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there's glass between us

@wellhalesbells / wellhalesbells.tumblr.com

fudge on crackers, all right? mr. falconing sons of birds.
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[Based on Asks I Get] Here’s the Cheatsheet to My (Sterek) Fics, Folks:

Why am I Following You Again?:  👋🏻 You’re probably here because of There’s Monsters at Home.  Stiles is a BAMF, Derek is a Failwolf, the Pack has to actually learn how to form Voltron (figuratively), Derek gets possessed by a demon (literally), Stiles is blind (temporarily), and there’s a semi-sentient phoenix tattoo.  There’s art from @andavs​ for it here because she is one of the coolest people I’ve ever known.  Big facts.  There’s also a gifset that eeames made that can only be found in the fic now (thanks, tumblr) so check that ish out!

You Wrote a Sterek Fic Where, Like, They’re Dicks... But It’s Good?  Also, Stiles is Correct™ about How Much It Sucks to Sleep in the Same Bed as a Human Heater: You’re thinking of Seat Belts & Gravity, and your description is much better than mine.  On.  Point.

There was One Where, Like, They’re in College and There’s the Pack But Not Really Because I Think Everyone was Human and No One Knows Derek and Stiles are Together Even Though It’s Not a Secret?: You’re thinking of We’re Burning One Hell of a Something, aka The One You Will Never Find If You Don’t Bookmark It Now.  I’m serious, I just told you what it is but navigate away from this page for one minute and what’s it called?  You don’t know, but an Ellie Goulding song is stuck in your head and this is going to drive you gonzo now.  Just bookmark it, for serious.

😭 B-But Protozooey?: That’s Of Bananas, Babies and Buzzkills and I’m sorry.  Oh, and get all your bwhahas and wah-wah-wahs in podfic form: here!

What are the Rules to Brackets?: Brackets is a fictional game created in The Quadruped, Rhypophagus Team of Goatliness that is based solely on the pure chaotic energy of True American in New Girl ..... what about any of that fic makes you think rules belong there?

P.S. What Does Rhypophagus Mean?: Granted this was never a super popular word but it did used to be a... word and it means trash-eating - I cannot explain to you why there’s only, like, one link on Google that will tell you that now.  I’m thinking Larry and Sergey liked my fic so much they decided: all roads must lead to this miss!  It’s the only thing that makes sense really.

Did You Write a Ballet One Where, Like, Afterwards I Wanted to Crawl into a Dark Hole and Eschew All Human Contact?:  I did!  Thanks for noticing, and you’re welcome!  It’s called Birds of a Feather Fuck Together.  You probably remember this art for it too!

There was a Nerd/Jock Thing But Also Still Werewolves... Am I Remembering This Right?: You are!  It’s Option C) Some Bad Guys are Werewolves, but Not All Werewolves are Bad Guys.  I should make longer titles, huh?  Also there is awesome art for it by NateintheAttic.

Are You the Person Who Did the One Where the Hales are Still Alive and There’s, Like, Magic and Scott’s a Seer and Also Everyone Thinks Scott and Stiles are Gonna Bone (Including Derek)?  No, Right?:  I can see why you would think I am not that person because it is all kinds of happy but that was me!  It’s called Instructions for Dancing.  It’s got a bittle prequel on tumblr here and a scene from Derek’s PoV here.

Did You Ever Finish that One that I Started to Read on Tumblr and Then Lost Track of around Part, Like, Fifteen?:  I did!  It’s completed on tumblr as the Subway Sleeper Series and posted to AO3 as a huge block of zaniness under the name Hibernation Station.  Oh!  And art exists for it: here and here!

There was One about Allison?: There was!  It’s called Phases of the Weaker Heart and it’s entirely from her point of view with some of my fave pre-slashy Sterek sprinkled in.  @goodoceangonewrong giffed one of my absolute favorite scenes: here and lunchee did an absolute gorgeous reading of it here.

There’s One with a Dog and Baltimore and Frosted Flakes and Baseball and Smiling and Also, Like, So Much Baltimore Though?:  That’s [Hilary Duff Lyric Redacted]!  You might also remember the art for it: here.

There’s One Where Stiles Talks, Like, So Much?: That could be so many, help me out here! .... Holy-Os, Now with Thirty Percent More Bonermallows?  Oh, of course!  That would be How Weetabix Got His Marshmallows Back!  You’re welcome, you dirty birds 😉

Okay, This is Going to Sound Weird but Boyd was Just, Like, Stealing Clothes Off Dead Hunters in the Background?: That’s Apathy, Apathy, You’ll be the Death of Me and it sounds perfectly in character to me so I’m not even sure what you mean by “weird.”

Are You Ever Going to Finish Your Series/Write a Sequel Like You Said You were Going to?:  I am super sure that I am one day going to do those things, yes.  Is that based on reality or previous patterns?  Listen, sometimes you just have to have faith, y’know?

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I can’t state enough how beneficial it was to work at the sex shop as my first retail job. We were encouraged to practice shutting down inappropriate behavior and it became a well practiced skill set. I had a flat stare, icy tones of disapproval, and a demeanor of untouchable scorn to back it all up. I could get the most hardened of perverts to back off or leave in a matter of sentences if they harassed staff or other customers.

When I moved on to selling mattresses I came prepared to handle pretty much any situation with the unruffled calm of someone who has asked Santa to stop touching himself and leave. To my vast surprise it was a skill I needed on the regular at the mattress store. For whatever reason men thought it was the height of entertainment to sexually harass me because I was young and cheerful.

They would always quickly learn they’d picked the wrong target.

One day a man strolled in, sizing me up as he came. He saw a young, tiny, afab person alone in the store and came to a stop way too close. He used his height to leer down at me and said, “I’m looking for a new headboard. Which ones are the best for sex?”

It was so stupid. He looked down at me with half lidded eyes and the grin of a man who owns an unmarked white van. He probably expected me to laugh uncomfortably or act flustered. He wanted to feel tall and powerful or maybe even sexy.

He was not expecting what he got. My face stretched into what could technically be described as a smile but was more accurately a threat display. The temperature in the room plummeted as I dropped all warmth in my demeanor. He took a half step back, suddenly aware that he was alone in a room with me.

“Well, sir, that depends on what kind of sex you’re having. If you are looking for a headboard that is grippeable, I suggest this model. The metal is rounded and wouldn’t hurt a hand gripping it tightly. However if you want something that you can secure with restraints, I recommend this wooden one as the slats are wide and quite sturdy.”

He looked liked I’d hit him over the head with a board and stared down at me blankly, taken aback by the authoritative way that I discussed the merits of his lackluster sex life. I met his eyes, a veiled threat in mine, and said, “Which one will you be purchasing?”

He tucked his tail between his legs and bought the metal one. I pulled up a thin layer of friendliness as I rang him up but he had the chastened air of a man who just ran straight into an iron pole.

Another time a man crawled up onto a tempurpedic and thrusted into an invisible partner. He gave a cocky look over his shoulder, sure that he was going to discomfit me as he asked, “How are these babies for fucking?”

I gave him a deadpan look and and said, “That depends on if you’re someone who has to rely on the bounce of springs for your thrusts. Memory foam beds are nicer on knees and joints for positions like doggy style but they absorb a lot of kinetic energy.”

He visibly deflated and got down off the bed with a vaguely ashamed air.

He bought a spring mattress.

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arctic-hands

[Image Description: the Shrek dental meme, showing Shrek the giant green ogre, speaking to Donkey the talking Donkey, and with the anthropomorphic Puss in Boots on his shoulder. In the original, Shrek is saying to Donkey in mock-dismay, "They don't even have dental." Here it's been replaced by "He bought the spring mattress." End I.D]

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Best of 2024 - Q1(ish)

✨✨ I forgot I told myself I was going to start doing this this year. A few people I follow do kind of a 'best of' thing and since I forget everything that happens almost immediately I thought: hey, that's a good idea for you, you should do that. So here I am with it sorta on time-ish \o/ ✨✨

Books

  1. The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden. I tend to go into books with very little to no idea of what they're about (on purpose) so absolutely everything here was a surprise in the very best way. If I could've directed it, I would've directed it in exactly this way!
  2. Voyage of the Damned, Frances White. This was such a lovely surprise?? I'm really enjoying these cross-genre books and this has to be the one that absolutely nailed both the best. It's a fantasy murder mystery and both are very involved - the world-building is excellent and the murder mystery is fun and terrifying in the best way!
  3. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt. I love books that like people, that prize connection, and that want to build community. Basically books that remind me that people are generally good and willing to try and that's this! Plus: octopus!
  4. Empire of the Damned, Jay Kristoff. Empire of the Vampire was one of my favorite reads in 2022 (when I read it) and the sequel definitely lived up to its predecessor. The story is so compelling and the characters are so impossible not to fall in love with. Happily, this did not suffer from middle book syndrome: so much happened and so much moved forward.
  5. Dinner on Monster Island, Tania de Rozario. I took this out at the library on a whim - it was available and it had a cool cover so I was in. I learned so much. I knew next to nothing about Singapore so everything to do with that blew my mind and Tania de Rozario's voice is wonderful, not to mention she connects so much of her life and surroundings to horror movies and that is a touchstone that I have in spades.

I should also special mention Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, which I adored.... though it did completely ruin the movie for me (which I had also never seen and watched a few days later), haha. Sophie is the catalyst for absolutely every single thing that happens in the book and Howl is useless and dramatic without her and to see her be so very ineffectual in the film (and have things that happened because of her be taken away from her) while Howl was so powerful was like.... wha??? It was beautiful animation but... yeah. And Stardust by Neil Gaiman, which was so enjoyable! It has that irreverent, this-might-as-well happen humor that I love in fantasies.

Comics/Mangas/Manhwas/Etc.

  1. On of Off, Vols. 1-3, by A1. Um. Can I just say that I love when one of the characters in a queer couple is a big huge dude? I don't know, a few years ago a switch got flipped in my head and size difference is now VERY MUCH A THING for me. I don't really want a small dude, I just want a big huge dude and a normal-sized man. (Or a big huge woman and a normal-sized woman - see Cosmoknights, which.... I'm realizing now probably had something to do with the switch and its aforementioned flippiness) Voila! I also like when the big huge dude is like: I'm not really that into it and then falls hardcore in love and has a dramatic: "What in the actual fuck just happened?" moment. This and The Dangerous Convenience Store have that exact dynamic and I cannot stress enough I could read it 100,000 more times and not get tired of it.
  2. Saga, Volume 11, by Brian K. Vaughan. Just bring back Marko. Like, just do it. Every time it teases me with it, I want it more. Bring him back, gimme, I want. I remain in love with this series but, crap, does it just want to rip my heart out every chance it gets.
  3. The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, Volume 4, Kazuki Irodori. This is my shit. It's a fantasy world that a completely ordinary corporate worker is sucked into and he ends up entirely reorganizing the structure of their accounting department so it a) actually functions and b) is accountable (ha). However, he has no resistance to "magicules" and the best way to acclimate him to all the magic that constantly surrounds him is for him to have sex with a very attractive soldier. Like, that's just brilliant writing is what that is, no notes. I love it, it wins all the things. (It's based on a novel that they only just began releasing in English and the comic is the superior version for me at this moment in time.)
  4. Cherry Magic!, Vols. 9-10, by Yuu Toyota. I cannot believe I'm still so invested despite the fact that the original hook for this manga has disappeared and it's essentially just a very domestic, slice of life story now but it's just so nice to see them both happy and married and together?? So the original plot of this was there's essentially some old wives' tale that if you're a virgin at thirty you get magic powers. Cue Adachi turning thirty and he can suddenly read people's minds when he touches them and finds out through this power that his coworker, Kurosawa, is in love with him. It's a really cute, fun series and I am happy for it to go on forever. (Also, they made an anime out of it this year and it's stupid cute. There is also a live action series that I haven't watched yet.)
  5. Therapy Game Restart, Vols. 1-3, by Meguru Hinohara. So, Minato is pile of endless insecurities in a trenchcoat and Shizuma is his confused but calm partner and it turns out I am really into that? Consistently surprised by how much I am into that but I am, in fact, into that.

Special mention to The Third Ending by Chobom - I really hope this is getting an official printing at some point because I am in love with it and I will buy the fuck out it (the fact that it's behind a digital paywall right now is the only reason this isn't number one). It is so exactly, specifically to my tastes it's ridiculous. So the idea here is Joon confesses his feelings to Yoonseul in high school, when he doesn't know him too well but likes what he sees, and Yoonseul turns him down a little harshly (he was mad at someone else and was a little less careful with his words than he would've been otherwise). Yoonseul starts having bad days on nights when he dreams of that memory and the two meet again and start hanging out so Yoonseul can assuage his conscience. They become really close friends and they end up drunkenly kissing, Yoonseul knows it's a mistake and Joon overhears him talking about it to a friend and how much he regrets it. Joon confesses his feelings again and Yoonseul, again, turns him down because he can't imagine anything physical happening between them. That should be the end of it. Except, very slowly, Yoonseul realizes he is completely in love with Joon and he's fucked this thing up to high heaven. Cue my absolute FAVORITEST dynamic - the chasee becoming the chaser.

TV

  1. Fisk (s1-2), Netflix. This is an Australian comedy about probate lawyers and if you're on the fence about it watch the episode with the Popovitches (season 1, episode 3). I very nearly peed my pants.
  2. Only Murders in the Building (s3), Hulu. Okay, I'm a big fan of musicals and it's not a love I indulge very often so when I do watch them, I tend to get way too into them. (Yes, I bought this album immediately.) I adored this season and I adored Howard - making him a series regular was ingenious.
  3. The Righteous Gemstones (s3), Max. This season was so good. This show in general is so freaking good but I really loved this season. This family is so genuinely fucked up but to get to the last episode and have them rise to the occasion and figure out their brand of love was so satisfying. And I do adore that they tried to copy other functional families they saw before realizing that was just never going to work for them.
  4. Mr. Villain's Day Off (s1), Crunchyroll. Okay, I love this manga and the show is so exactly this manga. Like, I've reblogged a ton of shot for shot comparisons so when I say 'same,' I mean 'same.' The entire idea is this monstrous alien bent on destroying the world enshrines his days off with reverence and diligence - he's just a normal guy, obsessed with pandas, who's only evil at work, thank you very much. It's just so silly and weirdly heart-warming?
  5. Girls5Eva (s3), Netflix. There's something about Renee Elise Goldsberry for me that is magnetic. I love everything about her, I love getting to watch her do comedy, I love hearing her sing, I love her character. Also, the singing? I've mentioned how I am weak for the singing, yes?? (Yes, I have these albums too.)

Minx (Starz) was also really, really good but I wish it hadn't been canceled prematurely! It definitely wasn't finished, y'know, and it was so unfortunate to end it with Doug on the wrong side of things - I want to see the resolution, dammit!

Movies

  1. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022). I haven't laughed at a movie like this in a long time. I've watched it twice so far this year; I went home two weeks ago and made my dad watch it with me and tears were streaming down our faces by the end. Pedro Pascal should never not be doing comedy because he was made for it.
  2. Bottoms (2023). This is so exactly my sense of humor? The ridiculousness of this was just *chef's kiss* Also more Ayo Edibiri in everything.
  3. Talk to Me (2022). I had been waiting for this movie to get onto some streaming platform so I could watch it and I think the best compliment I could give it is that I wanted to watch it again the next day. Great horror, great resolution!
  4. John Wick 4. I expected this to feel so long and bloated and yet it didn't at all. I was invested the whole time and I think it helps that I watch action films, like, once every three years so these feel like fun little treats more than anything.
  5. Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid. There's a joke in here that I relate to so hard it's almost embarrassing. Talking about ordering coffee, he goes: "If you could just do whatever you think it is and if it's wrong, I won't even tell you, how about that, I will walk out of here as if that's exactly what I ordered. I will go outside, I will throw it away, and go try again at a different Starbucks." That is exactly how I would handle that and this entire special is filled with that. I giggled so hard.

Also, special mention to Taylor Tomlinson's specials Look at You and Have It All. I love how honest she is on stage and how open she is with her audience. It's rare to have that and I think it feels so special because it is.

See you all again in Q2 (ish, probably, lbr) *salutes*

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nat-20s

Does anybody wanna come over and parallel play? Does anybody wanna sit in the same couch and watch TV? Does anybody wanna go for a little walk in the park? Does anyone wanna sit on my bed while I putz around trying to clean my room? For the love of fucking God doesn't anyone wanna share space with me for a bit

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