#all that to say that the other crew in our van found out it was my birthday and were like we HAVE to go out and hit the city all night!

[filmnoirsbian]

There's something so nice about flying and going out with junior crews (crew members who haven't been with the airline long) because they want to explore and do everything and it's like oh yeah that's the fun part about this job!! You get trapped in the mundanity of it all after a while so it's nice to be reminded that visiting random cities everyday is a cool experience and we should endeavor to enjoy it

[willowpains]

pairing: drew starkey x fem. reader!

summary: cast member reader and drew take on poguelandia

warnings: none

disclaimer: english is not my first language so I apologize for any grammar mistakes<3

the release of season 3 was just around the corner, and as a way to interact with the fans and give the new season some promotion, the obx team had decided to launch an event where fans would be able to live a pogue experience with the cast, which created a lot of anticipation in the fan community and had everyone in the world wishing they could attend, cause everyone was gonna be there to have a good time.

y/n was a little nervous, this event was a big deal, and as she arrived at the place in the back of the van with madelyn, her palms started sweating and her heart started racing. she had just joined the obx cast last season, along with carlacia, and this was going to be one of the first big interactions she was gonna have with the cast out in public as well as with the fans. she knew fans liked her character and cheered on her as an actress, but what if that was not the case when they saw her in real life? her impostor syndrome truly winning that day.

“everything ok y/n?” Madelyn asked noticing how the girl kept looking out the window as she played with her hands, a way to cope with her anxiety.

“i’m just feeling a bit nervous, that’s all. nothing to worry about” she answered seeing how the van came to a stop in a secluded area of the event.

her friend understood, to this day, she still got nervous at events, she believed it was impossible to get used to living this life and getting that much attention.

“just breathe, we’ll all be together and you’ll have a great time, trust me” Madelyn told the girl while she gave her a comforting smile. Both girls had instantly clicked since y/n joined the series, and had been glued to each other since then, they found a best friend in each other, and their love and care could be seen in and off screen.

“is drew already here?” y/n asked getting off the van and walking to where some of the crew were giving details on what they needed everyone to be doing.

just as she finished her question the tall man appeared around the corner making her smile, he was with Austin while a couple of crew members surrounded them, looking like they had just come from looking around the event, probably interacting with some fans. As drew noticed the van, he quickly began walking towards them, locking eyes with the anxious girl who relaxed immediately after seeing him approach.

“there’s my girl” he said into smile as he closed the distance between them hugging y/n to his chest, feeling her relax under his touch. “what took you guys so long?”

drew and y/n had met while filming season two of the show, and they had immediately become really good friends, best friends someone could say. they spent a lot of time in each other’s trailers, and their chemistry and the way they looked at each other was something all their friends could notice, but for some reason, it was something that both of them didn’t seem to grasp until long after they met, cause it was just before beginning to film season 3, that they couldn’t keep denying their feelings to each other, finally deciding to be together.

the only thing is, they decided to keep it private. and it’s not that they weren’t sure they loved each other, but they were scared of the reaction of the fans, so to that day, they have been trying to keep it low key, and it’s not like much changed, I mean, ever since they met they have had this bond that had fans questioning if they were more than friends, so all they had to do was keep the pda to themselves, even though they kind of fail in the attempt.

“traffic was insane, but it definitely allowed us to make our grand entrance” said Madelyn while she looked around seeing how they were the last to arrive.

drew could feel y/n’s quick heartbeat in his chest, so looking down to her he asked “is everything ok love?” while putting her hair behind her ear in a loving way.

y/n nodded slowly looking into his eyes and giving him a small smile “just a little nervous, don’t know what to expect honestly” she admitted.

Drew held her face while giving her a small peck on the lips “it’s ok to be nervous, if I’m being honest with you, on the way here my hands were dripping sweat” he said while stroking her cheek “and I’ll be next to you for as long as you need me to”

Y/n inhaled a deep breath while nodding to her boyfriend, she knew he was being serious, after all, since they started being friends and now as a couple, all drew had ever done was made her feel comfortable and secure, always giving her words of encouragement and being there for her when she needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to have a laugh with.

Drew took her hand in between his and started to walk towards where the rest of the cast was hanging out, as well as where some crew members were giving directions as to what kind of content they needed to film . “Let’s take on poguelandia” y/n said with a smile.

…

After a few hours filming some content for obx’s social media, and interacting with some fans, some of the guys, along with drew and y/n decided you wanted to tag along and enjoy the music.

after your nerves and anxious thoughts had washed away after and eventful day, you let yourself enjoy the event and have fun with your friends, so after you got your drinks and arrived on the platform with the rest of the cast, you decided you were gonna enjoy the rest of the day with the people that you loved.

“feeling better already huh?” drew whispered into your ear as he stood behind you with his arm around your shoulders while he held his drink in the other hand.

you nodded while you let yourself rest your head on his chest behind you.

you two weren’t nervous about being this touchy in public, you had always been that way, which was why you always had the fans wondering if you two were friends or more than that. you had always been very comfortable around each other, and being physical with each other had felt natural from the begging, so nothing had changed about that, all you had to be careful with was no kissing in public, which was definitely hard cause it was all you two wanted to do while being around each other in the warmth of the desert.

“being around you always makes me feel better” you told him while you left a quick kiss to his arm that was still around you keeping you close to him.

drew tried to hide giddy his smile while he sipped his drink “glad to know the effect is mutual love” he answered as he rested his chin on top of your head as you both swayed together to the beat of the music playing in front of you guys.

what had started as a nerve wracking experience for you had definitely turned into one of the best days with your friends and boyfriend.

…

TikTok

*a fan video captured the two of you swaying to the beat of khalid’s music and drew had his arm around you and you rested your head on his chest*

poguelife THEY ARE ADORABLE

sarahswife can they confirm their relationship already?

holybandana stop they’re definitely dating

drewmyman they’re not together guys, they’re just friends and that’s how they’ve always acted around each other

y/ncloset all this videos of them together at poguelandia are keeping me alive

obxcharleston people said they saw them kissing a couple of times

chase4life I’m scared I don’t want them to end up like chase and maddie

twinkielover could y’all leave them alone? if they are or aren’t together is none of our business, LET THEM BE

hourlyrafe MY FAVORITE PEOPLE

*so I had been wanting to write something for drew because he just lives in my mind rent free, first blurb I write in here so I’m not sure is any good, but I did enjoy writing a lot!

[glorianamultistan]

Requested by @haocovr :- Ok so hiii. I would like to request a top Lee Jongsuk x bottom male reader. The reader is also a famous actor and they act as a psycho couple in the film "v.i.p". And in one scene in the early beginning things start to get kinda hot in the bts and they hook up frequently after that and are in a relationship. They are a super hot couple.

A Jongsuk request! Yas! I am sorry it took so much time; I hope this is up to the mark. I had never really watched that movie before but I watched it to write this.

I do not own the pic.

Y/n was the glamorous villain of the industry, often his role won over the leads of the project he was involved in. There were times his character, no matter how evil, bigoted, and irredeemable, was not killed off in the drama/movie or given a merciless ending because the whole viewership was mesmerised by the charms with which he played that character.

He never had many fighting scenes, being petite he was always given the role of the strategist of the crime.

For Jongsuk this role was a new experience altogether. He had to practice a lot to get the facial expressions and tone of his voice right. Y/n, his partner in the film was doing great, so much so that often during the filming process Jongsuk had to reel back and remember that this is the same guy who brought homemade cupcakes and tea for the crew.

There was something so beguiling about those lips, eyes, and slithery hand movements that y/n's character did as his partner that Jongsuk was going insane with all the phantom touches that he felt running through his body late after the end of the shootings.

One day during the shooting of a brutal torture scene, Jongsuk was having trouble getting into the expressions as y/n, who came to support his fellow actors as he was not in the scene being shot, was wearing a satin shirt which was a bit too deep cut and all the glory of his body was on display for Jongsuk to have obsessive thoughts over.

After the shoot ended Jongsuk slipped away to meet y/n and found him sitting in his van with the gate open, sipping on what was most probably a milkshake.

'Ah! Hyung, what are you doing here!?' 'The shoot is over so I thought we could go out and have dinner somewhere nice.' Jongsuk's lowered gaze, trying to not look too deep into y/n's shirt made the younger blush. There has been a bit of tension between them since they did a makeout scene, it was shot too perfectly on the first try and since then, the other person has been craving more.

It is hard to forget the arms y/n felt around his waist under the sheets during the shoot, Jongsuk did not have to do it but he dipped them lower as if on instincts, and y/n arranged his legs around elder's waistband hands around his neck as easily as if wearing a familiar jacket.

Jongsuk, on the other hand, would have lost a bit of control if there weren't cameras around them.

'Let me inform my manager; he left just now to buy water.' 'You can wait here, I will bring my car; just give me a minute.'

While waiting for Jongsuk to come by y/n's manager returned with the water bottle and the actor informed him about leaving with Jongsuk.

'Should we prepare ourselves for dating articles?' 'Hyung! Why are you doing this!?' Y/n tried not to blush. 'Well, our pretty little guy has been hanging out with his partner from the movie, and anyone with eyes can not look at the scene you both shot in bed and say it was acting.' 'You have been reading too many fanfics again hyung. I asked you to start reading classics right?' 'Please y/n, I will continue later; here comes your date.'

Jongsuk got out of his car and opened the gate for y/n. 'Hi there, Jongsuk, I will be leaving him in your care tonight; please take him to his house before midnight; he has a shoot tomorrow.' 'Do not worry hyung, I will take good care of him.' 'Hello!? I am sitting right here, I have my own mind and voice? I WILL GO BACK WHEN I WANT!' 'Hyung, let's go, I am hungry.'

Jongsuk drove them to his house, and y/n was hot; he was not ready to step into the elder's house like this. Yet, here he was, sitting at the dining table having dinner with Jongsuk, in his house.

After dinner, both the actors were standing on the balcony and enjoying the view of the city. There was a comfortable silence between them.

'I should drive you back. You have a shoot tomorrow.' 'Let it be, I will get a cab; you should rest; you worked the whole day hyung.' 'I am completely fine to drive you back, really, let's go.' In the hall, as Jongsuk was putting on his jacket y/n blurted out without thinking 'What if I do not want to go back?' 'Oh... Then you can very well stay y/n; you should have just said that, I will show you the guest room, come.'

'No, I mean.' Y/n went closer to Jongsuk and held his jacket while looking down, 'I mean, I want to be with you, here.' 'I won't go away anywhere, y/n.' 'Hyung!' Y/n while stomping his foot and looking up to lock his lips with Jongsuk.

Jongsuk dropped the keys he was holding and put his arm around y/n's waist and a hand behind his head. The kiss deepened, Jongsuk easily entered the younger's mouth, and their tongues slid upon each other, then he started sucking so hard on the younger's tongue and lower lip that y/n moaned and lost his balance.

They were on the floor, y/n's legs spread, Jongsuk's breath and taste lingering in his mouth. 'That... was intense hah!' 'Fuck! Baby! I am not ready to let you go yet, can we please continue?' 'Yes, please yes hyung!'

They shifted to Jongsuk's bedroom, and through the night, y/n was pushed to his limits. He never knew how big the elder was and his rough, intense thrusts and bites all over the body, and the grips, literal kneading of skin, Jongsuk left no pleasure untouched.

The shoot the next day was canceled on the accords of y/n not feeling well. In reality, he was still in bed around 2pm, with Jongsuk all over him, playing with the marks he left.

When he reached his home his manager was already there. 'So?' 'Don't worry, we won't let it slip.' Y/n said as he flopped himself on the sofa. 'Yes! Finally! It was so bland to be your manager from the start. I was too free. I wanted you to have a life but you just never listened to me. Wow, I should treat Jongsuk.' 'What do you mean it was bland being my manager!? I gave you no drama to worry about hyung.' 'But hun, I NEEDED DRAMA!' 'Honestly hyung, I am tired, let me sleep then we will order something nice; you should rest too.'

After that night y/n and Jongsuk had been going to each other's house regularly to spend time together after shoots and they even went on a vacation after the shooting was wrapped up.

Soon, through the grapevine, many industry insiders got to know about two of the hottest actors being in a relationship and they were attending parties and events together. As the news broke out, it was supported by the agencies and that was the first time y/n had to face the hate train of antis.

Well, it did not bother him as so many of them got a legal notice from his and Jongsuk's company that they became famous as the 'no-nonsense couple' of the industry.

P.S.:- If you liked it, you can support me by buying me a coffee; link's on my page.

[bone-shaped-shadows]

Jesper finds out about Wylan’s true identity- Show Version fic

Jesper wanted to roll his eyes as Kaz went on and on about their newest heist. Sometimes that man could really go off on a tangent in the name of dramatics, saying a whole lot without saying much at all.

Jesper knew he should be paying better attention to Kaz but as the man droned on, he shrugged off the thought, choosing instead to play with Wylan’s fingers.

Besides, he was listening for the key points and knew his favorite partner in crime would fill him in on any details he had missed.

Wylan would tease him gently for it as he did so but Jesper didn’t mind, delighted by Wylan’s dazzling memory as he would recite word for word what Kaz had said when Jesper found it difficult to focus.

He smiled, not caring how besotted he must look, as his thumb brushed over the ring he had given Wylan in order to track him during a previous heist and then had refused to take back, enjoying the weight of it whenever they held hands and having an easy way to pick him out in a crowd, especially in instances where he had gotten lost amongst people taller than him, Jesper thought with a gentle smirk.

Wylan lightly pinched him and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was distracted or because he somehow knew what Jesper was thinking.

Suddenly he came back to himself as Kaz paused in his speech to loom over the others, who were all sitting down, “Meet Wylan Van Eck… Jan Van Eck’s son and our guarantee on thirty million kruge.”

Kaz had an almost wild look in his eye and he spoke somewhere harshly as he smirked down at Wylan, asking a question Jesper hadn’t even register Nina asking, “He can’t double cross us if we have his firstborn as collateral.”

Jesper saw Wylan flinch out of the corner of eye and frowned as Wylan dropped his hand like he was burned.

“Look, Kaz I don’t know what’s going on here but-”

“No, you don’t know.” Kaz said, but as he stared down at the youngest Crow, who shoulder’s started to shake slightly, his tone softened, very very slightly.

Wylan gripped the fabric of his pants tightly, clearly trying to regulate his breathing, and refusing to look up at Kaz or sideways, despite Jesper trying to catch his eye.

He was sure he had an interesting mix of confusion and frustration flittering across his face but he tried to force a neutral expression despite some anger building in his chest.

Now was not the time, despite how he might feel about it, his focus on Wylan who looked like he was beginning to dissociate.

“It won’t work, I’m not leverage, I’m a liability.” He said softly, almost off-handedly.

Kaz opened his mouth, but Wylan cut him off, “I can’t guarantee you anything, unfortunately, much less thirty million kruge. See, I’m no Allby Rollins, Kaz, my father will not beg for me. If you attempt to use me as leverage all you will be doing is serving him a second chance to kill me on a silver platter and he will gladly take it,” Wylan laughed mournfully.

Suddenly Wylan forced himself to stand, eyes blazing, “Might even use his own hands, this time, really make sure it sticks.” Wylan spat out and then turned heel, bolting away from everyone else in the room.

Jesper’s eyes trailed after him and he expected… for something, anything. For Wylan to look, or even just glance, at him. For him to head up the stairs to their room, for Wylan to call out to Jesper or hold out a hand, a silent request for comfort - any proof that the two of them were a team, that he trusted Jesper to be on his side, always, even amongst their crew.

But Jesper watched, with a awful heavy feeling in his chest, as Wylan did none of those things.

Instead the younger man threw open the door to the Crow Club and ran out into the shadows of night.

By the time Jesper shook off the shock, and ran after him, Wylan was already long out of sight.

Jesper wasn’t sure how to feel about everything that had just happened.

He felt bitter about Wylan keeping this secret, when the other had felt so strongly about Jesper’s own secrets…

He paced their room, waiting for Wylan to return.

Why had Wylan kept this from him? Had he said something that made the other feel insecure? Did he not trust him with this specifically or did Wylan think him entirely untrustworthy of his secrets?

Kaz knew everything about everyone in the barrel and kept everything close to his chest. It drove Jesper up a wall but he had come to expect it and accept it.

But Wylan… Wylan and him were suppose to be partners, they were suppose to trust and support each other.

Why hadn’t he trusted him?

Jesper threw himself on their bed and threw his arm over his face, resigning himself to wait, questions echoing in the silence, until Wylan came back to him.

When Wylan failed to return home that night, or by morning Jesper, Kaz, and Nina split off to search for him.

Jesper tried not to drown in the feelings that quickly built up and choked him when he found the ring he had given Wylan hidden in his wear-house.

He looked at Nina hopefully, as she returned shortly after him, but she shook her head sadly, unable to find him or get a read on his heartbeat.

She held out her hand and Jesper took it, and the comfort she offered, “We’ll find him. We’ll bring him back, talk it all out, even if I have to drag him back by the nape of his shirt myself.”

He nodded, then gave her a half smile, “I think it’s my shirt actually.”

She snorted, “At this point? I don’t think you can claim that any more.”

He chuckled softly but said nothing else.

When Kaz returned and all of the obvious spots, the wear-house, the waffle place Nina had gotten them all hooked on, the one music shop they all knew he he loved to visit despite being a bit out of the barrels, failed to yeld results, Kaz grimaced.

Jesper and Nina followed him up to his office and watched with careful eyes as their boss opened one of his many safes and pulled out a list written in Inej’s handwriting as well as a stack of letters with blank envelopes.

Kaz glanced over the list before seemingly deciding something without bothering to get any input from the others.

He stuffed the list in his pocket and gestured for the others to follow him.

Jesper bit his tongue, determined not to yell at Kaz until Wylan was back with them safe and sound.

Kaz and Nina silently followed him to a dock on the fifth harbor where Wylan sat, and watched as Kaz dropped the stack of letters in his lap.

Wylan glared at them like he could set them on fire that way and pull one out from under the twine holding them together. He held it between his finger tips as if it had traces of posion on it.

He then held it up to Kaz, without looking at him.

Kaz opened it.

“What does it say?” Wylan asked, his tone completely devoid of any emotion, “What did he write that made you believe he cared about me? That I was worth anything to him?”

Kaz lifted a brow at him but proceeded to read off some of the letter, “If you’re reading this then you know how much I miss you and want you home.”

If you’re reading this…

Jesper suck in a breath, the pieces starting to fall into piece.

Wylan laughed, but it was a broken thing and Jesper hated it.

“I can’t read, Kaz. I’m… I’m not stupid or lazy. When others look at pages in a book they see straight lines of letters that stay exactly where they were penned. It’s all put together for them and it makes words. For me? Might as well be written on a hummingbird’s wing with how quickly they shift around. The fact that he sent letters at all, it’s only meant to mock me… to threaten me.”

Wylan sighed, “He’d only love me if I could read, but I can’t so he never will.”

Kaz considered the new information.

“Who knew?”

Wylan glanced at him.

“Who knew that you couldn’t read.”

“Hmm? Everyone here now.”

“Not who knows, who knew?”

Wylan didn’t say anything but Jesper cleared his throat and raised hand up in a small wave.

“Why didn’t you tell the rest of us?” Kaz asked somewhat to Wylan but mostly to Jesper, “This is important information.”

Wylan responded before the other could, “One, you don’t get to talk about hiding important information… and two, because it’s mine, not his. This is mine… and so was… it was suppose to be mine.”

The shame was his? Jesper wondered.

Jesper tried not to sound bitter as he spoke up, “I feel like we’ve had this conversation before, Wy.”

“It’s not shame Jesper…or…”

Wylan tilted back to look, well more pass them, than at them, eyes haunted.

“Have you ever drowned?”

Wylan ignored everyone’s horrified looks as he straightened up and began to babble.

“It really is a very strange experience. Your inside are being crushed by the pressure of the water in your lungs but the outside of you, as you float… almost feels weightless, like it doesn’t even really exist anymore. Like you don’t exist outside of those few places of pain…”

“Truly, the oddest set of sensations”, he mused.

Jesper creeped over to Wylan but didn’t dare touch him, in this state. He instead sat down by him in silence and was as still as he could be. Wylan’s hand twitched towards him and Jesper offered him his own. Wylan grasped onto it like a lifeline.

“I can still feel him holding me under the water, sometimes… which is a large part of why I didn’t want to do any of,” Wylan waved his hand, “this.”

Kaz hummed, in such a way that Wylan felt like the other had ordered him to elaborate without even opening his mouth.

“I had nightmares last night, for the few hours I manage to sleep, and I’ll have them again tonight, and probably tomorrow, and maybe the next night too.”

“It not shame… or at least not entirely, that holds my tongue. It’s the exhaustion that comes with not being able to sleep. It’s the anger that boils in me until I snap at people who don’t deserve it. It’s the sorrow that makes me want to hit myself because why I am like this? Why am I broken? Why aren’t I good enough?”

Jesper opened his mouth to reject that notion, but Wylan squeezed his hand, “I know, I do, I know but it’s how I feel, whenever I think about how my father ordered my death.”

Wylan looked at Kaz, “I’m sorry I’m unable to be the collateral you wanted,” he joked but it fell flat.

“Don’t be,” Kaz assured him, “Now I know and now I replan.”

Kaz made a gesture, and Jesper helped Wylan up to his feet.

“You may not be Allby Rollins but your father will experience everything Pekka Rollins did.”

He took in the anger on Jesper’s face and his lips twitched into a slight smirk, “Who knows, he may even get a worse fate.”

Nina laughed and Jesper placed a kiss on Wylan’s forehead but Wylan just looked hollowed out.

“Come on, you louts,” Nina told them, heading to Wylan’s other side to offer comfort, “let’s head home.”

And so they did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The line: I’m no Allby Rollins, Kaz, my father will not beg for me came to mind and I couldn’t stop thinking about it so I wrote this, hope y’all like it : )

[a-halo-for-you]

Grishaverse Tribute

I'm pissed. I'm vengeful. I'm going to march on Netflix.

The cancellation is uncalled for, now all we will see in return for the snubbing of one of the best series on Netflix, with one of the best fandoms, cast and creators another stupid documentary glorifying a serial killer, another shitty teen show with no plot but plenty of sex (because sexualizing children will be something they always get away with), and another over-marketed pointless action film with some former boxer or wrestler leading it who can't really act more than one type of nice-buff guy.

In my mournful and restless vengeful spirit, I have come up with another playlist dedicated to the Grishaverse, the fans, the cast and Leigh Bardugo. This breaks their hearts so much because we know how excited and passionate they were about telling this story, and to think now so many won't be able to go on and live their beloved characters through to the end. I can't stand it.

"None of this had been fated; none of it foretold. There had been no prophecies of a demon king or a dragon queen, a one-eyed Tailor, Heartrender twins. They were just the people who had shown up and managed to survive. But maybe that was the trick of it: to survive, to dare to stay alive, to forge your own hope when all hope had run out. For the survivors then, Zoya whispered to herself as the people before her knelt and chanted her name. And for the lost." - Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves

I got to dream through them, Shadow and Bone saved my Covid years, when I was alone in a dorm learning online, unable to be with anyone else, with no friends and no family. I had little to no confidence and was stuck in a place that scared me. But then I had Shadow and Bone, I had these amazing characters and when I dove into the books, I found so much more. (A found family is my favourite literary trope for a reason.)

“Kaz leaned back. "What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?" "Knife to the throat?" asked Inej. "Gun to the back?" said Jesper. "Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina. "You're all horrible," said Matthias." - Leigh Barugo, Six of Crows

This is a playlist for all of us who are mourning and for all of us willing to fight on. I've seen petitions already posted on change.org, lets sign them all, share them all and try our best to change this while we can. Warrior Nun got their season 3. Who says we can't? Who says we shouldn't? Brick by Brick we will build our season 3, or we'll go down trying.

“Have any of you wondered what I did with all the cash Pekka Rollins gave us?" "Guns?" asked Jesper. "Ships?" queried Inej. "Bombs?" suggested Wylan. "Political bribes?" offered Nina. They all looked at Matthias. "This is where you tell us how awful we are," she whispered.” - Leigh Bardugo, Crooked Kingdom

Pardon the ecclectic taste of this long playlist, but there are so many types of song that I feel fit the plot, the charcaters and themes as well as their relationships to each other. This has sparked inspiration in me to create more playlists catering to the Grishaverse and I'll do that alongside my usual playlist posts.

I would also like to say that this playlist isn't just mine, it's for everyone and I would love for any fans of the show or books to let me know if they have any songs that they love to be added to the playlist and I will do so.

There are over 60 songs on this playlist, so I'm not going to write them all here for obvious reasons, I hope none of you mind that.

For our founding mother Leigh Bardugo. For the Six of Crows; Kaz Brekker, Inej Ghafa, Jesper Fahey, Wylan Van Eck, Nina Zenik, Matthias Helvar. For our S+B crew; Alina Starkov, Malyen Oretsev, The Darkling, Baghra Morotzova, Nikolai Lantsov, Zoya Nazyalensky, Genya Safin, David Kostyk, Tolya Yul-Bataar, Tamar Kir- Bataar, Nadia and Adrik Zhabin.

Let the revival of Season 3 be our final grand mission.

Lets stream the show, post more art, more fanfics, more posts, more petitions. Let's fight for what we can.

No Mourners, No Funerals.

'Yuyey sesh'

'Ni weh sesh'

[sourwolf-sterek32]

The Chief’s Daughter

Summary: It had been six years since your father left you behind in New York. However, now that your mother was gone, you had no choice but to drive to Hawkins to find him. That's where you meet Billy Hargrove, who turns your life upside down... literally.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings: language

Chapter 23-

After buying Eddie some food and the six-pack he requested, as much to Steve's disapproval, you drove back out to Hopper's cabin, but the dirt driveway was blocked off by police tape and multiple police vehicles.

"Oh, this isn't good." You sighed, staring out the side window of Nancy's wagon. "This is really not good."

There was a news crew out the front and nearly a dozen cars with members of the public all leaning over the police tape trying to listen in to what the reporter was saying.

Nancy pulled her car over and you all frantically climbed out, ducking down behind the news van parked out the front to get a better look. Hopper's cabin was still a mile down this dirt road through the woods. It was really secluded from the rest of Hawkins, so how the hell did the police know to come here?

"... reporting a homicide out here on the lake. Officer Callahan and myself arrived first on scene." The new Chief of Police said to the news camera.

You glanced over at the others in shock, Billy meeting your gaze with a level of fear that you rarely saw on him before you turned your attention back to the Officers.

"We made our way to the shore of Lover's Lake, about two miles from the cabin down this dirt road. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney."

It wasn't Eddie.

Eddie was still alive. Thank God for that.

"We have also identified two people of interest. Eddie Munson." The Chief said, holding up what looked to be Eddie's high school photo to the camera before holding up another photo and your jaw dropped when you saw who it was. "Along with Billy Hargrove, who's vehicle was found here on the scene."

"Shit." You hissed under your breath.

"They could've at least used a decent picture." Billy muttered, glaring at his Hawkins Community Pool staff photo that the Chief was holding up.

"That's what you're worrying about right now?" Steve questioned in a hushed whisper.

"Dustin, can you hear me? Y/N?" Eddie's voice suddenly called through the kid's walkie talkie.

Dustin frantically pulled the walkie out his backpack, "Eddie, holy shit, are you okay?"

"Nah, man. Pretty goddamn far from okay."

"Where is he?" You asked, looking over at Dustin who quickly repeated your question through the walkie.

"Skull Rock. Do you know it?"

"Uh, yeah. That's near Cornwallis and-" Dustin started to say before Steve cut him off.

"And Garrett, yeah. I know where that is."

With that, you all piled back into Nancy's wagon, being mindful to hide Billy in the back as you drove past the police vehicles and went straight to Skull Rock, well, as far as the road could take you to Skull Rock. The rest of the journey had to be on foot, Nancy leaving her car parked on the side of the road as you trekked through the woods.

You walked alongside Billy, his arm draped over your shoulders as you walked together following Dustin who was leading the way with his compass, the others trailing behind.

"Wait." Billy suddenly said, stopping in his tracks as he looked around. "Henderson, we're going the wrong way."

"No, we're not."

"Hargrove's right. You're taking us the wrong way." Steve agreed, surprising you that he actually agreed with Billy on something.

"It's north. I'm positive. I checked the map." Dustin replied.

"You do realise Skull Rock, it's, like, a super popular make-out spot?" Steve said, looking at Dustin who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, so?"

"Yeah, well, it wasn't popular until I made it popular. Alright? I practically invented it." Steve further explained causing Billy to snort softly. "You got something to say, Hargrove?"

"How many chicks did you take to Skull Rock, Harrington? Like two?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "definitely more chicks than you have."

"Really? In case you've forgotten, the women in this town worship me."

"Mmm, yeah, that's annoyingly true. But, I do recall you having the hots for the Chief's daughter over there, the moment you moved to town." Steve reminded, pointing at you still in Billy's arms. "So, if I were to take an educated guess, I'd say the only chick you've taken to Skull Rock is Y/N. So that would be one. And therefore, I have taken more chicks here than you."

Steve had a smug look on his face as he stared at Billy who just stared right back before shaking his head with a soft laugh.

"Whatever, we're still heading in the wrong direction."

"That we are. C'mon." Steve said, ducking to the left and walking in the opposite direction.

"Steve? Steve, where are you going? Steve!" Dustin shouted while you and Billy followed him through the woods.

"Stop whining. Let's go. Trust us." Steve responded causing the kid to sigh before he reluctantly followed, the others all doing the same.

It didn't take long before you reached a clearing in the woods where a cluster of large rocks sat in the middle, the biggest rock shaped as a skull.

Finally. Skull Rock.

"Oh, boom! Bada bing, bada boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock. In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face." Steve said, pointing at the large rocks proudly.

"Congrats, Harrington. You're smarter than a 12-year-old." Billy commented causing Steve to flip him off.

"I'm 14, asshole." Dustin shot back, glaring at Billy before looking down at his compass in confusion. "It still doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you in the face, you can't admit it. You just can't admit you're wrong, you little butthead-" Steve continued to say before something suddenly jumped down from the rock behind you.

You spun around and sighed with relief when you saw Eddie standing there with his hands on his hips. "I concur. You, Dustin Henderson, are a total butthead."

"Jesus, we thought you were a goner." Dustin said, instantly hugging Eddie.

"Yeah, me too, man." Eddie replied, hugging him back before letting go and glancing over at you and Billy.

You unravelled yourself from Billy's arm and walked the remaining distance to Eddie before hugging him too. The sudden display of affection from you seemed to catch him off guard, his body turning tense as he looked past your shoulder at Billy with a questioning look, not wanting to anger him by hugging you back.

"I'm not her keeper." Billy quickly said, but Eddie didn't move, and he sighed. "Just hug her, man. It's been a long 24 hours, she needs it." Billy added calmly.

That was all it took for Eddie's body to relax, and his arms wrapped around your back, hugging you tightly.

"You okay?" He whispered, looking down at you.

"Are you?" You asked back, avoiding the question as you let go of him. "What happened?"

"Jason Carver is what happened."

"The fuck did that prick do?" Billy questioned, anger rising in his voice.

Eddie sighed before he started explaining what happened.

Jason and his friends had somehow found him, but Eddie saw them coming and took off running through the woods and reached Lover's Lake. He found a small boat and paddled through the water, but they swam after him and then Vecna attacked, killing Patrick.

"When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys, but, my walkie was busted, man. Drenched." Eddie continued to explain, now sitting down by the rocks as you all stood around him, listening. "So, uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran."

"Do you know what time this was? The attack?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, no, I know exactly what time it was. My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked." He answered, unclasping the watch from his wrist and tossing it to her.

Nancy caught the watch and looked at the time. "9:27."

"The same time our flashlights went kablooey." Robin said in realisation.

"Which means what, exactly?" Steve asked.

"That surge of energy had to be Vecna attacking Patrick. Which means we know how and where Vecna attacks from." You explained and the kids all nodded in agreement.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart." Max added.

"A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve questioned.

"It was a metaphor."

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asked, looking over at you before his face dropped. "Oh, uh, speaking of bullets... I kinda dropped your father's shotgun in the lake. Sorry."

"Do I dare ask how you managed that?"

Eddie looked away guiltily, "uh, no."

"I'm just glad you're okay. Although, you owe me a shotgun now." You joked causing Eddie to smile.

"I'll give you a shotgun when your boyfriend gives me the beer that he owes me."

Billy scoffed, "I bought you a six-pack. Wasn't my fault your ass got found by Carver and you weren't at the cabin when we showed up. Also, thanks for making me your accomplice by the way."

Eddie frowned, "what?"

"The cops have taped off the cabin as a crime scene, including his Camaro. They think he's helping you kill people." You explained and Eddie's jaw dropped.

"We need to kill Vecna, but we need to find a way into the Upside Down first." Nancy said logically and yeah, she had a point. There was no gate, so how the hell were you meant to do that?

"We need El to get her powers back." Max commented and you found yourself nodding in agreement.

El's powers would come in handy right now, but at the same time, you didn't want her here. You didn't want to put her in any form of danger.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers-" Steve began to say before Eddie cut him off.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her. Y/N's adopted sister." He said before he looked over at Dustin who was busy pacing behind the rest of you. "Hey, uh, Henderson's not cursed, is he?"

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely." Steve answered.

"Boom!" Dustin suddenly shouted, his voice echoing through the woods. "Bada, bada, boom. I was right. Skull Rock was north."

"Jesus Christ." Billy muttered under his breath.

"Seriously? You're serious? This is Skull Rock, okay?" Steve responded, motioning to the large skull shaped rock. "You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now."

"Yes. And no."

"Okay, I'm confused." You confessed, looking at Dustin before he began to explain.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers'. It was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."

"So, you were using faulty equipment, dude. You're still wrong." Steve argued.

"Except it isn't faulty. Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

"An electromagnetic field."

"Yep." Dustin nodded.

"I'm sorry. I must have skipped that class." Robin spoke up in confusion.

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here, or..."

"There's a gate." Lucas answered and Dustin nodded.

"But we're nowhere near the lab or Starcourt." You pointed out.

"What if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful." Dustin explained, but you were still confused.

"How? Why?" Steve questioned, clearly as confused as you were.

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Y/N from this curse." Dustin said before he suddenly turned and began to walk off.

"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey. Eddie and Billy are still wanted men. We can't just go for a hike in the woods." Steve called out, stopping Dustin in his tracks.

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving Y/N, Eddie and Billy. What's say you, Eddie the Banished?"

You glanced over at Eddie who didn't say anything for a few seconds, clearly contemplating his options as he stared at the leaves on the ground.

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I'm being totally straight with you, I think it's a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire... the Shire is burning. So, Mordor it is." He answered, slapping his hands on his knees before standing up and glancing over at Billy. "What about you, California?"

"Fuck it, I'm in." Billy declared.

-

The group of you trekked through the woods following Dustin's compass and by nightfall you reached Lover's Lake and found the small boat that Eddie had hid earlier.

Steve held the edge of the boat, stabilising it while Nancy, Robin, Billy and Eddie all climbed inside, but when you took a step forward, Billy quickly held his hand out, stopping you.

"Uh, what are you doing?" You asked in confusion.

"You're not coming."

You blinked, "excuse me? Why not?"

"If there really is a gate in this lake, I don't want you anywhere near it. It's too dangerous." Billy answered and you just stared at him in disbelief.

"Too dangerous? You're shitting me, right? I can take care of myself. I saved your ass against the Mind Flayer. And I saved your ass against those demo-dogs in the junkyard." You reminded, pointing at Steve before glaring back at Billy. "I can take care of myself."

"This boat holds four people tops. Sorry, couldn't bring you even if we wanted to." Eddie suddenly spoke up.

"Seriously? You're taking his side with this?"

Eddie just shrugged, "sorry."

"It's better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Y/N and keep an eye out for trouble." Nancy said causing Dustin to groan in frustration, clearly not happy with being sidelined too. "Compass?"

Dustin reluctantly handed over his compass for them to follow before Steve began to push the boat further into the water, only to jump into the back of it at the last possible second.

Sneaky son of a bitch.

"You said four!" You shouted, glaring at Billy, Eddie and Steve.

"Sorry!" Steve shouted back causing you to flip him off, Dustin joining you.

You watched them paddle off in the boat before you sighed and sat down on a log, Max joining you while you waited.

"Thanks for letting me use your Walkman." You said quietly, motioning towards the headphones hanging around your neck.

"Thanks for not dying. That would have totally sucked." The redhead replied and you chuckled softly. "I'm glad my brother found you." She added seriously, glancing over at you. "You're good for him. You ground him and make him happy."

"He makes me happy too."

Max smiled before the two of you fell into comfortable silence while Dustin and Lucas passed the binoculars back and forth, watching the others in the boat. How or why, Dustin had binoculars in his backpack was a question you did not know, but seemed to be useful right now.

"Whoa, wait. They're stopping." Lucas suddenly said, still looking through the binoculars.

"Guys, what's going on?" Dustin asked through the walkie talkie, but received no answer. "Come on, guys, talk to me. What's going on?"

"Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'" Robins voice answered.

"They found the gate?" You asked, standing up from the log.

Dustin just shrugged his shoulders as you tried to look across the lake at the boat, but from the distance and dark sky, you could barely see anything.

"Ugh. When did Steve get so hairy?" Lucas suddenly questioned.

Umm, what?

"Right? I keep telling him he needs to tame that jungle, but he claims that the ladies dig it." Dustin responded causing you to snort softly in amusement.

"Let me see." Max said, appearing beside you and taking the binoculars clean out of Lucas' hand.

She looked through the binoculars in silence as Lucas stared at her with an expression that could only resemble; what the fuck and you had to stop yourself from laughing. You didn't blame Max. Steve was your friend, but even you had to admit the guy was hot.

"Ew, gross. Now Billy is taking his shirt off too." Max said in disgust, lowering the binoculars with a fake gagging noise.

"My turn." You said, holding your hand out for the binoculars which she instantly handed over and you lifted them to your eyes.

It took you a moment to locate the boat and yep, Billy and Steve were both shirtless and standing on the edge of the boat. Wait, they weren't going to jump in, were they?

You watched as Eddie handed Steve a flashlight wrapped in a plastic bag before Steve dived into the lake, Billy jumping in right after him.

Okay, yep, they were jumping into the lake in the middle of the night to find the gate. What could possibly go wrong?

You were so focused on watching through the binoculars, you didn't even hear or notice the police coming through the woods until their flashlights were shining through the tree line towards you.

"Down by the water!" An unfamiliar voice shouted.

"Shit. Down!" Lucas shouted in a whisper, grabbing yours and Max's arms, pulling you both down behind the nearest log, Dustin right beside you.

You peaked out over the top of the log and watched the several flashlights searching through the woods. This was not good.

"Dustin, you're a goddamn Einstein. Steve and Billy found the gate-" Robin's voice said loudly through the walkie before Dustin fumbled with the radio and quickly switched it off.

"We can't let them find Billy and Eddie." You whispered, looking over at the kids.

"Stay with me." Max replied before getting to her feet and shouting out to the Police. "Hey, Officers! Over here! I found the killer! This way!"

Your eyes widened in shock, not expecting her to just jump up and do that, but it would definitely draw the cop’s attention away from where Billy and Eddie were.

Max took off running through the woods and you, Dustin and Lucas quickly chased after her. The cops instantly ran after you, yelling and ordering you to stop, but you kept running until Dustin tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground.

"Shit." You hissed, stopping and turning to help him up, but you came face to face with the new Chief of Police instead.

Oh, crap.

-

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter 

MASTERLIST in bio. 

Commissions open! Link in bio ❤️

[lilyoffandoms]

WtD Drabble - Troy x Saeed

Warnings & A/N: nothing that’s not canon compliant. Needed a warm up this morning and since I got them on my mind, I might as well. I just hc Saeed feels it’s his place to go on these scavenging forays and Troy doesn’t really care for that idea.

He was exhausted. All he wanted was to climb into bed. He looked at the others from the party. They had made it out with only a few scrapes and bruises, and one broken arm.

“Jacob, go get that arm bandaged. Shannon should be in the infirmary waiting,” Saeed nodded at the man with his arm in a sling. “You two help him down there and be sure to get those scratches cleaned out. The rest of you, clean up and get some sleep.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” a few mumbled as they shuffled away.

Saeed put his weapons on the armory counter where the others had stacked those they had checked out.

“Got them all checked in?” he asked the woman behind the counter who was logging weapons back in.

“Yes, and I see you broke another bowstring?”

“No, just frayed. If it had snapped entirely you’d not have a bow to log back in and I’d have lost an eye.”

“Still broke it,” she smiled in challenge.

“It was close to fraying and you know it, Sal,” he smiled tiredly. “Plus, we found some new ones in that warehouse. Must have been heading to a hunting supply store or something.”

Her eyes lit up. “And bullets?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Knives?”

He nodded again.

“Guns?” she asked hopefully.

“I’ll let you see for yourself when they get the vans unloaded.”

“It’s like Christmas come early,” she grinned, giddy with excitement.

“Don’t know what that is, but if that entails staying up all night categorizing and logging in new weapons, then yes, just like Christmas.”

She shook her head at him with a smile and got to work opening boxes that were plopped down on the table beside her. Saeed leaned against the wall as he waited for the unloading team to finish bringing the supplies through.

He felt himself slumping a bit as his eyes dragged closed and his breathing slowed, only to jerk awake when someone bumped him.

“I know our mattress isn’t all that comfortable but it’s gotta be be better than the wall?” Troy teased him with another bump to his shoulder.

Saeed gave a tired smile as he glanced at the crew still unloading, closed his eyes again, and shook his head grinning, “Depends on what I’m doing against the wall.”

“Taking a page out of my book with that one, I see,” Troy laughed before turning more serious. “Everyone get back safely?”

“We all made it back nibble free,” Saeed nodded, eyes still closed.

“Come on let’s get you to bed.”

“They should be done in the next ten. I’ll sleep when the job’s done.”

“Your job is done, Saeed,” Troy whispered casting a worried look over him.

“Saeed?” Sal interrupted. “I’m going to need that armor, dear.”

“Oh, shit! I forgot. Sorry, Sal,” he said as he slid clumsily out of the armor.

Troy steadied him as he stumbled tiredly through the task.

“Here,” Saeed said when he finally passed the gear over to her.

“Get him to bed,” she said to Troy.

“That’s the plan,” he said but paused when the stench of death and putrefied guts hit his nose. “Well, maybe a shower and then bed.”

“What? You don’t like this new cologne I’m trying?” Saeed teased, waving to Sal and saying good night to the others as he let Troy lead him to the bathing room they had set up outside.

“Strip,” Troy said as he left Saeed grab water.

Saeed did as told, too tired to protest. His muscles screaming with each movement.

“Got the water-“ Troy let his sentence trail off.

Saeed followed Troy’s line of sight to the large bruise forming on his thigh. He met Troy’s wide eyes and shrugged.

“I thought you said everyone got back safely?” Troy scolded as he reached out to gingerly touch the angry bruise.

“We did,” Saeed hissed at the touch.

“This doesn’t look like you were safe.”

“Safer than a bite,” Saeed said nonchalantly.

“Saeed,” Troy sighed.

“I got slammed into a crate by a drone. It’s dead. I’m not. I’m fine,” he waved him off.

“Saeed.”

He earned another sigh. “Troy, can we not do this now? I’m tired. I stink. I’m sore. And I just want to go to bed.”

“Okay,” Troy relented and turned Saeed to face the shower stall. “But we are going to-“

“Yep. You can yell at me tomorrow,” Saeed chuckled as he stepped inside and yelped as he splashed the cold water over himself. “This is fucking cold.”

“When is it not? Plus, it will help with the muscle aches and that bruise.”

Ten minutes later they were in their room with a fire going in the hearth, snuggled on their bed. Troy watched as Saeed snuggled beneath the covers and then into him and closed his eyes.

He wished he’d stop going out on these missions. This one had been a week long foray. He hated waiting, wondering. Wondering if he’d come back to him. Wondering if he had died out there. Always wondering. Always worrying.

He brushed a stray hair off of Saeed’s cheek.

“I’m fine,” Saeed smiled.

“I wish you would-“

“Hey, did the crew bring my pack up?” Saeed interrupted, not wanting to have the conversation again.

“Um,” Troy looked around and spotted the backpack by the door. “Yeah.”

“There’s something in it for you,” Saeed mumbled as sleep began to overtake him.

“You can give it to me tomorrow,” Troy smiled into a kiss placed on Saeed’s temple. “After I finish yelling at you,” he whispered.

——————————

Choices Tag: @storyofmychoices @aallotarenunelma @inlocusmads

Other Tags: @choicesficwriterscreations (fic of the week) @choicesoctober (newest mc & partners)

[wayhavenots]

A Favor

Graphne sitting in my drafts from two years ago. ^_^ I don’t love it...but I don’t want to delete it or work on it, so.

~

"Are you single?"

Gray isn't sure how he agreed to take this interview for Nick---actually, he is sure, it was because he was asked and then offered cookies---but he is beginning to regret it. Channel 8 is notorious for prying.

"Yes," he answers honestly. "I suppose I haven't found the right person yet."

"Lucky that we can help with that," says Channel 8 with a wink to the camera. "What would you say is your type?"

"I don't know that I have a type," he says amicably, still smiling for the camera. "Or that I'm looking, really, considering my work---"

"Our viewers would love to know," sing-songs Channel 8.

Does he have a type? If he thinks about what he wants in a romantic partner, it is surprisingly clear. Somebody kind, with a good sense of humor. Somebody resilient. Somebody he knows fairly well by now, he realizes, his stomach twisting into knots at the thought.

"Hey Fortitude!" shouts a voice from the other side of the park. “Fortitude!”

Daphne Wiseman jogs over with a bright smile, pausing a few feet behind him. And he has to stifle a laugh when he sees the T-shirt she is wearing---the Channel 14 weatherman is front and center, together with a speech bubble coming out of his mouth: “You won’t get that on Channel 8.” 

Any footage from the moment she stepped into frame is unusable.

Channel 8 sighs and looks at the sky where the sun is dipping behind trees. Not enough time to reshoot. "I guess it's time to pack it up," she says to her crew. "But if you want to answer any questions off-the-record, Fortitude...?" She slips him her card before he can react.

"Oh no, did I ruin the take?" calls Daphne as they load into the news van. She waves.  "Oh, that's a shame, Marsha. Better luck next time."

Gray shakes his head. He’s conflicted---happy to see her, feeling a little guilty for the abrupt ending to the interview, and feeling a little guilty for feeling so happy to see her. "Marsha? Do you know her?"

"She dated Nick," she answers, shuddering. "Now she’s hunting for new agents, and I didn’t want you to... She’s a nightmare. Don’t call her.”

Is that jealousy he detects in her voice? Probably wishful thinking on his part. She had a crush on him years ago, but she’s grown up considerably since then. 

“I can't believe he tricked you into this. You're lucky I came to rescue you."

"It wasn't a trick,” he protests. “I...was promised cookies.”

"Which I brought,” she says. “You can watch me eat them, if you want."

He laughs. "Oh, really?"

She grins, holds one up. "All right, ready?"

She tosses it towards him, and when it's in range, he catches it mid-air with his telekinesis, directs it into his mouth. Delicious. "Thanks, Daphne," he says through a mouthful.

"Anything for you," she says with a smile. Then flushes. "I mean, Nick made the cookies. I just threw one at you. You might call it assault and batter-y. Haha. Get it?"

He chuckles. She's Nick Wiseman's sister, all right. 

Which is why---among many, many reasons---she is off-limits.

Still. "Do you need a ride home?"

"Yes! I mean, if you want to."

"I do,” he answers. “I mean, I can. I mean, I'm driving anyway, and it'll be dark soon, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Or the cookies,” she quips.

He smiles at her. "I'm taking the cookies regardless."

"I guess I can supervise the cookies in your car. Look, the sunset."

"Beautiful," he comments, but he looks up before she can realize that he's looking at her.

[peerbear]

Saint Catherines THE SHOOT

The shoot for Saint Catherines was a very heartwarming experience.

We started out checking the equipment at Craglockhart Kit Stores where I colour-coded every character's lavalier microphone so that I could quickly and easily differentiate between transmitters and receivers on set and also know immediately whose was whose and thus where to connect it on my MixPre 10 on which I gave each character a channel each. The boom was 1, Phoebe 2, Harry 3, Jo 4 and Sara 5. The colour choices were Phoebe blue, Harry red, Jo yellow and Sara green. I also in a previous session where I had booked out the MixPre 10 to go over settings, learned how to use the WingMan App's reports (using a Youtube video), which is a log of the notes you make on each take on set, which is super helpful for post-production. This was the first time I used the MixPre 10 on set with so many channels and the first time I recorded a 4 people simultaneous setup.

We had also been introduced to the Tenacle Sync which syncs the timecode for camera and sound and saves time in the edit. I took it upon myself to set this up every day and coordinate with camera because they had so many other things to worry about. We had had a brief previous session going over how to use it and I messed up because I had put a cable in the wrong port of the MixPre I did not realise this until the last day, so the tentacles were synced but the MixPre was not receiving the timecode, but the camera was. So we only had the last day synced automatically, which took away time from our editor, Alyssa, but she had factored this into her edit window anyway. I still felt guilty and this was a massive learning curve for me. It will never happen again!

Here is a photo from the session of how it should have been and I forgot to double-check the photo, rookie mistake:

Back to Craiglockhart Campus, after checking all of the equipment, Katie, Eva and I helped Orla load up a van with the equipment and once we had done this she drove off to Saint Catherines. I then drove myself and some of our crew (Katie, Eva, Alex and Sophie, our continuity supervisor) to Saint Catherines.

From here I won't go entirely in chronological order because so many things happened, so I will just give some key highlights and summaries of what happened. Every day we would shoot from about 9 to 5 and in the evenings we would relax and play werewolf which became a proper daily ritual.

Before the shoot, I had been quite nervous about being in charge of sound mixing and recording because I usually find this very hard and run into many issues. After all, there are always issues when recording sound that in some instances are out of your control. But on the shoot, I fell in love with sound recording and found myself getting into the groove and getting more and more comfortable with it. Something I have to say is that when I listen back to my recordings and see photos of me on set I hear and see how serious I am! I think this will be my nerves coming out and me wanting to do my best, it must be the German in me or something because I am never so to the point and sharp. With the expressions, I am not as worried because I know I have a bit of a resting bitch face.

As we were recording both inside and outside I found the struggles for these were very different. Inside the mics were more sensitive in the smaller space and the lighting setups created lots of whirring sounds. Outside cars were extremely loud as we were situated right next to a main road, something I had been aware of on the location recce, but it had seemed like a much quieter road at the time. There was also a construction site where someone was building a house, but somehow this did not interfere with dialogue too much.

Something I learned about dialogue was to do with recording overlapping dialogue. When so many people are on set it is very hard to avoid having actors not interrupt each other during takes. Usually, they will and this will be what is used in the final picture edit because it is a natural performance and what is required of them but in sound, this means the different character's dialogue are not separable from each other which means it is less manipulatable and hard to get rid of. Usually, dialogue is separated into each character but when there are interruptions this is harder. However, overall my dialogue was mostly very clear and I had fewer problems with it than I expected. While on set I was most nervous about scenes 8 and 11, which are the confrontation scene and the support and reconciliation with a friend scene. These are arguably the two most important scenes of the film. Sadly when I got to the sound design I found these were the hardest to work on and contained the most affected dialogue due to loud wind, waves, and traffic.

On this project I learned a lot about micing up the cast, I looked into it and found that placing the mic between the dip in their chest proved to provide the best and smoothest audio. For women, this dip is in between their breasts and I found this was a very new situation for me to navigate. I was told by friends that on their sets women had to lav themselves up, but the actresses had no idea how to do this and I did not find it fair to ask this of them, nor did I want to risk having bad dialogue. But we were lucky, who knew being gay can pay off in the workplace. I would lav up the actresses while my boom op George would lav up the only actor. I would navigate this by ensuring actresses felt comfortable and most of this involved them moving the microphone through their clothes themselves and even holding it in place in the necessary dip. My main point of contact was applying the mic to their chest with medical tape that I had procured before the shoot. What I also had to take into consideration was costume. Different costumes required different lav positioning and these also required different housings made out of tape, something that I learned from Tom in the test shoot and then adapted to fit my own needs. These housings lessened contact between the lav and the costume. Laving up the actresses would get quicker each day and we quickly found our rhythm and a way to make this work for each of them. From the second day after having a noisy necklace on our lead I would speak to costume and as much as possible ask for changes if they were detrimental to sound. This of course did not always happen, but I found solutions along the way.

I was absolutely blessed with Orla, I feel we worked really well together and she always left space for sound. This was something we had spoken about previously and I had requested extra room for not only time for room tone but also wildtrack sound takes of actions and sometimes even dialogue, especially where there had been interruptions previously. This meant I had many options in the design for when things had gone wrong in the actual takes. As Orla is a sound person as well as a director this is something she pushed for so I got nearly every sound recorded in the space where we shot it. They would call wrap for camera and then me, George and the actors would record whatever was on my sound shopping list for that scene. Every afternoon after shooting George and I would go over what we were shooting the next day to make sure we had everything on the shopping list that was needed. Overall I was super happy with clear dialogue and production sound. I know the actors had also never taken part in wildtracks before and I am aware I was in a very lucky position and I am very thankful for it, I think it really paid off in the sound design edit.

I felt we worked incredibly well as a team and built some close working relationships and friendships. Everyone put in so much and without each and every person we would not have been able to make the film that we made. Katie and her camera department were incredible, I have described them as a well-oiled machine and they were just that. Also working with Katie has been a creative experience that I really enjoyed because I feel we connected really well and worked hard together. Having Eva on set was such a relief, she is so near and dear to my heart and it was nice to see her excel and be such a strong support for the camera team. She was also a big support for me as sets can be stressful and having her presence around meant I had something and someone from home and it was nice to also work on a grad film together. George as my boom op was my saviour coming on board very last minute and being an incredible boom op, he has his own separate post coming up. One day as a treat I let him sound record because I was going to do on set folley footsteps to the water's edge to replicate Phoebe's steps towards the water. He again excelled. Orla was an incredible director and made an incredible space for everyone on set, she looked after all of us so well and kept us on the right path. We all felt we were in safe hands and we definitely were. The cast was really well picked and as the days went on they fell deeper into their characters and we all very quickly believed who they were. The whole crew was great to work with and helped provide a positive atmosphere on set.

My one issue on set was the bathroom and shower issues that we had, but this was unavoidable as we were so many people and our lodgings were not used to this. As an IBS girlie, I had multiple evenings and mornings where I would run to the car drive from the lodge to the caravan carefully to then barge in and use the toilet. Cold showers were not an issue as this is something I do regularly. I was a bit cheeky and had these every day as I am unbearable to be around when I am unshowered so it was best for everyone that I broke this rule. Or at least that's what I am telling myself, but I know I get insufferably grumpy when I feel unclean.

I did find I had to manage my stress and my resting bitch face, but with time both eased and by the end I felt completely in my element as if this was something I had been doing for a long time.

So at the end of the shoot, I found myself as a happy sound girl, as we say, I fell in love with sound recording and felt comfortable and in my element. We all made it back to Edinburgh in one piece and so did our equipment, which myself Orla and the camera department helped unload.

Here are some shots and even a little video from all of our days on set, as you can see we had a blast:

[looneyleyle]

sweetcheeks ~ s. macher

synopsis: stu macher ended things with you exactly one year ago. so why oh why did you end up in front of his house tonight?

warnings: angstyish, lots of anger, scream-typical violence and gore

words: 1916

morgan pov

"so that's it? done? just like that?" the man in front of me just shrugged, as if he wasn't standing there in a couples costume that he made us wear, as if we didn't just have a beautiful night of partying with our friends, as if we haven't been doing things together for the past seven months.

"like it was fun and all but it wasn't that serious y'know?" he told me, slumped against the wall, staring at the door out of my room. i couldn't believe him. my mind was going a thousand miles a minute. bullshit. absolute bullshit. and out of nowhere? i didn't know what to say. in response to my silence, he started walking towards the door, planting a kiss on my head as he walked by. as he reached the doorframe, i screamed at him.

"fuck you stu macher!" he held up for just one second, turning around.

"fuck you? i already have sweetcheeks." and with that, he walked down the hall and out of my house, and out of my life.

it's been almost exactly a year since then. he dated around, the most notable being casey becker and tatum riley. he started fooling around with casey merely two weeks after our breakup, solidifying the fact that i would never ever ever in a million years go back to that backstabbing little bitch.

"hey, morgan, did you hear the news?!" my friend, matthew, panted, having just ran to catch up with me.

"what news? did principal himbry finally get caught touching a kid?" i asked sarcastically. matthew grabbed me by my shoulders, stopping me from going any further.

"matthew, we have to get to class-"

"casey becker and steve orth were murdered last night." my eyes widened in shock.

"casey? and steve? what the hell?" i questioned, not able to process the information. looking around me, everyone else seemed to have the same shocked or worried faces. news vans were starting to pull up, interviewing students.

"do they know what happened?" i asked. matthew shook his head.

"found both of them with their guts pulled out of their bodies, casey hanging from a tree." he mumbled, resuming our walk to class.

"jesus" i gasped. he continued.

"they have no clue who it was, no suspects. everyone is spooked, pointing fingers at each other."

and that was indeed the case. anyone who had ever even looked at casey or steve was interviewed that day. i didn't know casey that well, but i had a few classes with steve over the years. naturally, i was interviewed, and when they realized that i had no motivation whatsoever to kill them and a solid alibi, they let me go back to english.

"that was so intense! they were all 'where were you between 9 and 11 pm last night'! i've never been questioned by the police before!!" matthew gushed.

"check yourself buddy, you sound like you're happy about all of this." i warned him as we passed by a few reporters.

"right, right, sorry." we kept walking, passing bitch face and his crew at the water fountain, his new girl all over him. in all honesty, i had no problems with tatum, she was nice enough, but she was associated with stu, which meant i hated her. i scoffed quietly as we approached them.

"you're not seriously still hung up on him, are you?" matthew asked quietly. matthew was never a fan of stu, claiming something was off about him.

"i'm not 'hung up on him', i'm mad that i ever let a jackass like him make me feel so shitty" i corrected him, glaring at stu. he looked at me, his face going completely blank. i just looked away, not letting him get to me. it's been almost a year, well, kind of. i had a few... relapses, lapses in judgement that i would never let anyone know about, especially not matthew. i had stopped it completely a few months ago, hating the way i'd feel afterwards. and of course, a couple nights after i stopped letting myself go back to him, he started dating tatum. it was all deja vu, it made me nauseous.

speaking of nauseous, that was exactly how i felt when i was invited to a party at stu's the following day.

"how idiotic can he be? throwing a party when there's a killer on the loose? i mean, hello, he may be stupid, but he's never been that stupid!" i ranted. matthew just sat there, burning a cd at my kitchen table.

"starting to sound like you care about him" he mumbled. i hit him lightly on the head, earning a yelp back. he finished up with the cd before packing everything up.

"look, i gotta get back home, curfew and all. whatever you do, don't go to that party. i know you, you're too nosy for your own good. sit on your couch and watch some tv until your parents get home, alright?" he lectured, heading to the door.

"yes dad" i replied, plopping down on the couch.

naturally, i left for the party about an hour later. i don't know why i did it, i wasn't friends with billy or sid or tatum or even randy after stu cut whatever we had short. i didn't know anyone that was going to be there besides the asshole of a host. i just couldn't get my mind off of it. plus, safety in numbers, right? no killer is gonna walk into a room of thirty teenagers and say, yeah, this is a good idea.

so, i drove over to stu's place. it was like muscle memory, and those weren't the only memories activated. every other second another memory flooded over me, from us blasting music to stargazing on the side of the road to some not-so-pg activities in the back of his car. i hadn't been up his road in exactly a year now, when i went to his house to get ready with our matching costumes. i swallowed the heavy lump in my throat, already seeing the line of cars leading towards the house. i parked and got out quickly, a bit paranoid with the killer. obviously he wouldn't come out and start slicing throats in a room of thirty people, but a girl walking alone on the side of the road? sounds like fair game to me. so, i picked up the pace until i was safely through the door of the macher residence. it was the same as it was a year ago, just now swarmed with a bunch of drunk teenagers. i went over to the living room to see randy and a group of people watching halloween. i stood behind the couch watching until i was forcibly yanked into the kitchen. i opened my mouth to scream, but a hand quickly clamped over it. i looked to see the angry eyes of stu macher.

"what the hell are you doing here sweetcheeks?" he asked, his voice strained, not trying to cause a commotion. the two girls talking in the kitchen, sensing the tension in the air, left us alone. i tried to wiggle out of his grip, but it only made him grip onto me harder.

"it's called free will dipshit."

"it's called you shouldn't be here." he continued, looking around frantically.

"what's the big deal? afraid tatum is gonna walk in on this?" i remarked, rolling my eyes.

"i don't give a shit about what she thinks." he said offhandedly, looking at the clock.

"shouldn't you care about what your girlfriend thinks." i spat. he stayed silent at that, looking back at me.

"you need to go. now. i didn't go through all of this trouble just for you to fuck it up." i nearly headbutted him. me? fuck something up? after all he did?

"you listen here, stu macher-"

"no, you listen here, morgan, i have done everything for the past year to make sure you would be safe. go to your car and speed home and don't look back. i'll explain everything tomorrow-"

"'to make sure i would be safe' what the hell are you going on about? what the fuck is going on?"

"i can't tell you."

"yes you can."

"sweetcheeks, you don't understand, i can't tell you."

"stop calling me that. tell me what's going on."

"if he tells you, he'll have to kill you" a voice chimed in from the doorway. we both looked over to see billy loomis, an amused smirk on his face.

"billy, not now." stu demanded. i was a bit taken aback, stu was never this serious, especially not to billy.

"no stu, go on, tell her what's about to happen? she'll know soon enough."

"shut up billy, she doesn't need to know." he growled. billy's smirk didn't fade, waltzing right up to me, stu moving to stand in between us.

"you wanna know why loverboy called it quits?"

"billy-"

"wanna know why he broke your heart out of nowhere and moved on just like that?"

"billy stop"

"he really did love you, even i was surprised when he told me it was over. makes sense now, he was just trying to protect you."

"billy shut the fuck up!" he yelled. my head was spinning, too much was going on.

"now that she's here, she can't escape her fate. you might as well just tell her. i'll be waiting outside." billy told stu, but it sounded more like a threat. when stu turned to look at me, he looked lost, like he was broken.

"stu, what's going on?" i asked softly, reaching out to grab his arm. tears brimmed his eyes, and he screamed "dammit!" as he hit the fridge. i rubbed my hand up and down his arm, something that would comfort him while we were seeing each other.

"i loved you. i love you. last year, billy had this crazy idea, and i just ran with it. but i didn't want you to get involved, i didn't want you to know about that part of my life. i knew that if this continued, he would try to loop you in somehow, i needed to make sure you were safe. so i broke it off between us, but it didn't even matter in the end, did it? he's just gonna kill you anyways." he spiraled, tears streaming down his face. my heart dropped.

"stu, what do you mean kill me?" i asked, already knowing my answer. he gave me a weak smile, tear stains streaked down his face, and the most terrifying words left his pretty lips.

"sweetcheeks, we're the killers. killed sid's mom last year, killed casey and steve, killed himbry, tonight was the finale. if you had just stayed away for one more day, i could've came back, i could've made it all up to you. we could have moved on like nothing ever happened, just you and me." i shook as i processed the information, stu wrapping me up in a hug.

"i won't let him do this to you." he cried into my hair, i hugged him back, my own tears starting to fall. and then, all of a sudden, the worst pain i had ever experienced dug into my back. i felt something slide out of my back, and when i looked up, stu was there, sobbing, holding a kitchen knife covered in my blood.

"i'm so sorry sweetcheeks." he whispered before stabbing me in the stomach.

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Moving Out and Moving On (Drabble)

A/N: This was me figuring out the dynamics of Mickeys relationship with not only Bugs and Daffy but the rest of the Looney Tunes, but it's so tender I couldn't help but want to share with you all.

This might be put into Three Toons and a Baby but I'm not sure yet, so it's a drabble for now,

......................

A heavy drag in of his cigarette, breathe out the smoke and repeat, the smell a comforting memory to the mouse who sat on his front porch, it was a nice summers day a gentle breeze rustling his fur and carrying the cigarette smoke away with it,

But also his ex wife, who stood by the moving van, talking with the movers, she didn't even spare a glance towards him and he found he didn't care, they had both long ago moved on while carrying on the farce of a marriage for a further 20 years before it all had come to a head.

She had left first, packing a few boxes and leaving for Daisys, followed by himself as he found comfort in a pair of toons up in the Hills of LA, both of them leaving a marriage of exactly 50 years and a relationship of 96 years in tatters and nothing could or would repair it. Not this time, not even for their 2 kids,

So much had happened in such a short time it was hard for him to comprehend, but as the door slid shut to the van packed full with her things, Minerva approached him a packet of papers in hand,

"I have signed these, I give up my custody of Marian." His eyes widened, he thought they would share custody of their second youngest, but she was fully letting go turning away from them, he found himself only able to respond with,

"Oh, alright I will hand this over to Justin and his crew. You may need to show up in court to say the same,"

A sharp nod of her head showed her irritation, but understanding did show in her eyes, as she said her final words

"Right, then good luck Michael Mouse I will see you with whatever the company wishes for us to appear in."

He nodded as well, watching the woman turn and head for her car. He put out the cigarette and stood up he had packing to do as well

After all, he had handed the home to the Disney Company, who wished to have it preserved to his changrin as a museum cataloging their relationship and lives, he hated it, but he definitely did not want to be surrounded by the ghosts of his past, not especially when he already had a future waiting, this was the last painful step before he could enjoy it,

As he walked back in he sighed at all the remaining boxes filled with his items, his entire life. Pluto had already been moved up to the other property, he was already so much happier up there with so much room to run and play,

He jumped as a horn blared suddenly, whipping around to head outside once more this time, his breath caught in another way, a more emotional one as his new Partners hopped out of their car alongside their friends,

"Bugs, Daffy!" He embraced both of them, looking for that nosey neighbor Margot, seeing that she was not in her rocker on her front porch, he shared a kiss with the pair,"I thought you had work,"

"Yeah! Here Doc" the rabbit teased making the rest of the Looney Tunes laugh, Porky answering the mouse's confusion,

"B-B-Bugs told us you need need needed help."

"And that yer own crew were too busy with things to assist ya," Yosemite added, making the group nod,

"But I'm Disney," the mouse blurted out of habit, making the Warners laugh, Dot putting a hand on her hip, answering sassily,

"Yeah, you are! But you're also the toon dating our ring leaders, congrats Uncle, you're an honorary Looney Tune,"

At her proclamation, there were nods of agreement. He looked to his partners Bugs, giving him a smile of assurance she was right,

"Kids right, Doc. You may be the biggest Disney, but you're also mine and Dafs loving Partner as for the others, you and yours have become like family to the rest as a result."

That sent a warmth through him as tears appeared, his throat felt thick in a good way as he smiled at each of them,

"Thanks, guys,"

There were various noises of your welcome and of course from the group of Toons,

"Now, what are we standing round here for? Lets get you moved," Lola exclaimed, making them laugh as they converged on the home,

Bugs and Daffy took care of helping their love tape up boxes, while Yosemite and Wil E seemingly did the grunt work of lifting the furniture,

"Does Granny have Marian?" He asked as he lifted a box and walked out with Bugs to place it in the back of the U-haul Lola had brought,

"You betcha Mick, she's enamored with wonder mouse," he chuckled as they set the boxes inside, Mickey snickering with the other,

"Oh that kids given her a new lease," came Sylvesters voice as he sat a box inside the moving truck making their heads turn to him"I have never seen her this active in years,"

That made Mickey smile as they walked back towards the house,

"Good to hear, I'm glad she's been so good for her,"

"Heya Doc what's this?" Bugs came walking out of the kitchen with a book a note taped to the front,

His breath hitched instantly recognizing it, he managed to say,

"That's our Wedding Album," The rabbit wincing,

"Sorry doll, I didn't know" The mouse motioned shaking his head gently, taking it from him,

"Naw your alright Bugsy, honest. Just naturally hurts, this was my life for almost 100 years," he motioned around him to the home,"it feels like this is somehow wrong," he answered as he flipped it open, the first photo of him and Minnie standing at the alter with beaming smiles as she leaned into him, followed by one of them cutting the cake laughing, he sighed closing it, reading the note on the front,

Did not leave behind, can be put into the Museum I don't want it,

Minerva Fieldmouse

He figured that was the case, as Bugs looked at him worriedly, placing a hand on his partner's shoulder, finally the disney toon looked up

"But I don't regret this at all. As time passes, the pain will get better. It will be funny to watch people filter in, and this be on a shelf here," he finally laughed, handing it back to the other who smiled as Buster walked in holding an item in hand,

"Heya Mr Mouse-"

"You can call me Mickey," he interrupted but recognized the frame in hand," Oh, I recognize that, that's another of our Wedding Photos I was wondering where she hid it."

The blue rabbit snickered answering,

"Upstairs hallway table, we were making sure nothing was inside before we moved it to clean before putting it back like Daffy asked,"

The mouse carefully took it, handing it to Bugs,

"Gee, with all these weddin pictures, you're making me half tempted to have a false wedding to replace em!" The rabbit teased as he walked back to the kitchen to set them on the table, the mouse snorted, shooting back playfully

"You have had what 3 weddings? Bugs, I'm starting to think you just enjoy being fawned over,"

"It's actually 2 Mick and that's cause gay marriage was not legal in 1959 and in 2017 Daffy surprised me with wanting to have it be official despite our open status,"

"Cause with you getting run over like roadkill it scared me to the point I knew what I wanted to do," the duck huffed as he marched past with a box,

Both Mickey and Bugs shared a look before smirking, and running to catch up to him, the mouse kissing one side of his beak and Bugs the other catching the toon completely off guard

The lagomorph smoothly pulled the box out of his husband's grip laughing as he darted towards the truck,

"Your both despicable!" He crowed red in the face, but there wasn't true anger behind the ducks eyes just mild playful annoyance at their antics,

It took the group a couple of hours, but suddenly Mickey was staring at a mostly empty house from the front door,

"We will go on ahead and get this up to Burrow Manor," Lola called he turned around nodding calling back,

"Thank you again guys it would've taken me so much longer on my own!"

The Warner Rabbit flashed him a smile,

"Of course Mickey! Wakko no that's an air freshener-" The window was rolled up as he assumed she grabbed for the troublesome child,

Suddenly it was just him standing there, to his surprise a car drove up and he smiled softly as Eleanor got out and walked up the pathway,

" I'm sorry I couldn't come help you. That commercial shoot was brutal," She apologized as they embraced one another,

"No its alright sweet mouse, you had work like Goofys watching Max and Yakkos kids while their overseas and Uncle Donald's down in Rio for their annual trip across the continent. It's life it happens, besides your mother was here and I know your unhappy with her,"

Sure enough his daughter's eyes had narrowed at the mention of her mother,

"She's abandoned our family to move on. According to Aunt Daisy she's even blocked yours and my numbers and accounts. I know she has to heal but thats way to far and she's also cut out Marian. She's a baby!" He reached over and rubbed her arm in comfort, saying with honesty,

"I know, sweetheart, your mom's always had a habit of overreacting to any situation. It's just a part of her personality. Eventually, she will most likely try to show up and act like it's all fine. We just have to decide how we will handle it when that day comes,"

He squeaked in surprise, but smiled as he was hugged again, Eleanor burying her face into his neck,

"I'm glad your back daddy, I don't know how I would be able to deal with the loss of both my parents," She murmured, tears brimmed in her eyes, making his heart break at the confession, he cupped the back of her head to draw his daughter closer,

"And I'm never leaving you or Marian ever again,"

"And we will give him a swift kick in the ass if he eva tries again," turning to see Bugs standing there with a teasing, but genuine smile on his face, Daffy beside nodding,

That made the woman laugh as she let go wiping her eyes,

"And you two are the reason I'm not as worried that he will try it again." She finally fully perked up walking in"Man is it so weird to have this place almost empty,"

She walked through, tears pricking at her eyes as she touched the staircase banister,

"I remember sliding down this so much,"

"And I would get after you" She heard her dad laugh before she joined in looking into the living room, Mickey stood in the middle kneeling down he brushed his hand to the floor

"This was where you first walked," he stood up pointing where the armchair sat,"I was reading the newspaper, your Mother was out shopping and had left you home, I saw you stand like you'd done a million times, but I put it down and watched you as you suddenly let go, damn near gave me a heart attack,"He heard Eleanor laugh Bugs and Daffy joining in"But you made it to me and I was so proud and excited, Minerva actually didn't believe me until you gave her a heart attack in the kitchen where you tried jumping into the oven,"

That made Bugs and Daffy wheeze with laughter as Eleanor who'd heard the story a million times shook her head,

"I still say it was the warmth," making her Dad smile,

They watched as she exited the Living space and walked to the kitchen doorframe and brushed a hand on weird notches in the door,

"Heh, you never got rid of this," she murmured as the mouse shook his head,

"No, I never did."

The duck cocked his head in confusion,

"What is it?"

She pointed to the lowest, with a smile

"This was when I was a year old and then the next one when I was 2."

The rabbit smiled, saying smartly,

"That's adorable an precious it shows your growth" making her nod

"Yeah, until I was 15," she brushed a paw against the last mark,

"Stand next to it kid," She looked confused to the Rabbit but did so as he walked over and carefully notched where she came up to now and wrote

Eleanor Mouse 2023, Moving Day

"There, one last notch to make it complete," he smiled, she instantly embraced the rabbit,

"It's a perfect goodbye and closing this chapter,"

Mickey slowly walked up touching the last notch, murmuring

"And a beautiful way to open the newest chapter." making them turn towards him, all three hugging each other before turning towards the front door, Bugs and Daffy exiting first as Eleanor took her father's hand and together they stepped out onto the porch,

Mickey turned to close the door, brushing a hand against it, saying a silent thank you before locking it, getting choked up as he walked down the steps, they each got into their respective vehicles, he pulled out only pausing a moment before putting the old Mercedes into drive and watching the house disappear behind him for one last time.

[filmnoirsbian]

This week:

A 19 year old passenger with her baby, who only spoke spanish, missed her connecting flight due to weather and would have been stuck sleeping in the airport but my co flight attendant (who spoke spanish) booked her commuter hotel for her and gave her a free room for the night

Another passenger missed her connecting flight home but since she lived just under an hour from me I gave her a ride from dc to virginia beach

My pilot was contacted by the wife of a pilot he'd flown with (who later killed himself) because she'd found a photo of their crew at dinner, so now he takes group photos of every crew he hangs out with, just in case

Another passenger missed her connecting flight and was crying because her mom was in hospice so 2 other passengers who did not know her offered to rent a car and carpool down to jacksonville together

An actor who I will not name but who I'm a huge fan of was in line at the airport pizza place in front of me and my co flight attendant (also a fan) and we were trying so hard to be cool about it and he could tell and he paid for our food because "You all take such good care of us in the air, we should take care of you on the ground."

The van driver for our new orleans overnight heard me say I was vegetarian but wished I could try authentic gumbo and called his friend who is a chef and then drove us to the restaurant where I was given a creole style vegetarian gumbo he'd improvised

After a terrible night which saw me and my co flight attendant trying for 4 hours to get hotel rooms from our airline, the night clerk at a hotel finally took over the phone call and reprimanded them on our behalf, dictating the exact paperwork she needed sent over and then expedited the process so she could give us rooms

[disco-elysium-via-polls]

Our list of tasks is looking ever more manageable.

FIND BOOZE AND DRINK IT

The hangover feels really bad. You have to take the edge off. Find a bottle of alcohol, put it in your had, and the magic will happen by its own!

As you can see, the blue text below this task says it was Forfeited on Wednesday. That doesn't mean we can't still drink, though.

THURSDAY

GET THE WHOLE STORY FROM TITUS

Hardie and the boys know the whole story. It'll be difficult to get it out of him. Have you thoroughly inspected the body? Looked around for a witness? Gotten friendly with the Union boss and the company rep? *Really* gotten to Klaasje?

Confront Klaasje with the Hardies' story.

THE MISSING INSECTS CASE

Some locusts have gone missing, and the Insulindian phasmid has yet to be found. Perhaps you can use your detective skills to help out the cryptozoologists?

Ask Cuno about the empty trap, then take a look around the yard.

ADD EVEN MORE BEAUTY TO THE WALL

You have seen an exceptionally beautiful wall in Martinaise, near the pier, and have decided to add to its beauty, artistically. This will take a brush first? Who would have one? Then paint, and then the act itself.

Use fuel oil to paint the wall.

GET TWO SIGNATURES FOR EVRART

Get Isobel and Lilienne in the nameless fishing village down the coast to sign Evrart's document. Once the signatures are secured, mail the document to Evrart's accountant using the mail box on the plaza in front of the Whirling.

Find someone to sign the documents instead of the intended recipients.

Forge the signatures, but somewhere private, where you feel safe enough to sleep.

Remember, this is also going to point us further towards our gun.

GET ACELE TO TALK ABOUT HER ASSOCIATES

Acele refused to talk about her friends. Maybe she'll open up later -- after you've helped them set up the nightclub.

MAKE VAN EYCK'S JAM HARDER CORE

You can feel it—this music could hit so much harder. It just needs a few tweaks... Walk back to the canal and see if you can find any tapes that could work as a melody, then bring them back to Egg Head for remixing.

Find a tape with a melody for Egg Head.

SYNC THE SINES WITH NOID

Noid doesn't want to talk to you, the sines are not in sync. Guess you need to help him and his friends out somehow, prove that you're one of the crew. Who knows what he'll tell you?

HELP RAVERS START A NIGHTCLUB

The ravers asked you to help turn the church into a dance club, but there are already some people inside. Find out who those people are and what they want.

Look into the spookers in the church.

Almost all of our Thursday quests are to do with the ravers.

WEDNESDAY

SPIRIT IS ETERNAL

The Horrific Necktie is getting ready for the end game. For the love of god do not remove it until 'the magic' happens.

Hold onto the spirits and wait for the signal.

FIND IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL'S JACKET

Idiot Doom Spiral stole a cool jacket at one point... and then lost it again. The story of his life. According to the man, the jacket was last seen somewhere around the boardwalk, maybe the abandoned fish market.

We have *a* jacket, but it's not in great condition.

ASK KLAASJE ABOUT SUNDAY NIGHT

When Kim's not around to stop you, ask Klaasje about what she heard from her room the night before you emerged into Reality. She must know something.

We missed our opportunity to do this last night. If we want to do this, we'll have to wait until 22:00, then pretend to go to sleep to get Kim out of the way. Also, if we go to confront her about Titus's story, it may be the last time we speak to her, so we'll want to put that off.

TUESDAY

FIND THE MURDER WEAPON

You need to find the firearm that killed the hanged man. Something tells you it will take *some* time. You could start by identifying the bullet, so you'd know the weapon that shot it. After that, keep your eyes open. And be patient.

Perform an advanced analysis, using H/E Coordination.

Can't do this with HEC maxed out. Although there are *other* ways to level it up...

MONDAY

REPLACE LOST BOULE

Due to some confusion over the game René and Gaston are playing, you threw one of their pétanque *boules* far in the sea. The shot was excellent, but now you owe them a *boule*... or at least similar-looking metal sphere.

FIND ALL ARMOUR PIECES

You want all of the armour pieces. Deck yourself out in full metal battle-hardened glory. NOTE! This might take a while. Like, a *long* while.

In addition, let me go over a few other things we can do:

Get into the area behind the bookstore.

[Volition - Legendary] Look Klaasje in the eyes.

[Rhetoric - Legendary] Get Gaston's sandwich.

[Rhetoric - Impossible] Open the cargo container door.

[Reaction Speed - Medium] Find a Dick Mullen novel.

[Pain Threshold - Medium] Find a Man from Hjellmdall novel.

[Suggestion - Medium] Why is Annette familiar?

[Suggestion - Heroic] Ask Lilienne on a date.

Hear more stories from Doom Spiral.

[Interfacing - Medium] Fix broken faucet, find a figurine.

[Encyclopedia - Formidable] Find the source of the Expression.

[Drama - Impossible] Convince Rene we're also a war hero.

Now that we have money, we could also look into buying a board game from the bookstore.

[loki-lover84]

Season 3 Episode 5 Part I

A/N: There is drug use briefly mentioned however it is The Boys so I hope that’s not too surprising this chapter does contain SMUT. I hope ya’ll enjoy this chapter.

I managed to lead us to the run down petrol station that Butcher’s crew had been using. The van was no longer parked outside and there was no one in there, I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not. On the one hand, there goes my return flight home on the other, they probably wouldn’t have trusted let alone wanted Ben to come too.

“We can stay here for tonight. I know it’s not great but, at least we’ll have a roof over our heads.” I say leading him inside.

I turn to look back at him, he’s silent. He’s just staring at me, his grip on my hand tightening once again.

“Forty two years?” He murmurs. “Forty two fucking years, you were alone. I’m so sorry.”

“You were alone too, it’s not like you chose to be away.” I say sitting down on one of the battered sofas Frenchie and Kimiko had claimed earlier.

He takes a seat next to me before pulling me onto his lap and holding me tight. He places a kiss to my forehead, it feels weird due to his out of control beard, but I relish in the feeling all the same. He leans forward placing his head in the crook of my neck, his beard tickling my neck causing me to squirm a little.  I delicately stroke his messy mop of hair. I can’t tell if I’m doing it to soothe him or myself more, either way it’s working for us both. Ben lets out a hum of satisfaction before positioning us to sleep in each other’s embrace for the first time in far too long.

I wake up around dawn seeing Ben’s forest green eyes shining back at my, I can only assume knackered, face. He has a small smile playing on his lips as he brushes my messy hair out of my face.

“Morning sweetheart.” He coos as I yawn ruining the cute moment making him chuckle.

“Did you sleep at all?”I ask stroking his hair once again.

“I’ve spent decades of my life asleep, I don’t think I need to for awhile.”

I sit up stretching my limbs as best I can with Ben still hugging me.

“We should go see ‘The Legend’ when we get back to the US, I think he’s still got one of your suits.” I say standing up and Ben follows in suit eventually letting go of my waist.

“It was Payback.” He says out of the blue

“What was?”

“They were the ones that handed me over to the Russians.” I feel the rage boil through my veins, Vought had hidden this too.

All the years I’ve spent working for them if I’d have just dug a little deeper I could’ve found this out sooner, I only got as far too the point when I knew he wasn’t dead but fuck! Of course that goes hand in hand with it all this time. A growl escapes my throat startling myself and Ben for a moment.

“I’ll kill them! I kill every last one of those fuckers!” I seethe physically shaking as all the water pipes in the building burst. “Shit.”

“We’ll kill them together.” Ben says Somehow giving me a sense of comfort before leading us out of the slowly flooding station.

When we get outside I look around thinking back to which way Butcher had driven us from the airport and begin following the route through the rough rundown and supe graffiti covered buildings. We follow some road signs along the way, it takes us a good couple of hours walking but we eventually arrive at the airport. From here Ben takes over leading us towards the baggage section before sneaking us both onto the plane.

We arrive back to the US and we begin walking through the crowded streets to get to ‘The Legend’s’ apartment building.

“What the fuck?”I hear Ben grumble watching a bus advertising ‘The Dawn of The Seven’ drive by.

I watch him take in the scenery his brow furrowed in confusion at everyone and everything he sees. He watches as a gay couple walk past us openly using PDA and his face morphs into an ‘alright then’ sort of expression. He doesn’t once show disgust at anything he sees, just curiosity and wonder.

“This is the modern age. I know a lot has changed and nothing is really as it was but it’s not too hard to adjust to. All you need to be nowadays is open minded.” He gives me a look, the look that says ‘I’ll think about it, maybe’.

Of course I know it’s a lot for him to take in all at once. Do I think he’ll adjust? In some areas maybe, others not so much. There’s a faint Russian song playing, barely audible from the regular street noise, but Ben leads us straight towards it. It’s as if he’s in a trance and needs to find the source of it. We round a corner and see a small black radio playing the song.

“Ben…are you okay?” His hand nearly crushing my own as his breathing becomes deeper.

He doubles over grunting and the ground beneath us begins to vibrate once again.

“Ben, Ben look at me, c’mon my Soldier look at me.” I plead trying to gain his focus caressing his face with my other hand.

He lets go of my hand pushing me a good distance behind him as the red glow begins to burn though his chest once more.

“You okay, buddy?” A passerby asks.

But before I can warn him the energy bursts out of Ben as he roars in pain scorching the man to death and obliterating the building and surrounding pavement with it. I hear screams and cries of passerby’s as panicked uproar floods the area.

“Ben we’ve got to go. Come on!” I say urgently grabbing him and flying up not slowing or stopping until we get to ‘The Legend’s’ building. “Fuck, are you okay?” I say pandering Ben as we enter the apartment building.

“I-I’m fine just…Are you okay?” He asks as we enter the lift.

“Yeah… I’m good.” I say resting my hand on the side of his face as he leans into the touch. “What did those bastards do to you?” I say under my breath as the lift dings.

I pound on the door continuously hearing groans and yealls of complaints from the other side.

“What the fuck do you think-” The Legend begins until he sees us. “Fuck.”

He moves to the side quickly ushering us into his lavish apartment. We make ourselves comfortable on one of his sofas as he sits opposite us.

“Ain’t the pair of you meant to be dead?” He says dicing up and bumps in the coke and making six neat lines.

“I’ve been at Vought, as Queen Maeve’s PA.” I say rolling a piece of paper snorting a line. “The buried me so deep no one recognises me or is even aware Amphitrite existed.”

I don’t usually do this but after the day I’ve had on top of the forty two years I think I’ve earned one line. I hand it over to Ben fully knowing he wouldn’t turn down drugs, that was the only downside but, if I needed a bit, he definitely needed a few lines.

“What about you then Soldier Boy? You look like shit.” He states as Ben snorts his second line.

“Payback wrapped me up like a fucking present and gave me to the Russian’s.”

“Shit.” Legend says taking the tray. “What do you guys want from me?”

“I know you have Ben’s suit and shield.” I say unimpressed with his feigned ignorance.

“Yeah. It’s in the back help yourself.” He exhales before snorting a line.

Ben goes to the glass display case holding his suit and shield. Heading into the bathroom to shower so he doesn’t taint his suit. I stand up looking at all the movie posters and memorabilia around his apartment.

“You know, aside from me you’re probably the only person that still has any Amphitrite things.” I say eyeing up the old merchandise, publicity posters and heroic news headlines.

“Well at least this explains why I couldn’t get my hands on your suit.” He laughs standing next to me. “I loved working with you. You actually went out and did acts of heroism, I mean all you supes did but, you did it before you got paid to do it, you didn’t only interfere when Vought told you too.”

“Yeah, I ruined that though. You had to cover up the massacre spree I went on.” I say scowling at some of the headlines.

“Not in my eyes. Yes some of those people were innocent but, the majority knew what they’d done to you. They drove you to that point, not the other way around.” Legend comforts patting my back. “It’s amazing…you haven’t aged a day but you’re eyes tell the story of your life.”

“I’d take a step back if I were you, mate.” Ben says.

We turn and see Soldier Boy fully suited his signature beard back his hair fluffy and combed into place. I feel my knees tremble at the sight of him as he once was again. I can’t help but beam at him.

“I know you’ve always been like family, but she’s mine.” He adds striding towards us picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder.

I can’t help but laugh over his shoulder before smacking his America’s ass, making Ben return the favour.

“Alright you horny kids out. You’re not doing that here you’ll destroy my apartment… again. Go to your own place.” Legend says laughing with an undertone of seriousness.

“We can go and christen my apartment if you’d like?” I say staring at Ben’s ass.

It’s reassuring that he’s feeling like his old self so quickly. There’s a banging on the door and we instantly become silent.

“Out the window.” The Legend whispers, “Just leave it.” He yells at the door.

“What?” Shit that’s MM.

“C’mon.” I say as Ben put me back on my feet as I pull him to the window. “Grab on.” I encourage as we fly away from the building heading straight for my apartment.

“It’ll never cease to amaze me that you got flight in your V too.” Ben laughs as we enter my apartment via the open window. “I mean what do water and flight have in common?”

“Don’t ask me, it was the early testing days when we got injected.” I laugh watching as he takes in my humble home.

“It’s not very personal.”

“I had a plumber over the other day, had to hide everything.” I say unpacking the box with photos of Ben and I, as well as, the only photo I have of baby John.

Ben holds it looking at the baby boy cocooned in a soft blue blanket.

“We made a cute little rugrat.” He comments wrapping an arm around my waist.

“We did indeed. He’ll be at least forty one by now.” I sigh swiping away a tear.

“We can make more, have a whole family. Then he can be a big brother when we bring him home.” Ben says sliding his hand down from my waist pinching my bum. “How about we start right now?” He whispers, his teeth scraping against my ear as he kisses his way down my neck, putting the picture to one side.

“Fuck me.” I moan as he tears my trousers off and rips my shirt open groping me through my underwear as he rubs his hardening length against my rear.

“I love the underwear they have now.” Ben comments playing with the lace of my bra.

He quickly sheds the fabric carelessly tossing it to the floor as he continues to rut against me the rough fabric of his suit scratching against my skin in the best way as his breath becomes heavier. His lips biting and sucking my neck marking me up as much as he can before running his tongue along my neck, his beard leaving its own trail of pleasure.

“Shit…Captain, right there.” I moan as a rough padded finger harshly caresses my clit.

Ben’s chest rumbles in satisfaction as I writhe desperately against him. My arms reach up as I desperately try to find an anchor my fingers worm their way into his soft brown hair I clenching my hand into a fist tugging at it as my support. A soft moan escapes his lips as he inserts two fingers stretching my walls more than they had been in decades as he furiously begins pumping his fingers as an uncontrollable scream leaps out of me as I reach my first peak. I limply fall forwards toward my bed, Ben carefully places me on it as he removes his fingers licking my juices off his fingers.

“You-you’re…you’re wearing too many clothes.” I pant breathlessly looking up at him as my body continues to tremble.

“I needed to ease you back into it.” He chuckles, removing his suit revealing his well built and toned body.

“Can we not be as rough as we used to? I could barely handle that one.” I ask with a dazed smile, meeting his fully dilated pupils.

“Fine, this can be our practice session.” He replies smirking, positioning himself above me, harshly pulling my knickers the fabric breaking against my flesh do to the force. “This needs to go.”

Ben spreads my legs settling himself between them, with one harsh thrust of his hips he’s fully seated inside of me. My body involuntarily jerks at the motion as I reach behind my head fisting my pillows as he begins at a slow hard pace his face buried in my neck biting my shoulder as emphasises each stroke.

“Fuck…you feel so good.” He groans gradually speeding up his thrusts getting harder and harder.

My bed begins creaking and moving violently with our punishing rhythm. It’s hard to keep up with Ben’s determined movements. I hear my headboard cracking the wall behind it and a few bedsprings breaking.

“You’re mine…You were made for me… fuck you’re perfect.” Ben chants repeatedly as I squeeze my eyes shut and clench around him. “Open your eyes, Sweetheart.”

I do as he says before he starts rubbing my swollen clit with his thrusts as the feeling of an approaching orgasm makes my eyes involuntarily close again, only to meet an extra hard thrust of disapproval.

“You look at me when you cum!” He growls, thrusting to an inhuman pace.

“Shit…Ben…I can’t…I-” I gasp.

“You do as I say. You’re mine.” He insists lowering his head capturing my lips in a hard animalistic like kiss occasionally biting my lips.

I’m gonna cum. I’m gonna cum. I chant repeatedly in my head due to my mouth being otherwise occupied. I grasp my hands around his back clawing down his back cumming harder than I’d done in too fucking long. Ben’s thrusts jerking unsteadily, my bed collapses to the floor below as his warm seed spills into my womb and a deep guttural roar escapes his kiss swollen lips.

“I needed that.” He says rolling to his back pulling me on top of him making sure his dick doesn’t leave me just yet.

  “I think we both did.” I sigh my body still lightly trembling with my come down. “I love you my Captain, my Soldier Boy, my Ben.” I say lightly pecking his lips between each name.

“I love you too my Sweetheart, my Amphitrite, my Y/n.” Ben responds returning my gesture kissing me back.

We drift off to sleep in each other’s embrace on my now broken bed.

[mxvanrichten]

Me after last night's Curse of Strahd session.

Session summary below, definitely some spoilers for later game stuff (Amber Temple).

Also, there's A LOT OF TEXT, I'M SORRY.

Here's a funny discord screenshot, but session recap is below the break.

The gang starts out at the end of a very snowy bridge that looks terrifying to cross. As we get halfway across the statue on top of the other side's archway, it turns into a large white dragon. The dragon is starring daggers into Silas and Silas only. It's paying no attention to anyone else. Silas feels this burn in his chest as it continues to stare. The group decides to keep going as Draz and Brandy surround Silas for protection.

Everyone makes it across. When we get across, the dragon turns away, but Silas sees his mother at the top of the hill ahead. She is waving for him to come up. His mother has been dead for a few years. He knows it's not really her.

From when the dragon appeared, he felt something telling him to come to the temple. This isn't the first time something has told him he needs to come there. As they all stand there, Silas suddenly throws up black sludge, and it's coming from his eyes and nose as well.

The group continues on up to the temple. The walk 5 hours in the snow. They're exhausted, especially Silas and Rudolph (who each took a point of exhaustion). They finally reach the temple, and Draz notices a side entrance.

After a bit of sneaking and hearing some voices, we eventually see some younger crew of the berserkers we met earlier on our trip. They are scared of us at first until Silas mentions the name of one of the people they met from their tribe. They relax and after some conversation we bed down for the night in this side room.

Watches happen:

First watch: Draz and van Richten have another wooden stake making practice session. Draz is getting pretty good at it. He tells Draz that he might make a fine monster hunter out of someone in this group, after all. He mentions to Draz that Silas has a lot of knowledge that could fare useful, but Draz needs to share his knew found knowledge of vampire killing with us to truly be useful.

Second watch: Silas and Ezmerelda chat about a few different things. Fashion, what the sun looks like, and how Rudolph thinks something is wrong with Silas ever since he died and came back. Ez is a little sus of him as well. She brings up even how pale Silas is, but he’s just like no I just look like this. (He truly does just look like that lol).

However, he does tell Ez that he has been experiencing strange things, hearing voices, and feeling drawn to the temple since he came back. He doesn’t talk about the deal he made to come back. I think he fully doesn’t understand everything himself. He then tells Ez that if Rudolph has something he wants to know, he's free to ask Silas himself instead of talking about him behind his back. He then let's slip, "I suppose he's probably avoiding me specifically now, though." That gets Ez's attention, and she's like,"I mean, he typically avoids most people, but why you specifically?" Silas then tells Ez about the letter he wrote and about his feelings for Rudolph. Ez is, of course kinda like ummmm what? Ew, why? about it. She even is like, "When has he ever even been nice to you??" Silas not really wanting to get into everything in his head he just says, "I guess I'm just fucked up. Idk." She just tells him to be careful, but she's also kind of sweet about it and tells him if I want to get "brownie points" with him (then proceeds to tell me that vr told her people say that even though he thinks brownies are gross and that she calls it meat pie points instead) that I should use any knowledge I learn about monsters to impress him and get his attention.

Third watch: Brandy and Kasimir. This watch literally had irl me giggling and kicking my feet during the whole thing. Brandy asks Kas if he's ever been in love. He says there was a girl once, so long ago he doesn't remember her name, but they only went on one outing together. He mentions she was a dusk elf, and Brandy says, "Oh, so she must've had your same beautiful skin tone." This, of course, flusters the hell out of him. She proceeds to tell him about the man she loves and was searching for before she ended up in Barovia while looking for him. His name is Samuel, and he's a pirate. We knew about him before, but she tells Kasimir that she loves him, but she's not sure he loves her back. He never truly made time for her and then just disappeared, and that's why she was looking for him. She is trying to figure out if she really is in love or not. It's been so long. She reaches out for Kasimirs hand. It's super cold, so she uses that to get closer to him. She scoots up next to him and asks if he wants to snuggle under her coat with her to keep warm. He is super fucking awkward, but eventually relaxes and lets her put her arm around him and they spend the rest of the watch snuggled up with small talk. It was literally the cutest thing I WANNA SCREAMMM.

The next morning, they prepare to start exploring the temple. Silas and Kasimir both wake up with headaches, Draz and Brandy can't remember anyone's names (this turns into a bit that actually continues to be so funny the rest of the session), Rudolph is seeing weird shit out of the corners of his eyes. Every seems to be affected in different ways. Silas is irritated from the headache and kinda gets snippy and with that and Draz calling him Sally and calling everyone weird names, Rudolph realized the temple is fucking with us.

We proceed on, with Silas’s use of locate object, they begin their search for the suns sword. He gets several pings of potential swords, so they pick a direction and head down some stairs. About halfway down the stairs, a voice tells us to stop, turn away, and leave. We attempt to communicate and reason with them. We can't see him, but we hear a voice coming from a statue up ahead. He tells us his name is Nefron. As we're talking him down, Brandy is sneaking behind the statue to see who's there. He ends up being this tiny creature. We talk him down, but Brandy gets caught sneaking, so he gets mad again. We think we're safe to cross but when we do a fireball gets shot at us. We fight him and some flame skulls for a bit, but Silas is eventually able to talk him into leaving us alone and we stop hurting him.

We move onto another hallway, eventually we come across a door and Draz is able to force it open.... THIS IS WHERE THE FUN STOPS....🙃😩

Silas’s mother is at the door, waving for him to come in. He just screams out loud, "YOU'RE NOT FUCKING REAL, YOU'RE DEAD! STOP IT!" This of course gets everyone's attention and VR just looks at him super concerned.

Silas, Draz, Ez, and Rudolph go into the room, and there are like 3 amber sarcophagi. We aren't really sure what to do, but suddenly, Silas feels incredibly drawn to one of them. He then hears a familiar voice. The same voice that spoke to him that brought him back to life. The same voice that's been in his head a couple of other times as well. He just hears, "TOUCH IT!" Silas freezes. He hears those words again. He doesn’t know what to do. The door slams shut. Splitting off Brandy and Kasimir outside the room. The voice demands Silas do as he's told, that he promised he would do this in turn for being brought back. As Silas has a full-on panic attack and just stands there crying and yelling, everyone in the room starts taking damage. He continues to say he doesn't want to, but eventually, it gets too much. He sees how hurt Rudolph is getting standing right beside him, and he finally gives in and touches it.

Suddenly, this terrifying being shows itself. It's floating over water, and Silas can almost feel himself floating in the water. He tells Silas his name. Sykane, the thing that brought Silas back. The thing Silas is bound to and must do as it says. Sykane explains what Silas must do in return for getting his life back previously. He must destroy Strahd and destroy Vampyr, who gave Strahd his powers. Then, after that, he must release Sykane and allow him to consume all the souls of Barovia whole, which would unmake them and Barovia. Only Silas hears all of this. The others just see a floating image of Sykane.

Silas is devastated. What has he done. He is thinking to himself he should have never agreed to come back. He should have stayed dead. His fear of death was selfish. After all that ends, Silas is returned to full health and apparently feels something different and new inside him. He runs off crying as the door opens......aaaaaaaand that's where the session ended.

Sooooooooooooooo yeeeeeahhhhh......

[popculturebuffet]

Hang Around For Scooby Doo: SD Ghoul School Review (Comission for Emma Fici)

Happy Halloween all you happy people! Our halloween stuff rolls on as I introduce a new not at all consitent series on this blog, Hang Around For Scooby Doo! This probably won't be a monthly thing like my muppets reviews, but it will be fun.

See over a year and a half ago my good friend @jess-the-vampire and I started having movie nights every Tuesday and Wedsday on her nights off. It was during this we found a mutual love of Scooby Doo, both having grown up with it despite being a generation apart. So when she told me about a Scooby Doo film where Scooby goes into space in a trek inspired heavily by BioShock and alien, how could I say no? The film was Moon Monster Madness, and I shall cover it some day. Finding out i'd missed films like this made me curious: I'd grown up with the DTV scooby movies, even watching them into high school on sick days or summer days as CN played them a lot, but after Chill Out, Scooby Doo, they stopped playing them as much, and I stopped seeing them as a result.

So in over a year and a half we watched and re-watched ALLL OF THEM. No hyperbole. We watched the greats, we found hidden gems and we also suffered through Return To Zombie Island and Fred's weird singing voice in the somehow boring vampire musical. And once we were done… we kept going and have been watching some Scooby doo ever so often since. We watch other stuff sure, it's how I got sucked down the Miraculous Ladybug Hole, but it's built on a foundation of Scooby Doo

And of course watching entirely too much Scooby Doo has given me a MASIVE repository of review material yet untapped. From weird individual episodes like Shaggy becoming king of the goths, Fred's ass terrifying everyone, One of NSYNC framing the Gang for crimes, Shaggy nearly being drowned for being a witch or a rejected skeletor minion haunting a 70's dude at Wimbledon. IT's a weird wonderful buffet and since my good friend Emma commissioned this from me, we got a great place to start digging in Shaggy style so Hang Around after the Read More for Scooby Doo: Ghoul School!

The history for this one is interesting, as this flim happens to be part of another small project I've intended to start for a while: an on and off look at the Superstar 10, 10 films packaged for Hanna Barbera's funtastic world of hannaa barbera saturday morning block. Even if you haven't heard of them, you may of seen some as all three red shirt shaggy films as well as Flintstones Meet the Jetsons are part of it, and cartoon network tended to air them a lot growing up as they filled up time nicely. Why the others weren't used, especially since one of Yogi Bear's other films, his wonderful christmas special, was aired every year…

But the non-scooby ones are only avaliable via Warner Archives, so i'm curoius to see what hiden gems and things that are better off locked in the archives lie in wait, so once again while this review is paid for, it's something that was inevitble.

The Superstar Ten Trilogy of Scooby Films is highly notable for being the first Scooby Doo films, the ones that likely gave the crew of Zombie Island to try one for the DTV market as unsuprisingly these three had vhs' (and I had one for the reluctant werewolf. Wish I still did. It was sweet. ). These films paved the way for us to have almost 50 MORE after them.

This trilogy is also intresting for when it was made: coming out in the mid 80's, this was around the same time as 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, The New Scooby Doo shows and others that largely broke from formula with Fred and Velma largely put on a bus , leaving the gang just Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne.. Scrappy

And their bitching van. Despite the show before it being the bane of many fans at the times existence, the Daphne and Shaggy era shows are well regarded and I hope to binge 13 ghosts at some point as it sounds utterly awesome. Weirdly though despite Scrappy's wide backlash he wasn't the team member to get dumped for these movies, with the trio instead being reduced to just Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy. Now…

Scrappy.. really isn't that annoying here. He still has his traits of running at danger and being Scooby's Hype Dog, but he's also fairly intelligent, helpful and functions as a replacement Fred without being nearly as bland as pre-Zombie Island Fred Jones. I mean he can't say treasure that special way

But he still does well. It's why i'm really baffled at how Scrappy's been reduced to either not existing anymore (Curse of the 13th ghost) or a hilarious joke not to be talked about (Mystery Incorpeated): yes he's widely hated but you can do stuff with him as seen with the 2001 Movie and Scooby Apocalypse. And you can do stuff with him as is. I will always be in favor of fixing a character if possible instead of just tossing them aside because it's supposedly what people want, something I doubt will change for poor Scrappy as Warner Bros Discovery has shown it doesn't care what anyone wants, needs or feels.

The Red Shirt Trilogy is also notable for being one of the biggest examples of real monsters in the franchise. As I found out via Billiam's videos these weren't the first time this happened, but it became one of the most memorable, both due to these films getting replayed more often than the scrappy era shows, and because of the neat designs, memorable characters, and all three breaking from the mystery of the week format. Sure there is an unmasking in Boo Brothers, but instead of trying to figure out whose haunting them the Red Shirt trilogy focuses on different genres each time: Reluctant Werewolf is a very mild Horror Comedy that turns into Wacky Races, and our feature presentation today being a slice of life school based story that turns into an adventure film in the last act. It shows just how flexible Scooby Doo is and why it's lasted so long: You can do a LOT with these characters, whether there's a mystery or not and new writers never stop coming or having new ideas to bring to the table. While it was a surprise, it wasn't hugely shocking to find out the writer of this one, Glenn Leopold, went on to write the first three dtv scooby doo movies, all very different. It does surprise me he wrote the godawful and boring Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights, but I forgive him.

So with that we can actually get to the movie itself which as I said is a shockingly chill for most of it's runtime slice of life comedy: Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy are heading to Grimwood's School for Girls to become the new gym teachers. Some of you less familiar with Scooby Doo may laugh, but keep in mind both Scooby and Shaggy are storied Laugh-A-Lympics trained athletes, their team the Scoobie Doobies having won a mind boggling 14 out of 24 games in this storied contest, and Shaggy would later participate in the World Invitational Games. Their more than qualified. Scrappy is there because I assume Scooby just adopted him at some point becaues having scrappy for a child did this to a his mother

So she had to pass the curse on to someone. Naturally things can't ever be easy for our heroes and they find out that while Miss Grimwood herself seems human, we'll get to that, the rest of the students are all the daughters of classic horror monsters: Sibella, the fantastic daughter of dracula with a habit of saying fantastic, using her hair like a cape (something Jess caught and I didn't) and turnign into a bat, Elsa Frankentien, daughter of Frankenstien and somehow bride of Frankenstein, maybe they had hate sex and they alternate weeks I dunno, Phanty, a delightfully hyper phantom with a love of exorcist head and a dad whose apparently the phantom of the opera's ghost? I have a lot of questions I dont' think Erik is ever going to answer. but I mean.. it tracks. He does die in most adaptations, so… there's that, Winnie the son of some sort of wolfman, and Tanis, an adorable Mummy child whose conception is best left a mystery.

Shaggy naturally tries to run the fuck away but he's under contract, with Scooby and Scrappy as witnesses. What's nice though is while Shaggy is, being shaggy, is a bit freaked at first he quickly warms up to the girls. It's a gradual shift and while the character development probably could be done a tad more overtly, it still works for the time with Shaggy going from being afraid of these precious children to genuinely supporting them and being the coach they need. The bulk of the first act is just shaggy training up these girls and doing fun exercises with them. The girls even happily get their coach a pizza without being asked when he can't find anything he likes to eat at grimwood (understandably since in classic adamss family fashion everything's rotten). And while it has cobwebs and stuff they genuinely like it and try it. It's small stuff.. but it works.

It helps the girls themselves are incredibly endearing. Their not huge on personality in the dialogue itself, mostly being limited to their traits of "Vampire", "Kinda awkward", "goofy and does the head spin", "energetic werewolf" and "baby girl baby", but the various quirks they have animation wise and their genuine kindness and enthuastim towards their coaches make them hard not to root for. It's no wonder the five became instant fan faviorites and it's more suprising it took TWENTY YEARS to have any sort of followup, especially since after likewise breaking out the Hex Girls have shown up in every series sense. Also if your curious yes we will be getting to it this halloween, Emma's using her patreon review for it. Their just well designed, fun characters and add to the fun chill atmosphere. It's also a nice lesson about tolerance without hitting you over the head with it: Shaggy sees someone different, reacts badly, but grows to see them as what they are: people who are different but at the end of the day still just people. Simple yet heartwarming.

Playing our girls we have Susan Blu, whose a long time voice actor and voice director, best known for this flim and Transformers The Movie as Arcee, as Sibella, Patty Maloney who played Twiki on Buck Rogers a few times and Darla in the 80's version of the little rascals I just found out existed, as Lil Tanis, the late, great Russi Taylor as Phanty, Susan Blu, mother of Mae Witman it turns out and vetran va as Elsa, and the late longtime HB voice actress Marilyn Schreffler as Winnie. Impressively all but two of them came back for the OK KO reunion years later, with only Schreffler and Maloney being replaced as the former had sadly passed ona nd the later had retired, with it being JUST in time to catch Russi Taylor before her tragic passing not long after.

As for what Shaggy's coaching them for in grand 80's fashion he's training them for the big game with the snotty rivals just next door, the Callaway Cadets who seem to be actively in denial about the girls being monsters. Thankfully while they avoid the trap of most standard 80's

Characters: Unlike say Huey Dewey and Louie or the bros of my little pony tales, the boys, while cocky and confident, are mostly just clever and ready to win and are heavily regimented. At most their petty jerks and cheaters, but there's no overt sexism needing to be taught a lesson here. It's also nice that their one plus sized member Tug is NOT singled out for his weight or the subject of constant fat jokes. Which doesn't seem like a high bar clear but for the time it is. At most he falls on a guy maybe once. Their a little charming but obviously leagues behind the girls in terms of actually being memorable. Their col is also delightfully stuck up, the Callaway himself. Their also well child acted, with future robin Scott Mellinvlle being one of them.

I will admit there's not a huge amount of build up to said game, it's the main goal for 2/3 of the movie but htere's no traning montages or real drive to win other than Tanis wanting one for her big ass mummy case. But it really doesn't matter: It's more about having fun with these characters with the game simply a setup for said fun and some hyjinks. The big game isn't the reason we're here, i'ts to see shaggy and scooby get into antics, some ghoul children be adorable and quirky, and legendary action Glynis Johns to ham it up to all hell as Mrs. Grimwood. Mrs. G is delightful, being wonderful supportive of her girls, a decent enough boss, and fun to be around. She's also in my eyes a witch since, given the later OK KO crossover, that's an actual species in this unvierse and we don't have one on the good guys side so why not. She also has an octopus butler i'm hence dubbing Geoffry. He rocks even if I somehow forget about him EVERY TIME I watch this film. The film is good Adams Family/Munsters style fun complete with thinking creepy things are fun, eating gross food, and shrieking for exercise making the two buzzards who work there quit.

The actual game is engaging though as you want the girls to win, they use their powers, the boys use the power of cheating, it's good times. Seriously the cadets just.. blatantly cheat in front of them. Dick Dastardly at least had the decency to try and do it while no one but the audience was looking. Come on man. OUr heroines naturally win of course, with Tanis getting the trophy that they just pass back and forth because why not.

We also get a really adorable scene as it's PARENTS DAY!… which for Shaggy and Scooby means

Though it turns out like their kids the various parents.. are all nice. Tanis' dad in paticular gets the immortal line "I don't want to hurt you I want to HUG YOU!" Awww, what a sweetheart. THey also all thretan to straight up murder shaggy and scooby if their daughters get hurt

This leads us into the last act.. and the weakest part of the film. See either because the script ran short, the execs wanted it or the writer just done goofed, the last part feels kind of jammed in there. The first chonk of the film is fun slice of life while the last third is an adventure film with horror elements in which the dread witch Revolta and her much cooler and more intmidating assitant the Grim Creeper kidnap the girls and plan to brainwash them to give Revolta an army to become top monster since the girls dads went soft raising families. I mean dracula emptied a whole boat before settling down. Can't argue that.

The problem is besides Revolta feeling really jammed in, only showing up for one scene to show us she exists in the first section of the film, she's also REALLY boring. Ruta Lee gives a great voice performace but Revolta's design is meh and her personality is entirely absent. She has no motive other than

Which granted isn't much of a step down from most scooby doo villians crooked real estate schemes, but it just makes her boring. And if she did more I might respect her but she spends the film sending out minons, her spider bats and the again far more awesome grim creeper and grousing at the Creeper ocasionally. She could be replaced by her sidekick entirely and the film would not change. She also somehow.. surivives the finale? Which like.. is someone going to send the cops after her? Are there monster cops? Would anyone else want to see that spinoff? Valid questions.

The Creeper is great though, voiced by Andre Stojka who played the owl in winnie the poo after this. Great guy. The creeper has a neat , creepy design, a great voice and depsite bein ga tad goofy is a through threat, being the one who actually you know does shit, using his vines to grab people, going out to help the spider-bats with the kidnapping and generally doing all the work. He even tries feading Scooby , Shaggy and Scrappy to a well dweller who also looks neat, and is cleverly defeated by scrappy getting it to play with a bouncing ball. I genuinely wish he was the main villian. Granted I also love any and all cyclopses like this boy here

But still the Grim Creeper rocks. The last third of the film dosen't: Once the kidnappings happen, which are genuinely creepy and unsettling , paticuarlly Sibella as while she tries to escape she's captured mid-air by the bats and Winnie and Tanis who are dragged into an abandoned shack by their big sister figures, so it's not al lbad.. but then the last 25 minutes is just almost entirely our heroes dicking around a castle. There's some good bits such as Shaggy meeting the bad shaggy, because he's the good shaggy, whose just a …

With Evil Shag being genuinely creepy.. but instead of serving any plot ponit he just.. runs back into the mirror after chasing Scooby and then Scrappy for a bit while the girls chant "I obey only revolta " to an annoying degree. It'd be creepier to have them actually attack their surrogate uncles instead of just, you know chanting and doing nothing. It's not TERRIBLE, the good set pieces help outweigh the bad parts, but it's nothing really special or necessary after 2/3 of a really fun chill slice of life comedy.

The climax likewise is just kinda there: Our heroes just happen to accidently break Sibella free, she frees the rest, and the cadets, who previously refused to help for no good reason…

Had a change of heart and decided to come help and take everyone away on their helicopter they have because the one kids an inventor and they actually set it up so good for them. Our heroes escape and have a really fun dance party to the Scrappy Rap, aka Scrappy being shockingly fun as an mc. It's cheesy sure but it's sstill got a decent beat, is fine for a goofy 80's film, and is far from the most embarassing rap i've seen

The ending.. dosen't quite work for me as Shaggy and Scooby run off from next semesters kids: A creature from the black lagoon who looks delightfully orange, an alien, and Godzooky 2: The Quickening. Seriously I want to know more about these kids they look adorable. GIVE ME A SEQUEL YOU COWARDS

DON'T GIVE ME ONE FOR GOD'S SAKE YOU COWARDS.

So that was Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School and while far from the deepst or scariest scooby work, it's one of the funnest, the most creative and it has an octopus butler. None of us can say that and more should frankly. If you can find it, as it is on DVD at least, check it out. It's a fun ride and easily the best of the Red Shirt Trilogy, which i'll get back to.. eventually. For now have a good day, follow me here for more and on patreon, feel free to hit me up for comissions and thanks for reading.