ato-the-bean:

Beta reader for Bleary!verse fic.  One of my long-term betas has asked
to beg off since this one will start out rather angsty.  I’d like to find someone with good grammar skills who knows (and likes) the Bleary!verse and is willing to review a chapter at a time.  The first chapter isn’t ready yet, but I wanted to give myself some time to find someone who was really interested. 

If you are interested, please PM me.  If you know of others who might be interested, please reblog.

ato-the-bean:

More of the new thing…

Zach sat down as his mom put a plate at his place and told them both to dig in.

“How is your movie going, dear?” Margo asked Chris, pouring wine for them all.

Chris’ smile lit up, and he finally looked like his old self.  “It’s going to be great.  We’ve had some technical setbacks with all the rain, but the shoot itself is going really well.  My co-star, Gal, is just fantastic.  I’m just there to support her and help her character shine.”  Zach took a bite and tried to ignore the jealousy blooming in his chest.  “She’s going to be such an amazing role model for girls.  I’ve been thinking about that a lot, lately, you know?  If Nathan had been a girl, whom would we hold up as cool, complex female characters that he — she — could look up to?  There are more now than there used to be, but they are still rare.  Rey from Star Wars is supposed to be great — Zach, we need to sort out when we can see that — and I really think Wonder Woman is going to contribute to that list.  So my job is to show that Steve Trevor can be rescued without it becoming a threat to his masculinity, or something to apologize for, or some sort of joke.  He’s a strong man, he supports her, but he’s mortal and has mortal failings and would not make it without her.”

It was the longest speech he’d heard Chris give on his character since he’d left for England.  It was comfortably familiar — the sort of conversation that they’d had about characters throughout their friendship.  But it also made Zach uncomfortably aware that they hadn’t been talking like that since Chris had left.  Probably even before that, actually.  Zach hadn’t been asking these very basic questions, and he felt oddly out of step.

“Gal is really fun, too,” Chris continued, souring Zach’s thoughts further.  “She keeps the cast laughing.”

“That’s usually your job,” Zach said, his voice sounding strange even to his own ear.

Chris looked at him mid-swallow and gave a small, awkward shrug.  “I haven’t needed to as much because she’s already charming everyone into being happy on set.”

Zach looked down at his food, suddenly not as hungry as he had been.