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adventure-showdown · 7 months

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What is the Best Doctor Who Story Ever Told?

Hello everybody and welcome to this, frankly ridiculously sized, tournament between not only every televised Doctor Who story, not only the spinoffs, not only a large number of minisodes, but over a 100 audios and dozens of other stories from other corners of the EU.

Now we will have to whittle over 600 stories down to jusst one, that is a lot of matches, a lot of rounds, just a lot, until very late in the game, rounds will be posted across several days. Right now the goal is to post (up to) new matches daily from Sunday to Thursday, with Friday's a day off for my own sake, which in my current plan places the final on the 18th of December (thats right, this'll be out of date before its even over, during round 2 in fact)

You can use this form to submit propaganda for your favourite stories (or anti propaganda for ones you hate). there is a more checkable list of nominations here if you want to know what you can submit propaganda for

without further ado

ROUND 1 (Group Stage)

earlier in the year I ran some polls between televised Doctor Who stories, the top 50% for each Doctor have automatically advanced to Round 2, which is why (a) there are stories missing, and (b) the groups between the remaing stories are a lot deadlier

Every day will have groups from across the Doctor Who Universe, from Classic Who, New Who, TV Spinoffs, and the EU

Day 6

Group 1

The Twin Dilemma

Attack of the Cybermen

The Two Doctors

Timelash

Mindwarp

The Ultimate Foe

Group 2

Time and the Rani

Paradise Towers

Delta and the Bannermen

Dragonfire

Silver Nemesis

The Greatest Show in the Galaxy

Group 3

The Tsuranga Conundrum

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos

Praxeus

Can You Hear Me?

Flux

Legend of the Sea Devils

Group 4

The Ghost Monument

Arachnids in the UK

Kerblam!

Orphan 55

Ascension of the Cybermen/The Timeless Children

Revolution of the Daleks

Once, Upon Time

Survivors of the Flux

The Vanquishers

Group 5

Mutant Copper

The Custodians

Taphony of the Time Loop

Robot Gladiators

Mind Snap/Angel of the North/The Last Precinct/Hound of the Korven/The Eclipse of the Korven

Group 6

For Tonight We Might Die

The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo

Nightvisiting

Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart/Brave-ish Heart

Detained

The Metaphysical Engine or What Quill Did

The Lost

Group 7

The Last Beacon

Serenity

Rhys and Ianto's Excellent Barbecue

A Spoonful of Mayhem

The Lumiat

Too Many Masters

Group 8

Expiry Dating

Ghosts

The Cars that Ate London!

A Photograph to Remember

Psychodrome

Iterations of I

Group 9

Living Legend

The Martian Invasion of Planetoid 50

The Bekdel Test

Oh No It Isn't

The Eleven Day Empire/The Shadow Play

Smoke and Mirrors

Group 10

Dooms Day hour 1

An Adventure in Space and Time

Shada (1992) version with linking narration from Tom Baker

Shada animated reconstruction

Return to Shada webcast with 8

Group 11

Dreamland

Real Time

Scream of the Shalka

The Infinite Quest

Ronald Rat continuity announcement

The Man from M.I.5

Group 12

Dr Who and the Daleks

Dalek's Invasion of Earth 2150AD

Doctor in Distress

Doctorin' the TARDIS

I'm gonna Spend my Christmas with a Dalek

previous days under the cut

Day 1

Group 1

The Sensorites

Planet of Giants

The Web Planet

The Crusade

Mission to the Unknown

The Massacre

The Celestial Toymaker

The Savages

Group 2

Marco Polo

Galaxy 4

The Myth Makers

The Ark

The Gunfighters

The Smugglers

Group 3

The Underwater Menace

The Ice Warriors

The Dominators

The Krotons

The Seeds of Death

Group 4

The End of the World

The Unquiet Dead

Aliens of London/World War Three

The Long Game

Boom Town

Group 5

The Christmas Invasion

Love and Monsters

Gridlock

Voyage of the Damned

Planet of the Dead

Group 6

Invasion of the Bane

Revenge of the Slitheen

Eye of the Gorgon

Warriors of Kudlak

Whatever Happened to Sarah-Jane

The Lost Boy

Group 7

The Last Sontaran

The Day of the Clown

Secrets of the Stars

The Mark of the Berserker

The Temptation of the Sarah-Jane Smith

Enemy of the Bane

Group 8

Prisoner of the Judoon

The Mad Woman in the Attic

The Wedding of Sarah-Jane Smith

The Eternity Trap

Mona Lisa's Revenge

Group 9

The Marian Conspiracy

The Apocalyspe Element

The Shadow of the Scourge

The Holy Terror

Storm Warning

Group 10

Minuet in Hell

Loups-Garoux

The Chimes of Midnight

Seasons of Fear

The Time of the Daleks

Group 11

Jubilee

Neverland

Spare Parts

Creatures of Beauty

Doctor Who and the Pirates

Group 12

Omega

Master

Zagreus

Scherzo

The Natural History of Fear

Group 13

The Room With All the Doors

Grey Matter

Lepidoptery for Beginners

Something Borrowed

Nothing at the End of the Lane

Group 14

Divided Loyalties

Fear of the Dark

Fear Itself

12 Doctors, 12 Stories

Scratchman

The Stranger

Group 15

Vampire Science

Alien Bodies

Seeing I

The Scarlet Empress

Unnatural History

Interference

Group 16

The Blue Angel

The Burning

The Turing Test

The Year of Intelligent Tigers

The City of the Dead

The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

Day 2

Group 1

The Highlanders

The Faceless Ones

The Abominable Snowmen

The Wheel in Space

The Space Pirates

Group 2

Ambassadors of Death

Colony in Space

Day of the Daleks

The Time Monster

Frontier in Space

Death to the Daleks

Group 3

Doctor Who and the Silurians

The Claws of Axos

The Mutants

Planet of the Daleks

The Monster of Peladon

Planet of Spiders

Group 4

New Earth

Tooth and Claw

The Girl in the Fireplace

Fear Her

The Shakespeare Code

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks

The Lazarus Experiment

The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky

Group 5

Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel

The Idiot's Lantern

The Doctor's Daughter

The Next Doctor

Group 6

The Gift

The Nightmare Man

The Vault of Secrets

Death of the Doctor

The Empty Planet

Group 7

Lost in Time

Goodbye, Sarah-Jane Smith

Sky

The Curse of Clyde Langer

The Man Who Never Was

Group 8

Everything Changes

Day One

Ghost Machine

Cyberwoman

Small Worlds

Group 9

Arrangements for War

The Harvest

Faith Stealer

Caerdroia

Terror Firma

Group 10

Singularity

Other Lives

The Kingmaker

The Girl Who Never Was

The Condemned

The Doomwood Curse

Group 11

The Magic Mousetrap TIE

The Company of Friends: Benny's Story

The Company of Friends: Fitz's Story

The Company of Friends: Izzy's Story

The Company of Friends: Mary's Story TIE

A Death in the Family

Group 12

Robophobia

The Silver Turk

1963: The Assassination Games

The Widow's Assassin

Dalek Soul

The Grey Man of the Mountain

Group 13

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Anachrophobia

The Book of the Still

The Crooked World

Camera Obscura

The Gallifrey Chronicles

Group 14

The Left-Handed Hummingbird

Human Nature

Lungbarrow

The Blood Cell

Engines of War

Group 15

The Book of War

This Town Will Never Let Us Go

Of the City of the Saved

Doctor Who and Shada (fan novelisation)

Harvest of Time

Group 16

The Star Beast

Voyager

The World Shapers

Ground Zero

The Flood

Day 3

Group 1

Robot

Revenge of the Cybermen

The Android Invasion

The Sunmakers

Meglos

Group 2

The Brain of Morbius

Image of the Fendahl

The Power of Kroll

The Creature from the Pit

Nightmare of Eden

Group 3

Victory of the Daleks

The Curse of the Black Spot

Closing Time

Asylum of the Daleks

The Bells of Saint John

Name of the Doctor

Group 4

The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood

Night Terrors

The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

A Town Called Mercy

Hide

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

The Crimson Horror

Group 5

Countrycide

Greeks Bearing Gifts

They Keep Killing Suzie

Random Shoes

Out of Time

Group 6

Combat

Captain Jack Harkness

End of Days

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

Sleeper

To the Last Man

Group 7

Meat

Adam

Reset

Dead Man Walking

A Day in the Death

Something Borrowed

Group 8

The Blood of the Daleks

Horror of Glam Rock

Immortal Beloved

Phobos

No More Lies

Group 9

Human Resources

To the Death

The Eleven

The Red Lady

The Galileo Trap

Group 10

The Gift

The Sonomancer

Absent Friends

The Eighth Piece

The Doomsday Chronometer

Group 11

The Crucible of Souls

Ship in a Bottle

Songs of Love

The Side of the Angels

Stop the Clock

Group 12

The Fallen

The Land of Happy Endings

Old Friends

Space in Dimension Relative and Time

Time in Reverse

Group 13

The Zero Imperative

The Devil of Winterborne

Unnatural Selection

Ghosts of Winterborne

When to Die

Group 14

Summoned by Shadows

More Than a Messiah

In Memory Alone

The Terror game

Breach of the Peace

Eye of the Beholder

Day 4

Group 1

Planet of Evil

The Invisible Enemy

The Invasion of Time

The Armageddon Factor

Destiny of the Daleks

Group 2

The Sontaran Experiment

The Masque of Mandragora

The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Underworld

The Leisure Hive

Full Circle

Group 3

The Lodger

The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People

Let's Kill Hitler

Cold War

Nightmare in Silver

Group 4

Into the Dalek

Robot of Sherwood

Kill the Moon

The Pyramid at the End of the World

The Eaters of light

Group 5

From Out of the Rain

Adrift

Fragments

Exit WOunds

Children of Earth

Miracle Day

Group 6

K9 and Company

Regeneration/Liberation/The Korven

The Bounty Hunter

Sirens of Ceres

Fear Itself

The Fall of the House of Gryffen

Group 7

Escape from Kaldor

Better Watch Out/Fairytale in Salzburg

Companion Piece

Day of the Master

Paradox of the Daleks

Inside Every Warrior

Group 8

Stranded

UNIT Dating

Here Lies Drax

The Love Vampires

Albie's Angels

Group 9

Solitaire

Peri and the Piscon Paradox TIE

The Cold Equations TIE

The Last Post

The Scorchies

Nightshade

Group 10

Death and the Queen

The Sword of the Chevalier

No Place

The Creeping Death

Out of Time (individual story)

Wink

Group 11

Wartime

Zygon: When Being You Just Isn't Enough

Downtime

Sil and the Seeds of Andor

Group 12

Wall's Sky Ray lollies advert

Merry Christmas Doctor Who

Step into the 80s/On Through the 80s

A Fix With Sontarans

Dalek Weetabix advert

Famin Appeal 1985

Group 13

The Shrink

Search Out Space

Dimensions in Time

Emperor of the Daleks

The Curse of Fatal Death

Day 5

Group 1

Four to Doomsday

Terminus

Warriors of the Deep

The Awakening

Resurrection of the Daleks

Group 2

The Visitation

Black Orchid

Time-Flight

Arc of Infinity

The King's Demons

Group 3

Listen

The Girl Who Died

Sleep No More

Knock Knock

The Lie of the Land

The Empress of Mars

Group 4

The Caretaker

In the Forest of the Night

Last Christmas

The Woman Who Lived

The Return of Doctor Mysterio

Twice Upon a Time

Group 5

The Jaws of Orthrus

Dream-Eaters

Curse of Anubis

Oroborus

Alien Avatar

Group 6

The Aeolian

The Last Oak Tree

Black Hunger

The Cambridge Spy

Lost Library of Ukko

Group 7

Square One

First Days of Phaidon

Gallifrey IV

Warfare

Unity

Group 8

The Queen of Time

Paradise 5

The Elite

I am the Master

Forever Fallen

A Full Life

Group 9

The Fifth Citadel

The Forgotten Villafe

Peshka

The Concrete Cage TIE

Troubled Waters TIE

The Hollow King

Group 10

Born Again

Tardisodes

Time Crash

Space/Time

The Naked Truth

Night and the Doctor

Group 11

Pond Life

P.S.

The Great Detective

The Bells of Saint John: A prequel

The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later

Clara and the TARDIS

Group 12

Rain Gods

Night of the Doctor

The Last Day

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

The Doctor's Meditation

Farewell Sarah-Jane

#doctor who #round 1 #it took so long to type all of these up

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rose-pearls · 2 years

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Dawn - Eject

Summary: a heart to heart with Rooster helps to realise something and an exercise turns wrong.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 - Part 5, Epilogue

The sun is hitting hard on our bodies as we get ready to play Dogfighting football, Maverick had apparently decided that we needed a day off and we had to start working like a team.

During his explanation I can’t help but look in the direction of Bob, he looks a bit down and I can’t help but want to reach for him but after the last two days I don’t even know what to say to him.

We haven’t been speaking and I don’t know how to talk to him, how to get him to talk to me.

Maverick separates us in teams, and I don’t know if I’m disappointed to not be on Bob’s team or relieved because that means that I don’t have to talk to him or feel the tension.

Jake is with Bob, and he looks like he’s trying to give his teammates a pep talk but Phoenix stops him by hitting him with the ball.

“Alright everyone get set, go!”, everyone starts running towards each other and somehow my brother manages to take the ball and he runs like a headless chicken to the finish line and passes it swiftly to Phoenix who scores the point.

Guess these two will be our greatest enemy. Bob is laughing at the two doing a victory dance and Phoenix gives him the ball while passing.

The game continues and we quickly forget the scores and our teams. Rooster passes the ball to Bob and the WSO runs for it, and he makes a point. Everyone starts cheering and I can’t help the bright smile coming on my face and feeling proud of Bob proving how good he is.

Rooster takes him on his shoulders and shakes him while we all chant Bob’s name and as Bob looks happier than he ever did, I just want to be close to him once again and be the reason that he smiles that bright every day. Not realizing that I didn’t even think of the shirtless and sweaty Rooster that was all day next to me.

Maverick screams at us to come back and to get ready for tonight, quickly everyone starts picking up their stuff and we are all walking towards the Hard Deck.

Jake challenges Bob into a contest and I have to stop myself from going over there and ask if I can participate, Bob needs some space away from me at least that’s what I believe.

“Trouble in paradise?”, I tense up at Rooster’s voice and feel the need to tell him to go to hell, but I needed to be a professional and not let my emotions get the best of me.

“It’s none of your business Bradshaw.”, Rooster sighs and I feel a bit bad.

“Can we talk?”, I don’t know why but I nod, and Rooster seems to be relieved that I agreed and didn’t put on a fight.

As we pass the others to go outside, I see my brother looking at me disappointed and somehow that doesn’t even nearly hurt as much as seeing Bob laughing with Phoenix and letting her hold on to him. I quickly catch Bob’s gaze and a frown appears on his face, but I don’t have time to read his expression before the door closes behind Rooster and me.

“I wanted to apologize.”, I didn’t expect this conversation at all, and Rooster must see that because he chuckles awkwardly.

“I was an asshole back then, when we broke up and you didn’t deserve that.”, it starts getting difficult to breath after his words and I can’t really look at him, but he continues like he wasn’t expecting me to answer him.

“You were always there, and I got scared, scared that I would get attached to you like my mother was attached to my dad. And that I could lose you like we lost my dad, and I know it’s not an excuse because I hurt you. But in that moment the only thing going through my mind was seeing my mother destroyed over my father’s death and I couldn’t do that to you, and I couldn’t go through that either if anything happened to you. So, I guess the only thing I found to do was to break up with you.”, tears are welling up as I look at him nearly in tears and he takes a deep breath while letting out a wet chuckle.

“I preferred to lose you willingly then losing you without a warning.”, his words hit me hard and the tears starts falling down my cheeks, that idiot always managed to make me cry.

“I know that you are not in love with me anymore and we both grew up, but I still care about you and if you’ll have me, I would love for us to get to know each other again.”, he looks shy at the question and right there he looks like the real Bradley Bradshaw not that destroyed boy.

Even though he’s back to being himself I don’t feel the same way I did back then, I just feel fondness but no butterflies, no feeling of wanting to kiss him or telling him I’m in love with him.

I love him, but I’m not in love with him and somehow that thought brings me peace.

“I would like that.”, the tears have stopped, and we both smile at each other. Rooster comes closer to me and takes me into one of his bear hugs. We stay there hugging each other for a bit of time but I feel the need to tell him something before we go back inside.

“You deserve love Rooster.”, I feel him tense up in my arms, but he stays there holding me.

“You deserve the love that your parents had, maybe for them it ended soon but I’m sure that your mother or father wouldn’t have changed a thing if they could. One day you’ll find that person and I’ll be right by your side you big idiot.”, Rooster chuckles softly but a few tears fall on my shoulder and I squeeze him tighter.

“Common lets get inside and enjoy everything before training tomorrow.”, Rooster laughs and we both go back inside the bar where my brother is at the pool table but Bob is nowhere to be seen. Jake looks at us as we enter, and I go to him knowing that we need to talk before he explodes again.

“So, how was your talk with Rooster?”, he says it in a cold and bitter way that he only reserves to Rooster since the day he hurt me.

“It was good he finally told me why he broke up with me and we agreed to try and become friends.”, Jake seems surprised and looks at me with a worried gaze.

“Are you okay with that?”, I nod slowly but I send him a reassuring smile.

“Never been more okay. I’m not in love with him anymore.”, my brother smiles softly before taking me into a side hug.

“I’m proud of you.”, he whispers it softly, but I hug him closer at his words. We stay like that for a few seconds before Jake let’s go and looks at me.

“What about Bob.”, I take a deep breath at that, and he looks worried.

“He ended the fake relationship, said I deserved better and that I was easy to love.”, Jake smiled softly at that.

“But that he had to protect himself.”, a frown appears on my face and Jake looks worried for a moment before softly asking the question I hoped he wouldn’t ask.

“What did you tell him?”

“I didn’t say anything, he was gone before I could say anything.”, my brother sighs and looks back at the ocean.

“You should talk to him, I know for a fact that the two of you haven’t talked these last days so talk to him.”, I groan and close my eyes hoping that when I open them everything will be easier.

“Why can’t he come to me?”, Jake scoffs and as I look at him, he seems a bit annoyed.

“Because it’s your turn to show him that you care about him, I’m pretty sure that you love him, Dawn.”, I choke on my breath at my brother’s words and look at him surprised.

“You may not know it now, but you do Dawn.”, I don’t know what to answer, I just feel confused.

Do I love Bob?

Sure, I care about him, he’s the sweetest guy I’ve ever met, and he always seems to be there when I need him but is that enough to say that I love him. I shake my head and hear Jake sigh.

“Think about it but don’t take too long he’s a great guy and it won’t be long before someone else’s realizes how great he is. I mean I could date him, that’s how great he is.”, I start laughing and my brother grins mischievously at me.

“Stop saying great, please!”, we both start laughing and after staying there looking at the ocean Jake insists on taking me back to my room to be sure I’m safe.

The night of sleep isn’t one of the greatest, weird dreams filled with planes, a blonde guy, and blue eyes. I’m glad to be able to go to the meeting to take my mind of off everything but somehow the mission got moved up a week and we need to train even harder than we already did.

The first to go up are Coyote, Phoenix, and Bob. They will be the first one to try the high climb and the missile drop, I have a bad feeling about this, but I can’t seem to understand why. I hesitate to go talk to Bob but stop myself, telling myself he doesn’t need the distraction.

We all settle around the radio to listen to them in the air and suddenly Maverick appears, but they decide to let it go and continue. They don’t manage to hit the target, but I couldn’t care less I just wanted them to be safe, especially Bob.

“Coyote, do you copy? Coyote?!”, everyone starts to get even closer to the radio and I can see on my brother’s face that he isn’t alright, Coyote has been his best friend since the start of Top Gun and now he could potentially die.

I put my hand on his shoulder and he takes my hand in his and even though the force of his grip is too strong for me I let him hold on to me.

“I’m alright, I’m alright.”, everyone let’s out a sigh of relief and I feel Jake relax and letting out a breath of relief.

“That was close.”, Phoenix voice says trough the radio and everyone nods at the statement.

“Too close, let’s go back.”, the whole room let’s out a sigh of relief at Maverick’s answer.

“Bird strike!”, we hear Phoenix scream trough the radio and everyone is back on their feet close to the radio.

“Phoenix left engine is on fire.”, Bob’s voice is strong, but the panic can be heard, and I feel like someone has a grip on my heart.

“Stopping left engine.”, I try to breathe again, they still had their right engine, they could make it home.

“Right engine is on fire Phoenix!”, Bob’s voice is once again strong, but the panic is louder, and I can’t breathe, I feel Jake taking my shoulders and setting me down on the couch and coming in front of me.

“It’s okay, they know what they are doing.”, he whispers trying to get through me, but the panic doesn’t stop.

“We are on fire Phoenix, we are on fire!”, this time it’s full-on panic in Bob’s voice and I want to go on a plane and save them, I can’t listen to Bob like that, scared like he can’t do anything, just like I can do nothing but listen to Bob’s scared voice.

“Jake.”, I whimper, and he takes me into his arms holding me to his chest, everyone seems to be in a state of shock as the final words of Phoenix and Bob go through the radio.

“Eject. Eject.”, Jake is holding me even tighter, and I try to stop myself from trembling, but my hands are shaking like leaf’s.

“I can’t lose him Jake, I can’t, I – I can’t.”, my brother tries to sooth me while I repeat the same words repeatedly.

“He’s alright, they ejected.”, I nod slowly but somehow can’t believe what he says.

Rooster’s dad died when they ejected, what if that happened to Bob. Bob with his sweet smile, with his strong and yet soft hands. Bob who had agreed to a fake relationship without even knowing me, Bob who told me that I deserved the best and yet all I wanted was him.

And like a slap in the face, I realized that I’m in love with Bob Floyd and that he may be dead somewhere and I didn’t even have the chance to tell him.

Only one or two chapters to go I don't know yet :)

Taglist: @luckyladycreator2 , @flashyourgreeneyesatme

#bob floyd fanfiction #bob floyd x y/n #bob floyd x reader #bob floyd #bob top gun #bradley bradshaw x y/n #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #rooster fanfiction

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jooniens · 1 year

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January 2023 Wrap-Up

I really think I should just change my blog name to "I am only slightly late posting this." I think it would fit the vibe better.

ANYWAYS! I had a really good reading month in January despite being on vacation for the first week of the month. I read a total of 4 books and some were better than others

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet

This was my first read of the year and I am glad it was. I loved this book and I really don't have much to complain about. I loved how character focused this book was and yet it still managed to keep me interested (unlike other books I read this month). I am not sure if there was any overarching plot but this was still a fun read especially for those who love historical fiction!

4/5 Stars

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

The third installment in the An Ember in the Ashes series. This was my favorite so far. Most of the book felt like it dragged on and it was very focused on character development which usually doesn't bother me but this whole series is very action packed and the slower pace of this installment tripped me up. However, the last 2/3rds of this book had me reeling and screaming into my pillow. And the ending knocked me right off my feet. It is easily one of the best endings I have ever read.

4.5/5 Stars

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

This is a re-read. This year I am focusing less on reading new books and more on finishing series. I have only read the first 3 books in this series so I felt justified to read it again. I watched the show with my mom and we both loved it and now that the second season is coming out I want to read the entire series PLUS the six of crows duology by the time it comes out in March (This is definitely a long shot I know). I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I had read it when I hadn't really developed my reading tastes and loved everything I read. This book is older and I just was expecting it to be an eh book. I loved it, is it the greatest work of literature? No, but I love it.

4/5 Stars

Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

Well, not every book I read this month could be a hit. I don't think I had high expectations going into this but this book severely disappointed me. This is marketed as enemies to lovers but they were kissing by page 120. I thought oh maybe there is some backstabbing and there was but they still maintained feelings? Not only that but this book is too damn long. This book was 505 pages long and didn't get good until the last 100 ish pages. I feel like this book tried to be character driven and it was but to the point to where there was no plot. I was simply reading about people doing stuff.

2/5 Stars

As I mentioned before, this year I am focusing on finishing series and clearing out my TBR so I will be reviewing a lot more sequels and other installations in series. I may also be re-reading some books so that I can finish books that I read in previous years.

Once again, I am sorry for posting late. I will see you guys in my February Mid-month update (no TBR this month, sorry!)

Much love,

June <3

#readers #currently reading #read #reader #reading #book review #fantasy #fantasybooklover #fantasybooktok #booktok #bookstagram #bookworm #bookstore #books #book #currentlyreading #tbrlist #tbr

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fluffyotters · 2 years

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My favorite animes list

My favorite animes that i’’ve finished/plan to that don’t include the big ones (Bleach, Naruto, Dragonball, One Piece, etc which haven’t ever really appealed to me)

1. Yugioh Original and all series including Zexal, Vrains, and Sevens.

The true classic anime and I absolutely love all the protaganists, Also everything will be solved by awesome card duels.

2. Gurren Lagann

My first non yugioh anime that wasn’t a Ghibli movie. Absolutely incredible. Kamina is one of the most inspirational people and so is Simon

3. Saint Seiya, Saint Seiya Omega, Saint Seiya the Lost Canvass, Saint Seiya Knights of the Zodiac,

Warrior Astrological saints fighting the gods? Yes please. Also I love all the spin offs and Omega and the new Kotz are wonderful and unfairly hated on.

4. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures

Its in the title. Each different Jojo is wonderful and unique and they’re all amazing and this stuff is just wild.

5. Tiger and Bunny

I think the first modern superhero anime that lead to My Hero Academy and Such. I absolutely love Kotetsu and Barnaby’s becoming partners and also the being a hero versus hero celebrity and advertisement capitalism.

6. My Hero Academy

I love superheroes and powered people and them wanting to be a hero. Kirishima and Izuku are absolutely incredible and Kirishima is just one of the greatest inspirational characters ever.

7. Fire Force

Fire powers, cults, religion, the threat of people spontaneously going infernal and bursting into flames, heroism, it is just one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

The only thing that really keeps it from being a great on the level of masterpiece (which it is in literally everything else) is the sheer female “fanservice” cringe. A lot of anime tend to do have at least some to appeal to the more perverted folk but Fire force has some of the worst I’ve ever seen which is saying something, Not on the levels of Bastard!! (I’m amazed that was something that was ever printed in a general audience let alone recently animated) or Enemy Combatants will be dispatched but definitely up there which is honestly really disappointing since Fire Force is not that type of story.

On the other hand the male fanservice is glorious.

8. Sk8 to Infinity

Skateboarding and Love. Reiki and Langa are Love as are Joe and Cherry. Adam is also one of the coolest most theatrical messed up people.

9. Love After World Domination

Super sentai parody. Just think power rangers except less focused on the battles because Red Gelato and Reaper Princess are on opposing teams and just doing a secret relationship. It is completely ridiculous, awesome, and so adorable I’m just screaming. I wish there was more and even could do complete anime original material I wish for because even the set up is something you can make multiple entire seasons worth .

10. Tomodachi Game

Yuuichi is something else. It’s all a friend game which is more important friends or money and the twists keep coming. He’s one of the scariest protaginist “hero’s” i’ve ever seen that were actually the (more or less) good guy mains.

11. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War

Also one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Both adorable and I want to also friendly choke the life out of them too to get them to admit because they’re all so adorably stupid smart people and just Shirogane and Shinomiya circling around totally in love and trying to make the other admit it. Also the narrator is just glorious funny as heck and the openings are incredible lol.

12. Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Saiki is God. Utterly amazing one of the funniest greatest animes haha breaks the fourth walls, sheer comedic brilliance, incredible characters, Saiki’s logical going under things, and being complete tsundere in the actual way of how much he loves his friends lol.

13. One Punch Man

It’s One Punch Man. Utterly hilarious and funny and just awesome characters and how one can still have an awesome story when Saitama can one punch everything except for like the final boss which doesn’t last two and be victorious. His power is so phenomenal he has to be nerfed by his complete oblivious apathy for well obvious reasons. People need to stop ranking power levels that involve Saitama though: there is no scale he either always wins in his universe or would probably get his butt kicked in other universe if he doesn’t have his one punch. It just doesn’t work.

14. Kuroko no Basketball

The sports anime. Basketball with essentially superpowers in awesome ways but still played realistically. Everyone is incredible!

15. Hinomaru Sumo

I never thought I would be interested in Sumo until this. I’m not into sports in real life anyways but these animes are incredible. And Hinomaru Sumo is just supremely underrated also one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Tradition, Honor, Spirit, as well as differing body types and incredible characters. Gojo Yuma’s genuine repentance arc is also one of the best things i’ve ever seen and probably only just below Zuko the Avatar’s being on a smaller scale but he actually repents and atones and actually apologizes and works on himself which is rare. Lots of life lessons and characters, in addition to wrestling and it was just wow!

16. Kengan Ashura

Martial Arts, incredible bodies, and awesome characters!

17. Baki

Same though Kengan Ashura is more realistic power based.

18. How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

A political anime that was a good brevity of realpolitik while also being really enjoyable where its politics but wouldn’t get too stuck on it either. Of course some things would be a lot harder to get done realistically. It turns the normal hero from another world trope on its head and instead brought a leader who isn’t a fighter but a thinker and capable ruler. This is the ideal ruler and wow if only all politicians and leaders could work with such honor and integrity but he’s also not blind to those who don’t and outmanuevers them. It’s just so good!

19. Sword Art Online

Love it or hate it, deeply influential and fantastic. I love Kirito, Klein, Asuna and everyone.

20. HunterXHunter

One of the greatest series of all time. When you think about it the world is utterly horrifying truly but it’s cool ad wacky and utterly amazing characters.

21. Vinland Saga

OH my gosh my newest anime and one of the best things i’ve ever seen. Truly a masterpiece in every way, even before Part 2 comes out. It just has freaking everything: deep philosophy, religion, battles, politics, love, vikings, etc. Askeladd is one of the smartest, most ruthless, but most weirdly relatable villains ever, Thorfinn is how you do an angry feral blonde seeking revenge for the death of his father but also then starts to see Askeladd as his father figure etc, the sheer character developement that will go on in Prince Canute etc.

22. Jujitsu Kaisen

Magic and Martial arts, and demon spirits. Yuji is adorable and I love everyone!

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macaroni-n-shiftyknees · 3 months

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"this is a terrible idea" my friend bibblity skibbity says as we slowly lift off the parking lot concrete. "this is just a really terrible idea. possibly the worst idea you've ever had, which is frankly impressive."

I ignore these protests as I maneuver our newly acquired (stolen) Ford f-150 into the air.

"bibbitly skibbley, you just don't understand. my genius is immeasurable and, this...THIS is my greatest scheme yet. 'permanently borrowing' this Ford f-150 will finally put us in the position we need to win this war. don't you want to finally beat the EGG?" I say awesomely as I raise us higher. bibble skibbidey shifts uncomfortably in the backseat of the Ford f-150, but wisely elects not to push further.

=-°-=

me and bigbble skrible have been best friends ever since we locked eyes 30 minutes ago behind the dumpsters in the Ford dealership parking lot. turns out we both have a common enemy, EGG. stands for Egregious Goat Garbage. freaking hate those guys.

obviously the correct course of action for this situation was to immediately snatch sir bilibble skibbity and their rat bag, and throw them into the backseat of the ford f-150 I had prepared beforehand. they did start screaming and pounding the windows, but I knew that was just them being their silly bibbgleogiey skrimmbmifle self.

they calmed down after I gave them some very expired nyquil to drink and explained my genius plan. we were going to fly above the EGG base of operEGGtions and rain down PAIN on those dang goats. I daydreamed about this as I absentmindedly flew the Ford f-150 towards our first stop. IKEA.

-=-=-=-=-

after exiting the IKEA, and running over a few small children I couldn't see due to the 5 foot bumper height - all part of the ✨Ford experience✨- we finally arrived at the EGG base. I just saw it on the horizon when bimbl srubble, silent for most of the drive, decided to speak up. "I'm sorry, but I can't let this go on any longer. you are mentally unstable and should not be driving any sort of car, let alone one with jet engines duct taped to the bottom."

bumbblo skrubble was betraying me!!!!! my amazing genius plan, devastated by the betrayal of my best friend!!!! "no bimb don't do this to me" I begged. "my whole life I have been building to this. the final battle. and it starts with dropping this IKEA table/improvised bomb on that DANG BASE!"

"my dude that is a Amazon warehouse. you need help. please drive us back to the Ford dealership. my rats are scared. they are squirming in their bag." cried blumbuoo srumple. " don't make me force you!" "FORCE ME??? ME???" I yelled in rage. " you are a FAKE FRIEND. I hope your rats cry themselves to sleep tonight. I cant do this anymore. this is where it ends, Sir Blump Scrump." Shaking from the rage of this terrible betrayal, I steer the car into a large telephone pole. as we go down, I say my last line.

"blim scrum, I thought I knew you. but you are a stinky stinky traitor. in the words of someone probably, 'give me IKEA bombs or give me death'."

#inspiration #writeblr #my writing #uh man idek #idk how to tag this #i wrote this for school #btw #ao3 #short story #harry potter #fanfic #words #life inspo #inspiring words #inspiring quotes #lactose intolerance

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mudaship39 · 1 year

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Main villains of my the third installment of my BIPOC and QTIPOC Futurism Project

Rival and Enemy of the Asian Pasifika and Afro Latine Native main character is Lucas Bartholomew Chamberlain. He is a cishet male. He is white and non-native. He is European Scandinavian Swedish and Norwegian. His real name is Johan Peterson. Lucas was an attempt to Americanize and Earth centric himself as a politician of the Terran political system. He is abled bodied, allistic, & neurotypical. He is 5′11. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. He has a crew cut hair style. He has a lean and athletic body type. He is 160 pounds. He is Roman Catholic. He speaks Swedish, English, German, Spanish, & French. He is conservative and alt right. He is upper class rich. He is an intergalactic scientist, inventor, & engineer. He has a masters in biomedical engineering and PHD in xeno biology. He went to college off planet to Ivy League University on the planet Titan. He played high school varsity baseball and men’s collegiate football. Johan comes from a super wealthy family that owns various iron and diamond mines and refineries across the galaxy. They mine asteroids and comets in space for space ore as well. The parents are still alive but both were only children. He is also an only child. He has holographic military tattoos of the Earth and Terran Dominion military as a Earth Space Marine Corps veteran. He has holographic military tattoos on his forearms. He is a former super soldier. He was an officer in the Earth and Terran Dominion military. He was a colonel. He is a scientist, inventor, & engineer. He built weapons and tech for the Earth and Terran Confederation. A lot of the superweapons the Earth and Terran Dominion used for their war crimes were built by him. Like the Star Crusher a weapon that doomed the entire Regulus System to be vaporized by a supernova. To show the universe the might of the Earth and Terran Dominion military. It is why the Sol Vega and Polaris System all surrendered overnight. After seeing only a tear in the fabric of space was left. The screams of billions wiped out in an act of intergalactic genocide can still be heard across space and time. He is an intergalactic politician. He is a politician who is a remnant of the Earth government and Terran Confederation government as a former senator of the Earth High Command representing the United States. He is an intergalactic businessman and business mogul who is the CEO and chairman of several intergalactic businesses. He is a trillionaire. He is a capitalist and plutocrat who hoards wealth on a cosmic scale. He is like billionaire Jeff Bezos but on steroids. He is rich by intergalactic standards that outshines Tony Stark, Oliver Queen, and Bruce Wayne. Unlike these heroes this supervillain and anti-villain is not a philanthropist or humanitarian. He pretends to be a philanthropist that gives money to charity and holds fancy balls while using donations to increase his wealth. He has a carefully crafted and built facade and pretense. He has a mask of being kind, compassionate, humble, open-minded, progressive, charitable, modest, & tolerant. He is actually cold, selfish, egotistical, bigoted, arrogant, intolerant, boastful, envious, bigoted, over confident, greedy, & pretentious. He is transphobic to Kana’i/Attahua’s Indigenous third genders of mahu and fakaleiti as someone Norwegian Scandinavian mirroring how his people treat Indigenous Sami. He is ruthless, unkind, & cruel as a supervillain and antihero. He has a god complex. He likens himself to demigods and gods of antiquity. He likens himself to the greatest men who ever lived. He believes himself to be the hero and champion humanity deserves. He views humans as weak. He hates that he is half human. He joins the super soldier program for this reason. To get rid of what he deems as human weakness. It is why he marries Daphne, a superhuman with bionic enhancements and cybernetic implants. He is a former superhero. He has delusions of grandeur. He is a megalomaniac. He is a supervillain, antihero, & anti-villain whichever serves him best. He has no allegiance to anyone or anything but himself. This personality was made worse when he found out that he is a demigod. He is a metahuman with superhuman: strength, speed, durability, & intelligence. The queer and trans Asian Pasifika and Latine Native superhero Kana’i Makoa Latu/Ataahua Kamalani Latu is his archenemy and rival. He/she/they is his arch enemy as he/she/they and Joanna Jacobson exposed him for who he truly was. Lucas Bartholomew Chamberlain is a former disgraced member of the superhero conglomerate Sentinels. He uses his background as a scientist, inventor, & engineer. He/she/they are a metamorph, changeling, & shapeshifter as an alien hybrid and a water elemental as a demigod. He is a demigod child of a Norse Jotunn goddess Hela. He has power over fire and decaying things. Powers he used to his advantage when conquering planets for the settler colonizer regime. He also uses forbidden dark magic against him/her/them in their battles. When he uses the power of death his eyes blaze jade. When he uses the power of fire his hand burn crimson. He wears divine armor as a demigod. The divine armor has a long red gaudy and pretentious cape. His armor is red, black, & gold. He wears a black domino mask and green face mask. In his demigod form his short hair turns into a short dutch braid. Lucas as a former politician was the mastermind behind many of the actions of the Earth and the Terran Confederation. He used his power, influence, control, & power to hurt people. So many of the cruel actions that Earth and the Terran Confederation did with their colonialism, imperialism, neocolonialism, & occupation was passed by him as a politician behind the scenes. Lucas as an inventor, scientist, & engineer in the shadows built many of the weapons that Earth and the Terran Confederation used to maintain their hegemony and dominion. He was one of the leaders of the Forces of Evil the supervillain alliance that threatens the omniverse. He left them when they no longer served his goals.

His wife is Daphne Lacroix-Chamberlain. She is white. She is European French. She is 6’1”. She is 150 lbs. She has black hair, green eyes, and fair skin. She was born to wealthy parents. She is secretly a journalist and reporter for a conservative Earth and Terran Dominion news outlet the Galactic Star. Publicly she is a model, mogul, and a fashion designer. She is female and AFAB. She is cis. She is bisexual. She is abled bodied. She is neurotypical. She is allistic. She is an atheist. She speaks French, Spanish, and English. She is upper class. She is conservative and alt right. She has a masters degree in journalism and business. She is a graduate of Harvard Ivy League School. She played women’s lacrosse. In high school she played women’s varsity volleyball. She has long hair tied in a french braid hairstyle. She has holographic military tattoos of the Earth and Terran Dominion military as a former Earth Space Navy SEAL. She is a former super soldier. She has holographic military tattoos on her back. She was an officer in the Earth and Terran Dominion military. She was a major. Her facade is that she is kind, compassionate, understanding, & tolerant. She is considered a good person for all the charity she does as a philanthropist and humanitarian. How xenophobic Earthlings are to displaced not earth born diaspora living off world on alien planets is her and her media’s doing as a reporter and journalist. Daphne's mom is a model and her father is the owner of an intergalactic media conglomerate. She is the oldest of three girls and she has a lot of cousins who she ranges from loving to ignoring. Her parents are still alive. She and Johann are in a monogamous relationship and married. They have four kids. Which are a boy and a girl that they adopted and twin boys. The twins they had via surrogate. They are biologically theirs though. They mostly use the adoptees as trophies and PR stunts. Their adoptive children are aliens that they adopted to prove to society that they aren’t xenophobic. They treat their biological kids the same way and abuse all four verbally and emotionally. She and Johann live in a penthouse in a five star hotel in Neo New York, a mansion in New Stockholm, & a beach house in Neo Honolulu (before land back happened and Hawaii was made an independent kingdom again and not just stolen land in an occupied state of the United States). She is a superhuman. She is the arch enemy of Adrianna Acosta, the Latine Native love interest of the Asian Pasifika and Latine Native main character, Kana’i Makoa Latu/Attahua Kamalani Latu. She has bionic enhancements and cybernetic implants. She, as a superhuman, uses stolen alien technology against Adrianna. She also uses advanced hard light plasma weapons such as guns and melee weapons to go toe to toe with her since she is a metahuman. She uses a power armor suit and mecha in her battles with Adrianna. The reason for her war with Adrianna is one of the planets Daphne razed to the ground for the Earth and Terran regime was home to Adrianna’s displaced diaspora family.

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ahb-writes · 2 years

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Book Review: ‘The Most Notorious Talker Runs the World's Greatest Clan’ #2

The Most Notorious Talker Runs the World's Greatest Clan (Light Novel) Vol. 2 by Jaki My rating: 4 of 5 stars In the first one-third of THE MOST NOTORIOUS TALKER...v2, Noel and his crew strategically gamble on their application to form a clan with the Seeker Association, successfully gaslight multiple rival Seeker teams toward self-destruction, and encounter an enormous beast called a Dantalion, which possesses an abyssal depth of eight. Busy. Busy. Busy. Compared to the previous installment, THE MOST NOTORIOUS TALKER RUNS THE WORLD'S GREATEST CLAN v2 is a better book on all accounts. The novel has faster and stronger pacing, includes a better-fit of differing secondary characters, and is more acutely structured overall, in terms of marrying narrative continuity and character development. The first novel in this series started extraordinarily slow, only to later bloom at a faster and more comfortable pace. The current novel accelerates; Noel cracks his knuckles and schemes further afield, laughably comfortable with all of the sneers, screams, and gasps that lay in opposition to a young man eager to crush his enemies. The novel still yields most of its time to characters whose evanescent bitterness drives them ever onward, but pacing is the biggest differentiator. As with before, Noel is efficient and arrogant, and his teammates are like children, flawlessly prurient in their violence. The novel doesn't miss a beat, expertly blending Noel's personal ambitions with his professional challenges, and it's all Alma, Koga, and others can do to keep their heads about themselves or be left behind. Noel seeks clan status for his team. However, numerous curious and terrifying events forestall his effort. Money. Territory. Status and prestige. Threats of intercontinental calamity. Noel and his team are well-known for their brutal efficiency. But achieving regalia status will require far more cunning than is characteristic of the group. THE MOST NOTORIOUS TALKER...v2 excels where the previous volume excelled, while also cutting out the fat. The burden of the narrative still rests on the back of a character with a reputation for being devious. Noel isn't afraid of gaslighting the local hero to take him down a peg. Noel isn't afraid of disassembling someone else's childhood friendship for his own gain. And Noel isn't afraid of surviving life as a Seeker with "no redeeming qualities at all," as an old family friend suggests. He's a risk-taker, sure, but the guy knows he can't outsmart a massive, telepathic ape that crushes its prey, by simply being good at his job. The secondary cast expands considerably in this book. Readers encounter characters who are friendly, agonistic, and cynical toward the protagonist. Zeke Feinstein, an expert swordsman and vice-master of the Supreme Dragon clan, is one of the strongest guys around (and has a working, competitive relationship with Noel). Leon Fredric, a knight-class warrior who drips syrupy humility, leads of a team called the Winged Knights (and grinds his teeth at a guy like Noel). And then there's Hugo Coppélia, the puppeteer-class Seeker who was wrongly imprisoned yet yields tremendous, untapped power (and may well be indebted to Noel by the novel's end). One admits the awkward, piously cruel atmosphere engendered by Noel, Alma, and Koga grows tired quickly; they bicker like children. But as the cast expands and the diversity of personalities take hold, the author has positioned these characters and others to grow as the story unfolds. This holds true for an emerging slate of antagonists as well. A ruthless fox-woman in a skull mask? An egotistical and monstrous man of the cloth? A jealous swordsman? Life hasn't caught up to Noel just yet, but if the guy plans on making it to the top, he'll have to contest with all of the allies he's willfully wronged as well as all of the enemies he's circumnavigated by sheer accident. Elsewhere, the novel series retains much of its contradictory worldbuilding. At this point, the author, one figures, is deliberately leaning into this narrative quirk. That is, the author will not course-correct a fantasy environment in which (a) magic can reattach severed limbs while (b) scientists manufacture chemoreceptor poisons for use by assassins. The author will not reconcile a world in which (a) the covered wagon is the most efficient means of transportation and (b) mercantilist technology and private industry, from glassware to guns, are on the verge of a cultural revolution. The novel series' unbalanced worldbuilding may be a laborious detriment readers will simply have to endure. THE MOST NOTORIOUS TALKER...v2 is a dynamic title and eagerly delivers on the promise of the previous installment. Its lead characters are selfish and melodramatic, but the core cast has pleasantly diversified. And whereas the scale of competitive action has ballooned rather considerably to include enormous monsters and death-dealers, the author's use of foreshadowing has clearly set the stage for a massive showdown to come.

Light-Novel Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

#light novel review #light novel #review #the most notorious talker #noel stollen #alma judikhali #jaki #jen yamazaki #seven seas entertainment #velnant empire #regalia status #light fantasy #4 of 5 stars #slate of antagonists #leon fredric #hugo coppelia

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rcksmith · 3 years

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Mine — Kaz Brekker

(photo not mine)

Requests: “9 from the fluff prompts with Kaz brekker please? It could be where they're keeping it a secret and it slips out? Thanks”

“Could you possibly do a kaz brekker and reader imagine where they are both like in their mid twenties. Number 9 from the fluff prompts “So you're saying that girl is your girlfriend?" "No, that girl is my wife”, I could just imagine him with the smuggest grin saying it. Your a very good writer and thank you if you decide to write this.”

“Could I get a kaz brekker x reader secret relationship with fluff prompts 5, 7, 12, and 14 please?”

Fluff prompts:

5. ”Don’t smile at me like that. You know it drives me crazy.”

7. “I feel like i cant breathe when i’m around you.”

9. “So you're saying that girl is your girlfriend?!" "No, that girl is my wife!”

12. “I’m not jealous! Its just...you’re mine!”

14. “I don’t like to pretend we’re not together.”

Couple: Kaz Brekker/ Fem!Reader

Warnings: swearing, mention of fights, mention of post-traumatic stress, fluff too.

Word count: 2k.

A/N: Thank you💖 I hope you guys like. I changed some details a little, hope you don't mind

Normal Rules. Smut Rules.

English is not my first language, so I so sorry if have a mistake.

Requests are open. Love you❤️

— — — —

Fissure. That's what mercenaries, thieves, assassins and his enemies were looking for. A fissure to drive Kaz Brekker to ruin. Burn his empire, wood for wood, until there is nothing left but funeral ashes swept away by the winter wind. Even the most infinitesimal fissure would ensure that his enemies infiltrate, like hungry parasites, into the heart of the dungeon of his deepest secrets. Swallowing, absorbing, any hint of what could do the infamous the Bastard of the Barrel down to his own knees.

And Kaz Brekker feared that if they looked into the most secluded corner of his dungeons, where it was reserved to hide the greatest truths of his soul, they would find the one only thing to beg on his knees for would be something he would do without hesitation.

You.

You were like the last summer solstice in a world ruled by darkness, cold and empty. Which he kept in a chest locked with seven chains.

If he had to describe you with the five senses, Brekker would remind that, when he was in the bitter cold of the ocean, clutching the stiffness of dead and putrefying flesh like a lifeboat, a ray of sunshine, warm as the summer, it opened up through the thunderclouds and came down to his face, warming that spot of skin like a kiss from the sun.

And it would be with that memory that he would describe you.

Kaz Brekker shouldn't have fallen in love with you. He was the person who most understood the disastrous consequences if he let himself get carried away by the way his heart sped up whenever he saw you. If he allowed herself to taste the way all of your heat radiated into his body and made him feel alive. But he fell in love.

Everything was all too much. The feeling of life every time you said his name, like a devotion, something religious, lyrical. The sweetness in your eyes, the warm voice. Everything had been too much.

And what should he do? Tell you he missed you every time you went on a mission? Saying that he were jealous and envy of Jesper because the man managed to make you laugh with a silly joke and hug you tight, something Kaz still hadn't been able to do? Tell you it was almost religious the way he venerated your smile? Of course not. Because all these things would have been sensible, and Kaz couldn't do anything sensible around you.

Because when he saw life offering him, with such joy, the one thing that had been denied him all his life, and that he swore never to crave, his first impulse was anger. Stupid, irrational anger.

So, for the first few moments, his entire reaction to you had been cold, distant, almost avoidant. Because the way his whole body shook in hot spasms when, in that summery tone, you called his name, it was too much for Kaz to handle.

“Kaz!” You call, one night.

He heard your voice from across the crow club, and had to close his eyes tightly at the way his heart leapt in his chest.

"Hey, hey." You appeared beside him, your cheeks chased away by coral red, the happy smile and the sparkle in your eyes as someone who have the path to true happiness. "Jessy said you were wanting to find a new way to invade that bank."

Oh perfect. In the same way his body exalted when he heard the sound of your name and your lips, hearing you call Jesper by that infernal nickname had a much more destabilizing effect. And fierce.

Kaz raised an eyebrow at you, in a nonchalant gesture but inviting you to keep talking.

“I happen to know of an underground path.” For an instant, the pride in your smile made Kaz want to smile too. “You and I can put together a map today and we'll be right tomorrow to go.”

That was one of the times Kaz should have made some dry, disinterested, trivial comment, something that made you not want to spend time with him, something that made you turn around and walk away. He should have turned around and left. He had done this over a thousand times with other people and knew it to be one of the best outings.

Still, the acid comment didn't come and he couldn't turn his back on you.

So, like the idiot he became whenever it came to you, Kaz couldn't help but spend an hour in your company. Even if it resulted in him lying in bed at the end of the day, alone and feeling the guilt gnawing at him more and more.

So, before he even knew it, Kaz was already in his office with you, listening to you chatter about things he knew he should have been paying attention to. But the way the crackling of the fire flames in the fireplace flashed across your face was a distraction of unimaginable proportions.

“Jessy and I…”

“You want to stop.” He found himself saying before he even realized it. “That nickname is already exasperating me.”

“Why? Jealousy?” You joked, oblivious to the truth.

Kaz looked at you like your comment was the most pathetic thing he'd ever heard. He wanted to screaming: ‘I’m not jealous! Its just...you’re mine!.’ But he didn't. Instead, the words that came out were:

“No. It's childish and immature, and it doesn't fit with...”

"What if I call you ‘Darling’?” You rested your chin on both palms of your hand, your elbows resting on his desk in his office.

Kaz's heart skipped a beat.

“That way you won't be jealous of Jessy's nickname and…”

“It's not jealousy!” He countered, and too late realized that he didn't disagree in the first instance about the nickname, but about the green color that emanated from his body.

And you didn't let that go either.

Your eyes took on a caustic gleam that you quickly hid, turning to the map on the table and going back to drawing the paths. “Okay, Darling.”

After that night, Kaz's self-control began to crumble.

He gave you death glares whenever you called him that nickname, but he never dared contradict or scold you. Much less deny it. The truth was, the core of his soul wanted this. He wanted every part of your caress warm as summer. He wanted to appreciate how perfect you looked when you called him that way. As if that nickname was born just to be used between you.

Something unique.

Over time, his body's physical reactions began to be stronger, coercive and overwhelming. Kaz felt dry, burning, and you soothed and inflamed him at the same time. You were the breath of peace, and also a glass of hot brandy.

And everything that he once felt dead, frozen or putrefying, slowly began to blossom, reborn and shine.

"Darling." You said, going behind the chair Kaz was sitting in, submerged in the Krisha security system sheets in front of he. “You've been there for hours.”

He ignored you, though his body was all too aware of yours behind him, the way your breath hit the top of his ear, how your heat hit his back like a high summer breeze. Kaz swallowed hard, ordering his eyes to stay on the pages.

“What are you reading?”

Your voice rang out from the top of his head, and Kaz felt his heart race into a cardiac arrhythmia the second your hands went to the back of the chair and your face tilted, chin hovering millimeters from his shoulder, your nose almost brushing his cheek.

Fucking Saints! You were hot! It was as if you had sun bathed, swam in the flames of fire, and been born into the summer.

Kaz lost his breath. His sanity. His soul.

“Do not do this.” His voice was no more than a whisper.

You looked at him, the furs not touching but breath hitting each other's cheeks. Kaz followed your gaze, and suddenly the world subtly turned hot. Pulsing and muffled.

“What?” You whispered, your heart so fast.

This was the time for Kaz to use the touche in a very valid argument. To make you move away as fast as you approached. To nip in the bud any path this interaction between you could take. He should have said about the touch. But he didn't remember. Kaz didn't remember his limitation, his traumas, his demons.

In that second, of insanity and magic, you couldn't do that just because…

"I feel like I cant breathe when I'm around you." He said.

After that day, Kaz realized that life no longer made sense without having you by his side to share it. Money didn't have the same value anymore if you weren't there, the robberies didn't make sense anymore if he couldn't tell you how it was at the end of the day, or have you by his side to fight.

Very quickly, Kaz Brekker realized that he had lost the battle against his own feelings. Loving you was inevitable. And having you close to him was made as essential as breathing. That's when things between the two of you developed faster, more solid, more right. The weeks turned to months, the months to years, and your relationship fortified as gloriously as the hilt of a sword.

Kaz still had very difficult moments with touching, days when a single brush of fur was unbearable and the mention of a kiss was impossible. But you stayed there. Firm and unshakable. Giving your summer smiles,your warm winks, and his nickname that had the power to soothe every nerve in Kaz's body.

However, the more Kaz understand that he was need you to he still live, the deeper he hid any trace of public affection for you. Any clue that could sparked the theory in someone that you were the reason, for Brekker, for the sun rose every morning. He couldn't bear the thought of losing you. Never.

Kaz Brekker became very aware that his soul was harnessed to yours. And there was nothing in the world that would take you away from he. Not while he lived, and even seven feet from land, Kaz would still find a way to fight for you.

It was a logical decision when he said you two should get married. Kaz was still trying to maintain his serene posture as his soul burned in a fire too eager and excited to make official anything that said you were his. That he had finally managed to have that ray of sunshine in the midst of the atrocious ocean. You, unlike him, exhaled your happiness in excited squeals, little jumps of joy and a passionate, quick kiss on the man in front of you.

And Kaz understood, as perfectly as the sky are blue, that he would do anything, for the rest of his life, to be worthy of that overwhelming happiness that sparkled in yours smiles.

“Don’t smile at me like that. You know it drives me crazy.” He said, feeling himself smile because your happiness for the wedding was exorbitant.

And you, like the little tease you were who loved to make him piss off, smiled even more and hugged him. He love you. Unconditionally.

But, just like the ocean waves, Kaz and you have had your ups and downs. He wasn't a man who had a lot of patience, and you weren't the most obedient, calm woman in the world. You found him exasperating and he found you as stubborn as a door.

"I already said you can't do that!" And there he was, once again, lecturing you because you showed too much affection, in his mind, for him in a public situation.

And, as Kaz fucking Brekker liked to point out, ‘all walls have eyes and ears’.

"We've been together for six years, Kaz!" You tried to keep your blood calm, but you weren't a person to put up with sermons. “Is this going to be our life? Living as if we have the same connection as a boss and an employee?!”

“And what do you want, Y/n?!” He placed both hands on his office desk, looking at you from the other side “Want us to have a party and tell everyone?! Or do you prefer to hang a red target on your chest?!”

"I did not say that!" You were starting to get really angry. “I'm not asking for a billboard saying we're married and you know it! The only thing I'm saying is that you let me choose to sit next to you, take your hand, or tell you I love you when any of us go off on a dangerous mission!"

Kaz shook his head, impassable, his gaze flashing with anger. How did you not realize he was trying to save you?! Save everything you two built, your lives! And all this for what? Walking hand in hand on the street? It was ridiculous!

“This is indisputable!”

“Kaz…”

“I said no!” He slapped his hands on the table.

A less brave woman would have cringed. But not you.

“I don’t like to pretend we’re not together!”

“And I don't like a fucking girl who complains all the fucking time about something I do to save her! But it feels like I've been put up with it for six years, doesn't it?!”

The words hit you like a slap. Crackling, burning and electrifying. You felt yourself holding your breath and your shoulders instinctively tightening back. The room was silent. Loaded with tension, as if lightning had just hit the ground.

You looked at Kaz in amazement. And he pursed his lips when he realized what he'd said.

“Put up with? And you call me ‘fucking girl’ ?” You repeated, your voice low, serious and in a mixture of hurt and outrage. “Good to know.”

You turned your back, walking out of the office and slamming the door behind you hard, making the thud reverberate through the corridors of Kaz's soul.

"Y/n!" He called you, striding to the door "Y/n!"

But when Kaz pulled the doorknob and took a few steps down the hall, it wasn't you he bumped into. It was Nina, trying to hide, in a very terrible way, her curious and shocked expression. In female hands she carried a small stack of documents, probably something important that Kaz needed to check.

He had to check that out. But his eyes, restless and quick, wandered the great hall of the crow club below, watching your figure pass between the bodies, advancing towards the exit.

"Sooo…" Nina started, even though the attention wasn't on her. "Couple fights, right?"

But Kaz didn't think before nodding, trying to get past Nina to catch up with you. But of course the girl wasn't going to let Brekker get away with it that quickly. She was betting with Inej how long you two would pretend to have nothing. And now she was going to get the truth!

"So you're saying that girl is your girlfriend?" The smile of shock and excitement was wide open on her face.

Kaz muttered a curse, gently pushing the girl aside and moving towards the stairs, aiming to catch up with you. But not before answering:

"No, that girl is my wife!"

#kaz brekker fluff #kaz brekker imagine #kaz brekker fanfic #kaz x kruge #kaz brekker x you #kaz brekker x y/n #kaz brekker x reader #kaz brekker #kaz x jesper #shadow and bone imagine #shadow and bone #freddy carter x you #freddy carter imagines #freddy carter fluffy #freddy carter x reader #freddy carter

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superherotiger · 3 years

Photo

Superherotiger’s Masterlist!

Hello everyone and welcome to my masterlist! Here you can find all my Irondad stories, Alternate Universes, and other random content in a nice and organised spot! Hope you all have a great day! -Superherotiger

~~~

Ao3 // Ko-fi // Commission information! // Super’s Sketches (art tag) // Tiger Talks (rambling tag) // Anthropros (Original series) //

~~~

FANFIC LINKS BELOW:

Alternate Universes:

Kindred Spirits (Soul Guide AU)

Of War and Starlight (Celestial Irondad AU)

My Enemy, My Destiny (Villain Irondad AU)

Stark Men are Made of Iron (Arc Reactor AU)

Something You Can’t Replace (Estranged Irondad AU)

Dear Fellow Traveller (Outlaw Irondad AU)

My Greatest Creation Is You (Android Spiderson AU)

The Runaway Starks (Teenage Irondad AU)

~~~

Multi-chapter:

Return to Me, The One I Love So Endlessly...: (Tumblr) (Ao3)

James Edwin Stark was born on the 10th of August 2001, and for the first time in his life, Tony Stark cried tears of joy.

All the fears, all the dread that had once consumed his soul washed away with a single look at the baby’s gentle features, so familiar and yet so distinctly unique at the same time. Tony made many promises that day. Promises to love his son, to protect him, to always be there for him.

On the 10th of August 2002, James Edwin Stark was stolen in the middle of the night, and his father’s world came crashing down. Shattered and alone, Tony whispered the same promise he’d made to his son the day that he was born.

…My love for you is endless…

Fourteen years later, hidden away from the world in a forest of pine, Peter Beck would dream of a day he might get to see the towering city of New York. And when a wounded stranger stumbles onto their property a week out from his birthday claiming to be a famous billionaire from New York, his dream might just come true.

...

(Kidnapped BioSon AU for the Friendly Neighbourhood Exchange 2!)

You always get back up (and I’ll catch you when you fall): (Tumblr) (Ao3)

Peter Parker always gets back up. But sometimes, he falls, and it hurts, and he breaks. Thankfully Tony Stark is always there to help pull him back to his feet...

...

(Whumptober 2020 prompts starring Irondad and pain.)

The Strongest Instinct: (Tumblr) (Ao3)

Tilting his head towards the screams of a fresh kill echoing down the street, Tony blasted off in his nanotech suit and weaved through the abandoned cityscape. He didn’t know why he stayed there. His corrupted mind would never given him a chance to find the answer, but he always stayed in the city. Wandered the crumbling boroughs, lingered in places he didn’t remember. As if he was searching for something…

But just as quickly as the thought would occur, it would get washed away again.

Hunger. Hunger. Hunger-

That’s all there ever was…

...

(Alternate timeline to Episode 5 of What If...? starring zombies, Irondad and hurt/comfort)

~~~

Irondad Oneshot Masterlist

~~~

Irondad Drabbles

~~~

Irondad Analysis Masterlist

~~~

Marvel:

A Friendly Chat: (Tumblr)

Thor and Tony talk late one night on the helicarrier and fosters the beginnings of a lifelong friendship. (Drabble)

Woven With Care: (Tumblr) (Ao3)

The passionate ramble was enough to draw a real laugh out of the sorcerer this time, and Peter warmed knowing that he had successfully made Stephen happy for once; a feat Mr Stark had sworn was impossible based off of their own snarky interactions. It was a rewarding sight, Peter had to admit. But even though the conversation moved on and their banter remained as light as the sunshine that splashed across the city, Peter couldn’t stop thinking about the yellow gloves that encased the Sorcerer Supreme’s hands.

It was obvious Stephen took his position as Sorcerer Supreme very seriously. With great power comes great responsibility as Ben would say, and Stephen had maybe the heaviest responsibility of all: protecting the universe. Peter supposed it shouldn’t have been that surprising at all that Stephen would take his uniform just as seriously.

But if the sorcerer insisted on suffering through the heat of summer just for the sake of protecting the world, then the least Peter could do was try and make it a little bit more bearable along the way.

...

Birthday Gift for the lovely Iron-Mum, starring our beloved DoctorDad and SpiderSon!

~~~

#masterlist #tiger talks #my writing #irondad #spiderson #tony stark #peter parker #Finally finished updating all of these :')

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sergeantsporks · 3 years

Text

Do You Want the Knife You Left in My Back, or Can I Keep It?

Rating: Teen and up, Gen

An injured Hunter wanders into Hexside. What was Luz supposed to do, just let him bleed out on the floor?

Ch 5/6

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4

Ao3

Luz turned the cursed knife over and over in her hands. Viney had given it to her, joking about how her teachers were getting a little bit worried about why she had it. It was so small, but it had caused so much damage and pain.

“Hey, Luz, what do you have?” Eda asked, peering over her shoulder.

Luz felt the tiniest of grins creep over her face. “A KNIFE!” she yelled.

“NO!” King yelled back from the other room.

Eda plucked the knife out of her hands. “No weapons for you until you stop corrupting King with your human realm culture.” She squinted at the knife, peering at the runes on the hilt. “Oh, that’s a nasty one. Is this…”

“The one Kikimora used,” Luz said softly, “Yeah. I’m… not sure exactly what to do with it.”

“Give it to the golden nerd,” Eda joked, “Let him stab Kikimora back.”

Luz snatched the knife back. “Yeeeeaah, I don’t think that’s the greatest idea, Eda. Do you mind if I keep it with the other weapons?”

“Knock yourself out, kid.”

Luz set the knife carefully on top of a cabinet. What a nightmare. Who was even in the business of making weapons like that? She heard a groan from the other room, and she darted out into the living room. Hunter was awake, and had apparently just discovered that he couldn’t move.

“Hey! You’re up! And not fever-ish! How are you feeling?”

He buried his face in the couch again. “Ow.”

“Yeah, Viney said you’d be really sore. But hey, you’re not dying anymore, and you’re finally pretty conscious. So…” Luz pulled him up, shaking him. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!”

“Ow. Ow. Owowowowow, Luz! I can’t—”

“Move, I know, which is why we’re having this conversation now! Before you can wriggle out of it! Why would you leave the house?! Were you trying to run away? Kikimora was out there! You were barely even conscious when I left! She almost killed you!”

“I know. I knew she was out there, I knew she was setting up a trap, I just…”

“You just WHAT?! What could she have POSSIBLY said or done that made you stumble out of here, half-dead?!”

Hunter’s ears burned red, and he mumbled something she couldn’t quite hear.

“What?”

“She said she’d kill you,” he said louder, “She said she’d kill you, and I staggered out of here like a great big idiot in shining armor. I don’t know why I bothered.”

Luz’s mouth opened and shut a few times as she struggled to find words. She let Hunter’s shirt-front go, and he sank back onto the couch, wincing. “Oh,” she said finally, “Were you… going to trade yourself for me?”

He snorted. “Fat chance.”

“Hey!”

“What?! Trade my freedom for your life?! That’s the dumbest trap in the book, she’d just kill both of us! Who would fall for that?”

Luz felt her own face flush. “It’s not THAT stupid! Sometimes you don’t have much of a choice!” She flopped down to the floor. “What exactly was the plan, then?

“Easy,” he said simply, “I was going to rescue you.”

It was Luz’s turn to snort. “Wow, I never could have predicted that going wrong.”

His ears turned red again. “Hey! I can take Kikimora—I’ve done it before!”

“Yeah, when she was punch-drunk on sleeping nettles and you had a staff! Not when you were half-dead from being stabbed and feverish!”

“If you must know,” he sniffed, “I was planning on sneaking past her, not confronting her directly!”

“Awwww, well, I’m very flattered. Even if I was never actually captured. Thank you very much.”

He looked away. “Whatever. I just figured I probably should help. Since you saved my life and everything.”

Luz kicked the couch. “Admit it. You were worried about me.”

“No, I wasn’t. I was worried you’d annoy Kikimora to death.”

“You weeeeereeeee. You were totally worried. We’re friends now.”

“You’re not my friend. Shut up.”

“I am. I am worming my way into your heart.”

“Yeah, a bile leech can do that, too, you’re not special.”

“A what?! Ewwww, never mind, don’t tell me.” Luz kicked the couch again. “Whatever. Keep being a grump, I’m not giving up on you.”

Xxx

Hunter watched Luz race up the stairs. His palisman fluttered down onto his shoulder, chirruping reassuringly.

“Don’t you start,” Hunter grumbled, “I can’t be friends with her! She’s the enemy!”

Another low chirp.

“Yeah, I KNOW technically you’re the enemy, too, but you’re an EXCEPTION to wild magic being dangerous. She’s like. Public enemy number one.”

“Wild magic isn’t dangerous,” Eda commented as she came through. She stopped, looking down at him. “I… heard what you said. About wanting to save Luz. Kid, why didn’t you come to me? You could have died out there! You nearly did!”

Hunter felt his ears start to burn again. “You wouldn’t get it.”

“Oh, wouldn’t I? I had a sister in the coven, and I saw how she turned out, so let me take a guess; you thought it was something you had to do on your own. You thought that if you accepted help, that made you weak. You thought that you’d made a horrible mess of everything, and you were scared that if you didn’t clean it up before the person in charge—me—found out, you’d be in trouble. Am I close?”

“No. I’m not scared of you.”

“Why you little—” Eda took a deep breath. “Shut up and listen, I’m trying to talk you through your trauma.”

“I don’t have any trauma.”

Eda found that incredibly hilarious for some reason, nearly bent double from laughing. “Oh… yeah, okay, kid. Sure. Alright, you’re not scared of me.” She looked him dead in the eye. “But are you scared of Belos?”

“No,” Hunter said automatically, “I’m loyal to Belos—there’s no reason to be scared of him.” Titan, he hated how his voice wavered. He wasn’t scared of Uncle Belos—he wasn’t. He just… didn’t want to disappoint him. As long as he did what he was asked, everything was fine.

Eda sighed, sitting down next to him and looking up at the ceiling. “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say. Look. Kid. If. You ever feel like you’re not safe in the keep. Or. I don’t know. You just finally figure out that Belos is not a good guy. If you don’t want to stay there anymore. I—guess—hrk—okay—Hngh—I guuuuuuess I wouldn’t mind. Too much. If you… came here?”

“What?!” Hunter yelped

Eda jumped up. “What?! I didn’t say anything, did you say something? Whatever, bye!” She summoned her staff and flew out the door before he could respond.

The palisman still nestling on his head warbled at him reproachfully.

“What? I can’t stay here! And I’m not going to leave the palace! So it doesn’t matter if she’d let me stay here or not!” He tried to get up, but his muscles were too stiff, and he gave up, instead flopping backwards onto the couch cushions, his palisman forced to flutter off of his shoulder and land on his head instead. “Ow. I just… want to go back home. Where it’s not confusing. Where I know what people want me to do—where I know how they want me to act.”

Still.

It was nice that she’d offered.

Xxx

“Ow!”

Luz dabbed at the stitched-up cut with the disinfectant Viney had left behind. “Quit being such a baby! You want to get another raging fever?”

“It would probably hurt less!”

“Scream into the pillows,” Hooty advised, sticking his face right in Hunter’s, “It’ll help!”

Hunter let out a strangled yelp.

“Hooooty!” Luz protested.

Hooty flopped down in front of the couch. “Lulu was in the emperor’s coven, and we’re the beeeeeeest of friends. I think the emperor’s coven is actually full of people who just want friends!”

“Hunter,” Luz said, wrinkling her nose at him, “Doesn’t want to be friends.”

“He can be my friend!”

Hunter screamed into the couch cushions.

Luz poked him in the ribs. “Hey, that was just rude.”

“If I could move, I’d tie your bird-worm into a bow,” he growled.

“But you caaaaaaan’t,” Hooty sing-songed.

Luz pushed at Hooty’s face. “Alright, alright, get out of here, give him some space.” She finished cleaning the stab wound and taped a fresh bandage to it. Hunter didn’t react, not even to complain about the sting, and she knelt down next to him, nudging his shoulder. “Hey. You okay?”

“Everything is so… complicated here.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know what anyone wants me to do!”

“Hunter, we don’t want you to do anything. I didn’t bring you here because I want something from you, I brought you here because it was the right thing to do.”

He groaned. “You don’t get it, of course you want something from me, everyone wants something from everyone, but I can’t figure out what it is you want me to do here! You keep saying I don’t have to do anything, and that this isn’t business, but—”

“Hunter. Hunter. Look at me. Look at my face.”

He turned his head with a wince, and she helped him sit up, squishing his cheeks between her hands and forcing him to look her in the eye. “I don’t want anything from you. Not one single thing. Neither does Eda, neither does Hooty. Got it?”

“But—”

Luz squished his face harder, cutting off his words. “No buts! Nothing! No ulterior motives! We are not Belos, we are not Kikimora. You don’t have to give us anything. I want to be your friend, Hunter, a real friend. Gus and Willow and Amity drop everything to help me, and they never expect me to do anything back. I’d do the same for them. And I’m trying to do the same for you.” She let go of his face. “Okay?”

He bit his lip, looking just about the most lost she’d ever seen him. “Mmmmmmmmmm…”

Luz sighed. “Right. Can’t change an entire life philosophy in a day, I guess. Okay, uhhhh...” she spotted King eyeing Hunter with narrowed eyes that she knew meant he was about to pounce. “…King wants to use your lap as a nap spot. You can’t really move around anyway, so…?”

Hunter almost immediately brightened. “I can do that.”

King almost immediately catapulted onto Hunter’s lap, curling up. “Ha. You tried to lock me in a cage. Now I am the ruler! I hold the power, here, and you are in a cage of my making!”

Hunter glanced down at demon in his lap. “He… doesn’t have worms, does he?”

“Hey! King is worm-free, thanks very much!” Luz leaned in closer. “But between you and me, you might want to watch out for fleas,” she murmured.

“That—that was a joke, right?”

Luz straightened up, running for the door. “Okay, have fun, you two, I’m off to school!”

“Luz! Tell me it was a joke!”

Ch 6

#toh #the owl house #toh hunter #luz noceda #toh fanfiction #my writing

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tsukihimeyfan · 4 years

Text

Sorting the main cast of AtLA into Hogwarts Houses

I know I’m late to the party because I’ve seen many different people tackle this before, but I feel like it is my civic duty as both a Potterhead and an AtLA stan to put in my two cents, since every single time I’ve seen it talked about people either misinterpret what each House values in their members or pick a House by taking into account only one aspect of their personalities. I want to make it clear that these are my own opinions, which I’m basing on the definitions we’ve gotten of the main traits of each House over the years and the “core values” of each AtLA character, and that I’m in no way am I trying to insult anyone who thinks differently. That being said, here goes nothing!

Let’s start with the easy ones. Namely, the Fire Siblings:

1) Azula is 100%, undoubtedly, definitely, incontrovertibly Slytherin. Just doing a quick rundown of the qualities Salazar Slytherin prized in his handpicked students, as stated by the Sorting Hat, Albus Dumbledore and Pottermore: Cunning? Check. Resourcefulness? Check. A disregard for rules? Check. Using any means to achieve her ends? Check. Shrewdness? Check. Ambition? Check. Self-preservation? Check. Pride? Check. An argument could even be made that, as a member of the Fire Nation Royal Family, Azula also kind of meets the “blood purity” criteria. I’m sure most of us agree on this. Even if she does exhibit a lot of loyalty to her father as well as courage and intelligence, there is just no contest. Azula is one of the most Slytherin characters I’ve ever seen outside of the Harry Potter universe.

2) In the same way, Zuko is irrefutably a Hufflepuff. Hear me out! I know that he’s very brave and daring, but when we think of Zuko, what is his most essential trait, what do people tell us again

and again

about Zuko’s character?

He’s a hard worker. And what’s the House of the hard-working?

"You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true, And unafraid of toil.”

You guessed it. Hufflepuff. Of course, that’s not the only trait valued by this House that he exhibits. Who is more loyal in the series than the child who got half his face burned off and still did his best to earn the love and respect of the one responsible? Who never faltered in his loyalty even when he was sent away on an impossible mission? Who spouted angry words most of the time yet was willing to let his ticket home go temporarily in favor of ensuring the safety of his Uncle and his crew? That’s right, our boy Zuko. That very loyalty to his father is what unfortunately bound him for the longest time, until he was forced to face what a monster he was and let go of it in favor of more important things, namely his own morals and his loyalty to his Uncle.

He also has an incredibly strong sense of justice, as proven by the above statements, as well as this moment:

and he can be incredibly patient when he needs to be, as seen during The Blue Spirit and the Southern Raiders episodes.

Hufflepuffs are also said to be fair (which he clearly is), dedicated (need I say more?), honest (which Mr. shouts-his-feelings-at-the-top-of-his-lungs and can’t-lie-without-being-obvious-or-glancing-away-and-has-been-found-out-every-time-he-tried of course is) and modest (this one he starts without but by the time he joins the Gaang there isn’t anyone more modest or humble)

As “an idealist with a pure heart and unquestionable honor” , Zuko is the Hufflepuffiest Hufflepuff to ever Hufflepuff and I will die on this hill

3) Another easy one is our girl Suki, whom I’d say is a Gryffindor through and through, even if she is very loyal to her friends.

The rest of the Gaang under the cut.

The other members of Team Avatar are a bit trickier because they all exhibit a pretty even mix of traits from more than one House, but still if we just concentrate on their defining characteristics we can get to an answer.

4) I’d argue that Sokka belongs in Ravenclaw, even though he is of course quite brave and extremely loyal to his loved ones, not only because he’s a strategist and an inventor, but also because, as best stated by Master Piandao:

Ravenclaws most value wit, learning, intelligence, creativity and wisdom (this last one is a bit iffy but I’m sure he’ll get there when he’s older), as well as priding themselves on being original in their ideas and methods. That’s Sokka to a T.

5) Katara gave me a hard time. She’s unbelievably loyal to her friends and family, she’s compassionate, patient, fair, hard working and dedicated, with a REALLY strong sense of justice, so a case can be made for Hufflepuff easily. However she can also be quite cunning when she wants to (most obviously during The Waterbending Scroll, City of Walls and Secrets, The Painted Lady, and The Runaway), she has a lot of ambition (if you count every variation of “I will make the world a better place by force if I have to”), she disregards the rules when it suits her (again The Waterbending Scroll as well as The Runaway) and she can be proud at times, so we could argue she’s a Slytherin. She’s also undoubtedly very intelligent and even quite wise for her age. It took me a while to decide but then I pondered; at her very core, what are the statements that define her? What words just scream “that’s it, that’s Katara”? They are, of course, these two phrases:

The first sounded incredibly Gryffindor to me, and the second is half Gryffindor half Hufflepuff, so it had to be between those two. As such, I decided to look into Gryffindor first. Katara is, of course, astoundingly courageous, but what else? I had to actually look up definitions for the Gryffindor traits besides courage because they all just kinda meant “brave” to me initially 😅, but what I found was:

*Nerve: “one's steadiness and courage in a demanding situation”. Yep. Who’s the most level-headed, steady and reliable person whenever the Gaang is in any kind of pinch? That’s right. Katara

*Daring: “adventurous or audaciously bold“. Yep. I’d say she ties with Toph for boldest in the Gaang

*Determination: “firmness of purpose”. Yep, absolutely. See the above image from the Painted Lady. ‘Nuff said.

*Chivalry: can mean 2 things, one is “sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms”. All of that is true of her (her “arms” being her waterbending), but I found it interesting that to be chivalrous can also mean “gracious and honorable toward an enemy, especially a defeated one, and toward the weak or poor”. I’d argue that this fits her even more. Once again, just take a look at The Painted Lady episode.

*Courage and bravery: they can mean the same thing, namely “the ability to do something that frightens you” and of course that fits Katara, but the word courage in particular has another meaning, which is “strength in the face of pain or grief”...

I’d say she’s pretty good at that. I think that settles it, Katara is a Gryffindor.

Turns out that when it came to the water tribe siblings Bato was right all along

6) For Toph I was split between Gryffindor (thinking of her brash, bold nature) and Slytherin for a while, but after looking into Katara and researching all those definitions I think I have to give it to Slytherin. Of course, Toph doesn’t seem to be very ambitious unless you count “being recognized as the greatest earthbender in the world”, but she is quite cunning. She knows exactly how to use her “poor helpless blind girl” persona to get what she wants, as seen both on The Blind Bandit and The Runaway. She’s also an extremely good actress, being able to play the “reserved and obedient little girl” to her parents for years, and being easily able to pick it back up when it suits her.

She’s also stubborn, proud, and 100% willing to use any means, regardless of laws or rules, to get what she wants.

As for self preservation? Remember that her response when asked to teach Aang, which was crucial to save the world but would’ve compromised her secret, was this:

Slytherins can also “hesitate before acting, so as to weigh all possible outcomes before deciding exactly what should be done “ and my first instinct was to say that it didn’t fit Toph at all, but what is Toph if not a person who “waits and listens before striking”? Slytherins tend to favor Neutral Jing it seems.

Almost forgot that as a daughter of the Beifong family she’s sort of nobility and she technically also meets the “blood purity” criteria.

7) Finally, we get to my boy Aang. He was really difficult. He’s loyal, patient, fair, kind, modest (usually) and just but I can’t really call him a hard worker most of the time.

He’s brave, adventurous, determined and chivalrous but he does tend to get discouraged during demanding or stressful situations (his friends always make it better though)

He’s creative, very wise for his age, and quite smart (except when he’s playing around with Sokka in which case they share one brain cell 😂)

He can even be cunning when he needs to be. If he ever went to Hogwarts, he’d definitely be a Hat Staller like Harry. I heard someone say once that they considered Aang a Gryffindor because he liked to show off a lot, but that’s not really a Gryffindor trait (think of Neville Longbottom, Remus Lupin, Harry Potter and Minerva McGonagall. I think any one of them would sooner Stupefy themselves than go show off their skills in front of a crowd for no reason other than to brag).

Once again, we must pin down what it is that defines him, what his core is. After much thought, I decided it’s this:

It’s his compassion, which he learned from his people, and his desire to value and protect all life. It’s his loyalty to the ideologies of the Air Nomads of which he is the last remaining bastion. It’s his strong moral code, his sense of right and wrong, his wish to make friends and to believe the best of everyone. That’s his center. That is what makes him Avatar Aang. In light of that, I think we can consider Aang, first and foremost, a Hufflepuff.

In the end, Team Avatar is made up of one Ravenclaw, one Slytherin, one Gryffindor (two after Suki joins), and two Hufflepuffs

Ironic, that the House least valued in the Harry Potter universe is the one that houses arguably the most pivotal characters of Avatar the Last Airbender: Zuko and Aang. Fitting, that even in this they parallel each other.

This is already long enough so I don’t think I’ll do Mai, Ty Lee, or Iroh. Maybe some other time.

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joycrispy · 4 years

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in which I try to burn my feelings about how-that-fight-went-down-from-a-shipper’s-standpoint onto a textpost in the hopes that you will maybe understand why I’ve lost all composure completely OR: fjorclay REAL though

So obviously this encounter was a Lot for everyone involved but this is my blog, so, Let’s Talk About Caduceus.

Caduceus who, an in-game week ago, stared down the thing that took his family from him and was just…scared. Determined but scared. Who, in the combat that followed, cast spells strategically. Healing, buffing, ducking behind cover. Who said, in a small voice, “I’m trying to be a good cleric.”

And that was all.

(I recount this for contrast’s sake)

Now. Let’s talk about Caduceus waking up to the ship under attack. Hearing a thud and Beau screaming Fjord’s name.

Caduceus who keeps his back to the wall, who tries to stay out of the line of fire and be a good cleric; Caducueus, now, completely indifferent to the damage he’s taking just trying to get to Fjord, get to Fjord at any cost.

Caduceus trying to burst out onto the deck but getting physically caught and held back; he can barely see Fjord, but he manages the perception check with disadvantage because Cad’s perception is his greatest strength, and he needs it now more than ever.

(despite this, and despite hopelessly canceling a crit, Fjord dies where he fell)

Caduceus doing the Wonder Woman power walk

across the ship, silent and furious, a 30-foot swarm of glowing beetles and dragonflies all around him.

Caduceus, whose spiritual guardians are devouring their enemies. Matt goes especially ham on the descriptions of this; the insects straight up lifting the attackers off the ground in their ferocity, eating down to the bone, bursting from newly-emptied eye sockets. He kills more of them than anyone else.

And then he’s standing over Fjord’s corpse.

Caduceus, the good cleric, literally turning his back on healing to cast Blight at 5th-level (Blight is necrotic damage; it’s death magic; it’s violence against nature in particular; he has said before he doesn’t think he should be using it) on the thing that killed Fjord.

Caduceus “be gentle in your motives” “I don’t see the point of revenge” casting Blight at 5th level at the thing that killed Fjord.

Can we…can we talk about that.

#critical role #cr spoilers #fjorclay #*shields my eyes from the sun and peers at the distant horizon* there it goes. the last of my chill.#follow for more thinking-out-loud-about-a-pink-firbolg content

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1dfangirls35 · 3 years

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The Language of Your Soul

An enemies to lovers Ballet AU in 5 Acts

Masterlist

Act I

A/N:

First of all, thank you so much to @booksncoffee for the absolutely gorgeous banner!

I am so excited to share this story with you all! Inspired in part by a night rewatching Center Stage on Netflix and from years of ballet classes, I hope this AU brings a new twist on Harry fics (and maybe even helps you gain a new appreciation for the world of ballet). Please note, while I have used my own 10+ years of classical ballet training in addition to research on this topic to hopefully make this as realistic as possible, this is still a work of fiction- and some details may have been changed to better fit the constraints of the story. The companies mentioned in this fic are real, however this story and its characters are entirely works of fiction. On a more personal note, while I have chosen to publish this story now and believe I will be able to maintain weekly updates to its entirety, I am preparing to take my boards in less than four weeks. Should I not update as scheduled- please be patient and know that an update is only a few weeks away! :) Thank you so much for reading!

Warnings: This story will contain language, mentions of emotional abuse from a parent and eating disorders. Please read at your own discretion.

Ten Weeks to Opening Night

Albert Einstein once said, "dancers are the athletes of God." Giselle Mason certainly doesn't feel like pne of God's athletes at the moment. Not with the way her muscles are screaming with every movement that she makes as she stretches before class, not with the way her right hip cracks as she lifts her leg onto the bar, and certainly not with the way her feet sting as she tapes up yet another blister on her toe before shoving her foot into her pointe shoes for another day full of torture.

Giselle stands, sticking one last bobby pin into the bun of her nearly ebony hair and finding her spot at the front of the barre in the center of the studio. She grasps the wooden cylinder with her left hand before releasing her body in a forward bend, taking a deep breath in and then a deep breath out. There is a familiar ache in her hamstrings as she begins to stretch, which loosens ever so slightly with every breath.

And so begins her daily morning routine in the studio. Fifteen minutes of stretching before company class begins. Relaxing each hamstring, hip flexor and spinal muscle until a sense of calm washes over her body. Letting her mind drift into a thoughtless focus, preparing itself for the waves of choreography that would be coming in minutes. Typically, this time is quiet; the only melody present the rhythmic breathing of company members preparing for class. But today, the studio seems to be filled with an underlying buzz. And Giselle doesn't have the slightest idea why.

"I heard he slept with the artistic director's wife, so they kicked him out of the Royal," she hears one of the new corps de ballet members murmur.

"I mean have you seen him, I don't blame her for getting her hands on a piece of him," another girl giggles.

"Did you hear, G?" Caleb, Giselle's friend, whispers as he slides into a spot on the barre behind her, adjusting the black bandana keeping his signature black curls in place across his forehead.

"Hear what?" Giselle asks, removing her leg from the bar before reaching down to adjust the black leg warmer that had fallen down her calf.

"They've hired Harry Styles- you know from the Royal," Caleb adds as if Giselle hasn't heard of Harry Styles. Everyone who was anyone in the ballet world had heard of Harry Styles. A good chunk of the non-ballet world might even be able to point him out as that 'sexy male ballet dancer' from the Sports Illustrated nude edition.

Harry Styles was a rare kind of natural talent. The type of person that was put on this earth to dance ballet. His talent had landed him the honor of being the youngest person to be named a principal in the history of the Royal Ballet. And if the rumors were true, that talent had also landed him the reputation of one of the ballet world's most arrogant. Giselle had heard several stories about how the male dancer had been a terror to work with- demanding, rude, uncooperative. Giselle didn't doubt it- people of that skill and fame rarely developed without some sense of entitlement.

"Why would we hire Harry Styles, we've already got Viktor?" Giselle questions. This isn't the first time a rumor has circulated through the American Ballet Theatre company, and it certainly won't be the last time.

"Rumor is they want Viktor to retire," Caleb shrugged before stepping back to his place behind Giselle as Mistress Ivanova claps to gain the class's attention.

Giselle couldn't believe the rumors. Viktor Dmitri retiring from ABT? He was practically the face of the company. The man had been dancing for the American Ballet Theatre for over a decade. He'd been the principal ever since Giselle had joined the company as a corps de ballet member five years ago.

Giselle knew that retirement came early for a ballet dancer. Her own mother, the famous Natalia Korsakova, had retired at the age of 33 after a knee injury. Viktor had just turned 35, but he'd shown no signs of slowing down. She refused to believe that he was calling it quits. Or to believe that the board would be stupid enough to bring in someone with Harry Styles's toxic reputation into the company.

She shoves the thought aside. Viktor is in his usual place at the back of the studio and Harry Styles is nowhere to be seen. This was simply another piece of gossip threatening to distract everyone from the Swan Lake auditions tomorrow afternoon, and Giselle won't lose her focus. The auditions are too important.

Giselle Mason has dreamed of playing the role of Odette/Odile ever since she first watched her mother on stage at the age of four. It was one of her earliest memories of the theater- her mother twirling about in a bright white tutu that at that time Giselle could only dream of wearing. In fact, Giselle wasn't sure there had ever been a moment where her dream hadn't been to be a principal dancer at ABT, like her mother. She'd been in ballet shoes from the second she could walk, wore a leotard and tights more often than she'd worn pajamas, and didn't recognize herself in the mirror if her hair wasn't pulled back into a bun. She'd ate, slept and breathed the art form. But she supposed that all came with having a prima ballerina as a mother.

Natalia Korsakova was a ballet sensation. "One of the greatest to have ever danced," according to the New York Times at the time of her retirement. The world had come to watch her dance and she'd traveled it performing: Russia, Australia, London, Paris. You name the location and Natalia Korsakova had danced there.

When Giselle was growing up, she was constantly told how lucky she was to have Natalia as a mother. To have seen the shows she's seen, to have met ballet royalty, to have traveled the world. But Giselle never felt lucky. Not when she was the accident that put her mother's career on hold for almost a year. Not when her mother was gone for months at a time performing, missing recitals, parent days and school concerts. And certainly not when an injury forced her mother into retirement, shifting her focus from her own artistic talents to turning her daughter into her next protegee.

Much to her mother's dismay, Giselle was not the younger version of her mother. She was good, great even, but she was no sensation. Giselle made soloist in her fourth year at ABT, which was a feat all on its own, unless you compared it to her mother's two. Giselle lacked the raw, natural talent that her mother possessed. Instead of her mother's high arches, she had her father's averagely flat feet. Instead of her mother's uncanny ability to match the music, Giselle had spent hours counting eights in her head to get down a rhythm. Instead of looking effortless the first time she ran through a routine, Giselle spent hours in the studio after rehearsal, running through the choreography until it wasn't possible for her to get it wrong. Giselle had gotten to where she was because of her hard work, not her natural talent- something her mother would never let her forget. To Natalia Korsakova, Giselle would never measure up.

The Swan Lake auditions are Giselle's first real shot at landing a lead, especially with principal dancer Anna Elliot out with a back injury for the foreseeable future. Giselle wants this role more than anything. To prove to herself that she is capable of following in her mother's footsteps. And to prove to her mother that she is just as capable a dancer as she. For once in her life, she wants to hear her mother say not that she'd lost her spot or forgot to point her toes, but that she was proud of Giselle. Four words- that's all Giselle really wants.

"And will start first position, demi, demi, grand, demi and port de bra. Repeat in 2nd, 4th and 5th and then balance in fifth position arms in fifth," Mistress Ivanova barks, before gesturing to the pianist to begin.

Giselle focuses on her movements as the music begins. She tightens her core, elongates her neck and reaches her fingertips to the edges of her silhouette. Her legs quiver slightly as she bends her knees into the first grand plié, her mind focusing on maintaining her turnout.

"Relax that face Giselle," Mistress Ivanova corrects, as she makes her way around the room. "I don't want to see that this is work."

Giselle takes another deep breath, this time releasing her lips from their concentrated place and focusing on her breath. She lets the downtown Manhattan studio disappear from the background. Gone is the distant honking of impatient taxi drivers maneuvering their way through the New York City traffic. Gone is the light shining in from the full-length windows looking out at the city skyline- well what you could see of the skyline behind the crumbly brick building neighboring the school. There was nothing but the dancer, the barre and the music flowing gently through her veins.

"Beautiful lines Teagan, thank you," Giselle hears Mistress Ivanova say from across the room and she fights the urge to roll her eyes. Giselle has known Teagan Davidson since she was fourteen years old, when Teagan had moved from California to New York to join the ABT school. Over the course of a decade of competing for roles, partners and teacher's praises, the two had developed quite a rivalry. To Giselle, there was almost no better feeling than snagging a role that she knew Teagan also had her eyes on.

Giselle uses Teagan's praise as motivation to work harder, feeling the burn in her inner thighs as she pushes further into her grand plié in second. The role of Odette/Odile was hers, Teagan would have to settle for understudy.

The class is in the middle of their balance, Giselle's focus locked in on a spot just at the edge of the window at the rear of the studio when a loud bang reverberates through the room. Dancers drop their balance and turn their heads, looking to see who has caused such a commotion with their entrance.

"Mr. Styles, you're late," Mistress Ivanova snaps.

He is taller than Giselle imagined, and even from this distance she can see the definition in his arms through the black tank top that clings to his body. His hair is slightly disheveled, curling at the top. His face plastered into some cheeky grin, dimples present on both cheeks, like he knows exactly what he's doing, interrupting class like this. Almost like he's enjoying the attention. He throws his black messenger bag to the side before grabbing his ballet shoes and scurrying over to an open spot at the barre near the front of the studio.

"My apologies," he replies in a thick British accent. His tone sounds anything but apologetic.

"Damn, he's even better-looking in person than he is in magazines," Caleb mutters under his breath, eliciting an eye roll from Giselle.

"Well, I suppose after that entrance," Mistress Ivanova sighs, stepping to the front of the class. "Now is as good of time as any to announce that Mr. Styles will be joining our company as a principal dancer."

Gasps fill the room, and Giselle turns her head to look at Viktor, whose face is stoic after Harry's entrance. A low chatter fills the studio, everyone trying to figure out exactly what is going on. Would he get the lead in Swan Lake? Would he be understudying Viktor?

"Silence!" Mistress Ivanova shouts. "This chatter can wait until after class is over!" She turns to face Harry, her lips turned into a stern frown. "If you'll find a place at the barre Mr. Styles, we will continue our class."

Giselle watches as he slides into a spot at the front of the room, shooting a grin at the young company member behind him. Giselle rolls her eyes, returning her focus to the mirror in front of her. Two minutes with the company and she was sure Harry Styles was exactly who she thought he would be.

Giselle tries to forget Harry Styles is in class with them. Instead she focuses on her breathing, her turnout, the rhythm that comes from the pianist in the corner of the room. She watches the early morning New York City sunrise reflect off of the mirrors, leaving little spots of sunlight over the gray Marley floor. Everyone else in the company could focus on Harry Styles all they want, but she is only focusing on one thing- and that is landing the role of her dreams tomorrow.

But Harry Styles wasn't the type of person whose presence could be forgotten so easily.

********

Harry Styles isn't scared of a little attention. In fact, he typically thrives on it. That's why he is a performer after all. To Harry, there is no better feeling than knowing all eyes are upon you, that you are the center of attention, the focus of the room. Maybe that is a prideful and egotistical thing to say, but it is true. Everyone wants to feel important, valued, admired- and anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

But the attention Harry has been getting since he walked into the American Ballet Theatre studio a little over twelve hours ago has not been the type of attention he necessarily sought out. He knew there would be rumors, leaving the only company he had ever been a part of during his dance career was sure to draw up the best of them, but something about this felt different. It was the whispers. The stares. The way some members of the room were staring at Harry as if he was a god and a few wouldn't dare look in his direction.

Harry doesn't know what's come over him- this wavering self-confidence. Maybe it's this new place. This new country. Or maybe it's the fact that in the words of his agent, if he "doesn't get his act together" he will never dance at this level again. And if he's not dancing on the world's biggest stages, well, Harry might as well not be dancing at all.

Harry grabs his phone from the side pocket of his black messenger bag, connecting it to the Bluetooth speaker he found in the corner of the studio and presses play on his hip hop playlist. He needs something to drown out his thoughts, and classical music just doesn't cut it. As the beat begins to fill the studio, Harry lets the music take over his body and begins to dance.

Giselle tries to focus on her music, but there's the noise of a pounding bass in the background interfering with concentration. She's always the only one at the studio this late at night- that's why she comes- to be alone and without distractions.

She tries to ignore it, focusing on the one and two of the music as she fouettés. One and two, three and four, five and... a boom from somewhere in the building breaks her concentration and she falls out of her turn, letting out a groan. This could not be happening to her the night before auditions, and if she found out that Teagan was here trying to interfere with her practice...

Giselle makes her way down the hall, guided by the incessant bass that sounds like it belongs in the backseat of a teenager's car and not one of the most prestigious ballet studios in the world. When she turns the corner to enter the studio, it's not Teagan she sees but Harry Styles.

But he's not dancing. He's laying on the floor, wearing nothing but a pair of black athletic shorts that show off the god-like definition of his thighs. His signature butterfly tattoo stands out on the middle of his chest, beads of sweat dripping towards the center of his stomach, the bass vibrating the mirrors around him. He doesn't notice her at first. How could he with the music so loud?

"Excuse me," Giselle says loudly in an effort to get his attention. His body doesn't even flinch.

"Excuse me!" she yells this time.

Harry looks up. In the corner of the studio, towards the door stands a girl. Her almost black hair is pulled tightly back into a bun. Her thin arms are crossed like she's about to lecture him, and her lips are held in a tight line that looks anything but happy. The corners of Harry's mouth curve upwards in a grin, entertained by the fury that was seeming to come from her tiny body.

She taps her foot impatiently, like she's waiting for something. Harry realizes that she is- she's waiting for him to turn off his music.

He sighs, reaching over to his phone beside him and sliding one sweaty finger across the screen to bring the rhythm to a halt.

"Yes?" he asks expectantly, not bothering to move his body from his reclining position.

"Other people in this studio are trying to practice, you know. It's kinda hard to do that with this," she gestures into the air, as if trying to find an appropriate adjective to describe the torture that had been gracing her ears over the past half hour.

"Not a fan of my music?" Harry smirked.

"I'm not a fan of someone disrupting my rehearsal." Giselle spit back.

"Rehearsal? It's bloody 11pm."

"I know what time it is, and like I said, your music is interfering with my ability to practice." Giselle stares Harry right in the eyes. He doesn't intimidate her, and she's not going to back down until he agrees to turn down his music.

"Wasn't aware you were the owner of this studio," Harry taunts.

"I could say the same about you." Giselle moves her hands to her hips. Just agree to turn off the damn music, she thinks to herself, even though she knows at this point, it's not worth the time it will take to warm back up to continue practicing.

Harry sits up, grabbing a blue towel from inside his bag and wiping the sweat that remains off his forehead. "Fine, music's off. Continue your rehearsal. I'm too jet lagged for this shit," he stands, wrapping the towel around his neck.

"Thanks," Giselle says under her breath, before making her way back to her studio, where she knew she would be gathering her own belongings.

Harry groans, grabbing his bag from the floor and sliding it over his shoulder. You could travel halfway across the world and still run into the same entitled ballet brats who thought they ran the place. It's those type of people, company members and otherwise, that were precisely the reason he had left the Royal. Well, not that he had necessarily had a say in that scenario, but they had been the cause of all of his problems.

You just have to dance, Harry, he tries to tell himself. But Harry knows that as much as he tries, there's a lot more too it than that.

**********

“Gi!" Caleb exclaims, bounding down the hallway towards her without concern for anyone in his way. "Cast list is up."

Giselle gulps. She isn't sure that she is ready for this. The look of disappointment on her mother's face if she doesn't land the part. The list of corrections that her mother has come up with from watching Giselle's audition. "Now you see there, you've lost your center. You're never going to make that triple if you don't hold your center Giselle." The reminder that "you only have so many opportunities to prove your worth, before they move onto the younger, better version of you." It didn't matter to her mother if Giselle was the youngest soloist at ABT by five years. It didn't matter if nearly every other soloist had previously understudied for the role. Everything but a lead was a disappointment to Natalia Korsakova.

"C'mon," Caleb exclaims, and before Giselle has a moment to collect herself she's being pulled down the hallway by her arm.

And there it is. The thin, white piece of paper that holds the fate of her next ten weeks in its hands. When she looks at it at first, she thinks she must be dreaming. Because her name has never been on that spot on the list before. Not since she officially joined the company five years ago.

Odette/Odile- Giselle Mason

Sigfried - Harry Styles

She feels frozen. Like she's in a dream and she's paralyzed. It's what she's always wanted-this role and yet, suddenly it feels like a whole lot of pressure.

"You did it Gi," Caleb exclaims, lifting her up and spinning her around before Giselle even has a moment to look any further down the list. Giselle laughs, giddy with excitement. "New York will have never seen a more beautiful Odette."

Giselle rolls her eyes at his comment. Caleb, her friend since joining the American Ballet School at the age of six and partner for many years had always been her biggest cheerleader. In a way, he made up for what she didn't have in her mother.

"And you Caleb?" Giselle asks, realizing in her excitement that she had forgotten that her best friend also had a role in the this ballet.

"You're looking at the newest Benno," Caleb says with a grin. Giselle often wondered what it would be like to be like Caleb. To be happy with any role. To not care about his place in the company. To simply want to dance. Caleb had always been like that- relaxed, calm- the antithesis to Giselle who was always high strung and anxious. Perhaps that's why they'd always been such good friends, because they balanced each other perfectly. Giselle pushed Caleb when he needed some extra motivation and Caleb- albeit not always successful- tried his best to keep Giselle out of her own head.

Giselle watches as Teagan makes her way over to the board, her long black hair swinging from the ponytail at the crown of her head. She grins in slight satisfaction as she sees Teagan's face turn into a frown. Giselle turns and gives Caleb her best, "what did she get?" eyes. He exaggeratedly mouths, "UNDERSTUDY".

As if sensing that she is the topic of conversation, Teagan looks over at the two. "Congrats Giselle," she says, her face moving in a way that makes it seem like the words taste disgusting leaving her mouth.

"You as well," Giselle responds, to which Teagan only scoffs and storms off.

"You know she's going to make your life living hell as your understudy don't you?" Caleb said with a laugh.

"Ugh, I know," Giselle groaned.

"It will be worth it though. You are going to be dancing the role you've always dreamed of." Giselle smiled. "Plus," Caleb begins, leaning down so his mouth is next to Giselle's ear. "You get to dance with the greatest male dancer of our generation. Think of all the hours you're gonna get to spend looking at that GORGEOUS body."

Giselle groans. Her perfect moment temporarily ruined by the realization that she would have to dance with Harry Styles. Sure, he may be talented, a great dancer, and likely a great partner. But his entrance yesterday and their encounter last night told her everything she needed to know about Harry Styles. And she was sure that working with him would be anything but easy.

"That GORGEOUS body," Giselle imitates Caleb with an exaggeration of the word, "Doesn't make up for the fact that the guy's an asshole."

"Okay, okay, point taken. Now can we go get some lunch?"

Giselle nods, but she already knows she's not hungry. Instead, all she can think about is how she's going to get through the next ten weeks of rehearsals with a man she already loathes.

**********

Giselle slides into the rehearsal studio with extra joy in her step later that afternoon. She's so on Cloud 9 that she doesn't even realize Harry standing at the barre doing pliés as she hums the opening notes of Swan Lake aloud.

"Sorry didn't know anyone else was in here already," she apologizes quickly, standing and stretching out her feet.

Harry looks at her, his face hard and eyes sharp. If he recognized her as the girl who interrupted his jam session last night his face didn't show it. "And who are you?" Harry asks, his voice laced with condescendence.

"Odette," Giselle smiles, the words feeling foreign leaving her mouth.

"Obviously," Harry scoffs, and Giselle feels her confidence waver. "Who are you?"

"Giselle Mason, soloist."

"Doesn't ring a bell," the corners of Harry's mouth turn up at his comment, like he gets satisfaction out of reminding others that they aren't the household name that he is.

Giselle wants to say something back. Something sharp and witty to show him that just because he was one of the greatest dancers in the world and she was still trying to make her way into the spotlight didn't mean that he could treat her like a nobody. She was going to be his partner after all- whether he liked it or not. But then Gregory Alexander, ABT's Artistic Director, enters the room, clapping his hands and tells them they are about to begin on the Act II Pas de Deux and Giselle doesn't have a chance to say otherwise.

"As new partners you will need to put in the time to understand each other. Build trust. Anticipate the other's movement. Portray to the audience that you are a swan and a prince in love." Gregory moves his arms in the air theatrically, as if he isn't wearing a designer suit.

"Now I understand that the ten weeks we have to prepare before our season debut isn't an ideal amount of time to form a relationship with a new partner. But in this case, it simply must do." Gregory's face turned serious, the wrinkles on his forehead more defined as he furrows his eyebrows. "I expect that the two of you will put in the time outside of your scheduled rehearsals to work on this chemistry. Anna and Viktor will also be assisting with rehearsals and my hope is that they will also be able to assist the two of you with this transition."

"Gregory," Harry interrupts, then as if realizing he'd made a mistake, he corrects himself. "Sir."

Gregory nods.

"I'm not sure what the concern is. I've danced with hundreds of partners in my career, I'm not sure how the other principal's would have much more experience than me?" Giselle thinks Harry is meaning this as a question but it comes out more like a statement.

Giselle watches as Gregory's eyes narrow again. He looked irritated, and why wouldn't he be? Harry had been here all but forty-eight hours and was already questioning the artistic director's decisions.

"That may be the case, Mr. Styles," Gregory paused. "But when the two of you step onto Metropolitan Opera House stage in ten weeks, I expect the audience to believe that you two have been dancing together for years. Have I made myself clear?"

Harry nods, this time remaining quiet.

"Now then, I'd like us to start with the Act II Pas de Deux. The very beginning- with your entrance Harry."

It's an hour into rehearsals when Giselle hears the echo of heels clicking down the wooden hallways. She doesn't even have to look up when the steps stop as they reach the studio floor. She could recognize that walk anywhere.

"Aahh, Natalia!" Gregory exclaims. "So glad you could stop by," Gregory reaches over to embrace Giselle's mother, his grey hair brushing the sides of her face as he kisses each cheek.

"Mr. Styles, I'd like to introduce you to Natalia Korsakova, former ABT principal and member of our board."

Natalia Korsakova looks as put together as always. Her dark brown hair pulled tightly into a neat French twist. Her tight black dress and coordinating pumps show off every bit of the dancer's body that she still maintained. Giselle watches as her mother's mouth curves to form a polite smile.

"A ballet legend. It's an honor to meet you Madame," Harry says offering his hand.

"The pleasure is all mine. I'm so glad you are joining us here at ABT. And what a joy it will be to watch you next to my daughter," Natalia gestures towards Giselle, with a polite smile plastered on her face that was generally reserved for generous donors and patrons of the ballet. It is all a show. That's all Giselle's mother ever did was put on a production. She was a performer after all, how could anyone expect her life to be anything but a crowd-pleasing performance?

"Your daughter?" Harry turns to look at Giselle, raising an eyebrow. His eyes narrow, as if he's caught Giselle in a lie. As if she'd snuck her way into this position and was just hoping that someone wouldn't notice she wasn't the real deal. "Why that makes this even more special."

Giselle fights every urge to roll her eyes from across the room. It is clear that Harry Styles is every bit as much of a performer as her mother. Just minutes before he was looking at her as if he had been paired with an amateur and suddenly working with her is 'something special'?

"I'm going to watch rehearsal for a bit," Natalia announces, making her way over to a stool next to the pianist. "Carry on." The pit in the bottom of Giselle's stomach grows as her mother takes a seat next to Gregory in front of the mirror.

"Odette makes sense to me now," Harry whispers into Giselle's ear, as he slides behind her to resume practice. It takes everything in her to keep her face stoic as Harry's hands settle once again on her waist.

Rehearsal goes badly. Giselle can't seem to get her leg into the attitude position that Gregory wants, she losing her balance on her penchés, and Harry almost drops her on several promenades. Giselle says almost, because someone as experienced as Harry Styles would never let his partner hit the ground, but she should have, because she surely wasn't holding her weight quite right. And then there's the fact that Gregory pronounced that Giselle "looks at Harry as if he is the villain of the story instead of the prince she's fallen in love with".

Giselle wants to say that's because he is the villain. The villain of her story anyways, the person that is somehow going to turn her dream role into somewhat of a nightmare. Why couldn't she be dancing with Viktor? He was so patient and kind and he would never look at his partner as if she deserved to be in the audience instead of on stage with him.

After yet another failed run through of the first half of the pas de deux, Gregory announces that they are done for the day, but that he expects to see them in the studio bright and early tomorrow morning to work on their timing. Giselle's never been so thankful for a rehearsal to be over, and as she sits down to remove her pointe shoes, running her hands over her swollen feet, she watches Harry leave the studio without saying a word.

"I hope you realize how big of an opportunity this is Giselle. It's not one you should take lightly," her mother's voice startles her, as Giselle had almost forgotten she was there. Almost.

Natalia stands above Giselle, one hand on her hips and the other on her forehead, as if watching today's rehearsal had been exhausting for her. It probably was exhausting for her, keeping tally of all the things that Giselle had done wrong for the past two hours. Natalia's voice is shrill as she speaks again. "There are thousands of ballerinas around the world that could only dream of getting to dance with Harry Styles. And here you are dancing with him in his first show with ABT. That's an enormous responsibility, darling. This performance with him will set the stage for his entire career with our company. One that the board is hoping will last until his retirement."

Giselle nods. That's all she can do when her mother begins one of her lectures- nod. She thought maybe this would be the time that her mother told her congratulations. The time that her mother did what she'd watched countless other mother's do during her time as a dancer, wrap their arms around their daughter and express their pride to them. But instead, today is like any other day, and even with a lead role in an ABT production, Giselle still hasn't done enough to make her mother proud.

Giselle shoves her shoes into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder as she stands.

"And Giselle?" her mother adds, as she makes her way towards the door.

"Yes mom?"

"Might want to hit a few more cardio classes this week too, my dear. Got to make sure you are going to be an easy dancer to partner with."

And with that comment Natalia Korsakova clicks away, leaving Giselle standing in the middle of studio wondering if her biggest dream has suddenly become her biggest nightmare.

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