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#there he is!!! character of all time actual life changer THE only one in the world and truest love i'll ever know
mobius-m-mobius · 6 months
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liking a male character like... (insp)
LOKI APPRECIATION WEEK 2023 | for @dailyloki Day 4 : Favorite Character or Variant : Mobius M. Mobius (ft. Don 😘)
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heavilysaltedbagel · 2 months
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What a way to show off everyone's strengths as comedians and writers, too. Brennan, Katie, and Raph have distinct voices in their work that are largely informed and made unique by their own personalities. This makes them ideal first tier Bingo subjects/victims, due to their voices being distinct and distinctly different from one another.
(I wrote a way more thorough analysis of the structure and cast choices made for this episode. Whoops. More under the cut.)
At the Second level, we have Rekha, Trapp, and Lily. Unlike the first three, these three are all excellent at stepping back and prompting others. Brennan points out the Trapp is an excellent straight man. On Dirty Laundry, Lily consistently will listen and wait to send out little jabs that cut through the bits to keep things fresh. Rekha is a quick thinker and will oftentimes make a joke about how proud she is of a dumb joke, thereby simultaneously making a joke and joking about the joke. It's great.
Tier one Bingo players all have a tendency to commit and commit hard to what they do and say, to their own characters and schemes, whereas tier 2 takes one step back and will often times react to either their own jokes or take a broader look at what others have said. They are, to me, the clearest candidates for the jester in the king's court. Additionally, they all clearly have a fiendish streak that made them (a) perfect candidates to torture the first three and (b) ideal Bingo subjects/victims for the third tier of Bingo players.
At the Third tier, Jess, Tao, and Carolyn do not typically take on front-and-center stage characters. Tao I would categorize as a gracious dork. On Game Changer, he plays up his 'weaknesses' for laughs, or (in the case of Secret Samta) takes advantage of his weaknesses in order to pull the rug out from under everyone. I could say the same for Jess, which you can see clearly in the very first episode of game changer. Jess is also able to do and say otherwise embarrassing things with complete confidence. Carolyn is the only person on the third tier who I haven't seen very much of, but she's hot and funny so what else do you need?
Anyways, the third tier folk are all so incredibly deliberate about their choices and what they do and say. They take a look at all of the dominoes before deciding where exactly it is best to knock them down. This makes them well suited for their roles as prompters for what is presumed to be REAL LIFE. (i.e. the second tier are not aware that they are just as subject to Sam's mind games and the first tier. Their prompts all have to seem natural). Jess, Tao, and Carolyn are fantastically well suited to this. They are all willing to put themselves and others through awkward situations that are adjacent to real life scenarios, all for the bit. And they do it spectacularly.
In this way, not only is the show structured with tier one as set up, tier two as build up, and tier three as punch line, but also each cast of comedians within each tier is perfectly suited for that structure of joke. Brennan, Katie, and Raph are excellent at committing hard to a scenario (the set up). Trapp, Reha, and Lily are fantastic at building up tension and fleshing out that scenario (the build up). And Jess, Tao, and Carolyn were brilliant at subverting in the third act (the punchline).
I'd also like to point out that there's a relationship here with increasing material at each tier as well. All the first tier has to work with is the bingo game and what Sam gives them as prompts and encouragement. They fill in the rest with their character. The second tier thinks they have all of the material and therefore dismiss otherwise strange circumstances (Rekha on the apple box, the um actually box, Lily putting her foot up on the table). The third tier actually does have all of the material, and that material includes their own bingo games, everything that tier 2 is doing, and everything that tier 2 is reacting to on the game changer set.
Anyways, whoops wrote an essay.
TLDR: Gamechanger Bingo does an awesome job at showing off everyone's different skills in comedy. It's excellent. I love it.
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sigridstumb · 5 months
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Get out of my own way
There's a phrase that is new-ish to therapy models, one that I look at entirely askance because what is now termed "pathological demand avoidance" is what I have spent my life knowing as "self-sabotaging dumbass." In most of my life, I manage to avoid being a self-sabotaging dumbass. But in one area, that of cultural trends, it sometimes sets in. Usually to my loss and detriment.
It's just that, when I am barraged with a whole bunch of people all loving a thing at the same time (Tumblr amplifies this a LOT) it *irritates* me. This is asinine, and it makes ME the asshole were I to voice it, because oh my god, Sigrid, people love what they love! Do not squash joy in this parlous existence! But internally I resolve to never watch or read or listen to the thing in question.
Why? I dunno, because sometimes I am a self-sabotaging dumbass!
At any rate, after months of being vaguely irritated with the INTENSE love people have for Dimension 20 (it's not you! It's me! I have a problem! You go on and keep loving the shit out of what you love!) I finally saw a TikTok clip of the show Game Changer. And Brennan Lee Mulligan was hilarious and brilliant.
So, I sought out the show, Game Changer. Spouse and I both really enjoy it, and agree that Brennan is our favorite. I figure out that to watch more episodes, I should subscribe to Dropout.tv. I do, and suddenly realize that Brennan Lee Mulligan is that guy from Dimension 20 that everyone loses their goddamn minds over.
Oh. Oh!
I, with a sense of letting down some internal moral code and a pervasive feeling that I am doing something shameful, watch the first episode of Dimension 20: Fantasy High. It is, as literally everyone (not literally, obviously) already knows, very very good.
I am hooked! I have become One Of Those People! And, Sigrid, the only thing keeping you from enjoying this all along was your own self-sabotaging dumbassery!! Argh!!
ANYWAY.
For those of you who do not know, you are one of Today's Lucky 10,000.
Firstly, Dropout.tv is a comedy troupe formed out of the wreckage of College Humor when it imploded. There is a core group of, I'm not sure, 12-20 people, and they invite guests. The group does a variety of different web tv shows, some of them game shows, some skit comedy, and a great deal of table-top role playing game based improvisational theater. The members are actors, impressionists, writers, voice actors, musicians, and very skilled improv comedians.
Dimension 20 is the umbrella name for the 30-ish different TTRPG campaigns they have filmed. They play in different genres, there are a handful of GMs (though Brennan does a LOT of them,) and the player group composition shifts around a lot. In later seasons, there are nerd celebrity guests.
We, the viewer, are watching people play AD&D 5th edition. That's it, that's the show.
Except it is not at all the show! Here are some points I was not expecting:
- The production values are great. The props, the miniatures, the sound effects, the models of the combat areas, it's all great. It's the dream TTRPG set-up of my teenage years. - The people are voice actors. They are fantastic. They inhabit their characters, and it is fantastic to watch. Also, Brennan Lee Mulligan as GM does all the non-player characters. He does voices for ALL of them. - These people are all IMPROV COMEDIANS. Whatever the others say, they roll with it. Unexpected things happen constantly, both because of the dice rolls and also just because players are unpredictable, and everyone picks up the event and carries on. - They are actually playing a game, so much of what happens in controlled by rolls of dice. And everyone is pretty damn good about this. They make it work, they make the plot continue, using whatever the dice has given them to work with. They are SO much better at it than any of the gaming groups I was in! - The episodes I have seen so far are all good-natured in vibe. The people playing want everyone to have fun. They want the GM to have fun, the players to have fun, and the audience to have fun. There's no sniping except in the most friendly way, there's no sulking about bad rolls, there's no vibe-kills that I have seen.
Anyway, if you like improv comedy, if you like voice actors performing SF/F plays live, if you like other people's TTRPGs, Dimension 20 might also be for you.
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madelynhimegami · 9 months
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About twenty years ago (probably closer to nineteen), I finished my playthrough of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.
This morning, I finished my (first?) playthrough of the A Wonderful Life remake.
Well before I finished, I decided I wanted to make a post talking about it, giving my general thoughts on it. And I'll probably just end up rambling. Who knows if it's at all interesting to people but. Here goes.
Being able to save and load anywhere at any time is such a game changer. Holy moly. Even though I didn't really have to do a whole lot of reloading (except where fishing requests were concerned). But it still felt very good to have.
On a related note, the remake is so transparent about its mechanics, it's amazing. I know that AnWL already had some tranparency added to it (especially wrt your kid), but just. Having as much info as the remake gives you, at all times, is nuts. Makes things so much easier to finagle around.
Likewise, thank god for automatically recording cooking recipes. It was already practically impossible to remember how to make anything in the GCN games. The fact that the Harvest Sprites gave you a new recipe every day also helped. As did telling you when your cooking skill levelled up, because the GCN games didn't tell you anything.
Characters actually sound distinct now! The thing about mediocre localizations is that you don't know what you're missing out on until you get a good localization. And wow, the amount of personality shown by having characters speak differently adds a shocking amount.
Even with all of the QOL updates... the main thing that makes me never wanna touch the GCN games again is that they're a lot less bugged. I once again blame the old localization.
(you think there's weird stuff going on in the remake. you have no idea.)
That being said, aside from being able to select your pronouns at the start of the game, the cast (including yourself) don't really do much of anything to gender you. AnWL gave me so much gender euphoria before I even knew what it was. (Not to mention the FoMT remake set the bar for being gay in a way that AWL is set up couldn't really replicate). So... who knows. Maybe I'll end up replaying it someday anyway.
Granted, I say that, but as I was typing that sentence I thought about how the event for giving your toddler a bath was broken so that you could not give him one. Instead of a Yes/No prompt the game just said "Several days later..." and then continued like you had said no. Maddening.
Nuts to it, someone just give me an annotated textdump.
After so much hemming and hawing about who to marry in the remake, I ended up just marrying Nami again. One part autistic lesb solidarity, one part her kid being so goshdang powerful. Either way, I joked about how nothing about me had changed in twenty years.
Once I got to chapter two, I started screencapping like crazy. Got almost 400 of them on my switch now. I just wanted to note everything I could about what my darling baby girl was doing throughout her life. Also my wife.
In my original playthrough, even though I tried to influence my son into either art or academics, he ended up becoming a farmer. But then again, I also didn't understand how to influence him optimally. Which sounds awful out of context. Oh well, at least his life was mostly organic.
I managed to get my daughter into academics before chapter two ended. Probably the most interesting thing that happened was how her dialogue changed. She started reciting her ABC's to herself, and mumbled about books, and said that gemstones were like puzzle peices. It was darling.
Since I've only played the entire game with Nami's child, though, I do wanna replay the game just so that I can see what a different kid is like.
Problem is, it just brings back the marriage problem. And the child career problem, because even if I marry Muffy, like hell will I raise an athlete (but I don't want scholar again... but also if they're an artist they run away from home after the game ends, which is kinda messed up).
A lot of people in the village make comments about how air conditioning isn't good for people's health. They did that in the original game too, if memory serves, but it's still weird. Is this a thing in Japan, or was the person that wrote those parts of the dialogue have a vendetta of some kind?
This is another thing that I know got changed in AnWL, but I'm still so glad that chapters are only one in-game year long. There's a special kind of pain to get to the end of the year, only to learn there's more you need to play before you see your kid get older.
Despite that, I still got a whole lot done, to the point that I spent most of the last two years just idling because I had nothing else to do. Same way I got to the endgame of the original, come to think of it.
I never bought the teddybear. I wasn't gonna do it when my daughter was a teen by the time I had the money. I'm not that dumb. Doesn't do anything but be spoopy anyhow.
I seem to remember the seed maker being instant in the GCN game. If it was, it got seriously debuffed in the remake-- you can only put up to twelve crops in at a time, and it takes 20 in-game hours for the seeds to be produced. Obviously meant to balance how absurdly high tree seeds could be sold for, but the prices were already slashed to pieces, so it was just overkill and made it hard to keep up with what crops I did or didn't have seeds for.
I genuinely hope I never have to make nine of each rare crop again. I mean, technically I never had to anyway, but I did and it was so much pain.
Cows are absurdly expensive in the remake. I guess it's to balance the fact that there's no limit on how long cows can be milked, but
here's the dirty secret
If you have a cow and a bull, they'll mate on their own without you needing to order for it. My cows in the GCN games were constantly getting pregnant. Anyone who complains about cows going dry was doing it wrong.
Sheep are significantly more affordable, though. So I ended up getting mostly those instead.
That being said, a star/brown/marble cow giving S Milk (and the latter two getting their milk processed into butter and cheese respectively) does give you more profit than golden wool does... until you get the Blessed Clippers and you start getting two bundles of wool per sheep (which is insane). But wowie are they expensive...
My new personal hell is having a dozen sheep following me around to scream at me. Did they do that in the original(s)? I never bothered with them....
I'm still sad Flora's not a marriage candidate.
As I mentioned, I was basically without anything to do by the end of the game. Which makes the infinite postgame chapter's existence kinda funny? I don't know what else I'd want to do with that, since as far as I've been able to tell nobody has new dialogue.
No really. I can't even 100% the game anymore because Van stops selling goats, I have over 5 million G, I've grown each one of every plant, caught every fish, dug up all the digsite items, and have all in-game achievements. What would I wanna keep playing for?
Also, why isn't Nina in said postgame chapter? If it's the afterlife anyway, then she should be there too, dangit!
I still don't understand why the dog is trainable.
The player's child is so adorable. I love my daughter so much, she's such a sweetheart.
Wish her self-esteem wasn't so low from chapter 3 onwards, though... another reason to see the game married to somebody else.
I am so grateful there's no friendship decay for the villagers.
What a great game.
And now, some of me rambling about my history with the series:
I don't know what drew me to the original AWL game. All I knew is that there was coverage of it in an issue of Nintendo Power, and I just kept reading and re-reading it. I had a couple friends that swore by the HM games (in particular, 64 and StHL), but beyond that I guess something about it intrigued me to the point that it became a game I really wanted. Had a plan of how I would run the farm and who I'd marry. And counted the days before I finally got it (must've been a birthday or Christmas present).
And I played through it, beginning to end. Despite my brother scorning it. Despite one of the friends that swore by HM64 thinking it was such a watered down derivative it made him laugh several times even as he tried playing it himself.
I also got the girl version when it came out. Don't remember how I afforded it, but I remember that I was too embarrassed by wanting it to let anyone know I did get it but myself. Never managed to finish it, but boy howdy did it have a lot of gender euphoria. I got to be a mom.
...I tried other HM games since. I got Magical Melody (which I recall using Action Replay to turn my player character into a girl that make perfect sense to me now but I don't know what I had been thinking at the time), but dropped it shortly after my wife started expecting.
I got both versions of HMDS (mermaid wife yes please), but only stuck with them for about two or three in-game years each.
I got Isle of Happiness, but honestly the fact that every item had decay to it stressed me to the point I couldn't play without Action Replay codes to keep everything top quality and freshness forever-- and even then the crap you gotta juggle is crazy. Played long enough to marry the Witch though, so that ruled.
I got Hero of Leaf Valley, and that one I actually stuck through to the end (including forgetting how many zeros were in fifty thousand and ended up raising up half a million G before the second year's end), but got too paralyzed with indecision on who to marry (it was mainly between Gwen and Aurelia, since I read that Alice couldn't be raised to red heart after the credits. Game seemed to have thought I had my sights set on Lyla, though).
I tried Rune Factory 4... but something about it just didn't vibe with me so I bounced early.
Every now and then, I thought about going back to A(n)WL, or maybe trying a different one. Never did, though. And Stardew or other inspired's didn't ever really grab me.
And yet I inhaled the chance to play the AWL remake when the time came. And now I've finished it. Go figure. I'm still not sure what it is about that game specifically that calls to me.
I think the amount of interactability with your kid is a big factor, though.
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mikathemonster · 1 year
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Hi there, I hope you have a good day 😊
I was wondering about your prompt list, and I really like the dialogue prompt 2 and situation prompt 4. And if you would be comfortable with writing something based on this I would really appreciate it😊
"wishes on starlight"
author's note: what a combo! this one actually had me stumped for a bit on how to tackle it, so I applaud you for helping me work through my current writer's block. this also gave me a chance to work on my dividers (I made them a little thinner, and so far I like it). also, I'm not sure which character you wanted for this, so I took the liberty of choosing for you :)
based on this prompt post!!
Pairing: Kíli / Gender-Neutral Human Reader
Word Count: 7,367
summary: when trouble came in the form of unexpected guests, you never expected to give your heart away so easily...
content warnings: I pull more background from the book versus the movies in this one for the sake of Beorn (love him but he might be a little OOC), fluff, yearning, mutual pining, angst <333
DO NOT REPOST OR COPY. MINORS/AGELESS BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT.
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For all your life, the buzz of oversized bees had been nothing but comforting to your ears. A gentle reminder of kinder times. But today your fuzzy friends had been buzzing with curiosity and uncertainty. You had heard it earlier just after the master of the house had left but had paid no mind to it. After all, you had chores to be done around the house.
Soon, Beorn had returned from checking on the bees in his surrounding pastures. He came in with his usual rough countenance, his face worn from the sun and the smell of honey and oak lingering about him. You had heard him come in all the way from the back of the house, his heavy feet making thumps on the hardwood floors. There was no need to greet him; you knew well that the skin-changer liked his loneliness. Thinking back on it, you were surprised he let you stay with him at all when he could have easily given you away or left you in the woods all those years ago. You smiled to yourself as you folded some of the leftover laundry, thinking of the tall man’s kindness. 
But your thoughts soon drifted away as more thumps and stomps could be heard, this time coming from the back of the house where the stables were located. Curious, you abandoned your laundry and followed the sound to see some of your friends stamping the ground with a worrying intensity. Their hooves dug into the ground beneath them, and you furrowed your brows in worrying confusion. “Is everything alright, what is it?” You asked them, and it sounded like animal noises turned into talk, for you had come to learn the language of Beorn’s animals in all your time with him. The only language that seemed to escape you was that of his own bear tongue.
“Strangers,” they said. “We saw strangers on the eastern side.” You bit the inside of your cheek, worrying what outsiders could imply for your comfort and home. 
“You should go tell him, then,” you said, referring to Beorn. “They may try to wander this way.”
“And if they do?” They asked, their well-groomed hair shining as it caught the light when they stamped their hooves.
“That’s for him to find out,” you said, nodding. After all, he was the master of the house. Your friends were also quick to leave you as they made their way to the entrance of the house to let Beorn know of what they had seen. You sighed to yourself, hoping nothing troublesome would come out of it. But of course, you had to be wrong.
Trouble soon came to your doorstep fifteen-fold as thirteen dwarves, a hobbit, and a tall grey wizard joined you all for dinner that night. You yourself hadn’t come out into the dining hall to join them yet, still skeptical of them all. It wasn’t common for a group of this size to be openly wandering in the Wilderland. You wondered about their purpose, and whispered about it with your friends in the back of the house. But this time, you spoke with the greyhounds of the house instead of the horses.
“Y/N, you missed it,” one said with excitement. “They told such a grand story of how they came to find themselves here. Full of adventure, it was!”
“Yes, yes! They’ve been through all kinds of adventures, both scary and jolly,” said another. 
“And what did Beorn think of these adventures?” You had asked.
“Why, he loved it!” They said. “He knows not if it was the truth, but it was still a grand story nonetheless!”
“Then I suppose I shall have to see for myself,” you said, and off you went to join the dinner party with a twitch in your skeptical brow. Through the corridors, you found yourself in the dining hall, the light from the fireplace dancing about and casting warm shadows on the walls. For a moment, you were taken aback at the sight of such company. The wooden hall had not seen this many people or even such a gathering as this for quite some time. So long, in fact, that you couldn’t seem to remember your edge you had experienced earlier, your suspicion melting away for a moment as you realized how lovely it seemed to have company.
Who knows for how long you stood there watching, but it was enough for the grey wizard man to notice you, as he raised a brow and asked a question to Beorn after seeing you. Shifting in his chair at the head of the table, Beorn invited you over with a wave of his hand. “Y/N, come feast with us. I was just about to tell them about the woods of this land.”
Reluctantly, you joined him, sitting down on an empty seat that one of your sheep friends brought. Many of the company had already had more than their fair share and then some of food, and you wondered if all dwarves had appetites like this. It wasn’t nearly as much as Beorn ate, nor was it even comparable to say their appetites were rivals, but it still caught your eye nonetheless. Perhaps it was because you had never seen a dwarf, let alone so many at once. “And who is this?” The wizard asked, seated at the other end of the table. 
“Why, this is Y/N. They are my groundskeeper,” Beorn said. You gave him a small nod in acknowledgement, thankful for the introduction.
“A groundskeeper, you say?” One of the dwarves asked. He seemed to be the oldest, with a long white beard that certainly rivaled Beorn’s. And won. “I’d think such a job wouldn’t be necessary with all the help you have from your animals.”
Beorn laughed at this as you slowly began to eat, tearing apart a small honey cake that had caught your eye. “And still with all this help, I have need for more. Y/N helps where they can, and I am grateful.”
You smiled, grateful for such words, though it wasn’t the whole story. Indeed, while you did help around the grounds whenever he was away, it was a little more than just that. Twenty years ago, Beorn’s greyhounds had found you at the edges of Mirkwood’s daunting trees, abandoned by your parents who had wandered into the dark forest. On the first day when his greyhounds told him, Beorn didn’t even bother to come see. Humans were dumb creatures, and far more bold and stupid than he. On the second day, he came to look at you; you were crying and whining from lack of food or water, and he felt a bit of pity. But still, he did nothing, leaving you out in the summer sun in the event your parents would return. But on the third day, when no trace of your parents were left, Beorn knew they had most likely succumbed to the forest. It was only then that he took you in and raised you as his equal, feeding you berries and honey and cakes.
“The animals do much for us, and I in return help them,” you clarified, taking a drink of mead. The fermented liquid warmed your throat as it made its way down.
The rest of the night went smoothly, and soon your suspicions were beginning to evaporate as you all grew to enjoy each other’s company, telling stories of your own lives and such. Beorn cared not for the tales of gold and treasure from the dwarves, but you found yourself fascinated by every outlandish detail. Gems that sparkle just like the stars? You had never seen such a thing, and it puzzled you to think of just how much about the world you didn’t know.
You found yourself enjoying the stories of the little hobbit the most, as his tales seemed much more relatable, filled with carrots, flowers, and farming. He was even a bit of a gardener, which prompted you to ask thousands of questions about plants and the like. Indeed, the night went on much like this, filled with chatter and mead and firelight. Soon, Beorn retired early, heading to the back of the house where he could leave without being noticed. He seemed concentrated on something, and you wondered if he was going to check the credibility of how the dwarves had come to your home. But for now, it was just you and the wizard and the hobbit and the dwarves, who soon began to trickle out to the beds the animals had laid out for them as they dozed off.
You found yourself wide awake this night, sleep escaping you as the white beams of the high moon trickled in from the skylights above in the roofing. Many of the animals had gone to bed as well, the normal sounds of paws and hooves pounding on the wooden floors now absent amidst the quiet deafness of the night. You had kept the fire going up until now, as the final embers slowly began their own descent into death. It was nights like this where your mind seemed to conjure the wildest dreams, both in sleep and while you were awake. You imagined jewels like the dwarves had spoken of, glittering white like pure starlight. You wondered if there were jewels of other various colors, too. Did some shimmer like the scales of the fish in the river? Was it possible for them to glow like the sun on a hot summer day? These were the thoughts on your mind as you lay in the slivers of moonlight shining down on the floor.
But these thoughts were soon interrupted as you heard footsteps approaching. It wasn’t Beorn, for surely he was still out. No, these feet were much smaller and more stout as one of the dwarves had come out from his sleep, his eyes bleary in the dark of the night. It was one of the younger ones, the archer who had sat next to Balin. Kíli, you thought, trying to remember his name. “Can I help you?” You said.
“I heard growling coming from outside these walls,” he whispered through sleepiness. “It woke me up.”
“Ah, so he is near,” you said, muttering mostly to yourself. You must have been too accustomed to such noises as to notice them. “It’s nothing dangerous, as long as you don’t go outside.”
“It’s just as the wizard said, then,” he said, coming closer. “Beorn… does he really… I mean, can he really change his skin?”
“All the time,” you nodded. “But he does it most at night, when he can freely wander these lands.”
“Mahal…” he muttered. It seems he hadn’t believed the wizard earlier, but hearing your words seemed to sway him. “And what of you? Are you also like him?”
“Me?” You scoffed, shaking your head. “No, I’m afraid I’m more ordinary in that sense. I am nothing more than a man.”
“You’re nothing ordinary if you’re living in such a fine home as this,” he said, and soon he sat himself near you in the moonlight. You didn’t object. “And why are you awake so late in the night?”
“Ah,” you smiled. “I can’t sleep. It seems your stories at dinner have fed my thoughts too well.”
Now it was his turn to chuckle, and you found yourself smiling at his laugh. “So you dream while awake, then? I imagine that’s quite lovely.”
“Do you dream often?” You asked, curious of dwarves and their habits.
Silence fell over him for a moment as his expression fell. “Not lately. At least, not nice ones. The journey has gotten hold over my dreams, for now all I see are frightening images when I close my eyes.”
You frowned, feeling sympathy for the poor dwarf. “I’m sorry to hear that, I didn’t mean to bring up such scary things.”
He gave a small smile at your words, shaking his head. “Don’t worry; I’ve become too used to it lately. I’m glad the growls woke me up, it helped me break free of such dreams for the night.”
You bit the inside of your cheek, wracking your brain for any thought of how to help this man. “Perhaps,” you said. “Perhaps you can tell me of your more beautiful dreams, then?” You scooted yourself closer to him, his hair shining in the moonlight as his eyes met yours.“Alright then,” he smiled, a rosy glow about him. And so the night went on, as he told you wild dreams of hunting and adventure and even ridiculous ones that seemed like utter nonsense.
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The next day, as you were tending the gardens in the front yard, Kíli had seemed to want more of your presence. Whenever he wasn’t in discussion with his kin and peers, he was wandering the grounds and looking for you. It didn’t take him long to find you covered in dirt in the morning sun as you worked to check on your carrot and potato plants. “Good morning,” you said. “Did you manage to get any rest last night?”
“I did, yes,” he said, nodding. “Though I had no dreams.”
“Well,” you rose, dusting the soil off of your knees. “I suppose no dreams are better than bad ones.”
“Agreed,” he said, humming in delight. He quite enjoyed talking to you. “And what of you? Did you sleep well?”
“I never slept,” you said, chuckling. “When we parted ways, I still couldn’t find myself tired. Your tales kept me awake yet again. So here I am, still up and about.”
“You astound me,” he looked at you with a twinkle of awe in his eyes. “I’ve been on the journey for quite some time and even I cannot operate well without sleep.”
You sighed, now stepping out of the plant box as you dusted your feet off in the grass. “While it may be more cozy than your travels, I can assure you I am kept well busy. There’s always much to do around the house, especially when Beorn is away.”
“I see,” he stooped, scratching the back of his head. He wanted to say more, but didn’t know how to do so. For once in a very long while, he was anxious in his conversation.
A quiet breeze silenced the both of you now as you both sat in the slight tension that had been caused, but you were quick to get back to work, fetching the water pail so you could rinse the dirt off of you, not wanting to track it into the house. “Well, is there anything I could help you with?” You asked, noticing he still hadn’t left yet. You didn’t necessarily want him to leave, but you didn’t understand why he would stay, either.
“Oh, right. Well,” he muttered, trying to find himself again. Then he drew a breath, and finally met your gaze. “I wanted to ask you of your dreams.” He smiled, and it seemed to beam brighter than the sun itself, his eyes twinkling with curiosity. It was very lovely to see.
“My dreams?” You repeated, raising a brow. “What of them?”
“Last night,” he said, stepping forward to approach you. “Our conversation about dreams and thoughts, it made me wonder what kinds you have, if you have any of your own.”
“If I ever have my own thoughts?” You scoffed.
“Oh my, no! I meant dreams,” he corrected, very quickly too. He seemed a bit nervous. “I loved our conversation, but it felt one-sided. I wanted to know more about you.”
“You’re so forward, Master Dwarf,” you teased, and finally you stopped fiddling with your clothes and the water. “Well, what would you like to know?” You guided him to the other side of the garden where a large oak tree stood, inviting him to sit with you beneath it.
“I suppose whatever you’d like to tell me,” he smiled. “Starting with your dreams?”
“Ah, my dreams,” you nodded, humming to yourself. “If I’m being honest, I forget many of my dreams. They always escape me quickly when I wake up, you see. But I do remember one distinctly.” You smiled as the memory came to mind, thinking on it fondly. Kíli nodded at this, encouraging you to continue. “It started with me gazing at the sky, something I often like to do, when all of a sudden the stars seemed to come alive, dancing and jumping like rabbits in the sky.”
“Rabbits?” He asked, thoroughly intrigued.
“Indeed,” you answered. “And they were brilliant in color, too! With so many shades of blues and greens I have never seen since then. They seemed to come down from the sky and join me, dancing with me in the grass.”
“Do you think of rabbits when you see the stars now?” He said, a smile on his face as he imagined it for himself.
“No, not as rabbits. I think of friends,” you said, smiling softly. “I like to think each star that twinkles is a friend, whether or not I’ve met them yet.”
“Sounds rather warm and fuzzy,” he chuckled.
“Do you disagree?” You asked, raising a brow.
“No, it’s just,” he thought for a moment before he continued. “I always thought it is a cold light, stars. Distant and far away.”
“Well, sometimes friends are far from reach,” you said, drawing a breath. “But that doesn’t take their warmth away whenever you embrace them, does it?”
He smiled, eyes taking you in for a moment, and this was the first time where you couldn’t read his expression. You flushed, clearing your throat to avoid the tension. You felt so seen, but so much so that it made you nervous.
“I’ve seen the stars dance before, once,“ you said, trying to shift the subject. Something about the way that he looked at you made you feel all warm inside, and you didn’t know why. “Three shots across the sky all at once, passing beyond the moon and the mountain.” 
“I saw a fire moon once,” he said, and you turned your head in curiosity, silently begging him to continue. “It rose over the pass near Dunland. Huge. Red and gold, it was. It filled the sky.”
“I saw it too!” You grinned, recognizing now of what he spoke. “It peeked over the mountains right over there.” You pointed to the Misty Mountains, showing him where you had seen it. He grinned, turning to face you.
“It was so bright, there was no need for a torch,” he said, and you nodded in agreement. “Oh, it made the caverns shine. I wish I could show you.”
“Perhaps if our paths meet again, you can,” you said, placing your hand over his. He stared at your gesture for a moment before meeting your eyes again, smiling. He nodded.
“I will. I promise.”
Soon, you were interrupted by two beautiful horses approaching you, and you realized you still hadn’t finished your chores for the day. You quickly rose to your feet, brushing yourself off as you offered him a hand. He took it, and you helped him up. “My apologies, but it seems I must return to my duties.” You explained.
“I understand,” he nodded. “I should return to the others.”
You nodded back in acknowledgement and began to walk away when suddenly he caught your arm in his hand, causing you to turn back to face him with a puzzled look on your face.
“Y/N,” he said. “Will I see you again?”
You thought for a moment, envisioning your schedule in your mind. “I live here, so of course,” you said, and he smiled at this. “Tonight.”
“Perhaps you can show me your friends in the sky, then.” He said, and suddenly that weird warm feeling returned in your cheeks.
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You didn’t see many of the dwarves for the rest of the day, save for Ori and Dori who seemed positively captivated by the wildflowers that grew in the lush grass surrounding Beorn’s home. Gandalf soon returned to the house as well, just before sunset, a tip of his hat bidding you a welcome as you smiled in return. It seemed he had been rather busy out all day, following along the bear tracks Beorn and his friends had left.
You soon finished much of your chores, ending them by harvesting the honey from the oversized bees just as the sun changed the sky to brilliant shades of pink and orange. You looked up in awe, taking the moment in for just a second as a gentle breeze blew from the mountains. You wondered if the dwarves knew of any gems that looked like a fiery sunset such as this one. Perhaps you would ask Kíli about it later.
When you returned inside from the back of the house, you noted the lack of Beorn’s presence, wondering if he would return tonight or tomorrow. He must be out still, close to the mountains by now. In his true form, it didn’t take long for him to cover much ground by walking or running. You wondered what he was doing out there, lurking in the night. But nights like these were common in your household, so the thought passed almost as quickly as it had come.
Walking into the home, you noticed everyone had already had their fill of dinner provided by the animals, the smell of honey cakes and cream filling your nostrils as you made your way into the kitchen to feed yourself. You put away some of the honey you had harvested today, crouching down to grab some more food out of the cupboards. Some of your dog friends wandered into the kitchen, sniffing you out as they smiled. “Oh, you’re back!” They called.
“Yes, and hungry too,” another remarked. 
You chuckled, sitting on the floor as you ate your fill. “And what have you all done today?”
“We’ve been waiting on the guests,” they said. “Just as Beorn said.”
“They speak of the strangest places!” Another said. “Full of caves and gems!”
“Have you enjoyed their stories?” You asked, munching on your meal.
“Of course,” they said. “Though their songs make me drowsy.”
“Songs? What songs?” You raised a brow, tilting your head a little. But your friends wouldn’t have the chance to answer, for soon a strange humming sound filled the air. This sound caught all of your attention, for soon you rose to creep over into the main hall where everyone sat, the taste of honey on your tongue as the hums of dwarves morphed into song.
The wind was on the withered heath, but in the forest stirred no leaf: there shadows lay by night and day, and dark things silent crept beneath.
The wind came down from mountains cold, and like a tide it roared and rolled; the branches groaned, the forest moaned, and leaves were laid upon the mould.
The wind went on from West to East; all movement in the forest ceased, but shrill and harsh across the marsh its whistling voices were released.
You found yourself entranced by their deep voices as they seemed to boom and echo in the great wooden halls. The fire flickered below the mantle, casting an eerie glow around the room as the shadows of the dwarves danced around you. Thorin and Bofur and Dwalin’s voices were especially recognizable as they stood out the most, their deep and velvety timbres reigning over the voices and hums of the others as the fire crackled in its place. For a moment, you felt as though you could feel the wind they spoke of, their song coming to life in your mind as you imagined the pictures they described. It must have been the same for them as well, for none of them noticed you as you came into the room, too lost in the memory of their melody as they sang.
The grasses hissed, their tassels bent, the reeds were rattling—on it went o’er shaken pool under heavens cool where racing clouds were torn and rent.
It passed the lonely Mountain bare and swept above the dragon’s lair: there black and dark lay boulders stark and flying smoke was in the air.
It left the world and took its flight over the wide seas of the night. The moon set sail upon the gale, and stars were fanned to leaping light.
As the song came to a close, you couldn’t help but feel so deeply sorrowful, as if a part of you too had lost something just as they had. The feeling of the winds around you died down, if they were ever there to begin with, and a smoky aroma filled the air as more embers burned brightly and wildly in the fireplace. A single tear ran down your cheek, but you were quick to wipe it away, not wanting to cause a scene. You now had a whole new view of these guests in your home, guests who didn’t have a home of their own.
After dwelling in the moment for a little while longer, Gandalf stood up, bidding that all the dwarves and the lone hobbit should get some rest for the night. He warned them once again to not wander outside during the night, just as Beorn had warned them before. You noticed at the other end of the hall, some of Beorn’s animals were returning from setting up beds for the guests, and you were suddenly reminded that you had left the food out in the kitchen. Now finally brought out of your reverie, you returned to your meal. But you were no longer hungry after hearing such a sad tale and song, and so you found yourself putting the food away, leaving the scraps out for your sheep friends as some of them passed by, heading to the pastures.
By the time you returned to the great hall, many of the dwarves were busy getting comfortable in their beds, save for Kíli, who sat on a bench in front of the fireplace as he watched the sparks dance among the wood and smoke. He looked so tiny in comparison to the bench, it made you smile as you joined him. 
His eyes lit up as he saw you sit down, a smile gracing his features. “You’re here,” he said.
“Am I not supposed to be here?” You questioned. “I live here, you know.”
“Of course,” he laughed. “But I haven’t seen you since this morning.”
“I was busy,” you explained. “I just finished eating in the kitchen.”
“Oh, I see,” he said. “So you heard us?”
You nodded, looking into the fire for a moment, watching the flames dance. “I did. It’s amazing, the way you tell stories. Beorn doesn’t sing, he doesn’t care for it.”
“For us, well, we do it often when longing in the night,” he said. A wistful expression decorated his face as he also turned to look into the flames. Though a smile lingered on his face, it was once again harder to read.
“And what do you long for, Kíli?” You asked, your eyes taking in his features as that weird and warm feeling returned. You liked being close to him. He felt safe. He drew in a breath, seeming to be overwhelmed by the question as he searched his mind for an answer.
“Home,” he spoke. “I long to help my kin reclaim their home. I long for my mother to return to her home. And for myself, I long to find my own meaning of the word.”
“That’s very admirable,” you said. “Your mother, is she far from you?”
“Aye,” he said. “It was tough, having to leave her and join this company. She almost didn’t let me or my brother go. She thinks I’m too reckless.”
You chuckle. “And are you?”
“Nah,” he smiled, teasingly pushing your shoulder with his own, and the contact brought that warm feeling to your face. “And what of you? What do you long for, Y/N?”
You drew a breath, trying not to dwell on how you loved the way he said your name. It was safe to say he was already your favorite guest in your home. “It may sound silly, but ever since you all spoke of gems, I’ve longed to see one. I wonder if they look like stars.”
“Some do,” he said, and your eyes lit up. All your attention was on him. Nothing else existed in this moment, save for the moon and the fire kindling below the mantle. “Some even glow like the moon. But my favorites are the ones as deep as the sky. Oh, I wish I could show you one.”
“A shame, truly.” You sighed.
“But perhaps,” he said, taking your hand in his, and you felt yourself flush at the contact. “Perhaps we can look at the stars and pretend they are gems. And once my kin have reclaimed the mountain and our treasure, I’ll return and bring you jewels as bright as fire and as deep as water.”
“That sounds lovely,” you smiled, warmth spreading to your cheeks. “You would do that?”
“If it means seeing you again, then I wouldn’t think twice,” he said. You lost your breath for a moment, finding yourself awestruck. 
“But it’s so late in the night for watching stars. Shouldn’t you rest?” You lightly squeezed his hand.
“I can lie awake a moment longer, if it’s with you.” He spoke so earnestly and so easily, as if the words had always existed in his mind, and you suddenly felt so many confusing feelings all at once. You had only just met this man, but already could see that you would miss him dearly when it would come time for him to leave. That warm and fuzzy feeling was growing quite strong the more he spoke.
You stood up, letting the fire die on its own as you took his hand in yours, guiding him up. You trusted him enough for this. “Come, let me show you my favorite place.”
Leading him behind you, you brought him to yours and Beorn’s shared room, which glowed with the pale moonlight that filtered in from another skylight as the light shown on your bed. You sat yourself down on it, inviting him to join you as you pointed up at the moon that showed through the roof. “It always looks the most beautiful here, when I come to sleep. I dream of it often.”
He sat next to you, leaning awfully close as he met where you pointed up at the sky. But you didn’t mind. “I can see why this is your favorite place. The view is gorgeous.”
“Isn’t it? It’s even more beautiful during a sunset,” you whispered, excited to have shared this space with a stranger. “All the colors of the sky can be seen, bright oranges and pinks and sometimes even purple.”
Kíli’s eyes beamed as they took in your beauty, a warm smile growing on his face. You wouldn’t be aware, but he hadn’t been speaking of the moon just then, as his gaze lay transfixed on you.
“Well, I’m here to see the stars. So, show me your favorite rabbits,” he said, and you laughed. 
“I told you, I don’t think of them as rabbits,” you corrected, and soon found yourself pointing out various constellations you had come up with yourself. You pointed out each of your favorite stars in the seasonal sky as the moon waned on, which soon prompted Kíli to speak of the constellations of his own people. You listened eagerly, the difference in your lives leaving you to look at him in awe. You two came from worlds apart, and yet here you both were. It was a comforting thought, and soon you found yourself falling asleep to the sound of his soft voice as the both of you lay on your bed looking at the moon.
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The next day, you awoke late in the day and alone in your bed, the sound of haughty laughter and cheers in the great hall stirring you awake. Only one person could make such a deep laugh; Beorn must finally be home. A part of you felt upset when you awoke to find Kíli gone, wondering if it had all been a dream, but you were much too excited to see Beorn again that you pushed those thoughts away.
You walked into the great hall to see a wonderful sight of laughter and joy and stories being told as Beorn told the others where he had been over honey and bread and cream. Even your animal friends were all listening, or at least those that could fit in the house. He sat tall and proud at the head of his wooden table as he recounted to the dwarves where he had been for the past two days. You were quick to join them at the table, seating yourself at the end next to Nori as you silently fed yourself on the food placed in front of everyone.
Soon, everyone began enthralled in conversation, with Gandalf and Thorin and Beorn quietly talking amongst themselves of what the rest of their journey would entail. You couldn’t hear much, save for the bits and pieces of Beorn saying he would offer some of his ponies and food to them on their journey, at least until they would make it to Mirkwood. And suddenly you found yourself dwelling in sadness as you realized that everyone, Kíli included, would be leaving soon. It felt like an ache in your chest, though you knew not what it meant. All you knew was that you weren’t ready to see him go just yet.
Silently excusing yourself, you left the great hall and headed through the back door to the stables, needing some fresh air for yourself as you mulled over your feelings and thoughts. None of your horse friends were in the stables, as they were all much too busy grazing in the pastures surrounding your home. And so, seated in the hay in the shade, you pondered to yourself.
You barely knew Kíli, and yet you knew his absence would leave you hurt. Every time he looked at you, you found yourself growing warm and fuzzy and flustered. You had no idea what it meant, but you felt as though being without his smile would be like being without the sun: forever overcast and cloudy. 
But soon, you found yourself no longer alone as the harrowing height of Beorn joined you in the stables, as he came in scratching his beard when he found you upon the hay. “The horses, where have they gone?” He asked.
“Out for a run,” you answered, your voice soft against the wind as the cool breeze passed through the wood of the stable, whispering in the blades of grass between you two.
“And why do you take their place?” He said, his voice deep and coated in honey and cream. 
“I came to breathe,” you said, running a hand through your hair. “But the more I think about it, the less I can feel the air in my lungs.”
“Do you speak of the dwarf?” He asked, and suddenly your eyes widened. How did he know? But he was quick to answer your unspoken question, for he knew you well and could read the question from your face. “I saw him in your bed this morning when I returned.”
“You’re not upset?” You asked, genuinely curious of what he thought of your and Kíli’s relationship.
“I win nothing by pretending to care,” he said. “Besides, he is not my business. He is yours.” A breath of understanding left your lips as he spoke, some of the tension leaving your body. With a smooth movement, he joined you in the hay, his huge body making you feel small as you joined the shadows and the shade of the stables. And yet, you knew you were safe. “Tell me. What worries you?”
You drew a breath which left your lips as a sigh, all of your troubled emotions returning to the front of your mind as you tried to figure out how you would word your worries to Beorn. You knew you had to tell him, there was no point in hiding it. “I do not wish for him to go.” You said. 
“But you know he cannot stay,” Beorn warned. “It’s not in his will.”
“I know,” you nodded. “And I know that I cannot join him.” You hesitated, thinking before you continued. “And yet, I worry that even the stars won’t shine the same if he is not with me to enjoy their beauty.”
“Does he know this?” Beorn asked.
“No,” you answered. “I haven’t had the heart to tell him, though in truth I only just recently realized such things.”
“You must tell him,” Beorn said.
“But how can I be sure that he feels the same?” You frowned.
“He shared your bed, Y/N. He shared your stars,” he said. “I’m sure he too shares your heart.”
You bit the inside of your cheek, mulling it over for yourself. There was a chance you would never see him again, so of course you knew you had to tell him. You looked up at Beorn, giving him a grateful nod. “Thank you, Beorn.”
“Thank me when he is gone, after you have told him.” He said, a gruff voice through the soft wind.
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It was night now, and everyone was fast asleep. Once again, you found yourself restless and yearning for the guidance of the moon as she shimmered through the skylight. Finding the dwarves busy with their journey’s preparations for the remainder of the day, you hadn’t had the chance to get a hold of Kíli’s attention much at all. But you knew it was important, and so you decided against interrupting, hoping he’d stay up to meet you like he had for the past few nights.
Your heart skipped a beat when he did, glad you had placed your bets on him as he quietly made his way over to you, a smile on his face when you looked up at him. You patted the moonlit floor next to you, inviting him into your space as you couldn’t help but return his smile. The warm and fuzzy feeling returned, but you worried about whether it would last after tonight’s intended conversation. 
“I’m so glad you’re awake,” he said. “You’ve been on my mind all day.”
“I have?” You asked, slightly surprised when he nodded his head.
“Yes,” he said. “And for that, I’m glad the moon has kept you here.”
You smiled, taking his hand into yours. “Kíli, I…” you couldn’t find yourself to say it out loud, feeling anxious. You drew a breath, pushing onward. “I’ll miss you.” There was no point in saying you wished he could stay or anything of the sort; you knew he had to do this, you knew he had to leave you, and you knew he had to take this journey. It was in his blood, it was who he was. But oh, you wished you could have more time. Just a few minutes more to learn more of who he was, and what he could be to you. You could already feel the ache burning in your chest.
His smile fell slightly, now tinged with sadness of his own as he nodded. “We leave early tomorrow afternoon,” he said. “Thorin is eager to get back on the road.”
“And yourself?” You asked, baiting your breath.
“My spirit is with him,” he explained. “But I’m afraid my heart lies in other places.”
“Such as where?” You asked.
“In the stars,” he answered, looking to the sky before returning your gaze. “In the moonlight.”
“The moonlight?” You said.
“My heart lies with you, amrâlimê,” he said, his voice soft as he spoke his native tongue.
“What does that mean?” You asked, drawing a breath.
“It means that when I travel far from this place and look up into the night sky, rabbits will follow me,” he answered, inching closer. “For each time I gaze at the stars and see the moon full of light, I shall think of you, if you permit it.”
You exhaled, tears coming to your eyes as the meaning of his words sunk in. So he did feel the same! Words escaped you, but you eagerly nodded, your hand rising to cup his face as you eagerly leaned in to place a chaste kiss upon his lips. He returned with one of his own, learning in and letting your foreheads rest against each other. You couldn’t help the tears that fell, both mingled with the emotions of relief and joy and sorrow and worry. “Yes, I permit it.”
“I’m glad,” he smiled. “Though even if you had said no, my mind would be filled with thoughts of you still.”
You laughed at this, smiling through your tears as you looked into his deep brown eyes. “I wish I could go with you,” you breathed.
He shook his head. “Soon, I promise. When the gates of my fathers are reopened for all, I promise I will return to take you with me. I’ll show you everything, from the caverns to the gems to the great feasts of my kin.”
“I would want nothing more,” you said. And soon a silence fell over you two as you both realized this was the last night you would have to spend together for a considerable time. You would both be far from one another, and it was a painful thought. And though you were already crying, you didn’t want this last moment together to be one of sadness. “We shall have the stars, then. The stars shall be our gems until we can reunite.”
“I promise I will return,” he said solemnly. “And when I do, I want to know everything about you. Even the parts hidden away from anyone.”
“It would be hard to hide them from someone as nosy as you,” you joked, and his laugh brought a smile to your face. And for a while you two sat together like this, looking upon the stars with a newfound fondness.
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The next day, the final day, happened all too quickly. By the time you awoke, breakfast was quickly eaten and provisions were eagerly packed away on the ponies Beorn had promised to offer to the company of Thorin Oakenshield. With sad eyes, you watched as your newfound lover rode away from your home, heading to the treacherous Mirkwood forest as he disappeared on the horizon of the Wilderlands. It was one of the rare days where none of your friends spoke to you for the remainder of the sun’s light, warned by Beorn to give you space.
The first month without him was much sadder than you thought it would be, but you soon found strength at night whenever you would gaze upon the stars. The second month was almost completely back to normal for you, and by the third month you were already back on your feet and quite well for yourself.
Six months came and no word followed. You had already been worried by now, and even Beorn had no answers for you when it came to why Kíli had not yet returned. You tried your best to find strength in the moonlight, but it was all you had as of late, and your faith was wearing thin.
A total of eight months later, the wizard returned, but it was no merry visit. He told you of the reclaiming of Erebor, the battle of the five great armies, and soon you realized all too quickly why Kíli hadn’t returned. That was the last time you saw the wizard, for by the time he ever visited again, you had left Beorn and your friends to wander into the world on your own, hoping by some miracle that you could journey far enough from the heartache and ruin that you now lived by.
For Kíli could not return to you, nor would he ever again.
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sorcerous-caress · 5 months
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I don’t know if you already answered a similar question but do you have any thoughts on Alfira? I was just thinking about how much it sucks that she’s not a companion. Could’ve had Lakrissa as a camp follower for a double wammy (wammie?idk)
She feels like a Mcguffin that was specifically made for Durge. The game was originally ment to be played as The dark urge like all the previous Baldur's Gate games where you are always a bhaalspawn, but they made a Tav option instead and I think that was a good decision.
In an unintentional way she is interesting because she is the only character who breaks away from the time loop in a second playthrough. You play as Tav and see this cute tiefling with the most heartfelt song, you can be kind and she is thankful, you can be cruel but honest and she admits you sound like her old teacher but you are right.
You keep remeeting her, keep saving her indirectly and view her journey. Much like Barcus except she has no ultimate showdown climax. Her sole purpose is to get to Baldur's gate and start a music school for bards, that's exactly what she does all by herself as long as you're there to pave the road for her from monsters.
Then, next playthrough, it's Durge, and you're surprised when she comes back to camp. You expected the characters to remain consistent with their plots, but she takes initiative in a timeloop. It's like the ghost of her previous life in the Tav save is giving her courage.
Her music is phenomenal, a lot of videogames gloss over actually putting in effort when it comes to ingame bards or music that aren't for background or credits. I'm glad they didn't cut corners around Alfira because her song left me in actual awe and was the best ever way to get me attached to this one tiefling.
She is a symbol of hope in a way, to sing amdist the war, to love amdist the chaos, to hope for a better future amdist ths shadows. She is what proof there is the tieflings have humanity in their ancestory, she is what sets tieflings apart from devils.
I was looking forward to meeting her in each act, especially when she takes the children singing after Mol gets kidnapped. That moment really resonated with me. No one else treats these kids as kids, all other adults are busy fighting and surviving so these kids are expected to grow up fast and fend for themselves. Wipe their own tears and tend to their own heartaches.
Not Alfira, she still saw them as children and comforted them with her music. She still kept this facade of hope that we keep around children during times of peace even when she knew that they weren't buying it.
She feels completely out of place in a beautiful way, a reminder of what you're fighting for. Of why you're trying so hard for these tieflings, of just how cruel the dead three can be.
Because it's easy to get lost in the big picture, the battle of gods, the chaos of arhchamges the, befalling of a vampire lord. Alfira is the single drawn flower in the corner of a grim painting that makes you reconsider your position in the grand nothingness of it all, make you realise how small every person is.
In baking, even with cakes you add salt to them to make the sweetness pop out more. That feels true with Alfira and I'm happy she got her deserved ending with Lakrissa. They are as normal and average as normal can be, and in a world of gods and devils, that's as beautiful as love can get.
I would've loved her as a camp follower too, not a companion no, I don't want her on the battlefield. But maybe she can stay back at camp and give us once a day free inspiration dice to use. Or maybe act as the music ingame changer? Like in Hades the videogame, you can rescue Orpheus and he is the only playing music and singing in the "camp" or home. You can talk to him and ask him to play specific songs or strum differently, it's pretty nice and would've made the camp feel a little more personalised.
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hellcatinnc · 6 months
Text
Star Crossed Myth Dep. Of Punishment Game Review
Includes Spoilers for Partheno, Ichthys, Scorpio, & Zyglavis
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So I will update this later with Dui & Krioff because I never got around to them and they are the least interesting to me so might be awhile I will update when I do but for now these are my favorite gods in order for the punishment side.
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Partheno
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This man I swear I had so many emotions with him I smiled, laughed, was in awe, and even think I fell in love with him a bit but I also cried. He has such a sad lonely story its not hard to see why darkness consumes him. I'm a virgo and at the end of his story I'm proud to have him be a god of my sign. He became my favorite pretty fast and I didn't see that coming at all. He has so many emotions and I loved falling in love with him in the story as much as my girl did. That being said I look forward to all his chapters because I think I could easily get lost in him. His flirting and his personality is contagious and even though you find its from his darker self I don't think thats fully true cause in the end you see he will do anything for you and the way he admits he is in love he is so romantic.
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I didn't think he would become my favorite but I'm actually glad he is. He is the god of love and beauty and it fits him in the end. Although he doesn't fully stand for everything the virgo sign is when you find out how he gets labeled as virgo you see why however the roll was perfect for him. I loved how he was willing to do anything to be with the love of his the only woman who has ever loved him. I honestly believe in the end after all the darkness and bloodshed he would walk through hell again if not give his life to you save you in the end because you are his love. I love how he even tells you in the end please take ownership of his heart more the less because he will never love another if men were more like this I swear it would be a better world.
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Ichthys
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This man has so much heart and although I reviewed him by himself I honestly couldn't see leaving his explanation of his character to one post like this. Feel free to read the rest of my review on him. That being said he had me smiling most of the story and I truly felt his pain and his passion. When he loves you he truly can love you with everything his heart can handle and more. His story had me in tears and the love this man has for you by the end of this he is willing to give up everything for you, everything to save your life. You can find his full review HERE.
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Scorpio
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I honestly thought what a asshole from the start and I honestly thought he was a tsundere don't get me wrong he is a tsundere but you learn why. He is cold because he knows what being human is like and he had such a hard life as human he couldn't imagine one human being good. However after you annoy him and he says bitter things all the time when push comes to shove he was willing to burn the world down to protect you. This mans passion is intense and although his story didn't have me in tears it did however I did love watching him changer and become a better man. In the end his words about wanting you to love him more so that he can show that love back to you that was the sweetest thing. Not gonna lie his one picture he was smoking hot in and as a god as well. I can say I think not only is this man a tsundere but pretty damn dominant in the bedroom too.
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Zyglavis
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I wanted to play this guys route because damn he is just so pretty however I got bored really quick. He really isn't even a tsundere in my book he is like a squeaky clean gotta do shit by the books sometimes comes off cold so maybe swings more towards kuuderes. Now with kuuderes I can take or leave some are adorable others like Zyglavis aka Zig not so much. Even when he realizes he is in love with you the first thing out of his mouth is you cry alot for anything from now on I want you to cry just for me no other... LIKE WHAT?? Where does that sound like something romantic to tell a woman? Even when he admits he is in love it was cute but that was it. He was teased by the other gods and instead of being cute about it or yeah I love her kinda thing he decided to scold them. I don't know even when he gives like this smirk he has its a bit creepy. Little to say he was not a favorite of mine at all he just needs to stand there look pretty and say nothing.
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r0-boat · 2 years
Text
If poke men had Audio Accounts part 3.
Galar part 1(??)
Smut mentioned below
Gn!reader
CW: no sex but mentions of noncon, yandere, breeding.
Kabu
Body exercise ASMR, (lol jk)One of the poor men that got roped into this.
He had a health and exercise YouTube account and then his viewer starts to simp for his voice.
Tries to ignore it at first until the comments get annoying.
During one of his lives he gets fed up getting closer to the mic and practically growling, " you will behave yourselfs."
That's it that's all you're getting from him... For now ;)
Raihan
At first started out as a funny joke but then the slope was too slippery and now he's deep. If this man is going to do something he's going to go all out .only made one because he heard as a rumor Leon was doing it
Probably has a voice changer because over his dead body he's going to let people find out.
Content mostly starts out vanilla, but slowly he ends up liking it more and more. And his kinks will eventually bleed through.
He is too busy in his real life to post Too often, but when he does, oh boy, you're in for a real treat. He mostly makes audio when he's extremely horny, and his hand isn't enough. Occasionally he will do pillow talk(sfw) and cute little boyfriend experiences.
And very much, dom sometimes switches if he Vibes with the script. It has an absolute hard-on for historically inspired or fantasy Scripts. (he loves it so much that his profile picture and Avatar are a dragon). Call him a furry he'll kill you
Pet name a for listener:
Baby/babe
Beautiful/handsome
Sweet listener(s)
Sweetheart
Milo
Milo gets high
Got high and made it, even posted a ramble fap while high as balls. Poor Baby was blushing the entire time, his finger trembling over the delete button....well... maybe just one post.
Personal headcannon: that Milo has a really high sex appetite; however, just his hand or toys aren't enough anymore. So does it whenever he's really horny
Listen, when hearing that sweet voice of his, most people assume he's vanilla, but that's oh so far from the truth. His account is absolutely down fucking bad, all the dark yandere content, all the non-con everything. Make sure he tags everything and links his Aftercare audio and even makes softer versions that have the special Aftercare after.
He wanted to delete this at first but now he's in too deep and letting loose his more darker desires just feels sooooo good.
Out of all the men, Milo has done audios the longest; he rarely collabs or does scripts because of the sheer embarrassment, so usually, he makes his own. Buuut occasionally, he'll see something like "plant man gives mate aphrodisiac, breeds them till they pass out" he can't fucking help but fill it.
Pet names for listener
Mine/play thing
Mate ( monster men audios)
Darlin'
Honey
Leon
Mostly SFW and vanilla, playing as the cute supportive boyfriend, but occasionally will dabble in Darker Scripts. A voice changer is a must. A lot of people recognize him by just his voice. He also does actual ASMR because ASMR genuinely helps him sleep.
Monster fucker, has a weekly segment called Monster Mondays, where he picks a monster script and does it.
If Leon never became Champion, I still think he would have become the Pokemon equivalent of a YouTuber or somewhere in the Limelight still... as much as Leon loves being champion. He wishes he had a little more freedom to do what he wants without a camera on him at all times. He loves every single one of his listeners, and he wishes he could share his real voice someday. At least he could play with the settings and make his voice sound higher or deeper...
He mostly script reads but wishes he had time to write his own. But he always goes all out on Halloween
When Schedule lightens up when he's no longer champion to start writing his own scripts, even making his own characters to use in his audios. ( maybe he starts dabbling in more kinkier things.)
Pet names for listener:
Cutie/cuties
Sweetie
Babe/baby
Love
Piers
Honestly does not give a fuck if people recognize his voice, he only cares about his little sister finding it and he have to explain. No way in hell he's going to do that.
Maybe it's best if they didn't recognize his voice because he does dabble in more darker kinks. Yandere is probably his favorite. Like Leon and Milo he just wants to let loose sometimes, even if it's not much he still has to keep somewhat of a Public Image if he wants to keep his career.,
He's extremely talented with his voice and honestly doesn't really something that changes his voice but you can never be too safe.
Makes his own Scripts because they're hardly any scripts out there he likes. Actually he only does audios that he likes if you don't like it too bad. He's very specific on what he wants done so he just makes his own stuff.
" no I don't actually enjoy this, this is just a hobby to kill time" Peirs as he's writing a script for a 10-part series about an extremely popular band singer falling in love with listener.
Pet names for listener
Darling
Love/lovely
Doll
Babe/baby
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spacenightwing · 10 months
Text
Unpopular opinion:
I finished reading Fourth Wing about a week ago. During the actual reading, it was entertaining. There were “off” parts about it that I could not place, but it was more or less entertaining. Not gonna call it enjoyable because of (SPOILER IM STILL MAD ABOUT). But the entire time I just kept thinking “I know exactly where this is going but I can’t not finish it so just keep going.”
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Honestly not sure if I’m Dory or Marlin about this book….
Then it ended.
I’ve thought about it.
I’ve thought about it.
And I’ve thought about it.
It hit me: it’s Twilight with dragons.
(Semi spoilers ahead so tread with caution)
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• information exposition dumps 
• “nobody else can see her beauty but me, so therefore I control her”
• controlling, and manipulative childhood “best friend” 
• “Damit Bella/Violet”
• “You can’t protect her like I can! She safer with me! My dick is bigger than your dick!” 
• honestly Basgiath War College could be Forks High School and the drama would be the exact same
• “Then November and December and January happened with nothing to mention” vs full pages that just say OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY
• “it means if you were smart you’d stay away from me” Edward Cullen vs “don’t fall for me” but I need all the sex Xaden Riorson
Major take-away:
• this is not the masterpiece it’s made out to be. It’s entertaining but most (not all) plot points are seen 5 changers away
• the moment Violet sees Xaden her description of him was IDENTICAL to this interaction:
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From there the whole relationship was framed by this interaction and for the life of me I could NOT get it out of my head.
• idk if it’s the demisexual in me or the fact that I’m in a stable relationship, but I don’t need 10 chapters straight of sex/fluff/sexy talk. That’s what AO3 is for can we please get back to the plot?????
• but for some reason it’s entertaining?? That reason is the dragons. Full stop. Dragons was the only reason I truly wanted to finish this book.
• I do NOT like the “nickname for female character that she doesn’t like because it pisses her off but she’ll like it eventually” trope. Not at all. It rings so close to dead-naming… no one gets to forcibly attach a name to anybody without their consent. Person A (in this case, Violet) wants to be called by their name. Person B (Xaden, in this case) forces a nickname (or dead name) because that nickname fits their needs better than the person it’s being forced upon. Yeah, na not a fan can we please stop this trope thank you!
• just like Twilight, this is “junk food” reading. This is NOT a model for relationships. This is not an acceptable ways to treat your friends or partners.
• if you’re entertained by it, great! Suspension of disbelief and escape from reality are vital! There are parts of this that are genuinely entertaining.
• But I could have sworn we had left the “I can fix the misunderstood, brooding murderer if he would just let me in” trope back in 2010.
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brandwhorestarscream · 11 months
Note
TFA Invasive anon here, ready to serve up some more!
First and foremost, yes, it was the Nemesis and crew that wound up on Earth with the repair team. It is definitely Milfatron time and the baby Optimus is holding is their eldest; he's already made squeaky noises at other attack helicoptors so they know his alt mode is chosen definitely. Otherwise, he's a little sweetheart that likes to chew on things and stare at everyone; aka just like any baby ever. There's a couple others from their broods in the herd chasing Bee.
As for Bee, the moped is actually his sparkling between himself and Prowl (Bee carried) and the four wheeler is Prowl's sparkling from Lockdown (Lockdown carried), who also stopped to top up on supplies when he heard rumors of a starting colony and had a few wild nights with the ninja. He still swings by every now and then to check up on them and take Prowl on dates. There's two other sparklings in the bunch that are Bee's between himself and Blitzwing (Blitz carried); one's a flappy wing'd triple changer and the other's a chunky grounder that's been patting tank pictures, so they know what he wants to be.
And yes to all of the rest; just all of it. Ratchet supervising nap times and tending to little hurts and aches and just being the best grandpa bot ever, grumpy or not. Prowl moves a lot more carefully now, making sure tiny watching optics can follow what he does and always ready to swoop in and catch anyone that slips off a branch or some other high surface. Bulkhead's art classes are very popular and the bitties love every moment of it; the art produced is hung up all throughout the base in various spots.
The other TFA characters are here too; Wreck-Gar helps with the art classes and just playing with the bitties. They love his high energy and willingness to get down and play with them on their level. The Constructicons aren't too good being around tiny sparklings but they help make playground equipment and bittie sized furniture out of stuff, as well as ensuring the nests and hides are safe and well put together.
Blackarachnia is still hiding out on Dinobot Island, with the Dinobots as basically her adopted sparklings. She and Optimus still meet up sometimes to catch up and just sort of...talk, about things. There's a lot of healing that needs to be done there, but it's happening.
Starscream took over the top of Sumdac tower, the tallest in Detroit. ONLY THE BEST FOR HIS NEST. He has a handful of squeaky bitties that are a full rainbow of colors, so best of luck guessing the sire(s).
And basically the only Decepticon that didn't date/get together with an Autobot is Lugnut, but that's only because of his loyalty to Strika. Who....he called over once they got a good signal going and she arrived with her team to help settle in. Then they had their *own* sparklings to add to the growing bunches.
....They may or may not have also brought in an Autobot team that they'd stopped to help; their ship had engine trouble and why not come along with to a new colony, right? So Team Athena could be here too as well!
Ok I’m just gonna go down the list and address every point one at a time, because this kind of ask makes me gush incoherently! Under the cut because this bitch is LONG
1. Hell yeah Milfatron time! 🤩 I gotta know, when you say the bitty OP is holding is their oldest, do you mean the oldest of like a litter, aka all born at the same time, or do they like each other enough to have bitties multiple times over the years? Both are good so it’s your call 👀 or even they’ve had multiple litters? I’m so here for it regardless
2. I’m so glad you’re throwing plenty of cross parenting out there! I’ve always loved that vibe for the invasive species AU. Some mate for life and others just wanna contribute to the colony, and both are 🥰 I’m my book. I love the BeeProwl moped baby XD I love the Lockprowl car baby. I love the Blitzbee bitties (twins?). There’s just so many bitties 🤩 you suppose Bulkhead decided to take the plunge into parenthood, or is he content just being their teacher and playmate?
3. Glad we can agree on old grandpa Ratchet. He’s already has his bitties over the years, and probably won’t be kindling ever again (unless drift shows up in which case-)
4. Wreck Gar! Hell yeah Wreck Gar he’s so cute :’) the bitties probably climb all over him, they just love their big loud Uncle
5. I…….. always forget about the TFA constructicons 😅 are we gonna go with their canon iterations or just go with more of them, as a gestalt? Regardless, at least they’re helping, praise Primus for that
6. Elita still mutated into Blackarachnia? Inchresting 🤔 was Archa 7 a potential colony planet? Were the three of the, just young and stupid and dicking around? How did that whole thing go down? Dying to know. But good on her for finding herself a niche and a family ^-^
7. As for the rest of the decepticons, I love Starscream and his nest of squeaky babies. Ofc he takes the tallest tower because that’s just how he is, BUT. I actually don’t know if it would be Sumdaac tower. Like, think about it. All of Sumdac’s fortune came from tech he got from Megatron’s corpse. Megs never crashed here, so he never had access to it. He still may be an inventor but one with such a vast tech empire? I kinda doubt it. So, whether or not it’s specifically his tower is up for debate, but still! Tall. If he doesn’t decide to stay in the Detroit area he probably peace’s out to a tall, steep mountain where no nosy humans can bother his sparklings and wake them from their naps
8. You will literally never convince me that Lugnut and Strika don’t have twin girls Clobber and Alpha Strike. You will literally never convince me otherwise. Lugnut is dealing with parenthood about as well as you’d expect lmao 😂
9. Team Athena 👀 Rodimus? Hot Shot? Red Alert?? 👀
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0pheleschimera0 · 1 year
Note
This is me asking about your transformers ocs
• Who was ‘born’ first?
• Who is the most temper-mental?
• Any of them a ‘class clown’?
• Name a favorite aspect of each [physical build, backstory, personality, etc.].
• Do your ocs enjoy earth and learning about human customs? Or is it beneath them?
I'll die for you thank you
There's a group of bots traveling around the space pretty aimlessly, consisting of Riff, ex-communications officer (so he likes to say but he's still pretty much in charge of the ship when captain isn't there), Monarch, an ex-phase sixer, twins Cleft and Treble who used to be mechanics for racers, Fleewheel, a used-to-be-smuggler pretty much, and the captain himself, Emberfist. Fairly there's more people... But that's all crew for now! Let's just say they interact with each other the most.
- Emberfist is the oldest! He's been around since times Before Megatron's decepticons, and feels very strongly about what both factions did to their home. He's forged as well! After him goes Fleewheel, then Riff, then Cleft and and Treble, then Monarch.
- Riff, I'd say. He tries to play it cool- a lot, but after everything that happened with him he's barely holding it together, from being an impulsive blabbermouth to a shutdown recluse. Good thing Ember figured out he's better at work and doing his weird music thing rather than just sit and sulk.
- Fleewheel. LOL. He's always this 👌 close to be kicked out of the ship, but for the same reasons that keep him there - his mouth and dumb sense of humor. He's a fun among the sad for what it's worth.
- I'm Yet to make designs for a lot of them, so bear with me 🤡
Riff might be my favorite out of all of them, I'm pretty happy with both his design and backstory/character. Fairly he started off as a sona (like most my favorite ocs do LOL), so he has combination of red and black that i love to work with. I find his disdain with war because of jis personal losses and desire to let them duke it out and leave him out of it also my favorite part.
Emberfist i love cuz in my head he looks like a very tired, a very done with everything mech. He's a monoformer, as well, so it didn't exactly make his life any easier. He's an engineer and he's the one who even built their ship! Overall i just like him, he cares for his fellow cybertronians who are tired and hurt, and pretty much welcomes anyone on his ship and won't be scared to protect it with all his might.
Monarch has one of my favorite designs I've ever done, i love the colors and her wings are torture for me to figure out but i love them nonetheless. Her story is also very fun to me she's just the biggest traumatized loser. She's a triple changer who could turn into a jet and a bomb. She was supposed to have an indestructible spark casing and such, so whenever she used her bomb alt mode, she'd be able to reconstruct herself. She, well. Never found out if it works LOL she just left when she was on her first mission cuz she got so so scared. Love her.
The twins are fun to me because i. Love twins. They play music all the time and are very high energy, it's fun to watch. They're small and frisky and generally just a delight. You'd think they cause mischief but they're more of snitches actually LMAO they don't get along with Fleewheel well.
As for Fleewheel... Anyway.
(Joking i actually think he's very silly i love silly guys who are just asking to have shit beat out of them)
- Only Fleewheel's been on Earth, actually! Had a lil rendezvous with Swindle there. Wasn't impressed much, and surely isn't looking forward to coming back there (though humans are quite entertaining)
As for others, they've HEARD, probably PASSED it at some point in search of energon, but didn't dare to land. For reasons. Riff downloaded a lot of Earth music at some point, though, and he's been menace about it ever since.
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ravenpureforever · 2 years
Text
Sooo… I started watching the Eclipse and just oh my god,,,,
And it’s weird because I usually hate darker school dramas and click out by the second episode but I’m actually really intrigued and invested and I was trying to place why and then I realized-
It’s because of how genuine they are about being a teenager, particularly a queer teenager at that.
It’s because none of the students truly have any power. They’re doing these things, but it’s made clear time and time again that the adults are the ones truly hurting them. There is no all powerful student council running the show here, the enemies are genuinely just regular adults with authority over them who don’t understand them. 
Akk and Kan are prefects, but they’re actually very limited in what they’re able to do, he’s taking orders and trying to do what he thinks is right within those orders. Ayan is investigating and wants to expose corruption, but his mom his absent and he’s all alone and grieving and there are no mentions of any of his old friends, he’s being target by the teachers, he’s not suddenly popular and causing a transformation over night, he’s isolated and angry and trying to achieve his sense of justice. Thua clearly doesn’t feel safe at home, but he has no power, he has no protective friends willing to fight the world for him (Kan is scared himself, and this is simply a fact not a fault or criticism) and is simply trying to find a relative safety within the hidden corners. Wat loves something that no one else, not even his friends, can appreciate, and is being shoved towards a future he does not want because it is stable, because it is safe It’s funny and I love the chemistry and it’s such a fascinating plot and I’m having a blast watching it and yet there are times where I feel like I’m being cut into, like my soul is being bared to the world as I remember being that scared, angry queer teenager.
The Eclipse is something so deeply personal to me with the experiences of being a queer teen.
It just feels so genuine and honest with its characters and the acting and portrayals are done so well-
It’s the fear and the anger and the mutual I don’t want to be silenced but I am absolutely petrified of what could happen if I am seen so I keep my head down for me
I want to burn the world to the ground and never stop screaming. I want to bury myself in my bed and blankets and never emerge. I joke and laugh and everyone thinks I’m straight and cis and my soul is suffocating but I’m too scared to ever let anyone suspect anything about me. I know what I am and I can not hide but I will bury it so deep so I can pretend it is not there. Anger is going to eat me alive if fear doesn’t suffocate me first. I want to be brave, but what is courage when it threatens my own survival, when it means risking everything and everyone I love? It’s seeing other queer kids, loud and proud and open and being utterly terrified of them, being utterly terrified for them because I could never do that, how can they do that, how can they be so sure of their own existence, so unafraid in a world that wants them dead?
I’m watching different aspects of my own queer experience interact as actual complex characters and oh my god I want to cry
The tension between Ayan and Akk kills me every time, I adore Ayan, of course I do, he’s a mouthy chaotic gremlin brat and I very much have a type Ayan is consumed by his grief and rage and he is so blinded by vengeance he’s only going to end up burning himself in the end and Akk experiencing gay panic every five minutes gives me life Akk being torn between the different parts of himself, his heart’s desire and the heavy weight of expectations threatening to break him
The yearning with Kan and Thua stabs at me, the two cowards trying to survive even as it’s slowly crushing the-
Kinnporsche was a cinematic masterpiece and complete and utter game changer for me, it will be forever the greatest show of all time for me. Ingredients was something simple and sweet. My Engineer was…something that had a magical, compelling romance amidst chaos. Cutie Pie was fun and sweet and dramatic and heartfelt and a marriage equality and very fun and enjoyable to watch. But there’s something so achingly vulnerable about The Eclipse.
It’s funny and I love the chemistry and it’s such a fascinating plot and I’m having a blast watching it and yet there are times where I feel like I’m being cut into, like my soul is being bared to the world as I remember being that scared, angry queer teenager.
I just wanted to watch a fun Thai BL not like actual feelings cutting me down to the fiber making up my very being as I watch a surprisingly intense and psychological drama that’s making me reflect on my own past,,,, yeah
Can’t wait to see where it goes!
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ooops-i-arted · 1 year
Text
I actually thought Pershing was a genuinely interesting character and I’m kinda salty we’re likely “done” with him now in the show, so here’s the only piece of fic I’d written with him.  I once had the idea of ficcing the original 101 Yoditos AU comic, but had more fun with the tidbits of Life With 101 Children that it became, so I only ever wrote one chapter.  So here’s how Din ended up at Kamino in the first place:
Din ducked through the sheets of rain, one hand hovering over his blaster and the other keeping his cloak wrapped around the birikad strapped to his chest, and the fussing little one inside.  He’d been anxious and not at all his usual self since they’d landed on the backwater of Dosuun.  Din couldn’t really blame him.  He was plenty wary about this meetup himself.  He never liked meeting strange contacts, and he liked them even less when they wouldn’t reveal their face and used a voice changer.
But whoever it was, they’d said they knew about the kid’s origins.  And no matter how much this looked like a blatant trap, Din couldn’t pass this opportunity up.
The town had poor signage but he managed to find the coordinates he’d been given well enough.  He eyed the alley critically.  It wasn’t closed and he’d be able to escape if needed, but it was narrow and would hinder him if he had to fight.  He’d have to be careful.
A little coo sounded from below, and he looked down to find the kid staring up at him.  “Keep an eye out, okay?” he said, patting the kid’s head reassuringly.  The kid chirred affirmatively, his ears flattening as he looked around.  Din ducked into the alley.
The contact had told him to wait in the middle, so Din paused.  The kid whined and tugged on the edge of his cloak.  Din patted the birikad absently, his concentration on the two exit points.  If both were blocked he’d have to fight his way out.  His hand touched the blaster, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.
It was the kid who warned him, suddenly crying and trying to clamber out of the birikad and up Din’s chest.  Din spun around and saw the cloaked figure approaching, and the kid’s reaction was enough to convince him to skip words and just draw his blaster.
“No, wait!” said the figure, cowering away and throwing its hands flying up.  “Please!”
The voice sounded familiar, but Din was more concerned with the fact that the kid was terrified, crying and clawing desperately at his breastplate.  “Who are you?” demanded Din.  “Show your face!”
“I- I’m not armed!” he said.  “Don’t shoot!”  His shaking hands pulled back his hood, revealing Pershing, the doctor who had been working with the Client.
The child cried, clinging to Din, pressing his face into Din’s chest.  Din wrapped his free arm around the kid protectively and pointed the blaster right at Pershing’s face.  “If this is a trap to get the kid, I’ll -”
“No, no!” said Pershing, waving his arms.  “No, I swear!  I don’t work for the Empire any more!”
“Then why are you here?” demanded Din.
“For the kid.  No!”  He immediately backtracked when he realized what he’d said and when Din jabbed the blaster further in his face.  “No, I saw that you - you saved him and you kept him, and I thought - I thought -”
“That you’d take him back?!” snarled Din angrily.  The child was almost sobbing with fear, desperate to get away from Pershing, and he could only imagine what had caused the child to have such a reaction to the man.  “Torture him some more?  Kill him this time?”
“No, no please!”  Pershing shielded his face, practically shaking.
“Then why are you here?!”
“I know where he’s from!” cried Pershing.
Din froze, sparing the briefest glance downward.  “You mean, you know his homeworld?  His species?”
“No,” said Pershing.  “I don’t know any of that.”
The child cried, now trying to burrow into the birikad.  Din growled.  “Then what good are you?”
“I know why the Imperials wanted him,” said Pershing.  He swallowed, but when Din didn’t immediately shoot him, he continued, “Have you ever heard of the planet of Kamino?”
“No,” said Din.
“We were supposed to extract his genetic material to send it to Kamino,” said Pershing.  “That’s why they wanted you to capture him.  I didn’t realize they wanted me to - I didn’t know -”
“That the Imperials would’ve tortured and murdered a child?” snorted Din.  “What gave it away?”
“I was contracted out to the Empire,” said Pershing.  “I only worked with the Subterrel Mining Division before.  Cloning the best miners, educating them -”
“Cloning?”  Din tightened his hands on his blasters.  He’d heard the stories, of course, even though his parents had carefully censored what news bulletins were appropriate for his young eyes during the Clone Wars.  But after he was supposed to be in bed he’d snuck out and one time watched a feature on the Grand Army of the Republic without his parents’ knowledge.  People had always liked to prance around the topic but the propaganda had proudly proclaimed only the best for the Republic, clones of the finest warrior in the galaxy.
“That’s Kamino’s main export,” said Pershing.  “Clones.”
Din swallowed the bile in his throat.  He needed to focus.  “What does this have to do with the kid?  They were going to clone him?”
“I don’t know,” said Pershing, wringing his hands.  “They wanted his genetic material.  It had to be his; the original is the best source.  But they wanted samples of everything.  He wouldn’t have survived.  I… I couldn’t…”
Din clutched his child closer.  “Why are you telling me this?”
“I have my sources.  I’d heard you’d kept the kid.  I thought you might want information about him.”  Pershing shrugged.  “I wish I had more.  But all I know is where I was supposed to send the materials.”  He gestured helplessly.  “I’m on the run from the Empire and I’m just a disgraced scientist.  I’d never make it in.  But you…”
Din held his kid close, absently rubbing a thumb on his back to soothe his whimpers.  He didn’t want to trust Pershing.  Given the kid’s reaction to the sight of him, he really wanted to shoot him.  But he knew nothing about the kid, not his origins or species or anything, and this was the best lead he’d gotten so far.  “What do you know?”
Pershing scrambled to pull something out from under his cloak; Din tightened his grip on his blaster but it only turned out to be a portable holoprojector.  “Here,” he said, activating it; a hazy blue image of a planet appeared.  “This is Kamino.  And these coordinates” - he indicated a set near the planet’s equator - “are where the data was to be sent.  It’s called Lab 22-A19.  It doesn’t have anything but the code designation, so I’m guessing it’s off the books.”  Pershing thrust the holoprojector out at him.  “I wish I had more, but I’ve never been to the lab, just brief holocalls with them.”
“Who’s at the lab?” asked Din.
“Kaminoan and Imperial scientists,” said Pershing.  “I don’t know, but it’s not a big lab.  Probably a small crew.”
Din hesitated, but Pershing looked about as scared of Din as the poor kid did of Pershing, so Din took the holoprojector.  “If this has a tracking device -” he said warningly.
“No!”  Pershing threw up his hands again.  “No, I swear, I’m on the run, I don’t want them to find me any more than you do!”
“That better be true,” snarled Din.  “Because if it isn’t, because if the Empire gets on my trail for this, you’re the next head I’m collecting.”
Pershing looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.  Din couldn’t really bring himself to feel guilty, and automatically rubbed his kid’s back when he whimpered again.
“Th-that’s all,” said Pershing.  “That’s all I have.”
Din grunted, and managed a “Thank you.”
“I won’t contact you again unless I find out anything significant.  I don’t want the Empire on my tail.  Or yours.”  Pershing glanced around nervously, but then threw his hood back up and hurried away.
Din stared after him for a moment, but the kid whined and he hurried back to his ship instead, doubling back a few times to make sure he wasn’t followed before finally boarding and sealing the ramp back up.
He shook off the water and wiped himself and the kid dry with a spare blanket before going into the cockpit, setting the kid in his box before Din dropped into the pilot’s seat.  He almost reached for the controls, but found himself pulling out the projector and looking at the holo of Kamino again.
Din had had no luck tracking down any information on the kid.  Half the people he encountered didn’t even think the kid was a kid, thinking he was just a weird pet.  No one even knew the species name, let alone anything about its biology or homeworld or anything.  This was the first real lead he’d gotten.  And Pershing at least seemed to genuinely want to keep his own ass out of trouble, if nothing else.
Din turned around; the kid was watching him.  “What do you think?” Din asked.  “Should we go?”
The child gave him a thoughtful look, cocking his head, then said “Bwah!” and perked his ears.
“I guess we might as well check it out,” said Din.
“Gah sweem,” said the kid agreeably.
“It’s settled, then,” said Din, and he punched in the coordinates for Kamino.
-
birikad = baby carrying harness in Mando’a
“Gah sweem” = the kid trying to say “Gar serim” which means “Yes, you’re right/That’s it” in Mando’a
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birboon · 11 months
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ABOUT ME!
I'm in a BUNCH of fandoms - lotr, marvel, dc, harry potter, supernatural, hannibal just to name a few - and I'm always expanding that list because I just consume media like it's oxygen.
Right now, I have a bunch of on-going projects!
FIC MASTERLIST:
THE BLIND JUSTICE SERIES
This is an MCUxDC cross-over AU where I try to rewrite (basically) the entire marvel cinematic universe, combining it with characters from DC comics too! Because I love superheroes, and I need some of my favourite characters to meet (and shag) more than I need water (reminder to stay hydrated, folks!).
Currently, the series has 6 planned books in total - but only three of them are in the 'writing' stage, and of those three only 1 is my main priority (oops). Anyway, here's the run down:
1. CIRCUS BOY
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Dick Grayson x Peter Parker
❝I fight psycho clowns, dude. I can handle a little crazy❞
When teenage heart-throb Dick Grayson, ward of Bruce Wayne and heir to the Wayne Fortune, meets high school hero Peter Parker out of pure happenstance, things don't quite go to plan. And as their awkward acquaintance begins to expand beyond that of chance meetings... well. Dick might just find out that his place in the food chain isn't quite as cemented as he'd once thought.
Dick Grayson x Peter Parker Spider-Man: Homecoming - ? [Marvel/DC crossover]
READ IT HERE!
2. ABRACADABRA
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❝Unlike you, I actually know the magic words.❞
Zatanna Zatara was a magician. She worked with the impossible, performed the improbable, strayed from the realms of the natural world and worked it to her own whims. But what she couldn't perform were miracles.
Enter Stephen Strange from the stage left, coming to ruin her life one last time.
Zatanna Zatara x Stephen Strange Pre-Avengers: Infinity War - ? [Marvel/DC crossover]
3. NIGHT LIGHT
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❝Call me a glowstick one more time and you can say goodbye to your other arm.❞
Kyle Rayner was a lost soul. No one would deny it - those that knew him most saw but a spark of the man, the hero, that he used to be. Coming back from the snap did a number on him, realizing the insignificance of everything he's done. Then, he met James Buchanan Barnes. A man just as lost as himself. Can he light the way for them both, or will they be stuck in the shadows forever?
Kyle Rayner x Bucky Barnes Falcon & The Winter Soldier - ? [Marvel/DC crossover]
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NYMMRIL THE GOLD
This is my on-going Lord of the Rings fic! It follows Beorn's ward and fellow skin-changer, Nymmril: a young and jovial man who takes the form of a great lion! It's a Legolas x oc fic, with a dash of Fili x oc sprinkled in the first act. It's a mix of the Jackson films (extended editions ofc) and Tolkein's original works, for the fun and the lore!
I'm currently about half way through Act 1, which begins during The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and follows all the way through to the end of the book. But as a whole, the fic will follow Nymmril's journey through the Fellowship of the Ring and beyond, all the way to Return of the King.
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Nymmril, a young skin-changer from the far deserts, has been under the care of his Keeper Beorn for centuries. With the dragon present, it was deemed too dangerous for him to leave. But what happens when Gandalf and his company of mischievous dwarrow stumble into the Carrock asking for help? Only one thing is for certain: A lion's loyalty is a powerful weapon.
READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE!
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fansandtheic · 1 year
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Chris Jackson's Story
Hi all,  Eragon was quite a game changer for me, i must've been in third or fourth grade when i was introduced to it, so maybe six or seven years old. The school librarian there loved to read (as one would hope) but more so he loved reading for children. Creating wild characters and even wilder voices to help draw our imaginations out for these stories. I loved it. It was my favorite time of school, but without fail he always left us on a cliffhanger be it mid chapter or mid sentence. What a guy... yet with all of that, i could not pick up a book and finish it. My dad was the same way, he has never read a physical book to this day. My mom tried with me but nothing stuck. It just never held my attention enough. Soon enough, my friend tony kept getting in trouble in class for reading this blue book with a blue dragon on it. He could not put it down. Maybe five times a day a teacher would scold him for it. I Asked him about it and he went off about how cool the book is and about the magic, dragons, and fighting it told. He showed it to me in the library so i could check it out. That's when i discovered eragon, the only book to actually instigate my love of reading. And now, 20 years later, it is still the reading love of my life even after reading countless books from different amazing authors. These books found their way to my dad (through audio books, he now "reads" and is ecstatic to be included), my mom, and my older brother. It's become a thing for all of us, even through family separation. So thank you chris, i can't even begin to explain how much your writing has influenced me, my reading, my infatuation with language, and my imagination. You are an amazing person. and thank you to all of his friends, family, and colleagues who helped him achieve what he has. We wouldn't be here around these stories without you all. Keep up the fantastic work!
~ Chris Jackson
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sinterblackwell · 1 year
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most surprising reads of 2022
(aka part II (part I) in my short series of highlighting books that didn't quite make the cut in my top 10 reads of the year (because again...we're now at 136) but still rewired my brain so completely in different ways that i had to talk about them somehow)
warning: this is also a long one. but i had a lot of fun with it :') it's actually convinced me to think about making my own book blog on some other site to have some kind of audience, because it's clear there's potential.
anyways, these were the books that shocked the hell out of me in ways i didn't expect and left a positive marker on my brain.
let the long-winded rants and shows of praise commence 🥂
(in order of read date)
- game changer (game changers, #1) by rachel reid (january 31)
"If you think the world finding out how much I love you is scary to me, you’re dead wrong.”
i have a very soft spot for this first book, and it was for reasons completely subjective that has me on the offense if anyone was to read this because of me and then just absolutely despised it :’)
those reasons stemmed from how i discovered this story in the first place, which was through a blogger’s story on instagram where i just so happened to stumble across a slide where they declared little mix’s “secret love song, pt. II” to be kip & scott’s song. this pair wasn’t even the blogger’s favorite couple, they will always scream about shane & ilya in heated rivalry, but for some reason, they felt the need to share how this song was kip to scott throughout the course of the book. the voices in the song were so angelic and so captivating, that it was what convinced me to read this queer hockey romance that had never been on my radar before this moment.
and maybe it’s because of this song that i ended up finding myself obsessed with this book because no, the writing isn’t the best—it’s pretty average, and the dialogue at times made it a little hard to fully be in the moment. and yeah, kip & scott aren’t one of my most favorite fictional couples ever, but there was just something about the way the lyrics of “secret love song, pt. II” were completely spot-on for these two’s story, how i understood exactly why the blogger felt the urge to connect this song and this story together and post it on instagram……
just because i didn’t think the writing wasn’t the best doesn’t mean that it was very poor; it had its highlights and being in scott and especially kip’s povs made their romance very endearing. i loved all the small & little details about how kip was trying to move forward in his life beyond working in this smoothie shop after having trouble finding anything else with his bachelor’s degree in history. i loved how even though this was my first hockey book in a long while, i was already so absorbed in this sport through scott’s pov, and i was absorbed with what it meant to him as someone who’s now an NHL superstar but was once a low-income kid who was barely hanging on as his mom fought to keep them going. i loved the exploration of scott’s coming out, and how he did have a circle to turn to once he stepped out of his fears that kept him in the closet; and i loved how the author went about making clear that he wasn’t the only closeted NHL player, and how significant it would be if he did make the choice to come out with kip by his side.
what i love love loved about this book though?? a detail i’m absolutely obsessed with?? there’s no drama. it’s the fact that there were literally so many parts of the story that could’ve been the trigger for even more drama and to push the characters further away from each other, but the author purposefully steered clear of it. it’s so completely laughable, and maybe just to me, because there would be instances where things could’ve gone so wrong if the characters hadn’t made certain decisions, or if the author simply wrote it just to write it. it felt almost cheeky these small nods to potential drama that would never actually happen because there really was no need, at least not for this book here. kip & scott’s story was really soft, and yeah there was still some trouble (“secret love song, pt. II” is their song for a reason), but i was in it for the long haul, i was invested.
that’s the surprise there. i came into this story with pretty wary expectations and to see them actually be met, and to have then found myself constantly coming back to it and rereading it while i was picking up other stories. well…….this isn’t one of my top favorite reads of 2022, but it has a special place in my heart for the reading experience—one that lasted weeks so….i wanted to give it a shoutout somehow :’)
(also literally had “secret love song, pt. II” on repeat while writing this to encourage me to let out all my feelings on this book here, so emotions are kinda raw right now lol)
- electric idol (dark olympus, #2) by katee robert (march 25)
“Tell me you’re spinning out just as much as I am. Tell me I’m not in the depths alone.”
this was surprising in the sense that the writing in the first book of this series, neon gods, felt so bizarrely average that reading this sequel here completely caught me off guard. for a good minute or two, i questioned how this could be the same author, which is probably just me reading too much into things, but it was a genuine reaction i will always remember i had.
i said this in the tags of a post once, but for an author who’s had a couple books already under her belt, neon gods reading like a meh debut was strange, and it wasn’t until reading this book here that i really got a sense of where their writing was at. i’m no professional critic, and so this is completely something i grasped from my reading experience.
i think it was the appeal of eros & psyche that helped make the story more engaging and gave a lot more for the author to work with because the way they explored eros’ toxic relationship with his mother and then psyche’s character herself was very interesting to me. i loved the chemistry between the two, especially since at first, things were completely on edge with the hit that aphrodite places on psyche, with eros being the one assigned to deal the killing blow. the way this pair interacted from the beginning was immediately charged because of this hit, and it made everything after feel so high stakes and their growing romance really captivating.
i’m glad that with this book, it encouraged me to continue on with this series as the overarching plot that’s become incredibly significant in all three books so far has grown stronger & stronger over time, so i’m really eager for what’s to come now that i know what this author’s capable of.
- icebreaker by a.l. graziadei (april 8)
this is one of those cases where it wasn’t the story itself, but rather the surprise lying at how attached i got to the main character, mickey james III.
the most that i knew about this book going into it was that it was a ya contemporary romance with hockey playing right at the center, and there was also a significant portrayal of mental illness, with the mc experiencing clinical depression. i also was aware of some mixed things readers felt regarding the romance in particular, which goodreads tags it as first & foremost (a common thing with other books that irks the hell out of me). with this criticism and knowledge in mind, i was on a very cautious edge.
so you can imagine how stumped i felt when i saw myself reflected in the main character.
i wish i can be able to flesh out all my feelings and lay it all out on the table here, blood & guts and all, how much mickey’s character spoke to me and how we’re two completely different people who still felt very similar because of small reactions he had throughout the story or just how tired he got.
Whenever I think of Alyssa and Hugh, or Dorian’s relatable music or Cauler’s face when he said “what would you do if I said yes”, I just get so tired, I want to crawl in bed and not come out for five years. It’s not even sadness. It’s nothingness.
.
It’s so obvious. I’m so obvious. Why can’t anyone see what’s really going on? I love hockey. I do. I swear. My brain just doesn’t let me show it or feel it or . . . or . . .
he would say certain things, most of it all inside his head, and i’ll be reading it and i’ll actually be tearing up because i’ll never get used to the feeling of seeing another writer just get it, and the fact that they don’t even know me makes it feel worse. it feels worse to see what mickey goes through and how he internalizes most of it, which just makes certain things go downhill. he’s like this other character, mina, from tashie bhuiyan’s a show for two, who i feel the need to defend with all my heart— the difference is that in this case, i know mickey, almost like how he knows himself, and anyone who brushes over what he goes through or paints him simply as an asshole will only gut me because it’s close to my own experiences in my own life.
the truth is much more complicated, and the things mickey says or does or even believes at times do put him at fault, but it doesn’t make him a bad person. and it doesn’t make him someone who never even tries. the hockey element to this story is very strong, and it was interesting getting to see a different angle of this sport through these characters who were playing as a team at a university. it was interesting seeing how far these expectations go for these young kids who might have the opportunity to get drafted into the NHL, but they have to make successful plays at first, both on and off the ice. seeing the commentators at their team games who would make these critiques about mickey when his mind was at its worst, it felt so personal…..i knew how biased it might’ve been but it really was just so personal. i was rooting for him a lot and i was rooting for other characters, too, and i loved how even when mickey felt alone most of the time, he still had moments with his big family and moments with his team that alleviated the story quite a bit.
i didn’t love nor hate the romance, it was pretty okay in my opinion—i liked the way the author didn’t just explore the kind of difficulties mickey was going through but that other characters as well, aka cauler, were—it just so happened to be for different reasons. it painted a picture of how rough playing hockey can be for different people, who all have their own strengths but that also means they have their weaknesses, too, and they’ll always be judged on that, whether it’s with their hockey sticks or through harsh words.
above all of that, what generally just really surprised me about this story is how much i connected to mickey’s character without expecting it, and it definitely put some things to light for my own life that even all these months later after first reading this book back in april, i still don’t quite know what to do with. i want to try, just as mickey tries. i don’t know if that’s enough but yeah, reading this story was enough for me at the time.
- café con lychee by emery lee (may 17)
Theo gives me this look that's equal parts reassuring and heart-stopping, and maybe that's just his way of saying that my secret is safe with him, but the voice in the back of my head is finally shutting up, and I feel like everything might just be okay.
the more time that passes between now & my time reading this book back in may, the more i feel sorta mystified that i gave it five stars. it’s nothing against the story or the author, and i’ll never change that rating (unless i did a reread and wanted to update it) because what i do have a clear memory of is how happy this book made me towards the end. in fact, i remember feeling so happy, that it literally brought tears to my eyes.
but the reason why i feel strange now is because of what i’ve heard from others regarding their concerns about the romance here, which could pretty much read as like a bully romance. the way theo regards gabi for a good first quarter of the book and the way he makes gabi feel raises a lot of concerns because it’s not like he necessarily goes out of his way to directly attack gabi, physically or verbally. more so, it’s just his general attitude towards him, and when they do interact, he’s very openly mean. it’s something theo accepts as a general part of his personality, but he does reconcile with that and how a lot of his attitude stemmed from some other factors in his life—particularly his family struggles—that made his time at school feel like a big weight on his shoulders. that doesn’t excuse him from how badly he treats gabi at times, and for that, some readers might feel put off by it, and rightfully so.
it’s something i have to reckon with because i do have a clear memory of theo being generally mean towards gabi, and it made for some really awkward/tense scenes because gabi experiences a lot of anxiety so every situation to him is dialed up at a panic level of over 50, so whenever he fumbled around theo and theo snapped, it was a lot to wade through. with that all in mind, i still gave this book the five stars and so i have to wonder the significance behind that. did i find the way that theo treated gabi in the beginning cute? did i think that theo was being mean towards gabi as like one of those classic situations where the guy teases/bullies the main character as a way to get their attention? no, not at all. regarding the latter, it’s very clear that theo had no attraction to gabi in the beginning.
so what did attract him to gabi, and vice versa? that was what the rest of the book was for, seeing this pair get to know each other beyond surface impressions and sort of bond over their shared passion of keeping their families’ businesses afloat in the midst of this new fusion restaurant that was blatantly stealing cuisines from other cultures to make their own profit (and it wasn’t even good!! but more customers kept flocking their way to there anyways). both theo & gabi have different strengths that build towards making this new business plan to save their families, and it was cool especially for gabi, to see him become more comfortable as the story went on and have the opportunity to be more creative.
i think what made me the most emotional at the end of the day, and is partly what lends to the surprise that was this story, is that i had read this after finishing a show for two by tashie bhyuian, which put me through the wringer in its depiction of a very poor familial relationship that the mc had with her parents. to read this book right after, café con lychee, and see the way that theo & gabi’s families were depicted and how they fought and forgave each other, i was so happy to see how not all teenagers have it so rough, but i also felt bad for mina in a show for two because she really deserved better than all her parents put her through.
in the case for this book though, yeah, there were two surprises: the way theo & gabi’s relationship developed over the course of the book as i genuinely started to like them together, in a first love kinda way + then seeing how impactful the hopeful depiction of their families were to me and my soft heart. both elements tied together really well for me that it ultimately lended itself the five star rating, and that’s something really cool.
(even cooler is how the next read after this one was the monstrous series by lily mayne, which is definitely something to be discussed in another post :’) )
- unwritten rules (unwritten rules, #1) by k.d. casey (july 14)
Sixty feet away on the mound, the pitcher throws. The ball releases from his hand, and Zach watches the arc and pattern of its movements as it nears its "commit point", when he has to decide whether to swing or stay put. It's a choice he's made thousands of times, with incomplete information, before a curveball bends or a changeup tumbles. One guided by his experience and instincts but also the confidence that his decision will be the right one. So Zach watches and considers and swings.
this was the first baseball romance i’ve ever read, and as someone who had been leaning more towards hockey romances, jumping into a different sport that’s much less about the action and more about having patience while out on the mound, it was so incredibly interesting. i never knew much about baseball before this—all i really knew was about this famous baseball figure, roberto clemente, a puerto rican professional player who had died in a plane crash. as a kid, i had went to two schools named after him, and that was as far as my knowledge went.
what eventually motivated me to read this slow character-driven story was a classic mood reader move where it was all pure impulse after seeing the second book, fire season, on libby. since that story hadn’t been released yet at the time, i felt motivated enough to read this first book in the meantime to see where it could go, and i’m really glad i did. while i really wasn’t prepared for how detailed and slow-moving the baseball content was, i didn’t mind it at all. i feel that even as someone who has no interest in this sport, for me to still be so invested in the story because of the character who was entrenched and was trying to figure out how to reckon with mistakes from his past while trying to move forward in the present—it was very powerful. the dual timelines of the story did such a good job of reflecting on that, and was one of my most favorite things about it.
while i connected much more to reid in fire season—which despite being the second book in the series, is set before the events of unwritten rules—i genuinely liked zach’s pov and i liked how the author explored his own coming out journey and how it looked like while playing professionally in the major baseball league. seeing the way he slowly bonded with eugenio and how they connected while in the midst of other players was so worth it in all the details the author included in the general atmosphere of the sport, whether it was in practices or the actual games. i feel that for any genuine baseball fan who loves a story that really dives into the second-by-second aspects of what it’s like playing the sport, you’ll find a lot of potential in this. because even for me, i really respected the author for how much knowledge she had and how clearly passionate she was about these characters and the game they were playing.
zach makes some mistakes and other characters edge around him because of it, and i can see some readers who might think he was a little boring, but as i mentioned in my goodreads review, i liked how disconnected from the story he felt because that was the point; zach had a lot of shit to grow from and be at his own pace.
what surprised me so much about this book was again, it was baseball, i’ve never read about it before, and the fact that i was actually engaged the whole time?? shocking, but also very cherished to me :’)
- all of our demise (all of us villains, #2) by amanda foody & christina lynn herman (august 30)
"We're the only ones still playing. So let's play."
**slight spoilers for this one**
i had read all of us villains late last year, one of the very few titles i was able to read in the midst of a reading slump, and so i'll always have a very soft spot for this ya fantasy duology. one thing i loved about that first book, and which made me love this sequel/finale even more is how dark it had gotten. it was such a cool story idea to have these stories of villains and actually portray them as such, not trying to muddle them down to seem more pleasing for a teen audience. it was phenomenal and absolutely heartstopping how far these characters would go to prove themselves to their families and to the world, and i liked how you could still connect to them with the issues that they had.
with this sequel here, i was just swept away at how good the characterization was, and how certain relationships were developed in a way i could only ever have dreamed of. to see certain characters come to life and others fall under death's spell, it was amazing the route these authors went because it really felt like they went all in. with gavin & alistair's relationship growth + briony & isobel's character arcs, all their endings were absolutely fit for the epic journey they went on from the moment they stepped foot into the Tournament.
there's so much action & betrayal but it was all about the final moments of one character who wouldn't walk out the Tournament alive because they were playing as the hero; the sad moments shared between two brothers who grew up in a family seen as most wicked of all of Ivernath; one character who looked at themselves in the mirror and felt fit for a corpse's grave with how rotten they felt inside in their desperate urge to win after others already decided for them they were fit for victory; another character who already had a gravestone waiting for them despite how larger than life they were and determined to not lie six feet under.
it was just an absolutely amazing finale, i enjoyed every minute of it and that was the surprise of it all, because these characters really made you work for it in trying to reach the final page.
- the president’s vampire (nathaniel cade, #2) by christopher farnsworth (october 31)
"There's more to this world than the things you can see," Lord said, "There are hidden chapters to history, and not all of them were written by men."
this one might be a bit brief because well, i have had such a chaotic reading journey throughout this entire series (exhibit a), i need a break just thinking about it. this was the book that made me discover the series in the first place, and it was the most mind-boggling of it all, which was everything. it's CIA conspiracy theories taken to the next level, and there were a lot of deaths in this one. it didn't feel like too much, surprisingly so, in fact it felt necessary for the story, and it was clear to the author that if he was going to be given free reign to write a series about a vampire who is sworn to protect the president of the united states, he was not going to be wasting the opportunity to raid every dark crevice of secrets the american government is likely to be holding in their arsenal.
i also really got attached to the characters, especially with cade & zach's strange partnership, which stood out more clearly in deep state, but in here, there were shadow organizations and lizard mutations to fight against and seeing them working together and get separated at various times made for very fucked up scenes of life & death.
it was because of this whole series that i really got into annotating as i was reading, writing a bunch of notes in my highlights that were not enlightening at all, they were just my dumbfounded reactions to some of the shit that happens in here. it was all very entertaining--dark as hell, but entertaining nonetheless......and also plain sad at some parts but well. the first book wasn't so much lighthearted but it was ridiculous a majority of the time, and it wasn't until i read this second book that things seemed to get even darker and feel much more serious--it was the surprise of a lifetime. i was all for it but i mean, you have quotes like this:
The real world was right in his face, and it was a small square of tile on the cold floor. It finally occurred to him that he was not the secret-agent hero of this movie. He wasn't the plucky sidekick. He wasn't even the damsel in distress, because no one was coming to save him.
and all you can do is sit there stumped as hell because well...damn.
- whisper by tal bauer (december 11)
And of everything, We created pairs. Heaven and Earth. Night and day. Sun and moon. Sea and Shore. Light and darkness.
David gazed at Kris. You, for me.
i think every book for every reader will always be completely subjective because there's just so many factors to it that can affect a reader's experience with said book. this was what happened with game changer as i briefly talked about way above, and it was the same thing that happened with this story here. there was certain knowledge i wasn't privy of for a good while and so whenever i thought of this story before actually having the courage to read it, i just felt this sinking dread because i had been under the assumption that a major character would be dead. and they would, but just as it's quoted in the actual goodreads summary for this book, the truth is much more complicated.
i've had such a memorable time reading all of tal bauer's books up to this point, and all of them had their happy endings--for some, it took quite a long and rocky journey to get there, but it was a happy ending all the same. with this story, i was genuinely sitting with the premature grief that this pairing, kris and david as i had known them, would not be so lucky. it took rifling through some non-spoilery goodreads reviews to figure out that it was really worth it to give their book a chance because wow, was it going to be heartbreaking but incredibly healing as well, and it was.
reading this 700-page long military fiction that is based on some real-life events/figures, with a lot of creative liberty used, it was such a long & heavy journey. there were scenes of extreme terror & torture that just made me feel empty for quite a bit, and to have to keep reading because there was still so much ahead for these characters, it was a time. it was a time to witness how the timelines of hush and whisper merged and completely rewired everything i thought i had known to make me that much more devastated.
i would never have imagined reading a story like this if it wasn't for the fact that it had been tal bauer who wrote this, and he wrote it so well. the romance was phenomenal, there's no questioning that, and the characters--kris & david's character arcs--they're put through so much and have so much trauma and guilt to work through. in moments where they try to take one step forward, they're immediately pulled back in the next minute, and it was terrifying as hell what they had to go through. reading to the end felt like a challenge of its own and once i reached the last page, i almost couldn't believe it but i was just so glad that i did.
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and we're done!!
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