It's Okay ( I Cried Till I Couldn't Breathe)

How about Percy as a Dark Academic?

Like, its not that far of a leap.

I can see him up until 3 am in the common room with his potted ink and quill scratching notes in the margins of all his essays, curly hair wild and everywhere and only getting worse as he pulls a knit vest over his head and redoes his tie through refined muscle memory. I can see him thumbing through Shakespeare and the Odyssey, obsessing to Oliver Wood levels over history and knowledge, consuming his breakfast at the speed of light as he pours over philosophy, just so he can crawl up the tree in the garden to continue his reading there. I can see him scribbling notebooks upon notebooks full of poetry and lyrics and snippets of story never to be written with character sketches so fleshed out they seem to escape the page. I can see him wandering through the graveyard of Ottery St Catchpole and jotting down the best names and anything else that comes to mind as he mentally prepares his plans for the night (a date with a cup of cocoa and a typewriter he saved 11 years of loose change for).

I can see him wearing vests and trench coats and slacks and ties and blazers (can you see him ever wearing jeans or a t-shirt?). 

Imagine  him trying to rush through an entire chapter just as the sun breaks the horizon because his last candle is burning out again and its 4 am and he has work tomorrow but ill read just one more chapter.....

Something deeply painful is the fact that seasons, especially fall, dont feel the same. Not because of individual maturity but because climate change has impacted the weather patterns so so so much that we cant even experience the same annual shifts that our ancestors have for centuries

I feel displaced, i yearn for the spring, summer, fall, and winter that i can barely remember experiencing

it’s the hunger games renaissance so i just want to remind everyone that donald sutherland (who played president snow) was on a cia watchlist for anti-war activities. he fully understood the role and message of the books and in an interview literally said “he runs a totalitarian state, he’s an oligarch- we have them here” during an interview.

Hiya! I started listening to the Lost Terminal because you mentioned it on here. I'm a few seasons in and really loving it. My friend is looking for some new narrative pods and I know you listen to a bunch. Got any suggestions? They can be finished or ongoing.

Oh do I! Have a couple, in alphabetical order:

Absolutely No Adventures - An outright pratchettesque fantasy parody about a (very) Chosen One who has studied the art of baking instead heeding the call to adventure and refuses to go on any quests.

Care and Feeding of Werewolves - A (in-universe) podcast addressing current events and issues in the (American) paranormal community, hosted by a witch and medical practitioner. Has very good plot and worldbuilding.

Folxlore - Queer horror podcast set in Glasgow. Excellent show. "This apartment complex is very haunted, extremely cursed, and it sometimes randomly shifts to an eldritch nightmare realm. Everyone here's queer though, including the building itself. 4 stars out of 5."

Gabriela & The Inn Between - A recent botany undergrad takes a job as Innkeeper at an inn with very strange and unusual guests. Cozy and low-stakes.

Gastronaut - Set a couple hundred years from now, a food journalist travels from Earth, then Mars, then a distant space colony. He's pathetic but in a good way. Excellent food descriptions, nice anti-capitalistic and anti-colonialist themes. Higher stakes and fewer steaks than expected.

Ghost Wax - I've always disagreed with the idea that necromancers are always evil. This show agrees - it's a horror podcast about an ancient necromancer solving supernatural murders by interviewing the victims. Very thrilling. Many feels.

Icarus Rising - Queer airship pirates! Stow-aways! Rebellion! Chases and Thrills! High-stakes drama and action among the clouds! An adorable ship cat!

Kalila Stormfire's Economical Magick Services - Very cool story about witches, fairies, werewolves, and more, a story about what makes a community, about modern-day working class neighborhoods, psychology, love, and of course magic.

Parkdale Haunt - This one I haven't listened to yet, but I've heard very good things about it. It's a horror show about a haunted house, set in Toronto, made with love for that city. Disregard this suggestion if you don't like Toronto, I've never been.

SCP: Find Us Alive - A podcast set in the SCP universe, about a site getting sucked into some sort of pocket dimension that keeps resetting in a sort of time loop. Very interesting cast of characters. Requires minimal knowledge about how the SCP Foundation works.

Starfall - Fantasy audio drama about the adventures of a theatre troupe that uses magical items and illusions in their work, and about a young warrior with mysterious powers who joins them.

Tell No Tales - Horror story about a company that specialises in removing ghosts from haunted places. The protagonist quickly becomes concerned about the ethics of that and tries to prove that they need to start treating spirits with the humanity they deserve.

The Antique Shop - Urban Fantasy drama about a student getting a job at the kind of antiques shop that you only find when you need to. Lots of cursed items. An excellent cat. Queerplatonic relationships.

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality - An AI audio tour guide shows you various interesting exhibits and learns how to be a person. There's lots of feelings here.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris - Sci-Fi story set in the aftermath of a war between Earth and extraterrestrials. It's about outer space, survival, espionage, resistance, identity, friendship, found family, romance, and secrets. The intro song is excellent.

The Tower - A young woman climbs an ancient, unfathomably tall tower from a forgotten age. It stretches up into the sky, through the smog and the clouds. Very vibes.

The White Vault - Travel Is Not Advised. Very scary story about what's been hiding below the ice and the stone. What's been slumbering for ages. What's now beginning to wake anew.

I hope this selection helps! I have more, but I felt it would be better to keep the list short-ish.

weird unprompted opinion but i think out of all the storytelling mediums.....theatre best portrays loneliness

Yes! yes to all of this!

Percy is such a complicated character and such a good one andi find a lot of people dont understand that because in fandom he is mostly relegated to 'the annoying one'.

I don't understand how people can love and idolize the twins when all their page-time is of them playing cruel jokes and being basically the same person duplicated,

AND THEY ALMOST MURDERD GRAHAM MONTAGUE BY PUSHING HIM IN THE BROKEN VANISHING CABINET BC HE WAS GOING TO TAKE POINTS AND LAUGHING ABOUT IT WHEN HE REAPPEARED 4 MONTHS LATER CATATONIC AND TRAUMATIZED FOR BEING STUCK IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE AND HAVING TO APPARATE HIMSELF WITHOUT TRAINING OUT OF IT. He splinched himself and got lodged in a toilet because at that point he was brain damaged and you shouldn't be able to apparate within hogwarts He barely survived. He was unresponsive for months. And the twins never show remorse or turn themselves in for near-manslaughter or do anything but laugh.

Against that what has Percy done? This boy became Junior undersecretary to the minister at 18 and left because his family never tried to understand or even like him. He was young and disrespected and left. Wouldn't you do the same?

Percy rant because this blog needs more posts

Listen, Percy Weasley is a member of the Weasley family so as much as you dislike him atleast respect the fact that Percy exists because if you don't that is just insulting to the character to pretend he doesnt exist.

And if you do that you're as bad as the movies where Charlie wasn't there.

Next-

I think I resent the twins a little is because there is absolutely no character development shown. Apart from Gryffindor traits(brave, courageous, etc) and being funny, the twins wouldn't exist.

Notice how I say twins because there is absolutely no difference highlighted between them. They're both same or similar. All these differences are headcanons by fans. That's not what pisses me off the most.

The fact that there is no remorse or guilt for the pranks they play. There is no apology for sending Percy dung. No apology for catering to Ron's acronophobia. No apology for anything.

And when Percy comes back, Fred says he's a moron. Okay maybe that's brother talk but seriously?

There's no growth. They were immature when they were little and still immature at 20.

And then there's the whole leaving from school. I mean you are in your last year. All that is left are your exams but you make the reckless decision to leave immediately. After which there are no consequences of your actions. Your parents forgive you and all is well.

The twins never receive any punishment which obviously bolsters their confidence and they become more wild.

Percy is a good person and a good brother.

If someone insults you constantly and it's your own family who does so. Imagine

In your mail you receive animal dung.

You get trapped into a pyramid

You overhear your brother talking about how you're the worst person to their best friend

Your father laughs at you and doesn't show you respect.

Your father accuses you of betraying them

Your father tells you you got the promotion due to him and not from your hardwork

Your brothers take your things and ruin it constantly

Your brothers make fun of you in front of your boss

Your brothers and sister throw food at you

You have a special nickname known as git which is not used fondly

Your gf is in a coma and you overhear your brother making fun of her.

You are accused of being an accomplice to your boss's illegal work and are about to go to court for a trial and your family is not bothered.

So you're tired of the torture. You leave.

And besides your mother noone tries to contact you.

Why should Percy return?

Let me make this very clear:

HIS DAD OR ANY OF HIS SIBLINGS DID NOT TRY TO MAKE AMENDS. THEY DID NOT CARE.

They weren't even worried about him DURING A WAR?????

So when I say Percy shouldn't have to apologise first I mean it.

Another thing

People who believe Percy left his family over a promotion.

Did you not read how Arthur accused Percy of being a spy?

Did you not read how he was treated by the twins?

Did you just ignore how Ron talked about him?

Did you ignore the fact that they believed a villain supposed to be dead was alive?

The entire Magic community believed that Harry was lying?

Did you not read how everytime he talked people kept shutting him down?

Did you not read the way his Dad kept disrespecting him?

It wasn't about the job. It was about the lack of respect in the Burrow. It was about the way he was ignored. It was about the way he is made fun of for being different. It was about the fact that being quiet is wrong. It was about how being smart is wrong.

It was about how Percy didn't fit in the Burrow and noone bothered to comfort him about it.

Finally people who believe that Percy was responsible for the Chamber opening.

1 question -How ?????

How is Percy stopping Ginny from telling Harry about the diary equivalent to opening the Chamber?

People who believe this, I can't waste my time on yall. I seriously can't.

And the real ending-

People who hate that Percy is alive and Fred dead.

Listen you're allowed to have favourites. But hating someone because they lived instead of your favourite character is too much a stretch don't you think?

You can have your opinions. You can dislike Percy. All that I'm asking is that you find legitimate reasons to dislike him.

Don't hate him for surviving a war.

I'll just like to end this with:

I relate to Percy Weasley and I believe that he is one of the best complex side character written and we should appreciate him more.

"Bad news first, Eddie," Steve sighs as he leans back on his heels, cleaner in one hand and a rag in the other. "They vandalized your headstone again. Good news, I beat Wayne out here so he won't be seeing it."

It's been over a year since they'd had to leave Eddie behind. He'd been cleared of the murders. That had been the easy part, since the Upside Down had exploded out into the Rightside Up. When Vecna started killing people it had been pretty easy for people to realize Eddie was just another victim.

Or so Steve had thought.

Eleven saved them all, the people of Hawkins knew the truth, yet Steve still found graffiti on Eddie's grave.

Eddie's grave is empty, because Eddie's body hadn't been recovered. Too much had happened, no time to mount an expedition to retrieve it, and the gates were closed. Another regret Steve lives with.

Like not taking Eddie's face between his hands and looking him dead in the eye when he told them not to be heroes.

Late at night, Steve sometimes imagines he did just that. Looked him dead in the eyes and says "there is no shame in running, in living to see another day. Don't be a hero because I need you to be okay tomorrow."

Robin says it's not good for his mental health, these what if scenarios, but so what?

Steve isn't sure what started it but coming out here to talk to Eddie seemed to help him clear his thoughts. He'd always start with the bad news, Eddie's voice in the back of his mind. Bad news first, always.

The first time Wayne had caught him out here, Wayne that he was vandalizing. Had scared him half to death being yanked back violently by his upper arm. It didn't take Wayne long for his eyes to process that Steve wasn't holding a spray can.

"You know my boy?" Wayne always spoke on the present tense about Eddie.

"Not as well as I would have liked, sir," Steve swallowed thickly. It was the start of a friendship, of sorts. Wayne seemed happy to have someone to tell stories about Eddie to, and Steve was happy to learn about Eddie.

Months pass and Steve goes every week.

"Bad news. The new guitarist is mediocre at best. Good news. Corroded Coffin lives on and they finally got a new guitarist."

"Bad news. Robin will not shut up about Vickie. Good news. Robin got that date she wanted."

"Bad news. Wayne had an accident at the plant. Good news, he's okay. I think... this might be weird for you but I've convinced him to move in, at least until he's healed fully so he's not alone. He's staying in the downstairs guest room. Not that you know where that is. You've never even been to my house... bad news, you've never been to my house. Good news, I really wish you had."

So it goes. Wayne Munson moves in and never moves out. Steve's parents call once, to ask if he wants the house. Steve says yes.

Shortly after, Robin takes a room upstairs. Says she gonna take a year off school before college. The Party moves their dnd games to Steve's giant dining room table. His house is always full but part of Steve feels empty.

"B-bad news," Steve forces the words out around the lump in his throat, "I found out too late. Good news, I'm bisexuality. Bad news, good news? I don't know man, the news is I could have loved you. I think I do, but that's the you Wayne and the kids tell me about, so who is to say really."

So it goes.

"Bad news. They're seniors this year, Eds. Seniors! Robin going away to college was bad enough. I don't know if I'll even know how to function when they do. 'Cause they're gonna, you know? They're smart. Too smart to stay in this town," Steve is crying, can feel the tears falling, but doesn't stop them. "I know I should go, too. Somewhere else. Anywhere else. But I can't leave. Wayne's here. You're here. And if I go, who will look after either of you?"

"Bad news. College acceptance letters have come in. They're not even graduated yet. This should be good news, but, heh, friends don't lie."

"Bad news, Eds. I can't remember your voice. I didn't think.... I feel like I remember it but I can't hear it. I want to hear it. I-i need-" Steve doesn't know what he needs, doesn't know how to end that sentence so he just sobs, fingers burying themselves into the dirty of an empty grave.

Wayne gets a phone call one day and says he's gotta go back to Tennessee. Eddie's father -that rocks Steve because while he knows Wayne was Eddie's uncle, he never connected that a father was somewhere out there- Eddie's father, Wayne's younger brother, needs him.

Steve drives Wayne to the airport in Indianapolis. Wayne promises he'll return but Steve won't hold him to that. This is family, and as much as Steve pretends, he isn't Wayne's nephew. It's Wayne's family.

As Wayne disappears onto his flight, Steve is left hollow. There's no one left in Hawkins that needs him.

"Bad news, Eds. I think I'm a danger to myself. I keep having these thoughts... like how easy it would be to drive my car into the quarry. Or just skip into the pool and take a deep breath. I don't know who I am, or how to be me, without someone needing me."

Wayne calls and tells him he's coming home. Bringing a guest if that's ok. Steve says okay because he needs to meet the man who taught Eddie how to hot wire a car but not play catch. Also, he hopes to hear Eddie in his voice when they speak.

"Bad news, Eds. I'm too much of a coward to meet your old man. Afraid of what he'll sound like. Because I want him to sound like you so fucking bad it hurts. So instead of being home, I'm hiding here."

And then, a miracle happens.

"Well, I've some bad news for you, too, Stevie. I got my voice from my mom."

“Fuck!"

It's an exclamation from Nicky over the radio that makes Booker stop so abruptly that Nile runs full tilt into him; her face making acquaintance with his broad back and she just barely avoids accidentally shooting him in the ass with her gun.

"Damn it, Booker!" She hisses, heart pounding in fear of being overheard by the drug dealers who are about to be put through the wringer by them. "What the hell wa-" She begins in a whisper, irritated by what caused him to stop.

He interrupts her with a raised hand, signaling her to be quiet, and Nile obediently shuts her mouth. Of course, she knows how important it is on missions to agree upon something and trust each other, so she swallows her growing curiosity with difficulty, waiting dutifully instead.

For a handful of heartbeats, it seems like he's listening to something, but when Nile pricks up her ears, all she hears are the noises of the warehouse - the radio remains silent.

"Okay," Booker finally whispers, and starts moving again. "Let's keep going."

The closer they get to the drug dealers about to load another shipment, the sharper Nile's perception becomes, and she falls into the rhythm of objective focus that allows her not to be affected by overwhelming excitement or fear.

Booker gives her a small grin and nods wordlessly at her, silently counting with his fingers, ready to heckle the drug dealers through Andy and Joe on the other side. Three, two, o-

"Motherfucking shit!" The next curse rings out on Nile's radio and once again Booker freezes, pressing his back against one of the containers. One of his long arms also pushes Nile further into the shadows.

Booker's strange behavior deeply confuses Nile and she notices a drop of sweat slowly trickling down her temple. As he begins to retreat, pushing her further back as well, she braces herself against him with little success, but has to give in so as not to draw the enemies' attention to them after all.

Only when they are out of earshot, outside the warehouse, and the icy wind makes her shiver, she confronts him, irritated by now. "What are you doing? We were almost there! Did you get cold feet? Or did I miss something?" Nile actually always thought her perceptiveness was more than good. "We can't leave Andy and Joe alone with them!"

"Andy and Joe are on their way back to the car, too," Booker replies, his breath a bright cloud in the night air. "The mission's off."

At first, Nile thinks she has misheard. "O…sorry, what?! Are you kidding me?"

Calmly, Booker stows the explosives he was going to attach to the vans in his backpack. "Do I look like I'm kidding?" He asks, slightly amused, and Nile has no idea what he finds so funny.

"Booker?" Andy's voice crackles in Nile's ear.

"Already on our way," Booker answers her unspoken question, and Nile has the hated feeling that she is missing something important.

"All right, see you at the car."

As Booker starts walking the way they'd just taken with careful caution, Nile trudges behind, grumbling.

"Could someone explain to me what has fucking changed with our plan in there?" Even though she's been part of the team for several months, the others continue to tend to forget that, as a newcomer, she has no idea about insiders or secret maneuvers.

Booker takes pity on her with an apologetic look and slows his steps so she can catch up to him. "Nicky swore," is his only explanation, and Nile is about to punch him in the shoulder.

"I’ve noticed. So?" She asks impatiently.

"Have you ever heard Nicky swear?"

A little, Nile feels like a student that is pointed towards the answer of a riddle by a teacher who wants her to solve it independently. But as she ponders Booker's question, she's surprised to realize that she's actually never heard Nicky curse.

Part of her protests firmly, because everyone curses at some point, right? But even as she strains her brain and digs into memories, she can't find a moment when Nicky had cursed in any form.

Last Monday, half his shoulder had been ripped off in an explosion, and though Nile had been able to tell he was in great pain, Nicky had endured the healing of the injury with a stoic expression.

Yesterday he had accidentally burned dinner, but instead of swearing, Nicky had merely sighed and then made a delicious meal from scratch.

"Nicky doesn't just swear," Booker puts her thoughts into words. "Which, by implication, means the shit is going to hit the fan when he does swear."

"Makes sense," Nile reluctantly admits, suddenly strangely glad to be out of the warehouse, to which she gives an uneasy look. "But the first time Nicky cursed, you didn't abort the mission yet."

"I was waiting to see if he would swear a second time." Booker seems to have been seized by an inner turmoil at Nicky's curses, showing Nile that this is indeed a serious matter.

"It's very simple, Nile. One curse is something like a red flag, okay?Swearing twice means immediately canceling the mission, and three curses means we should take to our heels." Subconsciously, Booker's walking pace increases and Nile struggles to keep up with his long legs.

"Keep that in mind. Got our asses saved a lot of tim-"

An Italian curse cuts Booker off. Even though Nile's Italian is a little rusty it must be quite a heavy curse by the face Booker pulls.

And Nile starts running.

"Most women marry men like their fathers. This is the real reason mothers cry at weddings."

- the description for a fucking ohshc fanfic???????