#He's known Elle for ten years!

[rboooks]

Can you write a dead on main? Something with a bookstore au please!

Now that I know the ship names, you bet I can! I'll try my best to get through the ones I got requested in the past few days.

Jason liked bookstores.

They were a safe haven for him as a child, even when the fancier ones chased him off when he became a street kid. He adores the various series, the smell of books, and the quiet of stores. Often he thought that they were a small pocket to escape reality.

He had always known he could escape between the pages when everything had been terrible.

Maybe that's what lead him to this store even if it was a bit odd.

It was out of the way by the old docks that Joker used to run, thus making it condemned to the rest of the populace.

An old warehouse turned into a three-story bookstore. The entire first floor was aisles placed in side-way lines with the main counter as its center. The second floor had cozy reading nocks, plush futon couches, pillows, and blankets, complete with a small cafe. The rule was that anyone could take a book off the second-floor walls to read for free.

Employees asked to be informed if any food or damage was done to the second floor since the second book only had one copy of each. The owner would pull one off the bottom floor shelves to replace it.

The final floor had various reading rooms, but Jason loved that each room was based on a book. The room was professionally decorated to the point it left visitors feeling like they actually stepped into the world of the book.

Sculptures, playable settings, phenomenal little details the hard die fans could spot, and even sound systems playing sounds that sounded like the world. Jason could only compare it to Disney World or universal studios. The fact that people could rent the rooms for an hour for only fifteen dollars made them much more popular.

The third-floor rooms- ten in total- would rotate between series after a few months. Hence, the rooms were always different, but inside them were recommended books with the same kind of theme that was always the perfect recommendation, or maybe people just wanted to explore a room of their favorites.

Jason had visited the strange little bookstore with Tim after his brother had gone on a date with Bernard there.

Tim and Barnard had rented the "Hogwarts common rooms" room for three hours. Jason had been amazed by how real the four standard rooms looked, how there were even dragons spitting fire in one corner, moving portraits, a sorting hat ceremony, a small teddy bear decorating corner, and even a wand building second. All for only fifteen dollars. Tim had practically been glowing when he came home with his Ravenclaw bear and his own wand.

And maybe Jason is a huge Harry Potter fan; perhaps it was one of the first things he boned with Tim over, so maybe his brother had taken him to have an experience that he compared to the first time Bruce took him to Universal Studios.

Then he ran into the owner while one of the employees had been helping him pick runes to have burned into his wand.

Jason started to come back for an entirely different reason.

"Hi, Jason!" Elle says when she sees him climbing the stairs toward the third floor. She's the store's co-owner and has gotten to know him on a first-name basis due to how often Jason has visited the store in the past year. If they made a reward points system, Jason knows he be the highest one on the chart.

She's sitting at a table that is decorated like a galaxy. The books for these quarters' room themes are on the table's surface, all with a door key under them and a clipboard for the various hours.

Jason's eyes land on Pride and Prejudice, and his heart leaps.

"Hi, Elle. What's the wait time for door seven?"

She smiles, flipping the clipboard to the time slots. "The Ball at Netherfield Park has a lot of openings today. I got a three, four, six, or seven. When shall I fit thee dance card in milord?"

Jason laughs and checks his phone, ensuring he doesn't need to do anything for a while before saying. "Three will be fine. It's only thirty minutes. I'll go get a coffee while I wait."

She nods, writing his name down for three. She then passes him some disclosure forms he has to sign, forgoes the long-winded explanation of the rules, and sends him on his way, promising to send him a reminder text.

"Just so you know, Ball at Netherfield Park comes with a unique costume option. Five extra dollars to go through our costume section, and you can dress up like Mr. Darcy for a full hour."

Jason shakes his head though it's a very tempting offer. "Thanks, Elle but I'm okay with my street clothes today."

The other shrugs and checks her nails- their asexual theme today, he notes- before nonchalantly commenting. "Too bad. Danny really wanted someone to cosplay with him. Jane Austin's books are less prevalent in Gotham than we thought, and he's been dying to wear his Mr. Bingley outfit. I thought you like to, so I told him to come over when you arrive, but I can text him to cancel-"

"Five dollars, you said? For the full outfit or just like a coat?" Jason ignores her smug expression and quickly places a twenty on the table.

"Full outfit. What do you take us for?"

He glares at her just as the man of the hour himself runs up the stairs. Danny Fenton, founder, and co-owner of Ghost Zone Reads. He's in a light blue Regency period man coat that makes his eyes pop. A pair of white pants that hug his hips and thighs in all the right places, black knee boots, and a black gentle top hat.

Jason's knees go weak at the sight of him.

Danny's face is flush from the run, but his whole face lights up when he sees his sister and her guest. "Jason! I'm so glad you choose the Ball at Netherfield Park experience. I can't wait for our dance."

"Dance?" Jason chocks. Elle chuckles.

"You can't experience a Ball at Netherfield without the ball part dingus." She waves a hand at her brother. "Told him Dick canceled on you, so he offered to step in."

Jason never even mentions Dick to her but he's not about to call her out on her lie. She's doing him such a big favor.

"I always wanted to go to a Jane Austin ball!" He says instead, mentally wincing at how lame he sounds. Thankfully Danny's eyes only light up even more as the other man starts explaining the instructional videos installed in the ballroom mirrors so they can learn the real moves of Contra Dancing.

Jason falls just a tad bit more.

(Elle watches with a fond smile as Jason and Danny get lost in Austin's most significant works. She quickly texts her allies in Wayne Manor under the table. This is a big step in the "Make us in-laws" operation; the Fenton and Wayne children started a few months back. They were all tired of watching Danny and Jason dance around each other. Damian's idea to use Jason's favorite author was working fabulously.)

[formosusiniquis]

any cosmo girl would have known

“Oh she did it for sure.”

“Steve!”

“Ten bucks, Bobert, don't give me that look last time we agreed double or nothing.”

“No,” Nancy insists. “This isn't Murder, She Wrote or Scooby-Doo or Columbo-”

“You saw who did it in Columbo at the beginning,” Eddie reminds.

“I know it's an awful show.”

Robin and Steve remain in sync enough to each get a hand on his shoulder to keep him from getting on the coffee table to defend the only good cop show in existence.

“I'm only pointing out,” she rewinds the VHS taking it back the two or three minutes they'd talked over before stopping it completely, “that this is a movie, not a drama with a repeated format that Steve can pattern recognition into predicting.”

“You haven't seen it already, right?” Robin asks. “The one rule of Monthly Middle-Aged Movie Night is you have to pick a movie none of us have seen.”

“No, I haven't seen it already. If you'll all remember when I asked you each to go see it with me I got,” he points to each of them in turn. “‘Wouldn't you rather see Tomb Raider?’ from double VHS, prestige cinephile and ‘That's too much pink for me, baby, you know I have that intolerance, maybe Rob or Nance will go?’ from my emo-isn’t-a-phase husband. And ‘I'm a little busy with this new story, Steve,’ from Nancy, the only one of you with a real excuse.”

“Some feminist you are, Birdie.”

“I don't want to hear it from you. I watched two of the blandest men alive pursue Renee Zellweger while the screen writers tried to convince us she was homely because you ‘forgot’ you had band practice.”

“You said you liked it!”

“It grew on me, but sometimes you just want to see a woman in a tank top. And I won't be shamed by the same man who cried during Beauty and the Beast.”

“I went with my sweet baby Lucy Joan, you miserable hag,” Eddie says, “and they turned that hot werewolf into a boring looking man.”

“You weren't into that? Look at who-”

“Why am I getting made fun of? Can we finish the movie?”

“No, I'm not going to let this be another Sixth Sense situation,” Nancy says, holding the remote hostage, she knows no one will try to take it from her.

“Ugh don't even bring that up,” Eddie groans, “Dustin still mentions it in at least one letter a year.”

Nancy nods, prim and proper, “Exactly, so tell us right now why you think she did it, then we'll play it again.”

“Chutney, the daughter,” Steve corrects, “have you even been paying attention? Her hair's permed.”

“And press play,” Eddie shouts.

“No,” Robin smacks his hands as he makes his ballsy play to reach around her for the remote. “Show your work, Dingus, even I didn't follow that one.”

“I don't always like the movies everyone else picks but I at least watch them. Her hair is permed, she said she was in the shower. She would have had to have been washing her hair if she didn't hear the gunshot and she has a perm.”

“You can wash your hair with a perm,” Nancy points out.

“You would know.” Eddie snarks, fingering the ends of his own hair.

“You can't wash a fresh perm, you'll fuck up the ammonium thioglycolate. Then you're out forty bucks and you've got limp hair. She killed her dad and lied about being in the shower.”

“Press play,” Eddie decrees again, leaning in close to Steve's side to purr, “it's pretty sexy when you go all hair care detective.”

His hand starts to slip below the blanket. “This is how we ended up with Lucy in the first place,” Steve reminds him, just under the sounds of the courtroom drama picking back up. It doesn’t stop Eddie’s hand from wandering until the movie’s climax starts getting closer, and Eddie’s attention is captured just like Robin’s and Nancy’s.

“Unbelievable,” Robin says, when Elle cites the perm salt.

“Never again,” Nancy swears, when Chutney screams her confession.

“Lucy’s been asking for a brother or sister,” Eddie flirts, as Elle reveals that any good Cosmo girl could have solved it.

No more movies with mysteries or twist endings for a while, they all agree, Robin can’t afford to keep betting against Steve.

[honkytonk-hangman]

In Sickness...

Jake Seresin x Aviator!Reader

Summary: Jake feels his pulse jump and his stomach fly when he talks to or about you. Obviously, this must mean he's gravely ill.

Notes: mentions of a cheating boyfriend, jake convinced he's sick when really he is in loooveeee

Masterlist

“Hey, Hangman, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Jake, despite his usual goal of doing everything in his power to get on Phoenix’s nerves, finds himself ignoring the need to be quite annoying. His antics aside, he knew his fellow aviator well enough by now to recognise when she was up for his shit, and when she absolutely wasn’t.

That doesn’t mean he’s not going to be a little bit of a douchebag, though.

“Give me a second, Trace, I’ll need to start my timer.” he makes a show of observing his watch and starting a countdown from sixty seconds. Phoenix ignores him, and in place of possibly giving him a dead arm, she instead comes to a stop in front of him, her arms crossing over her chest in a way that was just a Natasha Thing, and not actually a sign of closed body language-thing

“You’re going to be at Mav and Penny’s later, right?” she asks, even though he knows he’s never given the impression of having any other plans, and she knows it. Jake simply nods, still pretending to count down.

“Right. Well… maybe take it easy on Cricket tonight, okay?” Phoenix asks him, her voice soft and quiet in a manner that makes Jake mess up his countdown, and subsequently drop his wrist and the bit entirely.

“I’m under the impression that I always take it easy on my favourite member of the orthopteran insect family,” he poses, and it's not untrue. He didn’t snipe with Cricket like he did with the others, mostly because she never sniped back, so trying to maintain a faux adversarial relationship would just be boring. No, Cricket was far sweeter and more wholesome than literally anyone he’d ever met, like Elle Woods had a lovechild with Barbie, and instead of banter, he’d found it irresistible and perpetually rewarding to tease her about her Certified Disney Princess status.

(Jake will never let her forget the time a small child at the beach approached her to ask if she was a mermaid, and that wasn’t even the only instance he’d witnessed something like that happening.)

 Phoenix shifts uncomfortably in front of him and purses her lips.

“Look, just… give her a break tonight,” she pushes. Jake frowns even deeper, his own mood becoming solemn now.

“What's wrong? Is she alright?” the questions leave his mouth before he can really consider perhaps only asking one, to keep some semblance of cool. Phoenix dances from foot to foot again and nods, but then quickly makes the universal noise, gesture and expression of ‘well, no, actually’.

“She, uh, broke up with her boyfriend a few days ago.” Nat reveals, and oddly, it's the last thing Jake was expecting to hear, and the last thing he’d expect her to divulge to him.

“Oh.” he says, a little unsure of what else to say. Blinking rapidly, Phoenix starts nodding again, this time in a sort of commiserating manner, as if they often gossiped.

“Yeah, she came home to find the prick was fucking one of his colleagues…” She all but spits the words. Her hands form fists where they’re still tucking into her folded arms.

“She's actually really torn up about it, but you know Cricket. She’s not very good at not being positive, you know? So she’s just bottling it up, and I figured, maybe your usual game with her might not be so lighthearted right now. You know she would never tell you if you actually hurt her feelings, so…” Phoenix manages to catch herself before she descends into a full on ramble.

In all the years he’d known her, Jake had only ever witnessed Phoenix fully ramble once, several years ago back in Lemoore, when she and Halo had downed eight shots in ten minutes, and she then proceeded to give him a thirty minute TEDTalk about how cockroaches were basically just incredibly simple AI machines, interrupted every so often when she dozed off against his shoulder, only to pick right back up like nothing had happened.

Pushing the memory aside, Jake takes in her words slowly before at last he releases a deep breath.

He actually finds himself a little taken aback by the sheer depth of anger that lances through him at the thought of Cricket being treated like that. Nobody deserves to be cheated on, but Cricket was simply someone that Jake doesn’t believe anything bad should ever happen to. Around the same time he comes to this conclusion, Jake also becomes aware that as his anger simmers down, he’s struck with the need to seek out his squadmate, and comfort her, something which, if Jake is honest with himself, is not something he has much experience with. He was much more likely to offer space to someone in need, so this sudden urge causes his brow to furrow.

Jake chooses to compartmentalise this oddness for now, but makes a mental note for later to figure out when exactly he’d developed such a strong fondness for Cricket, and more importantly, how exactly that had happened without him knowing.

For now, Jake just gives Pheonix a level nod, and what he hopes is an expression she takes to mean he understands. He then tries to get a hold of his rogue fondness and leashes it with what he thinks is a brotherly, friendly reaction, a more normal reaction for him to have towards his squadmate.

“Does she want him punched or something?” he asks, feeling as though anything more would reveal too much of his scattered, fond thoughts. Jake purses his lips when he realises that ‘fondness’ was quickly becoming an understatement he’ll have to address at some point.

Phoenix's lips curve into a genuine smile, and she chortles softly, shaking her head.

“Well, you’ll have to get in line if she does. I’ve got first dibs.” she states, cracking her knuckles and then her neck, making Jake snort, and shrug, glad to know that perhaps he wasn't the only one suddenly feeling protective.

“I’m sure we could come up with a wrestlemania-worthy finishing move, a la The Hardy Boys to sort him out.” Jake chortles, imagining he and Nat in matching championship belts, and ignoring her raised eyebrow. He knows from that one movement alone that she is filing this information about him away to whip out like a trap card, but compared to the other information she might have gleaned from his reaction to the situation, he doesn’t care so much.

(Besides, Jake felt no shame about his love for Attitude-Era WWE, and if he ever gets the chance to repay her for the thirty minutes of cockroach facts he could have lived his whole life without needing to know, well, now he knew exactly what his topic of choice would be.)

Four hours later, Jake, for some reason, cannot stop thinking about his conversation with Phoenix. He tried chalking it up to the fact that it was an unusual request she’d made of him, but he knows that is bull. Jake is far too invested all of a sudden in your personal life, in your feelings, in a way that honestly, he never has been before. Or at least, has never realised before, because the more Jake lingers on the idea that you were cheated on, he has to confront the fact that these feelings might just have been there all along, and that actually, your happiness and wellbeing are extremely important to him.

He keeps his distance when you arrive with Halo at Penny and Mav’s, but he eyes you hawkishly anyway, uncaring if he’s obvious about it or not. He wants to believe that if he hadn’t known, he’d have spotted your much more reserved demeanour immediately, but honestly, he's not really sure of anything now when it comes to you. Jake isn’t sure if Phoenix spoke to the others, if he was just the last to know, but there is an air of tenderness in the way the others greet you, which wasn't entirely unusual in itself, yet the softness is palpable even from where he sits on the other side of the yard.

He watches you put on a good show, smiling sweetly at Penny as she rushes over to say hello, but the moment you dont think others are paying attention, your features fall and Jake decides that it is basically unacceptable for you to look that sad ever again.

When you disappear through the backdoor, to put the share platter you’ve bought into the fridge he assumes, Jake doesn’t even excuse himself from the conversation he’s supposedly in before he’s beelining for the house. Behind him, he can vaguely hear Javy and Payback protest, but he doesn’t pay them any mind.

Jake steps through the sliding back doors quietly, closing the door behind him and shutting out the rest of the barbeque, if only for a few minutes. He moves softly through the small back room and towards the kitchen, once more surprised to find out just how pleased he is when you turn to look at him right away. That was new… or was it? Jake thinks perhaps he should stop trying to figure things out.

“Hey! Jake!” you greet cheerfully, and he’s comforted a little that your smile reaches your eyes.

“I didn’t catch you this afternoon, so I didn't get to find out your fruit platter preference, but Javy told me anything but pineapple–” you launch right away into friendly conversation, and oddly, this small normality brings him comfort too, after his afternoon of quiet worry. Jake nods at your words as you continue explaining your fruit platter, and if he hadn't other things on his mind, he would have voiced his amusement at the fact you’d somehow managed to cut or arrange all the fruits into the shape of jets.

Anger bubbles in him once again, at the idea that anybody would do anything to cause you to be upset. You, who cuts fruit into themed shapes, and who makes sure to ask every member of the team their food preferences, and who, he’s almost certain, has made the yoghurt dip you're currently unwrapping completely from scratch just for this casual get together.

How could any sane person know you, know how sweet and caring and fundamentally, altogether good you are, and still choose to do something that would hurt you?

More importantly, how could a man be with you and want anyone else?

Jake takes a step forward and fixes you with what he hopes is not an expression that reflects his inner anger, but gives off something more like softness. He’s not sure he’s ever really had a serious conversation with you before, especially not one that wasn't about work, so he’s surprised how natural it feels to show you something more genuine than his usual playful amusement.

“Are you alright?” he hears himself ask you, almost regretting it when your expression drops immediately, and you look away from him, back to your fruit platter which you now seem to be pointless rearranging just so you don't have to look at him. You attempt to wave him off after a few moments, plastering a smile on and scrunching your nose as you continue to not look at him.

“I’m okay. Really. Things weren’t right for a while, so it’s sort of a relief, really.”

Jake thinks that maybe in a few months time, those words might actually be believable, but Phoenix was right. You were such a naturally happy and uplifting person, it’s clear to Jake that you were struggling to let yourself be sad or angry about it all.

You seem to be expecting him to speak, because you glance back at him several times before you seem to really get a look at his face, at which point you stop messing with your platter and turn to face him properly.

“Thank you for asking, though, I… I really appreciate that,” you murmur, wringing your hands together, before realising what you’re doing and smoothing them out over your sundress instead. Jake feels his pulse speed up. Or maybe it slows, he’s not sure, he just knows that his heart beat becomes irregular, and before he knows what he's doing, he’s stepping even closer towards you.

“Cricket,” he begins, a frown beginning to crease his brow, which your eyes flicker to consciously, as if you were concerned about his feelings. “Just say the word, and his nose will be irreparably broken. For the rest of his life he’ll be telling people it's an old football injury. Maybe he’ll even need surgery to fix it enough that it’s even remotely normal again,” Jake watches your eyes widen and blink as he speaks, but he makes sure to keep any trace of humour from his voice, so you properly understand just how serious he’s being. “Hell, it doesn't even need to be his nose. I’ll break his collarbone, I've heard that's the most painful in the long run…”

When you let out a soft sound halfway between a laugh and a sigh, Jake almost thinks he needs to rephrase his offer, but your soft smile and the almost shy look you shoot at him before you drop your gaze for a moment assures him you understood that he wasn’t joking, even a little.

“Sometimes…” you purse your lips and frown, struggling to find the right words, but you begin wringing your hands slowly again and the movement seems to lend you some confidence. “Sometimes I really wish I could be more like Phoenix… or, more like anybody else, really–” Jake has to physically clamp his mouth shut to stop himself protesting that point and let you talk.

“Sometimes, I wish I was someone who would take you up on that offer. I… I feel like I should want to want that… but I don’t…” you trail off and sigh again, but this time, the exhale seems to take a weight off your chest, like simply admitting these feelings out loud was what you really needed.

You look back up at him properly, and smile again. Jake thinks his pulse has stopped altogether now, and begins to seriously consider reporting to medical first thing Monday morning.

“But, I promise that if I ever change my mind about the severe breaking of certain bones, I’ll know exactly who to talk to.” Your smile widens just slightly, a little mischievous almost, like even just joking about it was very cheeky of you. Jake on the other hand, just believes it to be the only correct course of action.

He opens his mouth to respond, but you begin talking again, dropping your fidgeting hands to hang more relaxed at your sides.

“A lot of my life I haven’t really been surrounded by people who’ve looked out for me, or folks who I can really trust… and I know we’re not really friends, more like work friends, but–” you suddenly cut yourself off and shake your head with a little chortle.

“It doesn’t matter, ignore me–”

“–We’re friends.” Jake can’t stop himself from protesting this time. You blink at him like this is surprising to you. “We are friends, Cricket… I know I–” Jake cuts himself off like you had just done and grinds his teeth a little. This was not a conversation he went around having very often, if ever, at all. “You know I wouldn’t poke fun at you if I didn’t care. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think we were friends,” he says, hoping his words didn’t give away exactly how much he cared. You seem to search his face, but you’re nodding, as if he was the one who needed assuring in this situation.

Jake starts to wonder then if he was actually becoming seriously ill, and all of his reaction to this afternoon has just been one big fugue episode. That idea is genuinely more believable to him at this moment, that Jake is really, actually currently unconscious in the on base hospital, with a skyrocketing fever and some other terrible things, than all of this sudden personal change and inner realisation happening so naturally and smoothly and without him having a say in it.

But then you’re smiling at him again, bright and genuine and all thoughts of climbing fevers and sudden illness evaporate. As sad as it sounds, Jake would never dream of you smiling at him like that, the sight so affecting and sweet that he could never come up with on his own. However, he does conclude he’ll probably be seeing it a lot in his dreams from now on. He thinks this should cause panic in him, he should not be planning to dream about one of his squad mates smiling at him, but unsurprisingly to him now, panic is the furthest thing he feels about it.

“Well, I just know that I’m not always good at asserting myself, but I know that you guys… you guys will do it for me.” You give a little shrug. Jake feels a little shame then, that he’s worked with you for several months now and has not once picked up on the fact that you were completely aware of your own tendency to be a bit of a pushover.

It dawns on him that every time he teased you for being ‘too nice’, and every time you laughed or shook your head in amusement, the real joke was on him. It’s a joke that Jake doesn't find particularly funny right now. He’s not sure he ever will.

“Sorry, I’m being so dramatic and grim!” you say suddenly, and this time your mood change isn’t fake or put on. Jake shakes his head at you, and at last feels some of his regular programming begin to seep back in. He chooses to make a show of leaning back against the counter and carefully crosses his arms over his broad chest in a way that he knows looks incredibly sexy (Javy has assured him), a small smirk slowly spreading over his features.

“Cricket,” he drawls out slowly, somewhat relieved that he feels more himself again. You double take as you look back up at him from where you’ve started fiddling with your fruit platter again, your eyes blinking rapidly as you now quickly try to avoid his whole side of the room. Jake’s grin grows ever so slightly when he has your attention, even if you seem too nervous to look at him now.

Unlike most of the women Jake had worked with, you didn't seem to try to, or perhaps you simply were unable to, hide the effect Jake had on you, how he could so easily make you flustered. It's not something he’s totally unfamiliar with, after all, plenty of women around the Hard Deck were the exact same, but the fact that you aren't some civilian looking to get laid, and are in fact one of the best aviators he knows, makes it all the sweeter.

(Jake had once tried to reconcile the way you handled yourself in the air, with the way you were at all other times, but he could never quite do the maths on it, so it was better for his brain if he didn't think about it at all.)

Honestly, Jake knows his getting a reaction out of you is an act of self ego-stroking, but he loved making a spectacle of himself, just to watch how you would sputter and go all mushy, and if he’s even more honest, a big part of his enjoyment lay in the thought that perhaps, he was doing you a favour, giving you something to think about, boyfriend be damned. He supposes he doesn’t need to worry about that being a problem anymore.

Jake then pauses then, and wonders when exactly you having a boyfriend had become a ‘problem’, a threat to him specifically, because the more he thinks about the idea now (hypothetical as it is), the more his skin starts to itch under his shirt.

Perhaps he was getting sick after all.

“Yes, Jake?” you ask, still avoiding looking his way, and trying to use a tone of voice that was either exasperated or ignorant, but your slightly higher pitch gives you away.

“You didn’t say that I was your friend, too,” he faux complains, watches you shake your head a little, but fail completely at keeping the smile off of your face.

With your platter now deemed ready, you pick it up and turn toward him, holding it out for him to take. Jake, without thought, does so.

“You are my friend, too, Jake,” you tell him, far more sincerely this time, and Jake feels his pulse do that odd thing again. He swallows thickly, and nods, before you direct him out the back door.

For the rest of the afternoon, Jake can’t help but hover, never moving too far away from where you are, and when he doesn’t have an excuse to linger close to you, he always keeps one eye directed your way.

[punkette1026]

Thunder Rolls

Summary: As a thunderstorm rolls into town, you can't help but go down memory lane reliving how much life has changed for you. For Joel, it brings pain and sorrow and a request that you just can't just say no too.

Chapter Warnings: Angst, Fluff, mentions of character death, pregnancy

This is my first Joel fanfic! Please be gentle, but I am open to feedback.

Also shoutout to our amazing discord group pascal's fan net for the inspiration for this story. You are all amazing writers

You have been awake for a while now. The sounds of a thunderstorm off in the distance and the sudden cold breeze that came through the opened window in your bedroom were enough to wake you from your sleep. You could have fallen back to sleep, but your parched throat forced you to get out of bed and walk downstairs to get a glass of water. As you pass the last bedroom before you get to the stairs, you peek in and see Ellie fast asleep snuggled in her bed. She was such a sound sleeper that not even the storm brewing outside was enough to wake her. You were so happy to have her in your life and you couldn’t believe how fast she was growing into a remarkable young woman. Just thinking about it, causes you momentarily to go down memory lane…

You had met Joel and Elle three years prior in an abandoned mall in Montana. You were reminiscing on the days pre outbreak as a young teen where you would spend hours on the weekends shopping with friends and eating your weight in junk at the food court. Joel and Ellie had caught you by surprise in a decaying clothing store as you were trying to find something remotely useful and that would fit your tiny frame. As you came out of the backroom of the store, you were met face to face with a hunting rifle. You could recall Joel looking like he hadn't slept in weeks and poor Ellie was dressed in nothing but a hospital gown and what you can only guess was Joel’s jacket protecting her from the cold chill in the air. 

After a brief standoff that felt like hours, you both concluded that neither parties meant no harm and had agreed to go your separate ways no questions asked. However, Ellie had been the one to protest and had asked if you would tag along with them. At first Joel protested, alluding to the fact that he and Ellie were on the run and they didn’t have time to carry around anymore “cargo” with them. They had to get back to Jackson to warn his brother Tommy what had happened days prior. After a quick argument and one look of disapproval from Ellie was all it took for Joel to give in and allow you to tag along with him on the condition you listen to every word he said or he wouldn’t think twice to shoot you.

You and Ellie hit it off right away like you had known each other your entire life. It was nice to have another person yet alone, another girl to talk to even though she was ten years younger than you. You both gossiped over everything you had been through and both took joy in teasing Joel over how much control Ellie had over him. All of which he would roll his eyes and let out an occasional mumble that you couldn’t make out. You would take that reaction though. Joel was one tough egg to crack. He was one big mystery. He would only speak a few words to you here and there. Always keeping his distance. You would often hear Ellie snapping at him, telling him that he needed to be nice and that you never did anything to deserve such a cold response. 

That seemed to change something in Joel because one night before you reached Jackson, during your night watch, he approached you as you overlooked the ridgeline. You both sat there in silence until you decided to make the first move. You started to open up to him, telling him how you became alone after watching your family get picked off one by one either by raiders or the infected, how you then bounced from QZ to QZ, and everything in between up until the moment you met him and Ellie. You didn’t expect him to tell you anything back. You just wanted to tell him more about you in order for him to trust you. However, in total surprise, Joel opened up to you, sharing his journey. He told you everything from his former partner Tess, how he reunited with his brother Tommy, and the most shocking, what happened with the Fireflies and Ellie. That night opened a new world for you both. From then on you both grew closer sharing glances, smiles and the occasional need to feel each other's touch when Ellie wasn't looking. 

When you got to Jackson, the feelings didn't stop there. When Tommy offered you your own place to stay, Joel quickly protested. He claimed there was no need to take up space that another person can use when he and Ellie had a home big enough to fit all three of you. The real reason though, he couldn’t stand being away from you. He needed you by side. He needed to protect you. You felt the same. Joel made you feel at peace. He eased your mind when it ran into overdrive and he became a shoulder to lean on when you need to cry. Some nights after a long day of patrolling, you would cuddle up by the fireplace, him with whiskey and you with wine, and you would unravel what happened that day. It was one of these nights that you shared your first kiss deciding to give a relationship a try. 

It went on for a few months with some bumps along the way. An occasional fight or two that ended up with both parties apologizing and making love till the sun came up. Neither one had said the dreaded words I love you yet, as they were both afraid of the other's reaction. Everything came to a head one day though after a scouting trip went horribly wrong. You had been ordered to go out with a scouting party to investigate a fire off in the distance. Joel had begged you not to go and to stay with him. He had been on the mend after spraining his ankle, tripping over Ellie’s jacket that she left on the floor one night. You told him that you needed to go. Tommy had given you an order and you had to follow it. That led to the mother of all fights and you ended up storming out telling Joel you didn’t think this relationship thing would work out. The next time he saw you, you were being carried to the infirmary after being shot twice. It turns out the fire ended up being a trap by a group of raiders looking to make trouble. No one could stop Joel as he forced his way into your hospital room crying that he loved you and that he was sorry for fighting with you. You ended up surviving of course but it was a long road to recovery and Joel was there with you every step of the way. Giving you all the love and attention you needed.

As you stood there reminiscing, a flash of light followed by a loud clap of thunder was enough to bring you out of your thoughts. Quickly heading downstairs, you grabbed your glass of water before making your way back upstairs to your room as the storm finally made its way into Jackson. 

Getting gently back into bed being careful to not to wake Joel, your now husband of over a year, another clap of thunder rocked your house. This one was loud enough to stir him. You could hear small whimpers coming his mouth and the bed sheets that covered his naked body started to move. Looking over, you could see sweat start to form above his brow and the whimpering started to get louder. It was obvious he was having a nightmare. You became torn with waking him or just letting it play out. However the decision was made for you when another clap of thunder came from above causing Joel to jolt up.

“Sarah!” he shouted in a painful scream as he jumped up fully awake. You watch as he tries to get his bearings and figure out where he was. After a moment or two with his chest gasping for air, he turned to look at you, “What…what happened?”

“You were having a nightmare baby,” you console him, sitting up and running your hand up and down his naked back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Joel looked down in shame and shook his head. You knew Sarah was still a touchy subject for him. Even after all these years and now married, she was something that Joel rarely talked about. You didn’t mind though and you didn’t push. You knew what happened to her and how tragic it was, but other than that, she was off limits. Sarah was Joel’s business and his alone. You knew when the timing was right, Joel would tell you everything about her. Until then, you were here for him anyway you could be.

“Do you think you can go back to sleep or do you want to go sit by the fire? It’s still dark out,” you ask him, placing a kiss on his shoulder.

“I jus wanna lay here, but do…do you think…nevermind.”

You sat up a little bit more, this time wrapping your arms around his midsection, resting your cheek on his broad back, “What is it Joel? You know you can ask me anything baby.”

He turned to look at you with tears filling his chocolate colored eyes, “Do you think you can hold me? I don’t think I can go back to sleep without it.”

“Of course baby, you never have to ask me. Lay back down and I’ll do my best,” you tell him as you usher him back to bed.

With Joel on his side, you maneuver behind him wrapping one arm around him, while the other folds behind your head, “Is this good?” He nodded and took your hand, intertwining his with yours. 

As you lay there, you listened to the rain that was pouring down now. Joel’s breath had returned to normal and you thought the rain had lulled him to sleep. However out of nowhere, he let out a chuckle. “What is it?” you ask.

“He’s kicking me,” he chuckles once again, feeling tiny thumps against his back.

You look down at your growing belly that was nestled between you, “It’s because he knows his daddy needs him. He doesn’t like seeing his daddy upset.”

Joel rolled over to look at you and placed his hands on your belly, “It’s okay little guy. Daddy just had a nightmare about your sister. She would have loved you.”

“Joel you don’t…”

“No it’s okay,” he interrupts, “He needs to know about her. I want both of you to know her. I just…I just need more time. Be patient with me.”

You take his hand from your belly and bring it up to your lips, giving it a gentle kiss, “We are here for you. We love you and will always be here for you.”

He gave you his signature smirk, the one where his dimple showed. The one you hoped that your son would inherit. “I love you too darlin. You, Ellie and mini me are my entire world. Thank you for choosing and having me.”

“The pleasure is all mine Mr. Miller. Now roll back over. Momma needs her sleep and you know Ellie is bound to come running in here the first thing in the morning. You know how much she loves the rain.”

“Yes ma’am! Just watch my back kiddo. Daddy has a bad back and is getting old,” he smirked one last time before leaning down to give you and your belly a kiss before rolling over. 

You once again wrap your arms around him and pull him as tight as you could, before letting out a peaceful sigh. The rain at this point has calmed and the thunder is no more. It wasn’t long before you both found sleep again. This was all you needed, just Ellie and your boys all nestled in bed, safe and sound and loved in this apocalyptic filled world. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.

[isagrimorie]

So… this is something I just wrote down last night— it’s not perfect nor beta’d and I don’t know how in character the voices are. But I’ve wanted an Elle Greenaway meet the BAU team again and this happened.

Happens sometime during the Criminal Minds Evolution era:

Title: Ships Passing | Ao3 Fandom: Criminal Minds Characters: Elle Greenaway, Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss Summary: Elle bumps into the BAU team. (Criminal Minds Evolution timeline)

Elle didn’t love coming down to Atlantic City, or any big city where there was a chance she could run into the BAU. Her luck’s held up for a decade. After all, it’s a big world.

But Elle should have known that nothing would last forever.

Elle stayed out of law enforcement, bounced around several NGOs, and finally ended up as a private investigator for a small law firm. Most of the cases she worked on were shoe leather for corporate lawyers. The cases were mostly fraud, and the only big sexy case Elle handled had to do with corporate espionage.

It’s not exactly how Elle saw her life going but knows her triggers now and she wasn’t going to give Gideon or Hotch the satisfaction of turning into some kind of vigilante.

Long story even shorter, her job forced her down to Atlantic City and now she’s one of a dozen witnesses to a shooting. It’s something that’s been happening over the week, and if Elle knew she’d have assigned one of the junior investigators to go instead of her.

As it was, Elle had to watch as a group of cops and FBI swarmed through the lobby and instinctively Elle knew the very center of the group would be the BAU. Elle expected Hotch and the team to burst through the doors at any second -- and they did.

Except… the person leading the group wasn’t a dour man in a suit and a rumpled, grumpy Academic but a silver-haired woman in a red trench coat. She took point and assigned their duties, Elle took a step back and suddenly doubted this was the BAU team. There was no one in this team Elle recognized.

Elle chuckled wryly to herself. What was she expecting? It was more than ten years since she left, of course, nothing would stay the same. Maybe Gideon finally retired, and Hotch moved up from the BAU, Elle swore Hotch would die wearing that G-Man suit until the day he died.

She felt a pang. It was both relief and sadness. Maybe even after all this time, despite how she left she did still want to see the old team, especially Spencer and Morgan. They were her friends after all.

“Thank you all for your cooperation,” a familiar voice began. Elle turned and a jolt of surprise struck her.

No, there was still someone Elle recognized, and the team was the BAU but the woman addressing the crowd wasn’t the same woman Elle knew back in her time.

The woman speaking was Jennifer Jareau --JJ-- but this JJ was a far cry from the Media Liaison Elle knew. Gone was the Business Casual uniform she always wore and the deferential girl next door media-trained persona. In her place stood a confident, sharp field agent. JJ had exchanged her slacks for leather jackets, jeans, and field-ready boots.

“Hi.”

Elle turned, surprised that someone was able to get to her side without her noticing. She prided herself on being aware of her surroundings at all times. She never wanted someone to get the drop on her again.

And yet, somehow, someone did slip her guard. It was especially jarring when that someone wore a stylish red trench coat.

The silver-haired woman smiled at her. Elle noted that despite the silver hair she didn’t look as old as she thought. “I’m Special Agent Emily Prentiss.”

“Elle,” Elle replied, holding back on her last name.

“Did you see what happened here?”

“Not really, I only knew what was happening after the Uns-shooter escaped,” Elle answered, and cringed inwardly because she knew Prentiss caught the flub.

Prentiss’s eyebrows went up, “The UnSub?” She looked both curious and like she was trying to figure something out. “Your name is Elle.” Elle nodded, hopeful and resigned at the same time that Prentiss wasn’t going where Elle thought she was going. “You’re Elle Greenaway.”

Elle nodded, reluctantly, “Yes.”

Prentiss’s expression softened. “Derek and Spencer talked about you.”

“Nothing bad, I hope.” What have they said about her? Good things? Bad things? How did she wash out of the BAU because she couldn’t take the heat?

Elle braced herself for either a pitying or judgmental look.

Instead, Prentiss looked almost sympathetic. “They missed you. They never forgot you.”

“Oh.” Elle felt unexpectedly emotional. “I also missed them.”

Prentiss then turned and called out, “JJ!”

“Wait--“ Elle tried to stop her but JJ already walked toward them and Elle knew the moment this new, hardened JJ recognized her.

“Elle?” She sped up her walk, “Oh my god.”

“Nice to see you too, JJ,” Elle said, resigned to this impromptu reunion.

“You’re a field agent now, huh?”

“Yeah, for a couple of years now.”

“Boss!” A voice called out and Prentiss’s head swiveled around, a man in an FBI jacket jogged from another part of the lobby.

“JJ will get your statement,” Prentiss informed them and then nodded before meeting the man halfway. “It’s good to meet you.”

“You too.” She returned automatically and then turned her attention to JJ, who still looked stunned. “Is she the Unit Chief?”

“Yes,” JJ answered, following Elle’s gaze to Prentiss. “Hotch picked Emily to lead the BAU when he left the Bureau a few years ago.”

“What?” The news rocked Elle. “I never thought Hotch would leave the Bureau.”

There was a look in JJ’s eyes haunted and wistful at the same time, “We didn’t think so either.” Her face softened. “A lot’s happened. Maybe, if you’re still around later you can join us for drinks? Catch up?”

“Maybe.” Elle left this life a long time ago, and she didn’t regret it. “I don’t know how much I can help. I’m not from around here.”

JJ looked at Elle, her eyes piercing and sharp and Elle was reminded even more now that JJ was a Profiler. She nodded. “Can you walk me through what you saw?”

Elle took the change of topic for the reprieve it was. She recounted the details of her arrival at the hotel, what her purpose was, a meeting with a client, and what time it was she heard the gunshot. “But that’s all I can give.”

“How long will you be in Atlantic City?” JJ asked.

“Just another day. I’ll be flying off tomorrow.” Elle produced her calling card, “But you can contact me if you need any more details from me.”

The corners of JJ’s lips quirked up. “That’s supposed to be my line.” JJ accepted the card. “It’s good to see you again, Elle. And the invitation for drinks is open.” And it was JJ’s turn to give her card, “Just in case.”

Elle took the card without reading the card, “It was… good to see you too, JJ. Tell Gideon and the boys ‘hey’ from me.”

There was a pause, and JJ’s face softened. “Elle, Gideon died.”

“Oh.”

Of course.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I’m sorry you had to know this way.”

Elle didn’t know what to say. Gideon loomed so large in her time with the BAU that she couldn’t imagine the BAU without Jason Gideon. Elle half expected the BAU to shutter when Gideon died but she was wrong. The world continued to turn, and the BAU continued to do its job.

“Thanks for telling me,” Elle said and then did look at the details of the card. It read SSA Jennifer Jareau, BAU. “I’ll call you about the drinks. But I have an appointment somewhere else…”

JJ smiled, but Elle knew JJ knew Elle won’t take her up on JJ’s invitation.

“It was great seeing you again, Elle.”

“You too.”

And then Elle walked out of the hotel. Elle moved on from her life, the events in the BAU had a big impact on her life but she processed that moment and it took her a long time to get over.

It was bizarre seeing them again, seeing JJ, and seeing new faces.

Maybe she needed that unexpected reunion, she needed to see the BAU was not frozen in amber and time has done what time does.

Moves on and changes.

—fin—

[yakitori-and-eyeliner]

Hi! I'm Em and I write Hawks fanfics!

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I currently have two fanfics out now on AO3 and Wattpad! And I'm working on another, its a work in progress!♡

Check out my fanfics below!

Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

Hawks x OC, rated M for Mature, Hawks POV, OC POV, contains spoilers for the MHA ending/Hawks storyline Summary: Growing up together in the hero commission, I truly believed in heroes. I was so naïve to the superhuman society we had, to the world. I thought that good people and heroes would always win. I thought that way about my life too, that no matter what, I would overcome it just like the heroes. Things are different when you’re a kid.

I met my best friend when I was ten; the little winged boy that I saw clutching his Endeavor doll walk into my life randomly one day and soon became part of my life like he had always been there. My Father was attacked by a villain and his quirk stolen. The hero commission that I grew up with turned their backs on him and my family. Heartbroken over the loss of his quirk and livelihood, my Father took his own life. I was never the same after that.

And my best friend who I had thought would stay by my side left instead to become the youngest pro hero in history and the second strongest hero in all of Japan, the winged hero Hawks. Beloved by many, and the Hero Commission’s golden boy. But I knew the truth and I’m determined to reveal the truth of what happened to my Father and expose the hypocrisy of the hero commission too, even if I die trying.

♡

A slow burn, story driven, friends to lovers, 50k+ words, lost love, angst twist and turns Hawks fanfic. Available to read on A03 and Wattpad!

Grounded

Hawks x OC, rated M for Mature, Hawks POV, OC POV, contains spoilers for the MHA ending/Hawks storyline Summary: Three years after the war with All For One, Keigo Takami is a mess. No longer known as Hawks, the winged hero; he is now the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission and trying to balance his new role and job while also juggle being quirkless. Everyone seems to be moving on from the war and healing, but Keigo is not moving forward or healing at all. He's lost and destroying himself bit by bit. Who is he now without his wings?

Evelyn Yeager was supposed to a career pilot, however due to an accident she is discharged from the military. Even worse, she can't fully control her quirk anymore due to the trauma of the accident. Now as a civilian what is her role?

Elle Yeager has always been quiet. She's never quite known what to do with her life, until she met the great war hero Hawks. Everything changes after their meeting, including her entire career path. She's determined to help those overcome their trauma and hurt from the war.

With tensions rising from the recent war, the United States and Japan send a liaison promising aid to an issue the Hero Commission has been trying to fix. When the three of them meet again, everything changes. Keigo Takami isn't quite sure what to do, he's been grounded.

♡

A fix it fic, post war/MHA ending Hawks fanfic. Chapter 2 is live with more to come! Out now on AO3 & Wattpad!

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Thank you for checking out my writing, I hope you enjoy it!

[seosejun]

Soloist SEO SEJUN debuted at the beginning of last year with the critically acclaimed mini-album, NEW GAME, which achieved immediate success. The album sold nearly half a million copies, and his debut song, MELODY, took home seven music show wins. He followed this up a few months later with another EP, to much of the same success. His meteoric rise to fame and fortune is an obvious by-product of the little over a year he spent in 1V1, a fan-formed group from survival show Last Act. By the end of their fifteen-month temporary contract, 1V1 was on even ground with the show’s winners, ENCORE, having sold over a million copies with their first and last full-length album.

The ten months since his last music release have come as a surprise. While it was obvious he wouldn’t maintain the breakneck pace of 1V1’s releases, the quick turnaround between his first two albums seemed like a promising sign. Now, it looks like those signs were misplaced.

That isn’t to say Sejun has spent the last ten months in radio silence. He’s active as a model and an influencer, gracing the covers of Vogue and Elle Korea to name some examples. He also co-wrote the debut album of former group member KIM CHAN late last year. When it comes to his own music career, he seems to have become completely inept.

With each passing day, it becomes increasingly evident he’s moved on to greener pastures: his streaming career. Sejun’s Twitch and personal YouTube channels 세유화 (SEYUHWA)—a portmanteau of his name and Kim Sowol’s poem “산유화”—made their debuts last summer. Since then, he’s streamed almost every day, sometimes for ten to twelve hours at a time. He spends most of that time playing video games—namely Overwatch 2—and occasionally engaging in the usual parasocial conversations with fans. Given that his appearance on Last Act and 1V1’s entire concept both revolved around video games, it was only a matter of time before his solo career did the same. Inheriting the group concept is not enough, Sejun needs to wholly embody it.

From an outside perspective, C Entertainment appears to support his new ventures. His streams sometimes features his manager, KWON INSOO, as a gaming partner rather than a supervisor. Sejun has yet to speak out or complain about his new management. Knowing his propensity for talking shit, his complaints would be known if he had complaints to make. Viewers were also quick to notice that he seems to be happier and more animated streaming than in either of his solo promotional periods, leading fans to wonder if he still wants to be an idol.

Not everyone is as enthusiastic as he is for his new career. He gained notoriety during Last Act after a recording of him flaming his League of Legends teammates in voice chat surfaced. Although tame by gaming standards, it was not the best look for an idol hopeful. Similar controversies would continue to plague him throughout his time in 1V1, though they did nothing to hinder the group’s success. With his freedom to apparently do whatever he chooses, Sejun has once again found himself the target of those who dislike his disregard for an idol image. Some of his streams also feature former 1V1 member ALEX KANG, who retired from the entertainment industry after the group’s disbandment. Though these collaborations were once celebrated by casual kpop fans and die-hard Supports—1V1’s fandom name—alike, Alex’s insistence on distancing himself from the kpop industry and his tendency to ban people in his Twitch chat who ask too many questions about his idol experience have furthered soured some netizens’ opinion of Sejun.

When asked about the state of his music career or if he’s preparing for a comeback, Sejun is uncharacteristically vague. In responses to comments on his Instagram posts of his latest brand deals, he's “working on it” and hopes fans will “wait a little longer.” He elaborated a bit further on streams, assuring fans it isn’t the fault of his management like many of them assume, but rather his own choices. He doesn’t say much more on the topic.

For now, there's nothing for fans to do but wait as he's asked.

[scotianostra]

John Barbour, the early Scottish poet, died on March 13th 1395.

Barbour was born, perhaps in Aberdeenshire, early in the 14th century, approximately 1316. In a letter of safe-conduct dated 1357, allowing him to go to Oxford for study, he is described as archdeacon of Aberdeen. He is named in a similar letter in 1364 and in another in 1368 granting him permission to pass to France, probably for further study, at the university of Paris.

In 1372 he was one of the auditors of exchequer, and in 1373 a clerk of audit in the king's household. In 1375 (he gives the date, and his age as 60) he composed his best known poem The Brus, for which he received, in 1377, the payment of ten pounds, and, in 1378, a life-pension of twenty shillings.

The only biographical evidence of his closing years is his signature as a witness to sundry deeds in the "Register of Aberdeen" as late as 1392. According to the obit-book of the cathedral of Aberdeen, he died on the 13th of March 1395. The state records show that his life-pension was not paid after that date.

Because much of his other work has been lost there is considerable controversy has arisen regarding Barbour's literary work. If he be the author of the five or six long poems which have been ascribed to him by different writers, he adds to his importance as the father of Scots poetry the reputation of being one of the most voluminous writers in Middle English, certainly the most voluminous of all Scots poets.

The Brus, in twenty books, and running to over 13,500 four-accent lines, in couplets, is a narrative poem with a purpose partly historical, partly patriotic. It opens with a description of the state of Scotland at the death of Alexander III, and concludes with the death of Douglas and the burial of the Bruce's heart, a period from the years 1286, unit 1332.

While the poem covers many thing, as in any good story there is a main topic, of course in The Brus it is The Battle of Bannockburn, and as you would expect, the King is the hero of the chivalric type common in contemporary romance., in this case fighting for the freedom of his country. While very few of us have read the poem, I guarantee that the majority can quote at least one line from it “ fredome is a noble thing “ or to quote this section of the verse;

A! fredome is a noble thing!

Fredome mayss man to haiff liking;

Fredome all solace to man giffis:

He lyves at ess that frele lyvs!

Translating to;

Ah, freedeom is a noble thing!

Freedom makes man to have liking!

Freedom all solace to man gives:

He lives at ease that freely lives!

As I said earlier, much of Barbour's other work is lost, one such piece is Stewartis Oryginale, a history of the lineage of the Stewarts. The Stewart name replaced that of Bruce in the Scottish royal line when Robert II acceded to the throne after the death of David II, his uncle. Robert II was Barbour’s royal patron. It is not known how the work came to be lost.

Much of the history of Robert the Bruce is taken from the poem The Brus, I do think a lot of it was exaggerated and written to please Robert II, who must have been proud to bare his Grandfather’s name, Barbour would have written the poem to please the King.

One of the most dramatic and lines in the poem refer to the first day of The Battle of Bannockburn when the young English Knight Henry de Bohun sees The Bruce and makes a foolish, but brave attempt to kill our Scottish hero.

The hevy dusche that he him gave

That ner the heid till the harnys clave.

The hand-ax schaft fruschit in twa,

And he doune to the erd gan ga

All flatlynys for him faillyt mycht.

That wes perfornyst douchtely,

Translated roughly to;

The heavy clout he gave

So he cleaved the head to the brains

The hand-axe shaft broke in two

And he ell to the ground

Dead and devoid of all strength now

This was the first blow of the battle.

No edition of the poem written in Barbour’s own hand survives, but two early versions, transcribed in the 15th century, still exist. These are kept at the Library of St John’s College, in Cambridge, and at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Pics are a Memorial to John Barbour, St Machar's Cathedral, one of the 15th century translations, an 18th century translation at The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, and the sentiment underlying the poem, which many of you may have seen sitting at the top of the Mound, as you take the steps up to Makar’s Court.

For a translation of the greater part of The Brus check the link here https://archive.org/.../bruceofbannockbu.../page/36/mode/2up

If you’re just after snippets, like I provide, the Scots Language Centre does a grand job.

[sadslay]

- WAITING ⋆☆ 𝐣𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

after all your years of knowing joel miller, there were things you were still learning about his past. he was always telling you stories of what he and tommy used to get up to before you had met him and even before the outbreak. you had known tommy longer, having arrived in jackson a few months prior to joel. quite quickly you and maria became close, learning about tommy's older brother and the hell they had gone through. from an outside perspective, maria didn't seem too fond of joel, but never meeting the man yourself you believed all your stories, building up a picture of the man before he had even arrived in jackson.

the first time you met joel was when he had returned to jackson. compared to the stories maria had told you, you expected the worst. a stubborn violent man that seemingly had no limits when it came to survival. but he was different, and ellie had changed him. although he still had that tough exterior, in brief moments you would notice his gentleness towards those he cared about. and slowly, you became one of those people. weather joel liked to admit it or not he grew to depend on you. you were there in some of his greatest hours of need. you were there when he would wake up at an ungodly hour from a night terror or whenever he had gotten injured on patrols. he needed you, and quite frankly you needed him.

joel had been at the damn with tommy and a small group, doing a routine check on the turbines. waking up to the sound of a fist bashing against your bedroom door, you jolted up from your bed. your eyes sore and scratchy from the lack of sleep and the sudden light and your head pounding.

"y/n!" ellie called, pushing your bedroom door open as she took a few steps into your room. "you overslept again!" she sang.

"ellie please, i just woke up." you groaned, rubbing your eyes as your heart rate slowly returned to normal.

"well you had patrol and guess who covered for you?" she asked, a smirk slowly appearing on her lips as she plopped herself down in one of joel's arm chairs.

letting out a sigh of regret you mumbled, "gene."

"ding, ding, ding!" she chuckled, picking up the guitar sitting beside the chair as she began to run her fingers along the strings. "he was askin' about you as well." ellie grinned.

"fa'fuck sake," you mumbled to yourself, swinging your legs out from under the warm of your rug and planting your feet onto the cool wooden floor. "can the guy not take a hint?" you asked rhetorically. "i mean seriously how many times have i rejected this guy?"

"about five or six times." ellie noted, beginning to play a few chords on the guitar as you walked over to the dresser in search of clothes. "dina, jesse, and i have a bet going to see if it can get to ten rejects," she smirked, briefly looking up at you before focusing back on the guitar.

"those two still together?" you asked, raising an eyebrow as you hoisted up your jeans before doing up the zipper and button.

"barely." she laughed. "i don't get it, they're always fighting but for some reason, they choose to stay together," she mumbled, a hint of jealousy laced in her voice.

"right." you grinned, shuffling through the drawers for a shirt.

pulling out a stained white tight-fitted long sleeved shirt and an old flannel of joels, you began to pull the oversized shirt of joels you had been wearing to bed every night for the past week to reveal the dirtied sports bra that was long overdue for a clean. making the swift change from joel's first to the long sleeve shirt, you then threaded your arms through the flannel. the fabric is soft on your skin but stained after years of use. turning back around to face ellie, you look for your leg harness lying somewhere in the room.

"hey, do you know when joels coming back?" ellie asked, gently strumming her fingers on the strings.

"uhm, he was meant to be back yesterday." you shrugged, finally spotting the leg harness hung over the back of the chair ellie was sitting in. "hey, pass the harness for me," you instructed, lifting your chin to motion behind her.

ellie turned back to grab the brown leather harness before throwing it in your direction. as you caught the harness you stepped through the main loop, pulling it up to your waist where you began to tighten the buckles before taking a seat on the bed behind you.

"what're ya puttin' the harness on for?" ellie asked as she watched you buckle the secondary loops around your right thigh. "gene covered you remember?" she teased.

You scoffed at her comment, standing back up to load up the harness with your weapons. "i am going to take genes patrol this afternoon. i do not want to owe him anything." you sighed, shoving your pistol and needlepoint pen into their designated pocket.

"you know, if you just told joel he was botherin' you he'd handle it." ellie mentioned, still continuing to play a few chords.

"that's exactly what i don't want happening." you laughed, beginning to head towards your bedroom door. "i can't have him going all commando on this guy, causing some unnecessary fight," you explained, motioning towards the door.

ellie put the guitar down, before skipping towards the door, following you out into the hallway. "i'd like to see it." she chuckled, trotting down the steps beside you as you headed for the front door. "the guy needs to be knocked down a couple'a pegs." she mumbled.

"i can handle it." you smirked, admittedly agreeing with ellie's statement. "i'll see yer later alright?" you smiled, as you pulled open the front door.

"i'll be over at five to take advantage of ya cookin'!" she cheered, strolling down the porch steps before heading off further into town.

with little luck trying to switch jobs with gene you returned home as you prepared dinner, planning on slow cooking some meet that had just come in the day before. by the time the sun had dipped beyond the horizon, you had been pottering around the house all afternoon catching up on some spring cleaning. admittedly, you were a little tired by the time ellie arrived. ellie devoured the slow-cooked venice served with a roasted potato before entertaining you for a few hours. she went through her day, and explained the dynamic between her and dina before trying to teach a few chords on the guitar. she ended up leaving close to ten o'clock leaving you starved for sleep. your eyes were so heavy and your muscles ached, making every movement feel like a chore.

once you'd reached your bedroom, you kicked off your shoes and left them by your door before sitting down on the edge of your bed. undoing your harness strapped around your leg before shuffling out of her pants and leaving them by her feet. pulling off your flannel and then the dirtied singlet before searching for joel's shirt you bed been wearing each night. it still smelt like him which brought you some sense of comfort. the darkness of the room gave your eyes some relief as you laid back onto your pillow. all you could think about was joel, your mind riddled with unsettling thoughts of all the possibilities of what joel might be up to. but as your thoughts became fuzzy, your blinking became slow and sluggish, each link lasting longer and longer until you could no longer keep your eyes open.

jolting up to the sound of the floorboards squeaking, you reached down for your knife, grasping onto it tightly as you noticed the dark figure closing the bedroom door. your heart was beating a million miles a minute, too many times this week you had been abruptly woken up. as your eyes tried to adjust to the minimal lighting the figure's hand began to rise, reaching for the light switch. as the light flicked on, you scrunched up your face, your eyes squeezing shut as the bright eyes made your head hurt. slowly opening your eyes, you finally saw him, a smile almost instantly appearing on your lips.

"m'sorry i woke ya up." he smiled, dropping his riffle and backpack to the ground as he began to walk closer to the end of the bed.

without thinking, you quickly crawled to the end of the bed where you were met by joels arms. he wrapped his big arms around your torso, to the point you almost couldn't breathe. your arms wrapped around his neck, on of your hands cradling the back of his head. his head nuzzled into the crook of your neck and he let out a sigh of relief.

“it’s okay.” you smiled, lifting your head from his shoulder to plant a kiss on his dirtied, peppered cheek. “how come yer back so late asshole?” you asked, your tone slightly changing to be annoyed, although you couldn’t stay mad at him for long.

joel shrugged, his arms beginning to loosen as his hands fell to your hips. "we left later than expected." he mumbled, not wanting to give you the gory details of how he almost died after a close encounter with a group of clickers. “but i’m ‘ere now.” he smiled weakly.

“i was beginnin’ the think yer ran out on me.” you laughed weakly, your fingers still gently playing with joel's hair.

one of joel's hands moved from your hip to your cheek, his thumb gently running over your cheekbone. “i ain’t ever leavin’ you darlin'.” he smiled warmly.

you couldn’t help but smile at joel's comment, leaning forward to connect your lips with joel's. although you were still tired you put every ounce of energy into the kiss. your arms slowly unwrapped themselves from around joel's neck, your hands stopping at the base of his neck. the tips of joel's fingers beginning to play with the hem of your shirt, slightly tickling your skin.

as you felt the kiss grow more heated, your breaths beginning to run short you pulled away, causing joel to furrow his eyebrows. he was worried he had overstepped, making you uncomfortable but when you let out a laugh, joel let out a breathy chuckle of concern.

“when was the last time you had a shower miller?” you giggled, playing with the collar of his dirtied shirt.

joel scoffed, playfully rolling his eyes. “i’ll have one in the mornin’.” he muttered.

you fell backwards, sitting near the head of your bed. joels hands fell by his side as he began to unbuckle the holster attach to his thigh. walking his way around the bed, placing his knife and leather holster on the bedside table. you smiled as you watched him peel back a few layers of clothes, leaving him just in his dirtied shirt and jeans before he climbed up by your side. his arm lying on your pillow, slowly curling around your shoulder as you nestled into his chest. his hand playing with your hair as your arms wrapped around his torso.

"ellie was askin' about you this mornin'." you whispered, your fingers playing with a loose thread on his shirt.

"mm." joel gruffly mumbled.

since the pair had returned from jackson after ellie had run off in the middle of the night the energy had shifted between the pair. you had never pressured joel for answers as to why ellie had stopped talking to him upon their return however you soon got the answers you needed from ellie when she had confided in you. she had explained every little detail from the moment of her bite right to the present. in fact you were reminded of the moment you had confronted joel and the argument that had come from it. but you had quickly come to understand joels reasoning behind his actions. when you had gone to ellie, trying to repair their bond you failed to convince ellie time and time again. as weeks and months go by you had finally noticed your efforts weren’t for nothing when ellie had asked about joel or even mentioned him for the first time in what felt like forever.

"she doin' alright?" he asked quietly, bringing you back to the present.

"just ordinary girl problems." you smiled. “she’ll be at the tipsy bison tomorrow.” you noted causing joel to let out a breath of air. "m'glad your back, i can finally sleep." you joked, letting out a soft yawn as you got comfortable.

"yer couldn't sleep?" he asked, his head jerking up with concern.

you let out a breathy laugh, your voice still horse and tired. “you were gone for longer then you’d said.” you shrugged. “i couldn’t eat or sleep.” you spoke a little sadder realizing how much joel had meant to you.

“you haven’t been eatin’?” he asked, his head still pulled up from the pillow to make sure you were okay.

“it’s okay.” you smiled, not wanting him to feel guilty for leaving. “i’m okay,” you reassured him allowing his head to slowly fall back.

"well, tomorrow mornin' i'm gonna make sure you eat somethin'." he mumbled, your eyes barely able to stay open.

"mmhmm." you hummed, the need for sleep slowly beginning to consume you.

you could feel joels head pull up from the pillow again, and you could practically sense the smirk growing on his lips. his hand began to play with the ends of your hair only making you more sleepy as he nestled his head closer to yours.

the following morning you woke up to the feeling of joel pressing a gentle kiss onto your forehead. you smiled as your eyes began to flutter open, everything still a little blurry as you tried to adjust your eyes to the morning light.

"mornin' sugar.” joel mumbled in a raspy voice, looking down at you.

"morning." you smiled weakly as he planted a kiss on the top of your cheek. "yer ready for patrol?" you asked, stretching out your legs as you began to sit yourself up.

"hold on!" joel grumbled, pulling on your arm causing you to fall back down into his arms. "what's the rush?"

you let out a chuckle as you looked up at joels eyes, momentarily leaning upwards to connect your lips with his. you could just melt as joel's calloused hand cupped your cheek.

"come on." you smiled into the kiss. "we... need to... get to... patrol." you grinned, planting a kiss between every couple of words.

"fine." he mumbled, both of you pulling yourselves up as you began to get ready for the day.

✩｡:*•.───── later that evening ─────.•*:｡✩

“m’gonna grab another round of drinks.” you announced as you had finished your third drink of the night, nothing but melting ice pooling in the bottom of your drink. “the usuals?” you asked, beginning to pull all the empty glasses toward you.

a mixture of thanks you came from around the table as tommy and joel continued to talk about their patrols for tomorrow morning. walking through the interior of the tipsy bison, fairy lights strung up across the ceiling and music filling the space. weather you liked to admit it or not is was one of the few things you had missed. having an excuse to drink with your family and friends just celebrating life, not having to think about tomorrow or the looking threat of infected outside the walls.

as you approached the bar, your hands full of empty drinks you had noticed the server behind the bar tending to a familiar face, gene. letting out a soft sigh, you bent down a little, placing the glasses on the sticky wooden surface before waiting for the server. you had never particularly liked gene or the people he hung out with as they were misogynistic assholes always trying to soften their insults by calling you angel or princess or some other variation of a ridiculous pet name.

“what can i get for ya?” the server asked as gene turned to face you as you patiently waited on a bar stool.

“four of the same.” you smiled weakly, spinning around on the seat so your back was now pressed against the bar.

“hey honey.” gene grinned maliciously as he slid closer to you, his elbow resting on the bar while the other held a drink. “wanna help me with patrol tomorrow mornin’? i heard joels pairin’ up with tommy again.” he noted causing you to furrow your eyebrows.

the news of tommy and joel doing the longer patrols had travelled around jackson fast. you briefly looked over genes shoulder to see the server taking his sweet time with the drinks making you internally regret your decision to come over alone. gene had continued to inch close as you flashed him an awkward smile.

“i uh- i think maria might be takin’ me off patrols.” you mentioned, forcing a downturned smile as you anxiously waited for your drinks. “m’gonna start teaching self defence ‘n stuff like that to the kids.” you shrugged.

“shame.” he frowned, switching the glass to his other hand before lifting his now free hand to play with the hem of your jacket. “i was lookin’ forward to our time alone together.” he pouted.

you tried to adjust your shoulder so his hand would fall but he continued to play with the sleeves of your jacket, his eyes tracing down to look at your barely exposed chest and the rest of your figure. you could feel yourself shudder internally as you peered over his shoulder again to see the server only half way through pouring the drinks.

“sorry gene.” you laughed nervously, trying to hide the disgust and discomfort on your face. “maria’s orders.”

when genes hand suddenly dropped from your side as he took a large sip you looked around to find joel walking towards you, his eyebrows furrowed as his eyes were fixated on your shoulder that had been touched by gene.

“joel!” you sang, relief washing your your voice as joels hand crept around your waists bringing you an unimaginable amount of comfort.

“everythin’ alright?” he asked in a low whisper, looking deep into your eyes to make sure you were alright. “thought you might need some help bringin’ the drinks over.” he grumbled, eyeing gene as he shamefully sipped on his drink.

“m’kay.” you smiled as you had noticed the server walking back other with the four drinks. “finally.” you mumbled under your breath. “thank you.” you forced a smile as you took the drinks from the server.

as you took all four drinks into your hands, you had noticed joels glare towards gene. nudging your elbow into joels side causing him to look down at you, you flicked your head back in the direction of where you had been seated with tommy and maria.

“come on.” you mumbled.

you began to walk back towards your table when you had noticed joel still standing a foot or two away from gene, who had now turned himself towards the bar to avoid joels stare.

“you ever touch her again, i’ll break your fuckin’ arms.” he spat.

“joel!” you called causing the man to turned around his stare still lingering on gene before turning his full attention back to you. “i had it handled.” you muttered as you handed two of the drinks to joel before continuing to walk towards their table.

“he’s suck a dickhead.” he mumbled, taking a sip from one of the drinks. “he needed to be put in his place.” joel spat bitterly as he watched you walk a few steps in front of him as you weaved your way through the small crowd of people.

“no.” you giggled. “you just wanted to remind him that i’m yours.” you laughed as you placed the two drinks down on the table, sliding them over to tommy and maria.

“do i even wanna know what you two are talkin’ about?” tommy asked as he took the drink from your hand.

“s’nothing.” you smiled, taking the glass from joel’s hand as you took a seat at the table. “genes just been a little touchy like usual.” you joked.

“usual?” joel almost choked on his drink as he placed it on the table. “he’s touched you before?” he asked, his voice laced with concern.

“genes always covering her patrols ‘n offering to do her work.” maria chuckled.

you looked over at joel and saw the mortified look on his face. you could tell that joel was filled with rage causing you to place one of your hands on joels thigh.

“he’s nothin’ i can’t handle.” you smiled, taking another sip of the whiskey, the ice clinking around in your glass. you squeezed joels thigh a little causing him to wrap a hand around your lower waist. “so, what’d i miss out on while i was gone?”

“maria was just suggesting the types of classes you could be doin’.” tommy mentioned. “self defence, gun handlin’ that sorta stuff.” he shrugged.

“sounds good.” you nodded, taking another swig of your drink. “m’gonna miss patrols.” you laughed, earning chuckled from around the table.

“you’re always welcome to take my spot.” tommy added, the laughter around the table continuing. “he’s a pain in the ass when you to are apart.” he snickered, tipping his chin up to motion towards joel.

“well she isn’t much better.” maria laughed, avoiding your eye contact by having another sip of her drink. “pair of ‘em are useless without each other.”

“hey!” you chuckled your hand squeezing his lower thigh earning a genuine grin from joel.

just before the conversation could continue you had heard seths voice coming from behind you. he sounded aggravated causing you to spin around, joel following your actions. watching the grumpy old man shout out insults as ellie and dina walked away hand in hand. as seth called out to the pair, ellie spun around pointing her finger causing joel to quickly stand up from his seat.

“hey!” joel yelled, running right toward the action as he pushed seth away from ellie. “hey, get the hell outta here.” he snapped.

you stood up and walked over to the argument, knowing that both ellie and joel were hot headed at the best of times. tommy and maria not too far behind you.

“get your hands off me.” seth argued, turning his attention to joel as ellie and dina stood a few feet away.

“hey!” you called out, maria quickly joining your side to defuse the argument. “enough.” she spat, pushing the pair away from each other.

“get him outta here.” you mumble to maria.

“come on you.” she mumbled, grabbing a hold of seth as tommy stood by her side ready to escort him outside. “lets go for a walk.” she suggested.

“what about them?” seth slurred, it now becoming apparent that he had been drinking.

“you worry about yourself.” maria instructed, continuing to push the man towards the door.

“lets get you some fresh air.” tommy added, walking along side maria.

“jesus.” you mumbled under your breath as you turned back to joel who had turned to ellie.

“you alright kiddo?” he asked.

“what is wrong with you?” ellie snapped, causing you to furrow your eyes at the sudden aggression coming from her.

“he had no right.” joel spoke, his hand briefly pointing back in seths direction as you came to his side.

“and you do?” ellie grunted, throwing her hand towards joel causing his face to sadden. “i don’t need your fucking help joel!” she snapped.

joel turned to you, unsure of what he should say or do as you looked at ellie. “right.” joel mumbled before turning around as he headed for the door.

dozens of eyes from all around the bar were staring at ellie. you stood a few feet away from her with dina only a few feet behind. you looked at ellie and saw how stressed she had become. you furrowed your eyebrows before turning to look back at joel who as just walked out the door.

“yer alright?” you asked softly.

“i’m fine.” she huffed, her voice laced with regret at her sudden outburst.

“we’ll chat tomorrow yeah?” you asked, your tone still soft and kind as you wanted ellie to feel better. ellie nodded her head before turning back to dina.

“i’ll see ya after patrols.” you smiled, spinning around with the mission to calm joel down.

spinning around, heading towards the door that had just been closed by joel moments later. you could feel a few eyes following you as you walked back into the cool winter air. grabbing the edges of your jacket, you wrapped them around your torso covering your skin from the crisp night air. in the distance you saw joel marching back towards the home you shared together causing you to let out a breath of air.

“joel!” you called, causing the man to spin around, a cloud coming from his mouth as he exhaled. “hey, are you alright?” you asked, jogging up to his side.

“m’fine.” he grumbled, continuing to walk towards the house.

“she didn’t mean it.” you noted as you followed joel up onto the porch as he began to push the door open. “s’just angry at seth.” you added as he marched straight towards the kitchen where he began to shuffle through the cabinets. “hey! look at me!” you demanded causing joel to let out a grunt of annoyance as he took out a pot of stale instant coffee he had found a few months ago. “ellies just a teenager, she’s gonna have outburst’s.”

you took the container from joel causing him to lean back onto the counter as you began to gather the supplies to make a coffee. joel let out another sigh of annoyance as you grabbed a pot and filled it up with water.

“i just don’t get it.” he grumbled. “i don’t get why she won’t forgive me.” he admitted as you began to boil the water, leaning on the counter across from him while you waited for the water to come to a boil.

“it’s gonna take a while for her to forgive you.” you shrugged. “she’s gonna get angry sometimes, even if yer tryin’ to help her.” you smiled weakly as joel tried to wrap his head around the event. “she’s just gonna have to learn how to trust yer.” you added.

joel let out a groan of impatience as the water slowly began to boil. he had tried to earn ellies trust, giving her space, he felt like he tried everything and ellie still didn’t trust him. you briefly turned around to grab the two mugs you and joel have had for the past few years and placed them by the pot of boiling water. joel moved to the same counter as you, watching you as you opened the container of coffee to divide a spoonful of coffee into each cup.

“she barely speaks to me anymore.” he sighed sadly as his mind wandered to the events that had happened a few years prior. “i don’t know what to do anymore, i feel like i’ve tried everythin’.”

“just time.” you grinned, adoring joel for the care he had for ellie. “she’ll come around eventually, shes probably just tryin’ to figure some shit out.” you shrugged as the water had finally come to a boil.

you held onto the pot, pouring the boiling water into the mugs before turning to joel. “why don’t you go grab yer guitar, we’ll sit out on the porch.” you suggested as you began to stir around the instant coffee.

“alright.” he smiled warmly, planting a soft kiss on the top of your cheek before wandering out if the kitchen to go grab his guitar from the bedroom.

as you finished stirring around the instant coffee, tapping the excess off the spoon before placing it in the near by sink. taking the two warm mugs into your hands you made your way out to the porch. placing the two mugs down on the dusty glass table you took a seat as you waited for joel. moments later joel walked through the door with his guitar in hand.

“a-are yer sure i shouldn’t just talk to her?” he asked as he took a seat on the chair next to yours, resting the guitar on his lap as he began to play with the strings, tuning each one to his standard. “she hasn’t talked to me since we came back from the hospital.” he admitted in defeat, briefly looking into your eyes.

“hon you took away her purpose.” you smiled, taking the warm mug into your hands, sipping on the warm bitter beverage. “i know what you did had good intentions but you took away her choice,” you frowned.

“i couldn’t loose her.” he mumbled quietly, his voice laced with years of pent up emotion.

“i know. i probably would have done the same thing if i was in your position.” you comforted, reaching over to gently rub his knee. “she just needs time to process, she’ll come to you when she’s ready.” you added.

“right.” he mumbled strumming his calloused fingers against the strings.

joel began to play a few cords, playing a familiar tune you had heard time playing before. the cool winter air nipping at your nose turning it pink. you could listen to joel play guitar for hours, it was always an added bonus whenever his sang, his voice deep and his texan accent often more prominent. on this particular night joel only hummed along, you could tell he wasn’t handling the fight with ellie very well. he missed her company. you were so focused on joel you hadn’t even realised ellie walking up the porch steps causing joel to look up. following joels movement you spun your head around to find ellie standing on the porch, nervously playing with the tips of her fingers.

“oh hey.” joel spoke quietly.

“i’ll give you two some space.” you spoke quietly, pulling yourself up from the chair.

ellie flashed you a smile, before you bent down a little to give joel a kiss on the side of his forehead. you have him a look of reassurance before disappearing into the house, clothing the door behind you to give them the privacy they needed. placing your coffee on the near by kitchen bench, you made your way to the stairs that led to your bedroom. the alcohol admittedly making you a little sleepy as you sluggishly wandered up to your bedroom.

you change into the same pair of pyjama shorts and oversized shirt that belonged to joel before climbing into the cosy bed. this was the first time in a while you had fallen asleep within minutes of getting into bed. the tip of your nose still cold and pink from the winter air but the rest of your body slowly warming as you layered on a few extra blankets.

some time later you had woken up to the sound of joel shuffling around in some of the bedroom drawers. moments later after changing into some comfier clothes he had climbed into bed, gently pressing a loving kiss onto your forehead before collapsing beneath the blankets. he laid on his back, watching you for a moment before turning his back towards you to shield his eyes from the moonlight coming in through the window. barely awake, you rolled onto your slide, slinging your arm around his waist, hugging him tightly.

“how’d it go?” you asked sluggishly, your eyes barely open.

“good.” he whispered quietly, his voice was raspy as if he had been crying. “we gonna try make things work.” he mumbled, his voice a little more optimistic.

𓋼𓍊 masterlist 𓍊𓋼

[kats-fic-recs]

The Best Daredevil Fics I read in 2022

How to Make a Family by Matt Murdock

Step 1. Have a dad.

Step 2. Lose your dad. Be miserable. Great job, everyone. We’re doing amazing so far.

(Matt's arduous journey towards being a functional person, with many stops and starts along the way.)

Candy Land

Matt is having fun with this, at least in some way. Sucking on Life Savers and smirking, and no guilt at all. If Matt could feel guilt, none of this would be happening. Things might be okay again.

But he doesn’t, and this is what Foggy is left with: a candy-stained mouth and a creature that’s more devil than man.

And Foggy still loves him

Invisible Ink

“Hello, welcome to Josie’s, I’m Foggy, what are you looking for?”

“Uh, nothing,” the guy replies, and Foggy is nonplussed for the nanosecond it takes to put together glasses, cane, and the way Hottie McHotFace is gazing absently over his shoulder.

“Oh, oh, you’re blind, dude, sorry. But, uh, this is a tattoo parlour?”

“I know.” The guy sighs. “I lost a bet?”

Or: The One Where Foggy Is A Tattoo Artist And Matt Is The Worst

Just to Listen to Your Breath

After the events of Season 2, Matt and Foggy aren't speaking. But that doesn't mean Matt's not hanging around.

Knock Three Times (On the Ceiling If You Want Me)

Matt's downstairs neighbor sings showtunes (badly) at all hours, eats weird-smelling food, and never stops talking.

Matt falls in love long before they actually meet.

Rowan and Red Oak

Foggy meets a man with a red oak wand and a sweet smile. Over the next eight years, Foggy makes a lot of coffee, reads a lot of tea leaves, breaks a lot of rules and casts a lot of charms. He also spends a good amount of his time pining over his perfect partner and trying to keep his wild outbursts of emotional magic to a minimum.

Stupid Cupid

Foggy plays karma bingo and wins a cupid.

His cupid is possibly the worst matchmaker in the world.

Other People's Blood

Foggy finds himself reminiscing on the ten years he's known Matt Murdock - son of and assassin for the Kingpin. The things they've learned about each other and the violence they've wrought together. Something sharp, and twisted, and beautiful.

A love story written in other people's blood.

The Constellation of Touch

Months after Fisk is put away, nothing's right between the partners at Nelson and Murdock. But Christmas is here, and Matt is still expected at the Nelson house.

darling you're stars

Matt wanted only Foggy’s purple flannel and if he could not have that, then he would have nothing. He would go cold.

(Foggy tries to understand the underlying causes of Matt's bizarre relationship with clothes.)

just meant to smile

“So we agree that Matt is still an Elle, though?” Foggy said.

The current working theory among their cohort was that there were Elles, Emmetts, Vivians, and Warners and if you weren’t one of them you were an extra and you were doomed to fail.

“Yeah, no. He’s still an Elle.”

“Okay, so at the risk of sounding desperate, does this make me an Emmett yet?” Marci gave him a pitying look. She reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

“It’s gonna be okay, Vivian,” she promised. “The plot will go on once we get our internships.”

(The Legally Blonde AU that no one asked for.)

Take All The Courage

When what should have been a straight forward mission in Hell's Kitchen goes pear shaped due to lack of communication, teaching his teammates sign language seems like a logical step to Clint. Communication when their comms are down - great plan! And including the local vigilante, who's been working closely with them on this, is a real no-brainer.

Until it turns out said vigilante is an asshole that thinks sign language is beneath him, judging by the way he's stubbornly refusing to learn it.

(Conversely - Matt's trying, he really is but damn it, those two signs are exactly the same... what do you mean they mean completely different things?!)

None So Blind

They say when you assume you make an ass of you and me.

Matt wishes that the Avenger's assumptions about his seeming inability to read the written word did something as benign as making an ass of him and them. Being called illiterate shouldn't hurt, not when he knows he's not, and it's not like he can tell them the truth.

Not that the truth would make much difference. He's just going to have to grin and bear it.

If he can.

Speyeria Cybele

Matthew's not the first Murdock to tell Father Lantom he had the Devil in him. Only Jack's Devil was nothing like the one Matthew sees in himself.

Jack's Devil was magic. Literally.

(Or a history of Father Lantom's relationship with magic, the Devil and the Murdock boys)

anthropomorphism

Matthew Michael Murdock was a person who had been taken, killed or next to killed, and turned into a droid.

Foggy sobbed as quietly as he could into the toilet.

Like a Handprint on My Heart

The day Foggy’s supposed to start working at Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz, he wakes up, walks into the bathroom, starts to take a leak, glances down to check his aim, and freezes when he sees black letters on the inside of his right elbow.

His bladder forgotten, he brings his arm up, closer to his face and horizontal, as if he couldn't tell what the word was immediately. As if he'd somehow misread it, even though it's only four letters.

Matt.

Look Around, It's You I Can't Replace

Matt handles his separation from Foggy after the breakup of Nelson and Murdock a bit less well than he anticipated. As in he doesn't really handle it at all.

What All This Time Was For

On the rare occasions he reminisces about high school Foggy kind of wonders if he isn't just filling in the worst parts of teen comedies.

Foggy goes to his high school reunion.

[cloudlessly-light]

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you - Part 1/3

A/N:  So this is a extended version of one of the smut prompts I've done, the idea still stuck with me. I hope you like it!

Summary: Emily and Aaron get married, then divorce but do they find their way back to each other? Chapter title:  We love because it’s the only true adventure Rating: Excplicit Word count: 5.1k Warnings: Smut, mentions of alcohol, mentions of death, fluff, angst

Aaron knew that the moment he met Emily, that she would forever change his life. Emily Prentiss came into his life like a hurricane, right when he was on the cusp of breaking. Elle had left, Jason was slowly losing his hope on humanity and his faith, his marriage was barely holding together. And all of a sudden there she was, a dark-haired beauty filled with determination, a mission, something to prove. He had wanted to fight it, fight her, but came to find that it was impossible to do so.   

She’s a hurricane that instead of tearing things apart, somehow fixes everything. It’s one of the first things he notices, her passion for others, for the people around her as well as the people they meet every day, victims and witnesses alike. She’s relentless, stubborn at times, she’s exactly what he had been craving.  

Emily knew it would be a challenge settling into her new life, a backstory of a desk job packed neatly in her folder like she neatly packed away the last few years of her life. She had been in the Midwest, had worked for ten years, that was her story and she rehearsed it until she almost believed it. Lauren Reynolds didn’t exist anymore.

The first time she met Aaron he felt like a breath of fresh air, a complete opposite to Ian, black hair and eyes dark enough to drown in. A stiffness to him that she knew she would have to work through. But she did, slowly, and after a few mishaps she could feel the change in him.   

She loved her knew life, loved how it was clean and organized and nothing like Interpol had been. She relaxes as she lets herself truly become Emily again, had almost forgotten how it felt to be herself after so many years of being Lauren, but between joking with Derek and girl’s nights with JJ and Penelope, she found it. She found herself.  

 Almost a year goes by, some things crumble down around them, Jason leaves the team, Haley leaves him but they carry on. It’s strange, finding his footing as his personal life falls apart and he’s forced to take on even more of the workload without Jason. He should have known that Emily barely bats an eye when he comes to her that day, almost begging for her to come back to the team after she refused to give in to Erin Strauss. She never admitted it, but he could tell and as furious as he was that he had been right about Erin, he admired Emily.  

It's the first real turning point for them, sitting next to each other on a plane and talking like two normal people for the first time without the backdrop of murder, violence and despair.   

They grow closer, it’s slow and subtle and they both know that they’re getting a little too close. It’s a razor-sharp edge, his hand on her shoulder lingering a little too long, her eyes on him a little too intent. They both know they shouldn’t, but both knew that they wanted more. It had been close calls, a few almost kisses that both ignored the day after, it was frustrating being so attracted to another person that you could barely see straight.   

“Hey,” Emily pokes her head through the doorway and he looks up from the file he had been reading through. “want to go get a beer or something?”   

“Not tonight, maybe some other time?” He gestures to the large pile of files next to him on the desk and she sighs but nods and then leaves as quickly as she had appeared.   

Less than thirty minutes later she shows up again and he almost cracks a smile at her determination as she shows him the two beers she hid under her jacket.  

“Emily.” He tries to chastise her but the softness in his voice is apparent and she only closes his office door with a wide grin.  

“If you can’t come to the beer, the beer comes to you.” She has both bottles open and is taking a sip when he gives in with a small shake of his head.  

“I guess one beer would be okay, it’s after hours after all.” He agrees and clinks his bottle with hers as he tries to ignore how the smile on her face makes his own lips twitch in a smile.   

“It is, everybody has gone home.” Her eyes move to the window of his office once before landing on him again.  

“So why haven’t you?” He unbuttons the top button of his shirt and removes his tie before relaxing back in his chair, immediately feeling more comfortable.  

“Didn’t seem fair, you’re always working later than the rest of us.” She shrugs and tries to force herself to keep her eyes on his and to not flicker down at the small patch of skin that’s just been revealed to her, the familiar feeling of want settling inside of her quickly.   

“So you thought that tempting me with a beer would be enough?” He teases, a smirk on his lips before he takes another swig from the bottle in his hand.  

“It was worth a try.” She chuckles and he joins her before they fall silent. She can see the tension in his body, how as much as he would have loved to just forget about the work still left, he couldn’t and she places her bottle down on the table sigh a sigh. “Can I help you with that?”  

“No, it’s mostly me signing things. Wouldn’t look too good if your signature was suddenly there.” He finishes his beer and places the bottle on his desk. “Thank you though.” When his eyes find hers again they’re kind and soft and Emily feels her cheeks burning slightly.  

“Not a problem.” She suddenly feels hot, almost uncomfortably so and she knows that it has nothing to do with the temperature of the room and everything to do with the man across from her. “I should get home, I’ll see you tomorrow.” She stands up and he does the same and she almost wants to roll her eyes at him. Always the gentleman, she thought.  

He walks her to the office door, not really sure why but knew that he wanted to ask her to stay, wanted her close. The smell of her perfume makes him inhale, something safe in the scent of it.   

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He says and opens the door for her but she doesn’t move, only continues to look at him in the way that makes his heartrate quicken. The energy in the room switches quickly and his hold on the handle tightens as she turns fully into his body, his eyes move from her eyes to her lips and back. “Emily…” He whispers, some part of him still fighting what he knows is inevitable.  

“I know we shouldn’t.” She says just as quietly but still lets her hand move to slowly stroke his cheek, his stubble rough against her palm. “But I want to.”   

He closes his eyes at her touch, head falling forward as he tries to get control of his body as he reacts to her.  

“Tell me to stop and I will.” Her words are a breath against his neck, her body much closer to him than she had been a moment ago.   

“I don’t want to stop.” He admits and before his brain could stop him once again, he catches her lips in a kiss. She almost seems taken back by it, a second of tension before she relaxes into his body as she lets herself finally feel him, taste him.   

She hears his low groan in his throat, feels his hands as they circle her waist and pulls her even closer to him and she lets him. Her own hands move to his neck, her fingers find his short hair and she smiles against his lips as his breath hitches as she rakes her fingers through it.  

When they finally break apart, they’re both panting for air but neither move away from each other.  

“It’s about damn time huh?” He says before she has the chance to and she chuckles against his neck.  

“Will you regret this tomorrow?” She’s happy that her face is hidden from him, she didn’t want him to see the vulnerability on her face but knew that he could hear it in her voice.  

“Not if you won’t.” He pulls away only to move his hand under her chin and angle her face up so he can look at her properly. “I think we both knew we would end up here.” He smiles when she nods and pulls her into another kiss, this one softer than the previous one. “Let me take you out this weekend? And we’ll talk about it then?”   

“Are you asking me out Aaron Hotchner?” The words are mumbled between kisses before she moves back enough to put some space between them.  

“Yes Emily, that is what I’m doing.”   

That’s how it starts, how they start. In the stillness of his office late at night and it seems fitting that the place where they first met, is the place where they move forward.   

  *  

  Their first date that was only supposed to be dinner, but then turned into dinner and a walk, turned into a glass of wine at Emily’s turned into him spending the night and not leaving until he had to go pick up Jack the following day. He leaves with a kiss and a smile, a promise in his touch and Emily can’t keep the grin off her own face as he leaves, nor the blush on her cheeks when she sees the marks he had left on her body.  

The following Monday he drags her into his office before anybody else had gotten there and kisses her.  

“We can’t do this here.” It still doesn’t keep her from pressing kisses against his neck. They had agreed not to tell anybody, not until they knew where they were headed.   

“I know.” His hand tangles in her hair and when she moans he presses her harder against the wall. “Fuck I can’t get enough of you.” His voice is raspy, thick with want and it makes her shiver. “We’re flying to Denver today, but when we come back I want to cook you dinner.”  

“Okay.” She agrees easily, kisses him one more time before he moves away from her and she quickly runs her fingers through her hair before exciting his office. The bullpen was still quiet, but only seconds after she had made her way towards the kitchenette, Spencer and Derek walked through the glass doors, greeting her with smiles.   

  *  

  It’s only two months before the team finds out, all curtesy to Dave who figures them out within two days of joining the team.   

“You moved on fast.” He comments on the plane and when Emily freezes up and Aaron looks at him with a warning in his stare his own eyebrows raise in surprise. “Oh.”  

“What’s going on?” Derek asks from his spot on the couch as Spencer came to sit beside him, JJ who had been reading her book closes it as she looks between Dave and Aaron, the men obviously caught in a stare-down.  

“Nothing.” Aaron says and the edge in his voice couldn’t be mistaken.   

“Aaron and Haley aren’t together anymore.” Dave knew Aaron, had never been afraid of him the way some people were, but he didn’t realize that his newfound happiness with his subordinate was something to be kept a secret from the team.  

“That’s not news.” Derek says as he leans on his elbows. “And that’s not what you meant.”   

Aaron took a moment to gather his thoughts, this was not how they wanted the team to find out. He can feel Emily, still tense, beside him and his eyes flicker to her quickly. It’s a wordless conversation done in less than a couple of seconds and he sighs.  

“Me and Emily are dating.”   

Emily didn’t think she’d ever seen her friends this quiet before and she wasn’t sure how to handle the silence.  

“You’re what?!” Derek was the first to speak and his anger didn’t surprise either of them. “What are you playing at? Hotch you just separated, are the papers even signed yet?” The judgmental tone made Emily want to cringe but it only made Aaron angry at what he was insinuating.   

“Watch your tone Morgan.” He saw the way the other man wanted to fight it, could tell that there was nothing Derek would want more than to keep going, but in the end just shook his head in disbelief.   

“How long has this been going on?” Spencer asked, his voice more surprised than anything and Emily smiled at his innocence.  

“A couple of months.” She said and took Aaron’s hand. The moment they touch she could feel the tension in him lessen.  

Derek looked at the exchange quietly and scoffed before standing up.  

“Have fun trying to get this past Strauss.” He muttered while walking away to sit on the other side of the plane, trying to get as much space between himself and them as possible. “Ridiculous.”   

When they landed Emily left the jet with a heavy feeling of guilt in the pit of her stomach. She knew that things would change now, their whole team dynamic would change and she was afraid of the consequences.  

“Hey, Emily.” JJ caught her attention as they headed towards the SUV’s. Her hand landed on Emily’s shoulder; her hand warm through her blazer. “Is this serious, between you and Hotch?”  

Emily smiled gratefully at her and nodded.  

“It is, we’ve been trying to find a time to tell all of you. This was not the way we planned it.” She gave a sarcastic chuckle as her eyes found Derek getting into one of the cars, still not talking to anybody.  

“In that case, prove him wrong. Prove everybody wrong. If you’re happy then we as friends are happy for you.” JJ pulled her into a hug. “You do realize that Pen will want all the juicy details right?”  

“Oh God.”  

  *  

  A year later they have proved everybody wrong and are moving into their first house together. It was fast, but it felt right and as Emily stood in the middle of boxes in the kitchen with Aaron cooking them breakfast she couldn’t remember ever being this happy.  

“You look hot.” She smiled from across the kitchen island as he winked at her and flipped a pancake with ease.  

“So do you.” His eyes lingered on the hint of cleavage visible from his shirt on her body, only two buttons buttoned across her chest. “Come here.”   

She was quick to walk around the island and wrap her arms around his neck. She heard the scrambling of the pan falling in the sink, barely saw how he turned the stove off before his hands came around her to pull her closer.  

“I’m going to fuck you on every surface of this house.” He whispered against her ear as his lips trailed down her neck.  

“We already got a head start.” She breathed as his teeth scraped over her pulse.   

“Guess some surfaces will just have be twice then.” He gets the buttons of her shirt unbuttoned and the fabric off her before she has time to think about anything except how he’s able to turn her to mush with just with his voice. He sets her on the counter and rips her panties off with a smirk as she gasps.  

“I liked those.” She comments as he moves to stand in between her legs.  

“I’ll buy you new ones.” He kisses her to shut her up, swallows down her moan when his fingers move through her folds. “Always so wet for me.”  

“Don’t tease me Hotchner.” She tries to grind into his touch but his other hand on her hip stops her. “Honey.” She pouts and he laughs because Emily Prentiss doesn’t pout.  

“We have all day, and trust me baby, it’s going to be all day.” He wiggles his eyebrows and it’s her turn to laugh, the sound quickly being broken off into a moan when his fingers press inside of her. “You won’t be able to walk when I’m done with you.”   

“Seems impractical since we only have tomorrow to finish unpacking.” She muses but then his fingers curl and her hips buckle in response and she knows that they’re done talking for now. She pulls him into a kiss instead, pushes her tongue against his as his palm press against her clit and his other hand move over her body.  

Aaron tweaks one nipple and swallows down her gasp before trailing his lips down her neck. His hand moves from her chest and into her long hair, he tugs it and she moans as her head falls back with the movement and he sucks one taut nipple into his mouth.  

“Fuck, Aaron.” She claws at his shoulders as he holds her still by his firm grip on her hair, his teeth biting on her nipple hard enough to sting and then she’s coming hard enough to feel her body slide on the counter. He’s quick to let go of her hair and to wrap his arm around her hips as his fingers continue to pump inside of her until her moans have quieted down and she’s kissing him again.  

“I love when you come for me.” He whispers when they break apart and Emily’s forehead is pressed against his.  

“Fuck me,” Her hands are already pulling on his boxers to get them off his hips “I need you to fuck me.”   

Aaron didn’t need to be told twice, quickly kicking away his boxers and lining himself up with her. He watches her face as he runs the tip of him through her folds, her slick coating it as she whimpers each time he nudges her clit. When he thrusts inside of her it’s slow and deep and he doesn’t stop until he’s buried inside of her and she’s clinging to him from the stretch.  

“How do you always feel so fucking good?” He groans as he slowly pulls back only to push deep inside of her again. His hands move to her hips, holding her steady as he slowly picks up the pace. The sound of their moans, labored breathing and skin slapping against skin echoes through the house.  

Emily finally gives in to her body as the pleasure builds and she falls back against the cold marble of the counter. She arches as Aaron’s hands moves from her hips to between her thighs, his fingers quicky circling her clit slowly, a contrast to the way his hips snap harder against her. His other hand moves to press low on her stomach and he groans as he feels his shaft inside of her.  

“Fuck!” She jerks at the feeling, his cock suddenly feeling even bigger.  

“You feel that pretty girl? That’s how fucking deep I am inside of you.” His voice is barely a breathless growl, his orgasm building with each thrust inside of her.   

“It’s so good, so fucking good. Please don’t stop.” She mumbles through her own hazy pleasure, the tension in her body intensifying by each swipe of his thumb on her clit.   

Aaron wouldn’t dream of stopping, not when Emily begged for him not to. He watched as her body trembled, her hips grinding to get him as deep inside of her as possible. His finger moved a little faster over her clit, he angled his hips slightly, and then she was coming with a scream.  

She was pretty sure that she blacked out for a couple of seconds, the pleasure bordering on painful as she felt her orgasm in her entire body. She was barely down from her own high when she felt Aaron giving in to his own release, his groan low and shaky as he came inside of her.   

He could feel his legs almost give out as he came, his hands gripping the counter to keep steady as he tried to catch his breath. When the cloudy fog of arousal lessened and their breathing had returned to normal, Emily sat up and kissed him softly.  

“Let’s clean up and I can blow you in the shower.” She smirked as she jumped off the counter with his help.  

“You’re insatiable woman.” He slapped her ass and she laughed and took his hand.  

“You were the one who wanted to fuck everywhere, what was it you said, ‘I won’t be able to walk when you’re done with me’?”   

  *  

  Emily had expected co-parenting to be much harder that it was. Sure there had been fighting and words said with spite in the beginning, but Emily understood why. Aaron had moved on with her quickly and Haley had never imagined that the first woman he would be with after their separation would be someone he would get serious with. But there Emily was, already such a presence in his life that it wasn’t surprising that she would become a presence in Jacks as well.   

 It took a few months after Haley finding out, but they found a balance and after seeing how comfortable Jack was around Emily, she had relaxed some, even went as far as having the occasional coffee with Emily when dropping off Jack if Aaron was at work.  

“I didn’t want to like you.” Haley would joke and Emily would laugh.  

“Would it have been better if I was some 21-year-old college student?” She teased and Haley would immediately shake her head.   

“Oh God no, could you imagine?”   

“Horrible.” Emily agreed and clinked her coffee cup with Haley’s.  

  *  

  “He’s going to ask you to marry him!” Penelope all but shouted at her and Emily stopped with her glass halfway tilted towards her mouth.  

“What?” She stared at the blonde who nodded.  

“You said that he’s been acting really weird and you’ve been together for a long time now. You live together. He’s going to propose!”   

“Pen,” She laughed at the overly excited blonde and JJ shook her head beside her. “you didn’t go all Garcia on him and tracked his credit card or anything did you?”   

When all they got was silence in return Emily’s jaw fell open and JJ gasped as she hit Penelope on the shoulder.  

“Penelope!” She chastised, “you can’t do that!”   

For a couple of seconds everything was quiet as Emily just stared at Penelope across the table from herself.  

“I…” She started slowly, already squirming slightly “I was curious?”   

  But the proposal doesn’t come, a week goes by, then two and soon enough it’s been almost three months and Emily had chalked whatever Penelope had seen up to the bracelet she got as an anniversary present from him. She’s not unhappy with it, maybe a little disappointed but she was happy with him, in their home and she didn’t need a ring for that.  

“Honey?” He calls through the house as he walks through the door, getting home later than her like he always did.  

“In here.” She’s cleaning up Jack’s toys, the toddler asleep in his room upstairs. She throws the toy truck and superhero into his drawer in the living room before standing to greet him. “Hi honey.” She kisses him gently and breathes in the smell of him when he pulls her close.  

“Sorry for being home so late.” He mumbles into her neck as he hugs her. “I wanted to have dinner with you and Jack.”  

“It’s okay, we had pasta. Child friendly and Emily cooking friendly.” She jokes as she turns back to pick up the rest of the toys. She doesn’t notice his eyes on her until she stands back up.  

Aaron watches her quietly, the woman in front of him that cares for his child like it was her own, a person with the biggest heart he’d ever seen. He considered himself lucky, that someone like her ever wanted to be with someone like him. When she turns to face him, hair falling over her face, his son’s toys in her hands and a gentle smile on her face he can feel his heart skipping a beat.  

“What?” She asks when he continues to look at her.  

“Marry me.” He can see the confusion flitter across her face, a moment of hesitation before she breaks into the biggest smile he’d ever seen.  

“Did you just ask me to marry you while I’m in stained sweats in the middle of the living room?”  

“Yes.” He steps closer to her and the toys in her hand fall back to the floor as her hands comes to rest on his chest. “Marry me.”  

“Of course I’ll marry you, you idiot.” She ignores the way her voice shakes as she speaks and instead lets him kiss the air from her lungs. When he pulls back and goes to his briefcase she isn’t sure what is happening until he’s pulling out a small box.  

“I bought this months ago, and I had planned something much bigger, something fancy because that’s what you deserve…”  

“This is perfect.” She interrupts him, wanting him to know that anything would have been great, but this was perfect because it was them. Her hand trembles when he slides the white gold band over her finger. It’s a simple ring, a diamond that wasn’t too small but wasn’t something that would draw attention to it, it felt like the perfect fit and she couldn’t take her eyes off it.  

“You are perfect.” He kisses her again, his own smile making it more teeth than lips but he didn’t care, he would have forever with her.   

  *  

  “Can I talk to you about something?” Aaron asks one night while in bed, the thought appearing as of nowhere.  

“Yeah.” Emily closes the book she had been reading and turns to him.   

“When you first joined the team it said that you had been in the Midwest. JJ asked you about it once and you kind of froze up.”  

Emily could feel her heart beat faster in her chest, could feel the anxiety simmering already as she looked at him with wide eyes and a nod.   

“Then Strauss let us know that it had been a cover, that you had been working for Interpol.”   

“Mhm.”   

“You never talk about it. Why you had a misleading file or about what you did there.” His hand land on her hip and his thumb rubs over her hipbone gently. “I guess I’m just curious about why?”  

“I-I did undercover work. I’m not allowed to talk about it.” She decided to be as truthful as possible without having to disclose what she had to do, how far she had gone, losing herself along the way. She was afraid that if she told him that she had fallen in love with a terrorist and murderer, that he would never look at her the way he did right then.   

“Okay sweetheart.” He kissed her forehead, seemingly content with her answer. “I’m here though, if you ever can and want to talk about it.”  

“I love you.” She settles into his chest, hand over his heart and she feels his hum in his chest.  

“I love you too.”  

  *  

  They don’t have a wedding, they go to city hall with Haley and Jack and it’s enough for them because they have each other. But Emily should have known that Aaron would have arranged for their dinner to be with the whole team, their friends surprising her with celebratory shouts and laughs.  

When Aaron kisses her, Derek is the first one to cheer for them, his support never ending after the first few months of refusing to acknowledge them as a couple. Emily laughs at him and her hand finds Aaron’s under the table before leaning into his side.  

“You sure this was enough for you?” He asks and she hums, content to just sit there with him. When Jack climbs into her lap she turns her face towards Aaron’s with a smile.  

“I’ve never been this happy. This is perfect, all of it is perfect.” She strokes his cheek gently “Stop worrying baby.”  

“Emmy.” Jack gets her attention, the three-year-old still hard to understand sometimes. “You happy?”  

“Yes Jack, I’m happy. Are you happy?” She laughs when he nods enthusiastically. “That’s good, is daddy happy?” She turns back to Aaron who’s also nodding.  

“I’m very happy.”   

“And we are happy for you!” Dave interrupts having heard the conversation and raising his glass in a toast. “To Aaron and Emily!”  

“Aaron and Emily!” The team and Haley raise their glasses in sync as Jack laughs, the sound carrying through the restaurant.   

  *  

  They were blissfully happy together. Married, talking about another child.  

They were happy until they weren’t.   

George Foyet tears their lives apart in the blink of an eye. After his attack on Aaron, Emily watches as he falls into a downward spiral. She tries to be there for him, watches as his obsession grows but she doesn’t fault him for that. Haley and Jack were gone because of Foyet, and no matter how hard she tried to reassure Aaron that things would turn out okay, she knew that it wasn’t something she couldn’t promise him.

When Haley was murdered she was pretty sure a part of Aaron died with her, something lost forever. He leans on her like never before as he grieves. She supports him the best she can, is there for him and Jack as they all try to navigate this new life, a worse life.

“I’m not enough for him.” Aaron tells her quietly one night, only a few weeks after Haley’s death.

“You’re more than enough for him.” She makes sure that he looks at her, hands on his cheeks. “You saved him.”

“I couldn’t have done this without you.” He blinks away tears and lets her pull him into a hug, lets the scent and feel of her envelope him.

Months go by, and somehow they slowly get back to themselves, something Emily didn’t think was possible. They manage work and Jack with the help of Jessica and somewhere along the way Aaron was able to say Haley’s name with a smile.

They get back to being happy after a year of grief and just as she feels like maybe things would be okay again, she gets the call.

 She meets Sean and his eyes flicker to the rings on her finger before he tells her that Ian has escaped from prison. She feels dread, like ice along her spine as her worst fears are becoming reality.  

“Am I in danger? Is my family in danger?”  

“We all are.”  

[fearsmagazine]

GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: MAX (formally HBOMAX)

SYNOPSIS:  GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI is set in 1920s Shanghai where the Wing family first meets the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Guided by his grandfather’s journal, 10-year-old Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 “Gremlins” film) accepts the dangerous task to take Gizmo home and embarks on a journey through the Chinese countryside. Sam and Gizmo are joined by a teenage street thief named Elle, and together, they encounter—and sometimes battle—colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. Along their quest, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist named Riley Greene, who has gathered a growing army of evil Gremlins.

REVIEW: As fans remain hopeful for a third film in the cult classic film franchise birth by filmmakers Joe Dante and Chris Columbus, the animated series GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI comes to MAX, offering fans an epic origin story for Gizmo and the Mogwais, immersed in Chinese folklore. Having taken in all ten episodes, the series is a blend of family themes, an epic quest of personal growth and a nice collection of bits and gags that offer something for adults and diehard fans.

I enjoyed the plot and the character arcs. The majority of the episodes ended on classic cliffhangers, engaging the viewer’s interest for the next episode. Sam, Elle, and even Gizmo, learn much about themselves and grow as they encounter obstacles in route to the Jade Valley, the home of the Mogwais. The evil gremlins are as scary as Gizmo and his fellow Mogwais are adorable. The colorful monsters and spirits incorporated into the tale from Chinese folklore add a nice touch. Fans of Chinese genre films are sure to be delighted by their presence, my personal favorite the hopping zombies, which works so much better in animation than in live action. The series captures the spirit of the original live action films as it moves into a fantasy realm. Ultimately, the evil gremlins get to unleash their brand of chaos on Shanghai, aided by the power-hungry industrialist Riley Greene. Greene’s addition adds an additional level to the peril and plays off a new aspect to the gremlin mythology. The series comes to a satisfying conclusion as the ten episodes also expand the Gremlin folklore. There is the potential for another season, after all Sam is a young lad and he and Gizmo need to make the journey to America. However, this first installment is so well written I’m a bit nervous where it could go from here.

I enjoyed the animation style. The human, evil gremlins, good gremlins, monsters and spirits each have a specific design. The evil gremlins have a sharp geometric design, as compared to the good gremlins which have a soft, puppy-eyed, furry design. The humans have some hard lines in their rendering, especially in terms of the adults vs. the children. The folklore characters are a nice blend of styles that give them each a unique feel. I loved the rendering and they would easily make great toys/action-figures. There is an aspect to the animation that was reminiscent of Rankin/Bass stop motion animation process, known as "Animagic.” Numerous times while viewing I was lulled into thinking I was watching stop motion and not flat animation. Scenes vary, but many are filled in with detail and a rich color palette that creates a lavish universe.

I adored Sherri Chung’s compositions for the series. She does an excellent re-orchestration of Jerry Goldsmith’s “Gremlins” theme with some traditional Chinese instruments that maintains the spirit of the composition and adds a fresh take to it. It’s a short piece that plays over the opening credits and I would love to hear her take on the entire piece. She creates magical moments as she adds her music to scenes with the other mystical characters and the action sequences. Her work is a nice blend of a classic style and playful sound reminiscent of the blend of music in the classic “Looney Tunes” shorts.

The production has gathered a fabulous voice cast. Veteran actor James Hong's performance flows through his character adding so much charm and magic. Izaac Wang’s Sam imparts a sense of wonder and a child’s innocence to the character. Actress Gabrielle Nevaeh voices the street urchin Elle. She adds a lot of depth to her performance that creates an endearing character. Several other Asian-Pacific actors add their voices to the series, including the original Mr. Sulu on “Star Trek,” actor George Takei. I will not spoil the surprise, but it’s perfect voice casting.

GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI is a delight, and sure to be a guilty pleasure among the viewing adults who don’t have a younger viewer to blame their watching the series on. I am sure there are fans of the films who will have issues with the series. If they give it a chance it has so much going for it that it is sure to win them over. I’m cautiously optimistic to see what they might do for a second season, and wait with bated breath for the toys and action figures based on the show.

The first two episodes for GREMLINS: SECRETS OF THE MOGWAI premiere Tuesday, May 23, 2023, on MAX, with two new episodes every Thursday. The pilot, “Never Get Them Wet,” is directed by Joe Dante, who serves as consulting producer on the series.

CAST (voices): Ming-Na Wen, James Hong, BD Wong, Matthew Rhys, Izaac Wang, AJ LoCascio Gabrielle Nevaeh, Zach Galligan, Sandra Oh, Randall Park, George Takei, and Bowen Yang. CREW: Series Writers - Peter Chen, Anna Christopher, Tze Chun, Brendan Hay, & Sarah Nerboso; Music - Sherri Chung; Editors - Sheila McIntosh, Ryan Samsam & Mike Williamson; Episodes:

S1, Ep1 - Never Get Them Wet S1, Ep2 - Never Feed Them After Midnight S1, Ep3 - Always Buy a Ticket S1, Ep4 - Don't Drink the Tea S1, Ep5 - Always Stab or Run S1, Ep6 - Always Buy a God a Drink First S1, Ep7 - Never Squeeze a Fox S1, Ep8 - Never Hug a Mogwai S1, Ep9 - Never Give Up S1, Ep10 - Never Expose Them to Bright Light

OFFICIAL: amblin.com/tv/gremlins-secrets-of-the-mogwai/ FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/WAyemweRRDs RELEASE DATE: Streaming May 23rd, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[pathosverse]

FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIP: RUNE & CALIX EXOUSÍA

Rune and Calix Exousía were both born on an unnamed desert planet in the Mid Rim, to the same mother, Alessandra Exousía, but eight years apart, and to different fathers. Rune was born when Alessandra was married to an abusive Twi’Lek man, but he left shortly after their birth. When they were seven years old, Alessandra began dating a much kinder and fatherly Togruta man, who she then married and had Calix with. However, Calix’s father died a year after Calix’s birth due to illness.

Alessandra, who was now more like a ghost herself, did not have to raise her children alone. Her parents had made a fortune exploiting workers in the Outer Rim, and she lived with them in their opulent mansion in the middle of the desert, where they were surrounded by their servants, as well as other rich families. Rune and Calix’s grandmother, Ophelia, was a kind but severe woman; their grandfather, Damian, was kind but very absent emotionally. So, while Rune and Calix had family around and basic needs met, they were still neglected emotionally.

This changed for both of them when Calix turned two and it was discovered by Alessandra that he was Force-sensitive*. The family immediately contacted the Jedi, who promptly sent a team to investigate and take Calix back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant if he was, in fact, Force-sensitive.

Needless to say, he was, and Rune, so upset over the loss of their brother, ran away from home. They were ten years old, and spent the next few years on a neighboring planet, working in a small shop for room and board. Their mother and grandparents never looked for them, and at age 13, they were recruited into the Black Sun crime syndicate by one of its high-ranking crew leaders, Xiomara Siir.

While Calix grew up as a Jedi, Rune spent the next nine years of their life as a member of the Black Sun. Xiomara Siir, though not gentle and certainly not motherly, became a mentor and mother figure for them, teaching them what would become their most treasured skill: how to pilot a ship. Rune also became close with Jupiter Nox, a member of Xiomara’s crew who was only a year older than them. While romance was not encouraged within the crew, the two’s bond certainly surpassed being platonic.

It took eight years for Rune to become sick of the crime syndicate. By the beginning of their ninth year, they were fed up, and looking for a way to search for their brother. However, their debts to the Black Sun barred them from a future outside of it. At age 23, they tried to leave the syndicate. Xiomara attempted to kill them, but they persuaded her into helping them fake their own death.

This is all backstory. Rune is truly introduced into the Pathosverse at age 24, when they meet Shawnee Young in a cantina in the middle of nowhere. The two strike a deal, and Rune assists Shawnee in a job. In return, Shawnee aids them in the search for their brother. They eventually find Calix where he’s living with Sammi Saeki, and he’s shocked. He’d mostly forgotten his sibling, but he’s more than willing to go with them. For a time, Rune’s crew consists of themself, Shawnee, Calix, and Sammi.

Until the chaos, of course.

*Note that Calix is transgender and was known as Calixta and female at this time. Rune, also transgender, was known as Melitta and male at this time.

The images in these collages were found on Pinterest in October 2021, and the sources for them are random accounts. Please let us know if you’d like the link to the image on Pinterest, and if you created one, let us know so we can credit you and make sure you get credited on the Pinterest account. Collages created by Ell.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Moonies secretly bought the French Château de Challain-la-Potherie

The Château de Challain was purchased in 1948 by the town of Choisy-le-Roi in Île-de-France. The municipality sets up summer camps there and two hundred children went there every summer. However, the colonies stopped in 1970 and the château was sold in 1978 5. The new buyer, an industrialist from Saint-Leu-la-Forêt 5, was president of the International Federation of Esotericism and Naturopathy and he set up a club there, baptized “Vivid Waves”.

In 1989 the château was acquired by the European Property Management Company (SEGI) related to the Unification Church, known as the “Moon sect” 6,7. This company expanded the area and planed to make a hotel and a golf course 5.

The project was however abandoned and a real estate company took over the château in 1996 6. It was then estimated at around ten million francs 8, or nearly two million euros in 2016 9. The property had several other buyers before being bought by the Nicholson 5 family in 2002 10. This family is originally from New Jersey in the United States, where it owns a construction company. After nine months of work, the first guest rooms were opened. Since then, the château has been used as a top-of-the-range bed and breakfast 4. The establishment specializes in the organization of weddings and has an international clientele. Each year about twenty ceremonies are organized there.10

______________________________________

Bo Hi Pak may have been involved in the project.

______________________________________

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Challain-la-Potherie

Le château de Challain est acheté en 1948 par la ville de Choisy-le-Roi en Île-de-France. La municipalité y installe ses colonies de vacances et deux cents enfants y partent chaque été. Les colonies s'arrêtent cependant en 1970 et le château est revendu en 19785. Le nouvel acquéreur, un industriel de Saint-Leu-la-Forêt5, est président de la Fédération internationale d'Ésotérisme et de Naturopathie et il y installe un club, baptisé « Ondes vives ». Le château est ensuite acquis en 1989 par la Société européenne de gestion immobilière (SEGI) apparentée à l'Église de l'Unification, dite « secte Moon »6,7. Cette société agrandit le domaine et projette d'en faire un hôtel et un golf5.

Le projet est cependant abandonné et une société immobilière reprend le château en 19966. Il est alors estimé à environ dix millions de francs8, soit près de deux millions d'euros de 20169. La propriété connaît plusieurs autres acquéreurs avant d'être achetée par la famille Nicholson5 en 200210. Celle-ci est originaire du New Jersey aux États-Unis, où elle possède une entreprise de construction. Après neuf mois de travaux, les premières chambres d'hôtes sont ouvertes. Depuis lors, le château sert de chambres d'hôtes haut de gamme4. L'établissement est spécialisé dans l'organisation de mariages et possède une clientèle internationale. Une vingtaine de cérémonies y sont organisées chaque année10.

______________________________________

Château de Bellinglise, Compiegne (outside Paris) was bought by a Moon front organization. It may still be owned by them, but that is unknown.

Château Mauny was bought by the UC in France in the 1970s and was sold after a long tax evasion trial.

[justapillowpetpanda]

Fantasia Festival Announces Second Wave of 2024 Titles

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montréal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, in the meantime, Fantasia has revealed a select second wave of premiere titles.

'Bookworm' Opening at Fantasia Festival

Fantasia’s 28th edition will open with a joyride into the wild, celebrating the World Premiere of Ant Timpson’s moving and hilarious BOOKWORM. Reuniting the celebrated New Zealand filmmaker with his COME TO DADDY star Elijah Wood (Showtime’s Yellowjackets) - who matches through-the-roof comic chemistry of gifted his young co-star Nell Fisher (EVIL DEAD RISE) – BOOKWORM is as entertaining as it is richly cinematic. Mildred (Fisher), a precocious eleven-year-old bookworm, escapes her humdrum existence by immersing herself in novels where literary adventures abound, with a long-dreamed quest to capture proof of a mythological beast known as The Canterbury Panther. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1KjT1csnY When an unusual accident occurs, Mildred’s long absent father Strawn Wise (Wood), a washed-up illusionist, flies to New Zealand to look after a daughter he’s never met. When they agree to go camping despite neither being the outdoorsy type, this ultimate test in family bonding leads the duo on a string of increasingly absurd and treacherous adventures.

Fantasia's Second Wave Titles

THE BEAST WITHIN Phantasmagoric, gothic, and straight out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Kit Harington (Jon Snow from HBO’s Game of Thrones) stars in this nightmarish fantasy that reflects on the uncanniness of childhood and the creatures that come out at night. The narrative feature debut of esteemed documentary filmmaker Alexander J. Farrel (REFUGEE), THE BEAST WITHIN - previously known as WHAT REMAINS OF US - follows a ten-year-old girl as she starts to question her atypical life in her family's fortified compound in rural England, ultimately discovering that once a month, her father (Harington) turns into a monster. Co-starring Caoilinn Springall (STOPMOTION), Ashleigh Cummings (AMC’s NOS4A2), and James Cosmo (BRAVEHEART).

THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO Fresh off a spectacular Cannes World Premiere that ended in a near-12-minute standing ovation, Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s 1815-set blockbuster epic THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO will be coming to Fantasia for its International bow. Created by Alexandre Dumas in the mid-19th century, Edmond Dantès is one of the most celebrated characters in French literature, and the story of his retribution has left its mark on popular culture around the world—the similarities between Bruce Wayne and the wrongly imprisoned, revenge-minded Dantès are obvious. This new film adaptation subtly reappropriates that influence, hinting at the tropes and trappings of the modern superhero film while retaining the classicism of the work through grandiose art direction. Pierre Niney (YVES SAINT LAURENT) shines in the title role as he expresses the stages of Dantès’s evolution into Monte-Cristo with exemplary sobriety and spellbinding charisma. Also starring Bastien Bouillon (THE NIGHT OF THE 12TH), Anaïs Demoustier (INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE), Anamaria Vartolomei (HAPPENING), and Laurent Lafitte (ELLE).

PÁRVULOS Award-winning Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban (THE INCIDENT, PARALLEL) returns with his fifth - and most personal - feature, a disturbing tale that he’s spent the last seven years bringing into light. PÁRVULOS is a dystopian coming-of-age horror story that begins with three young brothers living alone in a remote cabin, hiding a terrifying secret in their basement. Where it goes from there will pull the breath from your lungs, as the children’s sealed world is forcefully expanded by monstrous elements beyond their control. A poignant nightmare inspired by GOODNIGHT MOMMY, LORD OF THE FLIES, A QUIET PLACE, and the universes of Guillermo del Toro (an outspoken admirer of Ezban’s work), PÁRVULOS features some of the most gruesome practical make-up effects the screen has seen in years and is electrified by astonishing performances from actors Felix Farid, Leonardo Cervantes, Mateo Ortega, Norma Flores,  Horacio Lazo, Carla Adell, Juan Carlos Remolina, and the great Noé Hernández (WE ARE THE FLESH). From the producers of HUESERA: THE BONE WOMAN.

SCARED SHITLESS! Vivieno Caldinelli, known for SEVEN STAGES TO ACHIEVE ETERNAL BLISS, the Roddy Piper short PORTAL TO HELL, and THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES, tackles the journey of everyman to hero once again with his new feature SCARED SHITLESS! Steven Ogg (DARK MATCH, AMC’s The Walking Dead) and Daniel Doheny (Netflix’s Brand New Cherry Flavor) star as a father and son plumbing duo faced with a disgusting dilemma: rid a building of a toilet-dwelling creature before it unleashes itself to the rest of the world! Co-starring Chelsea Clark (Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia, THE PROTECTOR), Mark McKinney (CBC’s The Kids in the Hall, NBC’s Superstore), and a cameo by Julian Richings (BEAU IS AFRAID; RELAX, I’M FROM THE FUTURE), there’s loads of gore, a fantastic creature by Canadian FX legend Steve Kostanski, and enough laughs that you’ll need a change of pants!

HAZE A young journalist (Cole Doman, MUTT) returns home to investigate unsolved deaths at a psychiatric center. As he dances with the shadows of his past, his family history and the town’s secrets begin to converge. A somber, queer horror drama steeped in deeply-rooted trauma that haunts with eerie, richly-intentional visuals, HAZE is the unforgettable sophomore feature from filmmaker Matthew Fifer (CICADA). Co-starring David Pittu (FX’s Damages) and Brian J. Smith (Syfy’s Stargate Universe).

THE SOUL EATER Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the acclaimed filmmaking team behind INSIDE, LIVID, and THE DEEP HOUSE, have adopted the popular French novel by Alexis Laipsker to create a fresh turn in their distinctive filmography. A morbid procedural thriller with extreme horror flashpoints, THE SOUL EATER turned heads when it premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival earlier this year. As violent and gruesome deaths plague a small mountain village, an old legend about a malevolent creature resurfaces. Two cops with different methods are compelled to join forces and uncover a sinister plot involving the disappearance of local children. Starring Virginie Ledoyen (8 FEMMES), Paul Hamy (DESPITE THE NIGHT), and Sandrine Bonnaire (VAGABOND).

Animation Selection at Fantasia Festival

MANTRA WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE EIGHT MOONS Following last summer’s Fantasia screening of the restored anime version of the Ramayana, it’s now Thailand’s turn to impress and amaze with an animated reimagining of this mighty, ancient mythological epic. Director Veerapatra Jinanavin and the team at Bangkok-based Riff Studio not only bring a Thai aesthetic to the titanic tale of Ram, Sita, Hanuman, and their foes, they’ve rebooted it as a cyberpunk space opera punctuated with powerhouse mecha battles. MANTRA WARRIOR: THE LEGEND OF THE EIGHT MOONS is the first installment of Riff Studio’s exciting new franchise, one sure to thrill fans of fantastic sci-fi while cementing Thailand as a producer of world-class animation with global appeal.

MONONOKE THE MOVIE: THE PHANTOM IN THE RAIN The 2007 TV series MONONOKE is one of the most singular and delightfully innovative works in the history of anime, and its devoted cult following, wistfully presuming that the paranormal escapades of the mysterious Medicine Seller were long since concluded, can rejoice. Director Kenji Nakamura (GATCHAMAN CROWDS) has revived the intricate palace intrigue and hallucinatory supernatural thrills of his signature work with a brand-new feature film, his most elaborate and opulent adventure yet, and it makes its grand debut at Fantasia. Visually exquisite to an almost overwhelming degree, it gleefully indulges in the iconography and aesthetics of Edo-era Japan, doing so with Pop Art panache, playful anachronism, and percussive pacing, and immediately asserts itself as an essential anime classic.

Fantasia's Underground Section

THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD In the remote Portuguese mountain village of Pé da Serra, a monk arrives wielding a demonic sword. Before long, the mystical weapon ends up in the hands of the town drunk António da Luz (playing himself). Now, the drunkard and the sword will have to learn to fight an encroaching evil together. Featuring amateur actors and the incredible voice work of João Loy, the voice of Vegeta from the iconic Portuguese dub of Dragon Ball Z, Fábio Powers’ THE OLD MAN AND THE DEMON SWORD is a heartfelt and unlikely retelling of the hero’s journey.

ME AND MY VICTIM Blurring the line between fiction and nonfiction, ME AND MY VICTIM is about co-directors and subjects, Maurane and Billy Pedlow, who are not quite friends and not quite lovers and the true, messy, and kind-of-fucked-up story about how they met. A messy, whirlwind, imperfect, orgasmic, meme-inflected, jump into the rabbit hole of their on-again, off-again situationship, their ultra-micro-budget (the film was made for less than $1000 US) confession playfully captures the humanity of love and lust in the 21st Century.

ANIMALIA PARADOXA An amphibious humanoid searches for water in a labyrinthine, post-apocalyptic landscape, from the mind of filmmaker Niles Atalah (REY), the co-founder of the boundary-pushing Chilean production company Diluvio with artists Joaquin Cociña and Cristóbal Leon (LA CASA LOBO). Genre and arthouse cinema meld to create a singular collage-like invention that will defy all expectations with ANIMALIA PARADOXA. A hybrid of styles and techniques, this surreal journey combines live action, dance, sculpture, and stop-motion animation in a dreamlike structure, reimagining the end of the world like you’ve never seen.

Additional Second Wave Fantasia Titles:

100 YARDS (China) – Dirs. Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng Family secrets, demimonde politics, and romantic entanglements complicate the rivalry between two skilled martial artists in the 1920s. The latest from masterful genre auteur Xu Haofeng (THE SWORD IDENTITY, THE FINAL MASTER), co-directed by his own brother, once again reconciles authenticity and inventiveness, and rewards its attentive audience a hundred times over. Quebec Premiere. AZRAEL (USA) – Dir. E.L Katz In a post-apocalyptic world, Azrael (Samara Weaving, READY OR NOT) must fight tooth and nail to rescue her partner from a cult of mute religious fanatics in the year’s most vicious tale of revenge. From the acclaimed director of CHEAP THRILLS and the screenwriter of YOU’RE NEXT and this year’s GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, this relentless thriller also stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (FEMME), Sebastian Bull (SONS), and Victoria Carmen Sonne (HOLIDAY). Winner of Best Feature, Best Actress, and Best FX Audience Awards at Panic Fest 2024. BRAVE CITIZEN (South Korea) – Dir. Park Jin-pyo A former boxer, now a part-time teacher, dons a mask and deals with high school bullying the hard way. Based on the popular webtoon, BRAVE CITIZEN is a stylishly entertaining Korean action flick from the director of VOICE OF A MURDERER and YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, with great characters and intense fight scenes. BRUSH OF THE GOD (Japan) – Dir. Keizo Murase Two teens must save the world from a many-headed, mythological dragon in this generously self-referential giant-monster movie from 88-year-old master tokusatsu artisan Keizo Murase, who makes his directorial debut following a lifetime crafting monster suits for all of Japan’s best-known kaiju films. CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS (Australia) – Dir Alice Maio Mackay Alice Maio Mackay (T-BLOCKERS) returns to Fantasia with an early Christmas present (with some help from THE PEOPLE’S JOKER’s Vera Drew, on editing duty). Bloody, ironic, and uproarious, CARNAGE FOR CHRISTMAS tells the story of true-crime podcaster Lola who returns to her hometown at Christmas for the very first time since running away and transitioning - meanwhile, the vengeful ghost of a historical murderer and urban legend seemingly arises to kill again! Official Selection: Salem Horror Fest, Inside Out Toronto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfUPVy1XTQ DARKEST MIRIAM (Canada) – Dir: Naomi Jaye Following her debut feature THE PIN, Naomi Jaye now adapts the Giller Prize short-listed novel ‘The Incident Report’ by author Martha Baillie as DARKEST MIRIAM. In it, Miriam (Britt Lower of AppleTV's Severance) is a library worker dealing with her father’s death, threatening letters at work, and an unexpected lover, all of which threaten to change her solitary life forever. Starring Tom Mercier (THE ANIMAL KINGDOM), Sook-Yin Lee (SHORTBUS), and Jean Yoon (CBC’s Kim’s Convenience), and executive produced by Academy Award-winner Charlie Kaufman (ADAPTATION).  DON’T CALL IT MYSTERY (Japan) – Dir. Hiroaki Matsuyama In this compelling whodunit adapted from a popular, award-winning manga and subsequent hit TV series, college student Totonou (Masaki Suda of THE BOY AND THE HERON), known for his sharp observation skills, becomes entangled in a complicated family feud involving mysterious deaths. FAQ (South Korea) – Dir. Kim Da-min A stressed-out elementary-school student secretly befriends a bottle of rice wine that can communicate through Morse Code. Director Kim Da-min’s debut feature is a heartwarming sci-fi/coming-of-age story guaranteed to make you smile. KRYPTIC (Canada, U.K.) – Dir. Kourtney Roy A part of XYZ Films’ New Visions with a World Premiere at SXSW 2024 and Canadian Premiere at CUFF, Kourtney Roy’s debut feature KRYPTIC follows Kay (Chloe Pirrie of THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT and HANNA), a woman on a mysterious quest. A strange forest encounter leads her to search for a missing cryptozoologist – who bears a striking resemblance to Kay – and the monster she was hunting. KRYPTIC is a doppelganger story of self-discovery and empowerment, and a must-see for audiences wanting a colourful spectacle that defies genre with strange, gooey interludes and atmospheric landscapes. THE MISSING (Philippines) – Dir. Carl Joseph Papa The death of Eric’s uncle triggers a suppressed childhood memory - and the return of his alien abductor - in director Carl Joseph Papa's third animated feature: a queer, surreal hybrid of romance, drama, and sci-fi embracing digital rotoscope animation and featuring internationally renowned Filipino actress Dolly De Leon (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS). NOT FRIENDS (Thailand) – Dir. Atta Hemwadee Hoping to win a short-film competition, Pae decides to direct a tear-jerking tribute to former classmate Joe, who tragically passed away, even though they weren’t actually friends. Atta Hemwadee’s feature debut was Thailand’s entry in the Best International Feature category for this year’s Academy Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLNDvnv8B3A ODDITY (Ireland) – Dir. Damian McCarthy A blind medium (Carolyn Bracken, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER) uncovers the truth behind her sister's death with the help of a frightening wooden mannequin. One of the scariest and most imaginative films you’ll see anywhere this year. Winner of the Midnighter Audience Award at SXSW 2024.  WAKE UP (Canada / France) – Dirs. François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell This tense, gore-soaked new shocker from homegrown Fantasia favorites RKSS (TURBO KID, SUMMER OF ’84, WE ARE ZOMBIES) pits a gang of Gen Z activists against a hulking security guard murderously protecting the big-box store they’ve invaded after hours. Official Selection: Fantastic Fest 2023, Sitges 2023. YIN YANG MASTER ZERO (Japan) – Dir. Shimako Sato A wily apprentice sorcerer and his dim but good-hearted best friend (Kento Yamazaki of KINGDOM and Shota Sometani of PARASYTE) confront dark forces in Heian-era Japan. Handled with panache by writer-director Shimako Sato (EKO EKO AZARAK, K-20: LEGEND OF THE MASK), the popular historical-fantasy franchise returns to the big screen.

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[cocktailsfairytales]

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