#cap in the flashback with his pipe

[chuffedchough]

Re-watched Redding Weddy and got myself all emotional at the ending

[scotianostra]

On December 27th 1904 J M Barrie's play "Peter Pan" premiered at the Duke of York Theatre, London.

J.M. Barrie created his character based on his older brother, David, who died in an ice-skating accident the day before his 14th birthday. His mother and brother thought of him as forever a boy. The "boy who wouldn't grow up"

The story of free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, mermaids, Native Americans, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland.

Peter Pan has become a cultural icon symbolizing youthful innocence and escapism. In addition to two distinct works by Barrie, the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise, both adapting and expanding on Barrie's works. These include a 1953 animated film, a 2003 dramatic/live-action film, a television series and many other works.

J. M. Barrie first used Peter Pan 2 years before, as a character in a section of The Little White Bird, an adult novel where he appears as a seven-day-old baby in the chapter entitled Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Following the success of the 1904 play, Barrie's publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, extracted chapters 13–18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with the addition of illustrations by Arthur Rackham.

Barrie never described Peter's appearance in detail, even in his novel, leaving it to the imagination of the reader and the interpretation of anyone adapting the character. In the play, Peter's outfit is made of autumn leaves and cobwebs. His name and playing the flute or pipes suggest the mythological character Pan. Barrie mentions in Peter and Wendy that Peter Pan still had all his "first teeth".He describes him as a beautiful boy with a beautiful smile, "clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that flow from trees"

Traditionally, the character has been played on stage by a petite adult woman. In the original productions in the UK, Peter Pan's costume was a reddish tunic and dark green tights, such as that worn by Nina Boucicault in 1904. This costume is exhibited in Barrie's Birthplace museum at Kirriemuir.

In the Disney films, Peter wears an outfit that consists of a short-sleeved green tunic and tights apparently made of cloth, and a cap with a red feather in it. He has pointed elf-like ears, brown eyes and his hair is red. In Hook , the character is played as an adult by Robin Williams, with blue eyes and dark brown hair; in flashbacks to him in his youth, his hair is light brown. In this film his ears appear pointed only when he is Peter Pan, not as Peter Banning. His Pan attire resembles the Disney outfit (minus the cap). In the live-action 2003 Peter Pan film, he is portrayed by Jeremy Sumpter, who has blond hair and blue-green eyes. His outfit is made of leaves and vines.

Barrie commissioned a statue of Peter Pan by sculptor George Frampton which was erected overnight in Kensington Gardens on 30 April 1912 as a May Day surprise to the children of London. Seven statues have been cast from the original mould, they are in, Egmont Park, Brussels, Belgium, Bowring Park, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, Bowring Park, Johnson Park, Camden, New Jersey, USA, Queens Gardens, Perth, Western Australia, Sefton Park, Liverpool, and Glenn Gould Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Various other statues have appeared around the world, including three in Scotland, the first is at Mearnskirk Hospital for children in Glasgow, the first superintendent of the hospital, Dr John A Wilson, was a school friend of Barrie, the other one in Scotland is of course in Kirriemuir, one in the main town square and the other in the Peter Pan Garden by Barrie's Birthplace, now owned by the National Trust of Scotland.

The most famous of the other statues is at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, who JM Barrie gifted the rights to the play in 1929, the copyright first expired in the UK (and the rest of Europe) in 1987, 50 years after Barrie’s death, but the government of the day made an amendment to the copyright act giving Great Ormond Street Hospital the unique right to royalties from stage performances of Peter Pan (and any adaptation of the play) as well as from publications, audio books, ebooks, radio broadcasts and films of the story of Peter Pan, in perpetuity.

[chiiyuuvv]

sakura 🌸 k. minjae

it's like nature was responsible for meeting your loved one

stranger/boyfriend!minjae x fem!reader 0.6k listen to the song!!

▸ 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺?

Sakura, or cherry blossoms, are well known for their image of fortune and beauty, the soft pink hue of the petals falling delicately from their stem, littering the ground in which people and animals walk on. The said creatures could even find it scattered in their hair or fur after a lovely stroll in the park, picking it off of their coats or even eating it if one desired. You could relate to cherry blossoms since they also represented the start of something new. Unlike your situation, though, these flowers were very ephemeral, lasting up to a limited time of two weeks. Your situation was (or so you hoped to be) eternal. You knew you’d live under these circumstances for the rest of your life with a smile on your face the entire time, you were sure of it.

You crouched down near these light pink flowers, your right leg bent in front of your face with your cheek resting against your knee cap. An annoyed sigh leaves your lips as you fiddle with your soon to be dirty white shoelaces, which seemed difficult to tie at the moment. You almost gave up on the idea and opted to simply tuck them into your shoe, when you hear a tree branch snap near your figure, your eyes averting from your feet to find the culprit of the sound. There stood a boy who looked about your age, a pair of black framed glasses sitting relaxed on the tip of his nose while also giving more definition to his facial structure. His boba eyes were round as they shake slightly, looking down to the pink littered floor as he silently bows apologetically for disturbing you, before giving a polite smile and continuing his walk.

You remained in your crouch position stunned, for you have never met a guy who looked so.. Pretty. He wore comfortable sweatpants and a plaid button up you swore was difficult to match with, yet he was able to sweep you off your feet, leaving you breathless in return. Your mind began to race as you thought back to the countless times you visited the park, each one of your flashbacks leaving you in a trance since you don’t ever recall the boy to be in this location. 

Picking yourself up and dusting off your legs, you chuckle at yourself, feeling so foolish to fall for an unknown stranger who could have very bad intentions for his peers around him. But somehow your heart was able to convince your mind to pipe down, letting your rapid heartbeat do the talking for just this once.

A laugh echoes out into the open when you feel a hand wrap around yours, twirling you around with a smile on your boyfriend’s face when you finally collide, his hands trailing down your body to gently hold onto your waist. He begins waltzing you around the empty park with adoration coating his eyes, spinning you around once more before pulling you closer to his body. Delicately, he lifts your jaw with his finger, letting his lips linger onto yours as his eyes flutter shut. After smiling into the kiss, you wrap your arms around your lover, only releasing when you feel something land on your head. It was a light pink petal, the same one that witnessed your first glance down to your first kiss, a wave of nostalgia washing over yourselves as you rethink your past. It’s like nature was watching your relationship with a smile on their faces, happy they made another couple under their precious leaves.

︴bonus! happy birthday minjae !! credit to the server for coming up with the idea and @marw-lilia for extending it and @starryriize for proofreading it. I also going to give this a part two, to showcase @marw-lilia's thoughts on how they get together and everything. speaking of writing, please click here for an important message regarding my writing schedule

▸ taglist 📬 @hyunukitty , @cake1box , @mars101 , @nenede , @yuniniverse , @hunchan444 , @s00buwu , @cherrycolaberry , @wonootnoot , @pinievsev , @bluw0-ok

🎬 navi

@chiiyuuvv on tumblr . do not steal works/headers/line dividers

[youreavicioustrollop]

S3 E15: Eddie Begins

First image being Eddie in scrubs at Christopher's birth aaaaaah.

eddie not wanting to cut the cord at first... beloved. also that is a GIANT baby they're pretending is a newborn. eddie likes the sound of "dad"!!!! lol that they're just sticking a baseball cap on eddie to make him look younger. He doesn't.

I love how absolutely delighted everyone is around newborn christopher. AS THEY SHOULD BE. no grandparents seem annoyed at teen parents eddie and shannon here (at least in the hospital). Eddie saying that the sooner he leaves the sooner he'll finish his tour and the sooner he'll be back for good! shannon is holding him to that! she and chris both are. She gives him the St Christopher medal!!! because he's the patron saint of travelers and to remind eddie he has a family to come home to!!!! eddie's always going to fight to come home to his family.

guys i love shannon.

oh, excellent, this is a not entirely in the past begins episode.

visitors at the station! someone was snooping in his closet. :))) silver star isn't really a story you can tell fourth graders! but chris clearly wants people to know that his dad is a hero!

missing child storyline :((((

stuck in a well business is complicated and messy and i hate it. they had a kid stuck in a well storyline in S8 too and i hated that, too. small child yelling "mom!" breaks my heart.

eddie using his dad voice to talk to the little kid and reassure him!!! <333 but now he's using the reason he talked to him to say that he knows his voice and that's the reason he should be the one to go down. :((( i know what happens and this is STRESSFUL.

smash cut back in time and eddie's re-enlisted! without talking to shannon about it!!! terrible marriage communication. and throwing the money in her face :(((( not cool, my dude. not knowing it's cp and not an "illness" i would let slide because it's new, shannon. and tbh maybe even if he was working in the same city he also wouldn't have been able to make that appointment and sit in the empty chair! life's like that sometimes!

oh, eddie didn't even talk to shannon about enlisting the first time???? SIR. shannon is so right here, eddie just unilaterally making these HUGE decisions for their family.

"he wants you not me" "because you're still a stranger to him. but you don't have to be." "i don't need a provider i need a partner!" shannon doing nothing but spitting bars and looking betrayed when eddie says she's not the only one who feels alone (which, HELLO???? character study moment on THAT) and eddie is just awkwardly holding the baby, not knowing what to do. :(((( i am so sad for both of them. they needed an abortion and a breakup.

"you're not the only one that feels alone" eddie saying that when he is married with a young son and he is home between tours. very sad. jfc. okay. so he's not feeling connected to his wife or his son or his family or even, presumably, his unit on his tour??? all of which might help him feel less alone. but he's not getting any of that, apparently. or at least can't register it. hmm. okay. sorry, that just threw me for a loop. he feels like he has to do everything himself and that's why he feels alone? no help from anyone? he's been bearing the burdens alone? which - while clearly untrue because shannon's literally been christopher's primary caregiver, does track with the earlier episode where eddie is feeling all of the guilt and like he needs to be in control of everything.

anyway. young eddie in this scene does literally look younger, unlike christopher's birth younger eddie. (also - flashback to that - ramon wasn't there for two of his children's births and even though he was there for the third, it was an emergency c-section so no cutting of the cord was involved. man, fuck you, ramon)

such a tight, detailed plan!!!! "30 minutes!" "see you then!" and communication has cut out!!!! oof, digging through the mud looks like a lot of work. and then cutting through the pipe!

HE CUT THE DAMN LINE!!!!! that's EXTREME, eddie.

shannon's mom has cancer! oh no, and they really do have them flying over a very pretty landscape before they get shot down. [insert rant about how the us never should've been in the middle east] but this is a pretty intense scene! eddie gets shot in the shoulder pulling someone back! they're really showing how eddie earned his silver star. saving multiple people and getting shot multiple times. AND he was the first one to radio for help so they were saved in good time. he was having a think about his son though! kissing his picture!!!

the others aren't dead thanks to eddie! three bullets, a broken bone, and a dislocated shoulder. doesn't feel like he did good. and she says it never does!!! very oooooof.

ramon bragging about this. jfc. helena being the most passive aggressive. (but she's so beautiful it's annoying. like is anyone else talking about this? the woman who plays helena is So Hot) which gives eddie and shannon a common complaining point! which then immediately goes downhill.

shannon is so happy that he's home, and he's like NOTHING CAN MAKE ME HAPPY RIGHT NOW. Not moving, especially since he just got home after a traumatic experience! and not having this serious conversation when the house is full of family - some of whom flew in to see them!!!! he's not saying no! he's saying can we not talk about this right now, and she still pushes. which - she's also been at the brink in a different way we're just not seeing.

eddie and christopher look SO COZY in this scene where he wakes up and shannon is gone. cutieeeeeees. "i need some time too" is so passive aggressive. that is how they've been communicating!!!!

eddie got the kid!!!!! and the kid found the st. christopher medal!

"eddie's fine, just needs a ride" and then the lightning strikes and all hell breaks loose! a giant truck falling over the very precarious dirt makes sense now how the collapse happened. buck's absolute insane reaction when he realizes really is 0 to 100, though. he just feels everything SO MUCH.

"we just don't know how to get him out" yes, true. you're in quite the pickle.

this looks like an ambush by ramon and helena. they want christopher with them permanently. :( three different jobs around the clock! love how eddie is standing up for shannon to his parents AGAIN (or chronologically, for the first time) by saying she didn't leave christopher she left him - to care for her dying mother! give her some slack! yes!! thank you eddie! ("she gave up on you and then she left christopher and i will always blame her for that." well. helena you are within your rights to see it that way and hate your daughter-in-law. no one has to agree with you or like you for it, though)

i see where helena and ramon are coming from, that christopher knows them well because they've been there, and a child needs consistency, but taking christopher away from eddie now just means that he'll never know him well, and will never get to experience consistency with his father. it's not a good enough reason to keep him from his father. they would, in fact, be stealing him away!

eddie coming back with the diss about not remembering ramon being around much when he grew up!!! you can't make up for those mistakes by stealing his son though!!

"he belongs with us" that feels iiiiiiicky. "don't drag him down with you, eddie" that feels not only iiiicky but evil. who says he's been dragged down? by what? working a lot? experiencing trauma?

"did you miss me when i was gone?" "i miss you all the time" !!!!!!!! being directly after his parents saying christopher not being with him is the better thing for him - that hits hard. He missed eddie all the time! Eddie missed him all the time too!!!

eddie using the emergency oxygen and a little green glow-lamp! in a very stressful situation!!! the first little flashback being eddie telling buck he has a kid. chris with the 118!!! and then the 118!!! hugs with both buck and bobby!!! such lovely little scenes of christopher and eddie and then shannon dies! but the montage continues!! and shannon says Christopher needs you! and suddenly he's in the right spot where there's open air above him!

that was a seriously impressive series/scene. and him breaking the surface is some great "i almost drowned and i'm cold and exhausted" acting.

buck's face is so sad and bobby's voice is so sad!!! this plan sounds like it would've been exhausting and not worked very well.

eddie walking past a zillion firefighters who don't realize and then he collapses in front of the core group.... yeah okay. buck and bobby and hen holding him up. yes, exactly. buck smiling so big at eddie's joke about having a big day friday he can't miss it. :)))))

well this is a different ms flores classroom than we saw at the parent-teacher conference. Hi carla!!! sassy face as always. this is an adequate toning down of the story for fourth graders. "Do you ever wear it?" not a fourth grader asking the exact same thing as buck and eddie's answers being wildly different. St Christopher medal! ms flores why would you call it a good luck charm. where did that come from. why did eddie roll with it and say no, he's my good luck charm. i guess it's just the kind of rolling with it that happens in fourth grade classrooms. but also eddie says AGAIN he was just doing his job re: silver star. maybe this is the connection to why he became a fire fighter?

anyway, i think this was a great episode, greatly positioned when eddie's feeling the most down to realize what else he has to be living for, etc. funnily enough while it did give us some interesting backstory on eddie and his Past Trauma it did not in fact tell us how he chose either being a medic in the military or how he transitioned from that into being a firefighter medic. I am still interested in those answers!

and my two cents - lots of people point back to these scenes where he's fighting with shannon when they're making a point about how terrible eddie is or whatever, and i think that's a terrible, no good, very bad faith reading. shannon was just as in the right as eddie was - which is to say they were both in a very difficult situation and not handling it well individually and didn't know how to band together about it! if anything, it just shows how bad the foundation of their relationship was, not that either of them are bad people. they were just kids, really.

[larry-is-my-anchor1]

Well I just watched episode 6 of season 8 and just wow. I have to watch it again. And maybe again to understand wtf I just saw.

There’s a lot of stupidity behind the scenes and with some wacky fans and social media regarding Temu,, Ryan and Oliver.

Listen you fools the Tim and the writers have this planned for a very long time. As soon as Abby said her ex’s name was Tommy that’s when. As soon as we saw Tommy at the 118 before Cap Nash I knew.

People get a lot of things correct with observation, but I think people also read into things as well.

Also what flashback season is everyone talking about? There wasn’t one.

I still believe that marketing folks are on social media to move things along.

I thinks it’s so strange that people want certain characters to be together so much, they start attacking the actor who ends up being the love interest. Or thinks it’s the lead actors faults who becomes a regular.

This show represents everyone. It makes us feel good about a bunch of folks despite their difficulties show up for strangers and each other every day.

I couldn’t understand the story about the various married couples correlating to what’s happening. I usually can.

Also why was there a scene with Nash telling Chimney to stop reporting what’s happening on the roof. lol.

I did understand the siblings with the pipe and how it the story in with the Han family.

Then we see Eddie with the priest. Side note, it’s nice to see the hot priest again. I always thought he was when he used to counsel Captain Bobby Nash. I feel like I have to say his characters full name sometimes because he gets called by all three names. Any way, wow that’s two side notes. Sorry.

Eddie is very upset and honestly he has been for a very long time but having Christopher live with his parents just sent him over the edge. He’s had to give so much of himself he doesn’t know who he is. He denies himself joy because he truly believes he doesn’t believe it. It breaks my heart. I only see goodness when I look at him. I mean yes he’s beautiful to look at, but his heart is blinding. It really upsets me how he doesn’t care for himself. How he denies himself. How he puts himself last.

Then the scene with the lady at the bar interruption Tommy and Buck’s dinner. Was that only so we know how long they’ve been dating?

There were so many interesting things brought up. Eddie thought he was being hit on. The priest kept saying don’t sent yourself. And that thought has never crossed this man’s mind. To be selfish. He became the man of rhetoric family at such a young age when his dad had to go on business trips. He helped his mother who went into labor. he married his first love when she became pregnant. He went into the military to support them. I felt bad for Shannon being stuck with Eddie’s family. His parents are a lot. They are selfish and self serving. He even moved to her state on the chance he would find her.

Then the line about the LAFD can’t have beards, which leads me to Tommy. Whose beard was Abby. Yep, Buck’s ex Abby. Yes, Buck dated both Abby and Tommy. I don’t like how Tommy took back the Himbo comment because he didn’t realise it was Buck. But Tommy hurt Abby so why does he care who she dated? I get he was closeted and all. But why care that she moved on? And if Abby is half Buck’s age, isn’t Buck also half of Tommy’s age.

And Josh educates Buck a little bit on Gay history. How lucky that Buck is to be out now.

Then Tommy dumps Buck or Himbo because he feels Buck will eventually dump him? I believe in the back of his mind he knows Buck and Eddie belong together. I’m curious if he and Eddie will could time to hang out.

Buck was just stunned when he showed up to Eddie’s house. A clean face, trouserless Eddie opens the door and Buck just goes with it.

I don’t think their coming together will happen this year. But I really hope I’m wrong.

They are a family. They are there for one another. They comfort one another. They scrape away the earth for one another, they climb ladders without protection device for one another, they look houses and hours in danger for one another’s child. They just have denied themselves that the other one is their person.

I thought it was really interesting how their personalities switched up also, how normally moody Eddie became moody Buck. And how joy filled Buck became joy filled Eddie.

It is going to be so interesting seeing how feelings are realized and relationships will change.

It’s interesting in the three wordless scenes Buck and Eddie had together the last scene spoke volumes.

I knew they wouldn’t make a big fan fare about this. It was very subtle. I love how they normalized it. As it should be.

Is everyone implying there will be gay love interests on Hot Shots. Oh god does this mean we have to see the racist captain again?

[natjennie]

the fact that none of the ghosts that were there commented on caps death. we saw them outside by the car when he was trying to get in so like. yeah maybe they weren't there. but you would think the commotion would've made them come running. what I'm saying is if they were there, none of them piped up. they didn't tell his story for him. they didn't playfully chide him, reminding him they saw it happen. at every other emotionally charged death flashback, there is another ghost's opinions. but they let him have his. do you understand how much that means to me. they didnt talk over him they didnt belittle how much bravery it took to finally talk about it. they didnt joke they didnt pry they didnt make it about themselves. they let him say his piece. and stood at his side in the aftermath. is anyone hearing me.

[ilovetoxicfictionalmen]

Psycho Killer

pairing: peter ballard x fem!reader

summary: reader has to deal with the consequences on what she has unleashed in hawkins lab.

warnings: blood, violence, manipulation, angst, possessiveness, controlling, dark fan fiction.

notes: this is my first tumblr post and peter ballard story lol. anyways no smut however if you do like this then let me know if you want a part two (with smut of course). purposely written with no caps. this means it’s a flashback. also i don’t properly prove read ! i hope you enjoy !

you should have waited. you were told to wait. ordered to wait for him. but here you were, taking two steps forward and one step back, terrified about what was occurring. whatever plan he was executing. the alarm wailing was what caused you to break your promise. what if peter was in danger? what if he needed you? the flickering lights and sounds of screaming over the transceiver proved you wrong. he was free from harm, which horrified you.

there was a growing endless pit in your stomach from every step you took. this couldn’t be by the hands of peter. he only wanted to set the both of you free from this prison. that’s what he told you. this barbaric disastrous in hawkins laboratory couldn’t be from him. but it was pointless, being in such denial. you had to do something, help some of these innocent people get out alive from this monster you’ve unleashed. if only you knew another way. if only you never removed the soteria from his neck. he’d still be sane. what have you done?

you creeped down the cement steps, in the dark boiler room. your heart was racing, goosebumps all over your cold skin. your eyes darted across the room, searching for him. the pipe hissed out steam which caused you to gasp lightly. you stepped back and bumped into a firm figure, it was peter. you turned back as he held his finger to his soft lips and whispered for you to be quiet. you followed his order.

“follow me” he instructed. he didn’t wait for you, because he knew you’d listen. peter knelt down before a pipeline to jerk off the metal barrier. he dropped the barrier and looked towards you with soft eyes.

“now, it’s going to be a bit scary in here. but this, this will lead you out beyond the the lab fence to the woods” peter explained to you as he stared down the dark tunnel with weak eyes. you frowned, examining the sizing of the tunnel, and then you frowned to him.

“but… you’re too big” you noted, your stomach felt heavy as you waited for him to look back to you. it made you feel so much more anxious.

you would fit, just. it’d take some time to crawl out into the woods. but you didn’t want to go without him, you couldn’t go without him. this was meant to be a plan for you to escape together. there’s a slim chance you’d be able to survive, let alone escape without him.

slowly, he looked back towards you. he straightened his back and grabbed ahold of your cold hands. he felt so warm, it made you feel even weaker. his head tilted slightly as he looked for his words.

“i’m not going with you y/n” he confessed. you blinked back your tears. he leant in closer to you. “i meant what i said, when i called this place a prison. and everyone here is a prisoner, not just you. not just your brothers and sisters, but the guards too, the nurses” peter explained to you. his long fingers traced circles over the palms of your hands. you looked down to focus on his hands, it gave you comfort. “me” he finished. you looked back up to him, confused and lost. “look” he requested as he let go of your hands

peter tilted his head down to the left and held back his hair, exposing his neck. he grabbed your hand and placed it over his neck. “can you feel it?” he asked you as your finger traced over a small, firm, moveable bump in his neck. “your papa calls it soteria” he explained to you. he pushed your hand back, but still held onto it as he looked back to you. “it weakens me. it tracks me. even if there were another way out, he will find me. and if he finds me, he will find you” peter made clear.

you paused. blinking back the tears until you found your voice again. “what if i… took it away from you?” peter cocked an eyebrow to you as he waited for you to continue. his eyes were wide, and you weren’t sure if he was eager or scared for your next choice of words. “i can’t make it without you. i don’t want to make it without you. i-” you halted, unaware on if you wanted to say such nonsense.

peter squeezed your hands. “it’s okay, you can tell me” he assured you. it calmed you enough to feel ease in your throat again.

“i have feelings for you- i think that i love you. i don’t know what else this feeling could be” you admitted. he gave you a small smile as you two admired one another.

peter had lied to you. he manipulated you into setting him free. all of this disaster is your fault, and yours alone. you felt so used, so heartbroken. you loved him, you still love him. but this wasn’t peter, this was a sinister.

you should have noticed the subtle insanity in his expression once you had removed the soteria. the silence he had as he examined it. if only you paid attention to what he whispered. that evil grin would have explained everything to you.

you only thought he was protecting you, when he killed those guards. you didn’t know he wanted to hurt them. they wanted to hurt you, and him as well. you would have never seen him again, dr brenner would had banished one of you. he reassured your safety and protection when he showed you his tattoo. you two were alike, you were both unique and special. it was as if you were made for one another. it felt like it was destiny.

he cared for you, he wanted you to stay safe as he found a way out for you guys. he didn’t kiss you before he abruptly left, and at the time you had wished he had. you thought he would have. so now you weren’t sure what his true intentions are. what he had planned for you after this massacre. he was too powerful to defeat but you had hope, maybe you could convince him out of this before it was too late. maybe you could save the other children before he gets to them.

you gasped as you saw papa unconscious on the ground in a testing room. the door was ripped off the hinge. you were too frightened to see if he was still alive. as you turned, you saw an orderly with his eyes gouged out sitting against the tiled walls. you skipped a breath as you hesitated to continue on. you wished you hadn’t, but there was no turning back now. you saw the bodies of the children, all with their eyes gouged out as well. you were too late. you ran from the gruesome scenes, unaware of where to go now. but they only continued. there was blood everywhere. death was following you. the screams echoed the halls, and the blood printed on your mind.

you were on the verge of a panic attack. this was all your fault. your breathing was rough and your eyes kept squinting at every turn, fresh blood splattered everywhere. your heart was pounding to the point that you were convinced that it would snap open a part of your ribcage. you heard screams coming from the rainbow room and you weren’t sure if you had it in you to go in.

but what peter was doing was pure evil. you couldn’t stand by and allow such wickedness, knowing that you are the cause of this. a rush of adrenaline flown through you as you pushed open the doors. you stepped in to become frozen in fear.

peter stood tall with his back towards you, his hand raised into the air, his eyes had rolled to the back of his skull. there was blood splattered across his white uniform. but that wasn’t what petrified you, it was eleven’s small shaking body hanging in the air, her bones were snapped as her eyes bleed out. a soft groan was her final breathe as peter dropped her lifeless to the ground. there was dead bodies of the children everywhere. all of them had the same fatality. peter stood there, his breathing pushing his chest in and out. you shrieked at the horror, your back pressed against the doors now. peter spun around to you within a blink of the eye.

“i told you to wait” peter growled at you. he looked furious with you, for disobeying a simple order. it would have been better if you stayed in the closet. he knew how overwhelmed you’d become, how frightening this would be for you. he wanted to protect you from this.

he took a large step towards you. your hand gripped onto the door handle. he paused, an eyebrow now cocked towards you. he waited for your next move. your flight or fight mode kicked in. you bolted out of the rainbow room. peter only watched you scatter for your life. you missed his expression mixed with anger and disappointment.

you cried as you ran down the blood filled halls. tears streamed down your flustered cheeks as you couldn’t notice how breathless you were. you leaped over the body of a dead guard, but you slipped over a hidden pool of blood. you hissed as your hip crashed into the wall. you groaned as you tried to pull yourself up. you looked down the hall, your eyes widened as you saw peter striding towards you, wrath in his blue eyes. his hand swiped across the air, throwing the dead bodies in the hall to the side.

you shrieked again as you forced your injured body up. you rushed to the boiler room, it was your only chance of escape now. you scurried down the stairs and searched for the pipeline. dropping to your knees, you sprung yourself into the rusting, tight tunnel. however, firm hands gripped onto either side of your hips which caused you to cry out. you’re yanked out of the pipe and peter viciously let’s go of your frail body. you slid on the cement, adding to your pain.

“why are you trying to run from me?” peter spat out. but you were too scared to respond. your body curled up into a ball. that didn’t please peter. he scrunched his hand, which caused a force to push you towards him. he grabbed ahold of your arms roughly and glared down towards you. his looks could have killed you.

“peter… please this- this isn’t-”

“peter isn’t real sweetheart” you were cut off by peter. that evil grin was back.

“i don’t understand” you cried out, confused and scared.

his expression softened as he thought with logic instead of emotion. his grip loosened as he observed how distressed you were. he lowered you to your knees, you sunk below him. he brushed his hand through your knotted hair. you looked up to him with broken eyes, tears still dripping down your cheeks. peter squatted besides you and wiped away your tears with the back of his hand.

“a story set for another time. your brain has had too much to comprehend today i think” he gave you a small smile as he tapped your forehead. you flinched at the tap. “why do you cry for them y/n? after everything they did to you. you think you need them but you don’t. you only need me…” he spoke softly to you now, the back of his hand gently touched your heated cheek.

it sent a shiver down your spine. it was so soft but firm at the same time. it felt like it was a threat instead of a notion. his touch felt stone cold now, it was irritating you but you wouldn’t dare to pull away.

“they’re just children” you whispered. peter scoffed as a response.

“they were merely gadflies. an embarrassment of my fabrication. i gave them mercy” peter responded, emotionless.

“are you going to kill me now?” you asked as you moved your gaze to the cement ground. you had already accepted your fate, but now you weren’t sure if he was going to go through with it now.

peter frowned and forced you to look back to him. your chin was caught between his fingers. he read your eyes for what felt like hours. a chuckle left his lips, you gave him a bemused look. “sometimes i wonder how you’re so naive…” he admitted with an eased shrug of the shoulders. he continued on, “why would i commit such act? do you believe that i had deceived you of my fondness towards you?” peter questioned her.

“my feelings for you are stronger than i can express y/n”.

“do you?” peter asked again. you shook your head quickly. peter smiled to you and nodded his head. “good, are you still fond of me?” he replied.

was this a trick question? you weren’t sure how to respond. peter gritted his teeth, which motivated you to answer him. “yes” you answered honestly. he smiled once more.

“that’s very good” he answered. “however… i do not tolerate disobedience” peter brought up, you stared at him with unease.

“i’m sorry” you apologised instantly. but it’s not enough, you should know that.

“that won’t cut it” he sighed. peter stood back up to his feet and brushed his bloody hand through his blonde hair. he looked down towards you. your eyes briefly looked over his lower region. by the time you had set your sight on his eyes, he was smirking to you. “but it’s okay… we have all the time in the world now” he pointed out. “stand up y/n” he commanded.

you hissed in pain as you forced yourself to stand before him. peter placed his palm against your cheek. instantly you felt tired and dizzy. it was a struggle to keep your eyes open. you fell into his arms, he held onto your tightly, as he watched you like a hawk. through your blurred vision, you could still see that evil grin of the man that you still loved.

[tauriatalksmonkeys]

Alternate Evil Ages: A Bulletfic

so @sweetcircuits & i were talking about Evil Ages for unrelated reasons & my brain fed me this idea, so!

it started with me once again dwelling on my thoughts on Evil Ages (fun & cute but also, frustrating bc it's all earth/american-centric history when shuggazoom is a separate planet, & it would have been rly cool to see unique lore/eras. tho it being a 00's kids show i understand why that's not what we got)

and THEN i started thinking about like, the eras of the show we DID get to see--a glimpse of Scrapperton-era Shuggazoom, and then, of course, Cap's flashbacks to the Golden Age.

which THEN led me to, uh. this.

(also BIG thank you to @sweetcircuits who both encouraged me to write this & also was a big help with making sure it worked with the episode <3 ilu)

Instead of landing in the Prehistoric-era, Chiro & Nova land in Shuggazoom. Kind of. It's... different. Recognizably home, but altered enough they feel like strangers. There are buildings missing on the skyline. Some are shorter than they remember. Others are wearing different logos, painted alternate colors. Hovercars whiz down the street, but not the cars of their memory. These ones are shiny chrome with sharp angles and boxy fronts.

They wander the streets, looking for any clue as to what the heck is going on. And then they see people running. They share a glance before they take off running as well, towards the source of the disturbance, not away.

I like the idea of them reaching the place where the Robot is now parked, but it could just as easily be the site of the museum, a town plaza, a park---it doesn't really matter. What matters is what they see:

A man who looks awfully like the museum curator stands in the center, surrounded by giant, creepy puppets with abnormally wide grins. Across from him, a stranger hovers several feet off the ground. He's clad in black and white and orange, a cape billowing from his shoulders. His uniform is familiar; Chiro is wearing it's match right now. But it's not the uniform that really draws the eye.

It's the helmet.

"He's wearing our logo," Chiro says dumbly. He meets Nova's eyes, and sees his confusion echoed there.

Chiro doesn't get a chance to ask what it could mean.

The stranger says--- "You won't get away with this, Puppeteer!"

And the curator-lookalike laughs. "I already have!" He raises a set of pipes to his lips, and begins to blow. The puppets fly forward, hands raised to hurt, and the stranger throws bolts of electricity. It's enough to startle both Nova and Chiro into the fray, joining the stranger.

They are, of course, overwhelmed, defeated, and they wake up in the dungeon with the others, no sign of the helmeted stranger. They don't think about it, for a bit; instead focused on stopping and defeating the Curator.

And then the episode ends. The Curator is gone, disappeared to who-knows-where, or when. The team returns to Shuggazoom, where the dolls sit on display; small and life-less once more. Among them is the stranger. Chiro picks him up, looks at him. He's never heard of any other heroes on Shuggazoom---but then, history was never his best subject. (That's what he has Antauri for, now.)

Speaking of. Antauri approaches. "What have you found?" he asks, and this prompts Chiro to explain the bubble that he and Nova were caught in.

Antauri, too, seems mystified.

On a whim, Chiro pulls at the helmet. It slips off. (Ignore that this doesn't make sense, please and thanks.) It doesn't make sense, but he's half expecting to see the Alchemist. He doesn't. The monkeys have gathered around, now, and upon the sight of the stranger's face, their heads tilt. The doll is simple, of course, but there's enough detail before them. Short, slightly spiky brown hair. Dark eyes. Chiro thinks he's meant to be handsome.

"He looks... familiar," Nova says, visibly unsettled. The other monkeys nod, slowly, just as unnerved. Just as perplexed.

"Who IS he?" Chiro asks.

Episode fade-out.

Four episodes later, they track down a mysterious signal... and find a helmeted stranger.

[iam93percentstardust]

Hey, I hope you're had a very pleasant birthday and birthday month! If the prompte are still open: Can you do Stony with Tony finally and sorta randomly confessing his love to Steve and Steve only then realizing that what he feels for Tony is romantic love as well?

Hello! Sure thing! Quick note: there’s a change between present and past tense for a flashback, for anyone who doesn’t like that kind of thing

As always, everything I write is also on ao3

~

“I love you,” Tony says, and Steve doesn’t quite know what to do about that.

He won’t say that he’s thought about it before because he hasn’t. But he won’t say that he’s never thought about it either—because he has, occasionally, glanced at Tony’s ass outlined by his perfectly tailored pants and appreciated the sight, and he has, once or twice, wondered what Tony’s warm, sparkling eyes would look like when hazy with pleasure. But a quick, glancing thought that he immediately moves on from is not the same as being attracted enough to Tony to think about asking him out or anything past that.

And now that he’s faced with that question, he doesn’t know what to say. Is he supposed to thank Tony? Is he supposed to acknowledge his feelings and say that he doesn’t feel the same way? Is he just supposed to ignore what Tony said? This is why he has so much trouble with his dates—he never knows how to act in a way that isn’t awkward. No wonder Natasha recently declared him hopeless after he came back from his last date covered in her sticky drink because he accidentally called her a dame.

“I love you,” Tony says and Steve doesn’t know what to do about that, but as it turns out, he doesn’t have to do anything, because Tony nods immediately afterward, says, “Good talk,” and turns and walks away like he wasn’t expecting an answer—or at least, not one that he would like.

Steve doesn’t know what to do about that either.

~

“Do you think I’m in love with Tony?” he asks Natasha later that day when they’re relaxing on the couch while some mindless sitcom plays in the background.

Natasha blinks at him and then caps the nail polish she was using and puts it on the coffee table. “Do you think you’re in love with Tony?” she asks carefully.

He frowns at her. “That’s not what I asked.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure I should just tell you what to think.”

He sighs and takes another sip from his Coke, only to realize that it’s empty. Yeah, that describes his life pretty well. “I’m gonna get another one,” he says, standing up. “Do you want something?”

She shakes her head. It’s not until he’s in the kitchen, grabbing another Coke from the fridge, before she asks, “What brought this on?”

Steve thinks about the vulnerable look on Tony’s face as he said those three words. He probably wouldn’t like it if Steve told Natasha what they’d discussed. Or, well, he’d probably act like it was fine but he’d secretly feel hurt and might put the workshop into blackout mode again. Steve hates it when the workshop is in blackout mode. He doesn’t like that he can’t get to Tony when he’s feeling so terrible that he has to shut himself away. He wants to be there to support him, and he hates it when he’s the one who makes Tony feel like he has to close off the workshop.

“Nothing,” he tells Natasha.

She gets up to come into the kitchen, where she eyes him for a moment and then declares, “Tony finally told you, didn’t he?”

How does she always know?

“How do you always know?”

She smiles enigmatically. “I always know,” she says in that mysterious tone.

Steve glares at her. “Tony told you, didn’t he?”

“Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t.”

“One of these days, you’re going to have to admit that you two are friends.”

“Hmm,” she agrees. “But not today.” She hesitates, watching as Steve starts preparing a ham sandwich. “So Tony told you he loves you and you said?”

“Nothing,” Steve says with a shrug. “JARVIS, do you think it would be a good idea if I took this to Tony?”

“Sir has not expressed an explicit desire to keep you out of the workshop but I believe he would not appreciate you down there at the moment.”

Steve sighs. “Great. Could you send U up here to bring this sandwich down?”

“Of course, Captain Rogers.”

With that taken care of, Steve turns back to Natasha, following her back out to the living room. “I didn’t say anything because Tony didn’t give me the chance. He just took off.”

Natasha is quiet, studying him for a long moment. He knows what she’s thinking, since it’s probably the same thing he thought: that Tony was too afraid to hear the answer to give Steve the chance to respond. Eventually, she asks, “So how do you feel about it?”

“I don’t know,” Steve says honestly. “I can’t say I’ve ever thought about Tony like that before but—we act kinda coupley, don’t we?”

Before Natasha can respond, the previously bright sky outside goes dark. There’s a bright lightning bolt right outside the window, followed by the crash of thunder and then a loud rushing sound. It dissipates after a moment, the sky lightening again.

“Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff,” JARVIS says, “Thor has returned to the tower.”

~

The Steve and Tony story goes something like this: instead of going on his planned road trip, Steve returned to the tower the day after the Chitauri invasion to offer his apologies to Tony about what he said on the helicarrier. Somehow—and he’s not sure how, even to this day—he found himself getting wrapped up in the tower repairs with a room of his own on one of the lower floors. And by the time those were done, Tony had apparently also redone some of the apartments near the penthouse as a headquarters for the Avengers. Steve hadn’t been lacking for options after the battle (the Army, in particular, wanted him back) but he’d moved into the tower permanently instead.

He and Tony had clashed a few times in those early days but once Bruce came back from wrapping up his affairs in India and Natasha and Clint left SHIELD to join them, they settled into a bit of a truce.

And over the semi-regular movie nights and the training spars and the late-night conversations after they both couldn’t sleep, that truce became a friendship and before Steve quite realized it, Tony had become one of his best friends. Slowly, Steve found himself being pulled out of the shell he’d withdrawn into after waking in this new century. Tony dragged him to lunch at new and exciting places, places that Steve could never have even dreamed of when he was growing up. They planned missions and training days together. Steve had even gotten adept enough at handling the press with Tony to feel confident accepting interview requests with him.

He hadn’t realized though that Tony had taken it as something more serious though. And now that he does know, he’s not sure what to do about it.

~

He eventually goes to Bruce, since Pepper is busy dealing with a business merger and Colonel Rhodes is out of town in some undisclosed location (though Steve is certain that Tony knows where). Bruce’s lab isn’t quite the wonderland of light and holograms that Tony’s is, but it’s still impressive to someone who grew up with nothing. Tony makes sure that Bruce has all the latest equipment so the lab is a gleaming marvel of sleek instruments with silver and white colors everywhere. It doesn’t look like the most soothing environment but the speakers pipe out some sort of piano music that Steve vaguely recognizes and there’s a teapot on one counter, keeping whatever Bruce is drinking warm.

Bruce is currently examining something under a microscope. Steve can make out what looks like a purple smear on the slide from where he’s standing in the doorway, but that’s it. Bruce doesn’t seem to have noticed him yet, even though JARVIS announced him, so he waits patiently until Bruce has rolled away from the microscope.

“Bruce, you got a second?” he asks quietly.

“Hey, when did you get here?” Bruce asks, offering him a tired smile. He waves Steve over to the teapot and offers him a cup.

“Just a couple minutes ago. I didn’t mind waiting,” Steve assures him. “What’s the blend?”

“Lavender and chocolate.”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind a cup.” Bruce hands him the steaming mug. Steve has to add the sugar himself (only Tony knows how he prefers his tea).

“What brings you to my lab? Tony’s downstairs today,” Bruce says, fixing a cup of his own.

“I’m not looking for Tony. Not yet anyway,” Steve corrects. “I did want to talk about him though.” He hesitates and then decides to take the plunge. “Has Tony ever said anything to you about—ah—”

“About his feelings?” Bruce asks knowledgeably. “It’s come up a few times.”

Steve takes that to mean that it’s come up fairly frequently. Tony does like to overshare sometimes and trying to figure out what he’ll overshare about and what he’ll clam up about is about as accurate as trying to make one of Clint’s trick shots. “He told me today,” he begins carefully. “But he didn’t let me say anything.”

“Well, he wouldn’t,” Bruce says, like that’s perfectly reasonable and not absolutely surprising to Steve. He must see the confusion in Steve’s face because he adds, “He only just figured it out a few days ago himself, even though he’s been talking about you for months. I don’t think he was expecting you to feel the same way as him right after he realized it.”

“But why would he say it then?”

Bruce takes off his glasses, holding them in front of him as he thinks. “Tony—he’s got a weird relationship with love. He told me once that he thought he’d lost the chance to tell Pepper he loved her, first in Afghanistan and then with the palladium poisoning.”

“His parents,” Steve realizes. “He didn’t get to tell them either.”

“Exactly,” Bruce says, pointing at him with the glasses. “He doesn’t like to wait. So even though he knows you don’t feel the same way, he felt it was important to tell you.”

“What, in case I die tomorrow?”

“Or if he does.” Bruce must catch the stricken expression on Steve’s face as he smiles gently. “It’s not just about getting the feeling off his chest for Tony. It’s about making sure that you know you’re loved too.”

“Oh,” Steve says softly.

~

Normally, he would go down to the workshop to think about something that’s puzzling him but he doesn’t want to bother Tony right now. Instead, he goes to his second-favorite room in the entire tower: the library. The library was designed specifically by Tony for Steve after he mentioned how much he liked the tablet Tony had given him but how he missed paper books too. He hadn’t been angling for a library out of the conversation but Tony, generous to a fault, had immediately gotten to work on one.

It’s a beautiful room, completely incongruous with the sleek modern style of the rest of the tower, but perfect despite that. It takes up an entire two floors of the tower with balconies, a spiral staircase, and several sliding ladders for Clint to reenact a scene from some movie that Steve hasn’t gotten around to watching yet. Tony had done the room in dark wood with enough windows to make it feel light and airy instead of cramped. There are little nooks hidden among the shelves and a few window seats for anyone who wants to gaze out over the New York skyline while they read.

It’s perfect, made all the more so because Tony designed it for him.

“Steve, you should have realized how Tony felt sooner,” he mutters to himself as he settles on one of the cushy armchairs with his sketchbook. But how could he have? According to Bruce, Tony hadn’t even known how he felt until a few days ago.

He sketches as he thinks, no subject in mind until he looks down to find that he’s roughly sketched out Tony at his workbench, arguing with DUM-E over something silly. Steve smiles fondly down at the drawing, rubbing his thumb over the curve of Tony’s cheek. He remembers this argument. It had been a couple weeks ago. Tony had asked DUM-E to bring him a wrench and instead, DUM-E had brought him two screwdrivers, three hammers, and a level before finally bringing the wrench. It had made Steve laugh, which had just encouraged DUM-E. Tony had acted frustrated but he knows Tony well enough to know that Tony had been secretly proud about DUM-E’s personality, both for DUM-E and for himself. After all, as Tony said, any monkey could design an AI. It took skill to design one with character.

In his sketch, he’s drawn something of that conflict in Tony’s face—the frustration in the downward turn of his mouth but the pride in the twinkle in his eyes—and it only makes him more beautiful.

“Beautiful,” Steve repeats, awed at the thought. Tony is beautiful, when he’s tinkering, when he’s flying, even when he’s going toe-to-toe with Steve over something stupid (usually Tony’s self-sacrificial tendencies).

He flips through the book, taking in each drawing: Natasha, Tony, Clint, Thor, Tony, Bruce, Tony, Tony, Tony. “Yeah,” he murmurs, looking back down at the drawing he just finished again. He thinks he’s got it figured out.

He stands, tucking his sketchbook under his arm. “JARVIS, do you think Tony would mind talking to me now? I’ve got something important to tell him.”

JARVIS is quiet for a moment, then says, “Sir would be happy to see you.”

He makes his way downstairs, thinking about what he’s going to say, but as soon as he sees Tony—wonderful, beautiful, perfect Tony—playing with one of those incredible holograms he designed, the words fly from his mind and he blurts out, “I’m not in love with you.”

And then he winces. Yeah, okay, so he’s a bit of a disaster.

Tony looks hurt for a moment, but it’s quickly covered up with dramatic offense. Before Tony can make one of his infamous quips that’ll just make light of the situation, Steve crosses the workshop and pulls Tony’s hands into his, rubbing them gently with his thumbs.

“I’m not in love with you,” he repeats. “But I think I could be soon. I’m not where you’re at yet—my brain isn’t nearly as quick as yours, Tony, of course you’re a step ahead of me here too. But Tony, you’re on almost every single page of my sketchbook. We go on what we might as well call dates together. We talk for hours. I know you almost as well as I know myself. I’m not in love with you yet but I think I’m only a couple dates away from it, so you should take me out, and we’ll see how fast I can catch up.”

Tony is smiling by the end of his little speech. “How are you always so good at that?” he asks.

“I was born like this,” Steve says seriously, only to crack a grin when Tony laughs.

“No you weren’t,” Tony argues. “You were born small and spiteful.”

“And full of good speeches. But no one wanted to listen to a little guy like me so I had to bottle them up to use on you.” He pauses and looks down at Tony. “Um, not to pressure you, but does a date sound good?”

Tony thinks about it for a moment. “Depends. Where are you going to take me?”

“Oh, am I taking you? You’re the billionaire, shouldn’t you be treating me?”

Tony’s eyes darken as he purrs, “Only if you’re very nice.”

Steve shivers. He hadn’t really thought about how it would feel to have the full Tony Stark Seduction TechniqueTM turned on him, but he’s thinking about it now and it is absolutely delightful. “What if I’m not nice at all?” he whispers, hands tightening on Tony’s.

Tony’s smile turns downright filthy and he leans up to brush a kiss over Steve’s cheek. “Hmm, I’ll think of something,” he murmurs into Steve’s ear.

He’s not going to act like a caveman and take Tony to bed. He’s not. He’s going to—“Sal’s!” he blurts out, immediately regretting it when Tony takes a step away, brow wrinkling confusedly. It’s really cute. Steve wants to kiss it away.

“What?”

“Sal’s,” Steve says again. “Best burgers in Brooklyn. I want to take you there.”

Tony smiles again. “Sounds like a date.”

[whateyescantsee]

Birthday Shots

Part 5

Summary: A flashback to the beginning..now through Fred’s POV.

Notes: Smutty musings… (sorry..Fred is a tad longer and there are two new scenes that deals with him that reader was not aware of)

Wiping down the counter when the phone rang, grumbling Fred answered it. That phone only ran when it was bad fucking news.

Inhaling, exhaling he grabbed the phone. “Hello.”

“Parras?”

“Who the fuck else would it be?”

A chuckle filled his ear. He made a face. “Stop I am in no mood, what do you want?”

“Abbott here.”

Fred rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like I didn’t know.”

“They are closing my VFW down for a short stint for repairs.”

That made annoyance curl fill him. He always got the short end of things. His place had issues with the fucking plumbing along with the electricity, and no one was coming to fix his post. He had fixed it all his damn self. “And why is it of my concern?”

“I have a girl here, her father is a colonel.”

“Good for you. You know I don’t want any distractions here.”

“Look its not our fault that the last woman to work there was that bitch of an ex-wife of yours.”

“Yeah well things have been calm ever since I got rid of her.”

“Bullshit. Anyway, I owe her father alot. So you’re going to take her while things are closed here.”

“I am not. Give her to Johnson.”

“He’s at full staff. Believe me, she is barely looking into her twenties and she not much of a distraction. She’s a good kid.”

He exhaled, pinching his nose. “Good kid?”

“Yeah, like I said her dad is a colonel and all her brothers are enlisted here and there. She has a nice smile. And fuck, I’ll owe you. You name it.”

“My fucking plumbing.” It was all he cared about.

“Fine. Done. After my placed is fixed, I’ll send my best plumber.”

“Sure. Yeah. When is she is fucking coming?”

“Tonight.”

“Fuck. Alright. What’s her name?”

“Y/FN.”

“Ok.”

*****

“Look guys, we have some chick coming to work here for a bit.”

Walter rubbed his hands together. “Is she hot?”

Fred shrugged. “No fucking idea. She’s practically a kid from what Abbott said. Let’s hope I, we don’t have to babysit her.”

Abe, grumbled into his beer. “We’ve had a good thing here. Do I have to be nice?”

Fred eyed his friend. “Be decent. We’re not pigs.” He sat back. He wasn’t exactly thrilled but at least he would get his plumbing fixed.

“Says you.” He chuckled.

The door opened, Fred looked past Abe and there you were. He swallowed, he pulled off his cap.

Would you have a chip on your shoulder, he wondered. So he leaned against his bar, he’d play dumb. His eyes moved over your curves, as you swished up to the bar. Was it already bad that he wanted to lay his hands on those hips of yours and pull you close.

“Hello!” Your voice was crisp and light. “Are you Mr. Parras?”

“Fred.” He looked from side to side. “So you’re Y/FN?”

You nodded. “That’s me.” You smiled, Abbott had been right. It was a nice smile but the rest of you well this was going to be interesting. His mind continued to wander vaguely to what he’d do to you. “Thank you for taking me in.”

Be pushed himself off the counter. “Look, Abbott and I owed each other. Just do as I say, I run a tight ship here.”

He could watch the emotions flood your eyes. You were young. Damn that too. “Ok! I get it. That’s great!”

“Your apron is on the hook through that door.” He pointed to the back door. “Go slip that on and I’ll show you around.”

“Great!” You said still brightly. The door of the backroom nodded. He bit the inside of his cheek as he watched you disappear into the back room.

“Damn Fred, now that is a piece of ass, I may have to dress a little nicer now.” Walter remarked.

He put his cap back on. “What so a clean pair of jeans?”

Walter chuckled.

“Maybe I will wear a new suit.” Piped in Lou.

He rolled his eyes before and leaned against the counter that held the bottles upon bottles of liquior.

Your niceness was bound to wear off, with chicks it usually did. He’d be prepared but at least you were something to look at. There was something classy about how you looked. Damn if he was half his age, he’d still be older then you. Now, he was too damn old.

At least those girls down a few blocks could distract him. Today he’d finally get a slice of Kandi; with you walking around he needed it.

******

He dragged the metal tub and placed it not far from the picnic table. Opening the freezer, he grabbed two bags of ice then poured them in. The little bbq was taking shape, he’d never admit it but he liked giving them. Going back in he grabbed the twelve pack and the hamburger patties. Kneeling down, he placed the bottles into the ice.

His fence door creaked, looking up he smiled. “Hey Lou, Shelly.” He smiled.

“Hey Fred.”

“Look who we grabbed and brought with us.” Lou, said with a twist of his mouth

Walter sheepishly came walking in.

“Good. Didn’t want to have to go and pick his ass up.” He gestured to the beers. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“Fred, want me to put the salad on the table or the refrigerator?” Shelly, Lou’s wife asked.

“Table is fine. If you want grab some dressings from the fridge.”

He looked up at the sky, it was a good day for the fourth. He ignited the coals, letting burn for a bit he finally placed some patties down. He sighed, as he watched them begin to sizzle.

He probably shouldn’t have invited Kandi, he really didn’t want to see her. But in case his mind wandered, he didn’t want to be caught drooling over you with one of your damn brothers here. God knows, what you’d be wearing.

******

He was flipping another around of burgers when heard of your arrival before he looked over his shoulder. Lou jumped up and introduced you to his wife.

So he decided to focus on the grill. Hesitantly, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that you were wearing one of those wispy little summer dresses. Damn it. Good thing Kandi would be here

“Fred.” He heard you, it caused a stirring in him. Why couldn’t he just be able to push you away. Something about you prickled his senses. It had only been a short while but you got to him. Yet another part of him was worried what if you just humored him. He was twice your age after-all. “I would like to introduce you to one of my brothers. This is Michael.”

He turned, and he smiled. You looked particularly pretty today, it stole his thoughts away. He was turning into a silly old man. “Michael?” He just couldn’t remember if you said marines or rangers, damn it what was he?You could see him trying to recollect, hav

“Hi sir.” He offered a hand. “I’m the marine.”

“Oh yes! Hi there pal.” He looked over and took his hand, shaking it. “Your baby sister…” He continued but then was cut off.

“Fred, honey I’ve made it.” Howled a woman, carrying a tray of some kind of jello dessert and waving with her free hand.

Inwardly, he turned cold. Did Kandi have to show up right now, he bit the inside of his cheek.

He knew the history she had with his friends. He wasn’t too keen on her, but he didn’t want to look like a fool because of you. As she closed the distance she wrapped an arm around him. Fred tried to maintain his smile.

He grew uncomfortable. Her perfume, made him wrinkle his nose. He didn’t want to be rude but damn, did she already have to try and kiss him. He moved away, there was no way he wanted that bubble gum pink lipstick on his face.

“Hi Kandi!” He managed politely enough as he moved his hand to her behind and gave her a hearty squeeze. He had heard stories from the boys. He tried not to shiver.

“Did you miss me?”

He winked. “Maybe. Anyway, I was talking to Y/N and her brother Michael, he’s a marine.”

“Oh, how rude of me.” She flashed a toothy smile your way. “Hi Y/N, you’re the new girl? Right?”

He smiled but cut in. “She’s the only girl, I allow.”

“I am still upset you won’t let me work at your bar.” Kandi stamped her foot.

“Because you would be too much of a sweet distraction.”

She giggled. “I guess so.”

He had to remember not to roll his eyes.

“See even now, I forgot what I was going to say.” He looked at you, then slid her a look. “You distracted me.”

You shrugged, now you were the one who looked between him and your brother. “Must not be terribly important.”

“I’ll remember.” He scratched the back of his head. “Well, back to grilling. “Burger? Michael, Y/N?”

“Yes, please.” You replied and your brother nodded.

“What about me?” Kandi pouted.

“I know you that you want a chicken patty.”

“Oh, right.” She swished and giggled. “I forgot.”

******

Glancing, over he saw you sitting off to the side, he had hoped you would have come to get your food. Since you didn’t he’d bring it to you. At least Kandi, gave him a bit of a break and was talking to the girl Abe brought with him.

As he neared, he saw that you were picking at the label. He wished you’d perk up. You had better be later he mused.

“I thought you were going to come back for your burger.”

He couldn’t resist rubbing your bare back. You smelled so good, you were a wonderful mix of perfume and suntan lotion. Everything that was nice about summer. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw you jump a little. He placed a plate in front of you.

“Easy.” You were as soft and smooth as he expected. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” A smirk curled his lips.

You closed your eyes and leaned into his touch or was he just imagining it. Just as he had that. thought all hope dashed from him as you sat up straighter. “I forgot.” You said simply.

“With those two beers you can’t, I need you on top of your game tonight baby.”

You appeared to brighten. “I will be.” He liked how your eyes twinkled in the sun.

“Good.” He rubbed your back once more, he needed to feel you again. “Well, I better get back to the bbq.” He headed back to the grill.

******

“I thought this is what you wanted?” Her perfume was making him ill she rubbed up against him. Nothing about this was arousing.

“It is.” He gruffly said, grabbing Kandi by her hips he removed her from his lap. “Just not from you.”

“Hey…hey.” She wiggled in his grasp.

“Calm down, I’ll still pay.”

She snapped her gum. “You want it from the little chickie don’t you?”

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. “What are you talking about?” He reached into his back pocket for his wallet.

“The new girl.”

“No!” Her words hit him like a blow to his stomach.

“Oh so you’re gay then? That’s cool. I have someone for you.”

“No!”

“Oh, so it is her.” A wet chuckle came from Kandi.

“Not a word. I don’t need the fucking headaches.” He handed her the cash, she took it then stuffed it in her bra.

“Fine but you got it bad.” He tapped him on his chest.

“Nah.” He brushed her finger away. “She just has a better ass then you.” He snapped. He didn’t like talking to her about you.

“But I use mine, I’m sure she’ll never use hers.” A wet chuckle came her again.

He was annoyed now, before the night was over, everyone would fucking know. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He opened the door.

“You don’t have to lie, I saw how you looked at her. We know.” She pulled on her heels and lingered in the door way.

“Whatever. You can leave now.”

“You should tell her. You’d both be happier.”

He gave her a look, she snapped her gum and walked out.

******

Unscrewing a bottle to pour a round of shots, he noticed that there were no whispers among his friend. Perhaps, Kandi would keep her mouth shut.

Squinting, some light from the outside poured into the bar. As he saw you walk in; he swallowed hard. He didn’t think he could get aroused that fast. Fuck he was no damn teenager.

He would ignore it, he took a shot with the boys.

*****

At one point, you drew close as him. He inhaled deeply of your sweet scent. Just when, he didn’t think it could get better you leaned partially against him. “Happy Fourth of July, Fred this has been spectacular.”

You smiled up at him. Oh, how he wanted to keep you there, maybe even kiss you. You were so wonderfully soft. “Happy Fourth!” He smirked down at you.

Just as he began to enjoy the feel of your body, you fluttered off. Once again like some stupid randy teenager, he was aroused.

******

Finally, later into the night, well before midnight all of he gathered you all into the parking lot.

You came over and leaned gently against him. “Are those what I think they are?”

“Yup.” He winked at you. “I managed to grab some.” Fred smirked. “Now, everyone stand back.”

He snapped open his lighter and kneeling he quickly lit all the firecrackers. Stepping back fast, they all soon shot into the air and the night sky light up. All sorts of colors and booms filled their ears.

@dogmatic255 @tuttifuckinfruttifriday @bdffkierenwalker @underratedcharactersimagines @terra-713

[sineala]

Does Steve or Tony smoke?

This question has a few possible answers, actually! So, I mean, yes, but also no. Comics are great.

The answer as it currently pertains to canon is that no, Steve and Tony do not smoke. In 2001, after Joe Quesada became EIC at Marvel, he instituted a policy that heroic characters would not be allowed to smoke; villains still could. If you look this up you can see, like, graphic novel covers that were originally comic covers except someone has edited the cigar right out of Wolverine’s mouth. I don’t know if this policy is still current (I kind of suspect it is, at least in some form), but I feel like, yeah, I wouldn’t expect Steve and Tony to smoke now.

(Incidentally, I’m pretty sure there’s also a smoking ban in the MCU.)

But, as we know, Steve and Tony have existed since long before 2001, and so that means that, absolutely, yeah, there are panels of both of them smoking.

Let’s start with Steve! Steve as a character dates from 1941, and it probably will not surprise you to learn that Golden Age Steve smoked like a chimney. He smokes in pretty much every issue, as far as I can tell. Like, I opened up Captain America Comics #1 and I found him with a pipe in his mouth at least three times. In one issue!

Interestingly, the recent Captain America Anniversary Tribute, which features modern Marvel artists doing a panel-for-panel redraw of Captain America Comics #1 (and Avengers #4) does have this panel, and guess what Steve isn’t doing?

He’s not smoking! (This is why I suspect the no-smoking policy is still current; this issue came out maybe three weeks ago.)

But, yeah, if you’re reading actual Golden Age Cap comics, Steve is absolutely definitely smoking:

However, in modern comics featuring Steve that are set during World War II, he’s not only not smoking, he explicitly doesn’t smoke. This is Captain America: Theater of War: Prisoners of Duty, which is from 2009. (Which is, yes, during Quesada’s EIC tenure.)

So it sure seems like he’s been retconned into not smoking due to the no-smoking policy. (Though, really, if you wanted some kind of in-universe explanation that keeps Steve a smoker at that point in time, “I don’t smoke” is also probably what you’d say if you did smoke but didn’t want to share your cigarettes with whoever was asking.)

But there are certainly Silver Age comics where Steve is smoking; it’s not just a Golden Age thing. The latest I’ve found is Captain America #110 (from 1969), which opens with Steve leaning against a wall lighting his pipe, and starting to smoke it:

So that’s Steve.

As for Tony, there are definitely Silver Age panels of him smoking, too.

Here Tony is in Avengers #3 with a pipe and a very fetching smoking jacket:

And here Tony is again in Avengers #7, enjoying a cigarette and a television program while he is charging up his chestplate:

You get the idea.

And, twenty years later, there’s also Iron Man #144 from 1981. If you are an Iron Man fan, you will be familiar with this issue as the flashback issue that retcons Rhodey into Tony’s life as a Marine whom Tony meets in Vietnam when he has just become Iron Man, has escaped his captors, and is trying to get home.

What you may not remember is that this issue includes Tony and Rhodey sharing a joint. No, I’m not kidding.

Sadly, Tony doesn’t get a hit, because he accidentally crushes the joint in his big Iron Man hands, but he, uh, definitely doesn’t seem opposed to getting high with Rhodey:

I mean, okay, yeah, it doesn’t have to be marijuana. We aren’t told what it is, and it could conceivably be anything that’s hand-rolled, which would include tobacco, but come on. Come on. It’s weed. Right? Who’s with me?

For the record, Rhodey is Not Real Thrilled that Tony has accidentally crushed it:

So, anyway, yeah, there’s what I know about Steve and Tony smoking.

[jq37]

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 2

The Case of the Dismal Dinner

Summary

Welcome back to our flashback/Tisch fight already in progress where we learn what Daisy and Sly’s shared look was about while Rekha and Grant go for the proverbial jugular emotionally. It’s 12 years ago and Sylvester is tracking down a stolen diadem, the very same diadem that he sees Daisy swipe off the thief who has it (a jackal named Roscoe McCoy in case that matters). Sly swipes it back from her and, when she notices, she sniffs it down to his train car where he is sitting in the dark, waiting for her. He doesn’t turn the lights on, opting instead to dramatically strike a match to light his pipe, illuminating himself sitting in a big chair, holding the stolen item.

Daisy tries to bluff like she’s Virginia Chase, the owner of the diadem, but Sly knows that’s not true because he was hired by the real Virginia to track it down. Daisy is usually a better liar than this but she is insta-smitten by this figurative and literal fox and it’s throwing her off her game. But before they can continue their little tete-a-tete, they hear a gunshot ring out from Daisy’s room and know Roscoe and his guys are coming after her. Sly stuffs Daisy in a trunk before the boys show up and they actually seem a little impressed to meet him, him being a famous detective and all, but a Nat 1 deception means they hear Daisy being huffy in the chest and a fight/escape scene that Brennan takes over narration for ensues. 

After that, Sly and Daisy become close really quickly and partners in both senses of the word. Daisy tells him she’s an American PI and they work together on cases, travel the world, and become engaged within the year. But, the day before the wedding, when Sly is alone, he discovers all the documentation proving that Daisy lied about who she is, is actually a criminal, and has been using their partnership to sell information to other criminals.

She shows up and tries to pretend like she’s being set up but he replies, “You being duped is the only lie you’ve told I can’t believe.” He says that being with her changed him. He didn’t think he had it in him to actually love another person. He forgives her. He still wants to get married. Daisy is thrown by this reaction. She tells him she’s not gonna change for him and he might as well leave her. She’s being all unapologetic femme fatale about it but he gets the sense that under her bravado she’s low key pleading with him to give up on her. He doesn’t want to. He can’t. He still shows up the next day in his wedding tux. Daisy is nowhere to be seen. When he goes home, there’s a deerstalker cap on his porch and a note that just reads “-D”.

And we snap back to the present where Daisy is trying to figure out if she can take advantage of Lucretia’s fascination with the occult and all the rich vulnerable people present to make some money. Meanwhile, Sly has been totally rocked by seeing Daisy and is drowning his sorrows at the bar with Ollie, the otter bartender. Squire Badger (which is what I’ll be calling William) shows up and, in not so many words, threatens Sly for having not solved the case and making a fool of him. He says, “You’re not gonna rub my nose in this.” Move your nose then bitch, says Sly on a dirty 20 intimidation check. He’s sad about girl problems, not you! Squire Badger is scared off, but he looks like he knows something that Sly doesn’t. That someone is coming for him. 

Buckster (and Ian too btw) clocked the above conversation and sidles up to Sly at the bar. See, not only does Buckster know about Sly and Daisy’s history, he knew it was happening *while* it was happening. Sly used up all his cool swagger on the Squire so by the time Buckster shows up he’s a whole mess over Daisy. Buckster starts implying that maybe they can help each other out since they both dislike the Squire and with Sly’s Nat 20 Insight, they can totally clock each other’s double meanings perfectly. It’s a very cool game thing where Sly and Buckster are having an innocuous conversation about the weather or whatever but Grant and Sam are just saying what they mean. It’s like they’re having a telepathic conversation. Sly agrees that the enemy of his enemy is his friend and he’ll go along with Buck’s plans as long as he can keep his hands clean, even if he doesn’t really care for Buck himself. 

At the same time Gangie is in the kitchens getting fed (see the notes for a full list of kitchen staffers and other NPCs) and after the staff leaves, Gangie is told by Ambrose Harding (the Squire’s turtle valet) that there’s is business for him to attend to after dinner. 

Buckster talks to Lawrence Longfoot--the rabbit photographer from last ep who we learn runs a trash newspaper. He and Buck bond over being trash and he gets a pic of Sly and Buck together. 

Vicar Ian goes to talk to the Squire and basically tries to (openly) suss out whether the money was a bribe or a setup or what? Like, people are fully there (including the Lady Fawnbrook and her gossipy cat wife Tabitha). They snipe at each other a bit and then the Squire reveals that he’s talked him up to the Cardinal and the Cardinal agreed that he’s such a good vicar, he should be moved to Siberia. The decision has already been made and Ian doesn’t have the pull in the church to do anything about it. Yikes. 

Before dinner, the rat butler catches Buck and asks if he has time to talk to Squire Badger. Buck agrees to go with him and he’s taken to the billiards room where the Squire is along with Harding and James Hawkins, Squire’s Hawk war buddy (a literal war hawk). Buck immediately puts his foot in his mouth by messing up the Squire’s title with his American ignorance of British peerage rules which annoys him, the elitism of it all. The Squire’s friends leave and then Buck starts talking about PR and how this whole situation has been bad PR for the Squire and it would be a shame if his PR got even worse. The suggestion of blackmail sends the Squire into a full honey badger don’t care style rage and he knocks TF out of Buck, flips the pool table, and then catches himself and scurries off. Daisy, Sly, and Gangie all hear this conversation from their positions in the house via the pipes running through the manor. Buck picks himself up and, on a 25, realizes that two of the mouse maids were hiding behind a curtain, hearing the whole thing (specifically, Edwina Thimble and Carolyn Dickory--oh like hickory dickory doc, BRENNAN) . They were playing hooky so he flips them a coin each and they all agree that no one saw or heard anything. “Two blind mice, see how they run,” he quips as they leave (sidenote, what a morbid nursery rhyme to exist in that world--to be fair, it’s pretty morbid as is).

Lucretia decides to turn the séance into a post dinner séance but still brings Daisy and Lars to see her occult room which is full of crap from, as Rekha said, “1800s Party City”. Lucretia does a hilariously vague read on Daisy and says that there’s something happening with her involving a man she knew or maybe still knows but she’s in her feelings about Sly so it kinda shakes her up. She tries to get Lucretia to charge for her “””incredible gift””” (so she can skim off the top of course) but Lucretia thinks it would be a misuse of her ~talents~. She does give Daisy an incredibly broad as to be useless even if magic exists blessing before she leaves. 

Once she does, Daisy scopes out the room (which she realizes must have been retrofitted for Lucretia and wasn’t previously a séance room) and sees that the one thing in the room that doesn’t really match the aesthetic is a giant portrait of one of the previous squire badgers. On a 24 she notices two things: (1) the painting has recently been restored with new paint and (2) the frame is bolted to the wall. She wants to check it out but Lars is right there so she makes a note to check it out later and leaves. 

Lars, being a very ride or die friend for Sly, bounds after her and basically calls her trash and tries to tempt her with garbage so she’ll lose composure and start chowing down. She drools at the sight but keeps it together and leaves. Lars runs off to tell Sly that they were a good good dog and gives him a full play by play. 

Gangie meanwhile is watching a small argument between the butler and Harding in the servant’s quarters hallway and he realizes that he’s being talked about in veiled language. The butler is questioning Gangie’s employment and Harding says that, as servants, they shouldn’t question their master and that Gangie is employed for reasons that Squire Badger is aware of and reasons he is not. Hmm. Gangie realizes that Harding knows about his past which is weird because Gangie’s criminal record doesn’t follow him. There’s no internet. So what reason would this guy have to know about him?

Gangie doesn’t like this and decides to dip and steal some silverware on the way out. Mrs. Molesley (who I’ll be calling Mrs. M from now on) helps him (lol I’m not entirely sure if she didn’t know what he was doing or if she’s just down with stealing) and says that she’s been working there since Squire Badger was in diapers (she was his nanny) and if anyone bullies Gangie, she’ll take care of them. She also offers to make him a sweater so he doesn’t get cold and she’s just so nice that Gangie has to say yes. He looks to make sure no one is around and gives her a dandelion he picked. Cute!!!

And now it’s time for dinner and our very first box of doom roll for the most terrifying encounter of all: how close you have to sit next to your bitter ex! This is of course for Sly and Daisy with higher than a 15 meaning they don’t have to sit next to each other and anything lower meaning they have to sit pretty close. It is the first BOD roll I’ve ever wanted them to fail (mmm, except maybe Adaine’s werewolf roll but that’s a different conversation). 

It’s in the 6-10 bracket which means they’re sitting across from each other (below that would have been them next to each other). Everyone is seated based on how on Squire Badger’s shitlist they are. So you have Ian at the absolute back. Sly to his right and Daisy on his left. The Buckster and Lars to the right and left after that. Then Armond (armadillo lawyer guy) and a snail guy because Brennan is a madman who cannot be stopped. Constance (Squire’s daughter) makes a toast to her dad wishing him well even though they haven’t always seen eye to eye (hmmm).

Buckster fills in Daisy on his confrontation with the Squire quietly enough that no one else hears. Daisy then turns to Sly and says she hopes they can be civil. Sly is like, “Sure Ms. DUMPSTER.” They’re the kind of exes who know exactly how to hurt each other but are also super open to being hurt. Emotional glass cannons is how Brennan describes it. 

Buckster is given a note by Harding from Squire Badger and, once dinner is over, he takes Daisy off to the side to read it. Gangie follows, unseen. Ian, who recently prayed to God and got not super clear results goes to talk to Luecretia to see if maybe ghosts can help him instead. She is, as usual, not super helpful but does rush out to get her very necessary ritual dagger and declares to everyone that if anyone sees a ghost they have to tell her. As she says this, there is a flash of lightning and, through the window, Sylvester sees just for a moment the form of his nemesis, Fletcher Cottonbotton (who is by the docks).

Anyway, Buckster reads the note. It’s a document from the Squire selling his interest in BB Industries (Buck’s oil company) to Hazel Hogswallop who is another small shareholder in BB Industries. But, in doing so, it names Josiah Jackrabbit (one of his competitors) her proxy which means he’ll be able to vote on things (and with a lot of power with all that stock).  The contract was written in fresh ink which means (1) it was probably written after their fight and (2) hasn’t been mailed yet (I smell a heist attempt). Buck rolls insight on the writing (mastermind rogue ability) and with a 27 senses that the Squire has gone off his rocker. This isn’t going to make him any money. Josiah doesn’t have enough liquid cash to pay him what this is worth. And the thing with Hazel would have taken time to set up. This has been in the works for a while and he’s been sitting on it until the time was right. And he senses, like Sly and Gangie did earlier, that someone besides the Squire is pulling the strings. 

Then Gangie suddenly hears Constance’s distressed voice through the pipes from upstairs: “Father you’re possessed! You’re a mad man! This will never work. Speak of this to me never again.” And she slams the door (Buck, Daisy, and Gangie all hear). Constance comes downstairs and Squire Badger follows, looking upset. Mrs. M checks in on him too see if he’s eaten and he kind of gruffly has her follow him (along with Mr. Harding) into the drawing room.

There is a scream. Something drops. Silence. Footsteps. A door opens. Then a voice, “My God!”

Everyone rolls initiative. Ian moves first and, upon hearing all the commotion, gathers everyone together to go towards the sound (interesting choice but sure). Daisy recognizes that the scream heard was Mrs. M but barely knows who she is. She goes towards the commotion anyway. Gangie also goes towards the scream. Buckster grabs his gun (well he says “weapon”, but it’s gotta be a gun, right?) and makes like he’s following her but actually hides. Lars and Sylvester go towards the scream. 

With everyone gathered, Ambrose opens the door. Inside they see Mrs. M, her hands covered in blood (my guess? From trying to stop the bleeding), kneeling on the ground over the dead body of the Squire. The room is a mess and stuff is scattered everywhere. There is a bloody knife in the Squire’s hand and a stab wound over his heart. Ms. M, who is distressed as hell, says there was something wrong with him. There was a flash, and she looked down and he was stabbing himself. Everyone thinks this is suspicious as hell. She was the only one in the room. Everyone looks to Sly, the famous detective who is not in the presence of a murder case in progress. What does Sly say? “Lady Lucretia. I’ve seen a ghost.”

Case Notes

I have to acknowledge how ON FIRE Grant was this episode. Like everyone was. Buck was great with the Squire. Daisy and Lars sniping at each other was fun. But man Grant had so many good lines. The “move your nose”. The heartbreak with Daisy (ugh, so sad!) And that blackout line!!! I am biased towards foxes as you can see from my avatar so I am very here for this great fox rep.

Based on the way their staredown went last ep I kinda thought Daisy was the wronged party but ugh. Slyyyyyyy. He forgave herrrrrrr. And he still went to the alter. Daisy how you could youuuuuuu?

Also, sigh, Fox and the Hound. I keep getting hit with these after the fact. 

I loved Rekha’s “Of the Chase Sapphire’s?” improv.

That racoon/mink line was so sleazy. Weird compliment but Brennan is good at being animal-racist. Sidenote, Daisy makes a comment about being careful being a fox in England which I presume is a ref to fox hunting and like the implication of that are como se dice troubling. 

Here are all the new NPCs for this ep and here’s a full NPC guide that also includes the list of names Gangie gave Buck which Buck shares with Daisy this ep.

And on that topic I can’t get over the concept of a married couple named Millie Molton and Mollie Milton. Like, did they get married solely for the bit???

The best Ian-ism of the ep was him talking about getting rejected from Siberia. Poor guy.

Fave OOC moment was everyone at the table getting aggressively patriotic in response to the Squire being dismissive to Buck. There is nothing funnier than someone singing a purposefully overwrought version of I’m Proud to Be An American. 

“It’s 2020 for us bitch!”

The moment Mrs. M said she was gonna make Gangie a sweater I was scared for her. Sweaters take a long time to get made. I was like oh no. The plot is gonna stop you from making that sweater isn’t it. I’m willing to be proven wrong (Brennan loves his maids with secrets, see: Cathilda) but she seems super sweet and if anything happens to her I’m going to be upset. 

What’s behind the painting Brennan. I know there’s a door. I know this house is full of secret tunnels and revolving bookshelves and all that. Let me see it!

One great little moment was when there was a flash of lightning and the minis for Sly and Lars like stop motion moved to look at it. Just great attention to detail. The work that gets put into this show is incredible.

Edit: A note I forgot to mention. There’s gotta be a secret door in the room where it happened, right? Like, creep in, flash of light to mess up her vision, do some shenanigans, peace out.

[unwittingcatalyst]

Summer of 51’s Day 8:  Bureaucracy

Analysis and Appreciation, Part One

I’m doing direct analysis instead of fic this time, though if writing it brings me plot bunnies I can play with in fic, I welcome them.  This is going to be a many-parter, since otherwise it’s just an unwieldy amount of analytic prose.  (After this first part which ends up going into the pilot, there will be sections on “Meetings and Being Heard,” “Socio-economic Class,” and finally a call of sorts for fanfic following from ideas in the previous sections.)  

And, I’d love to talk further with anybody reading this about any of it!

Since beginning watching Emergency! a month and a half ago (I’m not finished but I’ve seen the first season, the last season and movies, and episodes from every season), one of the many things I’ve come to appreciate about it is how the show nerds out not only about all the fire and paramedic equipment and vehicles, long loving camera shots, but also how it nerds out about the paramedic program itself.  In spite of the obvious eye of the LA fire department’s propaganda machine on them, the show ends up revealing in realistically subtle ways real challenges the program faced.  Bureaucracy is part of what I want to talk about, and I also want to talk about Johnny’s authority issues and money issues, and how the show says a whole lot about socioeconomic class.  In this essay I will…for real, here goes:

The pilot and the paramedic program:

One of my favorite details in the pilot (FAR more than the highly amusing fire engine porn that opens the story/the flashback, depending on which version you watch), is that awkward hand drawn sign outside the door where Roy is waiting for rescue people to come ask him questions.  It seems like Roy made it himself; the paramedic program is still a grassroots effort by this point.  How many hours, days, did Roy sit there, alone, waiting for people to come?  There were only, what, 8 or so folks who ended up enrolling in the second class.  

That’s the context in which I imagine Johnny showing up, intense and ornery and skeptical.  (See hitchcock-winter’s and Guardy’s amazing stories from Day 1 of the Summer of 51’s challenge for brilliant takes on that scene.)  That scene also underlines how the system is not working:  there’s a need that’s not being met, and no sure guarantee that the program will be approved.  As per what I’ll point out later, I’m certain Johnny is quite familiar with that kind of situation in his own life.  

Other institutional challenges with the paramedic program are hinted at throughout the series.  The entire drama of “Promotion” is caused by the fact that Roy can’t be promoted to engineer—with more pay--and stay a paramedic.  And we get frequent hints throughout the series that their pay is not great:  all those money-making schemes, which even Cap Stanley is eager about at least twice, indicating he’s not terribly financially secure either even at his rank, and Johnny’s anxieties about money.  Yes, I know all that is typically played for humor, but it’s serious stuff, and clearly goes right back to his childhood given what he says about living on the reservation in “Peace Pipe.”  The issue with paramedics and promotion is again brought up at the end, in Greatest Rescues, when while reminiscing Roy and Johnny out and out say how they waited for years for that problem to be fixed, and it never was—and so the series ends on the heart wrenching note that, with promotions to Captain, they are not going to be able to continue doing the paramedic work they clearly love and excel at.

Then, there are hints in the other end of series movies of system problems:  there’s not money for a needed large-scale emergency preparedness program, the one John de Lancie’s character is arguing for to Brackett at the start.  I do wish they’d spent more time on that subplot, rather than having it just be an ominous, obvious Chekov’s gun sort of thing:  I would have wanted to see some of that planning meeting at the beginning, Besides, much of the rest of that one is pretty dull except for any bits involving Johnny and Roy, but I might be a tad biased there.  In the Seattle film, there’s talk early on about how they need a major sea rescue program, a thing which would have to be argued to legislators.

So, the series regularly acknowledges and uses as plot points various problems with institutions—what we would call systemic problems, these days. In fact, the whole premise of the show begins with the idea that a major change needs to happen—the paramedic program.  Come to think of it—Brackett says at one point in the pilot that what he’d really like to see is more actual doctors, not paramedics, but that would take years because that’s how long it would take for them to go through schooling.  So initially, Brackett sees the paramedic program as a stopgap.  Of course, what Brackett says there he really wanted never in fact happens.

(To be continued in a new post soon)

[scotianostra]

On December 27th 1904 J M Barrie's play "Peter Pan" premiered at the Duke of York Theatre, London.

J.M. Barrie created his character based on his older brother, David, who died in an ice-skating accident the day before his 14th birthday. His mother and brother thought of him as forever a boy. The "boy who wouldn't grow up"

The story of free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical island of Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, interacting with fairies, pirates, mermaids, Native Americans, and occasionally ordinary children from the world outside Neverland.

Peter Pan has become a cultural icon symbolizing youthful innocence and escapism. In addition to two distinct works by Barrie, the character has been featured in a variety of media and merchandise, both adapting and expanding on Barrie's works. These include a 1953 animated film, a 2003 dramatic/live-action film, a television series and many other works.

J. M. Barrie first used Peter Pan 2 years before, as a character in a section of The Little White Bird, an adult novel where he appears as a seven-day-old baby in the chapter entitled Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Following the success of the 1904 play, Barrie's publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, extracted chapters 13–18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with the addition of illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Barrie never described Peter's appearance in detail, even in his novel, leaving it to the imagination of the reader and the interpretation of anyone adapting the character. In the play, Peter's outfit is made of autumn leaves and cobwebs. His name and playing the flute or pipes suggest the mythological character Pan. Barrie mentions in Peter and Wendy that Peter Pan still had all his "first teeth".He describes him as a beautiful boy with a beautiful smile, "clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that flow from trees"

Traditionally, the character has been played on stage by a petite adult woman. In the original productions in the UK, Peter Pan's costume was a reddish tunic and dark green tights, such as that worn by Nina Boucicault in 1904. This costume is exhibited in Barrie's Birthplace museum at Kirriemuir.

In the Disney films, Peter wears an outfit that consists of a short-sleeved green tunic and tights apparently made of cloth, and a cap with a red feather in it. He has pointed elf-like ears, brown eyes and his hair is red. In Hook ,  the character is played as an adult by Robin Williams, with blue eyes and dark brown hair; in flashbacks to him in his youth, his hair is light brown. In this film his ears appear pointed only when he is Peter Pan, not as Peter Banning. His Pan attire resembles the Disney outfit (minus the cap). In the live-action 2003 Peter Pan film, he is portrayed by Jeremy Sumpter, who has blond hair and blue-green eyes. His outfit is made of leaves and vines.

Barrie commissioned a statue of Peter Pan by sculptor George Frampton which was erected overnight in Kensington Gardens on 30 April 1912 as a May Day surprise to the children of London. Seven statues have been cast from the original mould, they are in, Egmont Park, Brussels, Belgium, Bowring Park, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, Bowring Park, Johnson Park, Camden, New Jersey, USA, Queens Gardens, Perth, Western Australia, Sefton Park, Liverpool, and Glenn Gould Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Various other statues have appeared around the world, including three in Scotland, the first is at  Mearnskirk Hospital for children in Glasgow, the first superintendent of the hospital, Dr John A Wilson, was a school friend of Barrie, the other one in Scotland is of course in Kirriemuir,  one in the main town square and the other in the Peter Pan Garden by Barrie's Birthplace, now owned by the National Trust of Scotland.

The most famous of the other statues is at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, who JM Barrie gifted the rights to the play in 1929, the copyright first expired in the UK (and the rest of Europe) in 1987, 50 years after Barrie’s death, but the government of the day made an amendment to the copyright act giving Great Ormond Street Hospital the unique right to royalties from stage performances of Peter Pan (and any adaptation of the play) as well as from publications, audio books, ebooks, radio broadcasts and films of the story of Peter Pan, in perpetuity.

[outerbankspreferences]

Goodbye Town - Pope Heyward

Warnings: Underage drinking, drugs

Word Count: 2355

A/N: This is based off my favorite song. I thought about writing with JJ but I think it works better this way.

Right there's the high school where we met

We'd sneak out back for a couple kisses and a cigarette

And that parking lot was our first date

And her momma slammed the door when I dropped her off too late

At one point in time, if you asked Pope Heyward who he loved his answer would be Kiara Carrera. He thought the sun set and rose just for her everyday. That was until he met Y/N Y/L/N. He never expected to like anyone beside Kie. Maybe Kiara was out of his league and had a thing for his other friends, but he didn’t care until that day. It was raining outside, he was in class, geometry to specific. His AP class to give him extra credits towards college. When the teacher introduced her, she said her name wrong, but the girl was to polite to say anything. She sat three seats behind him, her yellow backpack hanging off the back of her chair. He knew from that moment on he was in for it. He saw her around school, and talking to other people and finally he saw her talking to his friend John B. His heart dropped knowing he could never compete with someone like him. He thought he lost all chances until he introduced the two of them.

“Hey guys, this is Y/N, she just started in my art class.” John B introduced the blonde girl to everyone. She smiled, with a small blush.

“Are we still skipping last period to go surfing?” Kiara asked the brunette. They had been talking about it all day in the group chat. Something about the waves being supreme for surfing. Pope wanted to go but knew he would get in trouble for ditching again, plus last period was with Y/N and he wasn’t missing that.

Everyone was having their own conversation, while Pope was trying to finish geometry homework from the night before. He had finished JJ’s English assignment knowing he wouldn’t do it. He was lost in his math problems when she spoke to him. “Is that the homework from last night? Man, that was hard, what did you get for question 12?” Pope had to double take. Is she talking to him? “Yeah it-t is. Uh, I got the angle being 43.” “Oh, really how’d you get that I got the angle being 36.” He didn’t know where he got the confidence from but out of no where he spoke up. “I can show you after school if you want, these losers are going to be surfing for a while, and I’m going to need something to do.” She smiled at him. “Of course, that would be great why not by the bench outside, after class?” The rest was history.  

They met there all the time, and Pope fell harder and harder for the blonde hair girl. She would smoke a joint, and he would help her with the math. Sometimes she would draw. She was an amazing artist. Always talked about leaving and going west to LA. A pipe dreamed she called it. One day when the sun was setting and they were running late, Pope took a chance and kissed her. It was quick just a few seconds, but she smiled, and kissed him back. He walked her home that night. It was the first time he had ever seen were she lived. He mom was at the door waiting. “I’m sorry for what’s about to happened”, and before he could respond her mom was hollering about how she was running late. Slamming the door in Pope’s face when he tried to take the blame for what happened.

She's gone

Chasing that highway wind

She's gone

She ain't coming back again

This ain't nothing

Nothing but a goodbye town

These streets are only bringing me down

Gotta find a way to finally get out

Out of this goodbye town

As Pope was packing up his things for college, he found her sweater. It was just a little over two months ago when she left. He missed her so much. The way she always smelled like lavender and a hint of weed. They way she was so carefree, something he need to be more of. He was proud of himself for getting into UNC, he didn’t think it would actually happen. He applied for a ton of scholarships and with finical aid it wouldn’t be so bad. He got a job at a restaurant on the mainland. A friend of his dads. He put your sweater in the box of things he still had of yours. Scrunchies, a few bracelets, one of your old sketch books. These things that made his heart hurt, like a hurt he’s never felt. He wonder if you made it out west in the beat up car JJ helped fix for you. When he looked through the sketch book you left at his house and found pictures of buildings around town. Nothing but a goodbye town, he thought.

We sat down on those courthouse steps

Fourth of July those fireworks over our heads

And they'd ring the bells of that little church

No there ain't nowhere I can look that doesn't hurt

She's gone

But I still feel her on my skin

She's gone

But she ain't coming back again

This ain't nothing

Nothing but a goodbye town

These streets are only bringing me down

Gotta find a way to finally get out

Out of this goodbye town

 Looking through your sketch book he found one of the courthouse. It was your second fourth of July on the island, the first one you spent not knowing anyone. He smiled thinking back to that day, it was perfect. You guys had spent the night at John B’s place. You lied to your mom saying you were sleeping at Kiara so she wouldn’t get mad. There was a party at the boneyard the night before, and he wanted you to go. When you guys woke up in the morning you were wrapped up in his arms asleep on the couch. He was always the early riser, while you loved to sleep in. He treasured these moments. The way you eyelids flutter from the dream you were having to the small sounds escaping your lips from breathing. Once everyone got around for the day, John B and JJ suggested you go into town and watch the fireworks. It was cold and you forgot you sweater so Pope gave you his.

Watching the fireworks was memorizing to you. You loved all the colours that came from them. Sometimes they would be to loud and you would cover your ears. You split a smoke with JJ before leaving, he claimed it would enhance the experience. It just made them way too loud. Sometimes Pope still feels your breath on his skin. It wasn’t been long since you left but he was regretting everything about this goodbye town.

I can't erase the memories And I can't burn the whole place down No this ain't nothing Nothing but a goodbye town To hell if I'm sticking around Gotta find a way to finally get out Out of this goodbye town Oh yeah Out of this goodbye town I'm out of this town So out of this town Oh oh oh oh oh...

Pope didn’t know if he wanted to remember all the good times you guys had together. He didn’t want to feel the pain anymore. He kept looking back on the day he left you crying in your driveway. The day you guys called it quits. He couldn’t believe he just walked away

~Flashback~

It was the end of the school year, and you guys were getting ready for graduation. Some how you all made it through. JJ finishing with barely enough credits, but with Y/N and Pope’s help they got him through. It was the night after prom, you begged Pope to go with you. Claiming you guys only got one prom and you wanted to spend it with him. He could never say no your pout, it was like magic. So he got all dressed up in tux he borrowed from your brother and you wore a beautiful green dress that Kiara let you borrow. It was magic. You both were going to UNC, of course you were little disappointed, it wasn’t your first choice. You applied for an art school out west but got waitlisted. Of course you were happy to go to them same college as you boyfriend. You guys looked at apartments together, and you even got a job at a local bar. It was a dream come true.  

That was until the morning of gradation, your mom stopped to pick the mail up on her way home from your hair appointment. You were causally looking through the bills when you saw it. Your heart stopped, this was the letter you had been waiting for. You ripped it open and started reading, “we would like to congratulate you on your acceptance to the Otis College of Art and Design. You’ve been accepted into this years fall term.” You were freaking out. The first person you wanted to tell was Pope, but that’s when you remembered all the plans you guys made. He couldn’t be mad, could he? He knew this was your dream. When you got to your house he was there waiting for you. His smile made your heart drop. “How can I tell him mom? We made plans, I love him, but this is my dream.” You asked your mom. She looked at you sympathetically. “I know you love him Y/N, but never let a boy stop you from chasing your dreams. Just because you made plans with him, does not mean you have to give up your dreams for his.” She was right, you loved Pope and he will always be your first love but you couldn’t live your life wondering what would have happened if you never left.

Pope opening the door startled you. “Hey I’ve got our gowns and caps. Kie wants us to do pictures at her house, something about it looking nice in her garden. Everyone is meeting there, so go get your dress on.” He looked up at you. He could tell something was off. He knew you like the back of his hand. “What’s wrong Y/N/N?” that’s when he saw the letter. He recognized the LOGO from one of your art books. “Is that a letter from the art school out west? Y/N did you get in?” You could hear the fear in his voice and couldn’t blame him. He knew what was coming. You both did, but nether of you wanted to admit it. “Uh,-yeah-yeah it is. I got accepted. Someone must have dropped out. Crazy right? The school year wasn’t even started yet.” You looked at him and the look in his eyes killed you. “So what, are you going to go? I mean what about us? We made plans Y/N.” “I know that Pope, you don’t think I know that. This is a big deal for me! You know how bad I wanted this. We can make this work, we can do the long distance. No it would be easy, but I don’t want to lose you.” You pleaded with him as he turned away from you. He was so angry with you, changing the plans the two of you made. “No, I don’t want to be in a relationship with someone I don’t get to see. I want you to stay Y/N. It’ selfish of me but I need you here with me.” You couldn’t believe what he was saying to you. “Do you really want me to chose between you and my dream college. Don’t make me do that Pope. Please.” You had tears running down your face at this point. Not caring about your makeup. “Yes, I want you to choose—“Then I choose college.” You said it so fast you didn’t have time to take the words back. He looked at you with anger in his eyes. You’d never seen him mad like this before, of course you guys had disagreements but nothing like this. “Fine then.” And with that the love of your life walked away. Even with you screaming for him to comeback. He didn’t. It broke him, but he knew if he turned around that you would stay with him. And he couldn’t be the one to keep you from chasing your dreams.

~Flashback over~

Pope didn’t like to regret things. He stopped by your house a couple days later, but your mom said that you already moved. Deciding on spend the summer in LA with your aunt to get to know the place better. He knew that was a lie. He knew you left because you could stand to see him. He walked around the town all summer seeing all the places you guys would hang out. The Pouges tried their best to keep his mind off things, as well as his parents. His dad offered to move him to the mainland early, but Pope wasn’t ready yet. JJ agreed to move to the mainland with him, getting a job and going to the community college near the university. It was the small gesture Pope appreciate from his friend. Pope was putting the last of his boxes in the truck, JJ had already moved over a week before starting work. He was finally ready to leave. Leave all the memories the two of you had behind. It was done and, in the past, but he couldn’t help but think about you smoking by the school doing homework. He was ready to leave this goodbye town.

You'll be just a memory in the back of my mind You'll be just a memory yeah Oh, somewhere in the back of my mind In the back of my mind, yeah One day you're gonna look back at what we had You're gonna think of me You're gonna think of me When I'm long gone I'll be long gone

[natjennie]

ouauaughh im thinking about HAVERS and how simple and sweet and perfectly real his characterization was in the two minutes we got to know him. the cap flashback set such a mood immediately, such a clear image of button house and its inhabitants during the war. the way I can practically see havers and cap playing cricket with the troops on the weekends, paying careful attention to the gardens on their patrol, sharing a glass of whiskey in the office, coats hung on the backs of chairs, leaning towards each other across the desk. the hint of fear. the glimpse of hope. if anything happens, blame it on the war. blame it on the stress, the loneliness, the alcohol. whatever you need to blame. the chalkboards and the wooden floors and the posters and the letter and the pipe and the mine. operation william. it's all so fleshed out and colorful in such a short amount of time. redding weddy remains both incredibly impressive and hugely heartbreaking every time I watch it.