#initially planned three parts but they're getting so long so maybe more??

[kinardsevan]

something something about Tommy being in the army and finally feeling free to be himself at least a little bit because he no longer lives with his father, and even though he's living in the world of DADT, meeting a boy in basic, falling for him a little.

They're assigned to the same platoon, ship out to Iraq together, know their lives are on the line, but what starts out as a friendship becomes something more, with them sneaking around, stealing moments where they can, even though it's not safe.

And the thing is, it's good. It's really good. They're moving through the ranks, getting their jobs done, even dealing decently well when they get separated for more extensive training in different squads.

It goes on a few years. Maybe things get a little messy here and there. After all, they're 20-year-olds in a war zone, trying to figure life out. And there's never a family introduction because no one can know, but they fall in love. When they're lucky enough to get a short trip home, it should be great because they're safe, but it sucks because it's at different times.

And then about three and half years in, Tommy gets an offer. He's shown interest in becoming a warrant officer, is finishing up the degree required to pursue it, and his battalion chief wants to put his name in for the next round.

Except, his boyfriend is looking at special forces. That would split them up, send them in different directions, keep them apart for far longer than they ever have been before.

So initially, Tommy says no. Special Forces includes flying, even if it isn't the forefront of things. He presents himself as showing interest there, even though it's not really what he wants.

Weeks turn into months, and things fall apart. His boyfriend knows it's not what he wants, even though Tommy's trying to force it. It gets to a point where all they do is fight. Conversation about being a warrant officer comes back up. He wants to say no, but his boyfriend tells him he should say yes. He agrees to attend a meeting with the guy in charge, gets held back when his team is sent out on a basic retcon mission.

Except. Half the team doesn't come back. Unexpected enemy combatants, they say. No way they could've known, they say. Their team members died heroes, they say.

And Tommy sinks. In to grief, into depression, into loss. He doesn't get to tell anyone the real reason why. He doesn't even get to attend the funerals. But yet, in the midst of it all, things are going right. More right than he'd like, but right. He gets into warrant officer school. He gets to learn how to fly helicopters. He gets commendations through it all.

And it's not okay. It never just becomes something he's alright with living with. But one day, a few decades down the line on a bad night, Eddie mentions losing his whole platoon. Tommy tells him about the day half his team died in a shoot-out. When Evan picks him up from the bar later that night and takes him home, he tells him the part he didn't tell Eddie. Tells him about the boy he fell in love with half a world away in the middle of a combat zone. About the life he had planned in his head even though he knew even at 21 that it was unrealistic and would never happen. And Evan listens, because he's told Tommy about Abby and what that did to him, and he's not sure what he would've done if Abby had died.

For the first time in a long time, Tommy lets himself cry about it. It's not something he dwells on much--his life is different now, and he has Evan, who he sees an entire future with, beyond what just exists inside his head. A future with Evan is tangible, exists beyond a tiny sandpit in a war zone. It's a whole life with a family, siblings, impending plans to bring home a pet soon (they keep going back and forth over a black cat or golden retriever), more talk about what the future holds. But for one night, he lets himself grieve the past and the life he didn't get. He lets down the walls he keeps up around his own trauma, lets Evan see beneath the façade.

(this was literally like a three sentence idea I had this afternoon. oops.)

[bella-rose29]

Puppy

Request from anon:

hiiiii, first I wanna say that I enjoy reading your works, they're wonderful. <3

Now, I've seen you post about wanting Lockwood requests and I might have an idea. Lockwood and reader are in long-term relationship (they know each other since childhood, the reader is talentless but Lockwood comes to her when he need to relax/help with a plan/whatever), and no-one knows about the relationship besides them. And after some rough case when kipss crew had to help out, Lockwood and co and kipss crew are drinking in a bar to ease up (the reader works in the bar as part-time job) and in the drunken state Lockwood is even more confident than normally so someone makes a bet with him that he won be able to get a kiss out of the bartender (the reader) by the end of the night... I don't really know what after but maybe you'll be able to find a fluffy/funny ending to it?

I hope I'm making sense.

Have a nice day! :)))

First of all, thank you for the love anon, and I hope you have a nice day too!! <3

Second, I am completely in love with this idea (it's totally something Lockwood would do let's face it) and I had so much fun writing this!!!

Hopefully this lives up to expectations my lovely <3

Word count: 3.5k

Warnings: descriptions of injury, fight scenes (with dead people), swearing, suggestive comments, drunken activities (mostly Lockwood), everybody is over 18 so they can legally drink in the pub

Tag list: @anathemaloren, @augustisintheair, @avdiobliss, @dangelnleif, @el-de-phi, @ell0ra-br3kk3r, @karensirkobabes, @mitskiswift99, @mrsklockwood, @mrsyixingunicorn10, @ran23sblog, @superpositvecloudshipper, @t2sh0, @taygrls, @tournesol77, @wandamaximoffbae, @whenselenefallsinlove, @wordsarelife

As always, if you'd like to be added to/removed from the tag list, let me know here <3

(not my gif <3)

Lockwood was tired.

He'd barely slept the night before, despite not having a case, and he'd barely eaten the whole day. It was nearing 7pm now, the sun having set over an hour ago and leaving the city in almost darkness. There would be no sleeping tonight, either, since he and his company had to tackle a Type One in an old lady's house. All Lockwood really wanted was to see her, and have her tell him stories about her day until he fell asleep in her arms, but he couldn't do that right now. Hopefully this would be done quickly, this job, so that he could get to hers before she went to sleep.

Lockwood and Co had been in the kitchen of Mrs Lovey's house for a while now, cups of tea left empty on the counter and the packet of biscuits finished off. Initial readings had been low, giving Lockwood hope that they really would be done quickly, and they'd made note of the likely places for the Source.

"Lockwood? You're staring into space again. You alright?"

He blinked back into reality, pulling himself out of his thoughts of warm rooms and soft kisses.

"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I'm alright. Just surprised this Visitor hasn't turned up yet." He checked his watch. "Time for another reading in the living room?"

George nodded. "I'll go first."

The three of them headed in, rapiers at the ready.

"One degree. And a feeling of unease. It's definitely getting close to being here."

"Never mind close, I can see it," Lockwood whispered, taking up a defensive position.

"Yeah, I can hear it, too. Sounds like someone crying. I don't think this is a Type One either," Lucy added, and Lockwood couldn't help but agree.

"Any murders or anything happen here, George?"

"Not that I'm aware of, and I researched for days for this one. Didn't find anything out of the ordinary."

"Male or female, Luce? The voice."

"Uh, hang on, shut up a minute." She closed her eyes, focusing her efforts on Listening. "Male. Definitely. Sounds older, and like he's got some sort of trauma."

"Right. George, you figure out where the Source is. Lucy and I will watch it, make sure it doesn't go for you. Can either of you see it yet?"

"Not really. There's a sort of shiny mist over by that armchair, though," George said, pointing in the direction of the ratty old seat.

"Yeah, okay. That's where it is. Lucy?"

"Same as George. Getting stronger though. Maybe the chair is the Source?"

"Could be. George?"

"You're sure you've got my back, yeah? Because I really can't see it that well right now and I'd rather not die tonight."

"We're sure. Go on, have a poke around."

George did so, hesitantly getting closer to the chair and holding the scanner up. "Yeah, the Source is here somewhere." He prodded the side, and Lockwood saw Lucy flinch.

"It didn't like that at all. God, that was awful. Wait, George, don't-"

She slammed her hands over her ears, trying to block out the scream that even Lockwood could hear now.

"George, get the net," he cried out, rapier moving swiftly as the Visitor grew brighter and aimed for the head of the company.

"Incredibly clear visual, Lockwood! Lucy was right, it's definitely a Type Two!"

"GET THE NET, GEORGE!"

Lockwood had been backed into a corner, arm starting to ache from the continuous motion of the rapier holding off the ghost in front of him. Lucy had recovered (just about), and was picking up her rapier to help him. Sensing a second opponent, the ghost turned, and targeted Lockwood's coworker. The two of them spent the next few minutes sending the Visitor between them while George repeatedly chucked the net over various parts of the chair, expression growing more frantic each time.

"George, what's going on?!" Lucy shouted.

"It's not working! I don't think the chair is the Source! Or if it is, it's inside the chair!"

"Then get searching! Rip the whole bloody thing apart if you have to! But get on with it!" Lockwood gritted his teeth, fighting off the cold unease he felt flooding through his body. He thought of her, and her smile, and her laugh, and pushed back twice as hard against the Visitor. At some point he'd injured himself, the cut on his upper left arm bleeding slightly, but he couldn't think about that until the ghost was dealt with.

"GOT IT!" George shouted, voice triumphant. He slung the net around the object he'd found, and all at once the living room went silent apart from the heavy breaths of the three agents. The ghost disappeared, and the temperature started rising. George sat back on his knees and held the swaddled object up, bits of foam stuffing caught in his curls. "Knife, it's got blood on it. I'd wager she killed her husband. There was a cut already made in the back, made it easier to find." He looked vaguely manic, what with his wide grin and foam-covered hair, but Lockwood couldn't deny his gratitude for his weird friend.

"I reckon we need to have a chat with DEPRAC, then. Mrs. Lovey clearly doesn't live up to her name," he replied, smile matching George's.

~~~

Half an hour later, Lockwood was on his way to hers. He'd left George and Lucy in the taxi, telling them he had something to sort out and he'd be back later, and to not wait up for him, and had caught his own cab to his destination.

He dragged himself up the front steps, knocking on the front door, and couldn't help the smile that appeared when it swung open to reveal his girlfriend.

"Jesus Christ, you look like shit."

"Charming as ever, love. Can I come in?"

Y/n stepped to the side, giving him a peck on the lips as he went past. "Shoes off, then up to my room. I'll be there in a sec. Gimme your coat, I'll hang it up for you."

He pulled himself up to her room, trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to wake her siblings, and collapsed on her bed.

"Look at you. You're like a puppy, all cute and cuddly."

He lifted his head as Y/n walked in, closing the door behind her with a soft click as she balanced a tray in her hands.

"Jacket off. And shirt."

"If you wanted me naked you could have just said so, darling." He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively, revelling in her blush.

"Shut up and strip, Anthony," she mumbled.

He complied, smirk turning into smile as he saw the medical supplies on the tray, right next to a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"What even happened?"

"Honestly? No clue. Type One turned out to be a Type Two murder victim though, so that was fun."

"You know, there are times I wish I had Talent. Then you come here looking like this and saying things like that and I wonder why I ever wanted it in the first place. Easy on the shirt, I think it's stuck." He'd winced trying to peel the fabric away from the wound, and Y/n immediately replaced his fingers with hers, touch gentle as she attempted to prise his shirt off. Sucking in air through her teeth as she got it off, Lockwood knew it was bad. It had been a dull throb the whole time he'd been travelling over, too exhausted to think about it more, but now that he had nothing else to think about the pain sharpened.

"This is gonna hurt, okay? I'm just gonna sterilise it, so try not to move. Three, two..." He waited for one, but before she got there, Y/n had placed the cotton wool on his arm, dabbing the alcohol on the wound. He gritted his teeth, asking her about her day. She spoke while she worked, cleaning it out and covering it in protective wrapping. Her voice distracted him, letting him lose himself in her words, and she was done before he knew it, pouring a cup of tea and offering it out to him. "Put this on," she said, passing over an old shirt of his that he left at hers specifically for times like this.

"Do you really want me to?"

"No, but if it means that when my parents inevitably walk in they don't kick you out forever, I'll live with it." He laughed slightly, placing the tea down and pulling the top on, careful not to disturb his wound.

"You know you don't have to do that, right? I'm perfectly capable of looking after my own injuries."

"I know," she shrugged, sitting down next to him on the bed. "But I don't mind. Just another excuse to be close to you, I guess."

"You don't need an excuse for that, love. You know I'll happily give you anything you like."

"Anything?"

He nodded.

"Alright," she said, leaning up to plant a kiss on his lips, breaking away when their smiles got too wide.

"I thought you were going to make me dance naked in the street or something." Her eyes went wide as she took in his words.

"Oh my god, I am totally making you do that sometime."

He groaned, unable to fight the smile on his face as she peppered his cheeks with kisses, finally pressing one to his mouth.

"Remind me why I love you?"

"Because I'm amazing, and the most incredible person ever?"

He chuckled, kissing her again. "Yeah. You are."

~~~

"Where the hell have you been, Tony? We've been waiting for you!"

"Just had some last minute things to sort out, don't get your knickers in a twist, Kipps. Oh, thanks Luce," he said, smiling at the girl as she handed him a flask of tea. He'd actually been at Y/n's, spending time with her before her shift at the pub. He'd almost been late, her parents wanting him to stay for dinner (he had politely declined, reminding them that he had a job to go to as well as their daughter), and her younger siblings wanting him to play with them. Lockwood and Y/n's parents had been friends since before either of them were born, at one point the two families living next to each other on Portland Row, and it was only the arrival of the fourth baby five years ago that had made the L/n family move. It had only been natural that Anthony and Y/n started dating, having been childhood friends, and her parents were delighted at the pairing. Unfortunately that now meant that they wanted him to spend every spare minute at their house, which more often than not made him slightly late for work.

"I'm not wearing knickers," the older boy muttered indignantly, clearly unable to come up with a good enough retort.

"Oh, are these the files? Thanks George."

"Wait, have you not even read these?" Kipps said, eyebrows rising.

"Of course I have, just not the whole compiled thing. I'm not stupid." Kipps scoffed at that.

"Yeah, sure you're not, Tony. C'mon. Hurry up and read, we're late because of you and we need to set everything up before it gets dark."

~~~

Three hours later, the two teams were close to death.

Both in the sense that they were run ragged, energy severely depleted and bodies aching, and also in that they were completely surrounded by ghosts, Type Ones and Types Twos blocking every exit. The report had said that there were only meant to be two Spectres in the whole abandoned department store, but before it had even been properly dark Lucy had heard voices crying out and shouting, and Lockwood had seen death glows so bright he'd needed his sunglasses.

"Tony, what the hell are you doing?!"

He was taking a break, eyes aching from the brightness surrounding them and arm protesting the weight of his rapier. He scanned the area, sure that Lucy would have his back for a moment, and spotted something through a gap in the Visitors.

"Lucy?"

"What?!"

"I need you to not kill me and cover me with flares."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to run through the ghosts."

"You're WHAT?!"

"What? What's he saying?" Kipps was trying to get closer to them, rapier cutting arcs into the air and not giving him much headway.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Lucy glared at him, grabbing some flares from her belt.

"Yep. Ready?" She threw, the magnesium creating a break in the swarm of ghosts large enough for Lockwood to cut through. He made it to the other side (although a near miss from a badly aimed flare made him think that Lucy was trying to hit him and not the Visitors), trying to block out the sounds of his team mates yelling as they fought swathes of the undead. He ducked under a chair that a poltergeist had thrown, dodging the knives hurled afterwards. Skidding to a halt in front of a large iron box filled with objects, the lid hanging open, Lockwood slammed it shut, throwing a net over the top for good measure and securing the edges. Within seconds the majority of the Visitors disappeared. A few still remained, including the two poltergeists, but the number was much better.

The two teams spent the next thirty minutes finding the various Sources of the remaining ghosts, all the while trying to not get hit by the items the poltergeists were throwing, and by the end of it when Kipps suggested going to the pub, nobody disagreed.

~~~

Lockwood and Co were in the taxi on their way to the pub when George piped up.

"Why'd you agree to going to the pub with Kipps? I would have thought you'd rather eat your own foot than spend more time with him."

"I need a drink, and he said he'd buy the first round. If it's free, I'll take it. I don't really care who's buying it, even if it's Kipps."

They clambered out the taxi, Lockwood paying the driver and jogging to catch up with the other two just as they entered the pub. Spotting Kipps' team already sat down, the three of them headed over, taking seats and giving their order to the older agent. Lockwood looked around, certain he recognised the building but unsure why, when his gaze caught on the girl behind the bar.

Ah.

Of course the pub Kipps picked was the one that Y/n worked at. Lockwood had been here before, which is why he thought it was familiar, but nobody knew about his relationship with the bartender. Kipps came back with the drinks then, one of the other servers following with the rest and asking for ID. Taking his first sip, Lockwood felt himself relax a little more, happy to not be going anywhere for a while after the gruelling job earlier.

~~~

"You," Lucy pointed at him, "are so drunk right now."

"Seriously, you cannot hold your alcohol, can you Tony?"

"Don't call me Tony, you prick." It was true that Lockwood was a lightweight, and he knew it, but he grumbled about the accusation anyway. Kipps only laughed, not doing much better than his rival in terms of handling alcohol, and took another swig of his beer.

"You're probably rubbish at picking up girls, too. Y'know, you're probably rubbish at every normal guy thing."

"Shut up, I can so pick up girls." He wasn't going to let Kipps tell him he was bad at anything.

"Oh really?"

"Yep. Amazing at it."

"Bet you can't get a kiss out the bartender though."

"Which one," he said, hoping Kipps would pick the right one.

"The one in the blue top, about your age. In fact, I am so confident you'll be shit at this, I'll bet ten quid you can't do it."

"Oh you're on," Lockwood said, knowing already he'd win the bet. Kipps had unknowingly picked Lockwood's girlfriend, and this would be the easiest ten pounds of his life.

"I'll bet a tenner too. I'm looking forward to watching you fail dramatically," Kat Godwin added, smirk on her face. Bobby placed his own bet, and soon enough there was fifty quid on the line, with George and Lucy agreeing with Kipps.

"Off you go, Lockwood," Lucy smiled, giving him a pat on the back. "Try not to traumatise the poor girl."

"Oh, just you all wait," he slurred, pointing a finger at them. "This is gonna be easyyyy." He headed for the bar, confidence filling him and giving him the ability to walk a lot straighter than he would otherwise have. He leaned forward on the wooden surface, fingers drumming against it. "Heyyy," he said, smiling up at his girlfriend as he slid (unsuccessfully) onto a stool.

"Hi... you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm great, and you," he wagged his finger at her, pausing for effect, "are gorgeous." He winked, and she suppressed a laugh, making him pout. "Why're you laughing? It's true!"

"Ant, honey, you are very drunk right now. Please go home," she said, pressing a hand to her mouth to stop the giggles bursting out.

"But I can't go home," he said, suddenly very serious.

"Oh really? Why's that?"

"Because I need a kiss if I'm gonna go home." He puckered up immediately, leaning forward over the bar and closing his eyes.

"Oh my god, Anthony, stop it!"

"Aw, do you not wanna kiss me?" He pouted again, and Y/n couldn't stop her laughter anymore. Lockwood sat back, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing. "Well, I'm not going away until I get a kiss from the prettiest bartender person lady that I've ever seen, so you'll have to get used to me being here."

"Okay, alright! Lemme serve this customer, yeah?" She turned away, leaving Lockwood to stew in his seat at her lack of kisses. Waiting for her to come back to him felt like an eternity, and when she came around the bar to stand next to him, he perked up, half launching himself at her. "Woah! Hold on, Ant! Jesus!" He was still sat on the stool, Y/n being only slightly taller than him despite being stood up, and he pulled her between his legs, arms wrapping around her waist. "Wait, what about your friends? I thought they didn't know?"

"Don't care, jus' wanna kiss you. There's a share of fifty pounds in it for you," he said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows like he had a few weeks ago when she'd patched him up.

"Oh wow, you really love me, huh? Kissing me for money?" she asked sarcastically, but her eyes were warm. He nodded, dopey look on his face.

"Please? 'Cause Kipps said I can't pick up girls, and he bet money that I couldn't get a kiss out of you, and then the others bet money too, and mostly I wanna prove him wrong, but also I want the money so I can take you on the most amazing date in your life and get you ice cream."

"You are such a golden retriever puppy of a boyfriend, aren't you? Come here." She took his face in her hands, placing a few soft kisses on his mouth. His arms tightened around her waist, holding her closer to him, and Y/n had to brace a hand on the bar so that she didn't fall over from the awkward angle. When she pulled back, he chased her lips for a moment, opening his eyes slowly. His gaze was full of love, and he had a gentle smile on his face.

"I love you, Y/n/n."

"Love you too, Ant. Now get your fifty pounds and drink some water."

"Ugh, but water's boringgg," he complained, frown forming on his face. Y/n chuckled, kissing the crease between his eyebrows.

"I'll give you more than kisses when you come over on Saturday if you sober up." Lockwood stopped frowning immediately, and Y/n could practically feel the happiness radiating off of him.

"Where's the water?"

~~~

"Shit, how'd you do that, Tony?"

Lockwood shrugged. "I'm just really good at picking up girls."

"Sure, is that vodka?"

"Nope, water."

"Why have you got that?" Kipps wrinkled his nose, handing over his portion of Lockwood's winnings.

"Because she told me to drink it," he said, sipping the liquid through the straw he'd asked for (it made drinking boring things more fun, he'd told Y/n).

"Uh... okay?"

"Yeah. I feel like- hang on, Lucy, where's your tenner? Thanks. I feel like it's a little bit unfair, the bet, 'cause she is actually my girlfriend, but- no, you can't take the money back! You made a bet! No take-backs! But thanks anyway."

"So you can't pick up girls!" Kipps shouted, thinking he'd finally found something Anthony Lockwood couldn't do.

"Well technically I can, 'cause I had to pick her up in the first place to get her to be my girlfriend, and also she's not that heavy, so I can definitely pick her up if she doesn't wriggle too much. I know 'cause I've done it before."

Kipps groaned. "Wait... she just told you to drink water, so you are?"

"Yep. She's very persuasive. Basically said that if I drink it all then when I go to her house on Saturday we're gonna have sex," he said casually.

Everybody around the table choked on their drinks.

[olsenmyolsen]

Ups and Downs

master list

dark master list

Slight MCU AU (Female Reader X Natasha Romanoff)

Summary: Your neighbor across the hall isn't anything like you thought she'd be.

Word Count: 3.5K

TW: Men, Guns, Violence, Bad Flirting

Your life has always been a series of ups and downs.

After graduating from university, your life took a turn. Some would say for better. Some would say for worse.

You got the dream job you wanted! But it took you to a brand new country away from everyone you knew.

Your girlfriend, who you planned to propose to, was happy for you! But she wasn't happy enough to stay.

You got a cat! A pet you always wanted! But it turns out it wasn't a stray. It was your neighbor's cat who loved to wander the streets.

So yeah. These last six months haven't been your brightest time. But you tried to be a glass-half-empty person: greener pastures and all that jazz.

So when your neighbor with the whore of a cat moved out, you were determined to become friends with whoever moved in.

Oh yeah, you also needed friends...

So the day you were walking up the stairs to your apartment and, a redhead you've never seen before whizzed by you. You got excited! But before you could even open your mouth, they were gone.

Okay. They're speedy, you noted. You'll catch 'em next time.

Except you didn't. Because unbeknownst to you, the redhead didn't just get home late. They got back home past 4 in the morning. Hair flowing in different directions. Her leather jacket scuffed up as if she was in a bar fight. The bruises on her face would give that impression, too. Plus, she was quiet.

So quiet that you failed to notice that the redhead had been living in her new home for three days prior.

She would roll her eyes at that word. Home. Sure, the apartment was very nice. Had all the parts she needed. But she didn't care where she was stashed as long as she got the job done. Plus, home wasn't a word for her. It never existed in her eyes.

Well, maybe once, but.. never mind.

"Clint, I got the intel, but I'm gonna need a few more days." Your neighbor spoke into her flip phone with such conviction. "Look, the guys I'm tracking can lead to something bigger. Just give me a few more days. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I'll be waiting for his call." She threw her phone down onto the round wooden dining room table before bending back into the uncomfortable chair.

She knew she should get up. Go take a hot shower. Bandage up her knuckles and tend to her bruises. But with each blink happening in rapid succession. The redhead fell asleep while sitting upright in a chair that her back would curse for years to come.

Across the hall, hours later, you had already gone on your Saturday walk, had your breakfast, showered, and not so subtly waited for any signs of life coming from the woman you saw once. Was it weird? Maybe. Maybe yes. But even you would admit you were desperate for a friend. Or anybody who wasn't stuck in a screen when you wanted to talk. Plus, she was pretty. Or so you think. She had a cap on and dark glasses when you saw her yesterday, but her jacket looked incredible, and she had cute pink lips.

Not that you noticed!!

So, with it creeping closer to early afternoon, you decided to take the initiative. Standing here in front of her door, you were about to knock when a voice stopped you. "Excuse me." Turning to your right, you were met with a tall, broad, shouldered man. Black hair. Dressed in black. The vibe you were feeling wasn't right. Back in the States, you would guess he worked for the mob. "Yes?" You asked, looking him up and down.

"Sorry to bother you. But I'm having trouble finding my friend. She says she lives in this building, but I can't seem to find her. About this tall." He raises his hands just past your head. "Red hair." Oh shit. "She has a if looks could kill kinda attitude as well." He forces out a chuckle you know to be fake. But you fake laugh with him. Afraid of what will happen if he knows you've seen her or if he finds her.

"Wow, she sounds like quite the character. But no, I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that here." You lie through your teeth. Something you don't like to do, but you're just hoping he doesn't notice. "Oh really?" The man's face turns from a fake smile to a fake frown. "Yeah, I'm really sorry." You shrug. You think that'll be it too. Thinking the man will leave with a simple no, I don't know her. But he's a man. They take no for an answer.

"Are you sure? Because I thought maybe this was her place?" He points to the door you're both in front of. You look from his eyes to the door. Shit. Think! "Oh no." You shake your head. "I mean, unless your friend turned into an old woman with a tabby cat who has a knack for playing gin rummy every Tuesday night, then I don't think so. The woman plays cards, not that cat! Although maybe we could teach him-"

"Okay, sorry to bother you." Without another question or look from the man, he turns his back to you and starts walking down the stairs. Frustrated with the answer you gave. Quietly, you move closer to the banister as he descends, hoping he'll prove his real intentions for being here. To your surprise, he does when he reaches the bottom floor.

"Yeah, I checked. She's not here, but..." His voice fades out as you faintly hear the doors to your building open and close. Turning around now, you have a different mindset about the woman across the hall. Before, you were simply going to ask if they had any allergies you needed to know about. Because you planned on making them homemade bread. Banana, to be specific. Well, if she could eat it. But now that was the last thing on your mind. When you looked at the door now, you can't help but feel bad for how much trouble she seems to be in. Taking a few steps closer, you ready yourself to knock on it again. Hoping to find answers.

"Okay, knock in 3..2..." Before you can even process 1, the door opens, and you get pulled into the room with a force you've never felt. Firm hands grip themselves to your arm before turning your body around in a flash so they have a hold around your waist. Keeping your face away from seeing them. You feel her body against yours, quickly short-circuiting your brain before the loud slam of the front door snaps you out of your thoughts.

Scanning the room around as quickly as possible while your neighbor holds you tight from moving, you see things you've never seen before. Files spread across the room in another language—a sniper positioned in the window and lots and lots of spy stuff.

Shit. Shit! This woman was dangerous.

"кто ты?" (Who are you?) The same woman barks, making your eyes go wide at the foreign language used and how lovely her raspy voice sounds. "кто ты!?" She barks again before pushing the backs of your knees out from under you so you fall to the floor. Arms pinned behind you. Fuck that's really going to hurt tomorrow, you think. Wait, if there is a tomorrow!

You rack your brain, trying to think of what she could be saying and what proper response would be beneficial for this particular moment, but your mind keeps getting distracted as the roaming hands of the woman keep touching you.

The redhead above you didn't get a good look before pulling you in, or she would see that there is no way you could be a threat. "Šíření!" (Spread!) She tries a different language, Czech, to be exact. Yet you still don't know it. You don't know any other language aside from English and the little bit of Hungarian you've been learning since you moved.

So her order for you to spread goes right over your head. Maybe if she asked nicely in English, you've complied...

"Oh my god, what are you doing?" You ask as the grip tightens around your wrists and the feeling of her fingers slides along your thighs. But you get nothing in return, only frustrated grunts from the woman holding you down, finding nothing on your person.

"Please, I'm sorry. Just let me go, and I'll pretend I didn't see anything or that I didn't enjoy-"

"Shut up!" Finally! English! She speaks it! "Ow! Fuck! You speak English?!"

"Who are you? What do you want?" Her fingers run through your hair, digging into your scalp before she grabs hold and lifts your head up. "Answer me!"

Remember what I said? Ups and downs.

"I'm sorry. Shit. I- I'm just your neighbor from across the h-hall.. fuck.." The small moan that escaped your mouth could've been mistaken for a groan of pain caused by the redhead.

But Natasha Romanoff knew better.

She knew exactly what that noise that left your mouth meant. Which also confirmed what she was thinking. You weren't a threat.

She loosened her grip on your hair but kept tight around your wrists. "Name? Give me a name." Her tone is softer and not as harsh.

"Mine?" You asked, confused by the whole situation. "Obviously." The spy rolled her eyes but had to hide the smirk, forcing its way onto her mouth.

"Y/N Y/L/N!" You answered honestly. Natasha could tell it was honest, too. Your rapid pulse she had her fingers pressed against didn't waver anymore than it already had by the older woman being on top of you. "And no one sent you?"

She began to loosen the grip she had on you as a whole.

"What?! No one sent me to check up on my neighbor. But Goddamn, this is the last time I'll do that." Natasha thought for a minute as your breathing began to calm down. "KGB? Hydra? MI6? Ring any bells?"

"No, I swear." Natasha thinks again. "Okay." Her voice goes back to a normal volume. One you find delightful even in this particular situation. "I'm going to let you go. Don't do anything stupid." She warns with a smile.

"Okay. I'll try not to." You say knowing you were prone to have stupid things happen to you. "Just please don't hurt me." You mumbled, but Natasha doesn't respond. Instead, she lifts herself off your body, removes her hand from your hair, and lets go of your wrist, which will completely have bruises tomorrow.

Once you feel the air touch your skin again, you crawl a few feet away before turning over.

You like to think that the first thing you laid your eyes on was the redheads apologetic smile, but it wasn't. It was her green eyes. You swear you had never seen anything more beautiful until you looked down the rest of her body. "You're beautiful." You let slip. Surprising the woman staring back at you.

Except she wasn't stupid. Instead of opening her mouth, Natasha kept those those words on the inside.

You're beautiful.

"Oh my God, ignore that. I'm sorry! Does that count as a stupid thing?!" You panicked, only earning a tight smirk from the redhead. "I'll let that one slide." She gets up and walks past you. Leaving you on the floor. "Besides, you're not so bad yourself."

You're brain short circuits for the second time in the last five minutes. Pretty spy dangerous lady called me beautiful?! You couldn't muster any more thoughts, so instead, you turn your gaze to the woman, watching her as she starts packing up. "What are you doing?"

"Packing."

"Why you just got here? Plus, what was that whole thing? Attacking me? Hello?" Natasha stops packing and looks at you. "No one is supposed to know I'm here. Within three days, I've been comprised by my neighbor from across the hall. I can't take the risk." Natasha says point blank while effortlessly avoiding your other questions.

You're not sure how to respond to that. But you know that you should probably get up off the floor. So you do that as the woman goes back to packing. She starts with clothes before moving on to guns. Lots of guns. "Whoa."

You take in all that you're seeing. "Who are you..." You felt the need to ask the unaskable question. "A person you shouldn't try and fuck with." She answers without any sense that she's joking until she winks at you.

Oh, you wanted to moan all over again.

"Should I leave?" You say to disrupt her and the growing silence. "Not yet. I still need answers from you. And to make sure that if you're ever asked. You never saw me." You nod, following along to her words. "Okay." You take a step forward, thinking it'd be a stupid thing to take a step back towards the door.

"Good." She says before dialing someone with a phone, you haven't seen in years. "Go secure. I need a cross reference on the person occupying the apartment across the hall from me. Give me everything. Bank records. Death certificates. Occupation. Everything. You have five." She flips the phone closed and sets it down before her eyes lock on you.

"I need you to sit in this chair for me." She pulls out the chair directly in front of her and her belongings. You would typically agree what, given the situation and the sight of her left hand on the grip of a pistol. But instead: "No."

"What did I say about doing something stupid." The woman groans, making you smile. Just a little over the tiny amount of control you have at the moment. "I'm not sitting on the chair until you give me your name. And the reason."

"You do realize I'm the one holding the gun, right?" You nod. Terrified of guns, but you nod as she waves it in front of you. "I do. But you're not going to shoot me or anything because, from what I just heard. You're waiting on your friend to see if I'm telling the truth, but I have no reason to lie to you."

Natasha couldn't believe what she just heard out of the mouth of that sweet little face. Here's the kicker. You're right. Natasha honestly hates that you have the upper hand at the moment, but Natasha's the Black Widow. She can flip the script as easy as one.. two.. "Please. Be a good girl and get in the chair."

You've never sat in a chair so fast in your life.

In fact, the second your butt hit the wood, you were mentally cursing your legs for betraying you. "How did you do that?!" You looked to her green eyes for an answer, but you both knew. "Alright, fine. Can I at least get a name?" You huffed as she gently handcuffed your hand to hers.

"Natalie." She replied as if that was her real name. But you took it for face value, even throwing Natasha a "thank you."

"What's that?" You asked, pointing at a pile of small silver discs. "Oh, don't touch those." She quickly moves them away from your reach. "They'll electrically shock you and leave you incapacitated." Okay. Good to know. "No touch, got it." You dryly chuckled, earning one from the woman who had no issues being handcuffed to you.

"How many languages do you speak?" You figured if you're going to be waiting, you might as well get to know Natalie. "Do you want to guess?" She smirks at you as she puts away her laptop. "Ummm, five?" You look up for an answer but only receive a shake of the head. "More than five?"

"More than 10, dear."

10?! Dear!?!

"Wow." You mutter. "What about you?" Natasha feels the need to ask. Plus, she wants to know more about the young woman she's handcuffed to. "I'm sure you'll find out when your friend calls back."

"Yeah, but I want to hear it from you." You look up to see her already smiling at you, forcing a shade of pink to sneak onto your cheeks. "Umm, it's not nearly as impressive. But one." You meekly answer, earning a chuckle from Natalie. "You're right.. that's not nearly as impressive."

"Hey!" You groan and whine. "It's two on a good day if I can understand what the vendor down the street says. It's not easy learning Hungarian."

Natasha nods. "You're right. It's not easy. But you picked the perfect city to learn it." You have to agree with her.

"You're right. Budapest is wonderful."

"Budapesht." Natasha can't help but correct you. "Huh?" You look to her, who looks down on you like an English teacher. "Budapesht." She repeats. "That's how you should pronounce it." You shake your head "No. It's Budapest. Your way is wrong."

"No, my way is right. It's Budapesht. You just don't know any better." You scoff, which Natasha takes as a sign to go on the attack. "Oh really?!" She starts. "I'm sorry, but who in the room is the world-class spy, and who is the.. the.. the whatever it is you do!?" She looks at you, who stutters for a moment.

"That's what I thought."

You go to fight back. Which frankly is an unwise move, but you're thankfully interrupted by the sound of the flip phone ringing.

Natasha answers it with urgency. "Clint, you're on speaker; which is it, Budapest or Budapesht??"

"Oh God no. Please stop this. Take me off speaker."

You watch Natalie roll her eyes as she takes the man, Clint, off of speaker. "Okay, shoot your arrow. What have you got for me." Natasha yanks on the handcuff, pulling you to make you look up at her. She holds a finger to her lips with a look in her eyes that you read as "Don't be stupid."

You not as she sets the phone down in the middle of the table on speaker.

"Okay, so Y/N Y/L/N. Born in California. Yadda yadda. Excellent student. Blah, blah, blah. University. Bank is in the green. No sign of trouble. Oh. Is the daughter of two former shield scientists before they lost their lives in a fire. Not Ohio. No Hydra connections either."

Clint quickly adds, confusing you.

What's shield?

"Relationships, let's see... looks like her most recent ex is one Gewn Stacy, and before that it was... Kate Bishop. The second one sounds familiar... Anyways, occupation.. occupation.. Stark Industries. Relocated to where she currently is. Moved into the apartment across from you six months ago. Isn't one to cause trouble. No arrest records or complaints of any kind. I can't find anything else on her. She's clean. Looks like you got a golden retriever living across from you, Nat."

The man finishes up before Natalie or Nat picks the phone up. "Okay, thanks, Clint. Yeah, no, I'm sure she won't be any trouble." Nat looks at you with a smirk, making you shift in your seat.

"Yep. Uh-huh. No. Could you not mention it to Fury? I got it. Okay. No, it's Budapesht. Bye." She clicks the phone shut and looks at you with a smile before laughing. "What?" You ask as you start to smile. "Nothing." She says before she controls her laughter. "No, come on. What!" You plead as Natalie picks up the key to the handcuffs. "It's just... I attacked you earlier because I thought you were dangerous, and here I have handcuffed to me is the most prett- perfect, sweetest person ever, apparently." The pink hue on Nat's cheeks gets missed by you.

You laugh at Natalie's explanation as the cuff slips from your wrist. "Well, I must be scary a little bit. Plus, I think I'm really good at lying!" You fess up. "Not to me, you're not," Nat calls you out. "And you're not scary." She picks up her bag and moves it to the counter to pack her suit.

Now it's your turn to roll your eyes. "Well, I have to be good at one of those things." You say as you get up and follow her around the kitchen and into the living room. "Why is that?" Nat is curious as to what you're answer could be.

"Well, how else would I have gotten rid of that guy earlier?!"

Natasha wasn't expecting that. "What guy?" She turns to you with a stern, calculating look. "Th-the guy. Tall. He was outside your door. Asking about you. I sent him away." Natasha shakes her head and rubs to her bag, grabbing two pistols. "How long ago?"

"What?" You question. Nat runs past you. "How long ago was the guy here?"

"I-uh.." Since Nat's hands and sweet voice were all over and around your body, you truly lost any concept of time.

Nat ignored your non-answer as she looks out the window where her sniper is positioned before turning to you with a worried look.

"Y/N GET DOWN!"

Yeah, there will be a pt2 in the future.

dividers by @/benkeibear

[seramilla]

Emily joining charlie and vaggie happened mostly by accident, they just loved being around each other and before they knew it, they were kissing each other and planning dates for the three of them

Initially, after she and Sera fell, Emily felt like she'd lost all her purpose in life. Everything she'd ever known about Heaven had been wrong -- they didn't actually care about her, or Sera, and had replaced both of them easily. She's happy to have a family now, with Carmilla and her girls. She's exceedingly grateful for them, for giving her and Sera a home. However, getting accustomed to life in Hell has been...difficult, to say the very least. She tries to enjoy every minute spent with her family, and she does...but sometimes, Emily still wants more. It's like she's chasing something invisible, just out of her reach.

Her only other friends outside the house are Charlie and Vaggie, so Emily starts spending more and more time at the Hotel, interested in how Charlie's redemption program is going. The Hotel's been rebuilt, much to her shock and delight. And while the redemption program has officially started, it's been slow-going. The new High Seraphim that replaced Sera is just as staunchly against redeeming Sinners as Adam had been. Even though Heaven has proof it's possible, thanks to Sir Pentious, they still think he was a fluke, and a one-off. Charlie tells her, they're still fighting Heaven on every front, but they're not giving up. For Sir Pentious' sake.

Emily realizes she can help them; as someone who'd previously been on the inside, she knows each and every angel on that council. She could give them intel! Charlie and Vaggie don't want to inconvenience her at first; she hadn't fallen that long ago, Charlie says, and she must still be reeling from all the changes in her life. Emily says she's done standing by, doing nothing, and if they'd just let her help them, she promises she can be of use. Reluctantly, Charlie agrees, but only if Emily promises to take care of herself, too.

From then on, Emliy shows up to the Hazbin Hotel bright and early, every day, like it's her job. Eventually it becomes like one, and the more time she spends with Charlie and Vaggie -- inviting new souls into the facility, watching them try their best to succeed at redemption, even if they're a little skeptical at first -- the more she starts to view the two women as part of her extended family. And maybe, if she's being honest with herself, a little bit more than that...she's always been a little jealous at the relationship they have together. She wishes someday she could find that for herself; but the more time they spend together, and the more they let her in to their private lives, the more she wishes it could be with them. It's them that she wants. Not just any other denizen of Hell.

How much of an idiot is she to think that could ever work? Emily asks herself.

It starts to weigh on Emily's heart, and being the empath that she is, Charlie's the first to bring a voice to it. She tells Emily she knows something is going on. If something is bothering her, she assures Emily she can always talk to them about it. For a while, Emily denies it, and goes on as if nothing is wrong...until over the course of several days, she finally breaks mentally. She longs to tell them her feelings, and so she does, full of emotion, and wracked with guilt over making them worry. Even if nothing ever comes from it, or they turn her down...at least she can get it out in the open, and lift the weight of it off her chest.

Charlie and Vaggie are...surprisingly understanding about it. They admit they've grown fond of Emily, and care about her very much. Love her, even. They've basically done everything together, the three of them, for months now; Emily's already become an intimate part of their lives. They hadn't really thought about what it would mean to add a third to their relationship...but Emily is so honest, so devout in her feelings, about how much they mean to her now...Charlie has to admit she feels the same. Vaggie does, too, but the guilt of Heaven is still acting on her psyche, even all these years later. It might take her a little longer to understand what she's feeling, too, and process it all...but she's willing to try it. For Charlie, and for Emily's sake.

They'll wait a while to make it official, but for now, it's enough to be in each other's presence. They still have a lot of work to do on the Hotel. And in the meantime, Emily still spends time with them every day. Getting used to her feelings for them -- exploring kissing, touching, all the little intimacies of their new dynamic -- and where they fit into this crazy new life of hers in Hell. She's sure Charlie and Vaggie will help her figure it out. Her family, the ones she loves, her new world keeps expanding... Emily starts to think, maybe it's not so bad here in Hell, after all. Maybe this is where she's meant to be.

[black-rabbit-razumikhin]

Raz Reads Les Mis (VII)

Fantine - The Champmathieu Affair

"By now the reader has obviously worked out that Madeleine is Jean Valjean"

No, Hugo

No, this reader had not worked it out

I yelped at your book, Hugo

The implications! Bishop Charlie would be so proud! And he's looked at Fantine all abandoned and unloved and full of loathing and he must have recognized his own loathing within her because they were both forsaken by what they had been promised would protect them

Anyways, there are nuns looking after Fantine round the clock now because Fantine is really not looking alright

And Valjean goes looking for a horse and cart to take him a considerable distance overnight

Me, assuming his plan was to find Cosette

When actually he wants to save this man Champmathieu who everyone believes is him and who is going to be condemned under Valjean's identity soon

Valjean has a whole panic attack over the situation, going back and forth about how he promised to always do good and so can't have Champmathieu condemned under his name... but if he leaves and is thrown back in jail nobody will be there to look after Fantine

In part of his panic and his rage, he throws into the fire everything of his live that makes him Jean Valjean, including the two silver candle holders bishop Charlie gave him

That detail made me unexpectedly emotional

Also in this fire he sees the silver piece he stole from the marmot kid a while back

But finally the morning comes and the carriage and horse have arrived and away he plunges off into the night to be the form of Champmathieu's salvation

When Fantine finds out Valjean is gone because he hasn't come to visit her at his usual time, I wanted to cry

She has so much hope! She's so happy and she tells the nun everything about Cosette and how much she can't wait to see her again because that's obviously where Valjean is going in such a hurry

She asks for a bed to be installed next to hers so Cosette can sleep near her

The doctor who visits her is shocked because she seems to have made a miraculous recovery and may actually be getting better

Maybe, maybe, maybe Fantine is going to be alright

On Valjean's route, he meets a whole host of delays and issues that he didn't expect

He gets stuck in a small town after his wheel is damaged and when it looks like he may have to turn around, he is elated

He doesn't want to be here, and if he can't get past this town, well, he tried and God said no

God did not say no

God found him a new, albeit winding, route to get to the courthouse where the Champmathieu proceedings are happening

At first he is elated, because when he tries to see the proceedings, he's told that they're over

They're over? The man has been convicted?

What man? This was a little old lady

Wrong trial, Valjean's trial is still running nicely, but it'll be over soon

He's told there's no space for witnesses, but upon telling the staff at the court that he is a public official, the esteemed and mini-famous Mayor Madeleine, they direct him to special priority seating behind the judge

Valjean has another panic attack

But once he's calmed down, he takes his place at his priority seating

The trial has ended and Champmathieu is given the chance to say any closing words in his defense

And he goes on a whole long story about how he is not Valjean and how he did not steal anything

And so he's cross-examined

It's like the had an informal appeal trial before the initial trial was even completed

But three convicts come out and all attest that Champmathieu is Valjean and they were all in prison together

To their defence, even Valjean thinks Champmathieu looks like him, if only a little older and a little more world-worn

And just as the sentence is about to be pronounced as 'guilty', Valjean stands up in this grand entrance and tells everyone that he is in fact Jean Valjean

You go, drama queen, have your main character moment

He has gained such a positive reputation in his eight years as Madeleine that the first reaction is for a physician to be called to put him to bed - gramps has had one too many glasses of port recently

Valjean laughs this off and proves what he says by announcing personal characteristics of the three witnessing convicts that only someone in the galleys would know

But nobody moves to arrest him

So Valjean shrugs and turns to the prosecutor like "You know where I live if you need me" and trots off

Champathieu is found not guilty and set free

So, Madeleine is Jean Valjean. That Jean Valjean, so maybe Javert was right. He also mentions in the trial that it sucks that Javert isn't there because he's the only person who would recognize Valjean on sight and without hesitation. It is honestly impressive how far he has risen in eight years - almost exactly comparable to how far Fantine has fallen. But one has power over his circumstances and the other constantly has all her power ripped from her. And then there's the other underlying fact that Valjean must have made a massive impression on Javert. How many prisoners are you seeing all the time but then Big Strong Man made that much of an impression on you?

I am far too invested in a book that I have barely started.

[scoobydoodean]

So I did a poll on this not that long ago, but now that I have finished 3.15 on this rewatch, I thought I'd give my two cents on what Sam was planning in terms of using Doc Benton's alchemy to make himself and Dean immortal. I think the following details are pretty damn important.

First, Sam lies to Dean about his sense about the case. He does so by omission—he "neglects" to state that he thinks Doc Benton is responsible for the bodies that are turning up and lets Dean believe they're hunting zombies. But Sam knew this was Doc Benton—or at least he heavily suspected it. This is why, when the coroner shows them the latest victim has been cut with the precision of a scalpel, not teeth, Sam starts to look excited. Of course, Sam also admits he suspected Benton all along after Dean confronts him about it. Sam denies it at first but does a bad job of covering his dishonesty because he's not very good at lying to Dean. Now—one possible interpretation here is that Sam "didn't want to get Dean's hopes up". Sam sort of implies this when he says, "I didn't wanna say anything until I was sure". But... Sam thought they were dealing with Benton, and given that John had had a previous run-in with Benton, it actually would have been extremely easy to convince Dean to go on this case without lying about who the M.O. was actually suggesting to Sam. Which to me, means... maybe not wanting to get Dean's hopes up is what Sam tells himself, but... it's not a particularly logical or sensible explanation. Sam could have easily concealed his interest in Benton's alchemy while admitting he thought it was Benton from the get go.

The reason I think Sam doesn't admit it is at least partly that he wants to slowly ease Dean into the idea of studying Benton's alchemy. He (rightly I think) assumes that Dean isn't going to like what Doc Benton does, and the longer Dean has to think about Doc Benton and what exactly he does, and the longer Dean is in "hunter" mode with Benton as his targeted prey, the more disgusted and wrathful Dean's going to become. Sam thinks that if he can direct the narrative a little, where they're "stumbling" across a possible method of saving Dean, he can warm Dean up to the idea of looking into Benton's science—science that Sam knows is very likely to involve some really fucked up shit.

This leads me to a second important detail, which is how exactly Sam thinks this immortality thing "buying them time" is going work:

I mean, we're talking hell in three weeks. Or needing a new pancreas in like half a century...

But... this is argument is predicated upon a completely false premise. There are two things Sam and Dean both know without a shadow of a doubt at this point in time:

Hell hounds are coming for Dean in three weeks and they're going to rip his body to shreds.

Nothing about Benton's method of achieving immortality prevents his body from being torn to pieces. That's the entire reason he's been harvesting people's organs for decades in the first place. Parts get damaged or start falling apart, and then Benton has to replace them.

So when Sam refers to a pancreas Dean's going to need in "half a century", he is completely denying a very obvious reality. It isn't going to be 50 years. It's going to be three weeks, and then Dean's going to be torn apart, and then he is going to need a whole slew of new body parts and organs. In other words, when Sam refers to some pancreas Dean is going to need in 50 years, he is either stupid, fully in denial because he's so desperate to find a way to save Dean, or is basically shouting, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" hoping Dean won't catch onto the very inconvenient flaw in Sam's plan.

Personally, I don't think Sam is stupid. I also don't think his initial attempts to conceal who he thought was the culprit in the case he found lend to reading this in a way where Sam doesn't actually grasp the consequences.

In 3.11 Mystery Spot, we saw Sam say "Then let's go get some" when Not!Bobby said they could summon Gabriel to get revenge for Dean by finding someone and bleeding them dry for a spell. And we'll see Sam make more plays, going forward, where yes, other people might bite it so his brother can live... but that's a sacrifice Sam is willing to make.

That said, my personal opinion of what Sam was really thinking in 3.15 actually falls somewhere between Sam being in denial and Sam very much understanding the consequences of the plan he's forming and being okay with those consequences. I think in a sense, both are true. On the one hand, I think Sam knew deep down exactly what he was willing to do to keep Dean alive. On the other hand, I don't think Sam ever looked at his own reflection in the mirror on this. Sam suggesting Dean won't need an organ for 50 years and they're just "buying time" somehow isn't just what Sam wants Dean to believe so maybe he'll agree... it's what Sam needs to believe too as he slowly eases himself into the idea of using Benton's alchemy.

[walkawaytall]

For Talk Shop Tuesday, something I've been curious about! Since Collateral and Purpose of Heritage are both multichapters that cover the same time period, what would you say makes each of them different? Like, I know how they might hit on different themes (based on the summary of PoH and in having read Collateral), but as a writer, what was your process in planning PoH without feeling like you might be repeating yourself or trying to come up with different headcanons for what happened?

Oh my word, my answer is so long, I'm so sorry! (and thank you for asking!)

So, it's not been overly difficult on the whole primarily because Collateral has such a short timeline when compared to PoH. Ignoring any flashback scenes, the bulk of the story takes place over a week or two, I think? whereas Purpose of Heritage starts within hours of the medal ceremony on Yavin and ends three years later on Hoth, so there's a lot more ground to cover and relatively few areas of overlap.

But, they're also very different stories. The focus of Purpose of Heritage is Leia, not necessarily Leia and Han (though...you know, with him being a prominent figure in her life, he is obviously a huge part of the story). PoH is all Leia's POV rather than having alternating POVs like in Collateral, and it's a lot more...in her head (I'm probably a little too wordy at times tbh). I've characterized Leia somewhat differently as well. She is very specifically not suicidal at any point (she does fail her initial enlistment psych eval, but that is 1000% because she tells Rieekan she's good to do it right away to try to prove something to herself). She starts out feeling very out-of-place because of the circumstances surrounding her enlistment into the militia portion of the Alliance -- which is similar to how she still feels three years later in Collateral -- but in PoH, she eventually bonds with people other than just Han, Luke, and Chewie, and starts to try to let some of the others in emotionally, at least for a bit.

Her relationship with Han is characterized differently compared to Collateral. It's been awhile since I've revisited Collateral, but I recall them being friends, but not as close as they eventually get in PoH. And, I think in Collateral, I imply that their relationship takes the standard bickering-to-friends-to-lovers trajectory.

In PoH, their relationship is more...complicated? The first chapter involves Han finding out that Leia had been tortured in detail that essentially no one else in the Alliance aside from maybe High Command knows about, and because of his history with the Empire, she's able to sort of communicate this by talking around what happened rather than talking about it (FYI: I do not get graphic with this stuff), and that's sort of the framework around which their relationship is initially based -- this ability to use experiences the other has had that are just similar enough to what they've experienced that they can reference trauma without actually dealing with it. It works for them until it doesn't, at which point, Leia has to decide how open she wants to be with him. She actually at one point wants Han to leave like he threatens to do every five seconds because she's trying to will herself into having a "fresh start", and she feels like him just knowing about her experience on the Death Star is keeping her from being able to fully embrace an all-new life.

And on the note of Han threatening to leave, I purposefully did away with that for character development reasons after about six months in the story. Han, for reasons that become clear much later, stops saying he's going to leave, and while he doesn't promise to stay until way, way late in the story, it still removes some tension between them. They still argue -- and even argue about really dumb stuff sometimes -- but the backbiting and bickering wanes over time as their relationship deepens.

I do think -- for better or for worse-- PoH Han is a bit softer (and I think more nuanced?) than Han in Collateral. I hope not to the point of butchering his character -- and the areas where he's softer are there for a reason (I really try to think about motivations of everyone in a scene all the dang time). But that certainly alters the way he and Leia interact to a degree, which differentiates PoH from Collateral, I think.

In the areas where there are opportunities for a lot over overlap between stories -- especially plot points -- I usually just choose something for PoH that wasn't done in Collateral. Leia is in a different sort of mindset post-Yavin -- still a hot mess, but in a way that's different from Collateral. Ord Mantell plays out entirely differently (though, fun fact: the bounty hunter they run into in PoH was supposed to be a character in Collateral at one point, and then I rewrote a chapter and they got cut. But their presence as well as some other little details were pulled from an old draft of Collateral). Leia and Han are together longer in PoH (closer to a month rather than a week or two), and Han's reasons for wanting to leave...well, they aren't entirely different, but there's more to it than just a bounty hunter finding them. The reason things get so hostile between them right before The Empire Strikes Back is similar, but I've also been hinting at Han's insecurities literally since he and Leia started a romantic relationship in PoH, which are a big part of why things turn as nasty as they do.

I think all-in-all, if I felt like something was important for characterization, then I probably kept things pretty similar, but nearly anywhere where a plot point count be different, I made it different.

Except the fact that the Ord Mantell trip was for cold-resistant speeder parts. That's the same in both (I guess technically in Collateral they go to Nar Shadaa for those, but it's the same trip). (And in PoH, they never even get the parts, which, in my mind, is why the speeders won't work consistently at the beginning of ESB.)

(Also, Leia initiates their first kiss in both. But I would argue that's more a characterization choice rather than a plot similarity.)

I...really hope that answers the question, because, holy cow, this is such a long answer :D. (But also, I could talk about this forever, so thank you again for asking!)

Talk Shop Tuesday

[dailycass-cain]

This week the GOTHAM WAR has begun. Is the basis for this "war" for Catwoman/Batman work? How does Cass fit into this? I'll give my thoughts on it...

So the basis of the event is Catwoman is training the "hired help" of Gotham. Instead of working for Scarface, the Riddler, or Two-Face. They're off doing their own things in robbing the rich. But already there's a problem with that...

So the basis of the event is Catwoman is training the "hired help" of Gotham. Instead of working for Scarface, the Riddler, or Two-Face. They're off doing their own things in robbing the rich. But already there's a problem with that...

Not just the easy answer. Court of Owls.

Sure, maybe a few of them use mooks. This very issue brings up Professor Pyg as using "hired" help, but it feels kind of wrong for Pyg to do this sort of thing.

When Dollotrons have been his modus operandi. Why need thugs when breaking folks into nothing is far cheaper?

What's to stop Pyg from doing that exactly again? Nothing really. So all Selina is replacing is Pyg from going to hired back to his old ways.

That's not good at all. That's kind of why Batman and the Bat-Family are needed.

That isn't bringing up the "biggest" bad himself, the Joker. There have been numerous stories of the Joker just by himself making Gotham a literal hell without any hired help.

The Joker at his scariest is when he's by himself. Even then he's causing all sorts of harm in Gotham.

Those are the "easy" examples.

What about the other villains who already have an operating gang say Punchline and the Royal Flush Gang? It feels like writers Chip Zdarsky and Trini Howard make Selina's case paper thin.

That's not to say Batman's side is any better, "My parents were rich line." Was not the intended dramatic moment the book had. More made me chuckle as it could've easily been photoshopped with, "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!" instead.

Likewise, is Selina's retort. Literally, again there are so many examples of Bruce showing compassion to folks by using his fortune.

Just alone in Batgirl (#63), we had this scene. That's just one moment that easily popped in my head.

It just feels so wrong for the basis of this "war" to be so flimsy when there are better ways for it. Aka the bot that literally subjugated all of Gotham because Batman took "a life" (that turned out to be false).

There's so much to see Selina's side of things when Failsafe had domain over the city. We have barely seen the city or ANYONE react to that.

Like that alone is more a cause for SOMETHING than what we're getting initially here.

I digress I could go on and on poking the holes into the fight itself, but how does it relate to Cass? Well, already she should be against Selina's plan.

A life is a life.

No matter what Selina's way will take lives. So…

The fact this is all glossed over with her being silent. Just says it all for me that her part in this is already "planned".

I'll probably hate it.

I'll probably despise it.

I thought long and hard about what the best course of action during this event would be for me. I really do love the artists attached to this event. I do love Cass. However, I do not like the context of the event AT ALL.

The answer is kind of right in front of me. Well, three answers. Birds of Prey (out next week), Spirit World, and Detective Comics. I adore two of these and by all things considered with the preview, I'm gonna probably LOVE BoP.

So instead of going into long rants and give myself stress I shouldn't need. I'm just gonna enjoy the good art.

If there are bad moments (which I'm sure there will be) in this event. I'm gonna call it like I see it.

But as for going into detailed thoughts like this? That's it. This is all this event is getting out of me. I have too much enjoyment else to give my focus too.

I just feel sorry for the fans of Duke, Tim, Stephanie, and Barbara. Those fans gotta suffer thru this as Damian, Cass, Kate, Luke, and Dick get to play outside this "sandbox" of woe.

This comic was garbage. This story is garbage. It's just best for me to look away for the most part and enjoy the stuff with Cass that I do have outside "the war".

That's my thoughts on it all. 😁

Now to enjoy a BETTER COMIC next week.

[variousqueerthings]

wrote a long post about subtle changes i would have put into s3 of ted lasso to set it up as a four-part show, accidentally wrote another post now about potential s4 stuff (but do not have it in me to write out an episode by episode structure post)

but also really the main gist is that why I was initially confused at the 3-season structure (and then I felt right in having felt it should have been longer when I did watch the season, despite liking where it ultimately landed on those final scenes), was that everything barring ted himself felt like it needed a bit more time

if ted ended s3 by making his decision and telling rebecca (either on or off screen, but if it were cliff-hanger I'd say off) and then having all of s4 setting that up while he's in a much better place to help others with their various things after a s3 where he was so in his own head that he wasn't a very good coach for almost all of it -- and then also a story about when he's planning on telling the team

if one could have fully dealt with sam's narrative about being hounded for standing up for his ideals and grounded him more centrally and built up to him joining the nigerian national team, rather than jumping to it, and given proper space to his interpersonal relationships (such as with the woman managing his restaurant, sorry I forget her name rn)

if nate could have had a whole season after being with west ham where he's back with the team, in which he could have, yes, made it up to some people, but also dealt with how it felt to be with west ham and before that, how he was treated by his teammates, his girlfriend, and even his own father

if rebecca could have had that whole season after their manchester win to go "oh wait, I really don't care what my husband thinks of me" while getting to share scenes with both his ex-wife and his current (but also soon-to-be-ex) wife, showing the three of them in a supportive space recovering from being in a relationship with a manipulative, cheating, controlling man

if keeley could have a whole season building her company with her new, more financially savvy and more organised friend at her side, barbara, while not centering romantic relationships/having her realise that she really can be okay without one (whether or not she is with anyone by the end, but actually giving it a whole season's worth of time)

if there could be a whole fallout/supportive trend after colin publicly kissed his boyfriend on the football pitch, to really give us more actual delving into what it means to be out as a male football player, and perhaps isaac taking that on himself as both his best friend and team captain, and how that plays out in contrast to perhaps other teams, none of which would have out players

if roy and jamie kind of... I guess continued along the lines they were doing, but really got to get into the former's feelings about being "old" in football terms, but not really that old at all, and the latter's relationship with his father (and yeah, I'm a roy/jamie/keeley fan, so scenes that let the three of them be mutually supportive and effortlessly close with one another)

with trent crimm's own narrative continuing to be that of documenting and pulling together the structure

and all of that with a main storyline on building a women's football team and centering keeley's storyline around that as well (also soooo many gay characters then, for realism 😜 also I know two non-binary football players who play semipro personally, there's more than that, so that could be a storyline too...)

just a bit more time youknow

it would have first of all given a final season that broadens the world they're in more, after a third season that wasn't trying to wrap things up and so maybe gave us a bit more west ham/just football beyond the tiny sphere of richmond

and crucially that things weren't flattened to make them get to the ending faster (things like how some characters had done some really nasty stuff (rupert, jamie's dad), but at some point characters just went *ah well, but I'm over it enough to start moving on,* or how sam never quite got to carry an ongoing dramatic arc that wasn't solved with a handwave that didn't give enough weight to how serious his narrative was, or whatever jade's deal was and how she wasn't nice to nate (and neither was coach beard's gf) and the rushedness of keeley's company and need for romantic partnership to feel safe in herself, etc.)

I really liked the ethos of the show and I enjoyed watching it, but I do not believe that three seasons was the intended structure, and I think if I knew for sure that was the case, I'd be more shrug-and-move-on of some of its rushedness than I am now, where I'm trying to understand what prompted those choices if indeed they were deliberate. because there was a lot of unexplored territory for almost every character, I think especially the characters of colour (nate with how he was treated and sam with his politically deeper storylines) and the female characters (keeley with her business, potentially rebecca with her kinship with bex)

like how the sense8 movie could never in a million years have paid off all the plot that came before, but we're just glad for the catharsis

also lastly, it could have still setup a potential spinoff centering the woman's team entirely, if that was something one wanted to do

[crossdressingdeath]

Jowan: Lily and I will get married somewhere... away from the Circle and its rules. Lily: Perhaps in the outskirts of Ferelden. Jowan: Or in Orlais. Just... far from here. Jowan: We'll live a quiet life, away from magic. Maybe we can buy a farm one day.

You two have been dating for like three months tops. Maybe bring it down a notch.

Also, Jowan's total focus on his happy romantic life outside of the Circle is a really interesting part of the mage origin. I feel like it comes from the way mages aren't allowed that; Jowan hasn't known Lily very long, and he definitely hasn't been in a relationship with her very long, but he's willing to put his best friend in the world in serious danger just for a chance to run away with her and never seems truly aware that he's even doing that! Which makes him sound like a truly awful person and a worse friend, but he has literally never had the chance to be in love in his life. I don't think Jowan has a set age but I tend to headcanon him as a couple years older than the Warden, so he's probably in his early to mid twenties; he could easily be having his first serious crush even outside the Circle, but within it? Jowan seems to only be friends with the Warden, and while he can under some circumstances lightly imply that he may have at some point had a crush on them that never went anywhere; Lily is very much his first love, and he's never had the chance to learn how to deal with that. Lily, meanwhile, is a Chantry initiate forbidden from relations with men; she hasn't had much experience with romance either. Of course the two of them are hurling themselves into this ideal of a perfect, happy-ever-after romance! They literally have no idea what an actual relationship entails! There's a fascinating naivety to what they're saying and planning for their lives after, again, a few months of knowing each other. And it's really no surprise that it all falls apart the moment Lily learns something about Jowan that she doesn't like, because they don't actually... know each other. To put it another way, it kind of feels like they're both more wrapped up in what their forbidden love represents (which is... mostly freedom; Jowan wants to marry Lily but the main point of the quest is that if his phylactery is destroyed and he gets off the island Kinloch Hold is on he'll be free) than in the actual person they're in a relationship with.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Follow-up to this post.

I’m going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year, for the first week in August, and I am unbelievably excited about it, and they have recently released the first wave of events, and I have spreadsheets. Various spreadsheets for various plans. I am so excited. These people are real and I get to be in a room with them. Here are some things I'm thinking about what shows I can see in Edinburgh.

I’ve realized I should be using slightly different criteria for choosing who to see do a Fringe show, than I would for picking what comedy special to watch. I want to prioritize people whom I like, but haven’t heard much of their work, and they’re not likely to film whatever show they do in Edinburgh in 2024, so this is a somewhat rare chance to see what they do. This means deprioritizing some people I quite like, but have seen already. Because I have five days in Edinburgh (maybe six, if I don’t spend one day riding trains across Scotland, but I really want to ride trains across Scotland), and I’m going to have to make choices.

Everything I choose to do has the opportunity cost of spending precious minutes during this time period that now can’t be spent on something else. To be honest I’m glad I’m realizing now how that thought makes me rather anxious, because I have several months to try to change my mentality and realize that the amount of time I’ve spent planning and looking forward to this could put more pressure on two weeks than they can be reasonably expected to bear. I will try to slow down and recalibrate to understand that having things go slightly different from the initial plan, or have something not be quite what I expected, should be part of the fun.

To be honest, I’m already thinking about how I’ll feel on the last day of the trip, or the week after it, when it’ll no longer be something to look forward to, and how disappointing that’ll be. The long-term solution to that is to fix my anxiety so I stop doing stupidly maladaptive things like worry about how sad I’ll be when something that hasn’t happened yet is over, but the short-term solution is to work harder on getting a job in a school so that going forward I can have lots of time off and taking trips like this can be a more regular thing.

Anyway. I accept that I can’t make everything perfect and I can’t see everything I’ve ever wanted to see in five days, but still, I want to be as efficient as possible with the time. Which means I’m not planning to see, for example, Sarah Keyworth's show, even though I really like it, because I already saw it when they streamed what seemed like a mostly finished version of it on NextUp last month. Though anyone who hasn't seen it should do that if you get the chance.

So, the way I see it, there are three tiers of shows I want to see. Firstly, you have the people I'm such a huge fan of that I want to see them even if I've seen lots of their work before, even if I think this show will get filmed, it doesn't matter, the time and money is worth it to me just to see this comedian in person. Top tier favuorites. The second tier is comedians I like a lot based on the stuff I've heard, but I haven't heard all that much of their stand-up because most of their shows don't get recorded, I haven't heard whatever show they're going to do in Edinburgh this year and I probably won't get to see it afterward. And the third tier is comedians I don't know about already, but their shows look interesting and I think I'll check it out because that's how festivals are supposed to work, you discover new stuff.

That third tier is the one where I can do a lot of planning, because obviously whimsically discovering something new and previously unknown at a festival is better if it's been meticulously planned beforehand. It kind of has to be, though. I grew up going to folk festivals every summer and have discovered a lot of my favourite music just by checking out people I didn't already know at a folk festival. But that's different, because at a folk festival you can just wander from stage to stage, leaving one if what you're seeing isn't that great. At this festival, if I take a chance on something and it sucks, I'm stuck there until the end of the show (I mean, it would have to be really fucking bad for me to walk about, I can't imagine doing that for anything less than the comedian starting a right-wing call to arms or some shit), I've lost the time and I've already spent the money.

So I've looked through the list to see what might be a fun new thing to to plan to spontaneously try. To start with, I filtered the shows to show me just the comedy ones, and went through all the shows, immediately either ruling them out for one reason or another, or, if I didn't, adding it to my favourites list so I can Google all the potentials and narrow the list down further. Then I did the same thing without the "comedy" filter, because I remembered music, and I'm glad I did because there are a couple non-comedy things that I definitely want to see. But mainly it's comedy.

I ruled shows out for various reasons. Instantly ruled out anything that mentioned Tik-Tok in the blurb (I'd be open to seeing a show with a blurb that mentions Tik-Tok if I wanted to see it for other reasons, but I'm not adding any new stuff to my third tier like that). I ruled out anything that wasn't regular stand-up (some music or playing with the form is cool, as long as it's still stand-up), or a sketch group that I've heard of and like. I'm thinking I might consider trying just one of those types of shows that I normally have difficulty getting into, for the experience. Those shows that can be described with words like "experimental" and "clowning" and "cabaret". But just one. And not one of the ones with puppets. Or magic. Or people taking their clothes off unironically.

So maybe I'll see if I can throw one of those in, but not on the main list. The main list is for stand-up. All shows with "improv" in the title are immediately ruled out. Compilation shows are ruled out at this stage, I'd consider adding some closer to the time when I have a better idea of the schedule. Anything that spends too much of the blurb making it clear that they're going to tell raucous stories about sex and dating, ruled out. Shows I think are likely to get filmed, ruled out. Shows by people I've heard of and am not that into, obviously ruled out. Shows that are not being performed in the first week, ruled out by necessity. Shows that threaten audience participation, out. And finally, there's a more general criterion that if a show's blurb annoys me, it's out.

This has left a bunch of shows on my list of my favourites, which I've been systematically Googling and ranking by how much I want to see them. Some of these people look interesting. Some do not. Some I might go see and they'll be shit, and it's fine, it's not an opportunity cost, it's a cool part of the festival experience. It's fine.

At this point, the two shows that have already been announced and that I know for sure I want to see are Susie McCabe and Rob Auton. Both are in the second tier section - I know them enough to know I like them, but not enough to think I can see them from home anyway so what's the point? I'm also pretty interested in Seymour Mace.

I haven't actually bought tickets to either of those shows yet, because what if I buy for Susie McCabe on one night and that turns out to be the only nice in the whole week that David O'Doherty's performing? I don't know exactly how to get that right, except that it seems like the first week isn't going to sell out all that fast, so I can wait at least a little while to see who else signs up before I start booking stuff for sure.

I have, of course, made a list of people who might do the Edinburgh Festival this year, but haven't officially announced yet that they're doing so, but I hope they do and I want to see it if it happened. There are a lot more people on that list than time slots in my schedule, but lots of them will probably not do it.

Here are the people I'd consider tier one - I don't care how much of their stuff I've already heard or whether I already know the show they're doing at this festival, I'd still pay to hear them do it live:

- Kitson, obviously - I'm not getting my hopes up too much that he'll be there, but he might take First Thing for another trip around Edinburgh, or maybe he'll even come up with some other thing at the last minute

- Andy Zaltzman - less realistic, he hasn't done Edinburgh or even stand-up in years, he said in late 2023 that he was going to start doing stand-up again so I got excited, but he hasn't followed up on that and at this point I'm not expecting him to, but still, if he does decide this is the time to pick it back up I'd drop anything else to see that

- Nish Kumar - very likely that he takes his current show to Edinburgh, it's an amazing show, I want to see it in person

- Jessica Fostekew - she'll probably film it but I've read such great things about it that I'd still like to see it live

- Josie Long - she probably won't be there because she's just spent two years touring one show and I haven't heard of her working on anything new, but I'd definitely like to see it if she does

- David O'Doherty - He has done a new show in Edinburgh every single year (barring 2020/2021, for obvious reasons) since 2002, I will be absolutely furious if he makes this the first year that he skips

- Alice Fraser - she told us last year that she's quitting stand-up for a while, but if she magically changes her mind, I am there

- Sam Campbell - I don't care that I've already heard most of the material he's likely to do there, I want to see him do it in person

- Grace Petrie - I think Butch Ado about Nothing was meant to be a one-off, in terms of her stand-up career, but if she does do stand-up, or for that matter music, at Edinburgh 2024 I'd love to see it

- Obviously there's my current obsession John Robins, but I'd be surprised if he goes to Edinburgh this year, he seems to have been doing a one year on/one year off approach since 2015 (not counting the COVID years), and he's still touring his big show from last year, which he's said he'll be done with soon so he's not doing that one in August, and I've not heard of him working on anything new. Obviously I'd love it if he did go.

- Stewart Lee... I'm not entirely sure. I think he'll be doing a new WIP by then, not sure if he'll take it to Edinburgh or not. Whatever show he's working on will inevitably get filmed at some point. But if he does do it in Edinburgh in the first week, I'd have to at least consider trying to get a ticket, even if I know this won't be my only chance to see it.

Another tier is for people whose shows I probably wouldn't go see if I'd already seen the material in it (ie. if they stream it on NextUp like Sarah Keyworth), or if I think they're very likely to film it afterwards, but given that probably neither of those things are true, I'd like to take the chance to see them in Edinburgh.

- Ed Night - he's kind of the prototype of this tier. My favourite non-famous comedian. My favourite comedian that I saw one time on one TV show (don't worry about what TV show it was, it was definitely a respectable one and not one I'm embarrassed about having watched), where I liked him so much that I looked him up, and was disappointed to see that's one of his very few TV appearances. Stand-up-wise, he only has a few short sets on YouTube, but I enjoyed those sets a lot. He's been on some podcasts, but mostly podcasts about films that don't seem interesting. Last year he started his own podcast with Huge Davies and Sunil Patel, and I tried listening to their podcast, but I could not bring myself to get into it. I just couldn't. You know those jokes people make about how podcasts by comedians are shit because they're just people having a conversation for no reason? I listen to those jokes and think "That's not fair, they do plenty of prep on something like The Bugle and have to write funny stuff beforehand that they then integrate into a conversation and that podcast has forced Andy Zaltzman to turn over more material every week than you've written in some years, so maybe don't disparage Andy Zaltzman's life's work by talking shit about podcasts, Mr. Kitson." But then I listened to Slime Country and said "Oh, right, I see where those jokes are coming from now, they're not talking about The Bugle, they're talking about things like this." So I gave up on it.

But I still want to see him when he's doing actual comedy. I went on Tik-Tok to see Ed Night. Because he has a series of sketch shows with this other comedian Paddy Young (who did quite a good show last year, it got streamed on NextUp), and they were quite funny, almost funny enough to justify making me go on Tik-Tok to watch them. Also, I've read stuff about Ed Night's comedy in general and it sounds so good, and also so much like specifically the type of comedy I enjoy, it just makes me really sure that if he'd only get famous enough to do some stuff that I can see from Canada, he'd be one of my favourites. Also I read a post by someone who saw a WIP of the show he's touring now, and it sounded like my perfect comedy show. He didn't go to Edinburgh last year because his current show was at too early a stage, but he's touring that show this spring, I feel like he has to take it to Edinburgh, right? He's quite high on my list of comedians to see because I don't know when else I'll get a chance.

- Michael Legge - pretty close to tier one, actually. Could almost be tier one. But he's done a lot more shows than he's filmed, so if he goes to Edinburgh this year, I won't count on it being recorded, I'll want to see it there. Don't know if he will, though. I'm not sure what Michael Legge's doing these days besides making people really mad on Twitter once in a while.

- Sarah Kendall - I've liked the bits of her stand-up that I've heard a lot (her recent stand-up, that is - there are some old videos of her doing less objectively good bits but it is adorable to see her so young), I always love hearing her on podcasts because I think she's amazingly intelligent so I trust that anything she comes up with will be good, but there is not enough filmed Sarah Kendall stand-up out there.

- Shelf - loved their 2022 show, loved their 2023 show, hope they've got a new one in 2024.

- Rhys James - he has two filmed stand-up specials, from 2015 and 2016. They weren't amazing, but they had enough amazing bits to make me intrigued. They both had a few things that I thought were very good, and made me very much want to see what he's like as a stand-up these days, after a few more years of honing his skills, hopefully taking his ability to do that really strong stuff and making it all like that. Annoyingly, he doesn't seem to have filmed anything more recent. But I always found him very very funny on Mock the Week, and that was recent enough for me to know it's not like he just stopped being funny after 2016. I want to see what he's doing now.

- Rhod Gilbert - Probably could be tier one, really. I loved his four filmed stand-up specials so much. I feel like his current stand-up show will inevitably get filmed, which I'm very glad about, and I have already heard a bunch of the material in it, so that's the one thing that makes me think I might not have him right at the top of the list of people to see in Edinburgh. But still, I'd love to be in a room with him. I'll see what kind of run he announces (assuming he does one, but I think he will, I know he's got a new show).

- Kiri Pritchard-McLean - Love her stuff from as far as 2022, which is the last show that she filmed, but I keep reading great things about her more recent shows.

- John Kearns - I don't think he's ever filmed any stand-up, and I don't know why.

- Tom Ballard - Not sure if he'll do a new show this year, so soon after his big one last year, but if he does I'd love to see it.

- Zoe Coombs Marr - See note about Tom Ballard.

- Pierre Novellie - One of the best shows of the Fringe last year, I think, based on the sample I heard. See note about Tom Ballard and Zoe Coombs Marr.

- Laura Davis - see above notes, I don't really know what any of the Australians are doing with their lives right now but I'd like to see them.

- Dan Rath, Greg Larsen: couple more Australians, I don't know what they're doing but would enjoy seeing them do a new comedy show

- Marjolein Robertson - was very funny in the short set I saw her stream from NextUp, would love to see the full thing

- Nick Helm

- Milo Edwards

- Here's a left-field one: Mitch Benn. I like him. I used to hear him on The Now Show. He did an amazingly catchy song in 2001 about the general election that I still get stuck in my head sometimes (I didn't first hear it in 2001 or anything, but it was a while ago and sometimes it just pops in there). I like his music and his politics, and he makes me think about an earlier era of stand-up so I enjoy the fact that he apparently did a show in 2023. In 2006, he went onto a message board to tell people to stop being misogynist dicks about Josie Long, and now I just always want to be on his side. I hadn't realized he was still doing something like Edinburgh, until I was looking up the 2023 festival and saw his name there. If he did it in 2024 I'd be interested in seeing that.

- The Delightful Sausage, Lazy Susan, Egg - main candidates for my one interesting not-just-straightforward-standup narrative show, if any of them show up, I don't know what the sketch groups are doing with their lives right now either

- Pauls Sinha and Foot

- Mark Silcox

- Huge Davies - Carpark show was fantastic

- Mat Ewins - also a candidate for my non-traditional show, I keep hearing how very good he is but get the impression this is one you really have to see in person to understand

- John Luke Roberts and Jordan Brookes - also nicely non-traditional enough so I could see them and feel like I'm doing a proper festival thing of experimenting, but it is still just one person up there and he isn't likely to take his clothes off without heavy irony

- Eleanor Morton

- Harriet Kemlsey - have already heard a bit of the material she's doing now, liked it quite a lot but didn't hear enough of it to be uninterested in hearing the full thing, and I'm always partial to a breakup show

- Robin Ince

All right, that's most of my list of people who might possibly do Edinburgh 2024 (and some people who are quite unlikely to do it, including Alice Fraser who literally told us she won't, but it's nice to imagine), and if they do, I'd like to see that. Obviously, there are far more comedians than time slots. I'm sure a lot of this problem will be solved by many of them not doing shows in the first week of Edinburgh 2024. But of the ones who do, how do I make sure I don't book something else at the same time and ruin my chance to see them? I don't know, I'm trying for the "it doesn't have to be perfect" approach. I have these ranked in my mind of which ones I'd like to see the most (those rankings are not reflected in the order I wrote them in this post, that's just the order that I thought of them), so theoretically I could just see as many comedians as there are time slots (and it's not a lot of time slots, it's five whole days but that's only five evenings and many of the best ones will only perform in the evenings), but what if some of them announce late? I don't know. I'll have to figure it out. It might require accepting that not everything will go exactly according to plan.

So that's what's going on in my life at the moment. I haven't even got into my list of people I hadn't previously heard of but didn't get ruled out in my browse through the show listings so now I'm Googling them to see who might get added at tier three. Maybe this festival is a month long for a reason. Maybe that's why it's got so many shows that go all night, there's not enough time if you spend some of it sleeping.

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

My favorite fic of yours

This was actually not that easy to answer, but in the end I’ll go with 179 Crescent Street. This is how I found you, fell in love with your Mikey and then with all the other guys. 

My favorite chapter in my favorite fic of yours

Part 9 - Of Vice and Men - I mean, it’s Mike & Sy… Don’t need to say more

The best character you've written for

Your Mike is just perfect in every tiny bit you wrote for him

The best ship you've written for

Melot & Tamsyn - they are made for one another 🥰

A fic I haven't read yet from you, but I want to

Surfer!Mikey 🥺

Something I remember vividly from reading one of your fics

Me making my most pouty face ever all the while I was reading the first chapter of White Blossoms - I was melting

What made me the most emotional after reading

Part 25 of Fixer Upper - Took me back 14 years to the most important day in my life. And you did so fucking well with this. It is still one of my favorite moments ever in reading fanfiction.

 What I like the most about your writing

Your sense of humour. I just love it!

A fic i'm excited for you updating/posting

Everything! For real! I can’t choose what I want you to work on. I need all of it!

A character/ship I didn't enjoy/think about as much before you wrote about them

You ignited my love for Melot, even before I got to read your stuff. But be sure, the way you write him made me fall even harder in love with him

Something I wish/hope you write

That modern au Charles fic you mentioned ages ago

A fic of yours that i've re-read

Uhm, I think there isn’t anything in your masterlist that I haven’t read at least twice. Like, every time I reblog I end up reading it once more. And some I may have read probably ten times or more. 

If i've ever shared/talked about your fic to someone else

lol - no - I would never talk about your stuff, or link it when people are talking about Sy teaching Mike how to go down on a woman or even DM spamming other mutuals with your stories. Or maybe I did all of this 😁

A fic I didn't expect to like so much

Making a mess of Mikey - He’s such a subby babygirl - but I love it - why did you make me love a subby babygirl?

A question I have about one of your fics

Under Orders 5 feat. the Captain - When? 

Ni.Na. You made me cry. Okay? (I read this when I was in a bad bad mood, you made it better.)

Where do I begin? -- At the beginning? That sounds logical. Ew. Oh well...

I've never been more glad that I got the crazy idea to toss 8 Henry-shaped men into the same house, because I might not have met you if I hadn't done that, and I wouldn't want to miss you <3

A fun fact about 'Of Vice and Men' -- It literally took me so long to write, and I initially hadn't planned on the three of them getting high together, but it just wouldn't happen any other way...

Your Mike is just perfect in every tiny bit you wrote for him

Hihi Thank you! (Which Mike... They're all so different, yet all the same adorable dork, whoops)

I am so glad you're loving Melot and Tamsyn (she was, quite literally, made for him. Hehe) They're so sweet and I love them so much, too...

Surfer!Mikey is 100% still underway - I'm just a little distracted at the moment, but I'm really close to realllyyyy finishing up White Blossoms, and then I hope I can shift my attention to my handsome surfer...

That modern au Charles fic you mentioned ages ago

That's really low on my list of things right now, I'm sorry :( I'll let you know if that ever gets back on the roster!

Making a mess of Mikey - He’s such a subby babygirl - but I love it - why did you make me love a subby babygirl?

Because I am evil, that's why... (I didn't know I'd love subby babygirl Mikey, either, but I think he's so fucking great T0T)

Under Orders 5 feat. the Captain - When? 

When I finally figure out what adding Sy will do to the relationship dynamic 🫣 I don't want to half-ass it and I realize it's taking a long time, but I need to get it right, sorry <3\

Cute head scritches for you, my dear non-rodent bestie <3

[nerdierholler]

Regency vampires and Book of Death!! I would love to hear more!!

Thank you for asking!

The initial worldbuilding for the Regency Vampires is here (fixed link) there's about 15 short posts if you want to know more. WHOOPS the original link was funky and missing stuff. I fixed it.

And I've posted a few things previously for the Psychopomps here.

There's some snippets of both under the cut!

Regency Vampires

TL;DR, In this world, vampires live openly as part of, if not entirely accepted by, upper society and have done so for several centuries. They're bound by strict rules and closely monitored, but of course on the surface everyone is oh so polite. I don't have many scenes for this written but here is the vampire heroine running into a vampire friend at a ball.

“I’m only recently arrived back. A slight wound sent me home earlier than planned.” “I’m sorry to hear that, I hope it was nothing serious.” James rubbed a hand over his shoulder, his face betraying a barest hint of remembered pain. “Nothing of concern and already well on its way to being healed, although I imagine it will leave a scar behind as a reminder.” Bess did her best to hide the concern and surprise that threatened to come to the surface. Those of the kindred did not scar easily, that James mentioned it at all meant it must have been a serious injury. She nodded in unspoken acknowledgement, “I’m glad it was nothing more serious and you have returned to your family. Will you be staying in London for the season while you recover?” “Yes, the family thinks I could use some pleasant diversions after being abroad for so long. They were quite insistent in fact.” Bess understood completely, the Banelfords wanted to parade him before the ton to show the great service their family had provided, in accordance with the charter.

(Psycho)pomps and Circumstance

They really are a bit of a chaos crew. I love them dearly but could never come up with any big plot, it's all slice of life and little conversations. Maybe that's enough? I don't know. I've given up on ever having enough thoughts or ideas to put together for something long. Just not how my writing brain works.

Anywho, Thanatos is the suit wearing middle manager of the bunch with an affinity for coffee, so the coffee shop is usually where he checks on Dani.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it today,” she said. “I’ve had three pickups already this morning and another 12 after.”  They called Dani’s name and she grabbed her coffee, sipping it while Thanatos still waited. “Honestly,” he continued, “I thought about just popping in for a look and a wave but I’m going to need something to get me through the rest of these. Besides, you were already at the front of the line so I didn’t have to wait.” Dani rolled her eyes, “Glad to see where your priorities are.” “Coffee and work are always at the top of the list, you know that.” “I see how it is.” Dani dramatically put a hand to her chest, “Our friendship means nothing. Dear god, you wound me. Is this how I go? A crushed heart?” Thanatos didn’t even pretend to inspect the invisible threat of fate that Dani knew allowed him to see when her death was near. “Not today my good lady.” They called for Thanatos and he grabbed his coffee. He took a long drink and sighed, “Back to work.”

[dmclemblems]

Just wanted to tell you that I really love your recent post about Rhea. It always baffles me that people don't see how similar she is to the three lords and how each of them reflects parts of Rhea, her personality and history. She is a very complex, but - IMO - criminally underutilized character. I would've love to see more of her in Three Hopes, in this different timeline "without" Byleth and all the drama, especially in AG as ally. Really a wasted opportunity.

Thank you!! I agree, Rhea isn't utilized as much as she could and should be. Even in Hopes, they could've used her as part of the story without Byleth. When the game came out, that's actually what I was hoping for. I wanted to see more of what the Church would look like without Byleth around and without Rhea being able to truly plan to pass on her role to Byleth.

Also, the fact that you can kill Byleth (and Jeralt) in Hopes and you don't get any scene with Rhea about it is such a wasted plotline. You can literally kill the person who is the vessel for Rhea's mother that she's been trying to revive all this time, effectively killing Sothis, and Rhea just... apparently never finds out.

Jeralt's Mercenaries in this game are also a common topic, so it's not like she just wouldn't know they're out and about. Jeralt says he wants to steer clear of Rhea, but I'm sure word of him has reached her at the very least. If you're playing SB, Jeralt is hired by Faerghus initially and for quite some time. It's not like in AG where they join near the end of the game and Dimitri promises to help Jeralt keep a low profile. Since she also doesn't mention him/Byleth in AG at camp, I imagine he successfully kept them out of Rhea's notice. Even then though, she should be aware that they were hired by the enemy, no? Ofc, even if not, it's still a wasted plotline that she just doesn't know.

Seriously, it should've been some kind of plot where if you killed Byleth and Jeralt that you had to fight Rhea and she tried to get revenge for them. Jeralt she had a personal friendship with and has known him for such a long time. Byleth she doesn't know personally but she does know that's the vessel of her mother and Jeralt and Sitri's child. You choosing to kill them in any route should definitely have consequences.

In SB and GW it makes sense that Rhea would become your enemy since she's your enemy regardless, but I'd love an extra battle with her or something. Maybe Edelgard or Claude, depending on the route, learns about what happened to the Nabateans because she tells them in a part of the story only accessible if you killed Byleth. In AG, maybe it causes tension between the armies and the KoS won't help you anymore, or maybe for a little while while Seteth tries to reason with Rhea. Since in Houses Seteth makes it clear to the player that he wasn't privy to the whole Byleth-Sitri-Sothis situation, he wouldn't be as connected emotionally to Byleth and Jeralt dying. He's also skeptical of Jeralt at first in Houses because of him having run away in the past. I feel like he'd talk to Rhea, who is angry at the Kingdom army for killing them, and reason with her about why it happened and that they're not to blame for whatever she's upset about (and even if she told Seteth the whole truth, I think he'd still explain to her that it's not their fault and they couldn't have known any of that).

Plus, seeing tension with Faerghus and the Church would've been a great story to stick in there. We only ever see them on the same side and always on good terms. Sometimes Shit Happens and people don't agree. We never get to see tension between them. The only thing even remotely close to "tension" is when Seteth tells Gilbert they can't spare any troops for the Kingdom to fight with in Silver Snow. Even then, it was all very respectful and they had permission to pass.

Also, in Hopes Seteth and Dimitri are closer to being friends since they got more time together and you get more of their opinion on each other (for Dimitri about Seteth it's not directly from him, but Shez mentions it in camp and we hear from Seteth directly about his own opinion). I would love to see a situation in AG where Seteth refuses to abandon the Kingdom after the Church was given shelter and safety. Rhea might not want to help them because of Byleth being killed, but Seteth and Flayn would remain, and any knights very loyal to them who also agree that the Kingdom has done a whole lot for them could also stick around.

I think it would give Rhea a lot to reflect on to have tension between her and Seteth too! Like... she's a character and an important one! Why are there characters less important than her in Houses who are more important than her in Hopes who have more development than she gets in both games combined? She needs conflicts and resolutions, not to be just a flat out enemy or a flat out ally. Even irl, when you have a close friend, sometimes you argue or fight. In Houses, Seteth had some moments where he was suspicious of Rhea but he chose to ultimately believe in her because he knows she's isn't a bad person doing things with malicious intent. She did a bad thing, but it was out of desperation and heartbreak. It was similar to how Dimitri basically lost his mind in Houses. She's been down that road too.

It's just such a shame that there's so much they could do with her and they just... never did. She should've been playable at some point in AG too. There was room in every route to make her more important, and GW also has nothing to do with Rhea overall. You see her like... maybe one or two times tops before the final chapter??? It's just... really lame. How can you make her the final boss of GW but have hardly even shown her throughout the story? It completely banks on your knowledge of Houses and even then doesn't work because Hopes' story is completely different. Claude never seemed to have an opinion one way or another on the Church in Hopes, and he didn't spend enough time at the Academy in Hopes to start having suspicions about Rhea. If they wanted him to have that, I feel like she needed to be a frequent part of the story.

The sad truth is that Heroes is doing Rhea more justice than both games combined ever did. Yikes!

[deadcityhq]

CHARACTER NAME: phoenix CHARACTER FACECLAIM: emma d'arcy CHARACTER AGE/DOB (if relevant/they're not old af): ahahhahahahhaa CHARACTER PRONOUNS/GENDER IDENTITY/SEXUALITY ETC: they/them, non binary, bisexual/romantic CHARACTER FANDOM (if relevant): n/a but obvs affiliated with good omens etc OC OR CANON: oc CHARACTER TYPE (for example: werewolf, shadowhunter, warlock, demon etc): angel HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN IN NEW YORK/WHY ARE THEY THERE ETC: in truth they're not entirely There. it's… like. KINDA okay,,, it's complicated,,, IMPORTANT CHARACTER INFORMATION TO NOTE AND SHARE (this could be important headcanons for initial plotting, mini bios etc, supporting docs):

throughout the long, long years of their life, the angel phoenix has embodied many things. all shifting through the changing times of creation. from the start, phoenix was the angel of divine fire, of fiery purity. more an angel of wrath, enacting some of the harsher of the almighty's wills. phoenix was a devoted follower and servant. one who never asked questions. blind devotion, but a devotion they always imagined was true. they couldn't be swayed. in spite of their times spent on earth when the time came, in spite of connections built with humans and such, phoenix was never one to be swayed from the path.

this meant that when the time came to start on the road to armageddon, they were all too happy to follow along. after all, the path was just and true, right? how could it be wrong, when it was all a part of the plan. it would lead them all to exactly where they were supposed to be.

in truth, the apocalypse being avoided truly threw them off. the angel felt… off balance. there was no explanation, no word from god. things just kind of… continued on. in truth, it all felt a little strange. like there maybe was no plan, actually. and what is an angel, so focused on plans to do?

it should also be noted that phoenix has in more recent times (like, we're talking ancient greek times bruh), been an angel of rebirth and renewal. they have been very good at adapting to the times, to what was needed and required of them.

but no amount of adaptive qualities could prepare them for all of this chaos. chaos that has only gotten worse this past year. and while they are still loyal to heaven, attempting to make sense of their orders and the things that they have to try and nudge into place, they can't help the curiosity that has been itching away inside. the wonder that, maybe… there was something more out there all along. perhaps the divine plan wasn't really all that rock solid after all.

but maybe now isn't the time to start questioning things either. shit's too messy, they need stability, right? right?????

honestly,, they are Struggling ok-- someone get this bitch a Nap

THREE AESTHETICS THAT REMIND YOU OF YOUR CHARACTER:

scorching fire on an even hotter day.

skylines a burning orange colour.

the sense of hesitation before jumping.

ADMIN ANDY APP.

[the-firebird69]

We like what our son is saying about the charger and the air conditioner being optimal it's the same amount of time when you first got it and it's roughly the same it's almost right on the money and it wasn't as cool as it could have been at the start of the experiment it's about 15 minutes over he said and it's true 20 minutes maybe but okay but that was because it started warm now people are discovering this as a problem they're cooling there chargers and batteries he was right so that it cool after use a lot of people ruin theirs in very short time and his last forever I saw what he was doing and couldn't believe it and they start doing it and tons of people are happy but it's a big relief there's a lot of problems here and the clothes mostly no he's going to be going off to an appointment shortly and we don't really like him going up there and it's a long way and it is for not a good reason but he has to use it as cover and the max end up fighting clones and the moloch end up fighting the clones more so and they just really don't get it and they think they're going to get some benefit from it and the clones do too and we've had enough of all three is an a****** rinky dink shed dick s*** show and we're going to have to continuously show them all three that was it's stupid but he has to go up there because of the system it's still in place and it's not it up of psychiat psychiatrists complete assholes and we're going after them today it's another group that's holding it over on mact and he doesn't like it. There's a lot of stupid crap that goes on around this town I want people to come in here and stop these people cold as I've instructed it's not right for us or our people and you should be forewarned if you're not trying are you going to be replaced and questioning interrogated this is a crappy place to be able to see epitome of the fight and I don't want to hear it you have to go in there and do the job now if there's a systemic problem I want to know but I don't think so.

Frank Castle Hardcastle is not to be bothered it's doing the job all the time. We have a plan for the Bradley GT and it's going forwards it's not a haphazard one but it is kind of this is a backyard kind of car that's what we want to portray it started it out and it's going and we do know what we're doing

-her son wants to initialize a plan for people to get him money to purchase things with and we're going to go ahead and do it it makes sense and he needs backup he doesn't have any money as a backup

-we have to fortify this place no we have to fortify our son please help these people are after him and there's a few things that are going on one is nobody could withstand the gravity of Jupiter he says your bodies aren't ready for it and even if you put your brain in the body your brain gets squished and they don't like that they didn't hear that part so they're trying to grab them and stuff you can use robots your body won't sustain it but you can go to the interior of the planet and the gravity is far less at certain depth it is equal to Earth it's almost to the core but wait on there it's altitude and pressure well it really it's a lot of pressure but you just go down and a pressurized vessel and spaceships are to fly back and forth and you know you outfit the thing you go using robots and people have been doing that and that's how you do it it's not a brain teaser and a lot of idiots are going to be out there

-huge number of idiots don't know how to use robots and don't think they can and don't want to and think they can inhabit someone's body and sees idiot morlock and they're going to need to go all of them they're starting to do it now

That should suffice for now when we get back to it in a moment

Thor Freya

Do it very good

Hera

Zues

Olympus we have to say this is a good timing thing and he was in trouble and there's a lot going on but he's getting ready to go to the in a meeting I'll tell you what this is a crappy life these people have provided and we don't want this anymore and we're going to clear them all out I don't want to deal with this stupid s*** it's such a dumbass thing no one mercy and help like a little babies and sit here abusing people it's really rude and crude and disgusting we never fell for anything like this they think we do is disgusting so we'll start coming down on all of them