Max Brinly liked to tell himself many things that were just really poorly disguised lies.
They were tiny lies. Like...how his mom's cooking was fine. Or dad, your singing voice is great. No, he didn't have any hot wheels cars anymore. Ugh, Laura your bubble pop music is awful. He hated the rain. He loved horror movies.
He wasn't in love with his best friend.
Chapter one: coming to terms with the fact that you are in love (with your best friend)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Nothing like some goodole angst for the 10th anniversary, right? Hey there @icequeen-07, I'm your gifter today! I went with your OTP Jossam, and seeing as you said you loooooooove the angst (so real and fair and true me too), I drew Sam finding Josh… but not quite. Happy ten years! @untildawn-secretsanta
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Heyyy, finally updated my LauraMax Quarry fic, whooo!🥳
This Is Not Over, But Just the Beginning is basically a ‘What if Max had gotten bit but they had no clue how to cure it?’ An exploration of Laura and Max trying to figure how to fix him whilst also navigating life with a werewolf curse hanging over them.
Summary of Chapter 4: Laura, Max, and the Hacketts negotiate a deal.
Hello Queenie!! Very excited (as usual) to read all the prompts you realize this weekend >:3
As for mine... what if (somehow) Sam got bit instead of Emily? How would the basement confrontation go then?
It was hard to say whose face hurt more to look at - each was its own little betrayal, a sting that stung differently than the one that came before. There was Chris, staring pointedly down at his boots so he wouldn't have to look at her looking at him; and there was Ashley beside him, her hands covering her mouth in, what, a gasp? a gag? the start of a retch, as if she were something smeared across the concrete; and then Emily, half-hidden but head craned, wanting to see her gone but not having the stomach to watch it be done; and Mike, of course. Mike with his five o'clock shadow, Mike with his gun, Mike who she'd gone to such great pains to pretend didn't have tear streaks cutting through the grime on his cheeks all night long.
Suddenly (horribly), Sam thought she had an idea how Hannah had felt last year.
Suddenly (horribly), she thought she understood why she'd gone running out into the snow.
"I'm going," she said, and in the basement, her voice sounded strange in her ears. Flat and distant and not at all her own.
"So go!"
"Em, chill."
"Chill?! Chill?! Should I chill, Michael?! Should I chill?! You see her arm! You see it! Any second now, she's - "
"Going," Sam repeated, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of falling back into their earlier spiral. Without looking at any of them longer than she had to, she lifted her hands to shoulder-height, skirting the outside of the safe room before she reached the door. She didn't bother pushing it open all the way, instead making a gap just wide enough to squeeze through before letting it clang shut behind her.
Someone - she didn't turn around to see who - wasted no time in throwing the latch, locking the sliding grate tight.
"We, uh...we can go through the old guy's bag, don't you think?" Chris's voice was a rasp, tired and broken, and she hated herself when it twisted something in her own chest. "Maybe he...shit, I don't know...maybe he has, like, an antidote or something?"
"An antidote."
"Anti...venom? I don't know! I don't know what's going on any more than you do - "
"Yeah, maybe he has a maaagic potion in there too! Does he have anything to raise people from the dead, you think? Because that's what we're going to need when she fucking turns into one of those things and kills us!"
"She's right there - she can hear you!"
"Wow, you're so right. Sorry, Sam, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings! Hey, when you turn into a bloodthirsty cannibal nightmare, you'll remember that I apologized, right? You definitely won't fucking eat me like whatever ate Beth!"
She licked her lips to try and wet them against the cold, mashing them hard against her teeth. They didn't feel any sharper than they had an hour ago, a day ago, a week ago, but neither did she feel like arguing that point. Twice tonight someone had loomed over her, waving a weapon in her face; twice tonight they had done everything in their power to make her feel small. She wasn't waiting around for strike three.
Sam started for the stairs again, the lodge, heedless of the danger that had chased them down into the basement to begin with. Either it would get her or it wouldn't, either she'd change into one of them or she wouldn't, either she'd have enough energy to find help or she wouldn't...but one thing she knew for certain.
Nothing - nothing - would be worse than spending another single second with any of them.
It’s my birthday today so I’m gonna slide in her begging and pleading for some more of my fav CREEPs ;3 I hope you’re staying cool in this heatwave!
"All right all right all...riiight..." He sat on the couch with all the panache of a carnival showman getting ready to unveil his next great act, and while that could've worked on someone who'd never met him before, well...they weren't exactly wowed.
"Oh God," Ashley groaned, lifting her eyes from her laptop just long enough to roll them. "Here we go..."
Sam snickered under her breath, watching Chris similarly roll his head back on his shoulders, pantomiming some invisible force strangling him. "You know, I can't say I expected to get roped into summer plans when I signed up for ghost hunting club."
"That's how they getcha, Sammy," Josh cut in with a wink, "next time, maybe read that fine print before you hit submit."
"Just get it over with, would you?"
"Yeah, man, Ash has to start on next semester's reading."
"I do! It's important to stay - are you making fun of me?"
"Nooooo! No! I...well, okay, maybe. Just a little! Boyfriend privileges! ...right? Right? Ash, right?"
"Suggestion number one!" Raising his voice to be heard over them, Josh made a grand show of licking his finger and using it to turn a page in his notebook. "And, for what it's worth, the suggestion I think we should go with...guided tour of the Paris catacombs, all expenses paid by Washington Pictures, Inc, of course."
Despite the jokey bickering that had been going on, all three of them managed to answer as one: "No."
"Wow. Okay. Didn't even stop to weigh the pros and cons."
"Pro," said Chris, holding up one of his hands, not unlike a waiter at a fancy restaurant. "Baguettes and fromage. Cons," he continued, raising the other hand and staring at it, wide-eyed, "a maze of dead people who might go full Exorcist on my girlfriend! ...which you are, still, right, Ash? Right? The joke wasn't...I mean, right?"
Sighing, Josh crossed the option off. "Shit. Yeah, okay, no that's a good point I didn't even think of. I took Spanish in high school and I'm pretty sure none of you took French. We'd have...no idea what to do with any of that. Okay. Suggestion two! A guided tour of the Cecil Hotel, also paid for by Washington Pictures, Inc."
"No," Ashley said, the speed of her response suggesting to Sam that maybe she should know what the Cecil Hotel was if she was going to keep hanging around these dorks. "Absolutely not. Suggestion three."
"I think - "
"Shush. Suggestion three."
"You know, maybe we should head to the catacombs. See if maybe we can get you possessed by a spirit of kindness or some shit. But yeah, sure, fine, suggestion three..." Josh squinted down at his notebook, pretending to need to turn his head this way and that to read what he'd written down. "Uh...Ren Faire."
"Uh, sorry, hard pass." When the others groaned, Sam was taken aback, but had to laugh. "What? I can't, you guys! Like, morally! Do you know how many of those giant turkey legs they sell at those places? Do you know how many turkeys have to die for them to sell that many?"
"Statistically?" Chris piped in. "Half as many, I think."
"Unless the turkey's got three legs," Josh added.
"Some might only have one, though," Ashley pointed out.
"Oh shit, that's a good point. Messes the whole equation up, but it's a good point."
Sam tried not to smile. Really, she did; she knew how much it encouraged their behavior. "Is there a fourth suggestion?" she asked, sliding onto the couch and stretching her legs out across Josh's lap. "Maybe one that doesn't involve dead people, or hauntings, or, y'know - "
"Meat," Ashley teased, and when Sam turned to stick her tongue out at her, she watched Chris's eyes widen.
"Oh holy shit. Do you guys think turkeys have ghosts? I take it back, that's a no on the Ren Faire from me too, dude. I don't know what I'd do if - "
"Your girlfriend got possessed by poultry, yeah man, I hear you." Heaving a weary sigh, Josh went back to his notebook. "Maybe we should just sit our asses here, huh? Would that suit everyone's preferences?"
There came a bang! from the kitchen, quickly followed by the familiar sound of something clattering out of the fridge and onto the floor. None of them looked that way (no one liked encouraging that behavior), but the way all their shoulders set made it clear that yeah, yup, mhm, that had certainly just happened.
"Everyone's a fucking critic," Josh muttered under his breath, and that was a bridge too far.
Happy 3rd Anniversary to The Quarry (I’m one day date but shhh)! This is my submission to the #thequarrytarotcardzine . This year we all drew different characters as cards in the major arcana. I decided to go with Max as The Hanged Man, due to the card representing being suspended in repose, stalling, and indecision. This all felt very thematically relevant for Max’s journey in the game. It’s always been one of my favorite interpretations for his character in relation to tarot. Had a lot of fun with this one! Please check out the the full zine—we had a lot of really great artists this year that did beautiful renditions of different cards in the major arcana! ✨
“I told you, I’m fine. I just…” And there she pauses to yawn, her eyes squinching shut before opening again. “…need a little more time off my feet. Silly me, if I’d known today was going to be so exciting, I probably would’ve picked a comfier pair of shoes.”
“Yeah. Well. Sorry for waking you. I’ll head back out so you can—”
But she shakes her head, cutting him off. The corners of her lips turn up in…amusement? Flirtation? Pity? He’s never known how to tell those things apart, and as her thumb moves across his hand, her skin feather-light against his bruised and aching knuckles, he doubts tonight’s the one where he’ll crack it.
“What’s the hurry?” She yawns again, smaller that time, but contagious; James catches it, yawns until he fears his jaw might pop, and below him Maria’s laugh is as clear as the lake at sunset. “I’m glad you stopped by, actually,” she says, and the novelty of it is so great that, for a beat, he isn’t sure he heard her correctly.
“…you…are?” he manages, shocked by his own surprise and made somehow guilty by the lack of shame that follows.
Instead of answering, she presses on. “I meant to ask you something earlier…I guess I forgot. Wow. Really must be tired, huh?” She tilts her head just so, her gaze focusing on him in such a way that the blue seems to go from her eyes altogether, leaving only steel; only ice. Only that’s not right, there’s nothing cold about her hand in his, her skin so soft as to soothe his after this endless night of reaching, grabbing, clawing, scraping, gouging, gouging, gouging. “What are you going to do if you don’t find her?”
As of the time of this post, AO3 has been scraped by yet another shady individual looking to make a quick buck off the backs of hardworking hobby writers. This Reddit post here has all the details and the most current information. In short, if your fic URL ends in a number between 1 and 63,200,000 (inclusive), AND is not archive locked, your fic has been scraped and added to this database.
I have been trying to hold off on archive locking my fics for as long as possible, and I've managed to get by unscathed up to now. Unfortunately, my luck has run out and I am archive locking all of my current and future stories. I'm sorry to my lovelies who read and comment without an account; I love you all. But I have to do what is best for me and my work. Thank you for your understanding.
Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five of your other fave writers. Spread the self-love! ;)c
Oooh.....
I very much like my Two steps foward. Five steps back Sam centric fic where she can be messy and awful and traumatized as a treat! It was a ton of fun writing it (even if I needed extra time lol) and I scared the crap outta my bf with how fast I cracked it out when I sat down and focused on it lol
Max Brinly's Guide to Surviving Being in Love with Your Best Friend of COURSE! It is a staple to my BRAND! And YES I AM STILL WORKING ON IT! FEAR NOT! I have been burnt out of everything as of late so I've been working on the next chap in chunks so hopefully! In theory! soon!
I also love my Chris centric fic Word: choose and use particular word in order to say or write (something) and it was trying something newer that I haven't done, as I don't write from his perspective like ever and I found Chrashley to be such fun to write.
To throw a bone at some old BNHA followers Silver Eyes and Moonlit Skies I have a super soft spot for, even though it's much older and I'm not as proud of it, I tried new things and had some fun.
As well as my last BNHA fic I think ever With This Hand, I Will Lift Your Sorrows I LOVE me some angst can't you tell lmao
