyed look before she made her way over to him, which made me smirk. She was the woman that would say what everyone was thinking. I loved it.

I quickly took her former spot, greeting Javy, my new partner as we looked over the work packet that he had to fill in. Over 14 pages stapled together, all of which had at least 2 or 3 different parts, or cords, or machines outlined for us to fill in.

Today was the only day we could do some hands-on work with the anatomy of the cessnas before we started to fly them next week. Amen! We all followed Tate to the oversized hangar that had 4 naked cessnas scattered about. All of the groups found their own to work with for the remainder of our class time. Javy and I opted for the one closest to the opened garage, letting the breeze hit our hot bodies as we looked at our aircraft.

I looked outside of the hangar, noticing the building on the opposite side of the runway. The words “U.S. Naval Academy General Hospital” stuck out in bold, slightly faded, navy letters. The outlines of the letters were covered in dirt and moss, confirming the older age of the building. It was a medium shade of brown brick, with a row of outdoor entrance rooms lining the tarmac. I remember hearing that those were used for general treatments for students that got minor injuries, not essential enough to take up any of the hospital rooms inside. The hospital had 2 levels. The bottom floor housed their emergency room wing and recovery wing from the surgeries that took place in the wards that were at the end of the wing. The second floor was used for the general hospital visits. Where people would go if they were in labor, or recovering from an illness, or receiving treatment. 

“Fuck!” I heard Javy yell next to me, as he grabbed his hand and took numerous steps backwards from the aircraft. “Watch out for that powerbox by the fuselage Bradshaw. That shit’s super magnetic. Almost took out my whole hand”. He winced as he walked away, shaking out the pain that I’m sure was radiating through his body.

“Do you need a medic?” Tate asked Javy, who was pacing now as he waved his hand, having a hop in his step, in a shit ton of pain for sure!

“No,” He answered, “I’m good. I just need a minute”.

“Let me know if you need to see a nurse,” she continued, “they can wrap it up for you if the swelling gets too bad”.

I walked over to where he was and looked at the magnetic powerbox. It was resting right in between two other parts, with less than an inch of room between its parameter and those of the other parts. It would for sure take out anyone’s hand if you didn’t pull it away in time when it latched. There was a button that you could press below it, which caused the magnetic strips to give so you could easily take the box out of the airplane.

It was the powerbox that was outlined in the fourth page of our packet. I quickly turned to that page and read up on its performance. I was in the middle of the page when I froze, thinking about Officer Tate’s words: Let me know if you need to see a nurse, they can wrap it up for you if the swelling gets too bad. 

Could it be this simple? As far as I could tell, this was the only way where I could ensure that I was in a room alone with Allie. She would be forced to listen to me then. And then I could explain all about the stupid bet, and how I just went along with it to entertain my moronic roommate, whom I loved very much. She needed to know that I was serious about getting to know her. That she was more than just a “bet”. I quickly made my way back over to the middle of the aircraft, ducking over and finding the space that the powerbox normally lay. 

I kept contradicting myself. Always finding reasons for why I should or should not do this. This would all be a waste if she wasn’t at the hospital, or if another nurse treated me, and by doing this, I was risking my flight time for the rest of the month. I wouldn’t be able to work out as much as I nurtured the injury. But she was so worth it. Talking to her, and clearing my conscience sounded like a bigger benefit in my eyes. I couldn’t live with myself if she thought I was just a run-of-the-mill fuckboy. I was far from.

Suddenly, I felt Emmett’s spirit enter my thoughts. I have to give him credit, for how grossly immature he was, I sure was learning a lot from him. He taught me how it was okay to let go, to not be serious all the time. He was surprised to learn that my senior superlative was “Best Personality”, but I gotta admit, I was a character before my mom died. She would call me her “mini goose”.

Carole rushed to grab the video camera, laughing as 9 year old Bradley, who had put on his one dress suit, his wig that he still had from his einstein costume that he wore from halloween, and his moms black reading glasses.

“Hi everybody!” Bradley began, speaking to an imaginary audience in front of him, “Harry Carey here! And it lookth like we got a very exthiting world theries on our handth”!

Bradley was imitating one of Will Ferrel’s SNL characters, recreating the scene he had just watched with his mom a few days ago. He kept going with the scene, looking over at his mom and laughing when he realized she was filming, before creating his own skit with the character:

“And if you look over here,” he grabbed the camera and turned it to Carole, who was sporting a red sundress in the summer heat, continuing with his speech; “You thee a very pretty Carole Bradthaw!” Carole struck a pose and did a twirl for the camera. “I love you mom!” Bradley yelled out to her, still holding the camera on her.

“I love you too, mini goose!” She said before walking forward and reaching for the expensive equipment.

Bradley beamed as he went back to his scenes, spending hours and hours creating SNL skits in his living room as his mom watched, seeing Nick in his eyes, knowing how much he would have loved to do this with his son.

‘JUST FUCKING DO IT’ I heard “Emmett” saying to me in my head. If he was really here, he would have thrown my hand in the aircraft long ago, carrying me bridal style towards the hospital before dumping me at Allie’s feet.

Before I could even change my mind, my hand was holding the powerbox in the aircraft, letting the force carry me forward as the magnets snapped together.

#naval aviator #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradsaw x reader #javy machado fic #rooster fanfic #top gun fanfiction #top gun #rooster imagine #maverick imagine #jake seresin #love strories #pete mitchell #natasha trace #natasha x reader #writers on tumblr

[magicalgirlmascot]

it didnt win but do you have magical girl webcomic recommendations anyway? 👀

I was planning on going out to find more if that was the one picked, but just of the ones I know already:

If you haven't read Sleepless Domain yet, that's the one I kind of think of as like the most popular one? And it's popular for a reason, it's so good. It's about a world where magical girls are just a known quantity in everyday life. Their society is built around them since they protect ordinary people from the monsters that come out at night, so for example there's a special school just for them that starts later in the day to make up for the fact that they're up all night fighting evil by moonlight, they're basically celebrities, there are branches of government specifically dedicated to them, it's just fascinating to see a world where stuff like this is taken to its logical conclusion. The story has set up some spooky and compelling mysteries, the characters are fun and relatable and gay as shit, the art and character design is super cute, I mean what can be said about Sleepless Domain that hasn't been said. It's literally so good. CONTENT WARNING: there is an early plot point involving major character death, and it becomes the driving force for a lot of the series.

ALSO THE LITTLE DANCE TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE IN CHAPTER 21 AAAAAAHHHHH MY LIL GAY HEARTCATCH FAN HEART I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

There's also XII, which I found by accident at a con last year. It's about a group of girls at a boarding school who accidentally start awakening magic powers in themselves and then others. As more people start gaining powers, the people in charge at the school start taking notice and trying to crack down on things. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and part 1 sets up some great mysteries. Part 1 (Of Magic and Muses) is fully completed, with three volumes out, and Part 2 (Of Rogues and Remnants) just has the one chapter out for now and has gone on hiatus recently, but I'd still definitely recommend giving it a read! I have all three volumes (I bought the first volume at Pretty Heroes last year, read it in one night, then went back and bought the next two volumes the next day) and a standee of Georgia because we stan a shitty delinquent bully character who becomes less shitty but still a delinquent. CONTENT WARNING: (taken directly from the website) part 1 contains bullying, strangulation, drowning, blood, general violence, partial nudity, and language, while part 2 contains animal harm, police violence, disassociation, blood, sexual situations, general violence, partial nudity, and language. I swear it's not like full Madoka or anything but it is a darker magical girl series. It's really good I promise.

There's also Elements of the Round on Webtoon, which I actually found via Art Fight of all places lol. I'm not caught up with it at all (I stopped using Webtoon around when its first chapter ended) but it's a neat story based around Arthurian myth! I love Nina, she's great. It's a bit simpler than the other two but quite good! CONTENT WARNING: familial death early on.

And another Webtoon: Let's Celebrate! is a globe-trotting magical girl story about magical girls based around holidays! When I quit using Webtoon it had three, based on Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, and New Year's. The way the monsters work is so interesting, and I love the art!! Also it's super cute and hella gay and I definitely should catch up. No content warnings from my memory.

Hopefully there are a couple here that are new to others!

#magical girls #webcomics #i'll be honest my concept of what is and isn't popular is very skewed lol i have no idea how well known these actually are

[zaritarazi]

WAIT back up people are rebranding the omegaverse to be less nasty? THAT'S THE SECRET SAUCE OF OMEGAVERSE. IT'S THE HORNY WET AND WILD WEIRD MONSTERUCKING FANTASY TROPE BUCKET what on EARTH needs rebranding

alright. for the sake of integrity i am downloading this app to investigate. this will be in my app store history forever, by the way

i'm gonna level with you i started doing a deep dive and came up here to add a read more because i've just gotten to the point of this whole thing and we're not even in the deep end yet

so first the app is asking to allow notifications. immediate deny. next, it would like me to set up a profile. i can pick from the Three Genders (female, male, other) and my age.

it would like me to choose up to 3 of my favorite genres. the genres offered to me are:

romance

billionaire

mystery

erotica

werewolf

fantasy

thriller

paranormal

now of course, my immediate concern is that erotica seems to be its own category, where i'm assuming all of these books have fucking in them and i'm going to be really upset if they aren't all smut

additionally, i don't think the billionaire category is about becoming an agent of the proletariat, infiltrating the bourgeoisie, killing the billionaire, and redistributing the wealth. in minecraft. red son superman would never stand for this

okay now my cat (tarazi) is loafing on my phone. i think she's trying to protect me.

here is the photo for the "werewolf" category, which i think raises more questions than it answers

okay so that's not what a werewolf looks like, to my knowledge

top stories in werewolf. we have "alpha knows best" and we have "mated to my alpha stepbrother" which- i looked at the summary and he's not her stepbrother yet, they're college seniors and he's the son of her mom's new boyfriend who i guess is going to be her mate? but any time you have to say "it's not technically incest" it's not great, ryan!

okay here's a top story called "alpha max." no this one is in high school, backing out immediately.

also want to mention the stepbrother one just updated an hour ago. so this is like wattpad but i think the writers get paid? it has 54 fucking chapters

so these aren't finished, published works. i mean they're published in a way, but they're not whole stories, which i guess explains why the site advertises itself as "romance & fanfiction books" when all of the content is original sort of technically? it updates like a fic site.

so! here's what we're looking for. these stories have microspecific tags, but where there is "alpha" there is "luna." i have seen this a few times- okay wait! here's something interesting. i have found a story listed in popular werewolf that is lgbtq+. This alpha has a straight mate? Okay steven whatever helps you sleep at night. now HERE is something interesting. this has "alpha" as a tag, but no "luna," but ALSO no "omega." INTERESTING.

okay, let's go into the lgbtq+ tag on here and. see if that gives us more insight

OKAY! OKAY! this DOES have stories with omegas in it! is the second one listed bts fic? yes! okay but the FIRST one that comes up is called "my omega" bills itself as having a "female" alpha and "male" omega, although this description is so incredibly, beautifully problematic that it really defies common conventions of thought

okay i skimmed the first 50 words and the "female" alpha is... gross. like misogynist gross. so we're back at square fucking one here folks

okay here's a different one where they use Omega specifically as like... an Evil Luna? which is like- there is ALMOST something here by accident. like YES! make a lilith complex! i know that's not what you're doing, but you should! there's a hint of an idea here! you're so close to doing something almost maybe a little bit interesting!

to circle back to the original question of our study, "are they making omegaverse less nasty?" i think it's a complicated answer. the people who write for this app would probably balk at being called less nasty or not smutty enough, but at the same time, they've taken conventional romance and just put a slightly furry skin on it. and i know when you criticize the romance genre people are like "so you don't think women can read?" and i'm like you know what? maybe i fucking don't. maybe none of us should read and we can all run directly back into the sea. if one fucking amoeba millions and millions of years ago hadn't gotten above its station and crawled out of the ocean, we could all be jellyfish right now, and this wouldn't be in my downloads history. forever. again. i am stuck with this in my history forever

like the omegaverse has a very storied history but it's kind of wild to restyle it in a way that makes it more misogynist. like this was invented by people watching supernatural. and somehow this crop of "writers" is worse to women

i honestly hesitate to call this omegaverse at all. i know there were articles a few years ago about legal battles in the world of omegaverse and plagiarism and all that jazz, but this is not omegaverse. this is barely werewolf. this is soulmates with some growling. and so really, what's the fucking point?

okay wait this one is 2 alphas sharing an omega. now we're back to fucking literature

#omegaverse tag #i think this app requires a deep dive but i don't have the mental defenses prepared for it #asks #swashbucklery #long post