#watch her fall by erin kelly

[nevinslibrary]

Mystery/Thriller Monday

Thriller and Ballet. Definitely a good combination.

Ava is a ballerina, and a good one, a great one. She’s the best. And someone is watching her. Add to that the twisty, turny, intense competitiveness of the ballet world and it’s both a disturbing and so much fun read.

I’ve read other ballet novels, and, so, some of the pain, suffering, and even blood wasn’t surprising to me. The characters were all great, some of them more reliable than others. Also, the author kept the plot bobbing and weaving and keeping me guessing, literally until then end. It was a great read.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale, Temper by Layne Fargo, or The Turnout by Megan E. Abbott

Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly

#mysterythrillermonday #nmlRA #nevins memorial library #watch her fall #erin kelly

[libbee]

Gemini & Their Range of Personality

Kelly Kapoor, The Office

Funny, witty and silly

On and off relationships, no commitments

Impulsive, carefree and does not think of consequences

Lies and manipulates on a whim

No deep feelings for her boyfriend

Constantly needs validation and assurance

Loves drama, excitement, thrill

Shallow and superficial, falls in love because "omg he is so cuuute"

Display of emotions like crying are only for attention and sympathy

Talks a lot, a lot, a lot

Lives in the moment, unstable and inconsistent

Though she is actually quite smart to be able to give mental stimulation

If she could mature, she would use the concentrated qualities of Gemini like research skills, writing and publication, ironically she even works in paper company

Short term memory, easily forgets the bad times, adapts to situations

Mood depends on social approval, social butterfly

It is really fun to watch her on screen but imagine being around that person in real life especially if you are a water element

Mind is all over the place, fickle minded but really clown like if you are into that

Her boyfriend Ryan himself is a drama lover so he can tolerate her betrayal, toxicity and dishonesty. In return he also cheats on her and dumps her many times

The fact is that she would not even realize something is not right with her personality because that is just who she is, that toxicity feels normal to her, it is all about her so she does not care about other people's spaces in the office

I used to like Kelly Kapoor a lot back in the days because I could relate to her and was into such comedy style of life. I really liked being funny and just making people laugh, that was my idea of social bonding. Though now I have matured after a lot of efforts (8th house moon) so I am in tune with occult and spirituality. It is possible to mature as a Gemini person but for that the native has to uncover layers of emotions and repeatedly practice being in tune with the underlying emotions rather than escape it through socializing. Contrary to my personality, I also spent a lot of time in solitude just thinking about concepts and ideas and that solitary nature became natural habit to me.

As a matter of fact, that urge to speak just to get a reaction out of people, being goofball and silly is legit for the Gemini but it will only work with people like Ryan, Erin, etc. (who are also scatterbrain) so that restricts their dating pool because people that are deep and stable will not respond to their advances. Also pay attention to how detached Gemini is from their emotions, they can sing the most romantic song from Titanic and not a feel a single damn emotion because they are only putting up a performance. They can be loyal for sure if you tick many of their boxes (but do not expect them to be loyal in their fantasies because that mind will go places).

To be able to feel emotions, a person has to be courageous because it is not just happiness and highs that are the emotional range, there is also sadness to anger and shame to resentment and fear to empathy that have to be felt. Since Gemini are dismissive of deep emotions in themselves, they also ignore and belittle emotional depth in others. If anything, they will make jokes out of everything and laugh at themselves instead of feeling the emotion in the moment. Such emotional invalidation can be cause for trauma and abuse in others, especially if they are parents then their children will never feel like they are allowed to have emotions. The fact is that Gemini deals with mind, thoughts, words and it simply does not deal with emotions. In a positive light, this characteristic makes them easygoing and malleable, they do not hold grudges and bounce back from sufferings and problems without a sweat.

But in the negative light, Gemini's emotions pile up under the surface and it may show up as projection issues in their children or the people around them and close to them. Sometimes Gemini can get sadistic and test how far they can push emotional people's button, how much they can irritate them and push them to show emotions. Display of emotions by others oddly satisfies their own inferior function that they are unable to feel.

I would like to mention that we as a society know what emotions we ought to display in what situations. We know these social conventions and formalities. So if you spot a Gemini crying over an emotional video, do not think that they actually feel empathy for that, they simply know "this emotional scene means I have to shed some tears for social display". This is why they can come off as manipulative and insincere because they display emotions they do not actually feel. They will say "I love you" 10 times a day and still flirt with others because that I love you was a lip service, a social convention, a cultural performance, because this is what couples ought to say to each other - not because they actually love you.

If the natal chart is nicely balanced by water placements, do expect a change of personality in later years. Otherwise you need not worry because they naturally gravitate towards fellow non committal and fickle people in relationships and friendships. But if you are in the same classroom or office with them, yeah that will be your daily dose of unnecessary headache. Though I would expect Geminis to be working in media, cinema, entertainment, social dealings based sectors where social personality and charm help prosper the business and test of character is not a requisite. In relationships, Gemini will be your laughter buddy, binge watch buddy, gossip buddy, brainstorm about a 100 things buddy, social media addict buddy, constantly texting silly messages buddy, let's hangout somewhere buddy.

Do not expect them to be religious or spiritual, they will instead rationalize everything, life, God, soul, death. Just concepts, facts, ideas, jumping from thing to the next not going too deep into any particular topic. Remember! Do not confuse social performance with actual personality. Their chatty nature can get really annoying if you are looking for some moments of peace and calm, they will want to fill the silence with their voice and its echo. They themselves are in awe of their spontaneity, wittiness and presence of mind. Moodiness is seen, though it is triggered by lack of intellectual highs not because they are feeling deep emotions and sensitivity.

Waiting for their turn to speak, already thinking of what to say before you end your sentence, Gemini is just like that. Can be into online dating because Gemini rules internet, messaging and technology. This is life - a bunch of personality traits and their daily repetition. That is why people do not change on fundamental levels. I would personally not trust a Gemini (and I am a Gemini) though that does not mean they don't add value to life and society. Their value is their ability to communicate, play with words, deliver speeches, write books and novels, manager of languages and dealer of conversations. It is literally what makes us humans highly intelligent and superior to other species.

#astro tumblr #astrology #astro notes #astrology blog #astro #gemini #gemini moon #gemini venus

[randomfoggytiger]

X-Files Collector’s Edition: I Want to Be Leaves (Fall Fics)

**Credit to LilyDaleXF’s yearly reblog meme** 

Time for fall fics! Apples, markets, changing colors, spicy scents, snappy weather-- and FBI agents sporting layered sweaters and cozy feelings. 

May the Fictober season bring upon us more fall fics. All hail the fall fics!

(**Edit: Correcting many, MANY mistakes. And adding more fic!**) 

Pattie’s Absconded  

““Blow your stack, Scully. But the accounts here of power drainage, water suddenly leaving pools, ponds and reservoirs in 'beams' are all consistent with some sort of aircraft performing some act perhaps you haven't seen, but those people have." He handed another stack of folders to his partner. "Keep reading. And look at the pictures, too. The reports with pictures are always more fun to read. After sunset, we're going out to watch the night sky.””

Early S1 kicks off fall vibes with Scully less-than-enthusiastically helping Mulder investigate a power plant where multiple workers have been seeing UFOs. 

Kelly Keil’s (FFN) Only Apples (FFN)

““When he picks her up, she asks again about their destination but he remains mute.  With resignation she joins him in the car, prepared for a long journey.

Mulder drives the car further and further from civilization, whistling tunelessly through his teeth.  Scully sits beside him, thinking how much she dislikes surprises.  Neither speaks. 

 As the miles fly by, she fingers her old flannel shirt and stares down at her worn boots.  Brilliant red and gold trees flash by her window and geese fly south for winter against a vivid blue sky.””  

Scully has lost sight of life in the drudgery of the mission. Mulder surprises her with a trip to an autumn orchard, reawakening her passion. 

Tinysmolfluff’s Autumn Coffee

““Can we go for a walk? – he asked quietly and she was about to protest that it’s freezing outside, but there was something vulnerable in his eyes, something urgent, so she just nodded and they left the café. They walked away from it, the dry leaves crunching under their shoes, the cold fall air picking at their faces.””  

Set after Redux II, Scully is woken up by Mulder, who wants to see her. Both are still vulnerable after her close shave with death. 

@mchalowitz​’s (Ao3)  Free Falling from Branches 

““That, over there,” he says, holding out his cup. He nods toward a tree in the distance. “Is that not a perfect, untouched pile of leaves?””

Mulder dumps he and Scully in a leaf pile. Scully loves him but doesn’t make a move... yet. 

@wexleresque/hllsteeth’s do you think I’m spooky? 

““Scully pauses, thinking. “It’s interesting how nature can make death seem so elegant,””

Scully ponders on death; and both she and Mulder vow (in their own ways) not to leave the other behind. 

Erin M. Blair’s Autumn Falls 

““She turned to face Mulder, still holding the leaf in her hand. "Mulder," she asked, not yet willing to look at him fully. "Do you remember what you said a few years ago...about how things were going to change for us?”" 

AU after The End-- Mulder and Scully observe the fall leaves soon after the burning of their office. Scully recalls his words at the end of Tooms, and both reflect that these changes can be good, too. 

@baronessblixen’s (Ao3)

The Sweetest Taste 

““They’re quiet, comfortably so, listening to the sound of leaves crunching under their boots. A few new ones fall to the ground, the trees bidding them goodbye.

“It’s beautiful,” Scully says, her voice as magical as the colorful foliage.”“

Mulder takes Scully to Farmer’s Market while gazing. He makes the first move after apple eating, leaf watching, and companionable shopping. 

A Day As Sweet As Pie (Ao3)  

““I'm in charge of the eggs," William says, pointing at the carton. He's been watching them like a hawk for days, afraid Mulder would use them to make scrambled eggs. That happened last week and William has vowed to never let the eggs out of his sight again.

"You are, egg man," Mulder says and the boy giggles.””

Will is SO excited to make Maggie’s pumpkin pie recipe for her; and his parents help him make up the recipe and keep his impatience at bay. 

@skylandmountain1013’s (Ao3) Seasons

““Without warning, Mulder scoops up a pile of leaves and tosses them in her direction. They smell like dirt and rain and crunch as they fall around her feet. Three stick in her hair like a makeshift crown.””

Mulder invites Scully out to fall festival to highlight the new shift in their relationship. Short fluff ensues.

@astridncs’s (Ao3) Lunch Date (Ao3)

““They bought food from the little deli that was near their office. A quaint little place that sold really good sandwiches and salads, and sweet potato pie that has Mulder buy two slices of. He insists the other one isn't for him, but Scully knows better.””

Scully pouts until Mulder agrees to enjoy the outside fall weather. He lends her his coat, and cheekily sets up date (even though they’re already dating.) 

@debbierhea/theexfilesbabe/iamalittleonedge’s

Unnamed

““Hey,” he says, and pulls back to look at her. “You okay? I asked what the plan is, G-woman.” She nods conservatively but her eyes give away her excitement.

“Apple picking, G-man.””

Early into their new relationship, Scully is excited to wake Mulder early to go apple picking. Both enjoy teasing each other and pouting playfully.

Unnamed

““The moment she walked up the steps and took a deep breath, turned to him and said, “It’s perfect,” was the moment he realized just how much time they had spent being upset and stressed. She looked ten years younger that day, with a braid hanging over her shoulder.””

Pre-IWTB-- Mulder watches Scully happily sinking into their new domesticity.

@msrafterdark’s (Ao3) Sugar

““He catches the blissful aroma of home as soon as he walks in her door: sugar and cinnamon and vanilla. He had wondered why she’d be calling him in the middle of a Sunday afternoon with a voice of purpose requesting he drop by.””

Scully invites Mulder over for cookies. Both are touched by their first, intentional exchanges of love. 

Red’s Autumn 

““As the light faded, the air grew colder and the hairs on her arms stood up, goosepimples disturbing the smoothness of her pale skin.  A cool breeze bothered a cluster of leaves near her feet, tossing them carelessly around her for several long seconds.  Her shadow slowly blended into the grey shadows of the evening, the waning moon gradually rising in the sky and bathing her in milky-white light.””

Set Season 8-- Scully stares at the stars, alone, wondering where Mulder is. 

A Baroness Blixen lovely anon 

““But Will seems happy with his snails. He shows one to his parents and declare « this one a boy. His name is Will. »””

William and his parents enjoying fall and snails. As they should. 

@juniperphoenix’s (Ao3) Autumnal (Ao3) 

““Charlie and I used to play in leaf piles when we were little. We pretended we could swim in them.” A pile this size would have seemed an ocean. “Did you ever do that?”

“No, but I used to hide under the leaves so I could spy on people.””

Mulder pounces, buries Scully in leaf pile. Autumn is Scully’s favorite season; and both share their childhood memories. 

@avocadoave’s (Ao3) Pumpkin Guts and Other Stuff (Ao3)

““You want to tell me what’s going on?” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Mulder, your arms have taken on an orangeish hue from cleaning out so many pumpkins. When I took the garbage out last night there were, I don’t know, 12 mangled ones in the can.”” 

Set sometime IWTB-- Mulder uses pumpkins to plan his surprise proposal. 

@monikafilefan’s (Ao3)

Language of Love - Chapter 13 

““You cheated, Mulder. Even so, you’re warm so I’ll let it go.””

Post Revival-- Scully unable to dodge Mulder’s “gotcha”; but is still rewarded with wonderful foot rubs. 

Unnamed Prompt 

““I know you’d laugh at me and tell me, ‘Dana you should know by now my spirit is not with my body.” But you know me, having a tangible place to visit and talk to you brings me comfort when I really need you. And this time I don’t need my sister to unload my burdens on, this time I want to tell you only good news in person. Today’s a special day.”

She reached out, running her finger along each letter to spell out the word, Melissa.”” 

Scully visits Melissa’s grave to update her on life and the birth of her daughter. Mulder stealth-surprises her with their napping baby. 

@lotsoforangesoutside’s The Season of the Soul

““So, though in his childhood and into his early adulthood, autumn was often defined by that one thing which shaped his personality and his quest, it had been redeemed.”” 

Mulder’s enjoyment of autumn-- like many things in his life-- was destroyed by the losses he’d received; but having Scully, and now his daughter, to experience it anew reignites his fondness. 

ImWatchingTheMagician’s Pumpkin 

““Hey hey little bear” Mulder scoops the girl up, before she can release her –almost- 2 year old destructive behavior on Siegel’s pumpkins.””

Mulder and Scully’s have to head-off their precocious toddler from running rampant through a pumpkin patch because of the lofty glare of its farmer. 

Enjoy! 

#txf #x-files #xf fanfic #fic #Collector's Edition #I Want To Be Leaves #LilyDaleXF #Tinysmolfluff #mchalowitz #hellsteeth #Baroness Blixen #lovely anons #SkylandMountain #astridncs #theexfilesbabe #iamalittleonedge #msrafterdark #Red #juniperphoenix #avocadoave #MonikaFileFan #lotsoforangesoutside #ImWatchingTheMagician #wexleresque #debbierhea #Pattie #mine #Kelly Keil

[allkinds-oftrash]

The Crown S5E10 Commentary

Non-Spoiler Review: That was so underwhelming. It just sealed to me what an uneventful season this was. I feel like Peter Morgan only went off on Ep 3, 4 then 7 to 9 then called it a day. I don’t know what exactly went behind the scenes to make him chicken out of going full on with the punches like he did in S4. Anyways here’s my live reactions as I watched it but I’m too annoyed to do a proper season review so lemme direct yall to my lovely mutual @mermaidsirennikita Caro’s post that outlined everything I felt about the season (I do disagree on some points but I’ll cover that in my post tomorrow or something when I’m done being mad - also hi Caro its viscountessevie’s side acc lol) 

Spoilers Under The Cut

Dodi and Mohammed!! I've missed them Shksjs Dodi is officially an LA producer Not him bidding against Michael Douglas for a house

The way I really thought it was gonna be Diana 🤡🤡 But it's just Barbara Gordan Sr (Erin Richards played her in Gotham) bdjdjdk

LMAOOO DIANA VOTING NO FOR THE MONARCHY Isn't this a lie tho?? I'm pretty sure she wanted William on the throne eventually... Oh well fiction wise it's fucking funny This voting scene is brilliant I love it so much What a great cold open!

(I forgot I watched the cold open last night before falling asleep and am rewatching this bit again for my commentary and GOD IT'S EVEN MORE HILARIOUS A SECOND TIME)

Oooh it's Lizzie's birthday Lmaoo not her getting gag gifts from everyone BUT CHARLES Between the boring ass book he got for Di and this, he really is the worst gift giver huh Not Chucky being jealous of Pedodrew's stupid gift Damn Charles really is a masochistic always watching these programs that make him upset Lmaooo not Edward and Pedodrew taking the piss out of him

God Queen Mother shut the fuck up you racist bitch "The Great Chinese Takeaway" 🙄 For fuck's sake and everyone laughing. God fuck these racist asses. Yeah this might be a fictional scene but YOU KNOW these bitches have said worse things behind closed doors. I cannot WAIT til the Queen Mother dies; she's so insufferable. Yall did not compare the liberation of a former colony to an ex attending a wedding jfc yall are the worst Charles is gonna fuck up the Hong Kong trip just watch

Random tangent but Fly Like An Eagle is on Glen Powell (Hangman in the Top Gun sequel)'s playlist for his character and now there's a plane while the song is playing, I fully expected Glen to come out of that plane why am I like this 💀💀

Anyways hiii Dodi what a cutie Is Barbara Gordan Sr playing his wife? Nope she is not. Who is Kelly?? Why do we need to know her Is this scene necessary Peter Morgan?? OH?? HE'S SLEEPING WITH HIS ACTRESS?? Dodi wtf don't be one of those gross producers Oh wait is that his fiancee he dropped for Diana oop Also why did I think she was his ex wife that happened way back in the 80s dhdjkd I'm sorry but I did not need to see that scene lmao it could have been an email Dodi really has a type huh Ew he's doing coke God he really became a Hollywood cliche huh I mean I never knew much about him so I can't say if this is accurate or not but if it is, bro why did you become a Hollywood cliche

I never followed Tony Blair's politics but we like him right?? In that case, Charles you're nothing like him How has the second Mrs. Al Fayed not aged at all 👁👄👁 It's been at least a good 7 years since Ep 3

Don't be fucking crude Mou Mou Let them speak their native language Kelly Yeah it's rude but you're giving White Woman rn djdkkdkd Heini is right lmaooo Okay actually they did do well with her make up to age her a little

WHAT?? His only talent is women??? "One day you'll hit the jackpot"???? What does that meannnn Mou Mou Peter Morgan are you implying Dodi was a golddigger omg This is so uncomfortable pls Kelly is like ???

Damnn let's go Labour Party let's gooo Ohmygod that's Tony Blair?? Huh the one time the irl person is more attractive 💀💀 the actor is fine but Tony Blair was a DILF back in the day come on

Tell me why I feel sad John Major lost 😭😭😭 He was just so nice this season dhkdjd Lmao this historians convo is so meta especially since Peter seems to have a bias for John Major and have given him a hot actor and made him really chill and cool this season Lmaooo Lizzie you did not just say he's your favourite PM LOL bro it's fine the Brittiana is old af time to decomission her

"The youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812" WELL Rishi Sunak is coming for that title 25 years later yall "And you're still a young man too" LIZZIE STOP LYING HE'S GOT A FULL HEAD OF WHITE HAIR Johnny Lee Miller playing him doesn't make him less old djdkkd

Can you imagine if the note to Blair had said "GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN" lmaooo Johnnn why you lying "A great job" as if you didn't spend this season just babysitting the royals

This boat nonsense plot line is so fucking stupid and pointless. Peter Morgan THIS could have been an email. I do not care for this shit at all They just sound like rich brats which we already knew they were So you could have used another example to show that

NEW BRITAIN SHDJJDJS This is so stupid omg It's just a fucking boat Lizzie let it go

Like I get sentimentality and all but don't anchor (pun absolutely intended) yourself and your sense of self worth to a old piece of metal Like That I would be alot more sympathetic (because we all have sentimental things tied to our memories)1 if they weren't old rich white people who caused so much pain whining about a luxary no one else can afford and expecting the government to keep funding it

HAHAHHAH HE'S IN BUSINESS WHILE THE REST ARE IN FIRST CLASS PLEASEEEE I CACKLED "You're going to have to be very brave" 💀 Camilla it's just business class yall need to calm the fuck down

What the fuck is this visual Mans is not left out of anything This visual metaphor falls so fucking flat when he's literally usually the one drawing the curtain on people Peter Morgan what are you doing

Omggg the Cantonese burning the British flag What icons They're so right for THAT

Okay Heini has grown on me Girlie really grew into her place in the Fayed family huh Good for her "You were so much more than a model. You were a socialite" MOU MOU WHAT This is so cringey pls

I have gone 20 mins after the cold open without Diana WHERE IS SHE Oh lmao here she is I missed you bby Awww her friendship with Mou Mou is everything I wanna h u g her Her voice is always on point I'm shook

God the flashes give me such anxiety The foreshadowing really gives me the deepest pit in my stomach Oh gosh the offer to Saint Topaz,,, the beginning of the end 😭😭 I don't want her to goooo Yeah Elizabeth took a few eps but she finally grew into the role as Diana we love to see it!

We hate Charles but damn doesn't Dominic look good in a uniform God I hate it here Also booo let Hong Kong be it's own country just passing it off to another country I can't even I get so anxious seeing the rainfall on everyone's head they're gonna catch a cold Dominic lost the Charles voice, it needs to be steeper bud

Charles don't be fucking weird Why did you link the ages to her relatives and husband and now son Don't say it Nope yall are not brothers stfu He said it 🤡 Welll he made Blair say it

Lmaooo Blair sick of the yacht talk too hsjjdkd Why do you feel bad sir?? Bruh it's just a boat 💀

YALL JUST GOT DIVORCED A YEAR AGO - Chill the fuck out Chucky Lmaoo Blair is right he was going behind Lizzie's back and briefing against her They always do this They brief against one another It's messy af

The amount of Charles cocksucking happening in this episode is gross Peter Morgan WHAT did he threaten you with Why are you trying to make him out to be this modern innovative man Was he??? Was he really??? Charles so self serving I cannot LMAO NOT CAMILLA WITH THE KNOCK OFF REVENGE DRESS YOU WILL NEVER BE HER

"Friendly invasion" Okayyy China whatever helps you sleep at night

Helloooo Martin,,, I really am a simp for Martin huh. Listen this season hasn't given me a single person in the main Royals other than Diana to feel anything for So Martin's hotness it is I can't believe I'm saying this: but Lizzie should have said No 😭😭 Martin snitching on Chucky hsjdjdk She's gonna TEAR HIM APART

There's 12 minutes left and this is such an unimpressive finale wtf Peter Morgan bruh what are you doinggg I told myself I won't follow press after the mess than is the Bridgerton production team But I NEED to know what Peter was thinking outlining this season The potential was there and yet it flopped Only Eps 3, 7 to 9 were solid episodes

Lmaooo affair "Divorced man whose wife is still alive" I'M SCREAMING Can't believe I'm agreeing with Charles abt his rls rn Oh never mind fuck you Charles No one brought up Diana why you gotta drag her name through the mud K Chucky sureee Camilla has Did their spin doctor write this episode??

SCREAMS "I don't think it's my behaviour threatening its (the monarchy) survival" Rip him apart harder Lizzie come onnn Yesss throw the whole monarchy away Yeah they yeeted yall cos you OPPRESSED THEM FOR 50 YEARS, idiots

I feel nothing for this stupid ship and her farewell God this is so depressing and underwhelming This ep should have just been the cold open only tbh If you aren't gonna commit to the end of the Diana era then leave it all completely to S6 which is so disappointing, I thought they were finish Diana's story this season I was mentally prepared for that And now I gotta be sick again worrying about it and then mentally prepare for it again before S6

That's it??? That was so underwhelming???

40 mins of white people whining abt their boat and losing a country to independence Then 15 mins of Diana's death foreshadowing?? 5 mins of Dodi being a Hollywood producer cliche and Mou Mou being a dick to Kelly??

That's all??? Bruhhhh

#The Crown #The Crown Season 5 #The Crown Spoilers

[televinita]

Rewatched the Florida arc on The Office w/ husband and oh my god it is truly my favorite string of episodes in this entire series. We just finished After Hours, and as nauseating as the Packer stuff is, please enjoy this list of other things that made us howl, in no particular order.

“What’s in it for GSL?” (Gabriel Susan Lewis, referring to himself in the third person)

“FIVE DOTS?!”

“I would like your oakiest chardonnay.”

“Do you want us to get scolded?!”

really Ryan’s entire terrible attempt to hook up with Erin, culminating in “SIX MONTHS?! ok, I’m in love with Kelly.”

Erin being the cutest she has ever been in pursuit of Forbidden Hotel Waffles. You’re gonna be all right, kid.

UN-BE-LIEV-A-BULL! (which I hated when it first aired, but I’ve come around)

AND OBVIOUSLY, THE ENTIRE JIM/CATHY/DWIGHT/THE HYPOTHETICAL BEDBUGS SUBPLOT THAT IS THE REASON I LOVE IT SO:

+ Jim dying from fear of confrontation and his desperate attempts to make a third party intervene (Hey Stanley! Hey buddy! Good to see you! Let’s hang out! All of us, together, in here, because there is definitely no need for me to be alone with Cathy in this room with a bed NO WAIT COME BACK)

+ JIM, that is SO RUDE that you would accuse me of hitting on you, GOD! Now shut up and let me fall asleep on your shoulder, like any normal colleagues who aren’t attracted to each other would do (sidebar: actually, hold up, did she see the season 1 tapes??).

+ I still can’t watch the “SO smug” bedbug imitation without mentally replaying the gag reel version where John & Rainn keep cracking up trying to get through it.

+ Favorite scene I can’t believe they deleted, in which Pam teases Jim about Cathy and he does indeed look really cute while being embarrassed. I still can’t believe there was ever even the idea of really having Jim kiss Cathy in this ep. Like. This is so much funnier in every way??

P.S. Pam is so pretty in this episode. Every single time I see it, I have the exact same thought process about how unbelievably gorgeous she looks. Her hair is golden and perfectly styled and her outfit looks great on her; I dunno, she just glows.

#the office #after hours #cleaning out my drafts #episode reactions

[felacia-barrie]

Watch Loving Annabelle on Prime Video!

Hey I’m watching Loving Annabelle. Check it out now on Prime Video!

[loopstagirl]

#icymi #book #review #book review #watch her fall #watch her fall review #erin kelly #erin kelly review #watch her fall by erin kelly #watch her fall by erin kelly review #book blog #book blogger #original writing #loopstagirl

[maraczeks]

the office s4 thread pt 5

#shut up i love holly so much the women of this show truly >>>>>>> #mar 9 2021 #i cant wait to watch them fall omg #ew no tobys obsession w pam is so weird stop #ok now just waiting for erin my puppy love #hes already making her a mixtape.... n he thinks he loves her ????????? im so excited bci know nothing abt them vs dwangela n pb+j #her smile im so soft #also ive definitely watched the clips of holly thinking kevins disabled before #u guys im so obsessed with her #ANGELA SMILING EVILLY I LOVE U SDFJLSDJFKJFJJ #ryan unhinged era also doesnt rlly make sense..... funny doe #why is kelly so hung up on ryan girl #i love knowing nothing abt michael holly its like watching benslie for the first time #HOLLYS SMILE OH MY GOD #the set up for michaelholly THEIR FIRST MEETING you KNOW theyre gonna b tgt forever sobbing emoji #no bc i love angela so much lord.. #angela pam holly i lov u #erin doesnt come until 5.23 ??????????? crying thats so far away also i forgot erin and andy might b a thing thats gross #JAN PREGNANT??????? WHAT THE FRICK #man jan get out bro #they look so similar tho HSLEHAALAHAHA #WAIT SPERM BANKFJDSJFJ ann perkins tease #why are they bringing jan back in hollys ep not to pit women against each other but jan is awful #pb+j pROPOSAL?????????? please please please #mad!angela i lov u #NO NOT ANDY PROPOSING WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHAHTHSDHDJDFJFDJLDFSLJKFLJKDJLKFLJKFD #NO HIS PARENTS ARE THERE THATS SO. IM I HATE IT HERE NOONONONONOONONONONONONSOFONSEOJ THIS IS ALL WRONG #thats so sick mike schur answer for your crimes #GODDDD how much longer do i have to wait for dwights crazy roadside proposal #holly is so pretty oh my god

[thebookreader12345]

750 Followers Celebration - Q&A

Thank you so much for supporting me through this journey! You guys don't know how much this means to me. Every single one of you is amazing.

Below the cut are my answers to the questions that you all submitted.

Q: Do you think Jay is going to become Sergeant this season? A: There has been a lot of debate over this question because of the past few seasons and all of the "Easter eggs", like the sergeant exam poster hanging in the background of the show. In my opinion, I do not believe Jay will become Sergeant. Yet. I think it won't be until the beginning of next season because, if this is a possible storyline, I would expect that the producers and writers would make the finale of season 9 about Voight stepping down/getting promoted, etc.

Q: Did Chicago Justice deserve more episodes? A: I'm sort of split with this question. I loved the fact that there was a big episode involving Kevin, and they always included people from Med, Fire, and PD in some of the episodes. However, the whole plot of the episodes was kind of slow because it wasn't like they were police officers and could go out and chase suspects and arrest people and what not. Their job was just to gather the evidence and then present it in court. I think for many, the show fell flat because there wasn't much action, and part of me does agree with that, but the whole idea of the show itself was kind of cool.

Q: What would make you stop watching each Chicago show? A: This is a tough question because I've only ever dropped one show that I can think of, and it was only because the plotline got really dumb. Maybe if some major characters died in each show I'd stop watching it? But then again, I love the One Chicago universe so much that I don't think even that would stop me from watching. So yeah. I really don't know.

Q: Do you believe in magic? A: As much as I would love for magic to be real, I don't believe it is. But I feel like everyone thinks that way. Cause lets be honest, Harry Potter and Disney make magic look so cool. However, we all know deep down somewhere that it's almost impossible for certain things to be real, and magic just so happens to be one of them.

Q: Are you superstitious? A: I'm not the most superstitious person out there, but I do somewhat follow a few superstitions. Whenever I find a penny on the ground with heads facing up, I pick it up because I believe I'll get good luck. Doing the whole "fingers crossed" thing is something I do a lot. I believe you shouldn't open an umbrella in the house or else you'll receive bad luck. Broken mirrors are bad omens. Those are the top 4 I believe in, but other than that, I'm not really too superstitious.

Q: Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you? A: I mean, I would hope so. I appreciate my level of smarts, and whenever my friends acknowledge them or compliment me on them it makes my day. However, with that, people think that I'm always only doing things to boost my intelligence. For example, I love to read. So whenever I say that I didn't do much over the weekend, people always assume that I read a bunch, when I really didn't. Or that I always study for tests or do homework like a week before it's do. That is not the case. But for the most part, I believe my perception of myself is the same as how other people perceive me.

Q: Who is your favorite couple on each One Chicago show? A: Okay, so for Med, there aren't really any couples at the moment besides Maggie and Ben, whom I love but they aren't my favorite, so I'm gonna pick a past couple. When I first started Med, Manstead was my prime ship, so I'll choose them. Will had been pining after Natalie for so long so I was glad when they finally got together. For Fire, it's gotta be Kelly and Stella. They were literally made for each other, and they support each other with everything. Also, they are so cute together and all of Firehouse 51 ships them as well! And for PD, while I do love Burzek, Upstead is my favorite ship at the moment. I've seen the connection between Hailey and Jay since season 5. You don't understand how angry I was in season 7 when Hailey was so close to confessing her feelings. So season 8 made me very happy when Jay and Hailey finally got together.

Q: Jay and Lindsey or Jay and Hailey? A: I respect everyone's opinions on this matter, so hopefully you all respect mine. I thought that Erin was almost toxic in a way for Jay. She continuously broke his heart when all he wanted to do was help him. But what really does it for me is that she left Chicago without telling him goodbye. Hailey, on the other hand, has pushed Jay to seek out help when he needed it, like when she recommended he take seeing a therapist seriously to help with his PTSD, and she is always there for him, no matter what. That's why I believe Hailey and Jay are the better pairing.

Q: Which character death got to you the most? A: There have been too many sad deaths in the One Chicago world. But if I had to pick one, I've gotta go with Otis on Chicago Fire. Otis was always one of my favorite characters, even way back when I watched Fire with my dad when it was first coming out. He was witty and funny, and his friendship with Cruz was everything. So, when I watched the episode where he died, I was full on balling. I had to pause the episode for 10 minutes because I couldn't stop.

Q: Who is your favorite character on each show and why? A: I'm gonna do favorite male and female character because I've got too many favorites from each show. On Med, my favorites are Will and Natalie. Will has been my favorite since day one, and I like that he will go out of his way to help patients, even if it means he could get in serious trouble. Natalie, even though she's not in the show, always pushes for the best of care for her patients, and whenever she dealt with kids it was always the sweetest thing. On Fire, I like Kelly and Sylvie. Kelly is so headstrong and driven, and he will do anything to protect the other members of Squad 3. Sylvie is such a hard worker and you can tell she is passionate about her job. I feel so bad that she's had to go through so many partners. On PD I love Jay and Hailey. Jay has not always been my favorite male character. Back when I watched the show for the first time, I adored Adam. However, I love that Jay has such good morals and is always pushing to do the right thing even when Voight disagreed. Now, it took a few episodes for me to warm up to Hailey, but after seeing her be so badass, it was hard not to like her.

Q: Where do you get inspiration for your stories?/How do you get inspiration when there's not a request? A: This question is always hard to answer because I really don't know. Most of the time I'm fulfilling requests sent in by you guys and I just write what comes to the top of my mind. If there are requests that are not requested and I come up with them on my own, chances are I saw the plot somewhere else, like in a book or show or movie, and I just tweaked it a bit to fit the One Chicago universe. Either that happens, or while I'm trying to fall asleep, I make up random scenarios in my head, and if I find one that I really like, I'll make a note of it on my phone so I don't forget it, and then I'll write about it.

Q: Do you think Brett and Casey are endgame? Why or why not? A: I'm gonna go with yes on this one. Now, Brettsey is not one of my top ships in the universe. However, they are cute together, and I've been expecting them to get together for a while. The two of them, even when Gabby was around, had a great relationship and always cared for each other. Plus, Matt jumped out of a firetruck to go help Sylvie when the ambulance flipped. He was willing to risk an injury just to make sure she was okay. And now that they are officially together in Chicago Fire, you can see that they really love and care for each other.

Q: What inspired you to start writing? A: I always seem to get this question whenever I do a q&a, but that's okay because I don't mind talking about it. I first got into stuff like this as a reader. Basically, I went on to Wattpad and Tumblr to read other people's stories. I had no intention of creating my own. And then, one day, I started imagining myself in some of the fandoms I was apart of, and I thought, "If I'm imagining myself in these fandoms, chances are others are too," and I began creating stories that followed the plots of movies and shows exactly, just adding Y/n in it. However, that got tiring after a while because I wasn't able to have much freedom because I was following a set script, and that's when I remembered I had a Tumblr account I never used. So, I revamped my account just a little bit and started posting story ideas I had that I couldn't post on Wattpad because either they didn't fit with the stories or they were for someone I didn't write for on Wattpad. And now, here we are. For anyone interested, I've posted this before but I'll post it again, my Wattpad handle is @Writer_Reader05.

Q: Jay or Will Halstead? A: I'm sorry, but I really can't choose between the two of them. I love them both so much. Will and Jay are two of my favorite characters in the whole One Chicago universe. While they do have some qualities that I'm not the fondest of, at the end of the day, I adore the both of them, and I could never choose between them.

Q: Who would you rather date: Jay or Will Halstead? A: Why do you guys do this to me? I love them both so much! But, if I have to choose, I'm gonna pick Jay. The only reason is because I like the characters in PD more than Med, so if I'm dating Jay, chances are I'm friends with Hailey and Adam and all of Intelligence. Will is just as awesome as Jay though and I feel like sometimes people sleep on that.

Q: Which of the requested fics you’ve written is your favorite? A: I think I'm gonna have to go with a Jay Halstead x reader I wrote titled Two Becomes Three. Something about the plot just makes me smile. And to think of Jay being a father......So yeah, while I have so many amazing requested fics thanks to you all, that one has to be one of my favorites.

Q: What’s your favorite series you’ve written so far? A: I love all of the series I have written. Something about creating a whole story that's more than just one part is always fun. If I have to pick one series, I'm gonna pick On the Loose. It was the first series I wrote on Tumblr and the plot of it is something I'm really proud of. However, From the Big Apple to the Windy City, Identity Loss, and Difference of Opinion are all amazing! The first two are finished series and the last one still has a few chapters left to go. Go check them out if you haven't already.

Q: What's your favorite imagine you've come up with and why? A: I don't have a lot of fics that are solely my ideas. Most of my stories have plots that were sent in by you all. However, if I had to pick a favorite out of my stories, it'd be Back Home for Christmas, a Halstead Sister fic I released when I was somewhat new to the platform. Something about writing sibling fics always makes me happy because I get to express the familial side to the characters.

Q: If you had to be roommates with 5 of your mutuals/fellow writers, who would you pick and why? A: I love all of my fellow writers/mutuals so much! I know how much work we put into whatever we post, and most of us are very active on this site. As for who I would pick to be my roommates, I'd choose @hereforhalstead @fighterkimburgess @halsteadlover @resanoona @sylviebrettsey because I feel like we'd all have great conversations, mainly over One Chicago. And every Wednesday night we'd all watch the episodes live together and experience them as a group and then freak out over what happened..........Now watch me fantasize about this all day.

Q: Do you listen to music when you write? A: It depends. On some days when I plan that I'm gonna write, then yes, I do put on some music. When there are days that I have a few minutes to spare, I don't put on music just because I'm only writing for a few minutes and I don't want to waste time. But mostly when I'm writing I do play music in the background.

Q: Do you know how your fics/stories end before you finish writing it? A: This is a really interesting question. The answer is no, I do not know how I'm gonna end a fic before I finish writing it. The only story I had a set ending for was my series On the Loose, but that one wasn't even fully planned out until I got a chapter or two in. Obviously, if I get a request that includes a set ending, like two characters get together or something like that, then I know what the ending will be. Otherwise, I have no clue.

Q: Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along? A: You know, I can't say that I have. Everyone is different in their own way, and that's what makes us all unique. I would imagine if I did meet someone with a similar personality we'd get along because we'd basically be a carbon copy of each other, but who knows. Maybe our similar personalities would cause us to clash.

Q: Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others? A: Not really. I know myself more than anyone else so I know what my limits are and when I've reached them. With people, on the other hand, I always feel like they can be doing more with themselves and their lives. So I do not hold myself to higher standards than others.

Thank you to all of you who sent in questions! I never thought I'd reach 750 followers on this platform. The only reason I have is all thanks to you wonderful people out there!

@winterberryfox @maximeevansblog @scarletsoldierrr @i-like-sparkly-things @dreamingmanip @soph0864 @ryliegh8 @lorenakaspersen @wanniiieeee @nevertoofarfromivar @securityfriendly-jay @pinkbay-love @stephie123

#one chicago #q&a time #q&a session #question and answer #750 followers

[jablesjonah]

White Lilacs (Ryan Howard x Erin Hannon)

Summary: Flowers are living poetry (Slight AU, completely disregards everything Ryan does in Tallahassee) 

Warnings: None! Maybe slight angst?

Ryan was trying to be better. He’d gone to AA, tried his best to stay off the drugs, and even started seeing a therapist. He doubted his life would ever be particularly good again, but things were getting better, little by little.

Something his therapist thought would help him was poetry, so he picked it up. Not just writing his own, but looking for it everywhere. That’s what led him to flowers. Throughout his recovery, Ryan developed a fascination with them. He never realized before just how beautiful they were, not just on the surface, but what they represented. Flowers are living poetry, and Ryan’s therapist suggested he immerse himself in it.

Ryan’s therapist had also been suggesting he get some time away- from Kelly, specifically. Nearly all of his earlier sessions had involved her in some way. He’d never tell, but a few of his sessions were spent crying when it came to her. Ryan didn’t love Kelly and honestly, he hated himself for it.

Letting go of Kelly had been a long and painstaking process, but it was nowhere near as hard as it seemed to be for Kelly to let go of him. He tried everything the therapist suggested. He talked to her but she didn’t listen. He distanced himself from her, but she didn’t take the hint. He stopped answering her calls, but she just found other ways to reach him. Ryan didn’t want to hurt her. He was tired of hurting her. So, he did the next best thing. He found a way to get away from her.

Ryan knew it wasn’t exactly what his therapist suggested, but he was out of ideas. It’s not like he could just find a new job. With his record, he’d be lucky land a job at a grocery store. He had to get away, and when Andy announced the Florida trip, he knew he had to go. If they could get away from each other for a while, maybe she would move on.

Or maybe he would.

Falling for Erin was an accident, really. It had been happening for a long time, but there were a million reasons why it was wrong. Erin loved Andy and everybody thought Ryan loved Kelly, not to mention Gabe’s scary obsession. Ryan was still recovering. He wasn’t supposed to be involved with anyone. Besides, Erin wasn’t even his type. She was soft and sweet and pure, basically Ryan’s polar opposite.

Still, he couldn’t help but find himself drawn to her.

If there was one thing that intrigued Ryan the most about Erin, it was her innocence. There was something so familiar about it, to the point that looking at her felt like being hit with a wave of nostalgia. It made him feel like a schoolboy again, sneaking glances and shy smiles and wondering what she’d say if he asked to hold her hand. It had been a long time since he had felt that way, and it was scary.

The first time Ryan truly saw Erin was on Secretary’s Day, when the infamous cake thing happened. Some people thought it was ridiculous (Michael). Others agreed with her (Pam). Most people were just confused, and Ryan considered himself part of the majority. At first, he didn’t understand why Erin was so upset about Andy having dated someone else in the office, but then he realized.

Erin had probably never been in a serious relationship before.

That realization both overwhelmed and excited Ryan. She truly was innocent, and it made him wish he was too. So, he kept striving to be better. He followed the twelve steps of sobriety and took everything his therapist said to heart, all in the name of proving to himself that he could be innocent too, that deep down, that same sweet and childlike goodness hadn’t disappeared.

So, he convinced Andy and Dwight to let him go, packed his bags, and went to Tallahassee. He spent the flight sneakily watching Erin and writing furiously in his little notebook. Ryan knew he shouldn’t care for her. He knew he wasn’t ready yet. But, that didn’t mean he couldn’t plan something nice for her.

The second they got to the hotel, he dropped his stuff and stopped by the nearest flower shop, setting a bouquet to be delivered to the front desk in the morning.

Ryan spent the night tossing and turning, terrified that he had made the wrong decision. Eventually he convinced himself that it didn’t matter anyway. If she reacted badly, no one would ever know they were from him. The only thing he wrote in the card was the type of flower and its meaning. She had to know the flowers were picked especially for her.

The second he saw the glowing smile on her face, it took everything in him to keep from blurting out the truth.

White Lilacs: youthful innocence

Erin was confused by the flowers. Why wouldn’t she be? But that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate them. In fact, she loved them more than Ryan ever expected she would. As soon as she saw the flowers, she started going on about how pretty they were to Dwight, who couldn’t care less.

Pretty flowers for a pretty girl, he thought.

The moment he caught her gaze and noticed just how happy she was, he knew he wanted to make her feel that way every day.

So, he did.

Almost every night, he’d buy Erin a new bouquet. It probably wasn’t the best idea, considering how poor Ryan was, but he couldn’t deny the fact that the look on her face was totally, completely worth it.

The first week was filled with platonic flowers. Flowers to represent the girl herself.

White Lilies: purity

Crocus: youthful joy

Daisies: gentleness

Poppies: imagination

Each bouquet seemed to bring a bigger smile to Erin’s face, and more affection for her to Ryan’s heart. He didn’t send flowers on the weekend. Instead, he spent long nights in his hotel room debating whether or not he should just go over and tell her the truth. But how would he go about doing that?

“Hey, Erin, you practically have no idea who I am, but I’ve been spending a shit ton of money just to make you smile.”

Ryan went back to the same thought over and over, that being that his entire plan was creepy. He knew he could easily be caught. Ditching the entire group to go to a flower shop every night wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. Part of him hoped Erin would figure it out. Another part of him was terrified she would be disappointed and wouldn’t understand. So, to avoid confusion, he didn’t abandon his plan. He took it to the next level.

The next morning, another bouquet sat waiting for Erin.

Sunflowers: adoration

Ryan hoped she understood what he meant. That he adored her. That this wasn’t thoughtless, and that she didn’t have to go back to Andy. As much as Ryan liked her, though, he knew Erin wasn’t the most perceptive person in the world, especially since she referred to them as, “The flowers from Shrek!” when she saw them. Ryan still thought her smile was worth it.

Moonflowers: dreaming of love

This time, he added to the note, just to be safe.

PS. Be careful. These guys are poisonous, but you can still touch them :)

Yes, the chances of her actually ingesting the flowers were low, but he didn’t put it past Dwight to try.

Petunias: your presences soothes me

Ryan knew this one was a lot more direct than the others, but he figured it was time. If Erin hadn’t started wondering who they were from by now, there was no doubt she’d be looking. He didn’t know if he should be scared or relieved.

Camellias: admiration and perfection

Erin started asking questions. Not to him in particular, but she was still asking. She started her own sort of investigation and even enlisted a little bit of Dwight’s help when she could, but Ryan was still never accused of sending her the flowers. Ryan wondered if she even suspected it was him. He thought if she asked he might just come right out and tell her.

Gladiolus: infatuation

They were a week from going home and Ryan still had no idea how to tell Erin the truth. On one hand, he could sit and wait for her to figure it out (if she ever would). On the other, he could man up and tell her himself. He couldn’t blame her for not realizing it was him. Erin and Kelly were friends, and he was sure Kelly had complained to her about how little he bought her things like flowers and candy.

Ryan hoped Erin’s view of him hadn’t been completely ruined. He was a different man than he was with Kelly. Erin made him want to be better, and he hoped she’d give him a chance to prove he could be.

Gardenias: my secret love

The less time Ryan had, the more he knew he had to tell her. It was a matter of days before they went home, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Every time he bought another bouquet, he thought about delivering it face to face, but he didn’t want to see the disappointment on her face when she realized it was only him. He couldn’t bring himself to stop buying the flowers either. He was in too deep now to just suddenly stop, so he figured he would send them until the end of the trip and wait to see if she figured it out before then.

She didn’t.

The next morning, there were no flowers waiting, and Erin couldn’t hide the disappointment on her face if she tried. Ryan had meant to get them, but Dwight had him working late the night before and he just didn’t have time to stop by the flower shop before it closed. Erin’s mood didn’t change at all throughout the day, and Ryan couldn’t stand knowing it was his fault she felt that way.

That evening, there was a bouquet lying in front of her door.

Forget-Me-Nots: I know it’s late, but I promise I’d never forget about you.

......

Today was the day he was going to it. Ryan was going to tell Erin. Instead of having the flowers delivered like usual, he woke up early and picked them up himself. He was going to hand deliver them, and he was petrified. Ryan hoped he would be able to tell her what they meant, but he still wrote a note in the event that he freaked out and left them on the floor.

The walk to her room was full of deep breaths and mumbled self-assurances. Everything Ryan had done for the past three weeks had led up to this moment, and it had the capability of changing his entire life. It could either make his job a whole lot worse or way better. Considering the number of people working at Dunder Mifflin that Ryan had already wronged, he really didn’t want to add Erin to the list. Either way, it was now or never. He figured she’d put it together eventually, so he might as well admit it himself.

Just as Ryan lifted a shaking hand to knock on the door, he heard Erin’s voice on the other side, and one that sounded suspiciously like Cathy’s.

“What do you mean? Why aren’t you coming back with us?”

Ryan stopped dead in his tracks.

“I just can’t. I can’t face Andy when I get there. Plus, I can start a new life here. A woman we met at the store offered me a job and a place to stay, and now I don’t have to go home.”

She wasn’t coming back.

The flowers in his hand suddenly felt ten pounds heavier and he watched helplessly as they fell at his feet before he turned on his heel and slipped straight back into his room to pack his bags.

Linaria Bipartita: please return my affection for you.

……..

The next morning, Ryan made it to the airport with seconds to spare. He stayed up all night thinking about what his last bouquet would be and as soon as the flower shop opened, he was inside. His last note had been scribbled as quickly and legibly as he could, before he rushed to Erin’s room and placed it gently on the floor. This time, he made sure to knock before he slipped out of the hotel, barely missing Erin’s excited smile when she saw her final set of flowers.

Azaleas: take care of yourself for me.

                  -Ryan

#the office #ryan howard #erin hannon #bj novak #ellie kemper #ryan x erin #crossposted on ao3 #au

[anna-justice]

Lost or Found - 19

Summary: As Jay, Hailey, Kim, Adam and Kevin start their junior year in the wake of a tragic summer, the past year of their lives comes back to haunt them. If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars, this is for you! *UPSTEAD/BURZEK High School AU

...

19 - You’re Mine Now ...

Hailey laughed loudly as Jay spun her around, they had been dancing with their friends for a while and she hadn’t stopped smiling since. Jay grabbed her hand, pulling her closer to him as they swayed. Despite not being able to feel her toes and a pounding headache, it was magical.

The loud music continued and Hailey felt warm breath against her neck. “I love you.” Jay whispered in her ear, only loud enough for the two of them to hear.

Hailey pulled away feigning shock. “Really? I had no idea.” She teased and Jay rolled his eyes and pulled her close, swooping down and capturing her lips with his. “I’m still not convinced…” Hailey said against him before kissing him again.

The pair was forced apart by an announcement from the stage, it was time to crown Homecoming King and Queen. Adam and Kim found their way to Hailey and Jay’s side to await the news. Kim and Adam were both on the court, and everyone agreed that either of them could use a win right now.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please help me welcome to the stage this years homecoming king: Kelly Severide.” One of the teachers called from the stage, and the crowd immediately erupted. Hailey followed her peers, clapping for her attacker. Jay wrapped a protective arm around her waist, his jaw clenched tight.

“Sorry babe.” Kim said, peering up at her boyfriend.

Adam shrugged, “It’s okay. I’m not surprised, it’s Severide.” He laughed, lightening the mood.

They four of them watched as the massive (quite ugly) crown was placed on his head. Jay scoffed, “What a king.” Hailey pushed herself further into him, squeezing the hand that wasn’t resting on her side.

“I’m okay. Don’t let him ruin tonight.” She said and Jay placed a chaste kiss on her forehead.

“Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for! This years homecoming queen: Sylvie Brett!” They all cheered loudly for their friend, watching a sheepish Sylvie make her way up the stairs to the stage. Matt stood right at the front, cheering for his girlfriend and his best friend: something he never thought he would do.

Jay’s pocket buzzed against Hailey’s hip, causing her to jump. He reached in, grabbing Jay’s attention and pulling out Erin’s phone.

BLOCKED ID: Sweet sweet Sylvie, finally finding her place in the popular crowd. It’s time for the princess to tell everyone who the real queen is. You know…

Jay’s head snapped up, scanning the crowd for anyone out of the ordinary. “Who ever this son of a bitch is, they’re here.”

“Kim.” Hailey said sadly, calling her and Adam over. Once she had their attention, she held up the phone.

Kim sighed, glancing towards the stage where a beaming Sylvie was posing for a photo. “Why does it have to be Sylvie?” She asked sadly.

“I’ll do it.” Adam said, taking her hand.

“No Adam.” Kim snapped, “You can’t. Remember what happened last time?” Hailey looked down at the scar popping out of the front of her dress. “We have to play their game.”

Hailey placed a hand on Kim’s shoulder. “We’ll wait for you by the door, we can high tail it out of here.”

Kim nodded, turning towards the stage. She booked it to the front, taking a deep breath before ascending the stairs. The crowd quieted down as she made it to the top, “Kim?” Sylvie asked, shocked.

“I’m so sorry.” Kim muttered before reaching and taking off her crown. The student body gasped and Sylvie looked so hurt that Kim couldn’t bear to look at her. “I chose to be on the Court last year...with Erin. We had been talking about it since freshman year, and today I stood in this room without her. We all know that if she would have been here, she would have won. And so I say we crown her queen, because she deserved it more than anyone and she deserves to be remembered.” With a shaky breath, Kim handed the crown back to Sylvie and rushed to her friends.

When they reached their cars in the parking lot, Kim broke down, Adam holding her tight as she cried. Hailey stayed tucked into Jay’s chest, hurting for her friend.

Buzz.

BLOCKED ID: You said all the right things Kim, but was it enough?

Jay read it aloud. “What?” Kim choked out. “How was that not enough? God, I can’t take this anymore. Erin wouldn’t have wanted this.” Kim grabs the phone out of Jay’s hand and smashes it on the ground.

“Kim!” Jay calls out right before she digs her heel into the cracked glass. “What did you do?”

Kim took a deep breath, “It’s over. We’re done. Loosing Erin was hard enough without someone torturing us. If they want to hurt us again, they can show their face.” Breathing hard, she stepped on the phone once again. “I’m sorry.” With that she climbed into Adam’s jeep, shutting the door.

Adam sighed, “We should probably head over to Kevin’s, tell him what happened.”

Jay nodded, grabbing Hailey’s hand. “Yeah, we’ll meet you there.”

The pair made their way to Jays truck, sighing as they hut the doors. “It’s been an eventful night.” Jay joked, trying to lighten the mood. Hailey just nodded, pressing her lips together. “Hailes?”

“She smashed the phone Jay.” She rushed out, looking at him with teary eyes for the third time that night. “She broke it, what are we going to do?”

“It’ll be fine.” Jay said, reaching across the center console to hold her hand.

“What if it’s not?” She snapped. “Jay you saw what happened last time. Kim could have died-”

“You could have died.” He said softly, cutting her off.

“Yeah…” She started, “Erin is dead and someone killed her. Kim just destroyed the only thing we have against them and the game keeping us safe. This person has to be psychotic, who knows what they’ll do.” As good as it felt to finally say all the things she had been thinking all along, it was a terrifying admission.

Jay watched a few tears fall from her eyes, his heart clenching. “We will get through this. I don’t know how, but I promise I will not let anything else happen to you.”

Hailey smiled at him, she didn’t know what else to say. She had learned a long time ago that there are some promises you can’t keep, and this one would prove to be the worst.

…

Thirty minutes later the four of them sat in Kevin’s living room, filling him in on the night they had. “So, Sylvie and Matt probably hate us and our stalker can’t easily contact us anymore?”

“Yeah, I’d say that about sums it up.” Adam said.

“Wow.” Kevin leaned forward on his knees, processing.

Jay piped up, “I also thought I saw Erin.” He said, causing Kevin to shoot up in his seat.

“You say Erin?” He asked.

“No,” Jay said cautiously. “I just thought I did, Kev, she’s dead.”

“Yeah, yeah of course.” Kevin sat there in shock, debating whether of not to tell his friends that Erin had contacted his sister. Well, at least someone pretending to be her did. “Guys, a few weeks ago I came home and found Vinessa playing with a doll that looked just like Erin.”

“What?” Kim asked, jumping out of her seat.

Hailey sat forward, “How did she even get it?”

“I don’t know…” He confessed, “But, right before I was about to leave to meet you guys Vinessa told me that my friends Erin had told her that she would see us soon.”

“Holy shit.” Adam said, running his hands down his face.

Kim ran her hands through her hair, pacing around the room. “What have I done? They already got to Vinessa, and they could still contact us! What did I do?” Adam immediately jumped up to comfort her, pulling her into him.

“This is insane.” Hailey said. “We’re seventeen, we aren’t old enough to handle this on our own. We need to get help.”

“And risk the rest of our families?” Kevin snapped.

“Hailey’s right.” Jay said. “We need to tell someone, maybe Hank? He can handle himself.”

“Of course you agree with her…” Kevin muttered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jay questioned, standing.

Kevin stood up to face him. “You will always take her side, you did it wth Erin and now you are doing it with Hailey.” He gestured to the two couples, “You guys have each other. Me? I have that little girl in there. And she is everything to me, so is Jordan. I have them to think about. I won’t risk bringing them anywhere closer to this!”

Jay clenched his jaw, “We will do our best to keep everyone safe, but I don’t see how this has anything to do with me and Erin.”

“This has everything to do with you and Erin! With all of us and Erin. This all started when you decided to look for her, you couldn’t give her up, but then all of the sudden Hailey swoops in and all that matters is her?” Kevin yelled, “Can you honestly tell me that if Erin was magically alive you wouldn’t go running back to her?”

“Kevin!” Kim shouted, he had crossed a line.

Hailey stared at Jay, awaiting his answer. “I wouldn’t, I love Hailey and how dare you say that I don’t.”

“I’m sorry Jay, it’s not like its your ex girlfriend that got us into this mess in the first place.” Kevin snapped, exasperated.

“Enough.” Kim shouted over them. “She was my best friend, she was our friend.”

“Was she though?” Kevin asked, softer this time.

“Kevin-” Adam started.

“No,” He said, cutting him off. “Erin was a master manipulator, to the point where someone hated her so much that they killed her. She destroyed people, she blackmailed people, she kept each of us around to make sure she stayed relevant. We were her perfect friends, her power. I don’t know how you all don’t see it. She almost blew up a teachers career and shamed Nadia out of town all because she felt threatened. She hated Hailey because Jay thought she was nice! Kim you were just a pawn-”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Adam shouted. “I wasn’t the biggest Erin fan ever, but this isn’t helping.”

“Adam’s right,” Hailey said, speaking for the first time in a while. “This is what they want, for us to tear each other apart. But guys, we are stronger and safer together.”

“To hell with together,” Kevin said, “If you all can’t see her for who she really was, you can get the out. I won’t sit here and pretend to miss a sociopath anymore.” With that, Kevin stormed out of the room, leaving the rest of them to blankly stare at each other.

“I want to go home.” Kim said quietly.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Jay said.

The four of them regrouped in the driveway, “Adam, I think we should all stay at Kim’s tonight. They have the space and I would feel better if we were all together.” Adam suggested.

“Me too.” Hailey agreed, running her hands up and down her arms. Jay noticed immediately, shugging off his coat jacket and throwing it open Hailey’s shoulders. “Thanks.” She said quietly.

“Hailey and I will swing by my house and then meet you there?” Jay asked.

Adam nodded, “Yeah, see you guys in a bit.”

The two couples went their separate ways, Hailey sighing at the warmth inside the truck. She glanced at the clock on the dash. It was almost midnight. “I’m so tired.” Hailey said, yawning.

Jay reached over his seat and grabbed a blanket off the back bench. “Here, go to sleep. I just want to run in for a change of clothes. I’ll wake you up when we get to Kim’s.”

“Thanks.” She said, smiling at him. She laid her head on the center console, pulling the fuzzy blanket over Jay’s jacket. Before too long she was fast asleep. Jay drove cautiously to his house, leaving the car running when he finally arrived. He was going in for just a few things, including a sweatshirt for Hailey, so he wasn’t too worried about leaving the truck unlocked.

When he reached his front porch, a figure in the chair by the door caused him to jump back. He froze as the person stepped into the dim light, he recognized the soft, almost apologetic, smile immediately. “Erin?”

“Hi, Jay.”

…

A/N: I finally posted! Honestly, I’m on a roll and I hope to post a few other new chapters this weekend! I want to finish this story by New Year’s, so be ready! Thanks for reading! <3

P.S. I went through my regular comments and added some people, I hope that’s okay!

@lissethsrojas @fuckyeahkillianemma @puckluck28 @chilly7188 @thebigapocalypsewolf @karihighman @ruzek-halstead @snowwhite013 @tracysupton @anotheronechicagobog

#jay halstead #hailey upton #upstead #upstead au #kim burgess #adam ruzek #burzek #burzek au #kevin atwater #sylvie brett #matt casey #kelly severide #chicago pd #chicago pd au #chicago fire #one chicago

[halloweentv]

Netflix Halloween

v.2020

A list of Halloween themed shows and movies available on Netflix streaming that you can play for Halloween! Enjoy!

Stranger Things

S2e2 Trick or Treat, Freak

After Will sees something terrible on trick or treat night, Mike wonders whether Eleven is still out there. Nancy wrestles with the truth about Barb.

Hubie Halloween

Despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem (and its Halloween celebration), Hubie Dubois is a figure of mockery for kids and adults alike. But this year, something is going bump in the night, and it's up to Hubie to save Halloween.

Cobra Kai

S1e3 Esqueleto

Daniel volunteers to chaperone the Halloween dance so he can keep an eye on Sam. Johnny tries to recruit more students for his new business.

A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting

Recruited by a secret society of babysitters, high school student Kelly Ferguson battles the boogeyman and his monsters when they capture Jacob, the 5 year old boy she’s watching on Halloween.

The Babysitters Club

S1e2 Claudia do the Phantom phone calls

The spooky spirit of Halloween sweeps through Stoneybrook. Meanwhile Claudia explores budding romance and struggles to connect with her parents.

F is for Family

S1e4 F is for Halloween

Frank secretly torpedoes Sue’s shot at a real job and a bully leaves Bill afraid to don his costume.

Harvey Girls Forever

S1e3 Harveyween

Lotta faces her fears to save her friends on Halloween night.

The spooky tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-ween

When Melvin tries to cancel Halloween, clever best friends Harold and George create their own spooky holiday—and it’s a huge success.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Chapter one: October Country

While Greendale readies for a Halloween eclipse, Sabrina faces a crucial decision and Harvey makes an unexpected decision.

Legends of Tomorrow

S3e4 Phone Home

The Legends jump to 1988 to capture an anachronistic Dominator and save young Ray from being killed.

The Flash

S6e4 There will be Blood

Barry's efforts to prepare Cisco for Crisis are derailed when Cisco schemes to save Barry's life instead; Ramsey Rosso uses his deadly new abilities to save his own life, while sacrificing his humanity in the process.

Supernatural

S4e7 It’s the Great Pumpkin Sam Winchester

Investigating two mysterious deaths in a small town, Sam and Dean discover a witch is sacrificing people to summon a dangerous demon. 

Riverdale

S4e4 Halloween

Halloween comes to Riverdale bearing VHS tapes and creepy dolls of unknown origin.

Scream: The TV series

Anthology series that follows a group of teenagers being stalked and targeted by a masked serial killer. Halloween episodes: S1e9 tm”The Dance” and S3e3 “The man behind the mask”

American Horror Story

Murder House

S1e 4&5 Halloween Part 1 & 2

The ghosts can leave the house on halloween night. Tate runs into some ghosts from his past.

Coven

S3e4 Fearful Pranks Ensue

the witches raise the dead on Halloween

Freak Show

S4e3&4 Edward Mordrake Part 1 & 2

the freaks don’t want to perform on halloween in fear of a ghost coming to visit.

Hotel

S5e4 Devil’s Night

John receives an invitation to attend an exclusive Devil's Night Soiree, while Alex tries to diagnose Holden's strange condition.

Parks and Recreation

S2e7 Greg Pikitis

Leslie enlists the help of Dave and Andy in order to catch a local teen vandal. Meanwhile, Ann struggles to make her Halloween party fun and gets help from an unlikely source.

S4e5 Meet n Greet

Ben is mad when Andy and April decide to throw a Halloween party at their house without asking him. Tom emcees an event for Leslie’s campaign but manages to also promote his company. Meanwhile, Ron and Ann give Andy and April an unusual wedding present.

13 Reasons Why

Tape 2 Side B

Its Halloween in the present and Clay strikes back at someone who wronged Hannah. In the past Hannah thinks someone is stalking her. 

Fuller House

S2e4 Curse of Tanner Manor

DJ attempts to throw the scariest Halloween party for Max. Stephanie works as a zombie at a haunted house.

Carmen Sandiego

S3e2 The Day of the Dead Caper

Carmen tracks a you g art thief on Dis de Muertos.

S3e3 The Haunted Bayou Caper

V.I.L.E. crashes a costume party hosted by a celebrity chef at his spooky mansion.

House of 1000 Corpses

Two young couples traveling across the backwoods of Texas searching for urban legends of murder end up as prisoners of a bizarre and sadistic backwater family of serial killers.

Star Trek TOS

S2e7 Catspaw

Kirk and the crew land on a planet with a spooky castle and witches.

Pac’s Scary Halloween

Sinister Dr. Pacenstein schemes to swap bodies with Pac during a Halloween party.

Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures

S1e21  A Berry Scary Night

Count Pacula attempts to drain the last yellow orb in Pac World on Halloween night. 

S2e12 The Shadow of the were-pac

Pac and his friends are confronted by spooky space ghost pirates. 

Cult of Chucky

Chucky has some scores to settle with some old enemies.

Charmed

S3e4 All Halliwell’s Eve

The sister’s go to the 1600’s to save a witch and her baby

S8e6 Kill Billie Vol. 1

While the Charmed ones are dealing with paparazzi and Halloween, armed and ready to vanquish, Billie inexplicably freezes and is flooded with childhood flashbacks when she sees her latest demon target, the Dogan.

Charmed (2018)

S1e3 Sweet Tooth

When Macy learns of a mysterious death in her lab, she informs her sisters, and together they devise a plan to flush out the demon; Maggie volunteers to throw a Halloween party at her house.

Lucifer

S2e6 Monster

Guilty and self-destructive, Lucifer clashes with Chloe during an investigation, leading her to team up with Dan instead. Meanwhile, Amenadiel bonds with Charlotte, and Maze takes Trixie trick-or-treating

Gossip Girl

S4e9 The Witches of Bushwick

Chuck throws a Saints and Sinners masquerade party.

Power Rangers

S1e25 Life’s a Masquerade

Isn’t set on Halloween but has a cool Frankenstein monster in it. and costumes.

S1e53 Trick or Treat

Kimberly goes on a Halloween game show…cuz those exist.

S2 e21 Zedd’s Monster Mash

Tommy faces some real Halloween monsters after he’s kidnapped by Goldar. 

Power Rangers Samurai “Party Monsters” and “Trickster Treat”

Power Rangers Megaforce “Raising Spirits” 

Power Rangers Dino Charge “The Ghostest with the Mostest” and in Dino Super Charge “Trick or Trial”

Big Bad Beetle Borgs

S1e24 Bye, Bye Frankie

Frankenbeans escapes into town on Halloween night, then the monster Grenade Guy is ordered to kidnap him.

Goosebumps

Good show for the season but the Halloween episodes in particular are

Specials “The Haunted Mask” Carly Beth’s scary mask begins to change her.

Specials “The Haunted Mask 2” A boy’s creepy Halloween mask won’t come off and begins to harm him.

S2e15 Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns

Jack O‘Lantern aliens terrorize some trick or treaters. 

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Two young friends find a magic book that brings a ventriloquist's dummy to life.

Creeped out

A series of spellbinding, enchanting and intriguing tales that will bring chills to the back of the neck. Different characters must navigate their way through the unexplained.

Dreamworks Spooky Stories

“Scared Skrekless” Shrek and Co tell scary stories

“Monsters vs Aliens Mutant pumpkins” Ginormica and co battle mutant pumpkins!

Dreamworks Spooky Stories Vol. 2

“Monsters Vs Aliens: night of the Living Carrots” Picks up right after the previous special

Also included another MVA short, Megamind, and Shrek.

Glee

S2e5 The Rocky Horror Glee Show

the class attempts to out on a performance of Rocky Horror for Halloween. 

New Girl

S2e6 Halloween

Jess gets hired as a zombie at a haunted house.

S3e6 Keaton

Jess hosts a Halloween party and a Michael Keaton batman costume helps cheer up Schmidt.

My Babysitter’s a Vampire

S2e10  Halloweird

In a total “not rip off” of Buffy, a mask makes people turn into real-life versions of their costumes.

The Vampire Diaries

S1e7 Haunted

Matt takes Vicky to a haunted hous ebut the night takes a terrifying turn

The Office

S2e5 Halloween

Downsizing leads corporate headquarters to order Michael to fire somebody by the end of October. Michael procrastinates until Halloween, when he still has not decided whom to fire. When he decides to fire Creed, Creed manages to convince Michael to fire Devon.

S6e8 Koi Pond

While on the way to a business meeting, Michael falls into a koi pond. The staff tease him so he holds an anti-bullying seminar. Pam and Andy go cold-calling to stir up some new business; they reluctantly use clients’ mistaking them as a couple to their advantage.

S7e6 Costume Contest

Michael freaks out when Darryl goes over his head by taking an idea to corporate. The employees partake in a Halloween costume contest in the office. Meanwhile, Pam tries to get the truth from Danny about their dating history.

S8e5 Spooked

Erin works to make a spooky, non-childish Halloween party, with help from Gabe. Dwight becomes friends with Robert’s son, and Pam and Jim debate the existence of ghosts. Meanwhile, Robert tries to figure out everyone’s deepest fears in order to culminate a ghost story.

Super Monsters Save Halloween

The Super Monsters use their powers to get their neighbors in the Halloween spirit, then help a nervous friend see there's nothing to be afraid of.

Super Monsters: Vida’s first Halloween

The Super Monsters share their Halloween traditions with Vida, then get invited to a Día de los Muertos party in the Howlers' backyard.

Super Monsters: Dia de los Monsters

The Super Monsters celebrate Día de los Muertos in Vida's hometown with her magical family, some new monster friends and a spook-tacular parade!

StarBeam: Halloween Hero

Greedy Captain Fishbeard is stealing everybody's Halloween treats for himself, but StarBeam and Boost have some tricks up their sleeves to save the day!

Monster Family

Dracula's spell turns a woman and her loved ones into a vampire, a mummy, a werewolf and Frankenstein's monster.

Highway to Heaven

S2e5 The Devil & Jonathan Smith

Jonathan recruits a con artist's help after Jabez Stone tricks Mark into selling his soul in order to save a little boy's life, but The Devil has another agenda - acquiring the soul of an angel.

S4e5 I was a middle aged werewolf

During Halloween night, Jonathan helps a little boy get over his fears (and in the process get even with his older sister).

Curious Creations of Christine McConnell

Christine McConnell, an artist and baker lives in a mansion full of monsters and ghosts. She loves to create morbid looking desserts like gingerbread haunted houses, caramel spiders and bones made of pretzel sticks, peanut butter and white chocolate.

Hotel Transylvania

S1e13 The Legend of Pumpkin Guts

Mavis and her friends learn the true meaning of Halloween

Scooby Doo Mystery incorporated

S1e17 Escape from Mystery Manor

When the gang goes on a quest to find out what happened to the original Mystery Incorporated group, they find themselves trapped in the underground Darrow Mansion.

Community

S1e7 Introduction to Statistics

Jeff must choose between a date and honoring a promise to Annie.

S2e6 Epidemiology

Halloween at GCC is ripe for zombie-inspired nightmares.

S3e5 Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps

Britta discovers that an anonymous psych quiz proves that one of her friends is a psychopath.

Sleepy Hollow

Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people, with the culprit being the legendary apparition, The Headless Horseman.

Sister, Sister

S3e7 Halloween

Though grounded Tia and Tamera take Ray’s car in search of a Halloween rave.

Moesha

S3e9 Halloween part 1: Kim’s Revenge

A three-way phone call among friends leads to hurt feelings for Kim, who overhears more than she bargained for concerning a Halloween-costume contest.

S6e7 The Nutty Moesha

While trying to juggle studying, taking care of her family while Dee's away and planning for her Halloween party, Moesha, along with Niecy, starts using energy-raising vitamins that have some peculiar side effects

The Parkers

S2e7 Scary Kim

Kim pulled pranks on Halloween on her friends. Her friends gets her back by pulling a huge prank

S3e7 Mummy’s the word

When Kim,Stevie and T rent out a woman's house for a Halloween party Nikki has to save the professor when they find out she plans to turn him into a mummy

Liv & Maddie

S1e5 Kang-A-Rooney

Joey ends up crushing on Liv in a kangaroo costume while practicing how to talk to girls.

S2e3 Helgaween-A-Rooney

A magic amulet creates a frightening triplet for Liv and Maddie named Helga.

S3e4 Haunt-A-Rooney

Liv and Joey travel to New York for Halloween

S4e3 Scare-A-Rooney

Liv takes Ruby to a spooky dinner and runs into an old acquaintance.

All Hallows’ Eve

As Eve celebrates her birthday on Halloween night, she discovers she's a witch and accidentally summons an old relative, who has nasty plans for the town.

Girlfriends

S1e6 The Remains of the Date

Joan plans an elaborate scheme to get revenge on William for the latest in a series of Halloween pranks. Toni is put off when her date asks her to engage in a threesome--with a stuffed animal.

S2e7 Trick or Truth

Toni winds up suffering a huge breakdown after she discovers Greg took her back only to get revenge on her.

Sam & Cat

S1e16 #DollSitting

On Halloween, Sam and Cat are hired to babysit a doll, with unusual and creepy results. Cat also thinks she may have accidentally turned Dice into a monkey with a magic spell.

Gilmore Girls

S6e7 Twenty-one is the loneliest number

Since Rory was a tyke, the Gilmore girls have planned her 21st birthday: in Atlantic City, sipping martinis, playing 21. But with the estrangement, Emily plans the birthday party -and it's soooo not Atlantic City.

NCIS

S6e6 Murder 2.0

In the days before Halloween, a rampaging serial killer posts cryptic clues online, which the NCIS team must decipher before he strikes again.

S7e5 Code Of Conduct

The NCIS team is called to investigate when a practical-joke-loving Marine turns up dead on Halloween Eve in an apparent suicide. Plus, DiNozzo and McGee share some of their favorite Halloween memories.

Criminal Minds

S6e6 Devil’s Night

The BAU go to Detroit to catch a man who burns his victims alive during the pre-Halloween celebration Devil's Night.

S10e6 Boxed in

A child reappears one year after he went missing -- but the team must work quickly when a trick-or-treater disappears under similar circumstances.

#halloween #halloween tv #netflix #stranger things #cobra kai #parks and rec #ahs #streaming

[pebblysand]

[JUNE ‘21] - THE LIFE UPDATE NO ONE ASKED FOR (AND SOME QUICK LINKS)

Well, hello everyone! How are yous? Happy June! The sun has been shining here in Dublin for two days straight (for anyone who knows Ireland, you will understand that this is a notable event) so, by way of consequence, I’m in a very, very good mood! It’s twenty degrees; I’ve been on lots of walks and had take-away pints with friends - it has been such a lovely couple of days! Additionally, considering that there are a lot more of you on here than there were last month (which is mildly terrifying but oh-so awesome): welcome! This blog is a little bit of a trainwreck of my own shit posts but I’m so glad to have you on.

As an introduction, first, here are some quick links to different blog pages you might not see on mobile :

to read my fics [updated]

to read my original work [updated]

fic recs [updated]

to read my tumblr rants about stuff [updated]

[NOTE: i am currently accepting prompts for short ficlets on the hp fandom if you fancy. my ask box is open :).]

Everything else, under the cut (contains: ETAs for current WIPs, fic ideas, reading lists, and a long essay on why I am not writing original work/maybe I would if you promised to read it?)

Currently, I’m writing:

**Castles [HP - post-war canon]**

links extended a/n-s: chapter v ; chapter vi & vii ; chapter viii

ETA for next chapter: I’m currently aiming for early August.

** Prompts **

As I said above, I’m accepting prompts! I have a couple in my inbox right now, I’m hoping to get them out in the next couple of weeks but if you have any other requests, do let me know!

** Shorter stuff **

Okay, I’m going to innovate here and do a sort of poll. I love all of these and am not sure which one to write first so if any one of them appeals more, do let me know and I’ll get on it!

Harry&Hermione one-shot [in the manner of what I did with the wolf’s just a puppy and ce ne sont que des cailloux, I’m kind of in love with the idea of exploring the war and post-war canon world from different people’s perspective. I have had this Harry&Hermione one shot in my head for quite some time, basically outlining their friendship and life from Hermione’s perspective. I’ve gotten a lot of comments from people on Castles telling me that they loved the Harry&Hermione stuff so it would basically be more of that. If that sounds interesting, please do let me know.]

A bit in the manner of the above, I have a story about Seamus in my head as well, which I’d love to write re:the war and post war. Possibly Seamus/Dean but I haven’t quite decided.

An original horror/thriller story [Features a girl-serial killer and a very claustrophobic setting. Great vibes, lol.]

That Peaky Blinders fic I started and never finished [I’m just so intrigued by how Mosley said he knew May. I love May. It would be the story of that, lol.]

Currently, I’m reading:

I have to admit, I haven’t been reading loads this month. I think it’s always this thing of: if I’m writing, I don’t write and if I’m reading, I don’t read. I kind of need to block out other people’s stuff to write my own, if that makes sense. This being said:

I haven’t really advanced on either Watch her fall by Erin Kelly nor the Divergent series.

I have, however, FINALLY FINISHED Troubled Blood (the jkr/Robert Galbraith controversial novel). My verdict? Is it transphobic? Maybe? Like, if you squint? It’s a lot less transphobic than the essay, I’ll tell you that. No one is actually trans/claimed to be trans in this. The ‘trans serial killer’ doesn’t exist. There is, however, a side plot of a killer who crossdresses to lure his victims, which is an obviously re-hashed, lazy representation of cross-dressing as a negative thing. Is it full of second-and-third-wave feminist cliches? Yes. But it wasn’t that bad. Like, I’ve seen a lot worse. I was raised on second & third wave feminism so I’m somewhat more tolerant of them. No, honestly, my main criticism for this book is that it is FIVE HUNDRED PAGES TOO LONG. And, that’s coming from someone who loves long books (hell, my favourite potter book is OOTP). Would not recommend it unless you’ve already read the others and are invested in the characters.

I have started Face Off which is a collection of crime short-stories edited by David Balducci where famous main characters of different crime series meet. I’ve read the Michael Connolly/Dennis Leane one and it was fine. Not a bad read. There was one good quote.

I am also reading the seam between, an hp long fic by copper_dust, which is basically the best thing ever written. I rest my case and will probably never write again, considering the perfect-ness of this. If you like Sally Rooney, I get very strong Sally Rooney vibes from this.

In other news:

As I definitely hoped, this month has been a lot kinder to me than the last. My mum’s almost fully recovered from her stroke, which is its own little miracle for which I am very thankful. France has been taken off the mandatory quarantine list in Ireland which means I will soon be able to visit home (and hopefully get my vaccine shot). Also, as I said above, the sun’s been out for the past couple of days, which is also filling my heart with good things. After a drunken evening with a friend who swears that men-on-hinge suck less than men-on-tinder, I have downloaded hinge in the hopes of some post-pandemic dating. This fills me with a mix of enthusiasm and dread, like men generally do, and has led to some interesting realisations. Spoiler alert: men-on-hinge do not suck less than men-on-tinder and I am not one for online dating. I have never successfully dated anyone met online and most likely will not. Let’s hope for the sake of my single arse that pubs reopen soon.

My new job has been uneventful and mobilises about two brain cells at a time, but pays bills, so. Additionally, I’ve been having fun going through old tumblr posts which has sent me into a number of irrepressible bouts of giggles, looking at the shit posts I used to make when I was younger. I’ve also found some more interesting/creative pieces which I’ve been able to add to the quick links listed above. That’s definitely been fun.

This being said: look. The main thing that’s happened this month is a) the hinny ficfest and b) CASTLES IS OUT THANK FUCK. Guys, I know I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again: you are fucking incredible. The amount of love and support I’ve received from the potter (and particularly hinny) fandom this past month has been through the roof; I really can’t thank you enough. Even for Castles, I mean. Ask @whizzfizz, they can tell you how much of an emotional wreck I was prior to posting, fucking convinced that a) no one was going to like this and b) I was going to get so much hatred for ‘going there’. Instead, you guys have been so supportive and appreciative, left entire bloody essays in the comment section, and oh, I can’t even fully comprehend it. I haven’t had time to properly answer anyone yet but I promise I will. I'm so excited to write what comes next. I probably won’t for a few weeks because I know that my brain needs to take a break but just know that you all have truly made my month.

There is one comment/question that I’ve had a number of times that I feel like I should address which is the do-you-write/would-you-write-your-own-stuff-one-day question. And, the answer to this is: I have/I would like to, but.

Basically, like everyone who has a day job, I only have so many hours a week I can put towards writing. And, whilst I admire people who write for the art/write for themselves, I don’t. I write to be read. Like, I know this sounds cliche but your comments, your kudos, your feedback is what I write for. I’m a gryffindor. I’m an extrovert. I seek attention like no one else, haha. My comment section is something to behold and if someone has taken the time to leave a review on my fic it kills me to leave a comment unanswered. I have learnt so much and am forever thankful for all the responses I’ve ever had on my work, be it positive or negative. Positive feedback feeds my ego. Negative feedback makes me grow. Hell, as I explained in the extended a/n, a single comment was basically responsible for me choosing the route I chose to take in the latest chapter of castles. Additionally, over the years, I have made countless connections and friends through fandom, and specifically through writing/reading fanfic. It has truly made my life so much better and to me, the engagement in fandom is invaluable.

And like, if I’m honest, yes, of course, it would be great to write my own stories, build my own world and my own characters. I’m sure if I sat down with it, I would have a million ideas a minute. And, yes, it would tangentially be great to make money off writing, though this has never really been my primary goal (side note: I refuse to monetise fanfiction for reasons outlined here). But … No one would read it? I mean, I’ve definitely seen this with the first short story I ever wrote. Getting it professionally published online was amazing. I couldn’t believe it. I even got money for it, which was fucking bonkers. But then… Nothing? Like: you don’t get comments, you don’t get feedback, you don’t get engagement. It is just a thing that exists, that gets put out into a void with a shrug and a thank you from the editor. And, that’s just not … Fun? At least not to me. I write for fun. For the community, for the comment section, and - to tell the truth - to connect with people. I truly admire writers who write a book in their own little corner for years before putting anything out there, but that’s just not me. Honestly, I don’t have the self-discipline for that, and I wouldn’t enjoy it. Like, let’s be real: if no one was reading castles, I probably wouldn’t care as much as I do. With the limited time I have to put towards writing, I prefer to write fanfiction because I know that it will be read/engaged with in some sense. I need feedback to stay motivated with a story, if that makes sense.

So, I don’t know. I’ve kind of been thinking of a patreon format maybe? More for the community aspect than the money aspect, if I’m honest. I don’t like the idea of posting on tumblr because I find long posts messy/hard to read but I think I’d write original fiction for €1/month if I’m honest, if I knew another human was reading it/if there was a regular deadline associated to it. So, like, let’s try this. If you would be interested in seeing that, maybe message me (anon or not) or like this post or something? If not, I think I’ll be perfectly happy to stick with only writing fanfiction at this point, at least until Castles is finished.

Anyway, I hope you have a lovely month!

Lots of hugs.

#life update #writing #june 2021 #castles and shit

[anotheronechicagobog]

Yeah, I Would Part 2/Final Peter Mills x reader

written by @anotheronechicagobog​

warnings: swearing, mention of corruption, slightly Erin bashing, canon compliant bombing/accident

You arrived at the diner, taking a deep breath. You spotted Peter working the grill and talking to a man who was sitting at the counter, the detective Peter had told you about presumably. “What’s up buttercup?”

“Not much hummingbird. Gumbo and a milkshake?”

“Please.”

“What kind?”

“Surprise me, I trust you.”

“Ha, good to know. Before I get started on that, this is Antonio Dawson, the detective. He’s good, you can trust him, okay? I’ll be back with your food in a sec okay?” He kissed your hair, gave you an encouraging dimpled smile, and then left you with Dawson. “Hi, it’s good to meet you. So you’re the guy investigating my dad?”

“Yes, Ms. Voight and I-”

“It’s Y/L/N, actually. I took my mom’s name when I turned eighteen.”

“Alright, Ms. Y/L/N, I don’t know exactly what Mills told you, but I have been investigating your dad and I need to talk to you about that, and you can’t tell him.”

“My dad is corrupt. Dirty. There’s not enough time in the day to talk about it. But still, I was raised by a cop and a social studies teacher, so one thing I learned very early on in life is that evidence is key. So, here,” you handed him a Hello Kitty flashdrive that you’d kept in your bra, he took it very gingerly, clearly uncomfortable with where it was placed, “I started collecting evidence on my dad once I figured out what he was doing. And every piece of it is on that drive. It’s not the original, and I have multiple other spares, but there’s years of photo and video evidence as well as scanned copies of documents and written statements from me on there. If you need stuff in hard copy I can give it to you before the trial, if it even gets there, because I want to make sure this sticks.”

“Okay, thank you for your time. I’ll leave you with your food. Here’s my card, I’ll be in contact.”

“Of course, have a good night.”

“Here you go, let’s move to this booth over here.” Peter unloaded a tray of Gumbo and milkshakes onto the table on the booth behind you. “You ready to dig in?”

“Oh absolutely.” He held off on asking until you’d gotten a few bites of food and slurps of milkshake in because he knew you got drained just thinking about your family. “How’d it go?”

“Good. At least I think it went well.”

“And how’s the food.”

“Incredible, but it always is.”

“Only the best for you hummingbird.”

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

A few days later you walked behind Mills over to the rest of 51. You were a bit skeptical, you didn’t think that a picnic was cause for wearing celebratory blues, but hey, you weren’t a firefighter. You were, however, proven right when you walked over to a picnic table with about six guys laughing their asses off. “I can’t believe you actually did it candidate!” 

“You look ridiculous!”

“Really? Cause I don’t think so.” The men you’d had yet to be introduced to watched as you pulled your boyfriend down into a full-on liplock. You bit your lip as Peter coughed, a little dazed, and you marvelled that you had that effect on him. “Uh, well, hi. I uh. My name is Brian Zvonecek but everyone calls me Otis. And who are you, exactly?”

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N, Peter’s girlfriend.”

“Peter did not tell you about us, we would remember if he had- uh, Joe Cruz by the way. No nickname, just Joe.”

“Capp”

“Tony.”

“Kelly.”

“Matt.”

“Well, hi, everyone. It’s nice to meet all of you. Sorry that didn’t happen sooner, but I thought it might be best if Peter found his footing with you guys first and then I had to work out of the country for a bit.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you. You should introduce her to the chief Mills.”

And so he did. Along with Mouch and Hermann, the chief teased him for the blues before congratulating him on snagging a great girl. Cindy was lovely, just as sweet as her brownies. The day was going really well, even with the tension Gabby was creating with just about everyone. She was basically drooling over Matt and literally everyone was noticing, and for some reason, she was acting particularly cold towards you. But all in all, the day was a success, especially since it ended with the arrest of your dad, brother, and sister.

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

Erin was glaring at you so hard that you were thankful Antonio had gotten a freelance security detail hired for you. As it turned out, since a lot of the evidence you had was about your dad covering up the shit your siblings did, that they were in violation of the law as well. Part of you felt bad for Erin, she had worked really hard to get where she was. Yes, she made some mistakes when she was younger, but most of that was due to her mother’s neglect or influence, which you made sure to tell the court, but she still looked like she was planning your murder. “Be grateful detective Lindsay, you’d be going to prison and losing your badge if it wasn’t for Ms. Y/L/N.” She hmphed at the judge and you shrunk into your seat. Peter rubbed your arms, everything about him calming you.

“I hereby sentence Justin Voight to five years in prison with the chance of parole on charges of theft, DUI, neglectful driving, and conspiracy to commit corruption.”

“I hereby sentence Hank Voight to forty years in prison with no chance of parole on charges of corruption, money laundering, stalking, property damage, witness intimidation, and drug conspiracy.”

You left the courtroom feeling much lighter. You obviously didn’t feel good about sending your only remaining biological family to prison, but what other option did you have? They weren’t going to stop or pay reparations to the people they’d wronged. Just threaten and scare everyone who got in their way. And while you knew that Erin agreed with you on some level, you knew that she believed they shouldn’t go to prison. She would cover for them too, she had actually. And it was because of that that she was demoted to officer and barred from taking the detectives exam for five years. She stormed up to you, resembling a raging bull, after both trials had finished. “How could you, they are your family-”

“They have cost people their livelihoods, Justin actually paralyzed someone! I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, if they weren’t going to stop they had to be stopped. You have to realize that.”

“I just can’t believe-”

“Erin, you’re not joining them, and the only reason you’re not getting arrested for any of the shit you’ve done is because I spoke up and said it wasn’t your fault. All of it would have come out eventually, you know that. Now you don’t have to worry about when that happens. Don’t you get that?”

“You just betrayed your family-”

“Nope, you don’t get it. Goodbye Erin, I’ll talk to you when you pull your head out of my dad’s ass and apologize to me.”

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

ONE YEAR LATER

You woke up but it was difficult to see and breathe. You could feel dust entering your mouth and throat whenever you tried to get some air, there were some beams of light coming in but you could still see very little, only the shapes of concrete and metal.  You didn’t feel good. Nauseous, light-headed, pounding in your head, ringing i your ears, and your thoughts were moving so muddled and slowly.

You remembered Kim, the CFD logo, and something about the nurses’ station? None of it made any sense to you, and thinking only hurt your head more. You were so heavy, and so tired, so you just let your eyes close.

The sunbeams were gone when you woke up, you heard sounds instead. Machines and ‘whooping’ mostly. But there were some people, you could not for the life of you hear what they were saying. And then you realized, ‘for the life of you’, Kim, CFD booth, charity race sign-up at the nurses’ station, three steps away, boom, nothing, rubble, rebar, dust, minimal light, minal air. The hospital exploded and you were underneath who knows how much of said hospital in pieces! Panic built up quickly, and suddenly you noticed metallic smelling liquid, aches, pains all over your body, something on top of your right leg. You didn’t think, you just acted. You screamed. Loud. In terror. In pain.

Peter, pizza, apartment, cat, Netflix, Cruz, Otis, pancakes, Molly’s, Hermann, Dawsons, coffee, doughnuts, Platt, Al, Justin, Erin, dad. Images, memories, flooded your mind, panic still securing you in its chokehold. You found an engagement ring in Peter’s nightstand last week. You were going to die. You were going to die. You were going to die. You were going to die. You hoadn’t been aware that you’d spent the entire time screaming as much as your lungs could bear until you vaguely recognized someone yelling at you. “Hey! Hello! Are you okay?”

“No! Help me- please!”

Everything was a blur, whether from your tears or your memory you weren’t sure. But in what felt like minutes you were out from and above the rubble, the night’s sky and a group of firefighters meeting your eyes. Their voices were muffled as you felt hands over you and you let yourself fall asleep again. 

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

Crying, someone was crying. It wasn’t you but you could hear sobs coming from right next to you. The room was dark, the only light in the room coming from the cracks in the door and the machines attached to you. You were still in a lot of pain. Your head was throbbing, but not as much as earlier, your lower right leg was in a cast, you could feel bandages on various parts of your body, gauze wrapped around your chest, and there was a plastic lining around your nose in mouth and stale air making its way into your lungs. Your body didn’t feel as weighed down as before, but you could still feel the exhaustion throughout your body. “Peter?”

“Y/N? Oh, thank God. Dr. Rhodes? She’s awake!”

After a flurry of nurses and doctors and tests, Peter was let back in. Dr. Rhodes followed, giving a tentative smile. “Well, Y/N, you are lucky. After being unconscious for five days you have a severe concussion, four broken ribs that we might have to perform surgery on to make sure they don’t pierce your lungs or heart, a broken ankle with three torn ligaments, numerous lacerations, and your oxygen levels were low when you came in. You were initially on a breathing tube but your levels improved so we took it out and put on the mask instead. Is there anything you want me to go into further detail about?”

“My ribs; how close am I to needing surgery?”

“Very, we’ve done our best to secure and monitor them but we really think that surgery would be best, it’s just that your next of kin are arguing about the best course of action.”

“What? But Peter is my next of kin, my only next of kin. Who has been coming to you thinking they have any power here?”

“Uh, it’s your dad, Y/N. They went to the hospital board and argued that they should be considered next of kin. The board agreed. I tried to fight it, but you know how many strings your dad can pull.”

“What? Are you kidding me? Well, I’m awake now, and I can make medical decisions for myself now, right?”

“Yes, I have been told by the hospital’s lead attorney that once you completely woke up you could make all the decisions necessary. We’ve actually been hoping for that because your family has been causing a lot of trouble over this.”

“Do you recommend surgery?”

“Yes. Based on our observations surgery is inevitable. And the fact that your family opposed Peter and your doctors has actually added a significant amount of risks for you.”

“Alright, do the surgery.”

“A nurse will be in to prep you shortly.” 

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

You looked at Peter’s tear-streaked face. “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought that I was going to die, I hadn’t even been aware of where I was or what had happened for most of the time I was down there. I was so scared that I would never make it back to you.”

“When I found out that you were in that building before the bomb went off, I just lost my mind. I was digging through rubble screaming your name, Casey and Severide had to pull me away and restrain me from searching for you. When you weren’t found after eight hours, and all that crews were finding dead bodies, I... The look that Boden and the lieutenants had with each other... It was without a doubt the worst day of my life. I love you, so much.” He was stroking your face, looking at you as if you were a gift from the sun. “I found the ring, almost two weeks ago now.”

He smiled and pulled the black box out of his coat pocket which was draped over the back of his chair. “You mean this one?”

“Yes.”

“I had a much more romantic proposal plan, but I don’t want to wait until it’s too late. I do not want a life without you. I want to spend the rest of my existence with you. Will you please marry me?”

“Yes. I love you so much, Peter. So, so much.”

Your moment with Peter was broken by Doris entering the room “... I hate to break up this moment, I really, really, do, seriously you guys are adorable, but I have to prep Y/N for surgery.”

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

The firehouse took turns visiting you and Leslie in the hospital, celebrating the fact that you were both alive and well and that you and Peter got engagement. Eliza, Peter’s kid sister, showed up with balloons and flowers. Peter spent the rest of your time in the hospital holding your hand and looking at you like you put the sun in the sky. And you looked at him like he hung the stars just for you. Everything finally felt like it was falling into place, and everyone, including your guilt-ridden dad, couldn’t be more happy for you two.

#One Chicago #Chicago PD #Chicago Fire #peter mills x reader #peter mills #hank voight #hank voight x daughter!reader #erin lindsay

[ladyherenya]

Books read in October

I read a paperback book for the first time in over three months months and was sharply aware that I couldn’t change anything about the way the text was displayed to make it more comfortable to read. I wondered, sadly, if I no longer like reading physical books.

Then I became engrossed in the story, and there were long stretches of time when I didn’t think about how I was reading a brick of printed paper. I turned pages as automatically and effortlessly as breathing. I think I was just out of practice.

This month’s Unintentional Colour Scheme: pink, purple and light blue.

Favourite covers: The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball and The Other Side of the Sky. 

Also read: “Good Neighbors” by Stephanie Burgis and Tiny House, Big Love by Olivia Dade. (And half a romance novel which I disliked and have no interest in remembering or reviewing.) 

Reread: The last section of The Beckoning Hills by Ruth Elwin Harris. The middle section of Hunting by Andrea K. Höst.

Still reading: Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, and Angel Mage by Garth Nix.

Next up: The Switch  by Beth O’Leary, and Hamster Princess: Little Red Rodent Hood by Ursula Vernon.

*

The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball by Aster Glenn Gray: A magical story of time-travel and of friendship between eleven year old Piper, who has just moved into a new house, and Rosie, who lived in the same house fifty years earlier. It’s totally charming, and exactly the sort of story I adored growing up. Sometimes that makes me wish I could send a book back in time to my younger self, but I appreciated this book’s references to things that my younger self didn’t know about. I also appreciated how, even though I’ve read similar stories, I couldn’t predict how this one would end. That was very satisfying.

The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett: In 1547, Francis Crawford, the Master of Lymond, wanted by the Scottish government for treason, is back in Edinburgh. The audiobook was the perfect way to experience this! The voices the narrator uses highlights clues in the text, about who’s speaking or the subtext and emotional tones of a conversation, which helped me to follow the story even when I felt confused about exactly what was going on. I enjoyed the Scottish accents, the clever wit, the ambiguity about Lymond’s plans and motives, and the way many characters are very intelligent, perceptive people. I was interested in the historical political intrigue. I loved the twists and revelations, which are brilliant -- incredibly clever and satisfying.

“Good Neighbors” by Stephanie Burgis:  The first “fantasy rom-com” about a grumpy inventor who, along with her father, moves into a cottage nextdoor to a notorious necromancer in his big black castle. I wasn’t expecting to read about Mia stitching up undead minions, but appreciate that Burgis doesn’t take this opportunity to give glory details. This short story was fun and satisfying, and I am looking forward to when the rest of this series becomes (easily) available.

Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart: After Haunted Ground, Dr Nora Gavin heads to the midlands west of Dublin to oversee the evacuation of another body discovered in a peat bog. The setting is fascinating and I like the atmosphere -- this has a strong sense of both place and mystery. However the multiple murders meant there’s more unpleasantness than I’d prefer. But it’s probably not enough to deter me from reading the next book.

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams: Engrossing -- a poignant story of childhood during the late 19th century and womanhood in the early 20th century, and an absolutely fascinating insight into the decades-long process behind the first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s father is one of the lexicographers collecting and defining words for the Dictionary. Esme grows up with a fascination for words and begins to collect words that the Dictionary leaves out. I liked that Esme has people in her life who love and support her, but the ending is intensely sad. I’m not sure why that disappointed me. As an ending, it fits this story.

Taking Down Evelyn Tait by Poppy Nwosu: Australian YA. Lottie is furious that no one else seems to realise what Evelyn Tait, her nemesis (and stepsister) is like. Her best friend Grace is in love with Evelyn. Her teachers and her father tell Lottie she should emulate Evelyn. So Lottie decides that she’s going to do just that -- she’s going to be better than Miss Perfect. I thought this was a very realistic portrayal of a teenager’s relationships -- with family, with friends, with school and with herself. It’s amusing and, ultimately, believably positive. It captures Lottie’s perspective and her experiences in-the-moment so effectively and intensely.

Wired Love: a romance of dots and dashes by Ella Cheever Thayer (1888): Nattie, a telegraph operator who chats whenever she can “over the wire” with C., another telegraph operator miles down the line. I love stories where characters fall in love through exchanged messages. And the experiences of telegraph operators is absolutely fascinating -- simultaneously a product of the past and yet incredibly relatable from a contemporary perspective, because the internet and mobile phones mean we communicate so much through text. After Nattie and Clem meet, the focus shifts away from the telegraph office to antics at their boardinghouse, but the story continues to be fun and delightful. 

Once Upon a Con series by Ashley Poston:

Geekerella: When Elle discovers her late parents’ cosplay costumes in a box in the attic, she hatches a plan to enter a cosplay competition and use the prize to escape her step-family. This contemporary Cinderella retelling about two teenage fans of a SF series Starfield is a romance-through-messages story. Elle uses her father’s old phone, so sometimes she gets messages from people about ExcelsiCon, the convention her father founded. One message sparks a conversation -- but neither she nor Darien realise just who they’re texting. As expected, this is fun and fandom-y, and it makes the coincidences and Cinderella moments feel believable.

The Princess and the Fangirl: At ExcelsiCon, Starfield actress Jessica Stone swaps places with a fan, Imogen. Jess needs to find a mislaid script before she’s accused of leaking it, and Imogen hopes for an opportunity to promote the #Save Amara initiative. I enjoyed how they both experience a different side of fandom. Imogen discovers the pressures of being a star, when con appearances are your job, and, away from the spotlight, Jess discovers how cons allow people to come together and celebrate things they love.  My only disappointment was the way they both deceive Imogen’s fandom friend, Harper. I wish that had been handled differently.

The Little Bookshop at Herring Cove by Kellie Hailes: Unlike other books I’ve borrowed because they had “bookshop” in the title, this didn’t focus very much on books, nor did it describe its bookshop vividly. Sophie could have easily owned a different sort of shop without changing the plot, the setting or the atmosphere. This is a light-hearted romance about nice people in a generic seaside town -- not what I was looking for. I wanted more about books and a stronger sense of place.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Kathleen Gati and Kathrin Kana): This begins with three different women at the start of WWII -- a teenager in Poland, a newly-graduated doctor in Germany and a wealthy consulate worker in New York -- and  becomes about the Ravensbruck Rabbits, Polish political prisoners subjected to medical experimentation. Not what I expected or wanted to be reading (which is not its fault. I switched to the ebook, because I'm irrationally squeamish about some medical things and cope better when reading to myself). This story is compelling and does a good job of showing how the pain and trauma didn’t just end with the war. And it’s incredibly important to keep telling stories about distressing parts of history. 

The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: More or less the sort of story I expected from these two. Nimh is the Divine One in a world of magic and prophecy. North is a prince in a floating city of science and engineering. Nimh believes the gods fled into the sky thousands of years ago, and North believes no one still lives down on the surface… until he crashes his glider. I enjoyed this but don’t feel any emotional investment -- yet. I will read the sequel.

Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade: April and Marcus keep fandom separate from their professional lives -- April to avoid negative comments, Marcus (an actor) to avoid violating his contract. So when Marcus sees a cosplay photo of April online, he doesn’t recognise his friend, he just sees a gorgeous woman getting nasty comments and invites her to dinner. I was hooked. As a romance, this didn’t always focus on the things I most wanted it to, but I understood why it made those narrative choices and liked how the characters resolved their mistakes. And I really liked it as a story about fanfiction and the way we tell stories in response to other stories.

Big Love, Tiny House by Olivia Dade: Lucy goes on a Tiny House Hunting show and drags along her best friend Sebastian. I’ve watched countless tiny house videos on Youtube, so it was fun to see tiny houses depicted in fiction -- although I was disappointed that all the houses are so disastrously bad. Beyond that, I have no strong feelings one way or another about this romance novella.

Memento: an Illuminae Files novella by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (narrated by a full cast): A bonus prequel, set aboard the Alexander prior to the events of Illuminae. The audiobook is so well done! Even though this is a short story/novella, I cared about the new characters it introduces -- I really like the epistolary format and how it requires the reader to fill in some of the gaps for themselves. (I think that’s part of why I love The Illuminae Files but so far have no strong feelings about Kaufman and Kristoff’s latest series.) And it’s always interesting to see more of AIDAN.

#Herenya reviews books #Aster Glenn Gray #Dorothy Dunnett #Erin Hart #Pip Williams #Poppy Nwosu #Ella Cheever Thayer #Ashley Poston #Martha Hall Kelly #Amie Kaufman #Meagan Spooner #Jay Kristoff #Olivia Dade #Stephanie Burgis

[fundielicious-simblr]

wips!

Hey y’all, author here (still feels weird calling myself that ngl) I was inspired by @meetthefundies​ post about pose making from a while back and decided I’d take the dive and finally get into cc making for the sims 4. It’s always something that I’d thought about, and with corona basically shutting everything down I’ve had ample time to try and learn how to do things. The whole of last month was basically a bunch of trial and error, YouTube watching, and Tumblr scrolling (coupled with my parents asking why I have pictures of random white people saved onto my google drive almost every other night 😂💀)

In the middle of august my dad caught corona, and so the government isolated my whole family and I in the house (he’s all better now thankfully) for 2 weeks, meaning I had 14 uninterrupted days of just coming up with different designs and trying to make things work. So this post is to basically just put out there what I’ve been working on, a few have made it into my game to be play tested, but so far only one has actually left CAS 😂 I know these are definitely major works in progress, but my anxiety means that I’d keep redoing things over and over again in an attempt at perfection while the rational side of me tells me that everyone has a starting point - this one is just mine. Anyway, I’m rambling (as usual), so let me just post the damn picture so I can go back to actually working on these pieces 😂😂

I’ll start with the casual clothes,

This is what I’m working on right now, ironically it’s the easiest thing I’ve done so far. This is essentially one of those ‘Snoga’ sports skirt things that fundies wear, this is the second round because the first had annoying clipping that meant I had to go in and change the design. If this one turns out fine enough then I will make different skirt/legging length combinations, but for now I just need this to be usable enough in game to warrant making different styles. 

Sleeveless frumper dress thing (I’ll sit down and come up with names for these later 😂) 

This was inspired by Anna Marie Maxwell and her #fabulous frumpers as well as the frumpers the Maxwells used to wear in the 2000s, I stalked the Maxwell blog right back to the beginning and just started saving pictures 💀 This is so far the only thing that’s made it into an actual game save, and you’ll be seeing a sim or two wearing this in different swatches in around a month since my queue is now below one month long. This dress is probably between the 8th and 10th attempt at making a basic frumper as this is what I started trying to make as I was trying to learn everything I could about making cc.

Basic short sleeved cheap looking dress (like I said, official names will come later 😂)

This your basic average amazon dress that fundies love ( a la bates sisters boutique style) I’m at that point where my instagram explore page thinks I’m a 14 year old Apostolic girl or a baptist mother of 8 looking to change my style, so I have a wealth of inspiration to choose from 😂 This is something I made and forgot about because I got excited about the exercise skirt almost working in game, meaning that this hasn't even made it into blender yet. 

Now we can move onto the formal stuff:

Ruffle mother of the bride/groom dress

This is my attempt on that blue ruffle dress that Kelly Jo Bates wore to Erin and Zach’s weddings. I initially tried to make it exactly like the dress she wore, but then I realised I was falling into the tendency of making things hard on myself unnecessarily 😂 This has made its way into CAS but there was some awkward clipping around the arms which I need to fix in blender, and will fix the textures before I can try and test it again.

Fishscale type dress 

Yup, you guessed it, this is my take on that dress. This made it into blender, but seeing the uv_0 layout made me go “eek” and distract myself with something else 💀 I’m probably going to go in and change the design, take some creative license and change the ‘fishscales’ around because there's only so much space in the uv map. 

Wedding Dress 1 aka the ‘Anna Marie’

I’ve highkey been calling this one the ‘Anna Marie’ in my folders because this wedding dress is directly inspired by hers (fyi: this link does take you directly to the Maxwell family blog, that web archive website is banned where I live and I’m not sure how to upload an archived link with my vpn on cause sometimes my laptop starts moving mad) This dress is one step away from being tested in game, and was so far the easiest dress to ‘design’ because there's literally nothing on it. I have been watching some more advanced texturing tutorials and want to try and make this look a bit better than it came out in my initial texturing attempts before I bring it I game to test.

Wedding Dress 2 aka the ‘Elissa’

This dress was inspired by Elissa Maxwell’s wedding dress, there's not many close up details of her dress so at some point I just got creative and probably the only thing I can really lend to her dress is the gathering on the side. The bolero came in as an idea after I had attempted doing these cute sleeves but was defeated after a while, so I changed things up so as not to frustrate myself 😂 This dress also has a bit more texturing needed before I can attempt to see how it looks in CAS, but I think I'll just see what happens with this one.

Wedding Dress 3 aka the EBP

In my head this dress was meant to resemble what Erin Bates Paine wore to her wedding, as in, a dress that is fine and would be considered modest (albeit a bit dated) but is chopped and skewed to make it EVEN MORE modest. The kind of changes that are obvious so the whole world knows you’re extra special and extra modest. This dress was an experiment as I played around and attempted to construct a corset back for this dress and the ruched tacked on sleeves, which turned out alright but it needs a bit of tweaking here and there, as well as an overhaul of the initial texture I'd tried out for this dress. In the notes app on my phone the initial look I was going for with this dress was “EBP overly frilly disaster” because that’s what I thought her wedding dress was like, but when I found pictures I decided I’d save the overly frilly disaster for when I was slightly better at the whole cc making thing.

Anyway, this is what I’ve got for now, I’ve got a swim dress thing next on my list which might be slightly easier to bring from start to finish? Not sure, at this point its hit and miss with how the weights transfer which affects the end result. I do have to say, seeing all these unfinished things laid out has sort of reinvigorated me to try and finish what I’ve already started before making something else, especially since a lot of them just require me to play around with the texture.

#wow this was a lot #but also fun to do #sims4cc #lets hope I can get more of these finished so I can model it in game and have nice pictures #ive scrolled my way through so many google pages #literally never reached page 4 on google before until I started learning how to make cc