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gottawriteanegoortwo · 3 years

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Mermay - Dilliam - An Introduction

Happy Mermay!

William discovers that Mark’s girlfriend is hiding a secret known as ‘Damien’. He’d never guess the truth.

Word Count: 2,807 (I got a little carried away, and this wasn’t even what I intended to write!)

Even if William had known Mark and Celine for two years, he always felt like he was on the outside of the group.

(Aside from feeling like the third wheel as Mark and Celine had been in a steady relationship since Mark first introduced his childhood friend to his girlfriend)

Mark, Celine, and her family seemed to have a secret. Whenever they would chat, there would be mention of "Damien" in passing. But when William tried to ask for context, he was never given it. Mark and Celine would conveniently slide the topic elsewhere to avoid answering the question, while he was in no position to ask her parents. All William could gather was that Damien travelled but occasionally returned to the family home. Was he a businessman, forever on the roam? Was he a soldier like William? Was he family or a friend? After several years of being left in the dark, he had accepted that he'd never learn the truth.

In January, he had been sent overseas with the military as part of a peacekeeping mission. Even if there were opportunities for video calls, the three decided to write letters to give William something to do while on duty and to make the time go by a little faster. The young Colonel realised something interesting - by Celine's fourth letter, she had mentioned Damien. He guessed that the vagabond must have returned while the soldier was overseas. He noted in his next letter that he was surprised Celine willingly mentioned this mysterious figure (William? Bitter? Of course not!). As though adding to the mystery, the letter he received in reply was a curious one:

"I'm sorry I couldn't explain it before. Damien is my brother, but he's very shy. He doesn't like others knowing about him without being told first. I have told him about you and he's rather interested in what you're doing."

William was FLOORED. He'd known Celine for two FULL years and there had never been mention of a sibling?? He didn't remember a family photo with unfamiliar faces. Deciding it was a better argument to have when he was home, he instead crammed two letters into the one envelope - one for Celine, one for Damien. If the brother was secretive, it might be best to prove that William was a trustworthy friend. Friendly, short letters would be a good way to start.

For the next two months, the letters became a great distraction from his duties. Mark was asking William for advice on how to propose. Celine was updating William on the house she and Mark had bought, including sending photos of the ocean just at their doorstep. Damien, while proving that he was a secretive individual, wrote short letters about himself. The mysterious brother kept to himself, and it got William wondering about how shy Damien was. It was endearing, in a way. William accepted that he was wrong to take the news so harshly at first. Celine was merely doing right by her brother.

It wasn't long after William sent his letters in response that his squad was ambushed. The attackers were defeated, but not without William having his leg broken in the process, among other things. He was sent to a local hospital before it was decided that getting him home would be more beneficial. Any letters that arrived at the base for William were instead returned to sender, as the soldier was being transferred too frequently while being treated to determine where he would be at a given moment.

It was June by the time William arrived home. Not even a medical boot and a crutch could dampen his spirits. Mark's hug of relief nearly knocked them both down, but Celine joining the hug successfully toppled them over William's rucksack as they erupted into laughs. The couple gave William the grand tour of their new home. It was as charming and elegant as Mark would like, while secluded from frequent public activity as Celine desired. Not only that, the house was near a cliff edge, which allowed a beautiful view of the ocean. William took in this view as he sat in the living room with a glass of water.

"Will?" Celine's voice stirred him from his daze. "I know you've done a lot of walking to get here and you're likely tired but… Would you like to meet Damien today?"

"Would I like to what?" William repeated blankly, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Your idea of sending him letters worked a treat. He asked me every day if there was a new letter for him. He's very curious about you."

"From what you told me, I thought he would have been gone by now." William's observation had Celine shaking her head.

"He waited to see you. I think learning about your injuries worried him." Celine's gaze lifted briefly to the water before she added, "He'll understand if he needs to wait until tomorrow -"

"No, no. I'll admit I've been curious to meet him as well. All this time you've had a brother and no one could tell me. What time will he arrive?"

"Actually, he's already here. Come on. I'll show you. There's one more part of the house you haven't seen."

William was fully expecting there to be a secret basement. Instead, he was led out to the back garden. It was small and neat, complete with a small wall to give some semblance of shelter. It looked like it belonged to a farmland cottage, especially given the gate at the bottom. Celine unlocked it and went first. William could see a path that led down to the ocean. The steps were man-made and weren't too steep. It would be a slow walk down but he could manage it in the medical boot.

"Damien is my twin brother," Celine began as she guided William down the steps, "and nearly everyone who knows my family doesn't know he exists. You and Mark are the only one of my friends who know and, well, you'll understand soon."

At the bottom of the steps was a seating area protected by some large rocks that created a safe area to swim in without worry of sudden tides whisking you out to sea. William hobbled over to one of the large rocks so he could sit down, gather his energy and curse the boot. Celine followed, climbing onto a neighbouring large rock.

"Damien? Are you here? I have my friend William, the Colonel!"

Ripples began to spread through the still water. William watched with wide-eyed curiosity when he caught movement below the surface. He had been watching the water while coming down the stairs, and there weren't any items or clothing strewn about. Before he could ask Celine, a head popped out of the water in front of him.

It was a man, or what looked like one. His smooth skin was as white as porcelain and shimmered in the sunlight. There were tiny bubble-like markings that William swore looked like scales. His hair was as dark as Celine's, but with a blue tint with the right light. It appeared to hold its shape by being stylised into smaller 'chunks' to form larger strands of hair. The ears were finned and had a pale blue along the edges. His face, despite not looking fully human, reminded William of both Celine and her father. The eyes were a different shape to the rest of the family - presumably more rounded and large to help with hunting - but the 'nose' and mouth were a perfect match. Even the eye colour was the same as Celine's.

"Damien, I take it?" William thought it absurd, but his hunch to ask immediately proved to be a good thing. The head ducked back under the water. Celine gave a knowing smirk and stepped back. In a flash, a large blur pounced for the rocks and climbed up with surprising agility, revealing what was actually a merman in full display. From head to tail, the skin kept that white tone, unlike what William would have seen in movies. There were fin-like protrusions emerging from his collar bones and his upper arms, which went from that pale blue on the edges to a dark purple at the base, almost like a sunset. This coloration was also on the frills that went down his stomach and on either side of his tail, before all three trailed off at differing points to allow the splendour of the large tail tip. William did remember Celine having posters of betta fish in her room when they met, was this why?

"The Colonel, yes? Oh, it's such a pleasure to meet you! Celine has told me so much about you! I'm so sorry I wasn't able to meet you sooner." Damien had snatched up William's left hand with both his webbed ones and shook eagerly, until he caught himself and quickly pulled back. "I'm so sorry. It's not often I get to meet new people." As quickly as he had sprung forward, Damien pulled back as his sister sat down beside him, ears flattened in embarrassment. The twins had such a likeness once the obvious differences were put aside.

"Don't apologise. I've been looking forward to meeting you too. I can't believe no one told me before I left. I'm offended!" William put a hand on his chest and dramatically sighed, only to erupt into cackles when Celine reached over and slapped his arm.

The three sat on the rocks for the afternoon. Celine and Damien took the time to explain to William about their genetics. Their father's grandfather was a merman who had decided to leave the life of the water behind and marry their great-grandmother. The merfolk genes became a passive trait. Their descendants had natural aquatic talents but all were completely human. Their mother, however, had magic in her bloodline, and this strengthened the recessive merfolk gene. When she was expecting twins, one was a regular human pregnancy, while the other was cocooned in water. In that regard, Damien was a miracle that he survived and had a healthy childhood...

"- but it meant no one outside a small circle knew I existed," Damien sighed. "Celine was able to go to school, make friends, while I was taught by our grandparents, as well as Celine who showed me what she learned in school. Because I'm not human-passing like movies show, I couldn't use a wheelchair and a blanket like I wanted." Not only that, there wasn't a large community of mythical creatures that they knew of. "But don't take this to be me lamenting my fate. I've had a wonderful life and have made connections with many merfolk communities around the world who welcomed me in while I am studying."

"Studying?" William looked confused, but Celine took the moment to wrap her arm around Damien's shoulder.

"You are looking at one of the top merfolk experts on culture and tradition, as well as a general fish expert. Speaking of," she patted Damien on the shoulder as she rose to her feet, "I should go back up and help Mark. We're having dinner down here." With that, she hopped off the rocks and began the ascent back up the house. Damien and William watched her go, before the soldier turned back around.

"So, an expert, eh? I happen to be rather unintelligent compared to your sister and Mark, so I'm afraid you'll have to tell me everything." He rested his elbow on his good leg, and propped his chin on his hand as he grinned at the merman. Damien's eyes darted aside and his ears flattened in embarrassment.

"Well, I wouldn't call myself an 'expert'," Damien admitted quietly, "but actually… I'd rather hear about you. I really enjoyed receiving your letters while you were away. Is that why you wear those clothes?"

"Oh these?" Whoops. William had forgotten to change when he arrived. He barely had a moment to drop his bags to the guest room. "This is my military uniform. It's commonplace to wear it when you're on duty, even if you're simply being sent home. It's not the normal battle uniform, not anymore. That's just regular camouflage. This is an everyday uniform that shows off any badges you have earned and -" William stopped as he felt his hat being plucked off his head. He hadn't noticed Damien crawl over until it was too late. Instead of snatching it back, he ruffled his hair so that it lost the 'hat hair' look.

"How can you wear this? I've never seen anything like it!" Damien, after a brief examination, decided to try it on. The strange shape of the hat meant that it kept falling forward on him, no matter what he did to try and keep it in place. Instead of helping, William simply laughed at the merman's misfortune.

When William eventually agreed to help Damien wear the hat in a way that wouldn't fall off, he began to share stories of his early days in the army. Damien was enthralled, asking questions in a bid to learn more. It was no wonder that both were startled by the arrival of Mark and Celine with lanterns and all the necessities for a feast by the sea. Damien returned to the water while the humans set up, only to resurface when they were ready. His skin needed to be rehydrated for what he knew would be a long evening ahead.

Food, drink and merriment were had that night. Damien had hoisted himself onto the bench so he could fully join in. William honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a good night in the company of his dear friends. Perhaps not having to worry about a secret made it a lot easier to converse. For the first time in a long time, William didn't feel like an outsider amongst his own friends; but he didn't dwell on it much. Instead, he gave witty commentary during Mark's dramatic retelling of events the pair went through as youths.

At some point, Celine had fetched blankets from a sturdy, weathered box hidden amongst the box and wrapped one around herself and Damien. The twins nestled together as time passed, and Damien was content to enjoy being in the company of Celine and all her closest friends at last.

The low flickering of the lanterns was the cue for the humans to return indoors. With William staying for a few days, Damien was content to let them go without feeling too sorry for himself. There would be plenty of time to chat. He sat on the rocks as he watched Mark help William back up the steps. Even from a distance, he could hear William barking something about how "this means nothing and I'm still stronger than you" and "I swear to God I'll push you down the stairs if you keep laughing at me Mark".

"He's a good man, that Colonel." Damien jumped when Celine spoke. When did she move to sit beside him?! "When Mark introduced me, I was worried that his loud voice and brashness meant bad things, but he's been such a good, loyal friend over the last few years. I hope that he wasn't too 'much' for you today."

"N-no, no. I… he's exactly like you said he'd be." His eyes were on the two men as they disappeared out of view. "He's not angry that he didn't know about me, is he?"

"Nah." Celine leaned back, enjoying the light sea breeze. "He knew we were hiding something. I think he's happy to know he can be trusted. And he'll be stuck here for at least a day or two while Mark and I are working thanks to that broken foot. I'd bet he'll make it his mission to come down here alone just to show he can."

"I'd like that. He has a lot of stories to tell… Would it be weird if I ask him to keep talking?"

"Not as weird as it is that you've caught some sort of feelings for him. Did you get bitten by a love-bug, brother dearest?"

"Shut up, darling sister," Damien quickly nudged her, only to receive a counter-shove in response. "Just… don't tell him, alright? I know better than to interrupt a human marriage like that." He'd content himself with the company of the man who had captured his attention from the first letter. Celine slid off the rock and stretched. She glanced over her shoulder with a knowing smirk, gesturing to her left hand, which Damien knew was the hand with her engagement ring.

"His ring is on the other hand, Damien. It's a birthday present from his father. Goodnight, brother~" And off she went, gleefully ignoring her brother's confused questions.

"What do you mean he doesn't have a partner??"

#mermay #dilliam #mayor damien #wkm the colonel #writersofmark #(disclaimer: it's one in the morning. My friend is yelling at me to go to bed)#(but I refuse! This needs to be posted first!)#(so ignore any possible errors. It's super late)#(but now I sleep goodnight)

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Best Martial Arts Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

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Search ‘Martial Arts Movies’ on Amazon Prime and you’ll get over a thousand results ranging from the classics to the campy, to the critically acclaimed. It’s an overwhelming library for the uninitiated and the mother lode for stalwart fans of the genre. There are so many gems buried in Amazon Prime that digging out the favorites is dirty challenging work but extremely rewarding.

When it comes to martial arts, Amazon Prime has a killer Kung Fu collection. The ‘80s were the ‘Golden Era’ of Kung Fu films when Hong Kong film studios cranked out films faster than any grindhouse ever. Many Hong Kong filmmakers put out up to half a dozen films a year, and most have hundreds of credits on IMDb. This glut of Kung Fu films spread to every Chinatown ghetto theater on the planet. And like with horror, American networks broadcasted late night Kung Fu Theater shows because there was so much cheap content available.

Consequently, Amazon Prime’s Kung Fu film selection leans heavily that way, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t include some non-Chinese favorites too. Martial Arts movies cross over to all other genres and nations. There are comedies, romances, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, and art house films. From countless cheesy low-budget exploitations, many so funky that they’re totally awesome, to the brilliant ground-breaking works that are staggeringly sensational, here’s some classic jewels and hidden treasures currently included with Amazon Prime membership.

Fist of Fury (1972)

Despite his fame, Bruce Lee only lived to see three of his martial arts movies premiere because Enter the Dragon and Game of Death were released posthumously. His impersonators are innumerable, so many that Bruceploitation is its own genre.

But Fist of Fury is the real Bruce in all his nunchuck spinning glory. It’s loosely based on the history of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, which remains one of the largest international martial arts organizations to this day. When Bruce shattered the ‘No Dogs and Chinese Allowed’ sign with a soaring flying kick, it became a battle cry for the racially oppressed worldwide, firmly cementing Bruce as the world’s first Asian global superstar.

Come Drink with Me (1966)

Long before Charlize Theron went Atomic Blonde, Cheng Pei Pei blazed a path as Golden Swallow, the mysterious invincible swordswoman, and all female action heroines are in her wake. Fiercely independent and savagely lethal, Cheng delivers several sophisticated long-take fight scenes, the hallmark of real Kung Fu skill, with the poise and precision built upon her foundation in ballet. Cheng is remembered in Hollywood as Jade Fox from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and played the matchmaker in Disney’s live-action Mulan. Note that Amazon Prime also has the sequel, Golden Swallow, but it’s not nearly as good.

Once Upon a Time in China (1991)

This tour de force from director Tsui Hark and Jet Li launched a six-film franchise and a TV series. Jet plays Wong Fei-hung, a real-life folk hero and Kung Fu master who has been depicted in well over a hundred films and TV shows. Set during the late 19th century, the film examines themes of Western colonization and Chinese cults, and while blatantly nationalistic, it captures Jet in his martial prime and contains some of his finest fights.

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Amazon Prime also has Once Upon a Time in China II, which is an excellent sequel, however the third installment (not on Amazon Prime) falls apart, allegedly due to disputes between Jet and Hark.

Ashes of Time Redux (2008)

This was internationally acclaimed director Wong Kar-wai’s first stab at the martial arts genre. It’s sumptuously artsy and laboriously dystopic, not one to see for the action but the art. Based on a classic wuxia (wuxia is Chinese for martial arts genre books and film) titled The Eagle Shooting Heroes, Wong simultaneously filmed a parody titled after the book with the same cast. Wong did the Redux after the original print was lost, salvaging what was left, reediting and re-scoring it.

(Prime US only)

The Assassin (2015)

Director Hou Hsiao-hsien won Best Director at Cannes for this magnificent epic, which was also submitted as Taiwan’s Foreign Language entry at the Academy Awards. Starring the ever-glamorous Shu Qi, who made an early Hollywood crossover attempt with The Transporter, The Assassin is based on another wuxia tale that’s parallel to The Manchurian Candidate but instead of Korean brainwashing, it’s 9th century Chinese sorcery.

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Ninjas All The Way Down: The Mysterious World of Godfrey Ho

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The exquisite filmmaking makes this spectacular–panoramic landscapes, lavish costumes, intricately detailed sets, all gorgeous. Every shot is a stunning composition of light and shadow, and the camera lingers on each frame with ponderous and quiet respect, the kind that film students will gush over for years.

(Prime Video in the US, rent only in the UK)

Fearless Hyena (1979)

When people cite Rush Hour to reference Jackie Chan, it just goes to show they don’t know Jackie at all. Long before Jackie crossed over to Hollywood, he made dozens of films that truly captured his astounding Kung Fu skills, unrestricted by U.S. insurance liability. His late ‘70s period was particularly ripe because he was in peak physical shape and first creating his unique acrobatic comedies. Remember that chopstick dumpling training scene between Po and Shifu in Kung Fu Panda? In Fearless Hyena, Jackie and his shifu (James Tien) do it in live-action, no wires, no CGI, and the choreography is absolutely mind-blowing.

Wheels on Meals (1984)

Jackie Chan earned his Kung Fu prowess from being trained from childhood in traditional Chinese Opera. Many of his classmates also became stars in martial arts film. This is one of two collaborations between him and his two martial brothers, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao (the other is Dragons Forever).

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A modern comedy shot in Barcelona, the chemistry between Jackie, Sammo and Yuen is magical as they bring the fastest three-person sparring scenes ever captured. On top of that, Jackie faces off against real-life kickboxing champion Benny ‘The Jet’ Urquidez in what is considered by many as the greatest fight scene ever filmed.

(US only)

Knockabout (1979)

Knockabout is Yuen Biao’s first lead role after dozens of supporting roles. His acrobatic skills are unparalleled, stronger than Jackie’s because his body frame is built like a gymnast. Sammo Hung’s girth has typecast him as villains and buffoons. Nevertheless, he’s a leading director and choreographer and serves as both in this film, on top of playing a comic beggar who trains Yuen in jump rope monkey Kung Fu (that’s right–jump rop –you have to see it to understand).

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Cobra Kai and the Legacy of The Karate Kid

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It’s a slow build past some goofy comic hijinks, because Yuen’s skills improve over the course of the film. In a fight against Hoi Sang Lee, Yuen pummels so many goose-egg bruises into his noggin that he looks like the coronavirus. But once the training begins through to the final fight, Yuen and Sammo show why they are legends in the industry.

(US only)

Dirty Ho (1979)

When this film came out, the title wasn’t as funny as it is now. But it still works in a way because this is one of the best Kung Fu slapstick comedies. Starring some of top talent from Shaw Brother studios, including Gordon Liu, Wang Yue, and Lo Lieh, it’s full of the stylish long-take choreography and blazing stunts using real fire long before CGI.

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King Boxer: The Enduring Legacy of a Martial Arts Classic

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The Man From Hong Kong: A Genuinely Dangerous Action Movie

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It’s a classic tale of hidden master, a punk student, and notorious villains, including hilarious absurdities like sex change tea, and wheelchair and crutch fighting. The discreet Kung Fu challenge while sampling rare wines out of crazy cups is ludicrous fun; the sort that only master fight choreographer Lau Kar-leung can deliver.

The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

Here is another classic from Gordon Liu and Lau Kar-leung, but serious and somber. Alexander Fu Sheng, a prominent leading man, died in a tragic car crash during production, making this his final film. His character suffers PTSD after losing his family in a horrific opening ambush, but his storyline dangles unfinished.

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The film was rewritten to focus Gordon and Lau, as well as the always brilliant Kara Hui. The cast goes all out to honor their fallen comrade’s legacy, showcasing some of the finest weapon choreography ever shot. Based on the legend of the Yang family generals, the untimely death tugs hard on the heartstrings for anyone in the know.

Return to the 36th Chamber (1980)

Just one more Gordon Liu and Lau Kar-leung project, this is the sequel to The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, which is also amazing and available on Amazon Prime. However, Return to the 36th Chamber has such an odd concept for a sequel that warrants special attention.

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The 36th Chamber Trilogy‏ – Essential Kung Fu Movie Viewing

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Liu plays a swindler impersonating the Shaolin monk San Te, the character he played in the first film. When his clan is oppressed by the Manchus gang, Liu sneaks into Shaolin, only to be deceptively trained by the real San Te, then returns for vengeance. His clan are cloth dyers, which makes for colorful pools for villains to plunge.

Liu’s uproarious rooftop Kung Fu and his battle with Wang Lung-Wei’s bench-fighter gang are outstanding. Kara Hui has the best retort after Gordon tries to play off his lack of Kung Fu, claiming it’s only for “universal peace,” and not revenge. She claps back “Huh! That’s a stupid Kung Fu.”

The Lady is the Boss (1983)

Kara Hui (aka Kara Wai) is one of the greatest Kung Fu divas of all, yet she’s only known by true devotees of the genre. If you’ve never heard of her, here is one of her finest comedy vehicles. Set in modern-day Hong Kong, Hui plays an American master returning to save her father’s Kung Fu school after his passing. Lau Kar-leung is the eldest student in charge (also the choreographer) and he resists her attempts to modernize.

Long take fights are staged in a topless club, a disco, and finally, a gymnastic gym replete with rings, parallel bars, and a beam, perfect for the choreographic shenanigans only Lau can bring. Gordon Liu appears with hair, which feels wrong because he built his reputation on playing bald monks.

Crippled Avengers (1978)

From director Chang Cheh, the “Godfather of Kung Fu Films,” Crippled Avengers stars four members of the Venoms crew, from Chang’s classic The Five Venoms (also available on Amazon Prime).

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The Five Deadly Venoms: An Essential Martial Arts Movie

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It was repackaged as The Return of the Five Venoms (and also Mortal Combat), however it is its own standalone masterpiece and has nothing to do with the original beyond the cast.

Lu Feng (Centipede from the Venoms crew) gets his arms chopped off and replaced by iron arms (a plot device that RZA echoed The Man with the Iron Fists). Lu and his father, played by the rough and tumble Chan Kuan Tai, cripple the heroes, who must then walk the road of vengeance while handicapped. The portrayal of the disabilities is dated (arm tied behind the back for the amputee, eyes closed for the blinded) but the choreography is ingenious.

Five Elements Ninjas (1982)

Another echo of The Five Venoms from the sanguineous Chang Cheh, Five Elements Ninjas showcases the director’s unique eye for fantasy. It’s an orgy of weird fantasy weapons and ultraviolence, bloody fight scene after bloody fight scene, a cult film of truly epic proportions. As the title says, the ninjas are based on the five elements.

The gold ninjas don gold lame suits and switchblade shield hats. The wood ninjas look like rejected apple trees in The Wizard of Oz. If you turn this film into a drinking game where you take a shot whenever blood is spilled, you won’t make it past the first half hour.

The Web of Death (1976)

What is the ultimate Kung Fu WMD? It’s a tarantula that roars like an elephant and shoots acidic webs, sparks, and death rays, and it decimates the wuxia world. The Web of Death has everything a cult film requires: crazy weapons, cross dressing, romance, complex set-pieces, halls of traps, including acid pits, spiked poles and dragon-headed sparkler cannons, silly superheroes and villains in costumes that would make MCU heroes blush. Filled with jaw dropping WTF moments, it’s a real treat for anyone into cheesy over-the-top Kung Fu cinema.

The Bride with White Hair (1993)

Based on a wuxia novel, The Bride with White Hair is a surreal plunge into the Kung Fu subgenre of Fant-Asia which blossomed in the ‘90s. It’s a doomed romance between rival cult members set in a world of swords and sorcery that stars Brigette Lin in the spurned titular role and the dreamy heartthrob Leslie Cheung.

What makes this stand out was the visionary direction of Ronny Yu. His pre-CGI special effects hold up surprisingly well. Lin’s characterization of the bride was so compelling that it spawned an homage in The Forbidden Kingdom and a remake in The White Haired Witch. The Bride with White Hair II is also available on Amazon Prime which reunites Lin and Cheung, but without Yu’s direction it’s not nearly as special.

(US only)

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (2010)

Fant-Asia has been revitalized with the advent of CGI. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame marked a triumphant return to form for director Tsui Hark. Armed with quixotic special effects, Hark casts Andy Lau as the legendary detective Di Renjie, who is like a Tang Dynasty Sherlock Holmes. Wuxia films are akin to comic book movies, filled with glaringly overdone heroes and villains, super saturated color schemes, and a lot of flying about.

It’s high fantasy wirework in front of CG backgrounds with physics-defying fight choreography by Sammo Hung (Kung Fu physics are not subject to the laws of gravity). Most of all, it takes unexpected turns like the old Fant-Asia story arcs have always done.

(US only)

Tai Chi Zero (2012)

Director Stephen Fung took Fant-Asia another step into an emergent subgenre of Shanghai Steampunk (Legend of Korra is another example). It’s an action comedy about the legendary forefather of Tai Chi, Yang Luchan, in what was meant to be the launch of a trilogy. However, it was filmed back-to-back with the second installment, Tai Chi Hero (not free on Amazon Prime), which was released only a month later and that proximity depleted their box office returns.

Nevertheless, Tai Chi Zero was an Official Selection at several notable international film festivals because it was so stylish and funny. Both films end on cliffhangers in anticipation of the next chapter, but Tai Chi Hero loses the momentum of its predecessor, except for the final cliffhanging tease. There’s been no further development on the final chapter Tai Chi Summit since Tai Chi Hero flopped.

(US only)

JCVD (2012)

Jean-Claude Van Damme opens this French film with a remarkable long take fight, showing he still had it on the brink of turning 50, but it’s not really a martial arts film. He plays a self-deprecating caricature of himself, although not as comedic as his lampooning self-portrayal in the Amazon Original Series Jean-Claude Van Johnson.

There’s some top-notch cinematography including more complex long takes, remarkable displays of technical skill, and directorial timing. But it’s all about Van Damme’s confession scene when he breaks the fourth wall and discusses his filmmaking process in that weird recursive, artsy French film way. It’s a long-take monologue, and Van Damme nails it emotionally with a heartfelt confession that’s not so much amazing acting as it is brutally honest. He lays it out, bares his soul, and surprisingly, it’s a sympathetic soul. It’s a truly captivating scene, a dramatic triumph that no one ever saw coming, completely redefining Van Damme as an actor.

(US only)

The Man from Nowhere (2010)

This was Korea’s highest grossing film that year. It’s a gritty and brutally bloody tale of a pawnshop owner, played by Won Bin, who unwittingly receives a camera bag filled with stolen heroin, attracting the attention of the drug ring gangsters.

However, he’s a retired special agent with fierce combat skills, tossed into a ghetto tale with exotic dancers, organ harvesting, an innocent child who needs protection, and gang wars. Won Bin won many dramatic accolades with the five films he made, including Taegukgi and Mother. This was his final one to date and he sells the ultraviolence with remarkable panache.

(Prime Video in the US, rent only in UK)

Kundo: Age of the Rampant (2014)

This is another outstanding Korean martial arts film, set in the Joseon period. It echoes Robin Hood, complete with a fighting monk like Friar Tuck, a Maid Marian type, only she’s a keen archer, and a Little John character wielding a shot-put ball on a rope for brutal ultra violence. Ha Jung-woo stars as the lead, a butcher who wields butcher knives, which just adds to the bloodiness. The fight choreography is fun and sanguineous, and the characters were well fleshed out, even the villain. Like a lot of Korean cinema, it takes some surprising turns in the details, little scenes that feel fresh in their presentation. And the panoramic shots are visually epic.

(US only)

Redeemer (2015)

Marko Zaror brings an exotic Chilean actioner full of fight choreography that’s merciless, witty, and precise. Zaror is cut and yoked like a beast. He can catch great flying kicks air, roll well for nods to MMA, and handle complex continuous fights. Redeemer includes several long take scenes with the camera aggressively circling around battle, showcasing a masterful command of action and cinematography.

Set in Chile’s cool seascapes and weather worn graffiti-covered ghettos, Redeemer has a strong Catholic theme, lots of crucifixes and pondering about divine justice, which totally works as atmosphere for this fascinating fight flick.

The Octagon (1980)

Before Chuck Norris became an invincible meme, he churned out a handful of Hollywood martial arts feature films. His third effort, The Octagon, co-starring Lee Van Cleef, is one of his best. It’s a ninja tale, pitting Chuck against noted masters like Richard Norton, Tadashi Yamashita, and his brother Aaron Norris, fighting his way into a ninja terrorist camp where the central ring is “the Octagon.” It was this film that inspired Jason Cusson to design the trademarked Octagon used in the Ultimate Fighting Championships.

Ninja III: The Domination (1984)

In the ‘80s, there was a proliferation of cheesy Ninja films and Sho Kosugi dominated the trend. This is one of those movies that is so horrible, it’s awesome. And it’s Sho’s masterpiece. Lucinda Dickey was a Solid Gold Dancer, who starred in the breakdancing films Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, which bookended Ninja III. While she wasn’t a martial artist in real life, she has the moves, adding to the huge stable of martial actors who started as dancers (even Bruce Lee was a cha cha champion).

It’s incredibly dated with references to video games, aerobics, and the most gawdawful soundtrack ever. The choreography is horrible; Sho overacts whenever it comes to selling a punch; it’s all about Lucinda who tries–really tries–to act her way through a ridiculously dumb story about being possessed by a ninja. But the final sword fight has a ninja zombie and it’s the funniest example of what we had to endure during the ‘80s ninja craze.

(US only)

Shaolin Dolemite (1999)

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There was Oscar buzz about Eddie Murphy’s depiction of Rudy Ray Moore in the biopic Dolemite Is My Name, but if you haven’t seen a Dolemite film, you really don’t know. Moore played Dolemite half a dozen times, but ironically in this film, he plays Monk Ru-Dee instead, and this is the only one with any real martial arts in it.

Moore took the cuttings from a 1986 Taiwanese film titled Ninja: The Final Duel, and spliced himself in to create his own story, and it’s just so cray. Beyond Moore, there are bizarre characters like the drunken Sam the Spliff, the topless Ninja Ho, and the coonskin cap wearing Davy Crockett. The story barely makes a lick of sense, but who cares? It’s mother-effin Dolemite.

The post Best Martial Arts Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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kittyotakunoir666 · 5 years

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Felinette Month Day 6: Road Trip

Felinette Month Day 6: Roadtrip

If Marinette seems to fall asleep a lot I’m basing that on one of my mother’s pregnancies. Also, I was a week behind on the month but I was able to catch up enough to only be a day behind. Yay

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“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Felix asked his wife concerned. He was putting their luggage into the red and green RV they bought for when they go on road trips. They were traveling to Barcelona where the weather will be warm with the occasional cold weather since it’s in November. And unlike Paris, the weather is normally warm. Also, it would take 9 hours and 51minutes so about 10 hours. They had decided to leave the kwami’s with Nyx as she would be taking care of their house also.

In Paris, it was becoming colder so Marinette and Felix had to start wearing warmer clothing. Marinette was wearing a pink lace maternity dress, black leggings, and black flat boots. Felix was wearing dark denim, a burgundy hoodie, and brown shoes. ( Mari and Felix ). They packed for days they would be able to visit the beach but mostly to stay in the house for about 3 days before coming back but that was in the future.

“Yes, Felix, I’m 6 and 1⁄2 months pregnant, and pretty soon I won’t be able to travel long distances” Marinette explained to her husband for the millionth time she was standing next to Felix as he put our luggage into the RV’s side, “Besides will be going to visit the beach house your parents gifted us for our wedding.”

“We actually haven’t been there at all, Have we?” Felix asked rhetorically as he put the last suitcase into the side. He then closed it and helped me up the stairs into the RV before entering himself and helped me settle in the back.

“It’s fine. Nyx has been going and keeping it nice and cozy. She also keeps it intact and went two days ago and restocked it and made sure it was clean.”Marinette informed Felix, “So we’re good to go”

“Alright get comfortable and let's head out,” Felix said as he began to drive out of their parking lot and onto the main road.

Hour 1

Marinette was knitting some baby boots in the color red. She was focused on the boots before asking, “Do you think the baby will have your eyes or mine?”

“I hope they have yours since you have beautiful bluebell eyes,” Felix said lovingly

Marinette giggled before speaking, “If they have my eyes I hope they have your hair”

“The baby will be a fusion of our genes and they’ll be the most beautiful baby ever since they come from you,” Felix said.

“I love you, Felix,” Marinette said

“And I, you, my love” Felix responded with a smile.

Hour 2

Marinette was at the moment taking a nap and Felix was driving.

Hour 3

Marinette had woken up from her nap and was currently eating the food they packed. Marinette was also feeding Felix as he couldn’t really take his hands off the wheel and his eyes off the road. They were both drinking orange juice and just chilling and eating.

Hour 4

In the third hour of the ride, they began to listen to music. They had a playlist of Jagged Stone, Claire, and Kitty Section. At times Marinette would sing along with the music and Felix would just smile at her antics. Marinette then began to design outfits for all three bands. She was capturing their essence from the music she was listening to.

Hour 5

Marinette decided to check on her work and any updates she has on offers. She then put on a movie and began to fall back to sleep. Felix had to stop driving to put Marinette in a more comfortable position and put on some relaxing music. The first to come up was this song by Alexis Ffrench called Bluebird and he began to drive again.

Hour 6

Around this time, Marinette decided to join Felix in the passenger seat and they began to talk.

“What should we call the baby?” Marinette asked

“Marinette we don’t even know the gender of the baby” Felix reminded her

“But we can think of middle names can’t we?” Marinette asked

“Alright what are some middle names you had in mind?” Felix responded by asking a question back

“If we have more children I’d like that but for our first baby I want their middle name to honor Master Fu,” Marinette said, Master Fu was getting older and older and had told Marinette that when he dies she would be the next Guardian. It would seem that his time is getting closer and because of this Marinette wanted to honor him since she thought of him as an honorary grandpa, “We could put their middle name as Wang or Fu.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Marinette,” Felix verified, “We just need to find out the gender to pick the first name”

“And when the baby is born we’ll dress them up as dinosaurs” Marinette suggested.

This made Felix smile and Marinette giggle.

Hour 7

Marinette decided to design based on the landscape she was seeing and Felix kept driving.

“We’re almost there Marinette, Just three more hours,” Felix told her.

“Uh-huh” Marinette responded probably not paying attention as she was designing

Felix decided to put some more relaxing music first song to play was Radiate by Alexis Ffrench.

Hour 8

Marinette had fallen asleep around the song Exhale by Alexis Ffrench and Felix was left to enjoy the songs.

Hour 9

This was the hour where Marinette began to get anxious and impatient.

“Please tell me we’re almost there, It feels like forever,” Marinette said

“Just a bit more, Marinette, “Felix said calmly. He actually thought she would break at hour 8 but he liked it when he was wrong when he guessed anything about Marinette because it shows how much Marinette still surprises him.

“Okay” Marinette responded understandingly, “I’ll sleep a bit more.”

“Alright, I’ll wake you when we get there,” Felix told her

Hour 10

They arrived in the city and Felix was driving them to the house. He had woken Marinette up and she moved to sit next to Felix in the passenger seat. As they entered the parking lot they both let out a sigh as it was 10 long hours stuck in a car. Felix helped Marinette down the RV and gave her the keys so she could open the house up while he was handling the luggage and bringing it into the house. After they had settled in they decided to stay in the house and would welcome this mini vacation.

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#felinette #felinette month #felinette month day 6 #roadtrip #pregnant woman #9 hours in a car #guys it's horrible

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thepaperdollsseries · 5 years

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SNEAK PEEK - Love Like Crazy

Our new novel Love Like Crazy is the story of Charli and Laura, two girls that become roommates at the exclusive all girls boarding school, Hanover. Charli is a perfect Hanover girl; pretty, soccer star, and never breaks the rules. Laura is an accidental bad girl that’s sent to Hanover by her disapproving parents. I saw Laura up in the stands and I kept looking up. She’d come down on her own. I was surprised when I first saw her. It was more fuel for the rumors that had started. It didn’t bother me, quite the opposite.

I didn’t examine how I felt about it. I just let it go. I liked Laura and the mystery of her past was intriguing. I wanted to know why she was here but letting her tell me in her own time was important. I could tell.

When coach dismissed us I ran up in the bleachers and sat down next to her. I was tired but energized from the exercise. She was adorable up here all on her own with empty bleachers surrounding her.

“Hey, watcha reading?” I asked.

“One of the assignments for Ms. Rosewell’s class,” she said. “I kinda love it. Makes the last book I was reading really look like crap.” She set her reader down beside her and turned to examine me. “You’re really good. You never told me that.”

“Ah, I’m pretty good,” I corrected. “Good enough for a scholarship hopefully but it’s not remarkable.”

I put my hands between my knees. The cold was setting in now that I wasn’t moving. I saw Abby walking up the bleachers towards us and glanced over at Laura.

"You want this?” Laura asked, taking my hoodie from off of her arms. The fabric slid off of her easily as she moved to hand it over to me, it was warm.

“No, you keep it. I’m gonna shower soon and head back to dinner. I just wanted to say hi,” I told her.

Abby stopped on the stairs and waved.

“Hey Laura, how’s it going?” Abby asked.

“Hey Abby. It’s good. You guys looked really great down there.” Laura was always nice to everyone but she tended to keep to herself whenever possible.

“Thanks, I just wanted to say hi and apologize for my girlfriend’s ridiculousness. Honestly, she didn’t mean to start any drama. She just has that too much gene and it gets the better of her. You’re always welcome to eat or hang out with us.”

"Ahh, it’s fine,” Laura laughed it off.

“I’ll see you guys later. I’m all icky. I can’t wait to shower,” Abby said.

I just sat there smiling and being grateful that I had Abby around.

“I need a shower too so I’ll go with,” I said and stood up. I looked back at Laura. “I’ll see you at dinner?"

Abby was already down at the bottom of the bleachers and out of earshot so I reached out and put my hand on Laura’s arm.

"We can find a quiet place to sit by ourselves if you want.”

I felt her hand touch on mine. "Aw, I don’t wanna take you from your friends. I’ll just go and grab something now,” she said honestly. “Are you gonna be busy after?”

“Okay,” I said.

I kept my face even and tried not to show anything. I’d rather have just had dinner with her but I knew she probably wanted to go alone.

“No,” I said. “No plans. I was just going to go back to the room after.”

"Nice,” Laura smiled softly. “Go on. You’re cold,” she nudged me. “I’ll see you soon.”

It was windy and it would probably storm tonight. I laughed and jogged down the bleachers, hurrying along to warm up.

We had plans for tomorrow and that was what I was looking forward to most. Hanging out tonight would be fun though. We could talk and chill in the room. The hall wouldn’t get too rowdy since Serena was in all weekend.

I liked the quiet nights. Occasionally, I liked to let off the tension with my friends but I was a bit of a loner after all the forced socialization of school, meetings, and practice. Rarely, could you be alone at Hanover.

I finished up my shower quickly and changed back to my uniform. I’d beat everyone out of the locker room so I knew I might have a chance to catch Laura at the dining hall.

At first, when I didn’t see her, I was a little bummed but then I felt my phone vibrate. Laura had sent me a picture of her meal at a table tucked away just outside near one of the large decorative outdoor fireplaces. She’d gone full out for once, getting the hot food which she never did. My portable speaker sat nearby and she had her thermos with her which I knew was filled with instant coffee that she probably doctored up to be tolerable.

It said in a text beneath the picture: surviving the night. It was already pretty dark out and her food shone brightly beneath the flash from her camera. The yellowing lamp posts that sparsely lined our walkways at night could hardly compete.

I rushed into the dining hall and got in line. It was the normal line but it seemed to take forever to get down to the end. I took the pasta dish and a bottle of water.

It wasn’t hard to find her. She was sitting exactly where the picture showed me. She was smiling at me and I just stood there, like a dork, smiling back.

“This is awesome,” I said.

“I know, you came,” she laughed, pulling a chair out close to her so I could sit right next to her and be closer to the heat. “Come on, sit. I made you coffee to warm you up.”

“You’re awesome. Thank you!” I sat down and slid my tray into the table beside me. “Coffee sounds great and this is perfect.”

“It’s nice,” Laura said. “They don’t usually light these fires. I’d never seen it before.”

“Yeah, they should do it more often. They’re always lit around Christmas but for some reason they don’t keep it up.”

"There’s gonna be a storm soon. I just got a weather update. Vic wants to go to the beach and watch the lightning,” Laura said. “I think I’d rather stay in with you tonight. Watch a movie or read or something. If you have plans though that’s cool.”

“My plan is to do whatever you want to do. We could watch some movies or something. You pick one and I’ll pick one. We could just hang out and read too. I’m down for anything,” I said.

It sounded perfect. It was all that I wanted.

Laura laughed and blushed. I think I surprised her. “What do you usually do?”

She opened the coffee and drank some before putting it over in front of me to get me to drink.

I took the coffee and took a sip.

“You made this so much better. You’re like a coffee genius,” I said before having another drink.

I handed the coffee back and reached for some of the garlic bread on my plate.

“Usually, I just read or go for a walk. Sometimes I binge Netflix,” I said.

“Alone?” She asked, curious.

“Yeah, usually. Once Abby and Lindsey started dating they spend time by themselves. I got used to being alone,” I explained.

“Were you sad,” she asked honestly.

“Not really. I like hanging out with them how we do now. It’s been nice to have time to read and chill. My friends like going out and doing things when they can. That’s nice. It’s hard to be the third wheel with a couple sometimes.”

I took a bite of my pasta and nudged her with my elbow.

"What about you? What do you do in your downtime at home?”

“Uhh, I leave,” she smiled. “Or Vic sneaks in. Or we text and call if I’m trapped but that hardly ever happens,” she sighed. “Or I lay there and feel anxious and hate myself. Hanover is really extreme for me,” she ate her food sadly. “There wasn’t exactly a warning for this. No progression leading up to it. I used to be pretty free.”

“So, you and Vic went out a lot?” I asked.

“We were always out,” Laura said. “Even if it was just to be alone together in her car. Away from our families. Away from everyone… Couldn’t exactly breathe anywhere else.”

“You don’t like being at home?” I asked.

“It’s okay if no one else is there. Me and Vic locked up in my room. But someone else is usually home so no. I sneak out, mostly.”

“You and Vic are really close,” I observed.

I brought my bowl closer and ate some more.

“Closer than anyone,” Laura said.

“Like sisters?” I asked.

It sounded like more to me, like something more than friends. That thought made me sad for no reason.

“I’ve never had a sister,” she shrugged. “But I dunno. I have a brother and we’re closer than that. My family doesn’t understand me. Only Vic does.”

She leaned back in her chair and drank some more of her coffee. “Or maybe she doesn’t and I just choose her,” she zoned out.

“I’m sure she does. It’s hard to get close to someone without understanding them. At least on some levels.”

Laura stared off into the night. When she snapped out of it she smiled at me. "She at least tries,” she confessed. “No one else does that.”

“That sucks, It has to make you feel so isolated and alone.”

"I am isolated and alone,” she smirked up at me and looked around to tease me. “They literally sent me away, Charli. This school doesn’t mean the same thing for you as it does for me.”

“No, I’m sure it’s very different,” I agreed.

She seemed so sad about it and all I wanted was to make it easier for her. It was an impossible situation and I couldn’t help much.

“I hope you don’t hate it all though,” I said.

“I don’t,” she said, watching me. “I like you.” Her eye contact was insane sometimes, it was so direct and kind.

I blushed and bit my bottom lip to calm my smile.

“I like you too,” I replied. I always blushed too much and I could always feel it climbing up my face like a wave.

I looked at her and got caught by her eyes. The way she looked at me was so warm and piercing. I moved a little closer without realizing. I broke the moment and looked down at my pasta.

“You’re different and I also like that,” I revealed.

“Different,” she nodded, trying to decide how to take it. “Yeah,” she nodded. “Guess so…”

“No,” I groaned. “I mean, different, in that, I’ve never made friends with someone this quick. I feel like I can actually talk to you and be real. I don’t have to have a face on. You make me comfortable. That’s the different thing about you,” I explained.

“It’s okay, you can say it,” Laura said. “Everybody says it. There’s something wrong with me. I do stupid things.”

“That’s not what I meant at all,” I said, worried. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You just draw me in and make me feel good.”

I wanted to hide my face. Talking like this made me feel naked. I just hoped she would hear me.

"I know you didn’t mean it like that,” she comforted. I felt her hand slip onto my thigh beneath the table. “Forget I said it,” she asked. “I’m really bad at this stuff.” A lock of her hair flew into her pink lip gloss and she slipped it away from her lips.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” I said.

I put my hand on top of hers and let it rest there. It felt right. Her feelings about how people saw her made me sad. She didn’t deserve that.

She laughed and tears sprang to her eyes but she shrugged them off and smiled through them. “Okay,” she said, obviously not believing it but ready to let it go anyway.

I ate a little more and then gave up on my dinner. Everyone has flaws but from my perspective I hadn’t found any in her. Laura’s self-esteem might need a little work but most of us were guilty of that.

She ate a lot more of her food than usual and kept on relaxing by the heat of the fire with her coffee in hand, taking slow sips. “Wish we had one of these.”

“One of what?” I asked.

“The fire,” she said, getting all warm and sleepy.

“Oh, yeah. It’s nice,” I replied. “If we could transport it to our room, it would be even better.”

“I’d sleep too much,” Laura smiled.

"I’d wake you up,” I said.

“Rude,” Laura smiled more.

The wind rushed and took a couple of napkins from us, blowing them out onto the floor near a couple of other people down the way. “Oh shit,” Laura said, getting up and rushing to gather the trash. Once she got the napkins, she walked them to a bin and came back. “Guess that’s our sign,” she chuckled, the stress of the day was coming back to her face. In the night, her eyes stunned when hit by light.

"Yeah, I guess,“ I sighed and pursed my lips. "I’ll take this inside and we can go back to the dorm.” The awkward feelings were coming on, how to act, how to be.

I stood and picked up my tray. Barely half of my pasta was gone. It wasn’t enough and I’d get hungry later. I took the fork and shoveled more pasta into my mouth. It was cold and tasted so much worse now but I made myself chew and swallow it.

Laura followed me inside and waited to put her tray up. The little conveyer belt that took away our dirty dishes zoomed around making our trays disappear.

“Maybe you should get something for later,” Laura said. “You exercise hard.” She touched my hip bone with her fingers, grabbing the nonexistent love handle I could have.

I jumped a little and laughed. I was way too ticklish to handle that.

“I’ve got stuff in the room that I snatched yesterday at dinner,” I said.

She was sweet. It made me melt a little and smile.

“Okay fine,” she said, amused.

“You gotta stop being cute and sweet. I’m not used to it,” I teased.

“Uh-oh. Okay, I’ll work on it,” she blushed. I could tell it made her happy to know I liked her.

“Maybe I’ll take you to my favorite breakfast place in the morning,” I suggested.

“Oh my god, please,” Laura groaned, hugging herself into my back and holding my upper arms. When she decided to touch me it was always effortless. Right now she was leading us out.

It felt good and a certain kind of special that was unfamiliar. She made me smile when I didn’t even realize.

“They have really good quiche but the best pancakes,” I said.

“Love pancakes,” Laura mentioned.

“Then you’ll love this place,” I said.

I took one of her hands and led the way. We fit and I loved the feeling of being like this, carefree and focused on the warm feeling.

I pulled her into our dorm and past all the open doors. A few of the girls looked out and greeted us. I saw that sharp consideration in their eyes.

Fuck ‘em.

This was the best feeling and I wouldn’t let anyone ruin it with assumptions.

We closed our door and I immediately started changing.

“PJ time,” I declared.

Laura laughed.

Taking my tip, she moved to the closet beside me and slowly started to change.

I turned and saw her bare back facing me. Looking away would have been polite but I stared, entranced. Her skin was so smooth. I didn’t snap out of it till she turned around.

I quickly put my shirt on and looked in my closet, pulling out some Hanover joggers and putting them on.

I grabbed a shirt and threw it towards her.

“Try this,” I suggested.

She took the shirt and looked at it. It was a US soccer shirt I’d gotten at one of the development academies freshman year.

“Thanks,” she smiled over at me. She slipped her bra off and put my shirt on. We danced around each other quietly. Soft breathing and careful hands. “Did you ever have a roommate before me?” She walked to her desk and pulled out her makeup wipes to start in on her skin routine. Step one was to take it all off. No matter what she did, she always made it look second-nature and easy.

“Nope. There was some kind of fluke. The girl I roomed with freshman year dropped out and they never put anyone else in here.”

“That’s so weird,” Laura said, confused about it. She went along with her routine, getting ready to relax.

"Maybe,” I said. “I’m glad it was you though.”

The flat screen was between the closets in a little alcove. I retrieved the remote from my nightstand.

"What do you want to watch?” I asked.

“Uh… I dunno,” Laura said. “What do you think?”

“Something fun, maybe Love Island. What do you think?” I asked.

“Love Island?” Laura laughed. “Yeah, okay,” she smiled to herself. “Lets watch Love Island.”

“Hmm, maybe we should push the beds together? Then we can both have a good view of the TV.”

“Yes please,” Laura said. “It’s kinda bad but I’m not used to having a small bed like this. It’s totally lame. They really diminish your quality of life.”

"I know. I have a queen bed at home and this kills me. I’ve literally fallen off of it a lot, in my sleep. Especially, the first year.”

We moved the few things blocking the space between the beds and pushed them together. They were light.

Once the beds were touching I nodded and got in my side. I still had the remote in one of my hands.

"That’s better,” I said.

The middle of the combined beds was inviting and that’s where I ended up. I was still on my side but there was enough space on the outside that I was in no danger of falling off now. Laura crawled up her bed and pulled a pillow down for her head. She didn’t try to be far from me, she was really close. The shirt I’d given her was a little long and she never put on pants, instead she pulled her blanket up over her body and laid on her side facing me, cuddling up in the blanket like she was cold. “Oh shit. The light,” she said, realizing she’d forgotten it.

“I’ll get it.” I slid off the bed and walked around to turn it off. “Do you need anything while I’m up. Water or something to eat?”

“I’m good,” she said, resting. Her phone lit up and she ignored it.

I got some water for myself and got back in bed, laying closer to her than before. When I lay back on my pillow my arm brushed her hand.

“You’re cold. Here,” she said, pulling the blanket up so I could get under it.

I took the invitation and then leaned my head over to rest on her shoulder. I turned on the TV and found the episodes I wanted, pressing play on the first one.

“Better?” Laura asked, touching my arm beneath the blanket. She let her fingers trail down to find my hand and she played with my fingers sweetly.

“Much, thank you,” I said.

I moved my fingers against hers, playing back.

She smiled at me and held my hand, shutting her eyes and breathing normally like she might fall asleep.

“You’re tired. We can sleep if you want,” I offered.

“I’m okay,” she said. “Feels good to lay down.”

“It does,” I agreed.

It was especially nice to lay with her though. I focused on the TV and tuned into the ridiculousness.

I fell asleep after two episodes and Laura checked out even earlier than that. When I woke up in the middle of the night the TV screen saver was flashing on the screen.

We were cuddled together, much closer than we were before I fell asleep. I turned off the TV with the remote that was sitting by my hand.

I tried not to move much because I didn’t want to wake her. Laura’s forehead was pushed in against my collarbone and her fingers clutched at my shirt near my side. She was cute and I didn’t want to ruin this feeling of being so close.

I lay my head close to the top of hers and took in the smell of my shirt mixed with her hair. It made me smile as I closed my eyes to go back to sleep.

The next morning I woke first and found myself underneath most of her body. My arms were surrounding her and her nose was now pressed close to my neck.

It was a little warm and sweaty like anytime two people sleep together but not in a bad way. I closed my eyes again and enjoyed the feeling of her body on mine. She felt so small curled up against my body. Her smell surrounded me and I took it in like a drug.

I’d rarely cuddled with anyone. After my best friends got together any intimacy there greatly decreased. I didn’t want to get in the middle of anything and Lindsey was a little touchy about it.

Laura was the perfect size to fit with me. If I didn’t need to use the bathroom, I would have stayed like that and drifted back to sleep.

I opened my eyes and looked at the time on the clock that sat on my desk. It was already nine. We needed to get going so we could get breakfast. I sighed. Breaking the spell was a sad but necessary thing.

I untangled myself and got out of bed.

Laura groaned and cuddled into the blanket, burying her face in my pillow as she deeply breathed. “What time is it,” she mumbled.

“Just past nine. I’ll be right back.”

I grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and glanced at her one more time before I left. She was stretching with her eyes closed. I smiled, suppressing the urge to go back and watch her wake. My brain was kind of weird these days.

“I’ll get up,” her voice ached.

"Okay,” I said, leaving finally.

I passed closed doors and stopped in the quiet hall before going into the bathroom. I used the toilet first and then brushed my teeth, returning to find her up and sitting on the bed.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked

“Way better than I usually do, yeah.” She scoffed a tired laugh. In my absence she’d quickly changed clothes and tied her hair up in a messy bun. She had her phone in her hand and she was staring down on it, scrolling through things. “Vic is pissed,” she laughed. “Guess she thought I died or something.”

“Hmm, did she expect you to call?"

I changed into black skinny jeans, tossing my joggers on the combined beds and then found a clean bra and a slim white tee.

"Uh, I think she thought I was joking when I said I was too tired to go out yesterday.” She texted something quickly. “We always go out.”

There wasn’t regret or remorse in her but perhaps some heaviness.

“I can be your witness. You passed out after one episode,” I said.

Laura laughed and smiled. “Sorry,” she said, a little stressed. “It was comfy.” She got up and gripped her bathroom bag. “I’ll be back,” she said, leaving to use the restroom for a bit.

I sat on the bed and put my worn, black Chuck’s on. I’d take them off once we got to the beach. The feeling of sand on my bare feet would be welcome. I loved that movement and softness mixed with grit.

When Laura came back I’d brushed my hair and let it hang loose. I kept it up a lot during class and practice.

She smirked a little and blushed when she saw me. “Okay I think I’m together enough,” she teased, throwing a few things into her bag. Together enough was an understatement. I tried not to stare.

“Nice. We can walk out toward the front gate and catch the bus down the street. It’s not due for fifteen minutes so we’ve got time.”

I grabbed a ball cap and put it on. My beach bag was already by the door. I went to grab it and opened the door. The bus was always how I usually got to the beach because I kinda liked the ride. It didn’t run all the time though. Sometimes I had to uber there or to the store. Today I wanted to give Laura the full experience.

"You ready for an adventure?” I asked, grinning.

“With you? Definitely,” Laura said.

On her way out she grabbed us both waters, then she walked in front of me and waited for me to lock the door. “If I don’t call Vic soon she’s gonna murder me. She’s all upset about so many things. You’d think we’d been apart a year or something.”

She dug her sunglasses out of her bag and put them on.

“Call her while we walk to the bus,” I suggested.

I locked up and we walked down the hall. By now Serena was up and policing the front door.

“Morning ladies. Where are you off to?” Serena asked.

“Oh, just the beach,” I said.

“Laura, I promised your parents I wouldn’t allow you to go off campus until I was sure you settled in,” Serena said.

“I swear we’re just going to the beach for a few hours and coming back. Just like usual,” I said.

“Uh huh, I know you’re responsible, Charlotte. I’m just-"

"Please,” I begged.

Serena frowned and looked toward the door, considering.

“Alright, but you better be back by curfew or I’ll be sending you to detention,” she threatened.

“We will. I swear,” I said.

I took Laura’s hand and rushed past Serena before she changed her mind. I pushed open the front door and held it open, letting go of Laura’s hand.

After it closed, I turned to walk towards the entrance to campus.

“That was close. I was going to riot if she didn’t let us go,” I sighed.

Laura laughed. “Yeah, I highly doubt that. That’s weird though. My parents never said they asked for that. They even pretended I could come home on the weekends if I wanted to.” She seemed bummed. “Maybe they just knew I’d say no.”

We’d only been outside for a few seconds and the world had already shit on her.

“Serena probably offered it. She’s like that,” I said.

“Why would she offer that,” Laura asked, bruised.

“Because she’s a suck up and she thinks she knows what’s best for everyone,” I said. Laura didn’t say anything, she walked along beside me and kept quiet.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Not really,” she said. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“You got it,” I said, taking her hand.

The bus came a few minutes later and we boarded, finding a seat in the back where we could sit close.

Laura kept her hand in mine but she stared listlessly outside of the window. I watched her for a second and then squeezed her hand.

“Show me a picture of Vic,” I said.

“Oh, sure,” she said, taking a deep breath in. She woke up her phone and found a picture to show me. Tan, bleached blonde, tall, and skinny. Vic was at the beach in a bikini and visibly laughing like she was really really happy. Her arm was slung around a guy, equally pretty and tan. “That’s her and Pete,” Laura said, handing her phone to me.

“She’s pretty,” I commented.

“Yeah,” Laura laughed. “It’s really frustrating.”

“Why is it frustrating?” I asked.

“I dunno,” Laura shrugged. “It’s just hard. Our friendship is weird.”

“Like it could be more?” I asked.

“I dunno,” Laura dodged it. “I mean, she’s obviously my favorite person on the planet but…”

“Friendships are different. Abby and I used to be closer and we would stay over in each other’s rooms,” I said.

“I’ve never had anyone I cared about so much,” Laura said. “Was it like that with Abby?”

“No, it wasn’t. I’ve never had anyone like that besides my family,” I said.

We were two of the few people riding the bus so we had a lot of space. We still sat close, legs touching and hands still clasped.

“I’m a little jealous of your family,” Laura said.

“They’re pretty cool. I got lucky. All my friends have always loved my mom and dad. Abby visited me for a week in the summer once and she loved it. Her house is ten times fancier than ours and she has actual servants but she didn’t want to leave. We had a good time,” I said.

“I didn’t say I was jealous of you,” Laura said. “I said I was jealous of them. You love them so much.” She slipped her hand back into mine and held it with both of her hands from the front and the back. “I envy them.”

“Oh! Well, maybe I’ll love you too,” I said.

It slipped out before I really knew what I’d said. It wasn’t bad, I just didn’t know what she would think.

“Yeah,” Laura laughed. “Maybe… Possibly…” She ruminated on that and then let my hand go. “Sorry,” she smiled. “I’m in a really shitty mood and I wish I wasn’t.” She held the back of her neck in her hands and tried to relax. The result was that she leaned forward over her knees in an uncomfortable position just to deeply breathe.

“Don’t apologize to me. I’m happy we can get out of there and maybe you’ll feel a little better after you eat and we go see the ocean. The ocean always makes me happy.”

“Yeah,” Laura said. “Maybe.”

“Hey, can I do anything?” I asked.

“No,” Laura said, feeling sad. “I think I’m at a rock bottom moment or something. It’s not you. You’re wonderful. There’s just so much stuff I don’t want to think about right now.”

“Then, let’s think about something else. What’s your favorite food?” I asked.

“I dunno,” she laughed.

“Well, mine is kind of weird. You have to promise you won’t laugh,” I said, feigning seriousness.

“I always laugh,” she reminded. “Just tell me.”

“Ah, I guess I trust you. I am addicted to gummy worms. If I could I’d eat them every day, I would,” I confessed.

Laura sat up and stared over at me. “Interesting. Iiiii, really don’t think that’s a food.”

“Oh? What is it then?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“Corn syrup,” she said, raising her eyebrows.

“And gelatin plus blue 1,” I teased.

I leaned toward her and pressed our shoulders together.

“Okay fine, chicken nuggets,” I said.

“Oh wow. Okay. I get it. You are actually five,” she laughed.

“And a half, you can’t forget the half. It’s important,” I said and stuck my tongue out at her.

Soon as I did that her fingers quickly found my sides and she tickled me until we both busted up laughing.

“Oh my god, no!” I was on my side, trying to cover my sides and protect myself. “You found my weakness. Mercy!"

I leaned back up and let my body go a little too far so that I was almost laying in her lap.

"That’s just below the belt,” I said, still grinning.

“Oh fine,” she beamed, stopping it. I felt her arms slip in around my stomach and she hugged me tight. “But you’ve been warned.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I said.

I hugged her back and kept her close, loving the ride and her ways.

“You smell really good,” I commented.

“Not as good as you,” she said. “Mine’s all artificial.”

She pressed her nose to my shirt sleeve and breathed me in.

“Not true. I can smell you. And mine is a mix of detergent and products. After practice I stink.”

“No you don’t,” she said.

“What? I’m all sweaty and gross. Do we need to get your sense of smell tested?” I teased.

“I’ve never seen you gross,” she laughed. “You’re like perfect.”

“No way, I’m not perfect. I have weird ears, I don’t know when to say no to people, and there’s a pimple on my nose,” I complained.

“Don’t know when to say no to people?"

"It’s just hard for me to say no when people ask for things,” I said.

“Like… Today?” Laura asked.

“Today? When?” I asked.

“The beach,” she reminded. “Your secret spot.”

“Oh! No, I wanted to show you. I just want to do stuff with you. It makes me happy,” I said.

I puzzled over that like a revelation. Something clicked in my head and I forgot to breathe for a second. I pushed it away and focused on holding her and the feeling of her solid breathing body in my arms.

“That’s really sweet,” she said, leaning back in her chair and absentmindedly rubbing my back.

I shook my head and smiled.

“You’re just as sweet. I don’t know if you know that. I bet not. You probably think you’re a badass bitch,” I teased.

“Oh wow,” she laughed. “Yeah, you’re right, that’s all I think all day long,” she teased.

“I knew it!” I raised my fist in triumph and laughed. “Little did you know that you’re super soft and gooey inside,” I pointed out.

“Are you calling me fat,” she chuckled. Her hand slipped beneath my shirt and I felt it touching my skin, her nails carefully playing and her palm rubbing methodically.

“You’re definitely not fat,” I insisted.

Her nails on my skin made me shiver and my breath caught. I tingled all over and closed my eyes. There was no mistaking what was happening to me.

Fuck.

Laura sighed and dazed. “I think you’re a miracle,” she whispered. “I don’t even want to think about how bad this week could’ve been if I wasn’t with you.”

“I’m happy I could help,” I said.

The bus was getting close to our stop. I’d be able to get a little distance and get control of myself.

“Here we go,” I said.

The bus stopped with a soft screech and I released her, scooting away and standing up. Slow to rise, Laura followed me. Fingerbeds touched down on my back as we wove our way through the corridor and made it outside.

The restaurant was visible from the bus stop and once the bus moved on we could cross over to walk down the road toward it.

It was a small place with fresh, modern decor but the prices were really good. I could even afford it with the money my parents sent me every month.

We went in and were greeted by the owner, Alma.

“Nice to see you Charli! Give me a hug,” Alma said.

I walked around the host stand and hugged Alma. All three years I’d been here, I’d come in consistently on the weekends and by now the entire staff knew me. The place was family-owned and run so the same people always worked.

“This is my friend Laura. Laura this is Alma,” I introduced.

“Nice to meet you Laura,” Alma said, opening her arms for a hug.

“Nice to meet you too,” Laura said, buried into Alma’s arms. She hugged her and stepped back to be polite.

Alma was a robust black woman in her fifties with grey wisps of hair escaping from her orderly bun.

A hug from Alma was like warm sunshine. I could never leave here without my mood being high. She and her daughter’s ran the restaurant seven days a week and their love for it showed.

“You come sit in your booth and we’ll bring out some biscuits,” Alma said.

She gave me two menus and went off to get our biscuits. The booth I always sat in was in the back, by the window overlooking the cliffs that led to the ocean.

I slid into one side of the booth and put the menus on the table.

“I found this place freshman year while I was exploring and loved it right away,” I said.

“It’s amazing,” Laura said, completely taken by the view. She perched up on the bench cushion, knees elevating her so she could look out. “Wow…”

“Pretty right?” I followed her gaze. “Alma bought it in the late 70’s and her oldest daughter is going to take over someday. I hope you like the food.”

Laura turned to gaze down on me and she shook her head. “You know I like food,” she said, adjusting her position until she was perfectly across from me in the booth.

Her eyes wandered, taking in the other people eating out together on a Saturday. She bit her bottom lip and seemed distracted. Her phone buzzed and she grumpily looked down on it and shut it off.

“Vic?” I asked.

Laura looked up at me, a little confused. “Yeah,” she said, softening.

“Do you need to call her?” I asked.

“I dunno,” Laura said. “She’s mad at me and I kinda don’t want to deal with it right now.”

“Then, don’t,” I smiled.

Alma came up and put a basket of biscuits on the table.

“Here you are girls. Now, do you know what you want to drink?” She asked.

“I’ll take coffee and water,” I said.

“Um, iced coffee please,” Laura said. Once Alma left, Laura stole a glance at me and smiled. “So, you come here a lot,” she commented.

“Every other weekend at least. I’d love to work here in the summer but there’s no way I can stay on campus,” I said.

“I thought you missed your family though,” Laura said.

“I do but I really want to pay for college myself so I’ve been working in the summer and playing club soccer too,” I said.

“Wow,” Laura said, dazed.

“I know, I’m boring,” I joked.

“You kidding?” Laura asked. “You’re insane. I could never do what you do. That stuff’s all really hard.”

“I’m sure you could. Everyone has strengths. You just have to find yours,” I commented.

“That’s the kind of thing really talented people say to not so talented people like me,” Laura teased. “My parents put all their hopes and efforts into Roger so…” Her words trailed off.

“That’s bs, you’ve got talent. Your parents just don’t give you credit.”

Alma came back with our drinks and stood with her order pad ready.

"What are you having today?” Alma asked.

“Sorry, I didn’t give you time to look. Did you need more?” I asked Laura.

“I’ll have the peachy-keen daily pancake special,” Laura said, reading the board on the wall.

“I want the everything omelette and a short stack of banana pancakes, please,” I added.

“Alright, I’ll put these in,” Alma said, walking away.

I put cream in my coffee and way too much sugar from the jar and then stirred it before taking a sip. I was gonna crash later but it tasted so good.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I like being with you,” Laura said.

"That’s good cause I like being with you too,“ I replied.

“You’re really genuine,” Laura said. “I’m not used to it.”

"Thanks. That’s probably the best compliment I’ve gotten. You are too, you know. I like that you talk to me about things.”

“I don’t talk to many people like this,” Laura laughed.

"Why me then?” I wondered.

“Right place, right time,” Laura said. “Plus, you’re like adorable. It’s kind of hard not to talk to you.”

“You think I’m adorable? Hmm…” I contemplated. "I’m happy to be someone you can talk to. I really am,” I finished.

“Yeah, you’re gonna drive me nuts,” Laura laughed and groaned. “I like you too much and I can’t keep secrets from you. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“Or it’s a recipe for amazing things. You should tell me everything. That’s what I want to know,” I said.

“You say that now,” she joked. Her iced coffee sat before her and she pulled it close to drink from the straw.

“You couldn’t have done anything to make me not want to talk to you,” I said.

“Yeah but you could not like me,” Laura said. “As a person. And that’d be worse.”

“I don’t think so but you could try me,” I suggested.

One of the other staff dropped off our food and left us to eat. I still watched Laura though, waiting to dig in.

“I could try to ruin our friendship?” She went on. “Yeah, rather not.” Her hands found her silverware and she placed her napkin on her lap and started to eat. I could tell she loved it. She made a face, rolled her eyes, and pointed at her mouth. “Mm. My god…” She mumbled. “Fuck.”

“Right!” I started on my omelette and I couldn’t stop.

There was silence for awhile as we ate. I finished my food first since I always ate too fast. My mom used to yell at me about it but I couldn’t help it. Food was so good.

“You’re a little animal,” Laura smirked. I’d gotten used to that smirk. She was constantly amused by me.

“At least I’m a cute animal according to you,” I said and grinned at her.

“Super true,” Laura said. She ate some more and took her time. “I’m not sure I can finish this. Okay, I know I can’t. Would it be a pain to carry?”

“Nope. We can put it in my bag,” I said.

I patted the beach bag beside me and smiled.

“Okay,” she nodded, overwhelmed.

“If we need to we can Uber back to campus. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go by the grocery store on the way back,” I said.

“That’s genius actually,” Laura commented. “No pressure though if you wanna meet up with your friends.”

“No, I’d rather hang out with you,” I replied.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I like you and I’m getting addicted,” I explained.

I played with my fork and watched her.

“Addicted to me?” She laughed, surprised.

“Yeah. I like being around you. It makes me want to see you all the time, which sounds crazy probably,” I admitted, looking down and counting the crumbs there. I couldn’t think about what I’d just said.

“No, that doesn’t sound crazy at all,” Laura comforted. “It might, if I didn’t like you, but. I do, so…” Her voice trailed off.

“I’m glad you don’t think I’m a crazy stalker then,” I laughed.

“I literally follow you everywhere,” Laura teased. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve just never made a friend like this,” I told her. “I think about you and hope you’re doing well when we aren’t together.”

"What do you mean?” She smiled, uncomfortable. “You have tons of friends Charli and I can tell you worry about them too. Are you feeling okay,” she teased. “Cause I can get you some aspirin or something.”

“I have some good friends and a lot of acquaintances, which is great. I love my friends. I know I’m being weird. It’s totally cool. I’m sorry,” I babbled.

“You’re not being weird,” Laura laughed sweetly. “You’re just not making sense.”

“Oh, I don’t even know,” I said.

“It’s okay. We don’t have to make sense,” she comforted.

“Good because apparently I can’t find sense. It’s gone,” I said.

I hummed low and cleared my throat and then drank the rest of my coffee. Alma came back over to look in on us and give me the check.

I gave her the money and told her to keep the change. We still had the beach ahead of us. That would clear my head and get me out of this confusing headspace.

“You ready?” I asked.

I took the box full of her leftover food and put it in my bag.

“Mhmm,” she nodded. As we got up, a couple walked toward her. To dodge them, she scooted closer to me and clung in against my shoulder.

We walked outside and I pointed us in the direction of the beach. I didn’t say anything. I was already too scared to say what was going on in my mind.

“I think about you too,” Laura said randomly. A lot of time had gone by but she was still thinking about what I’d said.

“Oh… Really? That’s cool. I mean nice,” I said.

I wanted to sink into the ground. There were so many feelings going on. Happy that she told me that. Afraid that it wasn’t the same way I thought about her. Wondering what my thoughts about her even meant.

“Yeah well, I don’t do it to be nice,” Laura said.

I nodded and tried to find words.

“Why then?”

Were the only two that came to me.

“You make me feel safe,” Laura said. “I hardly know that feeling…”

It wasn’t what I expected.

“That’s awesome. I know that’s hard,” I said.

We made it to the steps that led down to the beach and I bent down, setting my bag on the floor. I untied my shoes and took them off before standing up again.

I was getting excited. I could hear the waves and smell the water.

“Harder than you might think,” Laura dazed.

“Hey,” I said, taking her hand. “You’ve got me.”

Laura searched me and eventually lost her seriousness. She leaned into me and half hugged me. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s touch the water.”

We walked out and stood near the water’s edge. I pulled her along, playing with our chemistry. When the water hit my feet, I grinned and looked over at her.

“Ooooo,” she shivered, gripping my arm protectively.

"You want to go in further?“ I asked.

"What do you think?” She wondered.

“I think we’ll dry out before we go back,” I said.

“Okay,” she laughed. “Wait, gimme a second.”

She hurried back to the sand and stripped out of her clothes so she’d just be in her bathing suit. Running back over to me, the wind blowing her hair away from her skin, she looked so happy.

“Sorry,” she said, taking my hand again and holding it with hers.

“Ah, don’t be,” I said.

I stared for a second and then shook my head and looked back to the water.

She was beautiful.

I watched the dark waves crest and roll in. This was my safe space.

“Come on,” she laughed. “Before I have a chance to change my mind.”

I reached down to roll my jeans up. I walked in with her and felt the water come up my legs.

When the waves splashed we jumped and Laura clung onto my body to try and handle the impact from the cold. She clung to my body and screamed a little before laughing. Her fingers clung to the fabric of my t-shirt.

“Holy crap!” My adrenaline roared and I turned, hugging her and laughing with pure joy. “You okay?”

“Uhhh, yeah,” she chuckled and stared at my lips. Her teeth chattered from the cold but she was smiling and watching me close.

Another wave crashed into us and I laughed, putting my hands on her shoulders and reading her emotions. She smiled back at me and I hugged her again, overwhelmed.

“Sealegs,” she smiled and bit her bottom lip. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

“I’m glad you like it,” I said. My eyes stared down at hers, a magnetic feeling kept me glued.

I pointed down the way.

“Do you see that big rock arch down the beach?"

It was barely visible but I knew it was pretty clear in the distance.

"Yeah,” she said, smiling. “What about it,” she asked, pulling on my shirt to get me to move a little in the water to be closer to her.

“That’s where I go to read and hang out,” I said.

“Your spot?” She asked, eyes lighting up.

A strong wave came and knocked into us. Laura clutched onto me and we both ended up falling completely into the rushing wave. Like rapids, the frothing force bowled us over and rolled us together towards the shore. We clung to each other to even survive.

“Shit,” I laughed. The wave was so strong it knocked us all the way back to the shore before pulling away. Laura had her body preseed close to mine, her arms around my waist, fingers clutching the transparent white of my t-shirt. I stared down at her, more packed with feelings than I’d probably ever been. She was practically naked and all glued to me. We both sat now, alone in the sand. My lips touched her forehead and I let a huff of a breath out against her skin, a small laugh, like: how did I even get here?

“Sorry,” she laughed. “Didn’t mean to attack you.”

“No. No. I uh, I like it,” I stuttered out. My heart beat was so intense that I could feel it pounding inside me: beat, beat, BEATing against my skin.

“Oh, um, yeah,” I laughed to get myself back on that previous thought. “I’ve got towels in the beach bag and a blanket. We can go sit on the rocks or the sand and dry out.”

“Sounds good,” Laura laughed. She stared at me for a while, I stared too. Eventually she peeled herself off of me and started to stand.

I walked toward my stuff and squeezed the water out of my hair. My shirt stuck to my torso like a second skin and my jeans felt heavy. Jogging to my bag, I took a towel out to hand it to Laura.

“There are more in there. I loaded up on beach towels.”

She took the oversized teal cloth and wrapped it around perfect body, covering up. My gaze couldn’t stop now. She’d given me so much permission to stare simply by the way she’d been staring at me, openly liking me.

"What did you think was going to happen?” Laura laughed.

"I’m over-prepared but I figured we could make a big bed of towels and the blanket.”

"Let’s do it,” she said.

“Yes ma’am,” I stared back.

Grabbing my bag by the handles and my shoes in my other hand, I walked us both toward the rock arch. It wasn’t a long way but the deep sand made it take a little while. When we got there, I put down the bag on a rock. The arch rose high above us, with a big open area where solid rock used to be. The result was an overhang like a shelter with a wall of rock on one side.

I took out the blanket, some of the towels, and my phone from the bag. I spread the blanket and put a few towels on top close together for us to lay on.

My wet shirt was tricky. I wrestled it off and pulled my soaking jeans off. Then I walked over to one of the big rocks surrounding the area. I spread my wet clothes out so that the sun would dry them out.

Laura crawled up on the blanket and watched me a little. She put her sweater in a ball and laid her head down on it, taking her hair down from its wet messy bun.

I lay beside her and covered most of myself with another towel, shivering.

"I wish we had that fireplace now,” I said.

“I know,” she laughed.

“Oh well, we can lay in the sun if we need to get warm. I just love the overhang and how sheltered you are,” I said, looking up at the rock above us.

“You are one brave girl,” Laura said. “I dunno if I’d be bold enough to come out here alone. And I love it here so… That makes me really sad.”

“I just like exploring,” I panted. “Now, you can come out here whenever you want, with or without me.”

"I don’t think I can,” Laura said. “I’d only want to come here with you.”

She seemed sleepy and a little serious.

“Then we’ll come whenever you want,” I said.

Laura softly smiled at me before looking away.

“No one can find us here,” I said.

“I love that,” Laura dazed.

“Mmm,” I hummed. I closed my eyes and stretched my arms out above my head. Though it wasn’t the season, the sun was warm enough to be felt. I fell asleep eventually but woke up when Laura got up and walked out into the sun.

I watched her from where I was, gazing through slitted eyes. I knew I could sleep here for the whole day but I was tuned into her.

“I’ve got sunblock in the bag,” I said.

“Oh shit,” she laughed. “Guess I should’ve been wearing that.”

“Sun burns are shitty. I got one last year and regretted my life choices for two weeks.”

"You and all your regret,” she teased. “You trying to mother me?”

“Not unless that’s your thing,” I joked.

“Uhhhh,” she pretended to think about that. “Verdict’s still out but I don’t think it is.”

“Then no, I’m just trying to selfishly keep you from getting burnt so I can hug you when I want to.”

"Aww, stop,” Laura smiled, all embarrassed by me. “You can always hug me. I’d suffer through the pain.”

“Come here, I’ll help you. There’s no way you can get your back.”

I rolled over and stood up. Laura came back to me and stood patiently. I opened the tube and squeezed some sunblock into my hand.

I slipped the end of the small tube into my bra strap where it met the cup to keep it safe while I started to apply the sunblock to Laura’s back.

She stood so still while I rubbed it in, all over. Her pale skin would have burned so quickly if she’d stayed outside her towel for too long.

"You’re done,” I said, stepping back and taking the tube out to give it to her. “Here’s the rest.”

When she took the tube I went back to my towel and sat down. I did have a need to protect her. Maybe I was being a mom.

I watched her until her eyes found mine and then I redirected my gaze to the ocean.

#lesfic #authors of tumblr #lgbtq fiction #wlw #paper dolls series #wlw books #bisexual characters #lesbian #bi

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eleanor-writes-stuff · 5 years

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chemistry (my heart’s a city you’re out to destroy) - [IV/IV: EPILOGUE]

Kylo Ren - superhuman, mercenary, and the world’s most dangerous man – has recently resurfaced after a mysterious three-month disappearance.

Rey Niima, listicle writer by day and investigative reporter by night, is way too busy to worry about that. Seriously, she’s got a million things on her plate - she doesn’t have the time to think about anything else.

Especially now that news editor Benjamin Snoke has returned to the office and seems hell-bent on making her life… interesting.

At long last, the end.

Questions are answered, loose ends are tied up, and the road to recovery leads to a happily ever after.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 Also available on AO3. And hey, maybe check out my Twitter and Ko-fi?

. . .

At the last intersection before Takodana Street, Rey reaches out to still Ben’s nervous tapping against the steering wheel.

It’s the third time in ten minutes that she’s had to do so, and he allows her to pull his hand off the wheel and into her lap with nothing more than a sheepish look from under his lashes.

“Babe, you need to relax. I can’t believe big bad Kylo Ren is this nervous about meeting a little old lady.” Neither of their smiles sour at the mention of his alter ego; after six months of difficult but frank conversations, they’ve finally reached a stage where everything is out in the open but also firmly in the past, something to laugh about now that the wounds have healed.

They’ve also reached the stage where she introduces him to the woman she considers her mother for all intents and purposes, and Rey’s spent the past week trying to assure her boyfriend that tonight’s dinner is going to be just fine. Judging by the way Ben’s fingers keep twitching in her grip, she’s not exactly done a good job.

“Little old lady makes her sound so harmless,” he mutters as the light turns green. “She raised you, Rey. You. There’s no way she’s a harmless little old lady.”

She could tease him for that, but Rey takes pity on him and decides to simply accept it as the compliment that it is. “Okay, fine, so maybe she’s not going to be some cute little grandma,” she concedes, quickly powering through the rest of her sentence before Ben can panic, “but I promise everything is going to be okay. She’s going to take one look at you and ask to keep you forever.”

He doesn’t look convinced.

In the face of everything they’ve been through, of all they’ve overcome to reach this moment, introducing Ben to Maz doesn’t seem like a big deal at all. When she tries to tell him as much though, the tapping just starts back up.

Rey sighs and stares out the window at the familiar surroundings leading to her childhood home, casting about for a distraction. There’s no shortage of shared memories and inside jokes for her to pick from, but one in particular causes a laugh to bubble past her lips unbidden.

“What?” Ben asks, sparing her a quick glance as his lips twitch in response to her laughter.

Rey shakes her head. “Nothing, just… Remember that first day at the office? I didn’t realize it then, but…” She thinks back to their very first meeting outside of his mask, to the wild look in his eyes when she bumped into him, and laughs again. “You were horrified to see me, weren’t you?”

“I could never be horrified by you,” he objects, too distracted and defensive to realize he’s turned onto her street and Maz’s house looms just down the road. “I was terrified, sure, but not horrified.”

“You say that as if there’s a difference,” Rey snorts as they reach the end of the street, only to find that there is, in fact, a difference.

She’s seen Ben terrified many, many times now – starting, of course, with the incident they’re talking about. But parked in front of her mother’s house, having arrived without noticing it and now being mere feet away from his worst nightmare – this is the first time she’s ever seen Ben horrified.

“Is it too late to turn around?” Ben asks even as she moves to release her seatbelt. “We could just tell her I got sick and we need to reschedule–”

The weathered front door swings wide open, and Ben tenses as Maz appears in the doorway.

“Too late,” Rey shrugs, and laughs as she leans forward to press a reassuring kiss to his cheek. “C’mon, it’s going to be okay. I promise.”

Ben is the first person she’s ever brought home, and in the days following Maz’s invitation to dinner Rey had expected to find herself just as nervous as he is about the whole thing. They’ve already discussed the future, already made plans to move in together, but this makes it all real somehow, feels like the first actual step towards that future. And maybe five months ago – or three, or even one – that would have unsettled her, but Rey knows now that everything is as it should be, that they’re finally ready for this.

So she calmly takes Ben’s hands and gives them a squeeze, and gets out of the car to introduce the two most important people in her life to each other with not a single hint of nerves.

“I’m home!” Rey calls out with a grin as she rushes towards Maz, careful not to slam her weight into the older, smaller woman as they meet in a tight hug.

“Always good to have you back,” her mother murmurs into her hair, and they share a quiet moment before Maz pulls back and peeks beyond her shoulder to greet the new arrival. “And you brought a snack! Come closer, Rey’s boyfriend. Let me get a good look at those eyes my daughter is so lost in–”

Ben has always worked best under pressure, and this is no exception. His nerves seem under control as he makes his way up the driveway to join them, and there’s even a smile on his face as he humors Maz and stoops down so that she can get her hands on his shoulders and her face all up in his business, one hand pushing her Coke-bottle glasses up her nose to get a better look at him.

Maz gasps and takes a step backwards, and Rey braces herself for the kind of horribly yet charmingly dirty comment only a little old lady can get away with. At least she’s warned Ben about this bit, so she doesn’t have to worry about him running for the hills when Maz inevitably comments on what good handholds his ears must be or how those lips were made for a higher purpose or–

“Ben Solo!” she croaks, one hand to her heart, and Rey swears she’s never seen her foster mother this genuinely taken aback in all the years they’ve known each other. Maz’s eyes glimmer with tears as she slowly steps closer, reaching forward to settle a hand on Ben’s shoulder once more as her other hand slowly cups his cheek and pushes his face this way and that.

Ben, meanwhile, appears to be completely frozen.

“It is you,” Maz whispers in awe as she finally completes her examination, allowing Ben to straighten up to his full height in a daze. “I would know those eyes anywhere.”

“What– How–”

Rey winds one arm around Ben’s middle when both his voice and his footing falter, planting her feet in the ground when he sags against her just the slightest bit. “Maz, are you saying… you know Ben?”

“Know him?” her mother scoffs, voice still thick with emotion as she ushers them into the house, Rey pulling Ben along as he shuffles after her. “I practically raised this boy. Broke my heart to lose you, second only to your parents I’d say.”

That snaps Ben out of it. “My parents? You know my parents?”

Maz closes the door behind them. “Oh, child,” she sighs, eyes soft and sad as she pats Ben’s arm. “Come. There is so much to talk about.”

. . .

Dinner is left untouched and forgotten in the kitchen as the three of them huddle close together in the living room, Rey offering Ben silent support and comfort as he and Maz fill in the gaps in each other’s stories to finally form a complete puzzle.

The story goes like this:

One of Ben’s first memories of Snoke is his supposed father droning on and on about his uniqueness, about how special his bloodline makes him. It’s how Ben had pieced together the truth about his adoption-slash-kidnapping in the first place, realizing sometime around the age of six that the man who poked and prodded at him with needles and strange liquids and odd contraptions all day long was not his real family.

The story goes like this:

A long time ago, a highly respected scientist by the name of Sheev Palpatine rose to prominence for his seminal work on gene editing, and his magnum opus was a test subject by the name of Anakin Skywalker, a man he had been experimenting on since infancy in order to create the ultimate human specimen.

The story goes like this:

The Knights of Ren weren’t always five. In fact, when Ben was twelve and finally satisfactory to his father, Snoke introduced him to fifteen new playmates who would be living with them from now on. Having known no one other than his father from the age of four, young Ben was ecstatic to finally have friends – friends who, he would realize in time, just weren’t the same as him. They couldn’t run as fast, couldn’t jump as high, couldn’t kick as far, couldn’t play as long – and eventually, the slowest, weakest ones just… disappeared. In time, though, the four who remained learned to keep up with him, after months and months of poking and prodding and strange liquids and odd contraptions. And so the Knights of Ren were born, with Kylo Ren – the strongest, fastest one – their natural leader.

The story goes like this:

Eventually, the ugly truth about Palpatine’s experiments came to light, and with it a dozen nameless children buried in shallow graves. Not everyone, Palpatine argued, was ready to become the best possible version of themselves. Not everyone, he said, was destined for greatness. The law had none of it, and Palpatine was thrown behind bars for the rest of his short life while Anakin went through every test known to mankind until he was finally allowed to walk free and live a normal life, complete with a wife, two kids, and a white picket fence. Until one day, the past reared its ugly head and broke something inside him – and that day ended with a dead couple, two orphaned children, and a dark secret never meant to be unearthed.

The story goes like this:

Secrets never stay buried for long.

. . .

When all of the pieces finally fall into place, when the last question has been answered and there is no more room left for doubt, Maz goes upstairs to call the Organa-Solos and urge them to make the one-hour drive over.

“I always knew,” Ben says, head in her lap as they lounge on Maz’s porch, his eyes glued to the stars while hers keep careful watch over him, “that I had a family once. But for some reason I never thought…”

Rey runs her fingers through his hair and allows him to gather his thoughts.

“All of the others, they had lives from before, lives they remembered and could go back to after Snoke,” he murmurs after a while. Rey already knows this, already grilled him about the other knights months ago, but she lets him speak anyway. “But this life is all I’ve ever known, all I can remember no matter how hard I try. I’ve been Ben Snoke for so long I couldn’t even remember Ben Solo. Rey, what if… what if…”

Ben turns to her then, looking more scared than he had the night everything came crashing down around them, and her heart aches for him, for what he’s going through, for the pain and fear and tiny spark of hope she knows all too well.

“You know, by the time Maz found me, the Organa-Solos had all but disappeared from this city.”

She keeps her hand in his hair even as her eyes stare blankly ahead, taking a minute to sort out her thoughts before she turns back to a puzzled Ben. “Growing up, everyone knew who they were. Your mother practically ran this city, and your father was nothing short of a legend. But one day she stepped down and he retired, and not long after that they just… disappeared.”

Rey lets that sink in for a moment, holds still as Ben finally rolls off her lap and pulls himself up into a seated position next to her.

“I was still so young then, I had no idea what was going on. Only that the pretty lady wasn’t on front pages anymore and I never saw the Falcon in another race on TV again. But that was five years after you disappeared, Ben. They tried for five years to find you, did everything they could to hold on, and eventually it just broke them. They gave up everything – their jobs, their home, their lives – because it was too painful without you. Because they love you.”

Ben is crying now and so is she, tears running down their cheeks as she reaches for his hands.

“And I think… I know everything is going to work out, Ben. Because they love you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember them, or if they don’t recognize you, or if things are awkward at first. They love you, and you’ll love them, and that’ll be enough until everything else works itself out.”

Because it would have been enough, for her and her parents, if they’d just loved her.

And it has been enough, for her and Ben, while they fix everything else.

So Rey knows, she knows, that when Han and Leia walk through the door in an hour’s time and Ben meets his parents for the first time in more than two decades, everything will be okay.

“How can you know that?” Ben whispers, hands holding hers so tightly it nearly hurts. “How can you be so sure everything will be okay?”

Rey leans forward, presses her forehead to his and waits until Ben closes his eyes to do the same. “Because you’ve already been through so much, baby. Because I know you can make it through anything. And because I’ll be right there with you, every step of the way.”

That, above all else, is what finally gets him to relax into her and release her hands in favor of wrapping his arms around her waist.

“We’ll face this together, I promise,” she murmurs against his lips, kisses him soft and slow until she can feel the beginnings of a smile on him. “You’ll make it through this, Superman.”

He laughs, a puff of air against her chin, and Rey pulls back to find that teasing smirk she’s come to adore.

“Oh, so now I’m Superman?” Ben huffs as he crosses his arms, bright eyes giving away the act.

Rey hums in mock contemplation. “I mean, you did turn out to be my awkward coworker secretly moonlighting as a superhero, so…” She shrugs, biting back a grin as Ben pulls her into his lap.

“And who does that make you, then?”

Underneath his playful smile, behind the brightness dancing in his eyes, there’s still a small, scared boy forever looking for reassurance, forever unsure about his place in this world. So Rey trades her grin for a soft smile and gently takes his face in her hands, stares deeply into his eyes until the right words come to her.

In all honesty, she’s had them ready for months.

“The woman who loves you no matter who you are – Superman or Clark Kent, Kylo Ren or Ben Snoke or Ben Solo.”

Awe washes away everything else on his face, leaving Ben with wide eyes and parted lips as he takes in her words. His breath hitches, he slowly blinks his eyes, and then finally, finally he gives her a brilliant smile for all of two seconds before she’s pulled into a kiss that says everything she needs to know.

“I love you too, sweetheart,” Ben whispers between kisses, holding her so close she swears she can feel the beating of his heart. “Always have, always will.”

The front door opens, and Maz says something about light traffic at this time of day and another forty minutes at most and–

Rey presses her palm to Ben’s heart, the heart she’s known from the very start even when nothing else was certain, and knows that together they can face anything.

. . .

And that's that, friends. After almost exactly three months - just two days shy, in fact - this story has finally come to an end. I can only hope it was a satisfying one for both characters and readers, and worth all the time and emotion you've so generously invested.

To @nancylovesreylo, I hope this satisfied you above all. I've come to love this Rey and Ben so dearly, but I know this story would never have existed without you. Thank you for this amazing prompt, and for everything else you do for this fandom. I could spend years trying to write a birthday fic worthy of you, but I hope this came somewhat close to that at least.

Once again, thank you to everyone for waiting even when all hope seemed lost, and for giving this odd little fic a chance in the first place. I hope you've enjoyed this, and as always please don't hesitate to like/reblog/comment. Until next time, friends!

#reylo #rey x ben #kylo ren/rey #rey/kylo ren #rey/ben solo #star wars #rey #ben solo #kylo ren #my fics #fic: chemistry

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dojae-huh · 6 years

Note

Do you think Jaehyun is jealous because somehow he is insecure?

I was asked this question before… I still don’t have a definite answer, but I’d assume that “no”.

Jealousy is an innate mechanism with two reasons for it. For men - “I don’t want to spend years raising a child that is not mine” and for women “I don’t want to raise my child alone, I need help at least for the first few years”. That’s why women usually more easily forgive cheating. Also the reason a fiancee had to be a virgin in many cultures in the past. Also the reason women rarely mention on dating sites they have children. It’s there, generated by the “reptilian brain” and serves the “pass the genes” agenda. It’s our “human brain” (neocortex, the prefrontal lobes) that puts a stop to “animal instincts” and doesn’t let people act on impulse, without thinking and taking the bigger picture into consideration.

So when Jaehyun grabbed Jeno’s hand (or Doyoung Jungwoo’s) it was the basic primitive “chase every possible rival away from your mate”. Jae and Do were surprised themselves at their own actions, because they did them “without thinking” (it was the work of the “reptilian brain” and the “human brain” was too late to catch up and stop the arm from the grabbing motion in time).

The same programme whispers “heeey, do you see what I see? he is too close to your mate! show him his place!” in the case of signalling Johnny to take away his hand from Do’s knee. The best way though is to be close and fend any Jungwoos off simply by being present in a guirding role.

Anyway. Why do I think Jae’s jealousy is more to do with old instincts, than with insecurities? He never gave up on Doyoung. Do said “sorry, nope” and the next day Jae returns with “I will take the lead, I will be waiting for you to come (to me)”. Doyoung chases Taeyong, Jaehyun chases them both, insisting on being the third wheel. And he didn’t stop at “OK, I’m content with being friends”, he continued his advances with the “I will support him and become a better man he won’t be able to resist”. It’s quite unusual for a young idol to say something like “In order to become a great artist, I must first be a good person. A person who is true to oneself and is confident.” (Nylon interview, April 2017).

Plus Jae is bold with flirting and teasing. “I will corner you and fluster you, because now I know you are in love with me, no takies-backies.”

But that’s the rational side of him, the one that reasons that Doyoung singled him out and flirted back, so he has a chance, the one that reminds him that Doyoung is ready to show PDA before the other members and even foreign MCs, so his feelings are real. The animal side will be forever suspicious and worrying.

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truthbeetoldmedia · 6 years

Text

Killjoys 4x09 "The Kids Are Alright?" Review

Last week’s episode of Killjoys, written by Julian Doucet and directed by Stefan Pleszczynski, was an incredible ramp up to what I’m sure will be an equally intense and emotional finale on Friday. It has some of my favorite lines to date, and some absolutely incredible acting from Kelly McCormack (Zeph) and Atticus Mitchell (Pip), both of whom I already loved, but who hadn’t had as much of a chance to shine yet. There are a couple of emotional deaths (par for the course for the penultimate episode of a Killjoys season), but also some fun moments, including some goofy undercover outfits and Legolas and Gimli Fancy and D’avin competing for Hullen kills.

The Kids are Alright? opens with Delle Seyah in Khlyen’s lab on Arkyn, going through Khlyen’s research on the plasma, when suddenly the computer alerts her that there’s been a breach in the docking bay. The cameras are down, so as the intruders near, Delle Seyah hoists a massive cannon-like weapon — but it’s just D’avin and Johnny who burst through the door. They toss Jaq’s backpack in her direction and give her a recap: Osman is now going by Jaq, the Lady is after him, and Arkyn with Delle Seyah would be the safest place for him until they defeat the Lady. As D’avin goes to fetch Jaq and the rest of his gear, Delle Seyah explains to Johnny that she hadn’t returned to Qresh because she’s waiting until Aneela can rule by her side, and that she’s been tracking down Khlyen’s safe houses in search of a weapon he’d created to destroy the Lady. Luckily, we (and Team Awesome Force) found that very weapon — a spore that destroys and nullifies the plasma — just last week. Delle Seyah also reveals that since all the plasma has been frozen, she hasn’t been able to get back into the green space to reach Aneela. Seeing the pain on her face, Johnny tells her that he used to dream of seeing her hurt like this, after she killed Pawter. But, he promises her, they will find Aneela.

On Lucy, D’avin is packing Jaq’s clothes and belongings, labelling each item despite Jaq’s protest that he’s the only kid there. Dutch tells Jaq to be sure to learn from Delle Seyah — knives and guns aren’t the only way to fight. D’avin gets choked up at the thought of leaving Jaq behind, and when Jaq reassures him, “Dad, I’ll be fine,” he gets even more emotional, choking out “I was just getting used to [being called Dad].” Like Dutch told Jaq earlier, D’avin may be big and strong, but he’s made of marshmallow. D’avin gives Jaq a printout of his Killjoys ID photo, the only photo of himself he had. “Don’t forget me,” Jaq whispers into D’avin’s chest as they hug one last time. (Dutch told Jaq that D’avin would cry “like, snot-bubble hard” at the goodbye, but I’m the one who’s bawling here.) As Jaq walks away with Delle Seyah, D’avin shakily says to Dutch, “promise me, when you kill the Lady, you will make it hurt.” “Right through the heart, Papa Bear,” she responds.

At the Armada, Turin lays out the plan for getting the children back. Two teams will intercept Black Root ships, steal the Hullen uniforms, and take the Hullens’ places in order to infiltrate the Hullen-occupied RAC. On Westerly, D’avin and Fancy have taken out the Hullen and bicker about each other’s fighting styles, and decide to place a bet — if Fancy kills more Hullen on the RAC, he gets D’avin’s gun. If D’avin wins, he gets Fancy’s ponytail. But there’s time for that later — right now, it’s time to infiltrate the RAC. Weej and Turin’s team of Killjoys lead the charge, undercover in the first Black Root ship, with D’avin and Fancy’s ship following, and Dutch and Johnny bringing up the rear in Lucy. But as Weej pilots the ship toward the RAC, a force field suddenly appears as Weej’s ship smashes into it, vaporizing on impact. Turin rarely looks flustered, but the death of “his guy” Weej sends him reeling. The other two ships retreat to the Armada, and Johnny explains that, based on the final reading from Weej’s ship, the force field works like an immune system, only letting Hullen through. Weej should have been able to pass through, since he was ex-Hullen, but since there were humans on the ship as well, the field stopped the ship.

While Johnny works to figure out a way around the field, Dutch has Zeph look at the wound she seems to have gotten through Aneela. The scar looks years old, and as though it were caused by a laser or a brand. The intricate markings seem like they must be some sort of message. She runs the symbols through her database, and the closest match she finds is Scarback, so Zeph and Pip take a trip to go visit Fairuza, the ex-scarback monk. She identifies the mark as a shadow scar, the language of the scarbacks’ dead. Every scarback creates their own to be carved on their body at death. Each scar is made of 3 smaller symbols—the ones on Dutch’s back are “ascend/evolve,” “elixir,” and “disappear/dissolve.” Not that that clears anything up. Zeph tells Pip that she needs to think, with a meaningful look, and the two find a spare room to… bang some things out. It doesn’t do any good, though, and Zeph has no idea what to do with the meaning of the scar. As they lay on the bed, Pip asks Zeph about her necklace — “It’s from the Badlands, right? The freaky farmers on Leith with the bonnets and the babies?” “Also known as my family of origin,” Zeph responds. Pip apologizes, but Zeph shrugs it off, saying, “This is why I don’t do relationships with dudes.” (And yes, according to Kelly McCormack, who plays Zeph, Zeph is in fact “hella bi.”) Pip knows that their original arrangement was just sleeping together, but he wants to know her, and asks if they can talk. Still clearly stinging about his comment about her family, Zeph makes a snarky remark about them talking about how her sisters were treated like cattle and how fun it is to be shunned. She then says one of the most striking and relevant lines of the season, if not the show:

“If everything I want and everything I choose is just some message of trauma, what gets to be mine? When do I get to stop being a victim and get to be the authentic me?”

The two cuddle and talk some more, and you get the feeling that they’re becoming much more than “bang buddies,” as Pip so eloquently put it.

Lucy and Johnny find a patent for a device, called a regressor, that can alter one’s DNA for a short time. In theory, they can connect Johnny to both the device and the plasma Zeph had syphoned from Weej, and he can control the field, letting the Killjoys through. Until the seizures start. The only prototype is on Leith, with a hippie cult. So it’s time for, as Johnny puts it, “sass, wigs, and possible punching.” Dutch and D’avin don wigs and robes and join the hippies in the forests of Leith. They’re welcomed by the cult leader, who has Dutch put on a white glowing mask (that looks suspiciously like one of those anti-acne LED masks) and tells her that he will help her “unlock the potential of her genes” using the regressor. As he activates the device, Dutch experiences flashbacks of Aneela’s life, ending with her in the green space reaching out with the symbol carved on her hand. Dutch cries out, and D’avin pulls the mask from her face, ending the spell. They then knock the cult leader and his guards out, whip off their robes to reveal jumpsuits, put on baseball caps, and pretend to be taking the regressor out for maintenance. “Lots of confusion on the astral plane,” D’avin says, with Dutch adding, “The chakras are completely tits-up.”

While Dutch and D’avin are infiltrating the cult, Johnny works on a plan to get the green pool out of the RAC. He plans to use Khlyen’s jump cube to whisk the pool and its contents onto the Armada. While he works, Lucy notes that his dopamine levels have decreased since their return to the quad, and wonders if he’s worried about fitting into Dutch and D’avin’s lives, with them in a relationship. Johnny tells her that there’s no one he’d rather third-wheel with than “those dysfunctional dumplings,” but admits that he wishes he had someone himself. Lucy points out that he has her, and he smiles, saying “Always and forever, Lucy-girl.”

Now that they have the regressor, Johnny will be able to temporarily lower the field around the RAC, but if they don’t get back out before he has to disconnect from the regressor, they’ll be done for. Pree and Gared will rescue the children and head for Westerly, Fancy and D’avin will keep the Hullen away from Pree, Gared, and Dutch, and Dutch will get to the green pool, throw a transponder in so Lucy can use the jump cube to port it onto the Armada, and meet up with Fancy and D’avin. They’ll have about 30 minutes to do all this before Johnny’s brain starts rejecting the regressor. Let’s see if the plan works this time.

In the lab, Zeph is working on connecting the regressor to the green, when Pip surprises her wearing a Hullen uniform. Zeph insists that he doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone, but Pip is determined to go on the mission — after all, with Zeph and Johnny staying behind, they’ll need a designated geek. “Look, I can do the whole ‘I’m dying, not really living,’ thing, or I can dress up like a mime and go rescue a bunch of kids from the world’s worst sleepover,” he tells her. Zeph hugs him tightly, and tells him to make sure he rides with Dutch — she may hate him, but she owes Zeph, and an assassin is a good person to have as a bodyguard.

The three teams take off, and Zeph gets Johnny all hooked up. He apologizes for leaving her to do everything while they were missing, and promises that he’s going to help her fix both Dutch and Pip when this mission is over. Johnny successfully connects to both the regressor and the green, and the six make it onto the RAC. While Dutch and Pip crawl through the air ducts (Dutch grumping at Pip’s slowness), Pree and Gared blend right in with the Hullen controlling the RAC, easily making their way toward the kids. Fancy and D’avin scout ahead, clearing the way of any Hullen who might oppose them, and having a Legolas-and-Gimli-level competition to see who can kill the most Hullen. As Dutch and Pip drop out of the air vent (Pip half-slithering, half-caught by Dutch), Pip wheezes a little from the dust and asks Dutch if she brought his inhaler. (This has absolutely no bearing on the plot, but was too cute and goofy not to note!) Dutch drops the transponder into the green pool, Zeph sends the jump cube, and they successfully steal the pool. Pree and Gared get the kids onto the ship and head down to Westerly, but the others are still in the RAC, and the regressor is starting to reject Johnny. But just then, Johnny pulls his hand out of the green, saying that he felt the shield die. But that’s not as good of news as it sounds. The ship is going through a hard reboot, which will give the Hullen control over the RAC’s cannons. The green that powers the Armada’s engines is all still crystalized, so they can’t get out of range or raise their own shields. They don’t have enough time for Pip to hack into the system, and not enough manpower to take down all the cannons manually. The only option is to use Turin’s master code to set the whole station to self-destruct. But the code has to be entered manually — someone isn’t coming back.

Right about now you’re probably getting a sinking feeling about who the notorious Episode 9 death is going to be this season. Fancy, Dutch, and D’avin start arguing over who it should be, each suggesting themselves. But then Pip speaks up, saying, “Whatever RAC rises from these ashes, it’s gonna need Killjoys. And a designated asshole. It’s okay; I know I’m a dead man walking — it doesn’t scare me. The thing that put a spider in my brain, that does. And I know that you guys are the only ones that can stop it.” Dutch says that she can’t let him do it, that she promised Zeph she’d keep him safe. But Zeph would never forgive herself when she couldn’t find a way to save him, Pip points out. But she will get over him dying to save the rest of them. The three Killjoys salute Pip, as Turin sends the self-destruct code to him. In the lab, Zeph is totally unaware that her friend-with-benefits-turned-something-more is about to sacrifice himself. Johnny comes and tells her that they’re using the self-destruct code on the RAC. “But those have to be entered manually,” she protests, then realizes the somber look on Johnny’s face. “Dutch?” she asks. “No.” “Fancy?” She knows who it is by now, but is hoping against hope. As Pip prepares to input the code, the others safely away, Zeph’s voice comes over his coms. I can’t even describe the scene, in which Atticus and Kelly (who play Pip and Zeph, respectively) absolutely blow it out of the water and shatter my heart, so I’m just going to transcribe it.

“Pip?”

“I was wondering when you’d call.”

“I want you to get out of there, and I want you to do it now — do you hear me?”

“Then the RAC would blow you up, and I’m not cool with that.”

“Why are you doing this, Pip?”

“Because if I didn’t, then I’d probably never get laid again.”

“But I haven’t figured out how to get into the green yet. We have so much thinking to do. Just find Dutch — she’ll get you out; she’s magic!”

“You scientists don’t believe in magic.”

“I will if it’ll bring you back.”

(If you’re not crying by now, you don’t have a heart.)

“You’re looking at this the wrong way, Zephyr. A genius farm girl from Leith almost falling for a svelte loudmouth from Qresh? Hells if that ain’t magic.”

“Pip, I—”

“It’s okay, Zeph. I know.”

Pip starts the self-destruct sequence, and we watch as the RAC combusts into rubble. Turin looks shaken, having lost “his guy” and his second home in one day. Johnny holds Zeph as she sobs on the floor.

Later, we see our trio on Lucy recovering from minor brain surgery. They made a remnant of the knowledge of Jaq’s location, so that the Lady won’t be able to glean the information from their minds, and destroy the remnant. Once it’s all over, Jaq will find D’avin. Zeph comes onto Lucy, asking to speak with Dutch. She gives her all the information she’s found on the possible meanings of the symbols, and some ideas to serve as a springboard for John. She doesn’t even look Dutch in the eye. Dutch tells her that they need her, and that it was Pip’s choice, but Zeph points out that everyone knows that Pip made terrible life choices. “You know what they say about Team Awesome Force?” she asks. “They say, ‘D’av will take the bullet, John will fix what’s broken, and Dutch will bring you home.’ You were supposed to bring him home.” Dutch doesn’t know what to say to that, and Zeph runs out, tears streaking her cheeks.

On Westerly, D’avin watches the children running through the streets, and Fancy comes to collect his prize, since he beat D’avin by two in their Hullen-killing contest. He puts his hand out for D’avin’s gun, but as D’avin starts to hand it over, he pulls the trigger, hitting Fancy in the chest with a stun blast. “Now we’re tied,” he declares, striding toward the Royale. “Ex-Hullen count for two.” Inside, Dutch and Johnny are waiting with drinks. They toast to Pip, and Dutch takes a swig from her flask. After Zeph left, Dutch had another flash of Aneela and realized what the message was — she wasn’t just telling Dutch how to get in, she was telling her how to get Aneela out. Dutch staggers, and Johnny looks at what was inside her flask: green. “You’re the thief who saved my life,” she says, panting. “But you need a better guide.” She collapses to the floor and stops breathing. A moment later, she gasps and sits upright. You can immediately tell from just the way she breathes that it’s Aneela who lies before D’avin and Johnny (Hannah John-Kamen regularly blows my mind). We then go into the green space, where Dutch is now in Aneela’s place, sporting her signature braid, and says, “Hey Lady, miss me?”

I’ll be honest, I’m a little lost as to what the words “ascend/evolve,” “elixir,” and “dissolve/disappear” meant to Dutch. We saw flashes of Aneela draining herself of plasma in her cube, with the word “ascend,” Aneela drinking plasma, with “elixir,” and her disappearing into her green pool, with “dissolve,” and while I get the correlation between each of those, I’m not sure how that translated in Dutch’s mind to “I need to drink green to bodyswap with Aneela.” Other than that, though, it was a completely solid (if heartbreaking) episode! I’m really looking forward to seeing the boys interact with Aneela, especially since Dutch implied that Aneela will be of more help in figuring out how to defeat the Lady than Dutch would be — it reminded me of Waverly taking the demon goo back from Wynonna in Wynonna Earp since she knew that Wynonna would be able to figure out a solution better than she would.

Based on the trailer for the finale, it also looks like D’avin and Johnny go into the green, and Johnny in particular relives the moment when Delle Seyah killed Pawter at the end of season 2. I can’t help but wonder if they’re going to bring her back—after all, Aneela went into her memory and brought back a copy of her younger self (which became Dutch). Dutch and Aneela’s mother is also in the trailer, and I’m excited to see more of her (though it doesn’t look like they inverted her color palette, which I feel was a missed opportunity)! I’m not one of the lucky reviewers who received screeners this season, so this is all wild speculation, but I’ll see you right back here after the finale, where I’ll discuss and dissect and speculate about Season 5!

The Season 4 finale of Killjoys airs tonight at 10/9c on Syfy.

Michaela’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

#Killjoys #The Kids Are Alright?#Kelly McCormack #Atticus Mitchell

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zoeygreensimblr · 5 years

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Everything Has Changed (episode 1)

For our 18th birthday my twin sister Teresa and I made a pack, we were joining the gym. That was 6 months ago and we still hadn't stepped foot inside San Myshuno's Skye Fitness gym. We kept making excuses that the commute from Brindleton Bay would take forever, that we wouldn't get our homework completed and would end up failing our final year of school or we would get mugged going into the city but the truth is, like other packs made in the past, we knew we were never going to follow through...or so I thought.

Tess was not only my twin sister, she's also my best friend, we did everything together so when she announced to me this afternoon that there was no more excuses, that we were catching the train to the city and joining Skye Fitness, I knew there was no getting out of it.

We arrived at the gym just after 4pm, in time to start a boxercise class. The class by being ran by possibly the hottest guy Ive ever laid eyes on, tall, blonde, muscles and piercing blue eyes.

"welcome everyone, my name is Angus, I'll be your trainer this afternoon" he announced in voice that boasted such confidence, then his eyes met mine "I see we have some new faces today, have you girls done Boxercising before?"

"No we haven't but we did boxing in PE" Tess pipes up, as I stand there, unable to look away from Angus.

"Ah good, you should be great then but if you do have any issues just yell out and I'll come give you some one-on-one attention. What are your names anyway"

"I'm Teresa, well Tess for short"

Oh No, he's staring at me and I can't even remember my own name!!!

"And you are...?" He asks, those blue eyes locked with mine, I can feel my cheeks are starting to burn, what was my name? I know I have one, everyone has a name, why can't I remember my own name and why can't I pull away from his magnetic gaze. Luckily Tess is no stranger to social awkwardness and answers for me "That's Zoey, we're twins, not identical though".

That's Tess for you, she's a social butterfly, she can talk to anyone and everyone loves being around her, she has this amazing ability to make you feel like comfortable, as if you've known each other forever. She's also school captain this year which is no surprise since she's been bossing me around from the moment we were born. She creates the adventures and just drags me along but I'm not complaint, it's a constant blast being with her.

Boxercising was harder than what I thought it would be and so many times I just wanted to give up, run from the gym and back home where it was safe and nobody was forcing me to do activities that made sweat drip from every inch of skin on my body. My face felt like it was on fire and I was struggling to catch my breath between sets but there were two big reasons for staying:

1. Obviously I couldn't just run off and leave Tess there, I'd never hear the end of it, "I HAD to catch the train home by myself Zoey, BY MY SELF!!!!, You really let me down Zoey...AGAIN". Sometimes its just better to stick it out than to face the wrath of Tess.

2. If I left mid class then I'd never be able to face Angus again, I'd be so embarrassed that he would forever think of me as "The girl who was so unfit"

so I stayed and the more I started to struggle the more Angus was there to motivate me to keep going with his positive praise "You're doing awesome Zoey, take a small break if you need it though". By the end of the class I was starting to get the hang of it.

After class was over and everyone started to leave Angus approached Tess and I, "Great job tonight girls, you're naturals" He said, beaming a bright, beautiful smile at us both. "I was on our school's cheerleading squad so I knew this would be a somewhat easier for me than it would be for Zo, she's thin but unfit, we just got good genes hey ZoZo"

Thanks Tess, that doesn't embarrass me at all, now the hot trainer is going to think Im just some lazy sod who spends all day watching TV and eating chips.

"I exercise!!" that was the only thing Ive said to Angus this whole time, no examples to back it up, just blurting out that I do some sort of physical activity, he going to think Im some type of idiot who can't even hold a decent conversation....OK, well he wouldn't be too wrong on that account but still I don't was the man who looks like he was chiselled out of wood to be thinking I'm just a moron.

"It's all good Zoey" He says, as if reading my thoughts. "So, will I be seeing you two here more often? Im a personal trainer here at the gym, I take small groups between 1 and 3 people so I can help them focus in on what areas they want to work most on"

"we should do that Zoey, you need all the help you can get and I know nothing would motivate you more than having a gorgeous face to look at while you're being whipped into shape" Once again, Thanks Tess, always so tactful, my cheeks start burning up and Angus just flashes us that amazing smile. This is Hell, Im in social hell and my sister is just loving it and Angus, who is probably used to women falling for him all the time, is just enjoying the ego boost...all at my expense.

"We have to go, the train back to Brindleton Bay leaves in 20 minutes" Please Tess, can we go, get out of this situation, let me go home, climb into bed, pull the covers over myself and just wait to die from embarrassment, please!

But no, she won't have it, she's loves to be social, she also loves to see me squirm. "Zoey the trains run every 20 minutes, if we miss that one then there will be more, stop panicking" she rebuffs, rolling her eyes at me, "so the personal training, is that included in our membership or do we pay extra for that?"

Angus can see is she pitch has worked, that he had won over little miss social butterfly and he's getting socially awkward as an unwanted added bonus, great, now I'll be third wheeling their flirtfests, my life is complete.

"it's usually extra per person but I can do a 2 for one deal"

"Good, because I won't need that much work but Zoey here is going to need you to be all over her"

Why can't the Earth just open up and swallow me when I need it to?

"I think I can manage that" He flashes me that smile again and I feel my stomach fill with butterflies...or possibly I'm going to vomit. "Let me get your contact info so we can sign you up and Zoey, don't worry, I'll be gentle and I'll take it slowly to ease you into it ok?"

Great, now Im picturing him naked and all over me

"ok, thank you" I mumble while staring at the floor, I can no longer look him in the eye, this is just way too much.

"Tess, we really need to get going, it's getting late" I urge, hoping she will take the bait and we can get away from the "Mortification of Zoey Green"

"Alright Zoey, jeez, anyone would think you've got a hot date to rush home for" she laughs to herself

We board the train at 7pm, take our seats, facing each other but Im in no mood to talk to her, she ignores my sullen expression as she buzzes on about how great it will be to make the trip into the city every afternoon, how much fun we are going to have working out together, how attractive Angus is, how old she thinks Angus is, she thinks he wouldn't be a day over 24 and then she says something that gets my full attention

"He likes you Zoey, he couldn't take his eyes off you"

"He didn't like me Tess, he was most likely amused at the shit you were giving me and how far you could push it"

"No Zoey, Im never wrong about these things, that man wants to do more to you than just help you get fit, he wants to make you sweat and not just inside the gym"

Is it to late to ask to be adopted out?

#sims 4 gameplay #sims 4 city living #sims 4 get to work #sims4 #sims4simblr

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tabloidtoc · 3 years

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National Examiner, April 26

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Queen Elizabeth's royal rage

Page 2: Playing House -- famous best buds who shared the rent -- Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman, Ryan Reynolds and Michelle Williams, Robert Downey Jr. and Kiefer Sutherland, Danny DeVito and Michael Douglas

Page 3: Justin Long and Jonah Hill, Ving Rhames and Stanley Tucci, Eddie Redmayne and Jamie Dornan, Jason Priestley and Brad Pitt, Holly Hunter and Frances McDormand, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise

Page 4: Matt Damon's roles and costumes

Page 6: A Delaware state trooper went above and beyond the call of duty when he surprised a little boy with a brand-new pair of Steph Curry sneakers -- Trooper Joshua Morris and nine-year-old Ra'kir Allen got to be pals when they played basketball together, along with other youths in the area and when the good-hearted cop learned that Ra'kir thought NBA star Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was his idol, he got an idea, and after running the idea past Ra'kir's mother, the cop presented the aspiring sports star with his own pair of shoes -- Morris says cops should never be strangers to the people they protect, and he lives his belief every day

Page 7: Screen legend Bette Davis believed she had psychic abilities, says her assistant Kathryn Sermak, who met the legend in 1979 and was hired within five minutes of meeting her -- as her personal assistant, she was at Bette's service 24 hours a day, but the star was also very generous like if they were going to a film set, the job was seven days a week, but when it was over, she'd give Kathryn a paid vacation anywhere she wanted for as much as six weeks -- few people know that the screen idol loved to pull practical jokes on people; for instance, at cocktail hour, Bette would serve drinks in gag glasses that dribbled, and then when the liquid would pour onto her guests' expensive dresses or suits, she would innocently ask if they were okay -- the assistant also knew Bette's only child, Barbara Davis Hyman, known as B.D., whose father was Bette's third husband, Grant Sherry. Bette and her next husband, Garry Merrill, her co-star in All About Eve, also adopted two more children, Michael and Margot Merrill, but diagnosed with brain damage at age three, Margot has spent her life in institutions

Page 8: Saving Face -- take years off with simple makeup and skincare tips

Page 9: Vax Reax -- prepare for possible COVID jab side effects

Page 10: Billy Adams really knows how to get his daily steps in as the software exec walks 12 miles around Washington D.C. every day, picking up trash by hand -- during the lockdown, Billy took advantage of working from home to find a daily routine that was good for his physical and mental wellbeing, and helps beautify the city he loves -- starting in June, he began to choose a different 12-mile route every day, no matter the weather, Billy crossed from his Maryland home over into D.C. for a three-hour loop, starting at 8:30 a.m., and he picks up trash along the way and dumps bags of it into garbage cans on his route

Page 11: Tips for getting a restful night -- some tried-and-true tips for getting some rejuvenating rest

Page 12: Olivia Newton-John knows a thing or two about survival: she's had breast cancer three times over the past 28 years and has worked tirelessly to save her own life and the lives of others with her extensive research into natural remedies -- the 72-year-old Grease star says she and her husband John Easterling, who founded the Amazon Herb Company to help the world recognize the benefits of the Amazon Rainforest plants, have developed an approach called integrative medicine. It's a mix of doctor-recommended treatments and those from their own research

Page 14: Dear Tony, America's top psychic healer Tony Leggett -- never too late for romance, it will take work

Page 15: Tom Cornish is 96 years old, but age hasn't slowed him down from knitting up a storm of kindness -- over the past year, the Minnesota World War II veteran has donated nearly 500 winter hats in eye-catching colors to the Salvation Army, where he does volunteer work, and he hand-made each and every one of them

Page 16: Keeping the Peace -- TV has its share of great cops, but here are the ten best TV cops of all time -- T.J. Hooker, "Pepper" Anderson, Joe Friday, Andy Sipowicz, Richard "Hutch" Hutchinson, Kate Beckett, Lennie Briscoe, Olivia Benson, Frank Reagan, Sheriff Andy Taylor

Page 18: When a North Carolina school entered custodian Raymond Brown in the state's School Hero Award, he lost to someone else, so they made their own ceremony and gave him $35,000

Page 19: A group of ATV riders got the scare of their lives when one of their dogs stepped off the edge of a steep cliff and kept going, according to Steven Hawkins, president of the Utah ATV Association, who call themselves The Wild Bunch -- they immediately swung into action action to rescue stranded pooch Summer and got together and each took a hold of a rope with Steven at the end, climbing slowly down the face of the rocks as the others held on while looking on in horror, but in the end, the group found the strength to pull man and dog from the cliff face to safety

Page 20: Cover Story -- Queen Elizabeth is on the warpath -- palace aides are walking on eggshells around Her Majesty ever since Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle dropped the bombshell on American TV that the royal family is a racist mess who completely ignored Meghan's mental health problems, among other horrifying accusations, and the queen will never get over the fact that Harry, without warning, turned his back on his own country and the people Elizabeth has served every day of her 95 years and she's also terrified the royal family's circus-like antics will bring on the end of the monarchy

Page 22: A California couple who were just about to retire drastically changed their plans when they adopted seven children -- Pam and Gary Willis have five children of their own and have been foster parents to many others and just as their last child was about to leave home, Pam spotted a Facebook advertisement searching for a forever home for seven kids from ages 15 to 4 whose parents had been killed in a tragic car crash -- Pam says she couldn't stop staring at their faces, saying she can't explain it, but she just knew she was supposed to be their mom and when she told Gary, she thought he'd call her a wacko because they were just about to retire, but surprisingly he agreed and they both felt it was what God wanted them to do

Page 24: High school senior Dasia Taylor is only 17, but she's going down in medical history for inventing sutures that detect if a wound is infected -- the brilliant student was named as one of 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the nation's most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors -- Dasia's sutures, which took a year to perfect, work by changing colors if the patient's PH level alters and the level changes quickly when a wound is healing and goes bad, so she began experimenting with beets, and she found that beets changed color at the perfect PH point and that's perfect for an infected wound -- the color changes from bright red to a dark purple when a wound becomes infected so it's easy to see with the naked eye and Dasia envisions the stitches being used in developing countries, so that infection can be detected with no advanced equipment -- Dasia's goal is to attend Howard University and become a lawyer

Page 25: 4 signs you may have weak bones

Page 26: Sentimental baseball fantasy Field of Dreams hit a home run with its poignant story of second chances, and as the one-of-a-kind movie celebrates its 32nd anniversary, here are some of the secrets behind the classic motion picture

Page 28: Wisdom of the stars -- inspirational quotes to light your way -- Javier Bardem, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michelle Obama, Brad Pitt, Diana Ross, Justin Timberlake, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway

Page 29: Beyonce, Barack Obama, George Clooney, Sidney Poitier, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Ariana Grande

Page 32: Get Insects to Bug Off -- save your picnic and your sanity with DIY tricks

Page 40: Chakras -- Your powers begin within -- what chakras are and what they do

Page 42: 10 facts about Law & Order: SVU

Page 44: Eyes on the Stars -- Blake Shelton says he's hoping for a summer wedding with fiance Gwen Stefani, Sylvester Stallone is writing a potential TV prequel to his Rocky film franchise, Tara Reid recently wiped out on the red carpet in six-inch platform heels, Evelyn Sakash who worked on art direction on Mermaids was recently found dead in her NYC home months after she was reported missing in September 2020, Dancing with the Stars pro Sharna Burgess recently made her red carpet debut in Malibu with beau Brian Austin Green, Jeffrey Dean Morgan admits he's still shocked about The Walking Dead coming to a close later this year, Martha Stewart made waves last summer when she posted a sultry selfie on social media and admits she got so many proposals and so many propositions

Page 45: Rita Moreno attends the SAG Awards via video (picture), Selena Gomez and Martin Short shares some giggles on a NYC set (picture), Mary Steenburgen playfully serenades husband Ted Danson (picture), Helen Mirren (picture), Joe Giudice recently met Luis "Louie" Ruelas who is the current boyfriend of his former wife Teresa Giudice, Salma Hayek has joined the cast of House of Gucci playing clairvoyant Pina Auriemma, Ben Affleck gushed over ex Jennifer Lopez in a recent interview

Page 46: Two best friends are even closer after one rescued the other using CPR, a single day after she completed a course on how to administer the life-saving technique -- Torri'ell Norwood, age 16, was at the wheel when a speeding driver rammed her car, sending it hurtling smack into a tree and the St. Petersburg, Florida teen climbed through the window to safety when her door wouldn't open, and two of her three passengers also managed to get out, but her BFF A'zarria Simmons was still inside the wreck unconscious -- Torri'ell had just completed her CPR training the day before and knew what to do so she pulled her pal from the vehicle and, when she couldn't find a pulse, administered 30 compressions and two rescue breaths until A'zarria regained consciousness and paramedics soon arrived and rushed the girl to a hospital

Page 47: Get out of the wind and rain, or just find some shade, while you wait for the next bus in these quirky, fruit-shaped sculpture bus stops -- the idea began in Japan and is now spreading to other countries, so don't be surprised to see a super-sized piece of fruit at the end of your block in the near future

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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