#marc sp

[marmie-noir]

So I was thinking over Moon Knight stuff as I constantly do.

And Marc was basically kicked out of the military because he would switch, right? BUT! Steven wouldn't be who he would switch to! Which means Jake was the alter that was fronting. Imagine Jake Lockley coming out in the middle of a battle. Imagine Jake being so absolutely brutal because he doesn't know exactly what is going on, but he knows Marc was in danger and that is why he came out. Just destroying the enemy, and the Marc is left there, like normal, to clean up the mess. Idk little thinky thoughts about military! Jake Lockley who doesn't really know what is going on but knowing his only goal until Khonshu was to make sure Marc is safe. After his goal is to keep Marc safe and do Khonshu's bidding. I like the idea of people who were in Marc's squad seeing him put gloves on and being like "Ah hell." because they wouldn't know a completely different person was there now, and they just thought gloves = shit hitting the fan. They aren't wrong but it would be interesting.

[traveller-of-the-knight]

Train of thoughts

Moon boys

Y/N: I can't understand your train of thoughts.

Marc: I don't really have one.

Steven: You know those little things in westerns that people use to move on train rails when they are desperate? The one that two people drive like using a seesaw.

Marc: And they look absolutely ridiculous.

Steven: Yeah that one, that's what we have.

[xan-the-emo-trans-man]

”you can’t prove they were gay!”

well you can’t prove they weren’t gay

[brnesblogposts]

Moon boys rescuing reader from a spider (drabble)

warnings: arachnophobia

characters: steven grant x reader, marc spector x reader

————————

“FUCK, NO.” Steven heard you shriek in the bedroom from his place on the sofa and was instantly alerted. He ran to the bedroom so fast he almost tripped “darling?! are you alright?” concern overtook his voice, “SP- SPIDER” You were crying and shaking, you had a massive phobia of the 8 legged creatures.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Steven tried calming you down “deep breathes, okay?” He saw you following his instructions as you stood on the bed frantic. “Now, where is it?” He spoke softly, hoping it would keep you calm, you pointed him in the direction of the laundry basket.

Steven cautiously approached, he himself was not too fond of spiders but he would do anything for you, “JESUS-“ You had forgotten to inform Steven of the size of this spider. “Love, this isn’t for me, i’m gonna let Marc front to catch it, yeah? i’ll be back in a minute”

“Hey, baby” Marc turned to see you clinging on to the headboard of the bed for dear life, “DON’T LOSE IT MARC” You yelled at him. “Don’t you worry! Mr tough guy is here, Steven is a wimp” Hey. It’s bloody big, okay? My fear is completely rational, alright? Marc just laughed at his alter in the reflection of the bedroom mirror.

He lifted the hamper and the spider tried scampering away, “MARC” You were crying harder which only made him want to catch and release this thing faster. He cupped his hands and caught it “I’ve got it, Baby” He had turned to show you he did, “GET IT OUT OF HERE, I DON’T WANT TO SEE IT” He obeyed and released it out of the bedroom window, swiftly shutting it so it wouldn’t get back in. “It’s gone” He saw your shoulders begin to relax and you sat on the bed with a huff.

Marc approached you and kissed you on the forehead “You’re safe now, it’s not gonna hurt you. Nobody and nothing hurts my Y/N” With that he kissed your lips and handed over control back to Steven. “You were so brave, darling. So proud of you,” he kissed your temple “It’s a good thing we have Marc, innit?” he chuckled to himself. Knowing you, you’d be dialling 999 for a spider Marc spoke, Steven ignored him and took you in his arms.

“You boys are my heroes,” Marc fronted for a second “Steven didn’t even do anything?! He was cowardly” With that Steven was back in control, “He is such an arse” Steven rolled his eyes. You smiled, a smile that shone with love. Your boys, your heroes. You cuddled into Steven and that’s where you lay for the next couple hours.

[nathanbatemanfucker]

Helpless

summary: those drugs your captors injected you with didn’t just knock you out, and now you need Steven’s help.

prompt: SEX POLLEN (w feelings teehee)

pairing: steven grant x fem!reader (brief mentions of marc spector)

contents: 18+/NSFW/MINORS DNI, sex pollen, dubcon, mentions of being kidnapped and drugged, masturbation (fem), unprotected sex, dirty talk, creampie, kissing, cuddling, pining friends to lovers

wc: 2k

disclaimer: as a mod/organizer of @moonknight-events, my participance in this event is purely for promotion and i will NOT be entered into the drawing for any prize.

SP BINGO 2024 | moonknight masterlist

The sound of Steven’s blood-curdling scream will forever haunt you. Even as you sit beside him now, even as he drives you far far away from your captors— as he drives past the hotel you two had been staying in for one outside of the city.

You shift in your seat, having a difficult time getting comfortable. Something inside you seems off, your skin crawling. You chalk it up to the memory of waking up to unwanted hands on your skin, of the skitter of rats near your feet, of being pushed into the corner of a room full of cobwebs. How could you feel comfortable after thinking you were dead? That you would be murdered, never seeing Steven again.

The thought has you glancing over at him once more, eyes tracing the slope of his nose.

Steven’s gaze meets yours quickly, “You alright, love?”

Better now that you’re sat next to him. Far from okay. But, things will get better. One day this’ll be a distant memory, one you can hardly remember the details of, except that Steven was there.

You give him a half-hearted smile, shrugging, “Little shaken up.”

Steven reaches out to grab your hand, squeezing it gently. Where the action would usually make your heart flutter, all you can do is notice the relief it gives you. Strange.

“I’m so sorry,” He murmurs earnestly, catching your attention. “Marc was right, I shouldn’t have let you come in with me.”

“I appreciate you believing that I can handle myself. And I can, just not against 4 men that are twice my size.”

—

It grows unbearable in the shower.

You start with scalding hot water, wanting to burn and scrub the night’s events off of you. A symbolic erasing, hopefully, your mind will follow suit. It isn’t long after you’re in the shower that your skin grows feverishly hot. That uncomfortable feeling from before turns into some nagging scratch that sits deep in your belly.

“Fuck,” You breathe heavily, reaching out to turn the nob. The water turns cold, icy cold and for a few seconds, you think you’ve found some relief. You run your soapy towel over the skin of your tummy, up and over your breasts when your breath catches.

That. That feels like true relief.

It throws you— being confusingly turned on after a night like tonight. But you’d woken up groggy, maybe they’d drugged you? Maybe your body was having some strange reaction to whatever substance they’d given to knock you out.

You push those thoughts away as you discard the towel in favor of rubbing your hands over your breasts once more, biting back a soft whine. Flesh on flesh, yeah that’s better. You tug and tease your nipples, leaning back against the tile as you practically tremble from the ecstasy that begins to course through your veins.

Your first peak comes rapidly and unexpectedly just from the teasing touches. The gnawing feeling inside you subsides and you take a deep breath, reaching to turn off the water. Before your hand meets the job you're overwhelmed by that need again. It's louder this time, more consuming as it takes up more of your focus than before.

You’re sent into an orgasm-chasing frenzy, spreading your legs and dipping your fingers between your folds to rub at your clit. Each high you pull from yourself ends with you shivering and shaking, your moans echoing off the walls. But it’s not enough and you grow impatient even as you attempt to satisfy yourself again and again.

There’s a knock at the door that makes you jump, and then Steven’s voice floats through the door, “You alright in there, honey?”

Steven.

You need him. Steven could help you, he could make you feel good. You barely have the mind to turn off the water as you step out of the shower, heading straight for the door and throwing it open.

Steven’s mouth drops open, eyes going wide as he takes in the sight of you completely bared to him. He’s dreamed about this one too many times— Marc has too, but this was the last thing he’d expected when he’d come to check on you. You take a step towards him and he realizes that he’s been standing in place, ogling you.

“I—oh—um, I’ll just,” He mumbles, turning away and covering his eyes for good measure. He starts to apologize, though you were the one to present yourself this way he feels guilty. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—“

You reach for his shoulder, “No, Steven, touch me. Please, touch me, I need you.”

“Oh, gods above. I can’t just…on a night like tonight, where you’ve been made vulnerable,” He reasons, though he doesn’t move out of your hold.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me but Steven, I need you to help me. Please,” You whisper desperately, stepping forward to press your body against his.

Steven whimpers, shuddering when he feels the way you lean in to bury your nose in his curls and inhale his scent. How you’re affecting him so deeply when you’re the one begging is beyond him. He feels helpless— to you and your needs. Helpless to the feelings that have been blooming inside of him for you since the moment he and Marc had laid their eyes on you.

“Help you?” He murmurs, voice lying somewhere between caution and eagerness.

“Touch me. Take me. Make me cum on your cock,” You whisper into his ear, letting your hands run up and down his arms.

Steven gives out a rough laugh, “Honey are you—“

“Sure. I’m so sure, Steven. I’ve wanted this so long just please,” You ramble, not caring that you’re exposing the crush you’ve been nursing.

Steven ignores the way Marc tells him to resist— he can detect the jealousy, the longing in his alter’s urging. He ignores honor and dignity and manners, turning around to scoop you into his arms. His mouth is hungry as it skates across your skin to find one of your nipples. He sucks feverishly, one of his hands dipping to slip fingers between your folds. You keen at his touch, spreading your legs wide for him. It almost makes him dizzy, the way you’re giving him so much power. But you’ve trusted him with taking care of you and he refuses to mess this up.

“God, you’re so slick, darling. Did you touch yourself? It wasn’t enough?” He murmurs, guiding you back into the bathroom and against the wall.

“No. Made myself cum so many times,” You breathe, gripping his curls and pressing his face more firmly against your chest.

Steven gets the message, taking turns swirling his tongue around both your nipples. His hand doesn’t stop, teasing your clit in time with his mouth.

“Gotta take good care of you then, yeah?” He mumbles between flicking his tongue over your stiff bud.

You nod eagerly, chest heaving up into his mouth, “Yeah, with your cock Steven.”

“What are my mouth and fingers not good enough?” He teases, even as he uses his free hand to drop his boxers and sweats. They bunch around his knees, and he doesn’t bother to take them off fully— somehow growing just as needy and desperate as you are in a matter of minutes.

“Good enough and not enough.”

“Sounds a little impossible, doesn’it?” He asks with a soft chuckle.

You glare up at him, growing entirely too impatient. “Never took you as a tease, I always imagined I’d be Marc.”

“You’re certainly right, I just want you to be sure,” He admits as he hoists you up against the wall with ease, wrapping your legs around his hips.

You groan in frustration, pivoting your hips up greedily, “I am sure, and I’m also pretty sure I’ll spontaneously combust if you don’t fuck me right now.”

“Love a headstrong girl,” He whispers into your ear, rubbing the head of his cock against your clit in a move that makes you shiver. You open your mouth the beg him once more but then he’s pushing himself deep inside of you, spreading you open.

“Steven,” You mewl softly, mouthing at the curve of his jaw, eyes rolling back at the taste of his skin.

“I’ve got you, love, right here, gonna make you feel so so good,” He reassures you with gentle rocks of his hips. His head dips and then his mouth is on yours, the hunger inside of him much more apparent as he devours you.

This is scratching the itch, the sweet drag of his cock through your walls starts to alleviate that gnawing inside of you in a way your fingers couldn’t. You kiss him back with matched fervor, hands running up his arms and shoulders to knot in his curly hair, holding him to you so that you can take and take and take. You need every drop of him—every taste, every inch of him, every touch. You need…more.

“Harder.”

Steven tightens his grip on your hips, sinking more firmly onto his heels so he can increase the intensity of his thrusts. It still isn’t enough.

“Deeper,” You whine, tugging his head back by your hold on his curls.

His head falls back into your grasp, his speech soft and breathy, “Darling—“

“Fuck me, Steven. Like you mean it.”

With your spurring, Steven pins you more firmly against the wall with his chest, dropping one of his hands to your cunt so that he can open you up for him even more. His thrusts grow even harder as he reaches deeper inside you, the tip of his cock pressing against the spot inside of you that makes you a little breathless. He can feel the way this change makes you tighten around him, and he groans, pleasure blooming more urgently in his groin. He’s getting close and he can only hope that you are too.

“God, that’s fucking good,” You gasp, resting your head back against the wall as the room begins to spin.

“So good, love, so tight and sweet,” He agrees, kissing his way down the column of your throat. He marvels at how soft and supple your skin is against his lips. “Perfect little pussy, can’t believe you're letting me have it.”

“Make me soak your cock,” You beg, guiding his mouth to yours again, desperate to taste him again. His mouth is so soft, lips full that feel perfect against your own like the two of you were made to fit together like this.

If he wasn’t completely focused on you before, he is now. Every thought in his mind is on making you feel good, on giving you exactly what you need. He rubs your clt with his thumb this time, with firm but gentle pleasure, and you fall apart around him like it's your destiny. You still find yourself unsatisfied, needy for something but before you can say anything Steven cums, gritting his teeth as he continues to fuck you, making sure that his seed is nice and deep. It's only then, when you feel him filling you with warmth that a strange sense of peace washes over you. You’ve never felt more satiated in your life.

“Fucking hell,” He breathes, resting his forehead against yours.

“Thank you. That was— thank you,” You murmur, pressing another kiss to his lips.

Steven kisses you back eagerly, sure that this is it. That it’ll be the last time he gets to kiss and hold you like this, his last taste of your mouth. The last warmth of your smooth skin. He guides himself out of you and then lowers you both to the floor. He tries to let go of you and give you some space, but you get comfortable in his arms, pressing your cheek to his.

“Is this okay?” You ask tentatively, not meeting his gaze.

Steven brings you more firmly against him, dropping a tender kiss onto your forehead, “It's perfect.”

moonknight taglist: @pastanoodles11 , @campingwiththecharmings, @steven-grants-world, @stevengrcnt, @mccn-bcys, @whatthefishh, @silversprings-mp3, @simpforbritgents, @maisondenachtai @ninebluehearts, @rmoonstoner,  @later-gators12, @foreverinwanderlustt-blog, @aleeb, @eyelessfaces, @marc-spectorr, @missdictatorme, @toracainz

[pupsmailbox]

SPIDERMAN ID PACK

NAMES ⌇ aaron. abis. achira. ai. aison. andrew. apce. arachne. araignee. aranea. aranha. arácnido. bailey. benjamin. boas. boaz. boots. bruce. bryce. cancor. castor. charlie. comix. constance. cooper. dmitri. drew. dusk. einstein. emer. estella. eugene. eurina. ezekiel. fleda. gagamba. gerald. harold. harry. hobart. hobie. kansan. kona. kongulo. kumo. lawrence. lokni. mac. macdonald. marc. martha. mattie. max. maxwell. merimange. michelle. mig-el. miguel. miles. mj. morgan. neptune. norman. ocho. octavia. ohnn. otto. patton. pavitr. peni. peter. piguel. pluto. poise. pseter. punk. ragno. raine. ricochet. rio. salem. scarlet. screwball. SP//DER. spidair. spinner. stacy. sunflower. sunny. takuya. taranto. tarantula. toby. tom. toxin. twix. uttu. webbler. william. wolf.

PRONOUNS ⌇ arach/arachnid. atom/atom.fast/fast. bit/bite. brew/brew. byte/byte. drop/drop. fan/fantastic. hazard/hazard. hero/heroe. lego/lego. mech/mech. nuc/nuclear. rad/radioactive. sense/sense. silk/silk. speed/speed. spi/der. spider/spider. spider/spidey. spin/spin. star/star. stick/sticky. synth/synth. ve/venom. weave/weave. web/web. widow/widow. ☢️/☢️. ☣️/☣️. 🔆/🔆. 🕷️/🕷️. 🕸️/🕸️.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the Comics: Writing a legend, building a history.

Today we aren't reviewing an issue of Moon Knight. Today we are going to talk about something important.

So who wrote Moon Knight?

"Easy!", you might say. "Doug Moench!"

Sure. But you'd be surprised to find that it's not as much as you'd think.

Doug Moench wrote issues 1-15, 17-26, 28-33.

He returns in 1998 for a 4 issue mini seires Vol 3 "Resurrection Wars" which revives Marc Spector, who had been killed off in the previous volume.

He continues in 1999 with Vol 4, another 4 issue mini series "High Strangers/Strangeness" which won an award for favorite limited series.

He also wrote werewolf by Night, which gave us the first iteration of Moon Knight. An instantly popular character that made appearances in other comics like "The Hulk" before he was given his own comic.

He had time to work on the designs with Bill Sienkiewicz. They built up the weapons, the costume, the cab, and the copter.

He also built up the side characters of Gena, Gena's two boys, Crawley, Frenchie, Detective Flint, and Marlene.

He set the ground rules:

Moon Knight system is Jewish.

Marc, Jake, and Steven are a part of a system and are not one man pretending to be someone else

Jake is the one that is friendly and loves being with the people.

Steven is posh, collected, and takes care of things.

Marc is the one with experience, has the skills needed to get things done, and holds all the pain.

They are former Mercenaries who did terrible things and have deep guilt.

Khonshu resurrected them to act as Moon Knight

They strive to protect any who would come to them for help that perhaps might not get it elsewhere

I would even argue that he was building up to the fact that Moon Knight himself was his own form of alter but it has since been glossed over and replaced with the idea that Marc is most often the one under the mask.

Pretty simple rules to follow to make it a Moon Knight comics, but you'd be surprised what some writers have done with it.

These comics were written long before DID was acknowledged and the different forms of PTSD and Dissociation were defined.

And yet, here we stand with a traumazied man from Chicago slowly working through a freshly cognizant system and trying to figure out how three (four) people can work together towards not just a life, but life as a superhero who wants to help people.

Further more, an odd thing happened in this.

We had a comic that often focused more on mental health than on super powers, heroics, or villains.

More often than not, we watched Marc, Jake, and Steven struggle with themselves and one another. We watched stories unfold from the villain's point of view, often just being ordinary people pushed too far by a system that failed them.

More so, we watched Moon Knight sympathise with these villains.

How often he let them walk away or he let them kill their abusers, wondering if he was doing wrong himself.

How can he help when sometimes the help he offers is not what is needed?

We even watched him fail. We saw him lose his temper and cause damage. We saw him curl into a ball and break. We saw him get lost in his own nightmares and dissociative fuges.

Moench stepped forward and often handled current events with raw emotion. We saw his characters cry over the loss of public iconic figures. We watched people struggling as they returned from war. We saw child abuse and poverty. We watched economic struggles with classism and we watched people struggle to deal with grief.

We even watched them deal with antisemitism over and over again. How many times were the victims of his stories Jewish and trying to survive in America? What about the story that took place with the mass shooting in the Synagoug? We heard stories of Generational trauma as elders struggled with survival after the Holocaust.

Moon Knight was a unique comic unlike any other I've ever come across. For it's time and for it's topics at the time. What's more, this comic continued.

It was no 'special of the week' comic and spanned multiple years as they grew.

What do we know about Moench? Who did he write this comic for?

The Moon Knight in the Were Wolf by Night certainly didn't have all this depth. He was just a man dressed in silver, fighting a monster and ultimately choosing the side of the monster.

Moench himself was from Chicago. He knew what it was like to live in the city and see the fall of factories and hard times on the streets. We know he witnessed the times of Vietnam veterans being forgotten and abused. He witnessed a lot of changes happening in the world and the places he was writing about.

He wrote about what spoke to him and what he saw around him.

And in his stories, there often were no clear heroes, winners, or villains.

But there was one issue that he chose to add into this comic that was already filled with so many things that other comics avoided.

Moon Knight wasn't written as Jewish in that one shot cameo. He wasn't written with DID either, but I'll get to that.

There are interviews of Doug admitting that "I didn't say, 'I'm going to sit down and create a Jewish character.'"

In fact, he picked a name and later found out it was a Jewish name. This made him do research. Not just into Judaism, but into the areas that Marc Spector fought in and where his family came from.

Do you have any idea how many writers of that time and our current time simply slap the label of "Jewish" on a character and refuse to actually look into what makes them Jewish?

I can't say how much he researched and how much he got wrong or right, but I do know that when he did choose to dive into topics that touched on certain issues, he handled them with a grace that is often overlooked.

The writer that came after Moench? Alan Zelenetz, a former Jewish day school principal from Brooklyn.

Zelenetz had been acting as an editor for a bit before he took a look at Moench's early start.

And it was in Issue 37 and 38 where we get the real backstory of Marc Spector. A man running from his Rabbi father.

Marc now became the son of an Orthodox Rabbi who had been forced to flee Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasion.

Here, we get the story of Marc running to the Marines. Running to the mercenaries, and running from home. Perhaps even, running from G-d.

Zelenetz wanted to lean into the Jewish past and Jewish story. He explored themes of using a holy book to create a villain while playing with Jewish myths. He also explored Antisemitism without toning it down or hiding it under comic bookish villainy. He portrayed Moon Knight facing white supremacist vandalizing a Jewish Cemetery. He showed Moon Knight saving the Torah from a Synagogue fire. He also showed a strained relationship and the question of Moon Knight finding his own relationship in what he does with his father's views.

Alan Zelenetz edited/wrote shorts for issues 18, 21–22, 27, 32, Then wrote the whole story for issues 36–38.

Zelenetz voiced that he was looking to add some Jewish representation into his workforce and perhaps into the comic industry at the time. Considering his background, perhaps he was the only one at the time that had the proper knowledge to play with things the way that he did in the story of Elias Spector's death and Marc Spector's pain.

He did not stick around with Moon Knight for long after. Though, he admits that he wanted to play with the fact that Khonshu was an Egyptian god and Marc was from such a Jewish background. I am sad we didn't get to see that story.

After that, Moon Knight's original 1980s run was finished. The question of what to do with Moon Knight, where to take him, and who would take up the mantle of writing him now lay in the hands of Marvel.

Many failed after this. They failed to keep the heart of what Moon Knight stood for and who Moon Knight was. His Jewishness was forgotten and his mental health became a joke.

Not to say all of them failed. There are a few shining stars that gleamed in the darkness and I like to think that it was these moments that kept Moon Knight going all these years.

Moench didn't set out to write a story about mental health, and yet his approach is the most real I've seen. Hardly a shining picture of perfect representation, there is still something there in watching the character almost seem to push back against the unintended desire to push him into a corner.

No matter how often Jake and Steven and Moon Knight were seen as Marc pretending to be someone else, there was always ALWAYS that correction. Always that push back.

Call it the writer's curse of characters misbehaving and taking on a life of their own, but perhaps there was something more there. Perhaps he felt the weight of time and cry of the suppressed and overlooked.

So many of his stories danced the line of "I can't say it because it will get edited out by the big wigs at Marvel, but if you would just look... Just look over here for just a moment..."

And years upon years later, a writer did see the whispers there and said "I see the story of pain. I see the cry of mental health." Lemire told the story that Moench couldn't and from that, we are still pushing forward with McKay.

And more, perhaps we will see the Jewish story that hides in all that also get a spotlight again.

In the era of big battles, cross-over events, explosions, and super villains cackling about domination... I still look back at Stained Glass Scarlet, The Druid, the Music Box, And Colloquy.

As I finish the original 1980s run, I brace myself to dive into what comes next.

I think I'm trying to find where and how the original run ventured so far into the dark and insulting territory it did and the journey back into a revival that now means so much to so many.

In a way, perhaps it mirrors a journey into our own mental health. How easy it is to become lost in what everyone around you tells you that you are and how you are supposed to be until your own doubt sets in to drown you. Perhaps it is the journey of Moon Knight's character emerging from this to find a path to healing that is what kept us here so long.

[batsplat]

hi batsplat! i would like to say that you are an absolute pillar of the motogp community on here, like you are truly so so appreciated. both for your knowledge and also for the way you write about things (i think you could write 3000 words on a grocery store trip valentino took in 2003 and still make it super interesting reading)

i was reading your post about your favourite rivalries that didnt include one of the aliens, who would you personally include as part of that list? (versus who is really good but not quite alien status) id also really like to know if (and who) youd count as aliens from the pre-motogp era, and if theres been a difference over time about how often we are seeing aliens or if theyre easier/harder to spot as technical developments have sped up

hope you have a great day!

that's so sweet... thank you that's such an incredible compliment dsdkhfkhfd

about the aliens, the way I use the term is entirely as a historical descriptor, not as a qualitative assessment of any riders. it's a useful shorthand for a specific riders in a specific era, but to me it has limited relevance outside of that era. so to be clear we're talking valentino, casey, dani, jorge and marc - and according to common wisdom this usage originated from colin edwards' 2009 comment:

“But as I’ve said before, I’ve got to be pleased to be finishing next best behind those four guys, or should I say aliens. “They are riding out of this world and to be right behind them means I’m doing the best job I can and that’s about as good as I can hope for at the moment.”

(jorge discusses valentino as an alien in 2007, see here. which might be complete coincidence, but has always made me kind of curious whether the word was floating around in the paddock in some capacity before edwards 'coined' the term)

the thing is, right, it made sense to treat those four (and later -casey +marc) as distinct from the field, because they were winning almost everything. one reason for this was that they were very good, very skilled riders. another was that from 2007-15, only four to six bikes were capable of regularly challenging for wins at any one time. it was a massive field disparity that quite frankly was partly enforced through machinery. that's why it makes sense to include marc in that term: it's not just the fact that he was very good, it's the fact that he was riding a repsol honda that was the best or second best bike by a long way for his first three years in the premier class. in 2016, motogp returned to michelins and introduced new technical regulations - and for all intents and purposes, the alien era ended. it ended when eight different riders won in eight races that season. yes, marc, valentino and jorge were still the top three in the championship... but it's the difference of whether you go into a weekend convinced you know the winner will come from a list of four riders, or if you very much do not know that. between 2008 to 2015, apart from the aliens, a grand total of two riders claimed wins - dovi on a repsol honda in 2009 and ben spies on a factory yamaha in 2011. both of those were wet races (which of course are generally more open than dry ones). so just to reiterate: a greater number of riders won in 2016 alone (9) than in 2008-15 combined (7). (in 2007, a further two different riders won races - capirossi on the championship-winning factory ducati and vermeulen on the suzuki.) yes, obviously the aliens were very good riders, nobody is going to argue with you over that... but those numbers? they're only possible in a specific version of motogp - one that only existed for a few years

honestly, I don't even really use the term 'alien' to describe valentino pre-2006 or marc post-2016. it's just not that useful to me... aliens to me is a 'pack hunter' thing, where even if some of them are injured or are having a bad day or whatever, at least one of them will basically always be there to pick up the pieces. marc and valentino might have dominated the sport as a whole - but not all of their championship seasons were completely dominant, and there's only so much any one athlete can dominate in the sport... you're not going into every single weekend thinking 'oh yeah they're definitely going to win' (yes, yes, there were two times per year where you did very much do that with marc). which is different when you compare it to the aliens as a pack, where you could be confident that ONE of them would end the weekend on the top step of the podium

which is why I just don't apply the alien term to anyone pre-valentino - it's not because I think they were less good or less talented or less anything, it's because for me it's a term that's more about an era than it is about individual riders. you have to treat each era on its own, and I'm not really a big fan of inter-era comparisons. it's just kind of impossible to say whether a rider in the 1970s is more talented than one in the 2020s, whether ago's numbers are more or less impressive than marc's and so on... the sport has just changed in so many ways over the years. of course, in sports you do generally have this upward momentum where each generation is 'better' than the last. sports has gotten more professionalised, there's been massive advances in terms of pedagogy and sports medicine and exercise science and all of those things - all of which already affects how athletes train from childhood onwards. the young aren't more 'talented' in the sense that they were born with an innate superior ability to compete at the sport, but they are more 'talented' in that their ultimate ceiling will be higher as a result of all these gradual changes over time. these things can change quite quickly even (and if other sports is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if the nineties/early noughties brought some big changes in that regard) - so already between, for instance, valentino and marc there'd probably been a real shift in how young talent is being nurtured

(the most blunt illustration of this is that young valentino's lifestyle was completely different from that of young riders today, in terms of how much time he spent training in the gym, sleeping habits, nutrition etc etc. athletes now can't get away with that much deviation any more, and indeed valentino had to massively change his approach in the 2010s to remain competitive - but of course it's different if you haven't been doing this stuff since you were a kid. I think we can safely assume valentino's 2003 supermarket trips looked rather different from marc's 2017 ones)

being good in pro sports may in some ways be harder now than it was in, say, the eighties, and the level of competition you're facing might be higher now - but of course, it would also by extension be unfair to judge those athletes by the standards of today. also, different eras are going to lend themselves to different profiles of rider depending on competitive trends, type of machinery and so on - even very basic stuff like how tall you are might have helped you in a certain era and hindered you in another... so what does that mean for talent? if we're discussing 'talent' at all, how can we possibly treat it as anything other than relative to the era we're discussing? to me, it just makes these comparisons between different generations pretty pointless... or well, I like talking about some of this stuff in a more holistic 'isn't this interesting' kind of way, not a 'this is why xyz is better than xyz' approach... this kind of thing is also why I finds goat debate such a uniquely boring way to spend your time, incidentally

this is a very long way of saying, I don't have a metric by which I judge athletes pre-2000 as 'alien' or 'not alien'! I think you have similarly dominant athletes, though again it is so tough to decide how much of that is down to talent and how much of it is down to bike advantage. if you take doohan's title winning seasons for instance:

yeah, look, sure, you can call him an alien as far as I'm concerned - if I'm watching these races live I will be expecting doohan to win in any given weekend. I'm still kind of missing the pack hunter feel in some of these seasons, so I won't know for certain the winner is going to come from a very short list. like take 1998:

not really one group vs the field, is it? and yeah, even if I consider doohan an 'alien' in some of those seasons, I'm still not going to call him that - because the term was essentially coined in 2009 for a specific group of guys that one other guy was later added onto. the competitive landscape and demands of doohan's era were so different that it feels off to try and go back and label him or any other past riders aliens... they were phenomenally talented, yes, they were great champions, yes, they can be called as good as the aliens, sure - but why wrench the term out of its historical context? is it still an analytically useful concept if you do so, except as a way to generically refer to a rider as 'very talented'?

which is also why I personally don't describe anyone since then as an alien. this doesn't mean I don't think fabio or now pedro aren't as good as those guys were, I just don't think they've been given the opportunity to have that kind of hold over the sport. fabio won five out of eighteen races in 2021 - and he did so on a yamaha that basically only he was able to consistently get a high level of performance out of. which is deeply impressive - but unlike say casey in 2007, he didn't have those other riders to dominate all the other races. eight riders won a race that season! it's just a fundamentally different competitive landscape. personally, I'd be perfectly content if we don't get another alien era. of course 2007-15 isn't all bad, but for good reason most fans' most fondly remembered eras are either 2001-06 or 2017-19... yes, at times one rider was too dominant, but it still felt like more riders had a shot at victory - and most importantly the quality of the racing was generally very high. this kind of domination by a few mega talents on the best machinery can get drab pretty quickly (though of course a lot of the blame for decreased race quality needs to be assigned to the 800cc era 2007-11, not to any of the aliens themselves)

I'd be quite happy to retire the term alien going forwards... except as a useful shorthand for a specific group of guys who have mostly retired. it shouldn't be used as a way to bash the young stars, as if they just can't measure up to the legends of the past. which would be dumb! again, plenty of ways in which motogp is harder now than it ever has been, though the most important thing is that it's just... different. not better, not worse, just different. sure, maybe we'll get another equivalent to the alien era, even though I personally think it's quite unlikely. if it happens, yeah, let's discuss cranking the term out again (and, yes, if you look at the current season and ignore sprints... if this current trend continues then we can have the debate at the end of the season. pecco and jorge despite all their apparent inconsistencies are currently building a pretty solid case for themselves) (now I've said that they're both gonna crash out of assen huh)

that being said! I don't exactly neatly follow this principle myself, because sometimes I do use something like the term 'alien-like talent' to refer to fabio or pedro... obviously, you can argue this is basically the same as calling them aliens in everything but semantics. so what's the criteria there? when do I use this term? I think to me it's just... instant, 'in your face' talent. they arrive to the premier class and they shine basically immediately. valentino got a relatively sedate start to the premier class by alien standards - which is fitting, because he's not really about that blistering raw pace. still, he wasn't far from being a rookie champion, got ten podiums, two wins... not too bad. casey was on a satellite team, but he got pole in his second ever race and came painfully close to winning his third. dani got a podium on debut and fought for the championship for almost the entire season. jorge got pole in his first three races and won his third. marc won the second time out and of course secured the title in his rookie season. compare that to fabio - pole in his fourth ever race on satellite machinery, fighting for wins in his first season. pedro got a podium in his second ever race and is handily outperforming everyone else on that bike

so it's about how quickly these guys pick this stuff up, how quickly they make that step from one level to another - though again, it's important to stress you can't just neatly compare these achievements! valentino's first two seasons were on 500cc bikes, which were notorious for being kind of evil. some of these riders started on satellite bikes (we're not counting valentino here), and there's also plenty of talk about how the bikes have become more complicated to ride now, making pedro's rapid adjustment even more impressive. but in every case, there is just this ability to 'be fast immediately', whatever the circumstances... and it's worth pointing out that even though pecco had a mediocre rookie season, he was incredibly quick in 2019 pre-season testing. jorge martin secured his first pole position and podium at his second race in motogp

speaking of, those two were already a touch older when they joined the premier class. there does generally seem to be something to the idea that in motorcycle racing, if you are not already very fast at a certain age, you will have a quite definitive ceiling... and from valentino onwards, the age by which you need to already have reached that standard of 'very good' seems to have gone down. when we're talking about talent and throwing around the term alien, this feels like another important change to mention - doohan was not winning his titles as a 22 year old! neither was rainey! or schwantz! or lawson! or... actually spencer was very young, yeah. but I think you get the point. I cannot tell you definitively why this changed, but it clearly has changed. in the 21st century, only two riders have won titles when they were older than 26: valentino (29-30) and jorge (28). valentino and marc were both 27 when their dominance over the sport ended (even if valentino secured titles after that point and marc will very probably do so as well). casey was 27 when he retired. (fun fact: pecco bagnaia is currently 27 years old.) so overall it's pretty rare in grand prix motorcycle racing to operate at the top of the premier class for more than a certain number of years - but the precise age window in which you are likely to be at your best does seem to have shifted pretty radically this century. which should demonstrate how hard these things are to compare... like I said, talent is often assessed by how quickly you are good at something - but if we called mick doohan a late bloomer, it would be wildly ahistorical

and yeah, look, this idea of 'you have to be good young or you will have a certain ceiling' is hardly unique to motogp, lots of sports are like that... another measure of this precocity that's perhaps more useful than just 'age' is looking how long it took them to win a title from when they joined the premier class (if they did so at all, of course). it's generally very fast! marc year one, valentino, casey and joan year two, jorge and fabio year three... and, well, pecco and hayden year four. of course, there's exceptions to this 'be fast immediately' rule - athletes who ended up being very good and title contenders who had slightly different paths getting there. the sete's and dovi's of this world - and to a lesser extent hayden too, who unlike those two was only even really a title contender in a single season... but generally speaking, those riders seem more heavily reliant on circumstances playing out just right to have a shot at a title

or perhaps! perhaps it's going to change! especially if you look at repeat champions, pecco does become a bit of an outlier in how he got there this century, doesn't he? compare the numbers he was posting in his rookie season vs valentino, casey, jorge and marc. and in some ways, you can extend this even further and say he's a massive historical outlier in terms of any premier class champions. there was an article about this in late 2022:

and some more about how historically unusual he is:

isn't that great? you don't become premier class champion with that kind of a rookie season, but pecco did! hey, aleix was a serious title threat in that season, which is a far more remarkable story still! and the thing is, right, if you're studying the current era and are labelling some riders aliens but leaving out pecco... then no offence but what's the point? look, who knows, maybe marc and pedro and david alonso are going to dominate the next twenty titles and pecco will have been a weird blip. but isn't there something fun about believing that a bunch of different riders could eventually develop into title threats? wouldn't it be kind of cool if you don't have to just write someone off age 22 any more? I don't know, I think it's a neat development! I hope it sticks around! there'll be plenty of alien-level talents in the future, but personally I wouldn't mind at all if there were no more aliens

[tegr1dy]

also regarding designer south park merch i wish there was a way i could single-handedly convince marc jacobs heaven to release a collection. i do have a tinfoil hat theory that teddy fresh is trying to collab because ive heard them reference specific episodes/moments from the show on their pod like 2-3 times over the past few months and i don’t even listen that much. could just be the fact that sp is trending big again in general but they’re always working with big iconic pop culture IPs so they had to have thought about it AT LEAST.

[traveller-of-the-knight]

Jake: Okay. I understand, and I'm cool with it.

Marc: You're lying right now, aren't you?

Jake: Yes. I want to strangle you.

[leverage-commentary]

Part Two of: Leverage Season 3, Episode 14, The Ho Ho Ho Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

Hi friends! So quick mod note here. The Google Doc for this transcript was 51 pages long, and when I tried to paste this over, Tumblr told be that there can only be 1000 'blocks' in a post? Which I'm assuming means lines/each person speaking here. So I am splitting it into two posts. I just posted part one of this episode transcript; here are the last 26 pages of the transcript.

John: That all of the Leverage fans have been waiting for.

Chris: With the beard of evil!

Aboud: Beard of evil.

John: With the beard of evil, Wil Wheaton, ever since Wil Wheaton grew the beard of evil.

Michael: Did he not have a beard on the- when he was on before?

John: He had a scruff of evil.

Chris: Yes.

John: Now he has a full beard of evil.

Aboud: We’re about to see him, aren't we?

Michael: Oh yeah, yeah.

John: Yeah we're about to see him back then, did he have the beard?

Michael: Call the flashback.

Aboud: There it is!

John: Yeah, yeah, he had the beard, it's more scruff, I think he has a fuller beard now. Now the freakout in the van. Boy was he a champ during this, cause we locked he and Aldis in those vans for like 12 hours.

[Laughter]

Marc: Yeah, couple days.

John: Couple days.

Michael: I feel like it should flashback to the DVD commentary for that episode.

John: Yeah.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Oh, there we go.

Michael: Lay that in.

Chris: There you go, it's perindelian [sp?].

[Laughter]

John: Yeah.Yeah and this is also- Wil does great snark. There's nobody who does the-

Aboud: Absolutely.

John: The brutal mocking quite like he does. And he’ll talk about this actually, that once he gave up trying to be a nice guy in his acting and embraced his inner asshole-

Chris: Yeah.

John: His career took off.

Marc: Yeah, he just picks apart the whole team here.

John: Yeah, it's great. And it's fun.

Aboud: One by one.

John: One by one. And it's a lot of fun because the team is very hyper competent, so it's pretty tough to pick apart- to find a villain that's worthy of them, you know?

Chris: Right.

Aboud: And there are a few villains in the Leverage universe that, you know, shit talk.

John: Yes.

Aboud: That's not generally who we- we don't have people that are as colorful in a kind of obnoxious way as Chaos.

John: Yeah, Sterling yanks their chain, but does it more through omission, yeah.

Marc: Oh and this is the best part when he imitates Eliot.

Michael: Yeah, yeah.

[Laughter]

John: The Eliot imitation, oh that's great.

Aboud: “Y’all”.

John: And Wil doing Christain is actually a lot of fun.

Michael: Yeah.

John: No, what it's tricky because for this one, you had to create a perfect Christmas heist plot, get away with it, to a great degree, and then come up with a totally different perfect heist plot.

Chris: Cause it was all mislead.

John: Yeah.

Marc: And he's even drinking Hardison's soda.

John: I know.

Aboud: Gosh this guy.

Marc: Really?

John: Really and he's taken his proxy penis.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Proxy penis.

John: It's really- and fried Lucille. Oh that's just- why can't he have nice things?

[Laughter]

Michael: That's what Tim should've said. ‘This is why we can't have nice things!’

[Laughter]

Chris: Where were you at 2 in the morning when they were shooting?

John: Let's go back and we loop that now, ‘Why we can’t have nice things.’

Chris: Loop it in.

Michael: Like there's a bomb going on in the back of that car.

[Laughter]

Chris: Yeah I know, I thought it was just flames.

Aboud: That's a great effect, a great practical effect of the smoke being emitted, and I believe it was an LED panel that was just pulsing.

Chris: Sparking.

Aboud: And that's how we got the sparks.

John: We don't usually let Aldis play pissed off either. He's kind of-

Aboud: He can do it, though!

John: It's kinda nice seeing that flavor Wil brings that out in him and he's like, you know. It's nice- a lot of people kind of, you know, take Christain’s character off, but when you- we were talking about this the other day on another commentary, Aldis, to a great degree, is the emotional barometer of the show.

Aboud: Right.

John: So whatever Hardison is feeling tends to be what the audience is feeling, you know.

Aboud: And he can do pissed, he can do badass.

John: Yeah.

Aboud: Very well.

John: Yeah the survivalist episode he was very good in, very physical.

Marc: Our 360 shot.

John: Nice 360.

Chris: Yeah.

Aboud: Sort of a signature of this show.

John: It is, ever since the accursed pilot.

[Laughter]

Chris: Now for the-

John: Though we did this handheld, right?

Chris: Now for the geeks, is it handheld? Is this steadicam?

Marc: Steadicam.

Chris: This is not on the track.

John: This is not on the track- I put a $10,000 bounty on the circular track one year, like, if that were to disappear it would-

Chris: Now Yakamoto building, who was Yakamoto and how did he- why did they name this- 

Michael: It's sort of off of-

Marc: Yakitome.

John: Yakitome Plaza from Die Hard!

Michael: This has to be the badass building that's impossible to break into.

Chris: I was wondering what role did he have in the founding fathers of America?

Michael: Edgar Yakamoto?

Aboud: Oh no this is a holdover from- I've got a whole backstory for this.

Michael: Tell us!

Chris: Tell us about Edgar Yakamoto!

Aboud: This is from that era in the 80’s when the Japanese were buying up Rockefeller Center and all the big, you know-

Chris: Oh ok.

Aboud: Landmarks, and the Yakatome Company-

Michael: Yakamoto.

Aboud: Yakamoto- yeah. Was running their high tech security apparatus out of this tower.

Chris: Oh great ok.

John: There's also a lot of little Christmas images in here, which is her ability to fly as an elf.

Aboud: Yes.

Chris: Oh, and also going down the chimney.

Aboud: Yes exactly.

Michael: Another fun thing to write was saying we’re gonna pull an Edward Albee and having Gina and Tim do a little Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf con.

Aboud: Yes.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Interpret that.

Chris: Which they'll be doing down at the Burt Reynolds dinner theater in a couple of months, if you're down in Jupiter, Florida folks.

[Laughter]

Aboud: That’s-

John: Now here’s-

Aboud: Delightful moment.

Chris: Ohh ohh.

John: Oh and shh shh shh!

Marc: Shhh.

All: Shhh.

[Laughter]

John: I would like to remind everyone he's not-

Chris: Is he saying sugarplums?

Michael: Sugar plums!

John: Sugar plums that's right he's sending him to dreams, he's sending him to Christmas sleep, dreams of sugar plums dancing in his head.

Aboud: Sugar plums.

John: The most menacing sugar plums ever.

[Laughter]

John: But for those of you who are worried about the security guard, you can go on YouTube and see people choked out all the time and they're fine, like, five seconds later.

Aboud: Oh yeah.

John: It really is, it's just he's cutting- he’s not cutting off oxygen he's really just, you know, cutting off the blood flow to the brain, making him go to sleep.

Aboud: I mean he was out for about three hours, but you can go on YouTube and see that people come back in five minutes.

Michael: Minor brain damage.

John: Christain didn't quite get the grip right, that guy really bounced back.

Aboud: It was close.

John: We let him sleep up around the set, just kept watch on him.

Marc: The scary thing is this is really the server room that controls all of the sanitation-

[Laughter]

Aboud: Oh yeah.

Marc: And plumbing of Portland.

John: That we’re in? With our giant cameras?

Chris: Is that true? Is that for real?

Marc: Giant cameras and hooking up our computers to it.

Chris: So if you just pulled one thing out, a whole city block wouldn't be able to flush their toilets.

Aboud: Gone.

Marc: A whole city block- it would be like Ancient Rome.

[Laughter]

Aboud: A sewage-

John: Really, it would degrade that quickly?

Aboud: A sewage storm.

John: A tidal wave of cholera.

Chris: By the way, anytime you upload a worm there is a skull and crossbones.

Michael: Oh yeah no, that comes with, you can't have a worm without that.

Aboud: You know, actually, that is normally a pet peeve of mine, false UI. I don't like computer UI in TV, like that does bug me. But I can buy it when you've got a Hardison or a Chaos-

Chris: Yes, yes, you're right.

Aboud: Because they have clearly, from the ground up, built their own system-

John: UI, yeah-

Aboud: They've built their own UI, so yeah why not.

Michael: That’s user interface for those-

John: Yeah, especially if they are working in Linux or something that's really customizable, a lot of guys really have that as a signature.

Aboud: I don't have a problem with that.

John: There you go, and also we’re kind of fighting twenty years of television computers.

Aboud: Right.

John: Where when we in the pilot, for example, the first half of season one we did a lot of stuff really realistic and it turns out to be visually not very interesting.

Aboud: Right, right.

Marc: This was a good graphic save that Derek did, cause we couldn't afford to shoot a building at night with all these vehicles outside the building.

Chris: Oh this is great.

John: Yeah.

Marc: So we said let's come up with a graphic.

John: I love that little leaving them hanging.

Aboud: Don't leave me hanging.

John: Don't leave me hanging.

Aboud: How great is Derek Frederickson, our graphics person.

Chris: Oh yeah.

Marc: Fantastic.

John: It's a crucial part of the storytelling of this show. 

Marc: Yeah.

John: And it's interesting- and you guys glommed onto it very quickly, but when writers start on the show, a big part of writers learning to write Leverage is learning that they don't have to write speeches- go to the screen.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: The screen is there, it's six feet across, you know, use it.

Aboud: The screen in many ways represents a sort of objective reality. You know, that's one thing for facts to be parceled out in dialogue.

Michael: [Snores]

[Laughter]

John: Oh god did you go to Harvard? That's a really Harvard-

Michael: Oh I'm sorry.

Aboud: Yeah.

Michael: We back?

John: Ordinarily you could-

Aboud: Sorkin writes our dialogue, Sorkin writes all our dialogue.

John: You could ordinarily think that Colton fell asleep because it was boring, but he really fell asleep because it wasn't about him.

[Laughter]

Michael: I just hadn’t spoken on the commentary track, so-

Chris: There you go, there the great-

John: Great Wil Wheaton gloat and grin. And now we're in a totally different episode! I love this. 

Marc: That's right.

John: We’re in a totally different plotline here.

Aboud: Some emotional stuff out of Nate and the team.

Marc: Yeah, Nate takes it on the chin.

Chris: Mea culpa. He's very mea culpa this season, we don't get that a lot out of him.

John: Well you know, this was one of the things we were building to this season, is because the way he behaved last year, he has to accept that he is a peer of them now.

Aboud: Right.

John: Yeah, now he can't just dictate, he is one of the team and he has to take his lumps.

Aboud: He's one of the thieves.

John: Yeah now we're about to cut from the lovely mall to a real- to the guts of the sanitation building. What was it like shooting in the sanitation building?

Michael: Smelly.

Marc: It smelled- it actually smelled a lot worse above ground, it was hard. I mean getting all the gear down there was tough.

Chris: Yeah.

Aboud: It was dystopian.

Marc: It looked beautiful!

[Laughter]

John: It was [laugh] Viggo Morrison with the shopping cart.

Marc: You can't build tunnels like this!

John: No, no you can't. It's really one of those places you have to shoot the location.

Marc: Yeah you just- we got a lot of production value out of it.

Chris: And then the fake fact I like that they had underground tunnels in Boston back in the day.

Aboud: That was inspired by the fact that downtown LA, combination of things: downtown LA does have an abandoned pedestrian infrastructure that was built in collaboration with Disney. They wanted to put Wedway people movers throughout LA and realized it's sunny here all the time, you never will need that!

[Laughter]

Aboud: And they wisely stopped the project. The other half of it is the steam tunnels of MIT.

John: Yes.

Chris: Oh okay.

Aboud: Which are notoriously fun to run around.

Marc: And here you go, you get Wil Wheaton in tights.

John: Yeah, I love the fact that he has anticipated- that he is gone and either bought or made this outfit to close the deal.

Michael: Well he had it.

Aboud: So unnecessary!

Michael: He owned it.

John: There’s no reason!

Chris: It is very much- no you wanna approach a Santa-

Michael: Chaos used to go to ren faires, he had that.

[Laughter]

John: Exactly. Will might've owned that costume.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: I'll ask him when I talk to him next time. And now we've got a cross going, we've got like our third heist in the entire show going at this point.

Michael: It's exhausting, frankly.

John: Also in Boston actually there was- there's apparently still a lot of leftover underground infrastructure from the Big Dig when they put in the tunnels to the Logan airport.

Aboud: Oh sure, absolutely.

Marc: This is a 360 around the work force table that we've never done before.

John: Is this one of those things you realize that you were about to do for the first time as you were preparing the shot?

Marc: Yeah.

John: Yeah, that's always a good thing.

Chris: But I like it. That's a nice way, you got Nate moving away.

Marc: I got him from one end of the table to the other end, and then an exit.

[Laughter]

Marc: Perfect!

John: Well it's hard, it’s one of the challenges is breaking up when we've got static shots is like: keep people moving.

Marc: And again to cover the five-hander.

John: When the writers strand you like that, with the big stinking load of pipe like that.

Michael: Huh what?

John: Nothing.

Aboud: Uh-oh.

Michael: Santa fight.

John: Santa fight coming up.

Aboud: No not yet, first the wall saw.

Marc: Looking at this, this is my favorite graphic, the wall- the graphic of the saw on the screen, when that shows up.

Chris: Now how many-

Aboud: He went to the trouble to make a graphic of a saw to chart the progress of the real saw.

Marc: And we see it! Yeah.

[Laughter]

Aboud: Here it goes.

[Laughter]

Chris: There it is! That's the saw.

John: You know what? That would not be hard to do, I can see why he would do that.

Marc: That's CG dust and debris there.

John: Really?

Marc: Yeah, cause our fake-

John: They wouldn't let us cut through the wall?

Marc: Our fake walls were not creating enough.

Aboud: It isn't creating enough masonry dust.

John: Our fake walls were too well made?

Aboud: Apparently.

Marc: This was actually the last scene of the episode that we shot.

John: And another great little cheat is bounce through the window and they're looking out at this big giant exterior that will never- we don't have to connect them with.

Aboud: Exactly.

Marc: Yes, big cheat.

John: But it's useful, I mean, we did this in the pilot, though, remember when we shot that we built a window that he was looking out at the opposite building with.

Marc: Yup.

Aboud: Flashback to our kid.

Michael: Oh ohhh.

Aboud: Putting two and two together.

Michael: Planting seed.

Aboud: It's under the north pole.

John: There you go. That's also a nice job you guys did, which was making sure everybody had a little hero moment, I mean besides the fight. One of the things we were trying to focus on this year- and you saw it a little bit at the end of season two, was that Eliot was a very unpleasant, dangerous human being, and as such, he has a strategic sense that comes into play into these situations. He's not just a hitter.

Aboud: Right.

John: Also nice respect the suit, there you go.

Michael: Mhh hm nice Dave Foley, this is-

Marc: His exit here is the best.

Michael: Yeah.

Aboud: Think Downey said this was his favorite line of the season.

Chris: It is my favorite line.

Marc: That little stutter.

John: No this is a-

Michael: The morphine line?

Aboud: That's later.

Chris: That's coming.

John: I can't believe you let me drive it later, because it just takes the stink off, I mean. That's a great group shot. I've never noticed that before. I don't know just cause we were jammed up when we were shooting this one.

Aboud: The way they break, how about that.

Chris: Very nice.

Aboud: Here we go.

John: Santa fight. I think we just chanted Santa fight in the writers room.

[Laughter]

Chris: [Mocking] Chaos.

Marc: [Mocking] Chaos!

[Laughter]

Aboud: Look at that stink.

John: And there's a nice moment here, actually, where he's gonna beat Chaos up because he wrecked Hardison's van.

Aboud: Yes.

John: One of those little moments of friendship.

Chris: Well didn't he sort of- Wil picked up on the van thing.

Marc: Oh yeah, he said-

Aboud: Oh Wil was-

Marc: Well I wrecked that van.

Aboud: I wrecked that van.

Michael: That's right.

John: They turned it into like he banged his girlfriend.

All: Yeah!

John: I'd forgotten that. And they did it on the set right?

Chris: Yeah.

Aboud: He wrote that line on the set.

John: Yeah [laughs] wrecked that van.

Chris: This is great.

Michael: Wrecked that van.

John: Great Santa fight. And tricky too, this is one of those writing versus set challenges cause the way this was written- the geography of taking the bags and stuff was much easier; then you get down into the tunnel and it's like, ‘Oh, this doesn't line up with our imagination back in Los Angeles at all.’

Aboud: We’re gonna have to figure that out.

Chris: You smartly gave him a slightly different hued Santa suit so you didn't get confused as to who was-

Michael: He actually just spilled red wine on it.

John: Unfortunately hammered. Is that digital steam?

Marc: That is digital steam.

Aboud: Both.

Marc: We had a little bit and then we just added it to create the wall.

Chris: That's great.

John: Yeah, it looks nice.

Michael: Looks great.

John: Mark Franco, our digital effects guy here, adding production value every single week.

Aboud: Definitely. 

John: I like the little braid in the Santa hair- would Santa have braids in his hair? i'm not-

Michael: Santa- some Santas have cornrows now.

Marc: He's Cherokee, part Cherokee.

John: Part Cherokee Santa? Alright. Fair enough, I did not know that

Aboud: I think that was actually a tie to secure it, but it's gotten loose in the fight.

Marc: Yeah.

John: It's interesting because all the December episodes are kind of our fable episodes, like the ones we've always wanted to do.

Chris: Yeah.

John: You know the steal a country, the Christmas episode. It's- they're a little gentler than the other ones.

Aboud: Sure.

John: You know.

Marc: This was the best stuff, filming scenes with children and stuntmen.

[Laughter]

Michael: When there were about 20 minutes had to go-

Marc: Without a fight!

John: Yeah, apparently there were all these laws about how many kids you can have-

Chris: Now where's the-

Michael: That's from Die Hard, right?

Chris: Where did that come from, did we buy that?

Michael: Looks like Die Hard.

Chris: We bought that, that was great.

Marc: That was a stock shot. Yes, you have ten minutes to film these kids or we’re all going to jail.

[Laughter]

John: Oh come on.

Aboud: Well stunt men and kids are enemies in the wild.

[Laughter]

John: That’s true.

Michael: Stunt men eat kids in the wild.

John: Well actually, that was a big deal - we had to have guys with those poles with loops on them right off camera to like grab the kids from the stuntmen.

Aboud: The wranglers.

John: That's right, Charlie Brewer popped one of these kids - just hit them right in the face.

Aboud: Oh totally, he had it coming.

John: The kid was obnoxious and missed his cue. This is- and we bring Christmas back. I like this is a good natured episode, I like this.

Marc: Yeah.

John: Even though Santa is brutally beating [laughs].

Aboud: I mean-

Chris: No, but then they are redeemed too, the evil Santas - they are moved by the children!

Michael: The kiss of a child!

[Laughter]

Michael: That'll do it.

Aboud: Their hearts are warmed.

Marc: That will do it every time.

John: Their hearts grow three sizes that day, that's nice.

[Laughter]

Aboud: And here we reveal that Eliot, on purpose, caused the steam wall as a ruse. Part of the clever plan of team Leverage.

John: They all look very happy here. And there you go, the undercover FBI.

Chris: Now did she flash a badge underneath the-?

Marc: Yeah, I think so.

Michael: I don't know what she flashed.

Aboud: It worked.

John: You know what, this is one of the things where it's like if a woman in an elf costume comes up and says she's an FBI agent, you're gonna believe her.

Marc: Course you are. Especially when she looks like that.

John: Yeah, exactly. And then she, you know, fights for the Christmas spirit, absolutely.

[Laughter]

Aboud: It's just-

John: Kindly FBI agents.

Chris: I think we need to-

Marc: There was a shot of Beth's sister in there as one of the mothers as well.

Michael: There we go, kiss! Awww!

All: Aww!

[Laughter]

Michael: I'm gonna give up my evil ways.

Chris: He loved it! Everybody!

John: Man, when I get out of jail in seven years I'm really gonna be changed.

[Laughter]

Michael: And here's the line!

John: “Can't believe you let me drive!”

[Laughter]

John: It's just so wrong!

Chris: Oh, that made me laugh.

John: Oh, and it really does take an actor like Dave Foley to land it, to kind of take the stink off it and- you know. This is it.

[Laughter]

Aboud: And then ho ho ho, you're right, that was ill advised.

John: And then.

Aboud: This guy just waiting, lying in wait for him.

John: Yeah. If Eliot-

Chris: And the backstory is he's an underprivileged kid, right?

Aboud: Exactly.

Michael: He's a latchkey child.

John: He’s a latchkey and now this is his last year for Santa.

Chris: Got a Rubbery Robby.

Michael: He's in juvie.

John: He's in really? What was he in juvie for?

Aboud: Caring too much.

[Laughter]

John: Really? I didn't know-

Aboud: Yeah.

John: -that was a crime.

Chris: There you go.

Marc: It's my third man shot of-

Chris: Yeah that's great.

John: That was really third man, that's nice. I wish we had the van going.

Aboud: The shadows. Put them up in a ferris wheel.

John: There you go. And man, you know what, we get a lot of mileage out of those FBI-

Marc: Jackets.

Aboud: Windbreakers.

Chris: Cafe press, we need to start.

[Laughter]

John: You know, I think they would probably have words with us if we started making FBI gear and selling it online.

Michael: Is that a problem?

John: That would probably be a problem.

Aboud: I think they'd have issues.

Michael: I like this bit.

John: The gloat.

Michael: Meaning of Christmas.

John: The meaning of Christmas gloat, just because Wil is so truculent.

[Laughter]

John: He's so hateful.

Michael: But he was right, the meaning of Christmas did not help them.

[Laughter]

Aboud: It barely applies!

Marc: Barely applies!

John: What I love is he's right, but that- I think that's kind of Chaos’s superpower, he is actually the only sane person in every episode he's in.

[Laughter]

John: Everyone else is living in Leverage-verse and he's kind of the cranky realist.

Aboud: He's the Frank Rhines.

John: He is, he’s the Frank Rhines of Leverage.

Chris: Oh here we go.

John: And this is a nice scene.

Chris: And this, now Marc, how long did this take?

Marc: This took a half a day.

Chris: Wow.

John: To shoot this whole sequence, the one scene.

Marc: Yup, this one scene.

Aboud: Lot of coverage.

Michael: I feel like there was stuff added that wasn't in the script. Like the- some of the Eliot with the sword and-

Marc: Yeah, I thought we'd do that. I added that just to give it just some action and plus, you know, Christain has a sword, why not?

Aboud: I don't think I added that much time though.

John: Yeah. I we originally had, like, killing ninjas-

Marc: Yeah, exactly.

John: Some ninjas arrive and he kills them, but that turned out to be too big.

Aboud: It's just the nature of having five people in that configuration, that's the trouble.

John: Well thank god for that corner of the bar. We found second year- we found that first episode second year and we were shooting all over the bar and were like how do we- ahhh this corner!

Michael: Oh, frame it around the portrait of JFK.

John: Rightfully so, by the way.

Michael: Yes.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: There you go.

Chris: Here we go.

Aboud: Watch this little bit he does. He pulls it ‘herh’!

Chris: Digital- that’s digital folks!

Marc: Digital glint!

All: Digital glint!

Marc: Course.

Michael: Now I forget, this was- we named it after the Kill Bill sword, which is not a real thing.

Aboud: Correct.

Michael: It was made up for Kill Bill, but this- I think now we're saying the Leverage universe exists within the Kill Bill universe.

Chris: No another great fake fact!

Aboud: From Kill Bill.

John: This establishes us in the Kill Bill universe.

Marc: Wait, this is my favorite part when he puts it back in.

Aboud: Here it goes!

Marc: Like Hardison’s gonna steal it.

John: And he's about to disappear off into the forest.

Aboud: Yeah.

John: No, it's great. Well it's kind of a will newton thing i'd like to see on the website now, people kinda connect the Leverage verse together with the Kill Bill-

Michael: They can write fanfiction. It's like Jackie Brown and-

John: Exactly. Because the Quentin Tarantino movies all exist in the same universe.

Michael: Yes.

John: There you go.

Aboud: And we should point out that when Mark Foley was going to- Dave Foley, excuse me, not Mark Foley.

Michael: Not congressional.

Aboud: Very different story. When Dave Foley’s going out of the country, he's going to San Lorenzo!

Michael: Ohh.

John: That's right.

Marc: Cause there's no extradition there.

John: Exactly, we established that you guys put San Lorenzo in there to establish that, that was very nice.

Aboud: Planted that seed.

Michael: Ope.

Chris: Oh that's great.

John: How did you do that?

Marc: We cut it, and glued it.

John: Nice. Just struck it. And I love the- she just likes money.

Michael: The smell of it, feel of it.

Chris: Just smelling it.

Marc: Gina was great in this scene, she played it really well.

John: Just sort of get me something shiny. This was great and this was tough. It was actually tough to see, yeah we had to digitally highlight that to get “your name here”. And people are wondering what she writes down. She does not write her full name down here.

Michael: We what was that- Falooza Pricklebottom or something? Is that her real name?

John: That is her real name, thanks for spoiling it for the audience.

Chris: People are gonna, you know, analyze the-

Aboud: The pen strokes.

Marc: Oh yeah, in the outtakes every time Tim would grab the napkin and go, “Steve?”

[Laughter]

Marc: Oh, and here's our snow.

John: Oh, yeah there you go.

All: Aww.

Michael: The innocent face of a child.

John: The lovely look on Beth's face, that's a hell of a read right there. Just busy-

Marc: Just walks right under the knife.

John: He's just thinking about killing, he’s really-. ‘I'm thinking about killing, you kids are thinking about Christmas.’ Now this is actually one of my favorite ending shots of all three years-

Michael: You can't see- they can't see, but you're crying.

John: I'm crying, I have tears running down my eyes.

Michael: Oh no that's Guinness.

John: That's Guinness [laughs] smeared all over me like I'm a small child.

Michael: Crying Guinness.

Marc: Digitally enhanced snow.

John: That smile back? That's killer.

Marc: Oh yeah.

John: That's killer right there.

Aboud: And he has to like-

Chris: He always has to-

Michael: Crane shot!

John: And then the crane. We paid for the crane, use the crane.

Marc: That's right, watch the flake land on her tongue!

All: Ohh great! [Laughter]

John: Digital?

Aboud: No, that was real!

John: That was a real one!

Marc: Enhanced!

John: And that was The Ho Ho Ho Job! That was a ton of fun. Thanks for watching and stay tuned.

Aboud: Merry Christmas!

Michael: Merry Christmas everybody!

John: And a happy new year!

[amai-no-ura]

Moon Knight Typings

I love Moon Knight. Normally I detest MCU franchises because they are reductionist and abhorrently basic. But Moon Knight is a whole different batch of cookies. Because it's less about hero fighting the evil, but a relatable experience of a broken man. It's the dynamic between characters and healing that make this series a top-notched one to me.

One on hand we have Marc who was a victim of abusive childhood (and a boatload of repressed memory), on the other we have Harrow. Both of them are broken. Both of them are manipulated and used by people in power for their own agendas. The difference is Marc/Steven came to term with their trauma and found their strength. Harrow is still a broken man and his past shaped him to be a weak and cowardly man he is ...

On a less serious note: Oscar Isaac is the hottest guy ever. And he is so my type I have to pause between watching many times because of cuteness overload. GRRR!!!!!!!

Steven Grant - INFP 9w1 sp/so Badger-Bird

Marc Specter - ISTP 6w5 sp/so Double Snake

Jake Lockley - ESTP 8w7?

Layla - ESFJ 6w7 so/sp Snake-Lion

Arthur Harrow - INFJ 1w9 sx/so Lion-Snake (A breath of fresh air from stereotypical ENTJ 8 villains of MCU)

Khonshu - ENTJ 8w9 so/sp Lion-Snake

Ammit - ENTJ 1w9 sx/so Lion-Bird

Tawaret - ENFP 2w1 so/sp Badger-Bird

Will do full profiles later!

[christophe76460]

UNE ÉGLISE CENTRÉE SUR L’ÉVANGILE

#Une_Église_centrée_sur_l_Évangile #David_Massicotte Qc_0810

L’Évangile est le message prêché et proclamé par Jésus et les apôtres. C’est la Bonne Nouvelle, le contenu de la foi chrétienne. (Marc 1.14 ; Actes 14.21 ; Romains 1.15 ; I Pierre 1.12).

C’est l’histoire du salut accompli par Dieu pour restaurer sa création déchue. Dieu a agi dans l’Histoire pour détruire le mal et réconcilier les pécheurs grâce à la vie, la mort et la résurrection de Jésus. (I Corinthiens 15.1-12).

Une Église centrée sur l’Évangile proclame ce message clairement, constamment et de façon pertinente et percutante. Parce que si l’Évangile n’est pas prêché, tôt ou tard, un autre évangile va prendre sa place. La nature a horreur du vide ...

Si l’Évangile n’est pas au centre de notre vie, de notre ministère, de notre Église, alors un autre message va prendre sa place.

Un autre évangile va devenir la vérité opérante dans le coeur des chrétiens. Je ne suis pas en train de dire qu’il existe un autre Évangile (Galates 1.5). Je dis juste qu’un faux évangile va prendre la place de l’Évangile biblique.

Selon la Bible, notre comportement, notre attitude, notre façon de vivre sont liés à ce que nous croyons (Colossiens 3.1-8 ; Philippiens 1.27).

La manière dont nous vivons est liée à notre compréhension de l’Évangile. Plus nous comprenons l’Évangile, plus nous allons vivre en conformité avec les Vérités qu’il nous enseigne.

Par conséquent, une mauvaise définition de l’Évangile conduit toujours à une mauvaise compréhension de la vie chrétienne. Si nous acceptons ou professons un autre évangile alors les conséquences vont être visibles dans notre façon de vivre la foi chrétienne, de gérer le problème du péché dans notre vie, de servir dans l’Église, etc. ...

Dit autrement, si vous voulez savoir ce qu’une personne croit au sujet de l’Évangile, observez sa vie.

UNE LISTE DE FAUX ÉVANGILES :

Certains de ces faux évangiles sont parfois au centre de notre vie et se pointent aussi le bout du nez dans nos Églises. Chacun à sa manière nous justifie ou nous sauve malgré l’absence flagrante de grâce.

FORMALISME

Je participe aux différentes réunions et activités de l’Église, donc ma vie est sous contrôle. Je vais à l’Église, mais cela a peu d’impact sur mon coeur et sur ma façon de vivre. Je juge les autres et je suis impatient avec ceux qui n’ont pas la même compréhension de l’engagement que moi.

LÉGALISME

Je vis par les règles, règles que j’ai créées pour moi-même ou que d’autres m’imposent, et, qu’à mon tour j’impose aux autres. Je me sens en sécurité quand je respecte mes règles et je deviens arrogant et fier quand les autres n’atteignent pas les standards que je leur impose. Il n’y a pas de joie dans ma vie parce qu’il n’y a pas de grâce à célébrer.

MYSTICISME

Je suis en perpétuel recherche d’une expérience émotionnelle avec Dieu. Je vis à fond les moments où je me sens proche de lui et je souffre et me décourage souvent quand je ne me sens pas dans cet état. Je change parfois d’église, en recherche d’une qui pourra me satisfaire sur le plan émotionnel.

ACTIVISME

Je reconnais la nature missionnaire du christianisme et je suis passionnément impliqué dans tout ce qui peut contribuer à la réparation de ce monde brisé. Mais finalement, ma vie est déséquilibrée en étant davantage préoccupée par une défense de la justice que par une saine et joyeuse recherche du Christ.

BIBLICISME

Je connais ma Bible à fond, mais je ne la laisse pas me transformer. J’ai réduit l’Évangile à une série de propositions théologique. Donc je suis intolérant et critique envers ceux qui ont moins de connaissance que moi.

THÉRACISME

Je parle beaucoup aux membres blessés de notre assemblée et leur dis que Christ est la seule solution à leur souffrance. Mais sans me rendre compte que j’ai créé un christ plus thérapeute que sauveur. Je vois la souffrance comme un plus grand problème que le péché. Mes besoins non satisfaits ont remplacé ma faillite spirituelle.

SOCIALISME

Je suis à la recherche de l’amitié et de la communion fraternelle dans l’Église. L’Église est devenue plus importante que Christ lui-même et l’Évangile est réduit à un réseau de relations satisfaisantes avec des chrétiens.

Ces façons de vivre ne découlent pas d’une saine compréhension de l’Évangile. Aucune de ces présentations n’est un exemple à suivre. Ce ne sont pas les signes d’une bonne spiritualité. Ces façons de vivre sont trompeuses et nous privent des bienfaits qui découlent du véritable Évangile.

Cette présentation de ces faux évangiles est caricaturale et non exhaustive. En fait, ces faux évangiles mettent le doigt sur un aspect de l’Évangile mais elles déforment l’ensemble du message.

- Oui, l’Évangile me pousse au changement.

- Oui, l’Évangile me permet d’intégrer une communauté.

- Oui, l’Évangile va combler mes besoins personnels.

- Mais l’Évangile ne peut pas être réduit à un seul de ces aspects.

CHANGER VRAIMENT, MAIS COMMENT ?

Les idées ont des conséquences. Tout changement dans notre vie commence par notre intelligence.

C’est pourquoi Paul écrit en Romains 12.2 : « Soyez renouvelés dans votre intelligence afin de vivre d’une manière digne de l’Évangile, une vie qui honore pleinement Dieu. »

Plus je m’expose aux Vérités de l’Évangile, plus le Saint-Esprit peut travailler en moi pour me permettre d’en vivre les implications.

Pour rectifier le tir, il nous faut remplacer ces caricatures de l’Évangile par le Vrai ...

COMMENT ? En nous prêchant la Vérité et en nous laissant enseigner la Vérité dans l’amour. (Éphésiens 4.15).

De quel faux évangile vous sentez-vous le plus proche ? Comment allez-vous vous prêcher l’Évangile en conséquence pour rétablir la Vérité ?

David Massicotte

Assemblée de l'Église du Christ,

St-Georges de Beauce, Québec

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564870674184&mibextid=ZbWKwL

MERCI DE PARTAGER

Note : Cliquez toujours sur le dièse (#) du titre d'une leçon AFIN D'AVOIR UN MEILLEUR VISIONNEMENT DU TEXTE, de rejoindre les différentes parties, l’option de commenter, d'imprimer, de partager les Études Bibliques sur Messenger, votre portail, groupes Facebook ou autres plateformes, à la gloire de Dieu : #Une_Église_centrée_sur_l_Évangile

Groupe public : Assemblée de l'Église du Christ, Ste Foy, Québec

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1793477057490510/

INDEX alphabétisé d'Études Bibliques :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1793477057490510/permalink/2503230596515149/?mibextid=c7yyfP

INDEX alphabétisé de Chants :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1793477057490510/permalink/2506618219509720/?mibextid=c7yyfP

« Toutes les Églises du Christ vous saluent. » Romains 16.16

https://www.eglise-du-christ.org/

[nathanbatemanfucker]

Blossoms & Whiskers

prompt: painting

pairing: jake lockley x f!reader

contents: anxiety, a couple kisses, avoidant love confessions

wc: 1.1k

an: the first of hopefully many promotional fics for the @moonknight-events’ bingo @juneknight & i have going on right now. DISCLAIMER: as a event runner i will not be entered in the drawing for prizes. this is promotional only.

SP BINGO 2024 | moonknight masterlist

As soon as you enter the flat you know who’s fronting. There’s the faint smell of paint wafting through the space and the covered canvas that Jake keeps easeled in the living room is gone. The window to the fire escape is open and there’s a mason jar full of murky water in your view. His hand appears, dipping and swirling the brush.

“Jake?” You yell as you kick off your shoes and hang up your light jacket.

“Out here. I’ll be in in 20,” He calls back distractedly through the window, hand disappearing.

You’d never seen Jake paint, it was something he’d picked up in the last few months and something preferred to do on his own, like many other things in his life. But, you always like to imagine the expression on his face. Brown eyes under a furrowed brow, intense and scrutinizing as always. His nose scrunched in concentration, the tip of tongue sticking out the corner of his full mouth like it does when the two of you play Jenga. The lines he paints are as sharp and precise as the lines of his body.

You peg him for a structured modernist, dependent on clear contrast and definite shapes. One day you hope to no longer guess, you hope that he’ll share even the smallest bit of his art with you.

You decide to take a quick shower and put on a kettle for some tea. By the time he’s slinking through the window carefully with the canvas, you’re curled up on the couch with a book. His eyes linger on you, enjoying how incredibly cozy you look.

“Took longer than expected,” He explains as he sets the painting back on the easel, turning it away from you.

You don't look up when you respond, “It's alright, honey. Cover it up and come snuggle.”

Jake is quiet for a handful of moments, unmoving. Finally he says, “It's finished.”

Your eyes freeze on the page, but you don’t move. Your interest in piqued. “Oh?”

“It’s for you. I’d like you to see it.”

“Are you sure?” You ask gently.

“I’m sure. Always sure about you,” He adds his voice is still quiet, but firm.

You grin, throwing your book on the floor as you stand, uncaring about what page you were on. Jake was sharing this with you. For a moment you wonder if he’s shared this with Marc or Steven at all– they’d mentioned giving his privacy. But if he was sharing this with you, certainly he’d shared it with them.

“Eyes closed,” He instructs, and you quickly follow suit. “Good girl.”

With your eyes covered, you can hear your own breath more clearly, hear the quiet drag of the easel against the wood floor. Hear his quiet, even steps.

His hands come to rest on your waist, and you feel his mouth brush the shell of your ear as he whispers. “Open for me.”

You open your eyes to rows upon rows of your favorite flower. The sun hangs low in the sky, just beginning to dip below the horizon, a few clouds dotting around. It’s much brighter than you ever imagined. Jake is a conglomerate of neutrals and darks, leather and basics. To see so much color, such an obvious lightness from his own hands stuns you. As you take more in, you see a black cat frolicking through the stems, batting at one of the flowers. Its eyes shine mischievously.

It’s your turn to fall quiet, your eyes whisking over the canvas time and time again, drinking in all you can.

“Don’t comment too quickly,” He says dryly, his hands squeezing your hips.

“Oh, Jake, its beautiful,” You breathe softly, taking a small step forward to examine it in further detail, wanting to see each and every stroke.

He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, that comfortable warmth that you bring to his chest multiplying tenfold. “You think so?” He asks, trying to sound noncommittal.

“I know so. Is this cat supposed to be ours?” You point to it, grinning up at him. He’d mentioned his want for cat a few times, but it wouldn’t be a possibility until the lease was up so that you all could move to a pet friendly place.

Jake hesitates for a moment, his eyes flickering to you before they return to the canvas. Jake was the last of the boys to come around. Your relationship is the newest, and though it is no less sweet, no less passionate sometimes he struggles to be open with you. You’re patient, knowing that every piece of the man standing beside you is worth waiting for.

“It's supposed to be me,” He admits quietly.

“You?”

“The cat is me, and everything else…is you.”

“Me?”

He grows quiet again, trying to figure out what to say. He so desperately wants you to understand. You gaze up at him, watching as he mulls things over, gathering up the words to tell you what this all means to him. What you mean to him.

“Its me, basking in everything that is you. You love the sunset, you love pointing out shapes in the clouds. You love these flowers. There’s more there, more intention that I could explain. But I hope that one day, the cat, that you’ll—“ He stops, realizing that he’d got too carried away. He was about to show all his cards.

You raise a hand to cup his cheek tenderly, “I do. I do already, Jake. It’s easy.”

His gaze grows more intense as he studies you, searching for any dishonesty. There’s not a drop in your eyes. “Me too.”

Jake didn’t know it could be this easy. Sure neither of you have said the words outright, but he can feel it in the way you look at him right now. You lean in, closing the gap between you to press a soft kiss to his mouth before, one he gets lost in. And when you pull away, you simply turn back to the painting. Your hands reach out, fingers wiggling and his hand darts out, grasping yours.

“It’s still wet,” He reminds you, squeezing your hand gently before he lets it go.

“Right, sorry,” You murmur sheepishly.

All of this has you feeling a little shy— held but with hands that are afraid you’ll break. You could ask him to say it, you could say it yourself but you know that things are the slowest with him. Sometimes you have to treat him like the cat he’s painted. He’ll spook easily, retreating into solitude.

You tuck the idea of asking for more in your back pocket. Another time. Instead you ask, “So…where are we hanging it?”

Jake relaxes. He knows your thinking face, could see you weighing the pros and cons. It feels good to know how you feel about him and even better to know how well you know him.

He drops a kiss on your forehead before moving towards the fireplace. “I was thinkin’ here.”

“I’ll go get those sticky strip thingies,” You say, marching towards the closer that holds everything from spare linens, holiday decorations and yes— sticky strip thingies.

“Command strips,” Jake corrects you, snorting softly under his breath.

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